Columbus Avenue
Columbus Avenue is the name used for the private drive of the Concord Crossing condominium in Billerica Centre, which leaves River Street opposite Parker Street and runs north beside the railroad, behind the houses of Wedgewood Avenue, to a loop around a landscaped island. It is not a public street, and its name appears on no plan or deed: the condominium's town houses are all numbered 53 River Street. The only town record of the name found is the mosquito control log of 2011, which lists Columbus Avenue among the streets treated on September 30, 2011.
The land was Lots D and E of a plan of the Mary N. Casey land made in October 1916 (Plan Book 34, Plan 19), on the west side of Maple Avenue, now Wedgewood Avenue. The widow of John A. Barrington sold Lot E "with the building thereon," and Lot D, to the Knights of Columbus of Billerica Building Association, Inc. by a deed recorded on December 19, 1956, and in 1957 the Planning Board asked the town meeting to rezone the Knights of Columbus land on Maple Avenue from industrial to general business. The Knights of Columbus Hall was among the town's meeting halls in 1973. The association sold the property, as 12 Wedgewood Avenue, to Content Homes II, Inc., by a deed recorded on May 14, 1999, and the Boston and Maine Corporation sold the company a strip of railroad land in December 1999.
After the Board of Appeals approved the project on November 29, 2000, Content Homes II created the Concord Crossing Condominium by a master deed recorded on January 23, 2002, on Lot D-3, about 4.8 acres, of a "Plan of Land in Billerica, Mass., River Street" by Raymond Engineering Service of 574 Boston Road, dated January 4, 2002. The plan shows the drive, unnamed, curving from River Street past the first buildings to the loop. Twenty-four town house units were built in 2002. The name matches that of the Knights of Columbus, whose hall stood on the site, but no record of why or when the drive was given it was found.
References
- Billerica town report 2011: mosquito control log, September 30, 2011, Columbus Avenue among streets treated
- Billerica town report 1957 (1955-59 volume): warrant Art. 48, rezoning Knights of Columbus land on Maple Avenue (Casey plan Lots D and E)
Deed References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 19, 1956 | Quitclaim | Kate R. Barrington, widow of John A. Barrington, of Vienna, Virginia | Knights of Columbus of Billerica Building Association, Inc. | Lots D and E on Maple Avenue (Casey plan 1916) to the Knights of Columbus Building Association, 1956; the site of the Concord Crossing condominium drive | 1359/148 |
Lot E "with the building thereon" on the westerly side of Maple Avenue, and Lot D, on the 1916 Casey plan (Plan Book 34, Plan 19), Billerica Centre. The Association sold the land in 1999 as 12 Wedgewood Avenue (formerly Maple Avenue) to Content Homes II, Inc. (Book 10147 Page 5).
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Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted.