USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Quincy > History of old Braintree and Quincy : with a sketch of Randolph and Holbrook > Part 48
USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Braintree > History of old Braintree and Quincy : with a sketch of Randolph and Holbrook > Part 48
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In 1813, he connected ship carving with his profession. His master-piece of this kind of work was the large bust of Washington, executed by him in 1816, for the 74-gun ship, Washington. Previously, Mr. Willard had been engaged in his profession at Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. In 1818, Mr. Charles Bulfinch, the architect of the capitol at Washington, engaged Mr. Willard to construct a model of the capitol building.
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503
STONE QUARRYING.
mittee, they made the judicious selection of Mr. Solomon Wil- lard for that purpose, Oct. 31st, 1825. As soon as Mr. Willard had been selected for this important trust, he found that the arduous task of selecting a sufficient amount of appropriate material for its construction devolved upon him. He declared
In addition to many other models of public buildings in various parts of the country, that Mr. Willard was called upon to execute, was the plaster models of the old Roman pantheon and parthenon of exact proportions, which were used by Mr. Edward Everett, in a course of lectures delivered by him in 1821-2. We believe these models are yet to be seen in the basement room of the Boston Athenæum. Mr. Willard was called upon to design and execute work for all the principal buildings in the early part of the present century, in connection with which, he taught at his studio, lessons in architecture; he was also one of the original projectors of the Merchants Institution of Boston in 1826. In 1825, he became a member of the Charitable Mechanic Association. After laying aside the foreplane and broad axe and entering upon the higher branches of mechanical art, architecture, sculpture and modelling, the idea occurred to him that one important matter connected with his profession had been neglected. That was the inadequate and unsatisfactory system that had been adopted for heating large public buildings, and making the better class of dwelling-houses more comfortable in the extreme weather of our winters; upon this idea he went to work and made a model for the construction of an apparatus for producing artificial heat, and ventilating the various apartments of the building. Thus to Mr. Willard belongs the honor of being the first inventor of the Hot Air Fur- nace, upon which he charged no royalty ; if he had, he might have become quite wealthy, as the furnace became popular and was extensively used. The manu- facturer of these furnaces, Mr. Daniel Safford, of Boston, with his assistant workmen was employed night and day in supplying the market. These furnaces were placed in the Old South, St. Paul's, Dr. Lowell's and other churches; also in the United States Capitol at Washington; they were constructed mostly for wood, as fuel. Anthracite coal was little in use at this time, 1823. In 1820, three years previous, only three hundred and sixty-five tons of anthracite coal was used in the whole country.
Improvements have been made in the construction of Hot Air Furnaces. Mr. Willard's furnace to some extent continued to be manufactured up to 1840.
The crowning glory of Mr. Willard's life was when the distinguished com- mittee on the Bunker Hill Monument, accepted his plan and adopted his suggestions for the construction of the monument, although many have tried to rob him of this honor. Mrs. Lee, in her " Familiar Sketches of Sculpture and Sculptors," states as follows :- " It is well known that Horatio Greenough fur- nished the design for the Bunker Hill Monument, though at that time an undergraduate of Harvard College; it was forwarded to the Board of Directors with an essay, and finally accepted." We have omitted to relate in this note his adventure in the stone business, as it is enumerated in the text.
After the construction of the monument, Mr. Willard spent the remaining portion of his quiet bachelor life, in West Quincy, in connection with the stone
504
STONE QUARRYING.
this was one of the most laborious and difficult undertakings in connection with the building of the obelisk, for the reason that the use of stone for building purposes was little known, or not known at all in the form of large-sized blocks of syenite, as he desired for this object. Mr. Willard immediately commenced his explorations for this project, and after having walked three hundred miles, critically examining quarries in various places, finally decided for color, durability and all other requirements
business, excepting a year or two of the latter part of it, when his time was mostly taken up with experiments in agricultural chemistry. He was a great follower of Liebig, the noted German chemist. Before commencing his agri- cultural pursuits in West Quincy, which was an unhealthy part of the town, its inhabitants dying off like sheep, with dysentery and typhoid fever, Mr. Willard, by irrigating, elearing up and draining the swampy low lands of this section of the village, caused it to become as healthy as any other part of the town.
