USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > North Reading > History of North Reading > Part 7
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
World War II has brought some curtailment in the activities of the women of the Guild, but there has been no curtailment in the enthusiasm of the group. A part of their efforts are now directed towards Red Cross work, such as rolling bandages and rendering assistance to the World War 11 Service Men's Committee. Some time at each meeting is devoted to the sale of War Bonds and Stamps. The Guild has also been lending assistance to the P .- T. A, The American Legion Auxiliary, The Infantile Paralysis Foundation; The Tuberculosis Committee and the 4-H Club.
The parishioners of St. Theresa's are, along with the other organizations of the town, looking towards the future. There will be some special needs coming after the war is over and these should, as far as possible, be antici- pated. The time is coming when the Chapel will no longer be a Mission of St. Agnes' Church in Reading. St. Theresa's will be a parish with its own resident pastor. This will mean an enlarged membership of the Guild and a definite meeting place. A careful study of ways and means must be made so that in all things St. Theresa's may be a credit to the mother church that so generously saw it through its infancy.
This account would hardly be complete without the names of those pioneer women who started the Guild and the names of the leaders who have so nobly carried on. The original members were Mary Crosby, Rose Doucette, Katherine Hanley, Alice Magee, Alma Magee, Marea Mur- phey and Frances Shay. The first leader of the organization was Alice Magee, and she was followed by Katherine Hanley, Mary Leary, Alice Gallant, Laura Tarbox, Margaret Richards, Margaret Murphy, Marie Merrill and Katherine Beaumont.
This splendid record of achievement would not have been possible without the concerted efforts of all those who have been interested in the success of St. Theresa's. Many have given of their money and sympathy. And this applies even to those attendants of the other North Reading
[ 67 ]
Churches who have been inspired to render assistance. The local business men have not been remiss in their duty, either. Then above all there has been the inspiring leadership of all the pastors and their assistants who have so nobly labored for the success of the Guild and the church. May the coming generations carry forward the work that has so nobly started, and may the end of another century see an enlarged and beautified Catholic church in North Reading.
[ 68 ]
CHAPTER V BUSINESS AND AGRICULTURAL INTERESTS
From the very beginning North Reading has been devoted more par- ticularly to agriculture than it has been to business. It is a little too far away from the sea and from the business interest of Boston to compete successfully with other towns. Then, too, there never seemed to be that particular concurrence of circumstances which makes for the development of business. Even the early records give a foretaste of what was to fol- low. In 1664 the inhabitants of Reading were forbidden to carry hop- poles out of town. Others might grow hops for the breweries in New York and elsewhere, but Reading was content to sell the hop-poles. Later an interest in this form of agriculture was developed and there were hop fields in North Reading. If one looks sharply he can find reminders of some of those old hop-kilns.
Sheep raising started rather early. It was necessary to supply the wool for the spinning jenny found in every home. As the sheep increased in number they became a menace to growing crops. So the town decreed that there should be added two rails to the top of the stone wall sur- rounding the fields where the sheep were pastured. But sheep raising never became very profitable and with the introduction of power-driven spinning and weaving machinery it all but ceased. The climate is not such as to make North Reading a place for raising sheep. Here and there can be found a pet, but no considerable number anywhere. In 1943 the assessor listed forty of these animals in town.
In the Colonial days when smoking was becoming a habit both in England and in the Colonies, tobacco became a staple crop. So some of the inhabitants of ancient Reading tried their hand at raising the fra- grant weed. Without doubt there were those in the North Parish who had tobacco fields. But the industry never took root because the soil is not suited to its culture.
All along, the town has been devoted to general agriculture and the raising of dairy animals. In the early period oxen did the heavy work while the horses were used to ride. With the coming of the nineteenth century horses were not only used to draw the stage and the carriage, but they had found their place as draft animals on the farm. The oxen were too slow, so they had to give place. The last yoke of oxen in town was used on the Poor Farm, which was dismantled and sold just after the close of the first World War. The number of horses fluctuated a bit as the old town reports indicate, but with the development of the automobile and
[ 69 ]
the truck industry the number definitely began to decline. In 1892 the assessor listed one hundred and eighty-two, while in 1911 he found but one hundred and fifty-eight. From then on the decline in number was continuous. The last report has twenty-five listed and these are all for riding purposes, with but one or two exceptions.
The number of cows has been more constant. While there are no figures for the early days, yet it is safe to assume that every farmer had one or more cows. Beginning with 1873 there are definite figures. This year there were two hundred and seventy, with a steady increase from year to year until the peak was reached in 1911, when there were three hundred and sixty-seven. The dairy business, however, has never been found alto- gether profitable in North Reading. The raising of feed is impossible and the importation prohibitive. Just now, during the war period, there is a "ceiling price" of sixteen cents per quart on milk, while there is no ceiling price on the grain imported from the west. This makes the production of milk unprofitable to all, except those who retail it from door to door. As a result there were but one hundred and sixty-six cows in 1943.
In the days following the Civil War a new and specialized form of agriculture came to town. "A pickle factory was started in Somerville and most of the farmers of North Reading began to plant cucumbers. During 1870 this industry was at its height and there are those still living who can remember picking cucumbers for pickles. Then the scene changed and many began to raise strawberries. The soil seems to be adapted to their cultivation, so much so that they grow wild, and that fact explains the name given by the old timers to that section of land extending west- ward from Swan Pond -- "strawberry meadow." In the eighties and the nineties the cultivation of this fruit was at its height. John B. Campbell and Joseph B. Gowing were the leaders in this new industry. Mr. Camp- bell originated a new variety which he called the "leader." while Mr. Gowing had two to his credit-"the sampler" and the "first quality." In season the fields below the old Gowing homestead were alive with pickers. While the Gowings have ceased to raise strawberries the industry is still carried on. Each summer hundreds of crates of sweet-flavored berries are taken from the farm of Raymond Turner to the market in Reading and Boston.
For some years now the residents of North Reading have been special- izing in the raising of poultry. Some have only a few hens while others have a few hundred. Just recently some of the members of the "4-H Club" have been trying poultry raising as a project. Among those special- izing in the raising of hens are Maurice Eugley of North Street and Arthur E. Wardwell of Park Street. These men have each developed a very fine laying strain and each year hatch thousands of chicks, that find their way to various and sundry places. Some of the others raising hens for their
[ 70 ]
egg production are The Meadow View Farm, The Fairlawn Poultry Farm, O. W. Ingals, Richard Flosdorf, Harry Thomas, Frank W. Birkmaier and Norman Eisenhaur. For the current year the assessor's report shows that there are 18,437 fowls in town, and this does not include the broilers and the turkeys raised and sold after the town has made up its report.
Within recent years there has been developed a new industry. In the old days the furriers depended on the skins brought in by the trappers; now the raising of fur-bearing animals has become an industry. In 1929 Fred- erick J. Stanley started raising minks in a small way. Since there has been such a growing demand for the skins of the mink and the fox he has enlarged his business. Each year he sells hundreds of black mink and silver fox skins. Only this year he has added a few white mink to his collection. All told he has a volume of $30,000 worth of business. Within the last few years Dennis Beck has joined Mr. Stanley in this specialized business. My lady must have her fur coat so why should not North Read- ing make a profit on her vanity?
During the course of the years there have been a few items of a purely business nature that are worthy of mention. The old town records, for instance, state that in 1677. John Upton was granted the right to have a saw mill on the Ipswich River. This mill was placed down near what is now the Middleton line and near that spot where there has been a small business of some sort ever since. At first it was a saw mill, then a grist mill, later still there was a paper mill. Now the site and the water rights are owned and used by the Boston Blacking Co. or the B. B. Chemical Co. which is engaged in making some of the minor articles used in the war effort, but ordinarily shoe blacking and cements of all kinds.
Previous to the granting of this right to John Upton, there was another grist mill and saw mill farther up the river, at what was called Pudding Point, or Lob's Pond. Later there was another grist mill and saw mill on the river at the center of the town. For many years this mill did a thriving business. Later O. P. Simon added a box-factory. But with the denuding of the hills of timber, and the establishing of the large, mid-western flower mills this mill ceased to operate. At the present time there are two or three small-time saw mills doing a part-time business of sawing into lumber the few pine trees that have grown since the hey-day of the lumber busi- ness. No longer do these small mills depend on either steam or water power. With the discarded engine of some old automobile the owners of these modern mills are able to saw a number of thousand board feet during the winter season. Each year there are a few hundred cords of wood cut, but this is nothing to what it was in the days when Parson Putnam was allowed from thirty to sixty cords of wood for the parsonage use. Coal, coke and oil are the prevailing fuels of the present time, but at the moment they are all "rationed" and are hard to secure. So our steam and water
[ 7] ]
and hot air furnaces are somewhat restricted. Even the kitchen stove that uses kerosene is limited. The only unrestricted stoves are the few electric ranges and that is because there are so few of them.
North Reading once had a large number of land holders who dealt in wood in a small way. The old treasurer's book contains the names of all those who furnished wood for the school houses, and earlier still, each rate payer who was to furnish his quota of wood for the church and parsonage. Sometimes those that were more enterprising hauled wood to Salem and Charlestown. During the Revolutionary days it was the duty of the town to furnish wood in order to keep the camp fires burning at Cambridge and Charlestown. During the days of the apprenticeship of Asa Sheldon, the first years of the nineteenth century, one of his winter-time chores was hauling wood from the Parker farm to Salem. But apparently the first one to make a business of dealing in wood was Alanson A. Upton. Later when the use of coal became more popular he added this to his list of commodities. At his death the business passed on to his son, Wallace. Later still it came into the hands of his grandson, who combined with L. C. Monroe. Previous to this time Mr. Monroe had been in the retail meat business. Then in 1917 the Upton interests were bought out and since then the Monroe Fuel Company has continued to do business subject to the present government restrictions. To meet the growing demand for kerosene and fuel oil Richard Monroe started an oil business in conjunc- tion with his father's coal business. He, too, is carrying on, subject to the curtailments of the present emergency.
From the very first there were those in North Reading who made shoes. Someone had to make the family shoes as well as to weave and make the family clothes. The shoe business, however, became specialized sooner than did the clothing business. During the first half of the nine- teenth century there developed in the three parishes of Reading a consid- erable business in boots and shoes. This was one of those household indus- tries called, in more modern times, sweat-shop labor. But our fathers did not mind a little perspiration and an extra long hour or two. The work was done in the front room of the house, or later, in a little out-building made for the purpose. There are still a number of these small buildings here and there in the town. By the year 1844 when the Two Hundredth Anni- versary of the founding of the town was celebrated there was $50,000.00 worth of business done in these small shops and front rooms. Then came the Civil War and later the era of power machinery to make unprofitable this private industry.
One of the inhabitants of North Reading a little more enterprising than the others in the shoe business was Samuel E. Abbott, who returned in 1842 from a five-year sojourn as a blacksmith in Charlestown, Massa- chusetts to establish, in conjunction with his brother, a small shoe business.
[ 72 ]
At first the work was done in a small ell extending out from the kitchen of the home located near the Simonds Mill and across the square from the present Abbott Shoe Co. The business prospered and the brothers' inter- ests were bought. By 1855 there were 144 men and 190 women doing work on shoes. Later the business came into the hands of the son, G. M. Abbott, and a small factory was built. Then in 1919 the Abbott Shoe Co. was incorporated and two years later the factory was enlarged. By 1926 all
THE OLD-TIME SHOE SHOP
the Abbott interests had passed into other hands, but the factory continues to do a considerable volume of business. Last year, in spite of labor short- age, the amount was in the neighborhood of $200,000.00.
That same report of 1844, mentioned above, states that there was $3,000.00 worth of business done in cabinet making. This was in a small factory owned and operated by William Whittredge on Chestnut Street. Many bureaus and chests were made in this small shop, but a number of years ago the building was destroyed by fire and was never rebuilt. There were also listed in that same report three blacksmith shops, where the oxen and the horses were shod, and other iron mongers' work done. Now these have given place to the garages where engines are overhauled, carbu- retors adjusted and tires patched. There are some half dozen of these doing a thriving business, due to the fact that during the war emergency it is
[ 73 ]
impossible to buy a new car. Just now the town's thousand odd automo- biles are fast wearing out and the ones who depend on them for transpor- tation, to and from work, are beginning to worry a bit.
Not quite all of the old blacksmith shops were transformed into garages. The one in the center of town was bought out by J. B. McLane and when business began to slacken he transformed it into a carriage shop. A little later James E. Turner bought out the Howard Woodworking establishment. The two were close neighbors, so much of the woodwork for the wagons was done in the Turner factory and the iron work and the finishing in the McLane shop. Many wagons of various types were turned
NORTH READING POST OFFICE
out. Mr. McLane however, specialized in such vehicles as ice wagons and dump carts. Later, fire destroyed the McLane plant and his interests were bought out by Mr. Turner. Then the coming of the automotive truck necessitated changes in the wagon business. Under the management of Roy W. Turner the old factory is doing a thriving business in building and repairing truck bodies.
From time to time there have been various small businesses that have continued for a time and then ceased with the death of the one starting them. Albert H. Holt made money catching and marketing wild pigeons. In 1870 A. M. Cadwell made stereopticon cabinets and other small articles in a little building just back of his home on Park Street, the house now
[ 74 ]
owned by Frank W. Birkmaier. Mr. Cadwell was also somewhat of a hypnotist and went about giving exhibitions in the various "opera houses." At about the same time this cabinet business was carried on, Mr. Edward Batchelder was making black bow ties and black string ties at his home on Park Street. Just recently Mr. A. E. Furze bought a home on Haverhill Street and is using one of the old, private shoe manufacturing buildings as a place for making enamel wear jewelry and other small articles of adornment. On the old Root farm the Eisenhaure brothers have estab- lished a market garden where sweet peas, tomatoes and cucumbers are raised under glass. Now they do a considerable business.
In the old days the town taverns sold groceries and spices as well as rum. By 1844 the rum business had for the most part been given up, but there remained in town five stores selling groceries, notions and hard- ware. Now the old fashioned country stores are gone, the taverns are no more, and there remains some half dozen small grocery stores. In normal times these are not patronized as much as they might be, for the local residents seem to prefer driving to Wakefield or Reading where there is a wider selection and mayhap a slightly lower price. Mr. A. L. Pennell, Mr. Herbert Wilson and Miss Molly Ryer are in business at the center. Within the year Mr. Norman W. Darling has been instrumental in start- ing a co-operative venture, where the shareholders, at the end of the year, are entitled to a rebate corresponding to the amount purchased and the net profits of the year.
It is interesting to compare the modern store with those of some years ago. There is still in existence one of the old account books kept by Fuller and Batchelder in 1827. There were such items as soft soap, spices and even rum listed in the book. And the prices almost make one laugh and cry by turns-meat from five to fifteen cents per pound and other things accordingly. Even at a much later date when Carpenter and French estab- lished a store in 1886, and A. F. Upton was doing business the prices were much less than in these modern days of inflation. But then a man filed a saw for fifteen cents and worked a whole day for fifty cents or less, so perhaps there are compensations. Meat may be fifty cents a pound, but our war workers get from seventy-five cents to one dollar and a half per hour, with time and a half for overtime.
The old taverns passed and there was scarcely a place where one could get a night's lodging, except at the poor farm. This situation was remedied slightly when Mr. and Mrs. Hovey D. Eaton began to take in boarders. This was before and during the first World War, then after the war an addition was built onto their home in order to better accommodate the workers at the shoe factory and the school teachers. Now the Eaton Inn, as the teachers preferred to call it, is devoted almost exclusively to keeping the teachers of our school.
[ 75 ]
Rum and grogg were dispensed in "ye old time tavern," and there was a time when the grocery store dispensed liquors. Even the town in 1863 tried its hand at the liquor business, but this was not very profitable. Later the Woman's Christian Temperance Union got under way and there was no liquor sold in North Reading. With the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment to the national constitution the regular sale of all beverages, of more than one-half of one percent alcoholic content, ceased. There was,
THE OLD DAMON TAVERN, BUILT IN 1812
however, much illegal sale of which the town had its share. Then came the election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt as President of the United States and the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment. Then one election day when the forces opposed to licensed sale of liquors were off their guard, the town voted "license." Now we have eleven places dispensing wet goods -two selling bottled liquors and nine selling it over the bar or with meals served on the premises. These places are all along the highway leading from Boston to Lawrence and Haverhill. Just now they seem quite attrac- tive to those in other towns that have voted "no license." And even though liquors, because of the war, are not so plentiful there is a considerable volume of business done on Main Street.
One of the institutions of which the town is justly proud is the North Reading State Sanatorium, located in the northwesterly part of the town. It is one of the four state sanatoria, built and maintained by the Common-
[ 76 ]
wealth of Massachusetts for the treatment of tuberculosis. In 1907 the State Commission on Hospitals. for consumptives looked about for suitable locations for these institutions. On that board was Dr. John H. Nichols, superintendent of the State Infirmary, who frequently drove his horse and buggy from his home in Danvers to the state institution in Tewksbury. He was always attracted by a certain spot on Lowell Road, so when the final selection of a location came up he was able to swing the committee to his way of thinking. Thus North Reading became the location for the new hospital.
During the term of Lieutenant Governor Draper, who was the acting governor, plans were drawn up and accepted by the Council. The con- tract was let by Hardy and Cole of Andover, who completed the work by July 1, 1909, at a cost of $54,101. At the monthly meeting of the Com- mittee on Hospitals for Consumptives, September 21, 1909, it was voted to inform the governor that the buildings were ready to receive patients. The next day Governor Draper issued a formal proclamation opening the sanatorium and appointing Dr. Emerson as superintendent, with Dr. Carl C. MacCorison as assistant. Immediately a staff of physicians and other employees were assembled and notices sent to those patients who were on the waiting list. On the first day of October they began to arrive at the Sanatorium. The building accommodated one hundred and fifty, but by the addition of tents this number was increased to one hundred and sixty, all adults.
For two years Dr. Emerson directed affairs and then he resigned and Dr. MacCorison was appointed in his place. Due to the excellent leader- ship and guidance of this latter man, who still serves, much of the devel- opment of the institution is to be attributed. During 1925 and 1926 in accordance with Dr. Henry Chadwick's so-called "ten-year program" the policy of the North Reading institution was changed. Instead of receiving adults as patients it began to take in children. This necessitated the read- justment of many of the departments, the providing of playground equip- ment, and a school system. The first children arrived in November of 1926 and they kept on coming until there were one hundred and eighty- three of them. This number kept increasing so that by the time 1934 rolled around there was an average of two hundred and seventy-seven patients being cared for daily. Since then there has been a gradual decline in the number, due, it is said, to war-time conditions rather than to a conquering of the tubercular bacillus.
It can be said, however, that a great deal of progress has been made in the treatment of this disease. Through the educational influence of our sanatoriums people generally have been more health conscious, and the results are plainly evident. The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, in one of its statistical bulletins, recently presented the following facts: In
[ 77 ]
1900 the death rate from tuberculosis stood at nearly two hundred per hundred thousand population. In 1942 this figure had been lowered to forty per hundred thousand. Thus it would seem that with hospitalization and proper care the White Plague can be controlled if not eliminated. With fresh air, sanitary conditions, and good, wholesome food the North Reading sanatorium has done much to help in this great movement. Occa- sionally it is necessary to collapse the lungs in order to give nature a chance to repair the damage, but most of the work is still accomplished by the use of the simpler methods.
In keeping with the trend of the times North Reading has a Water Department. There are no wells or reservoirs, because the town finds it more convenient to buy its water from the town of Wilmington. From the standpipe on the hill, each house, except some of those in the new allotments, is supplied with running water and there are hydrants along the streets for the benefit of the Fire Department. The electric current for our street lights and for the illumination of our homes comes from the wires of the Reading Municipal Lighting Co. Telephone service is sup- plied by the Bell Telephone Co. that has a switchboard in the home of Mr. Harold J. Conron. Perhaps in the not too distant future there will be introduced one of the automatic dialing systems, to take the place of the switch operators who make all connections.
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.