USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Athol > History of Athol, Massachusetts > Part 16
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In the meantime construction of the railroad right of way in Athol was begun on August 16, 1845 on land then owned by Jonothan Wheeler at the "Oxbow" above the Bearsden ledge cut. Contractor Pratt with a crew of men had established headquarters the previous week near Bearsden Road about four miles east of Athol.
A gang of Irishmen soon began excavations near the present depot site. These railroad employees built their modest homes along what is now lower South Street, then called "The Patch," the beginning of the Irish settlement here. The location for the depot was a sizeable hill spoken of in early papers as "the little pine hill west of the pond hole." As a part of this work there was a heavy fill required just east of the present Athol Station over a sizeable bog or swamp. Soon after this fill was completed there came a considerable rain storm one night and when the workmen arrived on the job the next day their filling had all but sunk out of sight. It was assumed that the dirt had been dumped onto a mat of floating vegetation over an ancient pond and that the rain had so increased the weight of the load that it broke through the mat. The fill was again made and has stood firm for over a century.
Locomotive "William Penn," drawing a few flat cars was the first train to arrive in Athol. Slowly it steamed down across
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Main and School Streets on November 16, 1847. For many, perhaps most, of our people it was their first view of a railroad engine. One boy arrived at the head of lower Main Street while the train was standing there. When it whistled for a starting signal, he became frightened and ran full speed for home.
The plan was, out of sentiment, to accord to the "Athol" the honor of first coming here, but a sad accident prevented
M
ENGINE TEMPLETON OF VERMONT AND MASS. R.R., 1847 The Athol, a duplicate of this, crashed through Bearsden Bridge Oct. 26, 1847 and was wrecked beyond repair
this. On October 27, 1847 engine "Athol" with two cars of railroad iron and some fifteen men on board steamed out of South Royalston on its maiden trip to Athol. When it was on the second span over the river that structure proved unequal to the strain and the "Athol" and her cars were precipitated into the river.
Authorities differ as to the number of casualties, five, six, or seven, but certainly several laborers lost their lives and the "Athol" was wrecked beyond repair. Mr. Richardson said that the cause of the accident was the poor quality of the iron used in the rods fabricated into the bridge, but the directors of the road in their annual report declared definitely that the nuts had been removed "by design."
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Probably in response to a pervious suggestion the railroad' officials advised our citizens that they would come here by special train to rejoice with us over the completion of the road to this town. A letter written on December 24, 1847 to Charles Field indicated Monday, the twenty-seventh, as the date. A meeting of citizens was quickly called and Mr. Field was chosen Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements for a general celebration and reception. Lyman W. Hapgood, fore- man of Fire Company No. 2, was asked to serve as Chief Marshal. He had come to Athol a few years before from Barre· and eventually occupied the Col. Sweetzer House. The invi- tation suggested that both local fire companies participate, acting as escort. It is probable that the actual command of Mr. Hapgood's Company fell upon Laban Morse, foreman of the Company the previous year.
Charles W. Bannon, foreman of Fire Company No. 1, also took part in the event and later wrote an account of it, a copy of which is in my possession. Mr. Bannon had recently re- moved here from Springfield and spent the remainder of his long life here.
When the short hours of sunlight were gone that late after- noon of Monday, December 27, 1847 a special train, bearing the officials of the Vermont & Massachusetts Railroad Com- pany as well as many individuals who had joined the party en route, slowly rolled down the right of way into Athol. Practically the whole population was assembled to witness the spectacle. Honorable Charles Field with his committee was on hand to receive the guests. As the train stopped at the corner of Main and Crescent Streets officials descended from the train and fell in with the line of parade. Led by the band and escorted by the "Tiger" and "Despatch" fire engine com- panies, the officials then proceeded to Phillips Tavern, later known as the Pequoig Hotel, where a banquet and reception were held. After the festivities at the tavern the procession again formed carrying lighted candles for torches, and pro- ceeded back to the train which the officials boarded for their return trip to Fitchburg. Thus the first railroad train in the town of Athol was received.
A newspaper clipping secured for me from the Boston Public Library by my kinsman Lucien E. Taylor tells of the proces- sion to the hotel, the firing of cannon, and records several names of participants in the jollifications. Of course Mr. Crocker was the outstanding figure of the occasion backed by his directors and newspaper men from Boston.
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Alonzo D. Phillips as landlord of the tavern was prominent in the festivities. After a few years he removed to Fitchburg where he conducted the American House for a long time. Isaac Stevens, our local attorney, "welcomed the participants in a handsome speech." Dr. George Hoyt, Esq. Eliphalet Thorpe, Dr. William H. Williams, Rev. Samuel F. Clarke, and Col. Artemas Lee were among the elect for the occasion. As one of a committee of five appointed by the town of Temple- ton, Col. Lee had most vigorously opposed the directors of the railroad in locating their line through Winchendon. He had been in the legislature in 1832-35 during the early days of railroad agitation and was the representative from Templeton in 1847.
Henry Chapman of Greenfield is the only one listed as an outside guest or speaker. Admitted to the bar at Greenfield in 1826. he was their representative at Boston in 1834, '35, '37, and '38, and was Clerk of the Courts at Greenfield from 1840- 52. His years of service in the legislature were at a time when the railroads were developing and asking much of the law- makers. It seems likely that this service accounted for his coming here in 1847.
Though the church records do not recognize Rev. S. F. Clarke's arrival in Athol until April, 1848, somehow he was here and was accorded a part in the program.
Just what interest brought Dr. William Parkhurst of Peter- sham here that winter day I cannot say. He located in Peter- sham after the tragic death by spotted fever of Dr. Edward Flint and three children in the winter of 1810 and continued there until his death in 1852.
To me it is most surprising to read of the vision of this group concerning the future of rail transportation, for they not only rejoiced at what had been accomplished but freely predicted that ere long their little Vermont & Massachusetts would be a connecting link in a great transcontinental system. To achieve this the Hoosac range of mountains must be pene- trated by a tunnel. In less than eight years work commenced on this project, known as the "Great Bore." It was not with- out much effort and political maneuvering that the Common- wealth was induced to undertake and continue such a project through many discouraging years. During those crucial times Col. George Whitney of Royalston was elected and re-elected to the Governor's Council at the State House where his one great aim was to keep alive the interest of the politicians there
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in this project most vital to a large section of the Common- wealth.
Not the tunnel alone was the recipient of State largess but the entire line from Greenfield to North Adams in my youth was the "State Road" built and maintained by State funds and sublet to the Troy and Greenfield and later to Fitchburg. The section from Bardwells to North Adams was occupied jointly with the N. Y. N. H. & H. System.
I think I am safe in asserting that had it not been for the leadership of Alvah Crocker in keeping up the agitation, the through line to the West would never have become a reality. His mighty brain and indominitable energy conceived and put into execution this whole project of a railroad through these valleys as well as the passage through Hoosac Mountain. It took twenty long years, some twenty million dollars, and one hundred ninety-five lives lost to effect the completion of the Hoosac Tunnel, but on Thanksgiving Day, 1874, nearly seven- teen years after work was actually begun, the headings came together and the Great Bore was through the mountains. Alas Mr. Crocker had lain in his grave a year before this achieve- ment but it was nonetheless his brain child.
First regular train service from Boston to Athol commenced on January 1, 1848, to Brattleboro in February, 1849, and to Greenfield in 1850. Mrs. Ruby Moore Downing has in her possession a copy of the second timetable issued by the Vermont & Massachusetts Railroad. Two trains each way plus one mixed train was the standard service even to days within my remembrance. There were many rules for operation of trains appended to this schedule. With no telegraph system and of course no block signals, railroading then was certainly vastly different from today.
Thinking of timetables takes me back to the days when the railroads agreed on a standard time. Back of railroad days each town had its own time. Then later when trains made scheduled runs the railroads in Massachusetts planned their timecard on Cambridge time-I suppose Harvard University time. However, there was not a general acceptance of this standard time which made the situation chaotic.
There were actually fifty-six various "times" on the Amer- ican continent but eventually on November 18, 1883, the railroads adopted standard time. We in Athol stopped our clocks sixteen minutes that Sunday morning to agree with the railroads. No, not all of us, for D. J. Mendell who carried a cane and wore a shawl, and was the editor of our second
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newspaper, vowed and declared that he would stay on God's. time.
Five wooden bridges spanned our river in 1848 on the right of way in Athol. Even today in northern Vermont and through- out New Hampshire there are bridges not unlike those con- structed here which are still in operation. The "Long Bridge," one of the four railroad bridges between Athol and Royalston was burned on April 19, 1881. Pending the building of a trestle, passengers, baggage and express were transferred around this spot for several days. This bridge was never re- built, however, as the river was turned so as to eliminate the need of it.
Assigned the task of caring for the bridges along the route, Albert G. Moulton came here from Bath, New Hampshire in the early days of our railroad. He purchased of the Company the James Young house, remodelled it, and ended his days there in 1889. As Superintendent of Bridges his was no small task to keep them in condition. In this work he was ably assisted by Mr. Charles W. Woodward and in later years by Winfield W. Woodward, his son.
Early in 1869 Willis Phelps and a few associates met a group of Athol citizens at the Pequoig House to unfold a plan for building a railroad through Athol to Keene. A year later Athol voted to subscribe for stock in a segment of this project, the proposed Enfield Railroad, and to the amount of five per cent of its assessed valuation, amounting to $90,600. This was upon the general understanding that the railroad would be eventually built and operated from Springfield through Athol to Keene, but the money, some $1,300,000, was all paid into the southerly section of the road. Although repeatedly agitated down to the close of the last century the northerly portion was never built except on paper, though the road bore the high sounding name of Springfield, Athol and Northeastern Rail- road. When the road was officially opened for traffic on De- cember 2, 1873 a train came up from Springfield in the fore- noon carrying officials and many prominent people from that city. A banquet was served at noontime in the Pequoig House- followed by a ride around town in C. W. Moore's "Jewell."
Although the stock never paid a dividend and the debt in- curred was oppressive during the "hard times" of 1873-78, yet it was generally agreed a generation ago that the facilities and business the railroad brought to us were well worth the cost to our people, even though early in 1880 we sold our entire holdings to Willis Phelps for $15,195.95. Mr. Phelps
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soon negotiated with the Boston & Albany Railroad for a sale of the entire road to that corporation. Though operated with indifferent success it was of considerable value to our com- munity until the building of the huge Quabbin Reservoir forced its removal from the Swift River Valley and the railroad was
FIRST TRAIN OVER ATHOL & ENFIELD R.R., LATER SPRINGFIELD, ATHOL & NORTH EASTERN, JULY 4, 1871
entirely abandoned. At this time many citizens felt that Athol should have been compensated when the road was abandoned, many miles of its location having fallen within the area taken over by the Metropolitan District Commission.
We soon came to know the railroad personnel. Jake Bangs, the colorful conductor on the Vermont & Massachusetts Rail- road, and later the Fitchburg, was always immaculately dressed. Many of his cutting remarks are repeated in railroad circles today. This one should certainly be recorded for posterity.
An "excursion" to Boston at half fare was advertised and it fell to Jake's lot to be in charge of the train designated for the excursionists. He attached an extra car to his train and at the various stations en route from Greenfield picked up a relatively small percentage of increase in passengers. As he pulled into Athol he saw the platform swarming with passen-
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gers whereupon he remarked in a loud voice to all and sundry of those within hearing, "All of Athol would go to Hell if they could go for half fare."
Sam Holden was at first a freight conductor on the road but was later promoted to a passenger job. He lived at West Orange and continued his service until comparatively modern times. Exceptionally tall and well groomed, he was an out- standing figure.
Our first station agent, Isaac Warren, lived at No. 181 School Street, where Mrs. Arthur Bowker now resides. I know very little about him but think he was Ed Warren's father. For a long time Ed was a locomotive engineer on the road.
Succeeding him in 1862 came Elisha F. Brown, who had charge of the Royalston Station from its opening until he came here to live at No. 96 Cottage Street. While a resident
4
ELISHA F. BROWN 1827 - 1901
of Royalston he represented this district in the Legislature. Mr. Brown was one of the solid respected citizens of Athol and frequently was moderator of our town meetings. As one of the founders of the Second Unitarian Church, he was its staunch supporter. Well do we of the past generation remem-
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ber his sitting near the east door of the church with watch in hand ready to slip out and open up his ticket office for the noon train.
As a local carpenter, Charles W. Woodward built many buildings still standing here and as a railroad employee under A. G. Moulton he built and re-built most of the old wooden bridges on the Vermont & Massachusetts Railroad. A native of North Orange, he came here in early manhood and died here on October 20, 1905 at the age of 77.
Early in life Winfield W. Woodward, the son of Charles W., entered the employ of the Fitchburg Railroad and continued with it and its successor, the Boston & Maine, for many years. Returning here he was with the Grout Automobile Company for a time, later buying the lumber business that still bears his name. He was an expert in all kinds of construction work and rendered much service to the town in these matters, one of which was the supervising of the rebuilding of Main Street from end to end in 1913. He was a selectmen for some years and a water commissioner at the time of his death on March 14, 1933, as well as a Director of Millers River Bank and Athol Co-operative Bank.
Much work has been done since the increase of highway traf- fic made imperative the elimination of grade crossings by using the underpass. There was some talk in 1874 of a tunnel under the railroad from the south end of Exchange Street to Hapgood Road. It was several years before anything was done and then the problem was solved in a most unsatisfactory way by the present Tunnel Street underpass.
Under the railroads just east of Mill Brook a tunnel was started in 1882. This location had been chosen eleven years before when far-seeing citizens had approached the County Commissioners about it. In the meantime we were forced to use the grade crossings at Exchange and at Pine Street.
In 1894 construction began on the School Street underpass. Three years before the Selectmen of Athol petitioned for the abolition of the dangerous School and Main Streets and Chest- nut Hill Avenue grade crossings, and a commission was ap- pointed to determine how this should be done. Various plans were proposed at the hearings which this Commission held. The railroad proposed to bring Main and School Streets to- gether east of the present underpass. The town proposed to bring Main Street under the tracks of its old location and to carry School Street over the railroad near the present under- pass. Concerning Chestnut Hill Avenue all were agreed that
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it should go over the tracks at its old location. The commission finally decreed the present layout which was never acceptable to Athol. The School Street job was completed in 1894 but it was some years before the Main Street roadway was built in the Starrett pond. To fill this roadway into the pond the railroad company acquired a gravel bank in the rear of No. 958 to 990 South Main Street, installed a steam shovel, and transported the fill in train loads.
The Fitchburg Company ran its first train, a freight, through Hoosac Tunnel on April 7, 1875. This was of great interest to Athol as it meant the opening of a direct route to the West. Three months later the first passenger train went through and a year later the first through train from Boston to Hudson River placed Athol, after some twenty years of anticipation, on a great trunk line. Previously the Vermont & Massachusetts had inaugurated a through service over its line from Boston to Albany, but ten miles of the trip were by stage over the moun- tain.
To accommodate increasing traffic resulting from the open- ing of Western connections through the Hoosac Tunnel, the Fitchburg Company laid about 3,000 feet of second track east of Athol in 1876-77. As a part of this enterprise, it changed the course of the river below Farley and midway between Royal- ston and Athol, by one latter operation doing away with the Long Bridge and the Short Bridge. These operations were facilitated by a depot and telegraph office called Pequoig, established just west of the Long Bridge, halfway to South Royalston. It has always been felt that the new channel for the river dug there was inadequate and the flood of 1936 which tore out much extra space seemed to prove this. Many wondered if this channel had been built to sufficient capacity, whether the river all the way to the Orange line would have been filled with debris as it was in 1936 for there was much property damage necessitating the expenditure of some $18,000 of public funds to remove the obstructions deposited by the river in its channel.
