USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Cambridge > History of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1630-1913 > Part 38
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assistant treasurer, Arthur H. Boardman, has likewise had a long and honorable service, having been connected with the bank twenty- five years. The receiving teller, Henry A. Nichols, has seen fourteen years of service. During the past six years the bank has paid interest at the rate of four per cent. per year, which rate has been exceeded only by a few of the well-conducted savings banks in Massa- chusetts. It has a total of 17,254 depositors. Its accommodations for the expeditious transac- tion of business are not excelled by any bank in
CAMBRIDGE SAVINGS BANK
15 DUNSTER STREET, HARVARD SQUARE
it has enjoyed the services of some of the leading men in the community and has had specially good fortune in the length of time in which its capable officials have held office. The first president of the bank was Asahel Stearns, who was followed in turn by Levi Farwell, Simon Greenleaf, Sidney Willard, Jacob H. Bates, Charles C. Little, Charles Beck, Stephen T. Farwell, John B. Dana, Charles W. Sever, Dr. John T. G. Nichols and Dr. Edward R. Cogs- well, the present (1913) head of the institution. The treasurer, Oscar F. Allen, has been connected with the bank for thirty-six years, holding the present position during thirty years. The
this city. Its present officers are president, Edward R. Cogswell; treasurer, Oscar F. Allen; assistant treasurer, Arthur H. Boardman; teller, Henry A. Nichols; vice-presidents, Enoch Beane and Harrie E. Mason; with the following board of trustees: Edwin Dresser, Franklin Perrin, Stephen W. Driver, John H. Hubbard, Frederick Worcester, James F. Pennell, Leslie N. Brock, Oscar F. Allen, John C. Dow, Elmer W. Billings, Arthur H. Boardman, George W. Claflin, Parker F. Soule, William B. Reid, John Amee, Thomas Hadley, Joseph H. Beale, Fred W. Dallinger, Wm. B. M'Coy.
FINANCIAL
287
One of the gems in the setting of notable North Cambridge buildings, is the handsome home of the North Avenue Savings Bank, at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Porter Road. The new building occupied by this bank, which was completed in 1908, is practi- cally on the site of the original home that the institution occupied for so many years, and which was torn down to make way for the new Ma- sonic Temple.
The North Avenue Savings Bank Building is a one-story structure of limestone and buff- faced brick. The banking room is handsomely finished in mahogany, with a mosaic marble
paid by any savings bank in the State. Interest is computed quarterly and is payable on Janu- ary 10th and July 10th of each year.
The North Avenue Savings Bank was in- corporated in 1872, and was the fourth institu- tion for savings to be started in the city of Cambridge. The first officers of the bank were as follows: President, Samuel F. Woodbridge; vice-presidents, Jonas C. Wellington, Cornelius- Dow, W. Fox Richardson, Chandler R. Ransom; treasurer, Milton L. Walton; clerk, George W. Park; trustees, Chester W. Kingsley, Warren Sanger, Daniel W. Shaw, Person Davis, Henry J. Melendy, Daniel Fobe, Henry C. Rand, Horatio-
NORTH AVENUE SAVINGS BANK
floor. There is a well-appointed waiting room for ladies. The security of the institution is enhanced by new burglar-proof vaults.
The bank is open for deposits and drafts from 8.30 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily, and for the special convenience of customers is open on Saturday evenings from 6 to 8 p.m.
The North Avenue Savings Bank has pursued a uniform policy of encouraging savings among its patrons, and has been as liberal and accom- modating as any institution of its kind. Its growth has more than paralleled the growth of the locality, its deposits having increased from $49,228 in 1875 to $2,480,766 in January, 1912. The deposits have still further increased during the year just passed, and on January 1st, 1913, · there were 8,270 depositors with total deposits of $2,619,664.58. The bank pays interest at the rate of four percent-as high a rate as is
Locke, John Davis, John J. Henderson, John Holman and James H. Collins.
