USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Watertown > Historical sketches of Watertown, Massachusetts > Part 20
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The improvement of the river bed, of the river banks, the arrangement of border streets, so as to facilitate access to the river, the use of the river for transportation and for pleasure, and especially as an ever living, ever changing river park, the voice of great cities and small cities, of London, Paris, Flor- ence and Pisa, for instance, not to mention those nearer home, shows what might be accomplished at an early period with far less expense than later. With this whole region under large municipal control, this improvement would doubtless be undertaken more quickly. In view, however, of the dreaded dangers of such concentration of power as this would imply, our people will probably continue to enjoy in prospect only the water-park of the future and post- pone its realization for their children, or their chil- dren's children.
The Walker & Pratt Manufacturing Company .- One of the largest industries of this town is conducted by this corporation, which manufacture and sell, both at wholesale and at retail, stoves, ranges and furnaces, hot water and steam heaters, and steam and hotel cooking apparatus. They also make a specialty of apparatus for the ventilation of buildings, and do tin, copper and sheet-iron work as well as tin roofing.
The company, as at present organized, was incorpor- ated under the general laws of the State, in 1877, with a capital of $300,000. The buildings occupied here in town extend from the river along the bridge nearly to Main Street, and along Main Street nearly to Beacon Square, with the exception of a narrow line of stores and the grist-mill immediately upon the street, covering an area of about two acres. The
With a little effort on the part of its citizens, and a principal store-house is on Galen Street, a long, fine-
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looking brick structure, two stories high, while the principal foundry is on the eastern side of their grounds, nearly opposite the end of Mount Auburn Street. This is also built of brick and, with its high windows, must be well adapted to the needs of the moulders, while it presents a neat and tidy appear- ance on the street. As one approaches the village of Watertown from either of the Newtons, over the an- cient bridge, known in colonial times as the Great Bridge, the first which was thrown across the Charles River, he is struck by the appearance of the massive buildings on the right, with brick walls and their solid stone substructure rising apparently out of the midst of the river, and the extensive wharf extending many hundred feet down the stream, ready, one can see, to utilize the improvements in the river which some future river and harbor bill will make possible.
It is true this wharf is at present partly covered with buildings, some of which are of brick, and by piles of fla-ks and other useful lumber, such as is necessary in all large iron foundries. If, however, the improvements in the river bed should be extended by dredging a- far as the bridge, as Mr. Pratt hoped and labored to have done, and as doubtless will some- time be done, we should see the masts of vessels or the smoke-stacks of steamers at these same wharves, with their cargue, of coal and iron, and the piles of stoves, ranges, and steam and hot-water heaters ready for shipment to all parts of the world.
The officers of the corporation at present, 1820, are George W. Walker, president; George E. Priest, treasurer; Oliver Shaw, general superintendent. There are four directors, George W. Walker, George E. Priest, Arthur W. Walker and Oliver Shaw.
The foremen in charge of some of the principal departments of their manufactory are: F. H. Edge- comb, in the patent-shop; Wm. F. Atwood, in the moulding-room; George B. Moore, in the mounting- shop ; John Applin, in the machine-shop.
About one hundred and thirty men are employed at the Watertown factory, and about $2000 per week is required to pay their wages. In Boston a large building on Union Street, Nos. 31, 33 and 35, is occu- pied as a wholesale and retail store and for the various purposes of their business, for pipe-work, tin-work, stove-rooms, etc., where forty or fifty men are em- ployed as tin-plate workers, steam-fitters, and sales- men. Of course other salesmen are kept "on the road." There is an agency in San Francisco which sells quite extensively on the Pacific coast. Con- siderable quantities are sent to Southern Africa, through Boston and New York exporters, although the larger part of their trade is for the New England market.
The company use about 2000 tons of iron and 800 tons of coal and coke each year in the Watertown works. Some idea of the extent of foundry work may be gained by the quantity of moulding sand required for the moulds, which of course is used many times, when we reflect that 400 tons of it are bought
each year. Of course thousands of feet of lumber are required for flasks and patterns, for packing and freighting.
