USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > A History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, vol 1 > Part 26
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In 1913 the department made its first change from horse drawn vehicles to automobiles by the purchase of a Detroit electric truck, and others have been added from time to time. In 1914 a 10,000,000 gallon Snow pumping engine was installed in the Harris street station, and the original Holly pumping engine was removed. In 1915 an addition was built to the Lakeville boiler house and two new tubular boilers were in- stalled. On October 1, 1917, owing to ill health, Henry M. Lovering re- signed as commissioner. He had served on the board thirty-seven years and nine months, and was president nearly twenty-four years. On the 23rd of the same month Dr. Silas D. Presbrey died, after a service of thirty-six years and seven months. The department owes much to the long and able administration of these men. Willis K. Hodgman succeeded Mr. Lovering, and Francis J. Bassett succeeded Dr. Presbrey upon the board, and Peter H. Corr succeeded Mr. Lovering as president. In 1920, steps were taken toward requiring all services to be metered, and about four hundred meters have been set annually since.
During the year when operation of the works was begun (1876), a schedule of rates was adopted. The main items of $5 for the first faucet, $2 for the second, $3 for a bathtub and $5 for a water closet, have con- tinued as the rates until the present time. The first schedule required a minimum charge for metered water of $10 per year; this continued in effect until 1913, when the minimum semi-annual charge of $4 was made, and this was further reduced in 1918 to $3, which allows the use of 12,000 gallons. Twenty-five cents per thousand gallons is charged for any excess used. The system has now about one hundred miles of cast iron dis- tributing mains in sizes from four inches to twenty inches. There are over sixty miles of service pipe of cement-lined, wrought-iron pipe in sizes from three-fourths inch to two inches. There are about sixty-five hundred services and over five thousand of them are metered. We have over eleven hundred fire hydrants. The pumping capacity of the three pumps at Harris street station is 22,000,000 gallons per day. The average daily consumption is 3,220,896 gallons. The receipts for water are now about $109,000 per year, and water is furnished free for all city uses except in public buildings.
Taunton Waterways *.- From the time when Taunton was settled, in 1637, up to the present, there has been more or less traffic on our river. In the earlier days and up to 1870 there was a large fleet of sloops and schooners of from fifty to one hundred and fifty tons burden owned by 'Taunton men. These small vessels traded along the coast from the Prov- inces to the West Indies, and their cargoes of hay, grain, flour, lumber, iron and coal were brought to Taunton and distributed among the neigh- boring towns within a radius of twenty miles by team. Weir Village was a busy place in those days. At that time Taunton was the largest grain distributing port on the New England coast, with the exception of Boston and Portland. The grain was brought down the Erie canal to New York Bay, where it was reshipped in small schooners, and brought through Long Island Sound and up Taunton river to Taunton. Lumber was brought from the South and from Maine and the Provinces, iron from the Erie
*By Clinton V. Sanders, of the Taunton Waterways Committee.
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and Lake Champlain canal and the South, and coal from the southern ports. Differential railroad rates killed the business, and the small schooners, unable to compete, disappeared from our river. However, the maritime spirit had not died out in Taunton, and the old vessels' owners and their descendants put their money into larger vessels.
Taunton capital built the first three, four, five and six masted schoon- ers that were seen on our coast. These vessels could only come as far as Fall River and Somerset. There was only eighteen feet of water on Common Fence bar at that time at low water, but, since that time, the bar has been dredged to twenty-five feet. Vessels drawing twenty-five feet can therefore come up to Fall River, which is only seventeen miles from Taunton. Vessels carrying eighteen feet can come to Somerset, eleven miles from Taunton, and vessels carrying eleven feet at low water can come to Dighton, which is only seven miles below the Weir. Vessels drawing over five feet cannot come to Taunton at low water. The rise and fall of the tide in our river is from three and a half to six feet; there- fore, vessels drawing over eight to nine feet can come to Taunton only at high tide.
From 1870 to 1880 there was more coast-wise tonnage owned and hailing from Taunton than from any other port on the Atlantic coast, with the exception of New York. But of course these vessels, though "Taun- ton" was painted on their stern, could not come up the river.
The bottom of our river is mostly mud, which could be easily pumped out, and if we could have our river straightened in a few places and deep- ened to twelve feet at low water to compare with the completed New York canal, and with the Chesapeake and Delaware canal and the New Jersey canal when they are completed, then we could have power barges built similar to the barges now being used on the New York canal. These barges have a capacity of two thousand tons, or equal to one hundred carloads of twenty tons each. They are built of lighter construction for inland traffic than the ocean-going vessels, and at less than one-half the cost per ton capacity. It has been proven that rail freight costs from three to five times more than water-borne freight. This fact, together with a lower rate of insurance, would enable us to have our cotton, lumber, iron, coal, hay, grain, and other products brought from the South and West to our docks at a great saving in time and money. Then, perhaps, Taun- ton might retrieve her old-time prestige as a market for. the surround- ing towns.
It has been estimated that within a radius of twenty miles of Taunton, and locally, there is consumed annually 175,000 tons of anthracite coal, 160,000 tons of bituminous coal, 75,000 tons of hay and grain, 200,000 bar- rels of flour, 35,000 tons of pig iron, and 150,000 tons of miscellaneous freight, such as clay, molding sand, etc., and 50,000,000 feet of lumber. Molding sand, clay and pig iron are brought up the river at present, and coal barges carrying from 400 to 600 tons, according to the state of the tide, still come up, but lumber has not been brought up the river for twenty years, the small vessels having become a "thing of the past." The Taunton Waterways Committee have succeeded annually in having the Taunton project read into the resolutions of the Atlantic Deeper Water- ways Association. These resolutions are presented to the River and
2
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Harbor Committee of Congress, but thus far the Taunton project has not met with success.
Efforts of the Atlantic Deeper Waterways Association have largely been concentrated upon having Congress appropriate the money to pur- chase and deepen the Dismal Swamp canal and the Chesapeake and Dela- ware canal, and on the digging of a new canal across the State of New Jersey. Both the Dismal Swamp and the Chesapeake and Delaware canals have been purchased by the government, and work is nearly com- pleted on the former, while it has been begun on the latter. They are now concentrating all of their efforts on the New Jersey project. The State of New Jersey has offered to purchase the necessary land across the State and give it to the government. These canals constitute the main links in the trunk line. After these canals are provided for, then the other projects, such as the Taunton river, will be taken up. The dredging of Taunton river is only a small part of the scheme, as the canal from Taunton to Boston is a part of the intracoastal waterway plan, and the Atlantic Deeper Waterways Association will hammer Congress until the whole route from Key West to Boston is completed.
The Atlantic Deeper Waterways Association was formed in 1907. Realizing the importance of better, quicker and cheaper transportation, a few far-seeing men, with the Hon. J. Hampton Moore at their head, held their first meeting at Philadelphia, and formed the Atlantic Deeper Water- ways Association. Their object was to interest the United States govern- ment in connecting up the rivers, bays and harbors along the Atlantic coast by canals, so that an inland passage could be made from Boston to Key West, the rivers along the coast to be made as "feeders" to the trunk line. In 1910 the Atlantic Deeper Waterways Association held their meet- ing in Providence, Rhode Island. James E. Lewis, who until the time of his death was always the leading spirit of the local organization, was at that time the only member of the association from Taunton, although the Taunton yachtsmen, together with the yachtsmen from all over Narragan- sett Bay, took part in the celebration.
The sixth annual meeting was held in New London. A number of the Taunton Waterways Committee joined the association, and from that time on, Taunton has been represented at every meeting. These meetings have been held at Miami and Jacksonville, Florida; twice at Savannah, Georgia ; Charleston, South Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; twice in Philadelphia ; Boston, Portland, Atlantic City; and one convention was held from New York to Albany and cities along the Hudson. This year, 1923, the convention was held in Norfolk, Virginia. Besides attending the water- ways conventions, members of our committee have attended the National River and Harbor Congress at Washington, hearings in Taunton and Boston before the legislative committee and the Land and Harbor Commissioners, and also before the United States Army Engineers at Washington. Mem- bers of the Taunton committee who have attended these various meetings, conventions and hearings are James E. Lewis, Lewis M. Witherell, Sr., Richard Wastcoat, Richard E. Warner, Joseph Williams, Bion C. Pierce, Edgar Sturgis, H. H. Shumway, Sr., L. James Parker and Clinton V. Sanders.
