USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Nashua > History of the city of Nashua, N.H. > Part 24
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And now comes the great internal war of the town. Hitherto the people of the ancient borough had found their only foes outside their borders and had given and taken hard blows, but in the end had come out victorious though often sorely wounded. Their only town fights had been merely church scrimmages which had been settled by building another meeting-house or two and letting their neighbors go to whichever they might choose, and invariably ended in the combatants being better friends than ever; but this present one stirred the hot rebellious blood, inherited from their sires, which, after lying dormant through the intervening generation, now showed itself with added intensity. The building of the town house was the casus belli, and it ended in the disruption of the town.
The first movement having this end in view was at the meeting held Nov. 2, 1838, when a committee, who had been appointed on the twenty-ninth of the previous month, reported favorably on an offer of Thomas Chase to place the Old South meeting-house on his lot at the corner of West Pearl and Main streets for the sum of $820.
At the very outset the Nashua Manufacturing company had built the Olive Street church, (now the "Pilgrim ") and since that time four other churches had been erected, so that the Old South was practically deserted, being used only for town meetings. No result following the Chase offer, at the next meeting, held March 12, 1839, another committee of five was appointed to consider the matter and also to see about building a new town house. Nothing definite resulted until the meeting of March 8, 1842, when it was voted to erect a town house of brick or stone, appropriating $10,000 to buy the lot and build it.
On the motion to appoint a committee to purchase a lot between the Nashua river and Pearl street, the trouble commenced and the line was sharply drawn, but finally it passed, 582 voting in the affirmative and 396 voting to locate it on the north side of the river.
The north side voters at once withdrew and, true to their inherited traits, immediately drew up a petition to the legislature to be set off from Nashua, which was granted on the twenty-third of the following June and the new town of Nashville was born. The dividing line commenced at Buck Meadow falls, thence down the center of the Nashua river to the railroad bridge above the Jackson Company's mills, thence by the Lowell & Nashua railroad to Crown street, thence down Crown street to the Merrimack river.
It may be well to add that at a meeting held on the nineteenth of August following, the committee were told to go ahead with the town house if it could be completed for $18,000, and in the following year it was finished, but it cost $22,915.17 and we do not learn that anybody complained ;- it still stands, a solid monument bearing witness to the skill and honesty of its builders.
It has been asserted, and as often denied, that there was a bridge over the Nashua & Lowell railroad at the Temple street crossing, in the earlier days. At the Nashua town meeting held March 15, 1843, a committee of three, Ezra Drown, Wm. D. Beasom and Wm. W. Parker, was appointed to remove the said bridge, which would seem to settle that question.
The fire department of Nashua was re-organized April 5, in accordance with an act passed Dec. 20, 1844, and Thomas G. Banks was appointed chief engineer with eight assistants.
Sept. 23, 1845, the Conant road, in Nashua, was laid out.
In 1849 the hill on High street was lowered eight feet and connecting streets adjusted to the new grade.
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The legislature having passed, June 27, 1853, an enabling act, subject to its adoption by a majority of the legal voters in both towns, permitting Nashville and Nashua to unite under a city charter, was submitted to the voters of Nashua Sept. 17, 1853, and was adopted, 468 in the affirmative, and 334 in the negative.
Having abruptly left our young offshoot, Nashville, let us cross the Rubicon and complete our history from her records.
May 9, 1843, the North Hollis road, from the Amherst road, (Broad street) was laid out anew a distance of nearly one and one-fourth miles, sixty feet wide.
In December, 1845, the town bought the land in what is now Railroad square, then occupied by the Central house, for a town house location, which, by the way, was never built, but the hotel was moved in the following spring to the site of the present Laton house.
Aug. 18, 1847, Main street was widened on the west side from Nelson Tuttle's store to Amherst street.
Dec. 15, 1847, Clinton street was laid out forty feet wide and extending five hundred and eighty- seven feet to the Nashua river bridge.
June 28, 1848, Pine Hill road was altered somewhat and for a distance of about three hundred and twenty-two rods was laid out fifty feet wide; it extended to the house of Nathan Buttrick, (now Thomas Holmes'). The small brook near the Wilton railroad is called "Cold Rain brook."
