BRADLEY — On Dec. 6 the town of Bradley presented the Boston Post Cane to Beatrice Wentworth who turned 92 years young in October.
In 1909, the Boston Post Newspaper, which closed in 1956, created the tradition of the Boston Post Cane. As a promotional event, the paper distributed 700 gold-tipped canes to towns in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. The cane was to be awarded to honor each town’s oldest resident. Originally, the Boston Post Cane was to be awarded to the oldest male resident. In 1930, that expanded when the cane was awarded to the first oldest female resident of a town. There were over 700 canes originally distributed, over the years many have become lost and misplaced. Currently, there are estimated to be 435 canes known to be in existence.
When Bradley constructed the new municipal building in 2000 the Boston Post Cane was found in the attic of the village fire station when moving. Since that time the cane has been presented to Arlene Jackson in 2000, Beatrice Rowel in 2003, Bernice Brooks in 2005, Margaret Brooks in 2008, and Arthur Knapp in 2017.
