This Day In Norwood History-March 16, 1943-Walpole Man Commutes on White Horse

“HI-O SILVER” is daily greeting as Wilfred A. Waterman jogs along on daily horseback ride to work at Norwood tannery.

NORWOOD, March 16 — “Hi-O Silver” is the cry which has been greeting Wilfred A. Waterman of 2 East-over road, Walpole, as he rides his white horse to work each morning at the Winslow Brothers & Smith tannery in this town.

Waterman, who is yard foreman at the tannery, has been employed the for the past 22 years and during the Winter when the restrictions on gas were clamped down he took the big white horse named “Silver” from his farm and rode him a distance of four miles to work.

Each day for the past several months, despite the fact he has a car with good tires, Mr. Waterman has been riding back and forth from his home to his work on the horse.

Mr. Waterman reports for work at 7 a. m. and when the noon whistle blows he goes out to the shed, where he keeps the horse, and pins on the feedbag for the horse before he has his own lunch. Mr. Waterman and his wife. Linda, who is also employed at the tannery, now engaged in defense work, are now saving to purchase a second horse so that Mrs. Waterman can join her husband in his horseback rides to work.

At present, Mrs. Waterman takes the bus to work and in this way she can leave in the morning after getting her husband’s breakfast and she also arrives home ahead of him in the evening and has his dinner on the table when he arrives.

Tue, Mar 16, 1943 – The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts)