Historical Profile: Elizur Wright

The Middlesex Fells Reservation is one of the most popular parks in the greater Boston area.  The Fells Reservation encompasses 2,500 acres in five different cities and towns: Malden, Medford, Melrose, Stoneham, and Winchester. 

The Fells is home to several natural and historic features that make it a unique place: a mountain bike loop, hiking trails, ponds, reservoirs, two observation towers, Panther Cave, Virginia Wood history trail, Stone Zoo, historic houses, the Cascade waterfall, and other recreational components.

Wright’s Tower, is one of the observation towers in the Middlesex Fells Reservation.  The tower, which is located in Medford, Massachusetts, offers a scenic view of the surrounding area, including the Boston skyline.  The tower is named after Elizur Wright (1804-1885).

Wright was born near Canaan, Connecticut into a family that instilled in him anti-slavery sentiments.  In 1826 Wright graduated from Yale University.  Three years after graduating, Wright became a mathematics professor at Western Reserve College in Ohio.  In 1833, Wright and a group of abolitionists co-founded the American Anti-Slavery Society.  Wright became the national secretary of the organization.  He would later become the editor of the Massachusetts Abolitionist newspaper.

From 1858 until 1866 Wright served as the Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner.  In this position, Wright developed the principal legislation for the concept of life insurance.

Wright, who is commonly referred to as the “Father of Life Insurance,” helped to enact the Public Domain Act – which allowed cities and towns to preserve and establish forests.  Wright was an early advocate of Five Mile Wood – the precursor to the Middlesex Fells Reservation.  As early as 1869, Wright recommended that Five Mile Wood should become a public park for the metropolitan Boston area.  He was also an advocate for the creation of special natural history schools.      

In recognition of Wright’s advocacy work on behalf of the Fells Reservation, an observation tower was named in his honor.  The tower was originally built in 1932 and it was rededicated in 2008.  There is a plaque on the inside of the tower which says:  “In Honor of Elizur Wright: The years of whose unceasing labor was the natural foundation of the Metropolitan Park System, and whose aim was that the Middlesex Fells should be forever preserved as a People’s Forest Park.”

Elizur Wright was an abolitionist, editor, life insurance advocate, mathematician, and an ardent supporter of land preservation.  Although Wright died before the modern-day Middlesex Fells Reservation was established, he initiated early preservation for the land that would eventually become the Fells.  His diligence and passion were the seeds that gave rise to preserving public land in the greater Boston area.  Today, we should understand the value of public land and work to ensure that places like the Fells are preserved for the future.