USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, 1622-1918, vol 1 > Part 34
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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY
FIRE DEPARTMENT
The board of fire engineers at the close of the year 1916 was composed of James J. Hennessey, Thomas H. Smith, Frank A. Fisher and Guy A. Williams. The fifth member of the board, elected at the annual meeting in 1916, was James E. Mahar, who removed to Norwood before the expiration of his term and consequently resigned his place on the board. According to the annual report of this board, the department consists of five engineers and fifty men, assigned to the three companies as follows: Company No. I at Walpole Centre, twenty men ; Company No. 2 at East Walpole, twenty men; Company No. 3 at South Walpole, ten men. At the Central Station the equipment consists of one hose truck, one ladder truck, and one forest fire wagon. The same equipment is provided for · Station No. 2 at East Walpole, and at the engine house in South Walpole is kept a hose truck and forest fire wagon. During the year 1916 the department answered twenty-three calls, exclusive of forest fires. Several new alarm boxes were in- stalled during the year. The appropriations for the department at the last annual meeting were $3,200 for the department proper, and $1.250 for the maintenance of the fire alarm system. All in all Walpole has a fire department that compares favorably with those of other towns of its class.
WALPOLE OF THE PRESENT
Upon the town seal of Walpole is depicted an old water mill, presumably the old saw mill of Eleazer Lusher and Joshua Fisher on the Neponset River, with a forest of trees in the background, and in the margin are the words : "Walpole Massachusetts, Incorporated 1724." Quite a change has come to the town since the conditions represented by the corporate seal existed. The Walpole of the present day is one of the thriving towns of the Old Bay State, with a population of 5,490 in 1915, a gain of 598 during the preceding five years. The total valuation of property on April 1, 1916, according to the report of the assessors, was $7,636,198; an increase over the assessment of the preceding year of $757,181.
Walpole has a bank, a weekly newspaper (the Enterprise), a fine public library, six public school buildings, parks and playgrounds, well kept streets, a number of manufacturing establishments with an invested capital of over five millions of dollars, electric light, telephone connections with the surrounding towns and the City of Boston, three postoffices-Walpole, East Walpole and South Walpole- and a number of well tilled farms. Two lines of the New York, New Haven & Hartford railway system pass through the town, crossing each other at Walpole Junction, and there are electric lines to the adjoining towns. Evidence of pros- perity is seen in the fact that the town carries insurance upon the municipal and public school buildings aggregating $273,663, while the net bonded debt at the close of the year 1916 was only $191,540.
TOWN OFFICERS
At the beginning of the year 1917 the principal officers of Walpole were as follows: Henry M. Stowell, Louis E. Vose and Timothy E. Delaney, selectinen
WALPOLE RUBBER COMPANY, WALPOLE
LEWIS MANUFACTURING COMPANY, WALPOLE
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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY
and overseers of the poor; Charles Brown, Melzar W. Allen and Nathan W. Fisher, assessors ; Harry L. Howard, clerk; Harry A. Whiting, treasurer ; George H. Kingsbury, Michael F. McCarthy and Charles S. Bird, Jr., park commission- ers ; Thomas D. Plimpton, George Cobb and Frederick H. Fuller, board of health; Otis J. Dionne, tax collector ; William Jarvis, highway surveyor ; J. E. Plimpton, George M. Graves, P. H. Mahoney, Philip R. Allen, Ida N. Caldwell and Eliza- beth H. Vose, school committee; William F. Riordan, N. E. Winslow and William P. Crowley, constables.
CHAPTER XXXIII
THE TOWN OF WELLESLEY
GENERAL DESCRIPTION-HISTORICAL-INCORPORATION OF THE TOWN-NAMING THE TOWN-FIRST OFFICERS-TOWN HALL-POSTOFFICES-TOWN SEAL-WATER- WORKS-ELECTRIC LIGHT-FIRE DEPARTMENT-SEWER SYSTEM-PUBLIC BATH HOUSE-MODERN WELLESLEY-TOWN OFFICERS.
Wellesley is the most northern town in Norfolk County. On the north it is bounded by Middlesex County ; on the east by Needham; on the south by Dover and the County of Middlesex; and on the west by the County of Middlesex. Lake Waban and Morse Pond are located in the western part. and there are a few small streams, tributaries of the Charles River. The shape of the town is that of an irregular rectangle, about four and a half miles from northeast to southwest, with an average width of a little more than two miles. Magus (or Maugus) Hill takes its name from the Indian who deeded the land to the Dedham proprietors in April, 1681. Wellesley Hills, also called "Wellesley Hundreds" (because the land was allotted to the early settlers in tracts of 100 acres each), has long been a favorite residential district on account of its healthfulness and picturesque scenery.
HISTORICAL
Wellesley is a comparatively new town and its early history is included in that of Dedham until 1711, and from 1711 to ISSI in that of the Town of Need- ham, of which it was a part during that period. For more than sixty years after the incorporation of Needham in 1711, there was but one meeting house in the town. In 1773 the old meeting house was destroyed by fire and immediately a contest arose regarding the location of the new one. Those living in what is now the Town of Needham were in favor of rebuilding upon the old site, while those living in the westerly part of the town (now Wellesley) wanted the meet- ing house placed in a more convenient location for their accommodation. By this time a considerable number of people had settled in the westerly portion and to settle the dispute they were given the privilege of building a meeting house and employing a minister of their own. Two hundred pounds were raised in a short time by subscription, a meeting house was built, and in 1778 the parish was incorporated as the "West Precinct of Needham" by an act of the General Court.
INCORPORATION OF TIIE TOWN
Although the inhabitants of the West Precinct enjoyed all the freedom in religious matters that they would have enjoyed as a town, they soon came to desire
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TOWN HALL, WELLESLEY
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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY
political rights and privileges, whereby they could develop their local institu- tions. Consequently an effort was made in 1801 to have the precinct set off as a town, but the opposition of Needham was too strong to be overcome at that time and the General Court denied the petition. Another well organized move- ment for separation was started in 1820, but again the petition was defeated through the opposition of the mother town. During the next fifty years several attempts were made, all of which ended in failure. Then came a period of about ten years in which the subject was allowed to lie dormant, in the hope that the people of Needham would lose interest in the question of separation. In 1880 a petition went up to the General Court, bearing the names of nearly all the legal voters in the West Precinct, which had by this time grown into a populous and wealthy community, and a committee was appointed to see that it was given the proper consideration. This time Needham's opposition was merely nominal, and on April 6, 1881, the governor approved an act incorporating the new town. Section I of that act is as follows :
"All that territory lying within the Town of Needham northerly and westerly of a line beginning at a point in the boundary line between the towns of Need- ham and Dover seventy-five feet northerly from the central line of Charles River Street where it crosses Charles River; thence running northeasterly about four miles and seventy-six hundredths of a mile to a point in the centre of the reservoir, so called, near the village of Newton Upper Falls, two hundred feet easterly from a point in the centre line of Reservoir Street midway between the abutments of the bridge by which said Reservoir Street crosses said reservoir ; thence running easterly by the centre line of said reservoir about fourteen hun- dred feet to a point in the boundary line between the Town of Needham and the City of Newton near the centre of the Charles River, is hereby incorporated into a town by the name of Wellesley; and the said town 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 or subjected by the constitu - tion and laws of this Commonwealth."
Other sections of the act contain the usual provisions, in incorporating a new town, relative to arrears of taxes, support of paupers and the division of town property and debt.
NAMING THE TOWN
Wellesley derives its name from the Welles family, members of which were among the early settlers. Samuel Welles purchased a tract of land at the junc- tion of Washington Street and Pond Road (then within the limits of the Town of Natick) as early as 1750 and built thereon a dwelling which was occupied by him and his family for many years as a farm and summer home. He became a large landowner and at one time owned the Wellesley town farm. Samuel Welles graduated at Harvard with the class of 1707, married Hannah Arnold and removed to Boston, where his wife inherited large property. His two sons-Arnold and Samuel-both graduated at Harvard, and John Welles, a son of Arnold, became a member of the banking house of J. & B. Welles, of Boston and Paris. John Welles was also a member of the House of Representatives and the Senate in the Massachusetts Legislature, and was one of the early presidents of the Boston City Council.
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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY
In 1839 this same John Welles, after several years in Paris in connection with his banking business, purchased the residence known as the "Morrill House" in Wellesley, which he used as a summer home for some twelve or thirteen years. Later, upon a tract of about thirty acres about the "Mansion House," he laid out and developed one of the most beautiful gardens to be found in the United States. His daughter became the wife of H. H. Hunnewell and inherited the property, which has since become widely known as "Hunnewell Gardens."
FIRST OFFICERS
A few days after the passage of the act of incorporation, Solomon Flagg, who had been town clerk of Needham for some thirty years, but who lived in that part set off as Wellesley, issued his warrant for a town meeting to be held on Monday, April 18, 1881, for the purpose of choosing such officers as towns are authorized by law to elect. At that meeting George K. Daniell was chosen moderator ; Lyman K. Putney, Walter Hunnewell and John W. Shaw, selectmen and overseers of the poor; George K. Daniell, Joseph H. Dewing and Dexter Kingsbury, assessors; Solomon Flagg, clerk; Albert Jennings, treasurer ; Joseph E. Fiske, Benjamin H. Sanborn and Marshall L. Perrin, school committee. At an adjourned meeting on the last day of April, appropriations were made as follows : Schools, $8,000; highways and sidewalks, $3,500. Provision was also made for general expenses, and it was voted that no licenses to sell intoxicating liquors in the town should be granted. A committee was appointed at this meeting to effect a settlement with Needham, which was done to the satisfaction of both towns.
TOWN HALL
In the division of Needham and the erection of the Town of Wellesley, the town hall that had been used for many years by Needham fell within the limits of the new town. Its location was not convenient for the Town of Wellesley, and besides it was an old building that had "outlived its usefulness." Hollis H. Hunnewell gave to the town a new building, designed for a town hall and public library, surrounded by a park of about ten acres. The cost of the building, which is a handsome and substantial stone structure, was about sixty thousand dollars. In addition to this munificent gift, Mr. Hunnewell also provided a fund of twenty thousand dollars, the income from which is to be used in caring for the building and grounds. The edifice was completed and dedicated in 1883.
POSTOFFICES
The first postoffice within the limits of the present Town of Wellesley was established about 1830, with Charles Noyes as postmaster. It was known as West Needham. Mail was brought every other day by the stages running be- tween Boston and Natick. Charles Noyes was a son of Rev. Thomas Noyes and an optician. He kept the office in his "shop" where he conducted his business until succeeded by William Flagg, who held the position for about twenty-five years. The office has long since been discontinued.
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MISS HODGKINS
قصيدة
WELLESLEY NATIONAL BANK
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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY
Grantville was made a postoffice in November, 1851, with Rev. William H. Adams in charge as postmaster. A railroad station was established here in 1884, but both the postoffice and station have disappeared from the map.
Wellesley Farms postoffice was established sometime in the early '90s and was at first kept in the house of the postmaster, J. F. Wight. Later it was removed to a room near the railroad station. It is now a station of the Boston office, as is the office at Wellesley.
TOWN SEAL
The town seal was designed by the architect who planned the town hall and library building. In the center of a circular field is an escutcheon, upon which is an open book with a flower lying across the pages. Projecting above the escutcheon are two arrow heads and a tomahawk. In the margin are the words : "Wellesley, April 6, 1881." The open book represents Wellesley College; the flower across the pages, the Hunnewell gardens; and the arrows and tomahawk, the early association with the Indians, all appropriate to some phase of Welles- ley's history.
WATERWORKS
In the fall of 1882, about eighteen months after the town was incorporated, it was voted at a town meeting to ask the Legislature for authority to establish a system of waterworks. At the same time a committee, of which Judge George White was chairman, was appointed to examine the various sources of supply and report a plan for furnishing water to the inhabitants. In response to the town's request, the Legislature passed an act, which was approved on May 5, 1883, authorizing Wellesley to supply itself and its inhabitants with water for extinguishing fires, for domestic purposes, etc., and to take water from the Charles River and Longfellow's Pond, lay mains, locate hydrants and provide the necessary pumping facilities. In order to construct the works, the town was also authorized to borrow a sum of money not exceeding fifty thousand dollars, and to issue bonds, notes or scrip therefor. The act was to become effective when accepted by two-thirds of the legal voters.
The committee on water supply reported that the most feasible plan was to erect a pumping station, take water from the Charles River and pump it to a reservoir on Maugus Hill, from which it could be distributed to practically the entire town.
By an act of the Legislature, approved on June 28, 1883, the Town of Natick was authorized to make a contract with the selectmen of Wellesley to supply that town with water, and to extend its mains into Wellesley for that purpose, the act to take effect immediately upon its passage. The people of Wellesley, however, preferred to own a plant of their own. The provisions of the act of May 5, 1883, were accepted by more than two-thirds of the voters, and the report of the committee on water supply was adopted. Work was commenced, but it was soon discovered that the $50,000 loan was not sufficient, and on February 12, 1884, the Legislature authorized the town to borrow $75,000 more. A third loan of $50,000 was authorized by the act of May 7, 1885.
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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY
The machinery at the pumping station was installed by the Goulds Manu- facturing Company and the George F. Blake Manufacturing Company and has a daily capacity of 3,000,000 gallons. The first water was supplied to consumers in 1884, though extensions have been made every year since that time, until at the close of the year 1916 there were nearly forty-eight miles of mains and 370 hydrants. The total cost of the works to January 1, 1917, was $481,155.80, and the amount of outstanding bonds was $119,915.56. During the year 1916 the system supplied to the town and its inhabitants 182,133,407 gallons of water, for which the town received in water rates $27,839.23.
The first board of water commissioners, elected on December 22, 1883, was composed of Albion R. Clapp, William S. Ware and Walter Hunnewell. The board at the beginning of 1917 was composed of Frank L. Fuller, Charles E. Fuller and Francis C. Hersey. This board also has the management of the elec- tric light plant, which was established a few years ago. It consists of a sub- station 26 by 43 feet, built of brick, steel and concrete, one story and basement, and a frame shed 25 by 32 feet for storing wagons and material. In the sub- station is a switchboard connecting feeders from the Edison Company's trans- formers with the primary commercial circuits and the street light circuits. The total cost of this plant to January 1, 1917, was $113.363. During the year 1916 the income from this plant was $40,272.22.
FIRE DEPARTMENT
The Wellesley Fire Department consists of four companies, to wit: Hose Company No. I, composed of seven men ; Hose Company No. 2, eight men ; Hose Company No. 3, six men ; Hook and Ladder Company No. I, eight men, a total of twenty-nine men, exclusive of John P. Doyle, chief of the department, and John W. Fowle, superintendent of the fire alarm system. During the year 1916 the Wellesley fire alarm system was connected with that of Newton. so that the department of that city may be called in case of a fire which the local depart- ment is unable to control. In their report for the year, the selectmen recommend that the entire department be motorized, and suggest that this be done by an issue of bonds for the purchase of the new apparatus. Chief Doyle, in his report for 1916 states that the department answered calls on forty-three occasions, the value of the buildings at risk being $284,480, value of contents, $62,710, and that the total fire loss for the year was $55,445.
SEWER SYSTEM
In 1907 the Legislature passed an act authorizing the Town of Wellesley to elect a board of sewer commissioners, which should have charge of the con- struction of a sewer system for the town. No commissioners were elected under this act until March 8, 1915, when William H. Blood, Jr., Isaac Sprague and Charles E. Fuller were chosen at the annual town meeting, "to have charge of the construction of a system of sewers for Wellesley." The work of sewer building was commenced in 1915, the commissioners making a contract with Coleman Brothers for certain lines of sewer. In 1916 the same commissioners were again elected and in their report for the year 1916 they say :
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THE PRESIDENT'S HOUSE, WELLESLEY COLLEGE
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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY
"During the year the construction of the main trunk sewer from the Welles- ley-Needham line to a point near the junction of Washington Street and Long- fellow Road in Wellesley Hills has been completed. Additional lateral sewers have been constructed in parts of Wellesley Village, in the Abbott Road district, Wellesley Hills and in other streets south of Washington Street in Wellesley Hills. To the main trunk sewer have been added 6,610 feet, making the total length of this sewer constructed to date 20,826 feet. During the year 38,428 feet of lateral sewers have been built, making the length of lateral sewers com- pleted, 49.506 feet. Proposals for bids for additional work on sewer construction to be undertaken during the year 1916, were published early in May, and the bids were received and opened May 18th. The contract was awarded to John E. Palmer of Boston. During the latter part of May proposals for bids for house connections were published and bids were received and opened June Ist. The contract was awarded to Charles N. Taylor of Wellesley."
The total cost of sewers to December 31, 1916, was $202,023. At the same time the amount of sewer bonds outstanding was $225,000. With the comple- tion of the system as planned by the commissioners, the Town of Wellesley will be as well provided with sewers as any town in the state.
PUBLIC BATH HOUSE
In the report of the selectmen for the year 1916 is the following statement : "During the past year Wellesley College offered the town the use of its bath houses on Lake Waban for bathing purposes in the summer season, and this offer was accepted by the selectmen, and the value of the generous offer of the college has been demonstrated while the bathing privileges have been in use. Mr. Joseph E. Curry was installed as superintendent in charge of the bath houses and the board believes that from a sanitary standpoint, as well as that of pleasure, the proposition has been a tremendous success. The board will therefore recommend at the March meeting that something be done along permanent lines to insure the establishment of permanent bath houses."
MODERN WELLESLEY
Some idea of the growth of Wellesley since its incorporation may be gained from the following comparative statement: In 1881 the assessed valuation of property was $3,024,698, and in 1916 it was $22,645,434; the total appropriations in 1881 amounted to $28,550, and in 1916 to $319.765; the total net debt at the close of the year 1881 was $50,000, and at the close of 1916 it was $509.915. In 1910 the population, according to the United States census, was 5,413, and the state census of 1915 reported a population of 6.439, a gain of 1,026 in five years. Wellesley has seven modern public school buildings and is the seat of Wellesley College, the history of which is given in another chapter. In 1916 the town paid $66.583 for the support of its public schools. The town has one national and one private bank, two newspapers, besides the Wellesley College News, Congregational, Catholic, Unitarian and Episcopal churches, a number of manufacturing and mercantile establishments, steam and electric railway lines,
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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY
etc. The following, which was written of the town in 1883, is applicable today : "The charm of the Town of Wellesley consists in its refined rural atmosphere, its pleasant homes, its delightful drives and its beautiful landscape scenery."
TOWN OFFICERS
At the beginning of the year 1917 the principal town offices were held by the following incumbents : Otho L. Schofield, Harrison A. Plympton and Patrick J. Fitzpatrick, selectmen; Flavius J. Lake, Franklin B. Ingraham and Job Mona- ghan, assessors; John T. Ryan, clerk; Fred O. Johnson, treasurer; John H. Sheridan, tax collector; Richard Cunningham, auditor; Dr. Gilbert N. Jones, Dr. Royal Hatch and Frederick D. Woods, board of health; Sara S. Gilson, Charles A. Sibley and Sydney M. Williams, school committee; Thomas T. Watt, Charles E. Fuller and William H. Brainerd, park commissioners; Charles L. Cavanaugh, William J. Dana and Claude U. Gilson, constables. The board of selectmen also acted as overseers of the poor, highway surveyors, town agents and fence viewers.
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CHAPTER XXXIV
THE TOWN OF WESTWOOD
GENERAL DESCRIPTION-EARLY HISTORY-THIRD PARISH OF DEDHAM-WESTWOOD INCORPORATED-ACT OF INCORPORATION-FIRST TOWN MEETING-TOWN HALL- POSTOFFICES-FIRE DEPARTMENT-TOWN OFFICERS, 1917-WESTWOOD OF TODAY.
Westwood, one of the comparatively new towns of Norfolk County, is cen- trally located, being bounded on the north and east by Dedham; on the south- east by Canton; on the south by Norwood; and on the west by Walpole and Dover. The Neponset River flows along the eastern boundary line, separating Westwood from Canton, and in the western part the town is watered by Mill Brook, Bubbling Brook and Buckminster Pond. The surface is diversified and from some of the highest hilltops a fine view of the surrounding country may be obtained.
EARLY HISTORY
The territory comprising the Town of Westwood was included in the original plantation on the Charles River, which was ordered to be established by the General Court on September 3, 1635, and was incorporated as the Town of Dedham on September 8, 1636. The history of Westwood is therefore a part of the history of Dedham from 1635 until its incorporation as a separate town in 1897.
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On October 8, 1730, the present towns of Norwood and Westwood were incorporated by an act of the General Court as the "South Precinct of Dedham." A controversy soon arose in the new precinct over the location of the meeting house, with the result that several petitions were presented to the General Court, asking that body to settle the dispute by sending a committee to view the situa- tion and decide on a location for the said meeting house. In response to one of these petitions, a number of the inhabitants of the South Precinct were "set off from said Precinct & again layed to the First Precinct in the Town of Dedham. whereunto they originally Belonged."
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