USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. II > Part 89
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In the early times a tan-yard was established in the north part of the town, where the farmers were accustomed to take the skins of their slaughtered ani- mals to be converted into leather for their own use. And when this was done, the shoemaker was in- vited to make his annual visit, and bring his tools
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WILMINGTON.
for the purpose of " shoeing the family." If an exaet " fit " was not obtained, it was compensated for by a durability that might instruet the present age. From the hand-looms were furnished the artieles of elothing.
In 1764 a mill was owned and used by Samuel Jaques for the purpose of crushing cornstalks and pressing out the juice, which was converted into sugar. How far this was successful we have no means of knowing. This early enterprise is charac- teristic of Jaques' numerous descendants, among whom may be mentioned the late Samuel Jaques, of Somerville, who was a native of Wilmington. He was for many years an inspector of hops, also a distinguished breeder of horses and cattle. He owned and lived during the latter part of his life on the well-known Ten Hills Farm, in Somer- ville.
During the last fifty years of the past century the cultivation of hops began to engage the atten- tion of the people here, and was soon so perfeeted as to demonstrate that, with requisite care, they could be successfully grown in Wilmington. As the demand for this production increased, the growers prospered to such an extent that there was scareely a farmer in the town who had not a hop-yard, to which he gave attentiou as being his principal source of ineome and ultimate wealth.
The high prices and ready money received for hops soon attraeted general notiee, and the hop- fever became epidemic. The people of the neigh- boring towns were soon applying here for hop- roots, which for a time was another source of profit to the producers. The business was con- tinued, and carried on to such an extent here that the place was long called Hoptown. At length the culture became so extensively introduced into the New England States and New York that the production greatly exceeded the demand, and the price went down from twenty-five to four cents per pound, so that for the last fifty years this business has been almost entirely given up.
We have alluded to the extensive meadows in Wilmington. Some of them have long been cele- brated for their spontaneous production of cran- berries, which had little or no market value previous to 1790, as we learn by an article from the pen of James Walker, of Fryeburg, Maine, who was born in Wilmington, January 3, 1772. He speaks of some experienced marketmen of North Woburn, who in 1785 carried some six bushels of the tempt- ing fruit to Boston, but could find no one to buy.
After trying in vain until sundown the berry mer- chants went quietly down to the dock, threw their berries into the water, and went home. He also relates that when a lad he took half a bushel with him to Boston, and offered the berries for sale, but no one would buy, until at length he went into a shop kept by a woman, who offered eightpenee in barter.
Mr. Walker's article continues : " In 1790 I had two brothers living in Duxbury who were interested in Navigation ; they owned a sloop of some sixty tons burden, and chartered her for Baltimore. The Captain was from some town on Cape Cod, a middle- aged man who seemed to understand his business, and learning that there were cranberries in Wil- mington, applied to us to buy the fruit. Having a brother older than myself at home, we gave out word that we would buy cranberries at twenty cents per bushel. The people thought it rather low, but they gathered and brought them in at that price, until we were obliged to stop buying. And when they were ready to take them on board, we had two four-ox teams fully loaded with cranber- ries. The vessel went, and made a good voyage of it. And from this single shipment grew the im- mense trade and culture of cranberries."
The planting and rearing of apple-trees of the native kind received attention during the last cen- tury, for the purpose mainly of making cider. If we can rely on the testimony that comes down to us, the trees of that period were not only greater bearers, but vastly more hardy and long-lived than any we have known for the last fifty years. It is also well known that in this natural fruit there was found a great variety in respect to flavor, size, and quality. The celebrated Baldwin apple furnishes an instance. The original tree was found and stood on land owned by James Butters, in the south part of Wilmington, and early attracted some attention, - so much so that it was given the distinct name of Woodpecker, by reason of its being muel visited by birds of that species. Colo- nel Loammi Baldwin, of Woburn, who owned land near this tree, fortunately became interested in the propagation of this variety of fruit, for which pur- pose he frequently cut scions from this tree, with such success as to prefix his name to the Baldwin apple.
In 1798 Captain Joseph Bond, a praetieal baker, came to Wilmington and established a bakery. All the surrounding towns and country were open to liim for a market. The business was successfully
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HISTORY OF .MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
pursued, in a way that secured public favor and patronage. After some time his son, Joseph Bond, Jr., took the business, the father still continuing to oversee the bakery. This largely extended the business, and made lively work for teams and bread-drivers. When Mr. Bond was ready to re- tire from business, it must have been gratifying to him to know that his sons were able to carry it forward, and take a personal interest in maintain- ing the high reputation that " Bond's crackers " had attained through the exertions of their father and grandfather. The business, thus descended to the third generation, was carried on and greatly ex- tended by the introduction of improved machinery, so that the magnitude of the establishment in all business relations made its destruction by fire, in February, 1864, and the removal of the business to Boston, a heavy blow to Wilmington.
Messrs. Perry, Cutler, and Company erected at North Wilmington a spacious tannery, which went ยท into operation in July, 1872. Both tanning and currying are successfully carried on. The estab- lishment employs forty-five men.
Within a few years the Boston Union Ice Com- pany have utilized Silver Lake by erecting spacious houses for the storage of ice, which enables them to transport annually large quantities to Boston by the Boston and Lowell Railroad.
The old Middlesex Canal, completed in 1803, was the great public enterprise of its day. It was favorably located as respects Wilmington, entering the western border of the town and passing one mile west of the Centre, to where it entered Wo- burn, a distance of about five miles. It had two locks in the town, about one mile apart. Each had a commodious house for the entertainment of boatmen. It was of much advantage to the people in transporting wood and lumber to Boston, and gave to the town a business-like appearance. Its greatest drawback was its leakage, whereby a large area of meadow and swamp lands were greatly in- jured by excess of flowage.
The Boston and Lowell Railroad went into opera- tion in 1835. Four and a half miles of its line are within the limits of the town. The station is one mile south from the centre of the town. The Lawrence branch railroad runs for two and one half miles in Wilmington, connecting with the Lowell line at the above-named station.
The Boston and Maine Railroad lias four miles of track in Wilmington, its station being one mile north of the Centre.
The Salem and Lowell Railroad traverses the north part of the town.
The people of Wilmington enjoy the benefit of a well-selected library of one thousand volumes. In 1874 there was formed a Farmers' and Mechan- ics' Club, which now more than maintains its origi- nal vigor and interest. The town has two post- offices, one near the station of the Boston and Lowell Railroad, and one at the Boston and Maine Railroad station.
Wilmington, in the outset of her career as a town, had the school-house, the schoolmaster, and such books and appliances as those early times demanded and supplied, in use.
Whilst the too meagre records of that day do not give those details which grow more and more valuable, it is evident that in the earlier days of Wilmington she had four schools. The north, called Nod, the east, called City, the south, known as Butters Row, the west, as Goshen, are names retained to this day.
Not till 1840 did the Centre have a school-house, her children being quite cosmopolitan as regarded school.
In the summer the mistress bore rule in these schools ; in winter the master, " born to rule," held sway. Here the undergraduate of Harvard was glad to teach, and later the teachers' depart- ment of Phillips Academy sent from its ranks several " to pour fresh instruction " o'er the minds of the youth of Wilmington. Of those native to the town we find the Blanchards, the Bucks, the Burnaps, the Carters, the Eameses, the Jaqueses, the Thompsons, the Walkers, and others.
If the amount raised for education has been less, pro rata, in this town, than in some others in Old Middlesex, it is at least safe to say that in none of them has the expenditure yielded better returns than in Wilmington.
Though never having had academic advantages, Wilmington has done that which, in some respects, brings broader culture ; she has sent out her sons and daughters freely (means and numbers consid- ered) to other places where these privileges ex- isted.
On the first catalogue of Phillips are the names of Wilmington boys, and so on, through the years, even till now.
The "Old Bradford " shows the names of a goodly number of Wilmington's sons and daugh- ters on her lists.
Wilmington supports a high school by her own
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free choice. This act is the more to be praised, as it was not demanded by the law of the common- wealth, the population never having exceeded the requisite number. Although acted on each year, the vote establishing the school is still sustained, and a good high-school is in successful operation.
Besides the high school, which is accommodated
in the town-house, there are five other schools in the town.
The eminent men born in Wilmington are Timo- thy Walker, LL. D., celebrated as a jurist, who settled at Cincinnati, Ohio, and his brother, Sears Cook Walker, the distinguished mathematician and astronomer.
WINCHESTER.
