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Today the spirit of Plainville is one of family – as it was 100 years ago and, hopefully, as it will remain 100 years hence. That sense of family is manifested in many ways, education being one. Although nearly 80 percent of our households lack school age children, the importance of providing the leaders of our future with a good education is primary to most citizens. This is not a new development in the Town; it was, among other issues, a sense that children in “South Wrentham” were not receiving the education they needed and deserved that
caused Plainville to seek its independent status 100 years ago. Today we have two state of the art schools in Town because the citizens feel education is essential. Additionally, the Community has been willing to shoulder its part to insure that our regional schools are also of the finest quality.
A further manifestation of this sense of an extended family in Plainville is shown by the involvement of so many of our citizens in Community activities. They volunteer in the Plainville Athletic League, Plainville Youth Soccer League, Field of Dreams Project, Friends of the Library, Lions Club, Scouts, Plainville Pride at Work, and the Friends of the Council on Aging. The Council on Aging building is an excellent example of this spirit of Community and family. The project was “seeded” by a state grant of $367,000, but the facility, which is worth more than 1.5 million, was brought to fruition by the Community family which donated materials, services, and labor. Much of that labor was given on weekends and evenings by people who had already done a full day’s work. Indeed, the project was reminiscent of
barn raising projects in which the early founders of Plainville had participated. The Plainville Pool and the Plainville Athletic League fields were constructed in much the same fashion, as will be the Field of Dreams Project.
However, Plainville’s sense of heart does not stop at the Town’s borders. The area hotline for those in need of help to escape abusive situations was begun through the good offices of the Plainville Police Department. When there was no system for fielding calls, the then police chief, Walter Sandland, and the Town stepped up to the plate and made a system happen. It was the same Chief Sandland who established Project Secure whereby elders living alone receive a daily call to ensure that all is well with them. When the Pine Street Inn of Boston needed a community to let it establish a recovery facility that would reunite women with their children, Plainville was the only Community to open its arms and invite the project to come and Celeste House became a reality. More recently, the citizens at Town Meeting gave
Habitat for Humanity a buildable parcel of land so that a needy family could soon have a home.
The year 2105 will be replete with many wonders that are as yet unimaginable. Conservation of natural resources is an important issue in the Community now and, hopefully, will be then. There will probably be hydrogen fuel cell and electric cars, creations that will allow the further protection of the environment from pollution. Highways running through the Community will most likely be embedded with sensors that control traffic and speeds automatically, saving many from injury and death, not to mention eliminating the rush hour “parking lot” situation that turns many of the current roads into commuters’ nightmares. Indeed, telecommunications progress will probably eliminate the need for many to commute to work by allowing them to do their jobs via the internet.
Technology will have created “smart houses”, places capable of notifying emergency services of needs whether occupied or not. Calamitous fires that destroy property and end lives will become a nightmare of the past. Medical science will have found cures for the deadly diseases which cast a dark shadow over life in the year 2005. SARS, AIDS, and Alzheimer’s, like smallpox and polio, will be diseases of history.
Hopefully, Open Town Meeting will continue to be the government of choice for Plainville. Additionally, the Town will continue to be run by boards of caring and concerned citizens who freely volunteer their time and effort. These processes can be the best manifestation of democracy for government. It was the choice of Plainville’s founders and, with good fortune; it will be the choice of the citizens of 2105.
Regardless of the unimaginable advances technology and science will bring to 2105, Plainville will, hopefully, still be a community whose spirit is that of extended family, a good and safe place to call home for people of all ages.
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