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HISTORY OF BROOKLINE
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF BROOKLINE
EDWARD WILD BAKER 1859-1928
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF BROOKLINE MASSACHUSETTS
BY JOHN GOULD CURTIS
A MEMORIAL TO EDWARD W. BAKER
PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE BROOKLINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY The Riverside Press Cambridge
1933
COPYRIGHT, 1933, BY THE BROOKLINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO REPRODUCE THIS BOOK OR PARTS THEREOF IN ANY FORM
The Riverside Press CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
1247317 PREFACE
THIS book should have been written by Edward Wild Baker. Fitted by his spirit of historical inquiry, his long familiarity with the subject, and his gift for interesting narration, he was repeatedly urged by fellow-members of the Brookline Historical Society to correlate and elaborate his various papers into a com- prehensive history of the town. Only a year before his death, which occurred on January 28, 1928, the society's president, Mr. William O. Comstock, 'on being authorized, appointed Dr. Francis P. Denny, Messrs. Charles H. Stearns, Albert Hale, Charles F. White and William C. Hunneman as a Committee to wait on Mr. Baker in regard to his writing a History of Brook- line.'
Unhappily, this was not to be, but after his passing, an al- ternative was settled upon when the society determined to publish a town history as a memorial to Mr. Baker. Prepara- tion of this volume was made possible by the generous sub- scriptions of Brookline citizens who wished to join in tribute to the memory of their fellow-townsman. The first subscriber to the project, at the time when it was expected that Edward Wild Baker would himself be the author, was Charles W. Holtzer, a native of Germany, who made Brookline his home and en- thusiastically identified himself with the progress of the com- munity.
To the Brookline Historical Society's original committee were added Miss H. Alma Cummings, Messrs. Ernest B. Dane and Stephen B. Davol, and Miss Louisa M. Hooper. Mr. William O. Comstock, president of the society, also served until his death, October 8, 1931. This committee at length entered into an agreement with Dr. John F. Sly of Harvard, an author- ity on town government, to write the book. Dr. Sly had finished the text of the first four chapters when his professional work called him to another university, and he was obliged to give up the undertaking.
It was at this stage that the project came to my hands. Although I have composed the story of Brookline in the hills
0 5,0
vi
PREFACE
of Pennsylvania, I have not approached the subject wholly as an outlander. My Curtis ancestors were immigrants to Roxbury from Stratford-on-Avon in 1632, and in England William Curtis had married the sister of John Eliot, the Apostle to the Indians, who seems to have been, in effect, Brookline's first minister. Nine years of residence in Cambridge served to give me some familiarity with the region, and participation in the Common- wealth History of Massachusetts provided a background of re- gional history.
In a national or state history it is possible to incorporate much of the sweep of events - of the broad economic and so- cial and cultural changes that help comprehensibly to explain the present in the light of the past. Community history, on the other hand, is enacted for the most part on a miniature scale. It is to be studied with a microscope rather than a telescope. Too often its detail can be enlivened for the lay reader only by the labored introduction of not very instructive anecdotes. Sometimes, of course, it is possible to correlate local activities with national events, and thus give them wider meaning.
There is, I think, in any case, a significant thread of contin- uity running through Brookline's three centuries. It is the story of the establishment and maintenance, often in the face of seri- ous difficulties, of the most completely democratic form of lo- cal government imaginable. It is the story of the triumph of the town meeting in an age when supposedly advanced expedients have failed.
The amount of detail necessary to completeness does not make for very lively reading, though I have sought to avoid what might be thought a scholarly style. Quotations from con- temporary records are reproduced exactly, with no attempt to correct spelling or punctuation. The first four chapters of the present volume are really Dr. Sly's work, rephrased in part and stripped of his elaborate documentation in footnotes. Credit for the exhaustive research involved should, however, go to him, and his manuscript may be consulted in the Brookline Public Library.
Mr. Baker's manuscripts and notes, as well as published papers which he read before the Brookline Historical Society, have been quoted at length in every appropriate connection.
vii
PREFACE
This reflects both the incomparable value of his work, and the desire to incorporate as much of it as possible in a book dedi- cated to his memory.
For the rest, free use has been made of the standard historical and genealogical works relating to Massachusetts, of a variety of letters, diaries and personal memorials particularly mentioned in the text, all the existing, somewhat incomplete histories of Brookline, and in particular the publications of the Brookline Historical Publication Society and the Brookline Historical Society, as well as the official records of the town.
Miss Louisa M. Hooper, librarian of the Brookline Public Library, has given every possible help in making available the extensive materials in her care, and in verifying scores of de- tails. The members of the Brookline Historical Society's com- mittee have aided materially by their willingness to make meticulous comment upon the text and point the way to clari- fying many of its statements. Mr. Walter B. Briggs, assistant librarian of the Harvard College Library, has given his usual enthusiastic co-operation. Encouragement in a variety of ways has come from others, among the incomplete list of whom must be mentioned Mrs. Nanna Matthews Bryant, of Boston, and Dr. Francis P. Denny, chairman of the committee supervising this project. Almost needless to say, I have felt throughout the friendly guidance and scholarly inspiration of my mentor, Pro- fessor Albert Bushnell Hart.
JOHN GOULD CURTIS
Green Pastures Spring Creek Pennsylvania September 17, 1932
CONTENTS
I. BEGINNINGS AT MUDDY RIVER
H I
THE GEOGRAPHICAL SETTING
I
BOSTON'S COW PASTURE
2
THE GREAT COLONIAL SCHEME
4
SETTLERS IN THE NEW WORLD OFFSHOOT COMMUNITIES
5
FIRST MENTIONS OF MUDDY RIVER
7
THE SUBURB NEARLY LOST
8
FIRST PRINCIPAL PROPRIETORS
9
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE LAND
10
EMINENT FOUNDERS
II
OTHER ORIGINAL GRANTEES
13
EXTENT AND ARRANGEMENT OF GRANTS
14
II. LAND FOR THEIR HOMES
16
COLONIAL POPULATION
16
POLICY IN LAND GRANTS
17
BASIS OF GRANTS
18
CHARACTER OF LANDHOLDERS
19
NEW REGULATIONS
20
THE LAST GRANTS OF LAND
21'
CHARACTER OF INHABITANTS
23
FIRST POPULATION
24
III. THE COMMUNITY SPIRIT GROWS
27
FIRST STRUCTURES
27
ESTABLISHMENT OF HOMES
28
FOUNDING FAMILIES
29
THE COMMUNITY DEFINED
31
PROPERTY RIGHTS
34
FIRST HIGHWAYS
35
THE CAMBRIDGE ROAD
37
PUBLIC SERVANTS
38
5
X
CONTENTS
LOCAL ELECTIONS
40
TAXATION
41
THOUGHTS OF INDEPENDENCE
42
IV. A SEPARATE VILLAGE OR PECULIAR
44
A CRISIS BRINGS OPPORTUNITY
44
BOSTON IN DIFFICULTIES
45
ENCOURAGEMENT FROM HIGHER UP
46
THEIR OWN SCHOOL
48
REVERSALS
49
RENEWED ASPIRATIONS
50
LOST GROUND REGAINED
51
INDEPENDENCE DENIED
52
FURTHER PETITIONS
54
OBJECTIONS FROM BOSTON
55
MORE THAN THEY ASKED
57
THE REAL REASONS
58
'WEASEL WORDS'
59
THE NAME OF BROOKLINE
61
V. PROBLEMS OF TOWN GOVERNMENT
64
NEW ADMINISTRATIVE TASKS
64
MINISTER AND MEETING-HOUSE
65
THE FIRST MINISTER
67
PRESTIGE IN WORSHIP
69
CHOOSING A GOSPEL MINISTER
70
PROVISION FOR EDUCATION
73
SCHOOL DAYS
76
BETTER SCHOOLS
79
HIGHER EDUCATION
80
THE HIGHWAYS
80
TO JOIN THE TOWN
82
CARING FOR THE POOR
84
TOWN OFFICERS
86
THE LARGER SPHERE OF GOVERNMENT
87
ODDS AND ENDS OF GOVERNMENT
89
CONTENTS
xi
VI. THE GREAT FAMILIES OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
92
THE SEWALL FAMILY
93
THE CRAFT, OR CRAFTS, FAMILY
94
THE GARDNER FAMILY
95
THE DEVOTION FAMILY
98
THE ASPINWALL FAMILY
100
THE SHARP FAMILY
103
THE ACKERS FAMILY
104
THE GRIGGS FAMILY
I04
THE WHITE FAMILY
106
THE WINCHESTER FAMILY
109
THE BOYLSTON FAMILY
III
THE CLARK FAMILY
115
THE GODDARD FAMILY
115
THE DAVIS FAMILY
119
JEREMIAH GRIDLEY
I20
THE COREY FAMILY
I2I
THE HYSLOP FAMILY
I2I
THE HEATH FAMILY
123
SUMMARY
124
VII. THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE
I26
FIRST RUMBLES
126
THE UNWELCOME CUSTOMS COMMISSIONERS
I26
AMERICAN SOCIETY CRITICIZED
128
THE HULTONS IN BROOKLINE
129
THE POWER OF PUBLIC OPINION
130
DISTANT THUNDERS IN THE TOWN MEETING
I3I
SERIOUS REMONSTRANCE
133
AGAINST 'DESPOTICK MEASURES'
I35
A SYMBOL OF GRIEVANCE
I37
THE 'TEA SCHEEM'
138
NEW GRIEVANCES
140
THE SPIRIT OF DEFENSE
I4I
'THE NINETEENTH OF APRIL IN '75'
144
xii
CONTENTS
BROOKLINE'S PARTICIPATION
146
THE BRITISH RETREAT 149
DEFENSIVE MEASURES 150
SOLDIERS' QUARTERS 151
CONFISCATION OF LOYALIST PROPERTY 153
THE SIEGE OF BOSTON
I55
MUNITIONS IN BROOKLINE
157
THE WAGON-MASTER GENERAL
158
THE BUSINESS ON DORCHESTER HEIGHTS
160
EVACUATION
161
OTHER CONSPICUOUS SERVICES
162
THE RANK AND FILE
164
MOUNTING BOUNTIES
165
STANDING OF 'HARD MONEY'
167
PROBLEMS OF FINANCE
169
FRAMING A GOVERNMENT I71
RETAINING THE GAINS
173
FOR DEFENSE ONLY 175
VIII. INDUSTRY AND THE WAYS OF TRADE
178
VILLAGE INDUSTRIES
178
COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE
180
THE GREAT WORLD
182
A MERCHANT'S ORDERS
184
LEADERS IN COMMERCE
186
STREETS AND HIGHWAYS
188
WESTWARD TRAVEL
189
ACCOMMODATION FOR TRAVELERS
190
TRAFFIC ON THE HIGHWAY
192
THE WORCESTER TURNPIKE
195
COMMUNICATION WITH BOSTON
196
THE MILL DAM ROAD
198
THE UNWELCOME RAILROADS
202
POST OFFICE AND TELEGRAPH
205
COMMERCIAL ASPECTS OF THE TOWN 207
CONTENTS
xiii
IX. PEACE AND PROSPERITY
209
BUSY DECADES
209
THE NEWER INHABITANTS
210
AN ECCENTRIC CITIZEN
213
SEPARATION OF PARISH AND TOWN
214
A REVERED MINISTER
216
THE CHURCH AS IT WAS
217
ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING
219
NEW THEORIES OF EDUCATION
22I
IMPROVEMENT OF SCHOOLS
224
FIRST HIGH SCHOOL
225
NEW BUILDING PROGRAM
226
INNOVATIONS IN STUDY
227
PRIVATE SCHOOLS
228
THE LYCEUM AND ITS WORK
229
A PUBLIC LIBRARY
230
SIGNS OF GROWTH
233
A NEW TOWN HALL
234
THE WATER PROBLEM
235
TOWN DRAINAGE
237
VOLUNTEER FIREMEN
238
SOCIAL ASPECTS OF FIRE-FIGHTING
241
VALIANT DISPLAYS
243
LAST OF THE FIREWARDS
244
POLICE PROBLEMS
245
LOCAL PROHIBITION
247
STREETS AND SIDEWALKS
248
THE TOWN'S BUSINESS
250
THE SOCIAL SCENE
252
ELYSIUM THREATENED
254
X. BROOKLINE IN THE CIVIL WAR
255
BROOKLINE SLAVE-OWNERS
256
ANTI-SLAVERY AND ANTI-ABOLITION
257
NEW ACTIVITY AGAINST SLAVERY
259
RECAPTURE OF SLAVES
260
xiv
CONTENTS
FURTHER INCIDENTS IN BROOKLINE
262
SENTIMENT IN 1861
264
POLITICAL COMPLEXION 266
