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ASSABET VALLEY BEStow Historical Society Discusses Western Sectorby Angela Klempner STOW — The Stow Historical Society’s January meeting was hold on Sunday, January 31, at Randall Memorial Library with speakers present to discuss the Western Sector of Stow. The business meeting included a discussion of the Stow fhstorical Society's Tenth Anniversary brochure by Mr. and Mrs. Carl Klempner. It was noted that on January 16, Mrs. Charles Childs, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Head, Mr. Ralph Bern-kiovv and.. Mr. Norman Castle attended the Bay State Historical League meeting at ibe State House in Boston Concerning the bicentennial celebration in 1975-1976.The program was presented by David Mong, Elizabeth Hyde, Francis Warren Jr., John McKey, and Frank Schmelzer.David Mong, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Mong of Old Bolton Road, is a junior at ashoba Regional High School, ’this was the second Stow Historical Society program in which he participated. His topic was “The West Side School.” This school is located on Harvard Road. It dates back to 1789 and may have been the one used up until 1852 when it was replaced by a brick school now Seated on the same location. It v^as in operation as a one-room structure with one teacher for all grades from 1853 to 1903. The West School closed in 1903 when k was decided that the newly built Union School could accomodate more students with more teachers to teach lower grades. The school was auctioned off in 1906 and sold for T26.OO to Mr. James C. Taylor who converted it into living quarters for four families who occupied the school from 1906 to 1936. When it was no longer used in this capacity it fell to disrepair and in 1970 it became town property. Photographs, postcards and books accompanied David Mong’s most Interesting and well presentedtalk.Elizabeth (Bitty) Hyde, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Donald Hyde Jr., who now reside in one of the Whitney homes on Whitney Road, a freshman at Nashoba Regional High School, presented a program on “The Whitney {fcuses and the Whitney Family”. What is now the Old Whitney Homestead was originally owned by Thomas Gates, one of the original 12 settlers of Stow (1681) and was built about 1760. Mr. Gates’ daughter, Lucy, married Moses Whitney of Harvard who came to live with the Gates’ and forti next 125 years the house came known as the Whitney Homestead. Moses and Lucy had two daughters named Mary and Lucia. Lucia married her cousin Edwin Whitney (Mary married her cousin James Whitney) and her father built a huge home on Great Road which was large enough to house the eider Whitney’s and §ucia and Edwin. This residence is now known at the Whitney Rest Home. Edwin Whitney was a successful lawyer and a brilliant man who ran for several terms in the State Legislature. This left the Old Whitney Homestead vacant and for many years was rented 0 various occupants. The gates’ other daughter Mary and flcr husband James Whitney md seven children returned to dow from Albany, New York md took up residence at the lomestead. This was in their wssession until the last of the ieven children died and it was villed to be made into a home or aged ministers. In 1940, it *as sold to William F. Smith vho was a nephew by marriage ■o one of the seven Whitney fMldren. In 1952, it was sold to he Litchfields and in 1962 to Mr. ind Mrs. Donald Hyde. Elizabeth presented a thoroughly refreshing andGUEST SPEAKERS at Stow Historical Society'sJanuary meeting were (L to R) Francis Warren, Jr., Elizabeth Hyde and David Mong.comprehensive account of her topic with photographs, an album and postcards to set off her fine presentation.Francis Warren Jr. presented a paper prepared by Mrs. Thomas Shepherd who was the scheduled speaker and now resides in the Stow House on Harvard Road. The topic was “The Stow House and the Stow Family”. Boaz Brown built this house around 1692 after he and a group of friends rode over from Concord to look over land for a proposed plantation. The basic structure built by him was a great chimney with its two huge fireplaces downstairs and a smaller one upstairs and two large rooms downstairs and two upstairs with a staircase set in front of the chimney. His son later built the salt box lean-to section of the house, more rooms downstairs and sleepingspace under the sloping roof. The Brown’s sold the house in 1750 to the Stow Family who kept it in their family for 200 years, until 1950. Miss Mabel Carvill who lived in the house as a young girl adds much to the history of it with her vivid recollections of life then.In 1950, the Donald Warren’s bought the house which Ws later sold to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Shepherd who very much “enjoy living in a house that has some of the feeling of the old days”.Mr. John Makey, Superintendent of Streets, and Mr. Frank Schmelzer of West Acton Road presented the Stow Historical Society with a Stow puzzle; that is, a group of deliberately piled stones on West Acton Road near the Allen Gibson residence. Mr. Makey read land deeds of 1773 and T865which made note of these stones. Mr. Schmelzer set up a map and explained the subject and location in detail. This puzzle still remains but the members of the Society who were present enjoyed these interesting presentations and participated in their own programs of conjecture.The Stow Historical Society Program for the remaining year is as follows:FEB—A meeting designed to discuss, complete and/ or work on any projects or programs.MARCH - The March meeting will be the Stow Historical Society’s acknowledgement of the Maynard Centennial. It will be held at Stow’s Town Hall on Sunday, March 28 at 3 p.m. The Maynard Historical Society will present a petition of the Assabet Villagers to be separated from Stow and also the act of the legislature that created Maynard and a report on the families who resided in the part of Stow set off into Maynard. The balance of the program will be on Stow’s Lower Village.APRIL — This meeting will be held at Lake Boon under the sponsorship of Mrs. HelenEastman. *____MAY — Mr. John Peck will give a lecture on geology.-The Area-Historical Society meeting will be held on Sunday, April 14 at Green Meadow School in Maynard with the Maynard Historical Society as host. The topic for |rea discussion will be ”A Famous Woman of Our Town”. Mrs. Charles Childs will represent the Stow Historical Society as guest speaker and will present a talk on Miss Harriet Bird. •TlERot“KBerDeiTEqiperPrlt;Fe!AciHisperNAEdr»mowhThlt;‘TltheedftheSirpntorpeissriganextei^on^ervatiFROM THE ACTON CONSERVATION TRl'ST Years ago Mark Twain problem exists in connectionremarked, “Everybody talks about the weather but no one does anything about it.” Nowadays everybody talks about the pollution of our environment, and people are doing something about it. Each one of us should ask himself or herself, “What can I, as an individual, do to prevent unnecessary damage to this world in which I and my children and my children’s children must live?”Acton residents can put a stop to one abuse of their environment. In spite of the millions of words which have been written about the effect of widespread use of pesticides, in spite of repeated warnings from informed persons, some towns continue to spray heavily in the name of mosquito control, and Acton is one of these.The hydrocarbons or persistent pesticides such as DDT are no longer used, but the organic phosphates such as Malathion are just as poisonous, although short-lived in the environment. What makes the use of pesticides questionable is the time-lag between their first widespread use and the development of information about their effects. How long did it take to discover the menace of DDT? What about thalidomide and LSD? Hardly anything is known about the effects of widespread use of the organic phosphates. Do they damage the micro-organisms in the soil? How much will they add to the problem of water pollution? How fast do resistant strains of mosquitoes develop? What beneficial wildlife do they harm? Do they kill more mosquitoes or more mosquito predators and competitors? It will take decades to find out.Spraying an entire town is justified only when a healthwith mosquitoes. On the whole our mosquitoes in Acton are merely nuisances. Dog owners are rightfully concerned about the epidemic of heartworm among dogs in this area, but hasn’t this been building up in Acton during the time the spraying has been carried on? Anyone who lives here can testify that the spraying is not exterminating the mosquitoes. It seems that the Town would be better advised to spend the money used in spraying to investigate more permanent and safer methods of mosquito control, namely biological methods.The Mass. Audubon Society warns, “Any town with water pollution problems should beespecially cautious about spraying.” Why not spend some of this money to discover the state of our permanent ponds and streams in Acton. Are they now so polluted that only mosquito larvae can live in, them, or can they still support the fish and other aquatic creatures which efficiently destroy the larvae? jThe Audubon Society also says, “It is worth remembering that the use of chemical poisons usually guarantees that the community will need pesticides year after year. As with predator control in general, killing prey and predators on the mosquitoes favors the mosquitoes in the long run.anmri|pceqstrecipcgrinbefostPlt;siT!aThe Acton Conservation Trust would be very glad to hear from Town residents who are not in favor of the widespread roadside fogging and spraying, and who believe that the program should not be continued. Call Joan Day (Mrs. Arthur C.), 263-7626, during the evening and tell her of yoursupport. .Assabet Valley RegionalVocational Dist. School Comm.January 24,1971The school committee met in special session on the above date in the committee room.The meeting was called to order at 2:00 p.m.Absent, Ruth Harpin; all other members present. Superintendent Mlawsky, Treasurer Frank Walker present.Bills were approved and warrant signed.Mr. Cobb submitted bills from Alderman MacNeish. Two bills were for adjusted amounts as per firm bid figures.A motion was made to defer both of these until construction of building is assured. Seconded, unanimous.A bill for Jag, Inc. in the amount of $225.00 for consulting services for radiation shielding has been paid by Alderman £ MacNeish, and after review ofarchitect’s contract, it was the consensus that we are liable for same.A motion was made to pay Alderman MacNeish $225.00 for consulting services for radiation shielding. Seconded, carried 4-1, Mr. Kingsbury opposed.A communication from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Corporations and Taxation relative to treasurer’s bond approval, was read and placed on file.A communication from Moody’s Investors Inc. informing us that the District had received a credit rating of “A” for sale of $575,000.00 planningbonds. Read and placed on file.The committee engaged in open discussion of coming town meetings, and the matter of the possibility of an amendment being requested changing the seven member board from..... 4 - A J___L. —
Newspaper Details
Assabet Valley Beacon
Acton, Massachusetts, US
Thu, Feb 04, 1971
Page 24
Full Page
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Anonymous
USA 23 Dec 2018
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