Invasive Species: Tree of Heaven and Spotted Lanternfly

 Hundreds of Mark's columns from his 12 years writing for the Beacon-Villager are accessible at maynardlifeoutdoors.com. The website includes an article directory by category (History, Nature, etc.). 

SUMMARY: There is an interesting confluence of an invasive plant and insect species that may change our biosphere going forward. The Asian-origin tree species Tree of Heaven became a widespread invasive in the United States in the mid-1800s. An insect, the spotted lanternfly - first observd in the US in 2014 - prefers Tree of Heaven (TOH) as a host species, but also afflicts grape vines and fruit trees. It has been observed in Maynard as of 2026. As a means of dealing with both trees and insects, species-specific fungi and parasitic insects are being actively researched by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).   

Adult Spotted Lanternfly on trunk
of a Tree of Heaven tree

Ailanthus altissima is the Latinate name for Tree of Heaven. The common name refers to its extraordinary growth rate. Ditto the Latinate name, as Ailanthus derives from an Asian word for sky-reaching-tree while altissima has Latin roots in altus, for high or highest.

As with many later-deemed invasive plant species, the initial introductions were deliberate. By the 1840s these trees were being sold commercially in the eastern United States, popular for city plantings because it thrives in poor soil and is resistant to drought and pollution. In California, immigrant Chinese workers at mines and railroads brought Tree of Heaven with them for its traditional medicinal purposes - the bark used to make an astringent tea.

Trees are either male or female. Both have flowers, but only the female trees create seed clusters. A mature tree can produce more than half a million seeds in a single season! These disperse by wind, and are rarely eaten by birds, mammals or insects. Deer will not eat the leaves nor nibble on the bark of saplings.

This species does not play well with others. As with garlic mustard, this plant produces chemicals which inhibit the growth of other plants, a trait that is referred to as being allelopathic. Combine that with prolific seed production, a growth rate much faster than any native tree, plus resistance to pollution and drought, and this tree is a major nuisance in urban and semi-urban environments unless vigorous combated.

Tree of Heaven smells bad. One disparaging nickname is 'stink tree.' Anyone who has tried to pull up seedlings or cut sprouts knows this tree has an offensive odor - sometimes described as having overtones of rancid peanut butter and/or cat urine. This test provides a mean to differentiate TOH from similarly leafed sumac, black walnut and other plants.   

Tree of Heaven is difficult to kill. Cutting results in new growth from the stumps plus a massive production of shoots from the surviving roots as far away as fifty feet from the original trunk. Systemic herbicides that kill roots (for example, triclopyr and glyphosate) currently provide the best chemical control. These can be sprayed on shoots, or holes can be drilled in the stumps of freshly cut trees and high concentration herbicide products applied directly. However, both application methods can cause collateral damage to nearby plants. The USDA is actively researching a fungus and several insect species as being specific to TOH, i.e., not causingt collateral damage to native plant species.  

Spotted Lanternfly showing forewing and underwing

Our second invasive, the spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula), prefers TOH as a host species for the completion of its lifecycle, as they mate there in the early fall, lay eggs that will over-winter, and have wingless nymph stages which will feed on in late spring. Without TOH, nymph survival is lower and adult egg laying is less. Thus, removing the trees in the fall or spraying them with insecticides in late spring are important management stratagies. Adults are 1.0-1.5 inches long, with tan/grey forewings that have black spots and underwings that are partially bright red. The first documented appearance in the United States was in Pennsylvania in 2014. Since then it has spread to 17 states east of the Mississippi, with a financial impact on the grape, fruit and forestry industries already in excess of one billion dollars.

Given the very recent appearance in Maynard, it is unlikely that there will be large numbers of adults present this fall. However, if the infestation becomes bad in future years, large numbers can be expected to gather on TOH tree trunks, fruit trees and others. Insecticide sprays can be useful at these times.  

Several other means of controlling spotted lanternfly are being explored. A fungal pathogen that kills Tree of Heaven is being tested. Four species of fungi that kill spotted lanternfly are being evaluated as being species-specific, i.e., not killing native insects. These would require annual spraying of target food plants. In addition, three species of wasps native to China that are known to lay their eggs on spotted lanternfly egg masses. Again, care must be taken to confirm that bio-antagonists are specific to the target species. An example of succesful bio-control is the introduction of a parasitic wasp and a fly species to eastern Massachusetts about ten years ago that ended the infestation of winter moths. 

MORE ON MANAGEMENT

Plantings of Common Milkweed and Swamp Milkweed, in addition to supporting Monarch Butterfly caterpillars, cause deaths of Spotted Lanterfly that feed on the plants, as the same toxins which the butterflies safely absorb and make them distasteful to predating birds are poisonous to the lanternflies. 

Areas in infested states that have had population explosions sometimes have much lower insect counts in subsequent years. This can be due to a boom/bust population cycles* frequently seen in insect populations, but there is also evidence that native insect eating species now recognize spotted lanternfly nymphs and adults as edible. Predating birds include cardinals, bluejays, catbirds and titmice. Predating insects include yellowjackets and praying mantis. When Spotted Lanternflies feed on Tree of Heaven as nymphs and adults they are more successful to complete their life cycle, possibly due to bitter-tasting chemicals they absorb from the trees; all the more reason to kill Tree of Heaven.  

*Boom/bust ecology is extremely complex. Often, the introduction of an invasive species results in an initial massive boom - sometimes multi-year - followed by a decline as species-specific diseases and parasites increase, and also native responses increase. However, some native and some established invasive species have repeated boom/bust population events. For example Gypsy Moths have boom years every 10-15 years, in part caused by ideal weather.  

Alice Warren wrote about Maynard 1914

Alice Warren was hired in 1914 to be a teacher in Maynard. This memoir is from the Maynard Historical Society collection. Her maiden name was Lynn, she married Charles Warren in 1923. Alice taught in Maynard until she retired, she was also active with Maynard Girl Scouts. She died in 1980, age 89, and is buried in Glenwood Cemetery along with her husband and his parents. Charles' father, Alonzo Warren, was Maynard's last surviving Civil War veteran! I have added content in [  ] brackets to expand on what she was writing about.

                                                "I Remember. Do You?"

I was asked to write about what Maynard was like when I first came to town. I was one of the many school teachers who were hired to teach in the public schools. At that time it was customary for the teachers to live here during the school year.

The sun was shining that September Sunday when I left the train at the station. I was amazed at the crowd that came to meet it. [Maynard's population was 6,800 then, 11,000 now. The railroad right-of-way that went through the center of Maynard became the Assabet River Rail Trail.]

