Together for Natick Schools: Lessons from the November 2000 Wilson Middle School campaign
Written by: Christine Weithman and Josh Ostroff
Yard Sign from the 2000 Together for Natick Schools Campaign.
This November marks the 25th anniversary of a pivotal moment for the Town of Natick, when the community approved a debt exclusion on November 7, 2000 to replace the aging Wilson Middle School.
The original Wilson Junior High opened in 1958 during a wave of school building necessitated by the post-WW2 baby boom and the influx of students from Wethersfield, Barnesdale and other 1950s subdivisions. From 1940 to 1960, the Town’s population doubled, and schools were built to keep up.
By the 1990s, most other schools of the 1950s generation had been replaced or modernized to accommodate contemporary needs, funded by new tax revenue from the expansion of the Natick Mall. Natick also replaced our Town Hall, police station and downtown fire station. Wilson was a significant outlier to the modernization of our post-WW2 school updates. Further, it was undersized, out of date, with failing systems.
At the time, Natick had never approved a tax increase to fund a new building or support the operating budget. Persuading residents of the necessity and benefits of an investment in a new middle school proved challenging. In October 1999, the voters narrowly rejected a debt exclusion override vote in a special election.
The result left Natick in a dilemma. Wilson Middle School was aging poorly and providing a substandard educational setting. The opportunity to secure the limited window of 59% state reimbursement for school building assistance was closing. Competition for state school building assistance was as challenging then as it is today. With a groundswell of citizen support, the Board of Selectmen narrowly approved placing the question of a Wilson Middle School debt exclusion override on the November 2000 general election ballot.
A glimpse of the Natick Champions for Education website, c. 2000.
Recognizing the need for an inclusive and forward-looking vision for both education and the community, a citizen’s committee, Natick Champions for Education, rallied behind the tagline Together for Natick Schools. A broad-based campaign, supported by hundreds of volunteers including precinct captains, advisory committees and communication specialists, reached every corner of Natick with cable TV advertising, a website, email outreach, along with traditional mailings, signs and good old fashion canvassing. The campaign reached out to all in Natick including seniors, families with pre-school children, singles, and the business community. We shared information about the townwide school facilities studies, the consequences of a “no” vote, and the importance of modern schools for students and the community.
As we stated earlier, hundreds of volunteers pitched in. Maybe you were one of them! The campaign had facts, but personal relationships, positivity and credibility were essential to communicating with voters. Natick Champions for Education helped craft the message but it was individuals of all ages, families, businesses large and small, and trusted relationships that delivered the message.
To Natick’s credit, the question passed overwhelmingly by a margin of 61%-39%.
A broad base of voters sent a clear signal that our schools were a high priority, and that in turn helped to attract young families who sought out an affordable community that valued public education. The momentum of this effort led to eventually replacing the 1954 high school, the 1964 Kennedy Middle School, and investments in other town facilities. In addition, voters have twice increased property taxes to maintain town services and continue investing in education. These campaigns, and all the work of volunteer service represent broad-based civic engagement that reflects a strong community.
The values of engagement, accountability and responsible stewardship have become hallmarks of Natick. While perspectives on individual issues rightly differ, there is a shared expectation that our citizen-led government will thoughtfully balance the town’s needs with the public’s willingness to invest in local services.
The most significant lesson of “Yes on 9” was the readiness of people to set aside differences and work together towards a common goal. That is what helps make Natick the Home of Champions.
Josh Ostroff and Chris Weithman, volunteers for Natick Champions for Education
The Haunted House of Bacon Brook: A look at the land beneath Natick Community Organic Farm.
Written by: Cindy Tripp and Jennifer Richards
Long before seedlings, sap lines, and field trips, the hills beside Bacon Brook held a string of homes—and a legend. Fresh research traces a clear timeline of who lived here and how the place earned its eerie nickname, “the Haunted House,” a tale that later echoed through Harriet Beecher Stowe’s fiction.
The story begins in 1721–1753, when a sturdy parsonage rose on the site for the Rev. Oliver Peabody, minister of the Eliot Church. After Peabody, the property passed briefly to Captain Brown, and then into the hands of the Bacon family, who amassed hundreds of acres on both sides of the Charles River. By the late 1700s and early 1800s, John Bacon and his son had settled the place; afterward, Ira Bacon lived there before moving next door to his brother Willard. The old Peabody House—solidly built but weathered—stood empty, under intermittent repair, gathering rumors.
