Vincent Mistretta, Saxonville 1933
Memorial Day in Saxonville was an occasion for honoring our Veterans, and each year there was a parade that was attended by all the neighbors.
The Civil War had been over for 68 years when this photo was taken next to the Athenium Hall near the Fire Department at the start of the Memorial Day Parade in 1933.
Young Vincent Mistretta in knickers stands behind his Father who is directing some instructions, as the Parade Marshall, to the right in this photo.
Young Vincent remembers bits and pieces from those days in the 1930’s and ’40s. Saxonville Square had a cast iron horse watering fountain. On the Roxbury Carpet factory side of the road remained trolly tracks half buried. There was once a trolly that ran to downtown Framingham. In the 1930s, the bus cost a nickel.
Across Elm Street from the School which still stands, there was a Casino with a dance floor and a stage. The Casino held dances, minstrel shows, concerts and more. There was a projection booth for showing film and 2 pool and 2 ping pong tables. There was also an area for exercise equipment. One side of the dance floor had double French doors that opened onto a deck which had benches. The building sat on a hill, which looked down on 2 ponds below, where the Pinefield Shopping Center now stands.
There were two islands in the Ponds, one which was shaped like an arrow which pointed toward the Framingham Airport.
(more Saxonville memories coming soon, and thanks to Vincent Mistretta Jr. for contributing these memories and the photo.)
Richard A. Danca said,
July 30, 2008 at 3:45 pm
My grandmother was Giovanna Mistretta, who arrived here in Boston with her brother, Angelo, in 1902. Later that year she married my grandfather, Giuseppe D’Anca (later Danca). The both were born in Santa Caterina Villarmosa, Province of Caltanissetta, Sicily. I believe this Mistretta family may have come from Petralia Sottana, Province of Palermo, but not sure…. We are related to the late Charles Mistretta, formerly with the Mass Highway Dept.
Same family?? Pls let me know if there’s a connection. rdanca@gmail.com/
Brett said,
September 27, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Wow, what a priceless photo, of a Civil War veteran in Saxonville, so many years after the war ended. I’m guessing the gentleman must have been in his late 80s at least at the time.
Sadly, World War II vets are now in that age category and becoming much fewer in number. At Memorial Day parades when I was a child they were still-robust middle-aged men, and represented the largest contingent of veterans marching.