USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Athol > History of Athol, Massachusetts > Part 45
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Tully Medical Society
This club of local physicians flourished in an inconspicuous way for many years. It brought our doctors into a closer fel- lowship and was considered by all to be a worthwhile effort. However, around 1940 its leaders felt it inadvisable to continue longer and it was disbanded, its cash assets of a few hundred dollars being turned over to Athol Memorial Hospital.
Women's Christian Temperance Union
Very speedily after Frances E. Willard organized the first group of women under the Junior or White Ribbon, a local circle of the W.C.T.U. was organized in Athol on August 16, 1876. For approximately three-quarters of a century these women had consistently opposed the liquor traffic and have been in the forefront of every movement looking to the sup-
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ORGANIZATIONS
pression of that traffic, even when national prohibition came and the organization seemed to have achieved its utmost aims. In the years while the sale and use of liquor have increased, these sturdy women have maintained their strong opposition to the liquor traffic and all use of intoxicants.
In recent years, one of its local members, Mrs. Julia B. Kohler, has been County President and State Vice President of the Union.
Worcester Northwest Agricultural & Mechanical Society
The success of the first cattle show held on Athol Common in September, 1858 prompted the formation of the Athol Agri- cultural & Mechanical Society a month later. With ninety-eight members the Society elected Dr. J. P. Lynde as President; Samuel Lee, Secretary; Moses Wood, Treasurer; and Elias Bassett, Calvin Kelton, Joseph F. Dunbar, and Lyman W. Hap- good as Trustees. This was a voluntary organization holding its fairs each year on Athol Common and using the Congre- gational vestry as an exhibition hall.
In 1867 it proposed to own and develop a Fair Grounds, which made incorporation advisable. Adopting the title Worcester Northwest Agricultural & Mechanical Society, it purchased for $1500.00 substantially the area now the Athol Athletic Field of Samuel Prouty and Benjamin Estabrook, erected an exhibition hall, and on October 5, 1867 held its first fair there. The grounds were replete with horse sheds, grandstand, and the like.
Fully 16,000 people attended the September, 1920 fair. A new grandstand had been erected in the meantime and the grounds had been reconstructed.
During World War I John A. McGregor, president of Union Twist Drill, had ambitions to make the Fair Grounds into a horse racing center. To relieve himself of some surplus cash he acquired a trotting horse and proceeded in the height of the high cost of construction during the war to build a new grandstand. He thoroughly reorganized the setup at a tre- mendous cost and saddled the Society with a debt of some $100,000 which eventually he had to underwrite.
Hard times of 1929 ended this most colorful event in Athol to which the Governor came each year. It had been a decided honor to be a trustee of this Society and its last show in 1930 marked the passing of a great factor in our town.
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Young Men's Christian Association
The pioneer Young Men's Christian Association was or- ganized in Boston in 1851. It was only eight years after this when on December 1, 1859 a group of young men came together and organized the Athol Y.M.C.A. Its list of first association officers includes the names of men who exerted great influence in the development of Athol: Farwell F. Fay, President; John R. Pierce and R. Garfield, Vice Presidents; Levi W. Carruth, Treasurer; R. T. Oakes, Secretary; A. V. Dimock, I. Y. Kendall, and R. Putnam, Directors.
While nearly all the officers were residents of the Upper Village, yet the Association to attract members from both of the villages arranged for alternate meetings, one Monday night at the Congregational Vestry and the next Monday night at Union Hall, which was the Vestry of the First Baptist Church.
Since that time there have been several lapses in the con- tinuity of the activities of this organization, and two or three attempts were made to reorganize and enlarge the scope of its work. Eventually in March, 1887 there was a meeting at the Baptist Church Vestry and Will C. Wood was elected Pres- ident. From that time to this day the activities of the Y.M.C.A. have been continuous.
For some nine years they met in the various churches con- fining their activities to Sunday afternoon meetings, but in 1896 a suite of four rooms was engaged in the Webb's Block and a reading room was made available to the townspeople. In less than a year these rooms in Webb's Block were aban- doned, and the former District Court rooms in Simond's Block at 456 Main Street were taken over.
After the fire in Webb's Block on December 21, 1890 William W. Fish, then Postmaster, built a temporary Post Of- fice building at 434 Main Street which housed the local Post Office for several months. After the building was abandoned for that purpose it was acquired by Mr. Lucien Lord and was moved to the west side of Exchange Street just north of the then new Engine House. There it was made a part of a build- ing devoted to a bowling alley, pool and billiard rooms. In April, 1897 this entire building was leased by the Y.M.C.A. and there it maintained an active organization for approx- imately fifteen years.
Then Mr. Starrett became deeply interested in this work and offered them in February, 1907 the present site for the new building, and $15,000 towards the erection of this new edifice.
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In 1910 there were sufficient funds in sight so that Mr. Starrett deeded the lot to the Y which on July 15, 1910 was chartered as a Massachusetts Corporation. In the spring of 1911 erection of the present building was started. The corner stone was laid on April 25, 1911, and the building was dedicated on March 15, 1912.
Since that time there have been added a swimming pool and some additional recreation facilities, and about 1945 the Richardson property southwest of the building was purchased with a view to eventual further expansion. The building has been in reality a civic center, for two generations of the youth of Athol have found recreation and wholesome enjoyment there. It is a real asset to our community.
The present secretary, A. P. Johnstone, came to the insti- tution in 1918, has served it continuously since then and as its executive officer is still doing for it an outstanding job.
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CHAPTER XXXIV IT HAPPENED ONE DAY
N TOTABLE events, dates some of us remember most vividly, calamities, and the like have been a part of us and in many cases have tried us truly. For instance, the hurricane of 1938 wrecked many of our homes and factories, tore down our beautiful trees, taxed the services of our Red Cross, and brought us closer together in a bond of fellowship. In some measure, great or small, these disasters have had a part in shaping our lives and the character of our town.
Thus-it happened one day.
It is to be presumed that in the early days of Athol many events passed unchronicled that might well be classed under the heading of "Calamities," but such as have come down to us we record here.
In the Summer of 1777, that year when all New England was most apprehensive as to her safety because of the threat of three mighty forces under the English Crown to cut her off at the Hudson River and then sweep across her with an irresistible force, there swept across our township an epidemic of malignant dysentery as it was diagnosed. In the short space of a month there were thirteen deaths in this town of perhaps eight hundred population and many more violently ill.
At Christmas time in 1811 there was an accumulation of snow of such depth that it was eight days after Capt. John Oliver died at his home on Lyons Hill before his body could be transported to the Old Pleasant Street Cemetery where it was buried near the entrance gate.
The fate of Athol during the cold Summer of 1816 was little different from other New England communities. Exces- sive heat was followed by severe cold and in most places in town there was a frost every month in the year.
But one field of corn in town survived to maturity and that was on the farm at the easterly end of Vaughan Road now owned by the heirs of Joseph Staraitis. Sensing a need in the
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following springtime of seed corn far more pressing than the immediate uses he could make of his crop, Deputy Sheriff James Oliver carefully cured most of his crop and out of his supply furnished seed corn for farmers from places both near and far from his home.
In 1839 came a financial calamity of great proportions, the worst for Athol of that century. The Cotton Factory with its auxiliary, the Factory Store, was the one great enterprise in our community. Its stability was not questioned by anyone. With no banking institution in this area the Factory Company assumed much of the services rendered today only by banking institutions. It accepted surplus cash of our citizens allowing them a substantial interest rate on their "deposits." The more affluent found the stock of the Company an attractive invest- ment. Thus this Company was closely tied to the economic life of our vicinity.
Economic conditions were far from good throughout the na- tion during Jackson's administration and the succeeding years. Hence the Factory Company found it difficult to operate at a profit but no one seems to have questioned its stability, having full confidence in the manager of the Company, Col. Nathan Nickerson, living at 585 Main Street in the house still stand- ing there.
On April 25, 1839 Col. Nickerson left town, presumably on Company business, but a few days later rumors were in cir- culation that he had absconded and that the Factory Company was in financial difficulties.
Then the storm broke. There were no bankruptcy laws in force at that time, thus the priority of the claims depended upon when suit was brought and attachments made. Soon the supply of writs was exhausted, extra blanks being rushed here from Petersham and Orange. John H. Partridge had recently succeeded to the office of Deputy Sheriff and his inexperience added to the confusion. In one day Deputy Partridge forwarded to Worcester one hundred and two writs, practically all of them being against the one company.
A long period of liquidation followed. The personal property falling for short of the claims against it, various parcels of real estate were set off by appraisers to satisfy claims and when the company's assets were exhausted the deficit fell upon the stockholders, many of whom were impoverished by the adjustment of these debts.
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A few days after Mr. Nickerson left Athol his wife followed him to locate at Cleveland, Ohio where he died less than two years later. In noting this death in his paper mill book, Esq. Thorpe added, "No man can run away from trouble."
Every great enterprise takes its toll of human life and the building of the Vermont & Massachusetts Railroad through these valleys was no exception. When in the later months of 1847 the roadbed of the utility was graded, the bridges built and the rails laid down, there was planned an initial testing trip from South Royalston to Athol. Sentimentally it seemed fitting that this first entry into the village should be by the engine "Athol" and that locomotive, one of four then owned by the railroad, was attached to some flat cars and a group of interested men taken along as guests.
For over a mile the pioneer train ran along without incident but when it was in the second bridge west of South Royalston that structure, undoubtedly being a covered wooden bridge, gave way and precipitated engine, cars, and passengers into the river.
Authorities differ whether the number of fatalities was five, six, or seven, but no matter what number we know it was a gruesome sight as the bodies were taken from the river and laid side by side on the hillside of the "Rich Pasture."
The Engine Athol was wrecked beyond salvage. Nearly two decades passed before another locomotive was given that name. Authorities differ as to the cause of this disaster. The Annual Report of the directors of the railroad says it was "by design," which translated into modern language probably means sabo- age. Nathaniel Richardson who examined the wreckage care- fully says it was caused by the inferior quality of the iron rods used in building the bridge.
Twice Athol has been visited by a smallpox epidemic of considerable proportions.
Though I find little information concerning the 1870 epi- demic, I do know of two lonely graves in the Almhouse pasture where two victims are buried. One of them was named Fuller, a son of the "Fullerite" founder, I believe. In any event, I find a record of his death on February 22, 1872 of smallpox, as well as two other deaths of varioloid.
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Nathaniel Richardson and Henry A. Burgess, both close neighbors of this author, were ill with the disease. In addition to a building at the Poor Farm which was used as an isolation hospital, the town took an old house still standing at 1674 South Main Street for at least one year.
In March, 1902 the Andrews' family, then controlling the James Lamb Place at 921 South Athol Road, entertained a relative from New York. This kinsman soon fell sick and Dr. Perry was called. It would appear that this man was a victim of smallpox although Dr. Perry never agreed to that diagnosis.
From the Andrews' home Dr. Perry went next to the home of an invalid, William B. Sanger, clearly afflicted with "old fashioned consumption" as those prolonged tubercular cases were called. Soon after this visit Mr. Sanger grew worse and died. A public funeral was held, no questions were asked as to Dr. Perry's diagnosis of his case, but in a few days the under- taker who cared for the Sanger body and at least two of the bearers at the funeral came down with smallpox.
The Pinedale School House was taken as a pest house, John B. Jacques a local constable was assigned to police duty there, Mrs. Carrie Grover was engaged as nurse, and Dr. A. V. Bowker volunteered to turn his other cases over to the other physicians to become the attending physician. In all, thirteen cases were treated, of whom three died.
Public sentiment did not approve of the school house as a hospital. To appease the citizenry the Board of Health bar- gained for the Stanton Place on Old Keene Road, once Joseph Paine's Tavern, but before it could be used it was set afire, by whom was never discovered, and entirely destroyed. As an aftermath of that epidemic the town bought the Contagious Disease Hospital on Thrower Road which it still owns though it has never been used as an isolation hospital.
Athol has experienced many periods of high water in its river but as improvements have crowded the river bed the results have become correspondingly more serious.
