USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Melrose > Melrose, Massachusetts, 1900-1950; commemorating the one hundredth anniversary of the founding of the town of Melrose and the fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the city of Melrose > Part 3
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PARK
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PINE BANKS PARK
The old shore line was established in 1662 when a dam was built for a sawmill, later changed to a gristmill, and even after the mill was abandoned the dam remained until removed in 1862.
On Armistice Day, November 11, 1921, the area to the north of Ell Pond was dedicated as a Memorial Park, the American Legion planted trees and dedicated a flag pole. On June 6, 1927, a new bath house was opened, with Victor Gabriel in charge. In 1929 a large area bordering on the Lynn Fells Parkway and along the western side of the bath house was filled in as a part of the mosquito suppression work, the Park Commission cooperating with the Board of Health. The Tremont Street area was also cleared of brush and seeded. The total area of the Ell Pond Park is now 34.41 acres, of which the pond covers thirty acres.
A life-saving boat with its equipment was presented to the City on May 28, 1941, by the American Legion Auxiliary, for use on Ell Pond. Mrs. Cora Trickey made the presentation to Mayor Robert A. Perkins, who turned the key over to John Davis, Chairman of the Park Commission. The event was the result of a year's work by the community chairman, Mrs. Madeline Knight, following an idea of Mrs. Trickey, who had witnessed a drown- ing accident at the spot a few years earlier.
Swain's Pond originally had a sawmill at the outlet. In 1949 a small bathing beach was made at the southwest corner for the use of the children in Ward 7. Bennett's Pond has been drained, Long Pond has not been developed, Towners Pond is privately owned, and the water of Stillman's and Alfred Swain's Ponds are used for the Mount Hood golf course. Dix's Pond, long an eye- sore from the trash dumped there, was closed for dumping pur- poses, and by 1902 had practically disappeared. The surface was later paved, and is now a parking lot back of the City Hall.
Mount Hood, once known as Bear Hill, situated in the south- eastern part of the City near the Saugus line, got its name from Wendell P. Hood who had a small house and farm there in 1885. In 1907 it was purchased by John C. F. Slayton who built a road to the summit and an observation tower, later destroyed by fire. The site was originally a signal station of the Wampanoag Indians, whose fires could be seen as far as Mount Wachusett.
To the twenty-five acres given the City by Mr. Slayton an additional two hundred ten acres was added by purchase, and its development was begun in 1931 upon the suggestion of George W. Rogers, the first Superintendent of Parks, who suggested that the unemployed of the depression period be given employment
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there. Some three hundred men were employed in 1933 and five hundred in 1934.
The Slayton Memorial Tower, to replace the one previously burned, was built of stone and dedicated September 16, 1934, with Victor A. Friend presiding, Mayor Robert A. Perkins and Alderman Walter A. Bruce speaking. Commander Charles L. Robinson of the G. A. R. was in charge of the flag raising.
The Mount Hood Golf Course covering one hundred acres was officially opened April 26, 1936, with Joseph R. Hebble- thwaite of the Park Commission presiding.
The recreation building and clubhouse, in which the Park Commission maintains its offices, was opened in June 1937 with an address by Elmer O. Goodridge representing the Park Com- mission and Arthur M. Goggin as master of ceremonies.
In 1909 the Board of Aldermen accepted Chapter 48 of the General Laws and created a new Park Commission of five mem- bers, who took office in 1910 with Clarence Fernald as chairman. In 1949 Harold W. Poole was chairman of the Melrose Park Com- mission, and Francis J. Meehan, assistant superintendent, with Miss Mildred Glines as secretary.
The Park Commission maintains seven playgrounds, Ath- letic Field, Common, Hesseltine, Lincoln, Messengers Meadow, Lebanon and Gooch, with a total area of 23.47 acres; and sixteen park areas: Ell Pond, Bowden, Horace Mann, Mount Hood, Sewall Woods, Thomas Lynde, Thompson, Bishop Square, Lloyd, Boylen, Elm Street, Chestnut Street, Colby Street, Vaughan Square and the South Cedar and Poplar Street triangles, to a total area of 281.71 acres, of which Mount Hood covers two hundred thirty-five acres, including the golf course.
In addition to maintenance of the parking and playground areas, the Park Commission has done a considerable amount of work in administering a recreational program covering bathing, supervised play, pet shows, baseball games, an annual doll car- riage and costume parade, a Hallowe'en celebration followed by a vaudeville entertainment, Fourth of July celebration, handi- craft lessons, field days, a casting class for fishermen, a free ski school at Mount Hood, and a winter sports program.
