USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Nashua > History of the city of Nashua, N.H. > Part 83
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In 1843 he surveyed and built one of the canals in Man- chester. In 1844 he surveyed the Vermont Central rail- road, and in 1845 the Old Colony. The next three years
he spent in drawings for mill work and in making a sur- vey to supply Manchester with water from Massabesic lake. After this he was employed on the Nashua & Wil- ton road, on the Stony Brook and Boston, Concord & Montreal, on the latter being the chief engineer. In 1849, after a season of rest because of ill-health, he as- sumed the duties of treasurer and assistant superintend- ent of the Nashua & Lowell road. This position was held until 1852, when he was appointed superintendent of the Hudson River road. He had been in the last position but little more than a year when an urgent offer was made to him to take the super- intendency of the Nashua & Lowell road and its branches, which position he ac- cepted and entered at once upon its duties. In 1857 he became the man- ager of the Boston & Lowell road and its branches. The task was of great magnitude and re- sponsibility. In the period of his service, which in- cluded about eigh- teen years, the great depot on Causeway street, Boston, was built, and many other great improve- ments instituted, including extend- ing its spur tracks and opening new lines of travel. General Stark, after his resigna- tion as manager of the Boston & Low- ell system, was en- gaged in several other railroad schemes, notably the Northern Pa- cific, in which cor- poration he was a director and vice-president. During his last years he was in the banking business in New York and Nashua with his son, John F. Stark.
GEORGE STARK.
Although General Stark's life was a busy one, yet he found time in which to interest himself in public affairs. In 1857 Governor Haile commissioned him as brigadier- general of the Third brigade, New Hampshire militia. In 1860 he was commissioned colonel of the Governor's Horse guards, and in 1861, in the capacity of brigadier- general, he proceeded to Portsmouth and took charge of the troops that were rendezvousing there for service in
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the Civil War. In political life General Stark was iden- tified with the Democratic party. He was never consid- ered an active partisan. In the four years succeeding 1 856 he represented Ward One in the legislature, in 1860 and 1861 he was his party's candidate for governor, and in 1863 and 1864 he was a candidate for the Nashua mayoralty.
General Stark's biographer, W. H. Herrick of Manches- ter- see "Sketches of Successful New Hampshire Men" says of him: "In personnel General Stark was charac- terized by a quiet, deliberate yet courteous manner that was not disturbed by the varied conditions and incidents of business life. This trait of an habitual mental equipoise was a peculiarity that impressed itself permanently on an observer. He had a natural, unrestrained manner in con- versation and social qualities that were freely manifested
in company with tested and worthy friends. As a writer of business documents and reports he manifested power, method, perspicuity, and his manuscript showed a care- ful arrangement, neatness and precision of chirography quite remarkable in one of his extensive business experi- ence. His family residence at Nashua, though showing no taste for ostentation or display, is an elegant structure in the villa style, furnished with every comfort and con- venience and adorned with works of art.
General Stark was married in 1845 with Elizabeth A. Parker, daughter of Daniel Parker of Bedford. She died in 1846. In 1848 he was united in marriage with Mary G. Bowers, daughter of Col. Joseph Bowers of Chelmsford, Mass. His two children are John F. and Emma G., the latter the wife of Edward B. Towne of Newton, Mass.
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HISTORY OF NASHUA, N. H.
RAILROADS.
BY W. W. BAILEY.
T HE commencement of manufacturing industries about 1824 in Lowell and Nashua, par- ticularly by the utilization of water power, and their rapid increase and development, rendered greatly inadequate the means of transportation then existing, and showed the urgent need of such facilities of transportation as railroads give. Stages, canal boats and horse teams had well served a farming population, but manufacturing and mechanical interests demanded something better. Such interests mainly induced the construction of a railroad from Boston to Lowell, Nashua and beyond. Farmers opposed the introduction of railroads, because as they claimed railroads would largely supersede the use of horses, and thus injure their market for hay and grain. In England the first surveyors of the railroad from Liverpool to Manchester were mobbed by the land owners, their instruments were broken and they were driven off by violence. The bill to incorporate the road was violently opposed in parliament, on the ground that the construction of a railroad would be an injury to the public and an invasion of private rights. The New Hampshire legislature in 1842 passed a law providing that "no railroad corporation shall take any land, for the use of such corporation, without the consent of the owner thereof," which practically prevented the further extension of railroads in the state. The unexpected success and beneficial effects of the line from Concord to Boston were so manifest, that public opinion became so changed that the legislature in 1844 so modified this law, that railroad corporations were declared to be public corporations in certain cases and enabled to take land under the right of eminent domain.
About 1630 tramways were introduced in England AT THE NORTH END. as an improvement upon highways. They consisted of a trackway laid with wooden rails upon an ordinary road, to facilitate the transportation of heavily laden teams or wagons, and were principally used in the transportation of coal from the mines to the places of shipment. Wooden rails had been in use one hundred and fifty years, when it occurred to some one to lessen their friction by plating them with iron. Iron plates upon wooden rails with a flange either upon the outside or inside were in use till about 1781, when the edge rail was substituted and the flange transferred to the wheel. The idea of using the railroad for general purposes of traffic and the possibility of constructing steam carriages was first suggested about this time. A steam wagon was patented in 1782, a steam carriage in 1784 and a high pressure engine in 1802, but they were all found to be impracticable and abandoned. In 1822 the construction of the locomotive engine was so perfected that it was substituted for horse power on the tram roads.
The first legislative act authorizing the construction of a public railroad was passed by parlia- ment in 1801, granting the right to build a tram road nine miles long. The first railroad coach was used for the transportation of passengers in 1825, and was propelled by horse power. At the time of the completion of the Liverpool & Manchester railroad in England in 1829, it was the prevalent idea that trains would have to be moved by stationary engines placed at intervals along the line of the road by means of ropes, but a trial of George Stephenson's first locomotive proved the superiority of that kind of motive power, and it was adopted as the motive power of the road. The first railway legislative act in the United States was passed by the Pennsylvania legislature in 1823, which was soon after repealed. A second act was passed in 1826, incorporating the Philadelphia & Columbus railroad, which was completed at the expense of the state in 1834. The first railroad built in the United States was in Quincy, Mass., in 1826, three miles long, to carry granite from the quarry to tide water. Between 1826 and 1830 the Charleston & Hamburg, S. C., railroad was constructed, the
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HISTORY OF NASHUA, N. II.
first road in the world "built expressly for locomotive power for general freight and passenger business." The first locomotive constructed in the United States was built for this road at the West Point foundry in 1830.
The Boston & Lowell railroad extending from Boston to Lowell, twenty-six miles, was the first road constructed affecting the development of Nashua. It was incorporated June 30, 1830. Before the charter was granted, the legislature of Massachusetts appointed an engineer to make surveys and locate the road, and the corporation built the road substantially as thus located. Its construction was "a doubtful experiment without the guide of experience or the assurance of great success." It was a matter of grave consideration, whether the road should be adapted for horse or locomotive power, and also whether the rails should be of wood with plates of iron on top, or all of iron. The rails were laid upon stone ties or blocks of stone, which in a few years were found to be unsuitable, and were removed and wooden ties substituted. The shares of stock of the corporation at first were of the par value of five hundred dollars-the only instance in the country where the par value of railroad shares has been fixed at more than one hundred dollars, to which sum they have been since reduced. The road was opened for business, June 26, 1835. Its first cost with one track was about $1,000,000. The success of the road ensured the construction of the Nashua & Lowell railroad. It was operated independently till 1857. From 1857 to 1878 it was operated jointly with the Nashua & Lowell railroad. It was then operated independently and for a short time jointly with the Concord railroad to April 1, 1887, when it was leased to the Boston & Maine railroad corporation for ninety-nine years. Its present capital stock is $6,529,400, and its funded indebtedness is $7,922,400.
The Nashua & Lowell railroad was chartered by the New Hampshire legislature June 23, 1835, authorizing the construction of a railroad from some point in Dunstable, now Nashua, to the state line of Massachusetts, and by the Massachusetts legislature April 16, 1836, authorizing the con- struction of a railroad from some point in Lowell to the state line, there to connect with the Nashua & Lowell railroad of New Hampshire. The grantees of the Massachusetts corporation were a portion of the grantees of the New Hampshire corporation. At a joint meeting of the two corpora- tions held on April 28, 1836, it was voted "That the said corporations shall be forever hereafter united into one corporation ; that the meetings of said corporations shall be holden at the same time and place, one notice only being required; that the officers shall be the same, and that there shall be no distinction as to the stock in the two states, except that the accounts of expenditures shall be kept separate."
In 1838 the legislature of Massachusetts and New Hampshire passed acts to unite the Nashua & Lowell railroad corporations of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, which were accepted by the corporations. The corporation was organized and the first board of directors elected by the stock- holders May 30, 1836, consisting of Daniel Abbot, Ira Gay, Jesse Bowers, Charles G. Atherton, Peter Clark, Joseph Greeley and Robert Reed. The road was located and its construction com- menced in the fall of 1837. Financial difficulties, caused by stringency in the money market and general depression of business, made it necessary for the corporation to obtain a loan of $50,000 from the state of Massachusetts, secured by a mortgage of its road, in April, 1838. The road was so far completed that passenger trains commenced running on the eighth of October, and freight trains on the twenty-third of November, 1838, from Lowell to a temporary station in Nashua, near the inter- section of Temple and Amory streets. The bridge over the Nashua river was completed and the trains came to the Main street station December 23, of the same year. The stockholders by a vote of eight hundred and thirty-one to one hundred and seventy-six, located the Main street station on its present site. The cost of the road up to this time, including equipment, was about $380,000, and the capital stock was $300,000, which was increased to $350,000 in 1839, and to $380,000 in 1840. The first dividend of three per cent was declared in May, 1839. Increase of business and the opening of the Concord railroad in 1842, insured the success of the road and placed the corporation on a firm financial basis. A second track was constructed in 1845, and $120,000 of stock was created to pay the cost of its construction. It leased and operated the Stony Brook and Wilton railroads from the time of their opening in 1848. Increase of business required improvements and additional equipment, and an issue of $100,000 of new stock was made in 1848. The present Main street passenger station in Nashua was built in the same year.
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HISTORY OF NASHUA, N. H.
In 1868 1,200 shares of new stock were issued to stockholders at par, in proportion to their number of shares of stock and, at the same time, a dividend of twenty per cent was made out of the accumulated earnings of the road, invested in permanent improvements. In 1871 eight hundred shares of new stock were issued to the stockholders in proportion to their number of shares of stock, to be paid for at par, and increasing the capital stock to $800,000, its present amount. It operated its road and branches independently until 1857, when it made a joint traffic contract with the Boston & Lowell railroad corporation, under which the two corporations operated their roads and branches jointly until 1878. It then operated its road independently until 1880, when it leased its road to the Boston & Lowell railroad corporation for ninety-nine years, at an annual rental of $60,000. In 1872 it leased the Peterborough railroad for twenty years at an annual rental of six per cent interest on the cost of the road, without equipment, amounting to over $600,000.
In 1887 the Boston & Lowell railroad having been leased to the Boston & Maine railroad corporation, it consented to an assignment of its lease by the Boston & Lowell railroad corporation to the Boston & Maine railroad corporation, upon the increase of the annual rental to $72,000. Until 1857 the corporation paid dividends averaging yearly eight and thirty-two one hundredths per cent. For eighteen years thereafter it paid dividends under the joint contract with the Boston & Lowell railroad corporation, averaging yearly ten per cent.
The first board of directors elected in May, 1836, were Daniel Abbot, Ira Gay, Charles G. Atherton, Peter Clark, Joseph Greeley and Robert Reed. Daniel Abbot was the first president, and continued in office until 1852, when he declined a re-election on account of infirmity of age. Jesse Bowers continued as a director until 1854, when he declined a re-election on account of age. Onslow Stearns was the first superintendent and afterwards a director. Charles F. Gove was a director and afterwards for several years superintendent. George Stark was treasurer and superintendent for several years, and manager of the roads while they were operated under the joint contract between the Nashua & Lowell railroad and the Boston & Lowell railroad corporations until 1875, when he resigned. In his management of these roads General Stark displayed an ability and skill which placed him among the foremost of railroad managers of his time in New England, and although his plans may have apparently given some grounds for the charge that they were too far in advance of present wants, yet subsequent events have vindicated his wisdom and foresight.
The Concord railroad, extending from Nashua to Concord, thirty-five miles, was chartered June 27, 1835, but the grantees did not take decided action until December, 1840, and on account of the delay they were obliged to obtain from the legislature an extension of the charter. In its inception it was a Concord enterprise. None of the grantees of the first board of officers were Nashua men. Several Nashua land owners persistently opposed the taking of their land for the purpose of its construction. Litigation continued for some years. Grave questions of constitutional law were raised, and our supreme court decided in the case of Concord railroad against Greeley, that a railroad is in general such a public use as affords just grounds for the taking of private property for public uses, and that the United States constitution does not interfere with this right.
In 1850 it leased the Manchester & Lawrence railroad, and thereafter it controlled that road by lease or joint operation until 1887, when it was leased to the Boston & Maine railroad corporation. In 1857 it leased the Concord & Portsmouth railroad for five years, and in 1862 leased it again for ninety-nine years. In 1861 it built the branch from Hooksett to Suncook. In 1866 it bought the Manchester & North Weare road, and in 1870 it leased the Suncook Valley road, extending from Suncook to Pittsfield, which was afterwards extended to Barnstead. In 1877 it purchased the Nashua, Acton & Boston railroad, and in 1884 it purchased a one-half interest in the Manchester & Keene railroad. In 1889 it was consolidated with the Boston, Concord & Montreal railroad corpora- tion, under the name of the Concord & Montreal railroad corporation, and in 1895 the road of this corporation, including leased lines, was leased to the Boston & Maine railroad corporation for ninety- one years.
The road was constructed with a single track and opened for business to Manchester, July 4, 1842, and to Concord the following September, at a cost of about $750,000, at which sum the capital stock of the corporation was then fixed; a second track was constructed in 1848. In 1845 the capital stock was increased to $1,200,000, in 1848 to $1,485,000 and shortly afterwards to $1,500,000, and so remained until it was consolidated with the Boston, Concord & Montreal railroad in 1889. The par
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HISTORY OF NASHUA, N. H.
value of the shares was fifty dollars until 1889, when the legislature, by an act in that year, increased the par value to one hundred dollars, without payment of money by the stockholders, as stated in the act, in part compensation for the property rights and franchises of that corporation, acquired by its original capital and by the new capital contributed by stockholders from time to time in earnings not heretofore divided.
The Wilton railroad, extending from Nashua to Wilton, fifteen and forty-two one hundredths miles was chartered Dec. 28, 1844. It was constructed and opened for business to Amherst Station in Novem- ber, 1848, to Milford in January, 1851, and to Wilton in December, 1852, at a cost of about $232,000, not including rolling stock. The delay in its construction was caused by those preferring other routes to the one selected, particularly by those who desired the road to go through Amherst village. The road was located after protracted litigation. It was never operated independently. It was op- erated by the Nashua & Lowell railroad corporation by contract to 1857, when it was leased to the Nashua & Lowell railroad corporation for twenty years. In 1872 a new lease of the road was made to the Nashua & Lowell railroad corporation for twenty years, and in 1883 it was re-leased to the Boston & Lowell railroad corporation for ninety-nine years at a rental of seven per cent on its capital stock, then fixed at $242,000. In 1890 this lease was assigned to the Boston & Maine railroad corpor- ation and the rental increased to eight and one-half per cent on its capital stock.
