Freeman Ballard Shedd (December 29, 1844 – March 11, 1913)

Freeman Ballard Shedd was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, December 29, 1844, the son of John and Asenath Shedd. Freeman was one of five children born to the Shedds and one of the three who survived infancy. His brother Joshua died at the age of three months from "cholera infantum" and his sister Elizabeth died from typhus fever. His father John Shedd, a laborer, died in 1858, and at the age of fourteen Freeman found himself head of the Shedd household, His surviving siblings were his brother William and his sister Miriam.

Freeman attended public school in Lowell and, while in high school, began working for E. A. Staniels, a druggist whose shop was on the corner of Middlesex and Central Streets. The Civil War soon touched life in Lowell, and on August 8, 1862, at the age of seventeen, Freeman enlisted in the 33rd Massachusetts Regiment at Lynnfield, Mass. He began active duty the next day as a private in Company A. Freeman soon put his pharmaceutical knowledge to use in military hospitals and was promoted to Hospital Steward in May of 1863. He assisted at several famous battles, including Gettysburg, and by the time his service was terminated in June of 1865, he had seen three years of active war duty. He was then only twenty years old.

After the war, Freeman returned to Lowell and resumed working at Staniels' Drugstore. It was during this period that he became personally and professionally associated with Eli W. Hoyt, a man who would become his life-long friend and partner.

In July of 1910, Freeman Shedd presented to the City of Lowell a 50 - acre tract of land adjacent to Knapp Avenue in the Belvidere section of the city. The land was to be used expressly as a park and playground for the residents of the city. Massive granite pillars frame the entrance to Shedd Park, located at the corner of Rogers Street and Knapp Avenue. A stone tablet on the gateway to the park states: "Shedd Playground A Gift to the City of Lowell by Freeman Ballard Shedd A.D. 1910."

It was Freeman Shedd's wish "That it shall forever be used as a park and recreation or playground for the citizens and children of the City of Lowell and for no other purpose." (From his letter dated July 14, 1910.) When asked by a reporter what prompted the gift, he replied: "I was born in Lowell, have always lived in Lowell and hope to die in Lowell. All my success in life has come in Lowell and I felt that I wished to leave behind me some sort of a monument which would be of use and benefit to the people of the city. It seemed to me that a park and playground on this land would be a benefit to everybody and would be a permanent memorial which can be developed, owing to the nature of the land, into a magnificent playground ......"

When Freeman B. Shedd died in March of 1913, at the age of sixty-nine, he was survived by his wife Amy and his daughter Mary Belle. Under the terms of his will, if his daughter Belle left "no issue living at the time of her decease," $100,000 would be released from his estate to the city of Lowell for the development of Shedd Park.

This memorial gift was realized when Freeman Shedd's wife Amy died on August 4, 1924 at the age of seventy-six. Because his daughter Mary Belle died without issue (in Tilton, New Hampshire, October 25, 1921), $100,000 was released to the city of Lowell for the development of the park and playground. The terms of his will took effect when his wife Amy died less than three years after the death of her daughter Belle.

Other organizations also benefitted from Freeman Shedd's generosity. One hundred thousand dollars was left to The Northfield Seminary in Northfield, Massachusetts; $100,000 to The Berry School in Rome, Georgia; $5,000 to the 1st Unitarian Society; $5,000 to the Chase Home for Children in Portsmouth, New Hampshire; and $800,000 to Lowell General Hospital, with the provision that a building be erected for the care of patients suffering from incurable diseases. It was to be named the Freeman Ballard Shedd Memorial Building. Local residents know it today as the Shedd Building.