Gazetteer of Berkshire County, Mass., 1725-1885, Part 35

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836- comp. cn
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., Printed at the Journal Office
Number of Pages: 972

USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Gazetteer of Berkshire County, Mass., 1725-1885 > Part 35

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).

The Pittsfield Bank was chartered in April, 1853, with a capital stock of

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TOWN OF PITTSFIELD.

$150,000.00. The first meeting of the stockholders was held in May, 1853, when the following directors were chosen : David Carson, John V. Barker, Gaius C. Burnap, Robert Pomeroy, Henry Stearns, Thomas Colt, and George W. Platner, who elected David Carson, president, and Junius D. Adams, cashier. In March, 1854, the capital was increased to $300,000.00, and in May, 1857, to $500,000.00. In June, 1865, it was re-organized, as the Pittsfield National Bank, with an authorized capital of $1,000,000.00. The bank has now a capital of $500,000.00, with a surplus of $200,000.00. The officers are Julius Rockwell, president ; John V. Barker, vice-president ; Henry Colt, Z. Crane, Jr., A. J. Waterman, James M. Barker, C. V. Spear, John D. Carson, and D. A. Clary, directors ; E. S. Francis, cashier, and Henry A. Brewster, teller.

The Berkshire County Savings Bank was incorporated in 1846, the orig- inal corporators being Henry Shaw, Thomas A. Gold, Thomas. F. Plun- kett and Charles Sedgwick. These corporators met on the 28th of March, when forty gentlemen from all parts of the county were elected associate members of the corporation. April 29th the following. officers were elected : Henry Shaw, president ; Charles M. Owen, Phinehas Allen, Samuel Rossiter, Sanford Blackinton, vice-presidents ; Thomas A. Gold, secretary ; and Jason Clapp, Jabez Peck, Thomas F. Plunkett, Thaddeus Clapp, George W. Camp- bell, Solomon L. Russell, Comfort B. Platt, Stephen B. Brown, Zenas M. Crane, Henry W. Bishop, George W. Platner, Samuel Gates, John C. Rus- sel and Socrates Squier, trustees. At the first meeting of the trustees, June 3, 1846, James Warriner was chosen treasurer. The first deposit was made July, II, 1846, by David Stockbridge, the amount being $25.00, and since that time the institution has been very successful, its assets, July 1, 1884, being $2,037,395.73. The present officers are Julius Rockwell, president ; William T. Filly, George N. Dutton,' Charles W. Kellogg, and F. W. Hinsdale, vice-presidents; Robert W. Adam, treasurer ; and John R. Warriner, secretary.

The Third National Bank commenced business June 1, 1881, with a capi- tal of $125,000.00. Although a new institution, the management includes tried and careful business men, insuring confidence from the start, and it receives its share of the banking business of the town. The officers are Henry W. Taft, president ; Byron Weston, vice-president ; Ralph B. Bard- well, cashier ; and Henry W. Taft, Byron Weston, E. D. Jones, S. N. Rus- sel, Charles W. Kellogg, John T. Power, J. Dwight Francis, William H. Sloan and Levi A. Stevens, directors.

EDUCATIONAL.

The common schools of the township will compare favorably with those of any other township in Western Massachusetts. There is no record of any appropriation for educational purposes before the incorporation of the town in 1761; and indeed the settlement was so much interrupted by the French

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TOWN OF PITTSFIELD.

and Indian wars, that there was little opportunity for any. But at the meet- ing of 1762, £22, 6s. were raised and divided equally between the East and the West ends. This was a start in the right direction, but the schools were not much more than an apology for such for many years, and it was only through a strong current of opposition that the shackles of old ideas and cus- toms were broken off, admitting the more modern and progressive plans that have brought up the schools to their present standard. The schools, except in the center districts, were taught by men in the winter, and by women in the summer, until later years, when it was discovered that children can be managed by other than brute force, or through fear of the birch and ferule. In 1849 there were fifteen school districts in the town. The plan of abol- ishing the district system in accordance with the views of the State Board of Ed- ucation was constantly pressed upon the town, but was stoutly resisted by most of the outer districts ; and in that year, 1849, Hon. Edward A. Newton offered as a compromise, a resolution that the school-houses of the several districts, many of which were unfit for their purpose, should be re-built by the town. The resolution, with the amendments to it proposed in town meeting, was referred to Calvin Martin, Abel West and James H. Dunham. The committee reported that the town ought to procure a plan or model for all the school-houses so that all should be alike except as to size; and that they should be built by the town, the districts giving the old buildings-the houses to be built two each year, and the first in the districts where they were most needed. The districts were to furnish sites and keep the build- ings in repair. The report was adopted and all the school-houses in the town were re-built in the course of a few years, and in 1869 the district sys- tem was abolished. In 1874 a system of graded schools was established for all except a few outer districts. The system as at present established con- sists of a high school, a first grammar school, two secondary grammar schools, intermediate and primary schools. Aside from these there have been, and still are many private schools and institutions of learning. Among the present are Chickering's Commmercial College, Miss Salisbury's school for young ladies, Maplewood Institute, St. Stephen's Classical and Mathemat- ical school, and Miss M. E. Goodrich's select school. Among the institutions that have attained prominence in the past, may be mentioned the celebrated Berkshire Medical College that flourished for so many years, and the Berk- shire Gymnasium, the latter of which built up the magnificent buildings and grounds of the present Maplewood Institute.

THE BERKSHIRE ATHENAEUM.

The trustees of the Berkshire Athenaeum were incorporated March 24, 1871, "for the purpose of establishing and maintaining, in the town of Pitts- field, an institution to aid in promoting education, culture, and refinement, and diffusing knowledge by means of a library, reading-rooms, lectures, museums, and cabinets of art, and of historical and natural curiosities." Previously

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established libraries and cabinets were combined in their hands, so that the Athenæum now has a library of 16,000 volumes, an historical and art museum, and a fine mineralogical cabinet, each with a large number of rare and interesting specimens, while the reading-rooms are supplied with reviews, magazines and newspapers. In 1874 the Athenæum building, located on Bank row, was commenced, one of the finest buildings in the town, and one of the finest for the purpose in the State. Its very solid foundation was built in the autumn of that year, and the superstructure was nearly completed in the following year. Funds for building it were donated by the late Thomas Allen, of St. Louis, Mo., a native of Pittsfield, on condition that the town should furnish the site and make the library a permanent institution. It is a much admired specimen of the richer Gothic style. The chief material is the dark blue limestone of Great Barrington, left with a rock face, and laid in courses, while the same stone hammered, and thus becoming a lighter blue, forms a portion of the dressing. The remainder of the ornamental stone- work is of the red Longmeadow freestone, and the red granite of Missouri ; the latter of which is almost identical in character with the Aberdeen granite of Scotland. The frontage of the building is ninety feet, and the general depth sixty feet. A projection in the rear gives a depth of eighty feet to the main library-room, which is thirty feet wide. The following is a list of the principal pecuniary bequests, donations, etc., to the Athenaeum up to 1880 :-- Town of Pittsfield for site of building, $22,400.00

For yearly support as by terms of contract, . 12,000.00

By special appropriations, including dog fund, 8,565.00

$42,965.00

From Thomas Allen, by gift of building. $50,000.00

66 by purchase of land, 1,900.00

66 by fitting up Agricultural

Bank building for library, 900.00

by various other gifts, 1,000.00

$53,800.00 5,000.00

From Calvin Martin,

From Thomas F. Plunkett, purchase of land, $1,900.00

66 66 other gifts, 1, 100.00

$3,000.00

James M. Beebe,

500.00

Mrs. Elizabeth C. Clapp,

1,000.00

Franklin E. Taylor,.

500.00

Medical College sale,

4,400.00

Mr. Pomeroy and others, for five years support of the reading room,

750.00

Mrs. Mary E. Francis and others for furnishing the East Hall,

225.00

$112, 140.00

To this, however should be added other pecuniary donations and bequests from the Allen family and others, making the total of the Athenaeum's prop- erty, foot up considerably over $200,000.00.

TOWN OF PITTSFIELD.

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TOWN OF PITTSFIELD.

CEMETERIES.

In the early years of the settlement the dead were buried in some con- venient spot near the family residences, many of which "family burial- grounds" can still be traced. At the first meeting of the Plantation, in 1753, a committee was appointed to look after the construction of a meeting house, and also to "look out a place or places for burying the dead." But by whom, when or how the site of the first meeting-house or the burial-ground was finally fixed, is not known. The meeting-house commons and the grave yard, however, were soon merged in each other, covering all the space em- braced within North street, the old line of East street (including the present Park place), a line drawn past the north side of the Baptist church, and another drawn near the west side of St. Stephen's to meet it at right angles. This ground continued in use until 1834, being for that time the exclusive resting- place of the dead of the town, with the exception of a yard in the east part, and two, used at different times, in the west part, all of limited size. That at the east part, in which lie buried the remains of the first white woman who made her home in the town, still remains, and is cared for respectfully ; the same is true of the second burial-ground at the west part; but the first is overgrown by woods, and is only recognized by a few sunken and moss-covered head-stones, which may be seen by the traveler, on his left hand, as he begins to ascend the mountain on the road to Lebanon Springs. The present cemetery association was incorporated as the " Proprietors of the Pittsfield Cemetery," in 1850, and was organized April 8th of that year, with Calvin Martin, president ; John R. Warriner, vice-president ; James H. Dunham, treasurer ; and Elias Merwin, clerk. The association has about 140 acres of land lying just north of the village, about a quarter of which is used for burial purposes, and which is tastefully laid out and decorated, and contains some fine monuments and tombs. The late Hon. Thomas Allen, who was president of the association at the time of his death, April 7, 1882, made a bequest in his will of the sum of $5,000.00 for the purpose of erecting a suitable gateway at the main entrance of the grounds, which was accord- ingly done during the past summer.

FIRE DEPARTMENT.

Pittsfield has also one of the finest and best regulated fire departments in the State, outside of Boston, consisting of 195 members, made up largely of the leading people of the town. It has two steamers, five separate com- panies, and five buildings. The chief engineer, George S. Willis, has held the office since 1881. His father, Col. George S., and his grandfather, General Nathan, were also engineers, the latter being one of the original organizers of the department. In the winter of 1882 the present fire alarm telegraph system was completed, at a cost of $5,000.00.

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TOWN OF PITTSFIELD.

ALMS HOUSE AND HOUSE OF MERCY.

The Pittsfield Alms House and Insane Asylum is located on road 29, about three miles west of the village, and is under the charge of R. G. Her- mance. The building is a large, neat structure, with ample accommoda- tions for one hundred inmates, and is surrounded by a farm of eighty acres. During the past year, 1884, the average number of inmates has been thirty, twelve of whom, on an average, were insane.

The House of Mercy, a finely appointed and well-regulated hospital, located at the intersection of North and Tyler streets, was established in 1874. Rev. Dr. John Todd originated the charity, and in a brief time inter- ested several ladies of Pittsfield, who were ripe for the work. To raise money for carrying into effect their plans, the ladies got up a bazaar, from which they realized a net profit of about $6,000. The first location of the institu- tion was in small quarters on Francis street, but with the acquirement of means for the purpose, the present building was erected in 1877. The directors of the charity have laid out about $12,000 in land, building, and some furni- ture, and now have a fund of about $6,000. The money used every year comes from annual subscriptions and other donations, from bequests, and enter- tainments given in benefit, conducted by the officers of the institution .. The late gift of a fine mortuary chapel to the Hospital is a notable act of charity by Mrs. Rebecca F. Coffing, of VanDeusenville. The chapel is erected in memory of her late husband, John H. Coffing. It cost about $1,400, and is located adjoining the House of Mercy. In the rear part of the building is the autopsy room ; in the front part, the audience room, having large double windows on three sides and capable of seating fifty to sixty people. It is provided with chairs and reading desk, and is heated from a fire-place. On the chimney, above the fire-place, is a tablet of polished black marble, with this memorial inscription :-

IN MEMORIAM JOHN H. COFFING OF VAN DEUSENVILLE. IN LOVING REMEMBRANCE OF HIS GENEROUS PURPOSES TOWARDS THE HOUSE OF MERCY, THIS CHAPEL IS ERECTED BY HIS WIFE, REBECCA F. COFFING. . 1884.

The House of Mercy is under the immediate charge of Miss Anna G. Clement, as matron, the physicians in attendance rendering their services gratuitously. Patients who are able to pay for services, however, are obliged to do so.

The history of the newspapers that have been, or still are, published in 19*

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TOWN OF PITTSFIELD.

the town, the railroad history, sketch of the Berkshire Agricultural society,* something of the early cloth manufacture, war record, the erection of Pittsfield into a shire town, a description of the court-house and jail, etc., have been given in the county chapter, so we will omit further mention of these sub- jects here. The churches will be noticed on a future page. Aside from the village of Pittsfield, there are a number of small villages located in different parts of the town, most of which have grown up about the several manu- facturing establishments, and take their name from them or from their owners. Among these are the following :-

PONTOOSUC (p. o.) is the name given the village about the Pontoosuc and Taconic mills, just north of Pittsfield. The village is sometimes locally divided, however, the neighborhood in the immediate vicinity of the Pon- toosuc mills taking its name therefrom, and that in the vicinity of the Ta- conic mills, near where the postoffice established about a year ago is located, being called Taconic. Aside from these, there are on this road, between Pitts- field and Lanesboro, Bel Air, Eveningside and Wahconah, while just east of the village is Morningside.

WEST PITTSFIELD (p. o.) is the name given the small village of Shakers, in the southwestern part of the town, though it is more commonly known as Shaker village.

COLTSVILLE (p. o.) is a small village in the northeastern part of the town, having a station on the Pittsfield & North Adams railroad.

BARKERSVILLE lies a little southeast of West Pittsfield, while northeast of it lies Stearnsville and Lower Barkersville.

The Pontoosuc Woolen Manufacturing Company was incorporated March 2, 1826, and the company was organized and officers chosen March 2, 1827, with Henry Shaw as the first president, and is, therefore, one of the oldest incorporated woolen companies in Berkshire. David Campbell, Jr., the first agent, died in June, 1835. In April, 1836, George W. Campbell was elected agent, and was succeeded in December, 1841, by George Campbell, Socrates Squier being elected president at the same time. In November, 1861, Mr. Squier sold his interest to Hon. E. H. Kellogg, who afterwards sold part of it to the other stockholders, and succeeded him as president. Thaddeus Clapp, the present agent and superintendent, became a stockholder in May, 1862, and in January, 1863, his interest was increased by a transfer of more shares. He was elected to his present position in January, 1865. J. Dwight Francis became a stockholder in May, 1864, and was elected treasurer and assistant superintendent in January, 1865. The company made from its or- ganization up to about 1834, plain broadcloths and satinets in a variety of col- ors, when they commenced the production of drab carriage cloths, running

* In our sketch of this society on page 26, the accidental omission of two words, "one of," has made us say what we would not-that is, that the society was the first organized in the country. It was not, but was among the first, and its plan was universally adopted by other organizations of the kind.

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TOWN OF PITTSFIELD.

entirely on this class of goods until 1860, excepting for a brief interval, when part of the machinery was used to run blue and black cloths for clothing pur- poses. In 1860 they commenced the manufacture of Balmoral skirts, and the " Pontoosuc Balmoral " was known throughout the country as the best. They commenced making blankets in 1865, and to-day nearly every traveler throughout the continent who uses a Pullman or Wagner sleeper has for his covering a specimen of the Pontoosuc blankets. During the past year the company have erected an addition 78x35 feet, containing elegant offices and a large packing-room. They are now running twelve sets of cards, fifty broad looms, and give employment to 250 operatives, their annual product being about $600,000.00.

The Bel Air Manufacturing Company now occupies the mills at Bel Air originally erected by Spencer & Churchill and E. M. Bissell, as a cotton-mill. The original proprietors were unsuccessful, and the property passed into the hands of the Pittsfield Woolen Company, who made great improvements, erected new buildings and operated the mills up to 1871. July 24, 1873, Frank E. Kernochan, Hon. Edward Learned and Edward McAlpine Learned were incorporated as the Bel Air Manufacturing Company, with a capital of $ 100,000.00. They immediately commenced operations, running on fine fancy cassimers, and last year produced nearly 150,000 yards of 6-4 width, representing about $500,000.00. They give employment to about 170 hands, eight sets of cards and forty broad Crompton looms.

The Taconic Mills .- These mills, located at Taconic, were built by a cor- poration known as the " Taconic Mills," in 1856. The main building is a wooden structure, 50x150 feet, four stories in height. The company com- menced manufacturing in 1867, continuing until 1873, when business was suspended until 1880, the mills lying idle. During the latter year is was leased by the present firm Messrs. Wilson, Glennon & Co., who manufacture fine union cassimeres. They operate eight sets of cards, thirty-four broad and thirty-six narrow looms, giving employment to 125 hands.

The Wahconah Flouring Mills .- These mills, located at Wahconah, were erected by Caleb Goodrich, and consist of a three-story stone building 44x64 feet, and a three-story wooden building 32x80 feet. The stone building was erected for turning works, and the wooden building as a woolen-mill. In 1859 the property was purchased by Clark, Bulkley & Co., and changed into flour- ing-mills. In 1861 the firm was changed to Clark, Cole & Powell, in 1865 to Cole & Powell, and in 1875 became the sole property of the present owner, Otis Cole. He has kept fully up with the modern improvements in this class of manufacture, so that he now produces about 6,000 barrels of choice flour per annum, also 1,500 barrels of rye flour and grinds about 100,000 bushels of coarse grain.

S. N. & C. Russell's woolen mill, located on road 13, is a fine brick structure erected in 1863. The firm employs about 225 hands, in the manu- facture of fancy union cassimeres, operating eleven sets of cards, fifty-four

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TOWN OF PITTSFIELD.

broad and twenty-three narrow looms. The company sells its goods at its own office, 54 and 56 Worth street, New York, their net sale for 1883 being $430,812.00.

The Shaker Flouring Mill, located on the water-privilege next below the fac- tory built by Daniel Stearns, where there was, in 1823, an old oil-mill, and in which year it was purchased by the Hancock and Pittsfield Shakers, who erected a dam, and in the following year a wooden grist-mill, 40x30 feet, two stories high, and containing two runs of stones. In 1867 the mill was almost entirely rebuilt, and enlarged to 63x42 feet. It has three runs of stones, one of which is devoted exclusively to grinding wheat.

Barker Brother's woolen mills. - In 1882 John V. and Charles Barker pur- chased of Daniel Stearns the mill they now operate at Barkersville, which was built in 1811, and which had been in disuse for sometime, and com- menced the manufacture of woolen goods. Two years later Otis R. Barker was admitted to the firm, and April 14, 1884, Charles died, since which time it has been operated by the two surviving brothers. The original mill was added to, improved, etc., as their business increased, and in 1869-70 they built a new mill. In December, 1865, they purchased of D. H. Stearns the mill at Lower Barkersville, and now run both. They employ 280 hands.

Tke Berkshire knitting mills, D. M. Collins & Co., proprietors, are located in the Central Block. The firm was organized in the spring of 1882, and now employs about ninety hands, who turn out about seventy dozen sets of fine underwear per day. Two of the firm, Tillotson & Power, also operate a woolen-mill, where they manufacture the yarn used in the knitting-mill.

S. K. Smith & Co.'s silk mills, located on Robbins avenue, were com- pleted and put in operation by Mr. Smith, January 19, 1882. The main building is 45 by 132 feet, three stories high, and the machinery is all new and the latest improved, operated by steam power. The firm manufactures braids and bind- ings of mohair and silk, button covering material, machine and but- ton-hole twist, sewing silk, saddlers' silk, floss silk, organzine and trams, employing fifty to sixty hands. S. (S. K. SMITH & CO.'S SILK MILLS.) K. Smith was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., and learned the business of silk manufacturing in Rockville, Conn., with E. K. Rose & Co., beginning in 1866. He first came to Pittsfield as superintendent of the Saunders Silk Co., in 1874. In 1876 he became con- nected with Belding Brothers, and under the firm title of Belding, Smith & Co., established the manufacture of silk at Montreal, introducing the first machinery for that purpose ever set up in the Dominion of Canada. During 1877 he returned to Pittsfield and began business for himself, and in Febru-

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TOWN OF PITTSFIELD.

ary, 1878, his first mill was completed and put in operation. During this season he became associated with W. B. Rice, under the firm name of Smith & Rice, which continued till January 1, 1884, though during this time he erected his present mill, which he operated independently till April 15, 1884. The present firm was formed by the admission to partnership of M. B. Smith and George D. Foot. . By his untiring devotion to business and the exercise of high executive ability, Mr. Smith has increased the annual business from $15,000.00, in 1878, to $120,000.00, at the present time.

L. K. Loynes's iron foundry .- This foundry, located at the corner of Fenn and Second streets, was established about 1840, by Edson Bonney, who carried on the business of making castings for agricultural machinery, paper- mill and factory work. The columns in the Berkshire Life Insurance Com- pany's building were made here. Mr. Bonney was partially burned out in 1866, and leased the premises to F. A. Brown, who repaired the buildings and carried on the business six years, when May & Chapel became lessees, with L. K. Loynes, manager ; and in April, 1877, the latter purchased the lease and has conducted the business since. He employes four men, in the manufac- facture of all kinds of iron and brass castings.

William Clark & Co.'s foundry and machine shop, located on the corner of Mckay and Depot streets, were established by Gordon Mckay, in 1845. The successive firms have been Mckay & Hurback, Mckay & Handley, Dodge & Francis, Francis & Clary, Clary, Sedgwick & Russell, H. S. Russell, and in 1874, the present firm. They employ fifty men in the manufacture of machinery, etc.

E. D. G. Jones's machine shop .- In 1856, Mr. E. D. G. Jones began the manufacture of paper making machinery, at Lee, where he continued in busi- ness until 1867, when he removed to his present location, on Mckay and Depots treets, where he employs twenty men.

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Gazetteer of Berkshire County, Mass., 1725-1885, Part 35

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836- comp. cn Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., Printed at the Journal Office Number of Pages: 972

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836- comp. cn
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., Printed at the Journal Office
Number of Pages: 972