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Celebrate Our Very Special Town
In 1977, then President Jimmy Carter described Clinton as "an extraordinary town” during the first town hall speech of his presidency, spoken from the stage of Clinton’s town hall auditorium. Out of the mouth of a U.S. president… Indeed Clinton, Massachusetts, although geographically small, is a community immense in spirit and accomplishments.
At one point in the town’s history, its Lancaster Mills were the world’s largest producers of gingham and housed the world’s largest weaving room. The Bigelow Carpet Company and the Clinton Wire Cloth Company (the latter was the world’s first manufacturer of screen fabric for windows and doors), were pioneers in nineteenth century manufacturing techniques thanks to the inventive genius and business acumen of the Bigelow brothers, Erastus and Horatio.
In the twentieth century, Nypro, a plastics company, restored the former Bigelow Carpet Company mill building and with the visionary Gordon Lankton at its helm, Nypro grew into the largest custom precision molder in the world.*
And there’s more… Clinton is now home to the only Russian Icon Museum in North America. The icon collection and the refurbished energy-efficient building that houses the collection are due to the passion of one man—Gordon Lankton.
Major endeavors are naturally sources of civic pride. But what makes Clinton such a very special community is the engagement of so many individuals in the many aspects of our civic life. If anything can be said to distinguish our community, it’s a willingness to listen to ideas, to consider proposals, to debate differing opinions in a courteous manner, and ultimately, despite possible short-term costs, to commit to a project that will benefit our community in the long term. In this spirit we have built a new high school and a new elementary school in the relatively recent past; in this spirit we have committed to provide Clinton's seniors with a suitable senior center; and in this spirit we purchased 60-acre Rauscher Farm in June 2008 as open space to be enjoyed by us today and by Clintonians who come after us.
In these ways—and more, we continue the Clinton tradition and do our part of keeping our town extraordinary!
The Roll of Honor Book is a way of commemorating the people in our lives who remind us that "extraordinary” is made up of "ordinary” combined with that extra effort to be the best we can be.
*For more on the history and accomplishments of our community, see the excellent book, An Extraordinary Town: How one of America’s smallest towns shaped the world by A. J Bastarache, published by Angus MacGreger Publishing, 75 Green Street, Clinton, MA 01510, First Edition, 2005.