USA > Massachusetts > Gazetteer of the state of Massachusetts, pt 1 > Part 15
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The churches are the Congregational, the Free Baptist, and Roman Catholic (Saint Paul's) at Blackstone village ; a Methodist Episcopal at East Blackstone, and another at Millville ; a Protestant Episcopal (St. John's), and a Roman Catholic (Saint Augustine's) at Millville.
There were, in 1885, 49 residents of Blackstone who were over 80 years of age, 20 who were over 85, and three over 90.
The territory of this town was taken from Mendon, and incor- porated in 1845. The town had its name from Rev. William Black- stone, the first white settler of Boston ; who removed about 1635 to
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BLANCHARD VILLE- BLANDFORD.
the wilderness in what is now Cumberland, R. I., where his grave and a well which he dug are still to be seen on the east bank of the beau- tiful river which perpetuates his name.
Blanchardville, a village in Palmer.
Blandford is a large and geologically interesting town in the westerly part of Hampden County. In form it is nearly square, with an area of 30,457 acres, beside highways and water surfaces. There are 9,975 acres of woodland. Blandford is bounded by Chester and Huntington on the north, Russell on the east, Granville and Tolland on the south, and Otis and Becket on the west. The nearest railroad station is at the northeast and just across the line, at Huntington, on the Boston and Albany Railroad, 119 miles from Boston.
Dug Hill, a little north of the centre of the town, rises to the height of 1,622 feet, and Jackson's Hill, in the southwest, to 1,717 feet above the level of the sea. Other prominent elevationsare Green Mountain in the north (at the base of which there is a sulphur spring), Tarrot Hill in the east, and Beach Hill in the south. In the north west cor- ner of the town, a singular depression in an elevated tract has the appearance of having been a volcanic crater. The town is rich in minerals : marmolite, actinolite, schiller-spar, serpentine, chromic iron, rose-quartz in bowlders, and other interesting specimens occur. North-meadow Pond, 80 acres in extent, Long Pond, 150, and Blair Pond, of 125 acres, are fine sheets of water lying in the westerly sec- tion. From the latter issues Pond Brook, whose waters, uniting with streams from two other ponds, form Pebble Brook; which, after curving about a hill containing a soapstone quarry, leaves the town at its southeastern angle, and helps to swell the Westfield River.
The town has two tanneries, a grist mill, and six saw mills. There are manufactories of wagons, bedsteads, cardboards, whip-butts and sev- eral others. The aggregate product, in 1885, was 23,918. The chief employment, however, is agriculture. The butter and cheese here made, from the milk of cows fed on the rich grazing lands of the hill- sides, are of superior quality. The growing of wool also receives much attention. The aggregate product, in 1885, of the 183 farms was valued at $156,059. The number of neat cattle kept in the town at that time was 1,543. The valuation in 1888 was $368,651, and the tax-rate $19.50 on $1,000. The population, by the last census, was 954, with 222 dwelling-houses.
There are thirteen school-houses, valued at about $4,500. The four Sunday schools have libraries containing in the aggregate about 1,500 volumes. There are a Congregational church and a Methodist church at the centre, and another of the Methodists at North Blandford. The central Congregational church edifice stands on the summit of the local elevation, and commands a most enchanting prospect.
This town was settled by a company of Scotch-Irish; who, becom- ing dissatisfied with the Rev. Samuel Barrett, of Hopkinton, removed
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hither. They at first called the place New Glasgow, from the city of Glasgow, in Scotland. Among the family names of the first set- tlers are Hamilton, Blair, Stewart, Montgomery, Campbell, Wilson, Sennett, Young, Knox and Gibbs. The first team which reached the place was that owned by Israel Gibbs and driven by Widow Moses Carr. The first white child born in the town was Israel Gibbs, junior. The first money appropriated for education was "three pounds, to be laid out to hyre a schoolmaster." This was in Septem- ber, 1756. The school was taught by a sea-captain in the house of Robert Black, who also had come from Hopkinton. Their first min- ister was Rev. Mr. McClenathan. The church (Congregational) was organized in 1735 in Hopkintou, before the emigrants started on their journey. The Rev. Dorus Clarke, D.D., was settled here in 1823, and continued as pastor until 1835. The town was incorporated April 10, 1741 ; deriving its name from the title, Marquis of Blandford, the second of the honors belonging to the Duke of Marlborough. Gov- ernor William Shirley, who succeeded to the chief magistraey of the Commonwealth a few months later (August 17th) came to Boston in a ship called "The Blandford," which may have suggested this name.
