Looking back to old Needham, long before Rt. 128, the Industrial Center and before the high school on the hill and antennas dotting our landscape, times where simpler.
The year is 1914 and Needham has a new Town Hall and The Carters Company is one of Needham's largest employers. William H. Carter, Vice President of The Carters Company (he was elected to U.S. Congress in 1915) and some of the leading businessmen and community leaders begin informal meetings to socialize and organize civic and charitable events, within months, this group formally organized under the name of The Village Club. The Village Club never a political group began its long and esteemed contributions to the Town of Needham. Its first meeting place was over Henry Childs store, the old Highland Building (now Starbucks Coffee). Soon the Club grew and moved to the Carter Annex, the site of the original town library until it purchased the property at it current location, 83 Morton Street in 1953. It was the Village Club that built the first playground in Needham Heights .
Today as you drive through Needham you may notice landmarks such as the stone arch of Memorial Park conceived and built by Club members in 1984. Travel a little further and as you pass Greene's field, a wonderful playground was created by many Club members. As you enter Defazio Complex on Dedham Avenue, sits the Asa Small stone monument, built in 1950 in memory of Asa Small, former V.P of the Village Club. The many picnic tables at The Carleton Pavilion were donated and built from scratch by a team of Village Club members.
The Village Club and its Members are a large part of Needham and its history from The Carter Methodist Church (named for V.C. founders Family) to the many fields in town named after its members, The Defazio Complex, Small Field, Claxton Field and John Cusick Park named for former Parks Department Director and long time Village Club member. The Club has long been a champion of youth sports in the town and began the tradition of hosting the Annual Banquet for the High school football team and did so for nearly 65 years when the banquet became so large that it moved to the Needham Sheraton. The Club continues this tradition hosting many Youth Organizations meetings and Banquets as well as donating to most youth sports leagues in Needham. The Club has teamed up with the Needham High School Boosters Club in their annual Christmas tree sale and supports the Touchdown Club with concessions stand help.
The Village Club celebrated its 100th anniversary in February of 2014.
•CHARLES E. SPICER
• ALFRED GLORIOSO
• FRED L. FROST
• WALTER WRIGHT JR.
• WILLIAM HINDON
• PURVIS (JIM) WADE
• WILLIAM H. COTTER JR.
• PETER RAVINSKI
• JAMES P. COYLE
• PAUL THOMAS
• JACK BRADY
• DUNCAN ANDERSON
• GEORGE WADE
• ROY NUTILE
• JAMES G. ANDERSON
• DAVID MILLAR
• ASA M. SMALL
• C. BUTCH KISER
• THOMAS M. KIRKPATRICK
• JOHN CORISSINO
• THOMAS F. KENNEY
• RALPH CHAMBERS
• EDWARD BAGLEY
• ROBERT DOUCETTE
• GEORGE H. CAUNT
• JERRY SMITH
• CLAUDE W. McCULLOCH
• EDWARD W. FALES
• JAMES K. MOORE
• JOHN CUSICK
• HAROLD R. FAHY
• WILLIAM DANIELS JR.
• THOMAS E. KILEY
• JOE KALINOWSKI
• WILLIAM F. SWEATT
• AL ROSSI
• JOSEPH J. PALISE
• ROBERT GIUMETTI
• FRANCIS J. COLLINS
• FRED SOLTYS
• HOWARD E. BANIFORTH
• TOM PIRRO
• McLAUGHLIN (MAC) TENNENT
• DICK ROSSI
• LAWRENCE McCULLOCH
• AL BACCHIOCHI
• KEN ROSSI
• ROBERT DAY
• ROBERT VONDENBRINK
• ROBERT PAPETTI
• ROBERT HEALD
• RONALD C. TOCCI
• TED LAMPMAN
• DOUG WILLIAMS
• MIKE MURPHY
• JOE FLAMAND
• JOHN FITTS
• SCOTT MILLIKEN
• LAWRENCE “SKIP” EATON
• DONALD McGLOIN
• STEPHEN W. RIZZO
• DON “LABO” LAVALLE
• JAMES KALINOWSKI
• PETER COSGROVE
• DAVID CHEN
• CHARLIE WRIGHT
William H. Carter 1914/1915
Henry Godfrey 1916/1918
J. Isaac Chambers 1919/1920
Wallace Rae 1921/1922
William Kennedy 1923/1924
William Walker 1925/1926
Samuel Low 1927/1928
Frank Godfrey 1929/1930
Armstrong Beattie 1931/1932
Timothy Henderson 1933/1934
Howard Roberts 1935/1936
Irving R. Wallis 1937/1938
Irving P. Wallace 1939/1940
Asa Small 1941/1942
Robert Day 1943-1946
Ralph Chambers 1947/1948
Michael DeFazio 1949/1950
James G. Anderson 1951/1952
William Daniels 1953/1954
Edward Bagley 1955/1956
Charles Spicer 1957
Harry Martin 1958
Elmer DeFazio 1959
George Caunt 1960/1961
Duncan Anderson 1962/1963
Thomas Kiley 1964
James Ewen 1965/1966
William Sweatt 1967/1968
Harold Fahy 1969
James Carroll 1970/1971
Clarence Kiser 1972/1973
Louis Perotti 1974
McLauchlan Tennent 1975
Charles Fuller 1976
Duncan Anderson 1977/1978
James Carroll 1979/1980
Donato Paglia 1981/1982
Ralph Pina 1982/1983
Jack J. O’Neil 1984/1985
Edward Fales 1986/1987
Kevin Glynn 1988
Robert J. Vondenbrink 1989/1991
William Daniels Jr. 1992/1993
Albert Rossi 1994/1995
Scott Milliken 1996
William Daniels Jr. 1997
Donald McGloin 1998/1999
Charles G. Wright 2000
Robert H. Papetti 2001/2002
Kenneth Rossi 2003
Scott Milliken 2004/2005
Mike Despres 2006/2007
Jerry Sharpe 2008/2009
John Fitts 2010/2011
John Dorsey 2012
Steve Pitocchelli 2013/2014
Bob Mack 2015/2016
Ernest “Jay” Steeves 2017/2018
Rob Giumetti Jr. 2019/2020
Ernest “Jay” Steeves 2021/2022
Rob Giumetti Jr. 2023/2024