USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Haverhill > History of the town of Haverhill, New Hampshire > Part 30
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90
The first recorded vote of a definite amount raised for highways was that passed at the annual meeting of 1783, when the sum of £100 was voted to repair highways to be paid in labor at 4s a day. As but £30 was raised for town charges, it is probable that road maintenance had been much neglected during the War of the Revolution. The amount raised for building and maintenance of highways had increased by 1795 to £150 to be paid in labor at 3s per day, and the surveyors of highways to six. In 1801, the sum of $500 was voted "to mend and repair highways," and in addition to this it was voted that $100 be laid out on the road from Captain Montgomery's store to Coventry line (the Oliverian Brook road) ;
249
HISTORY OF HAVERHILL
$100 on the road from Fisher farm to Coventry line (the Coventry road); and $100 on the road running opposite the old court house to near Ephraim Wesson's and from thence by James King's to Bath (the Brier Hill road). At the same meeting the town refused to consent to building the turnpike for which two years later a charter was obtained. In 1807, the sum of $800 was raised for highways and bridges, one third of which was to be paid in money to be laid out at the discretion of the selectmen. In 1820, the appropriation for highways was $800 in labor and $200 in money; in 1830, $900 in labor at 8 cents per hour and $300 in money; in 1840, $1,800 in labor under the direction of no less than nineteen highway surveyors; in 1850, $1,500 in labor at 10 cents per hour and $1,500 in money, and the number of highway districts had increased to twenty-three. Thereafter, the annual appropriation was $1,500 in labor, until 1864 when it was raised to $2,000 to be paid in labor at 14 cents per hour, the number of highway districts remaining the same.
The highway bridge over the Ammonoosuc between Haverhill and Bath was built in 1829, cost $2,400 equally divided between the two towns.
The policy of having a large portion of the tax paid in labor prevailed for some years later and the appropriation seldom exceeded $2,000 until 1888 when $4,000 was appropriated, one-half to be paid in money and one-half in labor. In 1889 the appropriation was $3,000, all to be paid in money. In 1893, the same sum was raised of which $1,000 was for permanent highway repair; in 1894, the amount was $4,500; in 1895, $6,000; in 1895 and 1896, the same. In 1897 the sum was reduced to $3,000. Unprecedented damage was done to the roads and bridges by a summer cloudburst, and at a special town meeting Friday, August 2, the sum of $30,000 was voted to be raised by temporary loan for making immediate necessary repairs. In making repairs and replacing bridges which had been carried away, the selectmen pursued a policy of doing thorough work, having regard to permanence instead of affording tem- porary relief, and as a result in March, 1898, the auditors reported a town debt of $57,116.32, represented by unpaid bills, outstanding orders and town notes on which from 42 to 6 per cent interest was being paid. At a special town meeting October 25, 1898, it was voted, 550 to 3, to issue bonds to the amount of $57,000 in order to bring the town debt into one form of obligation. These were issued, interest at 4 per cent, $3,000 to be retired annually under the terms of the issue. The bonds were sold at a premium, placing the interest charge on nearly a 3} per cent basis and have now been nearly all retired.
This disaster had the effect of deepening the interest of the citizens of the town in good roads and in 1898 and 1899, the appropriation for high- ways was $8,000 each year. This was not all available for highways in
250
HISTORY OF HAVERHILL
the town proper, since in 1881, the village of Woodsville had been made a separate district for certain purposes including streets and highways, and its proportionate share of all highway money raised, based on valuation, was expended by commissioners elected by the district. The policy of the town in recent years has been a liberal one in the matter of high- way appropriations, and with the adoption by the state of a policy of aiding towns in making permanent improvements the town has availed itself of this aid on the conditions prescribed by the state. The river road from Piermont to Bath line, with a branch from the Cottage Hos- pital to Woodsville, has been constructed as a state road, steel bridges have in other parts of the town succeeded those constructed of wood, and the growing use of automobiles in recent years has led to a policy of mak- ing improvements of a more permanent character than formerly, and more scientific methods of construction and repair. The voters have not only made liberal appropriations for highways, but have insisted on knowing where and by whom the money has been expended as the full detailed and itemized statement of expenditure in the printed town reports since 1879 bear testimony. The town, outside the Woodsville district, has in round numbers a hundred miles of highways. They are not all what they should be as yet, methods of maintenance are not yet perfect, but there is constant improvement, and it is believed that in the near future the town will be able to take genuine pride in its highways.
Many of the interests of the settlers of the two towns of Haverhill and Newbury were common, and constant communication between the two settlements was a necessity, but the waters of the Connecticut separated them. There were few if any places where the river could be forded, and ferries came early into existence, remaining the only accommodation for public travel across the river during the open summer season for a period of upwards of thirty years. Some of these were owned by individuals and were operated by permission of the town, and others were chartered by the legislature of New Hampshire after the boundary line had been determined. The earliest ferry was kept by Richard Chamberlin, and after his death by his sons. He had no charter at first, but in 1772 the New Hampshire legislature approved his right, and the town of Newbury confirmed it the next year and fixed rates of toll. Col. Asa Porter ob- tained a ferry charter which gave him exclusive rights between his farm and the Newbury bank for three miles both up and down the river. This charter was a perpetual one, and became an appurtenance of his farm. Er Chamberlin maintained one at the extreme north end of the two towns, and obtained a charter for it after some years from the New Hampshire legislature. At the southern end of the town, Uriah Stone, until his removal down the river to Piermont, carried people across the river in 1763 and 1764, and later Moody Bedel maintained a ferry near
251
HISTORY OF HAVERHILL
the present bridge. At a special town meeting held February 9, 1791, to consider matters pertaining to ferries, it was "voted to give Moody Bedel exclusive right for ferry over Connecticut River near the Mouth of Oliverian brook, between meadow land of Ezekiel Ladd and John Page and to ask the General Court to give him a charter." It was pro- vided in connection with this vote that Bedel give bonds of £300 to the town with sufficient sureties that he pay the town £30 lawful money with interest within one year," and that he will open and keep in good repair, fit for the public use at all times, free from any expense to the town, a good road from the main road, leading through the town of Haverhill up and down the river, to the place of keeping the ferry, and keep a good boat or boats for the accommodation of the public, and keep the same in good repair and give due attendance." These votes indicate that ferry privileges had become valuable. The meeting also took action relative to the upper ferry which had been maintained by Er Chamberlin. It appointed Amos Kimball and Joshua Howard a committee to rent the ferry, and instructed the selectmen "to lay out a road to the upper ferry without being very expensive to the town." The first ferry boats were primitive affairs, but later they were made large enough to convey loaded wagons drawn by horses or oxen, though smaller ones were kept for the accommodation of pedestrians.
The ferry business was a profitable one, so much so that the question of toll bridges begun to be agitated soon after Moody Bedel secured his ferry rights. The first bridge across the Connecticut between New Hampshire and Vermont was erected at Bellows Falls in 1785, and in 1797 there were thirteen bridges across the river, the Haverhill and New- bury bridge being the thirteenth. Perhaps the number thirteen was un- lucky! The bridge was erected in 1796, but was gone in 1798. This is evident from a letter written by Col. Thos. Johnson to General Chase under date of April 19, 1798, seeking aid in the rebuilding of the bridge which had been carried off. Some kind of a bridge was constructed this year, but it lasted but a few years, since in 1805, the corporation appointed a committee to make estimates for building a bridge similar to the "Federal bridge" over the Merrimack River at Concord, and to deter- mine the best place to build the bridge. The Haverhill Bridge Corpora- tion had been chartered at the June session 1795, the members being Benjamin Chamberlin, Ezekiel Ladd, Moses Dow, Thomas Johnson, William Wallace, John Montgomery and their associates. Their rights extended from the extreme point of Little Oxbow to the southwest corner of Ezekiel Dow's farm, a short distance above the mouth of the Oliverian. The committee appointed in 1805, Charles Johnston, Samuel Ladd, Joseph Pierson, John Montgomery, Jeremiah Harris and Asa Tenney, reported, to locate the bridge "from land of Phineas Ayer in
252
HISTORY OF HAVERHILL
Haverhill to that of Col. Robert Johnston in Newbury, and the bridge was built sometime between 1705 and 1709 on the site of the present bridge. The bridge built in the new location was not long lived, and must have been pretty thoroughly wiped out since it is on record that the clerk of the corporation, Ephraim Kingsbury, on April 3, 1822, sold all the shares of the bridge to Josiah Little and Asa Tenney at the nominal price of one cent a share. In September, 1833, a meeting was held to secure stock subscriptions for a new bridge which was built in 1834 the cost being approximately $9,200. That this was a good bridge con- structed of the best of material is evidenced by its life and service of nearly eighty years. It had double drive ways, the only bridge on the river thus constructed. In 1895 it was strengthened by means of arches, the repairs costing some $2,000. In 1898 the old stock was called in and new was issued, ninety-two shares in all and these held by eleven persons.
