USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > A History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, vol 1 > Part 55
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Fall River's Park System .- So set upon a hill that her light cannot by any means become hidden-the light of Fall River's industrial, her religious, her home and social influences-the acknowledged beauty and attractive- ness of her situation possesses increasing and enduring values, with the steady extension of her park system, that whether for topographical selec- tion or variety and abundance of adornment and equipment has few supe- riors anywhere. The parks and playgrounds are the poetry of this munici- pality, and few there are who will declare that the men and women who have provided them were not as much citizens of vision for the people's sake as were those who established industry itself. Howard Lothrop, many years the head of the Fall River Park Commission, believes completely in city-wide breathing-spaces, he not only having observed the growth of the parks from their incipiency, but also having shared in every practical step
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of their making. From his storehouse of experience in the workings and progress of the park plan, he has told us the story :
During the first few years of the construction and development of Fall River's park system, it was looked upon by a great many citizens and tax- payers as an unnecessary frill. The expression of this sentiment proved a handicap, at first, but this adverse outlook gradually wore off as the in- tended results became more apparent with each succeeding year. Per- sistent effort and civic pride won. It was felt by the first board of park commissioners that better results would obtain if expert advice were pro- cured, and as a consequence, Olmsted Brothers, landscape architects, of Brookline, this State, were retained for the development of the park enter- prises. After topographical plans were made of the original site, this firm designed the South, North and Ruggles parks, and several small triangular parks at street intersections. The work of construction was done by item- ized contract under their supervision, and included every item necessary for completion excepting the planting of trees and shrubs, which was done by the department labor force from planting plans previously prepared. After a period of seven or eight years, public sentiment became more unanimously in favor of park work, and playgrounds were becoming recognized as nec- essary adjuncts to municipal improvements. Subsequent to the passage by the Legislature of the Playground Act, requiring cities to install one play- ground for every thousand of population, two sites for playgrounds were purchased, one in the eastern and one in the southeastern section of the city. The first was named Lafayette Park as a tribute to the many French- speaking people in Fall River, as well as in memory of the famous French general who rendered the struggling colonies such brilliant service. The second was named Maplewood Park, because it was located in the section of the city known by that name. The Board of Park Commissioners at that time felt that these tracts should be improved as a combination of park and playground. as much as the areas of each permitted. By degrees and through much tribulation. Fall River has developed a creditable system of parks and playgrounds. The rapid increase in the number using the parks, and particularly the athletic fields, attests their popularity.
The daylight-saving and Sunday sports laws of recent years have added an extra burden to the maintenance costs, but the burden generally is con- sidered worth while because of the increased interest in outdoor sports and the tendency to the better health of the community. Fall River was early in the field with summer supervised playgrounds. The first few years were financed by the Civic Club, as it was known then, afterwards becoming the Fall River Woman's Club. To the latter belongs the credit for their insti- tution, and credit should be given the Board of Park Commissioners for their development to their present state of efficiency. While lacking some- what in area, as compared with other cities of similar size, Fall River's park system ranks high in features, general maintenance and design. The park commission of the early days should not be forgotten because of their excellent business judgment and their persistent efforts to give, without stint, their best in order that the system might be the best possible in this section.
All parks and playgrounds and the features contained therein, except the design of North, South and Ruggles parks, which were done by Olm-
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sted Brothers, were designed and built under the supervision of Howard Lothrop, who served as superintendent and engineer for the Board of Park Commissioners from 1903 to 1922. No history of this park system would be complete without mention of Commissioner Reuben C. Small, who was a member of the first board, and had served almost continuously since.
This, in outline, is the story of the Fall River Park system: On April 14, 1902, Mayor George Grime appointed the following-named to serve as park commissioners: Richard H. Cook, five years; Edward A. Doherty, four years; Reuben C. Small, Jr., three years; Charles R. Danielson, two years; Matthew A. McClarence, one year. The board organized May 5 by electing Reuben C. Small as chairman, and Edward A. Doherty as secre- tary, the first meeting being held at the mayor's room in City Hall. At this time, the custody, care and control of the public cemeteries was placed in the hands of the board, and Charles C. Smith was elected super- intendent of parks and cemeteries. During a period of twenty years pre- viously, over $50,000 had been appropriated for the laying out of the fifty- four acres known as South Park, lying between South Main street, Brad- ford avenue and Middle street, and extending west to the shores of the bay. Meantime the section had wholly run down, and was in a dilapidated condi- tion. City Engineer Philip Borden made a survey, and Olmsted Brothers submitted a plan for the playground section of the park, and great improve- ments ensued. Ruggles Park, formerly a waste place and a dumping ground, was then fitted up to be used as a playground in summer and a skating pond in winter. Durfee Green, a triangular lot of land, was planted with trees; and North Park, a little over twenty-five acres, in the northern part of the city, was in the first plans of the board, as were also Eastern avenue, and Cambridge Green. Oak Grove Cemetery and the North Burial ground were gradually improved.
Howard Lothrop was elected superintendent and engineer of the park system in 1903, and Thomas J. Madden was elected secretary in place of Edward A. Doherty, resigned. In 1905, Reuben C. Small retired as chair- man of the board and John E. Torphy was elected as his successor; but upon the reorganization of the board, Thomas J. Madden was chosen chair- man and Charles R. Danielson was reelected secretary. John R. Nadeau was elected a member of the board. This year, the board received from the city $1000 for the care of the parks. In 1906, Matthew A. McClarence was appointed chairman of the park board, and Charles R. Danielson secre- tary. Reuben C. Small was elected chairman of the board in 1907, in place of Mr. McClarence, resigned. John B. Nadeau died that year, and Edmund P. Talbot was elected in his place. The city at that time appropriated the sum of $87,500 for the care of the parks, and new parcels of land were added on William street, Plymouth avenue, Hamlet street, Central street and Spring street. There was no change in the personnel in 1908; the South Park shelter and bandstand were erected; Reuben C. Small was reelected chairman in 1909, and Edmund P. Talbot secretary, in place of Mr. Daniel- son, retired. On June 30, this year, the Board of Aldermen passed an order authorizing the city treasurer to negotiate a loan for the sum of $100,000, to be termed "Playground Loan No. 1," to provide playgrounds in the eastern and southeastern sections of the city; and it was voted to purchase the tract on the easterly side of Stafford road, between Albert and Chicago
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streets, and other tracts nearby, all containing over fifteen acres, at a cost of $38,386.50, these to constitute the playground for the southeastern sec- tion of the city.
The "Fowler land," in the eastern section of the city, at Flint Village, was purchased in 1909 at a cost of $42,513.91. Maplewood Park was also purchased, and by reorganization of the board this year, Reuben C. Small, Jr., was elected chairman, and John C. Torphy secretary. In 1910, Matthew A. McClarence was appointed chairman of the board, and Thomas McNally secretary. The supervised small children's playground was first laid out at Ruggles Park in July and August of 1911, by Miss Maude E. Gay, under the supervision of the Civic Club. In 1912, John E. Torphy was elected chairman, and Thomas E. McNally secretary. The next year, 1913, Ed- mund P. Talbot was elected chairman, and John E. Torphy secretary, the total acreage of the park system then being about 120 acres. That year, Miss Helen M. Leary was appointed supervisor of girls at the park play- grounds, and that summer over 50,000 children were directed in their play. Bertram A. Reynolds was supervisor of boys at park playgrounds. The same board of officers were appointed the next year, and Richard H. Cook was chosen a member of the board. The name Lafayette Park was given the tract of 11.5 acres that had been purchased in 1909. The first girls' athletic meet in the city was held July 23, 1914, the championship banner being awarded the girls of the South Park. The handwork created much interest, and the play festival was the crowning event of the season. The badge test for boys was a feature of the summer contests.
Lafayette Park was completed and accepted December 15, 1915; Mr. McClarence was chairman of the board, Mr. Talbot secretary, and John H. Burgess was appointed a member of the board. General Lafayette's statue was erected at Lafayette Park in 1916, and that year Alfred Larrivée was elected a member of the board. The playground site on Bedford street was purchased in 1917, and that summer twelve supervised playgrounds were opened. John H. Burgess was chairman of the board, and William A. Car- man was secretary, R. C. Small retiring. The same officers continued in 1918, and Patrick J. Barrett was appointed to the board. A bequest was made for the Robert A. Wilcox playground in 1919, and R. C. Small succeeded R. H. Cook as a member of the board. The Wendell E. Turner memorial playground was given the city in 1920. William A. Car- man was chairman, and Patrick J. Barrett secretary of the board. Egbert Lawton was elected superintendent of the board in July, 1922. In 1923 James Brazeil was elected a member of the board; John H. Burgess and Alfred Larrivée retired in January, and Clarence Cockroft and George Chabot were elected in their places.
With the beginnings and the progress thus made, through the pro- vision and the foresight of the citizens and the active board of officers, Fall River has taken its high place among the cities of Massachusetts in the matter of caring for its people, to whom the parks have become the summer resort, and for the children, whose playgrounds are paradise to them.
Fall River Water Department *.- On January 3, 1870, Mayor Samuel Brown, in his inaugural address, called to the attention of the City Council
*By James J. Kirby, Water Registrar.
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the necessity for supplying the city with pure water "by means of aque- ducts," and a committee of the City Council, consisting of Joseph A. Bowen, James E. Cuneen, Andrew Luscomb, Joseph M. Darling and Holder B. Durfee was appointed to investigate and report its findings. This com- mittee reported on August 3, 1870, and was further authorized to cause surveys to be made and to continue the investigations. Accompanying the report of this committee was a report from Professor John H. Appleton stating that a careful analysis of a sample of the water of North Watuppa Pond showed only 1.80 grains of solid matter per wine gallon, and that the "purity of the water, its freedom from objectionable salts and remark- able softness " render it eminently suitable for the various purposes of a water supply, for drinking, for washing, for use in steam boilers and for general manufacturing purposes, where a pure and soft water is required.
On March 23, 1871, an act was passed by the Legislature of Massachu- setts authorizing the city to introduce the water supply whenever a majority of the qualified voters of the city decided in its favor. At an election held April 10, 1871, there were 933 votes in favor and 89 votes in the negative and the act was declared approved. On May 8, 1871, the City Council met in joint convention and elected three water commissioners for three years. These commissioners were Philip D. Borden, William Lindsey and Joseph A. Bowen. At the same time an ordinance was adopted regulating the duties of the water commissioners. Thus the Water Department of Fall River had its beginnings, and on January 5, 1874, almost exactly four years after the matter was first introduced by Mayor Brown, water was being conducted through the pipes of the city. That the introduction of the water supply had soon manifested beneficial results, may be seen from the report of its water registrar for 1876, where it is stated "two of the oldest physi- cians informed me that since water was introduced, it has lessened fever cases at least one-half in their practice."
In 1874 an act authorizing the use by the city of Fall River of a million and a half gallons per day of water from the North Watuppa Pond was passed, and in 1880 suit was brought by the Watuppa Reservoir Company for damages under this act, with the result that the company was awarded the sum of seventy thousand dollars. In 1886 another act authorizing an additional use of a million and a half gallons per day was passed, and again suit was brought by the Watuppa Reservoir Company in 1888 for additional damages. This action was not sustained by Justice Morton, who held that "The State had the right to use the waters of the Great Ponds, etc., with- out compensation." This decision, however, was reversed by the Supreme Court in 1891. In this case the court went beyond the Colony ordinance of 1647, and held that the plaintiffs were successors in title to grantees of Plymouth Colony, to whom the land under and on both sides of the outlet of the pond, the Fall River, now Quequechan, to a point below the plaintiff's dam, was conveyed as part of a large tract. This conveyance was made on March 5th, 1680, to Church, Gray and others, for the consideration of £1,100, and is known as the Pocasset grant or purchase. This included all of the South Pond and almost one-half of the North. The court held that the Colony ordinance of 1647 giving to the State ownership in great ponds, was not applicable, and that the original conveyance, the Pocasset grant, was a sale of land as private property to private individuals, for a substan-
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tial sum of money, and the sale embraced the water rights claimed. This case passed on the rights of the Reservoir Company in the North Pond and the outlet of the pond; injunctions were granted to the Troy Cotton and Woolen Manufactory and the Watuppa Reservoir Company, the court stating that they had a sufficient interest or possession to entitle them to relief to prevent a diversion of the water from such ponds.
On June 6. 1892, an agreement was entered into between the city of Fall River and the Watuppa Reservoir Company, and other parties, for the purpose of permanently adjusting all questions between the city and the Watuppa Reservoir Company, relative to the use of the waters of the Watuppa Ponds and their outlet, the Quequechan river. By this agreement all past and future claims against the city for the use of the waters of the North Watuppa Pond were released. The most important sections of this agreement are as follows :
Section 2. Provides that "when the level of the water at the dam belonging to said Reservoir Company on said Quequechan River shall be at or below a point 40 inches below "full pond" (so-called) the quantity of water allowed to run by said dam shall be reduced to an amount not exceeding five millions of gallons per working day."
Section 4 provides "that if, notwithstanding the said provision to regulate the flow of the stream when the said level falls to a point 40 inches below 'full pond,' the water continues falling so that three millions of gallons of water will not flow for each working day by said Reservoir Dam by reason of the obstructions in the stream, then said City may, at its option and its own expense, and without liability on the part of the said Reservoir Company, lower the obstructions so as to permit more water to flow to said Reservoir Dam: but in such case the said Reservoir Company further agrees with said City (the said American Printing Company and all the said other parties hereby assenting thereto) that at such time. when said three millions of gallons of water will not flow as aforesaid, or at any time thereafter, when said water level falls to, or is at or below 55 inches below 'full pond,' said Reservoir Company will only allow such a quantity of water to flow by its dam down the stream as may be sufficient to deliver two millions of gallons of water each working day to said Printing Com- pany, for the purpose of thus enabling the City to fulfill its guarantee of a supply of two millions of gallons of water to said Printing Company, in such a way that the mills below said Reservoir Dam may have such use of the water in passing as they may be entitled to as riparian owners.
Section 4 also provides that the City may have "full facilities to measure the flow at any point on the stream, upon their respective premises, from time to time at the expense of said City."
Section 7. The said City of Fall River covenants and agrees with the said Watuppa Reservoir Company, Troy Cotton and Woolen Manufactory, Pocasset Manu- facturing Company, Fall River Manufactory, Annawan Manufactory, Fall River Iron Works Company, Metacomet Manufacturing Company, Fall River and Providence Steamboat Company, Fall River Machine Company, American Printing Company, and Weaver Osborn, as said trustee, and each and every one of them, that the said city will pay to them, and each of them respectively, within 30 days after their several taxes shall become due to the city, a sum equivalent and equal to an abatement of so much of their said taxes as arises from, or shall be assessed by reason of the additional market value given to their respective lands by the water power privileges belonging and appurtenant thereto, and it is hereby expressly understood and agreed by said city and the several other parties named above in this clause 7 (seven) that the provisions of this clause are to relate back and apply to the years 1890 and 1891, and that the said city will pay to said other parties the following sums. the same being equivalent to such an abatement of taxes for the said years 1890 and 1891, to wit: to the Troy Cotton and Woolen Manufactory $564.24 for 1890 and $591.77 for 1891; to the Pocasset Manufacturing Company $2,729.53 for 1890 and $2,862.68 for 1891; to Weaver Osborn, trustee (Quequechan Mills) $470.10 for 1890 and $493.12 for 1891; to the Fall River Manufactory $679.91 for 1890 and $713.08 for 1891; to the Annawan Manufactory $692.59 for 1890 and $726.37 for 1891; to the Fall River Iron Works Company $759.20
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for 1890 and $796.44 for 1891, the sums for 1890 to be paid in the year 1893, and the sums for 1891 to be paid in the year 1894, in addition to, and at the same time as, similar payments for said years 1893 and 1894 are to be made under the provisions of this agreement.
And it is hereby mutually agreed and understood between said City of Fall River and the other parties named in clause numbered 7 (seven), that the additional market value given to said lands by the said water power privileges shall be fixed and deter- mined for the purpose of the payment above provided for on the basis that twenty-nine millions of gallons of water per day throughout the year has been the average flow of the stream; that three millions of gallons now being condemned, twenty-six millions of gallons shall be considered the average taxable flow, until the average quantity of water pumped during the year, from May first to May first, shall exceed three millions of gallons daily, and thereupon the average taxable flow shall be twenty-nine millions of gallons daily, less the actual average daily quantity pumped or used by the city during such yearly period. It is further understood and agreed that the power calcu- lated from the quantity of water above fixed and determined shall be based on the heights of fall given in the table below, and that the value of said power shall be cal- culated on a capitalized value of three hundred and twenty-one and ninety one-hun- dredths dollars ($321.90) per horse power.
While this agreement provided for the adjustment of differences then existing between the Watuppa Reservoir Company and the city of Fall River, it still left control of the water of the North Watuppa Pond beyond the authority of the city.
In 1920 an agreement was entered into between the Reservoir Commis- sion (composed of mayor, city engineer and Watuppa Water Board) of the city of Fall River and the Watuppa Reservoir Company, approved by the City Council of the city of Fall River, for the termination of the 1892 agreement, and vesting in the city of Fall River full control of the North Watuppa Pond. This agreement provided for the payment by the city of Fall River of the sum of $75,000 to the Watuppa Reservoir Company for its rights in the North Watuppa Pond, the agreement, however, being con- tingent upon the construction and operation of a dam and pumping station at the so-called sand bar to provide for a more economical use of the waters of the South Pond and thus providing a more uniform supply of water for the mills along the stream at all seasons of the year. As this dam and pumping station were part of a proposed plan providing for the improve- ment of the Quequechan river and the abatement of nuisances along the banks thereof, and which were already in preparation, it is only a matter of a short time when the city will fully control its sources of water supply.
In 1891 an act was passed by the Legislature entitled An Act Author- izing the City of Fall River to take Land for the Better Protection of its Water Supply, which provided for a reservoir and storage basin, protecting and improving the shores in the vicinity of the lake and providing for the public parkway on the shores of the pond, and on April 8, 1895, a special committee consisting of His Honor the Mayor, William S. Greene, George Grime, city solicitor, and Philip D. Borden, Jr., city engineer, reported to the committee on Watuppa Reservoir Improvement of the City Council, in substance, "as but very few if any of the members of the city government would have at their disposal the time which it will be necessary to devote to the purchase or condemnation of the land around the pond, and the ad- justment of questions arising thereunder, we have united in the suggestion that a permanent body or number of men should be appointed to act as agents of the City of Fall River, who should have charge of the subject,
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which is of such vast importance to the present and future interests of this community." In accordance with this report, an ordinance was established creating what is known as the Reservoir Commission, composed of His Honor the Mayor, city engineer, as members ex officio, and three citizens of the city, empowered to exercise all the rights, powers and authority given to the city of Fall River by Chapter 144 of the Acts of the General Court of the year 1891, and all acts in addition thereto and in amendment thereof. The appointments to this commission were as follows: George H. Eddy, Samuel Watson and Jeremiah R. Leary, and on June 10, 1895, this board organized, selecting His Honor the Mayor as chairman, and city engineer as clerk.
On December 6, 1897, the city, through this commission and acting under Chapter 285, Acts of 1897, took by condemnation all the islands in the North Watuppa pond, and the whole of said pond below the high water line, the line being fixed at an iron bolt set in the easterly side of a pudding stone rock at Phillips' Swamp; also all the water of said pond and the land under said pond. A reservation was made in this taking that none of the rights acquired by the Reservoir Company and others by statute or deeds from riparian owners, namely, the right to flow their lands, or by agree- ment of June 6, 1892, was affected by the condemnation proceedings. By these proceedings the city acquired title and ownership to the islands in the pond, the land under the pond and the waters of the pond, subject only to the rights of the Reservoir Company and the others mentioned above.
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