USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1873 > Part 1
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Somerville Public Library
THE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF THE
CITY OF SOMERVILLE
CA
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from Federally funded with LSTA funds through the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners
http://archive.org/details/annualreportofci1873some
.
CITY OF SOMERVILLE 1
ANNUAL REPORTS.
GIVES
N
EDOM
SOMER
VILLE
I
0
NAL
MUNICIPAL
FOUNDED 1842.
1872.
A CITY STRENGT
ESTABLISHED
.
1873.
C
L
FREEI
BOSTON : W. F. BROWN & Co., PRINTERS. 1874.
1
CHEBATTE
56482
Stack Ref 352 569.1873
INAUGURAL ADDRESS
OF
HON. GEORGE O. BRASTOW,
JANUARY 6, 1873.
Gentlemen of the City Council :-
Grateful to the Author of All Good, that He has the past year spared and protected our city from every great calamity, it is becoming, on assuming our present muni- cipal duties and responsibilities, that His continued care and favor has been humbly and reverently invoked. Somerville adopted a city form of government, the more conveniently to manage her affairs, and to secure for her citizens some improvements which could not so readily be accomplished under a town organization. Some of these measures have been inaugurated with a good de- gree of success considering their magnitude ; still, a vast amount of improvement is urgently required, much of it, without great delay.
The same responsibilities which met the last city gov- ernment, when it entered upon its untried duties, now rest upon you, and if in your judgment, mistakes have been made, you will as far as you have the power, remedy and correct them. I can confidently say that the great wants and interests of our city have seemed to be well understood and appreciated, and have been met and cared
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for with a reasonable degree of promptness and energy, and I think I may justly congratulate you, that all our public concerns, and all departments of the city govern- ment, are in a satisfactory and creditable condition.
FINANCES.
The funded debt of the city has been increased during the year, fifty thousand and five dollars ($50,005,) and when loans already authorized by the City Council are effected, the whole increase will amount to eighty-five thousand and five dollars ($85,005), which will make the aggregate of the funded debt six hundred and seventy- eight thousand three hundred and fifty-four dollars ($678,354). The principal part of this increase has been made for means with which to pay for construction of water works, and the city's half of the cost of construct- ing sidewalks during the year. The whole of the funded debt is represented by coupon bonds: the unmatured notes of the town, having, by authority of the City Coun- cil, been taken up in exchange for bonds of corresponding amounts.
The value of our public property is seven hundred and twenty-two thousand dollars ($722,000), and the assessors' valuation of taxable property in the city, for 1872, was twenty-two million seven hundred and fifty-five thousand three hundred and twenty-five dollars, ($22,755,325.)
SCHOOLS.
Our schools are generally in a good and satisfactory condition, the year having been one of marked prosperity. Harmony has characterized the judgment and action of the School Board, teachers have labored with fidelity and energy, scholars have generally been diligent and dutiful,
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and parents have manifested their usual interest, and awarded their cheerful co-operation. Neither the town nor the government of the city, has ever withheld any appropriation necessary for the proper support of our schools, and I know you will promply and cheerfully grant all needful means to enable them to maintain their present high position.
The whole number of schools is fifty-nine (59), five (5) new ones having been organized during the year.
The present number of pupils in the High School is 181
" Grammar Schools is 1599
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" Primary Schools is 1348
Total,
3128
PUBLIC LIBRARY.
A room has been provided in the City Hall Building for the accommodation of a free public library. Proper shelving' and fitting up of the room has been ordered, trustees have been appointed by the City Council, and the library will soon be permanently established.
Sufficient amount of funds are already provided with which to make a respectable beginning, and individual donations and contributions to this good work are earn- estly solicited by the Board of Trustees.
STREETS AND SIDEWALKS.
The last city government entered upon a system of constructing brick sidewalks, upon what seemed to it and to our citizens generally, a fair and equitable plan ; that of the city paying one-half of the expense, and as- sessing one-half upon the abutting estates.
Quite an extent of sidewalk has been constructed under
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this plan, and so marked has been the improvement, and so great the desire of individuals for similar improvements in their several streets, that it has been impossible to accomplish all that was desired. The scarcity of bricks, and the universal horse distemper, prevented the com- pletion of much that was contemplated, and compelled its postponement until another season. This latter cause of embarrassment has also compelled the delay of some nec- essary work on our highways, particularly on several of our main avenues. Some changes and important im- provements are required on three of our thoroughfares. The widening of Milk street its entire length, the exten- sion of Pearl street to the line of Charlestown, and the straightening of Broadway between Mount Benedict and Winter Hill, are all matters demanding early attention.
These improvements will involve large expenditures, but the longer they are delayed, the greater will be the cost, and the more difficult their accomplishment.
The town many years ago, adopted a by-law providing that no private way or street should be accepted, or kept in repair by the town, until it should have been properly graded, and put in good condition for travel, by parties personally and pecuniarily interested in its construction.
This rule of action has operated well, and has been deemed fair and just ; and until recently, land owners who divided their acres into building lots, consider it no hard- ship to properly make their own streets, through their own lands, for the necessary convenience of their own lots. Laterly there has been quite a departure from this prac- tice, and valuable tracts of land have been cut up, with streets marked out for the accommodation of the lots, upon which but little, and in some instances no work at all has ever been done.
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On many such unmade streets, lots have been sold, and numerous houses have been erected and occupied by in- dividuals, who, finding themselves much inconvenienced, complain that the city is remiss in providing them proper street accommodations. Parties who divide estates into building lots, should clearly understand that the city will not make their streets for them ; and persons buying or occupying houses or lots upon any unmade street, should as fully realize that in making such purchase, they are incurring a personal responsibility for its proper construc- tion, before they or their property will be on an equal footing with that of those situated on properly made and well-finished streets. Any material deviation from this long-established rule of the town, in this matter, will be an unwarrantable favoritism bestowed upon owners of property on unmade, or but half-made streets, and a wrong to tax-payers who own property on streets which were properly constructed by the abuttors thereon, before they were accepted, and before any maintenance or care of them was assumed by the town.
SEWERS.
Applications, and the necessity for constructing sewers through many of our streets, have been numerous and urgent.
This work has been vigorously persecuted, and much has been accomplished during the year.
A proper plan and system of sewerage for our whole city, is a matter of vast importance, and one which requires and demands the best and wisest engineering skill which we can command. It will require a long time to com- plete the entire work, but a reasonable amount should be accomplished each year.
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WATER WORKS.
The extent of water-pipes laid during the last year is something over six miles, with thirty-seven additional fire hydrants properly distributed. The whole length of pipe now laid in the city is thirty-four miles, and the whole number of fire hydrants, one hundred and eighty-four. The last Legislature authorized the issuing of two hundred thousand dollars of additional Water Bonds - forty thou- sand of which have been issued to pay expenses incurred the past season. The balance of this two hundred thou- sand dollars will finish the works to the extent contem- plated, and when completed, the whole amount of fund- ed debt on this account will be four hundred thousand dollars.
The number of water-takers has much increased, and the revenue is getting to be quite satisfactory. As a protection against fire, and as a great means of health and comfort, our supply of Mystic water is invaluable, and a blessing fully appreciated by our people.
FIRE DEPARTMENT.
Our city has happily been exempt the past year from the ravages of fire ; consequently the labors of our faith- ful and efficient firemen have been comparatively light.
There have been sixteen fires in the city during the year, with an aggregate loss of only $6,375, the insurance on which was $4,550.
The department was called out of the city nineteen times, and called out by false alarms six times.
I consider the department in as good condition as we could reasonably desire, and capable of efficiently render- ing any, and all service which we are justified in expect- ing it will be called upon to perform.
