USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Everett > Everett souvenir. 1870-1893 > Part 14
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).
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
alone. It is confidently expected that the Club will have, before the close of this year, one of the best Club houses to be found in the suburbs of Boston, con- taining bowling alleys, a banquet hall and gymnasium, billiard hall, reception and reading rooms, a parlor, and a large hall which will seat from five to six hun- dred people, with a stage and other minor accommodations and attractions.
Steps have been taken to incorporate the Club which now has a member- ship of about 135, constantly increasing.
The Club was originally organized for purely social purposes and has since been maintained on the lines originally laid down, regardless of political or religious distinctions.
The officers of the Club from its organization have been as follows : Presidents, Charles C. Nichols, 1887-91, George E. Smith, 1891-93 ; Vice-Presi- dents, F. H. Edmester, 1887-88, E. B. Wilson, 1888-90, George A. Saltmarsh, 1890-91, George F. Foster, 1891-93. The Secretary and Treasurer, 1887-89, was Charles B. Ladd, who was succeeded by Frank Patrick 1890-91. From that date Harry W. Johnson has been Secre- tary. C. H. Howard was Treasurer, 1891-92, and Norman Q. Stewart, 1892- 93. The Trustees have been as follows : F. N. Ward, 1887-91, Frank Patrick, 1887-89, W. H. Clark, 1887-88, W. A. Pike, 1888-89, Edson S. Lott, 1890-92, W. G. Webster, 1890-92, 1893, F. E. Freeze, 1891-92, John D. Henderson, 1892-93, E. C. Mead, 1892-93. The Auditors have been Samuel Freeman,
Edward C. Mead
Was born in Concord, N. H., December 25, 1858. He obtained his education at the public schools of that city and at Dartmouth College. In 1881 he moved to Everett, where he now resides, at 153 Broadway. He is a member of the firm of Mead, Mason & Co., Builders, of Boston. Octo- ber 1, 1884, he married Lura F., daughter of R. O. and Emily (Todd) Messer, of Scytheville, N. H.
1891-92, E. B. Wilson, 1891-93, Charles C. Nichols, 1892-93, Thomas W. Saun- ders, 1893, Samuel P. Cannell, 1893. The membership committee consists of Geo. E. Smith, H. W. Johnson, N. Q. Stewart, N. A. Dill, C. R. Garratt, C. H. Howard, F. O. Whittier, F. E. Freeze, and T. P. Lennox. Many of the fore- going particulars have been kindly fur- nished by C. C. Nichols, Esq.
George E. Smith,
the son of David H. and Esther S. (Perkins) Smith, was born in New Hampton, N. H., April 5, 1849. He attended the common school of his birth-place, and prepared for college at Nichols Latin School, Lewiston, Me., and at the New Hampton Literary Institute, New Hampton, N. H. He graduated from Bates College, Lew- iston, Me., class of '73. He studied law in the office of Hon. Wm. P. Frye, Lewiston, Me., and attended lectures at the Boston University Law School. He was admitted to the bar in Boston, in May, 1875, and was then associated in business with Horace R. Cheney, Esq. He has practiced law in Boston ever since. He moved to Everett in May, 1878. In 1883 and 1884 he represented the 8th Middlesex District (Everett and Malden) in the legislature. He was one of the trustees of the Everett Public Library for ten years, and was a member of the school committee when the town became a city. He was a prominent candidate for the honor of being the first mayor of Everett and received about 1,050 out of some 2,300 votes cast for that official at the city election. He is a member of Palestine Lodge, F. and A. M., and of the Glendon Club, of which he is the president. He is a member of the Board of President and Fellows of Bates College, and was formerly a member of the Board of Overseers of the college, chosen by the alumni. October 31, 1876, Mr. Smith married Sarah F., daughter of Hon. Charles E. and Eliza (Allen) Weld, of West Buxton, Maine. They reside at No. 4 Mead Street.
THE EVERETT CLUB.
