Town Common
The Town Common is the green in Billerica Center, a roughly triangular park of one to two acres between Boston Road and Concord Road, with the First Parish church, the Bennett Library and the Town Hall on its west side. On it stand the Town Bandstand, the Civil War Soldiers' Monument of 1873, the Meeting House Site Memorial, the World War Memorials and the town flag pole. The Common is the center of the Billerica Town Common District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
The Common was never bought or deeded. It is what is left of the common land that the first settlers kept around their meeting house when the town was set off in 1655, and its history is told in the town records rather than the registry of deeds. The first meeting house, voted in 1661, "stood south of the centre of the present common," Hazen wrote. The third, raised on May 24, 1738, was placed "thirty feet north of the former house, and must have stood near the present Soldiers' Monument." Near the meeting house was the training field where the militia drilled, and on April 19, 1775 the Billerica minutemen and militia gathered on the Common before marching to Concord.
The common land was once much larger. To pay the settlement of the Rev. Samuel Ruggles, the town voted to sell "four or five acres, or as much as can be conveniently spared, of the comon land, westward of the meeting house," and on September 8, 1707 it granted him "eight acres of land, for four pounds an acre, on the common westward of the meeting house, bounded by Enoch Kidder west, by Rogers south, by a highway north." That is the corner where the First Parish church and the library now stand, and the grant left the Common at about its present size. Some modern accounts say that the Common itself was the house lot granted to Captain Daniel Gookin and given up by him. Hazen, quoting the town's vote of 1660 exchanging Gookin's lot for fifty acres southeast of Nuttings Pond, placed that lot "on the south corner of Long and West Streets, where the Library, Church, Post-Office, and Town Hall now stand," on the west side of the Common rather than on it.
In 1797 the town bought half an acre "on the westerly side of the Common" from Reuben Duren for $333 and built its new meeting house there, and the old meeting house was moved off the Common. From then on the Common was an open green in front of the church. In 1930 the town released the church lot to the First Parish and a small triangle beside it to the Bennett Public Library Association, so that the town kept only the Common itself. The Soldiers' Monument was dedicated there on October 8, 1873, the bandstand was built in 1890, and the Meeting House Site Memorial was voted in 1901. In 1906 the town voted to take down the iron fence around the Common, sinking its stone foundations and leaving a few as bounds. In 1912 Lillian V. Kohlrausch's memorial fountain was placed on the triangle at the north end of the Common, and it was moved away in 1926 to clear the square for traffic.
The Park Commission took charge of the Common in 1917, after regrading the walks, setting permanent seats and marking the historic trees. The town welcomed home its soldiers and sailors of the First World War with services on the Common on July 4, 1919. A steel flag pole was voted in 1934, the Honor Roll of the Second World War was put up in 1943, and the War Memorial was dedicated in 1948; a larger granite memorial replaced it in 2004. Between 1979 and 1981 the roads around the Common were rebuilt with traffic lights and one-way traffic under the federal TOPICS program, and the Common was reseeded. The town began lighting every tree on the Common at Christmas, with an annual lighting ceremony from 1982, the bandstand was rebuilt in 1996, and summer concerts are held on the Common.
Deed References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
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| October 19, 1798 | Deed | Reuben Duren of Billerica, housewright (Mary Duren releasing dower) | The inhabitants of the town of Billerica | 1797 Reuben Duren sells the town half an acre "on the westerly side of the Common" for the new meeting house | 129/501 (South) |
For $333, "half an acre of land situated in said Billerica on the westerly side of the Common betwixt land of Dr. William Bowers and Capt. Stephen Parker, and is to include all the front betwixt their said lands and to extend so far back westerly as to include said half acre with liberty to erect horse stables on the westerly part of said land against said Duren's land adjoining, excepting fifteen feet at the southwest corner which he the said Duren reserves to pass and repass to his said land adjoining." Warranty to the inhabitants "in their corporate capacity". Dated Sept. 12, 1797, the year the new meeting-house was built; witnesses Saml. Whiting, Josiah Bowers, Reuben Duren Jr. and Oliver Crosby; acknowledged before Edward Farmer; recorded Oct. 19, 1798. No title recital. Billerica town book 9, pages 368-369. This is the church lot to which the meeting-house was moved in 1844.
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| June 30, 1883 | Lease | The First Congregational Parish in Billerica, by Thomas Talbot, Leander Crosby and Albert R. Richardson | The Bennett Public Library Association of Billerica | 1881 the First Parish leases the library a triangle of the meeting-house lot beside the Common | 161/24 |
Indenture of May 4, 1881: the parish leases to the library association "the following tract of land adjoining the land belonging to said Library, commencing at a bound at the street and said Library land, thence southerly on said street twenty three feet to a bound at land of said Parish, thence westerly by said Parish land to land of Wm. H. Osborn and said Library land, thence easterly by said Library land to the point of beginning. Being a triangular lot of land." The term is ninety-nine years, on condition that the association maintain the library and lay "an edge stone" along the parish line; "the use and the valuable consideration this Library is to said Parish" is the only rent, and the land reverts to the parish if the library is given up. Authorized at a parish meeting of May 2, 1881; acknowledged before Dudley Foster; recorded June 30, 1883. The triangle was excepted from the 1930 release.
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| March 22, 1930 | Release | Inhabitants of the Town of Billerica, by selectmen John P. McBride, Maurice A. Buck and A. Warren Stearns | The First Parish Church in Billerica, a church corporation | 1930 the town releases to the First Parish the church lot "on the westerly side of the Common" | 787/90 |
For $1 and other valuable considerations, the town releases "any right, title and interest the Inhabitants of the Town of Billerica may have in the land and buildings thereon located on the westerly side of the Common, upon which the Unitarian Church, so called, is located, containing one half acre, more or less", described in the words of the 1797 Duren deed (the half acre "betwixt land now or formerly of Dr. William Bowers and Capt. Stephen Parker", with liberty for horse stables and Duren's 15-foot reserved way), excepting the triangular lot by the Bennett Public Library described in the 1881 indenture (Book 161, Page 24); "being the same premises conveyed by said Reuben Duren to the Inhabitants of the Town of Billerica by deed dated September 12, 1797 ... Book 129, Page 501." Authorized by Article 58 of the annual town meeting of Feb. 8, 1930 (town clerk Roland G. Wright's certificate annexed). Dated March 17, 1930. Pages 90-92.
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| March 22, 1930 | Release | Inhabitants of the Town of Billerica, by its Selectmen John P. McBride, Maurice A. Buck and A. Warren Stearns | Bennett Public Library Association | 1930 the town releases the library triangle on the west side of the Common to the Bennett Public Library Association | 787/93 |
Signed March 17, 1930, under Article 59 of the annual town meeting of February 8, 1930 (town clerk Roland G. Wright's certificate follows). For one dollar and other valuable considerations, the town releases "any right, title and interest the Inhabitants of the Town of Billerica may have in a certain lot of land described in an indenture dated May 4, 1881 ... Book 161, Page 24; namely the following tract of land belonging now or formerly to Reuben Duren, being a triangular lot of land adjoining the Bennett Public Library Association commencing at a bound on the street and said Library land, thence southerly on said street twenty-three feet to a bound at land of said First Parish Church, thence westerly of said Parish Church to land now or formerly of William H. Osborn and said Library land, thence easterly by said Library land to the point of beginning, and being part of the land described in deed of Reuben Duren, late of Billerica to the Inhabitants of Billerica by deed dated September 12, 1797 ... Book 129, Page 501." The typed record gives the year as "1950" in several places; it was recorded March 22, 1930. Pages 93-94.
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Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted.
References
- Hazen, History of Billerica (1883): Gookin's lot (pp. 81-82), meeting-houses (pp. 175-178), Ruggles grant of 1707 (pp. 196-197), Soldiers' Monument (pp. 324-327)
- C. E. Stearns, A Walking Tour of Billerica Center (Billerica Public Library): the Common, the meeting houses and the 1797 Duren deed
- Wikipedia: Billerica Town Common District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places Aug. 14, 1973
- Annual Report 1906: town meeting votes to remove the iron fence around the Common
- Annual Reports 1915-1919: Park Commission improves the Common; welcome home of the soldiers, July 4, 1919
- Annual Reports 1930-1934: releases of the church and library lots on the west side of the Common; steel flag pole voted 1934
- Annual Reports 1945-1949: Honor Roll and War Memorial on the Common, 1945-1948
- Annual Report 1979: TOPICS reconstruction of the roads around the Common approved
- Annual Report 1981: Billerica Center reconstruction and Christmas lights on the Common
- Annual Report 1996: reconstruction of the bandstand on the Town Common