USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Plymouth > Twenty decades in Plymouth, New Hampsire : 1763-1963 > Part 11
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Main Street in 1920 without the Ten Footers, where the Rand Block is today. The photo shows Mount Prospect in the distance, the line of elms across the intervale, and the Bullfinch Bandstand on the Common in 1903.
THE RAND BLOCK
During the last years of this decade, the east side of Main street opposite the common, changed completely. The "ten-footers" were removed, three of them to Bridge street and two to Warren street. A hand-rail along the side- walk prevented pedestrians from falling down the steep bank, then vacant.
The railroad sold this property to Mr. Albert M. Rand and his brother, Glea L. Rand. Mr. Albert Rand purchased the hardware store from Mr. Charles J. Gould, then erected the north section of the Rand Block. Mr. Glea Rand purchased the grocery business of Mr. William C. Bayley, then built the south section.
The two sons of Mr. Albert Rand, Watson and Robert, are operating an up-to-date business that includes electrical, gas and oil equipment for domestic purposes. Mr. Glea Rand sold his store when he was appointed postmaster by President Roosevelt.
Across the road to the parking lot the Davison Garage building, with space for stores along the front, was erected in 1922.
MEMORIAL DAY
The American Legion assumed the arrangements for the ceremonies of Memorial Day, young men marking the veterans' graves with the flags. The
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ranks of the Grand Army of the Republic were too few and too feeble to carry on the loyal service that they had performed since 1865.
Another change was the retirement of Mr. John Keniston as leader of the band. Mr. Harold C. Freeman became the Director in 1923. The build- ing that Mr. Keniston originally built for a band room became a movie theatre. In 1963 the Masonic Fraternities are the owners.
SUMMARY
The new High School, Mary Lyon Hall, the Chase Lumber Company fire, fire at the Cottage Hospital, the World War I, the new Memorial Hos- pital, two influential women-Mrs. McLean and Mrs. Webster, the Rand Block and Davison Garage, filled a busy decade with many changing and exciting events.
The residence built by Moses Little in 1786. It was purchased in 1827 by Judge Arthur Livermore who gave his name to Livermore Falls. Next, James Holmes renovated the place for a boarding house. In 1920 it became the Emily Balch Soldiers and Sailors Hospital.
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1923- 1933
GROWTH AT THE NORMAL SCHOOL
Many improvements marked the progress of the Normal School in this decade. The enrollment was increasing rapidly. A new dormitory was planned, but to bridge the requirements for rooms, Russell House was pur- chased in 1925. Dr. Silver enjoyed rearranging this colonial residence for about thirty students. He retained the kitchen of 1797 intact for the living room. The mantel of the fireplaces, the inside shutters at the windows and the unsupported staircase were preserved unchanged.
The parsonage of the Congregational Church on the lawn in front of Mary Lyon Hall was bought and demolished, and the lawn was landscaped.
At this time, 1928, degrees were sanctioned in the Commercial Depart- ment and in the following year in the History Curriculum. Also, a residence for the President was unexpectedly acquired. The Shepard property on School street was for sale at one third of its value. It was a spacious home yet it was difficult to find a customer because its architecture was no longer in demand. The State found a bargain.
A wing for a new dormitory was erected in 1931. One of the oldest houses on Highland street, where Dr. William J. Tucker lived when a boy, was torn down to clear the site for the Samuel Reed Hall Dormitory, named in remem- brance of the Principal of the Holmes Plymouth Academy who in 1837 in- troduced the idea of training teachers for grade positions.
After serious deliberation, the legislature authorized the granting of degrees in Education and the name Normal School became Plymouth Teachers College in 1939.
The east wing of the new dormitory was erected containing a library, and the connecting structure to the west wing was a small theatre and lounge on the second floor. Then the Peppard home was purchased for a Domestic Arts Department with faculty accommodations in the upper floors.
MAIN STREET CHANGES
Changes along Main street came thick and fast. On February 23, 1925, the block that the Esso Station occupies at No. 131 was levelled by a fire that destroyed Potter's Garage, Carroll's Barber Shop, Houston's Harness Shop, and Kebrick's Restaurant.
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In April, the highest spring flood in twenty-seven years washed away several bridges and left a few families homeless. Even the railroad tracks were undermined.
Above a store in the Kidder Block the name of O'Brien's appeared in 1926. Mr. William O'Brien came from Boston to fill the shelves with the finest stock of dry goods north of his native city.
