Interview with Clement A. Norton (Clem Norton) conducted by Susan Wick. Born in Hyde Park in 1894, Norton was a former Boston City Councilor and a member of the Boston School Committee. He worked for 40 years at the Commonwealth Pier, first as a clerk and then as the superintendent. Norton tells a story about how a former carpenter at Chickering Piano Factory, John Bantry Carvery, used his time on the trolleys to ask passengers about what was happening in their communities. This eventually earned him a job at the Boston Globe. Carvery later got his son, Clifton Bantry Carvery, a job at the Boston Post. He says that during his time as the superintendent at Commonwealth Pier, he provided longshoremen a place to stay warm while they waited for boats. Norton also tells several stories about referring patients to Massachusetts General Hospital for better medical care. Other topics include Norton meeting the author, Edwin O’Connor, the annexation of Hyde Park, Woolen Mill, Shoddy Mill, American Tool Machine Shop, Readville Race Track, Suffolk Law School, Harvard Medical School, and Harvard School of Dental Medicine.
