AS THE TOWN constructs a new Wakefield Memorial High School on Farm Street, today’s Throwback Thursday photo looks back at the first High School in the town of Wakefield, built in 1872. The structure is still standing at the corner of Lafayette and Common streets and now serves as Wakefield’s Town Hall, although it looks very different than it did when this photo was taken in 1930. Building a new high school was a much speedier process in the 1870s than it is today. From the Town Meeting approval on April 3, 1871 to the dedication of the new building on Oct. 19, 1872, construction took just 19 months. The building served as Wakefield’s High School until 1923, when a new high school opened on Main Street just south of the present Americal Civic Center. The old high school building was retained by the town and remodeled in 1937-1938, removing most of the gothic elements of the old structure. It was renamed “the Lafayette Building” and continued to be used for various town purposes until 1958, when the old Town Hall at the corner of Main and Water streets was torn down after a fire. At that time, the Lafayette Building was pressed into service and has served as Wakefield’s Town Hall ever since.
