History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 177

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1278

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III > Part 177

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It appears by a vote passed by the town of Water- town, at a meeting held January 5, 1679-80, that a grist-mill was in process of erection on Stony Brook, the town voting " that the new corn-mill now set up and to be finished at Stony Brook, be freed from rates for 20 years." In 1684 this mill was owned by John Bright and others. According to Bond: "These mills were probably owned some time by Lieutenant John Brewer, and afterwards, for a long time, known as Bigelow's Mills." Bond also says: "The mills built on the three points just referred to " (that is, near the weir established at Watertown and the two localities mentioned in this article) "were the only ones in the town for the first seventy, probably the first hundred, years after its settlement." There was probably a mill also on the brook running east of Lexington Street, and crossing Beaver Street, a branch of Beaver Brook.

Probably the next mill which was ereeted in Wal- tham was the one known as the Boies Paper Mill, and was built and carried on by John Boies. Mr. Boies manufactured brown and white paper and his mill stood on land now occupied by the Boston Manufacturing Company. It was at that time a pic- turesque locality. The date of the erection of the mill is not definitely fixed, but it was probably be- tween 1780 and 1790. The Massachusetts Magazine for April, 1793, published an engraving of the mill, showing the dwelling of Mr. Boies near by, and accompanied it with the following description : " We have the pleasure to present our patrons with a south view of Mr. John Boyce's Paper Manufactory, com- bining a prospectus of his dwelling-house and out- buildings, together with a view of the meeting-house, the seats of Messieurs Townsend and Pacy, and Charles River. The situation is acknowledged to be one of the most elegant and delightful in the town- ship of Waltham, and has deservedly acquired the name of EDEN VALE. It is about ten miles from Boston, and one half mile from the Great Road on the Plains." Boies' estate in 1798 was valued at $4550.

A similar mill was built by Governor Gore, near the site of the present Waltham Bleachery, prior to 1800. In 1802 Nathan Upham erected a small wooden building on Stony Brook, near the Weston line and commenced the manufacture of coarse wrapping papers. Nathan, and Amos his brother, had served an apprenticeship with John Boies. They con - tinued the business until 1820, when they disposed of the mill to John M. Gibbs, who also continued the manufacture until 1835, when he sold the mill to John and Stephen Roberts. Stephen died in 1845, and John became sole owner. Eventually John's son William became a partner, and the business was carried on under the style of John Roberts and Son. John Roberts died in 1871, and William still carries on the business, but the firm-name is unchanged. The goods produced are sheathing and asbestos papers principally, and large quantities are yearly produced. The old wooden mill was long ago re- placed by a more commodious and substantial stone structure, and the water-power of the brook was assisted by the steam engine.

In 1810 the Governor Gore mill was purchased by the Waltham Cotton and Woolen Company, which was organized that year. It is said that this company at one time employed about two hundred hands and its weekly products reached 10,000 yards. Accord- ing to "M. U." in the Massachusetts Historical Society's Collections for 1815, the mill at that time ron, in its cotton department 2000 spindles, and worked 300 pounds of cotton per day ; in the woolen department were run 380 spindles, four jennies and two jacks. Fourteen woolen looms were in operation and sixty pounds of wool used per day. A portion of the weaving was done outside the factory in the

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

neighboring and even in some distant towns. It was unsuccessful, however, as a financial venture and nine years after its incorporation (in February, 1819), its property was sold to the Boston Manufacturing Company for $200,000.

The Boston Manufacturing Company was incor- porated in February, 1813. Francis C. Lowell and Patrick I. Jackson purchased the mill and water privilege established by Mr. Boies and, joining with Nathan Appleton and others, organized the company and were incorporated by the Legislature with a capi- tal of $400,000. Work was at once commenced on the buildings, and the mill nearest Moody Street was completed during the first year. While the building was in process of construction Mr. Lowell visited England to study the mechanism of weaving as practiced there and to obtain improved machinery, with the intention of providing for the complete pro- duction of cotton-cloth by machinery.

The new mill built by the company was of brick, five stories high, ninety feet long and forty-five feet wide, and running 3000 spindles. The roof was of the double-pitch patteru. Within five years this portion of the mill has been remodeled to conform to the more modern portions. It was several months after Mr. Lowell's return from England before the new power loom was perfected. The first record of its work is on the books of the company under date of February 2, 1816, at which time the entry was made of "1242 yards 4-4" or thirty-six inches wide cotton. There is no doubt that this entry records the date of the first manufacture of cotton-cloth in America where all the operations were performed under one roof. The goods mentioned were made in imitation of the cotton imported at that period from India.

The first product was at the rate of 4000 yards per week. Only one store in Boston, that of a Mrs. Bow- ers, on Cornhill, dealt in goods of this kind, and as home-made cotton-goods were not viewed with par- ticular favor, the sales were not by any means en- couraging. The experiment was tried of selling the product by auction. It proved successful ; about. thirty cents a yard being realized, and the business of the company was firmly established.

In 1818 a new mill was erected, and the production thereby increased to 25,000 yards per week. Three widths were made: 30 inches, 373 inches and 54 inches ; the price being 30, 37} and 50 cents per yard,. respectively.

In 1833 the canal now in use by the company was built. In 1836, by reason of drought, the water-sup- ply failed, and a steam-engine was added to the mill equipment. In 1847 the okl wooden dam was re- placed by the present granite one. In 1852 a new mill, 200 feet long and 80 feet wide, was built for the manufacture of extra-wide sheetings; and soon after the first wide sheetings made in America were woven in this mill. The number of spindles at that time was 40,000. In 1873 a new mill, 150x91 fcet, was

built ; in 1879 an addition of 117 feet was built to this, and in 1882 another addition was made. In 1888 the remodeling of the old mill made the structures uni- form; and at the present writing, another new mill, 100 feet long, 70 feet wide and four stories high, is be- ing built between River Street and the Fitchburg Railroad and between Elm and Moody Streets. The number of spindles at present in use is 60,000, but the new mill will largely increase this number.

Soon after the Boston Manufacturing Company pur- chased the plant of the Waltham Cotton and Woolen Manufacturing Company the old mill was demolished, and a new building commenced for the bleaching of the company's product and the manufacture of a bet- ter grade of cotton-cloth. The original intention was to utilize the bleachery simply for the bleaching, fin- ishing and dyeing of the company's goods, but the field was gradually extended until its customers are found iu every portion of the United States. The old methods, including the large wooden drying-sheds, were replaced in 1873-74 with more modern appli- ances and buildings, the present structures being built of brick. The present capacity of the works is a little over 100,000 yards of cloth per day.

In 1868 the Boston Manufacturing Company com- menced the manufacture of hosiery, but the manu- facture was, after several years' trial, abandoned, or rather superseded by that of underwear. The present production of undershirts and drawers is about 150,000 dozens per year. The industry was started at the bleachery, but the machinery was subsequently re- moved to one of the company's new mill-buildings, near Moody Street.

The people of Waltham are much indebted to the pioneers of the Boston Manufacturing Company for many things. The corporation established, and for many years maintained at its own expense, schools. The Rumford Institute, which for many years was one of the educational institutions of Waltham, originated among its employees, and was carefully fostered by it until within comparatively few years. The library organized by the institute wasthenucleus for the present Public Library. In various other ways has the company shown a lively interest in the wel- fare of Waltham.

In the year 1819 Patrick T. Jackson and others commenced the manufacture of sulphuric acid in a building near the junction of Charles River with Beaver Brook. About six years after the business was removed to a large lot of land bounded at present by High, Newton, Pine and Hall Streets. Here for many years a very extensive manufacture of this acid was carried on by a corporation called the New- ton Chemical Company, the land at the time of their incorporation being a portion of Newton. For many years this establishment was without a rival in its special business. The manufacture was abandoned in 1872, and the land is now nearly covered with dwelling-houses.

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WALTHAM.

In 1835 Dr. Francis F. Field, a dentist, invented a process for the manufacture of crayons for the use of schools, tailors, carpenters, etc.

