USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Newton > Tercentenary history of Newton, 1630-1930 > Part 10
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
119
BROADENING HORIZONS
War the institution became a national bank under the terms of the federal law. In ten years deposits rose from twelve to forty-seven thousand, and paper discounted from one hundred ninety-three thousand dollars to two hundred eighty-four thousand dollars.
Meantime population was increasing along the line of the railroad on the north side of town. In 1840 the whole town had a population of only 3,351. The hamlet at the Corner was still made up of two or three stores and a few houses, but estates were being cut up into house lots for persons who were attracted to the suburbs. In 1844 Wil- liam Jackson developed Waban Park, and William Ken- rick sold forty lots at auction on a June day in 1845 in the process of opening up Kenrick Park. The same year saw the organization of the Eliot Church.
In 1846 Gardner Colby bought the land opposite the old cemetery, and created one of the beautiful estates for which Newton became famous. Colby was a Maine boy who had a humble start in life, but came to Boston and built up a successful business in dry goods, first as a retail ยท merchant and then as an importer. With his neighbor, J. Wiley Edmands, he owned the Maverick Mills in Ded- ham, and each made his fortune while still in middle life. He was a generous benefactor of Baptist missions and edu- cational institutions, and one of the principal supporters of the Baptist church in the village. In later life he was the mainstay of the Wisconsin Central Railroad. Edmands came to Newton a year later than Colby, and developed a similar estate on the other side of Centre Street north of the cemetery. He had the advantage of birth in Boston and an initiation into business by the noted firm of Amos and Abbott Lawrence. He advanced rapidly until he be- came treasurer and successful promoter of the Pacific Mills of Lawrence. During his thirty years' residence in New- ton he was representative to Congress for a term, and
I20
HISTORY OF NEWTON
chairman of the Republican convention at Boston which nominated Grant for the presidency in 1868. In his own town he contributed twenty thousand dollars to the funds of the Newton Free Library and was president of the organ- ization. Such men as these were finding Newton a good place to sleep in after strenuous days of business activity, and they contributed to the reputation of the town outside.
The home of General Hull made Newtonville known to the public. That hamlet began to have a designation of its own when John Bullough put up a small grain store- house at the railroad crossing in 1842, and a few passen- gers boarded the train at the flag station of Hull's Cross- ing. Most of the growth of the village came subsequently when the high school was located there, and Newtonville was rival of West Newton for possession of the town hall. It had a natural advantage in its central position among the other villages of the town. In stagecoach days that fact accounted for the visit of more than a score of stages on their regular trips.
West Newton received its fillip of growth when Horace Mann brought the State Normal School to the town in 1844. Up to that time it was merely Squash End to those who remembered a battle of local interests with Newton Centre in a certain squash field. Many families settled near the institution and its model school, which was started in 1848 in the West Parish meetinghouse, recently sold to the town. Among the new residents were Nathaniel T. Allen and Reverend Cyrus Peirce, connected with the school, William Parker, the superintendent of the Boston and Worcester Railroad, E. S. Cheeseborough and W. S. Whit- well, famous engineers, Reverend Joseph S. Clark, D.D., the secretary of the Massachusetts Home Mission Society of the Congregationalists, and Reverend Lyman Gilbert, D.D., who succeeded Reverend William Greenough after a ministry of half a century to the West Parish. A revival
I21
BROADENING HORIZONS
of religion was enjoyed by the church in 1831, and Dr. Gilbert served the church for a quarter of a century until 1856.
Widely known in literary circles were Nathaniel Haw- thorne, Catherine Beecher, Elizabeth P. Peabody and Celia Thaxter, all of them living in or near that part of town. Such men and women as these were among the sup- porters of the new Unitarian church. In 1847 a group of Gothic cottages near the home of Nathaniel Allen testified to the growth of the village. Yet West Newton as late as 1855 had only four accepted streets south of the railroad track: Chestnut, Orange, now Highland, Prospect and Pleasant. There were about thirty houses, a silk lace factory on Margin Street, and a stocking factory in Web- ster Park. The houses were more numerous on the north side of the railroad.
Auburndale remained almost unknown until after 1840. It was admired for its beautiful setting by the curve of the river, but no falls encouraged industry and it was at the west end of town. William Robinson had included most of it in his farm of two hundred acres in the seventeenth century, and in Revolutionary days John Pigeon lived there. His son, Henry Pigeon, owned one hundred and fifty acres in Auburndale. Reverend Charles D. Pigeon of the same family, at the suggestion of Rev- erend Lyman Gilbert of West Newton, had started an interest in a local settlement and persuaded the railroad company to stop certain of its trains there in 1847. It was Pigeon's sentiment that suggested the name Auburndale.
These happenings aroused William Jackson to more deals in real estate. In 1848 he organized a company, plotted the available land with the necessary streets, and speedily sold house lots to many new families. Pigeon bought up the district of Riverside. Reverend J. E. Wood- bridge acquired large parcels of land, and later engaged in
I22
HISTORY OF NEWTON
educational enterprises in the village. Other ministers found the village a delightful place for a home, including Reverend Isaac R. Worcester, editor of the Missionary Herald of the Congregationalists for nearly a quarter of a century. Soon the village was popularly known as Saints' Rest. These ministerial promoters were seconded by J. L. Partridge, Charles H. Johnson, and J. J. Walworth, until by 1850 the village was on its feet financially, ready for its own Congregational church and for the inauguration of Lasell Seminary a year later. Its opportunities for good society and comfortable residence, for the education of children and their enjoyment of the river, and its access to Boston, were inducements to settlement, and it soon be- came one of the most rapidly growing villages of Newton. Its social life provided sewing circles and teas, horseback and buggy rides, skating and coasting, boating and pic- nics, musical gatherings, and an occasional wedding. In 1857 the village had a Rural Club, which like the Newton Centre Tree Club encouraged the planting of trees and the cultivation of gardens. An Auburndale Book Club was organized early in the 'sixties with seventeen men as mem- bers. It bought books which it turned over later to the Newton Library, and staged many lively discussions at club meetings.
V MEETING COMMUNITY RESPONSIBILITIES
THE emergence of villages out of open country about the middle of the nineteenth century was changing New- ton from a rural to a small town state of mind. At the same time the influx of a class of people who found it pleasant to commute daily to and from Boston kept the town mind from becoming provincial. Many of those who were buying homes were well-to-do in business or were professional people of education and refinement, and such people attracted others of their kind. The growing vil- lages therefore did not have much of the raw, unkempt aspect which seems characteristic of the new suburb. Most of those who came to Newton took pride in their gardens and lawns, their orchards and shade trees. Places like the Peck estate on Institution Hill and the Hunnewell estate near Newton Corner had winding avenues as approaches to their houses, well shaded with a variety of trees and beautified with shrubs and flowering plants. Men of pub- lic spirit planted elms along the highways, which now were becoming streets between or in villages rather than coun- try roads or turnpikes.
Village psychology was different from rural in other respects also. Greater care in personal appearance was seen when people met frequently on the streets or at the store. The hayfield and barnyard were less in evidence. Arthur Keefe of Newton Corner was fined in 1866 for pasturing cattle in the streets. With the passing of the old distinctive costumes of the old-time gentleman and lady and the growth of democracy even in New England, there was less of the old class distinction of birth, less regard for
123
124
HISTORY OF NEWTON
ecclesiastical and military titles, less deference to minister and schoolmaster; enhanced respect was given to men of affairs, and the successful manufacturer or banker was becoming the aristocrat. He might live in the country, but there was a vast difference between the country estate of the Boston business man and the farmyard of the dirt farmer. The men who made their money in the city enjoyed breeding fancy stock and experimenting with rare plants and fruits. It was such men as they who organized the Newton Horticultural Society in 1854 and the Jersey Stock Club in 1866.
