History of the town of Middlefield, Massachusetts, Part 19

Author: Smith, Edward Church, 1877-
Publication date: 1924
Publisher: [Menasha, Wis.] Priv. Print.
Number of Pages: 738

USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Middlefield > History of the town of Middlefield, Massachusetts > Part 19

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The Congregational Church was similarly affected by the altered conditions. The death of some of its generous members and the removal of others reduced the number of givers and the available income, and in 1879 Mr. Pierce was asked to accept a reduction of $200 in his salary. He assented and remained pastor for two years more. In succeeding years the difficulty of supporting the church adequately increased but preaching was not discontinued except for short periods when there was no settled pastor.

With the death of Sumner U. Church in 1884, the company lost the foremost partner in the concern, and in 1890 Oliver Church, the surviving member of the firm, discontinued the business. Thus came to an end the woolen business in Blush Hollow, which had existed just about one hundred years since the erection of Herrick's fulling mill.

HARVEY ROOT CHARLES M. COMBS

DEA. HARRY MEACHAM

ELDRIDGE PEASE

AMBROSE ROBBINS

MORGAN PEASE

220

HISTORY OF MIDDLEFIELD

By 1890 there were only nineteen families in the Hollow, just half as many as in 1880. During the following decade the ownership of the mills changed several times as a result of un- successful attempts to put the old structures to profitable- use. A stocking-knitting enterprise was superseded by a wire goods business, and that venture gave way to a quartz-crushing in- dustry, which fared no better than the rest. There was, how- ever, a revival of the lumbering industry near the end of the period when Frank Curtiss built a large storehouse and sawmill on the site of the old William Blush wood-turning shop, a mod- ern dwelling where William Blush's house stood, and several tenements south of the bridge.

But as though to make a complete end of industry, a second flood occurred in Blush Hollow on April 12, 1901. The mill property was at the time owned by Mr. G. W. I. Landau of Pat- terson, New Jersey, who was operating them occasionally as a quartz-grinding plant, employing but a few men. W. W. Carter, the foreman, lived in the old Uriah Church house. The care of the dam had now passed into the hands of men who had not the experience with Factory Brook freshets so well known to the Churches. A dry spell earlier in the season had led the owners to put all flood gates in place to conserve all water possible. Twenty-four hours of downpour after a week of heavy rains swelled the mountain brooks and the reservoir was very full by the afternoon of Sunday, April 12. Foreman Carter was at the Lower Mill, it was said, strengthening the dam there to with- stand the water when the gates were opened. The general opin- ion is that the opening of the gates was delayed too long for when at four o'clock P. M. the foreman called for help from his neighbor, Frank Curtiss, and his men, the pressure on the gates was so great that no human power could raise them. While this work was going on the water reached the top of the dam. In a few moments it was trickling over the roadway and from that moment the structure was doomed. In one hour, almost to the minute, the great breach was made and within thirty minutes all the damage in the village had been done. Had the dam broken without warning and all at once, nothing could have saved the village from annihilation. When it was seen that the dam was doomed, Mr. Curtiss started down the valley on horseback to

OLIN OLDS

HIRAM TAYLOR

ROYAL D. GEER

ASHER PEASE

JACOB ROBBINS

DANIEL ALDERMAN

222

HISTORY OF MIDDLEFIELD

warn the residents to prepare for a flood and all the inhabitants had taken to the hills before the rush of waters came.

The first damage done was the wrecking of a tenement house east of the highway just below the dam. Next the foundations of the old Uriah Church house, occupied by Mr. Carter, were partly washed out. Some of the foundations of Miss Mary E. Church's house, all the lawn and part of the fence and garden were carried off. The water divided into two branches, one taking its course down the village street, stripping it of all its earth and leaving but a trough of boulders in its track ; the other running farther east back of the houses destroying fences and gardens. It was this stream which carried off a barn belonging to Frank Curtiss. Curtiss's sawmill, a new structure, was not much damaged, but 150,000 feet of luniber and logs went with the waters bringing up his loss to $7,000. Mr. Landau's loss in- cluding the dam and mill property damage was estimated at $15,000.

