USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > A History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, vol 1 > Part 40
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 (link on the Part 1 page).
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 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69
In 1887 the leased property on Tremont street was purchased, and another foundry building was added, giving the plant a capacity of forty-two moulders. Ten years later, or in 1897, the company was incorporated as the White Warner Company, with Charles P. White as its president, and Richard E. Warner as treasurer.
The first disaster was when a serious fire devastated the property, August 2, 1908, destroying all but two buildings, the old machine shop, and the foundry that had last been built. But just eleven days from the date of that mishap, or on August 13, the Taunton Iron Works location was purchased. At that place two buildings then remained of the former hous- ing of the older concern-the pipe-shop and the stove-mounters' building- the new foundry being built on both sides of the old foundry site. The White Warner Company was thus located at the extreme end of Weir Village, among the newer plants in the same line of business. But in 1912 fire again visited the property, one of the most extensive of the city's fire history, when not only were the old buildings of the Iron Works wiped out, but other structures as well, with the one exception of the new moulding shop. The plant was almost immediately rebuilt, with an up- to-date moulding room and storehouse, complete in all its arrangements. The capacity of the plant at present is sixty-five moulders, one hundred and twenty employes altogether. The product, that also includes the Quaker Range that in 1852 had been made at the old Iron Works, is sold all over the United States and in Europe.
Not only is the Oscar G. Thomas Company stove foundry one of the long-established plants of widely recognized worth; but, according to its old property holdings and the accounts of its transactions, it has upon it the peculiar stamp of a typical Taunton firm. As long as this generation can remember, the business has been where the plant now stands; while older generations knew that its immediate predecessor formed one of a group of iron-workers, whose traditions had been handed along from yet others. One of the most interesting facts, therefore, connected with the history of this firm, manufacturers of the Herald Ranges, is that it is the longest in business of any of the stove-building group at Weir Village. The land was originally bought for iron-working purposes in 1843 by the late John H. Eddy, who actually started the present business; and when the late Sampson Perkins came in as a joint proprietor with Mr. Eddy, just a few years later, the genealogical association of the plant's personnel was assured, for Mr. Perkins was grandfather of the late Oscar G. Thomas, whose name is that of the firm's style.
Their business increased, so that in ten years' time, or in 1855, land ad- joining their old property was purchased, and again in 1861. Mr. Eddy severed his connection with the firm November 1, 1867, when Mr. Perkins assumed the responsibilities of sole ownership. The grandson of the latter,
289
THE INDUSTRIES OF TAUNTON
Oscar G. Thomas, associated himself with Mr. Perkins from January 1, 1870, to the time of Mr. Perkins' death, in September, 1873. From that time until 1911, Mr. Thomas was in business alone, when the Oscar G. Thomas Company was incorporated. Meantime the Union foundry, built by Joseph Wright, on Third street, came into the possession of Mr. Thomas, his son-in-law, Mr. Wright having been agent for the old Taunton Iron Works, as well as agent and treasurer of the Union foundry. The present company also purchased, in 1918, the Bridgeport Crucible Com- pany's plant, formerly that of the Phenix Manufacturing Company, to the south. The company he so well represented, and indeed the entire city, suffered a severe loss when Mr. Thomas, philanthropist and citizen of great business enterprise, died, December 10, 1920. The present officers of the company are: President, Howard Thomas; treasurer, Robert Whit- marsh; clerk, Miss Laura Thomas. These officers and the two daughters of the late Oscar G. Thomas comprise the board of directors. In bygone days the present site of the Oscar G. Thomas Company's plant, and all the land from the river to Somerset avenue and from Second to Third streets, was the property of the maternal great-grandparents of Mrs. Oscar G. Thomas; and Benjamin Burt, from whom John H. Eddy had bought for the beginnings of the business, was a great-uncle of Mrs. Thomas. This is but one interesting instance of the long tenure or the frequently recurring tenure, of old business properties in New England.
