Photo taken near the entrance of the famed (and former) Paragon Park which stood from around 1900 to 1985. The utility pole in the foreground is an example of this municipal utility's line construction of the time. Typically 4-pin crossarms were used along with lots of blue porcelain insulators. The latter might have been for identifying series street lighting circuits. Through the years lots of these blue "hat" style pintypes in common designs also made their way onto the town's 4kv and secondary lines. Colors ranged from very light gray (Pinco) through almost black (deep royal blue Lapps). The last blues remained in service until the early 1980s when the town municipal completed their 4kv to 13.8kv primary distribution conversion.

The kind folks at Hull Light always allowed this 1960s kid to forage through their tossed away stuff. The majority of the blue porcelain I found there were deep groove, side-tie NN Pittsburgs and Ohio Brass "hats" (the common tapered style with the unglazed outer base rim). It always was a thrill talking with these people through the years, these are among the most precious of my younger-day memories ;-) Including numerous bicycle trips from where I lived (Brockton, MA, 40 miles round-trip); (South Weymouth, MA, 22 miles round-trip) (my parents never knew I left the neighborhood, no kidding...) and many visits while my family was at nearby Nantasket Beach. My fun in the sun (or shade) opposed to swimming or sun-basking was visiting Mr. Ken Borland who was the Hull Light Plant's storekeeper and listening to his wonderful fokelore (he began there in 1936 as a lineman). I always checked in upstairs at the office where the (late) "Snooky" Johns who was the office manager. She always was very happy to see this kid (then!) come by. Ms. Hildegarde Means also worked in their office (for many decades) and thought it was pretty neat that I collected insulators and that wanted to get into the electric utility field after college graduation (which I did in 1974). She also was a very treasured mentor and lived to 103 until about 12 years ago. The general manager (Everett Lutzy) and his office typically was in plain view with the door open most of the time. He always waved a "Hello Joe!!" even though he seemed very busy with light plant business most of the time. From there I would head downstairs to chat with Ken Borland. Joseph Duggan (line foreman) who started there in 1965 always was pleased to save insulators of interest since travelling to Hull was very infrequent in the cold months!!

The Hull Municipal Lighting Plant is a municipally owned utility founded in 1894 with about 5,000 customers, approximately 15 miles SE of Boston, MA. Please refer to my numerous other recollections and historical information about Hull Light including: [id=665625915].