By our efforts, together with those of other interested parties from
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Southeastern Massachusetts, three surveys and estimates have been made by the State and the United States engineers of a twenty-five foot canal from Fall River to Boston. The first canal as surveyed was to go by way of Brockton. The others were to pass to the eastward of Brockton. One was to empty into Hingham Bay and the other to empty into Ply- mouth Harbor. Also, United States engineers have made a survey and estimate for dredging, widening, and deepening the channel of the Taunton river from Somerset to Weir Village, so as to give a 100-foot wide channel with a depth of twelve feet at low water, estimating the cost at $534,000, and have recommended that Congress appropriate one-half the amount, or $267,000. The State of Massachusetts had previously appropriated the sum of $100,000, conditional on the federal government approving the project and making an appropriation. Owing to the illness and death of J. E. Lewis, who had the matter of the appropriation in charge, the time limit of the appropriation was allowed to lapse, and, as the constitution of the State had been changed since the appropriation was made, it was found that it could not be reinstated. However, with some assurance of success, plans are being formulated for obtaining money from the State for the improvement of the river. In 1881 $75,000 was appropriated by the gov- ernment for the improvement of the river. Of that sum only $62,000 was spent. This left a balance of $13,000 still available. From that time to this there has been no money spent on the river by the government. There are approximately 4,000,000 people in Massachusetts, and nearly one-third of these people, including Boston, live in the southeastern part. The build- ing of the Taunton-Boston canal would open up this densely populated part of the State to the benefits of water transportation. If such a canal were built, probably all of the local freight from Boston to Taunton and Fall River and 90 per cent. of the bulk freight would be carried by boat, as it can be freighted so much cheaper.
Although once a thriving port, Taunton is now considered by the rail- roads as an inland city, and the city is taxed on all southern freight three cents per 100 pounds over and above water points, such as Fall River and New Bedford. This would make the rate on lumber from $1 to $1.50 per thousand feet of lumber more than those cities pay, although the freight is taken through our city to New Bedford and Fall River, a distance of seventeen to twenty miles further. One of the principal objects of the in- side passage along the coast is the elimination of the loss of life and prop- erty. In the ten years previous to 1915 the death toll in the passage around Cape Cod was over two thousand lives, and over $40,000,000 of property was destroyed. To say nothing about the loss of two thousand lives, the value of which cannot be estimated, the property loss alone would pay for the building of the canal from Taunton to Boston. The distance from Point Judith to Boston by the outside route is 181 miles; by the Cape Cod canal, 116; via Taunton river to Plymouth harbor, 113; via Taunton river to Hingham harbor, 96 miles, or a saving over the outside route of 85 miles.
The estimated cost of various types and dimensions of canals between Narragansett Bay and Boston is as follows: Lock canal, bottom width 200 feet, Taunton river to Hingham harbor, 18 feet, $29,590,000; 25 feet, $40.047,000; lock canal, bottom width 125 feet, Taunton river to Hingham
.
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harbor, 18 feet, $24,955,000; 25 feet, $32,370,000; lock canal, bottom width 200 feet, Taunton river to Plymouth harbor, 18 feet, $20,570,000; 25 feet, $26,848,000; lock canal, bottom width 125 feet, Taunton river to Plymouth harbor, 18 feet, $17,453,000; 25 feet, $21,678,000; sea level canal, bottom width 200 feet, Taunton river to Plymouth harbor, 18 feet, $35,696,000; 25 feet, $47,133,000; sea level canal, bottom width 125 feet, Taunton river to Plymouth harbor, 18 feet, $28,429,000; 25 feet, $37,420,000.
Never was there such a need of water transportation as at the present time. The railroads have demonstrated that they are totally inadequate to take care of the traffic. Never, not even during the war, have the rail- roads so completely fallen down as they have during the past year, not- withstanding the fact that from one-half to two-thirds of the local freight is being handled by trucks.
