USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. II > Part 41
USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. II > Part 41
USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. II > Part 41
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But now the road is to come to Yarmouth, travel will be turned to it from this place. When, too, the day comes to extend the road still further this way, you
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will not find Provincetown asleep in the matter. Yet it is unfortunate, that the road, should it be extended beyond Yarmouth, must become a branch. The past losses to this place must be overlooked and forgotten in the advantages of the extension. Let it have as hearty sympathy as it demands. And it is evident that it does demand the warm sympathy of the remotest son of the Cape. It is a great public improvement. The certainty and speed of travel and communica- tion, the rapid transfer of the mails, and the necessary life and enterprise it awakens to all the interests within its reach, demand more than cold wishes for its success.
X. Y. Z. Jr.
The development of railroads in Massachusetts dates from 1827, when the Granite Railway Company built the first railroad from the stone quarries in Quincy to the Neponset River, a distance of three miles, and operated it by horse power. It was first used to transport the granite for the Bunker Hill Monument.
The nearest railroad to Plymouth, Barnstable and Norfolk counties to be operated by steam was the Boston and Providence Railroad which was chartered June 22, 1831. The Boston and Worcester Railroad was chartered the following day. A year before, June 5, 1830, the Boston and Lowell Railroad was chartered. When these roads were chartered it was expected they would be operated by coaches being drawn by horses, but steam had been used on the Liver- pool and Manchester Railway in England, in September, 1830, and so it was adopted on the first American railroads. The Boston and Provi- dence Railroad was opened as far as Hyde Park, then in Norfolk County, June 4, 1834. The first railroads were laid on granite ties, but some time later chestnut ties were used and have continued to be the preferred material ever since. The first locomotives built in England weighed eight or ten tons each. The cars were much like stagecoach bodies set together on a platform and wood was burned for fuel.
The Old Colony Railroad, between Boston and Plymouth, was opened November 10, 1845. Up to the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 there were only 1,221 miles of railroad in the entire State but since that time they have been extended so that nearly every town had railroad accom- modations, then street railway accommodations in all the principal towns, until motor transportation caused both to lose much of their popularity for passenger travel for long distances. The Cape Cod Rail- road was extended to Provincetown in August, 1873. There had be- fore that been a railroad with a terminus at Yarmouth and coach serv- ice from there to Chatham.
Since 1835 Boston and vicinity has lived in a new world, made new by railroad transportation, beginning in Norfolk County. The only agencies of commerce and travel previous to that year were the sail and the horse, the same as had served the Pilgrims and Puritans. The
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only exception was on interior waters. Boston was, from 1835, no longer merely a Provincial New England capital. Business became diversified, instead of largely sewed up in the fisheries, the carrying trade and foreign commerce. People who were not accustomed to changes or adaptable to new conditions looked upon the new order of things as decay. Something of the same outlook has seized upon people similarly limited in their vision on account of changing conditions in the present decade. America is still shaping itself as it grows. . We are only a little more than three hundred years from the Pilgrims and less than that from the Puritans.
Previous to the days of the railroads and the new order of things which came with so-called rapid transit, local markets were guarded with care, both zealous and jealous. It will be remembered how the men of Plym- outh sent a note to the early Puritan poachers, reminding them that trading with the Indians in Plymouth territory would not be looked upon in any way but as an unfriendly act.
When railroad transportation became an assured fact, the Yankee rose to the situation, as he always does, and putting through railroads and their use were matters in which he was prominently concerned, even in putting through the railroad uniting the people dwelling on the two great oceans. Travel by rail was regarded in early railroading days much the same as travel by airplane is regarded by the great majority of people today. One who was employed on one of the early Massachu- setts railroads recalls that employees were asked to fill out a blank, giving age, name and other personal facts and, more especially, to answer the question: "Where would you like to have your remains buried ?"
Dedham Saw Advantage of New Railroad -- The first survey of the Boston & Providence Railroad located the road through the centre of the town of Dedham and the people of that town were favorably disposed, which was something out of the ordinary in early railroad matters. Too often the people of a community were inclined to look upon the coming of a railroad as a menace to human life and livestock. The people of Dedham appreciated the benefits to be derived from such an enterprise. The Dedham Hotel and the stable connected with it had been destroyed by fire October 30, 1832, with a loss of sixty horses. The Phoenix Stable burned January 7, 1834, with a loss of fifty-three horses. The old turnpike and stagecoach days were over.
Application was made to the directors of the Boston & Providence Railroad Company to built a branch from what is now Readville, then called Low Plain, to Dedham. The petition was granted, with legisla- tive enactment, and the Dedham Branch was completed in December, 1834. For a time the distance between Dedham and Boston was covered
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in cars built after the manner of English railway-carriages and drawn by horses. For several years the railroad corporation provided a carriage to collect passengers in Dedham and even then some preferred to patronize the stagecoaches which ran between Dedham and Boston. An omnibus drawn by four horses covered the route between Dedham and Boston as late as 1841.
The Norfolk County Railroad, from Dedham to Blackstone, was opened in 1849. The Boston & Providence Railroad Company, after the same time, built a branch through West Roxbury, to connect with the Norfolk County line. Another line was constructed through Dover and Needham. Later, the Norfolk County Railroad passed into the hands of other corporations and a new road was constructed through Dor- chester, which connected with it a mile and a half south of the village.
The development of railroads in this part of the State, including Nor- folk County, following the building of the road already referred to in Quincy, was an important occurrence. A charter was granted to the Old Colony Railroad Corporation, March 18, 1844, for a road from Boston to Plymouth. In 1845 the same interests received authority to build a road from Bridgewater to South Abington, now Whitman, known as the "Bridgewater Branch." About the same time the Middleboro Railroad Corporation was chartered to build a railroad from Bridgewater con- necting with the Fall River Branch, which had been built to Myricks. In the same month the Randolph and Bridgewater Railroad received a charter to run from Bridgewater to a point on the Old Colony Railroad at Quincy or Braintree.
The Middleboro, Fall River Branch and Randolph and Middleboro lines were united in August, 1845, under the name of the United Cor- poration. This was an early railroad merger which perhaps aroused as great a local interest as any of the big railroad mergers in recent years. The United Corporation became the Fall River Railroad Com- pany in April, 1846. The Old Colony and the Fall River lines were united in March, 1854, under the name of the Old Colony and Fall River Railroad Company.
The Cape Cod Branch Railroad was incorporated in April, 1846, to build a road from Middleboro to Sandwich. The first train for pas- sengers steamed over this road to Sandwich, in May, 1847. The name was later changed to the Cape Cod Railroad. There was an extension to Hyannis, another to Orleans by the Cape Cod Central Railroad, and eventually to Provincetown.
The Middleboro & Taunton Railroad was run as a competing line with the Old Colony for a time, beginning in 1853. Later the Old Col- ony bought the stock and the roads were merged. All the railroads were consolidated in 1872 under the name of the Old Colony Railroad.
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All the roads in this part of the State were absorbed, by lease or pur- chase by the Old Colony. In 1893 it leased itself for ninety-nine years to the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company.
Pilgrims and Puritans Welded By Steam-The Old Colony Railroad which, for many years, has been leased by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company, has served Plymouth County by several consolidated lines. The original line, from Plymouth to Boston, was opened for travel November 8, 1845.
The first train was drawn by a wood-burning locomotive and it was a great event in Plymouth and the towns along the route to Boston when the first trip was made. The station agent at Plymouth closed his of- fice and indeed the whole station and took the trip on the train, acting as conductor. This line connected the descendants of the Pilgrims with the descendants of the Puritans. It was consolidated September 7, 1854, with a line which had been built from Boston to Fall River. The name of the road was then changed to the Old Colony and Fall River Railroad Company. When, October 1, 1872, the Fall River Railroad was consolidated with the Cape Cod Railroad Company, which was chartered in 1846, and road opened to Cape Cod, July 23, 1873, the road was changed back to the Old Colony Railroad Company.
The South Shore Railroad was purchased October 1, 1876, and other purchases were the Duxbury & Cohasset line, October 1, 1878; the Fall River, Warren & Providence line, December 1, 1875.
In 1856, the Middleboro and Taunton branch was opened. In 1871, the direct line through Easton and Taunton; and in 1882, the branch line from Raynham to Taunton.
The Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg & New Bedford railroads, a consoli- dation of several lines, made a contract with the Old Colony manage- ment, February 1, 1879, by which it was absorbed by the Old Colony. The latter company has since leased the Lowell & Framingham, the Fall River to New Bedford line, Dorchester & Milton road, a line ex- tending from Neponset to Mattapan and the Boston & Providence Rail- road. The Old Colony Railroad Company operated about 500 miles of railroad and was in prosperous condition when it was leased for ninety- nine years to the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Com- pany, which now operates the road all through this section.
In 1871, the Old Colony Railroad Company assumed control of the Fall River Line of steamboats between Fall River and New York and this steamship line was included in the lease to the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company.
An early president of the Old Colony Railroad was Alexander Holmes of Kingston, who lived in a handsome stone residence on Captain Thom-
Plym -- 66
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as' Hill, overlooking Kingston Bay. It is now occupied by one of his descendants having the same name.
The president of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company is E. J. Pearson, of Boston, and New Haven, Connecticut. The general passenger agent is W. P. Read of New Haven, Connecticut. None of the present officials are residents of Plymouth County or the Old Colony District.
The Norfolk County Railroad was incorporated in 1847 and com- pleted in 1849. The road was twenty-six miles in length, connecting the towns of Dedham and Blackstone. It later became a link of the New York & New England Railroad.
Franklin and Providence were connected by the Rhode Island & Massachusetts Railroad, via Valley Falls, in 1877. This railroad was twenty miles in length.
In 1883, the Milford & Franklin Railroad was completed, ten miles in length. It connected with the Boston & Albany Railroad, through Hopkinton and Ashland.
The Old Colony Railroad, from Boston to Plymouth, was opened for travel November 10, 1845.
The South Shore Railroad was opened to the public January 1, 1849. It was bought by the Old Colony Railroad Company in May, 1877, and has since been operated as one of its branches.
Naming of Locomotives An Old Custom-Early in 1928 the New York "World," boasted editorially, that after it "advocated a bold in- novation in regard to locomotives" suggesting that they should be pro- vided with names so that they might have personalities as ships have personalities, the Baltimore & Ohio Road has "put our plan into effect" and will soon have twenty locomotives named for the first twenty presi- dents of the United States. Evidently the editor who dictated that editorial point was not old enough to remember when every locomotive had a name.
The Boston & Albany and Boston & Providence railroads were both direct results of the Granite Railway. In 1828, ground was broken for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. The first steam locomotive, "The Stourbridge Lion," was used in transportation by the Delaware & Hud- son Railroad August 8, 1829. A few years ago it was still in the yards of that road at Carbondale, Pennsylvania.
Peter Cooper's "Tom Thumb," was the first American steam loco- motive to run on American railroads. It was successfully operated on August 28, 1830.
The first American locomotive built for actual use on the first rail- road on which steam was used as a motive power from the completion
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of the road was "The Best Friend of Charleston" which made a trip on the South Carolina Railroad, November 2, 1830.
The first locomotive to draw passenger cars in the State of New York, was the DeWitt Clinton, which made its first excursion trip, Au- gust 9, 1831. It was exhibited a few years ago at the Brockton Fair.
The first locomotive in Massachusetts was on the Boston & Worces- ter tracks in March, 1834. This road was later extended to Albany. The first president was Thomas B. Wales of Randolph. He was also prominently identified with the Boston & Providence Railroad.
The Old Colony Railroad, from Boston to Plymouth, was built with a capital of $1,000,000, the company being chartered in 1844. The first president was a Norfolk County man, Nathan Carruth of Dorchester. It pursued a policy of development and acquisition superior to all other railroads in the State, and held undivided control of the southeastern portion of the State until the road was leased to the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company for ninety-nine years.
The Union Pacific Railroad was built very largely through the en- ergy of Oakes Ames of Easton. Oliver Ames was its first president.
