Ray Farrar’s Memories

Ray Farrar wrote articles on his memory of Shirley people, places, and events for our local newspaper. These were published along with photos and we now have copies in a scrapbook.

If you want to see the entire article, come visit us on Mondays or Saturdays, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm or contact us at mail@shirleyhistory.org about making copies.

DATE OF NEWSPAPER	TITLE	LOCATION	PEOPLE	OTHER NOTES
1/10/2012	John Harris Farm	Parker and Little Turnpike	Margaret Harris, Horace Harris,	Working farm until 1970’s
1/17/2012	Overlook	Between Center and Benjamin Roads	John Soltesz	Called overlook due to view of Ft. Devens.  Originally built in 1920’s. Used as entertainment for army officers during WWII.
1/24/2012	Henry Dodge Farm	Little Turnpike Road	Henry and Bell Dodge	In its glory in 1800s.
1/31/2012	Hazel Cummings Farm	Little Turnpike Road	Cummings Family, then daughter Hazel	Built 1700s. Large Apple Orchard. Suicide.
2/7/2012	Ice Cream Parlor	Corner of Chapel and Porter Streets	Mr. and Mrs. Thomas	Parlor was built by Mr. Thomas so wife could make money in the 1930s
2/14/2012	Ayer Junction	Electric trolly car from Shirley to Ayer		Gave mobility in 1900s
2/21/2012	Cooperage	Across from todays Pheonix Bar & Grille	Ran by Gran Fairbanks	Cooperage is a mill to make wooden barrels.
2/28/2012	Tavern	Little Turnpike Road	Mr. Little. Wilfred Chevrette in 1920s-1930s	Built for travelers unable to pass between Rt. 2A and Lunenburg in spring due to mud.
3/6/2012	White Mill Dam			Built 1856 to power saw mill off Rt. 2A. Taken out by flood of March 1937
3/13/2012	Race Track	Peabody Road		Proposed in late 1950s. Voted down 3 times.
3/20/2012	Crowe House	Lawton Road	1716 Mr. Lawton, 1904 purchased by John Crowe	House built in 1716. Burned down in 1965
3/27/2012	Pound	Shirley Center next to the Meeting House and the Center Town Hall.	Jack Farrar, pound keeper	Jail for loose farm animals: cows/horses
4/3/2012	Horse Pond Road	Shirley Center near Walker Road		Burial ground for large animals.
4/10/2012	Hole in the Hill	Center Road	Mort Lawrence	Built 1930. Refused to move house for power lines.  Moved land across the street for many years to fill in around the house.
4/17/2012	Max Pit	North side of Catcunemaug Railroad Crossing	Frank and John Max	1936 used fill to rebuild Center Road.
4/24/2012	Granite Posts	North side of Front Street near Train Depot	Pat Walsh and Doris Wheeler: Green Committee	Donations from townspeople and 25 volunteers beautifed Shirley 1980s
5/1/2012	Big Move in Shirley	Road replaced trolley line to Ayer		Route of Fitchburg and Leominster railway
5/8/2012	Highway Department	Clark Road	Frank Westover, ed Onners, James Devine, Bill Wilson, Harry Wheeler, Tony and two unidentified.	Built 1930s. Nine employees.
5/15/2012	Paul Farrar House	Benjamin Road	Meylands: 1920s, Nowokenski’s, Julia & Ed Sweetser	House moved from Benjamin Road to across the street around 1980
5/22/2012	Monument Picture	Shirley Center	Civil War veteran Bill Jubb	Memorial Day Celebration
5/29/2012	World War I Veterans	Camp Devens	Book provided by Hollie McGrath	Photo
6/5/2012	Shirley High School	Lancaster Road	Teachers 1936: Middle School, Sara James & Nellie McNiff	Used in 1800s as high school
6/12/2012	Farrar Farm	Benjamin Hill		Asparagus grown on the farm
6/19/2012	Shirley Train Depot			Now gives good impression.
