USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Marlborough > Marlborough tercentenary celebration : historical souvenir and official program, June 10-19, 1960 > Part 3
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Robert C. Morse
John G. Allen
William H. Downey
Albert E. LeMarbre
Arthur H. Bastien
Frederick E. Claflin
Roland S. ResRochers
Walter E. Concannon
Edward F. Bigelow
EMPLOYEES
Charles H. Hibbert
Lynda R. Cowell
Philip F. Toohey
William I. French
Frances C. LaCroix Elizabeth Ledoux Shirley Pitushe
Regina A. Kelley Doris Wellen Ethel M. Beals
Mary Jane Coomer
Evelyn M. Cole
Eleanor Martindale
Meryl L. Langbort Helen Bradley
Frances W. Granitsas Maureen F. Harpin Mary Kelly
Bert B. Stanley
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These two churches, Unitarian and Congregational, the West Parish and the East Parish, are the descendants of the original single-parish Puritan Church which had been in existence nearly 150 years, and each church can trace its ancestry back, not by its buildings, but by a succession of ministers for more than 300 years.
On October 14, 1740, the Rev. George Whitefield from England made his appearance in Marlboro. He had been "on tour" from Georgia to Boston preaching his new gospel to crowds in the larger cities and get- ting contributions for his favorite orphanage charity in England. He was a gifted spell-binder and his ability to move his listeners to tears or frenzy may have warped his sense of perspective, so he decided that even Puri- tan Massachusetts should be saved through his personal influence with the Lord of Hosts. Returning toward the southern colonies along the Post Road route after visit- ing Boston, he stopped to give the people of Marlboro the benefit of his eloquence, but was denied the use of the Meeting House, so preached anyhow on the Com- mon, yet effected no miracles of redemption as far as the local listeners were concerned. The Marlboro peo- ple remained stubbornly Puritan.
The music in the early churches consisted mainly of the singing of hymns by the entire congregation. Later, a choir of the best singers was formed and sup- plemented by instrumental music of violins and clarinets. In the late 1700's a few Boston churches had pipe organs. Probably the first church organ in Marlboro was installed at the Unitarian Church in 1824. This in- strument was constructed in Marlboro by Aaron Howe, who lived where the Hillside School is now situated. Constant effort in trying to bring all the pipes into tune caused the poor man to become insane, and he died at the age of 37. The organ was taken by John Clisbee, who lived at the southwest corner of Lincoln and Pleas- ant Sts., opposite the Unitarian Church, and completed and installed in that church when Rev. Seth Alden was the pastor. The Clisbees, John and his son George, manufactured other church organs after this success. John Clisbee was a man willing to experiment in new ideas. In his time that part of Lincoln St. near his home (which is still standing) was called Mulberry St. because of the Mulberry trees he had set out in an attempt (not confined to Marlboro alone) to produce silk in this climate. A fair success was achieved but not enough to compete with the silk production of France.
In 1828 a Methodist Church Society was gathered and a brick church erected near Gleasondale in that part of Marlboro that is now Hudson; its first minister was Rev. Leonard P. Frost. This church burned in 1852 and the next year a Methodist church was erected on Church St. in Marlboro, thereby giving the name to that street, and also to Front St. that ran from East Main St. to oppo- site the front of the church. Because this building was nearer the center of the residential area that was for- merly the "East Village" the term "Methodist Village" has been long used as the popular designation of this district. In the 1890's and early 1900's this church was used as the auditorium in which many fine musical con- certs were staged, which attracted people from all over the city. These concerts were not in most instances sponsored by the Methodist Society itself, but that so- ciety was pleased to have its church edifice used to pro- mote culture. The present rector of the Methodist Church is Rev. George W. Webb.
On September 2, 1829 the Universalists dedicated a church building on Main St. at about where the New System Laundry now stands. In 1866 they built a com- pact and beautiful new church on Main street at what was then the corner of Fairmount St. In the 1870's this building was elevated to permit the construction of retail store space on the street level, and to provide by rentals, revenue for the church. The Universalists in Marlboro have since disbanded, but the building still stands considerably remodeled and enlarged as "Rise- berg's" clothing store.
