USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Cambridge > History of Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1630-1877. With a genealogical register > Part 25
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suitable enclosures, and shall forever remain unused for a public street, unoccupied by any building, and open as a public park. In due time the work was accomplished ; a suitable fence was erected, the ground properly graded, walks constructed, and trees planted, so that the park has already become ornamental to the city.1
Cambridge Common originally extended northwestwardly as far as to Linnæan Street, including all the land thus far between Garden Street and North Avenue. It was used for military pa- rades and other public purposes, but especially for the safe keep- ing of the herd of cows, through the nights of the summer sea- son, and was therefore called the Cow-common. In April, 1720, a survey was made for the purpose of division ; but the work was not completed until 1724, when that portion lying northerly of Waterhouse Street was laid out into lots, which were assigned to individuals. The Common was thus reduced substantially to its present dimensions. It continued to be the property of the " Proprietors of Common Lands," until Nov. 20, 1769, when they " Voted, that all the common lands belonging to the Pro- prietors, fronting the college, commonly called the Town Com- mons, not heretofore granted or allotted to any particular person or persons, or for any special or particular use, be and the same is hereby granted to the town of Cambridge, to be used as a train- ing-field, to lie undivided, and to remain for that use forever ; provided nevertheless, that if the said town should dispose of, grant, or appropriate the same, or any part thereof, at any time hereafter, to or for any other use than that aforementioned, that then and in such case the whole of the premises hereby granted to said town shall revert to the Proprietors granting the same, and the present grant shall thereupon be deemed null and void, to all
1 Across the westerly end of this burial place a large lot was reserved for the burial of paupers and strangers, generally ealled the " Strangers' Lot." In the Cambridge Chronicle, Aug. 20, 1846, the late Mr. Daniel Stone, who had long been Super- intendent of the ground, published some reminiscenees, among which was the fol- lowing : " Remarkable Coincidence. In February, 1826, Lemuel Johns, an Indian aged fifty-nine years, from the tribe that once owned Grafton, . . . . was buried in the Strangers' Lot, as his turn came in rotation. From two to three feet from the top of the ground, the diggers came
upon an ancient Indian fireplace, and had to remove nearly a ton of stones from the spot. That part of the town being, ac- cording to appearanee, formerly a great place for Indian resort, we expected to come across other relies of the Red men ; but before and since that time, there have been more than 2500 burials in all parts of the lot, and this is the only discovery we have made. This was the only Indian buried in the ground, and it would seem that he had been providentially brought into the improvements of perhaps some of his ancestors."
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intents and purposes, as if the same had never been made." At a town meeting, March 3, 1828, the Selectmen reported that they had purchased for the town all the remaining rights of the Proprietors in the common lands, and had taken "a good and sufficient deed thereof, and caused the same to be recorded."
Before the Common was fully released to the town, a desire was manifested to embellish it and convert it into a pleasant park. At a town meeting, April 7, 1823, a petition was presented by William Hilliard and others for liberty, at their own expense, " to make certain improvements on the Common in said town, by setting out trees, fencing in certain parts, etc., not incompatible with the original grant to said town." The petition was referred to a Committee, who having " matured nothing " were discharged at the next meeting. The matter seems then to have rested until June 5, 1830, when it was enacted by the General Court, " that Israel Porter, Stephen Higginson, Asahel Stearns, Joseph Holmes, and Francis Dana; with their associates, be and they are hereby authorized and empowered, at their own expense, and under the direction of two commissioners, to be appointed by the governor, with the advice of the council, to enclose such part or parts of the Common in Cambridge, in the County of Middlesex, as the said commissioners shall determine, due regard being had to the public convenience and necessity. And the said commis- sioners, after giving due notice to all persons interested, shall have power to make such alterations with respect to the direction of the roads by which the said common is traversed, as they shall see fit, and shall designate the portion or portions of the said common to be enclosed, by metes and bounds, and shall make report of their doings, under their hands and seals, and file the same in the Secretary's office as soon as may be convenient after the said service shall have been performed. And they are further authorized and empowered to level the surface of the ground, to plant trees, and lay out and make walks within said enclosure, in such manner as, with the approbation of the selectmen of the said town, they may think proper, leaving suitable and conven- ient avenues for the accommodation of persons who may have oc- casion to enter or pass over any part of said enclosure on foot. Be it further enacted, that the said enclosure shall be forever kept and appropriated to public use only, as a public park, promenade, and place for military parade ; and no part thereof shall, on any pretence, be appropriated to any purpose of private use or emolument." 1 The work was accomplished in due time, 1 Mass. Spec. Laws, vii. 7.
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and the expenses were defrayed by the petitioners and their asso- ciates. Meantime, a determined opposition to any enclosure of the Common was manifested by many persons in East Cam- bridge, and by certain market-men and others residing in Arling- ton and elsewhere, among whom Col. Jeduthun Wellington was especially prominent, notwithstanding the weight of more than fourscore years. On their petition a town meeting was held, Oct. 8, 1830. The people assembled in the old Court House, - the usual place of meeting; but so great was the concourse that they immediately adjourned to the meeting-house of the First Parish. After an angry and stormy debate, it was voted, by a majority of 169 against 119, to postpone indefinitely the further consideration of the first and second articles in the warrant, to wit: "Art. 1. To take into consideration the expediency of petitioning the Legislature, at their next session, so far to repeal the Act passed in June last, authorizing certain persons therein named to inclose Cambridge Common, as to secure to the public the right to travel over the said Common by the roads heretofore laid out by competent authority. Art. 2. To see if the town will take any measures in relation to the proposed inclosure of Cambridge Common." Another meeting was held, Nov. 1, 1830, when it was voted by a majority of 299 against 211, to postpone indefinitely the further consideration of the question, whether the town will petition the Legislature so far to repeal the act author- izing the enclosure of the Common, as to " secure to the public the right to travel over said Common by the road passing by Dr. Hill's and the late Deacon Moore's 1 to the road leading to Canal Bridge,2 and also the right to travel over said Common by the road heretofore called the Cambridge and Concord Turnpike." Although the town thus declined to ask for even a partial repeal of the obnoxious act, it appears that individuals presented a peti- tion to the General Court ; for at a meeting of " the subscribers for enclosing and ornamenting Cambridge Common," Jan. 11, 1832, it was voted, "to request the Hon. Judge Fay and Prof. Ashmun to attend before the Committee of the Legislature to defend the interests of the subscribers." The appeal to the Gen- eral Court being ineffectual, as a last resort a petition was pre- sented to the County Commissioners ; whereupon the town, voting by ballot, and by a majority of 343 against 111, appointed Judge Story, Judge Fay, and William J. Whipple, " to oppose before the County Commissioners, and otherwise, the petition of
1 Mason Street.
2 Cambridge Street.
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Jeduthun Wellington and others, for a highway to be laid out over Cambridge Common." The history and result of this peti- tion appear on the records of the Commissioners, January Term, 1835: " A petition of Jeduthun Wellington and others for a new highway across Cambridge Common was presented to the County Commissioners " at the May Term, 1832, and an order of notice was issued. The case was heard at the September Term, 1832, when after argument and due deliberation, the Commission- ers " did adjudge and determine that they had no jurisdiction in the premises, and could not by law lay out and establish a pub- lic highway over and across said Common, as prayed for," etc. " Whereupon the said petitioners applied to the Supreme Judicial Court of this Commonwealth for a mandamus upon said Commis- sioners, requiring them to exercise jurisdiction in the premises ; and the said Supreme Judicial Court having refused to grant such writ of mandamus, it is now ordered, that said petition, which has been continued from term to term, to await the deter- mination of the said Supreme Judicial Court, to this time, be dis- missed." Costs of Court were assessed upon the petitioners, who pursued this litigation no further. This result was highly grati- fying and advantageous to the inhabitants of Old Cambridge, who thus secured in perpetuity, for themselves and their succes- sors, a spacious and pleasant park, rich in historical recollections. It was here that Washington assumed the command of the Amer- ican army ; and here still flourishes the venerable elm, under which tradition says he stood, while his commission was read and proclaimed. Long may that monumental tree escape the ravages of the rampant vandalism which disgraces the present age.
But the benefit thus derived was not without its drawback. The old proverb, that " every rose has its thorn," was verified in this case. The fierce and angry contest, which gave to Old Cambridge its beautiful Common, indirectly transferred to Cam- bridgeport the public meetings of the town and the offices for the transaction of municipal affairs. The old Court House 1 would not contain the multitude assembled on the 8th of October, 1830, and the meeting, according to a former custom, adjourned to the
1 It was agreed, Dee. 24, 1632, " that the joint expense of the town and county, every person undersubscribed shall meet to be used for both court house and town- house. A similar concert of action was had in 1756, when the town agreed to every first Monday in every month within the meeting-house." Probably the town meetings were uniformly held in the share the expense of erecting a new court meeting-house, or church edifice, until about 1708, when a house was erected at
house, which was also used as a town- house until 1831.
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meeting-house of the First Parish. It is understood that some members of that Parish expressed a natural unwillingness to have their house of worship used for the transaction of secular business, and especially for the indulgence and expression of angry passions. After the close of this unpleasant meeting, some of the citizens discussed the propriety of erecting a house sufficiently large to accommodate the voters, so that there might be no further occasion to use the church ; and it very naturally occurred to them that if such a house should be erected, it would be well to place it where it would best accommodate the whole town.1 The result was the insertion of an article in the War- rant for the next town-meeting, Nov. 1, 1830, " to see if the town will erect a Town-house on the Almshouse lot, or some other suitable spot, as prayed for by John Cook and others." This article was referred to a committee consisting of three prominent citizens in each section of the town, to wit: Samuel P. P. Fay, Royal Makepeace, John Cook, Stephen Higginson, Asahel Stearns, Levi Farwell, William Parmenter, Samuel S. Green, and Ephraim Buttrick. This committee reported, March 7, 1831, "that, having considered the subject, it is, in their opinion, expedient that a town-house should be erected on the easterly part of the almshouse lot in the parish of Cambridgeport, as more central to the population of the town than the present house, and that a house sufficient to accommodate the town may be built for a sum not exceeding $2,000 : that when such house shall be finished, all town meetings should be held therein from and after that time." The report was accepted ; and Levi Far- well, Luther S. Cushing, and William Parmenter were appointed as a committee " to report a suitable location, prepare plans, and report estimates for a town-house." At the next town meeting, April 4, 1831, the committee recommended that the town-house be erected at the northieasterly corner of the Almshouse lot,2 and presented a plan of an edifice, drawn by Asher Benjamin, and estimated to cost $2,505. The town accepted the report, elected a building committee, consisting of John Chamberlin, Luther S. Cushing, and William Parmenter, and authorized the Treasurer to pay the bills therefor, not exceeding the sum of $3,000. Sub- sequently an additional appropriation of $1,300 was made. The total expense, including $296.09 for furniture and $145.13 for fencing the lot, was $4,351.19. In asking for estimates, the
1 Some of these facts are stated on the authority of the late Samuel S. Green, Esq., as within his personal knowledge.
2 At the corner of Harvard and Nor. folk streets, where the Catholic Church now stands.
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building committee inserted this specification : " The house is to be of wood, forty-six feet in front or breadth, and seventy-six feet long, with posts twenty feet and four inches high, and the roof one fourth of its base in height ; on each end of the building, in addition to the aforesaid length, will be a portico, of six feet in width, consisting of six fluted Doric columns, with an entablature and pediment." Internally, there was one principal hall, fifty- nine feet long, of the whole width and height of the building. At the rear, or west end, were two rooms, half the full height, each eighteen feet long and fifteen feet wide, with an entry be- tween them : over which was another room extending across the whole, to which access was had by two flights of stairs from the principal hall. The town held its first meeting in the new house Marclı 5, 1832, and all subsequent town-meetings were held in the same place. After Cambridge became a city in 1846, the Mayor and Aldermen assembled in the southerly small room,1 and the Common Council in the larger room above, until the evening of Dec. 29, 1853, when, in the midst of a furious snow- storm, the whole building was utterly consumed by fire. Fortu- nately, all the Records and other books and public papers were preserved, the larger and more valuable portion being removed while the flames were raging, and the remainder being afterwards found in the safe uninjured, except that they were discolored by smoke. After the destruction of this edifice, rooms for the ac- commodation of the City Government were obtained in the Cam- bridge Athenæum, at the easterly corner of Main and Pleasant streets. This edifice was subsequently purchased and converted into the present City Hall.
