USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Melrose > City of Melrose annual report 1918 > Part 2
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Home and School Gardens
An interesting and valuable service was that of Home Gardens and School Gardens, which accomplished very much in food supply. Melrose has some fifteen hundred gardens and a great majority of them were re- markably successful, interesting and profitable. Those who failed last year will do better in the year to come. This movement extending all over the country had a tremendous influence on the question of food supply
At the D. W. Gooch School at Wyoming, the Principal, Miss Bertha C. Hatch, made a remarkable success of this work, giving her entire summer to it. It was managed with fine intelligence and system. The soil was
13
MAYOR'S ADDRESS
tested and found what it could best produce, and nearly all the pupils had gardens.
School Gardens were conducted by the Melrose Woman's Club, with Mrs. J. C. Woodman as chairman, and by the Highland's Woman's Club under the leadership of Mrs. A. E. Sampson, and by the Community Asso- ciates under Mrs. Samuel E. Eldridge; and the Melrose Grange under Mrs. William MacCarron, helped in the general work throughout the city.
1
The clergymen from the pulpits and the teachers in the public schools stirred our people to the importance of the work.
Miss Margaret Grady, a representative of the Community Associates, had classes in canning as well as in gardening.
The experience and success of last year should be but a beginning of the development of a great system of Home Gardens in this city. The Melrose Woman's Club has maintained School Gardens for many years and the fine results are now appearing. The Women's Clubs, Community Associates, and the public schools, joined in the expense of supervising the work of the Home Gardens. The Middlesex County Farm Bureau has also aided the work.
In this line should be mentioned the work of twenty-five High School boys who went into Camp at Bolton under the leadership of Carroll W. Robinson of the High School Staff, and worked all summer on farms supply- ing labor which could not otherwise be had, earning wages, doing their patriotic part to produce food and receiving an honorable discharge signed by the Governor of the Commonwealth for their patriotic services.
This new system of labor so successfully tried out in this city and in a few other places in the State will be of the utmost importance through- out the War.
The Community Associates are to be congratulated upon maintaining the teaching of sewing in the public schools at considerable private expense throughout one year, demonstrating the importance and interest in the work which is now taken on by the School Department.
Gifts to the Schools
We have received from the estate of Hon. Levi S. Gould a gift of $1,000 for the public schools to establish a Levi S. Gould Fund, and from Norman F. Hesseltine a gift of $100 in the form of a Liberty Bond to establish the Rebecca M. Hesseltine Fund, the proceeds to be used to promote the study of Kindness to Domestic and Wild Animals.
Parks and Playgrounds
Last year Hon. Charles M. Cox presented three large properties to the city for park and playground purposes, including the great property known as Messenger's Meadow and the large playground at the Lincoln
14
CITY OF MELROSE
School at Wyoming. During the year we have bought the lot known as the Pickett lot adjoining the Lincoln School Building on Wyoming Avenue, enlarging the school lot and giving a broad entrance to the playground.
The Ell Pond Ice House property secured to the city last year through the generous contribution of Mr. John C. F. Slayton and Mr. James W. Maguire, has been improved by the removal of the ice-houses and the partial development of the land.
With Pine Banks, the Common, the Horace Mann Playground and the undeveloped Ell Pond Park, we have a system of parks and playground properties not equalled by any other city. Some of these properties are undeveloped and unfinished. An expenditure of many thousands of dollars would be required to develop these properties and fit them for recreation and places of ornament and beauty, and make them of the highest type of a community. It will be impossible for the city to undertake any large work in this line the coming year, but the comprehensive plans of the Park Com- mission steadily followed up with the same excellent administration as in the past will in a few years give us the finest system of playgrounds any- where around Boston. Excellent work has been done by the Park Com- mission in a limited way in the supervising and developing of children's play and sports. More than 13,000 children used the Ell Pond Bath House last year. Hundreds of children were engaged in play under capa- ble supervisors.
Recreation Board
My own idea is that we should have a Recreation Board of three or five persons, unpaid, serving the city in the same way as the Park Commission, school boards, library trustees and various other boards. The property and equipment would be under the Park Commission, but the recreation and development of games, sports, holiday programs, and the creation of interest in sports and out-door life and organizations of teams and games of every kind, the conduct of athletics, seems to need a Board whose aim and interest is wholly along these lines.
It seems to me that this work is wholly apart from the ordinary busi- ness of the Park Commission. Such a Board could be a great service to athletics, sports and play which shall include all our people, young and old.
Such a Board could administer private funds and manage athletic enterprises in the same way as our Charity Board administers private charity.
The Melrose Planning Board
The Melrose Planning Board organized a few years ago, whose chief work is to look forward and suggest plans for a better and more attractive city, have given considerable study to that Department the past year.
15
MAYOR'S ADDRESS
While their report for the present year contains suggestions upon minor and matters of less importance than usual, it is because more im- portant plans looking to considerable expenditures cannot be undertaken in the present financial stress and are therefore held in abeyance.
The members of this Board are each appointed for five year terms so that we shall have the advantage of a uniform and continued policy which will result in many wise improvements.
Board of Survey
The Board of Survey, established by the Legislature of 1916 and accepted by Melrose in 1917, is a wise law intended to prevent the laying out of private lands in a manner injurious to the welfare of the city, like a great shack district.
Under the Board of Survey any person or firm proposing to lay out streets over their own land must submit a plan for approval to the Board of Survey, and it is the duty of this Board to approve only such plans for construction as shall be suitable for acceptance by the city and to become public streets. This gives public control over private lands and private streets to the extent that no water or sewer pipe or public lighting or public work of any kind can ever be done upon these streets unless the plans are approved by the Board of Survey.
Health Department
The Selective Service System has found about twenty-five percent of the young men in this District unfit physically for military service. Brought up in our city, sent through our public schools, under as good supervision physically as in most places, the figures prove the need of great improve- ment and extension of health work. Children taught most things in our public schools, are not taught how to keep well.
I recommend the strengthening of our system of health inspection in the public schools and the extension of that work by which it shall be put upon a basis in harmony with its needs. The present informal in- spection falls below our standard in other things.
The Health Department, one of the great departments of public service, should have the needed funds for this work, and it should have the support of the Community.
The Public Health Nurse will now give all her time to the city.
A new City Ordinance adopted the past year provides that no building shall be erected for human habitation within the limits of Melrose until some system of sewerage has been provided under plans approved by the Board of Health.
16
CITY OF MELROSE
Pensions and Insurance
In 1912 the Legislature passed an Act providing for pensions for city laborers and it was accepted by the city by popular vote in the fall of that year.
It provides that any laborer sixty-five years of age, who has worked for the city twenty-five years may retire on a pension equal to one-half his pay, or at sixty years if incapacitated, or after fifteen years if incapacitated by reason of any accident in which the city is at fault. Under this law we are now paying our first pension and the second is now pending. We have arrived at that point of service where such pensions will become quite common. This is a new item of expenes in our city affairs for which a special appropriation must be provided.
We are working under a law which provides Workingmen's Compensa- tion on account of accidents due to employment. This has so far been provided through compensation insurance carried by the city, which during 1917 cost about $3,000. This is a constantly increasing item and I recom- mend that consideration of the question whether we ought not to carry our own insurance which would enable us to deal with our accident cases quickly, equitable, and without the slow machinery of Insurance Com- panies. The companies do not pay for the first ten days of disability and they frequently take so much time in adjusting a claim and find so many ways of delaying and contesting payments that the city should itself either secure a more prompt adjustment or more favorable laws or carry the insurance itself.
We should also consider whether the city should carry its own fire insurance. We are paying about $1,500 a year for insurance. Very few cities insure their property in this way, neither does the County or Common- wealth of Massachusetts. Fire insurance is important to a business man or individual because he might be unable to replace a loss or re-establish his business, but no one would argue that a city need lean upon any private corporation or that an insurance company could be more responsible than a municipality.
Cities, equally as well as the County and State, meet their losses when they occur and replace their buildings with new ones when they are destroyed, and I think the time has come when we should follow the ex- ample of our State and County and the best managed cities everywhere.
City Charter
The referendum section of our Charter, which provides that the voters if they desire, shall have the question submitted to them, has been of great value to the city, especially exhibited at the recent election.
