USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Amherst > The history of the town of Amherst, Massachusetts, pt 2 > Part 3
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The Amherst Spring Water company was organized Nov. 3, ISS3. Its owners and stockholders were William W. Hunt, Flavel Gaylord and George Cutler. They laid over three miles of iron pipe from a reservoir which they built a little to the east of the house formerly owned by Rev.
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THE SEWER SYSTEMS.
John Jones, in Pelham, and supplied through their pipes over one hundred families in Amherst with water. The property was sold to the Amherst Water company in 1888, and is now a part of the latter company's system. Pelham water is exceptionally pure and pleasing to the taste and is in general use throughout the village. For several years past the town has paid the Amherst Water company $1,250 per year for water for fire purposes.
SEWER SYSTEMS.
With the introduction of running water in 1880, came the necessity of providing for a system of public sewers. At a special meeting held May 1, 1880, the town voted to appoint a committee of three to investigate the matter of sewers, to survey the district where drainage was required and devise a system to be followed in the future, the expense to be borne by abouttors ; $200 was appropriated to defray the expenses of the survey. The survey was made by Engineer E. A. Davis, and covered a mile from the center in either direction. The district contained three little brooks or ditches that marked the natural drainage or the lowest levels. At a special meeting held Aug. 20, the town voted not to accept the provisions of the , public statutes relating to sewers, but to leave the matter in the hands of the selectmen. At a special meeting held Sept. 7, the following vote was passed : " That the town hereby accepts the plan for the laying out of sewers presented by the selectmen, and authorizes their construction ; but the entire expense of building, including land damages, and keeping the same in repair, and preventing them from becoming a public nuisance, shall be paid by the persons who enter them with private drains or are benefited thereby, as provided in Section 4. Chapter 48 of the General Statutes and in Chapter 232 of the Acts of 1878." The layout was as follows : The main sewer extended from a point near the Baptist church across the common and Maple avenue between the house of Rev. J. H. M. Leland and the Merrill place, thence east on the north side of the ravine which it crossed near H. D. Fearing & Co's factory, continuing under the railroad bridge across land owned by H. F. Hills and Mrs. Lucius Boltwood to land of John C. White. There were two branches, one extending down College street to join the main sewer near the railroad bridge, the other from the American house block through Main street and down Church street to join the main sewer near the horse-sheds of the First Congregational church.
The selectmen. in their report to the town for the year ending Feb. 15, 1881, state that the sewers had been built as laid out and the expense assessed on owners of land who would be benefited thereby. the total expense being a little over $2,Soo. Nearly 7,000 feet of sewers had been
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
laid. But one person objected to paying his assessment. In their report for the year ending Feb. 15, 1883, the selectmen state that all sewer assess- ments had been paid and a surplus of $134.44 remained in the hands of the treasurer. Residents on Amity street had procured a survey for a sewer, the layout of which was reported by the selectmen and accepted by the town at its annual meeting in March, 1883 ; the Amity-street sewer was put in in 1883, and also a system of surface drainage on North Pleas- ant street.
The Tan Brook sewer was laid out in June, 1884, being accepted by the town at a special meeting held June 16. It began on Pleasant street near the house of Frank P. Wood, extending north to Hallock street ; beginning also on North Prospect street near the house of B. H. Williams, it extended north to Hallock street, east on Hallock to Pleasant street, thence on Pleasant to McClellan street and on the latter street to Tan Brook, thence across private lands to an outlet on land of E. J. Baker. The entire expense, $2,418.78, was paid by abuttors. A branch to the first, or Fearing Brook system, was built in 1885, from near the residence of Edwin Nelson on Gray street and of J. Howard Sweetser on Lessey street to a point near H. D. Fearing & Co's factory ; the expense of con- struction was $1, 103.05. A sewer was built in 1886 from near the school- house on Amity street to Lincoln avenue, south on Lincoln avenue to North- ampton street, thence across private lands to an outlet on the farm of Israel Billings. Branches to this sewer were constructed through Wood- side avenue and Parsons street, in the rear of dwellings on South Pros- pect street and in rear of dwellings on South Pleasant street from the grounds owned by Amherst College to the residence of Rev. Matthew Kingman. The entire cost of the system, $3,356.87, was paid by abuttors ; it is known as the Snell Brook system.
With the increase in the number of sewers, and a corresponding increase in the number of houses and other buildings connected with them, there arose frequent complaints from persons living or owning property near their outlets. The sewers were declared by some to be a nuisance and threats were made to bring suit against the town. Thus was forced into prominence the question as to who owned the sewers. The town had invested no money in them and claimed no proprietary rights, but the selectmen had made the layouts and the town had accepted them ; they had been constructed under the town's supervision, and the money for the assessments had been paid into the town treasury from which also the bills for construction were paid. At a special meeting held Nov. 8, 1890, the town appointed a committee of three to examine into the sewer problem. This committee, having made a careful study of the sewer systems with regard to the present and prospective needs of the town, submitted its
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EXTENDING SEWER SYSTEMS.
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report at the annual meeting in March, 1891. This report recommended the extension of the Fearing Brook sewer from its original outlet on land of John C. White, southerly on private lands, to land of Patrick Donahue near Fort river; also, the extension of Snell Brook sewer easterly, to land of Salmon Wakefield near Fort river. It was further recommended that settling-tanks be built along the route for the reception and retention of the solid matter in the sewage, while the liquid matter should be allowed to spread over the soil and become purified before entering the river. The town voted to accept the report and authorized the selectmen to expend any funds in the treasury belonging to the sewer account for carrying out the proposed extensions. The selectmen, having carefully considered the matter and examined the proposed route, were satisfied that a better solu- tion of the problem would be found in uniting the two systems and con- ducting them to a common outlet on land remote from any dwelling-house. A survey was made by E. A. Davis on lines suggested by the selectmen ; it provided for the union of the Fearing Brook and Snell Brook systems and their discharge on land of Edmund Hastings near Fort river, a large set- tling-tank to be built near the river. At a special town meeting held Aug. 8, an article to see whether the town would accept of this new layout was dismissed. At a special meeting held Aug. 29, the town voted to accept the layout and appropriated $1,000 toward paying the expense of construc- tion. The work was completed in 1891, at a cost of $2,903.34, the balance above the appropriation being paid from the accumulated sewer fund in the treasury.
At the annual meeting in March, 1894, the selectmen reported favor- ably a sewer system for Pleasant street. At a special meeting held June 23, it was voted to authorize the selectmen to extend the Tan Brook sewer from its present outlet across the Hadley road to land of E. J. Baker. The layout of a sewer on Sunset avenue was accepted. The town also voted to accept the layout of a sewer system on Taylor, High and Whitney streets, on Main street from the house of James Harrington to South East street, and along the latter street to the house of P. D. Spaulding, where a junction should be effected with the Fearing Brook sewer. The estimated cost of the East street sewer was $3,000 ; the select- men were authorized to borrow money for its construction, the town to pay twenty per cent. of the expense and the remaining eighty per cent. to be assessed on abuttors. The selectmen, in their annual report for the year ending Feb. 15, 1895, state that 18,000 feet of sewers had been constructed during the year at a cost of $3.500 ; 6,500 feet were built by individuals and 11,500 feet by the town. The cost of the East street sewer was $2, 104.51, of the sewer on Pleasant street $225.74. During the year ending Feb. 15, 1896, over 4,700 feet of new sewers were laid ; one from
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
the Tan Brook sewer at the corner of West Pleasant and Mcclellan .streets, east to Triangle street and easterly on that street to land of J. P. .Smith ; one north from Triangle street on Cottage to High street ; one from Tan Brook north on East Pleasant street to land of Rev. Milton Waldo. The expense of these new sewers, $900. 70, was paid by abuttors. The Tan Brook sewer at its outlet was extended 600 feet at a cost of $194.96, which was paid by the town.
CHAPTER XLIX.
HIGHWAYS AND BRIDGES. THE NORTHAMPTON BRIDGE. STREET SPRINK- LING. TRIANGLE STREET FIGHT .. THE TOWN HALL.
The history of Amherst highways is largely contained in the reports .of town meetings recorded in Part II. of this volume. Other items of interest concerning them are gathered from the town reports. From its early settlement Amherst has made very liberal appropriations for the construction and maintenance of its highways and bridges, the results not always being in fair proportion to the outlay. Many controversies and suits at law have had their origin in questions connected with the highways. The matter of highway repair has been from the earliest times entrusted to the selectmen, they in turn selecting suitable persons to superintend the work. At times the town has been divided into districts, and a certain proportion of the annual appropriation been set aside to be expended in each district. In 1848, M. F. Dickinson and Eleazer Kellogg were paid $50 "by contract for repairs on the highway near Ingram's factory." In 1859, there were 205 bridges and culverts in the town, 25 of them from 10 to 60 feet in length ; of these 72 were built of stone and 133 of wood. In 1860, the highways were repaired under the "old system." with survey- ors in each district, the town appropriation, $1,200 payable in labor, was divided among the districts. During, the year $42.48 was expended for stone and labor to protect the highway in Mill Valley from encroachments by the river. In 1863, four large bridges owned by the town were carried away by a freshet. In 1866, the town adopted a new system for repairing the highways. The selectmen appointed a highway superintendent and two assistants, the latter to care for the roads in the north and south parts of the town. At that time there were about 60 miles of highways in town.
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REPAIRS ON HIGHWAYS.
In 1869, four persons were employed "in the extreme parts of the town," to look after the roads in their respective districts. A freshet in October of that year caused extensive damages to the highways. The selectmen for many years made it a practice to buy a yoke of oxen in the spring, use them in highway work in summer and sell them in the fall.
The county commissioners in 1870 ordered that the grade of the highway over College hill be lowered. The town voted at a meeting held Sept. 6 to comply with this order. The work was done under supervision of the selectmen, the cost, including the lowering of the sidewalk on the west side of the way, being $4,751.63. The selectmen, in their report for the year ending March 1, 1873, recommended that the town should there- after erect iron bridges, as they were the best for cheapness, strength and durability. . In IS78, there were about 75 miles of highway in the town. After the disastrous fire in July, 1879, the town undertook the work of grading down what was known as the " Amherst house hill," which was accomplished at an expense of $500, money well invested. In ISSI, the selectmen purchased one-half an acre of gravel for use on the roads in the south part of the town. The same year an iron bridge was erected across Fort river near the house of Salmon Wakefield, the bridge costing $950 and the stonework $450. At the annual meeting in March, 1882, the town instructed its selectmen to lay one good piece of road. In com- pliance with this vote, a section of Main street was worked twenty inches deep, the road-bed partly removed and filled with stones and gravel. A road-machine was bought at an expense of $150. In answer to a petition by the town, the county commissioners, in the years 1883 and 1884, established the bounds of a large percentage of the highways in town. It was found that in many instances abuttors had fenced in land belonging to the highways. In 1883, extensive repairs were made on Pleasant. street, including the putting in of a concrete gutter, the expense amount- ing to about $1,000.
For a number of years the town was put to considerable expense by damage to the highways caused by the breaking of the mains of the Amherst Water company. In 1884, the underpaving of Main street was completed as far as the railway tracks. the entire expense being about $1,200. In ISS5, the care of the highways was entrusted to four persons appointed by the selectmen. A new and improved road machine was pur- chased. In 1887, severe storms in July and August caused extensive damages to the highways. In ISSS, the town was obliged to spend nearly $1,000 in clearing the roads after the blizzard in March. In ISS9, the General Court passed an act compelling the selectmen of towns to appoint a superintendent of highways. The selectmen of Amherst appointed F. L. Stone to this office. During the year the south slope of College hill
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
was underpaved at an expense of $300. The town accepted Lessey street as a highway in 1890 ; suits for damages were entered against the town by J. Howard Sweetser and the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. Mr. Sweetser's suit was settled by the payment of $1, 125, that of the fraternity was brought to trial and a verdict returned in favor of the town.
