Origins of Union Hill, Part 4

Monday, June 14th, 2010
by frank.callahan

In 1848, land at the northeastern part of Union Hill was surveyed to create streets and homes. This parcel was farther from the center of the town of Worcester, so why it was surveyed a few years prior to the sections closer to the town’s activities can only be speculated. One reason might be because the parcel was along Grafton Street which by then was a well-established thoroughfare. Another guess is that it was at a lower elevation, so unlike other parts of the steep hill, climbing was not required to reach one’s destination.

Local farmer John F. Pond was again involved in the development of Union Hill. As he had in the planning of the western slope of Union Hill in 1844, Pond took ownership and was involved in the plan of the street layout. Clearly, he was more than a land speculator, for he was active in all aspects of the growing town of Worcester.

The town directories listed Pond simply as a farmer living on Winthrop Street at the southern edge of Union Hill, but other records show the he was very involved in local affairs. The Worcester Town Records of 1846 were published by the Worcester Society of Antiquity, and Pond is mentioned several times. At the April 16, 1846 Town meeting Pond was voted onto a committee of five which was charged with appointing the school committee. Also that year, he was appointed to be one of the five constables for the Town. The records indicated that Pond was one of 13 chosen at the Town meeting to be a field driver, which under Massachusetts General laws required him to “take up horses, mules, asses, neat cattle, sheep, goats or swine going at large in the public ways, or on common and unimproved land within his town and not under the care of a keeper” and to impound the same. The officer is then charged with feeding and providing water to the “beasts” which are in his custody. (MGL Section 28, Chapter 49).

Pond and Foster Plan 1848

On June 12, 1848, Pond purchased a tract of land from Darius Rice for $600 (Reg. of Deeds Book 437, Page 137).  It is possible that Darius was a descendant of Jonas Rice, the first permanent settler in Worcester, who in 1713 started farming the land at the eastern side of the hill.  Finding a connection between Darius and Jonas would be interesting.

While the deed lists Pond as the owner, the survey plan document indicates William Foster as the co-owner.  Two weeks prior to buying the land, they hired P. Ball to survey it.  Ball was probably Phineas Ball, who went onto to build the Worcester water system, and through that success, went on to become Mayor in 1863. 

Ball completed the plotting of the land on June 1, 1848 and the design was relatively simple when compared to the designs for the upper sections of the Hill.  Because of the steep grade at the top of the hill, the other plans had to design turns at key points and streets at certain angles so that horses and carts could ascend the hill.  However, this portion of Union Hill is low and flat terrain, so that a simple plan of streets could be designed. Ball’s plan is five streets running in a straight line from the northern edge at Grafton Street south to the border of the parcel at what is today is Dorchester Street. 

Th five streets are now Barclay, Mendon, Cutler, Houghton, and Arthur Streets.  Though these names appear on the digital version of the original document, the writing of the street names is not the same as the original script, so it is likely that the names were penciled in soon thereafter. 

Street names of Pond and Foster Plan, 1848

Barclay Street is nearest the top and its name is part of a thematic pattern of three other streets adjacent to it: Penn Avenue, Mott and Clarkson.  Ivan Sandrof devotes a small chapter in his book, Your Worcester Street, to these streets and this one was named for Robert Barclay (1648-1690), an early Quaker.  Barclay joined the Society of Friends as a young man and wrote books in defense of the movement.  Though best known as a theologian, during the 1680s, he served as the colonial governor of New Jersey and an associate of William Penn, another Quaker who founded the state of Pennsylvania.  Thus, it is no accident that Barclay is one street over from Penn Avenue.

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