Was organized on November 30, 1891, mainly through the efforts of N. Holden, George G. Gay, J. H. Perkins, and Geo. E. Fletcher, with thirty charter members. The first officers of the Club were Geo. E. Fletcher, President ; Guy L. Clayton, Vice-President ; N. Holden, Secretary, and George G. Gay, Treasurer, with a board of seven directors. The first annual meeting of the Club was held December 6, 1892, and the anniversary was celebrated by a banquet at which Frank P. Bennett, Rev. R. P. Bush, Frank E. Freeze, representing the Glen- don Club, and F. B. Wallis, representing the press were present. The Club is in a prosperous condition, having a mem- bership of fifty. The membership fee is three dollars, and the monthly dues one dollar. It gave a very successful
74
EVERETT SOUVENIR.
entertainment, on Wednesday and Thurs- day evenings, April 19 and 20, 1893. The Club secured and fitted up rooms in Odd Fellows' Building, which they continue to occupy. The names of the present officers are as follows : Presi- dent, Arthur F. Guellow; Vice-Presi- dent, John E. Gray; Secretary, Walter T. Vaughan ; Treasurer, George A. Kyle ; Financial Secretary, F. W. Herrick ; Directors, M. H. Bolger, Guy L. Clay- ton, A. F. Young, F. W. Mitchell, M. W. Sellers, Ernest C. Jackson, M. Albert Gill; Auditors, M. W. Sellers, G. H. Gabriel, Jr., W. L. Fisk; Membership Committee, M. H. Bolger, Guy L. Clay- ton, A. F. Young; House Committee, A. F. Young. M. W. Sellers, G. H. Gabriel, Jr., C. B. Richards, M. A. Gill.
OTHER SOCIETIES.
The following societies are also in operation :
THE ROYAL ARCANUM, Council No. 287, established March 22, 1879, present membership, 106.
THE MASS. CATHOLIC ORDER OF FORESTERS, John Henry Newman Court, No. 83, membership, 48.
THE ANCIENT ORDER OF UNITED WORKMEN, Franklin Lodge, No, 51, established November 11, 1883, mem- bership, 88.
THE AMERICAN LEGION OF HONOR, Lincoln Council, No. 753, instituted October 1, 1881, membership, 98.
JAMES A. PERKINS' POST, G. A. R., No. 156, organized June 14, 1883, mem- bership in December, 1892, 87. Its commanders from the date of its organi- zation have been as follows: 1883, W. H. Dennett ; 1884 and 1885, Darius Hadley; 1886 and 1887, Charles H. Spencer; 1887 and 1888, John McSor- ley ; 1889 and 1890, George C. Gould ;
1891, Henry W. Taylor; 1892, Henry Schrow ; 1893, John J. Sheehan.
THE ORDER OF THE SONS OF VET- ERANS, General A. P. Martin Camp, No. 62, organized April 26, 1888, member- ship in December, 1892, 41.
THE WOMAN'S RELIEF CORPS, con- nected with James A. Perkins' Post, G. A. R.
THE KNIGHTS AND LADIES OF HONOR, Longfellow Lodge, No. 600, member- ship in December, 1892, 50.
HOME CIRCLE, Comfort Council, No. 121, membership, 30.
THE SONS OF TEMPERANCE, Golden Star Division, No. 84, organized in December, 1884.
THE UNITED ORDER OF THE GOLDEN CIRCLE, Wendell Phillips Commandery, No. 275, instituted February 26, 1885.
THE UNITED ORDER OF PILGRIM FATHERS, Gov. Bradford Colony, No. 78.
THE IMPROVED ORDER OF RED MEN, Assawomsett Tribe, No. 56, instituted December 13, 1887.
THE DAUGHTERS OF POCAHONTAS, Maysotta Council, No. 42, degree of Pocahontas.
THE EVERETT FIREMEN'S RELIEF ASSOCIATION.
EVERETT ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION.
No sketch of our local history would be complete without alluding to the Everett Town Improvement Association. The preliminary meeting for the organ- ization of the society was held May 18, 1882, at which Geo. E. Smith, Esq. presided. By the constitution there adopted the purpose of the Association was declared to be "To promote the moral, intellectual, social and material improvement of the town of Everett." The first board of officers elected June 3, 1882, was Geo. F. Foster, President ; G. E. Smith, Vice-President ; F. P. Ben-
House Built and Occupied by Daniel Holmes.
Formerly standing in the rear of Hancock Street, near the corner of Bradford Street.
J. Franklin Wakefield,
Son of Thomas Wakefield and Submit (Ross) Wakefield, was born at Londonderry, Vt., June 20, 1825, and was educated in the com- mon schools, at Chester, Vt., Academy, and at Philadelphia Medical School. He settled in South Malden in 1853, where he practiced medicine until his decease, January 14, 1887. He was a member of the Massachusetts Medi- cal Society; a charter member of Palestine Lodge, F. and A. M. and of the Palladium Council of the Royal Arcanum. He was a member of the School Committee of Malden for quite a number of years at different times, and also of Everett, 1870,-71 and 1881,-84. He was one of the Everett Associates and the Treasurer and Collector of the Corporation. Dr. Wakefield was widely known and highly esteemed as a man, a physician and as a pub- lic officer. He married, March 1, 1855, Angeline E. Gordon, daughter of James and Betsey (Davis) Gordon, of Readfield, Me., who still survives him. Dr. Wakefield was a very kind hearted man, of a genial temperament and had a wide circle of friends.
nett, Secretary; R. A. Rideout, Treas- urer ; the committee on lectures, A. H. Evans, Samuel Freeman, D. P. Bailey ; streets and sidewalks, R. M. Barnard, N. J. Mead, I. E. Coburn; finance, H. A. Tenney, F. B. Wallis, C. F. At- wood; railroad accommodations, I. T. Winchester, C. E. Jennings, S. C. Cur- rier ; debates, D. Hadley, G. Y. Wash- burn, G. S. Marshall. The society sus- tained courses of lectures during the seasons of 1882-83, 1883-84, 1884-85, the last of which, being financially un- fortunate, terminated the efforts in this direction. The successive presidents of the organization, after the first year, were F. P. Bennett, 1883-84; G. S. Marshall, 1884-85 ; D. P. Bailey, 1885- 86; S. H. Kimball, 1886-87.
At a meeting held June 21, 1883, an announcement was made that a public spirited resident of Everett proposed to present Everett with a town clock, and a committee consisting of Rev. G. Y. Washburn, F. B. Wallis and Samuel Freeman, were appointed to make ar- rangements with the Congregational society for placing the clock in the | tower of their church. The necessary
75
EVERETT SOUVENIR.
arrangements were completed and a large tower clock, weighing 900 pounds, manufactured by the E. Howard Co., was placed in the tower of the Congre- gational Church, August 15, 1883, and was first started August 25, 1883.
At a town meeting held Nov. 13, 1883, the clock was formally presented by Mrs. C. M. Barnard, and the town accepted it and voted to comply with the conditions of the gift. It also tendered a vote of thanks to Mrs. Bar- nard. This was the first public town clock established in Everett.
The Everett Board of Trade and Im- provement, which is intended to pro- mote the same ends and more than fill the place of the Everett Town Improve- ment Association, has recently been formed. The first steps towards this end were taken in the winter of 1893, resulting in a preliminary meeting at G. A. R. Hall, January 27th. A con- stitution was adopted at a meeting held at Society Hall, on Wednesday evening, April 12. Its organization was com- pleted on Wednesday, April 26, 1893, by the election of Frank P. Bennett, President; John D. Henderson and George F. Foster, Vice-Presidents ; R. Henry Marsh, Secretary; Edward B. Noyes, Treasurer ; D. P. Bailey, D. O. Dearborn, N. A. Dill, Samuel Freeman, 2nd ; M. B. Hall, John D. Henderson, C. E. Jennings, E. C. Mead, J. W. Phil- brick, George E. Smith, Amos Stone, E. B. Wilson, Directors. There is ample field for such an organization in develop- ing the manufacturing possibilities of Everett and stimulating, as well as directing, the spirit of improvement.
XXIII.
VARIOUS LOCAL IMPROVEMENTS.
The street car accommodations in the early history of the town were very poor, the rails being for the most part of wood surmounted by iron straps. The running time was very slow and the fares high. To run off the track was an event of very frequent occurrence. In short, little progress had been made in regard to street car accommoda- tions for a dozen years. On the two lines of the Eastern Railroad were located two unsightly structures called stations, which had been built in 1854, when the roads were first extended through our territory, and which, with the growth of the place, had become utterly inadequate to suit the wants of their patrons, besides being a disgrace to the corporation and to the town. The fare to Boston on the steam rail- roads was 8 cents for single fares, and 61/2 cents for commutation tickets. This was reduced in May, 1879, to 7 cents for
single fares and 5 cents for commutation tickets, which has been the rate since that time.
For many years the efforts to secure improved station accommodations on our railroads proved unsuccessful. In 1878, so anxious was the public for better accommodations that they were almost ready to assent to a proposition of the Eastern Railroad to locate a station on the marsh, more than two hundred and fifty feet west of Main Street. To Mr. Thomas Leavitt must be given the credit of raising the first voice of opposition to this fatal step, an opposition which soon became general. Subsequently, at a town meeting held in November, 1878, a committee was appointed to confer with the railroad officials and see what steps could be taken to secure better accommodations. This committee reported January 16,
nings, and other public spirited citizens who were interested in that section of the town, and trains began stopping there on Monday, December 20, 1880. The patrons of the Saugus branch had to wait two years longer for a new station, which was located at the foot of Prescott Street, about one thousand feet north of the old site at the foot of Waters Street. The opening of the new station was celebrated by a ban- quet at the building, December 14, 1882, at which addresses were made by W. A Ham, chairman of the board of selectmen, Darius Hadley, S. H. Kim- ball, Samuel Freeman, 2d, L. P. True, S. C. Currier, W. G. Heaver and F. P. Bennett. In the same year a side track for freight was laid at the foot of Carter Street, at which, in 1892, 1, 100 car loads of freight were received and from which 214 loads were des-
Residence of Robert M. Barnard, Broadway, looking North-easterly.
1879, and the matter was committed to a new committee, consisting of N. J. Mead, W. A. Ham, Wm. Johnson, George F. Foster, and Dudley P. Bailey. Through the kindness of Mr. A. L. Mills, a plan was carefully prepared without charge, showing the feasibility of a station on the present site of the station on Broadway, Railroad and Main Streets, a location which had previously been objected to by the Railroad Com- pany. The citizens promptly raised, by subscription, a sum sufficient to pay for the proposed site of the depot, costing a little less than $500. Railroad Street in the rear of the same was accepted at a town meeting held September 6, 1879, and the present station between Main Street and Broadway was erected during the same autumn. The station at East Everett was established in 1880, through the efforts of Messrs. A. H. Evans, F. P. Bennett, and C. E. Jen-
patched. This is four times the amount of any previous year and nearly eight times the business of 1890.
The change in the location of the station at West Everett aroused much bitter opposition at the time, among those who were discommoded, but the result was in the end favorable, as the change led inevitably to the establish- ment of another station on the Saugus Branch at West Street, which was opened about the Ist of March, 1890, although trains had stopped there for passengers since June, 1888.
On March 24, 1871, Alonzo H. Evans, William E. Titcomb and Anthony Water- man, were incorporated as the " Everett and Chelsea Street Railway Company," and on March 25, 1872, were granted a location through Everett Avenue, Mal- den, Nichols, Ferry, High and Hancock, Broadway and Chelsea Streets, making a circuit line extending from Chelsea
76
Ferry to Central Avenue, but the road was never built, population not having reached a point to make it a paying enterprise, and the financial crisis com- ing on in 1873 to check enterprise.