For the space of forty years after the erection of West Boston Bridge, Cambridgeport was an isolated village, separated from Old Cambridge by a belt of land half a mile in widthi, almost wholly unoccupied by buildings. East Cambridge was even more completely separated from the other two villages by the Great Marsh. In 1835, the heirs of Chief Justice Dana sold the tract of land now called " Dana Hill," having laid it out into streets and lots; and they sold other portions of the same estate, in 1840, extending, on the northerly side of Harvard Street, as far westerly as Remington Street. Buildings were soon erected on this territory, so that, within a few years, Old Cambridge and Cambridgeport became one continuous village, and the original
1 The northerly room was the office of the City Treasurer.
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parish line would not be observed by a stranger. East Cam- bridge also, though more slowly, approached Cambridgeport, especially on Cambridge Street ; and an extensive system of improvement has been recently commenced, whichi promises to convert the northerly portion of the Great Marsh into dry land, and at no distant day to unite the inhabited portions of the two villages " along the whole line." Meanwhile, it was natural, in the early days when the two new villages were struggling into existence, that a spirit of rivalry, sometimes attended by jealousy, should become manifest between each other and between both and the ancient town. Their interests were sometimes adverse. Sharp contests between Cambridgeport and East Cambridge, or rather between the large landholders in the two places, in regard to streets and bridges, have been mentioned elsewhere. The re- moval of the courts and the public offices to East Cambridge, by the authority of the County Court, was a sore grievance to the people of Old Cambridge, and by no means agreeable to the in- habitants of Cambridgeport, whose access to the Court was easier before than after the removal. It was another grievance to Old Cambridge, that the municipal government should be removed from its time-honored seat to Cambridgeport; but this was ap- proved by East Cambridge, because the new place was easier of access. On the other side, the new villages had long standing grievances, growing out of a real or supposed unwillingness of Old Cambridge to give them their full share of schools, streets, and other public conveniences. Especially in regard to streets, they frequently complained that they were required to pay their proportionate share of the expense of keeping all the old streets in repair, and at the same time to pay the whole expense of mak- ing and repairing the streets necessary for their own convenience, including those which were constantly used by Old Cambridge in passing to Boston. At the expiration of half a century after the erection of the bridge, many of those sources of mutual jeal- ousy had disappeared, and time had at least partially healed the wounds occasioned by events which were beyond remedy. The new villages had become sufficiently strong to protect their own interests and to secure for themselves a fair and equitable pro- portion of public conveniences. At the same time, no one section was able to control or oppress the two others ; and it does not appear that any desire to do so was cherished. Many of those who had been active in the early struggles had passed off the stage; a great majority of the inhabitants had become such since
16
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those struggles ended ; and although each may have had a nat- ural desire to make his own particular dwelling-place pleasant and convenient, and may have cherished a generous spirit of rivalry, yet all had a common pride in the reputation of the whole town, and desired the prosperity of all its institutions.
In the midst of this general harmony and peace, a desire for a division of the town was unexpectedly manifested by a portion of the residents in Old Cambridge, who presented to the General Court a petition, dated Dec. 15, 1842, as follows : -
" To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
"The undersigned inhabitants of the westerly part of Cam- bridge, being that part of the town usually called Old Cambridge, respectfully represent, -
" That, in consequence of the rapid increase of population in those parts of the town being nearest to Boston, and called Cam- bridgeport and East Cambridge, the town in fact consists of three distinct and separate communities, which are generally known to the public by those names, and each of which has a Post Office recognized in the United States Laws by the said names of Cam- bridge, Cambridgeport, and East Cambridge; That the time cannot be far distant, when a division of the town, for the con- venience of elections and other municipal purposes, will be deemed as necessary as it ever has been at any former period of its history, when the towns of Newton, Lexington, Brighton and West Cambridge were successively separated from the parent town of Cambridge. Your petitioners believe that the present is a favorable time for an amicable division of the town, and they therefore respectfully pray that the town of Cambridge may be divided, and that that part thereof lying westerly of Lee Street and a line drawn in the direction of said street northerly to the boundary line of Somerville, and southerly to Watertown Turn- pike, and by said Turnpike to Charles River, may be incorporated as a distinct town, by the name of Cambridge."
Legislative action was postponed until the next General Court, when a supplementary petition was presented, identical with the former, with slight verbal changes, except that the name " Old Cambridge " was proposed instead of "Cambridge." The cus- tomary order of notice on both petitions was issued, requiring the town to show cause why it should not be divided, and the inhabitants assembled Jan. 22, 1844 : at which meeting it is re- corded, that " The subject of the second article in the warrant
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being under consideration, the following Preamble and Resolu- tions were adopted, -312 voting in the affirmative, and 73 in the negative : Whereas, it is understood that there are now pend- ing before the honorable Legislature two petitions, . ... praying for a division of this town ; and wliereas an order of notice has been issued and duly served on this town ; . ... and whereas the inhabitants of the town, in pursuance of a warrant issued by the selectmen, are now in town meeting assembled, to take into consideration the subject of the division of the town ; and whereas, after full inquiry made and full discussion had, no person on be- half of the petitioners being able to show any good and sufficient reason for such division : therefore
" Resolved, that the division of this town, as prayed for in either of said petitions, or in any other manner, would be not only inexpedient, but greatly and permanently prejudicial to the true interests and the legitimate weight and influence of the town."
A committee was thereupon appointed, representing the sev- eral principal villages, "to appear before the Legislature and oppose any such division of the town." The case was earnestly contested, but the opposition was successful. The General Court, in the absence of any good reason for division, granted leave to withdraw the petition ; and the town had rest for two years.
At the March meeting 1 succeeding this attempt to divide the town, for the purpose of obviating one of the difficulties in the administration of municipal affairs, a committee was "appointed to consider the expediency of combining the duties of sundry Boards of town-officers, imposing said duties upon a single Board, and paying to the persons performing said duties a reasonable compensation for their services." This committee submitted a report, May 12, 1845, recommending " that the Boards of Asses- sors, Overseers of the Poor, and Surveyors of Highways be abol- ished, and the duties heretofore performed by those Boards be in future discharged by the Board of Selectmen ; that the duties of Auditor of Accounts be transferred to the Town Clerk, who shall ex-officio be clerk of the Board of Selectmen ; that the chair- man of the Board of Selectmen be ex-officio a member of the School Committee ; that the Selectmen be authorized and re- quired annually to appoint some member of their Board to be Chief Engineer ; and that the Selectmen and Town Clerk be reasonably paid for their services." The report was recommitted,
1 March 11, 1844.
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with authority to revise and print. It came up for final action, Jan. 5, 1846, and its further consideration was indefinitely post- poned.
After the defeat of this measure, several citizens, before leav- ing the Town-house, being confident that some change in the method of conducting the public business was highly desirable, if not indeed imperatively necessary, signed a petition requesting the Selectmen to appoint a legal meeting, to see if the town would ask for a City Charter. Accordingly the inhabitants of the town met, Jan. 14, 1846, and " voted, that the Selectmen be instructed to petition the Legislature for the grant of a City Charter. Voted, that the Selectmen, together with Simon Greenleaf, Omen S. Keith, Abraham Edwards, Sidney Willard, Thomas Whittemore, Isaac Livermore, William Parmenter, Eph- raim Buttrick, Thomas F. Norris, and the Town Clerk, be a Committee to draft a Bill in conformity to the preceding vote, and to use all proper means to procure its passage."
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