The picture with this article is of the Town Hall entrance with the plaque sourced by the Historical Commission. It bears the year that this version of Rochester Town Hall was built after earlier buildings were outgrown.
The town has been governed by residents beginning several years after the Proprietors purchased the land on which our town sits. If we had the ability to look into those meetings, we would see only men conducting the business of the town. It was only recently that those elected to help lead the town have gone from “selectmen” to “select board”.
However, after 135 years, in 1972, the town’s first female Town Clerk, Evelyn Aiken, was elected. Prior to her new job, she had been an executive secretary, managed a Boston hotel and was a script writer for WBZ radio. She had a master’s degree in psychology and had directed a psychological research department. It was no doubt this extensive resume in so many fields led to her being elected.
While working in Town Hall, she became fascinated by all the history tucked away within the building. In the attic, she found old school slates that are now at the Historical Museum. In the basement, she unearthed old town records, including one large paper with a $2.00 bill attached. That $2.00 was pay for one full day’s work.
Evelyn was the Town Clerk for 12 years. During that time, she had the town history that she had found bound into books and stored in the vault for safe keeping.
In later years after her retirement, she moved to Westminster, MA. A Standard Times reporter interviewed her there in 2000 when she was 95 years old and she shared some memories of her days in Rochester.
Rochester was lucky to have had someone in the Town Clerk’s position whose curiosity and love of history saved irreplaceable artifacts that provide an important look back into Rochester history.
By Connie Eshbach
