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Compliments of ALLEN BROTHERS, WEST NEWTON ENGLISH AND CLASSICAL SCHOOL, West Newton, Mass.
[See Page 43.
WITHDRAWN
NEWTON
ITS REPRESENTATIVE BUSINESS MEN
A
JOINTS
and ils
INTEREST
N 917.444 B 13N 1893
1.el
NEWTON FREE LIBRARY 3 1323 00541 452 8
NEWTON:
ITS
REPRESENTATIVE BUSINESS MEN
AND ITS
POINTS OF INTEREST.
BY GEO. F. BACON.
NEW YORK: MERCANTILE PUBLISHING COMPANY. 1893.
ON
N. WT
FREE LIBRARY
JAN DO 1975
NEWTON, MA
TEA
1
·
NEWTONS
AND THEIR
POINTSOF INTEREST
INTRODUCTORY.
An attempt to give a graphic and complete description of such a place as Newton within the narrow limits to which this sketch must be confined is much like the old lady's attempt to sweep back the Atlantic ocean-it may be amusing, but it will certainly be ex- hausting, and the results will naturally be quite unsatisfactory. The typical Newtonian firmly believes that there is not another city in the world like the one of which he is a representative, and the probability is that his belief is fully justified by the facts-at all events, it is sure that there is not another New- ton in America, no other community that equals this as regards a combination of large area, con- venience, beauty and healthfulness of location ; excellence and magnitude of educational and social facilities ; modern metropolitan conveniences and ancient yet ever young and attractive country attractions. Doubtless not a few of our readers will consider this to be decidedly exaggerated praise, but those who so class it are probably either ignorant of Newton or else are uninformed concerning the true standing of other cities and towns.
As regards population, as regards acres of brick and mortar, as regards mercantile and manu- facturing establishments, as regards theatres, " opera houses," and bar rooms, Newton is not a "big " city,-in fact, can hardly claim to be a city at all, for there is very little brick and mortar used here excepting in the making of chimneys and foundations ; there are but few stores and factories in proportion to the population, and theatres, opera houses and bar-rooms are con-
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NEWTON AND ITS POINTS OF INTEREST.
spicuous by their absence ; but when viewed from the standpoint of territory covered, of influence and of desirability as a place of residence, Newton must be regarded as a big city in the true sense of that much-abused term. She is called " the Garden City of New England," and a more fitting title could not be given her, for Webster tells us that a garden is " a rich, well-cultivated tract of country ; a delightful spot," and that is as accurate and satisfying a description of Newton as
ELIOTT BLOCK.
could be given in such few words. Newton has also been called "the most valuable portion of the Hub," " the aristocratic bed room of Boston," and various other names have been applied to her to signify the relation she bears to New England's metropolis, and yet it is true that but a very small proportion of Boston's population appreciate the importance and the beauty of this sister city, and are aware of the fact that no other portion of the so-called " suburban district " offers equal inducements to those who appreciate beautiful scenery, pure air and pure water, actually all the " modern conveniences," cultured society, and frequent, low-priced and absolutely reliable transportation service. We don't mean to say that there is no demand among Bostonians for accommodations in the Garden City, on the contrary, the demand is active and is steadily increas- ing, but great as it is, it is but small in comparison with what it would be if knowledge of
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NEWTON AND ITS POINTS OF INTEREST.
Newton's advantages were more generally diffuscd. And yet the development of Newton is going on with what would have been looked upon comparatively few years ago as phenomenal rapidity ; comfortable homes and elegant mansions are being built in each of the numerous sections or villages of this peculiarly arranged city, and many a now vacant field?or bit of woodland will be adorned by a more or less pretentious structure within a year after these words are written. But without further preface let us try to give in a few words some idea of the Newton of the past, the Newton of the present and the probable Newton of the future.
BACON BLOCK.
THE SETTLEMENT.
