Rocking Horse - Winchendon, MA - American Guide Series on Waymarking.com

In Winchendon, currently at the intersection where MA Route 12 meets Front Street, is a large rocking horse.

The American Guide Series for Massachusetts has the following about the rocking horse:

At 4 m. on State 12 stands a huge Rocking Horse, Winchendon's sign, symbolic of its chief industry.

Just above it is the following:

WINCHENDON, 3.3 m. (town alt. 992, pop. 6603, sett. 1753, incorp. 1764), at the junction with US 202 (see Tour 13), is known as the 'Toy Town.' First known as Ipswich Canada, it received its present name of an old English town at its incorporation. The woodenware industry dates from 1827. Toys became the chief product and Winchendon was one of the leading toy-manufacturing towns. Educational toys have been a specialty.

-- American Guide Series, Massachusetts, p. 540

The horse is currently under a shelter in a triangular open space. The horse is painted white with a black main and saddle and a red blanket. It is mounted on a semi-circular metal bar, which is linked to a base painted red with gold trim, with white letters, saying "Toy Town."

There is a sign at the base with the following:

"TOY TOWN HORSE

The Toy Town Horse is home again. This is a reproduction of the original Toy Town Horse that stood for so long in Winchendon and helped identify Winchendon as "Toy Town."

The original Toy Town Horse was constructed in 1914 as a float for the town's 150th Anniversary. Winchendon was the home of the Converse Company and the world's largest wooden toy factory. Workers from the Converse Company - Fred Dwelley, Designer; Charles Tenney, Carpenter; Jesse Bezio, Wood Turner; John Damon, Painter; spent five months constructing the horse which was a four time enlargement of the Converse Company's No. 12 Rocking Horse. The original horse took 3,200 feet of two inch pine nailed together to complete.

The horse rested at the town's railroad station for twenty years as a landmark for travellers passing through Winchendon. In 1917 the horse appeared in the Sunday Edition of the 'Boston American.' In 1934 the horse was moved to the Toy Town Tavern Property (now he Winchendon School) for thirty years at that location it was climbed on by children and well photographed.

The horse made two other notable appearances for which it was refurbished. In 1964 it was paraded in the town's bicentennial. After that it fell into disrepair and ruin.

Recently, the Winchendon Chamber of Commerce, in cooperation with the Winchendon Historical Society, spearheaded a rive to bring back the horse as a symbol of civic pride and a focal point of our historical identity. Through the earnest efforts of the two organizations and many townspeople, funds were raised and the project became a reality.

The craftsman found to create the new horse was Sherman Lararge of Fryeburg, Maine. It took him 18 months to complete the horse here in front of you. The new horse made it's public debut at Winchedon's 1988 Town Fourth of July Celebration. It now stands in a gazebo constructed through the efforts of the Chamber of Commerce and the donation of labor and materials from Chamber members.

The horse that stands before you is a symbol of pride to the citizens of Whinchendon that we wish to display to all. As it once stood at the railroad station, it now stands at the junction of tow well traveled roads passing through Winchendon for all to see with the help of modern technology and the shelter we hope that people can enjoy this Toy Town horse with us for another seventy five years to come."

The location of the waymark is at the intersection of Ash Street and Hall Ave., an approximate location based on the description on the sign, and assuming that the Winchendon School has not moved (it still is on several acres of land). The current location is at a pointed intersection, near a bank, at the following location: N 42 40.912 W 72 03.200

Book: Massachusetts Page Number(s) of Excerpt: 540 Year Originally Published: 1937

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