PEPPERELL

A short history of Pepperell

Pepperell was first settled in 1720 as a part of Groton, and was officially incorporated as its own town in 1775. The founders named it after Sir William Pepperrell, a Massachusetts colonial soldier who led the Siege of Louisbourg during the French and Indian War. The town was noted for its good soil and orchards.

Since its formation, the town was active in the American independence movement. Being located northwest of Concord, Pepperell never saw British attack during the American Revolutionary War, though several Pepperell men fought at the Old North Bridge during the Battle of Concord, and a British spy was captured by women on guard at the site of the Pepperell covered bridge (see Prudence Wright). William Prescott, a resident of Pepperell, served as the commander at the Battle of Bunker Hill in what is now the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston.

By 1837, when the population was 1,586, Pepperell had three paper mills, one of which was managed by Warren F. Daniell. It also produced palm leaf hats, boots and shoes.

In 1848, the Worcester & Nashua Railroad was built through East Pepperell along the Nashua River as part of a through route from Worcester to Portland. In 1886 the line became part of the Boston & Maine Railroad, who continued to operate trains to Worcester and Nashua, as well as connections to Portland, Maine, and beyond.

Pepperell was also a station on the Boston & Maine's Milford Branch between Squannacook Junction and Milford, New Hampshire. In 1938, the Milford Branch was abandoned from Pepperell to South Milford. Trains continued to operate as far as Pepperell until 1941, when the tracks to Squannacook Junction were also abandoned, leaving Pepperell's paper mill without direct rail service. To correct this, a trestle bridge and rail connection were built from the B&M's WN&P line over the Nashua River, so that freights could still serve the mill.

Also in 1941, the WN&P line between Hollis, New Hampshire, and Nashua was abandoned; the railroad therefore renamed the remaining segment, from Ayer, Massachusetts, through East Pepperell, the "Hollis Branch". Freight service, primarily to the mill, was provided by the B&M with a local freight out of Ayer until 1981. The Hollis Branch was abandoned in 1982, mainly because of poor track conditions, and the tracks themselves were pulled up in 1984.

The Pepperell town library, the Lawrence Library, was designed by architects Ernest Flagg and Walter B. Chambers, and built in 1901. On June 29, 2009, the people of Pepperell voted "yes" on a Proposition 2½ override, effectively saving operations of the Lawrence Library, Senior Center, and Community Center. The override helped fill a $1.3 million budget shortfall for fiscal year 2010.

One of only three covered bridges on public Massachusetts roads that are open to vehicular traffic (and the only one east of the Connecticut River) is on Groton Street in Pepperell. The current bridge officially opened on July 30, 2010, replacing the aging Chester H. Waterous Bridge which was closed to vehicles on April 7, 2008, and demolished beginning July 30, 2008. It took two years to build the new covered bridge.

Adapted (trimmed) from the Wikipedia article Pepperell, Massachusetts, revision 1377362213 by its contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.