Community Corner
Nineteenth Week - Monday's "Medfield Historical Minute"
A little something to read and learn to give you a little break during this time of boredom during isolation due to the Coronavirus Crisis.
A Medfield Historical Minute...
This "Medfield Historical Minute" is brought to you by town historian Richard DeSorgher.
A little something to read and learn to give you a little break during this time of boredom during isolation due to the Coronavirus Crisis. A different "Medfield Historical Minute" will appear each day during the Crisis.
"The largest industry in Medfield in the late 19th Century and the first half of the 20th Century was the hat industry, which included the second largest hat factory in the United States (site of today’s Montrose School) In the late 1800s the hat factory was owned by Daniel D. Curtis at a time when the anti-Irish, anti-Catholic prejudice was very strong. Curtis had posted “Irish Need Not Apply” signs on the hat factory doors. When Curtis died, Edwin V. Mitchell, who married Curtis daughter, took over the running of the factory. With a growing number of Irish in Medfield, Mitchell saw he needed labor for his growing hat factory and removed the signs. He also donated the Main Street land the original St. Edwards was built upon, to ensure a continued Irish Catholic work force for his factory."
