French Street

French Street runs southwest from Concord Road at the old South Burial Ground to the Middlesex Turnpike in South Billerica. It is not on the official town map of 1831, which shows the turnpike crossing the Concord road at Jaquith's with no road between, but the Walling map of 1853 draws it from the "Grave Yard" south past the houses of J. Baldwin and B. L. Judkins to the turnpike. It was therefore opened between 1831 and 1853, giving the farms along it, and travelers on the turnpike, a short way to the Centre. The County Commissioners' relocation of Concord Road in 1938 (Plan Book 910, Plan 12) rebuilt its junction with Concord Road.

The street-naming committee of 1896 proposed "Hannaford street, running southwest from Bedford street to Turnpike street, So. Billerica," presumably after a family of that name (Waldo Hannaford and his family appear in the town accounts of the 1890s, and the highway surveyor graveled "near Hannaford place" in 1890), though the record does not place them on this street. The citizens' meeting at the Historical Society in March 1898 voted "48. Change to French Street," and the list accepted at town meeting on March 27, 1899 gave "48. French street, from Concord road running southwest to Turnpike, So. Billerica." The directories of 1901 to 1919 describe it as running "from Concord rd. at South Burial Ground to Old Middlesex turnpike."

The new name recalled Lieutenant William French, one of the first settlers of the town and its first representative to the General Court in 1663-1664. Hazen writes that he "bought a part of the Dudley farm; his house stood near the turnpike, east of the Bedford road, near Ralph Hill's," and in describing the Dudley farm, that "east of his [Ralph Hill's] farm, Lieut. William French had his home, towards Indian Hill, as the hill north of Nutting's Pond was called." A road laid out in 1661 from the Concord road "near the present route of the Middlesex turnpike" went "by Henry Jefts and Lieutenant French's." French Street runs through just this neighborhood.

The street was widened and a culvert repaired in 1909, and guard rails were put up in 1910. For forty years it was scraped, raked and gravel-patched; in 1949 it was "graveled, scraped, tar-penetration and asphalt sealed," and 1,500 feet were asphalt sealed in 1953. French Street appears without a date in the town's list of accepted streets printed in 1956, "From Concord Rd. southwest to Turnpike." It was not on the 1831 map and so was not among the old roads accepted as public ways in October 2016, and no separate vote accepting it has been found.

Historic Buildings

Name	Alternate	Address	Built	Moved	Demolished
J. Baldwin House #2		20 French St	1852		2006

References

1. Annual Report 1897: street-naming committee, "Hannaford street, running southwest from Bedford street to Turnpike street, So. Billerica"
2. Annual Report 1899: March 1898 citizens' meeting, item 48, "Change to French Street"
3. Annual Report 1899: Historical Society list, "48. French street, from Concord road running southwest to Turnpike, So. Billerica"
4. Annual Report 1900: street list accepted at the town meeting of March 27, 1899, "48. French street"
5. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), genealogical register: Lieut. William French, first representative, "his house stood near the turnpike, east of the Bedford road"
6. Hazen 1883: on the Dudley farm, "Lieut. William French had his home, towards Indian Hill"
7. Hazen 1883: 1661 road from the Concord Road near the route of the turnpike, "going by Henry Jefts and Lieutenant French's"
8. Annual Report 1909: "Widening road and repairing culvert, French Street"
9. Annual Report 1910: guard rails put up on French Street and other roads