Mr. Willard was a fair example of a self-educated man; retiring in his habits of life, yet always willing to converse and freely impart instruction or knowl- edge to any one who desired it, and strongly opposed to all ostentation or flattery ; this point is well illustrated in the following communication with Mr. Edward Everett; the correspondence occurred in reference to what Mr. Willard's fee was for a plan of his, which had been adopted by the building committee, for a monument to be erected at the " Old North Bridge" in Concord, Mass., in commemoration of a skirmish there in Revolutionary times. The following is Mr. Willard's characteristic reply :- " I did not think of making any charge, and am sorry you should give yourself any trouble about it." He further says in the same note,-" Many of my friends are in the habit of adding an Esq. to my name in the superscription of their letters, supposing mne possessed of the little vanity which it would gratify, but as I have no claim to such distinction, it would be more pleasing to have it omitted." This request was ever after serupulously complied with by Mr. Everett. Mr. Willard had, in his humble and unostentatious way, been a great friend to education, and the citizens of West Quincy did him no more than simple justice, when they honored him by calling the school-house erected in that district, after the person who had done so much for their welfare.
On the morning of the twenty-seventh of February, 1861, Mr. Willard, when about to take his place at the breakfast table, was stricken with apoplexy, and in about twenty minutes' quietly expired. His death caused sudden and sad gloom to come over the village of his residence, and his funeral was attended with every degree of respect; the schools were dismissed, the bells tolled, and the school children, with all the citizens of West Quiney, in sad and solemn procession, while the baud played a dirge, proceeded to the Hall Cemetery, where all that was once mortal of Solomon Willard was deposited, and the rejected shaft of the New York Exchange, which some years previous he had unaided placed there, is erected near the last resting place of this public-spirited man, and benefactor of the town.
505
STONE QUARRYING.
desired of stone for the erection of this monument, that the Quincy syenite was the best. The quarry approved of by Mr. Willard was what is called the Bunker Hill Quarry, and con- sisted of four acres. It was purchased in June, 1825, by Mr. Gridley Bryant, of Mr. Frederick Hardwick, for which was paid two hundred and fifty dollars, and sold by Mr. Bryant to the company for a slight advance. Previous to this, Mr. Amos Lawrence, one of the building committee, had also purchased a quarry at Rockport, Cape Ann, for building the monument. This quarry, not being considered as desirable for the purpose as the one selected by Mr. Willard, was given up. If the quarry purchased by Mr. Lawrence had been of the desired quality, it would in all probability have been many years before the quar- ries of Quincy stone would have achieved their present celebrity.
The opening of these stone quarries led to the discovery and opening of other quarries which had laid dormant since the cre- ation. It also was the cause of the building of the first railroad in America.1 This road was constructed for the more rapid trans-
1. The following is an account of the opening of the first railroad in Amer- ica, as given by the papers of that time :-
" This railroad, the first we believe in the country, was opened on Saturday, in presence of a number of gentlemen, who take an interest in the experiment. A quantity of stone weighing sixteen tons, taken from the ledge belonging to the Bunker Hill Association and loaded in three wagons, which together weigh five tons, making a load of twenty-one tons, was moved with case by a single horse from the quarries to the landing above Neponset bridge, a distance of more than three miles. The road declines gradually the whole way, from the quarry to the landing, but so slightly that the horse conveys back the empty wagons, making a load of five tons. After the starting of the load, which re- quired some exertion, the horse moved with ease in a fast walk. It may therefore be easily conceived how greatly the transportation of heavy loads is facilitated by means of this road. A large quantity of beautiful stone already prepared for the Bunker Hill Monument, will now be rapidly and cheaply transported to the wharf at the termination of the railroad, whence it will be conveyed by lighters to Charlestown. The road is constructed in the most substantial manner. It rests on a foundation of stone laid so deep in the ground as to be beyond the reach of frost, and to secure the rails on which the carriage runs effectually against any change of their relative position; they are Jaid upon stones of eight feet in length, placed transversely along the whole extent of the road at a distance of six or eight fect from each other. The space between these stones is filled with smaller stones or earth, and over the whole between the rails a gravel path is made. The rails are formed of pine timber,
65
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STONE QUARRYING.
portation of the stone to Charlestown for the construction of the monument, but did not meet the expectations of Mr. Willard.1 It also gave an impetus to the stone business by bringing to the atten- tion of the community a building material, which has adorned many of our cities with a class of noble and substantial buildings, both public and private. This experiment of Mr. Willard in opening the stone quarries in this place has added millions of dollars to the wealth of individuals and the town, as well as to enable the Bunker Hill Monument Association to procure first- class material to erect the monument.
