USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Brockton > History of Brockton, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, 1656-1894 > Part 74
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Mr. J. F. Hardy afterwards purchased the same, and with J. C. Rus- sell as partner, under the firm of Hardy & Russell, published the same for a short time.
In 1883, Mr. Goodall published a paper known as the Campello Herald, also short lived.
On the 8th of March the Campello Leader was first issued, and was published sixteen weeks. This was more of a literary than a news- paper, and was illustrated by the well-known artist of Brockton, Mr. A.
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HISTORY OF BROCKTON.
F. Poole, having cartoons and pictures of local scenes, etc. Not be- ing remunerative, this also shared the fate of its predecessors and stopped.
The Brockton Eagle was the name of an eight-column weekly paper published by William L. Puffer, at No. 5 Green street. The first num- ber was issued Feb. 20, 1884. Discontinued in a short time.
Thus we see there were published for a short time only three weekly and two daily papers in the city in 1884.
The Brockton Evening Gazette (daily) was started by Mr. Jones April 13, 1881.
He sold the paper to F. H. Buffum in 1884, who sold to A. M. Bridgman in 1885, who issued a new evening edition April 13, 1891, called the Daily Despatch, a few months later, December 31, 1891, be- came a penny paper. After a short experience it changed back to a two-cent evening paper. January, 1894, this paper was changed to Brockton Daily News, Elmer C. Linfield editor and publisher. March 19, 1894, changed to a penny paper and suspended May 5, 1894.
A paper called the Morning Sun was published by L. E. Lounsbury editor, sold to Gazette Publishing Company October 25, 1890.
The Brockton Sunday Times was started by Parmenter & Cook September 8, 1889, after a few weeks experience it was discontinued.
The Weekly Courier was issued by the Courier Publishing Company at Campello May 23, 1891, lived three weeks.
A paper called the Weekly Diamond was first published December 18, 1892, with E. Gerry Brown as editor and still lives.
Another attempt to have a daily paper was August 27, 1894, when the Daily Herald was issued by parties from Boston. It survived eight days.
February 1, 1890, Allston C. Ladd, formerly connected with the En- terprise, issued a monthly publication entitled the Brockton Shoe, in the interests of the shoe trade. It was in magazine form, elegantly printed and was continued for about three years and was a creditable trade magazine.
In 1882 A. F. Poole published a bird's eye view of Brockton, 38x23 inches in size, with pictures of some of the principal manufactories.
A daily paper was started February 4, 1895, entitled "The Brockton
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TOWN MAPS.
Times." Hon. William L. Douglas, proprietor, and J. Armoy Knox, as general manager, and if we judge by its first number and an exam - ination of the machinery of the establishment, and its workings, it has come to stay.
TOWN MAPS.
March 1, 1830, the Legislature of Massachusetts passed a resolve re- quiring the several towns in the commonwealth "to make a survey of their territory, and deposit a copy in the office of the secretary of the Commonwealth." In conformity to this resolve, and by a vote of the town passed May 10, 1830, Jesse Perkins, Esq , made a survey of the town and a map was published which was about twenty inches square.
Bradford Kingman, Esq., of Brookline, has made a map of North Bridgewater, now Brockton, locating the inhabitants in the year 1831.
April 5, 1853, at a legal meeting of the town George W. Bryant, Chandler Sprague, Edward Southworth, jr., Benjamin Kingman, and Frederick Howard were chosen a committee to cause the town to be sur- veyed and a new map to be published. The contract for publishing the same was given to Messrs. H. F. Walling and E. Whiting. The map contained names of residences, views of churches, manufactories, roads, woods, streets, ponds, rivers and divisions of the various school districts. The last map was thirty by thirty-nine inches. The first map of the old town of Bridgewater, including what is now Brockton, was drawn with a pen by Beza Hayward, and at that time one of the selectmen, June 16, 1795, and is a very crude affair.
A survey was made by Silas L Loomis, A. M., in 1851, which was about twelve inches square.
An elegant copy-plate map was published by Bradford Kingman, Esq., in 1866, for his " History of North Bridgewater." The surveying and copy from which it was made was executed by Otis F. Clapp, Esq., a native of Brockton, now in charge of the " Providence City Water Works," and is a skillful specimen of map drawing.
In 1873, F. W. Beers & Co., of 36 Vesey street, New York, published a map thirty- eight by sixty.
In 1880, Elbridge L. Brown, Esq., Civil Engineer, made a survey of the town, showing the different wards of the city. Nearly the same thing was published in the " Brockton Directory," in 1884.
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HISTORY OF BROCKTON.
Several maps have since been published at different dates for the directory of Brockton, by the " Littlefield Directory Publishing Com- pany," of Boston.
CITY SEAL.
As soon as the government of the new city of Brockton was fairly or - ganized, a seal was made. Mr. A. F. Poole, the artist, designed the fol- lowing described, which was adopted, July 4, 1882 :
It is circular in form, within which is a ring inclosing a shield, on which is a representation of " Sachem's Rock," with Miles Standish and Massasoit treating for the purchase of the Bridgewaters, and beneath which representation is the inscription, "Sachem's Rock, 1649;" across the upper and central portion of the seal, and across said ring and shield, the words, "Education," "Industry," " Progress ; " at the top of the whole design, and crossing said ring, a keystone-shaped escutcheon bearing the device of a beehive ; on the right, across said ring, a rect- angular shield on which is represented the electric light; and on the left a similarly-placed and shaped escutcheon with the globe for a de- vice ; the upper portion of said ring having the inscription, "Settled, 1700," on the left, " A Town, 1821 ; " on the right and on the lower por- tion of the same, the words, "City of Brockton, 1881."
SHIP CANAL THROUGH BROCKTON.
Many of the readers of this work will be surprised to learn that the present City of Brockton once had a survey through its limits for a "Ship Canal" which for some reason did not arrive at an accomplished fact, thus she escaped being a seaport.
The only time that Brockton or North Bridgewater then ever got a taste of such a thing was in 1832-sixty-two years ago-when Con- gress allowed a certain sum for the survey of a ship canal to connect the tide waters of Massachusetts Bay with those of Narragansett Bay, the object being to provide a passage way for vessels that should obvi- ate the necessity of the voyage around the Cape. This canal was pro- jected from Weymouth landing to Taunton River, and its course lay directly through this place, the line being run not far from the present railroad track where it strikes in at the North End, following the stream
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ANNEXATION OF A PART OF WEST BRIDGEWATER.
along its western bank down as far as what is now Elliot street, then bearing to the westward and passing along near the present site of Soule's lumber yard, Holmes's stable, Wilder's bake house, and the Whitman school building, where it crossed Main street, and then took a course down through the Cary property, and thence towards the southwest corner of the town. From a point a short distance north of the town line, a branch survey was made to Massapoag pond in Sharon, the object being to furnish a "feeder" for the canal from this source. The line of this channel ran directly across the tract now occupied by the basin of the Brockton water works. This survey was made by Col. John Anderson of the United States topographical engineer corps, as- sisted by Lieut. Hannibal Day, who afterwards rose to the rank of Brigadier General, and by Lieutenant A. J. Pleasanton. It is needless to say that nothing ever resulted from the project, and that Brockton is still suffering from inadequate connections with tide water. It stag- gers the wildest imagination to think what this little inland burgh might have become had the commerce of the world found a passage way across our pine barren and peat meadows.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
ANNEXATION OF A PART OF WEST BRIDGEWATER.
Petition for a Charter-Names of Petitioners-Official doings of the Town of West Bridgewater-Bill of Annexation-Certificate of the City Clerk of Brockton-Proc- lamation of the Secretary of the Commonwealth -- Old Colony Line -- Line Established in 1640-1664 -- Report of Commissioners-Land Grant to Peregine White, 1665- Line Established in 1713-County Lines Fixed in 1773-Angle Tree Monument-Survey of the Line by the Writer -- North Boundary of Brockton.
S INCE the foregoing chapters were begun a portion of the in- habitants in the northerly section of the Town of West Bridge- water were desirous to be set off and become a part of the City of Brockton. Having that in view, Edward H. Keith, of West Bridge- 101
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HISTORY OF BROCKTON.
water and ninety-six others petitioned the Legislature in the following language :
To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives, of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in General Court Assembled :
The undersigned petitioners, citizens of the Town of West Bridgewater and City of Brockton, respectfully present and petition,
That the boundary lines between the said Town of West Bridgewater and said City of Brockton be so changed as to include with said City of Brockton all that part of said Town of West Bridgewater that lies east and north of the following described lines, namely : Beginning at a stone post on the southerly side of Oak street, marking the crossing of the present town line with said street ; thence at a right angle southerly from said town line two hundred and eighty-nine (289) rods, thence easterly in a line parallel to the said town line of East Bridgewater; and this line subject to such changes as may be deemed advisable by the legislative committee.
All of this territory is situated east and north of said lines and contains about seven hundred and sixty (760) acres, and the interests of its people are almost wholly con- nected with the city of Brockton owing to their being so far distant, about two (2) miles or more, from the centre of West Bridgewater, and some portions of said terri- tory being separated from said centre of West Bridgewater by low swamp lands; and making this change we believe you will confer a great benefit upon them ; therefore we would most earnestly pray that our petition may be granted.
