For the time being, this page is more or less a collecting area for items that are not really photographs. Included here will be images of paper materials, booklets, personal accounts of town history, and anythign else that does nto fit well into the photo pages.
On Saturday, January 28, 1978, a (fully loaded) logging truck lost its brakes while coming down Monson Road! The truck flew across Main Street and blasted through a utility pole, jumped a brook, and "launched" its load of logs, several of which hit and penetrated a nearby house. Almost unbelievably no one was seriously hurt in this crash! The driver received minor injuries, despite the potential for extreme disaster. The driver estimated a speed of 80 mph when coming to the Main Street intersection (by chance, no cars were present). The driver also admits he thought he would not make the turn at the bottom of the steep part of Monson Road. I personally checked out the accident site (as did hundreds of other people)... the truck was totally demolished. The road was completely blocked off (due to the hanging power lines). What would have been a typical Saturday turned out to be quite a day...
Below are scans of a booklet that I found on Ebay a few years ago (finally had a chance to scan and post it). I suspect that this may be fairly rare and it almost certainly contains info that does not exist anywhere else. It was written by George P. West (apparently in 1929) and talks about Wilbraham and Hampden "55 years ago" (so that would be about 1874). The individual pages of the booklet are shown below; click in the small images to bring up the full size page (in a new window).
Cover Page Click on the image at left to bring up the full size image.
Forward Page Click on the image at left to bring up the full size image.
Page 1 Click on the image at left to bring up the full size image.
Page 2 Click on the image at left to bring up the full size image.
Page 3 Click on the image at left to bring up the full size image.
Page 4 Click on the image at left to bring up the full size image.
Page 5 Click on the image at left to bring up the full size image.
Page 6 Click on the image at left to bring up the full size image.
Page 7 Click on the image at left to bring up the full size image.
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Page 9 Click on the image at left to bring up the full size image.
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Page 12 Click on the image at left to bring up the full size image.
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Page 17 Click on the image at left to bring up the full size image.
This section contains images of things that are not really photographs. A variety of items appears below, everything from match book covers to old sketches, building plans, etc. Click on the small images below to bring up the full size image (comes up in a new window).
Gottas Trailers The front cover of an old catalog from Gotta's trailers (this business used to be on Boston Road down near Stony Hill Rd).
Old Matchbook overs from businesses in town Match book covers from some old establishments in Wilbraham. I am guessing that these are from the 1950s based on the style of phone numbers used.
More Old Matchbook overs from businesses in town A few more match book covers from some old establishments in Wilbraham.
Vintage State Line Potato Chips Bag (front) Remember State Line Potato Chips? How many Minnechaug kids got their first work experience here?
Vintage State Line Potato Chips Bag (back) Some other great products from State Line Potato Chips...
A visitor to this site generously donated a number of civil defense related items. They are found on this page: Wilbraham Civil Defense Info.
A visitor to this site generously donated the following items associated with the Newton Lodge. Click on the small images below to bring up the full size image (comes up in a new window).
Newton Lodge Fundraising Pamplet, Page 1 The front page of the pamphlet.
Newton Lodge Fundraising Pamplet, Page 2 The inner page of the pamphlet. $70,000 to build and furnish a 5000+ square foot brick buidling... today it would probably be $1 million plus for a similar structure!
Newton Lodge Fundraising Pamplet, Page 3 The floor plan for the proposed buidling.
A visitor to this site generously donated the following items associated with the Memorial School PTA. Click on the small images below to bring up the full size image (comes up in a new window).
Memorial School PTA Yearbook, 1954-55, Cover The front cover.
Memorial School PTA Yearbook, 1954-55, Page 1 First page.
Memorial School PTA Yearbook, 1954-55, Page 2 Second page.
Memorial School PTA Yearbook, 1954-55, Back page Last page.
A visitor to this site generously donated the following floro plan of the proposed Memorial School. Click on the small image below to bring up the full size image (comes up in a new window).
Memorial School Floor Plan, 1950 The floor plan of the original Memorial School.