USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Fall River > Centennial history of Fall River, Mass. : comprising a record of its corporate progress from 1656 to 1876, with sketches of its manufacturing industries, local and general characteristics, valuable statistical tables, etc. > Part 21
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The office of the bank has always been located in the south end of the Mount Hope Block : from 1856 to 1869 at No. 55 North Main Street, and from 1869 to the present time two doors south, at No. 53, it being the office on the corner of North Main and Bank streets.
THE SECOND NATIONAL BANK.
Charter-Original, 1856; National, 1864.
The Second National Bank was originally incorporated June 4th, 1856, as the Wamsutta Bank. The corporators were S. Angier Chace, Hale Remington, and William Mason, second, and the capital was fixed at $100,000. S. Angier Chace was elected president, Charles J. Holmes, Jr., cashier, and S. A. Chace, Hale Remington, Jas. B. Luther, Brownell W. Woodman, E. C. Kilburn, Thos. F. Eddy, and Thos. Almy a board of direction. The office of the bank was located in the Mount Hope Block, North Main Street, second door north from Bank Street. .
In May, 1864, the corporation became a national banking association, under the name of the Second National Bank of Fall River, No. 439. The capital was increased to $150,000. The bank has proved a profitable invest- ment for its stockholders, having paid dividends as follows, viz .: 12 of 3 per cent, I extra of 5 per cent at the time of the increase of the capital stock, 22 of 5 per cent, and 1 of 6 per cent. The present capital is $150,000, with a surplus account of $50,000. In 1869 the office of the bank was removed one door south, to the corner office of the Mount Hope Block, which had been conveniently arranged and fitted for a banking house with ante-rooms, vault, and other necessary accessories.
THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK. Date of Charter, January, 1864.
The First National Bank of Fall River was organized January 23d, 1 864. It was the first bank in this section of Massachusetts established
181
THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK-UNION SAVINGS BANK.
under the National Bank Act. Its number is "No. 256," only that number of national banks, being in existence in the United States at the time of its organization. Its capital was fixed at $200,000. Hon. John S. Brayton was elected president and Mr. Charles A. Bassett cashier. In March, 1865, the capital stock was increased to $400,000, which is its present figure. From the date of organization until 1870, it was a United States depository and financial agent. The bank was located at No. 14 Granite Block, on the corner of Main and Central streets, the south-west of the Four Corners, so called. There has been no change in its location up to the present time. Mr. Chas. A. Bassett, cashier, having in 1877 been elected treasurer of the Fall River Savings Bank, was succeeded by Mr. Hezekiah A. Brayton.
THE UNION SAVINGS BANK.
Incorporated in 1869. -
The Union Savings Bank was incorporated April 24th, 1869, with Gardner T. Dean, Edwin Shaw, and Lafayette Nichols as corporators. An organization was immediately effected by the choice of Augustus Chace president, James M. Morton, Jr., secretary, D. A. Chapin, treasurer, and a board of twenty-five trustees. The board of investment consisted of Cook Borden, William B. Durfee, Gardner T. Dean, Lafayette Nichols, and Alphonso S. Covel.
The bank opened for business in May, 1869, having its office in the south-west corner of the market building, now City Hall. In 1872, having purchased the estate on Main Street, midway between Bedford Street and Market Square, it removed to its own convenient and well-arranged bank- ing rooms, where it has since continued, doing a safe and profitable busi- ness with an accumulating amount of deposits and an increasing number of depositors.
BANKS OF THE CITY OF FALL RIVER, MASS., FROM THE OFFICIAL REPORTS, JAN., 1876.
NAME.
ESTAB.
PRESIDENT.
CASHIER.
CAPITAL
SURPLUS AND INT.
DIS'CT DAY.
Fall River National Bank.
1825
G. H. Hathaway.
F. H. Gifford ...
400,000
156,960 Mon.
National Union Bank
1830
Cook Borden.
D. A. Chapin. ..
300,000
66,835 Fri.
Massasoit National Bank ..
1846
Chas. P. Stickney
L. Borden ..
200,000
162, 14I
Wed.
Metacomet National Bank
1853
Jefferson Borden.
A. S. Tripp.
600,000
337,108
ยง Mon. Thu.
Pocasset National Bank.
1854
Weaver Osborn
E. E. Hathaway.
200,000
104,738 Tues.
Second National Bank,
1857
S. Angier Chace.
C. J. Holmes. ..
150,000
65,323 Thurs.
First National Bank.
1864
John S. Brayton.
C. A. Bassett .. . .
400,000
431.018 Daily.
2,250,000 1, 324, 123
182
FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
SAVINGS BANKS OF FALL RIVER, MASS., FROM THE OFFICIAL REPORTS, JAN., 1876.
NAME.
INCOR.
TREASURER.
DEPOSITS.
DEPOSI- TORS.
DISC'T DAY.
DIVIDENDS.
Fall River Savings Bank.
1828
J. F. Lindsey.
6,099,863 59
11,585
Tues.
Apr.
Oct.
Citizens' Savings Bank
185I
E. E. Hathaway.
1,940,356 72
2,885
Fri.
Junc. Dec.
Five Cent Savings Bank.
1856
C. J. Holmes.
1,488,818 62
5,752
Mon.
June. Dec.
Union Savings Bank.
1869
D. A. Chapin.
661,527 68
1,440
Fri.
Nov . May.
10, 190,566 61
21,622
UNITED STATES CUSTOM-HOUSE AND POST-OFFICE.
The increasing business of the port of Fall River, and the rapid multi- plication of its manufactories, necessitated the procurement of larger and more convenient accommodations for the offices of the general government. The proper representations were accordingly made to Congress by the faithful member from the district, Hon. James Buffinton, and through his instrumen- tality an appropriation of $200,000 was secured in the year 1873, and a com- mission of leading citizens appointed to select a suitable building site. . The lot finally chosen for the purpose was situated on Bedford Street, corner of Second Street, it being a central location and convenient to all parts of the city.
In 1875 a further appropriation of $40,000 was made by Congress, and in 1876 additional sums of $25,000 and $20,000, making a total of $285,000. The building was designed and the plans completed in 1875 by Mr. William A. Potter, supervising architect, to whose professional ability it is certainly very creditable. Labor upon the foundation was begun in September, 1875, under direction of Mr. Edward T. Avery, superintendent of construction, and it is expected that the building will be ready for occupancy early in 1879.
The government structure has a frontage on Bedford Street of 125 feet, and on Second Street of 84 feet. It is three stories clevation, with a steep, high roof, the total height from street curb to line of roof being 92 feet. At the two flanks, and facing on Bedford Street, are circular pavilions which project from the body of the building, and between these, on the ground-floor, are the entrances to the post-office, through five broad archways. The main features here are the large monoliths of polished red granite, each in one block, 5 feet by 3 feet 6 inches, finished by elaborately-carved capitals of gray granite. A noticeable amount of carved work of a high order is displayed upon the Bedford Street front, in red and some in gray granite.
On the Second Street frontage, the entrance to the custom-house is the prominent feature of the design. This entrance-way, with its arches, polished columns, massive buttresses, corbels, crockets, copings, etc., is a masterpiece
22903005
Atlantic Publishing & Engrowing Co New York
United States Custom House and Pest Office
FALL RIVER MASS.
UNITED STATES CUSTOM-HOUSE AND POST-OFFICE-CITY HALL. 183
of architecture, occupying a space 29 feet in breadth and two stories in height. The main body of the building is gray rock-faced ashlar, laid in regular courses. The mullions and reveals of the windows, the interior of the arcade entrances to the post-office, and other prominent points are of gray granite, finely dressed. The band courses, sills, lintels, cornices, water-tables, etc., are of red granite, similarly face-finished.
The entire ground-floor is occupied by the post-office, the second floor by the custom-house, while the third floor can be used for the United States courts whenever required. The construction is fireproof throughout, the floor being of iron, concrete, and brick, and the roof of iron, concrete, copper, and slate. All interior walls are of brick, all exterior of granite ; the flooring of the corridors, etc., is covered with marble and tiles laid in cement. The basement-floor is also cemented, and the foundations rest on a solid bed of concrete. The cost of the building, with furniture complete, is estimated at about $350,000, the land costing $132,000. The new structure, when fully completed, will be one of the greatest ornaments of the city.
CITY HALL.
The first town house was established at Steep Brook, the then centre of business, in 1805. In 1825 a new town house was erected on land now occupied by the North Cemetery. In 1836 this building was removed to Town Avenue, and occupied until the completion of the new town hall and market building, erected, after the great fire, on Main Street. In 1845-6 the present City Hall building, built of Fall River granite, was erected in Market Square, at an expense of $65,000, including lot, foundation, sidewalks, furni- ture, etc. It was considered a model public building for the time, solid and substantial in its construction, and judiciously arranged with a lock-up or town prison in the basement, a market on the first floor, and a large town hall, with offices in front, upon the second floor. The hall was one of the best in the State, and more commodious even than the far-famed Faneuil Hall of Boston. With the growth of the city, however, more office accommodation was required, and in 1872-3 the building was entirely remodelled (the origi- nal walls only being left) and rebuilt, with the addition of a Mansard roof, tower, clock, bell, etc., at a cost of $200,000.
The present noble edifice, from its positon and fine proportions, is an architectural ornament to the city, and will furnish, for many years to come, ample room for the use of all departments of the government. The Public Library and Reading Room occupy the main lower floor, the second is devoted to offices for the heads of departments, while upon the third are
184
FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
spacious chambers for the boards of aldermen and common councilmen, with ante-rooms attached. From the tower is obtained a fine bird's-eye view of the whole city, the harbor, and bay, together with the country beyond. It is a worthy monument of public spirit, taste, and utility, and in its solid and substantial proportions an object of pride to the citizens.
FALL RIVER :
ITS
NEWSPAPERS AND STEAM MARINE.
O UR country had reached its semi-centennial before a newspaper was published in Fall River, and not until twenty-three years after the settlement of the town did any one have the courage to venture out upon the sea of journalism. The first number of the Fall River Monitor was issued January 6th, 1826, by Nathan Hall. The town was then under the corporate name of Troy, although the name of Fall River, by which it was first called and to which it was changed back in 1834, still existed as the name of the village, the place of the publication of the paper. The office of publication was in a brick building on Bedford Street, south side, about mid- way between Main and Second Streets. The size of the paper was 19 by 24 inches, four pages, and four columns to a page. The first post-office ante- dated the paper some fifteen years, and the first two cotton mills by thirteen years. The paper was printed on a Ramage press similar to the one used by Franklin. The ink was distributed upon the type by balls, the very ancient style of the art.
The following detailed history of Fall River journalism is part of an interesting contribution to the local annals from the pen of a veteran citizen, whose professional experience is older than that of any still living represent- ative of the Massachusetts press. Of the Monitor he observes :
" The publisher in his opening article 'feels assured that it [the paper] will receive a liberal patronage, provided it be conducted on fair principles and contain that variety of intelligence which subscribers have a right to demand.' Still he adds, 'The number of patrons at present are not sufficient to warrant the undertaking. We hope, however, that our paper will not be found entirely without merits.' Even at this early period, he finds it neces- sary to add that among the obstacles to be met with is the fact that 'our country abounds in public journals, which are daily increasing ; they are man- aged by able hands, and have opportunities of news which we cannot imme- diately possess.' He hopes that 'these difficulties may be obviated by an
-
186
FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
extensive correspondence and increasing facilities of intercourse which pcr- vade almost every part of our land.' He alludes to the ' genius and cnter- prise of the native citizens, and the knowledge and skill of strangers whom Providence has brought within its borders, which has raised it to a rank hardly second in the county of Bristol.'"
" The ludicrous side of life was then as apparent as now, for we find the veritable sea-serpent was seen in those days fully as large as these, besides it was the common practice of about all the dealers in groceries to dispense the ardent liquid which we fear has introduced a most dangerous serpent into many families, the fruits of which their descendants are still reaping to their sorrow and disgrace. The lottery was a fashionable institution, and some of our prominent citizens were agents for the same.
" At this time (1826) there were ten factories on the stream, six of which were in operation with 10,000 spindles, one iron and nail manufactory, a furnace, and a forge. The mills gave employment to about 1300 persons. There were only four churches in existence here. The Congregationalists, with Rev. Mr. Read pastor, worshipped in a house which stood where is now situated the Annawan Street school-house, and the Baptists still worshipped in the old meeting-house near the buttonwood-tree, with Rev. Job Borden pastor. The Methodists held meetings in the old school-house on the cor- ner of South Main and Annawan Streets. Of the place of worship of the other religious society we are not advised. A writer who sailed up the river to Somerset speaks of Fall River as 'a city of the wilderness, rising in the midst of hills, trees, and water-falls and rural scenery.'
" It contained thirty-six stores, a tavern with a stone post thirty-six feet high, three physicians, one attorney, one brick-yard, and one bank with a capital of $100,000. This writer well says, 'Industry is the presiding god- dess of Fall River ; an idle man could no more live there than a beetle in a bee-hive.' Well has it maintained its reputation from that day to this.
" The number of advertisements, though quite limited, was respectable for this early period of our history as a town. Among these we note that John S. Cotton offers a variety of goods at his store, at the old stand at the corner formerly occupied by the Fall River manufactory, viz. : Dry goods, groceries, crockery, glassware, and hardware. John Southwick was also a dealer in the same articles. J. & D. Leonard supplied the people with paints and oils, but as nothing is said about paper hangings, we infer that Fall River people had not attained to the style necessary to make them a profitable commodity. Bennett & Jacobs were prominent dealers in West India goods and groceries, as also was Hiram Bliss. Enoch French & Sons supplied the people with boots, shoes, and leather, which, by the way, is the only store which has remained till this day, the same being continued by one of the sons, and a grandson, under the firm name of Job B. French & Son, at or near the old stand, but with greatly increased facilities. Samuel Shove & Son were engaged in the dry goods business, also including in their stock crockery, earthen and glass warc. Blake & Nichols were dealers in staple goods. Peleg H. Earl was the merchant tailor. James Ford dispensed the law. Joseph Luther and J. Ames taught private schools
187
NEWSPAPERS AND STEAM MARINE.
Benj. Anthony and John Southwick were the auctioners. James G. Bowen was the Postmaster. Matthew C. Durfee was the only bank cashier. Susan Jennings was the tailoress, and Mrs. Hannah Allen the mantua-maker. David Anthony was agent for a Boston insurance company. John C. Borden and David Anthony were among the principal owners of real estate, and the former was Justice of the Peace, his name appearing occasionally as officiat- ing at marriage ceremonies. A Masonic lodge was in being here at this early day, of which Rt. W. Leander P. Lovell was master, and John C. Bor- den was secretary and tyler, with Rev. A. B. Read as chaplain.
" Benjamin Earl entered the office of the Monitor as an apprentice late in the fall of 1826. After serving three years and continuing labor in the office some six months longer, he purchased the office with all its materials, including the good-will and list of subscribers, and commenced its publication on the Ist of July, 1830, continuing it until 1838, when the business was sold out to Tripp & Pearce. During the last year or two of Mr. Earl's con- nection with the office, J. S. Hammond was associated with him in that and other business.
" James Ford, Esq., officiated as editor of the Monitor during the most of the period of its publication by Mr. Earl.
" During the publication of the Monitor by Mr. Earl, the Morgan excite- ment on Masonry and anti-Masonry sprung up and waxed hot and bitter be- tween the contending adherents on either side ; and also the " great Hodges and Ruggles' contest," as it was afterward called, for Congressional appoint- ment, which finally terminated in the election of Hodges on the seventh bal- lot. The Monitor took the Masonic side of the question in controversy, and this gave to its publisher the cognomen of 'Jack-mason.'
" In March, 1838, Earl & Hammond sold out their interest in the paper to Messrs. N. A. Tripp & Alfred Pearce. Their partnership continued but three months, when Mr. Henry Pratt assumed the obligations which Mr. Pearce had thrown off. Thus for many years the publishers were Messrs. Tripp & Pratt. In 1850 Mr. Tripp went out of the firm, and in 1857 en- gaged in the publication of the Daily Star, which soon after came into ex- istence.
" For many years previous to the fire of 1843, the Monitor was published in the Exchange Building, which stood where the City Hall building is now located. After the fire it sought temporary quarters in the rear of Mrs. Young's residence, on North Main Street, until the Borden Block, which stood where the new one is now erected, was finished, when the office was removed thither. When the Pocasset House was rebuilt, the office was re- moved to its present quarters, where it has remained ever since.
" In 1841 Wm. S. Robertson, the present proprietor, entered the office to serve an apprenticeship, after concluding which he continued in the employ of Mr. Henry Pratt, the publisher, most of the time till about 1855, when he engaged in business himself. In December, 1868, he assumed the publica- cation of the Monitor, which had been suspended for some months. For two years it was run as a free paper. January Ist, 1871, it was enlarged, a small subscription price charged, and it has undoubtedly now a far wider circula-
188
FALL RIVER AND IT'S INDUSTRIES.
tion than at any period in its history. It has always been issued as a weekly paper. The names of those who at various times have wielded the editorial pen in its columns arc in their order as follows: Joscph Hathaway, Esq., Charles F. Townsend, Matthew C. Durfee, James Ford, Esq., Hon. Joseph E. Dawley, and William. S. Robertson, the present publisher and proprietor.
CONTEMPORARY PAPERS.
" While the Monitor has lived through this long period, there have come into existence many newspapers, both daily and weekly. Some of them were short-lived, merely giving a flickering light and expiring, while others have continued until this day. The first of these was the Moral Envoy (anti-Masonic), which was started in 1830 by George Wheaton Allen, a native of Batavia, N. Y. This journal continued to be published about a year, when in 1831 it was succeeded by the Village Recorder, Noel A. Tripp publisher. This was issued once a fortnight from the same office as the Monitor, for a short time, until 1832, when it came out weekly. After run- ning nearly three years, the Recorder was merged in the Monitor.
" In 1836 there was started the first Democratic paper, a weekly, called the Patriot. The publisher was William. N. Canfield. It was edited a few months by B. Ellery Hale, after which the editorial work was mostly performed by a coterie of writers, among whom were the late Dr. P. W. Leland, Dr. Foster Hooper, Jonathan Slade, and Louis Lapham, Esq. These were the " forty fathers," so termed by James Ford, Esq., who at this time edited the Monitor. The Patriot was a journal of considerable ability, and did good service for the Democracy. It lived four or five years, and was succeeded by the Archetype, which was started in 1841, under the management of Messrs. Thomas Almy and Louis Lapham. After one brief year's existence it suc- cumbed to an inevitable fate, and was followed by the Gazette, published by Abraham Bowen, and edited by Stephen Hart. This was also short-lived, when the Argus, a new candidate for public favor, sprung up under the edi- torial supervision of Jonathan Slade, with Thomas Almy as publisher. The office being destroyed in the great fire of 1843, the paper was suspended. About this time was issucd the Flint and Steel, a small weekly sheet edited by the late Dr. P. W. Leland. It was in the interest of the Democracy, and gave full scope to the talent possessed by the Doctor in making the sparks of criticism and sarcasm fly thick and fast.
" At its demise, various ventures in journalism were madc, among them The Mechanic, by Mr. Thomas Almy, the Wampanoag, and some others we do not now recall. The Weekly News was started in 1845, with Messrs. Almy & Milne as publishers. The paper is still published in connection with the Daily News by Messrs. Almy, Milne & Co. Since the date of that publication we have had the All Sorts, by Abraham Bowen, published occa- sionally, fournal, weekly, by George Robertson, People's Press, tri-weckly, by Noel A. Tripp. The All Sorts and fournal lived for a season. The Press was published five years, and then, in 1865, was merged into the Monitor.
"The Labor Fournal, published by Henry Scavey, was started in 1873, and is still in existence. The L'Echo du Canada, an organ of the French
BRISTOL.
Fall River Line, New York'S Besten
189
NEWSPAPERS AND STEAM MARINE.
Canadians, was started in 1873, and lived about two years. The Saturday Morning Bulletin, a free paper weekly, started in 1872, is still issued."
DAILY PAPERS.
" The first daily paper was The Spark, published in 1848, a small cam- paign paper, under the editorial supervision of Louis Lapham, Esq., which lived but a few weeks. The first daily paper that survived was the Daily Evening Star, started in 1857, by Mr. Noel A. Tripp, afterward, in 1858, called The Daily Beacon, and edited by Louis Lapham, Esq. It continued one year, when it was purchased by Messrs. Almy & Milne, by whom it is still published under the firm name of Almy, Milne & Co. It is now called the Fall River Daily Evening News. The daily Border City Herald is now in the fourth year of its existence. Previous to this, the Monitor pub- lished a daily edition in 1865 for nine months, and in 1868 the Daily Times was published from the Monitor office for about eight months."
Journalism in Fall River cannot have lacked in variety, however unfruit- ful it has been in enriching the publishers. Certainly no class have labored with greater zeal to attain success. That they have not reached to the stand- ard of metropolitan journalism is not their fault. Though the prophet might go to Mahomet, Mahomet could not go to the prophet. The tendency to monopolies has not left journalism untouched, and, outside of the great cities, there are few journals which attain sufficient patronage to cope with them. But that the citizens of Fall River have given some sort of support and encouragement to newspapers is manifest by the number and variety of undertakings in this line during the half century whose record is presented in these pages.
MOUNT HOPE BAY AND ITS STEAM MARINE.
This beautiful estuary, some nine to ten miles in length, and varying from three to five miles in breadth, is the right arm of the larger Narragansett, through which, on the west side of Rhode Island and the narrow and deep Seaconnet on the east, it empties into the Atlantic the combined tributes of the Taunton, Cole's, Lee's, and Kickamuit rivers. Among our Eastern bays there is certainly none more charming in situation and outline than Mount Hope, and had it the same surroundings of palm and flower-covered hills, the same city of centuries in the background, and an Italian sun in a concave of blue overhead, the comparison which returned tourists are fond of making for it with the Bay of Naples would not be unfair, or at all preten- tious. The calm loveliness of this picturesque water, though recognized and
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