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Medford Historical Society Papers, Volume 23. 4 0 Browse Search
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Medford Historical Society Papers, Volume 2., A business man of long ago. (search)
rd River by Locks and not Enough to Procede to Charlestown for these two years Past there has Not been water sufficient in the Canal After July Untill October and what has been we May Expect will take Place Again Sooner or later. itt is a Very great Misfortune for the Proprietors that they Proceded Any further than Medford before the Land was Purchased they Intended to have made use of. To connect the canal with Medford River, as Mr. Hall calls it, he was the prime mover in building a Branch Canal in 1807. This was mostly used in carrying ship timber to the various shipyards of Medford. It left the main canal at Mystic avenue. Benjamin, Ebenezer, and Dudley Hall Son of Benjamin Hall, Jr. were the directors. In two years (1807 to 1809) $256.98 were received for tolls. Jonathan Warner and John Jaquith were the keepers of the locks. The first dividend was declared in February, 809,—four dollars on a share of one hundred dollars. In 1803 Benjamin Hall, John Brooks, Fitch Ha
Medford Historical Society Papers, Volume 22., In another corner of Medford. (search)
dford. The enterprise in its entirety was, for the time, a great undertaking. As originally planned it would not have been in this quarter at all, as its southern end would have been at the upper end of Medford pond, as it was then called. To modern engineering, a mile of serpentine, shallow river would not be the serious obstruction it was then. So, contrary to the thought of the Medford promoters, the waterway was continued five miles further to Charlestown mill-pond, requiring the Branch canal, constructed by another corporation, to connect with the river below Main street. Ten years had elapsed since Governor Hancock signed its charter (so much of an undertaking was it) when the thirty-foot ditch, up-hill from the Merrimack at Chelmsford (Chumpsford they called it then) and down-hill from Billerica to the Charles, was completed. Then the water of Concord river was turned into it, and for fifty years laden boats passed to and fro. Rafts of timber from the forests of New Ham
Medford Historical Society Papers, Volume 23., Medford Branch canal. (search)
in, and was cut in two, moved and made into dwellings. Some factories were built, and houses along Union street, which people called Back street. The Branch canal was back of that and became a dumping and drainage place. We find no reversion of title when disused for two years. Probably the Proprietors sold it (as did the Middlesex) in closing up their affairs. The unsanitary conditions that were created were more evident with the introduction of water from Spot Pond in 1871, and the Branch Canal figures considerably in the reports of the Board of Health in the early seventies. At last the nuisance was abated. Along its course are the Teel carriage factories, the city stables, Water and Sewer Department buildings, and lastly the extension of Mystic Valley parkway. Across and beside the river are the Cradock dam and lock of concrete masonry, erected by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. During their construction there stood a few rods away the last visible remains of Benjamin
Medford Historical Society Papers, Volume 23., More about the grist mill. (search)
ver time and again. I fail to recognize Moore square as the place where the four-horse team is located, for the reason that had the team been in or near the square it would have been surrounded by houses and such a view would have been impossible. Nor could the point of view of the artist have been on Main street where the author of the article assumes it to be, unless it was as far away from Moore square as Brooks park, and then he would have been obliged to ignore the Middlesex canal, Branch canal and locks, also the Turnpike with the bridge over the Branch, to have sketched such a view, all of which were plainly visible. As I look at the illustration, the four-horse team is on Mystic avenue, or the Turnpike of those days. Note the wide expanse of land between the road and the river, without any road or building intervening. Without doubt that is the salt marsh, which occupied the entire space between the road and the river. I lived on the turnpike in the year 1843 (not far fr