USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. II > Part 10
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102
63
LOWELL.
.
the Merrimack Company, a quit-claim given, and also water from the Hamilton Canal, at the rate of four dollars per spindle. After Hurd's mill, on the Concord River, was burned, the mill at the foot of Pawtucket Falls was taken down and re- built on the site of the one burned. The canal, through which Mr. Hurd's mill drew its supply of water from the Hamilton Canal, crossed Central Street at the foot of Jackson Street, to the rear and south of Hurd Street into the Warren Street Canal. The recent building improvements on Cen- tral Street unearthed the remains of this conduit. Two persons, Callender and Whipple, committed suicide by drowning in this conduit.
From 1821 to 1826 the records of the Merrimack Company constitute the history of the period, and the writer is under obligation to the treasurer, C. H. Dalton, Esq., of Boston, for permission to consult them. As early as November 22, 1824, the sub- ject of a new township occupied the minds of the directors, and a committee was appointed to con- sider the expediency of petitioning the legislature to have a certain part of Chelmsford set off as a separate township.
The Merrimack Print-Works were started in the autumn of 1824, under the charge of Mr. Allan Pollock. He resigned in 1826, and Mr. Boott went to England to secure engravers. Mr. True Wiggin had secured the services of J. D. Prince, who continued in the position of superintendent until 1855, and then retired on an annuity of $2,000. He died suddenly January 5, 1860. Mr. Prince enjoyed the reputation of a generous- hearted English gentleman, and a faithful servant to the company. The second mill on the Merri- mack was started in 1824. The machinery for it was built at Waltham.
February 28, 1825, the Proprietors of the Mer- rimack Manufacturing Company voted to transfer the water-power, lands, etc., to a new company, to be called The Locks and Canals Company. " In 1826, finding it inconvenient to carry on under one management a large manufacturing establish- ment and a land and water power enterprise, the property was divided. The Proprietors of Locks and Canals, under the authority of an act of the legislature, taking the land, water-power, and ma- chine-shop, and the Merrimack Company retaining their mills and print-works, with land and water- power sufficient for their purposes.
" Under the new arrangement, with Kirk Boott for its treasurer and agent, the Proprietors of Locks
and Canals sold mill sites and water-power to the manufacturing companies, as they were chartered, from time to time; also, in most cases, building the mills and machinery for them ; they also sold building-lots as the growth of the place demanded. Kirk Boott died in 1837 ; he was succeeded, as treasurer, for a short time, by Joseph Tilden. From 1838 to 1845 Patrick T. Jackson (son of the Hon. Jonathan Jackson of Newburyport, the first president of the original Locks and Canals Company) held the office of treasurer. In 1845 the Proprietors of Locks and Canals, having dis- posed of all the permanent water-power, nearly all the available building-lots, and the machine-shop, their only remaining property of much importance was their interest in the water-power. To control this, the manufacturing companies bought up all the shares of their stock."
January 26, 1825, the Hamilton Manufactur- ing Company was incorporated with a capital of $600,000. The associates named in the act were Samuel Batchelder, Benjamin Gorham, William Appleton, William Sturgis, and John Lowell, Jr. From time to time the capital has been increased to $1,250,000.
Under Mr. Batchelder1 the power-loom was applied to weaving cotton drilling and other twilled goods. "It was an entirely new article npon the market ; nothing of the kind had previously been imported or manufactured in this country. . . .. It sold readily at nineteen and one quarter cents per yard, and the treasurer of the company made a contract for all that could be made for six months at sixteen cents." This business was so profitable that the directors were considering the practica- bility of changing the machinery of the Appleton Mills, but concluded, on account of the expense, to build new mills. The result was the Suffolk Company in 1831.
In 1804 a man by the name of Robbins, one of Mr. Slater's workmen, built a mill on the Souhegan River, in New Ipswich. In 1807 an- other mill was built on the same stream by Seth Nason, Jesse Holton, and Samuel Batchelder; it went into operation in 1808. These were the first cotton-mills built in the state of New Hampshire. From what was known of Ezra Worthen's consti- tution and health, it was thought that his death would be sudden. Mr. Batchelder had been
1 Samuel Batehelder came to East Chelmsford in 1825. He was born in Jaffrey, N. H., in 1784, and died at Cambridge Feb- ruary 5, 1879, aged ninety-five years.
64
HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
spoken to by Nathan Appleton, in case of Mr. Wor- then's decease, to take his place. Mr. Batchelder came to Chelmsford as soon as it was proposed to form the Hamilton Company, and superintended the ereetion of all the buildings for that company.
The memorable events of 1825 were the or- ganization of an independent military company, ealled the Mechanic Phalanx, the incorporation of the Central Bridge Company and of the Middlesex Mechanic Association. The third mill on the Mer- rimack Corporation was started with a complete set of machinery made in the machine-shop under the superintendence of Mr. Moody. May 18, the first dividend of profits of ten per cent, or one hundred dollars per share, was declared by the Merrimack Company ; and December 1, another dividend of seventy-five dollars on each share was made. December 30, the terms of separation were agreed upon by the townsmen of Chelmsford. The name of " Merrimack " was to be given to the new town. The editor of the Journal suggested that of La Grange. Mr. Appleton states when, where, and how the name originated : "In 1826 I met Mr. Boott [in Lowell] one day, when he said to me that the committee of the legislature were ready to report the bill. It only remained to fill the blank with the name. He said he considered the question narrowed down to two, Lowell or Derby. I said to him, ' then Lowell by all means'; and Lowell it was."
The directors of the Merrimack Company appro- priated the sum of $500 to purchase books toward the formation of a library ; and Kirk Boott, War- ren Colburn, and Rev. Theodore Edson were ap- pointed a committee to lay out that sum for the purpose.
MUNICIPAL HISTORY.
WE have already described the boundaries of the new town; now we turn to the terms of separation said to have been agreed upon by the townsmen of Chelmsford. We can very readily imagine the anxious participation of such men as Kirk Boott and Nathan Appleton in the deliberation of these important questions.
The Merrimack Company had nearly completed five factories, three of which were filled with ma- chinery in full operation, and two large buildings for print-works. They were using 450,000 pounds of cotton, and making 2,000,000 yards of eotton eloth per annum. The cloth was bleached, and three fourths of it dyed and printed. The Hamil-
ton Company had erected one faetory and laid the foundations for the second. They had erected two blocks of houses, with eight tenements in each ; and were preparing to ercet two more, one hundred and ninety-three feet in length and thirty-six feet in width. They had built a counting-house, store- house, and a dwelling for the agent. These were all of brick roofed with slate. By a regulation of the proprietors, all buildings more than ten feet high, hereafter to be erected upon any of the lands then belonging to them, must be of stone or brick, with a slated roof.
Five families moved off the ground occupied by the Merrimack Company ; 1,500 persons were now accommodated on the same ground. There were now, in all, one hundred tenements erected for those employed in the factories, print-works, and machine-shop. In the tenements of the Merri- mack Company there were 967 persons ; 299 males and 668 females : in those of the machine-shop were 263; 162 males and 101 females. It was estimated that the population at that time was 2,500. In addition to this, Belvidere, separated from Lowell by the Concord River, contained a population of 300 or 400. There were already a dozen stores in the place, a church, a stone house almost ready for the rector, a sehool-house, and two hotels, - the Stone House and Frye's Tavern.
March 2, 1826, Joseph Locke, justice of the peace, issued a warrant directed to Kirk Boott, authorizing him to call a meeting of the freeholders and other inhabitants, to choose town officers, to vote for register of deeds, and agree upon the man- ner of calling future town-meetings. Mr. Boott's return is dated Mareh 6, the day of the meeting, which was held at Balch and Coburn's tavern, the " Stone House." Kirk Boott was chosen moder- ator, Samuel A. Coburn town-clerk, and Nathaniel Wright, Samuel Batchelder, and Oliver M. Whip- ple selectmen. Artemas Holden was chosen treas- urer, and Luther Marshall constable.
Up to this time (1826) the affairs of this com- munity had been managed by the resident agents of the companies. No doubt, in their view, it was their prescriptive right. The companies had done much for the welfare of the people gathered here : building and maintaining a church and school- houses, purchasing books for a library, and doing everything necessary for the religious, moral, and physical well-being of the people. Incorporation as a township brought another element to the sur- I face ; the people found that they were, themselves,
65
LOWELL.
called upon to participate in the management of affairs. It is not strange, therefore, that there should be occasionally a wide divergence of opinion, resulting, not in a feeling of hostility to the pecun- iary interests of the companies, but in a desire to carry out and perfect what the companies had so generously begun. On the part of the agents, the desire of directing and controlling all matters in- volving the expenditure of money may have been prompted by prudential motives, as the companies were the heaviest and almost the only possessors of taxable property. By them, therefore, all pub- lic burdens would have to be borne. It is neces- sary to keep this fact in view.