Ida H. Morse (1856-1932), Curator Natick Historical Society
According to Ida H. Morse (1856–1932)—Natick historian and first female curator of the Natick Historical Society—the “haunted” reputation started with a noisy prank. As the story goes, a lively Sherborn wedding band—on its way home and in high spirits—ducked into the deserted house to play one more raucous set. A passing farmer, late at night and none too steady himself, heard the clamor, bolted, and spread the word: the place was bewitched. The joke stuck, and the nickname did too.
Morse preserved another episode: two Natick boys, returning from a gunning trip, decided to “kill the old ghost” by firing into a door. Out rushed Ira Bacon. He chased them down, confiscated a “bull’s-eye” watch, and years later—after Ira’s death—the chastened family quietly returned it. Recorded by Morse in 1903, these incidents kept the legend alive for a new generation of readers and walkers along the brook.
Morse’s contribution to local history was more than anecdote. She served as curator for the Natick Historical Society for thirty years, shaping the organization's early collecting efforts. After she died in 1932, Mabel Parmenter succeeded her and continued in the curator role for more than three decades, maintaining and expanding the Society’s care of collections and community memory.
By 1867, while repairs were underway, the derelict structure burned. Yet the legend had one more life to give. That same era, Harriet Beecher Stowe—in Sam Lawson’s Fireside Stories, successor to Oldtown Folks—retold a version as “The Ghost in the Cap’n Brown House.” Stowe’s Cap’n Brown was no invention: Captain Brown appears in the chain of owners, and her tale cemented the site’s gothic reputation across New England parlors.
After the fire, the land changed hands again. In 1874, the old Peabody/Bacon farm was sold at auction; by 1880, it belonged to Albert Mead. In the twentieth century, it became Elmbrook, a 24-acre farm owned by Miss Jane Patten, who built a tall white dwelling in 1905. That house, too, was lost to arson in the 1960s. In time, fields and stone walls welcomed a new chapter: the Natick Community Organic Farm.
Today, visitors stroll where ministers preached, farmers labored, musicians caroused, and—thanks to curators like Ida Morse and Mabel Parmenter—stories were preserved. The Haunted House may be gone, but its history endures—part mischief, part cautionary tale, and wholly Natick.
Want to learn more? Explore Ida Morse’s accounts and Stowe’s “The Ghost in the Cap’n Brown House,” and visit the Natick Historical Society and the Natick Community Organic Farm to walk the ground where history—and folklore—took root.
Ridge Hill Farms: William Emerson Baker’s Beautiful and Bizarre Estate
The Greatest Show on Ridge Hill
Bill Bruin's Funeral, Natick Historical Society Photo Collection. Watercolor by unidentified artist, [circa 1874]
Trudy Reisner, Natick Historical Society Researcher
Natick Historical Society
Have you ever visited the Natick Historical Society Museum and seen the remarkable glass pig artifact that belonged to William Emerson Baker? Although Baker’s extravagant estate, Ridge Hill Farms, was located in Wellesley, we’re fortunate to have several related artifacts in our collection—including this one-of-a-kind glass pig, which is currently on display in our Cabinet of Curiosities.
Baker gave the pig to his wife, Charlotte Augusta Farnsworth, in September 1885 to celebrate their 15th (crystal) wedding anniversary—though the pig appears to be made of glass rather than crystal. It also served as an invitation to their whimsical “Pork and Bean Reception.” The pig was filled with baked beans, symbolizing New England hospitality, and decorated with blue ribbons tied around its curling tail, from which directions to the party dangled.
Discover the Emerson-Baker Estate: A Gilded Age Marvel in Natick’s Backyard
Step into the world of William Emerson Baker, an eccentric inventor, entrepreneur, and social reformer who turned Ridge Hill Farms into a spectacular estate blending scientific ideals with whimsical design. From underground caverns to glass pig invitations, Baker’s estate was a serious experiment in social progress and a playful spectacle that drew thousands of visitors in the 1870s. Explore this fascinating chapter of Natick’s history through rare artifacts, documents, maps, and photos from the Natick Historical Society’s collection.
With gratitude to Trudy Reisner, Natick Historical Society Volunteer Researcher, for her enthusiasm and dedication to uncovering and preserving Natick’s story.
Curious to learn more?
Explore the full story in the Natick Report: [Click here to read the full article.]
Caesar & John Ferrit: Two of Natick’s Black Patriots
Written by Niki Lefebvre, Executive Director of the Natick Historical Society, May 15, 2025
On April 19, 1775, two Natick men stationed themselves inside a house in Lexington and waited for British soldiers to march past on their retreat from Concord. When they saw the red coats, the men fired and then hid under the cellar stairs. They avoided capture even as British soldiers searched the home.