This was the beginning of a business which was for several years carried on by Mr. Zenas Parmenter and by Messrs. Parmenter, Powers & Powell in a little shop, near the corner of Lexington and Pond Streets. A fire destroyed their shop and their increasing busi- ness demanding more room, they removed to the up- per part of a building on Felton Street owned by Davis and Farnum. The accommodations here did not long suffice, however, and about 1863 the old bed- stead factory, the site of the present factory, was hired. At first only the upper portion of that build- ing was used, but the then firm of Parmenter & Walker soon occupied the whole building and has since so enlarged it on the east, the west, the north, the south, and perpendicularly that not a semblance of the original structure is left. In 1881 Mr. Par- menter purchased Mr. Walker's interest, and in Jan- uary, 1882, a company was formed and incorporated under the title of the Parmenter Crayon Company, with a paid-in capital of $45,000. From the insig- nificant beginning of fifty years ago, the business has reached colossal proportions. From two cases a week, which was formerly considered a good showing, the production has increased until now it has an average of from twenty to twenty-five cases per day, with facilities for twice that amount. The goods are shipped to all parts of Europe, and to the more distant por- tions of the globe, including New Zealand and Japan.

In 1862 Messrs. Kidder and Adams, machinists in the employ of the American Watch Company, be- lieving that there was an opening for the manufac- ture of watch repairer's tools, left the employ of that company and commenced the manufacture of lathes for the trade. Their enterprise did not prove suffi- ciently remunerative, and their business eventually passed into the hands of Mr. John Stark, who has since continued it.

Mr. Stark died in 1887, and the business is now carried on by his son.

In 1872 Messrs. John E. Whitcomb and George F. Ballou, then in the employ of the American Watch Co., lett the service of that company, and commenced the manufacture of watch-makers' lathes. They made what has ever since been known as the " Whit- comb " lathe, embodying in it the distinctive features which the experience of the watch company had found to produce the best results. In 1874 Mr. Ballou retired from the co-partnership, and in 1876, Mr. Ambrose Webster, who had resigned his position as assistant superintendent of the American Watch Com- pany, joined with Mr. Whitcomb in the association known as the American Watch Tool Company.

October 15, 1886, Mr. C. Hopkins Van Norman commenced the manufacture of watch-makers' tools. The business increased to such an extent, that in 1889 a large wooden building was erected near Pros- 48-iii

pect Street to accommodate it. The capital stock was increased in 1890, and the plant removed to Springfield, Mass.

The demand for lathes and tools made by these companies extends throughout the civilized world. The American Watch Tool Company has furnished a very considerable portion of the equipment of sev- eral watch-factories in this country and in Europe.

In 1883, Mr. Charles Vanderwoerd, after a connec- tion of twenty years with the American Watch Com- pany, resigned his position of general superintendent, and purchased the plant of some machinists who had recently commenced the manufacture of watch- makers' tools. A company was organized under the name of the Waltham Watch Tool Company, for the purpose of making watch tools and machinery. After making considerable machinery for watch-factories, the attention of the company was turned to the manufacture of watches on its own account. A tract of land on Charles Street was purchased from the town, and a brick building, 100x25 feet, and three stories high was erected. The original plans con - template a structure with a central tower about forty feet frontage with a wing each side, the part now built being only a wing. The entire frontage of the completed building will be 240 feet.

In the rear of the factory is a two-story wooden building which is used as a carpenter's shop and gild- ing-room. In June, 1885, the present name of the corporation, " The United States Watch Company," was adopted in place of the former one, as express- ing more clearly the business of the company.

The company is meeting with encouraging success in the sale of its watches and is considering the com- pletion of its building according to the original de- signs.

In 1844 Mr. R. P. Davis established an iron foundry in a building near the Moody Street crossing of the Fitchburg Railroad. The business subsequently passed into the hands of Frederick J. Davis, who, in 1860, erected a much larger building for it between Felton Street and the railroad. Soon after the cs- tablishment of the business in its new location Mr. John R. Farnum acquired an interest in it, and the business was carried on under the name of Davis & Farnum. The firm-name was changed in 1876 to the Davis & Farnum Manufacturing Company, by which name it is now known. The excellence of the work turned out by Davis & Farnum soon so crowded them with orders that their establishment on Felton Street was entirely inadequate to meet their increasing busi- ness and the tract of land near the Bleachery, now occupied by them, was purchased and the buildings erected in 1870. The foundry building is 250 feet long and 125 feet wide, with three cupolas, having a combined melting capacity of thirty-five tons per day, running what is termed a three-hour heat. There are also a pattern shop about 100 feet square and a sheet- iron shop 100 feet by 50 feet, besides an' office build-

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

ing and tenement-houses. About 150 persons are em- ployed by the company during its busy season. The specialty of the company and the branch of business in which it has won its chief distinction is the equipment of gas plants with every detail in machinery and apparatus. Its operations in this line have extended not only through New England, but through the West and South and into the British Provinces.

