USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > New London > Mirror to America : a history of New London, New Hampshire, 1900-1950 > Part 7
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New London had long had minor judicial officers known
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A HISTORY OF NEW LONDON
as Justices of the Peace, - even in 1950 there were seven of these -, but their jurisdiction was slight. In March, 1934, therefore, the voters at Town Meeting authorized the estab- lishment of a Municipal Court in New London. Heretofore the nearest such court was in Danbury. Shortly thereafter, Fred S. Lovely was named by Governor John G. Winant as the first incumbent for the new judicial position. Following Justice Lovely's death in 1940, Governor Francis P. Murphy appointed Wendell N. Hobbs as his successor. Justice Hobbs held the post until the statutory limit of age forced his retirement in 1946. At that time Governor Charles M. Dale named Mrs. Earl Pardy to the vacant judgeship. Mrs. Pardy was the second woman in the history of New Hampshire to be given such a judicial appointment, and her nomination stirred a wide in- terest throughout the State.36 Like her predecessors, Judge Pardy took the duties of the office seriously, and handled the business of the Municipal Court with despatch and effi- ciency.
5. The New London Water System Precinct
It is typical of the progressive thinking of New London's citizens that the matter of a municipal water supply had been in the public mind long before 1925. Near the close of the 19th century Charles E. Shepard organized a private company to furnish portions of Main Street with running water. He drilled two artesian wells, one behind the Esso Station of 1950, and the other near the blacksmith shop on the north side of Seamans Road, and installed pumping equipment. The water was pumped to a large underground reservoir, built behind the site on which in 1911-1912 there was erected Colgate Hall at Colby Junior College; from this elevation it flowed by gravity to the consumers on the line. He was able to supply Colby Academy and about two dozen families on or near Main Street with water. It was hard - euphemistically dubbed "lithia water" -, and the quantity available was barely ade- quate for the needs of the comparatively few persons served by his company.37
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NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1900 - 1950
In 1906 surveyors retained by the Kidder brothers of Twin Lake Villa reported that it would be possible to bring water to New London from Morgan Pond in the Town of Springfield.38 No action was taken at that time. But recurring water shortages through the ensuing years, the forced digging of new wells, and the ever-present menace of fire as the Town grew in size compelled the citizens to reconsider the matter shortly after World War I. In 1920 an article in the Town Warrant would have authorized a committee to study the possibility of a public water supply, but the voters rejected the proposal. Just five years later, however, an exactly similar article in the Town Warrant for 1925 was passed. A com- mittee was authorized to investigate and make recommenda- tions on the feasiblity of a water precinct for New London. Named to this group were Charles E. Shepard, Fred B. Gay, and Joseph Cutting. After consultation with the Town officials of Springfield, in whose confines the proposed source of the water supply lay, the committee called a special meeting of the legal voters of both towns in New London Town Hall on May 16, 1925.39
This was the meeting which made the decision to estab- lish the New London Water System Precinct. Following the recommendations of the committee, a precinct was authorized to include all properties abutting on Main Street from Twin Lake Villa up to and including the land which in 1950 was owned respectively by the Clevelands and by W. G. Spence; properties on Seamans Road up to and including the Mark Shepard lot; properties on Pleasant Street from the oil tanks up to and including the land owned by Ervin P. Edmunds; and the land owned by Walter and Fred B. Gay adjacent to the Brockelbank Road.4ยบ This curious, irregular area, based on the property lines as they were in 1925 was considerably extended by a special precinct meeting in August, 1950. The property holders within the bounds above described were to pay taxes and annual rentals. Those living outside the precinct - and by 1950 many miles of water pipe beyond the precinct bounds had been laid - paid rates for their
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A HISTORY OF NEW LONDON
water which would be jointly agreed upon by the local Commissioners and the New Hampshire Public Service Com- mission. At the May meeting in 1925, the voters, in addi- tion to circumscribing the new precinct, acted to authorize the issuance of $80,000 in serial bonds for construction pur- poses, and to entrust the construction and future management of all water precint affairs to three Commissioners. Named to the first Commission were the same men who had been appointed to the special committee: Messrs. Shepard, Gay, and Cutting. First Treasurer of the new local unit was Fred A. Pressey and the first Tax Collector was Calvin E. Sargent.
Construction began promptly that summer of 1925 and by late autumn the system was in operation. The Commis- sioners utilized a portion of the old Twin Lake Villa water lines from Kidder Brook, and, in addition, erected a dam across this stream to create an adequate reservoir. The dam was about one and a half miles below Morgan Pond, the ultimate source of the Town's water supply. The reservoir is almost precisely two hundred feet above the hydrant at the Four Corners in New London Village, giving a pressure at that point of one hundred pounds. The water mains laid in 1925 were wooden pipes, cheaper than iron, but, unfortunately, far less lasting. A quarter of a century later it was clear that all the wood pipe still remaining in the system must soon be replaced. Even in the early days there were numerous breakages in the line, as the wood pipes41 burst under the pressure, and successive Precinct Commissions made repairs and replacements with iron pipe.
From the beginning of the precinct the problem of nat- ural debris in the pond and brook had troubled the Commis- sion. In periods of high water and after heavy rainfall, sticks, leaves, and silt got into the lines, discoloring the water and sometimes clogging the mains. After the hurricane of 1938, utilizing Federal relief funds, the Commission cleared all the land around the shore of Morgan Pond to a depth of 150 feet,42 and in 1939 erected a settling basin upstream from the original reservoir as constructed in 1925. Metering and chlor-
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NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1900 - 1950
inating facilities were installed at the intake valves leading from the reservoir. These additions improved the quality of the water and eliminated many of the difficulties previously encountered. As the years went by, the extent of the water lines in the Town was greatly expanded. In 1927 a line was run to the Country Club, first on the ground only, later buried to a point somewhat beyond Crockett's Corner; two years later mains were laid over Burpee Hill and to the crest of Knight's Hill, both of which were later buried; in 1930 the Fire House was connected; and throughout the 1930's, as new streets like Barrett Road, Everett Park, Burpee Lane, and Spaulding Road were added, water mains were built to parallel them. In 1939, thanks to a P.W.A. grant, a good proportion of the original wooden pipe was removed and replaced with cast iron.43
By mid-century the New London Water System Precinct represented a total investment of over $150,000, but the current bonded indebtedness was slightly under $12,000. Water rents, taxes, and sale prices for water delivered outside the precinct were held at reasonable levels. The entire system was skillfully managed by Paul B. Gay, son of one of the three original Commissioners, and Superintendent of the water system continuously since 1926. In 1950 there were over ten miles of pipe in the precinct, approximately 70 hydrants, and about 250 individual subscribers. Alike for domestic pur- poses and for fire protection, the abundant supply of good water was a boon to all who lived along the lines, and a sub- stantiation of the vision of those who had made it possible.
6. The Sewer System
At the 76th annual meeting of the American Public Health Association in 1948, it was reported to the convention that of the existing communities in the United States, 6,000 had no public water supply, while more than 9,000 were lack- ing any kind of sewerage system.44 New London is fortunate as a small town in that it has both. The history of the water
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A HISTORY OF NEW LONDON
precinct has just been summarized. In this section the develop- ment of the sewer system will be narrated.
For a number of years prior to its establishment, the ques- tion of a sewer system for the Main Street portion of the town on New London Hill had been raised by progressive citizens.45 The introduction of a municipal water supply in 1925, with its inevitable result of large amounts of waste water for disposal, together with the rapid growth of Colby Junior College after 1928, made it increasingly evident that modern sewage facilities were urgently needed.46 At the an- nual meeting in 1931, therefore, the Town voted to proceed with the construction of a sewer system for the portion of the community just mentioned. The original installation, plus subsequent enlargement, by 1950 comprised almost four miles of underground pipes, upwards of sixty manholes, and a mod- ern treatment plant located off South Pleasant Street in the valley of Lyon Brook. The lines ran on each side of Main Street from Burpee Homestead to a point slightly beyond the turn in Highway 11 toward Newport, and included branches covering parts of Seamans Road, Pleasant Street, Pearl Street, Spring Street, Barrett Road, Prospect Street, Williams Road, Everett Park, and Spaulding Road. The appropriation in 1931 for the initial installation was for the amount of $20,000 in serial bonds. In view of the low building costs at that time, it was hoped that this would be sufficient for the construction of the principal lines and the erection of the treatment plant.
But these expectations were too optimistic. The Selectmen of the Town were directed to act as a construction committee and serve as a board of inspection for the approval of the work done by the contractor. Although they were able to put the system into operation in 1932, by the very next year they realized that it was not adequate even for existing needs. In the autumn of that year, therefore, with the approval of a special Town meeting called for the purpose, Federal emer- gency relief funds were secured to enlarge the facilities at the treatment plant.47 Already apparent to those concerned was the problem which continued to plague the New London
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NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1900 - 1950
sewer system for many years: viz., an excessive flow of ground water at certain times and seasons of the year which infiltrated into the lines. This large volume of surface drainage literally swamped the operations of the Lyon Brook treatment plant, and resulted in discharges which polluted that stream and even were carried by it to its outlet in Kezar Lake in the neigh- boring Town of Sutton.
