There it Sits
By Joan Osgood
There it sits, unassuming and mostly forgotten. The significance it held for generations of Sandwich residents lost to history.
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I’m speaking of the grassy half-acre park located in Jarvesville at the corner of Factory and Jarves Streets.
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As we townspeople and tourists alike drive down Jarves Street and onto Factory Street on our way to our famous boardwalk, some may look to the left and give it a passing glance. But, come on, we’re on the way to the boardwalk—step on it!
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Back in the early to late 1800s this park was part of the vast property owned by the Boston and Sandwich (B&S) Glass Company and its founder, Deming Jarves. In fact, most of the area of land “below the tracks” was connected in some way with the factory. The Industrial Revolution had arrived in Sandwich.
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Picture it. The imposing brick buildings, characteristic of a busy factory with smoke billowing from massive stacks; oxen teams traveling our streets carting huge loads of logs to feed the factory’s furnaces and marsh hay to pack the glass for shipping; insistent clanging from the bell tower declaring a shift change; workers scurrying from their tenement homes to be on time for their shifts; goods offloaded from offshore sailing packets and onto barges to be transported over the marsh to the factory.
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And then settled in the middle of all this hustle and bustle was this small park. It had numerous names attached to it through the years. The first name I found in print was Factory Park. Well, that makes sense.
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As the success of the factory grew, more company-owned houses and tenements were built to house the influx of workers. By the 1830s it was apparent that a school was needed to accommodate the children of the factory’s workers. The park provided a convenient location for the Jarvesville school, which stood for many years. However, by 1850 the first school building was removed and replaced by a larger one built at the corner of George’s Rock Road and Factory Street (later that end of the street become Dewey Avenue).
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This left the subject of our story, the small park, vacant. But not for long. This is the part of the story that I like best.
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The park’s potential was finally recognized. In Russell Lovell’s book, Sandwich, A Cape Cod Town, as well as in various news articles of the day, it was noted that in 1851 Deming Jarves had turned the neglected park into a beautiful public space! Stately elm trees circled the entire park’s boundary, several flower gardens were planted, and an ornamental wrought iron fence was installed with an entrance facing Factory Street. And in the center an attractive bubbling water fountain was installed! Can you imagine? It was no longer just a green space that had somehow survived amidst the factory’s busy operations. Now it was a beautiful haven that encouraged neighbors to meet, family picnics, walks, and breaks from daily routine.
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A copy of the letterhead used by the B&S Glass Company in the 1850s appears in Ray Barlow & Joan Kaiser’s book, The Glass Industry in Sandwich. It clearly shows the park after its transformation. They must have been quite proud of it.
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1850s B&S Glass Co. letterhead showing St. John’s Park in the foreground. Source: Glass Industry in Sandwich by Ray Barlow & Joan Kaiser
​However, the name puzzled me. Why St. John’s Park? We do have our St. John’s Episcopal Church on Main Street. Perhaps that’s where the name originated. But records show that the church wasn’t built until 1899, way after the park was named St. John’s. So that didn’t appear to me to be the answer—until I found that it was.
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In 1854 an effort began to bring the Episcopal Church, then a fairly new religious society, to Sandwich. John W. Jarves, son of Deming Jarves, was the leading proponent of this movement. The church was formed and services were held in various halls and buildings until the actual structure onMain Street was finally built in 1899, 45 years later! Obviously, naming the park St. John’s was the Jarves family’s tribute to the newly formed Episcopal society. Mystery solved. That said, it was sometimes referred to as Fountain Park.​
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St. John’s Park (Fountain Park) – note the fountain within the gated park. Boston & Sandwich Glass Factory in the background. Courtesy of Sandwich Town Archives.
I’m not sure how long St. John’s was maintained as the lovely park it had become. Sadly, not long, I think.
In 1858 Deming Jarves attended a board of director’s meeting of the B&S Glass Company and handed in his resignation. This action was the culmination of many years of dispute between Jarves and the company’s board. However, in a short time he built a new factory on Willow Street. But that’s another story for another time.
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After the B&S Glass Company closed, the numerous lots that comprised the factory’s property changed ownership many times and various businesses settled into the buildings. But none were successful for any length of time.
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A portion of Jane “Jennie” Bradford Jones Map depicting the Glass Factory days of 1825-1888. Note her inclusion of St. John’s Park with fountain, fence and trees.
​Years pass. The next mention of our park I found in the Sandwich Observer. It reported on a great town-wide celebration for the 4th of July in 1898. It pleased me to read that walks had been laid out, a bandstand was built, and “the old common...had regained some of its former splendor.” The news article described a grand parade led by the Sandwich Military Band, ladies and men in festive costumes, banners being flown, and elaborately decorated houses.
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And again…a new name for the park. As part of the celebration, it was dedicated as Manila Park. Manila Park? Really? Sort of an odd name for a park. Thankfully, another news item in the Sandwich Independent brought things into focus. It mentioned that the Post Office hung a large flag with the words: “Remember the Maine.”
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Of course. The Spanish American War and the Battle of Manila Bay! Our country was embroiled in that war in 1898. It seems clear that the residents of our town wanted to honor our country and those serving by selecting Manila as the park’s name. For the same reason the town also dedicated the green across from Town Hall as Dewey Square. This patriotic 4th of July theme carried through to the grand finale when “a fake Spanish gunboat was blown up” on Shawme Lake.
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We finally come to the park’s name that I’ve always known. Those of us growing up in Sandwich during the 1940s and 1950s called it McLaughlin’s Park. There were neither trees (well, maybe a few) nor a fountain nor a fence nor gardens. Nothing. It was bare, but it was ours, and always in use by neighborhood kids. Baseball, soccer, tag, marbles, croquet (our version of it) you name it—we were there for hours on end. ​
But back to the name. At a special town meeting on Wednesday, July 11, 1928, article 10 of the warrant stated, “To see if the Town will vote to purchase from Keith Car and Manufacturing Co. the property known as the Fountain lot, and raise and appropriate money for purchase of same.” The vote carried and $300 was appropriated. Upon a motion by Williard E. Boyden, it was also voted that the lot be known as the George T. McLaughlin Memorial Park.
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McLaughlin had died only 40 days prior. He was a Sandwich native who worked in the factory as a young man and became a well-regarded, benevolent citizen of our town. He had been our selectman and President Woodrow Wilson appointed him postmaster. He was also an astute businessman who owned the New England Piano and Organ Company in Boston.
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Naming the park in McLaughlin’s honor is not surprising. Townspeople remembered his personal involvement and tireless advocacy for the glass factory workers and their families. He tapped into his Boston business contacts as part of his numerous efforts to raise capital and find investors to keep the glass factory going and the workers employed.
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George McLaughlin (1846-1928) – standing in middle of front row with derby hat on. Courtesy of Sandwich Historical Society.
The vote at the town meeting in 1928 naming it the George T. McLaughlin Memorial Park was surely a declaration by our townspeople that they wished his efforts on the town’s behalf to be remembered in future generations.
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Sandwich celebrates the 200th anniversary of the opening of our glass factory this year. Our small park sits where it has always been. Waiting. Waiting to be used and waiting for a little recognition. After all these years, considering the 1928 town meeting vote and the upcoming 200th anniversary, a George T. McLaughlin Memorial Park sign installed by the town would seem appropriate.
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Special thanks for assisting me with my research goes to Taylor White, Town Clerk; Jen Ratliff, Town Archivist; and Olivia Padula, Curator of Collections at the Sandwich Glass Museum.)
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