The present officers of the bank are the fol- lowing: President, Charles F. Stratton; vice- president, Warren L. Hooper; treasurer, Milton L. Walton; clerk, William H. Goodnow. Its trustees are Charles F. Stratton, Warren L. Hooper, Milton L. Walton, William E. Hut- chins, Edward L. Grueby, Phineas Hubbard, Byron T. Thayer, William J. Mandell, Hon. Arthur P. Stone, Frank E. Sands, Edward B. Stratton, Samuel Usher, Henry O. Cutter, George B. Wason, Charles D. Rice and Charles F. Hathaway.
It is a matter worthy of note that the present treasurer, Milton L. Walton, has been the treasurer of the bank since its incorporation in 1872, a period of forty years.
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A HISTORY OF CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
CAMBRIDGE INDUSTRIES
For almost three centuries, her influence has been exercised throughout the land in the arts and literature, education and the higher sciences, and in these opening years of the twentieth century, Cambridge bids fair to rival the greatest manufacturing and industrial com- munities. Every one knows of her part in the crises of our country's existence, but many do not realize the tremendous strides in business activities and that the city ranks today as a leader in Massachusetts in value of manufac- tured products. Cambridge is a city of homes, an abiding place for education, but has an ex- panding manufacturing and industrial section.
It will be of advantage to glance over the following pages on which are recorded some pertinent facts. During the last four years the total building operations have amounted to nearly six million dollars. In the year 1912 alone the building operations showed a gain of eighty-seven percent over the preceding year, which is only exceeded by one other city in United States, namely, Tacoma, Wash. This great gain was due largely to the number of new manufacturing structures. The year 1913 bids fair to show an equal gain, due in great measure to the erection of fine apartment houses and private residences.
Cambridge, Mass., deserves the considera- tion of the modern manufacturer. With its proximity to the Atlantic seaboard, its admirable rail and water transportation facilities, its in- vigorating climate, its abundance of skilled and unskilled labor, its close relation to the great city of Boston, the natural purchasing center for New England's 6,500,000 population, its opportunities for comfortable homes ;- with these advantages it affords an unrivalled location for industrial plants of all descriptions. Labor strikes and disagreements are practically un- known in Cambridge.
Along the Charles River front and contiguous. to the lines of railroads are acres of most desirable land which are immediately available for manu- facturing purposes.
The Boston and Albany Railroad runs across the eastern portion of the city, and the Boston and Maine Railroad, in its southern and western division, affords easy means of handling any quantity of inbound or outbound freight. By these railroads direct and rapid connection is made with the great docks on the sea front, thus providing advantageously for the quick dis- tribution of the manufactured products among the markets of the world.
The large and flourishing industries already established in Cambridge have an annual output of nearly $45,000,000.00. Many of these manu- facturing plants were located in Cambridge after a thorough examination and exhaustive study of conditions, and the proprietor of one of the largest plants has said: "Of the suburbs of Boston, beginning at East Boston, and following the railroad through Chelsea, Everett, Charles- town, Somerville and Cambridge, and examining all vacant lands on railroads entering Boston, not too remote for our purpose, the result of this careful examination was the choice of the present location of the works. The price was found very reasonable compared with any other land so near Boston. We have at times made three round trips daily to different parts of Boston with heavily loaded teams. We have never regretted our choice of location.
The manufacturing district, too, is surrounded by the public park system. The workmen in the factories and the toilers in the shops thus have places easy of access, where throughout the hot summer months they can find necessary and welcome relief from the dusty streets and crowded tenements of a city in the green lawns, the trees and fresh air.
Every manufacturer at once appreciates the value and effect of such parks and open places upon the health, happiness and morality of employees.
There is an exceptional diversity in the manu- facturing interests of Cambridge. They include founderies and machine shops, food preparatory establishments with an annual output of
¥
RM. WESTUNS
HARVARD STADIUM
CHARLES RIVER
STERLING KNIT GOODS CO.
289
INDUSTRIES
twenty million dollars (the largest industry and in this respect leading the cities of Massa- chusetts), meat packing, printing and publish- ing, the manufacture of confectionery, furniture, soap, structural iron work, pianos, organs and other musical instruments, marble and stone, carriages, men's clothing, lumber, brick, under- takers' goods, druggists' preparations, auto- mobiles, shoes, rubber goods, bithulithic pave- ment, etc. The annual product of musical instruments aggregates two and a half millions ($2,500,000.00), machinery, four millions ($4,- 000,000.00), and printing and publishing three and a half millions ($3,500,000.00).
