Structure · Built 1900
Richardson Rental House (54 Concord Road)
Richardson Rental House
| Address | 54 Concord Rd |
| MACRIS ID | BIL.63 |
| Built | 1900 |
The house at 54 Concord Road stands on the northeast corner of Concord Road, the old road to Bedford, and Charnstaff Lane. It was built about 1900, but the ground under it is among the oldest house sites in Billerica. Henry A. Hazen's History of Billerica (1883) places the house of the Rev. Samuel Whiting, the town's first minister, who came in 1658, "just north of Charnstaffe Lane and west of the brook." In 1675, during King Philip's War, the town made it the "maine garrison & ye last refuge in case of extremity."
The Whiting family kept land on both sides of the lane for nearly two centuries. Deacon Samuel Whiting (1758-1843), who lived on the homestead south of the lane, "opposite the place of his ancestor, the first Billerica pastor," as Hazen put it, gave all his Billerica real estate to his four daughters on January 17, 1838, "in consideration of the natural love and affection" he bore them and "for services rendered." Besides the thirteen-acre homestead, the gift included "one other tract Enclosed with Stone Wall containing about Three acres," bounded south by "Churnstaff lane so called" and west by the road. This walled field is the land on which 54 Concord Road and its neighbors to the north were later built. In 1844 the daughters, Harriet, Catherine, Anne (Mrs. Henry Baldwin) and Mary Ann (Mrs. George P. Elliot), released an undivided fifth of the estate to their brother, Dr. Augustus Whiting of Charlestown. On May 30, 1865, Dr. Whiting and his widowed sister Anne Baldwin sold the three acres, still open land, to Mrs. Lucretia H. Bowers for $600. She already owned the house next north, the Sewall & Lucretia Stearns House.
After Mrs. Bowers died in 1874, her Hill relatives released their shares to her niece, Laura Hill of Boston, the "Miss L. Hill" whose name is on this land on the 1889 map. On April 24, 1894, Laura Hill sold the Stearns house lot and the three-acre field to John O. Richardson for $3,000. Richardson, the owner of the sawmill in East Billerica, built a number of houses around the center to rent. The field had no buildings on it in 1865 or 1894, and none appear here on the 1889 map. By 1913 this house stood on the corner. It and its neighbors of similar style at 50 and 52 Concord Road belong to the turn-of-the-century "in-fill" of this edge of the village. No surviving record names the builder. Richardson died about 1897, so the house was built either in his last years or by his heirs, his son John A. Richardson and his daughter Fannie P. R. Colby, who held his land under his will. In 1901 the carpenter and builder Samuel A. Marshall was living at the corner of Concord Road and Charnstaff Lane, and in 1912 the farmer William A. Merriam.
On July 24, 1913, the Richardson heirs divided the road frontage. They sold this corner lot, "a certain tract of land with the buildings thereon situated near the centre," 91 feet on the Bedford road and 238 feet along Charnstaff Lane to an elm tree, to Eugene C. Vining, principal of the Howe School and later superintendent of schools. It was the Vining home for more than forty years. Directories from 1916 to 1951 list Vining and his wife Ellen at "Concord rd c Charnstaffe lane." After Ellen Vining's death their son, Blanchard R. Vining of Portland, Maine, sold the house in December 1956 to a couple who still owned it when the house was surveyed in 1973. It was sold again in 1982, placed in its owner's trust in 2014, and sold in 2022 and 2023. Every deed since 1913 has repeated the same bounds, from the stone bound on the road to the elm tree on the lane.
The assessor's record and the 1989 survey date the house to about 1850, but the deeds show the corner was open land until after 1894. The 1973 survey's "ca. 1900," and its note that the house is not on the 1889 map, agree with the deeds. A small barn, later used as a garage, stands behind the house.
References
- MACRIS BIL.63
- Hazen (1883): Rev. Samuel Whiting's house, the main garrison of 1675, "just north of Charnstaffe Lane and west of the brook"; Deacon Samuel Whiting lived opposite
- Billerica assessor, 54 Concord Rd (parcel 61-45-0): sales history
Deed References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
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| January 22, 1838 | Gift | Deacon Samuel Whiting of Billerica, Esquire | His daughters Harriet Whiting, Anne Baldwin, Catherine Whiting and Mary Ann Whiting, all of Billerica | Deacon Samuel Whiting gives the walled three-acre field north of Charnstaff Lane to his daughters | 369/323 (South) |
Billerica town book 15, pages 574-576. Dated January 17, 1838, acknowledged January 18 before Marshall Preston. "In consideration of the natural love and affection" and "for services rendered," all his real estate in Billerica: "the Homestead with all the Buildings thereon containing Thirteen acres," walled, bounded north "by Churnstaff lane so called," and "one other tract Enclosed with Stone Wall containing about Three acres Bounded north by land formerly occupied by John Richardson, East and North and East by land of William Bowers, South by said lane and West by the road," with wood lots west of Concord River, seven acres on the road to Concord, the "Bruce land" by the Middlesex Turnpike, and all his personal estate. The three-acre tract is the land of 46 to 54 Concord Road.
