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NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
A-WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED-TO-THE BEST: INTERESTS:OF THENORTHSHORE 
Vol. I. No. 24 
BEVERLY, MASS., SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1904 
Three Cents 
AN OLD LANDMARK, 
Powder House Hill in Manchester, One of the 
Points of Historic Interest on the North 
Shore. 
To the lover of the historic there is 
no more interesting spot along the 
whole North Shore than Powder 
House hill in Manchester, shown in 
the accompanying picture. The hillis 
one of the old landmarks along this 
section of the coast. From the day 
that William Allen and his little band 
of settlers sailed down the shore from 
Salem and landed in Manchester till 
today the hill has served as a land- 
mark for mariners passing along the 
coast. 
Almost 100 years ago, when the 
easterly side of the hill was bare of 
trees, the powder house was built and 
stood in prominence on the crest of 
the hill. With a background of green 
foliage the little structure loomed up 
almost asa lighthouse to the sailors in 
the bay. Of late years, however, the 
shrubs and trees have grown up to 
such an extent that it is now almost 
hidden from view. 
Meanwhile the little town of Man- 
chester, advancing with the times, has 
introduced a system of water supply, 
and on Powder House hill, in 1891, 
a 75-foot stand-pipe was erected, and 
now the hil] stands out more prom- 
inently than it ever did before. 
slightly discernible in the accompany~ 
ing picture, carries with it considera~ 
ble of historic significance. 
Deacon Albert E. Low, Manches- 
ter’s beloved oldest citizen, in talking 
with the BREEZE man about it yester- 
day said the powder house was built 
in 1809, the year after he was born. 
‘‘ The law provided,” said he, ‘“ that 
every town should have a powder 
house, where powder and cartridges 
could be stored. And it had to be 
built where, in case of an explosion, 
it would do the least damage. That 
is why it was built on Powder House 
hill. 
“‘T remember when a boy of hear- 
ing the men talk of what a terrible 
A PICTURESQUE VIEW OF MANCHESTER HARBOR, SHOWING POWDER HOUSE HILL. 
Within the past century the hill has 
been particularly well set out from 
the surrounding hills because of the 
little brick building which was erected 
there in the early part of the last cen- 
tury and because of the stand-pipe 
erected there a little over ten years 
ago. 
Just as the trader in passing along 
the coast 200 years ago used the hill 
to aid them in obtaining their bearings, 
so now the yachtsmen, racing off the 
shore, take the stand-pipe as a mark 
to keep them in their course. 
The old powder house, hidden by 
the trees on the crest of the hill, but 
time Co]. David Colby had in getting 
the brick up the hill in order to build 
the house. He made a bag which 
fitted over the shoulders of his son, 
and with this the poor boy carried all 
the brick up the steep hill. 
“The powder house was never used 
to any extent. We didn’t have to use 
