Structure · Built 1946 · Demolished 1975
Billerica-Wilmington Airport Hangar No. 1
The first hangar of the Billerica-Wilmington Airport, an arched-roof Quonset-type building on the north side of the field, south of Alexander Road near the Wilmington line where the road becomes Hopkins Street. It was standing by November 1, 1946, when Billerica Wilmington Airways, Inc. made its fuel agreement with the Cities Service Oil Company, which undertook to paint "two hangers on the Airport Premises, one already erected and designated as 'Hanger #1'" on the August 1946 sketch plan of the field (Plan Book 69, Plan 63). The plan draws it north of Runway #1 beside the "Airplane Gasolene Storage Facilities". From it the company ran flight instruction, charter flights and aircraft sales and service until the Newton-Waltham Bank and Trust Company foreclosed on the airport in 1954. The hangars still stood, long unused, in 1971 aerial photographs and were gone by 1978; their foundations remain in the woods on the undeveloped part of the old field (airfields-freeman.com).
References
Deed References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
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| September 14, 1945 | Quitclaim | Alanson E. Stewart of Chelmsford and Russell B. Totman of Reading (wives releasing dower) | Billerica Wilmington Airways, Inc., of Billerica | Sept. 1945: Stewart and Totman convey the future airfield to Billerica Wilmington Airways, Inc. | 1029/268 |
Dated September 12, 1945, recorded September 14, 1945. The land in Billerica and Wilmington on "Shawsheen Pines, Billerica-Wilmington, Mass., April 1927, Henry F. Bryant & Son, Surveyors" (Plan Book 50 Plan 61), "Beginning on Alexander Street at the Wilmington-Billerica town line", by Barnes to the center of Lubbers Brook at Bousefield, by Bousefield 1,988 feet to Aldrich Road, by Aldrich Road and Cook Street to Alexander Street, and by Alexander Street to the beginning, excepting the sold lots; subject to the Lowell Cranberry Company easement; "This conveyance is made subject to a mortgage held by Woburn Nat. Bank which the grantee assumes and agrees to pay." A second parcel, Wilmington Heights lots 528-548 and 605-615, came from Sylvester Doran. The company's name suggests it meant to build an airfield on the old farm.
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| November 26, 1946 | Indenture | Billerica Wilmington Airways, Inc., of Billerica | Cities Service Oil Company, of Boston | Nov. 1946: Cities Service agreement, recorded with the airport plan; Hangar #1 erected, Hangar #2 to be erected | 1054/18 |
Dated November 1, 1946, recorded November 26, 1946 (pages 18-25) with the plan "Sketch Plan of the Billerica-Wilmington Landing Field & Airport Approx. Scale: 1 inch = 280 ft. August 1946" (Plan Book 69 Plan 63). For ten years from November 1, 1946 the company grants Cities Service the exclusive right to store and sell gasoline and petroleum products on the "Airport Premises": two 5,000-gallon underground tanks and two fueling units in the "Airplane Gasolene Storage Facilities" area and an automobile station in the "Automotive Gasolene Storage Facilities" area, with ways from Alexander Road and Cook Street. The company covenants to "use all reasonable efforts to develop the business of a commercial airport". Cities Service agrees to paint "two hangers on the Airport Premises, one already erected and designated as 'Hanger #1' on said plan, and one to be erected", and to improve "Runway #1. East - West" and the taxi strip, up to $12,000: bituminous surface on 47,000 square yards of runway and 18,250 square yards of taxi strip. Signed by Fred F. Cain, Treasurer, and B. J. Hull, Sales Manager; votes of November 5, 1946 certified by John H. Hanson, Clerk.
