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 5
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SOMERVILLE, PAST AND PRESENT.
While many of the important industries which were started here in the early days of the century are now almost forgotten, one still flourishes after a life of seventy-five years : the bleachery on Somerville Avenue, incor- porated in 1821 as the Charlestown Bleachery. It has changed proprietor- ship and name several times since then, being known as the Milk Row Bleachery, the Somerville Dyeing and Bleaching Company, and the Mid- dlesex Bleachery and Dye Works. Its latest owners were Messrs. K. M. Gilmore and John Haigh, the latter recently deceased. The bleachery people form almost a community of their own, and the narrative of their three quarters of a century, if written, would be very entertaining.
One other calling has had a long existence : stone quarrying. It began nearly or quite two hundred and fifty years ago, and still flourishes.
Among other establishments in Somerville before its incorporation, were a pottery, grist mill, distillery, rope walks and spike works.
Several public enterprises were inaugurated while the city was a part of Charlestown. "The Middlesex Canal, incorporated in 1792, was com- pleted in 1803, under the superintendence of that famous engineer, Loammi Baldwin. It extended from Charlestown to Chelmsford. Up to 1819 there had been one hundred assessments on its stockholders, and the enterprise had yielded little if any return to its proprietors, and had cost $1, 164,200. With its locks, bridges and creeping boats, it must have added much to the picturesqueness of the landscape. Like the stage coaches and baggage wagons of primitive days, it sulkily retreated on the approach of the rail- road, and became with them an antique curiosity. Its ruins are still dis- cernible in a few places within the city.
An old stone which stood in Harvard Square until recently, bore the words "To Boston 8 miles." It was set there before Charlestown or Cam- bridge had any bridge connection with the metropolis, and indicated the distance to it by carriage. From Prospect Hill it was nearly ten miles to Boston by highway. Great was the rejoicing therefore when, in 1786, the bridge from Charlestown, and in 1793, that from Cambridge to Boston were completed, and the eight or ten weary miles became little more than two. In 1787 the Malden bridge was built, and in 1809 the Craigie bridge from East Cambridge to Boston.
About 1803, Medford Turnpike, now Mystic Avenue, was laid out from Medford Centre to Charlestown Neck. Another early road was Middlesex Turnpike, now Beacon, and Hampshire Street, from North, now Massachu- setts Avenue, at North Cambridge, to Broadway in lower Cambridgeport. Both of these great thoroughfares were the direct result of the new bridges, to which they were the feeders of country travel. But it was the coming of the railroad that awoke the new era. The ill effects of its advent on the canal and the coach have been mentioned, but it brought a great and general in- crease of business and prosperity.
The first railroad through Somerville was the Lowell, opened in 1835. Its building incurred much opposition from property owners along its route. In 1836 the Charlestown Branch was incorporated, it being at first what its
FRANKLIN HENDERSON.
-
LINDLEY J. STURTEVANT.
8I
SOMERVILLE, PAST AND PRESENT.
name implies, a branch of the Lowell, running from a point a little north of the present Fitchburg, to the wharves in Charlestown, the headquarters of the ice traffic. It was shortly after extended to Fresh Pond, and, in 1842, its franchise descended to a new company, the Fitchburg. The first pas- senger station in Somerville established on the Lowell road, was at its crossing with Washington Street; and the first on the Fitchburg, at its crossing with Kent Street, just in the rear of the present Franklin School lot ; both are now gone.
The Lowell, and the Charlestown Branch, were the only railroads exist- ing in Somerville previous to its incorporation.
In 1816 the beautiful estate on Cobble Hill, or, as Barrell named it, " Pleasant Hill," was sold to the Massachusetts General Hospital, to be dedicated two years later as a retreat for the mentally afflicted, and such it has remained until recent days ; but it has now yielded its loveliness to traffic's iron rail and wheel. The asylum received its name from John McLean, its generous benefactor. Its first superintendent was Dr. Rufus Wyman, followed consecutively by Dr. Luther V. Bell, one of Somerville's martyrs in the Civil War, Dr. Chauncy Booth, Dr. John E. Tyler, Dr. George F. Jelly, and last, Dr. Edward Cowles, its present superintendent.
During the town's pre-incorporate period, two incidents of more than ordinary moment occurred : the robbery of Major Bray and the burning of the Ursuline Convent.
The robbery of Major Bray took place on the night of August 13, 1821. on Medford Turnpike, now Mystic Avenue, that reproach to city and county, and not far from Temple Street. Medford in those days held high place among the towns, as the residence of the Governor, that gallant old hero of Bunker Hill and other Revolutionary fields, Major John Brooks. His receptions were frequent, and his guests were gathered from Boston and surrounding towns. It was on one of these occasions that Major Bray, while returning to Boston, was waylaid by that recently imported artist of the highway, Mike Martin, alias "Captain Lightfoot," neither of which was his correct name. Martin had watched the Governor's house, and as the Major drove away, singled him out for his victim. Mounting his horse, Martin soon overtook Bray, who at the muzzles of Lightfoot's pistols de- livered up his watch and money. Mrs. Bray was in the carriage, but from her Martin, who was a chivalrous rogue, took nothing, gallantly remarking that he " never robbed ladies." He was captured not long after, tried and convicted, and was the first and last example under the law which made high- way robbery a capital crime. In his defense he strenuously asserted that the pistols which threatened Major Bray were empty and that Bray was un- necessarily alarmed.
The Ursuline Convent on Mount Benedict was opened on July 17, 1826, under the auspices of the " Ursuline Community." Its purpose was " the education of female youth," "to adorn their minds with useful knowl- edge and to form their hearts to virtue." The school was divided into a junior and a senior department ; in the former were taught the " common
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SOMERVILLE, PAST AND PRESENT.
branches of education," in the latter ancient and modern languages, sciences, music and art, including ornamental work and other accomplish- ments. Probably no other institution in New England offered such an ex- tensive range of studies.
Although professedly sectarian, it was liberally patronized by young ladies of all creeds, the majority being Protestants ; for it was claimed that " the religious opinions of the children are not interfered with." The building was beautifully situated on heights commanding the landscape in all directions, and the grounds were ornamentally laid out with fine gar- dens, foliage and flowers. No event occurred to disturb the "even tenor " of the school until 1833, when the flight of one of its pupils, Miss Rebecca Reed, who had been converted from Protestantism, and the publication by her of a book, purporting to give an account of life there, and of alleged abuses, called public attention to the institution, and was largely instru- mental in creating a feeling of antagonism against it, especially in the minds of those who were prone to strong religious prejudices.
On the night of the 28th of July the next year (1834), a second incident occurred which increased intensely this feeling. It was the escape of a nun, Sister " Mary John," as she was called. She is said to have been suf- fering at the time with a fit of " mental derangement." She was sought for by the bishop, but at first refused to return. The next day, however, hav- ing somewhat recovered, she evidently reconsidered her previous refusal, and was taken back to the convent.
From this occurrence sprang various rumors in the press and on the streets, all of which were derogatory to the Ursuline Community, and tended to greatly increase the feeling against it. Threats of the destruction of the building were whispered around, and the excitement grew stronger and stronger as fresh rumors passed from mouth to mouth, until with the fatal August 11, 1834, came the storm which laid all in ruins.
A full warning had been given the " Community " that the convent was to be destroyed on that day, and all indications pointed to the probable ex- ecution of the threat, yet only feeble efforts on the part of the town author- ities were taken to prevent it. In the early evening a mob of many hundred gathered outside the convent grounds, and after much noise and disturbance, the gates were forced, fences torn down, and the mob surged up to the building. When the lady superior saw the temper of the assail- ants, she is said to have endeavored to stay their work by threatening them with the retaliation from twenty thousand Irishmen. About this time two shots were fired by some one in the crowd, upon which the inmates abandoned the building and retired to the gardens. The doors were battered down, and the rioters, flushed with excitement, overran the build- ing, which was soon in flames. The fire engines were called out, but it is nowhere recorded that the firemen made any effectual attempt to quench the fire. It was even thought by some, though never proven, that they were in sympathy with the mob. The inmates, who were all females, sought refuge in the house of Mr. Adams, which is still standing, on Broad-
WILLIAM A. BYAM.
Residence of WILLIAM A. BYAM, 117 Pearl Street.
......
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SOMERVILLE, PAST AND PRESENT.
way, near Sargent Avenue, and the rioters, having finished their work of desolation, retired. It was feared that more rioting would follow, but the precautions now taken by the authorities averted further danger.
