Fall Brook Chapel

The earliest home of the Methodists in Middleborough was the Fall Brook chapel which was constructed and dedicated in 1831 and which stood on the east side of Cherry Street between Wareham and East Grove Streets. 

Methodism had been formally organized in central Middleborough a decade earlier when on September 15, 1823, articles of association were drafted and the Middleborough Methodist Society formed.  The earliest meetings of the society were held in the Middleborough Town House which stood at the junction of South Main and West Grove Streets with Reverend Asa Kent serving as pastor.

The congregation, however, desired a permanent home of its own.  Consequently, on February 14, 1831, Peter Vaughan, Cushman Vaughan, Nathaniel Thompson, Edward Winslow, Nathan Perkins, William Shurtleff and Perez Thomas acting as trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Middleborough purchased a vacant lot on the east side of Cherry Street for $15 from farmer Davis Thomas who resided at the corner of Cherry and Grove Streets.  The site is stated to have been selected as early as October, 1830, and was so chosen as it was considered a centralized location within Middleborough which at the time still included Lakeville.  The property was to be held "for ever in special trust and confidence, that the said Trustees shall erect or cause to be erected and built upon the lot above described a house or place of public worship for use of the members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.... They shall at all time suffer and permit all regularly authorized Ministers and preachers of the said Methodist Episcopal Church to preach and expound God's holy word therein..."

While later pictures depict the chapel which was built as a rather non-descript building, it featured a number of architectural details which set it apart from other chapel buildings of the era. The west facade had twin entranceways with a classical entablature and diamond-paned lights in the transoms.  Inside, 16 enclosed pews occupied the center of the building with an additional 12 along each wall under a vaulted ceiling.

The chapel became the center of Methodist worship for much of Middleborough during the mid-nineteenth century, as well as a site for many church-related functions.  "The Ladies of the Methodist Sewing Society in this town propose holding a FAIR, in their Church on Thursday Evening, Oct. 25th, for the purpose of raising money to repair their Church", announced on advertisement from 1855 in the pages of the Namasket Gazette.

H. F. Walling, Map of

the Town of

Middleborough,

Plymouth County,

Massachusetts, 1855

(detail)

The location of the

Methodist chapel on

Cherry Street is indicated

by the arrow.  The house

marked "J. King" was

earlier occupied by Davis

Thomas from whom the

church purchased the

chapel site, and later

occupied by the Field

family, the last owners

of the chapel.

Worship was conducted in the chapel on a regular basis for thirty years until 1861 at which time it appears services began being held at Middleborough center to accommodate the growing number of church members who resided there.  An account of the history of the Central Methodist Church carried in the Namasket Gazette of March 24, 1866, indicates that by the early 1860s services at the Cherry Street chapel were conducted only infrequently:

In December, 1863, Rev. J. Q. Adams, a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church, came to the village in the employ of the Star Mills Company, and being a good Methodist, he was anxious to have a Methodist meeting in this place.  On inquiry, he learned that there was a Methodist Meeting House a mile and a half from the village, to which, on the Sabbath he repaired, and found it closed.  He seated himself on the door stone to await the arrival of some one of whom he could learn in regard to the meetings.  Soon a lady accompanied by a little girl came by of whom Mr. Adams inquired about the meetings, and learned that the House had been closed four months.  He went with the lady to see her father and mother, the latter being a member of the church.  The result of the interview was the opening of the house for Divine worship, and Mr. Adams supplied the desk the most of the time for the next four months.  It was then thought best by Mr. Adams and others, to start a meeting in the village.

Initially, the hall over Soule's furniture store on South Main Street was leased by the Methodists who subsequently in 1865 rented Grove Hall (the original Central Baptist Chapel) on School Street as a place of worship.  The Cherry Street chapel, however, was not fully abandoned until 1869 when the Central Methodist Church was constructed on School Street.

Despite the fact that following 1869 the Methodists had their own church, the congregation continued to maintain ownership of the Cherry Street chapel until May 29, 1896, when it was sold to Lysander Field who then resided in the former home of Davis Thomas at the corner of Cherry and Grove Streets.  The deed conveying the property from the church's trustees (Sylvanus Mendall, James L. Jenney, Benjamin F. Jones, Samuel S. Lovell, Martin O. Rounseville, Nathaniel Warren, Granville L. Thayer and Samuel S. Bourne) to Field for $125, however, was careful to stipulate that Field "never sell any intoxicating liquors in said Meeting house or from any other building place on said premises or use or permit said premises to be used for any immoral purpose whatsoever."

