Greater Southbridge: Street of the Week

Everyone has a favorite street in Slowtown . . . . what's yours? Click here to send us your comments.

This week's selection: Dresser Street

The facts:
Dresser Street is one of Southbridge's most traveled roads due in part to the High School which is located at the cross of Cole Avenue and its adjacent recreation field. This thickly settled street has many single family and double-decker homes built around the turn of the 20th century. Dresser St.'s infamous hill has caused many biking, skateboarding, roller skating and pedestrian accidents, and has proved difficult to circumvent during snow and ice storms. At the base of this storied hill is a nursing home, which boasts the most popular sledding spot in town. The street ends at the cross of Elm St. with the town hall and all its splendor and pageantry in full view.

Word on the Street :
At age 15 during a late summer lull, director Rod Murphy borrowed a former friend's moped and took his first unchaperoned motorized jaunt down Dresser St. Feeling carefree but not entirely sure of this decrepit moped, Rod tried to be a bit cautious at first, going up the hills and doing donuts in the high school parking lot. After he felt a bit more secure and was pressured to hurry up from the next in dude line, Murphy tore down that fabled Dresser Street hill, exceeding speeds of 40mph (Rod's memory is a little fuzzy here, maybe the odometer was in kilometers?). Maybe he was distracted by the breeze in his face, maybe it was the steepness of the hill or perhaps the fact that 25 other kids had used/abused the old moped prior to his turn, whatever the reason Murphy didn't stay carefree for long. In a split second the moped, his leg and his future drivers license crashed hard into a Porshe which had stopped quickly in front of him. Murphy flew high above the handlebars and over the red sports car landing at the base of a large tree in front of the nursing home. He blacked out. The authorities arrived shortly after and Murphy was still unconscious. One hardass officer started yelling at him about being underage and tying up traffic. This snapped Murphy right out of it and his first reaction was to run. Murphy got about one and half steps before he found himself in a ball of bloodied flesh on the sidewalk. He then realized his leg was spaghetti and subsequently came to an understanding about how serious the situation was. In the end, because of that piece of crap moped and his own childish indiscretions, Murphy (rather his father) was out a bundle in damages to the Porshe and the moped. On top of that, there were costly medical expenses (bone specialist), he couldn't get his license on time, he had to wear a full length (from toe to waist) cast for 12 weeks and he missed all of soccer and basketball season.

Author's note:
Rod's sister, Kate, was also cursed by the storied Dresser Street hill when at the age of 7, just two years before Rod's accident, she was hit by a car. Imagine this if you will: A cute little girl making her way home in her catholic school uniform with her equally cute twin sister, Ursula. An adventurous and competitive child, Kate sees the car just peaking over the hill at the steepest point (which just happens to be where the Murphy family residence is located). Thinking she could "make it," she starts to race across with her twin sister screaming in horror as she bounces off some poor unassuming woman's car. Careening high in the air, Kate's Pigs in Space lunchbox bonks her in the head, knocking her unconscious. The Murphy family patriarch, Rod Sr. races out of the house after hearing the crash and injures his back on his way to aid his youngest daughter. On the plus side, Kate groggily remembers being anointed by the local St. Mary's priest and also got some dough for the accident. Rod Sr.'s back still acts up and Ursula was scarred for life after seeing her twin flying through the air.

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your own pick for Southbridge Street of the Week.