Lake Street

Lake Street runs along the north side of Nuttings Lake in the south part of town, from the Middlesex Turnpike east to Lexington Road. It takes its name from the lake, which was known for most of the town's history as Nutting's Pond; in 1883 Henry A. Hazen, annotating the town's tax list of 1776, placed the Crosby farm "east of Nutting's Pond." The pond became Nuttings Lake in 1910, when C. A. Thayer, an engineer of Providence, Rhode Island, drew the plans of Nuttings Lake Park ("Area of Lake Over 100 Acres") for the sale of small summer lots around it. Plan B of April 1910, recorded in Plan Book 27 Plan 34, shows Lake Street running from the turnpike along the shore of the lake, with Central, South, Peace, Cady, Rhodes and Back Streets crossing it.

There was no through road here before the development. The county atlas of 1875 shows only a short lane from Lexington Road toward the east side of the pond, and that lane survived as Pond Lane, which the directory of 1919 describes as running "from Lexington rd to Lake," while Lake Street ran "from Old Middlesex turnpike at Nutting's Pond southeasterly." The town meeting was asked in 1916 to repair "a stretch of road known as Pond Land [Lane], running about four hundred fifty feet from Lexington Road to Lake Street," and in 1920 to lay out Pond Lane as a town road. In 1940 the annual town meeting voted "to change the name of Pond Lane to Lake Street," so that the whole way from the turnpike to Lexington Road now bears one name. The name Pond Lane Extension survives on a side street.

Lake Street was accepted in pieces. A 1932 article to accept it was dismissed, but the annual town meeting of 1937 accepted "that part of Lake Street existing between Pond Lane and Middlesex Turnpike," and a special town meeting on August 23, 1943 accepted "the laying out of Lake Street as a Town way in accordance with the report of the Selectmen." The town's 1956 index records these as February 13, 1937 and August 23, 1943. Lake Street is not among the 1831 roads accepted in 2016.

It was a gravel road through the 1930s. A Works Progress Administration project begun in 1937 widened it to 20 feet for 5,168 feet, with brush cutting, grubbing, ledge removal and drainage; a water main was laid from Lexington Road in 1937 and along the turnpike to Lake Street in 1938 to 1940. In 1990 the county altered the Middlesex Turnpike where it meets Lake Street, as shown on the county plan "Middlesex Turnpike (Lake St Change)."

References

1. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883): annotated 1776 tax list, Crosby place "east of Nutting's Pond"
2. 1920 warrant, Article 47: to lay out Pond Lane as a town road from Lexington Road to Lake Street
3. 1937 annual town meeting, Articles 31 and 32: Pond Lane resurfaced and Lake Street between Pond Lane and the Middlesex Turnpike accepted
4. 1937 report: WPA project to widen and gravel Lake Street
5. 1940 annual town meeting, Article 31: voted to change the name of Pond Lane to Lake Street
6. Special town meeting Aug. 23, 1943, Article 1: Lake Street accepted as a town way
7. 1956 report: index of accepted streets, Lake St. 2-13-37 and 8-23-43