USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Westminster > A History of Westminster, Massachusetts, 1893-1958 > Part 4
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Edith L. Harrington became librarian in 1939. She was a faithful worker, and gracious to visitors. In 1941 a typewriter was at last provided-all records, letters and cards having been written by hand before that time. And the following year, marking another step forward, Westminster Library joined with twenty others to form The Wachusett Library Association. Also in 1942 Mabel R. Fenno began work at the library as assistant. A telephone was in- stalled in 1945, ending a hard-won struggle started more than twenty-five years earlier.
Mrs. Fenno-who resigned as of May 1, 1959-became librarian in 1949. Mrs. Hazel Havener-at present co-librarian with Mrs. Ardythe Smith-began work at the same time.
The 1950's show many changes under Mrs. Fenno and Mrs. Havener. A new reference file was started to preserve news items of the Town of Westminster and its people. Important aids for librarians were acquired, such as the Book List, the standard cata- logs, the Dewey Decimal Classification and Relative Index, and others. The Library participated in a Regional Loan Plan started by Fitchburg Public Library and carried on by twenty regional librar- ians. Story hours were resumed after a lapse of some years. The comfort of patrons was enhanced by the installation of oil heating and fluorescent lighting.
In 1958 a film service was begun. "National Book Week" and "National Art Week" were observed, attracting many visitors and arousing much latent interest in reading. Change from the Cutter to the newer Dewey Decimal System of classification was also begun. Another improvement in recent years has been the shellack- ing of all books, a far better method of preservation than the heavy
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HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER
brown-paper covers used in former times. Today's adult reference volumes and books for use by the schools are comprehensive and up-to-date.
The Library is open Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, aver- aging 152 days a year, or a total of 1040 hours. Before her retire- ment Mrs. Fenno advocated keeping open "either more hours a day or more days a week to accommodate its many patrons." The Museum alone attracts several hundred people yearly. The building is also a meeting place for such groups as the Historical Society and the Great Books Discussion Club.
Today's annual appropriation runs to some five thousand dollars in addition to the dog tax fund. Reserve funds and trust funds bring in several hundred dollars annually. The salaries of the librar- ian and assistant now total $2050 per year.
Many valuable presents have been given to the Library. In addition to trust funds and cash bequests, there are the primitive paintings of Deacon Robert Peckham, and the sculptures by Olin D. Warner. The painting of Mount Wachusett which hangs above the fireplace was commissioned from William Savery Bucklin by several townspeople. Special furnishings and equipment were gifts from C. F. Giles, Louise W. Caldwell, and others. A handsome grandfather clock came from Alanson Bigelow; from others, sets of encyclopedias, panels of butterflies, mineral cabinets ... the list seems endless.
Outstanding over the years has been the service of library officers. There have been but four librarians, and many officers have served for more than a score of years.
The Library is sure to keep pace with the town. But in some of its basic functions it will always remain the same-giving help and encouragement to those interested in research and learning, sheltering the lonely who enjoy a few hours' reading companion- ably with others, and keeping us in touch with the world across its shelves.
TRUSTEES
Hobart Raymond 1885-1903
Charles F. Giles 1899-1938
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THE LIBRARY STORY
Frank W. Fenno 1899-1938
Helen L. Bruce 1897-1906
Ellen M. Wright 1900-1917
Myra C. Whitney 1900-1918
Fred W. Mossman 1903-1915
Edith M. Griffin 1906-1918 Cyrus T. Miller 1912-1939
The Reverend Wm. C. McAllester 1915-1924
Ida E. Merriam 1917-1944
Sarah J. Wyman 1918-1935
The Reverend Lucy M. Giles 1918-1942
The Reverend Winfield S. Randall
1924-1928
Maurice P. Billings 1928-1943
Martha F. Wyman 1935-1938
Doris M. Fenno 1938-
Arthur K. Rice 1938-1950
Robert M. Denton 1938-1950
Lois F. Innis 1942-1954
Edwin Ruuska 1955-
J. Philip Howard 1943-
Lillian McAllester 1944-1958
Arthur Sisson 1949-1950
Marion R. Noble 1950-
Edward W. Hitchcock 1951-
LIBRARIANS
Mary Belle Hager 1902-1904
Sarah F. Greene 1904-1939
Edith L. Harrington 1939-1948
Mabel Ray Fenno 1949-1959
ASSISTANTS
Edith M. Griffin
1902-1903
Lillian G. Drury
1904-1916
Edith L. Harrington 1916-1939
Lois F. Innis 1939-1942
Mabel Ray Fenno 1942-1948
Hazel Havener 1949-
Es Chapter Eight THE WATER QUESTION
APART FROM THE DECLINE of agriculture, a great deal of the evolu- tion of Westminster can be directly traced to the nature of its water resources. Its four principal natural lakes, and its several good-sized streams, lay in widely separated areas of the township. Later, man- made reservoirs were equally scattered about. This led to the growth of the industrial hamlets of Wachusett Village, South West- minster, Whitmanville, and others. Each sawmill and gristmill (fol- lowed by paper mills and chair factories) accumulated a cluster of dwellings close by.
Meanwhile Westminster Center continued to be the hub of activity-because it was on the main Post Road and it was the seat of town government and trade, rather than because of industry. Its altitude, nearly a thousand feet above much of the surrounding terrain, presented little problem before 1900. The limited water needs of an earlier day were reasonably satisfied by means of wells and springs.
But with the advent of central schools, modern plumbing and fire equipment, the need for a municipal water system began to be felt. Records of town meetings between 1900 and 1910 show that a definite impasse had been reached.
This impasse was not destined to be solved to any appreciable extent until fifty years later. Meanwhile, the scattered industries elsewhere in the township ceased to exist-and some of the hamlets around them also disappeared. Many buildings were actually moved overland to the Center. Ponds and streams were gradually taken over by nearby cities, and by mills in those cities, for their own water reserves. Westminster Center remained high and (when there was little rain) dry.
A town must have adequate water to expand and grow. Had the town been entirely dependent on its individual wells and springs,
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THE WATER QUESTION
action would have been taken sooner. But there was a water system, serving much of the Center, called the Westminster Aqueduct Company. In addition to this, there were cases where certain house- owners had banded together to share a common pipeline from some nearby spring. But this did not offer adequate volume or distribution of water for general fire protection, nor did it help new homes in or near the Center.
The Aqueduct Company was started in 1891 by Edwin L. Burn- ham, Israel Dickinson, Stephen F. Lamb, John G. F. Urban, Ed- ward B. Lynde, and Dr. A. E. Mossman. A thousand dollars was raised by these men and a pipe laid from a spring in a "pasture owned by Mr. William Carter," according to Historical Society records. Also according to the records, during the excavating and walling-up of the spring, a cow met her sudden and violent demise. She had chewed on a stick of dynamite.
It would appear that the new company began with some sixteen water customers, adding others from time to time. But a severe drought in 1900 apparently found the supply inadequate, and another larger spring was excavated. From this a four-inch pipe was laid to the town. Such a system was by no means large enough to support hydrants, although after some years a sort of cistern was built in front of the Brick Store from which a fire engine could draw. But occasional bad fires, such as the one which destroyed the Westminster Hotel in 1948, emphasized the need for a hydrant system.
As early as 1907 a report was made to the town meeting by a board of fire engineers consisting of John C. Goodridge, Cyrus T. Miller, Wickliffe H. Waterhouse, and H. E. Spaulding. They recommended a town water system which, according to their fairly detailed estimates, would cost eleven thousand dollars. It was to include a pump, with a fifty-two-thousand-gallon standpipe to be erected on land "owned by Aldin F. Adams, situated near the West Cemetery, which he will sell reasonable." They also advised pur- chase of the Aqueduct Company, though no price was set. If they were discouraged by the rejection of their plan, how much more so they would have been if they could have foreseen that by 1947 the voters would still be arguing the same question!
One can imagine feelings may have suffered from considerable tension at some of these meetings. There is an article in the Town
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HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER
Report, 1905: "To see if the town will authorize the select- men, or any committee, to bring suit against or make an agree- ment with the parties who control the water system which formerly supplied the public library, or appropriate any sum of money for the purpose aforesaid, or act anything relative thereto."
Indeed, over the years, the private water company was often under fire. It couldn't supply the demands of new customers with- out provoking the old ones who had suffered from lack of water in dry times. Meanwhile soaring costs made any great improve- ments out of the question financially.
It is of little moment here to go into the details of the many meetings, committee reports, and political skirmishes on the water front over such a long period. To mention a typical item at random, we find the following article in the Town Report for 1929: "To hear the report of the Water Committee chosen by the Town at a Town Meeting held November 22, 1929, and to raise and appro- priate any sum of money to carry on further investigation as recom- mended therein, or act in relation thereto."
From the wording of this article it may be assumed that the town fathers were dragging their feet somewhat. Special town meetings are troublesome and expensive. Yet the result of the special meeting of November was this article at the regular March meeting, merely calling for continued "investigation," with no possibility for any direct action. And these "investigations" had been carried out, from time to time, since 1906-twenty-three years!
A special town meeting in 1947 came to nothing because of legal difficulties in the nature of the proposed course of action. Another special meeting, in 1948, voted to accept a report for a system to cost $285,000, and at the following annual town meeting a board of water commissioners was finally duly elected. However, at a subsequent special town meeting-held to implement this report- the anticipated water system was rejected by a margin of two votes.
More town meetings in 195 1 failed to ratify a town water system plan, but $5000 was raised to provide the schools with an artesian well.
In 1953 the dry summer had led the selectmen to authorize pumping through a temporary line from Meetinghouse Pond, an emergency situation having been declared. Citizens demanded an- other special meeting on November 4. This meeting lasted for three
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THE WATER QUESTION
and a half hours. Finally a vote was taken on a motion for a system to cost two hundred and fifty thousand dollars-a two-thirds ma- jority being necessary, by law, to raise such a sum. It failed to pass. (For the measure, 365; against, 291.)
Again, the water proposal was defeated at the first two or three meetings held in 1954. But the pro-water faction was working hard and gaining votes, and it was decided to make another try in October. Plans called for a pumping station at Meetinghouse Pond, from which water could be drawn under an agreement with the City of Fitchburg. (Ironically, while Westminster was wrestling over the years with the problem of town water, Fitchburg had acquired this beautiful Westminster lake in 1892 for its own sup- ply.)
At the meeting on February 23, 1954, the plan for a new water system seemed to be gaining a great deal more support and public interest than formerly. It was a long three-hour session. And while the project was defeated by the ultimate vote, it was felt that this defeat was based on uncompleted details of organization rather than on any concrete grounds of the opposition.
Further organization before the next meeting, held in September 1954, resulted in the following rather ambiguous headline in the papers of September 30: WESTMINSTER KILLS WATER PLAN BY 37 VOTES BUT OPPOSITION RECONCILED TO MEASURE.
The headline is explained by Preston Baker, a selectman, quoted in the text, who said, ". .. A meeting [was] held following the defeat of the plan, between the selectmen, water commissioners, moderator, and certain influential members of the opposition." And he implied that the "influential members of the opposition" had been so impressed with the plan as presented at this meeting that they were now willing to swing over, and at a subsequent meeting would throw their weight actively in favor. It was also felt that the record turnout-exactly one-half the total of voters on the checklist-would be even greater at the next meeting.
This proved to be the case. The last special meeting was reported in the following headline of October 14, 1954: WESTMIN- STER'S LONG FIGHT FOR WATER ENDS IN 19-VOTE VICTORY MARGIN; TURNOUT BIGGEST IN TOWN'S HISTORY. The account goes on:
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HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER
The town last night voted to install a $350,000 water system by a vote of 575 to 258, or 19 votes over the necessary two- thirds of 556 votes.
Several factors were responsible for the victory . . . De- feated innumerable times in the past (four times in the past three years .. . ) the ten-mile water system worked out by the water commissioners and selectmen was termed the finest system ever presented.
Secondly, the enabling act, drawn by Rep. J. Philip Howard . . . imposes a two-thirds, one-third system of taxation, with those on the water system bearing the heavier load. The system will eventually be self-supporting.
When the votes were finally counted late in the evening, the hall "rang with cheers."
Thus, after more than half a century, the struggle came to an end. The town now has a water supply which should remain fully adequate within the foreseeable future.
Chapter Nine
PUBLIC SERVICES
TRAINS, TROLLEYS AND BUSES
THE DIRECT EFFECT of the railroads on Westminster had long been recognized by 1893. It was not a healthy effect so far as industry was concerned. Because of the central village's high elevation, the tracks passed some two miles distant. In a day when horses must be used to move both passengers and freight between village and depot, two miles was too much.
Until 1899 it looked as though the town would be lucky to hold its own as a rather poor agricultural community. Then came the trolley cars. Optimism soared. Cheap mass transportation between Gardner and Fitchburg would bring prosperity to Westminster, located strategically in the middle. Electricity would conquer the Steep grades.
Conquer them it did, but not very efficiently. Heavy snows were never overcome, and freight could not be handled successfully by the light cars. At the end of its first ten years, the Gardner, West- minster and Fitchburg line had seen its profits eaten away by accidents and upkeep, and already it was being badly hurt by the ever-increasing automobiles. An Historical Society paper by Mrs. Florence B. Rice describes the streetcar line in detail, and from this we take the following:
The Gardner, Westminster and Fitchburg Street Railway was built in 1899. The first track was laid out to Wachusett Park from the Gatehouse, 60 foot rails being used. On September 29, the road was complete from Waites Corner to E. B. Kelty's house (now opposite Brandt's Garage) just beyond the power station, the latter having been built together with a car barn. One large double-truck and two single-truck cars from the St. Louis Car Company were equipped in Fitchburg and run to Westminster
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HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER
on the twenty-ninth; this was the date of the then-important West- minster Cattle Show.
The first car through town was run by Marcus Coolidge, a native of Westminster and builder of the road. The three cars were then taken over by conductor Henry J. Black and motormen Everett Bates and William Ela of Gardner; and three F. & L. [Fitchburg and Leominster ] Railway men from Fitchburg. The cars ran from Waites Corner to the Westminster Hotel and back until 9:30 in the evening, then a car ran in early morning to carry Fitchburg people home from the dance. Fare was a nickel.
It was unfortunate that there should have to be an accident on the first day at noon. Going down Marshall Hill a car collided with a fruit wagon. Mrs. Frank Cosentino of Fitchburg was thrown heavily from the wagon to the ground, and the horse was killed. Mrs. Cosentino was injured but not fatally. The company was insured. [EDITOR'S NOTE: Such insurance in those days was seldom adequate for more than minor damages.]
Mr. Coolidge had been in charge of the road but that day Super- intendent Frederick LeNoir assumed charge. The following Sunday two cars (one borrowed from the F. & L.) made trips between Westminster Hotel and Waites Corner from noon until 6:30; and beginning Monday a car ran daily, Clinton Cross and George Sawin in charge.
Meantime the road toward Gardner was being built. Near the end of October the final connection was made, and on a Sunday the first through cars ran from Gardner to Waites Corner.
LeNoir, superintendent of the Gardner road since the resigna- tion of Coolidge in 1895, was put in charge of the consolidated road.
The summer of 1900 began auspiciously. Large cars ran Sundays between the crowded and popular Wachusett Park and Whalom. Cars were all in use and filled with excursionists.
Then on Sunday, June 17, at 7: 15 in the evening, a serious acci- dent occurred. A loaded car bound for Fitchburg from Gardner, run by motorman W. E. Doe and conductor Henry Withington, collided with a double-truck car coming from Waites Corner just above the Wyman turnout. The latter car was manned by Allen Fairbanks and Albert Asman. Although no one was killed, several were seriously injured. This cost the company several thousand
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PUBLIC SERVICES
dollars to settle, several of the cases having been taken to court. It was a setback for the road, which was unable to pay a dividend until the debt was wiped out. Finally a one and one-half percent dividend was declared.
Meanwhile the board of directors was changed. .
But the electric street cars, so far as country villages were con- cerned, had quickly become somewhat uncomfortable conveniences for those who could not afford autos. Recognizing them as such, investors were reluctant to further support them or a company that seldom paid dividends. The G. W. & F. generator station in West- minster was therefore abandoned in favor of public utility power, and there were changes of management and mergers with larger lines. By 192 I the line was in receivership and the rattling, swaying cars with their sparking overhead cables made their last run at the end of 1923.
Only seven years later, the Boston and Maine railway depot in Westminster was closed. Trains could no longer afford to stop where often there would be no waiting passengers or freight. After 1930 the town was to depend entirely on highway transportation.
Organized bus service followed quickly on the heels of the departed electric cars. Shaky and uncertain at first, competition soon appeared and service improved rapidly. By the 1950's we find the Boston and Maine, Flanagan's Bus Lines, Trailways, Wilson Bus Lines and Vermont Transit all serving Westminster. Over twenty established trucking firms now operate in the area. For long-distance travel there are the Fitchburg and Gardner rail- way stations and airports within a few minutes' drive by taxi, bus or car.
Today there is an almost constant flow of heavy traffic through the center of town. The appearance of quiet isolation that existed twenty-five or thirty years ago seems ended now forever.
HIGHWAYS
As can be seen on the map in this book, Westminster today is crisscrossed by several main traffic arteries. The principal high-
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HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER
ways are (1) Route 2 from Boston, east-west across the state, Westminster's most heavily traveled highway, (2) Route 140 from New Bedford, which joins Route 2 in Westminster Center and follows it west to Gardner, where Route 140 goes north, (3) Route 2A from Fitchburg, terminating at Route 2 just east of the center of town, (4) Route 31, running north-south from New Hampshire to Connecticut, crossing the eastern sector of the town, and (5) Route 12, another north-south state highway, running through the northern sector. For a complete list of public roads, see Appendix.
ELECTRIC SERVICE
From another paper by Mrs. Florence B. Rice in the files of the Historical Society we take the following description and history of electric power and services in Westminster.
Electric service first became available to the people of Westmin- ster in 1912. The town late in 1911 having granted initial road- crossing and pole-location permits, the Gardner Electric Light Company, a subsidiary of the New England Electric System, pro- ceeded with construction of facilities which during the first year of operation supplied electric service to nineteen homes, and pro- vided thirty-seven street lights.
The original construction involved a short 61-pole 2200-volt distribution line in the center of Westminster, a 150-KVA single- phase substation just west of the old car barn, and a mile of 66,000- volt supply line connecting to the main transmission system of the New England Power Company, also a subsidiary of the New Eng- land Electric System.
In 1912, when electricity was used primarily for lighting pur- poses, the residential rate for electric service in Westminster was fifteen cents a kilowatt hour and the average home used some 245 kilowatt-hours a year. In subsequent years, although some reduc- tions were made, rates continued at relatively high levels until the early 1930's, when electric stoves and refrigerators came into gen- eral home use and a rapid increase in residential consumption permitted substantial rate reductions. Today, with most homes
5I
PUBLIC SERVICES
using a wide range of electrical appliances, the average domestic customer in Westminster uses over 2400 kilowatt hours a year at an average rate of about three cents a kilowatt hour, approximately one fifth that of 1912.
During the first few years of electric service in Westminster, lines were extended throughout the central part of town and a second 66,000-volt supply line was brought into the substation to provide an alternate source of electricity. In the early 1920's lines were extended into the Lakewood Park area, and from 1927 to 1931 construction of new lines provided service to the North Com- mon, Whitmanville, Fitchburg and Depot Road areas. With the extension of lines into the South Westminster and Bean Porridge Hill areas during the late 1930's, electric service became available throughout all sections of Westminster.
Although Westminster is primarily a residential community, there is some use of electric service for commercial and industrial purposes. Dawley and Shepard, Inc., New England's oldest cracker bakery, was one of the original customers and, with replacement of the steam engine in the bakery with a single-phase electric motor, the town's first power customer. The C. L. Smith Box Corporation, another of the town's older concerns, became the first to use three-phase service for general power purposes when electric motors replaced water power during the early 1930's. One of the town's newer concerns, Westminster's famous eating place, the Old Mill, has grown rapidly to become its largest consumer of electricity.
As lines were extended and the use of electric service gradually increased over the years, the original substation was changed from single-phase to three-phase and the capacity increased from 150 to 300 KVA. In 1948 the capacity was again doubled to 600 KVA, and in 1954 it was further increased to 1500 KVA. During the last decade, however, as Westminster experienced a substantial growth in construction of new homes which doubled the number of residential customers, the use of electric service increased to such an extent that the distribution system which had served the town for some forty-seven years was no longer adequate.
To provide additional facilities, the Worcester County Electric Company, successor to the Gardner Electric Light Company, after conducting long-range engineering studies, embarked on a program
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HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER
of rebuilding the present 2400-volt distribution system with a new system operating at 13,200 volts. Included in this program is replace- ment by the New England Power Company of the present 1500- KVA substation with a new 5000-KVA one.
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