USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1894 > Part 25
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§ Southerly and
431
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON HIGHWAYS.
TABLE D.
SIDEWALKS CONSTRUCTED WHERE THE EDGESTONES AND BRICKS WERE FURNISHED OR PAID FOR BY THE ABUTTERS.
FOR.
STREET.
FEET OF EDGE- STONES.
YARDS OF BRICKS.
Fanny I. Bradshaw
Westwood road
76.6
-
Charles F. Brine
36 Columbus ave.
28
John H. Brine
38 Columbus ave.
-
28
George W. Bean
40 Columbus ave.
29
Luizde Soma Bettencurtt
59 Webster ave.
33.
-
Barnabas Binney
Vernon st.
38.4
-
Boston & Maine R. R. Co.
Davis sq.
86.6
125
William A. Campbell .
286 Cedar st.
38.
Mary Dorney
61 Webster ave.
53.
-
Olive H. Durell
53 Chandler st.
25.9
18
William A. Flaherty
261 Washington st.
-
71
George G. Fox
369 Broadway
157
George G. Fox
Fenwick st.
108.4
92
.
George G. Fox
Bond st. .
120.5
95
George G. Fox
Heath st.
207.8
-
-
Lavina P. Fuller
Walnut st.
85
John L. Greenough
Vernon st.
38.
22
J. F. Ham
102 Flint st.
27
Florence E. Holmes
Heath st.
141.8
-
Emma O. Hill
Prospect Hill ave.
64
Joseph K. James
Belmont st. .
120.7
SS
F. M. Kilmer
54 Adams st.
-
18
Edward Keating
Kent st.
38.
-
E. W. Lundhall .
5 Billingham st.
44.7
33
Mary Langmaid
345 Broadway Fenwick st.
104.1
180
David L. McGregor
139 Walnut st.
Kingman court
160.9
65
Christopher T. McGrath .
274 Washington st.
34.9
45
William Mullan .
16 and 18 Kingman court
42.
21
Michael Martell
57 Webster ave.
33.
-
-
90
Ellen A. Murphy
66 Webster ave.
30.
-
New England Dressed Meat and Wool Co.
Medford st.
427.1
-
North Packing and Provision Co.
Medford st.
431.8
-
James O'Donnell
92 Webster ave.
35.
Mary O'Donnell
94 Webster ave.
66.
-
Antonia Preiva
55 Webster ave.
17.
David Rosenfeld
Main st. .
77.9
-
Harriet E. Snow
14 Kingman court
21.
10
-
Anthony Haderbolets
Walnut st.
65.9
-
John Kelliher
288 Cedar st.
180
Heirs S. P. Langmaid
33
Christopher T. McGrath
Alexander Munroe
Newton st.
Ann Fitzpatrick
63 Webster ave.
34.
14
Nathan E. Fitz
335 Broadway .
-
-
432
ANNUAL REPORTS.
TABLE D. - Concluded.
FOR.
STREET.
FEET OF EDGE- STONES.
YARDS OF BRICKS.
Edmund S. Sparrow
18 Meacham st.
97.8
93
Martha M. Sturtevant
Sanborn ave.
102.3
70
Somerville Journal Co.
Walnut st.
77
Isabella F. Silva
68 Webster ave.
40.
117
Warren P. Wilder
Summer st.
67
Samuel H. Wilkins
109 Orchard st.
139.3
-
Total .
3,131.4
2,042
TABLE E.
DRIVEWAYS CONSTRUCTED AT EXPENSE OF ABUTTERS.
FOR.
LOCATION.
Margaret A. Brown . · City of Somerville (Fire Department) City of Somerville (Fire Department) Hiram A. Clarry
Highland avenue . Medford street
Cross street
Edward Cox
63 and 65 Bow street
George W. Clark
40 Prescott street .
W. A. Crosby
34 Rush street
James P. Haddie
Somerville avenue
Edward J. Llewellyn
216 Somerville avenue
Charles O. Lailer
369 Medford-street
Charles Lynam
6 Chandler street .
Fred L. Pulsifer
55 Prescott street . Preston street .
32 Prescott street .
Catherine J. Sherry Eugene Selg
15 Adams street
212 Somerville avenue
34 Preston street .
John Sweeney . Addie A. Snow Harmon S. Trueman Andrew Thompson
145 Summer street
275 Washington street
-
William Veazie
135 Walnut st.
George B. Pitcher
24 Cutter street
433
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON HIGHWAYS.
-
TABLE F.
CROSSINGS CONSTRUCTED.
Broadway, across end of Autumn street.
Cross street, in line with the northeasterly side of Pearl street.
Cross street, northwesterly side, across end of Otis street. Cross street, southeasterly side, across end of Ellsworth street. Cross street, southeasterly side, across Pearl street. Elm street, in line with the southwesterly side of William street. Elm street, northwesterly, across end of Chapel street. Holland street, westerly side, across end of Thorndike street. Munroe street, across same, in front of house No. 81. Summer street, westerly side, across end of Quincy street. Union square, across end of Bow street.
Union square, across end of Warren avenue.
(27)
REPORT
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON SEWERS.
CITY OF SOMERVILLE.
IN BOARD OF ALDERMEN, March 13, 1895.
Referred to Committee on Printing, to be printed in the Annual Reports. Sent down for concurrence.
GEORGE I. VINCENT, Clerk.
IN COMMON COUNCIL, March 14, 1895.
Referred to Committee on Printing, to be printed in the Annual Reports, in concurrence.
CHARLES S. ROBERTSON, Clerk.
CITY OF SOMERVILLE.
IN COMMITTEE ON SEWERS, January 1, 1895.
TO THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN OF SOMERVILLE : -
The Committee on Sewers presents the following final report for the year 1894 : -
MAINTENANCE ACCOUNT.
CREDIT.
Appropriation . $7,000.00
Receipts and Credits :
For fee for drainage of asylum build- ing into Fitchburg Street sewer $50.00
labor and materials furnished in
1893, the bills for which re-
mained uncollected January 1, 1894 32.53
dividend on private sewer Timothy
Tufts, built in 1888 7.80
90.33
Value of tools and property on hand, January 1, 1894, transferred from Construction account . 53.84
Value of tools and property on hand January 1, 1894 Value of materials on hand, January 1, 1894 70.06
823.60
Total credit $8,037.83
-
438
ANNUAL REPORTS.
DEBIT.
Expenditures :
For repairing sewers and drains . 132.18
inspecting house drains
453.10
flushing sewers and filling catch-basins
501.52
cleaning catch-basins
1,754.86
repairing catch-basins
179.11
opening mouths of catch-basins
198.88
changing line and grade of catch-basins
159.51
examining catch-basins
6.75
cleaning sewers
280.12
changing line and grade of manholes
116.71
changing line and grade of manholes for West End Street Railway Co.
122.08
repairing manholes .
13.90
cleaning manholes .
148.49
examining manholes
42.00
examining sewers
51.01
soundings for ledge .
3.25
cleaning ditches
314.26
cleaning and dredging Bridge Street sewer out- let
2,402.03
removing earth after completion of sewers
11.75
connecting High School drain with Highland Avenue sewer
13.56
digging to locate old sewer
2.50
sundry expenses
116.42
A. M. Prescott, bill overpaid to December 31, 1894 .
35.00
books, stationery and printing .
38.00
unpaid bills of 1893
3.50
arranging tools and property
20.00
repairs of tools and property
24.26
Depreciation in value of tools, property and ma- terials .
255.53
Value of materials on hand, December 31, 1894
40.02
Amount carried forward .
$7,440.30
439
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON SEWERS.
Amount brought forward $7,440.30 Value of materials on hand transferred to Construc- tion account 30.00
Value of tools and property on hand December 31, 1894 (including purchases during the year, $179.72) 732.25
Total debit . $8,202.55
Amount overdrawn $164.72
Labor and materials have also been furnished and credit has been received for the same as follows :
Public Grounds account, materials furnished at Cen- tral Hill and Somerville Avenue cemetery .
$ 1.00
Puddling sewer trenches . 20.64
Removing earth after completion of sewer 9.64
6.25
Repairing drain
Total . $37.53
CONSTRUCTION ACCOUNT.
CREDIT.
Appropriation .
$20,000.00
Unexpended balance of 1893 256.75
$20,256.75
Receipts and Credits :
For catch-basin curbs in sidewalks, received credit from Sidewalks account . $ 44.32
fee for drainage of estates into Line Street sewer 100.63
labor and materials furnished in 1893, the bills for which re- mained uncollected January 1, 1894 17.44
$ 162.39
unpaid bills of 1894 . 2,425.84
Value of materials on hand January 1, 1894 52.61
$22,897.59
440
ANNUAL REPORTS.
DEBIT.
Expenditures :
For twenty-four sewers as per ac-
companying table $15,602.64
Less cost of sounding for ledge,
Hall Avenue sewer, paid in 1892 29.74
$15,572.90
Less assessments
12,112.61
$3,460.29
For fifty-five catch-basins (average cost $72.14)
3,967.65
rebuilding manhole at end of North Union Street sewer . 263.52
awards for taking of land, Hall avenue, Kidder avenue and Francesca avenue 200.00
laying drain from pond on line of sewer, Austin street and Mystic avenue to North Union street laying drain at Central Fire station . 107.01
59.25
laying drain, Grove street, east side, north line of railroad 28.32
laying surface drain, Cameron avenue, westerly .
64.76
digging for ledge
274.98
relocating catch-basin, Hamlet street 29.49
extending outlet of North Union Street sewer 14.00
books, stationery and printing . 17.00
sundry expenses
57.76
abatement of sewer assessments
233.50
unpaid bills of 1893 6,111.99
Value of materials on hand December 31, 1894 .
30.00
Total debit . $14,919.52
Balance unexpended $7,978.07
441
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON SEWERS.
Labor and materials have also been furnished and credit has been received for the same as follows :
Highways account, constructing sewer and drain at new City stables at City Farm ·
$702.21
Joseph F. Wilson, constructing sewer in passageway off Newbury street 70.93
Henry Green, drainage of lots in Cambridge into Line Street sewer 100.63
J. E. Parsons, constructing sewer, Pearl street . 97.97
Total . $971.74
Appended hereto is a table of sewers built during the year.
Twenty-four sewers have been built during the year, being two less than in 1893.
Fifty-five catch-basins have been built, while in 1894 there were but thirty-eight.
For the committee,
FRANKLIN F. PHILLIPS, Chairman. WILLIAM P. MITCHELL, Clerk.
442
ANNUAL REPORTS.
SEWERS BUILT IN 1894.
STREET.
FROM.
To.
LENGTH IN FEET.
TOTAL COST.
ASSESS- MENT.
COST TO CITY.
Central street and Westwood road Cross Street place Congress place Elmwood street Glen street
Berkeley street Central street
Westwood road
628.5
$1,364.28
$ 853.05
$ 511.23
Cross street
Westerly
122.8
45.69
45.24
.45
Linwood street
Southwesterly
115.6
66.71
66.71
East of
On private land
Northeasterly
153.1
108.52
23.98
84.54
Hall avenue and private lands and Francesca and Kidder aves
in Francesca av., east'ly & west'ly from private lands, and in
Liberty ave.
1,898.6
4,463.89
3,020.11
1,443.78
from 313 feet northeast
Jenny Lind ave.
From Medford st.
Near Broadway
257.8
312.31
306.87
5.44
Laurel place
Laurel street
Westerly
186.
311.98
58 93
253.05
Leland street
Washington st.
Northeasterly
262.8
219.12
218.39
.73
Melvin street
273 feet from Broadway
Southwesterly
73.4
57.74
56.38
1.36
Mystic avenue North Union st. extension
Mystic river
No. Union street
291.74
291.74
North Union st.
65 feet southerly from Mousal pl.
Southwesterly
192.9
301.72
298.07
3.65
Pearl Street pl.
Pearl Street
Northeasterly
170.5 unfinished
122.34
121.78
.56
Pitman street
Spring Street
Northwesterly
Talbot avenue
1,800.4
1,920.89
1,917.56
3.33
Putnam street and Highland ave.
