The Famous Trotting Ground

New Book Recalls Forgotten Aspect of Middleborough’s Sporting and Social History

 

Recollecting Nemasket, Middleborough’s local history press, is pleased to announce the publication of The Famous Trotting Ground: A History of the Fall Brook Driving Park.  Written by historian Michael J. Maddigan, the book richly documents the history of Victorian-era harness racing in Middleborough.

 

In 1878 a group of avid local sportsmen came together to establish a trotting park on Cherry Street in the Fall Brook section of Middleborough where they could race their fast horses. For thirty years harness racing would remain a noted pursuit at Fall Brook, drawing horsemen from throughout the region eager to show the abilities of their liveliest trotters and pacers. Though the Fall Brook track has now largely been forgotten, its story is one of the fascinating aspects of Middleborough’s sporting and social history, recalling a day when Middleborough was “one of the horsiest towns hereabouts.”

The Famous Trotting Ground: A History of the Fall Brook Driving Park takes the reader on a delightfully nostalgic trip back in time to an era before the automobile when speedy horses were the rage, when sleighs were raced on Main Street and when fast driving in Middleborough’s streets had to be prohibited.

 

Michael J. Maddigan is the author of several previous histories including Nemasket River Herring, South Middleborough, Images of America: Middleborough, Star Mill: History  & Architecture and Representatives of the Great Cause: Middleborough Servicemen & Their Letters from World War I.   His work regularly appears on-line and in local publications including the Middleboro Gazette.

Recollecting Nemasket is a local history press dedicated to the collection, preservation, interpretation, publication and promotion of the historical heritage of Middleborough and Lakeville. Its mission is to make local history more accessible by presenting it in a bold, exciting and professional way. 

Recollecting Nemasket wants the community to discover and be fully inspired by its past in order to realize a more meaningful and relevant future.

Recollecting Nemasket books are available at Maria’s in Middleborough as well as other local retailers and on-line at Amazon.com.

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

Mitchell's Hall

Though hardly recognizable as such today, the large two-family home on the south side of Wareham Street just west of Cherry Street was a noted social center in the last quarter of the 19th century. Located in the Fall Brook section of Middleborough and known as Mitchell's Hall, the building was successful in "attracting the younger set from far and near" to the numerous social events held on its upper floor.

Mitchell's Hall was one of a number of business ventures of Herbert L. Mitchell. Though Mitchell's tenure at Fall Brook would be short, his influence would be great. On June 18, 1879, Mitchell purchased the land for his hall building from Rhoda C. Leonard who with her husband, Richard, owned a substantial plot of land on the southwest corner of Wareham and Cherry Streets. The hall lot was purchased as a vacant lot and the hall was erected by Mitchell sometime between the summer of 1879, and January 13, 1882, when the property (including the newly constructed hall building) was mortgaged to the Middleborough Savings Bank. Also during this period, Mitchell established the first general store at Fall Brook on Wareham Street, constructing a building (the present Village Market) in 1879 to house it. Next to the store, Mitchell also built a home for himself that same year.

As originally built, the two and one-half story hall was intended for a dual purpose with a business located on the ground floor and a function hall on the floor above. The original tenant of the ground floor was Edward H. Cromwell who established a blacksmithing business there. Later photographs of the hall depict the large opening for wagons which occupied the eastern third of the ground floor facade and the signs "E. H. CROMWELL" and "BLACKSMITHING" which hung on the building and which announced the location and nature of Cromwell's business. On the second floor, Mitchell operated a dance hall and function room which became "a popular venue for socials and dances". For a period, events were held weekly, and Fall Brook briefly became a noted destination for social outings. The popularity of the Hall and Mitchell's prominence in the section of Fall Brook where Mitchell's Hall and the Fall Brook store were located was reflected in the fact that the nearby intersection of Wareham, Cherry and Thomas Streets became known as Mitchell's Corner.

Mitchell left Middleborough sometime prior to the summer of 1887, and the Hall was seized as part of a judgement by the Plymouth County Superior Court, July 15, 1887. The building was sold subsequently to Nelson Thomas of Middleborough who continued to operate the facility for a time. As late as 1904, the building was listed in the valuation listing for the town as "shop and hall."

Cromwell, himself, would later remove from the building at which time the ground floor was put to use as a social hall while a paint shop was established on the second floor. In March, 1908, Nelson Thomas sold the hall to Mrs. Hannah C. Clark who that summer had the building raised for the construction of a cellar underneath it. Following this, the hall was remodelled for use as a residence, with work being done by Bryant & Harlow of Middleborough. Since that time, the building has continued to serve as a multi-family residence, and it continues to stand, the second house from the corner of Cherry Street.

Illustrations:

Mitchell's Hall, Middleboro Gazette, "Old Middleborough", newspaper halftone, date unknown.

Mitchell's Hall, Middleboro Gazette, "Old Middleborough", newspaper halftone, date unknown.

Edward H. Cromwell stands in the center of the photograph holding the reins of the horse. This is the same photograph which appears in Mertie E. Romaine's History of the Town of Middleboro, Massachusetts.

Mitchell's Hall tickets, cardstock, 1870s-80s

Mitchell's Hall tickets, cardstock, 1870s-80s

Sources:

Middleboro Gazette

Plymouth County Deeds 477:112, 480:159, 550:527, 995:20