The seal of the city bears the words : " Founded, 1630; incorporated a town, 1688 ; a city, 1873." There you have the story of Newton's origin and development in a nutshell, but of course it does not go into details, it does not tell you that the first permanent settler took up his abode here in 1639 ; that Newton was once a part of Cambridge, and that the Cambridge people were so fond of Newton-or rather of its tax-paying ability-that the residents of that delectable region had to strive earnestly for more than thirty years before they were legally severed from their affectionate neighbors, the latter having hindered the General Court from taking decisive action in the matter by making such loving remarks concerning their Newton friends as : "These long- breathed petitioners, finding that they had such good success that they could never cast their lines into the sea but something was catched, resolve to bait their hook again." Newton " catched " her long fished for freedom in 1688, and in 1691 she returned to the sea of oblivion the objection- able titles of " Cambridge Village " and " New Cambridge,"' and was formally given by the great and General Court the name of New Town, which was a sort of a historical misfit that had been
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NEWTON AND ITS POINTS OF INTEREST.
worn and cheerfully given up by Cambridge and should not have been made over for the use of Nonantum-" the region of rejoicing." Three-quarters of a century later it was again made over, or rather was shortened a little, for in 1766 Judge Fuller became town clerk, and he at once began to save ink and labor by writing it Newton instead of New Town. He was not authorized to do so, but for years this had been the way the town's name had been spelled by all excepting those who wrote in an official capacity, and therefore no objection was made to his robbing the town of a letter.
ELIOTT CHURCH.
The early history of Newton, and in fact of all New England towns that were founded away back in the sixteen hundreds, contains much that seems odd, not to say decidedly amusing, in these frivolous days, but space within the limits of this necessarily brief sketch is so confined that merely the briefest hints can be given of what may be found in early Newton history. For instance, think of there being slaves right here in Massachusetts, and think how tenderly they were cared for by a people who made such laws as the following for the "protection of the liberties of servants": "If any man smite out the eye or tooth of his man servant, or maid servant, or otherwise maym or mnch disfigure him, unlesse it be by meere casualtie, he shall let them go free from his service, and shall have such further recompense as the Court shall allow him." The ancient town records contain many an item which reads very queerly now, such as: "It was ordered that no person shall take tobacco publiquely under the penalty of eleven shillings, nor privately, in his own house or in the house of another, before strangers, and that two or more shall not take it anywhere, under the aforesaid penalty for such offense." If that order were to be enforced now, there would probably be a riot in this degenerated community. "It was ordered that no person shall be allowed to sell cakes and buns except at funerals and weddings." It is
-
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NEWTON AND ITS POINTS OF INTEREST.
by no means clear what the object of this last order was, but perhaps it was designed to encourage death and matrimony.
Although some of the notions of our Newton ancestors may seem somewhat absurd to us, still we cannot fail to see that in some respects at least thay were worthy of their descendants, for we are told that " many of those who dwell near the Charles river never go to meeting," and, con- sidering the many attractions of that famous stream, especially during the boating season, we can readily understand their remissness in that respect. We can also appreciate their interest in
RESIDENCE OF MR. H. E. COBB, NEWTON.
public affairs and their desire to have us know how much we owed to them, for in 1765 they opposed the stamp act as strongly as some of us have opposed the Mckinley bill, and in their instructions to their representative in the General Court they said : "We therefore think it our indispensable duty, in justice to ourselves and to our posterity, as it is our reasonable privilege, to declare our greatest dissatisfaction with this law; and we think it incumbent on you by no means to join in any public measures for countenancing and assisting in the execution of said act, but to use your best endeavors in the General Assembly to have the undeniable rights of the people of the province asserted and vindicated, and left upon public record, that posterity may never have reason to charge the present time with the guilt of tamely giving them away. Voted, that the foregoing be recorded in the town book, that posterity may see and know the great concern the people at this day had for their invaluable rights, privileges and liberties." But perhaps the strongest evidence we, the posterity, have of the greatness of this concern is that afforded by the famous "Newton resolution of independence," passed June 17, 1776. It appears upon the town records as follows : " After some debate on the second article in the warrant the question was
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NEWTON AND ITS POINTS OF INTEREST.
put, that in case the honorable Continental Congress should for the safety of the American colonies declare them independent of the Kingdom of Great Britain, whether the inhabitants of this town would solemnly engage with their lives and fortunes to support them in the measure, and the vote passed unanimously in the affirmative." And this vote is all the more impressive after study of Newton's work during the Revolution. From a population of 1,400 were furnished 430 soldiers, and not one able-bodied man in town failed to enter the ranks. Nor was the reputation of Newton
ROBINSON'S BLOCK, WEST NEWTON.
as a home for patriots injured by her action during the Rebellion. The national government called for 1,067 men from this town, and was furnished with 1,129 soldiers and 41 sailors. The Newton soldiers' monument was the first one erected in New England and it commemorates the loss of 59 men, for Newton soldiers as a whole saw a great deal of active service, and the percent- age of loss was unusually large.
