"The Town voted at the 1947 Town Meeting to purchase '22,404 square feet of land north of the Central Fire Station at Mechanic (now Princess) and Crescent Streets to Centre Street, and westerly toward Wakefield square and Main Street to the A&P Super Market parking lot and southerly to Mechanic Street' on which to build its new Police headquarters. The Concrete Construction Company of Chelsea was selected as the general contractor and ground was broken on January 17, 1950. Plans also included an 80' street in front of the new building, between Centre and Mechanic Streets, which the Selectmen named Commercial Street just before the department moved into the new, modern facility on November 13, 1950. The department was previously housed in the old Town Hall on Main Street. The Wakefield Police Department and the Chief's secretary, Mrs. Dorothy (McGrail) Hagan, posed for an official photo in front of the new building. Pictured (front row, left to right): Sergeant Walter E. Peterson, Lieutenant George B. DeRoche, Chief John G. Gates, Mrs. Hagan, Sergeant John M. Wenzel, and Motorcycle Officer John E. Martin. (Second row, left to right) Special Officer Morton V. Griffin, Patrolmen Winslow R. Smith, George F. Sheridan, Daniel J. Sullivan, Henry F. Galvin, and James T. McKeon. (Third row, left to right) Patrolmen Thomas Hennessy, Maximilian J. Ramocki, John T. Curran, Raymond J. Beane, and Peter A. Quinn. (Back row, left to right) Patrolmen John L. Clark, Harold J. Maloney, William F. Hovey, John F. Mahoney, and F. Charles Huppprich, Jr." Image from the Wakefield Municipal Gas and Light Department annual calendar, 2014 Photo courtesy of Dorothy McGrail Hagan
