USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1898 > Part 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43
The prospects for smaller expenditures, and consequently a lower tax rate this year, are unusually good. In the first place, many of the expensive improvements which the city has long needed have been provided during the last five or six years ; and similar expenditures will not be necessary.
We shall have no deficit, to begin with, but a balance from last year's appropriation of several thousand dollars.
Then, again, there will be a new source of revenue, that provided by a statute of 1898, which will give to Somerville something more than $20,000 from the tax on the stock of the Boston Elevated Railway Company and leased lines. It is possible that a double installment of this tax may be payable this year. This, the law stipulates, shall be expended for highways, in addition to the regular appropriation.
A smaller appropriation will be necessary this year for the reduction of funded debt account than last year.
And, finally, a greater portion of the surplus water revenue will be available for ordinary expenses. Last year $75,000 of this was used in the building of sewers and storm drains, only a comparatively small part of which will be necessary this year
31
MAYOR'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
In the matter of water and water revenue, the city is to be congratulated. Instead of paying high tribute to Boston for an inferior and limited water supply, we have secured pure water in great quantities and at no increase of cost, in fact, with the possibility of an early reduction in the rates.
The small increase in taxable property made last year will probably be repeated this year, but the approaching business prosperity, we hope, will soon put things on a better basis.
SEWERS AND STORM DRAINS.
The most notable work of the year 1898 has been in the construction of sewers and storm drains. Probably the past season has seen more large work accomplished than any other year since the engineering department was organized. On construction account more than $105,000 was expended.
It is with a great deal of satisfaction that we can contem- plate the benefits which have already been conferred. By far the greater part of the work was carried on with appropriations from the surplus revenues of the water department, a source which it is hoped will be available during the coming year for the extension of this line of work and other much needed improvements. Most of it consisted of storm drains built for the purpose of relieving the overcharged sewerage system and the many flooded cellars in the low areas in times of heavy rainfall. Some of these flooded districts have been perma- nently relieved and beginnings made for the relief of others, -improvements of the greatest value to the health and conve- nience of the people.
In January, 1898, a portion of the main storm-water outlet for the eastern district of the city, begun the year before and extending in Winthrop avenue from Mystic avenue to Broad- way, was completed. At the junction of Winthrop avenue and Broadway, construction was begun early last summer on two large branches. One of these extended through Broadway and Cross street to the corner of Pearl, a distance of 1,877.5 feet. The structure was built of brick and concrete masonry, three feet six inches in diameter, and has overflow connections at all crossings with the old sewerage system on its route. The total
32
ANNUAL REPORTS.
cost of this branch, which effectually provides relief for a large section of East Somerville, was $15,722.
The other branch extends westerly through Broadway, Sargent avenue, Sherman court, Marshall street, Gilman square, and Medford street to the corner of School street, a distance of 3,800 feet. It is built similarly to the other branch, with over- flow connections. In size it varies from five and one-half feet to four feet in diameter. It cost $36,238, and now has remedied the nuisance of sewer-flooded cellars, which have long been suffered by the residents of a large territory.
Of all the great storm-drain problems which have con- fronted the city government, the greatest is the proper disposal of the storm waters in the southerly and southwesterly sides of the city. Beginnings were made the past year, first by the construction of a storm-relief drain from a point in Union square through Bow and Summer streets to the junction of School street, a distance of 2,080 feet. This structure varies in size from five feet to three feet four inches in diameter, and will wholly relieve the flooding of streets and cellars formerly experienced in that section during heavy rains.
For the purpose of taking care of another portion of this watershed area, namely, the very flat district in the vicinity of Union square and extending southwesterly to the Cambridge line, a different plan has been adopted. This is the construction of a small and entirely separate system of sewers for house drainage only, and the utilizing of the present sewers for storm water. Under such a plan, with the houses connected with the new system, and the old system, which is larger, run under a head, there will be no danger of flooding cellars. The main trunk line of this separate sewer has been constructed in the northerly sidewalk on Somerville avenue from Poplar street, its outlet into the Metropolitan sewer, northwesterly to Prospect street, a distance of 1,846 feet. The sewer is an egg-shaped structure, two feet two inches by three feet three inches in size. This system is designed to extend northerly and westerly, from time to time, relieving the flooded cellars, as far as completed each year.
33
MAYOR'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
A branch of this system extending from the present ter- minus on Somerville avenue through Prospect and Newton streets to Concord square and vicinity, with its lateral pipe sewers, should be constructed, as the district is known as the oldest and worst flooded in the city. The expense would be comparatively small, considering the area covered and the bene- fit derived from the proposed extension.
The only outlet for storm water and sewerage overflow for the largest part of the city is through Bridge street, Cambridge, into the Charles river. The City Engineer reports that this outlet is entirely inadequate for the two cities, and for the pur- pose of giving Somerville as much relief as possible, a large storm-water drain should be constructed from the Somerville avenue sewer at the Cambridge line, across private lands to the nearest tide water, Miller's river. If this is necessary, this line should be secured and the outlet constructed at once, as every year of delay will make the undertaking more expensive, as well as affording no relief in times of storm. By co-operation with the packing-house companies, probably the expense of con- struction would be made much less, as these companies will be obliged, in the near future, to find an outlet into Miller's river for large quantities of water which is now being discharged into the Metropolitan sewer at Poplar street.
To revert to the other side of the city, I would call atten- tion to the desirability of constructing a permanent outlet for the Winthrop avenue storm drain. The present outlet is an open ditch across the marsh land, belonging to F. O. Reed and the Boston & Maine Railroad Company, to the Mystic river. Negotiations with the railroad company have been pending for some time past for the construction of a permanent structure on its land, in place of the open ditch, and probably the matter will be arranged satisfactorily to the city within a short time. On the other section through the Reed land, the city is paying annually $300 for the right of drainage, which is as much as the interest on the total expense of constructing this outlet permanently.
Still another section of the city which at present has no storm-drainage system, and is flooded at times, is the portion
34
ANNUAL REPORTS.
which extends on both sides of the Boston & Lowell and Arling- ton branch railroad, between Central and Cedar streets, and even as far west as Grove street. This section is directly con- nected with the storm-drainage system completed this year and just described, which is designed to receive at Gilman square all the storm water for this section discharging along the line of the railroad valley, and which is the only means of relief. As the railroad company would derive a large part of the benefit, a cor- responding share of the expense should be borne by the com- pany. With this drain completed and the newly finished Marshall street and Cross street branches of the Winthrop avenue drain in operation, the whole northeasterly part of the city would be permanently cared for.
The total length of storm drains constructed the past year was 8,077 feet, and the total length now in the city is 2.8 miles. Something more than three miles of sewers were built during the year, including several in the new district between Claren- don hill and Alewife brook. The total length of sewers now in the city is 69.25 miles. Cost of maintenance in 1898 was $7,600.
HIGHWAYS.
The condition of the highways of the city should receive your most careful attention during the present year. Next to the schools, the streets have the largest expenditures from the municipal treasury. There is little new that can be said as to the advantages of having good streets. Ours are not as good as one would like to see them, and I trust that you will be able to give them the improvement which they need, and which the public is loud in demanding.
One of the first undertakings should be the repair of Bow and Summer streets, which was made necessary last fall by the relocation and the change in grade of the car tracks. It is also desirable that Highland avenue throughout its entire length be put in a good condition for travel. Other main highways on which there is a large amount of travel should receive first care, rather than some of the lesser streets, in order to benefit the great mass of the people. We all use the main streets, while
35
MAYOR'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
comparatively few travel during the twenty-four hours over the side streets.
Ten new streets have been accepted within the past year, having a total length of 6,423 feet, but only one of them has been constructed. There are now fifteen miles of accepted streets which have received no attention, except to keep them in a safe and passable condition for public travel. One of the principal changes in the highways was the lowering of the grade and the construction of 900 feet of Middlesex avenue. This was done by the Metropolitan Park Commission to bring the street to the level of the adjoining boulevard.
Webster avenue has been paved with granite blocks, from the Fitchburg railroad tracks to the Cambridge line, a distance of about one quarter of a mile. The present total of paved streets is about two and a half miles. I believe in paving streets where there is a large amount of heavy travel. On some that is the only kind of roadbed that will survive, and is the cheapest in the end. One side of Washington street, from Tufts street to the Charlestown line, ought to be paved ; but I can make no recommendation as yet, till we know definitely when the Massachusetts Pipe Line Company will lay its two thirty-six-inch gas mains through this street.
Various improvements by the transportation companies are planned for this year which will affect our streets. An addi- tional track is contemplated on the Somerville avenue line of electric cars, from Union square to Davis square, and new bridges at Beacon and School streets will be built by the steam railroad corporations. The Superintendent of Streets recom- mends the construction of a new bridge across the Mystic river at Boston avenue. The street railway corporation is consider- ing a petition to extend its lines from Winter Hill to Tufts College and West Medford by way of Broadway and Boston avenue ; also to West Somerville through Powder House square.
SIDEWALKS.
In addition to the usual appropriation of $10,000 for side- walks, $5,000 was appropriated for the same purpose on funded
36
ANNUAL REPORTS.
debt account. These sums, together with a corresponding aggregate assessed upon the abutters, made about $30,000 available last year for sidewalks. More work was done in this direction than during any previous year. The most important was the sidewalk on the northerly side of Highland avenue, by which good pedestrian travel has been rendered possible from Davis square to the City Hall and beyond. Some 18,432 feet of edgestones were laid, and 16,984 square yards of brick side- walk. Including the brick sidewalks relaid, more than 20,000 square yards of bricks were laid, or more than four acres. Here I may add that, for every foot of edgestones laid, there is a diminution in the amount available for general work on the streets. The reason is that the paving of the gutters, rendered necessary by the construction of the sidewalk, is paid for out of the general highway appropriation.
There are now seventy-five and five-tenths miles of sidewalk with edgestones, including forty-nine miles of brick sidewalk. With the large amount expended on sidewalks last year, I believe that we should get along with a smaller appropriation in this department this year, and give more attention to the construction and repair of streets.
POLICE DEPARTMENT.
Perhaps the most important branch of a city's service is its police department, and I believe that Somerville is behind no city in the State in the character and efficiency of the men who guard its people and property. The department is well managed, and is to be commended for the good work which it is doing in maintaining order and in enforcing the laws, not- withstanding the small number of patrolmen and the large territory they cover. Particularly is it to be praised for its vigilance in enforcing the liquor laws, in consequence of which there have been few violations. I would recommend a contin- uance of the present policy, and will do all in my power to prevent the illegal sale of liquor.
There is one class of crime that I feel should be more severely dealt with. Some measure should be adopted to pre- vent the trespassing on private grounds, the stealing of fruit,
37
MAYOR'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
flowers, etc., the malicious breaking of glass, and other depre- dations of the juvenile offenders. It is not only an expensive and serious annoyance to our citizens, but also an offense that, if permitted with the juvenile, leads the way to more serious crime, and produces the hardened criminal.
The force numbers forty-six, made up as follows : A chief, a captain, four sergeants, thirty-six regular patrolmen, and four reserve patrolmen. All the reserve patrolmen are now regu- larly employed. On account of vacancies in the regular force, four promotions have been made since 1895 from the reserve force, which originally numbered eight. No appointments have been made to fill the four vacancies in the reserve force. No additions have been made to the regular force since 1894. I would recommend, therefore, that provision be made by the City Council for the payment of the full reserve force, so that by appointment the vacancies may be filled. The regular force is too small, and should be increased if the resources will per- mit. One of the patrolmen, Eugene H. Gammons, having enlisted in the Somerville company, Eighth Massachusetts regiment, for two years of the war, there is now one more vacancy in the working force of the department.
WATER DEPARTMENT.
The year just past has been a fruitful one in the water department work, witnessing the change from the Mystic water, furnished by the city of Boston, to the Nashua river water, furnished by the Commonwealth through the Metropolitan Water Board. By this change we have secured a water not quite so transparent as the old, but one that is practically pure and of unlimited supply, instead of the highly contaminated and insufficient Mystic. Beginning January 1, all water rela- tions with the city of Boston ceased, and the entire work of the department has been carried on through our own offices. All the clerical work, including the billing and collecting of more than 11,000 water accounts, representing over $200,000, has been performed at the Somerville City Hall, adding greatly to the convenience of the water takers, who have heretofore
38
ANNUAL REPORTS.
been obliged to pay their bills and transact other business con- nected with the department at the Boston City Hall. The pecuniary advantage of this change has been of the greatest importance to Somerville, giving us the advantage of a saving of about $100,000, which has enabled us to undertake the great storm-drain improvements, and to apply part of the surplus revenue to the improvement of the water service, especially the replacing of old and dangerous cement water mains with larger size iron pipes.
During 1898, 22,636 feet of cement-lined pipes were replaced by iron mains, and 7,495 feet of mains laid in extending the water-works system, -in all about six miles of pipe. About nine miles of the old pipe still remains, some of which is in a poor condition. Having these new and larger pipes will result in a benefit in several ways. The inconvenience of frequent breaks and the expense of repairs will be avoided. The newly- constructed streets will not have to be torn up so often. Shut- ting off the water in a whole street, for several hours pending repairs, with the increased danger from fires, will not be neces- sary, and additional fire protection will be rendered by the greater volume of water supplied.
A beginning has been made this year toward improving the distributing system by getting rid of the numerous dead ends existing throughout the city. Nineteen blow-offs have been constructed, and a number of dead ends streets have been con- nected into the circulating system, thereby greatly improving the quality of the water in the districts affected. During the year just closed the department has erected and occupied a handsome new building for stables, shops, etc., at the city farm, and has abandoned the old quarters at the corner of Prospect street and Somerville avenue, which have reverted to the custody of the City Council. Portions of the old buildings have since been devoted to the use of the sewer department, and another part has been leased, at a nominal rental, to the Somerville Veteran Firemen's Association.
Before many months another change will take place in the water department by the transfer of the high-service system to the control of the Metropolitan Water Board. This will prob- ably not occur until after the completion of the high-service
39
MAYOR'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
reservoir in the Middlesex Fells, which will supply by gravita- tion the northern high-service district. Beginning January 1 of the present year (1899), the first steps were taken. The Metropolitan Water Board, desiring to give the district the benefit of the high-service system, made arrangements with the various cities for a joint use of the local pumping stations for the whole district, which gives practically the same result as though the new reservoir were in operation. When this under- taking is completed, the local high-service pumps will be dis- continued. A higher average of pressure for day and night will be given throughout our whole local high-service system, which will be another additional fire protection. I would sug- gest considering the advisability of a plan for utilizing this ex- tra pressure in the matter of increased fire protection by a comparatively small expenditure of money. A separate sys- tem of high pressure water mains could be laid, covering the dangerous fire districts in the low parts of the city, and the fire steamers located for the use principally of the high districts, thereby saving the extra expense of new fire apparatus and buildings, and also the maintenance in the future.
FIRE DEPARTMENT.
By means of unexampled progress during the last few years, the Somerville fire department has reached a state of efficiency which will favorably compare with the best departments in the State. The manual force, including the chief and assistant en- gineer, consists of 103 men, and the apparatus in service includes three fire engines, two of which are accompanied by hose wagons, and one by a combination apparatus of chemical, ladder, and hose ; also three other hose wagons, two ladder trucks, and a chemical engine, besides one spare ladder truck and two hose reels, which can be used in case of accident to the regular appara- tus. The efficiency of the fire department ought to be a good argument with the underwriters for giving us lower rates of insurance. Within a few days the ability of the department to cope with fires successfully has been increased by the extension of the high-service system to College and Clarendon hills, thus completing the high service for all the high land in the city, and
40
ANNUAL REPORTS.
giving all sections a good pressure Improvements of this kind, and also the increased pressure all over the city, resulting from the introduction of the Metropolitan water, tend to do away with the necessity of maintaining expensive steam fire engines. In many sections of the city, where there are no high buildings, the hydrant pressure is all that is needed in ordinary fires. For this reason, and to save valuable time in the early stages of a fire, I would recommend the establishment of more hydrants through- out the city, whenever any additional facilities are contemplated.
The several buildings used by the department are in good condition .. One new building, a two-door fire station at Claren- don hill, was begun during the past year, and will be ready for occupancy early in the spring. For the equipment of this build- ing, the Chief Engineer recommends that the combination chemical hose and ladder wagon, now stationed at the house of engine 4, be transferred to the new station on Clarendon hill. The Chief makes these further recommendations: That a hose wagon be placed in the house of engine 4, to be run in connec- tion with that engine ; that additional fire-alarm boxes be placed in circuit in places now remote from any signal box ; that a bell and striker be placed on the tower of engine 2 house, to be used instead of the bell and striker on the Franklin street church, the officers of the church being anxious for a discontinuance of the ringing of the alarm from the church tower ; that a few keyless doors be placed on the signal boxes annually ; and that proper steps be taken toward placing all electric wires underground, as they are dangerous in times of heavy storm, and at all times are a hindrance to the department, especially in the operation of the ladders. These are all important recommendations, which I offer for your consideration.
I would recommend the consideration of the question of establishing fire limits within which only such buildings can be erected as conform to certain regulations guarding against the spread of fire ; also the adoption of more stringent building rules for the whole city. Especially in regard to shingle roofs some action should be taken. In the crowded sections of the city they are the greatest menace to the public safety.
41
MAYOR'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
POOR DEPARTMENT AND ALMSHOUSE.
The Overseers of the Poor have had appropriations the past year amounting to $23,000, and, owing to the great drafts in the department, have expended upward of $28,000. A total of 306 families, or 1,244 individuals, were aided; eighty-five persons were given full support by the city. The long- continued hard times are largely responsible for the size of these figures, a condition of things which we hope will not exist much longer.
The almshouse question, which has been agitated for a series of years, has come nearer a settlement than ever before. The sum of $20,000 was appropriated for the purpose, and the committee on public property was authorized by an order approved July 14, 1898, to purchase the Levi Russell property on Broadway and North street for $18,000 and the taxes of 1898. This property includes ten acres and the large homestead buildings near Alewife brook. The City Solicitor has found a difficulty in the title, and the committee recom- mends that the Legislature be petitioned for authority to take the property. This matter will doubtless come to your atten- tion at an early date. It is possible that there may be an objection to such a procedure, as the land so taken could be used for almshouse purposes only, and there might come a time when some portion would be wanted for other purposes.
HEALTH OF THE CITY.
It is with the greatest of pleasure that I can state that the health conditions of the city are now at the best. The vigi- lance of the health officials has done much, in conjunction with our natural advantages, to bring about good results. Nuisances of various kinds have been abated, and the Board of Health rules rigidly enforced against dangers of contagion. There have been no serious outbreaks of contagious diseases of any kind during the year; in fact, the total number of cases re- ported is less than one half the number reported during the year 1897. This is all the more remarkable when we remem- ber that 1897 showed a gratifying reduction in contagious diseases from 1896. The general work of the department,
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.