USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. II > Part 48
USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. II > Part 48
USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. II > Part 48
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The Correction Department has had transferred to it, four hundred acres, within half a mile of a railroad, two miles from the nearest vil- lage centre, well supplied with plenty of spring water, the land being well-drained, gravelly loam for the most part. Some can immediately be adapted for tillage.
The wall under construction is sunk seven feet beneath the surface and rises eighteen feet above. It tapers from six feet wide at the base to eighteen inches at the top and is smooth on the inside. Heavy steel rods are embedded in the solid concrete every few inches to reënforce the construction.
The prisoners who have worked on the structure have greatly im-
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, NORWOOD
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proved in health and morale and many of them have become experts in concrete construction.
In the same vicinity the State has constructed a new State Cancer Hospital which was formally opened June 21, with several hundred medical men, members of the General Court and State officials present. The institution contains ninety beds. It is a new community service taken up by the State and will guide the future policies of other States as well.
Governor Alvan T. Fuller in his address at the opening said, in part: "We meet here today to open and dedicate an institution to fight one of the greatest scourges that has ever affected mankind. It kills 5,000 of our fellow-citizens annually. The number is continually increasing. It is a red letter day for Massachusetts. It represents the ‘farthest north' movement, if you please, in the fight against cancer by any State in the Union."
In connection with the "Pondville Hospital at Norfolk," as it is called, there are being operated twelve cancer clinics, located in Lowell, Lynn, Newton, Springfield, Worcester, Brockton, Fall River, Fitch- burg, Greenfield, Lawrence, New Bedford and North Adams.
The superintendent of the hospital is Dr. Lyman A. Jones. Dr. Robert B. Greenough is chief of the consulting staff.
NORWOOD
The incorporation of the town of Norwood took place February 23, 1872, and was made up from what was originally the second precinct of Dedham, the Neponset River forming its eastern boundary. Since that time Norwood has grown to be the third largest town in Norfolk County. According to the census of 1925, the inhabitants numbered 14,151. The number of registered voters in 1926 was 4,799.
The first appropriation of money made by the town of Norwood was $6,000 for the support of her schools. The amount expended for schools in 1926, was $265,877.89. There were 3,259 pupils and the average cost per pupil was $82.32. The cost per capita of population was $18.39.
Norwood is a growing town. In 1910 the population of the town was 8,014. The estimated population in 1912 was 9,198. In 1925 the census showed the population to be 14,151. For 1926 it was estimated to be 14,456.
In 1921 the school appropriation to complete the west wing of the Washington Street High School was $75,000. This is now used for the Junior High School. In 1922 a new eight-room addition to the Balch School was begun and the appropriation for it was $80,000. There have been several appropriations for the Senior High School building, start- ing with $100,000 in 1923. In 1924, to meet the general contract, $300,-
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000 was appropriated. On the basis of estimates for equipment, an additional $50,000 was appropriated in 1925. To complete the plant, furnishings, grounds, athletic field enclosure and other things connected with the new building, additional money was required, so that the to- tal was something over $560,000.
There is a continued increase in demand for additional accommoda- tions in the grade schools. The Junior High School also needs about 150 more seats and elementary school equipment must be forthcoming.
The new Senior High School building has been planned so that ulti- mately it can accommodate from 2,000 to 2,500 pupils, serving a popula- tion of from 25,000 to 30,000 people. The present classroom capacity will, it is estimated, be reached in 1930. The maintenance of schools in 1926 cost $296,207. All other departments of the town were main- tained at a cost of $501,172. In other words the schools cost thirty- seven and two-tenths of the total expenses of the town.
A comparison of the outlay for construction and equipment for schools, compared with total for all other departments of the town, is also interesting. The total outlay of all other departments in 1926 was $1,827,003. The total outlay for school construction was $1,027,059, the percentage of outlay for schools being fifty-six and two-tenths per cent. In giving these figures, outlays for electric light, water and cemetery departments have been omitted because they are outlays which are paid out of departmental receipts. Norwood stands thirty- sixth in the State in order of cost per pupil.
Henry O. Peabody Fund-Henry O. Peabody, a former resident of Norwood, bequeathed to the town a fund in excess of half a million dol- lars, to be used for construction and endowment of a vocational school for girls. In the report of the school committee for 1926 appeared the following suggestion :
Having in mind the manifest interest in the development of the High School program as indicated by the device of studies made by pupils, it is obvious that it would be to the advantage of the school system to have increased facilities for vocational education. The question is before a committee of citizens who represent the interests of the town in getting before the trustees of this fund such facts as would cause them to look with favor on the use of this endowment to add to our educational equipment as a community. Whatever might be the contribution, it would to that extent relieve the town because the pupil for whose benefit the fund was employed would otherwise be entitled to public money until she had reached the age of twenty-one.
Furthermore, if a program of education can be worked out which will be adopted and approved by the State, provision is made under State law whereby the State will contribute fifty per cent of the cost of such instruction.
On this basis also, assuming that the fund mentioned might be availed of, a similar curriculum might be made for vocational training for boys that would be approved of by the State, thereby enabling the town to avail itself of the co-
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MASONIC TEMPLE, NORWOOD
NORWOOD CIVIC ASSOCIATION, NORWOOD
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operation of the State by way of contribution to the cost of the whole prevoca- tional training program.
Thereby it would seem possible to add to our educational equipment, set a higher standard than the one which we now have, and at the same time reduce the cost of operation to the town. This subject has been commented on in general terms only as it is under consideration and is receiving the attention of experts.
Some Comparative Figures-The valuation of the town in 1926 was $25,387,075. The number of men twenty years of age and older was 4,489, valuation of personal property $4,620,055, valuation of land and and buildings $20,767,020. There were 2,286 dwellings and 6,096 acres of land. The acreage has been the same since 1914. There were 472 poll taxpayers when the town was incorporated in 1872. At the end of eight years the number had grown to 650. Each ten years since the number has been: 1890, 1,096; 1900, 1,670; 1910, 2,545; 1920, 4,143; and in 1926, 4,489.
The total valuation of the town has grown as follows : 1872, $1,618,- 556; 1880, $1,795,428; 1890, $2,564,558; 1900, $4,476,809; 1910, $14,033,- 280; 1920, $18,647,488; 1926, $25,387,075.
There were 320 dwelling houses in the town in 1872, and in 1926 there were 2,286. Out of that number there were only about 160 as- sessed at above $10,000. There is an average valuation of about $6,200 per family. The valuation of factories and business proper- ties is about thirty per cent of the entire valuation.
Public Library Educational Work-The Morrill Memorial Library was founded in 1873. At the end of 1926 the total number of volumes available free to the public for lending or reference was 29,500. There are four agencies and the use of the library is in close cooperation with the public schools. The circulation for the year 1926 was 82,382, an increase of 7,139 volumes over the previous year.
Since the opening of the new high school building there is a large room on the second floor, well ventilated and furnished with the most modern library conveniences and a shelf capacity of 5,000 volumes. There are at present 850 volumes which are used by the pupils in ref- erence work, through the cooperation of the town librarian and assis- tants. Some of the books used for outside reading are loaned directly from the High School Library rather than directly from the town li- brary. The library at the school will accommodate sixty pupils for class work, making a course in books and library possible.
There are 396 volumes located at the Balch School, 136 at the Wins- low School, and seventy-four at the Shattuck School.
Site for a State Armory-By an act of the General Court the town was granted permission to sell to the Commonwealth for an armory site suitable land. The parcels of land required to provide the site accept-
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able to the State Armory Commission were owned by the Norwood Housing Association, Incorporated, and A. Balboni. These parcels were purchased as authorized by the action taken at the special town meeting held in December, 1925.
The transfer of the title to the Commonwealth was made July 10, 1926, the purchase price being $10,000.