The teaming is in the hands of Mr. George H. Sleeper, who keeps ten horses and three men at work all the time, in trucking between the Watertown works and the Boston store. Large use is made also of the Fitchburg and the Boston and Albany Railroads for iron and coal and for sending away the products of their manufacture.
The $300,000 stock is held by a few persons, princi- pally by four or five stockholders who have been in the business for years, or who have gained it by in- heritance. It is seldom or never quoted on the market.
When this industry started in 1855 it was as a foun- dry and was established by Miles Pratt, Allen S. Weeks, William G. Lincoln, John J. Barrows and Thomas Barrows, under the firm-name of Pratt, Weeks & Company.
In the spring of 1857 the firm dissolved, and Mr. Pratt carried on the business during the rest of the year alone. Then a company was formed by Mr. Miles Pratt, Mr. Luke Perkins and Mr. Wm. G. Lincoln, under the firm-name of Pratt & Perkins.
The business continued under this name until the autumn of 1862, when Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Pratt bought out Mr. Perkins, and then the business was conducted under the firm-name of Miles Pratt & Company. This firm continued the business, which was somewhat varied and greatly enlarged during the war, until 1874, when it was consolidated with George W. Walker & Co., of Boston, under the firm-name of Walker, Pratt & Company, which combination con- tinued without further change until it was incor- porated, in 1877, under the present style as the Walker & Pratt Manufacturing Company. At first the busi- ness was small, employing about twenty men, and was confined to the manufacture of parlor and cooking stoves.
When the war broke out, in 1861, the firm went into the manufacture of ammunition and gun-carriage castings. The demands of the nation were urgent, the capacity of the works was increased gradually until about one hundred men were kept constantly employed. The story of the war, especially at the front, is ever filled with interest. It is of a time that tried what there is in man, and frequently called out the noblest traits of character. Not less at home, frequently, was it necessary to strain every nerve and exhaust every device which inventive genius could originate to quickly turn "the plough-share and the pruning-hook," the materials which had been devoted to the quiet purposes of peace, into those effective engines and missiles of war now required to save the life of the nation, suddenly attacked by a desperate enemy who had prepared to wage, in spite of all warnings, a sudden and destructive warfare for the possession of the seat of government and against the very life of the Nation. How the bold spirits, with-
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out thought of their own lives, rushed to Washington, and what dangers and difficulties they encountered, we have often heard. While no diminution of honor can be permitted in speaking of their labors, it might he asked what could they have done without being supported and supplied by those at home. Miles Pratt was especially active in every way ; a zealous and fervent man, fertile in devices, and of great ex- ecutive ability, he could be active in serving his ' country at home. Colonel Rodman, then in com- mand of the Arsenal here in Watertown, and Miles Pratt together talked over the needs of the Nation in arms and missiles of war. Colonel Rodman asked of Mr. Pratt if iron balls could be made by his men en- gaged in monlding stoves and furnaces. Mr. Perkins, the superintendent in the foundry, entered into the needs of the hour. All the men were ready to try what they could do. Long before any orders could come, or any expenditures could be authorized by Government, without waiting to see if or how they were to be paid, the men were at work moulding shot for canister, for 12-pound guns, for 24-pound guns, even for 13-inch and 15-inch guns-yes, both solid shot and shells. Colonel Rodman, as an effective ord- nance officer who knew just what was needed, seconded by the spirit and ingenuity of a large body of men, organized and spurred on by Miles Pratt and his assist- ants did much to supply the men at the front with the effective implements of war. Those from Watertown had the confidence of men in action. Of course all that could be done here was but a mite compared to the de- mands of an army which increased to over a million men. But these works were rapidly increased through 1861 and 1862. Two hundred and seventy-five (275) tony of iron per month were used under contract for the manufacture of war materials ; 2500 to 3000 tons of iron per year were monlded into shot and shell for the preservation of the Union.
The large store on Galen Street was begun in 1874, and was gradually extended across the race-way to the island where the pattern store-house stood, and this was replaced with a secure and almost fire-proof brick building in 1880.
This building extends 264 feet along Galen Street, is sixty feet wide and practically three stories high, for it has a high basement story. It occupies the site of what have been known for many years as the Blackman honse, the Barrett house, and the Major Peirce house. The Blackman house was where Benjamin Edes printed che Boston Gazette, when Bos- ton was occupied by the British. The pattern store- room on the island, with a solid wall towards Galen Street,-that is, a wall built without windows, although ornamented with piers and arches,-shows on the south side by its tiers of windows, four stories above a solid stone foundation wall. Here are kept the many thousands of dollars worth of patterns required by the great variety and constant progress of their work. Next to this are the store-rooms for furnaces,
stoves and ranges. Here may be seen at certain seasons of the year, hundreds of ranges packed ready for shipment-in fact, very large quantities of all the variety of goods manufactured by the company, which here accumulate when the demand falls off and which are drawn upon when the season for in- creased demand approaches.
Next to these store-rooms, and before we reach the large sample and sales-room of the company, comes the large arch-way through which the teams pass to the inner works, the machine-shops, the foundries, the blacksmith-shop and the other parts of this large interior area. Here in the drive-way are ample facilities for loading and unloading from the store- rooms, above and on either side ; from which can be lowered into the wagons the heavy freight either for the railroad or for Boston. This is furnished not only with hoisting apparatus, but also with platform scales, for weighing each load or any part of a load.
The entire process of mannfacture is and has been for thirty years conducted under the constant super- vision of Mr. Oliver Shaw, who watches particularly that all the various departments work harmoniously, and so that the minimum amount of material may do the maximum amount of work-that is, that strength and endurance are secured where required, with the smallest consumption of iron, but with enough to answer the purpose, who, with knowledge of men and with kindly and considerate attention to their peculiar abilities and fitness for their several duties, has, in all these years of growing prosperity of the company, won their confidence and respect. His position, which he seems to hold so easily, has been reached by no favor or chance. The young man may take note that the ability to do every kind of work, to fill any man's place and do any man's work in a superior manner, may naturally constitute one, with modesty in his bearing, a recognized leader among leaders, a master among masters.
The cupola, or furnace, capable of melting fifteen tons of iron at a blast, where skill and knowledge are required to liquefy the iron with no unnecessary loss of fuel, or iron, or time, is under the charge of W. A. Pratt, with his two men to help him.
The moulding department, connected with the furnace-room and situated on either side of it, has an area of about 14,000 square feet. Here one may see fifty or sixty men, at work preparing in the soft and yielding moulding-clay and sand the forms which ornament in iron the homes of the poor and wealthy over the land-men whom no amount of dust and dirt will prevent you from recognizing as the same who in clean linen and neat dress, preside in the chairs of the town fathers, or as orators in town, or parish, or society meetings, who prove that brains are equally effective in the ntilities, as in the elegan- cies of life. It is not necessary in this place to de- scribe the mode of work, the improved appliances for securing the ends desired. This foundry does not
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differ from the many foundries in the country, ex- cept as one man differs from another. Some of the men earn quite large wages by their skill and celer- ity. This room is under the charge of Wm. F. At- wood.
The cleaning and mounting-shop, where the rough castings are taken to be dressed, cleaned, and put to- gether, is in charge of Geo. B. Moore, who has seen thirty years' service in this place. Twenty-five or forty stoves or ranges are finished daily, requiring the services of sixteen experienced mounters and six helpers.
Perhaps the most important department, if one de- partment may be said to be more important than an- other, where each one is essential to the whole, as well as to each other, is the pattern-making room. Here twelve men are employed, with a great variety of tools and machinery, in making patterns, both in wood and in iron, This calls for skill and ingenuity, and in making new designs, some degree of artistic sense. Not only this, but some degree of judgment is required to adapt the pattern, in view of the varied rates of cooling and shrinking of iron, in the lighter and heavier parts of the casting, to produce the desired effects without danger of breaking or change of form. Allowance must be made in the size of the patterns for this shrinkage. Here seven men are employed on wood, and five men on iron, all under the charge of F. H. Edgecomb.
