HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MEDFORD, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, FROM ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT, IN 1630, TO THE PRESENT TIME, 1855.
Charles Brooks, Ed.

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“ [68] raised so high as there may be a fit passage under said bridge for boats and rafts up and down said river. This was voted in the affirmative.” This is the first mention of a bridge of this kind at the Wear. The dwellers in the western parts of Charlestown and Cambridge came so often to Medford that they petitioned for the erection of a bridge “at the Wears.” As Medford would be obliged to pay for half of it, a protest by the town was made against the proceeding, and the two arguments used were, first, that the ford was sufficiently easy and convenient; and, second, that Medford people never, or seldom, travelled that way. The building was deferred; but, in 1722, the grand jury present the town of Medford for not maintaining a bridge across the Wears. Aug. 17, the town “put to vote whether the town will choose a Committee to answer a presentment by the grand jury of the want of a bridge over the Wear; said answer to be made at Concord Court next. Voted in the affirmative.”

The next important action of the town was May 29, 1746. They petition Gov. Shirley and the General Court to order a bridge built over the Wears, and then apportion the expense upon the towns that would most use it; or on Middlesex County. The just decision of the Court was, that Medford and Charlestown should build a bridge, and each pay half the expenses and keep it in repair. August, 1747: The General Court “order that Samuel Danforth, William Brattle, and Edmund Trowbridge, Esquires, be a Committee of said Court, empowered and directed to cause a good and sufficient bridge to be erected over the place called the Wears, between Charlestown and Medford; one-half of the charge to be paid by the town of Charlestown, and the other half by the town of Medford.” Nov. 4, 1747: Andrew Hall, Ebenezer Brooks, and Francis Whitmore, jun., were appointed a Committee to build one-half of the bridge. £ 200 (old tenor) was raised to pay for it. May 12, 1760, the selectmen were chosen to divide this bridge with the town of Charlestown. Ever since that time, the two towns have kept it in good repair; and, recently, it has been rebuilt, and is now wide and strong. Its support devolves on Medford and West Cambridge.

“Gravelly Bridge,” so called, was first built by Mr. Cradock's men probably, and was the usual route for all the travel between the east and west parts of the town. It was very low, narrow, and slender at first, and received frequent