View from Barden Hill, 1915

View of Middleborough Center from Barden Hill Standpipe, Middleborough, MA,

photograph by G. W. Davidson, 1915

One benefit of the construction of a new concrete standpipe on Barden Hill in 1915 was the vista which it afforded from the catwalk which circled it partway up its side.  At that time, this photograph picturing the view towards Middleborough center was captured.  Still recognizable today are Middleborough Town Hall and the Central Congregational Church.  The steeples of both the Central Baptist and Methodist Churches also provide handy landmarks, although these have since been replaced or redesigned.  Most noticeable is the Barden Hill standpipe's predecessor, the Forest Street standpipe, which is the cylindrical tower which interrupts the skyline in the distance.

A new standpipe to replace the existing one then situated on Forest Street had been contemplated as early as 1892 when Dr. Edward S. Hathaway offered to sell a lot on his highest ground in the proposed Fairview subdivision (which appears as the large cleared area just left of center in the photograph) to the Fire District. Though initially receptive, Middleborough's Water Commissioners the following year demurred, remarking that “it is possible that when a location is finally made it may be best to accept a lot offered by E[verett] Robinson, Esq., located near Wareham street, at the top of the hill.”  The Robinson lot was 34 feet higher than the base of the Forest Street standpipe and thus presented the opportunity to construct an equally effective reservoir but of limited height. Clearly sensing an opportunity, Robinson had Chester Weston survey the lot during the spring of 1895.

Eventually, the Barden Hill site was acquired from Robinson on January 18, 1896, and a 12-inch water main extension constructed from Fairview Street up Wareham Street to the top of the District’s lot. “We have a lot, all paid for, and we have a 12-inch pipe carried up the hill and into the lot, all paid for, which is of but little service, except with [a] … reservoir” to supplement Forest Street.  Despite these preparations, it would be nearly another twenty years, however, before the Barden Hill standpipe was constructed. 

Indian Hill

This dramatic view of a solitary boy on Indian Hill taken at the turn of the last century well illustrates the coexistence of agriculture and industry at the time in Middleborough. In the distance, across the Nemasket River, the village of Middleboro Four Corners is visible with the steeples of the Central Congregational Church, Middleborough Town Hall, Central Baptist Church and Central Methodist Church, and the Forest Street standpipe interrupting the horizon. Fields, including those sloping down to the river from North Main Street, surround the town and give it a compact yet rural feel. The bright surface of the Star Mill pond is readily visible, as is the Star Mill itself, the large brick building at the far right, which was then operated by the Nemasket Worsted Company. In the center distance is a small house once owned by the Star Mill and after 1928 by the Maddigan family which later farmed the property.

A View of Middleborough, c. 1905

This view of Middleborough Four Corners taken from above the Nemasket River about 1905 looks westward towards the town center. Visible on the horizon line (from left to right) are Middleborough Town Hall, the Central Congregational Church, the Central Baptist Church, Leonard and Barrows shoe manufactory on Center Street, the Forest Street standpipe and the Central Methodist Church. In the foreground, on the opposite bank of the river, is the land now occupied by Spencer Street and the Middleborough Housing Authority. Originally, it was used for a small landfill. Mill houses along both Wareham Street at the right and Jackson Street at the far right may be seen as can the newly-built Middleborough Public Library peeking through the trees. Glimpses of the Cushing House at the corner of Wareham and Lincoln Streets as well as the nearby trolley car barn (later Maxim Motors) may also be seen. The Municipal Light Plant is easily recognizable on the right, though its smokestack is long since gone. Across Wareham Street from the plant, on the edge of the river is the so-called "Ocean House". In 1908 the building was condemned and two years later in 1910 it was torn down.