I urge a more frequent use of the referendum by our people and I recommend an amendment to the City Charter which shall provide not only that the question of borrowing money shall be submitted to the people,
17
MAYOR'S ADDRESS
but that appropriations and ordinances may also be submitted. Our Ordinances are our local laws. We have National, State and Local laws. The Ordinances govern generally the affairs of the city. They cover all sorts of regulations, including salaries and wages, and the duties of various departments. It would save our city vast sums of money, make the City Government more efficient, responsive to the people, create a new interest in all the affairs of our municipality, if the people could express themselves on these Ordinances on the ballot at election time.
Undoubtedly many improvements could be made in our Ordinances if the City Government felt confident of their approval by the voters.
Unusual appropriations should be submitted to the people in the same way, and I recommend that we petition the General Court for this amend- ment to the Charter.
In Memory
There are four names worthy of our affectionate remembrance on this occasion, citizens of Melrose who passed away during the year 1917.
Levi Swanton Gould, a great public servant, our first Mayor and citizen, eminent for his private life and public services.
Sidney H. Buttrick, Mayor, selectman, leader of a church, of public affairs, the president of the Melrose Hospital, one whose life was entwined with the best service and citizenship.
Luther Frank Hinckley, a member of the Board of Assessors, a former selectman, and sewer commissioner. He was a merchant of sterling integrity, a citizen of unblemished life and character.
Arthur Samuel Hunt, the first Melrose boy to give his life on the battlefield of France. He was born in this city, attended our public schools and was a son of Melrose. He gave his life with honor for the cause in which so many other Melrose boys have pledged theirs. He was the first to fall in that great struggle in which so many more are destined to die for our flag.
" Here is my love for you, flag of the free, and flag of the tried and true. Here is my love to your streaming stripes and your stars on a field of blue Here is my love for your silken folds wherever they wave on high.
For you are the flag of a land for which 'twere sweet for a man to die.'
These are trying times. It is easy to destroy those lines of city work which cost so many years to build up. We must not allow our city to run down. " If you can keep your head, while all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you."
In the year of stress, I earnestly solicit the co-operation of every one who loves our city. To do its work and to support our national govern- ment, and those who represent it, to serve our boys at the front and to aid in winning the war, we promise all that we have and are.
,
Government of the City of Melrose, 1918
Mayor CHARLES H. ADAMS
President of the Board of Aldermen WILLIAM A. CARRIE
Clerk W. DeHAVEN JONES
Aldermen-at-Large
Ward
Angier L. Goodwin, 33 Reading Hill Avenue
2
Leslie F. Keene, 146 Wyoming Avenue, West
5
Arthur L. Marr, 11 Dell Avenue
6
Albert M. Tibbetts, 109 Meridian Street
7
William A. Carrie, 22 York Terrace
1
Frederick T. Peabody, 50 South Florence Street
5
Harold P. Waterhouse, 11 Orient Place
4
Ward Aldermen
Ralph G. Harmon, 22 Belmont Place
1
Ernest A. Woodward, 141 Walton Park
1
Sidney C. Prince, 1032 Main Street
2
H. Ray Wilson, 818 Main Street
2
Edwin C. Kirk, 23 Cedar Park
3
Frederick W. Patten, 54 Cottage Street
3
John Dike, 112 Emerson Street, West .
4
James T. Frame, 84 Lincoln Street
4
John W. Huse, 255 Washington Street
5
Llewellyn H. McLain, 76 Wyoming Avenue, East
5
Arthur A. Hayden, 126 Foster Street, West .
