Fordway Park & Concord River Park

Fordway Park & Concord River Park is a neighborhood of house lots in North Billerica along Pollard Street, the old Fordway Road, between the Concord River and High Street. It joins three early plans: Fordway Park, laid out for the J. W. Wilbur Co. in 1897, and Concord River Park and Concord River Park Annex, laid out together for the heirs of Owen Murningham by Whitman and Howard of Boston in 1911. The Annex, off Call Street, adjoins Fordway Park. Their histories follow.

Fordway Park is a neighborhood of house lots in North Billerica on the southeast side of Pollard Street, between the Fordway end of the street and High Street. In May 1897 Frederic R. Page, civil engineer, of 85 Water Street, Boston, drew the "Plan of Fordway Park, North Billerica, Mass., owned by J. W. Wilbur Co." (Plan Book 13, Plan 5). Pollard Street was then commonly called Fordway Road, the road to The Fordway, and the far end of the tract was bounded by the North Billerica Road.

The plan laid out a street called Broadway parallel to Fordway Road, and cross streets running between them, beginning at the end nearest the Fordway: Beacon, Maple, Walnut, Chestnut, Oak and Hawthorne Streets, with Lee and Sheldon Streets crossing the last three. Most lots were 20 to 25 feet wide.

Maple Street was the first of the streets taken over by the town, accepted on March 25, 1901 and built by town teams in 1901 and 1902; Walnut Street was accepted on March 27, 1905, and Beacon Street was also laid out by the town as forty feet wide. In the selectmen's program of 1988 to 1991 against duplicate street names Walnut Street became Horman Road, effective July 1, 1988, Maple Street became Blackstone Road about 1989, and Beacon Street became Mechanics Way about 1990. Truman Avenue runs on the line of the next cross street.

Concord River Park is a small neighborhood in North Billerica between Pollard Street and the Concord River, around Waterview Avenue. The land belonged to Owen Murningham, and his heirs had Whitman and Howard, civil engineers, of Boston draw the "Plan of Concord River Park, North Billerica, Mass.," dated January 25, 1911 and recorded March 23, 1911 (Plan Book 28, Plan 49). It showed 74 house lots between Pollard Street and the river, with River View Avenue looping through them and a short Pleasant Street running from Pollard Street to a small circle on the avenue.

At the same time the heirs divided their ten acres off Call Street as Concord River Park Annex. In the selectmen's renaming of duplicate street names River View Avenue, by then Riverview Avenue, became Waterview Avenue, effective July 1, 1988, keeping the sense of the old name.

Concord River Park Annex is a small neighborhood in North Billerica off Call Street, next to Fordway Park. It is the ten acres that Owen Murningham bought from Robert Call in 1880. His heirs had Whitman and Howard, civil engineers, of Boston draw the "Plan of Concord River Park Annex, North Billerica, Mass.," dated March 25, 1911, at the same time as Concord River Park on Pollard Street, though the plan was not recorded until November 25, 1913 (Plan Book 31, Plan 10).

The plan shows three parallel forty-foot streets running from Call Street, Wedgemere Street, Glendale Street and Myrtle Street, with Woodland Road across their far ends; Myrtle Street had house lots on one side only, with an older house on the other. The directories of 1916 and 1919 list Myrtle Street, and the 1919 directory also lists Westland Road, probably the Woodland Road of the plan.

Historic Buildings

Name	Alternate	Address	Built	Moved	Demolished
W. Pollard House		104 Pollard St	1852		1971