History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

64
spoken to by Nathan Appletou, iu case of Mr. Wor-
then's decease, to take his place. Mr. Batchelder
came to Chelmsford as soon as it was proposed to
form the Hamilton Company, and superintended
the erection of all the buildings for that company.
The memorable events of 18^5 were the or-
ganization of an independent military company,
called the Mechanic Plialanx, the incorporation of
the Central Bridge Company and of the Middlesex
Mechanic Association. The third mill on the Mer-
rimack Corporation was started with a complete
set of machinery made in the machine-shop under
the superintendence of Mr. Moody. May 18, the
first dividend of profits of ten per cent, or one
hundred dollars per share, was declared by the
Merrimack Company; and December 1, another
dividend of seventy-five dollars on each share was
made. December 30, the terms of separation were
agreed upon by the townsmen of Chelmsford. The
name of " Merrimack " was to be given to the new
town. The editor of the Journal suggested that
of La Grange. Mr. Appleton states when, where,
and how the name originated: "In 1826 I met
Mr. Boott [in Lowell] one (Liy, when he said to
me that the committee of the h-i-laimv were ready
to report the bill. It only nuiiiiiicd to fill the
blank with the name. He said he considered the
question narrowed down to two, Lowell or Derby.
I said to him, ' then Lowell by all means ' ; and
Lowell it was."
The directors of the Merrimack Company appro-
priated the sum of §500 to purchase books toward
the formation of a library ; and Kirk Boott, War-
ren Colburn, and Rev. Theodore Edson were ap-
pointed a committee to lay out that sum for the
purpose.
MUNICIPAL HISTORY.
We have already described the boundaries of the
new town ; now we turn to the terms of separation
said to have been agreed upon by tlie townsmen
of Chelmsford. We can very readily imagine tiie
anxious participation of such men as Kirk Boott
and Nathan Appleton in the deliberation of tiiese
important questions.
The Merrimack Company liad nearly completed
five factories, three of which were filled with ma-
of cotton, and making 2,000,000 yards of cotton
cloth per animm. The cloth was bleached, and
three fourth- of it dyed and printed. The Hamil-
HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
ton Company had erected one factory and laid the
foundations for the second. They had erected two
blocks of houses, with eight tenements in each;
and were preparing to erect two more, one hundred
and ninety-three feet in length and thirty-six feet
in width. They had built a counting-house, store-
house, and a dwelling for the agent. These were
all of brick roofed with slate. By a regulation of
the proprietors, all buildings more than ten feet
iiigh, hereafter to be erected upon any of the lands
then belonging to them, must be of stone or brick,
with a slated roof.
Five families moved ott' the ground occupied by
the Merrimack Company ; 1,500 persons were now
accommodated on the same ground. There were
now, in all, one hundred tenements erected for
those employed in the factories, print-works, and
machine-shop. In the tenements of the Merrimack
Company there were 967 persons ; 299 males
and 668 females : in those of the machine-sho.p
were 263; 162 males and 101 females. It was
estimated that the population at that time was
2,500. In addition to this, Belvidere, separated
from Lowell by the Concord River, contained a
population of 300 or 400. There were already a
dozen stores in the place, a church, a stone house
almost ready for the rector, a school-house, and
two hotels, — the Stone House and Frye's Tavern.
March 2, 1826, Joseph Locke, justice of the
peace, issued a warrant directed to Kirk Boott,
authorizing him to call a meeting of the freeholders
and other inhabitants, to choose town officers, to
vote for register of deeds, and agree upon the man-
ner of calling future town-meetings. Mr. Boott's
return is dated March 6, the day of the meeting,
which was held at Balch and Coburn's tavern, the
" Stone House." Kirk Boott was chosen moder-
ator, Samuel A. Coburn town-clerk, and Nathaniel
Wright, Samuel Batchelder, and Oliver M. Whip-
ple selectmen. Artemas Holden was chosen treas-
urer, and Luther Marshall constable.
Up to this time (1826) the art'airs of this community
liad been managed by the resident agents
of the companies. No doubt, ui their view, it was
their prescriptive right. The companies had done
much for the welfare of the people gathered here :
building and maintainmg a church and school-
cliinery in full operation, and two large buildings houses, purchasing books for a library, and doing
for print-works. They were using 450,000 pounds everytiiing necessary for the religious, moral, and
physical well-being of the people. Incorporation
as a township brought anotlier clement to tlie sur-
face ; tiie people fuuiid that llu'i/ ircrc, titei/iselres,