Floyd Street

Floyd Street runs east from Boston Road at Brown's Corner, where Pollard Street comes in from the north, to Salem Road, and carries Route 129 from Boston Road toward Wilmington. It is part of one of the earliest roads in town. Hazen wrote that "the road which run east from the 'Pollard' place, to and beyond Mr. Nason's place, existed very early and was known as the road to Jeft's Cove, or Trull's Cove," and he placed the crossroads here, "near the turn in the road by Mr. Russell's house, a half-mile south of North Billerica," where an old road ran south toward Fox Hill and the village and another "now leading to the Rev. Elias Nason's place" ran east. On Aug. 1, 1692 the families of Zachary Shed, on the northeast angle of the two roads, and John Dunkin, on the other side, were "all slain by ye Indians" at this place. Edward Farmer lived "near Corner, just south of road to Davis place" in 1733, at what is now the corner of Pollard and Floyd Streets. No laying out of the road is recorded.

The road had no name of its own before 1897. The street naming committee of that year listed "Floyd street, running east from June, Pollard and Main streets to Salem street," and the Historical Society's revised list, "Floyd street, from junction of Pollard and Boston road running east to Salem road," was accepted at the annual town meeting of March 27, 1899. The name is almost certainly for Daniel Floyd, a carpenter and long a town officer, representative to the General Court in 1853 and a registrar of voters in the 1880s, whose land lay on the east side of "the County road leading from Boston to Lowell" just south of the corner, as deeds from 1851 to 1921 describe it. No record of the committee's reasons has been found.

The corner of Boston Road and Floyd Street was graveled in 1901, and 700 feet of Floyd Street were graded with cinders in 1927. In 1950 the town rebuilt and widened it under the state's Chapter 90 program, on a County plan of that year, so that "the heavy traffic on Route 129 can be taken out of the center of the town," and the work went on over Salem Road to Andover Road by 1953. In 1955 the town voted money for changes at "the junction of Floyd Street, Pollard Street and Boston Road for the purpose of relocating Route 129," and a traffic circle was built there in 1956 and 1957. The Marshall Middle School was built on the street in 1970 to 1972.

It was formally accepted as a public way at the Fall Town Meeting of October 2016, which voted, 124 to 19, under Chapter 82, sections 21 to 24, of the General Laws, to accept the 57 old roads "the layout of which is shown on the official Town of Billerica Map of 1831." The town manager explained that the state already treated these roads as public ways, but the town had no record of accepting them and so could not spend money to maintain them. The list gives it from Boston Road to Salem Road.

Historic Buildings

Name	Alternate	Address	Built	Moved	Demolished
Marshall Middle School		15 Floyd St	1972

References

1. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883): the road east from the "Pollard" place to and beyond Mr. Nason's, "the road to Jeft's Cove, or Trull's Cove"
2. Hazen 1883: the 1692 attack at the crossroads by Mr. Russell's house, half a mile south of North Billerica
3. Hazen 1883: Edward Farmer "near Corner, just south of road to Davis place" in the 1733 residence notes
4. 1897 Annual Report: committee list, "Floyd street, running east from June, Pollard and Main streets to Salem street"
5. 1900 Annual Report: list accepted March 27, 1899, "Floyd street, from junction of Pollard and Boston road running east to Salem road"
6. 1950 selectmen's report: Floyd Street widened and resurfaced under Chapter 90 to take Route 129 traffic out of the center
7. 1951 selectmen's report: work on Floyd Street and Salem Road continued toward relocating Route 129 to the Wilmington line
8. 1955 warrant: changes at the junction of Floyd Street, Pollard Street and Boston Road "for the purpose of relocating Route 129"
9. Annual Report 2017: Fall Town Meeting, October 2016, Article 36 accepts as public ways the roads shown on the official town map of 1831 (124 to 19)
10. Annual Report 2017: warrant for Article 36, the 1831 list of roads with their termini