Belmont Town

By Thomas W. Davis

It was said, somewhat irreverently, by an earnest advocate of the Hoo.sac Tunnel, before that wonderful triumph of modern engineering had become an accomplished fact, that the finger of God marked the valleys of the Deerfield and Hoosac Rivers for the location of a great railroad, and the full force of the remark is readily grasped by any one who, standing on the ridge which separates those streams, observes the line of deeper green which indicates the descent of the hills on either hand to the course of the waters below. The objection was at once offered that, to make this argument avail, the finger should have pierced the mountain, and thus have made the route complete. Human enterprise has now supplied that which was lacking, and from the Atlantic plain of the Mystic and the Charles, across the valleys of the Nashua and the Connecticut with its tributaries, under and between the highlands of the Green and Taconic Ranges, the iron horse makes his regular journeys to meet the waters of the Hudson at Troy, It is interesting to note how, in its advance from one river system to another, the railroad has seized upon a depression here in the mountain wall of separation, a sloping upland there, and to observe again how communities spring into being all along the lines that help to tie the opposite ends of the land together. No town in New England, unless it be a railroad centre, owes its existence as a distinct municipality more directly to railroad enterprise, than does the town of Belmont. Its struggle for birth ended happily in the same contest that determined the completion of the Hoosac Tunnel, and there was a peculiar fitness in the union of the friends of the town and the advocates of the Tunnel in their ettbrts.

In the gradual growth of the ice trade, which was for so long a period of years an important factor in the development of Boston as a leading port of commerce, a railroad had been built from Charlestown to Fresh Pond, for the purpose of carrying its ice to tidewater. An extension of this road to the westward was projected. To pass from the valley of the Mystic to that of the Charles the most feasible route was found to be between Fresh and Spy Ponds, and thence along the southern border of Wellington Hill. At the western extremity of the hill, a slight elevation turns Beaver Brook from a southerly to a westerly direction, and causes it to empty its waters into the Charles River at Waltham, and the location of the railroad followed the brook in its westerly course. Aside fron> the advantages of this route, as determined by the topographical survey - advantages so great that another highway to the West has since taken the same outlet - it was an additional recommendation that the valley at the base of Wellington Hill was sparsely populated. It formed the outskirts of two old towns. Watertown and West Cambridge (now Arlington), and was, by reason of its remoteness from the centres of those towns, occupied exclusively by a farming population. In 1848 a charter was obtained for the Fitchburg Railroad, and it was opened to Waltham in December of that year. At the crossing of Concord Turnpike was placed the station of Wellington Hill, destined to make the centre of the charming surburban town of Belmont. At this time there were about one hundred and twenty-five families residing upon the territory now included within the limits of the town. Improved facilities for communication with the neighboring metropolis led to a steady growth in numbers. The increase was not rapid. There was no place of public worship nearer than West Cambridge or Watertown, no store, post-office, nor public hall. The policy of the railroad in respect to train accommodations and rates of fare was a fluctuating one, as, indeed, it continued to be for many years. The roads and the schools were not such as to otter special attractions to those seeking a residence.

Believing that they could govern themselves and provide for their needs as citizens more satisfactorily than was possible while they continued in the towns of which they formed a comparatively unimportant part, a large majority of the residents near Wellington Hill and in the village which had been begun around the station at Waverley, applied in 1854 to the General Court for an act of incorporation as a town. This petition was signed by Charles Stone and 127 others. Remonstrances were presented by citizens of Waltham, from which a few acres were asked ; of Watertown, which would lose half of its already circumscribed territory ; of West Cambridge, whose " Flob End " suddenly acquired new value, and a few voters in the proposed new town ; the land companies, two in number, owning real estate in Waverley and at Strawberry Hill also opposed the petition, and by concurrent vote of the two Houses of the Legislature, the petitioners had leave to withdraw.

In 1855 petitions, headed by Jacob Hittinger, David Mack, Albert Higgins and Leonard Stone were received in the Senate and referred to the Committee on Towns. Remonstrances from the towns, whcse territory was att'ected, were also presented, and from citizen^ of Watertown whose residences were in the proposed town. After several hearings a bill was reported, which did not go beyond the house first taking action upon it, being refused a third reading in the Senate by a vote of nine to four.

Immediately after the adjournment of the Legislature, measures were taken by the appointment of committees and subscription of money for expenses, to keep alive the interest of the people in the project, and a petition from Jacob Hittinger and 101 others was presented to the Legislature of I80G. Remonstrances were also presented. The Committee on Towns reported leave to withdraw, but a bill was substituted, which passed the Senate and was defeated in the House. In 1857 a petition was presented, signed by Jacob Hittinger and 129 others, the usual remonstrances being offered. After a careful and exhaustive examination into the merits of the enterprise, the Committee on Towns were unanimous in reporting a bill, which was defeated in the Senate.

The petition of 1858 was signed by Jacob Hittinger and 201 others. The remonstrants, like the petitioners, were more numerous than in previous years, as the possibility of favorable action upon the petition became greater. Leave to withdraw was reported, and a substitute bill was introduced in the Senate only to meet with defeat. In 1859 the petitioners, again headed by Jacob Hittinger, were 203 in number. The usual remonstrances were presented. A majority of the Committee on Towns reported a bill which, after long and careful consideration, passed the House, and the struggle was at last ended by the favorable action of the Senate and the approval of the Governor, Hon. Nathaniel P. Banks, which was given March 18, 1859.

The town, as incorporated, took from Waltham 429 acres, from West Cambridge 1773 acres, and from Watertown 1446 acres, making a total of 3648 acres, or 5.75 square miles. Arlington bounds it upon the north, Cambridge upon the east and Watertown on the south. Its western boundary touches Lexington, Waltham and Watertown. Its town-hall is six and a half miles W.S.W. from the State-House. The population in 1853, when the first petitions for incorporation were circulated, was 1004, which was increased to 1175 at the date of incorporation. The valuation in 1859 was $2,036,077.

The first town-meeting was held March 28, 1859. At this meeting the act of incorporation was accepted, and Mansur W. Marsh, Jacob Hittinger, J. Varnum Fletcher, Jonas B. Chenery and Joseph Hill were elected selectmen, and Mr. Marsh was subsequently chosen chairman of the board ; J. Oliver Wellington, Josiah Bright, Edwin Locke, William J. Underwood and H. K. Fillebrown were elected assessors; Samuel P. Hammatt, town clerk, and George S. Adams, treasurer and collector of taxes. The first town tax was $12,500.85, which was raised by a levy of $5.11 on $1000, and a poll tax of $1.50 on 325 polls. One hundred and twenty-six regularly called town-meetings have since been held, and thirty-six adjouyied meetings.

The second meeting of the new town was held April 13, 1859. Under the fourteenth article of the warrant, " to see if the town will defray the expenses necessarily incurred in procuring their act of Incorporation," etc., the town voted to pay the expenses, and the treasurer was authorized to borrow, upon the notes of the town, a sufficient sum for the purpose, not exceeding $9000, and to pay the same over upon auch vouchers as were approved by the subcommittee of the petitioners for incorporation. Bills were immediately presented and paid, amounting to $8779.20. A suit in equity was thereupon brought by Jonathan Frost and others, to obtain a decree compelling a restoration of the money to the town treasury, the note having been paid in due time from moneys obtained by the tax levy of 1859. The case was heard before the full bench of the Supreme Court in March, 1862, and an order was issued requiring the treasurer to restore to the town treasury the sum paid out with interest, the whole amounting to $10,681.14, but deducting $478.68, which was allowed to the plaintiffs in equity, for counsel fees and other expenses incurred in bringing the suit for the benefit of the town. Mr. Adams, the treasurer, was reimbursed by a subscription. Later decisions have gone further than this, in forbidding a town to raise by taxation money to be expended in opposing its own dismemberment.

For much of the early history of the territory now included within the limits of Belmont, one must look to the town from which it came. There was but little common interest among its scattered inhabitants until they united in the struggle for corporate existence. Ecclesiastically, politically and socially, they were identified with the towns in which they dwelt. In the latter part of the year 18.55 the need of a suitable building for public worship became felt to such a degree that January 1, 1856, a paper was put in circulation upon which the sum of $7000 was pledged in amounts ranging from $100 to $500. At a meeting held January 3d, of that year, the following committee was chosen to build a " meetinghouse:" David Mack (chairman), Samuel O. Mead, Charles Stone, Edwin Locke, Albert Higgins, John L. Alexander and J. M. Hollingsworth. In September, Mr. Mack resigned his position and J. Oliver Wellington was elected chairman in his stead. The church was located on Concord Turnpike, near the railroad station. It was built by John C. Sawin from plans by Enoch Fuller, and was completed in the fall of 1857. Its total cost was about $13,000. The church was dedicated December 2, 1857, and was occupied as a place of worship by the Belmont Congregational Society (Unitarian) until February 12, 1890, when it was destroyed by fire. At the time of the fire it had become the property of J. V. Fletcher. Nearly two years before it had been decid- the ladies of the Arachne Club ; subscriptions were secured, and entertaiuraenta in aid of the enterprise were given, prominent among the subscribers being the firm of J. V. Fletcher & Co. and Edwin F. Atkins, who gave $5000 each. The building committee consisted of J. Henry Fletcher, William E. Stowe, H. O. Underwood, Mrs. J. M. Hernandez and John F. Richardson. A site having been selected, nearly opposite the old church, the new building was erected in 1889, at a cost of upwards of $2G,000. Hartwell & Richardson were the architects of the new church, and the builder was E. Atwood, Jr. The walls are of field stone, the gables and tower of wood, covered with cement plaster. The tower, at the northerly corner of the building, contains the bell from the old church and a clock provided by the town. Within, the finish is of cypress, the roof of the auditorium being of hard pine. Beautiful memorial windows are placed in this room. The vestry and ladies' parlor are upon the same floor as the large audience-room, and can be made a part of it when required, and a well-appointed kitchen and dining-room testify to the fact that the modern church supplements its work as a factor in Christian civilization by ministering to the social needs of humanity. The church was dedicated April 9, 1890, with appropriate .services, including an original hymn by the pastor, and the dedicatory sermon by Rev. Brooke Herford, of Boston.

The pastors of the Society since its organization have been Rev. Amos Smith, from October, 1857, to March, 1872; Rev. Harvey C. Bates, October, 1873, to September, 1870 ; Rev. Ivory F. Waterhouse, March, 1877, until his death, at the age of fifty years, March 2, 1882; Rev. J. Bradley Oilman, May, 1883, to March, 1886 ; and Rev. Hilary Bygrave, from November, 1886, to the present time. Rev. Mr. Smith continued to reside in Belmont after his resignation, until his death, September 12, 1887, at the age of seventy years.

The first steps to provide for regular public worship at Waverley were taken at a meeting held May 27, 1861. There were present at this meeting Daniel Deshon, John Taggard, John 'Sylvester, Harrington, Samuel Greene, William Lowry, Frank Cottle, W. A. Hlodgett and Seromus Gates.

A committee was appointed to solicit subscriptions to an amount " not less than five hundred dollars," for the support of worship for one year from June 1, 1861. At an adjourned meeting held Saturday, June 1st, the committee reported that they should be able to secure the necessary funds, and it was voted to extend an invitation to Rev. Charles Jones to preach for one year in Waverley Hall, at a salary of four hundred dollars. The call was accepted. The following year au attempt was made to substitute the Episcopal for the Congregational form of worship and two subscription papers were, under the direction of a committee, presented to the inhabitants of the village. The canvass which followed resulted in a larger support, both in money and numbers, for Congregational worship, and at a meeting held May 12, 1S62, it was voted to continue that form. An eflbrt made at a subsequent meeting to reconsider this vote was not successful.

Rev. Hubbard Winslow was now invited to become the pastor of the little society, and he filled that oflSce until June 1, 1863. For more than a year following the pulpit was supplied by various preachers. September 1, 1864, Rev. Josiah W. Turner assumed the pastoral charge at a salary of eight hundred dollars per annum. July 11, 1865, an ecclesiastical council of the neighboring (Trinitarian Congregational) churches was held, for the purpose of recognizing " The First Congregational Church of Waverley." The original members of the church were : Rev. Josiah W. Turner, Mrs. Almena W. Turner, Rev. Daniel Butler, Mrs. Jane D. Butler, Daniel Deshon, Mrs. Eunice Deshon, John Sylvester, Mrs. Lucy J. Sylvester, William Jewett, Mrs. Lois M. Jewett, Seromus Gates, Mrs. Lemira H. Gates, William Lowry, Miss Frances M. Grant, J. Douglas Butler, Miss Mary F. Turner. William Lowry was the first deacon of the church, in which office he has been succeeded by Solyman W. Grant and William Jewett.

Rev. Mr. Turner was installed as pastor February 1, 1866, and was dismissed July 1, 1873. His successors have been: Rev. John L. Ewell, December 10, 1874, to March 16, 1878 ; Rev. William H. Teel, July 3, 1878, to August 1, 1883 ; and Rev. George P. Oilman, from November 16, 1883, to the date of writing.

The society supporting the church was legally incorporated Feb. 29, 1868, as the " First Congregational Society of Waverley." Active steps were at once taken under the leadership of the pastor for the erection of a house of worship. A lot at the northeast corner of White and North Streets waa donated by the Waverley Company, subsci'iptions were pledged and the corner-stone of a church was laid August 12, 1869. The building was erected from plans drawn by Hammatt & J. E. Billings, and was dedicated January 13, 1870. The style of the church is Early Gothic. Its plan is a quadrilateral with a bell-tower in the corner and is divided into church and vestry in connection. The church proper has an open timber roof and windows of painted and stained-glass of simple design. All the finish and pews are of oak, and the pulpit and furniture are of black walnut. The seating capacity is about two hundred and twenty. It may be remarked in passing, that the Sabbath-school at Waverley antedates the church by several years.

The Waverley Christian Union was organized in December, 1882. Its membership consists of those who contribute to the support of the union and subscribe to the following covenant:

The society has held a regular preaching service and a Sabbath-school in Waverley Hall since the date of its organization. The pastor of the Belmont Congregational Society has thus far been the pastor of the union. Thirty-four persons were baptized by Rev. J. B. Oilman at a service held November 1, 1885. Additions have been made to the society from time to time, and the erection of a house of worship has been contemplated, and will be accomplished in the not far distant future.

All Saints' Guild (Episcopal) was organized on All Saints' Eve, October 81, 1887, at the home of Miss Lucy A. Hill, Waverley. For nearly two years previous to its organization, Rev. Edward A. Rand, of Watertown, conducted occasional cottage services, the first of these being held at the residence of Mr. H. A. Scranton, Waverley, on Good Friday evening, April, 1886. Sunday afternoon services were held during the summers of 1887 and 1888 at Miss Hill's residence ; evening cottage-service has been held once a month on a week-day since the formation ol the Guild, and latterly. Rev. Mr. Rand, assisted by Rev. Thomas Bell, of Arlington, has conducted a Sunday afternoon service once a month at the Town Hall, Belmont. The present oflicers of the Guild are ; Rev. Edward A. Rand, president; Mrs. H. A. Scranton, vice-president ; Miss E. J. Woodward, secretayr ; Mrs. A. A. Adams, treasurer, and an executive committee of eight members.

The families in the northeast part of the town have very largely continued to find their church-home in the town of Arlington. A mission enterprise in the Mount Auburn district of Watertown has also received liberal support from residents of Belmont.

The Roman Catholics in the town, although maintaining a Sabbath-school for a number of years, have been connected with parishes in Arlington, Cambridge and Watertown until a very recent date. After holding regular services at the Town Hall for some months, a site was selected for a church on Common Street, near School Street, and subscriptions were begun for the expenses of erection in May, 1886. The work was pushed forward rapidly under the supervision of a building committee, consisting of Edward Quigley, James Hart, W. J. Reed, J. F. Leonard and C. J. McGinniss. The first Mass in the church was celebrated June 5, 1887, and it was dedicated March 31, 1889, by Right Rev. John J. Williams, Archbishop of Boston, assisted by a large number of the clergy of the diocese. The dedication sermon was by Rev. D. O'Callaghan, of South Boston, and an address was given by Rev. Robert J. Fulton, of Boston College. The pastor of the church, which bears the name of St. Joseph's, is Rev. Thomas H. Sbahan.

Street (still standing on the same location), one on Washington Street and one at the corner of Beech and North Streets, at Waverley. In the building on Brighton street were two schools, the higher of which, the North Grammar, was taught by Mr. Arthur 1'. Smith. The other buildings each contained a primary school. A fifth school, called the South Grammar, was at once organized in the Washington Street school-house and placed under the charge of Mr. David Mack. The reputation of both of these gentlemen as instructors testifies to the educational advantages enjoyed at even this early day in our history by the youth of the town. Arrangements were also made by which pupils already admitted to the High Schools might complete, without change of school, the course of study they had entered upon. Another schoolhouse, on Grove Street, was at once provided for, the scholars in the southeast portion of the town remaining until the completion of this building in the schools of Watertown. Mr. Smith resigned his position in the North Grammar School in 1864, and the school was, a few months later, reduced to an intermediate grade upon the establishment of a new Central Grammar School. Ill health necessitated the retirement of Mr. Mack in September, 1861. His successors were Rev. James Thurston, 1861 ; William W. Colburn, 1861-62; Augustus W. Wiggin, 1862- 63, and De Forest Safford, 1863-65, when the school was merged in the Central Grammar School, of which Eben H. Davis became the first principal. In the following year this school took the name of the High School, which it has since retained, although in 1869 it was, for a few months, reduced to a grammar grade. Mr. E. H. Davis resigned in 1870 to accept a superintendent's position. His successor was Thomas W. Davis, who was directed, in taking charge of the school, to restore it to its higher grade. Mr. T. W. Davis resigned in 1881 to engage in teaching in the city of Cambridge, but has continued to reside in Belmont. Charles L. Clay was principal in 1881, and in December of that year was succeeded by the present principal, Henry H. Butler. The liberality of the town in educational matters is illustrated by the fact that this school has been maintained for so many years with no requirement therefor under the laws of the Commonwealth. Its sessions for two years were held in the vestry of the Congregational Church. The High School building on School Street was erected in 1867 at a cost of $15,000, and was dedicated December 2d of that year. The hall in its lower story was occupied by the town for its meetings until 1882, after which both stories were devoted to school purposes. The Washington Street building was moved to the same enclosure as the High School in 18G7, and is stili in service.

The school-house at the corner of Beech and North Streets was burned in 1872. A new brick building was erected the next year in a more central location at the corner of North and Waverley Streets, the cost

A school-house on dishing Street, in the Mt. Auburn District, was built in 1871. This and the building on Grove Street were purchased by Cambridge in 1880, when the territory adjacent to Fresh Pond w<i8 annexed to that city. The teachers whose services to the town have continued through the longest terra of years are Miss Hannah B. McGicniss and Miss Harriet A. Hill, who were appointed in 1870, and Miss Etta C. Leonard in 1871. The labors of the teachers in the schools have been, with but slight exception, faithful and self-denying, and it is pleasant to record that they have been appreciated. An unusually large proportion of those employed have been persons ofsuccessful experience elsewhere. Skilled superintendence of the schools began with the school year of 1890, the first incumbent of the office of superintendent being I. F. Hall, who also Euperintends the schools of Leominster, devoting to each town a fixed amount of time per week. A vote of the town at the annual meeting of 1890, was favorable to the erection of a new building, to embody the advanced ideas of the day, in respect to ventilation and general sanitary arrangements, and to provide accommodations for a largely increased number of pupils, but the measure has as yet failed to be carried into effect, motions to appropriate the money necessary for its erection not having received the two-thirds vote which is required when payment is to extend through a series of years. The Public Library dates its existence from the year 1868. Much of the credit for its inception belongs to the late David Mack, who circulated the original subscription papers for a " Free Public Library," was one of the Library Committee and the first librarian. With him, by vote of the town, were associated upon the committee the chairman of the Board of Selectmen, the chairman of the School Committee, and Rev. Amos Smith and Rev. J. W. Turner, "the two settled clergymen of the town, exofficio." Rev. Mr. Smith declined to serve and the chairman of the School Committee resigned his position upon that board and so ceased to be a member of the Library Committee. The first report of the committee, made by Mr. Mack, showed the number of volumes in the library to be 817, of which 667 were acquired by purchase and 118 were received from the library of the Farmers' Club. A room in the new High School building, adjacent to the hall occupied by the town for its meetings, was assigned to the library, and the town appropriated $500 towards its organization and maintenance. The room was open for the delivery of books one hour each week. In 1872 the librarian made his second report, showing an increase to 1650 volumes, and including an earnest appeal for enlarged accommodations, which was renewed in the following year. At the annual meeting in 1873 the town voted to place the library in the charge of trustees, and one of the first steps taken by the new officers was to remove the library to a larger room in the basement of the Unitarian Church. Two members of the board have served upon it from its organization to the present time, and the term of ofliee has from the beginning been, by election, for three years. Mr. Mack resigned the position of librarian in 1876 and was succeeded by Walter H. Stone. The catalogue of 1877 contains the names of 2849 volumes. The purposes of the management were concisely stated in the report for that year. " Believing that a few good books thoroughly read, are more beneficial than any course of reading more extended in surface, but lacking in depth, the trustees commend, to younger readers especially, that they learn to draw deep from ' the wells of English undefiled' of our standard writers, while at the same time provision is made for gratifying the taste of those who read for recreation, and derive profit therefrom incidentally." In the report for the year 1881 the trustees congratulated the citizens ujon the approaching completion of the new Town Hal! and Library Building, and acknowledged a donation of $1000 from an anonymous " well-wisher of the Public Library." The town increased two fold in the following year its annual appropriation for the library. This appropriation has, since that time, averaged nearly $1000, including the amount returned to the town from the " Dog Tax," after the damages done by these animals in the county have been settled. The removal of the library to its present quarters was made in the summer of 1882, at which time a reading-room was also instituted and open to the public two afternoons and evenings each week and for about three hours every Sunday. Mr. Stone resigned his position in 18S,S, and Mr. Edward W. Brown, the present librarian, was appointed in his stead. In 1886 the privilege was granted to the High School of the use of the library, by allowing the principal to draw from it twenty-five volumes at any one time, to be used in the school at his discretion. The library now contains 6700 volumes, a large proportion being works of standard value, and in the reading-room are to be found the leading popular periodicals of the day.

The hall in the High School building not being conveniently located, and being totally inadequate to the needs of the town, preliminary, steps were taken in March, 1881, looking to the erection of a Town Hall and Public Library building. In April of that year an approi)riation was made by unanimous vote of the town and a Building Committee appointed, consisting of W. J. Underwood, J. V. Fletcher, J. S. Kendall, D. F. Learned, Varnum Frost, S. S. C. Russell and W. E. Stowe.

A lot, eligibly located and containing upwards of 40,000 square feet, was presented to the town by Elisha Atkins. The structure erected upon this site is so complete in all its appointments that it has been the model for similar buildings in thriving towns of the Commonwealth. It is of Queen Anne architecture, built of brick and terra cotta, situated at the junction of Pleasant Street and Concord Avenue. In a basement, wholly above the natural surface of the ground, which slopes toward the south, are the rooms of the officers of the town, with an apartment for chemical engine and hose-carriage at the rear. Upon the main floor above, lighted from the north, is the Town Hall, with its gallery, lobby and anterooms, stage and dressing-rooms, the latter being in a half-story under the stage and above the engine-room. The chief entrance to the building is under a broad, deeply-recessed arch, in the southwestern front, the place of honor being given to a bronze tablet bearing the names of the Belmont heroes who fell in the War of the Rebellion.

A side entrance upon thesarae wall of the building admits to a corridor between the main hall and the rooms above the town offices which are occupied by the Public Library. These rooms consist of a waitingroom, in which is the desk of the tibnirian, separated by a wooden screen from the reading-room at the front of the building, with fire-place and alcove in the circular tower, and a book-room which is reached by a passage-way behind the librarian's desk, and which has space for about 15,000 volumes. The architect was Henry W. Hartwell, of Boston, and the cost of the building was nearly $50,000. It was dedicated June 22, 1882, on one of those perfect days which nature provides in the loveliest month of the year. The formal exercii^es of dedication consisted of prayer by Rev. W. H. Teel ; presentation of the keys of the building by W. J. Underwood of the Building Committee'; their reception by Josiah S. Kendall, of the Board of Selectinen, and T. W. Davis, of the Trustees of the Library ; the " patriarchal blessing " of the Commonwealth, by His Excellency, John D. Long; and short addresses by President Robert R. Bishop, of the vState Senate ; Henry W. Muzzey, of Cambridge, and Dr. J. C. Harris, of Arlington, representing at the time those places in the General Court ; W. H. Ingraham, of Watertown ; Mansur W. Mar.sh and Rev. Daniel Butler, of Belmont. The exercises were interspersed with music by the Belmont Choral Society. An extract from the remarks of one of the speakers, as printed in an account of the proceedings, sets forth so clearly what may be called the motive of the building, that it is reproduced here :

" It has been said that, at the creation, Eve was taken, not from man's head to be his ruler, nor from liis feet to be his slave, but from his side as his equal, liis companion and his friend. So, upon the same level, have you placed the Public Library, representative of the education to be derived from books, and this hall, in which the lessons are to be taught by living men. Here we are to be developed by intercourse with the minds of our fellows; there we may hold communion by a unanimous vote. The Water Commissioners elected at a subsequent meeting were W. J. Underwood, T. D, Blake and Gustavus C. Holt, who still continue in office. The town has about ten miles of street mains, with sixty-nine hydrants, (the system is being extended from year to year), which are connected with the pipes of the Watertown Water Supply Co., and carry the water obtained by that company from basins dug near the Charles River near Bemis Station in Watertown. The town divides with the company the receipts from private services. At the expiration of its contract with the Supply Company, the town is at liberty to make a new contract, or to provide an independent supply if it so desires. The system gives general satisfaction.

Gas Introduced. - Gas for public lighting was introduced into the town in 1867. The expense was so great in proportion to the benefit received, and the Arlington Gas Light Co., which holds the right to lay pipes in the streets, not doing that work except in a small section of the town, the lighting of the streets was performed mainly by gasoline, from 1874 to 1889. Dissatisfaction with the results opened the way for the introduction of the electric light. Early in the year 1889 the Somerville Electric Light Co. introduced an experimental service, and found little difficulty in obtaining a vote of the town favorable to a contract for a short term of years. The system is of incandescent lamps, with arc lights at a few central points. The system has not yet come into use for domestic lighting, nor, with a single exception, for business purposes.

The Civil War. - The record of the town in the Civil War is a highly honorable one. With a total population of less than 1250, it furnished, under the twelve calls of the President of the United States, one hundred and forty-seven men, and paid out as a town and by subscription of citizens, upwards of !ii!26,000 for bounties and other direct expenses of the town in filling its quota. Those who went into the service could not do so accompanied by their neighbors and friends, but were obliged to serve with strangers. Half a dozen men in any one regiment was as large a group as went together into the service. The bronze tablet at the entrance of the Town Hall records the names of those who made the supreme sacrifice - the gift of their lives - for the sake of the nation. The inscription is as follows :

The surviving veterans are associated in the Grand Army of the Republic, with Francis Gould Post, No. 36, of Arlington, under whose direction the annual ceremonies in the town on Memorial Day are conducted.

A New Hall. - Until the year 1871, Waverley Hall was the name given to the hall in the second story of the store building erected by the Waverley (Land) Co., near the railroad station at Waverley. The building in that year became private property, and alterations were made by which the hall ceased to exist. A substitute was provided by the town in the second story of the new school-house, erected in 1874. When it became necessary to use this for school purposes, the initiatory steps were taken at a meeting of residents of the village, at the house of George H. Stearns, looking to the erection of a building in which provision could be made for meetings for religious and social purposes. After careful deliberation a stock company was formed in 18S1, called the Waverley Hall Com|)any, which proceeded to erect a suitable building on the south side of Church Street. The structure is of the Swiss style of architecture, two and one-half stories in height, forty by sixty feet in size, and has a tower in which is a bell, contributed by citizens, and a clock, voted by the town. The building was provided with furniture from the proceeds of a fair, supplementing private subscription. The lower story contains a store, and the room of the Waverley Hose Company. The main hall, with its stage and convenient dressing-rooms, occupies the second story, and the half-story above is devoted to a kitchen and small hall which can be used for society purposes, and for a supper-room. The present board of directors are John Fenderson, president; F. E. Whitcomb, vice-president; G. C. Holt, clerk and treasurer; Isaac Watts, J. L. Ellis, G. H. Stearns and H. M. Ellison.

Physicians. - It is a testimony to the healthfulness of Belmont that for many years it had no resident physician. Those who needed medical assistance called upon the doctors in the towns around, and the same practice is largely followed to-day. Dr. George H. Caldwell was located in Waverley in 1876 and 1877, but was engaged in other business, while attending to such calls as were made upon him. Dr. George W. Jones commenced practice in Belmont in 1879, and removed to Cambridgeport in 1881. The present physicians are Dr. H. A. Yenetchi, from 1885, and Dr. L. B. Clark, who established himself at Waverley early in the present year.

Secret Societies. - /le^mo/i^ Lodije of Free and Accepted Masons was erected in March, 18G4, under a dispensation from William Parkman, Grand Master, and a charter was granted in March, 18C5, to eleven Master Masons, viz. : William B. Bothamly, William W. Mead, William J. Underwood, Jonas B. Chenery, George W. Ware, Jr., Orlando M. Homer, Charles L. Heywood, Horace H. Homer, John Alexander, John G. Smith and Albert Higgins. Messrs. Bothamly, Underwood and H. H. Homer are still members of the lodge, the membership of nearly all the others having been terminated by death. The Worshipful Masters have been William B. Bothamly, William

The lodge met in the (old) Waverley Hall until 1R70, in the Town Hall in the High School building until 1880. The lodge-room in the station of the Fitchburg Railroad, at Belmont, was dedicated by Charles A. Welch, Grand Master, and officers of the Grand Lodge, February 2<;, 1880. The lodge has a membership of 75. William W. Mead, the second Master, died August 14, 1883, while holding the office of secretary. He had been devoted to the interests of the lodge from its formation, and no mention of the body would be complete which did not include a tribute to his memory. He was prominent also in the affairs of the town, having been a member of the School Committee from 1872 to 1881, and town clerk from 1871 until his death. He was the son of Samuel 0. Mead, who was one of the leading spirits in the movement for the incorporation of the town and in the formation of the Belmont Congregational Society.

Waverley Council, No. 313, Royal Arcanum, was instituted April 30, 1879, at the hall in the school building at the corner of North and Waverley Streets. Its meetings were held at different places until 1882i when a lease was taken of the upper rooms in the new Waverley Hall building. The Past Regents of the Council are William Munroe, H. W. Ball, T. W. Davis, J. H. Pettinger, John Fenderson, G. H. Stearns, Isaac Watts, F. E. Whitcomb, J. L. Ellis, J. D. Evans, G. C. Holt and W. H. Benjamin. The present officers are W. G. Roberts, Regent; H. S. Harris, Vice-Regent ; J. B. Perault, Orator ; W. H. Benjamin, Past Regent; C. W. Benjamin, Secretary ; Edward Hiiskins, Collector; H. H. Russell, Treasurer ; J. R. Mackessy, .Jr., Chaplain ; Beujamin Hamman, Guide; H. A. Harris, Warden; W. J. Reed, Sentry. The Council is in a flourishing condition.

Belmont Savings Bank. - In 1885 a charter was obtained from the Legislature for the Belmont Savings Bank largely through the instrumentality of Hon. J. V. Fletcher, who was a member of the Committee on Banks and Banking. The use of a room in the Town Hall was granted gratuitously to the bank, which was organized in the latter part of that year, and commenced business in January following. About a year after, the bank suffered from the depredations of burglars, who carried away bonds and other securities of several thousand dollars in value and a small sum of money. In spite of the interruption and delay in realizing income occasioned by the robbery, the bank has paid dividends regularly and is upon a substantial footing. Its officers remain as when first organized, and are as follows : President, J. V.Fletcher ; Vice Presidents, J. S. Kendall, G. F. Blake, Frederic Dodge and J. O. Wellington ; clerk,

T. W. Davis. The above, with J. H. Fletcher, Jacob Hittinger, T. D. Blake, J. L. Ellis, Henry Frost, G. C. Holt, J. E. Locke, Chandler Robbins, A. E. Hill, J. W. Hill and D. F. Learned, constitute the Board of Trustees. The treasurer is W. L. Chenery.

Industries. - Until the annexation of the Mount Auburn District to Cambridge, the cutting and storing of ice was a leading industry during the winter months, the first ice exported from this to warmer countries having been taken from Fresh Pond by Frederick Tudor, who sent a cargo to Martinique in 1805. The War of 1812 put an end to the traffic for a time, but with concessions from the Cuban government it was resumed a few years later. The amount exported by Mr. Tudor in 1832 was forty-two hundred tons, all of which was taken from Fresh Fond. In 1833 the first shipment was made to the East Indies. Belmont's representative in the ice trade was Jacob Hittinger, a sketch of whose life is appended to this article.

The manufacture of brick in the town was begun in 1873 by the Cambridge Brick Company, on the territory afterwards annexed to Cambridge. The company was not successful, and the works were abandoned. In 1888 Parry Brothers & Company bought twenty acres of land on Concord Avenue, three-fourths of a mile from the Belmont station, and have a plant in successful operation. Near this are the sausage works of W. H. Burke, established in 188(5. Wagons are manufactured by Eden Price, at the corner of Pleasant and Brighton Streets. Belmont has always been, however, pre-eminently an agricultural community. Special attention has been paid for many years to the cultivation of small fruits, to say nothingofthedayswhen thestrawberriesfrom Belmont were always the first in the Boston markets, long before railroad transportation was reduced to the science which enables us to enjoy " the best berry that God ever made " before the snows of winter have ceased to fall upon our hillsides ; passing without mention the festivals of the years gone by, when from far and near guests came to taste the fruit in the atmosphere that had brought it to perfection. "The census returns of 1885 show that the town is first in the county in the value of its fruit products, and at the same time second in the value of vegetables raised for the market. The acreage devoted to these purposes is limited, lying mainly in the eastern p(ntion of the town. It was said with truth at the time of its incorporation that Belmont took from both West Cambridge and Watertown much of their richest land, some of it being, in the opinion of good judges, the best farming land in the Slate. In the northern and western sections the soil is generally good, but not so deep or fertile.

The dairy products are very small. The town is notable in stock-raising for having been the first place in the country in which a purely-bred herd of Hoi- stein cattle was maintained. This was at the " Highland Stock Farm" owned and carried on for many years by Winthrop W. Chenery, and until recently in the possession of a member of his family. Importations were made by Mr. Chenery in 1852, '54, '59 and '61. " The considerations which in the first instance led to these importations were a confident belief in the superiority of the dairy cows of North Holland . . . and also in their adaptation to the cUtaate of New England, which in its variableness is strikingly similar to that of Holland." The animals imported in 1861 formed the ground- work of the present Holstein stock of this country. In 1872, Mr. Chenery prepared the Holstein Herd-Book, which was published by authority of the Association of Breeders of Thoroughbred Holstein Cattle, of which he was then president.

Following the usual course of places convenient to our large cities, and possessing marked natural attractions, the population of the town is becoming " residential." An increasing proportion of the inhabitants have no direct interest in the soil, except as it furnishes an agreeable and healthful location for the homes which are taking possession of the hillsides and confining the husbandmen to even narrower limits. In 1881 the Massachusetts Central Railroad was constructed and opened to travel as far as Hudson, twenty- nine miles from Boston. The original laying-out of this road in Belmont was south of its present road-bed, and crossing the Fitchburg Railroad by an overhead bridge near Hill's Crossing. On account of the large number of grade-crossings made necessary by this route, it was opposed by many citizens. The road was finally located parallel and adjacent to the Fitchburg road upon its north side from Hill's Crossing to Clematis Station, in Waltham. Failing to pay its expenses, the road experienced financial diflBculties and a change of name, and now, as the Central Massachusetts Railroad, is leased and operated by the Boston and Maine Railroad, as a part of its southern division, and over it trains are sent out to the west and south, by way of the bridge across the Hudson River at Poughkeepsie. Together, the two roads give good accommodation to travel and at reasonable rates. Few towns can boast of finer views than are to be had from the slopes of the swelling hills that emborder the villages of Belmont. It merits its name, which was derived from the residence of John P. Gushing, later known as the Payson estate, upon the street separating Belmont from Watertown. This street was formerly known as the Back Road, but after Mr. Cashing called his estate Belmont, the name was given to the street, and later it was considered the most appropriate that could be chosen for the new town. Until invaded by the Payson Park Land Co., in 1886, the hundred acres or more surrounding the mansion-house furnished the best example of an American residence upon English models to be found in this part of the country. John P. Cushing, who had in early life amassed a fortune in China, returned to the United States and acquired from different owners the land upon which, about the year 1830, he erected his mansion-house at a cost of more than $115,000. At the left and in front of the house was the undulating lawn containing thirty acres, and surrounded by trees, the main driveway at its side being shaded by long, irregular rows of lofty elms. Behind the house was the great flower garden, flanked by high walls and green-houses, with a grand conservatory at the rear. Alone the east side of the vegetable garden, which lay behind the conservatory, past the great deer park, a winding walk among the trees led to a rustic summer-house upon the highland anciently called Pequossette Hill, from which a varied and extended view of Boston and its suburbs was revealed to the observer. Broad and fertile fields extended to the westward. Mr. Cushing's later years were marked by active participation in public affairs and by generous, unpretentious charities. He expended large sums to beautify the grounds, which were liberally thrown open to the public. After his death, which occurred April 12, 1862, the estate came into the possession of Samuel R. Payson, who occupied it for a quarter of a century. He continued the policy which had marked its management while Mr. Cushing was its owner, and when it was purchased by the trustees of the Land Company it was estimated that more than half a million dollars had been expended to adorn a spot already made beautiful by nature.

The mansion-house and land immediately adjoining are now owned by Mr. B. F. Harding, and under his charge has been founded the Belmont School, the management of which is in conformity to the principles of the Episcopal Church, and whose object is " to give not only a thorough preparation for the University and the Technical School, but also a liberal training in branches not now required for entrance to college." Tbe school was opened September 25, 1889, and is, like its appointments of building and grounds, to rank with the best in every particular. Its location is in itself a continual inspiration.

A short distance to the westward of the Payson estate, after passing the " Haunted House of Watertown " upon the left, we come to the residence of Samuel Barnard, of the family of Major Barnard, who commanded a company at " Lexington alarm." A little further, on the side of the hill sloping to the lowland known in olden times iis Pequo.ssette Meadow, was the house built by Nathaniel Bright in the latter part of the seventeenth century. Previous to the incorporation of Belmont this was the oldest house in Watertown, and one of its owners, in 1876, was Nathaniel T. Bright. It has since been torn down. The land continues in the possession of the family. Aside from this house there were, in 1820, only four houses on that part of Watertown which now comprises the village of Waverley, and all of these had yielded to the ravages of time before the new town was formed. The old cellar of one of them is still to be distinguished at the foot of the hill on Belmont Street, but no one knows or inquires as to those who once dwelt upon the spot.

At " Commodore's Corner," Belmont Street enters Watertowu. Opposite this corner (in Watertown) was the meeting-house of the Middle Precinct, erected in 1695. Its location was a compromise between contending factions. It was an unsuccessful one. The building was a cause of continued bitterness during the few years it was suffered to stand, for it was only 1722 when it was voted in town-meeting to sell "What was left of the old meeting-house." Lexington Street turns from Belmont Street northward at this point. This was the "Old Concord Road." Its first well-defined change of level marks the summit of " Elbow Hill." The new road goes through the top of the hill, the old one went around it, and only a little unevenness in the turf shows the bounds of the original thoroughfare. In the valley below, the street crosses the railroad. The first station of the Fitchburg Railroad here was called Plympton's Crossing. The street continues past the entrance to the grounds belonging to the Massachusetts General Hospital to the foot of Mill Street, near Beaver Brook, which is the line of division betweep Belmont and Waltham. All the land east of Lexington Street to the line of the Bright estate on Belmont Street and across the valley nearly to the summit of the hill north of the railroads, comprising about three hundred acres, was included in the plots of the Waverley Company, which was incorporated in 1855, after its affairs had been managed for some months by J. CDunn, G. G. Hubbard and Eates Howe as trustees. A considerable part of the ancient Pequossette, or King's Common, was among the holdings of this company. The village of Waverley was the outgrowth of their enterprise. The company was not upon good terms with the railroad management, and the result has been shown in the slow development of what was, in its inception, one of the most promising settlements in the vicinity of Boston. The sales of land were, for many years, few and far between, until in 1875 the company disposed of one hundred acres upon the so-called Waverley Highlands to the Massachusetts General Hospital. It is expected that at some future time buildings will be erected here for a retreat for insane persons, when the removal of the McLean Asylum from Somerville becomes definitely necessary, and the grounds are being skilfully improved and develoi>ed with a view to such occupancy. In the mean time nearly $75,000 has been expended in the construction of a " Convalescents' Home " upon the southwest slope of the hill, to which patients from the General Hospital on Blossom Street, in Boston, are brought where pure air seems to be all that is needed to gecure their recovery. The view from the Home covers the villages of Watertown, of Newton and Waltham, and is bounded by the hills of Norfolk and

Worcester Counties. The grounds of the hospital are bordered on the west by Mill Street. This is one of the original streets of Watertown, running parallel to Beaver Brook, upon which, in 1662 or 1663, Thomas Agar, of Roxbury, built a mill for fulling cloth. This was the second mill erected within the old boundaries of Watertown. Its precise location cannot now be determined. In 1663 it was sold " to Thomas Lovft'an, late of Dedham, County Essex, Old England, cloth-worker." In 1669 or 1670 Loveeran sold it to Timothy Hawkins (from whom Agar bought the privilege) and Benjamin Garfield. Near, possibly at the site of this mill was Plympton's satinet factory, which was destroyed by fire in 1848. The great water-wheel was set in motion during the fire, and so resisted the flames. Its last fragments disappeared in 1876, and the ruins of the wall into which it was built still remain at the foot of what is now called the cascade. An illustration of the wheel forms the frontispiece of Country Life, published in 1866 by R. M. Copeland, who then owned the property, and it has been reproduced in popular magazines. Richard M. Staigg, the artist, afterward resided upon the estate. Beaver Brook was a favorite resort of James Russell Lowell, and the mill formerly standing at the upper pond is the scene of one of his most charming poems, of which a contemporary says, " there is no finer specimen of an ideal landscape in modern verse."

A few rods below, on the other side of Lexington Street, on the Waltham side of the brook, are the far-famed Waverley Oaks, the most remarkable group of aboriginal trees in New EnglaiTd. Here Lowell's poem, "The Oak," was conceived. There are in all twenty-six of these trees. Of the principal group, which stands upon a long mound, .supposed to have been produced in remote ages by glacial action, Underwood writes : " The oaks are seven or eight in number, as like as so many stout brothers, planted on sloping drives west of the brook. They have a human, resolute air. Their great arms look as if ready to 'hit out from the shoulder.' Elms have their graceful ways, willows their pensive attitudes, firs their loneliness, but the aboriginal oaks express the strength and the rugged endurance of nature." It was the opinion of Agassiz that no trees on the Western Continent have greater age, and an examination of one which fell some years since, indicated that it had withstood the tempests of more than eight hundred years.

Mill Street now ends at the Concord Turnpike. Beyond and leading to Lexington is its continuation, Winter Street, near which, upon the estate of Geo. H. Cotton, is the well-known Belmont Natural Spring, whose waters are largely sold in Boston, to those who demand something purer than Cochituate or the Mystic can supply.

Eastward from the junction of Mill and Winter Streets, Concord Turnpike (in modern speech - avenue), leads over Wellington Hill to the central village of Belmont. Upon the summit of the hill is the Highland Stock Farm, where were bred the Dutch cattle, to which reference has been made in another place. Descending the slope, the panorama spread before the observer is unsurpassed, unless, possibly, we except the view from Arlington Heights, a mile to the noi'thward, and embraces the metropolis and its suburbs in every direction. The handsome estate upon the north of the avenue was at one time owned by Henry M. Clarke, a wealthy paper manufacturer, and upon it he built the costliest barn of its time in New England. After the place became the property of Charles Fairchild, a residence was built upon it for the occupancy of William D. Howells, and the frieze in the study bore the Shakespearean inscription, " From Venice to Belmont." Elisha Atkins, of the Union Pacific Railroad, lived in the house on the brow of the hill, his son and successor, Edwin F. Atkins, beiug domiciled in the Ware homestead on the south side of the avenue. Near his house is still to be seen the weather-beaten stone which, until 1859, marked the junction of the three towns from which Belmont was taken. This part of the hill, with the Town Hall and church at its foot, furnishes the landscape which, displayed upon a trefoil to symbolize the three towns, forms the background of the seal of the town, adopted in 1882, while far to the front the seal displays an ideal figure, a colossal statue of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and gardens. Back of the E. F. Atkins estate runs a section of the old turnpike, abandoned because of its steepness, and now grass-grown. W. Sloane Kennedy, the biographer of Longfellow and Whittier, has pitched his tent beside the old road, and looks out upon a view the beauty of which he must himself describe. The grounds around the home of the writer include a disused portion of this very turnpike along

" It is now in part a wild and lovely grass-grown lane, commanding an inspiring view of Cambridge, Medford, Roxbury and the sea. At night, the myriad lights of the vast entourage glitter below and far away; on the distant horizon the steady electric lights at the Point of Pines gleam out, and always the red light of the revolving lamp down the harbor waxes, wanes and disappears, to again appear, linger a moment and then be again snuft'ed out in the black void around it."

Just below, upon the old road, Mrs. Abby Morton Diaz, another biographer - for did she not write the " William Henry Letters " ? - has found a home. At the left of her enclosure are the grounds on Pleasant Street surrounding the house of the late David Mack, specially remembered in Belmont for his connection with its library, but of more extended reputation because of his membership in the phalanx which gathered at Brook Farm nearly fifty years ago. For a number of years he conducted a school for young ladies here, and was for a time a teacher in the public schools. He died July 24, 1878, at the age of seventyfour years. Here also lived for a few months the artist, George Fuller.

At the corner of Pleasant Street and Concord Avenue is the Town Hall and Public Library Building, on a corner of the homestead of Eleazer Homer, whose house, with its old-fashioned combination of brick and wood walls, is still standing. Before it, for many years, was to be seen a fine specimen of the Kalmia latifolia, or mountain laurel, remarkable for its beauty, and thriving in a region in which the shrub had never been indigenous. Across the railroad tracks is the Belmont Park, beyond which are the handsome dwellings upon the old " plantation," now occupied by the Underwood family. The mansion-house of James Brown (now the property of his son), with its charming lawn and dense woodland at the north, looks out upon the park and plantation and the new Unitarian Church beyond.

In the quaint old house south of the Brown estate, among other relics of the past, is the arm-chair of Henry Price, the first Grand Master of Freemasons in America, who, at the age of eighty-four years, met an accidental death a hundred years ago. On the other side of the way, beyond the buildings of the Underwood estate, is the octagonal building now used as a summer-house, which, at the time of the incorporation of the town, was the station of Wellington Hill, standing at the junction of Common Street and Concord Avenue.

Passing along Common Street, .and leaving the little Catholic Church of St. Joseph's on the left, we reach the Winthrop W. Chenery estate, now the property of W. L. Lockhart. So gradual is the ascent to the top of the hill above that with a sense of surprise we look back at the view which includes the spires of Arlington and Medford. A few steps farther and we gaze to the westward upon the village of Waverley, lying almost at our feet, with the hills of Waltham forming a background. Continuing upon Common Street we may come again to the Payson Park i but Washington Street - one of the oldest streets in the town - anciently called Hill Street, from Pequossette Hill, near whose summit it passes, turns here to the east. Descending its slope toward the valley of Fresh Pond, past the homes of the Stone family, we enter School Street, on the right. At the very foot of Pequossette Hill is the Hittinger residence, where Jacob Hittinger lived at the time when, for five successive years, he headed the list of those who sought for recognition as an independent town. From the green-houses which his sous have erected on this farm 14,000 cucumbers have been sent to the Boston market in a single day. Trespassing, by courteous permission, upon the private way leading through the farm to Grove Street, we stand upon the confines of the town and look upon the little village of the dead, set apart thirty years ago for the final resting-place of those who, one by one, would cease to be reckoned among the world's living, as they went forward to a longer and better life among the great majority. Until 1880 the larger part of the village of Mount Auburn, located on (the modern) Strawberry Hill, between Belmont and Mount Auburn Cemeteries, belonged to the town of Belmont. In April of that year, after a prolonged hearing before a legislative committee, all this territory, with other land adjacent to Fresh Pond, comprising in all 570 acres, was annexed to the city of Cambridge. The city had for several years endeavored to secure control of the entire shore of the pond for the purpose of maintaining, under her own regulations, the purity of her water supply. Defeated in successive Legislatures, her efforts at this lime were successful, and in spite of the unanimous protest of the townspeople, Belmont lost one-tenth of its taxable property, one-third of its school-children and one-sixth of its area, being left with a territory of about 3075 acres. On the new boundary line between Belmont and Cambridge, not far from the old Bird tavern, on Belmont Street, is a singular depression, called the Amphitheatre upon the maps which Professor Hosford has prepared in illustrating his theory of the location of the ancient city of Norumbega, only a few miles away.

The eastern boundary of the town coincides with that part of Brighton Street to which Cambridge has given the name of Adams Street on one side .of Concord Avenue and Wellington Street upon the other. Near the junction of these streets lived Richard Richardson, selectman in Cambridge from 1791-95, who built that part of the Concord Turnpike which lay near the line between West Cambridge and Watertown. Not far from the toll-gate at this point he built a tavern, anticijiating that the turnpike would become a great thoroughfare, and he had large holdings in the stock of the company. The investments were not

Wellington Street is Brighton Street again before we reach Hill's Crossing and the stations of the railroads, which are built on land formerly belonging to the Hill family. The name has been associated with the locality for nearly two hundred years. Its most noted member was Isaac Hill, editor and statesman, who was born April G, 1789, in that part of the West Precinct of Cambridge which became a part of Belmont. He was the owner and editor of the New Hampshire Patriot, published at Concord for more than twenty years, beginning in 1809. Failing of an election to the United States Senate in 1828, he was Second Comptroller of the Treasury under Jackson in 1829, and was chosen to the Senate in 1830. At the close of his six years' term he was elected Governor of New Hampshire and held that ofiice from 1836 to 1839. In 1840 he became Sub-Treasurer of the United States at Boston. After his retirement from public life he continued his editorial labors until his death at Washington, D. C, in 1851.

This part of West Cambridge was known as the South District, and was disrespectfully spoken of as "Flob-end." From it came many trusted and respected oiBcials of the town. The names of Hill, Frost, Russell and Locke, of Wellington and Prentiss, are to be found on page after page of the old records. From this section, too, was Mansur W. Marsh, first chairman of the selectmen of Belmont, who had previously served West Cambridge in the same capacity, having been a selectman of that town eleven years, represented it in the Legislature and held the positions of assessor and School Committee. His service as selectman in the two towns was in all twenty-two years, at intervals from 1841 to 1876. It is gratifying to record that he still lives, the oldest citizen of the town, enjoying in the evening of life the satisfaction that attends the consciousness of long and faithful labor for the public good. His residence on Prospect Street, was, in 1775, the "house on the hill," to which the women and children fled for refuge on the 19th of April, when the British, psissing through Menotomy to destroy the rebel stores at Concord, made the homes of the valley unsafe. While Belmont justly claims a share in the associations and glory of the battle of "Concord, Lexington and Cambridge," - for all this part of her territory was included in the West Precinct of Cambridge, - it is not known that any English soldiers came that day within the present limits of the town. Tradition speaks of one poor fellow, wounded and separated from his command, wandering down Spring Valley, and doubtless wishing for the night to come and hide him from unfriendly eyes while he made an expiring effort to reach the barracks from which he set out in high spirits a few hours before; but whether he lived or died, or indeed Wiis more than a creature of the imagination, history refuses to tell.

The tornado of 1851 passed through the present town of Belmont. Beginning near Prospect Hill in Waltham, and extending across the Mystic River in Medford, its destructive force was put forth with the greatest energy as it passed across the northern point of Watertown into West Cambridge. Eev. Charles Brooks, of Medford, in describing it, says, " It exhibited a power in the elements never witnessed by the oldest inhabitants of this region. Houses strongly built were demolished as if they had been made of paper ; oak and walnut and cedar trees of the largest growth were entirely uprooted, some of them snatched out of the ground and carried through long distances; roofs of buildings taken up as if by sudden suction, and carried into the embrace of the cloud and transported for miles.'' The damage to estates now in Belmont was reckoned at about $10,000.