In 1906 when it was found that the bridge again needed strengthening, the proprietors seemed indisposed to incur the necessary expense. Henry W. Keyes of Haverhill purchased all the stock and became in his own per- son "Proprietors of Haverhill Bridge." He made a proposition to the towns of Haverhill and Newbury that if they would make the necessary repairs, which competent engineers had estimated would give the bridge a life of twenty years, and maintain a free bridge, he would give the towns the structure as it then stood.
At a special town meeting in Haverhill, July 12, 1906, it was voted to unite with the town of Newbury to purchase and repair the bridge be- tween Haverhill and Newbury and to make it a free bridge, at an expense of not more than $1,500. Like action was taken by Newbury, and the offer of Mr. Keyes was accepted. Repairs were made, the toll gate abolished, and it was believed that the bridge was good for another quarter of a century. It is said of man that his days "are three score years and ten, and if by reason of strength they be four score years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow." This may likewise be said of Con- necticut River bridges. The floods of the spring of 1913, the ice jam of the year, had their effect on the aged structure, the towns thought not best to repair-and it was decided to erect a new steel structure at once. This latter was opened to public travel December 1, 1913. The material . in the old bridge when taken down was sold at public auction for one hundred dollars.
In the charter granted for the bridge in 1795 rates of toll were fixed which remained much the same until the bridge became free. These are interesting as indicating modes of transportation, and the character of vehicles in use at that time: "For each foot passenger, one cent; for each horse and his rider or leader, four cents; for each chaise or carriage of pleasure with two wheels and one horse, ten cents; for each sleigh with
253
HISTORY OF HAVERHILL
one horse, four cents; for each sleigh with two horses, eight cents and two cents for each additional horse; for each cart or wagon or sled or other carriage of burden drawn by one beast, four cents; for the like car- riage drawn by two beasts, eight cents; if by more than two, four cents for each additional pair of horses or yoke of oxen; for sheep and swine one quarter of one cent each; for cattle and horses three quarters of one cent each, and to each team one person only shall be allowed to pass free of toll."
A previous charter for a bridge had been granted January 14, 1795, to Asa Porter and his associates. This was to be erected a few rods north of the present Woodsville and Wells River bridge. The middle pier was to be erected on the island or peninsula now known as "No Man's land" which was ceded to the corporation. Exclusive rights were granted from the south end of Howard's Island to a point two miles above the mouth of Ammonoosuc River. By extension of time seven years were allowed for the completion of the bridge, but none was erected there.
The second charter for what for a century was known as the Wells River bridge was granted December 27, 1803, to Er Chamberlin, Ezekiel Ladd, James Whitelaw, Moses Little, Amos Kimball, William Abbott and their associates. They were given the same privileges previously granted to Colonel Porter whose charter had lapsed. Chamberlin had for thirty years or more maintained a ferry here, and he was given a share in the charter to recompense him for the loss of his ferry privileges which were to revert to him should the bridge be discontinued. The bridge was built in 1805 and the Vermont end was on the ledge of rocks above the mouth of Wells River. This was the first of the five Wells River bridges. It was an open structure resting upon wooden "horses," but in the spring freshet of 1807 it was carried away. The shares of stock sold at par in 1806. The rates of toll fixed by the charter were: "For each foot passenger, one cent; for a horse and rider, three cents; each chaise or two wheeled carriage drawn by one horse, ten cents; one-horse wagon or cart drawn by one beast, eight cents; by two beasts, ten cents; each four wheeled carriage or coach, twenty-five cents; and two cents for each horse more than two; two cents for each animal except sheep and swine, which were one cent each."