In the 1850's there had been a considerable in- flux of both Irish immigrants and French speaking Cana- dians who were attracted to Marlboro because of the op- portunities to work in the shoe factories that had been established here. These new-comers were in general Roman Catholics, and it was not long before Masses were being held in private residences or in the open air, that they might have the benefits of their own re- ligion. On August 7, 1855 the Irish Catholics dedicated their first Church structure, a wooden building, on the eastern slope of Mt. Pleasant Hill, on what is now Charles St. They also bought land nearby at the top of the hill for cemetery purposes. On July 16, 1868 the cornerstone of the present Immaculate Conception Church was laid on Prospect St. The magnificent build- ing that now stands was erected and in 1869 the first Mass was said there with Fr. John A. Conlon as its first pastor. The original building did not have the spire and entrance vestibules, but these were added after a few years, the spire extending toward the heavens to a height of 175 feet. This however, toppled in the hur- ricane of Sept. 22, 1938 and was rebuilt to a much lower height. At one time a clock with dials facing south, west and north was an addition to the spire, with a bell chimes for the hours. This church is the largest in Marl- boro in number of parishioners; its present pastor is Rev. Henry J. Evers
The granite used in the construction of the Immac- ulate Conception Church was all quarried and dressed in Marlboro, the quarry being located on South Street.
In 1870 the French Catholics formed St. Mary's Parish and erected a wooden church on Broad Street. Fr. Francis Gouesse was its first pastor. This church too, suffered great damage in the hurricane of 1938, and when repaired it was faced with brick and greatly im- proved architecturally on the exterior. Rt. Rev. Alfred R. Julien is now pastor.
The Italian population in Marlboro organized St. Anne's Church about 1925, under the direction of the Franciscan Fr. Marcellinus Sergenti. At first they occu- pied a small church that had been erected in the 1880's by a French Protestant Society. On this site they later erected a beautiful small church at the corner of Lincoln and Gibbons Sts. and continued as a prosperous and growing parish. Many Italians came to Marlboro at the building of the Boston water supply reservoir here about 1900, although there were a few families in the city previous to that time. The opportunities for employ- men in the factories as well as in construction, made Marlboro attractive to them. Very Rev. Virgil Liucci, O.F.M., is its present pastor.
The Baptists in Marlboro organized as a church society in 1868 with Rev. M. R. Deming as first minister, and the first baptisms were at Lake Williams that same
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year. In 1869 the town voted to build a new town hall, and the old Town Hall building was put up for auction and purchased by the Baptist Society. The Baptists moved the building across Main St. to a site nearly op- posite Florence St. Here it was remodelled for their purposes, and also raised up to permit two retail stores on the Street level. The building as a church was named Fulton Hall for a Baptist clergyman of Boston who was of assistance in getting the Marlboro church organized. This building served for twenty years as a church until, in 1899, the edifice now the church of the First Baptist Society was dedicated, at the corner of Mechanic St. and Witherbee St., a prominent site facing east so that the building is visible the full length of Main Street. Its present Rector is Rev. Edwin H. Moyer.
The Holy Trinity Episcopal Church is on Main Street at the corner of Cotting Avenue and facing the "Union Church" Common. It was built in 1887, and Rev. George S. Pine was its first Rector, although the church society was established some years before, under the guidance of the Episcopalians of St. Mark's Church in Southboro, which church is a sort of adjunct to the famous St. Mark's School for boys in that town. The Marlboro Church is a low-roofed building of the "Brookline" resi- dential type of architecture conceived by the noted architect, H. H. Richardson, famous for Trinity Church at Copley Square in Boston. Rev. Stanley Reynolds is Rector at present.
The First Church of Christ Scientist is at the corner of West Main and Winthrop Streets and on the site of the William Arnold house that was there 160 years ago, at least, and parts of that house are incorporated in the church building. The Christian Scientists have been ac- tive in Marlboro for the past fifty years.
The Greek Orthodox Society erected Sts. Anargyroi Church at the juncture of Concord and Central Streets
in 1925 with Very Rev. Theophilos Spyropoulos as Pas- tor. It is a very pretty building of the Byzantine style of architecture finished on the exterior with white stuc- co plaster and surrounded by a masonry wall with wrought iron gates. Fifty years ago there were very few of Greek origin in Marlboro, and they were then traditionally engaged in restaurant and candystore businesses, but work in local factories has given secur- ity to an increasing number of these good citizens. Rev. Nicholas Manikas is Pastor at the present time.
