River Street

River Street runs west from Boston Road at the head of the Common in Billerica Center, crosses the Concord River at the Middle Bridge, and goes on to Treble Cove Road in West Billerica. Its eastern part, from the Common to the river, is one of the oldest ways in town. In 1658, when the house lots of the Township were laid out, the town agreed that "the highway called the west street should runne from long street, beginning at the southeast of Jonathan Danforth's house lot," six poles wide along his line and then twelve poles wide "from thence to ye riuer." It did not stay a public road for long. In November 1660 the town offered the land in West Street to Danforth and James Kidder if they could provide "a convenient highway elsewhere to the Riuer," and in 1675 the road was granted to the two of them, with only a private way reserved. Hazen could not say when it became public again, but it was a "bridle-way" in 1730, when the town first took up the building of a bridge at the centre of the town, and the Centre bridge voted in 1736 and built in 1737 was set "against the bridle way, betwixt Mr. Enoch Kidder and Oliver Whiting Jr. lotts." This 1658 West Street has nothing to do with the present West Street in West Billerica.

Once the bridge was built the road was known by it. In 1782 the town fixed the limits of the centre school squadron "on the road over middle bridge" at the house of John Carleton Jr., and in 1784 Elijah Danforth sold the old Danforth homestead to Dr. William Bowers bounded south by "the road or way leading from the meeting house over the middle bridge." The Bowers place was still described in 1871 as lying "on the highway leading to Middle Bridge," and a deed of 1945 repeated the words with the explanation "(now known as River Street)." The name River Street, after the river to which it led, appears in the town accounts by 1886, when stone was blasted "on River street," and in 1887, when Josiah Wright was paid on a contract for the street and for "laying wall below R. R." The street naming committee chosen in 1896 listed "River street, running westerly from Main street to Winning street, Billerica," and the list revised by the Billerica Historical Society and accepted at town meeting on March 27, 1899 gave "River street, from Boston road running westerly to Treble Cove road, Billerica." It should not be confused with River Road, which the directories of 1919 place "from Boston rd at Harnden's Cor westerly to river," or with Riverview Avenue in North Billerica.

The road was graveled in pieces in 1902 and 1908, and in 1914 the town was asked for $400 to widen it "between the old Middlesex Turnpike and Treble Cove Road," a sum it spent in 1915 and 1916. The first hard surface came after the town voted in 1922 to raise $5,500 "for the purpose of macadamizing River Street from Main Street to the Railroad crossing." The highway surveyor reported that 2,000 feet had been macadamized "according to specifications submitted by the state engineer," with about 300 feet left for the next year. A further $2,300 voted in 1926 for "about 400 ft., to the Boston Road" was held up by the lawsuit over the town's 1926 road contract, which the court ended in January 1927, when town meeting ratified the contract. That year River Street was treated with oil "Boston Rd. to the Parker's residence" and "From end of Macadam to Railroad Crossing."

The wooden Middle Bridge, rebuilt in 1889, was reported "fast falling away" in 1915 and was posted for three tons in 1923. In 1933 and 1934 the county commissioners relocated and straightened River Street from the railroad crossing to Treble Cove Road under orders of July 25 and October 20, 1933 and June 12, 1934, and the work was done with state and county aid. The town reported "1300 feet of new construction" and a new bridge "designed by the State Board of Engineers" in 1933, and in 1934 that "much fill work had to be done in order to straighten this street and to properly bank the curves," so that it now "presents a good travelway from the railroad crossing to Treble Cove Road." The concrete bridge of 1933 still carries the street. In 1936 the road was "tarred and honed from Treble Cove Road to the Concord River." When Route 3 was built in 1953 it cut across the western end, which survives as the dead end called River Street Extension, and River Street now reaches Treble Cove Road by a separate piece west of Rosewood Avenue.

River Street was among the roads named in 1899 and was carried without a date in the town's list of accepted streets of 1956, "From Boston Rd. west to Treble Cove Rd." It was formally accepted as a public way at the Fall Town Meeting of October 2016, which voted, 124 to 19, under Chapter 82, sections 21 to 24, of the General Laws, to accept the 57 old roads "the layout of which is shown on the official Town of Billerica Map of 1831." That list gives it in two parts, from Boston Road to River Street Extension and from Rosewood Avenue to Treble Cove Road.

Historic Buildings

Name	Alternate	Address	Built	Moved	Demolished
Jonathan Danforth House		River St	1655		1878
Samuel Ruggles House	John Parker House	5 River St	1710	1972
John Nelson - Stephen Parker House		16 River St	1805
Universalist Church	Saint Andrew's Church on Rogers Street	5 River St	1842	1868	1945
J. Fletcher House		41 River St	1852		2013
Loring G. Bryant House		10 River St	1860
Centre Schoolhouse	District Number 1 Schoolhouse	5 River St	1870		1892
Martin Lane House		River St	1880		1967
Josiah B. Richardson House		9 River St	1890
Gardner Parker Hall	Odd Fellows Hall	5 River St	1892		1940
Old Parker School		36 River St	1953		2013
BMHS Memorial Building		River St	1954		2020
BMHS New Addition		River St	1973		2020
Parker School		36 River St	2012
Billerica Memorial High School		River St	2019

References

1. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883): the 1658 "west street" from Long Street to the river, its grant to Danforth and Kidder, and the bridle way of 1730
2. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883): the Centre bridge of 1737 built "against the bridle way, betwixt Mr. Enoch Kidder and Oliver Whiting, Junr. lotts"
3. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883): the 1782 limits of the centre school squadron, "on the road over middle bridge, John Carleton, Jr."
4. Annual Report of the Town of Billerica, 1886: blasting stone on River street
5. Annual Report of the Town of Billerica, 1887: Josiah Wright's contract on River street and wall below the railroad
6. Annual Report 1897: street naming committee's list, "River street, running westerly from Main street to Winning street, Billerica"
7. Annual Report 1899: Billerica Historical Society's list, "River street, from Boston road running westerly to Treble Cove road, Billerica"
8. Annual Report 1900: street list as accepted at the annual town meeting of March 27, 1899, River street
9. Annual Report 1900: the town meeting of March 27, 1899 accepts the report naming the streets
10. Annual Report 1922: town meeting votes $5,500 for macadamizing River Street from Main Street to the railroad crossing
11. Annual Report 1922: highway surveyor, River Street macadamized for 2,000 feet to the state engineer's specifications
12. Annual Report 1926: litigation holds up the macadam voted for River Street, Concord Road and Mount Pleasant Street
13. Annual Report 1933: new construction of River Street, 1,325 feet, and the new bridge over the Concord River
14. Annual Report 1934: River Street straightened and rebuilt from the railroad crossing to Treble Cove Road
15. Annual Report 1936: River Street tarred and honed from Treble Cove Road to the Concord River
16. Annual Report 1956: streets accepted by the town, River St. from Boston Rd. west to Treble Cove Rd.
17. Annual Report 2017: warrant for Article 36, the 1831 list of roads with River Street in two parts
18. Annual Report 2017: Fall Town Meeting, October 2016, Article 36 accepts the roads on the 1831 map as public ways (124 to 19)
19. Annual Report 1927: River Street treated with oil from Boston Road to the Parker residence and from the end of the macadam to the railroad crossing