USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Municipal history of Essex County in Massachusetts, Volume II > Part 6
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According to the United States census statistics, Haverhill had a population fro m1764 as follows: In 1764, estimated, 1,920; 1800, 2,730; 1820, 3,070 ; 1840, 4,336 ; 1850, 5,754; in 1860, 10,000 ; 1870, 13,092; 1880, 18,472; 1900, 37,175; 1910, 44,115; 1920, 53,884. The area of the city is 21,985 acres, or more than 34 square miles. It has 140 miles of pub- lic streets, 75 miles of private streets, 60 miles of public sewers, 116 miles of main water pipe, 91 miles of gas pipe mains, and 35 miles of street rail- way track.
In 1860 the assessed value of Haverhill was $5,450,000; today it is almost fifty million dollars.
Many years ago, Haverhill had its popular (for those times) Board of Trade, which was reorganized in May, 1901, with less than one hun- dred members. It served well its purpose, and in 1916 its name was changed to that of the Chamber of Commerce. It now has a member- ship of over one thousand. Among its accomplishments may be named these: It started the factory building project in 1902, under the corporate name of Haverhill Building Association; it brought its influence to bear on the introduction of a new street lighting system in 1913 and helped raise $10,000 for this purpose. It has worked, in season and out of sea- son, to bring about the Merrimac river waterway project, by which Haverhill will be able to load and unload large freight boats at her wharfs. The train service has been much improved by reason of the work of the Chamber of Commerce. In 1917 a traffic bureau was established. In
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brief, it may be said that this Chamber exemplifies the saying, "In Union there is strength." Among its earlier officers, after it was known as Chamber of Commerce, were these: Charles C. Chase, president; Charles H. Dole, Charles N. Kelly, vice-presidents; George A. Childs, treasurer; Daniel L. Casey, secretary. To these men is due much of the credit of properly founding this Chamber of Commerce, and such is and will ever be recognized by thoughtful business men of Haverhill. These men took up a work begun by the first Board of Trade, which was formed in 1888, and put the modern touch to many business relations of Haverhill with its city interests, as well as making friends with the great busy outside world.
The Haverhill Public Library was founded in 1873 by the Hon. E. J. M. Hale, who offered the land for the site, and $30,000 on condition that, if the city accepted the gift, a board of trustees should be appointed by the Mayor and City Council, a further sum of $30,000 should be fur- nished by friends of the movement, and the city government should pay the current expenses. This offer the city accepted, and $37,155.55 was raised by public subscription. The building was opened November 18, 1875, with Edward Capen, of Boston, as librarian. It then had 20,962 volumes, costing $18,000. The cost of the building was $50,000. Hav- erhill then had a population of 15,000. Mr. Hale made many gifts to the library in his life, and at death willed an endowment of $100,000, half for maintenance and half for new books. Other bequests were made by James E. Gale, Mrs. Caroline G. Ordway, Herbert I. Ordway, James H. Carleton, Nathaniel E. Noyes, Matilda T. Elliott, Jonathan E. Pecker and Elizabeth C. Ames. The total amount of endowment in 1918 was $157,829.72. At the date last named there were 108,000 volumes in the library, and it ranked eighth in Massachusetts among the free city libraries. This is the largest public library in New England, north of Boston, and, with the exception of Northampton, is the largest public library in the United States in cities of the size of Haverhill. About five thousand volumes are added yearly, and there are nearly three hun- dred periodicals and newspapers on file. Here one sees some rare and beautiful paintings and works of art. It has a collection of "first edi- tions" of John G. Whittier, and books about him, that are the largest and most valuable of the Whittier collections in any city. This library is of great value to the students of the public schools and Bradford Acad- emy. Indeed, it is a befitting monument to the giver, who passed from earth's noble activities in 1881.
Haverhill is now a fine type of an American city. In 1869, by a vote of 671 yeas to 141 nays, the act establishing the city of Haverhill was adopted. January 3, 1870, the first city government was instituted, with Hon. Warren R. Whittier as mayor. On November 2, 1896, Brad- ford was annexed to Haverhill by mutual consent. This had been tried on two previous dates-once in 1869 and again in 1872, but the measure
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failed of passage. In October, 1908, a new city charter, founded on the commission plan of city government, was adopted at a special election, and under such form of city government the city is still carried on suc- cessfully. While it is styled the "Commission Plan," it is not, in fact, that kind of a municipal government; although patterned thereafter, it lacks several of the important features of such city government. In 1916, a member of the Council wrote this concerning the form of govern- ment: "The governing body of the City of Haverhill, styled the 'Munici- pal Council,' is composed of a mayor and four aldermen elected at large and without political designations, for terms of two years. In theory, at least, it is supposed to be continuously on duty for the transaction of the city's business, as indicated by some of the terms of the charter, by the amounts of the salaries paid the council ($2,500 to the mayor and $1,800 to the aldermen), and by the absence of any expressed power to delegate any duties."
The following includes the present (1921) municipal officers for the city: Mayor-Parkman B. Flanders, term expires 1923. Aldermen- George W. Munsey, Jr., Albert L. Bartlett, George L. Martin, Horace M. Sargent; president of the council, George W. Munsey, Jr. School Com- mittee-Mayor Parkman B. Flanders, president; Herman E. Lewis, Otis J. Carleton, Fannie P. Kimball, Herman E. Lewis, Gertrude H. Brackett; secretary of school board and superintendent of schools, Albert L. Bar- bour. City clerk, William W. Roberts; assistant clerk, Robert H. Quim- by; auditor of accounts, Arthur E. Leach; treasurer and collector of taxes, Arthur T. Jacobs; superintendent of highways, Jesse J. Prescott ; city engineer, Louis C. Lawton; superintendent of street lights, Stephen W. Howe; city solicitor, Frederick H. Magison; city physician, Dr. Leroy T. Stockes; clerk of overseers of poor, Frank B. Morse; assessors, Fred L. Bennett (chairman), Harry P. Morse, James D. McGregor; superin- tendent of parks, Henry Frost; chief engineer of fire department, John B. Gordon.
Since 1880, the tax rate per year on a thousand dollars has been $20.90, the lowest being $15.80, in 1891, and the highest $26, in 1919. In 1919 the total number of polls in the city was 15,012; valuation of real estate and personal property, as shown by the last city report published, $49,306,937.
From an article prepared in 1919, on the Haverhill Fire Department, by Chief Engineer John B. Gordon, the following facts have been gleaned :
The first fire company here was organized on Washington's Birthday, 1768, when a fire club was formed and four wardens were chosen. In 1769 a company was formed for the purpose of securing an engine, and such an engine was bought during that year at a cost of $192. Cornelius Mansise was captain. An engine house was erected in 1783. The first fire recorded in the annals of the town was the burning in 1761 of a thatched house owned by Matthias Brittons, of Kenoza avenue. The third engine was purchased by subscription in 1819, and cost $400. Up to 1841 the fire clubs were self-governed and received no pay, save exemption
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from poll tax. It was during 1841 that a regular, legalized fire department was formed by an act signed by the governor. Ezekiel Hale was first chief elected and held office until 1845. A hook and ladder company was formed in 1860. The first "steamer" was bought in Haverhill in 1866; it was named "General Grant." The first serious fire in the shoe district occurred at three p. m. on Sunday, November 16, 1873. Estimates placed the loss at $175,000. But the great fire of Haverhill was dated February 17 and 18, 1882. Alarm was sounded at about midnight, and the storm was loud and temperature stinging cold. At two o'clock in the morning both sides of Washington street, as well as a part of Wingate and Essex streets, were in flames. Many houses over in Bradford caught fire from huge cinders flying across the river. The property loss amounted to $2,000,000, ten acres were burned over, but only one human life was sacrificed, that of a member of the fire company.
Haverhill had its first chemical engine in the seventies, and the Gamewell fire alarm system was placed in the city in 1883. There have been twenty-one fire chiefs in this city since Ezekiel Hale in 1841-45. The one appointed in 1893, John B. Gordon, was still at his post in 1919. In all that is excellent, both in men and equipment, for a fire company, Haverhill has among the best.
Happy indeed should any city be when it has an abundant supply of good, pure, clear water. In this respect Haverhill is fortunate. In 1802 there were only sixteen other communities in the United States with a water works system, and in Canada there was none. The Haver- hill Aqueduct Company was organized at a hotel, which then stood where now stands the City Hall. This was the commencement of a local water supply. In 1891 this property was taken over by the city at a cost of $720,504. The Bradford water plant became the property of Haverhill at the date of Bradford being annexed to Haverhill in 1896. The supply comes from never-failing spring lakes within a few miles' radius of Hav- erhill. A report made December, 1916, shows that the city had 117 miles of main pipe; 8,005 service taps ; 1,477 stop-gates, 461 hydrants; the daily consumption was 5,857,000 gallons, or 116 gallons to each inhabitant.
Haverhill has had many church organizations since the days of its first settlement. It has many still. Harmony has not always obtained here; even congregations of the same faith and church polity have not lived in harmony at all times; one faction has withdrawn and founded a second or sometime a third church. But as the years have come and gone, nearer a true state of harmony has come to be noticed in church life of the Protestant faith. Other histories of Haverhill and Essex county have recorded much concerning the early societies and their bit- ter strifes, hence the matter will not be gone into in detail in this His- tory. It may be well, however, to give a brief outline of some of the churches, when organized, etc., before dwelling upon developments dur- ing the last thirty years.
But first let it be said that the prominent church organizations in Haverhill have been formed as follows: The First Parish church, under Pastor Dudley Phelps, had a separation of its ninety-one members, and this was the cause of the formation of the Centre Congregational Church. As a consequence the parish has ever since been Unitarian. These struggles have also existed in the West, North and East parishes, but suf-
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fice merely to mention the fact in this connection. The Second Baptist Society was organized in the East Parish in 1821. The Riverside Con- gregational church was an offshoot from the Fourth Congregational, or old East Parish Church. The First Universalist Church was organized May 17, 1823, and built its first meeting-house in 1825, on Summer street. Several talented men have been preachers in this church. The Winter Street Congregational Church had a brilliant but short career- 1839 to 1860. The Third Baptist Church was organized in 1858, and the Free-Will Baptist was formed the same year. In 1860 the latter society purchased the meeting house of the Winter Street Congregational So- ciety, which had about that date abandoned its activities. The South Christian Church was organized April 9, 1806. In 1887 it had over one hundred members.
Concerning the Catholic churches in Haverhill, it may be stated that Mass was celebrated in September, 1850, by Rev. John T. McDon- nell. The first Catholic church building was dedicated in 1852. It was greatly enlarged in 1859.
January 22, 1888, the public were invited to attend divine worship at the following churches and places of gathering: Trinity, Episcopal ; West Parish, Congregational; First Parish, Unitarian; Mt. Washington Baptist; Fourth Congregational, (East Parish) ; Church of Christ, Grand Army Hall; Wesley Church; St. James' Catholic Church; St. Joseph French Catholic Church; Second Baptist, Rocks Village; Grace; Portland Street Church; Salvation Army; Centre Church; First Baptist; Church of St. John the Evangelist; Riverside Church; South Christian; First Spiritualist Society, Unity Hall; Advent Christian, Walnut street ; North Church; Winter Street Free Baptist; Calvary Baptist, Ashland street. Thirty-one years later, 1921, Rev. Francis W. Holden wrote on the churches of Haverhill under the head of "A Glimpse at the Religious History of Haverhill Since 1890," as follows:
For a population of over fifty thousand, Haverhill has none too many churches and not enough religious workers. Religion is too important a factor in life to be set aside for other pleasure or business, as has been the tendency during the years just past. Let the people again turn to religion and the church as a first duty, and many of the questions which now seem to be hard problems will vanish.
Religion measured by denominations during the last thirty years has undergone but little change in Haverhill. The Christian Science movement is the only form of religious expression that is in the city now that was not here thirty years ago. The denomination has two societies, one of which has a small church, the other worships in a hall. The Spiritualists, though a somewhat older movement in the city, have divided themselves into three small organizations, and hold their services of worship in halls. The latest movement along religious lines is that of the Bahai, but as yet it has not taken upon itself distinct organization. For the real strength of religious influence now, as in the past, one must know the religious his- tory of the older and well-established churches.
The oldest church in the city is the First Parish, commonly known as the Unitarian church. There are ten churches of the Congregational denomination, nine of them have ministers; one is a colored church.
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The second oldest denomination is the Baptist; this denomination has five churches, one of which is colored; all have ministers. There are also two Epis- copal churches, each having a minister. There are two Universalist churches, one of which is active and whose minister serves the second church when services are held.
The following denominations have each one church: Unitarian, Presbyterian, Advent Christian, Seventh Day Adventists, Church of Nazarenes, Disciples Christian church, International Bible Students Association, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days Saints. The above list of churches and denominations in- dicate a great variety of religious thought and feeling.
All the active Protestant churches maintain schools of religious education and have a volunteer corps of superintendents and teachers, which make in the city a strong force for religious instruction. One hour per week, however, for religious education is altogether too short a time in which to train the child in the knowledge and spirit of religion.
Besides the Protestant churches there are six Catholic churches having five ministers or priests. The Catholic churches maintain schools for religious instruc- tion. The Jewish people have two Synagogues, but one rabbi ministers to both congregations. Each of the Jewish Synagogues has connected with it a Hebrew school for religious education. It should be observed that nationalities and races, sects and denominations each administer religious thought and feeling after its own custom and ways of feeling. Now and then an individual strikes for freedom and the new thought of God and Man comes into being. Thus there is progress in religion.
The best evidence that our Protestant churches are working together for Chris- tian principles rather than denominal ends is the fact that the ministers of all de- nominations are coming together for an exchange of ideas and methods. Haver- hill has a ministers' association, which has been an active force for nearly twenty years. No denomination is excluded from this organization; and though some of the ministers do not become members, the association has placed a stamp for work- ing together along Christian lines that is a most wholesome factor in the life of the city. The allied organizations connected with the churches indicate a change in the social life of churches unknown thirty years ago. The so-called "Evangeli- cal churches" have the Y. M. C. A., the Y. W. C. A., the Christian Endeavor Socie- ties; the Liberal churches have the A. U. A., the Woman's Alliance, the Y. P. R. U., the Y. P. C. U., the Social Union, the Laymen's League. The Catholic have the K. C., and the Jews, the Young Men's Hebrew Association. Then there is the Salvation Army and the Missions that are supported by the people as a whole. All these are signs of the religion of the future. Social service is a religious demand of the age.
Something over twenty of the churches of the city have formed a church fed- eration, which is doing very creditable work. Through the federation, the people and the churches are learning that they hold more in common than they have of differences, and that it is the common things which are in reality the vital things. The fact that the churches are working together is one of the most hopeful signs of the age. The poet and hymn writer has dreamed and sung of, "One Holy Church of God." It may be that the dream and the song is to come true in a united Protestant church.
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PUBLIC LIBRARY, LAWRENCE
CHAPTER XXXVI.
THE CITY OF LAWRENCE
Lawrence, according to the last Federal census, is the second largest municipality in Essex county. This authority gives the population of Lynn as 99,148, and that of Lawrence as 94,270. This does not include any territory outside the regular incorporated city of Lawrence. Count- ing in its numerous suburbs, it doubtless contains as many as 120,000 population.
The city lies in latitude 42 degrees, 42 minutes, 13 seconds, and in longitude 71 degrees, 10 minutes, 13 seconds, west from Greenwich; has a little more than seven square miles (4,577 acres) area, of which 2,216 acres' are in the Northern District, taken from the town of Methuen; 2,- 097 acres, south of the Merrimack river, were taken from the town of Andover. The estimated water area is 264 acres. Excluding water sur- face, railway rights-of-way, public and church lands exempted, 3,102 acres remain as taxable estates. The city is well situated in a broad and open plain. The central and more thickly-settled portions are upon the rolling swell of land on the north bank of the Merrimack river, where that majestic stream curves about the great mills. To the south the plain is a wide expanse, extending westward from the Shawsheen river, somewhat rolling and broken near the western limits. The highlands west of the city known as Tower Hill, as well as the rolling ridge, Pros- pect Hill, eastward, are sites of attractive residences, having an eleva- tion of eighty to one hundred and fifty feet above the dam. The valley enclosed by these ridges is nearly two miles broad, extending to higher lands beyond the city limits.
There seems to be every evidence that the territory now occupied by the city of Lawrence was once occupied by the native American Indian. Multitudes of Indian implements have been found in various parts of the present plat. In the eighties there was in possession of Charles Wingate a large and very interesting collection of such implements, in- cluding arrow and spear heads, stone axes, gouges, pestles, some rudely and others artistically fashioned and finished by some skilful artisan in stonework.
In the western part of the city, when white men first settled there, an Indian burying ground was discovered, and a more extensive one farther up the river in Andover. It is believed that this territory was occupied in many places during the summer months, to which year by year the natives returned on account of the abundance of excellent fish and game found in these parts. Most of the stone implements and the chips made in fashioning them are of a material not found in this locality.
As to who was truly the first white settler in these parts is not (never will be) known positively, but it is claimed by some that Messrs.
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Frye and Cross were the original settlers. A tradition (not improbable) relates how that for a single roll of cloth a pioneer purchased of the un- tutored Indians their rights in all the lands he could surround in a day's travel through the forest. Commencing on the river, with his savage companions, he took a course northwestward over the highlands about Spicket Falls, thence southward along the slopes of Tower Hill to the Merrimack, and by the north bank to the point of starting ; thus compass- ing a favorite hunting ground, and including the site of a future city.
Among the earliest pioneers of South Lawrence were the Barnards, Stevenses and Poors; later came the Parkers and other families. The first-named family traced back the title of lands nearly two hundred and fifty years. To North Lawrence came as early pioneer settlers, who re- mained, the Bodwells, Swans, Sargents, Barkers, Poors and Marstens; possibly others, whose descendants do not remain. Notable among the sturdy yeomen, native residents, who had homesteads on the plain before the town was formed, were Captain Nathan Shattuck and Joseph Shat- tuck, Daniel Saunders, Ebenezer Poor, Phineas M. Gage, Benjamin Rich- ardson, Asa Towne, Nehemiah Herrick, John Tarbox, Michael Parker, Thomas Poor, Caleb Richardson, Nathan Wells, Abiel Stevens, James and Edwin Sargent, Adolphus Durant, Samuel Ames, Fairfield White, Ste- phen Huse, John Graves, James Stevens and Henry Cutler. Abiel Ste- vens and Adolphus Durant were men of character and were numbered among the first manufacturers in this section of New England.
In South Lawrence the cross-road settlement where Broadway crosses Andover street was the nearest approach to a village within what are the present city limits of Lawrence. Here stood the Essex Tav- ern, subsequently converted into a dwelling; the Shawsheen Tavern, later the Revere House; the old pioneer store, and the brick building oc- cupied by Daniel Saunders, founder of the city. The Shawsheen house was built by John Poor with bricks made at Den Rock in a brick-yard operated by the Peters family. On the Lowell road westward from this corner were the farm house of Theodore Poor, the Caleb Richardson estate, and the old dwellings erected by the pioneer settlers Barnard and Stevens. On the corner of Andover and Parker streets stood the dwell- ing of Captain Michael Parker. Parker street was named for him.
Nearly forty years ago John R. Rollins, in his annals on Lawrence and vicinity, took great pains to secure dates, names, and a general chain of facts concerning the pioneer settlement of Lawrence, and from such an article we are at liberty in this connection to quote freely, believing that no more interesting and accurate sketch can be produced of those early times than he has given:
The first dwelling houses erected after the incorporation of the Essex Com- pany were built by them on the westerly side of Broadway, one of which was occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Osgood, who for many years there and later in another part of the city kept an exceedingly good and popular boarding house.
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The first sale of land was made in April, 1846, to Samuel T. Merrill, who came from Georgetown, and on this he erected the first dwelling house in town after those built by the Essex Company; others followed rapidly. But many came with- out pecuniary means, among them many Irish laborers who must in some way be provided for-for them the Essex Company furnished a large tract on the south side of the river, near the dam, on which they might erect shanties, only on con- dition that liquors should not be sold on the premises. And the settlement thus formed with its quaint, narrow avenues and rustic division fences, was one of the most interesting spots in Lawrence, one which visiting strangers were always pleased ta see. These shanties were originally erected on the north side, but as the water was raised by the construction of the dam and the territory west of the railroad was occasionally overflowed, the occupants removed to the south side to higher and dryer ground.
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