Edward H. Keith,
L. F. Gurney,
S. W. Turner, Fred Wilder,
Herbert A. Millett,
H. O. Thomas,
W. R. Keith,
D. Cary Keith,
B. O. Caldwell,
Pardon K. Bacon,
Oscar C. Davis,
P. F. Tormey,
John A. Millett,
A. F Keith,
B. J. Doody,
Henry N. Thayer,
George E. Keith,
Arthur Grant,
Joseph D. Williamson,
C. H. Monk,
Mary C. Keith,
M. G. Coughlan,
C. L. Reynolds,
Lucy R. Keith,
F. T. Morrill,
J. Emery Mechan,
George W. McDonald,
Martha D. Jackson,
Warren T. Copeland,
Winslow Gray, F. H. Thayer,
Henry E. Reynolds,
John I. Rackliffe,
Lucius Hayward,
Fred H. Moore,
Frank P. Keith,
Charles W. Copeland,
B. H. Waugh,
Levi W. Keith,
Davis Copeland,
Horace W. Tinkham,
David H. Shields,
Henry S. Keith,
Clarence F. Walker, Chester O. Wiley,
James C. Keith,
George Percival,
William H. Bismore,
W. L. Cox, C. K. Ferris,
Charles F. Maceer, Jennie Howard,
Kenneth McLeod,
S. F. Keith, L. M. Toothaker,
Charles E. Martin, Jacob Welch,
William King, Herbert A. Alger, John A. Howard, Edgar E. Willey, Fred R. Hayward, Henry F. Packard, Edwin F. Packard, William Murdock,
Frank E. Wellington,
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ANNEXATION OF A PART OF WEST BRIDGEWATER.
E. B. Copeland,
George E. Ilay ward.
Irving 11. Fisher,
Frank B. Le Baron,
F. Hayward,
Lyman A. Eldridge,
Charles E. Packard,
I. E. Holmes,
Charles H. Eldridge,
Japliet B. Packard,
Frank L. Howard, 2d,
Alton M. Thayer,
Ernest L. Packard,
Herbert E, Day,
W. S. Knowles,
James F. Shields, llenry Hiatt.
Myron A. Snell,
Jolin E. Grainey. G. W. French,
Rufus P. Keith,
Caleb H. Packard,
James B. McAdams,
F. W. Park,
Charles C. Fullerton,
S. Elliott Keith,
Edmund G. Fanning,
Arthur B. Marston,
A. D. Copeland,
Herbert S. Dalton,
Henry A. Brett,
The foregoing petition was filed in the office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives, January 27, 1863. Edw. A. McLauthlin, Clerk.
OFFICIAL DOINGS OF THE TOWN.
On the nineteenth day of December, 1892, the Selectmen of West Bridgewater issued a warrant for a town meeting to be held on Wednes- day the twenty eighth day of December, 1892, at seven and one- half o'clock in the afternoon.
Art. 2-" To see what action the town will take in regard to annexing the north portion of the town to the City of Brockton."
Joseph A. Shores, E. Bradford Wilbur, S. G. Copeland,
Selectmen of the Town of West Bridgewater.
Special meeting December 28, 1892.
At this meeting George C. Howard was Moderator.
Voted .-- That the town unite with the people of the north portion of the town in petitioning the Legislature to annex to the city of Brockton, that portion of the town of West Bridgewater, as described in the petition to the Legislature of Edward H. Keith and others.
Charles R. Packard, Town Clerk.
On the 30th day of December, 1892, the Selectmen of West Bridge- water, Joseph Shores and E. Bradford Wilbur, called a Special Meeting for January 7th, 1893.
To see if the town will vote to rescind the vote of December 28, by which the town voted that the town unite with the people of the north portion of the town in petition- ing the Legislature to annex to the City of Brockton, that portion of the town of West Bridgewater as described in the petition to the Legislature of E. H. Keith and others.
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IHISTORY OF BROCKTON.
Art. 3 -- Providing that a motion to rescind does not prevail, to see what action the town will take in regard to changing and establishing a new line between the town of West Bridgewater, and the City of Brockton.
Art. 5 -- " To see if the town will vote to choose a committee or instruct the Select . men with power to employ counsel to appear before the Legislature and oppose the petition of E. H. Keith and others."
Special meeting January 7, 1893.
Voted .-- " 64 yeas, 38 nays, To endorse the vote passed at the meeting of December 28th last, which provides that the town unite with the people of the north portion of the town in petitioning the Legislature to annex to the City of Brockton, that portion of the town of West Bridgewater as described in the petition to the Legislature, of E. H. Keith and others."
