Middlesex Turnpike

The Middlesex Turnpike was a toll road chartered by the General Court in June 1805 to run from Cambridge and Medford to Tyngsborough and the New Hampshire line, among its corporators Ebenezer Bridge and James Abbot of Billerica. Hazen relates that "the line at first was to pass Billerica meeting-house; but, in 1806, the route was changed, by permission of the General Court, from a point in Bedford, crossing Nutting's Pond, to Buisket bridge in Tyngsborough." The managers "followed a route straight through the town, crossing Concord River a mile above the centre bridge, and leaving the village as far one side." The road was open by about 1810. It drew the through teaming of western New Hampshire and Vermont for a generation, but "the canal and the railroad left little for the turnpike, and its charter was repealed in 1841"; it became a free road a few years later. The official town map of 1831 draws it, labeled "Middlesex Turnpike," as a straight line from the Bedford line across Nutting's Pond and the Concord Road at Jaquith's to the Concord River and on to the Chelmsford line.

After the tolls ended the turnpike fell apart into pieces. The Walling map of 1853 shows the south part, from the Bedford line across Nutting's Pond to the Concord Road, labeled "Old Middlesex Turnpike," but no longer shows a road north of the Concord Road. The Jaquith glue factory of 1867 stood "near the old bridge of the Middlesex Turnpike" over the Concord River, and the opening of the turnpike had already left the old road over Hill's Bridge to decay (see Nashua Road). By the 1890s even the south end was closed: at the annual meeting of March 27, 1899 the town voted on motion of E. B. Haskell "that the 'Old Turnpike' be opened at Mr. Francis Bowman's from the Lexington road to Bedford line." North of the river the old line survived as the Old Middlesex Turnpike, listed in 1901 "from Chelmsford line (N. B.), south easterly to Treble Cove rd. n. River."

The name comes from the turnpike corporation, which took the name of the county. In the town's highway accounts the road was simply "the Turnpike" ("Worked three days on Turnpike, near Keefe place," 1890). The street-naming committee of 1896 called it "Turnpike street, running south from Bedford street to Lexington street, So. Billerica"; the citizens' meeting at the Historical Society in March 1898 voted to "strike out the word 'street,'" and the list accepted on March 27, 1899 gave "46. Middlesex Turnpike, from Concord road to Lexington road running south." The directories of 1901 to 1919 call it the "Old Middlesex turnpike," and the town reports often say "Turnpike Road."

For years the road was little more than a gravel track. The town graveled pieces of it in 1896, 1904 and 1906 ("Gravelling on turnpike, Dolan's Hill, 2,500 feet"), rebuilt the culvert under the road between the two parts of Nutting's Pond in 1914 and 1915, and in 1917 to 1919 repaired the causeway across the pond and built 1,500 feet of rail and a cement-topped wall. In 1923 the selectmen called its condition "impassable," and from 1924 on the town voted money each year for reconstruction with matching State and County aid, in 1929 "to gravel where necessary, reshape and tar the Middlesex Turnpike from the Billerica line to the Concord Road." In 1931, 3,000 feet were "excavated, graveled, and tarred"; in 1932 "the entire distance across Nuttings Lake was filled with gravel to widen the road," 1,650 feet were graveled and tarred 28 feet wide, and the bridge was rebuilt with reinforced concrete slabs; in 1933 another 4,200 feet of new road were built. The County Commissioners' layouts of the road are recorded as Plan Book 910, Plans 22 (1932) and 23 (1933). In 1956 the road between Concord Road and the Nuttings Lake causeway was entirely reconstructed under Chapter 90 to a 30-foot width with four inches of pavement.

The line of the old turnpike north of Concord Road was taken over by the Route 3 expressway. The State laid out "Middlesex Turnpike, Rte. 3" as a limited-access highway from the Bedford line in February 1952 (layout 3937) and from there to the Chelmsford line in September 1953 (layout 4072); a 1953 order of taking describes "the limited access relocation of the Middlesex Turnpike 'to become Route 3,'" with a relocation of Concord Road. The surviving road, from the Bedford town line to Concord Road, was among the roads shown on the official town map of 1831 that the Fall Town Meeting of October 2016 accepted as public ways, 124 to 19; the list gives "Middlesex Turnpike, Bedford Town Line to Concord Road," and separately "Old Middlesex Turnpike, Concord River to Dead End passing River Street Extension."

Historic Buildings

References

1. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883): Middlesex Turnpike chartered June 1805, route changed 1806 across Nutting's Pond, charter repealed 1841
2. Hazen 1883: 1661 road from the Concord Road "near the present route of the Middlesex turnpike" by Lieutenant French's
3. Hazen 1883: after the opening of the Middlesex turnpike the Hill bridge and road fell into disuse and decay
4. Wikipedia: Middlesex Turnpike, chartered June 15, 1805, opened about five years later, charter repealed 1841, free road 1846
5. Annual Report 1890: highway surveyor "Worked three days on Turnpike, near Keefe place"
6. Annual Report 1897: street-naming committee, "Turnpike street, running south from Bedford street to Lexington street, So. Billerica"
7. Annual Report 1899: March 1898 citizens' meeting, item 46, strike out the word "street"
8. Annual Report 1899: Historical Society list, "46. Middlesex Turnpike, from Concord road to Lexington road running south"
9. Annual Report 1900: list accepted March 27, 1899, "46. Middlesex Turnpike"
10. Annual Report 1900: town votes March 27, 1899 that the "Old Turnpike" be opened at Francis Bowman's from the Lexington road to the Bedford line
11. Annual Report 1931: Middlesex Turnpike, 3,000 feet excavated, graveled and tarred, with culverts and cable fence
12. Annual Report 1932: causeway across Nuttings Lake filled and widened, 1,650 feet graveled and tarred, bridge rebuilt
13. Annual Report 1933: new construction with State and County aid, including 4,200 feet of the Middlesex Turnpike
14. Massachusetts state highway layouts in Billerica: layouts 3937 (1952) and 4072 (1953), "Middlesex Turnpike, Rte. 3"
15. Annual Report 2017: Article 36 list of 1831-map roads, Middlesex Turnpike from the Bedford town line to Concord Road
16. Annual Report 2017: Fall Town Meeting, October 2016, Article 36 accepts the roads on the 1831 map as public ways (124 to 19)
17. Hazen 1883: Jaquith Brothers' glue factory of 1867 "near the old bridge of the Middlesex Turnpike"
18. Annual Report 1906: "Gravelling on turnpike, Dolan's Hill, 2,500 feet"

Deed References Expand all

Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted.