Pollard Park
Pollard Park is the town ground on the south side of Andover Road a short walk east of the Billerica Common, on the site of the old Pollard School. The town gives its address as 21 Andover Road, a parcel of about 3.8 acres that the assessors describe as the "Pollard School land" and the "Korean War Memorial & Little League Field site." It holds the Pollard baseball field, the Kids Konnection Playground with its parking lot, and at the front, on Andover Road, the Korean Veterans Memorial. The town reports call it Pollard Field, the Pollard playground and, since 1990, Pollard Park.
The park takes its name from the school, and the school from Asa Pollard. The historic inventory form for the school says that it "is named for Asa Pollard, son of John Pollard and Susannah Baldwin of Billerica. Asa was born in 1735 and was the first to be killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill. He was hit by a cannon ball fired from the ship 'Somerset' lying off Charlestown." An article of 1936 to rename it the Maurice A. Buck School, for the town's school physician and committeeman, was dismissed.
The land was part of the old Bowers homestead. In 1834 Jonathan Gates bought the homestead of Capt. Josiah Bowers from the heirs of Andrew Bowers, his brother and administrator, and sold it the same year to Ichabod G. Kimball, with thirty acres on the other side of the road. In 1875 Kimball covenanted to leave his farm, including twenty-eight acres across the road from his house, to George W. Searles in return for his support. On August 15, 1891 Searles sold J. Nelson Parker for $1,000 "a certain tract of land" on Andover Street, running back from a frontage of about forty feet between the land of John H. Baker and the heirs of Thomas R. Shed to the land of Paul Hill, bounded on the west by A. C. Lane and by "land formerly of A. F. Page, now owned by the town of Billerica, ... containing three and one half acres more or less." The town meeting of 1891 had voted to build a four-room schoolhouse at the Centre "upon a site to be selected," and Parker resold the lot to the town in two pieces: the western half "near Andover street" for $400, by a deed dated the same day, and in April 1892 the rest, with the frontage on Andover Street, for $600, "intended to convey all the land deeded to me by George W. and Lucinda W. Searles." The town treasurer's accounts for the year also record $200 received from "J. N. Parker, in part pay for the Page land." The Pollard School was dedicated on March 9, 1892.
The town also kept its barn and highway yard beside the school, very likely on the old Page land. In 1946 the town meeting voted to dispose of "the Town Barn, an obsolete two story frame building, located off Andover Road, adjacent to the Pollard School yard," and to transfer the real estate to the School Committee, and in 1949 it told the selectmen to "clean up condition existing at the Old Highway Department yard on side of the Pollard School property so it can be used as voted by the Town as a part of the School playground." By 1953 the back of the schoolyard was "the Billerica Little League Baseball field in rear of the Pollard School," and the town meeting voted $500 to improve and maintain it. A warrant article of 1957 asked the town to name it the Arthur H. Raymond Field; no vote naming it has been found. The Pollard field was reconditioned in 1977.
After the school closed, the selectmen reported in 1981 that "in view of the fact that the Pollard School, Andover Road, had been vacant and vandalized, the building was removed." In 1982 work began "on the Pollard playground with the cooperation of the Town and numerous volunteers," with picnic tables and playground equipment, and by 1984 the Park Division counted "the new addition of the tiny tots playground at the Pollard Field" among its grounds. Gail Tracy of the Recreation Commission was named Billerica's Woman of the Year for 1983 for her "tireless efforts and determination to provide Billerica's children with the new Pollard Playground." In October 1990 volunteers of Billerica Recreation for All built the much larger Kids Konnection playground "at the Pollard park."
The annual town meeting of May 2, 1995 voted under Article 51 to sell a strip about 42 by 155 feet at the edge of the lot on Andover Road, which the neighbors had long used as the driveway to their garage, and the selectmen deeded it to them in December 1996 for $1,251. In 1998 the town voted $12,000, money received from Bell Atlantic for an easement, "for the purpose of preparing a plan and construction of a park at the Pollard School property, Andover Road," to be spent by the Beautification Committee. This "new passive Recreation Park on Andover Road," the site of the Korean War Memorial honoring the six Billerica men who died in that war, was dedicated on June 24, 2001. In 2006 the town built a new entrance to Kids Konnection and enlarged the parking at Pollard Park, and the Parks and Tree Division still lists "Kids Konnection, Marshall, Pollard" among the grounds it keeps.
Deed References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
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| May 31, 1834 | Heirs Quitclaim | Heirs of Andrew Bowers late of Salisbury, N.H., Esquire: Jacob and Hannah Norton; James Bowers of Fulton, Ohio (by Norton, attorney); William and Anna Muzzy of Lexington; Joseph and Ann B. Richardson of Hingham; Abraham and Frances B. True of Salem; Edward | Jonathan Gates of Lowell, machinist | 1834: the heirs of Andrew Bowers sell Jonathan Gates the homestead of Capt. Josiah Bowers | 331/506 (South) |
Dated Apr. 2, 1834, recorded May 31, 1834 (Billerica town book 13, pages 552-555). For $2,500, a quitclaim of the lands "of which Andrew Bowers ... died seized": "the homestead of Capt. Josiah Bowers" of about eleven acres "with the buildings thereon" on the north side of the Salem road and Sheldon's lane, its south-west corner at the lane and Theophilus Manning, north by Manning and Ichabod Everett to the former Luther French farm, east by the French farm and the Nahum Baldwin lot; about 30 acres on the east side of the road opposite (John and Henry Baldwin, Fitch Tufts, the Nahum Baldwin pasture); a quarter of the Baldwin pasture; and six acres of wood on Fox Hill by the old Fox Hill road. Andrew Bowers died in New Hampshire, where his estate was settled.
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| September 22, 1836 | Warranty | Jonathan Gates of Billerica, machinist | Ichabod G. Kimball of Billerica, yeoman | 1834: Jonathan Gates sells Ichabod G. Kimball the Bowers homestead with 30 acres opposite, on the Andover road | 354/457 (South) |
Dated June 30, 1834, recorded Sept. 22, 1836 (Billerica town book 15, pages 287-289). For $2,500, "formerly the homestead of Capt. Josiah Bowers deceased with the buildings thereon lying on the northerly side of the Salem road or Sheldon's lane so called containing about eleven acres," with 30 acres on the east side of the road opposite, 1 1/2 acres on the north side adjoining the first lot (north-east by the Luther French farm), and six acres of wood on Fox Hill, "being the same premises" quitclaimed to Gates by Jacob Norton and others on Apr. 2, 1834.
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| March 10, 1880 | Covenant to Stand Seized (conditional) | Ichabod G. Kimball of Billerica | George W. Searles of Billerica | 1875: Ichabod G. Kimball covenants to leave his farm, with 28 acres across the road, to George W. Searles for his support | 138/261 |
Dated June 2, 1875, acknowledged June 20, 1875, recorded Mar. 10, 1880, six days after Kimball's death. For $1 and his support, Kimball covenants to stand seized of "my homestead farm": eleven acres "with the buildings thereon in which I now live" on the north side of the Andover road, 28 acres on the east side opposite, 1 1/2 acres adjoining the eleven acres (north-east by the Luther French farm) and six acres of wood on Fox Hill, his title from Jonathan Gates June 30, 1834 ("Book 354 Page 457"), except parts sold to John Ames, Gilman Fletcher and Thomas K. Shedd; to the use of Kimball and his wife Joanna P. for their lives and then of Searles, void if Searles failed to support them. Searles was meanwhile to have the farm and "the Westerly part of the house."
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| August 19, 1891 | Warranty Deed | George W. Searles of Billerica (Lucinda W. Searles, his wife, releasing dower and homestead) | J. Nelson Parker of Billerica | 1891: George W. Searles sells J. Nelson Parker three and a half acres on Andover Street for $1,000 | 226/276 |
Signed Aug. 15, 1891 before Dudley Foster, recorded Aug. 19, 1891 (pages 276-277). For $1,000, "a certain tract of land situated in said Billerica": "Beginning at the southeast corner of the premises herein conveyed, on Andover street at a wall at land of John H. Baker, thence running southerly by land of said Baker and my other land on said wall to a wall at land of Paul Hill, thence westerly by said Hill's land on said wall to a wall at land of A. C. Lane, thence running northerly by said Lane's land on said wall to land formerly of A. F. Page, now owned by the town of Billerica, thence running easterly by said Page land and land of the heirs of the late Thomas R. Shed deceased, to a bound at a corner of a wall, thence running northerly by said heirs land on said wall to said Andover street, thence easterly on said Andover street about forty feet to the point of beginning, containing three and one half acres more or less." No title reference.