Feb. 22, 1850, a contract was signed leasing from the Nashua & Lowell railway, Franklin hall for the town hall.
In the spring of 1852 the bridge over the Nashua at the Indian Head was carried away by what has since been referred to as the "Big Freshet," and later in the year it was replaced by an iron bridge at a cost of $5,143.11. In 1860 this bridge was strengthened at an expense of $717.60, and in 1883 it was replaced by the present structure costing $8,534.53, at the same time Canal street was widened by a purchase of land on the north side of the Jackson Company, the price paid being $2,000.
On the same day that Nashua voted to unite with Nashville under a city charter, Sept. 17, 1853, Nashville by a vote of two hundred and forty-nine yeas against one hundred and fifteen nays, also assented and in the several wards, Oct. 8, 1853, the compact was finally consummated by the election of all city officers.
Having traced, in "Highways and Bridges," the history of the old township from the advent of the earliest recorded pioneer, through all the various stages of its progress toward its honorable position as a community endowed with the highest civic honors in the power of the state to grant, I leave what was commenced as an unwilling task, but continued with constantly increasing interest, regretting that time and space had not permitted me to do justice to my subject. The briefness of the allusions to passing events and lack of all mention of many important matters, in the records, together with the absence of corroborative or explanatory papers, which, if ever in existence, have long since disappeared, have made it impossible to realize complete measure of exactness or cohesion in the story. I have occasionally lingered by the wayside to gather facts not pertinent to the subject of my text, thinking that possibly they might be overlooked by others in their research. Of one thing I am sure, whatever I have presented in this chapter as facts, are substantiated by the records.
With a passing allusion to staging and taverns, this "Epistle to Posterity " will be closed.
The stage coach was for many years an enlivening and distinctive feature of Nashua and added interest and excitement to the daily life of the people. The stage driver was a prominent man and occupied a place both unique and of great responsibility. He was the embryo express embodied par excellence. Packages confided to his care were promptly delivered; relying on his unfailing honesty he was often entrusted with large sums of money for the settlement of accounts between separated parties, often including bank exchanges; he was the active, energetic, living means of communication between the hamlet and the town, or the town and the city; with a lively dash and a sharp pull-up at the door of the tavern, while the horses were being changed, the eager crowd caught from his willing lips the news or gossip from the outer world above or below. In a twinkling, with a merry blast of the bugle he was off, leaving behind him a pleasurable sensation only appreciable to those who have experienced it. Nashua was then as now on the main through lines of travel, and secured her full
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share of the general prosperity which followed the extension of the old, and the opening up of new, stage routes.
The first stage of which we have any account was a two-horse covered affair, owned and driven by Joseph Wheat, in 1796, from Amherst to Boston once a week and returning, without a change of horses, stopping over night at Billerica. This route was afterward extended to Concord connecting there with other routes beyond, and later penetrated via Amherst, into Vermont, keeping relays of horses along the routes. The Francestown Stage company had a large stable on the site of the present Tremont house stable, opening out into High street. The advent of the Lowell & Nashua railway saw the staging interest on the highest wave of its prosperity, more than thirty per day leaving or passing through the town. I am informed by an eye witness, that it was not unusual to see ten four-horse stages, full, outside and in, starting away one after the other from the Indian Head Coffee house for Concord, and this was only one line, and a competing line at that, and from one only of the stage taverns of the town.
The freighting teams, large wagons drawn by four, six, or eight horses, passing through the town, constantly increasing in number until the railroads were built, united with the staging in giving life and activity throughout the length of the town; added to these, the smaller teams, owned and driven by farmers who made a trip or two yearly to market, either here or beyond, carrying their own produce and returning with supplies for themselves, or the country store-keepers, and it may well be imagined that business was brisk. All this created a demand for taverns, which were numerous and busy, fully up to the needed requirements. As early as 1769 five taverns are noted, kept by the following named persons: Benj. French, Thomas Harwood, William Hunt, Jona. Lovewell, Esq., and Widow Mary Butterfield. I am unable to locate their houses with the exception of Lovewell's, which stood on the site of the present Godfrey farm house, and the Hunt tavern, which stood on the site of the present Elm house, on the opposite side of the road from and a short distance below the residence of the late John C. Lund. I think French kept the old French tavern close by the state line, probably a grandson of the first Dea. Samuel French.
In 1792 the general court passed an act authorizing the selectmen of towns to "grant licenses to keep tavern to suitable persons having accommodations, who might make application," giving them the right to retail rum, brandy, gin, wine and other spirituous liquors. The selectmen licensed the following named persons, Capt. Benj. French and Deacon William Hunt, located as before noted, Lt. Sam'l Pollard, who kept just south of the residence of the late John C. Lund, the house being long since decayed and removed, and Mr. Wm. Whittle, whom I fail to locate.
I find the above licenses, continuously, as follows, Captain French in 1799, Deacon Hunt in 1797, Mr. Whittle in 1794 and Lieutenant Pollard in 1808.
In this latter year, we find in addition to Lieutenant Pollard, the following named tavern keepers : Willard Marshall, William Roby, William F. Boynton, David Combs, James B. Starr, Samuel Preston, Isaac Marsh, Cummings Pollard, James T. Lund, and Timothy Taylor.
Others had been in the business between these years, 1792-1808, but at the latter date were either dead or had retired. Of the above mentioned, Marsh built what is now the Morrill homestead at the Harbor and opened it to the public in 1805. Later it was kept by Thomas Monroe, the father of the late Mrs. John M. Hunt, and the late Franklin Monroe of pleasant memory. Timothy Presby succeeded him. I find in the directory of 1845 Smith Morrill, inn-keeper and butcher at the Harbor, probably here. It passed finally into the possession of the late David L. Morrill who closed it to the public.
William Roby owned what is now the O'Neil farm on the Lowell road and was licensed in 1802, ending with the year, 1808.
William F. Boynton was licensed as early as 1803 and as late as 1811, and probably kept the old Lovewell tavern. He did a very large business as a country trader in a building which stood just north of the tavern. Later Jesse Estey kept this tavern as did Silas Gibson and others whom I am unable to name. From its location at the "Centre " where, in the early days all the business of the town was transacted and having the postoffice under its roof, this was the most prominent tavern of all, but it did not long survive the advent of manufactures at the village.
The Cummings Pollard tavern was in its day one of the favorite stopping places on the road. In later years a floor was laid resting on the wide spreading branches of the large elm still standing
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near the house; it was reached by a flight of stairs and guarded by a railing. It was quite a resort for driving parties from Lowell as well as Nashua; although it is not remembered that any serious accident ever happened from its elevated situation, still the descent from it must have been at times rather hazardous, considering the nature of the refreshment served to the exalted guest. An organized company with horses went into training here one winter, and in the spring with a complete circus outfit started out on the road in search of shekels and glory. It is now owned and occupied by Alfred P. Kendall, having long been closed as a public house.
A few years later the large house (since burned) on the opposite side of the road, but further north, was opened as a tavern. At one time Ned Maynard, the noted horseman, kept it and opened up a race-track in the rear.
The large square house at the top of the hill beyond the old grave-yard was long known as the Little stand, John Little having kept it for years. He was succeeded by Charles Willard and he by others until about eighteen years since, when it was sold to the Rev. D. D. Dodge for a residence. It is now owned by Charles M. Gage.
Very little stage traffic fell to any of these taverns after the village of Nashua was started, but the teaming remained to a great extent with them until the coming of the railway to Nashua.
