USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Volume II pt 2 > Part 30
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The literary taste, in which the town has never been lacking. found general expression in 1790, in the establishment of a public library, which continued until 1822. It was supplemented at various times by a " Lending Society," reading clubs, and kindred associations, mostly for larger acquaintance with the journals-home and foreign-of the day. In 1814 another library association was formed at Curtisville, and later still, a juvenile library on the Plain. But the consummation of public desire in this direction was attained in 1862. In March of that year, Nathan Jackson. Esq .. of New York, born in Tyringham, and edneated here, in testimony of a grateful remembrance thereof, made a donation of $2,000 for a public library, provided that the citizens would add another $1,000, and erect a suitable building. Although the purses of the community were at that time heavily depleted for the expenses and burdens of the war, such was the desire to secure the proffered boon. that the conditional sum was nearly doubled, besides 400 contributed volumes. Mrs. Frances F. Dwight gave a corner lot for a site, and Hon. J. Z. Good- rich erected a building. In July, 1864, its doors were opened to the pub- lic with 3,000 volumes npon the shelves. One half of Mr. Jackson's gift was invested as a permanent fund for the purchase of books, and has now amounted to $1,300. To this the town adds, annually, from $400 to 8600. The contributions of a " Library day " every year yield from $150 to $200 more. By these means the number of volumes has now reached about 6,000, and the institution has proved a priceless blessing to the schools and to the whole population. It is open every seenlar day and during two evenings of the week.
The natural beauty of Stockbridge is conspicuous ; but, during the year 1853, Miss Mary G. Hopkins (now Mrs. J. Z. Goodrich) conceived
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the plan of enhancing the gifts of Nature by the hands of Art, and of uniting every age, sex, and occupation in the undertaking. The most com- plete success rewarded her efforts. In August of that year a society was organized under the general statute of the State, called "The Lanrel Hill Association." from the wooded billock of that name adjoining the village and the former council ground of the Indians. The spot was the gift of the Sedgwick family, purchased for the public in 1834. The scattered sons and daughters of the town in all sections of the land volunteered their aid, and with an outset of about $1,400 in cash and a large amount of promised labor, the association was launched on its esthetic career. In the more than thirty years of its existence it has expended about 88,000 in money and planted nearly 2.000 trees, exclusive of hedges. The results may be seen in the sidewalks, street crossings, foot bridges, vil- lage paths, and drives and shades in the cemetery ; in the shaven lawns, in the constant cleaning and graveling, and more plainly still in the im- proved taste and culture of the people in all that tends to rational pleas- ure and refinement. An annual gathering on Laurel Hill, with an oration, speeches, and music, though chiefly of local interest, attracts sojourners in this and the surrounding towns and promotes a zeal in village improve. ment extending to many portions of the Union. whither the benefits of this association have gone.
The patriotic instincts of Stockbridge proved as true and prompted to action as noble and effective in 1861 as when called forth by the crisis of the Revolution. The news of the firing on Fort Samter awoke an ardor that had slumbered since the tidings of Lexington woke the echoes of the valley. Before the call of the president for 75,000 men, a subscription had been set on foot for raising $5,000 as the town's offering for aid in the emergency. In answer to that call forty-two young men stood forth for enrollment for " three years or the war," and preparatory drills in the manual of arms were instituted. These first volunteers were soon after assigned to the Second Massachusetts regiment, then mastering at Ded- ham, and with that model body of troops earned a record honorable alike for its hardships, its losses, and its achievements.
At a town meeting called in May, 1861. 82,000 were voted for clothing and equipping those who had entered their country's service. At another meeting in June it was voted to pay the wives and the children under sixteen years, who were dependent on the volunteers for their support, one dollar per week individually, not exceeding twelve dollars a month, per family. Bounties had not yet been proposed. In 1862. 81,000 more were voted in aid of soldiers' families and themselves were exempted from poll taxes during the war. A beautiful sword was also presented to Captain E. T. Dresser, afterward killed at Petersburg, Va.
When the first flash of indignant zeal had paled in the land and ad - ditional stimulus was found needful. the town voted $125 bounty to every man who would enlist. Finally a draft became necessary to till the de- pleted ranks at the seat of war. Eight men only were hired to complete
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the town's quota. for whom, and for bounties during the struggle, it paid $3,960. A moderate estimate of cash contributions during the four years of the nation's trial would exceed $10,090. By vote of 1863 the families of drafted men were to receive the same aid as those of volunteers, and the expenses to Springfield of the drafted were assumed by the town.
