USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Dedham > History of Dedham, Massachusetts > Part 19
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In the eighties the New England Company constructed a branch south of Wigwam Pond and ran trains through Endicott and back into Dedham to compete with the Boston and Providence Railroad which controlled the West Roxbury and East Dedham Branches. Upon the New Haven acquiring the New England and leasing the Boston and Providence this competition ceased and · this very short branch was left to gather rust.
After the New Haven had consolidated all of the railroads it ran an express called the White Flyer or "Ghost Train" over the West Roxbury Branch and the Norfolk County Railroad to Isling- ton and then over the New England with no stop in Dedham as a high speed train to New York but as a part of the line in Con- necticut was a single track this line was never fully developed for its full use and the Norfolk County Railroad from Dedham to Is- lington was soon abandoned to old freight cars and mostly taken over in 1932 by the State to form the High Speed Concrete High- way to Providence at which time the East Dedham branch and the West Roxbury branch were united at Dedham to make a loop for continuous service from Boston to Boston and the old round
* The present Endicott Station was first named Elmwood. With the development of Oakdale the Ashcroft Station was established about 1885.
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house and turntable were torn down and Dedham Center became a way station instead of the terminus of three railroads.
The Dedham Branch Railroad was a very primitive affair, built with wooden rails. The earliest cars were much like the old style stage coach of the period. They were succeeded by cars built in the manner of English railway carriages. One of these early coaches, which ran between Dedham and Boston, was kept for many years in the shops of the Railroad Company. In the spring of 1892 it was put in repair and sent to the World's Colum- bian Exposition at Chicago. This car is now on exhibition in the museum of Purdue University, and is of great interest not only to residents of Dedham but to the general public as well. An Ameri- can type of cars was soon introduced which have been interest- ingly described by the late George F. Fisher of Highland street as he remembered them. The cars were short four wheeled af- fairs with doors at the side, and a narrow foot board, for the con- ductors to scramble along upon, with an iron rod overhead, to hold on to, which enabled him to keep his footing while collecting the fares, which were always paid in cash. No tickets were sold in Dedham previous to 1848. The cars seated twenty-six pas- sengers. There were no stoves in use, and so the ride in and out of Boston was a cold one in the winter season. For lighting there was enclosed in each end of the car a 7x9 lantern in which a small oil lamp was placed, which deepened rather than dimin- ished the gloom of the night. The brakeman was seated on top of the car, and controlled it by a long rod which came up from the bottom, being connected with the brake, which was applied by the foot instead of the hand. It took a long time to stop a train when going at full speed. The locomotives first used were four- wheeled, woodburning and weighed about ten tons, while a first class locomotive of today with its tender, weighs 150 tons. These engines, named the "Norfolk" and the "Suffolk," had little power to draw a train, especially against a blocking snow storm. Under these conditions the train sometimes returned to the sta- tion, after going out for a short distance in the storm. Dedham passengers were sometimes obliged to leave the train stuck in the snow and seek whatever shelter they could find, or obtain some other means of conveyance to their homes. Conductors and pas-
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sengers, often had long walks to reach their homes in the winter season. Fortunately there were few passengers in those days. In 1840 there were no more than five commuters from Dedham to Boston. As late as the years 1848 and 1849 there were but 320 commuting passengers on the entire line between Dedham and Boston. At this time most of the travel was by transients who paid 371/2 cents for a single ride or 75 cents for a round trip from Dedham to Boston. The stations on the line were Dedham, Mill Village, now East Dedham, Low Plain, now Readville, Kennedy's Bridge, now Hyde Park, Toll Gate, now Forest Hills, Jamaica Plain and Roxbury. There was so little travel, that often the afternoon train passed Jamaica Plain without stopping. The late Moses Boyd, a conductor on the Dedham train, tells us that there were only two families who patronized the train at Hyde Park, and if a member of either family desired to take the train for Boston, he signified his intentions by standing beside the track, and the engineer, ever on the lookout, stopped the train and took the passenger on board. The Dedham train consisted of a loco- motive and two cars which made three round trips each week day, carrying from 150 to 200 passengers a day. The first conductor, of whom we have record, was Abner Alden, who entered the ser- vice as a youth of 19 years, and remained in the employ of the company for 62 continuous years. In 1840 he was made station master in Dedham, and for 55 years continued to look after the interests of the road in this capacity.
For the accommodation of the inhabitants of Dedham and Roxbury there was a slow lumbering stage coach which com- menced to run between Dedham and Boston April 3, 1792. The coach arrived in Boston at 10 o'clock and on the return started from King's Inn, Market Square, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, every day in the week except Sunday. This coach ran in compe- tition with the railroad for many years, occupying two hours each way on the road. The time consumed in taking up, and leaving passengers at the end of the line, often made an extra half hour. Of this no one complained and the public seemed to think itself amply accommodated. To meet this competition, a small omnibus was run by the railroad, which on due notice went to residences and took passengers free of charge to the train.
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A well remembered passenger station was built about 1850 which accommodated the Norfolk County and the Roxbury Branch Railroads as well as the Readville trains. This station was built of wood 200 feet long and made a fine appearance with its long colonnade of arches. As many will recall the trains passed through the station, two tracks being used. Later a waiting room was added to the station. Tickets were sold at 3 windows; one on the outside and one each in the men's and women's waiting rooms. When the station was built in 1882 this waiting room was sold and moved across the street and for many years has formed a part of the Dedham Hotel, so called. A pleasant toned bell was hung in the bell tower, which surmounted the station. This bell was rung twice and tolled once in connection with the departure of every train. The brakeman first rang it as one would ring a fire bell today; a few moments later it was rung as a church bell is rung for a service. Later it was tolled by the conductor just as he shouted "All aboard." This custom of announcing the depar- ture of trains was kept up as long as the old station was occupied. Those whose duty it was to ring the bell had plenty of assistance in the small boys of the town, who were ever ready to ring the bell five minutes before the leaving time of the train, and often when they saw a passenger leisurely walking down High street, whom they thought could run, the bell was tolled, train or no train, and the boys stood back and laughed at the panting passenger. Like the old stage coach, the arrival of the train on the West Roxbury Branch was announced by a long whistle as the engine crossed the Mill Creek bridge. The train as it passed through the old red covered bridge made a rumbling noise which was heard all over the town. After the burning in 1837 of the first station and the loss of engines and cars, steam power was given up and a pair of horses hauled the cars into Boston. Later for several years, the cars were drawn by horses as far as Readville, where connections with trains in either direction were made. After January, 1843, all trains, however, were drawn by steam power. The quickest time made by a through train to Boston was 45 minutes. In building the new station in 1882, although a different site had been selected by the corporation, it was changed at the request of Dedham citizens, so as to appear in the long vista of High Street.
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Now the station is closed and a modest little station built (1933) to accommodate the circuit trains, stands on the north side of the railroad yard. When Mr. Alden became station agent, he selected to succeed himself as conductor of the Dedham train, Moses Boyd, who continued in the service until he was the oldest conductor in point of service in the United States. A conductor in the early days was baggage master, and breakman as well. Mr. Boyd's train made two trips daily. He lived to see the number of Ded- ham trains increase from two to 50 trains a day (1898) in either direction. Mr. Boyd served as the conductor of his train for 53 years, and on his resignation was made assistant conductor in which capacity he served several years longer.
After the completion of the West Roxbury Branch, trains for Boston were sent more and more over this route. For the ac- commodation of passengers over the main line, horse cars were again put in operation between Dedham and Readville, connection being made with all trains. No charge was made for this service to passengers. Others paid five cents. This service was discon- tinued in 1875, but the horse cars are still remembered by many Dedham residents.
TRANSPORTATION. There was little need of transporta- tion in the early settlement of Dedham. Two wheeled ox-carts and drays (sledges) known in England were introduced here. In the settlement of the plantation Edward Culver, a wheelwright, had two acres assigned him, and free liberty to take all necessary timber in the employment of his trade. Wheelwrights for many years had little to do except in repair work and in making wheel- barrows and the heavy wheels used in farm work and in carting ship timber to Boston. Logs were swung beneath two pair of wheels and so transported over the rough roads of the times. With the development of roads, sleighs and pungs were introduced for winter use, which added to Mr. Culver's employment. Of all beasts the horse was to prove the most useful, although oxen were in early use. Travel was usually on horse back as horses could pick their way over uneven roads, hence the horse-block which was placed near the meeting house door. The horses raised on Dedham farms were at first small; the larger horses of today are largely the result of scientific breeding.
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For many years the general line of English vehicles was fol- lowed, with heavy wheels made of oak and long springs running parallel with the body. About 1830 a single buggy made on an entirely new line came into use. In material the change was made from oak to hickory which proved to be lighter, stronger and more stylish. Steel springs ran parallel with the axles. The body had a single seat and a dashboard containing a pocket for a curtain. When rubber tires were invented in 1876 they were at first turned down by the public on the theory that silent moving vehicles were dangerous. A four-wheeled covered passenger car- riage (or carryall as it was often called), came into use about 1850 and was extensively used as a family carriage before the advent of the automobile. Open wagons hung on leather braces were de- veloped through the years and were in general use as runabouts.
The stage coach line from Boston to Providence, said to be the first line in America, passed through Dedham. With the closing of the War of 1812 and the opening of Turnpikes, vehicle making became very active as stage coach building was of utmost importance. The building of coaches became an important indus- try in Dedham. Coaches were usually built to carry nine persons inside, and the driver's seat accommodated three more, including the driver. The body of the coach stood about three and one-half feet from the ground. The rear wheels were about five feet high and the front ones about three and a half feet. The body was swung on leather straps from iron braces fitted to the axles and had no springs. The inside was lined with leather and plush. The rear seat was fitted with a breast strap which was used when the road was rough. Each side of the coach was fitted with a door containing a small pane of glass, fitted with leather curtains which could be rolled up. When the door opened steps were let down from the bottom of the body. Four or six horses were usually worked on each coach. The driver controlled them by reins and applied the long wooden handled brake by foot. Every major modern improvement in transportation was made between the years 1800 and 1900 in velocipedes, bicycles, automobiles and air- planes (1903).
Steam trains commenced to run to Dedham in 1835 and a line of electric cars was opened to Mattapan May 21, 1894. Before
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the advent of electric cars most townspeople travelled to Boston by steam train, of which there were frequent trains in either direction on week days and Sundays. The electric line to Matta- pan was called the Norfolk Suburban Street Railway and was built at an expense of $90,000. On September 17, 1896 the Norfolk Central Street Railway was opened from East Walpole to Dedham. The West Roxbury and Roslindale Street Railway was opened from Dedham to Forest Hills September 26, 1896. Later the company extended the line from Grove Street to Oak- dale Square. The Norfolk Western Street Railway started run- ning to Medfield October 9, 1899, and was later extended to Franklin. The line to Mattapan connected at Hyde Park with a line from Readville. Dedham cars made the trip over this route to Forest Hills in forty-five minutes. The Boston and Providence Railroad did not feel the competition with the electric lines until the Washington Street line was opened which from the start was largely patronized. A favorite ride for Dedham young people, on a hot summer's night, was in the open cars to Franklin on round trip tickets at 25 cents for forty-two miles of travel. Just as the electric cars displaced the steam trains so the automobile came in to gradually reduce the electric car patronage. In Ded- ham the first line to succumb was the Norfolk Suburban Street Railway in the winter of 1920. The Norfolk Western Railway was given up a few years later. The Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway absorbed the line from East Walpole to Forest Hills. Street car service came to an end in Dedham June 12, 1932, and the several routes once served by electric cars now have motor buses. The running time from Dedham Square to Forest Hills is now fifteen minutes.
The high bicycle, first used on Dedham streets by John K. Burgess, was introduced in 1875; the front wheel was about forty inches in diameter and the rear wheel sixteen inches. Later the front wheel was made more than five feet high and the small rear wheel increasingly smaller. The modern "safety" bicycle for men, first made by Col. Albert A. Pope of Boston, appeared on our streets in 1885. Three years later the safety bicycle for women appeared which was a little more cumbersome than the machine for men. With this invention the bicycle was no longer
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a forbidden delight to women and many were among the first eager buyers of the new machine which appeared on our streets in 1888.