There were, in 1885, twenty residents of the town who were over 80 years of age, and four over 90. Blandford has given to the coun- try the Hon. Eli P. Ashmun (1770-1819), an able lawyer, and United States senator; John H. Ashmun (1800-1833), a legal scholar of dis- tinction ; and Rufus P. Ranney (1813), an able jurist.
Blaneyville, a village in Attleborough.
Bleachery, a village in Lowell; also one in Waltham.
Blissville, a village in Orange.
Blithewood, a village in Worcester.
Bloomingdale, a village in Worcester.
Blue Hill, a village in the southi part of Milton; also a range of hills, viz .: Great Blue Hill, in the north part of Canton (655 feet in height); Little Blue Hill, also in Canton (335 feet) ; Hancock Hill, in Milton (507 feet) ; and the fol- lowing in Quincy : Bugbee Hill (439 feet), Bear Hill (495 feet), Glover's Hill (430 feet), Chickataubut Hill (518 feet), Wampa- tuck Hill (357 feet), Rattlesnake Hill (314 feet).
Bobtown, a village in Pittsfield.
Bolton is an agricultural town, situated on elevated land of remarkable scenic beauty, in the easterly part of Worcester County, 30 miles west of Boston. It is bounded on the
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BOLTON.
north by Harvard, east by Stow, south by Hudson and Berlin, and on the west by Clinton and Lancaster. Its railroad connections are at the southeast (Hudson), on the Central Massachusetts Division of the Boston and Maine Railroad and the Marlboro branch of the Fitchburg Railroad; and at the west centre (Bolton), on the Clinton Branch of the Old Colony Railroad.
The underlying rocks in this town are calcareous gneiss and Merrimack schists, in which occur fine specimens of scapolite,. Bol- tonite, magnesite, allanite, sphene, nuttalite, radiated, fibrous and brown hornblende, and other curious minerals. There are also lime- stone ledges in which excavations have been made. From the quarry at Rattlesnake Mountain, half a century ago, there were annually sent fifteen to twenty thousand bushels of lime. The rock, however, is largely magnesian, and so fetid under the hammer as to produce nausea. The land is high, and forms the water-shed be- tween the Nashua and Assabet rivers. Long Hill, Pine Hill and Spectacle Hill are beautiful eminences in the southeast section. Vaughan's Hill is conspicuous in the northwest; while Watto- quottuc Hill rises to a height of about 300 feet, and forms a re- markable feature in the southwest section of the town. It is the highest eminence between Wachusett Mountain and the city of Boston, and from its summit, in clear weather, the State House may be seen. The old mansion on this hill, occupied by Jonathan For- bush for a generation, is very spacious and sightly. Seventy years ago it was owned and occupied by the father of Colonel T. W. Higginson. He was succeeded by Solomon Wilder, who entertained with princely hospitality. Lafayette, during his tour of the country in 1824, made a visit here. The late Hon. S. HI. Howe also had his residence on this eminence. George B. Emerson has described the view from one of these hills, as follows : " Many travellers are famil- iar with a hill in Bolton, on the road to Lancaster, which opens a prospect of surpassing beauty in the wide area of many miles cir- cuit spread out to the view, comprehending the charming village of Lancaster, through which the quiet Nashua marks out its winding channel, and presenting in the distant prospect some of the highest hills of Massachusetts and some lofty mountains of New Hamp- shire. The magnificent elms which proudly spread their wide branching tops upon the meadows; the groves, here and there, which the axe las spared ; the frequent orchards, which indicate the wise care of the cultivator; and the extensive forests in the dis- tance, with their mingled shades of green, from the most sombre to the brightest tint, conspire to present a landscape which fixes the attention of the most careless, and which, in its varied forms of light and shade, of forest and cultivation, of valley and mountain, of crops and trees, with here and there a beautiful village, with its spires pointing to heaven from among the trees, can never fail to charm the eye and to touch the heart."
Little and West's ponds in the southeast part of the town contain about twenty acres each; Welch's Pond, about half-way up the side of Wottoquottuc Hill, is a little gem. The beautiful Nashua River
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runs across the northern angle of the town; and further in, Still River, on which there are rich intervales, pursues a parallel course,- beginning and ending in the former, and marking, perhaps, its an- cient bed. The soil of the town is of superior quality, consisting of clayey loam and gravel; and the farmers are, in general, thrifty, in- dependent and progressive. The area of the town is about 12,000 acres, exclusive of highways ; of this, about 4,000 acres is forest, con- sisting of chestnut, oak and pine. The farms number 148, and the dwellings 224. The farm product, in 1885, was $175,523; the largest item ($60,276) being the dairy product. The manufactures consist of lumber, vehicles, vinegar; whose value, with others, in the same year, was $27,240. The valuation in 1888 was §477,607; rate of taxation, $10 on $1,000. The population is 876.
