USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newburyport > Waban, early days, 1681-1918 > Part 9
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PINE FARM
Reproduced from King's "Handbook of Newton"
125
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WABAN - EARLY DAYS
uniform. Rufus R. Cook ("Uncle Cook"), with a sub-com- mittee of the Board, selected the candidates.
These young ones were all under twelve years of age, or from eight to thirteen. There were usually about thirty of them at the farm, coming and going, their stays covering from six months to two or three years, an average stay of a year and a half; the length determined by the amount of good they managed to absorb from their residence in the country - the fields of our countryside versus city streets and alleys. Five hundred boys from the slums passed through this institution. Upon leaving they were sent to New England or western farms.
The house was formerly called "the old Murdock place"; it was considered an old house when the Children's Aid secured it. They added a wing and established there the first matron, Miss Lydia Stone. Mr. Howe was the first superintendent; he cared for the farm and kept the boys busy out of doors. Miss Stone and Mrs. Howe kept house and did the cooking, with the help of the boys, who washed the dishes, scrubbed the floors, made each his own bed and rotated as kitchen aides. The older boys did most of the ironing. In two big rooms upstairs stood neat rows of iron cots, each with a stool beside it.
In this combination school, home and asylum, the young- sters had five hours per day of school and all worked at farm- ing. They also learned carpentry. It seems to have been a productive farm. During the first year, 180 bushels of potatoes were raised; one year 180 bushels of carrots, besides other vegetables. In the winter time each boy knitted for an hour every evening as there was no farm work then. It must have been a bleak and wind-swept scene that the poor little beggars looked out upon, but there was a library; they had singing lessons, too, even printing their own songs on the school press. Where are they now? Perhaps there were many who were happy there for the first time in their lives.
127
THE PINE FARM
The face of the building bore the letters "P.F.S." There was a big bell which was rung to call everyone in from the fields. In 1877 the old barn was destroyed by fire and a new one built. Later, another fire destroyed part of the house, the barn and the cattle. This was a big fire, started when one of the buildings was struck by lightning.
When the Pine Farm was abandoned, there was an auction at which the Ferris and Saville boys secured the printing press and built a house for it on their grounds.
THE TRIANGLE
Data furnished by JOSEPH REEVES
The triangle of park near the present Catholic Church was once occupied by a large barn, facing on Chestnut Street. Across the street were two houses and an orchard. All this was owned by Edward (Neddie) Cummings. He lived in one of the houses and rented the one nearest Beacon Street to Pat Leary. Later, the barn was made into a house. The property was eventually sold and the houses moved down Beacon Street where they still stand, between Beethoven Avenue and the Wheeler orchid place.
THE COTTAGE HOSPITAL
Although the Cottage Hospital was not in Waban, this record would be incomplete without mention of it as it served our village as well as the rest of Newton. The Cottage Hospital was incorporated on January 11, 1881. In 1884, ten acres of land were bought at $400 per acre. On June 5, 1886, the hospital was opened and dedicated. There were two small wooden buildings, accommodating twenty patients. From that date to the end of December of that year, forty-one patients were admitted.
Discharged as well 21
Discharged relieved 6
Discharged not treated
1
Died
3
Remaining Dec. 1, 1886 10
41
In 1894 the name was changed to the Newton Hospital, an institution which has served us faithfully through the years.
128
WABAN in 1866
Upper and Lower Falls were then the most thickly settled parts of Newton. The cemetery was called Grove Hill Ceme- tery. The total residents of Waban at this time, according to the survey of D. J. Lake in 1886, were as follows:
There was no one living "on the hill." The field, now part of Brae Burn, which lies between the hill and the railroad, was owned by P. Bartlett. At the "fire engine end" of Beacon Street lived L. Hurd; next the Hawkes farm, then W. B. Locke, then the almshouse (near the present school). Col. Wyman was then occupying the Strong house (now Episcopal rectory) . Near the triangle by the Catholic Church was a colony of little houses and a farmhouse on the corner of Beacon and Chestnut Streets. Neddie Cummins and F. Nelan lived in this colony. Some of the apple trees of the orchard are still there. There was no house between these and the Pine Farm at Fuller Street. Coming back to Waban Square, and following the road now Woodward Street, there were three residents: T. Tower was in the old house, now standing, near Chestnut and Woodward Streets. Where Homestead Road is was the house of J. Fellows (later owned by J. H. Warner, 1874, then later E. P. Seaver). J. N. Bacon's farm land came next, then the Woodward's. From the green to the Woodward homestead there were no houses on the other side of the road. The Woodward and Gould glue works were then in existence. These then were our residents in 1866. Two years later the first Newton Directory was pub- lished. Twenty years later, the railroad came to Waban.
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WABAN - EARLY DAYS
QUOTED FROM A BOOKLET BY LEVI FLINT, 1881.
"It was only eighteen years ago this summer when the writer made his first visit to this place. I call it place, for then it had no other name. I was told to leave the steam cars at Newton Highlands and my friends would meet me there with a carriage and drive me a mile and a half to the farm. I found it a pleasant country drive just as they had promised. Lincoln Street had a few houses on either side. On Wood- ward Street there were four houses: the Rand's, the old Emerson house, the Seaver's and the Cassidy's. On Beacon Street lived the Collins, Goulds, Lockes, Hawkes, and the City Farm People. Those were the only houses here a little more than fifteen years ago. All the rest was beautiful trees, fields and woods. And a charming country it was, indeed. On Sunday mornings you always saw the Collins and the Goulds driving to church at Newton Center, the Lockes to the Upper Falls and the Strongs to the Highlands. There was no railroad here then, and peace and quietness seemed to reign supreme."
RAILROAD ENGINE, ABOUT 1890 HERBERT, DELLA AND VIRGINIA CONANT
Courtesy of (Mrs.) Della Conant Stanley
THE RAILROAD
ELLSBREE D. LOCKE
The coming of the railroad marked the transition of a hamlet into a village with a name. The records, going back to the year 1852, show that the Boston & Albany Railroad oper- ated a line from Boston to Brookline, and in that year the Charles River Railroad was started from Brookline to Need- ham, controlled by the New England Railroad, now part of the New Haven system. In 1885 the Boston & Albany Railroad purchased a portion of this line from Brookline to Newton Highlands (totalling five and one-tenth miles) for $415,000. At that period people from Waban were obliged to either walk or drive to Newton Highlands for train service to Boston. There were two railroad stations in the Newton Highlands district, one at the present site of the station, another about one-third of a mile west, known as Cook Street, at the junction of the present New Haven, just east of the fire station located on the Worcester turnpike.
Work was then started to connect Newton Highlands with Riverside on the main line of the Boston & Albany. It was completed in August, 1886, and the first train to operate was run through with ceremony on August 28th, with flags, fire- works and a speech at Riverside by J. F. C. Hyde, the first Mayor of Newton.
It had been the intention of the railroad to call the present Eliot station "Waban" and the Waban station "Hillside." There is a story that the tickets and time-tables were already printed when, due to pressure brought to bear by Mr. Strong and Mr. Gould, at the last moment Hillside was changed to
131
THE RAILROAD, BETWEEN WABAN AND WOODLAND, 1890
Courtesy of (Mrs.) Della Conant Stanley
133
THE RAILROAD
Waban and new printed matter gotten out at top speed. Eliot was to be called Waban in the first place because on the field adjoining the railroad was located the diamond of the Waban Baseball Club, made up of boys and men of Upper Falls and Newton Highlands. Mr. Gould was a member of this team. It was a locally famous champion team. Mr. Henry K. Rowe in his History of Newton (1930) states that it "made a reputa- tion for itself in the season of 1866 by winning six out of eight games played that season. The score of a game in which the Jamaica Plain team was defeated indicates the less scientific character of the game than its present-day successor, for after eight innings the Waban Club had 78 runs to its credit as compared with its opponent's 26. The two teams had battled for three and a half hours at the grounds at Oak Hill and it was time to knock off for supper."
In the year 1889 thirty-three trains were operated to Boston and thirty-five from Boston through Waban. It was possible to take trains at the Waban station in either direction for Bos- ton, via either the "Main Line" or the Highland Branch. No one in Waban needed to consult a time-table; one merely went to the station and took the first train, no matter which di- rection-unless in a great hurry, in which case it saved time to avoid the main line as that way took somewhat longer. No change was necessary at Riverside and the fare was the same either way. This was really splendid service.
In those days, at Newton Highlands, Newton Center and other crossings, there were grade crossings with a gate tender bearing a flag and the old-fashioned barrier let down with much ceremony, while the occupants of wagons and carriage waited with a firm hold on the reins.
During the construction of the Waban station certain trains did not make regular stops unless flagged. One Old- Timer remembers waving a handkerchief by day and making a torch by applying a match to a rolled-up newspaper by night.
134
WABAN - EARLY DAYS
There is a wild controversy on the subject of Waban's ever being a flag station, but it seems quite certain that at times this occurred.
West of Waban, below the golf links and just east of Woodland station, a huge cut was necessary through a hill and this gravel, together with a like amount from an excavation east of Riverside, was used to fill the present Back Bay area of Boston, where Muddy Brook joins the Charles.
Up until the year 1897 commuters from Waban and all stations on the Highland Circuit going to Boston, entered the city at the Boston & Albany station, which was located on Knee- land Street at the foot of Lincoln Street. The Old Colony, the New England and the New York, New Haven & Hartford stations were all also located on Kneeland Street, just east of the Boston & Albany. Later, the first three named were con-
RAILROAD ENGINE, ABOUT 1890 FRED FROST, HERBERT AND DELLA CONANT Courtesy of (Mrs.) Della Conant Stanley
135
THE RAILROAD
WABAN STATION, 1886
From King's "Handbook of Newton"
solidated under the New Haven system and when the South Station was built, all three were located there.
I wonder how many Old-Timers remember portly Mr. Bean, one of our very first conductors? Children going in to the South Station to be taken to the circus or the dentist were always put in Mr. Bean's gruff and kindly care. And how many recall those early railroad engines, which had a habit of spitting a fine spray of soot all over the people assembled on the plat- form and even some distance away? It was wet soot and wouldn't dust off; it was permanent Thus railroading in Waban's early days!
1 CHILDS
2 SAVILLE
1
3 DAVIDSON
4 STRONG
5 SHEPLIE
6 BUFFUM
7 BACON (1892)
8 ROSCOE
GOODWIN
10 WARREN
5
8 .
1
,
11
12 PHILLIPS
B & A. R. R
10-
14
13
BACON (1888)
14 SEAVER
15 RILEY
19
-21
16 WOODWARD
17 REDDING
16 M
18 DRESSER
19 HAWKES FARM
20
LOCKE
-
S
18 +
21 POOR FARM
22 WOODBURY
23 COLLINS
24 GOULD
25 COLLINS
26
MC GEE
--
WABAN IN 1888
Drawn about 1938 by Mr. Lewis H. Bacon
CHESTNUT
.
15
.
12 13
WOODWARD ST
20
BEACON ST
-
. 22
23 24
25
26
ST
17
w-
AQUEDUCT
1
1
WABAN 1888 HOUSES AND STREETS
BEACON S7
2
3 -
WINDSOR RD.
7 .
. 9
11 HENSHAW
STATION
WABAN in 1889
Excerpts from King's Handbook of Newton.
"The fine trees of this neighborhood, elms, oaks, lindens, and butternuts, are worthy of admiration; and the great pine- groves exhale a delightful and healthful perfume, and add to the attractions of the natural scenery. Within a few minutes' walk are the emerald meadows of the Charles River, whose crystal current winds around the lowlands in long loops, afford- ing easy facilities for boating and fishing. This is the tranquil and lonely reach between the Upper and Lower Falls, amid the most idyllic scenery.
"Waban is intersected by what was formerly known as the old Sherborn Road, later changed to Beacon Street, which is now one of the main arteries of business and travel to Bos- ton; it is crossed, also, by Chestnut and Woodward Streets. The land is elevated and undulating, and the location is ex- tremely healthy. Fine old shade-trees lend variety, and afford a grateful shade, besides forming picturesque elements in the beautiful scenery for which the place is noted. The drives and walks in and about Waban are as varied and diversified as can be found in this region. . . The view westward across the emerald meadows, from the wooded hill near the station, is famous for its rich pastoral beauty, and includes many a silvery loop of the wide-winding Charles River, beyond the ruined and long-abandoned glue-mills.
"Rising from the groves of pine and maple along the river, and the intervening meadows, is a chain of bluffs, broken in the most picturesque and often weird way by natural glades and amphitheatres. These bluffs reach their maximum altitude
137
138
WABAN - EARLY DAYS
in a broad plateau, from which stretches a most bewildering panorama of natural scenery. To the left rises the quaint old village of Upper Falls, with that mighty production of modern engineering, Echo Bridge. Before one, through the pine tops, flows the sinuous, sparkling river; and beyond the meadows and herds of feeding cattle, cornfields and villages, and away in the distance at the horizon loom the great Blue Hills of Milton. Turning to the right, we trace the river under the massive stone bridge of the old Boston Aqueduct, through the greenest of fields, and finally lose sight of it in a series of sharp bends as it approaches the Lower Falls. Almost at our feet nestles the village, and over the housetops, through the curling smoke, we catch glimpses of Weston, Waltham, and Auburndale.
"Beacon Street crosses the line of the Circuit Railway, near the exquisite Waban station, and only a little way from the spacious Almshouse, built about fifty years ago, and now about to be abandoned. Then it traverses the dull marsh-lands of Cold-Spring Brook, and the populous but architecturally unfortunate Hibernian settlement of Cork City; and so on into Newton Centre, hard by the classic strand of Baptist Pond. Here the bicycler must draw on his kid gloves and his best English accent, as he spins along the same supernal street to Chestnut Hill and Longwood and the Mill Dam, and so, in due time, to the Boston Public Garden, the State House, and King's Chapel.
"But the aesthetic pilgrim will not so easily pass by the little Arcadian settlement of Waban, concerning which there are a few words to be said, howbeit the tranquil and pastoral beauty of the region fairly evades description. The name "Waban" was happily chosen to designate one of the most charming localities in Newton, embraced within Wards 4 and 5 of this prosperous and growing city. Tradition tells us that this was a favorite hunting-ground of Waban, the chief of the Nonantum Indians. Here, spring and fall, he encamped
139
WABAN IN 1889
with parties of his braves, to hunt and fish along the banks of the Quinobequin, - the beautiful Charles River of to-day. Here they could find deer and bear, foxes and wolves, and a great variety of smaller game, and fish in abundance, where- with to enrich the larders of their wigwams, and to content their squaws and papooses, withal.
"In the lovely glade are William C. Strong's nurseries, on the rich soil of an ancient lake-bottom, and sheltered from the cold winds by ramparts of hills and pine groves. Nearly forty years ago Mr. Strong carried on the business at Nonantum Hill in Brighton, where he had purchased the nurseries of the late Hon. Joseph Breck. Later he made heavy purchases of land at the present village of Waban, where he now carries on his entire nursery business and makes his home. His products in trees, plants, and flowers have been long and favorably known; and he has attained an enviable reputation as President of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and as Vice-President of the American Pomological Society and the American Horticultural Society, and as author of "Fruit Cul- ture" and other books in this line. He has lately transferred his business to his home farm, where he has land peculiarly well-adapted to the work; and he is now confining his attention more especially to the production of the choicest kinds of hardy trees and plants. All the numerous novelties are here tested, and either propagated and introduced or else rejected. By his trustworthy experiments and his impartial judgment, Mr. Strong is rendering a quiet but most important service to the public. Upon his grounds may be seen specimens of all the most desirable kinds of trees, shrubs, roses, vines, and herba- ceous plants suited to this climate. . .. .
"Recently evidences of real-estate development have be- come manifest along this beautiful unudulating plain, where streets are being laid out across the pasture-lands and upland meadows and new houses are rising here and there."
RANDOM MEMORIES (About 1891.)
MARGARET D. STONE
Waban has grown from 4 to 1400 families.
The Waban station was designed by the well-known architect, Henry H. Richardson. It was a gem of its kind, two tones of stone and handome brown-stained beams and doors, but, alas, today the green paint has spoiled its artistic appearance.
The general store and post office were back of the station. That building, too, was attractive, brown-stained shingles trimmed with cream color. The roof was interesting and there were three pleasant little bay windows in Collins Hall on the second floor. Inside these were cozy window seats, a favorite place between dances. The hall was the "center of civic life." There was a stage and two small dressing rooms, one on each side of the entrance. On Sunday the hall was the church and ministers came in the afternoon from the different Newtons to conduct services. Saturday night the hall was used for dances. Many young people from the other Newtons were invited to attend these parties. They were very popular. Helen Flint or Lizzie Harlow could usually be persuaded to furnish the piano music. Dancing classes were also held in the hall, children's classes in the afternoon and classes for young people and married couples in the evening. Mrs. Saville made quite a sensation when she appeared for the first time at Professor Sargent's dancing class. She was handsome and stately in a heavy dark blue brocade, patterned with pink roses. In her dark hair she wore a large comb of silver balls.
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RANDOM MEMORIES, 1891
Around 1890 everyone in Waban went to everything in Collins Hall, some as entertainers and the rest as audience. Minstrel shows, church fairs and suppers, living pictures, theatricals and all kinds of entertainments were provided.
During the tennis season, when showers prevented games on the Seaver's tennis court located on the corner of Wood- ward and Chestnut Streets, eight or ten young people used to run over to the railroad station for shelter and there the station master, Mr. Strunach, would play dance tunes on his queer zither and they would dance and sing and have an hilarious time between trains.
Mr. Strunach ate some of his meals in the station and often the housewives of Waban would give him goodies from their well-stocked larders. One day Helen Flint, on her way to Boston, didn't have time to hand him a fine apple pie, so while the train waited for her she tucked the pie under the wooden platform. When she returned a few hours later she rescued the pie and presented it to Mr. Strunach, none the worse for the delay.
In 1891 stone walls bordered Beacon Street and there was a substantial plank walk on one side in front of the three Collins houses. On the other side fields stretched over to and beyond the railroad tracks and up Moffatt Hill.
The three large Collins houses made an impressive row. First was the Edward Collins house, vacant after Mrs. Collins died, except for the servants who kept it ready for young Ed Collins and his friends who often drove out from Boston with his tandem of lively horses or his much admired four-in-hand. This house was ornate in appearance, furnished in mid-Victorian style, the parlor being resplendent with gold and red satin upholstery, long sweeping lace draperies and red satin hang- ings. In the parlor hung a portrait of Mrs. Edward Collins sitting on one of the red sofas in this grand room. A huge conservatory added a luxurious note.
142
WABAN - EARLY DAYS
The Amasa Collins or Gould house was less pretentious but much more homelike. Here lived Mr. and Mrs. William Gould and their two children, Amasa and Jessie. The Goulds were prominent in all Waban affairs.
The Frederick Collins house is still standing, white with four Ionic columns, double entrances and double driveways with huge maple trees. Nine children lived here, George, Frederick, Minnie, Annie, Connie, Ida (who was the Super- visor of Art in the Newton schools and afterwards married Philip Dresser), Maynard, Lilly and Mabel. The doors were never locked in this house, a real sign of hospitality.
Opposite the Frederick Collins house was the City Poor Farm, a gray house set well back from Beacon Street, ap- proached by an avenue of maple trees and surrounded by apple orchards. In the warm weather a few old people could be seen sitting under the trees near the house.
Far up Beacon Street in 1891 was a very small one-room house. Besides the family there was a huge pig which used to amble down the highway, root around the house and was often seen with its fore feet hanging over the window sill of the one front window, like a person of leisure enjoying the view!
CAMP FANNY
The Collins and Locke boys had a camp on the hill above the Chestnut Street railroad bridge. There were five boys, all around sixteen years old. They named their camp after Fanny Collins. They camped there for a week in the dense woods; not a house within a mile. On the last day they invited all their elders and families to come for a meal. They ate about the fire and sang songs - one was "B-I-B, B-I-Bo." Then they went home with lanterns to light their way.
MINNIE LOCKE COWARD.
WABAN SQUARE, 1920 Looking towards the bridge
Courtesy of Mrs. Frederic T. Lewis
WABAN SQUARE
WINTHROP G. RHODES
Early Waban was built around farm life; the Varick, Carlton, Hawkes, Locke, City, Collins, Dresser, Wyman, Bacon, Woodward and Kinmonth (later Strong) being among the larger farms. Here took place the first business enterprise in the form of barter and trade, typical of every agricultural area.
The first business establishments of Waban seem to be those of the Collins family on Beacon Street and S. N. Wood- ward on Woodward Street. These families maintained thriving businesses in the manufacture of glue. The Collins family operated as many as three such factories on their spacious land holdings near Annawan Road of today; down to the river and
MR. AND MRS. GORDON H. RHODES Courtesy of Miss Florence and Mr. Karl Maynard
144
WABAN SQUARE
145
WABAN HALL
Courtesy of Mr. Esmond Rice
THE BLOCK WITH DIRT ROAD AND BUGGY
DR. STRONG'S OFFICE AND THE ELM, CORNER OF BEACON AND WINDSOR ROAD Courtesy of Miss Isabel L. Strong
147
WABAN SQUARE
NEWTON TRUST COMPANY
WABAN SQUARE TODAY
on each bank. The Woodward factory was near the corner of Chestnut and Woodward Streets, later moved down the street, near Lincoln Street, Newton Highlands. These factories were established previous to 1868 and discontinued about 1884.
The business center as it is today originated in the Fyfe Block, Waban's first business building, built in 1890 by E. L. Collins at the request of the Improvement Society. Here was established Erasmus Moulton, grocer, then the post office was added and here the residents called for their mail. Moulton occupied the section on the corner from October, 1892, to February, 1897. The other store remained idle at first, but in 1899 Lee Quon, affectionately called "John Chinaman," came and opened a laundry. He supplied the children of Waban with Chinese nuts at Christmastime. The hall above was rented out by the Improvement Society for minstrel shows, dances, fairs, church services and all the town activities.
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