I can not place the remaining tavern keepers of 1808 mentioned before, with the exception of Timothy Taylor, the pioneer of the north side. I find him licensed in 1801. He probably built the tavern since called the Indian Head Coffee house, which was at first of one story only. It was leased April 7, 1813, to Phinehas Whiting, Jr., who greatly enlarged it and added another story, but he failed and the lease was acquired by Willard Marshall; who kept the house during the following fourteen years I can not say. It was included in the two hundred acres bought by the Nashua Manufacturing company of Benjamin F. French, Sept. 1, 1824, subject to this lease. April 4, 1828, the Nashua company sold it to Moses Tyler, who by report was a most admirable landlord. For the next fifty years its reputation was sustained and popularity increased by such jovial, hearty, attentive landlords as O. Bristol, P. O. Richmond, Mark Gillis, Gilman Scripture and others, which made this house noted all over New England for hospitality and good cheer. Nor must we overlook the Central house. December 31, 1831, the Nashua Manufacturing company sold to Cushing Baker a lot with all the buildings thereon, "being the Nashua Hotel establishment." This hotel stood in Railroad square, facing Main street. The lot, reserving the buildings which were moved to the site of the present Laton house, was sold to the town of Nashville Dec. 18, 1845, by Peter Clark. Other adjoining lands were bought by the town, the whole being intended for a town house location. I infer from the above that the Nashua company built this hotel. It was known later as the Central house. The American house stood on the east side of Main street where now are the Beasom and Ham- mond residences, and the imposing Washington house stood on the present site of the Noyes block, but was later moved to the corner of Bowers and Main streets, within whose walls watches were first made by machinery, which was destined to revolutionize the watch making of the world. All four of these hotels were noted for the excellence of their table and the attentiveness of their landlords to the comfort of their guests, making, as Dr. Johnson quaintly said, "a tavern chair the throne of human felicity."
They were emphatically stage taverns and lively ones too, with the bustle and stir of the constantly coming and going stages, but all is now changed, the railroads, with more facility, greater rapidity, and comparatively little noise, confusion or effort now bring a multitude unnoticed in the place of the few who then seemed so many. Of a truth the times are changed.
My task is done, tho' the story be not half told.
Art. Saunders.
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HISTORY OF NASITUA, N. II.
ARCHIBALD HARRIS DUNLAP.
Ilon. Archibald H. Dunlap was born at North Branch, Antrim, Sept. 2, 1817; died at Nashua, April 5, 1894. Hc was a son of John and Jennie ( Nesmith ) Dunlap, and of the fourth generation in descent from Archibald, who came from the Scotch settlement in Ireland about the year 1740 and settled in Chester. The line of descent is Archibald, John, John and Archibald H. Archibald mar- ried Martha Neal of Chester. She was of Scotch ancestry, and her father, Joseph Neal, was among the Presby- terians who peti- tioned the legisla- ture, in 1736, to be freed from paying a second tax to support a Congre- gational minister. The third child of Archibald was Maj. John Dunlap of Revolutionary memory. He was born in Chester in 1746, married Martha Gilmore, settled in Bedford, owned and carried on a large farm. --------- As a military man he was well known in his day and his hospitality and liberality were shown by enter- taining on one occasion his entire regiment.
His son John early left Bedford and settled in An- trim, where he was in the cabinet making business for many years, and was probably the first to intro- duce the manu- facture of knitted underclothing in this state, and also made looms for that purpose. This was about the year 1812 and was deemed a great curiosity.
The subject of this sketch inherited the zeal, power of endurance and enterprise of the Scotch race. At the age of thirteen years, with but a limited education, he started out to seek his fortune. With his elder brother, Robert, he left his home at an early hour in the morning with a bundle in one hand and a staff in the other to walk to Nashua, a distance of thirty-five miles. They reached the town late in the afternoon and the next day, Saturday, spent their time in looking over the village and making
acquaintances. Sunday they attended services at what became known a little later as the Olive Street church, Rev. Mr. Nott being the pastor at that time, and there Mr. Dunlap continued a worshipper while the church stood-more than half a century-and after that at the Pilgrim church, built upon the same site. On Monday he secured employment with Ziba Gay, manufacturer of machinery, to work through the summer. All the while Mr. Dunlap felt the need of a better education and so in the autumn of that year, 1831, he entered Franklin academy, of which Prof. Benjamin M. Tyler was princi- pal, and remained until spring. Hc afterwards attend- ed Francesiown one term and one term at Antrim, finishing his edu- cation at the latter place.
Mr. Dunlap's next place of em- ployment was at the Indian Head mills, where, at the age of nine- teen, he was pro- moted to the po- sition of overseer. He held this re- sponsible position until 1847, when, his health again failing, he re- signed. The next two years were spent in business in Franklin. In 1849 he returned to Nashua and commenced the garden seed busi- ness. It was at first an experi- ment, but his characteristic en- ergy, push and steady devotion in whatever he was engaged, overcame the discourage- ments that would have caused many less courageous men to have abandoned the enterprise, and it was crowned with success.
ARCHIBALD HARRIS DUNLAP.
