Stoughton's 300th Year Comes Down to Two Saturdays

In 1955, Henry Phillips had a pizza business he couldn't get anyone to try. The Town Spa was on the second floor of an old furniture factory on Porter Street, near the railroad crossing. Two nearby lounges had street-level doors. According to the Town Spa's own history, on slow weekends Henry baked a few extra pizzas, sliced them, loaded his Nash Rambler and drove to Sumner Gardens, where he gave out samples to neighbors working in their yards. His wife, Rena, waited tables at night.

Seventy-one years later, the same family business is sponsoring the formal gala that helps close out Stoughton's 300th anniversary. That's nearly a quarter of the town's history in one pizza recipe. Henry's basic 1955 recipe is still in use. Two Saturdays are left in the anniversary year: November 21 and December 12. Both are smaller in scale than the events that opened the year, and both focus on carrying the town's story forward.

A year that was scheduled at full volume

The Stoughton 300th Anniversary Committee built the year around Stoughton's largest public spaces. Kellie Laguerre chairs the committee. David Allen Lambert is vice chair, and Amanda Bettle leads Signature Events. The calendar they published went like this:

• January 10: The Anniversary Kick Off at Stoughton High School, billed as the start of a year-long celebration. Abington Bank and Porter Salon were listed as sponsors. Participants included the Old Stoughton Musical Society, Stoughton Historical Society, Stoughton Public Library and Old Colony YMCA. Stoughton Media Access posted a kickoff video on January 27.
• May 16: A comedy night at the Portuguese National Club, 38 Wyman St.
• July 1 and July 4: In June, The Enterprise previewed a weather-dependent fireworks night at the high school and middle school campus. It also previewed a July 4 parade set to step off there at 10 a.m., go along Pearl Street through the center, and end at Park and Prospect streets.
• August 8: Stoughton 300th Night at the Brockton Rox, with giveaways, baseball and fireworks.
• October 3: Stoughton 300th Day at the Stoughton High School Athletic Complex, 232 Pearl St., a joint event with Stoughton Recreation featuring football, entertainment and food.

All six of those dates were planned around a crowd: a stadium, a parade route, a ballpark, an athletic complex. The two dates still ahead are planned around a dinner table and a time capsule.

November 21 is a ticketed dinner at Blue Hill Country Club

The gala runs from 6 to 10 p.m. on Saturday, November 21. The committee's own description treats it as part of the finale:

"Join us for an elegant evening of dining, dancing, and celebration at the beautiful Blue Hill Country Club as we close out Stoughton's 300th Anniversary festivities in style."

That line comes from the committee's gala listing. The listing promises dinner, dancing and "special moments" honoring the year. Tickets are $50 per person, paid by cash or check made out to the Town of Stoughton.

The sponsor line says Town Spa Pizza. Today the Spa sits at the corner of Plain and Washington streets. The gala is a good moment to remember that it spent its first 31 years somewhere else entirely.

Town Spa's two addresses are a short history of the town

In the 1950s, the Porter Street block around the original Spa looked very different. The family history describes the neighborhood. Coe's Fish Market and Peterson Electrical were nearby, and Lehan's, billed as the "World's Oldest Ford Dealership," was across the street. Across the tracks, Corcoran's shoe factory had hundreds of workers making its well-known paratroop boots.

The Spa's building went up in 1882. Before it held a pizza oven, it was used to make and sell furniture. It also housed the embalming rooms of Lowe, Smith & Powers, a machine shop, the pressroom and offices of the Stoughton News-Sentinel, and an appliance store. That one building held a good share of what an industrial Massachusetts town did for a living.

In 1962 the Phillipses bought the building. They moved the Spa downstairs and added a separate "Pizza to Go" door. To feed lunch crowds from the nearby factories, Henry added a sandwich menu. The family says it became the busiest restaurant in Stoughton Square. Sons Fran and Dick later took over management, and on weekend evenings the takeout line ran out onto the sidewalk.

By the mid-1980s the family needed more room and more parking, so they moved south. The new site at Plain and Washington had been Cal's, a former Frate's Ice Cream snack bar that served travelers heading to Rhode Island. After Route 24 opened, Cal's traffic dropped off until it opened only on weekends. Cal's was torn down in early spring 1986. The new Town Spa opened on Tuesday, September 9, 1986, and the family history says nearly three thousand people came by that first evening.

So the business went from a rail-crossing factory district to a Washington Street lot with room for cars, and it followed the same path much of the town did. Its reputation came along. Boston magazine's August 2026 South Shore guide treats the Spa as a bar-pizza destination at 1119 Washington St. The guide recommends extra-crispy pies with toppings like pickles or bacon, and a side of honey-mustard dip.

December 12 runs in two parts

Three weeks after the gala, the anniversary ends on Saturday, December 12, with two events listed separately.

The committee's 300th Closing Ceremony runs from 2 to 3:10 p.m. Its listing has a one-line program: "a time capsule, treats, and a toast to the town." Location and details are on the closing ceremony page, which is worth checking the week of the event.

Later that day, the Town of Stoughton's calendar lists Holiday 300th from 4 to 8 p.m., filed under the Stoughton Community Center category. The town's event page has the listing details.

The ceremony ends at 3:10 p.m. and Holiday 300th starts at 4 p.m., which leaves just under an hour between the two listings.

The weeks in between

The anniversary isn't the only thing on Stoughton's calendar this month. A few local events fall between now and the finale, and one shares a date with the gala.

The library's arcade night starts at 5 p.m. on November 21, an hour before the gala begins. The craft fair, listed on Patch's Stoughton calendar, lands the Saturday before the closing ceremony. That makes December 5 a natural day to pick up something handmade before the anniversary's final weekend.

Your Town Spa order can come from the same 1955 recipe either Saturday. The old Porter Street building, the paratroop boots and the line out the door are part of the history the 300th is marking.

An anniversary year tends to get longtime owners thinking about their own address in town: when the house was built, what the street used to be, what it might be worth to the next family. If the 300th has you asking those questions, I'd be glad to talk them through with you, with no pressure and an honest answer. Christina Martinez is here when you're ready. Let's Connect.