by Jim Kilroy

The Sowden Bowlwas a piece of land surrounded by Poplar, Canterbury and Seymour streets. It derived it's name from a Mr. Sowden who owned the property. In 1954, it became the site of the current

Sacred Heart School, still located at that same Canterbury Street address. When the land was developed, many people bemoaned the loss of a beloved playing field.

The Bowl attracted children from Cliffmont, Pinedale, Poplar, Hillburn, Seymour, and Rowe streets, Grew, Brown, Clare, and Hyde Park avenues, as well as Navarre, Whitford, and Canterbury streets. What a great place to grow up! You could walk out of your house and assemble two hockey teams at a moment's notice! At one time, there were 21 children living in the Walsh's triple-decker at 6 Pinedale Road and ten Celata children living on Canterbury Street, just around the corner.

All the neighborhood kids played foot-ball, hockey, and baseball on the Sowden Bowl. The land was swampy, and we were able to flood it for hockey with the help of "Mother Nature" and the Boston Fire Department. In fact, the field was really a peat bog without much grass.

For us locals, Sowden's was our home away from home in the 1930's, '40's and early '50's. One of the highlights of the season took place every year when we gathered all the Christmas trees just after New Year's Day and made a huge bonfire from them in the center of Sowden's. Thank the Lord, the bonfire only lasted a few minutes!

Our "Big Brother" and one of our heroes was Tom "Tootsie" Gormley who marked the sidelines of the Bowl for us for football and baseball. He also typed the rules for the "Lefty League" and made the ten-yard chain markers for football. Tom owned an aluminum-shaft hockey stick sixty years ago, a real rarity back then. He loved sports and was very generous to us with his time and talents.

Our other neighborhood sports heroes included Frank Cronin who was among the best, along with John Keady and Bob "Fishy" Kearney who were both All Scholastic at Rossie High in the late 1930's. Both Roy "Swede" Norden and Bob "Spud" Murphy made All Scholastic at Boston English in the 40's. Jim Walsh of Pinedale Road even went on to play hockey for Northeastern in the late 1950's.

It also bears mentioning that Jean (nee Lee) Brown and Barbara (nee Campbell) McCormick played goalie for us on more than one occasion. In addition, Jean was an outstanding basketball player. Many of the Sowden Bowl kids played football, basketball, hockey, or ran track in high school.

Pat, Bud and Jimmy Roche played sports on Sowden's for many years.

Having never forgotten their roots, Pat and Bud of Roche Brothers Supermarket fame are very generous to Sacred Heart School, along with many other causes.

After graduating from the parish school (which at the time in question was known as St. Francis Xavier) or from public gram-mar schools, many of the Sowden Bowl kids went on to Boston Latin, Mount St. Joseph Academy, Hyde Park or Rossie High School, English High, Tech, St. Mary's in Brookline, Mission, Christopher Columbus or the High School of Commerce. Later, Boston College and Northeastern University welcomed many students from our neighborhood.

Those who had entered the service in World War II, after being discharged, attended college under the G.I. Bill. Many other young men and women started their careers at Boston Edison, Boston Gas Company, Polaroid, the Post Office, and Roche Brothers. The neighborhood also produced its fair share of doctors, nurses, policemen, firemen, engineers, lawyers, and teachers; it was blessed with quite a few vocations to the priesthood and the religious life. To name just a few, Father Larry Borges, Father Jack Roche, and Sister Rose Amico hailed from the area. This is a heritage of which Sowden Bowl alumni are justifiably very proud.

Many people from the Sowden Bowl group continue to be active in the local community. None of us have ever forgotten all the fun we had growing up in Roslindale!