SAUGUS — The Saugus Historical Commission held a meeting Monday night, where they spoke with residents of Stocker Street to discuss the historical significance of 22 Stocker St.
In 2024, the land was brought to the Commission, prompting Chair Stephen Carlson to take a closer look at the property, which is officially listed in the Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System as the Frederick Stocker Brickyard Warehouse. This label gives the land historic value.
However, after some digging, Carlson believed he had found that it was a different building from the 1950s, connected to the construction of the old high school, not the historic brickyard warehouse. With his findings, and after a vote from the Commission, information was sent to the MHC to decommission the land.
Barbara Dewsnap, a resident and member of the newly resurrected East Saugus Improvement Association, began researching the site and found plans dating back to 1938 that already show a building standing there.
“If you’re going to continue, I will send my information also to the Massachusetts Historical Commission in rebuttal,” Dewsnap said.
The disagreement became part of a larger conversation, including the Stocker family name, which has long been part of Saugus history.
Those who attended the meeting, all area residents, pushed to preserve the history of 22 Stocker St., especially if it was once the brickyard warehouse.
Carlson emphasized that he did not wish to dismiss the brickyard’s significance, agreeing that it is a major part of the town’s history and should be remembered in some way.
“There is a history there… It does bring the town something, and I just don’t know how to get it out there that everybody is going to work together to achieve that goal… and honor that family and what they did for a living… Those bricks probably went everywhere… If you dig it up, what would you find under that ballfield?… I guarantee you, you’d probably find stuff down there… (Let’s) somehow honor that. And that’s what I look for. Let’s honor those people who left us something in this town,” resident Michelle Raponi said.
She noted that she’s grateful to wake up and see “things in that area that are absolutely gorgeous.
“When I wake up in the morning, and I see those eagles coming by, and I see those birds, I can imagine what those people saw as they were working in those brickyards every single day. And that means something,” she said.
Carlson agreed to take a look at Dewsnap’s research and the plans she found from the town to see if the building could have been the Frederick Stocker Brickyard Warehouse.