Cambridge has confectionery factories enough to supply the demands of many thousands. Candies by the ton; candies of all grades and all quantities; candies for old and for young; fashionable, stylish, high-priced candies, in fancy boxes-sweet things in every conceiv- able form are made in Cambridge, and sold everywhere. Think of candies to the value of $1,700,180.00 made in one city in one year. Think of an average of eight hundred persons making candy (in the Christmas season nearly two hundred more). There was a time when candy was counted a luxury, but today it is believed to be a necessary of life, and Cam- bridge is supplying a large share of the demand for it.
Cambridge soap-making is one of the oldest industries of the city, and the latest figures show an annual product of $1,183,765.00 worth. The bulk of the business is done by three great concerns, with a capital of about $2,000,000.00 and pay rolls of about $100,000.00 a year.
Cambridge furniture is well-known, not only in Boston, but in places far remote. Some of it is of a very high grade, and the product in- cludes artistic specialties and order work requir- ing more than common skill.
The musical instruments made in this city are sold everywhere. The makers are old, well-
established concerns, with long experience and a reputation based upon merit. There are about eight hundred employees on the pay rolls, and they earn about $300,000 a year, produc- ing pianos and organs, and material for musical instruments to the amount of nearly $800,000.00 a year.
There are a half-dozen establishments engaged in work upon lumber, producing house finish, sash, doors, blinds and other material used by the builders of Cambridge and other places.
The Cambridge business of making structural iron work was established many years ago by a few large concerns, which have a standing among the best in New England. They pay out more than $100,000 a year in wages, and their products sell for more than a half million dollars.
Nearly 1,200 retail establishments supply the wants of Cambridge, paying wages approach- ing $2,250.00 a year, and having sales of more than $15,000,000.00.
The building up of Cambridge of late years has followed two separate and distinct channels. In the industrial sections of the Lower Port and East Cambridge there has been a steady influx of new industries. Acre after acre of vacant land has been utilized for the construction of high-class factory properties, adding to the value of the surrounding land, besides bringing in a great amount of personality for taxation in Cambridge. The land in the vicinity of the Grand Junction Railroad has seen a particularly favorable development along these lines.
From the neighboring city of Boston, manu- facturing Cambridge is distant only ten minutes by trolley lines, and connecting routes afford a quick trip to all points of interest in the great Metropolitan District.
The new Subway, now makes it possible to reach the great retail district in three minutes from the factory and not more than ten minutes from Harvard Square.
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A HISTORY OF CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
The firm of Ginn and Company, Publishers of School and College Textbooks, was estab- lished in 1867, by Edwin Ginn. For six years the firm carried on business under the name of Ginn Brothers, as Fred B. Ginn during that time was his brother's only partner. The name was changed in 1876 to Ginn and Heath, upon the occasion of the admission to the firm of Mr.
Ginn and Company manufacture the many textbooks that are daily shipped all over the United States and into foreign countries for use in the thousands of schools and institutions which are a part of the vast educational system of today.
The environment of the Boston office at 29 Beacon Street is ideal for a business like that
4
HOME OFFICE OF GINN AND COMPANY, 29 BEACON STREET, BOSTON
Heath, and it remained so for nine years, until in 1885 it became Ginn and Company, the name by which the firm has been known ever since.
The home office of Ginn and Company is in Boston, beautifully situated on Beacon Street two doors west of the State House, on the site of the John Hancock mansion. Just across the Charles River, on First Street, in East Cam- bridge, is situated the Athenaeum Press where
of Ginn and Company. The quiet of the Com- mon with its beautiful elms, its inviting shaded walks, and the historical Frog Pond are emi- nently suitable and appropriate surroundings for the office of a publishing house, being re- moved from the noisy traffic of the busier streets without being far away from the business center of the city.
These quarters have been the home of Ginn
INDUSTRIES
291
and Company since 1901. For more than a quarter of a century prior to that their offices were in another place almost, if not quite, as much honored by time and tradition. This was the "Old Brick Row," 13 Tremont Place, over- looking the Granary Burying Ground. About this building there was an Old-World air as unusual as it was attractive. The high ivy- mantled stone frame of the gateway to the burying ground, the graceful spire of the Park Street Church, and the picturesque nooks and corners of the burying ground itself were all easily visible from almost every window. No more quiet and restful spot could be found in all
The business of Ginn and Company demands that they also have offices in other cities, as their selling organization extends all over the United States as well as into foreign countries. The branch offices of the firm are situated in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Columbus, San Francisco and London.
All of the books which are distributed through these offices are manufactured at the Athenaeum Press. This is one of the most imposing manu- facturing establishments in New England. It is a building of 200 feet frontage, and a width of 400 feet. With its simple brick facade, crowned by a giant statue of the goddess Athena (by
SAN PUS CINN & COMPANY BOSTON OFFICE 29 BEACON ST.
ATHENAEUM PRESS
Boston. But the old brick structure at last gave way to a huge steel office building, and the publishers were obliged to seek another home where, if possible, the same sort of mellow tradi- tions to which they were accustomed could be secured. Fortunately, the site of the old John Hancock house was offered for sale, and Messrs. Ginn and Company were soon established on this favored spot.
Siligardi of Florence), it presents an exterior obviously appropriate for a great press. The building consists of four floors and a basement, which provide over two hundred thousand square feet of available surface, fully occupied by the departments engaged in the several processes of book-making. Ten thousand additional feet of floor space afforded by a frame building, are given up to a well-established restaurant, a
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A HISTORY OF CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
carpenter shop and a paint shop. The Press itself is very substantially constructed of brick and steel, its proof against fire being made doubly certain by automatic sprinklers, fire hose and sliding metal doors.
It has been the aim of Ginn and Company to furnish for their employees the most comfortable accommodations possible. Light and fresh air are abundant in practically every part of the building. Individual lockers, a rest room, an emergency room, and reading rooms are among the conveniences provided.
Every process of book-making-composition, engraving, electrotyping, printing and binding- is admirably represented at the Athenaeum Press. The most modern machinery, the best methods and the highest type of workmanship have won for Messrs. Ginn and Company the enviable reputation of publishing books that are as superior in mechanical execution as they are in content.
In the manufacture of the many thousand books which are daily completed at the Press, over five hundred skilled men and women are regularly employed.
A brief description of the most important departments and an outline of the processes car- ried on therein are given in the following pages.
COMPOSING ROOM
The composing room, located on the fourth floor of the building, is the department where the mechanical process of making a book begins. The size of page, the size and style of types, and other details having been settled, the manuscript (or "copy") of the book is divided among vari- ous compositors, and the work of type setting commences. The matter is first set in long strips or galleys, from which "proofs" are taken. Needed corrections are then indicated on the proof by the proof-reader and by the author, and made in the type. The galley is then divided into pages of the desired size. Further proofs are taken and further corrections and changes made until the matter is finally approved, when it is locked up in strong steel frames (or "chases") and sent to the electrotype depart- ment. After the electrotype plate has been made, the type is returned to the composing room and distributed, each letter to its proper compartment, and is ready for use in other work.
At the Athenaeum Press all books are printed from electrotype plates, which are much lighter than pages of type, much more easily handled and stored away for later impressions, and much more durable.
ELECTROTYPE DEPARTMENT
The electrotype department is on the fourth floor of the building, adjoining the composing room, and consists of two rooms-a molding room and a finishing room. The process of making an electrotype plate is essentially as follows: An impression of the type page is taken in a sheet of wax under heavy pressure. The mold, which faithfully reproduces the face of the type, is covered, by dusting with black lead and afterward polishing, with a thin film, which is to serve as conductor for the electricity in the plating process. The mold is then suspended from the negative pole of the electric battery in a bath containing an acid solution of copper, in close proximity to a large sheet of pure copper hung from the positive pole. By the action of the electric current the bath is decomposed; copper from the bath is deposited evenly over the surface of the mold, a fresh supply of copper being dissolved from the positive pole by the free acid thus formed. When copper has been deposited to the desired thickness, the mold is taken from the bath and the copper shell stripped off. After thorough cleaning, the shell is laid on its face, and upon its back is poured melted lead to the thickness of a quarter of an inch. The plate thus made then goes through the various processes of planing, beveling and testing for defects and is ultimately packed with others in wooden boxes and delivered to the press room.
PRESS ROOM
The press room occupies space on the first and second floors of the building, for machinery; a portion of the basement, for storage of paper; and two fireproof vaults, for the storage of electrotype plates. On the first floor are the office of the press room, several presses (built especially for illustrated work) known as stop- cylinder presses, and many fast-running two- revolution presses for general work. Nearly all of the cylinder presses are fitted with auto- matic feeders for feeding paper sheet by sheet. At the further extremity of the room are three
293
INDUSTRIES
large presses capable of printing a sheet 46 x 60 inches, built especially for the printing of Frye's geographies. On this floor also are presses (known as perfecting presses) which print on both sides of a sheet of paper at one impression; also powerful hydraulic presses for removing indentations in paper which occur in the process of printing.
On the second press-room floor are several large double presses so arranged as to print two different colors at each impression, these presses being devoted principally to printing maps for geographies, histories, etc. On this floor also are many other presses for general work, small presses for printing stationery, circulars, etc., and a well-equipped machine shop with powerful lathes, planers and drills.
In the fireproof vaults in the basement are stored the electrotype plates of over two thou- sand publications. For use in case of accident or excessive wear of the plates there are also extra sets of plates of several hundred of these books.
BINDERY
This department occupies most of the third and fourth floors of the building and also a portion of the basement. On the fourth floor are performed the operations of folding, pasting, gathering and sewing or stitching. The folding machines take the printed sheets as they come from the presses and fold them, sixty-four pages at a time, making four folds (or signatures) of sixteen pages each, In their proper places are pasted the fly-leaves and any inserted maps, portraits, or diagrams.
In the gathering department the signatures are placed in piles in numerical order in a gather- ing machine, an ingenious device for arranging the signatures in the proper order to form a book. From sixteen thousand to eighteen thousand books are made up by one of these machines in a day. Only a few years ago all this work was done by hand. The books are next sewed on machines operated by women. Geographies and many books designed for primary schools are fastened by another method, known as stitching, which, though less flexible than sewing, is much stronger.
The sewed or stitched books are then sent to the floor below, where they go through the
various processes known as forwarding. The edges are trimmed in powerful cutting machines, the backs are rounded by machines built for this purpose, several thicknesses of cloth and paper are glued on the backs for reinforcement, and the books made ready to put into the covers.
Meanwhile the covers are being made in other departments. The cloth, leather and board are cut to the proper size, and a special machine assembles the various pieces and forms them into a cover. The title of the book and the cover design are stamped upon this cover by means of an engraved brass plate or die, which in many cases must be hot. When gold or silver effects are desired the metal is laid on in sheets and the design stamped with the hot die. The process of putting the books into covers is done either by a clever invention called a casing machine, or by hand.
The books are then arranged between boards having projecting edges of brass, and are put under pressure for from four to twelve hours, when they are taken out and carefully examined. After the defective copies have been thrown out, the perfect books are packed in large trucks and carried to the storeroom.
SHIPPING DEPARTMENT
For the convenience of the shipping depart- ment a special railroad track runs to a door of the Press. Over this supplies are received in carloads and books are shipped out in large quantities to the branch offices of Ginn and Company in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Columbus, San Francisco and London.
POWER HOUSE
In the power house there are four steam engines with a combined force of 670 horse power. Each drives a separate electric genera- tor. The plant is complete in duplicate so that in case of a breakdown no delay occurs. These engines furnish all the power and light for the Press. The two hundred and fifty machines in the building are driven by individual motors, thus doing away with all shafting and belting.
A fire pump with a capacity of a thousand gallons a minute is connected with the sprinkling system and standpipes throughout the building. In the power house is also a twelve foot fan which constantly forces fresh air throughout the building.
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A HISTORY OF CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
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