History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 214

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1576

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 214

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A proposition for a branch road to Gardner from Ashburnham was rejected with emphatic protest, and an accompanying declaration, that if a branch could be laid to Gardner, the main line could as well go there. And on the basis of the survey for the branch road, the Gardner committee and their allies con- vinced the Legislature of 1846 that their claim for the main line was reasonable and right, which resulted in the passage of an act on the 16th of April, re-locating the road in accordance with their wishes as follows: "Commencing at some convenient point in Westmin- ster westward of Whitman's Village, or in Gardner, or in Ashburnham, and thence through the town of Gardner to the valley of Otter River, and thence, by such a line as shall be found most feasible, through Templeton to a point in their chartered line between Gibson's mill and the village of South Royalston." This was substantially where the road now runs and where the interest and convenience of the community are well served. Bnt, although signally defeated by the skill, energy and tireless vigilance of those whom the town appointed to care for its interests in the affair and secure justice to the town and to those. in- dividuals who in good faith had, under the original representations, subscribed to the funds of the corpo- ration, yet it would seem as if even then the opposi- tion did not entirely abandon their former purpose of running the main road through Winchendon and of making the Gardner line ultimately a subordinate branch. No other supposition has been suggested to account for the adoption of what the author of the " History of Gardner " calls "that bewildering

anomaly in railroad traveling "-the reversal of the engine and the turning of the seats of the passengers at South Ashburnham, which was in vogue for many years. The change in that regard enabling the trains to run by direct movement there as elsewhere, settles finally and forever the question of the permanent location of the road, and secures to Gardner for all time to come, no doubt, those railroad facilities east- ward and westward which it not only needed, but was justly entitled to by every consideration of equity and the public welfare.

This railroad beyond all question has contributed largely to the development of the resources of the town and to the building up of its various manufac- turing establishments, as the town in turn has done much by its rapidly increasing traffic to promote the prosperity of the road. The advantages derived from it have been greatly increased since it came into the hands of the " Fitchburg " corporation, and its ser- vice in every department is constantly becoming more effective and satisfactory. The recent abolition of several grade-crossings in the town has conduced to the common safety in a way which might be wisely applied to other places of danger, especially in the more densely populated localities. A spur-track up the valley of the Crystal Lake stream, built in 1881, adds materially to the convenience and value of the manufactories which line the route. In the construc- tion of this spur, the interested parties were at the expense of the grading, while the railroad company laid the rails and furnished the rolling-stock. Under the present management of the road increased facili- ties and accommodations are supplied to meet the re- quirements of the business public and to minister to the comfort of travelers. A new Union Station, already in contemplation, will be another step in the right direction, and will secure the appreciation and grateful approval of the public.

But, although the construction of the Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad was of great service to the town of Gardner, yet it did not meet all the demands of the community in the matter of convenient and rapid transportation. An outlet southward became, after a while, an important consideration, not only for the advantage it would be to the business interests of the place, but as opening easy and ready commn- nication with Worcester, the shire-town of the county, with which its people were somewhat intimately as- sociated in many ways and becoming more and more so every passing year.

To satisfy this growing want, some of the leading citizens of Gardner united with those of other towns along the route in petitioning for a new railroad, to be called the Boston, Barre and Gardner Road. Some time previous to this movement, in April, 1847, a charter had been granted for a road from Worcester to Barre, to be called the Worcester and Barre Rail- road. It provided for a main line between the ter- mini named and for a branch therefrom to some

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

convenient point on the Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad in Gardner. The following year the name was changed to the Boston, Barre and Gardner Rail- road. For good reasons nothing was done towards building this road for twenty years, the time for its construction being extended at different dates and some changes in its location made by special legisla- tive enactment.