Park Commission .- Great as is Business in any modern city, and the means and the housing of Business, yet a factor that in its own way holds as high a place in the city's making is that in which special effort is made toward its attractiveness and beautification to citizens, visitors and guests. It has been found that a city and its business and all its civic enterprises are best published and advertised through the seasonable care and exten- sion of its park system. As to its parks, its greens and commons, then, does Taunton keep along satisfactorily with other manufacturing cities of its size in providing that which pleases the eye of its residents and guests, and assures places for rest and diversion? Within a few years the city, through its Park Commission, has revived a former widespread interest in making the city beautiful.
The recent movement is largely due to the personal work of the members of the Park Commission, who, in planting trees and gardens, and in renovating a former unused section of the city into a fine park, have made their commission an actual mission for restoration and upkeep of city properties. The following thorough review of the purposes and con- tinued plans of the Park Commission has been compiled by Miss Mary B. W. Waterman, clerk of the Park Commission since June 1, 1898:
At the municipal election held in December, 1893, the city of Taunton by a vote of its citizens adopted the Park Act, contained in Chapter 154, Acts of the Legislature of 1882, which states that when a city shall adopt said act the mayor shall appoint a board of park commissioners, to consist of five members to serve for five years, one to be appointed each year. Said board shall have the entire care and control of the public grounds or parks of the city. In the spring of 1894, His Honor Mayor W. K. Hodg- man appointed the following gentlemen as members of the board: Charles S. Anthony, five years; William Reed, Jr., four years; Leonard C. Couch, three years; Edgar L. Crossman, two years; and Dr. William W. Water- man, one year, and they were confirmed by the Board of Aldermen. The Park Commissioners then organized by the election of Charles S. Anthony, chairman, and Edgar L. Crossman, secretary. Mr. Anthony served as chairman of the Park Commissioners until his death, March 15, 1908; Mr. Reed was a valued member of the board until 1913; Mr. Couch resigned at the end of two months to accept a position as license commissioner, and Frank L. Fish was appointed in his place, but Mr. Couch was subsequently reappointed to the Park Commission and
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served as a member and as chairman of the board; Mr. Crossman served as secretary of the board until he resigned in 1898 to accept an appoint- ment on the board of registrars; and Dr. Waterman was an efficient mem- ber of the board until 1905.
These. original members of the Park Commission did much to start and organize the work of caring for the parks, shade trees and cemeteries, and to inculcate an interest in these civic necessities and a desire for their improvement, enlargement and good upkeep. In 1923 the commission was organized with Charles F. Foster, chairman, and Charles E. Mason, secre- tary. Under the able leadership of Mr. Foster much had been done to improve Taunton Green, and many more improvements were planned. Also, due largely to his zeal and vision, the land taken for Baylies Park had commenced to be developed and interest awakened to have it further developed the ensuing summer. A skating pond was made safe and has been largely used, and also the hills for sliding.
After the original members of the Park Commission had organized, they began to inquire what its duties were, and to look for work. Al- though the statutes implicitly state that the commission shall serve with- out pay, it did not desire to be a nonentity, a board without a mission. They found that the only available spot of ground was the land around Woodward Spring, situated four and one-half miles out on Norton avenue. There are about six acres of this land, left by will to the city in 1891 by Stimpson H. Woodward, to be used as a public park. It is beautifully sit- uated on the banks of the Three Mile river, and contains a never-failing boiling spring, which has fine medicinal qualities. The spring was stoned in with flagging and covered with a granite block; stone steps were built from the spring to the top of the hill, a small summer house was built, the dead trees cut down and new trees planted, etc.
In December, 1896, the City Council passed an ordinance as follows: "Section 1. The Park Commissioners of the City of Taunton shall have the care, control and supervision of all its parks and commons, including the 'Green' now established, set apart, used and occupied as such, and of all its parks and commons which shall hereafter be so established, set apart, used and occupied." This ordinance turned over to the care of the Park Commission Taunton Green, Church Green, Grace Church Triangle and Tweed Triangle, and they took possession January 1, 1897.
The acre of ground long and widely known in story and song as "Taunton Green," renowned as the place "where arose the first ensign of liberty and where fell the first standard of insurrection," rich in events of historic interest, is situated at the commercial center of the city. In Oc- tober, 1897, the board granted permission to the Old Colony Historical Society to place a granite boulder on the north side of Taunton Green, opposite the court house, to mark the spot where Shays' Rebellion was crushed by the determination of the Revolutionary soldier and patriot, General and Judge David Cobb. It also marks the place where for the first time in our country's history the flag bearing the motto "Union and Liberty" was raised, about two years before the Declaration of Independ- ence. In 1902 a Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument was placed on one of the triangles, which was a gift of Cyrus H. Lothrop, and is a fitting tribute to those men who took up arms in defense of the Union, in the Civil
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War. In 1906, Taunton Green had the addition of a drinking fountain, a gift from the W. C. T. U.
During the World War, a "Victory Cottage" was erected on the Green, and was the headquarters for several agencies engaged in patriotic work, and the use of the Green was permitted for various war activities. Since the war the grass has been renewed and the Green restored to its former beauty. During the Christmas holidays it has been decorated and lighted by municipal Christmas trees under the supervision of the present chairman, Charles F. Foster. It is planned that this historic training field should receive special care and be made a park of beauty in the center of the city.
On the recommendation of the Park Commission, the City Council purchased, in 1896, the plot of ground in front of the Grace M. E. Church for $150 for a park, under the Park Act of 1882, Chapter 154 of the Public Statutes. Then the Park Commissioners had the plot graded and curbed with granite curbing, and laid out into an attractive little park, and named it Grace Church Triangle, and since then have added evergreen beds. On July 19, 1910, the Common Council formally transferred the care of the Robert Treat Paine Monument to this board, after the board had cared for it since its erection in front of City Hall. In 1917, at the request of the Municipal Council and on the petition of a large number of citizens, the Park Commissioners recommended the purchase of the Baylies lot, on Somerset avenue, for a park, and the Barrows lot on First street for a playground, and they took possession under right of eminent domain. They recommended to the Municipal Council an appropriation of $10,000 for the purchase of the Baylies lot, and $625 for the Barrows lot, which was adequate under the State law. Accordingly, Baylies' lot was taken by the Park Commissioners on January 15, 1917, and confirmed and ratified by an order of the Municipal Council, passed January 2, 1918, and was set aside exclusively for park purposes by the Municipal Council, June 25, 1918, to be under the supervision of the Park Commissioners, at a cost of over $18,000, in accordance with Chapter 25 of the Acts of Massachusetts for the year 1915.
Mr. Foster, on becoming chairman of the Park Commission, showed a great interest in the development of the Baylies lot into a park, and through his efforts work was begun. This lot contains about sixteen acres, and has all the resources for making a natural park. It can be en- tered on three sides; has high and low land, and two swamps that can be made into ponds (one already completed). It has a wonderful hill covered with a thick growth of white oak, one of the finest oak groves anywhere to be found. On the top of this hill will be built a bandstand. There are places where the rocks are so thick that a beautiful rock garden can be made, just where these rocks now stand, with little effort. There are low places that can be made into beautiful sunken gardens or fern dells. There are other places for trails, and plenty of room for level ground. A fine entrance can be made where beds of evergreens and flowers can be planted. Here and there shelters can be built for the protection of skaters and other people. There is plenty of sloping ground for coasting. In fact, there is everything here that can be wished for to make a natural park; all that each thing needs is treating properly, and the Park Commissioners have
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vision of a fine municipal park some day. In the summer of 1922 the work was started by cutting the underbrush and trimming the trees, and cinder drives and walks were made about the park. Five hundred white pine trees from the municipal nursery were planted, and some sugar maples. Baylies Park was actually opened as the new park for the city on October 12, 1922, with a concert by the Whittenton Band and a great gathering of citizens. Later the old skating place of former generations, Jim Goose's pond, was cleared out and drained and made into a safe skating pond, that has given enjoyment to old as well as young people. Electric lights have been installed around the pond, and settees placed along the banks.
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