Deadwood in Massachusetts 

Middleboro street has new name

Although they haven't moved their home, a New England family has staked a claim to residency in the Black Hills. Well, sort of.

In the process of choosing a new name for an old street, Jack and Robin Carmody introduced Deadwood, South Dakota, to Middleboro, Massachusetts.

When he was asked to quickly select a new name for the short street on which they live, Jack Carmody's choice was "Deadwood Avenue."

"We live in a kind of gulch-like area bordered on three sides by woods and our neighbor on the fourth side," Robin Carmody explained. "A lumber yard was located there many years ago and a man-made hill which separates us from the neighbor's home actually has dead wood strewn here and there."

The town of Middleboro, south of Boston, installed a new E-911 system last fall. To eliminate confusion for emergency personnel, some streets were designated for name changes, including the stretch of Brook Street that dead-ended at a highway.

Jack Carmody received a phone call from a city official explaining the situation.

"I was told we could pick the new street name, but needed to do it that day," he said.

"I spoke with my neighbor about the name Deadwood and she said that's fine."

The neighbor's husband (the only adult not consulted) was definitely annoyed about his new address. He promptly filed a protest with Town Manager Jack Healey and the local newspaper picked up the story. Columnist Jane Lopes commented on the conflict:

The resident whose address is now "Deadwood Avenue" was understandably less than thrilled. Probably thought living near the dump was enough to deal with. It's unknown, by the way, if he was mollified by Healey's return letter, which explained that the protester's neighbor actually chose the new name, and that the protestor's wife allegedly told the neighbor she didn't care what name was chosen. (One suspects the dinnertime conversation in the Deadwood Avenue household that evening might have been worth hearing.)

The column drew a quick response from Carmody. In a letter to the Middleboro Gazette he declared, "I am a proud resident of Deadwood Avenue ... named after the place my wife and I would like to retire to."

Deadwood is located in the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota. Greats like Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane are resting in peace in Mt. Moriah Cemetery. My wife has been doing many years of research about the history of Deadwood and was very excited about the new street name.

"I was thrilled," said Robin. "It was such a wonderful gift he gave me."

With or without the neighbor's approval, the bright red street sign went up, putting Deadwood Avenue on Middleboro's city map. And Robin Carmody sent an address change for her Deadwood Magazine subscription, along with a letter, photos, and clippings from the Gazette.

"My husband and I came to Deadwood in July of l994 for the WOLA (Western Outlaws and Lawmen Association) convention." she wrote.

It was my only my first year as a WOLA member and so far, my one and only convention with them. My passion regarding the Old West had mostly revolved around Wild Bill, J. B. Hickok, so when this group advertised their yearly gathering was to be in Deadwood, I was on the phone trying to get airline tickets. My other western history group was meeting in Buffalo, Wyoming, and I had already tried to figure out how we could work in a trip to Deadwood all in one week. Then my prayers were answered!

I had wanted to go to Deadwood since I began research on Mr. Hickok in l984 when I was a full time tractor trailer driver, as was the guy I would eventually marry. His name is Jack and he looked to me like the one photo of Jack McCall I'd ever seen.

Another driver whose C.B. "handle" was Wild Bill really began it all for me. Not only did his face (right down to the mustache) resemble J. B. Hickok, but he acted as I presumed Hickok would, from what I had read to that point. The more I read (about Wild Bill) the more curious and drawn into his life I became. The corker of it all is that we were all three mail haulers and our meeting place (delivery point) was Springfield, Massachusetts. We knew another town of Springfield (Illinois) played a role in Hickok's life.

After Jack and I were married in l986, I graduated with my M.Ed and went back to teaching preschool. Jack is operations manager and I am an assistant director at a private preschool. We both continue as spare drivers, weekends and school vacations.

Deadwood Avenue has created "a stir in the neighborhood," according to Robin Carmody.

The varied reactions to our street address are actually quite amusing at this point. The most common questions are: "Is that one word or two? Why did the town call it that? That's depressing." You should see their faces when we say we don't think it's depressing at all; we chose the new name for our street.

And what address would the annoyed neighbor have preferred? According to Robin Carmody he wanted to call the street "Drunkards Way."