OUTBREAK OF HOSTILITIES
267
FIRST BROOKLINE SOLDIERS
269
RECRUITING EFFORTS
271
HOME WORK FOR THE SOLDIERS
273
THE NEED FOR MORE MEN 274
SERVICES RENDERED
275
THE BATTLE-FRONT
276
CONCLUSION OF THE WAR
278
XI. ANNEXATION CONTROVERSY AND EXPANSION
THREAT OF ANNEXATION
279
CHARGES OF EXTRAVAGANCE
281
A CONTINUING STRUGGLE
282
FROM WELLS TO WATERWORKS
283
OPPOSITION TO PROGRESS
285
SOURCES OF SUPPLY
287
IMPURE WATER?
288
A SEWAGE SYSTEM
28g
PUBLIC PROTECTION
290
POLICE ADMINISTRATION
292
SUNDAY LAWS
293
THE TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM
294
LIGHTING THE STREETS
295
ADMINISTERING THE TOWN'S BUSINESS
296
THE GREAT BEACON STREET PROJECT
297
RAILROAD SERVICES
300
TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH
302
THE SCHOOL SYSTEM
302
VOTES FOR WOMEN
305
EXPEDITING TOWN AFFAIRS
305
VEXED PROBLEMS
307
SOME LEADING CITIZENS
309
THE JUST PRIDE OF BROOKLINE
313
279
CONTENTS
XV
XII. THE HERITAGE OF THREE CENTURIES
316
THE NEW POPULATION
316
CITY PROBLEMS
317
COOLIDGE CORNER
318
MEASURES OF VALUE
319
OVERSIZE TOWN MEETINGS
321
A REMEDY PROPOSED
323
LEGAL VIEWS
325
THE LIMITED TOWN MEETING
326
PUBLIC SERVICES
328
SOCIAL WORK
330
EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS
331
THE PUBLIC LIBRARY
333
MILITARY AFFAIRS
334
THE MODERN PICTURE
334
INDEX 339
ILLUSTRATIONS
EDWARD WILD BAKER Frontispiece
AMORY ESTATE ON POWELL STREET, LOOKING TOWARD BEACON STREET 6
MAP OF MUDDY RIVER SHOWING ALLOTMENTS BY THE TOWN OF BOSTON IO
HOUSE IN ANDEM PLACE BUILT BY DEACON THOMAS COT- TON, GREAT-GRANDSON OF REVEREND JOHN COTTON 14
ASPINWALL AVENUE ABOUT 1890: ST. PAUL'S CHURCH AND THE OLD PETER ASPINWALL HOUSE 28
THE EDWARD DEVOTION TANKARD 32
THE GARDNER-GODDARD-STEARNS HOUSE 38
EDWARD DEVOTION HOUSE, HARVARD STREET 42
HOUSE OF EROSAMON DREW 66
HOUSE FORMERLY ON THE CORNER OF BEACON AND CHARLES STREETS, BUILT BY CAPTAIN HENRY SEWALL 94
DR. WILLIAM ASPINWALL 100
From a portrait by Gilbert Stuart
OLD ASPINWALL HOUSE ON THE DAY THE OLD ELM FELL 104
HOUSE ON BOYLSTON STREET OPPOSITE THE OLD RESER- VOIR, BUILT BY DR. ZABDIEL BOYLSTON II2
THE BENJAMIN DAVIS HOUSE, HARVARD SQUARE, CORNER OF DAVIS AVENUE I20
HOUSE ON CORNER OF WALNUT AND CHESTNUT STREETS OC- CUPIED BY SIX GENERATIONS OF CLARKS 124
HOUSE BUILT BY EBENEZER HEATH IN 1791 124
GRIDLEY-HULTON HOUSE, WALNUT AND WARREN STREETS 128 Reproduced by courtesy of Miss Mabel Chapin
xviii
ILLUSTRATIONS
OLD GODDARD BARN FROM WHICH MILITARY STORES WERE TRANSPORTED TO CONCORD BY JOHN GODDARD, APRIL 10, 1775 142
WALNUT AND WARREN STREETS, THE CENTER OF OLD BROOKLINE 146
THE BARTLETT FARM, WASHINGTON AND BEACON STREETS 158
BROOKLINE FROM THE CORNER OF THE PRESENT HUNTING-
TON AND SOUTH HUNTINGTON AVENUES IN 1855 From Gleason's Pictorial
170
BABCOCK HILL AND POND 182
'GREEN HILL,' THE GODDARD HOUSE ON WARREN STREET I86
MRS. SAMUEL CABOT 188
Reproduced by courtesy of Mrs. Francis P. Denny
THOMAS HANDASYDE PERKINS 188
Reproduced by courtesy of Mrs. Francis P. Denny