Permanent Chief of Fire Department-Acting upon a recommenda- tion from the selectmen that Norwood had reached a position in size and in valuation of property that made it desirable for the employment of a permanent chief of its fire department, on full time service, the town, at a special meeting March 24, 1926, voted that the fire depart- ment be placed under the control of an officer to be known as Chief of the Fire Department, through the acceptance of Sections 42, 43 and 44 of Chapter 48 of the General Laws.
The fire department, so controlled, was established and John J. Han- nigan of East Milton, Massachusetts, was appointed April 21, 1926, as chief of the Norwood Fire Department, effective May 1, 1926. Mr. Hannigan has a record of twenty-two years of service in the fire de- partment of the city of New York, having retired from that depart- ment with a rating of lieutenant, following ten years of service in that capacity. He has also had exceptional experience in fire department activities elsewhere.
Neponset Valley Improvement-This town was called upon in 1926, by warrant from the State treasurer, to pay to the Commonwealth $1,930.36 as the first instalment of ten annual payments of a total sum of $19,603.60. This was the amount determined as the sum appor- tioned and assessed against Norwood as its share of the cost of the improvement as authorized in the act of the General Court. The State Department of Health in 1921 submitted its report of an estimate of the agricultural benefits accruing to lands in Norwood by reason of the work of the improvement. Since that date the question of agricultural benefits to lands in Norwood has been given consideration by the board of assessors, and it became evident to the board that the areas in Nor- wood were not receiving the benefit which was originally contemplated. This has been a recent disappointment in the town and the assessors levied no assessment in 1927 on the owners of several parcels in the valley area, because no special benefit could be found to exist.
Some Recent Town Facts-After a little over half a century of life as a separate town, Norwood had, in 1926, a population of 14,500, val- uation of $25,387,080, 13.63 miles of paving, 2272 miles of oiled streets, 28.90 square yards of granolithic sidewalks, an annual expenditure of $167,393 for highways, 2,490 water services, along 34.72 miles of mains;
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316 hydrants and a plant investment in the water department of $571,- 823.
The sewer department data included 1,712 sewer connections along 23.32 miles of mains, the annual maintenance amounting to $8,586 and the bonded debt $186,000.
The electric lighting data showed an income of $193,195, operating expense of $143,681, bonded debt of $17,000, plant investment of $371,- 473. There were 777 street lights, 4,109 meters in use, 95,806 lamps.
A reduction in power and lighting rates went into effect April 1, 1926. In the Town Square development, 11,775 feet of underground ducts were installed, also 4,078 feet of one and three wire cables, seven manholes, seven 1,000 candle power and five 1,500 candle power orna- mental street lights.
Industries of the Town-Since the town was incorporated there have been several outstanding industries which have contributed much to the wealth and prosperity of the comparatively young municipality. These industries have included manufacturing printers' ink and other printing material, manufacturing raw hides into finished leather, some of it for book bindings, iron castings, oil cloths, paper, trunk boards, brake shoes, underwear, book cloth and foundry products.
PLAINVILLE
The youngest member of the Norfolk County family of towns is Plainville, which was incorporated April 4, 1905. Previous to that date it was a part of Wrentham. Less than a quarter of a century old, it is a town rapidly approaching two thousand population. According to the State census in 1925, the population was 1,512 and five years be- fore the figures had been 1,365. There were 6,337 acres of land as- sessed in 1926 and three hundred and sixty-six dwelling houses. The total valuation of the taxable property of the town was $1,380,399.
The town has shown commendable spirit since its incorporation in meeting the many problems incidental to getting a new town on its feet and holding its position in the march with older towns in the vicinity. The town spends about $30,000 annually for the support of schools. Highways and bridges call for an expenditure of about $8,000. The town has a fire department, water department, police de- partment and other departments of town government which function efficiently. The streets are well lighted by electricity. Early in 1926 a town forest was started by the setting out of two thousand three- year-old white pines on the town lot bordering Ten Mile River, and it is the intention to add to the forest each year as the citizens are alive to the necessity for reforestation.
The Plainville Public Library supplements the good work of the
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schools in public education. It has a circulation of over 5,000 volumes.
The total number of pupils in the schools is about three hundred, and less than a third of them are in the high school, but the proportion taking advantage of high school training is commendable. The col- lege preparatory course is adequate to fit students for college with the required number of units. The general course gives the students who pursue it a well balanced liberal education. The Plainville High School is rated as a Class A High School for Normal School certifica- tion by the State Board of Education.
Among the manufacturing output are jewelry and braided rugs.
QUINCY
There is something enduring, substantial, dependable, rock-ribbed and unafraid which comes into one's consciousness when the name Quincy is announced. The home of presidents, historically rich and glorious; the home of the granite industry, the quarrying of which started in 1825 and seems likely to endure as long as the earth itself.
Quincy has twenty-six miles of waterfront and the time has come when having the Atlantic Ocean for a front yard is no mean considera- tion. It is a city which might be called a residential suburb of Bos- ton, composed of a number of settlements or villages, each one having the just pride of its residents, built of neat, well cared for homes, many of them magnificent and all of them reflecting credit upon the imme- diate village in which they are situated and Quincy as a whole.
Well situated and handsome and satisfactory as it is as a residential suburb, that is merely one of many distinctions which the city has. It is an important industrial city. Manufacturing has rapidly increased in importance in Quincy since 1900. In addition to the quarries, iron and steel shipbuilding, rivets and studs, scales, telephones, gearing, foundry products of many kinds, engines, paint and varnish are manu- factured in considerable quantities and shipped all over the world.
The city was settled in 1625, one of the first towns after the landing of the Pilgrims; was separated from Braintree in 1792, and was char- tered in 1888. Granite quarrying was its first great industry and it is an industry as enduring as the granite itself, as there is no other gran- ite like Quincy granite and the people of Quincy agree with the build- ers everywhere that this is the fact. Eight miles south of Boston, on Boston Harbor, bordered on the north by the Neponset River and on the south by Fore River, the city has wonderful water advantages for shipping, pleasure boating and water industries. The city has an area of approximately seventeen square miles and the background of the picturesque Blue Hills Reservation, three miles to the west. With the eternal hills behind it, the most solid rock in the world for a founda-
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tion, between two rivers and with the over-seas world before it, Quin- cy's physical and geographical situation is as satisfactory as its his- torical lineage. It is a town of yesterday, a city of today and tomor- row.
The city is governed by a mayor and a council of nine members.
One of the problems of the city is to provide for sewage disposal in a more satisfactory manner than has been the rule in the past, but it is not so much the sewage of the city itself that has become a nuisance as the pollution of Quincy Bay by sewage from elsewhere. Complaints are frequent relative to the pollution of the bathing beaches at Hough's Neck and the Adams Shore district. Incoming tides, especially when the wind is in certain directions finds the water covered with a film of black oil substance which forms in masses on the beaches, much like tar. The State Department of Public Health is working on a plan to eliminate the nuisance.
The total number of manufacturing establishments in operation in Quincy in 1925 was one hundred and thirty-eight, according to the re- port of the State Department of Labor and Industries. The total value of all products manufactured in these establishments was $23,171,557. The value of stock used in manufacturing was $9,429,048. The leading industry was steel shipbuilding. Other leading industries were mar- ble, slate and stone work, manufacture of foundry and machine shop products, including structural and ornamental iron work; and iron and steel rivets.
The building record in Quincy has been unusually satisfactory in recent years and the building permits call for the better class of build- ings for the various desired purposes. Some handsome church edifices have been erected the past few years.
Quincy covers 16,000 acres and has twenty-six miles of sea front. The opportunities for development both industrially and residentially are unsurpassed. The train service, proximity to Boston and condi- tions too numerous to mention present Quincy as possessing potential possibilities unlimited. The City Planning Board is composed of men of vision and the development of the city of the future is being carefully considered by that body. Wilson Marsh, chairman of that board, wrote a few years ago something of what the board had in mind when he said: "Impounding the waters of Hingham Harbor at Nut Island and at Hull will give us a commercial basin of deep water that will exceed anything at Liverpool or Hamburg in the Old World."
When Quincy voted to become a city in 1888, the voters accepted what was often called "the model Charter." Under it the mayor was given the unusual authority to appoint the heads of all departments without having them confirmed by the City Council. He has also the
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same privilege as to their removal. It is the only city in the State in which the mayor is given so much authority.
The city of Quincy celebrated its tercentenary in June, 1925. The program was well carried out and every feature will linger in the mem- ory of citizens of Quincy and appreciative visitors with pride. On that occasion the city was presented with one of the handsomest and most fitting memorials imaginable. A solid block of granite, hewn from the everlasting hills, was turned into a polished ball of beautiful dark blue stone and placed in position on the lawn to the westerly side of City Hall. It was a gift from the Granite Manufacturers' Association. The ball is six feet in diameter and weighs eleven tons.
Safeguarding Public Health-Much has been done in Quincy in the field of child welfare. A physician devotes part time to this work and a full-time nurse keeps the work in good order. Clinics are held for infants and pre-school age children. A nurse is available for visits to the home for pre-natal service when desired.
There is a tuberculosis clinic conducted at the dispensary once a week by the dispensary physician, followed up by visits from the tuber- culosis nurse in the homes. There is a clinic for under-nourished and underweight children in connection with the tuberculosis clinic and this has an annual attendance approaching five hundred. Milk is dis- tributed until weight increases are noted and examinations are made and treatment given for pre-tuberculosis conditions. Cases which re- quire hospital attendance are accommodated in State and county san- atoria.
Under the city charter the commissioner of health is appointed by the mayor for a term of two years, the mayor being elected for the same length of term. The health department further includes a superintend- ent, clerk, sanitary inspector, milk inspector, foreman of ash and gar- bage collections, inspector of animals and slaughtering, dispensary phy- sician, child welfare physician, venereal disease phyiscian who is also a bacteriologist, and three public health nurses, among whom are divided the departments of communicable diseases, tuberculosis and child wel- fare.
The appropriation for the health department is usually about $112,- 000, including some $75,000 for garbage and ash collections.
The supervision of the health of the school children is in the hands of the Board of Education. Medical examinations of school children are made by a physician, who devotes part time to the work, three full- time nurses, a dentist and a dental hygienist. Dental clinics are con- ducted in two of the schools. Physicians examine the children an- nually, assisted by the nurses and teachers. Nurses visit the homes
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Courtesy H. A. Frink BIRTHPLACE OF JOHN ADAMS, QUINCY
BIRTHPLACE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, QUINCY
Courtesy H. A. Frink
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to assist in the correction of physical defects. Milk or cocoa are served in some of the schools at the morning recess. A course in hygiene is started in the first grade.
Much good work is done by the Visiting Nurse Association, sup- ported by the Quincy Woman's Club. There are five nurses, including a supervisor.
The population of the city is estimated at approximately 60,000 and about 30 per cent is foreign born.
The valuation of the city as determined by the assessors April 1, on real estate was $95,937,700; and on personal property $13,115,925. The total valuation of the city as of that date was therefore $109,053,625. There were 19,006 polls returned by the police and those registered for the year. The resident property owners numbered 11,395.
During the year the drawbridge at Fore River has to be opened about 1,500 times. The amount of lumber received by water in a year approximates seven million feet and about three hundred thousand lathes. Approximately 200,000 tons of coal are received by water.
City Departments and Education-The city has about one hundred and seventy miles of water pipe in use for the water system which fur- nishes the population with 1,650,000,000 gallons of water, about sev- enty-five gallons per capita per day.
The Thomas Crane Public Library is an unusually well-equipped and appreciated educational institution in the town, having a total val- uation of library property of $270,000. There are about 65,000 vol- umes and the number of volumes lent for home use in a year is nearly half a million. The city annually appropriated about $40,000 and the income from endowment funds amount to some over $4,000. The li- brary has nine branches.
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