USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Volume I pt 2 > Part 20
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
the corner stone as follows : North Adams directory, 1883; Town report, Fire District report, Tribune Almanac, 1883 ; North Adams Transcript and Hoosac Valley News,. United States postage, one, two, three, four, and five cents, a penny and a nickel, United States greenback, Statements of the Adams and Berkshire National Banks, package from the Troy & Greenfield Railroad Company, order of exercises of the day, and a pack- age from the Sons of Veterans. The box was sealed by Mr. Porter, placed in its receptacle by William Arthur Gallup, and mortised by Contractor Bartlett. A double quartette under the direction of David Roberts sang two selections, Rev. H. I. Bodley spoke extemporaneously and the exercises were concluded by a benediction by Rev. Dr. A. C. Osborn.
The building was completed during the summer of 1884. The orig- inal scheme embraced the erection of a central or main building with flanking wings, about 30 feet wide by 25 in length and one story in height. The central building only was put up, provision being made for the addition of a wing when demanded. The structure as completed presents a front- age of 32 feet and is 70 feet long and three stories high, with the excep- tion of the ell, which is two stories high. The building faces nearly south. The material used is brick, with trimmings of Longmeadow stone. On the east side of the building is a piazza constructed for patients, the access to it being had by a door located in the center of the corridor con- necting with the future east wing. This piazza is fitted with adjustable glazed sash to enclose it for use in cool weather. Passing through the main entrance doorway on the south, the visitor is ushered into a hallway seven feet wide and well lighted. The room upon the left, ten by four- teen, and twelve feet high, is planned for a nurse's room. On the right of the hallway is the operating room, similar in size, but with the addition of a bay window. Both rooms have open fire-places. The patients' din- ing hall opens from the main hall, and will be accessible also in the event of extension of the hospital to the west. The kitchen, laundry, and the pantry occupy the ell of the building on the ground floor. The former is conveniently arranged, equipped with range, coffee boilers, and plumbing appointments of serviceable character. Opening from the kitchen on the north is the pantry and store room, fitted with marble slabs, and carefully planned in respect to lockers, cupboards, and shelving. The laundry, carefully plumbed and having all soapstone wash trays, is east of the kitchen, and into it light is admitted on two sides. Nearly the entire portion of the building on the first floor is devoted to the hospital ward. The room is over thirteen feet high, occupies the width of the building, and is twenty-nine feet deep, over 1,300 feet of air being allowed each of the ten beds to be placed in the ward. Light is admitted on three sides. The ward is heated both by direct and indirect radiation, and the impure air is withdrawn by a duct leading to the attic. The ward walls, like those of the operating room, after having had a coat of glue, were treated with silicate of soda or " water glass," the object being to prevent any possi-
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ble retention of disease germ. The flooring is of oak laid in narrow widths. The wood casings are of pine of plain design, and finished in natural color with hard oil. The plumbing throughout the entire build- ing was done in the most thorough and careful manner. The whole building is lighted with gas, and electric call bells are located in the ma- tron's room, connecting with the servants' rooms, which are planned in the main building, on the second floor, and also with the nurse's room on the ground floor.
North Adams Public Library .- The Agricultural Library Associa- tion met according to a public notice in the office of Thayer & Potter on the 5th day of January, 1866, and voted "that this association present their books to the North Adams Library upon condition that the library pay all expenses of transfer, notices of meeting, and also that the mem- bers of the Association not already members of the Library, be entitled to all the privileges of the library for one year without charge."
In the month of July, 1883, a company of gentlemen met in the par- lors of one of their number and discussed, in an informal way, the wisdom of trying to establish a public library. No definite measures were fixed upon, though many practical suggestions were made, and a general spirit of approval pervaded the meeting. The whole matter was referred to a committee of nine, who made a report which was published in the North Adams Transcript of September 27th, 1883. This report was signed by Rev. T. T. Munger, Rev. A. C. Osborn, and A. D. Miner for the commit- tee. The report was addressed to the citizens of North Adams. It rec- ommended that a movement be made for "a free public library-a library for the town, to be owned, controlled, and fostered by the town." It suggested that a room be procured at once, and that efforts be made to secure the books belonging to the North Adams Library Association as a nucleus. It also suggested as one method of raising money for the sup- port of the library until the next annual town meeting, that a public fair should be held which should also enlist the people at large by making large numbers contributors to the undertaking. This report bore fruit in a meeting at the house of E. S. Wilkinson where a general committee to take charge of the matter was appointed. This committee consisted of twenty-one persons, as follows: . Col. John Bracewell, A. D. Miner, W. A. Gallup, Thomas W. Sykes. C. T. Sampson, Dr. J. H. A. Matte, George B. Perry, Charles H. Read, P. J. Boland, V. A. Whitaker, S. Proctor Thayer, A. B. Wright, James E. Hunter, Austin Bond, George Hopkins, W. W. Butler, A. J. Witherell, George Mobbett, and George W. Chase. The committee on the fair were E. S. Wilkinson, A. B. Wright, George Hopkins, S. Proctor Thayer, W. W. Butler, Thomas W. Sykes, J. H. A. Matte, P. J. Boland, and W. G. Cady. The officers elected were as fol- lows: President, Col. John Bracewell ; vice-president, Jarvis Rockwell ; secretary, William Arthur Gallup; treasurer, V. A. Whitaker.
The North Adams Library Association promptly voted to give its books to the public library upon condition that the new library should
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be assumed and cared for by the town. One of the stores in Davenport's block was hired, the books placed therein. and the library was inaugu- rated. In the month of December a public fair was held in Martin's Hall, lasting from the 19th to the 23d inclusive. All denomina- tions contributed to the support of the fair and made it a great success. Entertainments were given on each night and many beautiful things were given and sold. The net receipts were over 82.500. At the next annual meeting in 1884 the town voted to establish a public library and that $2,500 be raised for its maintenance and for the purchase of new books for the ensuing year. It was also voted that the library and reading room have six managers, two for one year, two for two years, and two for three years. The committee elected were : for one year, John Bracewell, A. D. Miner ; for two years, E. S. Wilkinson, V. A. Whitaker ; for three , years, J. H. A. Matte, Jarvis Rockwell. It was voted to accept the gift of books from the North Adams Library Association and to make the reading room expenses for that year come under the appropriation of $2,500 for general expenses. O. A. Archer, A. D. Miner, Miss E. H. Denison, Arthur Robinson, J. H. A. Matte, and S. Proctor Thayer were appointed a committee to buy the books. This committee had several meetings to select the books which were bought for the library by S. Proctor Thayer.
The Blackinton Library Association was formed February 19th, 1859. It grew out of a felt want of reading material for the young people engaged in the Blackinton Woolen Mill. O. A. Archer, who had then lately moved into the village of Blackinton, encouraged the boys and young men, whom he found lounging about public places evenings, to read, by loaning them books from his private library, until the demand outran his ability to supply, and he then conceived the idea of establish- ing a public library. For many years a small fee was charged, but, finding that some were by this means cut off from the advantages of the library, the Blackinton Woolen . Company, about the year 1874, made it free to the inhabitants of Blackinton and vicinity. The library has now about 1,500 volumes, is well patronized, and is an important factor in the education of those living near it. O. A. Archer has been and is the only librarian.
In the summer of 1884 the town of North Adams received a great impetus in the way of building. Large brick business houses were built as well as private tenements. On Main street was built the new North Adams Savings Bank building, with its handsome granite front. On Bank street was built the Reardon & Wright brick blocks, with pressed brick and marble fronts. On State street was erected the H. W. Clark block for a wholesale grocery store, and on Ashland street a new shoe factory. During the year there were over 170 new building's erected.
William C. Plunkett died on Monday, January 21st, 1884, at the age of eighty-four, after a lingering illness. In the September previous he canght cold while delivering an address in the town hall at the reun-
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ion of the Forty-ninth regiment. He had enjoyed remarkable health up to that time. He was active in business, and full of interest in the life of the village and county. He was always a conspicuous figure, and it was wonderful to notice that his form at eighty-four was still as erect as ever, with hardly a trace of white in his thick, black hair, and that face as bright, firm, and pleasant as it was at fifty. It was a long, strenuous, useful, and honorable life, full of labor and work, and publie spiritand unwavering fidelity to his trusts and convictions. He was a native of Lenox and was born in 1799, in a log house, and spent his boyhood in that village. He was the oldest of the three remarkable brothers, William C., Thomas F., and Charles H., all of whom achieved wealth, publie position, and wide influence. William C. moved to South Adams in 1830 with 8270 in his pockets, to begin that long and remark- able career of business, social, and political success. This money was all he could bring to the copartnership which founded the old mill of Plunkett & Wheeler, but he had boundless hope and energy, excellent judgment, and a business sagacity that conducted the firm to success and wealth.
For the last few years North Adams has enjoyed the benefit of a brisk railroad competition between the various railroads which center there. This superiority of North Adams as a shipping point has effected a marked change in the method of disposing of the production of mills. This change includes the storing of goods here, under the low insurance of the mill owners' association, selling the goods to the trade direct, thus keeping accounts but once. This method contrasts most favorably with the old method, by which goods were sent to a commission house as soon as made, and insured against fire at high rates, with the possibility of total loss in case of great fires, as at Boston and Chicago ; the old method also having the disadvantage that the commission house might sell at a sacrifice to get funds. The Arnold Print Works and the Freeman Man- ufacturing Company have sold their goods for some time direct to custom- ers, and in some instances have shipped goods to St. Louis a dollar on a hundred pounds' weight cheaper than they could be shipped to the same point from New York.
During the last twenty years the growth of North Adams has been rapid and permanent. In that period it has more than quadrupled in manufacturing and commercial importance. One illustration of its re- markable growth is afforded by the fact that where only one or two mongrel or mixed trains did all the business of a day a few years ago, there are now many full fledged passenger expresses and other trains to do the work.
Even the much boasted Springfield, with its years of development and prestige, is not to-day a more important railroad center than North Adams has been rendered by the Hoosac Tunnel thoroughfare. Five im- portant railroads have a terminus here.
CHAPTER XXVI.
ADAMS AND NORTH ADAMS (continued).
Manufactures .- Giles Tinker .-- The Old Brick Factory .- The Eagle Factory .- Blackinton .- The "Phoenix."-Furnaces and Machine Shops .- The "Boys' Factory." -- Stephen B. Brown .- Braytonville .- Stone Mill on River Street .- The Union .- James E. Marshall. -The Print Works .- The Iron Business .- Freeman Manufacturing Company .- W. W. Freeman .- Johnson Manufacturing Company .- Sylvander Johnson .- Greylock Mills .-- Arnold Print Works .- Tanneries .- Boots and Shoes .- Zylonite .- Grist Mills.
O NE of the pioneers in manufacturing in the old town of Adams, and one who did much to develop its resources, was Giles Tinker. Mr. Tinker was a mechanic, and considering the times in which he lived, and the circumstances under which he commenced and carried on business, one of uncommon ingenuity and power of mind. He was born at Lyme, Conn., and in 1802, at the age of twenty-one years, came to reside in North Adams, then a small village of twenty one houses. For some time he worked at cabinet making, but the demand for such work was very limited, and his ambitious spirit soon craved a larger field. About the year 1804, when machines for carding wool into rolls, to be spun into varn for home-made cloth, were coming into general use, and superseding hand cards, Richard Knight and Roger Wing introduced one of these machines into Adams, and a demand for them also sprang up in Pennsylvania, Central New York, and Canada. They were sold at $350 to $400 for sin- gle machines, and $600 to $700 for double ones. This was Mr. Tinker's opportunity, and he at once commenced the manufacture of these ma- chines, with no previous experience. The first ones he constructed in some portion of the premises of David Estes, on River street. All portions of the machine that could be made of wood were so constructed, and the iron work was made by Joseph Darby. Mr. Tinker and Captain E. Rich- mond, an ingenious wood worker, formed a copartnership, in 1804. for the manufacture of carding machines, and occupied a "red shop " on the corner of Main and Bank streets. Afterward, each worked on his own account in the same shop. Captain Richmond continned the business some time after Mr. Tinker, selling the machines throughout Central New York. In 1805 Mr. Tinker married the daughter of Richard Knight, a
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wealthy farmer. In 1800 he purchased of Bethuel Finney a lot contain- ing about two acres, fronting on Main street, and extending from the cor- ner of Bank street easterly. The price paid was $2,000. Mr. Tinker carried on business in the basement of this house for about a year, when he built a shop on the premises known as the " old yellow building." In 1811, when the spirit of enterprise in the cotton manufacture had begun to spread from, Rhode Island, its first seat in this country, a company was formed by the citizens of this and adjoining towns, for the erection of the " Old Brick Factory." Mr. Tinker and Captain E. Richmond were shareholders ; and having gained experience from their carding machine business, and being sagacions men, the company had full faith that they could construct the necessary machinery for the mill. So a contract was made with them. Mr. Tinker went to Rhode Island, engaged experienced help and procured such tools as were then in use for the construction of mill machinery. The contract called for all the improvements extant for cotton manufacturing, the spinning frames and mules, but not the picker or power loom, which were then unknown. The contract was taken by Messrs. Tinker & Richmond at $16 per spindle, amounting to about $7,- 000, and affording to the contractors a net profit of about $1,000 each. This amount was to those young men a substantial benefit, an impulse both in capital and experience, which prompted them to a wider field of action.
