USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > A History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, vol 1 > Part 58
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69
The Manufacturers' Gaslight Company came into possession of the Fall River Company in 1896, George P. Brown continuing as clerk and manager, and with Joseph A. Baker as vice-president and Edward C. Lee as treasurer, and the stock was then increased to $450,000. Again, in 1902, there was a change in ownership, when Stone and Webster became the general managers of the company, Joseph E. Nute being made manager of the local business of the concern, and the capital was then increased to $635,000. Mr. Nute has been connected with the firm since 1890.
·
422
BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS
The Montaup Electric Company of Fall River was incorporated in May, 1923, under the laws of Massachusetts, with a total authorized capital stock of $7,500,000, represented by 15,000 shares of preferred and 60,000 common, all of $100 par. The company was organized to generate, trans- mit and sell electricity to the Blackstone Valley Gas and Electric Com- pany, the Fall River Electric Company, and the Edison Electric Illuminat- ing Company, of Brockton. The incorporators were: President, Simeon B. Chase; treasurer, Henry B. Sawyer; and they, with Roy F. Whitney, A. Stuart Pratt and Victor D. Vickery, constituted the directorate.
The Fall River Electric Light Company was chartered March 7, 1883, with these incorporators: Weaver Osborn, W. H. Hathaway, Geo. K. Wil- bur, Henry T. Buffinton, C. A. Coffin, J. N. Smith, H. A. Royce, J. D. Flint, Edwin Leigh, C. W. Anthony, James E. McCreery, S. B. Ashley, J. W. Williams, M. G. B. Swift, W. B. Hosmer. The original officers were: President, John D. Flint; treasurer and clerk, Henry T. Buffinton; direc- tors : John D. Flint, W. H. Hathaway, Edwin Leigh, W. B. Hosmer, Henry T. Buffington. This company combined with the Edison Electric Illumi- nating Company in 1896; engaged in the generation and distribution of electric light and power, with generating station at Hathaway street, capac- ity 14,250 kilowats, and a distribution station at Hartwell street. A 66,000- volt transmission line to Providence, R. I., connects with the New England Power Company's system. The company serves the city of Fall River and the towns of Somerset, Swansea, Dighton and Westport, and sells energy to the Tiverton Electric Light Company, Tiverton, R. I. The num- ber of customers is 21,000. The present capitalization is $3,500,000 com- mon stock and $50,000 employees' stock.
The present officers are: President, Roy F. Whitney; vice-president, James E. Osborn; treasurer and clerk, Andrew P. Nichols; assistant treas- urer, Owen Durfee; assistant treasurer, Mildred White; directors: Thomas B. Bassett, Roy H. Beattie, Jerome C. Borden, Spencer Borden, Jr., John S. Brayton, Jr., William L. S. Brayton, Simeon B. Chase, Frederick O. Dodge, Nathan Durfee, Robert S. Goff, Albert A. Harrison, Oliver S. Hawes, James E. Osborn, Charles Walcott, Roy F. Whitney.
Miscellaneous .- Soon after William Slade had settled in Somerset, in 1689, he began to maintain a ferry, at first with rowboats, then with sail- boats; and later, in 1826, with a boat propelled by a horse, by means of which stages might make the crossing. After the horse-boat, the steamer Faith was put into commission, in 1847, and in 1859 the Weetamoe was used until the bridge was opened. The Slade's Ferry bridge was opened to the public January 4, 1876, and the first train had been run across it, December 6, 1875. The bridge is ninety-five feet in length and twenty feet in width. Its cost was $305,000.
The bridge over Taunton River at Brightman street was opened to public travel October 10, 1908, and was authorized to be constructed by a joint board consisting of the County Commission, the Harbor and Land Commission and the Railroad Commission. It is nine hundred and twenty- two and one-half feet in length and sixty feet wide, with sidewalks eight feet in width. Its total cost to September, 1910, was $1,014,102.17.
