The Great Peabody Flood of 1954 

  Foster Street, May 1954; police officer is Peter Katsarakes On May 16, 1954, around 6:30pm, the 60-foot rock and dirt dam at Eastman Gelatine Corp. (now Rousselot) burst. It sent a flash flood down Foster Street; eventually the water reached parts of Peabody...

April Showers Bring May Flowers

    April is National Gardening Month, so this week we are going to delve into the life and times of Bessie Raymond Buxton – Peabody’s own plant expert! Bessie Raymond was born in Danvers on January 22, 1877. Her mother died when she was a child,...

The Rockdale Raceway

In 1890, the Rockdale Riding Park was built off of Lynn Street in South Peabody by Abbott and Reynolds. The stables could hold up to 40 horses. The first race was June 17, 1890. In 1899, the Park was sold to Daniel Brown. The track’s major annual race took place...

The Murder Trial of the Century

Jessie Burnett Costello was born on September 15, 1902 to Jessie B. Fyfe and Andrew J. Fyfe in Yonkers, New York. Her parents had emigrated from Scotland. The family moved to Peabody, where Jessie met her husband, Captain William J. Costello, a Peabody firefighter...

Valentines For Your Sweetheart

Simple valentine cards were exchanged in America, as early as the 1700s. However, elaborate cards, as seen below, were only accessible to an upper-class clientele until 1847. Many credit Emma Howland of bringing fancy paper cut-out valentines to the masses. In 1847,...