March 25, 2026 by Geri Duff
In 1941 Francis Cooke Macgregor had submitted some of her photographs to the publisher G.P. Putnam and Sons in hopes of having them published but nothing happened until Eleanor Roosevelt also went to G.P. Putnam and Sons looking into the possibility of a patriotic book being published. The project came together with Macgregor’s photos and Roosevelt’s captions. This book titled: This is America was published and within its pages are over 60 photographs of Hingham. Published in 1942 the book gives us a look at some of the people and places of Hingham’s past. Many of the adults of Hingham in the book have gone and the children have grown up. While some of the houses have changed very little, there are some scenes you will never see again. For example, today the Mill Pond is now the Station Street Parking lot and the water that once powered the town mill is piped underground. The Mill is now the Liberty Grille. The homes along the bank of the Mill Pond are on North Street with many given over to shops today. The pond was filled in in the late 1950s. This photo is from the book, This is America.