Sheldon Street

Sheldon Street runs east from High Street in North Billerica, at the small triangle at their junction, to the Tewksbury line, where it continues into Tewksbury. Oak Street leaves it about halfway along. No laying out of it has been found. It is one of the old ways that the town said in 2016 were shown on the official town map of 1831, and the Walling map of 1853 shows houses on it of E. Sheldon and H. Rice. Before the streets were named it was known simply as the Tewksbury road, the way from North Billerica to Tewksbury; the directory of 1901 noted "Tewksbury road, changed to Sheldon." Samuel Trull's farm lay on its south side near the corner of Oak Street, and the town's pest house during the smallpox epidemic of 1811 stood nearby.

The street naming committee chosen in 1896 (Martin Conway, John E. Rowell and Coburn S. Smith) listed "Sheldon street, running east from High street to Tewksbury line, No. Billerica," and the Billerica Historical Society's revised list, accepted at the annual town meeting of March 27, 1899, kept "Sheldon street, from High street running east to Tewksbury line, No. Billerica." Neither list explains the name, but the Sheldons were the family on the road: E. Sheldon is on the map of 1853, an 1864 deed of land near the junction of the Lowell road and the road from North Billerica to Tewksbury was bounded by "Frank Sheldons heirs," and Herbert and Orin Sheldon were on the list of voters in 1880. H. W. Sheldon drew the plan for widening Elm Street that the town adopted in 1896, and Herbert W. Sheldon was president of the Talbot Mills Band in 1901. The name should not be confused with the "Sheldon Street" or "Sheldons lane" of deeds of the 1820s to 1840s, which was a part of the present Andover Road near the Center, named for the earlier Sheldon family there, nor with "Sheldon's Folly" near Content Bridge in East Billerica.

The town widened Sheldon Street in 1909 and graveled it in pieces in the 1910s and 1920s. In 1927 the selectmen petitioned the state and county for help to make it "a tarred gravel road" from High Street to the Tewksbury line, as "an important connecting road to Tewksbury and Lawrence," and in 1928 the town voted $2,000 provided the state and county each gave the same. Aid of $2,000 each was received, and the work was done in 1928 under a special appropriation, with Sheldon Street tarred from High Street to Oak Street. It was oiled in 1931 and was afterward maintained as one of the roads "previously improved with State and County assistance." The dangerous corner at High Street was eased in 1934, when the town paid $50 for land damage there.

The town's list of accepted streets printed in 1956 gave "Sheldon St. From High St. east to Tewksbury line" without a date. Sheldon Street 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 old roads "the layout of which is shown on the official Town of Billerica Map of 1831." The list gives Sheldon Street from High Street to the Tewksbury town line.

Historic Buildings

Name	Alternate	Address	Built	Moved	Demolished
E. Sheldon House		16 Sheldon St	1852		1967
H. Rice House		32 Sheldon St	1852		1978

References

1. Annual Report 1897: street naming committee, "Sheldon street, running east from High street to Tewksbury line, No. Billerica"
2. Annual Report 1899: Historical Society street list, "18. Sheldon street, from High street running east to Tewksbury line"
3. Annual Report 1900: street list accepted at the annual town meeting of March 27, 1899
4. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883): list of voters in 1880, with Herbert and Orin Sheldon
5. Annual Report 1909: $50 voted for the triangle at the junction of High and Sheldon Streets
6. Annual Report 1909: highway work, widening Sheldon Street, High Street and Webb Brook Road
7. Annual Report 1927: article for a tarred gravel road on Sheldon Street from High Street to the Tewksbury line with state and county aid
8. Annual Report 1928: town votes $2,000 for a tarred gravel road on Sheldon Street
9. Annual Report 1928: highway surveyor, Sheldon Street tarred from High Street to Oak Street
10. Annual Report 1928: selectmen, state and county aid of $2,000 each on Sheldon Street
11. Annual Report 1931: maintenance on roads previously improved with state and county assistance, including Sheldon Street
12. Annual Report 1956: list of streets accepted, "Sheldon St. From High St. east to Tewksbury line"
13. Annual Report 2017: Article 36, 1831 list of roads, "Sheldon Street, High Street, Tewksbury Town Line"
14. Annual Report 2017: Fall Town Meeting of October 2016, Article 36 accepts the 1831 roads as public ways (124 to 19)