Returning along Pleasant Street from our jaunt about the town, the Wellington homestead recalls the name of Jeduthun Wellington, whose enterprise and public spirit gave the first distinctive name to this locality. He was, in fact, a leading citizen of his day ; he had been sergeant and lieutenant in the Revolutionary Army, afterwards colonel of militia, and had received the honors of his towns-folk as selectman for eighteen years, precinct assessor, treasurer and collector, and Representative in the General Court for nine years. To encour.age travel over the turnpike passing near his house, his yoke of stout oxen was at the service of the teamster, who otherwise might not be able to climb the old road which a later generation has ceased to use. It was little wonder that the friend in need should be regarded with favor, and that the steep bit should become known as Wellington's, and then, Wellington, Hill. The elevation is three hundred feet above the sea level, midway in height between Prospect Hill on the west, and Meeting-house Hill on the south. The rain falling upon its eastern slope finds its way through Wellington Brook and Alewife Brook, or Menotomy River, into the Mystic ; that which drops upon its western front reaches the ocean by a longer route through Beaver Brook and the Charles.

Various attempts have been made to establish a local newspaper which should represent the interests and give the weekly history of the town. These publications have had a brief existence. The Middlesex Townsman, published at Arlington, but with a branch oflBce in Belmont, was discontinued for lack of support, after being issued weekly for about eighteen months. During the year 1889, the Belmont Courier appeared regularly under the management of Harry W. Poor. This paper depended for its circulation upon the town of Belmont alone. It paid expenses, and it was proposed to continue its publication for another year, but upon the accept.ance by its proprietor of a position upon the Boston Globe, he decided to discontinue it. The local news is now gathered by the Belmont Bulletin, a special edition of the Watertown the Rebellion he was a stanch supporter of Lincoln and the army, and rejoiced heartily in the downfall of slavery and the triumph of the Union,

In municipal affairs he was active and faithful in securing efhcient management. For several years he was elected on the Board of Selectmen in Watertown, and for two years a member of the School Committee.

In 1859, when Belmont was incorporated, that portion of Watertown where he resided was annexed to the new town, and his interests were transferred to its growth and prosperity. Here he became identified witli a new church and u new community, and served them as willingly as he had served the old. He was soon chosen on the Board of Selectmen and on that of the assessors, and through the remainder of his life he gave his sympathy and influence to the welfare of Belmont.

From this sketch of the life of Col. Livermore, it is evident that he was a man in whose integrity his fellow-townsmen had entire confidence. They trusted in his judgment, they relied upon his honesty, they regal ded him as one who was above all crooked and self-seeking ways in his management of public affairs. Plain, unpretending, straightforward, firm and faithful in what he believed was right, such is the record of his life and such the character which he sustained among his fellow-men. Col. Livermore was in feeble and failing health for some months before his death. Of his ten children, seven had passed on before him, and three remained in the old home to cheer his declining days. The end came on March 28, 1873, at the age of seventy-five years, and the stalwart form, that had borne so well the toil and burden of life, was laid at rest in the peaceful shades of Mount Auburn. Mrs. Livermore passed a serene and cheerful old age, surrounded by those who tenderly ministered to her needs, and in her eightyseventh year rejoined him in the immortal world.

Jacob Hittingee

Jacob Hittinger was a descendant of an old French family and was. born in Roxbury, March 10, 1811. His father died while abroad five years later, having previously removed to Charlestown, where young Hittinger received his education. In 1825 he entered the employment of George Pierce as a gardener, and five years later engaged in the produce business in Boston with William E. Otis & Co. Of this firm he was a member for several years, being actively interested at the same time in the firm of Hill & Hittinger, whose business was cutting and shipping ice from Spy and Fresh Ponds. The firm of Hill & Hittinger was dissolved in 1841, and was succeeded by the firm of Gage, Hittinger & Co., of which the only surviving partner is Hon. T. T. Sawyer, of Charlestown. It was to this firm conjointly with John Hill, Mr. Hittinger's former partner, that the merchants of Boston were indebted for the notable enterprise displayed, when, 1844, the harbor being frozen, a passage was cut from the wharf at East Boston, through which the Cunard steamer could proceed to sea on the day appointed for her sailing. A failure to accomplish the work would have seriously affected the future of Boston as a commercial port. Mr. Hittinger's interest in the firm of Gage, Hittinger & Co. was disposed of a few years later, but he continued to furnish ice to its successor. Gage, Sawyer & Co., and was interested in the early shipments of ice to the Barbadoea by Lombard & Whitmore. In the closing years of his business life he carried on the trade in his own name.

Mr. Hittinger's first wife was Mary Wilson. At her death she left a daughter, who became the wife of Charles Davenport. He married again, April 30, 184ti, Mary Elizabeth King, a younger sister of Rev. Thomas Starr King, whose name is borne by the oldest son of this union, Thomas S. Hittinger, superintendent of the Fresh Pond Ice Company, of which company Mrs. Davenport's son is the treasurer. Soon after his second marriage Mr. Hittinger bought a large tract of land adjoining the old Cushing Estate, within the limits of the present town of Belmont. With the exception of a few months spent in Charlestown, this place was his residence until the end of his life. His intelligent management redeemed from tlie marshes all that part of the estate which is now occupied by three of his sons as one of the largest market gardens in the vicinity of Boston. Of the seven sons of the second marriage six are living, the fourth in order of age, Daniel Webster Hittinger, having died at Belmont, October 28, 1875. Mrs. Hittinger continues to reside in the house standing on the estate at the time of its purchase.

Mr. Hittinger's interest in the town of Belmont was shown by his leadership for four successive years of the petitioners for the incorporation of the new town and his devotion of time, influence and money to their interests. For many of the necessary expenses incurred he neither asked nor received any recompense. He was a member of the first Board of Selectmen, chosen in 1859; was re-elected in 1860 and 1861, and was an influential citizen until the last years of his life. Pecuniary difliculties, arising in the critical business years of 1873 and 1874, left him a poor man. Though he never recovered his financial standing, he could look with pride upon the stalwart sons whose filial attention ministered to the c-omfort of his dying hours, and feel that they were ready to take up and bear successfully the burdens which old age removed from his shoulders. He died at Belmont, April 4, 1880, leaving behind him the record of a life of activity and integrity, and of an influence exerted for the permanent advantage of the community in which his lot had been cast.

C.Eorge Fordycb Blake

honorable record. His ancestor, William Blake, came to this country from Little Baddow, Essex, England, in 10)30, the year that Governor Winthrop and the Massachusetts Bay Colony came over, and settled at Dorchester, Mass. In 1636 he removed, with William Pynchon and others, to Springfield, Mass., but his descendants for three generations continued to reside at Dorchester and Boston, where they were highly esteemed, two of them having held the office of deacon of the church and selectmen of the town, and one was a member of the General Court. At the period of the outbreak of the War for Independence we find Increase Blake living in Boston, on King (now State) Street, near the scene of the Boston massacre, and engaged in the manufacture of tin-plate goods. His public-spirited refusal to supply the British with canteens, which he had furnished for the provincial troops, aroused the retaliatory spirit of the Tories; his shop and other property were destroyed, and after the Battle of Bunker Hill he found it expedient to remove to Worcester, Mass. His son, Thomas Dawes Blake, the father of the present representative of the family, was born in Boston in 1768, and was educated in the schools of Worcester. He was engaged for a few years in teaching, tlieu studied medicine and later settled at Farmington, Me., where he continued in the practice of his profession until his death, in 1849.

George Fordyce Blake was born in Farmington, Me., May 20, 1819. At the early age of fourteen he was apprenticed to learn the trade of house-carpentry. In 1839 he left his native town to start in the world for liimself. He first went to South Danvers (now Peabody), where he remained seven years, working at his trade. From that place he went to Cambridge to take the position of mechanical engineer at the brick-yards of Mr. Peter Hubbell, with the general charge of the works. There he manifested that fidelity, thoroughness, intelligence and inventive talent which have contributed so largely to his success. Naturally modest, never over-sanguine, that success seems to have surprised him more than those who knew him best. While thus employed, he devised a water-meter for which he received his first patent, in 1862. After the removal of the brickyards to Medford, it was found that the clay obtained there could not be worked with the ordinary machinery, and Mr. Blake planned and constructed a new machine for pulverizing the clay, which Wiis patented in 1861. In order more efficiently to free the claypits from water, he invented what is perhaps his greatest achievement - the Blake Steam-Pump - and thus laid the foundation of his fortune. The practical testing of his pum]>, at the yards, proving its great capacity, he, in company with Mr. Job A. Turner and his former employer, Mr. Peter Hubbell, commenced in 1864 the manufacture of steam-pumps and water-meters in a building on Province Street, Boston. The business grew so rapidly that several successive removals to better quarters were necessary, and in 1873 the firm purchased and occupied the large building on the corner of Causeway and Friend Streets. Their foundry for large castings was at East Cambridge. In 1874 a joint stock company was incorporated under the title, - " The George F. Blake Manufacturing Company," with Mr. George F. Blake as president. In 1879 the company purchased the large plant of the Knowles Steam-Pump Company, at Warren, Mass., thus greatly extending their facilities. But even with this increase of capacity it was found necessary, in 1890, to remove the Boston manufactory to East Cambridge, where extensive works were erected, covering four acres, with a main building 400 feet long by 100 feet broad, with every convenience for the successful prosecution of the work. The business has been recently sold to an English syndicate for the sum of $3,000,000, though Mr. Blake still retains an interest.

