Bristol County, Massachusetts - Chapter 16: Taunton's Public Utilities, 1924

The fundamental features of the municipality itself are to be found in those departments that are always at work in maintaining the community's progressive plans, - its business, its beautification, its safety and its general development. These, substantially, are the city's upbuilding forces:

Taunton Chamber of Commerce. - A Chamber of Commerce conducted by Taunton business men upon the basis of such broad yet selective transactions as shall annually open the way for the advancement of the city and for its mercantile and commercial prosperity, is the continuous purpose of ' the executive board of the present organization. The Chamber of Commerce is an entirely new venture from that of the earlier Board of Trade and the Taunton Business Men's Association that succeeded the old organization. The beginnings of both, however, may be traced for their motive in the old board that, recognizing the demand of business for a concurrence of idea and purpose among merchants and managers, was launched as the Taunton Board of Trade, April 1, 1897. Early in March of that year, thirty men held a meeting over the, store of the Pierce Hardware Company, and elected Dudley Holman as chairman and Bion C. Pierce as secretary. Hon. Frederick S. Hall was appointed chairman of a committee to draw up a constitution and by-laws, and at a meeting that was called soon afterwards, at Historical Hall, the organization was perfected with the following-named officers: President, Frederick S. Hall; vice-presidents, Peter H. Corr, S. Frank Hammett, Porte W. Hewins; secretary, Dudley M. Holman; treasurer, Orville A. Barker; and they, with the followingnamed, composed the executive committee: Bion C. Pierce, Herbert H. Shumway, Alfred B. Williams, Michael C. Golden, Dr. Joseph B. Murphy, William M. Lovering, A. Cleveland Bent, Henry F. Bassett, Thomas F. Cavanaugh. Headquarters of the old board at that time were in the third story of the Manheim building, fronting on City Hall Square, and the large hall on the second floor of the building was used for public meetings. There were upwards of two hundred and fifty names on the membership list. The Board of Trade for a number of years performed many of its undertakings to general satisfaction, and after a time ceased to exist.

The Taunton Business Men's Association was started in the spring of 1912, George W. Reichenberg being among those who were instrumental _ in its formation. Richard Wastcoat was elected president of the association, and Silas D. Reed secretary. The first few meetings of the new organization were held at Historical Hall, and afterwards the front rooms of Columbian Hall were occupied. A Fourth of July parade was one of the features of the publicity of the association in 1912.

The present day régime was adopted here in 1913, and at a time when the Chamber of Commerce movement was being generally recognized as: one that must play a large and leading part in the future of growing cities. Richard Wastcoat was elected first president of the Taunton Chamber of Commerce; Francis P. Callahan and Thomas J. Morton, vice-presidents; Louis J. Antine, treasurer; and Charles J. Wheeler, secretary. It was during the first year of this organization that the Congressional Committee on Rivers and Harbors met here and were shown about, and an earnest plea was made for river development. In the following year (1914) the local organization was elected a member of the National Chamber of Commerce, and the officers cnosen that year consisted of President James P. Whitters; vice-presidents, Lewis M. Witherell, Sr., and William Hughes; treasurer, Albert H. Tetlow; secretary, Charles L. Wheeler. Beginning

December 1, 1914, the headquarters of the institution were in the Wilbur building; and from now onwards, the Chamber of Commerce began to share not only the interests of the Atlantic Deeper Waterways Committee, but also those of the Retail Credit Rating Service Bureau, those of the agricultural societies, the poultry associations, and the movement for a more efficient lighting system for Taunton; also to contend for gradecrossing abolition, ways and means for providing playgrounds, special days for sales, and to codperate with the city planning board, as well as for clean-up week campaigns; for the Wednesday half-holiday; for holiday celebrations; and for many considerations regarding the betterment of the everyday conditions of Taunton's mercantile interests. The same officers were elected in 1915; and in 1916 Thomas J. Morton was elected president; Lewis M. Witherell and A. Cleveland Bent, vice-presidents; Henry A. Dickerman, treasurer. The Chautauqua week was welcomed, and there was special codperation of the merchants in the Fourth of July, Labor Day, and other holiday celebrations. In 1917, William Hughes was elected president of the association, and at a later meeting in the year, A. Cleveland Bent was elected president in place of Mr. Hughes, who declined election. The chamber voted to raise a war camp community fund of $2800, with Randall Dean as chairman, Charles E. Smith as secretary, and Richard Wastcoat as treasurer. In 1918, the association removed to its present headquarters, and in February of that year L. James Parker was chosen secretary. The officers elected for 1916 consisted of President A. Cleveland Bent; vice-presidents, Lewis M. Witherell and Thomas J. Morton; treasurer, Charles W. Davol; and the executive board was William H. Reed, George W. Seeley and Bion C. Pierce. Richard Wastcoat was elected president for 1922-23; George W. Seeley and Ralph E. Barker, vicepresidents; and Charles W. Davol, treasurer. L. James Parker resigned as secretary March 5, 1923. At a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, May 22, 1923, Frank L. Locklin, secretary of the Taunton Manufacturers' Association, was elected secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Locklin thus having secretarial charge of both institutions, though both remain distinct as heretofore.

Taunton City Planning Board. - With the arrival of the city, there comes to the goal at the same time the City Planning Board, one leading indication of the city's progress. So far as it may be permitted, through counsel, direction and the proffering of practical plans, to carry out its | purposes to fulfilment, the Taunton City Planning Board is continuing to open gates of opportunity for the city, said Alfred B. Williams, its chairman, and at a time when all cities of its own proportions find themselves ready for new action and achievement. The Planning Board is of far more lively use than as a silent partner in the business of the municipality; for in Taunton, at least, its voice is heard and its influence recognized on occasions wherein it is seen that citizens and taxpayers demand better housing and health conditions, and the city as a whole requires interchange of opinion as to simple and sane constructive development.

Taunton's Planning Board takes the ground that its own work and aim, though voiced by a comparatively small committee at present, shall before many years become the work and aim of the city as a whole, and that the intelligence of the community shall be gradually inspired to its own betterment. The leaven of the Planning Board's enterprises, it is confidently expected, will have city-wide influence and partnership. For an entire decade, from 1913 to 1923, that leaven has been working. It was in the former year that the city was directed by the statutes (Acts of 1913, Chapter 494) to establish a Planning Board, "whose duty it shall be to make careful studies of the resources, possibilities and needs of the city, particularly with respect to conditions which may be injurious to the public health, or otherwise injurious, in and about rented dwellings, and to make plans for the development of the municipality with reference to the housing of its people.' Very soon afterwards, then, in January, 1914, this board was established, its personnel being Alfred B. Williams, chairman; Miss Flora L. Mason, secretary; S. Frank Hammett, George F. Seibel, William E. Kelley. In 1916, Mr. Kelley retired, and J. Arthur Quigley was appointed in his place. Thomas B. Gaffney succeeded Mr. Quigley in 1922.

The board is a working force in the community. At the very start, in compliance with the requirement of the ordinance referring to its existence, the board caused to be made a general study of housing conditions in Taunton, embodying the results of its investigation in pamphlet form for public distribution. In this way the project was brought into closer touch with the public. The organization also gave attention to matters relating to general public improvements that it judged required immediate consideration in the interests of the general welfare, some of its recommendations being adopted and carried out, with benefit to the city. For example, in the matter of street improvement a building line was set on Cohannet street, and buildings then in process of erection were compelled to be set back to that line. An educational campaign, in behalf of a building ordinance proposed by the board, resulted in having that ordinance adopted December 21, 1920, by the Municipal Council, thus: "No apartment house, designed for more than two families, and exceeding two stories in height, shall be erected in any part of the city unless the same is constructed of brick, stone or other fireproof material, etc.; no wooden building other than a dwellinghouse and appurtenant outbuildings, shall be erected in any part of the city outside the fire limits, without a permit granted therefor."

In good season, then, came the interesting work of bringing the people to the Planning Board itself, as certain conferences were planned and successfully carried through. As a leading example, a district conference of planning boards was held at City Hall in Taunton, May 12, 1920, when addresses were given by Mayor Leo Coughlin; R. W. Kelso, Massachusetts Commissioner of the Department of Public Welfare; Joseph Finberg, chairman of the Attleboro Planning Board; Nathan Durfee, chairman of the Fall River Planning Board; George H. Nye, city engineer of New Bedford, and William H. Reed, publisher of the "Taunton Daily Gazette." All the out-of-town speakers congratulated Taunton upon being in so large a degree free from the three-decker form of tenement house, and upon having so large a proportion of one-family houses, each with its own yard.

Public lectures, besides the group of addresses referred to, have been given here by officers of other planning boards and civic leagues, and the board has been represented at conferences of similar boards in a number of large cities. The Planning Board has repeatedly called attention to the desirability of enlarging playgrounds; of adopting ordinances to regulate and restrict the placing and use of billboards, and of urging the exercise of a stricter control over the development of tracts of land for building purposes. Public improvements at East Taunton have received the more than ordinary attention of the board; as well as a proposition for the removal of overhead wires; of increasing the safety of traffic by means of rounded instead of square corners for sidewalks at street intersections; and districting laws providing for residential and business sections have been proposed. One leading plan for city development, the board urges, is that contained in the development of a park system along Mill river. Here exists a real opportunity for the betterment and beautification of the city almost within the city center.

