USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Andover > Town annual report of Andover 1945-1949 > Part 25
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the Andover community, young and old, is on information bent. What are some of the questions that were asked? A few must suffice :
Have you civil service examinations for postal clerks ?
What is the hourly minimum wage for a counterman in a luncheonette ?
How can I find out how to put a new product on the mar- ket ?
Is there a book which will show how to mount a trout?
Have you material which shows how people arrive at pres- tige values ?
Which encyclopedia do you recommend for children ? Have you civil service examinations for postal clerks ? Has the library books on training and judging fox hounds ? What material is there on setting up an industrial safety program?
Have you a Christmas story, about twenty minutes in length, suitable for a women's church group?
Have you books that show how to write letters of appli- cation ?
What magazines are there in the gift shop trade?
Questions on marketing products, on minimum wage, in- volving statistics and the like were answered by consult- ing the library's small business collection. Business men can find at the library such reference tools, to name a few most recently added, as the 1948 Directory of New England Manufacturers, Modern Plastics Encyclopedia, Industrial Market Data Book, Electronics Buyers' Guide Issue, Com- merce Clearing House Federal Tax Guide, and Labor Law Guide. For up-to-the-minute material there are weekly and monthly periodicals like Barron's Weekly, Forbes, Editor and Publisher, American Builder, Survey of Current Busi- ness, Advertising and Selling and current government bul- letins and publications and miscellaneous pamphlets.
Activities of the year, of interest to men and women who find stimulus in shared ideas or group participation in- cluded: two discussion meetings, one on Labor, the other on the Good Neighbor Policy ; three extension courses, Con-
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versational Spanish, Planning and Developing the Home Grounds, Tray Painting; a series of four discussion meet- ings on various phases of public education, co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the Library; a talk on Color and Design in the Modern Home, at the Ballardvale Branch Library; and the annual Open House, with the artist Allan R. Crite as the speaker. A different type of dis- cussion meeting is planned for early 1948 when, under the leadership of Alston Chase of the Phillips Faculty a group will read and discuss Thucydides' History of the Pelopon- nesian War. Now that the library owns a Bell and Howell moving picture projector, series of educational 16 mm film programs can be arranged.
The Memorial Hall Library comes into many an Andover home through the boys and girls who use the Young Peo- ple's Library and who take much pleasure in its program of activities. As one little girl said recently : "I think it's fun to have a library to come to." That is the kind of library the Memorial Hall Library hopes it is-a place for adults and children that is fun to come to.
33,777 books were issued to boys and girls through the Young People's Library, the Ballardvale Branch Library and the school deposits. Of these 20,810 were circulated from the Young People's Library. 6,758 books were sent out in classroom collections ; 129 story and movie hours were held, reaching an approximate total of 4749 boys and girls. 85 of these story hours were held at the schools; 31 at the library ; 11 at the summer playgrounds; 8 were pre-school story hours at the library. A book week contest for boys and girls from the fourth to the ninth grades was almost too successful with about 200 boys and girls participating. A tea for elementary school teachers this same week pro- vided the library with an opportunity to display curriculum materials, book and visual, interesting and useful to them. Revealing as these statistics are, a better way to test the success of the children's program would be to visit the li- brary on any busy afternoon or better still, ask any boy or girl who uses the library regularly how he or she enjoys it!
"Teen-agers," too, in large numbers, used the library last year and it was apparent that they found it a pleasant place
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whether they came for school assignments, pleasure reading, or meeting a date! While they made mixed use of the library, it would be unfair to leave the impression that it was on the frivolous side. The way in which 10th graders followed through problems assigned them in the course of library lessons at the library and the business-like and thorough manner in which many young people tackled school assign- ments, book reports, special problems, showed that they can make excellent use of library resources.
Anything can happen in the library-almost! Certainly the discovery that the library was the possessor of a rare piece of Lincolniana in the crayon portrait of Lincoln, done by Charles Alfred Barry, seems to bear out that possibility. It was fitting, since print is the library's chief business, that discovery should have come through the chance read- ing of the February 12th issue of the Christian Science Monitor, which ran a feature about the Barry portrait and described it as probably lost. It was far from lost and hanging on the walls of the library reading room where it had hung for the last thirty-five years !
Quite often someone will come into the library and say : "This is the first time I've used the library in twenty years" or "I've lived in Andover all my life and this is the first time I've been in the library." What made them come this time? Sometimes there is a very definite reason but more often there is suddenly a real if not always articulated need for something which the library can give. This makes the library a little more hopeful that little by little, it will reach at some time or other, some of the people, who, up to now, have been impervious to its charms. Not all people need the library all the time; some do; others can make more effective occasional use of it; yet there would seem to be hardly anybody who could not find, at least a few times in his life, something of value here.
A dull, unattractive building, a meagre and inadequate book collection, a disinterested and unfriendly staff, would certainly draw none but the undefatigable. However, the Memorial Hall Library is attractive, particularly now that its interior face has been almost completely lifted ; it has a fine collection of books ; it has an interested and enthusiastic
144
staff ; it should draw within its orbit an increasingly large number of Andoverians, young and old.
A note of sadness must be injected into the report at this point. The whole community is the poorer for the passing of Henry G. Tyer and the library particularly feels his loss since he had been a devoted library friend and a faithful and effective board member over many years. E. Dean Walen was appointed to fill the vacancy on the board occasioned by his death.
The Memorial Hall Library is much more, of course, than the statistics and services which have been enumerated and reported. It has a central purpose and objectives which these services are simply carrying out. A pretty good defi- nition of what this central purpose might be was given by a pioneer librarian many years ago when she described the function of the library to be the "development and enrich- ment of human life by bringing to all the people the books that belong to them."
The ingredients which go to making up an effective library are an interested community, a far-seeing library board and a devoted and intelligent library staff. If the Memorial Hall Library has had a modicum of success, it is because it has this combination in good supply.
1.45
Memorial Hall Library 1947 STATISTICS OF LIBRARY USE
BOOK STOCK
Adult
Juvenile 8,159
Total 42,471
Volumes at beginning of year
34,312
Volumes added by purchase
1,510
778
2,288
Volumes added by gift
152
32
184
Volumes lost or withdrawn
1,212
418
1,630
Lost volumes found
3
3
Total volumes at end of year
34,765
8,551
43,316
Newspapers and periodicals currently received
118
Periodicals received as gifts
21
USE
Volumes % of total circ.
Volumes of adult fiction loaned 44,851
42.5
Volumes of adult non-fiction loaned 25,293
24.
*Number of children's books loaned 33,706
32.
No. of adult records loaned
1,4612
No. of children's records loaned
715
1.5
Total number of books, records, etc. loaned 105,382
REGISTRATION
Adult
Juvenile
Total
** Borrowers registered during
year
2,563
244
2,807
Total number of regis- tered borrowers
2,534
1,321
3,855
Circulation per capita (based on 1945 census figures)
8.8
*Includes recorded school use of 9,991.
(Teachers also report further use, not included in the above, of 13,772.)
Complete adult reregistration, January, 1947.
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Board of Public Works
Andover, Mass. January 22, 1948.
The Board of Public Works voted to adopt the following report of the Superintendent as its report for 1947 with recommendations for 1948.
SIDNEY P. WHITE, Chairman SANBORN A. CALDWELL, Secretary EDWARD A. DOYLE FRED W. DOYLE JOHN H. KELLY
147
Superintendent's Report
To the Board of Public Works:
GENTLEMEN :
The major activities and developments in the Highway, Water, Sewer and Park Departments during the year which ended December 31, 1947 were as follows :
HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT
The following table shows the snowfall for the year 1947 :
January
3.75 Inches
February
8.20 Inches
March
1.70 Inches
April
3.00 Inches
November
1.00 Inches
December 40.50 Inches
Total 58.15 Inches
During the early part of the year the snowfall was very light but during the month of December a total of 40.50 inches fell, which was over twice as much snowfall as dur- ing the remainder of the year. During one of the Decem- ber storms we were fortunate in having a number of out- side trucks and tractors equipped with bulldozers and plows to assist in the work. This heavy snowstorm was accompa- nied by heavy winds which caused drifting especially in outlying districts.
Application of salt for removal of snow and ice on roads was used more freely than formerly, thirty tons having been purchased for this purpose.
A "Mack" truck, a "D-6 Caterpillar" tractor and a new "Diamond T" truck purchased this year proved most satis- factory especially during snowstorms.
A sand belt conveyor purchased at a cost of six hundred and twenty-five ($625.00) dollars for the purpose of loading sand into the trucks at the yard expedited sanding opera- tions in the winter.
148
A "Frink" sand spreader was purchased at a cost of seven hundred and thirty-five ($735.00) dollars to be used on the "Mack" truck.
Additional snow fence was purchased and erected.
A street sweeper was purchased which was received too late in 1947 to assist in spring street cleaning and prep- aration of the road surface for tarvia retreading but should prove of much value in 1948. Five thousand dollars were appropriated under Article 21 of the 1946 Warrant and the cost was $4,675.25 leaving a balance of $324.75.
The following roads were treated with "Tarvia Retread": Woburn Street, High Street, B.V., Chester Street, Oak Street, Dascomb Road, Clark Road, Lowell Junction Road, Marland Street, Rattlesnake Hill Road, Argilla Road, Torr Street, Phillips Street, Hidden Road, Sunset Rock Road, Ban- croft Road, Holt Road, Gardner Avenue, Woodland Road, Appletree Lane, Stonehedge Road, Porter Road, Salem Street, Burnham Road, Dufton Road, Sherbourne Street, Corbett Street, Magnolia Avenue, Poor Street, Kenilworth Street, Canterbury Street, Pleasant Street, Boutwell Road, Gleason Street, Osgood Street, Blanchard Street, Upland Road, Whittier Court, Johnson Road, Railroad Street, Elm Street, Essex Street and sections of Abbot Street, Tewksbury Street, River Street, Ballardvale Road, Red Spring Road, Wildwood Road, Highland Road, Gould Road, Reservation Road, High Plain Road, Chandler Road, Brundrett Avenue, Greenwood Road, Summer Street, Chestnut Street, High Street, Walnut Avenue, Harding Street, Central Street, Shawsheen Road and Stevens Street.
Under Article 19 "Tarvia D" sidewalks were constructed on the easterly side of River Street, B. V. from the stairs leading to the Catholic Church to a point in front of the property of Mr. Peter Quinn; Abbot Street westerly side from the existing sidewalk southerly to the driveway of Mrs. Mabel R. Dunnells; Essex Street northerly side from Main Street to Railroad Street; Harding Street both sides from the Railroad bridge to Main Street; the section be- tween the road and sidewalk on High Street both sides from Elm Street to a point beyond the property of Mr. James S. Goodwin; and sections of Park Street, Whittier Street and
149
Locke Street. The construction of the sidewalk on Abbot Street now makes it possible to walk the entire length to the cemetery on a hard-surfaced sidewalk which should be bene- ficial to many people.
Five thousand dollars were appropriated for the above work and $4,504.74 were spent leaving a balance of $495.26.
In the spring of the year Spring Grove Road was re- surfaced with gravel and shaped up.
An appropriation of $1,200.00 was raised under Article 18 to purchase a new car for the Superintendent. A Plym- outh Coupe was purchased for a price of $1,142.80 leaving a balance of $57.20. The turn-in value of the old Plymouth was part of the purchase price of the new car.
Under Article 20 a new Diamond T-31%-ton truck was purchased. Four thousand dollars were appropriated and together with the turn-in value of an old Ford truck, the cost was $3,982.72 leaving a balance of $17.28.
