New Bedford Streets; A Piece of Americana: Coggeshall Street

Welcome to our seventh installment of New Bedford Streets; A Piece of Americana. I invite you to read up on the history behind William Street, Kempton Street, Middle Street, Centre Street. Ashley Boulevard and Elm Street. As usual, I’d like to re-iterate the importance of reader feedback, correction, and contributions.

In the process of exploring these streets, I try to confirm or validate statements and dates by finding multiple sources. Unfortunately, if all those sources are making their statement based on an older, incorrect source, and there isn’t any dissenting information available, there’s no way to know otherwise. So by all means, please join in.

In addition, when trying to validate some statements, often there is very little to no information available. I haven’t decided which is worse – finding one source, or finding multiple sources, but not knowing if they were all based on an inaccuracy. So help from local historians, those who remember, oral histories and anecdotes handed down through the generations, people with private collections, and even know-it-alls help!

Coggeshall, Coxsall, de Coggeshall
Coggeshall Street is one of those streets I have driven up and down perhaps thousands of times. It’s so familiar that I don’t realize it’s a rather odd sounding name until family or friends from out of town or state visit and mention it. What’s a “Kawg-shawl?” they usually ask. I correct their pronunciation and tell them “I haven’t the faintest beyond it likely being a surname.”

Is it a Hall that was popular and frequently visited and named in tribute to the “Cogges” family? It’s not rare for two words that commonly follow one another to eventually become compounded or even corrupted. For example, Fairhaven-ites have “Sconticanek” for Sconticut Neck. The mouth of rivers when used are slurred into a compound. How do we know someone isn’t local? They will say “Dart Mouth”, with each half been distinctly sounded out, instead of “Dartmyth.” Or they will say “War-cess-ster” instead of “Wusstuh.”

So I began my search for the origins of the name by beginning with its etymology to be on the safe side. That segued into ninety minutes of Anglo-Saxon, Celtic and Roman linguistics and a sizable debate from scholars which I’ll forgo since it is beyond the scope of this article. For some of you it may even be a form of suffering! Suffice it to say that no one agrees on what a “Coggeshall” is. However, most agree that the Anglo-Saxon healh, meaning a nook or hollow, most likely makes up the second part of the name. As was common in earlier times, people began to use the town, hamlet or village they were born or worked in as a surname. Often, it would be a shortened version of where they were from, so Bill of Bedford, would become Bill Bedford. It has been in use in England since the 11th century in its many variants, such as Coxall, Cogshall, Gogshall, and even de Coggeshall. Coggeshall is a town in Essex, England and for practical purposes our story will start there.

Coggeshall, Essex, England
The market town of Coggeshall is located in the southeast of England. This small town, barely 4,000 residents strong has a history going back thousands of years. It’s more prudent if we remain on topic and focus on its relatively recent history. Important to our Coggeshall street is a John, son of John and Ann (Butter) Coggeshall that lived there. We won’t bog the story down with the particulars, but John, and much of his family were some of the Puritans that left England for the New World to escape persecution. He arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1632 aboard the same ship that brought Roger Williams only a year before,the Lyon.

While John’s story is actually a darn interesting one, we would need a number of articles to cover him. Being impractical, we’ll just acknowledge that this particular fellow served on a number of committees, and held a variety of offices, including selectman, and deputy to the general court of Boston. Eventually he relocated to Newport, Rhode Island at the suggestion of Roger Williams. There he assumed many leadership roles, such as treasurer, assistant to the governor, and helped form the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in 1647. That same year he became chief magistrate of the colony and named its President. He was a central character in the development the two colonies he spent his life in, Massachusetts Bay and Rhode Island in general and specifically that of Newport, Portsmouth, and Boston. Only fitting from a man whose family name is one of the oldest in English heraldry.

Descendants of John Coggeshall
Thus we have the first Coggeshall to come to the New World. Here is the kind of guy that certainly garners memorials and tributes. Of course, “our” Coggeshall Street isn’t called “John Coggeshall Street” as there were descendants of his that did some pretty darn big things as well. His son Joshua was responsible for developing Quakerism in Rhode Island. Another John was under the command of Captain Thomas Kempton in August 1775.

A George Coggeshall wrote “Voyages to Various Parts of the World Made Between the Years 1799 and 1844” and served during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. This particular George also married Sarah Breck Pierpont, who was an antecedent of oil tycoon John Pierpont Morgan. Yes, that J.P. Morgan. Another descendant were superintendents of the New Bedford Board of Trade, remodeling and enlarging the pumping facility built in 1864 near the street that would take their name. Another John Coggeshall was on the board of directors for the Merchants National Bank from 1825-1844. A Haydon Coggeshall was one of many who helped incorporate the NBIS/Vistor’s Center.

The Coggeshalls had a farm “…beginning at Clark’s Point and following the County road to the head of the river.” Specifically on a strip of land “from the south side of Linden Street northwardly to the Russel Farm.” To try to list all of the Coggeshalls, their accomplishments, achievements, and contributions to the region in general and New Bedford specifically would take volumes. Suffice it to say, their surname was at a minimum worth having a street named after them!

In essence, the street is a tribute to a family that not only helped the New World get its legs, but helped it grow and prosper. However, it started right there with John of Coggeshall, Essex, England. The street was named in tribute of an important family that began with John Coggeshall, who in turn took his surname in tribute of his beloved hometown back in Essex, England.

The Street Itself
Howland Street in Fairhaven becomes Coggeshall Street once it hits the Coggeshall Street Bridge. In spite of this people in Fairhaven still call this lower section of Howland, Coggeshall Street. The Fairhaven Mills hosted the Bennett Manufacturing Company built in 1891, the Colombia Spinning Co. built in 1892, and the New England Cotton Yarn Co. established in 1899. These all came under the umbrella of “The Fairhaven Mills” in 1917. Alas, these mills were torn down in 2009. Many consider Coggeshall street to be a modern strip where McDonald’s, Subway, Petro Mart, and other modern establishments have replaced all the historical ones, however believe it or not there’s still plenty of history!

Also historical is the Fournier Building and Antonio’s both built in 1910, the Clifford School Building built in 1900, the End Zone building in 1895, and many of the residential homes were built in the 1890s and earlier, with a residential home at 443 Coggeshall built in 1854 that is the oldest building on the street.

Finally, a disclaimer. I don’t pretend to be an historical scholar that is particularly knowledgeable of the local history. Especially in comparison with some of the people I rub shoulders with on a day to day basis that continually wow me with their walking encyclopedic knowledge of the region. My objective with this series (and the coming series) is to stimulate some enough interest that people dig a bit deeper, ask more questions, and hopefully return to these articles and make corrections and additions. 😉

Coggeshall Street Timeline
1670s: A garrison was built just north of the Coggeshall Bridge that is mentioned being used during the King Philip’s War.
1854: Oldest building on Coggeshall Street that stills stands is built at 443 Coggeshall.
1869: Pump Station at Purchase and Coggeshall is built.
1884: Pump Station is remodeled and enlarged.
1891: Bennett Manufacturing opens at what is to become the Fairhaven Mills.
1892: The Coggeshall Street bridge is built. Colombia Spinning Company opens at what is to become the Fairhaven Mills.
1899: New England Cotton Yarn Co. at what is to become the Fairhaven Mills.
1900: Clifford School Built.
1917: Mills that house many companies are dubbed The Fairhaven Mills.
1974: Route 195 is built. E.C. Sherman Electric (old pump station) is demolished.
1992: People on the Coggeshall Bridge protest plan to incinerate waste generated by the harbor clean up.
Marchers are whipped by wind yesterday on the Coggeshall Street Bridge, as they protest plans to incinerate toxic waste generated by the cleanup of New Bedford Harbor.
1993: Police strip search controversy on Route 18 near Coggeshall.
2009: Fairhaven Mills torn down.

Special thanks to Spinner Publications and the New Bedford Whaling Museum for the images.

1. Coggeshall Street 1927 by Spinner Publications.
2. Fishing on the Coggeshall Bridghe in 1938 by Spinner Publications.
3. Coggeshall Bridge in 1945 by Spinner Publications.
4. Cawley Stadium 1952 by Spinner Publications.
5. Protesting plans to incinerate toxic waste from cleanup of New Bedford Harbor by Spinner Publications.
6. Aerial shot of Coggeshall Bridge and bay by Spinner Publications.
7. Boniface Church on Coggeshall and Purchase by Spinner Publications.
8. Coggeshall Bridge by Spinner Publications.
9. Fairhaven Mills by Spinner Publications.
10. Protection Society testing the pumpr by Spinner Publications.
11. Coggeshall Bridge by Spinner Publications.
12. Coggeshall Street northwest corner of Grandfield by the N.B. Whaling Museum
13. Coggeshall House, original house of Methodistsby the N.B. Whaling Museum
14. Wooded area once upon a time near Coggeshall Street by the N.B. Whaling Museum
15. Bradford Coggeshall house in Westport by the N.B. Whaling Museum
16. Caroline Spooner Coggeshall by the N.B. Whaling Museum
17. Coggeshall Street looking eastward by the N.B. Whaling Museum
18. Family Liquor Store on Coggeshall by the N.B. Whaling Museum
19. Thomas Coggeshall by the N.B. Whaling Museum
20. Waterfront shot south of the Coggeshall Bridge by the N.B. Whaling Museum

If more information is desired on the Coggeshall family, here is a genealogical list that is pretty exhaustive.