Medford Historical Society Papers, Volume 9.

[p. 58] just below, nor did automobiles with their goose like note rush by over this fine roadway; but he saw the great bridge over the Charles river completed and thrown open to travel with great rejoicing and festivity in 1786, the Malden bridge over the Mystic in 1787, the West Boston bridge in 1793, and Chelsea bridge over the Mystic in 1803. He saw that landmark that shows up so plainly against the sky from that part of our city rise in its solid strength with its great dome on Beacon Hill, but the granite shaft, its companion landmark, had not reared its towering height on Bunker Hill. He saw the rise of ship building in this town, the ships launched from the yards of Thatcher Magoun, Turner & Briggs, and Calvin Turner. He felt the mysterious touch nature experienced on the Dark Day, May 19, 1780. He may have watched the building of the Andover turnpike and the Medford turnpike. He saw what we can only imagine, the great river traffic that Medford had, the various craft that sailed up and down the Mystic. Charlestown, after its destruction by fire, June 17, 1775, had been built up with substantial homes, with fine gardens, so unlike what we know that we can scarcely believe its charms as told by Timothy T. Sawyer in his ‘Old Charlestown.’ He may have had a glimpse of the fox hunters starting from that town and galloping through Medford to Woburn, yet he never saw the great European steamships at Charlestown docks, nor dreamed perhaps what steam would do for ocean travel. As his eye circled the horizon around his home he saw but few houses on the low hills beyond the marshes, while to our sight they rise tier upon tier by hundreds, and the smoke of factories shows against the sky. In 1800 Boston was a town of 24,937 inhabitants; Charlestown had 2,751; Medford, 1, 114, and Malden, 1,050. A hundred years later, Boston had become a city, having annexed Charlestown to her territory, and in 1900 had 560,892 inhabitants; Medford had 18,244, and Malden, 33,664. The United States valuation of 1798 gives