USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Needham > History of Needham, Massachusetts, 1711-1911 : including West Needham, now the town of Wellesley, to its separation from Needham in 1881, with some reference to its affairs to 1911 > Part 29
USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Wellesley > History of Needham, Massachusetts, 1711-1911 : including West Needham, now the town of Wellesley, to its separation from Needham in 1881, with some reference to its affairs to 1911 > Part 29
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In 1885 the College possessed four hundred acres of land, an addition of one hundred acres since 1875.
Mr. Durant's tremendous energy, great influence and ability were enlisted in favor of the division of the town, and East Needham had no man who could cope with him, al- though he was then much out of health, and died October 3, 1881. By founding this noble College Henry Fowle Durant made his name immortal.
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THE PUBLIC LIBRARY
For some years Cyrus William Jones, a careful collector of facts, has been gathering material for a history of the libra- ries in Needham prior to March 5, 1888, when the Free Public Library was created by vote of the town. Mr. Jones's work is now completed, and is expected to appear as a volume of more than fifty pages. He gives a full account of the Social Library, which was formed in 1796 and merged in the Needham Library Association eighty-three years later, by transfer of its property, and also describes the somewhat numerous local or neighborhood libraries, exist- ing in different parts of the town in the nineteenth century. These local libraries were usually subscription or circulating, and the Needham Library Association, formed in the early seventies, was owned by its stockholders. There were also three, or more, school district libraries, organized in the early forties, and two Agricultural libraries, dating from before the Civil War. There was an old library of religious books connected with the West Church, and the Sunday Schools have had their collections of volumes, in some instances for more than half a century.
After the loss by fire of nearly all of the books of the Need- ham Library Association, the town voted to have a public library, and designated it, on March 19, 1888, the Needham Free Public Library, appropriating the dog taxes, $428.10, to its support. An Old Folks concert yielded about $75 for the library, which with fines made an addition of nearly $100 to the income. During 1888 ten hundred and seventy- eight volumes were acquired, largely by gift. In 1889 the town granted $200 besides the dog taxes, and continued this annual amount in 1890, but in 1891 increased it to $300 and the dog taxes, which was the usual appropriation until the new building was erected. The first librarian was Francis de M. Dunn, who served from 1888 to the spring of 1892, with Mrs. Riella J. Dunn as the assistant. The latter year
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Mrs. Dunn became librarian, and held that position until April 1, 1908, when she was succeeded by Miss Ella R. McDowell. The organization and development of the library was a labor of love with Mr. and Mrs. Dunn, and for many years they rendered important services to the community. From its commencement to October, 1898, the library was in the small hall on the second floor of the Moseley Building, later known as the May Building. When the High School- house was completed the library occupied two fine, large east rooms on the first floor, and remained there till July, 1908, at which time it was removed to the Town Hall, having the two easterly rooms on the Chapel Street side.
The formal opening of the library in the High School building took place on December 3, 1898, with appropriate exercises. The fine oak furniture, which cost $687.15, was the gift of the Library Building Fund Association, which had been collecting money for some years. Miss Helen M. Knowlton, the artist, loaned the library twenty-five valu- able paintings, and several persons presented good pictures, including Francis de M. Dunn, who gave three.