WAR MEMORIAL
At the town meeting in 1926, $5,000 was appropriated to erect a me- morial to those citizens who had participated in all previous wars. A granite monument was dedicated on the courthouse lawn on May 30, the unveiling ceremony being performed by two Gold Star Mothers, Mrs. Mandana Smith and Mrs. Cedena Fifield. Four members of the G.A.R. raised the Stars and Stripes on a new flag pole. Thus with this monument and the flag waving daily, the citizens pay their tribute on the courthouse green.
THE 1927 FLOOD
A surprising atmospheric condition developed in October of 1927. Rain fell until the lakes and streams were bank full. Then on November third and fourth, the heavens opened with sheets of water that fell like hammer blows upon the housetops.
The mountain streams sent waves a foot high down the valleys. The Pemigewasset Valley filled first and covered the meadows in a brief hour. Then the Baker River rushed against this flood and backed over the high- ways of Route 25 and the Rumney Road, even surrounding dwellings. Cattle were hastily driven to higher ground but chickens and hogs did not escape at a few farms.
The pupils arrived in the morning at the High School only to be im- mediately returned to their homes. Bridges, hen coops and pigsties were floating down the rivers. Freight cars loaded with coal were run into the covered railroad bridge on the P.V. Line, and ropes were fastening it to the banks, because the bridge just above on the Baker River was being washed off its abutments with several feet of water flowing above the floors of both bridges.
Within a half hour, all exits from the village were under several feet of water. River street homes were flooded to the second floors with their fam- ilies being rescued by boats. Such emergency dangers were hitherto unknown although frequently spring brought high water over the meadows.
The electric power failed, the sewers backed up along Main street, and the food problem became serious. The Hatch Dairy was able to deliver milk that was distributed to families with small children. The shelves of the
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grocery stores were bare. Suddenly the village realized how meager was the amount of food that seemingly was in abundance in the grocery stores.
Most serious was the food situation at the Normal School with over three hundred students who ate what the store-room contained until only hams remained. Relief came when a courageous truckman negotiated the old Hill roads to Thurlow street bringing a truckload of bread and meat from Laconia.
Thus for three days the village was isolated from the outside world. Even the telephone wires were in tangled confusion. Yet New Hampshire did not suffer as did Vermont. There the roads were not hard-surfaced and the rivers in the valleys rendered traveling impossible with highways washed away. So suddenly did the water rise that many cattle were drowned before they could be driven to safety.
As the waters subsided, the danger from pollution increased. The Red Cross furnished disinfectants to all families whose homes were flooded. The citizens of Plymouth contributed hundreds of dollars that Mr. Moses Batch- elder wisely distributed to the stricken families to rehabilitate their homes before the winter snows increased the difficult conditions.
On a granite post at the Clark Farm, the owner had left marks to indicate the height of previous floods. When the mark of the great flood of 1869 was surpassed by two feet, there was tangible proof that the 1927 flood was the highest in the history of the Pemigewasset Valley.
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH CHANCEL
A surprise gift of $1,200 toward a pipe organ for the Congregational Church spurred enthusiasm to solicit the necessary $10,000. After a success- ful campaign, the organ was ordered from the Skinner Company.
Before this instrument was installed, Mr. George G. Clark employed an architect and the Irving, Casson firm of interior decorators to renovate the chancel. A committee visited churches to ascertain the trend in church archi- tecture. The base of the Ward Hill pulpit became the lectern and the pulpit was a pattern of the sacred desk at Sandown to produce a colonial design in keeping with the century old interior. The walls were painted and the seats and cushions were renovated. New carpets and electroliers completed the work.
Two men should be remembered for their generosity to the Congrega- tional Church: Amos M. Kidder who gave $15,000 to provide the chapel, and George G. Clark who gave an equal amount in 1928 for many additions to the sanctuary.
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Chancel in the Congregational Church-1928
FIRE AT THE TUFTS BLOCK
Again the menace of fire brought destruction on a December evening in 1930. The night was cold when the Tufts building at the corner of Highland and Main streets and the three story brick Fox Block on Main street were destroyed. The cliff behind these building acted like the wall of a fireplace so that the heat filled the Square with such intensity that spectators were obliged to stand on Court street.
Stores on the lower floors and the glove business of Mr. Gill Fletcher were destroyed and but few furnishings from the upper stories could be saved.
Mr. and Mrs. Pease immediately cleared the debris and erected a two story brick block with steel framework. Tenants were permitted to plan for their type of business in their stores and the lodges of the I.O.O.F. arranged their suite on the second floor.