The Methodists, however, still maintained a connection with the building (or at least its immediate neighborhood) into the twentieth century.  In September, 1916, the congregation held an open air meeting at Fall Brook "so near the site of the original Methodist church."

It is not clear why Field purchased the building, though it may have simply been for the land as Field property would eventually surround it on three sides.  The Field family appears to have either loaned or leased the building for use by an unidentified neighborhood club composed of young men and in the early 1920s to the Wappanucket Agricultural Society.  Among the events held at the former chapel were the society's annual fairs in 1922 and 1923.  The society, however, was short-lived, it it is not known to what use the structure was put following that time.
 

Fall Brook Methodist Chapel, photograph by Arthur

Haskell, April, 1934, HABS

At the time Haskell documented the Fall Brook Methodist

Chapel, the building remained in good repair with

weathered shingles and "garnet" trim.  In the left

background, the greenhouses of the Leland Carnation

Company are visible.  The barn to the right of the

greenhouses still stands at 72 Cherry Street and helps

place the location of the chapel building in context.

In 1934, the structure was documented as part of the Historic American Buildings Survey with delineations prepared by Tito Cascieri and photographs by Arthur Haskell in April of that year.

The building is stated to have remained in good repair (as indicated by the 1934 photograph) for some time after 1934 until "juvenile depredations resulted in broken window glass and sash."  In 1942, then owner Everett Field "reluctantly decided to have the old chapel razed", possibly believing it remained a target for continued vandalism.  The building was sold to Dr. Daniel D. Holmes who also developed a number of properties locally and who is said to have salvaged the lumber which was reportedly "fashioned into other buildings."

Historic American Buildings Survey, number HABS MA-2-68
"Central Methodist Church", Cherry Street, Middleborough, MA

Sources:
Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress, Prints and Photograph Division, Washington, D. C., Survey number HABS MA-2-68
Middleboro Gazette, "Middleboro", September 15, 1916, p. 1
Middleborough Gazette and Old Colony Advertiser, "History of the Central Methodist Episcopal Church, Middleboro, Mass.", March 24, 1866, p. 2
Namasket Gazette, advertisement for Methodist Church Fair, October 19, 1855, p 2.
Plymouth County Registry of Deeds 169:226, 746:176
Unidentified newspaper clipping, "Old Chapel Razed", November, 1942, James H. Creedon Collection, Middleborough Public Library

Checkers

James Cole, Jr.

Cole was undoubtedly the earliest

Middleborough livery operator of

note.  A partner in the firm of Cole &

Standish, Cole was a shrewd and

knowledgeable dealer in horse flesh.

It is likely that he was able to hone his

skills as a champion checker player

during down times at his livery stable.

While checkers today is considered primarily a children’s game, a century and more ago, it was played frequently by adults as a game of strategy and skill. Nostalgic illustrations from an earlier time depict “old-timers” seated about the checkerboard (usually set atop an empty barrel) at either the fire station or the local general store while standers-by watch with rapt attention. During this period, particular Middleborough townspeople were noted for their ability at checkers, and among them was Plymouth County Deputy Sheriff James Cole who earned a reputation for himself beginning in 1858 as the county’s champion checker player. Apparently, not everyone in the county agreed with Cole’s holding this informal title. In early January, 1879, William Webber of Brockton challenged Cole to a match of either 10 or 20 games, with a bet of either $50 or $100 a side, a substantial wager in those days. “He asks Mr. Cole to walk up and establish his title.” While the outcome of the challenge is not recorded, no damage was done to Cole’s reputation as he continued to be noted as “a smart hand at the game of ‘Checkers’”. He did, however, sustain a rare loss to a Mr. E. Atwood of Rockland, in February, 1879, coming “out of the contest three to five, with five drawn games.” As noted the Plymouth Old Colony Memorial at the time, “Tisn’t often the jovial Cole gets waxed.”

