New Union and Sumner Streets Playground Dedicated to Alfred H. Doherty in Surprise Ceremony-October 3, 1983

The town’s brand-new playground in the Union and Sumner streets area was officially dedicated on Saturday to Alfred H. Doherty—the dedicated local advocate who fought hardest to turn the neighborhood park from a vision into reality.

A Complete Surprise Unveiling

Doherty was as surprised as anyone in attendance when he pulled the cord during a brief ceremony to unveil the dedication rock, discovering his own name chiseled into the granite as a crowd of about 75 family members, neighbors, and town officials broke into applause.

“I told my wife I haven’t felt that way since the day we got married,” the 46-year-old sales executive remarked.

“They never told us,” his wife, Alice, added while sharing refreshments with the gathering shortly after. “We would have had half the town here. We never saw that rock here. They must have just put it in.”

Selectman Joseph F. Curran, among several town officials present, happily boasted about the board’s ability to keep the honor a tightly guarded secret. Noting that such dedications are usually reserved posthumously, Recreation Superintendent Robert Ivatts told the crowd, “Selectmen just thought it was fitting to name it after Al, who has done so much work on this project. It was a dream… it was something we never expected to materialize.”

Six-Year Advocacy and Park Features

Doherty, who resides nearby on Union Street, began petitioning six years earlier for a neighborhood playground to serve a growing residential pocket isolated by Route 1 in the southeast corner of town. Serving as chairman of the Recreation Advisory Committee, a District 9 town meeting representative, and a member of the conservation and recreation master plan committee, Doherty lobbied persistently at Town Hall and town meetings.

The seven-acre park was carved out of local woodland at a total cost of $271,500—comprising $110,000 for land acquisition and $161,500 for construction. The project was financed jointly through $172,700 in town funds and $98,800 in federal funding funneled through the state via the National Park Service.

The completed park features:

• A play equipment area equipped with a redwood-constructed jungle gym, a merry-go-round, a stainless steel slide, and swings.
• An open playfield connected via a paved walking path and a small timber pedestrian bridge spanning a local stream.
• A paved parking lot, main entrance gate, and perimeter fencing.

Doherty credited homebuilder Richard Saccone with helping make the park possible. While developing Grandview Estates homes on land from the Lillian Berry estate, Saccone enthusiastically supported the park concept, enabling the town to acquire a crucial portion of the Berry land. Saccone also offered to donate four picnic tables to the site.

Early Vandalism Incidents

Despite the community celebration, town leaders warned residents that the new park already required vigilant protection. Selectman Walter J. Dempsey pointed out fresh tire marks scarring the newly grown grass of the playfield. Police reported that a teenage girl from Walpole, accompanied by several other youths, had driven an automobile onto the field and was charged with motor vehicle trespass, while investigators also believed a moped had been driven across the site prior to the dedication.

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