Charles R. Packard, Town Clerk.
After the usual hearings before the committee, the Legislature passed the following act.
AN ACT TO ANNEX A PORTION OF THE TOWN OF WEST BRIDGEWATER TO THE CITY OF BROCKTON.
Be it enacted, etc., as follows :
SECTION 1. So much of the town of West Bridgewater, in the county of Plymouth, as lies between the present boundary line between said town and the city of Brock- ton, in said county, and the following line, that is to say : Beginning at a stone post standing at the intersection of the present line between the city of Brockton and the town of West Bridgewater with the south line of Oak street; thence at a right angle southerly from said town line two hundred and eighty-nine rods ; thence easterly in a line parallel to said town line to the town of East Bridgewater; thence northerly by said town line of East Bridgewater to said present boundary line,-with all the in- habitants and estates therein, is hereby set off from the town of West Bridgewater and annexed to and made a part of the said city of Brockton. The portion thereof lying west of Main street shall constitute a part of the third ward thereof, and the portion lying east of Main street shall constitute a part of the fourth ward thereof, until a new division of the wards of said city is made.
Passed to be enacted.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, May 2, 1893. WILLIAM E. BARRETT, Speaker.
Passed to be enacted.
IN SENATE, May 4, 1893.
ALFRED S. PINKERTON, President.
May 8, 1893. Approved,
WM. E. RUSSELL.
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THE OLD COLONY LINE.
By the addition of the territory included within the limits of this ad- dition to the city bounds, there is added to her population an enterpris- ing, energetic and active class of people, such as the city may be proud to receive into their fold.
The vote of Brockton on the acceptance of the Act of the Legislature was Yes 3179, No 1037, a majority for annexation was 2142.
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, CITY OF BROCKTON,
BROCKTON, MASS., November 14, 1893.
In accordance with the requirements of Section 6, of Chapter 332 of the Acts of 1893. I hereby certify that upon the Question of accepting said chapter 332, submitted at the State Election, holden on the seventh day of November, 1893, the number of ballots cast in favor of the acceptance of said chapter, in all the voting Precincts in the city, was three thousand one hundred and seventy-nine, and that the number of ballots cast against such acceptance in all the voting Precincts in the city, was one thousand and thirty-seven.
[L. S.]
DE WITT C. PACKARD, City Clerk.
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, BOSTON, November 16, 1893.
Whereas, it appears that by a return made to this office by the city clerk of the city of Brockton, that upon the question of the acceptance by said city of chapter 332 of the Acts of the year 1893, entitled "an act to annex a portion of the town of West Bridge- water to the city of Brockton," submitted to the people of said city at the annual State election, held on the seventh day of November, instant, a majority of the votes cast in said city are in favor of such acceptance.
I do, therefore, in compliance with section six of the Act above cited, issue this, my certificate, declaring said act to have been duly accepted.
In testimony of which, I have hereunto affixed the seal of the Commonwealth, on the day of the date first above written.
[L. s.] WM. M. OLIN, Secretary of the Commonwealth.
THE OLD COLONY LINE.
As we have given the doings of the Annexation of a portion of West Bridgewater to Brockton, we have deemed it proper to give the boundaries of the northerly part of Brockton, which is the northerly boundary of the county of Plymouth, as well as what was formerly the Old Colony Line, and we deemed it due to our readers that we give the same to its fullest extent.
The charter of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, granted by Charles
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HISTORY OF BROCKTON.
I, 1628, describes the south line of the Colony as a straight line from a station distant three miles from the south part of Charles River, and any and every part thereof to the southward of the southernmost part of Massachusetts Bay. This line, which was the north boundary of Plymouth Colony, was for a long time the subject of animated con- troversy, and especially between what is now Avon and Brockton, formerly Stoughton and (North) Bridgewater. (Stoughton, now Avon, was formerly a part of Dorchester.)
In 1640 Governor Endicott and Israel Stoughton, on the part of Massachusetts, and Governor Bradford and Edward Winslow, on the part of Plymouth, were the commissioners for settling the line.
From the mouth of a brook called by them " Bound Brook," a name given to the same on account of its being the boundary line, they run directly to the middle of a great pond that lay on the right hand of the upper path or common way that led between Weymouth and Plymouth, close to the path as they went along, which was formerly named, and still they desired might be called "Accord Pond;" and from thence with a straight line to the southernmost part of Charles River, and three miles southerly inward into the country. It is not so stated in their report, but the fact is said to be, that when the com- missioners arrived within three miles of the most northerly part of Plymouth Colony on the easterly side of Rhode Island, they found their course would carry them far south of the true station. Under these circumstances, instead of rectifying their whole line, they made an angle, and run so far north as to reach the intended point. At the angle there stood a white oak tree, marked, which from that circum- stance was called "Angle Tree."