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| November 26, 1946 | Mortgage | Billerica-Wilmington Airways, Inc., of Billerica | Newton-Waltham Bank and Trust Company | Nov. 1946: $70,000 mortgage of the airport, "including all portable or sectional buildings" | 1054/25 |
Signed November 26, 1946 by Fred F. Cain, Treasurer, acknowledged before James E. Henchey, J.P., recorded November 26, 1946 (pages 25-28). Mortgage "to secure the payment of Seventy Thousand Dollars in or within one year", on "a certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon situated in Billerica and Wilmington": the same four parcels, including "all portable or sectional buildings" and fixtures. It replaced the bank's 1945 mortgage, discharged the same day.
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| November 29, 1948 | Mortgage | Billerica-Wilmington Airways, Inc., of Billerica | Newton-Waltham Bank and Trust Company | Nov. 1948: $62,500 mortgage of the airport "with the buildings thereon" | 1103/502 |
Vote of the directors on November 24, 1948 "to authorize the Treasurer, Frank B. Hosmer" to give the bank a mortgage and note for $62,500 (attest Lawrence S. Burke, Clerk); the mortgage secures "Sixty-two Thousand Five Hundred Dollars in or within 12 years", monthly installments due on the 24th, on "a certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon situated in Billerica and Wilmington", the same four parcels (Shawsheen Pines tract, Wilmington Heights lots, Block 32-34 lots, Wilmington registered land). Recorded November 29, 1948. Foreclosed by the bank in 1954.
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| March 8, 1954 | Foreclosure Deed | Newton-Waltham Bank and Trust Company, mortgagee of Billerica-Wilmington Airways, Inc. | John Harrison of Boston | 1954: the bank forecloses; the airport "with the buildings thereon" sold for $42,130.73 | 1249/34 |
Signed February 8, 1954, recorded March 8, 1954 (pages 34-38). The bank, holder of a mortgage from Billerica-Wilmington Airways, Inc. dated November 24, 1948 (Book 1103 Page 502, also Document 19856 on Certificate 6759), sold under the power of sale for $42,130.73 "A certain parcel of land, with the buildings thereon, situated in Billerica and Wilmington": the Shawsheen Pines tract from Alexander Street at the town line to Lubbers Brook, Aldrich Road and Cook Street, Wilmington Heights lots, lots in Blocks 32-34 bought from John D. Cooke, and Wilmington registered land (Certificate 6759). Notices ran in the Wilmington Crusader in December 1953; Robert Burns, auctioneer, adjourned the sale to February 8, 1954, when John Harrison bid highest.
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| March 8, 1954 | Quitclaim | John Harrison of Brookline, unmarried | Joseph M. Linsey of Brookline | 1954: the auction buyer resells the airport tract | 1249/39 |
Recorded March 8, 1954 with the foreclosure deed. The same four parcels, "with the buildings thereon", the first being the Shawsheen Pines tract on Plan Book 50 Plan 61 beginning on Alexander Street at the town line. "Subject to taxes for the year 1954. For my title, see deed of Newton-Waltham Bank and Trust Company to me dated February 8, 1954, recorded herewith." Harrison resold to Linsey the same day.
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| April 29, 1954 | Quitclaim | Joseph M. Linsey of Brookline, unmarried | Highway Sand & Gravel Inc., of Boston | 1954: to Highway Sand & Gravel Inc. | 1254/17 |
Dated March 24, 1954, recorded about April 29, 1954 (pages 17-18). The same four parcels in Billerica and Wilmington "with the buildings thereon", the first the Shawsheen Pines tract between Alexander Street, the town line, Lubbers Brook, Aldrich Road and Cook Street, excepting the sold lots and subject to the Lowell Cranberry Company easement. "Being the same premises conveyed to me by deed of John Harrison, dated March 8, 1954 ... Book 1249, Page 39."
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| February 2, 1956 | Quitclaim | Highway Sand & Gravel Inc., by Joseph M. Linsey, Treasurer | Joseph M. Linsey of Brookline | 1955: reconveyed; the hangars stood unused on the tract | 1325/183 |
Dated December 6, 1955 (excise stamp February 2, 1956; pages 183-184). The same four parcels "with the buildings thereon" in Billerica and Wilmington, the first the Shawsheen Pines tract from Alexander Street at the town line, with the excepted lots listed by block; "Being the same premises conveyed to Highway Sand & Gravel Inc. by deed of Joseph M. Linsey dated March 24, 1954" (Book 1254 Page 17). Linsey held the land for the next 26 years; the town considered taking 30 acres of it on Alexander Road for a school in 1975 but the article lost.
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| October 7, 1981 | Quitclaim | Joseph M. Linsey of Palm Beach, Florida | Elizabeth Caporale, Trustee of Alexander Realty Trust, of Meadowbrook Road, Billerica | 1981: the tract sold to Alexander Realty Trust; the hangars were already gone | 2504/83 |
Signed October 2, 1981, recorded October 7, 1981 (#17961). For $625,000, "A certain parcel of land, with the buildings thereon, situated in Billerica and Wilmington", the first parcel the Shawsheen Pines tract on Plan Book 50 Plan 61 from Alexander Street at the town line to Lubbers Brook, Aldrich Road and Cook Street, less the sold lots and 6.43 acres taken by the Town of Wilmington; "Being the same premises conveyed to Joseph M. Linsey by deed of Highway Sand & Gravel, Inc. dated December 6, 1955 ... Book 1325, Page 183." The trust gave back a purchase-money mortgage to Linsey (Book 2504 Page 86), later partially released lot by lot as the land was sold off.
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| August 17, 1984 | Foreclosure Deed | Frederick J. Conroy, mortgagee of Elizabeth Caporale, Trustee of Alexander Realty Trust | Frederick J. Conroy of Lexington | 1984: mortgage foreclosure | 2826/206 |
Signed August 14, 1984, recorded August 17, 1984. Conroy, holder of a mortgage from Elizabeth Caporale, Trustee of Alexander Realty Trust (declaration October 2, 1981, Book 2504 Page 75) dated November 4, 1981 (Book 2509 Page 231), sold under the power of sale for $300,000 "the premises conveyed by said mortgage": two parcels in Billerica and Wilmington with exceptions, "Property Address: Alexander Road and Cook Street, Billerica".
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| October 1, 1984 | Deed | Frederick J. Conroy of Lexington | Frederick J. Conroy, Trustee of Alexander Realty Trust III, of Lexington | 1984: to Alexander Realty Trust III | 2859/15 |
Dated August 10, 1984, recorded October 1, 1984 (#31110). "A certain parcel of land, with the buildings thereon, situated in Billerica and Wilmington": the Shawsheen Pines tract on Plan Book 50 Plan 61 beginning on Alexander Street at the Wilmington-Billerica town line, by Barnes, Lubbers Brook at Bousefield, 1,988 feet to Aldrich Road, Aldrich Road and Cook Street, with many excepted lots and the 6.43 acres taken by Wilmington (Book 1704 Page 366); Wilmington Heights lots; and Wilmington registered land (Certificate 6759). "Being the same premises conveyed to grantor by foreclosure deed of Frederick J. Conroy dated August 14, 1984 ... Book 2826 Page 206." Leonard Caporale later served as trustee of Alexander Realty Trust III, which sold the land in lots for houses and industry.
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| October 4, 1991 | Deed | Leonard Caporale, Trustee of Alexander Realty Trust III | Leonard Caporale, Trustee of Alexander Family Trust | 1991: the undeveloped east part of the field, with the hangar foundations (parcel 65-83-11) | 5669/91 |
Recorded October 4, 1991. For consideration less than $100, "parcels of land situate in Billerica ... shown as Blocks 48, 49, 50, 51, 59, 71, 74 and 75" on "Shawsheen Pines, Billerica - Wilmington - Mass." (April 1927, Henry F. Bryant & Son, Plan Book 50 Plan 61), "Subject to mortgages of record"; title by the 1984 deed to Alexander Realty Trust III. The assessor carries this land as parcel 65-83-11, 48.983 acres of undeveloped land, the eastern part of the old airfield toward Lubbers Brook, still in the trust in 2026.
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Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted.