Standard history of Essex county, Massachusetts, embracing a history of the county from its first settlement to the present time, with a history and description of its towns and cities. The Most historic county of America., Part 73

Author: Tracy, Cyrus M. (Cyrus Mason), 1824-1891, et al. Edited by H. Wheatland
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Boston, C. F. Jewett
Number of Pages: 450

USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Standard history of Essex county, Massachusetts, embracing a history of the county from its first settlement to the present time, with a history and description of its towns and cities. The Most historic county of America. > Part 73

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Several of these have had years of service. Col. Philbrick had longest experience, and has since been a member of the State detect- ive force. Messrs. Perkins, Porter, O'Sullivan, and Batehelder have had great experience in various positions of police duty and manage- ment. Hon. E. R. Hayden advanced from patrolman to the marshal- ship and the mayor's chair.

General excitement prevailed at the time of the Know-Nothing disturbance in 1854, during the administration of Mayor Enoch Bart- lett. There was bitterness of feeling between native and foreign clements, engendered by political excitement. The sight of a small flag, union down, upon the dwelling of an ignorant citizen (who probably knew not what the flag symbolized, or its proper position), stirred the multitude to extravagant action. Hot-headed enthusiasts in the new order proenred a band, the few grew to hundreds following in procession, the unthinking joining in as they would have joined any mass of excited mnen. Naturally there was collision ; missiles were thrown and fire-arms discharged. Damage was done to a building on Common Street, near Newbury. The riot act was read and the crowd finally dispersed. Excitement was intense. Serious outbreak was feared. Nearly three hundred special police were sworn for duty,

including preachers, doctors, lawyers, and business men. There was no further disturbance ; even that wordy adventurer, Orr, known as the " Angel Gabriel," harangning crowds with passionate and foolish abuse of whole classes and sects without disturbance.

In 1875 a thoughtless crowd, not to be considered as representing any considerable element of the city's population, harassed a small band of Orangemen, returning from the celebration of the anniversary of the battle of the Boyne, at a quiet up-river picnic, on the 12th of July. There was collision and excitement, resulting in the throwing of stones, discharge of fire-arms, and the slight wounding of two persons. With these noted exceptions, unusual quiet and good order have been preserved.

The Act establishing a police court in the new town of Lawrence was passed April 5, 1848. A court had previously been held in a building near the corner of Turnpike and Common streets, Attorney Joseph Couch acting as trial justice. Afterwards, for many years, the court was held in what is now Needham Hall, corner of Essex and Appleton streets, and temporarily in other halls. Judge William Stevens, of Andover, was the first judge appointed under the Act. For twenty-eight years he held court, being active in season and out, always with a leaning towards mercy for the criminal, pity for the erring, and a firm endeavor to be just. In 1876, total blindness ren- dered his retirement necessary. He died January, 1878, aged sev- enty-eight years. This venerable man was as loyal and true as he was kind-hearted and genial. His disregard of arbitrary rules, laid down by exclusives, sometimes excited smiles, but are remembered to his credit now the good man has gone where good acts and inten- tions, not position or apparel, are passports to favor. He was original and positive in methods and action. His venerable appear- ance and urbane manner will be remembered by all with whom he came in contact. During the war he mourned the loss of two sons, given to defend the nation's honor ; yet his loyalty never wavered in the dark hours of defeat and loss.

In 1867 the commodious rooms and offices in the new police station building were occupied by the police court, and became the police headquarters. For years before this the small wooden lobby on Common Street, east of the court honse, and another on Elm Street, had been used, the marshal and assistants having an office at city hall.

Clerks of the police court have, of late years, been elected by the people, for a term of years. William H. Parsons, William H. P. Wright, Edgar J. Sherman, Henry L. Sherman, Charles E. Briggs, Jesse G. Gould, and Henry F. Hopkins have all had long service. The police as a body have been noted for efficiency, though sweeping changes follow cach turn of political fortune.

