USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Quincy > Inaugural address of the mayor, with the annual report of the officers of the city of Quincy for the year 1892 > Part 5
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$14 15
Supplies
15 86
$30 01
Kate LeBrick
Fuel
$5 53
Supplies
4 00
$9 53
Amabel Robideau
Fuel .
$3 40
Supplies.
4 00
$7 40
Mrs. Lucius Thayer (charged to Andover)
Fuel .
$6 75
Medicine
3 25
$10 00
Mrs. Hastings, (Fall River) rent
72 00
Benjamin Landers, fuel
7 25
Thomas A. Marble
3 15
James Ryan, 66
3 15
Charles Boulanger 66
6 00
John McCarty
8 13
Elizabeth Clark
66
14 63
Ann Logan
8 13
Eliza Armstrong 66
20 00
Ann Welsh (Boston)
3 15
Mrs. Nathaniel Carter, fuel
19 25
Mrs. James Flynn, (State) fuel
9 40
Elmira Gibson 66
5 25
Mrs. John Long 66
14 15
Mrs. P. Fallon
13 30
.
Amount carried forward · $3,647 00
118
Amount brought forward
$3,647 00
Mrs. Madden
13 00
Mrs. E. Magneson
9 15
W. H. Carter, (Boston) supplies
1 96
Edw. Lafayette (State)
.
3 80
Lydia LePage (State) 66
.
. 12 14
Celia Bemis (State) 66
.
8 13
Honora Falvey 66
20 00
Emma J. Gilbert (State) "
4 02
James P. Agnew (State) burial
15 00
A. Isaacson, (State)
15 00
Thomas McMahon (State) "
15 00
John O'Leary (State)
15 00
A. N. Bolanger
10 00
Lawrence Leavitt (Randolph) medicine .
2 25
William Mulligan medicine
1 05
William Walker (State) .
40
Richard Ducelle, fares
7 39
Travelling expenses of F. Ja- cobs
25 37
Postage
4 36
$3,830 43
POLICE DEPARTMENT.
To HIS HONOR THE MAYOR OF THE CITY OF QUINCY :
SIR-I have the honor to respectfully submit the following report of the Police Department for the year ending December 31, 1892.
Total number arrests .
396
Males . 393
Females
3
Americans
77
Foreigners
319
Residents
289
Non-residents
107
Cases before the District Court :
Assault
41
Assault with knife
1
Assault on officer
6
Breaking and entering
4
Bastardy
2
Cruelty to animals
2
Common brawler
1
Disturbing the peace
41
Drunkenness
230
Embezzlement
2
Escaped from Taunton
2
False pretences
2
Fraud .
1
Fast driving
4
Gambling
6
Keeping gambling house Insane .
2
5
Larceny
·
9
120
Malicious mischief
2
Non-support of family
3
Keeping open shop Lord's day
1
Receiving stolen goods
2
Trespass
8
Tramps
'2
Vagrants
1
Violation fish and game laws
1
Violation liquor law
8
Violation city ordinance
7
Number of arrests for drunkenness, 1891
135
Number of arrests for drunkenness, 1892.
230
Number released from station house .
203
Number released by court .
11
Number committed to jail .
16
Number of lodgers
468
Males .
463
Females
5
MISCELLANEOUS WORK.
Buildings found open and secured
23
Defective sidewalks reported
8
Defective streets reported .
5
Disturbances suppressed
3
Fire alarms given
4
Fires extinguished without alarm
1
Lost children restored to parents
2
Search warrants for liquor served
8
Search warrants for stolen property served
2
Street obstructions removed
6
Street lights reported not burning 461
The increase in arrests the past year was 103, 95 of which was for drunkenness.
121
This I attribute principally to the new drunk law. A per- son arrested in North or West Quincy after 12 o'clock at night for drunkenness, we are obliged to pay $1.50 for a team to bring him to the station. In the morning he is released ; if he has any money he takes the next train to Boston, or the electric car to Neponset.
Now I hope, and trust, that our representatives to the Legislature will do all in their power to repeal a law that is making drunkards.
In submitting my report I desire to express my appreciation of the courteous consideration I have received officially from Your Honor during the past year; also to tender my thanks to the officers and all others who have in any manner assisted me in the discharge of my official duties.
