History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

Rev. M. G. Wheeler. The church edifice was dedicated
in 1857, and has been since enlarged. The
pastors have been Rev. E. W. C'lai'k, 18.57 - 1S61 ;
Rev. A. H. Carrier, 1861.-1866 ;
and Rev. Calvin
Cutler, installed in May, 1867.
The Centenary Methodist Church, at Auburn-
dale, originated in meetings first held in August,
1860, in private houses, and afterwards in an
unoccupied scliool-iiouse. The first sermon by
a Methodist clergyman, preached in the inter-
ests of Metliodism in this part of Newton, was
by Rev. George W. ilansfield, November 18,
1860. The sacrament of the Lord's Supper was
first administered by Rev. L. P. Frost, of AYnl-
tliam, December 1, 1860. The Sabbatli scliool
was commenced January 27, 1861. The church
was organized, with twelve members. May 25,
1862. The place of worship which had been oc-
cupied by the society was burned July 22, 1865.
The corner-stone of the new chapel was laid December
25, 1866, and the chapel dedicated Mav
25, 1867.
Episcopal worship was iield in a hall standing
near the corner of Auburn and Lexington streets,
Auburndale, as early as 1858. This hall was
afterwards burned. A meeting was held to organ-
ize the parish at the house of Jeremiah Allen,
West Newton, September 8, 1S71. Regular services
were first held in the village hall. West New-
ton, July 16, 1871, and continued from that date,
either in the same hall, the Unitarian Church, or
the chapel of Lasell Seminary, Auburndale. Li
July, 1872, Rev. C. S. Lester became the first
rector, and resigned in March, 1873. He was
succeeded by Rev. H. W. Fay and Rev. Fran-
cis W. Smith. The name of the society was
changed, April 16, 1877, from the Church of the
Messiah of West Newton to the Church of the
Messiah of West Newton and Auburndale. The
services have .since been held in the chapel of
the Lasell Seminary. Mr. Smith resigned Octo-
ber, 1877.
Li April, 1635, a strip of land on the south side
of Charles River two liundred rods in length and
sixty rods in breadth, near the location of the
bridge subsequently erected, was set apart to Wa-
tertown, thus giving to Watertown seventy-five
acres on the south side of the river. Li 1705, by
mutual arrangement, this space was increased to
eighty-eight acres. The whole length of the river-
bounds of Newton, from 1679 to 1838, was fifteen
miles and fifty-one rods ; the whole length of its
XEWTOX. 239
land-bounds, nine miles minus fifty-one rods.
The whole length of its land and water bounds
together, in 1838, was twenty-four miles, and the
town contained an area of 14,513 acres. In 1838,
1,800 acres from the south part of the town were
ceded to Roxbury, and in 1849, 64-0 acres from
the northwest part to AValtham, reducing the area
to 12,073 acres. Covering, geographically, a wide
area, as it did in the beginning, its villages were
mainly disposed around the circumference, and the
actual centre of the town was left nearly in its
native wildness, until in the latest times it has been
covered by an Irisli population.
In 1660 tiie bridge was built across Charles
River called the Great Bridge, connecting the
north and .south sides of the river. It was re-
paired a few years later, the timber being used for
that purpose wliich had been prepared to fence the
town with a stockade as a protection against the
assaults of Indian invaders, — the termination of
King Philip's War and the humiliation of the sav-
age tribes rendering such a defence no longer
necessary. In 1690 this bridge was rebuilt at the
joint expense of Cambridge and Newton, with
some aid from the public treasury. It was across
this bridge that the troops of Lord Percy marched
on the 19th of April, 1775, to meet their humiliating
defeat at Concord and Lexington. The
American patriots took up the flooring of the bridge
to prevent Percy's advance, laying (lie planks in
a pile not far away, that they might be conveniently
restored when the danger was past. But
Lord Percy's men soon found them and replaced
them. This is the bridge in Cambridge over
Charles River which has been long known as
Brighton Bridge, connecting, as it does, the towns
of Cambridge and Brighton. Before the erection
of Cambridge Bridge (West Boston Bridge), the
travel from Cambridge passed, by this bridge,
through Brookline and Roxbury, over the neck,
to Boston.
In 1741 mention is made of a bridge at New-
ton Upper Falls, called Cook's Bridge, uniting
Newton with Needham. In 1743 the records
speak of a bridge between Newton and Weston.
In 1753 a new bridge was completed between
these towns, ninety-eight and two thirds feet in
length. In 1761 a bridge was built between
Newton and Waltham, at the joint expense of
the two towns. It cost the town of Newton
£ 12 16 s. 5 d., much of the timber for the struc-
ture having been given for tlie purpose by private