History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

28;
An association of which Messrs. Stephen Foster
and C. P. Judd were prominent members, in IS-io
did a commendable work in setting out many of
the shade-trees that now adoni the principal por-
tion of the villagv. Xeail.v •'S::U() were raised by
subscription for purchasing the trees, and the work
of setting them out was voluntarily performed.
The work of improvement went forward, and in the
next year the Old South Parish purchased thirteen
acres of land north of the old burying-ground, and
laid it out in lots for cemetery use. Consecration
services were held November 25, in the church, a
severe storm preventing their observance on the
grounds. In 1853 the cemetery was transferred
to the town on payment of $2,5:17.41. Since
1870 the cemetery has been managed by a board
of trustees, who have done much towards making
it one of the most attractive rural cemeteries in the
vicinity.
For several years efforts were made to establish
a high school, but the North and South Parishes
could not agree upon a location. The incorporation
of North Reading as a town in 1853 removed
this difficulty, and the high school in Reading was
established in 1856. A course of study was prescribed,
and its first class graduated in 1863. The
standard has been repeatedly raised, and classes
have graduated every year since. The whole number
of graduates to the present time has been one
hundred and ninety-one. The high-school house
was built in 1867. The present efficient teacher,
Cyrus A. Cole, has been in charge of the school
for ten years.
The town furnished four hundred and eleven
men for the Civil War, a surplus of thirty-four
beyond its quota. Thirteen were commissioned
officers. Under the first call of the President,
April 15, 1861, twenty-one men enlisted, and on
the 19th started for Washington, and were in the
first Bull Itiiii battle, .lunc I, tlir town appropri-
ated .^5,tM)() fur stair aid, and vi.tcd to pay each
man who enlisted for the war §25 as an outfit.
July 17, 1862, it voted a bounty of $100 to each
volunteer who enlisted for three years, to the
town's credit. August 26, was voted a bounty of
$150 to each recruit for nin(> inonilis' service.
The total expenditure by the town, on account of
the war, excluding state aid, was §37,971.11.
Total amount of state aid furnished by the town,
$25,888.84. The ladies of Reading met two or
three times a week during the war to prepare lint,
bandages, and clothing for the soldiers ; but as
mSTORV OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
they kept no record of the work they contributed,
it cannot be given. One of their number. Miss
Emily Ruggles, furnished a representative recruit
for three years' service. In 1863 Abiel Hol-
den, Esq., bequeathed $500 for the erection of a
soldiers' monument, on condition that the town
would furnish the same amount. The town, in
March, 1865, added $1,000 to Mr. Holden's be-
quest, and a monument was dedicated, with appro-
priate ceremonies, October 5. Forty-six names of
"the sons of Reading who died for their country"
are inscribed upon it. The Reading Veteran As-
sociation have since erected headstones over the
graves of those deceased soldiers who had none.
The Franklin Library was formed in 1842, and
continued in operation till 1869, when it trans-
ferred its four hundred and sixty-two volumes to
the Reading Public Library.
The Agricultural Library Association was organ-
ized in 1860, with N. P. Pratt, Esq., as president.
After existing nine years, it placed its books in the
care of the town library, for the public benefit.
The Reading Public Library was established in
1868. Dr. Horace P. Wakefield donated $500
towards it, and the town appropriated the same
amount. E. Appleton was the first, and is the
present president of the board of trustees. The
library is well patronized, and contains, at present,
four thousand one hundred and ten volumes.
The manufacture of slioes, which has been and
still is one of the leading industries in that part of
the town now known as Reading, was begun as early
as 1758. The business steadily increased, and early
in the present century the goods found their way
to the Southern States and to the West Indies.
The shoes to be sent to market were thrown
into barrels, and packed as solidly as the weight
of a boy could make them by "treading." The
prices for making children's aiid misses' shoes in
ISO L was from seventeen to twenty cents per pair,
and twenty-five to twenty-nine cents for larger
sizes. The value of boots and shoes made in 1837
was $lS|.,.jS3; in is 15, SI (it!, 734; in 1855,
$191,5lll»; in 1S65, $2l7,(i.'J3; in 1875,
$ 185,035. Hands employed in 1837, males 338,
females 494; in 1845, males 358, females 385;
in 1855, males 267, females 150 ; in 1865, males
244, females 121 ; in 1875, males 93, females 107.
The manufacture of cabinet furniture, beginning
probably in 1810, by Ambrose Kingman, contin-
ued for many years to hold a prominent place.
He sold out to his brother Henry, who greatly eu-