USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Somerville, past and present : an illustrated historical souvenir commemorative of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the establishment of the city government of Somerville, Massachusetts > Part 26
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The officers of the corporation at the present time are : Mr. Julian de Cordova, president ; Mr. Lewis Hall, president Lechmere Bank, treasurer ; directors : Mr. J. C. Bullard, president East Cambridge National Bank; Mr. Herbert Nash, of Boston ; and Mr. W. S. Blake, Melrose.
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DERBY JESK CO
DERBY DESKCO
DERBY.
.COM
ROOMS. 93 CAUSEWAY ST BOSTON.
ET HOME
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FACTORY OF THE DERBY DESK COMPANY.
459
SOMERVILLE, PAST AND PRESENT.
DERBY DESK COMPANY.
On January 1, 1881, George H. Derby and Frederick M. Kilmer formed a partnership for the purpose of manufacturing office furniture, chiefly roll- top desks. Beginning in the upper stories of a small building on Beverly street, they were soon obliged to enlarge their store premises and manufac- turing facilities. Moving their store to 55 Charlestown street, they hired a factory in Cambridge. These quarters were soon outgrown, and they very shortly enlarged their store by the addition of two buildings, taking the rent of the entire block of three buildings at 55 Charlestown street. The next move was to look about Boston and vicinity for a site for a new factory. After careful examination of the different locations they settled upon the lot at the corner of Vernon and Central streets in this city, and purchasing a strip at the back end of the lot of Warren Pollard, they erected a five-story wooden building.
In a few years the growth of their business required additional space, and they then erected the large two-story brick building, which comprises a large part of their present plant. After about eight years' use this, too, soon became somewhat crowded, and believing, in January, 1895, that business was about to revive generally over the country, they began the erection of the present large seven-story brick building on Vernon street, which, with its equipments, has but recently been completed.
This desk and office-furniture manufacturing plant is now believed to be the largest and best equipped factory where office furniture solely is made in the country, and perhaps in the world.
About three years ago the Pond Desk Company went out of business, sold their effects to the Derby & Kilmer Desk Company, and shortly the company's name was changed to Derby, Kilmer & Pond Desk Company. Last year another desk company known as the Somerville Desk Company, but located with their factory in Cambridge, and salesroom in Boston, went out of business, they also selling their stock to the Derby, Kilmer & Pond Desk Company.
In July, 1895, the company's name was changed to Derby Desk Com- pany. This company enjoys a reputation the world over for fine standard desks and office furniture. Its present officers are : George H. Derby, presi- dent; Frederick M. Kilmer, treasurer and secretary ; and Edward F. Pond, general manager.
460
SOMMERVILLE, PAST AND PRESENT.
BRICK-MAKING.
At one time a considerable portion of the town of Somerville was oc- cupied by brick-yards, and among those who operated them we find the names of some of the most respected men of the town, as for instance : Benj. Parker, Win. Jaques, Gardner Ring, Albert Kenneson, Mark and Benj. Fisk, Kinsley Bros., Benj. Hadley, David Washburn, Chauncey Holt, Samuel Littlefield, John and Joseph P. Sanborn, Edmund Cutter and many others, nearly twenty in all. But times have changed with the increase in population, and to-day the only brick-making plant in Somerville is the one operated by Wm. A. Sanborn, whose father and uncle were brick-makers before him.
From the days when the farmers' sons of New Hampshire and Maine came to Massachusetts to earn the money that their farms did not supply, and made the labor of brick-making respected by their sturdy honesty of character, through the transition period of labor by a foreign population, the business of brick-making has been so improved that it has become al- most a science.
Twenty years ago but little machinery was used, and a much longer time was required for the same output than is to-day needed, with the help of machinery at almost every stage of the process.
This brick business, the only existing one in Somerville, was estab- lished by Joseph P. Sanborn about 1849. At his death, in 1874, his son Wm. A. Sanborn continued the business near Mt. Benedict, on Mystic avenue, and then, in company with J. W. Hatch, in 1876, he removed to Ten Hills, where he has since continued, Mr. Hatch retiring from the business in 1891.
Since that year the output from this yard has been nearly two million bricks per annum, but clay having become scarce and land more valuable, Mr. Sanborn has been compelled to establish a branch yard in New Hamp- shire, the output from which has been equal to that of the Somerville yard for the past year.
Somerville bricks are known as among the best in the eastern market, and, about three years ago, Mr. Sanborn wishing to mark a certain grade of his product, stamped the bricks with the letter S ; this stamp has become well known in surrounding cities as well as Somerville, and is recognized as a guarantee for a superior grade of bricks.
Mr. Sanborn is now filling a contract calling for five hundred thousand bricks for the outside of the spacious hotel being built at the corner of Boylston and Tremont streets, Boston. He also furnished the outside brick for the new Tremont Building in Boston and for the Glines schoolhouse in Somerville.
WILLIAM A. SANBORN.
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162
SOMMERVILLE, PAST AND PRESENT.
THE MIDDLESEX BLEACH, DVE AND PRINT WORKS.
This establishment, located on Somerville avenue, was incorporated in 1821. A short historical sketch is given of it on page 78 of this volume.
THE AMERICAN BRASS TUBE WORKS
Is another of the long established manufacturing concerns of the city, it having begun operations in 1854. Its product of seamless brass tubes is well known to mechanics, and its output is very large.
CARPET CLEANING, ETC.
Probably the largest carpet-cleaning establishment in New England is that of G. F. Hurn & Co., on Broadway, East Somerville. Not only is this firm possessed of the largest plant, in point of floor-space, size of wheel and all the accessories that go to make up such an establishment, but it is gen- erally conceded, Hurn & Co. do by far the largest business in this line of any establishment in New England.
Last spring brought to the firm a decided increase in facilities, a new 1 5-horsepower engine having been put in to supplement the huge new boiler which was put in place last fall.
Carpet cleaning, however, is not all that this firm does. The repairing of furniture, making over of mattresses and renovating of feather beds are specialties, and the workmanship is of the very best quality.
There are many other important manufacturing establishments in Som- erville, some of which are of considerable magnitude. The principal of these are the cooperage works of the S. Armstrong Company, the Williams Table and Lumber Company, works of the I. H. Brown Moulding Company, carriage manufacturing establishments of Frank W. Leavitt and William T. Henderson, distillery of Daniel E. Chase & Co., extensive works of the Somerville Electric Lighting Co., Somerville Iron Foundry, New England Oil Co., New England Dressed Meat and Wool Co., West Somerville Mould- ing Mill, a portion of the great plant of J. P. Squire & Co., Cushman Bros. & Co., shade roller manufactory, and the jewelry and novelty works of M. W. Carr & Co.
These, with an infinite number of such minor industries as are always found in a municipality of the magnitude of Somerville, make a list of very considerable importance, and place the city in a prominent position among those of the Commonwealth.
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TANK CARS OF NEW ENGLAND OIL COMPANY.
SOMERVILLE HIGHLANDS STATION, BOSTON AND MAINE RAILROAD.
MISCELLANEOUS.
CHAPTER XXVII.
BOSTON AND MAINE RAILROAD .- STREET RAILWAYS OF SOMERVILLE .- THE "SOMERVILLE JOURNAL." -- THE " SOMERVILLE CITIZEN."-WESTWOOD ROAD AND ITS RESIDENCES.
BOSTON & MAINE RAILROAD.
THE city of Somerville, without the Boston & Maine Railroad, bisecting it and linking it with the great world without, is simply an unimaginable community. The mile posts between this city and Boston, where the great transportation system has its principal terminus, are not many, but even were that avenue of steam communication, alone, cut off, the effect upon the growth and welfare of the smaller city would be simply revolutionary.
Few of the nearly eight hundred stations on the line of the Boston & Maine bear such an intimate relation to the system, physically and finan- cially, as do those that lie within the limits of Somerville. They are no fewer than eight in number, and this fact of itself speaks eloquently of the extent of the territory covered by the city and the density of its population.
As might naturally be expected of a wide-awake administration, the present management of the railroad has always been willing to meet the people of Somerville more than half way in respect to train and station ac- commodations, and it can safely be stated that the service now rendered the traveling public by the Boston & Maine is fully commensurate with the relationship their patronage bears to the passenger-traffic receipts of the company.
Three of the road's important divisions-the Eastern, Western and Southern - traverse the city in whole or in part, the Southern Division per- forming the heaviest service, trains on the other two divisions stopping at East Somerville only. At the latter station as many as ninety-one trains . stop each week day, going to and coming from Boston, and these, with the numerous freight trains that pass and repass in a never-ending procession, make this part of Somerville one of the most important railroad centers in the country.
In addition to this enormous through and local passenger and freight business, the railroad company is now engaged in creating a new and ex- tensive auxiliary freight terminus on the grounds formerly occupied by the McLean Asylum, its business having expanded to such immense propor- tions that the Boston terminals have become sorely taxed. It may thus be said that the Boston & Maine Railroad has practically annexed Somerville to
465
466
SOMMERVILLE, PAST AND PRESENT.
the city of Boston, despite the declaration of its citizens against that proj- ect, as expressed in recent popular votes.
The immense strides which Somerville has taken in population during the past decade is told in the comparative showing of train statistics, as well as in the census figures themselves. Taking the years 1896 and 1886 as a basis for comparison, it is found that the average number of trains stopping at the different Somerville stations is much larger to-day than ten years ago.
The Prospect Hill (formerly Milk Row) and Winter Hill stations show the highest percentage of increase, and illustrate how popular these places have lately become as residential sections. In 1886 a total of thirty-two week-day and nineteen Sunday trains stopped at Prospect Hill. To-day the number is eighty-two on week days and thirty-six on Sundays, a total in- crease over 1886 of fifty week-day and seventeen Sunday trains. In 1886 fifty-nine week-day trains and 23 Sunday trains stopped at Winter Hill. To- day the number is ninety-three week-day and forty Sunday trains.
2. 7
WINTER HILL STATION, BOSTON AND MAINE RAILROAD.
As a possibly interesting contribution to this part of Somerville's his- tory, covering, as it does, a most significant ten-year period in its municipal existence, the following table, showing the train statistics for the time in question, and compiled by the passenger department of the Boston & Maine, is given : -
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PROSPECT HILL STATION, BOSTON AND MAINE RAILROAD.
468
SOMERVILLE, PAST AND PRESENT.
1896.
1886.
From Boston.
To Boston
Total from and to.
From Boston.
'To Boston.
Total from and to.
Week Sun- Week days, days. days.
Sun- Week days.
Sun- days. days
Week Sun- days. days.
Sun- Week Sun- days. days. days. days.
Fast Somerville (W. Div.)
40
20
91
44
36
1 5
55
16
3 0
(E. Div.)
37
1.4
32
1 5
69
20
32
8
47
79
18
Prospect Hill
41
18
41
18
82
36
22
10
23
9
32
19
Winter Hill .
47
21
46
19
93
40
29
12
30
11
59
23
Somerville Junction .
40
17
39
17
79
34
37
11
36
13
73
24
Somerville Highlands
26
7
20
7
46
14
West Somerville
29
7
25
7
54
14
27
4
24
4
8
North Somerville .
2 1
10
22
43
2 1
18
7
17
8
35
15
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1
In the period mentioned several of the old stations of the road have been replaced by new and modern ones, the most expensive and attractive of which are those at Winter Hill and Prospect Hill.
To the tremendous growth of the Boston & Maine system itself in the ten years in question it is scarcely necessary to refer at length here. The increase in mileage, traffic and income, partly from natural growth and partly because of consolidations with or purchase of connecting roads, is almost startling. The Boston & Maine to-day has a total operated mileage of upwards of 1,900 miles, carries 35,000,000 passengers and 257,000,000 tons of freight annually, earns a gross income of $21,000,000, from which 6,290 . shareholders draw dividends, owns 665 locomotives, and 1,201 passenger and 12,384 freight cars, and has a total capital stock and funded debt of $43,500,000.
Week
CLARENDON HILL YIA SOMERVILLE AVENUE
WEST SOMERVILLE
1084
MODERN ELECTRIC CAR OF THE WEST END STREET RAILWAY.
WEST END CAR-HOUSE AT WEST SOMERVILLE.
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47I
SOMERVILLE, PAST AND PRESENT.
STREET RAILWAYS IN SOMERVILLE.
The first instance in New England of the transportation of passengers in a railway car by horse power was the operation of a track formerly be- longing to the Fitchburg Railroad, between Harvard square, Cambridge, and Union square, Somerville. A small horse-railroad had been built previously in New York City in 1842, which was the first street railway in the world. The second street railway was the Cambridge Road, between Harvard square, Cambridge, and Bowdoin square, Boston, and the first car on that road was run in March, 1856. The running of cars on the Fitchburg track before mentioned had been discontinued prior to that time.
In 1854 the Middlesex Railroad Company was chartered, with authority to build tracks in Somerville, but did not do so. Consequently, in 1857, the Somerville Horse Railroad was formed for that purpose, and its incorpora- tors were George O. Brastow, Samuel A. Snow and Isaac F. Shepard. The first track built under this charter ran from Union square to the Charles- town line, and was leased to the Middlesex Road.
In 1863 the Legislature authorized the Somerville Road to extend its tracks to West Somerville and through Bridge street to Cambridge street, East Cambridge, and these last-named tracks were leased to the Cambridge Road. The Middlesex Road meanwhile had extended its lines through the Winter Hill district to Medford ; and about 1880 the Charles River Railway built a track beginning at Summer street, Somerville, and extending through Cambridgeport into Boston, and also a track on Beacon street extending to North avenue, Cambridge. This was the total of the street railway tracks operated in Somerville in 1887 (aggregating about six and one-half miles) at the time of the West End Street Railway consolidation, and all were operated by horse-power.
All this in the year 1896 is greatly changed. The amount of track operated in Somerville is more than doubled, and the following statistics will give some indication of the development of the street railway business in that city. In 1888 twenty-eight different lines started in Somerville, and four lines passed through portions of the city. The average length of the round trip was 9.015 miles. The total number of car miles run was 1,927,968, and the number of passengers carried was 12,944,494.
In the year 1896 the number of lines starting from Somerville was thirty-seven, and the lines passing through Somerville, six. The average length of the round trip was increased to nearly eleven miles, an increase of 174 per cent. The car miles run were 2,798,239 - an increase of 41 per cent, - and the number of passengers carried was 20,890,798. The in- creased accommodation for passengers in car space was much greater than is shown above, since all the lines in Somerville are now electric lines, and the electric car is 50 per cent larger than the horse car.
The mileage and number of passengers above given include the whole trip, large parts of which are in Boston or other places, and there is no way of determining how much is strictly Somerville business ; but the fig-
472
SOMERVILLE, PAST AND PRESENT.
ures given will show approximately the ratio of increase. The figures of ten years ago, before the consolidation, cannot be obtained ; but it is safe to say that the business has doubled within the last ten years, and accom- modations have much more than doubled. 'T'he fares on the different lines, notwithstanding the great distances traveled (which are about three miles per round trip greater than the average on the road), are five cents, and in addition there are free-transfer privileges as follows : -
In Charlestown, Somerville passengers can be transferred without charge to Everett, Malden and Medford. At Dudley street, in Roxbury, free transfers can be had to Milton, Franklin Park, Dorchester, Forest Hills or South Boston ; and Somerville passengers crossing Craigie or West Boston bridges can there obtain free transfers to all connecting cars run- ning into Boston ; and by means of an eight-cent check Somerville people can be carried by two rides to any of the suburbs to which the cars of the West End Street Railway run.
Thus Somerville has perhaps the best street railway facilities of any suburb of Boston, and to this fact is largely to be attributed the phenomenal increase of that city in population and importance. The company's real estate in Somerville is taxed for $249,800. The three principal car stations will accommodate two hundred and forty-two large electric cars; and pic- tures accompanying this sketch show one of the car-houses and the style of car now in use.
OURNAL BUILDING
SOMERVILLE JOURNAL BUILDING.
J. O. HAYDEN.
475
SOMERVILLE, PAST AND PRESENT.
"SOMERVILLE JOURNAL."
Of all the strictly local papers of the country, the " Somerville Journal" stands among the first, -in the quantity and quality of the news which it prints, in its editorial tone, in the neatness of its appearance, and in its financial standing. Through constant efforts to please its readers, and to keep abreast or ahead of the times, the "Journal " has won its way to wide popularity. Its familiar heading, with the old Powder House in the center, is known to all the inhabitants.
The first issue of the paper appeared December 8, 1870, and it was then published by W. A. Greenough & Co., the directory makers. During the next few years the paper changed hands several times, till October 20, 1876, when it came into the control of the present proprietors. Among its early owners were Col. Russell H. Conwell, then a resident of Somerville, but now the great Philadelphia clergyman, and John A. Cummings, who after- ward became mayor of the city. With the change of ownership in October, 1876, came many improvements. A new press was bought, and the paper, which had previously been printed in Boston, had all its work done in Somerville, in an office on the third floor of the Hill Building in Union square. Here it remained, steadily growing and requiring more room, till in July, 1894, it moved into the handsome new building of its own on Wal- nut street. The establishment is controlled by the Somerville Journal Company, of which J. O. Hayden is the manager.
Started, as the " Journal " was, at a time when Somerville was changing rapidly from a country town into a populous and thriving city, the paper has, naturally, had an influence in Somerville's development, pointing out and advocating through its editorial or news columns public needs, and otherwise using its influence for the good of the city. Many of the most useful public improvements that have been made during the past twenty- five years had their beginning through a suggestion in the "Journal." Be- sides its regular staff of writers, the " Journal " has been especially fortunate in the number of occasional correspondents, who by their contributions of poems or of special articles have added greatly to the interest and life of its columns. The "Pencilling " column has been one of its most popular features, quotations from which are made every week by the leading papers throughout the United States and in foreign countries. Another depart- ment which has appealed to many readers is its excellent woman's page.
The " Journal's" equipment is one of the most extensive in New Eng- land, outside of Boston. Occupying three floors of a large brick building, it has all the appliances necessary for carrying on a great newspaper and job printing establishment, including three large fast-running presses, four job presses, together with folding, cutting and mailing machines, two Mer- genthaler linotype machines (the "Journal " being one of the first suburban papers to use them), and tons of type of all kinds. Altogether the "Journal " employs a force of nearly fifty hands. Such papers or magazines as the Journal of Education, the American Primary Teacher, the Writer, and others, are regularly printed at the "Journal" office.
WILLIAM PREBLE JONES.
CITIZEN BILDI
COAL.
THE CITIZEN BUILDING.
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WILLIAM E. BRIGHAM.
479
SOMERVILLE, PAST AND PRESENT.
THE "SOMERVILLE CITIZEN."
The " Somerville Citizen," one of the standard institutions of the city, is a representative of the highest type of the weekly local newspaper. It was established in August, 1888, in response to a natural demand for a newspaper on the northern slope of the city, and has for several years been comfort- ably domiciled in the pretentious Citizen Building in Gilman square, which is almost exactly in the center of the city. A. M. Bridgman was its original manager, and has since been succeeded by Frank H. Hardison, Edgar Perry and William F. Brigham, at present its able head, who took charge in December, 1894. The Citizen Publishing Company, composed of men of the highest character and standing, owned the paper until June, 1896, when greatly increased business made a reorganization advisable, and the Somer- ville Citizen Company, in which several of the old stockholders remained and many new ones entered, bought the property and materially augmented the plant. The "Citizen " now has one of the finest printing offices in the State, from which are issued the "Somerville Citizen," a weekly paper which easily stands in the front rank in the matter of make-up, several smaller periodicals and a general line of job work of the best class. The office is equipped with four efficient presses and all other machinery and material necessary to the carrying on of a modern printing business.
As a newspaper, whether considered editorially or as a purveyor of news, the "Citizen " stands high, as is proven by its general circulation among the leading families of the city. It is conducted with a single eye to the best interests of the city of Somerville, and it is outspoken upon matters of public concern. Under its comparatively new management its business and its popularity have grown steadily, and its influence, always consider- able, has increased to the point of actual power. Improvements in plant, staff and service are continually being made, and it is the confident opinion of its numerous friends that the "Citizen " is destined within a very short time to become one of the exceptional newspaper successes of the State.
The "Citizen Building " so called was built in the summer of 1890, by the present owners, Messrs. J. E. A. Mulliken and Geo. H. Moore. The triangular piece of land on which it stands was owned by a wealthy resident of Medford, and no one supposed it could be bought at any price.
The original plan of the owners was for only a story and half building to cover about one half of the land, but as soon as it was made known that a building was to be erected, the applications for tenancy came so fast that instead of the smaller building the present structure was erected. At the request of the Citizen Publishing Company, which had engaged quarters in the building, it was named the "Citizen Building."
480
SOMMERVILLE, PAST AND PRESENT.
WESTWOOD ROAD AND ITS RESIDENCES.
It is with no little pleasure that we are able to illustrate one of the most beautiful portions of the city: we refer to Westwood road and its modern, up-to-date residences. This fine, well kept road with its charming homes well illustrates what can be done, by the exercise of taste and fore- thought on the part of those in our city managing or developing some of our large estates, - and shows in a marked degree, by its prompt public recog- nition, what might have been done a few years ago, to make our city the most sightly and attractive suburb of Boston.
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