At the first town-meeting, March 6, 1826, Oliver M. Whipple, Warren Colburn, Henry Coburn, Jr., Nathaniel Wright, and John Fisher were appointed a committee to divide the town into school and highway districts. The committee reported at the next meeting, April 3, proposing its division into five school districts. The school-houses were lo- cated as follows : District No. 1, where the new Green School-house now stands; No. 2, at the Falls, near the hospital ; No. 3, near the pound ; No. 4, near Hale's mills, called the Red School- house ; and. No. 5, on Central Street, south of Hurd Street. At this meeting (April 3) Theo- dore Edson, Warren Colburn, Samuel Batchelder, John O. Green, and Elisha Huntington were elected school committee ; and the town appropriated $1,000 for the support of the schools. Dr. Ed- son says : "One of the districts, No. 3, was very small, not comprising more than about sixteen pupils. In 1825, the year previous to the incor- poration of Lowell, the town of Chelmsford ap- propriated for schools in this whole region, which was reckoned one district, the sum of $113.50." At the town-meeting, May 8, a proposition was made and carried, that the school-money be dis- tributed in proportion to the taxes paid from each district, provided that where the sum for any dis- trict amounted to less than $112, it be made up to that sum.
The establishment of schools on a more liberal foundation, and their regulation, became a matter of heated controversy between the new town authorities and the representatives of the mill cor- porations, who opposed large expenditures for new school-houses and for their maintenance, the bur- den of which would fall chiefly upon their corpora- tions, and from which they would derive little direct benefit. A long struggle terminated in a vote of
the town to build two new school-houses, at a cost of $20,000.
Early in 1826 a stage line was established be- tween Middlesex Village and Boston, to run three times a week. April 10, a stage ran from Lowell to Boston daily. June 30, Hurd's mill (woollen factory) and machine-shop were destroyed by fire. December 15, Central Bridge, across the Merrimack River, was finished so as to be passable. Its length, 500 feet ; span of centre arch, 180 feet ; two outer arches, 160 feet each. Luke S. Rand was architect and builder.
February 9, 1827, the postmaster-general estab- lished a daily mail between Lowell and Boston, and one every other day from Salem, Newburyport, Worcester, and Concord, N. H.
March 1, the first savings-bank originated with the Merrimack Company. All persons in the em- ployment of the company could, if they chose, al- low their wages to remain ; and on the amount so remaining they were allowed interest at six per cent per annum, payable semi-annually. The company's pay-day was the Saturday before the 16th of each month; all sums left were to go on interest the 16th. Books received at the counting-room were vouchers. The deposits were not to exceed $100 at any one time, and the whole received on any one name not over $1,000. Payments were made at all times. The interest on money deposited ceased when the depositor left the employment of the com - pany, and did not draw the principal. The rules allowed the company to demand one week's notice. This plan was suspended July 7, 1829. According to Samuel Batchelder, the Hamilton Company tried this experiment : " After one of the Hamilton Mills was in operation, I found that those in our employ suffered such frequent loss of their money by having in their boarding-houses no safe place to keep it, that I allowed them to deposit it with the company on interest, and opened books for the purpose, on the plan of a savings-bank. After a time, Mr. Nathan Appleton suggested that it might be doubt- ful whether our charter would authorize this; I accordingly prepared a petition to the legislature for the incorporation of a savings-bank. On re- ceiving the charter, I notified a meeting, at my office, of the petitioners and any others that felt an inter- est in the subject, to take measures for the accept- ance of the act of incorporation. According to my recollection, there were only five persons present : Mr. Colburn, Mr. Carney, Mr. Nichols, Mr. Beard, and myself. It was suggested that if so little
66
HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
interest was felt in the matter, it was hardly worth while to organize; but Mr. Carney was willing to act as treasurer, and we concluded to appoint our- selves trustees, and make the experiment. A few months after this the town of Lowell decided to build a town-house, and wanted to borrow the money for the purpose, which we decided to lend them. The sum, I think, was $17,000."
This was the origin of the Lowell Institution for Savings, which was incorporated in October, 1829. James G. Carney was treasurer until his death in 1869. Dr. Green, president of the Old Residents' Historical Association, in alluding to this event, says : "The record of forty years at the head of our oldest savings institution will not show a sin- gle dollar lost of the millions which have passed through Mr. Carney's hands, and not a figure re- quiring to be changed in nineteen ledgers of nearly one thousand pages each ! "
July 23, the first Universalist society was formed. A committee was chosen to manage the concerns of the society, consisting of Captain John Bassett, Benjamin Melvin, James Derby, David Cook, and Winthrop Howe. Thomas J. Green- wood was secretary. The second meeting was held in the Merrimack Company's school-house.
February 4, 1828, the Appleton Company was incorporated, with a capital of $600,000. Thomas H. Perkins, Ebenezer Francis, and Samuel Apple- ton were named in the act.
February 8, the Lowell Manufacturing Com- pany was incorporated, with a capital of $300,000, since increased to $2,000,000. Frederick Cabot, William Whitney, and Richard C. Cabot were named in the act. The history of the carpet manufacture is of great interest, but our space does not permit an extended review of its progress in this country.
Messrs. Henry Burdett and Alexander Wright established a small carpet manufactory at Medway. Mr. Wright afterwards sold his interest to Mr. Burdett, who in turn sold the whole property to Frederick Cabot and Patrick T. Jackson. Messrs. Cabot. and Jackson, after the organization of the Lowell Manufacturing Company, sold the mill and machinery at Medway to the new company. While the buildings were being erected in Lowell, the works in Medway were kept in operation, under the superintendence of Mr. Wright. Our towns- man, Peter Lawson, had charge of the designing department at Medway, and continued that relation to the company for many years after he came to Lowell. The company have looms, invented by E.
B. Bigelow, for weaving Brussels carpeting. They manufacture also heavy shoe-lastings and worsted goods, a new branch of industry in Lowell. The original capital of $300,000 has been increased to $2,000,000.
Dr. Elisha Bartlett delivered the 4th of July oration. October 6, the Lowell Bank was incor- porated, with a capital of $200,000.
January 7, 1829, the Merrimack Company's mill was destroyed by fire. At this time the machine- shop was busy on the Hamilton Company's ma- chinery ; but the agent of the Merrimack Company was authorized to make an agreement with the Hamilton to give way to the necessity of the Mer- rimack.
At the town-meeting, March 2, $1,000 was appropriated to purchase a fire-engine and hose. April 6, the town voted to build a town-house, and May 4, Messrs. Boott, Moody, Jonathan Tyler, Elisha Glidden, and Elisha Ford were appointed a building committee. May 21, the town voted to borrow $18,000 for this purpose, and to petition for the incorporation of a fire department.
May 4, the town acted on the petition of John Lowell, Jr., and others to be annexed to Lowell. John Lowell, Jr., a son of Francis C. Lowell, came here with the intention of making Lowell his home. He had planned a magnificent structure to be lo- cated in Belvidere, just below the residence built by Samuel Lawrence, now owned by General B. F. Butler, where he no doubt intended to spend the remainder of his days. The keep, or house, at the entrance of his grounds is still standing, and was once owned or occupied by the late A. L. Brooks. It was thus early that he petitioned for the annexa- tion of Belvidere. The vote stood ninety in favor of and fifty against the petition.
February 25, Mr. Lowell of Boston introduced an order in the legislature to consider the expe- diency of constructing a railroad from Boston to Lowell. In consequence of this order, Mr. Hey- ward was appointed, under a resolution of the Massachusetts Legislature, to survey a railroad route to Lowell. He made the eastern route twenty-three miles, twenty-two chains, and the western route twenty-two miles, seventy-eight chains in length. The distance by stage-road was twenty-four miles, nineteen chains, and in a straight line twenty-two miles, five chains.
William Wyman was appointed postmaster. Soon after his appointment he moved the office | from Central Street to the City-Hall Building.
67
LOWELL.
Dr. Israel Hildreth delivered the oration on the 4th of July.
Odd Fellowship commenced its beneficent work in Lowell this year. Merrimack Lodge was the first instituted. Its charter is dated November 19, 1829. This was surrendered in 1836, but in 1842 the lodge was reinstated, and at present has a membership of over three hundred. Mechanic's Lodge was instituted October 24, 1842, and now has four hundred and fifty members. Oberlin Lodge was instituted November 2, 1843, and now has about five hundred members. Veritas Lodge was chartered October 21, 1844, and continued until April 9, 1851, when its charter was surren- dered. It was re-instituted August 18, 1871, and now has two hundred and fifty members. Lowell Lodge was chartered September 30, 1845, and was prosperous for a time, but, like the others, had its dark day and surrendered its charter. It was re- instated February 20, 1874, and now has one hun- dred and fifty members. Evening Star Lodge (Re- bekah) was chartered November 25, 1876. It consists of the wives of the members of the other lodges. There are three Encampments: Monomake was chartered June 1, 1843; Wannalancet, August 4, 1869; Lowell, August 5, 1846, after a time sur- rendered its charter, but was re-instated November 17,1873.
In 1871 Merrimack, Mechanic's, and Oberlin Lodges, with Monomake and Wannalancet En- campments, united in the purchase of the building on Merrimack Street, known as the Carleton Block, and rearranged the upper portion into suitable halls and anterooms for their own use.
The vote passed, May 4, 1829, to annex a por- tion of Tewksbury to Lowell, evidently took the companies by surprise. The legislature appointed a committee on the petition, backed by the vote of Lowell ; and early in. May, 1830, the town ap- pointed a committee to meet the legislative com- mittee and oppose the annexation. At the town- meeting, May 24, 1830, one article in the warrant was, "to see if the town would rescind the vote passed in 1829." The argument in favor of re- scinding was thus stated : "It was believed that the annexation of Belvidere would lower the value of real estate generally ; but particularly that the privileges on the new canal would be less salable. This, it was thought, would affect the prosperity of the Corporations ; it being well understood that whatever affects their prosperity affects also the prosperity of the whole town." The voters, there-
fore, consulting what they considered their own private interests, voted to rescind, yeas 240, nays 64; and instructed their representatives to " do all they could " to oppose the annexation.
June 5, the Middlesex Company was incorporated, with a capital of $500,000, which was increased $250,000 February 19, 1839; and again $450,000, February 17, 1848. Samuel Lawrence and W. W. Stone were named in the act. This company was for the manufacture of woollens, broadcloths, cas- simeres, etc. During the agency of James Cook, from 1830 to 1845, the profits were large, reaching seventeen per cent. Whether it was owing to the disastrous operations of the tariff, or to mismanage- ment on the part of the treasurer and selling agents, in 1857 and 1858 the stock went down to forty per cent of its par value. It was found in 1858 that the capital was sunk. A new company was formed, with a capital of only $50,000 (500 shares at $100 each), increased to $750,000. The selling agents were formerly compensated by a percentage on the whole amount of sales; now the percentage is based on profits. The new arrangement works well.
The Boston and Lowell Railroad was incorpo- rated June 5, 1830, and the persons named in the act were John F. Loring, Lemuel Pope, Isaac P. Davis, Kirk Boott, Patrick T. Jackson, George W. Lyman, and Daniel P. Parker. The stock was divided into one thousand shares, of $600 each. The act provided that no other railroad should, within thirty years, be anthorized leading to any place within five miles of the northern termination of the road. The track was laid so as to strike the most formidable obstacle on the whole route, a ledge some four or five hundred feet long, which would require an excavation of forty feet in depth. After operations had commenced, and the rock had been excavated twenty or thirty feet in depth, two persons (James Currier and Mary Smith), while on their way to Chelmsford, drove their horse and chaise into this ugly hole. The chaise was com- pletely shattered, and the occupants were found, Mr. Currier on South Street, nearly a quarter of a mile away, and Miss Smith in the woods, but a short distance from the scene of the accident, ap- parently unhurt. Mr. Currier received injuries which caused his death. This occurred Decem- ber 11, 1832 ..
In building this road stone sleepers were used, probably to insure durability. It was found to be poor economy, as the unyielding nature of the ma- terial caused great wear and tear to the rolling-
68
HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
stock of the road, and the frost in winter broke the sleepers into fragments. The stones have all been replaced with wood. " A bonus of $100,000 was voted by the Locks and Canals Company, paya- ble on its completion." The cost of the completed road was $1,834,893, or $ 70,573 per mile.
The Hon. Edward Everett was the orator for July 4 this year.
November 15, one of the walls of a brick build- ing being built by the Hamilton Company for their print-works, fell, and William W. George was killed.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.