USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Hanover > A history of the town of Hanover, N.H. > Part 7
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The Village at the College
became dilapidated, interesting only from its antiquity, and was torn down in 1894, the last of "the old settlers." The Catholic Church was built in 1924 and farther to the east the large brick school house for the lower grades was built in 1925.
Returning to Main Street and then going easterly along the north side of Lebanon Street, we find that the lot next the bank was long occupied by the old "Hanover Bookstore," removed to that site from the west side of Main Street in 1869. The two- story house (No. 8) was built by Jedediah Baldwin, who lived in it until his death in 1811. It afterward came through fore- closure into the hands of John Wheelock, who devised it to Prince- ton College. From that College it came to Lucretia Perry, a widow, and from her to her son-in-law, Dr. L. B. How, and afterward to J. B. Warden. It was at this house that the great fire of May, 1883, was stayed. It was the strategic point in fight- ing the fire. The roof took fire several times from flying sparks, and just as it seemed impossible to save the building, the coming of a fire engine from Lebanon gave the assistance necessary to check the flames. All the houses east of this lot as far as College Street, and on that street as far as the Green, stand upon a lot of land given by Eleazar Wheelock to his son James as a New Year's present in 1779. The first two were built about 1840, and the house on the corner (No. 14) was built by Oliver Carter about ten years later. On the opposite corner the Methodist society bought a lot and built a church in 1840, which passed to the Episco- palians in 1850, and from them in 1872 to G. W. Kibling, from whom it passed to his son, G. F. Kibling, who used it for an "opera house" for ten years, when, after the great fire of January, 1887, he enlarged it and transformed it into the "Dartmouth Hotel." Since that time it has had many vicissitudes, having been a boarding house, a bowling alley and a tenement, and having been often the object of investigation by the Hanover authorities. It is now a College dormitory and known as "South Hall."
The house next east (No. 18) was built on land leased by John Wheelock to one Joseph Hill, in 1809, for fifteen bushels of corn, or an equivalent, on condition that he build a comfortable house within a year, and a barn twenty feet square, within three years. The house Number 20 was built to rent about 1845 by Oliver Carter on land leased of the heirs of John Wheelock, and the next house was built by Major Tenney about 1823. The last house (No. 24) on that side of the street was built in 1843 or 1844 by Lemuel Stevens, Jr., known as "Capting" Stevens. All
64
History of Hanover
the houses on what is known as the "Flat" are of recent con- struction, the earliest one having been that of William Keleher, which was moved in 1868 from East Wheelock Street near the Sphinx building.
Going up College Street, the first house beyond the corner on the west side (Nos. 2, 4) was built by F. W. Davison to replace one that was burned in 1891. The little house next north was built by Joseph G. Ward in 1841. The brick house and shop (No. 8), long occupied by H. L. Carter, were built about the same time by Harvey Benton, a carriage painter of unusual skill. The house just below the Thayer School building (No. 10) was erected in 1850 by J. G. Currier upon a frame hauled on the snow across the Green on timber shoes from the now vacant lot north of Crosby Hall. Mr. Currier lived there from 1857 to 1867, when the property was bought by the College after the construction of the gymnasium.
On the other side of the street all the land at one time belonged to Dr. Laban Gates, who built the house on the corner of Wheelock Street, already spoken of. The first house above the corner of Lebanon Street (No. 3) was built by Joseph Patch about 1843. The two houses just above (Nos. 5, 7) were built respectively the first about 1860 by Mr. Simmons and the second in 1874 by Mrs. Sarah E. Swett, widow of Franklin P. Swett. The little building above was originally the hall of the Kappa Kappa Kappa society, erected in 1860, and remodeled by its present owners, the Dragon society, in 1917. The land lying east of the street was in early times a swamp, on whose upper and drier edge, below Wheelock Street, was President Wheelock's garden, and at the foot of the garden stood a little house, built for the accom- modation of the President's servants and occupied by one of them, Tieny Garvin, and later by tenants of the poorer class. On the opposite side of the road, southwest of Culver Hall, where South Fayerweather now stands, was a large two-story house, built by Amos Wardwell in 1809, which was later known as the "Burke" house and was burned in 1856.
If, now, we again return to the southwest corner of the Green to go west on Wheelock Street, the first house on the left beyond the corner, the Howe Library, was the mansion house of President Wheelock, built in 1773 on the site of Reed Hall, from which it was moved to its present position in 1838 by Otis R. Freeman, who bought it for $325. Its original gambrel roof was changed in 1846 by A. P. Balch, who then owned it, to a
65
The Village at the College
sharp A roof. It was a private residence until 1900, when its interior was remodeled, and it was given by Mrs. Emily Howe Hitchcock as a village library. Its age is one year less than that of the house next west belonging to the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, of which house an account has already been given. Coming into the possession of the fraternity in 1908 it was remodeled and enlarged to its present size.
The house now owned by Professor E. J. Bartlett (No. 8) was built by Benjamin Thurston on the northwest corner of an acre of ground sold in 1784 by the College to Parker Smith, a tailor, for £30 (ten rods east and west by sixteen north and south), on which he built a house near the present one, which disappeared apparently about the time this one was built.
The house of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity (No. 10) was built by Mrs. A. A. Brewster about 1840 as a residence for her son, and was made of a barn and an old house that were moved from the other side of School Street. Mrs. Brewster herself occupied it later, and after her death it was occupied successively by Rev. Dr. John Richards, pastor of the College Church, Professor C. A. Aiken, Dr. James Newton, a dentist, and ex-President S. C. Bartlett, through whose heirs it passed to its present ownership in 1907.
On the opposite side of the street, about where the Psi Upsilon house now is, there was, as early as 1774, a hatter's shop, kept by Asa Huntington. He was followed by Samuel McClure, the barber, before he moved into the shop on Main Street already mentioned. Judge Elias Weld then came to the house that had succeeded the shop, and after him was Ebenezer Lee. In 1870, when the corner was utilized by A. P. Balch, the house was torn down to give way to a barn, which after the fire of 1887 was used by G. W. Rand as a furniture store until the College took possession of the property and moved the barn to the rear of the lot, where it now serves as a storehouse.
On the west side of the Episcopal Church, the house of the Theta Delta Chi fraternity stands on land given by the College to Wheelock for a garden in 1778. The lot came into posses- sion of Caleb Fuller, whose daughter, as has been said, married Elam Markham, and about 1827 he built the house which was taken down in 1925 to make room for the new fraternity build- ing. Jonathan Freeman lived here for a time, then Elijah Smal- ley, and Daniel F. Richardson, one time postmaster, and later
66
History of Hanover
Professor M. D. Bisbee, from whom it passed in 1908 to the fraternity.
The house beyond it, on the brow of the hill, was built in 1820 by Colonel Amos A. Brewster, who lived in it until his death in 1845. His widow sold it to Professor J. S. Woodman, from whom it passed to President Asa D. Smith in 1865, and after his death was occupied by his daughter, Miss Sarah L. Smith, until her death in 1916. It was while President Smith occupied the house that in the early seventies his son, William T. Smith, then a young man in ill health and not expecting to live long, set out the row of elms that now shade the road leading to the bridge, which before that time had been bare, dusty and unsightly.
The houses on both sides of the road down the hill, as far as the bridge, are in general of comparatively recent date. The oldest are the house of Luman Boutwell, which, as has been said, was once the shop of Samuel McClure on Main Street, whence it was moved to this location; the brick house next it, originally a two- story house built by A. L. Bundy, the lower story later becoming a cellar by the raising of the outside level; and the house two numbers below, built about 1835 by James Rogers and long the home of John O'Gara, who was for many years the invaluable employee of the Hanover Aqueduct Company, and whose tenacious memory, with almost the exactness of a map, could recall the locaton of pipes laid years before, of whose course no visible trace remained. Of the brick school house at the top of the hill an account is elsewhere given.
Of the houses on School Street, which was formally opened in 1843, having been "dedicated" to public use as a highway before that time by the Trustees of the College, the first on the left from Wheelock Street was built on the Parker Smith lot, already men- tioned, by Jabez Warren. Next to it, on the corner of Allen Street, the house now used as the Ashbel Hotel has undergone many changes from the small house called the Paul House, built by D. Warren, and after that the home of Deacon B. W. Hale, Professor Charles F. Richardson, and then of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fra- ternity, from which it passed to the ownership of H. A. Brown, who opened the hotel in 1916. The only house on the opposite side of the street, between Wheelock and Allen Streets, was built in 1871 by Stephen Rand for his daughter who had married Orlando Tabor. The house on the southeast corner of School and Allen Streets was built in 1898 by G. C. Furber, who came from Little- ton. From him it passed to the Delta Tau Delta fraternity, and
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The Village at the College
from it to Mrs. H. T. Howe. The house next to this was built by William Avery in 1868, and its next neighbor, bought by Newton A. Frost in 1880 of Frederick Chase, was built by Lemuel Daven- port about the time when he erected the Tontine.
Across the street, the large house, now the home of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, was built in 1835 by Stephen Brown on a lot previously belonging to Aaron Wright, a tailor. It was successively the home of Professor O. P. Hubbard, Rev. Dr. John Richards, Rev. Henry Wood, Deacon B. W. Hale, Freeman Bibby, Professor John H. Wright and Dr. William T. Smith, from whose estate it came to the fraternity.
The southwestern part of the village has had a comparatively recent and rapid growth, several of the houses having been moved to that section from other parts of the village. The extension of Allen Street from School Street to Maple Street was made in 1877, at the time when the school house was built upon it. Maple Street was extended to West Wheelock Street in 1879 and the group of houses about its western end began with the building of several houses by Eben Sargent in 1903. Pleasant Street was opened in 1878 on the extension of School Street, which was still farther extended to the south in 1910. The opening through of Maple Street to West Wheelock Street was utilized for the establishment of a creamery, a joint stock company formed in 1886, which had first built its plant on the north side of the road near the foot of Corey Hill, but later had transferred it to this new location in order to secure a better water supply and to be nearer the railroad sta- tion. It did not, however, prove a success and ceased operation in 1897 when its business was absorbed by the Hood's creamery across the river.
Within twenty years the village has extended in two other directions, to the northeast and the northwest. The first house on Park Street, the house on the northeast corner of its intersection with East Wheelock Street, was built by Professor Charles H. Pettee of the Agricultural College. Immediately adjoining on the north Mr. Frank W. Davison built a house in the same year, and since that date all the houses to the north, on Park Street, the Parkway and Balch Street, have been constructed. 1
1 The builders and the times of construction of the houses on these streets are as follows :
Park Street:
1 Charles H. Pettee 1884
3 Frank W. Davison 1884
5 Frank W. Davison 1903
7 Leon F. Sampson 1906
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History of Hanover
In 1922 the College built on East Wheelock Street (on land that was once a part of the farm of the Agricultural College, which passing through the hands of John M. Fuller, A. A. Plummer and Stephen Chase, had been acquired by the College in 1921), and on a street which was opened for building pur- poses and named Dana Street after President Dana of the College, ten houses which from their size and arrangement were called "Toy Town." These have since been sold to different college officers. In addition to the original ten, other houses have since been erected on East Wheelock Street and on Balch Street. The fine stone house on East Wheelock Street at the foot of Corey Hill (Balch Hill) was built by Professor Alpheus Crosby, about 1845.
Building to the northwest of the village began soon after the opening of the Hospital in 1893, first on Webster Avenue, then on Occom Ridge, and later on Rope Ferry Road. The first house on the Ridge was that of Dr. E. H. Carleton, built in 1897. Two years later the College built six houses farther north, intended for the use of College teachers. Others followed this opening, and after a time the College offered its houses for sale. These were bought by College officers, and the new houses that have been built of late years in that section have been similarly owned, so that it is occupied almost exclusively by those connected with the College.1
9 Frank W. Davison 1903
11 Leon B. Richardson 1906
13 Howard M. Tibbetts 1914
15 Mrs. Arthur Haskell
1903
17 A. J. Baker
1907
Parkway :
4 Harry L. Hillman
1914
8 Percy Bartlett
1911
Balch Street :
Arthur H. Chivers
1915
1 The builders and the times of construction of the homes on these streets are as follows :
Webster Avenue :
1 Kappa Kappa Kappa Fraternity 1924
3 Sigma Chi Fraternity 1912
4 House moved to this site
1920
5 Phi Delta Theta Fraternity
1900
6 House moved to this site
1926
7 Kappa Sigma Fraternity
1915
8 House moved to this site 1925
9 Herbert D. Foster 1898
10 House moved to this site
1925
11 Thomas W. D. Worthen
1896
12 President's house
1926
13 Fred P. Emery 1896
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The Village at the College
Clement Road, between Occom Ridge and Main Street, was opened in 1916, and Choate Road, circling between Main Street and Clement Road, in 1917.1 The beauty of this section of the village has been greatly increased by the construction of a pond between Occom Ridge and Rope Ferry Road, where in former times was an unsightly marsh partly overgrown with bushes, and by the opening of the grounds of the Country Club. The pond was secured in 1900 through the efforts of Mr. C. P. Chase and Professor Thomas W. D. Worthen, who seeing the advantage
15 William Patten 1896
Four houses built by the Col- lege at the end of the Avenue, overlooking Tuck Drive 1919
Occom Ridge :
1
The College apartment
1898
2
Louis H. Dow
1899
3 The College apartment 1898
4 Elmer H. Carleton
1897
5 Harry E. Burton
1901
6 William J. Tucker
1909
7
Archie B. Gile
1925
8 Perley R. Bugbee
1908
9
Oscar B. Gilbert
1921
10
Charles A. Holden
1911
12 William H. White
1900
14-24 The College
1899
26 D. Colin Wells
1907
30 Erville B. Woods
1918
32 Earl G. Bill
1916
34 James W. Goldthwait
1916
36
John H. Gerould
1915
38
Warren A. Adams
1915
40 Nathaniel L. Goodrich
1915
Rope Ferry Road :
2 Nelson P. Brown
1916
8 Lucien D. Pearson
1924
10 Adelbert Ames
1922
11 Nurses' Home
1921
12 Charles W. Kibbie
1884
13 Louis H. Dow
1914
15 Craven Laycock
1913
16 Charles E. Bolser
1924
17 Eugene F. Clark
1909
18 Frederick W. McReynolds
1919
20 David Lambuth
1923
21
William H. Sheldon 1910
22 Arthur H. Basye
1923
23 Charles A. Proctor
1911
24 Gilbert H. Tapley
1924
25 Edgar H. Hunter
1923
27 George C. Cox
1913
29 Lemuel S. Hastings
1913
31
Charles H. Dudley
1912
37 Homer E. Keyes
1909
1 See footnote on p. 70.
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History of Hanover
that would accrue to the houses of that section from a more attractive foreground to their northern view, and also to the public at large from the clearing of the swamp, raised a sub- scription and personally directed the preparation of the ground and the construction of a dam across the narrow outlet through which the swamp drained to the river. The pond thus obtained was not fed by a perennial spring, but resulted from the impound- ing of water from the basin at whose bottom it lay, to which was added in times of surplus a stream from the pipes of the reservoir system. In course of time an oval pond of a little over nine acres in extent was secured, which in summer greatly adds to the beauty of the section and in winter serves as a skating place for men and maidens. In spring it contributes to the life of the neighbor- hood by the piping melody of myriads of frogs.
The opening of the golf grounds, afterwards called the "Coun- try Club," also added to the beauty of this neighborhood. In 1899 fourteen men purchased the tract of land lying west of Rope Ferry Road and north of the land of Charles W. Kibbie as far as Pine Park.2 A golf course of nine holes was laid out, to which the varied natural configuration of the ground was well adapted, and which from some of its parts commands views of extraordinary beauty, extending from Ascutney on the south to Moosilauke on the north and including many intervening lesser hills with wooded slopes and open fields. Moderate dues brought many players, revenues that were above expenses were put into the development of the field, in the drainage of low places and the clearing of obstructions, until an attractive fair green took the place of rough pasture land, and the grounds became an ornament to the village. For fifteen years the grounds were developed by the Club, but additions beyond its means were desirable, and as the majority of the players were connected with the College it
1 The houses and times of construction on these two roads are as follows :
Clement Road :
2 Richard W. Husband 1922
3 Sidney B. Fay 1907
4 Ashley K. Hardy 1904
5 Charles P. Chase 1914
6 Howard N. Kingsford 1905
Choate Road :
4 Clark School Dormitory 1922
5 James Campion 1919
9 John F. Gile 1922
13 James P. Richardson 1917
2 The original purchasers were John M. Gile, Edwin J. Bartlett, Charles F. Richardson, Louis H. Dow, Henry J. Weston, Thomas W. D. Worthen, Charles P. Chase, William Patten, Newton A. Frost, Perley R. Bugbee, John V. Hazen, Charles F. Emerson, William J. Tucker, and William T. Smith.
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The Village at the College
seemed desirable that the grounds should come into the possession of the College. With this in view Henry H. Hilton of Chicago, in 1914, gave to the College $7,000 for the purchase of property, which, since the purchase, has been known as “Hilton Field." In 1916 and 1917, largely through an additional gift by Mr. Hilton, a club house was built and the grounds were enlarged, partly by arrangement with the Pine Park Association, and partly by a purchase of land lying across the Vale of Tempe toward the east. Through Mr. Hilton's further generosity was built, in 1921, the iron bridge over the brook in the Vale of Tempe.
