USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Boston of to-day; a glance at its history and characteristics: with biographical sketches and portraits of many of its professional and business men, 1892 > Part 3
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mention, from the fact that it now operates as part of its own system the original Boston & Lowell. The latter was the shortest of the initial roads, but early in its career made connection with Nashua, N.H., and then with the New Hampshire and Ver- mont systems to the Canadian line. The Boston & Maine leased the Boston & Lowell and its systems in 1887, thus securing the control by lease of the Boston, Concord, & Montreal, the Nashua & Lowell, the Keene branch, the Northern New Hampshire, and several minor connecting roads, and the Central Massachusetts. Connection was thus made with New York via the Worcester & Nashua (included in another lease), and with Philadelphia, Baltimore, & Washington via the Central Massachusetts and the Poughkeepsie bridge. Three years before, in December, 1884, the Boston & Maine had effected a lease of the Eastern (chartered in 1836, the original line from East Boston to the New Hampshire line, opened in 1840), which then controlled the traffic to the northern shores of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, as well as the bulk of the White Moun-
STATION OF BOSTON & MAINE RAILROAD - EASTERN DIVISION.
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BOSTON OF TO-DAY.
tain travel. Thus consolidated the Boston & Maine reaches a much larger area directly by its own lines than any other system in New England. The total
templated. Until his sudden death in January, 1892, James T. Furber was the general manager of this great system ; he had long been the superin-
STATION OF BOSTON & MAINE RAILROAD - LOWELL DIVISION.
length of all lines operated is 1, 210.03 miles : 315.7 owned ; 894.33 leased. At present it continues the three distinct stations, - its own in Haymarket square, and the old Eastern and Lowell stations in Causeway street ; but a great union station is con-
tendent of the Boston & Maine before consolida- tion. Col. John W. Sanborn is now ( 1892) general manager, and Daniel W. Sanborn general superin- tendent. The president of the Boston & Maine system is Frank Jones.
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BOSTON OF TO-DAY.
The Old Colony Railroad having absorbed by lease the Boston & Providence, the third of the earliest railroads, is next in the list. Chartered March 16, 1844, the original line between Boston and Plymouth (opened in 1845), it has gradually extended its operations both by building and leasing, until it has be- come the second largest rail- road system in New England. It now reaches the south-east- ern sections of the State, the western part through its leased lines, and, by its Providence division, New York, by one of the best all-rail Boston and New York lines. It also con- trols the three famous Long Island Sound steamer lines, - the Fall River, the Ston- ington, and the Providence, the vessels of which are the largest side-wheelers afloat. Before its acquisition of the Boston & Providence it had absorbed the Fall River, the Newport and Fall River, the Eastern Branch, the South Shore, the Vineyard Sound, the Duxbury and Cohasset, the Dorchester and Milton, the Cape Cod, the Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and New Bedford, the Taunton and Middleboro, and the Framingham and Lowell railroads. It also includes in its system Gridley Bryant's " Granite Railway," a part of which exists in its original form to the present day. The lease of the Boston & Providence, with all its branches and leased roads, was secured in 1888; and the control of the Providence, Warren, & Bristol road is included in this consolidation. The system now embraces 577 miles of owned and leased lines of railroad, besides the controlling interest in the three Sound steamboat lines. The Old Colony also con- trols the Union Freight Railway, the tracks of which extend along the water-front from its own system to that of the Boston & Maine. This road is a dis- tributor of freight among all the steam railroads entering the city, and to leading wharves for lading steamships and other vessels. The station of the Providence division of the Old Colony is one of the
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STATION OF THE OLD COLONY RAILROAD - PROVIDENCE DIVISION.
finest in the city : one of the few railway stations in which architectural effect as well as utility was con- sidered in the plan and construction. The presi- dent of the Old Colony system, Charles F. Choate, and the general superintendent, J. R. Kendrick, have been for many years connected with the road.
The charter of the Fitchburg Railroad Company is dated March 3, 1842, and in 1845 the road was completed between Cambridge and Fitchburg. After its extension into Boston, in 1848, its growth was small and slow for more than a quarter of a cen- tury. In those years when the north-western part of the State was barred by the Hoosac Mountains from rail communication with the Hudson and the West, the Fitchburg was confined to performing its part in local New England transportation. As late as 1873 the mileage of the road was anything but large, - only 50 miles of main line and 43 more of branches. Its capital stock was $4,500,000, and it had not a
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BOSTON OF TO-DAY.
dollar of debt, floating or bonded. In 1847 the tunnelling the mountain was first proposed in the passenger station, now a striking feature of Cause- report of the State commission of 1825 on the Boston way street, with its walls and battlemented towers of and Hudson-river canal project, Colonel Laommi dark gray stone, was built, -the oldest railway Baldwin, who made the surveys, recommending a canal tunnel through it. When the rail- roads were introduced and the cause of the canal was lost, agitation for a rail- road tunnel soon began. In 1848 this bore fruit in the organization of the Troy & Greenfield Railroad Company for the construction of a line from Greenfield up the valley of the Deer- field river through the mountain to the Vermont line. Work, however, was not begun until 1852, and twenty-one years passed before it was completed. For the first ten years the undertaking was in the hands of private parties, and then the State was compelled to finish the job. In 1866 the railroad was completed to the mouth of the tunnel, and was operated by the Fitchburg STATION OF OLD COLONY RAILROAD - MAIN DIVISION. and Vermont & Massachusetts rail- roads jointly until 1874. The date station now in use in the city. The directors in their report to the stockholders for 1848 offer their congratulations on the completion of the building, but find it necessary to make apologies for its size and elegance. In those early days of railroads such a space as this station afforded was more than ample, and its projectors evidently thought it big enough for the Fitchburg Railroad for all time. Now, however, its utmost limits are barely sufficient, . products coming East and of manufactured articles when the hole was finally put through was Novem- ber 27, 1873, but regular trains did not run until 1875. The total cost of the tunnel was $26,000,- 000, and it is an interesting fact that when tunnel- ling was first projected in 1825 the cost was estimated at $1,948,557. The year 1874 marks the point at which the Fitchburg Railroad ceases to be of local importance only. The volume of cereal going West was already enormous, and the final opening of the tunnel gave the opportunity of or- ganizing another route by which a share of the busi- ness could be attracted to Boston. Towards this
and doubtless in the near future the solid structure will give place to one more suitable for the needs of the terminus of a great and growing trunk line. The years immediately following the incorporation of the Fitchburg saw the incorporation and con- struction of the various roads which now form a part of its present great system. The Vermont & Massa -. chusetts was chartered March 15, 1844, and formed the line, 56 miles long, between Fitchburg and Greenfield. In the last fifteen years the Fitchburg company has greatly improved this property, expend- ing upwards of $2,000,000 in the addition of a second track and in straightening the curves, so far as the rugged nature of the country would permit ; and its physical condition to-day is fully equal to the requirements of the heavy traffic which now passes over it. .
That which gives to the Fitchburg Railroad its distinctive character, and has enabled it to develop itself from the status of a local road to that of a trunk line, is the Hoosac Tunnel. The plan of
STATION OF OLD COLONY RAILROAD AT NORTH EASTON.
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STATION OF FITCHBURG RAILROAD.
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BOSTON OF TO-DAY.
VIEW OF HOOSAC TUNNEL, FITCHBURG RAILROAD.
end the Fitchburg leased the Vermont & Massa- and issued more than $5,000,000 of bonds. In chusetts by which to assure its connection with the 1885 it purchased the Boston, Barre, & Gardner, 36 Troy & Greenfield and the tunnel at Greenfield. miles long, giving a connection with Worcester and This acquisition raised the amount of its capitaliza- southern New England points. The increase due to this addition, and to the improvements above men- tioned, raised the capitalization so that in 1886 the company controlled property representing $16,000,- 000. The contract for the operation of the Troy & Greenfield by the Fitchburg and the Vermont & Massachusetts jointly expired in 1874, and from that time until 1887 that road was operated by the Fitch- tion from $4,500,000 to about $9,000,000. During the following year were incurred the expenditures for improving this new part of the line, and at the same time extensive improvements were made in terminal facilities here in Boston in anticipation of the large business to come through the tunnel. To pay for this the Fitchburg increased its capital stock
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BOSTON OF TO-DAY.
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burg on the toll-gate system. On this system, how- ever, no profit could be gained by the State out of the operation of the tunnel. The cost of the under- taking to the Commonwealth had finally reached the sum of $24,000,000 ; it had for some time stood at the head of the list of the State's non-paying invest- ments, and financiers were agreed that the best course to pursue was to dispose of the property to a purchaser. The Fitchburg from the start was con- fessedly a bidder, and at once entered into negotia- tions. The price which was at first considered fair was the modest sum of $4,500,000, but other inter- ests soon put in an appearance with the effect of advancing the Commonwealth's idea of the value of its property. The modest sum mentioned above was suggested in October, 1886, but at the end of the year the tunnel was considered worth not less than $10,000,000, and that was the price finally agreed upon with the Fitchburg. The terms of the agree- ment required the consolidation of the two roads under the name of the Fitchburg Railroad Com- pany. Immediately upon the acquisition of the tunnel, and as a necessary outcome of the policy which was first instituted by the lease of the Ver-
mont & Massachusetts, an arrangement was made for the control of the Troy & Boston, the line run- ning from the Vermont line to Troy, N.Y., a distance of 37 miles. Then on June 1, 1887, the Fitchburg assumed possession of the Boston, Hoosac Tunnel, & Western road, whose main line extended from the Vermont line, 62 miles, to Rotterdam Junction, there connecting with the West Shore road, its total mileage, including the branch to Saratoga, 87 miles. Both of these roads had been for some years non- dividend-paying properties, mainly owing to the fact that they parallel each other for most of their dis- tance. The standard of their track and rolling-stock had been brought to a low ebb, and large sums had to be expended to remedy this deficiency. The fact of the lines running parallel from Vermont State line to Johnsonville was taken advantage of to extend the double-track system to the latter point. On October 1, 1890, the Cheshire Railroad became a part of the Fitchburg, adding $2,625,000 in stock and $800,000 in bonds to its capitalization, and 64 miles to its mileage. Through this line control by a connection with northern and Canadian points, by way of Bellows Falls, was gained. In less than
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STATION AT WALTHAM, FITCHBURG RAILROAD.
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BOSTON OF TO-DAY.
twenty years the Fitchburg has more than quad- it now forms, with the boats of the Norwich and rupled itself, and the necessary expenditures incident to such a rapid development have severely strained the earning capacity. The Hoosac Tunnel route, however, may still be considered in its infancy, for not five years. have passed since the Fitchburg gained the key to the situation, - the tunnel. The total mileage of the Fitchburg is now 436 miles.
As a measure toward the more advantageous hand- ling of through freight, and especially of the export traffic to Liverpool and other European ports, the Hoosac Tunnel Dock and Elevator Company was organized in 1879 under the auspices of the Fitch- burg road. A grain elevator with a capacity of 600,000 bushels was built in the Charlestown dis- trict, together with four piers suitable for large steam- ships. To-day three lines of steamships run regu- larly from the docks of the company, - the Leyland, the Furness, and the Allan lines, - for the ports of Liverpool, London, and Glasgow respectively.
The history of the New York & New England Railroad is a peculiar one. The railroad now owned by that corporation is the result of a consolidation of a large number of roads which were organized at different times, and at different places, and for different purposes. Very soon after the first railway in the country was constructed public meetings were held in Middletown, Conn., and subscriptions made as early as 1833, for the purpose of making surveys looking to the construction of a through line between Boston and New York, to run via Middletown. The same year a company was chartered in Connecticut to construct a road from Hartford to the quarries in the Bolton Mountains ; and a charter was granted in Massachusetts for a road from Worcester towards New London. The road which was organized in Connecticut as the result of the meeting in Middle- town was consequently consolidated with a company chartered in Massachusetts and another company chartered in Rhode Island, and the road from Boston to New York, as originally contemplated, was finally completed in 1872, and now forms the shortest route between these cities, and is the route over which the popular " New England Limited," or so-called " Ghost Train," runs. The road from Hartford to the Bolton Mountains was not immedi- ately constructed, but the charter was revived in 1849, and the road built from Providence to Water- bury, Conn., a portion of which now forms a part of the main line of the New York & New England from Boston to the Hudson river. The road from Worcester towards New London was constructed about the year 1838 from Worcester to Norwich, and is leased to the New York & New England ; and
New York Transportation Company, controlled by it, the through rail and boat line called the "Nor- wich Line " from Boston to New York. The Massa- chusetts portions of the road were originally chartered as local roads, about the year 1849 : the Walpole road, extending from Dedham to Walpole ; the Nor- folk County, from Dedham to Blackstone; the Charles River Branch and Charles River, from Brookline to Woonsocket. Under a peculiar charter granted by the Legislature of Connecticut in 1863 the company known as the Boston, Hartford, & Erie was organized with the right to purchase any road which might form a part of the through line from Boston to the West. This company purchased several small roads, and by consolidating and uniting them sought to complete a road from Boston to a connection with the Erie road at the Hudson river. A mortgage was made covering all the consolidated roads for $20,000,000, known as the " Berdell mortgage." The State of Massachusetts was induced `to take between three and four million dollars of these bonds. A portion of them were sold to the Erie road, and the balance was mostly taken by capitalists here in Boston and vicinity. Failing to complete the road with the proceeds of these bonds, application was again made to the Massachusetts Legislature for State aid. This was denied, and the property was placed in the hands of a receiver. The trustees under the Berdell mortgage, Messrs. William T. Hart and Charles P. Clark, took posses- sion, foreclosed the mortgage April 17, 1873, and the New York & New England Railroad Company was organized from the bondholders, each bond- holder receiving ten shares of New York & New England stock for each Berdell bond held by him. The New York & New England Company then com- pleted the road from Putnam to Willimantic and from Waterbury to the river, and paid off all the underlying mortgages, obtaining the necessary money for this purpose by making a new first mortgage on its property for $10,000,000 and a second mortgage for $5,000,000. In 1883 the company became financially embarrassed, and its property was placed in the hands of a receiver on the ist of January, 1884. The debts were paid by the issuing of pre- ferred stock, and the property was again restored to the company on the ist of January, 1885. Since that time its business has continued to increase from year to year, and its gross earnings for the year end- ing June 30, 1891, were between six and seven millions of dollars. The company now owns and controls over 600 miles of road which form direct connection between the cities of Boston, Providence,
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STATION OF THE NEW YORK & NEW ENGLAND RAILROAD, WITH INTERIOR VIEWS OF "WHITE
TRAIN."
1. THE ROYAL SMOKER. 2. DINING CAR. 3. PARLOR CAR.
4. INTERIOR VIEW OF PULLMAN SLEEPER, LONG ISLAND TRAIN.
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Worcester, Springfield, and Hartford, New York, and the South and West, and it is one of the largest roads in New England. It also possesses admirable terminal facilities at tide-water. The present presi- dent (1892) is Charles Parsons.
Boston, Revere Beach, & Lynn Railroad, Eigh- teen or twenty years ago attention was called to large tracts of unoccupied land in East Boston and Revere, and in the immediate vicinity of Revere beach, and the plan was conceived of opening up
STATION OF BOSTON, REVERE BEACH, & LYNN RAILROAD.
these lands by building a narrow-gauge railroad, which at that time, as the result of the successful Festiniog Railroad in Wales and the use of the Fairlee bogie engines, was coming into vogue in this country. By a happy thought the new line was projected along the crest of Revere beach and across the Saugus river to the foot of Market street, Lynn, thus in connection with the ferry across Boston harbor, making a short and attrac- tive route between the two cities. The road was rapidly, in fact, hastily, built and put in operation. It was but a single-track road using a light thirty-five- pound iron rail, and the bridges were of the most temporary form of construction. The road was opened in July, 1875, and immediately made Revere beach accessible to thousands of pleasure seekers
who before could reach it only by a long circuitous drive. The road earned during the summer months a handsome surplus over expenses. The next, or centennial year, the phenomenal business was re- peated, but unsettled land damages, together with the purchase of additional equipment, taxed the resources of the road, so that at the close of the year its stock was below par. January 1, 1877, a new management took charge, the president being the late Edwin Walden, of Lynn. The indebtedness was funded, the land-damage claims were settled, and a systematic improvement of the road-bed, structures, and equipment undertaken. The attractions of the beach were advertised, and outdoor entertainments on the grounds of the Ocean House were instituted, the success of which led to the establishment of the Point of Pines enterprise. The buildings of the latter were opened in 1881, and a great increase in the summer business of the road followed. The regular running of trains the year round, to- gether with the addition of evening trains, soon began to develop the lands of the land com- panies, resulting in the rapid growth of the present villages of Crescent beach, Beachmont, and Winthrop, the latter being reached by a separate road afterwards consolidated with the main line. In 1882 the superintendent, Mr. Whorf, resigned to take charge of the Tampico Division of the Mexican Central, and his as- sistant, Charles A. Hammond, of Lynn, was elected to his place. Under Mr. Hammond's charge the road had been double-tracked and steel-railed, its equipment nearly doubled, new stations built, a circuit line in Winthrop con- structed, and other improvements completed, notably the terminal station and ferry-slip in Boston. For the past three years fifteen-min- ute trains have been run the greater part of the day during the summer season, while the increased business from Winthrop has been provided for by "through " trains. On March 12, 1889, occurred the death of President Walden, under whose man- agement the road had attained solid prosperity and the value of the stock had quadrupled. The present president is Melville O. Adams.
The Street Railway system was introduced in Boston in 1856, the first line, established by the Metropolitan Company (chartered in 1852), from Boylston street to Guild row, Roxbury. This was opened in September, and before winter had fairly set in the line at the Boston end was extended to Scollay square. Thereafter the development of the system was rapid. In December the same year
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VIEW OF ELECTRIC CAR ON TREMONT STREET. WEST END STREET RAILWAY.
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the South Boston line was opened, and earlier in the underground conduit was tried, and beyond the season the Cambridge; the next year the West Chester park the overhead trolley wires were Middlesex to Charlestown ; and in 1859 a line to Brookline. Very soon all these lines were extended in various directions, and spurs thrown out, and the principal business thoroughfares of the city were occupied by the rails. In 1872 the Highland line, in competition with the Metropolitan, was estab- lished, and in 1882 the Charles-river, in competi- tion with the Cambridge lines. Then in 1887 began the revolution in the street-railway system, brought about by the West End Company. It was a very modest beginning. The original capital was but $80,000, and the line was primarily intended to run to Brookline, for the purpose of developing the territory in that town controlled by the West End Land Company. Consolidation of the existing companies with the West End, however, speedily followed. First the Metropolitan was secured ; then the Highland acquired the Middlesex; next the Cambridge and the Charles-river were united ; and finally the West End, with $6,000,000 of pre- ferred stock, $1,500,000 common stock, and $1,500,000 in outstanding bonds, was in posses- sion of them all. At the time of the consolidation, effected the 12th of November, 1887, the new company owned 1,480 cars and nearly 8,000 horses. A year later there were 500 more cars and a thou- sand more horses. On the ist of January, 1889, the first experimental electric line was started. This ran from Park square to Chestnut hill and Allston. From the square to West Chester park used. About a month later some electric cars of Thomson-Houston make were started between Bowdoin square and Harvard square, Cambridge. They were operated by the Thomson-Houston company for six months, and the test proving satis- factory to the West End Company it gave an order for 600 motors. This was the first decisive step in the adoption of the system which was subsequently extended over the city. The conduit line proving unsatisfactory had before that been abandoned. By autumn the work of introducing the new sys- tem had begun in earnest. The power was origi- nally furnished from a power-house in Allston and. from the Cambridge Electric Light Company, but soon the West End Company purchased the old Hinckley Locomotive Works, with grounds extend- ing from Harrison avenue to Albany street, and here began the construction of its own great power- house equipped with MacIntosh & Seymour en- gines and Thomson-Houston generators. Mean- while the rolling-stock of the company was rapidly increased and its number of routes increased. In 1891 it had 469 electric cars on its lines and 1,692 horse-cars ; of the electric cars, 255 with a seating capacity one-third greater than the old short cars. With the opening of 1892, 172. more long cars were ready for the electric service. Three types of electric cars are employed : the eight-wheel cars, designed by Louis Ptingst, the master mechanic of the road ; the six-wheel Robinson radial cars ; and the Pullman double-deckers. One having a fondness for figures has made this pictur- esque calculation : that the cars of the consolidated lines go twice around the globe every day ; they carry twice the number of people in the United States every year ; the cars in a train would extend twenty miles ; the car-houses cover more ground than is included in the Public Gar- den. In 1890 the West End Company obtained a charter for elevated railways, but operations under it were sus, pended pending the report and recommendations of the Rapid Transit Commission created by the Legislature of 1891, its members appointed
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