Steps were taken at once to rebuild, and at a meeting held July 7 a tax of $12.50 was levied on each share for the purpose of rebuilding. This amount was insufficient, and at a meeting January 28, 1809, it was voted to assess a tax of $24 a share including the $12.50 previously voted. Amos Kimball was the moving spirit in the erection of this bridge, and of the $1,139 allowed in accounts for building, his bill for materials fur- nished and labor performed amounted to $838.50. He was the owner of a large farm comprising what were subsequently known as the Eli Evans,
254
HISTORY OF HAVERHILL
the Russell King, the J. P. Kimball and E. S. Kimball farms. He had great confidence in the stability of the bridge he had been so instrumental in building and offered to insure it against freshets for a term of years for a comparatively small sum. His offer was naturally accepted and when the bridge went out by a freshet in 1812 the loss fell on Mr. Kimball causing him serious financial embarrassment. No effective action was taken towards building a new bridge till the spring of 1819. The charter was extended by successive acts of the legislature in 1813, 1815 and 1819. In the meantime the ferry was revived and conducted by Er Chamberlin till 1817 when he sold his rights to John L. Woods. In April, 1819, Timothy Shedd, Charles Hale and David Worthen were elected directors, and May 15 it was voted to rebuild the bridge and an assessment of $10 a share was voted to be paid before June 1. A second assessment of $15 a share was voted September 27 to be paid before the first of Novem- ber. On the 2d of November it was voted to build a toll house and move and repair the barn belonging to the corporation, to purchase land, to dispose of the old toll house, to contract for filling the trestle work of the bridge with stone, and the directors were authorized to proceed with building the bridge by contract or otherwise at their discretion. In December another assessment of $20 a share was levied. Abraham Gale was engaged at 7s. 6d, per day as overseer in building the bridge under the direction of the directors, Messrs. Worthen, Hale and Shedd. The original members of the corporation seem to have dropped out of the management.
The bridge was completed in the summer of 1820. An additional assessment of $20 a share was levied, the entire four amounting to $65, or a total of $3,120 which may be set down as the cost of the bridge. It was located south of the two former bridges. The toll house then erected still stands in the meadow now owned by Ezra B. Mann and known for many years as the Sawtell house. The bridge was constructed with a roof, and the system of annual passes seems to have been inaug- urated with its opening to public travel. Some ten years later the matter of repairing or rebuilding the bridge was agitated, but nothing was done till 1836, when the bridge was rebuilt for the most part from money in the treasury, only $500 being hired for the purpose. This was built with stone abutments, stone piers, and with a roof. The main span was carried away by a freshet in the spring of 1850, but was immedi- ately rebuilt, an assessment of $40 a share being levied for the purpose. That the bridge was profitable appears from the fact that it paid a dividend of $26 a share the first year. The matter of a free bridge was much discussed, and at the same time the matter of dispersing to other parties all or a part of the rights and franchises of the corporation.
The situation was this: The Boston, Concord and Montreal Railroad
255
HISTORY OF HAVERHILL
was completing its tracks to Woodsville and wished to cross the Connecti- cut to form a junction with the Passumpsic. The latter corporation did not want this junction and was doing all in its power to prevent it. The bridge company owned franchises which would be of service to the New Hampshire road in accomplishing its purpose of crossing the river. Though the toll bridge had been rebuilt but two years previously it was of an unsatisfactory character having to be weighted with stone to resist the pressure of high water. A new bridge was needed. A free bridge was desirable, but there seemed, as there also seemed some fifty years later, to be no way of securing it. A contract was, therefore, entered into between a committee of the bridge corporation of the one part and a com- mittee of the railroad of the other, a contract later ratified by both cor- porations, which gave the bridge proprietors a new bridge without any expenditure on their part, and the railroad a right of way into Vermont, enabling it to form a junction with the Passumpsic at Wells River. The railroad agreed to construct for the bridge proprietors a bridge, opposite the village of Wells River, with all necessary highways and approaches, for the accommodation of public travel, to be for the sole use of the proprietors of Wells River bridge for the purposes of a toll bridge. The bridge was to be so constructed that if the railroad should wish to run their cars and engines over the same, they might do so by constructing a track for that purpose on the top or upper chords of the bridge, while the lower chords and approaches to the bridge were to remain unen- cumbered by such construction and the running of cars. The bridge was to be forever kept in repair by the railroad, except the flooring of the high- way. The bridge company was to issue to some person or trustee for the railroad fifteen capital shares of its corporation stock, to be on a par per share with the already existing forty-eight shares of bridge stock. The new bridge was completed and opened to travel March 2, 1853. Its cost including the approaches and several rods of highway to connect with what was the old ferry highway near the present railroad bridge across Wells River was about $20,000. The material used in construction was of the best. The frame was selected from old growth white pine cut in the town of Whitefield, and when taken down in 1903 was still sound showing no signs of decay except on the ends of the arches. The bridge was what is known as "the Burr truss," and at the time of its construction was the only one of its kind and was also the longest single span in the United States. The old toll house was sold to Julia Ann Sawtell, and the old bridge to the railroad company for $175.