THE PUNCH BOWL TAVERN AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE TOWN 192 From a painting owned by Mr. E. B. Dane
RICHARDS TAVERN, THE OLD STAGE TAVERN ON HEATH STREET NEAR HAMMOND STREET 192
BEACON HOUSE ON THE MILL DAM
198
FIRST LOCOMOTIVE TO RUN ON THE BROOKLINE BRANCH RAILROAD 202
From a contemporary watercolor in the Brookline Public Library
HOUSE OF OLIVER WHYTE, HIGH AND WALNUT STREETS: THE SITE OF THE UNION BUILDING 206
COLONEL HENRY LEE 210
Reproduced by courtesy of Dr. George C. Shattuck
THEODORE LYMAN 210
Reproduced by courtesy of Mr. Theodore Lyman
WALNUT STREET WITH THE OLD TOWN HALL AND THE THIRD BUILDING OF THE FIRST PARISH CHURCH 218
THE PUTTERHAM SCHOOL ON NEWTON STREET 222
xix
ILLUSTRATIONS
HOUSE OF JOHN LOWELL GARDNER ON WARREN STREET, ABOUT 1864 232
REVEREND AND MRS. JOHN PIERCE 236
Reproduced by courtesy of Miss Lucy T. Poor
DR. TAPPAN E. FRANCIS 244
Reproduced by courtesy of Dr. Carleton S. Francis
DR. CHARLES WILD 244
HEATH STREET IN THE EIGHTIES (AND TODAY UNCHANGED) : LYMAN ESTATE, LOWELL ESTATE, AND T. H. PERKINS ESTATE 252
THE PHILBRICK HOUSE, WALNUT STREET 258
HOUSE OF THOMAS HANDASYDE PERKINS, WARREN STREET 264
HARVARD SQUARE, BROOKLINE, IN 1865 276
HARVARD SQUARE, BROOKLINE, AND THE RAILROAD BRIDGE IN 1885 282
WASHINGTON SQUARE IN 1887, LOOKING WEST 290
WASHINGTON SQUARE IN 1887, LOOKING TOWARD TOWN 294
BEACON STREET, CORNER OF CARLTON STREET BEFORE THE WIDENING 298
THE PARKWAY WITH SEARS CHAPEL AND LONGWOOD STA- TION 302
ESTATE OF THEODORE LYMAN, HEATH STREET 310
Reproduced by courtesy of Mr. Carleton Parker
THE CHARLES SPRAGUE SARGENT ESTATE 312
DRUCE-CRAFT HOUSE ON THE DENNY FARM, NEWTON STREET 316
COOLIDGE CORNER IN 1887, LOOKING NORTH UP HARVARD STREET 320
A WINTER SCENE IN THE GAY NINETIES: BEACON STREET NEAR AMORY ESTATE 324
XX
ILLUSTRATIONS
HARVEY HUMPHREY BAKER
330
330
FREDERICK PICKERING CABOT Reproduced by courtesy of Mr. Stephen P. Cabot DR. GEORGE K. SABINE 334
Reproduced by courtesy of Mrs. Raymond H. Oveson
-
EDWARD WILD BAKER
IT WAS a happy thought to publish this book as a memorial to Edward Wild Baker, who died in Brookline on January 26, 1928. Such action was natural and appropriate, for the dis- covery and preservation of the material from which its contents were derived were due largely to him. With industry, patience, and skill, he found and accumulated the records - printed and pictorial - which have made it possible to present a history of the town in interesting form and accurate statement. The volume is a worthy testimonial by those who are producing it to a brilliant and conscientious fellow townsman.