In 1839 when our people were so sorely distressed because of the failure of the Cotton Factory, we would not expect un- usually heavy public expenses except in case of great emer- gency. We have no record of any floods in 1839 and yet that
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HISTORY OF ATHOL
summer we find the townspeople rebuilding the bridge near the Athol Manufacturing Company dam which was on the road to Royalston, the bridge at the lower end of Main Street on the way to North and South Orange, and placing horses or supports under the bridge on the Greenfield Turnpike just off the South Athol Road and on the way to (South) Orange and the western towns.
March 15, 1844 between 2 and 3 p.m. the river broke up carrying away the Crescent Street bridge and completely flood- ing the "Island."
December 18, 1845 Hoar & Co.'s dam at what is now Water Street gave way doing serious damage to at least ten mills or factories on Mill Brook. No great damage was done downtown but water was a foot deep in Main Street below the Y.M.C.A.
March 14, 1846 came another ice jam that carried away the Kendall dam and damaged the Royalston Road and Crescent Street bridges.
The year 1881 was one of a marked scarcity of rainfall throughout most of the United States. The newspapers told of severe forest fires that were raging in parts of the country, particularly in the State of Michigan. On September sixth of that year the sun rose in a haze which had much the appear- ance of a smoky fog, but as the day wore on the weather did not clear perceptibly. The daylight was not adequate to do any close work. School sessions were attempted but were soon dismissed for the day. The Lee Shoe Shop, then the largest factory in town, operated by gas light for a time and then blew the whistle announcing to the workers that operations were suspended.
Superstitious ones became convinced that this was a mani- festation of impending doom and that further calamities would be forthcoming. But with the changing of the wind, the next day brought practically normal conditions.
It was generally conceded that the cause of this was a thick blanket of smoke from the burning pine forests which spread over New England. This gave to the day the designation of "The Yellow Day."
The winter of 1887-8 was not an unusual one. Early in March the warm sun settled the snow banks and made sleighing decidedly "scratchy" in spots. The predictions for Monday, March 12th, were for fair weather; therefore no one was on the lookout for a storm.
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By mid-forenoon a fine snow was falling accompanied by quite some wind. This increased until by nightfall there was fully two feet of new snow on the level, which was an unusual fall, and travel was difficult. By mid-afternoon train service had ceased and by bed-time travelling either by team or on foot was all but impossible.
Tuesday morning dawned cloudy and cold upon a world all but buried in snow. The town teams were hitched onto bob sleds and with a field plow lashed on either side made some progress through the streets of the villages but were helpless on the outlying roads. As no trains came in there was no communication with the outer world save by telegram and an imperfect telephone system connected with the outside world through Gardner.
Not a factory attempted to run nor was any school opened that day, and most able-bodied men spent their time digging out their homes.
A group of some half dozen young women residing in Orange were employed in the Wallet Shop, usually commuting by train, arriving here about 7 a.m. and returning to Orange on the 5.40 going west, but that day of the big snow no 5.40 nor any other train ran, nor was vehicular traffic to Orange possible. Hence they seemd doomed to spend the night in the railroad station, but the Gardiner Lord family learning of their plight took them in, fed them, and managed to house them all.
It was a week before a train ran over the railroad to Spring- field and ten days before sleighs and sleds could reach all the outlying houses in town. Those were days of the storage of household supplies-flour, sugar, and crackers by the barrel, as well as other supplies in relatively large quantities. Thus there was very little actual deprivation among our people. Cows were kept in many village barns thus producing milk in suf- ficient quantities so that there was no real want unsupplied.
Travelling was back to normal conditions again within ten days and the Big Snow was only a memory. But the sight on the morning of March 13, 1888, on Traverse Street with the snow across the street level with the door knobs is a memory which is vivid in the mind of the writer after sixty-five years.
February 11, 1900 after a period of warm rain, the river broke up carrying massive cakes of ice onto Crescent Street Bridge and tearing out the center pier of the northerly Ex-
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HISTORY OF ATHOL
change Street Bridge. An ice jam formed near the lower rail- road bridge which flooded lower Main Street as well as South Main Street.
EXCHANGE STREET (NORTH) BRIDGE, WRECKED FEBRUARY 14, 1900
At the risk of being awarded a premium as the prize pre- varicator I am including an experience which I personally went through but which is generally treated as a base exaggeration.
In the late afternoon of June 24, 1899 following a somewhat severe thunder shower, hail stones began to fall upon Athol's thickly populated area which speedily increased in size until there were innumerable stones larger than hens' eggs and not a few of them larger than the standard size baseball. In the twenty minutes that this storm continued it did considerable damage to roofs, glassware, and so forth, and necessitated a tremendous amount of expense by real estate owners. Some hail stones were hastily gathered and photographed by Mr. Andrew J. Hamilton, though no other object was near with which to compare them in size.
Until the first years of the present century no Chief Execu- tive of our nation is known to have honored Athol by calling upon us but in a little more than a year after he succeeded to the presidency, upon the death of President Mckinley, Theodore Roosevelt made a tour of New England and desig- nated Athol as one of his calling places. A large platform was
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IT HAPPENED ONE DAY
erected west of the railroad depot and a carpet spread from the tracks to this platform. The accompanying picture shows Dr. Oliver, chairman of our Reception Committee escorting "Teddy" along this carpet.
LONES
HAIL STONES JUNE 24, 1899
During his short stay here President Roosevelt was presented by our townsman, Andrew J. Hamilton with a bound copy of his original poems which had recently appeared in the local and Springfield papers.
Shortly after leaving here President Roosevelt was involved in a serious accident in Pittsfield when his carriage was run down by a local trolley car. When Leander B. Morse heard of this accident he promptly stated that as Mr. Roosevelt arose from the dust of the road he exclaimed, "My God save my Athol poems."
Times of flood peril from our river are many but the two episodes probably the most serious of any recorded occurred in 1936 and 1938.
On March 13, 1936 warm weather and heavy rains had swollen the river to the extent that some trouble was feared and before the day was over jams and back water were becom-
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HISTORY OF ATHOL
ing increasingly perilous. Gradually the low lands were flooded thus making the highways impassable.
High water set back into the plant of Athol Gas & Electric Company making the operation of that plant impossible. At one time the company stated it had fifteen feet of flood waters over its floors. Railroad bridges were swept away, a corner of the Starrett factory was torn out, smaller bridges were swept
WHEN "TEDDY" ROOSEVELT CALLED ON US, SEPT. 2, 1902 Dr. James Oliver escorting him to platform erected for the occasion west of Depot Park
down stream and a general cessation of business ensued. It was some ten days before train service was restored and only a little shorter time before the Gas plant was in operation.
Refugees were housed in the Y.M.C.A. and in many hos- pitable homes. In all, the estimate of damage to our town was well over a million dollars. Much debris was brought down the river and lodged on the low lands as well as in the river bed which necessitated much dredging.
In some two weeks our industries had resumed operations but it was many months before the scars of this catastrophe had largely disappeared.
The 1936 flood was only a weak preview of the big show which came two and a half years later.
The older inhabitants had been accustomed to the equinoxial storm due around the beginning of the last third of the month
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of September and thus were not unduly alarmed when heavy rainfall began on September 19, 1938. On September 21 the proportions of the downpour became alarming, particularly when by mid-afternoon our river was out of bounds and the radio told of a southern tornado headed our way.
As workmen built sand bag embankments at the end of Crescent Street to prevent the river from flowing down Main Street, the winds began to howl and trees to fall; then came the chimneys crashing onto roofs. Roofs of some buildings broke loose and flew from their structures. The stately Baptist Church spire designed by Elbridge Boyden and built in 1859 crashed to the ground. As a haven of refuge the Y.M.C.A. was again pressed into use for residents of Marble Street and other low lying areas; the Red Cross began emergency aid measures; and as darkness came on, our people waited in awe and fear of the fury of the elements.
When morning of the 22nd dawned, many if not most of our streets and roads were rendered impassable by fallen trees and other debris, while in the low lands waters poured into the windows of many dwellings, reaching nearly to the ceiling of not a few homes and business places.
The waters of Millers River poured across Marble Street, and using Island Street as a channel made a river of Main Street, flowing through the driveway west of the Starrett Block into the Lord's Pond Canal.
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