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    Legendary Locals of Dracut
    Legendary Locals of Dracut
    Legendary Locals of Dracut
    Ebook240 pages1 hour

    Legendary Locals of Dracut

    By Rebecca A. Duda and Maj. Everett Henry

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    Established in 1669 as a small farming village on the banks of the Merrimack River, Dracut s early settlers made their mark during the American Revolution. From French nobleman Louis Ansart, who became an American citizen and settled in the area, to Dracut s own Joseph Bradley Varnum, the town played a pivotal role in the founding of the nation. More recently, Dracut continues to be the home of modern-day patriots such as Michael Monahan, who left college to serve in the Vietnam War, and Capt. John Ogonowski, who gave his life on September 11, 2001. Dracut has been home to numerous other local legends Dr. Christos Daoulas was the longest-serving Massachusetts school superintendent, and Dennis Piendak oversaw incredible growth and expansion during his 28 years as town manager. Dracut was also home to the indomitable Polly Urquhart, whose name now graces the corner where her store once stood; Rev. Larry Zimmerman, the pastor of the Old Yellow Meeting House for 33 years; and Edmund Murphy, the dean of Massachusetts high school football coaches. These are a few of the many amazing people who came from a town that was once known as simply the wildernesse north of the Merrimac.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLegendary Locals
    Release dateDec 8, 2014
    ISBN9781439648889
    Legendary Locals of Dracut
    Author

    Rebecca A. Duda

    Rebecca A. Duda teaches history at Dracut�s Lakeview Junior High School. She holds degrees from Salem State University and was named an Outstanding Educator by her alma mater in 2010. This is her second book on Dracut.

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      Legendary Locals of Dracut - Rebecca A. Duda

      proud.

      INTRODUCTION

      Where the Beaver Brook Apartments and shopping area is located on Lakeview Avenue today has long been a site of industry and commerce in Dracut. Waterpower from Beaver Brook was harnessed for Dracut’s early textile mills, and as early as 1840, according to Silas R. Coburn in his 1922 History of Dracut, Scottish immigrants John and Peter Lawson established a thread mill, where Martha Little Davidson would spin the first spool of cotton thread in the United States. Later that century, in 1862, construction began on the Merrimac Woolen Mills in the Navy Yard district. The Merrimac Woolen Mills were so successful they had an exhibition at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, where they displayed the first plaid textiles produced in the United States. As with many New England towns in the 19th century, the textile industry helped to shape Dracut and its history. Yet the true fabric of the town is the people of the community. The tapestry of their stories and actions forms the basis for the town known as Dracut.

      Prior to the white settlers’ settlement of Dracut, the Pennacook inhabited the area from the northern Merrimack River to the St. Lawrence River. Passaconaway (1570?–1679?) was the sachem (chief) of the Pennacook nation until turning leadership over to his son Wannalancit. His name meaning child of the bear, Passaconaway lived along the Merrimack River at the Pawtucket Falls during the summer. By the 1660s, white settlers had begun to inhabit the area of the Pennacook.

      John Evered Webb was the town’s first white settler. He purchased land on the northern side of the Merrimack River from Jonathan Tyng but did not attempt to establish a permanent settlement. He built a home on what is now called Old Ferry Road, then returned to Boston. His widow sold his land to Samuel Varnum and Edward Coburn, both of Ipswich. They began a permanent settlement in the 1670s, and by 1701, the Massachusetts General Court officially incorporated Dracut as a township. The Varnums and Coburns built their town on the frontier, and the settlers who encountered fighting during King Philip’s War (1675–1676) built a garrison house for protection. Samuel Varnum lost two sons during King Philip’s War. The garrison stood on what is now Riverside Street in Lowell until 1887, when it was torn down. A replica of the settlers’ garrison can be seen at the Dracut Historical Society.

      Where the Coburns and Varnums settled along the Merrimack River was the first permanent white settlement north of the Merrimack River, although no longer part of Dracut. Lowell annexed this Dracut neighborhood, Pawtucketville, in 1874. The cemetery they established, the first in Dracut, can still be visited. The Claypit Cemetery is the final resting place for some of Dracut’s earliest settlers, including Revolutionary War veteran Moses Bradstreet Coburn.

