USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Great Barrington > History of Great Barrington, (Berkshire County,) Massachusetts > Part 36
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422
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
ment Mills, and this company now own all the works on both sides of the river.
The saw-mill of Sibley & Sherman was probably taken down, at the time of the building of the first factory by Ransom Whitmore, and his factory building still exists in the central part of the large upper wood mill of the Monument Mills.
But little more than thirty years ago, the land on the east side of the river, extending southerly from the bridge at Housatonic and eastward to the foot of the mountain, was covered with timber, much of its first growth white pine. This by the descendants of the early Van Deusens, who owned the territory, with that hereditary pride of ancestral domain which character- ized the Dutch settlers, had long been preserved from the inroads of the ax. This tract, then known as "Timbershin," now covered with the improvements of the Owen Paper Company, was only penetrated by the farm road of Coonrod Van Deusen and his son-the late Jacob H. Van Deusen, Esq.,-which led from their residence, the old stone house of 1771, northward, near the route of the present highway. Not far from this road were two small shanties, the habitations of some of the Van Deusen farm laborers, which had fallen to decay earlier than 1845. One of the tenants, as we re- member, was Ross Austin, then a widower, who, forty years ago, obtained notoriety by swapping his eighteen year old daughter for the wife of another man and re- ceiving five dollars, for difference of value in exchange.
With the intent of utilizing his pine timber, Jacob H. Van Deusen, who then occupied the stone house, about 1836-7, built a dam south of the present one of the Owen Paper Company, and below it erected a saw- mill. Mr. Van Deusen met with some reverses, by the washing away of a part of his dam, but nevertheless kept his mill standing and running intermittently, with long periods of rest. In his slow way of procedure, he made but little havoc with the timber. About 1849, Zadoc Rewey purchased the Van Deusen farm, drove the saw-mill to its utmost capacity, cleared up the land, and did an extensive business in lumber and timber.
The first energetic effort towards the improvement
423
OWEN PAPER COMPANY.
of this water power for manufacturing purposes was made by Henry L. Potter, who, having purchased some adjoining land, erected the dam, still in use, in 1852, and constructed the canal for conducting water to the mill site below. Mr. Potter, also, the same year, put up a building for a paper mill-on the site of the pres- ent one-to which he brought soft water, for his man- ufacturing purposes, from a fine spring on the moun- tain. His enterprise was continued through the years 1853 and 1854. Water wheels, as well as the founda- tions for heavy working machinery were put in; but, although the works were well advanced towards com- pletion, delay was caused by the non-fulfillment of the contract for furnishing machinery, and pending this delay, the building was destroyed by fire in March, 1855.
In 1856, Messrs. Owen & Hurlbut purchased the Henry L. Potter property, and erected a paper mill which they operated until 1862, when the Owen Paper Company was organized. This company, under the business management of Henry D. Cone, has since carried on the works, manufacturing fine writing pa- pers, has added largely to its mills and real estate and built up a tidy village of its own-a valuable adjunct to Housatonic. A commendable feature in connection with the works of this company is the Cone Library and Reading Room, maintained and constantly sup- plied with new books by Mr. and Mrs. Cone. This Li- brary is the largest in town, and is by the liberality of its owners made free to all who wish to use the books.
Half a mile down the stream-below the works of the Owen Paper Company-Henry D. Cone has erected very large and exceedingly substantial buildings, of brick, intended for the manufacture of paper. These, when completed, will form one of the finest manufac- turing establishments in the state.
In addition to the Congregational church we have mentioned, Housatonic has also a Methodist church erected in 1871, and a Roman Catholic church built in 1877. The last twenty years has been a season of great prosperity with Housatonic, and in that time it has grown from a small hamlet to a village of very re- spectable proportions.
CHAPTER XXXI.
TOWN AND VILLAGE IMPROVEMENTS AND INSTITUTIONS.