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| September 21, 1891 | Warranty Deed | J. Nelson Parker of Billerica | Town of Billerica, "a municipal corporation" | 1891: J. Nelson Parker sells the town the western half of the Searles lot for $400, for the new Centre (Pollard) school | 227/178 |
Dated Aug. 15, 1891 (per the 1892 deed), recorded Sept. 21, 1891. For $400 paid by the town, "a certain tract of land situate in said Billerica near Andover street": beginning at the northwest corner "at land of A. C. Lane M.D. and at a wall and land of said Corporation," easterly by the town's land and land of the heirs of Thomas R. Shed to a bound "half way across the tract of land this day conveyed to me by G. W. Searles," then southerly parallel with the Lane land to land of Paul Hill, westerly by Hill to Lane, and northerly by Lane to the beginning. The western half of the Searles lot, for the new Centre (Pollard) school.
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| May 13, 1892 | Quitclaim Deed | J. Nelson Parker of Billerica | Town of Billerica | 1892: J. Nelson Parker quitclaims the rest of the Searles lot, with the Andover Street frontage, to the town for $600 | 233/47 |
Recorded May 13, 1892. For $600 paid by the town, "remise, release and forever quitclaim" the rest of the lot: beginning at the northeast corner "on Andover street at a wall at land of John H. Baker," southerly by Baker and George W. Searles to Paul Hill, westerly by Hill to "land belonging to said Town of Billerica," northerly by the town's land to the heirs of the late Thomas R. Shed, easterly and northerly by the heirs to Andover Street and easterly on the street to the beginning. "The above parcel of land together with that described in a deed made by me to said town dated August 15, 1891, and recorded with Middlesex North Dist. Deeds libro 227 folio 178, is intended to convey all the land deeded to me by George W. and Lucinda W. Searles August 15, 1891 and recorded ... libro 226 folio 276." The Pollard School stood on this land from 1892 to 1981; Kids Konnection was built in its rear yard in 1990.
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| January 24, 1997 | Quitclaim Deed | Town of Billerica, by its Board of Selectmen | Scott W. Winchell and Elaine M. Winchell, husband and wife | 1996: under the 1995 town meeting vote the town sells the abutters a 42 by 155 foot driveway strip off the Pollard School land | 8404/37 |
Signed Dec. 23, 1996 by the selectmen James F. O'Donnell Jr., Arthur L. Doyle, Edward J. Hurd, Ellen Day Rawlings and Brion M. Cangiamila, "pursuant to the authority granted by vote under Article 51 of the May 2, 1995 Town Meeting"; recorded Jan. 24, 1997. "In full consideration of ONE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED FIFTY-ONE and 00/100 DOLLARS ($1,251.00)," with quitclaim covenants, "the following described parcel of land, lying on the south side of Andover Road": "The lot shown as 'Parcel A' on a plan by Raymond Engineering Service, dated October 8, 1996, and entitled 'Plan of land in Billerica, Mass. for Scott Winchell'," Plan Book 192, Plan 119, releasing also "any rights of way, easements, or other rights and interests it may hold in Parcel A." "For the Town's title, see deed of J. Nelson Parker, dated April 23, 1892 and recorded at Book 223 [sic, 233], Page 47." The 1995 article described the strip as about 42 by 155 feet (6,510 square feet) on Andover Road at the west side of the Pollard School land, long used as the driveway to the abutters' garage. Book 8404, Pages 37-38.
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Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted.
References
- Annual Report 1891: Article 22, a four-room school building at Billerica Centre upon a site to be selected
- Annual Report 1892: the Pollard school opened; J. N. Parker, in part pay for the Page land
- Annual Reports 1935-1939: 1936 article to rename the Pollard School for Dr. Maurice A. Buck, dismissed
- Annual Reports 1945-1949: the Town Barn beside the Pollard School yard (1946) and the old highway yard made part of the playground (1949)
- Annual Reports 1950-1954: the Billerica Little League field in rear of the Pollard School (1953)
- Annual Report 1981: the vacant and vandalized Pollard School removed
- Annual Report 1983: the new Pollard Playground; Gail Tracy, Woman of the Year
- Annual Report 1990: Kids' Konnection playground built at the Pollard park in October 1990
- Annual Report 1995: Article 51, sale of a 42 by 155 foot strip of the Pollard School land on Andover Road
- Annual Report 1998: Article 11, $12,000 to plan and build a park at the Pollard School property
- Annual Report 2001: the Korean War Memorial park on Andover Road dedicated June 24, 2001
- Annual Report 2006: new entrance to Kids Konnection and expanded parking at Pollard Park