In conjunction with Chapter 90 Maintenance work, sec- tions of Lowell Street and sections of River Road were given an application of cut-back asphalt and pea stone. The joints in the cement roads on Main Street were filled with a "Ge- nasco" joint filler. To do this work in conjunction with the money allocated by the State, $3,000.00 were appropriated under Article 17. Of this money $2,691.26 were spent leav- ing a balance of $308.74.
Under Article 21, $1,100.00 were appropriated to build a stone wall in the vicinity of the Sweeney property on Cen- tral Street in the way of Rogers Brook and to point the stone wall in the vicinity of the Coleman property also in the way of Rogers Brook. Only $372.68 of the $1,100.00 were spent and only part of the work was accomplished.
Forty-five hundred dollars were appropriate under Ar- ticle 23 to build a cement block garage at the bottom of Lewis Street. The garage is still under construction and will make an ideal place to house two of our large units.
A poor drainage condition on Lowell Street near the prop- erty of Mr. Norman Morgan was corrected by laying a fifteen-inch reinforced concrete pipe from the side of Low- ell Street 212 feet to a brook which runs through Morgan's property parallel to Lowell Street.
150
Included in this work was the building of a large catch basin' on the northerly side of Lowell Street. The total appropri- ation for this work was $750.00 under Article 25 and the amount spent was $534.80 leaving a balance of $215.20.
The vertical iron grating which protected the opening of the six-foot culvert pipe which conducts Rogers Brook un- der Brook Street has been replaced with a stronger set of bars and sloped up the brook for the purpose of aiding in the removal of any material that might be deposited there.
Under Article 38 the Town authorized the erection of a retaining wall on Green Street near the corner of Dartmouth Road. One thousand four hundred and fifty dollars were ap- propriated and the following bids were received :
Frank G. McCarthy $1,164.00
Mercier and Gaudet 2,035.00
The bid of Frank G. McCarthy was accepted and the wall was constructed at a cost of $1,328.68.
Under Article 26, $2,500.00 were appropriated to widen Shawsheen Road from Essex Street to Cuba Street. Labor was not available to do this work this year.
Out of Article 2 of the Special Town Meeting held Decem- ber 17, 1945, amounting to $35,000.00 two pieces of equip- ment have been purchased namely, a "Mack" truck and a "D-6" Caterpillar tractor, both equipped with snow re- moval equipment. The "Mack" truck cost $11,704.49 and the "D-6", $11,272.81 amounting to $22,977.30. This leaves a balance of $12,022.70 to pay for the Austin & Western "99-H" grader, delivery of which is expected about Febru- ary 1, 1948.
To provide for adequate Highway Maintenance for 1948 we recommend an appropriation of $49,458.00.
TRUCKS, GARAGE AND REPAIR SHOP MAINTENANCE
To provide for adequate Trucks, Garage and Repair Shop Maintenance for 1948, we recommend an appropriation of $9,650.00.
WATER DEPARTMENT
Seven hundred and sixty-seven feet of six-inch cement
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lined iron pipe were installed on County Road from South Main Street to the dead end on County Road. The installa- tion of this pipe not only does away with a dead end but makes it possible to supply the lower end of South Main Street with water in case there is a leak between Rattle- snake Hill Road and County Road on South Main Street. Twenty-six hundred and fifty dollars were appropriated under Article 41 for this work and two thousand twenty- seven dollars and forty-one cents were expended leaving a balance of $622.59. For the digging of this work, the fol- lowing bids were received :
.
L. C. Cyr 40c per lineal foot
Lewis & Scott 471/2c per lineal foot
Central Const. Co. 55c per lineal foot L. C. Cyr was granted the contract at 40c per foot.
The six-inch water line on Railroad Street was extended a distance of 370 feet with cement lined cast iron pipe. The trench excavation was done by Lewis & Scott Co. Installa- tion of pipe by B.P.W. employees and entire cost was met by the Wilson Transite Cement Mix Company which is con- structing a "Ready-Mix" Concrete Plant at this point.
The six-inch water main on Tewksbury Street was ex- tended a distance of 101 feet so as to make it possible to supply water to Mr. Charles Proulx who has built a house at this point.
Under Article 5, twelve thousand dollars were appropri- ated to install a new pump intake suction pipe at the Hag- getts Pond Pumping Station. The materials have been or- dered and we expect to receive them by the middle of 1948 when the work will be started.
The boiler feed pump at the Haggetts Pond Pumping Station was repaired by the Warren Steam Pump Co., Inc. of Massachusetts at a price of $109.88.
The following bids were received to paint the trimmings at the Haggetts Pond Pumping Station :
Brouillard Brothers $179.00
Louis Di Stefani 186.00
John Scherner 187.00
It was voted to grant the work to the lowest bidder.
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Brouillard Brothers were also given the job to paint the engineer's house at the Haggetts Pond Pumping Station at a price of $341.00.
Mr. Alfred J. Frisch resigned as assistant engineer at the Haggetts Pond Pumping Station and Mr. George E. Har- rington was hired to take his place.
During 1947, 469,364,000 gallons of water were pumped at the Haggetts Pond Pumping Station, a daily average of 1,285,929 gallons. The steam turbine was in operation 4863 hours and 32 minutes and the electric pump 887 hours and 10 minutes making a daily average of 15 hours and 45 min- utes.
To provide for adequate expenditure in the Water Depart- ment during 1948, we recommend an appropriation of $43,098.00.
Services in use January 1, 1948
2862
Meters in use January 1, 1948
2832
RECEIPTS
Water Rates
$59,170.09
Water Construction
1,122.62
Paid to Town Treasurer
$60,292.71
COMPARATIVE STATISTICS AS OF JANUARY 1, 1948
Cost per Mil. Gals.
Year
Net Cost of Mainten- ance
Cost of Pumping
by total Mainten- ance
by cost of Pumping
Gallons Pumped
Miles of Main Pipe
1937
28,358.32
*15,113.06
71.04
*37.86
399,170,000
76.58
1938
28,371.42
*14,429.22
75.45
*38.37
376,011,000
77.14
1939
27,830.64
*14,640.99
63.87
*33.60
435,725,000
78.78
1940
27,799.18
*15,256.13
67.04
*37.79
414,653,000
79.89
1941
27,796.08
*17,494.91
56.81
*35.76
489,287,000
80.63
1942
30,859.93
*18,211.08
74.13
*43.75
416,314,000
80.77
1943
33,418.32
*19,387.57
85.53
*49.62
390,688,000
80.77
1944
38,043.35
*20,658.91
89.48
*48.59
425,152,000
80.77
1945
43,148.15
*21,916.43
106.30
*53.99
405,883,000
84.90
1946
47,857.73
*22,634.40
107.86
*51.02
443,692,000
88.64
1947
47,200.50
*19,587.05
100.56
$41.73
469,364,000
88.87
* Cost at both stations.
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SEWER DEPARTMENT
(For Sewer Construction see Engineer's Report)
To provide for adequate Sewer Maintenance and Con- struction for 1948, we recommend an appropriation of $5,680.00.
PARK DEPARTMENT
Under Article 27, $1,500.00 were appropriated to improve the Ballardvale Playground on Andover Street, opposite the Fire Station. To date, $835.93 have been spent and the work is partially completed. The area has been regraded with loam, rolled and planted with grass seed. The small building on the lot has yet to be raised to the new grade and an additional portion to be regraded.
To provide for adequate Park Maintenance for 1948, we recommend an appropriation of $4,600.00.
A new Budgetary Account has been proposed and is to be known as "Administrative, Supervision and Office Ex- pense." This account will include salaries, wages and office . expense which heretofore have been charged to existing departments as Highway, Park, Sewer and Water Depart- ments.
To provide for this account from Town Meeting date (March 8) to December 31, 1948, we recommend an appro- priation of $12,000.00.
Town Engineer, Mr. C. T. Gilliard, has given timely as- sistance in all departments aside from serving as engineer on special construction projects, and in this manner saved considerable expense which would be entailed if the Depart- ment had hired an outside engineer.
LIGHTING COMMITTEE
LIGHTS REQUESTED AND INSTALLED DURING 1947
Location
Authorized
Date Installed
Sweeney Court
1
1000 L.
5/21/46
10/14/47
Foster Circle
1
1000 L.
12/ 4/46
10/14/47
Lowell Junction
14
1000 L.
3/26/46
8/16/47
Andover Street
12
1000 L.
9/ 7/45
4/ 1/47
No. Lights
Size Lights
Date
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Salem Street
14 1000 L.
10/23/45
5/13/47
Clark Road
1 1000 L.
9/ 7/45
4/ 1/47
Andover Playstead
1 1000 L.
7/16/46
9/13/47
High Street
1 1000 L.
9/23/46
9/21/47
Lowell Street
2
1000 L.
4/ 3/47
9/ 9/47
Park at High School 2
1000 L.
6/ 4/46
9/20/47
Abbot Street 1
1000 to 2500 L. 12/ 4/46
2/18/47
Chestnut Street
2
2500 L.
10/28/47 Not Comp.
Lowell Street
15
1000 L.
8/ 1/45 13-7/10/47
Central Street
Change of location
10/28/47 Not Comp.
COST FOR ABOVE LIGHTS
64-1000 L. units @ $18 per year
$1,152.00
2-2500 L. units @ $35 per year
70.00
1-1000 L. increased to 2500 L. @ $17 per year additional cost
17.00
Total Additional Cost per Year
1,239.00
To provide for adequate lighting for 1948, we recommend an appropriation of $20,500.00.
Respectfully submitted,
EDWARD R. LAWSON, Superintendent
155
Engineer's Report
To the Board of Public Works:
GENTLEMEN :
A large part of the engineering work of the Board of Public Works during the year 1947 was that with regards to the sewer main installations under Article 6 of the 1947 Warrant.
Installed were nine hundred and forty-one (941) feet of six-inch sewer pipe on the southerly end of Pine Street ; five hundred and forty-four (544) feet of eight-inch sewer pipe and one hundred and ninety-four (194) feet of six-inch sew- er pipe on the northerly end of Pine Street ; fourteen hundred and sixty-five (1465) feet of eight-inch sewer pipe on Elm Street from the main sewer trunk line which runs through the Burton property across High Street to Enmore Street, to a point opposite Cheever Circle and thirteen hundred and ninety (1390) feet of ten-inch sewer pipe from the bottom of Fletcher Street through the properties of Mr. Melvin R. Richards, Miss Mary A. Collins, Mrs. Katherine W. Sulli- van, Mr. O. Wilton Tompkins, Mrs. Margaret V. Demers, Mr. Otto E. Steinert and the Andover-Shawsheen Realty Company, to an existing sewer manhole at the bottom of Kenilworth Street near Riverina Road. Permission had to be received from all the abutters to cross their property be- fore the work started. The last installation between Fletcher Street and Kenilworth Street through private property con- ducts the sewage from Fletcher Street, Binney Street, Shep- ley Street and a section of Union Street, to the main sewer line on Riverina Road where it runs to the pump house, from which point it is pumped into the main discharge line into the Merrimac River. Heretofore, this sewage was dumped directly into the Shawsheen River and the Town had been notified on several occasions by the Massachusetts State Department of Public Health to divert this sewage from the river. This work has been finally accomplished and makes the Town feel as though they are on better rela- tions with the State. The other three sewer lines installed,
156
two on Pine Street and one on Elm Street, make it much easier to care for the sewage from this district. Hereto- fore, cesspools and septic tanks were the only means of handling this sewage but these methods over a period of years proved most unsatisfactory because of the nature of the soil.
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