Boston Post Cane awarded to former Phillips Town Manager

PHILLIPS – The Boston Post Cane has a new owner this week, after the former town manager and 96-year-old resident received the walking stick Friday afternoon.

Laura Toothaker, 96, received Phillips’ Boston Post Cane in recognition for being the town’s oldest resident. Several hundred of the walking stick-styled canes were given to towns across New England in 1909 by the now-defunct Boston Post. Mailed to New England towns as a promotion, the canes outlived The Boston Post, which shut down in 1957. Originally awarded to the oldest resident in each town, the surviving canes – or in some cases, replicas – continue to serve that purpose.

Interestingly, The Post was actually purchased by a Phillips resident, John Fox, near the end of the newspaper’s run in the 1950s. A Boston native, Fox had a second home in Phillips for years and eventually moved there full time. More information on Fox and his story can be found here, in a piece written by Paul Mills.

Phillips’ cane was not awarded for several years, until it was recently located in the town office safe.

Toothaker, who grew up in Phillips, became town manager in 1970. She served for 35 years until her retirement in 2006. She attended the ceremony at the town office with two of her sons and a grandson, along with town officials and selectmen.

According to the Maynard Historical Society’s website, the canes were manufactured in New York by J.F. Fradley and Co. out of ebony wood, with 14-carat gold heads. The knob of the cane has been engraved with: ‘Presented by The Boston Post to the Oldest Citizen of Phillips, Maine (To Be Transmitted).’