USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Plymouth > Twenty decades in Plymouth, New Hampsire : 1763-1963 > Part 10
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A lot was purchased on January 3, 1911 on School street. A year and a half later, the beautiful edifice, St. Matthew Catholic Church, was dedicated on October 12, 1912 by Bishop Georges Albert Guertin.
The first pastor, Rev. John Matthew Brewen, was appointed on August 1, 1916. In the influenza epidemic, Father Brewen died on October 12, 1918. During the next three years the parish was administered by the pastor in Ashland.
The Rev. Michael R. Griffin was appointed pastor and the rectory at the corner of Highland and Langdon streets was purchased in July, 1919.
THE PEMIGEWASSET FIRE
One forenoon in 1909, the attic of the Pemigewasset Hotel was blazing. The wind was blowing from the northwest and the water pressure, with only a hose attached to the hydrants, did not raise a stream to the necessary height to quench the flames.
The hotel was doomed. Fanned by the wind, embers blew across the Pemigewasset River to ignite the grass on the meadows, then the woodlands over a mile distant. Soon the buildings on the Byron Smith farm near "Seven Pines," were consumed. The slash from pine logging along the road to Union Bridge burned until midnight. The express train to Montreal was finally permitted to pass along the track with the protection of a stream of water covering its length.
Many of the three-score-and-ten generation recall incidents of that con- flagration. Possibly the boys of the High School were personally concerned because Principal Wallace, strict disciplinarian, was about to suspend those
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boys who did not return to school in the afternoon. His indignation was ap- peased after he discovered that these boys were rescuing the extensive library that Mrs. Josiah Elliott had accumulated in her suite as well as valuable furnishings that she cherished.
MODEL SCHOOL BUILDING
The increased population crowded the schools until the grades could no longer be accommodated in Rounds Hall. This was the problem of the Town of Plymouth to solve with a new grade school building.
In review of the village district, for a period after the courthouse was erected on Main street, the village children attended school in the old court- house. Then a schoolhouse was erected on South Main street, about in the location of the parking lot for the present First National Store.
When the village district arranged to pay to the State the amount annually raised by taxation to transfer the pupils to the practice school for the Normal School, Rounds Hall, then Livermore Hall, provided school rooms.
A committee was appointed, consisting of Mr. Charles J. Gould, Mr. John Keniston and Mr. H. Bart Heath, to construct a "Model School" build- ing and so faithfully did these men accomplish their task that after forty years this structure was found "without deviation of half an inch."
The site on the corner of School and Summer streets was occupied by the house now at 24 Emerson street, purchased and removed by Mr. Fred Brown. The plans were the latest in scientific principles for ventilation, but said to be a most dangerous fire trap idea in 1945. The windows were high and large because in 1910 artificial lights were considered most unsuitable. Two large study rooms, with small classrooms on two sides, were then supposed to be the best arrangement, because one critic teacher was expected to supervise several student teachers in one period and keep an eye on the study room.
The total expense in 1910 was $40,556.25. Certainly this structure, after fifty years of use by thousands of youngsters, has proved its value.
For a number of years after the new grade school building was erected in 1939, this building was closed. Again in 1950, the increased enrollment made it obligatory that the Model School be remodelled. The interior was divided into four large and several small rooms and wide corridors extended from the front to rear for safety should fire endanger the pupils. The base- ment was arranged for a hot lunch cafeteria and assembly room. The build- ing was called "The Memorial School" after 1950. The upper grades have occupied these quarters to 1963. Again increased enrollment creates renewed complications.
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SALE OF "THE OLD BRICK"
A century and more saw the name of Russell displayed upon a mer- cantile sign in the center of the Village since Moor Russell opened his store on the site of No. 16, Highland street. In 1910 Major Frank Webster Russell, grandson of Moor Russell, sold the "Old Brick" to Mr. Joseph Tuttle, owner of the Plymouth Inn who intended to remodel the building for an inn. Soon again another owner, Mr. Moses A. Batchelder, in company with his brother, Bennett, established a store for the sale of men's furnishings in the Old Brick that continued during another thirty years until the United States Govern- ment bought the corner for the new Post Office.
DR. ERNEST L. SILVER
After serving as Principal of the Normal School since 1900, Mr. James E. Klock was succeeded in 1911 by Dr. Ernest L. Silver of Derry. Dr. Silver previously was principal of Pinkerton Academy and Superintendent of Schools at Portsmouth.
Among his teachers at Pinkerton was a young man whom Dr. Silver re- garded so highly that he persuaded him to teach psychology at Plymouth. Robert Frost and his family occupied the house at the corner of Highland Avenue and School street with Dr. Silver, since Mrs. Silver was too ill to move to Plymouth at this time.
Mr. Frost was then writing the poems that were included in his first publication, "A Boy's Will." Although Dr. Silver regretted that Mr. Frost decided to live in England for a time, he assisted the poet in his decision. In his biographies, Mr. Frost acknowledges that the encouragement that he re- ceived from Dr. Silver was the incentive that from the beginning of his career has urged him on to the fame that Mr. Frost now enjoys.
In the book of poems, "North of Boston," Mr. Frost describes the winter walk that he enjoyed at the top of Ward Hill in a poem, "Good Hours." His poem, "The Road Not Taken," expresses his decision to leave Plymouth. In the book, "A Mountain Intervale," the poem, "Brown's Descent," actually happened down Bridgewater Hill. These are facts that are of interest to Plymouth.
THE DRAPER-MAYNARD FIRE
Within a few months after the ruins of the Pemigewasset Hotel dis- figured Main street at Russell Square, about midnight in May, 1910 the top floor of the Draper-Maynard factory was in flames. This large, wooden building could not be saved with the apparatus then available. The buildings on either side, the Universalist church and the Town'or Cook Hall, remained
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D&M
FACTORY STUK1
ENTRAN .
The Lucky Dog trade mark above the doorway on Main Street.
intact on the following morning when the factory was only a heap of smok- ing debris.
Mr. Maynard immediately erected the brick factory that is now on the same site, making arrangements for the several departments on the three floors. Soon the "Lucky Dog" over the doorway proved a true mascot for a thriving business of sporting goods while the two founders survived.
THIRD PEMIGEWASSET HOTEL
Fifty years ago, in 1912, a corporation erected the third Pemigewasset Hotel. By way of a reminder, the first Pemigewasset Hotel opened in 1843, the second in 1863.
The beautiful residence that Mr. Amos Kidder erected on Highland street was purchased from the estate of Mr. Carlos Morse, the manager of the second Pemigewasset Hotel for a number of years, together with several acres that had belonged to the Russell Family. Next, one wing of the Normal Hall was moved to the east of this lot and the space between the Morse residence and Normal Hall wing was filled with a two story section that con- tained the lobby on the first floor and guest rooms above.
The lower floor of the wing provided a dining room. Wide verandas on the north side afforded a view of the mountains and the valley of the Pemi- gewasset. Mr. Josiah Elliott became the landlord.
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THIRD PEMIGEWASSET HOTEL, 1912 - 1958 LOBBY
NORMAL HALL
AMOS M. KIDDER'S HOME
Mr. Elliott, known as "Joe" to his wide acquaintance, was the son of Jacob, a landlord in Lisbon. At the age of fifteen years, he was beginning his career at the Profile House in Franconia Notch. Six years after, he with his brother, Seth, was managing the Flume House. In 1900, he transferred to the Deer Park Hotel in North Woodstock in the summer and to the Pemi- gewasset the remainder of the year. No landlord surpassed him in popularity.
Plymouth was "The Gateway to the White Mountains." Guests arrived by train, remained a month or longer, enjoyed trips to the Old Man by stage- coach or with a span of horses and carriage, before automobiles became pop- ular and the highways were covered with macadam surface, about 1918. During another ten years, tourists, in their own machines, filled the house for brief stays until the cabins became scattered throughout the mountains. The hotel business gradually vanished.
ONE HUNDRED FIFTY YEARS
No event in the history of the Town of Plymouth surpassed the three days of celebration of the one hundred fiftieth birthday since the charter was granted. Twelve committees were appointed to plan every phase of this pro- gram. The Town was represented by Mr. John Keniston, Mr. Charles J. Gould, Mr. Edward A. Chase, Mrs. S. Katharine Adams and Mrs. Bessie Fox Pease.
Historical exhibits were the responsibility of Mrs. George H. Adams; Miss Millicent Weeks, now Mrs. Frank Foster, and Mrs. David B. Keniston.
Sunday commemorated the religious history with a service on the Com- mon that presented a program of music by a chorus of ladies and a solo by Miss Wilhelmina R. Keniston, the talented daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Keniston, organist and leader of the band.
A sermon was read by Rev. B. A. Dumm, Ph.D., pastor of the Congrega- tional Church, that was delivered on July 4, 1825, by Rev. Jonathan Ward, son of the first minister in the town, Rev. Nathan Ward.
On Monday, in the evening, a historical lecture was read by Rev. C. W. Wilson, pastor of the Congregational Church, with illustrations by slides prepared by Mr. George G. Clark.
On the fifteenth of July, the date of the birthday, a most elaborate Pageant of Plymouth was presented by scores of citizens of all ages. At that time, the corner of Highland Avenue and High Street was a vacant field with a grove of tall pines on the north side. This was the stage. The audience, numbering hundreds, sat on the bank facing High Street, an ideal natural theater. Twelve Episodes in the History of Plymouth were enacted in cos- tumes of their period, with appropriate musical interludes by the Keniston Band.
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The historical material for each Episode was prepared by Miss Caroline W. Mudgett who through the years was a student of the evolution of the growth of Plymouth.
The final evening program was a band concert with Mr. John Keniston, as Director, followed by fireworks on the lawn of the old Pemigewasset Hotel.
Also on that evening the Town Clock in the tower of Rounds Hall, then called Livermore Hall, was illuminated for the first time. The expense of this change from black clock faces and the electric work was met by the funds that were gained from the lectures that the Pemigewasset Woman's Club promoted and by money that was remaining after the celebration.
SUMMARY
The Samaha Family, the Style Center, Saliba Family, the Catholic Church, fire at the Pemigewasset House, the Model School Building, Sale of the Old Brick, Dr. Silver and Robert Frost, the Draper-Maynard Fire, and the 150th Celebration of Plymouth completing 150 years of the history of the Town of Plymouth.
Plymouth Agricultural Fair Grounds, 1911. (See page 87.)
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1913- 1923
A century and a half since the Proprietors gathered in the meetinghouse at Hollis, Plymouth was a thriving town. The factories were prospering. The educational institutions were offering excellent courses both in the High School and in the Normal School. The methods that Dr. Silver introduced gained a reputation that earned the highest rating in the country. The com- mercial enterprises attracted trade from a radius of twenty-five miles. Tourists came to the hotels in increasing numbers.
Recreation found a new definition with the automobile permitting com- muting for families to build cottages on the shore of the lakes. Golf and swimming became household topics, especially for women who ventured to drive cars.
THE HIGH SCHOOL FIRE
Early one morning in 1914, young Glea L. Rand was walking to open the store in the Tufts Block, when he saw smoke curling from the basement of the High School building. Immediately he gave the alarm, but the smoul- dering fury was too widespread through the interior and the building was destroyed.
Especially deplorable was the loss of many copies of Stearns' History of Plymouth, lately published and in storage for the time. The price was then $3.50 for the two volumes, incredible in 1962.
Immediately bonds were issued to erect the present High School building with two floors for classrooms and an assembly hall on the third floor.
MARY LYON HALL
An article in The Plymouth Record of November 18, 1916, recalls the day when Mary Lyon Hall was opened for inspection to the citizens of Plym- outh. The state legislature authorized $125,000 to erect this dormitory de- signed with architectural beauty to accommodate one hundred and thirty students in addition to dining room and kitchens.
The building was named in honor of the famous educator, Mary Lyon, who was the pioneer in higher education for women with her Seminary of Mount Holyoke in 1836. Miss Lyon taught for ten years at Adams Academy in Derry. There in 1824, for the first time in the history of education, six young women were given diplomas on the completion of a three-year course.
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It was an excellent reason to honor her name where Dr. Silver, another edu- cator from Derry, was the Principal.
Here, it is well to remind the citizens of Plymouth that Julia Elizabeth Ward was the Principal of Mount Holyoke Seminary between 1872 and 1883. She was born in 1832, the daughter of George Whitfield Ward, son of Enoch and grandson of Rev. Nathan Ward.
THE CHASE LUMBER COMPANY FIRE
Miss Mudgett, in her story about Russell street, told about the family of Mr. Hanson S. Chase who built the house at No. 25 when he moved to Plymouth from Campton with his wife and four sons in 1873. Mr. Chase dealt in lumber and hemlock bark, the basis for tanning.
Two sons, Warren Green and Irving Hanson, followed the example of their father to establish an extensive lumber business with their yard in the hollow below Warren Street. They ran a steam mill near the railroad station. Logs were brought on freight cars and by ox-teams and the mill sawed from three to four million feet of boards annually.
When their yard was filled with logs and stacks of lumber, on December 28, 1917 fire swept through and reduced the whole to ashes. The business then removed to Laconia and became a partnership with the Veazie Company.
THE SECOND HOSPITAL
Ten years before, in 1904, Dr. Ernest L. Bell opened his private hospital at 65 Highland Street, then a two story, wooden house. Four years later the Directors of the Emily Balch Cottage Hospital purchased this building. They opened a training school for nurses and four graduates received diplomas before disaster struck.
On one morning in March, 1916, danger spread through the hospital. Fire was discovered around the chimney that had gained such headway that hand extinguishers could not put out the blaze.
The fire company was hindered because the hose carts had to be dragged from Main Street up Highland Hill by manpower. The seventeen patients were safely removed and a part of the furniture was salvaged.
Immediately this serious situation aroused the citizens to demand modern pumps for fire apparatus to be housed on Highland Street where the fire sta- tion is now located. Two hand pumps were recommended, one to be quickly operated by the few firemen and the other by men who hurried to the fire. Another five years passed by before a hospital was again opened in Plymouth.
WORLD WAR I
Although European nations had been at war since August 1, 1914, the United States, guided by the advice of President Woodrow Wilson, remained
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neutral. After repeated atrocities, Congress declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917.
Young men immediately enlisted who were sent overseas in the Yankee Division to be trained in the field of Europe. The impression prevailed that the power of the United States joined with the European nations would soon end the conflict. Loyally the citizens accepted food rationing of sugar, butter, flour and meats. The American Red Cross was reactivated to encourage grow- ing vegetables, knitting, and folding surgical dressings.
Suddenly an epidemic called La Grippe claimed hundreds of cases. Doc- tors and nurses organized home service groups that saved many lives.
Miss Caroline W. Mudgett compiled the list of individuals and their military records of one hundred twenty-nine men and women who were called into the armed services. Four men of this area gave their lives and many suffered wounds.
Bells rang for hours when the armistice was declared on November 11, 1918. "The War to End War" was finished.
D. & M. BASEBALL PARK
During the war many products of the Draper-Maynard factory were re- quisitioned by the War Department. Since equipment for baseball was the basis of the prosperity of this factory, contacts with the national clubs re- sulted. In two successive years, 1915 and 1916, the winning World Cham- pions Boston Red Sox were guests of this sporting goods factory in the fall.
With a bonus after the war, the D. & M. Baseball Park was laid out on land rented across the river in Holderness. A tight board fence, covered bleachers and other necessary equipment contributed to the enthusiasm that local teams enjoyed in competition, especially with their rival at Ashland.
Until floods damaged the field, baseball was the recreation throughout the summer and fall. The field was purchased by one of the enthusiastic players, Mr. Frank Smith of Huckins Hill, in honor of the memory of his brothers, Mr. Iza and Mr. Joshua Smith, a glove cutter in Plymouth and an eager baseball fan. Mr. Smith presented the grounds to the Plymouth Athletic Association. The local High School teams enjoy this playground, also the Little League teams of the Youth Council are acquiring practice in the sports with funds that are appropriated by the Town of Plymouth to provide coaches during the summers.
THE THIRD HOSPITAL BUILDING A War Memorial
The American Legion was organized in Plymouth in 1919. A tangible memorial to all who served in World War I was desired. After due considera-
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tion, a special town meeting on August 11, 1919 voted that the Town of Plymouth donate $3,500 for a third hospital building upon condition that the name of the Emily Balch Cottage Hospital be changed to the Emily Balch and Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hospital. The Association accepted this name.
On May 18, 1920, the Association voted to purchase the Schofield prop- erty on the line of Campton and Plymouth at Livermore Falls. This is historic ground. Fortunately the story about this site has been published by Mrs. Marie A. Hodge and is preserved by the Public Library. Also articles by Miss Caroline W. Mudgett about the Livermore Falls Neighborhood are con- tained in the scrap books that are in the files of the Historian of the D.A.R., Miss Miriam E. Keniston.
At the same period that the saw and grist mills were running beside the brooks at West Plymouth, a settlement began at the falls of the Pemigewasset River, now called Livermore Falls. Here was the grant of 1,500 acres that Governor Benning Wentworth reserved for his rights in the three townships of Campton, Holderness and Plymouth.
When this tract was reclaimed by King George III, many of the acres were acquired by Moses Little of Newburyport, Massachusetts. At the first town meeting in Campton, Mr. Little was chosen moderator. He settled on Pulsifer Hill.
The water power at the Falls soon turned the wheels for his saw and grist mills. Later his mill carded the wool of the sheep into rolls for spinning. When the yarn was woven into webs of cloth, his mill smoothed its surface by a steaming and scraping process called fulling.
In 1786, Mr. Little built a Colonial mansion after the Georgian design that ship-carpenters were erecting around the seacoast. Its enormous timbers were supplied by the primeval forests.
Not one but three sills support the walls, and double boarding covers the frame and the floors. A gambrel roof and hand-carved finish for the interior with crucifixion doors are of the colonial patterns.
Within ten years after his mansion was completed, Mr. Little died. His two sons inherited his estate and they sold, in part, to Judge Arthur Liver- more in 1827. When Squire Samuel Livermore's will was read, to the disap- pointment of his younger son, Arthur, the elder son, St. Loe, received the estate in Holderness.
Arthur Livermore became a famous lawyer, a friend and colleague of Daniel Webster. As a presiding judge, he was unexcelled in the courts of New Hampshire. He was elected to both houses in the Congress of the United States. Only his irascible temper proved his undoing.
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Unable financially to maintain the Livermore estate in Holderness which he purchased from his brother at too exorbitant a price, he purchased the mansion from the son of Mr. Moses Little and retired with his wife and eight children at the age of sixty years.
Tales about his unfortunate disposition are repeated in several publica- tions. Remembered is the story about his anger because one of the small children fretted until the father opened a window and tossed the baby into a snow bank, saying: "Let him cool off."
Another, about the valuable bull that escaped from its pen at the time that Judge Livermore was walking about his fields. When he saw the infuri- ated animal charging toward him, with presence of mind the Judge dropped into a ditch just in time to allow the bull to jump above him. After the men captured the bull, the angry Judge secured his gun from his house and shot the animal which he could not afford to sacrifice to his temper.
At this time a wooden bridge crossed the river above the falls. The mills and ten houses comprised the neighborhood. A schoolhouse near the river was struck by lightning and the bolt killed a son of the Livermore family. The estate extended to Bridge street in Plymouth. Farms from this were sold to the Walker, Clifford, Page and Worthen families.
After Judge Livermore died, the son of Mr. Samuel Holmes of Holmes Academy fame, purchased the mansion. The gambrel roof was changed to a mansard. The two chimneys that contained flues for eight fireplaces were rebuilt and the ell and barn were finished. The twenty rooms were opened to summer boarders until age compelled Mr. Holmes to sell the property for a boarding house to Mr. Charles Schofield.
Then, in 1920, this famous mansion became the third hospital for Plym- outh. The rooms were renovated by these families: Draper, Maynard, Brac- kett, Schofield, and Houston. Mr. Luther W. Packard of Ashland furnished funds to paint the exterior. The Women's Auxiliary installed a laundry while Dr. William R. Garland solicited $8,000 from many citizens that equipped the operating and X-ray rooms and fitted the ell for rooms for the nurses.
The list of the medical staff should be remembered: Dr. Garland, Dr. Ernest L. Bell, Dr. John Wheeler, Dr. Harold H. Palmer, Dr. Shirley M. Olmstead, Dr. Reginald DeWitt, Dr. Lyall A. Middleton, Dr. Frederick D. McIver of Plymouth; Dr. Leon M. Orton and Dr. Samuel Finer of Ashland; Dr. Harry Cheney of Campton and Dr. E. D. Burtt of Lincoln.
MRS. RICHARD J. McLEAN
Among the many women who should be remembered is the wife of the editor of The Plymouth Record, Mrs. Richard J. McLean, for her constant
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Mrs. Loren Webster Died in 1929
effort and her generosity to the hospital. While a secretary before her mar- riage, she devised an improvement to the mechanism for typewriters which was adopted by manufacturers of all typewriters. Her royalties were dis- tributed to many charities. She gave generous sums to promote the third hospital building, starting the fund for Dr. Garland with $1,000. Mrs. McLean died in 1925.
MRS. LOREN WEBSTER
A woman who initiated movements to improve the health of children was Jennie J. Adams Webster, the wife of the rector at Holderness School. Mrs. Webster participated in the work of the Pemigewasset Woman's Club, ac- cepted the office of President in 1900, and became the President of the State Federation of Women's Clubs in 1907.
Mrs. Webster began the state-wide sale of Red Cross Stamps for the elimination of tuberculosis that in later years were a changed design called the Christmas Seals. In her administration Mrs. Webster proposed medical in- spection for children in the public schools that has developed into the school nursing department in New Hampshire. In 1911 she organized the Asquam- chumauke Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in Plym- outh, serving as its Regent the following ten years. She became the thirteenth State Regent for the D.A.R. and held membership in many historical and scientific societies in New Hampshire. Mrs. Webster died in 1929.
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