Anne Geissler is fundraising

Save Natick Dam Save Wildlife
The Falls on the Charles River in Natick is the most revered, most visited, and in general most loved historic site in Natick. This iconic place has been the pride of our community for more than a century. Records show that the first dam was built around 1732 and a dam has stood in that spot since then. It is a fact that there has been a dam here in Natick since even before the United States became a country in 1776. Most of the community either doesn’t know, or doesn’t understand how removing the Falls will impact the environment, the landscape, the recreation, the wildlife and the Town in general.
The dam and the parks adjacent to it are listed on the National Register of Historic Places
Newspaper clippings from 1934, the year the dam was completed, reported that 3,000 people attended the Sunday event, including a U.S. senator.
“Rarely in the history of the town has such a distinguished gathering assembled here,” one clipping said
In 1934 The gushing newspaper reviews continued;
One piece called it a “work of gratifying perfection.” The spillway’s “lacy, silvery water-fall,” the report said, was a jewel.
“There are not adjectives enough in the English language to adequately express the beauty which is to be found at this recreation spot…” another article read.
According to Charlotte Diamant, the Wellesley College student that researched and published the history of the Natick Dam
- ”When I started this project, I had no idea how important the construction of the present day dam was to Natick residents. Townspeople fought hard to build this dam, even against tremendous economic and logistical hurdles. Support for the project was so strong, in fact that Town employees offered to contribute 7.3 percent of their annual wages to the construction of the new dam at a town meeting in 1934! This may seem like a relatively unimportant antidote , but it was shocking to me that a group of public servants - generally underpaid to begin with - would voluntarily give up such a significant portion of their income for a public works project in the midst of an economic crisis.”
Read Charlotte’s complete presentation
https://www.natickhistoricalsociety.org/community-stories/2020/11/9/a-conversation-with-researcher-charlotte-diamant-about-her-work-on-the-south-natick-dam
Please donate what you can to prevent the distruction of the Falls
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