Hingham is a historic New England community (founded in 1635) and among the many beautiful natural wonders the townspeople have done their best to preserve are the town's majestic elm trees. Most of these were in the northern end of town near the center. It was sometimes difficult to strike a balance between safely trimming them from the electric wires and keeping the lights on (especially during coastal storms). The town's light plant often utilized 10 to 12-foot alley arms supporting their electric circuits in order to keep their wires away from the trees' foliage and necessary trimming to a minimum. Shown is lower Main Street looking north towards downtown. Unfortunately, most of these elms fell to Dutch Elm disease during the early 1950s. Others succumbed to age and the vicious hurricanes of 1938, 1954 and 1960. When Elenanor Rosevelt visited Main Street Hingham she regarded it as "one of the prettiest streets in America". It still is :-)