USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, 1622-1918, vol 1 > Part 27
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TOWN HALL
In the erection of the Town of Wellesley in 1881, the town hall that had served Needham for a number of years went to the new town. Needham received from Wellesley about thirty thousand dollars, which was applied chiefly to the pay- ment of the town debt. Town meetings were held in hired halls for about twenty years, but on November 26, 1901, a committee was appointed to consider the advisability of building a new town hall. The committee made a report in favor of such a movement, and on March 17, 1902, the following building com- mittee was appointed: Rodman P. Snelling, Daniel W. Richards, Emery Grover, John E. Buckley and Harrie S. Whittemore. Plans were made by Winslow & Bigelow, architects, and the contract was awarded to Mead, Mason & Company. The corner-stone was laid by the Masonic fraternity on September 2, 1902, and
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the building was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies on the evening of Decem- ber 22, 1903. The cost, including the furnishings, was $57,500. The structure stands on the common, so that nothing was paid for land. It is one of the best appointed town halls in the county. The ceremony of the corner-stone laying was made a part of "Needham Old Home Week" and was attended by a large concourse of people.
WATERWORKS
In March, 1887, a committee, consisting of Dr. Albert E. Miller, C. A. Hicks, Thomas F. Peabody, James E. Cahill and William Carter, was appointed to inves- tigate the sources of a water supply and report at a subsequent meeting. The following July an appropriation of $500 was made for the use of the committee, and on March 8, 1888, an act was approved authorizing the town to issue bonds to the amount of $75,000, to establish a system of waterworks. Later acts author- ized bond issues aggregating $280,000. One provision of the act of 1888 was that it was not to become effective until approved by a vote of two-thirds of the legal voters of the town. On November 7, 1889, the necessary two-thirds vote was obtained, the proposition having twice been defeated, and on December 3, 1889, the first board of water commissioners was elected, viz .: John Moseley, John M. Hodge and James Mackintosh.
During the summer and fall of 1890 the waterworks were sufficiently com- pleted to furnish water to the more densely populated parts of the town, the supply being taken from Colburn Spring. In October, 1897, a water reservation was established by the purchase of the Colburn farm of seventy-three and a half acres, and the first well was sunk soon afterward. Well No. 2 was added in 1900 and in 1902 the Hicks Spring, with seven acres adjoining, was added to the reservation. By 1905 the water mains were extended to all parts of the town.
FIRE DEPARTMENT
The first official mention in the Needham records regarding fire protection is in the minutes of the meeting of March 4, 1833, when George W. Hoogs, William Flagg, William Pierce, David C. Mills, Tyler Pettee and Elisha Lyon were elected firewards. During the next five years volunteer companies were evidently organized, as on April 3, 1838, the town voted to exempt engine men from poll tax. In 1840 the town voted to "furnish a hose carriage for the use of the engine company at the Lower Falls, the cost not to exceed thirty-five dollars." Three years later Colonel Rice, William Flagg, Lyman Greenwood, Galen Orr, Elisha Lyon and Richard Boynton were appointed a committee to raise money by subscription for a new engine for the Lower Falls, notwithstand- ing a majority of the members of the fire company there were Newton men and the apparatus was kept on their side of the river. The committee was also instructed to consider the question of providing fire protection at the Upper Falls, where an engine company had been organized. No report of this com- mittee can be found.
In 1844 the town appropriated the sum of $150 for the different engine com- panies, to be distributed as follows: Lower Falls, $60; East Needham, $60;
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Upper Falls, $30. Very few changes were made in the department during the next thirty years, further than to replace old apparatus with new as it wore out, and the introduction of new members of the several companies as old ones dropped out of service. The records of the town meeting of 1874 show that the Cataract Engine Company was allowed $296.28 and the Mechanics Engine Company, $123.42, "for services at fires in excess of the $500 appropriated."
New engine houses were erected at Needham Heights and on Chestnut Street in 1885, at a cost of $3,000, and on March 4, 1889, an appropriation of $900 was made for the installation of a fire alarm system, an arrangement being made that the bells of the First Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church should be used as alarm bells. Boxes were placed at the different engine houses and one at the corner of Nehoiden and Rosemary streets. The alarm system was installed by Henry D. Rodgers, who was the first superintendent.
The first hook and ladder truck (purchased in 1882 at a cost of $760) was replaced by a new one in 1890, when a new company was formed, the department then numbering ninety men. In 1901 the Firemen's Relief Association was organized for the purpose of caring for sick or disabled members. A combina- tion chemical and hose wagon was purchased for $1,200 in 1905, and a second was purchased about two years later at a cost of $1,800. Since then the depart- ment has been improved along general lines and is now in first class condition, both in organization and equipment.
ELECTRIC LIGHT
The first street lights were introduced in 1874, in which year the town paid $150 for maintaining forty-six lights. In 1878 the number of lights had increased to 179 and the cost to the town for their maintenance was $450. An act of the General Court in 1881 authorized the Newton and Watertown Gas Light Com- pany to extend its pipes into Needham, but only a part of the town ever received any benefit. In 1883 James Mackintosh raised $1,320 by subscription for the establishment of eighty-eight street lamps, for which the town agreed to care. Ten years later the number was increased to 127 lamps.
Under the act of 1891, Massachusetts towns were authorized to construct their own lighting plants. The provisions of this act were accepted by the people of Needham on March 7, 1892, and at another meeting on June 23, 1893, the selectmen were authorized to issue bonds for $10,000, and to be commissioners of a sinking fund, the money received from the sale of the bonds to be used for the purpose of constructing a municipal lighting plant. Before anything was done under this order, the selectmen were instructed by a meeting held on Sep- tember 15, 1893, to enter into a contract with the Eliot Falls Electric Light Company to furnish current, and an additional appropriation of $3,500 was made for the erection of poles, etc., the money to be raised by the sale of bonds. Nineteen miles of poles and wires were placed by the Hawes Electric Company, and late in the year the town received its first electric lights. The Eliot Falls Company was succeeded by the Natick Gas and Electric Company, and in 1898 the Needham contract was renewed with the latter company for five years. In 1903 the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Boston purchased the hold- ings of the Natick Company and since then light has been furnished by the Edison Company.
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POSTOFFICES
On May 17, 1826, a postoffice was established at Needham-the first in the town-with Rufus Mills as the first postmaster. He first kept the office in his house, using a small trunk as a receptacle for the mail, but later removed it to Daniel Kingsbury's store. A few years ago the little trunk was kept on exhibi- tion for several days at the postoffice, to show the beginning of Needham's mail facilities, and it was viewed by a large number of people with manifest curiosity.
The second postoffice was established at West Needham, with Charles Noyes as postmaster. The exact date when this office was ordered by the postoffice department cannot be ascertained, but it was prior to 1830, as in that year mail was delivered three times a week by the stages running between Boston and Natick. Noyes held the position of postmaster but a short time, when he was succeeded by William Flagg, who served for twenty-five years. The site of this office is now in the Town of Wellesley.
On January 6, 1851, the third postoffice in the town was established at Charles River Village, with Josiah Newell as postmaster. In November of the same year a postoffice was established at Grantville in charge of William H. Adams as post- master. Grantville was made a railroad station in 1884. It is now in the Town of Wellesley.
The postoffice at Highlandville (now Needham Heights) was established on December 19, 1871. Jonathan Avery was the first postmaster at this office. Rural free delivery was inaugurated in Needham on June 4, 1900.
A HISTORIC MONUMENT
In 1851 the town erected a monument upon an elevation in the old cemetery to commemorate the valor of the Needham men who lost their lives in the Revo- lutionary war. The monument is in the form of a granite obelisk, and upon the side next to the public street is the inscription: "In memory of John Bacon, Amos Mills, Elisha Mills, Jonathan Parker and Nathaniel Chamberlain, who fell at Lexington April 19, 1775. For liberty they died."
John Bacon was first lieutenant in Capt. Caleb Kingsbury's company ; Amos Mills and Nathaniel Chamberlain were privates in the same company ; Elisha Mills was a sergeant and Jonathan Parker a private in Capt. Robert Smith's company. A history of these companies will be found in the chapter on the Revolution.
THE TOWN SEAL
The design of the Needham town seal is certainly appropriate and conveys an idea of the town's history. In the center are two white men and an Indian in a circle, representing the purchase of the lands from the natives; on the left is a wigwam and on the right a large tree, under which the treaty was held, and in the background is a hill, representing Magus Hill. In the circle surrounding this design are the words, "Town of Needham, Incorporated, 1711."
MODERN NEEDHAM
Besides the public utilities above enumerated, Needham has a banking insti- tution, a fine public library, a good public school system, excellent highways, a
EPISCOPAL CHURCH, NEEDHAM HEIGHTS
THE CARTER MILLS, NEEDHAM HEIGHTS
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number of manufacturing enterprises, especially in knit goods, mercantile houses in keeping with the demands of the population, churches of the leading denomi- nations, lodges of the principal fraternal organizations, and a number of social and literary clubs. In 1910 the population was 5,026. The town then stood eleventh in population, but the state census of 1915 raised it to the ninth place, giving it a population of 6,542, a gain of 1,516 in five years. The assessed valuation of property in 1915 was $8,765,666, only eight of the Norfolk County towns returning a larger valuation.
CHAPTER XXV
THE TOWN OF NORFOLK
LOCATION, BOUNDARIES AND TOPOGRAPHY-EARLY HISTORY-NORTH PARISH OF WRENTHAM-INCORPORATION OF THE TOWN-FIRST TOWN MEETING-TOWN HALL-POSTOFFICES-THE PRESENT NORFOLK.
Norfolk is situated in the westerly part of the county. On the north it is bounded by Medfield and Millis, being separated from the latter for a short dis- tance by the Charles River ; on the east by Walpole; on the south by Wrentham ; and on the west by Franklin. A little of the boundary line on the southeast is formed by the Town of Foxboro, and the Stop River forms a portion of the boundary line between Norfolk and Walpole. The general surface is quite similar to that of the surrounding towns-rolling, and in some places hilly. There are a few ponds and some small streams, tributaries of the Charles and Stop rivers.
EARLY HISTORY
The general history of Norfolk is uneventful. When the Town of Wrentham was incorporated in October, 1673, it included the greater part of the present Town of Norfolk, and the territory remained attached to Wrentham for nearly two centuries. The first settlements were made here while the town was still a part of Wrentham and the early history is therefore incorporated in the chapter relating to that town. Among the early settlers in this section were the Blakes, Days, Holbrooks, Manns, Ponds, Richardsons, Wares and several other families whose names have become intimately interwoven with the affairs of Norfolk County.
In 1791 the warrant for a town meeting in Wrentham contained an article- "To see if the inhabitants are satisfied with the Rev. David Avery as a Gospel Minister," and "provided that if the major part of the town are satisfied with the Rev. David Avery, to see if the town will consent that any persons who are dissatisfied may go to any other society to do duty and receive privilege," etc.
Most of those who were dissatisfied with Mr. Avery as a minister lived in the northern part of Wrentham. Although no action was taken upon the above mentioned article at the town meeting, the fact that it was inserted in the warrant was an acknowledgment that the dissatisfaction existed. Mr. Avery continued to exercise the duties of pastor and early in the fall of 1795 a call was issued by some of the leaders in the northern part of the Town of Wrentham for the inhabitants of that section to meet on "Tuesday, September 29th next for the purpose of knowing the minds of our inhabitants for building a meeting house for public and social worship at the said north end."
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The meeting was well attended and after considerable discussion it was decided to build a meeting house. A lengthy subscription paper was drawn up (probably in advance of the meeting), giving the reasons for such action, and this was signed by thirty-eight of the most influential men in that part of Wrentham, pledging the aggregate sum of $1,244 for the purpose of building a meeting house and employing a minister to their liking. It seems that the Town of Wrentham offered no objection and in this way the present Town of Norfolk became the North Parish of Wrentham.
INCORPORATION OF THE TOWN
Norfolk continued as the Wrentham North Parish for about one and a quarter centuries. In 1869 a petition to the General Court was prepared and circulated among the inhabitants, asking that the North Parish, with portions of the towns of Franklin, Medway and Walpole, be incorporated as a town. The petition came before the next session of the General Court, and on February 23, 1870, the following act was approved :
"An Act to incorporate the Town of Norfolk.
"Be it enacted, etc.
"Section I. All the territory now within the towns of Wrentham, Franklin, Medway and Walpole, in the County of Norfolk, comprised within the following limits, that is to say: Beginning at a point on Charles River, in the northwest angle of Wrentham, and following in an easterly course the present line of divi- sion between Wrentham and Medfield to Stop River; thence running southerly along said river, and separated by the thread of its stream from Walpole, to a point forty rods north of the mouth of the first brook running into said river below Campbell's Mills, on the easterly side ; thence from said point, by a straight line, running to the junction of Back and Bird streets in Walpole; thence with the easterly side of said Bird Street to its junction with West Street; thence westerly by the northerly side of West Street twenty-five rods ; thence southerly, and near to and westerly from the barn belonging to the home estate of Charles Bird, until said line strikes Stop River one hundred and twenty rods southerly from West Street ; thence along said river as far as Wrentham and Walpole are separated by the thread of its stream ; thence by a straight line, running westerly of the Walpole almshouse and easterly of the farm buildings of Patrick Reardon, and easterly of the Dupee Blake place, so called, to a point on the line between Walpole and Foxborough, one hundred and twenty-five rods northeasterly from Dedham Rock; thence from said point, following the present line of division between Wrentham and Foxborough, to Dedham Rock; thence southerly from said rock along the present line of Wrentham and Foxborough to a point on said line on the southerly side of Pine Street : thence by a straight line to a point on the westerly side of Everett Street, northerly of the house of Edmund T. Everett and southerly of the Pondville Cemetery, to a point on the westerly side of North Street, five rods southerly of the farm buildings of Samuel J. Benn; thence through the Stony Brook reservoir, near to the house of E. S. Nash, to a point on the line between Franklin and Wrentham, ninety rods south- erly of the house of Eliphalet Lawrence ; thence running northerly by a straight line, near to and west of the farm buildings of the home estate of J. E. Pollard,
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near the Elliot Felting Mills, near to and thirty-five rods west of the present residence of Saul B. Scott, to the southern extremity of Populatic Pond; thence along the western shore of said pond, at low-water mark, to Charles River ; thence in an easterly course upon Charles River, and separated by the thread of its stream from Medway, to the center of the iron bridge over said river ; thence upon the thread of said river to the bridge of the Medway branch railroad ; thence along the southerly side of said railroad twenty-eight rods to a point ; thence from said point by a straight line running in a northeasterly course, passing southeasterly of and near to the village of Deanville, near to and south of the old barn belonging to John Barber, to a point on Baltimore Street two rods from said barn; thence by a straight line to the easterly side of the great bend in Charles River and near the old fording place; thence upon said river and separated by the thread of its stream from Medway to the point of begin- ning-is hereby incorporated into a town by the name of Norfolk; and said Town of Norfolk is hereby invested with all the powers, privileges, rights and immunities, and is subject to all the duties and requisitions to which the other towns are entitled and subjected by the Constitution and laws of this Common- wealth."
Section 2 relates to arrears of taxes assessed upon the inhabitants of Norfolk by the towns from which territory was taken, which were to be paid to the said towns as if this act had not been passed.
Section 3 provides for the support of paupers, and Section 4 that "Norfolk shall retain the school houses within its limits and shall assume and pay its just and equitable proportions, according to its present assessed valuation, of any debt due or owing from the towns of Wrentham and Franklin, respectively, at the time of the passage of this act, and shall be entitled to receive from said towns, respectively, its just and equitable proportion, according to said assessed valuation, of all the corporate property then owned by the said towns of Wren- tham and Franklin," etc.
Section 5 defines the representative, senatorial, congressional and councilor districts for the new town.
"Section 6. Any justice of the peace within and for the County of Norfolk may issue his warrant, directed to any principal inhabitant of the Town of Nor- folk, requiring him to notify and warn the inhabitants thereof, qualified to vote in town affairs, to meet at the time and place appointed for the purpose of choosing all such town officers as towns are by law authorized and required to choose at their annual meetings; and said warrant shall be served by posting up copies thereof. attested by the person to whom the same is directed, in three public places in said town, seven days at least before such meeting. Such justice of the peace, or, in his absence, such principal inhabitant, shall preside until the choice of a moderator in said meeting. The selectmen of the towns of Wrentham, Franklin, Medway and Walpole, shall, before said meeting, prepare a list of voters from their respective towns within said Norfolk, qualified to vote at said meet- ing, and shall deliver the same to the person presiding at said meeting before the choice of a moderator thereof."
Section 7 provides that "This act shall take effect upon its passage," and as previously stated, the act was approved on February 23, 1870.
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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY
FIRST TOWN MEETING
Under the provisions of Section 6, the first town meeting in Norfolk was held on Monday, March 7, 1870. It was called to order by Saul B. Scott, the justice who had issued the warrant, and during the voting for moderator, Rev. Daniel Round checked the lists of voters that had been furnished by the selectmen of Wrentham, Franklin, Medway and Walpole. Albert G. Hills was chosen moderator, after which the following town officers were elected: Saul B. Scott, Levi Mann and Erastus Dupee, selectmen ; Silas E. Fales, clerk; James H. Haines, George E. Holbrook and Elisha Rockwood, assessors; William E. Codding, treasurer ; George P. Cody and Albert E. Dupee, constables ; J. K. Bragg, Lothrop C. Keith and Daniel J. Holbrook, school committee ; Charles Jordan and Darius Ware, fence viewers ; Levi Mann and Oren C. Ware, surveyors of lumber. The meet- ing closed by a vote of thanks to Mr. Hills for his efficient and impartial services as moderator, and another to Silas E. Fales and William A. Jepson for the gift of a ballot-box.
TOWN HALL
When the Town of Norfolk was incorporated it came into possession of the old North Parish Church, which was erected in 1796, and which was used just as it was for several years as a town house. In 1879 the building was thoroughly remodeled and a tower erected, in which is a clock presented to the town by Josiah Ware. The building stands upon an eminence and its tower commands a fine view of the surrounding country.
POSTOFFICES
About 1819, sixty-one years before the Town of Norfolk was incorporated, Eli Richardson built the stone store building at City Mills and secured an appointment as postmaster of the office established soon after the building was completed. This was the first postoffice within the present limits of the Town of Norfolk. Some years later an office was established at the "Centre" and was given the name of Norfolk. Deanville, in the northwestern part, and Pondville, in the southeastern part, were once postoffices, but they have been discontinued. The only postoffices in the town on July 1, 1917, were those at Norfolk and City Mills.
THE PRESENT NORFOLK
In 1910 the population of Norfolk, according to the United States census, was 960. The state census of 1915 reported a population of 1,268, a gain of 308 in five years. There is some manufacturing done in the town, but the prin- cipal occupation is agriculture. The Boston & Willimantic division of the New York, New Haven & Hartford railway system passes through the town, with stations at Norfolk and City Mills, and the Boston & Providence division of the same system touches the southeast corner, with a station at Pondville. In 1915 the assessed valuation of property was $1, III.482. In that year Norfolk re-
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ported the smallest population of any town in the county except Dover, and the smallest property valuation except the towns of Bellingham and Plainville. The town has a good public school system, churches of different denominations, but is without either a bank or a newspaper. Norfolk, Deanville, City Mills and Pond- ville are all supplied with general stores and are trading centers for the surround- ing agricultural districts.
CHAPTER XXVI
THE TOWN OF NORWOOD
LOCATION, BOUNDARIES AND SURFACE-FIRST SETTLEMENT-THE SOUTH PRECINCT -FIRST PRECINCT MEETING-LOCATING THE MEETING HOUSE-CHANGING THE BOUNDARY-TOWN OF NORWOOD INCORPORATED-FIRST TOWN OFFICERS- TOWN SEAL-PRESENT DAY CONDITIONS-TOWN OFFICERS FOR 1917.
The beautiful and enterprising Town of Norwood is centrally located, being bounded on the north by Westwood; on the east by the Neponset River, which separates it from the Town of Canton; on the south by Sharon and Walpole; and on the west by Walpole and Westwood. The surface is more or less hilly and is drained by the Babbling (or Hawes) Brook in the southwest, and by the Purga- tory Brook in the northern part. Both these streams flow in a southeasterly direc- tion to the Neponset River.
FIRST SETTLEMENT
Originally, the territory now forming the town was included in Dedham. As the grant to the Dedham proprietors in 1636 was so extensive, it offered great inducements to persons of an adventurous disposition to begin new settlements within its limits. It is impossible to say just who was the first white man to locate within the present bounds of Norwood, though in 1658 Eleazer Lusher and Joshua Fisher received a grant of land and the privilege of building a saw mill on the Neponset River, near the Cedar Swamp. Mr. Lusher did not remove to the mill site, but Mr. Fisher did, and he was one of the early settlers.
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