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We desire to furnish all proper facilities for the comfort and convenience of our firemen, and to do all for the pro- tection of the property of our citizens, which a wise fore- sight, guided by judicious prudence, shall direct. With our present supply of water, and with the large number of fire hydrants which are distributed over our territory, I have no hesitation in saying that in my judgment the appliances for extinguishing fires, which we now have and which are contracted for, are for the present year at least, ample and sufficient. Whether the time has ar- rived for the construction of a Fire Alarm Telegraph, I leave for your judgment to determine.
POLICE.
Our Police Department has in its efficiency and fidelity to duty, met the requirements and approval of the City Council, and so far as Iknow, it has merited and received the general favor and commendation of our citizens. The importance of this arm of protection is daily more and more apparent. Idleness and dissipation more or less abound in all large communities, and lawlessness and petty crimes are the sure consequence. The labors of officers have been constant and arduous, and as more duty will be required the present year, I respectfully recommend an increase in this department.
POLICE COURT.
The last Legislature passed "An act to Establish a Po- lice Court in the City of Somerville."
A Justice and a Clerk, alike satisfactory and creditable to the city were appointed, a court-room was provided in the City Hall building, and the court formally organized on the 24th of June.
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In amount of business and general convenience, it has already assumed an importance greater than was antici- pated. Its present accommodations, (as also those of the police department), are altogether inadequate; and I commend to your consideration a report recently submit- ted by a committee of the last City Council, recommend- ing the erection of a proper building on a lot of land be- longing to the city on the corner of Milk and Prospect streets, to provide for these wants.
The plan proposed is intended to supply ample con- venience for the court, the police department, lock-ups, and a ward-room.
THE POOR.
A humane beneficence should influence our actions in regard to the poor and needy among us, and the same proper provision for their comfortable maintenance must be made in the future, as in the past.
At this inclement season of the year, there are many who need assistance, some entire, and some partial sup- port ; and however varied the necessities, let those upon whom this responsibility rests be richly imbued with the benign spirit of charity, and in the discharge of their sa- cred and sometimes trying duties, let them be constantly assured that our people grudge no expenditure necessary to fully answer all the demand of humanity.
STATE AID AND SOLDIERS' RELIEF.
The claims of our needy returned soldiers and sailors, and the families of the slain requiring aid and relief, are quite different in their nature from the claims of the or- dinary poor; and the Commonwealth, and all our cities and towns, and our whole people have justly regarded and acknowledged the honorable distinction.
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The deserving of this class, who periled their all for, and achieved the preservation of our National existence, whose health may now be impaired in consequence of long-endured hardships, unhealthy climate, and perchance starvation in a prison pen, may justly claim as a dearly bought right, a comfortable maintenance from the com- munity for whom their trials and privations were en- dured. We should never forget that to these men, and to the needy families of those whose lives were sacrificed we owe a most sacred debt which can never be fully paid; and, instead of being considered burdens or incumbrances they should be recognized and treated as those having a just and legal demand upon our treasury.
PUBLIC HEALTH.
The past year has witnessed much improvement in our sanitary condition. The ordinance establishing a Board of Health and prescribing its duties and the requirements of our citizens was adopted with much care, and our short year of experience has proved its efficacy and beneficial results. I especially refer to those sections of the ordi- nance relating to the keeping of swine, (which in some localities had become quite offensive), and to the care and removal of house offal. In these improvements, I am in doubt whether the committee of the Council having these matters in charge, or the citizens who have with marked promptness complied with their wholesome re- quirements, are deserving of the most commendation. Every year will have its claims upon the health depart- ment of our government for industrious care and vigi- lance in securing and preserving to our people the in- estimable, heath-promoting blessing of cleanliness.
There are numerous cases of small pox and varioloid
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in our city, and it is unwise to try to conceal the fact of its existence as an epidemic in our midst. Liberal pro- vision has been made for the free vaccination of all our people with the purest vaccine matter ; and I urge upon all, both old and young, the necessity of at once availing themselves of this opportunity, and thus complying with the claims of reason, the demands of humanity, and the imperative requirements of a statute of the Common- wealth.
I venture to call your attention to the necessity of erecting at an early day - at a moderate cost - in some isolated part of the city, a hospital for the care and treat- ment of persons afflicted with contagious diseases. How- ever much opposition and prejudice may exist in regard to the erection of a "pest house," I feel sure that the safe- ty of our people will thereby be much promoted; for wherever such hospital shall be erected, if it is properly constructed and ventilated, there will be much less dan- ger (even in its immediate vicinity), of the spread of the disease, than if it is treated in private dwellings, scattered over our territory.
MILLER'S RIVER.
You as well as our citizens generally, are aware that our city joined with Cambridge in a petition to our last legislature, for authority to enable the two cities to abate the nuisance in and about the basins of Miller's river, by filling them up with clean gravel, and providing for other means of drainage, than into those open, shallow basins, the bottoms of which are exceedingly putrid and filthy, causing at times a most sickening and abominable stench.
A long hearing was had before the Committee on Har-
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bors of the Legislature, at which both cities appeared with their respective counsel.
The committee did not report in favor of our plan, but being convinced that a most offensive nuisance existed, and one of such magnitude, and so deleterious to health, as to demand that it should in some way be abated, re- ported a bill providing for a Commission, composed of the Harbor Commissioners, and State Board of Health, which should hear all parties interested, and report to the Mayor and Aldermen of each city a plan for draining the district, abating the nuisance, and preserving the health of the inhabitants of that vicinity. The cities of Somerville and Cambridge were much disappointed in the bill passed by the Legislature, because it would nec- essarily cause delay in abating an intolerable nuisance already too long endured, and because it provided no way authorized by the constitution to carry out such measures as the Commission might recommend ; unless the cities should purchase all lands and flats proposed to be filled. True, the act says the two cities may respec- tively take such land, and in the same manner as land may be taken for highways; but in the opinion of the counsel for both cities, the Legislature cannot delegate the right to judge of the necessity for taking private land for public benefit, to any commission or to any third party. Nevertheless, the two cities, as in duty bound in a case of so much importance, involving not only the comfort, but the healths and lives of their inhabitants, promptly attended the hearings before the Commission when notified, and pledged themselves to do everything in their power to carry out whatever plan it should re- commend for improving this locality. The Commission carefully examined in person the infected territory, and
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the several slaughtering establishments, and though the hearing was in the heat of the summer, patiently listened to all the evidence produced before it, and the long ar- guments of the respective counsel of all parties inter- ested.
Not stopping here, but desiring to inform itself as thoroughly as possible upon the whole subject matter, the Commission as authorized by the act creating it, after the hearing was closed, secured the services of Hon. Phineas Ball, of Worcester, an eminent civil engineer, to examine, survey, and report to them, the best method in his opinion, of draining the district and abating the nui- sance. Mr. Ball, to enable himself to know fully, and with certainty, the causes, and extent of the nuisance, secured the services of Prof. C. O. Thompson, of Worces- ter, a skilled chemist, to examine the bottoms of the basins, and make chemical analysis of the material there existing. The results of the labors of this Commission, and those employed by them, you will find in their Re- port- printed copies of which are before you.
The nuisance as therein shown, is found to be much more aggravated, and much more dangerous to health than the cities were aware of, or could have believed without actual proof. Somerville and Cambridge are fully sustained in the position they took before the Leg- islative Committee, and before the Commission. The Commission decides that all the basins of Miller's river must be filled up with clean gravel.
Its recommendations meet the hearty approval of our city authorities, and I am sure of the city of Cambridge also.
The sincere thanks of our city are due to the Commis- sion, for the patience, thoroughness, and great ability
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with which it has performed the duties imposed upon it, and what is now required is the necessary legislation to enable the two cities to carry out its recommendations.
Our city has already taken the necessary action in that direction ; Cambridge will as heartily co-operate with Somerville in the future as in the past, and I trust that those who have hitherto opposed us in our efforts to make this portion of our city what it ought to be, will now join with us in carrying out in the most practical way, the remedies proposed. I therefore confidently congratulate you, and all our citizens, upon the prospect of an early removal of what is now a source of grievous suffering to many residents of Somerville and Cambridge, and a just cause of reproach to both cities.
LOW LANDS.
Upon the several petitions of our city and the city of Cambridge, the legislature last May passed an act pro- viding that no cellar or basement shall be constructed in our city below a grade established by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen ; and also providing for filling all lands in the city, which are below thirteen feet above mean low water, up to that grade.
The act is entitled, "An act to provide for the preven- tion and abatement of nuisances, and the preservation of the Public Health in the cities of Cambridge and Som- erville."
Our city has already taken some action under this statute, but has barely made a beginning. It has issued the preliminary notice to owners of land in certain local- ities, to compel the raising of the grade in accordance with the requirements of the act.
The expense of filling these lands up to the established
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grade will be considerable, and in some cases may seem onerous ; but we must remember that the sole object of the act, and of all action of the city under it, is the pres- ervation of the Public Health.
If these lands are built upon before the grade is raised, it is impossible to provide any plan or system for their under-drainage or sewerage. Their drainage must be upon the surface; and all experience has taught that in cities containing a population as large as ours, such drainage is greatly detrimental to health-
It has been truly said that no one can estimate the value of health, and no one can properly calculate the cost of sickness.
The loss and expense incident upon the sickness of a single member of the family, would probably pay the cost of raising to the required grade, the lot of any home- stead in the city ; and every lot thus raised would be in- creased in actual market value, much more than the cost of filling. Let then those who own single lots, or larger tracts of low land, who think they are in this matter called upon to bear a somewhat heavy burden, consider the sure profit and increase in cash value, health, comfort and general improvement, which the outlay is sure to produce.
I earnestly urge upon you a vigorous application of the provisions of this act, to all lots of low land in our city, upon which buildings shall hereafter be erected ; and I as earnestly recommend the raising to the established grade the present year, all the territory lying between the upper basin of Miller's river, Webster Avenue, Medford street, and the line of Cambridge.
I beg you, let no opposition, or caviling of land-owners deter you, or delay your action in these matters ; but ap-
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preciating them as great sanitary necessities, involving the health and comfort of our whole people, let your action be as prompt and decisive, as the exigences are urgent and pressing.
Gentlemen of the City Council :
Desiring the welfare and advancement of our city, and the well being and contentment of our fellow citizens, let us aim to secure these blessings, by a strict and firm ad- herence to those practices, as well as principles of justice, which can alone secure them.
Our oaths of office, as well as obligation to a confiding constituency, bind us to strict integrity, and earnest fidel- ity in the discharge of our various duties ; and keeping our responsibilities constantly in mind, let us by untir- ing industry and energy, endeavor to faithfully fulfil the obligations we have now assumed.
Statutes and ordinances however wisely framed, cannot, without prompt and impartial administration, achieve the prosperity and happiness of any community.
The position of our city is more than ordinarily ad- vantageous, the greater part of our lands being eligibly situated, and most inviting for residences.
With such a territory, and all its advantages, it is our duty by wise and judicious expenditures, to see to it that all the dwellers within our borders are provided with what is but their simple right, proper means of education, health-securing and health-preserving measures, good streets and sidewalks, street lights, pure water, proper protection to life and property, and the proper adminis- tration of justice.
The withholding of whatever expenditure of money is necessary to properly provide our citizens with all these
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privileges, is an unwise saving, and a thriftless economy, which will in time be surely felt and sorely regretted, alike by the rich and the poor. Extravagant and ill-con- sidered expenditures, are equally injurious and demoral- izing in their effect. Let a wise and cautious distinction between a too parsimonious economy on the one hand, and extravagant liberality on the other, be the guiding line for your judgment and actions ; and when our year of duty and labor is ended, may we have the satisfaction of knowing that another step has been taken in sustain- ing and advancing the welfare, honor and renown of our beloved city.
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