With a new firehouse proposed for Norfolk, here’s a look back at the ground-breaking ceremony for the Shepard Road firehouse on June 6, 1970. Fire Chief Martin O’Connor takes the first dig. Also pictured are (from left): Peter Mulville (builder), Walter Allyn (Selectman), O’Connor, Robin Mead (Chairman of the Building Committee), and Russell Childs (architect). The need for larger quarters had become particularly pressing when the department’s new fire engine would not fit in the original firehouse in the Royal Arcanum building and had to be housed in a barn on Emerson Street.

-Ann Havemeyer