But we cannot devote any more time to the past Newton, in spite of the interest and the significance of its history. We must at once begin to roughly sketch the Newton of to-day, so let ns simply note the fact that the rapid growth of the town in population began about 1865, when there were 8,978 inhabitants ; in 1870 there were 12,825, and in October, 1873, the people voted to accept the city charter offered them by the General Court in response to a petition. The popula- tion has increased more than 100 per cent. since that time, and yet the present Newton that we are now going to look at is but an infant in comparison with the Newton that will welcome the rapidly approaching new century.
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NEWTON AND ITS POINTS OF INTEREST.
THE NEWTON OF TO-DAY.
It is very difficult to give an understandable and comprehensive description of Newton, for the simple reason that the city is so nnlike any other that each of its characteristics must be described in detail in order to enable a stranger to realize just what Newton is. There are many cities in this country which resemble Newton in one respect, they belong to the "25,000 to 30,000 popula-
FARLOW PARK, WEST NEWTON.
tion class,"-meaning, of course, that they belong among that class of cities made up of those whose population ranges from 25,000 to 30,000,-but the resemblance closes right here, for not a city in that class resembles Newton in the area of the territory covered, the distribution of the population and the total absence of any " citified section " with monotonous brick and stone blocks, dirty streets and sidewalks and other metropolitan advantages. Even the most important business sections of Newton are refreshingly free from overcrowding, and from the cutting off of air and light by tall buildings along narrow streets, and there is also a refreshing freedom from the noise, confusion and obstruction caused by heavily laden teams jolting along over roughly paved roadways. How is this desirable condition of affairs brought about in an enterprising and growing city containing so many inhabitants ? Well, by exceptional distribution of population and by the management of affairs so as to serve the city as a whole rather than, any one section of it at the expense of all the rest. Some idea of the general distribution of population over the large expanse
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NEWTON AND ITS POINTS OF INTEREST.
of country within Newton's limits may be gained from the fact that the city contains ten villages, besides several " semi-villages," and a quite thickly populated rural region. There are no less than ten post offices and fourteen railway stations in this expansive city and there are also two excellent electric street railway lines, so that the excellence and comprehensiveness of the trans- portation service and the mail service are self-evident, and it is also plain that the belief of the
RESIDENCE OF MR. TRAVILLE, WEST NEWTON.
residents of Newton in the importance of each of the many sections of their city is by no means a purely local opinion, but is shared by those in charge of one of the most important departments of Uncle Sam's business, and by those who furnish transportation in this hurrying age.
The villages of Newton are named : Newton, Newtonville, Newton Centre, West Newton, Newton Lower Falls, Newton Upper Falls, Newton Highlands, Auburndale, Riverside and Nonantum-certainly a somewhat extended collection of Newtons, and one which explains the anxiety of the wearied stranger, who, after driving about for hours, and repeatedly asking, "What town is this, please?" finally gasped ont, "Say, aren't there any other towns in Massachusetts but Boston and Newton ?" Of these villages, the biggest is Newton, and the handsomest is-each of them (that is, in the opinion of residents of it ; there may be a citizen of Newton who does not think that he lives in the handsomest part of it, but if so, we have not yet met him). This firm belief in the beauty of each and all of the sections of the Garden City is by no means confined to those who dwell there ; it is shared and has been given expression to by many, whose homes are elsewhere, and whose opinion in the matter is not biased by the operation of local preferences, and is rendered authoritative by the capacity arising from extensive traveling and intelligent observa- tion. A very large book could easily be filled with extracts from enthusiastic articles devoted to praise of Newton scenery, and it would greatly surprise the residents of Newton to see such a book, for they have no idea of the great amount of favorable attention their beautiful city is attracting.
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NEWTON AND ITS POINTS OF INTEREST.
