USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Brookline > Town records of Brookline, Massachusetts, 1858-1871, v. 2 > Part 30
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The lands taken are approximated as follows, viz. :
Of A. C. Jackson, deceased
8,400 square feet.
Martin Carroll
5,160
Thomas C. Quimby
480
66
.
Timothy Nyhen, given 1,000 sq. feet, taken
150
60
66
Thomas Cunneen
180
900
66
John Mahoney
1,500
6.
66
Unknown
2,640
Mark W. Sheafe
13,000
A. W. Goddard
45,100
66
pet
. 00
teen
George Griggs
15,550
66
66
Daniel Denny
8,500
Total
211,510 66
66
to
6.
Otis Norcross and others
32,450
66
6.
Patrick McLaughlin Kelly
1,000
eden
n bị
384
Brookline Town Records.
In consideration of the benefit derived by the abutters by the laying out and making of said way, the Selectmen have not awarded any damages therefor. The location of said way is in accordance with a plan and profile of the same as made by T. and J. Doane, civil engineers, and dated February 1st, 1869, accepted and allowed by the Selectmen, and filed in the office of the Town Clerk, March 1st, 1869.
The Selectmen have given the owners of lands over which said way is laid out one hundred and twenty days from this date in which to remove all fences, trees, and walls standing on land taken for said way.
And said way, so laid out, located and described, is hereby reported to the town for acceptance, and when accepted, allowed and recorded, is forever. to be known as a public townway by the name of Hammond street.
Respectfully submitted,
JAMES BARTLETT, THOMAS PARSONS, WILLIAM J. GRIGGS, HORACE JAMES, Selectmen of the Town of Brookline.
BROOKLINE, Mass., March 22, 1869.
Voted, To accept and allow the foregoing report of the Selectmen on Hammond street.
Voted, That the sum of five thousand five hundred dollars be raised and appropriated for the making and grading of said street.
Sixteenth Article taken up :
To see if the town will accept and allow a new townway as laid out and located by the Selectmen, leading from Walnut to High street.
Voted, To lay on the table.
Voted, That when this meeting adjourn it be to two weeks from Wednesday evening next, April the seventh.
Adjourned.
Attest : B. F. BAKER, Town Clerk.
In pursuance of the laws of this Commonwealth, the Town Clerk forthwith made out his warrant and delivered it to Constable J. P. Sanborn, requiring him within three days from the date of said warrant, to summon all officers chosen and not qualified, to appear before the Town Clerk within
1
385
Annual Meeting, March 22, 1869.
three days or seven (according to the office to which they were chosen) from the date of said warrant, to be qualified for their several offices, to be sworn where an oath is required by law, or to signify their acceptance or refusal of the office to which they had been elected, where an oath is not required by law.
Attest : B. F. BAKER, Town Clerk.
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.
NORFOLK, SS.
BROOKLINE, March 29th, 1869.
Personally appeared the following-named persons and were sworn at the time set .against their names, or signified their acceptance or refusal of the office to which they had been chosen, viz. :
Selectmen. James Bartlett, sworn March 25th, 1869. George Craft, declined.
Thomas B. Hall, sworn March 26th, 1869.
Assessors. Marshal Stearns, sworn March 26th, 1869.
Constable. William B. Chapin, sworn March 27th, 1869.
J. P. Sanborn, sworn March 22d, 1869.
Truant Officers. { Eben W. Reed, sworn March 26th, 1869. John H. Grush, sworn March 24th, 1869.
Surveyor of Lumber and
Measurer of Wood and Bark.
J. Anson Guild, sworn March 27th, 1869.
Eben W. Reed, sworn March 26th, 1869.
Field Drivers. Alfred A. Cheney, sworn March 29th, 1869. Daniel C. Murray, sworn March 29th, 1869.
Sealer of Leather. Willard Warren, sworn March 27th, 1869.
Pound Keeper. Eben W. Reed, sworn March 26th, 1869.
Stephen Salisbury, accepted March 27th, 1869.
School Committee Robert Amory, accepted March 26th, 1869. for three years. J. Elliot Cabot, accepted March 26th, 1869.
Trustees of Public Library / Wm. Aspinwall, accepted March 26th, 1869. for three years. Geo. F. Homer, accepted March 26th, 1869.
Robert S. Littell, accepted March 26th, 1869.
Auditors. - Charles D. Head, accepted March 29th, 1869. Edward I. Thomas, accepted March 29th, 1869.
Fire Ward. Patrick H. Cusick, accepted March 29th, 1869.
Attest : B. F. BAKER,
Town Clerk.
25
386
Brookline Town Records.
ADJOURNED ANNUAL MEETING, APRIL 7, 1869.
Pursuant to adjournment, the citizens of the town of Brookline met at the Town Hall in said town, on Wednesday, the seventh day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, and were called to order at half-past seven by the clock in the evening, the Moderator, William I. Bowditch, in the chair.
The meeting then voted to lay the choice of officers to fill vacancies on the table and proceed with the other business.
Eighth Article taken up :
To see what action the town will take in relation to sewerage.
The committee to whom said article was referred, made the following report, to wit :
REPORT.
The committee to whom was referred the subject of sewerage on the twenty-second day of March last, under the Eighth Article of the warrant for this meeting, would hereby report :
First, as to the claim upon the city of Boston for providing sufficient waterway for the brook into which the sewerage around the Chestnut Hill reservoir is emptied.
Your committee conferred with the Boston Water Board, who gave them a hearing this day at noon. The vote passed by the town on the 22d ult., on the subject of this claim, was read and the facts stated in detail, substantially as follows, viz. :
That the culvert built under the Washington street railroad bridge six- teen years ago had always, during that period, carried all the waters coming down that brook until the rain on the 15th February last, when about three inches of rain fell during the day, a rainfall somewhat unusual, but by no means unprecedented. Before three o'clock P. M. the above-named culvert was overflowed and a large amount of water ran along the railroad tracks between the bridge abutments for a period of over eight hours. One of your committee measured the depth of the water at three P. M., and found it about two feet deep under the bridge, where the stream was about twenty-five feet wide, flowing very rapidly. The section of this stream would therefore be about fifty square feet with a rapid fall, while the section of the culvert above named was only about twenty-seven feet. There appeared, therefore, to be more water running over the railroad tracks than there was through the culvert, which cul- vert had carried all the water coming down the brook since it was built up to this time. It is well known that the circumstances on the fifteenth
387
Adjourned Annual Meeting, April 7, 1869.
of February were such as to favor rapid drainage. The ground was bare and frozen hard, admitting of no soakage; the occasion was therefore rather rare. But it is plainly proved that other or less volume will bring unprecedented quantities of water down this brook, for on the tenth day of March, after a fall of only one and one half inches of rain in Brookline during a period of about eight hours, with snow on the ground to retain it, this culvert again proved insufficient, and the water again rose and flowed over the railroad tracks for some hours. The damage done at this and other points was considerable; but this is not all. The new state of things would, if not remedied, soon lay waste a considerable amount of private property and render the highways constantly insecure. The remedy is a plain one, viz .: To increase the capacity of all the culverts between the Chestnut Hill reservoir and the new sewer below the depot, and to provide a new sewer of double the capacity of the one now just constructed between the depot and tide water. At the time this sewer was planned, Mr. J. Herbert Shedd was employed as engineer, who examined into the area to be drained into it and made elaborate calcula- tions as to the time which would be required after a rain for the water to flow into it, and gave it as his opinion that the size, as it was since built, would be ample. This sewer will now carry nearly as much again water as the culvert under the railroad bridge, which has been enough for the last sixteen years; but both are now shown to be entirely inade- quate to the present unlooked-for state of things. The question arises, whence comes the change? Your committee, after personal examination of the grounds, attribute it entirely to the new artificial system of drain_ age about the Chestnut Hill reservoir, and claim that in justice to the rights of the town of Brookline and its citizens, a suitable provision should be made at the expense of the city of Boston for the unequal, fitful and devastating flow of water which the works about the new reservoir have thus produced.
The difficulty is aggravated by another fact, viz., that the natural channel of this brook where it meets tide-water at the western avenue, near the works of the Brookline Gas Light Company, is obstructed, nay, almost effectually dammed by the forty-inch Cochituate aqueduct. The pipe is too high for the water to flow over it, without making a pond above, des- troying a large amount of property, while its bottom is too low for the water to flow under it as fast as it is brought down after every considera- ble rain. In order to give room for the water, the channel is depressed under the pipes, but this depression is filled with silt during every period of a moderate stage of the water, occurring as it does just where the tide- water meets the flow of the brook, checking the flow every twelve hours and thereby favoring the deposit of silt in every such depression.
This point has already given trouble ever since the Cochituate pipes were laid in the Western avenue, and an attempt was made some eighteen months ago to remedy the trouble by making a new culvert of equal dimensions with the old one alongside of it. This was done by the land commissioners for the Commonwealth, who then had charge of the Western avenue, and who did this at the request of the town. The con- tinued filling up of this depression under the pipes has limited the useful-
388
Brookline Town Records.
ness of such widening, and now that so much additional water is brought down the condition is quite unendurable At this point, if the Cochituate pipes are to remain as they are, the only remedy seems to be to provide an adequate covered channel or sewer along the western side of the Western avenue to the point where the brook crosses back again.
But as the trouble is occasioned by the city of Boston in obstructing the natural channel with their pipes as above described, your committee think that this change should be made at the expense of the city of Boston who placed the obstructions there. After your committee had stated the above facts, with such explanations as were asked for, the chairman of the Water Board said they would take the matter into consideration, to ascertain the rights and liabilities of the city, and would confer with us again upon the subject at some future time.
Your committee were further instructed to digest a general plan for sewerage with such advice as they found necessary, but further time will be required for this purpose.
We would, however, recommend immediate action upon certain points where most required as soon as such plan can be so far developed as to act in accordance with it.
First, the changes rendered necessary by the drainage from the reser- voir on Cypress street and Tappan street; we would recommend a new culvert to be made at Cypress street across said street, and another along the southerly side of Tappan street, to carry a portion of the water on the south side of said street between the points where the brook now crosses said Tappan street. As the above cannot be done within the limits of the highways without further appropriation for materials, your committee would recommend an appropriation for that purpose. There is also immediate demand for a sewer through the lower part of Washington street, and others in the lower parts of Boylston street and Walnut street. For all the above items, an appropriation of twelve thousand five hundred ($12,500) dollars is recommended.
As some provision can be made for the water in the brook at and below the railroad bridge, other sewers will at once be wanted in Washington street and Harvard street, which at present can have no outlet. In order to provide for this, it will be necessary to lay out sewers across private property, with the required formalities as in case of laying out high- ways; after which, the laying out and location of such sewers must be presented to the town for acceptance at some future meeting, at which time more detailed estimates can be made and appropriations asked for.
To sum up, therefore, your committee offer the following votes, viz. :
First. That the committee already appointed for that purpose be instructed to hold further conference with the city of Boston concerning the claims of this town in regard to drainage, to take legal advice if they see fit, and report progress at a future meeting.
Second. That the sum of twelve thousand five hundred dollars be appropriated and placed at the disposal of the committee on sewers, for the purpose of draining in Tappan street, Cypress street, Walnut street, Boylston street, and Washington street, and that the Treasurer is hereby authorized to borrow not exceeding that amount, in such sum or sumns and for such times as may be considered for the interests of the town, giving the notes of the town, approved by the Selectmen.
389
Adjourned Annual Meeting, April 7, 1869.
Voted, To accept and allow the foregoing report.
The meeting then proceeded to fill the vacancies existing among the various town officers, by reason of non-qualifica- tion or non-acceptance of those chosen at the annual meeting.
The polls were opened and kept open for thirty minutes for the reception of votes for one Selectman, at the close of which time the polls were closed, and the Moderator and Town Clerk proceeded to sort and count the votes given in, and the whole number so given in was one hundred and seventy-one, as follows, to wit :
For Alfred Kenrick, Jr., one.
" Willard A. Humphrey, thirteen.
Amos R. Binney, seventy-six.
Edward S. Philbrick, eighty-one, and he was declared elected and sworn by the Moderator.
The meeting nominated and chose :
Sealer of Leather : Samuel A. Robinson (sworn by the Moderator).
Surveyors of Lumber and Measurers of Wood and Bark: William D. Coolidge (sworn by the Moderator), Frank F. Seamans.
The check-list was used during the voting for Selectman. Seventh Article taken up :
To see what action the town will take in relation to procuring a suita- . ble building for a hose-carriage in the village, and an additional quantity of hose.
The committee to whom was referred the Seventh Article presented the following report, to wit :
REPORT.
The committee appointed to select a location for a new hose-house, respectfully submit that they have attended to the duty assigned them. They have got the refusal for the town of a lot on Boylston street, owned by James Haley, containing two thousand one hundred and seventy square feet, at forty-five cents per square foot. Also, an estate controlled by C. M. Newell, Esq., located on the same street, for three thousand dollars, which includes the buildings upon it.
We also recommend that the town appropriate five hundred ($500) dollars for additional hose.
All of which is respectfully submitted by
WILLIAM K. MELCHER.
F. C. SHERMAN. M. RUSSELL.
390
Brookline Town Records.
Voted, To accept the report of the committee.
Voted, That the matter be placed in the hands of the Selectmen.
Voted, That the sum of seven thousand dollars be raised and appropriated to procure a building for a hose-carriage house.
Voted, That the sum of five hundred dollars be raised and appropriated to procure an additional quantity of hose.
Sixth Article called up :
To procure a stone-crusher and gravel-pit.
The committee on the Sixth Article requested further time, which was granted.
Ninth Article called up, relating to an addition to the Pierce Grammar school-house. The committee requested further time and authority to procure plans of the same.
Voted, That the committee on the Ninth Article have further time, and that they are authorized to procure plans for said addition.
Eleventh Article taken up :
To change the grade and improve Beacon street between Washington street and Brighton street.
The Selectmen, to whom the article was referred, reported that they recommend no action.
Thirteenth Article taken up :
To see what action the town will take in relation to purchasing fire extinguishers.
The committee to whom was referred the Thirteenth Arti- cle, submitted the following report :
REPORT.
BROOKLINE, April 7, 1869.
The committee appointed March 22, 1869, in relation to purchasing fire extinguishers, submit the following report :
Having carefully examined into the subject of fire extinguishers, your committee recommend the purchase of 12 or more fire extinguishers, to be placed in the different school-houses and public buildings for their
391
Adjourned Annual Meeting, April 7, 1869.
protection and the use of citizens in case of fire in the neighborhood. They are highly recommended by the Boston Fire Department, and are kept in all the public buildings in Boston. The town of Brookline has at this present time only one fire engine, and that has been in use more than twenty-five years. The rapid increase of buildings in the town requires that we should be better prepared against large fires.
The town has recently built two, and are to build this year one or two more, reservoirs. These reservoirs all add greatly to our facilities for extinguishing fires, provided we have other fire apparatus to make the water available at short notice in case of fire. We have examined a steam fire engine that can be drawn by hand easier than a common hand engine, which would, in the opinion of your committee, answer the purpose of this town for some time yet to come. The cost of the steam fire engine will be three thousand dollars. This steam engine was on trial at Boston Highlands for the city of Lynn, and, as we are informed, gave entire satisfaction to the Lynn Fire Department. Messrs. Hunneman & Co. (the builders) would be pleased to give an exhibition to the citizens of Brookline at any time when they would like to see one of their steamers in operation.
We recommend the town to purchase one of these steam fire engines, or some other of like capacity, should a trial prove satisfactory to the Selectmen of the town. The committee are unanimously of the opinion that the time has fully arrived when the town of Brookline should make the outlay for their Fire Department herein recommended, and therefore respectfully suggest that an appropriation be made at this meeting for the purchase of the fire extinguishers and the one steam fire engine above referred to.
All of which is respectfully submitted.
WILLIAM D. COOLIDGE, CHARLES D. HEAD, WILLARD Y. GROSS,
Committee.
Voted, To accept the foregoing report.
Voted, That the sum of five hundred dollars be raised and appropriated to purchase twelve fire extinguishers, to be bought and placed in the town buildings by the Select- men.
Seventeenth Article taken up :
To see if the town will accept and allow a new townway as laid out and located by the Selectmen, leading from Harvard to Pleasant street.
The Selectmen presented the following report on the laying out of said townway, to wit :
392
Brookline Town Records.
REPORT.
LAYING OUT GREEN STREET AS A TOWNWAY.
The Selectmen of the town of Brookline, after giving legal notice to all persons, parties and corporations known to them, of their intention to lay out as a townway the private way known as Hyde Park, leading from Harvard to Pleasant street, did, in pursuance of said notice, meet at the store of Coolidge & Brother, on the corner of Harvard and Beacon streets, on Monday, the first day of March, in the year of our Lord cigliteen hundred and sixty-nine, at four of the clock in the afternoon, and pro- cecded to hear all parties interested and to examine said route, and again by adjournment on the evening of said first of March, at their office in the Town Hall, and all parties and interests having been heard and exam- ined by them in relation thereto, they proceeded to lay out said way as described by its northwesterly and northeasterly lines, to wit :
Commencing on Harvard street at a stone bound-mark at the southerly corner of land of Mason, and running northeasterly 1,077 feet to a stone bound-mark on the northeasterly line of Pleasant street by southerly corner of land of Amory ; and the southeasterly and southwesterly lines of said way shall be parallel with and forty feet from said described lines, and the corners of said way are to be rounded back, as shown on a plan of the same, as follows: The corners at its junction with Harvard street by curves tangent to said way, commencing on said way at points 20 feet from Harvard street and touching said Harvard street at points 10 feet from the described lines of said way and the corner of Mr. Allen's land; and the corners at its junction with Pleasant street to be rounded back with curves of 10 feet radius tangent to the described line of said way and Pleasant street.
The location of said way is in accordance with a plan and profile of the same as made by Amos R. Binney, civil engineer, dated February 10th, 1869, accepted and allowed by the Selectmen and filed in the office of the Town Clerk, March 1st, 1869.
In consideration of the benefit to the abutters by the laying out of said way, no awards for damages have been made by the Selectmen.
There being no walls, fences or trees to be removed from said way, the same is to be entered upon by the town at once. And said way so laid out and located and described is hereby reported to the town for their acceptance, and when so accepted, allowed, and recorded, is forever to be known as a public townway by the name of Green street.
Respectfully submitted,
JAMES BARTLETT, THOMAS PARSONS, WILLIAM J. GRIGGS, HORACE JAMES, Selectmen of the Town of Brookline.
BROOKLINE, Mass., March 22d, 1869.
Voted, To accept and allow the foregoing report of the Selectmen on Green street.
393
Adjourned Annual Meeting, April 7, 1869.
Sixteenth Article taken from the table :
To see if the town will accept and allow a new townway as laid out and located by the Selectmen, leading from Walnut to High street.
The Selectmen presented the following report on the laying out of said way, to wit :
REPORT.
LAYING OUT A NEW TOWNWAY FROM WALNUT STREET TO HIGH STREET.
The Selectmen of the town of Brookline, after giving legal notice to all persons, interests and corporations known to them, of their intention to lay out a new townway leading from Walnut street to High street, did, in pursuance of said notice, meet at their office in the Town Hall, on Friday, the nineteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and sixty-nine, at three and a half of the clock in the afternoon, and proceeded to hear all parties and interests and to examine said route, and again by adjournment on the first day of March, instant, and all parties and interests having been heard and examined in relation thereto, they proceeded to lay out said way, as follows, to wit :
The westerly side of said way is thus described : Beginning at a point in the westerly side of High street in said Brookline, being the northeast- erly corner of land of John W. Candler ; thence running in continuation of the southerly part of said High street north 24° east one hundred ninety- one (191) feet; thence curving on a radius of three hundred and twelve (312) feet for a further distance of sixty (60) feet, crossing the lands of the High Street Church, to a private way called Irving street ; thence in a straight line north eleven degrees and fifteen minutes (11º 15') east, crossing said private way, the lands of M. W. Quinlan and Augustine Shurtleff, crossing and re-crossing (three times in all) a private way called Village lane, the lands of J. Anson Guild, John S. Wright, and the estate of the late Oliver Whyte, to Walnut street, oppo- site the corner of - street, 917 feet, more or less. The easterly side of said townway is parallel with and everywhere forty feet distant from the westerly line described above.
The lands taken for the making of said way are as follows, to wit :
Of the High Street Church
1,733 square feet.
Augustine Shurtleff
about 300
66
M. W. Quinlan
7,740
66
66
J. Anson Guild .
1,760
66 66
John S. Wright
4,580
66
66
heirs of Oliver Whyte
8,380
Beck and Sayles £
7,067
66
66
And the Selectmen have made the following awards for damages in full by the laying out and making of said way, to wit :
To trustees of High Street Church
$440 00
M. W. Quinlan
1,098 00
J. Anson Guild
205 00
John S. Wright
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