Of very general interest has been the proposition of the board to the Municipal Council that plans be put under way for the construction of a "Victory Hall," in recognition of the patriotic service of the Taunton men who served in the World War. One very striking event under the auspices of the board was the conference that took place at Taunton City Hall, February 25, 1916, with an exhibition of drawings, photography, and plans, to which several of the planning boards in the eastern part of the State contributed and sent delegates. The programme was one of the most complete of the sort, as it included such pertinent and timely papers as the following: "The Development of Taunton,' by Miss Flora L. Mason, secretary of the local board; "Associated Charities,' by Miss Bertha J. Southwick, general secretary of the local association; "The Chamber of Commerce," by James P. Whitters, chairman of that board; "Deeper Waterways," by James E. Lewis, of the Deeper Waterways Commission; "Transportation," by George F. Seibel; "Traffic,' by Dr. A. R. Crandell; "Workmen's Homes and Exhibits," by Walter H. Kilham; "Legislative Work," by Hon. Joseph E. Warner; "The Laying Out of Land for Proper Home Development," by Edward T. Hartman.

Interesting plans for increasing the high school accommodations have been brought before the Planning Board by a committee from the Taunton Chamber of Commerce; and in 1916 the board issued a pamphlet with the title, "Why the City of Taunton should have a New High School Building,' in propositions and suggestions set forth by a consulting engineer. The organization also recommended the restoration of the old name, Taunton Green, in recognition of the distinction which the historic plot gives to the center of the city; and under the auspices of the board an address on "City Zoning" was given at City Hall, March 1, 1921, by Flavell Shurtleff, secretary of the National Conferences on City Planning, with its direct plea for the separation of industry and domesticity within the city limits. In all its motive and effort the board has had the approval and cooperation of the School Board, the Board of Health, the, Woman's Club, and other departments. The one thing desired is that not only every board attached to the municipal government, but every voter, man or woman, have a live and increasing interest in the movement, which in its final analysis signifies city improvement and betterment.

Taunton Water Works.* - The Legislature granted a charter for the water works of Taunton in Chapter 217 of the Acts of 1875, approved May 19, 1875. This allowed the city to take water either from Taunton river or the Lakeville ponds, and gave it the right to expend $200,000 in construction. This act was accepted by the voters on September 21, 1875, by a vote of 1194 in favor and 570 opposed. Surveys and investigations had been made by a committee of the city government, of which Henry S. Harris was chairman. On October 6, 1875, the City Council elected as Water Commissioners Henry §. Harris for three years, Parley I. Perrin for two years, and Marcus M. Rhodes for one year, from the first of the following January. Mr. Perrin was elected president, and held that office until January, 1894. He resigned as a member of the board January 11, 1894,

The newly elected water commission continued the investigation begun by the committee on water supply, and on March 14, 1876, made a report to 'the City Council recommending that a supply of water be taken from Taunton river at or near shallow water, and that the direct pumping system be adopted for distributing the water. This recommendation was adopted by the council on Marcn 16, and the commissioners were directed to perfect plans and solicit proposals for the construction of the work. George H. Bishop, of Middletown, Connecticut, was selected as engineer. Proposals were issued to contractors in April, and bids received May 6. After considering the bids, it was decided to divide the work into two parts, and the contract to furnish and lay the distributing mains, gates and hydrants was let to R. D. Wood & Co., of Philadelphia, for $124,750. The contract for the engines, pumps, engine house, boilers, stack, foundation, filter basin and well was let to the Holly Manufacturing Company, of Lockport, New York, for $62,000. These contracts were approved by the City Council May 10, and ground was broken for the filter basin on May 15, 1876. Pipe laying began on July 10, was completed October 9, and accepted November 25. About 16.8 miles were laid that year. The power plant consisted of a Holly pumping engine of 3,000,000 gallons capacity, and two rotary pumps, connected by shaft with a horizontal engine, with a capacity of 3,000,000 gallons per day. The steam for them was produced in two tubular boilers sixteen feet long and five feet in diameter. The pumps were started September 30, but everything was not ready to use until November 30. A public trial was had on December 2, 1876.

The filter gallery, as it was called, was an excavation made parallel to and near the river. It is 400 feet long and 100 feet wide at the top, the bottom width being seventeen feet. The quantity of water to be obtained in this manner was estimated at one and one-half million gallons per day. It was supposed that most of the water would enter this gallery from the river side, but in practice it was found that a large part came from the land side and was virtually spring water.

Henry F. Bassett, the first superintendent and clerk, resigned in July, 1879, and William R. Billings was elected to succeed him. In January, 188), Mr. Rhodes declined reélection as commissioner, and Henry M. Lovering was elected.

There had been a demand for a larger supply of water, as the filter gallery was not furnishing much over 500,000 gallons daily. In 1880 a brick conduit 62 by 48 inches was built from the southerly end of the filter gallery nearly parallel to the river, a distance of 863 feet.

Mr. Harris died in March, 1881, and Dr. Silas D. Presbrey was elected commissioner. An additional supply of water being desired, an excavation about 95 feet by 45 feet was made at the upper end of the brick conduit, and this was refilled with stones and gravel, making an artificial filter. In 1887 another attempt to increase the supply was made by driving 7 by 3 inch wells from 40 to 45 feet deep. The bridge across the river to Dean street was built in 1887 and the 20-inch main, which had crossed the river under the river bottom, was placed upon the bridge. In 1888 Mr. Billings resigned as clerk and superintendent, and George F. Chace was elected.

In 1889, an 8-inch well was driven to a depth of 975 feet, 890 feet being in rock. The different expedients to increase the supply of water had not met anticipations, and the plan to go to the Lakeville ponds began to be discussed. In 1890 contracts were let for building an addition to the pumping station and the erection of a new engine and a new boiler. Their construction was completed in 1891. The new engine was known as a Gaskill engine, and had a capacity of 4,000,000 gallons per day. In October, 1891, a bill was presented to the Common Council to consider the question of obtaining a water supply from the Lakeville ponds, and in 1892 the Legislature authorized a loan of $500,000, which was desired for that purpose. 'The extension to Lakeville was authorized by the city government by order approved April 21, 1892. Contracts were let in 1892, and the work was in process of construction during 1893 and completed in 1894. The Lakeville pumping station was put in operation in February, 1894. In January, 1894, Peter H. Corr was elected a commissioner, Mr. Perrin resigning.

The supply of water is taken from the west side of Assawompset pond and is raised to Elder's pond, a height of about thirty-five feet. The plant there consists of an E. P. Allis & Co. triple expansion vertical pump of 5,000,000 gallons capacity. Two boilers furnish the steam. The main between the ponds is 24 inches in diameter. The water enters Elder's pond on the southeasterly side and leaves_it from the northwesterly side. The water from Elder's flows by gravity through a 30-inch main to the Harris street station. In 1895 many of the distribution mains were increased in size. Four new boilers were installed at Harris street in 1899 and a new 8,000,000 gallon Gaskill engine was erected in 1901. Additions to the station were built in that year. In 1902 the State Board of Health adopted rules and regulations for the sanitary protection of the Lakeville ponds. The city has purchased some land for the same purpose, and some of this land has been set out to young trees, mostly white pines. In January, 1903, Mr. Chace resigned as superintendent and clerk, and George A. King was elected. Surveys for ascertaining electrical conditions were made in 1901 and 1905 by A. A. Knudson, E. E., when much return current was found upon a number of the mains, and in a few instances the street railway took steps to remedy conditions. In 1910 water was introduced into that part of North Dighton village located in Dighton, under a contract made with the Mount Hope Finishing Company.

In 1913 the department made its first change from horse drawn vehicles to automobiles by the purchase of a Detroit electric truck, and others have been added from time to time. In 1914 a 10,000,000 gallon Snow pumping engine was installed in the Harris street station, and the original Holly pumping engine was removed. In 1915 an addition was built to the Lakeville boiler house and two new tubular boilers were installed. On October 1, 1917, owirlg to ill health, Henry M. Lovering resigned as commissioner. He had served on the board thirty-seven years and nine months, and was president nearly twenty-four years. On the 23rd of the same month Dr. Silas D. Presbrey died, after a service of thirty-six years and seven months. The department owes much to the long and able administration of these men. Willis K. Hodgman succeeded Mr. Lovering, and Francis J. Bassett succeeded Dr. Presbrey upon the board, and Peter H. Corr succeeded Mr. Lovering as president. In 1920, steps were taken toward requiring all services to be metered, and about four hundred meters have been set annually since.

During the year when operation of the works was begun (1876), a schedule of rates was adopted. The main items of $5 for the first faucet, $2 for the second, $3 for a bathtub and $5 for a water closet, have continued as the rates until the present time. The first schedule required a minimum charge for metered water of $10 per year; this continued in effect until 1913, when the minimum semi-annual charge of $4 was made, and this was further reduced in 1918 to $3, which allows the use of 12,000 gallons. Twenty-five cents per thousand gallons is charged for any excess used. The system has now about one hundred miles of cast iron distributing mains in sizes from four inches to twenty inches. There are over sixty miles of service pipe of cement-lined, wrought-iron pipe in sizes from three-fourths inch to two inches. There are about sixty-five hundred services and over five thousand of them are metered. We have over eleven hundred fire hydrants. The pumping capacity of the three pumps at Harris street station is 22,000,000 gallons per day. The average daily consumption is 3,220,896 gallons. The receipts for water are now about $109,000 per year, and water is furnished free for all city uses except in public buildings.

Taunton Waterways*. - From the time when Taunton was settled, in 1637, up to the present, there has been more or less traffic on our river. In the earlier days and up to 1870 there was a large fleet of sloops and schooners of from fifty to one hundred and fifty tons burden owned by Taunton men. These small vessels traded along the coast from the Provinces to the West Indies, and their cargoes of hay, grain, flour, lumber, iron and coal were brought to Taunton and distributed among the neighboring towns within a radius of twenty miles by team. Weir Village was a busy place in those days. At that time Taunton was the largest grain distributing port on the New England coast, with the exception of Boston and Portland. The grain was brought down the Erie canal to New York Bay, where it was reshipped in small schooners, and brought through Long Island Sound and up Taunton river to Taunton. Lumber was brought from the South and from Maine and the Provinces, iron from the Erie and Lake Champlain canal and the South, and coal from the southern ports. Differential railroad rates killed the business, and the small schooners, unable to compete, disappeared from our river. However, the maritime spirit had not died out in Taunton, and the old vessels' owners and their descendants put their money into larger vessels.

