Richardson Street

Location	Map
Laid Out	1900
Right of Way	26 - 32 ft
Pavement	21 ft

Richardson Street runs west from Concord Road in Billerica Centre, past Whiting Street, Dickinson Street and Parker Street, across the railroad and on toward the Concord River, about 3,000 feet in all. It grew in three stages: the short middle piece between Parker and Whiting streets in the 1890s, the eastern piece to Concord Road in 1920, and the western extension beyond the railroad by the 1950s.

The street is not on the town map of 1831, the Walling map of 1853 or the Centre map of 1875. It first appears by name in the warrant for the special town meeting of July 16, 1894, which asked the town "to accept and build a road as laid out by the Selectmen from Bedford Street, through the land of Mrs. Ann S. Whiting, to Whiting Street, and to widen Richardson Street from Whiting to Parker Street." The town "voted not to accept and build the road as laid out." The street-naming committee of 1896 listed "Richardson street, running east from Parker street to Whiting street, Billerica," and the Historical Society's revised list, accepted at town meeting on March 27, 1899, kept it as "31. Richardson street, from Parker street running east to Whiting street, Billerica." The town's list of accepted streets printed in 1955 gives that section, "From Parker St. east to Whiting St.," without a date, as an old town way. The records found do not say whom the street was named for. Several Richardsons lived in the Centre in the 1880s and 1890s, among them John O. Richardson, who built a number of houses in the village, but no record ties the name to any one of them. It should not be confused with the other Richardson Street in East Billerica, near Salem Road and the Richardson School, which was "also called road to Sheldon Folly."

The directory of 1919 describes Richardson Street as running "from end of Whiting to byd Parker." A water main was laid in Richardson and Whiting streets about 1914. The eastern piece, from Whiting Street to Concord Road, was laid out and approved by the Board of Survey, and at the annual meeting of February 14, 1920 the town "voted in the affirmative that the Town accept Richardson Street from Concord Road to Whiting Street," a distance of about 800 feet. In 1931 the highway department reported "Richardson Street, 1,000 lineal feet excavated, graveled, and tarred," and in later years it was tar patched and sealed nearly every season.

West of Parker Street the street crossed the Boston and Maine railroad, where land "at the intersection of the B&M Railroad tracks and Richardson Street" was the subject of a rezoning article in 1951, and ran on toward the river past the land of LePage's Inc. and the Billerica Glue Company. At the annual meeting of March 12, 1955 the town accepted the laying out of "Richardson Street Extension as a town way for about 1,500 feet" and voted $1,800 to improve it; the list of accepted streets gives "Richardson St. Ext. 1500 ft. 3-12-55." Richardson Street is not among the roads of the 1831 map accepted by town meeting in 2016.

Richardson Street

Richardson Street

References