At length, in July, 1869, certain Worcester gentle- men, becoming deeply interested in the undertaking, authority was obtained from the General Court for the city of Worcester and towns along the line of the road to take stock in it, which gave new heart to its friends and new impetus toward its construction. Wor- cester subscribed liberally, as did Gardner and other towns, and private capitalists also helped in a similar way. By this action success was assured to the road, and measures were at once taken to carry the desires of those concerned in it into effect. Hence, on the 15th of the following September, the directors of the cor- poration voted to put that portion of the road lying between Worcester and Gardner under contract for construction at the earliest possible date, and two months later, terms were concluded with Messrs. Cook & Co., of Canada, in accordance therewith. Work was at once begun and pushed forward with energy and zeal under the general supervision of the efficient presi- dent, Colonel Ivers Phillips, of Worcester. On the 26th of April following, that gentleman drove the first spike in the laying of the rails at Gardner, and on the 4th of July of the same year (1870), an excur- sion train from Worcester to Gardner passed over the road, though it was not until several weeks after- ward that it was formally opened for regular traffic. It proved to be of great convenience and value to the town, but, like roads similarly situated elsewhere, was obliged to struggle on by varying fortunes for many years, on account of financial limitations and other unpropitious circumstances.

Meanwhile the fact that immense quantities of lum- ber for manufacturing purposes were brought into town from the still extensive forest regions of New Hampshire, Vermont and Canada, created a need for better means of transportation in that direction, which the public recognized more and more, as the indus- trial interests of the community increased. Conse- quently a project was started in 1868 or '69-even be- fore the opening of the Worcester road-looking to the extension of that road to Winchendon, which would give the facilities required. In furtherance of that project, a petition was forwarded to the General Court asking for such an extension under the name of the Gardner & Winchendon Railroad. Inasmuch as the enterprising citizens of the two towns interested had already pledged funds for the building of the road, it was confidently anticipated that a charter, in response to the prayer of the petitioners, would be granted without delay. But much to the surprise, annoyance and indignation of all interested parties, a

vast amount of opposition to the enterprise was de- veloped, in which the Vermont and Massachusetts, the Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg, the Nashua and Worcester and the Worcester and Providence Cor- porations were notably active, using all possible monetary and other influence to prevent the accom- plishment of the object desired. This opposition prevailed temporarily, necessitating a vigorous fight of three years' duration, when, as in the case of the Vermont and Massachusetts road twenty years before, Gardner conquered and the act of incorporation asked for was granted by the Legislature in February, 1872. In due time the location of the road was fixed and a contract for its construction was made with Mr. B. N. Farren, of Greenfield, who began work upon it in December following. In less than a year the last rail connecting the Boston, Barre & Gardner road with the Cheshire was laid, and on Thanksgiving Day, November 27, 1873, a train from Worcester, convey- ing the officers of the corporation and the mayor and other gentlemen of that city to Winchendon, arrived there in season for a substantial dinner at the Ameri- can House. The road was opened for regular busi- ness two months afterward, February 2, 1874. Thus, in spite of all opposition, was consummated an under- taking which was of vast importance, both to the Boston, Barre & Gardner Railroad corporation and to the industrial prosperity of Gardner for all time to come. The road as completed was made especially conducive to the town's welfare, by furnishing the leading manufactory of the place with direct facilities for transportation, and, by laying spurs of track. for the accommodation of other establishments. Strug. gling on for a series of years under difficulties already referred to, it was at length delivered from its many embarrassments by an arrangement with the Fitch- burg corporation, according to the terms of which its entire management was tranferred to that body, which had previously secured control of the Vermont and Massachusetts road, so that at the present time all the railroad interests of Gardner are under the man- agement of the Fitchburg Company, in which the citizens of the town are well represented. The present railroad system of the place, reaching out to the four cardinal points of the compass, and furnishing ready and easy communication with all parts of the country, and with all the markets of the world, seems to meet the essential needs of the people at large, and is highly satisfactory. A common station for both roads at the point of crossing, commodious and attrac- tive, suited to the size of the town, the extent of busi- ness done and the style of public and private buildings in the place is an already existing need, and one which will undoubtedly be met at an early day:

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GARDNER.

CHAPTER CXII. GARDNER-(Continued.)

INDUSTRIAL INTERESTS.

AT the outset the inhabitants of Gardner were, by the very necessities of the case, tillers of the soil. Indeed, one of the leading objects in locating upon its territory was to obtain a livelihood-an adequate supply of the necessaries of life for themselves and their households. And this was to be done by none of the modern methods of the industrial and business world, but by making levies, in good, primitive fash- ion, upon the products of the earth, to be obtained by earnest, honest and persevering work .. It was each man's business, after making a clearing in the wilderness, and providing some sort of shelter for himself and his dependents, to break the sod and plant the seed of hoped-for harvests. So it was the town entered upon its career, beginning at the bottom and building up by slow but sure processes to larger and to better things.

Most of these early settlers, in addition to their knowledge of agriculture, which was, of course, crude and limited, knew something of the use of such tools as were employed in the more essential trades, and were able to build their own rude dwel- lings, the cabin or log-house, and also whatever other structures they might need, together with many of the implements of husbandry. Time and necessity developed latent skill in various kinds of useful handicraft ; and some there were who, to their acquire- ments and toil as husbandmen, added, for their own and their neighbors' benefit, some special trade or branch of industry. Joseph Bacon, for instance, was a leading carpenter, and Andrew Beard and Timothy Kneeland pursued to some extent the same useful avocation. Seth Heywood, David Nichols and Jude Sawyer were blacksmiths; Jonathan Bancroft was a shoemaker, and no doubt "whipped the cat," as did others of that craft since that day. Gideon Fisher had the reputation of being "a mighty hunter," though to what profit to himself or others does not appear ; and John Glazier, Jonathan Greenwood and Captain Elisha Jackson each kept an " ordinary," or public-house. Moreover, the first minister of the town, Rev. Jonathan Osgood, was a tanner by trade, though he probably never pursued that calling after coming to Gardner, except in a metaphorical sense. Albeit, like many another clergyman of days gone by, he was something of a farmer, and, moreover, a phy- sician of acknowledged ability-withal, a man of many gifts.

For full fifty years farming was the principal occu- pation of the people of Gardner. Fathers trained their sons to the arts of the husbandman, and the sons, true to their training, succeeded to their father's calling and estate, each man's landed property usually going

to his children. Mothers trained their daughters to be farmers' wives, and farmers' wives they usually be- came, By this honorable and honest vocation two generations of the first settlers of the town not only gained an adequate livelihood, but secured for them- selves a competency, with provision, with rare excep- tions, for misfortune and advancing years. Though the soil cannot be regarded as specially favorable to agricultural pursuits, yet it has always yielded fair re- turns for wise investments made, supplying many a household with the more substantial necessaries of life from the beginning and furnishing something for the growing home and outside markets with the flight of time. And while the farming interest of the town has relatively declined during the last half-century, yet it still, under the shadow of the more prosperous and imposing manufacturing and commercial activi- ties, maintains a respectable place in the catalogue of industries, some of the more substantial and thrifty citi- zens being followers of the plow and keepers of flocks and herds. The demand which the constantly in- creasing population engaged in various kinds of manufacturing makes upon the tiller of the soil for all sorts of fresh produce is an ever-present stimulns to the farmer, and that he is by no means indifferent to it is sufficiently attested by the improvements con- tinually going on in his department of the general industrial hive. To show what is being accomplished iu his behalf, a few quotations are made from the last census reports sent to the Secretary of State, accord- ing to the requirements of the statutes of the Com- monwealth. They relate to the year 1885, and are as follows, to wit : Number of farm-houses in Gardner 72; number of farm barns, 77; other farm buildings, 27. Estimated value of property invested in farming, $378,948. Valuation of land devoted to farming, $223,618; of buildings, $102,670; of tools and ma- chinery, $13,893; of domestic animals, $33,499; of fruit trees, $5,268. Value of agricultural productions for the year, 892,476. Eighty-nine farms are owned by the men who work them and one is hired. The whole number of men engaged in farming is one hundred and eighty-five.

COOPERING .- A considerable number of the people in Gardner at an early day supplemented their farm- ing operations by the manufacture of tubs, barrels, pails and other kinds of wooden-ware of the same general sort, engaging in such work in the winter- time and at other seasons of the year when the weather was unsuitable for out door labor. After awhile this came to be in some instances the leading or perhaps the sole occupation, the call for such goods increasing as the town and country round about became more densely settled and householders more able to supply themselves with these conveniences of domestic life, or as the demands of the general market multiplied. Among those who carried on a considerable business in this line of production fifty or seventy-five years ago were Liberty Partridge, George Baker, Alvin

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Greenwood, Robert Powers, Benjamin Kendall, Lewis Glazier, Smyrna Glazier, John Dyer, Hubbard Duns- ter, Walter Greenwood and others. The work was all performed by manual labor without the aid of any machinery, save only perhaps some very simple kinds that could be propelled by hand or foot-power. With the invention of mechanical devices, by which the same kind of goods could be produced much more easily and rapidly by water or other power, first introduced some sixty years ago, this sort of craft fell into disuse, and "coopering," as it was termed, existed only as a memery of bygone days.

POTASH-MAKING .- In clearing up the lands of the new settlements of this region of country considerable quantities of wood, which otherwise would have been of no account, were utilized and made a source of income by the manufacture of potash, for which there seems to have been a considerable demand at the time. A shop in which this article of commerce was produced ouce stood upon ground now covered hy the extensive chair factory of the late S. K. Pierce & Co., owned and probably carried on by the William Bick- fords- father and son-who had large tracts of the primitive forest in their possession. A similar estab- lishment also occupied the site of the First National Bank. By whom this was conducted has not been definitely ascertained, but it seems likely to have been built and owned by John Glazier, who resided in the house which is now the dwelling of William Austin, and who was a large land-holder in his day. There were, without doubt, others in the early times, but no memorials of them have been found.

TANNERIES .- About the beginning of the present century there was a tan-yard located on the flat land directly below the lumber-mill of Lewis A. Wright & Co., owned by John and Isaac Nichols, sons of David Nichols, one of the first settlers on the Gardner territory. It passed from their hands into that of their brother, Asa, who sold it in 1811 to Joseph Sweetser, of Watertown, and he, in turn, to George Scott. Mr. Scott was the last one engaged in the business in that locality, and is remembered by the older inhabitants. A tannery once existed di- rectly below the old Bickford Mill[(now James Saw- yer's), the vats of which could be recognized not many years since, but by whom it was run has not been ascertained. At a more recent date a Mr. Blaney carried on the same business on the west side of Green Street, just above the Elijah Brick place, the location of the vats being still plainly marked and readily recognized.

NAIL-MAKING .- In the year 1808 Ahram G. Park- er, of Westminster, and Francis Hill and David Perley, of Gardner, formed a co-partnership for the purpose of manufacturing nails and doing other kinds of iron work. They purchased the mill privi- lege now occupied by Wright & Read, built a dam and erected a factory, in which they placed machin- ery suited to their purpose, carrying on the business

for several years. After some changes in the man- agement, the property was disposed of, and the building was converted into a fulling and carding- mill, as will presently appear. Allusion has already been made to several blacksmiths in town during the first years of its history. It is proper to note the fact that at that period the making of nails was an important department of that trade, little or no ma- chinery having been introduced or invented even for the production of that highly useful article.

THE MANUFACTURE OF CLOTH .- A very impor- tant industry of the first half-century of the history of Gardner, and one deserving a place in this re- view, was the production of cloth for domestic uses aud to meet to a limited extent such demands as might come from the neighborhood and the com- munity at large. Most of the goods from which the clothing of both men and women, as well as chil- dren, was cut, were not only home spun, but home- woven, as the garments themselves were home-made. The farmers, as a rule, kept sheep, and grew their own wool, at least enough for the needs of the family, which was in time carded, spun and woven by members of the household, and made ready for any service to which it might be devoted. The card- boards, the spinning-wheel and the loom were as es- sential articles of household furniture and imple- ments of household use as were the plough, the hoe and the scythe for the proper equipment of the farm and tillage of the soil. And the wives and daugh- ters were as familiar with the former and as skillful in operating them as were the fathers and sons the latter. Little time for idle hands, either within or without the dwelling, was there in those days, when the grandparents of the present generation were do- ing their best to keep the wolf from the door, to pro- vide shelter, food and raiment for themselves and their children, and to guarantee themselves and theirs against any and every contingency of coming need,-laying in that way the foundations of a pros- perity for their town, in which those coming after them to their latest posterity might rejoice.

FULLING AND CARDING-MILLS .- After the abau- donment of the iron-works mentioned above, the building in which they were carried on was fitted up with machinery for cleansing and finishing the cloth produced in the homes rouud about, giving it, by what was termed the process of "fulling," greater compactness of texture, which rendered it more ser- viceable and more pleasing to the eye. After a time also a machine for carding wool was introduced, which greatly facilitated the process and relieved the house- hold of a large amount of difficult and tiresome work. This mill was run until about the year 1829 by Colonel Ephraim Williams, who then disposed of his interest in it, and the building was converted into a shop for the manufacture of pine furniture, as will be duly set forth hereafter. In 1822 John Merriam having pur- chased the Caleb Jackson farm, lying on both sides of

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what is Winter Street, with the adjacent mill privi- lege, now utilized by S. Bent, Bros. & Co., erected a mill for fulling purposes, which he afterwards enlarged sufficiently to enable him to put in a carding-ma- chine to run in connection with the other business. The mill was used for the purposes indicated for about a dozen years, when Mr. Merriam left town. In 1836 it was purchased by Sullivan Sawin and has been de- voted to the manufacture of chairs from that date.

CARD-BOARD MAKING .- The business of getting out boards to which cards were applied for purposes of hand-carding was carried on to quite an extent for a time in the history of the town. A shop devoted to this use belonging to Josiah Wilder, Jr., situated on the Knowlton place, in the north part of the town, was destroyed by fire in 1813. One Aaron Conant had a manufactory in the east part of the town. And as an adjunct to this industry Joseph Wright was engaged for awhile in getting out handles for such boards. The articles produced were readily disposed of at Leicester, where they were finished and made ready for the market.

PINE FURNITURE .- The building standing on the site now occupied by Wright & Reed's chair factory, and used for many years as a fulling and clothing shop, was afterwards bought by Daniel J. Goodspeed, who began the manufacture of toilet tables and wash- stands, with other articles of pine furniture. In 1846 the factory was burned, but immediately rebuilt and work resumed. Afterward Mr. Goodspeed left this lo- cality and engaged in chair-making at the Henry Whitney Mill, the site of which is now occupied by the Howe Bros.' grist-mill, where he, some years later, was again burned out. Meanwhile a Mr. Baker associated with himself Lewis H. Bradford and the making of pine furniture was continued at the old stand, the firm bearing the name of Bradford & Baker. They went on for a few years, when the busi- ness was given up altogether.

TUBS AND PAILS .- One of the oldest existing in- dustries of the town, and one which has been prose- cuted with the fewest changes of any sort, is the manufacture of tubs and pails, now going on under the direction of Alfred Wyman, step-son of the late Amasa Bancroft, by whom it was represented for more than a half a century. It was established about the year 1832 by R. Heywood Sawin and his brother-in-law, John Damon, who had been previ- ously engaged in getting out chair stock and in chair- making at the old Joshua Whitney Mill site, known in later years as the Pail Factory. A saw-mill was erected at this spot soon after the town was incorpo- rated, or possibly before, by Mr. Whitney, who settled near by in 1778, or thereabouts, and who owned con- siderable land in the vicinity. From Joshua Whit- ney it passed into the hands of his son Joseph, who, in the year 1822 or 1823, sold it to his brother-in-law, Luke Sawin. In 1824, Luke sold to his kinsman, Sullivan Sawin, of Westminster, who in the year 1826

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 214

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1576

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1576