USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Wellesley > History of the town of Wellesley, Massachusetts > Part 7
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THE TOWN FARM
Needham, April 14, 1828.
The town being met (for the express purpose) on an adjourn- ment from the first Monday in April. Proceeded as follows. Viz .- It was put to the vote of the town to see if they would accept of the report of their Committee: the report being in favor of purchasing the farm improved by the Widow Emily Kingsberry and belonging to Mr. John Welles of Boston, and it passed in the affirmative. The town voted to choose a committee to receive a Deed of Mr. John Welles in behalf of the town of the aforesaid farm-and Capt. Jona Gay, Benjm Slack, Esq., and Mr. Moses Garfield were chosen their committee. The place was bought for $2,550.
The town voted that this committee be chosen to prescribe rules and regulations respecting their poor house and Gen. Charles Rice, Aaron Smith, Esq., and Artemus Newell, Esq., were chosen their committee.
The town voted that the overseers of the poor take charge of the farm bought for the poor.
This Meeting Dissolved.
Asa Kingsbury, Town Clerk.
The building was insured in 1830.
The poor of the town were therefore cared for in one building and not boarded out as had been the custom. Another problem was also solved concerning the best place for town meetings, which were now held in a hall which was built on the first floor. For several years the plan had been tried of meeting alternately in the East and West Meeting Houses, varied by meeting at Col. William McIntosh's or Bullard's Tavern. But having acquired a place for their poor and for general meetings the farm seemed to be a white elephant, hard to handle. For years almost every town meeting voted a committee
52
THE TOWN FARM
to consider selling it and building a smaller house. Each year a committee reported on the condition of the inmates.
But previous to this decision and purchase by the town Dover had written to Needham and other surrounding towns to see if they would not join together and purchase a farm which could be used by all in common.
In 1835 the town voted that "the Selectmen shall purchase a bathing tub that shall be kept at the Almshouse under their care."
In the same year a petition was presented to be incorporated into the town warrant "to see if the town will vote to prohibit ar- dent spirits being furnished by the overseers of the poor for the use of their paupers at the expense of the town."
November 11, 1833, a road was accepted from the Almshouse to Wellesley village at Noyes' Corner (Wellesley Ave.).
In 1837 the town voted that the selectmen and Daniel Ware prescribe rules and regulations for the Inmates of the Alms House.
April 3, 1838, a building committee of Jabez Smith, Dexter Ware and Spencer Fuller were "chosen to take down and dispose of the old almshouse and move out-buildings to accommodate the new almshouse." Voted that "the care of the town hall be in the care of the keeper of the almshouse, under the direction of the Selectmen and also that it may be occupied for public, political and other civic meetings, that the town provide lamps for the town hall and those that appoint meetings in said hall are to furnish oil for the same." In rebuilding the house Mr. Pickering, the contractor, made the shed of material from the original Kingsbury barn. The town met at the hall November 12, 1838, and a committee was chosen to take down and dispose of the old almshouse and move the out-buildings to accommodate the new almshouse.
In 1859 we find that Dexter Kingsbury bought the "vane and fixtures for $15."
During the middle of the century the town reports place the value of the Town Farm and Buildings at $8,500 and the Personal Property at $3,000. In 1872 a smallpox hospital was built at an expense of $558.87, the appropriation being $1,200. In 1873 further work was done on it to the extent of $398.47, still leaving a little of the appropriation. The same year the detailed smallpox account amounted to $683.21 for the patients. In 1873 the Lockup was built at an expense of $678.43, the appropriation being $1,000.
In 1871 the report asks for a larger hall and a suggestion is also offered that a cemetery be placed on land southeast of the Town house.
In 1874 "pursuant to a vote of the town your Selectmen have caused certain alterations in, and additions to be made to the Town Hall building. The accommodations now are ample and convenient for town purposes. The main hall is 73x34 feet, with a room for the Selectmen 14x19, and another for the School Committee 14x14; these two rooms are arranged with folding doors, so that if neces- sary they will form one larger room 14x34. The work was done by contract as nearly as was consistent with remodelling and repairing
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HISTORY OF TOWN OF WELLESLEY
old work. As the work progressed many changes were found neces- sary, which could not be brought into the estimate, as they had to conform to the frame and plan of the old building."
The following is a statement of the cost of the work :-
By Cash paid-
J. M. Harris, for plan of Town Hall building .. 15.00
J. E. Cloyes, for underpinning stone. 98.49
Jno. Fuller, for laying cellar-wall. 231.52
J. H. Fitzgerald, for rods in hall. 60.00
Gardner Chilson, for ventilators in hall. 16.00
Dennett, Bliss & Jones, for paper for anterooms
5.20
W. D. Parlin, for paper for house .. 12.31
Fawcett, Hawkes & Co., for two furnaces. 439.22
Oliver Pickering, on contract. 6,323.00
Oliver Pickering, for extras.
1,003.63
A. M. Mace & Co., for lead pipe and plumbing for pump and sink. 11.37
Wisner & Edwards, for papering and painting, extra
81.64
E. Peabody, furniture in house.
55.00
New England Carpet Co., for carpets in house
88.80
Goldthwait, Snow & Knight, for carpets for anterooms 57.15
Stephen Smith & Co., for desks, bookcase and tables for hall and anterooms .. 119.00
W. O. Haskell & Co., for settees for hall 215.00
Tucker Manufacturing Co., lamps for hall and building 69.81
Walter Bowers, for rebuilding lockups 205.98
$9,109.27
These items have been charged as follows :-
To original appropriation for alterations, Town Hall building. $6,500.00
Additional appropriation made at town meet- ing, December 30. 1,500.00
Returned from the State on account of small- pox bills and State Poor, and expended for the comfort of the poor in heating, paint- ing, papering, furnishing and incidentals, which would not properly belong to altera- tions in Town Hall. 763.20
Unexpended balance of lockup appropriation made last year.
321.57
Miscellaneous 24.50
$9,109.27
5.4
THE TOWN FARM
The town report for 1878 stated that the "building known as the 'smallpox hospital' has been moved to within a few feet of the main building-the former location being so remote that the warden could not properly look after it. The building has been used chiefly, since the main building was repaired, as a lodging place for tramps, who after receiving a night's lodging, would frequently show their gratitude by stealing the blankets, etc., sometimes soiling and dis- figuring the building, and even going so far as to attempt to burn it, the insurance companies refusing to insure it in its old location."
The town report for Wellesley, 1881, says: "Immediately after the incorporation of the town we made a contract with the over- seers of Needham to board their poor for the year ending March 31, 1882, at two dollars a week. While this price seemed at the time to be sufficient, the great advance in most all kinds of pro- visions has proved it entirely inadequate, and should we board them the coming year we should feel obliged to charge more. .. . The question of selling the farm is a matter which should be care- fully considered. It is very apparent that if the farm could be sold for a sum approximating to the amount allowed Needham for her half and the money placed at interest (besides getting so much more taxable property) it would be economy to do so, and make other arrangements for our poor."
In 1882 the valuation of the Town Farm and buildings was placed at $14,000.00, and the personal property at the town farm at $2,840.00.
September 17, 1883, a portion of the land was sold to Josiah G. Abbott for $3,501.80.
In 1910 the Farm was leased to the Country Club Corporation.
The following men served as keepers or wardens of the town farm from the time it was bought until it was given up in 1910. For several years previous, carrying on the farm was costing the town far more for maintaining its poor than was necessary. The keepers were always married and their wives proved of great as- sistance to them. After 1880 the words warden and matron were used in describing the work done. For the first thirty or forty years of the existence of the farm, the wardens were generally the liquor agents of the town and rendered their account to the selectmen.
Israel Whiting, May 19, 1828-April 25, 1832; Benjamin Fuller, April 25, 1832-April 25, 1833; Joseph Newell, April 25, 1833-April 10, 1834; Daniel Ware, April 9, 1834-April, 1838; John Kingsbury, April, 1838-April, 1841; Jacob Hardon, April, 1841-September 17, 1841; Alvin Fuller 2d, September 17, 1841-April 1, 1845; John Kings- bury, April 1, 1845-April 1, 1846; James Smith, April 1, 1846-1851; G. E. Byington, 1851-March, 1852; Ezekiel Peabody, March, 1852- March, 1859; Dexter Kingsbury, March, 1859-March, 1867; Benjamin Joy, March, 1867-March, 1872; D. A. Warner, March, 1872-March, 1873; Ezekiel Peabody, March, 1873-March, 1884; I. T. Swift, March, 1884-1888; Philip Atwood, 1888-1890; George W. Whitten, 1890- 1892; C. E. Davis, 1892-1893; W. E. Woodward, 1893-March 1, 1895;
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HISTORY OF TOWN OF WELLESLEY
Theodore Bolser, March 1, 1895-March 1, 1898; George H. Twombly, March 1, 1898-April 1, 1904; George W. Martin, April 1, 1904-April 1, 1905; George H. Twombly, April 1, 1905-September 1, 1907; Arthur B. Tull, September 1, 1907-
The Town Farm was discontinued in 1910.
