USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Littleton > History of Littleton, New Hampshire, Vol. I > Part 56
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The campaigns of 1865 and 1866 were characterized by the expected and commonplace. Gen. Edward Oakes Kenney was moderator in 1865, his opponent being Col. Salmon Hoskins Rowell, and James J. Barrett in 1866, and successively to 1872. Henry W. Smith, town clerk in 1864 and 1865, and from 1869 until 1880. The Representatives in 1865 were Harry Bingham and Dr. Charles M. Tuttle, the opposing candidates being Abijah Allen, Jr., and Col. Alden Moffett ; in 1866, James J. Barrett and Henry L. Thayer, and the Republican candidates, Capt. George Farr and John M. Charlton.1
The political campaign of 1867 created great excitement in the State, and attracted unusual attention throughout the country. That the situation at the time may be understood, it is necessary to refer to the State campaign of 1863. At that time there was pronounced political unrest throughout the country, and there were many indications pointing to general Democratic victories in the elections to come off that year. This State would be the first to record its verdict, and the Republicans were particularly anxious that it should be in approval of their party policy. The candidates for governor were Joseph A. Gilmore, Republican, and Ira A. Eastman, Democrat. In order to draw votes from Judge Eastman, Republican leaders entered into an arrangement with Col. Walter Harriman by which he was to accept a nomination for
1 The Selectmen for 1865 were Eli D. Sawyer, Joseph A. Albee, and Samuel Tay- lor Morse ; in 1866, Eli D. Sawyer, Samuel Taylor Morse, and Benjamin Atwood.
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governor to be tendered him by a convention of " war Democrats ; " that in the mean time he should become a member of the Repub- lican party, and should be its nominee for the governorship at the earliest practicable moment. It is not necessary to enter into a discussion of the morality of this bargain ; suchi trades are com- mon enough in practical politics, and are accepted by men of high standing for integrity as legitimate political tactics. In 1867 General Harriman demanded the fulfilment of his contract. Onslow Stearns, president of the Northern Railroad and one of the leading business men of the State, also sought the nomina- tion. The contest was bitter, and, after the friends of General Harriman and the high contracting parties had succeeded, it looked for a time as though they were to be defeated by the nomination of a bolting Republican candidate. This movement, however, was prevented, probably by another trade; but the wounded in the gubernatorial contest were numerous, and it was expected that many of them would not sufficiently recover in time to enable them to join the ranks. in March, and the situation gave the Democrats great confidence in their ability to win a victory at the polls. The convention that gave Mr. Sinclair his second nomina- tion instructed him to challenge General Harriman to meet him in joint debate, and his first important act after the adjournment of the convention was to obey its instructions in this particular. The invitation was accepted, and the third meeting of the series was held at Union Hall, Littleton, on the afternoon of February 12, 1867.1 The hall was filled. On floor and stage all available space was occupied, and interested voters thronged the outer hall and stairway. In the organization of the meeting each party was represented by a chairman and a secretary. The gentlemen acting for the Republicans were Charles W. Rand, chairman, and L. W. Rowell, secretary. For the Democrats, Gen. Edward O. Kenney, chairman, and James R. Jackson, secretary.
Mr. Sinclair opened and closed the debate, occupying an hour in his first address, when he was followed by General Harriman, whose allotted time was one hour and a half; then Mr. Sinclair had thirty minutes for his closing remarks.
The antagonists were well matched. Both were experienced campaigners, having been on the stump in the campaigns of many years. General Harriman was a man of imposing figure, tall, slim, yet broad-shouldered. He wore his dark hair long, and
1 The following schedule of meetings was arranged by the candidates : At Colebrook, February 9; Lancaster, 11; Littleton, 12; Plymouth, 14; Laconia, 15; Conway, 19; Ossipee, 20; Alton, 21; Rochester, 22; Pittsfield, 26; Concord, 27 ; Hillsborough, 27; Manchester, March 1 ; Portsmouth, 5; Exeter, 6 ; and Lebanon, 8.
