USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Westminster > History of Westminster, Massachusetts (first named Narragansett no. 2) from the date of the original grant of the township to the present time, 1728-1893, with a biographic-genealogical register of its principal families > Part 28
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115. May 15, 1837. In the north part, extending from old town way below P. F. Page's to county road in Phillips' Brook valley. The " Potato road."
116. Nov. 23, 1840. Extending from near the George Miles place northerly to the old proprietors' road at Mt. Pleasant cemetery.
117. June, 1840. County road to Templeton relaid, running around Livermore Hill.
118. April 5, 1841. A private way from the residence of the late Cephas Bush to Princeton road made public.
119. Dec. 1, 1845. Running from the residence of Samuel W. Bridge to the Calvin Baker place. Mostly new, superseding the former road.
120. Sept. 20, 1847. Depot road from Fitchburg highway.
121. April 5. 1849. Short street from Main, opposite hotel.
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HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.
122. Sept. 22, 1849. From Bacon Street, opposite blacksmith's shop, to Fitchburg road. Pleasant Street.
123. April 1, 1850. This road ran from near the old No. 4 schoolhouse site, below George Harris' residence, southward to Wachusettville. An old private way made public.
124. Nov. 10, 1851. Town way from railroad station northwardly to the old North Branch turnpike.
125. April 5, 1852. From Fitchburg road, near the railroad station, southwardly to Wachusettville.
126. Sept. 18, 1852. A short branch of Leominster road in the south- east part of the "No-town " addition.
127. June, 1856. County road in Wachusettville from main road to Harrison Wyman's.
128. April 6. 1857. From South Westminster to the George Miles cor- ner,-the old way to the residence of the late Mr. Fowler being abandoned.
129. May 1, 1857. From Bacon Street, opposite the house of John Lewis, to the Fitchburg road.
130. May 9, 1859. The William Eaton road from Main Street near Nichols Bros.' factory.
131. June, 1859. County road from Wachusettville (Benjamin Wyman's) southeastwardly through " No-town " territory towards East Princeton.
132. Oct. 12, 1861. Short line from the last to John Cary's house.
133. Nov. 3, 1863. Cross road from turnpike, near Clarendon Oxford's, northward to back road to Gardner.
134. Nov. 3, 1863. Short route from South Westminster to John Sawin's.
135. March, 1865. A county road running from Osborne's mills (so called) in Fitchburg to No. 131.
136. May 27, 1867. The South Westminster street from the Center along the border of the pond.
137. September, 1869. County road, from where Benjamin Howe then resided, in the west part of the town, to South Gardner.
138. June, 1872. County road from South Westminster in a southwest- erly direction down the " Mare Meadow " valley to Hubbardston line.
139. Nov. 7, 1876. Highway opened from the railroad station north- westerly to the Bathrick place. Partly on the line of an old road, No. 46, for a long time abandoned.
140. May 10, 1884. Short piece from railroad station to the Fitchburg road, east of the track.
141. March 7, 1887. Town voted to accept a road leading from the foot of the hill below house of Albert Howard to the house of F. F. Rice- Thomas Merriam place.
142. Nov. 6, 1888. Short road accepted from near the house of A. F. Green. on Winchendon road, to that of Susan H. Underwood.
143. March 4. 1889. From near house of Mrs. W. O. Eager, Wachu- settville. southwardly to old road near E. Eliot Wood's. Soon after ex- tended from Mr. Peeler's (J. C. Miller place) to outlet of Wachusett Lake.
144. June 3, 1889. County road from S. W. Weston's. near Wachusett lake, southwardly up the mountain side to town line.
145. Nov. 5, 1889. A short road beginning opposite the last at Wachu- settville and running northwardly across the river.
Bridle Ways. It is altogether probable that many of the early highways of the town, previous to the time of their being legally laid out and accepted as public thoroughfares, were sim- ple bypaths or cart-roads, cut through the woods wherever con- venience or necessity required. And for many years after they became public property not a few of them remained much as they had been before, little labor or money being expended upon
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BRIDLE WAYS AND BRIDGES.
them and little being done to render them more passable and casy of travel. Besides these private roadways or imperfectly constructed public ones, there was a class of thoroughfares in the olden time, over which the town had a certain control, known as bridle ways. They ran through open fields and pas- tures, which were protected from intrusion by gates wherever they were needed for that purpose. Some of these were for a time common roads. Such, for instance, was that running over the easterly part of Bean Porridge Hill, No. 44, as was also the Isaac Blodget road and its extension, Nos. 77 and 87. The Wiswall road, No. 93, was for a time a bridle way. Others existed in different parts of the town. These were required to be kept open to whomsoever might be pleased to travel them, though it does not appear that they were in any respect a pub- lic charge.
Bridges. No special mention of bridges is found in the town records until the year 1767. From this fact it is to be inferred that up to that date the streams were either forded, as no doubt they were in many cases, or crossed by cheap, rude structures composed of logs, which were plenty in those days, hewn or split it may be, and put in place with their level surfaces uppermost as a part of the work of making the thoroughfares to which they respectively belonged. It is to be presumed that there were, properly speaking, no abutments on either side to support the extremities of these improvised bridges, but that the ends of the logs were simply imbedded in the earth in such a way as to render them practically serviceable for purposes of travel and transportation.
But the time came when it was necessary, in certain localities at least, that more permanent facilities for crossing the water courses should be constructed, and constructed according to some definite and systematic method. To do this, larger out- lays of money were required than had before been made, and special appropriations, independent of the regular grant for highway purposes, were voted for that particular department of public work.
Dr. Harvey's Bridge. In the year just named, at a meeting held October 15th, pursuant to an article in the war- rant, it was voted "to Build a Bridge over the River at Doctor Harvey's mill [which had recently been built near the present residence of S. M. Brown]," and "to Raise twenty pounds to accomplish the business aforesaid." A committee was chosen to have charge of the work in hand and ordered to "make the Roade Leading to said Bridge from James Taylor's [afterwards called the 'Mill Road'] passable as far as they think Neces- sary." Men from the town at large were expected to assist in the undertaking, and it was voted "that each person that Labor- eth att the Bridge and Roade have two shillings per Day if they Begin their Labour at 8 o'clock in the morning and End att 4
15
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HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.
o'clock in the Afternoone." The bridge was completed in 1770, and continued in use about twenty-six years, when it was rebuilt by Mr. Joseph Taylor, at that time owner of the mill property ; the details of its construction, as recommended by a committee and approved by the town, being given in the records of the clerk.
In 1814 this bridge again needing repair was referred to a com- mittee, who reported that if the mill which had then recently been burned was not rebuilt, the bridge was "wholly unnec- essary," and that if it were, the bridge would be of "very little use to any one but the owner of the mill," and recommended that but "little be expended upon it by the town," which report and recommendation were accepted and work seems to have been done upon it accordingly. Ten years later further repairs were needed (the mill having been rebuilt meanwhile), and the selectmen were directed to act in the matter as "they think expedient." A few years afterwards the second mill having been destroyed by fire, the road leading to this bridge was dis- continued and the structure has been kept in order, for the most part, since, by those whose convenience it has served, with very little expense to the public.
Phillips' Brook Bridge. Singular as it may seem, the next bridge receiving special action on the part of the town was that over what was then called "the most northerly river." In 1764 a highway was laid across that stream, but nothing was done in regard to a bridge till Oct. 30, 1769, when it was voted "to build a bridge" there, and, to secure the execution of the work provided for, it was voted "that Each Surveyor for the present year take four hands out of his List and goe over and assist in makeing said Bridge." For some unexplained reason the bridge was not constructed at the time designated, but three years later it was taken hold of and completed substan- tially in the manner proposed before. In 1787 an attempt was made to have the structure rebuilt, but it proved ineffectual. A dozen years later Mr. Solomon Laws was empowered to put the bridge in proper order and the selectmen were instructed to pay him accordingly.
Whitman's Bridge. No action of the citizens ordering the original construction of the bridge at Scrabble Hollow is recorded in the books of the town clerk. But on the 7th of November, 1770, it was voted "that the Bridge leading to Mr. Shattucks place [on Bragg Hill] be Covered with Splitt plank two inches thick or Sawed plank two and half inches thick," which indicates the date when it was completed. In 1791 it had become so much dilapidated that a new one was ordered by vote of the town and let out for building to Ephraim Wether- bee. It was a substantial structure with well-laid stone abut- ments fifteen feet wide, which have probably served the public to the present day, the sleepers and flooring only needing to be replaced from time to time as occasion has required.