One traveler has said : "This nest of Newtons is one of the most beautiful spots on this earth, and reminds one of the suburbs of Paris." Another has noted that " One can take such a drive from Cambridge through the Newtons to Auburndale as cannot be matched in the country, over twelve miles of roads smooth as a billiard table, shaded on either side by grand old trees, which stand like sentinels in front of an endless succession of some of the finest private residences in this country, and every one of them maintained in the highest degree of perfection. A stranger
WASHINGTON ST., LOOKING EAST FROM ELM, WEST NEWTON.
is at once impressed with the fact that they are homes in the best sense of the word, and the people who inbabit them do not live in their trunks five months in the year, as do all good New Yorkers."
But doubtless many of our readers belong to that eminently sensible class who, while duly appreciative of natural beauty and cultured society, are also appreciative of what are generally called " practical " advantages, and so in investigating Newton's desirability as a place of residence they would pay more attention to snch prosaic details as healthfulness, educational facilities, transportation facilities and other necessaries of life than they would to beauties of scenery and to roads admirably adapted to the exhibition of a thousand dollar trotter or the use of a $150 " safety."
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NEWTON AND ITS POINTS OF INTEREST.
Still, even when considered from this inartistic point of view, Newton Epresents a most attractive appearance, and the more carefully you scrutinize her, the more clearly will you under- stand why her population is increasing rapidly as well as steadily, and why a large]proportion of this increase is made up of those who are in a position to own the houses they occupy and, į within reasonable bounds, to choose the city or town in which they shall live. But, when noting the sub-
RESIDENCE OF MR. MITCHELL, NEWTONVILLE, MASS.
stantial character of Newton's citizens, don't go to the extreme of assuming (as did the writer of the Newton notice in a recently published encyclopedia) that " Newton is principally inhabited by Boston merchants," for such is not the case. It is true that many prominent Boston business men live in Newton, and it is true that this has been so for many years, for even away back in 1872 their number and their prominence were so great that the big fire in Boston which occurred that year caused more loss to Newton than to any other town in the county; of the one thousand firms burned out, seventy-five were composed of residents of Newton, and it is said that a business capital amounting to two hundred million dollars was invested in Boston at the time of the fire by those who lived in what was then but a town-Newton.
But, notwithstanding these facts and notwithstanding that many more Boston merchants live in Newton in '92 than there did in '72, it cannot be truthfully said that the city is " principally " inhabited by them, for "majorities rule " in this republic of ours and the great majority of Newton voters are not Boston merchants, although they unquestionably are members of the Boston business world and derive their income from their work in that busy, prosperous city. Professional men, clerks, salesmen, book-keepers-in short, members of almost every division of that mighty army made up of those who " have to work for a living," to use the ordinary description of those who work for wages instead of managing their own business affairs-constitute the great bulk of the
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NEWTON AND ITS POINTS OF INTEREST.
adult male population of Newton, and we call special attention to this fact because it absolutely proves the falsity of the assertion often made by residents of other places near Boston that Newton is so aristocratic, high-priced and un-American that that muchi mentioned individual known as "the average man " has neither the desire nor the ability to live there. Hundreds, yes, thousands of persons, have found out that moderate rents, low transportation charges, frequent, quick and
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SQUARE, OPPOSITE DEPOT, NEWTONVILLE.
reliable traveling service, pure air, an unlimited amount of pure water, perfect drainage, excellent schools, numerous and very ably managed churches, a suitable number of conveniently located and intelligently conducted stores, combine to make Newton a most admirable place of residence and will continue to increase its population so rapidly that the Newton of 1900-barely seven years from to-day-will contain sufficient inhabitants to entitle it to high rank among New England " big cities," even if judged merely from the standpoint of population alone. Those who believe that "health is wealth " and are aware of the fact that sickness is not caused by mysterious dis- pensations of Providence, but generally by unfavorable hygienic conditions or something else of the kind, are specially attracted by Newton, for this is the healthiest city in the state, its annual death rate averaging less than fourteen per thousand, and its lowness being due to purity of air and water, perfection of drainage, and entire freedom from the dangers arising from a closely packed population. Indeed, the city could truthfully be called a sanitarium, for it is so considered by many physicians, and they advise those among their patients who are troubled with weakness of the throat and lungs to dwell in certain portions of Newton during the inclement seasons.
