USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Andover > Andover: symbol of New England; the evolution of a town > Part 35
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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
Andover's respectable citizens, moreover, had in their vicinity more to talk about than the speak-easies and Al Capone, Florida land booms and the Hall-Mills murder case. Quite unexpectedly, the ancient town, accustomed to gradual progress, was modern- ized and beautified in two areas with a rapidity and thorough- ness which seemed miraculous. The center of Andover, in the process, was altered very little, except for a few new buildings, like the government post office, and some strange names appear- ing on the signs. The town hall, never an architectural gem, re- mained unchanged. But to the north, on the road to Lawrence, near the spot where in 1718 Samuel Frye had erected his saw- and gristmill, the American Woolen Company was creating its model community, Shawsheen Village.
Here, as we have already noted, the imaginative genius of William M. Wood, operating in a period when money seemed inexhaustible, produced a compact residential district provided with virtually every convenience for gracious living. It was a
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costly experiment, but the practical Mr. Wood intended to make it self-supporting. He spared no expense, neglected no detail, to have it perfect. For months the land was cluttered with survey- ors, bulldozers, bricklayers, men and machines of every descrip- tion. As the massive stone and brick walls rose near the Shaw- sheen River, it seemed fantastic that human efforts could evolve in such a short time a fascinating village. The paved new roads and gardens and stores contributed to the suburban charm. Even the old Smith mansion was reconstructed and opened in 1921 as Shawsheen Manor, a very comfortable inn.
Thrifty Yankees, watching the operation, wondered how the heavy maintenance charges could be met. At a time of unprece- dented prosperity, which seemed likely to continue indefinitely, this didn't concern Mr. Wood very much. But the hour arrived, after Mr. Wood's tragic death and the collapse of the American financial system, when the Shawsheen enterprise proved to be a vast and burdensome liability. The solid masonry of the mill offices could have been purchased in the grim 1930's for a frac- tion of its original cost; and even the luxurious golf club house was for sale at a trifling sum, of course, loaded with a mortgage. In 1932, the Andover-Shawsheen Realty Company purchased all the local properties owned by the American Woolen Com- pany. After expensive repairs and alterations had been made, two hundred and thirty-one houses were resold to their original occupants, many of whom still live in them.
The partial abandonment by the American Woolen Company of the original grandiose project and the adaptation of some of the buildings to new purposes came about gradually. The layout is still recognizable, with its amazing drug store and post office and playgrounds, and the plans were not altogether abandoned. The fact that this expensive and extravagant model village was completed during the administration of the economy-minded and penny-pinching Calvin Coolidge is one of the quaint anom- alies of American history.
Meanwhile on Andover Hill, at the other end of the town,
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another transformation, even more attractive and permanent, was being accomplished. The movement which brought this about was generated after the war, when some leading Phillips Academy alumni raised a building and endowment fund of more than 1,500,000 dollars in a campaign which carried the name and prestige of Andover across the continent. Two-thirds of this considerable sum was devoted, by previous arrangement, to teachers' salaries. The remaining half million was spent on Sam- uel Phillips Hall, set aside mainly for classrooms, which, in its dominating location on the low ridge east of Main Street, be- came the focal center for future planning. The placement of this conspicuous pillared structure on the east side of Main Street was a crucial decision, determining the direction and scope of the entire expansion program. It was made largely by George B. Case, a New York lawyer and one of the trustees, whose wis- dom became more and more evident as time went on.
The town had appropriated funds for the preparation and publication, under the auspices of the local Legion Post, of a volume entitled Andover, Massachusetts, in the World War, which appeared in 1921. Plans for a more specific and permanent war memorial had also been submitted by a town committee, but no agreement could be reached. At this juncture, Samuel L. Fuller, both a resident of the town and a Phillips Academy graduate, announced his wish to give his school a Memorial Tower, com- memorating the eighty-seven alumni who had given their lives in service during 1914-1918. The cornerstone was laid in the spring of 1922, and the structure itself was dedicated in the fol- lowing June. It is now the first sight to meet the eye of the mo- torist as he approaches the town from the south; and its carillon of thirty-seven bells rings out on every significant community occasion. Mr. Fuller, who had been stationed for some months at Fiesole, Italy, during the war, had often listened to the chimes of Florence from the valley below. Then and there he resolved some day to give to his academic alma mater something "utterly useless but altogether inspiring." This he was eventually able
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to do. On each Memorial Day, the veterans' parade starting in Elm Square proceeds up the hill to the tower and there at its base lays a wreath, an appropriate way of emphasizing the close kinship between Town and Gown. The beautiful campanile has thus become a community symbol of patriotic sacrifice.
In 1923, Mr. and Mrs. George B. Case gave to the Academy an indoor athletic "cage," in memory of their son, George B. Case, Jr., a Phillips student who had died too young. In the following year, Samuel Phillips Hall was completed and occupied. These buildings signalized the beginning of a large-scale, long-range program instigated and carried out largely by Thomas Cochran, a member of the banking firm of J. P. Morgan and Company and one of the trustees of Phillips Academy, whose devotion to his school was shown through gifts aggregating over a decade the sum of more than 11,000,000 dollars. As early as 1920 he became interested in the school's distinguished history and re- solved, as he said, to "capitalize" upon it. To this purpose, he dedicated most of the remainder of his life. "Not a day goes by," he once said, "that I don't think of something to do for the school." He, Principal Stearns, Mr. Case, and Mr. James C. Saw- yer, were all classmates at Phillips Academy, graduating in 1890, and formed a very effective and cooperative working team, each with his own individual contribution to make.
Temperamentally Tom Cochran was very much like William M. Wood-impulsive, impatient, imaginative, irritated by op- position, and stubbornly persistent. He operated in the same autocratic manner, dismissing suggested obstacles as if they were not only negligible but impertinent. Each in some moods seemed mad, but it was the madness of genius. Both, in spite of almost superhuman accomplishments, died disillusioned and tragically unhappy.
In the pursuit of his ambition-the creation of the best- equipped independent secondary school in this country-Coch- ran resembled a miracle-worker waving a magic wand. To him, in that Golden Age, nothing seemed impossible. He endowed,
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or caused to be endowed, "foundations," under which members of the faculty received greatly increased salaries. With unerring discrimination, he secured the best engineers and landscapers, the best paintings and musical facilities. He engaged the serv- ices of the eminent Charles Platt, first as consultant and then as architect, and the two men worked together in a joint noble passion for excellence.
Cochran's every visit to Andover was followed by changes in the location of buildings, by the digging of more cellar holes, by the appearance of more strange gigantic machines driving their way noisily and imperiously through gravel and rock. One after another stately structures rose and were dedicated: George Washington Hall (1926), the administrative center, in the lobby of which was hung the Gilbert Stuart portrait of the Father of His Country for which Cochran paid 40,000 dollars; Samuel F. B. Morse Hall (1928), with its laboratories, for physics, chem- istry, and biology; Paul Revere Hall (1929), a dormitory for seniors; the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library (1929), named for another distinguished alumnus; the Addison Gallery of Ameri- can Art (1931), with Winslow Homer's "West Wind" as its nu- cleus; and the Cochran Church (1932), the center of the Acad- emy's religious activities, to which the donor reluctantly al- lowed his name to be attached. All in the Georgian colonial style, displaying variety in unity, these constitute as a group Charles Platt's most important architectural monument, one likely to endure after the temporarily popular vagaries and vul- garities of so-called modern architecture have fallen apart. They were solidly constructed, apparently as permanent as St. Peter's. Ironically, however, the expanding school has already to a con- siderable extent outgrown them.
In planning his program, Cochran always insisted that the in- terests of the town must be considered. Out of some ninety acres of unarable land he created the Moncrieff Cochran Sanctuary for birds and wild life, planted it with pines, laurels, and rhodo- dendrons, and surrounded it with a high wire fence to keep out
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marauding animals. It is now an extensive area which cannot, under the terms of the gift, be used for any housing project and which some day may be a very important breathing place for all Andover.
Cochran also saw the desirability of a bypass, aimed at reduc- ing automobile traffic through the heart of the school and the town. Yielding to Tom's persuasive words, Governor Frank G. Allen and Commissioner Lyman agreed to construct such a road if the Andover trustees conveyed to the Commonwealth a one- hundred-foot right of way, approximately five miles in length, and also paid the cost of one mile of construction. It was a fine bargain for Massachusetts, but very expensive for Cochran. Hen- ry S. Hopper, the Academy comptroller, who was very active in town affairs, was the skillful intermediary in the acquisition of the necessary land, which involved fifty-six separate deeds for a total of more than four hundred acres. When this stupendous task was completed, Cochran invited Hopper and several other coadjutors to be his guests on a trip to Europe to celebrate an achievement almost unprecedented in the annals of the Com- monwealth.
Many "paper millionaires" of that astounding decade lost their money even more quickly than they had acquired it. But there were those, like Thomas Cochran and Thomas W. La- mont, who, spending wisely after careful planning, left behind them something tangible and productive. Hence the good which they did survives them, at Harvard and Yale, Andover and Ex- eter. To William M. Wood and Thomas Cochran our town owes much of its present charm. It is more beautiful because they were generous and imaginative.
Characteristically, when the time came for observing the ses- quicentennial of Phillips Academy, Cochran insisted that the President of the United States must be there as the principal guest. He had done some favors for Mr. Coolidge, and Al Stearns, the Academy head, had been at Amherst College with him. Un-
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der pressure from these two friends, the President promised to appear.
The long-awaited celebration opened on Friday, May 18, 1928, with exercises in the Great Quadrangle, including ad- dresses by college presidents and other dignitaries. A light rain somewhat dampened the program and the audience, who were finally driven for shelter into the adjacent George Washington Hall auditorium. A torchlight parade through heavy mist kept things alive on the Hill through the evening.
On Saturday morning at nine o'clock the President and Mrs. Coolidge arrived by special train from Washington, to be greet- ed at the station by Headmaster Stearns, Alfred L. Ripley, presi- dent of the Academy board of trustees, Mr. Cochran, and the town fathers, together with a large throng of innocent, but curi- ous bystanders. To the amusement of the spectators two mem- bers of a hastily formed detachment of amateur cavalrymen fell off their mounts as the locomotive puffed in, and Mr. Coolidge quipped to Mr. Cochran, "They must have been surprised to see us coming!"
This was the first time since 1789 that Andover had officially welcomed a President of the United States during his adminis- tration. The distinguished guests were motored under escort to the principal's house, where they were greeted by Governor and Mrs. Alvan T. Fuller and presented with gold medals cast for the occasion. The academic procession which followed was a colorful parade across the campus to the porch of Samuel Phil- lips Hall, where, from an elevated platform, Mr. Coolidge read his address. The crowd, estimated at more than twenty thousand, was the largest ever assembled at any gathering in the town. The President's speech, later printed in an attractive booklet, was one of his best, composed entirely by himself, with no assistance from a ghost writer. At the luncheon which followed in the Case Memorial Building, Mr. and Mrs. Coolidge remained for a few minutes and then departed, in the midst of a driving rainstorm,
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for Northampton. The four thousand guests still left listened to speeches by the Governor, several educational dignitaries, and a representative of the English public schools, Frederick B. Malim, master of Wellington College. The program was prop- erly rounded out with a summary talk by Al Stearns, announcing the gifts recently received by the Academy. It was all very thrill- ing, and Tom Cochran, wandering here, there, and everywhere, handing Dr. Stearns a new memorandum every five minutes, en- joyed the culmination of his philanthropic career.
In June, 1929, Abbot Academy observed its centennial with simple but dignified exercises, including a garden party, a pro- cession, and an appropriate ceremony in the Old South Church. As the town and its institutions grew older, the people were be- coming more and more conscious of their traditions. Miss Char- lotte Helen Abbott, indefatigable as a genealogist, was con- tributing interesting items to our knowledge of the past. One evidence of this increasing curiosity was the acquisition by the Andover Historical Society, through the generosity of Miss Caroline Underhill, of the Amos Blanchard House at 97 Main Street, still used as its headquarters. Here at last was a fitting repository for documents, pictures, and memorabilia accumu- lated over the course of the years.
For Andover, as for the nation, the summer of 1929 was the climax of the Golden Era, what has been called the "Indian Summer of the Old Order." Through 1928 and the spring of 1929 many Andoverians, with more money (on paper) than they had ever had before, were buying common stocks (on margin) and watching with complacency the market reports. Very few seemed to be worried. Frederick L. Allen tells of a remark of Roy Young, then governor of the Federal Reserve Board, as he watched the overburdened ticker tape, "What I am laughing at is that I am sitting here trying to keep a hundred and twenty million people from doing what they want to do."
And then, on October 24, 1929, after some earlier warnings,
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came panic and a sudden drop from Cloud Cuckoo Land into reality. The impact of what was eventually to be sadly remem- bered as the Great Depression was nationwide, and Andover was not immune. Almost as a matter of ordinary routine, the town, in November, 1928, had given Herbert Hoover for President a whopping majority of 3,220 votes against 1,372 for Al Smith, and was obviously still staunchly Republican. But the Hoover administration, although opened under roseate auspices, was unable to control the successive financial crises with any con- structive philosophy; and separate communities, like Andover, had to move along from month to month, aware of the bad news and using makeshift devices to postpone catastrophe. The Smith and Dove plant, on which so many local families depended for a livelihood, was forced to shut down, and employees in other fac- tories were laid off. Altogether too many people were out of work. In 1931, when the full effects of the Depression were be- ginning to be felt, a special town meeting appropriated 10,000 dollars for highway work for the unemployed. In 1932, an emer- gency Committee on Employment was created; and when the tax rate was fixed again at 24 dollars, a Taxpayers' Association was formed to see that it didn't rise higher. In the same year the school committee reduced salaries eight per cent, and soon all the other town employees were cut ten per cent. This, of course, was no real solution for a problem which was highly complex and the causes for which have never been fully clarified.
In the retrospect, it is apparent that the suffering in Andover was not as serious as in other less fortunate areas. Few were with- out food, shelter, or clothing. Life went on as usual from day to day, with the lucky ones still buying radios and automobiles; and the getting and spending continued as usual even in the dramatically critical week before the inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Mr. Cochran and his associates had put aside money for several construction projects at Phillips Academy, and these gave employment to some of the townspeople. Even
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while the news from the rest of the country was bad, the Phillips Academy Commons and the Andover Inn were completed in 1930. The Addison Gallery followed in 1931, and the Cochran Chapel in 1932.
In February, 1930, ground was broken for the Seraphic Semi- nary, on the Hood farm between Andover and Lowell. Oper- ated by the Franciscan Order, this included a Preparatory Semi- nary and a Training School for Lay Brothers. In 1932, the attractive new federal post office on Main Street was completed; and a year later plans for a junior high school were accepted by the town and approved by the State Emergency Board. All these projects involved a considerable expenditure, but even they, and the various relief measures undertaken from time to time, could not bring happiness to everybody. In the summer of 1933, a unit of the Civilian Relief Corps was established in the Harold Parker State Forest, and citizens of the town did everything within their power to make it successful.
Those who dwelt in Andover during the period from 1929 to 1941 have confused memories. The Old Order, such as it was, passed gradually. The last surviving Civil War veteran, Henry L. Clukey, died in 1932. The last streetcar had its final run in 1934. Dr. Charles E. Abbott, leader in so many town activities, died in 1931; and Dr. Alfred E. Stearns, head of Phillips Acad- emy for thirty progressive, fruitful years, retired in 1933. Miss Bertha Bailey, principal of Abbot Academy since 1912, passed away in 1935, to be succeeded by Miss Marguerite Hearsey. Tom Cochran, who had put his large fortune to such good use, suffered a nervous breakdown in 1932 and died four years later, believing that he was penniless but actually leaving more than three mil- lion dollars. Meanwhile the conservative regime of Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover had faded into history, and the New Deal initiated its radical program in 1933. Andover was not pleased with this sweeping substitution of Democrats for Republicans but could do nothing to block it. And even in defeat, it could take pride in its political consistency!
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During these years of constant apprehension and frequent dis- tress the local branch of the American Red Cross continued its philanthropic service, not only through its indefatigable dis- trict nurse but also through various other channels by which aid was brought to the needy. In March, 1936, an exceptionally dis- astrous flood caused the Shawsheen River to overflow its banks, and a considerable portion of the lowlying area in Shawsheen and Marland villages was under water for several days. Boats were rowed from house to house, and more than a hundred resi- dences had to be evacuated. Electric light and telephone facili- ties failed, and the danger of fire and epidemic disease was for a time very serious. The Andover Townsman for March 20 came out with the statement in large type:
BECAUSE OF THE FAILURE OF THE POWER SUPPLY DUE TO THE FLOOD, TODAY'S Townsman HAD TO BE PRINTED BY HAND
In this crisis the capacity of citizens to meet an emergency was effectively displayed, and relief agencies enrolled hundreds of volunteers. Those who paddled around Shawsheen Square in canoes are not likely to forget the occasion.
Still another major catastrophe was the hurricane of Septem- ber, 1938, during which hundreds of trees, including many an- cient elms on the Academy campus, were irreparably damaged, and a huge tree fell through the roof of the Abbot homestead, the oldest house in Andover. The town fathers allotted 25,000 dollars for rehabilitation, but it takes more than money to grow a tree.
On the whole, however, the town survived that tempestuous decade without lapsing into gloom, and even in some respects made progress. The new junior high school voted at a special town meeting in 1932 was ready, after some unavoidable delays, in 1936, with the necessary classrooms and laboratories, a large gymnasium, and a spacious auditorium available for town gath-
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erings which had previously been held in the room on the sec- ond floor of the town hall. One of the chief advantages of the new school building was that it provided an adequate civic cen- ter. The combined enrollment in the high school and junior high school at that time was about eight hundred and fifty. With- in twenty years this fine new structure was to be regarded as in- sufficient for the needs of the town, so rapid was the increase in the birthrate and the growth in population.
In politics Andover continued to be the victim of repeated gerrymandering which diminished its influence and blocked the ambitions of some of its promising younger citizens. In 1918 it was joined with North Andover and Middleton as District 9, it being informally understood that the office of representative in the General Court would be allotted in succession to each of the three component towns. This system was obviously unfortunate for Andover, whose local problems were seldom like those of Middleton; and it was especially bad because it kept even a very able man from continuous service. With the election of Dr. Charles E. Abbott in 1922, however, the situation changed for the better. He was so tactful and so generally useful to all his constituents that nobody in either North Andover or Middleton cared to run against him, and he held the position against little competition until 1927. Then Andover was joined in an arti- ficial mésalliance with Ward 6, of Lawrence, to form a district which was decisively Democratic. For the next few years Ando- ver's traditionally conservative and Republican electorate had to endure with patience being represented in the legislature by Arthur F. Ganley and Thomas J. Lane, both Lawrence Demo- crats. Andover had a peculiar status. With its population of eleven thousand, it was in the Fifth Congressional District, in the Fourth Essex District for state Senatorial elections, and in the Sixth Essex District for elections to the state House of Rep- resentatives. And in each instance something was done from time to time to nullify its normal Republican majority. The
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power which it exerted as a political entity in the days of John N. Cole had now virtually vanished.
For a considerable period Andover could be proud of its Con- gressman, John Jacob Rogers, of Lowell, who served in the House from March 4, 1913, until his death on March 28, 1925. He was succeeded by his attractive and efficient wife, Edith Nourse Rogers, who is still in Congress (1959), although not as Andover's Representative. Andover liked Mrs. Rogers, and in 1928 gave her 3,241 votes against 1,120 for her Democratic op- ponent, Cronin. In 1936, however, through not very subtle shenanigan, Andover was shifted, for political reasons, to Dis- trict 7, with Lawrence, Lynn, and other predominantly Demo- cratic municipalities. Since that date, so far as Congressional elections are concerned, Andover has been without influence.
In 1941, by more State House juggling, Andover was shifted to the Fourth District, allied with Ward 1 of Lawrence, Methu- en, and North Andover, and the town once again was able to send one of its own best citizens to the General Court, the popu- lar J. Everett Collins. In spite of some minor territorial changes, Collins retained his seat through the 1940's, winning and hold- ing the respect and confidence of his fellow legislators. As a mat- ter of fact, whenever circumstances have been at all favorable, the town has been able to present candidates of superior quality. It is a pity that it could not do this more often.
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