      It did not take long for Dracut to establish its place in history books. During the American Revolution, the town sent a third of its population to fight, and there were numerous Dracut residents who distinguished themselves with their service. Among those who served were Joseph Bradley Varnum, who fought at Lexington and Concord and later served as the speaker of the House of Representatives; African Americans Barzillai Lew, who fought at Bunker Hill, and Tony Clark, who fought at the Battles of Monmouth and Saratoga; Moses B. Coburn, who was injured during the Battle of White Plains New York; and Col. Louis Ansart, a French nobleman who helped improve American artillery and, after the war, renounced his French title of nobility and settled in Dracut. Ansart died in 1804 and is buried in Woodbine Cemetery. His house still stands on Varnum Avenue in Lowell.

      With the end of the American Revolution, Dracut residents returned to their lives as farmers, and the town’s population grew gradually. In 1790, there were 1,217 residents, then 1,407 in 1820, and by the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Dracut’s population was 1,881. The outbreak of the Civil War gave Dracut another opportunity to fight on behalf of the country, and many Dracut residents enlisted. Most notable among the enlisted was Moses Greeley Parker, a Dracut native who enlisted as an army doctor in 1864 after graduating from Harvard Medical School. During the war, he helped supervise the construction of an army hospital. The town’s library was first established by town meeting in 1900 and was housed on the second floor of town hall. With the $10,000 that Parker donated just prior to his death in 1917, a new permanent home was built for the town’s library, which was named the Parker Memorial Library, in 1923.

      With the end of the Civil War, Dracut residents began to see their farming community industrialize. On March 31, 1880, Collins purchased the Lawson brothers’ mill and built the Collinsville Mills, now known as the Beaver Brook Mills. At its peak, Collins’s mills employed 260 workers and produced approximately 230,000 yards of cloth annually. It was Collins who rebuilt the mills into a six-story brick building after a fire destroyed the original wooden structure. Collins sold his mill to the American Woolen Company in 1899. Today, the Beaver Brook Mills are home to local businesses, restaurants, and apartments. The homes along Mill Street and Primrose Hill were originally built for Collins’s employees.

      Dracut did retain its farming roots, however, and there were still numerous farms in town as the 20th century approached. Today, few of those farms remain. However, most notably Shaw Farm and Brox Farm are still in operation and are very successful.

      When the people of Dracut were not working on their farms, in their mills, or at other businesses, they had Lakeview Park, the premier regional resort destination established on the shore of Lake Mascuppic in 1889. Even though there was already the Willow Dale Park on Lake Mascuppic, the Lowell and Suburban Trolley Company wanted to attract more riders, and building a second resort on the lake would help achieve this goal. Lakeview Park had an ideal location, with trolley connections that extended as far south as Boston and as far north as Nashua. The park proved to be a very popular destination, and in 1893, a theater was built at Lakeview, along with the addition of other attractions and activities. Available to visitors were swimming, boating, bowling alleys, restaurants, and a dance hall. In 1928, the dance hall burned, but owner Harry Kitteridge replaced it, as well as a large new roller coaster. In 1935, the last streetcar ran from Lowell to Lakeview, marking the end of an era. Gradually, Lakeview Park received fewer and fewer visitors and eventually closed in the 1970s. The famous carousel, however, has been preserved and is still in operation in New York. The history of the famous park has also been preserved at the Dracut Historical Society; in fact, there is an entire room dedicated to Lakeview Park at the town’s museum. As the 20th century progressed, other recreational areas appeared in Dracut. In the 1930s, Belle Grove provided picnic areas as well as boating and swimming along the Merrimack River. Just after World War II, Alex Benoit established the Dracut Speedway at the corner of Loon Hill and Broadway, and it remained a popular spot until it was finally closed in the 1950s.

      As the town grew in the 20th century, so did the need for an expanded school system. The town had several one-room schoolhouses. The Collinsville Grammar School, built in 1891, received honorable mention at the 1893 World’s Fair as an ideal country school and grounds. Students who continued with their secondary education were sent to Lowell High School until 1936, when Dracut High School was established. Today’s Greenmont Elementary School was the home to Dracut’s first high school. Dracut has taken great pride in its school department, and the 20th century has seen some remarkable accomplishments in the town’s schools. A native of Dracut, Dr. Christos Daoulas was the longest-serving superintendent in Massachusetts, holding this position from 1962 until his retirement in 1998. To honor him for his remarkable service, the school on Lakeview Avenue was dedicated as the Dr. Christos Daoulas Education Complex in 2005. In addition to having an icon head the schools, Dracut established something unique to

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