Sources:
Old Colony Memorial, “County and Elsewhere”, January 9, 1879; ibid., February 27, 1879:5

Night Football

Enormous batteries of lights such as

this would be used to illuminate

sports fields in the latter half of the

20th century.  Middleborough's first

venture into night games occurred

in 1904 and would have seen a much

more modest array of electrical

lights.

"Stadium Lights", photo by

peppergrass, May 11, 2007, republished

under a Creative Commons license.

Football under the lights was inaugurated in Middleborough in 1904 largely as a practical measure . As reported by James H. Creedon at the time: "Football by electric light is the latest sport in town. The members of the high school team are unable to get a coach to train them in the daytime so they are now practicing nights, with Fred M. Ryder as coach." Unfortunately, little else is recorded of the venture or for how long it may have continued. And while practices were conducted in the evenings with the help of electric lights, games continued to be held strictly during the afternoons.  It is noteworthy that it was the Middleborough High School team which was responsible for the innovation.  At the time, the high school team was the leading proponent of football in Middleborough and it was largely responsible for popularizing the sport locally. The school itself, however, provided little direction or organization.  Teams were formed informally by the students who, as indicated by Creedon, were responsible for engaging their own coach, and establishing their own schedules in conjunction with other teams in the region.

Source:
Unidentified newspaper clipping, "Middleboro", November 1, 1904, Creedon Collection, Middleborough Public Library

Backus House Garret, Plymouth Street

This 1902 photograph by George Dorr of North Middleborough evokes the colonial era past of Middleborough.  At first glimpse the image seems to be reveal a candid look back to an earlier and "simpler" time with its view of the attic of the Reverend Isaac Backus House on Plymouth Street.  Upon closer examination, however, it may be seen that in fact the articles have been carefully staged to display them to the viewer.  The large spinning wheel for wool and its smaller counterpart for flax, the yarn winder, wool cards, flax comb or hackle, butter churn, cradle, andirons, pottery jug and bed warmer were all articles found in many homes of the late 18th century.  Despite the artifice of the picture, the collection  of heirloom articles it depicts is remarkable.  Following 1876 when Colonial Revivalism and an interest in the nation's past came into vogue, such items would be eagerly sought by antique collectors and decorators, and many could still be found stored away in attics and barns in towns like Middleborough and Lakeville.  Helping popularize the movement was the work of noted photographer and antiquarian, Wallace Nutting (1861-1941) whose work contained many views comparable to Dorr's photograph posted here.

The Electric Light Muddle: Precursor to Municipal Ownership



The Middleborough Municipal Light Plant photographed

sometime between 1891 and the first quarter of the 20th

century.  The plant was constructed by the Middleboro

Electric Light and Power Company, winner of the contest

to secure a monopoly over provision of the town's electrical

power.

When electric street lighting was first introduced into Middleborough in 1889, the ducks on Isaac Thompson’s farm at the junction of North and Oak Streets reacted curiously. “Those web-footed birds are seemingly crazy after electric light, for when the lights shine they go into the street beneath it in a big flock and there promenade, waltz, flap, waddle and polka in a high state of ecstasy. On rainy nights when there is a puddle big enough in which to wet their feet, they are especially jubilant. When tired of their capers, they squat in the grass and blink at the brilliant light.”

Though Middleborough has always considered itself fortunate to possess a municipally-owned electric plant, the five years preceding the town’s vote to purchase an electric light plant in October, 1893 were marked by the not so stealthy maneuvering of two rival electric light companies, each intent upon acquiring an absolute monopoly over the provision of electrical power to the community, and proved an inauspicious precursor to municipal ownership. Like Isaac Thompson’s ducks, community members, tired of the capers of the two electric companies, could only blink at the ensuing rivalry.

In April, 1888, it was reported that an effort was being made to establish an electric light plant in town. The homes at Middleborough Center at the time were lit by gas provided by the Middleboro Gas Company which held exclusive rights to the town and which, amazingly, had been owned by a single individual, Nahum D. Wilbur of Middleborough, from 1868 until his death in 1887. The streets, themselves, remained unlit.