In 1880 Mr. Henry Richardson, whose service as a machinist in the employ of the American Watch Tool Co. had led him to study the subject, began to experiment in the manufacture of a fine grade of emery wheels, with the design to produce a wheel better adapted to the fine work of watch and watch- machine makers than any at that time made. He was successful and the following year associated with him Mr. Henry Shuman, also a machinist. A por- tion of the brick building, now wholly occupied by the firm, was leased and the business vigorously pushed. The business was originally conducted under the name of The Richardson Emery-Wheel Co., sub- sequently being changed in style to The Waltham Emery-Wheel Co., its present title. In 1883 Mr. Harlan P. Hyde became associated with the firmi as treasurer and general manager. Mr. Hyde's previous experience of nearly twenty years in the business made him a valuable accession. Mr. Shnman retired from the firm about six years ago. The business has steadily increased, new buildings have been erected to meet increasing demands, and instead of Messrs. Richardson and Shuman being able to supply the trade the labor of fifty employees is taxed to the ut- most to that end. Even the buildings used are found inadequate and the company has purchased an ex- tensive tract of land near the Central Massachusetts Railroad, where a large brick building, 250 feet long by 40 feet wide, especially adapted to the work is being erected. A considerable portion of this build- ing will be two stories high. Commodious offices will be arranged and separate buildings for engine and boiler-rooms will be built.

The Waltham Gas-Light Company was incorpora- ted in 1853. At the meeting for organization in January, 1854, lloratio Adams, R. P. Davis, I. R. Scott, R. S. Warren and Horatio Moore were chosen directors, and Thomas Page clerk and treasurer. Horatio Adams was elected president. The anthor- ized capital was $150,000, although only $35,000 worth of stock was at first issued, the works being constructed for less than the paid-in capital. In October 1854, gas was first supplied to customers, the price being $4 per 1000 cubic feet. In 1855 the pro- duction was 3,000,000 cubic feet. The present pro- duction is about 25,000,000 cubic feet. The paid-in capital has been greatly increased until it reaches now $140,000. In 1886 an electric plant was added to the equipment, and on the 24th of December of that year the electric light was first used for street

and store illumination in this city. In 1890 a con- tract was made to supply power to the Newton Street Railroad, and as the electric plant in use by the com- pany had been outgrown, and there was a con- siderable demand for power for industrial pursuits, new buildings were erected, a new engine and boiler added and the equipment in every way largely in- creased.

In 1889, the Judson L. Thompson Manufacturing Company of Syracuse, N. Y., having ontgrown its facilities for manufacture in that city, and being desirous of locating nearer the market for its goods, which consisted of metal buckles for rubber foot- wear and small hardware decided to locate in Wal- tham, a tract of land at Roberts Crossing being placed at the company's disposal by the owner, William Roberts, Esq. A brick building 400 feet by 75 feet has been erected, and the business of the com- pany has been removed to this city.

Three shoe factories flourished in Waltham between the years 1855 and 1860-one owned by Bills & Jones, located on Bacon Street, another owned by C. S. Gay, near the corner of Bacon and Pond Streets, and a third owned by B. F. Clough, and situated back of Prospect Street. The one owned by Bills & Jones employed just previous to the War of the Rebellion about 100 hands, that of Mr. Clough employed 60 persons in 1857, and the other about twenty-five. The business was long ago abandoned and the buildings remodeled into dwellings.

An industry which originated in Waltham, and which, while it did not in the brief years it was lo- cated here materially affect this municipality, has produced most important results in the commercial world, is the refining of kerosene oil. There seems to be no reasonable doubt but the first successful ex- periments in this country, if not in the world, through which kerosene oil became a cheap and popular illuminant, were conducted in an iron building known for years as the "Tar" factory, erected on the north bank of the Charles River, just east of Peterson's ice- houses. The building was constructed in 1852 or 1853 and was built for the purpose of utilizing gas tar, the waste of gas-houses. The early products were coal- tar benzole, naphtha, dead oils and pitches. Quoting from a letter written by Joshua Merrill, Esq., presi- dent of the Downer Kerosene Oil Company, " From the distillates were derived a variety of products such as coup oil, used in combination with fatty oils and castor oil. Another product, benzole, was used in making gas by passing air through it in a machine invented by Drake. It was a success and was largely used until the more volatile petroleum naphthas super- ceded it. Picric acid was another product made from phenic acid, a product of the coal-tar distillation. The dead oils were sold mostly to a Mr. Hiram Hyde, who erected a plant near the factory for preserv- ing wood by creosoting, the dead oils containing large percentages of creosote. It was not until about 1855

ABBright.

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WALTHAM.

that Luther Atwood and William Atwood made kero- sene at these works. They used a product obtained in Canada, probably the outflow of the petroleum wells, which were, up to this date, unknown to exist, but they had, in some former time, flowed out oil through the surface of the ground and it had evapor- ated, leaving a kind of pitch. This was a true petro- leum product and the Atwoods at once discovered its utility for oil-making. The oil made from the Canada petroleum surface pitch was the first burning oil made in this country. James Young, of Glasgow, Scotland, had made a product from coal distilled in retorts as early as 1850. Young's oil was very poor, disgusting in odor and of poor quality, while Atwood's was white in color, sweet in smell and of excellent burning qualities. I consider Luther Atwood the father of the burning oil industry from coal and petro- leum, and to Waltham belongs the honor of having had him for a citizen from 1852 to 1856, and the plant from which the great industry subsequently devel- oped."

The building now occupied in its greatly enlarged form by the Parmenter Crayon Company was used by Stratton Brothers for awhile for the manufacture of furniture. The extent of the business carried on by them in its most prosperous time may be judged from the fact that in 1857 they employed thirty men, making on an average 6260 bedsteads, 624 arm-chairs, 3756 what-nots, 2496 tables, and 2600 ottomans a year. In 1859, however, little trace of the business was left.

An organ-factory was established in 1890 by E. W. Lane. The business is, however, as yet in its infancy. Other small industries might be mentioned, but the amount of capital invested and number of hands em- ployed make the industries important only in the aggregate.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

JONATHAN BROWN BRIGHT.1

Jonathan Brown Bright was born in Waltham, Mass., April 23, 1800, aud died there, Dec. 17, 1879.

Mr. Bright's volume, "The Brights of Suffolk, England," printed for private distribution in 1858, but accessible to genealogical inquiries, closes with Henry Bright, Jr., who came to New England in 1630, and settled in Watertown, Mass. Henry Bright, Jr., married Anne Goldstone, who came from Suffolk, England, in 1634. Through her he inherited the homestead of her parents, in Watertown, east of and adjoining the estate of the late John P. Cushing, and opposite that of the late Alvan Adams. Here Henry Bright, Jr., lived and died.

His son, the first Nathaniel Bright, of Watertown, married Mary Coolidge, of the same town ; and their son, the second Nathaniel Bright, married Ann Bow-

man, all of Watertown. The homestead of the sec- ond Nathaniel Bright was about three-fourths of a mile west of the Goldstone place, and still remains in the hands of his descendants. The old house upon it, taken down in 1877, was said to have been built before 1700.

The third Nathaniel Bright, son of the second, married Sybil Stone, of Sudbury, Mass., a descendant of Gregory Stone. Their son, John Bright, of Wal- tham, married Elizabeth Brown, of Watertown, daughter of Captain Jonathan Brown. This John Bright settled, in 1776, in Waltham, where he lived until his death, in his eighty seventh year, in 1840. His ten children, of whom Jonathan Brown Bright was the youngest, were born in the house which stood nearly where that stands in which the latter died, on the main highway into Waltham, on the eastern bank of Beaver Brook, the estate being divided by Grove Street.

Elizabeth Brown, the mother of Jonathan B. Bright, was a daughter of Jonathan Brown, of Water- town (captain in the army at Lake George, 1758), and Esther Mason, of Watertown, a descendant of Hugh Mason. Captain Jonathan Brown was a son of Jona- than Brown, of Watertown, and Elizabeth Simons, of Lexington. This Jonathan was son of Captain Abraham Brown, of Watertown, and Mary Hyde, of Newton. Captain Abraham Brown dropped the final e, which his father, Jonathan Browne, and his grand- father, Abraham Browne, had carried. Abraham Browne had married Lydia -, in England, and settled in Watertown, Mass .; and his son Jonathan married Mary Shattuck, of that town.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 177

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co Number of Pages: 1278

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1278