USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Westborough > The history of Westborough, Massachusetts. Part I. The early history. By Heman Packard De Forest. Part II. The later history. By Edward Craig Bates > Part 17
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In 1832 an attempt was made to carry a vote to pro-
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EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH.
cure a fire-engine; but none was purchased until March, 1839, for which room was provided in the basement of the town-hall. The town subscribed $200 toward this engine, provided $200 more was raised by subscription. It was a small affair, but lasted till the Chauncy engine was purchased, in 1850.
The progress of education since 1836, when the school districts were adopted in their modern form, has been marked. There was still for a time some indifference to the matter in the town meetings, as there always has been on the part of a section of the community; and as late as 1844 there is recorded a refusal to have a gram- mar-school, for the lack of which the town had been " presented " nearly a hundred years before. But this was evidently only the last struggle of the conservative element against the rising tide of popular intelligence; for ten years later the high school came, at first as an ungraded school, but affording, nevertheless, advanced opportunities.
As early as 1839 the better class of people had en- deavored to provide for their children within the limits of the town; and the "Westborough School Associa- tion" was formed, to provide better facilities than the town was ready to supply. They started a school, first at the centre, and afterward at the old Wesson tavern, which was refitted for the purpose. This school con- tinued for a good while, and had a high reputation.
Other means of culture and the diffusion of intelli- gence began to come in with the growth of the century. The beginnings of the town library date back to the early part of the century. It was in 1807 that a few of the leading men of the town, feeling the need of some lit- erary privileges, began to raise the question of a library.
This Brigham
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LIBRARY.
Fifteen of them met, on the 25th of March, at “Greg- ory's Inn," and organized "The Union "Library Society." The Rev. Elisha Rockwood, who came to the town in the following year, took a great interest in the organization, and was president of it from 1811 to 1828. It was scarcely a popular society, its admission fees ranging from $5.50 to $15. Its rules of admission and its de- crees in regard to the care of books were very strict. Books were scarce and costly even then, as compared with the present time, and readers were much fewer. Persons not members were allowed the use of books at the reasonable rate of $2.00 a year. Meetings were held at first five times a year. Funds were raised by the fees above mentioned, and by a tax of twenty-five cents as- sessed on the members at each meeting. Mr. Charles Parkman presented several volumes to the society, and it purchased in addition the following: "Rees' Cyclo- pædia," in forty-one volumes; "Mavor's Voyages and Travels ; " " The Life of Washington," by Bancroft; "The Life of Washington," by Marshall, in six volumes, with atlas; two volumes " Silliman's Journal; " " Silli- man's Tour," and "Dwight's Travels." This society lasted until 1839, when it was merged in the Mechanics' Association.
The latter was organized in 1838, after manufactures had obtained a strong footing; preceding the Mechan- ics' Association of Worcester by four years. It had on its rolls at the outset forty-six names. It purposed to have lecture-courses, as well as a library, and discussions upon current topics, Mr. George Denny gave it $40, and in a year from its organization it had raised $86 more toward a library. In this same year the Union Library Society made over its books and property to the
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EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH.
new association, on condition that such books as needed it should be rebound, and that the members of the old organization should be allowed to draw books without a fee. Ten years later the library contained four hundred and seventy-five volumes, and printed its first catalogue. In 1857 the library was transferred to the town, and has since been supported by an annual appropriation.
The same year, 1839, saw the beginning of the West- borough Agricultural Society; the farmers seeing no rea- son why they should not keep abreast of the mechanics in the means of information and discussion. The pre- liminary meeting is stated in the history of the society to have been "accidental; " but it was united in the opin-
ion that meetings for mutual discussion would be profi- - table, and Nahum Fisher was thereupon chosen chairman of the meeting, and George Denny secretary. Commit- tees were at once appointed, and measures taken for organization; and in a few months the society was in active operation. Lovett Peters was the first president, and George Denny, Curtis Beeman, and G. C. Sanborn succeeded him up to 1860. The original membership included many whose names are familiar, though only five or six of them are now living.
The first attempt at a local newspaper was made here in 1849 by the publication of the " Westborough Messen- ger," a weekly quarter-sheet, edited and printed in Boston by C. C. P. Moody. A copy of the first issue lies before me. It is printed on a page nine and a half by thirteen and a half inches, in four columns, with only two columns of advertisements, headed by Samuel Griggs, dealer in stoves and tin-ware. This was Dr. Griggs, who had a store in the old brick school-house, next to Post Office Block. The only Westborough news is to the effect that
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STATE REFORM SCHOOL.
the " Orthodox" church is being repaired, and the old burying-ground is to be renovated and provided with walks, trees, etc., the old stone wall to be removed and an iron fence substituted, together with the report of three temperance meetings in the lower town-hall, in which several prominent citizens figured. This news- paper enterprise did not prove a success, not being indigenous, and in a few months was suspended.
The next aspirant for editorial honors was Benjamin Winslow Packard, of North Bridgewater, who published, Sept. I, 1855, the first number of "The Westborough Sheaf." This also was printed in Boston, though the editorial headquarters were in Westborough. It came to grief in less than a year. In 1860 the " Marlborough Journal " undertook to print a Westborough edition, to be called the "Westborough Transcript," of which, for the first eighteen months, C. H. Pierce was the local editor. This survived two years and a half, and was the last at- tempt of the kind until a printing-office was established in the town after the War of the Rebellion.
In 1846 a plan was organized for a State Reform School for boys, and a site was chosen for it on the beautiful northern slope of Chauncy Pond. The Legis- lature authorized the expenditure of only ten thousand dollars; but the project of an institution that should be reformatory rather than penal so commended itself to the late Hon. Theodore Lyman that he at once gave ten thousand more, and subsequently, by personal gift and legacy, increased the amount to $72,500. It was not known until after his death from whom these gifts had come, so quietly had the matter been arranged, and so great was his shrinking from notoriety. But the insti- tution would scarcely have been possible without him;
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EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH.
and it is a satisfaction that at this late day, remodelled more in accordance with his own ideas, and in its new location, it has been rechristened the "Lyman School."
The first building was erected in 1848, at an expense of $52,000, and had accommodation for three hundred boys. The first year saw three hundred and ten boys in the institution, and in 1852 an enlargement was made, so as to accommodate two hundred and fifty more. In 1859 an inmate set fire to the buildings, which were nearly destroyed. The boys were temporarily removed to Fitchburg and Concord jails until new quarters could be provided. But it was felt that a sufficient discrimi- nation had not been made between the younger and the more hardened criminals, and an effort was made, by es- tablishing a school-ship in Boston Harbor for the worse cases, to conform more nearly to the original idea of the founders. Three houses were also provided on the grounds of the Reform School, where the most trustworthy boys were kept, in families of twenty-five or thirty, and allowed a good deal of freedom. This secured better re- sults, and promised well for the future. It happened, however, in the capricious working of the political machine, that the school-ship was sold, the precocious criminals were again sent here, and the school passed through various vicissitudes, the recountal of which belongs to another part of the history.
The superintendents in its earlier years were William R. Lincoln, 1848-1853 ; James M. Talcott, 1853-1857; William E. Starr, 1857-1861.
CHAPTER XVII.
LATER ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
O F the ecclesiastical history of Westborough since the rise of denominations, it is necessary to speak briefly. The earliest form of departure from the tradi- tions of the village church was the Baptist. As early as May 29, 1796, James Hawes, Jr., and Asa Haskell were immersed at Chauncy Pond by Samuel King, of the Bap- tist Church in Sutton. Shortly afterward there is evi- dence of some Methodist sentiment ; though the fact that it soon passed away without producing fruit in an organization, makes it doubtful whether it was anything more than a convenient method of avoiding the parish tax, which was required by law of all voters, unless they brought certificates that they belonged to some other per- suasion. From 1798 to 1802 Fortunatus Nichols, Joseph Nichols, Phineas Hardy, and Shadrach Miller were ex- empted on the certificate of a Methodist elder. But that is the last heard of Methodism for forty-two years. The Baptists, though for a long time very few, and sub- jected to much derision and indignity, held on steadily, and in 18II a society was organized, and raised a small sum annually to support occasional preaching. In 1814 a church was organized, consisting of thirty-nine mem- bers. Thomas Conant was the first pastor, who remained in service about two years, receiving for his work less than a hundred dollars a year, and eking out the stipend by farming and teaching. In 1816 they built their first
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EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH.
meeting-house, near the corner of East Main and Lyman streets. This was afterward removed to Woodville. Pas- torates were irregular and of brief duration until after 1835, when the new church was built upon the site of the pres- ent one. From this time the life of the church has been assured and prosperous. In 1868 the present church building was erected, and the old one sold to the Roman Catholics. A parsonage had been presented to the society in 1860, but was afterward sold, and the present one erected on land given by Dea. Lyman Belknap, in 1868 or 1869. The longest pastorate has been that of Adiel Harvey, who was here from 1839 to 1845. One of the most marked and best remembered at the present time is that of A. N. Arnold, D. D., from 1858 to 1864, - a man of scholarly habits and fine abilities, previously Professor of Ecclesi- astical History in the Seminary at Newton, and after- ward connected with similar institutions in Hamilton and Chicago. In 1868, during the building of church and parsonage, C. W. Flanders, D. D., became the pastor, and remained some two years, making himself, as Dr. Arnold had done, an important factor in town as well as church, beloved of all. Ill-health compelled him to retire after this brief term.
The pastorates of the church have been as follows: -
Thomas Conant, 1814-1816. William Bowen, 1831-1833. Alonzo King, April to November, 1835. Otis Converse, 1836-1838.
Adiel Harvey, 1839-1845. Silas Bailey, 1845-1847.
William L. Brown, 1847-1851.
Nathaniel Hervey, 1851-1853. William H. Walker, 1855-1858. A. N. Arnold, 1858-1864.
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LATER ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
J. A. Goodhue, 1864-1867. C. W. Flanders, 1868-1870. Stephen H. Stackpole, 1871-1873. Benjamin A. Greene, 1875-1882. J. H. Parshley, 1883-1884. N. Newton Glazier, 1884-1886. George F. Babbitt, 1886.
In 1823 there was a Restorationist Society in Shrews- bury, to which some Westborough people attached them- selves. Their names were John Leland, Martin Bullard, Jesse Rice, Barnabas Newton, Coolidge Forbush, Joseph Wood, Leonard Maynard, Samuel Forbush, John Andrews, Nathaniel Andrews, and Nathan A. Fisher. David Fay was in the same year entered as a member of the second Universalist Society of Boston, of which Hosea Ballou was pastor. This was just at the time when Mr. Ballou was at the beginning of his strong influence, and the older Universalism was receiving its new impulse and its new interpretation. It never became strong enough in Westborough to organize a church, but at the outset it met with considerable individual response.
It was not long after the organization of the First Society, to take the place of the town as the ecclesiasti- cal corporation, that differences of opinion became mani- fest which were destined, as in so many other cases at that period, to result in the division of the oldest eccle- siastical body. There had come to be a sharp division between Trinitarian and Unitarian theories, and the ques- tion of the exchange of pulpits between ministers who held the different beliefs was one of the first causes of disturbance. Mr. Rockwood, who held the pulpit at this time, was a man respected by the whole town; but the differences of opinion were becoming so sharp that other
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EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH.
considerations were forgotten by both parties in the de- sire to maintain their theological positions. Mr. Rock- wood was not adapted for a healer of the division, having himself very strong convictions, which he felt it to be, his solemn duty to maintain at all hazards. In March, 1829, there was an article in the warrant for the meet- ing of the society "to see if the society will request the Rev. Elisha Rockwood to make exchanges on the Sab- bath with all the Congregational ministers in regular standing who live in towns situated at a convenient dis- tance, without regard to their particular tenets in the- ology." The article was passed over; but it reflects the state of feeling. There were a good many in the society of the new way of thinking, but they were as yet in the minority. Their next effort was to secure Unitarian preaching a part of the time; but this also was voted down. Meantime, the necessity for a new meeting-house was growing imperative, and lent a new aspect to the struggle. Some members of the society wished to build a house in which both forms of faith might have equal rights; others were determined to restrict its use to the older form. The difference of opinion simply prevented the building of any house on the existing basis of rep- resentation. The outcome of it was that in 1833 a part of the members of the society seceded, and formed a new society, which they called " The Congregational Cal- vinistic Society." The church then held a meeting, at which forty members were present, and voted, thirty- two to four, to separate from the old society and unite with the new. This looked as if the matter had reached a settlement; but there were a number of those who still held the views of the body of the church who were not yet ready to take the radical step of divorce; and so,
THE UNITARIAN CHURCH.
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LATER ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
to solve the difficulty, it was determined to try the Con- gregational method of a council. Accordingly, on the 7th of January, 1834, an ecclesiastical council was con- vened at Dexter Brigham's hotel, and gave a patient hearing to the case, continuing its session till late at night, and then adjourning until the next morning. Its final decision was to advise that "the members of this church unite with those in the community whom they may associate with them in forming a new religious soci- ety." As this was a practical ratification of the action already taken, the church lost no time in accepting it. We hear no more of the "Calvinistic Society;" but there is a reorganization throughout, and the "Evangeli- cal Society " appears, with which the old church in a body, with only one or two exceptions, connects itself. On the 29th of January fifty-six members withdrew from the First Society to join the new body, and on the 10th of February nine more. A formal effort was made to cement the difficulty, even at this stage of affairs, by the offer on the part of the Evangelical Society to pay its part toward the expenses, provided Mr. Rockwood could be retained as pastor; but this must have been foreseen to be impossible. The breach was complete, and thence- forth there are two societies.
Mr. Rockwood's contract was with the First Society, which was the lineal successor of the town in the transac- tion of ecclesiastical business. Of course the events which had occurred left the society a unit in regard to the question of retaining his services. Inasmuch as he made no movement in regard to the matter, the society, at its meeting on the 10th of February, voted "that as the division of the society has left it composed mostly of those who entertain views and opinions different from
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EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH.
those entertained by Rev. Elisha Rockwood, and as it has become the wish of the society that the relation be dissolved," a committee be appointed to obtain such infor- mation as should enable them to act definitely and under- standingly on the subject. The final outcome of this action, after some parley and some bitter words on both sides, was the peremptory dismission of Mr. Rockwood as minister of the First Society.
As the result of this division, the meeting-house and other ecclesiastical property of the First Society was re- tained in its possession, while the records of the church and the plate of the communion service was, after some discussion, held by the church. The old society at once took measures to supply preaching more in accord with its views, and in August called the Rev. Hosea Hildreth to the pastorate. He was installed in October, but resigned in the following April (1835); and services in the old meeting-house ceased. The proximity of the railroad made the situation undesirable for church purposes, and the house was sold, as has been already stated, in 1837. Ten years went by without religious services on the part of the old society, but in 1848 a lot was purchased, and the church erected on its present site. It was for a long time a hard struggle for existence ; pastorates were brief, and changes frequent: but with outside aid the debt was lifted in 1860, and the society entered on better days. Some twelve years ago a parsonage was built by the side of the church. The pastorates have been as follows :
Hosea Hildreth, 1834-1835. William O. Moseley, 1850. Nathaniel Gage, 1851-1857. H. A. Cook, 1858. Benjamin Huntoon, 1859.
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LATER ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
Gilbert Cummings, 1860-1863.
George N. Richardson, 1864-1868.
W. G. Todd, 1868-1870.
J. L. Hatch, 1871.
C. A. Allen, 1872-1875.
C. W. Emerson, 1875-1876.
Granville Pierce, 1877.
J. P. Forbes, 1878-1882.
E. C. Abbott, 1884-1886.
E. A. Coil, 1888 -.
Meantime the old church with its new society proceeded to the erection of a new meeting-house, the one which still stands, though enlarged and beautified, on the original spot. The energy and promptness with which this house was built contrasts in the most striking way with the slow, creeping pace at which the previous church buildings had struggled into existence, and indicates the dawn of a new era. It was on the Ioth of February, 1834, that the vote was passed "to build a meeting-house similar to the one in Grafton; " and on the 17th of December of the same year it was dedicated. The church, meantime, had worshipped part of the time in the Baptist church on the plain, and part of the time in Union Hall, south of the old West- borough hotel. The organ had been left behind, and some other means must be provided for sustaining the musical part of the service; so it was voted on the 29th of December to purchase a double-bass viol, and a com- mittee was appointed to procure a leader of the choir. Mr. Rockwood was considered as virtual pastor, inasmuch as it was the society, and not the church, which was new; but the struggle through which all had passed, the bitter- ness of which was to last for years, rendered it impossible that the relationship, long and fruitful though it had been, should continue. A year after the dedication of the new
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EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH.
house the pastor tendered his resignation, which, after some demur, was accepted, and his dismission by council followed on the IIth of March.
There was some delay in supplying his place, and the first incumbent who succeeded him - Barnabas Phinney - proved a very bad investment; so that it was not till 1837 that the church settled down to a steady progress under the ministration of Charles B. Kittredge. This pastorate lasted for more than nine years, during which time the Sunday-school became distinctly connected with the church, a creed was formulated to meet the necessities of that con- troversial period, and a complete list of the membership, from its organization in 1724, was made, at the cost of great labor and care. A very brief pastorate - that of Henry N. Beers - followed ; but in 1849 Daniel R. Cady accepted the post, and began a pastorate which lasted till ill-health compelled him to resign it in 1856, and which left behind it influences and associations of tender and lasting value. He was immediately succeeded by Luther H. Sheldon, whose genial and sensible ministry of eleven years is still fresh in many memories. In 1869 the church building was entirely remodelled, and enlarged to its present dimen- sions. It was re-dedicated in February, 1870, during an interval between pastorates. In October, 1871, Mr. Albert W. Smith, who had removed here some time before from Boston, and had been a warm friend of the church and an unremitting supervisor of the repairs on the meeting-house, left by will the sum of $2,000 toward the building of a parsonage; and the present house was erected the fol- lowing year.
The pastorates since that of Mr. Sheldon have been -
Artemas Dean, 1867-1869.
Heman P. De Forest, 1871-1880.
==== . =
THE EVANGELICAL CHURCH.
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LATER ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
F. A. Thayer, 1880-1882. William Mitchell, 1883-1884. W. Walcott Fay, 1888.
Reference has been made to the existence of a trace of Methodism here as early as the latter part of the eighteenth century. But there was not enough of it to crystallize into a church until half a century later. In the spring of 1844 the First Methodist Episcopal Church was organ- ized, - not yet, however, as an integral church, but as a branch of the church in Holliston. In the two following years it was connected in a similar way with the church in Hopkinton, whose pastor sometimes came over to preach in the Centre school-house, -the building now standing at the north end of the old burying-ground. In 1847 it was again connected with the Holliston church, and so remained until 1858, when it became an indepen- dent station, and had a pastor of its own. At that time it worshipped in the lower story of the High School-house. Six years later the present house of worship was built, and the church assumed its place with the rest in the commu- nity. The pastors have been -
J. E. Cromack, 1858-1859. W. P. Blackmer, 1860-1861.
S. B. Sweetser, 1862-1863. J. B. Bigelow, 1864-1865.
W. M. Hubbard, 1866-1867.
W. A. Nottage, 1868-1869.
B. Gill, 1870-1871. Burtis Judd, 1872-1874.
J. S. Day, 1875.
Z. A. Mudge, 1876-1878.
J. H. Emerson, 1879-1881. E. A. Howard, 1881-1884. John R. Cushing, 1884-1887. A. W. Tirrell, 1887.
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EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH.
St. Luke's Church- Roman Catholic - was instituted about 1850, but for twenty years was under the charge of pastors of the surrounding parishes. In 1868 the old meeting-house of the Baptist Society was purchased, and removed to Milk Street, where it accommodated the parish for eighteen years, when, on the 4th of April, 1886, it was burned to the ground. A temporary chapel was built on Ruggles Street, where the church worshipped till the recent completion of its present house on Main Street, The presbytery adjoining was built in 1881. The church now has some two thousand people under its supervision. Previous to 1871 it was under the charge of six different priests, - Fathers Gibson of Worcester, Farley of Milford, Sherrin of Uxbridge, and Cuddy, Welch, and Barry of Hopkinton. The resident priests have been, R. J. Dono- van, 1871-1873; P. Egan, 1873-1878; C. J. Cronin, 1878- 1884; R. S. J. Burke, 1884-1886; J. J. McCoy, 1886 -. Father Cronin died in charge of the parish, and is buried in the Catholic cemetery.
In 1859 the Second Adventists organized, and built the chapel on Church Street, which they have occupied with varying fortunes since.
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