In 1938 there was a series of complaints from residents of Sutton and from summer patrons of the hotels and camps on Kezar Lake. The New Hampshire Department of Public Health in October, 1938, warned the Selectmen of New Lon- don that improvements must be made in their sewerage sys- tem or the Town might become liable for serious damage suits. At the Town Meeting in March, 1939, therefore, the voters of New London took two important steps. First, they authorized the establishment of a Sewer Commission of three, specifically chosen to ". . . possess and perform all the duties and powers" of the Selectmen insofar as these had hitherto been exercised in behalf of the sewer system. The original Commission as named by the Town in 1939 was Herbert D. Swift, Chairman, Russell Spaulding, and Fred A. Todd. A Commissioner's term was normally to be three years in length, and one member was elected each year. Second, the voters in March, 1939, gave legal sanction for the sale of $44,000 in serial bonds for the repair and improvement of the sewer sys- tem. Under the energetic direction of the new Sewer Com- mission, this money was expended in reconstructing some of the existing trunk lines, in purchasing a chlorinator, and in further development at the treatment plant.48
Since much of the Town was not served by the sewer system, it seemed obviously unfair to tax all citizens for the facilities enjoyed by only a minority of the community. There- fore, from the establishment of the sewer system a compromise had been in effect. The users of the sewer facilities paid 75% of the cost thereof, while the remaining 25% of the cost of the system was carried by the Town as a whole. A careful schedule of per capita levies was worked out by the Com-
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mission, and assessed against all home and places of business connected with the lines. After the developments of 1939 it seemed that the sewer system was on a permanently satisfactory basis and financially sound. But appearances were deceiving. In the late 1940's the old problem of excessive infiltration of ground water into the sewer lines again recurred, overloading the existing plant. Again the State Health Department inter- vened, directing the Sewer Commission to make further ex- tensive improvements in the system not later than February 15, 1951. At the Town Meeting of March, 1950, an additional bond issue of $31,500 was authorized for new additions and developments. Once more the voters hoped that, at least for several years to come, they had solved the sewer problem for their Town.49
NOTE TO CHAPTER THREE
Fifty Years of the U. S. Post Office in New London
Although not locally financed, the U. S. Post Office is to every community a public service of the first importance. Its relations to New London for the past fifty years may properly be summarized in this section. In 1900 the New London Post Office was in the Adams Brothers General Store at the Four Corners; in that structure it remained until it was removed to the lower floor of the Shepard homestead on Main Street in May, 1937.50 During the half century from 1900 to 1950, New London's postmasters and their terms of office were: Elmer E. Adams, 1900-1914; Charles E. Shepard, 1914-1924; Arthur Gould, 1924-1936; and James E. Shepard II, 1936 -. In 1950 the New London Post Office had the following staff:
Postmaster, James E. Shepard II No. 1 Clerk, Frank H. Butler No. 2 Clerk, Victor J. Dean Sub. Clerk, Clement W. Lovering Rural Carrier, Maurice E. Shepard Sub. Rural Carrier, Herbert S. Hayes Star Route Carrier, Merle C. Gay
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NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1900 - 1950
The New London Post Office invariably won a high rating on Postal Department inspections, and rendered a courteous and helpful service to residents of the Town, to the College stu- dents, and to the large summer population.
The Elkins Post Office in 1900 was in the general store which at that time stood east of the dam at the outlet to Pleas- ant Lake. In 1910 it was moved to Thurston's General Store on the Wilmot Road, and early in 1939 was transferred to the new building where it was located in 1950. Postmaster in 1900 was Charles W. Gay. Until 1907 he was aided by E. E. Loverin. He was succeeded by D. W. Barton from 1907-1910, and in 1910 by Mrs. Clara Thurston. In 1930 Percy M. Thurs- ton became Postmaster, retaining the position at the time these lines are being written. The Elkins Post Office served a use- ful purpose in ministering to the needs of the local com- munity, and was distinguished by the same high standards which characterized the larger office on New London Hill.
