USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Acton > History of the town of Acton > Part 31
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With the introduction of plenteous water, with ample school facilities in the immediate offing, and with a new super-highway cross- ing the town the community is due for a tremendous transformation. It will be a handier place of abode but not necessarily a better place. The older residents must reconcile themselves to the fact that the days of the tiny, isolated, rural township are gone forever. Once upon a time twenty five miles from Boston meant seclusion. Once upon a time the breadth of an ocean also meant seclusion for America. Those days are gone for better or worse and mourning over the past cannot solve the problem. A realistic and frontal attack is the only present alternative.
Of the original board of commissioners only Mr. Waldo Whitcomb is still living. After long years of conscientious and excellent service he, now in his eighty ninth year, after stating that he had recently resigned, asserted drily that "he had been on the board long enough".
As of 1952 there were one thousand house installations, one hun- dred and seventy four hydrants, and twenty two miles of water main.
Pursuant of the preceding discussion of the water works it may be of interest to the curious to inject here some data as to the eleva- tions above sea level of various parts of Acton. According to the official government survey the figures in feet are as follows:
Nagog Hill 380, Great Hill 370, Strawberry Hill 335, Faulkner Hill 321, Wright Hill 311, Nehemish Hill 311, Acton Centre at Junction of Concord St. and Wood Lane 268, Grassy Pond 235, Nagog Pond 226, South Acton Railroad Bridge 219, West Acton at junction of Summer and Willow Sts. 216, Faulkner Mill Pond 192, junction of Pope Rd. and Great Rd. 140, sinking Pond 137, Barker's Pond 135, Fort Pond Brook at point where it flows under Laws Brook Rd. 132.
Consequently the highest point in Acton is the top of Nagog Hill and the lowest is, by deduction, the point where Fort Pond Brook (or Laws Brook) crosses the Acton-Concord line, which is almost exactly where Massachusetts Ave. crosses the New Haven Railroad.
At a town meeting held on April 5, 1897 the long mooted question
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of what to do with the outlying schools came to a head. It was voted that if a proper person could be found who would transport the children from the East District to the Centre at a cost not to exceed ten dollars per week the move would be made and the East school discontinued. Mr. Jens Mekkelsen, one of the early Scandinavian settlers in Acton, was awarded the contract and for many years there- after his kindly smile, gentle manner, and voluminous whiskers were well known to all the school children of precinct one. His school barge was so arranged that in midwinter the wheels could be replaced by runners, and it was a constant source of interest to the youngsters as to just when the transition would take place. His big bay horses were powerful and willing, a fortunate circumstance in view of the fact that his route lay over some back roads where frequently the drifts were untouched when he made his morning trip. This was long before the day of the truck, the snowplow, or the bulldozer, and many a time the snow shovel he carried with him was his only means of progress in the face of a biting blizzard.
The East School that was closed at this time stood on the hilltop on the east side of the Great Road about fifty rods south of its junction with Strawberry Hill Road.
During this year Miss Viola Tuttle took over the office of Librarian and together with Mr. Arthur Davis, Rev. Franklin P. Wood, Mrs. Lyman Tuttle (nee Ida Hale, the first librarian) and Mrs. Frank Fiske prepared and published the first catalog. The project was under the general direction of Mr. William D. Tuttle, Secretary of the Board of Trustees. In a letter dated in February 1952 Mr. Davis asserts that this system was based on the one then used in the Boston Public Library. Some fifteen years later,1 when Mr. Davis was librarian, the decimal system was installed under his direction, with the help of four assistants, one of whom was Mr. Leonard White2 then a student at Dartmouth.
Early in the library history distribution branches were established at West and South Acton and large boxes of books were transported by carriage to the various readers.
At about this time also the long and hectic argument as to what was to be done about the high school became more acute. Acton had passed the point where it embraced more than five hundred families and in consequence was being crowded by statutes of the Commonwealth as well as by progressive citizens. At a special meeting held in June of 1896 the school committee reported in favor
1 In 1912 to be exact.
2 At present professor of political science at the University of Chicago. Professor White, a native of North Acton and son of Mrs. Sidney White, has become a noted authority on government and is the author of some score or more of outstanding volumes.
