DOUGLAS MA

DOUGLAS MA

Douglas Town Common

Built - 1996

Douglas is located in the southern part of the state not too far from the Rhode Island border. It is generally a very quiet and unassuming town until the Douglas Marching Band members don their magnificent uniforms and march through the town during holidays or other special events. The town is extremely proud of their band since it is recognized as one of Massachusett's best and have earned a multitude of first place finishes and awards up and down the East Coast from the Bahamas to New England receiving a superior rating at each competition.

To celebrate the town's 250th anniversary in 1996, a group of municipal employees got together and decided to form a committee and pay homage to their town by doing some cleaning up and landscaping of their sorely neglected town common. They established a Common Preservation Society and 250th Anniversary Committee to oversee this project.

Through a number of fundraisers and donations, the town now has a beautiful common area and had enough money to erect their bandstand which they are quite proud of and happy the effort of many individuals who gave their time off by a place for the citizens and visitors to the town to now gather for concerts during the summer months. Also the town now has a traditional "Lighting of the Common" on usually the first Saturday in December where the bandstand is decorated and there are hayrides from the common and free refreshements in the basement of the nearby First Congregational Church. All are in agreement when they say that this particular day is always very quaint and picturesque.

The common area has been greatly improved since the town's anniversary since plants, a new lawn and trees have been planted to beautiful this lot of land. A sprinkler system has also been put in to assure everything remains green.

The bandstand was built by the local Ballow family and friends and the blueprints were borrowed from the one that sits in Dennis and has since been shared with Cumberland, Rhode Island. The only problems the committe had were with the Building Commission who refused to issue a building permit initially without "wind braces' being used in case of a hurricane.

INFORMATION PROVIDED BY:
Betty Ann McCallum, Secretary and Treasurer
Common Preservation Society