The Town Meeting April 5th will determine the commitment ofOURcommunity to its outstanding and unique heritage. As the Local History teacher at Oliver Ames High School for a quarter of a century and the cooriginator in 1975 of walking tours for all fifth grader students, I have had the pleasure of sharing our unique heritage with many of you. The Ames shovel business not only is two years older than theDeclaration of Independence but also represents the Easton lives of somany generations before us.

The workers in the Ames Shovel Company and related support systems were the backbone of the company that at one time produced sixty-percent of theworld’s shovels. The shovel was the implement during the eighteen hundreds that really developed our country including roads, canals, railroad beds, and the early Boston subway. The profits provided schools, a building for the band to practice and physical education to occur, a park, a free library, religious buildings, a cemetery, and to all who remember— elementary school Christmas parties even during the Great Depressionwhen the only gift one received might be the one from Mrs. Frothingham.

In addition, today we not only receive approximately a million dollars in endowments each year but also enjoy, in addition to the facilities already mentioned, “Sheep Pasture”, “Borderland”, other conservation areas, a Town Office that cost us one dollar, and the works of great artisans such as H. H. Richardson, Frederick Law Olmsted, John LaFarge, John Ames Mitchell, Augustus St. Gaudens, and Stanford White. The heart of this heritage is the Ames Shovel Complex identified as one of the eleven most endangered sites in our country. April 5th is the ONE OPPORTUNITY to preserve our heritage.

Save our past by attending April 5th and voting “YES”, so that future generations will enjoy the extraordinary heritage of OUR COMMUNITY. (The money is available.)