USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Volume I pt 2 > Part 23
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The Arnold Print Works were built in the early period of the war of the Rebellion and directly after the dissolution of the Union Print Works Association. Since that time it has had its crises of good and ill such as
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mark the history of almost every great business establishment. The buildings and machinery were destroyed by fire in December, 1872. In 182 1874 they were rebuilt upon the old foundation, and equipped with the latest improved machinery. About this time the original firm was dis- solved and John F. Arnold and Oliver Arnold, brothers of Harvey Ar nold, the leading spirit in the enterprise, withdrew. Harvey Arnold, then about 70 years old, remained at the head of affairs. A further change was made in July, 1875, when Mr. Albert C. Houghton bought an interest in the property and became actively interested as a partner in the business.
The Arnold Brothers had been well known for nearly forty years as . among the largest manufacturers of cotton goods in Western Massachu- setts, and were noted for energy, enterprise, and public spirit. So strong were these traits in Harvey Arnold that he is seen at the age of three score and ten girding himself anew for active and absorbing business. The new firm started under great disadvantages. The new works were rebuilt on credit and most of the stock was bought on from five to eight months' time until in the summer of 1876 the extremely depressed state of the market rendered it impossible to obtain credit, or to obtain for their goods the actual cost of their production. The outlay for machinery and other things necessary to the successful manufacture of prints was constant and heavy, the creditors of the firm, aware of all this, became distrustful and pressed their claims, the usual bank accommodations were denied the firm, and before they could realize upon their produc- tions they were sued and compelled to suspend.
Mr. Arnold was always marked for courage and firmness under the pressure of difficulty, but when the final disaster came, which wrecked his fortune and life work, his health and ambition went down also. A few weeks after the failure his wife died, and he soon followed her.
Before the death of Mr. Arnold arrangements for reorganizing the business were begun and transfers of property were made looking to that end. This purpose was carried out and a new corporate organization, under the name of the " Arnold Print Works," with a capital stock of $150,000, was effected and it went into operation in the month of October, 1876. The first officers were: president, David A. Brayton ; Albert C. Houghton, treasurer ; and William A. Gallup, clerk. The moving spirit in the new corporation was Albert C. Houghton. Mr. Houghton came to North Adams in 1868, being then about twenty-three years old. He en- gaged in several large business undertakings in a manner that indicated a great grasp of mind and a knowledge of affairs and business sagacity which was unusual in men of his years, and which foreshadowed his future success. Since that time " The Arnold Print Works" has grown in posi- tion and prosperity. In 1882 a large brick building, 110 by 250 feet, was built and connected with the main building by a covered passage, for the purpose of dyeing print cloths indigo blue. This building is probably the largest building in the world used for that purpose. It contains three hundred vats, and in it about twelve thousand pieces per week are dyed.
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The buildings used by the Arnold Print Works cover nearly eight acres, and about 450 hands are employed. The "Eclipse" mill, with three hundred looms running on print cloth, in North Adams, is also owned by the corporation. The company uses the entire production of the " Eclipse" mill, the "Beaver" mill, the mill of the Williamstown Man- nfacturing Company at Williamstown, and the mill of the North Pownal Manufacturing Company at Pownal, Vt., amounting to 8,000 pieces of forty-five yards each per week, and is obliged to buy each week 10,000 pieces in addition. The annual production of the company is 82, 750,000. Mr. Houghton, in 1883, bought out the interest of David Brayton and is now president of the corporation, and William Arthur Gallup is the treasurer. Houghton & Gallup own the "Beaver" mill and are large stockholders in the Williamstown Manufacturing Company and the North Pownal Manufacturing Company. Hr. Houghton's private business has greatly enlarged the village limits of North Adams. The district now known as Houghtonville was built by him, and thus many thousands of dollars were added to the taxable property of the town.
The first tannery established in North Adams was located on the west side of the Hoosac River, on Furnace Hill, near the Main street bridge. It was formerly known as the Luther Bartlett, and afterward as the Hodge & Dean tannery ; and a large business was done during many years, especially while it was owned by Hodge & Dean. It was discon- tinned in 1846, when the property passed into the hands of the North Adams Iron Company.
In 1831 Merriam Hatch and W. D. S. Hurlburt purchased of Turner & Laflin, for $200. the lot and privilege on Union street, and ereetel a building 30 by 76 feet for a tannery. After carrying on the business for three years they sold the property to Captain A. Bixby. It was leased for three years for a batting mill, and then as a stone-cutting shop. In 1837 Liberty Bartlett, formerly of Williamstown, rented che premises for two years, carrying on the tannery in connection with the pelt business, pulling some 16,000 skins. A. C. Crandall leased the property in 1839 and in 1840 formed a copartnership with Ira Bennett, and they continued the same business until 1842. Several changes followed until 1851. when Crandall & Bennett formed a copartnership with A. P. Butler, who at that time owned another tannery which had been built in 1843, near the Eagle bridge by Benjamin Dean, at a cost of 8700. Both tanneries were operated by Crandall & Bennett until 1855. The Eagle bridge tannery changed hands several times and was discontinued as a tannery in 1859.
The Union street tannery changed hands several times and it is now owned by D. J. Barber. It is the only tannery in North Adams and its annual product is worth about $70, 000.
The manufacture of boots and shoes was begun in 1843 by Edwin Childs and David C. Rogers, who commenced manufacturing on Main street in Penniman's row. The business increasing, in 1845 they leased and occupied a building on Eagle street adjoining the Baptist church,
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and Harvey Ingraham became a partner. In 1847 Mr. Childs retired from the firm and went to Montreal. In 1847 a gentleman from Syracuse became a silent partner in the firm, which was styled Rogers. Ingraham & Co. In 1850 this firm was succeeded by George Millard, having as his partners Harvey Ingraham and W. F. Waterbury. In 1847 Mr. Millard bought out his partners and made boots in the old fashioned way for some years, when he sold out and removed to Bennington. Edwin Rogers manufactured women's shoes for a short time.
In 1856 Calvin T. Sampson commenced manufacturing women's shoes exclusively. He began at first in a small way, but his business steadily increased, and for a number of years he occupied a large wooden build- ing on Eagle street near the Eagle bridge. He afterward removed to a large brick building on Marshall street, which had been built by a com- pany which was formed for the manufacture of cutlery in 1867. The lot of land on Marshall street opposite the Arnold Print Works was pur- chased by W. W. Freeman & Co. for $5,000. On it was erected a build- ing 115 feet by 49, three stories high, with a forge shop, tempering shop, grinding shop, and engine house. The capital stock was $125,000, and the officers were : president, S. Blackinton ; vice-president, S. Johnson ; directors, S. Blackinton. S. Johnson, C. T. Sampson, R. R. Andrews, A. P. Butler, and William Martin. Afterward James Hunter was elected president, Horace W. Love, secretary and treasurer, and J. Stever, super- intendent. The plan was to manufacture "Love's patent augers " and other mechanical tools, but the company never began operations and sold the buildings at a sacrifice to Mr. Sampson, who has since occupied it. During the fall of 1869 and the spring of 1870 Mr. Sampson had trouble with a trade organization of shoemakers called the Crispins. In those days ma- chinery did but a small part of the work it now does in the " bottomer's " room of a shoe factory, and the dependence of a shoe manufacturer upon his women was very great. This fact and the strength of the Crispins' lodges made it possible to get as good wages for a given amount of work as good workmen received. Mr. Sampson, owing to difficulty between himself and his workmen, turned to the Chinese as the only available class of workmen removed from trade organizations. Seventy-five were at first hired, and they arrived in North Adams on the 13th of June, 1870. A large crowd assembled upon their arrival. Thirty policemen in citizen's clothes guarded the debarkation, and the march to quarters in Mr. Samp- son's brick factory, the opposition culminating in a brief assault and a night in the lock-up for one of the assailants. But the feeling of resent- ment died away, and they remained for ten years at work, leading a quiet and orderly life, with few exceptions, quiet to an extreme degree except when the approach of their New Year's festivity made necessary the ex- plosion of fireworks or the beating of drums. They proved themselves to be faithful and competent workmen. The seventy five who first came were increased within a year to one hundred and twenty-five, which was the average number employed for the most of the time. They were orig-
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C. T. SAMPSON, Pres 1 GEO. W. CHASE, Treas.
C. T. SAMPSON MANUFACTURING CO, NORTH ADAMS.
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inally hired for three years, and stayed after that without an engagement definite as to time. Most of them laid up and took away with them con- siderable sums of money. All stayed a longer time than their contract required, and at the wish and request of their employer. But as their stay lengthened, the peculiar conditions that led to their coming passed away. Machinery began to be applied more and more extensively to do the work in the bottomer's room, which was the only place where the Chinese were employed. The Crispin lodges lost their power and passed away, and with them passed the possibility of outside workmen control- ling the relations between employer and employed ; and so as the time of the Chinese expired, their places came to be taken by unemployed work- men in North Adams, until, in September, 1880, the last Chinaman had departed.
In 1858 William & Harvey Ingraham began the manufacture of boots and shoes in a building on Main street, nearly opposite Eagle street, but after a few years they ceased business.
In 1865 H. Torrey Cady and William G. Cady erected a building on Lincoln street, and began the manufacture of men's and women's shoes. This building was enlarged at three different times, and is now owned by H. Torrey Cady, his brother, William G., having sold out his interest in 1880. The building is 120 by 22 feet, 150 men are employed, and the an- nual product is a quarter of a million of dollars.
The business of George Millard passed into the hands of his son, Henry Millard, who built a brick building on Union street in 1867. He had as a partner Irving Jackson and afterward William H. Whitman. The factory is now owned and operated by Norman L. Millard.
In 1883 William G. Cady and Stephen H. Fairfield built a wooden building three stories high on Ashland street and commenced the manu- facture of women's shoes, and in 1884, William H. Whitman, Warren J. Wilkinson, and J. M. Canedy erected a large brick building.
Midway between the villages of North Adams and Adams, and just over the Adams line, the manufacture of Zylonite has given rise to the pretty and prosperous village of Howland. In 1881 ground was broken for the erection of manufacturing buildings and for residences for em- ployes by the American Zylonite Company, which was incorporated during the same year with a capital stock of $750,000, the officers being Emil Kipper, of Adams, president, and S. W. Ingalls, of North Adams. treasurer. In 1885 S. W. Ingalls was elected to the vice-presidency, Mr. E. L. Wood succeeding him as treasurer. Like all new enterprises -- in this instance introducing a new process of manufacture-the first steps of progress were slow; but the outcome gives evidence that they were surely taken and since then the work of building factories and residences, and making streets and sidewalks has been successfully carried out. In the summer of 1883 the first manufactured goods of the company were put on the market and since that time there has been no lack of orders. Zylonite is made from paper, camphor, and alcohol, paper being the basis and principal feature of the stock used in this system of manu-
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
facture. This paper is manufactured expressly for the purpose by the L. L. Brown Paper Company at their Cummington mill.
Zylonite being a material which can be made in any color. admits of a high polish, and in which ivory, amber, camelia, agate, and malachite have been more sucessfully imitated than in any other, the articles which soon appeared on the market made from Zylonite were innumerable.
Companies were formed, the most important of which is the Zylonite Comb and Brush Company, which was incorporated in 1883 with a capital of $100,000. This company now gives employment to upwards of 400 operatives in the manufacture of combs, brushes, and mirrors, and are now making ready to break ground for new buidings with a view to enlarging their already extensive business. W. L. Brown is presi- dent; B. E. Kingman, of Brown, Wood & Kingman, New York, treas- urer ; S. Warren Ingalls, agent ; and Isidor Lewi, superintendent.
The Zylonite Novelty Company was incorporated in 1884, with a capital of $100,000, and employs at present about 175 hands in the man- ufacture of novelties and small wares of all descriptions, among which the most important are manicure sets, umbrella, parasol, and cane handles, desk furniture, pipe bits, surgical instruments, harness trim- mings, book and album covers, door knobs, curtain rings, chessmen, and knife handles.
Later, in 1884, the Zylonite Collar and Cuff Company was formed. Here are manufactured daily thousands of collars and cuffs, but never yet enough to supply the demand which is daily increasing, because of the fact that Zylonite remains white when made into these articles.
The chemist of the companies is George M. Mowbray.
The water used in the factories is supplied from artesian wells sunk by a peculiar process invented by J. B. Edson.
The Zylonite companies were the first in Berkshire county to intro- duce the electric fire alarm system in their works, and have now one of the most complete arrangements for giving alarms and the best drilled private fire department in the county.
The grist mill erected on the east bank of the Hoosac River in North Adams by the terms of the grant to Colonel Ephraim Williams was to be kept in operation for ten years, and it was for a long time the only grist mill in town. In 1825 Evenal Estes built a small grist mill in connection with his cotton mill on River street. In 1848 he enlarged and rebuilt it and fitted it with new machinery for custom work and flouring. This was probably the first flouring mill in Northern Berkshire. Upon the sale of this mill to A. W. Richardson & Co., it was discontinued in order that the entire water power might be utilized for the manufacture of cotton.
