Somerville City (part 1 of 4)

Somerville City

lOMERVILLE has a distinct municipal history of only thirty-seven years, but its territory has a record, connected with that of Charlestown, extending back two centuries and a half. The city of Somerville is situated t"\\o miles northwest from Boston. It is four miles long, varies in width from t«o miles to five hundred feet, and has an area of twenty-seven hundred acres. It is bounded as follows : On tlie north by Medford and the Mystic River, on the east by Boston, on the south by Cambridge, and on the west by Cambridge and Arlington. It was set apart from Charlestown in 184'2, and became a city in 1873.

The surface is uneven, and rises into no less than eight considerable elevations, of which Prospect, Winter, Spring, and Central hills, and Mount Benedict are the principal. The soil is various, and in many places excellent for cultivation. Good sand for building purposes is abundant, and a vein of clay, suitable for brickmaking, underlies much of the surface. The only stratified rock to be found in Somerville is slate. The intrusive rocks, cropping out in numerous ledges, in which occur an unusual variety of minerals, are entirely diabase. The formation is particularly rich in dikes.

Ample facilities are afforded for transit to and from the metropolis, five lines of steam and three of horse railways traversing the city, so that scarcely an estate is situated more than fifteen minutes distant from the business part of Boston. Seventeen churches and eighteen large and modern schoolhouses stand within its limits. A public library is in successful operation, and two newspapers are published weekly. The city is abundantly sujjplied with water from Mystic Lake.

At the founding of Charlestown in 1628, and for the first ten years, the area of the peninsula generally sufficed for the wants of the settlers; but when, in 1637, land became so scarce within the neck tiiat new-comers were rarely granted more than a citizensliip, purchases were made of the Indians, and settlements began to extend upon the mainland. Tiie territory north and east of the Charles River was then owned by the Pawtucket Indians ; and by payment of thirty-six shillings in 16-37, and twenty-one coats, nineteen fathoms of wampum, and three bushels of corn, two years later to Squa Sachem and Webcowit, rulers of the tribe, the latter were well satisfied to relinquish to the town of Charlestown all the territory that is now Somerville. A few settlers had established themselves on the mainland from the earliest period.

Extending along the right bank of tiie Mystic Eiver, from Charlestown to tlie town of Medford, and formerly owned by one person, it has now been improved by the location of a Public Park and numerous avenues and streets, upon which have been erected many beautiful residences conducive to the weahli and beauty of that portion of the city.

In 1631 Governor Winthrop was granted six hundred acres on the Mystic Eiver, to which, from the ten elevations upon it, he gave the name of Tlie Ten Hills Farm. Here he had built a house, at some time previous, which was supposed by Savage to liave been the governor's country residence. The mansion-house, recently demolished, is presumed to have marked the site of tliis earlier building.

At this farm Wiuthrop built the Blessing of the Bay, a bark of thirty tons, the first vessel constructed in ]\Iassachusetts Bay. It was probably launched July 4, 1631, at the wharf the remains of which were visible until recently just southeast of the Middlesex Avenue Bridge.

In 1677 the farm passed out of the possession of the Wiuthrop family, and was in the hands of various owners, until it was bought, in 17'40, by Eobert Temple, who resided here at the outbreak of the Ecvolutiou. It was then less than half of its original area. lu 1801, and for thirteen years, it was owned by Elias Hasket Derby, who stocked it with improved breeds of sheep. In 1831 it was bought by a party of wealthy gentlemen in the neighborhood of Boston, and styled "Tlie Ten Hills Stock Farm." By them it was leased to Colonel Samuel Jaques, under whose care the farm became one of the objects of interest in the vicinity.

Colonel Jaques was born September \2, 1776. He was a man of strong and original mind, and active in tlie affairs of the day. He was chief marshal at the laying of the corner-stone of Bunker Hill Monument, June 17, 18;J5, and acceptably filled the responsible position of Inspector General of Hoi^s for the State of Massachusetts. In his manners and surroundings Colonel Jaques resembled tiic English country gentleman. He was an enthusiastic huntsman, and frcciuoutly the suburban residents of Boston were awakened from their slumbers by tiie sound of his bugle and the cry of his fox-hounds. Webster, Clay, and otlicr noted men were in correspondence witii him, and were occasional visitorsat tiic farm. His diary, fully recording tlie local events of tiic day, was continiu'd for a period of forty or fifty years, to tlie tiuu' of his death, March 27, IS.'iO."

Mr. John Woolu'ich, " Indian trader," lived a mile and a half without the neck, on the Cambridge Eoad, near Strawberry Hill, as early as 1630. He was a representative to tlie General Court in 1634'. John Libby and William Ayre were also early settlers in the same neighborhood.

The early inhabitants of Somerville were mostly farmers, and many of them large producers of milk. A few were engaged in alewife fishery at the proper seasons. Brickmaking M-as a branch of industry Oldened after the Eevolution, and has been since continued. At the time of the Eevolution the population of the Somerville territory could not have been more than two hundred and fifty. The houses numbered a few more than thirty, and were principally on the Cambridge, Winter Hill, and Milk Eow roads.

The land between these highways was divided into large farms, and held in comparatively few hands. Winter, Prospect, Spring, Central, and Walnut hills were pasture-lands, with an occasional growth upon them, mostly of red cedars. The now populous East Somerville was a farming tract. North of the Winter Hill road the fields stretched out to the marshes adjacent to the Mystic Eiver, in an expanse unbroken except by the farm at Ten Hills. Mount Benedict was under cultivation, and was termed " Ploughed Hill." It was said to have been so named because it had been customary to plough it in a circle around the hill, turning the furrows always down the slope. AVillis' Creek (the Miller's Eiver of later times) took its rise at the base of Spring Hill, and flowed with pure and pellucid stream through the meadows to the Charles Eiver.

The tide encroached upon the district now known as " Brick Bottom," and passed up to a clump of willows, whose stumps yet remain half-way between Somerville Avenue and Washington Street. East of Prospect Street, within our limits, was largely marsh. On its west side was high land covered witli wood. South of the Fitchburg Eailroad, in the vicinity of ]\Iedford Street, was an extensive grove of stately oaks.

The main highways - to Cambridge, and over Winter Hill to Medford and to Arlington - are known to have been laid out as early as 1G37, and the first is spoken of as a "path" four years earlier. The road from Union S(|uare to Medford was also laid out at an early period. It began by following the course of Bow Street, from Union Sfiuare, and bore the luuiie of Milk Eow from the fact that nearly all the residents of the road were milkmen. A lane ran from the head of Prospect Street over Bullard's bridge, which spanned the creek, and going tiirough a birch-pasture came out at Inman's Farm. From Bullard's bridge there was an open way to the gate of the path which led to the Lechmere Farm. In 1637 the land between these principal highways - called the common - was divided into rights of pasturage, or the " common was stinted," as it was termed. In 1685 this tract was lotted out and confirmed to proprietors, and eight range-ways were laid out, connecting the Cambridge and Milk Kow roads with the Winter Hill and Arlington roads. These correspond to Franklin, Shawmut and Cross, Walnut, School, Central, Lowell, and Cedar streets, and Willow Avenue. All are believed to have been two rods wide originally, but the one corresponding to Shawmut and Cross streets was in later years one rod and was called Three Pole Lane. Middle, Cross, or still later Barberry, Lane ran from Cross Street, nearly opposite the head of Tufts, in a line with the upper part of Clicster, into what is now Highland Avenue. At School Street it turned northerly ten rods, and then continued westerly, and terminated in Central Street.

The houses standing in Somervijle at the time of the Eevolution can be approximately placed as follows : Beginning on Broadway at the Charlestown line was the Locke place, with its low house still standing on the north side of, and a little back from, the road. Opposite was a building on the site of the residence of the late Mr. Fitch Cutter. It now stands on the corner of Sycamore and Foster streets. There was another house on the southwest corner of Cross Street. The next in order was on the northeast corner of Temple Street, formerly the entrance to Ten Hills Farm. On the summit of the hill just northwest of the residence of Mr. Jonathan Brown stood Joseph Tufts' house, which has been removed to Lowell Street. Daniel Tufts lived iu a house which is a part of the stately mansion on the north side of Broadway, opposite the powder-magazine.

There was a dwelling upon the powder-house farm. The generous old mansion of Mr. Oliver Tufts was bought, and occupied during the war by John Tufts, father of the present owner.

David Wood's country-house was in Three Pole Lane, near the northeast corner of Pearl Street. Hither he brought his family after the battle of Bunker HiU. On the Cambridge road from the

Cliarlestown line nothing except a brook broke the monotony of the open fields, till the house of Joseph Miller was reached, on the easterly corner of Franklin Street. It is still standing, and in good preservation. It is believed there was a dwelling opposite the asylum gate. An old cellar, whose superstructure was unknown to any now living, existed as early as the year 1800, opposite the southerly end of Shawmut Street. The next was a small dwelling on the estate at the westerly corner of Boston Street. Mrs. Debby Shed lived above and opposite, in a house which, with a subsequent addition, is still standing, some fifty yards east of Mystic Street. As the road turns toward the west, opposite the " Yellow Block " stood the small gambrel-roofed house of Samuel Shed, which is now the second story of Mr. William Walker's residence. On the southeasterly corner of Prosjoect Street was a house, and in the vicinity of Bonner Place lived Mr. Samuel Shed, Jr. Pythian Block occupies the site of Benjamin Piper's tavern. No other dwelling existed on the Cambridge road, except a house at the entrance of Webster Avenue and another on the site of the small dwelling just west of the abutment.

Milk Row was somewhat more thickly settled. After leaving the Union Square of to-day we should first have come to Samuel Choate's, on the west side of Bow Street, a few yards south of Walimt ; the house, thougli removed from its former site, is still standing. In the scarred and bleached old building just under the eastern wall of the Methodist Church lived Mary Frost, a widow. Jonathan Ireland lived on the northwest corner of School Street, in a house which has been moved to the rear of the Franklin Scliool building. Samuel Tufts occupied the old homestead still standing on the west side of the road near Laurel Street. The widow Rand lived on the northwest corner of Central Street, in a dwelling which has long since passed away. Samuel Kent resided in the low hip-roofed house yet in good repair at the corner of Garden Court. There was another dwelling on the opposite side, near the present greenhouse. The twin-brothers Huimewell dwelt beyond, at the turn of the road, on the east side between Craigie and Lowell streets, in a very old house, demohshed some fifteen years ago. After this there was no dwelling till we arrived at Timothy Tufts', near Willow Avenue. A hundred years have passed away, and this house is still standing unchanged, and still occupied by a Mr. Timothy Tufts.

Although no battle was fought within the limits of Somerville, almost every considerable spot of her territory is associated with tlie ojjening scenes of tiie Eevolution. Ten Hills Farm, the old Powder-House, Miller's Eiver district. Milk Eow, the road to Charlestown, Prospect, Central, and Winter hills. Mount Benedict, and the eminence on which the Asylum stands, successively call up a vivid series of events, from one of the first acts indicative of the hostile policy of Great Britain, to the time of the evacuation of Boston, - a series almost identical with the history of the war in this part of the country. The first of these events, tiie incursion to Quarry Hill, will be described under another head.

In their march to, and retreat from Concord, April 19, 1775, the British passed through the territory of Somerville. Landing on the marshes, they struck the path leading from the house on Phips' farm to Ballard's bridge, the only house then upon the point, and located on the site of houses now on the northern side of Spring Street, between Third and Fourth streets. East Cambridge, and at about two o'clock waded Willis' Creek, emerged from the marshes at Bullard's bridge, and entered the Cambridge and Milk Row roads. Tradition informs us that several residents of Milk Row were awakened by their onward passage. They were heard to call Piper's Tavern by name as they passed. It is also said that Samuel Tufts was running bullets Avith his negro in a small hut back of the house, and did not hear them ; but the Widow Rand, who did, and was alarmed by seeing them march by, ran in her night-clothes to his house, when, instantly saddling his horse, he galloped across his farm to Cambridge to spread the news.

The Hunnewell brothers were deaf, and could not hear tliem, but Mrs. Tufts was aroused, and -saw from the bed the gun-barrels 'glistening in the light ol' the risen moon. She awakened her husband, and they beheld the soldiers halt, hasten up tlie yard, and, after drinking from the well under the window, resume their marcli.

It was about six o'clock in the afternoon wlien the retreating expedition re-entered Somerville, almost upon the run. Here a body of Americans opened a murderous fire upon them from a grove of trees. A halt was made at Timothy Tufts', and a cannon planted on the liigh ground l)c;lund tlie house. Leaving a few dead, who now lie buried Iti Mr. Tufts' lot, they soon resumed their march, with a rear-guard, it is stated, to protect their retreat, and a detachment in advance, which pillaged the houses as far as the rapidity of their march would allow. The iidiabitants had left their dwellings at the sound of the distant firing, and taken refuge upon the hills. " It had been a wonder of a winter, so moderate and unfreezing," and the day was unusually warm, so that the thickly clothed British soldiers wellnigh sank with exhaustion. Some threw themselves into the old pond at the foot of Laurel Street, and drank like dogs. Several dead and wounded were left in the house mentioned as being near the corner of Prospect Street. Lord Percy received his hottest fire along the base of Prospect Hill, and the field-pieces were again unlimbered. A British soldier, while ransacking a chest of drawers in the senior Samuel Shed's house, was shot in the act, and fell over the open drawer.^ The jaded troops had now nearly reached the end of their disastrous expedition ; but there was yet to oppose them, and deliberately lay his life upon his coun'try's altar, Somerville's only martyr in the Eevolution. Some ten rods in front of the residence of Mrs. Gilson, on Prospect Hill, ou the grassy slope that looks toward the south, is a spot hallowed by inspiring and undying memories. James Miller, who had known the century from its first decade, took his gun and went fortli to do his might against his country's oppressors. With a companion he stationed himself behind a stone wall; and they used the old Queen's Arm with such efi'ect upon the passing soldiery that a platoon was detached to drive them back. As they advanced up the hillside, his comrade said, " Come, Miller, we've got to go." But Miller, with a fortitude worthy of the best days of Sparta, replied, " I am too old to run," and kept his face toward the enemy until, almost at the setting of the sun, he fell, pierced by thirteen balls, - a fitting and glorious seal to set upon a ripened life and an immortal day !

During the siege of Boston, Somerville bore as prominent a part as any of her neighbors. Nearly all her hills were fortified, and alive with men. Greene and other generals had their headquarters at Samuel Tufts' house. General Lee, for a time, lived at Oliver Tufts'. Nothing more than guards were posted within the Somerville limits before June 17, and those were on Prospect and Winter hills. On the evening of the battle of Bunker

1 This interesting relic, with the maiks of the bloo<l nnd buUels still upon it, is iii'cserveJ at the house of Mrs. Tufts, in MeJford Stiwt.

Hill, having passed over the Cambridge Road between nine and ten o'clock on the previous night, the Americans retreated to these heights, and soon afterwards began the erection of a line of defences in and about them, which finally made the former almost impregnable, and the latter even more strongly protected. The forces occupying the hills of Somerville constituted the left wing of the army besieging Boston. The first of the line of fortifications were earthworks in the vicinity of Everett Street. Patterson was at that time at the fort indicated as No. 3. There were other defences on the opposite side of the Cambridge Road connected with the citadel on Prospect Hill. This hill, " ilount Pisgah," as it was sometimes styled, embraced two eminences, the eastern being what is now called Prospect Hill, the western being the present Central Hill. Both were fortified, - the former with a strong citadel, and the latter with a redoubt near the present High-School building. The two heights were connected by a rampart and fosse. Greene's command of three or four thousand Rhode Island troops was stationed at these defences. Here Putnam, July 18, 177.5, raised the flag bearing on one side " An Appeal to Heaven," and on the other, three vines and the motto, " Qui transtulit sustinet," now upon the Connecticut state seal. The new union flag of the colonies, with its thirteen stripes, was first flung to the breeze from this height, January 1, 1776. There were works in the valley between Central and Winter hills, but all traces of them have long since disappeared. The principal defence on the latter eminence was in the form of an irregular pentagon, situated just at the junction of the Medford and Arlington roads. It was provided with bastions and a deep fosse, and was further protected with earthworks a hundred yards to the front.

A breastwork, nearly on the line of Central Street, joined the main work at the northwest angle. The intrenchments on Winter Hill, begun by Stark on the 18th of June were more extensive than those of any other position of the American army. Sullivan was stationed here with his New Hampshire troops. A smaller work was placed beyond the main fort, a short distance down the northerly slope of the hill ; and another, on a rocky eminence northwest of the bend of Temple Street, in a position to command the Mystic River as it narrows and bends toward the west of Ploughed Hill, was occupied on the night of August 26. The fort on Cobble Hill, where the McLean Asylum stands, was so perfectly built as to be known as " Putnam's impregnable fortress." It was armed with eighteen and twenty-four pounders, and commanded the ferry between Charlestown and Boston. It was not occupied till November 22. History records very little damage done to the fortifications by the enemy's cannon. One thirteen-inch shell burst within the citadel on Prospect Hill, but without damage to life or property. The works on Ploughed Hill received the hottest fire, three hundred bombs having been thrown into them previous to Christmas.

Upon the historical remains of the siege of Boston and of earlier scenes time and the necessities of man have worked their usual irreverent changes ; a few dwellings, the old Powder-House, and isolated pieces of intrenchment between Walnut and Pleasant streets and Vinal and Highland avenues, being nearly all that now remain, and Prospect Hill has given to Miller's River, for sanitary requirements, a part of her historic crest.

After the evacuation of Boston, March 17, 1776, and the removal of the seat of war to New York, the residents of the territory of Somerville, exempted from draft as an indemnification for the losses they had sustained, enjoyed a season of quiet undisturbed by the distracting scenes of war. From November 7, 1777, for nearly a year, the greater part of Burgoyne's army were quartered as prisoners of war on Winter, Prospect, and Cobble hills. Germans to the number of nineteen hundred occupied the first-named height, and twentythree hundred British were held on Prospect Hill.

From the Revolutionary era till the time of its incorporation as a town, the present city of Somerville was merely a farming suburb of Charlestown. For the first twenty-five years no changes occurred, except a slight growth in population. The next quarter of a century was marked by greater advances.

The Middlesex Canal, chartered in 1793, and made navigable from the Charles River to the Merrimack in 1803, pursued its sinuous course through Somerville. First making its appearance and crossing the extreme northern limits of the town, it reappeared where the Mystic River, after flowing south, bends towards the east. Following the course of the river and the ]\Iedford turnpike for a short distance, it crossed the Ten Hills Farm, and skirting the base of Mount Benedict to avoid the marshes, it passed under the turnpike and entered Charlestown Neck, cuttincc nearly in halves the little strip of land belonging to Somerville east of the Bos- ' ton and Elaine and Eastern railroads. The tallj-ho | of the morning boat aroused k\\' passengers from | Somerville, neither did the boats bring to or carry [ away from the town much merchandise, nor was j the population perceptibly increased by this new ; pathway of travel. With the opeuuig of steam railroads the prosiKrity of the canal gradually declined until its discontinuance in 1843. At present few traces of it remain within the city limits, a short section of grass-grown bed just east of its , intersection with Mystic Avenue and near the old toll-house being nearly all that now exists. !

In 1804 the Medford Turnpike, now known as Mystic Avenue, was opened. Medl'ord Street was constructed about the year 181i, after the comple- j tion of Craigie's Bridge. \

In 18£0 there were three school-houses within the ' limits of Somerville, - the ililk Row school-house, ! built in the last century in the southern corner of the i lot consecrated as a cemetery in the early years of J the century, the Medford Street school-house, at the I junction of iledford, Shawmut, and Ci;oss streets, j and one in the AValnut Hill district.

For many years in the early part of the century Captain Joseph Miller, who carried on a blacksmith's shop at the eastern corner of Washington Street and Asylum Avenue, was the only assessor in this part of Charlestown. He would take the property returns and statements of sales from the farmers, as they came to him with work, - for he numbered nearly the whole district as his patrons, - and then would take a day to drive in his chaise to the upper limits of the town to finish the work of assessment.

During the seventeen years preceding 1S4:Z beginnings were made whicli were the sources of much of the growth of the future city. The commencement of this era was marked by the opening of !\lilk Street, now Somerville Avenue, from the west end of Bow Street, - first to Medford Street, and a few years later to East Cand)ridL;'c, - for the better accommodation of travrl (jvci- Craigie's Bridge through Somerville.

In 18:i0 the Boston and Lowell Bailroad Company procured a charter, and .shortly afterwards began surveying the land and laying the track for their road. Tliis innovation upon the established methods of travel encountered much ojiposition from the inhabitants of Somerville. Jlany were incredulous of its utility, and others thought it would destroy the brick-carrying trade. The workmen breaking ground were first opposed with arms, but the road was finally successfully laid, and cars began to run June 25, 1835. The Charlestown Branch Eailroad Company a few years later constructed a road to Waltham, which was subsec[uently bought by the Fitchburg Railroad Company.

The citizens now began to awaken to a sense of the importance of this appendage of Charlestown. They felt that their territory was neglected by the town government, and their wishes disregarded; that they were taxed for supporting institutions, and making improvements in the benefits of which they did not participate, and that they did not receive returns at all commensurate with the amount of money they contributed. In 1S3S an attempt was j made to obtain separation from the mother town. \ A petition was sent to the legislature praying for ; an act of incorporation for a new town, to be called ! Warren, and counsel was retained. The petitioners I were given leave to withdraw, however, and although J the subject was kept fresh in the minds of the peo- I pie, no further attempt was made to secure a sepaj rate existence for thirteen years. The grievances [ previously complained of had not been abated at I the end of this period, and the town was under indictment by the grand jury for the dangerous I condition of Broadway, ]\Icdford Street, and l\Iilk Row; when, one day in November, 1841, Colonel j Asa Pritchard, who lived on Washington Street, between Medford and Boston streets, stepped into the freight-office of the Lowell Railroad, where Messrs. Charles E. Gilman and Hiram Hackett were employed, and declared he would pay no more taxes into the Charlestown treasury. His house was in the fields, and unsalable merely because it was in Charlestown outside of the neck. It was proposed, in pleasantry, to make a new town, where affairs coidd be managed more in accordance with the wishes of the residents. The proposition was received in {-nrncstncss. Notices were immediately ]u-epare(l, :nid pnsted in conspicuous i places in tl\e district, calhng a meeting, Novem- ; ber 22, at the Prospect Hill School-house, to ascertain the minds of the residents in regard to the establishment of a new town with the division line at the neck. Captain Joseph Miller was elected chairman, and Edwin ^funroe, Jr., secretary of the meeting; and a committee, consisting of Messrs. Francis Bowman, Asa Pritchard, Edward Cutter, Robert G. Temiey, IJenjamin Iladley, and John S. Edgerly, was appointed to notify the citizens more generally, and to obtain their views more definitely concerning the matter at issue. Subsequently Caleb W. Leland and Joseph Clark were added to the committee. The meeting was adjourned for one week, when a committee was appointed : namely, Francis Bowman, John S. Edgerly, Clark Bennett, and James Hill, Jr., with the later addition of Oliver Tufts and S. S. Euney, " to examine the affairs of the town, and to ascertain the amount of taxes paid by the inhabitants above the Canal Bridge, and also the amount expended in that portion of the town." December .3, the committee reported that the expenses of the town of Charlestown for the year 18-iO were $rjO,000; that of the $.3-l.,09;3.76 "raised by taxation, $.5,687.78 were gatliered in the disaffected region ; that a large sum was expended for the poor, nearly all of whom dwell within the peninsula ; and the affairs of a separate town might be at least as well maintained for the sum of §5, .500. This report was accepted, and a committee, consisting of Charles E. Oilman, Hiram Allen, Edwin"Munroe, Jr., Caleb "VV. Leland, John C. Magoun, Oliver Tufts, Henry Gardner, Charles Miller, Samuel Thompson, and Robert G. Tenney, was chosen to distribute copies of the report, obtain signatures, and use all honorable means to effect a division of the town through the legislature, then in session, employing counsel if necessary. This committee organized by choice of C. E. Gilman, chairman, and Edwin Munroe, Jr., secretary. At an adjourned meeting of the committee it was reported that Ephraim Buttrick had been retained as counsel. It was voted to call the new town Walford, in honor of the first white settler of Charlestown. But at an adjourned meeting, December 13, it was voted, on motion of Charles Miller, to change the name to Somerville, - a name selected solely on account of its rarity in the United States. A petition was signed by Guy C. Hawkins and others, praying for a separation from the town of Charlestown at the neck, and for the incorporation of a new municipality. The petition was opposed by the citizens of the main part of the town, by the inhabitants just outside the neck, by those in the extreme upper part of the dissatisiied district, and in general by the Democrats, who saw, in the success of the movement, the birth of a new Whig town.

A committee was appointed by Charlestown to give assistance to the petitioners, but they proved themselves traitors to the cause which they had been elected to further, and gave no assistance. When the matter came before the legislature, toward the close of the session, it was found that the act could not be secured with the boundaries as they were designated in tlie jjetition. The Ecv. James D. Green, member from Cambridge, a moment before the vote was to be put, declared nothing could be effected at the present session uidess the line was drawn outside the neck, as it now exists, and a narrow strip in the northerly part of the town extending nearly to Mystic Pond was ceded to Cambridge. Only two of the committee of the petitioners were present; but Mr. Hawkins declared he would assume the responsibility of the concessions, and the act thus modified passed the legislature and was approved by the governor, March 3, 18-i3. March 5, Ephraim Buttrick issued a warrant to Charles E. Gilman, commanding him to notify and warn all qualified voters in the new town to meet in the Prospect Hill School-house, March li, to elect such officers as the law provided. A preliminary meeting, of which Columbus Tyler was moderator and Nathan Tufts, Jr., secretary, was held four days previously, and a board of tqwii officers nominated. At the meeting on the 14th, Francis Bowman was chosen moderator, and the following officers, nominated at the preliminary meeting, were dnly elected : Selectmen, Nathan Tufts, John S. Edgerly, Caleb W. Leland, Luther Mitchell, and Levi Russell. The lastnamed gentleman having declined to serve, Francis Bowman was elected in his stead. Nathan Tufts was chosen chairman, Charles E. Gilman was elected town-clerk, and Edmund Tufts treasurer and collector.

This was for Somerville a day of small things. She began her career as a sparsely populated farming district, with less than two hundred dwellings scattered over her whole territory. She numbered but a thousand and thirteen inhabitants, with a school population of two hundred and ninety-three, distributed in six schools, - the Prospect Hill grammar and primary, the Milk Row primary, on the site of the cemetery, the upper Winter Hill primary, in Central Street, the lower Winter Hill primary, in Broadway, near Franklin Street, and the Russell District School, kept in a private house in the Walnut Hill neighborhood. A single dilapidated globe and two blackboards, three feet square, comprised the entire apparatus of her schools.

Laud seldom changed hands, and had never been of sufficient value to be calculated by the foot. The highways were merely country roads, with grassy borders and in poor repair. Many of the old range-ways, previously described, had been enclosed by private parties. Highland Avenue was still a cart-path, lined with barberry-bushes and surrounded by open lands. It was impassable at night. Franklin Street could only be traversed on foot. East Somerville was in the fields. Spring Hill, whicli took its name in 1841 from the fine spring upon its summit, was just receiving its first streets. There were not a half-dozen houses in West Somerville between the junction of Elm and Milk streets and the Powder-House ; and the location which is now dignified by the name of Union Square was at that time merely a " country cross-road." There was no cluster of dwellings anywhere of sufficient importance to be designated a village. The total valuation of the town was $988,513, and she could boast of no rich men, scarcely any one paying a tax of a hundred dollars.

The town had no public hall other than the little school-house on Medford Street. Tliere was no cliurch, place of worship, or organized society, no stores, no minister, lawyer, or physician within her limits. Protection from fires was aff'orded by one small tub-engine.

Under these unpromising auspices Somerville began her municipal existence. The first meeting, after tlie organization, was held April 4, 184-2, and the following appropriations were made : Support of schools, $1,800; highways, $2,000; county tax, $450; poor, $200; contingencies, $300; total appropriation, $4,750.

The religious needs of Somerville received their earliest attention from Miss Elizabeth Page Whittrcdge, daughter of Livermore Wliittredge, of Beverly, a teacher in the public schools, who, though in frail health, sought, out of tlic fulness of her religious nature, to supply the want of Christian teaching in the comnuuiity. June 1, 1842, she gathered the Union Sabbath School in tlie little public building on Medford Street. Sixty pu])ils and twelve teachers assembled tlio first Sabbatli. George Tapley was chosen superintendcnl, Mi.ss Whittredgc assistant, Miss !-;. A. Bninicr secretary, and Jeremiah Tiiorpf iihiaiinn. Miss Whittredge continued lier work in f;ist failing health till April 4, ISM, wlun Aw nlin(iuished it to Mr. Farrington Ardntin-. Mic ntiinied to Beverly, and passed away, " with a beautifully resigned spirit, August 28, 1845." She was born February 4, 1812. Tiiis was the first religious institution in Somerville, and it formed the nucleus of the first church.

About this time the Eev. Richard Planning Hodges, an unsettled minister in Cambridge, feeling convinced that it was his duty to supply the want of Christian ministrations then existing, with the concurrence of the Eev. George E. Ellis, of Charlestown, within whose parocliial charge much of the new municipality lay, supplied the first Christian preaching in town.

