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

The Hon. Peter C. Brooks offered a clock as a gift to the town, expressing in his letter a true and deep feeling of attachment to the inhabitants. The town accepted the generous donation, and in their letter express their gratitude and their sense of high respect for their prosperous towns-man. To this letter Mr. Brooks replies as follows :--

Boston, March 12, 1810.

Dear Sir,--The vote of the inhabitants of the town of Medford, on the subject of the clock, I received with those feelings which this general expression of thanks is calculated to inspire; and you will permit me to add, sir, that the pleasure I experienced is not a little heightened by the very agreeable manner in which the knowledge of this transaction has been conveyed to me.

The gift to which it alludes, I now, with great satisfaction, confirm; and shall be amply rewarded, should it be considered an ornament to the town in which many of my days have been happily spent, and a convenience to its inhabitants, for whom I entertain a very sincere regard.

I am, &c.,

P. C. Brooks. Abner Bartlett, Esq.

A new bridge across Charles River, from Charlestown to Boston, is proposed; and Nov. 1, 1824, the town voted to petition the Legislature in favor of its erection. They proposed to call it “Warren Bridge.” The bridge was built, though, as many thought, against the pledged faith of a former Legislature.

1828: Heretofore the Selectmen had met at times agreed upon by themselves; but now the town voted “that it shall henceforth be the duty of the Selectmen to meet on the first Monday of every month for business;” and no business shall be done by them at other times.

“May 7, 1836: Voted that in future the practice or custom of allowing the town-officers an annual supper, at the town's expense, be dispensed with.”