USA > Vermont > Windham County > Rockingham > History of the town of Rockingham, Vermont, including the villages of Bellows Falls, Saxtons River, Rockingham, Cambridgeport and Bartonsville, 1907-1957 with family genealogies > Part 27
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Bartonsville's Bridge, built in 1870 to replace the one lost in the big water of 1869, is the longest single span bridge in Windham County today, 150 feet without the center pier. The Tucker Bridge, used for 90 years above the Great Falls in the Connecticut and the first bridge over this great river at any point, was replaced by one costing $66,931 in 1930, the gift of a good neighbor, Hon. Charles N. Vilas of Alstead, N. H. who also did so much for his own town. The formal dedication of this new link between the states of Vermont and New Hamp- shire took place in October of 1931 when, with governors of both states present and many other notables, the Vilas Bridge was presented to the people of both states, "the Symbol of Friendship" as Gov. Wilson of Vermont said. A sheepskin scroll was presented to Mrs. Vilas at her home in Alstead by the selectmen of both towns, in appreciation of Mr. Vilas' gift. For he never lived to see the opening of his bridge. This closed another phase of the life of the old bridge which in 1914 had been chosen as one of six bridges in this country by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers to be represented by pictures now hanging in the Deutches Museum in Munich, Germany, the most important, in their various respects, in the United States. With the passing of the old bridge passed the era of the deep-tunneled cavern where horses' feet thundered on the planks and from whose latticed sides you could lean out to watch the splendid drama of the white water boil over the rocks of the gorge each spring.
Although the covered bridge is on its way out, unequal to nineteenth century travel, there are those who work to keep some of them extant .. The Historic Sites Commission of Vermont is hoping for an appropriation to preserve at least one bridge "in perpetuity" in each county. The commission has hundreds of requests for maps of covered bridges by out-of-staters who
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come to Vermont for that sole purpose. But there are less and less of the old high-shouldered bridges each year for the com- mission says that "the State Highway Board cannot afford to maintain them when they are no longer useful nor the townships when-they have been abandoned on back roads."
But Windham County is one of the four counties in the state with the most covered bridges still extant. Washington County is first with 16, according to the 1953 Covered Bridge map of the Vermont Department of Highways; Windsor has 1412 (the half a bridge is one located on a town or state boundary) and Lamoille and Windham 14 each. Of the latter, Rocking- ham has five, the most of all; Depot Hill, two in Bartonsville, Hall Bridge and Jones Bridge in Cambridgeport. And none of these bridges is marked on the map with that deadly star which means "slated for extinction." The oldest bridge in Windham County, built about 1835 with two laminated arches added circa 1890, is Gate's Bridge in Westminster. Still in good condition, having been recently re-floored, it is part of a State Aid Road. Saxtons River people like to remember that it was their veteran Dr. Osgood who was the first to cross their new bridge in his car, in November of 1948, before it was quite ready, because the high water swept away the foot bridge. Right behind him was Ray Hemingway, mail carrier, fire chief and taxi driver.
In 1929 the Boston & Maine Railroad built three new bridges here, one over the canal, one over the Saxtons River and one over West River at Brattleboro. Of the seven covered railroad bridges in Vermont, none of them are in Windham County.
RUTLAND RAILROAD
In March of 1955 the Rutland Railroad announced that in a week or two, it would move its last four steam engines to the scrap pile of the Alpha Steel Mill in Pittsburg, Pa. (RUT- LAND HERALD, March 16, 1955.) The railroad which now operates only freight cars, is also completely Dieselized. This brings the century-old era of steam power on the Rutland to an end after a long period of unprofitable years resulting in a strike which began at 6 a. m. on June 26, 1953. The preceding year saw the fleet of "408020" or mountain-type Diesels at work and the old steam engines were used for emergency and reserve only. The engines which once puffed and huffed and blew billows of soot into your face, no longer pound into the station. The soot-blackened roundhouse which did noble duty for years, overhauling and repairing as well as turning engines around, is also another vanishing Americanism landmark destined for the dump. The last iron steam monster went out of service September 1, 1952. On May 10, 1946, all train service in this
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era was curtailed to conserve diminishing coal supplies caused by the coal strike. Although a money loser for many years due to automobile travel, there was a time, according to Leon C. Baldwin of Fulton, N. Y. who owns one of the most interesting scrapbooks of railroads in the country, when it was in even worse condition. In January, 1855, it was actually sold for twenty- two dollars. Both the Rutland and Burlington Roads were financially embarrassed at that time and sheriff George Slate of Bellows Falls, sold at auction 22,000 shares of the corpora- tion for exactly twenty-two dollars to William Henry, presi- dent of a Bellows Falls bank and later, a member of Congress- although records do not say that this is where he got his start! Mr. Baldwin states that the first conductors on the Rutland Railroad were Josiah Bowtell and Daniel Arms of Bellows Falls. The oldest engineer was Albert Parrott who was still on his run in 1903. (The last train on the B&M left Bellows Falls, May 31, 1958).
Among local men who served long terms with the railroad were John Daniel Sullivan, retired engineer on B&M; Harry Hill, retired car foreman; George Lawrence who retired in 1939 after 40 years as brakeman and conductor on the B&M; Fred Averill, locomotive engineer 45 years on B&M; George Cady of Rutland, formerly of Bellows Falls; Charles Gallagher, en- gineer on the Central Vermont, who died in West Springfield, Mass. in 1941; Frank O. Isham, for 45 years car inspector and crossing tender who died in September, 1936, aged 73; Victor Deming died in Philadelphia in 1939 after living in Bellows Falls for 30 years as railway postal clerk between Newport, Vt. and Springfield Mass .; W. W. Dodge, who lived on Canal Street, died in 1938 after 58 years of railroading in this vicinity, start- ing out in 1879, firing a passenger train on the old Vermont Valley Railroad. It was a wood-burning engine, which like the later coal-burning ones, set fire regularly, spring and fall, to the woods along the tracks.
In 1939 two more veterans left the service, William F. Putney, formerly of Bellows Falls, later of Fitchburg, Mass., who was past 70 years old and the last of the old Cheshire Rail- road employees, serving the public for 55 years and four months and George S. Wilbur of Saxtons River who retired after 50 years of service, 44 of them as yard foreman on the Cheshire Branch at Bellows Falls. Mr. Wilbur said that the first rail- road snowplow which he ever saw was the one which tried to bite into the great drifts of the blizzard of '88-and failed. Samuel B. Pierce, former general agent for the B&M in Bel- lows Falls, died in Fitchburg, aged 63, in 1948. Stephen Slat- tery, a native of Bellows Falls, died when he was 60 as he en- tered the engine of a New Haven Railroad train in New Haven, Conn. on which he had worked for 30 years as brakeman. Arthur Wells of Cold River, N. H. retired at 75 after 51
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years as engineer on the B&M; he died September 5, 1941, aged 79.
Edward J. Howard, died in 1949 after many years service as district superintendent of the U. S. Railway Mail Service. In December, 1956, his son, Edward J. Howard, Jr., also of Bellows Falls was named by Congressman Prouty, Transporta- tion Manager of U. S. Postal Transportation Services, District No. 4 of the Boston region, at White River Jct. He joined the transportation service of the Post Office Dept. in 1938. A. L. Fuller retired in 1951 after 60 years and 10 months working for the B&M, since 1890. In 1955 he received a citation for 50 years' service as a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers which he joined in 1903. Loren Davis, track super- visor of the B&M, retired in March, 1956 after 46 years of service. Also in 1955, Charles D. Keefe was awarded a gold pin and bronze placque for 50 years of continuous service in the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen which he joined in 1905, working on the Fitchburg division of the B&M, later with freight service. For the last seven years before his retirement in 1953, he worked as conductor on passenger trains on the B&M. Hugh MacPhee, locomotive engineer, was also with the B&M for forty-five years until he died July 10, 1955 at the age of 68. He started his career on the old trolley cars in Boston. George W. Whitcomb died in 1944 at the age of 84, one of the oldest retired railroad men in town. He came to Bellows Falls in 1881 and began firing an engine on the Rutland Railroad. Two years later he became a locomotive engineer which position he held for 42 years, retiring in 1925. In 1923 he received the gold pin for 40 years of service. Henry Bussey, Sr., died in June, 1946 after 50 years with the B&M as locomotive engineer, having retired in 1938.
