USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > Town annual reports of the several departments for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1867-1870 > Part 10
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avenues, is graded and laid out in lots. There are also two tiers of lots continuously on the southerly side of Chestnut, and a short distance on the easterly side of Walnut avenues, so that the lots that have been taken for use and those now offered for sale, cover almost one continuous space, and a connection is completed with lots that were separated by ground not cleared or grad- ed, and future clearings may be made in either direction without departing from the uniformity of plan.
There are now ready for sale two hundred and sixty lots, varying in price from six to forty dollars, and we need not expect there will be from any one a desire to have more laid out, or more land cleared, until most of them are taken up, for they are in a locality as attractive and beautiful as any in the cemetery, and as desirable as any that can be offered in the future.
We present as a matter of interest and for reference, a list of the number of lots sold each year, and the amount received for them, since the Cemetery was opened, in the year 1852 :
In 1852, 16 lots,
1853, 61 66
1844, 89 " for $1261.50
And since the establishment
of the Commission, in June, '54 : 1855, 44
$464.00
1856, 74
637.00
1857, 61 66 654.00
1858, 58
723.00
1859, 57
66 695.00
1860. 57
816.00
1861,41 66 554.00
1862, 44
597.00
1863, 82
1359.50
1864, 69
1033.00
18
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1865, 49 lots.
831.00
1866, 67
1289.00
1867, 36 66 692.00
Total,
905 “ $11,606.00
The number of Lots sold in the sixteen years is thus 905 for $11,606.00. And in the year 1866, 93 lots were sold to the Bos- ton and Worcester Railroad Company, in which the remains removed from the Pine Meadow Burial Ground were deposited, for the sum of
$972.00
Total sales, $12,578.00
The average number of lots sold per year is 56; for the first eight years 57; and for the second eight years 55; leaving out of account those sold to the Rail Road Company.
From this statement we infer that the two hundred and sixty lots now ready will meet all demands for at least three years. But if it may not be necessary or ex- pedient to extend the clearing in this, or next year, all parts of the sixteen to eighteen acres already cleared, demand the expenditure of money and labor. Trees and shrubs must be planted, the walks, banks, and driveways improved, and all the land made so fertile that grass will grow upon it.
Individual proprietors have greatly improved their lots by expensive and highly finished stone curbing and graceful and valuable monuments, and they have a right to expect the general improvements promised by the city will be made as fast as the income from the sale of lots will allow. The retired and most beautiful portion of the grounds appropriated for free burials are not yet
-
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in a condition satisfactory to the Commissioners, or cred- itable to the city, and we advise improvements in that locality as soon as they can be made. For the general care of the grounds and the improvements planned, the Commissioners request an appropriation of six hundred dollars.
No progress was made in constructing the fence on Webster street last year, and the present condition of the old fence renders the continuance of the work begun there in the year 1866 absolutely necessary, and we re- spectfully request the City Council to renew the order of last year, placing at the disposal of the Commissioners the balance of the Cemetery fund for that purpose.
Accompanying this Report, and making a part of it, is a full statement of receipts and expenditures for the year, showing a balance in the City Treasury to the cre- dit of the Cemetery, of $3031.06
And in the hands of the Commissioners, 106.87
Total balance, $3,137.93
With this, perhaps too full statement of the condition of the Cemetery so far as its material interests are con- cerned, we might close our report, and trust you will ac- cept it, in much present satisfaction with the condition of its affairs, and in full hope and assurance that the future will find faithful service in its management and care.
You have not found these details presented with the clearness and felicity of expression that have marked all former reports of this Commission. The intellect and high culture brought to the preparation of all the others are wanting in this, and we may show the reason, by re- ferring-we hope with becoming delicacy and feeling- to our former associates.
The Commissioners were elected in June, 1855, and have had charge of the Cemetery nearly fourteen years.
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Only seven persons have served upon it ; one, one year ; one, six years ; one, eight years ; one, thirteen years ; and three, the full term, to the resignation of Hon. Levi Lincoln.
Mr. Lincoln was elected chairman at the first meeting, and has been re-elected every year since. The records show that he has attended every meeting with but two or three exceptions, whether they were held upon the Cemetery grounds or in his office, which has always been open for our accommodation.