The first of the Jewish people mentioned in Marl- boro was Simon Louis, who advertised his clothing busi- ness in the Marlboro Mirror in the Civil War Years of the 1860's. Since that time there have been a great number of Jews engaged in mercantile pursuits, and as owners of manufacturing establishments, as well as in medical and legal professions. About fifteen years ago those who were in permanent residence here purchased and remodeled a residence on Newton Street as a syna- gogue - Temple Emanuel. Previous to this they had travelled to Worcester or to Boston to observe the Sab- bath and seasonal Holy Days.
In 1959 the Jehovah's Witnesses dedicated a new church building - Kingdom Hall - on the Lakeside Avenue part of the Post Road, where members from Marlboro and nearby communities attend services.
Whereas from 1660 to 1806 there had been but one church in Marlboro, there are now twelve edifices dedicated to religious worship. This does not include the Evangelists, Universalists, Spiritualists, and some others who have in times past been active here, nor does it include those members of other denominations and faiths who have never been here in numbers suf- ficient to organize churches -- Lutherans, Presbyterians, Adventists, or Mohammedans, Confucians, etc. to cite a few who have lived here.
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1878
1960
THE PEOPLES NATIONAL BANK
MARLBOROUGH, MASS.
WELCOME TO MARLBOROUGH IN OUR TERCENTENNIAL YEAR
OFFICERS
Russell B. Frye, Chairman of the Board Joseph P. Lynch, President Carroll T. Daley, Vice President David C. LaFleur, Cashier Robert W. Grogan, Assistant Cashier
DIRECTORS
John A. Frye
Joseph P. Lynch
Richard S. Temple
Russell B. Frye
Carroll T. Daley
Francis J. Coughlin
Hector E. Moineau
Charles B. Healy
James Golden, Jr.
John D. O'Connell
Fred L. Williams
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Judith E. Teeter
Nancy M. Moriarty
Rose M. Bilancieri
Margaret J. Watson
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Mary V. O'Donnell
William H. Delaney
Claire M. Hamilton
John J. Irvine, Jr.
Julie A. Kaloustian
Marie A. Daoust
Roger P. Lamoureux
Cynthia E. Hastings
Mary Lou Hogan
Carl A. Labossiere
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Marlboro was caught up early in the fever for independence which eventually culminated in the Amer- ican Revolution. Being only twenty six miles from Bos- ton, the town was alive and alert to everything pertain- ing to the British oppression. When the British closed the Port of Boston, Marlboro, rankled at the loss of its best market for its country produce. When two spies, Captain Brown and Ensign D'Bernicre of the Royal Army, came to Marlboro disguised as farmers, they fooled no one. The Marlboro people quickly congre- gated to show their spirit and anger so that the spies would be sure to report back their feeling of hostility. Frightened by the obvious unfriendliness of the people they encountered, the spies sought refuge with Henry Barnes, a merchant and distiller of apple brandy, whose place of business stood where the Fire and Police sta- tion are today. They waited for darkness and then made their escape in the middle of a raging snow storm rather than risk another meeting with the townspeople.
After hostilities had started by the battle of Lex- ington and Concord on April 19, of 1775, Henry Barnes ("Tory Barnes," he was called) left Marlboro and took refuge in Boston, and in March of 1776 sailed for Hali- fax, Nova Scotia. His property at Marlboro was confis- cated, and was purchased by William Coggswell of Boston, who then operated the former Barnes store here. Coggswell's wife, Lydia, was a sister of William Dawes who rode on the night of April 18-19, 1775 to alarm "the Middlesex villages and farms", he being as- sociated with Paul Revere in this dramatic episode. Later, after the war, William Dawes came to Marlboro and died here in 1798. He also operated a Trading store at Colleary Square, and lived where the Telephone Exchange Building stands.
In 1774, three companies of "Minute Men" were organized in Marlboro under Captain Cyprian Howe, William Brigham and Daniel Barnes, representing (roughly) the east, west, and central parts of the town respectively, and each, seemingly, based on a separate tavern. At the first intelligence of bloodshed at Lexing- ton and Concord as of the morning of April 19, 1775, these companies assembled and marched for the scene of action, probably to Watertown to prevent any of the English Army moving out on the Post Road. Ac- cording to the army payrolls some of these men were away but a few days and some for as long as forty days, in their original companies. They then were reorgan- ized and many served throughout the siege of Boston which was lifted March 16, 1776, and which ended British occupation in Massachusetts. The Continental Army at Boston was under command of General Arte- mas Ward of Shrewsbury, Mass. (and the son of Marl- boro parents), until July 3, 1775 when he was suc- ceeded, by order of the Continental Congress, by George Washington. On July 2nd, Washington stopped at the Williams Tavern in Marlboro, being escorted by an honor guard of prominent citizens of this and adjoin- ing towns, and he then proceeded through Marlboro along the Post Road, accompanied by a military delega- tion from the Boston battle front to Cambridge where he took over Gen. Ward's command.
During the eight years of this war a total of 375 Marlboro men were in service, amounting to 25% of the population of the town. This is remarkable as the scenes of action shifted more and more to the south as the war progressed. These men, of course, were not in service all at the same time, but when the war ended at least 75% of the male population were veterans. Fortunately, however, the casualties were small.
Marlboro's position on the Post Road brought con- tinued evidence of the war to the town. In the fall of 1775, cannon captured at Fort Ticonderoga were hauled through here under the direction of General Henry Knox, ox teams being requisitioned from the farmers all along the way to move this heavy equipment which was soon mounted in the fortifications around Boston, to counterbalance the cannon of the British navy in Bos- ton Harbor. After British General Burgoyne's army sur- rendered at Saratoga, N. Y., his captured troops, both Hessian and English, were marched to Boston and in- terned in the fall of 1777. A large part of this captured contingent encamped in Marlboro, nearing the end of their three-week's march. Two of Burgoyne's men died in Marlboro and were interred in unmarked graves just off the Post Road in the eastern part of the town. Cap- tain William Morse had left Marlboro with a company of 52 Marlboro men on Oct. 5, 1777 to join the army at Saratoga, and arrived there Oct. 17th the day Burgoyne surrendered.
The War of 1812 received little popular support in New England. Marlboro furnished no more than fiften men as its quota to strengthen the coast defenses. In the same way the War with Mexico did not please
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New Englanders who regarded it as an excuse to extend the slave-holding areas of the south, at a time when New Englanders were becoming increasingly outspoken against slavery. However, one of the causes of the Mexican War, the annexation of Texas by the United States pointed up the dramatic part some Marlboro men played in the establishment of the Texas Republic after it won its independence from Mexico in 1836.
Major Asa Brigham was born in Marlboro in 1788, the son of Lewis and Mary (Rice) Brigham. He learned the tailor's trade in Marlboro after attending District School. At the age of 21 he went to Framingham, Mass., and in 1812 went to Jaffrey, N. H. where he was a tavern keeper, but the tavern burned in 1816, leaving him in a bad financial way, and he went south to try homesteading at what is now Austin, Texas. Major Asa's father had been one of the Marlboro Minute Men of 1775 in Capt. William Brigham's Company, and was a descendant of Thomas Brigham whose widow, Mercy, had married Edmond Rice, one of the original settlers of Marlboro.
When the American settlers in Texas revolted against Santa Ana and his Mexican government in 1836, Asa Brigham served as commissary to the Texan Army, and when, after some bloody battles, Santa Ana's army was defeated, Asa Brigham was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence that made Texas an independent republic. Elections were held for officers of the Republic, and General Sam Houston became Presi- dent, and Asa Brigham became the first Treasurer of the Republic, which office he held for several years until
his death in 1844. Asa Brigham's youngest son, Benja- min Rice Brigham, was killed at the battle of San Jacinto on his 21st birthday, October 21, 1836. Asa Brigham's sister Sukey (or Susanna) married in Marlboro in 1809 to Stephen Howe, and their son Elbridge Howe, born in 1816, went to Texas to stay with his uncle Asa Brigham, and after a short stay there returned to Marlboro. In July of 1860 Elbridge Howe sent the following letter to the Editor of the Marlboro Mirror, ---
"Sir: In your paper of some few weeks since, you mentioned that I built the first frame building erected in Austin, the Capital of Texas; you were right in saying so. When I arrived at that Place in May of 1839, there was then a log house about ten feet square, made of round logs, and occupied by Capt. Harrod, wife and children, protected by a company of rangers, the near- est house, the Hornesby's about ten miles distant; the nearest town Bastrop, about 35 miles. Building in Aus- tin under those circumstances and at that time was quite another business from building in Marlboro now (1860), with dry lumber, circular saws, jointing, plan- ing and matching-machines, and a good steam engine to drive them. In Austin 21 years ago we cut and felled the timber, hewed the large floor joists, studs, braces, etc., sawed all the covering and floor boards, made the doors and sashes of hard pine, split and shaved the shingles, and in fact took everything of the lumber kind from the tree, and worked the same by hand into a good substantial house, 18x40, two stories high; and most of the work done with the rifle within reach of the hand, for at that time the Indians and Mexicans were very troublesome. "Signed Elbridge Howe"
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INSURANCE AGENTS
BOULE INSURANCE AGENCY, INC.
WILLIAM E. CRATTY
DOWNEY INSURANCE AGENCY
A. C. FENTON INSURANCE AGENCY
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EDOUARD L. MARTEL
RUSSELL INSURANCE AGENCY
NORMAN F. WELLEN
RALPH H. WHITMAN INSURANCE AGENCY, INC. C. E. WILLIAMS INSURANCE AGENCY, INC.
Although Elbridge Howe was not so important as his uncle Asa Brigham in the founding of the Great State of Texas, yet it is evident through him that Texas was settled by the best men that the north could offer. He was 23 years old when at Texas and his experience there, of building a fine house all the way from the liv- ing trees to finished building, stood him in good stead. At Marlbro he became one of the best builders in the vicinity, served on the Board of Selectmen for twenty years, and was for ten years the president of the Marl- boro Savings Bank, and the first president of the Peo- ples National Bank. He died in 1886. Elbridge Howe was first cousin to Amory Maynard for whom the town of Maynard, Mass. was named; and, to supply Amory Maynard's woolen mills with water, Fort Meadow Reser- voir in Marlboro was made, in 1849. This reservoir area is now a beautiful residential district, and the Town of Maynard on the Assabet River is one of Marlboro's pleasantest daughter-towns.
George A. Howe, a son of Elbridge served in the Civil War, and with his father started the Howe Lumber Co. which today is operated by the Diamond Match Co. on the original site on Florence St.
Another son of Elbridge Howe was Stephen, who founded the dry goods business of Howe and Stetson, which now is the W. A. Allen Co. still in business at the original stand in the Masonic Building. Stephen served in the Civil War as a member of the 5th Mass. Reg. Band.
More spectacular though than Asa Brigham and Elbridge Howe in the early history of Marlboro was Marlboro's Sidney Sherman who was born here in 1805 and attended district school here. After working in Boston and New York mercantile establishments, he went into business in Ohio. Then in Kentucky he estab- lished a plant to make bagging material for the baling of cotton and also had a sheet lead plant. At the age of 30 he had accumulated quite a fortune, and was com- missioned a captain in the Kentucky militia. He fur- nished the equipment for his company of fifty men, and on the last day of 1835 set forth with his Kentuck- ians down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and up the Red River to join General Sam Houston to help wrest Texas from Mexican control, and soon he was placed in command of a regiment which marched to meet Gen- eral Santa Ana's Mexicans at San Jacinto Bay near Gal- veston, where on April 21, 1836 Sherman was the first to sound the famous battle-cry "Remember the Alamo". The whole Texan Army was only 800 men, but on that day they defeated the Mexicans who numbered 4,000.
Colonel Sidney Sherman led the charge of the Texan army's left wing that was the turning point of the battle, and the State of Texas has erected on the bat- tle field a lofty monument to Sherman and his men.
Sherman purchased 2,000 acres near Galveston and built a home there. He served in the Texan Con- gress, and introduced a bill for the creation of the Texan Militia to patrol the Republic's borders, and thus was the father of the "Texas Rangers", a world-famed or- ganization. Another bill created the office of Major General of all the Militia, and by election Sherman filled this office of Commander of the Texan Army, which post he held until Texas was annexed to the United States in 1845.
During the war betwen the U.S. and Mexico in 1848 and 49, Sherman was not actively engaged in
military plans, but was developing industrial projects, and in 1849 visited Boston to arrange financing for a railroad to the west which was commenced in 1850. That same year the U.S. Government paid the state of Texas ten million dollars to relinquish its claims to what is now New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma, and Sherman had an important part in carrying out this business. The railroad which he started was the nucleus of the Southern Pacific and be- cause the Civil War came before this railroad was oper- ative, the Boston investors were greatly concerned, and lost the money they had advanced.
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