USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Milford > Town Annual Report of the Officers of the Town of Milford, Massachusetts 1935 > Part 2
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After the filing of these application, the Selectmen were notified that the Sidewalk, Cedar Swamp and Ath- letic Field projects were not eligible under the P. W. A. 1935 program, but that the Sewer project would be con- sidered. On August 7, 1935, the Sewer project was approved and $40,500.00 was granted to the Town. The total cost of this project was approximately $122,000.00, of which the Town's share is approximately $50,000.00, $40,500.00 being provided by the P. W. A. grant, and $32,000.00 having been expended under the E. R. A. Thus a much-needed improvement has been brought to the Town at less than one-third of the cost, as the lack of facilities at the beds has been a source of agitation for many years and the cause of numerous complaints by the State Board of Health.
The Sidewalk, Cedar Swamp Pond and Athletic Field projects were then submitted under the E. R. A. The Sidewalk project has been approved in separate projects, work has been completed on many of them, work is being done on some of them, and the remainder will be started as soon as the present ones are completed. The Cedar Swamp Pond and Athletic Field were com- bined in one application, but it has met with many diffi- culties.
As far back as the summer of 1933, the Cedar Swamp Pond project was submitted to the P. W. A. accompanying the proposal for the high school addition, but the High School project was given the preference by the Federal and State Boards. In early 1934, the Select-
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men secured an allotment of $25,000.00 to begin work under the C. W. A., but in May, 1934, the C. W. A. was terminated and with it went the $25,000.00. The project was then re-submitted under the P. W. A. Act of 1935, the local planning engineers preparing the necessary specifications embodied in the application, only to be declared ineligible as a P. W. A. project, as above stated.
On July 24, 1935, the project was submitted to the E. R. A .- W. P. A. on the local engineers' specifications, based on a total cost of $202,260.00, of which $31,126.00 was the Town's share, and $171,134.00 was requested from the Federal Government. This application was re- turned with instructions that additional surveys be made by the E. R. A. engineers at Boston. In September, speci- fications were received from them, estimating a total cost of $236,589.30, of which the Town's share was $44,635.80 and the Federal Government's share $191,953.50. Upon receipt of these specifications, a new application based on these estimates was prepared and filed.
Pending approval of the application, and to save unnecessary delay, on September 16, 1935, the Town voted to borrow $45,000.00 under a special statute (Acts 1935, Chapter 188) provided that the Federal Govern- ment allotted $192,000.00 (the sum necessary to complete the work according to the estimates of the Federal en- gineers) and provided further that before the work was started the Selectmen were to determine that no land damages would be incurred by the Town.
Immediate work was then begun to find out the extent of the Town's holdings in the pond area. The Town, on December 12, 1929, had made a purchase of the property from the Cutler Company for $5,000.00, but the need merely conveyed "all the property that the Cutler Company had purchased from S. A. Eastman on April 2, 1906," with certain exceptions incorporated by reference. A copy of the Eastman-Cutler deed, procured at the Registry of Deeds, disclosed a description includ- ing twenty-six separate deeds dating as far back as 1829.
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Some covered flowage rights, others purported to convey parcels in fee, but there was excepted from this descrip- tion various parcels of doubtful sizes and shapes con- veyed out. The metes and bounds in many instances were fixed at lands of adjacent owners long since de- ceased, by heaps of stones, rocks and stumps of trees long since gone. To fit in those various descriptions with each other, to ascertain their relation with the abutting owners, and to apply the descriptions to the land surface partly covered with water and mud, resembled a jig-saw puzzle of the most exacting character. Nevertheless, the vote of the Town of September 16, 1935, was a mandate to the Selectmen to save land damages before starting the work, and could not be ignored. The local planning en- gineers have rendered valuable services in this connec- tion, but the work seemed interminable.
Henry W. Gaskill, C.E., was secured to work in co- operation with them on account of his long familiarity with the location and because of the various surveys he had made of properties surrounding the pond area. Sev- eral successive reports have been made, and while no actual guarantee of the title or accurate determination of the boundaries or the precise extent of the Town flowage rights can be given, rather than hold up the project indefinitely, the Selectmen were advised by the Town Counsel that they were reasonably justified in starting the work.
The expense of further title work will fall on the Town because the Federal Government no longer carries the planning project, the engineers of which assisted Mr. Gaskill in the work.
The land damage feature being thus disposed of, al- though not quite satisfactorily, more trouble was en- countered. When the application was later approved, it was found that the Federal Government would contribute but $172,000.00 instead of $192,000.00 as required by the Town vote of September 16, 1935. By this time, the authority to borrow under the 1935 Act had expired. To
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remedy the situation, legislation has been introduced in the present Legislature to validate the Town's vote so that the borrowing of the money can be done in 1936. It is hoped that this legislation will become law before the Annual Town Meeting of March, 1936, in which case an Article will be inserted in the Town Warrant for the consideration of the Town Meeting, reducing the amount of the Federal contribution from $192,000.00 to $172,- 000.00, and the Town's share to about $40,000.00 to square with the amounts approved by the Federal Gov- ernment. It is to be observed, however, that whatever aid the W. P. A. gives on this project will be inclusive of all projects and not in addition thereto, so that other W. P. A. work in Milford will be diminished to the extent of that done on the pond.
Thus, it will be seen that the Cedar Swamp Pond problem has occupied the constant attention of the Board of Selectmen since the beginning of the Federal pro- gram. For four years, since the property was purchased by the Town, nothing was done with it until 1933, but the Selectmen will continue their efforts in striving to improve the unsightly and unsanitary conditions that have existed there so long.
III.
A War Memorial Project, replacement of wooden by concrete bridges, cannery, sewing project, Hayward Street dump, Rifle Range, and many others have been carried on under the E. R. A. and its successor, W. P. A., the Town furnishing the materials by competitive bids. As in other years, the influx of Federal money has re- duced the cost of local relief, although not to the extent of 1933 and 1934. For while in 1933 at one time, 702 persons, and in 1934 443 persons were employed, at the date hereof but 320 persons are employed under the W. P. A.
As pointed out in the Selectmen's Report last year, suggestions from all departments and the public for new
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projects have been welcome, and while countless numbers have been submitted covering all sorts of various im- provements, the ones selected rest in the last analysis with the State Administrator.
IV.
An increase of $7,300.00 in the Federal grant for the high school addition was secured to cover part of the cost of furnishings; ; Cedar street construction was completed to the Middlesex County line; and a portion of Medway street was rebuilt during the year. Approxi- mately, three-fourths of the cost of this work was fur- nished by the County and State, although their contri- bution did not equal previous years on account of a fifteen per cent reduction of their appropriations. Thirty thou- sand dollars have been borrowed during the year on tax titles, thus liquidating uncollected taxes and giving the taxpayer a period of time within which to repay the loan. As has been pointed out, the repayment of this loan is not made by the town, but as each taxpayer re- deems its property, the money goes direct to the State Treasurer and the Town is given credit on the loan.
In conclusion, we express our satisfaction to the citi- zens as a whole for their goodwill, patience and under- standing of the local problems that have arisen, and we thank all the other Town departments for their coopera- tion in carrying on the work of Town government.
Respectfully submitted,
LYNDHURST A. MacGREGOR, WILLIAM J. HAYES, JOHN H. GARDELLA,
Board of Selectmen.
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In Memoriam
The death of Dr. George Frederick Curley on April 15, 1935, cannot be permitted to pass without some official recognition by the Town of Milford, the chosen field of his labors for over a third of a century.
Born on June 1, 1872, in the adjacent town of Upton, his boyhood days were spent among the humblest of sur- roundings, and his time was divided between farm chores, studies and grocery clerk. Nevertheless, he grad- uated from Upton High School in 1889, and he earned his Bachelor's degree at the State College in Amherst in 1893, an environment that produced Calvin Coolidge, Dwight P. Morrow, and Justice Stone of our Supreme Court at Washington. No graduate of any college any- where ever left his alma mater with a broader knowledge of classical learning, or with a firmer grip of the virtues of common honesty, patriotism and nobility of character than did he, attributes that remained with him through- out his whole life.
His medical school was Jefferson in Philadelphia, an institution that bears the name of one of the foremost disciples of political equality, educational opportunity and religious freedom in America. After an interneship in Elizabeth, New Jersey, he returned to his native Worcester County in Massachusetts, and in 1897 he began the practice of medicine in this Town, which was destined to reach over a span of thirty-eight years.
Much has been said and written of his capacity as a surgeon, physician and medical man, but nothing de- scribes him better than what the French people have inscribed on the monument to their beloved Pasteur in the City of Paris :
"To cure sometimes, To relieve often, but To comfort always."
In his thirty-eight years of service, every patient he ever visited was either cured by his skill, relieved by his
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medical talents, or comforted by his kindly patience and friendly charm. He saw humanity as Longfellow saw it,
"Toiling, rejoicing, sorrowing, Onward through life he goes, Each morning sees some task begun, Each evening sees it close."
For his life was one of "toiling, rejoicing, sorrowing," and he seemed to sense that the lives of all of us were cast in the same mould. Though he reached the very pinnacle of success, professionally, financially, honored by a Fellowship in the American College of Surgeons, the first medical examiner of his religious faith to be ap- pointed in this district, esteemed by his brother doctors as a leader of leaders in medical science, there was no barrier between his invincible soul and the soul of the humblest man, woman or child. He shared with man- kind their toils and their sorrows, and his charity never failed or slackened when anyone, high or low, passed his door, or came within his notice.
The world is better that George Frederick Curley lived, and the Town of Milford and its people and all those countless ones who have felt the soft hand of his charity and his goodness have suffered the greatest of losses.
Milford was proud that in life it could claim him as one of her citizens. In death, the Town, in its poor power to do him honor, causes these sentiments to be placed upon the official records.
Dated this sixth day of May, 1935.
LYNDHURST A. MacGREGOR, WILLIAM J. HAYES, JOHN H. GARDELLA, Selectmen of Milford.
DENNIS J. SULLIVAN, Town Clerk. WILLIAM A. MURRAY, Town Solicitor.
REPORT OF E.R.A .- W.P.A. ADMINISTRATOR
To the Honorable Board of Selectmen and Citizens of Milford:
I herewith present to you my second annual report as Administrator of Federal relief funds in Milford, under the Emergency Relief Administration and its successor, the Works Progress Administration, during 1935.
The Federal government spent in wages in Milford in 1935 the staggering total of $212,848.22 ($201,760.23 under E. R. A. and $11,087.99 under W. P. A.), an aver- age weekly payroll for the 52 weeks of $4,939.40.
The transition from E. R. A. to W. P. A. began here on Nov. 12, and the last E. R. A. project was transferred just prior to the New Year.
Under E. R. A. a definite cash allotment was given each month, while W. P. A. simply allots each community a specified number of men, and these men work steadily until the completion of the particular project to which they were assigned.
The question of who could work and who could not, under E. R. A., was settled by a detachment of Social Service workers, placed in the various cities and towns by the Federal government. In Milford, since Novem- ber of 1934, a staff of these workers investigated every applicant for relief, and without "certification" by these officials it was impossible for the local Administrator to place anyone at work. The Social Service dictated who should work, and the number of hours. Their decisions caused plenty of friction, and the Administrator, of course, had "to take the rap." Many people who were refused work blamed the Administrator, and either could not or would not understand that he was obliged to take his orders from the Social Service workers. Their de- cisions were final, and although they have been with- drawn from Milford, their records are on file in the Worcester District office, and these records still are used to determine eligibility for work of all applicants.
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Under W. P. A. all Milford records were ordered shipped to the Worcester office. No more workers are hired or assigned in the Milford office. All assignments are made by Herrick J. O'Gara, head of the Assignment division at Worcester, and he secures the names of those who are entitled to work from the Social Service records in that city.
At present, W. P. A. workers, by official orders from Washington, must be selected from those whose names appeared on E. R. A. payrolls between May and Novem- ber of last year. Here, again, is trouble. Many men left the E. R. A. last spring for private employment, thus making room for some less fortunate person on the E. R. A. Now, with work in his private line quiet, the man who tried to better himself finds he is not eligible to come back to the W. P. A. The local Administrator has fought for the rescinding of this unfair rule, but has been informed that nothing can be done until new orders are received from Washington.
W. P. A. gives a steadier income than did its prede- cèssor. It pays the unskilled worker $52 per month of 112 hours; the semi-skilled get $60 a month, and the skilled artisan receives $77 a month, the latter class, however, working only a sufficient number of hours at the standard rate of their trade to receive $77. Pay is semimonthly, rather than weekly, and this system of pay-off has caused hardship to many, especially when the checks are several days overdue.
During 1935 a total of 535 persons received govern- ment relief checks in Milford. The greatest number on the payroll at any one time in the past year was 486. At this writing 320 are on W. P. A. payrolls. From what can be learned at the Worcester office, Milford is already over its quota of workers and money, and can look for no sizeable increase in either in the immediate future.
The Administrator, the Selectmen and the Town So- licitor, assisted by the E. R. A. engineers, last summer began formulating plans to take full advantage of gov-
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ernment funds under the W. P. A. We prepared and pre- sented a total of 48 projects, calling for a total of $483,- 074.15 from the Federal government. All of these projects have been accepted at Washington. Of course no such vast sum will be given to Milford in its entirety. Washington allots a certain amount of money to its State Administrator, who then apportions this sum among the various district offices in the state. These, in turn, divide the county share among the cities and towns in the dis- trict. Town officials of Milford simply made certain that, regardless of how generous Uncle Sam might be, we would have on file projects sufficient to give work to upwards of 1,000 of our citizens, feeling that in this manner we have fully safeguarded the interests of our people in so far as it is humanly possible so to do.
Work done last year included: Drainage about the State Armory on Pearl Street; canning over 9,000 cans of vegetables, fruit, etc., for the needy; repainting the interior of the Claflin School building (two coats) ; the construction of modern reinforced concrete bridges at Vernon Grove Cemetery, Congress Terrace, Water Street, Westbrook Street and West Walnut Street, and laying of reinforced concrete culverts on Fruit, Taylor and Dilla Streets, and the start of a new concrete bridge at the pumping station on Dilla Street; concrete sidewalks on Claflin, Congress, East Main, Myrtle, North Bow, Pearl, Poplar, Walnut and West Streets, with new granite curb- ing, necessary catch basins, etc .; repairs at High School; laying of drains and catch basins on Highland Street; Federal Housing project; repairs and new toilets in Plains School buildings; quarrying street curbing and brook walls; rifle range construction and grading, including removal of all rocks from the line of fire, and construction of shelter house; erection of Safety Island at junction of Spruce and Main Streets, with proper illumination, thus eliminating a danger spot for pedes- trians; suppression of gypsy moth and other tree pests; remodelling South Main Street fire station and redec-
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orating interior of Spruce Street fire house; contributed $1,324.50 toward labor for snow removal from our streets; repaired Spruce Street School; repaired Town Infirmary; finished the wall, grading and concrete walks about the Stacy School; widened two corners at Spruce and School Streets, and put in new concrete walks about same; did preliminary excavation at the new Imhoff tank at the sewer beds which saved the town thousands of dollars on the P. W. A. contract recently awarded ; kept a force of 50 women busy sewing sheets, pillow cases, underwear, men's and boys' shirts, baby clothing, towels, etc .; continued the walling of the O'Brien and Godfrey Brooks, and numerous smaller projects.
These projects are permanent improvements, and have been frequently favorably commented upon by efficiency engineers sent here from the Worcester and Boston offices. Certainly these projects have saved, and will continue to save, the Town of Milford many dollars yearly that were formerly spent in upkeep of bridges, sidewalks, etc.
One of the big items contemplated for this year is a continuation of the program to build permanent side- walks all over town. The Selectmen have received numer- ous petitions, asking for new sidewalks in various parts of Milford, and we have already secured the approval by Washington and State authorities to carry on this work. If the voters will apropriate the money at the March town meeting for the necessary materials, the Board of Selectmen and the Administrator will carry out the wishes of the petitioners. Every section of the town has been included in this ambitious program for new side- walks. One has but to inspect the new walks already built to be impressed with the vast improvement in ap- pearance, safety and comfort brought about by this project.
Forty-eight projects were approved under the E. R. A. for Milford in 1935. Of these 36 were completed, three were discontinued, and nine were transferred to the W. P. A.
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It might be of interest to the voters to know that from November, 1933, to January 1, 1936, the Federal gov- ernment has distributed a grand total of $524,397.30 to Milford workers, as follows: C. W. A. (1933-34), $165,- 549.08; E. R. A. (1934-35), $201,760.23; W. P. A., $11,087.99.
In addition to our local projects, about 50 Milford men are employed on the new sidewalks being constructed on the state roads on Prospect and East Main Streets. This work is costing the town nothing, all expenses for labor, materials, tools and trucks being borne by the state W. P. A. and the state of Massachusetts.
The War Memorial and improvements to Cedar Swamp Pond, projects that have been favorably acted upon at town meetings, are still in the formulative stage. Both of these projects, and their difficulties, are very fully discussed and explained in the report of the Board of Selectmen elsewhere in this Town Report; therefore it will not be necessary for further comment on either project here.
On all major items purchased by the town bids were asked for, and the award made to the lowest bidder.
In conclusion, I wish to thank the members of the Board of Selectmen, the Town Solicitor, and other town officials, engineers, supervisors and foremen on the relief program, and many private citizens for their whole-hearted cooperation in the expenditure of this vast fund. The town officials and myself look forward to the coming year with satisfaction, believing that the type of projects already approved, and those to be presented later, will bring additional permanent improvements to the town and commendation from the government, with a decided saving in town funds in the years to come, be- cause of the work now being done with federal funds.
Respectfully submitted, FRED J. COLEMAN, E. R. A. Administrator. W. P. A. Coordinator.
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REPORT OF THE HIGHWAY SURVEYOR
To the Voters of the Town of Milford:
I hereby submit my report as Highway Surveyor of the Town of Milford for 1935.
The General Appropriation for this Department this year was at the minimum, $20,500, and I am asking for the same amount in 1936. This amount is sufficient for me to keep the highways in a passable condition, clean gutters, cut brush, scrape roads, clean drains, and do patching, providing we are granted the Chapter 90 con- struction, which I anticipate will be done in 1936. The two Chapter 90 jobs that I completed this year enabled me to keep my machinery and operators off this Depart- ment's payroll from July to December, and for this rea- son only was the appropriation sufficient to carry the expenses of this Department for 1935.
The Sidewalk Appropriation was entirely eliminated this year, and I will not ask for a sidewalk appropriation while the Federal funds are being granted for the pur- pose, but, of course, the necessary repairs on walks from time to time is a drain on my general fund.
The appropriation for oiling streets this year was $3,500, and this enabled me to resurface several streets, though I am asking for $5,000 for 1936, and I would rec- ommend that this amount be appropriated, due to the fact that there are many streets that I was forced to neglect this year.
The appropriation for snow removal this year was $25,000, and I expended $21,136.95. The cost of snow removal is almost impossible to determine, but due to the fact that we have had so little snow to date this year, I am only asking for $10,000 for 1936. I purchased a new steel plow to be used with our tractor for plowing
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snow, and I am sure that this equipment will be of great benefit to the Department and add greatly to the service to the people in the outlying districts during heavy snow falls, although our tractor was purchased in 1925, and while I have kept it in the best possible repair, I would recommend that the voters replace it whenever financial condition will permit.
I completed the construction of Cedar Street to the Hopkinton Town line, a distance of 7,500 feet in length, 20 feet normal width, curved 22 feet to 25 feet in width. This was a Chapter 90 project and was completed within · the appropriation alloted for this construction and en- tirely by local labor.
A section of Medway Street, also a Chapter 90 project, was completed with the exception of a 1,000 feet of shoulder fine grading, which we were forced to let go until Spring, due to the ground freezing. This construc- tion is a distance of 5,300 feet in length, normal width 24 feet, and 30 feet in width on curves. This project was also completed within the appropriation with ample funds remaining to finish the shoulder work.
I recommend that Medway Street be completed in 1936 as a Chapter 90 project, and, also, at least a portion of Purchase Street. I also hope that the voters will be agree- able to have this Department have charge of all Chapter 90 construction in the future.
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