Mr. Baker had a varied life, but it was essentially connected with the town of Brookline in all its vital contacts. A graduate of Harvard in 1882, he began his career in a railroad office and later he had experience in a manufacturing company; he was for a while private secretary to a Congressman in Washington. Then he became town clerk of Brookline in 1898, which posi- tion he held until his death. His father had been town clerk before him; their combined terms of service extended over seventy-six years. Mr. Baker's work as clerk of the town was al- ways of first importance, and he devoted his life to the faithful performance of his duties. His records were clear and accurate, his knowledge of municipal affairs was extensive, and his as- sistance was sought and freely given to all who needed his ad- vice. His associates in the Town Hall will always recall his genial manner, his courtesies, and the twinkle in his eye as he recounted some amusing incident. He was small of stature, lacking perhaps a normal height of which he may have been a little sensitive, but he was always dignified and his official com- panions respected him and knew him as 'Mr. Baker the Town Clerk.' To his intimates he was 'Eddie Baker,' and it is thus perhaps that he was popularly known.
His public life began as the secretary of a congressman in Wash- ington, and while he never held political office he was closely connected with people in party politics. In fact he was a mem- ber of several political committees, clubs and organizations and
xxii
EDWARD WILD BAKER
took an active interest in their work. He was a shrewd thinker and quick-witted, and when he wished to bring about a certain result, the grass did not grow under his feet. His opponents of- ten found out to their discomfort that 'Eddie' came out ahead. This was not to his discredit, for he was generally right in his opinions, and he never allowed any propaganda or false no- tions to influence his actions - he knew, however, how to play the game.
The office of town clerk gave Mr. Baker a great field in which to display his talents for historical research. Old papers and letters were literally unearthed from the vaults, references in old manuscripts were pursued to their origin, early laws were studied, state archives were investigated, and the official rec- ords of the town clerk's office were read and re-read for light on some obscure period. The result of all this endeavor was a complete and accurate knowledge of the events early and late which make up the history of our town. Furthermore, what was most important, all this knowledge was put into concrete form and his notes and written material are now a part of our his- torical possessions.
All who read this volume will recall the many pleasant oc- casions when Mr. Baker gave his lectures on Brookline, il- lustrated by slides made from old pictures - a fascinating ex- perience to those who were brought up in the town. One al- ways receives a thrill when shown a picture of a scene of some happening in earlier days, now almost forgotten. The picture of a coast where one played as a boy or girl - now covered by an apartment building -or of Beacon Street before it was widened. As one reads, one will recall these occasions when Mr. Baker himself presented the results of his labors, and to many others the reading will be new and of absorbing interest.
