Rotary Club of Braintree Restores French's Common Sign
HISTORIC FRENCH'S COMMON SIGN FROM BRAINTREE RESTORED BY Braintree Rotary Club
BLUEHILLs REGIONAL
TECHNICAL
SCHOOL
By Judy Bass
Residents of Massachusetts are fortunate to live in one of the most richly historic areas of our nation. Many of the communities in the eastern part of the Commonwealth date back to colonial times.
Artifacts from yesteryear, which have the power to bring those bygone days alive again, need to be carefully preserved. That is why the letters on the French's Common arch in Braintree were recently restored to their original gleaming finish by a talented student at Blue Hills RegionalTechnical School in Canton.
This Braintree Rotary Club project was spearheaded by Rotary member Dave Shepherd who noticed that the letters on the arch looked like they were in serious need of a major refurbishing after being exposed to the weather for generations. Shepherd also did research on the origins of the sign at the Braintree Historical Society, and found that the French family was a highly distinguished clan with roots dating to the 1600s.
According to a 1978 newspaper article tracing the family's history, John French was "allotted" 20 acres of land in 1640. There were five members of the French family back then; each got four acres. A parcel of land of that size was eventually given to the Town by Josiah French in 1851 for use as a multi-purpose common and for construction of a town hall, library, and Civil War memorial statue.
Other Frenches made their mark on civic life in different ways. For example, "Squire Asa" French established the first post office in Braintree in a room of the French house on Washington Street in 1825.
Benjamin French became a prosperous grocer during the 19th century, owned a 200-acre farm in Braintree, and scientifically studied fruits and fruit-growing. Asa French attended ThayerAcademy and YaleUniversity, was elected district attorney of the Norfolk-Plymouth district and rose to the position of U.S. District Attorney for Massachusetts, which he held for nine years.
In view of the distinguished history of the Frenches and the Common, the sign definitely merited restoration, but when Shepherd looked into having it done commercially, the estimate on the cost was $6,000, he said. He then turned to Blue Hills Regional Technical School in Canton (with the approval of the Rotary's Board of Directors) because Braintree is one of the school's nine district towns, and its Superintendent, Joseph Ciccolo, happens to be a Braintree Rotarian.
Once Shepherd got the green light for the project, Blue Hills' Collision Repair & Refinishing Department took over the job, since that technical program has the capability to do spray painting, sandblasting, and other phases of the project. The actual work was assigned to sophomore Sydnye Campenella of Dedham.
She began by sandblasting layers of accumulated dirt off the letters before applying epoxy primer to them. With a grinder, Campenella filed down some of the letters' rough edges, then used solvent wash and a tack cloth to remove any oils and fine dust. A base coat was applied, followed by a clear coat, and voila, the letters now gleamed like new.
Campenella said the sandblasting was the toughest part because the letters were "very dirty and rusty," but she enjoyed doing the painting. When the freshly-shining letters are eventually put back in their rightful place atop the French's Common arch and Campenella sees it, she said she will recall all of her hard work on this project, truly a labor of love for the ages.
The Braintree Rotary Club is most proud of the work that was done at Blue Hills and the talent of Ms Campenella. Special appreciaiton to Dave Shepherd for his tireless effort to bring this to fruition.Through the years our club has taken on many such projects to enhance the quality of life in Braintree and to make our town just a little nicer to be a part of.