USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Topographical and historical description of Boston > Part 14
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The second section of the city charter made it the duty of the Selectmen, as soon as might be after the passing of the act, to cause a new division of the town to be made into twelve wards, each of which should as nearly as possible contain the same number of inhabi- tants, the basis for the computation being the last pre- vious census of the United States. This division being somewhat objectionable, an amendment was procured in 1850, so that the number of legal voters should form the basis of the division, instead of the number of the inhab- itants. The City Council was also empowered to alter such division once in ten years; which authority it has exercised three times, in the years 1838, 1850 and 1866. The new city charter which was adopted by the citizens on the thirteenth of November, 1854, provided for a new division of the city during the year 1860; but this did not then take place, in consequence of a provision of the General Statutes of the Commonwealth, that "no new division of wards shall be made in the city of Boston previous to the next apportionment of senators and repre- sentatives," which occurred subsequently in 1865. When this new arrangement was made, the wards were neces- sarily very much changed, in consequence of the very rapid growth of several parts of the city, while other parts have been comparatively stationary. To ennmer- ate all the changes that have been made in the twelve wards since their first establishment in 1736 would be needless; yet it may not be out of place here to mention,
144
TOPOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL
that when Dorchester Neck and Point were annexed to the town, they became part of the twelfth ward; and it was not until the new districting of the city by an ordi- nance passed the twentieth of September, 1838, that South Boston became a ward of itself under the name of Ward XII. This ward became so large at the new re-division in 1865, that it was found necessary to assign part of it to Ward VII.
The islands in Boston Harbor at different times belonged to different wards. At the time of the adop- tion of the city charter in 1822, they were included in Ward IV .; and consequently Noddle's Island, which in 1833 took the name of East Boston, was part of this ward, until by a City ordinance, passed on the twenty-fourth of June, 1850, to take effect on and after the second Monday of the following December, East Boston and the Islands were made a ward by themselves, called Ward II. By the re-division in 1865 the Island Ward, together with the islands, was designated as Ward I.
At the present day it would be almost preposterous for any one to state that when South Boston became part of the city in 1804, it had only ten families on its five hundred and sixty acres of territory, and that in 1833 there was only about one-tenth as many inhabitants upon East Boston; both of which facts are equally true, as they are equally astonishing to modern wonderers.
By an act of the legislature of the commonwealth, approved on the sixth of February, 1865, the several cities in Massachusetts were empowered to make a new division of their wards, not, however, to go into effect before the tenth day of November in any year in which said new division shall be made. Consequently the years 1865, 1875, 1885, etc., were assigned for this purpose.
145
DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
On the tenth of November, 1865, the mayor approved an ordinance providing for a new division of the wards, based upon the number of voters, which took effect on the eighteenth of November of the same year. By this ordinance the old number of twelve wards was retained, although the boundaries were much changed. On the sixth of January, 1868, the city of Roxbury became by annexation a part of Boston, and at the suggestion of the mayor was designated as the Boston Highlands. By the act of annexation of the two municipalities, the Roxbury portion, which had constituted five wards, was newly districted by an ordinance approved on the eighth of November, 1867, dividing that part of the city into three wards, numbered thirteen, fourteen and fifteen. By an act of the legislature on the annexation of Dor- chester, its territory became the sixteenth ward of Boston on the third of January, 1870.
[Shurtleff at this point gives six pages to a statement of the boundaries of the sixteen wards in 1870, which is omitted as of no special value.
By chap. 286 of Acts of 1873, wards 1, 2, and 3 of Charlestown became, after annexation, wards 20, 21, and 22 of Boston. By chap. 303 of the same year, Brighton became our ward 19; and by chap. 314, West Roxbury became ward 17. Provision was made in chap. 290 of Acts of 1873 for the annexation of Brookline, then to become our ward 18, but that town did not accept.
The votes on annexation, cast October 7, 1873, were
Boston, 5,596 yea, 2,165 no ; Brighton, 622 yea, 133 no.
6,293 1,484 " Brookline, 299 707 "
5,760 1,868 6 Charlestown, 2,240 " 1,947 66
66 6,110 1,663 66 W. Roxbury, 720 613 “
19
146
TOPOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL
East Boston became wards 1 and 2; Charlestown wards 3, 4, and 5; South Boston wards 13, 14, and 15; ward 22 included Brighton; ward 23 was West Roxbury, and ward 24 Dorchester. Substantially on the old lines of those towns, and for reasons hereafter shown, this division is still in force.
In 1875 a new division of wards was made, according to custom and presumed law, and the number was in- creased to twenty-four.
By chap. 242 of Acts of 1876, Brighton was set off from ward 22 and made ward 25. Of the three council- men apportioned to the old ward, each part had alternately two and one each year. By chap. 175 of Acts of 1888, it was provided that at and after the next election wards 22 and 25 should each elect two councilmen, thereby raising the total number of that body to seventy-three.
In 1885 a new division of wards was ordered by the City Council. The report of the Committee (City Doc. 145 of A.D. 1885) was amended slightly, passed by the Council November 24, and by the Aldermen December 21. The division was made into twenty-four wards, on the basis of 90,000 legal voters, shown by the State Cen- sus of that year. The term "legal voters" is a technical one, by no means the same as "registered voters."
In the Legislature of 1886 an attempt was made to set aside this division, and to re-divide the city into forty-eight wards. During the debate the point was raised that the action taken in 1885, although exactly following the practice in 1875, was unconstitutional. Accordingly the opinion of the Supreme Court was asked upon four specific points. The answer of the Court was duly obtained, and will be found in City Doc. No. 133 of A.D. 1886. Art. XXII of Amendments to the State Constitution provided for a decennial cen- sus of the legal voters, and in cities the returns were
147
DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
to be made by wards. Then the Senatorial districts were to be framed according to such enumeration, pro- vided "that no town or ward of a city shall be divided therefor." The census was to be taken in May, 1865, and every tenth year thereafter; the Senatorial districts were to be decreed at the session of the following year. Hence, it was argued that such cities as were divided among more than one Senatorial district each, could not change their ward lines, because the census returns were on the old ward basis. The Supreme Court held as follows : -
" The provision that the enumeration shall specify the number of legal voters in each ward of a city necessarily refers to each ward as it existed on the first day of May, and the accompanying provision, that 'no town or ward of a city shall be divided,' we think, by its fair construc- tion, refers to such town or ward; that is, the town or ward as it existed on the first day of May of the year in which the census is taken. The intention of the framers of the amendment seems to have been to establish such town or ward as a unit of division."
The opinion concludes as follows : -
" We are, therefore, of opinion that, by the sound con- struction of the twenty-second article of amendment, the General Court is required to divide the State into sena- torial districts according to the boundaries of the towns and wards as they existed on the first day of May last. If the question were a new one we should have adopted this construction without any hesitation. We have con- sidered the subject with more care, because the fact can- not be overlooked that in apportioning the senators in the years eighteen hundred and sixty-six and eighteen hundred and seventy-six, the General Court proceeded upon a different construction of the twenty-second amendment. It is true that when a provision of the
148
TOPOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL
Constitution is obscure and doubtful the construction adopted by the Legislature, or any other department of government, is entitled to great weight. But the Con- stitution is supreme, and no number of legislative acts will justify a construction against its plain meaning.
" The provision we are considering is intended to be permanent, and we think that its meaning is reasonably clear, and that the construction implied in acts of previ- ous Legislatures ought not to control our opinion. Nor do we overlook the fact that a division according to the old wards in the city of Boston will, so long as the pres- ent statutes remain in force, lead to the inconvenience that there will be one system of wards for the purpose of electing councillors, senators, and representatives, and a different system of wards for all other purposes. But this is an inconvenience which is not an incident of, or created by, the constitutional provision. It is the result of subsequent legislation, and can be cured by legisla- tion. An inconvenience thus created cannot be of weight in determining the true construction of the con- stitutional provision."
In consequence, the Legislature passed an Act, June 16, 1886, chap. 283, re-establishing the several wards, etc., of the several cities as they existed May 1, 1885; and the result, of course, was to place them as they were established in 1875. The resulting inequalities in Bos- ton are fully shown in the following table. Various remedies, so far as the matter affected only municipal affairs, have been suggested, but none have so far been approved; and the opinion is expressed that all action must be deferred until 1895. Whether any change can be made even then without amending this provision of the Constitution is a question often debated, and with- out any satisfactory answer.
149
DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
The following tables will show the variations made in the past fourteen years: -
Wards.
Legal Vot- ers in 1875, at time of division.
Registered Voters, State elec- tion, 1876.
Presidential Voters, 1876.
Registered Voters, 1888.
Presidential Voters, 1888.
Population, 1880.
Popula- tion, 1885.
1
2,719
2,152
1,927
3,200
2,845
14,773
15,659
2
2,645
1,942
1,780
2,637
2,365
15,145
15,760
3
2,652
2,098
1,871
2,530
2,288
11,515
12,328
4
2,612
1,890
1,704
2,493
2,233
11,258
12,518
5
...
. ..
2,860
2,116
1,969
2,016
1,784
16,904
17,256
7
2,799
1,831
1,616
1,773
1,535
12,550
12,038
8
2,908
1,709
1,567
2,403
-2,154
12,795
11,986
9
2,910
1,929
1,752
1,997
1,797
12,322
11,239
10
2,950
1,642
1,501
1,652
1,462
11,503
9,746
11
2,936
2,148
1,941
3,949
3,563
16,601
17,863
12
2,961
1,897
1,713
2,145
1,905
14,699
13,845
13
2,888
1,842
1,757
3,285
2,914
21,462
22,547
14
3,126
2,276
2,053
3,941
3,574
20,005
22,741
15 ...
2,615
1,775
1,607
2,809
2,586
14,903
16,237
16
2,958
1,653
1,520
2,492
2,169
15,184
16,459
17
3,077
2,097
1,929
2,875
2,642
14,445
14,747
18
3,000
2,276
2,016
2,737
2,514
13,141
14,140
19
3,221
1,976
1,741
3,388
3,078
19,973
20,557
20
2,913
2,115
1,928
4,090
3,761
17,391
20,994
21
2,878
2,119
1,884
3,812
3,456
14,712
15,627
22
3,016
1,250
1,135
2,688
2,410
12,715
15,838
25
0,000
1,238
1,113
2,112
1,918
6,693
8,516
23
2,639
2,413
2,031
4,038
3,756
14,007
17,425
24
2,872
2,565
2,254
4,609
4,245
16,871
21,500
68,815
48,870
44,130
72,115
65,169
362,536
390,393
. .
2,660
1,981
1,821
2,444
2,215
10,961
12,827
6
...
...
150
TOPOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL
It may be proper to state here that the twelve alder .. men were, by the original charter, elected annually on a general ticket, while the Common Councilmen were chosen by wards. In 1854, when the charter was amended, a separate proposition was submitted to the people, to elect the aldermen also by wards. This was rejected by the vote of 4,833 yeas and 5,138 nays.
By chap. 250 of Acts of 1884, Boston was divided into twelve districts, each electing an alderman. These are grouped as follows: -
Dist. Wards.
Registered voters in 1888.
1st-1 and 2
5,999
2d-3, 4, and 5
.
7,756
3d-6, 7, and 8
.
6,330
4th -9 and 10
3,635
5th - 11 and 16
6,607
6th-12 and 13
5,568
7th -14 and 15 6,901
8th -17 and 18
5,717
9th -19 and 22
6,241
10th-20 and 21
8,079
11th-23 and 25
6,288
12th-24
4,685
Total
73,806
By chap. 299 of 1884, a new departure was made, which reduced the wards to a mere abstraction. By this law the Mayor and Aldermen were required to di- vide the wards into voting precincts. This system, with some modifications, has continued, and the voting lists and all other details of elections are now made in re- spect to precincts. The polls are open in each precinct,
151
DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
the officials are appointed to each precinct, and ward officers are no longer elected. By the latest order of the Board of Aldermen, Boston is divided into 205 voting precincts, each equipped with a warden, clerk, and two inspectors, a polling-place, precinct voting list, and a seal.
The so-called " Australian " system of secret voting, on official ballots furnished at the public cost, was es- tablished by chap. 466 of Acts of 1888, and was first employed at the State election in 1889.
It will be seen, therefore, that the political functions of the wards have ceased, although the use of the term in the State Constitution seems to render it necessary to maintain the form for the present. So long as Con- gressmen, and State Senators, and Representatives are necessarily chosen in districts of which wards must be distinct parts, local elections for city officers are con- tinued on the same lines, though the Legislature has the power at any time to establish a more equitable system.
W. H. W.]
Before leaving the wards of the town, it may be well to notice the fact, that in the olden time the practice was to choose the town officers in the month of March, which according to the Old Style of reckoning time was consid- ered the First Month, the civil year commencing on the twenty-fifth day. As the election took place during the early part of the month, it would be almost impossible to decide what year was intended by records, were it not for the custom of our forefathers to double date, - a plan which the readers of these chapters must have fre-
152
TOPOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL
quently noticed, as many quotations have been given from the old records which required such a distinction. In 1752 the New Style came into use in Great Britain and its Provinces; and consequently on that year the civil, as well as the historical year began on the first day of January, and the necessity for double-dating became unnecessary. On the adoption of the city charter on the fourth of March, 1822, the day for the municipal election was fixed to be the second Monday of April; and this time continued in use for that purpose until the year 1825, when the second Monday of December was adopted by legislative consent, so that the city officers could com- mence their term of service on the first Monday of Janu- ary after their election. A revised city charter continu- ing this amendment was adopted on the thirteenth of November, 1854, by a vote of 9,166 against 990.
Previous to the adoption of the city charter, the town elections were held at the town house, until the year 1743, when they took place in Faneuil Hall, which was first opened for public use on the fourteenth of March, 1742-3, for the purpose of paying a tribute of respect to the memory of the generous donor, Peter Faneuil, Esq., who had died on the third day of the same month.
Voting was performed in the olden time in various ways; sometimes in the manner called "viva voce," and sometimes by "uplifted hands." Very early the ballot ` was taken with corn and beans, the former being for the affirmative. Written ballots were used very strictly until the year 1830, when Hon. David Henshaw intro- duced printed tickets at the polls, and was sustained in the use of them by a decision of the Supreme Court, made at the March term of that year.
153
DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
On the first settlement of the town, the good people were accustomed to delegate the minor details of town prudentials to ten men, who we are told were chosen "to manage the townes affaires." These were to all intents just what the Selectmen of towns are at the present day; and, indeed, in the year 1642, we find this appella- tion applied to them. The number ten was not always adhered to; for sometimes, it appears, seven, eight and nine only were chosen, nine being the favorite number, which after a while becaine permanent. The old act of 1692 provided that each town in the Province should sometime in March choose three, five, seven, or nine per- sons, "able and discreet, of good conversation," to be Selectmen; an older act, passed in 1670, in colony times, provided for the election of Selectmen, the number not exceeding nine. It is probable that these acts were strictly followed by our forefathers; and that conse- quently, after the passage of the acts, they restricted themselves to the number nine. The old records show that besides the nine Selectmen, there were chosen at the same time a Town Clerk and Treasurer, and after the division of the town into twelve wards, twelve Overseers of the Poor, whose powers and duties were defined by acts of the Legislature passed in 1735, 1785, and 1794, a due number of Tithing-men and Assessors, who in 1801 were formed into a regular Board, consisting of three Permanent Assessors and twenty-four Assistant Assess- ors. The number twelve soon began to be popular, and after a while there were twelve Firewards, twelve Clerks of the Market, twelve Constables, twelve Scavengers, twelve members of the Board of Health, and, in 1789, twelve members of the School Committee. Previous to that time the Selectmen, with the assistance of "learned
.
20
154
TOPOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL
men" as advisers, performed the duty satisfactorily, as did the first Board of Aldermen for many years, with the advice of twelve persons chosen in the several wards.
All may not know that the Charles River, which makes the northern and western boundary of the town, has its principal source in a pond lying in Milford called Cedar Swamp Pond, which is supplied by Deer Brook and other brooks running from Hopkinton, Holliston and Milford. In its course, running through Centre Village and Factory Village in Bellingham, it receives additional strength from Beaver Pond in that town; then running in an easterly direction between Medway and Franklin, it receives tribute from Hoppin Brook and Chicken Brook coming from Holliston on the north, and from Mine Brook and Shepard's Brook from Franklin on the south, and from Mill River leading from Wallamonopogue Pond and Archer's Pond in Wrentham on the south. Pursuing a northerly course between Medway and Sher- born on the west (where it receives an additional supply of water from Boggistere Brook, which in its turn is formed by the confluence of Town Brook from Winthrop Pond, Dapping Brook and Dirty Meadow Brook rising in Holliston and Sherborn), and Medfield and Dover on the east (with another supply from Stop River), passing through Wrentham, Walpole and Medfield, it passes through South Natick, and takes an easterly direction. Leaving Natick, it passes between Needham on the north, and Dover and Dedham on the south, taking in water from West Needham Pond, and from Trout Brook, Noanett's Brook in Dover, and a small stream from Ded- ham. In Dedham the river takes a strange freak; it sends off a small stream, called Mother Brook, to the
155
DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
Neponset River, and then taking a somewhat sudden turn to the northwest, it leaves Needham on the southwest and West Roxbury and Newton on the northeast, gain- ing a little strength from small streams on both sides. Having reached Weston, it takes a northerly direction between Weston on the west, and Newton on the east, and again changes its direction to the east, leaving Waltham, Watertown, Cambridge and Charlestown on the north, and Newton, Brighton, Brookline and Rox- bury on the south; and bounding Boston on the west and north, passes into Boston Harbor.
By the annexation of Dorchester to Boston, the Ne- ponset River becomes the southern boundary of the city. This river takes its rise in the lowlands and meadows of the northerly part of Foxborough, in the county of Norfolk; and, running northwardly through the centre of Walpole, it receives from Sharon, on the east, a slight increase of fresh water from Diamond Brook, and from Medfield, on the northwest, a more considerable aug- mentation from the waters of Mill Brook, which gets its main supply from the Great Spring in Dover, on the north, through Tubreck Brook. After entering Dedham in its northerly course, it has an addition on the west from Bubbling Brook, which, arising also in Dover, has supplies from brooks running from Walpole and Ded- ham, and from the considerable stream that forms the outlet for Buckminster's Pond, in Dedham; and all of these, uniting their waters, pass as Bubbling Brook through Hawes Brook into the Neponset, at the south- erly part of South Dedham, just before meandering into Sharon, and then turning north, to form a tortuous boun- dary between Dedham and Hyde Park on the west and Canton and Milton on the east. Before, however, leav-
156
TOPOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL
ing South Dedham, it receives additional supply through Puffer's Brook, and from Massapoag Pond, which dis- charges itself through a brook bearing the same name, both streams collecting their waters from the meadows of Sharon, and the latter gaining sufficient from Steep Brook, rising in Sharon, and Beaver Brook, and the waters of York Brook and Reservoir Pond, in Canton, to gain for this stream the name of the Eastern Branch of the Neponset River. On this stream was established, in the year 1801, the foundry of the late Colonel Paul Revere, who cast so many church-bells and artillery- guns at the commencement of the present century, and whose rudely-engraved pictures and paper money are so well known to the lovers of revolutionary relics and memorials of the last century. Upon the stream that leads from Reservoir Pond, also in Canton, was the homestead of the celebrated Roger Sherman, who was so distinguished in the days of the American Revolution. After receiving on its easterly side the waters of Punka- paug Lake, which are conducted through the northerly part of Canton by a brook of the same name, the Nepon- set runs to the southern boundary line of Hyde Park, and thence receives on the west the waters of Mother Brook. Thence this river, assuming size and additional importance, runs in a northeasterly course to Dorches- ter Bay, between Commercial Point and Squantum, sep- arating Boston from Milton and Quincy, and receiving in its course tributes from a few small brooks on both sides, and the more important Pine Tree Brook, in Mil- ton, and Sagamore Creek, in Quincy. This river, which has been of great importance at all periods of the his- tory of New England, and which is about thirty miles in length from its source in Foxborough to Boston Harbor,
157
DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
is navigable as far as Granite Bridge. Formerly, small vessels were accustomed to reach the Lower Mills, about three and a half miles, in a crooked course, from Com- mercial Point.
The curious connection between Charles River and Neponset River, by means of Mother Brook, which sep- arates a small portion of Dedham near West Roxbury from the rest of the town, forms literally a large island territory, consisting of Brookline, Brighton, Newton, a small portion of Dedham, Dorchester, West Roxbury, Roxbury and Boston. In its course the Charles is inter- rupted by several dams, producing, with the neighbor- ing scenery, picturesque falls, and giving power to many mills and manufactories built upon its borders. From the mouth of the river back to the lower mill, it expe- riences all the changes consequent to the tides, and its waters are salt; but above this point, being supplied by brooks running from ponds, its waters are fresh.
There are two other streams of water of considerable interest to Boston, known as Stony Brook and Muddy Brook. The first of these takes its rise from various points in the southwesterly part of West Roxbury; and its streamlets uniting about the centre of the town, the brook runs through the low parts of the town and Bos- ton Highlands, until it is emptied into the Back Bay, its waters finding their way to the harbor through Charles River. Muddy Brook, which forms the outlet for Ja- maica Pond and Ward's Pond, in West Roxbury, unites with another branch of brooklets from the central part of Brookline, and flowing in a very tortuous manner to the Back Bay, where it empties itself, forms the boun- dary line between Boston and Brookline.
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