USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1880 > Part 10
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Mrs. A. L. Rich, 47 loads at $0.12},
5 87
C. L. Heywood, 36 loads, at $0.45,
16 20
66 66 149 loads, at $0.16, 23 84
66 66 373 loads, at $0.80, 298 40
$352 81
PERMITS.
For hitching posts, 3 ; digging up streets, 128.
TREES, ETC.
Permits for setting out trees,
27
Number of trees on highways,
3,358
66
school-house grounds,
80
66
66 Central Hill, 190
Public Park, 337
66
66 set out,
79
Total number of public trees,
4,044
Number of trees cut down, 6
Whole number of yards of stone paving,
1,688
66
66 brick paving,
552
66 66
feet of edgestones set, 4,032
188
AMOUNTS CHARGED TO DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS FOR LABOR PERFORMED OR MATERIALS SUPPLIED.
Health Department,
$968 73
Fire Department,
17 50
Sidewalks,
224 80
Street watering,
25 70
Public property,
13 20
$1,249 93
BILL DELIVERED TO CITY TREASURER FOR COLLECTION.
Arthur Moland, rent of house, $65 00
Middlesex Bleachery and Dye Works, gravel,
3 60
Owen Cunningham, sand, 25 00
George W. Prichard, sand. 4 50
$98 11
CASH RECEIVED AND PAID CITY TREASURER.
R. E. Woodard, driveway construction, $6 50
George McKenna, old iron and junk, 19 34
A. E. Winship, gravel, 1 00
F. W. Slade, filling,
10 00
Cambridge Savings Bank, driveway construction,
7 00
J. C. Dyer, filling,
2 00
B. F. Thompson, gravel,
1 60
G. W. White, driveway, construction,
8 00
D. A. Sanborn, gravel, 2 00
C. M. Wood, driveway construction,
7 50
J. A. Durell,
3 00
E. A. Stone, 66
7 50
A. C. Winning, pasturage, 30 00
S. Poor, driveway construction,
6 60
George Sanborn, bricks, 50
·
Amount carried forward, $112 54
189
Amount brought forward,
$112 54
A. Fiske, ashes,
50
S. D. Warren, filling from Waltham pit, 30 00
Robert Ross & Son, sods from Waltham pit, 240 20
$383 24
The committee, in closing the duties of the year, desire to express their sincere and hearty appreciation of the services of the Superintendent of Streets and of the clerk of this committee, for the faithful, efficient, and very satisfactory manner in which they have performed their respective duties.
ASA DURGIN,
Chairman Committee on Highways.
Attest :
DOUGLAS FRAZAR, Clerk.
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
TRUSTEES OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
CITY OF SOMERVILLE.
IN BOARD OF MAYOR AND ALDERMEN, Feb. 8, 1881.
Report accepted and referred to the Committee on Printing, with in- structions to print the same in the Annual Report for 1880. Sent down for concurrence.
CHARLES E. GILMAN, Clerk.
Concurred in.
.
IN COMMON COUNCIL, Feb. 9, 1881.
DOUGLAS FRAZAR, Clerk.
PUBLIC LIBRARY.
EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT.
To the Members of the City Council :
GENTLEMEN, - The trustees of the Public Library are happy to report a prosperous year in the administration of their important trust. The interest of the community in the library is constantly increasing, and the number of books read and consulted during the last year is considerably larger than that of any previous twelve months. Indeed, the excess of books taken out in 1880 over 1870 equals the whole number taken out during the first year in which the library was in operation.
The Committee on Books and Catalogues have given a good deal of time and careful attention to the purchase of new books, with the general principle - after devoting a suitable portion of the means in their hands to meeting the demand for the best current literature - of filling up gaps in the list of well-known standard works, always useful and valuable, and in adding to the various departments their proportionate shares of such books as have seemed to the committee to have the greatest promise of general interest and permanent value. They have also welcomed, and would especially call for, lists of desired books from teachers, specialists, or general readers to assist their judgment and jog their recollection. They may not always be able to procure what one or another person may desire ; but the committee desire to meet all reasonable requests, and there can be no considerable demand for a book - not utterly trashy or positively bad - which they will not try to supply.
We think that a large portion of the community do not quite realize how valuable a collection of excellent books of permanent value is forming in our library ; nor how easy it would be to arrange courses of reading from books to be obtained in it, and compara-
13
194
tively little used, in any one of many departments of culture or research, - courses which should be comprehensive and tolerably complete. The librarians and trustees would be very glad to co- operate, to the extent of their power, in enlarging the opportunities for such investigation.
A considerable number of works has been added to the reference and consultation department ; and a regulation has been made, by which special students may be permitted, under proper restrictions, to take away such books, in their own departments, for private study. A gratifying increase of interest in using these books has been observed within the past year. It only remains to add the sorely needed space for adequate reading-rooms, to make the library enter on its destined, and we trust soon to be opened, career of recognized and distinguished usefulness, as the universal adjunct and the crown of our public educational agencies.
The number of magazines and reviews has been increased by the addition of several of the best English and home periodicals, and the trustees have hoped to make them more widely useful by pro- viding that they may be given out like other (seven-day) books, after remaining for the appointed time upon the library table .*
* We subjoin for the information of those into whose hands this report may come, the following list of newspapers, periodicals, and reviews, taken for the library, and to be found upon the table : -
American Art Review. American Naturalist. Appleton's Journal. Art Amateur.
Lippincott's Magazine. Littell's Living Age. Macmillan's Magazine. New York Nation.
Atlantic Monthly.
New York Evening Post. Nineteenth Century.
Blackwood's Magazine.
North American Review.
Boston Daily Advertiser. Boston Daily Transcript. Catholic World.
Official Gazette (donated). Popular Science Monthly.
Contemporary Review.
Princeton Review. Publisher's Weekly.
Cornhill Magazine. Godey's Lady's Book. Good Company. Harper's Monthly. Harper's Bazar.
Harper's Weekly. Harper's Our Young Folks. International Review. Library Journal.
St. Nicholas. Scientific American.
Scribner's Magazine.
Somerville Journal (donated). Tuftonian (donated).
Unitarian Review (donated).
Wide Awake.
Woman's Journal (donated ).
195
Changes have been made during the year in the hours of opening and closing the library, by which its usefulness is considerably extended, and the public convenience subserved. It is believed that the new arrangements give general satisfaction.
The trustees desire again to call the attention of the city govern- ment and of the community to the inadequate room furnished for the storage of books and the accommodation of those who frequent the library. Not only as a matter of convenience, but on grounds of health and of the public morals, we believe that the interests of the city would be subserved by attention to this suggestion ; for the habit of frequenting the company of books, which the providing of a spacious, well-ventilated, and well-lighted library would foster and promote, would prove a wholesome and saving one to many whose surroundings are, to say the best of doubtful quality and promise. May we not hope that with the revival of business prosperity among us, there will be some action taken looking to the- supply of this urgent need ?
Without expressing preference for this over other suggested or possible methods of accomplishing this end, the trustees would ask for the careful consideration of the remarks on this topic of Mayor Cummings in his late inaugural address : -
"The value offour Public Library is yearly increasing, and its use- fulness and importance as an educator and never-failing source of moral and mental improvement, as well as healthful amusement for young and old, cannot be too highly estimated. Additional accom- modations are required both for the storing of books, and the ac- commodation of the public who desire to select books or consult works of reference. I would repeat the recommendation of my pred- ecessor two years since, that an extension be made to the east end of the City Hall building, one story in height, for the temporary use of the library until such time as the city shall be in condition to erect a new building suitable to its requirements. The opportunity spoken of by my predecessor, for some public-spirited citizen to connect his name with a benefaction which shall keep him in pleasant remembrance for years to come, still remains open. Our library has never been favored with any bequest or fund outside the regular city appropriation."
196
No change has been made during the year in the librarians or other employés of the library. The librarian reports that during the year, 67,895 books have been used, 780 of these from the reference department ; 702 books have been added during the year. The following have been donated by non-residents : " Recollec- tions of an Old Pioneer"; "Records of the First Church in Charlestown, Mass."; "History of the Harvard Church, Charles- town, Mass." Three books have been lost during the year. The largest number given out on any day was 632; in any month, 8,258.
The financial statement for the year 1880 is as follows : -
Credit balance from 1879,
$38 64
Appropriation,
1,500 00
Dog licenses,
934 23
Fines,
231 92
Catalogues,
46 74
$2,751 53
Expended for salaries,
$1,262 29
" books,
732 77
66
" express,
1
20 75
66
" printing,
208 15
15 00
13 35
Balance to credit in account of 1881,
499 22
$2,751 53
Respectfully submitted,
W. G. TOUSEY,
W. VEASIE,
A. M. ROBINSON,
W. H. BRINE,
E. S. CONANT,
C. S. LINCOLN,
T. J. BUFFUM,
J. H. FLITNER,
H. H. BARBER,
Trustees.
SOMERVILLE, Jan. 25, 1881.
Sundries,
" binding,
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
OVERSEERS OF THE POOR, FOR THE
Year ending Dec. 31, 1880.
CITY OF SOMERVILLE.
-
IN BOARD OF MAYOR AND ALDERMEN, Feb. 8, 1881.
Accepted and referred to the Committee on Printing, with instructions to print the same in the Annual Report for 1880. Sent down for concur- rence.
CHARLES E. GILMAN, Clerk ..
Concurred in.
IN COMMON COUNCIL, Feb. 9, 1881.
DOUGLAS FRAZAR, Clerk.
CITY OF SOMERVILLE.
To his Honor the Mayor and the City Council :
GENTLEMEN, - The Board of the Overseers of the Poor herewith present their annual report of the receipts and expenditures of this department. We have few suggestions to make in addition to those contained in our report of last year. The calls' for aid, par- ticularly in cases of insanity, are constantly increasing with the growth of our city, and we would again urge the need of an alms- house, as in our opinion a matter of imperative necessity if we would administer the affairs of this department with economy. We therefore ask your honorable body for the appointment of a special committee to consider the subject, and take such action as may be necessary in the premises.
The secretary's report (Documents Nos. 1 and 2), and the report of the store-keeper (Document No. 3), herewith submitted, give in detail the transactions of the Board during the past year.
TABLE NO. 1.
Total number of families aided,
358
66 persons aided,
836
66 66 orders for fuel,
1,139
66 66
orders for groceries, 3,509
66
66 orders for dry goods and shoes, 508
66
orders, 5,156
Burials,
18
Total number of families chargeable to city,
163
200
Total number of families chargeable to other towns and cities, 42
Total number of families aided by city not settled, 82
Total number of families partially aided by State in- cluded in the above, 67
Total number of families aided by other towns and
cities chargeable to Somerville, 35
Whole number of families registered, 642
Number added during the year,
11
THOS. CUNNINGHAM, Secretary.
TABLE NO. 2. - RECEIPTS AND DISBURSEMENTS.
Statement of receipts and expenditures of the Overseers of the Poor for the year ending ending Dec. 31, 1880 : - Appropriation, $13,000 00
Received from other towns and cities,
2,417 66
$15,417 66
Expended as follows : -
House rents,
$746 00
Board in private families,
834 08
Groceries and provisions,
4,502 81
Burials,
278 00
Boots, shoes, dry goods, and clothing,
1,034 05
Salaries,
1,400 00
Fuel, teaming, etc.,
2,290 21
Stationery and printing,
23 25
Sundries, transportation, etc.,
283 18
Board in State and city institutions,
3,677 26
Aid to paupers in other towns and cities,
1,626 89
Food for lodgers,
7 00
16,702 73
Amount overdrawn,
$1,285 07
THOS. CUNNINGHAM, Secretary.
201
STATEMENT OF STORE-KEEPER.
Stock on hand Jan. 1, 1880,
$134 96
Goods purchased during the year,
4,405 64
$4,540 60
Goods delivered on overseers' orders
from Jan. 1, 1880, to Dec. 31, 1880, $4,747 89
Goods delivered to police station, 145 94
Goods on hand Jan. 1, 1881, 266 54
5,160 37
$619 77
ANSEL LEWIS, Store-keeper.
As short and brief reports seem to be more comprehensive than elaborate statements, we respectfully ask your acceptance of the above, hoping it may meet all you desire from this department.
Respectfully, ANSEL LEWIS, NELSON HOWE,
FRANK G. WILLIAMS,
Overseers of the Poor.
1
THIRD ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
BOARD OF HEALTH
OF THE
CITY OF SOMERVILLE,
WITH THE CITY PHYSICIAN'S REPORT
FOR THE
YEAR 1880.
CITY OF SOMERVILLE.
IN BOARD OF ALDERMEN, Feb. 9, 1881.
Referred to the Committee on Printing, with instructions to print the same in the Annual Report for 1880. Sent down for concurrence. CHARLES E. GILMAN, Clerk.
IN COMMON COUNCIL, Feb. 9, 1881.
Concurred in.
DOUGLAS FRAZAR, Clerk.
CITY OF SOMERVILLE.
OFFICE OF THE BOARD OF HEALTH, CITY HALL, SOMERVILLE, MASS., Jan. 31, 1881.
To the Honorable the Mayor and the City Council of the City of Somer- ville :
GENTLEMEN, - In accordance with law, we present the third annual report of the Board of Health, for the year 1880.
MEMBERSHIP.
Jan. 1, the members of the board were Messrs. Charles W. Sawyer, chairman ; George A. Kimball, city engineer ; and John F. Couch, M. D., city physician. Feb. 2, Mr. Sawyer's term of office expired, and he was succeeded by Major John A. Cum- mings, who was appointed for a term of two years.
ORGANIZATION.
Feb. 10, the following officers were elected :
Chairman GEORGE A. KIMBALL.
Clerk
GEORGE I. VINCENT.
Inspector WILLIAM H. BRINE, 40 Houghton Street.
NUISANCES.
The following is a tabulated statement of nuisances abated, arranged by the months when the complaints were received : -
206
NUISANCES ABATED IN THE YEAR 1880.
*January.
February.
March.
April.
May.
June.
July.
August.
September.
October.
November.
December
Total.
Cellar damp.
Cesspool defective ..
6 6
in cellar overflowing. .
overflowing
1
1
3
3
1
2
18
Connections of
waste
18
3
1
4
2
2
2
1
2
1
36
Drainage defective .
9
1
5
3
2
1
3
1
2
5
1
33
4
2
5
3
3
3
1
3
24
66
46 emptying into cellar . emptying on surfacc.
10
7
6
16
4
3
4
6
2
1
61 2 29
Drain-pipe broken and lcaking. 66
1
1
4
1
2
1
1
4
2
1
9
66
1
2
3
3
1
1
1
12 3 9
on premises.
2
1
2
2
2
1
Hennery offensive.
1
1
...
Manure exposed and offensive. .
1
6
2
2
3
4
2
1
1
Offal in cellar
1
1
66 on land . thrown into vault.
8
1
4
Offal·bucket offensive ..
1
Offensive materials cartcd thro' streets
1
1
Offensive odor in and about dwellings
1
1
1
soil-pipe
1
Sewer outlet cut off.
1
Sink defective.
1
1
2
1
4
6
Soil-pipe not connected with drain-pipe.
1
9
1
1
1
1
1
14
Soil-pipc open at top to take overflow from water-tank
2
Stable filthy ..
2
.
1
1
1
1
1
7
Stagnant water in house cellar .. 66
9 4
3
1
9
2
1
1
17
18
2
4
12
12
11
20
15
9
4
8
2
117
1
5
1
5
1
1
1
14
66
ventilated ..
2
5
1
1
3
5
17
4
4
8
1
56
Waste-pipes defective .
1
1
13
8
9
9
7
9
5
2
8
2
3
119
Water-closet defective
2
1
1
66
filthy .
1
1
3
3
1
1
1
3
1
3
1
5
66
offensive.
1
1
6
2
2
3
1
1
15
186
53
58
104
62
46
88
36
28
43
18
8
730
4
1
1
1
1
1
Filth in cellar
2
1
Goat kept in cellar
1
Hens kept in cellar
1
1
...
Horse kept under housc
1
2 1 22
10 4 1
2 1
1
1
2 13 1
6 and stable premises of- fensive ...
22
2
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
66
6 in stable cellar. 6 on surface
Vault full .
4
2
2
9
66
offensive
7
2
66
not trapped stopped up.
1
1
1
3
4
Wooden waste-pipes and drains,
4217
2
2
1
2
2
1
14
1
3
1
under house
1
1
with drain pipes defective.
2
* Including nuisances referred to us by the Board of 1879.
2 2
Icaking
not properly constructed,
2
44
insufficiently sup- plied with water,
not supplied with waicr
not trapped.
1
Opening in drain-pipc in yard .. Refrigerator connected with
Slops thrown on surface.
Soil-pipe not ventilated.
in cellar defective .. not trapped. stopped up.
13
207
Number of nuisances abated, 730 ; number referred to Board of 1881, 127 : total, 857.
Number of complaints, 456; number made without sufficient cause, 15.
Number of tenements ordered vacated, 20; number vacated in compliance with our orders, 8 ; number ordered to be vacated that have been put in proper sanitary condition, 17.
Number of notices issued through the police department and the mails, 498 ; number served by constables, 38 : total, 536.
Number of letters sent, 104.
PRIVIES. - The number of complaints of privy-vaults being full, not properly constructed, etc., has been smaller than in previous years. In all cases where it is practicable, we recommend that privies be removed and water-closets put in the houses.
During the past year 18 privies have been abandoned and water- closets put in.
ALEWIFE BROOK. - This nuisance on the westerly border of our city has increased during the year. It is caused by the contents of three main sewers (which drain an area of 864 acres), and the sewage from Niles Brothers' hog-slaughtering establishment, Muller's tan- nery and currying shop, and two other currying shops, all in the city of Cambridge, flowing into this brook and its tributaries.
Several cases of sickness have occurred in West Somerville, which have been caused, in the opinion of the attending physician, by this nuisance. Its odor, even in the coldest weather of the present winter, has been very offensive.
We complained to the mayor and aldermen of Cambridge in the summer ; and in a reply to one of our communications, his Honor the mayor stated that their city engineer was then making preliminary preparations for laying a sewer to divert the sewage emptying into the brook, and he presumed the work would be under way in the fall. At this date the work has not been commenced.
WAVERLY STREET SEWER OUTLET. - In the latter part of June, the filling of the mill-pond in the Charlestown District, in Boston, closed the channel or creek which formed the outlet for the Waverly Street sewer, causing the sewage from nearly all of East Somerville south of Pearl Street to accumulate upon the flats and marshes be- tween the Mystic River Branch Railroad and Washington Street.
208
This at once became an intolerable nuisance, endangering the health of the people of Boston and Somerville residing in the vicin- ity, and it was necessary to abate it immediately.
The Act giving the city of Boston the right to fill the mill-pond required that city to provide for surface drainage. The discharge from the Waverly Street sewer and the surface water had flowed through the same creek into the mill-pond, and thence through Miller's River into the Charles.
By arrangement of this Board and the Boston Board of Health, the sewage and surface water were diverted into another creek, and a culvert was built under the Mystic River Branch of the Lowell Railroad at a cost of $1,607, one half of which was paid by each city. Thus a new channel was provided through which the sewage and water flowed into Miller's and Charles Rivers as before.
LICENSES.
Licenses to keep swine and goats and to collect grease have been issued by the city clerk, in accordance with our recommendations, the same as in the two preceding years.
SWINE. - We have received applications for licenses to keep 225 swine. Licenses have been granted for 208 (including 150 at the McLean Asylum) and refused for 17.
GOATS. - Applications have been received for licenses to keep 25 goats, and they have all been granted.
GREASE. - We have received 12 applications for licenses to col- lest grease, all of which have been granted. Seven of the parties reside in Somerville, 2 in Boston, 2 in Cambridge, and 1 in Medford. The non-residents have presented recommendations from the Boards of Health of their respective places of residence, either in the past or some previous year.
We have given recommendations to 10 of our citizens for licenses to collect grease in Cambridge, and to 2 for licenses to collect in Boston.
We learn from the Boards of Health of Boston and Cambridge, respectively, that 46 residents of Somerville were licensed in 1880 to collect grease in the former city, and 11 in the latter.
209
ASHES.
Ashes and house-dirt have been collected monthly by the High- way Department, under our direction. The collections are made on the first Monday of the month in Ward 1, on the second Mon- day in Ward 2, on the third Monday in Ward 3, and on the fourth Monday in Ward 4; and materials for removals (which must not contain filth or offal) should be placed in barrels, on the outer edge of the sidewalk, in the forenoons of these days.
Three thousand eight hundred and thirty-five loads have been collected, at a cost of $961.23.
HOUSE-OFFAL.
The contract with Mr. G. W. Cummings for the collection of house-offal expired June 25, and since that date it has been col- lected by Mr. Christopher Burke, under a three-years' contract, for a compensation of $500 per annum ; the price per annum paid Mr. Cummings being $980.
The conditions of the new contract are the same as those of the former one, and provide that collections shall be made three times per week in the months of May, June, July, August, and Sep- tember, twice each week in the months of April, October, and November, and once each week in the months of December, January, February, and March.
REMOVAL OF NIGHT-SOIL.
The contract with Messrs. Russell and Fitch for the removal of night-soil, which would have expired April 24, was extended for one year. They are entitled to collect $3.00 for each load or part of a load of eighty cubic feet removed in the months of April, May, June, July, August, September, and October, and $2.00 for the same in the months of November, December, January, Feb- ruary, and March.
Number of vaults and cesspools emptied, 419.
Order-books are kept at the police station on Bow Street, and at the grocery store on the corner of Perkins and Franklin Streets.
14
210
DISEASES DANGEROUS TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH.
SCARLET FEVER. - This disease has not prevailed to any great extent during the past year. But 43 cases and 6 deaths were re- ported ; whereas in 1879 there were 171 cases and 16 deaths, and in the last ten months of 1878 there were 108 cases and 15 deaths. It is gratifying to be able to record the diminution in the number of cases of this dangerous disease. The general recognition by the people of its contagiousness, and the carrying out of measures suggested by the Board, together with an improvement in the sanitary condition of our city, must be regarded as the principal causes of this pleasing state of affairs.
This disease is not supposed to depend so much upon insanitary conditions as some others of the zymotic class, although its spread is much more rapid in localities where the drainage is poor. But in such places other factors equally potent in their influence are at work, prominent among which are the poverty of the people, large families, insufficient number of rooms, and the impossibility of isolating the sick one from the other members of the family. Bad drainage, insufficient sewerage, and all that these imply cannot originate it, as it always results from exposure to the germs of the disease. It may not always be possible to trace it out to its source, but medical authorities are unanimous in the belief that it is a specific disease ; that is, having a special cause and capable of reproducing itself. By bearing this fact in mind, and acting on the principle which it suggests, more can be done toward stamping it out than by turning our efforts in any other direction.
We have continued the practice of fumigating every house in which a fatal case occurred, and when requested to do so by the family, have fumigated wherever a case was reported. We have also, during the past year, as soon as notification of the occurrence of the disease was received, caused to be placed in a conspicuous position on the house, a yellow card bearing in black letters the words " Scarlet Fever Here."
211
DIPHTHERIA. - There were 108 cases of this disease reported in 1880, with 19 deaths, as against 113 cases and 29 deaths in 1879.
The question of the cause of this disease is still an unsettled one, but there is general acceptance of the theory that in some way, in- sanitary conditions of the surroundings of our dwellings play an important part in its spread, if they do not originate it.
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