At the Sign of the Sun-A history of the transportation facilities and entertainment provided at regulation stopping places on the road in Norfolk County would be incomplete without reference to Dr. Na- thaniel Ames, author of the Ames almanacs and keeper of a tavern in Dedham. The latter stood opposite the Dedham Court House and had been known, previous to the Revolution, as Woodward's Tavern. It was at an earlier date that Dr. Ames was the proprietor, as his death occurred in 1764.
Dr. Ames was a physician, mathematician and wit. He published an Astronomical Diary or Almanac for forty years, from 1725 until his death in 1765. Even after his death, it was continued under his name until 1775, as it was held in high repute and much in demand.
Dr. Ames was equally celebrated for his drugs, his inn, and his al- manac. The almanac was a good medium for the advertisement of the tavern. He announced the opening of his house of entertainment in his issue for 1751 :
ADVERTISEMENT.
These are to signify to all Persons that travel the great Post-Road South- West from Boston, that I keep a House of Public Entertainment Eleven Miles from Boston, at the Sign of the SUN. If they want Refreshment, and see Cause to be my Guests, they shall be entertained at a reasonable Rate,
N. Ames.
For some reason the "Sign of the SUN" did not get into position promptly. Hence in 1752, Dr. Ames returned to the subject as follows :
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The Affairs of my House are of a Publick Nature, and therefore I hope may be mentioned here without offence to my Reader: The Sign I advertised last Year by reason of some little Disappointments is not put up, but the Thing in- tended to be signified by it is to be had according to said Advertisement. And I beg Leave further to add, that if any with a View of Gain to themselves, or Advantage to their Friends, have reported Things of my House in contradiction to the aforesaid Advertisement, I would only have those whom they would influence consider, that where the Narrator is not honest, is not an Eye or Ear-Witness, can't trace his Story to the original, has it only by Hear-say, a thousand such Witnesses are not sufficient to hang a Dog; & I hope no Gentleman that travels the Road will have his Mind bias'd against my House by such idle Reports.
It is pleasant to know that the doctor's vigorous defense was effec- tual and that the Sun Tavern enjoyed great and long-continued pros- perity.
Dr. Nathaniel Ames was the father of Honorable Fisher Ames, one of the most eminent lawyers and statesmen ever born in Dedham.
In addition to keeping a tavern, indulging in astronomical calcula- tions, publishing an almanac and practicing medicine, he kept a diary and opened his diary of the year 1801, January 1, with the following: "The nineteenth century begins with a fine, clear morning, wind at S W. And the political horizon affords as fine a prospect under the adminis- tration of Jefferson and returning intercourse with France & Us. With the irresistible propagation of the Rights of Man, the eradication of hierarchy, oppression, superstition & tyranny over the world by means of that soul-improving genius-polisher,-that palladium of all our ra- tional joys-the printing press-whose value tho' unknown by the vul- gar savage slave cannot be sufficiently appreciated by those who would disdain to fetter the image of God."
Harking back to the days of the stagecoaches in and out of Norfolk County, we find interesting advertisements concerning arrivals and de- partures from the files of the old almanacs, as well as from the early newspapers which appeared in several of the larger and older towns of the county. One of these advertisements read as follows:
DEDHAM Stage starts from King's inn every day in the week (Sundays ex- cepted) at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and arrives in Boston the same days, at 10 o'clock in the morning.
QUINCY Stage sets off from King's inn every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and arrives in Boston the same days, at 10 o'clock in the morning.
CANTON Stage sets off from King's inn every Tuesday, Thursday and Satur- day, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and arrives in Boston the same days, at 9 o'clock in the morning.
There were at the old taverns and inns refreshments and good cheer and there were at times special attractions, announced much the same
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as similar attractions by the modern carnival companies. The following advertisements show the style :
A Beautiful MOOSE.
The curious in Natural History are invited to Major King's Tavern, where is to be seen a fine young Moose of sixteen hands in height, and well propor- tioned. The properties of this fleet and tractable Animal are such as will give pleasure and satisfaction to every beholder.
Price of admittance, Nine Pence. Dec. 9, 1800.
MONSTROUS SIGHT!
To be seen at A. POLLARD'S Tavern, Elm Street-A white Greenland Sea BEAR, which was taken at sea, weighing 1000 wt. This animal lives either in the sea or on the land. They have been seen several leagues at sea, and some- times floating on cakes of ice .- This animal displays a great natural curiosity.
Admittance 12 1-2 cts. .. children half price.
About the Old-time Hospitality-During the past hundred years the inns and taverns as they were known in "the good old days" have not been as they used to be.
President Dwight, writing about 1820, avers that the inns of New England had deteriorated, and to prove his point he gives a most at- tractive description of a house of the old style, leaving his readers to contrast it with those with which they were themselves acquainted;
The best old fashioned New-England inns were superior to any of the modern ones which I have seen. They were at less pains to furnish a great variety of food. Yet the variety was ample. The food was always of the best quality; the beds were excellent; the house and all its appendages were in the highest degree clean and neat; the cookery was remarkably good; and the stable was not less hospitable than the house. The family in the meantime were possessed of prin- ciple, and received you with the kindness and attention of friends. Your baggage was as safe as in your own house. If you were sick, you were nursed and be- friended as in your own family. No tavern-haunters, gamblers or loungers were admitted, any more than in a well ordered private habitation; and as little noise was allowed.
There was less bustle, less parade, less appearance of doing much to gratify your wishes, than at the reputable modern inns; but much more actually done, and much more comfort and enjoyment. In a word, you found in these inns, the pleasures of an excellent private house. To finish the story, your bills were always equitable, calculated on what you ought to pay, and not upon the scheme of getting the most which extortion might think proper to demand.
Description of a Typical Trip-There is a record left by "Abdy, the Oxonian," who tells what happened to him in New England in 1833:
I left Northampton on the 16th at three, A. M., for Boston, and arrived at that place about eight in the evening. The road was good; and, if we had not changed our vehicle three times during the journey, and stopped at the various post offices for the bags, and at the hotels for refreshment, we should have got in much sooner.
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The first fifteen miles were performed in an hour and forty minutes. The distance is ninety-four miles. The passengers were inclined to be sociable; and, as it was a fine day, and the country not uninteresting, the journey passed off pleasantly enough. An English coachman would have been somewhat amused with the appearance of the stage and the costume of the driver. The former was similar to some that are common enough in France, though not known on our side of the channel. It was on leather springs; the boot and the hind part being appropriated to the luggage, while the box was occupied by two passengers in ad- dition to the "conducteur," and as many on the roof.
On the top, secured by an iron rail, were some of the trunks and boxes, and inside were places for nine; two seats being affixed to the ends, and one, parallel to them, across the middle of the carriage. Our driver sat between two of the outsides, and when there was but one on the box, over the near wheeler; and holding the reins, or lines, as he called them, in such a manner as to separate his team into couples, not a-breast, but in a line or tandem fashion, drove along with con- siderable skill and dexterity. When he got down, he fastened the "ribbons" to a ring, or a post in front of the house where he had occasion to pull up.
In the less thickly settled parts of the country the stagecoach gave way to the "stage-wagon." This was a primitive contrivance, "a mere cart with four wheels," one traveler calls it,-and was usually drawn by two horses. Chairs were sometimes used as seats, but there were not always enough to go around. Not infrequently the passenger had to sit on his own baggage.
The "Punch Bowl Tavern" in Brookline was another of the famous old hostelries. It was built long before the Revolution, a two-story, hip- roof building, to which additions were made from time to time. In some instances old houses had been purchased in Boston or vicinity, moved and attached to the tavern. The vicinity took on the name of the "Punch Bowl Village," as the inn was the popular and compelling feature of the community. It was on the first road built leading to Boston.
There was a swinging sign, which creaked in the wind for more than a hundred years. There was a painting of a huge bowl and ladle, over- hung by a lemon tree, resplendent with yellow fruit, some lying around the bowl as if dropped from the tree.
The opening of the Worcester Railroad put a quietus to the "Punch Bowl." It was bought by Isaac Thayer about 1830 and torn down. The solid oak used in its construction was rebuilt into the construction of nine dwelling houses and, in some instances, has stood nearly another hundred years of sheltering usefulness.
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