History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

and Broadway, and during the following year the
town was generally supplied with water. March 11,
1870, a legislative enactment was procured to raise
bonds to the additional amount of §100,000, for
the extension of the works, and March 19, 1872,. a
third issue was authorized, increasing the amount
to $400,000. Forty-four miles of pipe have been
laid in the city. The debt for the construction
of the water-works is §3:35,000, and tiie annual
municipal outlay for water purposes is nearly
$14,000.
Although the contract between Soinerville and
Charlestown imposes conditions which might liave
been foreseen and guarded against by a more ear-
nest attention to the subject, when the introduction
of water from Mystic Lake into Charlestown was
in contemplation; the inhabitants of Sonierville are
receiving their annual water supply at less than the
average cost to cities of the commonwealth.
Prior to 1867 the sewerage of Somerville was in
a primitive condition; a few private sewers and ojjen
drains, emptying into river basins, creeks, and stag-
nant pools, sufficiently supplied the needs of the
inhabitants.
In 1867 the first town sewer was laid, and
during the two following years a system was in-
augurated which has since been essentially adhered
to, and which has brought the greater part of the
city to a satisfactory condition in respect to this
important item of municipal regulation.
That watershed whose natural outlet was Miller's
River was drained by trunk sewers constructed
from West Somerville to Charles River along the
line of Somerville Avenue and Beacon and Wash-
ington streets. The valley of the Lowell Railroad
has been provided with an outlet into the old
Charlestown mill-pond. A trunk sewer running
under Broadway and the Park supplies the region
tending towards the Mystic River. The watershed
comprising the Walnut Hill district, having a nat-
ural outlet in Alewife Brook, is still sufficiently
supplied with sewerage. Authority was obtained
from the legislature. May 20, 1873, to drain into
this stream, but it has been deemed inadvisable to
take advantage of the act. The city is now sup-
plied with twenty-five miles of sewerage.
July 9, 1868," the Flint Street Methodist Epis-
copal Church was organized. It began under the
auspices of the First Methodist Society, and wor-
shipped in the chapel in Tufts Street. September
13, 1871, the chapel in Flint Street was dedicated.
Rev. W. B. Toulmin is the present pastor.
&OMERVILLE. 323
In 1868 the graduates of the high school since
the year 1862, and the members attending prior to
that date, reorganized an association which they
had formed some four years previous, and which
had been for some time quiescent. The leading
spirit in this new movement, Edward E. Edgerly,
believed an association of the graduates of the town's
highest educational institution should be a power
for good in the community; consequently the
Somerville High School Association was reformed,
not with the sole intention of refreshing the scenes
and renewing the acquaintances of youth, but to
consider and discuss the social and educational
problems of the day; to teach the simpler branches
to those who had not the opportunity of instruc-
tion in youth ; to supplement and continue the
teaching of the schools by classes or lectures ; aud
to introduce or further any scheme for the in-
tellectual growth or moral welfare of the town.
The object was noble, and not entirely in vain was
the work of Mr. Edgerly, who, unhappily for the
cause of education, died within the short space of
two years. By his efforts and example the Associa-
tion has been able to render honorable service to
the citizens. It has instituted a course of lectures
ill almost every season for the last ten years, it has
supported classes for the pursuit of special subjects,
and it suggested and aided .in the establishment of
the free public library.
The Association was incorporated by act of legis-
lature, February 21, 1871, and authorized to hold
property to the amount of §50,000.
In November, 1868, two petitions were presented
to the legislature, asking for a division of the town,
but the subject received little encouragement. In
that year the selectmen ordered a census to be taken,
which showed the population to be 12,535.
December 23, 1869, the St. Joseph Catholic
Church was formed. The society worshijiped at first
in Hawkins Hall. November 21, 1874, the present
church edifice was dedicated. Rev. C. T. McGrath
was the first pastor, and still continues in office.
The graves of Somerville's fallen soldiers were
first decorated in 1869, by George 0. Brastow,
Lebbeus Stetson, and a few other patriotic citizens,
with money raised by private subscription.
August 17, 1870,' the Willard C. Kinsley Post
139, Grand Army of the Republic, was constituted.
Many of its charter members were from the John
A. Andrew Post of Boston. Colonel C. F. King
was chosen the first commander. He was suc-
ceeded by Colonel H. E. Hill, to whom the post