Frye Village Fridays: Frank Hardy (pt.5): Was there anything he didn't do?
Frye Village Fridays: Frank Hardy (pt.5): Was there anything he didn't do?
By History Buzz Guest Writer Gail Ralston
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At the risk of overextending Frank Hardy’s welcome, we’re offering one more glimpse into his life, a glimpse that shows just how far-reaching his interests were.
Frank Herbert Hardy must have liked being with people!
The social part certainly drew him to many different activities. In addition to his political ambitions, we previously learned that he strongly “upheld the principles of the Republican Party,” even being chair of the Town’s group and supporting local Republican candidates. He also volunteered as Campaign Manager to former Selectman Andrew McTernan, who ran for State Representative on the Republican side in 1908.
Hardy ran an ad in the Townsman urging citizens to,
“vote early and see that your neighbor votes and (by the way) vote the full Republican ticket.”
McTernan won, but McTernan’s business obligations limited that service to one term.
West Parish Church
Hardy and his parents, Charles and Elizabeth, became members of the West Parish Church in September, 1892.
As an adult Frank Hardy served as one of the Church Deacons and as Church Assessor, a position he held until his death in 1946. His keen eye for details and his way with minding dollars put him on the West Parish Church Cemetery Committee in 1908 (an apparently very busy year for our Mr. Hardy with also his first attempted run as Selectman) on which he became actively involved in the restoration and improvement of the West Parish Cemetery. Other members of the Committee included Granville Cutler, Arthur Boutwell, Peter D. Smith and William Trow. Cutler and Boutwell were also Assessors.
The West Parish Garden Cemetery
The cemetery - and selling plots - fell under the jurisdiction of the West Parish Assessors. By 1904, they knew that the cemetery was running out of space and began to consider the possibilities of expansion.
In came William Wood (president of the American Woolen Company and creator of the Shawsheen Village planned community in Andover), who generously offered to fund their plans.
But first they needed more property.
Wood got the ball rolling with the gift of a deed of land for this enlargement. To address the full plans, however, the space necessitated the purchase and moving of six parcels of land and properties covering 50 acres that were already held in that area by several owners, including Mr. Hardy himself.
Records show Hardy and wife Edith sold to the church a small parcel of land south of the Church building and east of Reservation Road so that the vestry and horse sheds could be moved over from the west side. The Hardy home was moved one-half mile east down Lowell Street to the north side of the road at 129 Lowell. These and other transactions were approved by the Church Building Committee after Wood had approached them with ideas for further cemetery additions.
It is quite probable that Wood’s dealings with Hardy during these negotiations created Wood’s later confidence in Hardy’s ability to manage the Wood mill properties in Shawsheen Village.
Frank Hardy & the development of Shawsheen Village
Hardy, having moved his brush business to Shawsheen in 1910, was given the responsibility by Wood of building all of Wood’s mills, the administration building and the power house for the new village. It was probably no coincidence that Hardy’s brush factory was right between the power house and the administration building. In fact, an underground walkway still extends under Haverhill Street between those structures.
(Of note is that Granville Cutler, on the Church Assessors and Cemetery Committees with Hardy, went on to be hired as Purchase Agent for the American Woolen Company.)
What didn’t Frank Hardy do?
While all of his church activities were going on, Hardy filled his social time - and his civic time - at St. Matthew’s Lodge, the Indian Ridge Lodge, the Royal Arcanum, and the Andover Grange.
He even signed on as a Justice of the Peace. While most think of one in this position as performing weddings, by law a Justice of the Peace can preside over a court that hears misdemeanor cases, traffic violations, and other petty criminal infractions. The Justice of the Peace may also have authority over cases involving small debts, landlord and tenant disputes, or other small court proceedings. (When did the man have the time?)
The Masons and The Selectmen
An interesting fact about members of St. Matthew’s Masonic Lodge - particularly given Hardy’s service as Selectman - was that, at one time, 30% of Town Selectmen held memberships in Masonic Lodges.
The one-time Square and Compass Club, located at the corner of High and Elm Streets, was both a meeting hall and center of civic discussion. Long-time Moderator Jim Doherty shared a once popularly-held belief,
“Decisions on town government were made Saturday night at the Square and Compass Club, finalized at South Church the next morning, and executed at the Selectmen’s meeting Monday night.”
The passing of Frank H. Hardy
Frank Hardy’s commitment to his faith, his family and his friends was certainly admirable. His death in 1946 was mourned by the Town. Burial was in West Parish Cemetery for which he had done so much. Employees of the Hardy Brush Company attended the funeral “in a body.”
A special prayer, written by Mr. Hardy for a town Christmas party many years previously, was read by West Church Pastor Emeritus Rev. Newman Matthews:
As I come to the end of another year,
With memories that burn and sear the mind,
Conjuring shapes from out of the dark unknown:
The ghosts of things I fain would leave behind,
I pray that God will help me to forget,
And teach me to be kind.
And should I, journeying throughout the year,
Meet envy, bitterness and jealous mind,
Or see the struggles of a darkened soul,
Striving to inure, and to honor blind,
Yet may I pray, God help me to forget,
And teach me to be kind.
Then! Though I’ve tried to play the game of life,
As taught by Him who suffered for mankind,
Yet see unselfish giving only bring
A cross; and hatred in the soul I find,
Still may I pray, God help me to forget,
And teach me to be kind.
F.H.H.
Thank you for reading the five parts of the Frank Hardy and Hardy Brush story. Along the way, we explored family, business, civic, social, and community life. If you’ve read Robert D. Putnam landmark 2000 book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, Frank Hardy’s life and commitment to family and community is something to consider.
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