Norfolk County, Massachusetts - Chapter 42: Internal Improvements, 1918

Chapter 42: Internal Improvements

When the first white men settled in Norfolk County they found the country "fresh from the hands of Nature." Indian trails, dim and indistinct in places, were the only roads, the streams tyere without bridges and fordable only at certain places. To develop this wild (region and render it habitable was the task of the Puritan pioneers. Those who live in the present day, in the full enjoyment of the fruits of three centuries of development, can scarcely realize the magnitude of that task. \

Mother Brook

One of the first necessities of the early settlers was some means of grinding their corn into meal. Water power was depended upon to run the mill, but in the neighborhood of Dedham no suitable water power could be found. Some one (it would be interesting to know who) suggested that East Brook, which flowed into the Neponset River, had sufficient fall to run a mill if the volume of water could be increased. To furnish the necessary volume of water it was proposed to cut an artificial canal from the Charles River to the headwaters of East Brook, a distance of about three-fourths of a mile. How long the subject was discussed by the citizens is not known, but it came before a town meeting in Dedham on March 25, 1639, when the following action was taken:

"Ordered yl a Ditch shalbe made at a Comon Charge through purchased medowe unto ye East brooke y* may both be a pticon fence in ye same : as also may serve for a Course unto a water mill : yf it shalbe fownd fitting to set a mill upon ye sayd brooke by ye Judgem1 of a workeman for y* purpose."

The ditch was completed some time the following year. It appears that the project was undertaken without the authority of the General Court, and it is quite probable that the work of excavation was done by the citizens as volunteers. This was doubtless the first artificial canal in the United States. Erastus Worthington, in speaking of this canal in 1884, said : "The turning of the Waters of Charles River by means of the artificial channel, and uniting them with the headwaters of East Brook in 1640, has proved to be most beneficial and permanent in its consequences through all the subsequent history of the town. Until the beginning of the present century it furnished saw mills and grist mills, then of the highest importance, with power, and from 1807 down to the present time there have been erected upon it cotton and woolen mills, which have been prosperous and have contributed to the substantial growth of the town."

According to Mann's Annals of Dedham (p. 37), on May 11, 1789, "a committee chosen to ascertain the town's claim to Mother Brook stream and land adjoining, formerly granted to Nathaniel Whiting and James Draper, reported that Messrs. Joseph Whiting, Jr., Paul, Moses and Aaron Whiting have consented to give the town six pounds for an acquittance of the town's claim to said stream, and advise a compliance with these terms." The report of the committee was accepted and the town treasurer was instructed to give a quit claim deed in behalf of the town upon receipt of the money. The canal is also known as Mill Creek.

Early Highways

For better protection against Indian depredations, the first settlers built their habitations near to each other, hence the greatest need of highways was for roads from one settlement to another. In looking over the early records of the various towns, one will notice frequent petitions for the opening of highways of this class. Within a few years after it was first settled, Boston became the commercial center of Massachusetts and the desire of the people was for roads that would give them access to the metropolis.

One of the first roads in what is now Norfolk County grew out of the act of the General Court in 1634, which "gave Boston enlargement at Mount Wollaston." Before the close of that year Israel Stoughton built his mill on the Neponset River, at the foot of Milton Hill, on the Dorchester side of the stream, four miles from the nearest settlement on the north, while on the south the nearest inhabitants were those at Wessagusset. Naturally the scattering settlements wanted a road to the mill. The opening of this road consisted merely of the. removal of the trees and other obstructions as might impede the passage of a cart, the matter of grading being left for future consideration. In 1635 the General Court authorized John Holland to "keep a ferry across the Neponset, near Stoughton's mill, and to charge each passenger four pence, except in cases where there were more than one passenger, in which event each was to be charged three pence."

In November, 1639, the coast road was ordered laid out by the General Court, but the order was not executed until two years later. This road passed through Braintree, with branches to Squantum Head and Hough's Neck. It remained the principal thoroughfare from that town to Boston until the beginning of the Nineteenth Century. In 1648 the road from Weymouth to Dorchester was formally laid out, passing by the Braintree meeting house and Wright's mill. This road was afterward extended to Hingham, and ultimately to Plymouth.

In April, 1660, two highways were ordered to be laid out through the new grant of land to the Medway proprietors - "one at a distance of half a mile north of the Charles River from east to west, and the other through the midst of the tract from the way that runs west to a line to the north end of the same."

Shortly after the plantation at Wollomonopoag (now Wrentham) was established in 1663, a highway from that plantation to Dedham was confirmed by the

Dedham selectmen, the road to run "at ye east ende of their lotts." Part of this road now forms South street in the Town of Wrentham. After the Indian deed to Needham and Dedham Island was obtained by the settlers in 1680, a road was opened from Dedham to the new purchase and a bridge was built across the Charles River at the place known as "The Canoes." In 1684 the road was extended to Needham Great Plain, where it intersected the road from Boston to Natick.

A road from Medfield to Wrentham was opened in 1684. It crossed the Charles River near the present village of Rockville, in the Town of Millis. From Medfield it was extended westward to Worcester, and from Wrentham eastward to Taunton, in time becoming one of the main thoroughfares of the Commonwealth. Where the Village of Franklin is now situated, this road was crossed by one running from Dedham to Woonsocket, Rhode Island. At Dedham it connected with the road leading to Boston.

Before the middle of the Eighteenth Century a road was opened from Boston to Providence. It passed through the towns of Dedham, Norwood, Walpole, Foxboro and Wrentham, and afterward became a post road, over which mai) riders passed each way three times a week. It was a link in the great mail route that ran from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to Williamsburg, Virginia, though when that route was first established in 1693, ^ ran west of Providence, via Saybrook, Connecticut. It continued as mail route until after the advent of the railroad, and it is said that one express rider carried President Jackson's message from Boston to Providence in two and three-quarter hours. Most of the through roads were formed by building short stretches of highway here and there to connect local roads.

During the first century the question of keeping the roads in repair was one that was difficult of solution. In fact, it is doubtful whether any systematic repairs were made. About the middle of the Eighteenth Century, Weymouth and Roxbury adopted the system of levying a tax for the repair and improvement of the highways. These two towns were probably the first in Massachusetts to apply such a system.

About the beginning of the Nineteenth Century a demand arose for better roads. To meet this demand turnpike companies were chartered by the General Court, with authority to build roads and charge toll for their use by travelers. The Boston & Hartford Turnpike Company was one of the first to receive a charter and the road was completed in 1806. From Boston it ran in a southwesterly direction, entering Worcester County not far from the Town of Milford.

The Weymouth & Braintree Turnpike Company was chartered on March 4, 1803, and the road was opened to travel in 1805. It entered Weymouth at Weymouth Landing and followed a southeasterly course to Hingham, on the line from Boston to Plymouth. For nearly fifty years toll was collected on this road, but on July 15, 1852, it was made a public highway. Washington street in Weymouth is a part of this old turnpike.

Another turnpike opened about the same time, was the Norfolk & Bristol, which passed through Dedham. Erastus Worthington, writing of this turnpike in 1827, said : "The steamboats from New York land their passengers at Providence, and in a few hours afterwards six or seven stages full may be frequently seen a mile south of the village descending into it, bringing sometimes the dust with them which they raise. Every other day the mail arrives on its way to Washington City."

On February 29, 1804, the New Bedford Turnpike Company obtained a charter to build and operate a turnpike from the Weymouth & Braintree pike, about a mile from Weymouth Landing, running thence southward to the Abington line, on the route from Boston to New Bedford. Before many years the northern part of the road was relinquished by the company, because the expense of keeping it up was greater than the revenue derived from it, and it now forms part of Alain street in Weymouth.

The Neponset Turnpike ran from Quincy to the Neponset River near the old site of Israel Stoughton's mill and was opened early in the century. James Thayer began running a "baggage-wagon" from Quincy to Boston upon the completion of this pike, sometimes carrying passengers who were not too fastidious to put up with the accommodations.

In 1808 the Quincy & Hingham Bridge and Turnpike Company was incorporated. Bridges were built over the Fore and Back rivers in Weymouth and the company charged vessels tolls for using the draws, as well as travelers who passed over the road. The bridge tolls were the source of much ill feeling and contention and the road was finally thrown upon the towns as a public highway in September, 1862. There were other turnpike companies, but the above were the principal lines in the county.

Stage Lines

Before railroads were built, stage coaches were the only public means of transportation between Boston and the interior towns. The first stage line between Boston and Providence was established in 1767. At Providence it connected with another stage line, running to New York. About 1785 Hazard started his line of mail coaches from Boston to Bristol Ferry, and later to New Haven, where the mail coach connected with a steamer for New York. With the building of the turnpikes the coaching business greatly increased, and in the first quarter of the Nineteenth Century a number of lines were in operation. In the Dedham Gazette of February 11, 1814, appears the following advertisement:

"Martin Marsh respectfully informs the public that he has commenced running a Stage from Dedham to Boston. The stage will start every day, Sunday excepted, from his tavern adjoining the Court House in Dedham, at 7 o'clock in the morning in summer, and at half past eight in the winter season, and puts up at Mr. Davenport's tavern, Elm Street, formerly Wing's Lane, Boston. Seats may be taken at Mr. Davenport's, Elm St., or at Mr. Boynton's Sign of the Lamb, Newbury St., Boston, and at Marsh's Tavern, Dedham. Fare each way 62l/2 cents."

Two lines of stages - the Peoples' and the Citizens' - were running between Boston and Providence at the time Mr. Marsh started his local stage, and there was much rivalry between the two companies as to which could make the trip in the shortest time. Ordinarily, the coaches made the run in about four and a half hours. Then the Citizens' Company had built some light coaches and shortened the time about one hour. At one time this company owned about three hundred horses, and a relay of fresh horses was always in waiting at the stopping places. In Dedham, the Peoples' stages started from the Phoenix Hotel, and the Citizens' from the Norfolk House. The stables of the former adjoined the hotel and the company lost about sixty horses by the burning of the Phoenix Hotel and stables on October 30, 1832. During the palmy days of the stage coaching era as many as forty stages passed over the road in a single day in the busy season.

In 181 5 a line of stages began running between Boston and Cohasset, leaving Dock Square in Boston on Monday, Thursday and Saturday of each week, and returning on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. About the same time Jedediah Little & Company started the Boston & Scituate "Accommodation Stage," which made three trips each way weekly. It carried the mail to Marshfield, Hingham, Cohasset and Scituate.

Simon Gillett purchased the "route and good will" of James Thayer's baggage wagon in 1823, and put on a regular passenger coach called the "John Hancock," which made four trips weekly between Quincy and Boston. The coach left Quincy early in the morning, stopped at Barnard's, Elm Street, Boston, and started upon the return trip about four o'clock in the afternoon.

The south shore towns - Weymouth, Hingham, Cohasset, Scituate and Plymouth - never depended as much upon stage coaches for communication with Boston as did the towns farther from the coast. About 182 1 Capt. George Beal began making regular trips between Hingham and Boston with the packet "Lafayette," charging a fare each way of thirty-seven and a half cents. A few years later he built a better boat - the "General Lincoln" - and stopped at all the "way points" between Scituate and Boston. Other boats came into use, carrying both passengers and freight, which rendered stage coaching in this part of Norfolk County an unprofitable venture.

The Railroad Era

In January, 1826, a petition signed by Gridley Bryant, Amos Lawrence, Thomas H. Perkins, David Moody, William Sullivan and Solomon Willard, was presented to the Legislature, asking for a charter to build a railroad from the Quincy stone quarries to the Neponset River. All the petitioners were residents of Boston except Mr. Willard, who lived in Quincy. On January 25, 1826, a Quincy town meeting appointed a committee of fifteen to confer with the legislative committee that had the bill in charge, with the result that an act of incorporation was passed and approved by the governor. The "Granite Railway Company" was then organized with Thomas H. Perkins as president.

The idea of building the road originated with Gridley Bryant, who had a contract of furnishing the stone for the Bunker Hill Monument, and hit on this plan of getting the stone to Boston. Work was commenced on the road in April, 1826, and on the 7th of October the first train of cars passed over the entire length of the track, a distance of about four miles. In building the road Mr. Bryant used stone sleepers, placed about six or eight feet apart, upon which were set timbers 6 by 12 inches, placed on edge, and on the top of the wooden rails were fastened iron strips four inches wide and a half-inch thick. Years afterward, when the road passed into the hands of the Old Colony Railroad Company, the stone sleepers were replaced by wooden ties and the rails by iron ones. It has been claimed that this was the first railroad ever built in the United States under a charter granted by a state legislature.

In the early years of the Nineteenth Century canals were built from Worcester to Providence and from Northampton to New Haven. These canals connected with Long Island Sound and afforded easy means of transportation to New York. Surveys were made for a canal from Boston to the Hudson River, but before it could be built attention was diverted to the railroad as the best means of carrying freight and passengers. In 1827 the Legislature appointed a board of commissioners "to cause surveys to be made of the most practicable routes for a railroad from Boston to the Hudson River, at or near Albany." Four years later charters were granted to three railroad companies - the Boston & Lowell, the Boston & Providence, and the Boston & Worcester.

The last named road was completed to Wellesley in 1834 and the steam engine as a motive power for moving cars was for the first time introduced in New England. Trains began running on the Boston & Providence in June of the same year. In July, 1835, the first train ran from Boston to Worcester. This road is now a part of the Boston & Albany.

The Dedham Branch

When the Boston & Providence Railroad was nearing completion, a meeting was held in Dedham to consider the question of building a branch to that town. A charter was obtained through an act of the Legislature, and the first train ran from Boston to Dedham on December 8, 1834. The coaches used on this branch road were fashioned like the old stage coaches, wide enough to accommodate four persons on a seat. They were at first drawn to and from Boston by horses, but after about a year the horses were used only as far as Readville, where the coaches were attached to the steam trains from Providence. On January 30, 1837, the station building at Dedham was burned, with a locomotive and several cars. Horses then again came into use for the full distance between Dedham and Boston, a change of horses being made at "Toll Gate" (now Forest Hills). In 1889 the Boston & Providence passed under the management of the Old Colony Railroad, and in July, 1893, it became a part of the New York, New Haven & Hartford system.

Old Colony Railroad

The Old Colony Railroad Company was chartered in 1844 and built its first line from Boston to Abington, the line passing through Braintree and South Weymouth. The road was opened for travel on November 10, 1845. Two years later a branch was built from Dorchester to Milton, with stations at Mattapan and East Milton. A little later another branch was built from this line to East Milton and West Quincy.

On March 26, 1846, the South Shore Railroad Company received a charter and built a line of road through the northern part of Weymouth, the charter authorizing the road to extend from Boston to Plymouth. It was opened for business as far as Hingham on January i, 1849. At first it connected with the Old Colony line at Braintree and from that point used the tracks of the Old Colony to Boston. In May, 1877, this road became a part of the Old Colony system, which in turn passed into the hands of the New York, New Haven & Hartford in July, 1893.

In 1847 the Norfolk County Railroad Company was incorporated to build a road from Dedham to Blackstone, a distance of twenty-six miles. It was completed in two years and trains began running in the spring of 1849. To connect with this road, the Boston & Providence constructed a new branch through West Roxbury to Dedham. In the meantime another railroad from Boston to Woonsocket, Rhode Island, had been projected. It was known as the "Air Line" and was built through Needham and Dover. A few years after it was completed the Norfolk County Railroad passed into the hands of other corporations and a new road constructed through Dorchester connected with it about a mile and a half south of Dedham. The effect of this change was to leave Dedham without any direct railway connection with the southerly and westerly portions of the county.

Other Railroads

A railroad called the "Charles River Railroad" was projected in the latter '40s and a few miles were constructed. In 1855 it was merged with the New York & Boston Railroad. Ten years later it became a part of the Boston, Hartford & Erie, and when that company failed it was reorganized as the New York & New England Railroad. On August 1, 1861, the first train ran from Boston to Medfield on the Charles River Branch of this system.

In the spring of 1870 trains commenced running on the Framingham & Mansfield Railroad, which passes through Medfield, Walpole and Foxboro, and in 1877 the Rhode Island & Massachusetts Railroad was completed, connecting Franklin and Providence via Valley Falls, and in 1883 the Milford & Franklin Railroad began running regular trains. These roads are now all branches of the New York, New Haven & Hartford.

Electric Railway Lines

With the development of electricity as a motive power in the latter part of the last century, it came into use to operate short lines of railway and street car systems in cities. One of the first railways of this class in Norfolk County was the Needham Street Railway, a franchise for which was granted by the selectmen of that town in the spring of 1893. The franchise provided for a line from the Wellesley boundary to the Dedham line over Great Plain avenue and Webster street, with a branch on Highland avenue from the Needham postoffice to the Newton line. The franchise was accepted by the directors of the company on April 8, 1893.

Fore River Ship Building Company, Quinct

operate lines in Norfolk County on February 2, 1897, and on November 1, 1897, the Natick & Cochituate Street Railway Company was granted the right to extend its line into Wellesley and Needham. The first car on this line from Wellesley to Needham was run on April 9, 1899, leaving the former town at one o'clock P. M.

A franchise was granted to the Norfolk & Western Street Railway Company on September 1, 1899, but the name was afterward changed to the Medfield & Medway Street Railway Company. This company operates the line from Dedham to Franklin, passing through Westwood, Medfield, Millis and Medway.

As the advantages of electric lines were made manifest, other roads were constructed, among them the Norfolk & Bristol, which runs from Norwood to Mansfield through Walpole and Foxboro ; the Norwood, Canton & Sharon ; the Milford. Wrentham & Attleboro, and a few others. Since the beginning of the present century the Old Colony Street Railway Company has gradually extended its lines into the county, until Dedham, Westwood. Milton, Quincy, Braintree, Weymouth, Cohasset, Randolph, Holbrook, Avon, Norwood, Walpole and Needham are all connected with Boston by electric lines.

Fore River Improvement

For several years the great shipbuilding company located on the Weymouth Fore River has felt the need of widening and deepening the main channel of the stream. In the early part of 1917 Congress made an appropriation of $200,000 for this purpose. To this amount the State of Massachusetts added $75,000, the City of Quincy, $10,000, and the shipbuilding company, $15,000. The Boston Herald of May 5, 1917, says: "With a fund of $300,000 available, work will soon be commenced in widening and deepening the channel of Weymouth Fore River at Quincy. The channel will be made eighteen to twenty-four feet deep at mean low tide and 300 feet in width, the widening to commence inside Peddock's Island and follow the channel to the plant of the Fore River Shipbuilding Company. . . . The shipbuilding company has been unable to take contracts for the larger class of ships on account of the narrowness and shallowness of the channel, but when the proposed improvements are completed ships of any size may pass through Quincy Point bridge without difficulty."