USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Hudson > History of Hudson, N.H., formerly a part of Dunstable, Mass., 1673-1733, Nottingham, Mass., 1733-1741, District of Nottingham, 1741-1746, Nottingham West, N.H., 1746-1830, Hudson, N.H., 1830-1912 > Part 37
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In the spring of 1887, some of the leading men of Hudson were given to understand that if they would raise one thousand dollars towards defraying the expense, the management would favor the extension of the tracks to the Taylor's Falls bridge, and, whenever the corporation char- ter could be amended so as to permit it, over the bridge into Hudson.
The following subscription paper was drawn up, cir- culated and signed :
HUDSON, N. H., May 17, 1887.
We the undersigned agree to pay each the sum subscribed below, to the Nashua Street Railway Company, provided said company will extend their track from some point as it is now laid, near the Concord Railroad Station in Nashua, to a point near the west end of Taylor's Falls Bridge, and to procure an amendment to the charter of said company as soon as possible, permitting said track to be extended into Hudson, and as soon as may be thereafter to extend the same across said Taylor's Falls Bridge into said Hudson.
Said company to operate said extension so as to accommodate the Hudson travel, making at least one trip each hour for ten hours of the day, and continue to operate the same indefinitely, all unavoidable deten- tions excepted.
Kimball Webster, $100. J. M. Cummings, $17.
N. P. Webster, 100.
Nathan Cummings, 17.
William F. Chase,
100.
Martin Brothers, 25
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HISTORY OF HUDSON
James A. Sanders, $25.
Cummings Brothers, $25.
George G. Andrews, 50. Nancy B. Merrill, 50.
William Hutchinson, 20.
G. O. Sanders, 50.
McQuesten & Chase, 25. Joseph Fuller,
50
F. A. Cummings,
17. Aaron Cutler, 50.
Mrs. A. M. Sherman,
25.
E. A. Martin, 25.
W. H. & C. C. Leslie, 10.
$781
The charter was amended August 17, 1887, authoriz- ing said company to extend; their street railway across Taylor's Falls bridge into Hudson, and over and upon the roads in said Hudson.
The company, however, did not accept the money sub- scribed by Hudson citizens, nor did it make the proposed extension, for six years.
In 1893, the track was laid from Nashua Junction north-easterly through East Hollis street and over the bridge into Hudson, where it terminated near the east end of Taylor's Falls bridge.
It was opened for public travel into Hudson, July 22, 1893. Operated as a horse railway, it gave fairly good sat- isfaction to the people of Hudson for about two years.
In 1894, a controlling interest in this road was acquired by capitalists connected with the Lowell and Suburban Street Railway in Massachusetts. In 1895, permission having been granted by the Legislature, the road was reor- ganized as a standard gauge electric railway, and under the supervision of P. H. Sullivan, at that time the manager of said Lowell and Suburban Electric Railway, which had been extended from Lowell to Lakeview in Tyngsborough, Mass., the road was built through Hudson to the state line -a distance of more than five miles-and from there to Lakeview.
The line was constructed in a thorough and substan- tial manner. Also Taylor's Falls bridge was repaired and improved by substituting for all the old floor girders new and much heavier and stronger ones. The structure at that time fourteen years old, was otherwise strengthened
From Photo by C. E. PAINE TAYLOR'S FALLS BRIDGE, IRON, 1881-1910
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STEAM AND ELECTRIC RAILROADS
in its remaining parts, and thoroughly fitted to stand the strain of the new traffic. All this was done at an expense to the company of about ten thousand dollars, as has been described. The road was opened to the public in August, 1895, and from that time has been constantly operated be- tween Nashua and Lowell with very little interruption, and has given the public very satisfactory service.
Hourly trips have been made in the winter season, and half-hourly in the summer. The running time from Nashua to Lowell is about an hour and ten minutes, and the fare is twenty cents.
HUDSON, PELHAM AND SALEM ELECTRIC RAILWAY COMPANY
This company was incorporated by an act of the Legis- lature, approved March 7, 1889, with power to construct, maintain and operate a railway from a point at or near the Merrimack river bridge in the town of Hudson, over and upon such highways and lands as may be necessary in the towns of Hudson and Pelham in the county of Hillsbor- ough, and Windham and Salem in the county of Rocking- ham, to some convenient point on the state line in or near the highway leading from Wilson's Corner, a village or crossing in the town of Salem, to Ayer's Village at the Massachusetts line.
The capital stock was not to exceed $200,000, and two years was given the company in which to construct the road. However, it was not built within the limit of the time allowed.
By a legislative act, approved February 5, 1901, the capital stock was increased to $300,000, and the time of construction extended two years from March 7, 1901.
It was completed so far as to be opened for public travel, September 8, 1902.
The road passes from its junction with the Nashua electric railway near the east end of the bridge, easterly
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HISTORY OF HUDSON
through Hudson Center, thence south-easterly to Pelham line, a distance in Hudson of four and a half miles.
Its course continues through Pelham Center, Canobie Lake Park in Salem, Salem Depot, Salem Village and Ayer's Village to Haverhill, Mass. Branches are also con- structed from Pelham Center southerly through Pelham and Dracut to Lowell, and from Point A., near Canobie Lake Park, south-easterly through Methuen to Lawrence, Maśs.
During the first year of this road's operation, the de- sire to make the quickest possible time between the differ- ent points on its lines resulted in driving its cars at a very high rate of speed, with little or no diminution of velocity when descending the steepest grades or rounding the sharpest curves. So reckless and dangerous did this rapid running appear to the patrons of the road that disaster was predicted by some of them, and not a few were actually afraid to ride over the lines.
On Sunday afternoon, September 6, 1903, a car for Nashua, heavily laden, principally with excursionists, fam- ilies and others returning from Canobie Lake Park, while passing, at a terrific rate of speed, around the long curve half a mile west of Pelham Center, met a car approaching in the opposite direction. The inside of the curve at that time was covered with trees, and the vision so obstructed thereby that neither of the motormen could see the other car until the distance separating them was very short.
The cars came together with a terrible impact. Some of the passengers leaped to the ground, but many who did not, and especially those sitting in the front ends, were either killed or badly wounded. The number of those killed and those who ultimately died of their injuries was quite large; many others were maimed more or less seri- ously, and both cars were badly wrecked.
The killed and wounded were largely citizens of Nashua, though Hudson had to mourn the loss of one of her most prominent business men, George G. Andrews,
507
STEAM AND ELECTRIC RAILROADS
postmaster, merchant, former town clerk, selectman and representative. His wife, Mrs. Anabel C. Andrews, occu- pying a seat with him, was so seriously injured that her life was despaired of for a long time; she ultimately re- gained such a measure of health as to be comfortable, but can never be entirely well again.
Without delay the company began to negotiate settle- ments of the claims for deaths and injuries resulting from the accident, and in a short time nearly all were satisfac- torily adjusted without resort to the courts.
This accident proved very expensive to the company.
As an apparent result the running time was soon changed, so as to very materially reduce the speed of the cars over all the lines of the road, and to the present time, 1912, the former high rate has never been restored. Later the company became insolvent and the road passed into the hands of a receiver, but the company has since been reorganized. The line has always been operated with reg- ularity.
Hourly trips in winter and half-hourly in summer are made between Nashua, Haverhill, Lawrence and Lowell.
RAPID TRANSIT
The Goffe's Falls, Litchfield and Hudson Street Rail- way Company was incorporated by an act of the legisla- ture, March 7, 1903. By a legislative act of 1905, the time allowed for the construction of the road was extended two years to March 7, 1907.
An act was passed February 27, 1907, changing the name from Goffe's Falls, Litchfield and Hudson Street Railway Company to the Manchester and Nashua Street Railway.
George W. Clyde of Hudson, Isaac N. Senter of Litch- field, and the late Wallace D. Lovell of Boston, were fore- most in obtaining the charter of this road, and later, with a few associates, they perfected its organization.
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HISTORY OF HUDSON
Strenuous efforts were made by them to interest capi- talists in financing the road so as to insure its building, but they met with no substantial success until 1906.
Early in that year capitalists of Manchester became interested and obtained its franchises, soon after which the construction of the road commenced. During 1906 the road was built from Goffe's Falls in Manchester-where it connects with the Manchester Street Railway-southerly through Litchfield and Hudson, to a point near Taylor's Falls bridge, where it forms a physical connection with the Hudson, Pelham and Salem Street Railway, and also the Lowell line of the Nashua Street Railway, as permitted by its charter. The length of the road is about twelve and one-half miles.
It was thoroughly constructed, with heavy rails, and it is nearly all outside of the highways and over private lands. The grades are very light, and it has very few curves. There are many long, straight stretches which permit of "rapid transit," which name the cars bear.
