Nashua Road

Nashua Road, now Route 4, is the through road of West and South Billerica, running from the Chelmsford line south past Rangeway Road and Treble Cove Road, over the Concord River at Hill's Bridge, and past the Hill burying ground at Dudley Road to the Bedford line, where it continues as North Road. The crossing at Hill's Bridge is old: on July 22, 1736 the town learned that people of the neighboring towns had petitioned the Court of General Sessions "for a highway from Westford meeting-house cross Concord River over Lt. Joseph Hill's bridge to Lexington." The town resisted, but "the Court approved the petition," and the town was soon called on to pay £59 10s (Hazen).

The present road is largely a relocation of the early nineteenth century. Hazen tells how, "after the opening of the Middlesex turnpike, the Hill bridge and road crossing it fell into disuse and decay," until "a demand arose for the rebuilding of the bridge and a straightening of the road leading to it, which had been somewhat devious. A route more direct and less hilly than the turnpike was sought, in this improvement, from Chelmsford and towns above to Lexington." Mrs. Joseph Foster gave the right of way through her land on the west side of the river, but when one abutment had been built, citizens opposed to the "diversion of travel and business to a line so far from the centre of the town" destroyed it, "perhaps the only mob known in the town." "Suits followed and were decided against the town, which was compelled to build the bridge and road and has since maintained it." Hazen gives no date. Deeds and the historical survey forms speak of "the new road" west of the river, and of the "new western road" relocated about 1830, when the old house at the Treble Cove Road corner became the Winning tavern; Deacon Edward Spaulding's house of 1824 stands on it at the Chelmsford end. The official town map of 1831 shows the road complete from the Chelmsford line to the Bedford line, with a tavern at the Treble Cove corner.

The Walling map of 1853 labels the northern part "Western Road." The street-naming committee of 1896 called it "Chelmsford street, running south from Chelmsford line to Bedford line, W. Billerica," and the citizens' meeting at the Historical Society in March 1898 proposed "Chelmsford Road," but the Society's list, accepted at town meeting on March 27, 1899, named it "39. Nashua road, from Chelmsford line running south to Bedford line, W. Billerica," and gave the name Chelmsford Road to the road from Boston Road to the Chelmsford line in North Billerica. The new name pointed to the road's destination: through Chelmsford it was the way to Nashua, New Hampshire, the route the Middlesex Turnpike had once served, and in their report for 1923 the selectmen described it as "the through road in West Billerica as a part of the route from Boston to points in New Hampshire." Town reports also call it the "West Billerica Road" (1906 to 1923), and a 1924 article speaks of the "Boston-Nashua Road." It has been part of State Route 4 since about 1930.

The road was gravel until the 1920s ("Nashua road near A. Dutton's, graveled 498 ft.," 1902). In 1923 the town voted $10,000, with State and County aid, "for the purpose of macadamizing the West Billerica Road, so-called, from the Billerica-Chelmsford town line to the Billerica-Bedford town line"; the highway surveyor built 3,200 feet in 1923 under a State engineer, and in 1924 "the much talked of Nashua Road of West Billerica was completed," 5,600 feet in all. The rest of the road and a new bridge were built under State and County contracts in 1925 to 1927, and the County Commissioners' layout of 1925 is recorded as Plan Book 910, Plan 9. A water main was laid in 1956. Hill's Bridge was replaced by the State in 2006 to 2009 and named the John F. Leary Bridge by Chapter 186 of the Acts of 2010.

Nashua Road appears without a date in the town's list of accepted streets printed in 1956, "From Chelmsford line south to Bedford line." It was formally accepted as a public way at the Fall Town Meeting of October 2016, which voted, 124 to 19, to accept the 44 roads "the layout of which is shown on the official Town of Billerica Map of 1831"; the list gives "Nashua Road, Chelmsford Town Line to Bedford Town Line."

Historic Buildings

Name	Alternate	Address	Built	Moved	Demolished
Deacon Edward Spaulding House		9 Nashua Rd	1824
Horace N. Wilson House		119 Nashua Rd	1830
Ned Simonds House		120-122 Nashua Rd	1830
Spaulding Schoolhouse		Nashua Road	1831	1853	1935
Rodney Brown House		2 Nashua Rd	1852		1984
Widow Foster House		248 Nashua Rd	1852		1919
Alexander Dutton House		190 Nashua Rd	1853		2003
Daniel Hartford House		33 Nashua Rd	1858

References

1. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883): 1736 petition for a highway from Westford meeting-house over Lt. Joseph Hill's bridge to Lexington
2. Hazen 1883: the Hill bridge road rebuilt and straightened; the mob that destroyed the abutment; suits decided against the town
3. Annual Report 1897: street-naming committee, "Chelmsford street, running south from Chelmsford line to Bedford line, W. Billerica"
4. Annual Report 1899: March 1898 citizens' meeting, item 39, "Change to Chelmsford Road"
5. Annual Report 1899: Historical Society list, "39. Nashua road, from Chelmsford line running south to Bedford line, W. Billerica"
6. Annual Report 1900: list accepted at the town meeting of March 27, 1899, "39. Nashua road"
7. Annual Report 1902: "Nashua road near A. Dutton's, graveled 498 ft."
8. Annual Report 1906: "Gravelling West Billerica Road, 375 feet"
9. Annual Report 1923: Nashua Road built 3,200 feet with State and County aid under a State engineer
10. Annual Report 1924: "The much talked of Nashua Road of West Billerica was completed," 5,600 feet in all
11. Wikipedia: Massachusetts Route 4 (Nashua Road in Billerica), in existence since about 1930
12. Acts of 2010, Chapter 186: the Route 4 bridge over the Concord River in Billerica designated the John F. Leary Bridge
13. Annual Report 2017: Article 36 list of 1831-map roads, Nashua Road from the Chelmsford town line to the Bedford town line
14. Annual Report 2017: Fall Town Meeting, October 2016, Article 36 accepts the roads on the 1831 map as public ways (124 to 19)
15. Annual Report 1923: selectmen on reconstructing "the through road in West Billerica as a part of the route from Boston to points in New Hampshire"