The Leonard & Baker Stove Company was established in 1908, when only eight moulders were required to do the work of the plant. Reorgan- ization of the company took place in March, 1921, the board then being Eugene L. Baker and Chester N. Leonard and Lewis L. Lincoln. Alfred W. Tallman, formerly treasurer of the Somerset Stove Foundry Company, became affiliated with the business. The Leonard & Baker Company in 1920 took over the patterns and business of the Somerset Company, acquir- ing the right to the name Glendale, as applied to ranges and heaters. The Leonard & Baker Company have also always manufactured the Fairmount range. They have been manufacturing forty-five ranges a day, and em- ploying one hundred and sixty moulders. The officers in 1923: President, Charles H. Macomber; vice-president, Alfred W. Tallman; Eugene L. Baker, treasurer; Lewis L. Lincoln, assistant treasurer.
Among the first foundries in Taunton for the casting of stoves and small wares was that of Deacon Samuel Leonard, who in 1845 built a small foundry below the Whittenton Mills. Lemuel L. Leonard, his son, associated with him soon afterwards, Deacon Leonard dying in 1868. Lemuel M. Leonard removed from Whittenton in 1868 and built a foundry in Wales street. He died in 1876. The Leonard Cooperative foundry was organized in 1877, with a capital of $25,000. It was reorganized in 1891, as the New England Stove Company. L. B. West was president, and W. H. Lindsay treasurer.
The Presbrey Stove Lining Company, one of the oldest plants of the kind in New England and the oldest in Taunton and its surroundings, which corporation also operates the Presbrey Fire Brick Works, was in- corporated in 1866 as the Presbrey Stove Lining Company, with William B. Presbrey, son of the founder, as manager and business agent. Up to the year 1868 the homestead of William B. Presbrey stood on the site of
Bristol-10
`290
BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS
the present office building. It was then' removed, and the first buildings of the present plant were put up. In those days the plant was turning out annually about $20,000 worth of linings, and whatever other products could be manufactured from clay and that were being called for at the time. Within recent years, the output was ten times that figure. As the years passed, there had never been recorded any shut-down of the business, and the call for the product had been steadily on the increase. At the death of Mr. Presbrey, Henry T. Root, of Providence, was the president of the company, and afterwards Daniel A. Trefethen held that position. There are few people now living who may recall the long, low sheds that stood near the Broomfield brook on the right of the road. It was there in 1826 that William Presbrey, Sr., commenced making brick, and later clay linings for the old Taunton Iron Works; and soon afterwards for stove works in Boston, at Plymouth and North Dighton. The materials for the lining-making were first brought from Gay Head, afterwards from New Jersey, as today. The plant has its holding of about five acres of land, all formerly of the old Presbrey properties, whereas in the early days. it was less than an acre along by the brook, on the other side of the street. The plant met with disaster on March 22, 1921, when a $100,000 fire burned a large part of it to the ground; but within a very few weeks the firm had recovered itself, and the kilns were soon rebuilt. The fire brick manufactured by this company are noted for their uniform size, shape and color. They are made of the best selected stock, well and evenly burned in the most modern and improved kilns, and are recommended for furnaces in gas and copper works, pottery, fire brick, 'stone ware and lime kilns, steam boilers and rolling mills. Among the various grades of fire brick are No. 1, C, and Diamond, and the various stove linings made by this com- pany is fire-stone brand, which has made quite a reputation for itself. It is noted for its excellency in fitting, being highly non-clinker, lasting in many cases for several years. They furnish employment to over sixty men and boys, and the output, enormous in volume and value, is distributed all over the United States and exported to foreign countries. Any shape or size of fire brick is made promptly to order from pattern, and all goods are supplied at lowest ruling market price. The fire bricks manufactured by the Presbrey Stove Lining Company are in use in many of the largest industrial establishments throughout the country and have always given universal satisfaction. The company is the successor of William and Al- bert Presbrey, who had been engaged in the same industry for a period of over forty years. They have enjoyed a most unusual degree of prosperity, which is chiefly due to the efforts of the officers of the company, and who are Henry T. Root, of Providence, Rhode Island, president; B. C. Pierce, treasurer and manager; Messrs. Daniel A. Trefethen, John W. Hart, of Taunton, and William Miller, of Fall River, Massachusetts, directors. They are variously connected with other enterprises, whose succcess has been fully as pronounced as that of the Presbrey Stove Lining Company.
An occasional small item to the effect that a certain schooner under command of Captain So-and-So has come up Taunton river with a load of clay consigned to one of the stove-lining works, or one of the stove foundries, has only a passing comment; yet that small vessel and others are doing their share in bringing to this port something over two thousand
291
THE INDUSTRIES OF TAUNTON
tons of clay each trip, to be used in the manufacture of stove linings, an industry that helps in the maintenance of close onto three hundred families. The little fleet of schooners,-the B. F. Jayne, the Laforest L. Simmons and others that begin their business with their cargoes of clay about April 1st, and haul up at their home port the first of December, come to Taunton annually with about eight thousand tons of clay, all told. Charles S. McCall, superintendent of the Standard Stove Lining Company, who has been in the business of making stove linings practically all his life, states that the clay-carrying fleet has been coming and going more than a half century on the same errand.
Not every kind of clay will answer for the manufacture of stove linings. Mr. McCall declares :
You cannot mix together any of the blue clay that you will find, locally, and prove it by fire. The kind required comes from New Jersey, and it is the kind that solidifies and stays so, when acted upon in the kilns. Many years ago, for the making of pot- tery and for certain kinds of stove-linings, we had clay brought from Gay Head. We read that in yet earlier days the Indians used to bring it up here in their canoes, and trade it for the necessities of life.
The clay that now comes from New Jersey for our uses is a handsome red and blue clay, with some yellow and some white, as near to the pipe clay as any I have ever seen. All are pliable and easy to mix, the result being a carmine-colored material that performs to perfection the required work. The red clay, as it comes from the pit is far more liable to shrinkage than the blue, and both have to be mixed with the yellow-whitish clay for right results.
It is understood that Gay Head was so called because of the "gay" colorings of the clay, as seen a distance out from the headlands. The big heaps of clay in the receiving sheds of the stove-lining companies' plants, though they come from further away than Gay Head, have the same appear- ance of "gaiety" of colors, the extreme of blue and red, a beautiful yellow, and an almost perfectly white and harder clay, the pipe clay-not used for making pipes, however, but in the composition of stove-lining brick. Tons and tons of the beautiful, clean materials are in the receiving sheds. In an adjoining shed, the clays are being mixed, and placed in a mill, that is ground either by machinery or horse-power. "Years ago," said Mr. McCall, "we were accustomed to mix sand with the clay, for solidifying and ad- hesion. Since then, it has been discovered that a certain hard clay, itself. well ground, serves the purpose much better. The sand caused a rougher surface on the moulds that is done away with in the use of the fine clay." As the wheel turns about in the mill, stirring up the pliable clays of different colors, the red clay finally dominates. "The red vegetable matter in the clay in the last processes burns white, since it is a vegetable and not a mineral matter."
The expert moulders in their own sheds are all the time requiring of the mill the mixed product, and fill the moulds and set them away for temporary hardening. Then comes the kiln-drying and hardening-a big oven that is calculated to hold about 16,000 linings, and with 2000 degrees of heat to prove the worth of the clay.
The Williams Stove Lining Company was started by John R. Williams in 1846. The name Williams Stove Lining Company was first used in 1890, the firm becoming incorporated in Massachusetts in 1908. The plant is located at the lower end of West Water street, on Taunton river, and
292
BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS
the buildings cover nearly four acres. The products are brick stove lin- ings, Eagle asbestos stove clay, and incandescent gas fuel. The firm manu- factures in smaller quantities Eagle patching plaster and Eagle liquid and paste stove polish. The goods are distributed throughout the United States and Canada, but the principal markets are in the East. The raw materials, such as fire clay and coal, are landed from vessels or barges into the buildings of the plant. The company operates steadily throughout the year, and employs fifty or more hands.
The Staples Coal Company was incorporated in May, 1888, by Joseph Stickney, Sylvanus N. Staples, Herbert M. Staples, Lewis Williams and Herbert A. Dean, and organization ensued, with the following-named offi- cers: President, Sylvanus N. Staples; clerk, Lewis Williams; treasurer, John G. Hannah. None of the original organizers of the company are now living. Sylvanus N. Staples died June 10, 1893, and was succeeded by Joseph Stickney as the president; Lewis Williams died December 23, 1902, and was succeeded as clerk of the corporation by Charles D. Burt, of Fall River. Joseph Stickney died December 21, 1903, and was succeeded by John G. Hannah as the president. Herbert M. Staples died February 14, 1904, and Herbert A. Dean died September 25, 1904. The duties of Mr. Staples and Mr. Dean were taken up by Frederick Ludlam, now the agent of the company, at Taunton, and clerk of the corporation, and Arthur C. Staples, son of Herbert M. Staples, now local sales agent at Taunton. The company purchased the assets and succeeded to the old firm of Staples & Phillips, of Taunton; soon thereafter it acquired the assets of the Globe Coal Company, and later the property of the Globe Wharf, at Fall River.
The fleet carried during the first year of its operation by this company about 150,000 tons; the company's fleet now consists of thirty-two barges and ten tugboats. The Staples Transportation Company was organized in 1908, with a capital of $1,500,000, for the transportation of coal from shipping ports (Southern and New York) to Sound and coast ports of Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Maine. In 1913 three different firms amalgamated, and the Staples Coal Company, with a capital of $2,000,000 is now the holding company of the plants in Taunton, Fall River and Rhode Island, the Atlantic Coal Company and the Maritime Coaling Company. The president of the holding company is Robert I. Jenks, of New York. The president of the Staples Transportation Company is John G. Hannah.
John Magee, the founder of the Magee Furnace Company, came to New England at an early age and learned the trade of tin and sheet iron work, and established a business in Lawrence, Massachusetts. During this time he conceived the idea of making heating and cooking stoves on different lines from what had ever been produced. After having had the patterns made, it was very difficult at that early age to find anybody that would manufacture them. In 1856 the patterns were taken to the Norton Fur- nace Company; located at Norton, Massachusetts, and there they were made in increasing numbers. The Norton Furnace Company, as a result, were obliged to build an extension to their plant. In 1860 Mr. Magee be- came a member of the Norton Furnace Company, which at that time was comprised of Eugene Butler, James A. Lincoln, Jr., and John Magee. Mr. Magee later withdrew from the company and interested men of large capital in his enterprise, establishing the present Magee Furnace Company.
293
THE INDUSTRIES OF TAUNTON
The foundry, occupied for years at Chelsea, Massachusetts, was originally built by the Norton Furnace Company, but was taken over, on the disso- lution, by Mr. Magee, about 1863. In 1868 the company was incorporated under the Massachusetts laws, being one of the first companies to take out a charter in this commonwealth. They continued manufacturing in Chelsea for years, finally selling their plant to the Texas Oil Company and locating at Taunton, within four and a half miles of the original manufac- turing plant. The company's products are sold in all parts of the country and are serving upwards of 1,500,000 people. They are also operating in Wakefield, and are about to start a new foundry for the manufacture of gas ranges at Weir Village, Taunton. The officers of the company are: Alfred E. Stockbridge, president and treasurer; Robert P. Burton and S. Olin Field, vice-presidents; Alfred E. Perrin, secretary; Clarence F. Wiley, superin- tendent.
These were the beginnings of the Paragon Gear Works: Forty years ago, James Evans started at Weir Village a plant for the nickel plating of stove trimmings, serving the various stove foundries that were located in this vicinity. The business grew rapidly as the stove foundries prospered until, at the height of this business, forty to fifty polishers alone were em- ployed on this class of work. Mr. Evans took into partnership his two sons, C. Everett and Edwin H. After his death, the business was con- tinued by Everett, Edwin giving up active participation and becoming the sheriff of Bristol county, but still retaining his interest in the business.
As the business grew, it was moved from its first location at Weir Village to the plant on Cushman street, formerly occupied by the H. A. Williams Manufacturing Company, manufacturers of twist drills. In addi- tion to nickel plating of the cast-iron trimmings, the business was enlarged by the manufacturing of nickel-plated rolled steel trimmings, this concern supplying not only the local foundries with these steel trimmings but others located in other parts of the country. The manufacture of oven thermometers was also started, this being one of the first concerns in the country to take up the manufacture of thermometers, with which all stoves are now equipped. This part of the business was eventually disposed of to the Standard Thermometer Company of Boston. The business was incor- porated in 1902 under the name of Evans Stamping and Plating Company. As the various stove foundries began putting in their own nickel-plating plants, this department gradually decreased in size, and in 1907 the manu- facture of the Paragon Reverse Gear, a transmission for. marine internal combustion engines, was begun and has continued up to the present time. By 1913 all the other various activities of this concern had been disposed of, and the manufacture of this transmission is now its only product. The concern is now known as the Paragon Gear Works, although the corporate name still continues. In 1909, Everett Evans died and the plant was pur- chased by Richard Wastcoat, in the latter part of 1910. The present pro- duct is part of the equipment of the majority of the American-built marine motors today, and shipments are being made not only as a part of the equipment of these motors, but also as independent units to all the countries in the world. These transmissions are built for all sizes of marine motors. from the smallest up to the heavy duty 200 horsepower Diesel motors and for the four hundred to five hundred horsepower high-speed racing motors.
294
BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS
The factory manufacturing this transmission is the largest in the world, devoting its efforts exclusively to this class of product.
The New Process Twist Drill Company, 34 Court street, is one of the oldest manufacturers of twist drills in this country, having been manufac- turing continuously under original basic patents for more than forty years, and selling direct to the railroads, industrial plants and supply houses from coast to coast, in addition to a considerable export trade. John M. Good- win, for many years general manager, died in July, 1922. The present or- ganization consists of Dr. Byron L. Dwinell, president, and Colonel Peter H. Corr, treasurer. Associated with the management are Albert G. Foster, Howard Corr and James T. Waite.
The Atlas Tack Corporation of Boston was formed in 1891 by the merging with others of the Albert Field Tack Company, the Taunton Tack Company, the American Tack Company, the Plymouth Tack Company, and the Island Creek Tack Shop. Albert Field began to manufacture tacks and nails on the site of the Deacon Roswell Ballard fulling mill, Spring street, Taunton, in 1827, with two machines, delivering the product himself with a hand cart. In 1855 the business was taken over by A. Field & Co. In 1859 the firm became A. Field & Sons, and in 1869 was incorporated by act of the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as the Albert Field Tack Company. Up to the time of the merger the business under the Messrs. Field had flourished and been very profitable from the beginning, the present substantial and valuable brick buildings representing the growth of the plant. In the rear of the opposite side of Spring street is the No. 2 Mill, so called, the construction of which the further necessi- ties of the business required. This plant is separate and apart from that on the original site, and is not one-half its size. The Taunton Tack Com- pany was organized in 1854, with a capital of $20,000, by a few practical tack makers; it was incorporated in 1855. In 1870 the capital was increased to $60,000, and the works removed to the present site, on Weir street. In 1873 the capital was again increased to $120,000. A fire in 1878 destroyed part of the works and the present plant was then erected. This, like the two Field plants, proved to be a thriving and successful establishment. The business of the American Tack Company, at Fairhaven, was begun by Arby Field, in a small and primitive way, on the present site, in 1824. It fell into the hands of Jude Field, or from father to son, in 1840. In 1855 it passed to William S. Guerineau. It was bought by the American Nail Machine Company, a Massachusetts corporation, in 1865. In 1867, after a partial destruction of the plant by fire, there was a reorganization of the business under the more appropriate name of the American Tack Company. From this time up to 1891, when it became one of the eight plants whose owners joined together to form the Atlas Tack Corporation, its growth was rapid, its dividends large and the wisdom of its location at tidewater proven by the erection of its splendid stone buildings, paid for out of its earnings. Samuel Loring began the making of tacks in a water power plant on Island Creek, Duxbury, previous to 1842. The business grew to such an extent that in that year he purchased and occupied another and much larger water power plant on Town Brook, at Plymouth, where he established a second tack factory on a much larger and more extensive scale, under the name of the Plymouth Tack Company. In 1886 the ownership became vested in
295
THE INDUSTRIES OF TAUNTON
the firm of Loring & Parks, and it so remained until the merger of 1891. The two plants, while very much smaller than any of the others in this sale, experienced an equal degree of success. The product of the several plants included tacks and nails, steel shoe shanks, wire nails, and brads, rivets and burrs, copper belt rivets and burrs, eyelets, double pointed tacks and sta- ples, tufting buttons, lining and saddle nails, glazier points and cast-head coffin tacks.
The Greenfield Tap and Die Company in 1920 purchased all of the common stock of the Lincoln Twist Drill Company. Beginning July 1, 1921, the Lincoln Twist Drill plant began to operate as a branch factory of the Greenfield Tap and Die corporation. The Lincoln Twist Drill Com- pany on May 1, 1917, succeeded the Lincoln-Williams Twist Drill Com- pany. The officers in 1923: President, Frederick H. Payne; vice-president, treasurer and general manager, Edward Blake, Jr .; secretary, Paul T. Irvin.
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.