Dublin Core
Title
Newspaper article by B.J. Coughlin recalling the early days of Maynard.
Date
1951-01
Identifier
1999.937
Format
Newspaper clipping
Document Item Type Metadata
Text
January 1951
Maynard Resident Recalls Early Days In Town's History
B. J. Coughlin, Prominent Citizen, Born In 1871. Was Second Person Born After Maynard Became A Town.
Maynard - B.J. Coughlin, one of Maynard's outstanding citizens, who observed his 80th birthday recently, graciously consented to write the following article for Maynard's leading publication for the past 60 years, which covers the progress, as well as the many changes, he has seen during his entire lifetime
By B J Coghlin
Not long ago as I lay on my back, a patient in Emerson Hospital, a great many things went through my mind about the changes which have taken place in the community during my 80 years.
I had plenty of time to go back over this period in retrospect and the following were some of the things that came to my mind:
I was born in Maynard on Pleasant Street, the first year that Maynard became a town, the second person born in the town, on January 8, 1871. The first child born in Maynard was Robert Ramsdell, on January 1st of that year. All records of the town of Maynard start from January 1, 1871.
Previous to this time, Maynard was known as the Village of Assabet, deriving its name from the Assabet River which runs through it.
A person born previous to January 1, 1871 in the village of Assabet on the southeast of the river, was born in Sudbury. A person born on the northwest side was born in Stow.
Amory Maynard came to this village in 1846 and started the mill. In the fall of 1870 a number of the citizens decided to honor him by petitioning the legislature for such part of the village as we know Maynard today and giving it the name of Maynard. The town of Sudbury was paid a little over $20,000 for their part of the land which is now Maynard and the town of Stow was paid $6,500 the difference in the price was because the mill buildings were on this land sold by Sudbury.
Mr. Maynard was again honored on his 80th birthday in 1884 for a celebration held in the old Riverside Hall in which the whole town took part. I was about 14 years old at that time and remember attending the affair.
The population at that time was a little over 1900, the number of houses about 300 and the total number of voters about 500. The valuation of the town was estimated at about $1,000,000.
(missing text) ... no more homes to the Paper Mill Corner.
On Acton Street there was a few small cottages before you arrive at the George Brown property, then the next home was the John Dean home next to the railroad crossing. (About 55 years ago Mr. Dean was murdered in that house by Lorenzo Barnes. Barnes was later hanged for this murder - his was the last hanging in the state of Massachusetts.)
On the opposite side of Acton Street was the Joel Parmenter home. In the lane opposite the George Brown home was that of Henry Fowler, father of the well-known Orrin Fowler, undertaker in Maynard for many years. Coming toward Maynard, there was only one more house - that of the Whitney family. Previous to the Whitney's, this was occupied by a family named Binks.
From the Assabet Coal Yard on Concord Street as far as the Acton line, the only house on the right hand side of the road was that of the late Daniel Parmenter.
On Concord street from the coal yard card at Summer Street was the home where the Dawsons lived at the time. The next house was that of Charles Randall which was on the site now occupied by the Hamlin and Fowler homes. Continuing into the corner of Summer and Concord streets was the home of Walter Tilton. Turning the corner on Summer Street, the next building was that of the Little Red School House, now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Martin. Next was a small cottage near the Everett Davis place, owned by Edward Sawyer - then that of Henry Mason and Jonathan Bent's. Returning toward Maynard was the home of Charles Maynard, next the Silas Brooks home on the corner of the Summer Hill Road and Summer Street, that occupied so long by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Morse, but then occupied by a Mr. Woodhalf a druggist before the Johnson's time. Then came the Luke Brooks home.
Starting at the United Cooperative store on the corner of Parker and Waltham streets, going in the direction of North Sudbury on Waltham Street to the Sudberry town line, on the right-hand side, there are only two dwellings - the Mahoney homestead and the Gorham Brown property. On the opposite side coming toward Maynard, the James Carney home and that of James McGrath were the only two houses until you arrive about opposite Russo's where there were one or two small dwellings, then a large barn that took care of the horses, etc., for the old paper mill. These were all the buildings on that street.
Starting at the same point and going toward Sudbury Center, the first house on the right hand side was the Walker property, the next house was across Great Road which is now the residence of John Salo - at that time occupied by a man named Balcom. The next dwelling is the home of the Settlings. Returning on the opposite side of the street the first building was the Turnpike school, next the home of Owen Burns, then that of the Reardon's, for whom Reardonville was named.
On Parker Street going toward the Powder Mills on the right hand side there was not one single house until you reached the Acton line. Coming back on the opposite side, the first building was the boarding house for the Powder Mill employees, next then the house occupied by a Sumner Rogers, an employee of the American Powder Company.
From the corner of Concord Street down Summer, the first house was the property of Alice Kemp, later the wife of William Henderson a wool sorter in the Mill. This property is not occupied by a Mr. W. A. Twombly.
Next was the property now occupied by the schools, then owned by John Parmenter. The next site occupied was where the present Legion Home is located, then it was a cider mill operated by Luke S. Brooks.
From the corner of lower Main Street toward the center of the town on the left hand side was the little house known as the William Cleary estate, then came the rear part of what is now Jerry Lynch's Package Store which was then the Johnson Pharmacy. Then a boarding house, on the site of the home of Dr. E. J. Flaherty, then two small cottages and a two family house next to the Methodist church - Thomas Naylor lived in a home on about the site of the present bank, then came another two family house owned by John Bailey and a small dwelling owned by Hugh Doner. After that was a small home owned by James Wagner, then the General Store owned by Connie Stuart, where toys, newspapers, dry goods, etc., were sold. This was situated about where the Elks Building now stands. On what is now the Zaniewski property stood the Campbell home, next that of Charles Sanders and on the site of Dr. Hooper's home there was a small two family house. On the site where the Methodist Church now stands was a General Store operated by Hiram Curtis. This building was later turned facing Main Street and is now an apartment house owned by W. F. Ozbeck.
My school days were spent at the old Acton Street school, where I had teachers Miss Nelly Pope who afterwords became the wife of Orrin Fowler, and Miss Emily Gordon - both of whom I remember with great respect.
In 1884 Lorenzo Maynard built the skating rink opposites what is now the Ozbek property, about where Tutto's Bowling Alleys now stand. The operators of the rink at that time were Frank and Arthur Locke and the manager of the skating floor was Edward Nutting. At about that time I was arounf 14 years old and was one of the attendants at the rink the first night it opened and fast became a lover of roller skating, very shortly becoming a speed demon. About 1915 the roller skating racing became a craze. Frank Salisbury took over the operation of the rink and I started my racing. For five years I skated against the fastest roller skaters of the world and won my share of the races.
My working days began in the mill when I was 10 years of age and I was employed there until I was 21. Just about this time Amory Block was built on Main Street. Charles Silvio occupied a small fruit store on the side of the present Town House and later moved into the Amory Block. This was about sixty years ago. While working in the burling room of the mill I could see the patrons of this little store going in and out and I got the idea that I would like to run a store of that kind.
Frank R. Connor, an overseer in the carding department of the Mill, owned the vacant land from the Florist Shop now located on Nason Street to the Fires Station. I made the proposition to him of having the little store which had been vacated by Mr. Silvio moved to this site. In 1892 Mr. Connors moved the small building and leased it to me. I opened a fruit and variety store in the same in the summer of 1892. That was at the time Grover Cleveland was President of the United States and boy we had some tough times.
In 1896 Maynard was struck by the bicycle craze and I started selling bicycles and did very well. In 1897 Mr. W. B. Case bought this property from Mr. Connor. He built for me part of the present building owned and occupied by James J. Ledgard, leasing it to me at the time with a store 24 feet wide and a 36 feet deep and a six room at tenement overhead. Then the bicycle craze was on in earnest. This was 1898. I sold 125 bicycles and obtained the first real money I ever had.
At that time there were no banks in the town but you could leave your money at the mill office and receive a stock certificate. The Mill employees received a 5% and outsiders 4%. About $250,000 was accumulated. Then the story was circulated that things didn't look so good for the Mill and in the fall of 1898 the people had withdrawn $100,000 of the original $250,000. On December 31st of the same year the Assabet Manufacturing Company failed for $1,250,000. In the settlement of the property the American Woolen Company took over. The people received 66 2/3% of their money deposited.
In 1898 I purchased the News Business from John B. Dean. Ten years later I sold it to the present newsdealer, Mr. Ledgard.
With no bank in the town a number of businessmen decided to apply for a charter to operate a bank in Maynard. They received their charter under the name of the Assabet Institution for Savings and started to do business June 14, 1904 with the following officers: pres., Clarence J Bodfish; Vice presidents Charles H Persons and Orrin S Fowler; Clerk Howard A. Wilson; trustees - James R. Bent, Clarence J. Bodfish, William B .Case, Bartholomew J. Coughlin, Rev. John A. Crowe, Orrin S. Fowler, M. Howell Garfield, Dilette H. Hall, William R. Hall, Frank H. Harriman, Abel G. Haynes, George A. Haynes, Frank W. Hoit, S. Raymond Kitchin, John W. Ogden, Thomas F. Parker, Charles H. Persons, Frank U. Rich, Francis H. Stevens, James F. Sweeney and Lyman C. Taylor. Looking over these names now I find I am the sole survivor. Sidney McLeary had been connected with the Assabet Institution almost from its beginning. He was originally appointed Assistant Treasurer and a short time later appointed Treasurer, which position he still holds.
The Maynard Trust Company, now the Middlesex County National Bank was originally founded in 1913. Both banks have been successful with the deposits at the present close to $9,000,000.
In 1905 an accident occurred in which several Maynard people were victims. A train leaving Boston on a Sunday evening stopped at the Baker's Bridge to take on passengers etc. The rear car of this train was supposed to shift at South Acton for the Marlboro Branch. Naturally the people from this vicinity leaving Boston would board this particular car. While the train was stopped at Baker's Bridge an express came along from Boston and jammed right into the rear car killing three people from Maynard: May Campbell, Robert Barris and his young child. Several others were injured including Mr. and Mrs. Albert Batley, Matthew Campbell and his wife Margaret, Harvey Broadbent and others.
In 1916 I purchased from a lady in Brookline Massachusetts, every house on East, West and Elm streets, 23 in number and two house lots. I will always pride myself on selling twelve of these houses in one afternoon.
About 1920 the late Judge Williams ... (missing text) ... I purchased the land on ... (missing text) ... Dam with 49 house lots and sold that at a handsome profit.
At the age of 52, I retired from the moving picture business. Of baseball I have seen plenty - prize fighting too. I saw Dempsey lick the great Firpo, also Tunney take the world championship from Jack Dempsey with an attendance of 105,000 people in Philadelphia. I have been interested in golfing, bowling and all kind of sports.
In the civic affairs of the town I was always keenly interested. At the time of the first World War I was honored by Gov. McCall by being appointed to the Draft Board with offices in Ayer, upon which I served until the end of the war. I was on the building committee for every school in town with the exception of the Main Street school and a past member of the Water and Sewer Departments. When the Finance Committee was first organized, I served as a member for a number of years.
I guess this is enough to say. If anyone is interested, I will be glad to answer any questions I can about the changes which have taken place in town in my eighty years
Maynard Resident Recalls Early Days In Town's History
B. J. Coughlin, Prominent Citizen, Born In 1871. Was Second Person Born After Maynard Became A Town.
Maynard - B.J. Coughlin, one of Maynard's outstanding citizens, who observed his 80th birthday recently, graciously consented to write the following article for Maynard's leading publication for the past 60 years, which covers the progress, as well as the many changes, he has seen during his entire lifetime
By B J Coghlin
Not long ago as I lay on my back, a patient in Emerson Hospital, a great many things went through my mind about the changes which have taken place in the community during my 80 years.
I had plenty of time to go back over this period in retrospect and the following were some of the things that came to my mind:
I was born in Maynard on Pleasant Street, the first year that Maynard became a town, the second person born in the town, on January 8, 1871. The first child born in Maynard was Robert Ramsdell, on January 1st of that year. All records of the town of Maynard start from January 1, 1871.
Previous to this time, Maynard was known as the Village of Assabet, deriving its name from the Assabet River which runs through it.
A person born previous to January 1, 1871 in the village of Assabet on the southeast of the river, was born in Sudbury. A person born on the northwest side was born in Stow.
Amory Maynard came to this village in 1846 and started the mill. In the fall of 1870 a number of the citizens decided to honor him by petitioning the legislature for such part of the village as we know Maynard today and giving it the name of Maynard. The town of Sudbury was paid a little over $20,000 for their part of the land which is now Maynard and the town of Stow was paid $6,500 the difference in the price was because the mill buildings were on this land sold by Sudbury.
Mr. Maynard was again honored on his 80th birthday in 1884 for a celebration held in the old Riverside Hall in which the whole town took part. I was about 14 years old at that time and remember attending the affair.
The population at that time was a little over 1900, the number of houses about 300 and the total number of voters about 500. The valuation of the town was estimated at about $1,000,000.
(missing text) ... no more homes to the Paper Mill Corner.
On Acton Street there was a few small cottages before you arrive at the George Brown property, then the next home was the John Dean home next to the railroad crossing. (About 55 years ago Mr. Dean was murdered in that house by Lorenzo Barnes. Barnes was later hanged for this murder - his was the last hanging in the state of Massachusetts.)
On the opposite side of Acton Street was the Joel Parmenter home. In the lane opposite the George Brown home was that of Henry Fowler, father of the well-known Orrin Fowler, undertaker in Maynard for many years. Coming toward Maynard, there was only one more house - that of the Whitney family. Previous to the Whitney's, this was occupied by a family named Binks.
From the Assabet Coal Yard on Concord Street as far as the Acton line, the only house on the right hand side of the road was that of the late Daniel Parmenter.
On Concord street from the coal yard card at Summer Street was the home where the Dawsons lived at the time. The next house was that of Charles Randall which was on the site now occupied by the Hamlin and Fowler homes. Continuing into the corner of Summer and Concord streets was the home of Walter Tilton. Turning the corner on Summer Street, the next building was that of the Little Red School House, now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Martin. Next was a small cottage near the Everett Davis place, owned by Edward Sawyer - then that of Henry Mason and Jonathan Bent's. Returning toward Maynard was the home of Charles Maynard, next the Silas Brooks home on the corner of the Summer Hill Road and Summer Street, that occupied so long by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Morse, but then occupied by a Mr. Woodhalf a druggist before the Johnson's time. Then came the Luke Brooks home.
Starting at the United Cooperative store on the corner of Parker and Waltham streets, going in the direction of North Sudbury on Waltham Street to the Sudberry town line, on the right-hand side, there are only two dwellings - the Mahoney homestead and the Gorham Brown property. On the opposite side coming toward Maynard, the James Carney home and that of James McGrath were the only two houses until you arrive about opposite Russo's where there were one or two small dwellings, then a large barn that took care of the horses, etc., for the old paper mill. These were all the buildings on that street.
Starting at the same point and going toward Sudbury Center, the first house on the right hand side was the Walker property, the next house was across Great Road which is now the residence of John Salo - at that time occupied by a man named Balcom. The next dwelling is the home of the Settlings. Returning on the opposite side of the street the first building was the Turnpike school, next the home of Owen Burns, then that of the Reardon's, for whom Reardonville was named.
On Parker Street going toward the Powder Mills on the right hand side there was not one single house until you reached the Acton line. Coming back on the opposite side, the first building was the boarding house for the Powder Mill employees, next then the house occupied by a Sumner Rogers, an employee of the American Powder Company.
From the corner of Concord Street down Summer, the first house was the property of Alice Kemp, later the wife of William Henderson a wool sorter in the Mill. This property is not occupied by a Mr. W. A. Twombly.
Next was the property now occupied by the schools, then owned by John Parmenter. The next site occupied was where the present Legion Home is located, then it was a cider mill operated by Luke S. Brooks.
From the corner of lower Main Street toward the center of the town on the left hand side was the little house known as the William Cleary estate, then came the rear part of what is now Jerry Lynch's Package Store which was then the Johnson Pharmacy. Then a boarding house, on the site of the home of Dr. E. J. Flaherty, then two small cottages and a two family house next to the Methodist church - Thomas Naylor lived in a home on about the site of the present bank, then came another two family house owned by John Bailey and a small dwelling owned by Hugh Doner. After that was a small home owned by James Wagner, then the General Store owned by Connie Stuart, where toys, newspapers, dry goods, etc., were sold. This was situated about where the Elks Building now stands. On what is now the Zaniewski property stood the Campbell home, next that of Charles Sanders and on the site of Dr. Hooper's home there was a small two family house. On the site where the Methodist Church now stands was a General Store operated by Hiram Curtis. This building was later turned facing Main Street and is now an apartment house owned by W. F. Ozbeck.
My school days were spent at the old Acton Street school, where I had teachers Miss Nelly Pope who afterwords became the wife of Orrin Fowler, and Miss Emily Gordon - both of whom I remember with great respect.
In 1884 Lorenzo Maynard built the skating rink opposites what is now the Ozbek property, about where Tutto's Bowling Alleys now stand. The operators of the rink at that time were Frank and Arthur Locke and the manager of the skating floor was Edward Nutting. At about that time I was arounf 14 years old and was one of the attendants at the rink the first night it opened and fast became a lover of roller skating, very shortly becoming a speed demon. About 1915 the roller skating racing became a craze. Frank Salisbury took over the operation of the rink and I started my racing. For five years I skated against the fastest roller skaters of the world and won my share of the races.
