Sources

Republished from "Images of America: Clinton", by Terrance Ingano, published by Arcadia Publishing.

*Republished from "The History of Clinton" by Terrance Ingano.

Did you know? Trivia from Clinton's past

The oldest baseball diamond in the world is Fuller Field in Clinton, which has been proven to have hosted baseball from 1878 to the present day. (Source)
Guinness recognizes history of Fuller Field
Heirloom diamond: Clinton ball field crowned as world’s oldest

Clinton's Colonial Press was the first publishing company to get the Warren Commission Report out into the hands of the public. (Source)

The Fox 25 Morning News visited Clinton as part of their "Zip Trips" series on August 25, 2006. The show was broadcast live from Central Park, giving the town three hours in the regional media spotlight.

Clamshell Pond is the first area in Clinton to be settled by Europeans and has been a farming area for more than 300 years.

The Clinton Item once "scooped the world". Shortly after the famous sinking of the Titanic on April 14, 1912, it was learned that another ship, The Californian, was nearby and disregarded the doomed vessel's distress flares and rockets. On April 21, W.F. McGregor, the carpenter on The Californian [then docked in Boston], visited his cousin, John Frazer, in Clinton and told an Item reporter all about it.*

Mark Twain once lectured here on November 15 and 16, 1869. Twain spoke to Clintonians about his travels to the Sandwich Islands [now Hawaii]. He stayed at the Clinton House, a well-known hotel on the corner of High and Church Streets. Thanks to a dusty bed and a barking dog, Twain was very glad to leave.*

One of John Brown's captains was from Clinton. When the famous abolitionist and his men gathered at the Harper's Ferry, VA armory, Brown told Charles Plummer Tidd of Clinton to claim a nearby schoolhouse to receive new recruits and supplies. Tidd, originally from Maine, escaped [Brown did not] and returned to Clinton. His photo and bio are on permanent display at the John Brown Museum at Harper's Ferry.*

The "Human Fly", Jack Williams performed in Clinton. Williams climbed straight up the face of the Doggett building on High Street one cold November day during World War I. Just for fun, he faked a fall from the fourth to the third floor. Over 2,500 Clintonians turned out to see him.*

The original Clinton Fire Station, constructed in the 1860's, cost only $675 to build.

President Rutherford B. Hayes visited Clinton in 1877, except no one knew that he was coming. A reporter described the President as "a man who looked like he'd been camping for a week or two".

The last stone was set in place in the Wachusett Dam on June 24, 1905 by John Mercer, who also laid the first stone in place in June of 1901.

Saint John's Cemetery, containing about 4,000 bodies, had to be moved to make way for the digging of the Wachusett Reservoir.

Screen windows did not exist until The Clinton Wire Cloth Company began manufacturing woven metal in 1856.

A 1934 train wreck behind 922 Main Street was called the "Potato Wreck", due to the thousands of potatoes that littered the area after the crash (The train was arriving from Maine).

The Wachusett Dam is actually 240 feet in height. However, we only see about half of it, as 125 of those feet lie below ground.

The largest oxen in the world, Granger and Mt. Katahdin, weighing in at a combined 9,000 pounds, appeared at the 1906 Clinton Fair.

Legend states that a young Indian couple jumped to their deaths from Lover's Leap, above Green Street, before they could be broken up by opposing tribal families.

Agnes Moorehead, famous for her role as Endora on TV's "Bewitched", was born in Clinton.

Clarence Brown, born in Clinton, went on to Hollywood to direct such films as "The Yearling", "National Velvet", "Anna Christie", and "Angels in The Outfield".

Sydney Schanberg, Class of 1951, received the Pulitzer prize for international reporting for his coverage of the fall of Phnom Penh. His friendship with his Cambodian assistant, Dith Pran, was the basis for the film, "The Killing Fields".

The ill-fated SS Titanic contained carpets that were manufactured by the Bigelow Carpet Company, the first major textile industry in town.

The Clinton Light Guard was the forerunner to today's National Guard unit, organized with 50 local men in 1853.

Besides being one of the most amazing engineering feats in history, the Wachusett Dam is the largest "hand dug" dam in the world today.