One case that puzzled officers and alarmed citizens, a few years sinec, will be remembered. In 1871, a series of burglaries were com- mitted in this region. The bold operators baffled the most skilful detectives. The robberies proved to be the act of one man - Carroll Sanborn, of Bristol, N. H., a criminal of peculiar characteristics. The " New York Times" sketched this exceptional character thus :

" There are peculiarities about this man's career that render it worthy of note. No confederate was admitted to share booty or betray con- fidence. He worked upon certain inflexible principles. All his opera- tions were conducted by night. During the day he was concealed. In summer he slept in the woods. In winter he found some out-of-the- way, deserted house wherein he could take up his quarters. He pur- sued housebreaking as a fine art. On one memorable night, he com- mitted seven robberies, - four at Methuen, and three at Haverhill, - each of the latter involving the forcible entry of a house, and got off in safety."

He was a skilled mechanic, an excellent workman. How he was captured by Patrolman Jeremiah F. Donnovan, and seriously wounded in the encounter ; how he died in Lawrence jail, a few months after, is well remembered. Guided by his revelations, Marshal Chase Phil- brick visited Albany, N. Y., and found secreted, under the pulpit of a city church, a museum of stolen articles, hidden there by this infatu- ated and erratic man. His rendezvous in this city was in an unoccu- pied cottage on West Haverhill Street.

The robbery of the dry-goods store of William A. Balcom, in the winter of 1866, of a large quantity of silk, and the arrest of William HI. Chase and wife, old citizens, with other parties, nearly a year after the theft, in Vincland, N. J., where he had removed, caused much excitement and a wide-spread interest, the principal being fully con- victed.

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

CHAPTER VII.

PUBLIC WORKS AND PUBLIC PROPERTY.

BUILDINGS - PARKS - WATER - WORKS - CEMETERIES - STREETS SHADE-TREES - SANITARY PROVISIONS.

Action was taken, in 1848, for the erection of both the city hall and the old high-school building. There was unanimity regarding the location of the school-house ; but contention. even to bitterness, re- garding the city hall. It was once voted to build on the south-east corner of Common and Lawrenee streets, but it was finally voted. " That the town house be located on the west side of Appleton Street." Many citizens favored Jackson Terrace as a better site. Hezekiah Plummer, William M. Kimball. Charles H. Bigelow, and J. M. Stone were the committee in charge of building. Charles Bean was employed as the mechanic in charge.

The plans of Ammi B. Young, of Boston, were accepted. In com- mittee, it was voted " That the architect be required to give bonds in the sum of three thousand dollars that the total cost of the building shall not exceed $30,000, ineluding bell and clock," that sum being raised by loan. The contemplated arrangement at one time was a basement of brick. The granite foundation-story adopted, was raised some two and one-half feet higher than the first design.

Proposals for building were opened Aug. 12, 1848. Cook. Stetson & Mair, of Boston, were awarded the contract for $27,385. The completed hall was dedicated Dec. 10, 1849, and there was a brilliant opening ball. The hall has been a place for political gatherings, lec- tures, concerts, theatrical performances, fairs, dancing parties, and the cradle of newly-formed churches, it being the only spacious hall in the city for years. The county courts were also held here for a time before the erection of the court-house. In 1860, a gale of wind threatened to demolish the great tower of wood, moving it bodily upon the brick walls. It was set back, strengthened, and secured in posi- tion. The great gilt eagle, surmounting the tower, was designed and made by John M. Smith, one of the selectmen for 1848. The spread of wings from tip to tip is 173 feet, length in line from end of benk to end of tail, 10 feet 2 inches, diameter of body, 2 feet 2 inches. The bell cost $1,000. There was not a church-bell in the city for years, and this rang the hour of church service for all sects and orders. It called the children to school, and, until completion of the fire- alarm, in 1869, it was rung for alarms of fire. It has tolled the fin- ished years of many an old resident, and voiced the patriotism of a generation on jubilation days.

There was a wonderful echo in the hall, in early days, tossing the words of a sharp-voiced speaker, or singer, in upper air, like lost spirits compelled to wander in space. A thoughtful mayor at last smothered the echo in drapery, hanging the walls with damask, thus deadening reverberations and relieving the dismal barrenness of the walls by bits of color. In 1872, the hall was renovated, frescoed, galleries built, new stage, scenery, method of lighting, &c., provided. In 1877, stairways and entrances were improved and fire-escapes pro- vided.

The court-house was erected in 1858-59, after natural opposition from the older parts of the county. The Essex Company gave the land, the city building the foundations, the county erecting the build- ing. Hon. James K. Barker was the architect. Ebenezer B. Currier, as a representative and one of the board of county commissioners, was instrumental in removing the criminal court from Ipswich to Lawrence and in securing permanent county buildings against opposition. In the great fire of 1859, this building, just completed, was burned, the blackened brick walls only standing. It was rebuilt in 1860.

The jail and house of correction was built in 1853, and has since been very much enlarged by additions and improvements. The origi- nal structure cost about $100,000, and large appropriations have been expended for enlargement and changes. The location is nearly a mile distant from other public buildings, on the banks of Spicket River. The town purchased the site for the sum of $2,000; and also an acre of land, fronting the buildings, laid ont as a park, for the sum of $1,280. This reserve is enclosed by a permanent iron fence. Horatio G. Herrick, the gentlemanly and efficient high sheriff, has charge of the prison, which is deemed a model of neatness, and the management is conceded to be careful and judicious. James Cary, Esq., and Thomas E. Payson (deceased), were the predecessors of Sheriff Her- rick, and are credited with faithful service.

Parks. - The common, at the very heart of the city, is an enclosed area of seventeen and one-half acres, slightly elevated, and rolling, crossed by scores of permanent walks. A circular pond. surrounded by a cemented granite wall, supplied with water from the water-works. and hundreds of gold-fish thriving wondrously, adds greatly to the beauty of this reserve.

Ground was broken for this pond August, 1857. all classes turn- ing out to assist. Preacher, teacher, physician, and laborer handled the spade with equal zeal, if not with equal effect. City hall, court-house. high and grammar school buildings. seven Protestant churches, with the dwellings of prominent wealthy citizens, make up a most attractive surrounding for this public ground. The Essex Company proffered this reserve to the city in October, 1848. a gift for public use as a pleasure-ground. subject to wise conditions as to management and enclosure, requiring an outlay of $300 each year for a term of twenty years. Sept. 23, 1848, the inhab- itants, in town-meeting, refused to accept the gift with conditions imposed ; but sober second thought was best, and, October 7th fol- lowing, the people voted nearly unanimously to accept it upon the conditions named. In 1874-75, old fences were removed, and this common was surrounded by a granite base, durable and neat, but inexpensive.

In ward one, on the highlands of Prospect Hill, is the reserve of ten acres known as Storrow Park, likewise the gift of the Essex Company. The deed bears date Dee. 3. 1853. Much of this reserve is covered with a natural growth of oak. The site overlooks the city

By deed of Nov. 19. 1873, the Essex Company made a still further gift of the tract of seven acres, enclosed on three sides by low ridges, lying in ward five, south of Bodwell Street, and known as "The Amphitheatre." The conditions of the grant require the city to ap- propriate at least $200 per year, for the term of ten years, in improv- ing and embellishing the grounds, and forever to keep the same as a public park. Added to these. the Essex Company have Union Park (11} acres), in ward six, south of Merrimac. covered with a natural growth of forest trees. It will soon be surrounded by fine residences. There is also a public reserve of an acre by Lawrence jail.

Water- Works. - The " Lawrence Aqueduct Company " was chartered in 1848. John Tennev. of Methuen, Alfred Kittredge. of Haverhill, and Daniel Saunders. of Lawrence, with associates, forming the cor- poration. Their project of bringing water from Haggett's Pond was found impracticable. The authorized capital of the company was only $50,000. The projectors based calculations upon the estimated use of eighteen gallons per day by each consumer. Experience shows that a supply of three and four times that quantity must be provided to cover use, waste, and leakage.

