Stow

By Lewis Halprin, Barbara Sipler and Stow Historical Society

Welcome to Stow, a picturesque New England village preparing to face the new millennium while keeping its roots firmly planted in 300 years of history. Primarily a farming community for much of its existence, Stow’s country-like character is still
evident in its open spaces, most of which are now
apple orchards, golf courses, and conservation lands.
Within these pages, you will discover the classic
charm of Stow’s village center, with its pristine white church, town hall, library, and its one and only traffic light. Take a leisurely stroll past row upon row of apple trees, and learn how early settlers utilized the power of the area’s small brooks and rivers. Here golfers enjoy the relaxation of four beautifully kept golf courses and nature lovers spend hours exploring Stow’s many hiking trails.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Sep 18, 2012
• ISBN: 9781439637555

Lewis Halprin

Fortunately, local photographer Alexander Berry took many photographs in the early 1900s with his 5-by-7 glass-plate camera. These photographs survived and are now in the collection of local historian Richard Conard. They are featured in this book and show how the vacationers at Lake Boon had fun�boating, swimming, hunting, and hosting parties. They show the clothing styles worn, which were mostly full-length and formal, even in the water! Also featured are the many types of structures that were built, from simple tents, small cabins, three-story summer homes, little stores, and meeting halls to a full-size hotel. So go ahead: open this book and let it take you back to a time when little Lake Boon provided big helpings of summertime fun.

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Society

INTRODUCTION

More then 300 years ago, Stow was described in colonial records as quite a large tract of land; it was called Pompositticut by local native tribes. It was largely wooded land, cut by streams and Native American trails. It was surrounded by the incorporated towns of Concord, Sudbury, Marlborough, Lancaster, and the Native American plantation of Nashoby (now Littleton). It was a frontier wilderness, and two men, Matthew Boon and John Kettell, came from the settlement of Charlestown to build cabins. Boon began building c. 1660, near the pond that bears his name today. Kettell, settled on the easterly side of what is now Maple St. Boon, was killed during the Native American uprisings of 1675–76.

On October 11, 1681, Thomas Stevens, Boaz Brown, Thomas Gates, and Stephen Hall were appointed by the Massachusetts General Court as overseers of Pompositticut Plantation and given the powers of Selectmen. In 1683, Thomas Stevens was elected clerk and was to be paid 30 shillings a year. That same year, the inhabitants of the Plantation petitioned the Court that the Plantation be made a town and to also procure for this Plantation some comely English name. The court decreed that the place should become a town and gave it the name of Stow. It is believed that the then Governor Bradstreet had a good friend, John Stow of Roxbury, with whom he traveled by ship from England and named the town in his honor.

The first meeting house was erected in 1685 at the easterly end of Lower Common, the site of the earliest center of town life and one of three areas worthy of historic district designation. Another historic area is the Upper Common, which shows off the First Parish Church and the Randall Library, two of the town’s loveliest structures. Town Hall is close by, standing at the helm of this old district. The third area of historic significance is Gleasondale, a pristine mill village unspoiled by modernization. For such a small town, Stow has a wealth of period public buildings, churches, cemeteries, commons, and beautifully kept old homes.

Stow’s homes reflect the rural nature of the community and a resistance to change, accompanied by a desire for convenience and a degree of fashionability. Few homes reflect entirely their original appearance, but there are five homes on the National Register of Historic Places—the Boaz Brown house, the Randall Hale home, the Hezekiah Hapgood home, the Tenney place, and the Walcott-Whitney house. A wealth of architectural types may be found on the lanes and back roads of Stow as well as standing proudly on Great Road.

From its beginning, Stow’s inhabitants were mostly farmers with such numbers of traders, tavern keepers, blacksmiths, carpenters and shoemakers as were needed for the wants of the other inhabitants. That’s how the Haletonian, 1889, the literary magazine of Hale High School, described the town. Sawmills, gristmills, cider mills, the box mill, and, of course, the large cotton/woolen mill in Gleasondale, all situated on the Elizabeth Brook or the Assabet River, were also part of the economy. In the 1950s, Stow started to change from a farming to a residential town, and in 1962, the Crowell Shopping Center was started, bringing to the area a bank, drug store, department store, supermarket, bowling alley, and liquor store.

Early Stow students were taught in private homes, often by the minister. It wasn’t until August 21, 1733, that schoolhouses were voted in at a town meeting for each of three school districts. By 1857 Stow had six school districts, each with a one-room school house, two of which still stand today. The district system was discontinued after Union School opened on Crescent Street in 1902. Further consolidation was achieved with the building of Nashoba Regional High School in 1961.

Men from Stow have answered the call to arms in every time of need. Sydrack Hapgood was killed in 1676 at Brookfield while a member of an expedition to treat with the Indians. During the French and Indian War (1755–1763) Stow men served at Ft. William Henry, Crown Point, and Nova Scotia. In the spring of 1775, as events that led up to the Revolution escalated, excitement and alarm gripped the town. On April 19, 1775, 81 men left Stow at noon and marched to Concord, arriving in the afternoon and harassing the retreating British forces into Cambridge. The call was answered in 1812 by a few men; 112 served in the Civil War; 2 in the Spanish American War, and 75 in World War I. Men and women have served in all wars since that time.

STOW TIME LINE

Area: 17.94 square miles; longitude: 71˚30’; latitude 42˚26’; altitude: 231 ft. (at Town Hall); population: 5,871 in 1998.

1660 Matthew Boon and John Kettell, first known settlers.

1669 Pompositticut Plantation established.

1683 Town of Stow incorporated.

1685 First Meeting House erected.

1686 Minister’s House built.

1689 Rev. John Eveleth, first settled minister.

1714 Thomas Brown chosen first schoolmaster.

1733 Three district school houses voted.

1774 Voted resistance to the British Crown.

1775 Stow Minutemen answer Lexington alarm.

1776 Stow Town Meeting votes for independence from Great Britain.

1824 General Lafayette visits Stow.

1848 Town Hall built at cost of $2,514.91, First Parish rebuilt its church.

1871 Hale High School established.

1877 Stow Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, chartered.

1883 200th Anniversary Celebration of Stow.

1894 Randall Library dedicated.

1900 Concord, Maynard & Hudson Street Railway built through Stow.

1909 Old Hale High School built at cost of $15,645.

1916 Troop 1 Boy Scouts chartered.

1921 World War I Memorial on Upper Common dedicated.

1926 Police Department officially organized.

1928