USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > Town annual reports of the several departments for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1871 > Part 2
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The amount of sewers now laid in the city is as follows :
Laid up to 1871 in "
95,465 feet.
32,644
Total
128,109 ft. or 24} miles.
This includes all sewers which were laid previous to 1867 which are denominated " Old Sewers," and includes also two common stone drains used for sewerage purposes. The cost to Dec. 1st has been as follows :
Paid to Jan. 1, 1871 $443,857 25
158,242 48
Dec. 1, " Total $602,099 73
This may vary from the treasurer's figures, for the reason above given under Mill brook. In each case the amount of cost given only includes bills audited up to Dec. 1, and is exclusive of any estimate of unpaid balances to the several contractors, on unsettled contracts, which will probably amount to $21,000.
The number of private drains now entering the public sewers is 1199; the number of drains entered this year is 383; the number of buildings on the line of the sewers is 2322. Connected with the sewers are 440 catch basins and 967 man holes. The basins hold about three and one-half cubic yards each, as an average, and the amount of sand, gravel and rubbish caught annually, by all these basins, carried in by showers and rains, cannot be less than about 5000 cubic yards, equal to about one acre three feet deep, or a building lot 200 feet square and three feet deep.
Our sewers need constant attention in order to prevent dam- ages which may result to them from becoming clogged, and from
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MAYOR'S ADDRESS.
other causes, and from damages which may accrue to others from their overflowing. They need frequent cleaning out, especially after heavy showers and storms. There is at present no officer of the city to whom this duty is especially assigned, and with our twenty four miles of sewerage there is no officer who can devote to this business the time necessary for it, without neglecting other important duties. I suggest for your consideration the propriety of appointing a person to the discharge of this duty, who shall also perform the duties of Water Registrar, which is also a service much needed.
WATER.
The operations of the Water Department for the past year have consisted mainly in finishing, as far as practicable, the re- servoir dam, as ordered by the City Council, in laying water pipe, adding hydrants and service supplies and setting gates. The slopes of the dam will need dressing up in the spring, at a cost of about $1000. The grubbing has not all been accomplished and will need to be continued the present year.
The amount of water pipe laid during the last year was 35,200 feet. Thirty-eight hydrants and 504 service supplies have been added, and ninety-seven gates set, making the whole number of service supplies 3330. The City Council authorized the borrow- ing of $54,500 to be appropriated to the water department. The disbursements of this department during the eleven months to December 1st, have been as follows :
Reservoirs $41,388 74 Real estate. 4,632 65 66,338 95
Construction . Total
$112,360 34
As reported by the City Engineer.
There is also due and unpaid for work in this department about $8000. Cost of maintenance about $25,000.
Receipts-Water rents, $53,795.58; received for putting in water pipes to be credited on water construction account, about $8000.
A petition signed by quite a number of our citizens was pre- sented to the last City Council, representing that under the pres- ent arrangement of our water supply the means were inadequate to furnish water to numbers of our citizens residing upon the
18
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 26.
higher lands, and praying that measures might be taken to rem- edy the difficulty. This petition received some attention from the committee to whom it was referred, but no result having been reached, it will probably require your attention. To supply this want it will require the laying of new service mains from the reservoir, a plan thought to be desirable by some, furnishing as it would another line of service mains, thus insuring a supply in case of accident to the present one.
The necessity and feasibility of this enterprise, the plans sug- gested for its accomplishment, the probable cost (about $167,000) together with other information connected with the subject, you will find in two communications made by the City Engineer in response to instructions from the joint standing committee on water, which will be embodied in the report of the engineer, and to which I respectfully refer you.
The subject of an additional supply of water for the city is one, which, if the demand continues to increase in the future as it has in the past, must sooner or later require the attention of the City Government, but I refrain at this time from entering upon its consideration.
HIGHWAYS.
It is incumbent on the public authorities to lay out and con- struct all such highways as the public necessity and convenience may require, and after that to keep them in a safe and convenient condition for public travel. We all know how much complaint has justly been made, within the last few years, of the deplorable condition of our streets and highways, and how much blame, naturally enough, has attached to the Highway Commissioner on account of it. But I think when we consider what various departments of our public improvements our streets are put under contribution to furnish accommodations for, how independent of each other these various departments are, and that upon the orders of any committee of these various departments, in the prosecution of the various enterprises committed to their charge a street may be dug up, blocked up, and rendered impassable half a dozen times a year, the wonder is, not so much, that they are in such miserable plight, but rather that they are in as good con- dition as they are.