Thirteen of those known to have participated in the attack were ar- rested and tried, but owing to conflicting evidence, or for some other rea- son, only one was found guilty, and it was strongly, and probably with truth, asserted, that he, a youth only, was the least guilty of all. Religious feeling ran very high in those days, it would seem, and there are also rea- sons for believing that pure religious sentiments might have been found as easily elsewhere as in the hearts of the men who, in the darkness of night, could attack a defenseless community of women and children, most of the latter being of their own religious faith. But in condemning a deed, which, looked at calmly to-day, sixty-two years after its occurrence, seems to us extremely brutal and unchristian, it may perhaps be well to remember that in all ages, great political and religious excitement have led men to the perpetration of acts which, in their calmer moments, they would have con- demned, which leads us to exclaim, nearly in the words of Madam Roland, "Oh, religion ! how many crimes in thy name are committed "; and these words are applicable to no one creed alone.
But few town improvements were made in Somerville while part of Charlestown. Its highways were neglected and its school facilities meagre. True, three important avenues were opened, viz .: Middlesex Turnpike, Medford Street and Medford Turnpike. But for these, being private enterprises, the town government deserved no credit. Five schools had been established, one grammar, and four primary, the buildings being one-story, cheap structures, and generally costing not over a thousand dol- lars, the land for which, in some cases, had been donated.
In 1838 one fire engine had been generously given this section, the "Mystic, No. 6," it being the cast-off " Tub " of Company No. 6, of the penin- sula, which then became No. 7. A wooden structure was built for this on the site now occupied by the No. I Hose Company, at the corner of Wash- ington and Prospect Streets. The Mystic was a small machine, fed with buckets. Its company of thirty-five members included many, if not most of the prominent citizens of Somerville.
Twenty years, and probably more, before our city was finally set off from Charlestown, the people of this section became dissatisfied with the way in which town affairs were conducted. Though contributing their full quota to the treasury, they felt that they received no equivalent return in public improvements. As the result, attempts were made at various times to divide Charlestown, by the inhabitants "outside the Neck," which pro- ject was strenuously opposed by the denizens of the peninsula, or, when favored by the latter, as on one occasion it was, objectionable conditions were imposed, which defeated the project. But at last the "outsiders " succeeded in obtaining the act of separation, approved by the Governor, March 3, 1842. The act was hailed with delight, and duly celebrated with a supper at which were representative guests from surrounding towns, and with dancing and a salute of cannon.
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SOMERVILLE, PAST AND PRESENT.
CHAPTER VIII.
FROM SEPARATION TO THE REBELLION.
TOWN BEGINNINGS. - EXPENSES OF EARLY TOWN GOVERNMENT. - HIGHWAYS DESCRIBED. -GROWTH OF THE TOWN. - SURVEY OF THE TOWN. - RAILROADS AND THEIR EXTEN- SION. - HORSE RAILROADS OPENED. - INDUSTRIES OF EARLY SOMERVILLE. - FIRE DEPARTMENT AND ITS GROWTH. - ORGANIZATION OF THE SOMERVILLE LIGHT INFANTRY. -SCHOOLS AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT. - CHURCHES.
TOWN BEGINNINGS.
ON March 5, two days after the approval by the Governor of the act of setting off, the inhabitants were notified to meet "at the Prospect Hill School House " on Medford Street, on the fourteenth day of March, for the choice of town officers, at which meeting the following were elected : Select- men, Nathan Tufts, John S. Edgerly, Caleb W. Leland, Luther Mitchell and Francis Bowman. Town Clerk, Charles E. Gilman. Treasurer and Collector, Edmund Tufts. The salaries paid during the first few years were many removes from munificent, and compared with the figures of the present day, seem extremely diminutive.
SALARIES FOR 1842.
Paid John C. Magoun for assessing taxes
$ 15.00
Charles E. Gilman as Town Clerk . 90.00
Edmund Tufts as Treasurer and Collector
I30.00
" Oliver Tufts for assessing taxes 15.00
Total salaries paid .
$250.00
The salaries of the same officials for 1843 were $270. The whole ex- pense of carrying on the Town Government from March 3, 1842, to March 3, 1843, was as follows : -
Cash paid Benjamin Hadley's note
$ 600.00
Interest on note
16.00
66 Highways 2,076.57
66 Schools 1,287.96
Military Bounty
45.00
¥ Fire Department
2.50
66 Miscellaneous
154.13
66 Salaries and Fees
300.00
Abatement of taxes
171.53
Taxes due
486.58
Cash on hand.
511.81
$5,652.08
EDWIN A. SANBORN, M. D.
FRANK A. WARE.
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SOMERVILLE, PAST AND PRESENT.
The receipts of the town the first year were :
From Taxes
Benj. Hadley's note
.
$5,007.08 600.00
The State Military bounty
45.00
Total
$5,652.08
The town grew rapidly and the public expenses kept pace. By 1853, the cost of schools had increased to $9, 150.51 ; highways to $3,953.17 ; fire department to $147.39, and salaries to $708.50; while $1, 112.67 was spent for relief of the poor, the total expense for the year being $24,356.37, or four times the amount spent in 1842.
In 1860, the year previous to the war, the town's expenses had increased to $38,052.87, the schools costing $17,505.91, highways $6,989.39, fire de- partment $1,821.41, salaries $1.453.45, and the poor $1,660.81. The salaries this latter year were as follows: Town Clerk, $300.00; three Assessors, $400.00 ; Collector, $453.45 ; Treasurer, $300.00.
HIGHWAYS.
Somerville began her town career with a meagre equipment : a pound, a valueless fire engine, a few cheap schoolhouses, and some poor roads, completing the list of her possessions.
Broadway and Washington Street were her oldest and principal high- ways. Milk Street (Somerville Avenue), from North Cambridge to Elm Street, was new ; from there to Bow Street it was part of the ancient "Charlestown Lane," thence to Union Square recent, and new from the Square to Medford Street, the different sections being laid out at various times.
In earlier times, Bow and Elm Streets were also parts of "Charlestown Lane." Prospect, Beacon and Main Streets, and Mystic Avenue, were all in existence in 1842. Franklin and Cross Streets were open, but the remaining Rangeways were narrow, and probably steep or otherwise impassable, or entirely closed. Sycamore and Temple Streets were private lanes. The former ran from Barberry Lane to the old Lee Headquarters, the latter from Broadway to Colonel Jaques' mansion. Newton Street, from Prospect, southerly, was the narrow and antique Brick Yard Lane, running, as its name says, to brickyards. A part of it, however, was one of the pre-revolu- tionary ways from Charlestown to Cambridge. Medford Street was also open from Broadway to East Cambridge. Barberry Lane was the " Middle Way " of a century ago. It was one rod and a half wide, and began at Cross Street, opposite the Universalist Church; thence it ran to Fosdick Square, which was where Medford Street and Highland Avenue now join, and thence to School Street, where the first section of it ended.
The Lowell Railroad cut this lane in two. Avon Place from Cross Street to the railroad was a part of it, and Chester Avenue another part; the re- mainder of it was widened to forty feet, and became "Church Street," part of the Highland Avenue of to-day. The second section of Barberry Lane
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SOMERVILLE, PAST AND PRESENT.
began at School Street about ten rods north of the first, and ran north- westerly to Central Street, where it ended ; it was long since abandoned.
'The growth of the town between 1842 and 1861 claimed the constantly increasing attention of the Selectmen to the improvement of the old, and the building of new streets. The Department of Highways during this pe- riod was carefully and economically managed ; streets were graded and macadamized, sidewalks built, gutters paved, street signs put up, etc. The fact that our soil was chiefly clay or clayey gravel, and our ledges mostly slate, both unsuitable material for heavy travel, rendered the task of good road making very difficult, so that notwithstanding their best efforts, our most traveled streets were at times beds of dust, or sloughs of mud. With a view to remedying this, a gravel bank was early purchased at Winchester, and gravel for our roads was brought over the railroad.
In 1851, a careful survey of the town was made, and in 1852 a map published by Martin Draper, Jr., who at that time was principal of the Prospect Hill Grammar School.
In 1859, the town voted to have a complete survey of its highways, which was begun shortly after, and finished in 1861. The survey embraced all the roadways then opened, public or private, and many prospective ones. It was carefully done, and granite posts were set to define and preserve the street lines.
When the town was incorporated, it consisted chiefly of farms, brick- yards and marshes. Some lands in East Somerville had been lotted and put on the market, but little if any elsewhere. Soon, however, there was great activity in real estate, so that by 1855, land valued in 1842 at only fifty or one hundred dollars an acre, had advanced to two or three thousand dollars per acre, and some to ten thousand; and flourishing settlements began, not only in East Somerville, but near Union Square and on Pros- pect, Spring and Winter Hills, each a little village of itself.
In 1842 the population was 1,013, in 1850, 3,524, and in 1860, 8,025 ; the valuation also increased from #988,513 in 1842, to $2,102,631 in 1850, and to $6,033,053 in 1860.
In its first year the town taxes were $5,007.08, in 1850, $16,956.22, in 1855, $27,701.46, and in 1860, $29,316.11 ; the tax rate per thousand being in 1842, $4.29 ; 1845, $3.60 ; 1850, $5.65 ; 1855, $6.40 ; 1860, $5.70.
The prosperity of the town is perhaps indicated by the fact that while in 1842 only two persons, Henry Hill and Charles Tufts, paid over one hundred dollars in taxes, in 1850, fifteen residents and seven non-residents paid taxes ranging from one hundred and one dollars to three hundred and thirty-nine dollars; and in 1860, thirty-seven residents and thirteen non-residents paid taxes ranging from one hundred and three dollars to five hundred and seven dollars each.
RAILROADS.
The Fitchburg Railroad, the successor to the Charlestown Branch (of the Lowell), incorporated in 1842, was opened to Waltham in 1843, and to
SHEPHARD S. WOODCOCK.
FRANK A. TEELE.
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SOMERVILLE, PAST AND PRESENT.
Fitchburg in 1845 ; its crooked route through Somerville was meanwhile straightened, and a few years after, it was extended to Boston, its terminus previously having been Charlestown. Until 1857 it crossed the Lowell at grade, but it was then lowered and the Lowell raised and bridged over it.
In 1851 the Vermont Central was finished, which gave continuous rail- road connection between Boston and Canada. The rejoicing over this event lasted several days. One feature of the celebration was a steam calliope, whose musical scream some of our older citizens probably remember.
The year 1845 saw the extension of the Boston and Maine through Somerville to Boston. This road was chartered in 1833 as the Andover and Wilmington, and was then a branch of the Lowell.
The Grand Junction Railroad was projected in 1849, and was built from the Eastern and Boston and Maine to the Fitchburg. It was opened in 1851, and later was extended across Cambridge and the Charles River to the Albany Railroad. After considerable litigation it passed, in 1869, into the control of the Albany, by reason of whose connection with the western railroads, the Grand Junction became the great feeder for European traffic. At this time there were no regular lines of steamers between Boston and foreign ports. They were soon established, however, and proved so successful that the number which cleared during the year 1880 was over three hundred, and Boston's exports increased proportionally.
The Eastern Railroad, which previously ran from Salem to deep water at East Boston, was extended through this town to Boston proper in 1854.
The Harvard Branch was another railroad built here before the war. It started from the Fitchburg near the Bleachery and ran to Harvard Square, the depot being near the junction of Kirkland Street and North Avenue. It was incorporated in 1848, but had a short life, having ceased running in 1851. Its entire equipment was a single passenger car, in one end of which was the locomotive, whose smoke-pipe, covered with a screen, peeped out above the roof, from which circumstance it was christened the " pepper-box," which it somewhat resembled.
These were all the railroads built in Somerville before the war ; others will be mentioned in a later chapter.
Previous to 1858 steam cars and omnibuses or " hourlies " were the only conveyances to Boston, but neither fully accommodated the public. This year two lines of horse railroads were opened into the town, one over Broadway to Winter Hill, the other up Washington Street to Union Square, and thence through Somerville Avenue (then Milk Street) and Elm Street to West Somerville. They were built along the sides of the streets, near the gutters, and were laid with sleepers and T-rail, like those of a steam road.
INDUSTRIES.
In 1842 the inhabitants of the town were chiefly employed in brick- making, farming and milk raising ; but "New times demand new manners and new men "; so after the "separation " advertisements were inserted in the Boston papers, calling the attention of mechanics and others to the in-
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SOMERVILLE, PAST AND PRESENT.
fant town. In 1845 it had added tinware, pumps, paint manufacturing and cigar making, and perhaps other trades, and in 1855, besides the foregoing, we find a long list of new industries, among the principal of which are rolling and spike mills, steam engines and boilers, brass tube works, glass works, vinegar works, steam planing mills, harness and trunk factory, curry- ing, a bakery and upholstery hair factory. This increase of trades and manufactures was probably due largely to the railroad facilities of the town.
A comparison of the products of a few of the principal industries of 1845 with those of 1855 show some of the changes wrought in a decade. Bricks made in 1845, 27,500,000 ; in 1855, 17,000,000 ; decrease, 10,500,000. Potatoes raised in 1845, 5,700 bushels; in 1855, 1,400 bushels; decrease, 4.300 bushels. Hay in 1845, 980 tons; in 1855, 630 tons ; decrease, 350 tons. Value of horses, cattle, etc., in 1845, $20,000 ; in 1855, $42,000. Cordage manufactured in 1845, 14 tons; in 1855, 54 tons. Cloth bleached or dyed in 1845, 4,500,000 yards ; in 1855, 21,600,000 yards. It will thus be seen that in this 'decade began the decline of brickmaking and farming, while manufacturing and kindred industries increased.
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