Respectfully submitted,
GEORGE O. LANGLEY, Deputy Manager Police.
REPORT OF PARK COMMISSIONERS.
The Board of Park Commissioners respectfully submit the following report :
The sum of $500 was appropriated at the beginning of the year for the support of the parks of Quincy. During the year a · further sum of $100 was received as rent of a portion of the Merrymount Park, and an additional amount of $14 was derived from other sources, making a total of $614 at the disposal of the Commissioners. The whole of this amount was expended ; mainly upon the Wollaston Park, in furnishing conveniences for those visiting the park, repairing and completing fences, and above all in restoring the natural features of the grounds, which had been somewhat seriously injured by taking gravel and other material for road-making, etc., from the slopes and ridges which constitute one of the marked characteristics of the spot. The Commis- sioners take this opportunity to express a hope that the natural features referred to, which are wholly of glacial formation, and on that account most interesting, will hereafter not be interfered with. To them the beauty and attractiveness of the ground are to a large degree due, and they should under all circumstances be preserved. There is a noticeable tendency on the part of those wishing to construct roads or fill up low ground to remove in- equalities of surface ; they apparently regard picturesque glacial ridges, fringed with a growth of oaks and savins, merely as so much good gravel, furnishing excellent opportunities for borrow- ing, pits. They act accordingly, doing in a day, sometimes, damage which half a century of growth will not make good. It is to be hoped that the Quincy parks may not be subjected here- after to further treatment of this sort. The injury heretofore done is not irreparable; but, though the original picturesque outline has now in great part been restored, it will require at least twenty years to replace the destroyed trees.
124
The Commissioners had proposed to do a certain amount of work upon the Faxon Park, especially in the way of thinning out the undergrowth, so that the better class of trees would have ample opportunity for growth; they also wish to build a fence indicating the park limits. They have been unable to do this work for lack of funds, but propose, if continued in office, to enter upon it in the early Spring.
During the year the Commissioners have devoted much time and attention to a comprehensive examination of the needs of Quincy in the matter of parks and open reservations, and the development of its coast line, in connection with the plans now being matured by the Metropolitan Board of Park Commissioners, established by act of the last Legislature. As a result of these investigations they submit the accompanying report of Charles Eliot, Esq., professional landscape gardener, to which they would ask careful consideration.
The Commissioners feel a decided conviction that the time has come for the City of Quincy to approach this question of what may be called Public Reservations and Boulevards, in a large and comprehensive spirit. Under the system of unregulated development heretofore followed and now going on through the action of land companies and others, that is being done which cannot fail to work great and permanent injury, so far as the Quincy community is concerned, and which can hereafter be un- done only at a very heavy cost. The whole matter could by prompt action now be regulated upon a well-considered plan with little trouble, and at no material expense.
In the remainder of their report, the Commissioners, there- fore, propose to consider the two subjects of public reservations, including playgrounds, and boulevards, or coast drives, to a cer- tain extent connecting the reservations and making them acces- sible.
So far as large reservations are concerned, Quincy is now better provided, through Merrymount Park and Faxon Park, than the great majority of other cities similarly placed. Nevertheless, some provision remains to be made in the way of playgrounds. It has always been the boast of Massachusetts that in many re- spects, so far as the people are concerned, the towns of the Com-
125
monwealth are in advance of those of other communities. How- ever this may be generally, as respects playgrounds it is not the case. In a recent report on the subject of English education, the statement is made that in England "almost every town and vil- lage has its 'recreation ground,' supported by public money, and open at all time to school-children. In addition, each school has playgrounds, which are, where land is not very expensive, ample, and liberally supplied with equipment." Hardly any provision of this sort is made in Massachusetts ; none at all in Quincy. In Quincy, as in other country towns, there has heretofore been tra- ditionally so much open or pasture land that the need of public reservations in the nature of playgrounds has not made itself severely felt ; but the time is coming when such need will be felt, and severely felt, unless some provision is speedily made.
Children have heretofore been able to find the necessary space for their games, etc., on private property, which they have been permitted to use more or less freely. To a certain extent this is still the case ; but it cannot much longer continue. The growth of population will forbid it. On the other hand, it is futile to suppose that the future school-children of Quincy will grow up as they should unless some provision is made through which they can enjoy the out-of-door games which for all time have been the recreation and right of the young. Under the by- laws of every city the playing of ball, for instance, in public streets is very properly forbidden ; yet this city has made, and is making, no provision whatever for any place in which the playing of ball can be enjoyed. Unless the want is hereafter to be made good at enormous cost, it cannot be supplied too soon.
