USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Milton > Brief history of Milton Massachusetts > Part 2
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).
21
Kerrigan's Corner, about 1910
In 1882 the town provided free textbooks to its pupils, and in 1895 kindergartens made their ap- pearance wherever it was feasible, and bigger and better buildings were springing up at every oppor- tunity.
The subject of Milton Academy has been dealt with separately and many times. Suffice it to say here that it was established in 1797 and dedicated on September 9, 1807. It was situated on the site of the present Vose School, with the master's house at Thacher Street and Canton Avenue. From a beginning of 28 students, it now has over 600 in its 3 departments; boys and girls come from all parts of the United States and from other coun-
22
tries, and it is one of the outstanding private American preparatory schools.
Just before the turn of the 19th century, two private primary schools were started by a group of parents; one, the "Little School" on Randolph Avenue, the other, the Brush Hill School on Ather- ton Street. These are now merged with the Lower School of Milton Academy.
The 1900's wrought a change in the pattern. From many small, under-staffed, crowded plants, the recommendations were for fewer, larger, more hygienic buildings, and medical inspection with its various branches was added. In 1921, junior high schools were adopted and in 1922 there were 9 schools functioning in Milton; now in 1956, al- though we have 2 less in number, they are all large beautiful buildings, equipped with every modern improvement. - kitchens, facilities for the practise of creative projects, arts, sciences, some with gymnasiums - and the encouragement for all sorts of extra-curricular activities is accentuated. Peter Thacher, with his stress on reading and writ- ing only, would be amazed at the diversity of sub- jects offered today! Beginning with the elementary level, which includes music and art, with the em- phasis on creativeness, next; the junior high, which introduces the beginning of selectivity in the sub- jects; to the senior high, which lays stress on the training of individuality. The College Course takes up problems of democracy and some elective courses; and the Commercial Course adds stenog- raphy, commercial law, salesmanship, office prac- tise, etc. There is also the "Driver Education" for young motorists, adult education for the parents and citizens, and the participation in much of the
23
management of the school policies by the Student Council.
Mention has already been made of many of the private schools which came and went in the town. In 1930 the first of the Parochial Schools was estab- lished. Jeanne D'Arc Academy started in what had been a large private home at 1071 Blue Hill Avenue, - a day and boarding school for girls with classes from Kindergarten through the twelfth grade. It has an enrollment of 228.
In September, 1941, St. Agatha's Parish opened an elementary school in the old Bowditch House on Adams Street. In September, 1952, the new St. Agatha's School was opened, - a large brick building, also on Adams Street, beside St. Agatha's Church, and St. Mary's in the Fields is about to build one. The newest of all which is almost finished is the large Fontbonne Academy at the corner of Centre Street and Brook Road.
There is a happy relationship in Milton between the public and independent schools in scholastic events and civic interests.
Milton has every right to be very proud of its schools; its teachers, its schoolhouses, its standards, and most of all its boys and girls who respond to these standards and are proud of them. Education has grown and developed far from its early theories and practices. No need now to complain of poor attendance; of a constant changing of teachers; of schoolrooms that breed epidemics; of lack of oppor- tunities to learn. And yet to finish this outline of the story of schools in Milton no better concept of real education can be stated than that written by the Reverend Albert K. Teele in 1864. "The design of our schools is, not to finish the education,
24
Governess, Twins, and Donkey Cart
but to lay the foundation for future and higher attainments. The aim should be, not merely to make the pupils remember their lessons, so that they may repeat the words of the text-book, but to make them think; to make them look into prin- ciples, and exercise the power of reason; in a word, to teach them how to study, and to inspire them with the love of it; this gained, they will be stu- dents for life, ever filling up the intervals of leisure and business with the cherished work of mental culture."
Transportation
MILTON HAS always been a tidewater town, a fact which has had a distinct influence on its his- tory, particularly in the days before the railroads
25
Bicycle Boy
and good highways replaced water as the principal mode of local as well as coastwise transportation. This is well illustrated by the fact that the Granite Railroad, the first in the United States, was built in 1826, not to carry stone to its destination in Charlestown, but to the tidewater landing in Mil- ton, where the rough blocks were cut into shape in nearby sheds and thence laden onto the waiting sloops. The old railroad bed ran through East Milton where the new South-Eastern Express-way is now being constructed. The granite was from the Quincy Quarries and was used for the building of the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown.
Sloops and small schooners sailed up to the mouth of the Neponset River from the very earli- est times. Later, a steamboat, The Neponset, the first steam-vessel built on the Massachusetts shores south of Boston, towed the granite-laden sloops down the narrow waters to the Bay from whence they sailed under their own power to their destina-
26
tion. It is an interesting fact that this same early landing is used by numerous small craft at the present time.
The name of Daniel Vose should be mentioned here, because he was one of the more prosperous coastwise traders and kept his boat at his private wharf directly back of his home in the village. It was he who lent his house for the signing of the Suffolk Resolves just before the Revolution.
There was also some fairly important ship-build- ing in this region beginning in the late 17th Century. From 1786-1815, 33 vessels were built: 16 ships, 6 brigantines, 3 schooners and 8 sloops. Of the larger vessels, many had long and prominent careers as traders and whaling-ships, some actually taking part in the romantic adventures of the China Trade. The old ship-yard site of Briggs Wharf, later known as Forbes Wharf, can still be seen below the Forbes Road development on the water-side of Milton Hill. It is fascinating to real- ize that this deserted spot was once alive with the
A Cutter
-
picturesque commerce of those exciting times: the eager crowds getting in the way of the gang-planks, the tang of the marline, the flapping of the rigging in the breeze, and the little boys agape with visions of other worlds.
For the first 200 years the settlers had to get themselves to Boston either by horse-back, some sort of private carriage, or by a public stage-coach, which ran neither often nor fast, and it was a day's excursion there and back - no Rapid Transit then! In 1847, a Milton Branch of the Old Colony Rail- road was built and must have been a stirring event! Later, the Mattapan, Readville and Hyde Park districts had accommodations on the New York, New England and Providence Railway, but it wasn't until 1871 that East Milton secured services.
In the earliest times the passage over the river at the Lower Mills was by ford, a short distance above the present bridge; near this the first bridge was built in 1634. Another of the earliest bridges, which is still in constant use, was a rude affair
A Tandem
----
Paul's Bridge, about 1895
built for the use of the farmers to carry their goods over the "Fowl Meadows" from Milton to Hyde Park; it is the one so well known to us today as "Paul's Bridge" in Readville. The Neponset River was bridged 7 times, twice for the railroads and 5 times for the convenience of public travel from one town to another.
Milton was one of the last of the Massachusetts towns to establish an electric street-car line con- necting it with the outside world, and the reason is an amusing story of New England conservatism. Whenever a progressive group of citizens brought up the subject in the town meetings, the magnates of the large estates united in such stiff opposition that the matter had to be dropped. "Why," said they in a chorus of bewilderment, "What would become of our coachmen and horses if such a meas- ure should be adopted?" And so, although many of the neighboring townships had had well-estab- lished trolley-lines for several years, it was not until 1898 that Milton, with apologies to its horses, be- gan to construct its net-work of branch lines, con- necting with those already operating in other com- munities, thus enabling the people to get them- selves about and visit their distant friends. These
29
local car-lines were gradually taken over or merged with the larger concerns which continued to op- erate until 1928, when they were gradually aban- doned owing to the development of our present Rapid Transit System, and thus ended the era of the electric trolley-cars in Milton.
Government
NEXT IN IMPORTANCE to church and school came government. In order to carry on the affairs of the newly formed colony with order, fairness and efficiency, there must be a legalized code of laws, and a system workable and equally beneficial to all. The people had escaped from the tyranny of Charles I and were filled with ambition for a free, representative government of their own. The
Milton Police Force, 1905
settlers, for reasons of convenience, had formed themselves into compact communities and called these "towns."
The Town of Dorchester, which included within its area the present Town of Milton, was settled in 1630 by Puritans for the most part from Dor- chester, England. In the late 1630's its territory extended almost to the borders of Rhode Island over 35 miles distant, and was then known as "ye greatest towne in New England." The area of Dorchester lying to the south of the Neponset River was called Unquataquissett or Unquity, de- noting, "a place at the end of a small tidal stream or creek."
In December 1662 a general town meeting of Dorchester voted that Unquity should become a separate township, and a petition for incorporation was immediately presented to the General Court which granted it. Upon motion of the inhabitants of the new town, the General Court ordered that the town should be called Milton.
The creation of this "town" government took the form of so-called "town-meetings," the fore- runner of our Milton government today. All male citizens who were of legal age could attend and vote. Women in those days were not concerned in politics. Of course, all the local laws were subject to those already decreed by the King of England but, as long as the townspeople did nothing dis- obedient to these, they were allowed to govern themselves in their own way. The town meeting form of government was adopted upon incorpora- tion and has continued to the present with rela- tively few modifications. One of the deep concerns of the governing body was the "importance of
31
converting the Indians to the knowledge of the onlie true God, which is the principall ende of the Plantacion."
While the records of the first eight years of the town are most imperfect, the records covering the first decades graphically depict the life and prob- lems of our early citizens. Few details of the civil or religious life of the community were too small for the attention of the town meeting. Such prob- lems as the arrangement of the pews in the meet- ing house, fines for straying live-stock, bounties for the slaying of wolves, the minister's salary and living quarters, surveying the highways, wood gathering, and a myriad of other matters were con- sidered in this unique form. In 1728, for example, it was voted that "the Provision that shall be made for raising our meeting house shall be bread and cheese and bear, sider and rum."
For the management of the affairs of the Town, a board of selectmen was elected. The number was either 3 or 5 until 1778. After that time only 3 were elected. These officers administered the fi- nances of the town, ran the schools, took care of the poor, surveyed the highways, let out contracts for public work and exercised such powers as were necessary to secure and maintain the peace, safety and comfort of the people. As stewards of the people, they gave to the town meeting an account of their stewardship in the form of an annual report.
In addition to the foregoing, the following officers were either appointed or elected: fence viewers, who supervised the erection of boundary fences; surveyors of the highway; hog reeves, who saw to it that rings were kept in the noses of swine
32
The First Milton Fire Engine Chemical No. 1 of 1881
running at large and doing damage by rooting up the crops; field driver who impounded stray cattle; keeper of the town pound; tithing men, who saw that people attended church and, with foxtail wand, kept them awake during the sermon which was inclined to be somewhat lengthy; sealers of weights and measures; sealers of leather tanned in the town; tax collectors; and Haywards, who kept a common herd of cattle in the town and saw to it that they did not break or injure the hedges of inclosed lands.
Punishments were inflicted by the constable for various degrees of crime; every town square had its stocks and whipping-post, and there is mention of the existence of a "cage" at the poor house, probably to confine anyone who became tempo-
33
rarily obstreperous; and in December 1673 Dinah Silvester was "whipped with 20 stripes" (for im- morality) "being apwinted thereto by the County Court in the presence of the selectmen and pres- ently aftar Edward Vose, constable, Did Deliver her and her child to the selectmen to be provided for . . . "
The ensuing years from the early 1700s to the present have seen the town gradually increasing in population and the business of running the town becoming more and more complex. Delega- tion of authority to more elective and appointive offices became necessary. Police and Fire Depart- ments were relatively late innovations. Originally, the schools were run by the selectmen, but in 1827 the system of School Committees was instituted and elected each year. At first it was purely ad- visory, but in 1846 it took over full responsibility, subject only to a money appropriation allotted by the town meeting.
As the town enlarged, open town meetings be- came too unwieldy. Nevertheless, it was not until 1927 that the town voted to "erect and constitute in the Town of Milton representative town govern- ment by limited town meetings." With all the ap- parent increase in the size of the Town and the complexity of Town affairs, it should be borne in mind that our Town meeting form of government still maintains its inherently democratic quality which was instilled in the early days of the colony.
It was more than 200 years since Milton had been an incorporated town that it adopted and author- ized an official seal. A committee of 3, one of whom was Albert K. Teele, the author of our History of Milton, put much time and careful study into the
34
matter and submitted their design to the annual town-meeting, which accepted it and it is the one in use today. In the foreground is the Neponset River, and people trading with the Indians; in the background are the Blue Hills; on the left, a ship is being launched from the ways; on the right, farm implements; and on the top, a replica of Milton Abbey in Dorsetshire, England, from which it is supposed that our town was named.
In closing, no history of town government would be complete without general mention of the part played by town meetings during the years leading up to the Revolution and afterwards. The reso- lutions of numerous town meetings voiced in plain terms the sentiment for independence and were the precursors of the Declaration of Independence. While the Suffolk Resolves in 1774 were not a
1971681
Babcock's Store, East Milton, 1890
resolution of the Town of Milton, they were Re- solves of the County in which Milton was located and to which Milton sent delegates, and were adopted at a meeting in Milton Village in the house of the afore-mentioned Daniel Vose. The influence of Town Meetings continued after the Revolution and led Thomas Jefferson to say: "How powerful did we feel the energy of this organization (the towns) in the case of the Em- bargo. I felt the foundations of government shaken under my feet by the New England town- ships. There was not an individual in their states whose body was now thrown with all its mo- mentum into action, and although the whole of the other states was known to be in favor of the measure, yet the organization of this selfish com- munity enabled it to overthrow the Union. . . . They have proved themselves the wisest invention ever devised by the wit of man for the perfect exer- cise of self-government and for its preservation."
Business and Industry
THE PEOPLE who first established themselves in Milton were primarily farmers, and they brought with them the crafts they had learned in their fatherland. It took them some time to clear and develop their property, and during this period they were from necessity, a self-sufficient group, raising their own animals and garden-produce, and making their own cloth and leather. The women spun and wove the wool on hand-made looms, the little girls learning to help their mothers at an early age. The men hunted the near-by woods which were full of
36
--
Old Paper Mill Building at Mattapan
really big game like bear, wolves, and, of course, foxes and deer, all useful for not only meat, but furs and leather for harness and shoes. The boys, who were taught quite young the proper use of firearms, became remarkably adept at handling the clumsy great flint-locks, and made many a contri- bution to the family requirements.
But as soon as the community became securely established and was prosperous enough to want to expand, it began to consider the problem of various forms of industry which the powerful falls of the Neponset River suggested, and it is around these that the beginnings of simple manufacturing sprang up. The first enterprise was a water- powered grist-mill established as early as 1634 by Israel Stoughton; heretofore all grain had been ground by hand. Think what a triumph to the householders to be able to take their unground corn and wheat to the mill and bring back to their kitchens full sacks of golden meal for their porridge and bread!
37
Another early industry was John Glover's Tan- nery which cured their hides into a smoother, softer, more workable form than the stiff, crude material they had been preparing at home.
Soon after the tannery came the manufacture of gun-powder, then the paper-mill (the ancestor of the present Tileston & Hollingsworth Paper Mills in Hyde Park) and last, but not least, just before the Revolution, appeared the first power-operated chocolate factory in America, but not the first manufacture of chocolate. This had been done in a hand-mill for nearly a hundred years, for Peter Thacher says in his diary on August 28, 1678: "My child was taken very sick . .. (occasioned, as I judged, by some chuckalett wh. shee eat ys morning) ." The child, Theodora, being then under one year of age! This factory has developed into what we now know as the Walter Baker Com- pany, a subsidiary of General Foods, Inc.
Milton had also its individual craftsmen. A man named Benjamin Crehore is credited with making one of the first violin-cellos in this country, and also one of the first piano-fortes, which was the di-
Ox Team at a Quarry
rect antecedent of today's Chickering piano. Per- haps his most intriguing invention was the artificial "spring leg" which replaced the clumsy wooden stump used for many hundreds of years by the unfortunate victims who had lost their limbs.
It would seem that the early residents of Milton enjoyed their between-meal snacks, for the Town abounded in bakeries. Perhaps the most important was that conducted by Artemus Kennedy, and from this small beginning there developed the well- known Kennedy cookies or crackers which are still familiar to many people here in Milton today; also the Bent and Company Establishment which still manufactures the original "water-crackers."
In 1853, a thriving ice business, which had its beginning in what is now known as Pope's Pond on Blue Hill Parkway near the corner of Canton Avenue, came into being. Later, Mr. Jacob Turner began the storage and sale of ice from what we now call Turner's Pond at the junction of Brook Road and Canton Avenue. Here Pine Tree Brook had been dammed to provide a washing area for hides. That concern was known as the Woolworks or the Davis Skin Shops, and the proprietor of these shops was called by the appetizing name of "Pickle Davis"! From the flooded area ice was cut and sold.
In the year 1891, there was established what is known as the Milton Light and Power Company located on Central Avenue on the present site of the Police Station. It has been reported that this company supplied the light only from four o'clock in the afternoon until eight o'clock in the morning inasmuch as most homes in this era were lighted by kerosene or gas. Electric lights were not com- mon. In the year 1903, it was bought by the Edison
39
Company, which concern serves the town today.
Although Milton is no longer one of the most prominent industrial areas in Massachusetts, it is, and ever will be, one of the most prominent owners of history and tradition, and those are more pre- cious possessions than factories and engines of so- called "progress."
The Library
In Colonial times, books were not so numerous nor so easily purchased as they are now. Only the wealthy were able to own their own books. Others must limit themselves usually to a Bible and a speller. Should you have dropped into Daniel Vose's parlor of an evening in the year 1770, you would not have seen any book-shelves, or racks on his table. He would have had a large and well- worn Bible by the fire-side with his spectacles beside it, and, possibly, a copy or two of Cotton Mather's sermons, but that is all: no magazines, no novels, no comics nor even histories; popular reading-matter in those days was entirely unknown.