Eighty men, residents here, increased by Stockbridge-born sons from elsewhere to 134 (as far as now known) were enlisted actors in the various campaigns of the war, doing service in every State, from Penn- sylvania to Texas. They left dead comrades on the battle fields of . The Wilderness," at Petersburg, Fort Wagner, Chancellorsville, Cedar Mountain, Antietam, Donaldsonville, and Gettysburg. They were buried from many hospitals and from the Andersonville prison-pen of horrors ; while others returned only to solace a few days or weeks of suffering. with home and friends and then went to swell the roll of the country's multitudinous martyrs.
Meanwhile, female hands throughout the town were busily patriotic, and from their treasury of love and devotion a constant tide of supplies was poured through the various channels suggested by benevolence for field, prison, and hospital. In laudable commemoration of the loyalty of her sons, the town erected a monument -- the second in Western Massa- chusetts -- inscribed with the names of her fallen sons. It was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies, October 17th, 1866, Governor Bullock and H. D. Sedgwick, Esq., prononneing orations. A marble tablet, set in the walls of the public library, records the names of townsmen who did ser- vice, whether enrolled here or elsewhere, during the war.
For the past fifteen years the town has been awake to the fact that, with regard to its roads and bridges, a sufficient outlay for thoroughness and durability at the outset is the best economy at last. In pursuance of this policy it has become noted for the excellence of its itinerary facili- ties. This has been effected by the free use of gravel, stone, and iron. Its first iron bridge was erected at Glendale in 1864, and replaced by an improved structure of the same material in 1882. Then followed another between the village and the railroad station in 1871. A third on the west road was built in 1873, and of its cost Messrs. Batler and Southmayd paid $2,000. Another still. near Mr. Butler's residence, was finished in 1882, and toward it he again contributed $1,000. All these bridges span the Housatonic, and are models of pontic architecture.
Several sons of Stockbridge who have acquired means and fame else- where have generously remembered the place of their birth in valuable memorials. Such is the Memorial Tower of stone, erected in 1878, on the site of the old Indian meeting honse, by Hon. D. D. Field, of New York. It is seventy-five feet in height and contains a clock and a chime of nine bells which are rung at his own expense during a portion of the year.
His brother, Cyrus W. Field, with the consent of the town, in 1879. added to the grounds of which formerly stood the Congregational church
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ten or twelve acres adjoining, and laid out the whole for a public park, at the cost of $12,000 or $15,000.
Several summer residents have also manifested their appreciation of the place by testimonials of value. Messrs. J. H. Gourley and G. Albi- nola have each given fountains, one of which adorns the small park near the hotel.
In addition to other public benefactions elsewhere mentioned, Hon. J. Z. Goodrich has, at different times, given Williams College more than 850.000. The hall above the library he gave for use, in perpetuo, to the Congregational society. Hon. C. M. Owen provided the same society with a snug parsonage and a new bell, to which his son, Edward A .. added a fine organ. The father, also, among the provisions of his will. bequeathed the income of fifteen shares of Stockbridge & Pittsfield Railroad stock for annual premiums to deserving pupils of the public schools, and the proceeds of fifteen other shares of the same stock for the relief of the worthy poor of the town.
Miss A. D. Woodbridge left a legacy to the Laurel Hill Association, of $3,600.
The large munificence of Mrs. H. D. Cone in aid of the erection of churches of different denominations in this and other towns. establishing libraries, and in furtherance of various measures of public charity, utility and ornament. are among the things known rather than published ; but not the less appreciated and honored.
Among the early settlers of the town (recapitulating some already mentioned). and about the middle of the last century were John Willard from Connectient, David Pixley, Stephen Nash, and Matthew Cadwell from Westfield, John Taylor and Jacob Cooper from West Springfield, Elihn Parsons from Northampton. Lawrence Lynch, and General Joseph Dwight from Brookfield. Still later came Hon. John Bacon from Boston. Hon. Theodore Dwight of Northampton, Hon. Theodore Sedgwick from Connectient, Elisha Bradley and three brothers, Abel. Isaac. and Elna- than Curtis, also from Connecticut. each-(the Curtis brothers)-with families of more than twelve children. Their father purchased a square mile of land around Lake Mahkeenac, which was apportioned into farms for his prolific offspring. Before the Revolution we find the names of Ball, Hamilton, Cadwell, and Lynch among the residents of the western part of the town ; Curtis, Churchill. and Whelpley of the northern. and Bradley and Williams in East street.