He has written such communications as the business of the Commission has required from time to time. He has also prepared eleven of the annual Reports, and as we review them as published in the City Documents, and recorded in our records, we find they contain most full and careful statements of all matters relating to the Cem- etery ; and in every one, sentences feelingly and elo- quently expressing the interest with which the work has been performed-the hearty sympathy and holy thoughts it has inspired.
In a communication to the City Council, dated Sept. 29, 1867, Gov. Lincoln, "constrained by continued ill health," tendered his resignation of the office of Commis- sioner. On the 4th of November, after passing suitable resolutions, the resignation was accepted by the Council.
For his long continued and entirely gratuitous service, our citizens owe a large debt of gratitude and honor- and we, his associates for so many years, from whom he has taken a large share of the labor by performing it himself -- we to whom he has been so uniformly kind and courteous in the transaction of business, and in our walks and talks in those consecrated grounds given the wise and happy thoughts that find utterance towards the end of life -- owe to him a double debt of gratitude and personal regard.
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By the resignation of Gov. Lincoln, the Hon. Isaac Davis became the senior member of the Board. In the arrangement of difficulties existing when the Commis- sion was established, in meeting the peculiarly delicate questions connected with the removal of remains from other burial grounds, and in all work pertaining to the proper care of the Cemetery, he has been untiring and zealous. He has written two of the annual reports, which in their appropriateness are fitting companions with the eleven made by the chairman, and we had hoped he would make many more, rather than that the duty should fall on the present writer.
With sorrow we copy a part of the record of our last meeting :
"Resolved, That the Board receive with regret the communication of Hon. Isaac Davis, announcing his de- termination to decline serving longer on this Commis- sion.
"Resolved, That the members of the Board, deeply sensible of the loss to themselves and the community, in being deprived of the mature judgment and wise coun- sels of one who has so long been an efficient and active member of the Board, respectfully tender to him the as- surance of their respect and esteem, and their earnest wishes for his continued health and welfare."
Thus our seniors have left us after fourteen years' service. Two members of the present Board were elect- ed when the Commission was established, one in its sec- ond, and one in its eighth year. To them, with the per- son you may now elect, will be entrusted the care and varied interests of the Cemetery for the year 1868.
The interests of Hope Cemetery are not entirely or principally material. Its beautiful and romantic hills and valleys are consecrated to a most sacred purpose,
144
and have to do with the deepest and most holy senti- ments of humanity. There, our citizens are carrying, one by one, but in almost unbroken procession, all that remains of dearest relatives, friends and neighbors.
There, they mingle tears of sorrow with the very dust to which dust is being returned ;-- the procession moves on ;-- the stricken mourners return again to adorn the new made grave with wreaths and flowers, and drop a few more tears -- but to have come to them as never be- fore, the cheering assurance that the loved ones "who have gone before " are not to be found among the dead -- " they are risen " -- and then, from their very heart of hearts-yea, and from the deepest convictions of the soul breaks the joyous, the exultant exclamation -- "O ! death, where is thy sting ? O! grave, where is thy victo- ry ?" We know our Redeemer liveth. They -- we -- are immortal !
Then those hills are no longer places of sadness, but mounts of transfiguration. They return again and mark them with costly. and enduring memorials of stone and marble.
For and in behalf of the Commissioners,
ALBERT TOLMAN, Secretary.
Worcester, Jan. 30, 1868.
.
Receipts and Expenditures.
HOPE CEMETERY COMMISSIONERS' ACCOUNT OF RE- CEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES FOR THE YEAR 1867.
January 1, Cash in City Treasury,
$3,325.79
63 ft. of wood sold,
$47.29
February, 29 ft. 7 in.
22.14
March, 11 ft. 4 in. 66
10.34
June, wood 1.00, poles .60,
1.60
July, hay sold, (poor quality,)
20.00
October 4, wood .75, 19 posts 4.75,
5.50
$106.87
36 lots sold,
692.00
Total;
$4124.66
Paid Earle & Fuller for plans,
$30.00
H. C. Fish for fence,
330.00
" O. B. Hadwen for trees,
17.50
" J. W. Jordan for pump,
15.50
“ C. Hamilton for deed book,
23.22
Gill Valentine for surveying,
89.25 -- $505.47
14.00
March 19, teaming wood, 54 larch trees, plank and spike for pump, .75
40.50
April 30. Goodnow 5.25, O'Connell $9, D. Keefe 1.33,
J. Keefe $10, C. Goodnow 1.83, for labor, 27.41-$82.66
May 31,
June 30, J. Keefe 25,00 C. Goodnow 29.74, 54.74
July 31, 11.00, 7.50, O'Connell 4.37 -- 22.87
August 31. 24.00, 16.50, 9.87,
D. Keefe 1.33,
51.70
Sept. 30, 66 7.75, 68.75, 10.50-86.75
J. Keefe 40.50, F. Comins 20.50, 61.00
Oct. 31. O. Goodnow 30.75, J. Keefe 6.00, P.O'Connell 3.50 -- 40.25 F. Comins, 9.00
10.00
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Nov.
For 996 stakes, at 3c, 249 corner stakes, at 9c, 22.41
29.88
66
Nov. 30. J. Keefe 6.00, P. O'Connell 4.00,
10.00
Total expenditures,
986.73
Jan. 1, 1868. Cash in City Treasury,
3031.06
Mr. Curtis's hands, 106.87
$4124.66
ALBERT TOLMAN,
Secretary of Commissioners of Hope Cemetery.
Shade Trees & Pub. Grounds.
19
REPORT
OF THE
Commissioners on Shade Trees and Public Grounds,
1867.
To his Honor, the Mayor, and the City Council of the City of Worcester :
In presenting their fifth annual report* the Commis- sioners on Shade Trees and Public Gronnds beg leave to represent that what they proposed, at their first meet- ing, to undertake during the year 1867, has been nearly all accomplished.
The board was duly organized at an early date, and the work which seemed necessary or desirable to be done in the course of the year was fully discussed. Their opinion, however, then not for the first time expressed, has thus far remained unanimous, that the present finan' cial condition of the City would hardly justify any con- siderable expenditures for the embellishment of its streets or for the improvement of its public grounds. Although not sharing in that excessive fear with which certain politicians seem to regard our municipal indebtedness, the Commissioners still feel, that, for the class of opera- tions coming within their province, the times are not al- together propitious. Accordingly, as in former years,
*The first year's service of this Commission was in 1863. The appropria- tion for its use in 1864 was only $300., and for that year no formal report was made; but the receipts and expenditures for 1864 will be found in the report for 1865.
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without asking a large appropriation for their use, they have in a great measure restricted themselves to the care and preservation of what already exists, aiming chiefly to maintain the public grounds in as good condi- tion as that in which they have been hitherto kept, and leaving the planting of street trees, for the most part, to the not always purely unselfish public spirit of those proprietors who derive an immediate and direct benefit from any improvement of the sidewalks adjacent to their estates.
In rendering an account of their stewardship, there- fore, the Commissioners by no means admit that they have unprofitably buried in the earth the one talent in- trusted to them in the appropriations made by the City Government.
The Account of the Commission with the City Treas- urer, for 1867, stands thus :
RESOURCES.
Balance undrawn Jan. 1, 1867,
$221 36
Appropriation for 1867, 500 00
-721 36
Cash rec'd of Ag. Soc. for right to plough on New Common, at An. Ex. of 1865,
15 00
Cash rec'd for grass sold from Old Common, and front of Court Houses in 1867,
6 50
Cash rec'd as proceeds of sales from New Com- mon, in 1867, viz :
Grass sold to Com'r of Highways, 350 00
3 00
Apples sold to HI. Wilson,
35 00-388 00
Pasturage,
$1130 86
EXPENDITURES.
Cash expended on Mechanic St. Cemetery, viz :
" Paid Chase & Nichols, painting fence,
$85 00
J. Rogers, work on gravestones, 15 75-100 75
Cash expended on New Common, viz :
Paid G. T. Sutton, new pump, &c., 19 50
" Levi Lincoln, half expenses on fence,
7 83
" Highway Commissioner for street scrapings, 265 63-292 96
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Cash expended on shade trees, viz :
Paid J. Simmons & Son., casings, &c.,
38 04
" C. E. Simmons, casings, &c.,
16 05
" H. & A. Palmer, pruning,
5 37
32 00 --- 91 46
" O. B. Hadwen,
Balance undrawn Jan. 1, 1868,
645 69
$1130 86
The Old Common, or Central Park, has been kept in such a degree of neatness and good order as the uses made of it would permit, and the trees which add so much to its attractions have been carefully pruned. So long, however, as a filthy wood and hay market is suf- fered to infringe upon the whole of its Main Street front, so long as its central portions are monopolized by ball- playing parties, polluting the air with their coarse pro- fanity and often obscene jests, and endangering or rude- ly annoying persons quietly walking therein, so long, es- pecially, as it is hardly yet defended from being made a dusty arena for carpet cleaning, the Commissioners have hesitated in regard to the expediency of repairing its dilapidated fences or of incurring expense for its im- provement in other respects.
When "ye meeting house," now the Old South Church, was built upon its present site, in 1763, the adjoining va- cant ground scarcely served any other purpose than that of a training field, for which special use the land had been early reserved. In that olden time, Worcester was an infant settlement with a population of only 1500 souls, the central district being a little hamlet, while the homes of a majority of the inhabitants were thinly scat- tered among the neighboring hills and valleys. To such a people whose whole wild territory was a sort of rude park, the idea of an enclosure with gravel walks and transplanted shade trees as a resort for healthful recrea- tion, would have seemed not less strange than the howl
152
of the midnight wolf that often startled their slumbers, would to day seem to their posterity. To censure our fathers, therefore, for this location of their sole house of public worship, would be as ungraciously absurd as to let our modern-
"ambition mock their useful toil, Their homely joys, and destiny obscure."
It is difficult, however, to be reconciled to the en- croachments made upon these grounds within the mem- ory of those still claiming to be young ; as by the build- ing thereon of the Town (now City) Hall in 1825, and by the erection, more recently, of that monument of bad taste and unpraiseworthy economy, the Front Street School House.
But, although divided by the double track of the Nor- wich Rail Road-possibly in the vicissitudes of railway management some day to be removed-although ob- stucted and disfigured by public buildings, this central Common still affords to our crowded population a beau- tiful breathing place, which, as the City grows, is every year more appreciated. Already, indeed, the time seems to have arrived when its occupation by one to the par- tial exclusion of another portion of our citizens should no longer be tolerated. In short, purposing to repair the fences of this park the coming season, the Commission- ers, feel emboldened to recommend, in accordance with the wishes of many citizens, that ball-playing as well as carpet-cleaning, within its boundaries, be from this time forth strictly forbidden.
The New Common, or Elm Park, has not been neglect- ed. The fences enclosing it are in pretty good condi- tion, and have received some repairs during the year. The grass growing on it has been sold as hay or pastur- age, and the usual quantity of street scrapings has been carted into the portions of it where the deposit of such
153
materials would be most serviceable. Before, however, these grounds can be made available for their appropri- ate use, a very heavy outlay of money must be expend- ed in filling and under-draining a considerable portion of them. For the present, the driest, which is also the most accessible, part of this park, is well suited for ball- playing, carpet-cleaning, and whatever else it may be thought expedient to tolerate there for a time, in order to relieve from annoyance those who claim the right to enjoy unmolested the fresh air and grateful shade of the Old Common.
The Mechanic Street burying ground, within the last two years, has been much improved in its appearance. The unsightly bushes which were overgrowing it have been cleared away, and the Commissioners purpose to smooth and level the entire surface of the ground, the coming spring, so that the grass can be conveniently mowed. This done, so long as the substantial board fence enclosing it shall be maintained in its present good condition of repair, the venerable graveyard will require but little further care. Consecrated as a burial place in by-gone years,* this home of the dead, even then amid the busy haunts of the living, seems unfortunately to have been located chiefly from considerations of conven- ience, and certainly with very slight regard for that good taste and sense of propriety to which modern refine- ment concedes a paramount influence. But it is easy to deplore, as it is often impossible to remedy the errors of a former generation. And thus this cemetery, in the very heart of a flourishing city, disturbed on every side by the ceaseless bustle of varied industry, and with diffi- culty defended from every species of desecration, must remain for years, perhaps for centuries, until legislative
*First occupied in 1795. Lincoln's History of Worcester.
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enactment, or changed public sentiment, or the indiffer- ence of those interested in the tenure by which its lots are held, may permit its conversion to uses more to har- mony with its surroundings. Meanwhile, its open space may serve to check a conflagration, its green grass and leafy trees will refresh the atmosphere, and the thickly studded monuments of its silent tenants will serve to re- mind the reveller and the mourner alike of the swift ap- proaching end of all sublunary joys and sorrows.
The burying ground on Pine Court, or East Worces- ter Street, is not less objectionably situated than that on Mechanic Street ; but it is now closed against further in- terments. The land originally purchased for this ceme- tery in 1828, consisted of eight acres. Portions of it have since been converted to other purposes. In 1866, a part of the ground having been sold to the Boston and Worcester Rail Road Company was annexed to other land of that Corporation. The transfer necessitated the disinterment and removal of six hundred and twenty-five bodies. This delicate task was so judiciously managed and so considerately accomplished, that there were no attendant circumstances to wound the sympathies of friends, or to provoke from any quarter the censure of dissatisfaction. About double that number of the dead, it is estimated, still sleep beneath the soil of what re- mains of the Cemetery. The Commissioners are of opin- ion that by the same cautious and conciliatory proce- dure -- so successful two years ago,-the entire ground might be divested of all traces of its present use, and transformed, if thought best, into an open park, or else sold for the benefit of the City Treasury. For a while, the expensive close fence erected in 1865 around this burial-place, may suffice to guard from insult its (many of them) nameless graves; but the pressure of a con-
155
stantly increasing population on every side of it seems more and more to defy all measures of seclusion or pro- tection. Influenced by those considerations the Com- missioners would earnestly renew their recommendation that the City Council should, without delay, consider the expediency of converting this enclosure to some more fitting purpose than that for which it was originally de- signed.
The shade trees which contribute so much to the beauty and comfort of the streets of the City, are very unequally distributed. Upon some sidewalks where trees are quite desirable, there are but few, or none at all; in other localities a superabundant shade causes un- wholesome dampness in the houses, and retards the dry- ing of the carriage-ways after heavy rains. Several trees, at the earnest solicitation of persons whose estates were manifestly injured thereby, have been cut down in different parts of the city during the year ; and the thin- ning process is not yet completed.
Experience has abundantly proved that trees of a size suitable for street-planting, if transferred directly from their native forests to our sidewalks, are of very little value. Of trees transplanted in this foolish way not one in ten has ever amounted to anything; while, on the other hand, without extraordinary care, the proportion of good nursery trees scarcely suffering a check by re- moval, has been something more than nine in ten. It will, therefore, always be better economy to expend labor and money on healthy cultivated trees, rather than to attempt to save a little of the first cost, by setting wild- lings of which the roots are generally reduced to a man- gled stump in the process of transplanting.
If a sound policy dictates that the City should, within its own limits, educate teachers sufficient in number and
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qualifications for the instruction of its public schools, there would seem to be a parallel argument for the City to raise the trees with which to decorate its streets and public grounds. Three or four thousand young trees, such as elms and maples, would have ample room in nur- sery rows on an acre of land. The rows, well kept up, ought to furnish the City annually at least three or four hundred trees large enough for planting out. Were an acre or two of the Poor Farm devoted to this purpose, and the trees given to judicious persons who, under su- pervision of this Commission, would set them properly on sidewalks where shade is needed, a great improve- ment in the appearance of our streets could be gradual- ly and inexpensively brought to pass. Until this can be accomplished, the Commissioners will very cheerfully pay the sum of twenty-five cents, as authorized,-See City Ordinances, page 259-for any suitable tree set, under their direction or with their approval, by any person, in a sidewalk adjacent to his estate ; provided that the compensation be claimed, and the tree be living in the month of September following. The ordinance above referred to would seem to the Commissioners to be more in accordance with modern prices of labor, &c., if it were to read "a sum not exceeding one dollar," instead of "the sum of twenty-five cents."
The pruning and protecting of the public trees will always be an annual expense. A considerable amount of heavy prunning has been accomplished the past year, and trees in many localities have been secured against injury, by substantial casings. Without presuming to advance any theory for the guidance of their successors, the Commissioners may be permitted to state that they regard the five or six weeks immediately preceding De- cember Ist as the best time, all things considered, for removing superfluous wood from hardy deciduous trees,
157
such as are growing in our streets and parks. The work might in suitable weather be continued through the winter, but cautiously always when the wood of the trees is frozen. None except the most absolutely necessary pruning, however, should be attempted so late toward, or into, the spring that the wounds made thereby will bleed. When this takes place, the healing process is generally slow and unsatisfactory. Large wounds ought to be protected from the air. Coal-tar proves to be a most excellent covering, as is also common oil paint. The former is not offensively conspicuous to the eye, and the latter can be very easily made to resemble the color of bark.
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