In November 1948 public exercises were held in the Recrea- tion Building by the Park Commission, to unveil a bronze plaque in honor of the late George W. Rogers, Superintendent of Parks, who had done so much for the development of the Melrose Parks and their attendant activities and who died in 1948.
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On December 20, 1904, at a meeting of the Malden Aldermen, Colonel Harry E. Converse, on behalf of himself and sisters as heirs of Elizabeth S. Converse, offered the 107.5 acres of Pine Banks Park to the Cities of Malden and Melrose if they would bear the expense of upkeep. On January 31, 1905, a joint com- mittee from the two cities accepted the offer.
For forty-one years, or until his retirement in 1946, the Park was under the care of George H. Cray, who was succeeded by his son, George F. Cray, the present superintendent. With the care of a small zoological collection of birds and small mammals, includ- ing four rhesus monkeys, the annual setting out of fifteen to eight- een thousand plants from their own hothouses, the supervision of two hardball and three softball fields, a pond for swimming and skating, a youth program of movies, games, sports, picnics and parties at the Log Cabin, his days are well occupied.
After the hurricane of 1938 over five hundred trees were found uprooted and broken in the Pine Banks Park, and of these two hundred pines were sawed into twelve-foot and sixteen-foot lumber with which the cottage was repaired and a garage built, with fifty to sixty cords of firewood given to needy families in Malden and Melrose.
The Malden and Melrose Auto Tourist Camp at Pine Banks Park was formally opened for one hundred twenty-five cars on May 9, 1925, with a family from Los Angeles, California as the first guests. The Camp was so badly damaged from falling trees in the 1938 hurricane, however, that it was abandoned.
The Black and White Rocks and Cascade west of Washington Street are included in the Metropolitan Park area, and are not under the Melrose Park Commission.
Boston Rock, once the home of a hermit disappointed in love, who later married happily and settled in Oak Grove, is still privately owned. The proposal of the Hugh Nawn Construction Company to establish a stone crusher and store dynamite at Boston Rock brought a mass meeting in Memorial Hall on December 2, 1913, to protest the plan as ruining the approach to Wyoming Cemetery, and an arrangement to withdraw the proposal was made.
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SPOT POND
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE WATER
Spot Pond, which is partly in Stoneham and partly in Med- ford in the Middlesex Fells Reservation, was first mentioned in the journal of Governor John Winthrop in 1632, when he and some friends came upon it on February 7 of that year and named it "Spots Pond" for the rocky islets that spotted its surface. Although known for the purity of its water, nothing was done to secure control of the supply until 1867 when it was incorpo- rated as the Spot Pond Water Company by residents of Melrose, Medford and Malden. In 1869 the franchise was purchased by the towns named and a committee was named to purchase and con- tract for water works within a year at a cost of $60,000. Action was delayed, and Malden laid a 16-inch main at its own expense, but a third of the cost was later paid by Melrose, and in 1870 the work at the pond and on the main became jointly owned. By March 1871 about thirteen miles of six-inch and four-inch water pipe had been laid.
As increased use and occasional drought threatened the sup- ply, a 16-inch pump was installed in 1881. Danger of a water famine becoming more acute, a general and thorough investiga- tion was made and in June 1885 a number of expert reports were referred to the firm of Croft and Forbes for opinion and advice. A high service reservoir, increased pumping facilities, direct con- nection with Malden and metered mains were recommended, and by the end of the year land for a reservoir on Fairmount Hill had been purchased and a pumping station installed. The following year the work was completed and water let onto the system Sep- tember 2, 1886. The capacity of the new reservoir was 1,500,000 gallons, and the elevation ninety-four feet above the rollway of Spot Pond. A contract was then made whereby Melrose took pos- session of all mains in Melrose formerly in joint possession, and Malden was paid $9,000.
About this time it was realized that to avoid pollution the property adjoining the Pond should be acquired. Twenty thousand dollars was appropriated and fifty-seven lots of land acquired. Application was also made to the General Court for relinquish- ments of all Commonwealth rights to Melrose, Medford and Malden.
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Consumption and waste both proving excessive, a joint meet- ing was held to discuss the question of increasing supply, and numerous wells were drilled, but as Malden and Medford began to use less water from Spot Pond, the supply increased, and in 1897 a new 14-inch main was laid on Main Street.