For more than twenty years Amherst has borne a part of the expense of maintaining the travel-bridge across the Connecticut river between Hadley and Northampton. A bridge has been maintained at this point on the river for nearly a century. In 1803, the Northampton Bridge company was granted a charter to maintain a bridge for 70 years ; this was a private ·corporation. The bridge, a covered wooden structure, was built in 1807 at cost of $14,294. The funds were probably raised by subscription ; other methods were sometimes resorted to, as in the case of building the bridge across the river at Hatfield. Among the special laws passed by the General Court in 1806, was one giving permission to raise $10,000 by lottery for the completion of the bridge across the Connecticut river at Hatfield. Samuel Porter, Elijah Dickinson, Isaac Abercrombie and Sam- uel F. Dickinson, Esquires, and Dr. John Hastings were appointed managers of the enterprise, to make and publish a scheme of the lottery, draw it and attend to all other business. The Northampton bridge was rebuilt in 1817, at an expense of $15,000, and again in 1825, at an expense of .$32,439. In 1840, repairs upon the structure cost $6,600; in 1848, it was again repaired at an expense of $3,400. In 1859, the Hadley end of the bridge was carried away by a disastrous flood and it was rebuilt at a cost of $20,000. In 1871, the company petitioned for an extension of their charter for twenty years; the petition was opposed by citizens of Hadley, who desired that it be made a free bridge. At that time the average annual receipts for tolls were $4,500, the average expense of main- tenance $900, and the estimated value of the property was $28,400. The property was bought by Hampshire county in April, 1875, for $37,000 ; of this sum Amherst paid 35, Hadley 2}, Northampton 37, and the other towns in the county the remainder. The bridge was torn from the piers June 14, 1879, by a cyclone; of the expense incurred by rebuilding Amherst paid $4,021.75. When the Sunderland bridge was made free in 1875, an unsuccessful effort was made to have Amherst bear a part of the expense.
Of interest in connection with Amherst highways is the work of :street-sprinkling. Soon after the introduction of Pelham water, the mer- chants doing business at the center of the town subscribed small sums annually for sprinkling the streets during the summer months. The first attempt at forming an organization for carrying on this work was made at a meeting held April 30, 1891, when it was voted to form the Amherst
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THE TRIANGLE STREET FIGHT.
Street Sprinkling association. Officers were elected as follows : President, E. D. Marsh ; secretary, H. B. Edwards ; treasurer, B. H. Williams. An executive committee of six was appointed and authorized to solicit names for membership ; the membership fee was placed at $1. At a meeting held May 7, the committee reported that 38 members had been secured. F. A. Cadwell had proposed to furnish a cart and sprinkle the streets for $4 per day of ten hours. The executive committee was authorized to raise money to buy a cart. At a meeting held April 15, 1892, a motion was adopted that property-owners and others who had the streets sprinkled in front of their residences should be solicited for such sums as they were willing to pay weekly. At a meeting held April 24, 1893, a committee was appointed to confer with the officers of the Village Improvement society and see if the latter organization would take charge of the street- sprinkling, but the society refused. At a special town meeting held April 27, 1895, it was voted to accept the provisions of the act passed by the General Court in 1895, concerning street sprinkling, whereby the expense incurred in the work may be assessed upon persons owning property along the line of the streets sprinkled.
Any historical sketch of Amherst highways would be sadly incomplete without reference to the " Triangle-street fight," one of the most notab'e neighborhood feuds in the town's annals. In the early part of the century the struggle for supremacy between the East and West villages was strong to bitterness. The ecclesiastical quarrel which resulted in the organization of the Second parish was supplemented by business rivalry. Prior to the organization of Amherst College the inhabitants of East Amherst would seem to have controlled the situation. While the controversy was at its height the village at the East street was christened "Sodom " and that at the West street " Mt. Zion." There were, in IS20. two principal taverns in the town, the Boltwood tavern at the West street and Baggs' tavern at the East street. Most of the travel from the towns in the western part of Franklin county crossed the Connecticut river at Sunderland, passing thence through Amherst to Belchertown. Passing over this route, the Boltwood tavern was first reached and this house secured the best of the transient custom. In order that a part of this trade might come to East Amherst without passing through the West street, and also that persons living in North Amherst and worshiping at the Second church might pass over a more direct route, the town was petitioned to lay out a highway from the street near the south end of Mount Pleasant to Main street near where the building owned by the First National bank now stands. The road was laid out. and accepted by the town at a meeting held Dec. 4, 1820. At a meeting held Dec. 14, it was voted to discontinue the road.
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
But the highway having been laid out, the residents at East Amherst were determined it should be built. If the town would not do the work they would do it themselves. On an appointed day they assembled at the . east end of the proposed route and with men and teams worked hard all through the day. When they returned the following day to resume their labors, what was their wrath and chagrin to see that the residents of the West street had undone in a night all that they had accomplished through the day. Again they labored hard through the day, and again at night the West street men destroyed the work they had done. The road-makers. losing patience, stationed guards the whole length of the road during the night. Then there came a series of nightly struggles, the story of which was noised abroad and visitors came from neighboring towns to watch the sport. While both parties were very much in earnest there was no serious breach of the peace, and no broken heads. One party would strive to remove the timbers of a bridge while another party sought to keep them in place ; one squad filled ditches while another cleared them out ; two men would have hold of a plank pulling in one direction, while at the opposite end two other men would be hauling another way. One memorable night the East street forces under the command of Dr. John Hubbard struggled from 9 o'clock until sunrise with the West street men led by Charles Kellogg. The West street men had during the day built a fence across the new road and as fast as the East-street men could tear it down it was rebuilt. The building of the fence was held to be illegal, and Mr. Kellogg was summoned before the court in Northampton and fined.
The East street men determined that the road should be opened to travel and that the fact it was so open must be demonstrated. Rallying all their forces they in one day put the road in running order, stationing men all along the route to guard it. Near the close of the day they sent a man out on the road leading to Sunderland to secure travel. He inter- cepted a loaded team and persuaded the teamster to cross the new road. with the assurance that the road was in good order and that a guard would accompany him. The West street men were on hand and ready to take part in the proceedings. The procession started, the West street men going ahead to build fences and take up bridges and the East street men follow- ing close behind and making the necessary repairs. Every rod of ground was contested, but Main street was .reached in safety. While the East street men were shouting aloud in their triumph, the teamster arose, removed a mask from his face and disclosed himself to the crowd, a genuine " West-streeter." At a meeting held May 17, 1821. the town directed the selectmen to clear the encumbrances from the road and keep it clear. The excitement attendant on the building of the road soon died away, but for many years the residents on the West street would go a long distance
M. A. C. FARM HOUSE AND OLD BARN.
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TOWN HALL.
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THE TOWN HALL.
out of their way to avoid passing over Triangle street. As a measure of retaliation on some of the residents at North Amherst who had been fore- most in promoting the building of Triangle street, a new highway was soon afterwards opened from North Amherst to the " Plumtrees."
TOWN BUILDINGS.
With the exception of its school-houses and almshouse the town of Amherst owned no public building until the engine-house was erected in 1860. Town meetings were held at first in the meeting-houses of the First and Second parishes, and afterwards in Sweetser's hall, Agricultural hall, Palmer's hall and Village hall. The need of a public building, if recognized by the inhabitants, found no expression at town meeting until 1851. At the annual meeting in March, 1851, a committee appointed to consider the matter of building a new town hall submitted its report ; this report the town voted to place on file. At a meeting held Dec. 4, 1854, the town expressed itself in favor of building a town hall, and appointed a committee of five to secure plans and estimates. This committee reported at a meeting held Jan. 1, 1855, when the town voted, 130 to 120, to dis- miss the whole matter. At a meeting held Feb. 23, 1855, it was voted to postpone indefinitely the subject of building a town hall.
The burning of Palmer's hall in 1888 impressed upon the town the necessity of providing a place for holding its public meetings. At a special meeting held April 17, 1888, E. F. Cook, A. R. Cushman and Flavel Gaylord were appointed a committee to look for a site for a town- house, with instructions to report to the town at a future meeting. The committee inspected several pieces of land and after a careful consid- eration of the matter purchased the "Cooper lot," adjoining the rectory of Grace church, for $3,500. At a special meeting held Aug. 25, the town instructed its committee to take a deed of the property in the name of the town, the necessary funds being appropriated from money in the treasury received from the sale of a portion of the town's stock in the Massachusetts Central railroad company. The committee was continued, authority being given to procure plans for a building, the same to be sub- mitted at a future meeting. At a special meeting held Feb. 9, 1889, plans were submitted but no action was taken concerning them.
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