Riverdale

Riverdale is a neighborhood on the west bank of the Shawsheen River between Allen Road and the river, north of Boston Road in the south part of town. It was laid out in pieces over ten years by Edgar P. Sellew, civil engineer, of Billerica. The first plan, "Farm Plots at Riverdale," dated July 6, 1903 (Plan Book 20, Plan 18), divided the land between Allen Road and the river into lots of about half an acre on Riverdale Road, Sylvan Road and Hillside Road. "Camp Lots at Riverdale," March 13, 1908 (Plan Book 25, Plan 12), added smaller lots for summer camps, and two plans of 1910 (Plan Book 28, Plans 5 and 23) laid out "Camp and Garden Lots" on Garden Road and Arcadia Road toward the land of Fuller and Pasho. "Land at Riverdale," Oct. 30, 1911 (Plan Book 28, Plan 91), divided the lots on Utopia Road, and a "Plan of Lots at Riverdale," March 10, 1913 (Plan Book 32, Plan 1), added Intervale and Evergreen Roads and larger lots down to Boston Road and the Bay State Street Railway, where it marked the "Riverdale Office."

Riverdale was one of the early lot developments around the edge of the town; a 1937 town report listed it with Berwick, River Pines, Queensland, Rio Vista, Nuttings Lake, Pinehurst and the others in "an almost complete ring of settlements on the extreme outskirts of the town." Its road names describe the place (Riverdale, Sylvan, Hillside, Garden, Arcadia, Utopia, Intervale). Several have changed: the plans' Garden Road is today's Garden Brook Road, and their Hillside Road appears to be part of today's Marshbrook Road.

Points of Interest

• Shawsheen Woods (1999)