1916

Big News! On October 3, 1912, 40 freshmen '16ers were accepted in the Phi Beta Kappa Chapter of Delta Alpha, so reads the menu that came from Dutch Doenecke's file of Dartmouth memorabilia. This menu was sent to Dick Parkhurst many years ago, and he passed it along for use in these class notes. Those 40 freshmen lived in New Hampshire dorm and among them were our Cliff Bean and JimShanahan. The small part that 1916 had in these festivities was a response by our long remembered and irrepressible Hap Ward.

At some time in our lives we have been present during an event that later became an accomplishment of great importance to a neighborhood, a town, a city, or a state. This happened to Dick Parkhurst.

In 1933 the Boston Port Authority made this statement in its report about the islands in Boston Harbor: "There are in the harbor 35 islands whose ownership is distributed among the United States Government, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the City of Boston, and private organizations and individuals. These islands make one of the most attractive features of the harbor and in addition serve the utilitarian purpose of protecting anchorage grounds and approaches from heavy seas."

As vice chairman of the Authority at that time, Dick engineered an authorization for the reforestation of these islands. A year later the reforestation became a Federal project to be done by the Civilian Conservation Corps. One hundred thousand pine trees were planted on George's, Lowell's and Peddock's Islands as part of the project to add beauty and stop erosion.

In 1970 the Massachusetts Legislature created the Boston Islands State Park, and the further reforestation of the islands comes alive, and beauty becomes a renewed asset to Boston Harbor, The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and all the surrounding communities.

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