Chelmsford

by Tom Ryan

As the forefathers sailed into Boston
In the distance they could see
What they’d come to know as Robin’s Hill
Topped by a lone pine tree.

A native family named Robin
Were residents of the hill
They raised corn and beans and pumpkins
And were people of good will.

Far from the England of their birth
For free land they would strive
Chelmsford was the frontier
In Sixteen Fifty Five.

The town fathers sailed from England
Where they had the comforts of life
To the Chelmsford wilderness
Why would they welcome such strife?

To worship in their own way
A new land they would greet
The Holy Bible’s timeless words
Were a lamp unto their feet.

The families engaged a minister
And brought their faith along
They worked to tame the wilderness
Their hearts and minds were strong.

John Fiske, the town’s first minister
Was a learned man indeed
In legal or medical matters
His counsel they would heed.

Church and town were as one
In Chelmsford’s early days
The people loved the Bible
And tried to walk in God’s ways.

The earliest fifteen families
Built their homes and settled down
By the brooks and rolling meadows
In the center of the town.

The rest of the early settlers
The mighty trees did fell
Leaving open farm land
Which their children tended well.

Chelmsford’s early men and women
Were people strong in fortitude
For their industry and wisdom
We now are filled with gratitude.

Their lives were filled with danger
They suffered great privation
They built a life of abundance
And helped to build a nation.

Some women had crossed as tiny girls
The wild Atlantic waters
They soon became young mothers
With growing sons and daughters.

Brave mothers in Chelmsford’s wilderness
Worked hard on the family farm
They raised and loved their children
And kept them safe from harm.

The people needed boards for homes
But no roadways were set down
To bring the lumber to them
From any other town.

So they quickly built a sawmill
And a mill for grinding corn
A self-sustained economy
In Chelmsford soon was born.

The products of Sam Adams’ sawmill
Proved out to be so fine
Five generations of Adamses
carried on the line.

John Eliot is remembered
As a friend to the Wamesit band
He wrote a bible in their tongue
And helped them keep their land.

In their village at Wamesit Falls
The Algonquins lived at peace
When attacked by the warlike Mohawks
Their gentle ways would cease.

The native chief Passaconaway
Had a vision where he saw
God’s hand guiding the English
With the white man he made no war.

The old chief’s son Wannalancit
Before his people stood
As a man of peace and justice
Who believed in doing good.

In dealing with the Wamesits
Thomas Hinchman was most just
The natives found he was a man
Who was worthy of their trust.

Raids by hostile natives
In Chelmsford’s early days
Were led by cruel King Philip
Who was murderous in his ways.

The people were determined
From King Philip not to flee
They built a fort on Robin’s Hill
In Sixteen Seventy Three.

Garrison houses were built
In every part of town
Finally in Rhode Island
King Philip was brought down.

Then came King William’s War
The French took the part of King James
The Mohawks came from Canada
And some homes went up in flames.

Chelmsford men were at Louisbourg
Answering Lord Amherst’s call
They climbed to the Plains of Abraham
With Wolfe, and Quebec would fall.

The French War finally ended
In Seventeen Sixty Three
The forest was turned to farmland
Chelmsford was safe and free.

In the hundred years of time
Since Chelmsford had been born
The orchards were filled with fruit
And the fields were green with corn.

Those in elective office
From Chelmsford’s earliest days
Have strived to build a better town
And were selfless in their ways.

The selectmen would determine
Who the town workers would be
Each dollar the town would spend
The selectmen would oversee.

To make certain that the students
Would be safe and taught correctly
The school committee had great power
And ran the schools directly.

After the French and Indian War
Chelmsford would still love the king
But when England shut down Boston’s port
Rebellion was on the wing.

To the arrogance of Parliament
A defiant mood would spring
They raised some fifty Minute Men
To fight against the king.

At the Old North Bridge in Concord
Defiance to Britain was hurled
Chelmsford and her nearby towns
Fired the shot heard ‘round the world.

Benjamin Pierce was plowing his field
When the church bell gave him warning
He walked to Concord with his gun
On that fateful April morning.

He left this town as an Englishman
With musket and powder horn
He came home as an American
A new nation had been born.

Ben Pierce moved to New Hampshire
And became a noted resident
He was elected governor
And his son became our president.

John Ford sped to Concord Bridge
He was fiery and born to fight
He never hesitated
To take on England’s might.

Ford found a wounded redcoat
Lying along the lane
He knelt and gave him water
And tried to ease his pain.

He recalled his British comrades
In the French and Indian War
And how they fought together
For English rights and law.

In the French War brave Moses Parker
Had filled the town with pride
Grievously wounded at Bunker Hill
He was captured and later died.

Joseph Spaulding was punished
And heard General Putnam’s cries
For firing too soon at Bunker Hill
Had he seen the whites of their eyes?

Young Hezekiah Packard
Saw George Washington take the helm
Of the Continental Army
Beneath a Cambridge elm.

He would be Chelmsford’s minister
But never forgot his awe
At seeing the noble Washington
Great leader in peace and war.

The early families worked hard
To brighten their homes at night
With fireplace and home-made candles
‘Til whale oil lamps brought light.

They grew crops, raised sheep and cattle
Each farm lived on its own
Wives brewed and baked and spun and wove
Lives of leisure were unknown.

Homes and barns were strongly built
To fend off winter’s bite
The farmer’s fences had to be
“Horse high, bull strong, pig tight”.

The ox cart trails of pioneer days
Gave way to better roads
Stagecoaches rumbled into town
And wagons with heavy loads.

Even on those early roads
Traffic could be a battle
Stages and wagons would compete
With herds of sheep and cattle.

Turkeys were herded along the road
Lured on with grain as bait
They roosted in the trees by night
Enroute to their market date.

Wagoners slept at the center inn
After a long, hard day
Their horses would rest in the meadows
That were then close by the way.

The highest quality plaster
Was made from Chelmsford lime
Used in the mills of East Chelmsford
And famous in its time.

In the mills of old East Chelmsford
The landless poor could strive
To earn a decent living
And help their families thrive.

When Lowell was East Chelmsford
The people did not fail
To praise the mills of Winthrop Howe,
Thomas Hurd and Moses Hale.

Oliver Whipple built a canal
To power his gunpowder mill
He chose a risky enterprise
At the base of old Fort Hill.

During the 1800s
Farming life was good
Families could earn some money
Selling vegetables, meat and wood.

Strawberries, rye, string beans and oats
Corn, potatoes, carrots and wheat
Orchards fruited with pears and apples
With poultry, cows and hogs for meat.

Ham and bacon were smoked
Beef was corned, butter churned
Soap and candles and cheese were made
What farm families had, they earned.

Cider was milled in the fall
From the apples they would reap
The wife would spin the wool
Which the husband sheared from the sheep.

Investors and bold engineers
With wisdom and foresight rare
Built the Middlesex Canal
From Chelmsford to Haymarket Square.

Along the busy canal
Came people and all types of goods
Down the river from Concord
Came logs from New Hampshire’s woods.

Products of the glass works
Went to Boston by boat
No worry about breakage
When Chelmsford Glass could float.

At the fine old Middlesex Tavern
Boat passengers would alight
Where they could board a stagecoach
Or get food and rest for the night.

The canal carried Chelmsford granite
And was used in building its locks
It was floated into Boston
For buildings, walls and dry-docks.

Fletcher’s white granite was famous
And used for many things
Bulfinch buildings at Harvard
And the graceful state house wings.

Trade with New Hampshire flourished
Goods and people flowed
When they built Pawtucket Bridge
Linking Chelmsford to Mammoth Road.

The early grammar schools in town
Increased the spread of knowledge
Young farmers would be literate
And some went on to college.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Taught in Chelmsford for a year
He never found fault with a boy
And would never rule by fear.

The Revolution stone was raised
And at its dedication
Ralph Waldo Emerson would speak
Of Chelmsford’s value to the nation.

He saw force of thought and sense of right
In our youthful population
He saw in them the qualities
That would build a mighty nation.

The Clark School for the Deaf
Had its beginning here
Teaching the oral method
Its methods had no peer.

Mabel Hubbard of Chelmsford
As a deaf child would excel
She married a great inventor
Alexander Graham Bell.

Byam’s lucifer matches
Were a wonder in their time
Printed on each package
Was Ezekiel Byam’s rhyme:

“For quickness and sureness
The public will find
These matches will leave
All others behind;

Without further remarks
We invite you to try ‘em
Remember all goods
That are signed by E. Byam.”

Heavy gears from the Chelmsford Foundry
Were used in textile mills
They were forged from local iron ore
And lime from Robin’s Hill.

The water power of Stony Brook
Was used for sawing lumber
For grinding grain and forging steel
And farm tools without number.
Chelmsford’s minister was told
By the boy Henry David Thoreau
That his sled couldn’t go to heaven
So the boy didn’t want to go.

The Boston and Lowell Railroad
To Chelmsford was a friend
Hauling its freight and people
But causing the old canal’s end.

North Chelmsford and West Chelmsford
Heard the locomotive’s bell
A rail line came through the center
The rails served Chelmsford well.

The Lowell and Nashua, the Stony Brook
The old New Haven too
Brought Chelmsford’s products to the world
And our local industries grew.

Christopher Roby’s scythes
Were well-made and would not fail
From his factory in the West Village
They were shipped down south by rail.

Roby lost his customers
When Fort Sumter fell
So he made fine swords for the Union
And served his country well.

Chelmsford men in the Civil War
Were strong and unafraid
Their memories of the war years
From their hearts would never fade.

In Eighteen Seventy Five
The streets received kerosene lights
Soon came electric lamps
And the end of pitch-black nights.