In the course of his successful career Mr. Blake has given unremitting attention to his business and has brought his intelligent judgment to bear upon all its various details. For a long time, until the growth of the business made that an impossibility, all the plans and drawings for the special adaptation of machinery were made under his personal supervision. The result is seen in the vast business that has grown up. The Blake pumps have gone to all parts of the world and have been adapted to every conceivable use, some of them, constructed for supplying cities with water, having a capacity of 20,000,000 gallons in 24 hours.

In 1869, Mr. Blake removed to Belmont. His beautiful home stands on a breezy hill overlooking a wide stretch of country to the northward and westward of Boston, and is surrounded by fine trees and well-kept lawns. While his busy life has kept him from much direct participation in public affairs, he has alw.ays taken a deep interest in all public questions, esjjecially such as pertain to the moral wellbeing of the community, and, when free from the exacting cares of his biisiness, has found true delight and recreation in his library among his favorite books.

Hon. J. V. Fletcher

A sketch of the town of Belmont would be incomplete which did not contain extended mention of a family so thoroughly identified with its inception, birth and growth as that of Hon. J. V. Fletcher. He was one of the active workers in securing the act of incorporation, became a member of the first Board of Selectmen, and scarcely any matter of public interest and benefit has appealed to the citizens for support that has not received from him material encouragement. The people have endorsed his actions by assigning him the duty of representing their interests in the General Court, and a wider constituency has ratified the local verdict by electing him to a seat in the Senate Chamber.

Jonathan Faruum Fletcher is a descendant in the seventh generation of the Eohert Fletcher who came from England to Concord, Masa^ in 1630, and became prominent in the affairs of that town, which was incorporated five years later. His son William removed to Chelmsford. Joseph, the grandson of William, settled in Westford upon his marriage in 1715, and here, a hundred years later, February 28, 1812, the subject of this sketch was born. Of his early years Mr. Fletcher says little, but the fact that he is the owner of the ancestral home at Westford, delighting to steal a day now and again from business cares to visit it, and that it has become under his hands a Mecca of pilgrimage for members of a large and widelyscattered family, sufficiently indicates the pleasant associations clustering about the spot in which he spent his boyhood. He is a trustee of the Westford Academy. Before attaining his majority he engaged in the provision business in Medfurd, at the age of twenty-four he took to himself a wife, and in the following year, 1837, he established the business in Boston with which his name has been associated for more than half a century, and in which he is still actively engaged. During most of this time he has been the occupant of two stalls at the very centre of Quincy, better known as Faneuil Hall market, and he is now the senior tenant of tiie building. Two additional stalls have recently been added, to accommodate an increasing business.

In 1851, when the Faneuil Hall Bank was chartered by the Legislature, Mr. Fletcher was one of the three parties named in the act of incorporation. After being a director of the bank for nearly forty years, he became its president upon the death, in 1888, of Mr. Nathan Bobbins, who was also one of the original corporators. He is also vice-president of the newlyestablished Hammond Packing Company.

In the town of Belmont Mr. Fletcher held the office of selectman in 1859,'60 and '61, and was again elected in 1867. Since that time he has held no town office, except the position of trustee of the Public Library, which he has filled continuously since 1873, the year in which the board was created. He was one of the building committee of the town-hall, and two marble clocks in the main audience-room, and in the reading-room, are the souvenirs of his connection with the building. In 1885 and 1886 he was representative from the district comprising the towns of Belmont and Watertown, and in November, 1886, was chosen Senator from the Second Middlesex District. During his service in the Senate, in 1887 and 1888, he was chairman of the Committee on Banks and Banking, and discharged other important committee work. His son, J. Henry Fletcher, is the present representative (1890) of the Sixteenth Middlesex District.

Upon a charter being obtained, largely through his instrumentality, for the Belmont Savings Bank, Mr. Fletcher resigned his trusteeship in the Charlestowu

Mr. Fletcher married, in 1836, Marcy Ann Hill, of West Cambridge. Their golden wedding was pleasantly observed by a large gathering of personal friends and business associates of Mr. Fletcher.

They resided in Charlestown for about twenty years, during which time Mr. Fletcher was for two years a member of the Common Council, and four years alderman of that city. The residence in Belmont was built shortly before the incorporation of the town, upon the estate which had been for many years occupied by Mrs. Fletcher's father. Mrs. Fletcher died October 31, 1888. " Her children rise up and call her blessed." A beautiful window in the new Unitarian Church at Belmont is her husband's tribute to her memory.

Mr. Fletcher's duties as the head of the Faneuil Hall Bank tend to draw him away from the active life of the market, in which he has so long been a central figure, and are a preparation for the rest from physical exertion which he has earned by so many years of well-directed, successful toil.

In his home at Belmont, and elsewhere, as occasion oflers, he enjoys exercising the privileges of hospitality. His first dinner to his associates in the Faneuil Hall and Belmont Banks, after becoming president of the two institutions, was marked by a feature worthy of the highest commendation and repetition, the presence at the tables of the clerks and other employees as well as the directors and trustees. It is a pleasure to see wealth bestowed upon those who can use it aright. In business enterprise, in hospitality and iu charity, Mr. Fletcher has shown himself worthy, and when he chooses to resign the helm of his vessel, he has the satisfaction of knowing that the sons and daughters whom he has trained will be his fit successors as trustees of the goods which the Lord has bestowed.

William L. Lockhart

William L. Lockhart, whose portrait accompanies this sketch, is easily at the head of the manufacturing undertakers of this section of the county. His life is a striking illustration of what can be accomplished by a strong, resolute will, joined to business tact and devoted to tlie development of a special line of trade. As his name indicates, Mr. Lockhart is of Scotch ancestry, belonging to a family which came to Nova Scotia in the early years of its occupation by English-speaking people. He was born July 20, 1827. In boyhood he assisted his father, who followed the occupation of a ship-carpenter, and acquired a love for the sea, which he has never lost. At the age of eighteen he shipped as cook for a voyage along the coast. Evidently the duties were not as agreeable as he had anticipated, for he left the vessel at Eastport, walked to Machias, and thence continued his journey to Boston, where he endeavored to find a place to learn a trade. Not being successful, he returned home, but in a few months came to Boston again and engaged as an apprentice at fifty dollars a year and his board. Having learned the carpenter's trade, he pursued it for a while, but, with a foresight that indicated his business sagacity, decided to devote himself to a specialty, and with this in view entered the employ of John Peak, a leading coffin-maker, and spent four years in learning every detail of the business. At the age of twentyseven, with a capital of 1300, which represented the industry and patient economy of years, he began for himself at Cambridge, not ftir from the Court-house. In 1860 nearly all that he had made was swept away by fire, but, undaunted, he at once proceeded to reestablish himself, and to erect a building near the railroad station at East Cambridge, which, with its additions and extensions, he has occupied to the present time, although his offices and sales-rooms are in a fine building constructed from his own plans, at the corner of Staniford and Causeway Streets, in Boston. His establishment is, in all its appointments, the most complete in New England, if not in America, and all those to whom the need common to humanity comes, " to bury their dead out of their sight," have reason to appreciate the provisions made to remove all responsibility from the mourner and place in professional hands the cares incident to such occasions. Every detail of the business is conducted under his direct and personal supervision. During the earlier years of his business life Mr. Lockhart's residence was in Cambridge. He has lived in Belmont about twelve years, having purchased, in 1878, the estate of the late Winthrop W. Chenery on Common Street. A view of the mansion has appeared in these pages. Its exterior is unchanged from the days of its earlier owner. The apartments within conform to the critical tastes of the present occupant, who is assisted by his estimable wife in dispensing hospitality to the friends who meet beneath his rooftree. Mr. Lockhart's delight in the beauties of nature is shown by the enjoyment he finds in the surroundings of his residence, in the care with which he has maintained and developed his forest, garden and field. His early bent for the sea is gratified by his ownership of the well-known yacht "Alice," and the months he spends from season to season upon the coast of the Southern States. He has never been an aspirant for public office, though taking a deep interest in matters relating to the public welfare, feeling that one's best service to the world can be rendered in faithful attention to the work which has been set for his hands to accomplish.