The first automobile was sold in the United States in 1898. Henry Ford early astonished the world by driving an automobile a mile, on the ice of Lake St. Clair, in 39 2-3 seconds. S. H. Roper of Roxbury built the first steam car in the United States (for his own use), in 1898. Dr. H. K. Shatswell of Dedham built and drove a "horseless carriage," a steam-propelled vehicle, about 1900. Theodore Burgess is recalled as being the first to drive a real automobile upon the streets of Dedham. In 1900 he pur- chased three French cars which both Mr. and Mrs. Burgess drove. Mrs. Burgess is believed to have been the first woman in Massa- chusetts to have driven a car. They received many notes of protest and were constantly asked to keep off the main highways and away from the Railway Station, the Country Club and Race Meets because of frights on the part of horses. The evolution of highway traffic on Dedham streets, as elsewhere, has been spec- tacular; first came the motorcycle, then the light passenger motor car, driven by Benjamin F. Copeland and Everett Marden, then the luxurious automobiles of more recent years and now huge trucks and motor buses rivaling freight cars in size and suggest- ing railroad trains in speed-and yet the bicycle is still seen upon our streets and the baby carriage has the right of way over the biggest motor bus.
THE GREAT CAUSEWAY. The General Court having given the inhabitants of Watertown, in May, 1635, "leave to remove whether they pleases provided they continue under the government" a little company of Watertown settlers, as previously shown, asked the "Honoure Court to Ratifie unto your humble petitioners you grante formerly made of a plantation about the Falls." The land on the north side of the River was called the "Greate Island" and contained about twelve hundred acres. This island now called "Dedham Island," was nearly surrounded by a long loop of Charles River, which measures some six miles in length and at one point comes within three-fourths of a mile of meeting and thus forming a perfect island. Geologically it is the bed of a former lake or large pond formed by the Glacial
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Period. The island has a basis of bed rock, of which the Powder House Rock is a good example, with out-croppings in different parts of the territory including the land of the Noble & Greenough School. In the early time a portion of this land was used as a planting field, with other parts for the pasturage of cattle, the care of swine and the establishment of a brick industry. One way of reaching the island was across the river at a place "where passage is usually made over the said river with canoes." Another way was across the island by a road, for the building of which John Kingbury, Eleazer Lusher, John Dwight and Thomas Wight were appointed by the Selectmen on October 29, 1644, "to lay out a highway from ye island to the great playne,"* nearly a mile of this road, which was built through the Broad Meadows, formed the Great Causeway. From the earliest time the meadows about the island have been flooded during the spring months and at times freshets have caused much inconvenience in reaching the "planting field." To overcome this difficulty, at a general meeting of the town held January 3, 1652, "Libertie is granted to cutt a Creeke or ditch through any common land of the Towne which shall be occasioned by the cutting the same through the broade meadow from River to River." The ditch, about four thousand feet long, was dug in 1654. The bridge over this brook was called "Flax Bridge," the name suggesting that flax was rotted here in the early days.
* For the location of Dedham streets and a map of the same see "Dedham Hand Book"-Transcript Press.
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CHAPTER XIII
JOHN ELIOT, THE REGICIDES, THE ACADIANS
W HEN Dean Stanley visited America he was asked what places he would like to visit. His reply is of interest: "I want to see where the Pilgrims landed and where the Apostle Eliot preached to the Indians." Dedham should be proud in having had a part in Eliot's work. The Indian Church stood on the site of the South Natick Unitarian Church. It was a spot of ex- ceeding beauty. It is said that when Washington visited this region, standing near this spot, the noble Pegan hill on the right and Broad's hill on the left, and looking down the beautiful valley which stretched below him he exclaimed. "This is the loveliest spot on earth."
