History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 26

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1226

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II > Part 26

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The United States Cartridge Company was started by Gen. B. F. Butler in 1869, and is a private enterprise. This company and the United States Bunting Com- pany have the same president, but are entirely inde- pendent of each other. The officers of the Cartridge Company are : B. F. Butler, president ; Paul Butler, treasurer ; C. A. R. Dimon, superintendent, and James B. Russell, paymaster. The manufactures are metallic cartridges, paper shells for shot-guns, and primers. The company produces 12,000,000 cartridges, 2,000,000 paper shells and 2,000,000 primers per month.

E. N. Wood & Co. grind corn, rye and oats, from 200 to 300 bushels per day. Salesroom on Market St. They employ twelve men. Their mill on Chambers St. is run by water, and is of twenty-five horse-power.

This business was started about fifty years ago by Samuel Wood, the grandfather of E. N. Wood. Samuel Wood, soon after beginning business, took Joseph Tapley as partner, and in about fifteen years his son, S. N. Wood, took control of the business. S. N. Wood, in 1868, took as partner his son, E. N. Wood, and retired from the business in 1882. About 1884 George C. Evans became partner, and the style of the firm is now Wood & Evans.

William E. Livingston, Thorndike St., is proprietor of a mill having seventy horse-power and four runs of stones for grinding corn, rye, plaster and cop cracker. He grinds about 350 bushels of corn and rye per day. This mill was erected by William Livingston, the father of the present proprietor, and started in 1845.

Warren Clifford, silk, cotton and woolen dyer, Andover Street. Clifford Weare, the father of War- ren Clifford, came to Lowell in 1834. He started an establishment for dyeing on Lawrence Street. In 1839 he started the well-known dycing establishmeut on Andover Street, now carried on by his son. The father died in 1872. Tlic business is chiefly job- dyeing. Five hands are employed, and over 3000 parcels are handled annually.

F. F. Rowe & Co. dyc and finish hosiery and under- wear, making a specialty of " clean black " on ho- siery, employing eight hands. Mr. Rowe's partner is Fred. L. Green. The company started business on Hale Street in 1889, Mr. Rowe having before carried on the business on Broadway.

The Spindle City Dye- Works, on Broadway, dye and bleach hosiery-yarn and cloth, and employ ten hands. The works started in 1889.

Bay State Dye-House, Prescott Street. E. W. Gould started this establishment in 1884, and in 1886 sold out to C. A. Reynolds, the present proprietor. All kinds of job-dyeing are done to order. About 7000 parcels were handled during the past year.

Jonathan Holt & Co. began the manufacture of hard glue in 1879. The firm, of which F. J. Sherwood is the junior member, is located on Tanner Street. Six men are employed, and the annual product is about sixty tons of glue.

S. Bartlett, Middlesex Street, manufactures soda and mineral water, tonic beer, ginger ale, nerve food, etc., employing fourteen hands. During the past year he has made and put up about 15,000 dozens of quart bottles and 12,000 dozens of half-pints, also charged 2069 soda fountains. He started the busi- ness in 1859, with George and John Cushing as part- ners, but is now the sole proprietor. Mr. Bartlett is the successor of George Cushing, who succeeded Hancock & Melvin, manufacturers of the well-known " Melvin Beer."

Albert S. Fox, Central Street, makes ice cream and confectionery, employing four men and three women, This business was started by C. A. Thorning, in 1877, on Central Street, who sold it to Fox in 1887. Mr. Fox removed to his present location in 1888.

C. A. Thorning, Highland Hall, Branch Street, caterer and manufacturer of confectionery and ice cream. He started business at his present location in 1888, having previously been located on Central St.

Novelty Plaster Works, established by George E. Mitchell, proprietor, in 1864, manufacture medicinal, porous, rubber, isinglass, blister, mustard, corn, bun- ion and surgeon's adhesive plasters of all kinds, and employ thirty hands. The building of this company, on Elm Street, was erected in 1866. John H. Mc- Alvin is the business manager.

Page & Nunn, Merrimack Street, manufacture cake, ice cream and confectionery. This business was started by Dudley L. Page, on Middle Street, in 1867. He moved to the Museum Building, on Merrimack Street, about 1869. After a sojourn in Boston, he re- turned to Lowell and started the business anew in 1880, on Merrimack Street, taking (one year later) F. T. Nunn as partner, This firm has gained a high reputation as caterers. They employ fifteen men aud nine women.

E. Hapgood & Son, manufacturers of all kinds of mattresscs. Office ou High Strect. Mills on Law- rence Street. This business was started by the firm

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on Rock Street, in 1870, and removed to its present location in 1871. Ephraim Hapgood, the father, having died, Edgar Hapgood, his son and partner, continnes the business. The firm has a mill at North Troy, Vt., for the manufacture of excelsior. Num- ber of hands employed thirty-five to forty.

The Spring-Bed and Shade- Roller Company, Worthen Street, was incorporated in 1881. The principal manufacture is Shorey's Improved Spring-Bed. Presi- dent, James Duckworth ; treasurer and clerk, Charles Kimball.

John Cross, Dutton Street, manufactures awnings, tent. horse and wagon-covers, etc., and employs six hands. He started the business in 1886, as successor of M. Meany.

John McAskie, Middle Street, manufactures tents and awnings. He started business in the building which he still occupies in 1883. He also attends to making horse-covers, and splicing and fitting falls.

Henry Edwards, Middle Street, manufactures ma- chine-brushes, employing four men. Mr. Edwards started this business in the town of Andover about 1877, where he remained five years. On coming to Lowell he started the business in Market Street, and, in 1886, removed to his present location.

The Lamson Consolidated Store Service Company manufactures the Lamson Cash and Parcel Carriers, employing 230 men. The manufactory is on Walker Street. The company was organized in 1881 and chartered in 1888, with a capital of $4,000,000. Pres- ident, Frank M. Ames ; treasurer and general man- ager, W. S. Lamson. This is the first company to es- tablish successfully the business of cash and parcel carrying systems in stores. It was organized in 1881 by W. S. Lamson, a merchant of Lowell. This com- pany owns more than 200 patents and has a very large patronage throughout the entire country.

Lovejoy Store Service Company was chartered in 1889, with a capital of $56,000. Joseph S. Ludlam, presi- dent; Walter W. Johnson, treasurer ; and a board of directors. Works at Mechanics' Mills.

Patrick Kelley, Davidson Street, manufactures soda, ginger ale, root beer, lemon cream and mineral water. He employs nine men, and bottled about 20,000 dozens the last season. He started in business in 1882.

James Calnin, River Street, manufactures tonic, ginger, root, raspberry, lemon cream, and nectar cream, Belfast ginger ale, lager beer and cream mead, employing six men and bottling 6000 dozens yearly. He started the business on Market Street in 1882, succeeding Thomas Torney. In 1884 he removed to his present location.

C. E. Carter, corner of Branch and Smith Streets, mannfactures Allen's Root Beer Extract, Carter's Blood Syrup, Carter's Tooth-Ache Drops, and Electric Nerve Pencils. Mr. Carter started this manufacture at Davis' Corner in 1876, removed to Central Street in 1878, and to his present location in 1879.

E. W. Hoyt & Co. manufacture Hoyt's German

Cologne and Rubifoam, the latter a beautiful liquid substitute for tooth-powder. They put annually upon the market about 2,000,000 bottles. Twenty hands are employed.

ELI W. HOYT was born in Alexandria, N. Y., Sept. 5, 1838, and died in Lowell Feb. 9, 1887, at the age of forty-eight years. He belonged to the pure New England stock. John Hoyt, his most re- mote American ancestor, was one of the original settlers of Salisbury, Mass., and was a prominent man, having held the offices of "moderator " and " selectman " of the town.

The direct genealogical line, beginning with John Hoyt, is as follows : (1) John Hoyt, of Salisbury, who came to the town about 1639 and died in 1687-88. (2) Thomas Hoyt, of Amesbury, who was born in 1640. (3) Lieut. Thomas Hoyt, of Amesbury, who was a farmer and representative to the Gen- eral Court, and died in 1740. (4) Timothy Hoyt, of West Amesbury, who was born in 1700. (5) Timo- thy Hoyt, of West Amesbury, who was born in 1728. (6) Ephraim Hoyt, who, in 1841, died in Alexan- dria, N. Y., at the age of eighty-three years. (7) Daniel S. Hoyt, now of Lowell, who was born in 1808, and is the father of the subject of this sketch.

Mr. Hoyt, when eight years of age, came to Low- ell with his parents, and was educated in the pub- lic schools of the city. At the age of about four- teen years he became a clerk in the drug-store of E. A. Staniels, on the corner of Central and Mid- dlesex Streets, and at length was received as part- ner in the business. Upon the death of Mr. Stan- iels, in 1861, Mr. Hoyt, then twenty-three years of age, became sole proprietor. About 1866 he began, in a small way, the manufacture and sale of cologne, declaring that the first thousand dollars he should earn he would devote to that enterprise. This pur- pose he fulfilled. In 1870 Freeman B. Shedd, who, for several years had served as clerk in the store, was received as partner, and the firm began the ex- tensive manufacture and sale of "Hoyt's German Cologne." The article was in itself so valuable, and the business of the firm was so ably and honorably conducted, that the confidence of the community was rapidly gained and the enterprise proved a re- markable success. The drug business was given up and the firm erected a spacious and commodious building on Church Street for the accommodation of its extensive and increasing business.

Few firms have gained so honorable a name and few enterprises have been crowned with so complete success. Wealth followed; and the two partners, whose mutual relations were always those of the most confiding friendship, from a humble begin- ning, found themselves in a few short years among the wealthiest men of the city.

It has been well said of Mr. Hoyt that his success did not change his demeanor and that his bene- factions kept pace with his prosperity. He remain-

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cd through life that same gentlemanly, modest, unassuming man that he was before fortune smiled upon him. His gentle, winning ways won the licarts of all who met him. Lowell has had many citi- zens who have been as highly honored, but few who have been so much beloved.

Though Mr. Hoyt had decided political principles, it was hard to persuade him to accept a civil office. In 1878 and 1879 he served in the City Council, but, though often importuncd, he steadily refused to enter the Board of Aldermen or to be a candi- date for the mayoralty. He served, however, as chairman of the Republican City Committec, and was a generous supporter of his political principles.

His charities abounded. His church found in him a munificent giver, and the poor shared freely in his bounty. To his aged parents he was a most noble son. His delight was in his home. His ele- gant residence on Andover Street was adorned with paintings and works of art, which his fine taste had selected, and nothing was wanting to make it the happiest of homes.

In the midst of his fortunate career, when he had so much to live for and was daily so great a bless- ing to all around him, there came to him the sad premonition of declining health. For two years he struggled bravely for life, but consumption had claimed him for its own. His long sojourn in Cal- ifornia and Colorado were unavailing. At length, when he saw the approach of the inevitable hour, he desired to be conveyed to his delightful home and the scenes which he so tenderly loved. And herc, surrounded by his dearest friends, and cheer- ed by every kindness which love could suggest, he peacefully resigned his life. His wife and his aged father still survive him.

F. E. Jewett & Co., Dutton Street, manufacture cider vinegar, employing twenty-five men in the busy season, and bottling about 6000 dozens yearly. He succeeded Charles A. Gould about 1887, having at first W. E. Stuart as partner, who is now no longer in the firm.

Lowell Oiler Company, office in Northern Depot, Middlesex Street, William H. Ward, president. This company manufactures the Humphrey journal box and oiler combined. It started in 1885 and succeeded H. P. Humphrey, who originated the Automatic Oiler Company.

Clinton S. Bruce, Salem Street, manufactures med- icinal and surgical plasters, porous, blister, mustard, corn, court, surgeon's adhesive, isinglass and dressing plasters of every description. He started tlie busi- ness on Coolidge Strcet in 1877, and removed to his present location in 1888.

The Lowell Creamery commenced business in 1885. It has seven milk routes and one route devoted to sale of butter and cream. About 700 cans of milk are handled daily. Between 200 and 300 cans of milk are separated each day, and the cream extracted by

tlie De Laval Separator. Nineteen men are employed. The works are located on Hildretli and Hampshire Streets.

Asahel Davis manufactures magneto-electric ma- chines and wood-working machinery on Middlesex Street. He started the business in 1855 on Market Street. He is a veteran in the business. He has taken out eighteen patents for his own inventions.

Samuel Young, Electrician, Savings Bank Building, Shattuck Street, started business in the repair-shop of the Merrimack Mills about 1872, and came to Shat- tuck Street about 1886. He made alarm clocks for mills and electric work generally.

CHAPTER VIII.

LOWELL-( Continued).

SCHOOLS.