In 1812, material changes were made in the county road leading from the Great Bridge to Stockbridge. As we have before stated, this road after crossing the bridge ran southerly to the south side of the old meet- ing house, and thence easterly across the burial ground to the point of the mountain. One of the changes of 1812, was to lay this road, as it now is, in a direct line from the bridge eastward. Farther north, near the dwelling of Warren Crissey, the road originally, and until 1812, turned nearly at a right angle to the east, ran out to the old Levi Hyde place-then Thomas Baker's tavern-and thence northerly along the hill to the house of Deacon Daniel W. Beckwith; thus avoid- iug the low ground between Mr. Crissey's and Deacon Beckwith's. This was then changed and the road laid in a straight line. Other alterations were at the same time, made above the Monument Mountain. The road over the mountain was formerly on the north side of the ravine, where its track is still visible. This was changed to the south side of the ravine, and the road very much improved, about 1834. The road over the Three Mile Hill was widened and greatly improved in 1845.
To facilitate transportation between Stockbridge, Lee, and other northern towns and the Hudson riv- er, the Great Barrington and Alford turnpike, from the foot of Monument Mountain by way of Van Deusen- ville and North Egremont to the New York state line, was incorporated in 1811, and was built within the next two years. But the opening of railroad communi- cation with New York and with the Hudson River,
425
HIGHWAY CHANGES.
destroyed the value of this turnpike and it has since become a town road.
The road leading to Sheffield, on the east side of the river, had been established by the Court of Sessions as early as 1785, but not opened. This was discon- tinued in 1798, the petition there-for stating that it had been laid out more than ten years and not worked. This road was finally established by the county in 1815, and was in part re-located in 1820. In 1828, the county road from Van Deusenville, along the river, through Housatonic, to Glendale, was built ; and in 1858, the road from the foot of Monument Mountain, on the east side of the river, to Housatonic was constructed.
In 1827, the road leading from the former residence of Sylvester Hulbert, across the Green River to the West Plain, was laid out; and in 1833, that leading from the West Plain School-house to the Cheese Fac- tory was established by the County Commissioners. About 1836, the cross road from the Doctor C. T. Collins house towards Green River, was built. Until that time the travel towards Egremont had been by way of the corner at the south burial ground. The road from the village to Seekonk was, in large part, relaid in 1873 making travel in that direction much easier than it formerly was.
In 1868, the Iron Bridge-the Great Bridge-over the Housatonic-was built at a cost, including masonry, of $10,286. This was the first iron bridge put up in this part of the county. The bridgeway was then raised three feet above its former level, the old center pier was removed, and very substantial abutments and wing walls were constructed.
The town has annually, for the past ten years, made appropriations, varying from $3,500 to $6,000-gener- ally, of late, $4,000-for the maintenance of highways ; and, although the money is not always judiciously ex- pended, these appropriations have produced a very marked improvement in the condition of the roads. But few towns in the state have so good roads as are found in Great Barrington and Stockbridge.
The village has been of slow growth, and the ^changes by which it has attained its present form have
426
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
extended over a long series of years. As late as 1810,. the whole number of buildings between the south bur- ial ground and the Great Bridge, including dwellings, stores, and school-houses, barely exceeded forty, nor was the number very materially increased in the next ten years. With the exception of Castle Street, with its two or three houses, no side streets diverged from the Main street within the distance indicated.
Earlier than 1810, but little had been done towards improving or making attractive the village street. We have information of a row of elm trees planted as early as 1770, and of a few others before 1800. Those in front of the Episcopal church and parsonage were set out by Ezra Kellogg and Samuel Riley about 75 years since ; and it is related that the eccentric Daniel Wil- lard came with cart and oxen from Long Pond and drove over them, considering it an innovation to plant trees in the highway. Even at that time some antip- athy, in the outskirts, was felt towards "Strut Street," as the village was derisively termed. A very large part of the buildings in the village have been erected since 1820, and much the larger proportion of them within the past forty years. In that time many of the old landmarks have disappeared, and in grading the ground, reducing the hills and filling the hollows, a great change in village topography has been effected.
The first recorded public effort in this direction was made in 1815, when George H. Ives widened the trav- eled way through the hollow in the south part of the - village, built a side wall, and raised the road bed six feet. In consideration of this the town voted to abate the highway taxes on the estate of General Ives-then deceased-for three years. George H. Ives also in 1815, built the house now Ralph Talyor's at the same : time removing the old dwelling of the Gunn and Hop -. kins families which stood upon that spot. A part of the old house was moved south of Mount Peter and became the residence of James Russ-the old-time, bell ringer of the Episcopal church-who with his: notable wife Zilpah were long its occupants. This house, in changed formed, still exists in one of the tene- ments which belonged to the late Washington Mellen ..
427
THE BLUE LIMESTONE.
In the early part of the century a dwelling, the home of one of the members of the Jones family, stood where the house of Justin Dewey now does ; but this soon disappeared, and for many years no buildings stood on the east side of the street between the post- office and the house of Robert Girling-the old Caleb Stanley residence. The first, and for a long time the only improvement in that vicinity was the erection of the Congregational Church in 1813, on the site of the present one. The old meeting-house east of the bridge -aside from the inconvenience of its location, in the changed status of population-had then become so dilapidated as to be scarcely tenantable, and the build- ing of a new one was a matter of necessity. This was erected by individuals connected with the Congrega- tional society, and was first opened for public worship December 30th, 1813. It became the property of the Society in 1838, and was soon after improved by the removal of the high, old-fashioned pulpit and square pews, and the substitution of others of more modern style. This church was removed to Bridge Street in 1859, where it still stands divested of its steeple, and has until recently served as a town hall.
We have mentioned the ledges of blue lime stone, in the south part of the village, which obstructed the highway, covered the ground where the Doctor C. T. Collins house stands, and of which Mount Peter is en- tirely composed. Earlier than 1830, this stone had not been considered suitable for building purpos- es ; and for cellars and foundations it had long been customary to cart stone to the village from west of Green River. A large quantity of the blue stone which had been blasted from the traveled way lay scat- tered along the roadside. The first experiment in utilizing this was made by Elijah Foster-then living on the Misses Kellogg place-about 1830. Mr. Foster having occasion to build a cistern took the stone from the roadside. These were found to break exceeding- ly well, and the experiment proved so successful as to attract the attention of others. From that time, this stone, which has since added so much to the attrac- tions of the village, came gradually into favor.
428
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
The first building erected from the blue stone was the second church edifice of the Episcopal Society, now called the "Church Block," at the corner of Main and Railroad Streets, built in 1833. Messrs. J. C. & A. C. Russell built, the next year, the store, now George W. Mellen's, from the same stone. The stone for the church, and a large part of those used by the Messrs. Russell were taken from the highway, and are of a coarser and tougher texture than most which have since been quarried.
About the time of the erection of the stone store, John C. Briggs, who resided upon the Doctor Collins place, opened a quarry near his dwelling, and soon after built, from the stone there obtained, the house of Joseph Gibson-now F. T. Whiting's-and from that spot the stone for the Berkshire House were taken in 1839. Since that time this stone has been exten- sively used for the foundations of houses ; the churches have been built from it and considerable quantities have been transported to distant places.
In 1834-5, Joseph Gibson erected the first buildings in the hollow, where the dwellings of Frederick Law- rence and the late Mrs. B. F. Durant now stand. These consisted of a wagon shop and a smith's shop, and were occupied by Ephraim Fosket-wagon maker-Comfort Roberts-painter-and Winthrop Robbins-blacksmith. These unsightly shops gave place to the present dwel- lings erected by John R. Chatfield, more than thirty years ago. About 1829-30 Alvenus Cone built the building, now the front part of Egbert Hollister's store, intending it for a dwelling-house and store, which purpose it served for several years, but was later used as a tavern.
The improvements made by George R. Ives-1838 -40, were however the beginning of the most noticeable changes which have taken place in the central part of the village. Mr. Ives removed the old tavern, and erected the Berkshire House in 1839, which was opened as a hotel the next year. He demolished the large body of barns and outbuildings connected with the tavern, and laid out Bridge street, River street, and Church street, dividing the lands into building lots.
429
OPENING OF RAILROAD.
These, with the exception of Castle street, were the first side streets opened in the village. Mr. Ives also removed the old Doctor Whiting house from its posi- tion, where the Sumner building stands, to its present location on Bridge street, and expended a large sum in various general improvements.
The building and opening of the Housatonic Railroad -or rather of the Berkshire Railroad, from the Con- necticut line to West Stockbridge-has effected a great. change in the business and appearance of the village, has added much to its growth and prosperity, and marks the beginning of the progressive era in the history of the town. The railroad track was completed to this place late in September 1842, and the first train of passenger cars ran up to this station on the morning of the 28th of that month, bringing a few passengers from Canaan and Sheffield to attend the first exhibition of the Housatonic Agricultural Society, held Septem- ber 28th, and 29th. The arrival of that first train is an event to be remembered ; it had been expected in the afternoon of the preceding day, and hundreds of people had gathered in the street to witness it, but were dis- appointed. Many of these, late in the day, were sent flying up Castle street by the shrill whistle of a mis- chievous boy, blown on his fingers. But the train came -as we have said-the next morning when the villagers were at breakfast, and many ran to the Castle street crossing to see the sight. Amongst these was Major Samuel Rosseter, who, as the engine slowly approached the crossing, proposed three cheers of welcome, and essaying to take his hat from his head, found himself hatless ; in the excitement of the moment, the hat had been left at home, but the cheers, nevertheless, were forthcoming.
From that time a regular passenger train was run between this place and Bridgeport. The first ship- ment of freight from the Great Barrington station, was made September 30th 1842, and consisted of two cases of satinets, consigned by the Berkshire Woolen Com- pany, "by first sloop" from Bridgeport to New York- weight eight hundred pounds-freight to Bridgeport $1. The road was completed to West Stockbridge the
430
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
next year, and the first shipment of freight in that direction, was made July 19th 1843.
With the completion of the railroad, new buildings were erected and new business enterprises sprang up, giving to the village more of notoriety and importance than it had previously possessed. The route to New York, until this time by way of Hudson and the river, was materially shortened, and Great Barrington be- came the outlet of produce, from a large section, which had previously gone to Hudson, while the freight for eastern towns naturally centered here. By reason of this, the village soon became the center of trade from many neighboring towns. The narrow thoroughfare which we call Railroad street-formerly a wet meadow -was laid out by Silas Sprague in 1842, and a few build- ings were soon erected there. The principal of these was the store of Granger & Hyde-later Granger & Hill-which stood at the west end of the street-built in the spring of 1843, to which extensive additions were afterwards made. David Hudson, in 1844, built a store where the brick building of J. F. & F. T. San- ford now stands; and Silas Sprague put up a few small buildings on Railroad street, a building for a store where the City Store stands, the "Mechanics Hall" where the Sumner building stands, and later, the "Ma- haiwe House" at the corner of Castle street. These were for the most part cheap structures, and, with the exception of the last named, have disappeared or been removed.
In the autumn of 1854, October 7th, a fire broke out in the very large pile of wood which the railroad company then had on the west side of their track, oppo- site the depot. This fire destroyed several hundred cords of wood and the sheds of the railroad company, the store of Granger, Hill & Company, and of J. F. & F. T. Sanford, and several other small buildings on Rail- road street. This was the most severe fire which the village has yet experienced. By an earlier fire-in 1850-the large Berkshire House barn, which stood east of Hollister's store, was destroyed, as well as the wood extensions of the stone store, and the Pynchon- McLean store. Sparks from this fire ignited the roof
431
NEW STREETS.
of the old Center school-house-of 1794-which was burned to the ground.
In 1847, Major Samuel Rosseter opened the street which bears his name, Rosseter street, and in 1854. Charles W. Hopkins, Esq., laid out Hopkins street. South street was established in 1854, by George G. Pierce, over the north end of Ralph Taylor's door yard to the farm land formerly Joseph Gibson's, and in that year the first dwelling was erected on that street. Elm street, Dresser street, and the side streets in the south part of the village are of more recent origin, as also are the improvements made on the east side of the river by Mark Humphrey.
In the spring of 1854 Doctor C. T. Collins opened the Collins House-then just completed-as a hotel and summer resort; and in the same year the old Registry Office-now the Post Office-was erected. A spirit of improvement is manifest in the dwellings, both in the village and suburbs, erected within the past thirty years. In that period too, in the central part of the village, the Episcopal and Congregational Churches, The Courier building, the Miller House, the City Store, the F. T. Whiting store, the store of J. A. Brewer, the Sumner building, the Savings Bank building, the Town Hall, and the High School building, all substantial structures, have been erected.
The Magnetic Telegraph.
The first telegraph line, having a station in Great Barrington, was constructed in 1848, by Ezra Cornell, the founder of the Cornell University, a contractor under Francis O. J. Smith of Portland, Maine, who controlled the Morse patent for New England. This line-a single wire-extended from Bridgeport, Conn., to Bennington, Vermont, forming part of the route between New York and Montreal. The next station south of this village was at Salisbury, Conn., from whence the line came by way of South Egremont, and the next station north was at Lee, to which place it went by way of Van Deusenville, Monument Mountain ; and Stockbridge. The station in this village was in the north room of the Mahaiwe Building; and Theodore
432
HISTORY OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
Dewey, who then had a book store there, was the operator. This was in the infancy of telegraphy, and only four years had elapsed since the completion of the first successful line-that between Baltimore and Wash- ington. But the people, unaccustomed to this mode of communication, did not, to much extent, patronize it. The result was a loss to such of the villagers as had invested money in the enterprise ; and in the course of " a year or so the wire was taken down. Soon after this, however, the abandoned line of poles-between Great Barrington and North Adams-came into possession of a company owning a line from Boston to Troy, who re- placed the wire on this part of the route, and re -- established the station here, of which Mr. Dewey had : charge as before. But this enterprise soon failed, as the ; other had done, for want of support, and for about seven years no further attempts at telegraphy were made.
In the autumn of 1857, the American Telegraph Company, owning a line from Boston to Albany, built a branch line, over the Housatonic Railroad, from Pitts- - field to Great Barrington, and opened an office at the depot in this village, under the charge of Frank L. Pope, then a lad of seventeen years. This Company used the Hughes letter printing instrument. In 1862. this line was extended along the railway to Bridge -.. port, Mr. F. L. Pope-who had then become Assist- tant Engineer of the American Company in New York - -having charge of the work. At about the same time, Morse's instrument was substituted for Hughes', for . working the line. This line still continues in opera- tion, having been purchased by the Western Union Telegraph Company in 1866.
It was in the office in this village that the three- brothers, Frank L. Pope, Ralph W. Pope, and Henry W. Pope acquired the rudiments of telegraphic science ... in which each has since become expert and distin- guished. The American Rapid Telegraph Company has recently built its line through the village and estab- lished a station here.
Newspapers-The Berkshire Courier.
This journal was founded by the late John D. Cush- ing-then from Lenox-who issued the first number ...
433
NEWSPAPERS.
on the 16th of October, 1834, from an old building which stood, blocked up on timbers, in the rear of the Stone Store of J. C. & A. C. Russell, then in process of erection. The printing office of Mr. Cushing was. afterwards removed to an upper room in the rear of the. old Leavenworth store, on the Castle street corner, where The Courier was printed until April 10, 1839, when the building was burned down, and the publica- tion of the paper was consequently, for a few weeks,, interrupted. Mr. Cushing, having repaired the dam- age to press and types, renewed the issue of his paper on the 19th of May, and continued it without inter- mission to the autumn of 1854, when the office-at that time on Railroad street-was destroyed in the conflagration of that locality. By this disaster the publication of the paper was for only one week sus- pended. The office was re-opened in the Mechanics" Hall, on the site of the Sumner Building, where The; Courier was for several years afterwards published.
In the spring of 1846, the title of the paper was: changed to "The Berkshire Courier and Great Bar- rington Gazette," and Clark W. Bryan of Hudson, N. Y., became associated with Mr. Cushing in its publi- cation under the firm of Cushing & Bryan ; but Mr. Bryan's connection with the paper-at that time-was. only for the space of six months.
Another paper had previously-in 1845-been es- tablished here ; The Independent Press, published by Kipp & Murray ; and a third, The Housatonic Mirror, was instituted by Theodore Dewey the next year. The Courier and The Mirror were Whig papers, and The: Press Democratic in politics. A semi-partnership ex- isted between The Press and The Mirror, and the curious anomaly was presented of a Whig and a Dem .. ocratic sheet printed on the same press, with the same type, and, aside from the political editorials, contain- ing the same matter; for such was the case with these papers. But these new enterprises were not of long duration. When Mr. Bryan left The Courier, Theo- dore Dewey joined Mr. Cushing in its publication, and the paper, for the time, assumed the name of The Berkshire Courier and The Housatonic Mirror. The
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