USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, 1622-1918, vol 1 > Part 21
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At the close of the year 1916 the equipment of the department consisted of one steam fire engine, two motor combination trucks, one hook and ladder com- pany, and three hose companies. During that year the department answered fifty-two calls, in which the value of property involved was $149,500 and the loss was $17,040. Ernest L. Metcalf was then chief of the department. The engine company, known as "Ray Engine No. 3," received a gift of a high-powered searchlight, which was presented by Charles N. Barnard.
POSTOFFICE
In the early years of the Nineteenth Century mail for the inhabitants of Frank- lin was left at the Wrentham office by the carriers on the mail route between Providence and Boston, who made their trips three times a week. About 1812 some of the people of Franklin made up a fund and hired Herman C. Fisher, then a boy of fifteen, to go to the Wrentham office every Saturday and bring the mail. This arrangement continued until 1819, when Eli Richardson built the stone store at City Mills (now in the Town of Norfolk) and succeeded in having a postoffice established there. This brought mail facilities a little nearer to Franklin, where Mr. Richardson attended church, and every Sunday morning he would take the Franklin mail, which was left at the store of Davis Thayer, to be distributed Monday.
Such a system was not satisfactory, and in 1821 a movement was started to secure a postoffice at "Franklin Centre." It was successful and the office was setablished in 1822, with Maj. Davis Thayer as postmaster. The postmasters since that time have been as follows: Spencer Pratt, Theron C. Hills, David P. Baker, Cyrus B. Snow, Charles W. Stewart, David P. Baker, Smith Fisher, J. A. Woodward, Oliver H. Ingalls, James M. Freeman, Henry A. Talbot, Matthew F. Conroy, Henry A. Talbot. Mr. Talbot died on January 1, 1903, and Miss Catherine L. Healy, the present assistant postmaster, served as acting postmaster until the appointment of E. B. Sherman, who was succeeded soon after President Wilson's inauguration by B. F. Callahan.
On July 1, 1898, the office was given authority to issue international money orders, and on July 1, 1901, it was made a second class office. Rural free delivery was established at that time and some of the country postoffices in the vicinity
DEAN ACADEMY, FRANKLIN
GOLDING MANUFACTURING COMPANY, FRANKLIN
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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY
were discontinued. On March 1, 1902, the town appropriated $400 to pay for numbering the houses for the purpose of free local delivery, which was intro- duced on the first of September following. At the close of the fiscal year on June 30, 1917, the office reported annual receipts of about eighteen thousand dollars, and that a total of twelve people were employed.
ALMSHOUSE
For more than half a century after Franklin was incorporated, little cost was imposed upon the people in caring for the poor. The selectmen looked after the few paupers, furnishing them with provisions, the town making an appropriation for clothing and medical attendance. In 1835 the annual town meeting voted to purchase the farm and dwelling house of Alpheus Adams for an almshouse, at a price of $3,000, which sum was appropriated for the pur- pose. The house was destroyed by fire in 1868, but a new one was soon afterward built a short distance east. This property is now known as the "Town Farm" and is valued at $7,000.
FINANCIAL
In their report for the year 1916, the assessors announced the total valuation of the property in the town as having been fixed at $5,835,812.50. The value of property belonging to the town as a corporation on April 1, 1916, was as follows : School Buildings $125,000
Grand Army Hall.
2,000
Town Hall
2,500
Public Parks
6,000
Fire Buildings and Apparatus
15,000
Town Farm
7,000
Sewer Beds and Buildings
7,000
Waterworks
200,000
Lucretia Pond Fund
1,000
Total
$365,500
These values, as fixed by the board of assessors, are considered by local finan- ciers as conservative. At the same time the town treasurer reported the town's liabilities to be as shown in the following table :
Water Bonds
$218,000.00
School Bonds
22,000.00
Sewer Bonds 157,000.00
Sewer Notes
8,000.00
Sewer Bond Fund.
47,105.87
All other evidences of indebtedness
16,332.69
Total Debt
$468,438.56
Thus it will be seen that the corporate property of the town is equal in value to more than 75 per cent of the public debt. The principal expenditures for the year 1916 were as follows :
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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY
Schools $41,616.12
Waterworks 28,728.3I
Streets and Highways 21,557.85
Sewer System 10,914.51
Government, Salaries, etc. 8,190.1I
Interest on Bonds. 17,667.78
Fire Department
3,623.00
Police
3,310.50
Of the fund expended on the waterworks, $20,495.98 was received from the sale of water, and in the poor account $1,731.59 came from the sale of produce from the town farm and $1,216.82 from other towns.
THE FRANKLIN OF THE PRESENT
In 1910 the United States census gave Franklin a population of 5,641, and the state census of 1915 reported it to be 6,440, a gain of 799 in five years. Franklin is established upon the firm business basis of a number of substantial manufacturing concerns, which produce cotton and woolen goods, felt and straw hats, shoddy, rubber goods, pianos, knit goods, carriages, etc. There are two banks, a semi-weekly newspaper (the Sentinel), steam and electric railway lines that afford ample transportation facilities, churches of various denominations, a fine public library, hotels, mercantile establishments, and many handsome resi- dences. Social life is well represented by a thriving country club and a Young Men's Christian Association. The Dean Academy, one of the best known educa- tional institutions in Eastern Massachusetts, is located here. Unionville and Wadsworth, the only postoffices in the town outside of Franklin Village, are thriving business centers.
The principal town officers at the beginning of the year 1917 were: Fred E. Mason, Jacob F. Geb and Palmer A. Woodward, selectmen; Michael J. Cos- tello, clerk ; Albert H. Martin, treasurer and tax collector ; Lawrence J. Kelley, Ernest L. Metcalf and Edward L. Cook, assessors; George A. Allen, David W. Corson and George E. Emerson, overseers of the poor; Walter E. Morse, auditor; Bradley M. Rockwood, Fred P. Chapman and Harry T. Hayward, water and sewer commissioners; James R. Hosford, William Hodge and George. W. Wiggin, school committee.
CHAPTER XIX
THE TOWN OF HOLBROOK
GENERAL DESCRIPTION-POLITICAL HISTORY-RANDOLPH OPPOSED TO THE ORGANI- ZATION OF A NEW TOWN-THE ORGANIC ACT-EARLY TOWN MEETINGS-TOWN HALL-HOW THE TOWN WAS NAMED-THE TOWN SEAL-WATERWORKS-FIRE DEPARTMENT-SOLDIERS' MONUMENT-HOLBROOK TODAY-TOWN OFFICERS.
Holbrook is one of the small towns of Norfolk County. It is situated in the southeastern part and is bounded on the north by Braintree; on the east by Wey- mouth; on the south by Plymouth County ; and on the west by the towns of Ran- dolph and Avon. The Cochato River forms the boundary line between Holbrook and Randolph and there are a few small streams in the town, part of which are tributary to the Cochato and the others flow southwardly into Plymouth County. The general surface of the town is undulating, though the hills here are not so well defined as in some other sections of the county.
POLITICAL HISTORY
Holbrook was originally a part of Braintree. When the Town of Randolph was set off from Braintree on March 9, 1793, it included the present Town of Hol- brook, which remained a part of Randolph for nearly eighty years. The early history of the town is therefore embraced in the chapters on Braintree and Ran- dolph. For many years the people living east of the Old Colony (now the New York, New Haven & Hartford) Railroad discussed in a desultory sort of way the advisability of dividing Randolph and establishing a new town east of the railroad or the Cochato River. Two meetings to consider this subject were held in Janu- ary, 1867, but there was such a diversity of opinion that the matter was dropped for the time being. One thing, however, was demonstrated, and that was that the majority of the citizens of East Randolph, as that portion of the town was called, were in favor of the erection of a new town, the lack of unanimity occurring mainly on matters of minor detail.
Early in the fall of 1871 those who most earnestly desired the separation of Randolph and the establishment of a new town, began work in earnest. Their efforts culminated in a citizens' meeting, which was largely attended, on Tuesday evening, December 5, 1871. L. S. Whitcomb was called to the chair and E. F. Lincoln was elected secretary. As soon as the meeting was organized by the elec- tion of these officers, Frank W. Lewis offered the following: "Resolved, That it is the sense of this meeting that it is expedient that the portion of Randolph lying east of the Old Colony & Newport Railroad be set off from the main town and incorporated as a new town."
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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY
After some discussion the resolution was adopted with only one dissenting vote. The next day a petition, signed by Elisha N. Holbrook and thirteen other residents of the territory it was proposed to include in the new town, was filed in the office of the secretary of state, and on the 8th a copy of the petition was served upon the Town of Randolph by a deputy sheriff. Another meeting was held on Satur- day evening. December 9, 1871, at which Elisha N. Holbrook offered to give to the new town, in the event of its incorporation, the sum of $50,000, of which $25.000 should be used for the purpose of erecting a town hall and establishing a public library, and the remainder for the payment of the town debt which it might be necessary to assume if set off from Randolph.
RANDOLPH'S OPPOSITION
At the meeting of December 9, 1871, it was voted that the Legislature be peti- tioned to establish a new town, to be called Holbrook, and that E. W. Morton of Boston be engaged to look after the interests, as counsel, of the advocates of division. The petition was presented in the state senate early in January, 1872, by Senator Carpenter of Foxboro. Up to this time the people of the western por- tion of Randolph had not given serious thought to the project. Now they began to bestir themselves. A meeting was held in Stetson Hall on January 18, 1872, "to take action on the petition of E. N. Holbrook and others." At that meeting it was voted to appoint a committee to oppose the division of the town, and to instruct the representative in the Legislature, Ludovicus F. Wild of East Randolph, "to carry out the expressed wish of the town, or resign." Many citizens of the eastern part of the town were present at the meeting and voiced their protest, but they were outvoted, as had often occurred before. Hearings before the Legislative committee on towns began on the 24th of January, Mr. Morton appearing in behalf of the petitioners, and B. W. Harris for the remonstrants. Before the hearings were concluded Elisha N. Holbrook died on February 5, 1872.
Mr. Holbrooks' death cast a gloom over the people of East Randolph, but they went on with the fight. On February 8, 1872, the senate committee reported a bill for the incorporation of the Town of Holbrook, which was finally passed by that body on the 13th, by a vote of twenty-five to ten. Then began the contest in the house, where the most serious opposition was encountered. After hearing both petitioners and remonstrants in the committee rooms, the bill was reported for . passage, though both sides were indefatigable in trying to secure enough votes to enact or defeat the bill, as the case might be. On the 19th, after being debated for the greater part of two days, the bill passed its first reading by a vote of 113 to 91. The bill was finally passed and was approved on February 29, 1872, by the governor.
THE ORGANIC ACT
Following is a copy of the more important sections of the act of incorporation : "Section 1. All the territory now within the town of Randolph, in the County of Norfolk, comprised within the following limits, that is to say: Beginning at the stone monument in the line between said Randolph and the Town of Braintree, on the easterly side of Tumbling Brook; thence taking a southwesterly course in
165
HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY
a straight line to a point six feet westerly from the northwesterly corner in range of the northerly side of the so-called East Randolph station-house of the Old Colony & Newport Railroad Company ; thence the same or other southwesterly course to a point on the town line dividing Randolph and Stoughton, one hundred and fourteen rods southeasterly from the town stone monument in said last - mentioned dividing line, at the southerly terminus of Main Street in said Randolph ; thence southeasterly, northeasterly, northerly and westerly as the present dividing line between said Randolph and Stoughton, North Bridgewater, Abington, Wey- mouth and Braintree runs, to the first-mentioned bound, is hereby incorporated into a town by the name of Holbrook; and said Town of Holbrook is hereby invested with all the powers, privileges, rights and immunities, and is subject to all the duties and requisitions to which other towns are entitled and subjected by the Constitution and laws of this Commonwealth.
"Section 2. The inhabitants of said Town of Holbrook shall be holden to pay all arrears of taxes which have been legally assessed upon them by the Town of Randolph, and all taxes heretofore assessed and not collected shall be collected and paid to the treasurer of the Town of Randolph in the same manner as if this act had not been passed; and also their proportion of all County and State taxes that may be assessed upon them previously to the taking of the next State valuation, said proportion to be ascertained and determined by the last valuation in the said Randolph.
"Section 3. Said towns of Randolph and Holbrook shall be respectively liable for the support of all persons who now do or shall hereafter stand in need of relief as paupers, whose settlement was gained by or derived from a settlement gained or derived within their respective limits; and the Town of Holbrook shall also pay annually to the Town of Randolph one-third part of all costs of the sup- port or relief of those persons who now do or shall hereafter stand in need of relief of support as paupers, and have gained a settlement in said Town of Ran- dolph in consequence of the military services of themselves or those through whom they derive their settlement.
"Section 4. The corporate property belonging to the Town of Randolph at the date of this act, and the public debt of the said town existing at said date, shall be divided between the towns of Randolph and Holbrook according to the valuation of the property within their respective limits as assessed May 1, 1871 ; and said Town of Holbrook shall receive from said Town of Randolph a proportionate part of whatever amount may hereafter be refunded to the Town of Randolph from the State or United States to reimburse said Town of Randolph for bounties to soldiers, or State aid paid to soldiers' families after deducting all reasonable expenses ; and said Town of Holbrook shall bear the expense of making the survey and establishing the line between said towns of Randolph and Holbrook."
EARLY TOWN MEETINGS
The first town meeting in Holbrook was held in the East Parish meeting house on March II, 1872. Lemuel S. Whitcomb was chosen moderator, after which the meeting proceeded to the election of town officers, with the following result : John Adams, E. W. Thayer and Lemuel S. Whitcomb, selectmen, assessors and over- seers of the poor ; Frank W. Lewis, clerk and treasurer ; Jacob Whitcomb, collector
166
HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY
of taxes; Ludovicus Wild, Newton White and Nathaniel E. Hobart, auditors ; Hiram Belcher, Thomas West and Royal Thayer, fence viewers ; Samuel L. White, S. R. Hodge and Z. P. Jordan, constables; Warren Thayer, sealer of weights and measures; Edward Belcher and Samuel D. Chase, engineers of the fire depart- ment ; Frank W. Lewis, Barton Howard and Charles H. Paine, school committee.
One of the early business transactions to come before the Holbrook town meet- ings for consideration was the adjustment of the town's proportion of the Ran- dolph debt, in accordance with the provisions of section 4 of the act of incorpo- ration. After the subject had been discussed in several town meetings, an arrange- ment was made with Randolph by which the selectmen of the two towns were appointed to adjust the indebtedness and divide the town property. The joint committee met several times and finally presented to the citizens of the two towns for their approval a report of the manner in which the town property had been divided and an itemized statement of the public debt. The documents were signed by all the selectmen and the one relating to the division of the debt bore the follow- ing indorsement : "Randolph, March 19, 1873. It is hereby agreed and certified that there has been paid by the Town of Holbrook to the Town of Randolph the balance of indebtedness as within stated, amounting to $14,988.94, with interest on the same from February I to March 1, 1873, of $74.94, making $15,063.88." This sum was paid out of the fund left by Elisha N. Holbrook.
TOWN HALL
In 1873 the town erected a town hall on Franklin Street, just south of Linfield. adjoining the Winthrop Church. It was a frame building, with brick basement, forty-eight by ninety feet in dimensions, and two stories high. On the main floor at the rear were provided quarters for the public library. Early on Christmas morning in 1877, fire broke out in the building and both it and the church were totally destroyed.
Immediately after the fire, the citizens took the preliminary steps for the erec- tion of a new town hall, which was completed and dedicated on March 26, 1879. It is a brick edifice, the main portion of which is fifty-three by one hundred feet, with forty-four feet wings on either side. On the main floor are two rooms used for mercantile purposes, rooms for the town officers and quarters for the public library. The main hall on the second floor is fifty by ninety feet. A stone tablet in the front wall of the building bears the inscription :
Holbrook Town Hall Erected 1878 The Gift of E. N. Holbrook.
On the last day of February, 1898, the town hall was again seriously damaged by fire, but was immediately repaired, a few changes being made in the original design. The building was once more brought into use on June 11, 1898.
About half past five o'clock on the morning of March 2, 1916, fire was dis- covered in the town hall. A general alarm was sounded, the fire department and many of the citizens promptly responded and the building was saved without serious damage. The cause of the fire was defective electric wiring. As the struc-
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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY
ture had to be repaired, the town took advantage of the occasion to make a number of changes and altogether the sum of $11,138.89 was expended in the repairs and alterations, giving Holbrook a town house that is modern in every respect and ample for the needs of the town for years to come.
HOW THE TOWN WAS NAMED
A. E. Sproul, writing in 1884, concerning the manner in which the town received its name, says: "The idea which still remains current to a considerable extent, particularly outside the borders of the present town, that Mr. Holbrook made his munificent gift conditional upon the proposed town being named for him, deserves emphatic contradiction at the hands of the present writer, based upon the most reliable contemporary testimony. At the meeting where the generous proposal was made, the citizens assembled at once brought forward the name 'Holbrook' for the new town, and it received almost unanimous approval by the townspeople. The name was adopted not so much in honor of any one man as in recognition of a family of old residents, who had become wealthy in the prosecution of legiti- mate business, and who had always shown themselves enterprising and public spirited, and alive to the interests of the community with which they were for so many years identified. At the meeting of December 9th, therefore, it was imme- diately voted that the Legislature be petitioned to name the new town Holbrook, if incorporated, and three cheers were given for the name, and three more and a vote of thanks for Mr. Holbrook."
THE TOWN SEAL
The corporate seal of Holbrook, which was adopted soon after the town gov- ernment was organized, is of neat and appropriate design. In the center of a circular field is a shield bearing a portrait of Elisha N. Holbrook, and above the portrait are the words "Cochato, 1634." To the right of the shield are a plow and scythe, and to the left an anvil and hammer, typifying the agricultural and manufacturing interests of the town. Above the shield is an arm brandishing a drawn sword, signifying that Holbrook can be relied on to do her part in war as well as in peace. In the upper left of the circular field is the legend: "Braintree- 1640" and in the upper right, "Randolph-1793," showing Holbrook's civic connec- tions before it was organized as a separate town. In a circle around the margin of the seal is the inscription: "Town of Holbrook, Mass., Incorporated 1872."
WATERWORKS
By the act of May 8, 1885, the towns of Braintree, Randolph and Holbrook were severally or jointly authorized to supply themselves with water from Great Pond, to construct buildings, lay pipes, etc., and for the construction of such waterworks, buildings and pipes, each town was authorized to issue bonds in any sum not exceeding $100,000. The act was to become effective when it was accepted by a two-thirds vote of any or all the towns.
Braintree made other arrangements about a water supply, but the towns of Holbrook and Randolph accepted the provisions of the act and jointly constructed
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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY
a system of waterworks to supply the citizens with water for domestic purposes and provide better protection against loss by fire. Subsequently Holbrook was authorized to issue additional bonds to the amount of $35,000 to complete her portion of the works. A pumping station was built at Great Pond and standpipes erected in each of the towns, and the water was turned into the mains in the summer of 1886. (See also the chapter on Randolph.)
During the year 1916 the board of water commissioners laid 6,122 feet of new main, most of it of six inch pipe. In his report of the condition of the works, Herbert S. Child, the town auditor, says: "The receipts of this year show a marked increase over last year, the uncollected accounts are about $600.00 more and the surplus of revenue is $2, 129.56. These figures certainly prove that the year 1916 was a prosperous year, which is due to the able and efficient management of the commissioners."
FIRE DEPARTMENT
Holbrook has two fire stations-one adjoining the town hall and the other at Brookville, in the southern part of the town. Each station is equipped with hook and ladder truck and hose wagon, and the hydrant service of the waterworks is extended to all parts of the town. According to the report of the board of engi- neers for the year 1916, the expense of maintaining the department was $1,863.57, and twenty-two calls were answered, two of which were false alarms. The mem- bers of the department receive pay only for the time actually employed at fires, or in work connected with the department.
SOLDIERS' MONUMENT
Holbrook had no corporate existence at the time of the Civil war, being then a part of Randolph. However, a number of men living within the borders of the present town enlisted in some of the Massachusetts volunteer regiments and served their country throughout the war. At the annual town meeting on March 1, 1916, a communication was received from E. E. Holbrook offering to pay one half the cost of a soldiers' monument, to commemorate the valor of those who sacrificed their lives in defense of the Union. The meeting extended a vote of thanks to Mr. Holbrook for his generous offer and referred the matter to a committee composed of the following citizens : Charles E. Brown, W. B. Emery, George E. Kent, John King, Charles S. Ludden, Patrick A. Mack, Charles H. McCarter, Arthur W. Paine and E. N. Thayer.
At a special meeting on October 11, 1916, the committee reported in favor of erecting a monument, the cost of which should not exceed three thousand dollars, to be located in the park near the town hall, and that Mr. Holbrook would con- tribute $1,500 of the amount. The meeting then voted to appropriate $1,500, to be taken from the tax levy of 1917, and that Louis E. Flye, Philip H. Fraher, J. F. Megley, John W. Porter, H. H. Sampson and Ellis A. White be added to the committee, which should have full charge of the fund and the construction of the monument. The design selected was that of Thomas Carrigg & Son of Holbrook. It consists of a pedestal of Westerly granite, upon which is the figure of an infan- try soldier in bronze, seven feet high, marching with his musket at a "right
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