19
MAYOR'S ADDRESS.
There are seven different commissions, which have authority over the streets, as our mode of managing the various depart- ments of the public work is at present constituted, viz: the com- mittee on highways, the committee on sidewalks, the committee on lighting streets, the committee on water, the committee on sewers, together with the gas company and the horse railroad company. Each of these commissions is conducted and managed separately and independently of the others, without harmony or concert, and in the excavations necessary for laying pipes and sewers in the streets, and in many other ways, each incurs the expense of performing its work, when, if properly managed and conducted under one head, with one board of executive officers, a very great portion of the expense of doing the work might be saved, the work be better done, and the streets and highways kept in better repair. Thus, if a sewer, water and gas are to be introduced into a street, there is no reason why the work of exca- vation might not all be done at once.
I am of the opinion that the work now conducted under the direction of the joint standing committee on highways, the joint standing committee on sewers, the joint standing committee on water, the joint standing committee on sidewalks, and the joint standing committee on lighting streets, should all be committed to the direction of a Board of Public Works. I have not under- taken to state all, or nearly all, the reasons which force them- selves on the mind in support of this change. The great enter- prises of improvement which we are in process of establishing, calling as they do for the disbursement of more than half a mil- lion dollars annually, require more exact, systematic and judicious methods of executiou than would ordinarily be required in enter- prises of lesser magnitude.
The old methods are entirely unsuitable. One executive head, to whom the people could look for a faithful execution of the duties of these various committees, would tend to create a sense of responsibility on the part of this department directly to the people, and would, more than anything else, prevent the enormous waste, which, by the best possible management under our present system, can not be entirely avoided, the work be better done, and the discomfort and inconvenience to the people, necessarily incident to the prosecution of these enterprises, very greatly lessened.
20
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 26.
Having carefully examined this subject, and feeling the respon- sibility I assume in recommending this change, I am urged to do it by a sense of obligation to my constituents, and I can but express the hope that you may be so impressed with the desirability, not to say absolute necessity, of this reform, that it will receive your early attention, and that we may begin our operations of the spring under a newly organized administration of these affairs.
I may be permitted to add that I see no reason why the author- ity to inaugurate this change does not, under our ordinances, reside in the City Council, and that we need no new legislation to enable us to effect it. But if we should, it could probably be easily obtained, and the objects to be gained by the change are of sufficient importance to authorize the effort.
The following is a condensed statement of the operations of the Highway Department together with its property, resources, and disbursements for eleven months ending Dec. 1, 1871.
NEW STREETS.
Work has been done, as per order of the City Council, upon twelve different streets, six of which have been completed.
Amount expended by the city, a part of which, under the betterment act, has been or will be assessed upon abuttors, $19,946.98.
Amount of streets surveyed is 19,130 feet, or 32 miles nearly.
SIDEWALKS.
Curbstone, gutter and crosswalks have been laid upon forty- seven different streets, as per order of City Council, to wit :
Amount of new curb set. 22,370 feet.
curb reset. 6,939
66
return curb set 1,114
66 circle curb set 422 66
Total number of feet set
30,845 feet. Equal to 5 84-100 miles.
SQUARE YARDS.
Amount of cobble paving, new
10,832 6-10
cobble paving relaid
6,284 8-10
66 crosswalk paving, new. 2,725 1-10
66 crosswalk paving relaid 1,057 9-10
Total amount of cobble paving laid. .
20,900 4-10
21
MAYOR'S ADDRESS.
FEET.
Amount of flagstone, new
5,613 5-10
66
flagstone relaid.
50 4-10
Total amount of flagstone laid
5,663 9-10
Number of long corners
68
short corners .
101
Cost to city
$43,795 03
A part of the return curb, corners, flagstone and cobble paving has been furnished to private parties and has been charged ac- cordingly. The number of feet of sidewalk grades set is 78,141, or nearly 15 miles.
SIDEWALKS-PRIVATE EXPENSE.
There have been laid for private parties 31 concrete and 481 brick and stone sidewalks and driveways, using 1054} thousand brick, covering an area of 20,073 square yards of new brick walk and 2987 square yards of old walks relaid, making total number of square yards of brick walks laid during the season 23,061, costing
For brick and stone walks. $32,904 45 For 2438 square yards concrete walk 1,952 31
Total cost to parties $34,854 76
Bills of which have been returned to City Treasurer for collection.
BLOCK PAVING.
Main street has been paved with small granite blocks, on that portion of the street near the estate of the late Ethan Allen, sus- pended in part last year, to admit of the construction of a sewer, an area of 951 1-10 square yards at $3.57 per yard, amounting to $3396 66. Also from Austin street to Chandler street, an area of 1729 6-10 square yards. Average cost per yard $3.61 .- Amounting to $6245.30.
Myrtle street from Main to Southbridge street, an area of 420 square yards. Average cost per yard $3.29, amounting to $1383.35.
Union street under, between and fifty feet each side of the Boston & Albany, and Worcester & Nashua Railroad Companies' bridges an area of 722 6-10 square yards. Average cost per yard $3.49, amounting to $2522.30.
Pleasant street from Main to Chestnut, an area of 2156 square 4
22
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 26.
yards. The small granite blocks have been laid in place of the rough cobbles with which the street was paved.
Average cost per yard, deducting the value of cobbles removed, $3.08, amounting to $6643.15.
SUMMARY OF ABOVE.
Total number of square yards laid during the season, at expense of the department, 5979 3-10. Average cost per square yard, $3.38. Total amount expended under the above orders, $20,190.76.
An order was passed October 2, for paving Front street, north of the street railway track, between Church and Hibernia streets, with small granite blocks, and for the removal of the railway track to the center of the street, after it is widened under the decree for doing the same. The stone have been secured and are now on hand for doing the work, but the delay in the removal of the buildings made the execution of the order impracticable the past season. The work can be begun early the coming spring.
EXPENDITURES.
Salary, including clerk hire and teams for personal con- veyance .
$2,291 67
Labor pay roll .
38,897 35
Live stock, horses and oxen, bought and exchanged . Shoeing
1300 50
.Hay, grain, straw, etc.
4379 18
Tools and repairs
3060 65
Lumber .
1976 01
Worcester fire department, use of teams.
1532 50
Labor, breaking roads, moving buildings, hired teams .. . 18,7384 ft. curbstone, average cost per foot 53c.
14,721 21 9921 96
425₺ ft. circular curb
66
82c
348 85
179 11-12 ft. deep 66 66 " $1.50.
268 87
25494 feet flagstone, 66 66
25c
887 31
750 feet North river flagstone, including freight.
244 13
Border covering and wall stone. .
311 24
21614 tons cobble paving stone at $1.00
2161 25
100 long corners.
501 50 58 00
20 short 66
4089 8-10 square yards granite paving blocks at $2.60. .
10,633 48
373 6-10 66
66 2.25. .
840 60
9976 pieces
66
545 56
...
Amount carried forward .
$95,577 63
695 81
23
MAYOR'S ADDRESS.
Amount brought forward. $95,577 63
Storage of block stone.
70 00
1156 1-10 thousand bricks, including freight, at $13 70. 14,845 55
C. O. Richardson, setting curb, paving.&c. 18,995 58
J. J. Randall, concrete paving.
1,834 70
Powder, coal, fuse, &c.
128 52
Water dep't, water at stables 2 years
90 00
Freight on beach stone
72 50
Cement, pipe, &c. .
253 77
Printing report 1870, blanks &c.
44 60
Lime and cement.
45 50
Advertisements for paving blocks.
13 41
Expense and receipt books.
14 00
Gas at stable.
30 34
Stationary and postage.
11 11
Filing saws.
4 00
Medicine and attendance on stock.
30 85
Incidentals
116 24
Amount advanced on granite paving blocks, now on hand for use another year, to be paid for by the square yard after they are laid .
8518 89
Total $140,697 19
RECEIPTS.
Appropriations :
For highways.
$35,000 00
For sidewalks. .
50,000 00
For block paving.
20,000 00
Total appropriations $105,000 00
Sidewalks, private expense, 481 brick and stone walks and driveways. $32,902 45
31 concrete walks. 1,952 31
.
Total.
$34,854 76
Live stock, horses and oxen sold.
$800 00
Water dept., labor and materials
285 94
Sewer dept., labor and materials.
1,463 25
Public grounds, labor and materials.
275 10
Schools, labor and materials
2,818 90
Poor dept. for manure .
300 00
Fire dept. block paving.
262 60
Sundry persons, 1022M brick.
1,004 10
Sundry persons, labor and materials
2,177 32
Total
$9,387 21
24
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 26.
Appropriations for new streets :
New Worcester hill.
$1,344 71
Lafayette street, labor, etc. 1,389 05
Wilmot street labor, etc.
1,087 70
Washington street, labor, etc. 1,005 50
Front street labor, etc. .
3.556 62
Hanover street, labor, etc.
3,335 70
Salisbury street, McAdam
2,456 95
Chandler street.
3,698 90
Piedmont street
734 30
Seaver street.
281 90
. Oak avenue.
447 65
Mechanic street.
578 00
Total
$19,946 98
Total receipts.
$169,188 95
RECAPITULATION.
Stock on hand Jan. 1, 1871.
54,653 00
Stock on hand Dec. 1, 1871
58,139 24
Total appropriations .
$105,000 00
Excess of stock at close of year
$3486 24
RECEIPTS.
Rec'd for labor, etc., new streets. $19,946 98
Sidewalks. private expense.
34,854 76
Livestock, horses, etc., sold.
800 00
Labor for other departments
5405 79
Brick sold sundry parties.
1004 10
Labor and material sundry parties
2177 32
Total earnings.
64,188 95
Total receipts.
$169,188 95
EXPENDITURES.
Sidewalk, city expense. $43,795 03
Sidewalk, private expense
34,854 76
Block paving.
20,190 76
New streets ..
19,946 98
Ordinary repairs
21,910 06
Total expenditures 140,697 59
Unexpended balance
$28,491 56
25
MAYOR'S ADDRESS.
OVERLAYINGS.
$23,491 36
Unexpended balance
Excess of stock
3,486 24
Total
$31,977 60
.
CHARITIES.
Among the many duties devolving upon us, none are more de- serving our grateful attention than caring for the unfortunate ones whom Providence has committed to our charge.
In our city, however, where labor is the rule and idleness the exception, where the christian virtues are cultivated and intelli- gence disseminated, absolute pauperism, which is the conse- quence of vicious living, is rare. Our dependent poor, as a gen- eral rule, are those whom misfortune has overtaken in their path- way of life, and to such the hand of charity is extended with a full realization " that it is more blessed to give than to receive."
There are many, however, to whom occasional aid is furnished, which is rendered necessary by the dissolute habits and intempe- rate life of those who are bound to provide. There is also a large class of traveling vagrants who force from our charity a precarious existence, simply by being vagrants. These lodge and are fed at the station house for a night and then pass on. The thrift with which our Poor Farm is conducted and the discretion with which the department of the Board of Overseers of the Poor has been managed during the past year, is highly commendable.
The report shows that there has been a very noticeable increase of applicants from among those having military settlements, over those of former years ; and the number supported by the city at the State Lunatic Asylum, fifteen, is three times as great as that of last year.
The number having a legal settlement in Worcester, to whom full support has been given during the year, is 99; average num- ber supported at the city farm, 42; number removed to their place of legal settlement, 45; number of state paupers sent to the Monson alms-house, 57, which is some less than last year.
Temporary aid has been given to 291 families, composed of 863 state paupers, of whom 65 were too sick to be removed. 460 heads of families have applied for and received temporary aid, of whom 101 had a settlement in this city, and 40 were miscellane-
26
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 26.
ously settled. There have been fed and lodged in the station house at the expense of the city 2407 vagrants or travelers. 1120 orders, on various persons, have been issued and disbursed to the several applicants in various amounts as follows :
Cash allowances
$189 00
Fuel
732 75
Groceries
1,404 25
Furniture and clothing
90 26
Medicine, attendance and nursing
594 40
Transportation of paupers
204 71
Burial expenses.
262 00
Insane hospital bills
1,560 57
Reform and nautical school bills
593 18
Books, stationary and stamps.
117 38
Aid to paupers in other towns
185 32
Miscellaneous expenses
80 10
Total.
$6,013 92
Salary of clerk, eleven months
$916 66
66 city physician
641 66
Total expense of city department,
$7,572 24 Total valuation of the real estate, stock, tools, and household furniture. $50,897 32
In the above valuation of real estate, &c., $600 appropriated for the purchase of twenty-five acres of land recently added to the poor farm, is not included.
The total expense of the amlshouse depart- ment has been . $4,826 84
Receipts from sales and board of truant school, 2,471 13
Total.
$2,355 71
Salary of superintendent and matron
$666 66
Total $3,022 37
Expenses of city department.
7,572 24
Total expenditure
$10,594 61
RESOURCES.
Appropriation by city council. .
$8,000 00
Receipts from other cities and towns. 1,067 35
the commonwealth 2,183 77
Total recipts.
$11,251 12
Total expenses 10,594 61
Unexpended balance
$656 51
27
MAYOR'S ADDRESS.
The number of inmates at present at the almshouse is thirty- three, which with the twenty-one boys at the truant school, the teacher, and members of the superintendent's family, make fifty- nine persons.
TRUANT SCHOOL.
The truant school kept at the almshouse, a kind of reforma- tory institution for the correction of a class of irregularities which develope in children, is in very efficient working condition. It is sustained and supported by an appropriation by the City Government, and may, perhaps, be classed among the list of our charities.
There has been expended in this department as follows ;-
Amount paid for board. . . ;
$1,269 32
Clothing and other expenses
409 52
Instruction and supervision.
366 66
Total expenditure
$2,045 50
Received for boys labor.
$93 00
Net expense
$1,952 50
Appropriation
$3,000 00
Unexpended balance
$1,047 50
CITY HOSPITAL.
A new public charity recently assumed by the City Govern- ment, under authority of an act of the legislature, approved May 25, 1871, authorizing the establishment of this institution, is the City Hospital.
The purpose of this institution is to provide a hospital for the reception of persons who by misfortune or poverty may require relief during temporary sickness. No example of our predeces- sors is more worthy our emulation than the spirit manifested by them in so nobly responding to the call for material aid in order to provide this asylum for the homeless and the stranger in our midst, disabled by accident or disease.
The enterprise, although yet hardly under way, has, during the short time it has been in operation, commended itself to the fos- tering care of the City Government by the relief it has furnished to the destitute and suffering.
28
CITY DOCUMENT. - No. 26.
The hospital is at present established in the Bigelow Mansion, corner of Front and Church streets, which has been rented for the purpose. The accommodations of the establishment are necessarily limited, and call is made for more commodious quar- ters.
I refer you to the report of the president and secretary of the board of trustees for suggestions upon this subject, and at the same time bespeak for this charity, which so forcibly appeals to our common humanity, your most generous consideration. It was necessary to incur expense in putting the building in a suit- able condition as to the arrangement of its various apartments, and furnishing it for an asylum. The following statement from the report before referred to, shows the force of medical gentle- men under whose supervision it is conducted, the expense already incurred in its establishment and support, and other interesting information with reference thereto.
Previous to the admission of any patients, a board of consult- ing physicians was appointed by the trustees, consisting of Drs. F. H. Kelly, Merrick Bemis and Joseph Sargent.
Dr. J. G. Park was elected superintendent and resident physi- cian, and subsequently admitting physician of the hospital, his salary being fixed at $700 per annum, in addition to office ac- commodations and board. Twelve visiting physicians were also invited to serve gratuitously, for two months each, the assign- ment and distribution of their attendance having been arranged as follows :
Drs. R. Woodward and J. G. Park from the opening of the hospital to Jan. 1, 1872. For the year 1872, Drs. G. A. Bates and E. Warner from Jan. 1 to March 1; Drs. O. Martin and A. Wood from March 1 to May 1; Drs. H. Clarke and J. M. Rice from May 1 to July 1; Drs. J. N. Bates and G. E. Francis from July 1 to Sept. 1; Drs. T. H. Gage and H. Y. Simpson from Sept. 1 to Nov. 1.
Mrs. S. W. Whiting. a lady well fitted by experience and other qualifications, was chosen matron, and her compensation was fixed at $25 per month. in addition to board and room in the hospital.
A cook, a laundress, and nurses of course, must form a part of the personnel of the establishment, and their wages are among its
29
MAYOR'S ADDRESS.
necessary expenses. Of the number who have received the ben- efit of the hospital to December 1-sixteen in all-eight were males and eight females. Seven were natives of this state, one of Vermont, one of North Carolina, five of Ireland, one England and one Scotland. One was a clergyman, five were mechanics, one a laborer, one a child ; of the females, five were house-keep- ers and three domestics. The trustees have the pleasure to ac- knowledge the receipt of several very acceptable donations, con- tributing some of them to the comfort, and others to the cheer- fulness of the wards of the hospital.
From Edward L. Davis, pictures ; from Mrs George Thrall, bed linen ; from J. D. Chollar, sofa bed ; from Dr. George A. Bates, pictures ; from Mrs. Charles Tenney, pictures and sick chair ; from Kinnicutt & Co., hardware ; from H. Woodward, pictures.
Some of the above named articles are of the value of $30, or more, and whatever of them is least in a pecuniary point of view deserves honorable mention here, as an evidence of kindly sym- pathy for those whom sickness or misfortune consigns to a public hospital. From the organization of the board of trustees, in July last, down to the 1st of December, 1871, their expenditures have been as follows :
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