Lynnfield Related Items Up For Grabs On ebay

Here is a look at some of the Lynnfield-related items recently spotted for sale on eBay:

Decades Of Traffic: In these parts, people will often default back to the Blizzard of ’78 when thinking of snowstorms that halted traffic. However, this past press photo from 1969 depicts a blizzard that year that managed to bring a much smaller Route 128 to a standstill. That  long boat-ish car in the middle even reminds me a bit of my own first car, which was a 1977 AMC Matador. The traffic only appears to be headed in one direction for some reason. Either way, it looks like hellish traffic but it still might beat driving in New Jersey on any given day.

The Moulton Shoe Factory: Someday historians could use this picture as proof that during some long-ago era, Americans apparently manufactured things. This is the former Moulton’s Shoe Factory of Lynnfield. I know that the Lynnfield Historical Society has its own images of this establishment, and I believe it was located somewhere over near Salem Street and possibly present-day Route 1. A check online finds something called a Reconnaissance Survey Town Report from the Mass. Historical Commission. It states that manufacturers Henry Law and Clarence Moulton expanded shoe operations by 1895 and that by 1885, the combined value of shoes made in town exceeded $112,000, employing more than 50 people in the process. A similar image of this shoe factory appears in the Lynnfield vintage photo book by Warren Falls.

Golf Pro Sam Videtta: Back in the mid-1970s, Sam Videtta was apparently a pro at the Lynnfield Golf Club (The Colonial?). A Google search finds this account from the Gannon Municipal Golf Club in Lynn talking about a legendary 20-hole golf match Videtta won against Les Kennedy. Another link came up from an old Montreal newspaper talking about former Boston Bruin Bronco Horvath taking golf lessons from Videtta. Finally, a more detailed image of Mr. Videtta with two other men from 1959 is also up for sale on eBay at this link.

The Tennessee Stud: Back in 1948, somebody in Lynnfield purchased this painting of a Tennessee Walking Horse, which only sounds like it could be a song by Johnny Cash. The painting apparently dates back to the 1920s and is a watercolor that almost looks more like one of those family relics you find in the attic from that long-ago relative who was also an amateur artist. It does come with a heck of a frame however.

Hayfever Farm?  First off, somebody is on eBay selling a lot of press photos that were apparently taken in Lynnfield years ago. Two photos even stem from press coverage, it looks like the Boston Herald’s, of a shooting that is said to have taken place in Lynnfield in 1996.

This is a fine enough photo of the baby donkey and its mother – what I’m really wondering is – where on Earth was the Hayfever Farm in Lynnfield – or is there some sort of inaccuracy here? A Google check of the 1996 shooting also seemed to turn up absolutely nothing except for the old press photos being sold,  although in that year it was still fairly uncommon for a lot of publications to have their stories online.