But as this is a residential city more than anything else-that is, as its growth is due to the advantages it offers as a place of residence much more than it is to advantages offered to manu- facturers or merchants-its transportation facilities hardly rank second in importance to its health-
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NEWTON AND ITS POINTS OF INTEREST.
fulness, and these are so admirable that Newton is really more closely connected with Boston than is Harlem to New York, or than are some of the portions of the Hub with the centre from which they sprung.
Newton is encircled by the Boston & Albany Circuit Railroad, which was made by a connection of the main line of the Boston & Albany road with the Woonsocket Division of the New York & New England. It makes railway service easily accessible to every resident of the non-rural por-
NEWTON CENTRE R. R. STATION.
tions of the city, and as regards a combination of freedom, reliability, cheapness, swiftness and gener- al excellence of service is said to be superior to any other suburban railway service in the country. The stations are certainly unequaled for beauty and convenience, and the number of them, four- teen, gives some idea of the amount of ground covered by the railway and the care taken to pro- vide true accommodations. The following list of the stations and their distance from each other will be of interest in this connection : Boston to Newton, seven miles ; thence to Newtonville, one mile ; to West Newton, one mile ; to Auburndale, one mile ; to Riverside, three-fourths of a mile. At Riverside, the Circuit road leaves the Boston & Albany main line and proceeds to Woodland Station, three-fourths of a mile ; to Waban, one mile; to Eliot, one mile ; and to Newton High- lands, three-fourths of a mile ; where it connects with what was a division of the New York & New England road, and runs to Newton Centre, three-fourths of a mile; and to Chestnut Hill, one and one-fourth miles ; from there it runs through Brookline until it joins the main line of the Boston & Albany road, and over this the passenger is conveyed to Boston. Pine Grove Station is three-fourths of a mile from Riverside and is on a branch road which ends at Newton Lower Falls, half a mile further on ; and the Newton Upper Falls Station is on the New York & New England Division, one and one-fourth miles from Newton Highlands. What may be called "cross town" service is afforded by an electric street railway running from Newtonville to Newton Highlands and thence to Newton Upper Falls, and also by an electric street railway which runs from Newton-
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NEWTON AND ITS POINTS OF INTEREST.
ville to West Newton and thence to Waltham. It is now easy to reach any portion of the city, excepting the agricultural region around Oak Hill, and a more convenient and easily accessible place of residence it would be hard to imagine.
A RAMBLE ABOUT TOWN.
As it would be impossible to get anything even approaching a satisfactory idea of the Garden City without an examination of each of its villages and future villages, suppose we start at Newton village and take a stroll or a ride about town. Of course we must look over Newton village before
APPROACH TO DEPOT.
we leave, for it is the largest, has the handsomest churches in the city (and Newton has the handsomest churches in the state outside of Boston), has the Free Library building, has the offices of the two newspapers which are doing so much for and are so liberally supported by the Garden City, and in short has so much of importance that it is a very interesting place to visit. But before we begin to move about let us remember that it is not advisable to call this village " Newton Corner." It used to be called so, in fact one need not be very old to be able to remem- ber when this was the accepted title of the place, but it is decidedly too countrified for present use, and the residents of this prosperous, cultured and somewhat dignified village do not propose to have it demeaned by any such rustic name. It is difficult, however, to entirely eradicate a custom which was founded two centuries ago, and therefore many persons still insist upon calling this a corner, for thus it was christened away back in 1669, when a great deal of land in this vicinity was bought by an enterprising tailor named Daniel Bacon, and this region was given the name of " Bacon's Corner," the first name ever bestowed upon it. It would seem as if there could not have been much opportunity for profitable business open to a tailor catering to Puritans and Indians, or at least having no other patrons to cater to, but still Daniel was wealthy when he died, in 1691, but he had made no will and so all of his property was inherited by his son Isaac. The name of "Bacon's Corner " was retained until about 1734, when it was changed to " Angier's Corner," in honor of Ensign Oakes Angier, who opened an inn here about 1731 and sold such wholesome rum and furnished such acceptable food and lodging that he became one of the most
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