Taunton capital built the first three, four, five and six masted schooners that were seen on our coast. These vessels could only come as far as Fall River and Somerset... There was only eighteen feet of water on Common Fence bar at that time at low water, but, since that time, the bar has been dredged to twenty-five feet. Vessels drawing twenty-five feet can therefore come up to Fall River, which is only seventeen miles from Taunton. Vessels carrying eighteen feet can come to Somerset, eleven miles from Taunton, and vessels carrying eleven feet at low water can come to Dighton, which is only seven miles below the Weir. Vessels drawing over five feet cannot come to Taunton at low water. The rise and fall of the tide in our river is from three and a half to six feet; therefore, vessels drawing over eight to nine feet can come to Taunton only at high tide.

From 1870 to 1880 there was more coast-wise tonnage owned and hailing from Taunton than from any other port on the Atlantic coast, with the exception of New York. But of course these vessels, though "Taunton" was painted on their stern, could not come up the river.

The bottom of our river is mostly mud, which could be easily pumped out, and if we could have our river straightened in a few places and deepened to twelve feet at low water to compare with the completed New York canal, and with the Chesapeake and Delaware canal and the New Jersey canal when they are completed, then we could have power barges built similar to the barges now being used on the New York canal. These barges have a capacity of two thousand tons, or equal to one hundred carloads of twenty tons each. They are built of lighter construction for inland traffic than the ocean-going vessels, and at less than one-half the cost per ton capacity. It has been proven that rail freight costs from three to five times more than water-borne freight. This fact, together with a lower rate of insurance, would enable us to have our cotton, lumber, iron, coal, hay, grain, and other products brought from the South and West to our docks at a great saving in time and money. Then, perhaps, Taunton might retrieve her old-time prestige as a market for the surrounding towns.

It has been estimated that within a radius of twenty miles of Taunton, and locally, there is consumed annually 175,000 tons of anthracite coal, 160,000 tons of bituminous coal, 75,000 tons of hay and grain, 200,000 barrels of flour, 35,000 tons of pig iron, and 150,000 tons of miscellaneous freight, such as clay, molding sand, etc., and 50,000,000 feet of lumber. Molding sand, clay and pig iron are brought up the river at present, and coal barges carrying from 400 to 600 tons, according to the state of the tide, still come up, but lumber has not been brought up the river for twenty years, the small vessels having become a "thing of the past." The Taunton Waterways Committee have succeeded annually in having the Taunton project read into the resolutions. of the Atlantic Deeper Waterways Association. These resolutions are presented to the River and

Efforts of the Atlantic Deeper Waterways Association have largely been concentrated upon having Congress appropriate the money to purchase and deepen the Dismal Swamp canal and the Chesapeake and Delaware canal, and on the digging of a new canal across the State of New Jersey. Both the Dismal Swamp and the Chesapeake and Delaware canals have been purchased by the government, and work is nearly completed on the former, while it has been begun on the latter. They are now concentrating all of their efforts on the New Jersey project. The State of New Jersey has offered to purchase the necessary land across the State and give it to the government. These canals constitute the main links in the trunk line. After these canals are provided for, then the other projects, such as the Taunton river, will be taken up. The dredging of Taunton river is only a small part of the scheme, as the canal from Taunton to Boston is a part of the intracoastal waterway plan, and the Atlantic Deeper Waterways Association will hammer Congress until the whole route from Key West to Boston is completed.

The Atlantic Deeper Waterways Association was formed in 1907. Realizing the importance of better, quicker and cheaper transportation, a few far-seeing men, with the Hon. J. Hampton Moore at their head, held their first meeting at Philadelphia, and formed the Atlantic Deeper Waterways Association. Their object was to interest the United States government in connecting up the rivers, bays and harbors along the Atlantic coast by canals, so that an inland passage could be made from Boston to Key West, the rivers along the coast to be made as "feeders" to the trunk line. In 1910 the Atlantic Deeper Waterways Association held their meeting in Providence, Rhode Island. James EK. Lewis, who until the time of his death was always the leading spirit of the local organization, was at that time the only member of the association from Taunton, although the Taunton yachtsmen, together with the yachtsmen from all over Narragansett Bay, took part in the celebration.

The sixth annual meeting was held in New London. A number of the Taunton Waterways Committee joined the association, and from that time on, Taunton has been represented at every meeting. These meetings have been held at Miami and Jacksonville, Florida; twice at Savannah, Georgia; Charleston, South Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; twice in Philadeiphia; Boston, Portland, Atlantic City; and one convention was held from New York to Albany and cities along the Hudson. This year, 1923, the convention was held in Norfolk, Virginia. Besides attending the waterways conventions, members of our committee have attended the National River and Harbor Congress at Washington, hearings in Taunton and Boston before the legislative committee and the Land and Harbor Commissioners, and also before the United States Army Engineers at Washington. Members of the Taunton committee who have attended these various meetings, conventions and hearings are James E. Lewis, Lewis M. Witherell, Sr., Richard Wastcoat, Richard E. Warner, Joseph Williams, Bion C. Pierce, Edgar Sturgis, H. H. Shumway, Sr., L. James Parker and Clinton V. Sanders.

Southeastern Massachusetts, three surveys and estimates have been made by the State and the United States engineers of a twenty-five foot canal from Fall River to Boston. The first canal as surveyed was to go by way of Brockton. The others were to pass to the eastward of Brockton. Cne was to empty into Hingham Bay and the other to empty into Plymouth Harbor. Also, United States engineers have made a survey and estimate for dredging, widening, and deepening the channel of the Taunton river from Somerset to Weir Village, so as to give a 100-foot wide channel with a depth of twelve feet at low water, estimating the cost at $534,000, and have recommended that Congress appropriate one-half the amount, or $267,000. The State of Massachusetts had previously appropriated the sum of $100,000, conditional on the federal government approving the project and making an appropriation. Owing to the illness and death of J. E. Lewis, who had the matter of the appropriation in charge, the time limit of the appropriation was allowed to lapse, and, as the constitution of the State had been changed since the appropriation was made, it was found that it could not be reinstated. However, with some assurance of success, plans are being formulated for obtaining money from the State for the improvement of the river. In 1881 $75,000 was appropriated by the government for the improvement of the river. Of that sum only $62,000 was spent. This left a balance of $13,000 still available. From that time to this there has been no money spent on the river by the government. 'There are approximately 4,000,000 people in Massachusetts, and nearly one-third of these people, including Boston, live in the southeastern part. The building of the Taunton-Boston canal would open up this densely populated part of the State to the benefits of water transportation. If such a canal were built, probably all of the local freight from Boston to Taunton and Fall River and 90 per cent. of the bulk freight would be carried by boat, as it can be freighted so much cheaper.

Although once a thriving port, Taunton is now considered by the railroads as an inland city, and the city is taxed on all southern freight three cents per 100 pounds over and above water points, such as Fall River and New Bedford. This would make the rate on lumber from $1 to $1.50 per thousand feet of lumber more than those cities pay, although the freight is taken through our city to New Bedford and Fall River, a distance of seventeen to twenty miles further. One of the principal objects of the inside passage along the coast is the elimination of the loss of life and property. In the ten years previous to 1915 the death toll in the passage around Cape Cod was over two thousand lives, and over $40,000,000 of property was destroyed. To say nothing about the loss of two thousand lives, the value of which cannot be estimated, the property loss alone would pay for the building of the canal from Taunton to Boston. The distance from Point Judith to Boston by the outside route is 181 miles; by the Cape Cod canal, 116; via Taunton river to Plymouth harbor, 113; via Taunton river to Hingham harbor, 96 miles, or a saving over the outside route of 85 miles.

The estimated cost of various types and dimensions of canals between Narragansett Bay and Boston is as follows: Lock canal, bottom width 200 feet, Taunton river to Hingham harbor, 18 feet, $29,590,000; 25 feet, $40,047,000; lock canal, bottom width 125 feet, Taunton river to Hingham

Never was there such a need of water transportation as at the present time. The railroads have demonstrated that they are totally inadequate to take care of the traffic. Never, not even during the war, have the railroads so completely fallen down as they have during the past year, notwithstanding the fact that from one-half to two-thirds of the local freight is being handled by trucks.

Park Commission. - Great as is Business in any modern city, and the means and the housing of Business, yet a factor that in its own way holds as high a place in the city's making is that in which special effort is made toward its attractiveness and beautification to citizens, visitors and guests. It has been found that a city and its business and all its civic enterprises are best published and advertised through the seasonable care and extension of its park system. As to its parks, its greens and commons, then, does Taunton keep along satisfactorily with other manufacturing cities of its size in providing that which pleases the eye of its residents and guests, and assures places for rest and diversion? Within a few years the city, through its Park Commission, has revived a former widespread interest in making the city beautiful.

