1855     PARK SQUARE, 1855.  When the Second Meeting House was built in 1793, it had been decided to cut down the elm to provide needed space. Lucretia Williams protested vehemently, hanging on to the tree and refusing to move for the axmen. The problem was solved by her husband who arranged to have the church built a little farther north in exchange for the donation of land just to the south of the tree to be used ass a common space. It was many years, however, before the familiar elliptical shape of Park Square appeared. In 1825, led by Edward A. Newton (the Williamses’ son-in-law_), a citizens’ committee fenced in the area and laid out the roads around it, also planting the trees. In 1829, Pittsfield’s first public sidewalks were created around the park. The elm was taken down in 1863 when it could no longer sustain life.
Posted By: Administrator - 07-13-2008
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