There were many boarding houses along Main Street and that day the porches were filled with inmates enjoying the comfortable chairs and watching the crowds go by. Everyone seemed to be walking as there were very few motorcars at that time. [First motorcar 1899, a Stanley Steamer. By 1914 there were car dealerships, repair shops, car rental and gas stations, but still about 150 horses.]

I entered the school system under Mr. Brick and found my work most interesting. I was surprised to see so many tow-haired children ["tow-haired" meant light blond, likely children of Finnish immigrants]. They were courteous, and the parents cooperative and it was a joy to teach here.

One of the outstanding clubs at that time was the Maynard Women's Club [1904-1976] which was at its height with 200 members and a waiting list. Teachers were honored guests and were allowed to close school early so as to attend the meetings. The programs were outstanding. The members dressed in their silk and satin gowns with hats, and white kid gloves. In looking over one of the old reports, I came across a notation where someone suggested that the Street Railway was to be asked to lower the step on the trolley as the women were required to show too much of their limbs in getting aboard.

Warren was active in Maynard's Girl Scout organization and 
was the founder of a Brownie Troop. In this circa 1960 photo
she is on the right (Maynard Historical Society archive).

The churches were very busy places in those days. With clubs for the young people it was an excuse to get out of an evening and the rule was to get home right after Christian Endeavor [youth group organization with evening meetings]. In the old days you hired a pew in some of the churches, and if the family was small you paid for half a pew.

The town seemed a very busy place to me with so many trains [passenger trains 1850-1958] and street cars [1901-1923] coming in and leaving. I sometimes think it was easier to get one out of town then than it is now. Street cars went up Nason Street to the Actons and the length of Main Street to Hudson and Concord. At times there would be standing room only and you could ride all day for a dollar. Many people went on excursions to the Street Railway parks in Lexington, Whalom, Canobie Lake, and the Clinton Dam which was being built then.. This was a great treat. [A group could hire a fancy trolleycar with a driver and have it transfered to other street railway systems for a day-long excursion. Canobie Lake amusement park was in New Hampshire, 40 miles from Maynard.]

As for recreation there was plenty to do. There were many Finnish people who put on their snowshoes and skis and it was a happy sight to watch them come over the hills. Pung rides [a pung was a small sleigh pulled by one horse]  and sleigh rides in winter where the destination called for a good oyster stew or chowder to break up the ride. There were livery stables where one could hire a horse and buggy and take rides along the countryside during the different seasons. Bicycles had been at their height before I came here and I loved to hear of the Priest Brothers and their many friends and the distances they made in a day. It almost seemed impossible. [Maynard had two all-male bicycle clubs. Although Alice does not make mention, the "bicycle craze" led women to abandon long skirts for either bloomers or knickerbockers.] Canoeing on the river and at Lake Boone, skating in the mill pond, dances, balls, band concerts, baseball, and basketball games at the "Rink" just added all kinds of fun for the young folks. Sideshows and Chautauqua came regularly and once a real circus was rerouted into Maynard. The movie houses where the shows were changed twice a week and where all could attend without seeing any movie in bad taste.

While in the last paragraph Alice wrote that Maynard
did not have planes, this certificate shows that
just over a dozen years later she had a 
plane ride over Washington, DC.

Every nationality had its own clubs and organizations and entertained the people at least once a year. At that time there were quite a few Scottish people and I especially enjoyed their shows. Everyone applauded the take off on Harry Lauder. [Lauder (1870-1950) was a famous Scottish singer, at one time the highest paid performer in the world and the first to sell a million records.]

I went away from Maynard for a while and came back as a housewife. In those days I did not have to go out and pick up groceries, for good Mr. Morse, from the Riverside Cooperative [1875-1936], came in the morning to take your order and bring it back by four o'clock in the afternoon. On Sunday morning a man came around with beans, brown bread, horse-radish and succotash. Fresh fish was brought into town twice a week and came to your door. Numerous cats followed the wagon and every once in a while a fish head would accidentally(?) fall off the tail-board to get rid of the animals. [Dairy, eggs, bread, coal and ice were also home delivery, and dirty laundry picked up by trucks from the Harriman Bros. New Method Laundry would be returned a few days later cleaned, ironed and folded.]

I never knew what real fresh strawberries, corn and asparagus tasted like until I came to Maynard. Such a difference from produce bought from fruit stands. Farmers picked their corn, left it at the back door step, you helped yourself and left one cent an ear.

Many people bought flour, sugar and other items by the barrel and it was quite a sight at the railroad station when this landed. Those who could, baked their own bread. It was a poor housewife who bought her bread. It was five or ten cents a loaf at the store and pretty poor stuff.

We did have excellent stores. Case's, a large department store, where you could purchase anything from a collar button to a pair of shoes, and many other good stores to take care of all of our needs with never a necessity to go out of town. [The Case building later became home to an A&P supermarket, an Army/Navy Surplus store, and currently The Outdoor Store.] We didn't have motor cars, planes, supermarkets, and five and ten cent stores, but we did have a library, good schools and all those beloved people who gave of themselves to make our town a blessed place to live.

Old House Expenses and Capital Gains Taxes

 SUMMARY: This is an expansion on a column that was originally published in the Beacon-Villager newspaper in 2010, the first year I was writing for the paper. Some content has been removed. What has been added is a description of the typical expenses for maintaining an old house, and how keeping records of those may save capital gains taxes when a primary residence home is sold.  

A reproduction of an 1875 street map at the Maynard Historical Society shows a house at 10 Maple Street belonging to Charles Brooks, so our house is at least 151 years old. Learning the names of the owners required leafing through records of past property sales. The oldest showed A&L Maynard Company selling the property to Charles Brooks in 1870 for $2,430. The 1870 U.S. Census described Brooks as a 56-year old widower working at a saw mill, with four teenage daughters. The saw mill was most likely the one owned by the woolen mill, near the Walnut Street bridge.

The deed does not specify whether there was a house on the property at the time of the sale to Brooks, but Amory Maynard and his son Lorenzo owned other lots on Maple Street at the time. It is likely they were building and selling houses in addition to owning and operating the woolwn mill. In support of this theory, most of the houses on Maple Street and Maple Court have a similar architecture, indicating they were built at about the same time. 

The property owners:

Before 1870 A&L Maynard Co.

        1870-1879 Charles G. Brooks

1879-1896 Alexander and Elizabeth Greer

1896-1924 Mary Hanna

1924-1926 Charles T. Partridge

1926-1953 William and Carrie Barlow

1953-1987 Thomas and Blanche Marsden

1988-2000 Craig and Tresa Jones

2000-present David Mark and Jean D’Amico

The Barlows or Marsdens were most likely responsible for converting a front porch to a room on a concrete slab, for extending the kitchen, and for adding a downstairs bathroom and a screened-in back porch. We removed the cramped second floor bathroom and attic space over the kitchen and converted that into a full-size bathroom plus a walk-in closet with clothes washer/dryer. 

The property also includes a 25x40 foot, two-story barn, with what was a stall for one horse. Construction date unknown. A good guess would be that Brooks or Greer kept a horse and wagon to haul freight to and from the railroad. The other back corner was a chicken coop.

EXPENSES 2000-2026

An internet search on expected annual maintenance and repair costs yields several websites with wording along the lines of  "A common rule of thumb for home maintenance is to budget 1-2% of your home's purchase price annually for repairs and upkeep for a relatively new house, and 3-4% per year for an older house; this, to cover both routine maintenance and unexpected failures. Major remodeling of kitchen, bathrooms, etc. would be extra."

'Expected, unexpected and extra' turned out to be an underestimate of our experiences. A pre-purchase inspection in 2000 stated that the barn's sills were rotten, and the wiring knob-and-tube so inadequate that the home insurer refused to cover the barn. The former required the barn to be jacked up for sill replacement. Rewiring included an upgrade for power for an electric pottery kiln. In time, the chicken coop became an insulated and heated pottery studio, five windows replaced, a leaking roof reshingled, exterior painted, and dealing with carpenter ants.

Housewise, the aforementioned house second floor addition, roof reshingled, exterior painted twice, interior once, eleven windows replaced, wiring brought up to code, kitchen and downstairs half-bath remodeled, driveway widened and repaved, walkways replaced. Appliance-wise, refrigerator/freezer once, stove once, dishwasher twice, clothes washer/dryer twice, furnace twice, hot water heater twice. 

When it comes time to sell a house, keeping a record of expenses can save a bundle on capital gains taxes. See www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p523.pdf for all the itty-bitty details. Simplified - if you and your spouse file taxes jointly and sell the house, a $500,000 profit is exempt from federal and state capital gains taxes. If you spouse dies and you sell within two years, same exempt. If you are single for more than two years prior to selling your house, only $250,000 is exempt. As to where that might matter - Maynard, not so much yet. Over 25 years the median sale price increased from $225,000 to $600,000. For Sudbury, median increased from $500,000 to $1,115,000 so capital gains exposure could apply to many house sales.

Those dollar triggers for taxing profits were set in 1997 and were not indexed for inflation. However, there is a bill before Congress, the "More Homes on the Market Act", which proposed that the triggering profit values be doubled. This is separate from legislation recently passed in the House and Senate and forwarded to the President for signing, as that bill is designed to promote new housing construction and also prevent speculators from buying up lots of houses as investment opportunities. 

As for all that record keeping, sale price minus purchase price equals capital gains, but from that - according to page 10 - can be subtracted cost of additions to the house, fencing, landscaping, new windows, roof replacement, siding, insulation, bringing wiring up to code, kitchen or bathroom remodeling, etc. But not exterior or interior painting or replacing appliances. Best to maintain a folder of invoices for all major work. 

Gum Chewing - "Out Damned Spot!"

Morning cup of coffee

 As an amateur historian perpetually searching for ideas for this column I am sometimes asked "What do you mean by 'history'"? Academic definitions assign 1500-1815 as Early Modern History, 1815-1900 as Late Modern History and after 1900 as Modern Times, segueing into Contemporary Times. Personally, I just consider everything up to this morning's coffee as history.

This helps, because Maynard as Maynard is not that old. The town was founded in April 1871. While a goodly share of the houses are more than 100 years old, few of downtown's buildings surpass their centennial. Some history is not only very recent, but, literally, underfoot. As one approaches the entrance to CVS there are stains on the concrete sidewalk and asphalt of the parking lot from discarded chewing gum. These black spots start appearing 100 feet from the entrance and increase in density as one nears the door. 

Painted gum spot

The solution to preventing gum spots is to not sell gum. As people who are chewing gum approach a store, an idea flies into their minds - buy gum!  This thought triggers an immediate, almost Pavlovian distaste for the piece of gum in their mouth, which just seconds before was perfectly satisfying the urge to fruitlessly chew and chew and chew. The old and now flavorless gum is mentally compared to the Platonic ideal of a new piece of gum - and spat out onto the sidewalk or parking lot surface. 

Today's gums are made mostly with a synthetic-polymer gum base rather than tree sap. From Wikipedia "The hydrocarbon polymers approved to be in chewing gum are styrene-butadiene rubber, isobutylene, isoprene copolymer, paraffin wax, and petroleum wax." The non-chewy ingredients include sugar or non-caloric sweeteners, sorbitol, lecithin, glycerin, flavor and color agents, and preservatives.

What this all means is that well-chewed gum is primarily long-lasting synthetic rubber. On concrete or asphalt the three-dimensional, pale-colored blobs are pounded by foot traffic to nearly circular flat spots about an inch across and impossible to scrape away. Over time dust is pressed into the hardening gum and it turns black. 

Worth noting - gum spots last a long time, but not forever. This column is basically a recycling of a Beacon-Villager column from October 2013. Today, the Nason Street entrance to what had been the CVS building has no more gum spots than the average downtown sidewalk, confirming that years of foot traffic and weather will in time erode these permanent-seeming residues.   

Ben Wilson painting a sidewalk gum spot

A few companies have developed technology to remove gum. GumBusters has a device which blasts superheated steam blended with a cleaning agent onto the impacted gum. Franchises are available. Given that the most popular model GumBuster requires 3,000 watts to operate, the full package includes a generator. Alternative technologies use a power wash or a blast of powdered dry ice. To quote Lady MacBeth: "Out, damned spot!"

Or discarded gum can become art. Ben Wilson, an artist in England, famously paints miniature scenes, portraits and abstracts on gum spots (he uses a really small brush). A computer search on his name + gum will yield articles and images selected from the more than 10,000 gum paintings he has created. He has been arrested several times - all cases dismissed because he is not littering, only adding colors to someone else's litter. 

There is an easy way to avoid creation of gum spots: have a garbage can near the store entrance. CVS does not, whereas the Cumberland Farms gas station/store does. Gum, garbage can; gum, garbage can. It's not complicated. 

Maynard's history of movie theaters

Street-facing mural added by current owners

Hundreds of Mark's columns from his 12 years writing for the Beacon-Villager are accessible at maynardlifeoutdoors.com. The website includes an article directory by category (History, Nature, etc.). 

SUMMARY: The Fine Arts Theatre turns 77 years old this June. Prior to its opening in 1949, there were almost 50 years of motion picture showings in Maynard, starting with entrepreneurs bringing a projector and films to be shown in existing meeting halls, then culminating with the opening of People's Theater - seating for 700 - in 1921. The Fine Arts was family-owned from 1949 to 2013, first by founder Burton Coughlan and then his daughter Linda (Coughlan) Flint. Steven Trumble bought and renovated the theater, operating it until his untimely death at age 67 in 2021. The theater complex, with three screens and an adjoining ice cream shop, now operates under the ownership of Dafna Krouk-Gordon. 

As early as 1902, silent movies were being shown in Maynard in the meeting hall of Riverside CO-OP. Maynard was at that time a mill town with a population of around 7,000. Entrepreneurs would come to town with their projectors, rent space in a meeting hall and charge admission. Not here, but in larger cities, there had been a brief vogue for kinetoscope parlors that had its start in 1884. A kinetoscope was a floor-standing devices about four feet tall that would have an opening in the top for one eye. Inside, after depositing a nickel in the pay slot, film would pass between an electric light and the eyepiece, providing 15-20 seconds of silent moving pictures. These could be snippets of well-known vaudeville acts, filmed by Thomas Edison in his movie studio. Other producers filmed boxing exhibitions, gymnasts, etc. Within months after the first parlor opened in New York City there were arrests in San Francisco and elsewhere for showing pornography. 

Within a year, machinery and film quality had improved to a point that "movies" up to ten minutes in length could be projected onto screens for a seated audience. Early attempts to provide sound by operating a phonograph along with the projector failed, so instead, venues would hire a piano or organ player to face the screen and provide appropriate music. Word panels in the film would provide dialog (which required audiences to be literate!). Some films were sing-a-longs, with lyrics superimposed on the images. For those, movie halls would hire local singers to lead the songs. Motion pictures with sound and theaters with speaker systems did not become common until well into the 1930s.

The Colonial/Strand theater, operated from
1916-1952. Tickets originally were 10 cents. That
got patrons a doublefeature plus cartoon shorts.  

Leap forward a couple of decades and there were three movie houses in Maynard - Colonial and Riverside which were meeting halls set up with folding chairs, and Peoples' Theater, built in 1921. The latter had a main floor, balcony seating and a glorious chandelier in the lobby. The Colonial, also known as the Strand, was in the second floor of the building that now has the Roasted Peppers restaurant on the ground floor. Riverside, also known as Maynard Theatre, was the third floor meeting hall of a 1868 building known as Riverside Block. Its theater era ended when much of the building was destroyed by fire in 1934. It was rebuilt as Gruber Bros. Furniture, since torn down and now site of an apartment building across the parking lor from CVS. 

James Coughlan's Livery Feed & Sale Stable 1898

Meanwhile, on Summer Street, James Coughlan - second generation son of Irish immigrants - had opened a horse livery business in 1897, then converted it to an automobile sales and repair shop in 1913. James was also one of the co-founders of Peoples' Theater. His son, Burton J. Coughlan, born in 1904, was of an artistic and theatrical bent through high school. He had applied and been accepted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before changing his mind and attending the School of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. 

Soon after graduating, Burton returned to Maynard, where he took a job in 1929 as Manager of Peoples' Theater. Around 1947 he decided to leave Peoples' and convert the family business into a movie theater. The Fine Arts Theatre, seating 400, opened on June 29, 1949 with a showing of "The Red Shoes." By that time Riverside was long gone. The Colonial/Strand closed in 1952 and Peoples' in 1959.

In addition to what became the theaters, Burton owned the adjacent building. Initially, upstairs was his studio and downstairs an art gallery. Burton had married Ersilia Caterina "Rena" Bertucci - daughter of Italiam immigrants - in 1930. Together, they were patrons of Chinese art and jade and ivory artifacts, often featured in the gallery. In time, the first floor space housed Murphy & Snyder Printing, then the French restaurant La Petite Auberge, the Nickel Inn Cafe, 17 Summer Street (another restaurant) and the present-day Theatre Creamery ice cream shop..   

Burton ran Fine Arts until he retired in the 1960s, with his daughter Linda (Coughlan) Flint and her husband taking over. A smaller second theater was added in 1969. Years later it was divided in two, giving us the present-day configuration of three theaters.

In time, theater management was turned over to businesses that rented the theater complex. Infrastructure fell into decline, to the point that the theaters were hot in summer, cold in winter, wet from roof leaks whenever it rained, spotted with broken seating, and bathrooms that were an adventure. In 2003, Deco Entertainment rented the facility with an intention to do major renovations, including a new heating/cooling system, new seats and an improved sound system. 

Then, in 2013, Linda Flint sold the facility to Steven "Steve" Trumble and Melanie Perry. They bought with an understanding that Deco would continue as tenants, but Deco had been operating as if there was a rent-with-an-option-to-buy, so instead Deco locked the doors and left, with a rumor that they had also taken the movie projectors. 

Ticket signed by Steve Trumble

Steve and Melanie, who had bought with the thinking that a quarter million dollars would complete the renovations while Deco continued to operate the theater ended up spending close to one million dollars for a top to bottom renovation, including conversion to digital projectors, which, after a long delay, culminated in a grand re-opening on November, 5, 2014 with a showing of the movie "Interstellar." 

The theater was closed during the COVID pandemic, during which time Steve Trumble died. The theater was sold to Dafna Krouk-Gordon and Lester "Les" Gordon. They resumed theater operations in May of 2022. Dafna carries on after the loss of her husband in 2025. 

Burton Caughlan self-portrait in what was his studio,
above what is now the Theatre Creamery ice cream
shop. Unlike the paintings in the theater, this one is 
signed "Coughlan" in the other corner (not shown).

So, here we are today, with a 77 year old movie theater at 21 Summer Street that still has its original entrance facade, and in the main theater and adjacent hallway, the Chinese-art-inspired paintings that were the creations of Burton J. Coughlan, the original owner. None of the neighboring towns of Concord, Acton, Stow or Sudbury have movie theaters, so the Fine Arts serves a larger regional community. The theater complex operates under its fourth owner with strong support from local communities. 

Click on photos to enlarge. This and hundreds of columns from my Beacon-Villager era are posted, with an article directory by category, at www.maynardlifeoutdoors.com 

Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge - history

 SUMMARY: Once upon a time, the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge was a federal "Superfund" clean-up site. This was a consequence of the land being seized for World War II military munitions storage in 1942, and then used for military training and equipment testing until 1990. Roughly two-thirds of the 3.5 square mile refuge became open to the public in 2005 (the rest still closed off), with a visitors' center added in 2010. See ws.gov/refuge/assabet-river. 

Archaeological evidence confirms the presence of indigenous people dating back more than 7,000 years. Unlike much of what became Maynard in 1871, the southern third was more favorable for farming and had ponds that provided for year-round fishing. At the time of arrival of European colonists, what is now central Massachusetts and northern Connecticut was the territory of Nipmuc Native Americans. European diseases and colonial expansion decimated and displaced the native population, the tail end of this punctuated by King Philip's War of 1675-78. Surviving natives were either clustered in Christian convert "praying villages" or chose to move to native communities north and west of this region. When Sudbury was incorporated in 1639 and Stow in 1683, those contained all of future Maynard. There is a granite block in the Refuge on the Tri-Town Trail that makes the position where Maynard and the size-reduced Stow and Sudbury meet. 

As Maynard grew, most of the people settled in close proximity to the ever-enlarging woolen mill (1847-1950). By the 1920 census the population was a tad over 7,000 and it stayed close to that up to the eve of World War II. However, even as the downtown density grew, the southern third was mostly farm homesteads, mainly settled by immigrants from Finland who preferred farming to factory work. Much was grown for family consumption, but there were also orchards, dairy cows, hogs and chickens. Sales were made to stores in Maynard and neighboring towns, and there was an early morning 'milk train' to Boston. 

"THE AMMO DUMP: A Taking of Heritage" (2023)
by Paul V. Boothroyd Sr., Paul V Boothroyd Jr.
and Todd E. Boothroyd. Image courtesy of
Maynard Historical Society.

The evictions - when they came - were sudden. The United States entered the war in December 1941. By March of 1942 the Army had identified about 3,000 acres primarily in Maynard but extending into Hudson, Stow and Sudbury, as suitable for a munitions waystation. Munitions and other war supplies could be held there until Boston harbor was ready to load ships bound for Europe. As documented in "The Ammo Dump," some 80 homesteads received notice in April that their land was being taken be eminent domain, with as little as ten days to vacate. The government calculated what it estimated as fair market value to pay the evicted families, but many of those families felt they were being underpaid, as it fell on them to also sell or dispose of furniture, farm equipment, animals, etc. And find a place to live. And jobs. If there were any promises that people could return after the war those were not in writing and never happened. Sixty years later - for those still alive - there was a bittersweet opportunity to visit once the Refuge was open, perhaps to find the site where there house and barn and fields had been, now a forest.

One of the most interesting features of the Refuge are the World War II era ammunition bunkers. The site was chosen to be convenient to railroad shipping to the Boston Navy Yard yet far enough inland so that a German battleship could not shell the area. Each of the 50 bunkers, officially referred to as “igloos,” has inside dimensions of 81x26x12 feet, with a curved roof. Sides and roofs were mounded with dirt for extra protection and disguise. [However, air view disguise and Maynard's airplane lookout tower atop Summer Hill were overkill, as Germany never completed several attempts to build aircraft carriers.] Today, from all but the door end, these bunkers resemble small hills, complete with trees growing on top. Bunker #303 is sometimes open for tours.

After WWII this site, referred to as the Fort Devens-Sudbury Training Annex, served as a troop training ground, ordinance testing and chemical laboratory disposal area for Natick Labs, i.e., the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center. A 1980s assessment led to this being categorized as an EPA “Superfund” clean-up site in 1990, as the site was contaminated with arsenic compounds (sprayed along the railroad tracks as a herbicide) and other chemicals, including flame retardant and firefighting chemicals now known to contaminate water supplies. Extensive clean-up efforts continued for years. The cost exceeded $20 million. The Superfund designation was ended in January 2022, after removal of underground fuel tanks, 55-gallon barrels of chemical waste and tons of contaminated soil. Monitoring of groundwater contamination continues. Most of the site was turned over to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in 2000. The Assaber River National Wildlife Refuge was opened to the public in 2005, with a visitors' center added in 2010. 

Entrance to the FEMA facility, Maynard, MA.
Courtesy of WCVB5, Boston television (2021)

A 72 acre portion of the land adjacent to the end of Old Marlborough Road was transferred to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Here, FEMA maintains a Regional Response Coordination Center for natural and man-made disasters. It includes an underground bunker designed to provide shelter and support for several hundred people during a limited nuclear war. See https://coldwar-ct.com/FEMA_Regional_HQ_Maynard.html for exterior and interior photos. 

The Refuge covers 3.5 square miles. In combination with the other seven eastern Massachusetts wildlife refuges, these preserve land for mammals, reptiles, and local and migratory birds. There is a wonderfully informative, child-friendly, Visitor Center at 680 Winterberry Way, off of Hudson Road. For people who just want to park and roam, a north parking lot is accessed from White Pond Road, reachable from Route 117 in Stow. There is also a small parking area at the end of Old Marlborough Road, but the trail accessed from that entrance is often flooded in winter and spring. Within the Refuge there are 15 miles of old roads and walking trails, with the roads (which are in poor repair) open to bicycling. No dogs allowed anywhere in the Refuge, no other pets, no horses, no fires, no overnight camping, no ATVs, no dirt bikes, no snowmobiles. Catch-and-release fishing is allowed, but only from the Puffer Pond dock.

Whitetail deer fawns lose their white-spot camoflage
in the fall as they grow their much thicker, all-brown
winter coat. Other pre-winter adaptations include
storing more body fat and slowing metabolic rate.
Still, winter weight loss can exceed 20%.  

Hunting is allowed for deer, turkey, grouse, woodcock, coyote, rabbits and squirrels. This feels countradictory given the word "refuge," but without apex predator wolves and mountain lions, deer can become a serious over-population problem. The state's population is estimated at 175,000, with the eastern half of the state more than double the targeted density of 12-18 per square mile. Eastern coyotes - although larger than western coyotes for having historically bred with wolves during the eastern expansion - are still not very successful in preying on adult deer. During the fall/winter deer-hunting season hunters harvest about 15,000 annually. Refuge visitors are perhaps wise to wear orange or restrict visiting to no-hunting Sundays.

To learn more about the refuge, see ws.gov/refuge/assabet-river and the Friends of Woodlands and Waters website, which has a downloadable trail map at  https://www.woodlandsandwaters.org/assabet-river/trails. For history, see the Boothroyds' book "The Ammo Dump". It's major focus is the families that were evicted, but it also covers the military use of the area between the end of World War II and subsequent conversion to the Refuge.

Click on photos to enlarge. To access hundreds of past columns from The Maynard Voice and the Beacon-Villager, visit www.maynardlifeoutdoors.com There is an index.

History of federal and local holidays

SUMMARY: The U.S. federal government has established eleven federal holidays, the most recent being Juneteenth. The initial four - New Year's Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas - were 'top down', i.e., initiated by Congress. Some of the others were 'bottom up', meaning that they began informally in communities, then recognized by an increasing number of states, until the federal government finally made those national. Two went through name changes. 

Santa Claus has been arriving by helicopter for
Maynard's Christmas parade since 1966

The US federal government, over a period spanning 150 years, has established eleven federal holidays. This all began in 1870 during the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant with the creation of federal holidays for New Year's Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Wait - if the First Amendment states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion..." how did we end up with a religious (Christian) federal holiday? This very question has been brought to the Supreme Court several times. The defense rests on the actual wording from 1870 - a decree that along with three new secular holidays, "December 25th...commonly called Christmas Day" would join them. There was no requirement that people attend church or pray on that day, nor any financial benefit to Christianity. In contrast, Good Friday is a state holiday in some states, but not a federal holiday. 

Once the concept of federal holidays became a reality, other joined the list. Washington's Birthday, established as a federal holiday in 1879, fell on February 22nd. In 1968, Congress passed the "Uniform Monday Holiday Act". It provided for observances of some federal holidays on Mondays, so as to create three-day weekends. After that, it became the third Monday in February. The concept of referring to it as "Presidents' Day," recognizing both Washington (Feb 22) and Lincoln (Feb 12), gained popularity, but officially, it is still "Washington's Birthday."

Memorial Park dedication ceremony, November 15, 2025. 
Three photos courtesy of Maynard Historical Society

Soon after the end of the Civil War it became common in both the North and the South to honor the war dead by decorating graves with flowers and flags. This evolved into communities and then states establishing Decoration Day as a time to hold parades that finished at cemeteries with speeches. Decoration Day became a federal employees' holiday in 1888, became one of the three-day weekends in 1968, i.e., last Monday in May, and was then officially renamed Memorial Day in 1971. The story goes that the end of May was originally chosen not to commemorate any specific Civil War battle, but rather a time when flowers would be in bloom in northern states. Today, Memorial Day is seen as the unofficial beginning of summer - and of yard sale season. 

Armistice Day 1919

Veterans' Day is the other military memorial holiday, differing in that it honors all who have served in the armed forces rather than only those who died. The date - November 11th - stems from the signing of the treaty that ended the war in Europe in 1918, hence the original name "Armistice Day." Somber, solemn celebrations on this date started occurring as early as 1919, but it was not until 1938 that it became an official U.S. federal holiday. In 1954 the name was changed to Veterans' Day. 

On November 15, 1925, the Town of Maynard dedicated Memorial Park in honor of the 361 citizens who had served in the Great War, including the eight who died in that service. Previously, the site had been occupied by the Maynard Hotel, which had burned in 1921. Information honoring those who served in World War II and subsequent military actions have since been acknowledged.

Labor Day falls on the first Monday of September and is considered the unofficial end of summer and the beginning of the school year. Toward the end of the 1800s along with the maturation of the Industrial Revolution, trade unions and labor unions gained strength. Demands for a 40-hour work week gained ground, often after industry-wide or city-wide strikes. There arose a clamor for a holiday to recognize labor. State by state, labor was becoming honored with parades, picnics and political speeches, until in 1894, Congress acted to make it a federal holiday.

Columbus Day had its origins in celebrations by Italian Americans in cities with significant Italian immigrant populations, such as New York. By 1934, Congress had persuaded the President to annually identify October 12 as Columbus Day. In 1971 the holiday was upgraded to official federal holiday and shifted to the second Monday in October.

Late to the list are the Birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. and Juneteenth. The former, often referred to as MLK Day, is celebrated on the third Monday of January. It was signed into law in 1983 and first celebrated in 1986. At the states level there was resistance, especially in the South (surprise!). Approval in the Senate was by a 78-22 vote and in the House by 338-90. Several states still refer to it as some combination honoring both Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert E. Lee. "Juneteenth" is a portmanteau of 'June' and 'nineteenth', as that was the date in 1865 that slavery was ended in Texas, the last of the Confederate states to surrender. Known also as Freedom Day and Black Independence Day, celebration and state recognitions ebbed and flowed for decades, until finally, support coalesced into federal recognition in 2021. Unlike MLK Day, this passed unanimously in the Senate and opposed by only 14 votes in the House. It was signed into law by President Biden.

National Flag Day is a wannabe. The stripes and stars design of the U.S. flag was established by the Continental Congress on June 14, 1777, while the Revolutionary War was still in progress. Celebrations of Flag Day grew toward the end of the 1800s, finally approved by Congress in 1949 , but not as a federal holiday. Coincidently, President Trump's birthday is June 14th. On February 14, 2025 a member of Congress proposed that "Trump's Birthday and Flag Day" become a federal holiday. As of early 2026 there has been no further Congressional action on this proposal. 

Holidays - even federally established holidays - are not immutable. Many states and cities have replaced celebration of Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' Day, Native American Day, or other variations on this theme. Massachusetts deems it to be Columbus Day, but Boston and many other MA cities and towns have decided for Indigenous Peoples' Day. MLK Day and Juneteenth are under pressure from President Trump during his second term. DEI programs have been terminated, the Confederacy re-recognized as a honorable part of U.S. history, and displays about slavery in national museums removed as being too negative about American history. National Parks are free admission on federal holidays, but for 2026 these two have been dropped from that list and Flag Day (not a federal holiday) added. It would take an act of Congress to officially remove a federal holiday, a process which has never happened yet, but the whitewashing of Black history is ongoing.

Stow Minutemen firing a rifle volley. The flag, with a British
Union Flag in the upper left corner, combined with 13 red
and white stripes to represent the colonies, was called the
Grand Union Flag, used by Washington's Army  in 1776.

Closer to home, in 1894, Lexington proposed the anniversary of the Revolutionary War battle of April 19, 1775 be honored as "Lexington Day." Concord countered with "Concord Day." Governor Greengalge wisely countered with "Patriots' Day," ever since then a Massachusetts holiday. Locally, Patriot Minuteman reenactors march from Stow to Concord, passing through Maynard shortly after 5:00 a.m., pausing at the intersection of Concord Road and Route 27 to fire a rifle volley. The Boston Marathon had its first in 1897 (a year after the Olympic Games revival in 1896), and has continued to be held ever since. The Town of Maynard was created on April 19, 1870. The town acknowledges (but fails to celebrate) the date as Founders' Day.

P.S. If holiday sales shopping is your thing, check out https://www.dontpayfull.com/explore/shopping-sales-calendar for the types of items that go on sale during major holidays - also minor holidays, such as April 2nd being National Burrito Day. 

Click on photos to enlarge. To access hundreds of past columns from Maynard Voice and the Beacon-Villager, visit www.maynardlifeoutdoors.com There is an index.

 

Maynard's water needs, past, present and future

SUMMARY: Maynard initiated town water in 1889 with White Pond (Hudson/Stow border) as the source. Wells were added starting in 1965 and White Pond discontinued in 1990. Maynard currently operates seven wells at three well fields. Its water needs going forward depend on population predictions; stay under 12,000 (currently about 11,000) and the town can probably make do with adding wells at existing sites, but grow more than that and it may need to either revive White Pond or connect to the Quabbin Reservoir system. Regardless of sources, the existing treatment facilities need upgrading.

Undated aerial photo of Maynard's two water tanks atop Summer
Hill before a roof was added to the original, 1889 tank.
Photo courtesy of Maynard Historical Society Archive.

During the early 1800s Assabet Village was a small community flanking the Assabet River, with bridges crossing at what are now Route 117 and Mill Street. Water supply was via wells that reached aquafers at depths of 30-80 feet. Wells were either private or else public wells that homeowners could visit with barrels on wagons or sleds. Starting in 1847 the village grew rapidly with the beginning and expansion of the woolen mill, reaching a population of 2,700 by the 1890 census. Delivering piped water directly to homes and businesses and fire hydrants had started just a year earlier. 

That system involved water flowing from White Pond to Maynard, then being pumped to an open-to-the air tank able to hold 1.5 million gallons constructed atop Summer Hill. From that high point, gravity provides the water pressure to all parts of Maynard. The original pipeline was replaced in 1942. The town's annual reports describe the expansion of the water system as the population grew through decades, including adding a roof to the original tank and construction of a second water tank in 1972. The mill had its own, smaller, water tank, near Amory Maynard's mansion.

Water is provided to hundreds 
of fire hydrants. Color indicates
water flow capacity, with blue 
best, then green, yellow and red.

Maynard was drilling test wells as early as 1957 to supplement pond water. Massachusetts suffered a multi-year drought in the early 1960s, causing a perilously low water level at White Pond. Toward the end of 1964, Robert Quirk drilled a successful well in the Old Marlborough Road area and started selling water to the town. In following years land was seized by eminent domain so as to create well fields and water treatment plants (WTPs) at Old Marlboro Road (OMR) starting in 1967, and Green Meadow (GM) in 1975. These accessed shallow aquifers at depths under 80 feet. In 2000, a third well field and treatment plant were added at Rockland Avenue (RA) to access bedrock water at 400 feet. Collectively, there are seven active wells that have a capacity to deliver an average of 1.1 million gallons per day (MGD), which exceeds Maynard's current needs.  

Each WTP faces unique challenges, including aging infrastructure, water quality issues, and regulatory compliance requirements. The primary water quality concerns include discoloring iron and manganese, and also per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the water supply, as well as elevated chlorine disinfection byproducts (DBPs) in the distribution system. These water supply issues have caused operational difficulties at the WTPs, leading the Town to limit rate of withdrawal of well water in order to improve water quality. 

PFAS, sometimes referred to as "forever chemicals," have for decades been used in food packaging and household products, stain-resistant furniture and fire extinguishing foam, and subsequently widely contaminate food and water supplies. Exposure to PFAS appears to have multiple, serious, health consequences. Massachusetts has a current upper limit of 20 nanograms per liter (also described as part per trillion) for PFAS in water supplies. Town reports show Maynard is below that limit (roughly one-half of MA communities - mostly in the east - are not). However, the federal Environmental Protection Agency is considering enforcing a lower limit of 10 ng/L in the future. There are commercially available PFAS filter system for use at the municipal level and for residences that reply on private wells. All of Maynard's WTPs would need to be improved to comply with the proposed limit. 

Map of central Massachusetts showing
Quabbin Reservoir and Framingham, with a 
pipeline needed from Framingham to Maynard

Currently, usage is about 50 gallons per person per day. Pipe leakage is under ten percent (a significant improvement from 10 or 20 years ago). Additions to housing in the form of single family homes, town houses, condominiums and apartments are either in progress, planned, or projected. There are contradictory estimates of the extent of this future demand. Current population is a tad under 11,000. One report predicts a population plateau at about 11,500, in which case existing wellfields - perhaps with adding a well or two - will suffice. However, the more recent report, a 50-year MasterPlan, at https://www.townofmaynard-ma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/4162/Maynard-Master-Plan-2025-Final-w-appendices?bidId= projects out to 2075 and anticipates for a much higher population, on the order of 16,000 to 19,000 (modeled on past population increases in Waltham). 

A second rationale for increasing capacity is to have redundancy in case an existing well fails. Either reason would mean adding either a Quabbin Reservoir connection north from Framingham or reactivating White Pond. Quabbin does not have measurable PFAS contamination but the same cannot be said for White Pond. These options would be at least 20 years in the future at a cost exceeding $50 million. Included in that would be creation of a new water treatment plant to process water from OMR, GM and the new pipeline. 

In recent years, Maynard has issued a mandatory "Seasonal Water Use Restriction" either time-of-day limiting or prohibiting non-essential outdoor water use, i.e., lawn and garden watering, from May through September. The purpose of time-of-day restriction that still allows watering either before 9:00 a.m. and after 5:00 p.m. is to curtail peak daytime use; otherwise Maynard would have to extract a higher volume per hour with the consequence of higher iron and manganese content that requires more demineralization to prevent discolored water. Last year, because of regional drought, the restriction started in April and prohibited any watering Monday through Friday.    

During a low-water moment, summer of 2015, yours
truly stepped into the Assabet River at the Rail
Trail bridge and walked to the Mill Street bridge.
Sights along the way included an active beaver lodge.

Water in, water out. The great majority of water supplied to Maynard ends up as wastewater, either to septic systems or processed and discharged to the Assabet River. As described above, the town's centralized water supply system dates back to 1889, but Maynard did not create a wastewater collection and treatment system until about 40 years later. The system was upgraded in the 1970s, but still inadequate, as were the discharges from several wastewater treatment facilities in upriver towns. 

In 1982 an author described the dam-created pond north of Powdermill Road on the Maynard-Acton border as "...the river smell is nauseating, reeking like an unpumped-out campground outhouse times ten." Upriver newspapers referred to the river as the "state cesspool." Key to the problem was the Assabet being less of a river and more of a series of ponds created by factory mill dams. Industrial discharges and wastewater nitrogen and phosphorus were trapped in the ponds' sediments rather than being flushed by spring floods, leading to eutrophic algae blooms, rotting plant matter and fishkills. Major wastewater treatment upgrades starting in the 1980s now mean that wastewater discharges are cleaner than the river it is put in to, and the net effect up and down the river is boatable and approaching swimmable. 

Learn more about the Assabet, Sudbury and Concord rivers at https://oars3rivers.org/ 

 

Maynard's Main Street bridge status

Maynard's Main Street bridge is tentatively scheduled for replacement starting the summer of 2028. The estimated budget is $8.4 million, a far cry from the $20,000 that the bridge it will be replacing cost back in 1922 (or the original, $1,310 in 1849).

A bridge is rated “structurally deficient” if its deck, superstructure, or substructure is rated in poor condition, which is a rating of 4 or below on the National Bridge Inspection Standards (NBIS) rating scale. Per website https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/nbis.cfm, "...the NBIS are the standards established over the safety inspections of highway bridges on public roads throughout the United States. The U.S. Congress originally required the Secretary of Transportation to establish these standards in 1968. The original NBIS was published in 1971, creating our Nation's first nationally coordinated bridge inspection program. Periodic and thorough inspections of our Nation's bridges are necessary to maintain safe bridge operation and prevent structural and functional failures. Updates to the standards have been made over the years, most recently in 2022. These updates recognize technological advancements, research results, and experience in administering the inspection program."

Plaque on the Main Street bridge (click to enlarge).
This plaque and one for the Walnut Street bridge
were installed on Armistice Day, November 11, 1923,
 in memory of those who served in the named wars.  

The mass.gov website https://gis.data.mass.gov/datasets/MassDOT::bridges/about has a link to a map of all bridges in Massachusetts with reports of the most recent inspections for each bridge. Maynard has three Assabet River bridges that are more than 100 years old: Walnut Street, Main Street and Route 117/62 toward Stow. The latter is also known as the Ben Smith bridge, as it is not far downstream from the Ben Smith dam. (The dam so-named because it was Ben Smith who sold the land to Amory Maynard and William Knight to build the dam that would power their mill.) These were all constructed as rebar-reinforced concrete bridges, with an expected lifespan of 50-75 years. The Walnut and Route 117/62 bridges were recently scored as six overall, i.e., "Fair", with no four or lower scores for deck, superstructure or substructure. In contrast, the Main Street bridge - constructed in 1922 - had an overall score of four, i.e., "Poor", with a four score for deck and superstructure and five for substructure. The image shows some of the deteriorating concrete.

A search for proposed bridge projects identified #604564 as a replacement of this bridge (#M-10-004), with a planned start date as summer of 2028. The existing bridge has a curb-to-curb with of 36 feet with 6.8 foot sidewalks of both sides. The plan calls for full-depth reconstruction of 300 feet beyond the bridge itself on both approaches, which would include not just Main Street but also the Walnut Street connection. The demolition, removal and replacement will be conducted in stages to always allow one lane of traffic in both directions plus pedestrian access during all of the demolition and construction, much as was accomplished for the Waltham Street bridge a few years back. This may require a temporary sidewalk bridge, as did Waltham.

The 1872 Main Street bridge, standing on Walnut Street and
looking west. The farthest building was "Assabet House",
 a large boarding house demolished in 1962 to make room
for the present-day post office, which opened in 1963. 
Photo courtesy of Maynard Historical Society. 

The estimated cost of the project is on the order of $8.4 million, to be funded primarily through the Federal Transportation Improvement Program. Bridge replacement projects are notoriously slow - state records show initial consideration dating to 2005, then the Notice To Proceed (NTP) to begin negotiating a contract issued in 2022, with actual work-start scheduled for 2028. 

The history of a Main Street bridge over the Assabet River dates back to 1849, with replacements in 1872 and 1922. The 1872 bridge was of steel construction, as was the Walnut Street bridge of the same year. Both were replaced with rebar-reinforced concrete bridges. The contract was awarded to F.B. Saunders of Framingham, who had bid $34,485 to do both bridges, in August of 1922. (The smaller Florida Street bridge had been replaced in 1919 for $6,000.) In the photo, the tracks were for the electric trolley that serviced Hudson, Stow, Maynard and Concord, with a branch to Acton, over the years 1901-1923. 

Main Street bridge (built 1922) photographed from the rail
trail bridge, with the mill buildings in the background. The mill
processed raw wool to make cloth and blankets (1846-1950),
later the home for Digital Equipment Company (1957-1998).

The first bridge owed its existence to the woolen mill. Under the auspices of Amory Maynard and William Knight, a woolen mill was constructed in 1846. At that time there was a railroad line passing through South Acton, connecting Fitchburg to Boston, that had become operational in 1844. The mill, however, was on the south side of the Assabet River, with no convenient way for horse-drawn wagons to bring raw wool in and finished goods out from the railroad station at South Acton. This wooden bridge across the Assabet was completed in 1849 at a cost of $1,310.* It allowed wagons loaded with wool or other goods to more conveniently connect to the road north to South Acton. That road (now Route 27) also crossed Concord Street, thus providing a connection to Concord to the east and Stow to the west. The east/west road was ancient, as on April 19, 1775, Stow Minutemen had marched on it toward Concord to confront the British troops that had forayed out from Boston to seize guns and other militia supplies.  

*By 1850, with a lot of lobbying by Amory Maynard, a railroad spur from South Acton reached what was then informally named Assabet Village (later incorporating as Town of Maynard in 1871), and then extended to Marlborough in 1855. This is now the Assabet River Rail Trail. In Assabet Village, a short railroad spur was created directly into the woolen mill. In addition to transporting raw wool and finished goods, after the Civil War the railroad was delivering coal, and in that way allowing the Assabet Mill to convert from water power to coal-fueled steam engines. The mill also had a coal gasification facility to provide gas for gaslight for the mill and for the town's streetlights, and then later a generator for electric lights. Over the following decades Maynard's mill became the largest woolen mill in New England. It closed in 1950. The mill buildings complex have had various tenants and owners since then, most famously Digital Equipment Corporation (1957-1998), and later, Monster.com.