The line was opened to the public January 1, 1907. Its cars-as also those of the Hudson, Pelham and Salem electric line-are run on the Nashua Street Railway tracks from the junction at the east end of the bridge to Main street in Nashua.
The running time from Nashua to Manchester is one hour. The distance is about eighteen miles, and the fare is twenty-five cents. From the bridge at Hudson to Man- chester the fare is twenty cents, and the running time forty-five minutes. Hourly trips are made, and in summer half-hourly in afternoons.
From Photo by C. E. PAINE
POST OFFICE SQUARE
CHAPTER XXXVII
HUDSON VILLAGE
Let us attempt to picture to ourselves that part of the town of Hudson with its principal point of radiation near Taylor's Falls bridge-where now is situated our quiet, at- tractive little residential village with its one hundred and seventy-five happy homes-as it existed in the spring of 1834.
There was no village here at that date. The only vil- lage in Hudson was at Hudson Center-two miles distant -and that was very small. It contained three small stores, one tavern, one meeting-house, one practicing physician and eight or nine residences.
Military trainings in May, required by law once each year, were held on the town common. Hay scales were located on the south side of the common.
Only seven years prior to this date, in 1827, the bridge had been completed by a few of the most enterprising men then residents of Hudson and Nashua Village, and opened as a toll bridge, spanning the Merrimack between these two points.
It was a covered bridge with a road way sixteen feet broad and no sidewalk. A row of single sash windows upon each of the sides was inserted when the bridge was built, each window containing twelve lights of small glass. The glass, as it became broken by mischievous boys or from accidents, was seldom if ever replaced. The bridge was lighted at night by lanterns specially made for the pur- pose, and after they became broken-which was not very long-by common glass lanterns which were invented a short time previous.
The lanterns were filled with whale oil and hung in their places before dark, and would burn until after mid-
509
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HISTORY OF HUDSON
night, and sometimes until daylight. A walk through the bridge in the night time, especially after the lights were extinguished was a dark and gloomy experience. The bridge was five hundred and nine feet in length, and the toll gate was located about fifty feet west of the westerly or Nashua end.
The fixed rate of toll assessed for crossing the bridge was for foot people one cent. For a single horse and carriage it was never less than five cents each way, and for the earlier years of the bridge, the toll was consid- erably more. For oxen and all kinds of double teams the toll was graded according to the number of animals, size of load and other conditions.
The old Joshua Hamblet ferry house then stood on the river bank about thirty feet south-east from the present location of the Martin barn connected with the store build- ings. This was a small one-story house, without paint, and had stood for many years. The Hamblet dwelling house, where Mr. Josiah Hamblet, the former ferry man, and his family resided, was situated at the present junction of Derry road and Campbell avenue.
Captain Joseph Kelley formerly kept a tavern at this place. A long horse shed stood north of the ferry road where the Martin wheelwright and blacksmith building is now located. This shed was formerly for the accommoda- tion of the tavern and the ferry. No other buildings were located near the bridge.
The old Eleazer Cummings farm house, erected more than one hundred years prior to that date, stood in the field, three hundred yards north from the end of the bridge, and overlooking the Merrimack.
About the same distance in a south-easterly direction was the old colonial farm house of Zachariah Hardy, later owned by John Gillis, which remained there until within a few years, when it was removed and a modern one supplied its place. This house is now owned by the daughters of Mr. Gillis.
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HUDSON VILLAGE
Only two other sets of farm buildings, or buildings of any kind, were situated within one-half mile of the bridge in Hudson.
The new road from the bridge to Zachariah Hardy's house was opened in 1827, seven years previous.
The county road was straightened from Hardy's south- erly about three miles, and also a little later was straight- ened and improved from Hardy's Corner to Hudson Cen- ter.
The old ferry road, now Ferry street, is one among the the most ancient highways in Hudson, but was very nar- row and quite crooked.
The Derry road, which included a piece of the old county road, formed a junction with the ferry road, near the south-east corner of the present Library Park. Library street is also a part of the old county road.
Webster street was not laid out until many years later, 1859.
At the date of which we are writing no railroad had entered Nashua.
The Middlesex canal from Pawtucket Falls to Charles- town and Boston was completed in 1804. The canal at Amoskeag Falls at Manchester, with sufficient locks, known as "Blodget's Canal," was commenced by Hon. Samuel Blodget in May, 1793, and completed by him about four- teen years later.