Mail to and from Potter Place was carried by Charles E. Shepard from 1888-1910; by Allen O. Crane between 1910- 1925 and 1929-1933; and by Merle C. Gay during 1925-1929 and since 1933. Except for the winter of 1925-1926, Mr. Gay never used horses in his work. In addition to carrying the mail, these men regularly transported express and checked baggage from the railroad to New London.51 Faithful to the great traditions of the postal service, Messrs. Shepard, Crane, and Gay carried the mail in all manner of weather and road conditions, and rarely failed to get through to Potter Place.
Rural free delivery in New London, as previously stated, began in 1903, and parcels' post became a reality after the Congressional legislation of 1912.52 Both these new services helped to break down the loneliness of the rural dweller, and gave him the same daily mail offered to village residents.53
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A HISTORY OF NEW LONDON
NOTES FOR CHAPTER THREE
The quotation at the head of this chapter is taken from a paragraph in a letter from Franklin P. Hawkes to the author, February 13, 1951.
1The carefully-kept record book of J. H. Todd, School Treasurer, shows an expenditure for the year, 1901-02, as follows: five teachers for the summer term, $345; five teachers for the fall term, $378.10; six teachers for the winter term, $357; wood, labor, etc., $63.84; janitor, $30.80; cleaning the school houses, $9.50; repairs, $94.52; transportation, $39.60; pupils' supplies, $95.82. These items totalled $1418.68. Receipts that year were $1582.97, leaving a balance of $164.29.
2In 1905 an exhortation urging better attendance at the forthcoming School Meeting appeared in the press, stating that the previous year only six voters had troubled themselves to attend the meeting. F. J-T., March 2, 1905.
3The list of School Superintendents for New London from the time of the original appointment to the present has been as follows:
Name
Assumed his or her Duties
F. S. Sutcliffe
September, 1905
George W. Dickson
September, 1910
Frederick D. Hayward
September, 1913
Oliver H. Toothaker
April, 1915
W. H. S. Ellingwood
September, 1916
Miss Idella K. Farnum
September, 1919
George H. Harmon
March, 1925
True C. Morrill
September, 1929
Frank A. Morris
September, 1930
Alfred W. Smith
September, 1935
Gordon C. Flint
September, 1947
4N. L. T. Rpt. for 1905, p. 36.
5F. J-T., March 8, 1906. Oren D. Crockett was named chairman of the building committee. The material in the old Colby Hill District School was used to erect the duplex house on South Pleasant Street, owned and resided in by William M. Kidder in 1950.
"Their convincing and well-documented recommendation may be read in the N. L. T. Rpt. for 1928, pp. 76-78.
7F. J-T., March 13, 1930. In the N. L. T. Rpt. for 1929, p. 69, there is a picture of a proposed building suitable for a two-year high school and the eight grades.
8Subsequent New London headmasters were: Harold Truell, 1935- 1938; Albert I. Oliver, 1938-1943; Vernon L. Bolster, 1943-1945; Robert J. Livingston, 1945-
9On the significance of the typewriter in the school curriculum and elsewhere, see John A. Zellers, The Typewriter: A Short History on its 75th Anniversary, 1873-1948, Princeton University Press, 1948.
10The developments by which the Town secured its handsome central school building may be traced in the four successive reports of the special committee: N. L. T. Rpt. for 1939, pp. 82-87; N. L. T. Rpt. for 1940, pp. 77-88; N. L. T. Rpt. for 1941, pp. 74-78; and N. L. T. Rpt. for 1942, pp. 74-76.
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NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1900 - 1950
11In addition to the seven members above named, the committee on choice of a site was composed of Fred A. Todd, Leon W. Bickford, Walter E. Gay, Howard E. Todd, B. A. Hoban, Seth Lamson, and Percy M. Thurs- ton. On April 23, 1941 the committee of thirteen unanimously voted to acquire the five acre tract which is the location of the School and the Memorial Field at present. At the meeting referred to, it was unanimously agreed, and so recorded, that no Town road should ever traverse the area of the school grounds.
12The elaborate dedication program is printed in full in Superinten- dent Smith's annual report, N. L. T. Rpt. for 1942, pp. 91-94.
18The old school building stood abandoned until 1949, when it was torn down by Kirk Heath. The material was used for his home and the New London Bakery on the Newport Road. Legal difficulties involved in the disposal of the old building and the former school grounds are well summarized in the Manchester Morning Union, January 6, 1947, p. 9.
14Consider, for example, the local implications of the research pro- gram on education in New Hampshire inaugurated by Commissioner Edgar Fuller in 1945-46; see Public Education in New Hampshire: The Report of the Committee to Study the State Educational System, Concord, 1946, passim. Likewise related to the local schools was Commissioner Fuller's scheme for New Hampshire "Lay-Professional Councils": see Lay- Professional Report to the People of New Hampshire, Concord, 1947. On the Sullivan County Council, that among the eleven such groups organized throughout the State with which New London was affiliated, local delegates were Headmaster R. J. Livingston, the Rev. Harold W. Buker, and Herbert D. Swift.
15In 1844 the Northern Railroad of New Hampshire, to be built from Concord to White River Junction, made tentative surveys for a right-of- way through New London. These were abandoned, however, in favor of the existing route through Franklin and Potter Place. Cf. Minutes of the Survey of the Blackwater River Route of the Northern R. R., Concord, 1845. In 1912, similar surveys were made and abandoned by the Grand Trunk Railway; on this abortive project, see below, Appendix V, pp.337-339.
New Londoners, however, have always had a lively interest in rail- roads and their relations to the Town. In 1935 many local residents went to Potter Place to see New England's first streamliner, "The Flying Yankee," pass through that place, and in 1948 the centennial celebration of the Northern Railroad drew an even larger number of New London people to Potter Place; F. J-T., February 21, 1935, and Manchester Morning Union, September 10, 1948.
Surveys were made shortly after 1900 for an electric interurban line to run from Potter Place to Claremont by way of New London; The Speaker, March 3, 1936, p. 6. Nothing came of this project, and the closest point to New London actually reached by an electric interurban railway with outside connections was Penacook, 27 miles to the southeast. From this point, however, shortly before World War I, an individual could have travelled by trolley car to Boston, and from the latter city, with only occasional short interruptions in the tracks to such divers points as Waterville, Maine, New York, N. Y., and Chicago, Ill.
16There are some bitter comments on the condition of Town roads after a series of heavy rainstorms in F. J-T., March 14, 1902; July 15, 1915.
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17"Mud-time" in the old days is well described in M. N. Rawson, New Hampshire Borns a Town, New York, 1942, p. 96.
18There are critical remarks on the "stickiness" of the roads in F. J-T., June 5, 1924. Two years before this experiment with tar, 1600 feet of bituminous macadam had been laid down on Route 11 along Main Street in New London village.
19F. J-T., November 18, Nov. 25, 1926. While working on this plow on March 9, 1933, Frederick Whittemore was killed in an accident. It was the second fatal incident in Town road work during the last half. century. The first had been on June 22, 1916, when Fred Dixon was killed in a blasting explosion.
20F. J-T., December 24, 1936.
21Information from Mrs. Fred B. Gay, March 10, 1950.
22Frederic L. Paxson, "The Highway Movement, 1916-1935," American Historical Review, January, 1946, pp. 236-253; also, Congressional Record, March 19, 1948, pp. A1797-1799, and Appendix VI below, pp. 340-341.
23Walter P. Sargent and Oscar C. Crockett were active members of the New London village brigade; F. J-T., March 2, 1900.
24F. J-T., April 5, 1906.
25F. J-T., August 13, 1908. Bridegroom in this affair was young Percy M. Thurston. The funds secured were used partly for new buckets, and partly to help erect a storage building for them and other equipment. In 1950 this building was still standing behind the Elkins Post Office.
26T. C. Records, Vol. 7, p. 564.
27 Jerome Ellison, "They Eat Smoke for Love," Saturday Evening Post, March 11, 1950.
28F. J-T., July 30, 1930.
29Reference is to the fire which destroyed Little's Garage on August 28, 1944 and to that which consumed the Market Basket on August 10, 1949.
30Congressional Record, July 5, 1946, pp. A4318-39.
31T. C. Records, Vol. 7, p. 126.
32There are reports of local cottage breaking in F. J-T., February 27, 1936, October 1, 1936, March 31, 1938.
33This force was authorized by the Legislature of 1937, and came into being on July 1 of that year. On October 1, 1937, the trooper assigned to the local district - the Towns of New London, Wilmot, Andover, Salisbury, and a part of Sutton - first appeared in New London. He was James Humphrey. During all the subsequent years, save for his service with the U. S. Marine Corps in World War II, "Jim" Humphrey and his well-known number plate, "14," were familiar sights along New London's streets and highways. Roy F. Messer of New London was the first native son to become a state trooper, Concord Monitor, June 14, 1950.
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