USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Newton > Town of Newton annual report 1869-1870 > Part 5
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ment, the power required to remove the same load was but 46 pounds and this last road effectually resisted frosts.
On the 6th instant your Committee visited Waltham, and found the broken stone road there dry and hard. It will sustain loads of six tons without being cut into ruts. Returning, we came down through Waltham street, and, observing the instant of passing from town to town in the changed character of the road, we passed on to Newton- ville over our fine old avenue ! The first road required scarce any mending. The last was cut up with ruts and full of mud, and work- men were dumping gravel four to six inches deep upon it. On the Waltham road it required not more than one-fortieth the weight of the load (say 20 lbs.) in tractive force to draw it, while on the main road of the good, rich, old town of Newton, it would have required one-eighth the weight of the load (100 lbs.) in tractive force to draw it. That this criticism is not especially in the interest of persons driving in light carriages and for pleasure, may be seen from the fact, - as demonstrat- ed by careful and extended experiment, - that resistance to the on- "ward motion of the carriage or cart, arising from roughness of the road, is always in proportion to the weight of the carriage. A double weight will offer double resistance, and a triple weight triple resistance, and so on. The principal objection of some, who have had lit- tle or no experience with the broken stone road, is, that it is unfit to drive horses rapidly upon : such a road improperly made, or imperfect- ly hardened, is indeed unsuitable for rapid driving ; but it requires only a journey of three hundred miles to see millionaires driving the finest trotters in the world upon roads as smooth as a floor, made entirely of stone.
The city of Boston, will soon complete its reservoir and driveway and then the pleasure-driving from Boston and vicinity will set, in a vigorous stream, towards our eastern limit. If we encourage with good roads we shall speedily derive therefrom a great and permanent advan- tage. The pleasant farms south of Bald Pate Hill, the meadows along Boylston Street, the romantic beauties of both villages on the Falls of the Charles, the handsome estates on Centre, Walnut, Chestnut, and IValtham streets, and in the Parks of what has been called " the Cor- ner," will become known and we doubt not admired. Can any measure be more likely to increase the popularity of our town, or add to its popu- ยท lation, than to construct roads as solid, smooth, and perfect as the nature of the case will admit ?
With regard to the survey of the town for laying out future avenues and streets, we would strongly urge the adoption of the measure. . But it would seem best that the work should be done by a commission of three in consultation with an engineer. Many years ago the upper part of the island upon which New York is built was thus surveyed and laid out by a commission. The present broad avenues and wide streets are
78
the result of the wise foresight that suggested the plan. Should New- ton be thus surveyed and mapped, and the plan adopted by the Town, this plan with the conditions and restrictions upon which the Town would accept of streets might be lithographed and a copy distributed to each house. Every land-owner would then know precisely on what condi-" tions he could open a street and get it accepted. Our public and pri- vate improvements would be made on a pre-determined and uniform scheme, and the town officers would be saved much petty and pestering solicitation ; the laying out of crooked or narrow streets prevented ; uniformity of grade secured, and regularity of plan enforced.
But perhaps the most weighty reason for a survey at the present time is that it will enable the town to determine properly the main lines of drainage. With an open country it is easy to ascertain the springs and water-courses, and to gauge the required size of drains ; put off to a later period, and difficulties multiply in almost geometrical ratio with each year's delay.
We would in conclusion, recommend an appropriation of not over .$350 for the services of Mr. J. H. Shedd or some other good engineer, to be employed by the Selectmen for the present season, the engineer to report upon the subject in print with the next annual report, and also the appropriation of a suitable sum for the purchase of a stone-crusher and the necessary equipments therefor.
We would also recommend the election, at this town meeting, of a committee of three, with power to employ an engineer to survey and map out the proper avenues, streets, and drains of the town, determine their width and grade, and report in print upon the same at the next annual March meeting.
The report was accepted and adopted. It will be seen that it recommends macadamizing the roads over which heavy teams travel ; the employment of Mr. J. H. Shedd, or some other good road engineer, for the then current year ; the appropriation of a suitable sum for the purchase of a stone-crusher and the necessary equipment therefor, and finally, the election of a committee to map out future avenues, streets, and drains.
The town meeting voted to appropriate $350 for the pay- ment of the town engineer. It also voted that " a committee of three be appointed with power to employ the town engi- neer, at a cost of not over $500, to survey and map out the proper avenues, streets, and drains of the town, determine
79
their width and grade, and report in print upon the same at the next annual March meeting." The undersigned were thereupon appointed as this Committee.
The adoption of their report implied the appointment of Mr. J. H. Shedd as town engineer, but the Committee, not feeling warranted in employing him without express authority from the Board of Selectmen, immediately applied for the requisite decision ; there was some delay, and it was not until the 21st of June, 1869, that a vote of the Board on the subject was mailed to them. The vote was as follows : -
NEWTON CENTRE, June 21, 1869.
Copy of a vote passed by the Selectmen, June 3d, 1869.
" Voted, that when this Board required the services of a consulting engineer, Mr. J. H. Shedd be employed for that purpose."
Attest,
MARSHALL S. RICE, Town Clerk of Newton.
This delayed the work to the heats of summer, and to a time when unavoidable engagements seriously interfered with the business submitted to them.
On consultation with Mr. Shedd, it was considered that the subject of drainage and the proper treatment of the brooks of the town required their first attention, and they accordingly entered upon a careful examination of these water- courses and their culverts. Nearly all the culverts have been measured, and their present size is noted upon a map of the town, which has been enlarged by the Engineer from a small one now in use. The question of aiding the improve- ment of Cheese Cake Brook having been referred to them at the town meeting of November 2d., they deemed it best to have an accurate survey of the brook made by the Town Engi- neer. This was done, and the Engineer has made a map and profile of the brook from Washington Street to the lower crossing of Watertown Street, which will be filed in the office of the Selectmen. His report upon its culverts and water- course will be herewith submitted in manuscript to the an-
80
nual meeting, together with a brief statement concerning the condition of the brook at Newton Corner, and suggestions upon the subject of a survey of Hammond Pond and Baptist Pond brooks. He has also embodied his views upon the opening of new streets and avenues, and a preliminary topo- graphical survey of the town, as being very desirable with reference to the proper treatment of such a work. Some ex- tracts from the report, showing how emphatically the engi- neer sustains and corroborates the views of the Committee, may not be out of place. On the subject of opening and building new avenues, he says : -
" The growth of the town calls for the laying out of new roads from time to time. New villages grow up and require roads to the other villages. In many such cases, the existing roads are circuitous, unne- cessarily hilly, and wholly unfit for the increased travel thrown upon them. Crooked and hilly roads sometimes become important thorough- fares in this way. Such routes may sometimes be greatly improved by building short pieces of new road, saving distance and avoiding hills.
" Many of the streets in the closely-settled parts of the town were originally made by private enterprise to open land for sale for build- ing purposes. In the many cases of this kind, land-owners consider only their own immediate interest, and ignore the public interests. Hence result many streets and places which are of no value excepting to the houses located on them.
" It might be expected that self-interest would induce proprietors to lay out their lands with some regard to health and general attractive- ness. This is done in some cases ; but we find many violations of the plainest sanitary rules, such as building a house where it will be sur- rounded by back-yards, out-houses and cesspools, and communicate with the street by a long narrow lane. Many houses even in Newton are crowded into narrow, blind alleys. The Town ought to use every legitimate means to prevent such offences against civilization.
" After a time, when these private streets are occupied by houses, and any alteration is difficult, the Town is asked to accept them and lay them out as highways; and thus the Town is pecuniarily interested in their location.
" Co-operation from the start between the builders of such private ways and the town authorities is evidently desirable ; and the adop- tion of measures tending to promote this is strongly recommended. If this cannot be brought about, the Town will find itself burdened with the maintenance of streets which perhaps suit the abutters but accommodate nobody else, or be obliged to reject many applications
81
for the acceptance of badly-located ways, as it has, very judiciously, decided to reject streets less than forty feet wide.
" Every tax-payer and every land-holder is pecuniarily interested in making the town attractive to new-comers who will add to the taxa- ble property and furnish employment to the laboring people of the town.
"In those parts of the town which are closely settled or likely to become so, the public health must suffer from the crowding together of houses so as to interfere seriously with each other's sunshine, venti- lation, and drainage.
" The above may be summed up as follows : -
" All new roads should be part of a well-considered general system for meeting the wants of the public, especially by improving the routes between the different villages, and not by mere disconnected attempts at local improvement. It appears to me that the town should take the initiative in this matter, by arranging such a general system, adhering to it in the future, and inviting the co-operation of land-owners. In establishing such a system of streets, the following points must be kept in mind. The streets should be so located that they will be straight, level, or very nearly so ; free from sanitary ob- jections, adapted to add to the general attractiveness of the town, cheap to build, cheap to maintain, and satisfactory to the individual land-holders. * The engineering data necessary may be summed up in the phrase, knowledge of the ground, including the character of the soil, and whether springy or dry, the undulations of the surface, plans and profiles of the streams, plans of the side lines, character of surface as to shedding rainfall, plans and profiles of existing roads, land lines, and in some instances of buildings, etc."
Under the head of Drainage, the engineer shows that a growing population requires increasing attention to the sub- ject ; that where it is so large as to throw off more refuse matter than can be with safety absorbed in the ground or carried off in the streams, drainage must be provided ; that the brooks naturally become the media for drainage, but when used for such purposes they need proper treatment, which requires engineering surveys ; that the Town is the proper party to make these surveys, and - when the right time arrives - to make the improvements ; that for such purposes, and for the general purpose of laying out suitable streets and avenues in the town, the present maps are not sufficiently accurate and of little value. To show that such a
11
82
survey is no new thing, he adduces the experience of other towns that are now causing surveys to be made in the manner and for the purposes recommended.
From the examinations and surveys made, it became evident to your Committee that the culverts on Cheese Cake Brook all need to be enlarged whenever they are rebuilt; that the channel of the brook at Cherry Street should be deepened eighteen inches, and that both the culvert at Cherry Street and the channel back of the Town Hall should be widened. If the Town decides to rebuild the culvert and enlarge the brook at that point, it would seem best to make the culvert large enough to accommodate any ordinary demand likely to occur upon it in times of heavy rain, for the next ten years, and to widen the channel correspondingly. But we cannot recommend enlarging the culverts on Cheese Cake Brook before such time as the owners of lands along its course are willing to unite with the Town in a comprehensive system of improvement. And until such time as there is such concur- rent action, it would seem best merely to raise the culvert and the street, say one or two feet. For the enlarged improve- ment of Cheese Cake Brook the survey now made affords a well-defined plan and reliable data ; it also forms, so far as completed, a part of the recommended town survey.
We recommend a survey of the small brook at Newton Corner, with the view of converting the lower end of it into a town drain, or of building a sewer near to and in the gen- eral direction of its lower end, to carry off surplus water and such impurities as now defile the brook .*
A survey of Hammond's Pond Brook, and of Baptist Pond Brook, and their affluents, with reference to drainage area and
* The town of Brookline have been making a sewer alongside of the brook that empties into Muddy River, near the railroad station at Brookline. The old culvert at the crossing of Washington Street in Brookline is six feet in diameter. They have made an additional culvert of six feet and a half in diam- eter, and continued it in a brick conduit for 1,700 feet along the railroad track to Muddy River. Into this conduit a system of sewers converge and empty An entire range of streets having drainage towards the Brookline station are thus provided with the proper means of sending off all filth by an under-
83
the proper size of new culverts, should be made. Such a survey would also give the existing streets, the heights and depressions of land, and the swamps and woodlands now in- cluded in those areas. It would be of permanent value to the town, affording accurate data upon which to act in re- building culverts and in laying out new streets and avenues. The time appears to us to have arrived for making such a survey, and we recommend an appropriation of $1,500 to defray the cost of the undertaking.
Some of the existing culverts urgently need rebuilding ; one near the house of Mr. Horace Cousens, on Beacon Street, was in very bad condition at the time of our examination. In several places the culverts are either too small, or the bottom of the channel of the brook is too high, so that water backs upon the lands above the culvert, except at low water, and with each returning year the difficulty is almost certain to increase. We strongly recommend the Town not to accept any new culverts that have not been approved by the Town Engineer.
With regard to mapping out new streets and avenues in the Town, the Committee have no progress to report. They early called for suggestions from citizens interested, but the
ground drain to tide-water. The expenditure for these particular improve- ments in Brookline in the past year is $45,000. The work has been done in a substantial manner, and with due regard to future wants. The culvert under Cypress Street is twelve feet wide. The drainage area of the brook at the lower crossing of Watertown Street is 1,300 acres, while that of Cheese Cake Brook is estimated at 3,000 acres.
In West Philadelphia there is a brook, small and insignificant in dry sea- sons, which becomes a torrent in a heavy rain. The brook has worn a deep and wide channel in the soft gneiss rock which underlies the whole precinct. The bed of the creek is more than fifty feet below the grade of Forty-second street, which is next east of it. The increasing population rendered sewage indispensable to carry off filth. It was finally determined to convert this brook or creek into a covered sewer. The engineer, Strickland Kneass, Esq., found the total drainage area to be five thousand acres; this immense area, coupled with the shallow soil, the paved streets and sidewalks which shed an unusually large per cent. of the rainfall, required a very large sewer. And being deeply depressed below the surface, it was necessary to build the sewer, at the outset, of the utmost required size. For nearly half a mile it is twenty feet wide and about eighteen feet high. It can actually discharge a greater volume of water than flows in Charles River in time of freshet.
84
delay in the appointment of an engineer, the insufficiency of the appropriation, and their subsequent engagements, pre- vented their giving that attention to the subject which its importance demands. They regurd it, however, as a desir- able, and in some sense an almost indispensable undertaking. The hilly and very uneven topography of the town occasions the necessity for a pre-arranged plan, and affords scope for engineering skill and the most cultivated taste.
Respectfully submitted,
E. F. WATERS, JOHN S. FARLOW, Committee. SETH BEMIS,
LIST OF PERSONS
WHO WERE TAXED FOR
REAL AND PERSONAL ESTATE,
IN THE
TOWN OF NEWTON,
In the Year 1869.
Value of Real Estate
.$10,288,610 00
Value of Personal Estate
5,634,266 00
$15,922,876 00
Taxable value of Corporate Stocks taxed by the Common- wealth.
1,215,000 00
Total taxable Valuation
$17,137,876 00
Town Grant
$ 150,000 00
State Tax
23,425 00
County Tax
9,536 29
Overlying
6,029 17
Amount of Assessments by the Town
$188,990 46
Amount of Assessments by the Commonwealth on Cor-
porate Stocks, which amount is payable to this Town,
18,859 25
Total amount of Assessments
$207,849 71
Rate of Taxation, $11.50 on $1,000.
RESIDENTS.
NAMES.
Value of Real Estate.
Tax on Real Estate.
Value of Per. Estate.
Tax on Per. Estate.
ABBOTT, John S.
$1,000
$11 50
Abbott, Abby A., Mrs.
$5,400
$62 10
Abbott, Gustavus
1,900
21 85
Adams, Albert S.
3,300
37 95
500
5 75
Adams, Seth
8,000
92 00
138,627
1,594 21
Adams, Luther
Adams, Lizzie A., Mrs.
5,550
63 83
Adams, Samuel, heirs
3,650
41 98
Adams, Solomon
4.300
49 45
Adams, William
1,700
19 55
3,500
40 25
12
86
NAMES.
Value of Real Estate.
Tax on Real Estate. -
Value of Per. Estate.
Tax on Per. Estate.
Ahearn, John
800
9 20
Alden, Naney A., Mrs.
7,000
80 50
Alden, William E.
1,000
11 50
Alden, William, heirs
2,500
28 75
Alden, George
13,000
149 50
4,000
46 00
Allen, T. Prentiss, heirs
14,500
166 75
Allen, James T.
10,000
126 50
3,400
39 10
Allen, Jeremiah
6.650
76 48
11,265
129 55
Allen, Augustus
7,650
87 98
800
9 20
66 Bartlett place
4,200
48 30
Allen, Martha S., Mrs.
8,016
92 18
Allen, N. T., - O. F. Lueas & W. P. Houghton, 2 houses and land on Cherry and Webster sts.
6,500
74 75
Allen, Nathl. T.
5,025
57 79
66 house and land on Cherry and Webster streets
2,900
33 35
66 land oc. by O. Tyler
550
6 33
66 Wiswall meadow land
100
1 15
Allen, George E.
1,625
18 69
Allen, Phineas
3,000
34 50
Allen, Horatio F., unfd h. & ld.
2,450
28 18
land east of Court st.
3,500
40 25
Allen, Kate B., Mrs.
5,300
60 95
Allen, Sidney
2,600
29 90
Allison, James S.
14,000
161 00
4,500
51 75
66 J. S., and Daniel Bond,
buildings & ld of Mr. Warren 8,250 lots 2,3 & part of 4, Breck Id.
2,700
31 05
Almon, Alma A., Mrs.
4,700
54 05
Ames, George
900
10 35
Ames, Adeline S., Mrs.
11,350
130 53
Anderson, James
200
2 30
Andrews, Charles J.
3,500
40 25
100
1 15
Angier, George
1,800
20 70
Appleton, Samuel
2,600
29 90
Applin, John
3,300
37 95
Ardrie, Adam
225
2 59
Armitage, John
375
4 31
Ashton, Sophia G., Mrs.
13,350
153 53
11,775
135 41
Atwood J. R.
5,100
58 65
400
4 60
Auburndale Cong'l Society
4,500
51 75
BACON, JOS. N.
9,600
110 40
20,166
231 91
66 store building and land
7,800
89 70
66 cottage, shop, and land north of Pearl st.
6,500
74 75
66
house & ld., do.
3,000
34 50
store, building, & ld. cor. Centre & Washington sts.
4,000
46 00
66
Eliot Hall building & ld.
11,000
126 50
painter's shops & ld.
1,400
16 10
Allen farm, Woodward st.
9,725
111 84
66 Fellows Id , cor. Woodward & Chestnut sts.
1,200
13 80
66 ld. cor. Pearl & Linden sts.
1,900
21 85
Woodward land
2,500
28 75
66 Partridge land
500
5 75
J. Bacon land, Pearl st
2,000
23 00
sandpit & McLaughlin land,
600
6 90
66
94 88
87
NAMES.
Value of Real Estate.
Tax on Real Estate.
Value of Per. Estate.
Tax on Per. Estate.
Bacon, Jos. N., lot 6 Cold-Sp. Swamp land
350
4 03
lots 8, 9, 11, Cabot land
1,500
17 25
66
Allen land, Pearl st., east of Cook land
250
2 88
Bacon, J. N., Exr.
4,170
46 46
Bacon, J. N., & E. Woodward, trust's
6,000
69 00
Bacon, George W. & Co.
8,730
100 39
Bacon, George W.
5,000
57 50
1,225
14 09
Bacon, B. Franklin
1,300
14 95
Bacon, Joseph, heirs
14,875
171 06
2,900
33 35
Bacon, Horace
5,850
67 28
1,875
21 56
Bacon, Silas, heirs
2,100
24 15
Bacon, Mary L., Mrs.
3,050
35 08
500
5 75
Bagley, Michael
800
9 20
Bagley, Mary, Mrs.
300
3 45
Bailey, James W.
7,100
81 65
1,000
11 50
66 market building
500
5 75
66
land at Newtonville
5,600
64 40
Bailey, Calvin
10,800
124 20
7,600
87 40
Bailey, Eilen, M., Mrs.
12,000
138 00
2,300
26 45
Bailey, Luther
3,900
44 85
1,200
13 80
shop and land
1,400
16 10
Bain, William
Balders, Margaret
1,200
13 80
66
R. Miles place
750
8 63
Baldwin, Martha
1,500
17 25
Bancroft, Clara E., Mrs.
4,600
52 90
Barden, Frederick
9,700
111 55
34,051
391 58
66
house on Ellis street
1,400
16 10
Pettee barn and land
400
4 60
66 vacant land west of house
700
8 05
66 " J. M. Sherman's
1,000
11 50
66 wood land on Dedham st.
1,200
13 80
Barden, Mary W., Mrs.
530
6 10
Barker, Sewall
9,000
103 50
8,690
99 94
Barker, Charles H.
4,000
46 00
Barker, Hiram E.
1.500
17 25
Barker, Abby A., Mrs.
4,100
47 15
1,238
14 24
Barker, Caroline J., Mrs.
2,400
27 60
Barker, Henry A.
6,300
72 45
2,350
27 03
66
lot 23 Shaw street
800
9 20
Barker, H. A., & L. G. Pratt, trust's
of West Newton Land Co. 7,400
85 10
Barnard, Charles F.
7,900
90 85
150
1 73
Barnard, & Hunnewell
2,000
23 00
Barnard, James H.
650
7 48
500
5 75
Barnes, Michael
150
1 72
Barnes, F. G.
1,500
17 25
Barnes, Lydia J., Mrs.
6,400
73 60
Barney, Joseph, heirs
1,000
11 50
Barney, Joseph
5,600
64 40
4,200
48 30
house & ld oc. by Brown
66
66
Mitchell
1,500
17 25
66
66 Bateman
1,000
11 50
66
66 lot of Handy
900
10 35
3,489
40 13
Barden, Frederick, 2d
house & land on High st.
2,500
28 76
1,100
12 65
Bacon, Josiah E.
900
10 35
88
NAMES.
Value of Real Estate.
Tax on Real Estate.
Value of Per. Estate.
Tax on Per. Estate.
Barney, Jos., vacant ld. n. of School st. 600
6 90
Barnum, John G. 66
6,300
72 45
2,575
29 61
land west of Cherry st.
1,000
11 50
Barrett, Alexander G.
3,000
34 50
800
9 20
Barron, Michael
600
6 90
Barrows, Charles A.
300
3 45
Barrows, Emily A., Mrs.
3,200
36 80
Barry, Michael 66 house & land Emerald st.
1,950
22 43
Bartholomew, William H.
1,950
22 42
Bartholomew, Mary M., Mrs.
2,800
32 20
1,500
17 25
land on Cypress st.
4,000
46 00
Bartlett, Jeremiah
1,550
17 83
Bartlett, Joshua
4,600
52 90
6,275
72 16
Bartlett, Daniel
7,100
81 65
Bartlett, Hannah H., Mrs.
3,300
37 95
Bartlett, Peregrine
2,600
29 90
Bassett, James N.
2,900
33 35
Bassett, Henry D.
13,500
155 25
41,500
477 25
Bassett, A. Augusta, Mrs.
5,000
57 50
Bassett, Charles W.
1,000
11 50
Bates, Sarah M. L., Mrs.
3,200
36 80
Bates, William C.
1,000
11 50
Baury, Alfred L., heirs, Mansion
house and land
5,500
63 25
house and land on Concord street
1,200
13 80
66
tenement house and land
2,500
28 75
Baxter, George H., heirs
500
5 75
Beal, Benjamin F.
7,500
86 25
Beaman, Quartus P.
2,300
26 45
Bean, William E.
1,400
16 10
Beck, Adam
300
3 45
Beck, Betsey A., Mrs.
3,300
37 95
Beecher, Patrick
1,300
14 96
75
86
Beirne, Michael
1,200
13 80
Bemis, Seth
11,300
129 95
12,250
140 88
6
Adams place, Bridge st.
6,900
79 35
66
house and land north of California street
1,000
11 50
h. and I'd east of Bridge st.
600
6 90
66
orchard lot
300
3 45
66
land east of Bridge st.
1,500
17 25
Breck land
400
4 60
Bemis, Seth, heirs
6,200
71 30
Bemis, George
11,000
126 50
Bemis, J. D.
425
4 89
Benson, Thomas
1,600
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