Section 3. When the name of any public way, place or section, or of any public park, is changed by the board or officer having jurisdiction thereof, if the name changed has been in use for twenty-five years or more, there shall be a right of appeal from such action to the department. Said appeal shall be taken within thirty days after such change, and shall be by petition of at least twenty-five inhabitants of the town in which such change has been made, requesting the reversal of such action. Notice of the filing of such petition shall forthwith be filed by the department in the office of the clerk of the town in which the change has been made, and upon the filing of such petition, a public hearing shall be given by said department, after such public notice as it shall determine, and unless the department shall approve of such change, the same shall be of no effect.