History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 224

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1576

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 224

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FIRE DEPARTMENT .- Few towns anywhere are bet- ter furnished with facilities for extinguishing fires than Gardner, and its immunity, in late years, from the de- vouring flame is worthy of note. Since the construction of the water-works, with more than seventy hydrants distributed through the densely-peopled sections of the town, it has been, under the efficient direction of the chief engineer of the Fire Department, comparatively easy to control a conflagration whenever one has broken out, and to prevent seriously disastrous re- sults. The pressure in the mains is sufficient, at al- most any point-except in close proximity to the reservoir-to throw water over the highest buildings, and the protection is therefore as perfect as possible from that source. The town has also four hand- engines, which are kept in good order and may be called into requisition in localities lying beyond the reach of the hydrants. Besides these, there are four hose-carriages and two hook-and-ladder trucks, for each of which there is a company of twenty men, with an ample amount of hose and other equipments equally complete. A patent life-saving apparatus is provided for cases of extreme danger. Two engine- houses, for the proper protection and care of the ap-

paratus, are located in different parts of the town-one in South Gardner, built in 1880, for the erection of which $4,000 were appropriated, and one in the West Village, erected in 1883, at a cost of $5,000. There are also supplementary stations in the Town Hall building and at the depot. The department is thoroughly manned and under good discipline, and can be called into service at any point by a system of well-arranged signals at the shortest possible notice. The officers of the department for 1888 are: Chief Engineer, Charles N. Edgell ; Assistant Engineers, Benjamin T. Joslin, Dexter Gleason, Theodore W. Learned, Frank P. Cowan.

STREET LIGHTING .- It is but a few years since anything like a systematic method was attempted in the way of illuminating the streets of the different villages of the town by night. The records of the clerk show that small sums were voted to parties who should maintain street lamps in localities approved by the selectmen. More recently a gas company has been formed, under whose superintendence pipes have been laid, posts erected and lights kept burning along the more frequented thoroughfares. The com- pany was incorporated in the year 1888 with a capital of fifty thousand dollars, the officers being C. H. North, president; J. L. Robinson, treasurer ; T. King, secretary. The works and office are on Logan Street, with Charles A. Roebuck in charge as manager. Not to be behind the times in the matter of lighting streets, halls, shops, stores and even private dwelling-, the Gardner Electric Light Company was also incor- porated in the year 1888, with Roderic L. Bent, pres- ident, and Charles F. Richardson, secretary and treas- urer. The capital is $15,000. Works have already been erected on Park Street, near Crystal Lake, illuminating stations have been established and practical operations have been begun and are now going on. The machinery employed consists of one arc dynamo, capable of supporting fifty lights, and an incandescent dynamo with a capacity of five hundred lights. The demand for the latter light is already so great that a second dynamo will probably be put in at an early day. The machinery and appliances are from the manufactory of the Thomson-Houston Company, Boston. Mr. J. W. Thurber is the elec- trician and manager of the concern.

PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND HALLS .- The principal public building in the place, besides the churches and school-houses, is the Town Hall Building, located in tbe Central Village, at what was formerly the very heart of the community. It is a wooden structure, built originally in 1860 at an expense of twenty-one thousand dollars. It is two stories high, with spa- cious basement and high pitched roof relieved by dormer windows. Its exterior walls are broken by buttresses which are surmounted by well-proportioned rooflets and pinnacles. The main hall is on the sec- ond floor, occupying with its various accompanying side-rooms the entire area, above which is a commo-

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dious, well-lighted apartment used as a Masonic lodge- room. There is a small hall on the lower floor which is used as a District Court-room and for smaller gath- erings, also the central post-office and several stores. The edifice was greatly enlarged and improved in 1883, at an additional cost of twenty thousand dol- lars. The seating capacity of the principal hall is now twelve hundred. It is not only well adapted to ordinary gatherings, but is provided with an ample stage, sets of scenery and other conveniences for dramatic representations.

Citizens' Hall is a spacious apartment on the second floor of the engine-house in Sonth Gardner. In order to meet the need of some place for public gatherings in that part of the town, the residents of the neigh- borhood supplemented the appropriation made in 1881 for better accommodations for the Fire Depart- ment in that locality by voluntary contributions to the extent of about $3000, thus securing an addi- tional story to the structure proposed to be built, and the conveniences they desired. The hall is easily accessible and serves a most excellent purpose as a place for holding lectures, social parties and enter- tainments of whatsoever kind.

Besides these more public places of assembly, there are several belonging to or occupied by differ- ent social and benevolent associations or orders - such as the Grand Army Hall, near the railroad sta- tions ; Odd Fellows' Hall, in West Gardner; and the Knights of Pythias Hall, in the Bank Building ; Good Templars' Hall, on Chestnut Strect; Unity Hall, near the Universalist Church; and still others owned by private parties, like Hager's Hall and Garland's Hall, in West Gardner.

HOTELS .- The first hotels in the town were kept by John Glazier, on the spot and in the house where Wm. Austin now resides; Capt. Elisha Jackson, on Kendall Street, near the summit of the hill; and Jonathan Greenwood, on High Street, near Minott. In these several localities was furnished entertain- ment for man and beast after the fachion of those primeval times. Numerous taverns or public-houses of varying grades, during the more than a century intervening, have accommodated the travelers and other people with food, drink and lodging, at other points within the town limits, of which no record has been songht. At present there is no lack of such establishments in the community for the benefit of either the transient or the permanent guest. The most spacious and imposing of them all is the Wind- sor House, in the Central Village, owned by a syndi- cate of Gardner gentlemen and kept by Colby & Hartwell, who have recently taken the place of the former landlord, Mr. W. H. Barnes. The building was put up in 1882, on the site of the old "Central House," for many years neither an ornament nor an honor to the town in any sense, nor a blessing to the community. It is constructed of brick, with granite and brown-stone trimmings, having a frontage of

eighty-three feet on Green Street, where is the main entrance, and of eighty-eight feet on Pearl Street. It is three stories above the basement, which is high and commodious and is arranged and fitted up with ample facilities for mercantile purposes. The superstruc- ture contains nearly one hundred rooms, well-appor- tioned and elegantly furnished, and is provided with steam-heat, gas, electric bells and all the appoint- ments of a first-class establishment.

The South Gardner Hotel is the oldest stand of the kind in town. It is located on the line of the first connty road that was laid through the place and of the Fifth Massachusetts Turnpike, and was probably erected and opened as a public-house about the time of the construction of that important thoroughfare in 1800. It has been greatly improved within a few years and adapted to the requirements of the present time.

The Gardner House is more favorably located to accommodate the traveling public than any other in the town, being directly opposite the Fitchburg Rail- road Station and central to several important business interests. It was first opened in 1881 by Mr. L. H. Horton, of the Sonth Gardner Hotel, who died not long after, leaving the property to his widow. She had charge of it for about two years and then sold it to Mr. Frank Rafferty, of Claremont, N. H., who en- larged the building and made it more convenient and attractive to guests. It is heated with steam and well- supplied with modern improvements.

Richards' House, on Parker Street, near Vernon, formerly the Methodist Chapel, is a pleasant and com- modious place of public entertainment, dispensing a free and generons hospitality to its guests and offering special inducements to commercial travelers, by whom it is liberally patronized.

Citizens' Honse, on Parker Street, near West, pre- sents a pleasing and somewhat imposing external ap- pearance, being three stories high above the base- ment, with a double piazza on three sides and other corresponding architectural features. It contains forty- five rooms, besides a large hall, is heated by steam and is furnished with due regard to hoth comfort and beauty. The proprietor is Agnes Jacques, who is also manager.

The American House, the Crystal Lake Hotel and the Montreal House are hostelries of smaller propor- tions and of less note, yet claiming their share of favor and patronage from the general public.

ELEGANT RESIDENCES .- Gardner is honored and adorned with a goodly number of beautiful and ornate private buildings-the homes of the better-conditioned class of its citizens, who, by the skill, care and good taste displayed in their dwellings and grounds, contribute not only to the general attractiveness of the place, but to the pleasure and happiness of all lovers of fair and comely things. Some of these, it is said, excel in architectural proportions, in artistic appointments, in chasteness and delicacy of ornamentation, in richness

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

of color and perfection of finish, anything elsewhere in the county outside of the city of Worcester, while others, less elaborate, costly and perfect, are yet mod- els of refined taste and elegance in the line of art which they represent. Among these as worthy of special mention are the residences of Messrs. George and Henry Heywood, Alvin M. Greenwood, Philan- der Derby, Mrs. Fannie B. Heywood and Mrs. Ellen L. Pierce, while those of Seth Heywood, Roderic L. Bent, John A. Dunn, Charles D. Bnrrage, John D. Edgel) and others are exceedingly pleasant and at- tractive.

THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION .- On the 27th of January, 1885, it being the year on which the town would complete a full century of its corporate exist- ence, it was voted, at a legal meeting of its citizens, to celebrate the event with observances and exercises appropriate to so important and interesting an occa- sion, and the matter of providing ways and means for carrying this vote into effect was entrusted to the charge of the selectmen. On the 2d of March, follow- ing, at the annual town-meeting, a large committee of citizens was chosen to advise and co-operate with the selectmen in arranging the details of the celebra- tion and in making due provision for the proper exe- cution of whatever plans might be adopted in relation thereto. These parties addressed themselves to the duty assigned them with praiseworthy promptness, fidelity and zeal. The work in hand was wisely divided into numerous departments representing dis- tinct and important interests, and the proper sub- committees were chosen to have these departments in charge, so that nothing should be neglected or omitted which might be deemed necessary to make the proposed demonstration a grand success. Fifteen hundred dollars had been appropriated by the town to defray whatever expenses might be incurred, and private contributions increased the sum to an extent that left the Committee of Arrangements great liberty in the adoption of measures suited to the ends they were appointed to promote and secure. The result of their labors furnished ample evidence of the wisdom and efficiency of their management.

The exact day of the proposed anniversary was the 27th of June, and that was the time fixed upon for the event to take place, preparations for which being made accordingly. But as it had been deemed advis- able to unveil and dedicate the newly-erected sol- diers' monument on the same day as a prominent and attractive feature of the occasion, it was decided, in order to have time for carrying out the full programme, which was considerably lengthened by this arrange- ment, that the oration and the more formal exereises accompanying it should be given in the town hall on the evening of the preceding day, June 26th. The hall was elaborately and splendidly decorated and at an early hour was filled with an intelligent, earnest and expectant audience. The Honorable John M. Moore, one of Gardner's best known and most respected

citizens, presided, calling the vast assemblage to order and conducting the proceedings according to the following

PROGRAMME.

Opening Address .. Hon. John M. Moore.

Prayer, Rev. Lawrence Phelps.

Song of Welcome Centennial Glee Club.

Address of Welcome. John D. Edgell.

Centennial Hymn .. Glee Club.

Oration .. Rev. Wm. S. Heywood.

Poem.

Hon. John M. Moore.

Closing Song .. .. Glee Club.

The following day was ushered in by a reveille at sunrise from the camp of Battery B, Massachusetts Artillery, located just outside the Central Village, and respouding bugle-calls from the neighboring hill- tops, followed by a salute of a hundred guns, the ringing of bells and the blowing of steam-whistles. People were early astir, and as the morning advanced, crowds gathered from the adjoining towns and all the region round-about. The streets put on a holiday appearance, public and private buildings were pro- fusely decorated with the national colors, an indefinite number and variety of tasteful designs, emblematic figures, mottoes and words of welcome and rejoicing. The Governor of the Commonwealth, His Excellency George D. Robinson and suite, with other distin- guished guests, arrived about ten o'clock, being re- ceived with an appropriate salute, when the pro- cession formed, and passing through the principal streets of the different villages of the town, end- ed its march at length at the immense tent in the rear of the residence of Charles W. Conant, where an excellent dinner was spread and enjoyed, and where the post-prandial exercises were held. On its way the procession halted at the square where the soldiers' monument stood, and where services appro- priate to the unveiling and dedication of that tribute to patriotic virtue took place. The procession was nearly a mile long and moved to the strains of mar- tial music floating from several well-trained bands through the air, lending exhilaration and enchant- ment to the scene.

After the dinner was over the president of the day assumed his proper place, and invited the Rev. James Taylor to offer prayer. He then introduced Geo. W. Cann, Esq., who was to serve as toast-master, and call out the speakers whom a large and eager audience was waiting to hear. "Our Commonwealth" was responded to by Governor Robinson in his usual happy style. Other well-selected sentiments opened the way for Col. W. S. B. Hopkins, of Worcester; Hon. J. Q. A. Brackett, Speaker of the House of Representatives ; Hon. C. C. Coffin, the "Carleton " of the Boston Journal; Philander Derby, an honored citizen of Gardner; Rev. W. D. Herrick, of Amherst ; Rev. Wm. S. Heywood. of Boston, the orator of the day; Harvey B. Whitney, of New Jersey, a native of the town ; Rev. Increase S. Lincoln, of Wilton, N. H., the second minister of Gardner, who had just passed the eighty-sixth year of his age, and Charles F.

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Reed. The president closed the exercises with a few well-chosen words. A dress parade on the Common by the local and visiting militia terminated the day's proceedings, and a grand illumination in the even- ing with fire-works, and concerts by Reeve's Band, of Providence, and the Fitchburg Band brought to a fitting end the celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of the town of Gardner.

THE SOLDIERS' MONUMENT .- Sometime in the year 1882 a committee consisting of John D. Edgell, Charles F. Reed and J. Warren Spring was chosen by the town to act with the selectmen in considering the matter of erecting some suitable testimonial in honor of the brave men of Gardner who, in the time of the great Rebellion, "died that the Republic might live." On the 3d of March, 1884, that com- mittee reported in favor of such action, and $5000 was appropriated for the purpose designated. Subse- quently the parties to whom the responsibility of carrying the project into execution was assigned made a contract with the Smith Granite Co., of Westerly, R. I., for the erection of a monument of a certain specified design and height, at a cost of $5000, to be completed before the 27th of June, 1885, which action was communicated to the town at its annual meeting that year. The conditions of the contract were fulfilled, and the ceremony of unveiling and dedicating the beantifnl granite structure constituted, as before stated, a prominent part of the proceedings of Centennial Day. The exercises consisted of a prayer by Rev. F. B. Sleeper, a poem written for the occasion by Elizabeth Stnart Phelps, and read by Comrade John D. Edgell, a statement of the Monu- ment Committee by Ezra Osgood, chairman, and an address by Captain John F. Ashley, interspersed with appropriate songs and martial music. They enlisted the attention of a large auditory, and were received with manifest favor and enthusiasm. The monument is made of Westerly stone and is of fitting design, of excellent proportions, well-executed and finely finished. It con- sists of a square shaft resting on a pedestal having a solid base with substantial foundations, the whole being surmounted by a color-bearer in bronze, sup- porting a flag. Appropriate symbolic illustrations and inscriptions are cut upon its different sides, together with the names of the principal battles in which sol- diers from the town were engaged. On the south or principal front, at the foot of the pedestal, in large, raised letters, is the word "GARDNER," and beneath in three lines, " To her brave sons, who fought for the Union in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865."

MILITARY AFFAIRS .- Mention has already been made of the volunteer military companies formed in response to calls of the United States Government in the troublous times of 1797 and thereafter, and upon the declaration of war with Great Britain in 1812, or in consequence thereof. For nearly twenty years after the disbanding of the latter of these there seems to