The Merrimack River between the head of Middlesex canal near Lowell, and Concord, N. H., had been consider- ably improved by the proprietors of the canal, by removing obstructions from the channel and by the construction of locks in several places along the river.
Many canal boats were plying between Concord and intermediate points by the river and canal, to and from Boston. The dimensions of those boats were approxi- mately as follows: length near eighty feet, width nine feet, depth in center three and one-half feet or more. Their sides were made in the woods from large, old growth, native white pine trees, worked into suitable shape and size with
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HISTORY OF HUDSON
a whip saw and broad axe. A single plank, varying in thickness at different points, reached the entire length of the boat. This gave it great strength.
The boats were propelled down river by long oars, and when the wind was favorable, by a large square sail, with which every boat was provided. They were forced up stream against the current, along near the shore, by means of strong ash poles made for that purpose, the lower ends being strongly shod with steel points. It was con- sidered very hard labor to pole a loaded boat up stream, especially when the river was swollen by rains above its ordinary stage.
They were taken through the canal by means of horses traveling on the tow path and drawing the boats. Three men furnished an ordinary crew for a boat. These boats carried wood, shingles, boards, brick, potatoes and other farm produce, together with almost all kinds of merchan- dise. On their return trips they would often load with sugar, molasses and other kinds of groceries, dry goods and all additional articles needed in the country. Many of these boats were owned in the towns between Lowell and Concord.
The canal from the Merrimack to the Nashua river was opened in 1826, with the necessary dam and locks. The locks were of solid stone masonry twenty-four feet high in all. Each lift was ten feet wide and eighty-two feet long. Sometimes considerable quantities of wood and lumber were shipped from Hudson to the Boston and Charlestown markets, including the brick yards at Charles- town.
The migratory fish were still abundant in the Merri- mack and its tributaries at the time of which we are writ- ing.
In the summer of 1835, the ice break, which is still standing in the river a short distance above the bridge, was erected by the proprietors to protect the pier on the Hud- son side, which had previously been considerably weakened by a severe ice freshet.
From Photo by C. E. PAINE
METHODIST CHURCH, 1880
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HUDSON VILLAGE
The first notable change in the condition after 1834, leading towards the beginning of the development of the village which was to follow later, was the store building with its two tenements and stable. The buildings occu- pied substantially the same location as the present site of the Martin store near Taylor's Falls bridge. The main portion or front had formerly stood a little south of the present Hudson Center school house. It had been the dwelling house of one of the Tenney family. It was re- moved to the place described as early as 1837.
December 14, 1837, Joseph Greeley conveyed to Ste- phen D. Greeley one undivided third part of land and buildings in Hudson. Beginning on the highway and on land of Alfred Cummings, a little south-east of Josiah Hamblet's ferry house; thence westerly and northerly by said Cummings land to Merrimack River; thence down said river to land owned by Taylor's Falls Bridge Company ; thence easterly upon said bridge company's land and said Hamblet's land to the bound first mentioned, excluding any land belonging to Hamblet and the highway.
The exact date at which the Greeley building was first opened as a general country store is not known at the pres- ent time, but it is certain that Mr. Sanborn Sleeper was the proprietor of a store there as early as 1840, and possi- bly two or three years previous.
Cyrus Warren, a young man from Weathersfield, Ver- mont, married, June 6, 1826, in Nottingham West, Susanna B. Winn, born in Nottingham West, daughter of Reuben and Mary Winn. They settled, after their marriage, in Nashua Village, where their two children, George Henry and Harriet, were born.
About 1837, Mr. Warren purchased land from his brother-in-law, Abiather Winn, and erected a plane shop with suitable machinery on the south side of Otternick brook, between the Lowell road and the Hadley mill. Mr. Warren also built a cottage house on the south side of the Hudson Center road, north of the plane shop. It was re-
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HISTORY OF HUDSON
moved by the railroad and is now owned by Mrs. Ellen F. Bundy.
The plane business conducted by Mr. Warren was not extensive, but he managed it profitably and acquired an enviable reputation for making the best planes manufac- tured in New England. For a time his brother William was connected with him in the business, but later William built a plane shop of his own on the north side of the brook. Cyrus Warren continued to manage the business of plane making here until 1857, soon after which he removed to Nashua.
John Gillis settled here on the Zachariah Hardy farm in 1838. The Willoughby brothers, Ethan and Mark, came here from Hollis and settled as early as 1838. They acquired the Hadley mills, formerly built by Moses Had- ley, and after his decease, September 9, 1829, had been owned by the Hadley family.
They each built a home soon after settling here, but the exact date is not known. The house of Ethan was situated near the mill on the west bank of the mill pond, and is the same now owned by Charles F. Melendy. Mark constructed his home north of the Hudson Center road- a little west of the William Hadley, or Newcomb house -- which is now owned by T. LaQuerre.
October 8, 1838, the Nashua and Lowell railroad was opened to public travel from Lowell to the large Jackson elm at Amory street in Nashua. On December 23, of the same year the bridge over the Nashua river had been com- pleted and the cars were run to Main street station.
In 1840, a line of stages was operated from Nashua Village, over Taylor's Falls bridge, on the east side of the Merrimack, through Manchester-at that time a growing manufacturing village containing thirty-five hundred in- habitants-to Concord. This was also the same year in which occurred the famous campaign and election of Wil- liam Henry Harrison as president of the United States. "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too," was the rallying cry.
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HUDSON VILLAGE
During the campaign some of the whigs of Nashua had a genuine log cabin constructed and placed on wheels, which was fully equipped with all the paraphernalia, includ- ing coon skins, hard cider, and other necessary fixtures. During the most heated part of the campaign this cabin was driven from Nashua, through Hudson, Litchfield, Man- chester, Hooksett and Pembroke, to Concord, making al- most as good time as the stage coach, which it followed closely. As it passed along the road many of the patriotic women residents cheered the company by throwing to the breeze their red flannel petticoats.
The population of Hudson in 1840 was 1,144.
The following summary is copied from the returns of the marshal who took the United States census, showing the products and resources of the town for that year :
Horses, 135; neat cattle, 1,241; sheep, 1,403; swine, 585.
There were raised, 173 bushels of wheat, 377 bushels of barley, 6,453 bushels of oats, 3,419 bushels of rye, 1,219 bushels of buckwheat, 8,341 bushels of corn, 18,090 bushels of potatoes, 2,398 pounds of wool, 2,698 tons of hay and ten pounds of maple sugar.
The value of the products of the dairy for the year was $6,987.
There were three stores-two at or near the Center and one at the Bridge-with a capital of $2,600. There were also two grist mills and three saw mills.
The number of polls in Hudson was 236, and the valu- ation was $380,614. The town was obliged to pay four dollars and thirty-one cents out of every thousand dollars of the state tax.
The first Methodist meeting-house in this town, which stood near the Hadley-Willoughby mill, was built in 1840. The Congregational meeting-house, which is still standing, was built two years later, in 1842.
The building long known as the "Old Ark," which is still standing between the railroad and Central street, was
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HISTORY OF HUDSON
removed from near where Charles W. Spalding's house now is, by Amos Davis, Jr., about 1842. It was a long, narrow, one-story building. The roof was removed and a second story added. This second story was much broader than the original building, and projected six or eight feet on each side, which formed piazzas the whole length of the building, about forty feet. Ultimately, a considerable part of these piazzas was inclosed within the building. A pri- vate school, or high school, was maintained in this building for several years.
Mr. Sleeper was succeeded in the Greeley store in 1842 by Hermon Dane. He removed here from Hudson Center, and after a residence of two years at the Bridge, removed to Nashua. Mr. Dane and his wife, Clarissa (Bar- rett) Dane, were the parents of the late Hermon F. Dane, a popular auctioneer for many years, who was born at Hud- son Center, May 12, 1840, and who died in Nashua on the 71st anniversary of his birth, May 12, 1911.
In 1840, Willard Spalding built the house on the east side of Derry road, now owned by Mrs. Mary M. Spalding. This house replaced a smaller, ancient one on the same spot, formerly owned by Mr. Joshua Pierce. Paul Colburn built his home a little west of the Congregational meeting- house not very long after that church was erected. The place was owned for many years by John E. Brown, and at the present time by Walter A. Peavey.
Mr. James Carnes, formerly of Newbury, Vermont, removed to this place from Henniker, N. H., in 1841 or 1842. In 1844 he bought of the proprietors the old South meeting-house'erected in 1798. From the timber and ma- terial procured from that building he soon after built him- self a home, at the corner near the present watering trough at Postoffice square. Mr. Carnes was a blacksmith and a wheelwright and proved to be a useful man in the youthful village. Soon after his settlement he changed the old Kelley horse shed, before mentioned, into a blacksmith shop, which was used for that purpose by himself, Jonathan
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