The Commissioners, therefore, recommend that immediate steps be taken to secure adequate play grounds of not less than four acres in extent, one in each of the several wards of the city, which grounds shall be dedicated for all time to public recrea- tion, especially that of children. The investigation of the Commissioners show that such grounds could now be obtained at a total cost, probably not exceeding $50,000. A detailed statement has been prepared and can be submitted, showing where the grounds in question are located, and what would be the probable cost of securing them. A few years ago these
126
grounds could have been bought at an aggregate cost not exceed- ing probably $5,000. The cost now will be not less than ten times that amount. If action is still further delayed, until it becomes a matter of absolute necessity to provide some such grounds, the cost may then not improbably be in the neighbor- hood of $200,000. Moreover, were these grounds to be obtained now they need entail no further immediate expense. Having been secured, they would be safe for the future, and their development might safely be left to the next generation. Were these grounds secured, they, taken in connection with the Faxon and Merrymount Parks, neither of which are at present a source of very considerable outlay to the city, would constitute an ample provision, so far as can now be seen for all future time. Steps should immediately be taken towards securing such grounds.
The Commissioners are aware that even the outlay sug- gested, to wit, $50,000, could not well be provided in the present condition of the finances of the city. On the other hand, they have reason to believe that the Board of Metropolitan Park Commissioners propose to recommend to the coming General Court the passage of a law outlining special financial arrange- ments to enable cities or towns desiring so to do to secure parks and play grounds. Should this become a law, it would be practical for Quincy to act at once without involving any con- siderable addition to its annual tax levy. The foregoing recom- mendation of the Commissioners is made, therefore, contingent upon the passage by the General Court of such a law.
Coming to the next matter above referred to, that of boule- vards and coast roads, the Commissioners herewith submit a plan for the laying out and future development of the entire bay front of Quincy, from the Neponset through Atlantic, along the Squantum shore, through the Norfolk Downs, the Soldiers' Home and the Mount Wollaston Farms to Houghs Neck, and thence, by way of Germantown to Quincy Point. This scheme, as will be seen, is comprehensive in character, and, if adopted, cannot fail, in process of time, to add very considerably to the value, as well as the attractiveness, of. the entire shore front of Quincy. All that is now recommended is that the plan should
127
be adopted, so that future streets and buildings shall be laid out or constructed in subordination to it. It involves, also, the establishment of grade lines with a view to future systems of water supply and sewerage.
Should this plan be adopted, and future developments made in strict accordance with it, working always upon a system and in subordination to plan, the results to Quincy will be of a most important character ; for it must be looked at in connection with the general scheme of development included in the forthcoming report and recommendations of the Board of Metropolitan Park Commissioners, and of which it will in fact be a part. Should the whole general plan be carried out it will in time result in a system of boulevards, or coast roads, along the shore of Boston Bay which must always be a favorite popular resort in summer, and upon which residences will gradually be built; ultimately making the entire coast line of Boston Bay a public reservation of the most attractive and beneficial character.
This plan, both as a whole and in the part specially pertain- ing to Quincy, is deserving of most careful consideration, espec- ially in view of the fact that its adoption only is now necessary. Should it be adopted its advantage to the future city of Quincy is apparent. That process of development which is now going on regardless of plan and at a great sacrifice of natural advan- tages, as well as beauty, would then be done systematically, and working to a given ultimate result.
Especially do the Commissioners wish to emphasize the fact that, while the adoption of the plan involves no imme- diate appropriation of money, the scheme itself cannot wait. The development process has been going on regardless of plan; it now is going on regardless of plan; and, if no well-considered scheme of improvement is adopted, it will inevitably continue so to do. It might, on the contrary, quite as well go on systematically and in subordination to plan. It would cost no more. The injury already done, where not irreparable, can be made good only at a large expense, the whole of which might by a little foresight have been saved ; . the future can be provided for at no expense at all. But action cannot safely be deferred.
128
The Commissioners refer to the report of Mr. Eliot and the maps and plans prepared by Mr. Whitman, accompanying this report, and also to the draught of a proposed act estab- lishing a grade line.
CHARLES F. ADAMS, CHARLES H. PORTER, Park Commissioners. WILLIAM B. RICE.
MR. ELIOT'S REPORT.
HON. CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, CHAIRMAN QUINCY PARK COMMISSION.
MY DEAR SIR :- In accordance with your request I have personally inspected the shores of Quincy Bay from Moon Island around to Nut Island, and I now beg leave to submit the follow- ing report upon the nature of this coast, together with certain recommendations as to the future development thereof.
The city of Quincy is most favorably placed. Behind her rise the rocky ridges of the Blue Hills, beside her on either hand flow the Neponset and Weymouth rivers, and at her feet is spread the Bay. The accompanying map displays the peculiar symmetry of the situation. The peninsula of Squantum, beside the mouth of the Neponset, is matched by that of Hough's Neck, beside the mouth of Weymouth river. Hangman's Island lies nearly in the middle of the space embraced by the two peninsulas ; and Black's Creek, the only considerable break in the shore line of the Bay, again lies near the middle both of the Bay's curve and of the city. Just here too there appears another fortunate feature in the geography of Quincy, namely, the deep valley of Furnace Brook, a stream which seems to have been made to flow where it is on purpose to provide the inhabi- tants of the interior region of West Quincy and East Milton with an easy and beautiful route to the central portion of the Bay shore. The existing Adams street follows first one side and then the other side of this valley, by a route which involves
129
many ascents and descents ; but when the city shall have taken possession of the bottom of the valley, as it should for sanitary reasons (if for no other ), it will then be possible to lay out a road which by following the stream will avoid all ups and downs, and by which Black's Creek and the Bay will be reached very pleasantly and easily. Streams like Furnace Brook are awkward things in cities. They cannot be done away with, because their channels are the only ways by which storm waters can escape. They cannot safely be allowed to be walled up and arched over by private abuttors; as was proved a few years since when Stony Brook in Boston burst its bonds and flooded a densely populated district, causing a large loss of property and putting Boston to the expense of enlarging and rebuilding the whole length of the channel. They can be made and kept surely safe and clean, only where they are owned by the public ; and, where they are so owned, a drive along one or both sides of the stream naturally comes in time. Private enterprise, desirous of reaping high prices for building land situated on the slopes of brook valleys, has adopted this sensible treatment in several instances, and the city of Newton is just now carrying out a work of this kind along her Cheese-cake Brook. It seems to me very evident that Quincy should at least possess herself of this valley before it becomes more thickly inhabited.
Descending now this valley of approach, the tide is met at the old dam of Black's Creek about half a mile from the open Bay. Here there is a charming view down the Creek, compris- ing a distant glimpse of the Bay, with perhaps a sail or two, the winding Creek itself and its accompanying salt meadows, two or three boats moored in the Creek, and for a frame a varied bank of oaks, pines and cedars on either hand. There is no better composed landscape in all the neighborhood of Boston ; and certainly there is none prettier.
Should not the city of Quincy own and control this bit of scenery, lying as it does on the way to the Bay ? The northern and western bank of the Creek for half the distance from Han- cock street to the Bay is, indeed, already in the possession of the city, being a part of Merrymount Park; but the two knolls or islands of oak woods which lie seaward from the park and
130
make part of its scenery are still in private hands, as is all the southern and eastern shore of the Creek. To defend the outlook from the existing Park and at the same time to preserve the beautiful picture of Black's Creek it will be advisable for the city to acquire by gift or purchase the land between the stream and entrance. to the Mt. Wollaston estate, and from this point seaward a strip along the wooded bluff averaging three hundred in width. Butler road continued to the Mt. Wollaston entrance would thus become the boundary of the Park, and a similar road might ultimately become the boundary along the Mt. Wollaston bluffs. Houses fronting on the reservation would naturally follow the opening of such bounding roads, and in this way a consummation most advantageous to all concerned would be reached. Black's Creek would be preserved to delight the people of the future, the outlook from the knolls of Merrymount would be saved from threatened disfigurement, and real estate along the new park border would be greatly increased in value and attractiveness.