The recent movement is largely due to the personal work of the members of the Park Commission, who, in planting trees and gardens, and in renovating a former unused section of the city into a fine park, have made their commission an actual mission for restoration and upkeep of city properties. The following thorough review of the purposes and continued plans of the Park Commission has been compiled by Miss Mary B. W. Waterman, clerk of the Park Commission since June 1, 1898:

At the municipal election held in December, 1893, the city of Taunton by a vote of its citizens adopted the Park Act, contained in Chapter 154, Acts of the Legislature of 1882, which states that when a city shall adopt said act the mayor shall appoint a board of park commissioners, to consist of five members to serve for five years, one to be appointed each year. Said board shall have the entire care and control of the public grounds or parks of the city. In the spring of 1894, His Honor Mayor W. K. Hodgman appointed the following gentlemen as members of the board: Charles S. Anthony, five years; William Reed, Jr., four years; Leonard C. Couch, three years; Edgar L. Crossman, two years; and Dr. William W. Waterman, one year, and they were confirmed by the Board of Aldermen. The Park Commissioners then organized by the election of Charles S. Anthony, chairman, and Edgar L. Crossman, secretary. Mr. Anthony served as chairman of the Park Commissioners until his death, March 15, 1908; Mr. Reed was a valued member of the board until 1913; Mr. Couch resigned at the end of two months to accept a position as license commissioner, and Frank L. Fish was appointed in his place, but Mr. Couch was subsequently reappointed to the Park Commission and served as a member and as chairman of the board; Mr. Crossman served as secretary of the board until he resigned in 1898 to accept an appointment on the board of registrars; and Dr. Waterman was an efficient member of the board until 1905.

These original members of the Park Commission did much to start and organize the work of caring for the parks, shade trees and cemeteries, and to inculcate an interest in these civic necessities and a desire for their improvement, enlargement and good upkeep. In 1923 the commission was organized with Charles F. Foster, chairman, and Charles E. Mason, secretary. Under the able leadership of Mr.' Foster much had been done to improve Taunton Green, and many more improvements were planned. Also, due largely to his zeal and vision, the land taken for Baylies Park had commenced to be developed and interest awakened to have it further developed the ensuing summer. A skating pond was made safe and has been largely used, and also the hills for sliding.

After the original members of the Park Canimiesia had organized, they began to inquire what its duties were, and to look for work. Although the statutes implicitly state that the commission shall serve without pay, it did not desire to be a nonentity, a board without a mission. They found that the only available spot of ground was the land around Woodward Spring, situated four and one-half miles out on Norton avenue. There are about six acres of this land, left by will to the city in 1891 by Stimpson H. Woodward, to be used as a public park. It is beautifully situated on the banks of the Three Mile river, and contains a never-failing boiling spring, which has fine medicinal qualities. The spring was stoned in with flagging and covered with a granite block; stone steps were built from the spring to the top of the hill, a small summer house was built, the dead trees cut down and new trees planted, etc.

In December, 1896, the City Council passed an ordinance as follows: "Section 1. The Park Commissioners of the City of Taunton shall have the care, control and supervision of all its parks and commons, including the 'Green' now established, set apart, used and occupied as such, and of all its parks and commons which shall hereafter be so established, set apart, used and occupied." This ordinance turned over to the care of the Park Commission Taunton Green, Church Green, Grace Church Triangle and Tweed Triangle, and they took possession January 1, 1897.

The acre of ground long and widely known in story and song as "Taunton Green," renowned as the place "where arose the first ensign of liberty and where fell the first standard of insurrection," rich in events of historic interest, is situated at the commercial center of the city. In October, 1897, the board granted permission to the Old Colony Historical Society to place a granite boulder on the north side of Taunton Green, opposite the court house, to mark the spot where Shays' Rebellion was crushed by the determination of the Revolutionary soldier and patriot, General and Judge David Cobb. It also marks the place where for the first time in our country's history the flag bearing the motto "Union and Liberty" was raised, about two years before the Declaration of Independence. In 1902 a Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument was placed on one of the triangles, which was a gift of Cyrus H. Lothrop, and is a fitting tribute to those men who took up arms in defense of the Union, in the Civil

During the World War, a "Victory Cottage" was erected on the Green, and was the headquarters for several agencies engaged in patriotic work, and the use of the Green was permitted for various war activities. Since the war the grass has been renewed and the Green restored to its former beauty. During the Christmas holidays it has been decorated and lighted by municipal Christmas trees under the supervision of the present chairman, Charles F. Foster. It is planned that this historic training field should receive special care and be made a park of beauty in the center of the city.

On the recommendation of the Park Commission, the City Council purchased, in 1896, the plot of ground in front of the Grace M. E. Church for $150 for a park, under the Park Act of 1882, Chapter 154 of the Public Statutes. Then the Park Commissioners had the plot graded and curbed with granite curbing, and laid out into an attractive little park, and named it Grace Church Triangle, and since then have added evergreen beds. On July 19, 1910, the Common Council formally transferred the care of the Robert Treat Paine Monument to this board, after the board had cared for it since its erection in front of City Hall. In 1917, at the request of the Municipal Council and on the petition of a large number of citizens, the Park Commissioners recommended the purchase of the Baylies lot, on Somerset avenue, for a park, and the Barrows lot on First street for a playground, and they took possession under right of eminent domain. They recommended to the Municipal Council an appropriation of $10,000 for the purchase of the Baylies lot, and $625 for the Barrows lot, which was adequate under the State law. Accordingly, Baylies' lot was taken by the Park Commissioners on January 15, 1917, and confirmed and ratified by an order of the Municipal Council, passed January 2, 1918, and was set aside exclusively for park purposes by the Municipal Council, June 25, 1918, to be under the supervision of the Park Commissioners, at a cost of over $18,000, in accordance with Chapter 25 of the Acts of Massachusetts for the year 1915.

Mr. Foster, on becoming chairman of the Park Commission, showed a great interest in the development of the Baylies lot into a park, and through his efforts work was begun. This lot contains about sixteen acres, and has all the resources for making a natural park. It can be entered on three sides; has high and low land, and two swamps that can be made into ponds (one already completed). It has a wonderful hill covered with a thick growth of white oak, one of the finest oak groves anywhere to be found. -On the top of this hill will be built a bandstand. There are places where the rocks are so thick that a beautiful rock garden can be made, just where these rocks now stand, with little effort. There are low places that can be made into beautiful sunken gardens or fern dells. There are other places for trails, and plenty of room for level ground. A fine entrance can be made where beds of evergreens and flowers can be planted. Here and there shelters can be built for the protection of skaters and other people. There is plenty of sloping ground for coasting. In fact, there is everything here that can be wished for to make a natural park; all that each thing needs is treating properly, and the Park Commissioners have vision of a fine municipal park some day. In the summer of 1922 the work was started by cutting the underbrush and trimming the trees, and cinder drives and walks were made about the park. Five hundred white pine trees from the municipal nursery were planted, and some sugar maples. Baylies Park was actually opened as the new park for the city on October 12, 1922, with a concert by the Whittenton Band and a great gathering of citizens. Later the old skating place of former generations, Jim Goose's pond, was cleared out and drained and made into a safe skating pond, that has given enjoyment to old as well as young people. Electric lights have been installed around the pond, and settees placed along the banks.

His Honor Mayor N. J. W. Fish, in his inaugural address in January, 1898, recommended that the City Council petition the Legislature that the shade trees in the public streets of the city be placed in the care of the Park Commissioners. In accordance therewith, the Legislature' passed the following act, which was approved February 24, 1898:

Chapter 86, Sect. 1. The park commissioners of the city of Taunton shall have the custody, care and control of the shade trees in the streets, squares and public places of said city.

The act imposed new and large duties upon the Park Commissioners, as there are very many and very large trees all over Taunton. Since that time the board has trimmed and removed trees, treated cavities in trees, and looked after the ravages of the elm-leaf beetles, the gypsy and browntail moths. In 1910, the board employed Frederick H. Carpenter to take charge of all tree work, and in 1911 he was followed by Leonard W. Hodgkins. In April, 1918, Howard M. Briggs was elected deputy tree warden, and since then all tree work has been under his efficient supervision. In 1912, the board established a tree nursery on vacant land at Mayflower Hill Cemetery for the cultivation of shade trees suitable for city purposes.

His Honor Mayor Nathaniel J. W. Fish recommended in his inaugural address in January, 1898, that the City Council petition the Legislature that the public cemeteries be placed under the care of the Park Commissioners.

Chapter 153, Sect..1. The Park Commissioners of the city of Taunton shall have the custody, care and control of the public cemeteries in said city, subject to all general laws relating to cemeteries.

The City Council subsequently passed an ordinance governing the same. The Park Commissioners took possession and all charge of the public cemeteries the first of June, 1898. The cemeteries under the care of the Park Commission are: Mayflower Hill Cemetery, Plain Burying Ground, Summer Street Burying Ground, Oakland Cemetery, Westville Cemetery, Pine Hill Cemetery, Caswell (or Fairbanks) Cemetery, Caswell Street Burying Ground, Staples Street Burying Ground, King Burying Ground, Franklin Woodward Family Burying Ground, Knapp Family Burying Ground, Crane Avenue Burying Ground, Greenwood (or Quaker) Bury-

On assuming charge of the cemeteries, the commission found many of the old burying grounds grown up to bushes and in very neglected condition, and in many of these the early settlers of Taunton were buried. The commission had the trees, bushes and undergrowth removed and the several grounds cleaned up. The first neglected cemetery to receive their attention was the ancient burying ground on Summer street, which is the oldest burying ground in Taunton. Here general improvements were made, and the conditions greatly improved. Then, in 1906, through the generosity of interested parties, under the auspices of the Old Colony Historical Society, the ancient burial place was again regraded and reseeded, and several of the old and frail headstones reset in blocks of granite.

The Plain Cemetery, formerly and now quite commonly known as "the Plain Burying Ground," comprising six and four-tenths acres of land, was once a part of the eighty-eight acres in the old Training Field, extending from Taunton Green northerly to this point. This lot of ground was included in the portion of the Training Field purchased by Rev. Samuel Danforth, the fourth minister of Taunton, and was presented by him to the town for a burial ground. Here lie the remains of many of the early inhabitants of the town, and of many Taunton soldiers of the French and Indian wars and of the Revolutionary War. Many families owning lots by inheritance still continue to use them for burials, but there is no room for new lots in that cemetery. The cemeteries now generally used are Mayflower Hill, started in 1862; Oakland, Westville, and Pine Hill. The cemeteries occasionally used are Plain Burying Ground, East Weir Cemetery, Staples Street Burying Ground, King Cemetery, Hathaway Burying Ground, North Taunton Cemetery, and the Burt, Crane, Gulliver and Walker burying grounds.

Taunton's Playgrounds. - The "playground idea," as it was at one time styled, has become so entirely a practical part of the city's progress that it could not now be eliminated without detriment to the life of the city itself. "The playground system" it now is, and a very vital part of the municipal system. Thousands of children have attached themselves to its advantages and benefits, season after season, and their directed play time is one of the unforgettable phases of the springtime of their lives. Their homes, the schools, and the city as a whole, share the wholesome effect of the beneficent playground enterprise. In playground usage, the ancient Greeks are emulated today here in Taunton, with the generous teaching of athletics in all its forms, and having the spirit of fair play taught on the public field.

At this time (1923) the city of Taunton has four ample and thoroughly equipped playgrounds - that at the Lovering lot, that off First street, Weir Village, and the two lots donated respectively by the Whittenton Manufacturing Company at Whittenton, and the Corr Manufacturing Company, at East Taunton. The programme for girls is exactly like that in use in all the larger and metropolitan cities - hand-training, sewing, basketry, folk dancing, story telling; that for boys, athletics of every sort, baseball, tennis, volley ball, and the like; and the children have flocked to the playground, for they. have found that physical strength and accomplishment are the outcome of the teaching of the supervisors. The average daily attendance during the year 1922 was 1260 children, and their diversions consisted of a succession of field days, of picnics, of parents' days, of "good Ienglish" weeks, and athletic contests. The members of the playground commission at that time were H. H. Shumway, J. E. Galligan, S. H. Dupont.

It is to Ralph Davol, a native of Taunton, and one of its most enterprising and gifted citizens, that is due the launching of the playground movement here. The city has him only to thank for the inauguration of a movement that has in later years become city-wide in its varied interests. In 1904 he first began to urge the establishment of recreative centers in Taunton; and when he was elected to the Legislature, in 1907, he framed a bill calling upon the electorate of Taunton to decide whether there should be playgrounds in this city. He gathered and increased local enthusiasm for the future of the playgrounds by his donation, in 1912, of his attractively situated Oak street lot, with its natural amphitheatre. As the Davol playground it is henceforth known in Taunton history, and both Taunton children and grown-ups have reaped great benefits therefrom. There, during the Pilgrim Tercentenary, Mr. Davol directed a pageant of the Pilgrim era. Five years afterwards, June 30, 1917, the Holy Family playground at East Taunton was formally opened under the direction of Rev. Father William Cullen. It should be noted, too, that a playground was opened in the Cohannet school yard in July, 1911, supervised by Mrs. Hattie B. Woodward, assisted by Miss Ruth A. Woodward.

During the administrations of Mayors J. William Flood and Leo H. Coughlin, all of the ensuing programmes of playground enterprises have been planned and achieved. On July 4, 1917, the Lovering playground was opened, whea Miss Susan L. Lovering raised a new American Flag, and there were addresses bv Major J. William Flood and Hon. Frederick S. Hall. In 1918, the Weir Village section of the city was given needed attention in this regard, and the city purchased the Barrows estate, on First street, for the directed play and work of the children. During, the same year, the Whittenton Manufacturing Company donated land for playground purposes on Pleadwell street, and the Corr Manufacturing Company, at Kast Taunton, gave a similar donation. Rev. Father Edward J. Moriarty was chairman of the first playground commission, and he was assisted by Ernest K. Vanderwarker and Miss Elizabeth Corr. The commission fer

1921 consisted of Bernard §. Conaty, chairman; Mrs. Chester S. Godfrey and Joseph E. Galligan. Competent teachers have been placed in charge each season, the work and play of the children have been supervised in a masterly way, and the equipment and attractions make the various grounds the equal of any in New England.

Taunton Public Library*. - In every effort for the advancement of the welfare of the community, the Public Library has made its purpose manifest, and many citizens of Taunton have been foremost in their devotion to its varied and increasing service. The beginnings of this institution were appreciated in Taunton nearly a century ago, and that appreciation has become magnified into a high regard for such advantages as can only be offered by a progressive municipality. The city of Taunton in 1866, two years after its incorporation, came into possession of three small libraries, which in that year were united in the formation of the Public Library.

The Taunton Social Library, organized in 1825, the successor of parish libraries, had the support of many prominent citizens, and, like the proprietary libraries of that day, was dependent for its maintenance upon courses of lectures, May Day festivals, and upon gifts of books and of money from its members. This library, kept for many years in the office or place of business of the librarian, was in 1847 removed from the Bristol County Bank building to a new building erected by Samuel B. King on the northerly side of the Green, where it remained until 1863, when it was removed to rooms above the Bristol County Savings Bank. The following were the librarians of the Social Library in the order of their service: William A. F. Sproat, Henry Williams, Sydney Williams, James Dalrymple, Harrison Grey Otis Colby, Edgar H. Reed, Timothy Gordon, Seth Williams, Arunah A. Leach, Benjamin R. Dean, Jane B. Carver.

The Young Men's Library Association was made a corporation in 1854, for the purpose of instituting and maintaining a library and reading room, especially for moral and intellectual improvement of the large number of young men in the community. Membership dues defrayed current expenses, and the surplus was used for the purchase of books. There were also gifts and special subscriptions of its members. Public lectures and other social activities contributed additional income, and a fund of a thousand dollars, established by Samuel B. King, was to be of aid, with its income, for the purchase of standard books. Among those who contributed collections of books and public documents were Hon. Edmund H. Bennett and Hon. James Buffington, M.C. Much also was accomplished by this association in the maintenance of evening schools and a debating club. This library was first located at the Bristol County Bank building, but in 1860 was removed to more commodious rooms in Union Block. The librarians were Henry C. Porter and Thomas Shepard. _

The Taunton Agricultural Library Association was organized in 1860 through the special efforts of Hon. Edmund H. Bennett and others, and was possessed of an excellent collection of agricultural and scientific works, which formed a valuable contribution to the Public Library. Its librarian was George W. Hill. With these libraries, built up by slow degrees through a series of years, the collections of which numbered less than six thousand volumes, the Public Library was attended in the first year of its existence with a circulation of twelve thousand volumes. It was located until 1904 in the building of the Bristol County Savings Bank, for the use of which the city paid an annual rental.

The sources of its income since its organization have been annual appropriations of the Municipal Council, including the proceeds of the dog tax, together with the income of the King fund of the former Social Library, and of the Cobb fund of approximately forty thousand dollars, received by the trustees in 1916 as a bequest to the library as a beneficiary under the will of Samuel Crocker Cobb, late of Boston and formerly of Taunton, who died in 1891. This bequest became available at the expiration of certain life tenancies, for which provision had been made by the testator, and is to be kept as a trust fund, the income of which only is to be used for the purchase of books. The library has been the recipient of many publications from the government, from the Smithsonian Institution, from the secretary of the Commonwealth and from many other sources. The largest donations of books from individuals were those made by the late Hon. Edmund H. Bennett, the first mayor of the city; the late Samuel O. Dunbar, the late Rev. Charles H. Brigham, the late Cyrus Lothrop, and the late David Paul Brown, Esq., of Philadelphia.

On September 10, 1903, the cornerstone of the present library building was laid, and on November 30, 1904, the building was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies. The structure* is the result of the gift of the late Andrew Carnegie of seventy thousand dollars for the erection and equipment of a modern library building. It contains a large delivery room, reference, periodical and card catalogue rooms on the first floor; newspaper, lecture and trustees' rooms on the second floor; and children's library and reading rooms in the basement. There are upon its shelves about eighty thousand volumes, with a reference library which embraces also a large collection of New England town histories, vital records of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and many volumes of family genealogies.

Series of lectures have proved of value at various seasons, and membership in the Library Art Club has provided numerous and attractive collections for exhibit in the library hall. Under the direction of the Central Library, branch reading rooms, prospective centers for the distribution of books, are maintained at Britanniaville, Weir Village and East Taunton. During the World War the library, with hundreds of interested citizens under the direction of the American Library Association, gathered hundreds of books for the use of the soldiers and sailors in the public service. The institution is governed by an excellent board of trustees, who endeavor to make the library and the reading rooms as accessible as possible to the public. Since its organization the Public Library has had the following librarians: Benjamin F. Presbrey, 1866-68; Edwin Manley, 1869-75; Lemuel T. Talbot, 1875; Walter S. Biscoe, 1875-76; Ebenezer C. Arnold, 1876-95; Joshua E. Crane, 1895 -

Taunton's Newspapers. - In but few cities and towns have the local newspapers been received into the home of the readers with so genuine a fireside welcome as always has been the case in Taunton. From the times of the "Old Colony Reporter," in 1821, to the "Taunton Daily Gazette," the home paper has been accepted so heartily that it cannot be dispensed with, and it is often truthfully declared that every word of it is read, "from editorials to ads - the freaks, the fashions and the fads."

Taunton's earliest regular weekly newspaper, the "Old Colony Reporter," was first published April 4, 1821, a news vendor that heralded an unbroken succession of newspapers, both weekly and daily, to this hour. "The Saturday Miscellany," a small weekly, had intermittently preceded the "Reporter," but its publication was of brief duration. Though the "Taunton Daily Gazette" of today is not a direct descendant of the "Reporter" of a century ago, the editorial ancestry of the "Gazette" can easily be traced by way of Edmund Anthony and associates, who had been apprentices in the office of the "Reporter." The type of the latter publication was set, and the paper was printed on a hand press, in a small building that stood on Weir street, on the east side of the street, though the street at that time was little more than a winding and hilly road, known as Jockey lane. Jacob Chapin, a young lawyer, was the publisher, and the printer was Allen Danforth; and it was at that time that Taunton, with its population of 4500, was the largest town in Bristol county, New Bedford's population then being less than 4000, and that of Fall River less than 2000.

The "Reporter" at its beginning was a four-page sheet, nineteen by twenty-four inches, with five narrow columns on a page. In 1822 the paper was enlarged, and its name was changed to "Columbian Reporter and Old Colony Journal." Mr. Danforth retired from his activities with the publication in 1823, and thenceforth took up his residence at Plymouth, where he started the career of the Old Colony Memorial. His brother, ~George Danforth, succeeded him in the publication of the "Reporter," up to the year 1825, when, in April, Samuel W. Mortimer was the printer, so continuing until the year 1826. Christopher Hack and Edmund Anthony, both of whom had been apprentices in the 'Reporter' office, succeeded him as publishers, and both in later years were to become printers and publishers of more than local note. Mr. Hack retired from the paper in 1829, when Mr. Anthony became the joint publisher with Mr. Chapin, the original publisher of the "Reporter." After January, 1832, Mr. Anthony gave his attention to the publishing of the "Independent Gazette," with Henry Williams as the editor. Then Mr. Hack again became the '"Reporter's" printer until October, 1832, when Mr. Chapin assumed its entire charge up to December of that year, when he sold to Franklin Dunbar, who started the "Old Colony Whig." The "Taunton Daily Gazette," the enterprising and successful newspaper of Taunton of this period, that has outlived all the rest, was first issued from the "Bristol County Democrat," June 10, 1848, by Edmund Anthony and Amos Kilton. Genealogically the "Gazette" is thus connected with these newspapers: The "Old Colony Whig," later became the "Whig and Reporter,' and the "Taunton Whig," when Captain John W. D. Hall changed its name to "American Whig," and then "American Republican,' which later was united with the "Bristol County Republican."

Ezra Davol had begun the publication of the "Bristol County Telegram," a Republican paper, July 3, 1858; and in 1861, Captain John W. D. Hall disposed of his interest in the "American Republican" to Ezra Davol and Joseph Wilbar, who then united both newspapers under the heading "Bristol County Republican," Rev. Ebenezer Dawes also having joint interest in the paper, which continued to be the leading weekly paper in Taunton for about twenty-three years. Captain Hall meantime became an associate with A. M. Ide in 1862, in the publication of the "Gazette and Democrat," which they later called the "Daily and Weekly Gazette." Mr. Ide retired from that newspaper in 1867, and Captain John W. D. Hall then had sole charge of it until he sold out to William and Milton Reed, October 1, 1872. As to the "Bristol County Republican," Davol, Wilbar and Dawes sold that paper in 1886 to A.'O. Milne, who in turn sold it, in 1889, to W. F. Greenough, and the latter disposed of it, in December, 1889, to William Reed, Jr. The "Republican" was published with that heading up to Friday, December 10, 1910, the "Gazette" also continuing that and the daily, as before. The "Review of the Week," that appears each Friday in the "Gazette," is the vestige and summary of the "Republican." When William and Milton Reed became the publishers of the "Gazette," that newspaper was printed on the second floor of the Templar hall building. Later, it was removed to a building on Weir street next to the place of publication of the old "Reporter," where it continued to 1894, when it was removed to the building known as the Westminster Hotel. In 1899 the business was incorporated under the name of the William Reed & Sons Company. William Reed died in 1913, but the incorporated business has been carried on by his children, the older son, William H. Reed, having been general manager of the newspaper since 1900. George D. Guthrie is managing editor of the "Gazette"; Clifford L. King, city editor; James M. Lincoln, assistant editor.

The fire of 1838 destroyed the plants of the "Old Colony Whig," that at that time was being issued by Samuel O. Dunbar and Hiram Martin, and the "Daily Whig," that was not a success, and that was in the hands of Israel Amsbury, Jr., and Seth Bradford. The "Weekly Gazette" was then made a tri-weekly, under the name of the "Bristol County Democrat," with Edmund Anthony in full control. The first issue of the paper under this name was on Friday, October 12, 1838, when Marcus Morton, of Taunton, was nominated for Governor by the Democrats. Mr. Anthony went to New Bedford in 1849, when he sold his paper here to Abijah M. Ide, Jr.. who was Taunton postmaster in 1853 and 1866, and: who started the "True Democrat," August 1, 1848, which sustained the candidacy of General Caleb Cushing for Governor of the State. The "True Democrat" afterwards united both the weeklies as the "Taunton Democrat."

Charles G. Greene, of Boston, started the "Free Press" in 1823, that lasted about a year, the editors being Theophilus Parsons and Pliny Merrick. James Thurber and George Danforth began a weekly paper in 1827, called the "Commonwealth Advocate," in the cause of Masonry; in 1830 its name was changed to the "Advocate," and in 1834 Major George Leonard bought it, made it a Democratic paper, and called it the "Sun." The "Star of Bethlehem," a religious paper, was issued from the "Reporter" office in 1825, with Lorenzo T. Johnson as editor. The "Aurora" was published in 1829 by H. A. Lowell, Esq.

editor, a herald and messenger of the Washingtonian movement. Mr. Williams aided and abetted the interests of a score of temperance organizations then at work in the town. The "Cabinet," William S. Tisdale editor, was another of the smaller publications of this period. The "Firefly,' Thomas Prince editor, was published in the thirties. In 1889 M. V. B. Perley, of Newburyport, started the "Taunton Evening News" on Cohannet street, Simon Swig being interested in the business end of the paper. Mr. Perley sold to Thomas B. Eaton, of Waltham, and later the plant was acquired by a group of Taunton men - William A. Holmes, Enos D. Williams, and others - and was published for a number of years in the Leonard block.

The "Taunton Evening Herald" was begun by Dr. Michael C. Golden, December 28, 1893, and it was published for several years from the old blue front building on Broadway, on the site of the present Courthouse block. It was later issued from the Taylor building on Taunton Green, up to the time of its sale, by Dr. Golden, in 1901, to the "Taunton Evening News," with which it was consolidated. John Latchford, John Collyer and Herbert L. Thurber were early editors, neither of these, however, being long connected with the paper. Of longer and more noteworthy effect on its policies was the editorial management of Samuel Hoyt and Henry A. Noyes, who was at the managing editor's desk at the time of the consolidation. The "Taunton Globe" was started in 1916 by James Driscoll. This newspaper ran along for a year, and was sold to New Bedford capitalists. It was again revived in 1918 as the "Taunton Evening Press," and was discontinued. in 1919,

Taunton Fire Department. - For the remarkably long period of one hundred and twenty-nine years Taunton can point to an uninterupted organization for fire protective service, so that today (1923) the firemen of Taunton may of right pride themselves upon their membership with our oldest continuous institution for public safety, linked closely with the ancient bucket brigades coincident with the beginnings of the town. The city possesses the date of the first organization of fire apparatus here, as shown from the record of a sitting of the Court of General Sessions of the Peace for Bristol county, that was held November 3, 1794, which reads as follows:

Whereas, a number of the inhabitants of the central part of Taunton, having represented to this court that they are endeavoring to raise money for the purpose of purchasing a fire engine, and suggested their buildings have been imminently exposed t6 be destroyed by fire from the Gaol; and have solicited this court to assist them in the purchase of an engine as aforesaid, this court having taken into consideration the premises; also the circumstances of the Gaol once being saved from being destroyed by fire by the timely exertions of said inhabitants, even at the risk of themselves, - it is therefore Ordered that the sum of twenty pounds be allowed to the inhabitants, and that the same be paid out of the county treasury, to be appropriated to the sole purpose of purchasing a fire engine to be kept in the vicinity of said public buildings.

In 1797 appeared the earliest references extant of a firemen's group in the town - a notice promulgated by the selectmen in 1797. And it was in that year that the first record of a fire here of any real proportions was made note of, in an announcement that appeared in a Boston newspaper, and signed by Dr. Foster Swift, in which he made reference to the burning of his barn and two horses. The modern period of the use of fire engines here was opened in 1847, with the arrival, on January 2, of the Oregon, which at first was housed in the old railroad engine house, then in a brick schoolhouse near by; the name of this engine being changed in 1855 to the more famous name Niagara. James M. Cook was the first captain. This engine's foremen up to the year 1879 were S. W. Robinson, Elisha Smith, James M. Clements, G. E. Dean, A. B. Thomas and D. F. Sprague. The reorganization of the Niagara. Engine 'Company took place in 1857, on account of restrictions that were placed upon the company by a vote of the meeting of the fire district. The history of this company for the long period of forty years included faithful service on the occasion of fires, observance of their annual parades and banquets, dancing assemblies and try-outs.. Many years their meetings were held on Westminster, now Cohannet, street.

The first steam engine in town, still in service as Engine No. 4, on Bay street, was built by the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company for the Niagara Engine Company; its cost was $3600, and it arrived here January 31, 1865. On January 1, this company was reduced to twelve members, and for the first time in this city an engine company commenced to receive pay. Steamer Niagara arrived October 11, 1873, its cost being $4250, its capacity five hundred gallons a second.

In their turn came hand engine Union No. 3, purchased of Jeffers & Company, of Pawtucket; and then a Hartshorne hook and ladder truck, that was stationed in the Franklin engine house on Leonard street; steamer Edward Mott, with a capacity of three hundred gallons, and steamer King Philip, these steamers having their first trials at Neck-of-land. On May 1, 1866, the district fire department was transferred to the city, and the chief engineer and six assistants were sworn into office. The city or central engine house was built in 1869, at the corner of Leonard and School streets; and the first four-wheeled hose carriage, Cohannet No. 1, arrived here October 19, 1870, and was stationed in the building.

The Gamewell fire alarm system was. set up January 1, 1872, at a cost of $8000; and in August of that year, the Old Colony steam fire engine was purchased of Cole Brothers, of Pawtucket. It was two years later, in April, 1874, that the Firemen's Mutual Relief Association was organized, with Edward Mott as president, George F. Pratt vice-president, George N. Elmes secretary, Alden F. Sprague treasurer. Steamer Charles Albro, No. 4, was installed at Britanniaville, June 19, 1874, and the next year, May 28, 1875, Weetamoe No. 2, the second four-wheeled carriage here, was stationed at the engine house. A work of great significance to the city and to the fire department was completed in 1876, when the water works building was erected and the pipes laid. In July, 1877, the Pokanoket, the third four-wheel hose carriage, arrived from Pawtucket, and was stationed at the Weir Village house. William H. Paine was the foreman, John P. Staples assistant, John C. Chace clerk and treasurer. About this time hose carriage No. 4, costing $650, arrived, and was placed in charge of the Charles Albro Company, No. 4, in Ward 8. Following the Charles Albro Company's reel, the first horse-drawn ladder truck was bought, when Chief

Mott was in office. The Bay street station was built in 1888; the Weir Village station in 1889, and the East Taunton station in 1899, when the first apparatus there was a one-horse machine and hose wagon, and Lieutenant Fred B. Carpenter was the driver. The Oak street station was constructed in 1915.

The first of the motor apparatus here was a motor combination that was put into commission in May, 1912 - Hose 10, a Pope Hartford combination, with Archie Smith as the driver. The next wagon was Hose 5, at the Olney street station, when change was made from horse to motor drawn wagon; this was in 1913, and Alpheus Fountain was the driver. The same year, the chief's car was purchased. In 1914, Hose 2 was changed over to motor, and was driven by Thomas F. Sheehan. In 1916, there was installed a Combination Engine 2, Ahrens-Fox combination - Combination 4 being driven by Frank Wood and Engine 2 by Frank Robinson. In 1918, Engine 9 was put into commission at East Taunton - a pumping engine that had been transferred from Hose 10, driven by Archie Smith. In 1919 were received Ladder Trucks 2 and 3, built by the Maxim Motor Company, of Middleboro. In April, 1920, Aerial Ladder No. 1 was placed in the central station, this completing the motoring of the department. The following-named were the chiefs from the first: Samuel O. Dunbar, 1846; Lovett Morse, 1847; A. E. Swasey, 1848; William E. Mason, 1849-54; Tisdale Francis, 1855-56; Abram Briggs, 1857; William E. Mason, 1858-60; Edward Mott, 1861-81; Abner Coleman, 1881-1900; Fred A. Leonard, 1901.

Of the many fires that have brought destruction to town and city, three stand out most prominently for the considerable area consumed, namely, that of September 23, 1838, when Doric Hall and twenty-five other buildings were destroyed, together with the town records; November 27, 1859, when all the buildings on the south side of Main street were consumed, loss one hundred and fifty thousand dollars; May 7, 1873, when Jones Atheneum and many other buildings were consumed with loss of one hundred thousand dollars.

Taunton Postofice. - One of the attractive structures flanking Taunton Green is the government building, the postoffice, built in 1897 upon the site of the Crocker residence, which in its turn stood upon the site of the old Taunton Inn property. The postoffice has always been an indicator and gauge of the progress of town and city, and has partaken in the growth of the community since the year 1793. One hundred and thirty years later, or in 1923, the institution discovered that its business had run ahead of the capacity of the office, and a proposition, endorsed by the Postmaster General and the Secretary of the Treasury, was being agitated for relieving congested conditions by means of an annex. During the century that had passed, the postoffice had been located as follows: In a building that stood on Main street, next to the N. H. Skinner Company's store; in a building that was at the north end of "Knotty Walk," so called, now the Taylor building; in a structure that stood near to the Crocker house, west of Taunton Green; in the City Hotel building; in the building at the corner of Winthrop and Cohannet streets; in Dunbar's block, at the east side of Taunton Green; in Galligan's block, corner Broadway and Leonard street;

The mounted route was established in 1884; parcels post, July 1, 1913; and special delivery in March, 1885. Hon. Silas Dean Reed, who received his appointment in 1922 as postmaster, was born in Taunton and had represented his district in the Legislature, both as representative and senator. The assistant superintendent at this time, John P. Smith; superintendent of mails, Edward W. Burt; foreman, William H. Carter. There were sixteen regular clerks, three clerks at stations, four substitute clerks, twentysix regular carriers, seven substitute carriers, two special delivery messengers, two screen wagon drivers, one rural carrier. There were three substations, two at Whittenton and one at Weir Village. The postoffice at East Taunton was a separate institution.

During the calendar year 1922 the receipts from stamps and stamped paper amounted to $115,660; the total transactions in money orders was $693,748; letters and parcels received and dispatched in the registry division, 42,751; number of parcels insured, 29,823; number of parcels received and dispatched in collect-on-delivery, 11,976; number of letters and parcels received for delivery in special delivery service, 25,819; the amount received from sale of treasury savings certificates, $35,082.50; amount received from the sale of internal revenue stamps, $6095.54.

Street Railways. - General Manager James H. Murphy, of the Taunton Division of the Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway Company, a practical man of affairs, who has spent his entire life in the street railway business from tow-boy all along up the line, struck one of the keynotes of modern street railway conditions when he stated that travel by that means, once so popular, has become a business proposition for transportation only; and no longer is it principally a means of pleasure and diversion. It provides a way of getting to work, to place of business, to school and the shopping district. The street railway in Taunton, with which he has been connected from boyhood, was at first known as the Taunton Street Railway, the company running their first horse cars over the first street railway tracks here September 23, 1871. At that time George C. Morse, many years a member of the Taunton board of assessors, was superintendent of the road, and W. C. Lovering was president of the board of directors. The horse cars began making regular trips between Whittenton and Weir Village Monday, September 25, 1871, and within a week they were carrying daily four hundred people. The Weir Village branch of the road was completed November 10, 1871, and the street railway between Whittenton and Weir Village was formally opened November 11 that year, "turning on the center" at City Square. The local company was organized in 1871, with a capital of $40,000, and with the following-named officers: William C. Lovering, president; Henry M. Lovering, treasurer; Orville A. Barker, clerk; board of directors: Henry G. Reed, O. J. Barker, William C. Lovering,. P, I. Perrin, H. M. Church, Charles Foster, H. N. Skinner, S. N. Staples. At the annual meeting these names were added: H. J. Fuller, John Seekell, G. J. Jones. Among the first drivers of the horse cars were James T. Leonard, William Paine, John McNamara, Joseph Lucey, William M. Doherty, James H. Murphy. Mr. Morse continued as superintendent from 1871 to 1893, when the road was sold to John H. Beckley and associates, of Rochester, New York. Upon the reorganization of the company, Mr. Beckley was the superintendent, Sylvanus M. Thomas treasurer, Orville A. Barker clerk, and the board of directors consisted of John H. Beckley, Ira L. Otis, Arthur G. Yates, S. M. Thomas, George A. Washburn, O. A. Barker, George N. Elmes, Henry M. Lovering, H. F. Bassett. S. M. Thomas was attorney for the corporation.

In 1892 the company obtained the right to operate its road by electricity, when George F. Seibel took charge as superintendent, Mr. Morse going to New York, where for sixteen years he had charge of the shop of the Rochester Car Wheel Company. Manager Murphy states that soon afterwards the road obtained the right to lay track through the towns of Dighton and Somerset to Slade's Ferry bridge, and then to Sabbatia park. Successively the road was thereafter controlled by the Boston and Northern Street Railway Company, the Globe Street Railway Company, the Bay State Street Railway Company, and at present the Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway Company. The Bay State Street Railway Company was placed in the hands of a receiver December 12, 1917, and a new organization for the Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway Company, formerly the Bay State Street Railway Company, was announced at the office of the public trustees for the company, July 3, 1919. Prepayment cars in this section were first operated between Taunton and Brockton, November 13, 1917; and in August of that year the Bay State Street Railway Company had filed with the Public Service Commission a request for permission to operate one-man cars on fifteen of its routes. The one-man cars were given their first demonstration in Taunton, April 18, 1920. Meantime, in October, 1918, the street railway company had filed its new trolley fare and zone schedule with the minimum rate of ten cents in the city zones, with five cents in each suburban one.

Manager Murphy, of the local-division of the road, first drove the towhorse for the Taunton street railway at the Reed and Barton hill, in Whittenton, in 1884, and in 1888 he began driving with the horse cars. He took charge of the Dighton, Somerset and Swansea street railway in 1897, and in March, 1901, was chosen superintendent of the Taunton division; in 1913 he was appointed general superintendent of the Taunton, Fall River and Newport street railway, and in 1918 he received his present appointment as manager of the Taunton Division of the Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway Company.