Working in various capacities at the depot also were other men who also served long terms at their jobs. Among them was Dayton H. Switzer who was ticket agent at the station from 1898 to 1937 when he retired. He died in 1940. He was pre- viously messenger for the Central Vermont Railroad living in St. Albans. William Codding was baggagemaster at the depot for 33 years, being appointed in 1913 and passing away in January, 1942. Henry C. Johnson, as a young man, came to Bellows Falls as ticket and freight agent and held the position for 60 years. He retired to live in Saxtons River, dying in Brattleboro in 1943 at the age of 97. Arthur L. Day was local baggagemaster for 28 years, dying suddenly in 1944.
AIRPLANES
One of the first aviators in this vicinity was Henry E. Stickney, a Kurn Hattin boy who, after his return from W. W. I as a member of the famous Lafayette Squadron, became well-
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known in the state for his aeronautical work. Before and after the war, Capt. Stickney and Earl Osgood of Saxtons River, operated a garage on School St. and in 1920, opened an aviation school in Springfield, Vt. which they ran successfully for two months. The course ran from six to eight weeks and the price was $450. Starting out with one Curtiss biplane, a J-N 4, the old "Jenny", they ordered two more to be used for advertising their business which consisted of tossing out pamphlets and parachutes from the air, the first such advertising to be done. Take-offs were made from nearby pastures, carrying passengers aloft and one 75 year-old woman was thrilled with her first flight at 1,000 feet. That same year Springfield built its in- corporated air field at Kendrick's Corners with Hon. James Hartness as one of the incorporators.
In July of 1920 Capt. Stickney leased from Lewis C. Lovell, after viewing many fields including Barber Park, the flat land on his farm above the river on the Rockingham Road, ordered a new plane from Buffalo and where once the local populace came to watch horse racing, they now came to see this new pastime of the air. Few dreamed that it would ever be more than that. The first plane used was the old "Jenny" which carried up one passenger at a time, at five dollars for five minutes, but two new planes carried two people at once which was a mar- vellous advance. Business was brisk although the plane's motors sometimes stalled in the air and there were still many who did not trust this new contraption. Among these was the wife of the owner of the field who, watching anxiously as her daughter disappeared into the clouds one day, waved her apron wildly and shouted, "Come right back down here! I told you not to go up there in that thing!"
Capt. Stickney flew extensively through New England and in 1920 went from Long Island to Bellows Falls in the incredible time of three hours! He carried passengers to New York and other places, landing in any available pasture or field. In 1923 he flew Row Wales of Bellows Falls, an early advocate of traveling "as the crow flies," from Long Island to Bellows Falls-but it still took him three hours. In September of 1920, he triumphantly, after three tries, delivered a letter and telegram to Max Powell at the Summit House on Mt. Mansfield, the first mail trip to that mountain top and the first flight over it. He took off from Stowe successfully and it was loudly pre- dicted that within two years, a landing field would be built on top of Mansfield which proved to be, however, an idle dream. In 1922 Capt. Stickney was chairman of the Aero Club of Ver- mont, organized for air meets which would include stunt flying and cross-country flying, among other things.
From Bellows Falls, Capt. Stickney went to Worcester where he carried on the same type of work including exhibition flying but he was only there a few weeks when his luck broke
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and his plane crashed on January 10, 1928, injuring him badly and killing his student pilot. But he recovered sufficiently to fly again the next May for his flying spirit could not be broken. He was operated on the next year and although limping, was again able to play golf and returned to fly once more from the Bellows Falls field, being helped into the cockpit by friends. He died in September, 1934, at Colon, Panama. His exploits were probably Rockingham's first experience with the new medium of travel when he roared over local roof tops in his old biplane. Efforts were made to build an air field on this side of the river but they failed when the flats near the Bowen farm in South Charlestown, N. H. were approved in 1929 by General Brown but nothing ever came of this, either, although many plans were laid that year as one of the principal air routes in New England was scheduled to pass over Bellows Falls from Boston to Mon- treal with, as experts said, "one of the best potential air fields in New England." In 1946 the idea has not died away com- pletely as Bellows Falls and Springfield were among 12 com- munities in Vermont approved for airport aid under the National Airport Bill by the State Aeronautics Commission.
