The Press., 1898-12-22
THE BOROUGH z5 YEARS OLD.

The report of the warden and burgesses, presented to the people last week, calls attention to the fact that the borough has passed It's first quarter century of exist ence, aud entered upon its progress to- ward the half century mark. The report reviews the conditions existing in the borough % years ago, and, while little sharp set, Is too near graphic plcturing of the place as it once was to be called in question. We quote from the report in part:
 Twenty five years ago Main street, the business street and trade center of the town, had but one short piece of sidewalk, a strip in front of the Brown block. Di- rectly opposite the old passenger depot of the railroad was a large pool of green and slimy liquid oozing out from beneath the old barn located on the street. Pedestri- ans wended their way as best they could through the mud, debris and line of teams hitched to sides of stores, piazza posts and barn doors. Storm water ran where 1t willed and came pouring down the side hill making ponds in the roadway and finding exit to the river as 1t could. Such thing as public sewer or drain was un- thought of by the average resident. When the stores were lighted one might succeed in getting along fairly we'll, and fortunate if without misphap, but when the store lights went out 8 lantern was indispen- sable. What was true of Main street was in large measure true of all the other streets in the Springs village.
 Any kind of @ firP-trap could be built in the heart of the business center and no one could prevent however great the peril to adjoining property, and had fire start ed the facilities for extinguishing 1t were crude and cum mbersome.
 It is not necessary to refer to the hills and valleys in the highway nor the rapid changes in grade one had to contend with, whether with team or on foot. A few private residences had walks in front, but one ran much risk in approaching or lea wing such walks, especially unless their mind was directed towards their foot steps. Street lines were matters of tradi- tions and spirit of greed to get near the wheel rut with building seemed to possess many citizens we regret to say that our experience tells us that same Spirit" has not all departed from our midst.
 Contrast the foregoing with the present conditions; the graded streets. spacious walks, paved gutters, numerous cross walks, public sewers, superior system of water works, excellent fire departmeiss- building restrictions in fire district, es- tablished street lines, macadamized road beds, incidentally. through the influence of the borough's progress superior schools, school buildings and grounds, a fine library building and growing library It Is believed by many, familiar with Lu ut rous manufacturing villages through out New England, that there are few places of the size of this borough so well OTdn l.. public Improvements. It has cost mind, muscle and money all progress costs, and ever will, and 1t Is the universal ver- dict that it pays. It is hoped and believed by those having the best interests of the place at heart, that the next quarter century will show, proportionally, as gr' at advancement as has the one just past.
 The work performed during the past year on the streets of the borough has been of a more scattered character than for some years. Work on the Westford avenue Improvements was brought to a speedy close by freezing weather the fall of 1897 and required an outlay of over $1OO to leave in safe condition. Your board not deeming 1t advisable or necessa- | ry, at present, to open the street further along the lines adopted by the people, simply terminated the improvement as indicated. The action of the town meet | ing in the matter of extending the maca- dan road along East Main street, made it | necessary for your board o arrange for a proper approach to said East Main street. | For a distance of eight rods or more the public had tights to a road bed only about oue rod wide, the regular highway term mating its full width near the barns of Messrs. Heald and Smith. A roadway | forty feet in width was secured by agree ment with the abutting owners and with out the outlay of money other than cost of curb and partial grading of borders cut the whole being much less than the actual value of the land taken. The town ap. propriated s 800, towards the expense oi grading and macadamizing this road, the total cost of the work performed, in. cluding the expense for land acquired was Il ,901. 26 or $401. 36 more than the expense should be credited with the grading of about 200 feet of East Mair street with the surplus material removed from East street.
 At a public meeting it was voted tC locate and grade West Main street. Owins to the extra work on East Main street the work on West Main street has not been completed, $1 ,O19 9s has been ex pended on this street and it will require about $500 more to complete the grading and pave the gutters to the west end O.
 Prospect street.
 The regular repars on the highway have used about S1 ,775 of the sum ap portioned from the town, leaving abou
 $225. Of the road funds proper with whicl to meet the repairs needed from now un til the apportionment in May 1899 @
 The Severe storm of Nov. 26th and 27ih entailed an expense of over $90. for open
 ing the streets.
 Upon the petition of residents on Crow
 street and Westf, I'd avenue sewers wer
 laid at cost of $1 1909. 96. ninety pc
 cent. Of the cost will be paid by the abut ters and $1, ,17S.97 will be paid into tn borough treasury from that source, re 2 ducing the apparent deficit of the year b tLat amount. During the year 500 fee
 of hose have been added to the fire depart
 ment supplies at cost of $248 S1 ain ? the department has been maintained i
 efficient condition
 It Is not a vain repetition to state tha
 the material with which to maintain th
 dirt roads is getting scarce, and becomin
 each year more costly to obtain an
 transport" The last of the material fror
 the school house lot has been remove
 and we can no longer count on that source
 With the exception of one or two possihl cuts in the highway which will yield
 quantity of mate rial there Is positivel nothing to be obtained without a direl : purchase of the came. In view of thi
 fact it will he a question for the public |
 consider before long whether or not i. will be a matter of economyfor the peopl | of the town to own a stone crushing plaT
 and use the surplus rocks in the roa
 beds on all our streets. The tragedy
 last October. whereby two men lost the