History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

Street, comer of Upham, where it was enlarged and
dedicated in 1830. After repeated but unsuc-
cessful attempts to reunite these two societies, the
Protestant Methodists built a new edifice in 1841,
removing the old church to the corner of Foster
and Myrtle streets, where it became a tenement
house, and was afterwards burned. On the 1st of
January, 1856, this society was merged in the First
Baptist Church, which continued to worship in this
meeting-house until July, 1873, when it was sold
to the Catholics, and moved away to give place to
the present brick chapel, which was dedicated November
17, 1874. Eev. Robert F. Tolman is the
present pastor.
The Orihodox Congregational Church was formed
July 11, 1848. Its first meeting-house was built
on Foster Street, and dedicated May 17, 1849.
Previous to this services had been held in the
house of Dr. Levi Gould, opposite the present
Methodist Church. After that services were held
at the house of Deacon Jonathan Cochrane, and
then at the centre depot of the Boston and Maine
Railroad. Their meeting-house was remodelled
and enlarged in 1858, and destroyed by fire Feb-
ruary 17, 1869. The present church edifice was
dedicated October 26, 1870, and the Rev. Albert
G. Bale, the present pastor, was settled Decem-
ber 3, 1868.
The Universalist Socieii/ vi3.s organized in 1849,
and the meetings held in Academy Hall, then
standing on Berwick Street, afterwards moved to
Main Street, where it became Lyceum Hall, and
was destroyed by fire August 21, 1870. The
meeting-house on Essex Street now used by the
society was built by them and dedicated in 1851.
Rev. Charles A. Skinner is the present pastor.
Trinity Church {Episcopal) was formed May 20,
1857, its first service being held at the residence
of Mr. Samuel Rice on Lake Avenue, afterwards in
Waverley Hall. The present church, on Emerson
Street, was erected and dedicated in 1859. Rev.
Henry A. Metcalf is now the rector.
The Unitarian Congregational Church was organized
July 17, 1867, and the church on Emer-
son Street was dedicated May 1, 1872. Rev.
Nathaniel Seaver, Jr., is the present pastor.
The Catholic Church was formed in April, 1873.
The society, having purchased the old Baptist
Meeting-house, moved it to Dell Avenue, and commenced
services therein in October of that year.
MELROSE. 179
September 29, 1875. A new chapel is now being
erected. Rev. John G. Taylor is the acting pastor.
The only school in Melrose for many years was
kept in the little unpainted district school-house,
whose after history as a church has been traced.
It was built in the year 1800, was twenty by
twenty-five feet, and was situated on a knoll on
the old road, now Lebanon Street, about a dozen
rods south of Upham Street. In this old school-
house Robert Gerry, who died in Stoneham, April
1, 1873, in his ninetieth year, taught school dur-
ing the winter season for twenty-four years in succession,
commencing in 1803. Here the North
Maldenites were taught to " Reed and wright and
to Refmetick." The boys and girls of the west
part of the town came " across lots," passing by
the old Howard house, still standing on Main
Street, and crossing L Pond Brook on a log. After
this house was sold to the Protestant Methodists
a new one was built on Upham Street, in 1828, by
the schoolmaster, Robert Gerry, for the town of
Maiden. This was burned in 1845, and the one
built on its site was the only one owned by Melrose
when incorporated ; in this was kept a primary,
intermediate, and grammar school. This house
was burned in April, 1874, and was succeeded by
the present grammar-school structure. A high
school was established in 1857, and the present
high-school building, between Emerson Street and
Lake Avenue, was built, and dedicated July 15,
1869. There are now seven school-houses, with
sixteen schools. Value of buildings, $55,000,
and of school property, §3,150.
When the Revolutionary War broke forth, and
the alarum-note from Concord and Lexington
sounded for men " to resist the minesteral troops,"
nearly every able-bodied man living in North Maiden
joined the Maiden company, under the command
of Captain Benjamin Blaney, which marched
nnmediately for Concord ; a few joined the " alarm
Hst" of about sixty men, mider Captain Nayler
Hatch, which proceeded to Beacham's Point and
threw up a fort. Captain Hatch's company remained
at the fort during the day, and after return-
ing to town at night a number of the men started
for Concord, to join their comrades in battle. The
names of those who took part in this contest, living
in Melrose, were Sergeant Jabez Lynde, Nathan
Eaton, Joseph Lynde, Jr., Ezra Howard, John
Vinton, Benjamin Lynde, William Upham, Ezra
Rev. Dennis J. O'Farrell is the present priest. Upham, John Grover, 3d, Unite Cox, Joseph
The Melrose Highlands Church was organized Barrett, Jr., Phineas S])rague, John Grover, Jr.,