Boston's Record Snow Winters

 This is a repeat of a 2015 column that acknowledged 2014-15 being a record snow winter for Boston. Since then, most were in the normal range of 30-50 inches, but the 2022-23 winter was a near-record low of 11.6 inches.

History shows a very wide range between high- and low snow winters

There are winters wherein February sees the first crocuses of spring, but it is not this year. There are years wherein the first returning robins are already arriving, but it is not this year. There are years the snow blower goes untouched, the snowmobile trailered to Maine, but not this year. This year we struggle against the white, the ever recurring, ever piling higher snows of the winter of 2014-15. By all that you hold dear on this frozen earth, you must shovel, women and men of Massachusetts.   

This winter's snow is rapidly closing in on setting a new record for Boston, for Worcester, and for points in between. These cities, each with 125 years of weather data, average 44 and 64 inches, respectively. The snowiest winter on record for both cities was 1995-96, at 107.6 and 132.9 inches. As of February 23rd, Boston is at 99.8 inches and Worcester 107.7 inches. This winter already ranks second for Boston, with every expectation that it will finish as the snowiest winter in recorded history. Worcester is currently fifth snowiest.  

Snowfall measurement methods are described in great detail in a document from the National Weather Service. Briefly, if snow is falling continuously, depth in the measuring device is measured every six hours, the device emptied and set out again. Results are added up.   

One reason for this record-breaking season is that all snow is not created equal. Wet snow means that 6-8 inches converts to one inch of water, but the northeasters that have been repeatedly sweeping through our area have been cold enough to generate powdery snow that is averaging 17-18 inches per inch of water. Telling here is that the thirty days of storms that put so much snow on the ground will in time melt to only five inches of water - not much above average for this time of year.  

Parking meters near CVS

Other reasons are meteorological. Weather forecasting professionals toss about terms such as North Atlantic Oscillation, the "Ridiculously Resilient Ridge" and Polar Vortex.  The net result was that over a short period of time the storms were colder, larger, and every storm dumped on eastern Massachusetts, with little melting in between.       

Whatever happened to global warming? The short answer is that New England is getting wetter faster than it is getting warmer. For Boston, over a 120-year period the average temperature has gotten one degree (F) warmer, but 10 percent wetter. As a result, winter is two weeks shorter, but six of the top ten snowiest winters have occurred in the last 22 years. As storms track up the east coast the warmer (and thus wetter) air over the ocean blows inland over/atop cold air, resulting in snow, snow and more snow.

At some point in the future this will mean more winters of wet snow, sleet, ice storms and rain. Portland, Maine has already experienced the crossover: weather records dating back to 1870 show two degrees of warming, a 15 percent increase in total precipitation, but a decrease in annual snowfall from 75 to 65 inches. When it comes, the crossover will affect Boston before it impacts the inland cities and towns.

The first paragraph of this column was a riff on the "But it is not this day" pre-battle speech in The Lord of the Rings movie, The Return of the King. Other fictional pre-battle speeches to outnumbered, underdog troops include those from movies Braveheart and Independence Day, and the progenitor of them all, the St. Crispin's Day speech from Shakespeare's play, Henry V. That speech gave us five repeats of "...this day..." and also the line "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers..." See below. 

NOTES

The Lord of the Rings/The Return of the King (Lord Aragorn speaking)

Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers!
I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me.
A day may come when the courage of Men fails,
When we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship,
But it is not this day.
An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the Age of Man comes crashing down,
But it is not this day!
This day we fight!
By all that you hold dear on this good earth,
I bid you stand, Men of the West!

Henry V (King Henry V speaking)

What's he that wishes so?
My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin:
If we are mark'd to die, we are enow [enough]
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires:
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England:
God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more, methinks, would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

 

 

Yucca as Assabet River Rail Trail Plantings

Yucca and other flowering plants at Maple & Brooks

In eastern Massachusetts, if you’ve seen a low-to-the-ground plant with very long, very stiff, ‘sword-shaped’ leaves that come to a sharp point it is most likely a species of yucca known as Adam’s Needle. More than a dozen have been planted in Maynard adjacent to or near the Assabet River Rail Trail, courtesy of unsold plants from the Maynard Community Gardeners annual plant sale, donated to Trail of Flowers (www.trailofflowers.com). Look for a couple of nice specimens at the intersection of Maple and Brooks streets, fronting a stone wall. The wall itself is not a historic remnant, but rather a twenty-first century build.

Yucca is a genus of some 40-50 species of perennial shrubs and trees notable for their rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped leaves and large terminal panicles of white or whitish flowers. They are native to the Americas and the Caribbean in a wide range of habitats, from humid rainforest and wet subtropical ecosystems to the hot and dry deserts and savanna. A few species are winter hardy and popular as landscape plants.

Trail of Flowers signage, north of Summer Street

Adams’s Needle (Yucca filimentosa) is native to the southeast – Virginia to Florida – but is winter hardy to Zone 4, meaning it can prosper well up into Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Plants grow to about three feet tall and wide. Each plant has a central core from which the leaves radiate symmetrically and also near-vertical to flat, so the plant can be thought of as roughly hemisphere-shaped. Leaves are kept through winter. New cores emerge inches to a foot away from the original plant. As years pass, leaves closest to the ground turn brown and die, but are still firmly attached to a core. In time the cores rot, and entire dead plants can be removed by hand, leaving more room for the adjacent younger plants.

This species prefers full sun and well-drained soil, as shade will stunt growth and wet soil rot the roots. In time, it develops a large, fleshy, white taproot with deep lateral roots. Once planted and established, it is difficult to remove, as any remnant roots keep sending up new shoots.

In addition to the green-leafed native plant, Adam’s needle comes in colorful cultivars: Bright Edge, Color Guard, Golden Sword, Blue Sentry, Garland's Gold and Excalibur. For all, the leaves bear tiny thread-like filaments around their edges, which appear as if the plant is peeling. Images can be found via internet search. Nurseries carry cultivars or can special order. Beyond the first year, the plants are drought-resistant and do not need fertilizing. Plants can live up to 50 years.

Yucca clusters can put up 
multiple flowering stalks

Once well established, Adam’s Needle plants produce flower stalks decorated with bell-shaped flowers. The stalks can exceed eight feet in height and will display dozens of waxy, off-white-colored flowers. The flowers last for several weeks. The stalks die, and need to be cut. The flowers are considered edible, either raw, added to salads, or added to broth-type soups, akin to using unopened daylily flower buds in hot-and-sour soup or Thai Pho. (Do not eat Easter lily buds. All parts of Easter lilies are extremely toxic for domestic cats, causing acute kidney failure. Evidence for toxicity for dogs and humans is vague, but to be on the safe side, don't.) 

Not here, but in native areas in the southeast, Adam’s Needle flowers are pollinated by yucca moths. The moths transfer pollen from the stamens of one plant to the stigma of another, and at the same time lays an egg in the flower; the moth caterpillar then feeds on some of the developing fruit/seeds but can leave enough seeds to perpetuate the species. Each flower develops a fruit that is about two inches long, edible raw or cooked after the bitter seeds are removed. In the southeast, Native Americans split the leaves to make ropes, fishing nets and baskets. Peeled roots, pounded between rocks and mixed with water, make a lather than can be used to wash hair (A related species, native to the southwest, has the common name "soapweed".)

Other winter-hardy species that may be available for purchase from nurseries are Soapweed, Banana Yucca, Beaked Yucca, Spanish Dagger and Dwarf Yucca. These can flourish in Zone 5, which includes eastern Massachusetts.

 

Maynard Automobile History

Dr. Frank U. Rich and his daughter in his second automobile

The men of Maynard were not just buying a car - they were buying cars! Dr. Frank U. Rich is pictured in his second car, and he bought a third steam-powered car in 1909. The Harriman brothers went through multiple cars, with selling their slightly used cars to Stow or Maynard residents. New cars came with more horsepower and new features such as steering wheels, fenders and headlights.  

The first automobile owned in Maynard, a Stanley Steamer, was purchased by Dr. Frank U. Rich in 1899. He bought another Stanley Steamer in 1906. Rich lived in a house on Summer Street that was later moved to the north end of Florida Street (still standing) to make room for a new school around 1915. A photo in the collection of the Maynard Historic Society shows Rich in a Waltham Steam car (his third car), at his house, with his family and John Adams, his chauffeur, the first African American to live in Maynard.

The Stanley Motor Carriage Company was started by twin Stanley brothers in Watertown, Massachusetts. Until around 1912, steam car technology was superior to internal combustion engine gas technology despite the inconvenience of having to heat the boiler (with non-explosive kerosene) before starting the car. The Stanley brothers even advertised that their cars were safer than “internal explosion engine” cars. But the technology of the latter kept improving, so that the steam car era came to an end in the 1920s.

Rich (1857-1912) had been involved in an interesting murder case. Chester S. Jordan was convicted in May 1909 of murdering his wife in 1908. Just days after the conviction, Willis A, White, one of the jurors, was committed to an insane asylum. Jordan’s lawyer appealed on the grounds that White was insane during the trial. Rich testified that as White’s family physician, he, White’s wife and neighbors agreed that White’s mental health had been failing for some time, perhaps a consequence of an earlier head injury. Countering this, the prosecuting attorney interviewed the other 11 jurors, who testified that White had participated in all aspects of the one day of jury deliberation that it took to convict, without any indication of a deteriorating mental state. The verdict stood. Jordan was executed in 1912.

Persons' 1904 Ford Model A on Main Street. Note trolley tracks
and in the background, the Naylor Building before it burned in 1917. 

Charles H. Persons, Town Clerk, member of the House of Representatives, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, president of the Assabet Savings Bank and owner of C.H. Persons, Pianos, Organs and other Musical Instruments, purchased the first Ford in town in 1904. This was a Ford Model A, equipped with an 8 horsepower gas engine and providing a top speed of 28 mph. Photos in the collection of the Maynard Historical Society show the car as driven by Fred Persons (brother? son?) wearing a cloth cap while Charles is in the back seat, sporting a bowler hat. Unlike the later Model T – initially available only in black – the Model A was available only in red. Ford reused letter designations, so that A (1903-04), B (1904, a luxury car) and C (1904-05, an economy model) came before the famous Model T (1908-27) and the subsequent popular Model A (1927-31).

Persons’ car bore the license plate numbered 5986, issued in 1904. Massachusetts first began issuing licenses and registration plates in June of 1903 as a result of Chapter 473 of the Acts of 1903.The first plate, featuring the number "1" printed on it, was issued to Frederick Tudor in 1903 and is still held as an active registration by a member of his family. The same law also required that drivers have a driver’s license. 

The Harriman brothers, of Harriman Bros. New Method Laundry Co. also initially went in for steam-powered vehicles, but gas engines were a coming thing. Frank and Rowland, sons of John and Harriet Harriman, had an ice cream shop in their father’s building on Main Street, where Bud’s Variety store is now located, then in 1890 launched their ‘dry cleaning’ laundry business. Over time they expanded until it employed 75 people and completely occupied all 15,000 square feet of the three-story building. Dirty laundry was picked up by horse-drawn wagons, later gas-powered trucks, at households, then delivered a few days later cleaned, ironed and folded.

Frank and Rowland were big fans of cars. Frank is recorded as purchasing his second car in 1903. Rowland bought a car in 1904, two in 1906 and another in 1910. Frank is mentioned as being car sales agent for E.M.F. automobiles in 1909. The brothers later sold the laundry business and moved to Florida.

By 1910, there were two car dealers in town, repair shops, gas stations, car rental businesses, attempts to control speeding, and the first reported accident (Frank Harriman driving, small boy hit, bruised but otherwise unharmed). By 1925 the town’s annual report numbered 879 motor vehicles in Maynard. The horse count had dropped from a peak of 256 in 1899 to 70. A few horses were still in Maynard into the 1950s. As of 2025, there are two used car dealerships, two rental businesses, four gas stations and several car or truck repair and parts establishments. No horses.

Leapin' Lena, in repose

An article about automobiles cannot be complete without mention of Leapin’ Lena. Residents with long memories can tell tales of a tricked out car that participated in Maynard parades from the 1927 into the early 1960s. Lena was built through the efforts of Frank Parks, Ray Carruth, Joseph Dineen, Eddie Johnson and other men associated with the local American Legion Post #235. Frank and Ray had been inspired by a stunt car they saw at a performance of the Barnum & Bailey Circus. The American Legion crew started with an open-topped Ford Model T. The wheelbase was shortened. The car body was shifted back. Concrete was used to add weight to the rear, and steel skid plates were bolted to the underside of the back end.

With two people seated in front and three in back, Lena was so carefully balanced over the rear axle that a bit of acceleration combined with the occupants leaning back would pop her nose up to a twenty-degree angle. She could be driven a short distance in this nose-up position, then be slammed back down to the pavement with a touch of brakes. Hard on the occupants! Over years of hard-pounding parade performances many of Lena's original Model T parts failed and Model A parts were spliced in as replacements. The frame became a cross-cross of welds over welds. Motors burned out and replacements made. Lena spent the World War II years in hidden storage to avoid being swept up in the war's metal drives.

Maynard's Lena had the words "Original Leapin' Lena" painted across the back. As it turns out, quite a few American Legion and Shriner parades featured modified Model T cars - almost always named Leapin' Lena or Leaping Lena. But Maynard claimed to be first. A prolonged restoration led to a last attempt at a public appearance for the 1971 Maynard Centennial Parade. She performed well in a Crowe Park rehearsal, but broke down partway through the parade. Somewhere, parts of Lena may remain to this day, but like Humpty Dumpty, unlikely she can ever be put back together again.

Addendum: The Maynard Area Auto Club was founded in 1988 and at one time had more than 200 members, a newsletter, events, logo jackets, patches and other 'merch'. The Maynard Historical Society archives has photos of numerous items found via a search on "auto club". It appears that the club's existance came an end in 2019, although confusingly, the Massachusetts Association of Auto Clubs continues to list events for the Maynard club in 2025.