USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > Town annual reports of the several departments for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1872 > Part 21
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"If the Citizens of Worcester are now ready to purchase Newton Hill for a Park, let the expense be met by taxation during the present year. It will be enough for generations to come to adorn and beautify it."
It may perhaps be enough to say that a few moments of that patient waiting wherein there are stated to be no losers, or even the briefest note of inquiry, might have supplied deficient knowledge. Upon the suggestion of a gentleman, noted for public devotion and heretofore conspicuous in the municipal service, the Chair- man of the COMMISSION OF PUBLIC GROUNDS instituted some inquiries to ascertain if individual bounty would supplement a civic appropriation. He had already obtained assurances from seven (7) individuals thoroughly responsible, that each would constitute a unit of Twenty to acquire and convey to the City the absolute area covered by that sightly and commanding eminence. Taxation of the Community formed no part of the intention. Replies to notes of inquiry, from every proprietor of the Hill, with a solitary exception, disclosed the terms upon which their respective interests could be obtained. Until the Municipality takes closer hold of the project, in some official capacity ; or, at
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least refrains from the discouragement of private beneficence, it may be needless, as it would assuredly be inexpedient, for this Commission to "report," even when ascertained, upon what terms "Newton Hill" can be acquired for the purposes of a COM- MON. But the least object in the view of the gentlemen who contemplated the acquisition of that Hill and its dedication to public use, was in its occupation as a pleasure-ground or Park. Many, perhaps most of them, have done somewhat to promote the growth of the City, and cherish a very decided conviction that the most obvious precautions for the security of their property from Fire have been totally neglected. That very conflagration in Boston which checked the movement, so auspiciously inaugurated, toward the acquisition of NEWTON HILL, at the same time excited apprehensions in many minds similar to those which had always influenced the judgment and directed the action of this COMMIS- SION. In his Report for the past year the Chairman gave utter- ance to the following views, -
"The opinion heretofore communicated to the HONORABLE COUNCIL by this Commission, is reiterated, that the city should become proprietor of Newton Hill by purchase; or, if that is not possible, by virtue of authority to be obtained from the General Court. Its propinquity lends a charm that, in its naturalness, is foreign to other Public Grounds throughout the country ; while its ownership, and consolidation with the Park, would forever prevent its destruction for the sake of the material which is so much needed in the valley that it dominates. If the entire, or even a major part of the water supply of the City is to be derived from Leicester, that hill must be invaluable in the immediate future, as the site for a reservoir which shall hold a temporary store against emergencies and also aid in equalizing the pressure throughout that broad arc in which the western suburbs are comprised and in the chord sub- tending which it is the most salient feature. There can be no question but what, in time to come, that Hill will be wanted for some important public use ; whether of an exclusive Municipal nature, or not, is of slight consequence to the argument. Its seasonable possession would ensure the preservation of that symmetry by which the admiration of the casual visitor is so much excited and to which even comparative familiarity has not blunted the sensibilities of the oldest inhabitant."
Has aught occurred to detract from the force of that state- ment ? In their Annual Report for 1872, just submitted to the HONORABLE COUNCIL, the experienced Engineers of the Fire-De- partment, whose gallantry and skill have ever been conspicuous, remark, in speaking of the fire extinguisher that it is proposed to
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have located in the western section of the city in place of a hose carriage, that,
" While the engineers recognize the value of this machine, they are not quite ready to trust the whole of the territory west of Main street to the extinguisher alone, but in addition would recommend a hose carriage and perhaps a steamer; they also think it desirable that two or three, if not more, extinguishers be located in other parts of the city, for they might in many cases obviate the necessity of pouring a torrent of water on a small fire. Another argument in favor of the extinguishers is the fact that we are suffer- ing from a limited supply of water, not so much from an absolute scarcity as from the inadequacy of the channel through which it flows ; this will be reme- died in a measure by the connection to be made with the high service main, but the board feel that this will be only a temporary relief, for it will give those who indulge in its too lavish use a still better opportunity to waste. The board say that with the present waste of water it is not strange that an elaborate system of sewerage is necessary, but it will be stranger yet if at an early day we are not forced to ask for a larger supply of water."
In this inadequacy of the channel through which the water flows, upon which the western portion of the City must now and for a long time depend, will be found the strongest argument for the acquisition of that Hill to the end that a Reservoir may be located upon its summit. This project was formerly advised in a Report of this COMMISSION ; has been since unanimously recom- mended by the very competent Water Committee of which Ex- Alderman Marble was so lately the experienced Chairman ; and is now again urged upon your attention. Some views presented to a Committee of the HONORABLE COUNCIL by the writer, in response to a published request, may have some pertinence, (more force cannot be given them,) in this connection.
"My individual apprehensions of possible peril to the City spring from a different source. No one can contemplate the sheer broadside of wooden edifices that covers and almost conceals the whole western slope of Worcester, without feelings of dismay. Our fiercest winds, gusts in the teeth of which a strong man advances with difficulty, blow from the Northwest. Suppose that during the prevalence of such an one, (and one such raged for three successive days during the month of March last,) a Fire should break out on Pink or North Ashland streets. So great is the velocity of the wind that the flame is driven before it, liter- ally licking the surface of the earth and consuming everything combustible in its path. How long a time-how few hours-
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how many minutes even-would elapse, before the resistless sheet of fire would surmount the crest of the ridge and swoop down upon the most valuable section of Main street ? From the picture of suffering among families, driven from comfortable homes in the inclemency of a New England winter, the sensitive imagination shrinks.
"Very well, all this admitted, what would you do about it ? In my judgment, the sole justification for going to Leicester for an intermittent and seemingly inadequate supply of im-pure water must be sought in the POWER of GRAVITATION thereby obtained. Instead of reducing that power, by continually lessening the head and the inevitable but insufficient substitution of steam, I would revert to and retain it. Instead of depending upon a main with all its liabilities to accident ; with its constantly diminishing capacity from accretion ; I would store up a supply against that time of need which, (it may be sooner or it may be later,) is sure to come. Having often elsewhere, in an official capacity, recom- mended the location of a RESERVOIR upon NEWTON HILL, I can only repeat the suggestion here. Place a storing Reservoir upon that summit, (I mean upon the top and not half-way up!) lay down ample mains radiating as required and thought most expe- dient ; erect enough hydrants, (and a superfluity were preferable to too few !), furnish an adequate quantity of Hose ; and there- after, every human precaution having been exhausted, trust pa- tiently the Providence of God. If, with the full force of GRAVITY ; with an abundant and unimpeded flow, which is all-essential ; with ample Hose, and Hydrants enough for attachment ; we, who occupy one-half of the dwelling houses of the city, cannot arrest the spread of a conflagration, we can at least, amid the ashes of our homes, share the common misfortune nor reproach ourselves with the neglect of civic duty.
"It may be objected that the consummation of this plan would require a large expenditure. Undoubtedly, yet scarcely so con- siderable as would be needed to reinstate Worcester in its existing prosperity, should a sensible proportion of its residences and work-shops be consumed by fire."
The arguments thus presented have lost no whit of their force. The acquisition of NEWTON HILL; its employment as a location for a storing Reservoir and its annexation to Elm Park; are commended by every consideration of taste and a prudent fore- cast. If prevented by, or delayed until too late, the blame must lie with those who, with an untimely economy, would inflict a need- less paralysis upon the development of Worcester. The Eastern
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section of the city will ever have Quinsigamond and, unless a noble scheme is obstructed by the fatuity of man, its broad en- circling AVENUE. The centre is, and must continue to be, re- quired for the pursuits of business. In the West lies the only space available and desirable for the free use and enjoyment of the people. When the adverse influence of municipal authority shall cease to be exerted in their despite, the Commissioners of Public Grounds may feel a renewed inclination to appeal to that private munificence which held out such ample promise of success.
