[2019, Google Maps]
From the 1965 Long Pointer. [School Collection / Provincetown History Preservation Project Page 5563]
Updated on 12 March 2026 | “I have enjoyed this website so much,” Maria (Anthony) Bento wrote to me on 6 February 2014 about Building Provincetown. “I noticed that on Pleasant Street, there was no No. 32. That is the home I grew up in and was also my grandparents’ home. I was wondering if it was going to be included. Thank you and I look forward to reading more of the history of my home town.” I promised that I’d correct the omission, and regret that it’s taken 12 years to do so.
To begin with Ms. Bento’s grandparents: They were Angelina “Angie” (Souza) Anthony and Philip Francis Anthony. The Anthonys wed in 1932, when he was working for an ice company run by his father, John Anthony, and she was working at the Colonial Cold Storage, 227-229R Commercial Street. At first, the couple lived at 64 Franklin Street. In 1945, their son Robert P. “Bobby” Anthony was born. The next year, the Anthonys purchased this property from John Enos, whose family had owned it since 1909.
Bobby Anthony displayed an early aptitude for public service as a “junior firefighter” at age 14, affiliated with Sparky’s Fire Department in Boston. After he was graduated from Provincetown High School in 1965, Bobby joined the Navy, seeing wartime duty in Vietnam. On returning home, he was employed by the Department of Public Works and then the Police Department. He married Katherine Ann Days, daughter of Elizabeth Days and William A. Days of 12A Pleasant Street. Maria Angelina Anthony was born to the couple in 1972. Philip Anthony passed the title to the Pleasant Street property to Bobby and Katherine in 1975.
In 1992, one day after he was awarded a bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts, Bobby Anthony was appointed chief of the Provincetown Police Department. He held the post for 10 years and is perhaps best remembered for the implementation of the Community Oriented Policing program, or COP, which the Banner credited with reducing hate crimes by 90 percent in its first six years.1 The work of Chief Anthony and Keith Bergman, the town manager, was recognized by President Clinton’s staff, which invited them to the first White House Conference on Hate Crimes in 1997.
Bobby and Katherine Anthony sold 32 Pleasant Street in 2000 to purchasers from Manhattan for $320,000. At the age of 77, Bobby Anthony was elected to the Select Board in May 2014.
In memoriam
• Angelina “Angie” Souza Anthony (1910-1964)
Find a Grave Memorial No. 127570800.
• Philip Francis Anthony (1905-1978)
Find a Grave Memorial No. 153305710.
1 “Clinton Backs Tougher Hate-Crimes Law,” by Timothy XX Burton, Provincetown Banner, 13 November 1997.