Eagle Feathers #252 – The North Coast

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

The City of Medford makes up most of the northern border of Somerville and is one of the oldest settlements in the United States. She was originally known as Mistick or Meadford on ancient maps. Her founding in 1630 was the same year as our capital City of Boston and was two years after the 1628 settlement of Charlestown/Somerville.

Through the years, the Mystic River’s boundary, which has separated the two sister cities for close to 400 years, has shared many historical occurrences:

• Thatcher Magoun, the father of shipbuilding on the Mystic, was a young carpenter picnicking atop Winter Hill when he envisioned his future unfolding below him. His prophecy produced 84 sailing ships which he built near Medford Square. His Clipper Ships romanticized the Mystic.
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• Medford resident Amelia Earhart was the first female to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She departed on June 17, 1928, Bunker Hill Day. In her honor, a parade began in Magoun Square and ended in Medford Square. Somerville’s largest memorial is the Amelia Earhart Dam at Assembly Square.
• Longfellow’s spirited poem, Paul Revere’s Ride, reminds us of the horseman’s ride that bridged two historic days. Revere would later go on to leave many more hoof prints in Medford and Somerville. He is said to have had a shine for Medford’s famous rum.
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• Lydia Maria Child’s Thanksgiving poem, Over the River and Through the Woods, refers to the Mystic River and a horse-drawn sleigh trip made through the woods on the Medford/Somerville line.
• James Pierpont wrote the song Jingle Bells after watching sleigh races near the Mystic River’s shore. The route was from Medford Square to Malden.
• Massachusetts first Governor John Winthrop’s 600-acre Ten Hills farm was split between both Somerville and Medford. It was here, which is now Assembly Square, that he built the first ship in New England, The Blessing of the Bay, which was born on the Fourth of July, 1631.
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• Years ago, a Magoun Square restaurant straddled the city line. You could order an alcoholic beverage in either city but could only drink it in Somerville.
• The first bridge in our area was the Cradock Bridge built in 1637. It crossed the Mystic River at Medford Square. Today, a future foot bridge is in the planning stage to be built across the Mystic from Assembly Row to the Encore Casino in Everett.
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• Every year in sports, the Somerville Highlanders try to rankle the Medford Mustangs, and the Mustangs try to upset the Highlanders.

Tufts University was named after and built on land donated by Somerville’s Charles Tufts. Today’s campus bridges both cities. In 1974, there was an inferno at the P.T. Barnum Museum housed on the Tufts campus. Both Medford and Somerville firefighters tried in vain to save the college’s giant, stuffed elephant mascot, Jumbo. Sadly, there is only a surviving “tale” to tell.