The bridge was strengthened and thoroughly repaired in 1868, and was again strengthened by new arches in 1876, but these latter made the road- way too narrow for safety and a new bridge became necessary. It was hoped that a free bridge might be secured. The Concord and Montreal
256
HISTORY OF HAVERHILL
Railroad had acquired all the shares of stock and franchises of the bridge corporation and the legislature of 1903 legalized this acquisition and gave the railroad the power to fix rates of toll. It offered on liberal terms to construct a highway bridge separate from the railroad bridge, to make it free at the outset or open the way for making it a free bridge in the immedi- ate future, but its offer was not accepted, and the new steel bridge completed and opened to travel in February, 1904, was a double bridge, still a toll bridge. The bridge was constructed "a half-hitch Baltimore pin truss," and is 239 feet, 2 inches in length from centre to centre of pins. The truss is 33 feet high and contains 460 tons of thoroughly tested open hearth steel. The posts are 2} feet square and 37 feet in length. The four large pins in the posts are 8} inches in diameter, and the other pins in the truss 62 inches. The bridge is one of the finest in New England. There had been talk for years of securing free transporta- tion between the villages of Woodsville and Wells River, but in the absence of a proffer of state aid, it has been only talk. With the matter of state aid for the building a bridge at Portsmouth, it was felt that it was only proper to ask the state for aid, and at the annual meetings in 1916 in the two towns of Haverhill and Newbury, action was taken in Haverhill on the following article which was passed without dissent: "To see if the town will vote to authorize the selectmen to contract with the selectmen of the town of Newbury in the state of Ver- mont to build a free bridge across the Connecticut River between the village of Wells River in said Newbury and Woodsville in the town of Haverhill, at an expense in proportion to the valuation of the respective towns, and to make all necessary agreement relating thereto." Newbury adopted a like resolution, and later obtained from Vermont the sum of $8,000 and $500 from the town of Ryegate. New Hampshire obtained $8,000 voted by the legislature of the state and also the sum of $2,000 appropriated by the county commissioners.
In the erection of this bridge, a beautiful and most modern structure, the two towns have made a record, having abolished or freed more toll bridges during the past six years than any other two towns from Canada to Massachusetts. The masonry consists of two abutments and two piers. The foundations for the piers are about twenty-five feet below water level. For these piers coffer dams were built and nec- essary excavation was made, and everything cleared off from the bed of the river to the ledge foundations. The bridge is what is known as a riveted Warren Deck Truss consisting of three spans with a total length of about two hundred and sixty feet. The floor of the bridge is of rein- forced concrete seven inches thick with a wearing surface of tar and asphalt two inches thick, giving a roadway of twenty-four feet in the clear between curbs and a six foot sidewalk. The railing of
257
HISTORY OF HAVERHILL
the bridge, while artistic in design, is substantial in structure being built of seven-eighths vertical rods, spaced six inches on centres, being capped with a three inch diameter pipe. There are electric lights on both sides of the bridge, and over each of the piers. The capacity of the bridge is equal to almost any loads that could possibly be brought upon it, being designed for the heaviest trucks or road rollers. This means that there could be two lines of twelve ton trucks closely follow- ing each other, and extending the full length of the bridge.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.