Northwest of the golf grounds lay a beautiful tract of pine- covered land, extending as far as the mouth of Girl Brook, and from the river on the west to the open fields beyond the Vale of Tempe on the east. It is a richly diversified tract in which the extension of Occom Ridge, before it is suddenly cut by Girl Brook, separates a level shelf lying along the bank of the river from the deep, winding and picturesque Vale of Tempe, from whose eastern side the ground again rises sharply in wooded slopes. Along the top of the ridge through this tract lay the old Rope Ferry Road, until it descended rapidly to the mouth of the Vale, where in ancient times was the ferry. In 1900 the road was still a public highway, though practically unused. The land to the west of it and the northern end of the Vale of Temple belonged to the estate of Frank Hutchinson, and the rest of the Vale to Hiram Hitchcock. The settlement of the Hutchinson estate brought its pine lands into the market, and an offer for the timber was received from the Diamond Match Company. The wood, though needing the attention of a forester, was of great natural beauty and its destruction would have left an unsightly space along the river bank. A movement was set on foot through the efforts of Professor D. Colin Wells to save the tract and convert it into a park for public use. At an equal price Mrs. Hutchinson gave the preference to the home purchaser, and Professor Wells was able to raise a fund of over $4,000 with which to secure the land.1 An association, composed of the subscribers to the fund, was formed to control the land under the following agreement :
1 Of the subscribers to the fund, Charles P. Chase, Justin H. Smith, William J. Tucker, Herbert A. Wilder, each gave $500; Frank W. Davison gave $400; Hamilton T. Howe and William T. Smith each gave $300, and Perley R. Bugbee, H. W. Cannon, James F. Colby, Louis H. Dow, Fred P. Emery, John M. Gile, John V. Hazen, John K. Lord, Charles F. Richardson, Edward Tuck, and D. Colin Wells each gave $100.
72
History of Hanover
Know all men by these presents :
That we, the undersigned, being desirous of preventing the deforestation of a certain tract of land, forty-five acres, more or less, which forms the southwest portion of the Hutchinson farm, known as Grasslands, located in the town of Hanover, in the State of New Hampshire, in consideration of the mutual subscriptions and promises herein expressed, do severally subscribe the sum set opposite our names for a fund to be used for the purchase of said tract of land; and we hereby, each for himself, appoint two of our number, Justin H. Smith and Frank W. Davison, both of said Hanover, our agents and trustees for the purchase of said land, and authorize and empower them to pay therefor, upon delivery of a proper and warranty deed, executed to them as trustees, a sum not exceeding $4,000; and we hereby severally authorize them to have and to hold the said tract of land so purchased as trustees for us, until such time as we shall agree upon a plan for its care and management, or permanent disposition by organizing a voluntary association, or otherwise; and we further personally agree to pay to our agents aforesaid our subscriptions herein made on or before December 1, 1900.
This informal association held the park for five years, until the organization of a voluntary corporation, October 2, 1905. During the interval the park was much improved by trimming and thinning the trees and making paths through the tract. On the date mentioned a new organization, known as "The Pine Park Association," was organized as the corporate successor of the old association, and to it were transferred the records and accounts of that association. The ownership was the same as before, except that the capital stock was increased to $5,500 and five new shares were issued to Charles F. Richardson as trustee. The "Articles of Agreement" of the new association provided for the following purposes :
To promote the public health, growth and material prosperity of the vill- age of Hanover, by preserving its natural wind break of forest on Occom Ridge and along the Vale of Tempe.
To establish and maintain within the limits of said ridge and vale and any adjacent land, a park, lay out roads and walks and plant shade and orna- mental trees and shrubs and flowers therein.
And to secure permanently to the inhabitants of the village of Hanover, under suitable regulations, improved opportunities for swimming, and boat- ing on the Connecticut River, and generally to do all things incidental to these purposes.
By-laws were duly adopted, under which the new officers were William T. Smith, president; Louis H. Dow, secretary and treasurer ; Perley R. Bugbee, auditor; and Charles P. Chase, James F. Colby, John M. Gile, H. T. Howe and D. Colin Wells,
73
The Village at the College
directors. The property was bought of the former trustees and put under the charge of the directors. In the ensuing years, under the direction of Professor Wells and the advice of a forester, much was done to improve the park, mainly through the voluntary labor of persons interested in it. Trees were trimmed, some were sold for lumber, underbrush was removed, and everything possible was done to make the park attractive. In 1907 Mrs. Hiram Hitchcock gave a strip of land to straighten the line, and on her death in 1912 she devised to the Association the Vale of Tempe, so that now the whole pine tract between the river and the eastern edge of the Vale of Tempe is permanently preserved for the use of the public. The old Rope Ferry Road was discontinued in 1905, but reopened in the following year as far as the southern line of the park, thus giving free access to it without encroaching on its management.
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