There is a pleasant village called Fryville in the southern part of the town; and the centre, lying between the rounded hills, has an air of neatness and of quiet beauty. The roads are excellent, and be- side them are many maple trees of large size. The Old Powder House is a noted object of interest. There is an admirable public library, containing nearly 3,000 volumes. The three Sunday-school libraries in the town contain about 1,200 additional. There are mixed schools, and a grammar and a high school, with seven build- ings, valued at about $10,000. The Baptists, Unitarians and Friends have church edifices here; that of the first being largest, and a pretty Gothic structure. The first Congregational society (Unitarian) was organized in 1740; the Friends in 1799; and the Baptist in 1833. Rev. Thomas Goss, settled in 1741, was the first minister.
The territory of this town was taken from Lancaster and incorpo- rated in 1738,- being named in honor of the third Duke of Bolton (Charles Powlet), long a member of the British Colonial Council. In 1784 parts of Bolton and Marlboro were established as the dis- trict of Berlin ; in 1829 part of Marlboro was annexed to Bolton ; and in 1868 the southeast corner of Bolton was annexed to Hudson.
The town sent about 155 soldiers into the late war, of whom 23 were lost. In memory of these it has placed mural tablets in the town hall. Among eminent citizens mention is made of General Amory Holman, Jonathan Forbush, Solomon H. Howe and S. V. S. Wilder.
BOSTON, the metropolis of New England, the capital of Massachusetts, and seat of justice for the county of Suffolk, lies at the western extremity, or head, of Massa- chusetts Bay, -464 miles by rail northeast of Washington, 236 north- east of New York, and 105 southwest of Portland. The latitude of the State House is 42º 21' 30" north ; and the longitude, 71º 3' 51" west.
It has Needham, Newton, Brookline, Watertown, Cambridge and Somerville on the west ; Everett, Chelsea and Revere on the north ; Winthrop, Massachusetts Bay, and Hull on the east; Hingham, Quincy, Milton, Hyde Park and Brookline on the south. Its area is 19,100₺ acres.
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BOSTON.
The city of Boston, as it now exists, has been made up of numerous aggregations. The nucleus was, of course, the present North End. The settlement grew southward, expanding about Dock Square, thence extending around Fort Hill and the sides of Beacon Hill, then from the North End along the shore to the West End, with a lively little village at the South End, advancing farther and farther south- ward to intercept the country business coming over what was then Boston Neck. These constituted old Boston, whose territory con- sisted of the peninsula extending from the mainland northeasterly, about two miles in length by one in breadth.
South Boston was annexed in 1804 ; East Boston (known as Nod- dle's Island) in 1836 ; Roxbury, in 1867 ; Dorchester, in 1869 ; Charles- town, West Roxbury and Brighton, in 1873. Although the spaces between the settlements have filled up, the old village names still attach to the localities ; and while the old town names designate their limit as districts, there are also still existing in name the old and new village localities of the North End, Dock Square, Meeting House Hill, Harrison Square, Commercial Point, Neponset, Lower Mills, Mattapan, Jamaica Plains, Dorchester (village), West Roxbury (vil- lage), Brighton (village) Allston, Back Bay, and others. Old " Corn- hill" has contracted to a street, and Fort Hill has been dug down until there remains of it nothing but Fort Hill Square.
Boston Harbor is, to a large extent, bordered with rivers, creeks, bays and inlets, and hence is remarkably irregular in its outline. The harbor is deep and capacious, and is studded with as many as forty picturesque islands, of which the most noted are Deer Island, of 184 acres, conveyed to the town March 4, 1634-5; Thompson's Island, annexed to the city from Dorchester March 15, 1834; Great Brewster Island, of 16 acres ; Gallop's Island, of the same size ; Lovell's Island; Long Island, on which is a lighthouse; Apple Island; Rainsford Island; Peddocks Island; Spectacle Islands; Governor's Island, on which is Fort Winthrop; Castle Island containing Fort Independence ; and Georges Island, occupied by Fort Warren, the outermost and . strongest fortification of the harbor. The outer limits of the harbor are marked on the north by Point Shirley, the southern extremity of the town of Winthrop, and on the south by Point Allerton, the northeastern extremity of the peninsular town of Hull. The inter- vening square of about four miles is largely occupied by islands, af- fording additional protection to the waters within. The main ship channel is between Point Allerton on the south and Boston Light on the north, with Fort Warren farther in on the south and the Bug Light on the north. The inner harbor is capable of holding 500 ships at anchor between Fort Winthrop and Fort Independence. It embraces about seventy-five square miles, and is considered, in re- spect to its freedom from sandbars, depth, capacity and defences (natural as well as artificial), one of the finest in the world. It receives the waters of the Mystic River (navigable to Medford), of the Charles River (navigable to Watertown), and of the Neponset River) navigable to Milton). About 240 wharves extend into the harbor, most of them strongly constructed.
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GAZETTEER OF MASSACHUSETTS.
The city is divided into 25 wards, containing, May 1, 1888, 120,499 assessed male polls, 48,331 dwelling-houses, and a total assessed valu- ation of $764,452,548, with $1.34 per $100 as the rate of taxation. In addition to this amount there was exempt property, consisting of church and benevolent institutions, to the estimated value of $26,257,706. The school-houses, in 1880, were valned at $7,996,500; the municipal buildings, $6,534,364; while those belonging to the county were estimated at 82,000,000. The cost of the new county building, a noble, fire-proof structure of bricks, granite and iron, oc- cupying the entire western side of Pemberton Square, has been esti- mated at $2,500,000. There were in 1880, 3,319 stores and 4,258 miscellaneous buildings, in addition to dwellings.
The population in 1800 was 30,049; in 1820, 51,117; in 1840, 107,347; in 1860, 212,746; 1875, 341,919; 1880, 362,839; in 1885, 390,393, of whom 132,975 were born in foreign countries. In the years from 1860 to 1875, annexation added largely to the population. The valuation in 1840 was $94,581,600; in 1860, 8278,861,000; in 1870, $584,089,400; in 1880, $639,462,495 ; in 1886, $723,707,148.
The government is invested in a city council, chosen annually on the second Monday in December, consisting of a mayor, 12 aldermen and 72 common councilmen.
The geological formation of the territory is sienite, conglomerate, trap, slate, drift, and undetermined rock. There are ledges of slate in the harbor, and beds of clay and of peat are found in several local- ities. Ledges of pudding-stone occur extensively in the Highlands, from which substantial and handsome walls for buildings are con- structed.
The surface of the city is beautifully diversified by upland, hill and valley, affording charming sites for building, and presenting alto- gether a scenic aspect remarkable for its freshness and variety. The highlands of East Boston overlook the harbor with its numerous islands, and constitute a prominent feature in the general landscape. The heights of Dorchester, and the romantic eminences of Roxbury, as well as the noted elevations, Savin Hill, Meeting-house hill, Dor- chester Heiglits (or Telegraph Hill, also called Mount Washington), in South Boston, Mount Bowdoin, in Old Dorchester, and Bellevue Hill (330 feet), in West Roxbury, afford enchanting land and water views ; while at Beacon Hill, about 110 feet above low tide, we may ascend to the cupola of the State House, about 110 feet higher, and gaze on a panorama unequalled elsewhere on our seaboard. Built upon so many picturesque eminences, Boston, viewed from the sea or from the land, appears alike magnificent.
Until after the Revolution, what was then Boston was merely an irregular expanse of land connected to the mainland by a narrow strip between Back and South Bays, which at the highest tides was overflown by the sea. As the years have rolled on and house-lots have advanced in price more and more nearly to that of the buildings placed upon them, the " Neck" has been raised by laboriously trans- ported soil and waste material ; while South Bay bas steadily grown narrower, and Back Bay has been wholly filled up, except about 30
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BOSTON.
acres, reserved for the salt-water pond in Back Bay Park. Five or six elegant avenues, instead of the poor and primitive one, now afford communication with the Highlands; and the section, still having the name of "South End," is wider and more beautiful than the original town itself. Other parts of the city also have been thus extended ; and handsome private dwellings, railroad depots, stores and churches occupy many broad acres which were covered with water and with shipping less than half a century ago.
East Boston has communication with the other portions of the city by two steam ferries, and the ferry of the Boston, Revere and Lynn Railroad, and by a roundabout land route through the Charlestown dis- trict and the city of Chelsea; Congress Street, Mount Washington Avenue, Federal Street, Broadway and Dover Street bridges afford ready access with South Boston; Charles River Bridge (1,503 feet long, opened June 17, 1786) and Warren Bridge connect the Charles- .
town district with the main section; Canal or Craigie's Bridge (opened in 1809), West Boston Bridge, and the new Harvard Bridge, near Back Bay Park, put Cambridge in direct and pleasant communi- cation with all parts of Boston; while Western Avenue, or the " Mill- Dam," Huntington Avenue, Longwood Avenue, Francis, Perkins, Pond, Church, Arnold and half a dozen other streets, bind the town of Brookline closely to the side of the expanding city.
The steam railroads ra- diating from the city have each one or more bridges, carrying numerous tracks. Of these, the Fitchburg, Boston and Maine, East- ern, and Boston and Low- ell, all have spacious depots on or near Cause- way Street; the Boston and Albany road and the Old Colony have spacious LOWELL-RAILROAD DÉPÔT. depots on Kneeland Street ; the New York and New England Railroad has its depot at the foot of Summer Street, with ample freight houses and docks on the filled flats a little eastward ; the. Old Colony, while occupying its old-time position and lines, has recently added to its system the Boston and Providence line, the depot of which is at Park Square. Street railroads, also, operated by horses or by electricity, connect the depots, the different parts of the city, and the various suburbs by frequent trips, to which are added several lines of coaches, and numerous rapid herdics, and the more elegant and easy coaches.
Several lines of ocean steamers connect the city with Europe, - the Cunard, the Warren, the Allan, the Furness, the Leyland, the Guion and others ; so that one may sail on one or more days of the week for England, Scotland, France and Germany; and, less fre- quently, for some Mediterranean port, Australia, and far-off China.
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The lines running to South America, the Gulf of Mexico, the West Indies and ports along our own coast and the British Provinces, are numerous, and their trips frequent. The railroads generally have special lines of telegraph along their roads, while the public lines are so numerous that almost instantaneous communication may be held with every part of the country, and, by means of the ocean cables, with Europe.
RAS@
PARK SQUARE STATION, BOSTON.
The hotel accommodations of Boston are ample and admirable. The number receiving transient guests is nearly 100. The Revere and Tremont hotels have been the longest familiar to the travelling public, but do not excel Parker's, Young's, the Adams, the Quincy, the United States. The Crawford House and the American House are favorites with village merchants ; the Back Bay houses, hand- some in appearance and sumptuous in appointments,- the Bruns- wick, Vendome, Victoria, and, latest, the Thorndike,- find profitable
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patronage. Space does not allow of further individual mention of the more than 200 respectable public houses of the city.
From its peculiar configuration, the streets and lanes of the city proper were laid out originally with very little regard to regularity or order, and they are consequently somewhat confusing to the stranger. Since the great fire in November, 1872, there has been much improvement in them by widening and straightening.
The total number of streets in 1880 was 616; and these, with the bridges, squares and alleys, are lighted by 10,177 gas lights, 2,805 oil and fluid lamps, and 601 electrie lights; the total number of lights being 3,583. The principal avenue is Washington Street; which, commeneing on the western side of the northern seetion, runs medi- ally through the city, southeasterly to State Street, thence south- westerly, quite into Dedham, some five miles from its starting point. Nearly parallel with this, in its middle section, then radiating, are Dor- chester Avenue, Albany Street and Harrison and Blue Hill avenues on the east, with Shawmut Avenue, Tremont Street and Columbus and Huntington avenues on the west. These are intersected at all angles by shorter streets, as Hanover, noted for its retail stores ; State Street, for its banking institutions; Franklin and Summer streets, reconstructed on the ruins of the great fire, and Congress Street, noted for their wholesale business ; Devonshire Street, for its wholesale trade and business offices, among which is the magnifi- cent post-office building. Beacon Street extends from Tremont Street over the southern brow of Beacon Hill, past the Common and the Public Garden, thence over what was formerly a mill dam, into Brookline, acquiring in its course the more sounding name of Western Avenue; to which in truth, however, it is entitled, being one of the fashionable and frequented carriage ways of the city. The extended canopy formed by the overhanging branches of the majestic elms along the Common and Public Garden, with the noble vista of the avenue losing itself among the Brookline hills, give it a beauty not surpassed in America. Here, Commonwealth Avenue alone rivals it; being 250 feet in width, and having between its two roadways, for its whole length, a grassy park, with a broad prom- enade flanked on either side by a double row of handsome trees. This avenue extends from the middle of the western side of the Public Garden, through the Driving Park, and ends at Brookline Avenue. Its narrow park measures ten acres. At intervals along the middle line, statues are set,- General Glover, Alexander Hamil- ton, William Lloyd Garrison, and near the entrance of the Driving Park the striking and beautiful one of Lief Ericson, the Norwegian explorer of A.D. 1000. At the eastern end, just within the Public Garden, is the equestrian statue of Washington. Other marked features of this avenue are the lofty white marble front of the Hotel Vendome, the noble tower of the First Baptist Society's church, the Algonquin Club House, and the handsome residences. On the south side of the Common and Public Garden is Boylston Street, starting from Washington Street and ending at the Driving Park. Upon this street, at the intersection of Huntington Avenue
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