Early in January, 1903, it was announced that Leonard Dawson had secured by correspondence an offer from Andrew Carnegie, D.C.L., to give ten thousand dollars for a library building, and the town accepted this gift on March 2. After a spirited contest it was voted to locate the new building in Highlandville on land donated by William Carter, and on March 16 a building committee was chosen consist- ing of Mr. Dawson, Mr. Carter, Francis de M. Dunn, Charles E. Stanwood, Robert B. Walker, James F. Ryan, Henry T. Childs, George K. Clarke and William Gorse. The first sod was removed on the site by Samuel Hudson on June 5, 1903, when there were appropriate exercises, in- cluding addresses by several officials, and singing. There was another large attendance of the citizens, and similar exercises, on August 20, when Mrs. Jane G. A. Carter laid the corner-stone. The keys were informally handed over
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to the selectmen on April 6, 1904, and on June 18 the dedi- cation exercises were held in the town hall with addresses by Lieutenant-Governor Curtis Guild, Jr., and by the Hon- orable Samuel L. Powers, member of Congress from this district. An excellent portrait of the venerable Samuel Hudson was then presented to the library by his son. At other times Mr. Carter gave the granolithic walks, Thomas G. Lester presented the historical tablet, and Selectman Joseph B. Thorpe gave the fountain for drinking water. The cost of the building with its furnishings was upward of $13,000, including $440 donated by citizens, and the expense of grading, and other outside work, made the total about $14,000. The town reports for 1903 and 1904 contain full particulars as to this building. The contractors were Fissell & Wagner, and the architect was Albert Ran- dolph Ross of New York City, Walter L. Parks assisting him.
For years it has been the policy of the trustees to obtain annually some books of permanent and increasing value, and there is reason for pride in these volumes, which in- clude a goodly number of fine English works. In 1890 the library contained two thousand and one volumes, and the circulation for that year was ten thousand two hundred and twenty-seven, in 1900 there were approximately six thousand two hundred and seventy-five books, and a circulation of fifteen thousand three hundred and five, in 1910 there were upward of thirteen thousand bound volumes, and the cir- culation was twenty-eight thousand and sixty-two, not counting twenty-three hundred and ninety-eight magazines and pamphlets.
Catalogues were printed in 1889, in July, 1892, 1895 (in- cluded books received from January, 1890 to January, 1895, except those found in the list of 1892), and in 1899. The catalogue of July, 1892, is only of the books added to the library. In 1908 and 1909 a complete card catalogue was prepared, and a printed catalogue for home use was dis-
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tributed in July, 1909. The total cost of these catalogues exceeded $1200, and was all paid from the regular appro- priations. There were twelve hundred copies printed. In 19II the older library is open three afternoons and three evenings each week, and the newer one Saturday afternoon and three evenings.
On March 23, 1909, books were sent to the Eliot School for the use of the pupils, the principal, Miss Alice H. Eber- hardt, having offered to act as assistant librarian, and this arrangement was continued until the neighboring delivery station was fully established. On September 28, 1909, a delivery station was opened for the service of the public at Mrs. Margaret F. McDonald's store, Upper Falls, and books have been sent there each Tuesday, the local circulation rapidly increasing.
In 1909 and 1910 three hundred and forty-five books were received from Miss Helen M. Bean, executrix of George Fellows Bean. When the town was divided Mr. Bean desired to go with Wellesley, but his house was left on the Needham side by a few rods. It is said that he rarely, if ever, visited any of the villages of Needham, and conse- quently did not vote from 1881 till his death, April 14, 1909. In his last illness his thoughts returned to the old town, and he said that he wished to give his books to its library, but died before he had carried his intention into effect. For years he had been a reader of good literature, and the pur- chaser of many volumes, some of which remained in their original boxes at the time of his decease. Miss Bean sur- vived her brother but little over two years, and the destina- tion of the rest of Mr. Bean's library is not known to the writer in June, 1911.
The trustees have been :- Albert Ebur Miller, M.D., 1888-97 (nine years); chairman 1892-6 (five years). Mrs. Jane Greenough Avery Carter 1888-97 (nine years).
Samuel Hartwell Jones 1888 to his death May 3, 1893, aged seventy-three years; chairman 1888-91 (four years).
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Samuel Hudson 1888 to his death December II, 1905, aged eighty-six years; chairman 1902.
Mrs. Alice Mayo Hicks 1888- .
Francis de Maurice Dunn, A.B., 1888- .
George Kuhn Clarke, A.M., LL.B., 1894- ; chairman 1897-1901, 1903- .
Thomas Sutton 1897-1902, resigned early in 1902.
