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History of Land Development in Waltham, Mass.
Surveys of Land Development in the City of Waltham 1630 to Present
13. Spruce and Crescent Street Area
Some of the area north of the Scott/Emerson/Pike lot on the west side of Moody Street, including the house lots on the south side of Spruce Street, had been part of the Seth Bemis Farm (purchased from Bradshaw Stearns in 1846), and then part of the land owned by the watch company, as shown on the Doan Plan of 1854. However, north of this, and up to the river, was land owned by the Boston Manufacturing Company on the north, by Seth Bemis on the west, and by Bradshaw Stearns in between. Unfortunately, not enough consistent information appears to be provided in the deeds to confidently plot the exact location of the various boundaries. In 1847, Stearns and Bemis sold their land to Samuel B. Whitney (MLR 509/319 and 527/250, in which Bemis' land was called part of the "Corey farm, so called"); and, in the same year, the BMC sold its land to Nathaniel Maynard and Joseph Corey (MLR 524/134). Whitney, Maynard, and Corey then combined their lots in 1848 (MLR 527/252 and 253). This is basically the land encompassed by today's Crescent, Spruce, and Moody Streets. Interestingly, Crescent Street appears to have been called "Bemis Street" in the deeds, and Moody Street appears to have been called "Newton Street". On the part of the 1854 map showing Waltham village, "Crescent Street" appeared to follow today's Crescent Street only to today's Adams Street, and then down Adams Street to the old Deacon Joseph Fuller/Bemis/Corey farmhouse. However, today's Crescent Street, going by the Watch Factory, was shown on the part of 1854 map of the village outskirts, so the map was probably compiled just as the Watch Factory was being initially constructed. Whitney, Maynard, and Corey, then sold off house lots on their land. The house lot, which stood 100 feet west of Moody Street along the south side of Crescent Street, was sold to Charles H. Kendall in 1848 (MLR 525/232, Lot No. 11 in the plan drawn by Arad Moore in 1847), and the Kendall house was shown at this location on the 1854 map, and the current lot boundaries for No. 24 Crescent Street are still very similar to those given in the deed, although the original house is gone. Samuel B. Whitney was, at one time, the president of the Waltham Bank (Waltham Free Press, July 3, 1885) and his house was shown next to Charles Kendall's on Crescent Street, as they looked in 1855, in the 1885 Waltham Free Press article.
Land developed by Maynard, Corey, and Whitney: Lot No. 1 from Seth Bemis to Samuel B. Whitney, 1847; Lot No. 2 from Bradshaw Stearns to Samuel B. Whitney; Lot No. 3 from Boston Manufacturing Company to Nathaniel Maynard and Joseph Corey, 1847 (base map from OpenStreetMap, boundaries are uncertain).