FIRE AT THE HOWE HOUSE
The Howe House was the old landmark between the Kidder and the Rollins Blocks. Erected in 1800 by Steven Webster, it was then the home of his grandson, but acquired the name of Howe when Mr. Lucius S. Howe came to the place from Campton about 1850.
In February of 1932 the basement caught fire and smoke filled the apart- ments preventing removal of furnishings before they were ruined by water.
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The house had been purchased by Mr. Fred Brown, druggist and realtor, who inserted glass fronts and rented the two rooms for shops.
The damage was too great to repair. The site was cleared for a modern structure, now the J. J. Newberry store, largest floor space north of Concord.
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
A teacher of civics named Badger at the High School suggested that the youth needed facilities for recreation in the winter months. He promoted a Chamber of Commerce. The first project of this group was a skating rink on a field at Bayley Avenue. The High School held a Carnival with prizes for snow sculpture and a ball in the evening.
The Chamber has promoted the information booth in the summer, secured the state grounds on Main and Court streets for a parking lot for all day business people, and influenced many civic improvements too num- erous to list here.
ROTARY CLUB
Mr. John Gadd, Superintendent of the division of the New England Telephone Company, ascertained the policies of Rotary International. Then he gradually persuaded eligible men that a Rotary Club was an asset in a community. Since 1931 this club has functioned, working especially for young people by giving scholarships to worthy students and sponsoring the Boy Scouts. Mr. Gadd's efforts have resulted in many philanthropic and cultural affairs such as the annual concert in memory of a deceased musician, Mr. Hyman Kaplan.
PLYMOUTH THEATRE
In the last year of this decade, 1932, a Plymouth Theatre was erected on South Main street by a company from Lancaster with Mr. Sherburn Graves as the manager. The appointments were modern with a wide screen, air conditioning and comfortable seating.
The program of films was up-to-date by the finest actors, filling the theatre with patrons from miles around. Special Saturday afternoon films for children were of real educational value. Mr. Graves cooperated with organiza- tions by securing films to produce funds by sale of tickets for charitable or community benefit.
Until television in homes became popular, the Plymouth Theatre was an adjunct to local recreation for old and young. Because of decreased patron- age, the number of programs were curtailed, yet their quality remained excel- lent.
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THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
After the family of Squire Samuel Livermore no longer resided in Holderness, the Diocese of the Episcopal Church opened the Holderness School for Boys on this estate. The school has a modern plant for a student body of about one hundred and fifty boys. It maintains a high standard of secondary education.
For many years, after the school was founded in 1879, those families who were of the Episcopal faith in Plymouth attended the Holy Cross Chapel at the school. As the enrollment enlarged, this chapel was so crowded that the people of Plymouth transferred to the Ashland Episcopal Church.
Gradually the folk in Plymouth decided that an Episcopal Church should be maintained in their own town, and in 1933 the Universalist church building became the Church of the Holy Spirit with a resident rector.
SUMMARY
This decade brought many improvements to Plymouth Teachers College, changes on Main street by three fires: in the Kebrick Block, the Tufts Block and the Howe House, the War Memorial at the Courthouse, the 1927 Flood, renovations in the Congregational Church, organization of the Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club, the Plymouth Theatre, the Church of the Holy Spirit, and the erection of the building on the site of the Kidder Block with the re-opening of O'Brien's.
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The covered bridge of 1874 and the P.V. Railroad bridge over the Baker River on Route 3, photographed during the flood of 1927.
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The Boy Scout Fountain with Najla Samaha and the Frachers' dog, in 1933.
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1933- 1943
THE VILLAGE GREEN
The President of the Pemigewasset Woman's Club, Mrs. C. Herbert Adams, with a desire to accomplish an outstanding community project during her term of office, decided that the Common, or Village Green, needed renova- tion. Sewers had been laid under the southern section that left broad scars of gravel across the lawn.
With the realization that this spot is the property of the town, Mrs. Adams explained her objective before the annual town meeting. The voters sanctioned the motion that the Pemigewasset Woman's Club be authorized to landscape the Village Green.
A committee of club members was appointed: Mrs. Charlotte White Webster, Chairman, Mrs. Helen Flagg, Mrs. Florence Nichols, Mrs. Effie Chase and Mrs. Eva Speare. With the assistance of Mrs. Adams, this com- mittee collected approximately $650.00 to finance the beginning of this work.
The surface was plowed, fertilized with twenty loads of dressing, and covered with two hundred loads of loam, the donation of Mr. Moses Batch- elder. Grass seed, given by Rand's Hardware Store, was sowed that a timely rain germinated rapidly.
For the bandstand, a renewed foundation, paint and shingles were sup- plied. The central walk was completed by the town, the slate stones being brought from a quarry in Wentworth by Mr. Carl Mitchell with his trucks.
The granite posts of the fence were set firmly, the square timbers again fastened into the iron bolts and paint, given by the Chase Grain Company, was applied by a group of young men.
Over a period of two summers, Chief Felix McCarthy prevented destruc- tion of the lawn until the turf became firm. The citizens cooperated before the seats were again scattered beneath the elms. The club expended $1,400 in addition to the donations from generous citizens.
THE BOY SCOUT FOUNTAIN
Beautifying the Village Green encouraged Mr. George G. Clark to install a drinking fountain with a legacy of $1,000 and the interest, that was be- queathed in the will of his cousin, Daniel W. Burrows.
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To provide for children and adults, Mr. Clark planned for two bubblers surrounded by a wide concrete platform. As he was a friend of birds and animals, thirsty dogs had attracted the notice of Mr. Clark on many occa- sions. How to supply a fountain for the dogs was the problem.
A boy scout, Morton Wheeler, the son of the deceased family doctor of the Clark Family, suggested a solution. The actual idea was conceived by Mrs. Webster, chairman of the beautification committee. Why not exemplify one of the ideals of scouting, kindness to animals, with a statue of a scout dropping water from his cupped hands into a basin on the ground?
A friend of Mr. Clark, Mr. George H. Borst, a summer resident at New- found Lake and a noted sculptor in Philadelphia, was enlisted in this project. Morton Wheeler and Harold Webster, Jr., posed in their scout uniforms during the summer for Mr. Borst. A lad in Philadelphia earned a sufficient amount to support his parents during the next winter by posing for the figure of the scout.
The boulder for the base was discovered in Franconia Notch; the pot- hole basin came from under the bridge at Wentworth Village. Another scout, Cedrick Simpson, assisted in measuring for the platform, but refused pay because he was a scout. To this lad was given the honor of unveiling the statue on June 18, 1933, before an audience of four hundred people.
Nobody will learn how many thousands of dollars Mr. Clark paid for this statue. It stands as a memorial to a loyal citizen of Plymouth. Mr. Clark was amply paid when the black dog belonging to Mr. Fracher came every morning for his drink at the dogs' fountain in the granite pot-hole.
PONT FAYETTE REPLACED
Pont Fayette was still a span that was equal to the weight of traffic in 1934 but its doom was sealed when the Highway Commissioner for the State, Mr. Frederic E. Everett was driving through the bridge in company with Mr. William J. Randolph. Half way through a truck obliged them to back out to permit the truck to pass. Too dangerous was the verdict of Mr. Everett.
Federal and State aid was secured. Special town meetings were called in Holderness and Plymouth to approve their share of the expense and about the first of May, 1935 a new steel bridge was opened to traffic. The cost was $48,943, Plymouth to pay $12,000 and Holderness $8,000. The weight capacity is thirty tons.
Only the Smith Covered Bridge remains over the Baker River, since a new steel bridge was erected on the Daniel Webster Highway after the flood of 1927 to replace the covered bridge of 1874, and the P.V. Railroad also built a new span of steel.
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SMITH BRIDGE
About 1825, a covered bridge across the Baker River was erected near the home of Mr. Jacob Smith who came to Plymouth in 1780. The Stearns History of Plymouth states that he gave his name to the bridge. He died in 1830.
In his book, "Covered Bridges of New Hampshire," by Mr. W. Edward White, the statement is printed that, "In the early 1800's Captain Richardson built the bridge." No trace of this builder has been discovered.
The late Mr. George G. Clark wrote an article for the Plymouth Town Report in 1949. This states that, "On June 14, 1850 James McQuesten engaged Herman Marcy of Littleton who agrees to frame, raise and finish a covered bridge across Baker River for the Town of Plymouth, site known as Smith bridge, same plan and style as Pont Fayette." The original cost was $2,720.92. "The contractor to have all advantage he can derive from old bridge in raising the new bridge."
In 1949, one of the arches was so badly settled that the bridge was get- ting into a serious condition. State Engineer Hammond and two bridge men helped Mr. Leon Edgell with four workmen of Plymouth to repair the struc- ture. The laminated arches were lifted with a crane and firmly re-set into the abutments at an expense of $4,400.
This is the one remaining covered bridge in Plymouth. The covered bridge of 1874 over the Baker River on the Daniel Webster Highway was so damaged in the flood of 1927 that a steel bridge soon replaced it. This was a lattice bridge of the Towne Truss design.
FLOOD OF 1936
That imaginary creature, the Weather Man, spread havoc through New England. The trouble began in Plymouth about March 10, 1936 with the usual spring flood that covered the intervale and filled the cellars on River Street. Cakes of ice swept down the Pemigewasset River to lodge about a mile south of the Plymouth railroad station. At the same hour the Alouette, the afternoon express train from Montreal, left the station to meet the water and cakes of ice where the track skirted the river bank. The train stalled and the water rose to the floor of the cars. The fire company in row boats rescued the passengers as darkness approached.
The following week of March 18, 1936, rain fell heavily through four days causing the highest water known on the intervales. Homes were filled to the second floors, and the water stood three feet deep in the railroad sta- tion.
The Baker River rushed several feet above the floors of the two bridges
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at the north end of the village, but did not wash these new structures fron their abutment. The east end of Pont Fayette was awash and huge cakes of ice battered the floor, but the bridge held. The track of the P.V. Line was hanging without support the length of one hundred feet or more.
The firemen and Mr. Hal Sargent plied the meadows in boats to rescue the residents of River street. Chief McCarthy opened the courthouse to sixty- two refugees and the hotels and inns were crowded. At Beebe River the schoolhouse and homes on the higher ground received the homeless residents. The official report stated that the water reached a height of twenty-four feet above normal.
One bit of nature was observed. A bear was seen floating down the Daniel Webster highway. He climbed up the bank near the underpass and wandered off apparently suffering no danger from the icy bath.
Although the flood was the highest known, yet the damage in Plymouth was less than in 1927 to highways and bridges. The Red Cross assisted the unfortunate neighborhoods with money, disinfectants and clothing.
THE HURRICANE OF 1938
A four-day rainfall beginning on September 18, 1938 raised the rivers over all the highway entrances to the town. Fortunately, Headmaster Charles E. Moors dismissed the pupils in time to return to their homes. A warning was heard over the radio that a hurricane that was coming north- ward might veer toward New England with winds of seventy miles per hour. The atmosphere shed a peculiar glare about three o'clock in the afternoon.
Then the wind began to blow and people decided to fasten awnings and remove their summer furniture to safety. By six o'clock, limbs began to break off the shade trees while the wind increased to a roar. All night the hurricane raged, damaging houses, barns and forests with terrific velocity.
When morning dawned, the havoc was too astonishing. The earth was so soaked that century old elms and maples fell, pulling their roots from the ground. Every street was blocked by its shade trees. The elms on the east side of the Village Green lay prostrate. The parking lot was covered. High- land street lost most of its trees. At Weeks street, the roofs of houses were crushed and the groves of pines along Merrill street were down.
The forests were a tangle of broken, uprooted and topless logs. Salvage was almost hopeless, because the wood was filled with coarse sand that dulls the saws in the mills.
While this seemed unbelievable, a salt spray covered everything, mingled with finely ground leaves that dried to a crust that demanded scrubbing to remove from walls and windows of the houses.
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Electric wires were tangled among the fallen poles; telephones were silenced for days. The selectmen furnished equipment of the highway de- partment to remove the stumps of trees for all householders and aided in the clean-up speedily.
About 1900, a tree warden was appointed who counted seven hundred trees along the streets and homes in the town. Many of those elms and maples fell on the night of September 18, 1938.
UNITED STATES POSTOFFICE End of "The Old Brick"
For a quarter of a century, Mr. Moses Batchelder conducted a men's clothing store in the "Old Brick" and rented space later to Mrs. E. G. Severance for her Woman's Shop and to Nichols' Flower and Gift Shop.
The Federal Government purchased this landmark for the site of a post- office building in 1936. The building was demolished and the new postoffice was dedicated with elaborate ceremonies on the afternoon of October 4, 1937. The flag was raised by the American Legion, assisted by Boy and Girl Scouts and music by the Community Band. The keys were presented to postmaster Glea L. Rand and representatives of the New England Division and the Treasury Department participated in the program with Congressman Charles W. Tobey as the main speaker.
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