Besides contributing to the settlement of the neighboring towns. Stockbridge has sent ont at different periods, large colonies into Central and Western New York, Ohio, Illinois, and California. Generally these emigrants left together, and bought possessions in the same townships, so that the community of New England sentiment and customs was upheld and transmitted to their successors, whose interest is still strong in the old hive whence their progenitors swarmed.
The oldest house now standing is the so called "Elwards Hall."
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RESIDENCE OF THE LATE HENRY IVISON. ERO ..
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The front portion, minus the verandah and dormer windows, is the same as at the time of its erection in 1737. It had formerly a heavy, old-fashi- ioned, scroll wrought porties over the front door and a well with a sweep on the east side. The clapboards, it's present, were also its original, cov- ering, and were riven from pine logs. Its timbers are massive and its ceilings low. It was built for Mr. Sergeant and probably with foreign funds. Having lived here a number of years, he thought the damp air of the Plain induced agne, and built, at the rear of his lot on the hill, another house, in which he died, now owned by Hon. D. D. Field. The year of its erection was probably 1747.
The size of the timber in these ancient dwellings reminds one of the primeval forests, and of days when their owners here offered gratis all the wood any settler might ent and haul away at his own expense, or at ser- enty five cents per cord, if done by the proprietor.
Less ancient, but dating near the beginning of the century, are five residences in the village substantially built on a plan once quite common with the abler class-spacious, square-roofed, with ample halls running through, high ceilings, with carved mantels, cornices, etc. The respec- tive owners of these are Mrs. F. F. Dwight. her son. Colonel J. F. Dwight. Hon. J. Z. Goodrich, Miss Grace S. Parker, and H. D. Sedgwick. Esq. The last, embowered by its ancient lindens, was the early home of the anthoress. Miss C. M. Sedgwick. In more recent times lovers of the beautiful, both native and from abroad. of ample resources, have pur- chased sundry sires with charming outlook and surroundings, and erected residences for a more or less protracted sojourn during the year. Among these are: W. S. Bullard. of Boston. at Highwood : W. A. Tappan. of Boston, at Hathorne Cottage : S. G. Ward, of New York, at Oakwood : Mis. C. A. Bristed. of New York, at Lakeside : Mrs. C. Tappan, of Bos- ton, at Tanglewood ; C. Lanier, of New York, at Allen Winden -all these overlooking Lake Mahkeenac-H. D. Cone at Council Grove : L. Tueker- man, of New York, at Ingleside ; C. E. Butler, of New York, at Lin- wood : D. D. Field, of New York. at Eden Hall : Rev. Dr. H. M. Field. of New York, at Windermere : C. F. Southmayd, of New York, at Oak- grove ; J. Winthrop, at Ice Glen Farm : W. Ashburn, of California, at Maple Hill ; Mrs. G. E. Beck, of Poughkeepsie. N. Y., at Edge Hill Farm ; W. A. Nettleton, at Tanglewood Farm: J. B. Hull, at The Outlook ; W. P. Palmer, at Elm Cottage : H. Ivison, of New York, at Bonnie Brae; and O. E. Edwards, occupant at the Knoll, belonging to Mrs. H. D. Cone. Professors Jay and Rood are neighbors in two pleasant cottages on Prospect Hill. Many other sites, commanding rare pano- ramie beauty, in various portions of the town, still await future fortunate proprietors. One, on the curve of the hill immediately north of the village, has become the possession of Joseph H. Choate, Esq .. of New York, who intends to crown it with a corresponding mansion.
The only blood shed in town dining all the troubles of the French and Indian wars was perpetrated by a few Schaghticoke Indians, who in
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revenge of a wanton murder of one of their tribe in Tyringham, broke into the house of a Mr. Chamberlain on the hill one Sabbath afternoon in August. 1755, and killed his two children and the hired man who at- tempted their defense. On their retreat they met and slew another man just over the Lenox line. The incident occasioned great temporary alarm and some suspicion of the Stockbridge Indians, which was soon found to be entirely groundless. The details and results belong to the history of the county, to which the reader is referred.
The burial place of the Indians before the establishment of the mis- sion was on a bluff overlooking the meadow in rear of the premises of Colonel J. F. Dwight. After the coming of the whites a portion of the square around the mission church was set apart for a cemetery, where red and pale faces were laid to rest together. This has been enlarged from time to time, until it has attained its present dimensions. In 1854. jointly by town appropriation, individual contributions, and the Laurel Hill Association, a stone and iron fence was built and a hedge of Norway spruce set, which has now become a beautiful wall of living green. The town makes annual provision for the care of this home of its dead.
In 1874, in consequence of the unfitness of the ground at Curtisville for burial, the bodies from that cemetery (which was opened in 1834) were removed to the Plain ; so that there remains but one other public burial ground in town-a small enclosure near the northern border.
The Roman Catholics have their own cemetery on the west meadows. opening on Church street.
In 1877, by the exertions of Mrs. J. Z. Goodrich, about $400 were raised for a memorial of the Housatonic Indians. A natural obelisk- shaped shaft, about fifteen feet in length and two feet square, found near lee Glen, and requiring little aid from tools to fit it for its purpose. was brought and set upon a base five feet high concealed by a cairn of small bowlders and covered with vines. A large, flat, oval slab with unwronght face was built into the front of the cairn and inscribed-" The Burial place of the Housatonic Indians, the Friends of our Fathers"-with the dates 1734-1877. It has been greatly admired for its simplicity and appropriateness.
The oldest shade trees in the village are the four elms standing be- fore the premises of Mrs. Owen, on Main street, which were set by the late Colonel William M. Edwards-grandson of President Edwards-of Brooklyn, New York, in 1786. The oldest maples are the remains of a row on the south side of Main street, which were planted by volunteer citizens on State Fast Day. 1814. In the same way many trees were planted along the streets and about the Congregational church in 1840, and by like means Laurel Hill was improved by walks and steps in 1841. But a large part of the present shades of the village, and all those along the out-leading roads, have been set by the Laurel Hill Association since 1853.
The first public conveyance on highways is believed to have been a
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F W ADAMS, POOP
GLENDALE WOOLEN MILLS, GLENDALE.
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TOWN OF STOCKBRIDGE.
stage run between Albany and Springfield by Jonathan Hicks, in 1812. John Frink drove a large business as His successor until 1831, when his premises were burned with twelve or fifteen horses. On the opening of the Hudson and Berkshire Railroad, a daily stage carried the through mails, until, in 1849, the Stockbridge and Pittsfield road was finished. connecting the town by rail with New York and Boston. Four daily mails are now received, which, with the telegraph and telephone, give ample facilities for individual and business correspondence.
The pioneer manufacturing establishment in town was a grist mill on the site of Mr. Comstock's present works. This was built before 1745, and its inability to supply the growing wants of the inhabitants was sup- plemented, in 1762, by another, for the erection of which the Indian pro- prietors gave a site to Joseph Woodbridge, brother of the teacher. It stood alongside a ripple in the Housatonic in the rear of the premises of Mr. S. P. Lincoln. The remains of the old dam are still visible. A third was erected at Mill Hollow-now Glendale-in 1781, and, the year after, a fourth at Curtisville.
In 1751, the " Proprietors of Stockbridge" voted fifty acres of land to Stephen Nash for his "encouragement to continue his trade as a black- smith, in the town."
In the final half of the last, and for many years of the present cen- tury, hats and wrought nails were manufactured quite extensively in the village.
The mill privilege at Glendale was still farther improved by the erec- tion, abont 1813, of a woolen factory which prospered for a time under Lester, Avery & Co. A cotton mill, half a mile farther up the river, · built in 1815, was purchased and operated by the same firm for some years ; but its dam flooded the meadows so as to cause complaint and its discontinuance. The outlets of Lakes Mahkeenac and Averic at Curtis- ville have at various times driven the wheels of saw and grist mills, far- tories for woolens, chairs, paper-pulp and flocks; also a foundry and machine shop. The four last mentioned, with a cider and two grist mills, are now in operation. On the outlet of the lakes the firm of Truesdell's Sons have established a mill for manufacturing flocks, doing a business of $30,000 per annum, and employing ten men. The Glendale mills were run for many years by J. Z. & C. Goodrich with profit, though twice burned down. In 1871 they were leased, and. in 1880, purchased, by F. W. Adams, Esq., whose extensive repairs and introduction of modern machinery have greatly enlarged their productive ability in various kinds of woolen goods. The value of their annual fabric at present is $250, 000. and the number of employes 140.
In 1849 Mr. F. Perry built a dam, a mile below Glendale, when the privilege was purchased by Rewey & Evans, who built a mill for the man- ufacture of coarse paper. The Hunter Paper Company were their sie- cessors for a few years, when the works were assume l. in lait. by their present owners, Messrs. Chaffee & Callender. They work up into wrap-
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ping and bagging paper, mostly of jnte, 12,000 tons annually, of the value of $150,000, employing 40 hands.
Still farther down, on the confines of Great Barrington, a smelting furnace was operated, though not established, by Charles Alger, from 1835 to 1853 ; but it has now gone to ruin.
On Mill Brook the Messrs. Yale and Mr. S. W. Comstock are large dealers in lumber of all kinds, of their own mannfacture and of western importation.
A small tannery was early established at the foot of Maple Hill near Mrs. Ashburner's. Late in the last century, Phineas Pease, from Nor- folk, Conn., erected on Konkapot Brook a tannery which was afterward removed to Mill Brook. It was next occupied, in 1829, by James O. Root, until 1848. Since then no trade of the kind has been practiced in town.
Tradition says that the first hotel was the house standing on the cor- ner now owned by Mr. J. H. Gourley, of New York, and that its land- lord was Captain William Goodrich. However, the memories of the past cluster definitely around the one existing public house of the village, whose first proprietor was Widow Bingham. It was certainly opened before the Shays war. It has been repeatedly enlarged-lastly by its present owner and occupant, Mr. C. H. Plumb, whom increasing applica- tions for summer accommodations have obliged to provide a large addi. tion during the present year. The house has an excellent reputation among the hostelries of the land.
The post office in Stockbridge-the first in the county-was estab- lished in 1792. Here, too, was published the first newspaper-a weekly, commenced in 1788, entitled The Western Star. It was removed to Lenox in 1828 and called the Journal and Argus, then the Berkshire Star, and lastly the Berkshire Eagle ; under which name it is still issued in Pitts- field. In 1841-3, another hebdomadal was printed here-The Weekly Visitor-and simultaneously, a short lived temperance paper.
The Stockbridge & Pittsfield Railroad was opened in 1849, and has proved a profitable investment for its stockholders. The track for another road connecting Lee and Stockbridge with the Hudson & Berkshire, has been graded ; but farther operations have been suspended.
Tramps and malefactors were accommodated with a lock-up in 1875 ; but it has not been very often tenanted.
The Housatonic (National) Bank waschartered in 1825, with a capital of $100,000-since duplicated. Its present annual dividends are ten per cent .; its resources and liabilities in 1883, 8738, 435 ; its surplus $160,000. Its present officers are : D. R. Williams, president ; D. A. Kimball, cash- ier ; and William A. Seymour, teller.
A savings bank went into operation in 1871, whose present number of depositors is 540 ; deposits, 8180,000 ; surplus, $9,079. Its officers are : M. Van Densen, president ; D. B. Fenn, jr., and H. S. Dean, vice pres- idents : and C. H. Willis, secretary and treasurer.
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A town hall was built in 1839, with the avails of the town's con. tingent of the U. S. Surplus Revenue distribution of 1836.
In 1831 a company from New Hartford, Conn., laid an aqueduct from a spring on the hill over the river on the southeast. It was not a profit- able enterprise, the supply being limited to comparatively few families. and it became useless abont 1840. Another company composed of cit- izens was chartered in 1862, and in a gorge beyond Ice Glen a small reser- voir was built, into which several springs are conducted. The water is carried beneath the river into the village in fonr inch mains, and quite generally distributed. It is, however, inadequate at certain seasons, and a sufficiency is a great desideratum which no very distant future must meet-probably from one of the lakes. The present company pays ten per cent. dividends. In 1884 an artesian well was sunk to the depth of 660 feet without yielding a sufficient supplementary supply. At this present writing a second trial is being made in vicinity of the former. whose result is still problematical.
In the piping times of old military ardor, Stockbridge was the head- quarters of two companies of infantry, and one each of cavalry and artil- lery. The two latter were partly composed of men from the adjoining towns, who elected those branches of the service. The autumnal general musters of those days are still remembered by the older citizens as angust occasions, whose decline seems to have coincided with the advent of the temperance-reform movement in the land.
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