On the opposite or northern side of Merrymount Park the situation is much the same. Here the northern arm of Black's Creek, with its accompanying salt marsh, penetrates the main- land almost up to Fenno street. If the city does not acquire this marsh and a strip of the upland beyond it, the view from the northern slopes of Merrymount Park will become in time greatly disfigured by the backs and back-yards of buildings on the upland, if not by even more objectionable structures or industries established upon the marsh itself. Conversely, if the marsh and its border is thrown into the reservation, disfigure- ment will be prevented, and the abutting real estate will be given such a value as will ensure its respectable occupation. Nothing need here be added as to the oak knolls which lie towards the mouth of the Creek. They appear prominently in every view from either bank of the stream and their permanent conservation is obviously essential to the completion of the Park. The marsh behind the knolls would also be just as essential as the other marshes already mentioned did it not belong to a permanent institution, the National Sailors' Home, whose managers are not likely to devote it to any but agree-
131
able purposes. The burying ground of the pensioners lies on a knoll at the edge of the marsh, and it does not seem neces- sary that public ownership should be carried further inland at this point.
Coming now to the flaring mouth of Black's Creek and the shore of the open bay, the little bluff of Rufe's Hummock on the one side or the greater Gunning-Stand bluff on the other, com- mand the situation, and offer fine views across the water to the rounded hills of the distant islands of Boston Bay, with glimpses of the open sea between the islands. To right and left are seen the extended arms of Hough's Neck and of Squantum, embracing between them Quincy's own bay of open water, two and a half miles wide from cape to cape, and two miles deep. The shore in both directions is seen to be composed of dwarf bluffs of gravel alternating with low sea wall beaches, behind which lie salt marshes sometimes threaded by little creeks. This is not "a stern and rock-bound coast," neither is it in any way impressive or grand, and yet every careful student of the circumstances is quickly brought to the conclusion that for the growing city of Quincy not to possess and control this shore would be foolishness
of the most flagrant sort. The members of the Commission I am addressing are fully alive to the facts of the situation, and they can undoubtedly soon bring the main body of the population to perceive and to act for its self interest in this matter. This is one of those cases in which our American communities are free to work their own good will. " Enlightened self-interest " should very soon here work a beneficent result.
As for the owners of the shore front, they will undoubtedly be quick to see what is for their interest in the matter. Private ownership of the shore in small lots means that only the front lots will command special prices. Public ownership means that every house lot for a mile back will possess an enhanced value, Public ownership will also tend to insure the water front from encroachment by the sea, and from occupation by value depress- ing trades.
Now when public ownership of the shore is decreed, what considerations should govern the placing of the line which shall thenceforth divide private from public property ? My answer to
132
this question is recorded upon the accompanying map, but it had better perhaps be outlined in words here. Although the work will not need to be undertaken for many years, it will doubtless be ultimately desirable that the public should possess a driveway along the shore. It follows that the boundary of the public do- main should be so placed as to allow of the easy construction of such a driveway, and its easy connection with the streets of the city. The map is the result of my traversing of the shore with this idea in mind. Beginning at Black's Creek and going north towards Squantum, I believe that the Park Commissioners should acquire possession of all that lies seaward from the brink of the several little bluffs of the shore. This mean's that the Board would generally control the slopes of the bluffs, as well as the beaches and the flats, and that the shore drive would ultimately find its place along the bases of the bluffs at the water's edge. I do not advise continuing the public reservation beyond Moswetus- set on Sachem's Hummock, because the existing road from there to Moon Island affords a pleasant drive, and because there is good hope that this portion of the circuit of Quincy Bay may be obtained for the public by the proposed Metropolitan Parks Commission, which will be interested in opening this route to Moon Island for the benefit of the people of Dorchester, Milton and Hyde Park.
Beginning again at Black's Creek and going towards the Great Hill, the bluffs are for some distance so continuous and so even that enough space for the future shore drive should here be acquired on their summits, where the reservation and the houses which will some day front upon it, will command fine views of the bay, the islands and the Broad Sound towards Nahant. Passing the Shell Place, Post Island and Whale Landing, the existing Manet Ave., widened somewhat on its inward side, should be taken into the reservation up to the point where it turns inland, and from this point to the cove at the foot of the Great Hill, I propose that only the slopes of the bank should be acquired, and that the future drive should follow the base of the bluffs. A circuit of the Great Hill itself, including the lowest of the Land Company's plotted roads, with possibly Nut Island, would then complete Quincy's
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