High Street

High Street runs from Pollard Street northeast over the railroad, past the Boston and Maine shops, with Rogers, Mt. Pleasant and Sheldon Streets branching from it, to the Tewksbury line. No laying out has been found. It appears on the town map of 1831, and Jonathan Danforth bought the farm at 65 High Street, near Pollard Street, in 1717. Several old roads ran through this part of North Billerica, but no early record has been found that clearly places one of them on High Street.

Before 1897 at least part of the road was called Russell Street: the town's list of guide boards in 1896 includes a "Board at corner of Russell and Mount Pleasant Street" and one "at corner of Tewksbury and Russell Street." The street naming committee divided it in two, "High street, running south from Tewksbury line to railroad bridge," and "Russell street, running southwest from railroad bridge to Pollard street." The Historical Society joined them in its revised list, "High street, from Tewksbury line running south to railroad bridge, thence southwest to Pollard street," with the note "Russel street, (strike out) a continuation of street 14," and that list was accepted at the annual town meeting of March 27, 1899. Neither name's origin is recorded. Hazen in 1883 placed "Mr. Russell's house" at "the turn in the road" half a mile south of North Billerica, but that place has not been fixed on this road.

The road was graveled with Mt. Pleasant Street for 2,100 feet in 1902 and widened in 1908. In 1911 the County Commissioners laid out the southern part, from Pollard Street to the railroad bridge, and from 1911 to 1914 the Boston and Maine Railroad built its large car and locomotive shops beside the street, which the town supplied by a water main laid along High Street in 1913 and 1914. The bridge over the railroad was rebuilt about 1915. In 1920 the town instructed the selectmen "to petition the County Commissioners to relocate High Street." The first macadam came in 1925, when the town voted $10,000 "to macadamize High Street from Pollard Street to the entrance of the Boston and Maine Railroad Shops," and 2,000 feet were laid from Pollard Street "to a point beyond Rogers Street"; $5,000 more was voted in 1927, and the road was surfaced with bituminous concrete from Pollard to Rogers Street in 1963. The railroad bridge, a timber trestle closed to traffic by 1980, was the subject of a state highway alteration layout of February 19, 1986 for a new bridge.

The county layout of 1911 made its southern part a public way, and the town formally accepted the whole road 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 57 old roads "the layout of which is shown on the official Town of Billerica Map of 1831." That list gives it from Pollard Street to the Tewksbury town line.

Historic Buildings

Name	Alternate	Address	Built	Moved	Demolished
Enoch Kidder House	French Farm / Collins Farm	216 High St	1711		1903
Benjamin Danforth House		165 High St	1748
Barker House		44 High St	1801	1848
J. Kitchen House		116 High St	1848
J. W. Russell House		43 High St	1852		1949
R. S. Bohonan House		100 High St	1852		1988
Martin Conway House		195 High St	1860
Pashio House		189 High St	1877
Rogers Barn		180 High St	1880
Boston and Maine Railroad Billerica Shop Complex - Car Blacksmith - Machine Shops		900 High St	1911
Boston and Maine Railroad Billerica Shop Complex - Dry Kiln		600 High St	1911
Boston and Maine Railroad Billerica Shop Complex - Dry Lumber Storage		600 High St	1911
Boston and Maine Railroad Billerica Shop Complex - Locomotive Blacksmith Shop		1400 High St	1911
Boston and Maine Railroad Billerica Shop Complex - Locomotive Repair Shop		1000 High St	1911
Boston and Maine Railroad Billerica Shop Complex - Passenger Car & Paint Shop	Johns - Manville Insulation Products Company	400 High St	1911
Boston and Maine Railroad Billerica Shop Complex - Power Plant		1000 High St	1911
Boston and Maine Railroad Billerica Shop Complex - Shipping Office		600 High St	1940
Boston and Maine Railroad Billerica Shop Complex - Storage Building		600 High St	1965
Cooperative Reserve Supply Office Building		1100 High St	1974
Cooperative Reserve Supply Storage Building		1100 High St	1974

References

1. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883): the attack of Aug. 1, 1692 "near the turn in the road by Mr. Russell's house, a half-mile south of North Billerica"
2. 1896 Annual Report, guide boards at the corners of Russell and Mount Pleasant Streets and of Tewksbury and Russell Streets
3. 1897 Annual Report, street naming committee: "High street, running south from Tewksbury line to railroad bridge"
4. 1897 Annual Report, street naming committee: "Russell street, running southwest from railroad bridge to Pollard street"
5. 1899 Annual Report, Historical Society's revised list, no. 14 and 15: High street to Pollard street, Russell street struck out
6. 1900 Annual Report: street list accepted at the annual town meeting of March 27, 1899
7. 1903 Annual Report, highway surveyor: graveling on Mt. Pleasant and High Streets, 2100 ft. long, 15 ft. wide
8. 1909 Annual Report, highway surveyor: widening roads, Sheldon Street, High Street and Webb Brook Road
9. 1913 warrant, Art. 8: water main from the corner of High and Pollard Streets along High Street to the Boston and Maine shops
10. 1920 town meeting, Art. 41: selectmen instructed to petition the County Commissioners to relocate High Street
11. 1925 town meeting, Art. 29: $10,000 to macadamize High Street from Pollard Street to the entrance of the Boston and Maine shops
12. 1925 highway report: High Street macadamized 2000 feet from the junction with Pollard Street
13. 1927 town meeting, Art. 29: $5,000 to continue macadamizing High Street to the entrance of the Boston and Maine shops
14. 1963 Public Works report: High Street surfaced with bituminous concrete from Pollard to Rogers Street
15. Massachusetts state highway layouts in Billerica: layout 6731, Feb. 19, 1986, High Street bridge across the MBTA
16. Annual Report 2017: warrant for Article 36, the 1831 list of roads, "High Street, Pollard Street, Tewksbury Town Line"
17. Annual Report 2017: Fall Town Meeting, October 2016, Article 36 accepts as public ways the roads on the official 1831 map (124 to 19)