Two years after the town of Fall River was incorporated, or in 1805, the town house was located at the then center of the community business,
423
CITY PLANNING BOARD
Steep Brook. A new town house was built in 1825, where the North Cem- etery is now situated. This building was removed in 1836 to Town avenue, where it was occupied for town purposes, until the construction of the new town hall and market building on Main street shortly after the fire of 1843. The City Hall building, a model public building for its time, was erected in Market square in 1845-46, the cost being $65,000. In 1873 the building was completely remodelled, with mansard roof, clock, tower and bell, the expense being $200,000. The roof and interior were destroyed by fire, March 19, 1886. The building was reconstructed in its present form at a cost of $300,000, that year. -
CHAPTER XIV. CITY PLANNING BOARD
Fall River has for some time now arrived at a point in the municipal journey where it is observable to the least observant that to proceed with the future lay-out of the city along the ancient and long-utilized lines and methods, would be continuously destructive of economy and public safety, to say nothing of convenience. The old plan, once suitable and feasible enough for the purposes of the small town with little outlook for growth, now with a decade's great increase in population, and cumulative business and transportation problems, is a revelation of present-hour unfitness. The former hit-or-miss way of constructing stores and business houses along little lanes that end nowhere, or whose continuance might perchance be discovered a block or two farther down on the other side of a main thor- oughfare, had but little noticeable ill effects even upon the city of two decades ago. The need of more than one big central highway through village and town was never given a thought. City-planning science, that it is now obvious should have been accessible and made an applied science a score of years ago, was not in evidence to parry the difficulties and ob- stacles that suddenly present themselves in the path of the growth of the city of Fall River.
But engrossed as are the captains of the city's industries with their own concerns, loyalty to the expanding city and its needs is aways fore- most, too. Hence, the City Planning Board arrives upon the scene today, late, it is true, for any of those preliminary enterprises that should have been put through years ago to create the ideal, clean-cut, four-square metropolis, but in full time to prevent the repetition tomorrow of the mis- haps of any of yesterday's plans; and not too late for a certain reconstruc- tion and much re-planning, though expensively in that regard, at least. Its most practical labors and application are for the future, and for the near- at-hand future. It is the most recent of public utilities-the City Planning Board, yet one of the most necessary, and absolutely the most comprehen- sive of all, since it is inclusive of the main interests of all.
Through the medium of this historical work, whether it relates to Fall River or any other city or town, there is uniformly set forth the means and the manner of the progress of the community by the various strata of its beginnings and settlement, its public utilities, its benevolent and social
·
424
BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS
institutions, its industries; and correlative with the plan of such historical narrative is the allied topographical plan and argument of the City Plan- ning Board, and that may well be considered a crowning portion of the entire narrative. For the establishment and the gradual development of the city planning opens up a new era for the advancement of the city, making for the betterment of every other utility.
Now city planning is well underway here, with its elaborate report from the town planner that has not neglected to investigate any depart- ment of public interest, in order exactly to show how such departments, strengthened, added to and probably rehabilitated, can be of greatly added value to the community of the future. This may be taken as sign of the new and larger progress of the city, a turning-point toward the arena of the Greater Fall River. Literally, the Planning Board's purpose is to halt wasteful methods of growth; to guide the expansion of the city upon rational lines; to secure business-like economy and convenience, and to make of the community a place in which business can be carried on to best advantage. The present board was established in January, 1920, when the following-named members of the Fall River City Planning Board were appointed by Mayor James H. Kay: Nathan Durfee, chairman; Spencer Borden, Michael T. Hudner, Richard G. Riley, James Tansey. No time was lost to secure the services of town planner Arthur A. Shurtleff, so that in 1923 the city's board of aldermen ordered that the completed report be accepted, with the reservation that at any time it might be subject to change in whole or in part. Therein are shown results of the study of the city as a whole, its streets, its railroads, parks, schools, public build- ings, business houses of all descriptions; and the plan has been submitted as a constructive and practical scheme for the future widening, extension and growth of any new thoroughfares that may be accepted, of the loca- tion of additional parks and of the inter-relation of playgrounds and schools and allied matters.
