USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Dracut > History of Dracut, Massachusetts, called by the Indians Augumtoocooke and before incorporation, the wildernesse north of the Merrimac. First permanment settlement in 1669 and incorporated as a town in 1701 > Part 18
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About 1828, they became financially embarrassed and the property was seized by creditors who gave a five years' lease to Charles Stott, Joseph Garnett, Robert Whittaker and a Mr. Fitten, and they continued the manufacture of woolens. At the expiration of the lease, the business was sold to John and Thomas Nesmith, who commenced the manufacture of flannels, but soon removed their business to Lowell. In 1838, the property was sold to Darius Young, but in 1839 it was purchased by the Chelmsford Co. It consisted of land with flannel factory and gristmill and the price paid was $12,000.
From this time until 1853, no records are found but exten- sive changes must have been made, for in the last named year the Elliott Mills Co. purchased the property for $75,000. The deeds were signed by Harlan Pillsbury, Jonathan Tyler, James Water- house, Joseph F. Trott and Isaac Farrington. This company re- tained possession one year and sold to Thomas Barrows of Ded- ham and William Hilton of Boston. John Nesmith of Lowell became a partner and a company was formed under the name of the Merrimack Woolen Co. In 1858, this company was reor- ganized with a capital of $72,000 and the name changed to
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Merrimack Woolen Mills. In 1860, the property was owned by Thomas Nesmith, Thomas Barrows and Walter Hastings. The manufacture of the cloth was in charge of Joseph and Alfred Chase, who received a percentage of the manufactured goods which were sold by a commission house. The buildings were old and not fitted for the increasing business and a more modern building was required to produce better results. As it was difficult to suspend the manufacturing on account of the large orders received, the Pearson Mills at Collinsville were purchased, the cotton machinery removed and woolen machinery substituted. In 1863, the Chases withdrew and Mr. Barrows' son, Edward, became agent. In 1862, a brick mill was erected on the site of the former wooden one, and equipped with new and modern machinery, and arrangements were made for more extensive business. The mill had been in operation but a short time when, in October, 1864, a fire broke out and totally destroyed the build- ings, and a two-story house which stood on the opposite side of the highway.
Large orders had been received and the cloth was in de- mand, so the company arranged to operate the mill at Collins- ville which they had recently purchased. The operatives were transferred to the new mill, the machinery was run night and day and the work of clearing away the ruins of the mill com- menced without delay. As soon as possible a new four-story brick mill was erected with a two-story addition in the rear, to which recently another story has been added, new machinery was purchased and business resumed.
Early in 1864, the company had been incorporated as the Merrimack Mills of Dracut, capitalized at $500,000. For several years the new up-to-date equipment of the mills with the favor- able condition of the times were productive of great success. But in 1873, as the result of dissensions among the stockholders, the plant was closed. In 1874, the property consisting of both mills was sold at auction to L. J. Stiastny of New York for $130,000. Several years of inaction followed. Property in the village de- creased in value. Families living in tenement houses obtained employment in other places and removed from town. Others who had purchased homes sold at a sacrifice or found employ- ment in the Lowell mills and remained.
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In 1876, the mills at the Navy Yard village were taken on a lease by Solomon Bachman who, on June 19, 1880, purchased them for $120,000. In 1896, a company was incorporated as the Merrimack Woolen Mills Co. with a capital of $250,000, Mr. Bachman and his family retaining a majority of the stock. In December, 1901, it became necessary, in settlement of the estate of Mr. Bachman, whose death occurred in 1898, to sell the prop- erty at auction. In February, 1902, the mills were again put in operation with new ownership as the Merrimack Woolen Co. with August Fels, treasurer and manager.
Later in the year the property again changed ownership and while retaining its former name the greater part of the stock was purchased by Mr. E. G. Morrison and Mr. Arthur G. Meyer. At the present writing (1919) about 400 operatives are employed and the finished product consists of overcoating, cassimeres and cloaking, a line of goods for which the mill is especially equipped and for the production of which the managers provide the latest machinery. Under the present management important changes have been made. New buildings have been added, a tall chimney has been erected, in place of the metal smoke stack, which proved insufficient for the work and new wire fences take the place of the old, unsightly wooden ones.
Reference has been made to a dam on Beaver brook, south of Pleasant Street, where a saw mill had been in operation on the east side of the brook, in 1792. Before 1824, Merritt Wilder had acquired mill privileges on the west side of the brook and erected a mill building. No records exist to show the nature of the goods which he manufactured, but in certain deeds he is called a clothier. In 1827, he purchased land on the east side of the brook of Benjamin Bradley with the right to erect a mill. This right he sold in the same year to Theodore Hamblett. The deed conveys the right "to erect a mill or other building at the easterly end of the dam extending from said Wilders mill or works on the westerly side of said brook to the easterly side thereof, with right to use water for mills when not wanted by Wilder for his mills." Wilder mortgaged his property to Joseph Butterfield Varnum, who came into possession of it in 1828. Bc- sides the mills there were, on the west side of the brook, about 31/2 acres of land reaching from Pleasant street to the dam, also the
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Bradley land on the east side which had been leased to Hamblett.
In 1840, Varnum sold the property on the west side of the brook to Perez O. and John H. Richmond who manufactured paper until about 1855. Later the mill building was purchased by the Woolen Mill Co. and used as a storehouse, but was burned about 1870. On the east side of the brook, Hamblett erected a saw mill and established a wheelwright business, besides build- ing some houses on what is now Brookside street. He operated the mill several years, but the owners of the woolen mill, needing more room in the stream for the discharge of water from the mill wheels, purchased the property, removed the dam, filled the race ways, and no traces of mills or dam remain.
In 1825, J. B. Varnum erected a building for mill purposes on his land near the Wilder property, but a few rods away from the brook on the side of the hill, and opened a road from his residence to the mill at the bridge. He moved a house from Lowell and when the mill business was discontinued and the building arranged for tenements the group of houses was called New England. The building was two stories high on the back with a basement on the roadway. Hand looms were installed and carpets woven, pieces of which are in existence. By whom the business was conducted is uncertain. A few receipts and bills furnish all the information which we have been able to gather. One is for rent of machinery and buildings to Thomas Baker in 1847. In 1849, Baker purchased of .J. B. Varnum five Brussels carpet looms with bobbins, one set of card plates with appur- tenances and eleven sets of cards which Varnum had bought in 1847 of James Sener. The names of these two men are all that can be found in connection with the mill. Sener was probably unsuccessful and the machinery was purchased by Varnum in payment of rent due him. Later the business of manufacturing was discontinued, the buildings used for tenement houses, and now have nearly all been demolished.
GOODHUE'S MILLS AND PAPER MILL.
About one half mile above the dam of the Merrimack Woolen Co. is a water power at present unused. At what time it was first
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utilized is uncertain. May 18, 1767, Jonathan Varnum gave to Moses Goodhue a deed of the land on both sides of the brook extending on the north side from Lakeview avenue to the Old Meadow road. In 1807, Varnum sold three acres more to Good- hue on the south of the brook "adjoining said Goodhues land and mill pond." In 1793, Goodhue had purchased a narrow strip of land north of the brook extending from meadow bridge up the brook to "a dam that the said Goodhue had built." As there are no traces of a mill here or records of one to be found, the dam was probably built to hold the water in storage. Good- hue built a dam where one is now located and operated a grist- mill and fulling mill which he had erected at the north end of the dam.
In 1817, he sold the property to his sons, Moses and Aaron, who continued the business which their father had established. Besides grinding the grain for the farmers, they carded the wool they had shorn from the sheep, and fulled and dressed the cloth which had been woven by the farmers' wives and daughters. Moses, Sr., lived near and westerly of the mill and the cellar of his house could be seen until recently. In 1831, the Goodhue brothers sold to Samuel G. Griffin and Darius Young thus ter- minating the Goodhue ownership of sixty-four years. The mills on the property were discontinued, a more substantial dam built and a paper mill erected.
The property was owned by several different parties on account of financial difficulties, but was purchased in 1839 by Perez O. and John H. Richmond, who removed from the mill at the lower dam at the Navy Yard village to this mill up the brook which furnished better opportunities for expansion. They con- ducted the business until the death of Perez, when March 5, 1856, the property was sold to A. J. Richmond and Leonard and Joseph Church. It was again sold in 1860 to Geo. Ripley, who, in 1870, sold to the Lowell Wadding and Paper Co. The com- pany was succeeded by F. M. Spalding, later by George Lee, and in 1877 by John J. Donovan and Martin L. Bassett.
About 1883, Percy Parker became owner of the real estate and the business was conducted by Bassett under the firm name of M. L. Bassett & Co. For a time the business was prosperous, and to meet the demand for their product the owners doubled the
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capacity of the mill by installing new machinery, increasing power by purchasing engines, etc. Unfortunately on February 27, 1900, a great freshet occurred which washed away the flume and undermined much of the mill, but not discouraged, the owners rebuilt and again commenced the manufacture of paper. But the delay had been fatal to their interests for their trade had been absorbed by other mills and in consequence the busi- ness was suspended and the machinery sold. With the exception of a short time, when the buildings were occupied by a render- ing company, the mills were vacant. The buildings were al- lowed to decay and on the night of July 4, 1911, they were burned. Since that time no further use has been made of the mill privilege.
MILLS AT COLLINSVILLE.
Sometime previous to 1753, Joseph Hamblett of Pelham, N. H., came into possession of a farm and water power at the place now called Collinsville. This property was on the east side of the brook and in the year above mentioned he purchased of John Colburn land on the west side with rights on the stream "opposite Hambletts mills and dam." These were a gristmill and saw mill which he operated until March 13, 1773, when he sold the property on both sides of the brook to his son John. February 23, 1789, the latter exchanged properties with Isaac Parker, deeding to Parker 18 acres of land, a house and barn, a gristmill and seven-eighths of a saw mill on the east side of the brook.
From Parker and Hamblett the properties passed in turn to Life, David, Cyrus and Charles Wilson and was known as Wilson's Mills. In 1842, the land west of the brook passed from the mortgagees of Charles Wilson to Josiah and George Ames and Josiah Ames, Jr. Josiah, Sr., with his brother, Daniel, had purchased, in 1814, from David Wilson the land and mill prop- erty east of the brook. April 26, 1843, the Ames', who had con- ducted a wheelwright business, in connection with that formerly established, sold the mill property to John H. Pearson of Boston, but retained the farm and farm buildings and continued to conduct the wheelwright business.
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About 1870, Josiah Ames, Jr., sold the farm to David McCoy of Pelham, who opened a slaughter house and established a retail business. Pearson increased the water power by adding to the height of the dam, paying to Nathaniel Varnum, Marcus L. Coburn, and others, certain sums for the right of flowage. Cot- ton machinery was installed and Peter Lawson of Lowell was employed to superintend the business. Large quantities of cot- ton goods were made, including duck, fancy table cloths, etc. In 1844, a thread mill was established. An article in the Boston Globe is quoted :
"Mrs. Martha Little Davidson spooled the first spool of cotton thread ever wound in America in the first thread mill ever erected on this side of the Atlantic. The first mill was erected by a Scotch capitalist from Boston. It was a crude affair run by water power and calculated for little else than the process of spooling, the thread being imported in hanks almost a finished product from the mills in Scotland. While this industrial ad- venture was backed by Boston capital, it was John and Peter Lawson, two brothers, Scotch emigrants, who were the moving power of the enterprise and under whose management it was conducted. It was for work in this mill and to teach the trade to a force of employees that Martha Little, then a maiden of 26 years, and her sister, Elizabeth, personally known to the Messrs. Lawson, were sent for to Paisley, Scotland, then the world's greatest center for thread manufacture. A three months' sail from Liverpool brought them to Dracut. Mrs. Davidson was the first to operate a spindle in the new factory, and in the month of June, 1844, through her hands the infant thread industry produced its first spool."
An acquaintance of Martha Little, Mrs. Hannah Stott whose home was in Billerica, once told the writer that she, when a young girl, visited these mills and saw the process of winding the spools. March 7, 1863, the Pearson heirs of Boston sold to the Merrimack Woolen Mills Co. all this property, receiving for it the sum of $19,500. This was sold as before stated to L. J. Stiastny of New York. The machinery remained idle for several years, when March 31, 1880, it was purchased by Michael Collins. Ex- tensive changes were at once made. A large brick mill was built
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in 1886, on the south side of the highway, and a flume constructed to carry the water underneath the roadway to the wheels. Tene- ment houses were also built on the land and new streets laid out. Machinery for the production of fine goods was installed. Stores were opened and the Government established a post office. At this mill, Mr. Collins employed about 260 operatives who pro- duced annually 230,000 yards of eloth, principally beavers and cloakings. April 21, 1899, Mr. Collins sold the property to the American Woolen Co., which operated a number of mills in other places. The original wooden mill, three stories in height, was destroyed by fire and later replaced by a brick building used by the Company for the manufacture of shoddy. The plant is known as The Beaver Brook Mills of the American Woolen Co.
SAW AND GRISTMILLS AND OTHER INDUSTRIES
Double brook is the stream that drains Long pond. It crosses Lakeview avenue above the Collinsville mission build- ing and, turning east, enters Beaver brook below the village. Near the old road leading from the village to Tyngsboro on the north side of the road near the Varnum buildings there is a fall sufficient to furnish power. On this fall the Varnums erected a gristmill which they operated until about 1860, when the busi- ness of grinding grain was discontinued. James Griffin of Pel- ham, N. H., leased the power and placed a grater and press in the building and made cider for several years, until he removed to Pelham. The building is still standing but since Mr. Griffin vacated it, no use has been made of it except as a storehouse for the farm.
In 1763, there is a reference in the town records to "Double Brook saw mill" and it is shown on an old map of 1791. No traces of a dam or raceway can be found and it is possible that the mill may have been located where the Varnum gristmill later stood. The volume of water in our brooks, which two centuries ago furnished in many localities sufficient power for the operation of mills, is now much diminished, if indeed the brooks are not quite dry. The ruins of old dams and existence of raceways give indi- cations of former industries.
On Clay Pit brook, about a mile above Varnum avenue, a saw mill was owned and operated by Timothy Coburn. Traces
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of the dam and sluice way remain while a thick growth of wood indicates its discontinuance many years ago. As early as 1698, an old deed mentions a dam on Flag Meadow brook, and from later deeds, it can be located about 40 rods above Varnum avenue and directly east of the Lowell General Hospital. Whether built to furnish power or to flood the meadows for the benefit of the grass does not appear. March 29, 1726, Ephraim Hildreth and Josiah Colburn, who owned the Winthrop farm on the Merrimack river, formerly the Symonds grant, sold to Joseph Varnum "a parcel of land and a place to erect a dam and set up a mill at the lower end of the meadow called Winthrops meadow on the brook that runs out of the meadow and a con- venient cart road to the mouth of the brook called Winthrops brook by the west end of said Colburns house with liberty to raft in the mouth of the brook for a term of 30 years." Who operated the mill after the expiration of the 30 years' lease, is unknown. The Colburns owned the land on both sides of the brook until after 1800, when it passed into possession of Samuel Richardson and his sons, Samuel, Jr., David and Dana, after which it was called Richardson's brook.
The remains of the dam and sluice way with timbers and planking are to be seen a few rods below the Methuen road and west of the site of the Dana Richardson house. The remains of another dam may be seen on the same brook, a few rods above Kenwood schoolhouse, but as there are no indications of a build- ing or raceway it was probably a storage dam, to retain the water in a basin from which supplies could be drawn to furnish power for the mill below.
In 1818, in a mortgage deed given by James Mansur to Ben- jamin F. Varnum, mention is made of a mill privilege and grist- mill. This stood on West brook, east of the East Dracut Meeting house and on the south side of the road leading to Methuen. Mansur operated this mill, but later the farm was purchased by James Richardson and the mill building was removed and used for a shed.
As early as 1761, a saw mill stood on Bartlett's brook, which is the outlet of Peters' pond. It flows to the eastward over the Methuen line, where it is joined by West brook, before mentioned, and enters the Merrimack river. One Bartlett had
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HISTORY OF DRACUT
a mill on the brook in Methuen, from which the brook received its name. The saw mill, above mentioned, was above the road leading to North pond and Salem, N. H. In 1761, Josiah Gage and James Wilson purchased 72 acres of land of Thomas Parker and erected a mill. This was owned by several shareholders. In 1768, Gage and Wilson sold the land and one-fourth part of the mill to William D. Elliott who appears to have purchased the remaining shares and he, in 1782, sold land, dwelling house and saw mill to Mitchell Davis, who later sold to Richard Hall. The latter improved the property by building a storage dam above the mill and erecting a gristmill. A map of the town, dated 1798, locates this mill. Hall sold the property in 1805 to Thaddeus Richardson, who retained it twenty-five years and then transferred it to his son, Thaddeus, Jr. The latter sold it, June 13, 1846, to Oliver Richardson "7 acres of land with saw and grist mills." Under later owners the gristmill ceased to be operated and no signs of its existence now remain. The saw mill in still later years was discontinued and the building removed. In the pit the tub wheel with bevel gearing remain.
TANNERIES
Tan House brook runs under Pleasant street, at the foot of the hill, west of the First Congregational church building. A few rods north of the street a tannery and leather dressing industry was established at an early date. On September 9, 1755, Ephraim Hildreth conveyed to Nathaniel Mitchell one acre of land lying on both sides of the brook, and mention is made of Mitchell's tan vats as located on the land. He operated the tannery until 1766, when he removed to Bradford, selling the property to Benjamin French, including the farm, later known as the Swain place. French retained the property until 1797, when he sold the land on the brook to James Whiting "with a tan house and other buildings." Whiting appears to have conducted the business until about 1805, when through financial difficulties it passed into possession of Isaac Bradley. Dr. Amos Bradley owned it from 1807 until his death, and in 1822 it was sold to Enos Blake, a tanner, and William Carlton, a cord- wainer, as a shoemaker was called in those days. They retained the property until 1835, when they sold to Reuben Richardson.
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He sold in 1838 to Levi Richardson who had purchased in 1831 a piece of land adjoining on the east and had erected a brick house which is still standing. He conducted the business until 1842, when he sold the real estate to Reuben Coburn who was a farmer and who later lived on the place. The deed makes no mention of the tannery, which probably was discontinued. Some of the vats were between the house and the brook, and have been found recently when the ground was plowed.
Northeast of the buildings formerly owned by Henry Wheeler, a butcher, and on this same brook is a dam. It is mentioned in a deed as early as 1793, as "an old dam." It may have been built to store the water as wanted for the tan- nery below, as no signs of a building or wasteway exist. The little brook between the house of the late Charles Coburn and the Dr. Hildreth place was the location of another tannery operated by Henry A. Hovey. A deed of the land from his father, Thomas Hovey, mentions the "Bash Vats." The word bash meaning to beat. Many years after the business had been abandoned and the vats covered over, they were discovered during excavations which were being made, and in them were found sides of leather of a superior quality caused by their long immersion in the tanning liquor.
SMALLER INDUSTRIES
One of the most noticeable changes since the earlier days of the town is the elimination of the smaller industries and the growth of companies to perform its work. The spinning wheel, flax wheel and hand loom, then to be found in nearly every house, are now seen only in a few museums. Where every village had its blacksmith shop, few remain, and the smith no longer shoes oxen or makes knives and farming tools. Butter and cheese are now made in factories. The eider mill, with the horse furnishing the power as he travelled in a circle while the boy sat scraping the pomace from the wooden nuts, has been replaced by the power mill with its increased capacity of production. The mill, with the upright saw, located at a convenient fall of water has been superceded by the portable mill with its circular saw and transported to the forest where the trees are felled.
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HISTORY OF DRAOUT
Before 1814, Benjamin Hovey had a hat factory. His shop was on Pleasant street, nearly opposite Clark street, but in 1814, he sold the buildings to the Stanleys, who had bought the mills on Beaver brook. The shop was removed to the foot of the hill on Sladen street, where it now stands, being used as a tenement house. The Ezekiel Hale house, before mentioned as formerly standing on Pleasant street, where the car track now crosses the street, was once occupied, about 1818, by Thomas D. Doak and in which chairs were made.
About 1828, the mill property at the Navy Yard village was leased to Charles Stott and others. Herrick Allen sub- leased a room in the basement, where he manufactured brushes, but sometime after 1835, be moved to New Hampshire. Theodore Hamblet had a wheelwright shop on Brookside street, near his saw mill, and Josiah Ames, Sr., conducted the same business at Collinsville. In "New England" a house near the carpet mill was occupied by William Varnum, a son of Bradley Var- num, who manufactured rings and other jewelry. At Hovey Square, jewelry was manufactured by a man named Guillaume Louis Rose Fortune Berson. He occupied the Nancy Hovey house, a part of which is now standing. It was nearly opposite the Hildreth house, later owned by Henry Richardson. As the births of his children are recorded as occurring between 1802 and 1805, also his marriage, such record fixes the time of his residence in the town. Daniel Abbott manufactured bed posts, turning them on a lathe in a shop near his house. On Marsh hill, wood turning was done by Russell Fox at his home. At the larger farms cider mills were in operation and the owners ground the apples for their neighbors. Nearly all of these in- dustries have been superceded by large plants, conducted more economically.
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