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    West Brookfield
    West Brookfield
    West Brookfield
    Ebook188 pages1 hour

    West Brookfield

    By Brenda Metterville and William Jankins

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    Originally a part of Quaboag Plantation, the town of West Brookfield became independent by incorporating in 1848. Early industries included brickyards and factories for bookbinding and the manufacture of boots, hats, corsets, and condensed milk. The community's earliest days were also committed to education as rural school districts were established, boasting original school buildings that were able to be used through the 1950s. Over the years, many notable residents emerged, including Judge Jedediah Foster, who assisted in drafting the Massachusetts Constitution, and famous suffragist Lucy Stone. Brothers Daniel and Ebenezer Merriam established a printing house and bookstore in West Parish Brookfield. Today, residents and visitors enjoy West Brookfield's most popular attractions: the Rock House Reservation features 196 acres of boulders and stone outcrops and the 315-acre Lake Wickaboag is the scene of winter and summer activities, from icehouses to a nationally recognized water-ski club. The Quaboag Historical Society was founded in 1895 and 120 years later is still a vital part of the community.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateMay 11, 2015
    ISBN9781439651308
    West Brookfield
    Author

    Brenda Metterville

    Brenda Metterville, director of the Merrick Public Library, coauthored Images of America: Brookfield. William Jankins's interest in local history began in the 1960s, initiating his collection of West Brookfield images, which is featured in this volume.

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      Book preview

      West Brookfield - Brenda Metterville

      Collection.

      INTRODUCTION

      This picturesque glimpse into the past of West Brookfield during the 1800s and 1900s showcases the beautiful Lake Wickaboag and Quaboag River, downtown, and the farms. We highlight a storied past linked to the beginnings of our nation. Despite the demise of the factories, fruitful commerce still exists today, along with productive farms and townspeople proud of the longstanding history of the first parish of the Quaboag Plantation.

      The following is from the West Brookfield Historical Commission website and used with the chair’s permission:

      West Brookfield has the sites of the first white settlement, the Indian villages, and is in reality the mother town of the Quaboag Plantation. The Quaboag Plantation was deeded in 1660, and 13 years later this area was incorporated as a town and was called Brookfield. Quaboag is a Nipmuk Indian name meaning before the pond. The site of the largest of the Quaboag Indian villages was at Wekabaug, later known as Wickaboag. This site joined the southerly end of what is now Lake Wickaboag in West Brookfield. With the advent of the railroad, West Brookfield was incorporated as a separate town in 1848.

      Evidenced by many narrations, sermons, and artifacts, the Old Indian Cemetery near Lake Wickaboag was close to where the largest Quaboag Native American tribes lived on the plantation. The Haymaker monument resides there in honor of the planters killed in 1710. This was the last of the malice between the settlers and the natives. There are also references to the West Parish Brookfield as the first precinct. North Brookfield, established in 1812, was the second precinct. Brookfield was the third precinct and most times was referred to as the South Parish Brookfield.

      John Pynchon, prosperous merchant, magistrate, and fur trader, was likely instrumental in getting the original families from Ipswich to settle here, as there was a need for a midway station between the villages of Marlboro, Lancaster, and those to the west along the Connecticut River. As noted in the book Quaboag Plantation Alias Brookefeild by Dr. Louis Roy, the most important single business in any community in the early days of the colony was a gristmill. In August 1669, Quaboag constructed a water-powered mill on what is now called Sucker Brook (named for the abundance of this type of fish) financed by John Pynchon. Prior to this date, all grains had to be transported to Springfield for processing. It appears that after November 23, 1669, all grain and corn was milled at the Pynchon site. This mill site and the surrounding 42 acres were recently purchased by the East Quabbin Land Trust and will be called Pynchon’s Grist Mill Preserve. Dr. Roy states, The remains of this mill site and the artifacts found here are probably the oldest relics in existence of the Quaboag Plantation and its most important mercantile structure.

      West Brookfield was home to numerous influential people, including Jedediah Foster, who was born on October 10, 1726, in Andover. He graduated from Harvard in 1744 and practiced law at his home and office in West Brookfield (then known as Brookfield), built in 1729 by his father-in-law. His wife, Dorothy Dwight, was the daughter of Gen. Joseph Dwight. The Fosters reared a family of seven children, including two future senators—Theodore and Dwight Foster. Jedediah’s list of offices is impressive: he was a colonel in the militia during the Revolutionary War, fought at Lexington on April 19, 1775, was elected delegate to the First Provincial Congress, and served as a judge of probate and common pleas for Worcester and justice of the superior court of Massachusetts. He was one of the four judges at the county’s best-known murder trial, that of Bathsheba Spooner in 1778. Foster was also one of three judges chosen to draw up the original draft of the constitution for the new commonwealth of Massachusetts. He died on October 17, 1779, before finishing the work; his son Dwight was appointed to complete the work on the draft.

      In 1791, David Hitchcock and Dwight Foster granted a town common to the inhabitants of the First Parish in the Town of Brookfield aforesaid in their corporate capacity by whatever name they are known. In 1873, J. Henry Stickney established a $3,000 fund for the beautification of the common, which paid for grading, planting of trees, and establishing walkways around and through the common. The town voted to appropriate $500 to improve the roads surrounding the common.

      Lucy Stone and her family attended the speech of abolitionist Abby Kelley in 1836 at the West Brookfield Congregational Church. It is said her father was the one to bark insults during the presentation. During the congregation’s vote to dismiss the minister who allowed the Kelley presentation, Lucy Stone’s vote was not counted because she was a woman. In 1851, Lucy Stone was expelled from the Congregational church, mostly because her public speaking was not considered proper for women during those times.

      In 1880, Charles Merriam donated a sum of money for the town to build a library. The Merriam Public Library, located on the corner of Main and Cottage Streets, cost $15,046, including the purchase of the land.

      In 1884, George M. Rice donated the two Fiske fountains on the common in memory of his parents, the Rice Memorial Fountains. The fountains were supplied with water from a reservoir one mile away, built with town funds. The community’s earliest days were also committed to education, and rural school districts were established with some original school buildings used through the 1950s.

      Helen Paige Shackley was the town librarian for 30 years, town treasurer for 32 years, and town clerk for many years. In 1925, she largely disputed the fact that the Merriam-Webster Dictionary was published here; it was, in fact, published in Springfield. The Merriams had published a dictionary in their West Brookfield publishing house, but it was not the Webster edition. In 1963, the town voted to accept a $50,000 legacy from Shackley, designated for the construction of a bandstand on the common. The bandstand was erected on the site of the West Brookfield School Street School, later the elementary school, and was dedicated in

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