As a matter of record.
AT the meeting of the
Medford Historical Society on December 21, 1908, it was voted, ‘That this society request the
Historical Societies of
Arlington,
Cambridge and
Somerville to unite with it in a request to the Metropolitan Park Commission, to hereafter in their printed reports, and otherwise, use the words Menotomy River, instead of
Alewife Brook; and to designate the new bridge just completed over the same as Menotomy Bridge: And this in view of the fact that by so doing the stream will receive its original and rightful name.’
Again on October 18, 1909, a similar
[p. 65] vote was passed and the mover thereof was delegated to represent the society.
As a result, the following petitions were presented to the Metropolitan Park Commission.
That such was the original name of the stream will be clearly seen in the preceding article, the work of one of the signers of the petition.
To the Honorable Board of Metropolitan Park Commissioners.
The undersigned committee, duly appointed and authorized by vote of their respective societies, respectfully request that your Honorable Board take such action as will lead to the restoration of the more ancient name of ‘Menotomy River’ to the so-called ‘
Alewife Brook,’ lying between and forming a portion of the boundaries of the cities and town of
Cambridge,
Somerville and
Arlington.
That the name ‘Menotomy River’ be used to designate the new channel now being constructed between
Spy Pond and
Mystic River, in the proposed Act relocating the boundary lines between the cities of
Cambridge and
Somerville and the town of
Arlington, along the center of the new channel; and that the name of ‘Menotomy River’ be used on the signboards erected by your commission in the reservation bordering the new channel, and in any other manner which will restore and fix in the public mind the name ‘Menotomy River.’
(Signed)
To the Honorable Board of Metropolitan Park Commissioners.
The undersigned committee, duly appointed and authorized by vote of their respective societies, respectfully request that the concrete masonry bridge over the new channel of
Alewife Brook, proposed to be called Menotomy River, near its junction with
Mystic River, be called Dunster Bridge, in honor of
Reverend Henry Dunster, the first president of Harvard College, who owned adjacent lands in ‘Menotomy Fields’ prior to 1656.
(Signed)