The horse car accommodations con- tinued to be very unsatisfactory until within the last six years, the running time being frequently changed, besides being very slow, and the management unprogressive, not to say stupid. There was, however, some improvement, as the track had in the course of years been _ relaid with iron rails and in some places paved, and the fares somewhat reduced. The route to Everett Springs had been opened Sept. 14, 1882, as a branch line. The rails were laid to Elm Street in June, 1884, and cars commenced running hourly trips on this route as an inde-
EVERETT SOUVENIR.
The Middlesex officials at last began to awake to the fact of impending com- petition, and when, later in the year, through consolidation with the Highland Railroad Ccompany, more progressive elements were infused into the manage- ment, the outlook for better accommo- dations visibly brightened. During the summer and fall of 1887 the work of improvement commenced in earnest. On July 4, 1887 the fares to Boston were reduced from six to five cents. The horse car tracks which had pre- viously been located on School Street, were relocated on Broadway. From the Eastern Railroad to Everett Square a double track paved with granite blocks, was laid, and a single track, also paved, extended over the hill to Ferry Street, (now soon to become a double track)
KILBURN & CROSS-
Everett Depot, on B. & M. R. R.
pendent line July 1, 1884, Half-hourly trips were inaugurated May 2, 1885. The extension to Woodlawn Cemetery was commenced July 24, 1884, and cars began running hourly and half-hourly trips most of the day, before Aug. 10, 1884. A larger number of half-hourly trips was instituted May 8, 1886.
An important event affecting our horse car accommodations, was the advent of the Lynn & Boston Railroad, which secured a conditional location to Everett Square in April, 1886, and an unconditional location June 9, 1886. Cars commenced running over this line Aug. 11, 1886, and have made hourly trips from that date to the present time. This route realized in part, after fifteen years' delay, the objects aimed at by the Everett and Chelsea Street Railway Company, incorporated in 187 1.
and thence through Ferry Street to Malden Center. Cars commenced run- ning over Belmont hill between Malden and Boston, December 19, 1887. During the same year a new route was located through Buckman Street, with the track in the middle of the street and paved. Cars commenced running over this route December 8, 1887, the location on Chelsea Street, from Buckman to Main Street, being discontinued.
In 1888, a paved, double track was laid below the Eastern Railroad to Sullivan Square, resulting in a further reduction of running time, and greater regularity and frequency of trips. During the year 1889, the track was moved into the centre of Main Street and paved, resulting in another great improvement, and in June 1890. a loca- tion was granted for a double track on
Ferry Street between Elm and Chelsea Streets, and also on Chelsea Street from Ferry to Everett Square. The laying of a second track through Main Street is now in progress. As early as 1891, preparations were made for the use of electricity as a motive power on the Everett line of street cars, but owing to various hindrances it was not until Saturday, August 6, 1892, that the Electric cars began making regular trips. This improvement shortening the sched- ule time . between Everett Square and Scollay Square to about 30 minutes was hailed as a great boon by the travelling public, and resulted in a large increase of street-car traffic. The number of daily trips was increased to 96. The service is not altogether satisfactory, partly owing to the necessary limitations of surface transit. The West End Street Railway Company have now begun the work of laying heavy steel rails on the Everett line, which when completed will result in still further reduction of the running time.
During 1888, also, the horse car tracks were laid in Ferry Street from Broadway to Elm Street, and the East Middlesex Railroad Company com- menced running cars by that route to Chelsea and the beaches. This line is also equipped with electric power. Further relief must be looked for through a system of elevated railroads.
At the time the town was incorpo- rated and for several years afterwards its sidewalks were in a very poor con- dition, and, indeed, they are still far from what they should be.
During the first five years of our history as a town, the improvements on streets and sidewalks fairly kept pace with the rapid improvement in other directions, and in the years 1874 and 1875 Main, Chelsea and Ferry Streets were widened, by order of the County Commissioners, at a expense of about $43,218, besides nearly $6,000 expended upon Broadway, below the Eastern Railroad. The pressure of hard times checked the march of im- provement, which was not fully resumed until about 1882. It was several years after this before the public sentiment in regard to improved sidewalks crys- talized into a well defined policy. In 1886 the town adopted the policy of paying one-half the expense of setting edgestones and laying brick or concrete sidewalks in front of estates, whose owners would also pay one-half. At that time probably not twenty rods of brick or concrete sidewalk existed in town. This was the beginning of a new era in the improvement of our side- walks, and from that date real progress began. The system was however purely voluntary, and while it gave a healthy start to the movement, it provided only
77
EVERETT SOUVENIR.
here and there patches of improved sidewalks, leaving long intervening stretches as poor as ever. To remedy this difficulty and to make it possible to have continuous sidewalks, and assess a portion of the expense upon the abut- tors, the town, at a meeting held March 8, 1892, voted to accept the sidewalk betterment act, and at the same meeting appropriated $10,000 to be expended in building brick or concrete sidewalks under its provisions. The number of yards of brick and concrete sidewalks constructed from 1886 to December 31, 1892 has been as follows :---
No. of ft. of
Brick, sq. yds.
Concrete, sq. yds.
Total, Edgestones
sq. yds.
set
1886
1334
719
2053
3533
1887
170
575
745
672
1888
997
210
I 207
3429
1889
568
568
337 2
1 890
530
1482
2012
2113
1891
790
1523
2313
2100
1892
2288
2179
4467
6613
Total,
6677
6688
13365
21832
There is now a continuous concrete or brick sidewalk from the top of Belmont Hill to the Eastern Railroad.
In 1882 and subsequent years, largely through the efforts of the Everett Town , Improvement Association, the streets of the town have been quite extensively planted with shade trees.
In 1888 the streets of the town were first lighted by electricity. The project of establishing an independent electric light plant is now under consideration, having passed both branches of the city council by the required two-thirds vote.
The need of a suitable place for the burial of the dead, had for many years been felt, but no definite work was undertaken until March 19, 1889, when, at a town meeting a committee of five consisting of A. H. Evans, Henry Schrow, John S. Cate, F. B. Wallis and C. H. Spencer, were appointed to take the matter into consideration. This com- mittee was, at a town meeting held April 20, 1889, authorized to contract for the purchase of the present Cemetery lot on Fuller street, containing about twelve acres at a price not exceeding $500 per acre. The purchase was con- sumated January 31, 1890. During the year 1890 surveys were made and paths and avenues laid out and built, trees, flowers and shrubbery planted. The cemetery contains about 800 burial lots.
In 1892 a water tower with a capacity of 3,500 gallons, was built which furnishes a water supply. The number of lots sold to January 1893 was 74, and the number of interments, 192, of whom 90 were adults and 102 children. The total expenditures on account of the ceme- tery to Dec. 31, 1892 were, $17,843.39 (of which about $12,000 represents con- struction.) and the total receipts have been $8,544.75 ; $992,39 in 1890;
$3153.46 in 1891 ; $4,398.90 in 1892. Mr. F. B. Wallis has been the Secretary of the Board of Trustees since 1890, and to his efforts the tasteful appear- ance of the Cemetery is especially due.
XXIV. PARKS.
The history of parks in Everett is much like the history of snakes in Ire- land. There are no parks in Everett. The want has been the less felt for the reason that several unoccupied areas have been used as parks by the tacit consent of their owners. In the " Birches," so called on Belmont Hill, the town has for years enjoyed a natu- ral park of great natural attractiveness, which has often been visited by hundreds of the residents of Everett in a single day. The gradual appropriation of these unoccupied areas for building purposes
In the meantime, however, some prog- ress had been made in another way. At a town meeting, held April 30, 1891, the town voted by ballot, 281 to 40, to accept the provisions of the act of 1882, authorizing towns and cities to lay out public parks within their limits. At a meeting, held January 26, 1892, the town voted by ballot, 408 to 224, to elect, in March, three park commis- sioners, and at the annual election chose Nathaniel J. Mead, Geo. F. Foster, and Samuel M. Johnson. These gentlemen, with the addition of L. K. James and Amos E. Hall, constitute the park cominissioners of the city of Everett. A right use of the functions of their office means much for the future of our growing city.
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.