USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newburyport > History of Newburyport, Mass., 1764-1905, Volume I > Part 16
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No definite action was taken until September 12, 1839, when another committee was appointed to consider the sub- ject and report at an adjourned meeting.2 On the twenty-sixth day of September following, the town voted to lay an iron pipe from Frog pond to Brown square and set two hydrants, one in the square and the other at the junction of Harris and Union streets. The committee was also authorized to supply the Wessacumcon Steam Mills Company with water, from the pipe at Brown square, for manufacturing purposes, at a reason- able price; and a month later the committee was instructed to ascertain the cost of laying the pipe according to the plan submitted, with a branch pipe extending in a northerly direc- tion to Kent street and southeasterly to Lime street.
April 6, 1840, the subject was again discussed at a meeting of the inhabitants of the town, and Nathaniel Horton, John Merrill, Samuel T. DeFord, Enoch S. Williams, and John Bradbury were appointed to attend to the laying of the pipe from Frog pond to Brown square, and they were also author- ized to make such arrangements with the Wessacumcon Steam Mills " as they may think expedient."3
On the twelfth day of October following, the town accepted the proposal of the Bartlet Steam Mills4 to take, subject to the
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. IV., p. 42; Newburyport Daily Herald, May 15, 1838.
2 Newburyport Town Records, vol. IV., p. 57.
Newburyport Town Records, vol. IV., p. 80.
4 The name " Wessacumcon Steam Mills," was changed by an act of the legis- lature, March 18, 1840, to " Bartlet Steam Mills."
20I
EMIGRATION TO CALIFORNIA
supervision and control of the selectmen, the water needed for manufacturing purposes, and also voted to pay the con- tractor for laying additional pipe.1
In April, 1845, the contract was amended, and the right to use the steam force-pump, for fire purposes, outside the mill yard was granted.
[April 13, 1846] Voted to recommend that the sum of Five hundred dollars be appropriated for the payment of the expense of laying the pipes from Browns Square to the Bartlet Steam Mills. Provided that a Bond shall be given by the Directors of the Bartlet Steam Mills that the water shall be used only in case of fire, agreeably to the votes of the town in relation thereto.2
TELEGRAPH.
In 1844, the first American magnetic telegraph line was constructed and successfully operated between Washington, D. C., and Baltimore, Md.
In 1847, telegraphic communication between Newburyport and Boston was established, and the first message from the selectmen of Newburyport to the mayors of Salem and Bos- ton, was sent over the wire on Christmas day.
The stockholders of the Boston, Salem and Newburyport Magnetic Telegraph Company held their first annual meeting in Salem January 15, 1849, " Charles H. Hudson, superin- tendant."
In 1850, this company was consolidated with the Mer- chants Telegraphic Line, so called, then extending from Hali- fax, N. S., to New Orleans, and now forming a part of the Western Union system.3
EMIGRATION TO CALIFORNIA.
The excitement that followed the discovery of gold in Cali- fornia led to the charter of several Merrimack-built ships for the Pacific coast. The brig Charlotte, William G. Bartlett, master, sailed from Newburyport for San Francisco, January 23, 1849, with forty-five passengers.
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. IV., p. 89.
2 Newburyport Town Records, vol. IV., p. 253.
3 Newburyport Herald, January 30, 1850.
202
HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
During the following summer, fabulous stories relating to the mineral wealth in California quickened the demand for transportation and stimulated the ship-building industry. The schooner William A. Tarlton, the brig Ark, the ship Euphrasia, the brig Annah, the bark Dominga, the brig General Worth, the bark John Caskie, the schooner James, the brig Roscoe, the schooner Caroline and the ship Delia Walker, were all loading, at one time, at the wharves in Newburyport.
The William A. Tarlton sailed October 18, 1849, with eight passengers and a crew of able-bodied seamen, who gave their services and fifty dollars in cash for the privilege of working their way to the new El Dorado. The brig Ark sailed on the first day of November following, with one hundred and thir- teen passengers. The ship Euphrasia, with a portion of her cargo,sailed November second for Boston, where she received additional supplies, and then proceeded on her voyage around Cape Horn. The Dominga with one hundred and twenty- five passengers, sailed November twelfth. A large concourse of people assembled to witness her departure, and the New- buryport Artillery company honored the occasion with a nation- al salute of thirty guns. The brig Annah sailed November twenty-ninth with thirty-one passengers; and the brig Gen- eral Worth, December third with thirty-two passengers. Other vessels were loaded during the next two or three months and carried from Newburyport a large number of active and enterprising young men. The bark John Cas- kie, however, unable to secure a sufficient number of passen- gers to render the voyage profitable, was withdrawn and em- ployed in the East India trade.
CITY HALL.
At a meeting held March 19, 1850, the inhabitants of the town "voted to build a new and commodious Hall at a cost not exceeding thirty thousand dollars," and appointed a com- mittee to procure plans and ascertain the probable cost of a suitable building.1 On the fifteenth day of April following,
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. IV., p. 336.
CITY HALL
203
Charles H. Coffin, Albert Currier, John M. Cooper, Frede- rick J. Coffin, William B. Bannister, James Blood, Samuel Currier, Philip Johnson, Enoch S. Williams and John Burrill were authorized to purchase land on the northwesterly corner of Green and Pleasant streets, opposite Brown square, and build the hall according to the plans and specifications submit- ted and approved.' An attempt to reconsider this vote, at a meeting held April twenty-fourth, was defeated after a long struggle and the committee was then instructed to purchase the materials needed and complete the building as soon as possible.2
CITY HALL, 1851.
The corner-stone was laid July 4, 1850. A procession under the escort of the Washington Light Guard, marched through the principal streets in the centre of the town to Brown square, where, after prayer by Rev. W. W. Eells and singing by a chorus of male and female voices, Hon. Caleb Cushing delivered an eloquent address. The exercises of the day closed with fireworks on the mall in the evening.
The building was completed in February, 1851, and the an- nual meeting was held on the eighteenth day of March follow-
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. IV., p. 342.
2 Newburyport Town Records, vol. IV., p. 344.
204
HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
ing in the new town hall.' After the incorporation of the city of Newburyport the rooms on the lower floor of the build- ing were re-arranged for the use of the city government, clerk, treasurer, assessors, overseers of the poor, and other officials. In 1882, a new stage entrance was provided for the upper hall, galleries were added and other changes made to enlarge its seating capacity and render it more comfortable and con- venient for evening entertainments and public gatherings.
ANNEXATION OF A PART OF NEWBURY TO NEWBURYPORT.
Repeated attempts were made to extend the bounds and enlarge the area of the town of Newburyport after its incor- poration in 1764. As early as September 18, 1794, the in- habitants voted to petition the General Court to provide by law for the annexation of a part of the town of Newbury.2 The prayer of the petitioners, however, was not granted.
March 29, 1821, the town voted to favor the petition present- ed to the General Court by Ebenezer Wheelwright and others, asking that the boundary line on the southwesterly side of Newburyport be as follows : " Beginning on the southerly line of said Newburyport, on the road near Mr Moses Bartletts, in said Newbury, thence running easterly on said road to the county road, so called, near Mr. Paul Lunts, in said Newbury, thence southeasterly on said county road to Rolfe's lane, so called, in said Newbury, thence easterly or northeasterly on Rolfe's lane to the river road leading to Plum Island, thence on the Plum Island turnpike, so called, to Plum Island, thence, continuing the same course, across Plum Island to the ocean."3 The General Court, however, after a prolonged hearing, granted the petitioners " leave to withdraw."
In 1828, some of the inhabitants of Belleville, or the " fifth parish in Newbury," asked to be incorporated as a separate town, and Ebenezer Wheelwright and others again petitioned the General Court to be set off from Newbury and annexed
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. IV., p. 357.
2 Newburyport Town Records, vol. II., p. 97; History of Newbury (Currier), PP. 303-307.
3 Newburyport Town Records, vol. III., p. 97.
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206
HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
to Newburyport, but neither of these petitions were granted.1
In 1833, another unsuccessful attempt was made to annex a part of the town of Newbury to Newburyport, and Decem- ber 19, 1834, a committee was appointed to confer with a committee from the town of Newbury in regard to the pro- posed reunion of the two towns.2 The conference was held, and a favorable report was made by the committee, January I, 1835, but on the twelfth day of January following the in- habitants "voted to reject the Proposition of the Town of Newbury to be annexed to the town of Newburyport.3
In 1843, the General Court was again asked to set off from Newbury, and annex to Newburyport, several hundred acres of land lying on the southwesterly side of High street, but no definite action was taken ; and in 1846 the question of uniting the two towns was again discussed and vigorously advocated by John Porter, Esq., and others. At a meeting held in Market hall the thirteenth day of February the opponents of the proposed union prevailed and at an adjourned meeting the next day it was voted "that a portion of Newbury lying on the borders of said Newburyport and generally known as the Ridge, embracing all those parts of Newbury lying on the southeast and northwest of Newburyport com- monly called Belleville and Joppa," should be set off from Newbury and annexed to Newburyport.4 A committee, con- sisting of Hon. Henry W. Kinsman, John B. Swasey, Esq., and John Porter, Esq., was appointed to secure favorable leg- islation, but the General Court declined to grant the liberty asked for.
January 14, 1851, the following petition signed by Abner Kenniston and other inhabitants of the town of Newbury was presented to the General Court by Hon. Caleb Cushing.
We the undersigned, inhabitants of that part of Newbury called Belle- ville Parish, respectfully petition that the territory aforesaid, bounded
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. III., p. 186.
2 Newburyport Town Records, vol. III., p. 318.
3 Newburyport Town Records, vol. III., p. 320.
4 Newburyport Town Records, vol. IV., p. 241.
207
ANNEXATION OF A PART OF NEWBURY
southeasterly by Newburyport from Merrimack river to Anvil Rock, in Common pasture, being the southwesterly corner of Newburyport, and thence by a straight line to the northeasterly corner of West Newbury in Birchen Meadow, may be set off from Newbury and incorporated as a Town by the name of Belleville.
On the fifteenth day of February following, Moses Pettin- gell, Charles Wills and others petitioned the General Court to set off and annex to Newburyport that part of the town of Newbury known as the Ridge and Joppa. Two days later, a petition signed by William Goodwin, John Currier, Jr., and others, for the annexation of the westerly end of Newbury to the town of Newburyport, was presented and referred to the committee on towns. On the fourth day of March, the peti- tioners residing on the northwesterly side of Newburyport (Abner Kenniston and others), " praying to be set off from Newbury and incorporated as a town by the name of Belle- ville," were granted leave to withdraw.
The inhabitants of Newburyport voted, March 18, 1851, to assent to the annexation of that part of Newbury named in the petitions signed by William Goodwin and others and by Moses Pettingell and others, and a committee, consisting of Philip K. Hills, Isaac H. Boardman and Richard Fowler, was chosen to appear at the hearing appointed by the General Court and favor the prayer of the petititoners.2
A bill to annex a part of the town of Newbury to the town of Newburyport was reported to the house of representa- tives on the third day of April, and on the seventeenth it was passed to be enacted by the senate and approved by the governor.3
The map on the next page gives the bounds and limits of Newburyport at the present time, including the territory annexed in 1851.
1 This rock, on the farm owned by Edward E. Bartlett, on Parker street, was said to resemble an anvil; but it no longer has that appearance. It has been split into fragments by drilling and blasting, and utilized for building stonewalls and house cellars.
2 Newburyport Town Records, vol. IV., p. 357.
3 Acts and Resolves, 1851, ch. 54.
MAP OF NEWBURYPORT 1905 Drawn by Sidney Perley
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209
CITY CHARTER
CITY CHARTER.
At the first meeting of the newly admitted citizens with the other voters of Newburyport, held April 24, 1851, the select- men with Daniel Colman and Andrew W. Miltimore were au- thorized and instructed to settle all questions relating to the division of property, the payment of debts and the support of the poor belonging to the towns of Newbury and Newburyport and a committee, consisting of Caleb Cushing, Joseph Roberts, Henry Frothingham, Enoch S. Williams, Joshua Hale, Samuel Phillips, Thomas Huse, Eben F. Stone, Moses Davenport and Henry W. Kinsman, was chosen to present a petition to the General Court for a city charter. The prayer of the petitioners was granted, and "An act to establish the city of Newbury- port " was approved by Governor Boutwell May 24, 1851.1
On the third day of June following, the inhabitants of New- buryport accepted this act, 484 voting in favor and 1 10 against it. The same day an amendatory act, providing for the elec- tion of one alderman from each ward by the legal voters of that ward, was accepted by a vote of 293 in favor of the amendment to 149 opposed.
June sixteenth, the following persons were elected mem- bers of the city council and authorized to make and establish by-laws and choose all necessary city officers.
MAYOR. Caleb Cushing.
ALDERMEN.
Ward I. Thomas Huse,
Ward 4. Nathaniel Horton,
66
2. John Porter,
5. John M. Cooper,
66 3. Moses Davenport, 6. Joseph Roberts.
COMMON COUNCILMEN.
Ward I. Zaccheus P. Thurlow,
John Woodwell,
George W. Knight.
Ward 2. Philip Johnson,
Frederick Knight, Jacob Stone.
Ward 3. Isaac H. Boardman, Charles J. Brockway, Moses Hale.
' Acts and Resolves, 1851, ch. 296.
Ward 4. Eben F. Stone, Philip K. Hills, William C. Balch.
Ward 5. Jacob Horton, Jacob Hale, Albert Russell.
Ward 6. John Currier, Jr., John Colby, Joseph Newell.
210
HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
The city government was organized at City hall on the twenty-fourth day of June. Eleazer Johnson was elected city clerk, and Jonathan Coolidge, treasurer and collector ; Eben F. Stone, president of the common council, and Edward Burrill, clerk. Ordinances providing for the assessment and collection of taxes, the execution of deeds and the election of subordinate officers were passed, and committees were appointed to attend to the fiscal and prudential affairs of the city.
CHAPTER V.
1854-1904.
THE land near Frog pond and in the vicinity of the market- house landing was claimed by the proprietors of " Ould New- bury " and a committee was appointed in May, 1826, by the inhabitants of Newburyport to defend a suit brought to deter- mine the question of ownership.I
On the twenty-first day of August, however, the town voted to purchase, at a cost not exceeding twelve hundred dollars, all the common and undivided land within the limits of the town2, and they received from the proprietors, on the twenty-eighth day of October following, a quitclaim deed of the property.3
[April 7, 1827] Voted to extend the railing, or fence, round the mall to include or inclose the school houses, at each end.4
In 1834, the walk on the southwesterly side of the pond was laid out and graded, and March 15, 1838, the town "voted to rebuild the stone wall and repair the embankment on the south side of the Mall."5 September fourth, the selectmen were authorized to plant shade trees on the westerly side of the pond, and " to enclose the ground, embracing the improve- ments now making in the immediate vicinity of Frog Pond, with suitable fences for the protection of the embankments."6 March 25, 1839, they were directed to'exchange, with Theophil- us Jaques, a few rods of land, if needed, for the purpose of making a more convenient and ornamental promenade around the pond.7
' Newburyport Town Records, vol. III., p. 164.
? Newburyport Town Records, vol. III., p. 167.
8 " Ould Newbury," pp. 620-621.
4 Newburyport (Selectmen's) Records.
5 Newburyport Town Records, vol. IV., p. 14.
6 Newburyport Town Records, vol. IV., p. 32.
7 Newburyport Town Records, vol. IV., p. 41.
(21I)
2 1 2
HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
In 1843, the town expended about fourteen hundred dollars, a portion of the surplus revenue fund, in making improvements on the mall and repairing the gun house. In 1868, the one- story brick schoolhouse, built at the westerly end of the mall in 1823, was destroyed by fire. February 22, 1879, the statue of Washington, by John Q. A. Ward, at the easterly end of the mall, was presented to the city of Newburyport by Daniel I. Tenney, Esq., of New York city. In 1882, the dwelling house on the southeasterly side of the pond, formerly owned by Stephen Hooper, was purchased and removed. May 30,
FROG POND.
1883, the two-story brick schoolhouse, at the easterly end of the mall, near the gun house, was sold at auction and taken down during the following summer. In 1884, the rail-fence that surrounded the mall and Frog pond was removed to make room for a granite curbing,' and the gun house, having passed its usefulness, was transferred to a less conspicuous location near the junction of Hill and Pond streets.
September 4, 1888, the city council granted the Mall Improve- ment society liberty to lay out new paths and repair the em-
1 " Ould Newbury, " pp. 610-621.
213
SAWYER HILL BURYING GROUND
bankments around the pond. Thirty-five hundred dollars was raised by private subscription, plans were prepared by Charles Eliot, son of President Eliot of Harvard college, and during the summer of 1889 piles of unsightly rubbish were removed and the foundation laid for a lawn that since that date has been kept in good order by the park commissioners.I
The growth and decay of algæ and water lillies in the pond gives rise to disagreeable odors and renders the place less at- tractive, in the summer time, than it would be otherwise. The lillies were planted in 1872, and have increased rapidly. They should be removed and the pond kept free from vegeta- ble matter. The fountain in the centre of the pond was pre- sented to the city of Newburyport by Edward S. Moseley, Esq., in 1891.
The Mall Improvement society, having completed its work, was dissolved in the summer of 1890, and the City Improve- ment society was organized, October 4, 1890, for the purpose of clearing up and beautifying neglected places and providing for the care and maintenance of public lawns and parks.
SAWYER HILL BURYING GROUND.
In 1689, a meeting house, built by a few individuals, on the way " thro the plaines to Sergeant Emery's Mill," in New- bury, was occasionally used for religious worship by the inhab- itants of the town residing in that locality.
In 1696, Rev. Samuel Belcher was called to the work of the ministry there, and was installed pastor November 10, 1698. At or about that date a burying ground was laid out, in the vicinity of the meeting house, on what is now known as the Curzon mill road. It was enclosed with a stone wall as early as 1708.2
When a part of the town of Newbury was set off, in 1851, all the territory on the easterly side of the Artichoke river, including this burying ground, called the Sawyer hill burying ground, was annexed to Newburyport.
1 The annual report for the year 1889, published by the city of Newburyport, gives a detailed account of the work done by the Mall Improvement association.
2 " Ould Newbury," .pp. 363-367; History of Newbury (Currier), pp. 347-364.
214
HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
BELLEVILLE CEMETERY.
In the year 1711, Queen Anne's chapel was erected on the northerly side of the Bradford road, now Storey avenue, near the dividing line between the first parish and the second par- ish in Newbury. About an acre of land in the vicinity of this chapel was used as a burying ground. The oldest gravestone now standing there was erected to the memory of Mrs. Sarah Bartlett who died January 17, 1727. In 1766, services in the chapel were discontinued and the building was soon after taken down.
The burying ground was subsequently enlarged by the addi- tion of several acres of land, and is now known as the Belle- ville cemetery. In 1851, an association, previously organized by the name of the Belleville Cemetery association, was legally incorporated, and since that date the Association has kept the burial lots and driveways in good order.1
When the Artichoke river was made the dividing line be- tween West Newbury and Newburyport, by an act of the legis- lature passed April 17, 1851, all the territory on the easterly side of that river, including the Belleville cemetery, was set off from the town of Newbury and annexed to Newburyport.
OLD HILL BURYING GROUND.
The inhabitants of the Third parish in Newbury erected, in 1725, a meeting house on a triangular lot of land, near the river side, now known as Market square, Newburyport, and four years later laid out a burying ground on the southwest- erly side of Frog pond.
In 1754, a substantial building of brick and stone, “ in which to keep the Town's stock of powder," was erected near the burying ground, and the hill adjoining was called Powder House hill.2
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