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of the purchase of a tract of land of about one and a quarter acres at the rear of the South School, and of the erection of an addition to the building which should provide upon the lower floor accomodations for an Intermediate school and on the upper floor recitation rooms and a laboratory for the use of the High School. The price of the land was quoted as six hundred dollars and the cost of the addition to the building was estimated by Mr. John Hoar of West Acton, who drew the plans, as two thousand two hundred and fifty dollars. The report was laid upon the table.
The above action was due in part no doubt to the fact that the town had purchased land that same year for the enlargement of the West school yard and was also in the process of installing central heating in the school houses of the three main villages. In this connection it is of interest to note that two years later, in 1898, an article appeared in the town warant for the building of a high school at Kelley's corner, where it now is, but the idea received no support of importance.
At the beginning of the winter term of 1897 an Intermediate school was established at West Acton having fifteen scholars with Miss Alzora Jacobs in charge. Previous to this the Grammar school teacher had been forced to govern forty four scholars as well as impart the subject matter for grades V, VI, VII, and VIII. Under the new dispensation the primary school consisted of grades I, II, III, the intermediate school of grades IV, V, VI, and the grammar school of grades VII and VIII.
It was during the winter of 1897 that the only drowning on record at Grassy Pond took place. To most Acton folk this sheet of water of 113 acres, surrounded by swamp and brush, appears only as a likely bailiwick for husky snakes and swarms of mosquitos. It can be readily approached at only one part of the shore where for a few rods one can fish for pouts of a summer evening. Actually grassy pond is the last remains of what was once a glacial lake. Through the ages it has slowly been encroached upon by the shore weeds and will at some far distant period disappear according to the well known geological cycle of such ponds. The swampy area now used for the Acton dump is an example of the same thing in a much more advanced stage of development.
During the winter mentioned Mr. Lyman Robbins, brother of Mr. Herbert Robbins, went two days before Christmas to do some fishing through the ice. He lived on Hammond Street in the house now occupied by Mr. Edward Winslow and it was but a short walk through the woods to the pond. When he failed to return by late afternoon his sister Clara, with whom he lived, hastened to the shore and could see an ominous hole in the ice. By the time she could get the neighbors informed and a rescue party to the scene it was full
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dark. The ice was new and reasonably strong but not by any means sufficient to sustain any considerable number, in fact not even two could safely stand side by side. Hence the whole party went over the hill to Nagog and brought back on their collective shoulders a row boat. Despite the fact that it was a cold winter night it was no easy task to carry such a load a half a mile and the men were reeking with sweat when the craft was set in the water and the solemn business began of breaking a channel out to the scene of the drowning. Mr. Simon Taylor was in the bow and was the one who made contact with the body by means of a long boat hook. It was hastily laid upon a ladder that had been brought along and taken to the house about midnight. The rescuers then hastened to their homes to take care of their own health which had been seriously endangered by the experiences of the night.
If one may be allowed to digress momentarily to consider items of a lighter nature one may take account of the fact that during this same year the maintenance of the town pump reached the considerable total of forty two dollars and eighty four cents. The present gener- ation never saw the old hewn stone horse trough and the pump that stood exactly opposite the monument on the north side of Main Street. They served animal and man with water such as the town never tastes today. The old well was very deeply cut into the native ledge and on the hottest summer day one could not drink a whole dipperful without stopping from time to time to permit the throat muscles an opportunity to recover from the chill. It tested at forty eight degrees which compares very favorably with most of the modern refrigerators. The old trough was cut from a solid granite block. When filled it con- tained somewhat over a barrel of water. On the front were the letters H. C. L denoting Helen Cowdrey Little, the donor, and the date 1886. She was the daughter of Dr. Harris Cowdrey and Abigail Davis. Dr. Cowdrey died in 1869. After the death of her father Mrs. Little lived in the Cowdrey home (now the home of the Misses Torrey and Lincoln) until 1886 in which year both she and her mother deceased. She was a lady of education and refinement and gave the trough because her father so often watered his horse at the old town pump. In 1916 the town voted that it be "moved to some place where it can be used". No one today seems to be aware of its whereabouts but however obscure its present resting place it must still bear the initials H. C. L. and show some signs of the fact that it served the town for thirty years.
At this time the district tie-up with Sturbridge and West Brookfield was dissolved by mutual consent. Mr. Edward Dixon terminated his incumbency as superintendent and remained with the Worcester County towns. Acton entered into a much more workable arrange-
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ment with Westford and Littleton and Mr. Andrew S. Thompson, an alumnus of Brown University, assumed the office of superintendent.
In most of the military crises of the nation, Acton has had a strange penchant for taking action in April. Hence it was quite in line with this custom that at a town meeting convened on April 4, 1898 the following resolution, presented by Mr. Charles J. Williams of East Acton, Chairman of the School Committee, should be trans- mitted to President Mckinley by the moderator of the meeting, Mr. Luther Conant.
"Resolved, That the wise, patriotic and conservative for- eign policy of the President of the United States has won our admiration and receives our hearty support. We believe that the honor and interests of this nation, and the best in- terests of the people of Cuba, are safe in his care.
By the citizens of Acton, in Massachusetts, this fourth day of April 1898, in their annual town meeting assembled."
Harsh experience has taught our nation through the years since that vote was taken that the Spanish War was a small affair but be that as it may the men who enlisted from Acton took a solder's risk that cannot be discounted because of the restricted area in which the contest took place or because, in the light of later conflicts which none could then envision, the numbers engaged were trivial. Wherever bullets, disease, and exposure are all in the days work the soldier puts his life in the balance for the service of his country.
On a red granite memorial stone on Acton Common appear the following names of those who enlisted for the conflict.
William Dusseault, Chaplain 6th Reg., Arthur Knowlton, George A. Forrest, Robert Maines, William H. Hill, Thomas J. Manion, Charles H. Whitney, Walter A. Tuttle, Fred L. Tuttle, Herbert W. Owen, Hanie S. Greenough, Oliver D. Wood, Clarence Dusseault.
William Rodway, a resident of Acton, enlisted with a Boston regi- ment and hence does not appear on the memorial stone. He died in the service and was buried in Acton.
The dedicatory exercises were held in 1912 under the direction of a committee on which Mr. Oliver D. Wood took a prominent part. There was a scripture reading by Rev. Edward C. Hayes of the Con- gregational Church. Exercises by the children of veterans under the direction of Mrs. Augustine Hosmer, a foreword by Rev. Franklin P. Wood, an address by Charles K. Darling, major of the 6th regi- ment in the Spanish American War and remarks by Rev. L. B. McDonald of Concord who visited the soldiers in Puerto Rico.
Despite the fact that the town fathers were at loggerheads several forward steps were taken in school matters. In compliance with a statute of the Commonwealth the high school year was extended to forty weeks. Simultaneously Intermediate schools were established
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at the South and Centre and a ninth grade was added to all three grammar schools. In order to effect these changes additional space was required. Central Hall was rented in South Acton and fitted up to serve as a makeshift grammar school.1 It was on the second floor of the building housing the tailor shop of Mr. James McGreen and was just about everything that a schoolroom should not be. It was practically on top of the railroad depot and perpetually immersed in the smoke and noise of a busy freight yard. There was no out- side area for a play yard. In the winter the stove heat was inade- quate so the children sat in their outer clothing the greater part of the time. In the spring and fall if the windows were raised for ventila- tion the desks were promptly covered with locomotive cinders. All that could be said for it was that it was a shelter of sorts from the elements.
At the Centre the situation was less acute. The front room on the second floor, which had long been used as a repository for school supplies and an office for the school board, was remodelled to ac- comodate the grammar grades and another supply depot was obtained by renting from Mr. A. L. Noyes sufficient space in his barn and erect- ing the necessary partitions.2
As a by-product of these changes the North School was dis- continued and merged with the Centre. The transportation of the new contingent was awarded to Mr. George Greenough who at that time lived directly opposite the school in the house now occupied by Mr. Justason. The North school building is still standing on Harris St. It was purchased from the town and remodelled as a two family dwelling.
As now rearranged the town had its elementary schools central- ized in the three larger villages with a primary, intermediate and grammar division in each, and each with three grades.
As a matter of record and reference the list of teachers under the new dispensation is given below.
School
Teacher
Enrollment
South Grammar
Eva Barton
20
South Intermediate
Eva M. Brewer
27
South Primary
Annie B. Chase
48
Centre Grammar
Sara G. Small 22
Centre Intermediate
Ella L. Miller
38
Centre Primary
Cora E. Warren
33
West Grammar
Mary A. Randall
25
West Intermediate
Catherine Sweeney
22
West Primary
Harriet H. Gardner
33
High School
Walter De Vault
Florence Fletcher
31
1 The second floor of the present South Acton Post Office Building.
2 The barn just to the rear of the present office of Mr. Boatman.
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In December of 1899 Acton High School started its second attempt to launch a school paper. It was named THE HIGH SCHOOL MONITOR and had objectives similar to those of the ACTONIAN of 1893.
During the year the town appointed Miss Marian Brown of Little- ton as its first teacher of public school music. She was a personable and refined young lady who was generous enough to state in her annual report that while she found the scholars more or less deficient in the rudiments of music a large portion had good voices. For public consumption that was a very pleasing statement but it glossed over some submerged facts. Certain of the children did respond with enthusiasm but most of the boys regarded it as a silly business. Those in the change of voice stage fell into two distinct groups. The bashful contingent clammed up in abysmal silence. A coterie of extroverts, however, out of pure cussedness, put forth amain and produced a fearsome and wonderful cacophony. These were the same imps, of course, who, half a dozen years previous, in the lower grades, rapidly discovered to their glee that they were possessed of the Satanic gift of knowing inherently the proper angle at which to hold a slate pencil in order that it should emit the most appalling screech and set on edge the teeth of all their neighbors. The foremost of these ardent spirits were given special attention by the local teachers in consequence of which Miss Brown could state in her report that she had received their fullest cooperation. Fortunately she was absent when some of the minor facets of that cooperation were being im- plemented.
Despite this luke-warm viewpoint the better pupils came in time to occupy places of value in the village choirs. Even certain of the recal- citrants did their bit as organ pumpers. There are citizens walking the streets of Acton today who belonged to that vanished guild and have every right to membership in a waggish group known as the American Association of Organ Pumpers who meet once a year for a banquet where they relive old days under the aegis of their head- man and toastmaster who functions under the clever and sonorous title of Grand Diapason.
A pipe organ builder and still active expert of the old school poses the interesting query as to whether, by an ironical turn of circumstance, he is or is not eligible to belong to the fellowship just described. Although he never pumped an hour in a church service he is willing to wager that he has expended ten times as much energy on the job as any of them due to the fact that in his youth the appren- tices in the organ factory where he learned his craft put in whole days on end pumping the organs that were being readied for installation.
This same gentleman relates how a scandal of minor proportions
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occured in a Boston church when a wisp of smoke emerged one morning from the rear of the organ during the service. Fearing a holocaust the authorities started an investigation only to learn that the pumper was having a bit of a drag on his pipe.
He likewise exclaims at the number of names and examples of pseudo art that he has found carved into the organ panels during his long experience, executed beyond a doubt when the pumper was assumed to be benefitting from the sermon.
In February of 1899 the town voted to join with the Fitchburg Railroad in petitioning the Superior Court for the abolition of the hazardous grade crossings at South Acton. Only those old enough to remember can appreciate the conditions preceding the erection of the present bridge and station. The existing business section of the South Village is not a thing of beauty but it is a vast improvement upon the distant past.
Formerly there was a grade crossing at the lumber yard which took its share of the travel but the main traffic artery was the road to Maynard which pitched down a steep grade at the point where the fire house now sets. It crossed the series of tracks of both the main line and the Marlboro Branch and then, dodging between the saw mill and the bicycle shop on the left and the railroad ice house on the right, passed over the narrow bridge practically on top of the mill dam and climbed upward to join the highway as it lies today.