About seven years after this road was opened, a fatal and serious accident occurred on it, which was the first railroad aeci-
on the top of which is placed a bar of iron. The carriages run upon the iron bars, and are kept in place by a projection on the inner edge of the truss wheels. The wheels are of a size considerable larger than a common cart wheel.
" We learn from a gentleman who has visited the principal railroads in England, that in point of solidity and skill in construction this is not exceeded by any one there .- Columbian Centinal, Oct. 11, 1826, and taken from the Daily Advertiser."
The cost of this tramway was thirty-four thousand dollars. See Charles F. Adams', Jr., "Railroads; their Origin and Problems."
" Next comes the Lowell, incorporated in 1830; then followed the Worces- ter, Providence and others. The Lowell was first opened for public travel in June, 1835; the Worcester iu July, the same year; the Providence was also opened in 1835, with a single track. The Maine was opened from Wilmington to Anidover, in 1836, to South Berwick, 1843. The Eastern comes next, in 1838, which year it was opened to Salem. The Old Colony began in November, 1845. The Fitchburg in 1845, and the Hartford and Erie in 1849, under the name of the 'Norfolk County Road.' It is somewhat singular, that all the railway stations in Boston stand on ground reclaimed from the sea."
1. " There has been a strange misapprehension respecting the importance of the railway to us. I think the following statement, will illustrate this point: The whole quantity of stone carried from our ledge to the water, is 2287 tons, which at 35 cents per ton comes to $800.50. The price offered by a respectable company for the hauling the common way, was fifty cents per ton, so that all the gain that ever was expected, provided they had fulfilled their agreement, was only the difference between 35 and 50 cents on 2287 tons, $343.05 in a work where $28,000 had been expended. On the other side of the account we must reckon the loss of two years in waiting for this company to perform a job which amounts to a little more than $800. For loss in time no estimate in money can be made. It has been, however, an injury which is irreparable. The loss in cash paid to men with their hands tied in consequence of the delinquency of the Railway Company, (I should say to speak within bounds) was ten times the whole cost of carrying 2287 tons to the water."
507
STONE QUARRYING.
dent in New England, if not in the United States. July 25th, 1832, four gentlemen left the Tremont House, Boston, to come to Quincy and view this new railroad enterprise. After having examined the process of transporting large and weighty loads of stone, they were invited to ascend the inclined plane in one of the vacant returning cars. While the car was ascending this inclined plane, the chain gave way, and they were precipitated over the precipiee, a distance of twenty or thirty feet. Mr. Thomas Bachus of Cuba was killed. Mr. J. Gibson of Boston had both legs broken. Mr. W. G. Bend of Baltimore was severely and Mr. Andrew E. Belknap of Boston slightly injured.
We give below in a general note the expense of building and other matters connected with the construction of the mon- ument.1
1. " The following are the prices paid the workmen in the various depart- ments for the construction of the monument :-
" Quarryman's department. One master at $2.00 per day; five common at --; three capsin men at -; one blacksmith, $1.67 per day.
" Hammerer's department. Thirty hammerers at $1.73 per day; two black- smiths at $1.67 per day ; one pattern maker at $1.19 per day.
" Hoister's department. One rigger -; one master, $2.00 per day; one foreman $1.67 per day; three common hands, $4.50 per day for the three.
" Mason's department. One master mason $2.50 per day; three journeymen at $1.67 per day; one apprentice $1.00; one blacksmith; one tender.
. Whole cost of monument, $103,963.68.
The measurement of the monument by the Engineer, was as follows, viz :-
DIMENSIONS OF THE OBELISK.
Height of obelisk to base of pyramid,
208 feet, 5 inches. 221 feet, 5 inches.
Height of monument to the apex,
30
Sides of the square, first course,
15
Sides of the square at base of pyramid,
6
Thickness of wall at the base, one-fifth,
2
Thickness of wall at the top, 36
Circumference of chamber in the top,
18
Height of chamber,
11
6 inclics.
Diameter of chamber,
2
8 66
Height of each course in the monument,
2}
Diminish in each course, 78
Number of courses to base of pyramid,
294
Number of steps in the circular stairs,
8 inches.
Height of riser,
Foundation 50 feet square; 6 courses, 2 feet each, 12 feet deep.
508
STONE QUARRYING.