The first meeting for public worship was held in an upper room of the engine-house, on the third Sunday of March, 1844. Some thirty families W'Cre represented. Services were contmued by Mr. Hodges and the students of the Harvard Divinity School till within a short period of the building of a church edifice. August 22, 1844, the First Congregational Society was legally organized, and the church erected on the site of the present house on Highland Avenue. It was dedicated September 3, 1845.

Rev. John T. Sargent was installed pastor February 8, 1846, and, resignnig March 4, 1848, was succeeded by the Rev. A. R. Pope, who continued in office until his death, May 24, 1858. ilr. Pope, an earnest and public-spirited man, identified himself with the educational interests of the town, particularly in the establishment of the high school, to which he gave a part of its philosophical apparatus. The Rev. Charles Lowe was installed May 8, 1859, and resigned, in consequence of feeble health, June 18, 1865. He was afterwards the honored secretary of the American Unitarian Association. His death occurred in June, 1874. Mr. Lowe, an able, universally beloved man, was a member of the school board, and at the time of his death a trustee of the public library.

The Rev. Henry H. Barbei-, the present pastor, was installed December 2, 1866. jMr. Barber is one of the editors of T/ie I'n'ilanan. Review, has been one of the school committee, and is a trustee of the public library. This society has suffered the loss of two church-buildings by fire, - one, July 22, 1852, and the second, dedicated April 28, l's54, burned October 8, 1867.

No other church existed in town for nearly ten years. A few residents of the East Village, however, uniting with their neighbors of Charlestown at the house of the Rev. William Stow, in l\[t. Pleasant Street, May 4, 1845, organized a Bajjtist society, which held its meetings in an edifice at the neck. In 1S53 the building was moved to Somerville, enlarged, and called the Perkins Street Baptist Church. It was destroyed by fire January 8, 1866. June 26, 1867, the present costly and commodious house of worship was dedicated. The Rev. Mr. Stow was chairman of the school board for the years 1848 and 1849. The Rev. J. Judson Miller, the present pastor, was installed September 17, 1861, and under his ministry the churcli has greatly flourished, - the membership having increased from seventy-five to nearly six hundred.

During this decade Somerville made no rapid strides, but advanced with a steady and encouraging growth. In 1843 the population had increased to 1,44.5, and real estate had nearly doubled in value. The high rate of toll on the bridges hindered travel and settlement, but facilities for reaching Boston were constantly improving. The Fitchburg Railroad Company, having bought the road of the Charlestown Brancli Railroad Company, began running trains December 20, 1843, and the Boston and Maine extension, chartered in 1844, began a few years later to promote the colonization of East Somerville. During the year 1846 two new school-buildings were erected, in which were contained the Franklin grammar and Prescott grammar and primary. In 1848 the Somerville schools took the first rank in the county, and the third in the state, in amount of money expended upon them in proportion to the wealth and population of the town. The annual expenditures had increased to §18,397.60 for the year 1848.

Tiie inhabitants of the town had long felt that they were inadequately supplied with proper means of protecting themselves against conflagration. From about the year 1838 they had relied upon the little tub-engine " Mystic," but there was no regularly organized fire-company till 1850. November 12, 1849, the selectmen were authorized by the town to purchase " a good and sufficient fireengine and a hose-carriage." On the arrival of the engine, styled Somerville No. 1, it was voted in the board of selectmen, January 7, 18.50, to appoint five engineers, and Messrs. Gardner T. Ring, Nathan Tufts, Jr., George 0. Brastow, John 13. Osgood, and Abram Welch were thereupon ajipointed. January 8, Mr. Welch declining to serve, Hiram Allen was appointed to fill the vacancy. The enguieers met, and organized by the choice of Nathan

Tufts, Jr., as chief and George 0. Brastow as clerk. The first fire after the organization of the department was the barn of Jotham Johnson, on the Ireland range- way. The following is the list of engineers and the periods of their service : Natlian Tufts, Jr., from 1850 to 1852 ; Abram Welch, from 1852 to 1855; R. A. Vinal, from 1855 to 1858; John Runey, from 1858 to 1861; S. H. Gooding, from 1861 to 1865 ; D. A. Sanborn, Jr., from 1865 to 1872 ; J. R. Hopkins, from 1872 to the present time. More than fifty members enrolled themselves in the new company, but becoming dissatisfied, they disbanded March 2, 1853, and surrendered the engine and other property belonging to the town to the engineers. December 5, 1854, a meeting was held to form another company, which was duly organized, and two hundred members coiniected themselves with the department between December 6, 1854, and March 30, 1866, when the volunteer system was abolished. On the 26th of May of the latter year a costly and efficient steam fire-engine was purcliased and the department reorganized. A working force of engineers, drivers, and firemen were permanently employed. In 1871 a fine building was erected on Highland Avenue, nearly in the geographical centre of the town, for the steam-engine, and the old house was fitted up for a hose-carriage and a hook-and-ladder truck. In 1873 two more hose-houses were built.

The department was again reorganized, in accordance with an act of legislature, April 24, 1874, and June 17 a fire-alarm telegraph was established through the instance of the present chief. In 1872, through the exertions of Mr. D. A. Sanborn, Jr., the Charitable Association of the Somerville Fire Department was organized, and has now a fund of % 1,100 for the relief of sick and disabled firemen.

In May, 1877, an ordinance was passed reducing the working force of the department. The department now consists of one steamer and hose-carriage, four hose-carriages, and one hook-and-ladder truck, all drawn by horses. The city has an abundant supply of water for extinguishing fires, furnished from the Mystic Water - Works to two hundred and seventy-five fire-hydrants.

In 1851 the first directory was published by Edmund Tufts ; it was a duodecimo of thirty-two pages, and contained principally the heads of families in town, five hundred and ninety in number.

A considerable interest had been manifested for several years upon the subject of a high school, the statutes requiring that such an institution shall families. But the grave factor of economy entered into a consideration of the subject. The town liad already e.xpended large sums for scliool-buildiugs, and was unwilling to make any further considerable outlay ; but, finally becomhig convinced of the necessity of the demand, April 7, 1851, they ordered the erection of the present city hall building, a plahi structure, but sufficiently adapted to the wants of the school for the following twenty years. The cornerstone was laid September 9, and the building dedicated with appropriate exercises on the 3Sthof April, 1852. It was designed for one hundred pujrils. On the following Monday the school was opened, under the charge of Mr. Robert Bickford. Sixty-six pupils were received under a lower grade of scholarship than was deemed fitting for such a scliool, and in August twenty-two more were admitted on a sliglitly higher standard. One principal and one assistant were employed till 1854 ; after this time, till 1858, there were generally two assistants. All the instructors having resigned in 1858, a ncM' principal was appointed, and a sub-master to take the place of the two assistants. The high school had never met the full approbation of the citizens, because it was believed that the institution did not exhibit results proportionate to the amount of money expended upon it. This was due in part to the constant changes in teachers and board of school committee, and in part to the general apathy of the community.

In 1859 Mr. H. H. Babcockwas appointed principal, and the course of study was revised. Under the new organization the first regular graduation took ])lace in 1862. The school at once became more successful, and at the resignation of Mr. Babcock, in 1867, it was in the first rank of the high schools of the commonwealth. Mr. G. L. Baxter succeeded Mr. Babcock, and under his management tiie school retains its high degree of efficiency, and contains a larger number of jnipils than is usual in ])r<)portion to the number of inliabit:uits. Tile accommodations of the first building being entirely inadequate for the increasing wants of the scliool, a large and beautiful school-house was erected, and tlie same was dedicated February 27, 1872. The school numbered, in 1878, two Imndred and forty-four pupils, and was governed by a corps of two male and four female t<:aeliers.

The valuation had increased twofold, and was estimated in the same year at §2,102,631. The annual outlay for highways had reached §3,000, and for schools $6,000.

The poor were supported at a yearly cost of $1,000, and a few hiuidred dollars were now regularly required for the fire department. But with these increasing expenses came in 1816 a town debt, which from .$9,636.25 had grown to $20,320.19 at the end of the first decade. Seven school-buildings had been constructed, augmenting the number to eleven, and the school population was registered at four hundred and ninety-seven, with tliree male and eleven female teachers.

At the end of this era three more ecclesiastical societies were established, - the First Baptist, the Franklin Street Congregational, and the First Universalist. The First Baptist Society was formed in" a hall at the corner of Somerville Avenue and Spring Street, December 30, 1852, and the Rev. D. W. Faunce ordained the first pastor, July 1-1, 1853. The society worshipped in a chapel in Beech Street till the beautiful edifice, erected on tjie crown of Spring Hill, was dedicated June 12, 1873. The following is the list of the pastors succeeding Mr. Faunce, who ministered until September 1, 1854 : Rev. G. G. Fairbanks, from April 1,1855, to March 31, 1866; Rev. L. B. Hibbard, from

Tiie Franklin Street Orthodox Society had its beginning at the house of Mr. Temple Paul, April 21, 1853. September 15, the society took its present name, but was not legally organized till April 1, 1855. Tiic corner-stone of tiie first house was laid in October, 1S51-, and the church dedicated July 12, 1S55. Tiie inllowiiig is the succession of pastors, with the periods of tlieir ministry : Rev. B. Judkins, from January 3, 1856, to June 2, 1858; Rev. D. T. Packard, from September 20, 1860, to November 28, 1866 ; Rev. L. R. Eastman, Jr., from June 27, 1867, to May 22, 1871 ; Rev. Williams. ITubbcll, from February 1, 1871, to the present time. The society lost tiieir churchbuilding by fire, March 15, 1867, but promptly ])roceeded to rebuild upon the same spot the s])acious and elegant structure now standing. The cornerstone was laid August 27, 1867, the vestries opened for worship May 17, 1868, and the church dedicated September 30, 1 868.

Sumer Ville

February, 1854. For the first five years worsliip was held in a chapel on Tufts vStreet. In 1859 a wooden church was erected on the present site. This was destroyed by fire, January 21, 1868. The present house of worsliip was built the ensuing year. The following are the names of the pastors and the time of succession : Rev. G. H. Emerson, 1854-1859; Rev. D. H. Clark, 1859-1862; Rev. Benjamhi K. Russ, 1862-1871; Rev. G. H. Vibbert, 1871-1876; Rev. W. S. Ralph, 1877 to the present time.

The Somerville Light Infantry was organized October, 1853. In May, 1851, the constitution was ajjproved, and the company was enrolled as Company B, 4th Regiment, 3d Brigade, 2d Division; but the regiment was afterwards numbered the 5th. George 0. Brastow was elected the first captain. He was succeeded by Francis Tufts, June 29, 1854, wlio served, with an intermission, till April, 1859. Captain Brastow was then reelected, and continued in office until the close of the company's three months' service, at the beginning of the war, when lie was succeeded by Captain B. F. Parker, who commanded the company during its nine months' service in North Carolina in 1862-63. Later, under command of W. E. Robinson, the company started for the seat of the war, under a hundred days' enlistment, but was recalled. Afterward, under tlie captaincy of J. N. Coffin, they completed a service of a similar length. In the spring of 1865 G. W. Daniels was elected captain, retaining the position till ^lay 3, 1871, when he was succeeded by Charles F. King. In the former year the company was reorganized. Captain R. Kramer followed Captain King, August, 1874, and resigned June, 1876. The company was then under command of Lieutenant R. T. Blackwell, until it was disbanded, July 6, 1876. At present no military organization exists in Somerville.

February 23, 1853, by an act of the legislature, the Cliarlestown Gas Company was authorized to lay pipes in town, and, April 11, a similar authority was granted to the Cambridge Gas Company. So generally did the new means of illumination come into use, that, April 13, 1854, the Somerville Gaslight Company was incorporated ; but before preparations could be made, the necessity for a further supply of gas had ceased, and the company has never gone into operation.

Company had been incorporated the previous year, and sliortly afterwards constructed a line to Boston from the eastern boundary of the town on Washington Street. In May, 1855, a charter was granted to the ^ledford and Charleston)! Railroad Company, and one to the Somerville Horse Railroad Company, May 29, 1857 ; and in July, 1858, the roads were finished and put into operation, - - the one occupying Main Street and Broadway, the other Washington, Milk, and Elm Streets. By legislative enactment, April 4, 1863, the Somerville Horse Railroad Comiiany was allowed to extend its tracks from Union Square through to Somerville Avenue to the East Cambridge line. Travel was established to Boston over this extension during the following year. That part of the Somerville Horse Railroad Company upon Elm Street, Somerville Avenue, is under lease to the Union Railroad Company, and the Middlesex Railroad Company rents the line on Washington Street, and also the line on Broadway to Winter Hill.

In 1856, the First Methodist Episcopal Society was formed, through the labors of the Rev. R. Gerrish of East Cambridge. The first service was held in Franklin Hall, on the site of Holmes' store. The society was organized June 24, 1857, and a house of worship, the corner-stone of wliich was laid October 5, dedicated March 31 of the following year. Rev. Charles Baker became the first settled pastor in 1859. The needs of the society having outgrown the first building, the corner-stone of the present costly and spacious edifice was laid July 27, 1874, and another church dedicated May 29, 1875. The Rev. W. S. Chadbourne, the present pastor, is the eleventh since the establishment of the church.

In 1859 the town undertook to readjust her own boundaries and those of private estates, not so much with the hope of restoring the original limits, as to prevent further encroachments. The ancient lines had become obliterated or uncertain, and fences had been erected to suit the convenience of abuttors. No elucidation could be expected from the Charlestown records, whose meaning had become obscure from a constant reference to bounds of a perishable nature. Consequently a survey was ordered, and upon its completion, in 1862, a valuable map was prepared, and an accurate record of all lines and hmits, and sectional plans of all the streets, were recorded in durable form.

she made a uniform and rapid progress. The freeing of the bridges to the metropolis had tended to turn the tide of travel in this direction. Eeal estate had experienced an upward tendency. East Somerville grew more rapidly than any other part of the town. The northern and western districts had received but little im^jetus as yet. In 1859 there were but three houses in the now thickly poijulated area bounded by Bow, Walnut, and School streets, and Somerville and Highland avenues. Many new streets had been laid out, increasing their total lejigth to thirty miles. These highways had been kept in a fair condition by the yearly outlay of a sum varying from $3,000 to $10,000. A few reservoirs had been built for better protection against fire, and five school-buildings had been erected. The school population - now numbered at 1,707 - had more than tripled. Tiie schools had increased in number to twentyfour, and were presided over by five male and twenty-six female teachers. A high school and an intermediate grade had been established. The town continued to maintain tlie previous high rank of its educational establishments. An appropriation, fluctuating from $6,000 to $18,000, had been annually expended upon them.

The population had more than doubled, having been registered at 8,025 by the census of 1860. There were 1.751 polls, and 1,283 houses. The total valuation of taxable property was $ 5,760,000. The town debt had increased to §90,924.

During the period of the war the town undertook few improvements or important measures, feeling that any outlay beyond the demands of necessity should rightfully be devoted to the interests of the country. Therefore an account of the soldiers for the four succeeding years is almost the history of the town.

Ou Easter Sabbath, 1862, the Emmanuel Episcopal Church had its beginning in a hall in Somerville Avenue, near Park Street, under the ministration of Rev. N. G. Allen. In 1865 (he present church edifice was erected. Tlie present jjustor is Rev. N. K. Bisliop.

In May, 1863, a Sabbatii school was gathered in a chapel in Tufts Street by the cllbrls of Rev. N. G. Allen, around which was formed the St. Thomas Episcopal Church. In 1868 the Rev. George W. Durell, tlie ])rescnt rector, was installed, and it was largely by his labors that the prcNciit chiu'cli-building was erected.

also took its rise in the year 1863, when in the month of August the Sabbath school was formed. June 14, 1865, the ehurcli was regularly organized, under the pastorship of the Rev. E. Porter Dyer. In Januarj', 1868, a chapel was completed, and in December, 1871, the society removed to its present house of worship. The church is now under the ministry of Rev. William H. Pierson.

In April, 1863, the town voted to illuminate streets at night where the abuttors would place lamp-posts in position, and before the close of the year ninety-two lamps had been provided.

Somerville's war record is highly honorable. For rapidity in filling quotas, for measures taken for the comfort of her soldiers, - by personal sympathy, by the visits of the town officers at the seat of the war, in forwarding supplies of money and clothing, - and for the attention given to the soldiers' families, a duty which did not cease with the war, this city stands in the front rank.

Four times the Somerville Light Infantry went forth from the town for various periods of service, and one full company, the Somerville Guard, went out for the period of three years.

At the first call of President Lincoln for troops, in April, 1861, the Somerville Light Infantry entered the service as Company B of the 5th Regiment. They numbered sixty-eight men with George 0. Brastow captain, and W. E. Robinson and F. R. Kinsley lieutenants.

April 17, an enthusiastic meeting of the citizens was held to raise money to aid the departing company and their families, and to give expression to sentiments of loyalty to the government. A sum of $4,323.50 was raised, of which a small purse was given to each soldier, and a larger sum was placed in the hands of Captain Brastow, with instructions to provide without stint for the comfort of his men. April 20, the company was escorted to Boston, and each member presented with a Testament by his fellow-citizen, Moses H. Sargent. Remaining in Faneuil Hall that night, they started for Washington the next evening. Arriving at the capital on the 27th of the month, they were quartered for four weeks in the Treasury Building, doing guard duty. They were then removed to Virginia, on the Potomac, four miles from Washington, where they remained one week. From June 2 to July 16 they were encamped in the vicinity of Alexandria. On tlie latter day they were given the right, leading a long coUimu to Manassas Junction, and participated in the ensuing battle of Bull Run. Here

E. Franklin Hannaford was believed to liavc been killed. They returned home July 21, leaving comrade W. Frank Moore sick in the hospital at Washington, where he died July 31.

May 25, the Capitol being in danger, the governor ordered the State Militia to assemble on Boston Common, and the Somerville Light Infantry again came forward under command of Captain Kobinson. But the troops proffered by the state were tliought by the President not to be needed, and they returned to their homes. This check to the enthusiasm of the volunteers operated unfavorably in future calls. Time was given for the first ardor of patriotism to cool, and a calculating and somewhat mercenary spirit to enter into a consideration of the subject. Prices had advanced, all branches of industry were in full operation, making a counter-demand upon the services of ablebodied men. Consequently, when on June 28 a call was made for 300,000 men for a three years' service, recruiting was carried on with a greater and gradually increasing difficulty. The quota of Somerville in this call was ninety-two, but the town voted, July 19, to raise a full company, and pay a bounty to each man. A citizens' committee of sixty was chosen to co-operate with the selectmen in filling the quota. Mass-meetings were held, and a bounty of $12.5 was ofi'ered. Finally, a complement of men was enlisted, and the company styled the "Somerville Guard." August 12, it was mustered into service, and attached to the 39th Regiment as Company E. It was allowed the privilege of remaining on Prospect Hill for three weeks, when it joined the camp at Boxford, and was assigned the right of tlie regiment. Here it remained two days, and on September 6 took the cars for W^ashington ; it proceeded to Arlington Heights, and, later, went iuto winter-quarters at Poolesville, Maryland. The season was spent in doing guard and picket duty upon the Potomac. Here the company suffered its first loss in the death of S. P. EoUins." In April, 1863, the regiment was ordered to Washington, and did guard and escort duty till midsummer, when, on July 9, it joined the army of the Potomac, with M^hich it remained till the close of the war. It was assigned to the first army corps, and took part in the marches and engagements of the corps at Bristoe and Eappahannock stations, and ]\Iine Run. In one of the movements of the army, the pickets - of Avhom there were thirteen from Company E - were left exposed by their fires at the front; seven were captured, of whom two alone ever returned. J. W. Oliver was paroled at Richmond, and G. W. Bean survived the privations of Andersonville. F. J. Oliver, Washington Lovett, Joseph W. Whitmore, Henry E. Howe, and Richard J. Hyde died from starvation and exposure. AVhen the corps went into winter-quarters at Mitchell's Station, Company E had already lost sixty men by sickness, death, and transfers. The regiment having been assigned the extreme right, the picket duties were very severe, and the company was under arms most of the time. It participated with its regiment in the battle of the Wilderness, and those following in quick succession. In eaigagements between May 7 and ^lay 19, Sergeant Palmer, Corporal Felker, Robert Powers, J. H. Roberts, W. M. Hcrbon, and Corporal Harburn were killed, and February 6, 186.5, E. B. Hadley. At Gravelly Run, March 30, Captain Willard C. Kinsley and Corporal Moran were mortally wounded. The former entered the service as second lieutenant of the Somerville Guard, but was afterwards promoted to the command of another company. He was deeply beloved by all who knew him, not only for his courage and manly qualities, but for his kindness, sympathy', and forgetfulness of self on all occasions of trial and suffering. The organization of the Grand Army of the Republic in Somerville has named its post for this gallant young soldier and martyr. The Somerville Guard suffered no further losses in battle; but of those taken prisoners, Glines, Allen, Jones, Gorham, Horton, Hatch, and Kenrick fell victims to disease brought on by the inhumanity of Southern prisons.

Quickly succeeding the last call was another for 300,000 troops, and the Somerville Light Infantry, with B. F. Parker captain, and W. C. Bailey and John Harrington lieutenants, again entered the service for nine months.

August 27, a bounty of $125 had been voted by the town, which was increased to §200 September 24. The company went into camp on Prospect Hill after the departure of the Somerville Guard, remaining till September 16, when it departed to Wenham. Leaving camp in October, it was ordered to North Carolma, and remained in the vicinity of Newbern, without participating hi any considerable battle, till the expiration of its service.

In July, 1863, one hundred and eighty-six men were taken by draft from Somerville. As a result of this levy, $3,000 in commutation money was

October 17, the President made a further call for three hundred thousand volunteers, and, with some difficulty, the town filled her quota of ninetytwo men by March, 1861.

Somerville furnished forty commissioned officers and one thousand and eighty-five men for the war, in all branches of the service, which was a surplus of one hundred and forty-seven. above the number required. Ninety-eight were Idlled, or died of disease incident to the hardships of war, and two hundred and fifty were wounded. The whole amount of mo]iey appropriated by the town for war purposes, exclusive of state aid, was $133,039.41, and $65,823.38 was voluntarily contributed by the citizens.

Upon the selectmen and war committees devolved unusually arduous labors, and to Tliomas Cunningham, recruiting officer during the greater part of the war and town trcii.-iirrr fnr 1863, 1861, and 1865, the town is esp((i:illy m.l.hted for his energetic efforts in the various iliquivlnicnts of the war business, and for preparing and preserving a careful record of the transactions and expenditures of this period.

The women of Somerville were not less patriotic than the men ; and actively engaged in all possible labors to manifest their sympathy and furnish material aid. Soldiers' aid societies were formed for making clothing and other articles of comfort for tlie soldiers in camp or hospital ; niniiy delicacies were prepared for the sick or wouiidi'd ; fairs were held for the purpose of raising money ; and all that womanly tenderness or womanly ingenuity could suggest, was cheerfully assumed, and as successfully accomplished.

In the summer of 1863 a marble monument was erected in the cemetery, to the memory of those from the town who iiad fallen or were yet to fall in tiie service of tlieir cdunfry. It was erected Willi Ihe residue of llie rniid y-.n-vA for tile Somerville l.iglil Infintry at lheirrn-.t -,,ing forth. It is a small and simple slialt , stniidiiiii; in tlie middle of the yard, crowded with names, miil it was the first monument erected in Massaelniselts to the fallen soldiers and .sailors in the War of the Rebellion.

were united into the Fourth District, and entitled to three representatives, in a ratio of sixteen to fourteen upon an aggregate of thirty representatives in the ten years, and under the census of 1875, upon which a new apportionment was made in 1876, Somerville became entitled to send three representatives to the General Court, which was done for the session of 1877 and thereafter.

During this year the Forster School building was erected, and the large hall in the ujipcr story was fitted up for the use of the town. Town-meetings were first held in the Medford Street school-house, or the little eiiiiiue-house on the corner of Prospect and A\';ishiiietiin streets, until the completion of the Unitarian Clmrch, when its vestry was hired for the meetings. The town occupied the lower hall of the high-school house from the time of the erection of this building until the increasing needs of the school compelled a transfer of the town-hall to the Forster School.

For several years the subject of an abundant supply of pure water had been under consideration. Previous to the year 1861 the inhabitants had depended upon wells, not only for drinking purposes, but generally in case of fire. For the five years succeeding this date the east village, the McLean Asylum, and a part of Winter Hill had been supplied from the mains running from Mystic Lake to Charlestown. At a meeting of the town, November 5, 1867, a committee was appointed to meet the Charlestown board of water commissioners, and to contract for the general introduction of Mystic water into the town. April 13, 1868, this committee reported, and another, consisting of Aaron Sargent, C. E. Rymes, R. E. Demmon, R. A. Vinal, and C. Downer, was instructed to procure an act from the legislature authorizing the town to make arrangements for a water supply, and to raise $100,000 for defraying the cost of the same. September 18, the act was accepted by the town, and the committee, styled the Somerville Mystic Water Committee, proceeded to confer with the Charlestown authorities. Within three days a contract was drawn Tip and signed, whereby the inhabitants of Somerville should be sniTiciently furnished with water, provided the su])])ly was more than ade(|iialo for the wants of Ciiarlestown and Clulsen, a( Ihe rates charged to the inhabitants of these cities, with a rebate to the town. Distribution pipes were iniTncdiately connected with the Charlestown mains, at the conier of Medford Street and Broadway, and during the following year the town was generally supplied with water. March 11, 1870, a legislative enactment was procured to raise bonds to the additional amount of §100,000, for the extension of the works, and March 19, 1872,. a third issue was authorized, increasing the amount to $400,000. Forty-four miles of pipe have been laid in the city. The debt for the construction of the water-works is §3:35,000, and tiie annual municipal outlay for water purposes is nearly $14,000.

Although the contract between Soinerville and Charlestown imposes conditions which might liave been foreseen and guarded against by a more earnest attention to the subject, when the introduction of water from Mystic Lake into Charlestown was in contemplation; the inhabitants of Sonierville are receiving their annual water supply at less than the average cost to cities of the commonwealth.

Prior to 1867 the sewerage of Somerville was in a primitive condition; a few private sewers and ojjen drains, emptying into river basins, creeks, and stagnant pools, sufficiently supplied the needs of the inhabitants.

In 1867 the first town sewer was laid, and during the two following years a system was inaugurated which has since been essentially adhered to, and which has brought the greater part of the city to a satisfactory condition in respect to this important item of municipal regulation.

That watershed whose natural outlet was Miller's River was drained by trunk sewers constructed from West Somerville to Charles River along the line of Somerville Avenue and Beacon and Washington streets. The valley of the Lowell Railroad has been provided with an outlet into the old Charlestown mill-pond. A trunk sewer running under Broadway and the Park supplies the region tending towards the Mystic River. The watershed comprising the Walnut Hill district, having a natural outlet in Alewife Brook, is still sufficiently supplied with sewerage. Authority was obtained from the legislature. May 20, 1873, to drain into this stream, but it has been deemed inadvisable to take advantage of the act. The city is now supplied with twenty-five miles of sewerage.

July 9, 1868," the Flint Street Methodist Episcopal Church was organized. It began under the auspices of the First Methodist Society, and worshipped in the chapel in Tufts Street. September 13, 1871, the chapel in Flint Street was dedicated. Rev. W. B. Toulmin is the present pastor.

In 1868 the graduates of the high school since the year 1862, and the members attending prior to that date, reorganized an association which they had formed some four years previous, and which had been for some time quiescent. The leading spirit in this new movement, Edward E. Edgerly, believed an association of the graduates of the town's highest educational institution should be a power for good in the community; consequently the Somerville High School Association was reformed, not with the sole intention of refreshing the scenes and renewing the acquaintances of youth, but to consider and discuss the social and educational problems of the day; to teach the simpler branches to those who had not the opportunity of instruction in youth ; to supplement and continue the teaching of the schools by classes or lectures ; aud to introduce or further any scheme for the intellectual growth or moral welfare of the town. The object was noble, and not entirely in vain was the work of Mr. Edgerly, who, unhappily for the cause of education, died within the short space of two years. By his efforts and example the Association has been able to render honorable service to the citizens. It has instituted a course of lectures ill almost every season for the last ten years, it has supported classes for the pursuit of special subjects, and it suggested and aided .in the establishment of the free public library.

In November, 1868, two petitions were presented to the legislature, asking for a division of the town, but the subject received little encouragement. In that year the selectmen ordered a census to be taken, which showed the population to be 12,535.

December 23, 1869, the St. Joseph Catholic Church was formed. The society worshijiped at first in Hawkins Hall. November 21, 1874, the present church edifice was dedicated. Rev. C. T. McGrath was the first pastor, and still continues in office.

The graves of Somerville's fallen soldiers were first decorated in 1869, by George 0. Brastow, Lebbeus Stetson, and a few other patriotic citizens, with money raised by private subscription.

August 17, 1870,' the Willard C. Kinsley Post 139, Grand Army of the Republic, was constituted. Many of its charter members were from the John A. Andrew Post of Boston. Colonel C. F. King was chosen the first commander. He was succeeded by Colonel H. E. Hill, to whom the post

Historv Of Middle Sb A Cuuxtv

In 1870 the police department, which up to this time had been of minor consideration, was reorganized, and one captain, eight night -n-atchmen, and four day patrolmen were in regular service.

In 1870 was printed the first paper, devoted exclusively to the interests of Somerville. During a few years previous The Charledown Chronicle had given many of its columns to the news of its neighbor ; but the rapid growth of the town served to justify tJie establishment of a home-sheet, and the first issue of The Somerville Journal appeared on December 3. It has continued to be published weekly with increashig success.

In 1870 the Lexington and Arlington Branch railroad was constructed, and in December began running trains through a jjart of the town hitherto but sparsely populated. From this innovation dates the growth of West Somerville ; and there is now an extensive village, with its residences, churches, school-houses, stores, and depots, where in 1870 there were less than half a dozen cottages surrounded by open fields.

For several years much dissatisfaction had been manifested with the town system of government. The town was becoming too large, her public business too various, important, and laborious to be wisely considered and impartially despatched in town-meeting. Some citizens favored annexation to Chavlestown and Boston; others urged the establishment of a separate city government.

In ] 869 the town instructed her representatives to favor annexation, and cast a small vote for a city charter. During the following year the advocates of the latter form of government gained ground, and early in 1871 a petition was presented to the legislature, and April 14 an act passed to establish the city of Somerville. April 27, the act was accepted in town-meeting by a vote of three hundred and thirty-six to one hundred and seventy. But an undercurrent in favor of annexation existed for some time after the aecej)tanec of the city charter. Meetings were held in tlie various ward-rooms, on the first Monday of Decenilni-, Ihc election of such city officers as the law rei|iiiLcd. Georire O. Brastow was elected mayor, and a cih council of two aldermen and four comnidii rdiiniiiincn was chosen from each of the fotii- wards with a hi-h degree of unanimity.

for a formal inauguration of the city government. Twenty-six persons who were legal voters at the founding of the town occupied prominent seats upon the platform. After the address of the mayorelect one hundred guns were fired. The day was made one of public rejoicing, and closed with a grand ball in the same hall.

Upon the new city council devolved an unusual amount of labor, not only in the instituting of a proper code of ordinances for the government of their own and successive bodies, but in that of despatching through untried channels a public business much increased by the exigencies of a new city and of a rapidly increasing population.

The old high-school building was fitted up for a city hall. Charles E. Gilnian, who had held the clerkship from the founding of the town, was elected city clerk. Aaron Sargent was elected treasurer.

A seal was established, with the device of Washington standing on Prospect Hill, grasping the standard of the unfurled Union flag. In the background is a view of a part of Boston, and showing the State House and Bunker Hill Monument. In a narrow inner circle about this centre-piece are the words, "Somerville, founded 1843, Established a City 1872." In an outer circle is the city's motto, "Municipal Freedom Gives National Strength."

April -ri, an act to establish a police court was approved, and June 24, with apjirofiriate ceremonies, the court was constituted. Isaac Story was appointed standing justice, and Lebbeus Stetson clerk.

From the founding of the town until 1854 criminal cases were taken to (Jharlestown and East Cambridge for trial. From this latter date until the incorporation of the city, almost without interruption, cases were tried by Francis Tufts, under commission as justice of the peace, and subsequiiilly under a law by which certain trial justices wvw Iririiniall} designated and commissioned, who slioiild exercise authority and jurisdiction in criminal cases in any town in the county where no police court was established. The first trials in Somerville, and those for many years, were conducted in the office of Captain Tufts, on the southern corner of Mcdford and Washington streets. In 18G1 the court was moved to the building on the eastern corner of Prospect Street and Somerville Avenue. After the city police court was constituted, the business of the department was lield in a room at tlie city hall until the huildinir in Ikiu Street was ereeted".

Although the ten years previous to tlie city chnrter included the period of the Civil War, Sonierville made a progress in growth unprecedented in her own history, and perhaps unequalled in that of any other in the state. The population, 1-1,685 by the census of 1870, was estimated at 16,000^ a gain of nearly one hundred per cent in the ten years. The number of polls was registered at 4,105, showing a much larger percentage of gain. The number of dwellings had increased to 3,0(31, making the same relative advance. The schools now numbered fifty-four, eight having been organized iu this period, and seven male and fifty-eight female teachers gave instruction to a school population of 2,951.

January, 1872, the town debt was §593,3'19, and the amount raised by taxation the previous year, S 270,460.95. While the taxable valuation of the state had doubled, that of the towji had quadrupled, being fixed at $22,755,000, May 1, 1872.

For some years the basin of jMiller's River had been a growing nuisance, from its use as the outlet of the sewers and as a depository of ofFal from the slaughter-houses upon its banks; and in 1872 it was felt that the public health demanded that measures should be taken for remedying this great and increasing evil. Consequently on May 3 and 6 acts were passed by the legislature, - the former authorizing the filling of lands to a grade thirteen feet above mean low water, and the latter empowering the harbor commissioners and the state board of health to investigate the cause of the nuisance, and recommend measures for its abatement.

The board of commissioners reported plans for filling the river, and the city council took steps towards procuring an act. May 23, 1873, whereby the cities of Cambridge and Somerville were authorized to fill the river and to construct a sewer along Somerville Avenue and Bridge Street to the Charles River, which should be an outlet to this made land, the surrounding districts, and such other territories as the river would naturally have drained.

Work was begun upon these important measures delay, and prosecuted uninterruptedly, as far as the seasons would permit, until their completion at the close of the following year. This work was one of vast magnitude and expense, but by its accomplishment the city was not only rid of an intolerable nuisance, but it secured for taxation an extensive and valuable piece of property within two miles of the heart of the metropolis.

In 1872 the Holland Street Methodist Episcopal Church was formed, largely through the exertions of the Rev. Mr. Lacount. Rev. A. E. Winship held the first pastorate. The chapel was dedicated May 1, 1873. The present pastor is Rev. William Merrill.

Dunng the second year of Mr. Brnstow's administration the most important measures were the opening of the public library, the abatement of the Miller's River nuisance, the erection of the Luther Y. Bell school-house and the George 0. Brastow ] hose-house, besides constant and extensive improvements in streets and sidewalks.

To Henry M. Brown, treasurer of the Somerville High School Association, belongs the honor of originating the movement which resulted in the establishment of the public library. He believed that the furtherance of such a project came within the scope of the purposes of the Association, and in 1870 he wrote a letter to the trustees, selectmen, and school committee, urging the matter upon their attention. The selectmen promptly responded, December, 1869, by appointing a committee of three to confer with one from the xVssociation. In March, 1870, similar committees were appointed, who prepared a brief plan for operating the proposed library ; but this was not ratified by the citizens, who in town-meeting, April, 1871, appointed another committee of sixteen to prepare a more elaborate code of regulations. The report of this committee was accepted and adopted by the towji in ]NI"ovember, 1871. It was therein provided that a board of trustees should be chosen by the first city council as soon after its organization as should be convenient. Notwithstandhig the eiforts of the Association, which made the promotion of this educational scheme one of its especial objects, no further municipal action was taken until June 1, 1872, when it was voted that a room be forthwith prepared for a library. October 21, a board of nine trustees was appointed. Mr. Isaac Pitman consented to become the nominal head of the library during its formation, and Miss Harriet A. Adams was chosen assistant librarian. The first purchase of books was made in March, 1873, and the library was opened to the public in May with a collection of more than two thousand volumes. The circulation for the first year was 24,693. In 1878 it had become 61,076", and the number of volumes had increased to 7,441. The total number of borrowers registered since the opening was 7,780. One room for the uses of the library until 1876, wlien a smaller one was added, with a reading-table supplied with twentyfive newspapers and periodicals. Tiie library is open six hours daily. When the institution was in successful operation, Mr. Pitman resigned, and Miss Adams was promoted to the position to which she has been annually re-elected.

This administration comijleted the widening of Highland Avenue and ^Milk Street, and many measures begun by their predecessors. It continued the generous line of improvements deemed necessary in view of the increasing population and valuation of the city.

vVpril 4, 1874, the West Somerville Congregational Church was formed, under the auspices of tlie Home Missionary Society, and the ministration of Rev. Charles Mills. The present house of worsiiip was dedicated December 3, 187C. Rev. Albert Bryant is the present pastor.

June 22, 1874, the Broadway Methodist Episcopal Churcli was formed through the labors of J. Benson Hamilton, of the Flint Street society. In November the new congregation first occupied its present house of worship, the vestry of a contemplated edifice.

In the spring of 1874 l!i.' Tnisprct Hill Congregational Church had it> lirL;iiiiiiiiii- ;it the house of M. P. Elliot. A Sabbath >.'h<,.il was soon afterwards gathered, and the clmrch organized December 20. Tiie following year the present pastor, Rev. A. E. Winship, was installed. Services were held in the " Hill " building until October 19, 1876, when the present churcli edifice was dedicated.

An act having been procured from the legislature for the establishment of a public park, tiie city council voted to accept it, and immediately began the purchase of an area of ]u\\ liml lying between Mount Benedict and Winter Hill, iliinly settled and undesirable for dwellings, for the silc of tiie proposed iinprovcMKiit. Tiie const ruction routinncd during the following two years, when on June 17, 1876, it was appropriately dcdicaicd. The cost of construction was $2l2,9!).1.;iii.

In 1S75 Mr. Furber received llie iiidnrsrinent of llie citizens by a hearty re-rli'ci icjn, inul coulinucd the same diligent oversight ol' the public interests which had characterized his fii'st leriu of office. As the years 1874 and 1875 were the ones of greatest inflation and speculation, parlicularly in the matter of real estate, there was in the community a wide-spread and clamorous demand for extensive and somewhat unreasonable public improvements, involving large expenditures of money, and it became exceedingly difficult to be able to define the proper official course to pursue between the idea of prudence on the one hand and obedience to the popular will on the other. During these years the police court building was constructed, Broadway was widened and graded, and improvements in the various departments of tlie city continued. Austin Belknap served as mayor during the years 1876-77, being succeeded by George A. Bruce, tte present incumbent.

In accordance with an act of legislature in 1875, to regulate municipal indebtedness, a board of commissioners of the sinking-funds was appointed to manage sums annually set apart for the payment of the various municipal loans at their maturity. $ 144,963.84 was held by this commission January 1, 1879. In 1877 the houses in sixteen streets were numbered.

