The Taunton Branch Railroad

The East Norton Railroad Station was built along the Taunton Branch Railroad in 1853.  It was  designed by well-known architect Richard Upjohn, famous for the design of Trinity Church in Manhattan, one of the first and finest examples of Neo-Gothic architecture in the United States.  The Taunton branch connected with the former Boston and Providence Railroad in Mansfield.  Through various mergers, this branch remained active until 1966. At one point as many as 91 passenger trains traveled this line each week.

In 1942, during WWII,  the US Army opened a military installation on Bay Street in Taunton known as Camp Myles Standish. Here, thousands of military personnel were readied every week for deployment to the European Theater of Operations. They were then taken by rail to a port in Boston harbor; hence the name of the trail: World War II Veterans Memorial Trail. 

By the end of the war more than a million soldiers passed through this camp either on their way overseas or returning home. Local residents remember running out to wave to soldiers on the trains traveling to and from Boston.

In March 1944, the camp also began to receive Italian soldiers, with the status of “co-belligerents” following the Italian government’s armistice with the Allies in 1943. Now working for the Allied forces, they filled a critical labor shortage. Since they were no longer enemies, the Italians had a certain amount of freedom, and were befriended by local people in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Many weddings took place after the war!

In May 1945, after the Victory in Europe, the camp received several hundred German POWs. All in all, about 3,000 German were added to the 4,000 Italians already at the camp. Although treated fairly and humanely at the camp they had a rigorous work schedule, and were taught English and civics so that they could take home ideas of democracy. At the end of the war the last Germans boarded trains and left Boston in November and December 1945.

Camp Myles Standish was deactivated shortly thereafter.