Six years after the opening of the Bunker Hill Quarry, Mr. Willard wrote the following letter to Mr. Joseph Grinnell, of New Bedford, which gives a fair insight into the stone business of that period :-
" The high price demanded for granite for the fifteen years past, and particularly for blocks of large dimensions, has had a tendency to discourage the use of it, and my object in engaging in the stone business was not to make money, but to make exper- iments in order to remove the obstructions to the extensive use of granite as a building material, and to ascertain the lowest price at which it could be afforded with the common facilities for doing business. I left the profession of architect, which I had followed ten years in Boston, and took charge of a corps of quarrymen, at the Bunker Hill Quarry, in Quincy, six years
DIMENSIONS OF THE CONE.
Height of the cone from the flooring,
196 feet, 9 inches.
Diameter of the first course,
10
Diameter of the top course,
6
2
Thiekness of wall, at base, one-sixtlı,
1
8
Thickness of wall at top,
1
Height of each course,
1
4
Number of courses,
147
Diminish in each course,
6-10ths of an inch.
DIMENSIONS OF THE PYRAMID.
Vertical height from base line to apex,
13 feet.
Number of courses in the pyramid,
6
Sides of the base,
15 feet.
From base line to apex,
15 4
" The following are the names of the workmen and the amount of money sub- scribed by them for the construction of the monument, viz :- Solomon Willard, . $1000; Ezra Badger, $20.00; Hazen Abbott, $5.00; Theodore Rogers, $5.00; John White, $5.00; Joseph French, $5.00; Daniel Leonard, $5.00; Jacob B. Collins, $5.00; William Frederic, $5.00; D. M. C. Knox, $5.00; Samuel Ames, $5.00; Andrew Buntin, $5.00; John Adams, $5.00; John C. Knox, $5.00; John Frederic, $5.00; George Frederic, Jr., $5.00; John Robertson, $5.00; Samuel Ela, $5.00; Eli Stebbins, $5.00; Eleazer Frederic, $5.00; Daniel Ela, $5.00; Almoram Holmes, $50.00. Whole amount, $1,165.00."
" A copy of this document, among Mr. Lawrence's papers, contains several other names, as follows :-- Luther Marble, John Devanny and Thomas Pike, Jr., five dollars each, and Mr. James S. Savage, fifty dollars, making the aggregate $1,230. Probably they did not pay their subscription, as Mr. Rus- sell's receipt is only for the $1,165 as above."
509
STONE QUARRYING.
ago the fifteenth of the present November. The committee of that work had previously advertised for proposals for furnishing the stone required, and received but one, and that was sixty-two cents per cubic foot, for the raw material delivered in Charles- town. A combination had taken place among the dealers in stone to keep up the prices, as is usually the case. The quarry- ing of four thousand tons was finally done by the day, by men under my charge, and cost the association but thirteen cents and three mills per cubic foot delivered on a wharf in Charlestown."
Still this was hardly a fair statement of the expense of entting stone at that time, as Mr. Willard's services to the association were gratuitous ; but even at these prices there was a large mar- gin for profit, if a superintendent had been paid fair wages for overseeing the work.
The United States Branch Bank, Boston, was the first build- ing that we know of which was constructed of large stone. " The corner stone was laid the 5th of July, 1824. The heavy columns in the portico of this building were cut from a huge boulder of granite in the town of Westford,. Mass., known as
The following is the surveyed distanee for the transportation of the stone by road from the Bunker Hill Ledge to the monument at Charlestown :-
MILES.
QRS.
RODS.
Howard's Corner,
0
3
40
Railway House,
2
2
58
Stone marked 8 miles to Boston,
2
3
0
Commencement of lower road at mills,
4
2
0
Road leading to Neponset Bridge,
5
2
40
Turnpike,
G
0
44
Glover's Corner,
7
1
40
Draw of Free Bridge (to South Boston),
10
0
16
Church, head of Sea street, (now Federal street),
10
2
4
Hanover street, through Federal and Marshall,
11
0
Bunker Hill Monument,
12
1
.
In order to understand the price of dressing stone about this period, we mean first-class work, per cubic foot, was as follows :--
" At the General Hospital, for columns, $1.00; at the Branch Bank for archi- traves, $2.00; which were to have been paid for columns, $1.00; at the Tremont House for columns, $1.00; at the Tremont House, blocks for cornice, 60 cents; at the Washington Bank, for footing, $1.00; at the Arcade in Providence, for footing, $1.00; at the Dry Doek in Charlestown, 60 cents; at Norfolk for Dry Dock, 70 cents; at the New Bank in Stato street, for piers, $1.00; for the new Court House, $1.00. Average price for these sales, 99 cents."
