History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 156

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1226

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II > Part 156

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"The Publick are hereby Notified that the Sale of the Farm in Groton which way to have been the 3d Instant on the Premisses, at the House of Mr George Pierce, is adjourn'd to the house of Mr. Joseph Moulton, Inn-holder in Boston, where it will certainly be Sold to the highes: Bidder, on Wednesday the 1st Day of December, at 4 o'Clock, P. M."

It would seem that during the period of the ad- journment Pierce had made a sale of a part, at least, of the property to Abraham Amsden, the deed of which is dated November 23, 1773, though his name is continued as an inn-keeper in the series of alma- nacs until 1784.

In the early part of the present century Jesse Stone kept a tavern on the site of the house now oc- cupied by James Gilson, at the junction of the Sandy Pond Road with the highway from Ayer to Littleton. The following advertisement appeared in The Inde- pendent Chronicle (Boston), September 19, 1808 .

"A FARM-FOR SALE,

"CONTAINING 140 acres of Land, sitnated in the South part of Groton, (Mass.) with a new and well-finished Honse, Barn & Out-Houses, and Aqueduct, pleasantly situated, where a Tavern has been kept for the last seven years ,-a part or the whole will be sold, as best suits the pur- chaser. For further particulars, inquire of THO'S B. RAND, of Charlestown or the Subscriber, living on the Premises.

" Sept. 12.

JESSE STONE."

The property was sold by Jesse Stone to Moses Day about 1812, and by him kept as a tavern until it was destroyed by fire in the spring of 1836.

PLANS AND MAPS .- Like all villages of rapid growth, resulting from suddenly becoming a commer- cial centre, we existed for several years largely upon paper. Tracts of land were purchased by speculators,

streets laid out and house-lots staked out, having re- gard solely for the immediate profits to the specula- tor, regardless entirely of the future relations to the community.

In 1845 the principal farms within our village lim- its were Calvin Fletcher's, Silas Nutting's, William Stuart Nutting's, John Mills', Nathaniel Stone's and Abel Morse's. The first extended as far west as John Henry Whitcomb's, on Main Street. Silas Nutting's extended from Calvin Fletcher's as far west as the vi- cinity of Main Street crossing, William Stuart Nut- ting's was the next and was bounded on the west by Abel Morse's and John Mills', who owned to near the Boston and Maine Railroad. Nathaniel Stone's was north and west of these.

July 31, 1849, William S. Nutting conveyed to Wil- liam H. Hovey and John M. Merriam a tract of four- teen acres, which subsequently became known as the Hovey & Merriam purchase. It was bounded east- erly by Silas Nutting's land, northerly by Nathan- iel Stone's farm, westerly by a line about midway be- tween Washingtou aud Pleasaut Streets, and south- erly by a line not far from the present Newton Street. Walter M. Wilson, of Cambridge, civil engineer, was employed to make a survey of this tract, and his plan which was lithographed and circulated as an adver- tisement, is known as the Walter M. Wilson plan for Hovey & Merriam. A copy of this plan, now in my possession, shows the railroad tracks and buildings then in our village. On it is the following inscrip- tion : "Grand Junction Railroad at So. Groton, Massachusetts. Besides freight and other trains, six passenger trains meet and depart from this place three times a day. This land, which is for sale in lots, as here represented, is within 150 yards of the depot." The purchase was divided into sixty-nine lots, the lines of which, as established by this survey, are, with a few exceptions, existing and recognized to-day. On this plan are also established Washing- ton Street, Newton Street, Cambridge Street, Colum- bia Street, Williams Street and Nashua Street, and the recent survey of the streets made under the direction of the town was, with the exception of Washington Street, in conformity with this plan. In it is shown a solution of what, to the residents of to-day, appears to be not only inconvenient but mean- ingless, namely : the sudden termination of Columbia Street and William Street at their junction. The clear purpose of the owners of this tract was to avoid coming in contact with the land of Silas Nutting, and thus opening it to the market, with an advan- tage equal to that of the land owned by the parties making the survey. By this arrangement, some of the most valuable and sightly land in our village has been, for years, entirely shut out, and until the recent extension of Williams Street has been entirely in- accessible to the public. Had not the obstacles cre- ated by this survey existed, Newton Street would probably have long since been extended to the old

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

road near Jolin Flannigan's, and the town would have received the benefit accruing from a material enhancement to the value of our taxable property.

This is not the only instance in our village that illustrates the necessity for highways being located by a public authority, having in view the general wel- fare of the community, and not solely the particular gain to the private investor. An interesting feature of the Hovey & Merriam plan is that it shows the lo- cation and approximate size of all the buildings then standing in our village; also the location and number of railroad tracks, and is really a photograph of the village in 1849. The buildings then consisted of the present blacksmith-shop, on the easterly side of Co- lumbia Street. The site of the three brick buildings of the Stony Brook Railroad Company was then oc- cupied by three wooden structures, the engine-house nearly on the site of the present one, and just west of, and connected with it, was a wooden shed, that was subsequently extended nearly to Columbia Street. Nearly on the site of the present car-house was a wooden structure of about the same size, then used for a similar purpose. A wooden freight-house stood nearly where the present brick one now is. These three buildings were sold at auction in 1869, the first two purchased by Samuel Reed, and from them was constructed what is now known as the Adams house. The wooden freight-house was purchased by John B. Alley & Company, and is now used for a store-house at the tannery. Besides these was the brick school-house then standing on Fillebrown's lot, a dwelling-house subsequently known as the Park house, occupied the lot where the present Spaulding Block stands. At the corner of Newton and Washing- ton Streets was the house of Andrew J. Gardner. On the corner of Washington and Main Streets was a small wooden building, for years occupied by George W. Stuart as a dwelling-house and country store. Near the corner of Washington and Pleasant Streets was a dwelling-house owned by William S. Nutting, who, at that time, resided where William U. Sherwin now lives, his barn then being in the centre of what is now Pleasant Street, and faced south. Between Main Street and the railroad was the old engine and freight- house, torn down but a few years since.

January 11, 1849, William S. Nutting sold to Win- throp E. Faulkner twelve acres, describing it as meadow, pond and upland. It bounded easterly about as far as the centre of Forest Street, southerly by Nonaicoicus Brook, and westerly and northerly by the railroads. Faulkner sold to Stephen Dow the laud since known as the tannery property. The re- mainder of the land purchased of Nutting was di- vided into house-lots, the survey being made and the plan drawn by Parker, Stearns & Sanborn, civil engineers of Charlestown. Mr. Stearns, the second

member of the firm, was William S. Stearns, after- wards superintendent and president of the Fitchburg Railroad. This plan was known as the Winthrop Faulkner plan. It is laid out into twenty-one house- lots, the boundaries of whichi, as shown in that survey, prevail substantially to-day. The enginecring firm of Parker, Stearns & Sanborn also made for the firm of Thayer & Lackey a survey and plan of a large part of the land between Union Street and Nonaicoi- cus Brook, locating the streets now on that tract.

The easterly half of the southerly portion of Forest Street was on the land of Silas Nutting, the street being a joint contribution of Nutting and Faulkner. Rufus Brooks, who at that time owned the Wheeler place, was unwilling to contribute anything for the maintenance of a street, and a strip of land one foot wide was left between him and the street.

John Bligh purchased of Mr. Faulkner four lots, and located what has since been known as Bligh Street. That portion of William S. Nutting's farm west of the Hovey & Merriam tract was surveyed and lotted by Cyrus A. Latham, civil engineer. Nearly all these lots were sold by Mr. Nutting in his life-time. The balance of William S. Nutting's farm, lying on the northerly side of Main Street, was sold at auction by him at different times. Prior to 1860 nearly the whole of the original farm of William S. Nutting had been sold and built upon. It thus com- ing readily into market, materially assisted the growth of our village, and if the owners of other farms had manifested a like disposition to have disposed of their land, rather than hold it to wait a fabulous rise, that they believed would result from a land famine, the size and prosperity of our town would have been greatly enhanced, and they would have received their share of the benefit thus resulting.

The remainder of the Phineas Nutting farm, namely, that part held by Silas Nutting, was, so far as sold by him, disposed of in small lots. It was sur- veyed in threc sections, the principal survey being that of Parker, Stearns & Sanborn in 1852, of which Grove, Prospect, Elm and part of School Streets are a part. Other surveys were made by Cyrus Latham and Horace C. Hovey, a larger part, however, in area of the farm is now owned by Mr. Nutting's heirs.

The principal part of the John Mills farm was pur- chased by Harvey A. Woods, and in accordance with the survey made by Josiah K. Bennett, Esq., has all been sold in house-lots.

