USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Winchester > History of Winchester, Massachusetts > Part 31
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Winchester, which in its early years grew up much at hap- hazard, has latterly become cautious and careful as to the character 1 Winchester Star, October 8, 1926.
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THE WORLD WAR
and the manner of its development. In 1915 it took advantage of a state law recently enacted, and established a local planning board of five members - Lewis Parkhurst, Charles F. A. Currier, Frank E. Rowe, Preston Pond and Flavel Shurtleff.1 Mr. Parkhurst shortly resigned, and Arthur W. Dean was chosen in his stead. The Planning Board, though it has no actual authority and acts only in an advisory capacity to the other boards and officials of the town, has always been an active and useful part of the municipal machinery. It has been fertile in suggestions for location of new town ways and the widening of old ones, for the development of playgrounds, for better housing and a well-thought-out control of the growth of the community. It was in response to the recom- mendations of the Planning Board that the town very carefully revised its building laws in 1919 and enacted a zoning law in 1923.
The new building by-law was drawn up after prolonged study by a committee of which James S. Allen was chairman and Richard B. Derby, Sidney F. Hooper, Frank W. Reynolds and Roland E. Simonds were the other members. The requirements of the law are strict without being unfair; they were frankly drawn to pre- vent jerry-building in Winchester, and to discourage the promo- tion of cheap, hastily constructed and eventually shabby housing projects anywhere within the limits of the town. A Board of Appeal is provided to listen to complaints that the restrictions bear too hardly on contractors or house owners; but the laws are generally accepted as an excellent way of assuring an attractive and sub- stantial community development.2
The zoning law was drawn and presented to the town by the Planning Board itself after long consultation with Arthur A. Shurt- leff, a recognized authority on town and city planning. The zoning act, which was adopted by the town March 10, 1924, operated to prevent indiscriminate use of private property for building which might injure or even destroy the established nature of a neighbor- hood. It preserves the strictly residential character of the greater part of the town, permits business or manufacturing building on certain designated streets and limits the area in which apartment or two-family houses can be erected. The law was not passed with- out much discussion, for many citizens were restive at the idea of
1 Action taken at town meeting, January 25, 1915.
2 The laws came into force September 1, 1920.
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submitting to restriction in the use of their own property. But the arguments of the Planning Board prevailed, and the value of the act in securing householders against the progressive deterioration of their surroundings - so common an experience in American towns - is now generally recognized.
Mr. Rowe has been a member of the Planning Board since its organization, and Mr. Dean has a record of service only a few months less. Arthur A. Kidder, William L. Parsons and Maurice C. Tompkins fill the places of the other three original members.1 Mr. Pond, Mr. Dean and Mr. Parsons have in succession been the chairmen of the board.
The granting of the suffrage to women in 1920 made acute a situation that had already begun to trouble the town, namely the increase of the number of qualified voters far beyond the capacity of the town hall to accommodate them. With the admission of women to the suffrage, the number rose to about forty-five hundred; the hall would hold less than a quarter of them. Under ordinary circumstances it was not uncomfortably crowded, but when matters of great public interest came up the voters thronged it, and on several occasions a considerable number could not get in at all. In such cases those who were shut out might have recourse to demand- ing a referendum on questions on which they had been unable to vote; but referendums are expensive and dilatory, and moreover it was apparent that as the town grew the necessity for them would be more and more likely to occur.
It was suggested therefore that the town abandon its old all- inclusive town meeting and petition the legislature to pass an act establishing a limited representative town meeting in Winchester. The neighboring towns of Brookline and Arlington had already had recourse to the plan with satisfactory results. The town meeting of March 8, 1926 appointed a committee of fifteen, of which William L. Parsons became the chairman, to study the matter and make recommendations at a later meeting. The committee was an able and industrious one. Its report gave thoughtful consideration to the problem and to all the solutions proposed, and ended by advising the town to adopt the representative town meeting.
1 Mr. Tompkins was in 1935 succeeded by Harris S. Richardson.
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This report came before the voters at the meeting of March 14, 1927, accompanied by an article in the warrant directing the select- men to petition the General Court for legislation creating a repre- sentative town meeting in Winchester.
The issue was fought out on the floor in one of those historic town meetings for which Winchester is famous. The committee's plan was vehemently opposed by Whitfield Tuck, almost the last survivor of the long line of town-meeting orators, whose readiness of speech and firmness of conviction on every subject of debate made them conspicuous figures in the political life of the com- munity.1 On this occasion he had the support of some speakers who rarely agreed with him, notably the veteran moderator, F. Manley Ives. The objection was made that the abandonment of the ancient town meeting would amount to the abandonment of real democracy in government, and could only result in indif- ference to town affairs on the part of the great majority of citizens.
The debate was long and warm. The decision hung in the balance; it is not too much to say that Chairman Parsons won his fight almost single handed. Had his arguments been less cogent, his manner less courteous and gracious and his speech less per- suasive, the representative town meeting would have been voted down. As it was, the article was adopted by a vote of 355 to 304.
In due course the legislature passed the enabling act, and it then became necessary for the town to vote by referendum whether or not to accept it. The vote was taken November 6, 1928; 3,065 voted aye, 1,716 no.
The limited town meeting thus established consists of thirty- three elected representatives from each of the six precincts into which the town has been divided, together with the selectmen, the members of the Finance Committee, the town treasurer, and the chairmen of the various boards or commissions elected by the town as ex-officio members. Any citizen may attend the meetings of this body and, if he wishes, may speak on matters under discus- sion; but only the two hundred and thirty-eight members of the limited town meeting may vote. The system has been in operation
1 Some of the most interesting of the reminiscences of the late N. A. Richardson are contained in a series of articles printed in the Winchester Star between March 25 and May 27, 1896, describing and shrewdly appraising the town meeting orators of an earlier day.
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for seven years (1935). There are still some who do not like it, but on the whole it meets with the approval of the townspeople. Its sessions are certainly more businesslike though often less full of color than those of the old town meetings used to be.
In September 1928 the handsome post office building, which stands on Waterfield Road between the corner of Thompson Street and the Aberjona River, was completed and occupied. I have already1 traced the early history of the post office; when we last saw it, it was occupying rooms in the Brown and Stanton Block and George P. Brown was postmaster for twenty years. In 1886 he was succeeded by Edward L. Garcelon, and he in turn three years later by William P. Fitch. During his term the office was moved to a larger room a little farther up Main Street, created by raising the old Thompson homestead and building stores beneath it. Mr. Fitch was retired when a Democratic administration replaced a Republican at Washington; Patrick Reardon succeeded him. He went out four years later, and J. Winslow Richardson became post- master. In his time the post office was moved again to the Water- field Building on Common Street where it occupied the store nearest the railway station.
James H. Roach succeeded Mr. Richardson in 1913. At this time the dream of a new post office, clean, roomy and convenient, and substantially built by the government, seemed about to be realized. Plans were drawn and sites were under consideration, but the approach of the war postponed every other form of federal expenditure, and Winchester had to wait many years more for its first creditable and convenient post office.
Mr. Roach died in office, May 23, 1917, and after an inter- regnum, when first Patrick E. Fitzgerald and then Ernest W. Hatch were acting postmasters, John F. O'Connor received the com- mission. He was succeeded in 1921 by George H. Lochman who served until 1935, when Vincent C. Ambrose succeeded him.
In 1930 Massachusetts celebrated the tercentenary of the founding of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, and the occasion was improved by more than two score towns of the Commonwealth
1 See Chapter X, p. 143 and Chapter XV, p. 208 ..
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for local celebrations in commemoration of the event. Winchester was one of these towns, and its recognition of the tercentenary was a notable affair. The arrangements were in the hands of a special committee appointed by the town meeting,1 of which Harris S. Richardson was chairman and James J. Quinn, James J. Fitz- gerald, Rev. George Hale Reed and Mrs. Stillman P. Williams were the other members. To this committee was added a larger Citizens Committee, headed by James Hinds as chairman and Ernest R. Eustis as secretary, and a reception committee of which Lewis Parkhurst was chairman and Rev. Howard J. Chidley, Miss Eliza- beth Downs, Mrs. Ashley K. Hayden, Rev. George H. Reed and Dr. Richard W. Sheehy were the other members.
The celebration occupied parts of three days, October 12, 13 and 14, and it was made especially interesting by the presence of the Lord Mayor of Winchester, England, Mr. Harry Collis, and his wife, who were the guests of the town. Wearing his scarlet robes, his great silver collar of office and his cocked hat, Mayor Collis was a picturesque figure at all the events of the celebration, and he and his Lady Mayoress made a most happy impression on all who met them. They were entertained at several of the most charming of Winchester homes, and the third day was marked by a reception in their honor at the town hall; but it is not recorded that any of their hosts took them into the public library to exhibit to them the portrait or the bust of Colonel William P. Winchester, for whom the town was actually named.
The commemoration exercises began on Sunday evening, October 12, with a religious service in the town hall. All the clergy- men in town took part. The Harvard College choir furnished the music and Rev. Dr. Howard J. Chidley, pastor of the First Con- gregational church, delivered an address on "Puritan Ideals and Modern America."
The next day was the fete day, with a football game, two band concerts and a procession of illuminated canoes in the evening on the Aberjona River, in addition to the great civic parade of the afternoon. This was an imposing affair, which in the language of the press "consumed two hours in passing a given point." Harris S. Richardson was chief marshal; other marshals at the head of
1 On March 24, 1930.
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various divisions or sections were Richard Parkhurst, Irving L. Symmes, Jonas A. Laraway, Vincent P. Clarke, Wade L. Grindle, Salvatore de Teso and William E. McDonald, Jr. The procession was led as usual by the military. A detachment of sailors and marines from the Charlestown Navy Yard were in line, and so were nine companies from the 182d Infantry, the IoIst Engineers and IoIst Field Artillery and the 372d Infantry, all of the Massa- chusetts National Guard. The American Legion division included eight posts of the Legion from neighboring towns as well as the Win- chester Post, and surviving veterans of the G. A. R. and the Spanish War. Mayor and Mrs. Collis, escorted by British ex-service men, rode with this division and so did the selectmen of Winchester and the mayors of Medford and Woburn.
The division of the fire department not only included the apparatus of the present day but some interesting historic survivals - the old hand engine "Excelsior No. I" and one of the old hand hose reels, the Black Horse Hose. These were escorted by some fifty "red-shirts" who were members or sons of members of the old fire companies of Winchester. The school children marched in force, so did the members of the various lodges and secret societies of the town, and the organizations of the Catholic church and of the Scottish, Irish, Italians and colored people in Winchester and Woburn.
The floats were perhaps the most interesting feature of the long procession. They were chiefly historical, though some like those of the Emblem Club and the Knights of Columbus symbol- ized "Charity, Fidelity and Brotherly Love" and "Charity, Unity, Fraternity and Patriotism." The historical subjects included the Landing of Columbus, the Coming of the Norsemen, the Old Mid- dlesex Canal, the Founding of Winchester, the First Colored Man to Fall in Battle for America, Columbus at the Court of Isabella, the Founding of the Leather Industry, Paul Revere's Ride, Colonial Home Life, the Little Red Schoolhouse, and many more, while picturesqueness was added by a number of old vehicles, stage coaches, victorias, carryalls, chaises and the like, occupied by per- sons in costumes of the past, a feature contributed by the Fort- nightly Club.1
1 A complete roster of the procession appeared in the Winchester Star of October 17, 1930.
LEWIS PARKHURST
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The exercises of Tuesday at the town hall were presided over by Mr. Lewis Parkhurst. There were speeches by Mr. Parkhurst, Frederick W. Cook, Secretary of the Commonwealth, and Samuel S. Symmes. Mrs. Christine Hayden made a gracious address of welcome to the Lady Mayoress, Mrs. Collis, and William L. Parsons delivered the address of welcome to the Lord Mayor, who responded appropriately. A reception to Mr. and Mrs. Collis followed. The occasion was marked by the presentation of a silver bowl of the Paul Revere pattern from the people of Winchester, Massachusetts, to the city of Winchester, England; and of a Bicknell etching to Mrs. Collis, and a handsomely bound guide book to Boston and vicinity to the Lord Mayor. In return Mr. Collis presented to the town a number of mementoes of his visit, the most interesting of which was a casket carved from oak more than a thousand years old, taken from a ruined abbey in Hampshire, England. The gifts were accepted in appropriate terms by Harry W. Stevens, chair- man of the selectmen. And so ended Winchester's tercentenary celebration.
It may be set down here as a matter of some note that Win- chester has been for many years distinguished as the only town in the Metropolitan District, and perhaps the only town of consider- able size in the Commonwealth, to be without a moving-picture house. At intervals for some twenty years proposals for such a theatre have been advanced, but until now public opinion in the town has been opposed. Several times the matter has been put to vote, but those who felt that the "movies" were a dubious influence on the children and young people were always able to outvote those who desired a theatre in Winchester. In 1935 the tide turned, and at a special referendum on April 9 the towns- people voted 2,475 to 1,717 that they would like the pictures admitted to the town. A year later, however, no license for such a theatre had been granted by the selectmen.
Winchester, like other places everywhere, had its worries in connection with the long business depression that began toward the close of 1929. It did not feel the effects so severely as those towns and cities which have a large industrial population, but sev-
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eral hundred of its citizens found themselves out of employment, and the town had to take unusual measures for their relief. In 1930 and 1931 the needed money was largely raised by private subscription and distributed by a committee of which Frederic S. Snyder was chairman. As the depression continued the town was driven to taking over the burden, and increased greatly its appro- priations for relief. In 1929 the amount set aside for welfare expenses was $17,800; in 1934 the annual appropriations for wel- fare and emergency employment had risen to $120,929.20. Private subscriptions in 1931 and 1932 amounted to $85,345.30 and $246,962.84 had been assigned to Winchester by the federal relief agencies up to January 1, 1936.
The greater part of this money - probably $750,000 in all - has been spent with a wisdom rather unusual in American commu- nities. I have already described in the chapter on the parks1 how the local relief committee in 1930 and 1931 applied its funds to paying labor for the improvement of the mill pond, and how in later years the available money was systematically spent in a far- reaching programme of work on the waterways and playgrounds of the town. As a result Winchester has something of permanent value to show for the money conditions have obliged it to raise for relief. The misfortune of the moment has been turned to the advantage of the future, and the emergency has been used to for- ward projects that might have had to wait years for realization. Throughout the years of depression the affairs of the town have been prudently handled, without any yielding to the temptation of extravagance that so many communities have found irresistible. The expenses of relief, at least $400,000 in excess of what they used to be, have all been met from the tax revenues of the town; not a dollar has been added to the municipal debt. Yet in 1925 Win- chester's tax rate was $28 per thousand of taxable valuation. In 1935 it was $27.20. We may doubt whether many towns or cities in the United States can point to a tax rate not only not increased but actually reduced during those ten years.
1 Chapter XVIII.
CHAPTER XXII
CLUBS AND SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS OF WINCHESTER
IN this final chapter are collected some of the more important facts connected with the history of the various social, fraternal and benevolent institutions that exist in Winchester. It has seemed better to do this than to interrupt the narrative of the earlier chap- ters by inserting this material there.
The social organization which for fifty years has borne the name of the Calumet Club has a history now approaching seventy years. It was originally organized in 1870; on March 5 of that year nine gentlemen - Thomas P. Ayer, Arthur E. Whitney, C. L. F. Bridge, George H. Carter, Henry F. Johnson, T. W. Prince, John A. Ross, George G. Stratton and Thomas W. Spurr-met at Mr. Spurr's house and laid the foundation for the "Winchester Young Men's Association." A few days later the club was finally organized, provided with a president-Mr. Ayer- a constitution and by-laws, and a home-a room in the Lyceum Building.
In its early years the Young Men's Association not only afforded a congenial social life for its members but was active in providing entertainments - lectures, concerts, amateur dramatics and dancing parties - for the rest of the town. It soon outgrew its single room in the Lyceum Building and rented another, and on the completion of the Miller Block on Pleasant Street it occupied the whole second floor of that building with its club rooms. At about the same time - April 10, 1886 - the association voted to change its name to the Calumet Club; and by 1892 it had so increased in membership that it was able to buy the land on Dix Street next south of the Congregational Church, and build thereon the attractive and commodious clubhouse which it still occupies.
The Calumet Club has included in its membership a large proportion of the townsmen who have been active in the affairs of Winchester; at one time its roll contained three hundred and fifty names. It has taken its share in all civic and community move-
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ments, while it has existed primarily for the social purposes which all such organizations are meant to serve.
The Fortnightly, long the leading women's organization of Winchester, dates from December 19, 1881, when "twenty-two ladies met at the house of Mrs. Nowell1 to concert measures for bringing forward ... a plan for the formation of a woman's club, in which the mutual good should be aimed at, and the mental, moral and physical improvement of its members promoted. It was also hoped ... that its influence might be extended beyond its own members and that from it might emanate ... benefits which should tend to the general elevation of the community." To these high-minded principles the Fortnightly has always been faithful; it has always been a progressive and uplifting influence in the town.
It was among the very first women's clubs in the state; only two others of any prominence in Boston and its suburbs antedated it. Mrs. Ann B. Winsor (wife of Dr. Winsor) was perhaps more responsible than anyone else for its formation, and she was its first president. When she retired, in 1889, her fellow members in a resolution unanimously adopted said of her: "Her wise and strong leadership has made the Club a success, intellectually and socially. By her influence it has been stimulated not only to work for its own pleasure and growth, but to become a center of usefulness to the community. In any good which it may hereafter accomplish the impulse given by her hand will be felt."
The fortnightly meetings of the Club, from which it derives its name, have from the first been occasions for study and improve- ment, never purely social affairs. The members are divided into groups or sections which are in turn responsible for the preparation of the fortnightly programmes; Literature and the Drama, Art, Education, Current Events, History and Travel, Domestic Econ- omy, Social Science, Economics and Government are among the topics represented. In the beginning the members had to rely on themselves for the papers presented, but as the Club grew pros- perous, addresses by persons of eminence and authority in the vari- ous fields mentioned became frequent, and the club women have
1 Mrs. Sarah J. Nowell.
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for years had valuable opportunities to hear some of the most dis- tinguished speakers in New England at their meetings.
Quite unusual is the list of valuable public services the Fort- nightly has rendered to Winchester. Its members have never for- gotten that the Club was founded, partly at least, to exert its influ- ence "for the general elevation of the community." As a body, particularly in the early years when the progressive spirit in the community at large was not so effective as it is today, the Fort- nightly was always thinking and planning in advance of the town itself. In 1884 it took the first steps to procure the introduction of industrial training in the public schools and to establish an even- ing school for adults, and when the School Committee agreed to pay the salary of a master for the evening school, the Club, aided by the Baptist Society, assumed the rest of the expense and sup- plied a corps of volunteer teachers. Two years later the Club itself organized a manual training class, in which boys were taught carpentry and girls sewing, and it maintained this industrial school until, some years later, the public schools took over this form of education.
The Fortnightly also had a class in physical training in Har- mony Hall for several years before the School Committee was ready to introduce it into the schools. The Club took an important part in establishing district nursing in Winchester; for it was from a public meeting called by Mrs. E. O. Punchard, then president of the Fortnightly, and addressed by a number of physicians, nurses and interested citizens that the movement gained its momentum. When in 1900 the town voted to abandon the kindergartens and manual training classes in the public schools, the Fortnightly took the lead in arousing public sentiment all over the town in defence of the threatened classes, so successfully that the town hall was crowded to the doors at a special town meeting, and the appropria- tion for kindergartens and manual training was carried by an over- whelming vote.1
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