Chelmsford’s Fabric

Early History

Stephen Pierce was a blacksmith and owned this land in 1813. He built the two-family house two doors over at 1-3 North Road. There was a blacksmith shop out back, where the red building is located today. He also built the house you see here next door at 11 North Road. His barn was located about where the former bank drive through is today.

In 1840 Stephen Pierce sold land from here over to Fletcher Street, to Hildreth Dutton, a butcher by trade. Dutton lived here at 11 North Road and built a slaughterhouse about where the yellow building is behind this lot.

Centre School

By 1851, the 48‑year‑old one‑room schoolhouse across the common could no longer hold its growing number of students. Hildreth Dutton sold this small piece of land to the Town for construction of a new school. The Centre School opened here in 1851, and the town converted the 1802 schoolhouse into a garage for the hearse.

Center School struggled to hold all its students by 1886. To add more space:

• The town removed the separate entries for boys’ and girls’ and took down the front porch.
• Builders added a tower and placed the former Chelmsford Academy bell in its belfry.
• Workers added new classrooms and staircases in the rear, reducing the space where the kids could play.

By 1908, students’ use of the Common as a playground had beaten it down. Two warrant articles in 1909 to purchase 3/4 of an acre of land behind the school from owner James P. Emerson failed.

In 1917, the town transferred all high school students to the brand‑new building at 50 Billerica Road. That change cleared up more space for grammar school students at Centre School. In 1926, the town transferred all the remaining students to the new grammar school on Wilson Street. The town later named that school in honor of teacher Susan McFarlin.

Abandoned Site

A fire station study committee urged the town to convert the empty Centre School into a fire station. Town meeting shot this idea down in 1927, and the town auctioned off the building for salvage in 1928. One account claims it sat derelict on this site until 1934, when officials condemned it.

In 1945 the town meeting allocated money for the design of two new fire stations, one on this site and one in North Chelmsford. The town appointed a study committee, and in 1946 a motion at town meeting sought to appropriate $100,000 to construct and equip the two firehouses it recommended, but voters rejected the motion.

Center Fire Station

By 1950 the pressure was building to acquire a new fire station for the Center, helped along by termites that had infested the foundation of the shed they were using out in back of Town Hall. Finally, in 1952, the town accepted the building committee’s report and appropriated $80,000 for designing, constructing, and equipping a fire station on this site. The town completed and occupied the new building in 1953.

Fifty‑six years later, in 2009, officials argued that Center Fire Station had reached the end of its useful life. A building committee worked diligently to find a site that would suit Fire Department needs and a budget that the Town would be willing to support.

Empty Site to Public Garden

Construction began on the new Center Fire Station at 50 Billerica Road in 2013, and the town dedicated it in 2014. The town demolished the old fire station on this site in 2015 and appointed a 7‑North Road Committee to determine the best use for the property. The Chelmsford Garden Club had the winning proposal for use of the site and originated the name. As a committee member, I am proud to have played a part in the creation of this beautiful space.