USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > Town annual reports of the several departments for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1873 > Part 13
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In a former report of this COMMISSION an opinion was expressed that the work of improvement upon the Common could not be considered complete till after the construction of a Jet d' Eau. A very moderate expenditure, in view of the possible results, would suffice. The basin of a Fountain to be kept in play dur- ing the disuse of the Jet, would be admirably located upon the site of the old school house, confronting the new Railway Station and in the direct line of vision from the City Hall. Water drawn immediately from the Leicester Reservoir would attain a hight of 340 feet, dwarfing into insignificance the boasted display at Chats- worth. If taken from Newton Hill a vertical column could be thrown 200 feet into the air. No city in our whole broad land has the same chance for unique and simple adornment. No other city in the land that had the chance would neglect it. A peerless charm in itself, its attraction to Worcester of multitudes to gaze
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upon it, would more than justify the insignificant cost of its con- struction and maintenance.
In the matter of the selection of a proper location for the SOLDIERS' MONUMENT, there has been, during the past year, the usual spasmodic activity. The customary invasion of your deliberations ; the old talk of the imperative need for instantaneous action ; the same curt exaction of decision without opportunity for discus- sion or review. This COMMISSION, to which the care of the Com- mon is confided by law, is associated at the last moment, it is true, with a committee to whose members, as such, the Common is nothing but an eligible site. The work of the past three years is to be undone, because so, it is cheaper ! and the poor woman who seeks that sole oasis in a wilderness of bricks and mortar, that her child may get a breath of fresh air, is deprived of even that outlook upon the purity of Heaven. Driven at the whip and spur of "military necessity," your predecessors were constrained to favor the location of that Monument "as near the centre of the Common as possible." From that decision an appeal is now taken to your cooler judgment.
The objections to such location are manifold and overwhelm- ing. A superficial area is required that cannot be spared. No matter in what part of the Common it should be placed, the ap- proaches and paths necessary to render it accessible when once in position, would exact what little territory was left. Trees must be felled to the right and left that this metallic elegy may be duly appreciated. The whole system of paths must be confused, if not utterly destroyed, to the continual and permanent hindrance of all our population who have occasion to traverse the Common. Of that Common, then, when the Hartford stonecutter has finished, what will be left worth having ?
But this abuse of trust ; for the assignment to a part of what belongs to all is nothing less discreditable or wrong ; has not even the poor excuse of necessity. It is merely cheaper. We are intensely loyal. Our patriotism oppresses us and must, somehow, find vent. Nay, so overpowering and exuberant is it, that we are miserable till it is manifested in brass or marble. But cheaply, mind you ! and always with a keen eye to the dollar. A monu- ment we must have, and why not put it in Naboth's vineyard ?
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CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 28.
But even parsimony does not exact the sacrifice of our little Common. There are sites for this monument in plenty ; more suitable, more accessible, without at the same time offering an impediment to public travel. Summer Street will have to be widened ere long. Washington Square would answer the pur- pose admirably. Wellington Street should be doubled in breadth; the triangle at its intersection with Chandler Street would afford an ample site. Room runs to waste in Lincoln Square between Prescott and Salisbury Streets. All of those broad openings must be adorned somehow and at some time. Why not make a beginning now, and with this monument ? Wherever it is to be, large, vacant spaces must surround it. Such cannot, ought not to be carved out of the Common. Every one of the locations just suggested is, or soon will be, adequately provided in this re- spect. Every one of them will be encompassed by broad streets sufficient for the defile of an army. To them all our people are hourly drawn by the claims of business. Through and past some of them none of us but must go once. Honor the dead, then, as you will, (you cannot reverence them too much !) but spare to the living their sole place of resort ! Dole not out patriotism with the one hand while scrimping the weights with the other !
But objections of locality will be urged by the men who want this Monument in their own door yards. Lincoln Square is too far North. Jaques Square, (if that may be so christened, which is no square), too far South ; and, it will be whispered by men who would not say it aloud as their true reason-Washington Square is down among the Irish. Nevertheless this is a question of mortuary monuments ; and those of us who would be buried decently will have to be conveyed further South or North than Wellington Street or Lincoln Square. For the Irish, as they were esteemed fit to die for the Republic, it might not be un- reasonable to allow them to renew their vows of loyalty at the base of a structure designed to commemorate valor free from stain, devotion without alloy. They cannot eat the Monument ; may they not safely be trusted to digest its significance ? After the incalculable sacrifices of a War fought to suppress Section- alism and exorcise Caste, the proper disposition of a memorial to our slain would scarcely seem to offer fit occasion for the revival of either fell spirit.
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PUBLIC GROUNDS.
At the earnest solicitation of the Alderman from Ward Four, supported as it was by their own convictions of necessity, the COMMISSION took measures, in the early Spring, for the construc- tion and erection upon the Common of a couple of urinals. The science of æsthetics leaves us in doubt as to the extent wherein art may be presumed to regulate such structures. The Commis- sioners feel no overweening pride in the matter, and arrogate no credit to themselves. They would accord to the Alderman great fertility of conception ; to Mr. Fish promptness of delivery ; and to Mr. Samuel Woodward a lively enthusiasm over the prospect. The modesty of the Commissioners was vexed at first by the im- pertinent curiosity of their fellow citizens, unhappily for their bash- fulness not limited to sex. Nevertheless, the object of their erec- tion, as it became generally understood, commended itself; until at last popular fastidiousness, as it finds expression at the Hay Scales, if it imputes any censure, blames the COMMISSION because such erections are not more numerous. They have unquestiona- bly proved a general convenience. If any annoyance has resulted to delicate olfactories from their peculiar perfume, it may perhaps be claimed in their defence, or at least pleaded in mitigation, that mistakes have sprung from confounding their especial scent with that pungent odor of sanctity which emanated from another and proximate portion of the Common.
The cistern near the northeastern corner of the City Hall was connected with the water mains last autumn, despite the protest of this COMMISSION. If it is wanted solely to accommodate the manufacturers of fire engines, furnishing them with facilities for the display of their power of suction, the spot could not be worse chosen. Their cinders foul the ground; their hot and acrid smoke and steam kill the trees ; the trial itself is an insuf- ferable nuisance to the hundreds of women that have occasion to pass and wish neither to be drowned nor stifled. But it may be that the object was to get rid of the power of gravitation derived from the elevation of Leicester ; substituting for its full head the lifting capacity of a steamer. If such was the case it would ap- pear probable that other heads were lost in the operation than that compressed within the street mains.
The condition of ELM PARK is substantially unaltered. A
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CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 28.
arge open ditch has been excavated upon its Western side, de- signed to receive the drainage from Newton Hill and deliver it at the head of the sewer leading into Highland Street. But as before intimated, no systematic effort to drain the Park has been attempted in past years, because of the utter lack of a sewer, and later, by reason of a desire to test the actual operation of the one that has been constructed. Although like Mercutio's wound not so "deep as a well," like that also, "it will do." The propability that the City Government would lay out a section of the new Western Avenue across the Park, a probability which has lately developed into assurance, would of itself have been suggestive of delay, after the measure was first agitated, until its final decision.
Nor will it be wise to attempt anything until the completion of that great improvement, when the relative position of the plateau to the Avenue, the Hill, and the territory adjoining, can be more distinctly estimated. It is hoped, however, that the construction of a basin for a pond or Ornamental Water, which shall ultimately comprehend a JET D'EAU, may be found consistent with the due and rapid execution of the municipal work. The material thus obtained would be applicable to the task of filling the triangle at the northwest corner of the Park, which would otherwise form a mere receptacle for waste water from Highland Street. This COMMISSION has never lost sight of the importance of reclaiming that Park. Its improvement is desirable in whatsoever light it may be regarded. But it has ever appeared better to make haste slowly, that mistakes might be avoided, wasteful expenditures prevented, and no impatient steps have to be retraced. The wis- dom of this policy has been vindicated by time which, in its lapse, has brought about the possibility of change.
Of late years the eastern portion of Elm Park has been mo- nopolized by the annual elephant, the fugitive clown, and perennial base ball. No especial inconvenience is felt on this account at pres- ent, nor if the Hill is assumed, need these uses be disturbed for some time to come. But the game of base ball, as now played is peril- ous at best, scarcely supplying the redeeming merit of a dreary amusement to the spectators. It is believed that the City might wisely purchase an acre or two in different sections of its territory, for the express purpose of allowing and inciting that portion of
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PUBLIC GROUNDS.
our population which inclines to and requires athletic exercise out-doors, to gratify its tastes and needs without annoyance. It is hard for boys or men to be compelled to walk two or three miles to a playground whence, after hearty 'exertion, they must traverse the same distance on their way home.
The Shade-Trees of Worcester challenge no particular remark. Rather more than the annual average have been removed from the streets and a much larger number than usual were planted. A sense of poignant regret afflicted all when the decree went forth from the City Hall proclaiming that the "Vandals" had doomed those patriarchal elms on Front Street. Yet they could not be suffered longer without running a risk of possible collisions against which the municipal Goths had no right to insure. It is the purpose of this COMMISSION to set out a younger and thriftier row in the place of those thus extirpated by the Huns. The fol- lowing is an enumeration of the trees that were planted directly by the COMMISSION, and of the streets upon which they ought to be standing unharmed by mattock, horse or goat :
Elms .
Maples
Main Street, (south) .
15
37
East Worcester
6
Elm .
5
24 Fruit.
29
Sever
43 Cedar
17
Oak
6
Pleasant (corner of
West) 3
-
William
14
North Ashland .
3
Blossom
3
Chatham .
6
Congress
5
Chestnut .
1
West.
27
Merrick .
28
Elms .
Maples
A large number of thrifty trees were the gratuitous offering of that individual generosity which, for years past, has striven to throw a leafy canopy over Boynton and Highland Streets : an example that cannot be too cordially commended to the imitation of his fellow citizens, whom Mr. Salisbury, Jr., has thus un- selfishly aimed to benefit. Credit was allowed at the Treasury for others, upon claims duly made and approved. Quite a lot of trees that were planted under a special contract upon the streets easterly of Elm Park; and which were bargained for as acer saccharinum or rock maple ; turned out upon official inspection for acceptance, to consist of acer rubrum or swamp maple. The
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CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 28.
species are by no means equivalent. But, although the sugar maple has few rivals and no superiors as a shade tree, the scarlet maple, in spite of detraction, is not without striking merits. To quote the language of a keen and watchful naturalist :
"Possibly no species present such a diversity of color as the red or swamp maple (acer rubrum.) On one leaf we have, before now, been able to trace ten distinct colors and shades, and all in such harmonious combination as to create the impression of a direct and special design."
It has its origin in swamps, because by a wise provision of nature, the seed, borne upon the winds, lodges there and germinates, as it would not elsewhere and otherwise. But it is tolerant of treatment, (as it needs must be to survive what it re- ceives,) and endures transplantation with little check. Notwith- standing this error, or deliberate attempt to cheat, on the part of the contractor, it is believed that the City, by the precaution of the COMMISSION was saved harmless, and finally got the worth of its money. When last heard from that "arboricultural dolater," after swinging around the circle of our Police Court and County House, was pestering the military officials at Togus with hypo- thetical demands upon the unexpended funds of this COM- MISSION.
The streets upon the Eastern side of Worcester are in greater need of Shade Trees than any others. But the location or width of many of them may require to be altered after the completion of the new Railway Station. In some, which might have imme- diate attention, the existence and sufferance at large of the rank and omnivorous goat is a valid reason for inaction. Whether trees could be planted faster than goats can girdle or destroy them is a problem to the solution of which neither the tastes of this COMMISSION, nor the interests of the Treasury incline. Allu- sion is thus made that the impartiality of the COMMISSION may be appreciated. Its original recommendation of an AVENUE by the Lake might be accepted as evidence that, since its views were not colored by sectional prejudice, neither will its action be affected by any local bias.
The plantation of young elms and maples commenced by the COMMISSION upon the southwestern corner of Elm Park, in the
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PUBLIC GROUNDS.
autumn of A. D. 1871, is beginning to give evidence of thrift and vigor. Parching summers, succeeded by bleak and snowless win- ters sorely tested their endurance. The vitality which has out- lived such seasons may be counted upon with very great certainty. Comparatively so few of them have succumbed, how- ever, that the inconsiderable loss can scarcely be cited in proof of "the survival of the fittest." From that plantation in a few years, at most, should be derived a cheap and hardy lot of selected trees, in number sufficient for the insatiable cravings of our longest Avenues. In no other way could they be procured so economi- cally. And while this COMMISSION pretends to no especial fore- sight in the plan and completion of this nursery, it can and does claim that its prevision and reasonable care will result in supply- ing a want that could not have been satisfied so well in any other way. It required no great prescience to anticipate the occurrence of a future necessity. But when the exigency is actually upon us, it is none the less pleasant to feel assured that we have prepared ourselves to meet it.
The acquisition of NEWTON HILL by the City has been repeat- edly advised by this COMMISSION in whose Report for A. D. 1871, occurs the following passage :
"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 subtending which it is the most salient feature."
Have we not lately received an impressive admonition to be- ware of overweening confidence and to provide, as there suggested, a temporary store against emergencies ? Dependence upon a single main (it matters not how trustworthy) is but a frail depend- ence, after all. It was the pitcher that went too often to the fountain which got broken at last. To show how important are . the interests involved in this matter, a table is herewith furnished of the valuation of Wards One, Seven and Eight, whose entire
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CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 28.
property lies within the range, and would be subject to the watch and ward of this Hill, were a proper use made of its summit :
Aggregate valuation of Worcester, $47,294,834.
Realty.
Personalty.
Ward One,
$5,364,100
$1,698,150
Ward Seven,
4,996,100
1,048,900
Ward Eight,
5,864,800
1,676,350
$16,225,000
$4,428,400
20,653,400
Total, Resident Bank Shares,
840,423
$21,493,823
It must be conceded that, so large a proportion of its real and personal property being imperilled, with scarcely the semblance of protection, the permanent welfare of the City is absolutely absorbed in a suitable decision of this matter. Any wild March morning, that should behold the population of those three Wards wandering aimlessly, or distracted, amid the ashes of their former homes, would be a woeful day for Worcester. And so keen is the competition between communities enjoying anything like equal natural advantages, that it may be doubted, however elastic our energies, whether we could recover from such a blow in season to retain our relative position among our sister cities. But yet, to prevent such a result, of a fire fed by a hurricane, we have one hose company with its apparatus, shall have a steamer in the fullness of time, and-no water supply ! However, better so than an imperfect supply that inspires unwarranted confidence. A table of relative elevations of different points throughout the City, above mean Tide Water, which was furnished to a Commit- tee of the General Court by the writer, is herewith submitted, that it may be put upon official record :
Elevation above mean Tide Water.
Feet.
Newton Hill,
672.29
Fairmount,
638.91
Chandler Hill (reservoir), (summit),
738.37
Hunt's Reservoir,
655.90
North Pond (high water),
537.00
Bell Pond (high water),
666.50
George Crompton's House (water table),
629.88
Leicester Reservoir (rollway),
822.87
Cambridge and Mill streets (high water in brook), 438.63
Main Street (man-hole at intersection with Davis Court), 482.04
There are many eminences within the City limits of superior
640.61
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PUBLIC GROUNDS.
altitude to Newton Hill, but not one which occupies its relative position to so large a portion of densely settled territory. When the late Mayor Knowlton was perfecting the acquisition of Elm Park, he previously ascertained, by actual survey, that its lowest depression was higher than the steps of the City Hall-its centre nearer the Oread than Lincoln Square. How much more truly this can be asserted of the Hill, let any one stand on Charlton Street, for instance, and, looking across the intervening valley, determine for himself. There it stands, confronting the whole western slope, dominating the intervale and capable of being made the salvation of half the City.
Assume now that a Reservoir has been constructed upon the summit of Newton Hill, sufficiently massive to withstand pressure and capacious enough to supply something larger than a garden hose. From that Reservoir conducting pipes radiate in every di- rection ; towards the Sears' Farm and Elmwood Nurseries, if you please, North and South; and through and throughout Pleasant, Elm, Cedar, William, Bowdoin, John, and Highland Streets. These pipes can be comparatively small because they are so nume- rous, and of stout cast iron because they are no larger. You have organized ten or a dozen hose companies. A fire breaks out at the head of William Street. There are no sick or sound horses floundering through two feet of mealy snow, or striving to keep an uncertain footing upon glairy ice, in a vain effort to haul a wheezing steamer seasonably to the spot. Instead,-the light hose car- riages are readily and rapidly drawn by such members of their respective companies as first reach them ; volunteers not lacking ; lines of hose are unreeled and speedily attached to hydrants at the corners of William, Cedar, Elm, and even Pleasant Streets on the South ; as well as Bowdoin and John on the North. There are then six streams from as many independent mains, each with the full head from the Reservoir, and every one throwing a column of water sixty feet, clear of the ridge pole. The writer saw the first trial of the Bell Pond Aqueduct when the water was directed upon the flames in an old shed-behind Alderman Spurr's drug store. He had just come from a service of four years as foreman of hose, but confesses that neither before nor since has he witnessed ought like that. Shingles, clapboards,
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CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 28.
even boards, went down like grain before the reaper. As to the fire-the shed can be seen for the trouble.
This plan saves the purchase of steamers, which are short-lived, always out of order, too heavy for our steep hills with their snow, slush and mud; and which at best, are a feeble substitute for gravitation. It dispenses with the purchase and subsequent maintenance of horses, sometimes sick and always eating their heads off. It retains the trained experience and approved gallan- try of the Fire Department, re-enlisting companies as hosemen. And no matter what its promises, its capability of complete per- formance may be confidently affirmed. You obtain a head that commands the Technical Institute, the Oread or the prospective Jaques Hospital: and to save one or all of those Institutions might be worth the entire cost.
What is the alternative ? At present not a steamer, not a glut of hose. If there were a steamer it could not get enough water. But some time or other, when our houses are all burned, we may look for another large main crawling along Newton Street. Pray, how large a main can the City Treasury afford, if it shrinks aghast at this plan, whose first cost is its last ? How long has it been forgotten that the strength of a pipe is in inverse ratio to its size ? How many steamers can you supply from a sixteen inch main at the end of its mile and a half of longitude; The writer has seen a little Hunneman tub drain a large double decked suc- tion engine, worked on a wager by every man that could cling to its brakes, so dry in three minutes that the air could be heard blowing a hundred yards away. The analogy is obvious.
This system of hydrodynamics rests upon gravitation with a faith that is "childlike and bland." The writer cares not with what it has to compete ; whether with steam, with animal or with human power. Gravitation can beat them all and beat them easily. What on earth the City of Worcester wants of steamers, when an exhaustless and irresistible power is ready at hand, en- vironing and almost oppressing us with its superfluity, is a prob- lem worthy of solution by the freshmen at the Technical Institute or the apprentices of the Mechanics Association. The seniors would scout it. Why, then, will not our people apply themselves to comprehend the topography of the City.
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PUBLIC GROUNDS.
These views, announced long since through newspaper columns, are reiterated after a twelve-month of reflection. The lapse of time has deprived them of none of their weight, while the amount of property exposed to constant peril is incalculably augmented. Repetition cannot add to their force, but neither can a new state- ment be framed to impress you more strongly.
It is urged, however, that there need be no haste in the matter ; and His Honor the Mayor, in his Inaugural Address, remarks that "as the period within which the City may take this property extends two years from April 15, 1873, I have no desire to press the subject upon your attention now, being perfectly willing to abide the time when it shall naturally claim your consideration."
"There's a good time coming, boys; Wait a little longer,"
sang "Maniac" Russell. "Please be kind enough to fix the date, sir !" roared out the audience. Might it not seem that the time when this subject would "naturally claim your consideration". would be immediately that you learned the dire peril from which, in the providence of God, the City has escaped ! Just as soon as it was known that our entire reliance, for days together, after the fracture of the great main, must be upon the store of water accumulated in Bell Pond ! In what manner can our considera- tion be claimed more "naturally" than by those silent but irresisti- ble forces of heat and cold, under whose operation the wit of man admits itself helpless as an infant ?
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