My working days began in the mill when I was 10 years of age and I was employed there until I was 21. Just about this time Amory Block was built on Main Street. Charles Silvio occupied a small fruit store on the side of the present Town House and later moved into the Amory Block. This was about sixty years ago. While working in the burling room of the mill I could see the patrons of this little store going in and out and I got the idea that I would like to run a store of that kind.
Frank R. Connor, an overseer in the carding department of the Mill, owned the vacant land from the Florist Shop now located on Nason Street to the Fires Station. I made the proposition to him of having the little store which had been vacated by Mr. Silvio moved to this site. In 1892 Mr. Connors moved the small building and leased it to me. I opened a fruit and variety store in the same in the summer of 1892. That was at the time Grover Cleveland was President of the United States and boy we had some tough times.
In 1896 Maynard was struck by the bicycle craze and I started selling bicycles and did very well. In 1897 Mr. W. B. Case bought this property from Mr. Connor. He built for me part of the present building owned and occupied by James J. Ledgard, leasing it to me at the time with a store 24 feet wide and a 36 feet deep and a six room at tenement overhead. Then the bicycle craze was on in earnest. This was 1898. I sold 125 bicycles and obtained the first real money I ever had.
At that time there were no banks in the town but you could leave your money at the mill office and receive a stock certificate. The Mill employees received a 5% and outsiders 4%. About $250,000 was accumulated. Then the story was circulated that things didn't look so good for the Mill and in the fall of 1898 the people had withdrawn $100,000 of the original $250,000. On December 31st of the same year the Assabet Manufacturing Company failed for $1,250,000. In the settlement of the property the American Woolen Company took over. The people received 66 2/3% of their money deposited.
In 1898 I purchased the News Business from John B. Dean. Ten years later I sold it to the present newsdealer, Mr. Ledgard.
With no bank in the town a number of businessmen decided to apply for a charter to operate a bank in Maynard. They received their charter under the name of the Assabet Institution for Savings and started to do business June 14, 1904 with the following officers: pres., Clarence J Bodfish; Vice presidents Charles H Persons and Orrin S Fowler; Clerk Howard A. Wilson; trustees - James R. Bent, Clarence J. Bodfish, William B .Case, Bartholomew J. Coughlin, Rev. John A. Crowe, Orrin S. Fowler, M. Howell Garfield, Dilette H. Hall, William R. Hall, Frank H. Harriman, Abel G. Haynes, George A. Haynes, Frank W. Hoit, S. Raymond Kitchin, John W. Ogden, Thomas F. Parker, Charles H. Persons, Frank U. Rich, Francis H. Stevens, James F. Sweeney and Lyman C. Taylor. Looking over these names now I find I am the sole survivor. Sidney McLeary had been connected with the Assabet Institution almost from its beginning. He was originally appointed Assistant Treasurer and a short time later appointed Treasurer, which position he still holds.
The Maynard Trust Company, now the Middlesex County National Bank was originally founded in 1913. Both banks have been successful with the deposits at the present close to $9,000,000.
In 1905 an accident occurred in which several Maynard people were victims. A train leaving Boston on a Sunday evening stopped at the Baker's Bridge to take on passengers etc. The rear car of this train was supposed to shift at South Acton for the Marlboro Branch. Naturally the people from this vicinity leaving Boston would board this particular car. While the train was stopped at Baker's Bridge an express came along from Boston and jammed right into the rear car killing three people from Maynard: May Campbell, Robert Barris and his young child. Several others were injured including Mr. and Mrs. Albert Batley, Matthew Campbell and his wife Margaret, Harvey Broadbent and others.
In 1916 I purchased from a lady in Brookline Massachusetts, every house on East, West and Elm streets, 23 in number and two house lots. I will always pride myself on selling twelve of these houses in one afternoon.
About 1920 the late Judge Williams ... (missing text) ... I purchased the land on ... (missing text) ... Dam with 49 house lots and sold that at a handsome profit.
At the age of 52, I retired from the moving picture business. Of baseball I have seen plenty - prize fighting too. I saw Dempsey lick the great Firpo, also Tunney take the world championship from Jack Dempsey with an attendance of 105,000 people in Philadelphia. I have been interested in golfing, bowling and all kind of sports.
In the civic affairs of the town I was always keenly interested. At the time of the first World War I was honored by Gov. McCall by being appointed to the Draft Board with offices in Ayer, upon which I served until the end of the war. I was on the building committee for every school in town with the exception of the Main Street school and a past member of the Water and Sewer Departments. When the Finance Committee was first organized, I served as a member for a number of years.
I guess this is enough to say. If anyone is interested, I will be glad to answer any questions I can about the changes which have taken place in town in my eighty years
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