USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Gardner > History of the town of Gardner, Worcester County, Mass., from the incorporation, June 27, 1785, to the present time > Part 12
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To the Honorable Court of the General Sessions of the Peace for the County of Worcester, to be holden at Worcester in and for said County, on Tuesday, the twenty-fifth day of March, A. D., 1794:
A petition of the town of Gardner, humbly showeth, whereas, there have been several alterations made, in the county road
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through this town, one in particular, south of Landlord JJack- son's and across a meadow below Capt. Bickford's mill, to the great damage of the town and individuals in said town, and we cannot see that the traveler can receive any real advantage by the same, and a great number of them seem to choose the old road, rather than the new one, as it is a good road and has been traveled upwards of forty years and goes upon a neck of land between two meadows, where it will be always kept good as it must be kept for a town way, and the new one is a very bad one to make, and if not discontinued it seems, we must have to apply to the Honorable Court for some help, before it can be made passable.
It also will be a great damage on account of having mills be- ing put up at the lower end of the meadow, which we shall stand in great need of, for the mill, at the upper end of the meadow, in some seasons, cannot grind for one-half of the town now it is small, and when we come to have three times our [present ] number, and lands cleared up, which will much shorten the water, it will make a wide odds, and we shall have to travel five, six, seven and eight miles for grinding, which will be a very great grievance ; it also takes it from a public house that has been occupied for that service, upwards of twenty years, and of late has been at great expense for buildings to serve the public ; and as we have three county roads through this little town, and a most all our roads are new and very bad to make, and but a little while since our incorporation, and have had a meeting-house to build and of late a minister to settle, and have school houses to build, before we can reap any great advantage by schooling. We, therefore, pray your honors to take our case into your wise consideration and discontinue the new laid road, about eighty rods west of the Sawyer road, so called, to where it comes out again at the old road, up the hill, east of Capt. Bickford's new barn, and to keep the old road as it is now traveled, which is but two tallies further than the new one, which, had there been a full bench, we cannot think, would have been accepted. But, if your Honors should not see meet
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to discontinue the said piece of road, we then pray your Honors would appoint a new committee to view from Otter River bridge, so called, in Gardner to Westminster meeting-house, in order, if there must be an alteration, to hit upon the best place for the travel and cost, as we cannot think the last one, the meadow, is the best one, which, if a committee so granted, and should not report in [our] favor, and alteration from what the last committee did, they shall come at the expense of your petition- ers. All [of ] which is humbly submitted and your petitioners in duty bound shall ever pray.
" Voted, To choose a committee to present this petition to the court. Capt. Elisha Jackson was chosen committee."
Without attempting to describe or even mention all the roads which have been laid out in this town, whose name is legion, we will briefly notice those of most importance. It will be re- membered, that those who drew the remonstrance, against the petition of Wilder, Coolidge and the Priests to be restored to Winchendon, therein state that they have " laid ont the biggest part of our roads, to convene that spot," that is, the centre of the town, where has since stood the first church ever built in town. These could not have been, what we are accustomed to call roads now-a-days, but, simply bridle paths, over which the early inhabitants rode on horseback to church. The first record we find, respecting the highway from the centre, toward the north part of the town, bears date November 22d, 1803, when the town, " Voted, To accept a road from the northwest corner of the pound near the meeting-house." This road was then laid out, no farther, in a northerly direction, than the Green place, now owned by Mr. Charles Heywood. Turning there, it ran towards Joel Matthews'. Beyond the Green place, in a north- erly direction, there is no town record of the road's having been laid, notwithstanding such must have been the fact. The road, running east and west, through the centre, was the old county road from Royalston to Westminster. What is now called Lynde Street, is a part of the old road from Gardner to Tem-
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pleton, running westerly by Dr. Parker's mill, and coming into the old turnpike, about a mile this side of East Templeton, over which, in part, a new road has recently been laid.
The following is the history of Elin Street : Soon after the first minister, Rev. Jonathan Osgood, was settled here, he built for himself, the house now owned by Dea. Henry Lawrence. The road from the church, to his house, was very crooked ; run- 'ning around somewhere near the garden of Mr. Levi Heywood, behind Mr. John Edgell's old house, then veering to the right, then again to the left, where are still traces of its bed in the pasture of Mr. Edgell, it reached the spot near which Mr. Osgood erected his house, where it terminated.
In the warrant for the annual town meeting for March 5th, 1792, was the following article : "To see if the town will make any alteration in the roads laid through the Rev. Mr. Osgood's land, and part of Mr. Seth Heywood's land, as fol- lows, viz. : Beginning at a beech tree, in said Heywood's land, thence running southerly to a marked stump north of the cause- way, near the old house in said Osgood's land ; also beginning at a stake in the fence south of said causeway and running east- erly to a hemlock marked, then keeping the same course till it strikes the road laid out for Ephraim Temple and others, laid two rods wide, northeasterly of said boundaries." At this town meeting it was " Voted, To accept of the alteration as made by the selectmen."
Thus Elm Street was opened to the house of Mr. Osgood in March 1792. Beyond this point south, there was no road till March 2d, 1795. In the warrant, for the March meeting for the above named year, was this article : " To see if the town will accept of the alterations in the road between Capt. Wil- liam Bickford's and Rev. Jonathan Osgood's through Benjamin Sawin's land and the Rev. Jonathan Osgood's land, agreeable to the selectmen's minutes." At this meeting the town " Voted, To accept the alteration made in the road between Capt. Wil- liam Bickford's (now the house of Aaron Greenwood in South Gardner, ) and the Rev. Jonathan Osgood's through Benjamin
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Sawin's land and the Rev. Jonathan Osgood's land." Thus by two separate efforts of the town, was obtained the road from the Centre to South Gardner.
The road from the junction, near the house of H. C. Hill, to the corner in the West Village, has a somewhat interesting history. In October, 1832, the selectmen laid out this road, and brought their action before the town, for their acceptance or rejection. Strange as it may seem to us now, the town " Voted, To dismiss the article ;" but, in less than one year after, September 14th, 1833, when the matter was again urged, they " Voted, To choose a committee to oppose or advocate the road," and on June 2d, 1834, the town " Voted, To choose a committee to let out the road."
From the corner in West Village, to the depot, on what is now called North Main Street, the road was laid, at two sepa- rate times. The first part, from Mr. Frank Conant's store to Mr. Philander Derby's chair shop, was laid out March 6th, 1843. From the Fitchburg depot to Mr. Derby's shop the road was laid Feb. 3d, 1849. Spring Street was laid, March 28th, 1851. The road from the Centre, through Pleasant Street to the old turnpike, was relocated by the county commissioners October 19, 1857 ; also that from the Centre to South Gardner ; also the old turnpike from the Westminster to the Templeton line. In 1842 the county commissioners relaid and ordered the immediate rebuilding of the old turnpike from Westminster to Templeton. The reconstruction of this road, cost the town about $7000, a part of which, was paid out of the surplusage of the United States revenue. School Street was laid out, to the slaughter-house of C. W. Morse, September 28th, 1856; Cross Street from Mr. Thomas E. Glazier's, to slaughter-house, July 27, 1858 ; Cherry Street was extended, from the house of Miss Martha Barker to Elm Street, July 27th, 1858; the first part of Chestnut Street, from Central to Cross Street, was laid May 17th, 1867 ; second part, from Cross Street, to Atherton house, May 17, 1869; the last part, from Atherton house, to Fitch- burg depot, August 29th, 1870; Maple Street, October 25th,
TPOEn
OFFICE
CHAIR FACTORY OF PHILANDER DERBY.
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1869 ; Cross Street was extended to Pine Street, May 12th, 1871; Nichols Street was laid May 12th, 1871; Walnut Street was also laid May 12th, 1871; first part of Pine Street, from Lynde to Cross Street, August 19th, 1867; last part of Pine Street, from Cross to North Main Street, May 17th, 1869 ; Ver- non Street, May 26th, 1868 ; Washington Street, June 2d, 1875 ; Mechanics Street, May 15, 1873 ; extended August 9th, 1877 ; Lincoln Street, October 28th, 1873 ; Union Street, No- vember 1st, 1851 ; Summer Street, May 26th, 1868; extended May 12th, 1871; Mill Street ordered by the county commis- sioners May 24th, 1869 ; Prospect Street, August 29th, 1870 ; High Street extended, August 29th 1870; Conant Street was laid out October 28th, 1871.