On December second, in the Board of Aldermen, an order of Inquiry was referred, in concurrence, to the "Commissioners hav- ing in charge the inquisition as to the purchase of Newton Hill." This order related to the location of the intended monument to those who fell in the recent Civil War. Why it should be referred to this Commission, by the Honorable Council, is one of those mysteries that will be revealed among the common and unclean diapers in a lost trunk. Otherwise, in the conviction that Mrs. Pierce has bestowed too little attention upon the rules of per- spective, in her ardent and conspicuous out-look for the objective, this Commission would simply request relief from an assignment foreign to their authority and for which, in any event, they could have the slightest possible taste. The trunk lost, in this instance, belongs to another body thoroughly competent to care for it, and in no wise or otherwise to this Commission.
The SHADE TREES of the City have suffered greatly, for the past two years, from the excessive drought and frost. Many have been killed outright and in the case of others so much of their wood has been destroyed, impairing their symmetry, that they had better perished utterly. The filling in of the COMMON has also had some effect upon the poorer class of maples, of which, however, far too many specimens have been tolerated. It is to be regretted also that human carelessness should continue to be such a conspicuous and efficient agent in the work of destruction. Men, who would indignantly repel the charge of willful mischief, nevertheless perpetrate it as surely by heedlessly fastening their horses to the guard or trunks of shade trees. Cases of this kind are of such constant occurrence that they must have attracted general attention. The Ordinances of the city appear
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to be of no avail for prevention. The appeals of this COMMISSION have accomplished little more. Special exertions, upon the advent of a circus or the exhibitions of the Agricultural Society, have been employed to advantage. But after all, the only sure reliance for the preservation of these indispensable ornaments of our Streets and Public Grounds must be sought, and found if possible, in the perception of their own interest by the people themselves.
Some cheaper, simpler and more efficient safeguard for the SHADE TREES of the City has been assiduously sought for by this COMMISSION. Ideas that have occurred to its members-the fruit of their observation - have been submitted to the skillful me- chanical talent of the Technical Institute, but as yet with no practical result. Faith exists, however, that some secure method of prevention from injury will yet be devised, whose cost will not be an insuperable bar to its ready and universal application.
Partial complaint has been indulged in, rather than expressed, of the action of this COMMISSION, in suffering the suspension of political banners from certain SHADE TREES, during the recent Presidential Canvass. In every instance personal supervision was exercised and in no case is it believed that permanent harm was done. The opinion of this COMMISSION is well matured that no Tree, whether fruitful or simply ornamental, can be too precious for the attachment of the AMERICAN FLAG. If such an one exists, it would seem better that, like the barren fig-tree, it were hewn down and cast into the fire.
The conception of a BROAD AVENUE, environing the City, de- veloping its capacities for settlement and enlarging its facilities of domicile and comfort, originating with this COMMISSION, will probably continue with it-pari passu-perhaps survive it,-to an ultimate consummation. But, after all, to what hands is it committed ! by what is it assumed ! Persons of conceded taste, and of acknowledged skill in their profession of landscape gar- dening, are invited hither to dispense with the work of those who admired Quinsigamond, when babies, and who now, in maturer life, refuse their backs to their youthful love. Extravagance may be the fault of those who commit it : there seems no valid reason for charging it to the account of others who would frankly, be-
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cause honestly, assume the responsibility of a reasonable expend- iture. And yet this COMMISSION, in justice to a constituency which has awarded praise in excessive disproportion to desert, feels that one or two pairs of trowsers tucked into the same number of grained boots, would, with the intelligence cumulative therein during so many years of accretion, have perambulated the shores of the Lake and acquired, what is certainly not now secured, the absolute, unobstructed, and perfect enjoyment and use of that which, being in itself a thing of beauty, should be valued by the people of Worcester as a joy forever.
The deformed feet that have persisted in trampling upon the PUBLIC GROUNDS, invading common right and infringing Common Law, have recently sought to clothe their unsightliness in beauti- ful shoes. But it will always remain within the memory of men that, while the pious reverence of the community has been in- voked, with temporary success, in behalf of a venerable edifice from whose historic, if rotten, porch a Declaration of Independ- ence was once proclaimed, British insolence, imported upon im- proper valuation, was suffered to trample under foot, in the pre- sumed House of God and in the known Meeting-House of Wor- cester, the legal and recognized Proclamation of the President of the Republic .* And the suffrage of Ward Four, characteristic because inexplicable, condones the offence. The ballots that were not used at the recent election, remain in the custody of this COMMISSION and will be produced, in ample season, whenever the People shall again incline to assert their right to their own.
The work of the COMMISSION, upon the Common, was continually obvious and requires but little explanation. Gutters have been excavated and paved with Beach-Stones, over a very considerable extent of lineal surface, thereby affording at the same time a means of escape for surplus water and a guard from abrasion of the turf. In the execution of this task, an opportunity was fur- nished for the completion of many walks, somewhat to the tem- porary inconvenience of the public, but nevertheless so thoroughly that it must enure to the ultimate advantage of the entire com- munity which has occasion to make use of them. There is no
*Doubtless the Proclamation of His Excellency, the Governor of the Common- wealth.
E. W. L.
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apprehension that a repetition of the job will be required. A few slight reductions of grade are needed, upon and along the main diagonal path leading from the City Hall to Trumbull Square : but it is believed that they can be achieved in the early Spring, with little annoyance to the wayfarer.
Certain fellow-citizens,-females not less than males, for their dissemination can be traced to both sexes,-with perhaps more zeal for ornithological study than exact information, have amused themselves with the importation into the City of the English Sparrow. The Winter threatens - charity like the weather shrinks - and the sympathies of the COMMISSION are invited. Now the views of the Chairman, to whom his colleagues are apt to remit this whole question of birds-their position in the uni- verse and the proper relation of the universe to them, -is tolera- bly familiar, from pretty incessant repetition, to whom it may concern. Yet there is a soft spot in his heart, when sought for, and the Official Chief of Dominoes, aided by the worthy ex-Coun- cilman from Ward Eight, succeeded in finding it. Fifty houses of refuge were procured at the Washburn Machine Shop, placed in the most suitable position upon the trees of Front Street and the Common, and speedily converted into houses of industry by their alert and eager occupants. The report of the carpenter- the agile Perry-employed to put them in place, represented from two to three families awaiting the completion of his labor, in each instance, ready to commence housekeeping upon a single floor in one tenement. This COMMISSION thinks that, in the waiver of its principles, it has conceded all that could be expect- ed with reason. The Sparrow may be useful as well as orna- mental. It is certainly rapacious of Fruit and Grain. Yet, if it will destroy any creeping thing besides the useful earth-worm, it has a single merit and therein exceeds that sweet pet of legisla- tion-the Turdus Migratorius, to whom be robin-shot incessant!
The permanent and utter removal of the antique, shapeless, and somewhat fragrant School-House from the N. E. corner of the Common has met with, as it merited, almost universal appro- val since it was completed. There never could have been an ob- jection to it but that which volunteers its opposition to every step which Worcester takes forward, and which was about as accu-
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rately defined by the humorist, as it could be by the writer, as de- rived, sum and substance, from "pure cussedness." With the grading of the lot completed and its green carpet of grass glisten- ing in the raindrops ; with the superb Jet d' Eau, heretofore recommended by this COMMISSION, of unlimited capacity when supplied from the hills of Leicester, confronting the widened Front Street and the projected Union Station and offering its daz- zling sheen to future guests of the City in their civic or martial procession towards Main Street ; it will require neither prophet nor his son to foretell the gratitude of that people which shall enjoy in actual contemplation, the view so apparent to the pro- spective gaze of this COMMISSION.
Among all the misfortunes that can befall a community, few can be heavier than those which spring from the distrust of an existing or presumptive community of interest. If the East shall bear down with the weight of its corporations-its County and State Institutions-its Union Station-its Lake; the West can out-stretch its hands, overburdened with the amplest gifts of a beneficent Providence and say :- All these do I proffer without money and without price but ye would not. The insanity of wealth, ever craving but never relinquishing ; the "sacra fames" incorporata which appeals across the insuperable gulf for relief from its insatiate thirst ; one and all, as they communicate or impel private or local depression, aggregate a public loss. The strength of the rods in the fable was derived from their union : severed, they broke like pipe-stems. An administration assumes power by general acclaim ; its accession is hailed with enthusiasm; it doubtless makes mistakes, but there is no reason to suppose that it does not mean well; nor, as we came naked into the world and can take nothing out, is there strong foundation for paving a supposititious political hell with fractured municipal intentions. The writer of this Report has had the honor, during his late official term, to hold business relations with many civic func- tionaries. In the whole number he has not discovered-perhaps he has not sought to detect-the Municipal Thief. Having no especial aspiration to plunder the City himself, he has not ran- sacked the City Hall for accomplices. He cherishes the most extreme respect for that Great and General Court, which fosters
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the small-pox and festers itself-almost an equal nuisance,-and expresses the profoundest contempt for the implication, by statute, that a man who devotes himself, without compensation or the prospect of it, to the public service, (not being in the State House,) must necessarily be dishonest. He does not believe that his colleagues are more inclined to common roguery than himself. The explosion of the Gas-Works has left its echo in too many ears of what should otherwise be level heads. The Chairman of this COMMISSION, in his communication for the public press, of last Autumn, did not undertake to straighten out or even correct the length of ears : he simply engaged to collect and cure his own pelts.
If Worcester brains could be nursed and then trusted to do Worcester work; if Worcester capital and thrift would assume and complete what the wants of Worcester indicate almost to exaction ; if, in plain terms, there were fewer corporations, now and then smothering substance and oftener transmuting a reality into its shadow ; if more men were detected and fewer suspected as scamps; and if there were no SUNK FUND into which every- thing goes down like lead; there would appear to be no valid reason why this pet City of our love should not own NEWTON HILL; guard itself, as far as possible for human precaution, from conflagration ; construct its AVENUE, not alone upon the western shore of the Lake where it might commence by acquiring title to a single foot of the way, but all around to the Westward where that title was assured upon application ; have, in fine, pretty much all those things that appertain to a city of the momentum of this ; and thereafter rest quiet, for a while, in the conviction that until the Auditor again submerges the Municipal Funds, somebody is sure to be spending them and this COMMISSION, among others, watching to be certain that they are not needlessly wasted.
All which is Respectfully Submitted, For and in behalf of the COMMISSION OF PUBLIC GROUNDS, EDWARD WINSLOW LINCOLN, Chairman.
Worcester, Mass., January 24th, A. D. 1873.
THE NINETEENTH ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
COMMISSIONERS, OF HOPE CEMETERY,
FOR THE YEAR 1872.
To His Honor the Mayor, the Aldermen, and Common Coun- cil of the City of Worcester :
We present to you our account of the execution of our trust as the Commissioners of Hope Cemetery for the year 1872.
The gratuitous service assigned to us by your election, is one of no small interest. The changes and trials that come to all families, to all individuals, creates universal interest in our duties. It is for us to see that the last resting place for the mortal remains of our friends are made suitable for their reception while they await the inevitable hour when they shall join the greater com- pany who have gone before.
The Commission was organized immediately after your election of a new member. In carefully considering the needs of the Cemetery, the pressing demand for a larger and better receiving tomb was recognized as one of the first to be met.
The funds belonging to the Cemetery were insufficient for the work, and we were satisfied it would require too long time to save from the income from the sale of lots a sufficient sum. We knew the purchasers of lots had a right to expect all the money they paid would be expended in improving the grounds, and we'
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knew also, what was not generally known by others, that the city had already received from the commission a return of all that had been paid on account of Hope Cemetery, and indirectly by the clearing of the Raccoon grounds in 1857, and a part of Pine Meadow grounds in 1866, several thousand dollars. We voted to petition your body for the necessary appropriation. We think you at once saw the justice of granting what was asked, and on the first of April, an appropriation of five thousand dollars was made "for the purpose of building a tomb and im- proving and beautifying the grounds."
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