Willard Parker, New York surgeon
Never lost his hometown pride
He kept his ancestral Hill Jock House
Until the day he died.

Robin’s Hill was a destination
With a summit house on top
Where people could buy some ice cream
And enjoy some soda pop.

The Chelmsford Social Library
Since Seventeen Ninety Four
Provided books for knowledge
And to make the spirit soar.

The library went public
In Eighteen Ninety Three
The humblest of our citizens
Could read and pay no fee.

A former Adams Librarian
Nettie Stevens was her name
As a scientist worked on chromosomes
Her findings brought her fame.

Susan S. McFarlin
Whose praises still are sung
Gave fifty years to teaching
And service to the young.

It’s been made for a hundred years
And its good taste we still hail
With water from Robin’s Hill springs
Chelmsford Golden Ginger Ale.

George Moore built textile machinery
With shifts working day and night
His sprawling mills in North Chelmsford
Showed the town’s industrial might.

Before the days of streetcars
The scoot-train was the way
Lowell to the Center
Several times a day.

How bravely did our young lads
Enlist in the First World War
They thought to end all future wars
And bring the world under law.

In all our wars Chelmsford women
Have lended a vital hand
In the Great War the Red Cross Nurse
Was the rose of no man’s land.

Chelmsford became more urban
After the First World War
An organized police force
Now upheld the law.

We’re reminded of the dangers
Our policemen must go through
By the story of Officer Adams
A fine young father of two.

He chased a Lowell-bound streetcar
to arrest the man he sought
In a struggle with the criminal
Adams was fatally shot.

With the coming of the streetcar
People found a way
To settle in the Westlands
And work some miles away.

Streetcar tracks reached Lowell
From North Chelmsford’s Vinal Square
From Vinal Square to Tyngsborough
And Fitchburg via Ayer.

Trolley riders must have known
That change was in the air
When they started selling Model Ts
At 15 Central Square.

When the streetcar lines were abandoned
Some thought they must own a car
But they soon found out that bus lines
Would take them near and far.

In the village store of old
The men would have conversation
Around the pot-bellied stove
In friendly disputation.

For Chelmsford’s local grocers
The Twenties were not benign
First National and A&P
Would cause their long decline.

With the end of the First World War
Came less work for the textile mills
Then came the Great Depression
Testing family survival skills.

In March of Nineteen Thirty Six
North Chelmsford felt the flood
Vinal Square and Southwell Mills
Were awash in debris and mud.

So many more wars would be fought
Since the end of World War Two
Most warriors came home to Chelmsford
Some with death would rendezvous.

For hundreds of years the local farms
Had yielded the earth’s increase
As the farmlands filled with homes
Old ways of life would cease.

With our high-achieving schools
Families moved here when they could
Sports and music for the kids
And they saw that life was good.

J.M. Fields at Drum Hill
Would build a major store
And many other retail shops
Would open a welcoming door.

In the sixties and the seventies
Thousands more people would come
More shopping centers were built.
With commerce the town would hum.

There were jobs in Chelmsford for many
In the high tech industry
Thanks to bright young engineers
From UMass Lowell and MIT.

The town’s convenient access
To many a major road
Would be a magnet to industry
And home-building would explode.

Perham Farm Cider Vinegar
For a hundred years was famed
But to build Route 495
The Perham land was claimed.

The villages of the town
For many a generation
Were sufficient in themselves
In happy isolation.

In North, South, West and Center
Some of the old ways have died
But the villages look as they did
And they brim with neighborhood pride.

Many recall some years ago
When they went to open town meeting
With the growth in population
There came a lack of seating.

Town meeting representatives
Now serve at the townspeople’s call
Hard-working men and women
With an ideal of service to all.

Our voters are a model
Of responsible self-rule
Voting to pay higher taxes
For a library or a school.

Our community has been enriched
With people from many a nation
And the English founders still are held
In highest admiration.

Historian George Adams Parkhurst
Said Chelmsford remembers its past
Because old residents wrote it down
And saved everything that would last.

How better can we honor
That which the sires have won
Than to hand down our proud history
To each daughter and each son?

About the Author

Tom Ryan taught in Lowell schools for about 30 years and was the recording secretary for Chelmsford School Committee for ten years. He has always enjoyed reading history and poetry. The Chelmsford Library Poetry Slams have become a favorite and challenging activity of his. He says, “I especially appreciate the gentle nature of these events.” He and his wife Joan live in Chelmsford and volunteer at the Library. “I have been blessed with my wonderful wife, Joan, for 42 years of marriage.”

The author would like to thank Kathy Cryan-Hicks and Linda Webb of the Chelmsford Public Library and the 350th Committees for their suggestions.

Published by Chelmsford’s 350th Celebrations Committee

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Chelmsford Cultural Council, a local agency supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

Cover image: Old view of Robin's Hill, showing lone pine tree. This sketch was made about 1876 by A. G. McAllister, a former principal of the high school.