A dozen years before this project was undertaken there was a most distressing accident at the Long Bridge, a covered wooden structure. This was then only a single track railroad and the schedule called for the meeting of the afternoon trains here. On June 16, 1870 the westbound train, Sam Holden in charge, left South Royalston at the usual time and proceeded without incident through three bridges on the way here, but upon approaching the fourth or Long Bridge, the engineer saw the section gang with a hand car in the bridge and
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naturally applied his brakes to their limit giving at the same time the "down brakes" whistle to notify the brakeman of danger. The sudden stopping of the train in the bridge created a strain beyond its power to sustain. Bridge and train were plunged into the river twenty feet below.
Jake Bangs was in charge of the eastbound train waiting at Athol and when Holden's train did not arrive on schedule he wired South Royalston. Being advised that Holden had cleared Royalston Station on time he proceeded slowly easterly to find the missing westbound train. Some distance west of the wreck he met a courier running at full speed down the track and from him learned of the disaster. Bangs then proceeded to the scene and all hands assisted in removing the dead and injured, bringing them to Athol where Melodian Hall-the basement of the old Methodist Episcopal Church- was opened as a temporary hospital. No hospital was available then for the care of these victims, but nevertheless they did not want for attention. Victims were hospitalized in the homes of Pitts C. Tyler, Elisha F. Brown, C. Wright Moore, A. G. Moulton, A. Harding, A. B. Folsom, and others until they were able to go to their homes. The number of deaths from this cause is stated to have been three with some twenty others seriously injured.
LONG BRIDGE WRECK, JUNE 16, 1870
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My father, Gardiner Lord, who was a passenger in the car which stood on end in the river, was deputy sheriff and had been attending court at Fitchburg. When the "down brakes" whistle was sounded most of the passengers jumped into the aisles and were soon thrown into a horrible mass at the end of the car, but father braced himself in his seat. When the car ceased to move, he broke a window, climbed to safety, and later assisted in the rescue work. I have heard him tell many times of finding "Aunt" Sally Fish sitting on a rock in the river and assisting in carrying her to shore. She had been to Boston to arrange for the building of the marble Fish Tomb in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery.
For five years after the Fitchburg was opened for traffic, it did not enter the Capitol City with its trains, its terminus being at Charlestown. Thence it conveyed by omnibus to its Brattle Street office in Boston. That was Athol's approach to the State Capitol for some two and one-half years. In 1850 the Fitchburg completed its Causeway Street Station, just east of the North Station about where the present office building of the Boston & Maine now stands. This was one of half a dozen separate Boston stations until 1893. Then the Boston & Maine, the Eastern, the Lowell, and the Fitchburg all were consolidated into the present North Station.
We used the first railroad depot here for more than twenty- five years. From this station many of our townspeople left the morning of November 1, 1862 for an excursion to Groton Junction where they visited Company E, 53rd Regiment, en- camped at Camp Stevens near there. A roadside marker on Route 2A about a mile west of Ayer marks the position of this Civil War post. At least two of the long wooden buildings north of Shirley station were built from the Camp Stevens' barracks when the camp was demolished after the war.
About the close of the Civil War when two passenger and one freight train were running each way daily, the arrival of the Saturday night train was something of an event. At 9 p.m. any Saturday night standing room in the station was at a premium.
In 1873 this wooden building was moved to the south side of the track to make way for a new brick structure. For years the old depot was used as a dwelling, later a stable, and finally a store house when it was burned in 1935.
Prior to the construction of their new depot, the Railroad Company removed its freight house. This structure stood where Athol Coal Company office now stands, and was a
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wooden building into which a spur track ran. As a substitute the present brick freight house was built through which a spur track ran for some twelve years before the indoor tracks were removed and all freight loaded at the side.
The Vermont & Massachusetts Depot was built here in 1872- 73 under the especial supervision of A. G. Moulton. A local
1
FITCHBURG RAILROAD DEPOT 1873 - 1892
mason, Henry M. Burgess, had the contract. The influence of Alvah Crocker in the railroad company had diminished by that time as he had gone to the halls of Congress for what proved to be his last public service. The newer management planned to locate the general offices of the road here, it being about mid-way of the line, but hardly had it been finished when a lease of the Vermont & Massachusetts for 999 years was ef- fected with the Fitchburg Railroad and the general offices remained in Fitchburg until the Boston and Maine took over the system.
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