The East Taunton Street Railway Company, whose line connects the central part of Taunton with its eastern section and Middleboro, has been in existence a quarter of a century (1898-1923). The company was organized in June, 1898, with M. A. Cavanaugh as president; L. T. Cava- naugh, vice-president; Joseph B. Murphy, treasurer, and James P. Dunn. Operation of the road was started December 23, 1898, between Taunton and East Taunton, and was extended in 1900 from East Taunton to Middleboro. James H. Murphy, local superintendent of the Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway Company's branch in Taunton, assumed the management of the East Taunton line April 16, 1923. The company at that time had an assessed valuation of $119,000. For twenty-four years the company paid 4.177 per cent. dividends each year (averaged). The directors owned about $60,000 of the stock, and $20,000 was owned by personal friends outside of the city. The balance of the stock was owned by local people. The car house of the company is located at East Taunton, and the equipment consists of five closed cars and two snow plows.

The Norton, Taunton and Attleboro Street Railway Company was incorporated in 1898, to operate a street railway between Taunton and the city and town to the north. The road was fifteen miles in length. The operation and business of the road were taken over by Taunton in 1919, and have been under municipal ownership since that time. The officers for 1923 were: President, Leo H. Coughlin, mayor of Taunton; vice-president, Elmer E. Lane, chairman of the selectmen of the town of Norton; clerk and treasurer, Robert W. Hewins, of Norton; board of directors: Leo H. Coughlin, Elmer E. Lane, Mayor George A. Sweeney of Attleboro, and William P. McDermott, chairman of the selectmen of the town of Mansfield.

Miscellaneous. - From earliest times of the colony, Taunton has always been provided with its hostelry - resting place for travelers and abiding place for townsmen. The Taunton Inn of today has attained a high position among the hotels of the county, and is the culmination that the best that the inns of old and of the present might afford the travelling public. The Bristol County House, that stood on this very spot nearly a century ago, was noted as a terminus of the stage coach; Taunton Inn is where the automobile of the present rests en route - north, south, east and west. The old taverns, though comfortable and generous for their day, were sometimes disquieting places; the inn that has taken the place of the hostelry of old is regulated according to the better management of a new age of refinement and good taste. Taunton Inn was built in the year 1851; it has had a long succession of proprietors, but that of Edward A. O'Donnell at this hour has had no peer, and thereby the good repute of the house is not a mere boast. Bernard J. Connolly is the manager; E. A. O'Donnell, Jr., treasurer. The Inn, with its attractive front and with balcony overlooking the famed Green of Old Taunton, where Christmas choirs have sung for years, and where noted speakers have addressed the public, is just as attractive and homelike as to its interior. The house has fifty rooms with bath, and seventy rooms without bath, a modern dining room, accommodating one hundred and seventy-five people, a ballroom accommodating one hundred and fifty couples, a ladies' parlor and lounging room, and a self-service cafeteria. On this site was that older inn known to travelers from all over the State as the Bristol County House. It was built in 1833 by Jesse Smith and others, and was burned June 24, 1848. Three years afterwards, the present inn was built. The Bristol County House, whose proprietors were Jesse Smith, William Monroe, Lovett Morse, David King- man, S. B. Robbins and Newell Towle, was a stopping place for the stage coaches that ran between Boston and Newport and New Bedford, before the advent of the railroad.

The earliest inns and their successors that we have record of in Taunton have been as follows: Richard Paull's victualling house, that was established on the present Main street, near Dean street, in 1640, was the first. Richard Paull was one of the first purchasers of Taunton (Cohannet), and his marriage with Margery Turner was the first to be recorded in this section. William Parker, who was the first keeper of the town's records, opened an inn on High street, about opposite the present St. Thomas Church, in 1644. Other innkeepers that soon started taverns and hostelries were as follows: James Leonard, the ironworks master at Raynham, in 1663; Thomas Harvey, in 1669; Edward Rew, in 1676; James Walker, in 1679; William Witherell, first proprietor in the present territory of Norton, in 1685; Robert Crossman, Joseph Tisdale and Nicholas Morey - all about the year 1700.

David Carver opened his inn at Neck-of-land bridge at about the time of the Revolution - the inn where Lafayette stopped. 'Then, in their turn and about contemporaneously with each other, were established the inns of Josiah Crocker, on the northwest side of the present city square; the McWhorter Inn, on the site of the Taylor block; the Weatherby Tavern, at the corner of the present Weir street and city square; the Foster Tavern, on the site of Templar Hall; the Taunton House, on the site of the present postoffice building; the Macomber Tavern, at the Neck-of-land; the "old yellow tavern" at Neck-of-land; Taunton coffee house, on the site of the old Taunton Bank, later called the Washington House, and that was destroyed by fire in December, 1849; "Brow's," on Tremont street, and the old inns at Weir Village, namely, Rhodes', Clark's and Shaw's.

Telegraph, Telephone, Gas, Etc - vThe chariot of progress dragged and the procession lagged in Taunton before the days of the telephone. Then, when it did come, the main difference between the telephone's usefulness a half-century ago and today is that which exists between the offices of the first local manager, the late Abner Coleman, and the present manager, K. E. Mellen. Simplex was the old slogan, and multiplex is the guiding word of today.

The Southern Massachusetts Telegraph Company opened its office in Taunton in 1880. It was only three years after Alexander Graham Bell had . made discovery of the "talking instrument," and but two years after the first exchange switchboard had been placed in operation, that a try-out of the new venture was made in Taunton. Abner Coleman, it is stated, was at that time the only practising electrician in Taunton, and at the same time he was the superintendent of the fire-alarm system, of whose installation he had had charge in 1872. He obtained the agency for the Bell Telephone system in this city, and at once a number of short lines were established between the residences of Captain Orville A. Barker, Abner Coleman and Silas D. Presbrey, M.D. Afterwards the lines were extended to the Westville and Whittenton mills, to connect those plants, and later to the Staples and Phillips building at Weir Village. These short lines were taken over by the Southern Massachusetts Telephone Company, that had been organized in New Bedford, and the first local office was established in the Barker building. At that time, it will be remembered, the inventor, Mr. Bell himself, was living "from hand to mouth," and the outlook for this company or any other was a poor one. But in 1881 the company was paying its first dividends throughout the country, amounting in all to $178,500. The local agency succeeded proportionately. The first woman operator at the telephone switchboard in Taunton was Miss Alice Monks, in 1882. That year, Miss Mary K. Chase (Mrs. Ralph S$. Deane) came to the office, and she remained there in the capacity of operator for twentyone years, and had as her assistant Miss Fannie Bickford. Miss Chase was appointed manager of the office in 1886, and ten years later, in May, 1896, the company removed its headquarters to Court street.

The Blake box transmitter was the primitive one in use, which was afterwards replaced by the Edison transmitter. It was in those days that a telephone exchange was described as a "loud and frantic place, where employes were immune to all schemes of discipline." Charles Buffum was head lineman in the first years of the company, and Albert Holt and Thomas Strange were inspectors.

The Southern Massachusetts Company and the New England Telegraph and Telephone Company were consolidated in 1890, and the entire business came under the control of the latter company in 1913. A transcontinental demonstration was made here at the Strand Theatre, June 23, 1916, under the auspices of the Taunton Chamber of Commerce, when - James P. Whitters was president of the latter organization. The Taunton agency now has a half hundred operatives, and close to six thousand stations. The Western Union and the Postal Telegraph companies have had their branches here since 1838.

The Taunton Gaslight Company was incorporated February 15, 1853, with a capital of $45,000, and the following-named board of directors were elected March 15, that year. Gardner Warren, of Boston; Samuel L. Crocker, W. W. Fairbanks, Albert Field, H. B. Witherell, William Mason and Lovett Morse, of this city, with Philip E. Hill as clerk and treasurer. The capital was increased in 1853 to $60,000 and in 1872 to $80,000. The first plant was situated on Franklin street, on the Lewis lot, the first gas holder there being of 50,000 to 75,000 cubic feet capacity. The sum of $1800 was paid for the lot. The capital stock at first was divided in 900 shares, at $50 per share; manufacturing establishments at that time were charged $3.35 per 1000. The Crocker lot of nine acres, on West Water street, with a river frontage of more than one hundred feet, was purchased in 1884, and the present works were built there in 1901, the holder having a capacity of 1,500,000 per day. W. W. Fairbanks was president from 1853- 55; Lovett Morse, 1855-56; Albert Field, 1856-68; John E. Sanford, 1869- 1907; Ezra Davol, 1908-11; William C. Davenport, 1911 to the present. Philip E. Hill was first clerk and treasurer. H. B. Witherell was clerk in 1855; William Meade from 1856 to 1869; Edwin Keith was agent and treasurer from 1855 to 1882, and clerk from 1869 to 1882; Henry B. Leach succeeded him as agent, treasurer and clerk in 1882, and Walter T. Soper, August 5, 1903.

Taunton was the largest town in Bristol county in 1800, when the first stage lines began to pass through here, connecting Boston and New Bed- ford, all lines then changing horses here. In 1808 a line was established connecting Boston and Newport, the highest point of whose popularity was attained in 1826, when mail'and accommodation stages were being run daily to and from Boston. Stage lines were also established at that time to nearby towns, such as Middleboro and Wareham. Jesse Smith was the best known of the stage owners and drivers in this section, he having succeeded a Mr. Russell, who had established the first line from Boston to New Bedford. Jesse Smith built the Bristol county house, that stood on the site of the present Taunton Inn, for the accommodation of the stagecoach travelers, and he also erected a large building for stages and drivers, that stood on the site of the present Taylor block. These lines all prospered up to the advent of the steam railroad, when they gradually gave way to that road, the death stroke of the stagecoach business taking place when the first train was run to New Bedford, July 2, 1840. The story of the railroads is told in the Bristol county sections of this work. The present Central railroad station was built in 1865, it having been preceded by a wooden station constructed in 1840. The present stone building has served the New Bedford and Taunton railroad, the Taunton Branch railroad, the Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg railroad, and the Old Colony railroad. In 1922 extensive improvements were begun in the depot and about the grounds. The Dean street railroad station was built in 1876.