USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Holyoke > Holyoke daily transcript > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24
1882 30th ANNIVERSARY 1912
holyoke Daily Transcript
OF
H
*
ORPOR
OJNI
RATED
MARCH
0
HOLYOKE
VAT
E
WEEKLY ESTABLISHED 1854
A
S
187
R
AC
S
PIS
S
C
THE PAPER CITY
DAILY ESTABLISHED 1882
THE TRANSCRIPT PUBLISHING CO., HOLYOKE, MASS.
THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY
HOLYOKE DAILY TRANSCRIPT
1882 - 1912
HOLYOKE ::
MASSACHUSETTS
"Holyoke ,
They come, those sturdy Frenchmen, From Canada, so fair, Their dear ones all are with them, They have a courage rare. They earn their place bought dearly, We mark their progress clearly, And welcome them sincerely, For they're the ones who dare!
And Ireland sends her portion Of youths and maidens strong. Fearless they eross the ocean Though partings may be long. In Holyoke find their chances To toil as each oue fancies, And learn, as time advances, To deal with right and wrong.
Some English people also Are here with us in town. They love their homes, as all know, And seek their hearths to erown. Here, too, the Scotch their bread earn With conrage, strength and will stern, Though not because their hearts burn For glory or renown.
And Germans, too, are coming To live and take their stand In Holyoke, which is humming With tasks for every hand. They bring a mind inquiring, In study they're untiring. We cannot help admiring This intellectual band.
We eaunt among onr number Some Swedish people, too. They never seem to slumber And much to them is due. The Poles here also maintain Their bomes. Nor is their work vain. We 'most forgot the shy Dane, Oh! here's a hand to you!
For Holyoke holds our home-ties, And we, by love bouud fast Shall ever at her name rise Where'er our lot be east. With glimpses toward the future, Let's work to keep the homes pure. That Holyoke's name may. endure As long as time shall last.
We need the sense af beanty Brought to us by the Greek. Ile feels that art's a duty And not a service weak. Th' Italians, qnick and fearless, The Jews, that people peerless, And others, bright and tearless, All here a dwelling seck.
Why come these to our city ? Is it some task to shirk In home-land? "Twere a pity Such ones 'roundl here should lurk ! Methinks with home-ties binding They come in one thing minding, For here they know they're finding God's own best blessing, work.
Our Fathers had a vision When first the plans they drew For Holyoke, of one mission Which we should never rue. That she should be a mother To all-And as a brother We ought to love each other And to her name be true.
'Twas on us they depended In making ont their plan- To do all they intended A task for every man. The best perfection's our goal- To seek and cherish each soul And mould from out the great whole Tbe true American.
To any chance ontsider This city may seem bound By brick walls, high and wider And full of steam and sound. But they have missed the meaning, For through the smoke is gleaming A banner, white and streaming, Where the word, "Love," is found.
RACHEL LOUISE CLARK.
30th ANNIVERSARY SKETCH
R.HOE&CO.|NEW-YORK
THE TRANSCRIPT'S FIRST PRESS
Tbe picture above shows the old Hoe drum cylinder press that . rst brought The Transcript to life and sent it on its way of usefulness and progress. It has been a long way, this thirty years, so full of changes, both for itself and its world about. The Transcript of 1882 was a real venture for the city at that time, and it meant so much to its projec- tors. It was the first daily Holyoke had had and its fu- ture seemed such a matter of speculation. Holyoke wasn't used to having its news served up for supper. It had gone all those years relying on the out-of-town press. It took kindly to the idea as an innovation, yet it was long before it appreciated its permanence. So The Transcript had to gather strength slowly, creeping before it could walk, and walking before it could run. The Holyoke itself of thirty years ago was a crude thing. High street was only a city street south as far as the City hall. The present corner block of the McAuslan & Wakelin Company, then known as the Wolcott block, was the only building save the Hafey building in the square now between Suffolk and Appleton streets. Dwight street was only a rambly lot of ten-footers from Front street up the hill. The Windsor Hotel block was the only building of any consequence in that square. At the Marble building corner stood the old Second Con- gregational brick church with its dear pastor, Rev. J. L. R. Trask, who smoked a pipe on the streets mornings and was the churchman without the eloth. He talked with his neighbors and all Holyokers, who loved him for his good fellowship and companionship. The writer has never seen another just such a pastor. The impression of him, luis cheer, his philosophy, his democracy, will never be effaced. Holyoke, thirty years ago, had few good stores, and it is pathetic to think back, how, one after another, the
merchants and business men of that generation have passed on or left the city. The dry goods stores of that time were conducted by Dickieson & Dempster, in the Windsor Hotel block ; Clark & Richard, on upper High street ; A. L. Shum- way, nearly opposite the Transcript office, and J. B. Whit- more, on lower Dwight street. Mr. Dickieson is now in business at Springfield, J. B. Whitmore is on High street, and Mr. Richard, of Clark & Richard, is on lower Main street. The clothiers were Nourse & Mc- Cammon, in the Windsor block, where G. J. Prew was the expert bookkeeper and cashier for so many years. McQuaid & Flynn and Montague & Adams were the leading clothiers on High street, with E. O'Con- nor, unele of the present Edward O'Connor, clothier. Chias. E. Ball was the druggist of the town in those days, with F. F. Whitcomb in the Hutchins block, Blake & Casey, and John Heinritz close followers. F. P. Goodall, with his splendid wholesale and retail drug store, in the Holyoke House block, was in a class by himself. Joel Russell & Son led the way in the hardware business, as did Lemuel Scars, Richards & Thayer, Crafts & Frazer, M. J. Finn, James Doyle, and E. P. Ford in grocery stores. C. A. Corser was the pioneer shoe dealer, and John Tilley the veteran furniture dealer. Holyoke then had but two na- tional banks, the Hadley Falls and the Holvoke National, and two savings banks, the Holyoke and Mechanics Savings banks. Samuel King conducted his woman's shop then, as now, on High street. Indeed, Mr. King is the only busi- ness man on High street who has kept his business intact the full thirty years. C. H. Prentiss and Arthur Mitchell were the tailors of that time. L. A. Taber, A. J. Rand, D. H. Porterfield, and S. H. Barrett were the jewelers and
watch repairers of those times. N. W. Quint was the undertaker who prepared all the dead for their final ap- pearance in the world, and E. F. Jeffs, the sexton at Forest- dale, saw that the interments were properly made. In the professions the changes have been quite as marked as in the commercial world. Only E. W. Chapin, W. H. Brooks, and T. B. O'Donnell are left of the old guard. Other shining legal lights of 1882 were Judge W. B. C. Pcarsons, R. O. Dwight, Jonathan Allen, S. W. Dougherty, Judge Underwood, William Slattery, P. H. Casey, and J. J. Reardon, who have now all gone on. The great physicians bof Holyoke in those days were Drs. C. O. Carpenter, J. J. O'Connor, Gardner Cox, George H. Smith, L. M. Tuttle, and E. L. Draper. Not one of them is left. The Protestant clergymen of Holyoke thirty years ago were Dr. Trask, al- ready referred to, Rev. R. J. Adams of the Second Baptist Church, Rev. E. A. Titus of the Methodist Church, Rev. H. L. Foote of St. Paul's Church, Rev. E. M. Bartlett of the Baptist Village Baptist Church, and Rev. W. S. Hay- wood of the Unitarian Church. Not one of these is left in Holyoke today. The three Catholic church pastors were Rev. P. J. Harkins of St. Jerome Church, Rev. P. B. Phelan of the Sacred Heart Church, and Rev. A. B. Du- fresne of the Precious Blood Church. There were but three Catholic churches in Holyoke at that time. The prominent dentists were Drs. D. Murlless, H. O. Hastings, D. G. Harkins, D. Holden, and H. A. Gaylord, who dug out all the caveties with picks and drills and extracted teeth with laughing gas.
Thirty years ago Holyoke had just passed its golden era of mill building, but the grand coterie of mill builders and manufacturers was still left, headed by such men as
GOSS PRINTING PRESS COP
FAGO ILL.US.A.
CHICAGO ILL.USA
GOES
O GUSS -)
OSS
GOSS
GOSS PRINTING PRESS C
CHICAGO ILL.
U. S A.
THE TRANSCRIPT'S NEW 48-PAGE PRESS
THIS PRESS IS THE LATEST MODEL OF THE GOSS PATENTED IH.11 SPEED LOW CONSTRUCTION QUADRUPLE PRESS, AND IS AT THE PRESENT TIME THE BEST PRESS OPERATING IN ALL NEW ENGLAND. CAPABLE OF PRINTING ANY NUMBER 01 PACKS TRON 4 10 44, AND AT A SPEED MORE THAN FOUR TIMES AS FAST AS THE PRESS IT SUCCEEDED, DRIVEN BY ITS 75-LIORSEPOWER ELECTRIC MOTOR. IT WILL PRINT 60, 000 TO 72,000-4. 6. 8, 10, OR F-PACE, PAPERS PER IlOUR; 30,000 To 30,000-14, 16, 18, 20, OR 24-PAGE PAPERS PER HOUR; 15,000 TO 18,400-28, 32, 36, 10, 44, OR 18-PAGE PAPERS PER IJOUR. THE PRESS IS ESTABLISHED IN THE BASEMENT AT THE CORNER OF ILICH AND JOHN STREETS.
30th ANNIVERSARY SKETCH
William Whiting, William Skinner, J. C. Parsons, Tinio- thy Merrick, Donald Mackintosh, John C. Newton, Daniel H. Newton, James H. Newton, Moses Newton, Jones S. Davis, O. H. Greenleaf, J. H. Appleton, E. C. Rogers, H. M. Farr, Joseph Metcalf. George W. Prentiss, E. C. Taft, B. F. Hosford, Stephen Holman, George N. Tyner, and Jantes C. Abbe. Only one or two are left of that wonder- ful group of mill builders and manufacturers, who con- tributed so much to the life and industrial growth of our city. They were the men who put Holyoke on the manu- facturing map.
Thirty years ago William A. Chase was the active, forceful agent and treasurer of the Holyoke Water Power Company. the great corporation that will be forever writ- ten into every page of llolyoke's history.
Holyoke had no sircet cars thirty years ago. Walk- ing was good enough for us all then. We had no Sunday trains, the only one in the whole day was the southbound Montreal express that came down from White River Junction as a kind of tail-end or left-over of the week just passed. We had but few telephones then, "The first tele- phone in the city was installed in the Transcript building. There were no electrie lights on our streets. The Water Power Company furnished a limited supply of electricity. but none between sunrise and sunset. There was no such thing as electric power utilized for mechanical purposes. We did have a good theater-the Holyoke Opera House -- which was better than anything we have now. Our Elm- wood of today was the Baptist Village of 1882, the High- lands were only known as the Manchester Grounds, and there was no Oakdale at all. Elm and Appleton streets marked the further limits of the city. We had no City Hospital or llouse of Providence Hospital; indeed, such a thing as a trained mirse was unheard of. . \ practical nurse conid be gotten after a fashion by leaving your appli- cation at Charles E. Ball's drug store. But it was all very crude, We had no Mt. Tom or Mountain Park at our feet. William S. Loomis, the originator of both, was busy in the Transcript office about that time, helping to start the new enterprise-the Holyoke Daily Transcript. And this brings us to the story of the first daily paper that has been so often times tokl. A brief history of The Transcript and its growth may be of interest, for its history and that of Holyoke extend over practically the same time. The first paper ever published in Holyoke was the Hampden Free- mau. Its first issue was put out September 1, 1849, and The Transcript of today is the full-grown heir and suc- cessur of The Freeman. The name of the paper changed nearly as often as its owners in the carly days, but the paper was the same. The original Freeman was a weekly paper, printed Saturdays at the only print shop in the town. then, of course, called Ireland Parish, and the first pro- prietors were William F. Morgan and James D. G. Hender- son. Henderson soon withdrew and Mr. Morgan became sole owner.
The man who wrote the editorials in that first Holyoke paper was a young lawyer, W. B. C. Pcarsons, destined later to be the city's first mayor, the man who drew up its first charter, and for a long term of years its police court judge.
"Our New City" was the caption of the editorial in the first issue, and it was reprinted in the second edition for the first edition was soon exhausted.
"This infant giant of Western Massachusetts" is the
first line, and we read further that it is situated "in the midst of a beautiful and fertile region, noted far and wide for the industry of its inhabitants, its saluhrious climate. and its enchanting scenery." All these we have today and some 60,000 inhabitants.
The Freeman did not handle quite as much advertis- ing in those days as The Transcript does at present. in fact a very large part of the advertisements were devoted to telling the cure-all qualities of certain patent medicines warranted to cure cholera on sight. Cholera was commnou in those days in spite of the "salubrions" climate.
A year after the first edition of The Freeman, Ireland Parish was set off from West Springfield, and The Freeman took a firm stand to have the village called Hampden, in the hope that it would even become the county seat some day. But Ireland Parishi was christened Holyoke in honor of Capt. Eleazar Holyoke and the pine-covered mountain that looks down on us to the north.
The Hampden Freeman went along for three more years and then A. B. F. Hildreth became its owner and changed its name to the Holyoke Freeman first, and shortly afterward to the Holyoke Weekly Mirror. Tlte firm of Lilly & Pratt were the next owners, and before long the control passed into the hands of Myron C. Pratt. The Mirror soon blossomed out into a four-page affair in which the advertisements referred largely to the excellence of patent medicines or the unapproachable merits of certain saloons.
The Mirror makes interesting reading in the days that preceded the great Civil struggle. Mr. Pratt closed up his paper forms July 12, 1861, went home to dine and came back after noon a member of the 10th Massachin- setts. He served with distinction in the war, was made a captain in the envalry, and was fatally wounded at Fair Oaks. For three months The Mirror went withont an edi- tor, and then Joseph G. and Edward P. Albee, as Albee Brothers, hecame the proprietors. It was during the Civil war that The Mirror had its hardest sledding. Joseph G. Albee bought ont his brother, and in 1863 sold out to Burt & Lyman of Springfield.
Mr. Burt later became the publisher of that famous little paper, "Among the Clouds." published for many years from the summit of Mt. Washington. It was at this time that the Holyoke Mirror became the Holyoke Transcript. its last change of name. Mr. Burt retired from the paper in 1864, and Mr. Lyman carried it on alone for some years. in 1870, E. L. Kirtland, later school superintendeut and «leputy United States collector, joined The Transcript AS an editorial writer, and a year later he became part owner af the paper. The following year Mr. Lyman withdrew from the paper, and in 1873 the headlines on the editorial page read Loomis & Kirtland, editors and proprietors. The Loomis was in later years to be the creator of Hlol- yoke's fine trolley system. He became full owner of the paper in 1875. It was in that year that The Transcript printed its ouly edition in French, the occasion being the destruction of the French church in South Holyoke, when sixty-nine people lost their lives through fire and panic. Mr. Loomis made The Transcript a vital force in the com- munity.
In 1882, Mr. Loomis took a partner, W. G. Dwight, the present editor and publisher. It was in that year, too. that The Transcript became a daily paper. The first issue
Wis on October 9, and it was a modest four-page, five- chinon edition. Since that time its growth has been steady and consistent. In 1884 the paper became a six-column- wide sheet, and two years later it blossomed ont into the adopted seven-column-wide paper.
lu 1888 W. S. Loomis retired from the paper to take possession of the horse car line and to transform it into an up-to-date public service corporation that gives the best service possible to the city of Holyoke, and incidentally pays its shareholders all that the law allows.
The present proprietor has been in sole control of the destinies of The Transcript for the past twenty-four years, thereby establishing a record for continued service.
The first few years of The Transcript was a sort of marking time of existence. To make the paper a "go" meant tireless work and courage. People were not edu- cated up to the idea of having a daily paper, and the ad- vertisers were new at the game. They had been used to a weekly and semi-weekly and could not grasp the impor- tance of changing their "copy" frequently, or making their advertising space worth while. To most of the business men advertising 'meant only a concession to the newspaper, something to just help along the cause. The idea of its heing of any value to the giver wasn't thought of. How wonderfully has the field of advertising developed. Now there is no such thing as donations of advertising for the newspaper. It's what the advertisers can get for them- selves from the purchasable space. This is as it should be. It's a fact in the hrst few years of The Transcript as a daily newspaper advertisers would leave the same adver- tisentents in year in and year ont withont change. With better appreciation of the value of advertising a paper must advance. The Transcript did, and from its original Hoe dtrum cylinder press of 1882 it changed from press to press -six in all mu tire thirty years. The Transcript is now printed on a sextuple Goss high speed and low construc- tion press, capable of printing any number of pages from 4 to 48, and driven by a 75-horsepower electric mutor The Transcript, with all its fine equipment as a newspaper plant. has a fine job plant, as this anniversary number must prove.
Thirty years is a long time in the life of any newspaper. it means the best of one or many men's lives. In The Transcript's case it spells the whole span of life of its present owner, who is the longest in continned control of the paper since its inception as a weekly. back in 1849. it has been the purpose of The Transcript all these years to make it worth its price and to make it stand for something. The mere exploiting of news is not enough. The paper minst stand for definite, positive purposes If it is true that a man is known by the company he keeps, then a com- munity should be kuown hy the daily paper it reads. The Transcript is made in Holyoke, has faith in Holyoke, aml hopes it has been instrumental in helping the city up the climb of thirty years. A woman's work is more times than not the leaven of the loaf The Transcript owes very mnich to the broad vision and one motives of Mrs. W. G. Dwight. Without her it would have been poor indeed.
Nations and peoples can be committed to righteous causes. Great men often sacrifice their lives to an idea. A newspaper can be consecrated to a purpose. The Tran- script's steady purpose lias been to make Holyoke an in- creasingly better city in which to live.