Another early exponent of air travel was Robert C. Howe, formerly part owner of what had once been the Corner Drug Store and who in 1939 was manager of a Gardner, Mass. airport. That year he bought a new 1940 model ship for his flying school of 40 students and in which he flew over Bellows Falls, the only druggist in the country with a commercial pilot's license. Painted blue with red trimmings and making up to 125 miles an hour, local people gaped as it roared over the village. Nelson Faught, "the typewriter man" and a relative of Howe's, became air-minded and in 1942 entered the Air School at Milton, Pa. for pilot instructors under the United States Army. In 1944 he became flight instructor at the airfield in Claremont, N. H. Mr. Faught has been interested in flying ever since and from time to time has owned his own plane. In the summer of 1927 Col. Charles Lindbergh landed his Spirit of St. Louis at the Springfield field, the plane which now hangs in the Smith- sonian Institute at Washington, D. C. Most of Rockingham and New England were there to greet him and touch the famous monoplane. Today those same people scarcely look up when jet bombers streak across the skies.
In March, 1956, Frederick M. Greenwood, another early flier, aged 43 and manager of the Springfield Airport from 1938 to 1951, was appointed manager of the Rutland Airport to suc- ceed Joseph W. Rock. Greenwood, whose ancestors were among the earliest settlers of Rockingham, was at one time manager of the Post Mills Airport at Ely, Vt. and is one of the local men with long hours of flying, having more than 5,000 hours in the air and was designated as a commercial pilot examiner and aircraft inspector by the Civil Aeronautic Administration. In
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1951 he became inspector for the Vermont Aeronautics, Com- mission for 11/2 years. He holds a commercial pilot's license with intructor, instrument, single and multi-engine land and sea ratings and has an aircraft and engine mechanic's license. During W. W. I he spent some time as an instrument flight instructor for Northeast Airlines and as test pilot for Chance Vought Aircraft.
CHAPTER X
RELIGIOUS LIFE
CHURCH HISTORIES
In a recent magazine article, membership in the larger churches in America was given in order of size. They are as follows: Roman Catholic, 32.5 million adults and children; Baptists, 18.5 million adults; Methodists, 11.7 million adults; Lutherans, 7 million; Presbyterians, 3.7 million; Episcopalians, 2.7 million children and adults; Latter-Day Saints, 1.3 million children and adults; Congregationalists, 1.3 adults; Adventists, 300,000 members; Church of Christ Scientist, 3,100 branches in the world; Jehovah's Witnesses, 187,000 workers; Unitarians and Universalists are considering a merger which would have membership of 160,000 (LIFE, December 26, 1955).
THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF BELLOWS FALLS
The early history of the Baptist Church was compiled by Rev. C. W. Jackson who took up his pastorate here in 1902. It was brought up to date by Rev. C. W. Briggs who served from 1945 to 1950. Rev C. R. B. Dodge served the church from 1890 to 1902, the longest service in the history of the Church. During this time the graceful spire of the Church was removed, a new organ installed and several memorial windows; pews were replaced with wooden seats and the vestry remodeled for social purposes. The Church prospered under the regime of Rev. Jackson and his bride and the Junior and Senior Chris- tian Endeavor Societies flourished. Mr. Jackson was brother to Mrs. George Bacon, a faithful worker and teacher in the Church who died more than fifty years later at the age of 103.
Rev. John Ward Moore was pastor from 1907-1912. Dur- ing his service, the Philathea Class for high school girls was started which met each Sunday in the balcony. Rev. J. Wallace Chesbro was with the Church from 1913-1918 and many changes took place during that time including the building of a room over the main entrance by the large and flourishing men's class now known as the Upper Room. Church grounds were graded and the present sidewalk and steps built. Dr. J. S. Weightnour, appointed pastor in 1919, died on his way here on the train and Rev. J. L. Clark came from 1919-1921 when Rev. John Maxwell became pastor remaining until 1928. Curry
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M. Spidell was ordained in the Church here in 1929 and brought another bride to the parsonage. They remained for nine years and left with the lasting friendship of their parish. The De- pression curbed everything unnecessary and even the pastor's salary at one time but the Church carried on and has never felt the need to unite with another organization. Rev. Spidell was recognized as an authority on world affairs and his wife was active among the young people in town. Rev. Spidell left here to become Army Chaplain in W. W. II after which he became Protestant chaplain at the Federal Penitentiary on MacNeil's Island in Puget Sound. He now holds a similar position in Milan, Michigan.
Dr. Addison B. Lorimer, a retired pastor from New York State, accepted the charge in 1938 and was married in the church to his second wife, a woman trained in church work. During the first year of Dr. Lorimer's pastorate, the '38 hurricane struck town with much destruction to the church but funds were forthcoming for complete redecoration. Fire also hit the parsonage soon after this but the parish recovered from this blow also. Dr. Lorimer left for a St. Johnsbury pastorate in 1944 and Dr. John Gordon of the Saxtons River Church did supply work. William Osbourne, a Gordon Bible student, occupied the pulpit as temporary pastor for a few months in 1944-1945. Rev. Charles Briggs, also retired, answered the call from New York State in October, 1945 and during his term of office many repairs and improvements were made including new furnaces.
With the resignation of Rev. Briggs in April, 1950, the church was without a pastor until December of that year when Richard B. Painchaud of Websterville, Vt. and a graduate of Gordon College, Boston, Mass., accepted the pastorship in November. During his ministerial service, the Church con- tinued to progress in all its endeavors. Improvements to church properties were continued and session of a Daily Vaca- tion Bible School were reinstated during the summers. During this period, too, the church met a great loss in the death of two of its outstanding members, Robert H. S. Mark and Byron A. Robinson, who had served in many official and advisory capaci- ties. Mr. Painchaud tendered his resignation in May, 1954 and later accepted a call to the Barre Church and was there ordained to the ministry in May, 1955. Although the Church was again temporarily without a pastor, extensive decoration of the auditorium was accomplished.
In November of 1954 the Church held its 100th anniversary with fitting observances. Miss Kay Jean Reed was chairman of the committee in charge and guest speaker was Rev. John M. Maxwell, former pastor. Rev. Harold L. Hanson of Claremont, N. H. was acting as supply pastor. Dinner was served to 200 persons and visitors were present from many localities for the
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Worship Service, dinner and program.
During January and February, 1955, Mr. Herbert Glynn of Springfield, Vt. served as acting pastor and in March, of that year Rev. Aubrey S. Bishop, formerly pastor of the Springvale, Maine Baptist Church, assumed his duties here. A native of Wolfville, Nova Scotia, he graduated from Acadia University in Nova Scotia, did graduate work at Harvard after theological school in Newton, Mass. and held various pastorates in Maine. The Baptist parsonage was sold in 1955 and a new one purchased in Chase Park. Active groups in the church include Sunday School, Ladies' Aid, Mission Circle, Youth Fellowship and the Friendship Club.
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE SOCIETY
The first public interest in Christian Science became mani- fest in Bellows Falls in 1906 when services were held in a private home for about three years. A church was advocated again in 1912 but not until December 6, 1926, when sixteen people met for services, was regular worship held in various homes and continued until 1928. The first regular business meeting of the Society was held on June 4, 1928 and the Christian Science So- ciety officially organized. At this meeting a letter from the Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Bos- ton, recognizing the Society as a branch of the Mother Church, was read. Thereafter services were held regularly, first in the Odd Fellows' Hall, later in the Woman's Club room, then a pri- vate home and at 112 Rockingham St. For five years, until July 1951, the Society occupied the premises at 3 School St., continuing Sunday Morning Servces at 10:45 a. m. with Sunday School at the same hour and its Reading Room open to members and the general public on Saturday afternoons from two to four.
In April, 1950 the Society voted to hold Wednesday evening services as well and to open the Reading Room on Wednesday afternoons as well as Saturday. In July, 1951, the Society purchased the Clark Bowen residence at 39 School St. and moved into its new quarters August 1. Work was begun at once to transform this residence into a church which was finished at the end of November, 1952. The removal of two walls on the first floor created a fair-sized auditorium, seating about fifty people. The Reading Room adjoins the auditorium and opens into the Business Office. The two Sunday School rooms are on the upper floor and the entire interior has been redecor- ated, the outside painted and repaired. A new Hammond organ provides music. Sunday Services are held at 10:45 a. m. con- temporaneous with Sunday School. Wednesday evening meet- ings are held at 7:30 when testimonies of Christian Science healing are given. The Reading Room is open to members and the general public for rest and study and the Bible, the Christian
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Science Textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scrip- tures by Mary Baker Eddy and other books and periodicals on Christian Science, may be read, borrowed or purchased. The public is always welcome to all services.
THE CHURCH OF THE SACRED HEART
At the beginning of this century the Polish people had established themselves firmly in the community, most of them working in the paper mills although, some true to their native country, went onto the land as farmers. While the intentions of many of them were originally to save money enough to re- turn to Poland financially independent, as were the intentions of many other races, most of them decided to remain in this country and have since become part of its backbone. In- herently religious, they soon set about establishing a Polish Parish here under the direction and authority of the Hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church.
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