Stewart Street

Stewart Street runs northeast from the Middlesex Turnpike on the north side of Nuttings Lake across Plenty Street, Peace Street, Cady Street and Rhodes Street to Fenner Street, in the cottage colony of Nuttings Lake Park. It was laid out on Plan C of Nuttings Lake Park, the "Nuttings Lake Park Annex," drawn in April 1910 by C. A. Thayer, engineer, of Providence, Rhode Island, for the Billerica Land Company and recorded May 6, 1910 (Plan Book 27, Plan 35). On that plan Stewart Street runs from the turnpike across Plenty, Peace, Cady and Rhodes Streets to Everett Street, and Thayer's Extension Plan D of November 1914 (Plan Book 32, Plan 49) shows "Stewart St." continuing east to Pine Street. The street guide of 1930 to 1931 gives "Stewart (north side Nuttings lake) from Old Middlesex turnpike n Nuttings lake easterly."

No record explains the name. There was a family of the name nearby: the town's list of street names of 1899 includes an older "Stewart street, running westerly from Turnpike No. 4 to Stewart's house, So. Billerica," and in 1910 land of Stewart bounded Frank Dolan's Indian Knoll Terrace, beside Water Street, on the west side of the turnpike. That older way was a different road, on the other side of the turnpike, and no record says the street of 1910 was named for the same family. The town's list of accepted streets carries both, the old way as "Stewart St.--West from Turnpike," without a date.

The annual town meeting of March 13, 1954 accepted the laying out of "Stewart Street about 200 feet" and appropriated $175 to improve it. On April 22, 1975 the town accepted Stewart Street "from the Middlesex Turnpike to Plenty Street a way 30 feet wide and 204 feet more or less long," although the Street Acceptance Committee had asked that $600 be raised first. On May 12, 1987 it discontinued about 107 feet of the street "commencing at the intersection with Pine Street," keeping an easement for drainage and utilities. An article of the fall town meeting of 2001 to accept "Stewart St Peace St to Fenner St," 719 feet, was dismissed, and on May 9, 2002 a petition to discontinue the street between Cady Street and Peace Street was withdrawn after town counsel stated that the town had never accepted that part and so could not discontinue it. The street was repaved in fiscal 2003. It is not among the roads of the 1831 map accepted in 2016.

References

1. Street names of 1899 (Historical Society list): Stewart street, westerly from Turnpike No. 4 to Stewart's house
2. Warrant 1953, Articles 125-126: accept Stewart Street about 200 feet and $175 to improve it
3. Annual town meeting 1954 appropriations: Article 126, Stewart Street $175
4. Streets Accepted by the Town (printed 1956): Stewart St. West from Turnpike (undated old way)
5. Streets Accepted by the Town (printed 1956): Stewart St. 200 ft. 3-13-54
6. Town meeting April 22, 1975: Stewart Street accepted from the Middlesex Turnpike to Plenty Street, 204 ft
7. Town meeting May 12, 1987, Article 41: part of Stewart Street at Pine Street discontinued
8. Fall 2001 town meeting warrant, Article 25: accept Stewart St Peace St to Fenner St (dismissed)
9. Town meeting May 9, 2002, Article 31: discontinuance of Stewart Street, Cady to Peace, withdrawn as never accepted
10. Engineering Division FY2003: Stewart St among roads repaved