The town of Middlefield suffered heavily in the disaster from the destruction of the highway through the Hollow and on to Bancroft. For two hundred yards the road was entirely de- stroyed. The iron bridge by the sawmill was lifted bodily from its foundation, swept down stream a hundred feet and rolled over and over before it went to pieces. A stretch of road, high above the stream by the watering trough beyond Mary Leach's house was undermined and swept away, and at many places be- tween this point and "The Switch" this beautiful highway winding along the course of the brook was obliterated so that a large portion of the road was abandoned, and a new road built on higher ground. In all the town lost four bridges valued at $3,000, and $10,000 was estimated as cost of repairs to highways.

The greatest damage was done at Middlefield Station where the catastrophe of '74 was repeated. Lumber and logs from the sawmill with driftwood and other debris soon choked the open- ing of the stone arch bridge. The waters backed up and rising washed away the embankment until at last the masonry col- lapsed with a great crash and the impetuous torrent swept before it great blocks of stone, carrying some of them two or three hun- dred feet down stream and leaving but a portion of the west abutment standing and the rails stretched across the gap hang-

223

THE FLOODS AND THE INDUSTRIAL DECLINE

ing forty feet in the air. With some of the embankment carried away the Boston and Albany Railroad had to fill a gap 150 feet long and forty feet deep. This with other washouts of embank- ment along the Westfield River as far as Huntington cost the railroad, it was estimated, $75,000. At "The Switch" the house of Dennis Gallivan was undermined, two other houses sub- merged, and damage to the extent of $5,000 done at the paper mill of Bulkley, Dunton and Company, the floor being raised and covered with debris.

Chester and Huntington suffered much damage. The water reached Chester at six-twenty o'clock. The alarm had been sounded and the people had taken to the hills for safety. The bridges were carried away and together with damage to roads the loss entailed reached $10,000. Many citizens and business concerns suffered more or less damage to buildings and stock.

It is not strange that after two such experiences with disasters caused by the breaking of dams at Middlefield, the railroad and the people of Chester should be opposed to the rebuilding of the dam at Blush Hollow. The New York Central. Railroad has fought any movement to replace the structure, and the result is that manufacturing at Factory Village is practically dead, one sawmill only remaining. The once bustling village is quiet, scarcely half a dozen families remaining in the valley.

Many of the houses and buildings have disappeared, having been taken down or removed bodily to serve elsewhere. The Upper Mill was taken down and rebuilt as a stock barn, half a mile east of the Center at Cranberry Lodge. The storehouse which used to stand opposite the store is now rebuilt into the north wing of the Wayside Lodge. The store was purchased by Thomas Fleming and used to replace his store at "The Switch" which was destroyed by fire some years ago. Most of the tene- ment houses are gone. The timbers of the old double house just north of the Upper Mill Mr. Cottrell used for building a barn on his farm. John and Edward Savery used a four-tenement house in the lower village for improving the farm buildings on the old Ely place. Alfred S. Crane, of Springfield, shipped timbers from the old Rowen house to build his barn in that city. Many of the timbers of the Lower Mill have been taken for vari- ous uses, some of them being shipped out of town.

FLOOD VIEWS-1901

VILLAGE STREET

RUINED GARDENS-BROKEN DAM BEYOND

WHERE THE IRON BRIDGE STOOD

THE RUINED RAILWAY ARCH

225

THE FLOODS AND THE INDUSTRIAL DECLINE

The William Blush house was burned as was also the house Mr. Curtiss built on the same site. The Oliver Blush house next door and the house next south of that were burned at different times earlier. Such changes have entirely altered the appear- ance of Factory Village and no one passing through the quiet street to-day would imagine that this hamlet was once a busy hive of industry.