James Benjamin Lester 1897-9 (three years).
George Edmund Jones 1900-5 (six years).
Winthrop Morton Southworth, A.B., 1902.
Robert Burns Walker 1903- .
William Carter 1906- .
Harry Woodard 1906-10 (five years).
William Gorse 1911- .
The first trustees were elected on March 19, 1888. Samuel H. Jones had been president of the Needham Library Asso- ciation for several years, George K. Clarke its secretary from February 10, 1885, and George W. Southworth was the librarian for a long period, serving for a time also as treasurer.
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UPPER FALLS
In 1688 John Clark of Watertown is said to have built a dam where is now the "Upper" or "Snuff Mill Dam", and in 1782 Thomas Parker constructed one by Turtle Island, about one hundred rods west of the other dam. Both Clark and Parker had sawmills; the later mill, and probably also the earlier one, was on the Newton side. About 1800 Rufus Ellis, who was the leader in industrial enterprises at the Upper Falls, completed a more permanent dam, and erected on the island the buildings of the Newton Iron Works Company, of which he was agent in 1799, but later sole owner under the name of Rufus Ellis & Co. In 1814 Mr. Ellis built a cotton-factory on the Needham side, and equipped it with three thousand spindles for weaving sheet- ings, and in 1823 he formed the Newton Factories Company, which included this cotton-mill.1 By 1833 Rufus Ellis and David Ellis were the sole proprietors of the Newton Fac- tories Company, and some years the Needham mill was taxed to Rufus Ellis only. The cotton-mill was leased in 1840 to Milton H. Sanford of Medway, who was to make Osnaburghs for the Southern market, but in 1844 Barney L. White became the lessee, and made improvements, including new wheels, and replaced the machinery for the manufacture of sheetings. In 1848 Salmon S. Hewitt leased
1 In 1815 George Bird was taxed for "Ellis Paper Mill " located in East Need- ham, apparently at the Upper Falls, but this mill has not been identified. The wood used in the construction of the cotton-mill in 1814 is said to have been pur- chased at auction in Boston, and was originally taken on a prize captured at sea during the War of 1812.
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the mill, which on May 8, 1850, was entirely destroyed by fire, and never rebuilt. At the division of the town the water-privilege and the stone storehouse were still owned by the heirs of David Ellis, to whom the property had been taxed in 1850. After the fire Mr. Ellis erected a nail-factory on the site of the cotton-mill, but it was operated only some six years, and was later changed to a grist-mill, and burned in 1873.
The natural fall of the water at the Upper Falls is twenty- six feet, fifteen feet at the upper dam, and eleven feet at the lower.
Many residents of Needham were employed in the mills on the Newton side, and in the thirties the Elliot Manu- facturing Company conducted a savings department for its employees, and some of the Needham girls thus accumu- lated money for their wedding outfits. In 1840 the plant was sold to Otis Pettee, although his title did not become complete until 1845, and the depositors were paid in full, and their accounts closed. In 1889 there were perhaps seventy-five of these pass books in the attic of the late George H. Kuhn, treasurer of the Elliot Manufacturing Company from 1832 to 1845, who also had the books of the company. The first pass books were of twelve leaves, ruled for cash but not lined, the covers of a reddish tint and grained, and the dimensions six and five eighths inches by four and one eighth inches. Later pass books were both ruled up and down, and lined horizontally. These books contained eight leaves each, with grained covers of a brownish tint, and the dimensions were five and five eighths inches by three and six eighths inches. A third style of pass book was like the second except that there were fourteen leaves, with pinkish covers, and the books measured four and six eighths inches by three and one quarter inches. The paper of all of these books was of a quality to last. Of the few books preserved 52 is the highest number; Elmina Hale's number was 51, and Eliza Bullough of Needham was a
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depositor in 1840. Most of the deposits did not exceed $75, but some were over $100, and Jason Morse, whose book was numbered 13, had $542.21 to his credit. High rates of interest were allowed. These details are given to illustrate the efforts of this company to encourage thrift and because the apparent success of this early system of saving may be of interest.
LOWER FALLS
The First Mill at the Upper Dam was owned in 1825 by Amos Lyon, later Amos Lyon & Co., who had purchased it from the estate of Ephraim Jackson, Jr. This paper- mill was the one nearest to the Upper Dam, and was burned on May 19, 1834, together with the machine-shop of Ware & Clark, which was close to it on the east. The paper-mill was rebuilt, but the business was not successful, and about 1843 it was bought by Nathaniel Wales, Jr., & Co., later the firm of Wales & Mills, William Mills being the junior partner. There was a fire at their stockhouse on June II, 1843, but how serious it was does not appear. For ten years Wales & Mills made paper at this mill, and then sold the plant to Thomas Rice, Jr., and until the death of his son Frederick W., which occurred after the division of the town, it was one of the mills of the Thomas Rice Paper Company. The mill was burned in 1869, or 1870, rebuilt, and was again destroyed by fire in 1894, when owned by Robert Bishop, who was then erecting a large plant on the site of the Second Mill, intending to make the cotton and paper material that is placed under carpets.
THE SECOND MILL AT THE LOWER FALLS
In 1800 the heirs of Col. Ephraim Jackson were taxed for a paper-mill in Needham.1 In 1816 Solomon Curtis
1 In 1815 Moses Grant, Jr., was assessed in Needham for a paper-mill formerly owned by Ephraim Jackson, but whether the First or the Second Mill is not clear.
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and William Hurd, "Papermakers", both of Newton, bought of William Parker, a Boston merchant, the paper- mill which he had acquired the year before from Ephraim Jackson, with the exception of one building that had been consumed by fire. The purchase included all rights in the dam and "Flooms", as well as the wheels and other machin- ery. In 1816 an agreement as to water-rights was made, and Simon Elliot and Solomon Curtis then represented two thirds of a paper-mill and of a sawmill on the Needham side, and Hurd and Bemis the other third. The paper and fulling-mills were to have the first right, and the sawmill the fourth right. In 1822 Isaac Stevens, John Clark and Rufus Ellis, all of Boston, sold for $1000 to John Nichols and George Hooker, both of Newton, "Paper makers", a water-privilege and buildings in Needham, and soon after Mr. Hooker conveyed his interest to Allen C. and William Curtis. The same year Allen C. Curtis, William Curtis, John Nichols, all of Newton, "Paper Makers", and Rufus Ellis of Boston sold to John Dodd of Boston, one and one half acres at the Upper Dam in Needham, with paper-mill, flumes, dam rights and two engines. The deed stated that by the agreement of 1816 theirs was the first of the six "Paper Mill rights", and named the four parties to the said agreement as follows:
Ist, Simon Elliot and Solomon Curtis, 2d, Moses Grant, 3d, William Hurd and Charles Bemis, 4th, John Ware. The deed also reserves the water-rights conveyed to Amos Lyon, which were to run his mill. Mr. Dodd sold this prop- erty to Harris H. Wolcott and Lorenzo D. Willis in 1828, and in a short time they transferred it to Henry D. Wolcott. Alexander H. Twombly, a creditor of Messrs. Wolcott and Willis, acquired the property in 1830, which then included also a nail-factory, and the next year sold it to William Hurd and Lemuel Crehore. In 1834 Mr. Crehore conveyed his undivided half to Mr. Hurd, who for a dozen years car- ried on the manufacture of paper. Jones & Rice were the
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owners in 1848, then Mr. Boit took the place of Mr. Jones, and he was soon succeeded by Moses Garfield, who was in business with Charles Rice, Jr., until 1863, when Mr. Gar- field bought out Mr. Rice, and for about four years contin- ued alone. Mr. Garfield sold the mill to Thomas Rice, and it became one of the mills of the Thomas Rice Paper Com- pany. For forty years the Rice mills made the paper for the Boston Evening Transcript. In the early years these mills produced about one ton of newspaper per day, having each a sixty-two-inch forming machine, four beating ma- chines, and fifty horse-power. Thomas Rice paid $16,500 for the Wales & Mills plant and $22,000 for the mill long known as the Garfield mill. In 1868 the water-privileges were each assessed at $5000. The Honorable Thomas Rice was born in that part of Needham now Wellesley Hills. The Second Mill was taken down about 1893 by Robert Bishop.