6
Merle Newman, 284 Foster Street, East
6
John Dyer, 30 Lynde Street
7
Nelson J. Sanford, 379 Swain's Pond Avenue
7
MELROSE BOARD OF ALDERMEN STANDING COMMITTEES FOR 1918
Appropriations Chairman Peabody, Keene, Tibbetts, Goodwin, Waterhouse, Frame, Dike, Hayden, Marr
Education, Health and Charity Chairman Goodwin, McLain, Huse, Dike, Wilson, Kirk, Patten
Finance Chairman Waterhouse, Woodward, Harmon, Dike, Marr, Peabody, Dyer
Highways Chairman Keene, Waterhouse, Tibbetts, Frame, Hayden, Woodward, Patten
Protection and Licenses Chairman Frame, Keene, Newman, Marr, Wilson, Prince, Sanford
Public Service Chairman Tibbetts, Newman, McLain, Kirk, Prince, Dyer, Sanford
Legal and Legislative Matters Chairman President, Hayden, Goodwin, Peabody, Huse, Harmon, Krk
Clerk of Committees VICTOR C. KIRMES
City Officers
City Clerk W. DeHAVEN JONES
Assistant City Clerk and Clerk of Committees Victor C. Kirmes
·
City Treasurer William R. Lavender
City Collector James W. Murray
City Auditor Edwin C. Gould
Assistant City Auditor William T. Wolley
Engineer and Superintendent of Public Works George O. W. Servis
Mayor's Clerk Blanche E. Nickerson
City Solicitor Arthur S. Davis
Chief of Fire Department Joseph Edwards
Chief of Police George E. Kerr
Inspector of Buildings William S. Allen
21
CITY OFFICERS
Inspector of Plumbing Andrew J. Burnett
Inspector of Food David O. Parker
Inspector of Slaughtering
David O. Parker Frank P. Sturges
Inspector of Milk and Vinegar H. E. Berger, Jr.
Collector of Milk Samples Thomas F. Harris
Inspector of Animals F. P. Sturges
Sealer of Weights and Measures Charles E. Merrill
Superintendent Brown Tail and Gypsy Moth John J. Mccullough
Agent State, Military Aid and Soldiers' Relief Mary A. Kenah
Burial Agent Mary A. Kenah
Assessors Frank R. Upham, term expires 1919 Joshua Nowell, term expires 1920 Charles C. Swett, term expires 1921
Alden B. Smith
Assistant Assessors Charles M. Field
Charles Roeder
22
CITY OF MELROSE
Inspector of Wires Fred A. Edwards
Board of Health Clarence P. Holden, M.D., Chairman William A. Tomer Ralph R. Stratton Verna L. Vinton, Clerk
City Physician Clarence P. Holden, M.D.
School Physicians Joseph H. Fay
Elizabeth Hirst
Public Health Nurse
Mrs. Myrtle S. Meriam
Overseers of the Poor
Adaline G. Reed, Chairman
Thomas F. Troy Bertram E. Lovejoy
Verna L. Vinton, Clerk
Matron of Pratt Farm
Mrs. Carrie Maynard
Superintendent of Pratt Farm Geo. E. Maynard
Park Commission
Addison L. Winship, Chairman Term expires 1922
*Clarence T. Fernald (Andrew F. Evers)
1919
Robert A. Perkins
66
1923
Harry N. Vaughn
66 1921
George J. Foster
1920
*Resigned
23
CITY OFFICERS
School Committee
William T. Atwood
66 1919
Isabelle Stantial
1919
Paul H. Provandie
1919
Wallace R. Lovett
66 1920
Sarah A. Day
Harry A. George
1920
Lowell F. Wentworth, Chairman
.Term expires 1921
Harry F. Sears
1921
William Coggeshall.
1921
Sinking Fund Commissioners
Edward J. Kitching, Chairman. Term expires 1919
Franklin P. Shumway
1920
Everett L. Fuller
1921
Trustees of Public Library
Lovisa A. Allen
1919
Neil Divver
66
1919
Frank W. Campbell
1920
Mary C. Barton
1920
Charles E. French
1921
Rev. Paul Sterling, Chairman. Term expires 1921
Cemetery Committee Willis C. Goss, Chairman
J. Thomas Foster
J. Henry Kunhardt
Edwin C. Gould, Clerk Roscoe A. Leavitt, Supt. Wyoming Cemetery John T. Russell, Inspector of Graves
Registrars of Voters
Edwin L. Cragin, Chairman Term expires 1919 John J. Keating Edwin J. Tirrell. 1921 1920
W. DeHaven Jones, City Clerk, Ex-Officio
1920
24
CITY OF MELROSE
Engineers of Fire Department Joseph Edwards, Chief Charles F. Woodward, Deputy Chief
Measurers of Wood and Bark, Weighers of Hay and Grain
Fred H. Goss Grace F. Gilbert Flora Harris
Charles B. Goss Patrick V. Kerwin A. Huestis Sulis, Jr.