GELD PHOTO-ENG @
Myon. William Whiting 1841 - 1911
Hon. William Whiting
W ILLIAM WHITING of Holyoke, Massachusetts, was born in Dud- ley, Massachusetts, on May 24, 1841, He obtained his education in the public schools, where his natural love of study was cultivated, and made the foundation upon which he achieved a fine education. Ultimately this resulted in that broad culture which characterized his later years and fitted him for the many high positions which he filled. He was interested in Amherst College and Mount Holyoke College, and he did much to advance the interests of those institutions of learning. In recognition of his ability and services, he had conferred upon him the degree of Bachelor of Arts by Amherst College.
While his tastes were naturally for literary and cultural pursuits, and he collected one of the fine libraries of the state, yet he devoted much energy lo the commercial side of life, and early in his career was one of the founders of the Hampden Paper Company, which concern was developed into a prosperous manufacturing business. He afterward sold this plant and purchased another paper mill site, which is now occupied by Mill No. 1 of the Whiting Paper Com- pany. This company was incorporated in 1865 and began at that time to mau- ufacture high-grade papers. The business rapidly increased, and in 1869 another mill was built, which raised the total product to more than twenty- five tons of paper a day. This company took a prominent place in the early development of Holyoke. Between six and seven hundred people were em- ployed in this industry, and it contributed in good measure to the prosperity of Holyoke. The papers manufactured were all high-grade, and to this day are unsurpassed. As president and manager of the company, Mr. Whiting de- veloped the business in a very marked degree, and the mouthly payroll is over $ 0,000.00.
His business success led to a wider demand for his services, and he occu- picd a unique position in the public confidence of his city. He took the man- agement and hecame the president of the Collins Manufacturing Company at North Wilbraham, and brought it from a non-paying concern to a ilividend- paying property in the first year of his management.
He was a man of wide versatility, and he expanded lris business relations, becoming interested in several kinds of paper manufacturing concerns and kindred businesses. In financial circles he was a prominent figure. He organ- ized the Holyoke National Bank and was its first president. He was president of the Holyoke Savings Bank, a director of the Chapin Trust Company of Springfield, and the Washington Trust Company of New York, president of the Connecticut River Railroad, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Boston & Maine Railroad, and many other corporations.
At the age of twenty-five he was the lending spirit in organizing the Holyoke Public Library Association, and made the first subscription. This was the incentive to establish the Library Association, of which he became the first president.
He became city treasurer in 1876, and although in politics a Republican, and his city a Democratie stronghold, he was elected by a large majority, and in the following year, supported by the vaters of both political parties, he became the mayor. His administration was eminently satisfactory.
He was a delegate to the National Convention in 1876 that nominated Rutherford B. Hayes. He was chairman of the state delegation to Chicago that nominated William Mckinley.
In 1873 he was elcetcd state senator in Massachusetts, and rendered val- unble service. From 1883 to 1889 he was a member of Congress from his own district. His valuable services were fully recognized during the Cleveland
administration. He was in the party of the mmority, yet he had the satisfac tion of seeing practically his rejected currency bill madle into law
In matters of philanthropy he was always a liberal supporter of worthy causes. He was the founder and a leading, supporter of the Holyoke City Hospital, of which he was president at the time of his death. As a member of the William Whiting Masonic Lodge he was active in the work of that ord r.
In these and other ways he thoroughly established himself as an Ameri- can, who evinced his pride in lus lime town by aiding largely in its develop- ment, while his patriotic devotion to the larger interests of his state won him a reputation as a most able and desirable citizen.
On the nineteenth day uf June, 1862, William Whiting married Anna Maria Fairfield of Holyoke, daughter of Luther M. Fairfield. Their children were: William Fairfield and Saumel Raynor The former, born July 20, 1864, at length became treasurer of the Whiting Paper Company, and a partner in his father's business. He married Anne Chapin and has four children: William, Edward Chapin. Fairfield and Rath. Samuel Raynor was born January 20. 1867, the second son of William Whiting, senior; also became associated with his father in business. He married Gertrude L. Grecley. Their children are Anua Fairfield, Margaret and Samuel Raynor Whiting, Jr.
The home of William Whiting, senior, occupied in his Inter years, is on the corner of Elmi and Appleton streets, in Holyoke. Hle and Mrs. Whiting were known as devout and generous members of the Congregational Church, and did much to advance the social and intellectual interests of the home town.
On the ninth day of January, 1911, after an illness of some duration, Wil- lian Whiting gradually sank into unconsciousness, and death came to his relief. He will he long remembered as one of the foremost citizens of the Common- wealth, distinguished for everything that made for the betterment and uplift of all the people.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.