The successful illumination by electricity of larger neighboring communities such as Taunton, New Bedford and Fall River – the glare of whose electric lights could be seen clearly in Lakeville on the darkest evenings – undoubtedly prompted Middleborough to consider electric lighting. Even the destruction of Fall River’s municipal light station in late April, 1884, the result of an electrical fire sparked by what was described as a “short circuit” in one of the plant’s dynamos, did little to dampen the enthusiasm local supporters demonstrated for electric lighting.

Among those supporters was Middleborough’s Committee on Street Lighting which reported to town meeting in April, 1888, in favor of installing electric street lights to be operated at an annual cost of $2,000. Flouting the Committee’s recommendation, the town instead voted some $1,600 for one hundred naphtha lamps to be installed by the Globe Gaslight Company. In June, Middleborough’s streets were lit for the first time, but by gas, not electricity. In consequence, not everyone was content, given the dim illumination provided. The Gazette lamented: “Now our streets are lighted … but if we had one hundred more lights it would be a great improvement.” “The town ought to have put in an electric lighting plant,” chided Plymouth’s Old Colony Memorial upon hearing the news.

Sensing local dissatisfaction with gas illumination, as well as a potential market for its services, the Thomson-Houston Electric Light Company of Boston proposed in November, 1888, to erect an electric light station in town, and to establish a company to be capitalized at $25,000, with two-fifths of that amount to be subscribed by Middleborough residents, the remainder to be held by Thomson-Houston, then one of the leading electric light companies and a competitor of both Edison and Westinghouse. All three would later merge to form General Electric.

Thomson-Houston proposed doing all the work necessary to locate and construct a plant, and guaranteed either a return of six percent for two years or a six percent return for five years if the shareholders agreed to forfeit any profit exceeding six percent to Thomson-Houston. In return, the company would furnish incandescent lighting at the rate of one cent per hour (with meters to be installed at each household) and arc lighting at six dollars per month.

Subsequent to this proposal, Thomson-Houston petitioned the Middleborough Selectmen to permit the company to install poles and wires to transmit its power. To “sweeten” its previous offer, Thomson-Houston now made another: “If your Honourable Board will give us exclusive rights to erect poles and run wires for the purposes herein before mentioned for the term of five years, we will furnish the Village, free of charge, one arc light during the entire period aforesaid.”

In essence, Thomson-Houston was requesting a virtual monopoly over the provision of electric lighting in town for what amounted to the paltry sum of $360. It is not surprising that some found this offer both “cheap and cheeky.”

Despite the lukewarm reception of its offer, Thomson-Houston moved ahead with its plans, establishing the Middleboro Electric Light and Power Company in December, 1888, with a $25,000 capitalization and W. A. Stiles of Thomson-Houston as both president and majority shareholder, holding $15,000 of the new company’s stock. “The rest of the stock is offered to the citizens of Middleboro, but in case they do not care to invest, it will be taken up by outside parties, who are ready to put any needed sum into the business.”

With the formation of the Electric Light and Power Company, Thomson-Houston withdrew its earlier petition requesting an exclusive franchise for the erection of electric light poles in favor of its new subsidiary whose own petition prompted a hearing before the Board of Selectmen in January, 1889. At that hearing the Electric Light and Power Company claimed the privilege of setting out light poles “as a local organization already formed” – a somewhat specious argument given the company’s recent formation as a functionary of Boston-based Thomson-Houston.

At the January public hearing, the New England Weston Company somewhat unexpectedly asserted its right to erect poles on the basis that it was to join with the Middleboro Gas Company, which already enjoyed a franchise in the town’s streets, with a plan of establishing “extensive” electrical works once the weather permitted. Clearly, the Middleboro Gas Company correctly perceived electric lighting as a threat to its income and it attempted to stave off any potential losses by entering the fray as a rival to the Middleboro Electric Light and Power Company.

With two companies claiming the franchise to erect poles, the Selectmen made no decision at the hearing. The following week, the Middleboro Gas Company passed into the control of the Bay State Gas Company and shortly thereafter, the Middleboro Gas and Electric Power Company was formed as a direct competitor of Thomson-Houston’s like-named Electric Light and Power Company. N. E. Wilber was named president and G. A. Smith treasurer of the new Gas and Electric Power Company which was capitalized at $30,000 and which announced itself ready to build an electric lighting plant in Middleborough.

The stage was set for a show-down between the two companies: the Electric Light and Power Company which was seeking to monopolize the provision of all electric power in town, and the Gas and Electric Power Company which was striving to become the sole provider of all lighting in Middleborough, both gas and electric. “With two electric light plants and one gas system Middleboro will probably be lighted,” quipped a bemused Old Colony Memorial. The question yet remained, to which company would fall that task?

As the first salvo in the battle between the Middleboro Electric Light and Power Company and the Middleboro Gas and Electric Power Company for sole control of the community’s electric lighting franchise, the Gas and Electric Company, in what surely was an audacious public relations gambit aimed at swaying the town in its favor, reduced the price of its gas sixteen percent from $6 to $5 per thousand feet at the end of February, 1889. Not surprisingly, the reduction was accompanied by a petition from the company to the Board of Selectmen requesting the right to erect poles.

Despite rumors to the effect that the ability of the Electric Light and Power Company to construct its proposed electric light station was in doubt, both that company and the Gas and Electric Power Company appeared before a vacillating Board of Selectmen in mid-March, each with expectations of finally resolving the matter. It wasn’t. The Board once more failed to act decisively.

Meanwhile, the Gas and Electric Company continued to maneuver behind the scenes and appeared to gain the advantage when the Middleborough Committee on Street Lighting, perhaps smarting from the town meeting’s failure the previous year to endorse its recommendations in favor of electric street lighting, contracted with the Gas and Electric Company for twenty 1,200 candle power electric lights and forty naphtha lights, paying $2,000 a year for two years. The Gas Company, in return, agreed to furnish all appliances and to keep the lamps “going all night when the moon is insufficient to light the streets.” This proved a remarkable coup for a company which still had yet to acquire a piece of electrical generating machinery.

Undoubtedly, this last development rankled Selectmen who subsequently voted to deny both companies the right to set poles and string wires until definitive steps had been taken towards the construction of an electric light station.

Thomson-Houston’s Middleboro Electric Light and Power Company subsequently embarked upon plans to construct a plant atop the ruins of the former Nemasket cotton mill located at the dam across the Nemasket River on present-day Wareham Street. The ground was cleared and a foundation site prepared. The lighting plant was raised during the summer of 1889 by George W. Bradford of Plymouth, possibly employing bricks from the Hedge brick company at Plymouth which Bradford had utilized in his construction of Weymouth’s electric light station.

The two rival companies met yet again with Selectmen in March, 1889, amidst rumors that should the Board’s decision go against the Electric Light and Power Company, the company’s light station then under construction would be converted to “an electric supply factory.”

The Electric Light and Power Company need not have worried, for once more the Board failed to act. “The Middleboro electric light muddle still continues to muddle joyously,” noted one regional commentator.

As legal counsel for each firm began preparing their arguments for Selectmen, the two companies rushed to be the first to provide electric service to the town. The Electric Light and Power Company hurried along the construction of its plant, working laborers around the clock. “A dynamo in a neighboring saw mill furnishes current for five arc lamps, beneath the rays of which the gang of forty workmen are busily at work in blasting rock and digging out the canal for the water wheels.”

The Middleboro News'

coverage of the April, 1889,

dispute between the

Middleboro Electric Light &

Power Company and the town

was carried under the headline

"Electric Shock" in its April 15

edition.

In order to transmit the power it generated, the Electric Light and Power Company required a means to do so and in mid-April, 1889, it accordingly embarked upon the task of setting poles.  The company was apparently unphased by the fact that it lacked any authorization whatsoever from the Board of Selectmen to engage in this work, and this brazen flouting of authority resulted on Friday, April 12, in what the Middleboro News termed "uproarious excitement."  Acting on the advice of town counsel Everett Robinson, both the Selectmen and Road Commissioners attempted to halt the pole setting in the early morning, but were ignored. Following this, the town set men to work sawing the poles down.

Then the fun became fast and furious.  Mr. Pettingill, representing the construction contractors, and the foreman attempted to stop the sawing.  Mr. Pettingill stepped upon the saw while in motion upon a pole in front of Loring & White's grocery and was promptly arrested by Officer S. S. Lovell and lodged in the lockup.  The foreman demanded the officers' authority when they started to arrest him and they let him go.

And he went.

He hurried his men for all they were worth in stringing wires along the poles already set along Water, Centre, Main and Union streets.  It was a race between his men and the town's workmen to reach the poles first, and was a hot and interesting match that continued up until nearly 12 o'clock [p. m.].  The foreman succeeded in wiring over half the poles and they were left standing.  The authorities felled the others.

The dispute was quickly resolved and both the Electric Light and Power Company and the Middleboro Gas & Electric Company were permitted to move forward.  By June 1889, each company had installed a number of lights to demonstrate their abilities, and opinions were “decidedly in favor” of the Electric Light and Power Company, the illumination provided by the Middleboro Gas and Electric Company “being unsteady.”

Regardless, the Gas and Electric Company remained unwilling to surrender. In August, President Stiles of the opposing Electric Light and Power Company stunned participants and observers alike when he offered $17,000 to the Gas and Electric Company for the purchase of its plant and titles. “It is thought that this is the easiest way out of the difficulty now before the gas commissioners for settlement, and on which no definite action has been taken.” Though acceptance of the offer would clearly have absolved the Selectmen from having to make a decision, the offer was ignored.

In mid-August, 1889, the Electric Light and Power Company began providing current for arc lighting, and its light station operated with a capacity for 30 arc lights and 750 incandescent lights, the latter which had yet been connected. Remarkably, the station at the Nemasket River was Thomson-Houston’s sole hydro-powered electric light plant in New England, all of its others being fueled by coal.

The plant’s operation was deemed a success, despite a break in a coffer dam at the plant that month which flooded the tunnel under Wareham Street and nearly drowned the men working there. The flood caused “some lively scattering, some of the men barely escaping with their lives. All were drenched.” Repairs were made quickly that same evening, and the plant resumed operation the following day.

Simultaneously, the Gas and Electric Company began providing current as well. “Middleboro has two electric lighting companies, and all the advantages and disadvantages likely to arise from their competition.”

While events during the summer of 1889 seemed to favor the Middleboro Gas and Electric Power Company, it would be the Middleboro Electric Light and Power Company which would ultimately win the local franchise, the state gas commissioners ruling against the first company.

In the fall of 1889, the stockholders of the Electric Light Company voted to increase the company’s capital stock to $40,000, and further authorized its president to enforce the decision of the State Gas Commissioners against its rival. In the spring of 1890, a second water wheel was added to the company’s Wareham Street electric light station, thereby augmenting the amount of power which was already being generated.

The Gas and Electric Power Company, deprived of entering the electric lighting field on the scale it had previously envisioned, strove to improve the gas portion of its business, and in February and March, 1890, was petitioning the state legislature for special legislation which would permit it to manufacture water gas for fuel purposes.

In July, 1890, the Thomson-Houston Electric Company, which had earlier sought to purchase the Middleboro Gas and Electric Power Company finally succeeded. The Gas and Power Company was sold for $20,000 cash and $10,000 in stock in the Middleboro Electric Light and Power Company. “The purchasers get the street lighting contract to complete.”

With the purchase, the two companies were amalgamated under the name of the Middleboro Gas and Electric Company which gained “sole control of all the illuminating interests of the town.”

The Middleborough Municipal

Light Plant as seen from the south-

east across the millpond at Wareham

Street in the early 20th century.  The

view shows the prodigious growth

of river grass which periodically

required mowing as it impeded the

flow of water to the plant.  The

woodframe building in front of the

plant was the so-called "Ocean

House" which was demolished in

1910 as it posed a public safety

hazard.

Though the community had witnessed the struggle between the two competing companies for nearly two years and had been wooed with the promise of lower rates, the ultimate impact of the consolidation was an immediate increase in both gas and electric prices. Consequently, electric subscribers “in many instances, discontinued [its] use, and have adopted kerosene and a recently patented burner.” Additionally, there was local dissatisfaction with the water gas produced by the company as an illuminant. Though Thomson-Houston may have secured the sought after Middleborough monopoly, it was now forced to contend with the resultant issues.

During December, 1890, the company reestablished its electric plant at Wareham Street, having operated for the previous year from the Middleboro Gas and Electric Power Company’s former plant on the West Side where electricity had been generated by steam. The steam plant was “taken along also [to Wareham Street] to provide against any failure in the water supply.” Additionally, a 150 horse power boiler was installed, and the smokestack constructed.

Despite these improvements to its electric light plant, the Middleboro Gas and Electric Company continued to struggle to provide its customers with a reliable source of power. “Rudyard Kipling’s book, ‘The Light that Failed,’ probably had the scene laid in Middleboro for the light is there. It is an arc lamp, and is out a good many more times than a moonlight schedule would warrant.”

Despite the awarding of the franchise, the Middleboro Gas and Electric Company seemed to be plagued by difficulties, and mounting community dissatisfaction with the level of street lighting provided by the company ultimately would move the town towards municipal ownership.

In a July, 1891, thunderstorm, lightning struck the company’s power plant, traveling along the incandescent light wires into the alternating current generator, causing $100 worth of damage “by burning out the insulation of collecting rings and otherwise using up the apparatus.” Power was out for two days and nights before a new armature could be acquired and power restored.

An entirely different problem arose in mid-August, 1891, when an intoxicated John D. O’Sullivan fell into the company’s flume one night. Fortunately, a droughty summer had left the flume nearly dry and O’Sullivan was spared from drowning. Nonetheless, he sustained “a number of ugly wounds on his head and face. One long cut in his scalp, a ragged gash over one eye, and another under it …”

Ironically, the biggest challenge to the company came from the town and its desire to provide street lighting, an effort which would eventually drive the town towards municipal ownership of the lighting plant.

To accommodate the town’s wish for illuminated streets, the company offered a contract stipulating $80 per arc lamp for a period of five years. Taxpayers bridled at the cost. In the summer of 1891, the Middleboro News complained that the town could not “afford to pay $80 per lamp for $45 lamps per year.” The News cited the town of Danvers which operated a municipal lighting plant and expended but $38.66 per lamp, prompting the Old Colony Memorial to surmise that “Middleboro is heading toward municipal lighting.” The town, incensed, “re-voted the motion of April 11, 1891, whereby the street lighting committee was authorized to contract to light the streets by electricity, and given full authority to use such lighting appliances as were deemed suitable and for the best interests of the town.” The street lighting committee, understanding this vote to be an endorsement of its position favoring non-electrical sources as an illuminant, purchased supplies “for a system of ‘bug’ kerosene lanterns.”  (These were superseded in 1894 by more modern arc lights).

Meanwhile, forty residents, apparently fearful that Middleborough might lose such a technological innovation, petitioned Selectmen for a special town meeting to reconsider the question. “The petitioners ask for electric lights, don’t object to the price, - $80 per year per lamp – and assert that it is as low as is paid by any town in the state and that it is unreasonable to expect to get lighting done for less money.”

The Middleborough Municipal Light Plant as seen from across a placid Wareham
Street millpond early in the 20th century.  The scudding clouds overhead
appear ominous and in retrospect may have been seen perhaps as a
metaphor for the troubled early history of electric lighting in Middleborough.

Dissatisfaction with the Gas & Electric Company’s lighting of Middleborough’s streets remained high throughout 1892 and early 1893. “Two of the citizens have just returned from a trip to Jamaica, and they are proposing to adopt the West Indian lightning bug for street illumination. Half a dozen under a tumbler, will light a room, and a little fresh grass is all the trimming such a lamp requires.”

Ultimately, voters moved to acquire the Gas & Electric Company outright, arguing that the town could run the operation much more efficiently.  In October, 1893, the Middleborough town meeting voted to purchase the company's assets for $63,000.  During its first full year of operation in 1894, the Middleborough Gas and Electric Department indeed proved that it was possible to light the town more cheaply, reducing the cost of operating each arc lamp to $59.92. Further, had the plant’s flume not collapsed (which necessitated the burning of coal at the plant to generate power following November 14 of that year), the cost would have been as low as $46.46, over forty percent lower than the Gas and Electric Company’s estimated bottom rate.


Sources:

Middleboro Gazette

"Electric Shock", Middleboro News, April 15, 1889, p. 1.

Old Colony Memorial