Holden Street

Holden Street
Location Map
Neighborhood Dickinson Subdivision
Laid Out 1951
Right of Way 30 ft
Pavement 16 ft


Holden Street is a short street west of Billerica Centre, running about 250 feet west from Whiting Street to the south end of Dickinson Street. It is first recorded in the warrant for the annual town meeting of February 1924, whose Article 19 asked the town "to accept as a Town Way, Holden Street, leading from Whiting Street." The finance committee's sub-committee on highways reported that "this street is only a wagon rut across the fields and shows no signs whatever of having been improved," and the article was dismissed. Two years later the street had been improved: the finance committee recommended Article 13 of 1926, "to accept Holden Street for the distance of 250 ft.," noting "Road in good condition," and the annual town meeting of February 13, 1926 voted to accept it. No recorded plan laying it out has been found. On the plan of the land of Edward F. Dickinson, surveyed in May 1927 by Brooks, Jordan and Graves (Plan Book 50, Plan 49), "Holden St." runs along the south end of Dickinson Street, beside land of S. Annah Holden.

The name evidently comes from the Holden family, whose land lay along it; Pitt F. Holden lived on Whiting Street by 1917, and Roland B. Holden on Concord Road near the Mitchell School. No record of the naming has been found. The street guide of 1930 to 1931 lists "Holden from Whiting westerly," and those of 1941 to 1957 "Holden, From Whiting to a dead end." The assessors date the houses now on it to about 1951 and 1956. The town spent $300 on "Holden Street Repairs" in 1954, and the street was crack sealed in 2009 and 2010. Another Holden Street, in the Fox Hill Terrace section between Andover Road and Pine Grove, appears in the directories of 1949 to 1957 and is not this street.



Holden Street
Plan of Land in Billerica, Mass., Belonging to Edward F. Dickinson, May 1927, Brooks, Jordan and Graves, 1927 (Plan 50/49)

References

  1. Billerica report 1923: warrant Art. 19, to accept as a town way Holden Street, leading from Whiting Street
  2. Billerica report 1923: highway sub-committee, Holden Street "only a wagon rut across the fields"
  3. Billerica report 1924: annual meeting, Art. 19 (Holden Street) dismissed
  4. Billerica report 1925: finance committee, Art. 13 accept Holden Street 250 ft, "Road in good condition"
  5. Billerica report 1926: annual meeting, Art. 13, the town accepts Holden Street for 250 feet
  6. Billerica report 1956: list of streets accepted by the town, Holden St. 250 ft., 2-13-26
  7. Billerica report 1954: highway accounts, Holden Street repairs $300