Talk:Wilmington, Massachusetts/Archive 1

Start off
Just decided to start off the discussion in here. Would someone like to rate this page? Zeppelin462 3:55, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

History Section
Don't y'all think you should include one of the biggest historical events to ever happen in this city under the history section? Particularly since it has it's own wikipedia page? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilmington_insurrection_of_1898
 * Perhaps you are confused. There are several places named Wilmington. Yours is in North Carolina. This article is about the one in Massachusetts. Snezzy (talk) 14:05, 10 October 2017 (UTC)

Highways through Wilmington, MA
The article mentions state route #3A. This highway does not pass through Wilmington. However, state highway #38 does.

On improving unencyclopedic material
I just removed this line from the education section:

"There cheerleading program is also the bomb. The Ateam was the first team from wilmington to be back to back national champions.  The last year they received second."

Although the intent of the author is commendable, there are several problems with material such as this, and I'll point a few of them out, as an aid to other contributors.

1. There is no indication of which cheerleading program is intended. High School? Junior High? Or perhaps the Abundant Life school that was closest to the statement? Is it connected solely to WHS football, or is it independent of other sports?

2. "Last year" is undefined. Is it 2005, 2006, 2007? Or some other year?

3. What are the national championship events? Where are they held? What are the criteria for judging cheerleading? What made Wilmington best? Would a reference to Wikipedia's Cheerleading article be appropriate?

4. There are several grammatical errors. (One need not worry about grammar, though, as many readers, including myself, are compulsive copyeditors, and will comb every last bug out of the grammar and spelling.)

5. "The bomb" is slang and thus not encyclopedic. (Again, not to worry, because other readers will fix errors such as this.)

Fundamentally, the statement is rather incomplete. It has meaning only to those who already know the details of the cheerleading program.

Wilmington has a good history of school athletics, as can be seen by reading the sports section of any issue of the Wilmington Town Crier. Perhaps it might be wise to make an "Athletic Teams" subsection within "Education" or (even better) to create the missing article for Wilmington High School (Massachusetts). See List of high schools in Massachusetts for examples. Let's see some high-quality additions to Wikipedia about Wilmington and its schools.

Snezzy (talk) 08:20, 30 January 2008 (UTC)


 * There is now a brief article for Wilmington High School (Massachusetts). If no one else expands it into something worthwhile, I just might do so myself. This is a threat! Snezzy (talk) 15:24, 31 August 2009 (UTC)

Notable residents
Someone appearing to be named Bob Ross has added a Josh Bodah who is purportedly a guitarist. Is he famous in his own right, or has he been placed into the list to make him famous? I'll not remove him just yet. Snezzy (talk) 17:21, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Removed Bodah. Google references indicate he is 17 and not yet notable. More fame needed. Go Josh! Snezzy (talk) 12:28, 30 December 2008 (UTC)

I am restoring the cuts made by Nyttend. All the Harndens who are mentioned are a proper part of research for anyone following the history of the Town of Wilmington or of the US Revolutionary and Civil wars. Loammi Baldwin is in a sort of unusual situation. Because of the famous apple named for him, it is often assumed that he was a Wilmington resident. He certainly visited the town, and possibly spent more time there than did Count Rumford or Phillis Wheatley. Proper attention should be focused on John Ball, on whose farm the Baldwin Apple was first found around 1740. He was not necessarily a "developer" of the apple as stated. The current link for John Ball's name resolves only to a list of them, none of whom is the correct one! Snezzy (talk) 08:04, 25 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Someone has corrected the John Ball ref to a page yet to be written. Does anybody have any info at all? I think he was born in Tewksbury. Snezzy (talk) 04:52, 19 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Study of Asa Sheldon's 1862 book, Wilmington Farmer, (about which I may sometime write further) reveals that Sheldon said, "I once heard that the tree was claimed in North Tewksbury, and made a journey up there to see what proof could be afforded of it. I was showed a tree they called a Baldwin, but it bore little resemblance to the Baldwin trees of Wilmington. I know of no better way to describe it, than by calling it a two-story tree." Snezzy (talk) 17:00, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

Ezra Otis Kendall, as a famous member of the Walker family, certainly belongs in the list, and Nyttend's removal of him was in error unless a good reason can be given. An article on Kendall remains to be written. Google reveals that material abounds. Snezzy (talk) 08:15, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

Jay Demos, WHS teacher, removed from list. How is he notable, if all the other teachers in the town are not? Include them all? Snezzy (talk) 17:18, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Removed "Nick Jackson" who appears to be a British DJ. Snezzy (talk) 23:22, 12 May 2010 (UTC)

I have restored several notable people. That a person happens to link to a Wikipedia page that's not yet been created, or for whom the only reference given is in print, rather than on line, or that the person is from time remote from the present day, does not make the person non-notable. In particular, the Harnden family was very active in settling Wilmington, in the Revolutionary War and in the War Between the States. All this is documented in printed material that has yet to make its way into good Wikipedia articles. That a contributer to Wikipedia is only part way through creating a series of articles, and is still collecting printed material from books and newspapers of decades past, is not grounds for removal of items.

Ezra Otis Kendall is a well-known person who happens not to have a Wikipedia page, not yet. Material about him is at http://www.archives.upenn.edu/people/1800s/kendall_ezra_o.html (among other places) and anyone who desires may write up the article, rather than deleting him from the list of notable residents of Wilmington. Snezzy (talk) 14:27, 24 November 2012 (UTC)

On reverting vandalism
I just reverted to 12:57, 16 February 2009 in order to recover the article from vandalism. Previous corrections had been insufficient. I restored some (but not all) of Larz54's work. Snezzy (talk) 15:03, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

Thanks to the anonymous person who recently reverted the reversion that I inadvertently performed which had restored a piece of vandalism. You have keener eyes than I do. Snezzy (talk) 17:38, 30 August 2011 (UTC)

This statement is something that is controversial, and is unsourced and has misspellings and grammatical errors
"In a 2008 vote, Willmington was voted as the 4th worse public education system in the country. And second worst education system in Massachusetts behind the Norfolk country Franklin MA." This statement is not true, and I feel like upset that the standards of Wikipedia were disregarded for this statement. I cannot refute it, but it spells the name of the town it refers to incorrectly, which gives it a feeling of something made up for unknown reasons. In fact Norfolk County (not country however) is actually ranked among the best five counties for schools in the nation by Forbes. If this statement were true, it would not just be there, it would be there with an explanation about why this is true and what it means. So if this is true, then it should reappear correctly, in it's own unbiased section where the problem is discussed. And in this context it could mean something. On good faith I will remove and hope it does not return unless it is true. 129.64.213.98 (talk) 04:23, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Thank you. Anonymous vandals seem to enjoy adjusting the entries for our local towns, and your watchful eyes have been helpful. If you get yourself a Wikipedia login then you can cease being anonymous yourself. You might also learn how to do reversions. (I always resented looking something up in the encyclopedia in the Wilmington Public Library--the old one in the little building--and finding someone had cut out the pages I needed. Here in Wikipedia we get to fix the damage. Hooray!) Snezzy (talk) 15:03, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

Citations needed
Fairly frequently someone inserts new information about Wilmington sports, such as the WHS teams' impending transfer from the Cape Ann League to the Middlesex League, and someone else suggests that a citation is needed. Most of this information comes from the local newspaper, the Town Crier, which has admirable and reliable sports reporting. Read the back issues (which I do not have handy) to find citations.

The historical articles that appear from time to time in the Town Crier are generally well researched, but usually do not refer to the literary or journalistic sources on which they are based. Some of the Wikipedia entries for Wilmington are based directly on material from the Town Crier or from its sources. Microfilm copies of all (or nearly all) of the Town Crier issues, as well as a few of the earlier Wilmington Crusader and Wilmington Mirror, can be viewed at the Wilmington Memorial Library. For additional citations, someone else will need to do a bit of research at the library. I cannot, as I do not reside anywhere near Massachusetts. Snezzy (talk) 17:35, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Request for photo?
The existing photo seems sufficiently high resolution … is there really a need for a better one? Prisoner of Zenda (talk) 09:29, 1 September 2021 (UTC)