"Wakefield has always had 'common lands' since the first division of land among the early settlers. A special committee was selected to lay out the 'ways and watering places' through the Common in 1727, and a vote was taken in 1741 that required that land remain unfenced and that parish land 'never be disposed of for any other use whatsoever, without the consent of every freeholder in the parish.' The Town made a large purchase of land between the 'old Common' and Lake Quannapowitt in 1871, and, in 1883, the towsnpeople accepted a $10,000 gift from the will of Cornelius Sweetser which was to be 'used and expended in furnishing and beautifying a public park.' A Board of Park Commissioners was selected in 1884, and under their supervision, two lots of land were purchased, the park was graded, new concrete sidewalks were added, a mall was laid out, and a new music pavilion 'of unique and elaborate design' was constructed. In the background of the picture (from left) stands the Third Meeting House of the First Parish (razed in 1890), icehouses and private homes, the Park Music Pavilion (referred to as the Pagoda, now the Bandstand, built in 1885), and the Church Street Fire Engine House that was in use on the lower Common until 1891." - Text from calendar by Jayne M. D'Donofrio. Image from the Wakefield Municipal Gas and Light Department annual calendar, 2008 Photo courtesy of the Wakefield Historical Society.