Mr. Dunlap was many times honored with positions of trust by his fellow citizens. He held offices in the town and city governments ; in 1858 he was elected railroad com- missioner of the state for three years, and in 1864 he was chosen one of the presidential electors of New Hampshire with the honor of casting an electoral vote for Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Dunlap represented his ward in the legis- lature in 1869 and 1870. The influence of his strong personality was widely felt in all matters pertaining to
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the welfare of the city; witness the fact that when the people were divided into contending factions over the location of the soldiers' and sailors' monument he calmly arose in his place in an excited meeting, poured oil upon the troubled waters and suggested Abbot square-the site where it is located-urged harmony and made a patriotic appeal that silenced discord and settled the vexed ques- tion. This public spirit was shown in the advocacy of, and aid given, to many other improvements and enter- prises that now enter into the daily life of our citizens- notably the build- ing of the Nashua & Rochester rail- road, the acquire- ment of the fund for the North com- mon, and the founding of the New Hampshire Banking company -in all of these he was one of the original promot- ers. From his youth Mr. Dunlap was a leader among men. Tall, finely proportioned, easy in carriage, fear- less in the advoc- acy of his princi- ples, a man of original ideas, capable of making an argumentative and convincing address, he was a power in church and state, and in justice to his mem- ory it should be said that he never wielded this power for gain or selfish motives. To build up Nashua, her industries and her churches, and to advance the stand- ard of good living in the home and mercantile affairs was his aim. He was a constant con- tributor to everything that helped society. He was a deacon for many years in the churches heretofore men- tioned. He was chairman of the building committee for the erection of the present Pilgrim church edifice in 1881, and worked diligently until it was completed and dedicated.
REV. JAMES S. BLACK.
Deacon Dunlap was united in marriage Aug. 12, 1841, with Lucy Jane, daughter of Josiah Fogg of Exeter and granddaughter of Major Josiah Fogg. Five children were born of the marriage: James H., Georgianna, John P., (died in 1852, aged four years), Abby Jane, Charles H., ( died in 1894, aged 41 ).
REV. JAMES S. BLACK.
Rev. James S. Black, writer of the ecclesiastical chapter of this work, was born in Scotland in 1845. He attended schools at Glasgow and Edinburgh and was graduated from institutions of learning in this country. He was settled over the Olive Street Congregational society in Nashua from 1870 to 1874, was pastor of Erskine church in Montreal from 1874 to 1884, at Colorado Springs, Col., from 1884 to 1890, at Minneapolis, Minn., from 1890 to 1894, and at present is the minister at St. Andrew's church, Halifax, N. S. He has traveled in Europe, in Pales- tine and Egypt, and is author of several popular works of a reli- gious character. Mr. Black is an earnest and elo- quent extempora- neous preacher whose services have been very profitable to the congregations and people where he has been settled. During the four years of his min- istry overthe Olive Street church, which was his first pastorate, he en- deared himself to its members. He was not only a very earnest and zeal- ous preacher, but, also, a warm and disinterested friend. Broad in hisreligiousviews, he had, neverthe- less, the courage of his convictions and never hesitat- ed to denounce whatever, in his judgment, tended to subvert or com- bat the great truths of Christianity. In addition to his work as a pastor his services were in frequent demand as a platform orator, his reputation as an eloquent and instructive speaker on popular themes being well known and appreciated in this vicinity as well as throughout New England. He took great interest in public affairs, and was a zealous and patriotic citizen. He has been twice married, first, 1872, with Helen M. Kimball of Nashua, who died while he was settled in Colorado, and, second, with Mary Cameron, a native of Pittsburgh and of Scotch descent. No children.
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HISTORY OF NASHUA, N. II.
ANDREW ELIOT THAYER.
Rev. Andrew E. Thayer was born Nov. 4, 1783, in Hampton, died in Nashua, Jan. 31, 1846. He was a son of Rev. Ebenezer (twenty-six years a minister at Hampton),
ANDREW ELIOT THAYER.
and Martha (Cotton) Thayer, and grandson of Rev. John Cotton of Newton, Mass., and descendant in the fifth generation from Rev. John Cotton, who came from Eng- land in 1633 and was settled over the First church in Boston.
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