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TOWN OF ANDOVER ---
ANNUAL REPORT YEAR ENDING JANUARY 11, 1898
DOY
THEOL SEN
AN
MAR 7 1898
LIBRARY
47 411
1
THE
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
Receipts and Expenditures
OF THE
TOWN OF ANDOVER
For the Financial Year Ending January 11, 1898
OF
NI
INCORPORATED
ER
- MAY -
MA
1646.
'S
SAC
.
ANDOVER, MASS. THE ANDOVER PRESS 1898
Lift
CONTENTS.
Abatement of Taxes,
48
Memorial Day, 45
Almshouse,
64
Military Aid, 51
Personal Property at,
65
Miscellaneous, 52
Relief out of,
60
Notes discounted, 49
Remaining in,
64
Repairs at,
59
Notes paid,
49
Anniversary, 250th,
45
Overseers of Poor, 57
Assessors' Report,
74
Park Commission, 47
Assets,
75 Printing and Stationery, 45
Auditors' Certificate,
82
Punchard Free School, 98
63
Bonds, Redemption of,
46
Ridge Street,
35
Cemetery Com., Report of,
70
Schedule of Town Property,
56
Chief Engineer's Report,
66
School-houses, 24
Chief of Police, Report,
68
Schools,
21
Cities and Towns,
62
School Books and Supplies,
26
Collector's Account,
73
Selectmen's Account,
21
Commonwealth,
61
Sewer Commissioners' Report, 83
33
County Tax,
48
Sinking Fund,
45
Dog Tax,
48
Snow, Removal of,
31
Drinking Fountain,
47
Soldier's Relief,
61
Dump, Care of,
46
Spring Grove Cemetery,
46
Fire Alarm,
44
State Aid
50
Fire Department,
42
Hay Scales,
47
State Tax,
48
Highways and Bridges,
28
Street Lighting,
47
Highway Surveyor,
37
Horses and Drivers,
39
Horses and Drivers, Earnings,
53
Summary of Selectmen's Orders, 55
Town House, 42
Interest on Notes and Funds,
48
Town Meetings, 5
Town Officers, 40
Librarian's Report,
110
Town Warrant, 101
Lunatic Hospitals,
62
Macadam Roads,
36
Memorial Hall Trustees'
Report, 105
Watering Carts, 45
R THEOL SEM
DOV
AN
MAR 7 1898
LIBRARY
State Highway,
47
Summary of Appropriations and Receipts, 54
Insurance.
49
Liabilities, 75
Treasurer's Account, 75
Waterworks maintenance, 45
49/11
Cornell Fund,
81
Sidewalks,
Board of Health,
96
Representative Fund,
ERRATA.
Page 3.
Engineers of Fire Department.
LEWIS T. HARDY, Chief, GEORGE D. LAWSON, Clerk
ANDREW McTERNEN,
ALLAN SIMPSON,
LOUIS A. DANE.
School Committee.
MRS. ELIZABETH HINCKS, Term expires 1898 66 1898
Should be MRS. ELLA S. MORRILL,
Page 42. Burns & Crowley, repairs on flag, Should be Hardy & Cole, repairs,
$25 44
25 44
TOWN OFFICERS, 1897.
Selectmen, Assessors and Overseers of Poor.
ARTHUR BLISS, SAMUEL H. BOUTWELL,
Term expires March, 1899
66 1900
JOHN S. STARK, Secretary, 66
66
66 1898
Town Clerk and Tax Collector. ABRAHAM MARLAND.
Town Treasurer. GEORGE A. PARKER.
School Committee.
J. NEWTON COLE, Chairman,
Term expires 1900
MRS. LIZZIE A. WILSON,
66 1898
MRS. ELIZABETH HINCKS, .
66
66 1898
THOMAS DAVID,
66
66 1898
GEORGE D. PETTEE,
66
1900
WILLIAM SHAW,
66
66
1900
JOHN ALDEN,
66 1899
JOHN N. COLE,
1899
WILLIAM ODLIN,
66
66
1899
Superintendent of Schools. G. E. JOHNSON.
Water Commissioners.
JOHN H. FLINT, Chairman, Term expires March, 1899
FELIX G. HAYNES, Secretary, 6
1900
JAMES P. BUTTERFIELD,
66 1898
.
Waterworks Superintendent. JOHN E. SMITH. Engineers of Fire Department. LEWIS T. HARDY, Chief, GEORGE D. LAWSON, Clerk
ANDREW McTERNEN, NATHAN E. MEARS.
