The Upper Falls News is an email newsletter about what's going on in our village.  The Upper Falls News is brought to you by the Upper Falls Area Council but it's intended to cover any and all news in the village. 

Upper Falls Historic Trivia - Reader Larry Smith sent in this great bit of visual trivia.   In the 1940's you would have seen these all around Upper Falls.  What were they? (answer below)


A Fine Village Day - Last Sunday's Village Day was a fine event.  The weather was beautiful.  The crowd was in a good mood. The kids had fun. Tom O'Shaugnessy slung Slush till his arm fell off.  The bouncy castle bounced.  The mayor stopped by.  The DJ was good. Mark Bridgers rockets punched the sky.  The political candidates swarmed.  Neighbors caught up with neighbors.  Money was raised.  There was more pizza in one place than I've ever seen - and it all got eaten. 

Thanks to the Area Council for organizing it.  Thanks to the Upper Falls CDC for bankrolling it. Thanks to the kids and staff at the Upper Falls CCC and Charlie Russell for creating all the jewelry.  Thanks to John Rice for very impressive pizza wrangling.

Who's Library is That? - The mystery of who's responsible for a wonderful little addition to the neighborhood has been resolved.  "That 'little free library' would be mine" wrote Margaret Alexander.  "It's gotten good use so far. I would guess that all told about 10 books have migrated through the box.  We started with 11 and some have gone and some have been replaced by others donated by folks around here. I did send in my official application for a "little free library" plaque. That gives us a marker on the US map showing locations and also provides advice on keeping up the library."   Stop by Rockland Place any time and bring a book - take a book.

Ward 5 Aldermen's TV Race - Tonight, (Oct 3), NewTV will host a debate between the three candidates running for the two Ward 5 Aldermen-At-Large seats at  8 PM.  Deb Crossley, Chris Steele, and Brian Yates will face off in NewTV's studios. 

If you'd rather see the candidates face-to-face, you may have your opportunity on Oct 30.  The three Ward 5 Area Councils (Upper Falls, Highlands, and Waban) are working to put together a Candidates Night at the Emerson Center on Oct 30.  The two mayoral candidates (Setti Warren, Ted Hess Mahan), the Ward 5 Aldermen-At-Large candidates (Deb Crossley, Chris Steele and Brian Yates), and the Ward 2 School Committee candidates (Margaret Albright and Andrea Steestrup) have all been invited (but have not confirmed yet).   If you have a question for any of the candidates, particularly any issues that are pertinent to Upper Falls or if you'd like to help organize the event, contact Anil Adyanthaya

Cheer Them On -  Over 30 Upper Falls residents have signed up for this Sunday's Tour de Newton.  The Tour will be a 20 mile bicycle ride that will start simultaneously in all 13 villages at 9:30AM.   Here in Upper Falls, they'll be starting/ending at The Depot (Chestnut and Oak streets). Once it begins, there will be groups arriving from other villages roughly every 10 or 15 minutes.  If you're around Sunday morning, stop by The Depot any time between 9:00 and 1 PM.  Join our official Upper Falls greeters Mary Durr and Jan Huffman in hooting, hollering and welcoming the incoming visitors to our village.

Disappearing House Stirs Up More Trouble - Last issue we reported on the house at the corner of Wetherell and Elliot St that was razed this summer.  Local resident Paula (Daley) Kelleher realized that the house next door is also slated to be a tear down.  This week the plot thickened.  Resident Carol McPherson sent this letter to the Newton Historic Commission chairman, raising concerns about the process around the approval of the demolition permit for the house on Wetherell Street.
Watch Your Kitties - Sara Ramirez spotted a fox walking right through her yard on Summer St this past week.  He kept on going, headed across High St and disappeared up Rockland Place.

Art in the Falls - The new Lot F art gallery had it's Opening Reception last Saturday night. Their first exhibition is a collection of paintings in a variety of styles from various artists in the Boston area.  They plan to hang a new show every six weeks or so.

Did You Know ... that Mohammed is the most common first name in the world.  It's estimated that 15 million people are named Mohammed.  Extra Bonus - the most popular last name is Chang.   Extra, Extra Bonus - there's only one person in the US named Mohammed Chang.   "Did you know ..." features an interesting and random fact every issue, collected by ten-year-old Upper Falls resident Jayla Reilly.

Send Us Your News - If you have any upcoming events, activities, news, trivia, stories, anecdotes or jokes related to Upper Falls just send them to news@UpperFallsNews.org and we'll include them in the next newsletter.  For those who prefer living in the past, back issues of the Upper Falls News are archived at UpperFallsNews.org.

"Upper Falls Historic Trivia" Answer - Says Larry "In the 1940’s most people in Upper Falls did not have refrigerators. What they had instead were iceboxes where food was kept cold or cool by putting a large block of ice in the icebox.  The iceman would come by once a week to deliver blocks of ice to the different houses.  The sign in question would tell the iceman what size block was wanted  25 cent, 50 cent, 75 cent or the $1.00 size. The home owner would rotate the card so that the required size would be at the top and put the card in the front window for the iceman to see."

"The icemen in Upper Falls were the Simpson brothers who lived on Indiana Terrace.  Here is a typical picture of an iceman:"