This period saw changes in agriculture as well as in the manu- facturing industry. It saw a steady increase in the potato crops raised. The amount of corn raised did not show a falling off until 1895. The apple crop toward the latter part of the period was three times what it was in 1875. Maple sugar was an im- portant product of the farms. In 1895 the number of eggs marketed was five times what it had been twenty years before. Increasing interest in dairy products was manifested and the production of butter, cream and milk increased steadily up to 1885. In the next decade the milk production was still further increased.

Thus the period which began in 1870 with Middlefield at the height of its prosperity saw a gradual but steady decline in pros- perity, industry and population. While at its greatest1 the town had a population of 877 (in 1800), its inhabitants continued to average about 735 until 1870 when the decline became more marked. By the end of the century the number had shrunk to scarcely 400 souls, and with the villages grown quiet and small, Middlefield had almost returned to its condition before 1815, a region of scattered farms.

1 Not including 1840 when 1,000 temporary workers on the Western Rail- road were enumerated in the census of that year.

CHAPTER XIII

MIDDLEFIELD IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

A FTER surveying the century and more of history, it is interesting to turn to the Middlefield of to-day, and to take account of the conditions and the new possibilities which have emerged during the first years of the twentieth cen- tury. The changes which had been slowly but surely taking place after the time of the first flood have continued. Until the turn of the century, there was always the hope that the days of industrial prosperity in Blush Hollow might return. But the second flood placed that hope beyond the possibility of immedi- ate realization. During the years since 1901 all vestiges of the large factories have disappeared, the tenement houses have been: taken down and removed, and the river valley would scarcely be recognized by one who had not visited it for thirty years. The fine mansion of Sumner Church still stands as a monument of the days of former prosperity, but the reason for its existence has to be explained to the newcomer. Middlefield has become an exclusively agricultural town, and the relentless pressure of eco- nomic forces is eliminating those who are not possessed of the intelligence and the industry to make of agriculture a profitable occupation. The population shows a general decline, and the in- defatigable purpose of the citizens to maintain high standards of community life, good roads and good schools, requires an un- selfish devotion which deserves the highest praise. In this high purpose there has been a notable reinforcement from those who have chosen Middlefield for their summer home, and who have entered heartily into the enterprises of the town.

Perhaps nowhere is the change more noticeable than in the Center. With the coming of the automobile, the rural delivery of mail, the telephone, and the mail order business, facilitated by the parcel post, the need of a trading center has been greatly diminished. It is only within recent years, however, that the old

CHAPTER XIII

MIDDLEFIELD IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

A FTER surveying the century and more of history, it is interesting to turn to the Middlefield of to-day, and to take account of the conditions and the new possibilities which have emerged during the first years of the twentieth cen- tury. The changes which had been slowly but surely taking place after the time of the first flood have continued. Until the turn of the century, there was always the hope that the days of industrial prosperity in Blush Hollow might return. But the second flood placed that hope beyond the possibility of immedi- ate realization. During the years since 1901 all vestiges of the large factories have disappeared, the tenement houses have been: taken down and removed, and the river valley would scarcely be recognized by one who had not visited it for thirty years. The fine mansion of Sumner Church still stands as a monument of the days of former prosperity, but the reason for its existence has to be explained to the newcomer. Middlefield has become an exclusively agricultural town, and the relentless pressure of eco- nomie forces is eliminating those who are not possessed of the intelligence and the industry to make of agriculture a profitable occupation. The population shows a general decline, and the in- defatigable purpose of the citizens to maintain high standards of community life, good roads and good schools, requires an un- selfish devotion which deserves the highest praise. In this high purpose there has been a notable reinforcement from those who have chosen Middlefield for their summer home, and who have entered heartily into the enterprises of the town.

Mr. RUSSELL VICTOR HOSKEER

SMITH HOLLOW

BROOK

ANDERSON

WALTER SMITH Dr. ARTHUR SMITH

'S. H.

PAS. N. CONE

FRANK A. COTTRELL

LOUIS C. SMITH

Mrs. M. TEFFTS

BROOK

ARTHUR GARDNER

MIDDLEFIELD

SAMUEL C. WILLARD

JUDGE BIRNIE

CENTER

· FRANK

CHIPMAN

FACTORY

G. B. SMITHS .SHAWO WAYSIDE

LODGE

MrGRIFFINO

Rey"

JESSE PELKEY

J. G. ROBERTSUN- MISSACHURCH.

RICHARD D SWEENEY JT

miste:P. SMITH

JOHN CODY

RICHARD SWEENEY

CLARK B WRIGHT .

Mr. EDEN

A.S. CRANE ·

STEVENS J.W CRANE FRANK . JOHNSON

. HA. YOUTZ

DEN

WESLEY A. OLDS

FRED. L BOYER S.H.

OPELKEY

Mrs. CEO ROBERTS Rev. J. B CLARK

PIERCE

9H W.E. PREW

COLES

WILLIS 8 GRAVES

M. BOXER COOLEY W GRAVES

Rep

ARTHUR D. PEASE

HERBERT KNOX SMITH

Mrs. W.A. PEARSON

E & J. SAVERY

Miss OF. STEBBINS

GEORGE MILLOT

Mrs.

DYER

HENRY 'S

PEASE

THE

W. OVID EAMES

BERKSHIRE HOUSE

TAN B

MTS. HOUSER

EDWIN H ALDERMAN

EXC. SMITH

HERBERT CROSS

MIDDLEFIELD STATION, JERRY ROMANO

W --

*B. TALLON

THUS. H. FLEMING STO

MISSES

P. O. BANCROFT

COMTRACY

MIDDLEFIELD MASS. 1924

WEST

N.Y.C. & H.R .R.R.

BROOK

JOHN W . FERRIS.

HARRY E PEASE

E.A. EVANS

GLENDALE

MISS. EH EVANS

CHURCH THISH Dr. A. A. STARBUCK

THOSEL MULCAY

MIDDLE BRANCH OF WESTFIELD

. G.E. COOK JAS. COOY . N.C. SMITH J. DUGGAN

E.S. MCELWAIN RF. MCELWAIN D. MCELWAIN

C. DROZD

WESLEY J. CHIPMAN

RALPH GELLI

. Miss M. SMITH .MW H.A ABBF .Mrs E. YOUTZ .AGHATCH .STORE

GLENDALE FALLS

. Miss. S. CHAMBERLAIN

STREAM

BRANCH OF

T FIELD

RIVER

TUTTLE

. S.H

RIVER

Mrs. HENRY STERNAGLE

S.H.

227

MIDDLEFIELD IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

community at the Center has virtually disappeared during the winter months. The post office, and the parsonage, and the tele- phone exchange at Mr. Cook's are the only year round neces- sities. The other houses are now almost all summer residences. The contrast between the vigorous village life in summer and the rows of silent houses in the winter is striking. It again em- phasizes the fact that the new Middlefield is a purely agricultural community. There is no industry or trade in the Center which would afford a livelihood to-day. But the church, town hall. library, post office and central office of the telephone are so es- sential that the village, with all its changes, will continue to be the center of the community life.

More than once the government has raised the question whether there is really need of a postoffice any longer for Mid- dlefield. The rural delivery from Chester and from Hinsdale serves a large portion of the inhabitants. But each time when the question has been raised, the citizens have been able to per- suade the government to continue the post office. The amount of money order business done in winter as well as in summer is surprisingly large. The store at the Center has been inter- mittently operated by changing proprietors. It is a great con- venience to have a store; but the automobile makes trading at other centers so easy that there is really less support for a gen- eral store than the project deserves. The storekeeper must re- ceive part of his reward in the consciousness that he is rendering a public service. The store at Bancroft conducted by Mr. Fleming, has a less precarious existence, owing to the continuance of a small industrial population connected with the paper mill and the railroad, and also to the occasional patronage of those who come to the railroad station for travel or for shipping of goods.

The last quarter century has seen the passing of some strong men and women whose vigorous personalities and sterling char- acters have been wrought into the life of Middlefield. Mr. Oliver Church, Mr. Jonathan MeElwain, Mr. and Mrs. Asher Pease, Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Pease, Mr. and Mrs. George Bell, Mr. and Mrs. E. James Ingham, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Bryan, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Robbins, Mr. and Mrs. Howard Smith, Mrs. Lydia Geer, Miss Mary E. Church, Mrs. Charles Wright, Mrs.

228

HISTORY OF MIDDLEFIELD

Edwin S. McElwain, Mr. Orrin and Miss Nancy Wheeler, Dea- con and Mrs. Barton Graves, Deacon Harlow Loveland, Mrs. Lucy S. Newton, Mrs. John Cody, Mr. and Mrs. Metcalf J. Smith, Mr. George W. Cottrell,-these constitute only a partial list of names of the old stock, who have left their mark upon the town. In the majority of these changes, occasioned by death, the family names disappeared from the roll of permanent Mid- dlefield residents, joining the names of the Macks, Dicksons, Blushes, Taylors, Spencers, Combses, Metcalfs, Roots and others which had already passed from the roll.

If it were possible this chapter might be enriched by citing the contribution of many of these families to the life of the town. Let one name suffice, of a man who wrought righteousness and subdued kingdoms in the comparative obscurity of the hill town. Metcalf J. Smith, college-bred, fitted by temperament and training to be a teacher and leader of men, was called back in early manhood to care for the old farm home in the declining years of his father. The sacrifice of a career proved to be perma- nent, but his alert, richly-furnished mind and rare personality became a permanent factor in the life of Middlefield. Here with his noble wife, he spent a long lifetime and together they reared their family. Intelligently and devotedly, Mr. Smith served the community as teacher, founding a Select School, developing the library, chief counsellor in all the higher affairs of the town; humbly and graciously expressing his life in the church and in other forms of community leadership. He lives in hundreds of lives made richer and more useful by the touch of an unselfish, inspired teacher. Not one of his contemporaries would ques- tion the justice of ascribing to Mr. Smith and his wife the pre- eminent place of ennobling, educative influence in the wider community of which Middlefield was the center.

We have mentioned the passing of old names from the roll. Equally significant are the names which persist and perpetuate the fine old traditions of the town. Edwin S. McElwain and his son, George, the fourth and fifth generations, still cultivate the ancestral acres that have been in the family for more than a cen- tury and a quarter. The recent advent of George McElwain, Jr., introduces the sixth generation in direct line from the pio- neer, Timothy McElwain. W. Ovid Eames and his wife (Ida

229

MIDDLEFIELD IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

(Bell) Eames, carry on the old Bell farm. At this home, too, lives Miss Fannie Quigley, sister of the late Mrs. George Bell. Arthur D. Pease and Mrs. Lura (McElwain) Pease combine in their household two of the old families, and sustain the tradition of hospitality at the old Blossom Tavern, which has been in the Pease family for over a hundred years. Henry S. Pease has recently built a new house upon the site of the one he inherited from his father, Asher Pease. Edwin H. Alderman conducts the farm of his father, the late Daniel Alderman. Mrs. Daniel Alderman, representing the Hawes family, still spends her sum- mers at the old homestead. Clark B. Wright and his wife, Mary (McElwain) Wright maintain the fine stock farm, Glendale, which has been a source of pride to three generations of Wrights.

Wesley A. Olds and his wife, Adelaide (Cottrell) Olds, are on the Olds farm on the River Road at the foot of Glendale Falls. G. E. Cook and his wife, Helen (Wright) Cook, occupy the Charles Wright homestead. Willis B. Graves, and his wife, Clara (Ferris) Graves, carry on the old Graves farm on the West Hill, while Cooley W. Graves and his wife, Kate (Bryan) Graves, live on the road to Middlefield Station as do their son, Roy Graves, and his wife. Mrs. Laura Chipman resides on the Chipman farm conducted by her son, Wesley J. Chipman, while his brother Frank carries on the adjoining farm of their grand- father, Harvey Root. The Asa Smith farm in Smith Hollow is occupied by Walter Smith. Frank A. Cottrell and his wife, Laura (Waite) Cottrell, carry on the farm originally belonging to Calvin Smith, and owned for many years by Frank's father, George W. Cottrell. John Ferris occupies the Orrin Wheeler homestead. Ralph Bell and his wife, Eila (Pease-Kelley) Bell, own the old Jonathan McElwain farm. The third Sternagle generation is living on the farm once owned by Deacon John Newton. Harry Pease, third generation in his line, is cultivat- ing the old Amasa Graves farm. This is a long and honorable list of names. It reveals the fact that, in spite of all changes, the families which in the past have made Middlefield what it was are continuing to keep alive the good name of the town.

This list, however, does not tell the whole story. Some of the descendants of the old stock, who live elsewhere for most of the year, continue their interest in Middlefield by summer resi-

230

HISTORY OF MIDDLEFIELD

dence and in other ways. The old Matthew Smith farmhouse, built in 1806, is owned by a great-grandson of the builder, Louis C. Smith of Newton Center, who makes the farm the summer home of his family. On the MeElwain farm, R. Franklin McElwain of Holyoke, has an attractive cottage, with a chimney and large fireplace built of field stone. His brother, Dwight McElwain, owns the Babson cottage in the adjoining lot which was originally a part of the McElwain estate. The Blush Tavern, the home for several years of Mr. and Mrs. Metcalf J. Smith, is the summer residence of their daughter, Kate W. Smith. The Sumner and Oliver Church mansions are still held by their heirs, the former by Mr. John W. Crane and his daughter, of Spring- field, and the latter by Miss Alice B. Church. For many years the late Mrs. Edward P. Smith (Julia Mack Church), of Spring- field, made her summer home at Maplecroft, which was built by her grandfather, Uriah Church, Jr., over eighty years ago. Pro- fessor Gerald Birney Smith of the University of Chicago has removed the old Alexander Dickson house to the north end of the village and occupies it for a summer home. Dr. Arthur Smith, of Bayonne, New Jersey, son of George Smith, owns the Charles Smith place in Smith Hollow.

But Middlefield rejoices not only in the representatives of the families that have been in the town from early days. Those who have more recently come, either as permanent or as summer residents, have won a large place in the community. Some of them are now as much a part of the town life as are the older families. Mr. G. E. Cook, at the Charles Wright farm, is now one of the foremost citizens, whose advice and help are sought in all important enterprises. Everyone cherishes the genial friendliness of John Cody, who has lived for many years in the old Solomon Root house. Mrs. Cody's fine Christian spirit and boundless hospitality endeared her to all; and the town is justly proud of the fine records which the members of the younger generation have made. James Cody, whose house occupies the site where Pastor Nash lived, is taking his fathers place as one whom people call upon for repairs and construction work. Miss Sarah Chamberlain, who occupies the Deacon Ingham house for a part of the year, is indispensable to the summer residents. Her conscientious care in opening and closing their houses and keep-

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History of the town of Middlefield, Massachusetts, Part 19

Author: Smith, Edward Church, 1877- Publication date: 1924 Publisher: [Menasha, Wis.] Priv. Print. Number of Pages: 738

Author: Smith, Edward Church, 1877-
Publication date: 1924
Publisher: [Menasha, Wis.] Priv. Print.
Number of Pages: 738