Landmarks

Landmarks and Designations
There are in Lawrence today a few landmarks of the olden time, before the construction of the dam. Nearly all of them have been lost in the expansive development in which there has been little sentiment favoring the retention of reminders of the early days, that stood in the way of progress. One of the misfortunes of growing into a good sized city, it may be said, is the loss of old designations of localities. Stevens Village passed long ago and is now the Arlington district. Stevens pond** around which the village grew up is practically gone, filled up and covered with the building of the big Arlington Mills corporation. We never hear of the Paper Mill school house on Atkinson road; it is now the Prospect Street School**. Nobody remembers that Adolphus Durant once made paper in the little old mill on the Spicket River, just east of East Haverhill Street. The"Patch" (South Lawrence west of the B&M tracks) has gone; the "Plains"**Ward Three) likewise; West Parish road became Beacon Street and Barnard Road is now known as Mt. Vernon Street.
Norcross Pond which received the drainage from the south side of Tower Hill, and which was used as a lumber dock into which logs were floated from the river to be cut into boards in the saw mill close by, is gone, though a remnant of the saw mill remains and is now part of the Gutterson & Gould property next to the Lawrence Boiler Works. Potter's pond away up on the slope of the hill near its top, where a lump of ice probably got stranded, left behind by the melting glacier, has been used as dump by the city's health department, and is now entirely disappeared. Shanty pond on the opposite side of the river is preserved in the title of the main sewer draining the district. Gale's Hill (present day Tower Hill)was prominent in the west part of the city until it was carted into swamps of Ward Five. General Gale had owned most of the hill and had built an interesting octagonal concrete house on the top. Out of this hill came the sand for the first filter bed.
The old log dam upon the lower Spicket was carried away in the summer of 1878. It was an ancient affair, one of the few old landmarks. The current above the dam was sluggish, the course crooked. The breaking of this dam drained the usually deep river at this point, and revealed the foundations of a still older dam above it. of which there seems to be no account preserved either in records or traditions. It is said, however, that long ago there was a furnace at that point for smelting iron.
Where the library now stands* was a pond which boys used to swim. One man even committed suicide there by drowning.
The "Old Red Bridge" still holds its own, though it is not the red wooden bridge it used to be. The Lowell road on the southside used to run to Lowell, but Andover street as they call it now does not run to Andover. Lowell street does not run to Lowell as strangers might think. It was not named for our rival city upstream but for one of the early directors of the Essex Company. The **"White Pups Bridge" is still with us, also "Bull Dog Field". Salem Turnpike has become Winthrop Avenue. Rumford Street, named for Count Rumford Link is now called Winter Street. Turnpike Street, (originally called Londonderry Turnpike) was on September 2, 1868 given the name of Broadway.
There are numerous other old designations of localities which time and progress have changed. A number of old building, the last landmarks of early days, are remembered by older residents, but these have mostly disappeared.
The most notable landmark in Lawrence today is the ancient dwelling at the corner of Elm and East Haverhill Streets.

A portion of the old house had stood near the mouth of the Spicket river. It was removed to the present site when highways were laid out in the region, and not it stands, the only monument of the early pioneer days of which Lawrence can boast. The building has been much changed by successive repairs and alterations, but he foundations of the original portion are made as if to last forever. The chimney is of immense proportions, measuring 20 feet by 13 feet at the base. It was built, it is said in 1738, although bricks have been taken from the huge chimney marked 1688. They are laid in mortar, made by a mixture of clay and chopped straw. The house was at first the dwelling of the Bodwell family, among the first of the pioneers in this section. In recent years it was occupied by the late William B. Gallison and is, perhaps, better known to the present generation as the Gallison House.

There stands in the front yard of this house a noble elm tree which has braved the storms of over 100 years and still appears to be vigorous. It is said that Mrs. Bodwell employed a man to bring the tree, then a sapling from the woods, and plant it in front of her door. The man was a soldier of the French War, and had just returned from the capture of Quebec. In return for his services, Mrs. Bodwell rewarded him with a quart of molasses.

**What is know as the old Bailey house**, now occupied by a Mrs. Nellie E. Abbott, on the northeast corner of Andover and Parker streets, is one of the few landmarks of pioneer days.

The **old brick house of Daniel Saunders, founder of Lawrence, on the southwest corner of South Broadway and Andover Street still stands, the last vestige of the Cross roads settlement beyond the sound end of Andover Bridge.

At the southeastern corner of Ames street and Hudson avenue is what remains of the old Ames farm house, though removed from its original location.

The old ferry house at Bodwell's Falls is still with us, but somewhat altered. It is located on the west side of Doyle street south of Water street.

The cemetery lot of Daniel Appleton White's family may be found in the rear of 32-34 Bradford Street.

Den Rock Cemetery or Den Rock Park**

it is known today might be included among the notable of the few old landmarks that remain. The region around Den Rock was alive with weird stories in the old days, and men of today remember the superstition that still clung to the huge rock in the boyhood days. The Devil is said to have visited the place. With a frightful shriek waking the echoes, he was seen in a flash of lightening one stormy, dark, night, sliding down a rent in the side of the rock. The place of his descent afterward became known as the Devil's Slide, and more than one boy has spoiled the seat of his pants trying to emulate the pastime of his satanic majesty, which gave this fissure in the rock its name.

There is a tale of a cave under the rock where moonshines had a still; where thieves stored their ill-gotten gains, anywhere counterfeiters plied their illegal trade. Boys have searched for this cave and men have wondered about it, but it s not known that any mortal eye has seen it. The rock is one of the most picturesque futures of this locality and the city is fortunate in owning it. The Park Commissioners took possession of it some years ago, and eventually, if it is not turned into a quarry, it may become a popular adjunct of the city's park system. Though the land around it was originally purchased for a cemetery, and some f it was laid out into avenues, and tow or three lots sold to clinch the purpose, it was never used as a cemetery. So far as known, the only thing buried there was a dog. In the old days the Peters family had a brick yard at Den Rock and to this day there have been burnt and distorted bricks found in the ground about the rock. These were not the work of the Evil One who amused himself by sliding down the rock in flashes of lightening on dismal nights, but were the result of the carelessness of a young Peters lad who fed the fires too freely.

*(originally corner Hampshire and Haverhill Street)

** These are still standing. The house lot of the Bodwell House has a plaque noting its location. Parts of Den Rock park have been sold to developers, but has been transformed to a hiking trail/rocking climbing area. White Pups Bridge, same location, but new bridge.

Taken from Lawrence-Yesterday and Today

(1845-1918)

Maurice B. Dorgan

Transcribed by MET June 13, 2006