Public Weighers of Merchandise
Edward A. Riley
James McTiernan
J. Osborn Leisk
John Mulligan
Edward M. Caldwell
Elmer D. Swain
Glena B. Towner
Chas. F. Woodward
Patrick G. DeCourcy
Nathaniel J. Glover
Angus W. Thompson
Mrs. M. A. McDonough
Leroy H. Gray
Herbert M. Wade
Isaac L. Slocomb
Albert J. Waghorn
Field Drivers
*Howard Woodman Frank R. Pierce
*Resigned
Pound Keepers *Howard Woodman Frank R. Pierce
Fence Viewers
Daniel J. Lucey
Charles H. Everson
Constables
George W. Burke Daniel K. Collamore Louis B. Heaton Charles E. Merrill
M. James Hanley George E. Kerr George E. Burke
25
CITY OFFICERS
Special Constables
Gordon Foster
David A. Robbins
Gordon G. Lyford
Wallace R. Lovett Alfred W. White E. P. Kelly G. H. Butters
Harry F. Leib
George W. Jepson
Hervey Mason
Paul Sterling
C. F. Phillips
Chester R. King
Clarence E. Marsh
Edwin W. Kirmes
G. Henry Warren
Herbert E. Wright
Guy P. Robbins
Arthur H. Hayward
George C. Sanderson
Ralph A. Luce
Frank E. Dow
William C. Robinson
John A. Perkins
Charles T. Loring
John R. Richards Alonzo Hall
Frank Webb Charles C. Swett
George A. Gardner
Charles F. Pinkham
Edgar A. Litchfield
Frank I. Foster
Henry W. Kennedy
Francis S. Heartz
Andrew J. Foster
Walter J. Lord
Robert W. Wilson
Charles A. Putnam
Norman K. Wiggin
Eugene L. Pack
Oliver H. Perry
Dog Officer M. James Hanley
Keeper of the Lock-up
George E. Kerr
Police Officers
George E. Kerr, Chief Redford M. Rand George E. Fuller William H. Doherty Wallace B. Eaton Garfield Carpenter Daniel J. Foley
Louis B. Heaton, Captain Allston H. Pineo Frank N. Pierce
Michael Reardon
Albert A. McBeth
William A. Riley William T. Fahey .
Carl W. Jenkins
26
CITY OF MELROSE
Special Policemen-Without Pay
Thomas E. Mollins
Paul Sterling
M. A. King
C. W. Jenkins
Walter J. Lord
Ralph A. Luce
Hervey Mason
William C. Robinson
Harry C. Turner
Edwin W. Kirmes
Harry A. Worthen
Frank E. Dow
Arthur H. Hayward
Frank Webb
Philip B. Carter
G. Henry Warren
Clarence E. Marsh
F. C. Cummings
Chester R. King
Alonzo Hall
Reserve Officers
Fred M. Kirmes
Patrick O'Leary
Edwin E. Spraker Michael J. Brennan
Joseph V. Curran
Special Officers
Michael J. Brennan M. James Hanley
Burgess W. Grover Joseph A. Lavin
John T. Russell
Special Officers to Serve Without Pay
Edward P. Mclaughlin
Ralph S. Cray
Arthur S. Woodland
O. S. Davenport
Roscoe A. Leavitt
Harry H. Thompson
F. C. Newman
Charles J. Wing
Archie B. McIlwraith
George W. Higgins
Charles E. Merrill
Harvey McGilley
Clarence W. Lewis
Planning Board
Howard C. Morse
Term expires 1920
Wilbur W. Davis.
1920
Agnes L. Dodge
1920
Harold Marshall .
1919
Denis W. Fitzpatrick.
66
1919
E. Gertrude Copeland .
66
1921
Victor A. Friend.
66
1921
Louisa S. Hunt.
66
1921
,
1919
Richard H. Sircom.
27
CITY OFFICERS
Advisory Committee on Memorial Building
John C. F. Slayton Harold Marshall Rufus D. Kilgore
Frances D. Mont Nellie N. Sawyer H. T. Gerrish
Board of Survey
E. Copeland Lang .. William N. Folsom . William E. Waterhouse
Term expires 1920
1919
1918
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
CITY OF MELROSE 1918
1
School Committee for 1918
Name
Residence
Term Expires
William T. Atwood
70 E. Emerson St.
1919
Dr. Paul H. Provandie
87 W. Emerson St.
1919
Mrs. Isabelle Stantial
146 Florence St. 1919
Mrs. Sarah A. Day
45 Ashland St.
1920
Wallace R. Lovett
63 Stratford Rd. .
1920
Harry F. Sears
44 Orris St.
1920
William Coggeshall
158 E. Foster St.
1921
Harry A. George
1
69 Laurel St.
1921
Dr. Lowell F. Wentworth
19 Bartlett St. 1921
Dr. Lowell F. Wentworth, Chairman
Mrs. Isabelle Stantial, Secretary
Meetings of the Committee
Regular meetings of the School Committee are held in the Committee Room, High School Building, on the second and fourth Mondays of every month, except during July and August, at 7.30 p.m.
Superintendent of Schools
John Anthony
100 Bellevue Ave. Office: High School Building-Tel. Melrose 55
Secretary
Martha A. Whiting
5 Carney Terrace
Tel. Melrose 1574-W
STANDING COMMITTEES
Finance and Supplies
Mr. Lovett
Mr. Coggeshall
Dr. Provandie
Mr. Sears
Schoolhouses and Janitors
Mr. George
Mr. Coggeshall
Dr. Provandie
Mr. Sears
Teachers and Salaries
Mrs. Day
Mrs. Stantial
Mr. Lovett
Mr. Atwood
Text Books and Courses of Study
Mrs. Stantial
Mrs. Day Mr. Atwood
Mr. George
The Chairman of the School Committee is a member, ex-officio, of all standing committees.
31
SCHOOL REPORT
·SPECIAL COMMITTEES
Dr. Wentworth
Legislative Mr. Atwood Mr. Lovett
VISITING COMMITTEES
High School. School Committee
Franklin and Whittier Schools Mrs. Day
D. W. Gooch School Mrs. Stantial
Mary A. Livermore School. Mr. Lovett
Washington School Mr. George
Lincoln School. Mr. Coggeshall
Winthrop School.
Mr. Atwood
Joseph Warren School.
Mr. Sears
Sewall and Ripley Schools Dr. Provandie
SCHOOL CALENDAR FOR 1919
WINTER TERM 1919
Opens December 30, 1918 and closes February 21
SPRING TERM 1919
First Half: Opens March 3 and closes April 25.
Second Half: Opens May 5 and closes June 27.
FALL TERM 1919
Opens September 10 and closes December 19
HOLIDAYS DURING TERM TIME
Every Saturday, New Year's Day, Washington's Birthday, Patriots' Day, Memorial Day, October 12 and Thanksgiving Day with the half day preceding and the day following it.
"NO SCHOOL" SIGNAL
Notice of "No School" will be given by striking the number 22 four times upon the fire alarm, and by sounding the whistle at Factory No. 2 of the Boston Rubber Shoe Company.
The signal will be sounded at 7.15 a.m. for no session in the High School, and at 8.15 for no morning session in all grades below the High School. In case there is to be no afternoon session, the signal will be sounded at 12.45.
-
Report of Superintendent of Schools
This is the twenty-ninth in the series of annual reports by the Superintendent of Schools and the tenth by the present incumbent.
WORK OF THE YEAR
During the year the regular work of the schools has been carried on with but little interruption. The one unusual feature has been the activity connected with the war. No one not associated with the schools can realize or appreciate the amount accomplished along this line.
For the Red Cross we have had 100% membership for the past year, and the same pledged for the current year. Knitting and sewing classes have been held, resulting in a large number of refugee garments for children, layettes for babies, sweaters, and hundreds of pairs of socks.
Collections for various relief purposes, monthly collections for the War Chest, and of tin foil, peach stones and nut shells, have met with enthusiastic response.
Talks have been given on thrift, on food conservation, and in con- nection with every drive undertaken by the city.
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