BY EDWIN
A. WADLEIGH.
HE town of Winchester is in the easterly section of Middlesex County, eight miles northwest of Boston by the Boston and Lowell Railroad, which here sends off branches to Woburn and Stoneham. Its form is tri- angular, and it is bounded on the north and northwest by Woburn, on the east by Stone- ham and Medford, on the south by Medford and Arlington, and southwest by Lexington.
All of this territory was a part of a grant of land made to Charlestown in the year 1640 by the Gen- eral Court of Massachusetts. The portion for- merly called South Woburn was ceded to Woburn with the remainder of that town in 1642. It was in this quarter probably that the first dwelling- house in the town of Woburn was erected by Dea- con Edward Convers. He came over from England to this country in 1630, settled in Charlestown, and removed to Woburn in 1642. His place of busi- ness was at the mill called by his name (near Whit- ney's), and there and in that vicinity several of his numerous posterity continued to dwell for many years. He was quite a prominent man in public affairs, and deacon of the First Congregational Church in Woburn until his death, August 10, 1663, at the age of seventy-three years. Among his descendants there have been and still are in- dividuals highly honored and respected.
Rev. Zechariah Syunmes, the progenitor of those who write their names in the manner indicated, came over to this country with his wife and seven children in September, 1634, from Bedfordshire,
fourteen miles northwest from London. He set- tled in Charlestown, and was the minister there from 1634 until his death in 1671. During his lifetime the town of Charlestown voted to give to him a tract of three hundred acres of land extend- ing from the north end of Medford Pond to the borders of Woburn.
Captain William Symmes, a son of Zechariah, occupied a portion of this land at an early period. On a plan of his land which was drawn up in 1705 appears his house, which is there designated as the old house, indicating that it must have been built some time prior to that date. The old house was located not far from the present Centre railroad station in this town, about opposite the railroad freight-yard, and the railroad now passes over the spot where the cellar of the house then stood.
This Captain Symmes was a clothier, or em- ployed in fulling cloth, and had a small dye-house near his residence, which he used principally in connection with his business. He afterwards built a house in what is now termed Baconville, between the two houses now located there. This house was long since taken down, and other structures put up near by. The original grant of land to Zechariah Symmes was ceded to Medford with the rest of the town at an early date, and afterwards became a part of this town. Durable memorials of the oc- cupancy of a large portion of this territory by Indians have been shown in numerous implements, tools, etc., used by them, which have been occasion- ally dug up from the ground.
The river running through the town was named by the Indians Aba-jona, from two Indian lovers who are said to have sacrificed their lives in its waters.
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
Before the building of the Boston and Lowell Railroad, in 1835, the centre part of the village was about where thic Gifford School-house now stands, where a country store was located and much fre- quented. For a succession of years the settlement here was quite slow, and the inhabitants few and scattering. But from the operation of various causes, especially the location of the railroad to Lowell, through the centre, the population and business rapidly increased between the years 1833 and 1839.
Black Horse Tavern, as it was termed, on Main Street (now occupied by J. F. Stone, Esq.), was a noted resort for stage-coaches and teams passing through the village, and the yard at night was gen- erally full of vehicles, while the spacious rooms were occupied by the drivers. On the same street, on the corner of the house formerly occupied by Deacon Lamson, stood the original Baldwin apple- tree from which numerous scions were taken at various times. It was taken down several years ago, at a good old age. At Symmes' Corner is a house (now occupied by Marshall Symmes) which is over one hundred and fifty years old, and was the birthplace and early home of Governor Brooks. A portion of the land was sold to defray his eollege expenses. The elm-tree which overhangs the street in front of the house is over one hundred years old.
By the year 1840 quite a village had been gath- ered within what are now the limits of the town. The Congregational Church was built in that year. Main, Washington, Church, and Bacon streets were then laid out as town highways. Where now is Pleasant Street was only a foot-bridge.