have been no organization of tbe kind in town, although the military spirit was somewhat rife in the general community, and military companies were popular in many localities. In 1844 one was formed, however, with James Cooledge 2d as captain, and David Kendall, Joseph Wood and Hiram Wood as lieutenants, which bore the name of the Gardner Greys. But it did not meet with general favor from the public; interest in it soon began to decline and it had but a brief existence. People began to think the time had come when men should " beat their swords into plough-shares and their spears into pruning- hooks and learn war no more." But the Rebellion of 1861 dispelled that illusion, and the citizens of Gard- ner rose to meet the exigency thrust upon them in a spirit becoming the sons of Revolutionary sires, as has been duly narrated in another chapter. The Rebellion over, the military spirit did not altogether pass away with it. Kept alive by memories of battle scenes and valorons deeds, or awakened by other influences, that spirit came to the surface again and put on an outward form of existence in 1884, when, on the 20th of May, the " Hey wood Guards " was chartered agree- ably to the statutes of the State, and assigned a place in the volunteer militia of the Commonwealth, as Company F, Second Regiment, with Solon T. Cham- berlain captain, and Charles N. Edgell first lieutenant, who are still in command. In the same year the town appropriated five thousand dollars to build an armory for the new company, and chose a committee to superintend the work, which was completed in a few months. The building is a fairly good-sized one of some architectural pretensions, and stands on Elm Street near the railroad stations. The company is under good drill and maintains a respectable standing among its compatriot organizations.

THE TOWN POOR .- Like most towns of the early times, Gardner availed itself of the privilege accorded it by the public statntes of "warning out " persons and families coming to settle within its borders with- out the consent of the authorities, whereby it was relieved of the responsibility of supporting them should they ever come to want. As a rule, most new- comers were thus treated, among whom may be found those who proved to be in after-years some of the most thrifty and honored citizens of the place. As to persons legally subject to the public charge, the policy generally prevailing years ago of letting them out to the lowest bidder to be cared for and supported, was at first adopted. The first case of this kind recorded is that of Oliver Upton and wife, with their children, early in 1789. Those having them were "to provide victnals and drink convenient for them and to take care of them." An effort was made the same year to have the town buy a farm with suitable buildings, and use it for the proper sustenance and shelter of those who had or might become public charges. But it did not succeed, and nothing was done in that direction for many years. The original policy of letting to the

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

lowest bidder was continued as time went on until, out of considerations of kindness and humanity, the matter of providing for the poor was left to the discre- tion of the selectmen. This course was pursued till 1849, when the Abram Stone place, in the northwest part of the town, was purchased, and, with its build- ings, put in order for the proper care and maintenance of the unfortunate class under notice. Since that time those designed to be benefited by such an establishment have been accommodated there. The farm contains two hundred and eighty-three acres, having a due proportion of wood, pasture and tillage lands, all in good condition. The house is large, convenient and, though old, is well suited to the pur- poses for which it is used. A new barn, seventy-two feet by forty, superseded the old one in 1872 at an expense of three thousand dollars. The present annual appropriation for the support of the poor is six thousand dollars.

PHILANTHROPY AND REFORM .- The people of Gardner have never been indifferent to the great humanitary movements which more than ever before in the history of the world have characterized the century now drawing to its close. A long list of benevolent and reformatory activities to be found in the annals of the town proves this. It has already been said that the Evangelical Congregational Church and Society from the beginning maintained an open, unqualified, consistent testimony against the evils of society and in favor of all enterprises calculated to elevate and improve mankind. No doubt this fact did much to mold public sentiment and create an interest in the community in all good causes and in all philanthropic endeavors. But outside of that communion, there was a respectable number of those who, out of their own best convictions and emotions, were devoted to the welfare of their fellow-men, and counted it a duty and a joy to do what they could for the advancement of truth and righteousness in the world. The great temperance reform has had from its very beginning friends and champions ready to do what they could to destroy one of the greatest evils that ever afflicted human society, to overcome one of the greatest of the foes of God and man. Soon after the question of temperance began to be agitated, in 1829, the Gardner Temperance Society was formed, with Rev. I. S. Lincoln as president, and later, to meet the new demands laid upon those who would do effectual service in this behalf-demands created by the increased light which had been thrown upon the nature and injurious effects of all kinds of intoxicating beverages-"The Washington Total Abstinence Society " was organized with Dr. David Parker as chairman and Thomas E. Glazier as secretary. At a still more recent date have " The Sons of Temperance" and the "Good Templars " kept their respective "Lamps of Temperance" trimmed and burning, the rays of which might illu- mine some darkened mind or guide some lone wan-

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 224

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1576

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1576