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 MILTON 
 
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Class __ 
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 Copyright N°. 
 
 COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 
 
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 MILTON 
 
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 The Milton Number of a Series devoted to the illustration of 
 certain of the cities and towns adjacent to the City of Boston 
 and the presentation, in brief accompanying text, of some 
 suggestive facts concerning their advantages and development. 
 
 PUBLISHED IN BOSTON IN THE FALL OF NINETEEN HUNDRED AND NINE BY 
 
 THE EDISON ELECTRIC ILLUMINATING CO. 
 
 39 BoYLSTON Street, Boston, Massachusetts, 
 
 (Copyright 1909 by The Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Boston.) 
 
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 The Town Hall, Milton Cent 
 
 The High School Building, Milton Centre. 
 
 ©GI.A251632 
 
The Town of Milton 
 
 HP HE seal of the Town of Milton 
 "*■ was adopted in 1878 and this 
 bears symbolical representation 
 of the physical aspect of the 
 territory of the town and of the be- 
 ginning of the settlement together 
 with the motto in Latin : "Deus 
 Nobis Haec Otia Fecit." The trans- 
 lation of this as given in the report 
 of the Committee which selected the 
 seal, "God hath given us this tran- 
 quillity," or' "these pleasant things" 
 may be regarded at once as an ex- 
 pression of due thankfulness and of 
 proper appreciation of the natural 
 beauties and advantages of Milton. 
 In its extent of twelve and nine- 
 tenths square miles from the Ne- 
 ponset River which separates the 
 
 town from immediately adjoining 
 Boston on the north to the Blue 
 Hills Reservation and the Canton 
 line on the south one "pleasant 
 thing" succeeds another in the view. 
 Extended or attractive vistas are 
 presented almost everywhere. Hills 
 abound and these include not only 
 the high and notable elevations 
 within the Reservation, but the 
 many bearing on their crests or 
 slopes some of the charming homes 
 of the residents or certain of the 
 more public buildings. Over and 
 around these latter hills and others 
 as well as through the more level 
 places extend the well constructed 
 and excellently maintained roads 
 which are so marked among the 
 
 The Milton Public Library, Milton Centre. 
 3 
 
The Unitarian Church, Milton Centre. 
 
 The Central Fire Station, Milton Centre. 
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 The Congregational Church, Milton Centre. 
 
 pleasant features of Milton. The 
 hills give diversity to the scenery 
 while this is increased by the Ne- 
 ponset River and other water 
 courses and such beautiful lakes as 
 Hoosicwhisic Pond in the Blue 
 Hills Reservation and Ponkapoag- 
 Pond through about the center of 
 which runs the line dividi^ig Milton 
 from Canton. The trees which line 
 so many of the avenues and roads 
 of the town and the several bits of 
 remaining woodland are additions 
 of beauty. 
 
 Fortunately the natural advant- 
 ages of the town have been 
 enhanced by the manner of its de- 
 velopment. It is no less fortunate 
 that the various governmental de- 
 partments are conducted, in so far 
 as these have that power, to make 
 Milton a place of altogether delight- 
 ful residence and that the dwellings 
 and public structures are so well 
 worthy of their surroundings. 
 
 This land was explored by men of 
 Plymouth in 1621, and fur trading 
 with the Indians followed. For a 
 while it was a part of Dorchester ; 
 but it was incorporated as early as 
 1662. The most important event, 
 of general historic interest, trans- 
 piring in Milton then like the rest 
 of Norfolk a part of Suffolk 
 County, is commemorated by a tab- 
 let on the house of Daniel Vose, in 
 whose house met the convention : 
 "In this Mansion on the Ninth day 
 of September, 1774, at a meeting of 
 the Delegates of every Town and 
 District in the County of Suffolk 
 the Suffolk Resolves were adoped. 
 They were reported to Major Gen- 
 eral Warren, who fell in their de- 
 fense in the battle of Bunker Hill, 
 June 17, 1775. They were approved 
 "by the Members of the Continen- 
 tal Congress at Carpenter's Hall, 
 Philadelphia, on the seventeenth of 
 September, 1774. The Resolves to 
 
Buildings of the Milton Academy, Milton Centre. 
 
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 The Episcopal Church, Randolph Avenue, Milton. 
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The Baptist Church, Eliot Street and Blue Hill Parkway, Mattapan, 
 
 which the immortal Patriot here 
 first gave utterance, and the heroic 
 deeds of that eventful day on which 
 he fell, led the way to American 
 Independence. Posterity will ac- 
 knowledge that virtue which pre- 
 served them free and happy." 
 