But a small part of the Nathaniel Stone farm, lying north of the railroads, has yet been sold. That part however, lying west of Nonaicoicus Brook, known as the Acre, has all been disposed of and built upon.

The Park farm remains to-day practically as it was fifty years ago, since which time there has been but one house built upon it.

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CHAPTER LII.

AYER-(Continued).

Canal-Railroads-Post-Ofice-Telegraph-Telephone.

HAD railroads never been conceived of, it is proba- ble that the site of our village would have long since been upon the line of a great through canal. The advantages that the Erie Canal gave to New York City by connecting it with the rapidly developing grain fields of the West, did not escape the attention of those interested in sustaining Boston's commercial pre-eminence. About 1835 Loammi Baldwin, a noted civil engineer of that period, made a survey for a canal from Boston to the Connecticut River, and proposed an extension from its western terminus to the Hudson River, with a tunnel under Hoosac Mountain. There was an engraved plan of the survey made by Annin & Smith, of Boston, which showed its exact route. It is to be found at the end of a " Report of the Com- missioners of the State of Massachusetts, on the routes of canals from Boston Harbour to Connecticut and Hudson Rivers."

The plan is entitled " Plan of a Survey for a Canal from Boston to Connecticut River, with a sketch of a proposed Route to the Hudson, made under the direc- tion of the Commmissioners by L. Baldwin, en- gineer."

It is interesting to note the fact that this canal fol- lowed substantially the present line of the Hoosac Tunnel route. Beginning with Charles River, it passed through Cambridge, Watertown, Waltham, Lincoln, Concord, Acton, Littleton, Groton, Shirley, Lunenburg and Fitchburg, and from this place it went through Ashburnham and Winchendon, and then, as the Fitchburg now does, down Miller's River to the Connecticut, then up the Deerfield River to the mountain ; thence under the mountain by tunnel ; then down the Hoosac River to the Hudson.

Mr. Baldwin was at one time a law student in the office of Hon. Timothy Bigelow, of Groton, and while so engaged he made, in 1802, the fire-engine that is now stationed at West Groton. This machine, after eighty-eight years of service, continues to do good work.

The canal commissioners, in their report (page 57), say,-

" The route from the Nashua continues over plains, on quite level land, without any very great impediments, through the southern part of Groton to the Cnttecoonemngkeag. the ontlet of Sandy Pond ; thence along the southern side of that pond to Spectacle Pond, situated between Groton and Littleton. These ponds can be nsed as reservoirs."

The commissioners evidently confounded the out- let of Sandy Pond with the river in Shirley of a sim- ilar name. Mr. Baldwin in his report, (page 112), says,-

"From Sandy Pond in Groton near the school house No. 11, the water may be turned with great ease to Spectacle Pond, into which falls 42-ii

Shaker's brook. The stream from Spectacle Poud passes through Forge Pond in Westford, from which it is called Stony Brook until it drops into the Merrimack River in Chelmsford. From information derived from intelligent gentlemen, and from iny own observation of part of this section of the country, it will be quite easy to open a communica- tion through the valleys of these ponds and brooks to the Middlesex Canal in Chelmsford. Whether it would be expedient to carry the main line of the proposed canal in that direction, or whether a branch only should be taken off from it that way, are questions wliich it may be im- portant to have the means of settling. It will therefore add much to the valuable hydrographic information which these surveys will furnislı to cause a level and examination to be made between the Nasliua at Staples' mills and the Middlesex canal."

The heights of certain points along the proposed route of the canal are given in the report, and are counted from low-water mark in Boston harbor. The following are in Ayer :

Shaker's Brook, on line between Littleton and Groton, 220.28

Spectacle Pond, in Littleton and Groton, 212.54

Sandy Pond, Groton, . 226.90

Top of under-pinning of school-house No. 11, Groton, 237.64

Stone's Saw-mill Poud, on Saudy Pond Brook, 66 . 223.89

Sandy Pond and Bear Hill Brook, 213.03

Stone at Corner of Nutting's barn, 224.95

From the above data we have no difficulty in tracing the line of this canal through our town. Staples' Mills was the saw and grist-mill at Mitchell- ville. They were then owned by Thomas Staples. Nutting's barn was just westerly from where Charles C. Bennett's dwelling-house now is. Stone's saw-mill pond on Sandy Pond Brook is what we now know as the Mill Pond or Flannigan's Pond. School-house No. 11 is our Sandy Pond School. Shaker's Brook is the same as now known as Bennett's Brook.

The rapid development of railroads gave a forever quietus to canal-building in New England. However beneficial such a water-highway may have been to the public, it certainly could not have developed South Groton into a separate municipality. We are, in the truest sense, a railroad town ; not simply a rail- road centre, but an offspring of the iron-horse itself. It was the magic touch of its wand that conjured our promising and thrifty village from an unpromising and almost stagnant country. At the advent of the railroads the limits of our present village comprised about a dozen farms of doubtful prosperity. The dwelling-house occupied now by James Gilson had but recently been erected, and was owned and occu- pied by one Joseph Waugh. Just south of it, in the triangle formed by the three highways, were the three dwelling-houses now standing there. To the south and nearer the Harvard line was the house of Abel Stone, now owned by his son, Charles H. Stone. At the pumping station was the saw-mill of Calvin Fletcher, and across the road the old red house, so called, since burned, and the house now owned by Newell A. Spencer. The next dwelling-house was that occupied by Joseph Barden, on the southerly side of Main Street, opposite F. G. Lufkin's, and now owned by Henry C. Sherwin. Silas Nutting's house, on the northerly side of Main Street, opposite Elm Street, was standing substantially as it now is. On

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

the Wheeler lot on Tannery Street was the house of Abijalı Nutting. A little, square, hip-roof, brick school-house stood on the Fillebrown lot. In the fork of the roads stood the one-story dwelling-house, formerly school-house, then occupied by Abigail Chapin. A small mill, owned by Abel Morse, then occupied the site of Levi W. Phelps' present exten- sive establishment. Across the brook, on the north- erly side of Shirley Street, was the dwelling-house of Benjamin Morse. The next buildings to the west were near the Lewis Blood place, nearly a mile dis- tant, and at that time they consisted of four dwelling- houses, three of which have since been torn down.

There was then quite a little hamlet around the factories at Mitchellville. On Park Street stood the John Mills house, and just north of it the brick dwelling-house of Nathaniel Stone. Across the street and farther north was the Park house, all of which are now standing. Oliver Blood lived where Charles G. Woods' dwelling-house now stands. There was a small dwelling-house where John M. Haggett now lives. Our present Main Street, from the Littleton line to the corner of Shirley and Park Streets, was the principal highway. It was joined at Joseph Waugh's by the Sandy Pond Road, and near Fletcher's saw-mill by the Harvard Road. The old road to Groton, via Flannigan's Crossing, was traveled sub- stantially as now. Shirley Street was the only high- way west of Nonaicoicus Brook. Park Street was the road to Shirley and to Groton, by the way of Farmers' Row. What was later known as the old road to Groton joined Park Street just south of the John Mills place ; thence to Groton via Groton Street and what is now Washington Street.

The Fitchburg Railroad was chartered in 1843 and is our oldest steam highway. The first, or what is now the north track, was built to Shirley Village in the fall of 1844, and extended to Fitchburg the fol- lowing year. The second, or south track, was built in 1847.

Before the Fitchburg Railroad had been built the question of the location of the station was considered by the citizens of Groton. In town-meeting February 13, 1843, the following vote was passed:

"Chose Elijah Whitton, James Farnsworth, Artemas Wood, John Boyntou and Nathaniel P. Smith a com- mittee to confer with the authorities of the Boston & Fitchburg Co., in relation to the location of a depot at the south part of the town, also to select the loca- tion of a road thereto, from the centre of the town ; also to make such surveys thereto as they may deem necessary."

August 28, 1844, the town voted and chose the selectmen a committee to confer with the directors of the Fitchburg Railroad; also instruct a committee to advocate the location of a depot at the lower part of the town, near the mill of Calvin Fletcher.

"Voted : To direct the selectmen to repair the road as they may think proper."

In accordance with the request in the last vote, the first Groton depot of the Fitchburg Railroad was located at what is now known as Flannigan's Crossing. The passenger station was built on the south side of the railroad, and west side of the highway. The freight- house was located just west of the passenger station. On the north side of the track a large wood-shed was built.

The location thus selected for the depot was occu- pied as such until the completion of the present Union Station in 1848.

The old passenger station was purchased by John Pingry and moved to the lot at the corner of Main and Church Streets, where, with the exception of a change in color from a yellowish brown, and the ad- dition of two ells, it presents to-day practically the same external appearance as it did when it served railroad purposes.

The wood-shed was torn down and the freight-house moved on to what is now known as the Milk Stand Lot, just east of the Main Street crossing, where, with the addition of an extra story, added a few years since, it now stands. While the present Union Station was being built, a partially completed build- ing that the Woods Brothers had moved from Woods Village was leased by the Fitchburg Railroad Company for a passenger depot. It stood between Main Street and the railroad, nearly opposite Stone's Block. It was subsequently purchased by Andrew J. Gardner, who moved it on to the lot at the corner of Washing- ton and Newton Streets, now occupied by the Uni- tarian Church, and finished it as a dwelling house ; and at the time it was burned in the great fire of 1872, was owned and occupied by George H. Champney. It was in this building, while owned by Mr. Gardner, that the first religious society (Baptist) in South Groton was organized.

After the Fitchburg Railroad was incorporated, but before it was built, the Groton Branch Railroad Com- pany was chartered to build a railroad from some point on the Fitchburg Railroad in Groton to a point on the highway from Pepperell to Dunstable, but nothing was ever done toward its construction.

The Worcester and Nashua Railroad, as built, is a consolidation of two railroad companies-the Groton and Nashua Company, chartered by the New Hamp- shire Legislature, December 24, 1844, to build a rail- road from the New Hampshire and Massachusetts State line to Nashua, N. H., and the Worcester and Nashua Railroad Company, chartered by the Massa- chusetts Legislature, March 5, 1844, to build a rail- road from Worcester to Massachusetts and New Hampshire State line. The consolidation of these two roads as the Worcester and Nashua Railroad Company was authorized by the Legislatures of both States. By a subsequent act of the Massachusetts Legislature, this company consolidated with the Nashua and Rochester Railroad Company, thus be- coming the Worcester, Nashua and Rochester Rail-

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road Company, and in 1886 was leased to the Boston and Maine Company. The construction of the road was begun December 1, 1846. The section between Ayer and Clinton was opened for travel July 3, 1848 ; between Worcester and Clinton, November 22, 1848, aud between Ayer and Nashua, December, 18, 1848.

The Peterborough and Shirley Railroad Company, as its name would indicate, was chartered to build a railroad from Shirley, Massachusetts, to Peterbor- ough, New Hampshire. Before the construction was begun, the Worcester and Nashua route had been surveyed, and the location of the new road was changed, from a proposed terminus on the Fitchburg Railroad in Shirley, to meet the other two roads at the future railroad centre of Groton Junction. It is believed that the road was made to run through a corner of Shirley to avoid a forfeiture of its charter. The road was opened to West Townsend in February, 1848, and to Greenville in 1851. The promises of traffic have never been such as to warrant the invest- ment necessary to extend the road to Peterborough ; consequently the road bears two towns as its apparent termini, to neither of which it runs. Soon after the road was opened to travel it was leased to the Fitch- burg Railroad Company for the term of twelve years, and purchased by the latter company in 1860 for $132,666, realizing to the original stockholders fifty- six per cent. of their investment. From the open- ing of the road in December, 1848, until the aban- donment of the depot at Flanagan's Crossing, that station was their termini,-the new company running over the Fitchburg track from Main Street to that point.

The Peterborough and Shirley road originally crossed the Worcester and Nashua road by switching on and off; and what is now the side-track past Spen- cer's stone-yard was the original main-track of the Peterborough and Shirley road. An inspection of it is interesting, as it shows the great improvement in rail- road iron since 1869. The Stony Brook road was built by the corporation of that name in 1848, from North Chelmsford to Groton Junction. It was soon leased to the Nashua and Lowell for a term of years, and was absorhed in the Beston and Maine system in 1887. The main building of our present Union Station was erected in 1848. The arch on the south of the Fitchburg tracks was designed for the Stony Brook trains that at first crossed over the Fitchburg road by switches, and the arch on the north side was in- tended for the Peterborough and Shirley trains, but this arrangement was, upon a short trial, demon- strated to be inconvenient, and was abandoned for the arrangement now in use. Originally the ticket- office and waiting-room was in the northwest corner of the main building, where the small waiting-room and the telegraph offices now are. Where is now the general freight office was a side-track. A waiting- room and restaurant, the latter enclosed by sashes, to be raised and lowered similar to the restaurant in

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 156

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1226

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1226