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the front locks were often thrown over his face by the energetic tossing of the head while speaking, and were instantly thrown back into place by a sweep of the hand. His voice was full, rotund, and easily penetrated every part of the hall. Both in style and habit he was a declaimer rather than a debater. His matter was selected with care, and arranged in form for dramatic effect, and its sonorous periods committed to memory. When the stage was at his sole command, he was among the most effective popular orators in New England. The conditions here, however, were evidently not to his liking. He was nervous, appreliensive, and his habitual air of assurance had entirely disappeared. Nor did it return when the heat of the combat was at its height. His stoutest partisans shared his feelings of doubt and timidity, and were elated when he emerged from the fight with his banner, as they thought, unrent. His opponent and Harry Bingham had prepared a series of questions covering constitutional proposi- tions in reference to the reconstruction measures of his party, adroitly constructed to confuse a speaker not familiar with con- stitutional law. A few of these he assumed to answer, but most of them were carelessly brushed aside with the declara- tion that they related to questions that had been settled and were no longer in issue.
John G. Sinclair, in some respects, was a strong contrast to Walter Harriman. He was below medium stature, and slightly inclined to rotundity ; he was of light complexion, and his light brown hair clustered in many curls above an ample brow. His mind was strong, swift, and sure, and all his intellectual faculties were at immediate command. Then, too, on this occasion, he was on his native heath. Nearly every man in the large audience was his personal friend, and a majority were his political associates. He felt that if he was to receive generous appreciation anywhere that was the place and the hour.
No political meeting held in the town made a more lasting impression. The friends of General Harriman were well pleased with the result. He had eloquently stated their case and had met Mr. Sinclair's personal and political assaults more adroitly and successfully than they had expected. The partisans of Mr. Sinclair were jubilant. He had put the spokesman of the Republican party in a position where he was forced to ignore vital questions, and that was a sufficient victory for them. After all, it is doubtful if the practical results of the meeting, other than such as were personal to the orators, did more than to confirm the audience in their pre- conceived political notions and to arouse this section of the State
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to a high condition of political enthusiasm that brought to the polls every available man.
James J. Barrett and George Abbott were Representatives this year. Mr. Barrett was a politician of parts, and the founder of the Fellowship Club that met at the tin-shop. This club had no visible organization, yet it became a political power that had to be consid- ered cach year by the Democratic leaders. The members were all Democrats in excellent standing, who made no demands for recogni- tion, yet in a few years it was generally understood that some of its members must be given a place on the ticket, and, in short, it had its way and provided for its members with such success that it was known as " Little Tammany." It had a membership of less than twenty, yet so great was its influence that for two decades it had important positions assigned it at each election. Thirteen times it named a candidate for Representative, and at no time during this period was it without a successful candidate for some minor office. It was less argumentative, less humorous, and less enjoyable than the Brick Store Club, but far more practical. It always knew what it wanted, and generally reached it. George Abbott was a retired farmer, a prominent member of the Methodist church, and a man of high character. His name, too, is often found in the town records in connection with some official position, and always with credit to himself and the town he served.1
The election of 1868 was influenced by the enthusiasm of the preceding year, and cast the largest vote (629) in the history of the town up to that time. There were a sufficient number of ratable polls to entitle us to three Representatives, and the mem- bers of the previous year were returned and Harry Bingham was chosen for the additional member, but did not take his seat, owing to professional engagements. The old board of Selectmen was also re-elected. The Republican candidates at this election for Representatives were William J. Bellows and Alpha Goodall, a grandson of the first minister.
The following year there was a loss of more than a hundred votes in the totals. Samuel A. Edson, a son of Col. Timothy A. Edson, the leader of the local forces in Jackson days, Charles C. Smith, a hardware merchant, and Richard Smith, a farmer at North Littleton, were elected to the General Court.2 George B.
1 The Selectmen were Otis G. Hale, Benjamin Atwood, and Jacob K. Dun- bar, Jr.
2 He was the first person belonging to the Roman Catholic Church to be elected to that office from the town.
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Redington, who was substituted for Mr. Bellows, was the only change made in the Republican Representative ticket.1
For twenty years party feeling and activity had been intense and dominated all the activities of life. The years were big with peril to free institutions, but happily these had been safely passed, and the shrinkage in the vote of 1869 was an unrecognized but significant indication that the passions and prejudices of past years were on the wane, and that a period of less strenuous activity and personal animosity was near, when reason, not passion, was to be the controlling force in political action.
1 The Board of Selectmen was made up as follows : John W. English, Benjamin Atwood, and Moses P. Burnham. It was a farmer board, all its members belonging to that class, - a circumstance once common in the town, but that had not before happened for many years.
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XXVI. ANNALS.
1870-1903.
T HIS closing chapter of the annals will differ from those that have preceded it. A narrative of events within the memory of people who have reached middle life is wanting in historical perspective. Nor can these events be treated with the freedom permissible in writing of those long since passed and known to the present generation only through the changing medium of tradition. Any account concerning them must necessarily be subject to review by a more impartial tribunal, with a probable reversal of judgment in many respects, because it is given to few men to forecast the future and predict what influence the acts of his own time may have on the succeeding generation.
The industrial, mercantile, banking, medical, and other impor- tant subjects connected with the annals of this period of our history are to be found in Volume II., and are therefore eliminated from consideration in this connection, leaving little more than biographical sketches of the men who played an active part in these years for consideration.
In the ten years from 1870 to 1880 the people devoted their energies to the maintenance of the industrial and mercantile position already acquired. They were successful in the ac- complishment of this purpose if the census of 1880 may be accepted as sufficient evidence of the growth of the town. The population in this decade had increased 21.8 per cent, while the increase in the preceding ten years was 6.3 per cent, the lowest since the settlement of the town.
It was in these years that the Saranac Glove Company was laying the foundations of its prosperous career. The Scythe and Axe Company was then also passing through its most success- . ful years. These interests were the largest contributors to the then business welfare of the town.
Among the important events of those years were the efforts made to secure reforms in the conduct of town affairs. They were not immediately successful, yet they served to point the way
MAIN STREET, LOOKING WEST, 1898.
13019 78340
E
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to final success by calling attention to the defective and wasteful methods that had prevailed for a hundred years. Especially is this true in regard to the means employed in making and repair- ing highways. From 1770 to 1810-the first forty years from the settlement - the highways of the town had passed through what may be termed a process of evolution, from the Indian trail to the blazed path, the way cut for the passage of an ox team, the road described by President Dwight that endangered the life and limb of any one travelling on horseback through this region in 1796, over corduroyed swamps, through unbridged streams, over a roadway obstructed by mingled stumps, roots, and rocks, to the highway of 1810, which, partly freed of these obstructions, had been made passable for a carriage with a sober and skilful driver. The candid citizen then declared that in road-building perfection had been reached. This continued to be the opinion of the major- ity for nearly three-fourths of a century. The system so long followed consisted in removing the earth from the side ditches to the centre of the travelled way, the removal of loose stones and such part of the rocks as became exposed each year by wearing down the road level. It was, in fact, a repetition of the same kind of repairing, as it was called, year after year, without accomplisli- ing any actual improvement in the highway. Of the improvident conditions which grew out of the system a high rate of taxes pay- able in labor was most obvious.
Time and again an attempt was made in town meeting to correct these well-worn abuses, but without avail until a resort to the Leg- islature was had in 1891, and a special act secured creating the Lit- tleton Highway Precinct, providing among other things for the payment of the highway tax in money. Before the passage of this law the town once voted that one-half the tax should be paid in cash (1882) ; at another (1884) no highway tax was raised, and the roads in that year were kept in repair under the supervision of the Selectmen, and the expense met from the town treasury.
In the early eighties, under the superintendence of Norman G. Smith, experiments were tried for the purpose of finding some method, within the financial ability of the town, of securing a permanent level for Main Street. That part of the street near Tilton's Block was paved with tamarack blocks imbedded in sand. For a season this promised well, but a change in surveyors caused it to be neglected and in a short time quite forgotten. A few years after, when the street was concreted, this pavement was discovered in as good condition as when laid. So completely was this experiment hidden by the earth that had been dumped upon
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it and forgotten that to many it was as much a surprise as was the uncovering of the Roman Forum to the idle Italians who saw the rays of the sun shine upon that ancient pavement after it had been buried for more than a thousand years.
The lowering of Meeting-house Hill was an improvement that has been prosecuted at different times in the last half- century. The grounds fronting the brick house on this hill and the residence opposite, show the original height of the street at this point. In 1851 Curtis C. Bowman, then surveyor, cut it down some fifteen inches. Col. L. A. Russell was surveyor in 1856, having charge of this part of the road, and he lowered the grade half a foot. There it remained for more than twenty years. The grade has within thirty years been reduced materially, and, owing to protest- ing abutters; is not likely to be again changed.
The conflict of opinion and clash of interests between the residents of the village and the farmers had been so sharp that it barred the way to the consummation of much desired improvements in the village. Not that all villagers approved and all farmers opposed, but the lines practically thus drawn led to the creation of the several village precincts or districts, in order that the contemplated changes might be made. The Fire District was created by an act of the Legislature, July 3, 1872 ; the Highway Precinct, March 5, 1891 ; the Village District, February 28, 1893. By the act of February, 1903, the Littleton Fire District and the Littleton Highway Precinct were united in the Littleton Village District. By virtue of this law the control of the village streets passed from the town and was vested in the district.
The precinct officers in May, 1892, employed George H. Allen, a civil engineer, of Manchester, to survey and design a system of sewerage for the district. Before the close of the summer a com- plete and accurate survey and maps had been made of the territory from Glenwood Cemetery to the hill above Apthorp. The engineer submitted his report in January, 1893. It called for two main lines of fifteen-inch Akron pipe : one north of the river extending from below the Saranac Glove Works, through Saranac, Main, and Union Streets to the corner of Pine Street ; that on the south side to be of the same size and quality of pipe, to extend from below the Saranac dam to Cottage Street. Provision was made for all the con- necting streets, most of the pipe recommended being twelve-inch. The estimated cost of the system was $46,557.95. To a consider- able extent the recommendations of Mr. Allen have been followed ; but when they have been disregarded, it has been to the detriment of the service. In one instance a six-inch pipe was substituted for
MAIN STREET, LOOKING EAST, 1897.
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a fifteen-inch, and where three manholes were required but one was built. Other changes of a similar character were made, with the result that repairs have increased the expense over what it would have been had the plans of the engineer been adhered to, though the cost of original construction has been less.
In the same period the construction and maintenance of side- walks were no small item in the annual bill of expense. In 1870 these walks were of plank. In the eighties that on the south side of Main Street was made of brick, which in turn gave place in the early nineties to concrete walks. Since then nearly all the new sidewalks in the district have been constructed of this material. There are still a few stretches of plank walk, but a year or two will see these removed and substantial walks of concrete substi- tuted. The sum expended for concrete sidewalks in six years from 1894 to 1900 has been $5,810.46. Main Street, from the Town Building to the foot of Meeting-house Hill, was paved with concrete in 1895-1896 at an expense of $6,214.52. This has resulted in an excellent street at a fixed grade, and the cost of construction and maintenance, compared with the old method for the same length of time, has been much less.
Until recent years the only playground for man or boy was the highway. Fifty years ago, and for a long time after, the street opposite the Union House was the principal playground, though games were sometimes played in the street near the Granite. The chosen games were ball, "four-year-old-cat," and quoits. Urchins utilized the meeting-house sheds for their evening sports of "I spy" and other plays common at the time, while in the road on the hill " tag " and " snap the whip" kept them busy and happy until a late hour many a summer evening.
An acknowledged public want is seldom met by its opponents with an argument, but is answered by the assertion "We can't afford it." For this reason, on the eve of the annual town meet- ing in March, 1888, a public park or playground was apparently as far from realization as it had ever been.
A year or two before this time a number of enterprising citizens, who were admirers of speedy horses, had been compelled, in order to obtain ground for a racing track, to purchase of Gabriel G. Moulton the lot of land lying between the Meadow and Waterford roads. The lower flat bordering the Meadow highway was all they had use for, and they were financially burdened with the surplus. It was then that a mighty storm swept over this region and came to their relief. Monday the storm raged through the day and night, and when Tuesday morning dawned - the day of the annual town
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meeting - the roads were blocked, and citizens living in the out- lying districts could not reach the place of meeting to discharge their patriotic duty. This was the opportunity for the "boys" and the owners of the park also. The meeting was less numer- ously attended than any similar assemblage in sixty years ; nearly all present were residents of the village. It does not ap- pear that the warrant made any provision for the proposed action ; but that was a small matter where all were friends, and " to trans- act any other business that may legally come before the meeting " was a door wide enough for the purpose ; so a vote was passed instructing the Selectmen to purchase of the Littleton Driving Association " the upper flat, so called, and the land between it and the Waterford road," fifteen and two-thirds acres, for a public park, if it can be obtained for $2,000. The vote was soon followed by a purchase. Thus, to a stout but beautiful snow-storm we are indebted for the town park. The grounds were sterile, and could not, without large expense, be made to bear a turf that would render them suitable for games and other sports. Then, too, the situation was far from the village, and it was little used for the purpose for which it had been designed by those who were active in the purchase.
Adjoining this town land is a private park, the property of Benjamin W. Kilburn, which is a beautiful bit of landscape. Near its southwesterly corner the Parker and Farr brooks mingle their waters, and but a little farther on the proprietor has built a stone dam that makes an artificial pond extending through a valley bordered far up the stream by high and steep banks and then by gently sloping fields to the Waterford road. The Farr brook winds through the town park, and passing its boundary enters a thick wood that adds to the beauty and variety of the scenery. Both streams and pond are followed by well-kept drives. This park, one of the most attractive spots in the town, is open to the public.
At a Village District meeting in March, 1894, it was voted, on motion of D. C. Remich, that the commissioners be instructed to purchase of Mrs. Hannah O. Wetherell the pasture on Oak Hill Avenue for park purposes, at the price of $2,000, and " to expend $500, to be raised the ensuing year, under the direction of the committee this day elected to expend the money acquired from the sale of bonds, in improving and beautifying the same."1 In compliance with this action the "pasture" was purchased, and
1 This committee consisted of D. C. Remich, F. H. English, Ira Parker, George C. Furber, Charles F. Eastman, Jolin T. Simpson, and Henry A. Eaton. The three last named were the district commissioners. By a vote previously passed by the same
THE DELLS.
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8667.08 expended the same year in " beautifying " the grounds. Counting the original purchase money, there has been expended on this park $10,653.88 since it became the property of the dis- trict. A ball ground of ample dimensions and a grand stand have been built, and the grounds, five acres in extent, have been in part graded. Benjamin W. Kilburn and D. C. Remich presented a band stand, and a part of the grounds, still in a state of nature except- ing the removal of the forest growth, has been set aside for use as an arboretum, where specimens of all native trees, shrubs, and wild flowers may be grown.
At a special meeting held July 17, 1902, action was taken which has given rise to some controversy. The commissioners were authorized to "exclude the public from the grounds on special occasions when athletic sports and games were in prog- ress." This was intended to give baseball and football organi- zations a right to the use of the grounds, designed for these games, and permit them to exclude all who had not paid the required ad- mission fee. It was contended, on the part of those opposed to the proposition, that the park belonged to the public, and they had a right to resort to it for recreation at all times. On the other hand, it was the contention of those favoring the project that the com- missioners or voters had a right to make such regulations for its use as they deemed expedient, as the Selectmen or voters had power to prescribe rules governing the use of the Town Hall. This view has been followed through two seasons, and has won approval of nearly all the citizens. At the meeting directing the purchase of the property Daniel C. Remich moved that the park be known as Hillside Park. The suggestion was approved. Since then (1901) the town has purchased Pine Hill and built a winding driveway, crossing from Pleasant Street, over the summit of the hill, down the west side, where it intersects the northern terminus of School Street. The hill is now (1903) practically a part of the park, and together they constitute recreation grounds which for convenience to the centre of population, in union of plain and hill, wood and field, and in beauty of foreground and magnificent view of dis- tant hills and mountains, must be unsurpassed by any public grounds in New England.
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