The Worcester, Nashua & Rochester railroad extends from Worcester, Mass., to Rochester, N. H., a distance of ninety-four and forty-eight one hundredths miles. The Worcester & Nashua railroad, extending from Worcester to Nashua, forty-five and sixty-nine one hundredths miles, was chartered in Massachusetts in 1842, and in New Hampshire in 1845, and it was constructed and opened for business to Nashua Dec. 18, 1848. The original cost of the road, including equipment, was $1,425,235 which was increased from time to time up to the time of its consolidation with the Nashua & Rochester to $2,543,920. The Nashua & Rochester railroad was chartered in 1868, being a combination of two previous charters, the Portsmouth & Rochester and the Nashua & Epping, which had never been or- ganized. The road was constructed and opened for business in 1874 from Nashua to Rochester. Its cost was about $2,000,000, not including rolling stock. The city of Nashua took $200,000 of its capi- tal stock to aid its construction. On its completion it was leased to the Worcester & Nashua railroad corporation for fifty years at an annual rental of six per cent on the cost of its construction as repre- sented by its capital stock and bonds. In 1883 the Worcester & Nashua and Nashua & Rochester railroad corporations were consolidated under the title of the Worcester, Nashua & Rochester rail- road corporation, having a capital stock of $3,099,800, and a bonded indebtedness of $1,662,000. In 1886 the railroad was leased to the Boston & Maine railroad corporation at an annual rental of $250,000.
The Nashua, Acton & Boston railroad, extending from Nashua to Acton, Mass., twenty and twenty-one one hundredths miles, was chartered by the Massachusetts legislature in 1871 and by the New Hampshire legislature in 1872. It was constructed and opened for business in 1873. Its cost exceeded $1,000,000. The company issued $500,000 in stock and $500,000 in bonds, secured by a mortgage of the road. The projectors of the road intended it principally as a part of a rival line from Nashua to Boston by way of the Fitchburg road and expected to make it a success by the diver- sion of business from the line to Boston from Nashua by way of Lowell. The expectations were never realized. While the road was operated independently it did not pay operating expenses. The road was leased to the Concord railroad corporation for ten years from Jan. 1, 1876, at an annual rental of $11,000 a year. Before the expiration of this lease the Concord railroad corporation pur- chased substantially all of the mortgage bonds at twenty-five cents on a dollar, foreclosed the mort- gage and obtained possession of and title to the road. As a railroad enterprise it never had any merit ; from the first it was a financial failure and it has been of little benefit to Nashua, particularly as com- pared with the large amount of Nashua capital sunk in the enterprise.
The Peterborough railroad, extending from Wilton to Greenfield, eleven miles, was chartered in 1872 and was constructed and opened for business Jan. 1, 1874. It was leased to the Nashua & Low- ell railroad corporation for twenty years from Oct. 1, 1873, at an annual rental of six per cent on the cost of its construction which was $588,950, not including gratuities. During the continuance of the lease the cost of the construction above the capital stock, fixed at $385,000, was paid from the rental. Nashua gave a gratuity of $15,000 to aid in its construction, and April 1, 1893, it was again
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HISTORY OF NASHUA, N. H.
leased to the Boston & Lowell railroad corporation for ninety-three years at an annual rental of four per cent on its capital stock fixed at $385,000. The Boston & Maine railroad corporation operates the road under an assignment of this lease.
The Nashua Street Railway company was incorporated Aug. 14, 1885, John A Spalding, Henry Stearns, Isaac Eaton, Rufus A. Maxfield, William D. Cadwell, Webster P. Hussey, Q. A. Wood- ward, Royal D. Barnes and Charles Williams being the original members of the corporation and its first board of directors, with a capital stock of $50,000.
The original laying out of the street railway was over Kinsley, Main and Canal streets to the Concord railroad station, of a narrow gauge railway, horse power being the motive power, the stables and car houses of the company being located at the head of Kinsley street. Q. A. Woodward was the first superintendent of the railway.
In 1886 the company leased and improved a large tract of land at the Harbor, then known as Barker's park, later called Lawndale garden, and a line was extended thereto from Kinsley street through the southerly portion of Main street. Later lines were laid out through Hanover, West Hollis, Palm and Pearl streets, through East Pearl street to Crown hill, also over Concord and Amherst streets.
In 1889 George H. Knowles was made president and general manager of the road, continuing in that office until 1894, when the controlling interest was purchased by Massachusetts capitalists, and power having been granted by the legislature, the road was re-organized and re-constructed as a standard gauge electric street railway, under the supervision of P. F. Sullivan, manager of the Low- ell and Suburban street railway company, and lines were extended through Hudson to Lowell, Mass.
By act of the legislature of 1896 the company was authorized to lease its road to the Lowell and Suburban street railway, which company now controls and manages the service in Nashua through P. F. Sullivan, general manager, and a local assistant manager.
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