USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Swampscott > Town annual report of Swampscott 1895 > Part 5
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SECT. 4. Such board shall, within sixty days after the taking of any land under this act, file, and cause to be recorded in the registry of deeds for the county or district in which any land so taken is situated a description thereof sufficiently accurate for identifying the same.
SECT. 5. Such boards shall respectively estimate and determine all damages sustained by any person by the taking of land or by other acts of such boards in the execution of the powers vested in them respectively by this act; but a person aggrieved by any such determination of the board may have his damages assessed by a jury of the Superior Court in the same manner as is provided by law with respect to damages sustained by reason of the laying out of ways. If, upon trial, damages are increased beyond the award, the party in whose favor the award was made shall recover his costs: otherwise he shall pay costs ; and costs shall be taxed as in civil cases.
SECT. 6. The fee of any land taken or purchased by such boards in any town or city for a park under this act shall vest in the town or city in which such park is laid out; and such town or city shall be liable to pay all damages assessed or determined, as provided in the preceding section, and all other costs and expenses incurred by its Board of Park Commissioners in the execu- tion of the powers vested in such board by this act. Any town or city shall also be authorized to take and hold in trust, or otherwise, any devise, grant, gift or bequest that may be made for the purpose of laying out, improving, or ornamenting any park or parks therein.
SECT. 7. The Boards of Park Commissioners, in their respective towns and cities, shall have the same authority to determine the value of, and assess upon real estate the amount of betterments accruing to said real estate by the locating and laying out of a park or parks under this act that is conferred by chapter fifty-one of the Public Statutes upon boards of city or town officers authorized to lay out streets or ways; and the provisions of the first eight sec- tions of said chapter relating to ways shall apply to such assessments by Boards of Park Commissoners in respect to the location and laying out of parks as aforesaid; provided, however, that no assessment shall be laid upon any real estate except such as abuts upon the park from the laying out of which the betterment accrues, or upon a street or way bounded by such park.
SECT. 8. Any town or city in which a public park is laid out under this act may raise, appropriate, and expend such sums of money as may be deemed best for the purchase and improvement of such park or parks, subject to the laws of this Commonwealth limiting municipal indebtedness.
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REPORT OF PARK COMMISSIONERS.
1895.]
SECT. 9. For the purpose of defraying the expenses incurred under the provisions of this act, the City Council of any city shall have authority to issue from time to time, and to an amount not exceeding the sum actually expended for the purpose or taking of lands for a park or parks, bonds or certificates of debt, to be nominated on the face thereof the" Public Park Loan," and to bear nterest at such rates and to be payable at such times as said City Council may determine. For the redemption of such loan such City Council shall establish a sinking fund sufficient, with the accumulating interest, to provide for the payment of such loan at maturity. All amounts received for better- ments shall be paid into such sinking fund until such fund shall amount to a sum sufficient with its accumulation to pay at maturity the bonds for the security of which the fund was established.
SECT. IO. All lands taken or held under this act shall be forever kept open and maintained as a public park or parks. No building covering more than six hundred square feet shall be placed or allowed to remain on any such park; and no street or way, and no steam or horse railroad, shall be laid out over any portion of a park located under this act, except at such places and in such manner as the Board of Park Commissioners shall approve.
SECT. II. No military encampment, parade, drill, review or other military evolution or exercise shall be held or performed on any park laid out as afore- said except with the consent of such board; nor shall any military body, with- out such consent, enter or move in military order within such park, except in case of riot, insurrection, rebellion or war.
SECT. 12. All such Boards of Park Commissioners shall make reports of their respective doings, including detailed statements of all receipts, expendi- tures and liabilities for the preceding year; such reports to be made in towns at the annual town meetings, and at such other times as the town may direct, and in cities to the City Council annually in the month of December.
SECT. 13. This act shall not take full effect in any town or city unless accepted by a majority of the legal voters of such town or city present and voting thereon by ballot and using the check list at a meeting or meetings, notice whereof has been duly given at least seven days beforehand. Said bal- lots shall be "yes " or " no" in answer to the question, " Shall an act passed by the Legislature of the Commonwealth in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-two, entitled, 'An act authorizing towns and cities to lay out public parks within their limits,' be accepted ?" In a town such meeting shall be called and notified in the manner in which meetings for the election of town officers are called and notified; and in a city meetings to act thereon shall be held at one time in the usual voting places of the city, and on such days as shall be designated by the Board of Aldermen at any regular meeting, and shall be called and notified by the Board of Aldermen in the manner in which meetings for the election of municipal officers are called and notified. The ballots cast shall be assorted, counted and public declaration made thereof in open town or ward meeting, as the case may be, and the number of ballots respectively cast shall be registered in the town or ward records, as the case
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may be. The Clerk of each ward in a city shall, within forty-eight hours of the close of the polls, make return to the Board of Aldermen of the number of ballots cast in his ward in favor of the acceptance of this act and of the num- ber cast against its acceptance. The Selectmen and Town Clerk of a town, and the Board of Aldermen of a city, in which such meeting or meetings are held, shall certify, as soon as may be thereafter, to the Secretary of the Com- monwealth the whole number of ballots cast in favor of the acceptance of this act, and of the whole number cast against its acceptance, and, if it shall appear that a majority of the ballots have been cast in favor of acceptance, the said Secretary shall immediately issue and publish his certificate declaring this act to have been duly accepted by such town or city.
SECT. 14. No second meeting for the purpose of voting upon the question of accepting this act shall be called within twelve months from the first, unless the first meeting shall have failed through illegality or irregularity in the pro- ceedings.
SWAMPSCOTT, Feb. 25, 1895.
79
COMMITTEE ON FUTURE WATER SUPPLY.
1895.]
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON FUTURE WATER SUPPLY.
TO THE CITIZENS OF SWAMPSCOTT :
The committee appointed at the last annual meeting to look into the matter of a future water supply for the Town, most respectfully submit the following report: The com- mittee organized with E. F. Small as chairman, and A. C. Widger as clerk, four regular meetings and one public hear- ing have been held during the year. We have carefully con- sidered the relation of the Town with the Marblehead Water Co., and its bearings on a future water supply, and while the conditions seem somewhat complicated, your committee believe the Town has rights, which, when the time comes for assertion, will be fully manifest.
The contract made by the Town with this Company to supply the Town with water for ten years, expires Oct. Ist, 1897. While it may seem rather premature in bringing this question before the Town at this seemingly early stage, yet your committee feel that the interest of the Town can be better conserved by taking ample time for a careful and delib- erate consideration of the matter, rather than waiting a later period, when some hasty action entirely at variance with the best judgment and interest of the Town, might become necessary.
The Metropolitan system of water supply, now before the State Legislature for enactment, presents itself to the Town for careful consideration. The opinion expressed at the hearing held in the Town Hall, Saturday evening, Feb.
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16th, at which were assembled a large number of leading citizens, seemed to indicate a universal demand for softer water, and a greater supply than we now have, and a growing sentiment that the Town should sooner or later own and control its water supply.
While in the absence of an appropriation, your Committee have been unable to conduct any practical experiments, yet they are unaminous in their opinion, that an abundance of pure, soft water can be obtained within, or near the limits of the Town, sufficient to meet the present prospective demands.
We would recommend that an appropriation be made to enable the committee to still further consider and investigate the subject of a future supply.
ELDRIDGE F. SMALL, ARTHUR C. WIDGER, MILTON D. PORTER, PELEG GARDNER, MARTIN E. NIES,
Committee on Water Supply.
SWAMPSCOTT, Feb. 21, 1895.
81
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON SEWERAGE.
1895.]
REPORT OF SEWERAGE COMMITTEE.
MINORITY REPORT.
TO THE CITIZENS OF SWAMPSCOTT :
As a member of the Sewerage Committee, I deem it my duty to make a report. There has not been a meeting called by the committee during the year past. I do not know the reason why.
I think the sewerage question one of vital importance to the future growth of the Town, and one which should be care- fully considered, and all of the expense counted at the be- ginning ; so as to know just how much the Town will be called upon to pay.
The question is asked me often "Where is your sewer ?" This subject must soon come before the Town for action.
The question arises where shall we empty our sewerage for that section of the Town lying west and north-west of Reding- ton street. I should answer, Stacey's Brook.
The sewerage of the eastern portion of Lynn will be obliged to come to the same place. The sewer at Herrick's factory indicates that the bed of Stacey's Brook will be the outfall of the present sewer. When this sewer is full it overflows and runs down that way now.
My plan is as follows : Commencing at a point on New Ocean street and run a large sewer pipe through New Ocean street to Burrill street, branching off at Pine street, then take in Pine street, Boynton street and Railroad avenue ; then run
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a pipe up Burrill street to Essex street ; then take in Essex street, Columbia street, Beach avenue, Cherry street, Hill- side avenue, Elliot street, Crescent street, Roy and Jessie streets ; from New Ocean street branch off into Paradise road ; lay a pipe for the Stetson Land Co. and a portion of the Swampscott Land Trust Co. to the sewer in Paradise road, to take the sewerage from these locations into the sewer running up New Ocean street to Stacey's Brook ; have one or two large pipes laid in Stacey's Brook that will empty out into the ocean ; extend the box drain to low-water mark ; run a sewer pipe from the Town Hall to the Soldiers' Monu- ment ; have a large pipe laid in Humphrey street, from Stacey's Brook as far as Mr. S. H. Wardwell's residence on Humphrey street ; branch off and go up Redington street, Blaney street, Rockland and Kings streets ; branch off at the Soldiers' Monument and go up Monument avenue as far as George E. Emmons' residence; then go up Elmwood road into Sheridan road to Redington street and connect High- land street with the Redington street pipe. The sewerage in the sewers, as here described, will all fall by gravity with- out any pumping,
The lower portion of the Town can be sewered on to the beach near the Lincoln House, and Atlantic Avenue and Beach Bluff by the way of the brook near Marblehead line. I do not think this would need to be pumped.
Now have this all sewer pipe, and charge abutters twenty- five (25) cents per foot for the land on the street where the sewer is laid. This will give abutters the right to connect with the sewer, and who is there in the Town who would not be willing to pay this amount and not be obliged to empty their cess-pools once or twice each year.
I do not believe it would injure the beaches; I have talked with some of the best engineers and they say it would not do any harm.
I would recommend that a committee of three be appointed
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REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON SEWERAGE.
1895.]
to look over these streets and ascertain the size of pipe re- quired, and report at the next annual town meeting, and ascertain the estimated cost of doing the work.
Respectfully submitted,
KENDALL POLLARD.
SWAMPSCOTT, Feb. 25, 1895.
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TOWN DOCUMENTS.
[ Feb. 28,
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON ASSESSORS' MAPS.
TO THE CITIZENS OF SWAMPSCOTT :
In compliance with a vote of the Town passed at the last annual meeting, empowering the committee to procure maps or plans of a survey of the Town for the use of the assessors, your committee employed a prominent surveyor to write a contract with minute specifications for the work of surveying and platting of all the territory of the Town, and the furnish- ing of accurate plans, tracings, index maps, etc. The area of each separate lot to be correctly computed, and the measure- ment, street frontage and number to be shown thereon. The work to be done in a skilful and workmanlike manner, and to the satisfaction of the committee, to be completed by May I, 1897. The territory of the Town to be divided into three sections, one year being allowed for the work of each section.
The terms of payment to be 80% of one-third of the con- tract price when one-third of the work is completed, the same proportion of the contract price when two-thirds is completed, and the balance upon the completion, delivery and acceptance, of the entire work required, under the terms of the specifica- tions and the contract based thereon.
Bids for doing the work were received by the committee from McClintock & Woodfall and J. M. McClintock of Boston; from I. K. Harris and C. N. Wilson of Lynn; and from E. H. Kitfield and F. H. Eastman of Swampscott. Mr. Eastman's bid was $3,450, and was the lowest received, and he having given satisfactory assurance of his ability to per-
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REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON ASSESSORS' MAPS.
1895.]
form the work to the satisfaction of the committee, the con- tract was awarded to him for that sum, and was signed August 17th, 1894. He commenced immediately upon the work.
Respectfully submitted,
JOHN CHAPMAN, D HOLMAN MILLETT, Committee on D. P. STIMPSON, Assessors' Maps.
SWAMPSCOTT, Feb. 19, 1895.
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TOWN DOCUMENTS.
[ Feb. 28,
REPORT OF STREET LIGHT COMMITTEE.
TO THE CITIZENS OF SWAMPSCOTT :
In response to a vote passed by the Town at an adjourned meeting, your Street Light Committee herewith submit their report.
We have located during the year Arc lamps at the following named points: One at Middlesex avenue, one at Norfolk avenue, one at the L. & B. R. R. stable on Humphrey street. One Incandescent at Jackson Park.
The Arc at the stable referred to was the first of the kind used in Swampscott. It was located April 1, 1889, by the L. & B. R. R. Co., and maintained by the said corporation until June 1, 1894, when they refused to maintain it longer. Your committee re-located it on the town circuit.
We have now eighty-six arc lamps, nineteen incandescents, and two Welsbach's. The latter named lights are located at each approach of the Burrill-street bridge, and burn every, and all night. The electrics burn on a moonlight schedule of twenty nights in each month until 2 o'clock, with extra light- ing for dark nights, when the moon is obscured, proportionate rates being charged by the light company as prescribed in town documents of 1891, section 4, page 100, the items of which will be found in the Auditors' report under Street Light Department in this volume. Concerning the Welsbach lights, your committee take occasion to explain that their service at the bridge is meeting with general favor, and as the consumption of gas is but three cubic feet per hour, or, one- half that of a six-foot burner, and the light more than double
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REPORT OF STREET LIGHT COMMITTEE.
1895.]
the candle power, your committee felt justified in experiment- ing with these two lights with a possible view of substituting them in place of incandescent lamps throughout the Town. If on the contrary, the Welsbach's do not come up to the requirements anticipated, they can easily be removed and an ordinary five to six-foot burner adjusted.
We have received a petition from Frank L. Earl and others for an incandescent lamp in front of Odd Fellows' Hall. As this locality is fairly lighted we have not acted in the matter, nevertheless, the hall being used by the public we believe the request to be reasonable and refer it to your Light Committee of 1895 and 96, with our favorable endorsement. The con- tract with the Lynn Gas and Electric Company, expires August Ist, of the current year, and in accordance with a vote of the Town, your committee are negotiating for proposals (from the said company and from other sources), for a continuance of the service. It is regretted that your committee are unable to present any figures at this time, but owing to requests for copy being made by the Auditors earlier than anticipated, this duty will be reserved until town meeting, when it will be pre- sented with recommendations of appropriations, etc., as a postscript to this report.
Your committee have visited the new lighting station at Marblehead, and through the courtesy of the Light Committee of that town, one of whom is our former fellow-townsmen, B. J. Lindsey, we were made at home in one of the most modern lighting stations.
In closing, your committee recommend a more pronounced policy in the trimming of shade trees.
Respectfully submitted,
E. A. FARNHAM,
CURTIS V. MERRITT, - Committee on
WM. F. NORCROSS, Street Lights.
SWAMPSCOTT, Feb. 23, 1895.
.
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TOWN DOCUMENTS.
[Feb. 28,
REPORT OF COMMITTEE TO PURCHASE ROAD ROLLER.
TO THE CITIZENS OF SWAMPSCOTT :
Your committee purchased a Road Roller of the Ames Plow Company of Boston, in accordance with your vote at the last annual town meeting, paying therefor, the sum of two hundred and twenty-five dollars ($225.00), the exact amount of the appropriation.
The Roller has been delivered to the Highway Depart- ment.
Respectfully submitted,
S. A. CROSMAN, D. F. KNOWLTON, Committee. M. E. NIES,
SWAMPSCOTT, Feb. 26, 1895.
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W.W NORTHEND, ARCHT. LYNN.
PHILLIPS SCHOOL BUILDING.
89
PHILLIPS SCHOOL BUILDING COMMITTEE.
1895.]
REPORT OF PHILLIPS SCHOOL BUILDING COMMITTEE.
TO THE CITIZENS OF SWAMPSCOTT :
Your committee on construction of the Phillips School building, herewith present their second and final report.
Early in 1894 we again advertised for proposals for the construction of the building. Ten bids in all were received and Mr. E. E. Strout of Lynn, being the lowest, to him was awarded the contract to erect and finish the entire building, with the exception of the heating, ventilating, and the plumbing.
Subsequently, of twelve tenders for heating and ventilating, that of Messrs. Ingalls & Kendricken of Boston, being con- sidered by the committee as being the most comprehensive and satisfactory, they were awarded the work.
The contract for the plumbing was later awarded to Geo. E. Sleeper of Lynn, he being the lowest bidder, and under the direct supervision of your committee the work was steadily prosecuted to completion, and on the 24th of November your committee was enabled to deliver to the Town the finished building, complete in all its parts, and ready for occupancy.
Citizens :- In the prosecution and completion of the work everything has been competitive, and in all contracts and pur- chases connected therewith, the strictest and most rigid economy, consistent with the highest requirements, has been observed, and the committee have delivered into your hands
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a plant which they consider as first-class in all respects, and they trust a permanent source of both pride and benefit to the Town.
You are referred to the Auditors' reports for the detailed statement of the entire cost of the work.
Respectfully submitted,
MILTON D. PORTER, H. CUSHING BULFINCH,
A. R. BUNTING,
W. ERNEST STONE,
E. F. SMALL,
A. C. WIDGER,
Committee.
D. HOLMAN MILLETT,
WM. H. ROGERS,
F. E. INGALLS,
D. K. PHILLIPS,
SWAMPSCOTT, Feb. 23, 1895.
91
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
1895.]
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
TO THE CITIZENS OF SWAMPSCOTT :
The Report for the year 1894-95 will be interesting for its record of the completion, dedication and occupancy of the Phillips School Building.
For obvious reasons, our reports should include a some- what extended account of the dedicatory exercises, which we here append as a matter of interest to present and future generations.
November 24th, 1894, the day appointed for these impor- tant and interesting exercises, dawned with clear skies.
Assembly Hall, which occupies the third story of the build- ing and which will accommodate nearly eight hundred people, was well filled.
On the platform, besides His Excellency the Governor, and the Rev. Dr. Pullman, who were the orators of the day, there were many invited guests from out-of-town. There was a general acceptance of the opportunity afforded to take in the view from the tower of the building, and from all sides came enthusiastic expressions of the surpassing beauty of the situation.
While the audience were assembling, and at intervals during the exercises, the occasion was enlivened by music from Lurvey's Orchestra of Lynn. At 1.30 P. M., F. E. Ingalls, Secretary of the School Board, called upon Rev. Anthony Bilkovsky, who invoked the divine blessing.
Mr. Ingalls then presented Milton I). Porter, the Chairman of the Building Committee, as chairman of the day, who
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stepped forward and delivered the keys of the building to H. Cushing Bulfinch, Chairman of the Board of Selectmen, with the following fitting address :
ADDRESS OF MILTON D. PORTER.
Citizens :
We assemble here today to congratulate ourselves, and each other, on the happy consummation of the enterprise which has produced for us, this substan- tial structure, and in a fitting manner, to dedicate it to the high and noble pur- poses for which it is intended. But a little more than a year ago, our Town voted a liberal sum of money to erect a High and Grammar School building on this beautiful site, so generously donated to the Town by our esteemed fellow citizens, whose honored name it bears. Into the hands of a committee, of which I am one, was placed this means, to procure plans, and cause to be erected, a suitable school building which should meet the present and prospective needs of the Town. The committee have labored to accomplish this object, and they are here today to deliver to you this finished edifice, this thoroughly equipped plant, which we trust will meet the requirements of our people, and will not suffer by comparison with those of its class which are already dotting the sur- face of every town and city in our land.
We may, perhaps, be excused, if on this day and on this occasion, we indulge for a moment in the gratified pride of location, and congratulate ourselves that the large-hearted generosity of these citizens has made it possible for us to locate on this beautiful and commanding height, rather than in yonder less favorable situation. Here, the splendid panorama stretched out on every hand, set in nature's rich surroundings, must be noble inspiration to every teacher, and grand incentive to every scholar. For who that stands here today, and with sweeping gaze, scans the circle of yonder horizon, though he may have "traversed earth's dull round," can say the eye has rested on fairer scene than this. These lofty turrets shall catch the first glad radiance of the morning sunburst, and re- flect back her last golden rays at its settings, they shall be resort of the traveller from every land, and of the pilgrims who come hither from our western world to feast upon the rich and diversified scenery of our own New England, and the wild weird beauty of this eastern sea. To those of you who go out upon yon- der ocean, these towers will be the last beacon you leave behind, and the first to greet your eye, as you sail toward your home. And to the storm tossed mar- iner, the making of this ocean landmark, will be as welcome as sight of polar star, or "grasp of brother in a foreign land." At our feet lies our beautiful bay, studded with fair isles, and promontories of picturesque beauty, and set like a crown amid jeweled crescent, where art has vied with nature in rich and lavish adornment on either hand. Almost in sight across yonder bay, lies that historic Rock of Plymouth, where from the nucleus of a nation, and its one- room schoolhouse, have emanated those stern and solid principles of govern- ment, which have gradually disseminated through all our broad land, have given force and stimulus to every enterprise and development, and have ever prompted
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