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The Martha s Vineyard Times This Was Then: Chief King Very slow cows and blue light bulbs. 1 of 2 Dixon Renear, William Carroll, and Chief William King, about 1958, on Union Street, Vineyard Haven. Ford dealer Dixon Renear hands over the keys to the town s first cruiser. Prior to this, patrolmen were paid $1 per day for the use of their cars. The Union Street police station (existing from about 1944 until 1965) is visible on the right. Courtesy Barbara Baldwin Chief King inside the Union Street station. Courtesy Barbara Baldwin Before 911, before police radios and walkie-talkies, there were blue light bulbs over Main Street, Vineyard Haven. When a call for help came in, the telephone company switched on the light to signal the Tisbury police, like a Vineyard Haven Bat-Signal. ....
The Martha s Vineyard Times This Was Then: Superintendent of streets Keeping the streets clean in Vineyard Haven in the early 1940s was no work for slouches. George Sears and Mike Fontes, Vineyard Haven, circa 1940s. Courtesy Chris Baer “You didn’t have tractors, you didn’t have the machinery that you got today,” recalled the late Basil Welch of Vineyard Haven in a 1982 recording. “We had an old 1936 ton-and-a-half dump truck, and we put a plow on it that had to be pumped up and released by hand. We used to go out and plow snow with that thing. You had to put chains on the back wheels, and that was in the days when before you plowed the streets, you shoveled the sidewalks. [The Tisbury Highway Department] used to hire the school kids to shovel the sidewalks away from Main Street, but we used to shovel the sidewalks on Main Street and then plow the snow on Main Street. Then we had to shovel all the snow that was on the street into the trucks ....
The Martha s Vineyard Times This Was Then: Some assembly required Chicken, Boots, and Buss 1 of 4 At the train terminus in Woods Hole, where Vineyard Haven men, under the employ of Island Ford dealer Walter Renear, would unload and assemble “knocked-down” Model Ts to bring to the Vineyard. Circa 1919. Courtesy Chris Baer “Boots” Andrews, “Buss” Smith, Frank Amaral, and “Chicken” Baptiste, all of Vineyard Haven, circa 1919. Courtesy Chris Baer Frank Amaral, Buss Smith, and Chicken Baptiste. Oil light brackets can be seen on the lower windshield corners. Courtesy Chris Baer From left: unidentified, “Chicken” Baptiste, “Boots” Andrews, unidentified, “Buss” Smith, Frank Amaral. Courtesy Chris Baer ....
The Martha s Vineyard Times 1 of 5 Dolph Manning’s horse winds a turnstile pulling a building along Water Street, Vineyard Haven. The building was moved from the rear of Cronig’s Market on Church Street, to the corner of what’s now the post office parking lot at Five Corners. Manning’s home was on Water Street, just off the frame to the left, on the site now occupied by Stop & Shop as a storage building. Photo by Basil Welch. The late Basil Welch recalled Manning’s employer, Harry Horton: “Harry used to move houses. And he moved a lot of houses. The biggest fault I ve got to find with Harry is he never took any pictures of the houses he moved! In our collection of pictures we are fortunate enough to have one little set of pictures of Harry moving what used to be Mike Fontes paint shop, across Water Street and with the horse and the turnstile. I took those pictures myself when I worked at Dukes County Garage, and boy I ll never be sorry that I took ....