The two men were Caesar Ferrit and his son, John. Caesar had been born on a Caribbean island in 1720 and was known to have claimed that he had the “blood of four nations in his veins”: Dutch, French, Indigenous Caribbean, and African. John was 22 years old at the time. He was the sixth of Caesar’s seven children and probably the first to have been born in Natick. Caesar’s wife, Naomi, was an English woman who had been raised in Boston. Thomas Ferrit, John’s older brother, also served on April 19, but Caesar and John enlisted for several more months in 1775 and twice more later in the war.
Access the complete article from the Natick Report by following this link.
Black Patriots at the Battle of Lexington from Black Patriots of Lexington YouTube Series
A Natick Champion: The Inspiring Tale of Jack Starrett, Who Conquered the English Channel & Triumphed Over Cerebral Palsy
John Starrett at London Airport July 24, 1964. Weeks before his successful swim across the English Channel.
October 8, 2024
When John “Jack” Starrett, Jr. was born with cerebral palsy in 1925, his doctors gave him a few years to live. He quickly proved that he had other plans. Originally a form of physical therapy, long-distance swimming became a passion and way of life for Starrett, and it took him all over the world and across the English Channel.
Starrett’s roots are local. He lived his whole life in Massachusetts and spent the peak of his career in Natick. To fund his passion for swimming, he worked as a game warden and conservation worker with the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. Coached by Louis Antonellis of Waltham, Starrett spent four to six hours each day training in local bodies of water, including Lake Cochituate in Natick, Dudley Pond in Wayland, and the Atlantic Ocean. He competed in races in Gloucester with other local marathon swimmers from Massachusetts. He taught many children to swim at the Natick Summer Swimming Program, the Y.M.C.A in Natick and at Dudley Pond.
By 1948, Starrett was a professional swimmer competing in races in Canada, Europe, Africa, and South America with the World Federation of Marathon Swimmers. He even won a marathon swim at a Canadian Expedition attended by Queen Elizabeth II. In a 1981 interview with the Natick Sun, Starrett described himself as “one of the first few pro marathoners.”
From nearly the outset of his career, Starrett set his sights on completing a solo crossing of the English Channel. Although a professional and accomplished athlete, Starrett frequently shared that he could not make a living solely from long-distance swimming; Starrett needed a sponsor to help raise the $5,000 he needed to cross the English Channel. He found a sponsor in the United Cerebral Palsy Foundation of America. The charity used Starrett’s story to raise money and awareness for cerebral palsy. On August 4, 1964, Jack Starrett successfully crossed the English Channel. The 22-mile swim from France to England took him twelve hours and forty-five minutes. He was the first person with a physical disability to complete the swim. Afterward, he stated: “I hope my success will provide inspiration for anyone else who suffers from an affliction.”
Follow this link to read the rest of the article from the Natick Report.
Special to Natick Report from the Natick Historical Society.
Written by Gail Coughlin, updated by Jennifer Richards
President George Washington’s Morning Ride Through Natick
On November 3, 1789, George Washington, the newly-elected and first President of the United States, traveled right through what is now South Natick. He was accompanied by a team of four horses, two advisors (Tobias Lear and William Jackson), a baggage wagon and driver, six servants, at least two enslaved people, and his white charger, Prescott. A celebrated Revolutionary War hero, President Washington, and all Americans faced an uncertain future. After all, it had only been five months since the Constitution’s ratification, and many considered the document controversial. As he prepared to lead the new nation, Washington set out on a sixty-town tour of New England. Perhaps a few fortunate Natick residents saw their new President as he passed through.
Follow this link to read the rest of the article from the Natick Report.
When Natick was Crowned Home of Champions, and Firefighting was an Olympic Sport
One of the Champions! "Pooch" Donovan, Harvard Trainer. (Undated, NHS Collections)
Even though the summer Olympics have ended, we are still discussing sports at the Natick Historical Society. Inspired, some of us have picked up our old swim caps and goggles or hit the track running!
Many of you know Natick’s nickname, “Home of Champions,” but you may not know its origin story. Although Natick is home to many celebrated athletes, the original moniker dates back to September 3, 1891, specifically to a Hook and Ladder Competition at the New England Fair in Worcester. Hearty local crews from Natick, Westborough, Leominster, and Spencer squared off for what they called “The World’s Hook and Ladder Championship.” The event was based on firefighting skills that were important at that time. Team members had to run 220 yards and get their heavy ladder wagon rolling fast enough to put a man at the top of a 28-foot platform! Sadly, Spencer dropped their ladder and was disqualified immediately.
Follow this link to read the rest of the article from the Natick Report.