Muttock Herring House, Late 19th Century

The taking of herring by the town of Middleborough inevitably required facilities to process and preserve the fish, either through smoking or salting. In time herring or fish-houses were established near the two principal fishing pools at Muttock and the Lower Factory. In these houses fish were smoked and salted, and kept there for distribution to town residents who were eligible for free fish. According to Muttock resident James A. Burgess his father “every year cured and dried 30,000 herring for the people of the town.”

The drying process involved first cleaning the fish by removing the scales and viscera, then pickling the eviscerated fish in brine. The longer the fish were pickled, the longer they could be preserved. Following brining, the fish would be rinsed in cold water and left to dry in a spot out of the sun where preferably there was a breeze. Then, the fish would be hung on sticks which were passed through the fishes’ eye sockets. Frequently, children would be engaged in the task of placing a dozen fish on a stick in preparation for smoking, earning a penny for each completed stick. The sticks would then be suspended in the herring house for curing. The length of curing varied, though generally five days was the rule for those fish intended to be preserved for a long period of time. Fish were smoked until they turned an even bronze color.

In 1807, Maria Eliza Rundell, in her A New System of Domestic Cookery, an early American cookbook, outlined the method for smoking herring.

Clean, and lay them in salt and a little saltpeter one night, then hang them on a stick, through the eyes, in a row. Have ready an old cask, on which put some sawdust, and in the midst of it a heater red-hot; fix the stick over the smoke, and let them remain 24 hours.

Alternatively, the fish could be salted, a process that consumed enormous quantities of salt. During 1857, the large fishery on Martha’s Vineyard utilized so much of the article processing herring for the southern market that “about all the salt on the Vineyard is used up”. In 1883, the Town of Middleborough paid grocer Matthew H. Cushing the then large sum of $44.10 for salt with which to preserve its catch that year (over three cents per hundred fish).

The Muttock herring house where herring were preserved was located on the right bank of the river where the parking lot for Oliver Mill Park is now located, and rent was paid annually to the Sproat family which owned the property wheron the house stood. Three dollars was the sum set by the Sproat family, an amount paid for a number of years by the town as “rent of land for fish house.” In 1889, the Town of Middleborough paid Henry H. Sproat $6.00 for two years’ rental but following her husband’s death, Katharine A. Sproat seems to have raised the rental price considerably. By 1897, the town was paying Mrs. Sproat $10 annually for the privilege of using her land. Additionally, the town was responsible for the upkeep of the herring house, and in 1876 it made repairs to the building.

There is little history of the final demise of the Muttock herring house. It was stated to have been destroyed by fire, and the fact that no rental payments were made by the town to the Sproat heirs following 1901 indicates that the building was likely destroyed about this time, a period when the entire Muttock site was falling into general disuse as a fishing pool.

Image: Nemasket River at Muttock showing the herring house where fish were processed on the right. Remains of the dam which are still extant today can be seen at the left.

Harvesting Herring at Muttock

One of the iconic images of nineteenth-century Middleborough is the local herring catcher, scoop net in hand, surrounded by a multitude of barrels and crates. Worth quoting at some length is the following description, carried in 1897 in the New York Times, detailing the manner in which herring were harvested at that time at Muttock:

At the lower junction of the canal [used as a fishway] and river a net is placed across the latter, thus forcing the fish to continue their course up the canal. On the off days, when all dams and obstructions are removed and the net is taken away, the fish, perhaps through fright or attracted by the quiet waters, swim into the space between the junction and the falls and accumulate into the thousands. There are sometimes 30,000 or 40,000 fish preserved here, and when the day for catching them again comes around, the net is pulled down, and the fish remain there—waiting for a rise in the market. About 150 feet above the lower junction a temporary dam is thrown across the canal, the lower part of which is made of pine planks, surmounted by a moveable screen of coarse wire bars, through which the water passes and falls about three feet. Further down the canal a huge coverless wooden box is sunk, extending across the waterway. It is plainly visible, as the water is shallow and clear. The fish coming up the stream swim over the box and on until they reach the dam; there they are thrown back by the force of the water, and many of them jump out upon land in their endeavor to scale the fall. Others resort to deep pools sheltered by rocks. Here they hide and are sometimes successful in making their excape by remaining during the fishing days. When a sufficient number of fish have gathered between the box and the dam, a net is stretched across, below the box, and the fishermen don high rubber boots, and, starting at the dam, walk downstream, driving the fish before them into the sunken box. Here other men are stationed with huge landing nets; they scoop up the fish, throw them upon the platform, from which they are taken and packed into barrels partly filled with ice, and sent away to market. Nine catches are made daily, the average catch being eighty barrels. The present manner of taking the fish has been in vogue almost from the settlement of the town.

The Peter Oliver House, 1936

The architectural significance of the Peter Oliver House was recognized in 1936 when it was documented as part of the Historic American Buildings Survey, a Federal program conducted under the auspices of the National Park Service designed to provide work for unemployed architects, draftsmen and photographers.  On October 3, 1936, photographer Arthur C. Haskell (1890-1968) photographed both the exterior and interior of the Oliver House.  A native of Salem, Massachusetts, Haskell had engaged in architectural drafting in the offices of Ralph Adams Cram before teaching himself architectural photography.  Eventually, Haskell found full-time employment as an architectural photographer, in which capacity he was commissioned to photograph numerous structures for the Historic American Buildings Survey in the mid-1930s, including the Oliver House.  As may be seen, Haskell's silver gelatin prints were noted for both their clarity and beautiful composition.  The images document the superior craftsmanship which went into the construction of the house, and particularly noteworthy are the Oliver House's decorative elements such as the staircase and mantels.

Source:

Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress, Prints and Photograph Division, Washington, D. C., Survey number HABS MASS-378.

The Peter Oliver House, 1769

The Peter Oliver House on Plymouth Street at Muttock, sometimes called the "Small Oliver House" in distinction to Oliver Hall, was built in 1769 by Judge Peter Oliver for his son, Doctor Peter Oliver, Jr., who wed Sally Hutchinson, daughter of then Lieutenant-Governor Thomas Hutchinson in February, 1770.  Judge Peter Oliver was an influential Loyalist in Massachusetts and the owner of a grand summer home known as Oliver Hall and the Oliver iron works (now Oliver Mill Park) in Middleborough.

Because the date of construction nearly coincides with the marriage date, it is likely that the house was built as a wedding gift for the couple. For many years, it had been believed that the house had been built in 1762, as is recorded in Weston's History of the Town of Middleboro. However, a number of finds uncovered during restoration of the house in the mid-1940s disprove Weston and confirm the later date. When the front doorsill was replaced at the time of restoration, a penny dated 1769 was discovered in the center. Additionally, the date 1769 appears scratched on the foundation of the northernmost (right) chimney, and is also handwritten on the wall of the "best bedroom" closet (which had been subsequently hidden by layers of wallpaper). Finally, Peter Oliver, Jr., for whom the house was built, did not take up residence in Middleborough until 1764.

The house is stated to be similar in design to the Wythe House at Williamsburg, Virginia, though the Oliver House has front and back halls both upstairs and downstairs. At one time, the Oliver House also had attic rooms for slaves, though these accommodations were later removed.

The first occupant of the house, Dr. Peter Oliver, Jr., was born in 1741, son of Peter and Mary (Clarke) Oliver. Educated as a physician at Harvard College, the younger Oliver came to Middleborough in May, 1764, establishing his practice the following month in a small shop built by his father at Muttock. Oliver described his practice thusly: "I gradually got a little business but poor pay". Oliver became engaged in August, 1765, to Sally Hutchinson, the sister of his college roommate and the daughter of Thomas Hutchinson, the most powerful man in the Massachusetts colony, and a staunch Loyalist. Following their 1770 marriage, the Olivers had three children, all of whom were born in the house: Margaret Hutchinson Oliver in 1771, Thomas Hutchinson Oliver in 1772, and Peter Oliver III in 1774.

During the Olivers' residency, several notable personages were entertained here. Governor Hutchinson was a frequent visitor to his daughter, until his ultimate departure from New England, June 1, 1774, and so commonplace were his visits that he referred to the house simply as the "summer house." One room, today, is known as the Hutchinson Chamber in his honor.

Benjamin Franklin was a guest in the house for three days in the summer of 1773, being the guest of honor at an evening reception attended by many prominent Middleborough residents including Reverend Sylvanus Conant, Dr. Samuel Clarke, and Elkanah Leonard. (Clarke later recalled that Abigail Adams had been present, as well). The motive behind this hospitality was, allegedly, an attempt by the Loyalist establishment to win the influential Franklin over to its cause. While only speculative, this theory does seem validated by the fact that Hutchinson considered Franklin to be "the Great director" of the Massachusetts radicals. At any rate, Franklin was not swayed, and he later infuriated the Loyalist Olivers by leaking personal correspondence from Hutchinson, and Oliver's uncle Andrew Oliver, to Thomas Whately, former secretary to British Lord Grenville. (It was only later that the southeast ground floor parlor became known as the Franklin Room).

Rising sentiments for independence from Britain increased public antipathy towards the Oliver and Hutchinson families, and other Loyalists. In January, 1774, Peter Oliver, Jr.’s, brother- in-law Elisha Hutchinson was forced to seek refuge in Middleborough after fleeing from an angry mob in Plymouth which had attempted to stone him. Oliver's father, Judge Peter Oliver, then serving as Massachusetts Chief Justice, was impeached February 24, 1774, by the General Court, and an orchestrated campaign to vilify him was undertaken. The death of Judge Oliver's brother Andrew, and the departure for England in June, 1774, of the Hutchinson family, left Judge Oliver to bear the full wrath of colonial disaffection, and was forced by a deputation of "Middleborough brutes" to sign a promise not to exercise his office, August 24, 1774.

Peter Oliver, Jr., himself, was forced by a mob of forty men which had assembled outside his house the following month, to sign a similar agreement not to accept any commission from military governor General Gage. Ultimately, a second mob, headed by Reverend Sylvanus Conant, in February, 1775, forced Peter Oliver, Jr., to flee to Boston where his remaining family had gone. During the blockade of the city, he served as a common soldier. He left America, never to return, in April, 1776, and died an embittered man in 1822.

The Oliver House and property was ultimately confiscated by the Commonwealth and the contents of the house inventoried and recorded with the Plymouth County Registry of Probate, after which they were auctioned. During the state's ownership, the house was periodically occupied by Governor James Bowdoin, who was a frequent visitor during his administration, and the Scollay family of Boston was entertained here. Eventually, the house was auctioned, as well, passing through a number of owners including Martin Brimmer of Roxbury, Nathaniel Russell (1793-94), Hushai Thomas, Jr. (1794-97), and General Abiel Washburn (1797-98) who, reputedly, removed the front door of the house for use in his own new house just across the road. The house was acquired a year later, on January 16, 1798, by Judge Thomas Weston of Carver (1770-1834), and it remained in the possession of his and his daughter's family until 1893.

Weston (1770-1834) had, in his youth, been employed in the iron business at Pope's Point Furnace in his native Carver. After removing to Middleborough in 1798, he engaged in the works at Muttock with his son, also Thomas Weston, and later engaged in politics, serving as a representative to the General Court in 1811, 1812, 1814, 1815, and 1819, and as a member of the Governor's Council for four years. He declined a nomination for a congressional seat, and later in life served as chairman of the Court of Sessions from which position he took the title of Judge.

Upon Weston's death, the house passed ultimately to his daughter, Bethaniah (Weston) Sproat, wife of Earle Sproat. The Sproat's marriage was marred by tragedy: Earle Sproat suffered tuberculosis "of the old fashioned sort" and two children died in infancy, while a third, Abby Sproat, died at the age of one year after having been scalded by boiling water, when a teapot was dropped from a table. The couple's surviving children were Mary Sproat who became a noted landscape artist; Thomas C. Sproat who studied law "and had a promising future, but who died when a young man;" and Doctor Henry H. Sproat, "a fine type of the old country doctor."

Despite this sad history, a number of anecdotes concerning the Sproats have come down to us, largely due to the fact that "the family as a whole was noted for its wit and apt repartee." The Sproats owned a share of the grist and sawmills on the Nemasket River at Muttock, and Earle Sproat would go to the sawmill every third day when the mill was running in order to cart away the slabs. One day, he and his hired man Bill Wright had the slabs loaded when a drunk Billy Allen who was employed in the Muttock grist mill came and tipped the load out deliberately. "Mr. Sproat turned to his hired man and said, 'It is a mean job to give Billy Allen a licking, but I will give you $1.25 to do it.' The hired man immediately went at it, and gave him a good sound drubbing until Mr. Sproat told him to stop. Mr. Sproat paid him for it on the spot, the slabs were reloaded and they went home."

Besides being engaged in the Muttock works, Sproat was involved in other business ventures, including a position as agent for Middleborough and vicinity of Charles L. Bartlet's "Warranted PURE” Peruvian guano.

Another anecdote relates how Mr. Sproat one morning was found resting on the steps of the place of business of a gentleman who had unexpectedly died the previous evening. When Mr. Sporat was asked by a second gentleman who was unaware of the business owner’s demise when the deceased would be in, Mr. Sproat drolly replied without lifting his eyes, “He’ll be in on the Resurrection morn.”

Still yet another tale, as told by James Burgess, relates to Sproat’s last hour of life, May 9, 1864. “The morning before he passed away the Rev. Mr. Putnam of the Green church came up to call on Mrs. Sproat who was a member of the church. She asked him to go in and ask Mr. Sproat what he thought of the end that was coming to him. He came into the room and said, ‘Mr. Sproat, you seem to be nearing your end.’ Mr. Sproat said, “I am.’ “Well,’ said the Reverend, ‘What do you think of meeting your Lord and Master?’ The answer was, ‘In all my business relations in life I never have traded much with the middle man. I have always bought my goods at wholesale. It looks now as though I should see the Lord before you will, and I can no doubt patch it up a good deal better when I get there and see Him than I can with you.’ Mr. Putnam made no reply, but immediately left the room. For once I was silent, as was Mr. [Joseph] Bennet. Soon Mr. Sproat began to talk of those who were coming home from the war, some with an arm gone, some with a leg gone and others with an eye missing, and he said, ‘I think it is a good time to get through.’ And then he died.”

With the death of Earle Sproat, the property passed to Sproat’s son, Dr. Henry H. Sproat of Freetown, Massachusetts, and upon Henry’s early death, to his minor daughter, Eleanor Bethania Sproat. The house was sold by Eleanor’s mother and guardian Katherine Ann Sproat in October, 1893, to Henry Champion Jones of Boston (1856-1942), a teacher at the Boston Latin School.

Jones was associated with the Arnold Arboretum at Boston and carried out plantings on the grounds. Long prior to Jones, the grounds of the house had been noted for a large locust grove which stood in front of the house where a field now lies. The grove contained nearly 200 locust trees, as well as garden seats and bird boxes. The grove was destroyed in a heavy gale in 1815 when all but 15 of the trees came down. Also on the grounds is a small brook which empties into the Nemasket River. Judge Oliver is believed to have dammed the brook to facilitate the extraction of iron ore from the brook bed for use at his Muttock works. The dam was still visible 100 years later.

Following Jones’ death, his family generously offered to donate the property to the Middleborough Historical Association which declined the offer. Consequently, it was sold in 1945 to Peter Oliver, a relation of the original owner who restored the house as closely as possible to its original appearance. It has remained in the Oliver family since that time.

Illustrations:
"The Sproat House", postcard, H. A. Dickerman & Son, publisher, early 1900s.
The postcard is clearly incorrectly captioned, the date of construction erroneously being given as 1749.  The house, in fact, dates from some 20 years later.  The house known as the Sproat House, Peter Oliver House and Small Oliver House was a popular subject of early postcard publishers, and the Dickerman card here is but one example.

Benjamin Franklin by David Martin, oil on canvas, 1767.
The portrait depicts Franklin as he would have been known to the Oliver and Hutchinson families - elegant, sophisticated, an engaging conversationalist and a political influence.

James Bowdoin II, oil on canvas, 1748.
A youthful 22-year-old Bowdoin is captured in this portrait dating from 1748.  Bowdoin was a political and intellectual leader in Massachusetts during the Revolution, and succeeded John Hancock as governor in 1785.  During the period of his governorship from 1785 through 1787, Bowdoin is believed to have stayed in the Oliver House on a number of occasions.

Oliver House Staircase, photograph, c. 1930.
The turned newel post and banisters of the staircase of the Oliver House demonstrate the attention given to the construction of the house in 1769.  The architecture of the structure was more formally documented as part of the Historic American Building Survey in 1936.

Sources:
James A. Burgess, “A Sketch of Some Characters of Years Ago”, The Middleborough Antiquarian, 17:2, pp. 5-9. Originally published in the Middleboro Gazette between 19907 and 1909.

Peter Oliver, “Judge Oliver and the Small Oliver House in Middleborough”, The Middleborough Antiquarian, 11:4, July, 1970, pp. 2-6.

Plymouth County Registry of Deeds.

Plymouth County Registry of Probate.

“The Small Oliver House”, The Middleborough Antiquarian, 11:4, July, 1970, p. 1.

Thomas Weston, History of the Town of Middleboro, Massachusetts (Middleborough, MA: Town of Middleborough, 1906).

Warren and Marion Whipple, “Middleborough in the American Revolution”, The Middleborough Antiquarian, 26:2, May, 1988.

Deacon Alfred Wood, Record of Deaths, Middleboro, Massachusetts (Boston: General Socity of Mayflower Descendants, 1947).

Malaria at Muttock, 1896-1914

In the first decade of the twentieth century, Muttock faced a potential health crisis of epidemic proportions when between 1909 and 1914, that community was afflicted by an outbreak of malaria, a disease seemingly unknown in Middleborough before 1896. The fact that it was able to avert such an outcome was the result of extreme vigilance on the part of a number of members of the community rather than the actions of the community’s public health officials.

Malaria and the similar yellow fever were greatly feared before 1900. Middleborough residents had long been accustomed to hearing of the dreadful yellow fever epidemics which periodically plagued the South, and like communities elsewhere, Middleborough was fearful of the disease’s potential appearance within its corporate bounds. Consequently, much mystery and caution surrounded a possible local case of yellow fever in late 1870. “It is whispered that a death from yellow fever has occurred in the village of Middleboro’”, reported the Plymouth Old Colony Memorial in November, unable to confirm its report. A generation later, reports of the yellow fever which plagued Spanish-American War soldiers continued to fuel local fears concerning yellow fever and helped foster the community’s apprehension concerning malaria.

At the time of the 1909 outbreak, the cause of malaria was not well understood. Originally thought to have been an airborne disease, malaria in 1827 was given its modern name from the Italian for “bad air”, a term which replaced earlier names including intermittent or remittent fever, fever and ague, and marsh miasma. By the 1880s, a connection between malarial infection and stagnant sources of water was purposed. In 1881, Dr. J. F. Adams indicated to the American Public Health Association regarding the incidence of malaria in New England that malarial communities were “found to be, with scarcely an exception, on the border of rivers, or adjacent to swamps, ponds or artificial reservoirs…. It has thus shown a decided affinity for water.” It would not be for several more years, however, that the work of others would reveal that it was not the water, per se, that was responsible for the disease, but the fact that standing water constituted a prime breeding ground for the anopheles mosquito, the primary agent by which the disease was spread.

At Muttock, these mosquitoes found an ideal spawning ground. Since the breakdown of the dam at Muttock in the late 19th century, the Nemasket River had been left to its own natural devices. At times, the river ran with an extremely low volume of water, particularly after the cities of New Bedford and Taunton began drawing upon the river’s sources – Lake Assawompsett and Great and Little Quitticus Ponds – thereby lowering the level of the river. Particularly during the summer, little water flowed in the river, exposing its muddy banks and, more critically for the community’s public health, leaving pools of stagnant water along its course. The situation was particularly bad at Muttock. Dr. Adams painted a vivid picture of how rivers like the Nemasket at Muttock must have appeared to turn of the century witnesses: “overflowed in spring and laid bare in summer especially where low spots or obstructed ditches cause stagnant pools to form which are gradually dried up in the summer sun.” Former millponds like that at Muttock, Adams characterized as “very shallow and only full after the spring freshets. During the summer they become drawn down so as to expose great tracts of oozy bottom covered with rotting stumps and other vegetable matter.”

At the time of Middleborough’s first modern malarial outbreak in 1896-97, it was believed that it was a germ inherent in the exposed mud which was the causative agent of malaria, and this view would hold sway for many years. A concurrent malaria outbreak in Uxbridge, Massachusetts, in 1896, however, prompted Dr. Theobald Smith to suppose that “the malarial germ is caused by mosquitoes, not all mosquitoes to be sure but only those in infected localities. Anything that favors the breeding of these pests like stagnant ponds, pools, sewers, etc., would favor it.” Smith’s hypothesis, accurate though it ultimately was, was not made public at the time due to the uncertainty of the Massachusetts State Board of Health, with the consequence that measures to prevent and eradicate the disease would be delayed for years.

In September, 1898, Charles E. Grinnell, a summer resident on the Washburn estate at Muttock, complained of malarial conditions which had been prevalent in the neighborhood during the two previous years. Believing the cause to be the industrial pollutants and raw untreated sewage which since 1886 had been permitted to be dumped into the river, Grinnell and others petitioned the Middleborough Board of Selectmen to address the matter of discharges into the river.

Independent of the town and at the behest of Grinnell and the other Muttock complainants, a State Board of Health engineer viewed the conditions at Muttock, as well as the Middleborough sewer system, and the Commonwealth held two hearings on the situation of the Nemasket, the town’s disposal of sewerage and the prevalence of malaria at Muttock. Grinnell, himself, was successful in having a bill introduced into the Massachusetts legislature by Representative Dewey of Westfield, entitled, “An Act to Authorize Middleborough to Construct a System of Sewerage and to provide for the payment of the Cost thereof”. The bill received no support from town officials, who balked at the treatment plant’s price tag and who took umbrage at the Commonwealth exercising its authority on behalf of the community’s public health, and it is noteworthy that it was an official from the opposite end of Massachusetts who sponsored the bill rather than Middleborough’s own representative.

As a consequence of this opposition, the Nemasket was permitted to pursue its sluggish course through Muttock, bringing with it its annual “crop” of mosquitoes and the potential for malaria. In June, 1903, the Plymouth Old Colony Memorial reported that “Middleboro people are complaining of the extraordinary plentitude of mosquitoes this season. The pests make out doors sojourns almost unbearable after sundown.”

And with the mosquitoes came disease. Just a month following the reports of numerous mosquitoes came the Middleboro Gazette’s notice that “malaria has again asserted itself in town and its victims are alternately frozen and baked in a dry heat.” Yet, the connection between the two was still not recognized, and the outbreak was attributed to the rain. “It was predicted by physicians who have made a study of the disease, which appears to get a deeper and deeper hold on Middleboro each succeeding year, that there would be a wave when the rain came after the protracted dry season. And sure enough it did come.”

The sanitary conditions of the river, and particularly those at Muttock, became a source of grave concern following the start of the twentieth century. It was argued that the abandonment of the Muttock water privilege and subsequent deterioration of the dam had lowered the level of the river, allowing for the exposure of mud flats and the rise of “offensive odors”. More concerning was the prevalence of malaria in the neighborhood after 1909 with 13 of 15 houses at Muttock being affected.

The first cases to come to the public’s attention were initially outside Muttock. Edward H. Stafford, Jr., of 123 South Main Street, then a recent graduate of Middleborough High School, suffered an attack of the disease in August, 1909, which was reported in the Middleboro Gazette on August 13. The following year, in October, 1910, George R. Sampson of Everett Street, was similarly stricken. Undoubtedly, Sampson’s illness attracted the attention of much of Middleborough, given Sampson’s local prominence as a brick manufacturer, Peirce Trustee and former Massachusetts state representative.  Notably, the Nemasket River ran through the rear of Sampson’s property which was dominated by a large Greek Revival style home.

Those afflicted by the disease displayed the symptoms typical of malaria: headache, muscle aches, fatigue and shaking chills. Some undoubtedly complained of the nausea, vomiting and diarrhea which frequently accompany the disease. The onset of the disease was described in 1911:

A single paroxysm of simple ague may come upon the patient in the midst of good health or it may be preceded by some malaise. The ague-fit begins with chills proceeding as if from the lower part of the back, and gradually extending until the coldness overtakes the whole body. Tremors of the muscles more or less violent accompany the cold sensations, beginning with the muscles of the lower jaw (chattering of the teeth), and ex-tending to the extremities and trunk. The expression has meanwhile changed: the face is pale or livid; there are dark rings under the eyes; the features are pinched and sharp, and the whole skin shrunken; the fingers are dead white, the nails blue. All those symptoms are referable to spasmodic constriction of the small surface arteries, the pulse at the wrist being itself small, hard and quick. In the interior organs there are indications of a compensating accumulation of blood, such as swelling of the spleen, engorgement (very rarely rupture) of the heart, with a feeling of oppression in the chest, and a copious flow of clear and watery urine from the congested kidneys. The body temperature will have risen suddenly from the normal to 103 or higher.

Today, the symptoms would most likely be attributed to influenza.

The cure for such a malady was undoubtedly substantial dosages of quinine, then the only medicine known to ease the symptoms of the disease. Patent medicine makers also offered treatments with companies like J. C. Ayer & Company of Lowell manufacturing cures for malaria. Ayer’s Malaria and Ague Remedy, produced since the 1850s, consisted of 12 grains of orange peel, 8 grains each of quinia, cinnamon, Jamaican ginger, and peppermint, 4 grains of cloves, 3 ½ drachmas of glycerin and water “sufficient to make one fluid ounce”. The company touted it as “the very best medicine you can possibly take for ague or malarial poisoning, in all its forms. The medicine quickly and thoroughly destroys the cause of the disease and renders great aid to nature in bringing about a speedy and complete recovery.” Undoubtedly, such remedies found a ready sale in some of Middleborough’s pharmacies at the time.

In 1910, with the number of cases of “malarial infection” mounting, Ferdinand Landgrebe of North Street, along with others, petitioned for an improvement in the sanitary conditions of the river. Their concern regarding the health conditions at Muttock was also linked to the pollution in the river. Since 1886, raw untreated sewage from Middleborough Center had been dumped into the river and, combined with the industrial pollutants discharged, created a rank and frequently fetid stream. Ultimately, a bill (“An Act – To Authorize the Improvement of the Sanitary Condition of the Nemasket River and Adjacent Meadows in the Town of Middleborough”) was introduced into the Massachusetts state legislature by Representative Holmes of Kingston. The bill proposed the improvement of the river between the Lower Factory and a point just downstream from the dam at Muttock and would have authorized the town “to construct a dam and such structures as may be necessary, to prohibit or regulate the pollution of the river by sewage or other matter”, and to acquire and hold lands and buildings as necessary, the expenditure not to exceed $1,000. The bill simply provided the town of Middleborough with authority to act in the matter; it did not compel it to take action.

In testimony before the legislative committee on public health, Muttock residents were scathing in their attack upon the unsanitary condition of the river. One of the Misses Winslow characterized the conditions there as “shocking” and told the committee that she and her sister were compelled to keep the windows of their house midway up Muttock Hill on Nemasket Street closed, even on the hottest of days, determined to avoid admitting the stench rising from the river on those days into their home. (In so doing, they unwittingly prevented malaria-bearing mosquitoes from entering the premises, thereby avoiding the sickness which plagued the neighborhood during 1910 and 1911). Representative Holmes who spoke in favor of the bill, stated that the failure of the dam many years previously had resulted in the exposure of the river’s mud flats and the resulting offensive odors. “… In the fall when the air is damp, malaria is prevalent, and even children are sufferers from the disease,” the committee was informed.

Apparently more concerned with the image of the community abroad, Middleborough Board of Health agent B. J. Allan opposed the bill calling for improved sanitation along the Nemasket “on the grounds that the town is fully aware of the existing conditions, and intends to give them its attention.” Allan cited a number of doctors who contended that the public health of the town was not dependent upon reconstruction of the dam. Further, reconstruction of the dam was to be considered at the 1911 annual town meeting. Following Allan’s testimony, the legislative committee agreed to defer action and referred the bill to the next session of the General Court, thereby allowing the town an opportunity to remedy the situation at Muttock “if it sees fit.” Clearly, the legislative committee had been swayed by the authority of the local Board of Health, though ironically at this time, the State Board of Health had characterized the condition of the river as “more objectionable than in any previous year.”

In the meantime, 1911 witnessed a string of attacks. John G. Tinkham, John Perkins, and Levi Tinkham were all reported as ill with the disease during June and October, while George Sampson apparently suffered a relapse in July. By mid-July, Tinkham, a letter carrier, had recovered enough to resume his duties delivering mail. In September, 1913, Mary MacAuley fell ill with the disease, as did Lester Newton (who had a “severe case” in April 1914), the Newton twins and Wendell Sturtevant. Undoubtedly, there were more cases. How many we shall never known as doctors were then not legally required to report cases of malaria. Sturtevant appears to have been the last to have contracted the disease in Middleborough.

Ultimately, it was the partial reconstruction of the dam at Muttock rather than the actions of the community’s public health officials which brought the outbreak to an end. With a higher level of water maintained in the river, the shallow pools of stagnant water where mosquitoes bred were largely eliminated, thereby helping control the disease.

Not until 1914 was malaria a reportable disease in Massachusetts.

Illustrations:
Nemasket River at Muttock, Middleborough, MA, cabinet view, late 19th century.
This view depicts the Nemasket River at Muttock following abandonment of the industrial works there.  The remnants of the dam shown in the photograph were washed away in a freset in the 1880s, but already the low water levels that encouraged the propagation of anopheles mosquitoes is apparent.

Winslow House, Nemasket Street, Middleborough, MA, photograph, c 1900.
During the hottest summer days, Isabella and Maria L. C. Winslow who occupied the Weston House on Nemasket Street at Muttock refused to open their windows, determined to avoid admitting the stench rising from the river into their home.  In so doing, they unwittingly prevented malaria-bearing mosquitoes from entering the premises, thereby avoiding the sickness which plagued the neighborhood following 1909.  One of the Misses Winslow characterized the conditions at Muttock as "shocking".

Storms, 1867

One of the most destructive spring storms prior to 2010 occurred in 1867 when a spring freshet caused by a combination of heavy rain and melting snow caused the Nemasket River to flood. One of the most dramatic consequences was the washing away of the herring weir at Muttock by the impounded waters of the mill pond above Nemasket Street.

A severe storm of rain and wind prevailed here, on Saturday night last [February 9, 1867]. This, at once thawed and set in motion the previous heavy fall of snow, so that our streams experienced the effects of the combination of two heavy storms.... At the Muttock works, the herring weir dam was swept away."

Illustration:
Nemasket River at Muttock, photograph, 1880s.
This photographic view depicts the Nemasket River some twenty years after the disastrous 1867 storm which washed away the herring weir dam. The dam was not rebuilt and the site was left to nature which has begun to encroach upon the river in this view. Note the young boy fishing on the left bank.

Source:
Middleboro Gazette, February 16, 1867

Muttock Winter View, c. 1895

Illustration:
Winter Scene at Muttock, photograph, c. 1895
This view taken from near the junction of Nemasket and Spring Streets looks across the Nemasket River to the former ruins of the Washburn shovel works at Muttock, the site now occupied by Oliver Mill Park. The trestle bridge in the right background served the Plymouth & Middleboro Railroad. Built in 1892, it was replaced in 1912 with a single span cement arch bridge.

Muttock Bridge

The Muttock or Nemasket Street Bridge with its five dry-laid piers of granite bridged by enormous flat stone slabs is one of the largest slab bridges ever built in southeastern Massachusetts. The bridge was constructed to replace an earlier wooden bridge dating from 1818 which crossed the mill pond at Muttock. Following nearly forty years of use, this wooden bridge was in such a state of disrepair, that an 1856 town meeting voted to appoint a committee to investigate the construction of a new bridge. The result of the committee's action was the present Nemasket Street Bridge, construction of which commenced in 1857, and concluded two years later in 1859.

Building of the bridge was initially announced in the Middleboro Gazette under the heading "Largest Stone Bridge in Plymouth County."

Mr. Z. C. Fuller of Plympton, is building a bridge over Namasket River, at Namasket Village, 88 feet long and 34 wide, entirely of stone. It has five sluice ways, 8 feet wide. The water is ten feet deep at this place. The foundation was laid by putting in 300 tons of boulders, on which piers of split stone are laid. Very large stone slabs extend across the sluices, which are to be covered three feet with gravel. It will cost some $2000.

As built, the bridge ultimately had six sluiceways, and a wooden railing along either side of the top, as clearly seen in early photographs of the bridge. It was not until 1935 that the current fieldstone parapet walls were raised on the bridge, and the demarcation between the original stone and that of the later stone still can be clearly seen.

In 1934, the bridge was at the center of an embarrassing news item when leaks developed in the recent water line extension to Warrentown which ran across the bridge here at Muttock. In its first years of service, this water line was plagued by leaks, but the one which developed at the bridge on Nemasket Street, proved a "bad and long time leak" which ran into the river. According to the Brockton Enterprise, "The water leaked for weeks into the river before some one thought to look under the bridge .... When the pipes were laid plans were made to have them a sufficient depth from the top of the road to prevent freezing in Winter, but apparently no one looked under the bridge to see that the pipes were so deep that they were practically exposed under the bridge."

By this time, the bridge had also reached a condition so poor as to require regular repair work on an annual basis. As noted in the Middleborough Highway Department report for 1931: "As is usual each year some repairs were necessary on the stone bridge over the river on Nemasket Street." This deterioration progressed to the point where major rehabilitation of the bridge became neccessary in the late 1990s, Massachusetts Highway Department representatives stating at the time that "the bridge is starting to deteriorate pretty quickly."

In an effort to maintain the historic character and significance of the bridge, as well as its original appearance, the reconstruction created what MassHighway representatives characterized as "a bridge within a bridge." The existing fill between the surface of the roadway and the underlying slabs was first excavated. The central pier and the two slabs it supported were next removed. Three shafts were then sunk into the river bed, and upon these was placed a cap which in conjunction with the existing abuttments became the support structure for concrete beams which would carry a new roadway and which rested inside the area originally occupied by fill. The slabs were then replaced, as was the granite stonework from the original pier.

The focus of many of the public hearing comments at the time of the reconstruction was upon the Department's proposed replacement of the 1935 parapet walls with reinforced concrete walls faced with a fieldstone veneer. Despite indications that the public wished the existing walls to be taken down and reassembled, representatives of MassHighway were unwilling to concede this design element, arguing that safety concerns necessitated a proven safety wall.

Work was completed by fall, 1999, and the estimated pricetag for the revamped bridge was $800,000, four hundred times the original cost of construction.

Illustrations:

Muttock Bridge, Middleborough, MA, photograph, December 30, 1907

This view depicts the rarely seen upstream side of the Muttock Bridge over the Nemasket River at Muttock in Middleborough.

Muttock Bridge Parapet Work, Middleborough, MA, photograph, c. 1935

Dating probably from 1935, this snapshot depicts the replacement of the bridge's wooden railings with fieldstone walls along the sides of Muttock Bridge. Framing for the construction of the walls is in place, and the slab design of the bridge is clearly visible.

Muttock Bridge, Leighton & Valentine, color lithochrome postcard, c. 1905

Another view of the upstream side of Muttock Bridge is this colorful picture postcard from the turn of the last century.

A Haunting at Muttock, 1902

In 1902, a "ghost" was reported to be if not quite terrorizing Muttock, certainly entertaining it. James Creedon, the Middleborough correspondent for the Brockton Times in late 1902 recorded the story for his employer's newspaper as well as posterity:

Veiled Ghost Leads Crowd a Hot Chase

Pelts Apples at Middleboro Posse, and Outlegs It Up and Down Hill and Into Darkness of Woods

The town is in the grasp of a decided sensation. It is said that there are ghosts operating here.

One night last week a young woman living in the northern part of town was accosted and chased by a figure robed in white, but she was not harmed. Several other people have been chased in the district on North street, between North Main and Oak streets. Another rendezvous is at the top of Muttock Hill.

Stories have circulated the last few days that there was a ghost in that neighborhood, but little credence was given to them. Most everyone thought some boys were out for fun. It now appears, however, that there is some foundation to the reports.

Saturday evening Ralph Caswell was down toward North street and was chased a considerable distance. Last night a crowd went to North street and saw this figure, robed in white, with a flowing veil on its head. It was in the orchard at the Crossen place. When it saw the fellows coming it threw apples at them and they gave chase. It led them the quickest they ever traveled, up and down hill and over a high fence into the woods. It escaped.

It is generally believed that it is some man dressed up to have some fun. The fun will turn if he gets in the way of those after him.

[Brockton Times, October 13, 1902]

Hunting the Ghost

Middleboro Party Not Rewarded by a Glimpse Last Night

The ghost is still the whole thing among the young and adventurous element of Middleboro. The young men say they are going to catch him. A crowd organized last evening, and shortly after 7 went to the scene of the ghost's hilarity. It broke up into parties of two and waited in the woods. The ghost did not show up. After waiting till about 10 the searching party gave up its job.

Whoever or whatever is making this trouble is sure to come to grief if it continues. The matter has gone almost far enough in the minds of many, and they are determined to know who is responsible.

This is not the first occasion of ghosts in the Muttock neighborhood, one of the residents says. On previous occasions there have been seen figures dressed all in black and traveling on all fours. At other times it was erect and dressed in white. It was not an animal, and what it can be, if not a man, is a question.

Although most of the people living in Muttock sincerely believe there is something prowling around in the garb of a ghost, they fear nothing, claiming that no harm will come from it. The searchers are determined, and will keep up their work until they find out who is playing ghost or until the disturbance stops.

[Brockton Times, October 14, 1902]

Muttock Ghost Wary

Middleboro Youths Are Out in Force, and Are Not Rewarded

After spending two nights in an unsuccessful attempt to locate the Muttock ghost, a band of young men started out again last evening, but the did not have better luck. There were two parties composed of youths from the center of town and others were from Everett street. The Everett street crowd started at the lower end of that street and the boys from the center entered the woods just behind the Crossen place [on North Street at the top of Nemasket Street]. They split into parties of two, each armed with a four-foot oak club, and prowled around the woods. After two and a half hours' search they went home unrewarded.

The clubs last evening supplanted the revolvers and hounds the searchers had Monday evening. When they got through hunting the ghost they could take home the precious pieces of wood and be assured of a few minutes' warm, cheerful fire.

The party from the center was passing through a yard on North street and was stopped by a woman who said the spook was out Monday evening, although it kept out of the way of the searchers. The residents of that section seem to be divided on the question of ghosts. One young man, Bert Amsden, says that as he was going home the other evening he saw a white thing out in the field. He fired four shots at it and his brother fired once. Apparently they hit something, as there was a scream and then the figure got away in pots haste.

Miss Lizzie Landgrebe, who lives near Amsden, discredits the statements regarding ghosts, and does not believe there is any such thing there. It was stated last week that she and her sister were chased. And she strenuously denied it.

The searchers last evening included: William Murray, William Scanlon, Bolles Dustin, John Harrington, Eugene McCarthy, Leo Allen, William Brawdrex, Barney Chandler, John Macomber, Samuel Osgood, Eugene Curley, Thomas McManus, Frank Elliott, Mark Snow and Ralph Caswell.

[Brockton Times, October 15, 1902]

Spook Takes a Rest

Middleboro Flurry Wanes While It Keeps Undercover

The ghost sensation is at a low ebb. The spook has not been seen for two days. Even though it has not been around lately, it is not thought it is out of business.

[Brockton Times, October 16, 1902]

The ghost, in fact, was "out of business". No further sighting of the figure, nor who was ultimately responsible for the diversion in 1902, was ever recorded.

Illustration:

Muttock, c. 1900, composite photograph, 2009.

During October, 1902, an apparition in white was seen by several witnesses about Muttock frequenting the wooded area about North and Everett Streets. While residents remained both skeptical of and unperturbed by the suggestion of spirits, they were unable to capture the perpetrator of the "ghostly" visits.

Muttock, photographic negative, late 19th century.

Sources:

Brockton Times, October 13-16, 1902

A 19th Century View of Muttock

Illustration:
View of the Nemasket River at Muttock, Middleborough, MA, photograph, late 19th century.
Nature encroaches upon the colonial and Federal-era industrial site at Muttock, obscuring the stone foundations and walls which were once part of Abiel Washburn's shovel works. Though a number of proposals called for the revival of industry at Muttock following the mid-19th century when the last operations - the grist and saw mills - were abandoned, nothing came of these initiatives. The site was left to decay, though it became a popular locale for early photographers, including the unknown one who captured this image of a boy fishing in the river. Today the site is better known as Oliver Mill Park. Many of the same ruins may be viewed today, and the site remains popular with photographers.

The Decline of Muttock

While most sources, most notably Weston and Romaine, well cover the most significant period of Muttock's history through the 1830s, very little is recorded after that time, nor is Muttock's economic decline during that period considered.

The history of Muttock following the Revolution and the departure of the Olivers is one of irreversible decline. This decline, however, was neither foreseen nor immediate, and expectations were high at the start of the nineteenth century for the further development of Muttock. Previously, Muttock as the site of the Oliver iron works and its associated industries had been the one area "of greater enterprise and more numerous industries than any other in town, far surpassing what is now the business centre at the Four Corners"[Peirce:1022]. However, neither the Washburns nor the Weston and Sproat families which assumed control of the industrial works along the river at Muttock in the final years of the eighteenth century, were willing or able to long sustain the previous level of economic activity. The growth which led to the establishment of Middleborough Four Corners, bypassed Muttock (and led to a similar decline in importance of the Green area of Middleborough, as well), and the growth of Middleborough center only served to highlight the economic malaise into which Muttock was sliding. As commercial and industrial interests were drawn towards the new center of Middleborough which was experiencing a boom in the 1850s and where land near the Four Corners was then selling for the unheard of price of $2,000 an acre, residential development soon followed; Muttock became marginalized, relegated to the status of a peripheral village, devoid of any commercial or industrial activity of any consequence. The works on the river were shut, the stores in the area closed. All that remained to give the area an identity was its history, and the schoolhouse.

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While this process of marginalization was certainly not unique to Muttock (numerous villages throughout Massachusetts would similarly fall victim to rapidly changing economic and demographic circumstances in the nineteenth century), the change - at least for Middleborough - is seen most palpably at Muttock. The awareness of and dissatisfaction with the stalled growth at Muttock is keenly sensed in a series of editorial articles published during the first four months of 1853 in the Namasket Gazette which follow here under the heading "The Namasket Gazette Views Muttock, 1853." The underlying tone of these articles seems to be one of frustration born of unrealized economic expectations as the growth of Middleborough center and its industrial West Side began to eclipse Muttock.

Much of the blame for Muttock's lack of achievement during these years is unjustly pegged onto the Washburn family, particularly Philander Washburn, by these and subsequent articles. Certainly, the Washburn family, as owner of the Muttock water privilege, was better placed than any to nurture economic growth at Muttock, but it seems not to have been interested in doing so. (Washburn gave up his Muttock store and ceased operation of the shovel works to embark on a short-lived political career). Meanwhile, Middleborough Center had more vocal and numerous promoters, including ironically Philander Washburn who played a prominent role in the establishment of the Four Corners as the center of Middleborough through his associations with the Central Congregational Church, the Fall River Railroad, Middleborough High School and Middleborough Town Hall. However, the Washburns were not the only family which abetted the growth of Middleborough Four Corners at the expense of Muttock. Families such as the Wilders and Rounsevilles who resided at or near Muttock but began attending services at the Central rather than First Congregational Church, helped cement the Four Corners' primacy.

Additionally, as the nineteenth century progressed, riparian sites such as that at Muttock, became less important with the general introduction of steam power which freed industrial establishments from their dependence upon hydro-power and allowed them to relocate to sites close to new rail lines, such as the West Side of Middleborough which began to be developed at this time. Only small-scale operations such as a saw mill and grist mill remained at Muttock after 1850.

By the late 1800s, the decline of Muttock had become an accepted fact, symbolized by the failure of the Plymouth & Middleboro Railroad, which was constructed through the heart of Muttock in the latter part of the century, to establish a station in this once-thriving village. Not only was there no perceived need for such a station at Muttock, but it is doubtful whether the establishment of one would have provided any impetus for economic renewal. However, as is often the case, the limitation of economic growth at Muttock was precisely what preserved the historic resources located there today.

The Namasket Gazette Views Muttock, 1853

Shortly following the inauguration of the Namasket Gazette in 1852, readers were introduced to an editorial column pseudonymously written under the name "Town Pump." The column presented editorial views on local issues and in its early columns supported such liberal causes as the beautification of Middleborough village through the planting of trees and support for a public library. One of the first topics, however, which it discussed and which seemingly generated some considerable controversy, was its opinion of Muttock. The initial column, and the fabricated responses which followed it, are reproduced below. Relative to the depiction of Muttock as an area of Middleborough in decline, this was undoubtedly the case. By the 1850s when these articles were written, development had bypassed Muttock in favor of Middleborough Four Corners, which was developing as the new town center, replacing the Green as the town's civic and religious center and Muttock as its industrial center. Despite their heavy sarcasm, these articles made a valid point and they contributed to Muttock becoming, within Middleborough, a symbol for a community without ambition, a view somewhat reflected in both Weston and Romaine's histories of Muttock.

Guide Board and Town Pump.

Namasket Gazette, January 21, 1853

Mr. Editor: - Listener was not alone at the colloquy with the Pump, the other night. I was listening, too, and want to tell your readers what I heard and saw after he left.

"Old neighbor," said the Guide Board, slowly waving his broad arms, as if to command attention, "I think you have done yourself no credit in what you have said of the enterprising and progressive people of this town, - plainly, you talked like an impudent fool. Do you think it becoming for you to stand here and abuse the liberality to which you own your own existence? Think what you have been saying to Mr. Listener! 'Other towns have their hotels, their town halls,' and what not; why don't you know, old wooden head, that an act of incorporation has been obtained, and they have already talked of building a splendid hotel, that should be considerably in advance of the times? How very stupid you are! 'Others have their town halls.' And pray, what have we got? Why, a town house of which we are all justly proud. Has it not lately been improved, without regard to expense, by an addition of two very aristocratic brick chimneys? Town halls, forsooth! Ours only needs a proper quantity of soap and hot water, - a thorough fumigation - and to have the ceiling frescoed to make it the pride of two or three such towns! talk to me of town halls!! - And let me ask you where you find the evidence of a want of enterprise or public spirit, on the part of our citizens?"

The old Pump had stood silent and trembling, and heard it all without daring to reply; but, being directly questioned, answered in a timid, hesitating tone, - "Look at Muttock."

Guide Board.
- "And what of that? It is one of the most (if not the very most,) interesting places in the Old Colony. There is on the dam a manufacturing establishment of stone which gives steady, constant employment to a man and boy, for a considerable part of the time! Three new pine slabs have been put into the head of one of the flumes - and all within the past three years, as I have been informed by my brother, who stands on the end of the dam to tell people where not to go. I tell you they are doing all that enterprising men ought to make the most of advantages which nature has given them."

Pump.
- "They won't sell to others who would do more."

G. Board. - "Now don't be a clear fool! If you had the first symptom of a refined taste, you would not talk so. These ruins are above all price! Will money buy the ruins of Persepolis? or the
Colesium? or even Plymouth Rock? When you talk to another Listener, try to talk reason. To think what you said about the herrings, too! They are proud to come up to a place like this, and it angers me to hear you talk so. Don't you see the benefits? - twenty-nine cents abated on every tax this year; think of that! poor men feel that - though I confess I don't think much of a man that has got no land. Nothing but an enlightened and genuine public spirit would have fostered this very important interest as it has been."

Again the old crest fallen pump ventured to speak, "compare your roads and bridges with those of other towns - every thing of a public nature is inferior, even the very Guide Boards" - "Hold, there! you infernal, mouldy old one-armed abortion." Here the Guide Board seemed worked up to the highest pitch of passion, - trembling with rage, he was "down" on the poor Pump with as much fury as a Guide Board could possibly manifest - the raps came thick and fast about the head of the Pump right and left - "Take that! and that!! and that!!! old obstinacy - and remember, never let me hear another word from you impeaching the character of our citizens for Public spirit or enterprise." The Pump dropped his arm to his side in the humble submission of conscious guilt, while the Guide Board raised himself "to his full height," as if conscious of duty discharged - while I looked on and received instruction.

TOTHER LISTENER.

Muttock's Reply to "Tother Listener."
Namasket Gazette, January 28, 1853

Mr. Editor - Middleboro' has long felt the necessity of a journal through which to disseminate her news, maintain her rights, and advocate her true interests, and the appearance of the Namasket Gazette could not have been met with otherwise than a hearty welcome from all of her numerous citizens, and that welcome made manifest to you, Mr. Editor, by having the pleasure of registering their names on your subscription book.

Among many interesting articles in your last issue, we noticed in particular, the colloquy between "Guide Board" and "Town Pump" and think they have a just cause for complaint. But "Look at Muttock!" "Guide Board" has not done it justice, for besides those "three new pine slabs put into the head of one of the flumes" there are other improvements, but as "Guide Board" says he obtained his information from his Brother "who stands on the end of the dam to tell people where not to go," we will forgive him, as that brother of his, absented himself from his "post of honor" nearly a year ago, and it is not to be presumed that he knows of one single improvement, of the many, which has been made during his absence. Look at that "manufacturing establishment of stone!" Has not the roof been newly shingled? and all that within a year? And then in the second place - never mind, we will leave the other improvements for a future article.

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"Guide Board" seems to have taken rather a narrow view of Muttock. Let us direct your attention to our new second-handed School House, and ask if it is not an improvement on that little old red building which answered the double purpose of school house and "Guide Post." In addition to our new four hundred dollar school house, we talk of having a Picket Fence to enclose the same. Then our roads are continually growing wider, and a "very beautiful" sidewalk was commenced last autumn and will probably be completed when that "manufacturing establishment" which you have all read about, has been thoroughly repaired. And, Mr. Editor, if you will step down this way next summer, we will show you some Farming on a new and improved principle.

Now "Guide Board," cast no more insinuations this way, for Muttock is bound to sprout, vegetate, and thrive.

MUTTOCK.
Muttock, January 24th, 1853.

Muttock.
Namasket Gazette, February 4, 1853.

MR. EDITOR: I have been listening to the stories these last few eeks, that have been told by Mr. Pump and Listeners, and I do think that Mr. Pump is rather severe. In the first place, Pump had no business down this way, and then when he did come, it was not fair in him to misrepresent our village.

Now 'Tother Listener did not get in all the life of the place, for besides that Stone Shop that employs one man and a boy, there is a stupendous Saw Mill that turns out a great many Slabs, besides those three that have been used to repair the flume, in the course of a year. The mere slabs from this mill, if well cut, and dried, are sufficient to keep a fire to steam all the shovel handles that are used in this place.

Then again we have a grist mill where the Miller means to do justice to every grist. Besides we are looking every day for the Cars, as the road was laid out some few years ago running directly through Muttock Lake. And we have numerous Stores, doing more or less business; but the most of them are doing less. More another time, if Pump is not still.

MUTTOCK BRIDGE.
Muttock, February 2, 1853.

Muttock
Namasket Gazette, February 18, 1853

[MUTTOCK] is indignant; the old forge has turned black with disgust; that "manufacturing establishment of stone" is quite pale with anger; the ever peaceful lake, as if ashamed of its companionship is creeping thro' the many holes in the dam, and, as if joyous for its release, is running with lightning speed towards the ocean, to mingle with its mother waters; that "stupendous saw mill" groans at the insinuations cast upon it by the ungrateful "Bridge," who seems to have forgotten that besides those numerous slabs which are used for steaming shovel handles - to say nothing of those three used in the flume - there are several used yearly for keeping himself in repair. O! ungrateful "Bridge," indeed! What will be his destiny? What in the world does he mean, thus to slander his benefactor! The old Guide Board too, who remained so long at his post, and performed his duty so manfully in directing people where "not to go," is now reclining with an aged and venerable building for its support, with its hand pointed upwards and bearing this inscription: "This is not a public road!" ....

SLAB
Muttock, February 15, 1853

Muttock.
Namasket Gazette, April 8, 1853

I have seen a number of your very interesting papers, and notice in some of the latest ones, several communications purporting to be from Muttock: but I cannot believe any one residing within its borders would write such infamous articles in relation to a place which has not only kept up, but in some things gone ahead of the rest of the town.

The name of Muttock is dear to me, for with it are associated ancestrial venerations. At the sound of its name the emotions of my heart rise uncontrolably: because connected with it were the morning hours of my existence. Dear and beautiful indeed is the place to me. It is there that I can review the scenes of my earliest and purest joys; there on a fertile soil which has been long and abundantly watered by the Namasket can I return in prosperity and adversity and "banquet unsated" on the recollections of youth.

Namasket! here too is a name never to be forgotten by me, for on its moving bosom I have floated for hours; in its waters I have bathed times without number; and on its sunny banks, under the old oak trees I have basked for hours with the loved companions of my boyhood. For then we were unconscious of the busy scenes and burdensome cares of the world; we knew not of the troubles that beset the path of every mature mind. But to us, everything was bright with the light of hope.

I am informed through your paper, that the "old red school house" has been exchanged for another, supposed to be better. I knew that a change had been proposed and when on a visit recently made to my native village, I thought one day to retire in the spot and once more behold the school room of my youthful days - where for many successive years I was placed to acquire useful learning adequate to my after wants. There the building stood on the same spot of ground and looking nearly as it did in the days of my childhood. As I approached its time honored walls, a feeling of reverential admiration came over me. With solemn steps I approached the window in the rear of the seat I last occupied, and there through a broken pane of glass I had a view of the room in which I had thoughtlessly spent so many of those golden hours. At last my eyes caught and rested on the initials of my name which I had thoughtlessly cut in my idleness. Although a long time had elapsed since these scenes were familiar to me, and I had ceased to be a babe and grown to the full stature of a man, as I turned from this interesting interview with old and loved objects, big drops of briney dew would trickle down my cheeks in spite of myself because I thought I might never behold it again as it was in the days of yore. But methinks I could not relinquish my affection for the old one whose timbers have been witnesses to so many pranks of youth and the sharp reproof of the village pedagogue.

A NATIVE.

Illustrations:

Muttock, stereocard, late 19th century
This view reproduced from a stereographic card published in Middleborough in the late 1800s depicts the ruins of the former Oliver and Washburn industrial works at Muttock. As early as the 1840s, the enterprises along the Nemasket River at Muttock had begun to decline, and eventually the area was surpassed as an industrial center by Middleborough Four Corners and the West Side. During the latter half of the 19th century, the works were simply abandoned and allowed to decay. Note the large horizontal beam in the foreground. A beam very similar to this (perhaps this beam itself) was unearthed from the muck at the bottom of the river bed nearly a decade ago and may presently be seen at Oliver Mill Park.

Muttock and Burgess House, stereocard, late 19th century
The continuing decay at Muttock is evident in this view which captures one of the sites several waterwheels. In the background is the house owned by the Sproat family and occupied in the 19th century by the Burgess family. It was last owned by the Gabrey family in the 1960s, at which time it was levelled for the construction of Route 44.

Muttock Ruins, stereocard, late 19th century
Despite the shafts of sunlight in the original photograph and the later age spotting, the wreckage of the Muttock works can clearly be seen in the pile of machinery and timber framing in the left-hand side of the view. The slow process of decay continued for nearly a century until the late 1950s and 1960s when the site was "rediscovered", archaeologically excavated and remade as Oliver Mill Park.
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Sources:
Namsket Gazette, "Guide Board and Town Pump.", January 21, 1853; "Muttock's Reply to 'Tother Listener'", January 28, 1853; "Muttock", February 4, 1853; ibid., February 18, 1853; ibid., April 8, 1853.

Peirce, Ebenezer W. "History of Middleboro" in D. Hamilton Hurd. History of Plymouth County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men. Philadelphia, PA: J. W. Lewis & Co., 1884.

Romaine, Mertie E. History of the Town of Middleboro, Massachusetts. Volume II. Middleborough, MA: Town of Middleborough, 1969.

Weston, Thomas. History of the Town of Middleboro, Massachusetts. Middleborough, MA: Town of Middleborough, 1906.