USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Wellesley > History of the town of Wellesley, Massachusetts > Part 11
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We wish to call attention to some facts showing why a division is eminently wise and desirable. The inhabitants on the west side are unanimous in asking for incorporation. They have asked for it in the past, applying as long ago as 1820 to the Legislature, and have renewed their efforts from time to time for independence, and now without doubt will press until it is acquired. If the town should be divided upon the line referred to, the territory taken would comprise about three-sevenths of the area, and the population would be about equally divided. Along the division line, lying upon either side is a belt of territory about a mile and a quarter in width, with very few dwellings upon it, which separates the two parts as clearly as a mountain range or broad river. Within, or bordering upon this belt, are situated three large cemeteries, for a long distance the Sudbury-river conduit, and large expanse of swamp and forest. Within, too, is located the "Poor-House" and "Town-Hall," all in one, where the paupers dwell and the voters transact the public business.
West of this uninhabited tract lie the villages of Lower Falls, Grantville, and Wellesley; easterly, Upper Falls, Highland- ville, Needham and Charles River Village.
Through the first-named villages runs the Boston and Albany Railroad, with five stations within the limits of the town; through the latter the Woonsocket Division of the New York and New Eng- land Railroad, with four stations.
Upon the one side are two, upon the other three, Post Offices.
Upon the east side there is a Congregational Church, a Unita- rian, a Methodist, Baptist, and just across the river a Catholic Church.
Upon the west two Congregational, a Unitarian, a Catholic, and just over the river a Methodist Church.
There are two High Schools, one on each side.
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There are the usual societies for protection, cultivation, and amusement; but each side has distinct organizations. There are Public Libraries; but each village supports its own. It will be ap- parent at a glance that there is no natural or artificial connection between the two parts of the town.
The children never meet in the schools.
It is not feasible to unite the two High schools as half the scholars would be obliged to ride six to eight miles a day in car- riages, at the best, in such case.
Not a family on the east attends church on the west; nor one on the west, the east.
No brother Mason, or Odd Fellow, or Good Templar, or Knight of Honor, crosses the line to greet his brother save as an infrequent visitor.
No one crosses the line for his mail, or groceries, or his litera- ture, or his amusement, and the only place of meeting is in the woods, in the Poor-House, a mile or more from the nearest village, where men succeed in misunderstanding each other, and, through the ignorance of the needs of each section, wasting the money of the town.
The condition of Needham, if Wellesley should be incorporated, need not call for sympathy. The population of Needham, after division, will be about 2,600 (2,538) ; its valuation, about $2,000,000 (1,750,000 close estimate).
By examination of the last State census returns, it appears that the town, after losing Wellesley, will have a larger population than two hundred and eighteen (218) towns out of 326 in the Common- wealth and a larger valuation than two hundred and twenty-three (223) towns. No hardship can be experienced on account of schools, as not a single scholar will be affected by the change, nor will any church, society, or social interest receive the slightest shock.
A possible objection may be urged on account of bridges; but a slight deflection in the line, affecting no dwelling, would include in Wellesley an additional wooden bridge; so that in Wellesley there would be three wooden bridges and one stone, and in Need- ham five substantial stone bridges, one iron, and two wooden.
There would perhaps be an excess of streets and roads in Need- ham, as there have been a large number of new and expensive roads lately built in that part of the town.
The result attained by granting the petition will be to create two towns in place of one. The one now without cohesion, full of misunderstanding and hard feeling, unmanageable in government, and extravagant in expenditure, will be replaced by two towns, com- pact, filled with people who come into contact with each other every day, and who will unite with each other in friendly effort to forward the interests of their communities.
The citizens of Wellesley are anxious to secure a town govern- ment, and believe, if they do so, they will in no way injure their neighbors of the other side of the town. They believe, if the town
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is incorporated, there will be a prosperous future in store for them.
The town of Wellesley will be about four miles long by two and three quarters broad, will contain about 2,600 inhabitants, will have a valuation of about $2,500,000, four school-houses, eleven schools, two post-offices, five railroad stations, and withal be a com- plete town in all respects with a homogeneous population and gen- eral agreement of interest.
Within the limits of the new town is Wellesley College, now so favorably known, and sure to grow year by year in usefulness and reputation.
Respectfully submitted, In behalf of the Petitioners."
The names of the committee of twenty-five are as follows :- George K. Daniell, Solomon Flagg, F. H. Stevens, Edwin O. Bullock, Benjamin H. Sanborn, Albion R. Clapp, Lewis Wight, Joseph E. Fiske, John W. Shaw, John Curtis, Albert Jennings, George White, Charles B. Dana, E. Howard Stanwood, Gamaliel Bradford, George Spring, F. J. Lake, A. H. Buck, Joseph H. Dewing, H. B. Scudder, L. Allen Kingsbury, Thomas Whipple, Daniel Warren, Edmund M. Wood, Abel F. Stevens, L. K. Putney.
PETITIONS, ETC.
The committee on petitions worked effectively, and as a result of their efforts, all citizens signed with the exception as was stated, of seventeen, of whom ten were neutral, and only seven opposed division. Judge Josiah G. Abbott headed the formal petition, and was of great service from first to last with his advice and co-opera- tion. The petition reads as follows :-
"We, the undersigned, voters and tax-payers of the town of Needham, respectfully request your honorable bodies to pass an act dividing said town of Needham, by setting off the west part thereof from the east, near the line of division which formerly separated the West Parish from the East, with such deviation from said line as will nearly equally divide the territory, as shall appear to your honorable bodies wise and expedient; and that you will incorporate the west part into a new town under the name of Wellesley for the following, among many, reasons :-
That there is no connection or intercourse between the east and west parts of said town, whether of business, or schools, or religious worship. That the west part of said town consists of the villages of Wellesley, Grantville and the Lower Falls, and all lie along the Boston and Albany Railroad. That the east part of said town consists of Needham, Highlandville, Charles River Vil- lage, and Upper Falls, and all lie along the Woonsocket Division of the New York and New England Railroad. That the children of the town attend exclusively the schools in their respective sec- tions, there being a High School in the east part, and another in the west.
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That the town hall is removed from centres of all the villages in the town, and the performance of civic and public duties is rendered difficult, expensive and onerous to the great majority of voters in the town, and that there is no remedy for these evils so long as the town remains undivided."
CAUCUS
In October, the Republican caucus for the selection of dele- gates to the convention for the nomination of representative to the general court was held, and while of no direct bearing upon the result, was of great value in exciting interest and developing antag- onism between the two parts of the town; this being the only meet- ing in which both sides were brought together in public. Ostensibly this was a political party caucus; but actually, all voters of the town, on both sides of the town, Democratic and Republican, were present, together with what reinforcements the west could get from South Natick and Lower Falls, and the east from Upper Falls and Dover.
No local scrap, unless the Mclellan riot in Maugus Hall, was livelier than this. I asked Mr. Hugh McLeod to get some fellows of his athletic build together and occupy the front seats in case the vote was not going right, or the other side became too violent, and he had his men in place all right.
The committee arranged to have Mr. Bradford as presiding offi- cer, and E. A. Wood as Secretary, while I was to be floor manager. The delegation numbered seventeen, and all we asked for was eight; less than one-half. This the other side refused, but we were finally victorious; although as we feared, the other towns of the district nominated Mr. Grover a resident of Needham, and opposed to divi- sion. Mr. Henry Durant was present, and an excited participant in the meeting. There were many incidents of interest, among which was the announcement by Mr. Everett Eaton that when a vote was about to be taken, the hall way and stairs were filled with people who could not get in; when burly Tom Purcell pushed to the rear, and announced, "Mr. Chairman, there is not a damn man in the stair way!"
Reverend Mr. Edwards was asked (it was late Saturday even- ing) "If we do not leave till after midnight, will you stay?"
"My dear sir", said he, "I shall wait until a decision is neces- sary before I make one."
Reverend Mr. Cowan of Wellesley, formerly of Tennessee, when asked "Does this remind you of home?' said, "Really, my hand has been going involuntarily to my hip pocket repeatedly."
LEGISLATIVE HEARINGS
The Committee of twenty-five appointed a Legislative Commit- tee as heretofore given. Hearings began soon after the election in this way. The pamphlet prepared by me was submitted to the Committee of twenty-five, and 1,500 copies printed. These were dis-
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tributed to the citizens of the town to be used as a guide in the interviews with members of the Legislature. The members of the Legislature were assigned to the citizens who were acquainted with them, and the citizen was instructed to explain and vouch for the statements in the pamphlet, which was unsigned, but not anony- mous, every person presenting a voucher for it. Then the list of members not familiar to any citizen was taken, and each one con- signed to some one who knew some acquaintance who might be in- fluential with the member, and thus almost every member was directly reached before the meeting of the general court, and we knew our case was won, unless the unexpected should happen.
The method thus adopted was new, but has been used since in many cases.
The next matter was to employ council, and Mr. Samuel A. B. Abbott was engaged, and by the advice of Judge Abbott, endorsed by the committee, Patrick Collins, since a member of Congress and Mayor of Boston, was secured. He was not only a good legislative lawyer, but a leading democratic politician; and what seemed to make him still more acceptable, he was a resident of South Boston, the district represented by Speaker Noyes ;- really a democratic dis- trict.
As chairman of the legislative committee I was supposed to know all that was going on in the matter of committees on towns, and was informed of all applicants for a position on the committee by our council. They were then looked up, and if thought necessary, objected to. All I know about it is that no one who was objected to went on the list; nor did I know who were going on, and when the committee was finally appointed, the names were largely unfamiliar to me. The Committee of the Legislature consisted of Cook of Hamp- shire, Snow of the Cape District, Corbin of Worcester, on the part of the Senate; Morse of Newton, Jones of Chelsea, Willicut of Boston, Stowe of Hudson, Thompson of Medway, Moriarty of Worcester, Almy of Salem, Cowley of Lowell, on the part of the House. I was taken ill and was not present at any of the hearings. Mr. Putney was in charge for the Legislative Committee, and attended very ably to the business, as all interested testify. He came to see me, and seemed to be very timid about his ability to look after matters, and I told him he would do better than I could, and I think he proved my assertion true.
There were several hearings, and many witnesses were called on both sides. On the part of the west, Mr. Daniell, Flagg, Clapp, Shaw and others. On the part of the east, Mr. Tucker, Grover, Mackin- tosh, Whittaker and others. Mr. Whittaker insisted that if the town was divided there were no men on the east side competent to run the town, which of course was an absured statement, and was repudi- ated by both councils.
A report was finally made by the committee to the House, signed by G. W. Morse, but dissented from by Senator Cook and Representative Jones. The bill, except the sixth section, which was
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amended, was passed and signd by the Governor April 6th, 1881. A town meeting was held April 18th, 1881.
FUNDS RAISED
The finance committ received subscriptions from the citizens, the list being headed by H. H. Hunnewell for $900, Mr. Abbott and Mr. Durant with $250 each, and several others with $200. As I un- derstand it, but 80 per cent. of the subscriptions were called for, and 6 per cent. returned to the subscribers, the total subscriptions amounting to something over $4,000, and the expenditures about $3,300; a fairly good showing, as the council fees were more than one-half the bill. Edwin O. Bullock was treasurer, succeeded by John Curtis, who closed the account.
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