April 4th, 1870, there was an article in the warrant " to see if the town will take any measures to designate by name the different roads and streets in said town and act anything in re- lation thereto." Upon this article the town " Voted, To choose a committee of five to report to the town at some future meet- ing, names for the several roads and streets." This committee, consisting of Charles Heywood, Francis Richardson, S. W. A. Stevens, John W. Hill and Asaph Wood, made their report September 6th, 1870, which was accepted, -- sec, Town Records, vol. 5, p. 523 and following. At the same meeting the town " Voted, That the selectmen cause sign boards to be put up at the termini of each street in town."
We have endeavored to give above, a pretty full summary of the roads in this town, while at the same time we are aware, that not all the roads, highways and byways have been men- tioned, a thing impossible and needless to do. As the years have gone by, there has been evident progress made, in the manner of constructing and caring for our highways. In its infancy and poverty, in 1786, the town expended the sum of three hundred dollars ; in the year 1877, the sum of three thou- sand dollars was appropriated for highways. While our roads are necessarily hilly, they are, as a general thing, kept in good repair, much vigilance being constantly exercised over them by
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our selectmen and road masters. It is to be hoped that before the lapse of many years, there will be a greater and more gen- eral interest manifested by the town, in the construction of sidewalks and planting of shade and ornamental trees along our streets. Within the last few years individuals have laid con- venient and permanent sidewalks in front of their own dwel- lings, and have erected lamp posts for the benefit of the public ; but much yet remains to be done in this direction, before the town is made to possess the attractiveness it is capable of.
Having said thus much concerning the highways and streets of Gardner, from the earliest time to the present, it is thought best to introduce here some account of the Turnpike, which was once a marked feature of this town. By so doing we hope to preserve a record, for the benefit of future generations, of facts and scenes, of which they might otherwise remain forever ignorant.
FIFTH MASSACHUSETTS TURNPIKE CORPORATION.
This turnpike was incorporated March 1st, 1799. The rea- sons, for establishing it, are given in the preamble to the act of incorporation, in the following words :-
Whereas, The highway leading from Northfield in the county of Hampshire, through Warwick and Orange to Athol, and also from Greenfield through Montague and unimproved lands up Miller's River to Athol aforesaid, thence through Gerry, (now Phillipston,) Templeton, Gardner, Westminster and Fitchburg to Leominster, in the county of Worcester, is rocky and moun- tainous ; and the expense of straightening, making and repair- ing the same, through the said towns, so that the same may be conveniently traveled with horses and carriages, is much greater than reasonably ought to be required of said towns :
Be it therefore enacted by the Senate and House of Represen- tatives in General Court assembled, etc. This turnpike had its commencement at Capt. Elisha Hunt's in Northfield, passed through Warwick, Orange, Athol, Phillipston, Templeton and Gardner to Westminster meeting-house, from thence to Jonas
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Kendall's tavern in Leominster; also from Calvin Mum's tavern in Greenfield, through Montague to Athol. The road was to be four rods wide, and the path to be traveled not less than eighteen feet wide, in any place. The corporation was authorized to erect five turnpike gates, convenient for collect- ing the toll. One of these gates was near David Mayo's tavern, in Warwick ; another near the tavern of Samuel Sweetser, in Athol ; another near the line between Gardner and West- minster ; another near the tavern of Jonas Kendall, in Leom- inster ; there was another at such convenient place between Greenfield and Athol as the corporation should determine. The following were the rates of toll :-
For every coach, phaeton, chariot, or other four-wheel car- riage drawn by two horses, twenty-five cents, and if drawn by more than two horses, an additional sum of four cents for each horse ; for every cart or wagon, drawn by two oxen or horses, twelve and an half cents, and if drawn by more than two horses or oxen, an additional sum of three cents for each ox or horse ; for every curricle, sixteen cents ; for every chaise, chair or other carriage, drawn by one horse, twelve and an half cents ; for every man and horse, five cents ; for every sled or sleigh, drawn by two oxen or horses, nine cents, if drawn by more than two oxen or horses, an additional sum of three cents for each ox or horse ; for each sled or sleigh, drawn by one horse, eight cents ; for all horses, mules, oxen or neat cattle, led or driven, besides those in teams or carriages, one cent each ; for all sheep or swine, at the rate of three cents for one dozen.
If the corporation, or their toll-gatherers, or others in their employ, should unreasonably delay or hinder any traveler, at any of the gates, or should receive more toll than was estab- lished by the act of incorporation, the corporation should for- feit a sum not exceeding ten dollars nor less than two dollars, to be recovered before any justice of the peace of the county where the offence should be committed, by any person thus in- jured, delayed or defrauded. The corporation was liable for any damage which should arise from defective bridges, or want
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of repairs, in said way. They were also indietable for not keeping the road in good repair. If any person should cut, break down, or otherwise destroy any turnpike gates, or dig up or carry away any earth, or in any manner damage the road, or should forcibly pass or attempt to pass the toll-gates, with- out having first paid the legal toll, he should pay a fine not exceeding fifty dollars nor less than ten dollars. If any person, with his team, cattle, or horse, should turn out of the road to pass by any of the turnpike gates, and again enter the road, with intent to evade the toll, he should pay three times as much as the legal toll would have been. Persons passing to or from public worship, also persons passing on military duty, were exempt from toll. The corporation were obliged to erect, and keep constantly exposed to view, at all places where toll was to be collected, a sign or board with rates of toll, of all the toll- able articles, fairly and legibly written thereon in large or capital characters.
This turnpike ran straight from Templeton through South Gardner, to Westminster, irrespective of hills or swamps. There was a toll-gate near the house of Elijah Foster, in Gard- ner, which was subsequently removed to a position near the store of S. W. A. Stevens, in South Gardner. This turnpike formed the most direct route from Brattleborough, Vt., to Bos- ton, and was the old stage road between these points. In the history of these turnpikes, we begin to trace those improve- ments, in public travel, which have since grown into rapid rail- road, and steamship conveyance. Let it not, however, be for- gotten, that turnpikes were matters of great public interest, in those days. There was, among the projectors of these roads, laying them in a direct course, from point to point, as they did, something of that determination to annihilate time and space, of which so much is heard at the present time.
Then too, those stages, with their four and six horses, dash- ing along the highways, with their heavy freight of passengers and Inggage, were objects fitted to awaken admiration in all the dwellers along the route. With what a sense of self-importance
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did the driver sound his horn and crack his whip, as he ap- proached the tavern where men and boys were the self-con- stituted committee of reception of the incoming stage. How they gazed upon the passengers and watched their movements, especially if they were from " down below."
What jovial times those must have been at the taverns, when it was not thought immoral for everybody to assemble and talk over national affairs and drink the ever present draft of toddy, and crack the jokes that called forth the uproarious laughter. It is true, we are better accommodated, by the oft-coming and departing railroad trains, but these, creeping along through valleys and around upon hillsides and through dismal swamps, awaken no such admiration, as the old New England stage did, with its pompous driver and spirited six-in-hand, as they passed along the public highway or brought up, flecked with foam, at one of our old county taverns. But with all our improvements, in consequence of steam, it is a noticeable fact, that roads are coming to be more and more a matter of public attention, and more lavish expenditure. There is a more intelligent convic- tion in the public mind, that good roads have much to do with the economy of living, since it must always cost more to draw a load over a bad road, than over a good one.
In England, at the period already referred to, in this chapter, Macaulay tells us that such was the execrable condition of the roads, that the expense of transmitting heavy goods, in wagons was enormous, costing about fifteen pence a ton, for every mile, or fifteen times more than is demanded by railroads. Such, indeed, was the expense of transportation, upon these high- ways that, coal for instance, was never seen in England, except in the districts where it was produced, or in districts where it could be carried by water. On by-roads, goods were carried on long trains of pack horses. But in this respect, England has very greatly improved since the time of which Macaulay writes, having now several thousand miles of the finest roads in the world, being made firm and hard by the gravel and broken stone with which they are ballasted. The same is true
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of the roads in Switzerland. These people have already learned, that which we are coming gradually, better to understand, that the best and most substantially built road, at whatever cost, is cheaper and more satisfactory in the long run, than that of poorer construction. Says Hon. Charles G. Davis of Plym- outh, who has traveled extensively in England and on the Con- tinent, " Go to the poorest canton in Switzerland, much poorer than any district in Massachusetts, and you will find roads, made always with even grades, never with a pitch or hollow to suit the natural surface of the country, but always upon even pitches up and down, sometimes bridging across dry valleys, the engineering and masonry of the most excellent character. These roads are constantly watched, as a mother watches her child, as the trackmen upon our railroads, tend the track that the engines pass over, watched day by day, and swept week by week."*
It is to be hoped that our roads will be yet made after models of this high character.
*Agricultural Report 1870-1871.
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CHAPTER VI.
RAILROADS.
" Carriages without horses shall go,
And accidents fill the world with woe.
Around the world thoughts shall fly In the twinkling of an eye.
Water shall yet more wonders do ;
Now strange, yet shall be true.
The world upside down shall be,
And gold be found at root of tree.
Through hills man shall ride, And no horse or ass be at his side.
Under water men shall walk;
Shall ride, shall sleep, shall talk.
In the air men shall be seen,
In white, in black, in green.
Iron in the water shall float,
As easy as a wooden boat. Gold shall be found, and found
In a land that's not now known.
Fire and water shall wonders do, England shall at last admit a Jew." -Mother Shipton's Prophecy, A. D. 1488.
B EFORE entering upon a minute history of the railroads passing through this town, it is thought not inappropriate, to present, in the opening of this chapter, a brief sketch of public communications, a hundred years ago, and even at a much later day, that the reader may be able, to put events then, in contrast, with events now. The difficulties and perils of travel in the United States one hundred years ago, are graphi- cally sketched, by Mr. Edward Abbott, in a little work, entitled
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" Revolutionary Times," from which, we take a portion of the information here presented. He refers us to a brief narrative, of the journey, which a young man, by the name of Elkanah Watson, of Rhode Island, made, in 1777, from Providence to Charleston, South Carolina, on an errand of great pecuniary importance. The young man, then only nineteen years of age, started in September on horseback, and with a " hanger" at his side, and a pair of pistols at his holster, journeyed through eastern Connecticut to Hartford, "a wealthy and respectable place of almost three hundred houses," thence " to New Haven which he found to be somewhat larger." Crossing the Hudson at Peekskill, he came to Morristown, N. J., where he fell in with two other travelers going the same way, and here ex- changed his seat, on the saddle, for one in a " sulky." The British having just taken possession of Philadelphia, the party were obliged to make, a considerable detour, by way of Read- ing, Lancaster and York, but were even then detained for a night, under arrest on suspicion of being British spies. They spent two days at Bethlehem, where was " a spacious tavern affording them welcome comforts ;" at Reading they found " a town of four hundred houses ;" and at Reamstown, young Wat- son had his first experience of sleeping in a German house, " between two feather beds." At Euphrates he heard the sound of Washington cannonading Germantown. Through Lancaster, he went to York, where Congress, driven out of Philadelphia, were in session, and where passports, had to be obtained, for the continuation of the journey, which so far, had occupied just a month. Crossing Maryland, Mr. Watson came to Fredericks- burg, Virginia, which he found " to be a place of a thousand inhabitants." Williamsburg contained more than three hundred dwellings, " built chiefly of wood, on one street nearly a mile in length." Entering North Carolina, the first place of impor- tance was Edenton, with " thirty-five houses, and a brick court house." Thence, his route lay partly by land and partly by wa- ter, to Bath ; this region was uninhabited and desolate ; crossing the Neuse River by night, with considerable danger, he finally
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reached Newbern, the capital of the colony. The journey from Newbern to Wilmington, lay through an almost unbroken wilderness ; at one point he lost his way, at another encount- ered a large bear. Beyond Wilmington, the route lay along the beach, for sixteen miles ; he here met a party going north, who had with them tidings of Burgoyne's surrender. . On the 18th of November, Mr. Watson entered Charleston, having been seventy days, in traveling one thousand two hundred and forty-three miles. Mr. Watson was the bearer of funds, not in checks and drafts of modern times, but in gold, securely quilted into the lining of his coat.
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