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BRIDGES -CONTINUED.
The Middle Bridge. Such was the name applied for many years to the structure that spanned the same stream a mile below on the roadway to Bean Porridge Hill. It was built and rebuilt simultaneously with the last-named, the same vote of the town relating to both the first and second construction of them, covering the two cases, which were similar in all essential respects.
Murdock's Bridge. When the first bridge across the river below the railroad station was built, has not been deter- mined. On the 2d of October, 1794, a committee, previously chosen to consider the subject of repairing the old bridge or building a new one, reported that a new one should be erected, giving in full the details of its construction. The report was accepted and the selectmen were instructed to let out the work to the lowest bidder at public auction, which was done on the 3d of November following,-the stone work being performed by William Edgell, Jr., for £14 IIs., and the wooden material being furnished and laid by Zachariah Rand for £2 4s. This bridge, with occasional replanking and other incidental repairs, served its designed purpose till 1834, when, upon the building of the county road to Fitchburg, it was superseded by the structure now standing.
Darby's Bridge. This bridge across the eastwardly out- let of Meetinghouse Pond, at the old gristmill site, was first erected, undoubtedly, by Seth Walker, in 1741, when he built the mill, and was probably regarded as a part of the original mill enterprise, the dam constituting the roadway with which the bridge was connected. In 1771 the town voted "that the surveyor who has charge of that bridge, with Captain Dike and his squadron make such improvements upon it as they shall Judge proper and necessary." On the 12th of May, 1796, a committee, to which the matter of repairing and improving this bridge had been referred, made a detailed report of what ought to be done with it and the connected dam, involving the rebuild- ing of a considerable part of the structure. The report was ac- cepted, and it is presumed that the suggestions it contained were carried into effect, giving to the town and the traveling public essentially the one now in use. It is probable that the broad stone covering, which for more than fifty years has constituted the bed of the road at that point, was put in at a later date. If so, the fact, so far as ascertained, did not find a place in the records.
The other bridges of the town, with two or three exceptions not necessary to note, have been constructed and kept in repair under the general system of highway management, and the expense of them has been met out of the regular annual grant for highway purposes.
Appropriations. As previously stated, the first appro- priation made for public roads was in 1740, when £10 were
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HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.
devoted to this important interest. In 1750 a special highway tax was levied which amounted to a little less than £50, or about $160. The first appropriation after the town was incor- porated, made at the March meeting in 1760, was £30. To indicate the general course of the town's action in this matter, the amount assigned at each decade, from that date to the pres- ent, is appended : 1770, £80; 1780, £2500 in greatly depre- ciated currency, the actual value being about £140; 1790, £150; 1800, $1100; 1810, $1200; 1820, $1000; 1830, $1200; 1840, $1200; 1850, $1200; 1860, $1500; 1870, $3000; 1880, $2500; 1890, $3200.
Superintendence. During the existence of Narragansett No. 2, the highways were in charge of committees chosen from time to time, as the proprietors deemed advisable. Under the act of incorporation the legally required custom of appointing annually a board of highway surveyors was adopted, and con- tinued in use for more than a hundred years. The roads of the township were divided into districts, over each of which one of these surveyors was put in charge, the boundaries of his jurisdiction being assigned to him by rescript from the selectmen, though the town had a voice in fixing those bounda- ries. At the outset, in 1760, there were six of those districts and, of course, six surveyors. As the roads of the town multi- plied, the number of both districts and surveyors increased pro- portionally. In the year 1800 there were fifteen of them; in 1852, twenty-five, and the same number in 1866.
In 1867 the experiment of having the selectmen elect a gen- eral superintendent of roads and bridges, with power to appoint subordinates in different localities, was tried, but, not proving satisfactory, was discontinued at the end of the year. In 1872 a board of three road commissioners was chosen at the annual meeting to look after the interest under notice, and this plan was pursued for seven years, when the original method of having highway surveyors, with an assignment to each of a definite extent of roads, was resumed, and was followed as the policy of the town till 1889, when all the public highways, bridges, etc., were put in charge of a road commissioner' ap- pointed by the selectmen, as required by a new law of the State. The entire length of the public roads of Westminster at the present time, including those built under county authority, is about one hundred and twenty-five miles.
The Fifth Massachusetts Turnpike. Near the close of the last century, the custom of forming private companies for the purpose of constructing important thoroughfares was inaugurated in the State of Massachusetts, and prevailed quite extensively for many years, or until the multiplicity and excel- lence of the public highways compelled its abandonment for lack of needful pecuniary support. These companies operated under an act of the Legislature, which, while fixing in a general
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FIFTH MASSACHUSETTS TURNPIKE.
way the location of their respective roads, gave them power to raise money for the construction and maintenance of the same by establishing tollhouses along their routes, whereat to demand and collect given fees of those using the franchise for purposes of travel or transportation. Such thoroughfares were called turnpikes-a name derived from the swinging bar or gate set up at the tollhouses in order to detain passers-by till the stipu- lated sum was paid. Among the enterprises receiving a charter under this policy, at or about the date designated, was the so- called "Fifth Massachusetts Turnpike," its name indicating the place it held in the series of similar undertakings that extended over a large part of the Commonwealth. The eastern terminus of this road was "Jonas Kendall's tavern, Leominster," and it ran thence "through Westminster, [South ] Gardner, Templeton, Phillipston, Athol, Orange, and Warwick, to Capt. Elisha Hunts in Northfield," with a branch "from Athol through Montague to Calvin Munn's tavern Greenfield." The corporation under whose auspices the road was built, was composed of gentlemen of influence and wealth residing in the different towns along the route, who acted under authority derived from the Legis- lature March 1, 1799. Their charter provided for the construc- tion of "a highway four rods wide, the path to be travelled not less than eighteen feet wide in any place," and for "the erection of five turnpike gates convenient for collecting the toll." Fortunately for the inhabitants of Westminster, no one of these gates was located within the boundaries of the town, which enabled them to use all the facilities for travel and trans- portation furnished by the corporation on their own territory, free of all cost.
This was the original of the present direct route from the center of Westminster to South Gardner. As first located, the road ran over Meetinghouse Hill, thence partly down the declivity below Hobart Raymond's barn, following the course of the former highway through the cemetery and on past George Harris' and the Dupee dwelling to the town line. The follow- ing year, however, the latter part of the route was changed, diverging from the main street of the village at the Bradbury store, and proceeding, by the present well-known track, in an almost straight course north of the cemetery till it struck the former survey a little way beyond. This road was a great im- provement on what had previously existed as a means of commun- ication with the towns lying both eastward and westward, being very direct and well-graded, and formed for many years the principal thoroughfare between Greenfield, Brattleboro', Albany, and other places in that direction, and Boston. Moreover, it gave to Westminster an importance it never had before, stimu- lating business enterprise, and making it a center of travel and trade, which conduced largely to the growth of the village and to the general prosperity of the community at large.
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HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.
In September, 1805, a branch of this road was laid, leaving the main line in the neighborhood of the Osborne Mills, Fitchburg, and running to the eastward of John F. Roper's, by a still open way, through Scrabble Hollow and South Ashburnham to Win- chendon, its western terminus. This was known as the North Branch Turnpike. In June, 1829, the corporation, under whose auspices the turnpike had been built and operated, transferred its interest in this branch to the County of Worcester, and in December, 1832, did the same with the main line ; whereupon, having finished the work it was chartered to do, it dissolved.
Railways. Although railways have not played a very im- portant part in developing the resources or shaping the for- tunes of this town, yet have they engaged the attention of the people at different times and enlisted their interest to a suffi- cient extent to claim some consideration in a review like that to which these pages are devoted. The era of the steam engine, as a means of locomotion, opened in this country about the year 1830. A few carefully graded roads with iron tracks had been previously projected and operated by horse power with considerable success, but it was not till the date named that the idea of the iron steed, as a motor for the transportation of men and merchandise, took possession of the minds or entered into the calculations of the business world. But that idea once entertained, and its feasibility once tested by actual experiment, it grew into favor with wonderful speed. A few years only were required to give it commanding position and make it one of the most important factors in modern life.
In 1830 the first railroad to be operated by steam power was chartered by the Legislature of Massachusetts. In 1840 seven such enterprises were in the full tide of successful experiment,- the great problem of their practicability, usefulness, and value settled beyond all question or peradventure. The Fitchburg road was chartered in 1843. As work upon it proceeded towards completion, a project was started looking to its exten- sion, under the same or another name, westward to the valley of the Connecticut. The prime mover in this new enterprise was Alvah Crocker of Fitchburg, a prominent citizen of that town, largely associated with its industrial development and somewhat known to the general public ; at a later day a member of Congress from the Representative district to which he be- longed. Thoroughly interested in it himself, he secured, by personal influence and appeal, the sympathy and co-operation of a goodly number of his responsible fellow-citizens, and then visited the towns along the proposed route, holding meetings and interviewing leading men in them for the purpose of calling attention to the matter, awakening public feeling, and obtaining at last the pecuniary assistance requisite to the accomplishment of the end in view. All this was done under the assumption that the comtemplated road was to run through these several
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RAILROAD EXPECTATIONS UNREALIZED.
towns by a course that would render it of great advantage to them, not only as a means of free and rapid transit to and from other localities, but in the way of stimulating enterprise and industrial undertakings by furnishing needful facilities for easy and cheap transportation of material and manufactured goods.
Westminster was one of the places in which Mr. Crocker sought aid for his proposed scheme, nor did he seek in vain. Numerous subscriptions were made to its capital stock, but with the expectation that the road would go through or near the "Narrows," then so called, and also the "village," -localities which would be greatly benefited by it and which, as business centers, would render it of great benefit to the public generally. Much to the surprise of those who had pledged money to the project, it was found, as time went on, and as the undertaking began to crystallize into definite and final shape, that it was the purpose of its managers to have the road established not where the former had supposed it was to be, and where they and the people at large desired it to be, but in quite another direction, where it would be of comparatively little value, either as a means of travel and transportation, or as a factor in the pros- perity and growth of the town.
In order to thwart, if possible, this purpose and secure the construction of the road where it was wanted, a committee con- sisting of Joseph Whitman, Benjamin Wyman, and Manasseh S. Forbush, was chosen at a town meeting held April 7, 1845, to obtain statistics and take such other action as might be deemed useful in promoting the end in view. This committee was greatly aided in the discharge of the duty assigned it by the Hon. Charles Hudson, then a resident of the town, who was indefatigable in his efforts to have the railway so located as to meet the general wishes of the citizens, and serve the best interests of the community. But all was in vain. Mr. Crocker had his plans too well laid, and was fortified by too strong pecuniary and other support, to be turned from his course by all the influence Westminster could bring to bear against him, and the road was built accordingly where it was not wanted, and where, as was prophesied, it has done little or nothing to stimulate enterprise, encourage manufacturing or other industrial undertakings, or promote the financial and business welfare.
Finding themselves out-generaled or out-voted in this direc- tion, and indignant at what they deemed the injustice and deceit which had been practiced upon them, the citizens sought redress by a counter movement in their own behalf. At a meeting held Dec. 16, 1845, Joseph Whitman, Benjamin Wy- man, and William S. Bradbury were chosen a committee "to make such surveys as they may deem expedient for a Rail Road from some point on the Nashua and Worcester Rail Road to some point on the Vermont and Massachusetts Rail Road, and
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HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.
that they be authorized to expend a sum not exceeding three hundred dollars to be appropriated out of the town Treasury." This project, however, did not prove feasible, and was therefore abandoned at an early day.
As the Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad approached completion, the question of the location of the depot became a matter of general interest. Two sites were suggested; one where it now stands, "near the Wood place," the other at the so-called "Monroe crossing," above Scrabble Hollow. At first, there was a considerable number of citizens in favor of each place. As a compromise, a proposition to have two stations was submitted at a meeting held Aug. 19, 1846, but was voted down, though not by a large majority. At the same meeting "it was voted to locate the Depot at or near the Wood place, so called, by 96 to 80 votes." The smallness of the majority was not satisfactory to many persons, who desiring more de- cisive action caused the matter to be brought up again at a legal meeting held ten days later, when the citizens designated their choice very emphatically and conclusively, 156 votes being cast for the site now occupied and only one for the more north- erly one. Subsequent events have proved the wisdom of this determination. There can be no doubt that it is the most con- venient and satisfactory location on the line of the road as it now runs, within the limits of the town.
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