Structure · Built 1852 · Demolished 1972
Lucy H. Foster House
Lucy H. Foster House
| Address | 331 Treble Cove Rd |
| Built | 1852 |
| Demolished | 1972 |
| Other Lot Structures | New England Nuclear Plant (Built 1973) |
The Lucy H. Foster House stood on the northwest side of Treble Cove Road (the old Triple Cove road), west of Winning's Pond, on land that is now the 331 Treble Cove Road plant of Lantheus Medical Imaging. The 1853 Walling map labels it "L. H. Foster", between the Caleb S. Brown House place to the north and Wid. R. Winning's Tavern to the south. It was the home of the widow Lucy H. Foster, born Lucy Hill, who owned a farm of more than four hundred acres reaching from the Concord River to the Western Road and the Carlisle line.
The farm was the land of Joseph Hill Jr., who died in 1789 (probate 11481). In December 1809 his son Joseph Hill quitclaimed to his sister Lucy Hill, "singlewoman", for $7,000, "all the lands and buildings that my Father Mr. Joseph Hill late of said town died seized and possessed" west of the river, about 424 acres "with two dwelling houses and two barns thereon" (Book 189, Page 78). By 1817 she was the widow Lucy H. Foster; in 1820 she mortgaged the 420 acres "with all the buildings thereon" to Asa Richardson of Boston, a debt paid off by 1835. She sold only small pieces, an acre at the corner of the Carlisle road to the Brown innkeepers in 1828 and a lot to Jane Dutton in 1853, and kept the rest until her death. The house the wiki dates to about 1852 may be one of the two Hill houses of 1809 or a later one; no deed separates it.
Lucy H. Foster's will (probate 32117, 1869) left her real estate to her nephews Henry Benjamin and Edward Hill Judkins, sons of her sister Elizabeth H. Judkins, for life, with the remainders to their children. R. W. Baker surveyed the estate in 1871 into three lots of 238.8, 203.27 and 61.6 acres (Plan Book 32, Plan 52); the plan shows the buildings on the 61.6-acre lot beside the road, bounded on the north by the ditch along the C. S. Brown land and on the west by S. N. Wood. The Judkins family held the farm until a partition petition by Belva C. Judkins, after which Richard H. and Belva C. Judkins sold all 503.67 acres in August 1926 to Philip F. Coleman, who resold them to Elsa V. Johnson. Most of the land became the Queensland and Rio Vista house-lot developments along the river.
The house lot itself, the 61.6 acres, went in May 1927 from Elsa V. Johnson to Thomas E. Wiggins of Lexington, who mortgaged it for $7,500 to the Winter Hill Co-operative Bank of Somerville. Wiggins was living on the place by 1929, when he sold off the first of three small roadside lots. The bank foreclosed in 1937, buying the farm at its own auction on the premises for $3,500, and in 1938 sold "the land in said Billerica with the buildings thereon" to Annette C. Gravelle of Billerica. She too fell behind, and at a second foreclosure auction on April 10, 1940 the association bought it back for $2,000. In 1941 it sold the farm to Barbara Galvin, who kept it for twenty years.
In March 1961 Galvin sold the 61.6 acres "with the buildings thereon" to Arthur L. Glynn of Natick, who resold them a week later to Helen W. Dunn of Lexington. After cutting off two house lots on the road in 1964 and 1965, Dunn sold the remainder in October 1967 to New England Nuclear Corporation of Boston, a maker of radioactive chemicals and pharmaceuticals (Book 1820, Page 292). The old farmhouse was taken down about 1972 and the company's Billerica plant went up on the lot about 1973. New England Nuclear merged into E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company in 1984; DuPont put the campus into The Du Pont Merck Pharmaceutical Company in 1991, it passed by changes of name to Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Company, and in 2008 Bristol-Myers Squibb sold it for $51,240,000 to ACP Lantern Real Estate, the owner for Lantheus Medical Imaging, which still runs the plant.
References
Title References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
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| September 9, 1789 | Administration | Estate of Joseph Hill Jr. of Billerica, yeoman, intestate | Lucy Hill, widow (dower), and his children | Joseph Hill Jr. dies 1789; his farm west of the Concord River descends to his children | Probate #11481 |
Joseph Hill Jr. of Billerica, yeoman, died intestate Aug. 6, 1789. At the desire of his widow Lucy (Fitch), Isaac Stearns Esq. of Billerica was appointed administrator on Sept. 9, 1789 (bond 10,000 pounds with Edward Stearns and Samuel Lane Jr. of Bedford). The inventory by Deacon Joshua Abbot of Billerica and Edward Stearns and Capt. Timothy Jones of Bedford, allowed Oct. 14, 1789, lists notes and securities, furniture, stock and crops, and real estate: the Needham land of about 27 1/2 acres east of the Concord road (bought 1784, Middlesex South book 88 page 101), a seventh of land in Lexington, 50 acres of wild land in Templeton, and "the Foster land lying in Billerica one lot containing 18 acres with the buildings thereon, the other 10 acres." The committee of Oct. 14, 1789 set off the widow's dower and severed his share of land held in common, including "the northerly part of the house," part of a barn, mill house and wood house and 93 acres on the road to Hill's Bridge. The Samuel Hill house is not among these lands: it belonged to the Kidders until 1791 and to Peter Hill (Lucy's second husband, 1793) from 1805, and Joseph's son Joseph bought it from Peter Hill in 1808. The 1973 MACRIS story that Joseph and Lucy "took over" the house in 1782 is not borne out by the deeds. Middlesex probate case 11481.
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| June 5, 1810 | Quitclaim | Joseph Hill of Billerica (wife Dorcas Hill releasing dower) | His sister Lucy Hill of Billerica, singlewoman (later the widow Lucy H. Foster) | Joseph Hill to his sister Lucy, 424 acres with two dwelling houses | 189/78 (South) |
Dated Dec. 9, 1809, acknowledged Mar. 6, 1810, Billerica town book 11, pages 166-167. For $7,000, quitclaim of "all the lands and buildings that my Father Mr. Joseph Hill late of said town died seized and possessed" west of the Concord River (a small part in Carlisle), except about forty acres of wood land Lucy quitclaimed to him the same day: about 424 acres "with two dwelling houses and two barns thereon," bounded by the river, John Parker, the heirs of Alexander Winning on Winning Pond, Nathan Abbott, Isaac Barron, Benjamin Russell and Trible Cove road "to the fork of the roads where one leads to Carlisle, the other to where Hills Bridge formerly stood," then on that road about 128 rods, by the forty acres, Nathaniel Parker and Nehemiah Andrews; with about 2 1/2 acres of river meadow. A division between the heirs of Joseph Hill Jr. (d. 1789, probate 11481).
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| August 31, 1810 | Administration and Dower | Estate of Joseph Hill of Billerica, yeoman, intestate | Dorcas Hill, widow (dower); Joseph (F.) Hill, his only child and heir | Joseph Hill (brother) dies 1810 | Probate #11483 |
Joseph Hill died intestate in 1810 leaving "a widow and one infant child." The widow Dorcas declined and John Walker of Burlington was appointed administrator Aug. 31, 1810. The inventory of Oct. 2, 1810 by Joseph Locke, Jeremiah Patten and Alexander Winning begins with "The dwelling house, barn, out buildings and farm, containing about thirty two acres, where the deceased lived" at $2,700, with half of a house and about 140 acres "lately occupied by the widow Hill grandmother of the deceased, as her dower," the Tarbell place of 135 acres, the Johnson place, and timber "cut for building a bridge." Part of the land was sold under license of 1810-11. The committee to set off dower (Blaney Abbot, Jeremiah Clapp, Samuel Hopkins Jr.), accepted May 16, 1811, valued "The homestead of said deceased, containing about thirty-one acres with a dwelling house, barn, corn-house, wood-house & cyder-mill house thereon standing; bounded Southerly by land of Peter Hill, Westerly by Concord river, Northerly by land of Joseph Jaquith & the Middlesex Turnpike, and Southeasterly by a County road" at $2,510, and set off to Dorcas "a part of the homestead containing about thirty acres and three fourths of an acre, with the buildings thereon," from Jaquith's corner by the county road to Peter Hill, the river and the turnpike, with fourteen acres of wood on the old Hill place and half of pew 18. Middlesex probate case 11483.
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| September 21, 1820 | Mortgage | Lucy H. Foster of Billerica, widow | Asa Richardson of Boston, gentleman | widow Lucy H. Foster mortgages the farm | 236/12 (South) |
Sept. 8, 1820, Billerica town book 13, pages 106-107. For $900, about 420 acres west of the Concord River "with all the buildings thereon standing," with the same bounds as the 1809 deed (the river, John Parker, the heirs of Alexander Winning on Winning Pond, Isaac Barron, Benjamin Russell, Trible Cove road "where one leads to Carlisle the other to where Hill's bridge formerly stood"), "being the same land deeded to me by Joseph &c Dorcas Hill ... March 6th 1810" (Book 189; the page is written as 7, the deed is recorded at page 78). Payable in one year with interest. Discharged May 25, 1835 by George Morey, administrator with the will annexed of Asa Richardson, on payment of $625.37 (recorded Mar. 3, 1836).
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| 1869 | Will | Lucy H. Foster of Billerica, widow | Her nephews Henry Benjamin Judkins and Edward Hill Judkins | Lucy H. Foster will: the farm to the Judkins nephews | Probate #32117 |
Middlesex probate case 32117 (1869). Will of Lucy H. Foster of Billerica, widow. Gives her wearing apparel and $50 to her "beloved sister Elizabeth H. Judkins"; a devise to her nephew Edward Hill Judkins "his heirs and assigns"; and "all the rest and residue of my real estate of every name and nature" to her nephews Henry Benjamin Judkins and Edward Hill Judkins "as tenants in common for and during the term of their natural life," at the death of either one undivided half to his child or children, otherwise to the surviving brother for life. "No wood shall be cut from the said real estate, except such as may be necessary for the repairs of the fences, farm-houses or other buildings on the said premises, or for consumption as fuel," and none sold except "cut and corded on the same" at private sale, until twenty years after her death. Witnesses Benjamin F. Adams, Francis G. Adams, Sarah L. Flanders. Her estate was surveyed by R. W. Baker in 1871 (Plan Book 32 Plan 52): 238.8, 203.27 and 61.6 acres along the Triple Cove and Western Roads.
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| August 9, 1926 | Quitclaim Deed | Richard H. Judkins and Belva C. Judkins, husband and wife, of Carlsbad, New Mexico | Philip F. Coleman of Arlington | Judkins heirs sell the farm, Lot 1 of Plan 32/52 included | 739/560 |
Signed and recorded August 9, 1926, "for consideration paid." "A certain parcel of land with the buildings thereon, situated in Billerica and Carlisle, Massachusetts, containing 503.67 acres," by metes and bounds from the northerly side of the Triple Cove Road, by land of C. S. Brown and S. N. Wood, the Western Road, West Street, the Carlisle line, Page's Brook and the Concord River, the land of John Cummings and "land formerly of Benjamin L. Judkins, deceased," Baldwin, Flanders and Jones, and "crossing Winning's Pond 749.5 feet"; also the 31.08-acre "Wood Lot" by Bailey's land and the river, a 20-acre wood lot, and the 3.27-acre "Peter Hill" lot. Lot 1 on Plan Book 32 Plan 52, Lots 2 and 4 on Plan Book 32 Plan 55; for Lot 3 "see deed of Parker to Judkins, Billerica Copies, Book 14, Page 426." With riparian rights. "For my title see Middlesex Probate Records, Belva C. Judkins, Petitioner for Partition #157121." Melvin G. Rogers discharged Belva C. Judkins's mortgages (728/47, 733/456) the same day, and Coleman mortgaged the land to the Liberty Trust Company for $55,000.
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| November 4, 1926 | Quitclaim Deed | Philip F. Coleman of Arlington (Anna S. Coleman releasing dower) | Elsa V. Johnson of Melrose | Coleman to Elsa V. Johnson | 742/498 |
Signed October 5, 1926, recorded November 4, 1926, "for consideration paid." The same 503.67 acres "with the buildings thereon, situated in Billerica and Carlisle," the Wood Lot, the 20-acre wood lot and the "Peter Hill" lot, described as in Book 739 Page 560, with all riparian rights, "subject to a first mortgage of $55,000 held by the Liberty Trust Co." "For title see deed from Richard H. Judkins and Belva C. Judkins, dated August 9, 1926 and recorded with Middlesex North District Deeds, Book 739, Page 560."
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| July 1, 1927 | Quitclaim Deed | Elsa V. Johnson of Chelsea, unmarried | Thomas E. Wiggins of Lexington | Johnson sells the 61.6-acre house lot to Wiggins | 751/293 |
Signed May 28, 1927. "For consideration paid", "the land in Billerica ... shown as a parcel containing sixty one and 6/10 (61.6) acres" on the 1871 "Plan of the Estate of Lucy H. Foster" (Plan Book 32, Plan 52): from the southeast corner on the northwest side of Triple Cove Road "at land of Bailey", northwesterly on six courses, then N 73 30 W 624 feet and around to "land of C. S. Brown, this line being marked by a ditch, 1638 feet to land of S. N. Wood", by Wood 603 feet back to Triple Cove Road and by the road to the beginning. This was Lot 1 of the Judkins farm that Johnson had bought in 1926 (Book 742, Page 498). No buildings are named and there is no title recital.
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| July 1, 1927 | Mortgage | Thomas E. Wiggins of Lexington | Winter Hill Co-operative Bank, Somerville | Wiggins mortgage to Winter Hill Co-operative Bank | 751/294 |
Dated July 1, 1927, recorded with the deed. $7,500, secured by 38 shares of the 85th series, payable at $78.62 a month, on the same 61.6 acres of the Lucy H. Foster estate. Margins note partial releases (Book 785, Page 549; Book 800, Page 84; Book 803, Page 272) for three small roadside lots Wiggins sold, the entry for possession (Book 883, Page 400) and the mortgagee's sale (Book 893, Page 349).
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| January 7, 1930 | Quitclaim Deed | Thomas E. Wiggins of Billerica (Edna Wiggins releasing dower) | William F. Eslin of Malden | roadside house lot sold off | 785/550 |
Signed December 21, 1929. A 50 by 100 foot lot (5,000 square feet) on the northerly or westerly side of Triple Cove Road, "being a portion of the premises now or formerly known as the Estate of Lucy H. Foster", beginning at the line between Wiggins and S. N. Wood. The first of three small roadside lots (with Book 800, Page 85 and Book 803, Page 273, both 1931) that were excepted from every later deed of the farm. Wiggins was by then "of Billerica", living on the place.
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| March 8, 1937 | Foreclosure Deed | Winter Hill Co-operative Bank, mortgagee of Thomas E. Wiggins | Winter Hill Co-operative Bank, Somerville | bank forecloses on Wiggins | 893/349 |
Signed March 2, 1937 by treasurer Charles L. Shea. Under the power of sale in the 1927 Wiggins mortgage (Book 751, Page 294), "for thirty-five hundred (3500) dollars", the 61.6 acres on the Lucy H. Foster estate plan, excepting the lots already released. The affidavit says the dues and interest were more than four months in arrears and the pledged shares had been declared forfeited; notice ran in the Billerica News on January 21 and 28 and February 4, 1937, and the auction was held on the premises on February 16, 1937.
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| November 4, 1938 | Quitclaim Deed | Winter Hill Co-operative Federal Savings and Loan Association of Somerville | Annette C. Gravelle of Billerica | bank to Annette C. Gravelle, with the buildings | 921/469 |
Signed October 27, 1938 by treasurer Harriett A. Osborne, with the executive committee vote. "For consideration paid" ($3.50 in stamps), "the land in said Billerica with the buildings thereon, being shown as parcel containing 61.6 acres" on Plan Book 32, Plan 52, with the same bounds (Bailey, the C. S. Brown ditch, S. N. Wood, Treble Cove Road), excepting what had been released from the Wiggins mortgage. No title recital (the Winter Hill Co-operative Bank had taken the farm by foreclosure in 1937 and become a federal savings and loan association).
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| November 4, 1938 | Mortgage | Annette C. Gravelle of Billerica | Winter Hill Co-operative Federal Savings and Loan Association of Somerville | Gravelle mortgage | 921/470 |
Dated October 28, 1938. $3,500 at six percent, repayable at $35 a month from November 1, 1938, on the same 61.6 acres of the Lucy H. Foster estate.
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| April 16, 1940 | Foreclosure Deed | Winter Hill Co-operative Federal Savings and Loan Association, mortgagee of Annette C. Gravelle | Winter Hill Co-operative Federal Savings and Loan Association of Somerville | second foreclosure | 943/283 |
Signed April 13, 1940 by president Robert A. Blake, with the certificate of entry of March 29, 1940. Under the power of sale in the 1938 Gravelle mortgage (Book 921, Page 470), "for two thousand (2000) dollars paid". Notice of the sale of "The land, with the buildings thereon, situated in said Billerica shown as a parcel containing 61.6 acres" ran in the Billerica News on March 14, 21 and 28, 1940; auctioneer Wilbur F. Lewis sold it on the premises on April 10, 1940 to the association, the highest bidder, for $2,000.
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| June 11, 1941 | Quitclaim Deed | Winter Hill Co-operative Federal Savings and Loan Association of Somerville | Barbara Galvin, wife of Frank Galvin, of Arlington | bank to Barbara Galvin | 961/472 |
Signed May 20, 1941 by president Robert A. Blake and ratified by the executive committee on May 23, 1941 ("property at Triple Cove Road, Billerica"). "For consideration paid" ($2.75 in stamps), "the land in Billerica ... with the buildings thereon, shown as a lot containing 61.6 acres" on the 1871 Lucy H. Foster estate plan, same bounds, excepting the parts released from the 1927 Wiggins mortgage. "Being the same premises conveyed to grantor by foreclosure deed dated April 13, 1940 ... book 943, page 283." The grantee assumed the 1941 taxes; she gave a mortgage back to the association on the next page.
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| March 22, 1961 | Quitclaim Deed | Barbara Galvin of Billerica | Arthur L. Glynn of Natick | Galvin to Glynn | 1508/42 |
Dated March 20, 1961. "For consideration paid", "the land in Billerica ... with the buildings thereon, shown as a certain lot containing 61.6 acres" on the 1871 Lucy H. Foster estate plan (Plan Book 32, Plan 52), with the same metes and bounds from "land of Bailey" on Treble Cove Road around by the C. S. Brown ditch and S. N. Wood, excepting the parcels released from the 1927 Wiggins mortgage. "Being all and the same premises conveyed to me by Winter Hill Co-operative Federal Savings and Loan Association of Somerville, by deed dated May 20, 1941 ... Book 961, Page 472." Galvin owned the farm for twenty years.
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| March 27, 1961 | Quitclaim Deed | Arthur L. Glynn of Natick (Fern M. Glynn releasing dower) | Helen W. Dunn, wife of Leo Dunn, of Lexington | Glynn to Helen W. Dunn | 1508/233 |
Signed March 27, 1961. "For consideration paid" ($82.50 in stamps), "the land in Billerica ... situated on the Northwesterly side of Treble Cove Road, sometimes known as Triple Cove Road, shown as the parcel marked 61.6 acres" on the 1871 Lucy H. Foster estate plan, excepting three parcels totaling 25,361 square feet (Book 785, Page 550; Book 800, Page 85; Book 803, Page 273). "Being the same and all of the same premises conveyed to me by deed of Barbara Galvin dated March 20, 1961 ... Book 1508, Page 42."
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| October 27, 1967 | Quitclaim Deed | Helen W. Dunn of Lexington | New England Nuclear Corporation, Boston | Dunn to New England Nuclear; house later cleared | 1820/292 |
"For consideration paid", "the land in Billerica ... situated on the Northwesterly side of Treble Cove Road, sometimes known as Triple Cove Road, shown as the parcel marked 61.6 acres" on the 1871 "Plan of the Estate of Lucy H. Foster" (Plan Book 32, Plan 52), excepting the three small 1929-1931 parcels, Lot 2 on a November 1964 plan for Helen W. Dunn (sold in 1964, 46,988 square feet) and a 186,080 square foot lot on her "Proposed Subdivision of Land of Helen Dunn" of June 14, 1965. "Being a portion of the premises conveyed to me by deed of Arthur L. Glynn" (Book 1508, Page 233). New England Nuclear, a Boston maker of radioactive chemicals, cleared the farm and built its Billerica plant here; the assessor dates the main building to about 1973.
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| January 2, 1991 | Deed | E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company | The Du Pont Merck Pharmaceutical Company | campus deed including the Foster lot | 5419/301 |
Dated December 1990, effective January 1, 1991. A capital contribution to the new partnership owned half by DuPont and half by Calgon Corporation, valued at $8,929,000. Tract Five is the same 140 acres, "all of the premises marked "F. J. Smith"" on Plan Book 7, Plan 48, "BEING the same premises which the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston by deed dated September 27, 1977 ... Book 2269, Page 544 ... conveyed unto New England Nuclear Corporation; said New England Nuclear Corporation having thereafter merged with and into Grantor" on June 29, 1984 (the certificate of merger is recorded with the deed). The easements listed include a path from land of Jay Raymond Brown to a "BALLFIELD" on the 1981 plan (Plan Book 133, Plan 76).
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| January 10, 2008 | Quitclaim Deed | Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Company | ACP Lantern Real Estate LLC (Avista Capital) | campus deed including the Foster lot | 21867/190 |
Signed January 8, 2008. For $51,240,000, the whole Treble Cove Road campus (331 Treble Cove Road) in five tracts. Tract Five is "All that certain tract of land together with the buildings and improvements thereon situated in the Westerly part of Billerica", bounded southwesterly by "the road leading from Chelmsford to Bedford, now called the Boston Road", and by Dyer, Judkins, the County of Middlesex, Anthony Jones, the estate of John Harrington, James Whittemore, Henry Duren, Charles P. Comerford and Howard G. Simonds, "Containing one hundred forty (140) acres, more or less. Being all of the premises marked "F. J. Smith"" on the 1892 Plan of the Sumner Brown Estate (Plan Book 7, Plan 48). DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Company had become DuPont Pharmaceuticals Company and then, after Bristol-Myers Squibb bought it in 2001, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Company, by changes of name with no deed.
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Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted; Probate # is a Middlesex probate case, Ctf a Land Court certificate of title.