Mr. John Applin has eight men under his direc- tion in the machine-shop, where drills, lathes, plan- ers, and all the usual kinds of tools required in such places, are kept busy in the varied calls for work of such kind.
One of the contrivances patented, by Geo. H. Tainter, a man in their employ, is known as the Tainter Damper. The name Tainter is somewhat famous also, in connection with the mechanical devices, made by a son of Mr. Tainter for Prof. Bell, of Bell's Telephone.
Nickel-plating, required in the present demand for neatness and elegance, even in cook and parlor stoves, is done on the premises under the charge of David Flanders.
All this machinery would be dead and useless without sufficient motive-power. This is supplied by a Campbell & Whittier forty horse-power engine. There is a powerful steam-pump, ready for fire pur- poses, which is used in testing the strength and con- dition of boilers and radiators, before they are put into buildings. The steam is produced in two forty- five horse-power sectional boilers, with thirty sec- tions each, manufactured by the company.
The blacksmith-shop is in charge of Mr. Grace.
The tin-shop, where all the varieties of tin, zinc and galvanized iron, piping for furnaces and venti- lation, where ware for cooking purposes is made, is in the main building on Galen Street, next to the sales- room, and is in charge of H. A. Philbrook.
The directors aud officers of this company manage for their own interests-this goes without saying,-but also with a liberal policy to their men and to the town. George W. Walker, the president, and his son, Arthur W. Walker, one of the directors, live in the city of Malden. George W. Walker has held many offices of trust and honor in his town and has represented Malden in the Legislature.
George E. Priest, the treasurer, and Oliver Shaw, the general superintendent, and nearly all the employees live here in town. Mr. Shaw is also presi- dent of the only national bank in town, the Union Market National Bank, and has acted during many years as one of the selectmen, for a good part of the time their chairman. Mr. Priest is one of the board of trustees of the Free Public Library, is treasurer of the Watertown Savings Bank, served the town and his country in the army during the late war, and both are identified with most public movements. The re- spect with which they are treated by their townsmen mark the high character of work of this company in all it undertakes.
The business of this establishment was at first almost exclusively in supplying New England house- holds with the essential stove for kitchen and sitting- room use. Now contracts are taken for the most ex- tensive and complicated heating apparatus, which they are ready to manufacture and put up, although they do not despise the smaller and humbler class of manufactures. Among the larger contracts which they have executed one might mention the heating apparatus for the Hotel Vendome, Boston, that for the Danvers Hospital for the Insane built by the State, and that in the Madison Square Theatre in New York City. Some of their contracts have amounted to upwards of 880,000 each.
This company are now manufacturing the cele- brated Crawford Range, now known in its improved form as the Crawford Grand, which is selling all over New England. While no great contracts, of course, can be made for so simple and universally employed device for meeting our common needs, probably the success of their business depends as much upon the call for this as for the larger and more extensive, and, therefore, the apparently more important heaters used in the larger institutions. They have recently been getting ont a stove or range in which wood will be exclusively used for fuel, known as the Palace Eureka, designed to meet the wants of the Pacific Coast, yet, as they think, adapted to a considerable portion of New England, where wood is still in abun- dance.
This company manufacture hot-water heaters also, one which they have recently patented, and are pre- pared to introduce into buildings where they are pre- ferred. Much is said about the economy of hot-water heaters at the present time. The company allege that the most economical heaters used, as all will allow, are stoves in each separate room, if fuel alone
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aud not the labor of taking care of them or the inci- dental dirt and discomfort are to be thought of. If good ventilation is also required, with the smallest amount of care, then the question is between hot air furnaces so called, and steam or hot-water heaters, Either steam or hot-water heaters placed in each room may, by direet radiation, supply the required amount of heat without ventilation. It hot-water or steam-pipes are placed iu boxes to which a constantly fresh supply of air is admitted and this allowed to pass into and heat the rooms of a house, giving the same results as the hot-air furnace, then a little ex- perimenting will determine which is the more eco- nomical and which will give the best distribution of heat, considering all things-the means of egress for vitiated air and the local direction and force of vary- ing winds, for instance.
The requirements of a perfect heater for dwelling- houses and for larger buildings have been the study of this company for years, and as fast as any new ideas are gained, they are, as the company claims, put into substantial and durable form for their own ad- vantage and for the advantage of our large intelligent New England community, to whose wants they chiefly cater in all their mannfactures.
Etna Mills .- The Etna Mills are situated nearly a mile above the first dam, above tide-water, on the Charles River, and have for the last few years ob- tained a reputation for producing various woolen and worsted goods for ladies' dresses of the very finest quality. Goods are made with fine broad-cloth and other styles of finish of every variety of shade and in all colors used for dress-goods by the ladies, as well as in stripes, plaids and figured designs.
The Atna Mills Company was organized in 1862, and in 1867 the present agent, Albert O. Davidson, came from the Tremont Mills, Lowell, to take charge, and "the present extraordinary success of the institu- tion is largely due to his eminent business taet and to the adoption of those systematic methods which are so essential to the welfare of a large corporation."
The capital stock of the company, organized under the general laws of Massachusetts, is $250,000, the annual product about 8500,000. The directors of the company are: Joseph C. Stephens, of Boston ; Arthur Hobart, of Boston ; Edmund W. Converse, of Newton ; Morrill A. Smith, of Boston ; Edwin F. Atkins, of Boston ; Edwin A. Hildreth, of Harvard, Mass., and Albert O. Davidson, of Watertown.
Joseph C. Stevens has been president of the corpora- tion for several years, since the death of Nathan Faye. Samnel Smith was treasurer until 1887, and Arthur Hobart, accountant for twenty years, has been treasn- rer since that time.
The number of persons employed by the corpora- tion is from 275 to 300, two-fifths of whom are women, and the weekly pay-rolls amount to over $1600.
A new mill was built a few years ago, 117 feet long, 54 feet wide, and three stories high, the walls of 26-iii
which were made partly of stone, 30 inches thick, partly of briek, 16 inches thick, with heavy hard- pine beams; built thus firm and strong to support the new and improved machinery then introduced, chiefly looms for the weaving of fine eloths, of which over 20,000 yards are produced each week.
These mills ocenpy buildings on both sides of the river, where water-wheels supply a part of the power required by the mills. The power generated by the wheels on the south side of the river is transmitted 125. feet, across the river to the north mill, by an endless wire rope, passing over wheels in the two buildings. Between these mills is a rolling dam- claimed by some to be the only one in America, the only other dam of the kind being in England, at Warwick Castle.
While the water-power was at first sufficient to do all the work required-and at times there is a large amount of water passing over the dam, apparently to great waste-it is found that steam is desirable for various purposes in the manufacture of woolens, and, in order to have at all times sufficient power for all purposes, a steam-engine is required.
The engine-room is on the ground-floor, is 30 feet wide, by 60 feet long, and contains a fine Corliss en- gine of 125 horse-power. The steam for this and for heating, drying and other purposes, is furnished by four large boilers, of which three are constantly in nse, the fourth being held in reserve in case of acci- dent to either of the others. Two of these are made of steel. About three tons of coal are required each day.
The different departments of the mill are each un- der competent overseers, who are held responsible each for his part of the work.
The sorting department, under the charge of J. E. Butler, occupies a brick building on the south side of the river, and, with the store-house adjoining, con- tains at times over 100,000 pounds of wool of the va- rious kinds. Here may be seen the finest Australian wools, with their long, silky fibres; the brilliant Cash, mere; the Alpacca; the finest and softest camels' hair, so delicate, for the finest fabrics. Here are bales of "Ohio clip," some in the natural state, some cleaned to pure white, in contrast with the black Egyptian near by. The more common kinds of wool are used for some purposes.
The scouring-room and the dyeing-room are in charge of Mr. Alfred Pepler, who has in his store- room all the different kinds of dyes required in pro- ducing the greatest variety of shades of all the lead- ing colors. Only by long practice and great skill can all the delicate effects be produced which, either in the sunlight or under artificial light, are so much admired by ladies of taste. One unskilled can only look with wonder on the nnmeaning compounds which he sees in the dye-rooms; his admiration must be reserved for the finished fabrics.
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