 In Milton of the present there is 
 an estimated population of about 
 seventy-seven hundred with about 
 sixteen hundred legal voters. The 
 prosperity of the town is exhibited 
 by the valuation as stated in the 
 Report of the Assessors for 1908 of 
 $12,223,445.00, on personal estate, 
 and $11,641,525.00, on real estate, 
 in all nearly twenty-four million 
 dollars. Milton is a station on the 
 Boston Division of the New York, 
 New Haven and Hartford Railroad 
 seven miles from Boston. On this 
 road there are twenty-one trains out 
 from Boston and twenty-two in 
 from Milton daily; on Sundays 
 there are four trains in each direc- 
 
 tion. The average running time is 
 twenty-one minutes and the single 
 fare is twelve cents ; five rides cost 
 forty-five cents ; twelve rides, nine- 
 ty-five, and twenty-five rides $1.88. 
 East Milton on the same system is 
 eight miles from Boston and the 
 average running time is twenty-six 
 minutes. The single fare is four- 
 teen cents ; five rides cost fifty-five 
 cents; twelve rides $1.10; twenty- 
 five rides $2.13. There are to this 
 station seventeen trains out from 
 Boston and nineteen in daily ; on 
 Sundays six and seven respectively. 
 Electric railways connect the vil- 
 lages or different parts of the town 
 one with another, and so, together 
 with the good roads to which ref- 
 erence has been made, promote the 
 ease of intercommunication. Cars 
 on electric railways run between 
 the town and Quincy and Braintree, 
 Randolph, Holbrook, Avon and so 
 to Brockton; Canton, Sharon and 
 
Residences on Randolph Avenue, Milton. 
 
 Homes Along Blue Hill Parkway, Mattapan. 
 
On the Hill on Adams Street, Milton. 
 
 Houses on Grafton Avenue, East Milton. 
 9 
 
A Part of the Square, East Milton. 
 
 The Congregational Church, East Milton. 
 lo 
 
The Baptist Church, Edgehill Road, East Milton. 
 
 Stoughton ; while at Mattapan and 
 Milton A'illage connections are 
 made with the Boston Elevated Sys- 
 tem. 
 
 Public utilities have been well in- 
 troduced in Milton. Water from 
 the Nashua River Supply of the 
 Metropolitan Water System is 
 made generally available by the dis- 
 tributing plant owned and operated 
 by the town. Gas for illumination 
 and cooking is supplied by the Bos- 
 ton Consolidated Gas Company. 
 All the more thickly settled parts 
 of the town are sewered. At Mil- 
 ton and at East Milton are stores 
 so stocked as to promote the con- 
 venience of the residents. Banking- 
 facilities are afiforded by the Blue 
 Hill National Bank and the Milton 
 Savings Bank. 
 
 The streets of Milton are lighted 
 by electricity all of every night un- 
 der a five-year contract with The 
 Edison Electric Illuminating Com- 
 pany. This Company also furnishes 
 
 electricity for the illumination of 
 residential or commercial struc- 
 tures, as well as for power, at its 
 standard rates as established 
 throughout the thirty-three cities 
 and towns it supplies with the elec- 
 tric ctirrent. The service of the 
 Company is continuous during 
 every hour of every day in the year. 
 
 Educational opportunities are af- 
 forded by the forty-five public 
 schools and one High School, and 
 in these a high educational standard 
 is maintained. The eight public 
 school buildings in the town pro- 
 vide accommodation for about fif- 
 teen hundred enrolled pupils and 
 the buildings and their surround- 
 ings permit the exercise of that due 
 care for the physical well being of 
 the students which is now at Mil- 
 ton, as elsewhere, regarded as of 
 equal importance as provision for 
 their intellectual progress. 
 
 The Milton Academy occupies a 
 group of notable buildings in large 
 
grounds near Milton Centre. The 
 Academy was incorporated in 1798 
 after a private subscription of 
 $3,000 had been made for the pur- 
 poses of the institution ; but half a 
 Township or six square miles in the 
 "District of Maine" was bestowed 
 upon the Academy by the Common- 
 wealth and the subscription was 
 assumed by the town when the de- 
 cision was made that it should be 
 located here. The Academy has 
 secured wide renown for the ex- 
 tent and high character of its pre- 
 paratory work. 
 
 Protection against fire is afforded 
 by an efficient fire department with 
 apparatus consisting of one engine, 
 one hook and ladder truck, one 
 chemical engine and four hose 
 wagons all suitably equipped and 
 so stationed as to best meet any 
 emergency. The police department 
 is no less efficient in its own way 
 and is amply sufficient for the pro- 
 tection of property and the due 
 
 preservation of order. There arc 
 seven churches, — Unitarian and 
 Congregational, at Milton Centre ; 
 Baptist and Congregational at East 
 Milton, and another Baptist at Mat- 
 tapan; Episcopal at Milton Village 
 and at East Milton. Members of 
 other denominations find their 
 churches conveniently near at Dor- 
 chester and at Quincy. The Public 
 Library with its collection of over 
 twenty thousand volumes occupies 
 a very handsome building at Milton 
 Centre near the Town Hall and the 
 building of the High and Consoli- 
 dated Schools. While the immedi- 
 ate proximity of Boston places its 
 amusements and points of interest 
 at the command of the residents of 
 Milton, the local branches of fra- 
 ternal organizations, the church as- 
 sociations, and several clubs of im- 
 portance promote social pleasures 
 or permit intellectual diversion. 
 
 There are unusual opportunities 
 for outdoor recreation. There are 
 
 Bank Building and Other Business Structures, Milton. 
 12 
 
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 The Episcopal Mission, East Milton. 
 
 Police Station on Central Avenue, Milton. 
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The Tucker School on Blue Hill Parkway, Mattapan. 
 
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 Works of National Biscuit Company, Milton. 
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A Part of the Important Plant of Walter Baker & Company, (Limited) 
 Is in Milton. 
 
 here over fifteen hundred acres of 
 the Blue Hill Reservation and the 
 pleasant paths, the woodlands, and 
 the high hills with the comprehen- 
 sive views they afiford of lakes and 
 sea and distant mountains, of wood- 
 ed hills and cultivated plains, are 
 within easy reach of all residents of 
 Milton. There are also two hun- 
 dred and seventy acres of the Ne- 
 ponset River Reservation while 
 nearly four miles of the Blue Hill 
 and Neponset Parkways give fur- 
 ther opportunity for pleasant walks 
 or drives. Moreover, play grounds 
 are maintained by the town at East 
 Milton, at Brook Road, at Dollar 
 Lane and at Waterside Common. 
 Near East Milton at Cunningham 
 Park are extensive base ball 
 grounds, tennis courts, squash 
 courts, ice skating rink and gym- 
 nasium — all made possible by a be- 
 quest to the town by Mrs. Frances 
 Cunningham. 
 
 In the western portion of the 
 town several large home estates 
 have been established during recent 
 years, and here there are many 
 other localities as favored by nature 
 and as convenient in situation as 
 those which are now occupied. 
 Throughout all the land between 
 the somewhat scattered villages 
 there are many places where charm- 
 ing country homes may be created 
 amid beautiful scenes and where 
 the conveniences of life are readily 
 obtainable. In the villages there 
 are many attractive sites for dwell- 
 ings suitable for those whose busi- 
 ness or inclinations require that 
 they should live in easy communica- 
 tion with the city. 
 
 Although it is as a place of satis- 
 factory residence that Milton has 
 attained its best and most marked 
 development, several important in- 
 dustries are conducted here. In 
 1728 the first paper mill was estab- 
 
 15 
 
NOV 19 1I9(> 
 
 At the Junction of Blue Hill Parkway, Blue Hill Avenue and Brush Hill Road. 
 Mattapan. 
 
 lished in Milton, and there is now 
 here one of the mills of Tileston 
 and Hollingsworth, manufacturers 
 of paper. In 1801 Bent & Company 
 began in Milton the baking of 
 water crackers and the business is 
 now conducted as a branch of the 
 National Biscuit Company. The 
 Strangman Manufacturing Com- 
 pany, makers of builder's finish and 
 carriages, and the Meagher Soap 
 Company carry on their operations 
 here. Granite cutting has long been 
 an important industry in Milton. 
 The stone for the Bunker Hill 
 Monument was quarried in Ouincy 
 
 but it was almost wholly cut in 
 Milton. Now, Maguire &'0'rteron 
 have their granite manufacturing 
 yard and in this the material for 
 the Pilgrim's Monument at Prov- 
 incetown was prepared. In 1765 a 
 John Hannan manufactured in Mil- 
 ton the first chocolate made in the 
 British Colonies, and in 1780 Dr. 
 James Baker began the manufac- 
 ture of chocolate and these men 
 may be said to have been the pre- 
 cursors of the widely known firm of 
 Walter Baker & Company, Limited, 
 a part of whose large and very im- 
 portant plant is located in Milton, 
 
 16 
 

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