USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Arlington > Town of Arlington annual report 1919 > Part 14
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When the situation was presented to the citizens of the Town by this Committee, the merits of the case were imme- diately recognized and a substantial increase in their salaries was granted to the members of our educational force to take effect January 1, 1920. By this act the Town took a long step toward the stabilization of our school system thereby removing one of the great causes of unrest and discontent which existed among the teaching body and has made possible the placing of our schools on a higher plane of professional service.
After a careful study of the question of providing addi- tional school accomodations we made a report to a special Town Meeting held December, 1919. This report advocated the erection of a grammar school building on town land at the junction of Forest and Summer Streets, a junior high school
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ARLINGTON TOWN REPORT
building on town land adjacent to Fessenden Road, an addition to the present Crosby School building and the procuring of a site for a grammar school building in the Parmenter district. The report and accompanying recommendations will be found incorporated in the records of that meeting. Until such time as permanent school buildings are constructed to care for the children, we believe that the Town should provide portable schoolhouses for use in the most crowded districts. In accord- ance with that plan and upon the recommendation by this Committee the Town purchased in December of this year a one-room school building to relieve the conditions in the Par- menter School. These buildings while they provide housing facilities for the children are not as satisfactory in any way as permanent structures and should be considered only as a temporary help.
In November, the Committee accepted with great regret the resignations of Mr. Lindsey K. Foster who had been a member of the Committee for over twelve years, serving the greater part of that period as its secretary, and of Mr. Claude A. Palmer who was serving his second year on the Committee. To fill these vacancies, our Committee in joint meeting with the Selectmen elected Mr. Robert N. Turner and Mr. Harold L. Frost.
The generosity of one of our public-spirited citizens has made possible the establishment and equipment of a dental clinic in a room in the Robbins Memorial Town Hall and we expect this clinic will soon be in active operation under the direction of the Board of Health and the School Committee.
We have also co-operated with local organizations engaged in welfare work, granting to such societies the use of rooms in school buildings whenever possible to do so.
The Committee desires to acknowledge a contribution of $200 made by the Arlington Woman's Club for the purpose of constructing a hockey rink in the rear of the high school build- ing. As recommended in our report of last year we believe that the large area adjacent to our high school building should be reclaimed as soon as possible and made available for a play- ground.
An important addition to the activities of the Committee
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE
is the Americanization Work taken up at the request of the State and continued by vote of the Town. Through a careful survey made throughout the Town we discovered that there were large groups of persons who were not familiar with our language and who possessed but little knowledge of our coun- try's history and the privileges and obligations of citizenship.
We have made a study of the ways and means employed in other communities to impart this essential knowledge to persons who have never had an opportunity for this instruc- tion, so that we may proceed along a definite and constructive plan in this work.
The installation of electric fire gongs in the school build- ings was completed this year but other extraordinary repairs and improvements were postponed because of lack of funds. As the prices of labor and material advance we are able to get less done than formerly for the same appropriation and must request the Town to grant larger sums for repairs if we are expected to maintain and care for the Town property in the proper way.
Respectfully submitted,
JOHN A. BISHOP, Chairman.
REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE ROBBINS LIBRARY
To the Town of Arlington:
The Trustees of the Robbins Library submit their annual report. The circulation shows a gain of 4,595 with a total of 61,544 as compared with 56,949 in 1918.
Children's Room shows a gain of 1,632 with 19,415 as against 17,783 in 1918.
Attendance in Reading Room shows a gain on week days of 3,658 - 27,155 as against 23,497 in 1918, and a gain on Sundays of 72 - 2,452 as against 2,380 in 1918.
The attendance in Children's Room has risen from 12,433 to 12,630, a gain of 197, with a loss of 25 on Sundays, 2,002 as against 2,027 in 1918.
There has been a gain of 3,331 in books taken from the Stack Room, 40,667 as against 37,336 in 1918. The use of periodicals shows a small loss of 16 - 2,159 as against 2,175.
There was a gain in books and periodicals loaned from the Arlington Heights Branch, 4,537 as against 4,076 in 1918.
There was a loss of 66 in books and periodicals sent from the Centre to the Heights, 795 in 1919 as against 861 in 1918.
The Postal Reserve shows a gain of 62 - 859 in 1919 as against 797 in 1918.
There was a gain in books and periodicals loaned from the East Branch, 9,044 as against 6,682 in 1918.
Visitors and readers at the Branch were 3,658 as against 2,719 in 1918, a gain in attendance of 939.
The registration of new borrowers for the Centre and Branches was 1,013 as against 943 in 1918, a gain of 70.
The collection of books and magazines for soldiers and sailors in various places has been continued and 789 books, 1,801 magazines were forwarded to the distributing station during the year.
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LIBRARIAN'S STATEMENT
The members of the library staff are as follows:
Librarian ELIZABETH J. NEWTON
Card Cataloguer EMILY BUCKNAM
Reference Department NETTIE E. BASTON
Issue Department EDITH A. WHITTEMORE, in charge
MATILDA K. LEETCH RUTH SAMPSON
Branch Department RUTH SAMPSON, in charge
Children's Department EDITH C. RICE
Janitor WILLIAM T. CANNIFF
Arlington Heights Branch M. MACIE SEABURY
East Arlington Branch EVA M. SMITH
Branch Messenger EDWARD M. BREEN
Special donors for the year were Professor W. MacNeile. Dixon, of London, Reverend John G. Taylor, Miss Edith Frost, Miss Anna C. Cousens, Mrs. E. C. Turner, Mrs. William P. Newman, Dr. George W. Cutter. Colonel T. F. Dwyer of 53d Railway Artillery (Regular) presented a German (infantry) rifle taken near Maucourt, November 8, 1918.
The editor of the Advocate has continued to send us a file. of that paper.
Exhibitions of photographs, etc., have been given in addition to those reported hitherto.
January. No. 235. Brittany.
January. No. 236. Baby Beasts, Birds and Pets.
February. No. 237. French Chateaux.
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ARLINGTON TOWN REPORT
1
February and March. No. 238. The Great War in Europe, No. 3.
April. No. 239. The Canary Islands.
May. No. 240. The Great War in Europe, No. 9.
May and June. No. 241. "Why We are at War."
June and July. No. 242. Belgium, No. 2.
July and August. No. 243. The Great War in Europe, No. 12.
August and September. No. 244. The Great War in Europe, No. 15.
September. No. 245. French Pastellists of the 18th Century.
October. No. 246. The Great War in Europe, No. 7.
November. No. 247. Pictures for Children. Jessie Willcox Smith.
December. No. 248. Francis Hopkinson Smith.
Respectfully submitted,
SAMUEL C. BUSHNELL,
CYRUS E. DALLIN,
CHARLES A. KEEGAN,
WILLIAM A. MULLER,
JAMES P. PARMENTER,
ARTHUR J. WELLINGTON
Trustees.
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LIBRARIAN'S STATEMENT
LIBRARIAN'S STATEMENT
LIBRARY HOURS
Open daily, except Sunday, 10 A.M. to 9 P.M.
Children's Room, 10 A.M.to 6 P.M.
Sundays, except in August for readers only, 2.30 to 5.30 P.M. Closed on holidays.
LIBRARY HOURS, ARLINGTON HEIGHTS BRANCH
Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. - 1.30 to 6, 7 to 8.30 P.M. August. - Open on Saturdays only.
Closed on holidays.
Books left at the Branch on Tuesday and Saturday, between the hours of 1.30 and 3.00 P.M., will be exchanged and will be ready for delivery from 7.00 to 8.30 P.M. of the same day.
A limited number of books are kept at the Branch and may be circulated from there.
LIBRARY HOURS, EAST ARLINGTON BRANCH
Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. - 1 to 6, 7 to 9 P.M. August. - Open on Saturdays only.
Closed on holidays.
Books left at the Branch on Tuesday and Saturday, between the hours of 1 and 3 P.M. will be exchanged, and will be ready for delivery from 7 to 9 P.M. of the same day.
STATISTICS
Annual Library report for year ending December 31, 1919. Robbins Library, Arlington, Mass. Free for lending and reference.
Number of branches. 2
Days open during year (Central Library) 301
Hours open each week for lending (Central Library) 66
Hours open each week for reading (Central Library) . . 69
Adults Children Total
Number of volumes at beginning of year 25,471 4,588 30,059
Number of volumes added by purchase. 450 161 611
Number of volumes added by gift .. . ... 71 1 72
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ARLINGTON TOWN REPORT
Adults Children Total
Number of volumes replaced or found. .
27
20
47
Number of volumes lost or withdrawn. .
85
137
222
Total number at end of year.
25,934 4,633 30,567
Number of volumes fiction lent for home
use .
30,042 15,074 45,116
Total number of volumes lent for home use .
40,667 19,415 *61,544
Single numbers of periodicals lent for home use. 2,159 21 2,180
Largest delivery in one day, April 26. 444
Number of new borrowers registered during the year. . . 1,013
Number of copies of newspapers and periodicals cur-
rently received 115
Number of persons using Library for reading and study . 42,396 Attendance in Reading Rooms on weeks days 27,155
Attendance in Children's Room on week days 12,630
Attendance in Reading Rooms on Sundays. 2,452
Attendance in Children's Room on Sundays 2,002
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS BRANCH
Number of volumes at beginning of year .. 1,350
Number of volumes added during year by purchase 20
Number of volumes added during year by gift. 1
Number of volumes replaced or found. 1
Number of volumes lost or withdrawn during year 0
Total number at end of year. 1,372
Number of books lent for home use from Branch 2,063
Number of periodicals lent belonging to Branch . 2,474
Number of books and periodicals received by basket from Central Library in 1919 795
Number of copies of newspapers and periodicals currently received . 29
EAST ARLINGTON BRANCH
Number of volumes at beginning of year. 713
Number of volumes added during year by purchase. 102 97
*Includes 1,462 sent to Branches.
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LIBRARIAN'S STATEMENT
Number of volumes added during year by gift 9
Number of volumes replaced or found. 2
Number of volumes lost or withdrawn during year 5
Total number at end of year. 827 816
Number of books lent for home use from Branch . 8,013
Number of periodicals lent belonging to Branch . 1,031
Number of books received by basket from Central Library in 1919 667
Number of copies of newspapers and periodicals currently received . 30
Receipts From
Payments For
Unexpended balance
Books. $1,018.38
Local taxation .... $6,000.00
Periodicals 450.55
Endowment funds. 2,694.43
Binding 497.50
Fines and sale of
publications .... 465.15
Other sources 559.74
Salaries, library ser- vice, janitor ser- vice 5,49/1.41 tr.
Heat 568.66
Light 439.94
Other expenses
800.46
Balance on hand
2.42
Total $9,719.32
LIST OF PERIODICALS
American Boy
Bookman
American Cookery
Boys' Life Catholic World
American Forestry
American Review of Reviews ยท Century
Architectural Record
Christian Endeavor World
Arlington High School Clarion Christian Science Journal*
Atlantic Monthly Bird Lore
Congressional Record* Current Opinion Delineator
Birds and Nature
Book Review Digest
Education
Booklist
Educational Review
Total $9,719.32
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ARLINGTON TOWN REPORT
Etude
Everyland
Flying
Forum
General Federation Magazine
Good Housekeeping
Harper's Monthly
Harvard Theological Review
Photo Era
Harvard University Gazette* Hibbert Journal
Pictorial Review
House Beautiful
Playground
Illustrated London News
Popular Mechanics
Independent
Popular Science Monthly
Indian's Friend
Power Plant Engineering
Industrial Arts Magazine
Public Libraries
International Journal of Ethics Raja-Yoga Messenger*
International Studio
Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature
Keramic Studio
Ladies' Home Journal
Safety Engineering*
League of Nations
St. Nicholas
School Arts Magazine
Life
School Review
Literary Digest
Scientific American
Little Folks
Scientific American Supplement
Living Age
Scientific Monthly
Manual Training Magazine
Scribner's Magazine
Mayflower Descendant*
Social Service Review*
Medford Historical Register Modern Priscilla
Spectator
Munsey's Magazine
Survey Theosophical Path* .
Museum of Fine Arts Bulletin*Theosophical Quarterly* Musical Courier
Musician
Touchstone Unpopular Review
Nation
World's Work
National Geographic Magazine Yale Review
Youth's Companion
*Donated
New England Historical and Genealogical Register New England Homestead Nineteenth Century and After North American Review Our Dumb Animals* Outing Outlook
Library Journal
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LIBRARIAN'S STATEMENT
LIST OF NEWSPAPERS AND OTHER PERIODICALS
America* Arlington Advocate
Arlington Weekly News
Boston Evening Transcript Boston Herald
Cambridge Chronicle
Christian Register*
Somerville Journal Springfield Republican Universalist Leader* Watchman-Examiner*
Christian Science Monitor* Current Events
Woman Citizen*
Women Patriot *.
Living Church* *Donated.
New York Times Book Review Remonstrance Against Woman Suffrage*
We have received reports or bulletins, or both, from the public libraries of the following places: Andover (Memorial Hall Library); Baltimore, Md. (Enoch Pratt Free Library); Belmont; Boston; Boston Children's Friend Society ; Brookline; Cambridge; Canton; Chelsea; Clinton (Bigelow Free Public Library); Concord; Erie, Pa .; Everett (Shute Memorial Library); Fairhaven (Millicent Library) ; Gardner (Levi Heywood Memo- rial Library); Greenfield; Hartford, Conn .; Lancaster; Louis- ville, Ky .; Malden; Manchester, N. H .; Massachusetts Free Public Library Commission; Milton; New York; Newton; Northampton (Forbes Library); Pawtucket, R, I. (Deborah Cook Sayles Public Library); Providence, R. I .; Quincy (Thomas Crane Public Library); Somerville; Stoneham; Taunton; Wakefield (Beebe Town Library); Watertown; Wilkes-Barre, Pa. (Osterhout Free Library); Winchester; Winthrop (Frost, Library Building); Woburn; Worcester.
Respectfully submitted,
ELIZABETH J. NEWTON, Librarian.
Arlington, December 31, 1919.
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ARLINGTON TOWN REPORT 1
TRUSTEES ROBBINS' LIBRARY
ART FUND
1919
Principal of Fund, January 1, 1919
$25,000.00
Accumulated Income to January 1, 1919
6,162.33
$31,162.33
Receipis
Interest on
Fourth Liberty Loan
$124.35
Sewer Loan of 1917
220.00
Water Loan of 1912
160.00
Sewer Loan of 1916
160.00
Summer Street Loan of 1918
160.00
Water Loan of 1916
120.00
Schouler Court Land Purchase of 1914
160.00
Arlington Savings Bank
178.95
1,283.30
$32,445.63
Payments
Reimbursements to Town Treasurer
867.30
$31,578.33 /
Investments
Three Water Loan Notes of 1912, dated December 2, 1912, due serially com- mencing December 2, 1920
$3,000.00
Five Sewer Loan Notes of 1917, dated June 1, 1917, due as follows: Nos. 227, June 1, 1924; No. 228, June 1, 1925; No. 243, June 1, 1920; No. 229, June 1, 1926; No. 230, June 1, 1927 5,000.00 Four Schouler Court Land Purchase of 1914 Notes, dated April 13, 1914, due serially beginning January 1, 1925 4,000.00
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TRUSTEES ROBBINS LIBRARY
One Water Loan Note of 1916, dated June 30, 1916, due June 30, 1920 $2,000.00 One Sewer Loan of 1916, dated Decem- ber 15, 1916, due December 15, 1920 2,000.00 One Summer Street Loan of 1918, dated December 15, 1918, due December 15, 1920 2,000.00
Three $1,000 Fourth Liberty Loan Bonds 3,000.00
One Sewer Loan of 1919, dated Decem- ber 15, 1919, due December 15, 1922 2,000.00
Arlington Five Cents Savings Bank 8,578.33
$31,578.33
SAMUEL C. BUSHNELL, CHARLES A. KEEGAN,
WILLIAM A. MULLER, CYRUS E. DALLIN,
ARTHUR J. WELLINGTON, JAMES P. PARMENTER,
Trustees
MYRON TAYLOR, Treasurer. GEORGE McK. RICHARDSON, Auditor.
