History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

called squadrons, running westward, each one hun-
dred and sixty rods in breadth, and lay next to the
Cambridge line on tlie north, beginning not far
from the present boundary of Watertown and Waltham.
Beaver Brook Ploughlands, partly meadow
and partly upland, lay between the Great Dividends
and Charles River. They began " next the small
lots beyond the wear," and included Hither Plain
or Little Plain, east of the brook, and Further Plain
or the Great Plain, and later "Waltham Plain, on
the west. These two divisions are included in the
present limits of \A\allham. Between the Hither
Plain and the Small Lots ran the Driftway, the
present Gore Street. The Lien of Townsiiip Lots
were west of Waltham Plain, south of the Great
Dividends, and extended beyond Stony Brook.
The Farms, or Farm Lands, now Weston, included
what remained as far as the Sudbury and Dedham
bounds.
Of the early roads, most of which remain, the
most important were Mill Street and Sudbury
Eoad, the one terminating and the other beginning
at the mill, near the weir. Mount Auburn Street,
as Mill Street is now called, began below Mount
Auburn; and passing by the old graveyard, termi-.
nated at the mill at the lowest falls on Charles
Eiver. It was also known as the Cambridge Road,
or the Road to the College. Tlie Sudbui-y Road, ex-
tending westward from the mill, is now Main Street,
retaining this name through Waltham. It was the
great thoroughfare from Boston, passing over the
Neck, through Roxbury, Brookline, Newton, and
over Mdl Bridge, thence westward to New York,
and then to the southward, and was for a long time
the principal road in the colonies. The very ancient
road from Cambridge to Waltham, long known
as the Back Road, is now Belmont Street. Lex-
ington Street, beginning at Belmont Street and
extending north by Elbow Hill, was anciently
called the Concord Road.
Prior to the settlement of Concord and Dedham,
in 1635, the only definite boundary of the town
was that between it and Newtown (Cambridge),
the line running from Fresh Pond west-northwest
straight into the country. March 2,1636, its west-
ern limit was fixed by an order of the court that " the
bounds of Watertown shall run S miles into the coun-
try from their meeting-house." June 8, 163S, the
court ordered " for the final end of all difference
between Watertown, Concord, and Dedham, that
Watertown eight miles shall be extended upon the
WATERTO]VN. 435
bounds give leave; and that their bounds by the
river shall run eight miles into the country in a
straight line, as also the river doth for the most part
run." Her original eastern boundary is supposed
to correspond very nearly with the present Vassal
Lane and Sparks Street, Cambridge, beginning at
the southeast side of the East Bay of Fresh Pond,
and running to the most northerly point of tlie
bend in the river. The division line between
Watertown and Sudbury was settled by commis-
sioners in May, 1651.
AVithin her original limits were embraced the
present towns of Watertown, Waltham, Weston,
the greater part of Lincoln, a part of Belmont, and
tliat portion of Cambridge lying east of Mount
Auburn Cemetery between Fresh Pond and Charles
River. Watertown is now one of the smallest
towns in the state. A strip was cut off for Newtown
in 1631; thirty acres on the south side of
Charles River were also relinquished to her in
1634; a third excision was made in 1635 in favor
of Concord, and one half of its territory was taken
off and incorporated as the town of Weston, January
1, 1713. This tract had been commonly
known as Watertown Farms ; afterwards as the
Farmers' Precmct, sometimes as the Third Military
Precinct, and sometimes as the Western Precinct.
Lincoln, incorporated April 19, 1754, was made
from the northern part of Weston, the southern
])art of Concord, and the western part of Lexington.
The incorporation of Waltham, January 4, 173S,
took off about three fifths of Watertown's already
much diminished territory. After the incorpora-
tion of Weston the Middle Precinct (Waltham)
became the West Precinct of Watertown. In
April, 1754, a strip of land about half a mile wide
was taken from the eastern border of the town and
annexed to Cambridge. Belmont, incorporated
March 18, 1859, took off the northern part of the
town, including Fresh Pond and more than one
third of its remaining territory. The boundary
between it and Watertown begins near the entrance
of Mount Auburn, and runs northwesterly on the
south side of Belmont Street, seven hundred and
thirteen rods to the " four corners," thence north-
erly one hundred and eighty-six rods to Beaver
Brook.
These successive amputations have diminished
the area of the town from about 29,000 to 2,887|
acres, from which if the river, the arsenal, and the
cemeteries be deducted the actual acreage is reduced
line between them and Cambridge as far as Concord to 2,041. Although thus repeatedly shorn of her