6/26/2012	Mrs. Tidd’s Kitchen	Main Street	J. Walter Desmond, Richard T. Lilly, Sylvester J. Tidd: Selectmen	Met in Mrs. Tidd’s Kitchen for comfort.
7/10/2012	1930 July 4th Parade	Shirley Center	Truck owned by the Longley Family	1930 Ford Model A Truck carried the Girl Scouts
7/17/2012	Rebuilding a House	Leominster Road	Ray Farrar, Bill Blair, Donald “Red” Farrar and Michael Gray	1965 2 houses moved from Haskell St. to Leominster Road. Repairs took a year to complete.
7/24/2012	Shirley’s American Express	Front Street Laundromat		Company ran until 1950. Railroad brought the packages and cars delivered until they got small trucks. Original building had no windows just storage and was torn down when company closed.
7/31/2012	Coal Sheds	South side of Main Street. Now a parking lot for Lambert’s True Value Hardware	Business run by Amy Wheeler.  Delivered by Kenneth Longley.	1930’s sheds lined the edge of the railroad tracks. Housed coal and coke (charcoal)
8/7/2012	Bull Run Fair Grounds	Dr. Eddy’s practice on 2A	Ray Farrar’s great, great-grandfather, George Farrar and wife Mary ran the blacksmith shop and coffee shop where Shirley Package Store is today.	Used in 1800s as Bull Run Fairgrounds. Prize bulls would fight and wagers were made.  This is how the Bull Run got its name.
8/14/2012	Rags to Riches	48 Ayer Road	Original owner Artie Adams, Current owner Scott and Diane Renstrom	New owners are restoring the home.
8/21/2012	Miner’s Blacksmith Shop	10 Main Street	Mr. Miner	Owned and ran the blacksmith shop in the 1880s and 1890s
8/28/2012	Wells Livery Stable	Fredonian Street	Mr. and Mrs. (Abbie) Wells	1920s and 1930s the stable was a good place to rent a horse and buggy to go for a Sunday ride or Shopping in Ayer. The house and stable was torn down in the late 1930s.
9/4/2012	Dr. Lilly’s Office	Main Street	Dr. Lilly 1920s, Mr. Brackett 1940s, The Olivers 1950s	The home had an office in the front and living quarters in the rear.
9/11/2012	Desmond Livery Stable	Davis Street		Barn/stable three stories high: wagons & buggies 1st floor, horses on the 2nd and hay on the third.
9/18/2012	Grist Mill	Route 2A on the Ayer Town Line	Del Waterman, Current owner Bob Gonynor	Mill in 1700s and 1800s to ground corn, rice, oats or wheat into meal.
9/25/2012	George Morin House	Corner of Center Road and Davis Street	George Morin	Built late 1800s-early 1900s.  Purchased by Geoge Morin about 1930s.
10/2/2012	Ned Harkins Home	Center Road	Ned Harkin	Ned was the Postmaster of Shirley and Time keeper for the town during the 1930s.
10/9/2012	Cranberry House	Center Road		Used in 1800s to dry cranberries grown on Holden Road.
10/16/2012	Munson Mansion	Corner of Center Road and Munson Avenue	Norman C. Munson in 1800s then Quinty Family 1930s	Norman worked in Boston filling in Back Bay Boston.
10/23/2012	Goodrich-Jardine Home	North Corner of Center Road and Hazen Road	Mr. & Mrs. Goodrich. Miss Jardine moved in when Mr. Goodrich passed	Mrs. Goodrich was an R.N. and was said to have a two-digit license number.
10/30/2012	Little Tug Saved Ben Davis			Story: Repair of wagon using a tug connected to the horses in 1840s.
11/6/2012	Broom Factory	Shirley Center across from Trinity Chapel	Longley Family	1800s
11/13/2012	Shorty’s Market	Corner of Fredonian and Phoenix Streets	Mr. & Mrs. Cutler then Paul “Shorty” Cournoyer	Ran from 1930s to 1940s
11/20/2012	John Soltesz Home	Center Road Mansion	Soltesz family	Picture from 1910
11/27/2012	Brookside	Intersection Main Street and Center Road	Mr. “Chappy” & Mrs. Chapman	Rooming house in 1908
12/4/2012	Now Is The Hour	Where the Shirley Garage now stands	George Sanderson Sr., George Sanderson III	Profile of farmer G. Sanderson.G. Sanderson III took the farm on Lancaster Road and made it into an airport
12/11/2012	Chicken Pox on the Farm	The Farrar Farm	Amos, Donald “Red”, Ray Farrar	Story: digging potatoes and catching chicken pox
12/18/2012	Christmas in the 1930s	Legion Hall		Story: Christmas during the Great Depression
1/8/2013	Shirley to Ayer in the Teens	Road between Shirley and Ayer		Roads changed between 1910 and now
1/15/2013	Shirley 1910	Overview of Shirley		Snow in 1910. Town rolled it, not plowed.
1/22/2013	#8 School House	Church Street	Sarah Stevens/James, Sadie Gately White	History of the school building
1/29/2013	Church Street School	Church Street	Lura A White, Miss Hood, Miss Carson, Miss Ross, Miss O’Meara, Frank Westover, Mr. Lincoln	History of the school building
2/5/2013	The War Memorial Building	Church Street	Lucien Gionet	War Memorial Building was part of the WPA during the Great Depression
2/12/2015	Lake Shirley Was Once Called Shirley Reservoir	Lake Shirley Dam off Catacunemaug Road		A dam used to power mills and factories, and there was a reservoir there
2/19/2013	The Old Dam	Shoddy Mill off Catacunemaug Road		A dam in the early 1800s ran the Shoddy Mill, which reclaimed wool
2/26/2013	Old Lady Pickles	Corner of Catacunemaug and Leominster roads	Swiryda family	Swiryda’s Store was the only one in west part of Shirley
3/5/2013	Tom Seaman’s House	Catacunemaug Road	Seaman family, Charlie, Tom, Annette	Condominiums replaced the house
3/5/2013	Johnny Jock’s Gas Station and Store	North Shirley on Rt 2A	Johnny Bjorklund, Mr. Farrar	Gas station accident where Mr. Farrar was burned
3/5/2013	A Little Blarney			St. Patrick’s Day card passed around. Basketball Game Ku Klux Klan vs. Knights of Columbus for benefit of Jewish Relief Fund
3/19/2013	The Hyman Perlstein Home	Corner of Clark and Ayer	Perlstein family, Lou, Zeus, Anna; Dr Lilly; Eric Shapiro	Mr. Perlstein collected metals and had a farm
3/26/2013	Whiteley Park	Whiteley Park, Corner of Front and Phoenix	Mr. Whiteley, Shakers	History of the park
4/2/2013	Farrar’s Blacksmith Shop	Great Road	Mr. Little, Farrar Brothers	1844 the brothers moved and built the blacksmith shop
4/9/2013	The Old Hazen Bridge	Old Hazen Bridge	Police Chief Moss, Sergeant Beachy, Max Gionet	The bridge was once part of Route 2
4/16/2013	The Townsend Pool	Townsend Road near 2A		There was a sandy area that was good for swimming and/or bathing
4/23/2013	Shirley Fire Station #2	Corner of Leominster and Lancaster roads	Dave Holden	History of the building
4/30/2013	Farnsworth Saw Mill	Great Road	Lou Farnsworth, Bill, Waldo, Skip, Kenneth	1930s or so the author went to the mill to cut some logs into boards
5/7/2013	Governor Bradford Visits Shirley	Lancaster Road	Governor Robert Bradford, Selectman Gordon T Banks, Stanley Gallagher, Beulah Wamboldt, Nelson Wamboldt, Robert Lambert, Jim Thibault	1940s the governor visited Shirley
5/14/2013	Can You Name Anyone?	Church Street School	Lura White, Mr. Lincoln, Miss Hood, Marian Carson, Sara Ross, Pearl O’Meara, Frank Westover, Beatrice Peneseau, Joe DeVarney, John Hebert, Ed Riley, Gladys Leary, Allen Bradford, Walter Lambert, Lyle Wheeler, Bertha Reed, Alice Pauley, Harriet Blair, Beatrice Peneseau, Jackie Colburn, Mary Nowokunski, Marion Dailey, Kristine Kubiak, Herbie Riley, Robert Artus, Lawrence Credit, Richard Evans, Vern Hillman, John Bobbin, Kathryn Young, Marie Sideleau, Ruth E Chesbrough, Ruth A Chesbrough, Ruth Keating, Beverly Keffel, Jackie Sampson, George Sanderson, Freddie Quinty, Robert McCollister, Wade Longley, Homer Stahl	Class photo from 1931
5/21/2013	The House Stops Here	Benjamin Road	Mr. Nowokowski, Gus Potenius, Paul Farrar	1975, author moved a house he bought across the street
5/28/2016	Memorial Day in Shirley Center	Shirley Center	William Jubb	Memorial Day Celebration
6/4/2013	The Davis Orchard	Lancaster Road	Davis Family, John McIntire, Donald Chase	Two orchards that are both gone now
6/11/2013	The Desmond Farm	Lancaster Road	Pratt family, Edward “Bill”, Burt, Charlie, Fannie; Dr J Walter Desmond, children Patricia, Jack, Phylis, Barbara; Henry Sampson, children Doris and Jack; Noyes Family	Ownership of the farm
6/18/2013	The Beulah Womboldt Home	Southwest corner of Chapel and Mill streets	Beulah Womboldt, Nelson; Sherman Mudget; Reed Chesbrough, wife and daughter Ruth E, Lester Holden, Sybil, Jackie	Ownership of the house
6/25/2013	The Chapel on Chapel Street	Chapel Street	Richard Pontbriand, Judy Lamoreaux	Ownership of the chapel
7/2/2013	Last House on Chapel	Chapel Street	Ray Farrar	History of the house
7/16/2013	Pop Tracey’s Ice Cream Stand	Ayer Road near Tremblay’s Garage	Pop Tracey,Emma Hanson, Wallace Hanson, Bertha, Sally	Ice Cream stand in the 1940s
7/23/2013	The George DeVarney House	Corner of Chapel and Porter Streets	George DeVarney, Bob Lambert, Ann Lambert	DeVarney ran an auto repair shop
8/6/2013	The Davis House	Corner of Davis Street and Center Road	Davis Family, McGrath family	Davis Family were farmers who branched out into real estate
8/13/2013	Umbagog on the Catacunemaug	Catacunemaug Brook just east of George Frost/President’s Building	Mr. Pauley, Chet Pauley, Vernon Ballou	Factory building in Shirley Village, once held turbines that powered President’s building
8/20/2013	Stanley Gallagher	Parker Road	Stanley Gallagher, Beulah Wamboldt	Mr. Gallagher was an Irish salesman who drove a 1928 Model A Ford
8/27/2013	The Barnard House	Center, Parker, Brown roads intersection in Shirley Center	Barnard Family	The house changed hands many times and was put to many uses due to its location
9/3/2013	White Oaks off Ayer Road	off Ayer Road	Moody Parker	Town purchased land and used it for a baseball field. It was later a mill – Bemis now owns it
9/10/2013	Shaker Road	Shaker Road		Photo from 75 years prior, when Shaker Road was a dirt road
9/17/2013	Trinity Chapel	Shirley Center		Brief history of the chapel
9/24/2013	The Hole in the Hill	Center Road near power lines	Morton E Lawrence	Mort refused to move his house for power lines, and every day moved dirt from across the road to his house to fill in the hill
10/1/2013	The Lester Berry House	Hazen Road, near Warren Road	Lester Berry, Arthur Holden, Kay, Phil, Arthur Jr. Holden	History of the location – current house is not historical
10/8/2013	The John Hebert House	Hazen Road	John Hebert, Alice Hebert, George Holden, Lester Holden, Alice Pauley, John Jr. Jay, Jack Hebert
10/15/2013	The John Coleman House	Clark Road, just past Bruce Street	John Coleman, Annie, Hilda; Gordon Hatch, Juanita	Brief background on Coleman family
10/22/2013	The Doctor Steicher’s office	Front Street	Dr. Steicher, “Hack” Noyes	Brief background on Dr. Steicher
10/29/2013	The End of an Era	Main Street	Joe Tremblay, Robert Tremblay	History of the Main Street Garage
11/5/2013	Camp Devens, 1918	Ayer Train Station		Men heading to Ayer train station to go to Devens
11/12/2013	Ye Old Cock and Bottle	Great Road	Benjamin and George Farrar, Lester Berry, Guercios	Building is now the Shirley Package Store, and it was where the Farrar brothers lived
11/19/2013	The Edmond Januskiewiecz House	Center Road	Pepe Lambert, Wilfred Gionet, Edmond Januskiewiecz, Phyllis Januskiewiecz, Peter, Paul, John and David, Mary and Susan	Families that lived at the house
11/26/2013	Thanksgiving Day 1918	Townsend Road	John H Farrar, Parents Henry and Clara	The town meetinghouse was burnt in the 1930s. Was the home of John Farrar
12/3/2013	Amos Farrar’s Indian Motorcycle	Town Meeting Road	Amos Farrar	His first new bike he owned – stop driving it after he nearly broke his leg
12/10/2013	1903-2013	Center Townhall	Susan Baxter	Grange Christmas Party in 1930s
12/17/2013	A Wedding Photograph	n/a	Amos W Farrar, Mary Harris, Daughter Eva Farrar	Ray’s grandparents wedding picture from mid 1800s
1/7/2014	The Old Shaker Laundry	MCI Shirley	Lynch Family	Industrial School for Boys – it is now MCI Shirley
1/14/2014	Welcome Home Day Parade, 1946	Lura A White School to Phoenix Street.	Edward and Edith Farnsworths – Children Eleanor, Alston, and Roy. Alphee Levesque, Jimmy Richardson, Ernie Michaud	Parade to welcome soldiers home
1/21/2014	Shirley Center Common	Shirley Center Common		History of Shirley Center Common
1/28/2014	Shirley 1915	Shirley		Overview of Shirley Winter 1915
2/4/2014	Raising Money for Cerebral Palsy	Fire House	John “Beansy” Conway, Joe Lemire, Paul Bliss, Milton Westover, Harvey Westover, Charlie Hartman, Albert Chevrette, Dick Hatch, Ray Farrar, John Welton, Gerald Fitzgerald, Skip Farnsworth, George Sanderson, Everett Barnard	Fire Department and Police Department Fundraiser
2/11/2014	Lower Main Street to Bridge	Old Main Street
2/18/2014	A Storm in 1920	Shirley		Pull rollers used during winter storm
2/25/2014	Civil War Monument	Shirley Common		Restoration of monument after being decapitated
3/4/2014	Share Volunteer Jenny Westover	Shirley Fire Department	Jenny Westover, Barbara Eubanks	Jenny Westover volunteered for Shared program
3/18/2014	Welcome Home Day	Lura A. White School	Alice Gilbert	Alice Gilbert was Lady Liberty on float during Welcome Home Day Parade in 1946
3/25/2014	The Flowering Crab	Benjamin Road	Heather Steele, Carol and James Steele, Ray Farrar
4/1/2014	Spring Rains and Melting Snow	Walker Road Dam		Sometimes the roads would flood in the spring when the snow melted
4/8/2014	The Brookside	Brookside	Dr. Steicher, Lucien Gionet	History of Building
4/15/2014	Parade in Shirley	Front Street	James Steele, Ben Farrar, Heather Steele
4/22/2014	The Lambert Farm	Ayer Road (then known as Main Street)	Merlin Lambert, Raymond Lambert, William Lambert, Oscar Sidleau, Henry Gendron, Bruce Family, Ray Farrar	History of the Farm
4/29/2014	The Shop Building	MCI Medium	Joe Landry, Mr. Wells	The shop building housed shops for boys at the school
5/6/2014	The Old Shirley Depot	Benjamin Road	Ray Farrar, Cracker Jack, Ernie Michaud, Wilfred Michaud	History of Old Shirley Depot
5/13/2014	Ray Farrar’s First Car	Shirley	Ray Farrar, Wally Hansen, Carl Loomer	Details of the new car Ray bought
5/20/2014	Waiting for the Trolley	Shirley Depot		Where Phoenix Bar and Grill is today
7/1/2014	The First Shirley Fire Station	Chapel Street		The first Fire Station was built by volunteers
7/15/2014	Shirley Drum and Bugle Corps	Main Street	Donna Farrar	There are no more Shirley Drum and Bugle Corps
7/22/2014	Fourth of July Celebration on Town Meeting Road	Town Meeting Road	Farrar Family, Thompson Family, Minnie Farrar, Joe Thompson
7/29/2014	Dental Inspection at Camp Devens	Camp Devens		Dental Inspections were part of new recruiting process
8/5/2014	Corn Field	Farrar Farm on Ayer Road		Description of the Farrar Farm
8/12/2014	Church Street School	Church Street School	Bob Hartwell, Mr. Hartman, Roy Hatch, Fred Hebert, “Popeye” Colson, Edward Riley, Landry, Beatrice Keffel, Rockwell Craig, Francis Colsen, Alan Bradford	Class Photo from 1932
8/19/2014	The Old Lubritorium is Gone		Joe Tremblay, Viola (Ray’s aunt)	Was once Tremblay’s Garage – new owners are Absolute Auto Repair Center
9/30/2014	Priscilla Jubb	Lived on Holden Road	Priscilla Jubb, Barbara (Priscilla’s Daughter), Grandfather William Jubb, Bob Brockelman – Children Curt, Barbara, and Bruce	Biography of Priscilla Jubb
10/14/2014	Plowing Land on Town Meeting Road	Town Meeting Road	Amos Parkhurst Farrar, Alice Gould	1920
11/18/2014	Tidd’s Drug Store	Tidd’s Drug Store	Mrs. Jurga, Sylvester Tidd, John Farrar, Young Family – Anna, Edwin, Bernard, Mary, Kathleen (children from Young family), Mr. and Mrs. Tidd – son named Jackie, Gladys Leary
12/2/2014	Moody Parker		Moody Parker, Israel, John Bresnahan, Horace Legacy, Paul Farrar	Biography of Moody Parker
2/10/2015	Remembering the Blizzard of ’78	Farrar Farm		Flooded the barn at Farrar Farm
3/31/2015	Do You Remember the Green Committee?	Started near Benjamin Road Crossing and went to Depot Square	Rhonda Caissie, Jackie Esielionis, Ray Farrar, John Farrar, Amelia Gionet, John Guthrie, Stanley Jurga, Melissa Lynch, Lisa Marino, Pat Walsh, Doris Wheeler, Robert Adam	To replace glass enclosure for the Depot Station
4/14/2015	The Coal Station	Where the Train Depot now stands	Charie Shepherd
7/14/2015	David Gray from Center Road	Center Road	David Gray, Fran (wife)	High-wheeler bicycle ridden by David Gray – Photos around 1960