Mr. Baker married Alice Gertrude Souther, November 12, 1888, with whom he had a long and happy life. Their two chil- dren dying young, they found their own love and companion- ship deepened in their association with each other. Mrs. Baker was truly his helpmeet, and to her is due much in the result of her husband's research and in the preservation of his manu- scripts for the use of the town.
May I add a personal word of affection for Mr. Baker, as I
EDWARD WILD BAKER
xxiii
always called him. A long daily intercourse with him in the official life of the Town Hall endeared him to me, and served to show me his high character and ability. We worked together in harmony. In consultation he was always congenial; helpful in suggestion, willing in assistance - our relationship was ideal. He was a firm believer in the citizens' caucus, recently abolished. If he were here, I wonder if it would have been, for his judg- ment would have been followed by many people who respected his acumen and opinion in such matters.
If this picture of Mr. Baker is incomplete, supplement it by thinking of him as a true, able, and faithful public servant, never pursuing his own advantage, but devoting himself to the welfare of the town.
BROOKLINE, February, 1933
PHILIP S. PARKER
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF BROOKLINE
CHAPTER I
BEGINNINGS AT MUDDY. RIVER
THE GEOGRAPHICAL SETTING
BY THE summer of 1630 Boston's cows were getting into the corn in really troublesome fashion. As an agricultural settlement, the town was already beginning to overflow its natural limits, for a measure of trade had sprung up, population had increased, and the available land around the dwellings was needed for garden plots. The first phase of the evolution of the frontier was already manifest, and some, at least, of the town's cattle were of necessity to be pastured elsewhere than on Boston Neck.
It was this pressure, primarily, that resulted in the first settle- ment of Muddy River. With many pioneer communities it is possible to point out particular inducements to settlement. Thus it is easy to see why certain sections of the seacoast might be attractive to men who wished to engage in fishing or to others who found the splendid timber an inducement to engage in shipbuilding. There is no mystery at all about the lure of gold, and scarcely more in the attraction which lush meadows have for men who have wrested a difficult livelihood from ex- hausted and unwilling fields.
But at Muddy River there appear to have been no remark- able advantages. Here lay a rolling landscape of some pic- turesqueness and no exceptional resources, dominated by the characteristic glacial topography of New England.
Even the wisest of geologists are not in entire agreement as to how long ago it was when the great Canadian ice sheets swept down over New England carrying sand and gravel and clay,
2
HISTORY OF BROOKLINE
and immense boulders in their mass. It is well established, how- ever, that there was more than one of these ice sheets, and that the last disappeared perhaps twenty-five thousand years ago. Its movement had had the effect of reworking the material which had been dropped upon the land surface when the pre- ceding ice sheets melted; and this mingled debris was some of it heaped up in irregular masses, while some of it was dropped in stream courses, and resulted in damming the flow of water and in the development of marshy lands.
This, in general outline, was the history of the evolution of the landscape at Muddy River. The hills which mark that site are unmistakably of glacial origin, and the very name of Muddy River suggests a stream flowing over a soil surface from which soft clays are easily derived. The marsh land which originally characterized the area is typical of sections in which the normal drainage has been impaired by the deposition of glacial ma- terials.
BOSTON'S COW PASTURE
Many a pioneer community gets off to a bad start for no better reason than that settlers on a wild frontier are obliged to settle with a minimum of delay. Those English families who came to Massachusetts early in the seventeenth century were under the immediate necessity of establishing homes, and assur- ing themselves crops of some sort. They must put themselves at once on a self-sufficient domestic basis.
The Pilgrims' first landing at the tip of Cape Cod revealed a country so discouraging that they did not attempt to remain there, but moved on to the less forbidding, though far from ideal country around Plymouth. Those who sought to win a livelihood from the barren promontory of Cape Ann were hardly more fortunate.
Between these inhospitable lands, however, lay the fertile, undulating country that was to serve as a meeting ground for disappointed colonists from both north and south. Most of the early settlements were located along the shore of Massachusetts Bay - 'safe, spacious and deepe, free from such cockling Seas as runne the Coast of Ireland, and in the Channels of England,' according to William Wood, who wrote New England's Prospect.
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