The main purpose of the board is the prevention of the haphazard in all things that pertain to city building, whether it be in the laying out of streets or in the construction of apartment houses. The city planner, after careful survey concludes that the city, starting out as it did, with a con- fused and inconvenient plan, is now suffering from its consequence, in congestion of its business sections, for example. The city's valuation, it is pointed out, has doubled since 1909, and the city's population has doubled since 1905. The valuation goes hand in hand with the development of streets, parks, playgrounds, schools, transportation, the construction of single-family houses, tenements, apartments, stores and industrial plants ; and it is shown that Fall River, while experiencing enormous valuation increase has been unable to co-ordinate the development of the city, for want of a city plan. With the still further increase of the city's valuation, it lies within human power to control the physical development of all utili- ties-to secure a convenient, economical city and one satisfactory in the highest degree both for residence and industry. The report of the board remarks: The present streets of the city do not carry through; most of the irregularities in the lay-out of the streets are actual breaks in the street system ; the city lacks a system of continuous through streets, and thus is
425
CITY PLANNING BOARD
lacking the first essential for the better handling of street traffic. The streets of today have been built at haphazard, and many of them are too narrow.
One street only, the City Planning Board indicates, runs continuously from the north part to the south part of the city,-North Main street, the old Newport and Taunton road. Originating as a cart path, it is still only a country road, forty feet in width from Wilson road north to Freetown. From Wilson road to the City Hall it is fifty feet in width, with two street-car tracks, and room for but two lines of vehicles, one on either side. And today, the mills and the traffic of business are handicapped by such old lay-outs of village streets. The board points out that four additional north-south streets can be provided, in the linking of Davol with Bay street ; Plymouth avenue and Laurel street with Robeson street; Stafford road, Jefferson and Quequechan streets with Oak Grove avenue; and the extension of Meridian street. Only three streets now cross the city from east to west; but five additional east-west streets can be linked together. Again, the city-planner decries the fact that the broadest streets in the city are useless as thoroughfares, such as Plymouth, Eastern, Brayton and Rhode Island avenues, which "begin nowhere and end nowhere"; and it is true, as shown, that the narrowest streets in the city are used as main thoroughfares, such as Second, Fourth, Hartwell, Warren, Rodman (between South Main and Plymouth avenue), Ridge, Stafford Road, Rock, Purchase, County and parts of Pine street and New Boston road.
Out of the total mileage of Fall River's accepted streets, of one hun- dred and fifty-six miles, it is stated that only fifteen miles are sufficiently wide for the accommodation of modern traffic. And right there is one of the obstacles that must be overcome, according to the suggestions of the city planner, that the city is confronted with the fact that a street system that 'could have been widened years ago without cost, has now become an incum- brance, and must be widened locally, at almost any cost, to prevent the city from decline. All Fall River citizens, the board shows, are familiar with streets that fail to connect, or which connect with dangerous jogs; and with wide streets that merge into narrow ones at most critical points, thus causing congestion; each landowner was a law unto himself in that regard, at first. This city, in general, has made a thoroughly satisfactory start with her park system of one hundred and thirty-two acres, but it is indicated that the city now needs to apply to its outskirts and to its seri- ously congested districts the principles of park location and design which have been successfully applied already to the general residence districts.
These are but a few of the statements made in a very extensive and detailed report of the city planning board. It can only be at great expense and by very gradual means that changes may be brought about from ex- isting conditions; but it is the leading aim of the board to exert every! effort to prevent any similar conditions from arising in the future topo- graphical progression of the city.
The Fall River city planner, at the instance of the City Planning Board, lays stress upon the statement that the city's chief concern should be the development of the Quequechan river for industrial purposes. The maintenance of convenient approaches to this area are required for indus- trial convenience. It is patent to anyone, stranger or citizen, that the
426
BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS
present approaches to the river from within the city are becoming con- gested with traffic, that within a few years are bound to hamper approach to the industrial plants. To remedy this condition, a highway extension is proposed for the margins of the Quequechan, in order that the present street system may be made more effective; a new street is proposed, also leading from near the junction of Hartwell and Borden streets, along the Quequechan, to provide greater accommodation for local and for through traffic.
Looking to the Fall River of the future, and the possibilities of enhanc- ing its attractiveness both as a city of greater business prosperity and as a city of homes, the report of the board, from which liberal quotations are made to emphasize the surpassing value of the new movement for city planning, has these trenchant declarations of comparison of the things that are, with those that ought to be, in the progressing city, thus:
Fall River is not generally regarded as an attractive city; although the title may be unjustly applied, the opinion is more or less prevalent that the city is unattractive. To what degree the industrial success of Fall River has been influenced by this appellation is doubtful; but there can be no doubt that the city is not sought as a place of residence on account of its reputation for charm. That the title "unattractive" hurts local busi- ness by keeping visitors away, cannot be questioned. In comparison with other mill centres like New Bedford, Lawrence and Nashua, which are gradually earning, or which have earned already, the title of "attractive", Fall River obviously suffers.
The site of Fall River is exceedingly attractive-the city lies on high ground between a fine river and a chain of beautiful lakes; few cities are as charmingly situated. The industrial plants of the city are attractive- they are well designed, well built, and admirably well maintained. They are of noble size. Many of them are impressive architecturally, and they are famous over the world for excellence. The parks are attractive-they are the finest in the State. The cemeteries are attractive-they are at- tractively laid out and carefully maintained. The water reservations are un- rivalled for beauty. The churches, schools, public buildings, stores and dwellings are attractive. They compare favorably with similar structures in cities which are considered attractive. The railway station and its grounds are distinctly attractive. In general, Fall River need have no solicitude for these important aspects of the city. Unfortunately, many of these attractive features are not seen from the main routes, and they can- not contribute to the general impression received by visitors.
On the other hand, many of the important down-town streets of Fall River are narrow, poorly connected and crowded. Tangles of motors, street cars and cabs greet the visitor who is forced to traverse these streets, which are the only route through the city. To strangers, these streets seem confusing, inconvenient and dangerous. Compared with the wider and better connected business streets, and the attractive public squares of other well-known mill cities, the streets of Fall River seem out of date and disagreeable. Great improvements have been made in these streets, how- ever. There is now smooth-running pavement for the main roads north and south, east and west, through the city, and traffic interference has
427
THE FRENCH-SPEAKING POPULATION
been reduced as far as possible within these narrow streets, by the appli- cation of modern traffic control methods. The report continues in reference to the undeveloped district of Fall River, between City Hall, the post- office, the Troy Mill and Borden street; the narrow, crooked and confused conditions of street connections at the local freight yards near the river ; and the lack of local playground space for some of the crowded and poorer residence districts near the main motor routes through the city. The city needs only to adopt and follow a sensible plan to guide its growth toward the best convenience and the greatest long-time economy. If that need is satisfied. in a business-like way, Fall River will become a conveniently arranged city, and cannot fail, as a consequence, to become, at the same time an exceedingly attractive city.
The published report of the Planning Board that was issued in 1922 is a very elaborate and detailed work, and in its entirety may be considered a forecast of the Fall River of coming generations, indeed of a generation near at hand, --- with its carefully wrought maps and plans, photographs and drawings. Among the latter is a general plan of the city water front that shows proposed alternative dock sites and street extensions, and airplane views of proposed alternative arrangements for the new city in the neigh- borhood of City Hall.
CHAPTER XV. THE FRENCH-SPEAKING POPULATION
Industry, and the cotton manufacturing industry in particular, was the cause of the settlement and the remarkable increase of the French-speaking colony in Fall River, and it continues to be the reason for the new arrivals of this race here annually, and the establishment of their permanent homes. Few cities in New England, with the exceptions of Lawrence, Lowell and Manchester, New Hampshire, may in any way compare with Fall River in this regard; for what only a few years ago was a small colony of people in "Frenchtown" part of the city has been so greatly augmented that it is estimated that about one-third the population consists of families who are French-Canadian or descended from the French-Canadians. Employees in the mills at first, they are now to be reckoned with throughout the business and professional life of the city, and citizens of French descent hold the highest offices in the gift of the city. In the city government, in all public utilities, in all professions, the French name and title have become second to none here. Since the close of the Civil War, they have become mainly a steadily increasing army of operatives in the mills, and a host of builders of their colony of homes and churches. That painstaking work, "The French Guide of Fall River," has fully elaborated the story of the French establishment and their foundations here.
But theirs is no more to be designated as a colony, rather as an effective local marching force in an army of progress and work. It was soon after the War of 1861 that the French began to come to Fall River in numbers when, as has been shown in our chapter upon the municipality, the increasing wheels of the cotton industry began to take on greater speed. Petit Canada, or French Village, as the natives referred to it at
428
BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS
first, consisted of the tenement houses that had been constructed under the direction of the American Linen Company, at Broadway, Division and Bay streets. Making their earliest homes in that section of the city, these people were quickly employed in the mills and soon afterwards accorded places of position and trust in the city of their adoption. It has been set down by Judge Hugo A. Dubuque, by all odds the best known of the French-speaking leaders in this section of the State, that the first French family settled here in 1858; but it was in 1866 to 1868 that they began to arrive in larger numbers, so that they were here to participate in the first big business boom and the wholesale mill construction of the early seventies.
With the founding of the first of the French newspapers here in 1873, L'Echo du Canada, by Dr. Alfred Mignault and H. Beaugrand, one finds the French-Canadians becoming naturalized and in the midst of the work of organizing societies of their own. Again, as in Canada, under the parochial influence and that of the newspaper and their fraternities, they began to find themselves reunited and at one in every walk in life. Soon, then, there developed serious and intelligent leaders who made their mark in business, the professions and industry, devoting themselves to the com- mon and increasing interests of the colony. The first French-Canadian here, for example, who was the object of municipal favor, was Frank Coté, appointed a constable in 1874, by Mayor Davenport, and the next was François Xavier Le Bœuf, who received appointment of police officer from Mayor Crawford Lindsey in 1878; and again, in 1884, Adélard Perron was appointed a police sergeant by Mayor Milton Reed. Later on, three jus- tices of the peace were appointed, namely, Pierre U. Vaillant, Pierre F. Peloquin and Alfred Plante; while Joseph L. Audet and Paul H. Maynard were made assessors' assistants. In 1880, Victor Geoffrion was elected to a municipal position in the fourth ward, this being the first election of a French-Canadian to such office; and Dr. J. B. Chagnon represented the sixth ward in 1884. In 1885 and 1886 George E. Arcand represented the same ward in the municipal council; and he was succeeded by Theodule Jalbert in 1887. Judge Hugo A. Dubuque, afterwards city solicitor, was elected a member of the school board in 1883 for three years, without oppo- sition. Mayor Braley appointed Antoine Houdé a constable in 1883. Mr. Houdé was active in the affairs of the Notre-Dame parish, and he was one of the leading speakers at parish reunions ; he also gave much attention to the naturalization of the French-Canadians.
A naturalization club was started as early as 1882, the newcomers realizing the chief importance of assuming all the obligations of citizen- ship. The Canadians had left their native place through necessity, rather than to please themselves, and the first arrivals had come in the hope of some day returning to Canada. But after they had made their home here for some time, their children solved the problem of choosing Fall River as their habitation, by marrying and building their own homes in Fall River; then, too, as soon as the parish priest of their own race entered upon his duties, that ended the matter, and they adopted America as their own country. And then came the naturalization societies and clubs.
L'Abbé A. J. Derbuel, formerly priest of a parish at West Boylston,
429
THE FRENCH-SPEAKING POPULATION
was the first French-speaking missionary who served French-Canadians in Fall River. He was vicar at St. Mary's in 1867 and 1868. Succeeding him came L'Abbé Verdier, but he went to France, and died there in 1869. Then came L'Abbé A. de Montaubricq, who was of the French nobility, and who was the means of forming St. Anne's parish in 1869-1870, the first of the French-Canadian parishes, with close to three thousand souls at that time; and in 1872 the church was enlarged, on account of the steadily increasing population. He paid a visit to France, and upon his return to Fall River, he built a parish house at Globe Village. In 1874 the new parish of Notre- Dame de Lourdes was established at Flint Village by L'Abbé Pierre J .- Bte Bédard, and it was he who founded the first parochial school and the first Catholic orphanage in Fall River.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.