Old stone Somerville boundary posts

[ron_newman]

A century or more ago, Somerville and Medford installed stone pillars at various locations to mark the boundary between the two cities. While planning the Somerville Bicycle Committee's upcoming Edge of the City Tour on October 13, I looked around for these markers -- both on the Web and on foot around the Tufts University campus.

So far, I've found seven of them, which I've plotted on a Google map. The map includes links to a photo of each marker -- one by Georgy Cohen (georgy), two by David Maze (dzm), one by Elizabeth Bolton, and three by me. Typically, the markers have S etched on one side, M on another side, and the marker number on a third side (or sometimes the same side as S or M). ETA 10/5/12: Thanks to your comments here, the map now has 10 markers, with more coming soon.

If you've seen one that isn't on my map, please comment here so that I can add it! I'd especially like to know if any markers remain for the Somerville-Cambridge or Somerville-Boston (Charlestown) borders.

Here's my photo of one on the west side of Packard Avenue, next to the Tufts tennis courts. (Click on the photo to see a larger version.)

Comments

[ron_newman]

A number of Cambridge houses front on Elm and Russell Streets. The houses and (most of?) the yards are in Cambridge, but the sidewalk and street are in Somerville. Congressman Tip O'Neill lived in one of these houses, and he had to pay some property tax to both cities.

I think residents of these houses have special arrangements to put both Cambridge and Somerville parking permits on their cars, with one city's permits restricted to just that one street. There are similar issues on Line Street, and I think also on Harris Street and White Street.

The city line runs for a few blocks along several streets west of Tufts University -- Curtis Street, Hillsdale Road, and North Streets. Houses on one side are in Somerville , houses on the other in Medford, and I'm not sure which city controls the street itself.

[josephineave.livejournal.com]

The "split by the border" problem is pretty common. I looked at a house on Beacon with the driveway in Cambridge. I think the Globe did an article about these places with a special emphasis on school districts. Where the kids actually slept determined what school they could go to.

There are also some houses on Boston Ave in Medford that have Somerville mailing addresses, but they are 100% in Medford. And they have 781 area codes as well.

[ron_newman]

This Boston Globe article, from 1998? It is about a townhouse duplex condo building which is split, one unit on Shea Road on Cambridge, the other on Kingston Street in Somerville. (You will need a Minuteman Library Network card number to read the full text.)

[josephineave.livejournal.com]

I have a good memory, but I don't think the article was 14 years ago. I'm thinking in the last 3 to 4 years.

[ron_newman]

I found it here in the Globe archives, published December 26, 2004. That's behind the Globe paywall, but fortunately someone reposted it to a Usenet group, which anyone can read for free.