The present Post Office building stands as it did then but between it and the tracks there was a depot, a freight house, a large com- bination residence and business block that housed a barber shop, a lunch room, a dental office, and certain other offices from time to time. There was also a dwelling house, and to the west of that another building which although not a round house in the usual sense was a shelter for two locomotives. All of these buildings were old, dingy, soot laden, and none too well kept up. The whole arrangement was not only a depressing sight for the newly arrived stranger but was a deathtrap as well for the users of the highway.
In spite of the conditions nothing tangible came of this laudable attempt to improve the situation. The public mind had to wait until the death of Mr. Percy Tuttle brought the facts into sharper focus several years later.
Nevertheless civic consciousness was not wholly static since in the same year the general improvement of the town Common was attacked with vigor. At that time the monument was surrounded by a fence having huge granite posts about a foot square between which were suspended heavy iron chains. Woodbury Lane continued straight across the present greensward until it joined Concord Street in front of the fire house. In addition, as one approached Main Street, Wood-
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bury Lane fanned out on either hand, one branch passing around the corner of the Town Hall and the other cutting to the right around the Stevens Hayward House.
A committee consisting of Luther Conant, William D. Tuttle, E. Faulkner Conant, William Kingsley and Julian Tuttle had the matter in charge and they with others brought about the present pleasing landscaping, secured and placed the two 1812 cannon, and chose the resting place for the stone upon which Capt. Isaac Davis fell, presented by the town of Concord.
The setting of the shapely and beautiful tree that stands in the triangle opposite the firehouse, designated at the Peace Tree at the time of its planting, was a part of the improvement project. It was placed in position with appropriate exercises by the scholars of the Grammar School accompanied by a prayer and brief comments by Rev. Franklin P. Wood. Mrs. Ormond Greenwood, formerly Miss Martha Taylor, at that time one of the school children, recalls assist- ing her father Mr. S. Hammond Taylor, fill in the top soil after the departure of the witnesses to the event.
As one drives through the village of East Acton the old mail wagon that stands in front of the residence of the late Mr. Michael Hayes is certain to attract the eye. This is no synthetic symbol of unknown origin but is in truth a bona-fide relic of Acton's first rural delivery route and was the inspiration back of Mr. Christy's decision to name his present establishment the Mail Coach Grille.
Rural Free Delivery became an actuality in the United States in 1896. Three years later Mr. Hayes started running the route out of West Concord Post Office and continued until forced to resign because of age limitation in 1934.
During the horse and buggy days Mr. Hayes was a carriage painter by trade, built the body of the mail wagon and lettered it and used it until he graduated to the automobile stage.
It has been previously pointed out that a few abortive attempts had been made to bring about the erection of a high school building. In the spring of 1899 the matter really began to brew. An article to build, location unspecified, failed by 81 to 54. Another article seeking to build an addition to the South schoolhouse also failed by 109 to 73.
As a result of this impasse a second meeting was held on April 17th. A motion to build a new high school at a cost not to exceed seven thousand dollars on the outskirts of Acton Centre on the land owned by James B. Tuttle (known as the peach orchard site)1 pre- vailed by a vote of 127 to 116. A committee was chosen for this
1 The peach orchard site is now the built up section between the little frog pond at the junction of Main St. and Hayward Rd. and the residence of the late Murray Brown.
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purpose but its make-up is unimportant since the opposition obtained sufficient signatures to convene another meeting on May 8th at which time a vote to reconsider prevailed. Thereupon a motion was put seeking whether the town would build anywhere in the township limits but it was short lived since a counter motion to dismiss prevailed.
All this backing and filling was due primarily to the fact that in each village there were sufficient die-hards who, unless the school were located in their village would have none at all. It must be re- called that automobile transportation was not yet available and that some of the old animosities left over from the bounty fight were still alive.
As a result, in part, of this situation, Principal Charles resigned and Mr. Walter A. DeVault took his place. Mr. DeVault was not desirous of continuing and resigned at the end of the year. Mr. Archer L. Faxon who succeeded him was a competent and forceful man. Under his regime the one session school day was inaugurated and the student publication, the HIGH SCHOOL MONITOR, pre- viously mentioned, thrived for a time.
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