The doings of the above commission were not confirmed, and the line, excepting that between the pond and bay, remained unsettled.
In 1664 another set of commissioners were appointed, viz .: Cornet Robert Stetson, Constant Southworth and Josiah Winslow, on the part of Plymouth, and Joshua Fisher, Robert Clapp and Eleazer Lusher by Massachusetts, to run the line, and finally agreed that a right line from Accord Pond to Angle Tree "should be the dividing line of the Colonies." Here follows the report of the above named commissioners :
Whereas the Generall Courts of the colonys of Massachusetts & New-plimouth, in New England, did (in order to the settlement of the bound ljne betwixt the sajd
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THE OLD COLONY LINE.
colonjes, that is, so much thereof as is hitherto vndetermined) order, depute, and im- power vs, whose names are herevnto subscribed for the effecting thereof, as by that act of theires recorded in the reccords of the respective Court in each colony may more fully appeare, wee, the persons so intrusted and impowred, in pursuance of the service aforesajd, being all assembled at Dedhain the 9th of the 3d moneth, comonly called May, anno 1664, did the next ensuing trauaile together into the woods forthe discouery of the southermost part of Charles River, which hauing found out, partly by oune vejw, & partly by ye sattisfying report of them p'sent with vs, (that had labored therein) wee all mutually agreed vpon the first station. Hauing measured three miles southerly of the southermost part of the said riuer, wee marked a tree and from thence a west line to Neetmock Riuer, which, by estimation, wee judged to be about fine miles, in web ljne wee went on the north side of a great pond, ouer a smale parcell of course meadow, & on the southerly of which pond is an Indjan plantation by them called Seenecheconet & at the sajd Neetmock Riuer wee marked a black oake tree on fower sides, viz .- wth a M. L. on the north side & a (P) on the south side, and seueral letters vnder each of them, & on the east wee sett in figures the date of the present yeare 1664. This tree so marked standeth on the side of an hill, ouer against web ljeth, on the west side of the riuer, the north end of a parcell of course meadow; & hauing marked diuers trees in this line, from thence wee came backe about three miles & a halfe past the tree first mentioned to that station weh is the east of this west ljne, where wee markt a white oake, in a plajne full of trees, in the same manner we had markt the tree by the Riuer aforesajd, at wch place wee made an angle, and began an east north- east line to come to Accord Pond, in ffollowing of wch we were cast more than halfe a mile to the southward of the midle of sajd pond, (the bounds formerly setled,) for the rectifying whereof, wee having found the midle of the sajd pond, wee marked there a black oake tree, as the trees formerly mentioned, wth letters and the date of the yeare, & so returned west southwest, southerly by marked trees, in that Ijne vp to a ffoote path that goeth from Weimoth to Bridgewater, on each side of wch path, in the line wee erected a heape of stones, and so thence to a maple tree by a swamp side that brancheth to the north, & at a cart way that goeth from Braintree to Bridgewater ; 1 wee ended that ljne at a heape of stones on the west side of the path, and a great marked stake on the east; ffynally, wee agreed that the line stretched from Accord Pond vpon such a course, and so marked, and so, as aboue sajd, to the white oak angle- tree before mentioned; and from that oake westerly to Neetmocke Ryuer, as is before described, is and shall be accomted and reputed the true and settled bound ljne betwixt the colonjes of the Massachusetts and New Pljmouth, and that the line by vs first draune and marked from the sajd angle tree to Accord Pond shallnot be vnderstood to be the ljne of divission, it being wholly wthin Pljmouth lands. The length of the whole ljne is by estimation as wee judge, about forty (40) miles, according to the ljne before ex- pressed ; Vnto all weh wee, the parties respectively entrusted and empowered, doe,
1 This stake and heap of stones was on the present main street or road from Brockton through Avon to Randolph, a little more than half a mile southerly of the dividing line between the two first-named towns, where a bound stone was placed several years since.
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HISTORY OF BROCKTON.
each & euery of us, mutually agree, concurr, and doe hereby declare it to be our full conclusion & fynall determination concerning the premises.
In witness whereof wee haue hcerevnto set our hands & seales ye 17 of 3 mº, 1664.
ROBERT STUDSON, & a seale. CONSTANT SOUTHWORTHI, & a seale.
Jos. WINSLOW, & a seale. JOSHUA FISHER, & a seale.
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