USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Conway > History of Conway (Massachusetts) 1767-1917 > Part 9
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HISTORY OF CONWAY.
Like the surrounding towns, Conway, when first settled, was covered with a heavy growth of trees of many varieties com- prising white pine, pitch pine, chestnut, oak, hemlock, black birch, cherry, elm, and maple. As late as 1854 the meadow on the west side of the Northampton road just as the road enters the village was a swamp full of hemlock stumps.
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ONE OF CONWAY'S GREAT ELMS.
Although some of the woods have fallen before the steam mills there are still many valuable and extensive tracts of wood and timber left.
Some trees deserve special mention. Rev. John Emerson, who was installed as the first minister of the town in 1769, set out in front of his home on Baptist Hill two elms, which are now magnificent trees, tall and symmetrical, one measuring 16 feet 4 inches in circumference and the other measuring 14 feet 8 inches. Another splendid elm, 15 feet in circumference, stands upon the triangle at the fork of the roads on Baptist Hill.
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THE NATURAL FEATURES OF CONWAY.
This tree, which casts a shade 100 feet across, has sheltered many outdoor social gatherings. The Whitney elm, which had to be taken down in 1916, stood near the residence of Gen. James S. Whitney and the birthplace of William C. Whitney. It measured 16 feet 5 inches in circumference. The Centennial elm on the common in Pumpkin Hollow was planted in 1867 by the oldest men in the town. . On the hill east of the Pumpkin Hollow common stands a white oak, the only white oak for a long distance. Perhaps nowhere in the state have maple trees reached so large a growth. A maple tree cut on the farm of F. L. Totman in 1915 was 17 feet 6 inches in circumference and yielded eight cords of firewood. A maple in the sugar orchard that was formerly a part of the Gen. Asa Howland farm has been set for many years with seven sap tubs. Two trees in this sugar orchard are over sixteen feet in circumference and a , number measure from twelve to fifteen feet.
Conway has a great variety and abundance of wild flowers, the small kinds being particularly well represented. Thirty-five varieties of ferns have been found and classified. The birds are also abundant. The hunting, trapping, and fishing attract visitors every year. It is encouraging to note the growing interest in the conservation of all our natural resources, includ- ing the stocking of streams and the preservation of rare wild flowers.
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GEN. JAMES S. WHITNEY.
CHAPTER V. BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY.
BY EDWARD AFFHAUSER.
It is interesting to follow the gradual changes in the business and industry of the town from the early years of settlement onward. How changing conditions in the life of the nation, caused by the growth of population, the growth of increased means of communication through the building of more and better highways and, finally, the revolution in transportation through the growth and development of the railroads, the great expansion of manufacturing, and the building up of the cities at the expense of the population of the towns, have caused a complete change in the industrial and business life, in the character and manner of living of the people.
In the early years the town was a distinctly frontier farming community, furnishing practically all its needs almost independ- ent of the outside world for any of its wants. Each family raised the grain for feeding its stock, all its own food sup- plies, corn and wheat, beef, pork and mutton, hides for shoes, wool and flax for clothing. Hides of their own raising were tanned at the local tannery and made into shoes by the cobbler, or perhaps, as was often the case, the head of the family was ingenious enough to make them himself. Their own wool and flax was spun and woven and made into clothing by the women of the household.
In the early years the principal surplus product of the farms was cattle, sheep; wool, and hides. Cattle and sheep were raised for the Boston market. Cattle drovers periodically picked them up and drove them in large herds and flocks to Brighton. One of the most famous of these, Caleb Sherman, was a drover from 1797 to 1842. It is said that he made upwards of five hundred trips to Boston. On the first day of July, 1813, he fell through the Connecticut River bridge at Montague, with his drove, and had his leg so injured that it was amputated above the knee. By the next October he was again on the road following his business.
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HISTORY OF CONWAY.
After the building of the Connecticut River railroad and later of the Fitchburg, the cattle were driven to South Deerfield and Greenfield and shipped on the cars. In later years, after 1850 and continuing into the eighties, a large business was conducted in the purchase of cattle and sheep in the interior of New York state, driving them to Conway and fattening them for the market. In 1862 Charles Parsons brought in three thousand sheep by rail to Troy and drove them home from there over the Hoosac mountain.
The principal crops in the early years were corn, rye, wheat, and potatoes. Tobacco was first raised about 1860, Austin Foote in the South Part raising the first crop. The acreage devoted to its production increased rapidly so that in 1866 over two hundred acres were raised and the tax list for that year shows tobacco assessed to the value of $55,200. This was about the high mark and production declined to much smaller proportions for a long period. In 1900, however, it had again risen to about one hundred and fifty acres a year. Since then it has steadily declined again, until now, 1916, approximately seventy acres are being raised.
Before 1840 the sale of dairy products was small but from then the amount steadily increased with the growth of the cities and the development of better means of access to these markets, and for many years, butter, cream, and milk have been the most important products of the farms. For a period of twenty-five or thirty years the bulk of the butter was marketed through the store in Pumpkin Hollow, owned by William Campbell. Every week the farmers brought in their butter and he shipped it to the Boston market. At one time the receipts of butter at this store were over 2,000 pounds weekly. After 1870 the other stores obtained a share of the butter busi- ness and with the building of the Conway Creamery in 1886 the business went into new channels.
The Conway Co-operative Creamery was organized in 1886 with a capital of $3,500. J. B. Packard was president and Charles Parsons treasurer. Buildings were erected and opera- tions started in July. The next year W. A. Pease was engaged as superintendent and afterward H. W. Billings became treas- urer. The business was a success from the start and showed
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BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY.
a steady increase from year to year. In 1901, 2,233,698 pounds of cream were received from 274 patrons and made into 227 tons of butter. The amount paid patrons for cream was $100,726.10. The company was awarded the gold medal and two first premiums at the Bay State Fair, Boston, where there were over 200 entries from leading New England creameries and fancy dairies; also awarded first premium at the Rhode Island State Fair, Providence. In the summer of 1906 the
CONWAY CREAMERY.
buildings were destroyed by fire. The burning of the creamery gave the big milk distributers for the Boston market an oppor- tunity to extend their field to Conway. Most of the creamery patrons then began selling their milk to these dealers, and the creamery was not rebuilt. Since then the principal product of the farms has been milk shipped to Boston and Springfield and both milk and cream to Northampton. At the present time, 1916, the average amount of milk shipped daily is from 3,000 to 3,500 quarts to Boston and about 2,500 to Springfield and Northampton.
The early industries were mostly small enterprises established to meet local needs, but since 1837, manufacturing has occupied
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HISTORY OF CONWAY.
an important place in the life of the town and it is in its manu- facturing interests that Conway finds the chief element of its prosperity. South River, flowing through the village, provides a number of fine water powers for the town's manufacturing industries.
The first mill was a gristmill and was built by Caleb Sharp, who was part negro and part Indian, in 1767, where the De Wolfe shoe factory now stands. He was succeeded by a negro, Cæsar Wcod, called "Black Cæsar," a sort of "jack of all trades." After him came Asahel Wood, followed by Thomas Cole. The mill was run by John Sprague for many years until his death in the seventies, and then by Robert Forsyth until the burning of the mill about 1879. Capt. Charles Parsons sold in one year 3,000 bushels of corn to be ground in this mill. A second gristmill was built about 1770 at the Thwing place, now known as the Seffens place, and now operated by Daniel Seffens & Son. There was another for a number of years on Bear River. After the burning of Robert Forsyth's mill Emory Brown built the present gristmill near the Main Street bridge, which he operated until its purchase by the present owner, Alvin C. Boice, in 1896.
There were a number of early sawmills on South River, one at Leukhardt's Falls, a second at Reed's, owned by William Warren, who also operated a gristmill on the same site, and a third at the present site of Flagg's mill. There was also one on Bear River and another on Roaring Brook. Emory Brown built and operated for many years a sawmill near Boice's mill. This mill was burned in 1901. William Fay operated the mill at Flagg's for many years and for a time chairs were made there. The present mill was built by him in 1879 after the burning of the old mill, and since his death a few years later it has been operated by C. C. Flagg and his sons.
There were several brickyards operated at different periods,- one of the earliest near Leukhardt's Falls, one near Boice's mill, another in the South Part, and still another near Bardwell's Ferry. There were a number of tanneries; the principal one and last one remaining was near the site of Boice's mill. It was owned by William T. Clapp and was burned in 1871. There was a hatter's shop on Baptist Hill for many years conducted
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BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY.
by Christopher Arms, and Deacon Jonathan Ware and his sons carried on the manufacture of combs at the place now occupied by William Warriner.
Tinware has been made from an early period; at one time near the present Shirkshire schoolhouse, and at several places in the village. There was a tin shop for many years on Baptist Hill where the house of H. V. Hale now stands. The building was afterward moved and is now the home of Mrs. Mary Wright. Wagons laden with the product of this shop traveled the sur- rounding country, went far into Western New York and even penetrated as far south as the Carolinas, peddling their wares. At one time, about 1830, a caravan of six wagons, driven by the following men, Rodolphus Rice, Samuel Dunham, Leander Whitney, Eleazer F. Flagg, Kimball Batchelder, and Gardner Stearns, went to South Carolina loaded with tinware from this shop. Later there was a tin shop near the bridge on Main Street and following that, in the building opposite the watering trough on River Street. The building is now made into a tenement house. Roswell G. Rice bought the shop in 1878 and shortly afterward built the present building across the street and ran the tin shop and plumbing business until selling to the present owner, Wayne E. Roberts, in 1915.
The first manufacturing industry, other than a saw or grist mill, was started by Aaron Hayden in 1780, who set up a "fulling" mill on a site near Boice's mill. Seventeen years later Dr. Moses Hayden and R. Wells added an oil mill for grinding flaxseed and expressing the oil. In 1810 its site was occupied by a broadcloth factory. Later, William Hamilton - and his brother, Benjamin F. Hamilton, first started the manu- facture of cotton cloth in Conway in this mill. It was afterward operated as a cotton bag factory by General Dickinson. It was destroyed by fire in 1856.
In 1837 the manufacturing industry received its first great impetus. In that year Gen. Asa Howland built the cotton mill known in recent years as the Tucker & Cook Lower Mill, and Edmund Burke, founding the Conway Manufacturing Company, built the first woolen mill, in Burkeville. In 1842 Alonzo Parker began the manufacture of carpenters' and joiners' tools in Burkeville, and shortly afterward, organizing as the
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HISTORY OF CONWAY.
Conway Tool Company, the business was expanded until upward of eighty men were employed. In 1851 the company transferred its operations to Greenfield and there reorganized as the Green- field Tool Company. The South River Cutlery Company erected extensive works in Burkeville in 1851 for the manufacture of table cutlery and employed at one time about one hundred and thirty-five men. The enterprise failed, however, after four or five years and passed out of existence. About 1850, and running for a number of years, there was a chair factory in Burkeville. Below Burkeville, in 1846, Gen. James S. Whitney and Charles Wells built a factory for the manufacture of seamless cotton bags. They were succeeded by L. B. Wright and the buildings were destroyed by fire in 1856. The mill was rebuilt and operated by Richard Tucker in the manufacture of cotton warps and yarns. In 1860 Mr. Tucker and his son-in-law, Chelsea Cook, organized the firm of Tucker & Cook and took over in addition the mill built by Gen. Asa Howland in 1837. Here they began the manufacture of knitting cotton. At one time their annual production of knitting cotton was about 200,000 pounds and they employed about forty hands, while in the upper mill about fifty were employed and the annual production of warps and yarns was about 250,000 pounds. After the death of Richard Tucker, in 1889, the company experienced financial difficulties and the business declined. Chelsea Cook died in 1905 and the business was closed two years later. In 1914 the upper mill property was sold to the De Wolfe Shoe Company and the lower mill was purchased by Edgar Jones and made into a barrel factory. In 1845 the Conway Manu- facturing Company enlarged their woolen mill in Burkeville. The company suspended in 1857, and in 1858 Edmund Burke, reviving the business, continued until 1867. In that year the property was purchased by Edward Delabarre. The firm became Delabarre & Hackstaff in 1871, William G. Hackstaff becoming a partner. In 1881, the firm became W. E. Delabarre & Company, Mr. Hackstaff leaving and Walter E. Delabarre entering the business. The business under Edward Delabarre's management was very successful. Additions to the mill were built and its capacity increased to thirty-two looms employing one hundred and fifteen hands and making annually about
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BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY.
350,000 yards of fancy cassimeres and other cloth. In 1892 Mr. Delabarre closed the mills and retired from business. The mill remained closed until the fall of 1903 when it was leased by James Hennessey of New York and started again making woolen goods. The business was only fairly started, however, when in March, 1904, the mill was destroyed by fire, and was not rebuilt.
BURKEVILLE WOOLEN MILL.
De Wolfe, Bagnall & Company, shoe manufacturers, removed here from Marlboro in 1896, into a factory built for them by the people of the town. Mr. Bagnall left in 1898 and the business was conducted by C. F. De Wolfe and H. B. Hassell under the name of De Wolfe & Hassell. They were succeeded . in 1910 by the De Wolfe Shoe Company, Mr. Hassell leaving the firm. This business is Conway's most important industry. The buildings have been enlarged several times, and they employ (1916) about one hundred and twenty people with an annual output of shoes of about $275,000 value.
The Conant & Donelson Company, tap and die manufac- turers, came here from Greenfield in 1909. F. W. Conant is
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HISTORY OF CONWAY.
manager and W. E. Donelson salesman. A brick building was erected on the site of the old Delabarre woolen mill and the factory started operations early in 1910. The business is steadily growing and now employs about thirty people.
A factory was built in 1900 for Darby & Moore, duck coat manufacturers, who came here from North Adams. The busi- ness did not prove a success and was closed down in a couple of years.
In 1879 T. J. Shepardson erected a mill on the present site of Reed's mill and began the manufacture of cotton yarns. The business did not flourish and suffered many vicissitudes and changes in ownership until the building was finally destroyed by fire. In 1896 H. G. Reed erected a turning mill on the site and has since conducted a successful business in the manufacture of screw-driver and small tool handles. In the fall of 1916 Mr. Reed sold the property to the Goodell-Pratt Company of Greenfield.
The first store was run by Tom Arms on Baptist Hill on the site now occupied by the Baptist church horse sheds. The building was afterward moved and rebuilt and is now the home of Charles Wildes. Later there was a store on Baptist Hill in the brick building which is part of the home of Perkins Batchelder. This was run for years by Amos Batchelder and afterward by Lansford Batchelder, the grandfather and father respectively of Perkins Batchelder. Another of the earlier stores was the Pumpkin Hollow store. This was run for many years by Elisha Billings, the uncle of our late town clerk, Henry W. Billings. In a memorial address on the life of his father, Henry W. Billings, written by Edward C. Billings for the Pocumtuck Historical Society, he says: "But I cannot pass by Pumpkin Hollow without referring to other associations of my father's boyhood of which I have often heard him speak. Here, beside the church and schoolhouse, stood the 'general store,' a forum for the discussion of political and other important public matters, where, incidentally, a farmer might barter butter and eggs. In my father's boyhood his Uncle Elisha was master of ceremonies here. Among the leading controversialists who gathered round his stove on winter evenings were Phineas Bartlett, justice of the peace, whose home and judicial chambers
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BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY.
were just across the green, and Col. Charles E. Billings, selectman and representative in the General Court." Elisha Billings also served as representative in the General Court and was town clerk from 1827 to 1837. There was another store conducted for a number of years by a Mr. Williams near the flag pole on the new public playground. In 1838 William G. Campbell succeeded Mr. Billings in the Pumpkin Hollow store and con- tinued until he sold to Lee, Dodge & Hawkes in 1881. Mr. Campbell was versatile and resourceful and a man of prominence in the community, and his store for many years did a large business. He had for a long while the buik of the butter business besides taking other products of the farm in exchange for his goods. At one time he sent a four-horse load of chestnuts to Boston. He was a deputy sheriff for many years and served a term as representative in the Legislature. George C. Lee, Clifford N. Dodge, and W. E. Hawkes bought out Mr. Campbell. They separated in 1884, Mr. Lee retaining the business, which he managed until closing it out in 1900. Dodge & Hawkes started a store on Main Street on the site of the present Hawkes block. After a short time Dodge left the firm and Mr. Hawkes continued the business. The building was destroyed by fire in 1894. Mr. Hawkes built the present building the following year and carried on the business until his death in 1915. Floyd A. Clark, the present owner, came here from Monroe Bridge and purchased the store in March, 1916.
There was for many years a store on the corner where the Hopkins house now stands. John M. and Fisher Ames ran this store for a number of years. The store afterward passed through the following various changes of ownership: John M. Ames and C. H. Billings, Leonard Stearns, Lansford Batchelder, Hezekiah Andrews, and Leonard Stearns & Son. The building was burned in 1875 and the store went out of existence. C. G. Townsend ran a store for a number of years on what is now the shoe-shop green.
The Burkeville store was started in 1838 by Edmund Burke, as a company store. When the Burkeville mills were flourishing this store did a large business. It passed through many owner- ships: Gilman Hassell, Franklin Childs and I. P. Baker, Childs, Baker & Lawrence, Childs, Baker & Irvine, Townsend & Hassell,
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HISTORY OF CONWAY.
Townsend & Delabarre, and C. G. Townsend. In 1885 Daniel Eldridge and Harry Billings bought the store of the Townsend estate. After a couple of years Mr. Eldridge ran the business alone until closing it out in 1889.
About 1840, Gen. James S. Whitney erected the building and started the store on Main Street now run by H. B. Hassell. After a few years General Whitney sold to Dickinson, Wells & Edgerton. They were followed by Lucius Smith. R. M. Tucker puchased the store in 1865 and ran it until 1880 when he sold to C. G. Townsend, A. P. Delabarre, and William Luey. After a short time the partnership was dissolved and Mr. Delabarre ran the store until 1889 when it was purchased by Daniel Eldridge and Willard Boyden. They sold to A. P. and W. F. Delabarre in 1892, who under the firm name of Delabarre Bros. conducted the business until its purchase by George M. Darby in 1900. Then the firm became successively George M. Darby & Son and W. W. Darby. Financial difficulties caused the closing of the store in 1908. The store was opened again in 1910 and has since been conducted by Harry B. Hassell.
Harvey Townsend started a jewelry and notions store in the Lawrence block on Main Street in 1858 and conducted it until the building burned in 1898, when he retired from business. Gilbert E. Tuttle opened a jewelry store in 1900. He sold to Alexander Sinclair, the present owner, in 1906.
Charles C. Burdette of Springfield came to Conway and started a drug store in 1879, in the Lawrence block on Main Street. After his death in 1893 the store was conducted by Henry Hopkins and on the completion of the Hawkes block was moved to its present location. Mr. Hopkins died in 1900 and the business has since been conducted by the present owner, Edward Affhauser.
There have been a number of markets in years past. Samuel Bigelow ran a market for a long while on River Street. In recent years Homer Cooley ran a market in the building on Main Street in the rear of the Hamilton house, where the Affhauser residence now stands. This building was burned in 1894. Henry Hopkins went into the River Street market with his father-in-law, Mr. Bigelow, and afterward ran it alone for a number of years until selling to Clarence A. Smith in 1892.
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BUSINESS AND . INDUSTRY.
Mr. Smith ran the market until his death in 1909; since then Allen R. Cook has managed the business for the C. A. Smith Estate.
I. N. Hitchcock started his hardware business on Elm Street in 1899. He does an extensive business in hardware and agri- cultural implements.
The first wagon maker was Robert Hamilton. He was a big man weighing nearly 400 pounds and lived where J. M. Stearns & Son now live. He made a carriage for Parson Emerson about 1769 or 1770 which is said to have been the first carriage in Franklin County and affords basis for a claim that Conway produced the first carriage in America.
William M. Howland was another wagon maker who flour- ished about 1840 or 1850 where George Howland now lives. Manley Hemenway was a builder of wagons at his shop above the reservoir for a great many years. He died in 1913. John S. Holcomb started as wagon maker on River Street in 1849 and made a great many wagons in his day. Since his death in 1898 the business has been continued by his sons, J. R. and F. Holcomb.
A bakery was started by J. E. Robertson in the old Hamilton house on Main Street in 1899. He moved to the new building built by him next the bridge in 1901. Later the business was run for a couple of years by Frank Ward, but the business declined and it was closed in 1906.
Before the days of the electric railroad, livery stables flour- ished. With no other public means of transportation except the stages there was of necessity a good livery business and the carting of freight for the mills made a lot of heavy teaming. The stable in Burkeville did the bulk of the heavy teaming. This was run for some years by Walter Guilford, who sold out to Solomon Pease about 1870. Mr. Pease ran the stable until closing it out about 1908. Henry and Solomon Pease ran a stable on Main Street for a number of years. Gordon H. Johnson bought this stable in 1869 and ran it until closing it out and retiring from business in 1916. Alpheus and Dennis Bates ran a stable for many years on Baptist Hill where Charles Wildes now lives.
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HISTORY OF CONWAY.
The stages carried the mail and passengers and light freight and express. The mail route was let from South Deerfield to South Adams and a stage ran daily from Ashfield to South Deerfield and return and three times a week from Ashfield to South Adams. Cephas Crafts was one of the earlier stage drivers. Then Cross & Phillips, who ran the Ashfield House, ran the stage for many years. They were followed by Payson Eldridge and about 1870 by Julius and Arthur C. Guilford. In 1879 Arthur Guilford went into the hotel and his brother, Julius, ran the stage until his death in 1887. Wilder Truesdell then ran the stage about two years for Mr. Guilford's widow and afterwards on his own account until the Electric Street Railway was built in 1894. Levi Dole also ran a stage to Bardwell's Ferry and, after the building of the Shelburne Falls & Northampton railroad, Edward Wing ran a stage to Conway Station.
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