The New England Sanitarium and Benevolent Association — chartered in 1899 — was located in South Lancaster and was operated by the Seventh Day Adventist Church. Facing local pressure to relocate, the SAN, as it was locally known, replaced the Langwood Hotel at the 45-acre area on Spot Pond in Melrose. The SAN was erected in 1916, eventually housing 185 beds. It became a full-service acute general community hospital, a major employer, and the birthplace of many Stoneham residents. Its name was changed to the Boston Regional Medical Center in 1995 to celebrate its comprehensive care to residents in Stoneham and the 14 surrounding communities. But that was not enough to keep the doors open. It closed in February 1999 due to financial complications.
The design of Interstate 93 was visionary, ultimately taking drivers from Boston to Northern New Hampshire. But it was not without controversy.
In Stoneham, the largest property was the Fallon Farm Homestead, which produced and delivered milk locally for 75 years. In the late 1950s, 33 acres of Marble Ridge Dairy were taken by eminent domain. The remaining 60 acres became an industrial complex and condominiums, pictured behind the feet of the surveyors.
The tripod depicts a worker shouldering what could be the drill, but if his yellow construction hat were replaced with a World War II helmet, we could imagine Richard M. Gibney back in the South Pacific drawing a soldier with his weapon.