(When exact dates are known they are given, otherwise the month was probably March.)
TAVERNS AND OLD HOUSES
In Elm Park, Wellesley Hills, was the old hotel of that name once called the Needham Hotel. It has generally been known by the names of its various owners or occupants. In 1811 Calvin Fisk is recorded as owning it and adjacent land. In 1824 John Sargent (who married Abigail Ware) and Nathan White were proprietors. It was called Shepherds' from 1840 to 1847 and later Crafts'. In 1849 it is spoken of as the Grantville Temperance House. Mr. and Mrs. Leland kept a school there as well as a tavern. Philena Tenney was a later landlord. The owners and landlords were not always the same people.
The county records give deeds as follows: April 12, 1808, land was sold to David Stone and Calvin Fisk who probably built the tavern; December 4, 1812, Fisk as mortgagor to Jeremiah Gore and John Harris; Ephraim Bullard, Sheriff sold to Timothy Daniels; the Daniels estate held the property until 1834, when it was sold to John W. Slack,1 who was granted a license as a taverner to sell liquors. Nathan White and John Sargent held an interest in it which they sold out to Marshall Spring of Watertown. Mary Spring for the estate sold it in 1845 to Daniel Stone, who in 1851 sold to Benjamin I. Leeds, who sold to L. Allen Kingsbury, who sold it to Timothy Hancock in 1857, who in 1867 sold to Charles Newhall who sold it to John W. Shaw.
The last owners and occupants were the Shaw and Livermore families in whose day (1908) it was bought both through private subscription and by the town and torn down and the land made a public park.
The row of old elms which were right at the door indicates with what a flourish the old stage coaches used to drive up to the very doorstone. Up to 1860 there was a road from the hotel to the Grantville Depot between Washington Street and Worcester Turn- pike.
Hoogs' Tavern, owned and conducted by five-fingered George Hoogs, was situated at Newton Lower Falls just beyond the present railroad crossing on the northeast corner. It was burned in 1905. Hoogs lived in the house next to the tavern with the pillars in front, now a tenement house.
Wales' Tavern was beyond the river at the junction of Wales and Washington Streets.
In Wellesley village Blanchard's Tavern was on the main thor-
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Looking East
Photos by Albert St. Clair
Looking West WELLESLEY HILLS SQUARE (Before 1900)
TAVERNS AND OLD HOUSES
oughfare, but is now practically hidden by the Partridge Block which has been erected in front of it.
The A. B. Clarke house, on the corner of Washington and Church Streets, once owned by Flagg, was formerly a tavern. Sol- omon Flagg's father-also a Solomon-kept it as a tavern for a short time. He married Esther Brown whose sister Betsy left $5,000 to the West Needham Church. The Betsy Brown house, an old black house, formerly standing near the A. P. Dana home, was built by a Dewing and bought by Mr. Samuel Brown about seventy years after it was built. He built the north end. The chimney in the old house was built on the outside. Mr. Brown was a Methodist, at- tending the church in the Hundreds. He was a town officer, filling various capacities for many years. Eben Flagg's house on Central Street was once also a tavern-Crockett's.
The building first used by the Unitarian Society was Maugus Hall, originally a freight house. Its last use is the dwelling of John Croswell, who also bought the old Congregational Church which he used for a barn. This was afterwards burned. During the early sixties Maugus Hall was called the Wigwam, and used as a paint shop by one Bedoe. It was the scene of the Mclellan riot during war times, when "secesh" and war advocates made it very lively. Report had it that during the excitement of the meeting people were thrown out of the windows. But Mr. Atwood, the minister, re- minded the over zealous press that, there being no windows, such a thing was not probable.
For several years it was owned by the Maugus Hall Association and was the only meeting place in the village for social gatherings.
The Dewing garrison house, built as early as 1656, was the first house, as far as is known, that was built within the present precincts of Wellesley. Its site is believed to have been on Grove Street at about the entrance to the Baker place, and opposite the G. E. Alden estate.
Here, more than two centuries later, William Emerson Baker, of sewing machine fame, bought in 1868 from Payson Pierce, Daniel Ware and others, well cultivated farms containing about 820 acres, and developed a very wonderful place of entertainment. He called it Ridge Hill Farm, and built a house for his family which with the various other buildings on the grounds often housed several hun- dred people. His grotto, stable, fountains, zoological museum, an- tiques, and numerous entertainments are among the unique re- membrances of those who were fortunate enough to have seen them.
Although most of the property is in Needham, the Wellesley station was always used for visitors. It is said that when the town was divided Mr. Baker asked to be set off in a borough by himself, but the General Court did not see fit to grant his request. Hotel Wellesley was built by him, and was carried on as a high class hostelry for some years until it was burned in the '90's.
In Wellesley village we find that during the early days of the Civil War the minister, A. R. Baker, who built and lived in the
57
HISTORY OF TOWN OF WELLESLEY
house now occupied by H. L. Rollins, was a believer in slavery, and suspected of being friendly to the South. Many of his parishioners objected, and a threat was made to raise the Union colors at his house, but when the eventful day arrived, the only result was an earnest promise on the part of Major J. W. Wright (then living in the house now owned by Mrs. Simonds) the ringleader, that the com- munity would protect him in the future. The affair still lingers joyfully in the memory of those who were boys at the time, and sat on the fence, fearfully, but hopefully, looking for bloodshed.
Mr. Baker's wife under the name of Aunt Hattie, wrote stories for children. The house was on the site of a smaller one owned by Deacon Hezekiah Fuller, who for a short time boarded a former minister, Mr. Sessions and his family. Before building his house Mr. Baker had lived in the house now occupied by A. P. Dana.
Captain Aaron Smith's house in the college ground back of the greenhouses is a very old house and was built before the Revolu- tion.
Parson Noyes' house was on the cellar hole which may still be seen behind the clump of lilacs east of the Town Library. This house was later owned by Dr. W. T. G. Morton, the first permanent user of ether as an anesthetic, and lived in by his parents. The house was burned during their occupancy. Dr. Morton lived in the house now further east which was then on the library site. This was built by him in 1845, the year before he began to use ether. He manufactured teeth here, employing women for the work. His grounds were very extensive, reaching west across the tracks. In a time when farming was not as much of an avocation for gen- tlemen as it is now he carried on a large farm, and is said to have first introduced the Jersey cow into America.
"In 1850 the agricultural society of Norfolk County in which Etherton Cottage is situated was instituted by the Hon. Marshall P. Wilder and others who were personal friends of Dr. Morton. .. . The premiums awarded to Dr. Morton at different times by the State and Norfolk County Agricultural Societies not only bear wit- ness to his own superiority of culture but to the necessity for science in this primitive vocation; in fact there is no pursuit which requires more scientific investigation. West Needham, the home of Dr. Morton, notwithstanding its poor prosaic name, is really a pretty pastoral-looking place surrounded by low wooded hills, pro- tecting as it were the fine farms and orchards, and the pleasant dwellings everywhere seen in the valleys and on the uplands around. In twenty minutes after leaving the bustle of Boston, if the cars make good speed, you will reach this rural scene, where Nature still holds her quiet way, except when the steam-horse goes snorting and thundering by." ("Trials of a Public Benefactor, as illustrated by the discovery of Etherization," by Nathan P. Rias, M.D. Published 1859.)
The postmaster, Alvin Fuller, 2d, lived in the house now occu- pied by W. W. Diehl which then stood on the corner of Washington and Forest Streets. Another residence of the Fuller family in the
58
TAVERNS AND OLD HOUSES
same vicinity was the Phillips house where Alvin was born. It was bought by Freeman Phillips in 1868 of Mrs. W. B. Tappan, and had been occupied by Solomon Flagg, by the parents of A. R. Clapp as well as by various members of the Fuller and Withington families.
One of the most travelled houses in town has been owned and lived in by W. H. Adams, Deacon Batchelder, the E. H. Stanwood family and now by R. W. Babson. Its original position was about where the Wellesley Hills station' now stands; later it was moved across to the present entrance of Abbott Road; again to the junc- tion of Abbott Road and Maple Street (now Seaward Place), and finally and presumably to its last resting place on Abbott Road. W. H. Adams kept a school there, where his brother-in-law, Sam Pettingill (later the head of the first advertising agency) was of great assistance to him. It was also the place where the early meetings of the Grantville Congregational Society were held. Dea- con Batchelder's land extended to what is now Rockland Street which he used as a cow pasture. This land formerly belonged to the Kingsburys and a house was on this land which may have been the original Kingsbury house. In 1814 there was a tremendous gale and the wheat fields of the Kingsburys' which extended from what is now Abbott Road to Wellesley Hills Square were com- pletely demolished. Barns and houses were destroyed and the loss of property was very great. Joseph Kingsbury owned the property at this time.
The house now lived in by Dr. Hazelton and his family was directly on the Sherborn Road, with the row of elms lining the road directly in front of the house, the road passing through the present lawn of the Unitarian Church. This house was at one time a part of the Batchelder property and is now owned by A. R. Clapp. It is one of the oldest houses in town, and is said to have been built by the brother of the leader of the Boston Tea Party, if leader there was.
The house now owned and lived in by Richard Cunningham was built by Hezekiah Fuller for the first minister of the Grant- ville church, Harvey Newcomb. The land was owned by Dexter Ware and was lot No. 1, being a square lot reaching up on to Maugus Hill.
The house on the west side of Washington Street in Wellesley Hills Square, owned by George Dexter Ware, has been in this branch of the family for years. It was built by George Hoogs, cousin of the one who kept the tavern at the Falls, and is a very good example of the old New England style of village architecture. Ware and Wilder's store was here for several years. The long, low narrow building formerly standing next to it was the home of Mary Jane Dix and her mother, and later it was used as a store by Mr. A. R. Clapp's father, the Huntings, Seawards, Rowells and others. It was torn down about thirty years ago.
Back of these buildings where the waterworks and railroad are now was a good sized pond, almost a lake in size.
The small, white house, also belonging to the Ware estate, was
59
HISTORY OF TOWN OF WELLESLEY
once a blacksmith's shop, owned by Frank Daniels, who lived in the present home of Dr. Hazelton about 1825. His wife was the aunt of Miss Dix, the first wife of L. Allen Kingsbury.
Other existing Ware houses are the Reuel Ware house built by Daniel Ware on Brook Street, now owned by Robert H. Monks; the Captain Reuben Ware house on Walnut Street, now owned by the Millers; and Mr. Sheridan's at the junction of Oakland Street and Brookside Road, where across the road, tradition says, is the old spring used by Maugus. This is probably part of property which in 1833 the town of Needham sold to Isaac Keyes. The deed records thirteen acres on Worcester Turnpike, and, no doubt, is part of the land deeded by Ephraim Ware to the Needham Parish. (These Wares are buried in the Needham Cemetery.)
The "Ryan house" on the corner of Washington and Oakland Streets was built and owned by the Daniells family who owned land in West Needham as early as 1720. Ephraim Daniells, who died in 1784, was born in 1744, and is spoken of as living in the homestead. This is probably the house, though it is known that many alterations have been made. The barn on the Fuller place on the corner of Woodlawn Avenue belonged to the Daniells family and was across Washington Street opposite the house. In 1833 George K. Daniell married Hannah Adams, the adopted daughter of Moses Grant and the daughter of Amasa and Mary (Adams) Fiske of Medfield and a niece of Miss Hannah Adams, the "historian of the Jews." Moses Grant lived in the house on the southwest corner of Worcester and Oakland Streets, now moved back. Later owners of the Ryan house have been the Colburns and William Heckle. During the latter ownership Hugh McLeod lived in it. The Ryan house as well as the Sheridan house is in an excellent state of preservation, and will doubtless continue so, as their owners take great pride in them and their history.
In 1804 Enoch Fiske built the present Fiske homestead for his son, Isaiah, and a little earlier for himself the old house on the Sisters' school grounds on Oakland Street, once owned by Ellery Clarke, whose mother was Harriet Kingsbury. The property was known as the Hollis place, previously to that as the Scudders'. The Scudder house itself was built by John Bird and was much smaller, but has been added to by its various owners. Marshall Scudder was an active citizen of the town and was superintendent of the Grantville Congregational Sunday School for many years.
Lieut. John Ness probably had a house a little north of the Fiske homestead in the eighteenth century. He was moderator of the third meeting held in the West Precinct, April 10, 1775.
A later house, now owned and lived in by General Ward, was formerly known as the Bancroft place and was built by their uncle, John Bird. Mr. E. C. Chapin was the carpenter, and he also erected the "Austen" place for himself, later occupied by the Farleys and now by the Pierson family and owned by Isaac Sprague.
The house on the southeast corner before crossing the railroad track at Newton Lower Falls, was bought by Charles Rice, March
60
TAVERNS AND OLD HOUSES
29, 1817, from Lemuel Pratt. In early days Washington Street was very much narrower at this point, the house being further back from the road. "Near the left front of the house steps led down the bank to a sunken garden, the paths were box-bordered, and beds filled with old-fashioned flowers. The side hill was covered with peach trees, and in the spring the blossoming trees made a wonderful picture against the hillside. Before the building of the railroad a small pond of sparkling water, fed by springs, occupied the place of the road to the freight house from Washington Street."
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