The Horticultural Society was due in the first place to the interest of a number of young men in Newton Centre in the subjects of agriculture and horticulture. They were accustomed to gather at one another's houses to discuss the best varieties of seeds and fruit and the best methods of cultivation. In the winter they made more of the fea- ture of sociability and provided refreshments. The first annual meeting was held in Lyceum Hall in October, 1854. The Society broadened its discussions to include insect pests and the economic value of birds. An annual exhibi- tion was an attractive feature. In 1865 the Society decided to admit women as members, and from that time the annual exhibits were comparable to those of the county fairs. Men like James F. C. Hyde, Henry Ross, and George K. and John Ward gave it their hearty support and bore the responsibilities of leadership. In 1868 a committee of the Society undertook to cultivate experimentally certain seeds, plants, and vegetables for distribution to club mem- bers. Subsequently for several years the United States Agricultural Bureau distributed seeds to the people of Newton through the Society. In some respects it served the purpose of the later village improvement societies, for it was interested in the beautification of streets and grounds, and to that end advocated the removal of fences
MEETING COMMUNITY RESPONSIBILITIES 125
about residences, keeping grounds trim, and planting trees. For many years the Society held a prominent place in the attention of the whole town.
The Jersey Stock Club was organized for the specific purpose of encouraging the breeding of fancy cattle. It was formed among a few gentlemen farmers with the inten- tion of importing high-grade Jerseys and Alderneys. Pool- ing the expense, the members of the Club bought blooded Jersey bulls and held annual exhibitions of stock, like the Horticultural Society. The public interest became larger than was anticipated, and the membership became too large to suit the original purpose of the organization. It was therefore dissolved in 1870. But having squeezed out the crowd, a select few reorganized and resumed their meetings. The number of members was limited to twenty, with such leading citizens as William Claflin, Isaac T. Burr, N. P. Coburn, E. W. Converse, J. Wiley Edmands, David H. Mason, James T. Allen, and George C. Rand.
Such organizations as these were evidences of a grow- ing sense of common interests and of the value of associ- ation. The quarter century before Newton became a city was marked by the organization of a number of clubs and societies, as this social sense deepened and village growth made association possible. Newton was outgrowing its rural character, and coming to realize the value of culture, both intellectual and spiritual. The town advanced rapidly from one of the backward towns in the state to one of the leaders in educational methods and facilities. The multiplication of churches was a testimony to the peren- nial interest in religion and to the growth of village con- sciousness, for each particular denominational group wished to be represented by a church in its own village. Fourteen new churches were organized in the two decades after 1860, almost twice as many as in the two hundred years since the beginning of the town. It is indicative of
I26
HISTORY OF NEWTON
the interest in the churches that the Newton newspapers during their first years of publication gave more space to news of their activities than to any other topic.
Newton Corner was destined to become the most populous of the cluster of villages, but it was slow in its development until about the middle of the century. As late as 1856 only two houses stood on Mount Ida, and the only churches in the village were the Eliot and the Chan- ning churches. The Nonantum House and one or two halls were the other principal public buildings. But within another decade many changes took place. The war created a stir in the village, and was an unsettling factor, for some men went out never to return and their families scattered. New residents were moving in as Boston became more crowded. New houses were building and new streets were opened through old estates and farms. In spite of the occasional gloom that spread over the village when news came of a terrible battle, the end of the war came at last, and afterward the band played in the Square on summer evenings through the generosity of patrons of the hotel. Lyceum lectures were popular in winter, and were featured in the columns of the Newton Journal. In one number of the paper Marshall S. Rice published a forecast of what Newton would be like in 1917, an evidence of the realiza- tion that the town was changing.
The creation of the Eliot Church encouraged other denominational groups to organize. In the decade of the war Baptist, Unitarian, Episcopal, and Methodist churches were formed.
Unitarianism had permeated the Congregational churches of eastern Massachusetts and created a division among them. The American Unitarian Association, organ- ized in 1825, had crystallized the resulting Unitarian churches into a denomination. But no Unitarian church had been formed in the town of Newton before 1848. The
MEETING COMMUNITY RESPONSIBILITIES 127
temper of the Newton people seems to have been conserv- ative in religion as in other matters. But as the end of the half century approached liberal sentiment found expres- sion in the villages of Newton and West Newton.
As usually happened, a Sunday school preceded the organization of the Channing Church, but early in 1853 twenty-seven men and women joined in a church cove- nant and declaration of faith, in which they declared their belief in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, and agreed to cooperate in the study and practice of Christianity. The building which was erected for worship was struck by lightning four years later, but was repaired. In 1867 it was enlarged materially, and in 1882 the stately structure of the present day was constructed. Channing Church be- came recognized as one of the leading Unitarian churches of Greater Boston, and its ministers took an active interest in town affairs. The first of them, Reverend James C. Smith, remained four years, and was followed by Rev- erend Edward J. Young. His stay was lengthened to twelve years, when he resigned to become a member of the faculty of Harvard College. The next decade was divided between Reverend Eli Fay, 1870-73, and Reverend George W. Hosmer, 1873-79.
As Channing Church represented a liberal attitude in religion, so Grace Episcopal Church stood for the ancient forms of worship and doctrine conserved by the fathers of the Church of England. Grace Church was the second Episcopal church to be formed in town. St. Mary's at Lower Falls had served the people of that vicinity, and any families at the northeast end of town could find their way to Boston, Cambridge or Waltham, but a few persons, with the addition of a small company of English people from Nonantum, were organized into a parish in 1855 with the generous assistance of Reverend John S. C. Greene, who presently became their minister. A chapel was built
I28
HISTORY OF NEWTON
on Washington Street, and occupied for fifteen years. The parish grew in numbers and in strength, many were ambi- tious for a church of beauty and distinction, and in 1873, nine years before Channing Church erected its stone struc- ture, Grace Church was housed in its beautiful edifice on Eldredge Street. It was much the most pretentious church building in the village, but for fourteen years the organiza- tion was burdened with debt.
Neither orthodox nor Unitarian Congregationalism satisfied the non-Episcopalians of the village of Newton. Some persons who were moving into town liked best the more aggressively evangelical type of Baptists and Meth- odists. These two denominations had passed all other Protestant denominations in their number of members, and they were represented in all parts of the country.
In 1860 the present Immanuel Baptist Church was organized as the Newton Corner Baptist Church after a tentative experiment of services in a hall. Twenty-six persons associated themselves at the beginning, called Reverend Gilbert Robbins as pastor, and within four years had built a church edifice at the corner of Washington and Hovey Streets, close by the cradles of both Channing Church and Grace Church. In digging the cellar Indian relics were unearthed, which made it seem probable that the workmen had happened upon an Indian burying ground. The first minister was followed by Reverend J. D. Chaplin in 1862. He remained three years and in turn was followed by Reverend J. Tucker for five years. Up to that time about two hundred and forty persons had been re- ceived into the church, and about one hundred and forty members were enrolled.
By 1864 the Methodists were ready to perfect their organization. Four years earlier a church at Newtonville had developed out of a Methodist class meeting, and now it was voted by a similar class at Newton that "the cause
MEETING COMMUNITY RESPONSIBILITIES 129
of Christ and Methodism called for a church at Newton Corner, and it was deemed prudential and best that a soci- ety be formed if the consent of the New England Con- ference could be obtained." Twenty-four persons consti- tuted the initial membership. Reverend J. C. Cronach preached to them for a few months in Union Hall, then Reverend G. W. Lewis was pastor for two years, to be fol- lowed in 1867-70 by Reverend C. S. Rogers. After Union Hall was sold the Methodists worshipped in the Unitarian and Baptist churches until they were able to dedicate a chapel in 1869 at a cost of twelve thousand five hundred dollars. Reverend S. F. Jones was the minister from 1870 to 1873, and by the close of his pastorate the church num- bered one hundred and thirteen members.
When the first half of the nineteenth century was over no church had been organized at Newtonville. A number of Baptists living near by thought that it was a good time to bring a church of their own faith into existence, although Baptist churches were already at Newton Centre and Upper Falls. Sixteen persons constituted the new church when it was formed in 1853. A minister already had been selected, and a brick building was started near the railroad station, but discouragement soon set in, the necessary funds were not forthcoming, and the proposition of com- pleting a meetinghouse in Newtonville was abandoned. Later on the Methodists took over the building and com- pleted it, and the Baptists decided in 1866 to locate in West Newton. The Methodists started in a small way, holding church services in a piano wareroom and then in Tremont Hall, and afterward in a chapel which stood on the site of the Central Congregational Church. An organi- zation was effected in 1860 with twenty-four constituent members. Twelve were added the first year, and the church was courageous enough to buy and complete the brick church near the railroad.
130
HISTORY OF NEWTON
The Central Congregational Church grew out of a cottage prayer meeting. It took form in 1868 with the union in covenant of thirty-six persons, and the Methodist chapel was purchased by a few of the promoters. An invi- tation was extended to Reverend J. B. Clark, a young minister in Yarmouth, to become the first pastor. The women of the church resorted to a fair to raise the money for a church organ and realized over six hundred dollars. The church soon increased in membership and it was neces- sary to enlarge the building. By that time the Sunday school had reached the figure of one hundred and eighty. Thus Congregationalism in Newtonville was launched successfully.
Two other churches were formed in Newtonville before Newton became a city. The pioneer among them was the Church of the New Jerusalem. A few Swedenborgian resi- dents started a Sunday school, and occasional church serv- ices were held about 1850 and afterward. At length in 1869 twenty-nine persons organized a church and completed a chapel on Highland Avenue. Within ten years the church had reached a membership of sixty-three, and was in- trenched strongly in the community under the leadership of Reverend John Worcester, who remained the only pastor for many years. It was in 1872 that a Universalist Society was formed, and the next year a stone structure was completed for the meetinghouse on Washington Park, at an expense of about twenty thousand dollars. The church was fortunate in its first minister, Reverend J. Cole- man Adams, who afterwards became one of the leading Universalist ministers of the country. Several persons belonged to the church who were able and willing to finance the enterprise, and though the church never became large in membership, it continued to have an appreciable influ- ence in the community.
The North village of Newton, which bore the old In-
MEETING COMMUNITY RESPONSIBILITIES 131
dian name of Nonantum, shared in the prosperity of the industries which were located there, but the people were at a distance from the churches of the town. Samuel E. Lowry of the Eliot Church, Newton, a young business man, interested a few persons to start a Sunday school at Bemis Station in 1861. The next year he had raised money enough to build a chapel, which was enlarged three years later. In 1866 a church was organized; fifteen of the members were released from the Eliot Church and eight from other churches. Lowry, who had been studying for the ministry, was ordained and installed as pastor of the church. He won the assistance of Thomas Dalby, the manufacturer, who gave land near the factory for a church structure, and the present church edifice was constructed in 1873 to re- place the chapel which had been burned. For eleven years more the energetic, lovable pastor was able to build him- self and his church into the hearts of the people and the life of the industrial community, but in 1884 he died.
At West Newton the West Parish Church, whose organization dated from 1781, had the prestige of age and respectability. It was only quite recently that the village had begun to grow. When the aged dominie, William Greenough, had died in 1831, there were only sixty houses in the village, but there were twenty drunkards and as many more of doubtful reputation. The people were still bucolic, with no lawyer or physician in their midst. Only fifty persons belonged to the parish church, and they could pay only six hundred dollars for the minister's salary. But the village was changing with the others. The railroad, the Normal School, the Allen School, and the Athenaeum, all attracted new residents, and they, too, had their dif- ferent religious preferences.
Reverend Lyman Gilbert, D.D., was minister from 1831 to 1856. During that time a new meetinghouse was built, and the old building became the town hall. Rever-
I32
HISTORY OF NEWTON
end Joseph P. Drummond and Reverend George B. Little, classmates at Bowdoin College, filled short pastorates with brief lives of usefulness, and in 1860 Reverend Henry J. Patrick, D.D., an Amherst and Andover graduate, com- menced a long and useful pastorate. This lasted until failure of eyesight compelled his resignation in 1893, and then he remained in the village as pastor emeritus until his death in 1909. Dr. Patrick was able to impress himself deeply upon his community as it became transformed from a rural hamlet to a suburb of Boston, and he became one of the recognized leaders of his denomination in Boston and vicinity.
The "First Unitarian Society in Newton" was organ- ized in October, 1848, and Reverend William O. White was ordained as minister. He was an energetic leader of his young church, and in the village he was the prime mover in the organization of a geological society and a promoter of the activities of the Athenaeum, but he remained only two years. Short pastorates followed in rapid succession for the next ten years. Then a church was erected on Washington Street across the way from the West Parish meetinghouse, but fleeting pastorates con- tinued until the coming of Reverend Francis Tiffany. Ill health compelled him to resign after five years, but he returned for a second pastorate in 1873 and the church prospered as it had not before.
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.