Governor Cradock, writing from England in 1629, reminded the Colonists that their charter declared it to be the principal end of their plantation "to win and unite the Indians to the Christian religion." And in the development of the Colony, there was on the part of some of the Puritans, an earnest desire, to convert them to christianity, and to give them the rudiments of an education, skill in farming and some of the useful arts. In 1644 the county courts were directed by the General Court to take care that the Indians be civilized and instructed in the knowledge and worship of God, and the several elders of the churches were directed to consider the matter and return their views regarding it. Later the General Court enacted that two persons each year should be selected to go out and spread the gospel among the In- dians. In 1648 the Reverends Shepard of Cambridge, Eliot of Roxbury, and Allin of Dedham were appointed a committee io treat for the purchase of land for the encouragement of Indians to live on in an orderly way. Parliament established in 1649, the Society for propagating the Gospel in New England and among those who engaged in this work was the Rev. John Eliot, who was drawn to it through a marvelously tender and fatherly heart. In his ministrations, which extended from Cape Cod to Worcester County, Eliot soon found that single handed and alone he could hope to accomplish but little, so he early adopted the plan of col-
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onizing his converts. That they might be near an English settle- ment, where they could have the environment of Christian influ- ence, and be separated from their heathen brothers, he finally selected as a site, the territory of South Natick and vicinity, which was part of the town of Dedham. The Indian town was laid out, with three long streets, two on the north side and one on the south side of the river. It should be remembered that this was an Indian town. The population was exclusively Indian with an Indian Chuch, Indian School and Indian rulers selected from among the Indians. Eliot wisely set up a school to instruct the In- dians and did not attempt to gather a church until his converts had some comprehension of the white man's religion. Eliot might be called the father of manual training in America, as he required the Indians to be instructed in the use of the spade, the axe and hammer.
Governor Endicott thus describes a visit made to the Indian settlement at Natick in 1656. To tell you of their industry and ingenuity in building of a house after the English manner, the hewing and the squaring of their timber, the sawing of the boards themselves, and the making of a chimney in it; making the ground sills and wall plates and mortising and letting the studs into them artificially, there being but one Englishman, a carpen- ter, to show them, being but two days with them, is remarkable. Yet the secret of this ability is found in the fact that the Indian had been taught to fight, to hunt and to fish and in these arts the brain, the hand and the eye had been simultaneously trained. After commencing his work Eliot made application, through his friend, the Rev. John Allin of Dedham, for a grant of land at Natick. The town of Dedham took this matter under considera- tion and appointed a committee to view the land in proposition and make a return to the Selectmen of the town. This committee was appointed September 21, 1650. Dedham generously decided to allow for this Indian plantation at Natick two thousand acres of land within her bounds, provided that the Indians lay down all claims in the town elsewhere, and set no traps in unenclosed grounds. This grant was approved by the General Court in 1651. The settlement flourished and soon had a population of perhaps five or six hundred souls. The grant by Dedham was made, on
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the expressed condition that the Indians lay down all claim to land elsewhere in the township, and forbear the setting of traps, never- theless they continued to improve the land on the south side of Charles river and as it was believed with Mr. Eliot's encourage- ment, it led to a great controversy, which lasted for many years.
In 1660 this controversy, which had been confined to the church in Dedham and the elders in Roxbury was brought before an ecclesiastical council, which called both parties before them. It was recommended by this council that the inhabitants of Ded- ham, be desired for Christ's sake, lovingly to grant unto the Indians, the lands now possessed by them, in question on the south side of the river and that the worth of the land be duly estimated, and the General Court be asked to grant unto Dedham such lands elsewhere as may be equivalent thereto. In the spirit of this recommendation the General Court granted Dedham 8000 acres of land in any convenient place where it could be found free from former grants. This grant, the town of Dedham accepted. Messengers were sent out to make explorations. The "chestnut county" near Lancaster was reported to be good land but hard to work and lacking in meadows, which were so necessary in all in- land settlements for the feeding of cattle. John Fairbanks in- formed the Selectmen that he had seen some good land about twelve miles northwest of Hadley and he and Lieutenant Daniel Fisher were sent out to find it. Having viewed the land they re- turned a favorable report and Lieutenant Joshua Fisher, in May 1665, was employed to survey it. His plan of the land is on file in the Massachusetts Archives-and was known as Pocumtuck. Lieutenant Fisher was paid for his "labor and art." An assess- ment was made September 29, 1669 of 3s 4d upon the proprie- tors of every "cow common" for the payment to Capt. Pynchon of £96 10s for the purchase of the Indian right to Pocumtuck. It was agreed May 23, 1670 that an "artist" be procured to lay out the lots to each proprietor in accordance with his lawful interest in the same. At a subsequent meeting the proprietor assembled in Dedham, laid out the town in lots and selected a site for a meeting house to meet the Court's provision "to maintain the ordinance of Christ there once in five years." In 1672 further orders were passed for organizing the settlement, but its remote-
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