On January 1, 1898, following an Act of the General Court, the control of the Spot Pond water supply passed to the hands of the Water Board of the Metropolitan District Commission and out of the hands of the Malden, Melrose and Medford Water Boards.
In 1898 work was begun on a new reservoir south of Spot Pond, and was finished in 1900, holding 41,400 gallons. The same year Melrose became a city, and the water supply became the responsibility of the Mayor and Engineer of the Public Works Department.
In 1901 the State through the Metropolitan District Com- mission expended $541,474.36 in draining, cleaning, excavating and enlarging Spot Pond, and in removing the peat to the gravel bottom. Doleful Pond and Dark Hollow Pond were also drained by open ditch and pipe line directly into Spot Pond Brook, thus diverting from Spot Pond a large amount of swamp water that formerly drained into it.
The question of meters had long been discussed, but as the Metropolitan Water Tax was based on population and property values rather than on the water used, little had been done about it. In 1904 an Act was passed providing that assessments for water should be based on consumption, but as the cost was great, the matter was further delayed. But in 1907 a second Act relative to the installation of water meters was passed, and in addition to the 1,059 meters already installed, an additional 2,461 were added in 1908, including practically every occupied house. An immedi- ate reduction in the amount of water used was noticeable, the one hundred eighteen gallons per capita in 1907 falling to eighty- nine gallons in 1908 and to sixty-three gallons by 1911.
Following this work the Water Department has been chiefly concerned with leaks, waste and repairs. In 1921 there were 45.5 miles of cast-iron pipe, 10.5 miles of cement-lined pipe, 383 hy- drants, 5,000 meters installed. In 1947 the length of water mains was 73.36 miles, 6,431 meters were in service, and 499 city hydrants.
In 1921 a fishy taste in Spot Pond water developed from an excess of uroglenopsis, and many householders, as well as nurses from the Hospital, had to obtain drinking water from Crystal
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Spring. The Pond water had to be treated with ammonium chloride as ice prevented the use of copper sulfate, but the trouble was temporary and ascribed to a previous drought.
On July 8, 1939, the Metropolitan District Commission an- nounced the spending of $150,000 on the enlargement of one of the Spot Pond reservoirs, and the laying of a 60-inch pipe from the southern gate house of the Bear Hill reservoir, by-passing Spot Pond, so that in the event Spot Pond water became unpalat- able water could be drawn from the Wachusett reservoir in Clinton.
In 1901 James W. Riley, who had been Superintendent of the Melrose Water Department since 1889, died, and his assistant, James McTiernan, was appointed in his place. In that year the system had twenty-three miles of cast-iron pipe and twenty-four miles of cement pipe. Mr. McTiernan died in 1937 and was fol- lowed by Dennis Murphy until 1942, when Harry Martin took his place and is the present superintendent, with Walter L. Olson as assistant superintendent.
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ELL POND
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CHAPTER EIGHT
THE DRAINAGE
When Melrose became a city in 1900, a department of public works was established with an engineer and superintendent in charge. The major task of the new department was the solution of the drainage problem which had existed for many years, and on March 5, 1900, the Engineer was instructed to submit a report on the subject.
Back in 1634 Thomas Coytmore built a dam in Malden which forced the waters of Spot Pond, Shilly Shally and Ell Pond Brooks back over the land area of Melrose. In 1662 Samuel Howard built a dam at the outlet of Ell Pond that caused an overflow to Albion Street on the north, across Main Street on the east, and on the area between Vinton Street and Brunswick Park on the west. In 1700 Timothy Sprague built a dam at the outlet of Spot Pond which conserved the water supply but flooded land to the north.
This large area of swamp and sodden land was considered a menace to public health, and in 1857 a committee was appointed to seek relief, but little was actually accomplished until the Dyer dam in Malden was removed March 31, 1871. Legal claims then arose from the Dyer estate, who were then owners of the dam, with numerous trials, which were not settled until 1877. During the discussion Daniel W. Gooch rose to declare that "God Almighty owns that water," to which Artemis Barrett replied, "But David Dyer has a mortgage on it," as was proved when Malden, Melrose and Medford had to pay damages of $60,000 for removing the dam.
In the meantime the dam at Ell Pond had been removed in 1862, and later, in 1907, the damming rights at Bennett's Pond, used for ice harvesting, had been purchased by the City for $10,000, the dam removed, and the groundwater of a large area lowered. The pond disappeared but Bennett's Brook remains.
The Melrose area is drained eastward into the Saugus River, to the southeast into Chelsea Creek, and to the south into Malden River. The run-off is rapid, and the lower levels easily flooded, with poor drainage in area near the Malden line.
The City of Melrose enlarged and straightened Ell Pond and Spot Pond Brooks to the Malden line, but Malden having suffered a flooding in 1886 which resulted in a narrowing of culverts and
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conduits to prevent a recurrence, Melrose continued to suffer as a holding basin, with a loss of some sixty-five acres of available land for development, Malden claiming that it was Melrose's problem.
On February 15, 1900 the Mayor of Malden asked the Mayor of Melrose for a conference on the subject, which was held in the City Hall in Malden on February 22. Nothing resulted until 1902 when the Legislature authorized and instructed the Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Board to submit a report on the subject be- fore January 15, 1903. This was published under date of January 14, 1903, House Document No. 1087, and submitted plans which would have cost $268,000 to execute, Melrose's share being $133,000. As a result nothing was done.
Quite apart from the drainage of Spot Pond Brook, surface drainage in other parts of Melrose had become a problem, and the report submitted by the City Engineer, W. Dabney Hunter, covered a drainage plan, exclusive of Spot Pond Brook, to cost $334,610. The report was adopted and work began on July 9, 1901.
On January 10, 1914, a report from the Commissioners appointed by the Legislature to study the control of flooding from the Spot Pond Brook was submitted, but it only stated that more expert testimony was necessary.
The Melrose Planning Board of 1930, Mrs. Eva G. Osgood as chairman, made a study of the problem, and a special committee was appointed, with Joseph Milano as chairman. A bill was sub- mitted to the Legislature to force Malden to relieve the pressure within two years, but was lost in committee.
Since that time work on the Spot Pond reservoirs has lessened the problem somewhat, but while there has been no acute con- troversy in recent years, the basic problem still remains. A large conduit down Dartmouth Street to tidewater in Malden River would remove the trouble, but this would require State funds to accomplish.
Following the passage of the Act by the Massachusetts Legislature on June 7, 1889 providing for the building of a sewer- age system for the Mystic and Charles River Valleys, the Sewer Commission began building a trunk sewer, and on April 25, 1892, the Melrose Town Meeting voted that a committee be appointed to study the inclusion of Melrose in the system. This was done, work was begun on May 14, 1894, and continued through the following years. In 1900 the system included 33.94 miles of com- pleted sewers. In 1947 there were 61.41 miles of sewer in Melrose,
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including 2.40 miles controlled by the Commonwealth of Massa- chusetts, but used by the City.
A. J. Waghorn was Superintendent of the Drainage Depart- ment for forty-one years until October 26, 1937, when he was followed by the present Superintendent, S. Hale Harding.
A pumping station on Upham Street at the Saugus line was installed in 1949 to lift sewerage over the hump to Ardsmoor Road where it resumes a gravity fall.
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PUBLIC LIBRARY, WEST EMERSON STREET
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CHAPTER NINE
THE LIBRARY
In 1900 the Melrose Public Library occupied rooms in the Young Men's Christian Association Building on Main Street, where it had been located since 1895. Miss Carrie M. Worthen was librarian, and had been since 1873. Miss Mary Ella Dix was her assistant. Elbridge H. Goss was chairman of the Trustees. There were 12,836 volumes and the annual budget was $2,800.
Previously the Library had been located in the Town Hall, and before 1874 in a room in the Waverley Block on Essex Street, where it began in 1871 with a nucleus of one hundred twenty-five volumes presented by the Franklin Fraternity.
The Library was fast outgrowing its accommodations, and the hope had been expressed that some wealthy citizen, or the City, would make provision for a Library building. But about this time Andrew Carnegie was making donations toward the building of public library buildings and Mayor John Larrabee wrote to him on the subject. As a result the Mayor was able to announce in his second inaugural address on January 6, 1902, that Mr. Carnegie had agreed to contribute $25,000 for a Library building if the City of Melrose would agree to contribute not less than $2,500 annually to its support. A meeting of the Board of Aldermen was held the same day and a committee appointed to gratefully acknowledge the gift and make such recommendations toward building the Library as might be necessary.
At a later meeting of the Aldermen on February 11, 1902, it was voted to erect the building on the lot previously occupied by the High School building, burned in 1897, at the corner of West Emerson Street and Lake Avenue, as being in a quiet neighbor- hood and easily accessible from the residential center of Melrose. At the next meeting of the Board this action was vetoed by the Mayor on the ground that the matter should be brought before a public meeting. This was done on March 18, in the City Hall, and although the question was discussed at length, the location men- tioned was approved by a large vote, and this was confirmed at a meeting of the Aldermen on March 27. A building committee was then appointed, and plans called for.
Sixteen architects submitted plans, which were hung upon the walls of the Mayor's office for inspection. At a meeting of the
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committee held December 2, 1902, the plan of Penn Varney of Lynn, Massachusetts, was accepted. Bids on construction were then called for and that of George M. Tufts of Melrose for $27,110 was accepted. Then as soon as the weather permitted, building was begun, February 20, 1903.
The cornerstone was laid on April 20, 1903, with a large number of citizens present. Mayor Sidney H. Buttrick was in charge of the ceremony and made an address, together with Ex-Mayor Larrabee and the Chairman of the Trustees of the Public Library, Charles C. Barry.
Building proceeded rapidly, but the installation of steel stacks for the books and the addition of new furniture delayed the dedication until April 15, 1904. A large number of persons were present, and addresses were made by Mayor Buttrick, John Larrabee, Charles C. Barry, and Hon. John L. Bates, Governor of Massachusetts; with the principal address being given by Mrs. Mary A. Livermore.
As certain improvements whose cost exceeded the sum given by Mr. Carnegie were found advisable, an appeal was made to the public and an additional sum raised, bringing the total cost of the Library up to nearly $32,000. The total valuation of the prop- erty as fixed by the Library Trustees included land $15,000, build- ing, furniture and fixtures, $38,300 and books $15,000, or a total of $68,300.
Miss Worthen continued as librarian until 1920 when she resigned because of poor health and Miss Elsie M. Hatch, who had been assistant librarian since 1912, was elected librarian in January 1921 and remained as such until April 1, 1945, when she retired, and died September 11, 1945. Under her guidance the Library branches had been developed, the historical, genealogical and art rooms established, a mezzanine floor and additional stacks added. In 1908 she began a card catalog system and in 1912 installed the Dewey Decimal System of library classification. In 1919 a police officer had to be present in the evenings to stop complaints of disorderly conduct by the young people, and in her annual report for 1923 Miss Hatch complained of the practice of stealing and mutilating books, a difficulty not yet completely eradicated. In October 1925 the Library was opened for use in the morning, after ten o'clock. During World War I, the upper floor was given over to the Red Cross.
In April 1904 the Melrose Woman's Club voted to present to the Library a collection of Art and Literature to be named the
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Mary A. Livermore Library of Sacred Art. Four hundred dollars was given from the treasury and a committee appointed to raise the sum of one thousand dollars. In February 1909 the fund was completed. The nucleus of the collection was the purchase of one hundred books and twenty-five hundred photographs, many of them secured in Europe. The Livermore Room at the Library contains these collections, which are still growing.
From April 1 to July 31, 1945, the assistant librarian, Miss Barbara Mason, was in charge, and on August 1, 1945, Miss Helen Anderson took charge as librarian, having been elected by the Trustees from a number of applicants.
Miss Anderson, a native of Ware, Massachusetts, had worked in the City Library in Springfield, then in the public library at Ann Arbor, Michigan, and also in the library of the University of Michigan where she received her A.B. and M.A. degrees in library science. Following this she was in charge of the public library in Wausau, Wisconsin for four years, and then in charge of the Forest Park Branch of the City Library of Springfield for two years before coming to Melrose.
Under Miss Anderson's care the Library has continued its development. Fluorescent lighting was installed in the circula- tion and reading rooms in 1948. New lounge furniture has been put in the reading room, and the children's room moved down- stairs, the room they used on the main floor being given to the High School students who were crowding the reading room. The size of identification cards has been reduced, needed painting has been done, and some stacks added.
For many years the younger children have been the subject of special interest to the Library. Story telling for the children on Saturday afternoons began in 1921 with Mrs. Eldridge, Mrs. Smith, Miss Wicker, Miss Emery, Miss Hamburger and Mrs. Scott as story tellers. The Children's Room was opened October 30, 1904, with Miss Leila Allen in charge. In December 1937 Mrs. Caro Nims took charge, and has developed further interest by visiting some eighty classrooms in the public schools and explain- ing the use of the Library to the children.
Clearing out the basement room, with a separate entrance, fluorescent lighting and furniture suitable for children has greatly relieved the crowding on the main floor, and also furnishes a room more in keeping with the children's needs.
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