The Machine-shop, once an important industry, employing one hundred men, dates from 1832, when Reuben Ware and William Clark erected the building which was burned in 1834. In 1846 the shop, which had been rebuilt, came into the possession of Joseph Stowe, and in 1850 Henry P. Eaton, Rufus Moulton and Harvey Eaton bought it; the latter died in 1852, and the shop was again burned in 1853 and rebuilt. In 1854 Mr. Jordan joined with Messrs. Eaton and Moulton, and in 1855 the firm was Eaton, Moul- ton & Jordan, but the latter soon retired, and for years Eaton & Moulton were the only proprietors, until Adam Beck became their partner in 1858. Mr. Beck was the sole owner in 1876, and continued the business to his death in 1905, although two of the buildings had been made into tenements. From 1860 to 1862 the machine-shop appears to have been taxed to Lemuel Crehore, who long had inter- ests on both sides of the river.
The Third Paper-mill at the Upper Dam was on the site of Benjamin Slack's fulling-mill, which he had sold in 1806
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to Peter Lyon, assigning to Mr. Lyon in 1807 a bond ob- tained in 1799 from Ephraim Jackson to let the water through and to raise the dam to a mark picked on a rock.1 This bond proved to be a personal one and not assignable, and in 1822 Mr. Lyon conveyed the property to William and Adolphus Durant of Newton. In 1831 William Durant, who had bought out his brother, Adolphus, or "Apolas", as the deed (1831) called him, sold the mill, "Raghouse", and all of the water-rights and privileges, to John L. Rice of Newton. The land was only one quarter acre, and there was a "coper house" on it. The price is not clear, but the largest mortgage on the property at any time prior to 1840, that of 1825, when the Durants bought the mill, was less than $4000. The same day that he bought the mill Mr. Rice conveyed an undivided half to Luther Crane, who sold it to Thomas Rice in 1835 for $4000.2 John L. Rice died about 1834, and his brother, Thomas, and brother-in- law, Moses Garfield, took the mill, but the latter withdrew from the firm by 1840, when for a brief time Benjamin F. Martin succeeded him. For twenty years Thomas Rice was the sole owner of this mill, and did an important busi- ness until about 1867, when he sold the property to the Dudley Hosiery Company. The Evans Collar Company had occupied the building for a year, or more.
1 In November, 1799, Ephraim Jackson of Needham, "Miller", gave a bond of $2000 to Benjamin Slack, "Clothier ", to "convey water through the said Jack- sons damn near his Grist mill into the pond of the above named Benjamin Slacks fulling mill sufficient and for the purpose of carrying a paper mill or any other mill that may be erected near said pond ". Jackson was also "to build or caus'd to be built one half of a new Damn where the fulling mill damn now is" and to permit the fulling-mill "Damn" to be raised. In 1799 Peter Lyon was taxed for a paper- mill in Needham, in 1802 for one half of Ephraim Jackson's paper-mill, valued at $600, and in subsequent years for a paper-mill without other description. There was once a canal by Walnut Street, further east than that now used, but the mill owners nearer the dam appealed to the Court, and got it closed.
2 This deed granted all of the real estate and the water-privileges conveyed to John L. Rice "and me" since August 10, 1831, by Benjamin Slack and A. C. & W. Curtis, except what Rice & Crane may have conveyed, meaning all that Rice & Crane had had at the time of Rice's death. Presumably Rice & Crane had ex- pended considerable money on the works, for when Mr. Crane bought the un- divided half the consideration was stated to be $800.
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In a mortgage of one of these mills in 1814 "the new dam acrofs the River" is referred to.
William Hoogs is said to have built in 1790 the Second, or Lower, Dam, at the Lower Falls and to have soon after erected a paper-mill on the Newton side, which mill his son William sold in 1809 to Peter Lyon, and it was the prede- cessor of the mill of Augustus C. Wiswall & Son. The site is now (1911) included in the Reservation. Apparently before he built this paper-mill Mr. Hoogs had a tannery near the ford below Pratt's Bridge, and presumably on the Newton side. In 1794 Edward Jackson of Newton deeded for £200 "one undivided moiety of ye stream which runs through y. s. Land", and a paper-mill, to Francis Wright and Joseph Greene of Boston, "Merchants". The land bounded on the "County Road Bridge", and was the other half of that conveyed by Mr. Jackson to William Hoogs, for £1oo on August 5, 1793, and which they in turn had the same day granted to Messrs. Wright and Greene, who executed articles of agreement "to build & erect a set of paper works in Needham". The deed to Wright and Greene from Jackson and Hoogs refers to the "back water dam in the river", and recites "Together with the exclusive right of the stream for the recting of a Paper mill to be owned by the Grantors, together with the Grantees & Stephen Crane of Watertown". The grantees were to have one quarter, and Messrs. Crane, Wright and Greene each one quarter, but Mr. Crane acquired only one eighth, which he sold in 1796 to Messrs. Wright and Greene for $500. There were then buildings on the land, including a paper-mill. Jackson and Hoogs had been allowed £200 on the expense of building as they had furnished the land. In 1809 William Hoogs bought of Mr. Wright four forty eighths, of Russell Sturgis sixteen forty eighths, and of Joseph Greene, or his estate, twenty-one forty eighths for $3333.33, all the inter- est that these Boston men had in the land and paper-mill. Mr. Hoogs was already the owner of seven forty eighths.
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Apparently Mr. Greene was dead in 1803, when Francis Hoogs discharged the obligations under a bond for $6423, which William Hoogs, the elder, who was not living in 1802, had given to Messrs. Wright, Sturgis and Greene in 1800. In 1799 Dea. Francis Wright & Co. were taxed for one half of a paper-mill in West Needham, and their interest was valued at $939, which was doubtless a nominal appraisal. In 1811 the Hoogs paper-mill was owned by Samuel Brown of Needham, who had been a creditor of Mr. Hoogs. In 1816 Mr. Brown sold it, together with "moulds felts & all other utensials", for $4000 to Artemas Murdock of Needham, who in 1818 deeded the property to Charles Rice at a large advance in the consideration.
In 1835 Gen. Charles Rice conveyed this paper-mill on the Needham side, with a dry-house and out-buildings, to Parker H. Pierce of Boston, who had acquired one of the two mortgages then on the property. Joseph Greenwood and Paul Dewing succeeded General Rice, but the latter retired in a few years, and about 1847 Mr. Greenwood sold the plant to Benjamin Farlis, who was from Salem. In 1851 this mill was owned and operated by Allen C. Curtis, the well-known papermaker, under the firm name of A. C. Curtis & Son, and they sold it during the Civil War to Thurston Priest, who had a paper-mill at Water- town. In 1866 it was taxed to Joseph G. Loring and William B. Newbery of Boston, and for a time Loring & Co. made paper from Esparto grass, but the mill was burned, and the privilege and remaining buildings were bought by Binney & Co., who had a fire in 1868, when the plant was known as Binney's Mill. In 1870 and 1871 the property was assessed to the Boston Belting Company, but was not used by them, and it was sold to Charles Francis of Brookline, who built a mill. As early as 1874 the establishment was owned by Richard T. Sullivan, who erected several buildings on the premises, and for many years he and his representatives have manufactured "shoddy", or carbonized wool there.
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