Academy Hill – Cutler

[from Main west to Woodbury road – as listed in the 1916 Price & Lee City Directory]

Academy Hill no longer connects directly to Main Street. The eastern end of this street begins at the upper entrance of the Watertown Library parking lot and it ends at The Green. Named for the Academy building, which was built by Christ Church in 1846 as a private school, it has served Watertown in a variety of secular and religious ways as Watertown’s first library and housing Christ Church’s parish hall. Over the years, the building has also been used by the Red Cross, the public school system, church and community organizations, sewing groups, scouts, and for plays and recitals.  The Academy continues today as the business office for Taft School.

Residents of Academy Hill include: Russell S. Beers (1808-1893), John Boak (1928-2011), Catherine M. (Woodruff) Callender (1847-1941), Dwight C. Callender (1842-1900), Gordon Buckland Hurlburt (1923-2006), Mary Phelps Jacob (1866-), Peter Nissen Lund (1873-1955), Mary A. Merriman (1836-1919), Merrit Heminway Merriman (1877-1964), Walter Seward Munger (1829-1918), Ruth Edna (Lund) Rose (1924-2006), Alanson Warren (1793-1858), Michael J. Zambero (1913-1974).

[from Main at Methodist Church east to junc Thomaston road and Nova Scotia Hill – as listed in the 1916 Price & Lee City Directory]

The road currently known as U.S. Route 6 is actually several “streets” in Watertown. The portion that climbs Nova Scotia Hill heading east from Main Street is known as Cutler Street. The name appears on maps dating from the 1850s.

In earlier days, the name of the road was often just someone who lived there. So Cutler Street was most likely named after one of these Cutler men. Which do you think it is – Younglove or his son, Leman?