Billerica

By David A. D'Apice

From its pre-Colonial origins to the hustle and bustle of today, Billerica has remained a thriving village with something for everyone. Surrounded by lakes, rivers, and footpaths that became the building blocks of the state s road system, Billerica s history reflects the growth trends of a young nation a history steeped in courage, independence, prosperity, and celebration. Originally the Shawshin Wilderness, the fledgling settlement took the name Billerica and was incorporated as a town in 1655. The territory initially included lands that would become parts of Bedford, Tewksbury, Wilmington, and Carlisle. For the next three centuries, farmers, weavers, merchants, millers, and craftsmen sought out Billerica for its agricultural opportunity, potential waterpower, recreational attractions, and strategic travel routes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Sep 13, 2010
• ISBN: 9781439623909

David A. D'Apice

David A. D�Apice is a historian, marketing communications professional, and collector of rare historic documents. His efforts to preserve Billerica�s history include the restoration of several period buildings in town and the digitization of 1,200 glass-plate negatives and nearly 2,000 pages of the town�s earliest historical records.

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INTRODUCTION

The earliest communications to be sent and received in this country were hand-written notes, often delivered by horsemen, Native American messengers, or stage. As early as 1639, a postal service was available at Richard Fairbanks’s tavern in Boston. In keeping with English tradition, mail was often dropped at local taverns, especially correspondence from England and back. Although many states had their own postal organizations, the U.S. Postal Service technically began on July 26, 1775, when members of the Second Continental Congress appointed none other than Benjamin Franklin as postmaster general to oversee the Post Office Department. Our contemporary postal system traces its roots to this significant event.

Little by little, the postal system grew to support more letters, greetings, and business mail. In 1861, John Charlton of Philadelphia patented the first postcard, selling the rights to H. L. Lipman. These early postcards were labeled Lipman’s Postal Card and immediately caught on as a new way of making one’s location known and communicating a short note. It is no secret that postcards are still produced and widely used throughout the world today.

Since it began centuries ago as the Shawshin Wilderness, travelers have been visiting Billerica. Its rivers, lakes, fertile lands, and timber forests beckoned settlers and tourists long before the advent of what we know today to be the modern postcard. Billerica’s early history can be traced through countless parchment deeds, documents, maps, and letters. Generations before the postcard became popular, villagers routinely sent vital information and correspondence to family and friends.

This work aims to present Billerica as it has appeared to the tourist, the resident, and the worker alike. As snapshots of all things that were popular, newsworthy, and significant, postcards and written correspondence offer insight into how Billerica was perceived nearby and abroad.

Billerica’s story began in 1636, when the idea of a remote plantation in the Shawshin Wilderness spread around Cambridge. The following year, the General Court granted two large tracts of land there to Gov. John Winthrop and Lt. Gov. Thomas Dudley. Winthrop received some 1,200 acres and Dudley 1,000.

To celebrate their grants and mark their properties, the men selected two huge boulders that still lie on the banks of the Concord River in Bedford. Eventually, they were engraved with the names Winthrop and Dudley and each dated 1638.

By 1658, there were 25 families living in Billerica. Samuel Whiting, the first minister, arrived, and a few years later, the townspeople erected a meetinghouse. An elementary road system was developed, and bridges to cross the rivers were built. In 1667, Job Lane began construction of a large-scale bridge across the fordway in North Billerica using the abutments of earlier, less substantial bridges. Small mills and farms dotted the landscape. When the local economy grew, so did the population and the tension. Some 10 garrison houses were built during the period of King Philip’s War. Billerica became embroiled in the witchcraft trials of Martha Carrier in 1692, and over the next three years, about 20 of the townspeople were killed in Native American attacks. It was a time of political turmoil and demographic growth.

As the community acquired more land, specific tracts were set off to create other towns—Bedford in 1729, Tewksbury in 1734, Wilmington in 1737, and Carlisle in 1780.

As part of the larger picture of Colonial America, Billerica citizens proudly played their role in the country’s history. During the American Revolution, Thomas Ditson was tarred and feathered by the British for trying to purchase a f lintlock rifle. He was paraded through the streets in a wagon and jeered at to the tune of Yankee Doodle. Another famous Billerica native, Asa Pollard was the first to fall at the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775, wounded by a cannon shot from the British frigate Somerset. Nearly 400 citizens fought in the Revolutionary War. Today Concord Road is marked with signage that commemorates the march of the Billerica minutemen to Concord.

When the Civil War broke out at Fort Sumter in 1861, Billerica rallied its support. Able-bodied men from the community joined the fight. The deaths of many, like young Edward Adams, were hard-felt back home. In grief, the women of the community commissioned a full-sized oil portrait of the fallen soldier to hang at the Howe School—the very school Edward had attended as a child. Dedicated in their honor in 1873, the names of Billerica’s fallen soldiers are engraved upon the Soldiers Monument, which continues to grace the common. The sons and daughters of Billerica have upheld liberty and country during the world wars, the Korean War, Vietnam, Desert Storm, the Iraq War, and others.

The Industrial Revolution brought a great wave of progress to Billerica. From the Middlesex Canal, dug by hand in 1803, to the Mills of North Billerica, pioneered by Francis Faulkner in 1811, the town flourished in population and prosperity. When the Middlesex Turnpike reached Billerica in 1811, more and more visitors came to stay. The railroad brought further influx when it opened a line in 1835.

As the town grew, so did the needs of its citizens. Large farms were sold to make way for developments like Garden City in North Billerica, which is considered one of the first planned suburbs in America. Families thrived, and an educational system that began as one-room squadron schoolhouses gave way to centralized learning academies, the Old Howe School, and eventually the school system that exists today. Private libraries yielded to the evolution of Billerica’s current public library, one of the common’s highlights.

The scenic natural beauty of Billerica’s lakes and rivers has always provided a gracious backdrop for its people and their guests. The Shawsheen and Concord Rivers have offered food, recreation, and fresh water for centuries. Even today, Native American artifacts surface on the shores, evidence that the area had been occupied even before its recorded history began. Many of the brooks, falls, and streams have powered industrial-age mills and enterprises, and all of them have yielded places to play, splash, and swim.

From its origins until today, Billerica is a place to absorb the best natural resources that New England has to offer. Even now, visitors swim in Nuttings Lake, fish and canoe on