Austin Road

Austin Road runs from Lexington Road southwest to the east shore of Nuttings Lake, where it meets Lakeside Road and Crest Road. Until about 1990 it was Maple Road.

The road belongs to the cottage settlement on the east side of the lake that the street guide of 1930 to 1931 calls the "Lakeside section (east side Nuttings lake) off Lexington rd n ice houses." It was laid out as Maple Road on the "Plan of Lakeside," recorded in Plan Book 33, Plan 52. The registry's copy shows no date, surveyor or owner, but Plan 46 of the same book was recorded on April 14, 1916, so the Lakeside plan was probably recorded about the same time. The plan also shows Lakeside, Crest, Sunset, Meadowbank and Hillside Roads. The directory of 1919 still lists no streets on this side of the lake, and the guide of 1931 gives "Maple Road (east side Nuttings lake) from Lexington rd to Nuttings lake." Later records call the development the "Lakeside subdivision"; its developer has not been identified. Maple was a common choice for a new street, and the 1931 guide also lists a Maple Street in North Billerica and a Maple Road at Pinedale.

The annual meeting of February 9, 1946 voted to accept "Maple Street from Lexington Road 600 feet"; the selectmen laid out "Maple Street" with other Nuttings Lake streets on August 26, 1946, and the special town meeting of October 28, 1946 accepted the laying out of "Maple Road" for water mains. A special town meeting on July 17, 1950 accepted "the laying out of Maple Road, Crest Road, and Lakeside Road, as or for a public highway," and in 1953 the town appropriated $1,200 "to improve Maple Road and Crest Road and Lakeside Street as town ways," when Maple Road was "graveled and asphalt penetrated for 1000 feet."

In the town's program of 1988 to 1991 to end duplicate street names, Maple Road became Austin Road. The change is not itemized in the annual reports, but Austin Road is named by 1994, and in 1995, when the town discontinued the paper part of Thorndike Road (formerly Hillside Road), that part was described as running "from Austin Road to Meadowbank Road," which places Austin Road on the line of the old Maple Road. No reason for the name Austin is recorded. Austin Road is not among the roads of the 1831 map accepted in 2016.

References

1. Annual town meeting, Feb. 9, 1946, Article 49: accepted Maple Street from Lexington Road 600 feet, with other Nuttings Lake streets
2. Special town meeting, Oct. 28, 1946, Article 30: accepted the laying out of Maple Road and other Nuttings Lake streets
3. Special town meeting, July 17, 1950: accepted the laying out of Maple Road, Crest Road and Lakeside Road as public highways
4. Annual town meeting, March 14, 1953, Article 109: $1,200 to improve Maple, Crest and Lakeside Roads as town ways
5. 1953 highway report: Maple Road graveled and asphalt penetrated for 1000 feet; Crest and Lakeside Roads for 500 feet
6. Streets Accepted by the Town of Billerica (printed 1956): Maple Rd. from Lexington Rd. 2-9-46 and 10-28-46; Maple Rd. 7-17-50
7. 1995 fall town meeting: Thorndike Road (formerly Hillside) discontinued from Austin Road to Meadowbank Road