From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Mother Brook
Mother Brook
Mother Brook cials in March 1639. Thus a ditch, approximately 4,000 ft
(1,200 m) long, was dug from the Charles River to East
Origin Charles River Brook, creating what is called Mother Brook today.
Mouth Neponset River Town officials also offered an incentive of a 60 acres
(24 ha) of land to whoever would construct a corn mill.
Basin countries United States
The first corn mill was erected in 1641 by John Elderkin,
at a dam on East Brook in what is now considered East
An article in the Dedham. The mill operated for about 250 years. Other
History of Dedham
mills erected on the Mother Brook by 1800 included a
series
second corn mill, a fulling mill, a saw mill, and a leather
• 1635–1792 mill.
• 1793–1999
• 2000–present
• TV and film Industrialization of Mother
Topics
Brook
• Fisher Ames Eventually, dams and mills were constructed at five loca-
• Louis D. Brandeis
• Samuel Dexter tions called "privileges" in Dedham and in what is now
• Fairbanks House the Readville section of Boston (originally part of Ded-
• Jonathan Fairbanks ham). Mother Brook provided water power at various
• Jason Fairbanks times for industrial mills of several types, for the manu-
• Horace Mann
facture of cotton, wool, paper, wire, and carpets. There
• Mother Brook
• Old Avery Oak Tree were mills operating on Mother Brook until some time
• Sacco and Vanzetti in the 20th century. At least one mill located on Mother
• Horse Thief Society Brook was converted from water power to steam as an
energy source, but continued to use the Brook for cooling
Mother Brook is the modern name for a stream that flows the steam machinery. None of the mills remains in oper-
from the Charles River in Dedham, Massachusetts, to the ation today.
Neponset River in the Hyde Park section of Boston, Mass- At least two of the former mill buildings remain in-
achusetts. Mother Brook was also known variously as tact and in use, one as a warehouse and one as part of a
East Brook and Mill Brook in earlier times. The man- condominium development.
made portion of Mother Brook is considered to have been
the first canal in America dug by English settlers. Mother
Brook was important to Dedham as its only source of wa-
Conflict with Charles River
ter power for mills, from 1639 into the early 20th centu- Mills
ry.
Just as Dedham became industrialized and increasingly
dependent on its water power for its economic activity,
Origins so did other communities in the Charles River valley. This
Dedham was first settled in 1635. The settlers needed a led to conflict between the mills on Mother Brook and
mill where corn could be ground. Although the initial set- those using the Charles River downstream from the di-
tlement was adjacent to the Charles River, the Charles in version to Mother Brook. As early as 1767, mill owners
this vicinity is slow-moving, with little elevation change in Newton and Watertown petitioned officials for relief
that could provide power for a water wheel. But a small from the Mother Brook diversion. Because water divert-
stream, then called East Brook, had an elevation change ed from the Charles River through Mother Brook in-
of more than 40 ft (12 m) on its run from near the early creased the flow in lower sections of the Neponset River,
Dedham settlement to the Neponset River. Someone in mill owners on the Neponset joined with the Mother
the Town recognized that water could be diverted from Brook mill owners in their defense of the diversion. After
the Charles to East Brook to provide the needed water several lawsuits and legislative actions, the dispute was
flow. Construction of the ditch was ordered by town offi- finally settled by an agreement among the mill owners,
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Mother Brook
in December 1831. This agreement established that one-
third of the Charles River flow would be diverted to
References
Mother Brook, and two-thirds would remain in the • "Historical Sketch of Mill Creek, or Mother Brook,
Charles for use by downstream owners. Dedham, Mass.," by Erastus Worthington, Dedham,
Mass., October 25, 1900
• Steinberg, Theodore, Nature Incorporated, University
Mother Brook today of Massachusetts Press, 1991
Today, Mother Brook is part of a flood-control system • "Men of Useful Trades, Craftsmen and Mills of the
that diverts water from the Charles River to the Neponset Dedham Grant, 1636-1840," by Electa Kane Tritsch,
River. The brook’s flow is under the control of the Mass- Dedham Grant Survey Project, 1981
achusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. • "Dedham, Massachusetts, 1635-1890," by Robert
There are three remaining dams on the stream, plus a Brand Hanson, 1976, Dedham Historical Society
movable flood gate that controls flow from the Charles
into Mother Brook.
External links
• Current and historical data on flow in Mother Brook
Notes
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mother_Brook&oldid=453212554"
Categories:
• Dedham, Massachusetts
• Charles River
• Neponset River
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