History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 168

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1464

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II > Part 168

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April 22, 1846, the Spy states that the canal com- pany had sold all that portion of the canal in Massa- chusetts, with all the privileges and franchises, ex- cept the reservoirs, for the sum of twenty-two thon- sand five hundred dollars to the Providence and Wor- cester Railroad Company, and April 25, 1849, the locks, boats and water-rights were advertised for sale. The last toll was collected November 9, 1848, but meantime more efficient means of communication be- tween the sea-board and Worcester was afforded by the railroads.

In March, 1831, subscription books were to be found at the banks, where those who wished could

1 " History of the Blackstone Canal," by Colonel I. Plummer.

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subscribe to the stock for a railroad from Boston to Worcester.

The Boston and Worcester Railroad Company was chartered June 23, 1831, to build a line from Boston to Worcester,-a distance of forty-four miles. A train was run through to Worcester July 4th; but it was not until July 6, 1835, that the road was for- mally opened, although the cars had, for some time previous, been running from Boston to Westboro', and, as early as April 16, 1834, to Newton. The train of July 6th to Worcester consisted of twelve cars drawn by two locomotives, and contained the president, directors, stockholders and invited guests to the number of about three hundred.

The train, which left Boston at a quarter before ten, arrived in Worcester at about one o'clock. It was met by a committee, of which Charles Allen was chairman ; a procession was formed under the direc- tion of General Nathan Heard, and proceeded to the Town Hall, where a collation was served and speeches made. At four o'clock the train started on the re- turn trip to Boston.

At the Insane Asylum, when the first locomotive passed, one of the inmates remarked: "Well, that beats the very devil; I never before saw a critter go so fast with such short legs !"

In 'April, 1836, the business of the Boston and Worcester Railroad Company was said to have been more than double the amount of that of the corre- sponding time of the year preceding ; passenger cars were well patronized, and there was more freight than the company was prepared to care for. During the first five months of 1837 the receipts were twenty- six thousand dollars more than during the same pe- riod in 1836, and continued to show a steady in- crease.

The Western Railroad Company was chartered February 15, 1833, to construct a line from the ter- minus of the Boston and Worcester Railroad to Springfield, and thence to the western boundary of the State. A mass-meeting was held in Faneuil Hall, Boston, October 7, 1835, to take measures to ensure the subscription to the capital stock of $2,000,000. This was accomplished, and the follow- ing winter the Legislature anthorized a subscription of $1,000,000 in behalf of the State, making the capi- tal stock $3,000,000. At this meeting Edward Ever- ett made a speech, in which he insisted upon the importance to Massachusetts of "Communication with the West."

Trains commenced their regular trips between Springfield and Worcester October 1, 1839. The time occupied in making the journey was about three hours. A public dinner was given in Spring- field in honor of the opening of the road, October 3, 1839, on which occasion Edward Everett said :

Let us contemplate the entire railroad, with its cars and engines, as one vast machine. What a portent of art! Its fixed portion one hun-

dred miles long ; ite movable portion flying across the State like a weaver'e shuttle. By the seaside in the morning, here at noon ; and back in the compass of an autumnal day. And the power which puts all in motion, most wondrous, a few buckets of water ! . . . Did we live in a poetic age, we have now reached the region where the genius of steam communication would he personified and embodied. Here we should be taught to behold him a titanic colossus of iron and of brass, instinct with elemental life and power, with a glowing furnace for his lunge and streams of fire and smoke for the breath of his nostrils ! With ono band he collects the furs of the arctic circle, with the other be smites the forests of Western Pennsylvania. He plants his right foot before the source of the Missouri and his left on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, and gathers in his hosom the overflowing abundance of the fairest and richest valley on which the circling eun looks down.

September 14, 1867, the two Massachusetts corpo- rations were consolidated under the name of the Bos- ton and Albany Railroad Company, and on December 28, 1870, a further consolidation was effected with the New York roads, thus forming the present organiza- tion.

The Norwich and Worcester Railroad Company was chartered in March, 1833. The first meeting of the company was held at Webster July 1, 1835. The length of the routes surveyed was a little short of sixty miles, and passed through thriving villages, while upon the banks of the adjacent streams there was said to be water-power sufficient to carry one million spindles ; the number of cotton-mills was seventy-five and of woolen-mills twenty-seven, exclusive of Wor- cester and New London. There were said to be one hundred and forty manufacturing establishments be- tween Norwich and Worcester, within five miles of the road. Though fifteen miles longer than the Bos- ton and Worcester Railroad, it was estimated it would cost five hundred thousand dollars less. Regular trips between Worcester and New London com- menced March 9, 1840, and the fare to New York by this route was fixed at five dollars.

R. W. Whiting, Nov. 21, 1838, advertises that, hav- ing made arrangements with the Boston and Worces- ter Railroad Co. to occupy a part of a car, to be run with the passenger train to Boston in the morning and back in the afternoon, commencing on Monday, 26th of November, he will take charge of all packages, bundles, etc., which may be entrusted to his care, and will see them safely delivered the same day, and that he will also transact with promptness any other busi- ness committed to his care.

He had an order-box at the Temperance Exchange, Railroad Depot and the American Temperance House, where he could be found after seven in the evening and before seven in the morning.

William F. Harnden has always been credited with being the father of the American Express system. His advertisement is found in the Spy of June 24, 1840, where he announces that the Worcester, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Boston Baggage Express will commence July 1, 1840, running daily, and that he will forward in his express car daily, packages, bundles, etc., to and from each of the above-named places,-to Boston by steamboat-train

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

every morning, and to New York every afternoon at half-past four.

All packages must be marked Harnden's Express, and sent to his office, N. Tead's Hat Store, one door north of the Post-Office, Worcester. Simeon Thompson, agent, Worcester.

W'M. F. HARNDEN, Prop., 8 Court Street, Boston.

S. S. Leonard, in the Spy of August 12, 1840, adver- tises an express between Boston and Worcester.

September 2, 1840, Burke & Co. advertise the New York and Boston Baggage Express, via Norwich and Worcester, run by the subscribers, P. B. Burke & Alvin Adams. Packages to be left at J. B. Tyler's, Worcester.

The question of a railroad between Providence and Worcester, a distance of forty-three miles, was seri- ously discussed as early as 1837, but nothing was done for several years. In August, 1845, the enter- prise came nearly to a stand-still, although eight hun- dred thousand dollars had been subscribed under the Rhode Island charter and one hundred thousand dol- lars under the Massachusetts charter; but the Rhode Island charter required that the whole capital of one million dollars should be taken up before the com- pany could proceed. The amount was finally raised, and a consolidation was effected November 4, 1845, of the Massachusetts and Rhode Island Companies, each of which was chartered in 1844. The main line was opened in October, 1847, when a train, made up of nine covered cars and twelve or thirteen open cars, drawn by three powerful engines, arrived in Worces- ter with twelve hundred passengers from Providence and towns on the line.

The Worcester and Nashua Railroad Company, or- ganized in November, 1846, was a consolidation of a company of the same name, chartered in Massachu- setts March 5, 1845, and the Groton and Nashua Railroad Company, chartered in New Hampshire December 4, 1844. The road was opened from Wor- cester to Nashua, a distance of forty-six miles, De- cember 18, 1848. The Nashua and Rochester Rail- road Company was chartered July 5, 1867, and opened from Rochester to Nashua, a distance of forty-eight miles, November 24, 1874. William A. Wheeler was one of the principal promoters of the Nashua Railroad, and was the superintendent of con- struction.

December I, 1883, the Worcester & Nashua and Rochester Railroads were consolidated under the name of the Worcester, Nashua & Rochester Railroad Company, which company was leased to the Boston & Maine Railroad Company October 30, 1885, for fifty years from January 1, 1886.

The Boston, Barre & Gardner Railroad Company, running from Worcester to Winchendon, a distance of thirty-six miles, was chartered April 24, 1847, as the Barre & Worcester Railroad Company, and April 24, 1857, as the Boston, Barre & Gardner Railroad Company. It was opened to Gardner, September 4,

1871, and to Winchendon, January 4, 1874. It was taken posession of by the Fitchburg Railroad Com. pany March 7, 1885, and merged in the latter com- pany as a branch, July 1, 1885.

It will thus be scen that from an early day Worces- ter had the advantages of the best railroad facilities, and to this, and to the introduction of steam-power, is to be most largely attributed her rapid growth as a manufacturing city. At the present time there is not only direct communication with all points north and south, but there are five outlets and thirteen different lines, more or less, affording direct communication with the West. Edward Everett's wish, so strongly expressed in his speech in Faneuil Hall prior to the opening of the Western Railroad, is most perfectly fulfilled.

