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 Visual Trivia? - What connection does this picture have with Newton Upper Falls in the 1940's? (answer below)


Greenway Ground Breaking - Last Friday, Upper Falls celebrated the first rail being pulled up to make way for the Upper Falls Greenway.  All of our local dignitaries were there to commemorate the occasion but what seemed to capture the public's attention the most was The Final Ride.  Check out Julia Malakie's video of riding the rails on Friday in a "speeder" car.   Keep an eye in the coming weeks - you'll see Iron Horse Preservation working their way down the right-of-way, pulling tracks and laying down a new stone dust trail.  Barring early severe winter weather, the trail construction should be completed in the first half of December.   Also, neighboring Greenway abutter Northland Development just made a contribution to the project to buy park benches that will be installed at the Chestnut Street entrance next spring.

Memories of Halloween in Upper Falls - Reader Dave Downs sent in these wonderful stories of Halloween in Upper Falls in years gone by

Politic + Sports at the Emerson - This Wednesday, Oct 30 from 7 - 9:30, our three local Area Councils have joined together to present a Ward 5 Candidates Night.  Come meet and listen to the the candidates for contested seats in the upcoming election.  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 Steenstrup) will all be there. 

The organizers of this event do appreciate that even though local politics may be very important, for many the World Series comes first, they've promised to have a large screen TV by the stage, so you can simultaneously get your fill of both sports & politics.  Everyone's also invited to head down the hill after the event for a post-politics pint at Dunn Gaherins ... and the end of the World Series game.

If you don't like walking home in the dark, then be sure to NOT park in the residents' spots at the Emerson - they tow.  Not to worry though, there's plenty of on-street parking on Pettee St.

Tearing Up Oak Street -  Oak St is simultaneously getting torn up at both ends.  Down towards Needham Street the road has been torn up for the last few weeks for an NStar project.  Meanwhile, up the hill between Chestnut & Elliott Street the street has also been torn up this past week for a new water main.  It looks like they've run a temporary line up the sidewalk to keep the water flowing.

You Never Know What You'll Find - During last weekend's Hemlock Gorge cleanup, volunteer Evan Weststrate won the award for most-interesting-trash-find of recent years.

More on Solar Roofs - In a recent issue of the UF News, reader Jim Lerner asked about solar panels he noticed on a house at the corner of High Street and Rockland Terrace.  Our local alderwoman/architect  (aldertect?) Deb Crossley sent the following info:
"Not sure of other installs in Upper Falls but these are certainly not the first in Newton.

Goodby Taam China - The Taam China II, the kosher Chinese restaurant on Oak ST shuttered their door last week.  Their last official act was to provide the free egg drop soup for the Greenway Groundbreaking.  It was particularly appreciated that they volunteered this neighborhood contribution even as they were closing their doors

Did You Know ... that a month without a full moon only happens roughly once every twenty years. The next one will be in 2018 .  "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 - In the 1940’s, the Vernors Ginger-ale Company of Detroit opened a plant on Needham Street in Upper Falls to bottle and sell their product to compete against Canada Dry Ginger-ale. As part of their advertising they sponsored a semi-professional baseball team in Upper Falls called the Vernor Gnomes.  A large picture of the gnome was on the back of each players baseball uniform. They played their games at the Upper Falls Playground and drew hundreds of fans that filled 2 large grandstands (no longer there). Unfortunately, the Vernors product didn’t do well and the company closed their plant after a few years. - Thanks to Larry Smith for yet another wonderful Upper Falls Historical Trivia contribution.