4
Superintendent of Streets. GEORGE W. CHANDLER,
Term expires 1898
Board of Health.
ARTHUR BLISS, Chairman, CHARLES E. ABBOTT, M. D., Secretary,
Term expires 1898
1899
HOWELL F. WILSON,
1900
Sewer Commissioners.
WILLIAM S. JENKINS, Chairman, JOHN L. SMITH, JOHN E. SMITH,
Term expires 1900
1899
66
1898
Chief of Police. GEORGE W. MEARS. Appointed.
Constables.
BARNETT ROGERS, WILLIAM L. FRYE, JOHN H. CLINTON.
Trustees of Memorial Hall.
GEORGE W. FOSTER,
Term expires 1903
GEO. H. TORR,
1899
C. C. CARPENTER,
66
66 1900
JOSEPH W. SMITH,
1901
FRANCIS H. JOHNSON,
.6
1902
JOSEPH A. SMART,
1898
E. KENDALL JENKINS,
66
66 1904
Trustees of Punchard Free School .- Term expires 1898.
GEORGE H. POOR,
SAMUEL H. BOUTWELL
HORACE H. TYER, MYRON E. GUTTERSON, GEORGE A. PARKER.
Auditors.
CHARLES B. JENKINS, GEORGE A. HIGGINS, LOUIS A. DANE.
TOWN MEETINGS.
Annual Town Meeting, March 1, 1897.
-. WARRANT.
ESSEX, SS: To either of the Constables of the Town of Andover. GREETING :
In the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, you are hereby directed to notify and warn the inhabitants of the Town of Andover, qualified to vote in town affairs, to meet and assemble at the Town House, in said Andover, on Mon- day, the First day of March, 1897, at Nine o'clock, A. M., to act on the following Articles, namely :
Article 1st. - To choose a Moderator to preside at said meeting.
Article 2d. - To choose Town Clerk, Treasurer, Collector of Taxes, One member of the Board of Selectmen, Assessors and Overseers of the Poor for three years, one member of the Board of Health for three years, three members of the School Committee for three years, and one member for one year, one Water Commissioner for three years, one Trustee of the Memorial Hall for seven years, one Sewer Commissioner for three years, one or more Auditors of Accounts, Park Com- missioners, Constables, Fence Viewers, Field Drivers, Sur- veyors of Lumber, Highway Surveyor, Trustees of Cornell Fund, Fire Wards, a Pound Keeper, and any other officers the town may determine to choose.
6
Article 3d. - To take action on the following question : " Shall Licenses be granted for the Sale of Intoxicating Liquors in this town ?"
Article 4th. - To determine what sums of money shall be appropriated for Schools, School-Houses, School Books and Supplies, Highways and Bridges, Sidewalks, Removing Snow, Horses and Drivers, Town Officers, Town House, Hay Scales, Fire Department, Insurance, Street Lighting, Printing and Stationery, Memorial Day, State Aid, Military Aid, Water- works, Interest, State Tax, County Tax, Abatement of Taxes, Almshouse Expenses, Repairs on Almshouse, Relief out of Almshouse, Spring Grove Cemetery, and other town charges and expenses.
Article 5th. - To see if the Town will authorize the con- struction of a fire alarm system and appropriate a sum of money therefor on petition of Engineers.
Article 6th. - To see if the Town will discontinue the cut- ting of wood and removal of gravel from its land on Indian Ridge, so called for the coming year, on petition of Albert Poor and eight others.
Article 7th. - To see if the Town will hold its land on In- dian Ridge, so called as a forest reservation, on condition that the adjoining land bonded to the Indian Ridge committee be obtained by private subscription, and devoted to the same object before the Annual Town Meeting in 1898, on petition of Albert Poor and ten others.
Article 8th. - To see if the Town will appropriate a sum of money to place electric lights on Mineral Street, near New Street of Peter D. Smith, one on Abbott Street near residence of T. D. Thomson, and one on South Main Street near resi- dence of Chas. H. Forbes.
Article 9th. - To see if the Town will appropriate a sum of money for a steam fire engine, on petition of Engineers.
7
Article 10th. - To see if the Town will appropriate a sum of money to continue the concrete sidewalk on the southerly side of the plot near the station, on petition of the Village Improvement Society.