In 1823 attention is called to the advantages pos- sessed by Worcester which should make it a large manufacturing centre. Encouragement is found in the fact that towns in the interior of England, with no greater local advantages, have contained from 10,000 to 15,000 inhabitants, and since the introduc- tion of steam-power, a population of from 80,000 to 100,000 has been reached. It was stated that Worces- ter would soon be at the head of canal navigation, and in addition, her " inexhaustible store of anthra- cite coal, well calculated for steam-engines," was referred to as being of the greatest value.

Considerable attention was given in 1823 to the examination of the anthracite coal deposits, which were located northeast of the city, west of Plantation Street, and near its junction with Lincoln Street. now known as the Old Coal Mine.

The coal was said to be of the same variety as the Rhode Island, Schuylkill and Lehigh coal, and was found, according to statements then made, to ignite easier than any of them and to burn longer. Care- ful comparisons were made of the relative value of these different varieties and the result, with a given quantity of each, showed as follows :

Worcester coal lasted five hours; Lehigh, four hours twenty-five minutes; Rhode Island, three hours thirty-six minutes. The thermometer was raised by the Worcester coal to one hundred and seventy-nine degrees ; by the Lehigh, to one hundred and sixty by the Rhode Island, to one hundred and thirty-four

The Worcester coal burned brighter than the oth. ers, and with more flame. It was confidently asserted that when the Blackstone Canal should be completer Worcester coal would be the cheapest fuel for Provi dence; it was estimated, however, that the Worceste coal was more impure than the Lehigh, containing : considerable portion of earthy matter that remained in the form of ashes after burning ; but, in spite o this, it was thought that it would answer a valuabl purpose. Tests were made at the Worcester Brewery which appear to have been satisfactory, for in Febri ary, 1824, application was made to the Genera Court for the incorporation of the Massachusett

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Coal Company, to ascertain the quality and quantity of the coal, and expense of mining and conveying it to market.

For the next two years it appears to have been used as the principal fuel in the brewery of Trumbull & Ward, and was also used in Colonel Gardner Bur- bank's paper-mill. It was found there, that about half of the bulk of the coal remained after the fire subsided, but upon replenishing with new coal it was mostly consumed iu the second burning, and Colonel Burbank found the expense of keeping a fire with this coal to be less than the expense of cutting wood and tending fire, if the wood were delivered at the door free of expense.

In December, 1827, the proprietors of the brewery burned coal taken from the land of William E. Green, which was a little distance from the mine, but appeared to be of a somewhat better quality.

Work at the coal mine must have been prosecuted with some vigor, for in February, 1828, fifteen or twenty young men and a blacksmith were wanted to work there.

In November, 1828, an opening twelve feet wide and eight feet high had been carried into the hill about sixty feet, at a descent of about twenty-five degrees, and a railway was laid, on which the coal was carried from the mine to the place of deposit, in loads of fifteen hundred pounds.

In February, 1829, the Worcester Coal Company was incorporated, and in March, 1829, the Worcester Railway Company, with a capital of fifty thousand dollars, with authority to build a railway from the mine to Lake Quinsigamond and to the Blackstone Canal, but the enterprise appears to have been aban- doned shortly afterwards. The coal was found to be too impure for economical use. It was somewhat humorously said that there was a d- sight more coal after burning than there was before.

Peat was also found in the meadows about Wor- cester. In 1856 it was introduced into the Wire Factory as a substitute for wood and coal ; in three years nearly two thousand cords were used in this way, and it was found that a cord of well-seasoned peat would produce as much heat as a cord of dry oak wood; and a cord and a half of peat would generate as much steam as a ton of anthracite coal.

It was estimated that peat could be used to good advantage for manufacturing purposes at a saving of from thirty-three and one-third to fifty per cent. over any other kind of fuel. It had the remarkable quality of keeping fire a long time, even burning for a week after the fire had gone down. In April, 1856, the Worcester Peat Company was formed, but no business of consequence appears to have been done by it. It was no doubt found that coal was the cheaper fuel.

In June, 1827, Worcester is spoken of as containing " the large paper-mills belonging to Elijah Burbank, five machine shops, at which great quantities of machinery of various kinds are made, one small

Cotton factory, a Lead aqueduct factory and other works of minor note."

Prior to 1813 there was no stage or mail route be- tween Worcester and Providence; in that year, or 1814, it was attempted to run a stage, but the business was only sufficient to support a cheap carriage and two or three horses, and the proprietors abandoned it.

Until 1819 the mail was carried once a week in a one-horse wagon ; an attempt was then made to run a two-horse stage twice each weck, but this did not pay, and was abandoned,

In 1823 a line of stages was started and well pat- ronized.

For a long time the only stages from Worcester were six times each week to Boston, and six times each week to New York.

In 1827 there were eighteen different lines of stages running from Worcester, and the passengers averaged one hundred daily.

CHAPTER CXCIII.

WORCESTER-(Continued.)

MANUFACTURING AND MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES.

Textile Fabrics and Machinery for Making Them-Early Manufacture of Cloth-Condition of Woolen Manufacture-John Goulding-Manufac- ture of Cotton ond Woolen Machinery-Card Clothing-Looms-Cur- pets-Thread.

WE have already noticed that Samuel Brazer in 1790 advertised to sell "corduroys, jeans, fustians, federal rib and cotton," and that at the same time he and Daniel Waldo were proprietors of the Worcester Cotton Manufactory. There was then scarcely any machinery for the manufacture of cloth in America ; it had been introduced into England, but there were severe laws against its exportation to the colonies.

The process of making cloth, as early conducted, was entirely by hand-power. Hand-cards were used for straightening the fibre of the wool or cotton, which was spun by a single spindle driven by a wheel kept in motion by the hand of the operator. The yarn was woven upon hand-looms, and the cloth thus made was sent to the fulling-mill, which was the first branch of the business not conducted in the household.

Fulling-mills were scattered all over the country for the purpose of finishing the cloth made in the farm-houses.

John Earle and Erasmus Jones in 1810 " erected wool-carding machines to pick, break and card wool at the building known as Lincoln's Trip-hammer shop, fifteen rods east of the Court-house."

In 1811 William Hovey, an ingenious mechanic, advertised a new shearing-machine, called the "On- tario Machine," and warned all persons against making or using a machine embodying the principle on which this was constructed, "which covers a

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

spiral revolving shear working against a straight blade or cutter." One of the advantages claimed for this machine was that it could be carried anywhere in a one-horse wagon, and could be operated either by hand or water-power. It was claimed that this machine would facilitate that laborious branch of the business ten-fold.

Hovey constructed another machine in 1812, in which the shears moved across the cloth on the same principle as hand -shears, and he claimed that with this machine he could shear about two hundred yards of broadcloth a day as well as by hand.

In 1814 Jonathan Winslow engaged in the manu- facture of flyers of a superior quality for spinning cotton.

Comb-plates for wool-carding machines were of- fered for sale in 1814 by Daniel Waldo at his store and by Earle & Williams at their shop. At the same time Merrifield & Trowbridge were engaged in making cotton and woolen machinery at the Trow- bridgeville privilege.

The prices generally adopted for wool-carding at this time, in Worcester County, were seven cents per pound for common wool, with an addition of three cents when oil was found by the carders ; twelve and a half cents per pound for carding half-blooded merino, with the like addition for oil; twenty-five cents per pound for carding full-blooded merino, with the like addition.

An improvement. over the ordinary single spindle spinning-wheel is offered by the proprietor, located at Sikes' Tavern, who offers for sale "The Farmer's Spinner," which carries from eight to twelve spin- dles attached to a single spinning-wheel.

As an indication of the improvements being made in the construction of machinery, attention is called in 1822 to the fact that William Hovey is construct- ing cylinders for carding-machines entirely of iron, being cast in four parallel pieces.

Stephen R. Tenney is engaged in building wool- carding, matting, shearing and brushing-machines, in the building formerly occupied by Trowbridge & Merrifield as a cotton factory.

In 1822 Ichabod Washburn manufactured ma- chinery for carding and spinning wool at his shop near Sikes' Inn.

January 1, 1823, Mr. Washburn took into partner- ship Benjamin Goddard (2d), and continued in the same business, to which they added that of card- ing wool, having purchased the machines lately owned by Mr. Calvin Darby.