ON the 1st day of March, 1824, in the private car- riage of Hou. Kirke Boott, the first agent of the founders of the Merrimack Mills, the earliest of the great manufacturing corporations of our city, there came to Lowell the Rev. Theodore Edson, a young clergyman who had been employed by the directors of the Merrimack Company to " preach and perform pastoral duty to such persons in their cmploy as might desire it." It was he who became the founder and father of the school system of our city. On the twilight of the evening of Saturday, the day of his arrival, the carpenters were still at work on a new building of two stories, just erected on the lot now occupied by the Green School-house, in the upper story of which was a hall constructed by the com- pany for religious worship, the lower story being de- signed for the first school established by the new manufacturing colony. On the next day, Sabbath, March 7, 1824, in the new hall, public divine worship was held in Lowell for the first time iu a place de- signed for such worship. The young clergyman preached to a crowded and attentive audience. Low- ell was but a small village then of about 600 inhabit- ants, and it had not yet received its present name.

Very different was the aspect then of our city from that which now greets the stranger's eye. Swamps and bogs covered large portions of Market, Tyler, Charles, Worthen, Anne, Kirk and several other streets, aud at the lower end of Market Street, and near Kirk and Anne Streets, were ponds of water.

Woods covered a wide area, stretching far in the rear of the Green School-house. The reservoir heights on Lynda Hill, in Belvidere, were also covered with woods. In the rcar of the site of our post-office rose a considerable swell of land, which long ago was leveled down to fill the low marsh which thien spread out where now are Kirk Street, Anne Street and the

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High School lot. A pond filled the site of the High School-house. One of our old citizens, still living, says he distinctly remembers the following remark of the Hon. Luther Lawrence, secoud mayor of our city, in criticism of Dr. Bartlett, the first mayor, under whose administration the High School lot was pur- chased : " What do you think of a man who will lo- cate a High School in a pond of water ?" %

We have already described the aspect of the quiet village which stood on the site of Lowell in the be- ginning of the century ; but now, after twenty-five years have passed, a new order of things begins. The days of invention and enterprise have come, new structures begin to rise, and the whole scene begins to change. Let us glance at the new aspect. Most conspicuous was the new Merrimack Mill with its boarding-houses adjoining it. Next on the swell of lard in the rear of our post-office rose the new aud elegant mansion of Kirk Boott, with lofty columns in front and a fine lawn stretching down to the Con- cord River. At the junction of the Merrimack and Concord Rivers, where now stand the Massachusetts Mills, was a hotel called the "Mansion House," kept by Captain Jonathan Tyler, long a well-known citi- zen. Over the Concord River, on the site of the St. John's Hospital, still rose conspicuously, as at the be- ginning of the century, the spacious mansion of Judge Livermore, already referred to. In the vicinity of St. Patrick's Church, east of the North Common, were ranged the low huts of the first Irish people of the city, some of which, after the fashion of the old country, had walls of mud and were covered with slabs, with a barrel for a chimney. This settlement was formerly known as " The Acre." There was Mixer's tavern on Central Street, from which the stages for Boston started, and Blake's tavern on Gor- ham Street, two rival houses, the adjacent streets being conspicuously placarded to make it sure that the traveler did not put up at the wrong house. The stone house near Pawtucket Falls, afterwards the residence of Dr. J. C. Ayer, was then a hotel and a favorite resort of the wealthy. Close by Pawtucket Falls, in rear of the site of the mansion of Frederic Ayer, Esq., was an old saw-mill, then the sole pos- sessor and occupier of the vast power which these falls supplied. On the bluff near the falls still stood the old red school-house, as at the beginning of the century. Here and there were scattered farm-houses, almost all of which have now disappeared.

Gen. B. F. Butler, who first came to Lowell when ten years old, in 1828, has given us a lively account of the straggling and scattered village, when it first burst upon his view as he approached the place and stood on Christian Hill, where now is the Central- ville Reservoir. The general playfully mentions a large spreading oak which stood near Tower's corner, not far from the Washington House, under which, on the first morning after his arrival, he found for sale and ate the first oysters he had ever seen. But very 8-ii

many and even most of the land-marks of that carly day have been removed or destroyed. Kirk Boott's mansion has long since given place to the encroach- ments of the manufacturing establishments, and is now known as the City Hospital near Pawtucket Falls. The low Irish huts have given place to more substantial residences, and the two-story building on the site of tlie Green School-house, where the first public-school was kept, and where Dr. Edson first preached to the people of the new city, has been re- moved to Cabot Street, where it now stands.

In giving the history of the Lowell Schools, I hardly need to mention the old Chelmsford district schools, long before established ; for they borc only a very remote relation to the schools of the city of Low- ell. They were soon absorbed in the school system of the new and enterprising manufacturing village.

The history of the Lowell schools properly begins when, in 1826, the first School Committee of the town of Lowell established two new school districts in ad- dition to the Chelmsford school districts already men- tioned. The two new districts were established for the special use and benefit of the manufacturing population of the rising village. Thesc districts were known as No. 1 and No. 5. It was in this year, 1826, that Lowell became an incorporated town. For about two years before this a school had been sus- tained at the expense of the Merrimack Company, under the sole supervision of Dr. Edson in the two- story building already mentioned. For the first few summer months the school was taught by a lady. The first male teacher was Joel Lewis, a young man of much modest worth, who, after a service of about one year, went into the employment of the Locks & Canals Company, and was greatly interested in the erection of Mechanics' Hall. He died at the age of thirty-four years.

The first School Committee (which was chosen in 1826) consisted of some of the first men of the town - and deserve special mention.

They were, first of all, Rev. Theodore Edson, a man of iron will, who knew the right and never shrank from standing alone. He justly deserves the title of father and founder of the school system of Lowell; second, Warren Colburn, Esq., a graduate of Harvard College and afterwards teacher of a select school in Boston, who, though called to the important position of superintendent of the Merrimack Mills, still remained enthusiastic in the cause of education. A part of the labor of preparing the three mnathe- matical works, which have made his name famous, was performed amidst his arduous duties in the ser- vice of the Merrimack Company ; third, Samuel Batchelder, Esq., a many-sided man of high literary culture, a devotee of science, and, above all, of the highest inventive genius; fourth, Dr. John O. Green, a model School-Committeeman, whose wont it was to visit the schools under his care once a week, and in the most unobtrusive manner learn

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their condition and supply their wants. The teacher and the school had no firmer, truer friend. For many years Lowell honored itself by placing him upon its school committee ; fifth, Dr. Elisha Hun- tington, a graduate of Dartmouth College, a man of high social and literary culture, whose polished and graceful bearing, whose kind and affable nature made him always a favorite with the people of Lowell. To such men, in her earliest years, did Lowell in- trust the precious interests of her public schools.

The longevity of these five men-this first School Board of Lowell-is remarkable. Mr. Batchelder died at the age of ninety-five years; Dr. Edson at the age of nearly eighty-nine years; Dr. Green at the age of eighty-six years; Dr. Huntington lived out almost the allotted three-score years and ten, while Mr. Colburn alone was cut down in the midst of his years.

The town of Lowell continued the district system of schools, from its incorporation, in 1826, to the year 1832, when the graded system now in vogue was, amidst much contention and opposition, adopted. For the benefit of my younger readers, I ought, per- haps, to say that the district system consisted in hav- ing in each territorial district one school only, and this school was attended by pupils of every age, and of every degree of advancement. I might also add, what was very often true, that under this system every pupil used as textbooks such books as he saw fit to bring to school. Even in Lowell, Dr. Edson tells us that in District No. 2, at the Pawtucket Falls, a pupil was sent to school with an arithmetic not approved by the School Board, and demanded to be taught therein. At the refusal of the board to allow this book to be used as a text-book, great offence was taken and a lawsuit was instituted. An action of trespass was brought against the teacher for refusing to teach the pupil. But the case never came to trial.

This old district system was exceedingly defective, and it is only to be tolerated in cases where the popu- lation is so thin and so scattered as to preclude the possibility of establishing graded schools, like those of the present day in all our cities, in which different schools are established for pupils of different ages, and the text-books and courses of study are fixed by authority of the School Board.

But the old district school with all its faults is not to be despised. It was the school of our fathers. In it were educated the best and noblest men of America-men who fought for our liberties and founded our free institutions. The great defect of these schools was an almost absolute want of system and of law. The school from year to year was simply what the master made it. As King Louis XIV. said : "I am the State," so the district schoolmaster could say : "I am the school." Of one of these auto- cratic old masters it is said that, being once reproved for going to his school too late in the morning, he coolly replied : " When I am late in the morning, I | stieks.

leave off enough carlier in the afternoon to make it up."

"Old Master Gile," of Essex County, a man of huge equatorial dimensions, was wont to keep the mis- chievous little boys of his school in subjection by solemnly assuring them that the cause of his remark- able rotundity of form was that he "had caten 80 many little boys." The little boys gaped, and won- dered, and obeyed.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 26

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1226

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1226