The public library is a comparatively modern institution and when Milton started to think about the subject, she was only doing what many similar towns were doing, and cannot claim any particular originality except in one or two instances which will be mentioned in due course. In Milton the first mention of any library, public or by subscrip- tion, came in 1792 when a Library Society was established on Brush Hill. A catalogue was pub- lished listing about fifty books available to sub- scribers. Eighty people enjoyed the privileges of
40
----------
-----
borrowing these books for a small yearly fee.
The first Milton Public Library was established in rented quarters in the Baker Building in the Village. Any Milton citizen over fourteen years of age was allowed to borrow the books and use the reading room.
East Milton residents for some time had been requesting library service nearer their homes. This was granted in 1883.
In 1899 voters from Mattapan did likewise for their section of the Town. In 1900 the Mattapan Branch was opened at the junction of the Parkway and Blue Hill Avenue.
In 1899, also, the first extension of library service to the Scotch Woods area was accomplished.
The most unique event in the Library's history was the establishment in 1902 of mobile book serv- ice. This was an experiment which the Milton Public Library was among the first in the State to try, and it was undertaken only after a year's in- vestigation and study.
It is believed that this mobile book delivery was one of the first in the United States. Milton's was carried on by horse and wagon, and was continued thus until January 27, 1927 when an automobile crashed into the outfit. The wagon was demolished, and the horse had to be killed, but the driver escaped serious injury. A rented car was substi- tuted until 1929 when a motor truck was pur- chased. Mobile book service is still being main- tained today to the branch libraries, schools, and playgrounds; but the family car has taken the place of the house-to-house delivery, and calls for the individual requirements are made personally by the townspeople.
41
The third event in Library history was the pro- curement of a building all its own. On January 11, 1901 the Board of Trustees voted: "that in the opinion of the Trustees a fireproof building ade- quate in size for library and reading rooms has become a necessity," and on June 11th, 1904, the dedicatory exercises were held and the beautiful new building was opened for public use.
It was in 1904 also that the children of Milton became an important part of the Public Library. They now had a room of their own, and the Trust- ees voted at that time to eliminate any age limit for taking books; the Investigating Committee ended its report by saying, "No school education is complete which does not conduct the child to a good library."
As the town grew, the necessity of branch library buildings at Mattapan and East Milton was ap- parent. In the years 1929 and '31 respectively, through the concern and generosity of Mr. Nathan- iel T. Kidder, who gave land for the buildings and support for the enterprise, these two branches were established.
And so, it seems that the populace today are just as ambitious as their Puritan ancestors to acquire knowledge and improve their minds, for the im- portance of intellectual development increases with the development of life.
Firsts
ALL EARLY COMMUNITIES are eager to claim the honor of being the originator of as many inven- tions as possible, and such claims are difficult to
42
- -
prove with actual certainty; therefore, we have listed only those of which there are documented records in existence today:
1634 The 1st water-powered grist-mill established on the Neponset River by Israel Stoughton, on the site of the Lower Mills.
1675
The 1st gun-powder mill.
1728 The 1st paper-mill in New England, probably about 3rd in the country.
1765 The 1st chocolate mill (though not the 1st manu- facture of chocolate) .
1809 The 1st organized small-pox vaccination in the country.
This pioneer work in science is one of the events in which Milton should feel the greatest pride. The medical profession everywhere in Europe had had nothing but frustration for over 200 years in its experimental efforts with innocula- tion, which was the precursor of vaccination. In 1717 the disease became so prevalent around Boston and its environs, that Cotton Mather and Zabdiel Boylston, with the assistance of Gov. Hutchinson, tried to establish the treatment. The opposition was so violent in spite of many successful results, that the lives of these pioneers were threatened if they continued their pursuit. In 1779 the discovery of vaccination had been made in England, and in 1802 the Board of Health of Boston opened a vaccination clinic on Noddle's Island in Boston Harbor, and in 1809, Dr. Amos Holbrook, the Milton local general practitioner, with the pioneer spirit and deter- mination of his ancestors, successfully established a clinic here, which was free to all the habitants, and this clinic was the first free vaccination center in America. (Ref. F. R. Packard, History of Medicine in U.S. 1901 edition.)
1826
Milton combined with Quincy in building the 1st railroad in the country, and the 1st railway cars were made in Milton.
4 3
1885 The 1st weather research observatory in the coun- try was established by A. Lawrence Rotch on top of Blue Hill, and the Ist kite-borne recording in- struments were sent aloft from there.
1902 The 1st library "Book Mobile" in Massachusetts was established here and was one of the first in the country, if not the first.
1935
The 1st use in the United States of balloons carry- ing radios which sent back upper-air temperatures and humidities. This is the standard method used today all across the country.
-
--
--------
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.