In 1863 Mason D. and Ambrose W. Hodge built a grist mill on River street near the property of the Johnson Manufacturing Company. They built several additions and made flour. In 1873 they bought of Arnold & Ray the old " Phoenix Factory," which they altered over into a fiour- ing mill which is the largest in Western Massachusetts. The water pow- er is one of the best in town. The capacity of the mill is about 500 bushels of corn and 124 barreis of flour per day.
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ZYLONITE WORKS
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CHAPTER XXVII.
ADAMS AND NORTH ADAMS (continued).
First Church and Pastor .-- The Friends' Society .- Meeting House in North Adams .- Baptist Church, North Adams .- Adams Baptist Church .--- Methodism in Adams .- Methodism in North Adams .- Universalist Church. North Adams .- Congregational Church, North Adams .- Episcopal Churches .- The Roman Catholics .- French (R. C.) Congregation of North Adams .- Blackinton Union Church .- Schools and School Houses .- The Rebel- lion .- Soldiers' Aid Society .- Soldiers' Monument .- The G. A. R.
T' HE early settlers of Adams, being mostly Connecticut born and bred, adhered to their early religious sentiments and habits. They formed a Congregational church and society and fulfilled the conditions on which the township was granted to them, by building a meeting house and settling a minister. The first meeting house was built of logs, on a spot afterward occupied by an orchard on the "Cross road" between North Adams and Adams. Rev. Samuel Todd was installed pastor of the church, but its records are lost, and the dates and other particulars cannot now be known. Not long after the settlement of Mr. Todd the poverty caused by the Revolution and the frequent changes of popula- tion ent down his support. A vote of the inhabitants, taken January 3d, 1778, before the incorporation of the town, appears on the clerk's books, proposing to Rev. Mr. Todd to relinquish his claim to the minis- terial lands, to which his being the first settled minister entitled him, and take his dismission. He was dismissed, but held on to the real estate and for several years there was an uncertainty about the title of these lands. The town in 1796 voted to receive him as their first minister and petitioned the Legislature to confirm Mr. Todd's title, and the difficulty was re- moved by legislative enactment.
Mr. Todd was born in 1719, in North Haven, Conn., took his first degree at Yale College at the early age of fifteen, was settled in Water- bury, Conn., when only twenty years old. removed to Lanesboro, and to Adams in 1766. About 1782 he removed to Oxford, N. H., preaching occasionally at the latter place until his death. Yeoman's history states that " Mr. Todd possessed a mind of more than ordinary strength. and great decision of character ; his religious sentiments and feelings were
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
strictly evangelical ; he warmly approved of the revivals of 1740, and exerted himself to promote them."
An old burying ground is near the site of this log church, and the bones of some of the forefathers of Adams repose there. The first burials from the village of North Adams were doubtless made there, but Israel Jones was interred at Williamstown.
The Friends' Society .- The Friends' Society in Adams was formed in 1781 and worshipped in a log cabin until 1786, when they erected a building abont a half mile west of the village of South Adams. The fami- lies of David Anthony, Isaac Killy, Isaac Upton, Joshua Lapham, George Lapham. and Adam Harkness constituted the society at its first organi- zation. Robert Nesbit was their first recommended speaker; he was succeeded by Mary Beatty. and the third was David Aldridge. These Friends or Quakers were principally from Rhode Island, and with their kindly ways, their sound morality, their hatred of aristocracy, and their thrifty habits were a desirable acquisition to the town. They resided principally in South Adams.
Meeting House in North Adams .- About the year 1782 the inhabit- ants of the village of North Adams of various religious sentiments, raised and covered the frame of a meeting house, thirty-eight feet long by thirty wide, on the site of the house owned by Mrs. H. G. B. Fisher, on Church street. It stood without windows or floors until 1795, when the people subscribed a sufficient sum to remove it and finish it. Jeremiah Cole- grove moved it. It took him nearly three days, with a large force of men and thirty five or forty yoke of oxen. The pine stumps on the east side of Church street were cut down or smoothed off for the rollers to pass over, it being necessary to keep the highway clear. The site selected was the spot now occupied by the Baptist church. There the house was com- pleted after a time. At first. services were conducted when no under- pinning had been put it, the floor being of loose boards and the seats rude benches without backs ; and though no large bell gave out its solemn summons above the building, the tinkling of sheep bells under their feet was frequently heard by the worshippers. The house faced the south, and a porch was built in front, with stairways leading to the galleries. There were three aisles, fifteen windows, and about 400 persons could be seated. The pews were finished off in a large, oblong form, with seats on three sides, one end being reserved for the pew door, so that when the house was very full, a part of the audience sat with their backs to the speaker. The galleries being wide and rather low some of those who sat in the pews nearest the wall could not see the speaker. The gallery pews were finished in similar style to those on the floor ; and the seats were "square as a brick," and hard as the good lumber of those days was apt to be. In the winter the women carried foot stoves to keep their feet warm, and in summer both boys and girls went barefootel natil nearly through their teens. "Old enough to go to meeting barefooted." was not an unmeaning joke.
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On November 8th, 1795, the first auction sale of pews was had, re- alizing 8540 from a sale of 22. A subsequent sale of 36 pews realized $670. These two sums, amounting to $1,210, were about the cost of re- moving and fixing up the church. Pews in those days were the private property of the owner and could be disposed of by sale or bequest. The seats for persons not owning pews were not very abundant. These were for the free use of the public. One person would often own more than one pew. Jeremiah Colegrove owned seven pews. There were but 39 owners of the 58 pews.
Baptist Church in North Adams .- For thirteen years after the re- moval of this meeting house, or until 1808, there was no regularly or- ganized church in North Adams. A Baptist preacher, named Dyer Stark, was employed to preach, a part of the time here and a part of the time in Stamford, Vt. Elder Bronson also preached in North Adams ; and various itinerants of different creeds held forth as opportunity offered. The house was opened whenever a request came from a proper source.
Oliver Parker used to say that the early settlers held meetings more frequently and exhibited a deeper religious zeal when their provisions became short and their garments ragged. This has been the case with all communities. from the Jews of antiquity down to the Americans of 1857 8, the panic winter. In distresses they "call upon the name of the Lord," and too often forget him when relieved.
On the 30th of October, 1SOS, a Baptist church, consisting of twenty- three members, was organized by Elder Calvin Keyes. From its first organization up to the year 1828 the whole number of persons who had belonged to it was 178. The first minister was Rev. George Witherell, who preached from December Ist, 1808, to December 1st, 1813. Rev. Elijah F. Wiley preached from December 1st, 1815, to April 1st, 1817 ; Rev. Hosea Wheeler from the fall of 1817 to the summer of 1818; Rev. George Robinson from the fall of 1819 to the spring of 1820 ; Rev. Sam- uel Sorony from December 1st, 1820, to February 3d, 1826 ; and Rev. Charles B. Keyes from June 1st, 1827, to April 1st, 1834. During the pastorate of Rev. Mr. Keyes, in 1829, the old meeting house being very inconvenient in form, and much out of repair, it was deemed advisable to build another house. A brick church was built at a cost of $3,059. of which $128 were raised by subscription and the remainder almost wholly from the sale of pews. Edward Richmond, William E. Brayton, and David Darling were the building committee. There was a debt of some $400, which was regarded as the value of the unsold pews. These pews were gradually disposed of, until in 1837, the four that then remained were bought by the church and made free, and the debt extinguished, the pew holders being taxed the expense pro rata. Up to this time, and in fact for some twelve years longer, the church as an organization had no title to its house of worship, which was the joint property of its ser. eral pew owners. Rev. Asa H. Palmer preached from April 1st, 1834, to
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
April 1st, 1836; Rev. Lemuel Covell from May 1st, 1836, to April 1st, 1838 : Rev. Thomas S. Rogers from April 1st, 1838, to April 1st, 1840 ; Rev. John Alden from April 1st, 1840, to April 1st, 1846; and Rev. Horace J. Love from June 15th, 1846, to April 1st, 1852. . During Mr. Love's pastorate the first brick church was torn down and a new one built at a cost of $12,313.44. It was 63 by 93 feet, had a vestry with class rooms under the audience room, which with its side galleries had 160 pews. At this time the pew holders' ownership of the building ceased ; and the church through its trustees came into possession of the title to the property. At this time also the yearly auction sale of rental of pews began, which since that time has afforded a fund adequate for the yearly expenditure. The building committee of the new church were Sanford Blackinton, Duty S. Tyler, and George Millard. It was dedicated June 21st, 1849, by Rev. Bartholomew Welch, D. D., then of Brooklyn, N. Y.
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