USA > Massachusetts > Gazetteer of the state of Massachusetts, pt 1 > Part 3
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G
-
Total
77,661
7,980
391,584
1,562
32,936
5,678
In 1879 there were reported 75.136 aliens ; in 1885 they were 99,- 131 in number. As to the total aliens, of the 99,131, 51,824 are en- gaged in the manufacturing industries of the Commonwealth, and 10,716, or 10.81 per cent. are laborers. There are also 6,510 in trades, 778 in transportation, and 9,139 in agriculture.
A distribution of the total aliens according to place of birth shows that 34.05 per cent were born in British America, 17.44 per cent. be- ing of French-Canadian extraction, while those born in Nova Scotia number 8,703, - 8.78 per cent. The aliens born in Europe number ' 14,578 and constitute 14.71 per cent of the whole number. The aliens of English birth are 10,502, 10.59 per cent; and those born in Ireland, 35,600, or 35.91 per cent.
MANUFACTURES AND COMMERCE.
This State has long been celebrated for the variety, extent and ex- cellence of its manufactures. To the inventive genius, skill industry and sobriety of its artisans and mechanics, it is, to a large extent, indebted for its wealth and prosperity. From the introduc- tion of the manufacture of iron in 1643, its furnaces have been kept in operation, and increasing in the amount of business done. The manufacture of shoes, early commenced in Lynn, has become a very extensive and important branch of industry ; and since the in- . vention and introduction of machinery into this department of labor, the former small towns of Natick, Milford, Marlborough, Hopkin- ton, Abington, North Bridgewater, Spencer, and North Brookfield, have sprung up into populous and flourishing communities, while small cities, as Brockton and Haverhill, have since 1875 about doubled their population. To the manufacture of cotton and woollen goods,
30
GAZETTEER OF MASSACHUSETTS.
the industrial cities of Lowell, Lawrence, Fall River, Holyoke, Wal- tham, the large towns of Webster, Clinton, Chicopee, Adams, and Blackstone, owe their advancement and prosperity ; while by many and varied mechanical industries, Worcester, Springfield, Fitchburg, Taunton and other enterprising places, have attained the promin- ence which they now hold. Indeed there is hardly a village in the Commonwealth whose activities are not quickened, and whose well- being is not enhanced, by some establishment for the manufacture of some kind of goods calling forth the inventive energies, and im- proving the financial condition, of the people. By the last statistical report of the industry of the State, there were 165 cotton mills, turning out goods to the amount of $61,425,097 yearly; 189 Wool- len mills, making cloth amounting to $31,748,278. The value of boots and shoes made was $114,729,533; of straw and palm-leaf goods, $6,265,287; metals and metallic goods, $41,332,005; of ina- chines and machinery, $20,362,970; of paper, $21,223,626; of inu- sical instruments, $6,145,008; of glass, $1,091,949; of furniture, $12,716,908 ; India rubber and elastic goods, $12,638,741; clothing, $32,659,837 ; food preparations, $80,488,329; leather, $28,008,851; printing, publishing and bookbinding, $16,552,475; print and dye works and bleacheries, $15,888,843; woollen goods, $11,198,148; the total for manufactures for 1885 being $674,634,269. The capit- al invested was $500,594,377. The total value of the products of the State were as follows :-
INDUSTRY.
PERSONS.
VALUE OF PRODUCT.
AVERAGE TO PERSON.
Agriculture,
77,661
$ 47,756,033
$ 614.93
Manufactures,
394,584
674,634,269
1,709.74
Fisheries,
7.980
6,462,692
809.86
Total for the State,
480,225
728,852,904
1,517.73
The exports from the ports of the Commonwealth, as shown by the Custom House returns for the same year, were $55,533,650; imports, $64,335,281. The capital invested in vessels engaged in our ocean and coastwise commerce was $27,910,604. Of this, $14,217,217 belong to foreign owners .*
By the last report of the comptroller of the currency, it appears that there were in the Commonwealth on the 31st of October, 18SS,
* This statement does not include the coastwise trade, nor that by land with other States of the Union, - no provisions existing by which accurate data of these could be obtained.
31
THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS.
253 national banks, having a paid in capital of $96,440,500. They had, beside, in the aggregate, a handsome surplus, and held a con- siderable amount of unpaid dividends. [See, also, State corpora- tions, in article, "Government, Finances, and Military Organiza- tions. ]
RAILROADS, STEAMSHIPS AND TELEGRAPHIC LINES.
With the increase of settlement, from the scattered cabins of the pioneers, to their slow aggregation into equally scattered villages, and the growth of the best situated of these to small cities, there went on the improvement in the lines of communication, from Ind- ian trail to bridle path, from paths to the rude cart-roads, and from these to the broad smooth stage-roads, which for the vehicles known to our forefathers, seemed to them the grand climax of locomotive convenience. On the great lines of travel from Boston to Hartford, to Providence and to Newburyport, stage-coaches drawn by four or six horses, commenced running about the time of the Revolution. From 1800 to 1825, many turnpike roads were constructed ; and toll was taken at frequent stations for passing over them. A canal for boats from the Merrimack River to Boston, built at an expense of $575,000, was opened in 1804. It was twenty-seven miles long, thirty feet wide and four feet deep .- having twenty locks and seven acqueduct bridges. In 1815 the tolls amounted to $24,926. A similar canal from Worcester to Providence, R. I., forty miles in length, was finished in 1825. But these with other shorter lines of canal, have long since been abandoned for a swifter and more capac- ious means of transportation.
The system of railways, now spreading its complicated network of iron over the surface of the State, was organized by the opening of the Granite Railway Company's railroad from the stone quarries in Quincy to Neponset river, in 1827. This road is nearly three miles in length of main line, and was operated by horse-power only. Its first use was to transport the granite for the monument on Bunker Hill.
The Boston and Lowell Railroad was chartered next, on June 5, 1830; the Boston and Providence road on June 22, and Boston and Worcester on June 23, of the ensuing year. It was generally supposed at that time, that these roads must be operated by horse- power; and that, by paying toll, anyone might run his own car over them, as a coach npon a turnpike road. The success of Mr.
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GAZETTEER OF MASSACHUSETTS.
Stephenson in using steam on the Liverpool and Manchester Rail- way, in September, 1830, led to the adoption of that agent as the motive-power upon these roads. The engines first used on these railways were built in England, and weighed no more than eight or ten tons each ; and the trains of passenger cars much resembled several stage-coach bodies set on platforms and linked together. Of these three roads, the Boston and Worcester was opened to Newton, April 18, 1834 ; the Boston and Providence, to Readville, (now in Hyde Park) on the 4th of June, in the same year; and the Boston and Lowell was opened, June 25, 1835. The Taunton Branch Rail- road was opened in August, 1836; the Nashua and Lowell, to Nash- ua, October 8, 1838; the Western Railroad to Springfield, October 1, 1838, and to Albany December 1, 1841; The Eastern Railroad was opened to Salem August 28, 1838, and to Ipswich in 1839. At the close of 1840, 285 miles of railroad were in operation in the State. The Fitchburg railroad was opened to Fitchburg, March 5, 1845; the Hartford and Springfield to the latter place, in December, 1844; The Old Colony to Plymouth, November 10, 1845; the Con- necticut River railroad, December 13, of the same year, to North- ampton. The Providence and Worcester was completed October 20, 1847 ; the Worcester and Nashua, December 28, 1848; The Vermont and Massachusetts to Greenfield, in 1850. At the end of the year last mentioned, there were 1,037 miles of railroad operated in the State; and at the close of 1860, the number had risen to 1,221 iniles. The Worcester and the Western railroads were consolid- ated December 1867, under the name of the Boston and Albany
Railroad. The Lowell and Framingham Railroad was opened in 1872, and direct communication between Lowell and New Bed- ford was effected in 1873. The Cape Cod Railroad was extended to Provincetown in August, 1873.
By the report of the railroad commissioners, January, 1889, it appears that fifty-six railroad corporations made returns to the State for the previous railroad year; yet the roads of all these companies together with others which have lost their corporate existence, are now operated by only eighteen corporations. The names of these are as follows : - Boston and Albany, Boston and Maine, Fitchburg, New York and New England, Old Colony, Cheshire, Connecticut River, Grafton and Upton, New Haven and Northampton, New London and Northern, New York, New Haven and Hartford, Providence and Worcester, Housatonic of Connecticut, Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn, Martha's Vineyard, Nantasket, Worcester and Shrewsbury, and the Union Freight.
33
THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS.
The total length of operated railways in Massachusetts of the reporting companies is as follows :-
1887.
1SSS.
INCREASE.
DECREASE.
ROADWAY.
MILES.
MILES.
MILES.
MILES.
Length of roads and branches
2,992,823
3,087,883
in Massachusetts,
2,018,258
2,063,918
95,060 45,660
Length of double track
9,130
in Massachusetts,
1,036,717 740,389
1,027,587 743,469
3,080
Length of sidings
in Massachusetts,
1,360,009 964,330
1,443,310 1,010,026
45,696
Total length as single track
5,389,549
5,558,780
in Massachusetts,
3,722,977
3,817,413
169,231 94,436
The aggregate capital stock is $151,076,704.02; an increase, since the last report, of $607,290.00,- resulting in an increase of stock of ten of the corporations. Since the report was made, the General Court has authorized the Boston and Albany company to increase its capital stock to $30,000,000,-a possible increase of $10,000,000.
The rates per mile on Massachusetts railroads are comparatively shown in the following statement : -
Fares Average on all roads in 1880-1, $0.0220 " 1887-8, 0.0190
( In 1865 on 5 chief roads, $0.04,396 per ton.
Freights 2 " 1888 " 5 " 0.01,936 "
The average earnings per mile of nine principal roads in the State for the business year of 1887-8, was $3,802.66.
The Meigs Elevated Railway Company, chartered in 1884, was formed to build and run the system of road and cars invented by Joe V. Meigs. An experimental road was completed in Cambridge, and a train run successfully in 1885. This was the first elevated road in Massachusetts. The charter was amended to make it practicable in 1888; and the company was organized and the charter accepted in April, 1889.
On the 23d of March, 1856, the first horse-car for passengers, ever run in New England, made a trip from Pearl street, Cambridgeport, to Charles street, in Boston, over the tracks of the Cambridge Rail- road. There were in the State, at the date of the last report of the Railroad Commissioners, forty-six companies,- seven having been added during the year, while five companies have lost their registry
.
83,301
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GAZETTEER OF MASSACHUSETTS.
from having been consolidated with, or purchased by some other company. The aggregate capital stock is given at $10,894,850.00, -being an increase, since the previous report of $798,050.00; while their gross debt has also increased $1,121,542.86, and now amounts to $7,569,250.76. The whole length of track, including branches and sidings and double track, amounts to 561.81 miles, being an increase of 54 miles during the year. The average cost was $16,- 920.79 per mile for permanent way, $7,317.25 for equipment, and $9,449.67 for land and buildings, making a total cost of $33,687.71 for each mile of road owned. The number of passengers carried was 134,478,319 ; which exceeds the number carried on the steam railroads by 44,791,907. The average amount received for each pas- senger was 5.10 cents. The whole number of horses was 11,391; and of cars, 2,588. The number of persons employed was 5,531.
Five lines of European steamers connect the Commonwealth with England, Scotland and France, from the port of Boston ; while other lines run to German, Italian and Mediterranean ports, to Australia, and to distant China and Japan ; so that there is an average of about one steamship a day sailing for some point on the eastern continents. Four lines run to foreign parts of the Western hemisphere ; while we have ten lines, (some making daily trips) connecting Boston with other ports of our own country.
Massachusetts has an ocean cable terminus at Duxbury, Massachu- setts, and another near at hand at Rye Beach in NewHampshire. Yet telegraph communications are so frequent, that our State offices have as ready communication with several other ocean lines, as with those mentioned. As to the land lines, they are so numerous in the State that it would be difficult to find a village that is without one. Every considerable section in North America is in easy communication with our chief towns by means of them ; so that the son or daughter of Massachusetts, to whatever hamlet on the continent north of the Isthmus of Darien they may have wandered, need not be many hours without intelligence from the responsive family at home in the Old Bay State.
RELIGION.
The original settlers of this State were Puritans, opposed to the forms and ceremonies of the Church of England. They held that the Bible was the only rule of faith and practice, and expressed their religious creed, and mode of church government, in a platform estab- lished by a convention assembled at Cambridge in 1648. The minis- try was supported by assessment on the people of the towns where it
1829588
THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS. 35
was instituted. Though coming to this country to escape intolerance at home, our forefathers were not themselves well grounded in the principles of religious freedom, and manifested an illiberal spirit towards Antinomians, Quakers, Baptists and Episcopalians. The clergy exercised a powerful influence over the magistrates as well as over the people : civil, political, and even military questions were usually submitted to their consideration. In the crisis of the Revol- ution, most of the clergy inclined to the popular side; and, in the changes effected in public sentiment by that bold assertion of civil rights, a more tolerant religious spirit came to prevail ; so that when the State Constitution was formed, in 1780, the right of every man to worship God " in the manner and season most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience," provided he does not disturb the public peace thereby, is acknowledged. Under this equitable rule, together with other safeguards and provisions,-as that of 1811, re- lieving persons belonging to religious societies, corporate or incorpor- ate, from the support of the Congregational minister settled in the place, - various religious denominations have greatly flourished in the State, and are now, for the most part, laboring together in peace and amity for the advancement of Christianity and the public good.
The largest number of religious societies is found in the Trinitar- ian Congregational order, there being of this faith at the beginning of 1889, 553 churches. The Baptists have 306, the Protestant Epis- copal, 110, the Methodist Episcopal, 354, the Roman Catholics, 277, the Unitarians, 193, and the Universalists, 95. In addition to these there are societies of Presbyterians, Friends, Swedenborgians, (the Church of the New Jerusalem), Free Baptists, Lutherans, German Reformed Church, Christians, Adventists, Spiritualists, Christian Scientists, Judaists, Shakers, Latter Day Saints, and several others of small membership.
The clergy are generally well-educated, but not so far above the people as in former times, neither are they so permanently settled over the churches.
Many of the church-edifices, especially in the larger towns and cities, are elegant in structure, and well furnished with bells, organs, and vestries. In most of the churches there is congregational sing- ing, together with the music of choirs for the more elaborate pieces. Sabbath schools, commenced in the State about the year 1817, engross much attention, and embrace within their fostering care almost all the children, and many of the adults of the Commonwealth.
Connected with the churches and religious societies are numerous
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GAZETTEER OF MASSACHUSETTS.
benevolent organizations,- as for the dissemination of the Bible, the work of missions, the publication of religious tracts and larger devo- tional treatises, the erection of church-edifices, and the education of young men for the ministry,- which are visibly pursuing the laud- able ends for which they were formed.
CHARITABLE AND REFORMATORY INSTITUTIONS.
Alive to the interest, welfare and comfort of the unfortunate, and to the reformation of the criminal, the State has established, and liberally sustains several large and well-regulated benevolent institu- tions.
It has asylums for the insane at Taunton, Westborough, Bridge- water, Baldwinville, and very spacious ones at Worcester, Northamp- ton, and Danvers. McLean Asylum at Somerville, opened in 1818, is a corporate institution, and though not supported by the State, is to a large extent public.
There are also ten or more private asylums in different parts of the Commonwealth where patients are treated for nervous disorders and insanity. The city of Boston has three asylums, intended for the milder forms of insanity, and for chronic cases.
A reform school for boys was established at Westborough in 1847, and an industrial school for girls, at Lancaster, in 1855. There are also incipient or temporary institutions of a similar kind at Law- rence, Salem, Baldwinville, Boston, and Dover.
The State has an eye and ear infirmary at Boston ; also a School for Idiotic and Feeble-minded Youth; and at South Boston is an Asylum for the blind. It has a School for the Education of Deaf- Mutes, founded by gifts and bequests of Mr. John Clarke, amounting to $273,250, at Round Hill, Northampton. There is also an indus- trial School for Deaf-Mutes at Beverly, for New England, to the support of which Massachusetts contributes her proportion.
The State Almshouse located in Tewksbury, is practically a hospi- tal, though it has a department for paupers. The State has also a work- house and farm at Bridgewater, a Primary School at Monson, and an Infant Asylum at Brookline.
The State Prison was established at Charlestown in 1805, and has since been much enlarged. A Reformatory was established in Con- cord in 1884, and has been of great use for cases of lesser enormity. In 1877, a Reformatory for women was established at Sherborn, and has supplied the very important need of an entirely separate place of confinement for female offenders.
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37
THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS.
THE GOVERNMENT, FINANCES, AND MILITARY ORGAN- IZATION.
The government of the State consists of three departments,- the executive, the legislative, and the judicial. The executive depart- ment embraces a governor and a lieutenant-governor, eight council- lors, a secretary, treasurer, attorney-general, an auditor, chosen annually, on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November, by the people.
The legislative department consists of a Senate of forty members, I and a house of Representatives of two hundred and forty members, which together constitute the General Court. They are chosen annually by the people at the time appointed for the choice of the executive department, and convene, for the purposes of legislation, at the State House on the first Wednesday in January of each year. The session usually continues till May or June. In order to become a law, a bill or resolve must pass both houses, and receive the signa- ture of the governor; or, in the event of his veto, must be approved by two-thirds of the members of both branches of the legislature. The two United States senators to whom the State is entitled are chosen by this body.
The judicial department consists of a supreme judicial court hav- ing a chief justice and six associates. Each county has a probate court and a court of insolvency ; and the cities and large towns have police and municipal courts. There are also twenty-nine district courts, each holding jurisdiction over several towns adjacent to each other. All the judges of the Commonwealth are appointed by the governor, and hold office during good behavior.
The State has twelve congressional districts, each of which sends a representative to the National congress ; and it has fourteen elect- oral votes for the President of the United States.
The capitol was erected at Boston in 1795-6, and was remodeled in 1867, at an expense of $170,000. The building fronts on Beacon street and the Common. It is 173 feet in length, and including the dome, 110 feet in height. Statues of Daniel Webster and Horace Mann have been erected in the grounds in front of the building, while within, are many important mementoes in State and National history, with busts and statues of eminent Americans ; chief among them being the statue of Washington by Chantrey. This stands in a deep recess of the rotunda opposite the front entrance. About it, on sides and rear, are suspended 269 battle-flags belonging to the
38
GAZETTEER OF MASSACHUSETTS.
several regiments and batteries, which served in the war of the slave- holders' rebellion.
The total assessed value of the State, May 1, 1888, was $1,992, 804,101; the number of voters was 442,616; of taxed dwelling houses, 330,541 ; of acres of land on which taxes were levied, 4,497, 523.
The number of Savings Banks on October 31, 1888, was 176, - having deposits amounting to $315,185,070.57. There were also 66 co-operative banks, with assets of $5,505,072.19; 13 trust companies with assets of $62,981,635.82; two Mortgaged Loan Companies, with assets of $1,083,730.23; and two collateral loan companies, with assets of $350,712.19.
The aggregate amount of the State debt, funded and unfunded, on January 1, 1889, was $28,851,619.65. The total payments for revenue during the year ending January 1, 1889, were $14,173,108.14. The cash in the treasury on that date was $4,419,611.53, including the amounts in Sinking, Trust, and Miscellaneous Funds, and Trust De- posits.
The entire number of enrolled militia for 1888 was 312,438. Several new companies were accepted during the year for the uniformed mil- itia, completing the authorized number. The strength of the militia now allowed by law is 390 officers, and 5,468 enlisted men, - a total of 5,858.
Annual tours of duty of several days are required of these, held at the State Camp Ground at Framingham, or at other points ; also, annual drills of a shorter period, usually held in the autumn.
SUCCESSION OF GOVERNORS OF THE STATE.
GOVERNORS OF PLYMOUTH COLONY.
1620 John Carver.
1644 Edward Winslow.
1621 William Bradford.
1645 William Bradford.
1633 Edward Winslow.
1657 Thomas Prence.
1634 Thomas Prence.
1673 Josias Winslow.
1635 William Bradford.
1636 Edward Winslow.
1637 William Bradford.
1638 Thomas Prence.
1639 William Bradford.
1681 Thomas Hinckley, who held his place, except during the inter- ruption by Andros, till the union with Massachusetts in 1692.
GOVERNORS OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY UNDER THE FIRST
CHARTER.
1629 John Endicott. 1630 John Winthrop.
1649 John Endicott. 1650 Thomas Dudley.
.
39
THIE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS.
1634 Thomas Dudley.
1651 John Endicott.
1635 John Haynes.
1654 Richard Bellingham.
1636 Henry Vane.,
1655 John Endicott.
1637 John Winthrop.
1665 Richard Bellingham.
1640 Thomas Dudley.
1673 John Leverett.
1641 Richard Bellingham.
1642 John Winthrop.
1644 John Endicott. -
1679 Simon Bradstreet, who, with the exception of the administration of Sir Edmund Andros,continued in office till 1692.
GOVERNORS OF MASSACHUSETTS APPOINTED BY THE KING UNDER THE SECOND CHARTER.
1692 May, Sir William Phips. 1730 June, William Tailor, A. G.
1694 Nov., Wm. Stoughton, Act. Gov. 1730 Aug., Jonathan Belcher.
1699 May, Earl of Bellomont. 1741 Aug., William Shirley.
1700 July, William Stoughton, A. G. 1749 Sept., Spencer Phips, A. G.
1701 July, The Council.
1753 Aug., William Shirley.
1702 June, Joseph Dudley.
1756 Sept., Spencer Phips, A. G.
1714-15 Feb., The Council. 1757 April, The Council.
1714-15 March, Joseph Dudley.
1757 Aug., Thomas Pownal.
1715 Nov., William Tailer, A. G.
1760 June, Thomas Hutchinson, A.G.
1715 Oct., Samuel Shute. 1760 Aug., Francis Bernard.
1722-23 Jan., William Dummer, A. G. 1769 Aug., Thomas Hutchinson, A.G. 1728 July, William Burnet. 1771 March Thomas Hutchinson. 1729 Sept., William Dummer, A. G. 1774 May, Thomas Gage.
DURING THIE FIRST REVOLUTION.
1774 Oct., A Provincial Congress. 1775 July, The Council.
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