In 1851, Bay State Mills and Essex Company, sharing expenses, built a reservoir of 1,000.000 gallons capacity, on Prospect Hill.

Water, in this reservoir. raised by pumping through tested iron pipes, has been kept at a level of about 152 feet above crest of the dam. The property was afterwards owned and operated by asso- ciated corporations - forming the Lawrence Reservoir Association, each company having its own system of distribution pipes.

For twenty-four years, pipes and hydrants in corporation yards and principal business streets were supplied from this reservoir. The common pond was also filled from this source.

In 1871-72, the project of building publie water-works was agitated. A petition signed by Henry Barton and eighteen leading citizens was presented to the city council, asking for immediate action. The re- sult was that a joint special committee reported as their mature con- clusions. that supply must be taken from Merrimac River, rather than from any pond in adjacent towns.

The city council petitioned the Legislature for the passage of "An Act to supply the City of Lawrence with water." This Act was ap- proved March 8, 1872, by Gov. William B. Washburn. The Act provided for the appointment of three commissioners to be elected by the city council in convention, each for three years' service. They were to execute. superintend, and direct work done by authority of the Act, or subsequent Acts.

Legal voters approved of this Act, May, 1872, by 1,298 yeas to 830 nays. In June, 1872, a joint special committee on water was appointed, viz., James Payne and James A. Treat. aldermen, and Lorenzo D. Sargent, Henry J. Couch, and George W. Russell, from the common council. James Payne, Esq., was chairman. and L. Fred. Rice, of Boston, was the engineer consulted. An exhaustive report was made, and April 18. 1873, an ordinance providing for the eleetion and defining the duties of water commissioners was passed.

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

221

On the 8th of May following, William Barbour (chairman), Patrick Murphy (clerk), and Morris Knowles were elected commissioners. Walter F. MeConnell acted as chief engineer, James P. Kirkwood, Esq., of Brooklyn, N. Y., was consulting engineer.

The permanent brick pumping-station is three-quarters of a mile above Essex Company's dam. Two pumping engines, Leavitt's patent, made by I. P. Morris & Co., Philadelphia - overhead beam engines with compound cylinders and capacity of 200,000 gallons per hour cach (run at a speed of sixteen revolutions per minute), massive machines, symmetrical in design - force the water from Merrimac River to the Reservoir on Bodwell's Hill, a little more than a mile from the business centre, through a force main pipe of thirty inches diameter, five thousand feet long.

The reservoir has a capacity of 39,000,000 gallons, is constructed in two divisions, admitting of draining off either basin for repairs or cleansing, using the other meanwhile.

Distribution is entirely through cast-iron pipes. The main pipe laid in Haverhill Street is thirty inches interior diameter at commence- ment, decreasing gradually to ten inches until it joins the ten-inch main in Prospect Street, nearly two miles distant from the reservoir.

From this distributing main, running nearly due east, pipes diverge laterally, of eight inches diameter, connected by pipes of six inches diameter in cross streets. Broadway, Salem, Prospeet, Springfield, Union, and Oxford streets, have each twelve-inch distribution pipes. Canal, Shattuck, and Lawrence streets have twelve-inch mains in part. The Oxford Street pipe is extended with flexible socket-joints across Merrimac River by sinking pipes in still waters above the dam. The Water Street main (twenty-inch) pipe, may be used for supplying the city direct.

For the extinguishing of fires about 450 hydrants of the Lowry patent are in use, protecting all important points, excepting highest hills. With the efficient fire department, the city now has unsur- passed protection against fire, especially for great manufacturing estab- lishments, where immense values are crowded upon small areas.

In the fall of 1875, the ordinance establishing rates and regulating permanent management of water-works was passed. The five mem- bers of the board, Milton Bonney, Robert H. Tewksbury, Nathaniel P. II. Melvin, William Barbour, and James Payne, assumed control May 8, 1876. Mr. Melvin was chairman in 1876 ; he resigning, Mr. Bonney succeeded him. One member retires each year. Albert R. Field and David T. Porter are the new members. Henry W. Rogers is superintendent of the works, and George G. Durrell, registrar.

The bonded debt incurred for the building of the works is $1,300,000. The interest on these and other claims paid or payable from tax and revenues, increases the cost to nearly one million and a half of dollars. The length of pipe laid to date (1878) is about thirty-eight miles ; the number of families supplied about five thousand, averaging five persons for each family. Supply is also given to corporations and small manufacturers, at reasonable prices.

Cemeteries. - Bellevue Cemetery comprised at first but five acres. This nucleus was purchased in 1847. Additions have been made from time to time, until some thirty-five acres are enclosed. At a town- meeting, May 24, 1847, the selectmen were authorized "to fence and lay out the cemetery land, and put iron rings and staples in the fence for tying of horses." Soon after this it was voted "to authorize the selectmen to purchase a burial cloth." Smallest details of expen- diture seem to have been authorized by vote of the people.

John M. Smith, one of the seleetmen in 1848, laid out the first lots ; R. M. Copeland and Baldwin Coolidge made subsequent surveys. A family burial-lot was at first sold as low as three dollars. So rapidly have lots been disposed of at greatly advanced prices that, in 1877, a

tract of 8959 106 acres, lying in North Andover, just beyond city limits on Salem Turnpike, was purchased at a cost of $6,000, for burial purposes. The land surrounds Den Rock (a peculiar ledge), and may be made very attractive. The cemeteries of the Catholic churches have been purchased and beautified at their own cost. That of the Church of the Immaculate Conception lies mostly in Methuen, on May Street. The cemeteries of St. Mary's Church (old and new ) lie west of Bellevue Cemetery, and comprise an extensive tract where general improvements have been made and projected.

Streets. - The streets are very regular in direction, mainly of fifty feet width. Broadway and South Union, with Salem Turnpike, are sixty-six feet wide. Essex Street, and a part of Salem Street, are eighty feet wide ; Common, West Essex, Haverhill, Lawrence, Apple- ton, Parker, and parts of Jackson, Osgood, and Exeter streets, are sixty feet wide.

On streets about the common, the larger part of Essex Street, and

some other localitics, restrictions as to use of lands have saved those sections to buildings of a substantial class, both permanent and orna- mental.

For paving, small granite blocks are exclusively used. Lack of good road-building material is a serious want. The streets are under the care of a street commissioner and a committee of the city govern- ment. The commissioners have been Harrison G. Howe, Phineas M. Gage, James M. Floyd, Amos Piersons, Levi H. Carter, John L. Hutchinson, William L. Carter, Lorenzo F. Smith, Chase Philbrick, Simon Blakelin, Humphrey Desmond, Frederick Gilman, Charles E. Hall.

Shade-Trees. - The luxuriant growth of elms and maples on the common and principal streets is a subject of remark. Twenty- five years ago the plain was as bare of shade as it could well be. Many of the elms on the common were planted under the direction of Levi Sprague, Esq., in 1851-52. It was thought by some to be labor lost, that the soil would not mature forest-trees, but they now arch the wide paths with green. The Essex Company set trees upon most of the streets. Trees upon Lawrence Street were set in 1856. Gen. Henry K. Oliver, as one of the managers of the common, was instrumental in setting many of the trees. Lindens proved a failure upon the com- mon, and have been replaced by rock maples. With the general planting, and the unlooked-for thrift of hardiest forest-trees, another quarter century will make the city a rival, in that respect, of the " forest cities,"-New Haven and Portland.

Sanitary Provisions. - The most advanced policy for securing clean- liness, and for sanitary care, was adopted by pioneer corporations. Great expense was incurred for sewerage. The report of the State sanitary commission, 1852, states that $30,000 was expended by the Bay State Mills for sewerage alone. The Pioneer Land Company built expensive sewers for eentral wards. The other companies adopt- ed the same policy as the Bay State Mills. A head of pure water con- stantly flows through the corporation drains, carrying every impurity at once to the rapidly flowing river. Strict rules regarding late hours, improper habits, ventilation, care of sick, and prevention of fire, are enforced. Stagnant water in ungraded sections, and lack of definite municipal action, in the early years, left some localities, outside of corporation limits, like Cologne of old, where-

" Two and seventy stenches All well defined "

might be detected, with " several smells," but, gradually, the sanitary condition has been improved, sewerage extended, salutary rules adopted, and a board of health established. The city will now com- pare favorably with towns of the same class as regards cleanliness and sanitary care.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE INDUSTRIAL RECORD.

CORPORATIONS AND MILLS - SUCCESSFUL AND UNSUCCESSFUL ENTER- PRISES - SPECIALTIES OF MANUFACTURE - GENERAL INDUSTRIES - PAPER MAKING.

" With cotton, wool, fax, iron, and clay, time, intellect, aud exertion, are wronght in fabries, cast in mouhls, modelled in forms of beauty, and sold in markets. The sub- stantial and the intangible are both represented in products of looms and creations of art."

The city is eminently an industrial centre. The specialties in manufacture are textile fabrics of nearly every grade made from wool and cotton. There is virtually no leisure or non-producing class. Citizens boast rather of the industrious habit than of the hoarded wealth of the people. The leading industries of the city were estab- lished by a few prominent corporations. The pioneer was

The Essex Company. - There was a vast amount of labor per- formed and expense incurred by this corporation, beyond the work and cost of building the dam, canals, and streets, or fitting lands for habitation. In connection with the proprietors of locks and canals at Lowell, this company purchased rights and built dams at Winnipe- saukee and surrounding lakes, in New Hampshire, designing to secure the average, instead of minimum power, at cost, divided between the two companies, of more than half a million of dollars.

Others could not be expected to invest heavily in the new city, unless the Water Power Company showed their faith by their works ;

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

and they built, equipped, and for three years operated the Great Machine Shop, with the foundry and forge shops, all of stone ; also built fifty brick dwellings. a large boarding-house, superintendent's and engineer's houses, and expensive improvements in deepening and straightening Spicket River from Machine-shop raceway to its mouth. Protection from fire must be guaranteed, and at the joint cost of this company and Bay State Mills the Prospect Hill reservoir was built and connected with a system of pipage. Andover Bridge was pur- chased and repaired ; a fine brick hotel, the Franklin House, was erected ; gas-works were needed, and this company, joining with the Bay State Mills, built the first works; the lumber dock, on Water Street, was excavated, and lumber manufactured at their steam saw-mills in Essex Yard and sold in immense quantities. In the loft of the machine-shop a full set of worsted machinery was set, and operated experimentally - the first attempt to develop that since important and growing industry in this city. Flumes, raceways, wheel-pits, and protecting walls were built, at great cost, at the central mill-site, which formed a part of the location purchased by the Atlantic Cotton Mills. In consequence of the change of plans by the Atlantic Com- pany, hereafter mentioned, this portion of their site was no longer needed for their purposes. It was resumed by the Essex Company, and was eventually sold to the Pacific Mills, by whom it is now occupied.

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Standard history of Essex county, Massachusetts, embracing a history of the county from its first settlement to the present time, with a history and description of its towns and cities. The Most historic county of America., Part 73

Author: Tracy, Cyrus M. (Cyrus Mason), 1824-1891, et al. Edited by H. Wheatland Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Boston, C. F. Jewett Number of Pages: 450

Author: Tracy, Cyrus M. (Cyrus Mason), 1824-1891, et al. Edited by H. Wheatland
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Boston, C. F. Jewett
Number of Pages: 450