REPORT OF THE JOINT BOARD OF SELECTMEN AND BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS
The sixteenth annual report of the Joint Board of Select- men and Board of Public Works is herewith submitted.
At the annual March election Clarence A. Moore was elected a member of the Board of Public Works for three years, and Loren W. Marsh was elected a member of the Board of Public Works for two years, and as such became members of the Joint Board. Olvin H. Lufkin was elected a member of the Board of Selectmen for three years, and as such became a member of the Joint Board.
The Board organized on March 10, 1919, with Thomas J. Donnelly, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, chairman, and Thomas J. Robinson, clerk.
The following appointments were made for the year end- ing April 1, 1920:
Town Counsel, Philip A. Hendrick; Superintendent of Public Works and Town Engineer, George E. Ahern; Superin- tendent of Wires, Reuben W. LeBaron.
The regular meeting nights of the Board are alternate Tuesdays, but when the business of the Board requires meet- ings are held on other evenings.
For the benefit of new citizens of the Town and others not familiar with the duties of the Board, it may be well to publish portions of the Act creating the Board.
The authority of the Board is contained in Section 5 of Chapter 3 of the Acts of 1904, creating the Joint Board, and is as follows: "Section 5. Upon the election of said Board of Public Works all the powers, rights, duties and liabilities of the Selectmen in said Town, now existing, or hereafter created by law, relating to highways, Town ways, the laying out and discontinuance of ways, bridges, sidewalks, guide posts, monu- ments at the terminal and angles of roads, public squares, playgrounds, shade trees, sewers, drains, street watering, street
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REPORT OF JOINT BOARD
lighting, the assessment of damages and betterments, water pipes, gas pipes, conduits, poles, wires, street railways, the grant- ing of locations, rights or licenses for structures, upon, under or over highways, or other ways, shall be exercised, enjoyed, per- formed and incurred by a Board consisting of the Selectmen and the Board of Public Works, created by this Act, sitting: jointly as the Board of Survey."
The foregoing Act was accepted by the Town, February 8, 1904, and has been in operation since that time.
RULES OF THE BOARD AFFECTING PROPOSED STREETS BEFORE ACCEPTANCE BY THE TOWN
The Town having accepted the provisions of Chapter 249 of the Acts of 1897, known as the Board of Survey Act, the Board has established the following rules and regulations governing petitions for the laying out and the acceptance of new streets. The Board found this action necessary in order to avoid misunderstandings, and to enable petitioners to know approximately what the ultimate cost of the street would be, and the conditions under which the Board could recommend the acceptance of these streets to the Town. The rules, as adopted by the Board, are:
1. Approval of Plans. No plan will be approved which does not comply with the Board of Survey Act.
2. Petition for Estimate of Cost of Construction. After the approval of plans by the Board the interested parties may on application receive from the Clerk of the Board a blank form of petition requesting the Board to furnish an estimate of the cost of construction of the proposed street. This petition should bear the names of all owners of land abutting on the street together with the signatures of the parties petitioning.
On receipt of this petition the Board will designate the type of construction and direct the Town Engineer to make an estimate of the cost of this construction.
3. Petition for the Laying Out of Streets. A blank form of petition for layout, stating the length, width, type of con- struction and estimated cost, will then be sent to the petitioner. This petition should also show names of all owners of land.
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ARLINGTON TOWN REPORT
abutting and their addresses, together with the signatures of as many as possible of the parties desiring the layout. On receipt of this petition the Board will set a date for a hearing, and all interested parties will be notified.
4. Action by the Board at First Hearing. After this first hearing if, in the opinion of the Board, common convenience and necessity require that the street in question be laid out as a public highway, they so vote and further vote that it is the intention of the Board to so lay out. A hearing is then set on the intention of the Board, and all interested parties are notified by warrant served by a Constable of the date of said hearing.
5. Final Hearing on Intention of the Board to Lay Out. If after the second hearing the Board is still of the opinion that public convenience and necessity require that said street should be laid out as a public way, a vote is passed laying the street out in accordance with the plans approved by the Board and a record is made of the description of the street by meters and bounds.
6. Acceptance by the Town. After the vote by the Board to lay out it is then within the authority of the Board of Select- men on petition to insert an article in the Town Warrant for the acceptance of the street. No street can be brought before the Town for acceptance until the foregoing rules have been complied with. The Board would remind all persons intending to petition for the laying out and acceptance of streets that appropriations for this purpose are only made at the March meeting of each year. The petitions should, therefore, be filed during the early fall months, in order to allow time for hearings before the drawing of the Warrant for the March meeting.
In addition to the foregoing rules the Board has established a rule by which persons desiring the laying out, construction and acceptance of new streets will be informed before final action by the Board of the estimated cost of the construction and the approximate assessment to be levied on the abutting owners. This rule has worked very satisfactorily, enabling the petitioners to know what the street will cost them indi- vidually, and relieving the Board, when betterments are assessed, of many misunderstandings as to the portion of the cost which is to be borne by the abutting owners.
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REPORT OF JOINT BOARD
NEW STREETS
As reported by the Board last year there have been but few applications for the laying out of new streets. This condition is attributable to the continued high cost of labor and materials. During the year, however, the abutting owners on Oxford and Harlow Streets, between Raleigh Street and Broadway, peti- tioned for the construction and acceptance of these streets. On investigation by the Board it was found that the ends of these streets between Raleigh Street and Broadway were in a very poor condition and that the people living on these ends were suffering a great deal of inconvenience. In accordance therefore with the petitions, hearings were given and esti- mates of cost of construction supplied. After these hearings the Board voted to recommend the acceptance of these streets including the part of Raleigh Street between Grafton and Oxford Streets to the Town. Similar action was taken on the petitions for the acceptance of Rawson Road, Amherst Street and Bowdoin Street. Action will be recommended on these streets at the March meeting of 1920.
Other petitions were received but the interested parties on being informed of the cost of construction preferred to have the work done by private contractors. This action the Board approves, provided the work be done in accordance with speci- fications furnished by the Town Engineer, under his supervision and to his satisfaction. If this is done, the streets can be later accepted by the Town without the assessment of betterments, thus relieving the Town of the problem of financing the work.
STREET LIGHTING
The question of how best to light our streets differs little from reports of previous years. In 1917 the Town voted to have our street lights lighted on the all-night schedule, but owing to war conditions coming shortly after this vote was taken the schedule was changed in three different ways since that time. For the past year the lights have been burning on the one o'clock schedule but in the latter part of the year, on the petition of numerous citizens, the lights were turned on each morning one hour before sunrise. While this change accommo-
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ARLINGTON TOWN REPORT
dated a great number of our people whose business called them from their homes in the early morning hours, the Board is of the opinion that the lights should be lighted all night as there are many of our citizens whose business keeps them from home until two or three o'clock in the morning as well as many more whose business calls them at that time. The increase in cost to maintain all night lighting for the nine months from April 1 will be about $1700.00. The Board recommends this action.
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