Whiting Street

Whiting Street runs north from Concord Road, near the site of the old Mitchell School, to Richardson Street in the Centre, through land long held by the Whiting family. It is not on the town map of 1831 or the Walling map of 1853, and it first appears in the records in 1894 as a private way. At a special town meeting on July 16, 1894, Article 17 asked the town "to accept and build a road as laid out by the Selectmen from Bedford Street, through the land of Mrs. Ann S. Whiting, to Whiting Street, and to widen Richardson Street from Whiting to Parker Street." The town "voted not to accept and build the road as laid out." A second article, "for the purpose of building Whiting Street," was dismissed at the annual meeting of 1895. By 1897 the street ran through to the Concord road, which was then called Bedford Street.

The street-naming committee of 1896 listed "Whiting street, running south from Richardson street to Bedford street, Billerica," and the list accepted at town meeting on March 27, 1899 gave "32. Whiting street, from Richardson street running south to Concord road, Billerica." The directories of 1901 to 1919 describe it as running "from Concord rd. n. Mitchell's school to Richardson n. Parker." The name came from the owners of the land. Hazen records William Whiting (born 1826), son of Augustus, who married Ann S. Brown of Bradford in 1852 and in 1883 "now lives on Bedford street in Billerica"; it was his widow's land that the street crossed in 1894, and the town reports still spoke of "the Whiting estate on the Bedford Road" in 1915. The family descended from the Rev. Samuel Whiting, the first minister, whose house of 1658 stood on the Concord road "north of Charnstalfe lane, just where it joins the road," and Augustus's father, Deacon Whiting, "lived south of Charnstalfe lane, west of the brook, and opposite the place of his ancestor."

A water main was laid in Richardson and Whiting streets about 1914. The town accepted Richardson Street from Concord Road to Whiting Street in 1920, but an article of 1923 to accept Holden Street, leading from Whiting Street, was dismissed. Whiting Street itself stayed a gravel way until 1931, when the highway department scarified, reshaped and rolled it for its full length and tarred it; it was scarified and treated again with tar and sand in 1934. The street appears without a date of acceptance in the town's list of accepted streets printed in 1956, "From Richardson St. south to Concord Rd." It was not on the 1831 map and so was not among the old roads accepted in October 2016, and no vote accepting it has been found.

References

1. Annual Report 1895: warrant for the special meeting of July 16, 1894, Article 17, road through the land of Mrs. Ann S. Whiting to Whiting Street
2. Annual Report 1895: special meeting of July 16, 1894 votes not to accept and build the road as laid out
3. Annual Report 1895: warrant Article 28 for building Whiting Street
4. Annual Report 1896: Article 28 (building Whiting Street) dismissed
5. Annual Report 1897: street-naming committee, "Whiting street, running south from Richardson street to Bedford street"
6. Annual Report 1899: Historical Society list, "32. Whiting street, from Richardson street running south to Concord road"
7. Annual Report 1900: street list accepted at the town meeting of March 27, 1899, "32. Whiting street"
8. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), genealogical register: William Whiting, m. 1852 Ann S. Brown, lives on Bedford street; Deacon Whiting south of Charnstaffe Lane
9. Annual Report 1915: water main in Richardson and Whiting streets, 1,619.5 feet
10. Annual Report 1931: Whiting Street scarified, rolled and reshaped full length, and tarred
11. Hazen 1883, genealogical register: Rev. Samuel Whiting's house lot of 1658; his house stood north of Charnstaffe Lane where it joins the Concord road