Springs Road

Springs Road runs southeast from Concord Road in South Billerica, past the site of the South Billerica railroad station, to the Bedford town line, only about 1,200 feet within Billerica. Beyond the line it continues in Bedford as Springs Road toward Bedford Springs, the mineral springs that gave it its name. No laying out has been found in the Billerica records. It is one of the old ways that the town said in 2016 were shown on the official town map of 1831. The Rhoda Kemp house of about 1830 stands at its corner with Concord Road, and the Walling map of 1853 shows the W. Hildreth house a little farther along. Until Route 3 was built in the 1950s, Manning Road ran west from Lexington Road to meet it near the Bedford line.

In 1877 the narrow gauge Billerica and Bedford Railroad built its South Billerica station beside the road, at the present 3 Springs Road. The narrow gauge company failed within a few years and its right of way passed to the Boston and Maine, but the station stood until 1960.

The Billerica Historical Society's street list, accepted at the annual town meeting of March 27, 1899, named it "Spring street, from Concord road running southeasterly to Bedford line, So. Billerica," and gave Manning Road as running "westerly to Spring street." The committee of 1896 had not named it separately. The directories from 1901 to 1919 call it "Spring (S. B.), from Concord rd. n. So. Billerica R. R. station to Bedford line," the town's survey of 1920 marked bounds on "Bedford Spring road," and a warrant of 1920 spoke of "the Corner of Spring lane." The name came from Bedford Springs, the resort to which the road led. It was Spring Street in the town reports until at least the 1970s, and Springs Road, the Bedford name, by 1993; the record of the change has not been found.

The road was graveled in 1906 and 1916, and a water main was laid along it in 1913. In 1923 and 1924 residents asked the town to rebuild "Spring Street, so called from the Concord Road to the Bedford town line," but the finance committee found it, apart from "one large mud hole at the Bedford Line," "in as good condition as any gravel road in Town." The town voted in 1929 to "rebuild and tar Spring St. South Billerica from the Concord Road to the Bedford Line," and the highway report for 1931 records it "tarred from Concord Road to Bedford Line." A tar seal coat was applied for its length of 1,200 feet in 1943, and it was surfaced with mix in place in 1949.

The town's list of accepted streets printed in 1956 gave "Spring St. From Concord Rd. southeast to Bedford line" without a date. Springs Road 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 Springs Road from Concord Road to the Bedford town line.

Historic Buildings

Name	Alternate	Address	Built	Moved	Demolished
Rhoda Kemp House		1 Springs Rd	1830
W. Hildreth House		8 Springs Rd	1852		1977
South Billerica Station		3 Springs Rd	1877		1960

References

1. Annual Report 1899: Historical Society street list, "56. Spring street, from Concord road running southeasterly to Bedford line, So. Billerica"
2. Annual Report 1900: street list accepted at the annual town meeting of March 27, 1899
3. Annual Report 1906: highway work, "Gravelling on Spring Street, 550 feet"
4. Annual Report 1920: warrant article on Manning road "from the Corner of Spring lane to a point known as Eliot street"
5. Annual Report 1923: finance committee on Spring Street, "as good condition as any gravel road in Town"
6. Annual Report 1929: vote to rebuild and tar Spring Street, South Billerica, from the Concord Road to the Bedford line
7. Annual Report 1931: highway report, "Spring St. Tarred from Concord Road to Bedford Line"
8. Annual Report 1956: list of streets accepted, "Spring St. From Concord Rd. southeast to Bedford line"
9. Annual Report 1993: Springs Road paved under Chapter 90
10. Annual Report 2017: Article 36, 1831 list of roads, "Springs Road, Concord Road, Bedford Town Line"
11. Annual Report 2017: Fall Town Meeting of October 2016, Article 36 accepts the 1831 roads as public ways (124 to 19)