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| 1844 | Quitclaim | Harriet Whiting, Catherine Whiting, Henry and Anne Baldwin, George P. and Mary Ann Elliot, all of Billerica | Dr. Augustus Whiting of Charlestown, physician | the Whiting daughters release a fifth of the estate to their brother Augustus | 454/117 (South) |
Billerica town book 17, pages 547-548. Dated November 29, 1844. For $1 the four daughters of Samuel Whiting and their husbands release "one undivided fifth part of the estate which Samuel Whiting late of Billerica gave to his daughters Harriet, Catherine & Mary Ann & Anne Baldwin by deed dated the seventeenth day of January" 1838, Book 369 Page 323, to their brother. Witnesses Henry A. Baldwin, Marshall Preston and Nathaniel Wright.
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| June 15, 1865 | Deed | Dr. Augustus Whiting of Charlestown, physician, and Mrs. Anne Baldwin of Billerica, widow | Mrs. Lucretia H. Bowers of Billerica | the Whiting heirs sell the three acres, still bare land, to Lucretia H. Bowers | 42/174 |
Dated May 30, 1865, acknowledged at Billerica June 6 before Charles H. Parker. For $600, warranty, "a certain tract of land in said Billerica containing three acres be it more or less": from the northwest corner by land formerly of John Richardson, southerly by the road leading to Bedford 18 2/10 rods, easterly by Churnstaff Lane 31 4/10 rods to land formerly of Jonathan and Samuel Bowers, then northerly, westerly and northerly by Bowers 5 6/10, 10 4/10 and 9 1/10 rods, and westerly by Richardson 20 1/10 rods. No buildings and no title recital. Witnesses Charles H. Parker and Calvin Shedd.
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| December 7, 1874 | Quitclaim | Laura W. Hill of Boston, widow (of Jonathan Hill); James W. Hill of Boston; and Susan L. Hill of Billerica, single woman | Laura Hill of Boston | after Lucretia Bowers's death her Hill relatives release the three-acre tract to Laura Hill | 106/559 |
Dated Nov. 19, 1874, recorded Dec. 7 (pages 559-560). For $2,250, release of "two certain tracts of land situate near the centre of said Billerica, on the road leading from Billerica to Bedford": the first, 82 feet on the road and 136 feet deep, bounded by the Whiting land on the south and Samuel Sage on the east and north, "with the buildings thereon"; the second adjoining it on the south, about three acres, along the Bedford road and Churnstaff Lane to land formerly of Jonathan and Samuel Bowers; "Intending to convey three undivided fourth parts in said two certain tracts of land". Signed months after the death of Lucretia (Stearns) Bowers, the grantors and grantee being her sister Susan Lane Hill and the family of her late brother Jonathan Hill, who between them held the four shares. Witness Dudley Foster.
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| May 14, 1894 | Warranty Deed | Laura Hill of Boston, single woman | John O. Richardson of Billerica | Laura Hill sells the three-acre corner tract, no buildings, to John O. Richardson | 254/234 |
Dated April 24, 1894, recorded May 14 (pages 234-235). For $3,000, "two certain tracts of land, situate near the centre of said Billerica on road leading from Billerica to Bedford": the first beginning at the southwest corner "at land formerly of Harriet Whiting, now the second tract in this deed", 136 feet deep along land of Samuel Sage and 82 feet on the road, "with the buildings thereon"; the second adjoining on the south, about three acres, running 18 rods along the road to Bedford and back along Churnstaff Lane to land formerly of Jonathan and Samuel Bowers. No title recital. The house lot and the Whiting land to its south, later divided by John O. Richardson's heirs.
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| 1913 | Deed | John A. Richardson and Fannie P. R. Colby, wife of Homer H. Colby, of Billerica | Eugene C. Vining of Billerica | the Richardson heirs sell this corner lot "with the buildings thereon" to Eugene C. Vining | 516/430 |
Signed the same day as the quitclaim to Fannie P. R. Colby (July 24, 1913, "of even date"), recorded February 1914. For $1 and other consideration, "a certain tract of land with the buildings thereon situated near the centre": 91 feet on the easterly side of the Bedford road to Charnstaff lane, 238 feet along the lane to an elm tree, northerly 80 feet and westerly 220 feet by "other land of said grantors" (the 52 Concord Road lot). "Being part of the same premises as conveyed to John O. Richardson by Laura Hill," the grantors "deriving their title under the will of John O. Richardson." Pamelia Richardson, his widow, released her rights under the will. This is the corner lot south of the house, the source of the "Vining" boundary in every later deed.
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| January 2, 1957 | Quitclaim | Blanchard R. Vining of Portland, Maine, unmarried | A private couple of Medford | the Vining estate sells the house; later private sales noted | 1360/242 |
Dated December 15, 1956, recorded January 2, 1957. "The land in Billerica ... with the buildings thereon, near the center of Billerica": from a stone bound on the easterly side of the Bedford Road southerly 91 feet to Charnstaff Lane, easterly on the lane 238 feet to an elm tree, northerly by land of Richardson 80 feet to a stone bound, westerly by Richardson 220 feet to the road. "For my title see the estate of my late mother Ellen Vining duly probated in the Middlesex Probate Court." "Said Bedford Road described above is now known as Concord Road." The buyers owned it in 1973. Later transfers, all private: sold in 1982 with the same bounds, now "54 Concord Road"; put into the owner's revocable trust in 2014; sold by the trust in 2022 for $350,000; and sold in 2023 for $650,000.
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Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted.