Ground Broken for $1.23 Million George F. Willett Elementary School-August 11, 1967

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Marking the official start of a major local educational expansion, Rocheford Construction Co. Inc. of Natick is breaking ground today for the new George F. Willett Elementary School. The milestone comes on the heels of a formal contract signing last night, during which the permanent building committee awarded a $1.04 million construction contract to the firm—the lowest submitted among six competing bids. Company President Irving Rocheford Sr. announced that construction crews will move in “full blast Monday” with the goal of completing foundation work within a month. Although the project’s groundbreaking is roughly three months behind the initial tentative schedule and arrived just one day before the bidding figures were set to expire, project leaders remain confident in maintaining an ambitious target completion date of August 15, 1968.

To bridge the project’s financial needs, the building committee received swift authorization on Wednesday from the state Emergency Finance Board to borrow an additional $150,000 to cover rising construction costs. Building Committee Chairman Justin C. Barton noted that state officials granted the request immediately due to its relatively modest scale, observing that Norwood was the 17th municipality in the Commonwealth to seek supplemental borrowing authority since January—while boasting the lowest requested sum among them. Superintendent of Schools Philip O. Coakley contrasted Norwood’s modest addition with larger regional borrowings, noting that towns like Holliston and Brockton had recently required supplemental loans exceeding $1 million each. When fully completed, the modern facility will feature 16 classrooms, a playroom, a cafeteria, and a dedicated library to serve Norwood’s growing student population.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger