USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Waltham > Waltham as a precinct of Watertown and as a town, 1630-1884 > Part 6
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of the town. In the decade between 1810 and 1820 the population increased nearly 60% and as nearly all of the new families lived on or south of the Great Road the farmers of the north and west parts could no longer control the doings of the town.
THE GREAT COUNTRY ROAD
In early deeds there are frequent references to country roads. This term seems to have been used to designate any highway that led to other towns to the west or north or to thinly settled parts. When our principal thoroughfare was mentioned by that name it was always called either The Great Country Road or simply The Country Road leaving the indefinite article to use with less important highways. It was first called the Sudbury Road, sometimes the part beyond the head of the Great Plaine was called the Sudbury Path or Cartway. Often the thoughts of the writers turned in the other direction and it became the Great Road to Boston. Beaver Street was the Back Road, a name that is now sometimes used. Grove Street was sometimes called the Back Road to Watertown. Gore Street was the "Driftway" to the river.
From the earliest times the Great Road was a busy thorough- fare. It was used by the first settlers of Connecticut, the so-called Connecticut Path branching from it in what is now Weston. Produce for sale or barter in Boston passed over it, the return trip bringing the sugar, molasses, West India goods, etc. neces- sary for home consumption. On account of the sandy soil the drive through Waltham Plain was dreaded by the teamsters and is said to have been the cause of much profanity. This defect was ameliorated by a number of excellent taverns along its way that provided refreshment for man and beast. From 1701 to 1716 Samuel Biglow was licensed to keep a house of entertainment and he was probably the first to keep a tavern on Waltham territory. His homestead was on the south side of Weston Street and west of Fisk Avenue. He was succeeded by Daniel Ball who was licensed in 1717 and kept a tavern on the homestead of his father north of Weston Street and just east of Masters Brook. He died the next spring but his widow married Thomas Harrington, a
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potter, who continued the business. He was succeeded by his son Daniel and grandson Daniel. The latter sold to John Gleason in 1774. Henry Kimball, Zechariah Weston, Samuel Biglow and David Smith, all innholders, followed him. It was probably not used long by Smith for it passed out of existence about 1793.
At the foot of the Plain near Linden Street Richard Cutting about 1742 started the tavern that bore his family name for nearly sixty years. It was on or near its site that the famous Massasoit House stood between 1835 and its destruction by fire in 1849. A few years after the Cutting Tavern was opened James Davenport bought the old Garfield property at the southeast corner of Main and Gore Streets and turned it into a place of entertainment. He and his successors continued it until the place was bought by Christopher Gore in 1786.
Probably the next to join the competition was at the other end of the town although its age is uncertain. It stood on Tavern Road, formerly a part of the Great Road that originally made a sharp turn around the swampy ground at that place. John Ball of Concord Road married for his second wife, Anna, daughter of William Harrington, in 1753 and became an innholder. It is pos- sible that the tavern afterwards called by his name had been previously carried on by his father-in-law. This tavern, in later years known as the Stratton Tavern, did business for nearly one hundred years and the building survived until 1893 when it was burned. It was then the last of the old time hostelries.
In 1757 Jonas Dix bought a house, barn, shop and five acres of land at the northeast corner of Main and Pleasant Streets. At some later period the buildings were used for tavern purposes with Isaac Gleason as landlord. In 1778 Dix sold to Benjamin Bird and thereafter it was known as the Bird Tavern. It was taken down in 1816 by Rev. Samuel Ripley who built his resi- dence, still standing, north of the old buildings but on the same lot. On the present site of Main and Prospect Streets stood the Green Tavern, built as a residence by Isaac Brown about 1745, but not used for the public until it was purchased by Abijah Fiske in 1766. Its use as a tavern terminated about 1840. Its name was applied because of the color of its paint.
Samuel Wellington, whose father Thomas kept a tavern on Trapelo Road near Woburn Street as early as 1754, in 1778 bought a house standing near the corner of Main and Appleton Streets
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and used it as a tavern. It was owned in succession by Stephen Wellman, Isaac Gleason, Nathaniel Livermore and David Town- send, Jr. The latter made it his residence until it was burned on May 31, 1825, in the "biggest fire ever in Waltham" (C. F. Fiske's Diary). In 1779 the Ball Tavern was sold by John Ball's widow to David Smith, a considerable amount of near-by land included. He soon sold a half interest to his brother-in-law Isaac Bemis but as they did not agree as partners a year later they divided the property, Bemis retaining the Tavern. Smith then built a competing one on the opposite side of the Road a short distance east. Bricks were used in its construction and it was generally known as the Brick Tavern. It was carried on by Smith until his death in 1826 and then by his son Leonard. The latter also owned the Green Tavern and probably gave up the Brick Tavern about 1834. He built the Prospect House opposite to the Green Tavern in 1839 and used the bricks from the old Brick Tavern in the chimneys of the new building.
In 1801 David Smith bought the Cutting-Clark homestead on the north side of the Great Road and made a large addition to the front of the old dwelling house suitable for hotel purposes. If he made use of it at all it was not for long for he sold it to Lieut. Leonard Williams in 1803. Henry Kemball bought it in 1812 and it was known as Kemball's Tavern until 1824 when it was bought by Thomas R. Plympton when it became the Plymp- ton Tavern. Later it became the Central House. The Public Library occupies its site. The Prospect House, remodelled into an apartment house is still standing on Hammond Street.
Mention has been made of eleven taverns built on the Great Road, nine of them erected before 1800. Eight of these were doing business at the close of the Revolution.
Passenger travel along this highway was on horseback or in private or public coaches. When Gen. Washington made his New England visit as president in 1789 he and his attendants rode in a hired coach or chariot as it was then called. Extra horses and a luggage carrier made quite a retinue. Although "he declined as far as possible military escorts" William Townsend in his journal wrote that he was met at Weston by the Waltham Cavalry Troop who escorted him through Waltham and Watertown to Cambridge. "I recollect on that day that my Father acted as a subaltern officer and on the return of the Escort (from Weston)
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with President Washington my Father's family who were at home were all paraded in the front Piazza and were honored with a bow from the President. I was too young to follow the escort but the sight made a lasting impression on my mind."
On July 28, 1804, Jerome Bonaparte passed through Waltham of his way to Boston and on July 4, 1817, President Munroe visited the town. In 1809 Christopher Gore, Esq., who had a summer residence in Waltham, was elected governor after a very bitter contest. His supporters were jubilant and when, on June 5, he rode in his coach and four to Boston for his inauguration he was escorted by some eight hundred men and boys on horseback and by about one hundred carriages filled with his admirers. There were two sections to this procession. The men of Middlesex marched to the Gore residence and asked permission to escort him to Boston. At Cambridge there were men from Boston with whom they united and marched to the Governor's town home in Park Place. The two Boston newspapers, the Columbian Centinel and the Independent Chronicle, the first supporting Gov. Gore and the other violently opposing him, gave strikingly different descriptions of the character of this cavalcade and of its par- ticipants.
The troop of cavalry that escorted President Washington was formed about 1788 by men in Waltham and vicinity with Nathan Fuller of Newton as commander. It was a very popular organi- zation, possibly on account of their handsome uniforms: scarlet coats, deerskin small clothes, whole boots with spurs, horseman's caps, etc. They were mounted on the best horses they could procure.
The stage coaches by frequent relays made fast time. In 1804 William Townsend made the trip from Waltham to New Haven in two days, stopping at Palmer the first night. From New Haven to New York a day and one-half was required by stage while by vessel by starting at 2 P.M. the wharf at New York was reached at 10 A.M. the next day. On his return a snow storm was en- countered so at Sudbury a change was made to a "glass stage."
Mr. Townsend also relates that in February 1807 there was a great freshet in the river following a thirty-six hour rain. Many mill-dams and bridges were carried away, among them the Boies dam at Waltham and the Newton Street bridge that was carried clear to the Watertown bridge. The water ran a foot over the
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Beaver Brook bridge at the Great Road. It was not until June 1 that the selectmen of Newton and Waltham decided to rebuild the bridge over the river and work was not started until Sept. 21. The coming of industry to Waltham added considerably to the traffic along the Great Road and the taverns shared in the general prosperity.
CONTINUED GROWTH
The success of the cotton mills brought with it new problems to be solved. The meeting-house was not large enough to accom- modate all the new families that desired to attend. A proposal was made to allow the Boston Manufacturing Company to build an addition and to pay for it by the sale of pews. The Town voted permission to do so but the Company did not accept. It was finally decided to form a new Society for the members of the old congregation did not like to have a new house placed more near to the new center of population and the new residents objected to the old location as too distant. It was in 1820 that the Second Religious Society was formed and on July 4 of that year the corner stone of a meeting-house for it was laid on Church Street where is now the old Catholic Cemetery. In the same year the Town made its last appropriation for the salary of the minister thus ending the connection of the Town with religious matters.
About 1822 Dr. Samuel L. Dana had a small chemical works near the corner of River and Newton Streets. Patrick T. Jackson became interested in the work Dr. Dana was doing and through his efforts a stock company, called the Newton Chymical Company, was formed in 1825. Buildings were erected across the river on the west side of Newton Street then a part of Newton and the manufacture of sulphuric and bleaching acid was begun. Nearly all the stockholders were Waltham people. After a rather discouraging start the business became very profitable and was continued until 1872 when changing conditions made it desirable to stop manufacture. The buildings were taken down and the land sold for house-lots. Over twice the amount of the capitali- zation was returned to the stockholders.
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The first Fire Engine Company was organized in 1817. Its formation was approved by the selectmen July 14 of that year. The engine was housed by the Boston Manufacturing Company. This Company was very public spirited and willingly assisted any project to improve the welfare of its employees. In 1827 it erected a building in which it provided a hall and a small room for the use of the Rumford Institute for Mutual Instruction that had been formed the December previous. It charged a rent of $60 a year but promised to use that amount in founding a library for the use of the Institute. In 1830 the Company presented its own Manufacturers Library. The Institute flourished for many years. Each winter a course of lectures was provided. Sometime these lectures were given by members but often eminent people were secured. Among these may be mentioned: Louis Aggasiz, George Bancroft, Caleb Cushing, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Edward Everett, Horace Greeley, Oliver Wendall Holmes, Horace Mann, Wendall Phillips, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Charles Sumner and Mark Twain.
The town was approaching the size when, according to State law, it must provide a school in which higher branches of learning could be taught than the district schools were designed to furnish. It had also become desirable to have a convenient place in which to hold town meetings. These had always been held in the meet- ing-house as it was built by the town and was intended for civil as well as religious gatherings. The First Parish meeting-house was too far north to suit the mill people so it was proposed to erect a new building to be used for a grammar school and town hall. The town voted, April 30, 1832, to construct such a build- ing. It is rather surprising to find, however, that by a substantial majority it voted to place it on the old meeting-house common. It is not surprising to learn that when Mr. Theodore Lyman offered a lot of land accompanied by a gift of $200, if it was ac- cepted, that the Town on July 10 voted to place the building on that lot. About a week later it refused to stay the proceedings. Then without any explanation on August 7 a vote was passed to purchase six acres from Thomas R. Plympton and to erect the new building there. The deed was signed on August 10 and covered land formerly a part of the old Cutting-Clark farm on the north side of the Great Road but separated from it by a strip about 20 rods wide. It extended from a short distance east of the
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present Lexington Street to a short distance west of Common Street. The new house was built about on the site of the North Junior High School with the lower floor equipped for the grammar school and the upper a town hall. On the eastern edge of the lot a gun house, with two field pieces and a flag-staff near by, and a fire house for the Boyden hand engine were built in 1841. On land adjoining at the southeast corner where there is now the police station a brick district schoolhouse was erected in 1838. (The town was then divided into five districts: the northwest, north- east, southeast, southwest and central or factory districts.) The land sloped towards a point south of School Street and there during the winter and wet spells was a small pond. It was an ideal place for coasting and was thoroughly enjoyed by the pupils.
The first newspaper to appear in Waltham was published and edited by S. Bullfinch Emmons in 1833. It was called "The Hive" and was very small in size, only about six by nine and one- half inches, and the only items of local interest were the adver- tisements and records of marriages and deaths, the latter includ- ing surrounding towns. Essays and poems filled the remaining space except for an occasional personal item. It was planned to be published every alternate week for a year. There were twenty- six issues but it took from March 2, 1833, to Jan. 2, 1836, before they were completed. It was promised to bind them for twenty- five cents and the only copy known to exist is a bound one in the possession of the Waltham Historical Society. It contains seven full page steel engravings and a number of wood cuts.
Another paper, larger than the above, being twelve by nineteen inches, was started May 7, 1836, and called the "Waltham Star." It was printed and published by Willard C. George and had but a short life. The first six weekly issues are preserved in the Public Library.
"The Middlesex Reporter," H. M. Stimson, publisher, and N. P. Banks, Jr., editor, was published in Waltham for a short time in 1841. In this paper also there was a "marked absence of local news."
An indication of the growth of the town and the success of its enterprises is the founding of the Waltham Bank in 1836. This organization, now the Waltham National Bank, has nearly com- pleted one hundred years of successful operation.
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Josiah Hastings in his reminiscences wrote concerning this period that in 1834 there were only three taverns open in the town. They were: Crossett's (Central House), The Green Tavern and Stratton's. There was one stage for Boston, starting in the morning and returning in the evening. It seated nine persons. There were other stages passing through but they were not generally locally patronized. There was one daily to Framingham and Saxonville, one to Berlin and Hudson and one to Fitchburg three times a week. The fare to Boston was fifty cents but later there was an accommodation that delivered passengers and their purchases within one mile of the village for the same amount. These stages were supposed to be making a fortune for their proprietors so the landlord of the new Massasoit House started a line and reduced the charge to twenty-five cents, then to twelve and one-half and then to six and one-quarter cents. It survived for a year. The old line reduced its rates to twenty-five cents but went no further.
The less important highways of the town bore no names but were described by their destinations such as the townway to some remote dweller's house, to the meeting-house, to the school- house, or to some local landmark such as White Horse, Cape Fare, etc. that were well known to townsmen but must have been confusing to strangers. In 1838 the Town voted that the townway known as Skunk Lane be named Bacon Street but it was not until May 2, 1842, that names were given to all the ways. There were thirty-eight in all and nearly all were given the names they now bear. Lowell Place, leading from about the center of the present Common to the mills, no longer exists, neither does Brook Street for it is mostly covered by the Cam- bridge Basin. North Street is now Trapelo Road, its old name. Forest Street was in the old location west of the present one and Brown Street, running from old Forest Street to Trapelo Road is no longer a townway and has no name. Stow Street was then called Prospect Street and High Street was the present College Farm Road.
In 1842 the Town, using its share of a direct tax refunded by the Federal Government to the States, macadamized the Great Road. This, the beginning of the good roads movement in Waltham, must have been greatly appreciated by all stage drivers and teamsters but the day of their prosperity was nearly
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over. A great change was imminent. In 1835 steam trains were running between Newton and Boston. Mark Crosby at some later period not ascertained ran a carriage "with that black horse attached" from Waltham to Newton and included a rail- road ticket to Boston for twenty-five cents. His enterprise was a financial failure but it served to familiarize Waltham people with the new method of transportation. On Jan. 11, 1842, a meeting was held in the Massasoit House to consider a railroad to Boston and eighteen months later, June 4, 1843, digging for the Fitchburg Railroad was begun near the factory and at other points in the town. On November 10, 1843, the first locomotive came as far as Waltham and on Dec. 20 the road was opened to public travel. It is interesting to note that on Sept. 25, 1843, a petition was presented to the Town asking that bridges be erected over the Fitchburg Railroad (not then in operation) at the Massasoit House and at Beaver Street. Now after over ninety years the elimination of the former grade crossing is about to be accomplished.
The stage coaches, even with speedy horses and frequent relays could not successfully compete with the iron horse. There was not enough local business to support the four taverns then existing. The Massasoit House was a financial failure and was burned in 1849. Simon Stratton with his wife and six sons in a coach and four and his household goods in large wagons left his tavern and started on a long journey to the West. A few years later the old tavern was turned into a dwelling house. Only the Central House and Prospect House remained.
EXPANSION AND MORE CHANGES
Moody Street at first extended only to the river and was early called the Lane to the River. The Boston Manufacturing Company owned land on the south side and the only access to it was by boat or by way of the dam. A bridge would certainly be convenient and in 1846 it was decided to build one. Work was begun on Oct. 12 and the bridge was completed on Nov. 20 of that year.
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Another attempt to have a local newspaper was made in 1848. V. S. Williams began to issue the "Waltham Mirror" on July 6 of that year and succeeded in publishing it bi-monthly for a year. H. B. Skinner, M.D. took the position of editor in March 1849 but at the expiration of the year it was announced that in the future it would include advertising only and be published quar- terly. The few items of local interest that it published were not enough to induce many to subscribe. It was only about eleven by fourteen inches in size.
After the completion of the Moody Street bridge Waltham townsmen began to build across the river. Already a settlement had been made near the Newton Chymical Company's works and the interests of the dwellers were mainly in Waltham. A movement was started to have this portion of Newton annexed to Waltham. On April 16, 1849, the General Court set off about 600 acres north of a line connecting points on the river at the Watertown and Weston lines including some thirty-five buildings and having a population of 170 and joined it to Waltham. Newton was paid $1000 in compensation, the money being raised by a special tax on the residents of the territory. This is the only land that has been added to Waltham with the exception of a portion of the Bridge farm lying in West Cambridge that was added to Waltham at the owner's request in 1755.
Aaron L. Dennison had interested Edward Howard and others in the manufacture of watches and in 1849 began the business in a room adjoining the clock factory of Howard and Davis in Roxbury. After some of the early difficulties had been overcome the business began to increase and it was found desirable to move to a location free from the dust of thickly settled places. Mr. Dennison had friends in Waltham who first suggested land south of the old mills and machine shop on Stony Brook. Satisfactory terms for its purchase could not be arranged so this site had to be abandoned. Samuel Payson Emerson then mentioned the Bemis farm on the south side of the river. The location pleased Mr. Dennison and negotiations were soon satisfactorily com- pleted. In 1854 the first building was erected. This new industry, then called the Waltham Improvement Company, soon to be the most important in the town, was the means of making the south side one of the most important and influential sections of the town.
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While these important events were taking place progress was being made in other directions. On May 2, 1847, a committee of nine was appointed to secure a site for a new town house either on the Common where the combined school and town house stood or on Main Street, between S. B. Whitney's and William Porter's, if one could be obtained for a reasonable price. This location would be approximately between Church and Common Streets. Satisfactory terms could not be obtained and the report of the committee was laid on the table at a meeting the next Oct- ober. In 1849 a high school was decided upon and the town hall was altered to provide a place for it. On May 28 of that year the first town meeting was held in Rumford Hall and on Dec. 2, 1850, it was voted to lease it for ten years. Before the expiration of this lease it was decided in 1854 to purchase from the Boston Manu- facturing Company the Rumford Building and all the land bordering on Main Street now included in the Common except that occupied by the meeting-house built for the Second Religious Society after its first house had been burned in 1829. It had been sold to the Methodist Society in 1837. Arrangements were made so that the Rumford Institute could make use of the Hall and Library Room as before. Also in 1854 a company was formed for the manufacture of illuminating gas and by October the Mills were lighted by it and about fifty houses were piped for it.
On February 15, 1856, appeared the "Waltham Sentinel" printed and published by Josiah Hastings and edited by an "Association of Gentlemen." Although this paper contained many items of world interest and literary articles it also included many items of local interest and published reminiscences and sketches of local history contributed by Jonathan Brown Bright, Rev. Thomas Hill, Phineas Lawrence, Josiah Hastings and others. From them many of the foregoing items have been gleaned.
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