510
STONE QUARRYING.
the Chelmsford granite. They were twenty-four feet in height, including the cap, and four feet in diameter at the base," and would be called inferior in size to some columns since cut. This building Mr. Willard completed before beginning the monument.
The first large stone columns quarried in Quincy were those taken for the Unitarian Church in this town, in 1828, from the Rattlesnake Quarry, which is now owned and worked by Jesse Bunton & Co. They were hammered by a Mr. Hazen Abbott, with a pean hammer, and must have been a very laborious job with this primitive instrument. The old red chalk lines can be seen to this day by which the stone was lined off.
The Tremont House was erected in 1828, and the corner stone was laid by Mr. Samuel T. Armstrong, president of the Massa- chusetts Mechanic Association, July 4th, of that year; the stone was hammered at the State Prison. "The ornamental part of the entablature-the facade and the portico-were executed by Mr. Samuel R. Johnson, of Charlestown." It was among the first hotels of this class erected in the country. The Masonic Temple, now the U. S. Court House, was built in 1831. Mr. Willard furnished the plan of the monument for Mr. Edward Everett, in commemoration of the fight at the old North Bridge, Concord, in 1825, but it was not completed until 1836. He also made the design for the Franklin Monument, in the Granary Burying Ground, which was constructed in 1827. He furnished the plan for the Harvard Monument, which was erected in the old historic cemetery, in Charlestown, in 1828. Mr. Willard made the plan for the old Norfolk County Court House, at Ded- ham, which was built in 1826, and at that time was considered one of the best specimens of his architecture. He seems to have been at that period, the principal architect of the times. The Suffolk County Court House was also designed by him, and completed in 1835. The two Doric porticos were supported by eight stone columns, which were twenty-five feet six inches in height, and four feet six inches in diameter, and measured about fifty tons. It required a team of sixty-five yoke of oxen and twelve horses, to transport them to Boston. The Court House has since been enlarged, by removing the Doric portico on the southerly end, and there building an extension.
511
STONE QUARRYING,
These large columns for the Court House, we believe, were the third ones in chronological order taken to Boston. The Branch Bank, in 1824; Faneuil . Hall or Quincy Market, in 1826, from Chelmsford granite ; and the Court House, in 1835.
The Boston Custom House, on State street, was by act of Congress, authorized to be built in 1835, but it was two years after, before its construction was begun, which was in 1837, and the time of building it was twelve years. The building is con- structed in the form of a Greek cross, and the external part of it is in the pure Doric style of architecture, and was wholly built of Quincy syenite. Its walls, columns and roof, are constructed of stone, and it is surrounded by thirty-two massive stone col- umns, each of which are five feet two inches in diameter, thirty- two feet high, and weigh about forty-two tons. This attractive and noble building rests on, as a foundation, about three thou- sand piles. The cost of the Custom House was about one mil- lion of dollars, including site and foundation. The stone for the Custom House was taken from the quarries of Richards, Munn & Co., O. T. Rogers & Co., Thomas Hollis, Jr., Granite Railway Co. and Henry Wood.
Mr. Willard, in 1836, superintended the construction of the New York Exchange,1 which stones were taken in part from the
1. The following is a partial list of the public buildings erected from Quincy syenite, and the names of the firms furnishing it :-
The stone for the United States Dry Dock at Charlestown, Mass., was taken from the Granite Railway Quarry, and dressed in the Navy Yard, in 1828.
The stone for the United States Dry Dock at Gosport, Va., was taken from the Granite Railway and other quarries, including the "South Common," of pink stone. and worked at that time by Jonathan, Samuel and James Newcomb three brothers.
The stone for the New Orleans Custom House was furnished between the years 1849 and 1856, by a combination of all the principal granite firms in Quincy, Boston and vicinity. Mr. Luther Munn acted as agent for the several firms, with the government. The building occupies a whole square, three hun- dred feet on a side, and covering an area of more than two acres.
The stone for the Mobile Custom House was furnished by O. T. Rogers & Co., Granite Railway Co., and J. B. Whitcher & Co., the contract being with O. T. Rogers & Co.
The stone for the Savannah, Ga., Custom House was furnished by O. T. Rogers & Co. and others. O. T. Rogers & Co. had the contract with the government.
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