Highland avenue Westerly
232.9
314.24
148.99
165.25
Snow terrace
Southwesterly
125.2
191.09
14.42
176.67
Summer street
Southeasterly
257.5
262.28
252.26
10.02
Summer street
Willow avenue
Easterly
799.3
915.58
907.81
7.77
Talbot and
Private lands and in Packard ave. and Sawyer ave. Medford street
Packard avenue Westerly
1,788.6
3,609.42
3,608.90
.52
Packard aves. and Sawyer ave. Sycamore street
Southwesterly
220.4
140.16
136.64
3.52
Wheeler street
Pinckney street Morrison street
Southeasterly Southerly
202.1
203.27
123.23
80.04
Willow avenue
140.36
140.36
9,488.4
$15,602.64 $12,112 61 $3,490.03
Less paid on Hall Avenue sewer in 1890
29.74
$3,460.29
147.06
147.06
Fountain ave. 330 feet East Elm st., private lands from Hall av.,
Near
Kidder ave.
Private lands
Kidder avenue east'ly & west'ly
No. Union street
unfinished
28.00
28.00
Private lands and Talbot avenue
Broadway and in Talbot av. e'st'ly 50 ft. southeast'ly from Highland avenue, and in Highland ave. Jaques street Cedar street
College avenue
64.25
64.25
Austin street
-
Benton avenue
REPORT
OF THE
CITY ENGINEER.
CITY OF SOMERVILLE.
IN BOARD OF ALDERMEN, April 10, 1895.
Referred to Committee on Printing, to be printed in the Annual Reports. Sent down for concurrence.
GEORGE I. VINCENT, Clerk.
Concurred in.
IN COMMON COUNCIL, April 11, 1895. CIIARLES S. ROBERTSON, Clerk.
CITY OF SOMERVILLE.
OFFICE OF CITY ENGINEER, SOMERVILLE, April 8, 1895.
To HIS HONOR, THE MAYOR, AND THE CITY COUNCIL :-
In compliance with City Ordinance, Chapter 9, Section 9, the fol- lowing report of the City Engineer for the year ending December 31, 1894, is respectfully submitted : -
ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT.
The number of persons permanently employed during the year has been nine.
The expenses of the department have been as follows :
Salary of City Engineer
$2,400.00
Salary of assistants
6,595.68
Supplies .
99.85
Car fares
119.21
Tapes, plumbs, tools and spikes
67.26
Repairs and adjustment of instruments and tools
25.70
Stakes
28.50
$9,336.20
The items of expenditures of salaries of assistants are as follows : Giving lines and grades for edgestone and brick side- walks, examining titles of abutters, and comput- ing assessments and cost $808.99
Amount carried forward
$808.99 (28)
446
ANNUAL REPORTS. 1
Amount brought forward $ 808.99
Giving lines and grades for defining street lines, for
grading and macadamizing streets, revising ac- ceptance plans, and examining titles of abutters Making surveys and giving lines and grades for public sewers, examining titles of abutters, computing assessments and making assessment plans, locat- ing and recording private drains, giving lines and grades for building catch-basins, and rebuilding old sewers .
769.35
1,629.04
Giving lines and grades for laying water-pipe, mak- ing surveys and plans, locating and recording locations of mains, services, affixing house numbers to service applications . City survey ·
400.61
552.45
Grade and lines, and clerical work for department of public grounds .
292.72
Surveys and plans, grades, lines Nathan Tufts Park
555.60
Preparing plans for numbering streets and affixing street numbers to houses 375.60
Indexing note-books and plans and keeping office
records 200.22
Copying plans at Middlesex Registry of Deeds and work done for the assessors' department
57.95
City map .
84.10
Surveys, lines and grades for street railroads
249.94
Surveys and lines for Somerville Electric Light Co.
27.92
Miscellaneous, including sketches and plans for police and law departments used in accident cases, sur- veys and estimates for public property department, lines and grades for public buildings
591.19
$6,595.68
CITY SURVEY.
The appropriation made for the City Survey in 1894 was included in that made for salaries of engineers' assistants, but the amount of work which the engineers' department was called upon to perform was
·
447
REPORT OF THE CITY ENGINEER.
so large that the entire amount appropriated was needed for the reg- ular office work.
