USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newburyport > History of Newburyport, Mass., 1764-1905, Volume I > Part 28
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The bridge was passable for foot passengers August 25, 1827, and on the seventh day of September the following
1 Newburyport Town Records, vol. II., p. 268.
2 Acts and Resolves, 1826, ch. 164.
8 Newburyport Herald, October 19, 1827. See, also, Parley's Magazine, part IV., vol. III., p. 50 (in the possession of Mr. William H. Merrill of Newbury- port).
373
ESSEX-MERRIMACK BRIDGE
notice appeared in the editorial columns of the Newburyport Herald :-
We understand that the upper section of the Newburyport Bridge is so far completed that carriages can now pass over in safety and that the Stage Coaches will pass it on Monday next.
Six weeks later, the lower section of the bridge was com- pleted and travellers were notified that both driveways were available for the transportation of merchandise and passen- gers.1
NEWBURYPORT AND SALISBURY BRIDGE, 1827.
In the month of March, 1840, the Eastern Railroad Com- pany purchased, for the sum of five thousand dollars, all the iron, timber and plank in the Newburyport bridge, " to be re- moved previous to the first day of April," and also agreed to pay the sum of eight thousand dollars for the right to erect on the four stone piers and two abutments, a new bridge with two road-beds, one above the other ; the lower one for the accommodation of carts, carriages and foot passengers, the
1 Newburyport Herald, October 19, 1827.
" A plan of the Newburyport Suspension Bridge projected and completed under the direction of Thomas Haven of Portsmouth, N. H., for the proprietors Oct. I, 1827 " was presented in March, 1903, to the Historical Society of Old Newbury by Nathaniel Haven of Baltimore, grandson of Thomas Haven.
The above half-tone print is taken from an old engraving published in Barber's Historical Collections of Massachusetts.
374
HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
upper one for the use of the railroad then nearly completed from Boston to Portsmouth.' During the following summer, while the new bridge was being built, communication between Newburyport and Salisbury was maintained by Nicholas Pike and Israel Morrill, Jr., ferrymen.2
April 16, 1846, an act in addition to an act incorporating the Eastern Railroad Company, and also in addition to an act incorporating the Proprietors of the Newburyport Bridge, was passed by the General Court, providing for the building of a draw in the bridge not less than forty-six feet in width, to be completed within six months and approved by three commis-
NEWBURYPORT AND SALISBURY BRIDGE, 1840.
sioners to be appointed by the governor of the common- wealth.3
The above half-tone print is reproduced from a wood-cut published in Gleason's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion November 13, 1852. It gives a view of the bridge from the Salisbury shore, with a train passing over it.
The heavy strain to which the bridge was subjected by the frequent passing of freight and passenger trains rendered it necessary to erect, in 1865, a more substantial structure a
1 Newburyport Herald, March 8, 1840.
2 Newburyport Herald, May 26, 1840.
3 Acts and Resolves, 1846, ch. 245.
ESSEX-MERRIMACK BRIDGE
375
short distance above the old one to be used for railroad pur- poses only.1
In 1867, the heavy timbers that supported the overhead track on the old bridge were removed and the bridge, in a somewhat dilapidated condition, was maintained as a toll bridge until August 4, 1868, when it was laid out as a public highway by the county commissioners. In 1870, the driveway was repaired and a new draw built, near the centre
NEWBURYPORT AND SALISBURY BRIDGE, 1875-
of the river, to take the place of the old one that had been condemned and removed.
Tuesday morning, April 6, 1875, three pile piers and two hundred feet of the bridge, near the Salisbury shore, were carried away by the ice.2 A new draw, to be built of iron, was contracted for in the month of May following, and during the summer the Salisbury end of the bridge was also rebuilt with the same kind of material.
In 1902, the county commissioners were authorized to build, on new piers and abutments, a new iron bridge between New- buryport and Salisbury and remove the old bridge and the piers on which it rested. The work was completed in De-
1 Newburyport Herald, October 24, 1865.
2 Newburyport Herald, April 7 and May 6. 1875.
376
HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
NEWBURYPORT AND SALISBURY BRIDGE, 1903.
cember, 1903, at a cost of three hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. This amount has been assessed upon the state of Massachusetts, county of Essex, city of Newburyport and towns of Amesbury and Salisbury as follows :-
State of Massachusetts
$25,000.00
County of Essex
210,000.00
Haverhill & Amesbury Street Railroad Company
20,000.00
City of Newburyport 61,755.25
Town of Amesbury 3,000.00
Town of Salisbury
5,244.75
$325,000.00
NEWBURYPORT AND SALISBURY BRIDGE, 1903.
377
NEWBURYPORT AND BOSTON TURNPIKE
NEWBURYPORT AND BOSTON TURNPIKE.
March 8, 1803, the General Court authorized " Micajah Sawyer, William Coombs, Nicholas Pike, Arnold Wells, Wil- liam Bartlet, John Pettingell, William Smith, John Codman and James Prince and all such persons as are or shall be as- sociated with them under the name of the Newburyport Turn- pike Corporation " to lay out and build a turnpike road, four rods wide, from the head of State street, in Newburyport, " in as nearly a straight line as possible to Chelsea bridge," with liberty to erect turnpike gates and establish tolls for the use of the same.1
The first meeting of the company was held in Boston on the fourteenth day of April. The board of directors, chosen that day, subsequently elected Hon. William Tudor of Boston, president, Gorham Parsons and James Prince, vice presidents, and Enoch Sawyer, treasurer. On the twenty-third day of August following, work on the road-bed was begun, and a cut, ten feet deep, made through the high land owned by Moses Brown opposite the head of State street in Newburyport. Deep hollows were filled with the gravel taken from this excavation and a solid and substantial causeway built over the treacherous marsh known as Pine swamp. Although the work was pushed with vigor the turnpike was not completed until 1806. It cost, with the toll houses, bridges and two hotels, one at Topsfield and one at Lynnfield, nearly five hundred thousand dollars.
For many years, the Eastern Stage Company paid from eight hundred to one thousand dollars, annually, for the privi- lege of running its stages, post chaises and wagons over the road, but travellers by private conveyance found the old route through Rowley, Ipswich and Salem, though longer, more con- venient and attractive. After deducting from the gross in- come the cost of repairs and the salaries of gate-keepers, only a small balance remained to be divided annually among the stockholders of the Newburyport Turnpike Corporation.
1 Acts and Resolves, 1802-1803, ch. 120.
378
HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
In 1840, the profits were still further reduced by the open- ing of the Eastern railroad, although Samuel Shaw and son advertised, in June of that year, to run an accommodation stage over the turnpike taking passengers at reduced rates from Newburyport to Boston.
A few years later, the toll gates were removed and the toll houses sold. For the convenience of travellers, a part of the turnpike from Newburyport to Rowley was laid out by the · county commissioners, as a public highway.'
PLUM ISLAND TURNPIKE.
In 1804, a company was organized and a committee ap- pointed to estimate the cost of building a four-rod way over the marsh land in Newbury to Plum island. February 24, 1806, Leonard Smith, Ebenezer Stocker, Moses Brown, Wil- liam Bartlet, David Coffin, Jonathan Gage, John Greenleaf and their associates and successors were incorporated by the General Court of Massachusetts for the purpose of laying out and making a turnpike road from the northeast end of Rolfe's lane, now Ocean avenue, in the town of Newbury, to a point on Plum island about one mile north of Sandy beach, so called, and building a bridge across Plum Island river.2
The proposed route was carefully surveyed and the turn- pike and bridge built during the following summer. In 1807, a small hotel was erected on the island for the accommodation of visitors seeking rest or recreation at the sea-shore.3
In 1839, a severe storm washed away a portion of the turn- pike and nearly destroyed the bridge. The following winter, both the turnpike and bridge were seriously damaged by the accumulation of ice in the river, and congress was asked to assist in the work of reconstruction. June 4, 1842, the fol- lowing " Act for the relief of the Plumb Island Bridge and Turnpike Company " was approved by the president of the United States :-
1 Newburyport Herald, July 20, 1847.
2 Acts and Resolves, 1806, ch. 41.
3 " Ould Newbury," pp. 217-219; History of Newbury (Currier), p. 276.
379
POSTAL SERVICE
Be it enacted &c. That there be paid to the Plumb Island Bridge and Turnpike Company of Newburyport, in the state of Massachusetts, out of any money in the treasury not otherewise appropriated, the sum of eight thousand dollars for the destruction of a bridge, occasioned by the construction of a breakwater by the United States.1
In 1884, the turnpike, bridge and hotel were sold to David L. Withington and Thomas C. Simpson, and the company, then practically if not legally extinct, was reorganized. In 1887, the property was sold to Edward P. Shaw, Charles Odell and others, and a horse-railroad company was organized to take passengers from Market square, in Newburyport, over the turnpike to the hotel on Plum island. In 1894, the road was rebuilt and equipped for electric-car service. It is still in active operation during the summer months, under the management of the Citizens' Electric Street Railway Company.
In May, 1905, the county commissioners were directed by the General Court to lay out Plum Island turnpike and bridge as a public highway, and allow such damages as they think reasonable, "provided, however, that the maximum amount shall not exceed the sum of six thousand dollars."2
When the commissioners complete the work assigned to them the Plum Island Turnpike and Bridge Company, incor- porated in 1806, will cease to exist.
POSTAL SERVICE.
As early as 1693, post-riders carried the mail from Boston, through Newbury, to Portsmouth, N. H., once a week. Seven- ty years later, the route was extended from Portsmouth to Portland, Me. In 1761, "the first stage or passenger chair in America," drawn by two horses, started from the stables kept by John Stavers in Portsmouth and made weekly trips through Newbury, Ipswich and Salem to Boston.3 At that date, Bulkeley Emerson was postmaster in Newbury. He was a bookseller and stationer, and had a shop near the foot of
1 Private Statutes at Large of the United States of America, ch. XXXV., p. 829
2 Acts and Resolves, 1905, ch. 404.
8 History of Newbury (Currier), pp. 465-474.
380
HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
Fish, now State, street where he received and assorted the mail. When Newburyport was incorporated, in 1764, his house and shop were included within the limits of the new town.
In December, 1772, Hugh Finlay was appointed surveyor of post-roads on the continent of North America. In the month of March following, he examined the roads in New York, and travelled slowly through Canada, and thence down the Penobscot and Kennebec rivers to Falmouth, now Portland, Me. He arrived at Portsmouth, N. H., October 5, 1773. In his journal, he wrote as follows :-
The Post from the westward, that is the mails from Virginia, Mary- land, Pennsylvania, Jersey, New York and Boston arrive at II o'clock in good weather,-in winter after a fall of snow, or heavy rain, he [the post- man] seldom arrives before ten o'clock at night; when the wind blows hard from certain points, he is detained at the ferry at Newbury Port for there's no passing there in a high wind. - -- One Stavers, some years ago be- gan to drive a stage coach between Portsmouth and Boston ; his drivers hurt the office very much by carrying letters, and they were so artful that the post master could not detect them; it was therefore judged proper to take this man into the pay of the office and to give two mails weekly between Boston and Portsmouth.I
Mr. Finlay left Portsmouth Saturday afternoon, October ninth, and arrived in Newburyport the same evening. On Monday, October eleventh, he met Mr. Emerson, who informed him that the mails from Boston arrived at Newbury on Tues- days and Fridays at six o'clock P. M. ; that the mails from Ports- mouth arrived on Tuesdays at one o'clock, and on Fridays be- tween four and five o'clock, P. M .; that the mails for Boston, Portsmouth and the eastward were made up on Tuesdays at one o'clock, and on Fridays at four o'clock, P. M. He ex- amined the books and accounts of Mr. Emerson, and reported as follows :-
He seems to be a stayed, sober man. He has no office . Mr. Em- erson thinks that the want of Post horns is a loss to the office, for by warning given by the horn many letters would go by Post which are now
1 Journal kept by Hugh Finlay, Surveyor of the Post Roads on the Continent of North America (Boston Athenaeum).
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POSTAL SERVICE
sent by other opportunity's-the Post should blow before the hour of starting and in passing on his way many letters wou'd be delivered to him He asks whether, if the drivers of stages were to be paid a penny for every letter they bring to the office, he might charge two pence for all such letters deliverable in town. The Rider who brings the mails to this office is punctual. The office here neither encreases nor dimin- ishes, the recc't is from £9 to fio. quarterly.I
Benjamin Franklin, who was at that date deputy-postmaster- general in America, was cited to appear before the privy council to answer to certain charges in regard to the publica- tion of the " Hutchinson Correspondence," and after some delay was removed from office January 31, 1774. In this emergency, Mr. William Goddard proposed to appoint post- masters and post-riders and re-establish the mails between Boston and Portsmouth. After visiting Salem and Marble- head, he came to Newburyport on the thirty-first day of March to consult with some of the prominent merchants of the town in regard to the ways and means to be adopted to carry the plan into execution.2 In answer to his appeal for assistance the following letter was prepared and sent to his address in Boston :-
NEWBURYPORT, April 15, 1774.
MR. WM GODDARD,
SIR :- We entirely approve of the Design of establishing a continent- al Post Office & Rider upon Constitutional Principles, and we apprehend the Inhabitants of this Town in general will make it manifest that they are of the same sentiments with ourselves in Regard to this matter by engaging to give Countenance & Support thereto. A subscription to raise a Fund to defray the Expense that may be incurred is already be- gun & we shall use our Endeavrs to have it completed as soon as possible.
Be pleased to communicate our sentiments to Towns & Provinces that you may travel through.
We are with Esteem, Sir, yours most humble servts.
· By order of the com'tee of Corresponde, for Newbury Port,
JAMES HUDSON, Clerk.3
Hugh Finlay's Journal (Boston Athenaeum).
"2 Essex Journal and Merrimack Packet, Wednesday, April 6, 1774 (Boston Athenæum).
3 Unclassified manuscripts in Essex Institute, Salem, Mass.
382
HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
May 13, 1775, the second provincial congress, in session at Cambridge, Mass., appointed a committee to engage post- riders to serve until otherwise ordered, and to establish post- offices in the following named towns : " one at Cambridge, one at Salem, one at Ipswich, one at Haverhill, one at New- buryport, one at Kennebunk, one at Falmouth." Bulkeley Emerson was appointed postmaster for Newburyport.
In the month of July following, the continental congress elected Benjamin Franklin postmaster-general, and authorized him to engage post-riders to carry the mail from Fal- mouth, in Maine, to Savannah, in Georgia, with cross lines to important towns remote from the sea-coast. Bulkeley Emer- son was retained as postmaster in Newburyport.
November 7, 1776, Richard Bache succeeded Benjamin Franklin as postmaster-general, and retained the office until January 28, 1782, when Ebenezer Hazard was appointed. Mr. Hazard served until 1789. Samuel Osgood, a native of Andover, Mass., was appointed on the twenty-seventh day of September, 1789, and remained at the head of the depart- ment for two years at a salary of fifteen hundred dollars per annum. He resigned in 1791, and Timothy Pickering was appointed to fill the vacancy.
The mail was forwarded from Portsmouth to Portland once a week from June, 1775, until January, 1789, when it was sent twice a week. It was taken sometimes by a postman on foot, but generally on horseback, until 1787, when Joseph Barnard who had been a post-rider for many years, and kept a tavern in Kennebunk, employed a two-horse wagon and car- ried passengers as well as newspapers and letters. Post- riders were allowed, but not required, to carry newspapers on their mail routes.
The fact is the office has nothing to do with Newspapers : it is a matter merely between the printers and the riders who have the carriage of them as a perquisite.1
1 Letters of Postmaster-General Hazard in the Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. III., Fifth Series, p. 24.
383
POSTAL SERVICE
In 1793, the mails were made up at the post-office in Newburyport at twelve o'clock, noon, for the eastward, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, from the first of May until the first of November ; and for the westward at half-past seven o'clock A. M., on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
N. B. It is requested that all letters may be left at the Post Office half an hour before closing the mail.I
At that date, lotteries were established and maintained in New England, with the advice and consent of the public authorities, and postmasters frequently aided in the sale of tickets and distribution of prizes, as stated in the following notice, published in connection with the announcement of a lottery to raise funds to build a bridge in the state of Con- necticut :-
Tickets may be had at the Post Office in Newburyport and all fortu- nate purchasers in said Lottery may receive their prize money at said office after the drawing is completed and a list of the prizes published.2
Bulkeley Emerson was postmaster of Newburyport from the incorporation of the town, in 1764, until his death, April 20, 1801. He was succeeded by his son, Joseph Emerson, who held the office for six years. The prepayment of letter postage was not then required and as the persons to whom letters were addressed did not always pay cash for them, it was frequently necessary to notify the delinquents " to call and settle."
POST OFFICE NOTICE.
As the punctual payment of postage would save much trouble to the Post Master he would be much obliged to Gentlemen who have their letters and papers charged, if they would on the first week of every Janu- ary, April, July and October, send to the Office, or call and pay what may be due to the first day of said months respectively.3
1 Essex Journal and New Hampshire Packet, May 8, 1793.
2 Essex Journal and New Hampshire Packet, July 3, 1793.
Before and after that date letters were sent to England by vessels sailing from Newburyport. In the Impartial Herald, the following notice appeared February 5, 1796: . "The Letter Bag of the Ship Concord, for London, Benjamin Calley, commander, is up at Mr. Davenport's Tavern and will be taken on board this evening."
3 Newburyport Herald, October 1, 1805.
384
HISTORY OF NEWBURYPORT
In January, 1807, Stephen Cross was appointed postmaster, and twelve months later the post-office was removed to Essex street, " near the old Town house."' Stephen Cross died March 30, 1809, and Caleb Cross was appointed to fill the vacancy. In 1810, he published the following notice : -
Those Persons who are indebted to the Post Office are informed that their bills are now ready and an immediate attention to them may pre- vent cost and trouble.2
Hon. Charles Turner, who had been for several years a representative in congress from Plymouth county, was ap- pointed postmaster in Newburyport in 1813. He was suc- ceeded by Moses Lord, who was postmaster from 1816 to 1840.3 Soon after the appointment of Mr. Lord he published the following notice in the Newburyport Herald :-
All persons who stand indebted for Postage on the books of this office are requested hereby to call and settle their accounts to the 31st ult. Prompt payment at the end of each quarter will be expected of persons who are or may be accommodated by having an account kept of their postage, otherwise accounts of that kind will not be kept.
Office open Sunday mornings until ten o'clock for the delivery of Letters.4
The names of the postmasters of Newburyport, from 1764 to the present time, are as follows :-
Bulkeley Emerson, from the incorporation of Newburyport, in 1764, until his death, April 20, 1801.
Joseph Emerson,5 from May 16, 1801, to January 20, 1807.
Stephen Cross, from January 20, 1807, until his death, March 30, 1809. Caleb Cross,6 from 1809 until 1813.
Charles Turner, from 1813 until 1816.
Newburyport Herald, January 20, 1807, and January 29, 1808.
2 Newburyport Herald, October 26, 1810.
3 In 1823, the post-office was in a building " at the corner of Inn street front- ing on Pleasant street." Newburyport Herald, November 14, 1823.
4 Newburyport Herald, April 16, 1816.
5 Joseph Emerson, son of Bulkeley and Mary (Moody) Emerson, was born in Newburyport, September 10, 1767.
6 Caleb Cross was assistant postmaster April 1, 1809. He was appointed post- master previous to July 4, 1809.
385
POSTAL SERVICE
Moses Lord,1 from February, 1816, until July, 1840. Joseph Couch, from July, 1840, until November, 1841. Benjamin W. Hale,2 from November, 1841, until February, 1846. Stephen Ilsley,3 from February, 1846, until October, 1850. Frederick J. Coffin, from October, 1850, until October, 1853. John M. Cooper, from October, 1853, until June, 1858. George W. Jackman, Jr., from June 4, 1858, until January, 1862. Nathan A. Moulton, from January, 1862, until March 1, 1867. George J. L. Colby,4 from March 1, 1867, until April 21, 1869. Richard Plumer, from April 21, 1869, until May, 1877. Isaac P. Noyes, from May, 1877, to February, 1886.
Samson Levy, from February, 1886, to February, 1890. Willard J. Hale, from February, 1890, to March, 1894. William C. Cuseck, from March, 1894, to March, 1898. Fred E. Smith, from March, 1898.
1 " Moses Lord, Esq. is appointed Postmaster in this town vice Charles Turner Esq. (of Plymouth County) resigned." Newburyport Herald, February 16, 1816.
2 Mr. Hale announced, in the Newburyport Herald, May 1, 1842, that the post- office would be open on Sundays from twelve o'clock, noon, until two o'clock P. M., for the delivery of letters.
3 An amusing incident connected with the post-office in Newburyport was de- scribed in the Newburyport Herald December 18, 1846, as follows : A small boy delivered a letter to the postmaster, saying : " Here's a letter : and she wants to have it go along as fast as it can, cause there's a feller wants to have her here and she's courted by another feller what ain't here and she wants to know whether he's going to have her or not."
4 Mr. Colby was appointed August 27, 1866, during a recess of the senate. He was confirmed by the senate in March, 1867.
CHAPTER X.
TAVERNS, STAGE COACHES, RAILROADS AND STREET CAR SERVICE.
WHEN Newburyport was incorporated, in 1764, Wolfe tav- ern, then standing on the corner of Fish, now State, street and Threadneedle alley, was a famous resort for travellers. The proprietor, William Davenport, came to Newbury as early as 1738, probably, and established himself in business as a wood carver. He married, April 3, 1740, Sarah, daughter of Moses and Mary (Noyes) Gerrish of Newbury.1
In 1741, he purchased of Samuel Greenleaf land on Fish, now State, street, with a dwelling house thereon, which he owned and occupied until his death, in 1773.2 His father, James Davenport, was a prominent innkeeper in Boston.3
1 Capt. William Gerrish, born in Bristol, England, in 1617, came to Newbury in 1640, probably, and died in Salem August 9, 1687. His son Moses Gerrish, born in Newbury May 9, 1656, married Jane Sewall September 24, 1677. Moses Gerrish, son of Moses and Jane (Sewall) Gerrish, was born in Newbury February 17, 1691-2. He married Mary, daughter of Col. Thomas and Elizabeth (Greenleaf) Noyes, November 12, 1714. Sarah, daughter of Moses and Mary (Noyes) Gerrish, was born January 14, 1716.
2 " Ould Newbury," pp. 492-507.
3 The petition of James Davenport to be appointed innkeeper, in 1754, with the order of the General Court thereon, reads as follows :-
" To His Excelcy WILL SHIRLEY Esqr Governour in Chief in and over his Majsty Province aforesd. To the Honble His Majesties Council and House of Representatives in General Court assembled .
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