In June, 1824, Brewster & Fox advertised the best carding-machines and workmen at their establish- ment, one mile south of Worcester Village,-the South Worcester privilege-carding, six cents; oil- ing and carding, seven cents.

The machine-shops, so called, at this time were almost exclusively engaged in the manufacture of cotton and woolen machinery.

William B. Fox, who seems at this time to have separated from his former partner, Mr. Brewster, dresses "Handsome wear" at his cloth-dressing fac- tory, one mile south of Worcester, at twenty cents per yard, " common at sixteen cents."

Sarah Hale, widow of Joshua Hale, offered for sale, March 1, 1826, the factory at New Worcester, consisting of the building "occupied for many years past for the purposes of manufacturing cotton and carding custom wool ; " but not finding a customer, she had the machines put in good order and resumed business.

Simmons & Wilder carded wool and dressed cloth abont two miles south of Worcester Street.

September 13, 1826, William B. Fox moved his wool-carding and cloth-dressing business to the new building erected on the privilege formerly owned by Samuel Flagg, a few rods south of Worcester Village.

The woolen business at this time was in a most de- pressed condition, and was said to be done at a loss, even with the most prudent management. It was feared that the probable stoppage of the mills would be severely felt in the community. A meeting was held abont this time in Boston, and it was decided that it would be advisable to apply to Congress for an increase of duties on imported woolens, or a re- duction of the duty upon wool.

The cotton fabrics made in this country at this time were of excellent quality, and the business was in a much better condition than the woolen business.

A meeting was called in Worcester for Friday, De- cember 1, 1826, at "Stockwell's," to consider the de- pressed state of the woolen manufactures. At that meeting a memorial to Congress was prepared, signed by Emory Washburn, James Woolcott and Major John Brown.

One of the most valnable contributions to the woolen machinery of the world was the endless rolling, or American card, invented in 1826, by John Goulding, a native of Massachusetts, and for many years a me- chanic at Worcester. Previous to the development of this machine the rolls, or rolling issuing from the carding-machine, were limited to the breadth of the card, and the ends of the separate rolls had to be spliced together hy hand process, by a machine called a "billy." Goulding dispensed with the " billy," and, by an ingenious combination of devices, obtained an endless roll, and so perfected his machinery that he could use it successfully from the moment the rolling left the dull end of the first picker until it was con- verted into yarn fit to be manufactured into cloth. This device has been styled the most important ad- vance in the card-wool industry of that early period.1

Some knowledge of the equipment of a woolen- factory at this time may be had from a notice of a sale in June, 1827, at the woolen-factory then lately occu- pied by A. & D. Aldrich, and about one mile south

1 Boston Advertiser, November 3, 1888.

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of New Worcester, at which were to be offered for sale ten satinet-looms, one double carding-machine, one billy, one shearing-machine, one roping-machine, one press, one copper-kettle, one potash-kettle, press- plates.

In February, 1828, William Hovey stated that he is about to stop his manufacture of satinet shearing- machines, but will continue to make broad and cassi- mere shearing-machines with vibrating or revolving- shears, and also metallic grinding-machines for keep- ing the machines in order.

In March, 1830, it was proposed to erect in Wor- cester a patent hemp and flax-machine, and the Worcester Hemp Company offered to furnish seed to the farmers on the following conditions :

The company would furnish seed at the market price for cash, or in payment would take good notes on interest payable in hemp stem at eighteen dollars per ton, gross weight, when the crop was harvested and delivered at the machine, or would furnish the seed and sow on shares. The company offered to pay eighteen dollars per ton gross weight for good hemp stem delivered at the machine cut, or fifteen dollars without.

In March, 1831, Lewis Thayer and George Willey commenced the manufacture of loom-pickers at New Worcester. Lewis Thayer "carded wool at three and a half cents 'per pound and waited one year for his pay."

In August, 1831, Washburn & Goddard sold their business of manufacturing woolen machinery to March, Hobart & Company, composed of Andrew March, George Hobart, Henry Goulding and B. F. Smith. This firm was dissolved in 1832, and was succeeded by Hobart, Goulding & Company, who dissolved March 25, 1832. They manufactured pick- ers, carding-machines, condensers, jacks, etc., also comb-plates, and were succeeded by Goulding & Smith.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 168

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1464

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1464