It is important that some progress should be made in this work of making a systematic survey of the city during the coming year, be- cause of the demands that will inevitably be made within a short time for sewers and water, for the laying out of new streets, and the Metro- politan Park boulevards.
The larger part of the city west of Cedar street, equal to about one third of the entire area of the city, has not been surveyed, neither has any sewerage system been designed, nor are there any materials, notes, plans or surveys on file in this office from which a sewerage system or water distribution can be designed.
The whole district above referred to should be accurately and carefully surveyed, and the notes plotted on sectional plans of small size to be conveniently filed, and from these plans a study can be made for sewers and water mains.
This work should be undertaken at once, that sufficient time may be given the engineers' department to prepare this work before it is needed. If it is delayed until it is actually needed, the work must be done in a hurry, and the results will not only be unsatisfactory because of the haste in which the work is done, but delays must necessarily occur in complying with requests of the Board of Aldermen for estimates and plans, because of the time required to do the work. Accurate plans of the part of the city above referred to would be of great value to the assessors' department in locating property and recording trans- fers, and it is undoubtedly true that the value of such a set of plans would be worth to this department alone more than the cost of the work.
It is probable that the public will soon demand that all wires re- quired for electric lighting, telephone, telegraph and fire-alarm uses be placed in underground conduits. When this work is decided upon it will first be necessary to know the location of all underground con- struction, whether used for sewer, water or gas purposes, and accurate plans will then be needed on which these locations can be recorded.
When this department is called upon for information, it is expected that it will be furnished at once and without delay, but it will be im- possible to do such work within any reasonable time unless the work of the office can be kept in advance of the needs of the city or the re- quirements of the City Council.
448
ANNUAL REPORTS.
On page 446 it will be noticed that $552.45 has been expended on the city survey during the past year. The work done has been made necessary by the construction of sewers and the making of assessment plans, and the areas surveyed have been in isolated districts. The cost of making small surveys of this kind is excessive in first cost, and must be further increased by the work necessary to correct errors that will be found when a systematic survey of the city is made.
The attention of the City Council is directed to the reports of the City Engineer for the years 1891, 1892, 1893, 1894, in which the need of making such a survey as is recommended, and the request heretofore made that an appropriation of $500 be made for extending the city survey is repeated.
STREET MONUMENTS.
The correct location of the line of every estate, and especially of lines separating adjacent estates, must be referred to the street line of the street on which it is located and also to the nearest intersecting street, for in this way the exact location of any such line can be determined by measurement from these street lines; hence, that there may be no doubt as to the location of these lines, and conse- quently of all estate lines, it is important that the street lines should be marked or designated by some method by which they can be readily found by any one, and at the same time the method adopted must be such that they will be preserved in the same location forever.
The method usually adopted is the placing at the intersection of the side lines of intersecting streets, or at the angles or at the ends of curves in the street, stone monuments or posts made of sufficient depth that when placed in the ground they will not be moved by the action of the severest frosts, and marked or cut by a drill hole in the top at the intersection of the two lines it is proposed to define the location of.
When such monuments are properly placed, and their locations definitely recorded, there is furnished a visible and exact location and determination of the line of the street; and the engineer who is called upon to lay out a house lot, to survey an estate, or the City Engineer who is ordered to lay out a sewer, or define a street line, either for edgestone, street railway tracks, electric light poles, the lay- ing of water pipes, or the various other uses for which the public use
449
REPORT OF THE CITY ENGINEER.
the streets, has no difficulty in determining a street line or doing his work with the least possible difficulty and delay, and the least possible chance of error.
The City of Somerville has never made a systematic effort to place stone monuments to define its street lines.
In 1860 a survey of the town (known as the Richardson survey) was made, and at that time many stone monuments were set, on the centre lines of the streets ; but excavations since made for sewer con- struction have caused the removal of many of them. There is no record of the number of monuments set in 1860, but at the present time about one hundred and seventeen monuments can be found that were set in 1860, about one hundred were set in 1877, and thirty-five in 1884. Since 1884 no monuments have been set, and there are to-day but about two hundred and fifty monuments on fifty-two miles of public streets ; that is, only one monument exists for every eleven hundred feet of street.
Instead of being referred to permanent marks, street lines are now . fixed by measurements from buildings recorded in note-books or on plans, or by spikes driven in the earth at intersections of street lines.
The notes are capable of different interpretation by different engi- neers, and a great deal of time is lost in endeavoring to establish street lines from these notes, or in replacing spikes that may have been disturbed by the slightest movement of the ground. Many times during the past year, the office has been called upon to adjust street lines that other engineers have been unable to run from the imperfect notes that now define street lines.
It will benefit the land owner, make the lines of estates more per- manent, and greatly relieve the office force of a constant repetition of work in continually replacing points defining street lines that cannot be permanently defined unless stone monuments are set as recom- mended. It will also place the city in line with what is being done to- day in nearly every large town or city.
The attention of the City Council is referred to the annual reports of the City Engineer for the years 1892, 1893, for further information on this subject, and the recommendation heretofore made, that an appropriation of $500 be made for this purpose is repeated.
450
ANNUAL REPORTS.
CITY MAP.
The work on the city map has been pushed during the winter, but progress is necessarily slow because of the lack of any method of checking the work already done on local surveys.
Several traverses have been compiled, but errors were found that have taken a great deal of time to eliminate. In connection with this work it has been found that a new survey of the city, as heretofore referred to, would be of the greatest value in correcting and complet- ing the city map.
CITY ENGINEER'S OFFICE.
The room assigned the City Engineer and the tables and cases for filing plans and doing the work of the office, are entirely too small and limited to accomplish the work to be done. It is impossible to accom- plish half the results desired with the limited space assigned the City Engineer at the City Hall.
The vault for storing note-books and plans is entirely too small, and if the building were destroyed by fire it is certain that every note- · book and plan, the accumulation from surveys and calculations made during the last twenty-five years would be entirely destroyed, as well as the records of surveys of at least two thirds the area of the city ; plans showing the location and depths of sewers, and the locations of house drains for about sixty miles of sewers ; the plans of fifty miles of public streets ; and plans of estates made during the last twenty- five years.
What the expense of replacing the records and plans contained in this vault would be, no one can determine; but it is certain to re- place these records would require a resurvey of the city, including street lines, property lines and buildings, the re-establishing of every street line in the city, that new plans be made of all the sewers in the city ; an expense undoubtedly equal to the cost of a new City Hall.
I would therefore recommend that new rooms be provided for the City Engineer's department, that a thoroughly fireproof room of ample dimensions be built before these valuable records are destroyed.
PLANS AT MIDDLESEX REGISTRY OF DEEDS.
Tracings have been made of all plans of real estate in Somerville recorded at the registry of deeds during the year 1894, and an index
451
REPORT OF THE CITY ENGINEER.
has been made showing the street, owner's name and surveyor's name, date and record of these plans have been compiled.
Profiles have been made for establishing the grade of seven and one-half miles of street, and two and seven-tenths miles of sewers.
Grades have been given for two and one-tenth miles of edgestone, and measurement made and assessments computed for the same length of edgestone, and ten thousand three hundred and ninety-nine square yards of brick sidewalk. Grades and lines have been given for ninety- six estates.
Assessment plans have been made for ten thousand three hundred and five lineal feet of sewers. Three hundred and seventy water ser- vices have been located, and the location recorded. The numbers on houses have been compared with the plans, corrections made, and all houses completed May 1, 1894, were numbered. In Appendix G will be found an ordinance regulating the City Engineer's Department.
SEWER DEPARTMENT.
Assessments have been levied for ten thousand three hundred and five and two-tenths feet, or one and ninety-five one-hundredths miles of public sewers, at a cost of $15,759.34 ; of this amount $12,799.05 was assessed on abutters, and $2,960.29 has been assumed by the city, and paid from Funded Debt account. In addition to this amount one thousand three hundred and ninety-two and four-tenths lineal feet of sewer were contracted for in 1894, but have not been completed December 31, 1894.
PRIVATE DRAINS.
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