Quite a large manufacturing business was carried on at or near Convers Mill, by S. S. Richardson, of doors, sashes, blinds, ete. Whittemore's dye- house was also located there. B. F. Thompson's tannery was carried on in the same locality (now Waldmyer's) ; also Cutter and Clark's Mill for sawing mahogany and fancy woods, a little way towards Woburn Centre; and the locality has ever since been designated as Cutter Village on account of the families of that name residing there. Further towards Woburn Centre was Church and Lane's piano-forte factory, now carried on by Cowdry, Cobb, & Co. Carriage-building in all its branches was carried on at Symmes Corner by John Symmes. Quite an extensive business was carried on by Mr. Robert Bacon in the vicinity of his resi- dence (now Baconville), in the manufacture of hat bodies, etc. He purchased a large portion of land
in the vicinity, on which he erceted from time to time buildings for manufacturing purposes, and dwelling-houses.
Such is a brief description of the village as it appeared before and at the time it became a dis- tinct municipality. The declaration of indepen- dence as a town, the acceptance of the town charter, bears date May 7, 1850. The territory which it embraces was so compact and well defined, so singn- larly picturesque and beautiful, that it scemed to have been marked out and set apart for individual corporate existence by the hand of Nature her- self.
The first public movement in regard to the town was made November 26, 1848, when a meeting of the inhabitants of South Woburn and vicin- ity was held in the vestry of the Congregational Church, " to take into consideration the subject of petitioning the legislature for an act of incorpora- tion into a separate town, or do anything in rela- tion to the same." At that meeting John A. Bolles, Esq., was the moderator, and a committee was chosen, representing the different sections of the proposed town to investigate the propriety and prac- ticability of a separate town organization.
December 3, 1849, the committee reported favorably upon the plan, their report was accepted, and a committee chosen to draft a petition to the legislature. December 7, 1849, the committee reported the draft of a petition, which was ac- cepted, and another committee chosen to obtain signers thereto. Samuel S. Richardson, Oliver R. Clark, and John A. Bolles were chosen a commit- tee to take the necessary steps to secure a town charter, and they employed Hon. Albert H. Nelson, of Woburn, as their counsel. December 24, 1849, a committee, of which Hon. F. O. Prince was chairman, was chosen to select a name for the town and insert the same in the petition, which had received one hundred and seventy-six names. A great deal of difficulty was experienced in settling upon the name to be given to the new child, but finally it was decided to christen it Winchester, in honor of Colonel William P. Winchester, a well- known and public-spirited citizen of Boston, who thus became its godfather. The petition was pre- sented to the legislature, January 19, 1850, and referred to the committee on towns. While it was pending in the committee, remonstrances were pre- sented and referred to said committee from Luke Wyman and eighty-nine others, of West Cam- bridge (now Arlington), and the selectmen and one
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WINCHESTER.
hundred and three others, of Medford. At a town- meeting, held in Woburn, February 7, 1850, it was "Voted, That the town is willing that the prayer of the petition should be granted on just and equitable terms, to be agreed upon by a committee from each part of the town."
There was a long and protracted hearing before the committee of the legislature, and the committee went out and viewed the site of the proposed town from the hill in the rear of J. F. Stone's present residence on Main Street. The hill was then crowned with a summer-house, owned by and on the premises of Charles MeIntier. It required but one visit to satisfy the committee that the town ought to be incorporated, and it soon after reported a bill to that effect. Additional petitions and remon- strances in regard to the matter were introduced and laid on the table after the bill was re- ported to the house, and the town records say, " There probably never has been a case of the kind accompanied by such constant, earnest, and whole- sale lobbying " in opposition to the measure. The bill was vigorously opposed in the house by rep- resentatives Hoar of Concord, Hopkins of North- ampton, and Gray of Boston. The town records further say : " The town should never forget the services of S. N. Gifford, the chairman of the committee on towns on the part of the house, or Mr. Plimpton, of the same committee, in support of the bill." The bill finally passed both branches, and was signed by the governor, April 30, 1850.
One remarkable feature of this act of incorpora- tion was that not a dollar was spent to influence legislation, except the employment of eminent conn- sel to argue the cause.
May 7, 1850, the first town-meeting was held, and Nathan B. Johnson, Loring Emerson, and John Symmes were chosen selectmen. Mr. Symmes declined, and Charles McIntier was chosen in his place ; David Youngman was chosen town-clerk ; Samuel B. White, treasurer ; John M. Steele, Charles Goddard, and Frederick O. Prince, school committee.
At a town-meeting, May 27, 1850, a letter was received from Colonel W. P. Winchester, enclosing his check for three thousand dollars, in token of his appreciation of the honor conferred upon his family name, which sum was to be appropriated towards the erection of a town-hall, or any other proper object of municipal expenditure. The gift was accepted, and placed in the hands of trustees for in-
vestment until some disposition of it should be determined upon.
The death of Colonel Winchester occurred Au- gust 6, 1850, at the age of forty-nine years, and appropriate resolutions in relation to it were after- wards adopted by the town and entered upon its records. From the numerous tributes which the decease of Colonel Winchester called forth, the following extracts from one written by a well-known literary gentleman is selected, to show somewhat of the character of the man whose name the town bears : -
" Seldom are the same rare qualities united in any one person which shone so conspicuously in every feature of his character and in every act of his widely extended career. With large means of usefulness, the first and most constant thought of his life was to make others happy.
" As a husband and father he was the idol of the domestic circle, where the genial and affectionate qualities of his disposition were manifested in the most striking manner. Kind and indulgent to the utmost degree, he was the centre around which the sweetest and most tender ties of home were all united.
" In his business relations he was, of course, more widely known. Gifted with a foresight and sagacity which never failed to see results in their causes, his opinions were always sought with in- terest, and received with deference and respect. Rarely did he fail to anticipate the more important fluctuations of mercantile affairs, and to predict not only the cause of the crisis, but its continuance and its cnre. And the untiring industry which he bronght to the conduct of his own widely extended affairs, added to the firmness and self-reliance of his character, enabled him through many years to conduct with perfect success a business second in importance to none of those which have so ex- tended the wealth and elevated the social influence of Boston.
" As a friend he was most widely known and most universally beloved .. Warm in his attach- ments, unremitting in his kindness, and thoughtful even in the smallest acts of attention, none were ever admitted to his intimacy without placing him first on the list of those who were felt to be most valued and cherished from their own intrinsic worth and virtue. In his own house his hospitality was unbounded, and not less cordial and graceful than constant and profuse. At all times he ap- peared not to think of his own accommodation, or
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
to value his own repose, in comparison with the welfare and comfort of his friends. This uniform benevolence of disposition shone through the small- est acts of his daily life, -and especially in his constant liberality to the poor who had any claims, however slight, to his consideration.
" He was an accomplished scholar in the French, Spanish, and Italian languages, - two of which he spoke with ease and fluency. He was a discrimi- nating judge, no less than a liberal patron of the fine arts, and delighted to surround himself at all times with the elegances of art, and to enjoy that approbation of his refined taste which those per- sons who were best qualified to judge rarely failed to express to him. As he lived universally beloved, so he died universally lamented."
Statistics. - The assessors for the first year re- ported the valuation of real and personal estates to be $874,259; 195 houses, of which 18 were owned by non-residents ; 366 poll taxes ; 202 chil -. dren between five and fifteen years of age; rate of taxation that year, $2.88 per $1,000; amount of tax levied, $3,001.96. The valuation of real and personal estates was the highest in 1874, when it was $4,758,890. The last valuation (in 1879) was : personal, $801,407 ; real, $2,746,635; or a total of $3,548,042. The rate of taxation increased after the first year up to $ 17.30 per $1,000 in the year 1865, when it reached its highest point ; in 1875 it was $16; in 1876, $15.50; in 1877, $13; in 1878, $12.50; in 1879, $ 12.30 per $1,000. The expenditures for the first year, or to March 1, 1851, were : for schools, $1,253.20; for building and repairing school-houses, $1,540.91; support of poor, $112.98 ; town officers, $636.50; incidental expenses, $ 572.95; total expendi- tures, $4,116.63. The expenditures for the year ending February 28, 1880, were: for schools, $10,959.28; repairs of school-houses and improve- ment of grounds, $929.34 ; highways and bridges, $6,416.99 ; fire department, $3,232.83; support of poor, $2,361.50 ; library, $1,201.85 ; cemetery, $721.27 ; miscellaneous, $4,699.37; construction of water-works, $2,799.18 ; maintenance of water- works, $1,505.12 ; interest, $14,590.72 ; state and county tax, $3,068.13 ; total, $52,485.58. The total indebtedness of the town, February 28, 1880, is $215,850. The percentage of the whole debt to the valuation is six and eight hundredthis ; the water debt only is four and fifty-one hundredthis, and the other municipal debt is one and fifty-seven hundredths.
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