The AVest Somerville Baptist Church was organized May 13, 1877. It sprang from the Union Church formed in 1874. Rev. J. R. Haskins was the first, and Rev. William Lisle is the present pastor.

In 1878 an act of legislature autliorizing the establishment of boards of healtli in the cities of the commonwealth was accepted by Somerville, and such a board organized. Accurate maps indicating the jirevalence of the various contagious diseases in all parts of the town have been prepared, and such sanitary measures have been taken as would be most likely to guard against epidemics. At present nearly every dwelling is connected with the sewerage. Prior to this year the seleetnu'ii ami aldermen liad constituted themselves boards of health, but this department did not become a regular source of expense to the town until 1866.

Mr. Bowman was born in Charlestown, May 11, 1840. He graduated at Harvard College in 1860, and subsequently at the Harvard Law School. He was chosen tlic first solicitor of the city, and a member of the first hoard of trustees of the public library.

In 1878 the total valuation of tlie city was fixed at §20,976,900, a third less than in 1875. The city debt in 1879 was §1,585,000. For the extinguishment of this debt, $45,525 are raised annually by taxation, and set apart as sinkingfunds, in accordance with the provisions of statute law. There are in the city twenty religious societies and eighty-two schools. The great questions of water and sewerage have been satisfactorily disposed of. The highways have been thoroughly reconstructed and are in fair condition, and the city seems to be entering a season of prosperity unrivalled in her history.

In 1857 John Abbot Lodge of F. and A. M. was instituted. It holds its meeting on the first Tuesday in each month, at Masonic Hall, Union Square. Soley Lodge, which has its time of regular communication on the third Monday of each month, is now working under dispensation. Somerville Royal Arch Chapter was constituted in 1871, and meets the second Tuesday in eacii month, at Masonic Hall, L-nion Square.

Somerville Encampment, No. IS, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, meets the second and fourth Monday of each month. Oasis Lodge, No. 146, was instituted September 17, 1868, and meets every Thursday evening, at Odd Fellows Hall, Union Square. Paul Revere Lodge, No. 184, was instituted March 15, 1S7S, and meets every Tuesday evening at Fraternity Hall, Broadway. Ivaloo Lodge, No. 7, Daughters of Rebekah, meets the second Friday in each month. Tiie installation of officers occurs the second Friday in January.

There are six. temperance organizations in Somerville : The Welcome Home Lodge, No. 71, Inde|)endent Order of Good Templars, instituted June 29, 1877, and which meets at 18 Summer Street ; the Banner Division, No. 63, Sons of Temperance, which meets every Thursday evening at Bacon Hall, Union Square; the Clarendon Division, No. 85, Sons of Temperance, which meets at Clarendon Hall, West Somerville, every Monday evening; St. Paul Temple of Honor, No. 41, which meets in Independence Hall, Reed's Corner, Charlestown, every Wednesday evening; the Woman's Cluistian Temperance Union, organized April 26, 1876, which meets at Associate Hall, Union Square, every Wednesday at 3 p. m ; and the St. Joseph's Total Abstinence Society,

Among other organizations are the Franklin Lodge, No. 41, Knights of Pythias, which meets in Pythian Hall, Union Square, every Tuesday evening ; Elm Council, No. 36, of the Royal Arcanum, West Somerville, which meets the first and third Thursday, in Arcanum Hall; Somerville Council, No. 6, R. A., which meets the first and third Wednesday of each month ; Unity Council, No. 59, R. A., which meets in Fraternity Hall the first and third Monday in each month ; Excelsior Council, No. 3, R. A., instituted August 8, 1877, and which meets in Franklin Hall the first and third Wednesday ; Warren Lodge, No. 89, which meets every Monday evening in Odd Fellows Hall, Union Square ; Cameron Lodge, No. 1,146, which meets in Arcanum Hall, West Somerville, the second and fourth Tuesday of each month ; Winter Hill Lodge, No. 423, which meets in the hall, Broadway Street, every Tuesday evening, - - all Knig!)ts of Honor; and the AViliard C. Kinsley encampment. Post 139, Grand Army of the Republic, wliich meets at Police Station Hall on every Monday evening.

The Poivder-IIoKse. - This venerable structure, associated equally with the appliances of war and the occupations of peace, was erected in the first quarter of the eighteenth century, and for several years was a windmill, to which the settlers for many miles around brought their corn to be ground.

For some twenty years before the Revolution, and till 1822, it was in use as a public store -house for powder. Again becoming private property, it has since remained idle, resting on the distinction of being the only ancient ruin in Massachusetts.

Standing on an eminence, formerly called Quarry Hill, with its round tower surmounted by a conical cap, it is a conspicuous object for miles in many directions.

It is built of slate-stone, such as occurs in the neighboring quarry. There are three stories, divided by heavy floors, and supported by large oaken joists. In height it is nearly forty feet, and nineteen feet in diameter. The walls are two and a half feet in thickness at the base. The door was formerly on the southwest side, the present entrance, on the northeast, being of modern origin. The age of the old mill is not now accurately known, but records exist which fix tiie time of its erection between the years 1703 and 17;J0, ami make it probable the former date is nearer tlie true one. In 1703-4 ten acres, so described as to make it clear that the land on whicii the ruin now stands was indicated, were deeded by Jonathan Fosket to Jolm Mallet, a French Huguenot. From the fact of there being no mention of buildings upon the property, and from its being designated merely as a part of the stinted pasture " near the quarries," the deduction is made that the tower was not in existence at that time.

John Mallet died in lli'l, and by his will, dated August 30, 1720, wherein he bequeaths half of his grist-mill to each of his sons, Andrew and Lewis, it is shown to have been then in active operation. Andrew bought his brother's part in 1733, and continued in possession of the property till his death in 1744..

Three years later the structure, w\i\\ a quarter of an acre of land around it, and the right of way to and from the county road, was sold by Isaac, son of Andrew, to the province of Massachusetts, for " £250 in bills of public credit on the province of the old tenor." It had then ceased to be used for its original purpose, as it is spoken of in the deed as the stone edifice formerly a windmill. It was then remodelled into a magazine for holding the powder of the province and of the towns.

It was used for this purpose by the American forces during the siege of Boston, and by the State of Massachusetts till 1822, a few years after the magazine at Cambridgeport was completed.

The Powder-House is coiincctrd uiili ..}ic (if the opening scenes of tlir licwilniKin, wlm-li led to the first armed gathering (jf tlu^ ycDinmiiy (if Middlesex.

In the summer of 1774 the colonists, apprehensive of the coming conflict, gradually withdrew the powder belonging to the towns. Governor Gage, being informed of this action, resolved to save the remainder. Accordingly, at sunrise, September 1, Lieutenant-Colonel ^laddison, with two hundred and sixty men, embarked in thirteen boats from Long Wharf, and was rowed to Ten Hills Farm, where he landed. ( )iie delnelnneiit marched proceeded to tiie P(}wd( r-House, mu\ removed to their boats the two liinidred and lil'ly half-barrels of powder tliere remaining, whcnee it was carried to Castle "William in Boston Harbor.

The old Powder-House passed into the liands of the heirs of the late :\[r. Nathan Tufts, (,f ( 'harlestown, in 1S36, and has since remained in possession of the family.

T/ie McLraii Jsi/lniii. - T\K McLean Asylum for the Insane is located in Somerville, on an eminence known during the Revolution and earlier as Cobble Hill, mentioned in this sketch. It is a branch of the Massachusetts General Hospital, and, like its sister charity, was erected by the united liberality of the commonwealth and of private individuals. The newly formed corporation purchased the residence and grounds of Joseph Barrell for the establishment of their asylum. The lot procured was five hundred feet wide by sixteen hundred feet deep, and extended to the water. The mansion-house was occupied by the oificers of the institution, and two buildings were erected on eitlier side of it, each adapted for thirty patients.

Dr. Eufus "Wyman was chosen the first physician and superintendent, March 23, 1818, and in the following autumn, after visiting Pliiladelphia and New York to examine the only lunatic hosjjitals then existing iu the couiitr}', entered upon his duties. Difficulties incident to the opeinng of a new charity beset him on every side. The buildings had been constructed with an imperfect knowledge of the requirements of such an institution, and many alterations were necessary to adapt them to the style of treatment proposed by Dr. Wyman, - a treatment requiring more minute classification, allowing greater freedom to the patients, and demanding more moral agencies than had been heretofore customary in similar institutions.

Tlie first patient was admitted October 6, 1S18. His father l)elieved lie «as possessed of a devil, and said that uliijipiiig had been one of the remedial agents enipldved upon him. Thirteen patients entered before the close of the year.

In 1819 Samuel Eliot donated $10,000 to the Asylum. Faeli year brought an increasing mimber of patients, es|ieei;illy of males, and it became necessary to enlarge the aeeoinmodations in this department. Coiise(|iieiitly ill 1826 an extensive wing surmounted In a dome was joined to the male wards. During this year the institution took the name of McLean Asylum, in honor of John McLean, who a few years previous had made to the institution a donation of $25,000, and the residue of his ])roj)erty after the payment of certain bequests, - a sum estimated at the time at §90,000. In 1830 Joseph Lee, recognizing the usefulness of this branch of tlu- hospital, and grateful for the 02iportunities it had .dVeivd for the eare <,f his deir.a.sed son, donated 820,000 to it. In 1S:3;J the asylum was still further enriched by the will of Miss Mary Belknap, who made the institution her residuary devisee. This devise was valued at §SS,GO:i, and crowned the munificence of a family which had always shown unstinted liberality in this cause.

In August, 183:2, Dr. Wyman resigned. But the trustees, feeling that they could ill be deprived of his services, temporarily separated, in the following month, the offices of physician and superintendent, and continued him in the medical directorship ; and these duties he fulfilled till hisi final resignation. May 1, 1835. During the superintendency of Dr. Wyman more than eleven hundred patients were received under treatment, and the annual admissions had begun to exceed one hundred. The prejudices of the community were gradually becoming dissipated, and the commonwealth had recognized the necessity of such charity by the erection of a state hospital at Worcester.