Thorndike Road

Thorndike Road
Location Map
Laid Out 1910
Right of Way 20 ft
Pavement 13 ft


Thorndike Road is a short street on the east side of Nuttings Lake, running north from Taylor Road to Austin Road. Until 1989 it was Hillside Road.

It was laid out as Hillside Road in the "Lakeside section" of cottage lots east of the lake, between 1919, when the directory lists no streets there, and 1931, when the street guide gives "Hillside Road (east side Nuttings lake) from Meadowbank rd to Sunset rd." The name describes its line along the slope above the lake; the subdivision plan and its developer have not been found. It should not be confused with the older Hillside Road in the Riverdale section off Allen Road, which most town records of the 1930s to 1960s mean.

An article to accept Sunset Road and Hillside Road was lost in 1950. On March 14, 1953 the town voted to accept "Hillside Road and Sunset Road, Nuttings Lake, westerly from Lexington Road, jointly being about 550 feet," with $700 for improving them, and the Water Department laid 575 feet of main in "Hillside and Sunset Roads (Lake)" that year.

Because the town had two Hillside Roads, the selectmen voted on November 14, 1988, effective January 2, 1989, to rename this one Thorndike Road, "From Sunset Road to Meadowbank Road." No reason for the new name is recorded. The northern part, never built, was given up at the fall town meeting of 1995, which voted unanimously "to discontinue Thorndike Road (formerly Hillside) as a public way, for a distance from Austin Road to Meadowbank Road," after the committee reported that "this section of Thorndike Road is a paper street." Thorndike Road is not among the roads of the 1831 map accepted in 2016.




References

  1. Annual town meeting, March 14, 1953, Articles 105 and 106: accepted Hillside Road and Sunset Road westerly from Lexington Road, about 550 feet, and $700 to improve them
  2. Streets Accepted by the Town of Billerica (printed 1956): Hillside Rd. and Sunset Rd. westerly from Lexington Rd. jointly 550 ft., 3-14-53
  3. Street name changes voted Nov. 14, 1988, effective Jan. 2, 1989: Hillside Road (Plate 88) to Thorndike Road, from Sunset Road to Meadowbank Road
  4. 1995 fall town meeting: Thorndike Road (formerly Hillside) discontinued as a public way from Austin Road to Meadowbank Road, a paper street