Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Sepia Saturday #22 - "The Old Neighborhood Playhouse"


WWII Observation Tower (1940's). At the home of Palmer J. Cook, Southfield, MA. "Civil Defense efforts were largely manifested by the Defense Board and the Ground Observation Corps, a group of volunteers which, according to the New Marlborough Town Report of 1942, was headed by Palmer J. Cook, co-owner of Turner & Cook buggy whip factory in Southfield. The aircraft warning system used the structure pictured as an observation post... it was manned continuously 24 hours a day, and one of the few stations in this section of New England. It was discontinued in 1944.

The tower actually lived three lives. First as the WWII Observation Post; then it was moved just up the road where the fire department used the tower once again as an aircraft observation post... in the mid-1950's there was national concern that the US was vulnerable to atomic attack by the Soviet Union. The post's second life came to an end in 1957 when the DEW (Distant Early Warning) line system was completed and made operational.

The tower was acquired a few years later by a local resident and moved to their property on East Hill Road in Southfield. Its third and final life was a playhouse for the neighborhood children, and eventually razed in the 1980's." (Reported by David Lowman, NM 5 Village News, 2003).



A friend of mine commented on the photo: "How well I remember going up in the tower with your mom, and watching in awe as she would report what types of planes were flying over."

Another friend added this: "It was right where I built my house... it was torn down in about 1984... there wasn't much left of it, though, by then. We used to camp in it as kids, and somewhere I still have a few signs, and aircraft posters from it! Thanks, Jan... I'd love to see the video of it being moved!

©2010 Photographs property of Janice Stiles-Boults

13 comments:

  1. Oh the past, so good to remember... our history and the lives and stories of others. I can see how they would watch for approaching planes.
    I don't think it happened did it? Hope not!
    But the anticipation that it might was concerning.

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  2. I have just recently heard of a tower that sat on the top of a business in Murray, Iowa. It was manned 24 hours a day to watch for enemy planes during WW2. Murray actually sits right in the middle of the United States so I would have thought the east or west coast would have caught sight of them first. Neat blog.

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  3. What an interesting evolution and history. I love the fact that it ended up as a children's playhouse. It seems fitting, somehow.

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  4. This is absolutel;y fascinating....I know they watched. It ties to my own history and interest in WWII>

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  5. This just goes to show how, even a temporary structure, can have an impact on a community. Three useful lives over 40+ years. Many valuable memories, not least the one associated with the moving of the building.

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  6. Fascinating history of a unique building and a unique time.

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  7. How neat! I imagine that was a fabulous playhouse in its later life. Airplanes used to be something to watch and identify long ago. Now there are so many and they fly so high, we hardly notice them.

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  8. Wow...now that is a very neat story! If those tower walls had been able to talk...love the different uses and lives it had...and ending with the neighborhood playhouse..now how fun would that be to have on your street! Thanks for sharing this.

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  9. Too bad it's not still there. Wouldn't the kids of today love it? And what an interesting history.

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  10. I really enjoyed reading of this practical transformation, and how it reflected the course of American history. Great post1

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  11. Another wonderful story of a building. It reminded me that just up the road from us is an old concrete sentry box from World War II which is now used as a chicken hutch. Not half as romantic of the story of your observation post.

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  12. Fascinating post. It would have made a fun playhouse. We actually have an old bomb shelter from the cold war days on our property. It's not really used for anything these days.

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  13. What an interesting post--I wasn't aware of such observation towers, especially not early in the Cold War. There's something heartening in a way that it's final incarnation was as a children's playhouse.

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