The "Old Brick Factory" was erected on the site between Marshall street and the Hoosac River, in 1811, by an incorporated joint stock com- pany of twenty persons each investing $1,000. The water privilege and about six acres of land were purchased of Jeremiah Colegrove on the 7th of March, 1811. Among the original incorporators were Dr. James Cum- mings, Josiah Q. Robinson, Jeremiah Colegrove, Richard Knight, George Whitman, Giles Tinker, Edward Richmond, Benjamin Lapham, Joseph Howland, George Lapham, William Waterman, and others, principally of North Adams. The agents or business managers of the company were as follows: first, J. Q. Robinson, second, Dr. James Cummings, third, Nehemiah Allen, and fourth, George Lapham. This was the first cotton mill in Adams and one of the first in the county. By contract with the company Jeremiah Colegrove constructed the ditch-which was nearly an eighth of a mile long and was regarded as a wonderful undertaking in those days-erected the mill, of brick, four stories high, fifty-five by thirty-four feet, and also built four small dwelling houses near the same. The first machinery was very primitive as compared with that now in use. Wood was used rather than iron in the machinery, wherever it could be made to answer. The picker and lapper were then unknown, and the power was lying dormant in the brain of the inventor. The only labor saving processes carried on in the mill were the carding and spinning, so that a great variety of machinery was not required. The cotton was sent out among various families to be whipped and picked by hand, at a cost of three cents per pound. The first contrivance used for " whipping"
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of that day, was a corded frame about two and one half feet high and three feet square, inclosed on three sides with boards. On this the cotton was laid and thoroughly whipped with sticks, to expel the dust and loosen its compactness. The "whipper" beld a stick in each hand and "put in the licks" equal to an angry school master dealing with a frac- tious pupil. The cotton was then picked to pieces for the most part by women's and children's nimble fingers. The yarn was also sent out among families. to be woven into shirting, at first by the common loom, afterward by the fly or spring shuttle, thrown by hand. Almost every dwelling was the scene of some branch of the cotton manufacture and there was a constant distribution and gathering up of the products of this " home industry." The price paid for weaving was six cents per yard, in cotton yarn ; and No. 12 yarn sold for 83 cents per pound, in square five pound bunches.
The fashionable blue " checks and stripes," woven from yarn spun in this mill, were sold for 33 to 42 cents per yard; and the shirtings and sheet- ings were worth about 40 cents. The close of the war and the opening of our ports to European goods, in 1815, caused this mill to be stopped like hun- dreds of others in the country. It lay idle until 1819, when it was leased by David Estes and Oliver Parker and run for three years ; then it lay idle again until about 1825 when Thomas Higginbotham, Ralph Howard, and Daniel P. Merriam purchased the entire property for $2,500, and carried on business for several years. The real estate then included all the land from Main street north to the North Branch, excepting the Colegrove mill property. No road existed in that direction excepting from Main street to the mill. The whole estate, which cost the original proprietors $20,000, located in the very heart of the village, on a most eligible site and water power, with six acres of land, had lain unproductive, the build- ings going to decay and the machinery getting obsolete, for more than half the time after it was first improved. None of the citizens were dar- ing or affluent enough to purchase it for the sum of 82,200, the sum for which it was at one time offered. . The proverb " a burnt child dreads the fire," will illustrate the feeling prevalent at that time among men of en- terprise and substance. Their pecuniary condition and inferior machinery were no match for the wealth and trained skill of Great Britain, favored as it was by a low tariff.
Messrs. Higginbotham & Co. therefore labored under great disad- vantages. The buildings were very much out of repair, the machinery antiquated and nearly useless from lying idle so long, but they could not afford to throw it aside. Mr. Merriam was an excellent machinist, and the firm deemed it advisable to repair the old machinery and build new. They introduced some forty looms. They built an addition of thirty feet to the west end of the mill. All this was expensive and embarrassed them also as their capital was limited and future profits were relied on to meet outlays. The business was fair for some years and for a portion of the time quite profitable. All the partners were energetic, hard work-
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ing, and persevering in their efforts to succeed. But the heavy debts to be provided for, and a change of the times, caused this firm, like its pred - ecessors, to succumb. They sold the property in 1829 to Joseph Mar- shall. an extensive manufacturer in Hudson, N. Y. James E. Marshall next owned it, then Wells. White & Co., and Joseph L. White. A. P. Butler & Co., purchased it at auction, and in 1858 sold it to Jackson, Ray & Co. The " Old Brick" was not used after 1857, when its time- worn walls ceased to reverberate with the clatter and clang of machinery.
The second cotton mill in town was the " Eagle Factory " which was built in 1813 by Giles Tinker, W. E. Brayton, Benjamin Sibley, William Bradford, and Henry Remington. It was a wooden structure, eighty-two by forty-five feet, four stories high, and was located on the North Branch, northeast of the Eagle bridge. The machinery was built by Giles Tinker, of the ordinary patterns of that day. Owing to the same causes which blasted the cotton manufacture in the "Old Brick," after the close of the war with Great Britain, the " Eagle factory " did not pay. The four named proprietors sold out, and the mill lay idle for many years. The "Eagle" company labored with a zeal deserving of good fortune, and that they were thwarted in their efforts was not altogether their fault. About the year 1820 Caleb B. Turner hired the Eagle factory and eventu- ally purchased it. He afterward leased it to Brown, Jenks & Tyler, who for three years operated that and another mill near it. The next lessee was Dr. Isaac Hodges, who ran the mill for two years. About the year 1838 it was purchased by James E. Marshall and rented to and operated by John H. Orr and John N. Chase. The entire mill and its contents were destroyed by fire in 1845. Messrs. Orr & Chase lost about $3,000 in ma- chinery and stock.
The same year, 1813, that witnessed the erection of the "Eagle " factory, also witnessed the erection of the first factory at Blackinton. The first house erected in Blackington had been built in 1770. It stood on the site of the old William Blackinton house. It was kept as a tavern in 1815 by David Darling. It was probably built and at all events occupied during the Revolutionary war, by Nathan Smith, one of the earliest settlers of the town, grandfather of Alpheus and Renben Smith. He re- sided in several parts of the town. He was one of the noble heroes who shouldered his musket and engaged in the Bennington "fight." He was known during the latter part of his life as "Governor Smith," and was reputed to have been 102 years old when he died.
The second house in Blackinton was built near the bridge, within the limits of Williamstown, very soon after the house just mentioned. The third house was built of logs by Abel Cary. The one-story house now standing just east of the burial ground was removed to its present loca- tion in 1809 from the Smedley farm. Captain Samuel Kellogg was born in this house in 1768. These three houses were all that existed in Black- inton in 1810, and no other road was then open to Williamstown except- ing the one past these houses. The factory erected in Blackinton in 1813
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was built by Artemas Crittenden. It was a wooden structure, twenty-five feet by sixty, three stories, and was constructed by Cadish B. Hopkins and Stutley Weaver, the principal carpenters of that day, on contract. It was intended for the manufacture of satinet and all wool cloth, in part by machinery, and was the first mill of the kind erected in the town. Mr. Crittenden also carried on wool carding and cloth dressing in his new mill. All the weaving was performed on hand looms, and as high as twenty-five cents a yard was paid for the same. Rufus Wells, J. L. White, and Sanford Blackinton were apprentices to Deacon Crittenden about this time, and boarded in his family. The subsequent success of these young men, who rose from slender beginnings to wealth and distinction upon the same locality where they learned their trade, is owing in no small degree to the habits of morality, industry, frugality, perseverance, and thoroughness in their calling, inculcated by Deacon Critttenden and daily illustrated and lived out by him.
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