Article 11th. -- To see if the Town will adopt the provisions of Chapter 186 of the Legislative Acts of the year 1895, re- lating to the street watering, and determine the area of such watering, and appropriate a sum of "money for the purchase of watering carts or wagons.
Article 12th. - To see if the Town will purchase for a park the Richardson land (situated north of the Punchard School grounds) and what sum of money they will appropriate there- for, on petition of Wm. S. Jenkins and others.
Article 13th. - To see if the Town will accept Ridge Street as laid out by the Selectmen and appropriate a sum of money for constructing the same.
Article 14th. - To see if the Town will appropriate money sufficient to place a suitable drinking fountain, for man and beast, on Andover Hill near the terminus of the electric car line, on a petition of Egbert C. Smyth and ten others.
Article 15th. - To act on the reports of Town officers.
Article 16th. - To see if the Town will accept the list of names for Jurors prepared by the Selectmen.
Article 17th. - To fix the pay of the Firemen for the ensuing year.
Article 18th. - To determine the method of collecting taxes the ensuing year.
Article 19th. - To determine the disposition of unex- pended appropriations.
Article 20th. - To authorize the Treasurer to hire money for the use of the Town, in anticipation of taxes upon the approval of the Selectmen.
8
Article 21st. - To determine the amount of money to be raised by taxation the ensuing year.
Article 22d. - To transact any other business that may legally come before the meeting
Hereof fail not, and make due return of this Warrant, with your doings thereon, to the Town Clerk, at the time and place of meeting.
Given under our hands, at Andover, this the Thirteenth day of February, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-seven.
ARTHUR BLISS, Selectmen SAM'L H. BOUTWELL, of Andover.
JOHN S. STARK,
At a legal meeting of the inhabitants of the Town of An- dover qualified to vote in town affairs, convened at the Town House in said Andover, on the 1st day of March, 1897, at nine o'clock in the forenoon, agreeably to the requirements of the foregoing Warrant, and after reading part thereof by the Clerk it was
Voted, To dispense with the further reading of the War- rant.
The Officers Return was read.
Took up Article 1.
Chose George H. Poor, Moderator, by ballot, he receiving all of the four votes cast.
Voted, To close the polls at two o'clock, P. M.
Voted, To elect three Anditors.
Voted, To elect three Constables.
Voted, That the terms of office of the Park Commissioners to be chosen at this meeting shall be for three years, two years, and one year, respectively, in the order in which they are named on the printed ballot ; and that hereafter there
9
shall be chosen at each annual meeting one park commission- er for a term of three years, and that vacancies in said board may be filled at any annual meeting.
The Moderator appointed Arthur Bliss, Samuel H. Bout- well, and John S. Stark tellers to check the names of voters for Town Officers, and Barnett Rogers teller to check names and count License votes, and they were all duly sworn by him to the faithful performance of their duty.
At ten minutes past nine the polls were opened and the meeting proceeded to ballot for Town Officers, and to vote upon the Liquor License question.
Article 2 and 3 were taken up and voted upon to- gether.
The Standard ballot box failed to work properly and was laid aside, an open box being substituted therefor in taking the vote on the Liquor License question.
The polls were closed at 2 o'clock P.M.
The Moderator appointed George W. Foster, Colver J. Stone, and Frank H. Hardy tellers to count votes for Town Officers, and they were duly sworn to the faithful performance of their duty ; Barnett Rogers counted the Liquor License vote.
The whole number of votes cast was 612
Necessary for a choice where there were two or more candidates for the same office. 307
FOR TOWN CLERK AND COLLECTOR OF TAXES : Abraham Marland had 612
FOR TOWN TREASURER :
George A. Parker had 610
FOR SELECTMAN, ASSESSOR, AND OVERSEER OF POOR. Samuel H. Boutwell had 602
FOR BOARD OF HEALTH,-3 years : Arthur Bliss had 611
10
FOR SCHOOL COMMITTEE,-3 years :
J. Newton Cole had 610
William Shaw had 611
George D. Pettee had 611
FOR MEMBER OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE,-1 year : Mrs. Ella S. Morrill had 609
Mrs. E. Y. Hincks had 1
FOR WATER COMMISSIONER,-3 years : Felix G. Haynes had 612
FOR TRUSTEE OF MEMORIAL HALL,-7 years :
E. Kendall Jenkins had 612
FOR SEWER COMMISSIONER,-3 years :
William S. Jenkins had 610
FOR AUDITORS OF ACCOUNTS :
George A. Higgins had 608
Louis A. Dane had 608
Charles B. Jenkins had 610
FOR PARK COMMISSIONERS :
Albert Poor for 3 years had 607
Wm. G. Goldsmith for 2 years had 611
Frank S. Mills for 1 year had 607
FOR CONSTABLES :
George W. Mears had 607
William H. Sleath had 611
William L. Frye had 608
John H. Clinton had
1
FOR FENCE VIEWERS :
Michael T. Welch had 609
William H. Carter had 612
Charles G. Hussey had 611
John Pray had 1
FOR HIGHWAY SURVEYOR :
George W. Chandler had 364
Joseph T. Lovejoy had 246
11
All the foregoing officers elected were chosen by ballot, the check list being used.
And the Moderator declared -
Abraham Marland elected Town Clerk and Collector of Taxes.
George A. Parker elected Town Treasurer.
Samuel H. Boutwell elected Selectman, Assessor and Overseer of the Poor for three years.
Arthur Bliss elected Board of Health for three years.
J. Newton Cole, William Shaw, and George D. Pettee, elected School Committee for three years.
Mrs. Ella S. Morrill elected School Committee for one year.
Felix G. Haynes elected Water Commissioner for three years.
E. Kendall Jenkins elected Trustee of Memorial Hall for seven years.
William S. Jenkins elected Sewer Commissioner for three years.
George A. Higgins, Louis A. Dane, and Charles B. Jenkins, elected Auditors of Accounts.
Albert Poor, William G. Goldsmith, and Frank S. Mills, elected Park Commissioners.
George W. Mears, William H. Sleath, and William L. Frye elected Constables.
Michael T. Welch, William H. Carter, and Charles G. Hussey, elected Fence Viewers.
George W. Chandler elected Highway Surveyor.
The result of the vote on the Liquor License question was declared by the Moderator to be as follows :
" Yes," 140. " No," 265. Total, 405.
Chose Field Drivers : Charles Greene, John L. Noyes, J. Warren Mooar, William H. Tucker.
12
Chose Surveyors of Lumber : Charles Greene, Joshua H. Chandler, George P. Pillsbury, Charles G. Hussey, William H. Carter, Frank E. Gleason, Joseph W. Clark, Charles H. Marland, Edward S. Hardy, George W. Chandler, John B. Jenkins.
Chose as Pound Keeper: Superintendent of the Town Farm, and
Voted, That the town barn and barn yard be the pound.
Chose Trustees of Cornell Fund : Frank E. Gleason, for three years ; Joseph A. Smart, for two years ; Charles Greene, for one year.
Chose Forest Fire Wards : Walter S. Donald, John B. Jenkins, Joshua H. Chandler, Edward S. Hardy.
Moved, That Fire Wards receive fifty cents per hour. The motion was lost. 81, yea ; 89, nay.
Voted, to reconsider the last vote.
Voted, That Fire Wards receive fifty cents per hour and their assistants twenty-five cents per hour.
Voted, That separate and distinct account of macadamized road be kept and put into Town Report, so that it may be seen what each piece cost.
Voted, To establish a sinking fund to pay notes due Me- morial Hall Trustees, and appropriated one hundred and fifty dollars therefor.
Took up Article 4.
Voted, To appropriate the following stated sums of money :
$20,000
School-houses,
2,500
School Books and Supplies,
1,500
Macadamized Roads.
4,000
Repairs on Highways and Bridges,
3,400
Amount carried forward,
$31,400
Schools,
13
Amount brought forward,
$31,400
Sidewalks ($1000 of which to be expended under
" betterment act")
1,500
Removing Snow,
500
Town Officers,
5,000
Town House,
1,000
Water-works, maintenance,
4,400
Sinking Fund,
675
Fire Department, including new hose and repairs,
3,200
Horses and Drivers,
3,000
Street Lighting,
4,100
Printing and Stationery,
700
Spring Grove Cemetery (also proceeds of sale of lots),
200
Memorial Day,
200
State Aid,
1,600
Military Aid,
300
Expenses of Almshouse,
4,000
Relief out of Almshouse,
5,000
Repairs on Almshouse,
500
State Tax,
5,000
County Tax,
5,000
Abatement of Taxes,
300
Interest on Notes, Funds, and Bonds,
9,500
Insurance,
500
Hay Scales,
50
Miscellaneous,
1,500
Drinking Fountain (see Art. 14),
125
Fire Alarm (see Art. 5),
2,500
Sinking Fund to pay Memorial Hall note,
150
Park Commissioners (see vote on Art. 22),
200
Ridge Street Improvement (see vote on Art. 10 and 13), 600
Watering Carts,
800
$93,500
14
Took up Article 5.
Voted, To appropriate $2500 for construction of Fire Alarm System.
Took up Article 6.
This article was not carried. The vote stood, yes, 75; no, 161.
Moved to reconsider ; motion not carried.
The Article reads .- To see if the town will discontinue the cutting of wood and removal of gravel from its land on Indian Ridge, so called, for the coming year, on petition of / Albert Poor and eight others. -
Took up Article 7.
To see if the town will hold its land on Indian Ridge, so called, as a forest reservation, etc. (see Article in Warrant) Decided in the negative without a count.
Took up Article 8.
Voted, To appropriate $100 to place electric lights on Mineral Street near new street of Peter D. Smith, one on Abbot Street near residence of T. D. Thomson, and one on South Main Street near residence of Charles H. Forbes.
Voted, To appropriate forty-one hundred dollars for elec- tric lights, including above, and for the purpose of keeping street lights burning until 12.30 A. M.
Took up Article 9.
To see if the town will appropriate a sum of money for a steam fire engine. Decided in the negative.
Took up Article 10.
Deferred consideration until after Article 13.
15
Took up Article 11.
Voted, To accept provisions of Chapter 186 of the Legis- lative Acts of 1895, relating to street watering, and deter- mine the area of such watering, and appropriate $800 for the purchase of watering carts ; that the Selectmen deter- mine the limits of streets to be watered, and that the pro- ceeds of assessments be added to highway appropriation.
Took up Article 12.
Voted, That the Park Commissioners be requested to pro- cure estimates of the cost of taking or purchasing for the purposes of a public park the tract of land bounded by Bart- lett Street, Whittier Street, and Chestnut Street, and report the same at the next annual meeting.
Took up Article 13.
I Voted, To accept Ridge Street as laid out by the Select- men, and appropriate not exceeding six hundred dollars for construction of same and that Highway Surveyor put curb- ing on other boundary where bank joins School Street.
Took up Article 14.
Voted, To appropriate $125 to place a suitable drinking fountain for man and beast on Andover Hill, near the termi- nus of the electric car line.
Took up Article 15.
Voted, To accept the reports of the Town Officers.
Took up Article 16.
Voted, To erase the following names from the Jury List, at the request of the persons : George A. Christie, Thomas A. Mathews and Thomas W. Platt.
16
Voted, To accept the Jury List as amended, here following :
Abbott, Allen F.
Hackett, William H.
Abbott, Warren G.
Hanson, Eugene A. Hardy, Fred. S.
Abbot, Stephen E.
Haynes, Bancroft T.
Anderson, Frank H.
Hayward, Henry A.
Anderson, James
Hayward, Henry M.
Bailey, Samuel H.
Hoffman, Carl
Blunt, Charles C.
Jowett, William H.
Bodwell, Lewis F.
Keeland, John E.
Boutwell, Edward W.
Kibbee, Charles E.
Boutwell, Samuel H.
Livingston, William
Bowman, Charles
Lovejoy, Stephen A.
Boynton, Henry
Lowd, Joseph H. McDermitt, Charles
Brown, George A.
Caffrey, Owen F.
Mooar, J. Warren
Caldwell, Albert W.
Moody, A. Herbert
Carter, William H.
Moulton, Charles N.
Carpenter, Charles C.
Neal, Horace F. Newman, Henry J.
Chandler, Joshua H.
Cole, Joseph F.
O'Connell, Arthur F. Phelps, Frank C.
Daley, James E.
Daley, Patrick J.
Dane, Louis A.
Davey, John
Dear, Alexander
Dodson, Richard J.
Donald, Walter S.
Erving, Abbott
Farnham, Moses L.
Flint, James S. Tuck, M. Warren
Foster, Frank M.
Ward, Wilber F.
Grosvenor, James
Poor, Daniel H. Putnam, James N. Riley, Lawrence F, Stack, John, Jr. Schneider, Louis H. Shaw, Benjamin Stark, John S. Stott, Thomas E.
Stott, Joshua H.
Abbot, Edward F.
Billington, Charles F.
Holt, Ballard
17
Took up Article 17. Voted, That firemen be paid $25, same as last year.
Took up Article 18.
Voted, That the Tax Collector be paid a salary of one thousand dollars as Town Clerk, Tax Collector, Clerk of Board of Selectmen, Clerk of Board of Registrars of Voters, and all fees collected be turned into the Town Treasury.
Took up Article 19.
Voted, That all unexpended appropriations be turned into the treasury, except twenty-five dollars appropriated for care of town dump, sewer appropriation, and balance of appropriation for two hundred and fiftieth anniversary.
Took up Article 20.
Voted, That the Treasurer be authorized to hire money for the use of the Town, in anticipation of taxes, upon the appro- val of the Selectmen.
Took up Article 21.
Voted, To raise seventy-five thousand dollars by taxation.
Took up Article 22.
Voted, To appropriate two hundred dollars for use of Park Commission.
Voted, That the land on Carmel Hill, the plat of land already improved near railroad station, and all other open plats of land not used for town purposes, such as the Poor Farm, etc., be placed in the care of the Park Commissioners.
Voted, That the terms of office of the Park Commissioners to be chosen at this meeting, shall be for three years, two years and one year respectively in the order in which they are named on the printed ballot, and that hereafter there
18
shall be chosen at each annual meeting one Park Commis- sioner for a term of three years, and that vacancies in said Board may be filled at any annual meeting.
The following is a copy of the Third Annual Report of the Committee of Fifteen on the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Incorporation of Andover :
THIRD ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF FIFTEEN TO THE TOWN OF ANDOVER, MARCH 1, 1897.
At the Annual Town Meeting of 1896 your Committee of Fifteen on the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Incorporation of Andover, which committee was appointed at the Annual Meeting in 1894, made its sccond annual report, which report was accepted and adopted by a gratifying unanimous vote. This report is printed in the Annual Report of the Selectmen for the year ending Januury 12th, 1897, and may be found on pages 17-20.
Your Committee respectfully report further at this time that they held meetings this year as follows: March 9, 18, April 10, 15, 29, May, 13, 16, 28, 1896, and February 27, 1897. The sub-commit- tees also held numerous meetings in the discharge of their arduous duties.
In addition to the sub-committees previously reported, your com- mittee appointed a committee on Manufacturing and Trades Exhibit, Howell F. Wilson, chairman, thereby adding to the celebration one of the most interesting and instructive features.
The general reception prepared for the 19th of May was reluctantly given up, partly in order to give an opportunity to the committee on Historical Tableaux to repeat the entertaniment which had been presented on Saturday evening for the children, and on Monday evening for the adults. At this third presentation many of the guests from out of town were present, So great was the interest in these tableaux that a fourth presentation was arranged and suc- cessfully carried out immediately after the third exhibition, Tuesday evening. It is estimated that twenty-eight hundred people had the pleasure of seeing thèse beautiful historical tableaux.
The endeavor of the committee to provide simultaneous exercises appealing to different tastes and interests, and to open the Loan
.
19
Collection and the Trades Exhibit at convenient hours for two or three days instead of a single day, proved to be satisfactory.
The clergymen of the various churches kindly responded to the invitation of the town to preach appropriate sermons, or to make suitable allusions to the approaching anniversary, on Sunday, May 16.
The invitation of the town to the Town of North Andover to unite with us in the celebration, was not officially accepted, but a voluntary committee was made up in North Andover to cooperate with our own committee, and very efficient assistance was rendered, particu- larly in the Loan" Collection. Many citizens of North Andover, some of them specially invited guests of the Town of Andover, contributed by their presence to the distinction of the celebration.
The official programme and other documents submitted herewith and made a part of this report show the work that was done by the various sub-committees, and the various exercises that were held, beginning with Saturday, May 16, 1897, and closing with the band concert and fireworks on the evening of Wednesday, May 20.
The citizens showed from the beginning to end a patriotic interest in the celebration, and the committees experienced from almost all of them a hearty cooperation. The attendance from abroad, and the responses to the special invitations extended by the committee to distinguished representatives of the neighborhood, the county, the state, the colleges and learned societies, and the nation, were very cordial and gratifying.
The committee feel that it is their bounden duty to speak in the highest terms of the manner in which the orator, poet and toast- master discharged the several duties which they undertook at the invitation of the town, and which called out the most striking expressions of admiration and praise.
The principal duty remaining for the committee is to carry forward to completion the book of the proceedings of the celebration, a work which is already far advanced but for which some additional time is required.
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