HomeMy WebLinkAbout1943-09-30-GARDEN-rpt.pdf Town of Lexington, Mass.
Victory Garden Committee
Town Office Bldg., Mass. Ave., Lexington
Chairman, John Lamont
Vice Chairman and Treat, John 1 Garrity
Secretary, Mrs. Leroy F Marek
September 30, 1943
To the Honorable Board of Selectmen
Lexington, Massachusetts
Gentlemen
The following is a report of the committee appointed to assist
persons who wish to obtain land to plant a victory garden
The committee held its first meeting February 1, 1943 All members
being present , a letter from the Board of belectmen, dated
Janua ry 5, was read and taken up for consideration. The committee
thought it would be wise to have a meeting at Estabrook Hall on
March 3, at 8 00 p.m , and invite all persons interested in having
a garden in 1943 but not having land for this purpose to attend.
A notice was placed in the local paper and all the clergy of the
Town were asked to announce this meeting at their services .
Letters were read from Howard Nichols, Neil Macintosh, Win Couette
and; Alfred Johnson offering land for victory gardens 6 applications
for lots were placed on file until after the March meeting was held.
On March 3, we had the worst storm of the winter and with that handi-
cap 27 people attended. The meeting opened with the outlining of
its purpose and the need of planting a vegetable garden this year.
Mrs Webster called attention to a meeting to be held by the Public
Safety Committee on the following Friday evening at hstabrook Hall
for the purpose of helping all victory gardeners with their work.
John Lamont spoke about the garden classes that were being planned
and which would start the third week of March. Plans were shown
of Town owned land and privately owned land made available for
victory gardens and names were taken of all persons desiring lots.
The Chairman was asked to go before the Board of Selectmen and
request the sum of. $100 to spend for plowing and getting the land
in condition for planting.
The next meeting held by this committee was March 10 and in the
meantime the Lexin_ton Victory Garden "ommittee was organized and
our committee was asked to work in conjunction with them, which
we dia 50 applications for gardens were received At this meeting
plans of Town owned lands were looked over again and the following I
lands were taken into consideration Poor Farm on Cedar Street,
Center Playground and a number of tax title lands.
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Page 2. Board of Selectmen September 30, 1943.
After some discussion it was decided that no land would be allotted
until after the Victory Garden Committee sent out a questionnaire
to all citizens who wanted land and those who had land that they
would be willing to have used for gardens It was decided that a
lot 60 ' x 60' or about 6500 sq ft would be about the right size.
It was voted that plowino and making the land suitable be done by
this committee and that each person attaining a lot be charged
"'3.00 for its preparation and that they make out an application,
a copy of which we are enclosing 0100 was not considered sufficient
to carry on this work so the Chairman was requested to go before
the board for an additional 4200, making a total of 0300. All
money received by this committee would be turned over to the Town
Treasurer.
The next meeting of this committee was held March 19, and the
questionnaires sent out by the Women 's War bervice Committee started
coming in. 3000 questionnaires were sent out and 1850 were returned,
1400 of these signified their intentions of having a victory garden
140 wished land for a garden plot and 50 declared they had. land they
would share . After looking over the applications it was found that
a good many of the applicants lived close to the people having land
available so the names of the persons having land were given to
those wishing a garden plot and in this way the list was cut down
considerably The committee went out in the field andlooked over
lots of land available and handy to applicants It was voted to
ask permission to use the following lots Kelly' s at the end of
Dexter Road, B & M Property on Meriam Street, Winter Sports Area
at the Center Playground, Sunnyfield on Bedford Street, Poor Farm
on Cedar Street, Jotton's on Marrett Road, Nichols on Oak Street,
Couette on Pollen Road, Blake on Hayes Avenue and the old Hannaford
.Lstate on iviiddleby Drive.
Permission was granted and releases are enclosed
The meeting on April 9 was called for the purpose of assigning lots
The list had now dropped to 68 persons actually wishing land At
this time lots were assigned with the thought in mind of placing
everyone as near home as possible hegular inspection was made of I
these gardens and advice was given when necessary. Plowing and
harrowing was started April 11 and the first lots were measured ,
staked and assigned on April 19 at the B & M. Lot.
Expense of plowing and harrowing was 0237.95. Money received and
turned over to the Town Treasurer 0204 .50 Total expense to the
Town of 033.45 - to be taken from the 0300 set aside for this
purpose - leaving a balance of 0266.55
The Canning Committee has bills amounting to ,30 00 and we recommend
/ that they be reimbursed for this amount. This would make a total
�O cost to the Town of only 063.45.
R
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Page 3. Board of Selectmen September 30, 1943.
The interest in home victory gardens surpasses the peak reached in
1917 and 1918 and the mistake made in the first World War of home
owners plowing up their front lawns was remedied We are making
a request that all victory gardeners clean up their lots by October
12 A number of requests for use of lots in 1944 have come in so
we feel the need will be just as great next year. Our property
releases are only requested for 1943, therefore, if we are to continue
as a&oommittee another _y..e.ar spme action should, be taken in obtaining
releases for 1944
It is surprising to note that only 4 persons were unable to continue
working their lots through the season live had the complete cooperation
of lot owners and lot users alike and for this we are grateful.
Respectfully Qy�ours, �,t �
J JG M n�6 _0
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