USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Lancaster > Lawrence yesterday and today (1845-1918) a concise history of Lawrence Massachusetts - her industries and institutions; municipal statistics and a variety of information concerning the city > Part 2
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Therefore, to this phenomena we are apparently indebted pri- marily for the creation of Deer Jump, Peters' and Bodwell's falls which furnished the unlimited water power that made Lawrence possible.
However, let us get down to a less remote period and briefly consider the appearance of this locality just prior to the construction of the dam : There was a deep depression east of Union street, and the very bottom of that part of the North canal rests on made land. The eastern part of the site of the common was an alder swamp drained by a brook running through Jackson street and emptying into the Merrimack. There was another low basin between Amesbury, Haver - hill and Franklin streets, which found its drainage outlet southward through Lawrence street. This basin, long since filled and drained, has become the heart of population in Wards Three and Four. There was a fourth depression near the North depot filled with muddy water, from which hornpouts were sometimes taken. The lowlands beyond the depot and those extending along West street in Ward Five are still remembered. There were sandhills in several places and a bluestone ridge extending south of, and parallel with Essex street, between Lawrence and Newbury streets. South of the river was a rolling, sandy plain, parts of which were covered by thick growths of trees.
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LAWRENCE-YESTERDAY AND TODAY
The topography of Lawrence has seen changes beyond what is shown by the foregoing. It is almost impossible to believe the Spicket River ever ran in the very crooked channel the old maps show. Yet it was even more crooked than these small scale maps can show. Several small ponds in various sections have disappeared with the improvement of the land.
Today the position and appearance of Lawrence is well described as follows: The city lies in latitude 42 deg., 42 min., 13 sec., and in longitude 71 deg., 10 min., 13 sec. west from Greenwich ; has a little over seven square miles (4,577 acres) area, of which 2,216 acres are in the northern district, taken from the town of Methuen ; 2,097 acres, south of the Merrimack River, were taken from the town of Andover. The estimated water area is 264 acres. Excluding water surface, rail- way rights of way, public and church lands exempted, 3,102 acres remain as taxable estates.
The city proper lies in a broad and open plain. The central and populous wards are upon the rolling swell of land on the north bank of the Merrimack River, where that stream curves about the great mills. The southern district, less thickly populated, is a wide plain extending westward from Shawsheen River, somewhat rolling and broken near the western limits. The highlands west of the city, known as Tower Hill, and the rolling ridge, Prospect Hill, eastward, are sites of picturesque residences, having an elevation of 80 to 150 feet above the dam. These heights command wide views, their southern slopes rising abruptly from the bank of the Merrimack. The valley enclosed by these ridges is nearly two miles broad, extending northerly and southerly to higher lands beyond city limits.
The towns of *Methuen, Andover and North Andover encircle the city. They are rich in tradition, their early history including the history of the region where now is Lawrence.
* On January 7, 1918, the Town of Methuen became a city.
EARLY ROADS AND FERRIES
In the early days there were few roads in this locality, and travel- ling had not near the pleasure that accompanies it in these days of comfortable conveyances and smooth, well-packed roadways. The old ferry roads had much travel before the building of Andover bridge ; they compassed the valley, now the site of the city.
The westerly road approached from the north, reaching the Merri- mack at Bodwell's ferry, near the pumping station, by the way of what is now Reservoir, Ames and Doyle streets. The easterly road ran as it now runs, over and a little to the eastward of Prospect Hill, by the way of what is now Ferry street, reaching the Merrimack at Marston's ferry, near the Lawrence poor farm, where was also, in the olden time, a ford.
These were the principal crossings on the river. The latter, Marston's, was established, primarily, to enable settlers to pursue northern Indian bands, who often appeared on the north bank, doing much mischief and escaping unpunished. Both ferries were discon- tinued when Andover bridge was built in 1793.
After the building of Andover bridge, a rough roadway ran from the bridge, northeasterly, across the lowlands to a point just west of the First Baptist church, corner of Haverhill and Amesbury streets, where it joined the Haverhill road.
Haverhill and East Haverhill streets follow substantially old county roads, changed somewhat in grade and direction; Broadway is a section of the old turnpike laid out in 1806, from Concord, N. H., to Medford, Mass. Portions of Cross, Arlington, Berkeley and Marston streets in North Lawrence, and of Lowell road, Salem turnpike (Winthrop Avenue) and Merrimack street in South Lawrence, with the ferry and back roads in the outlying wards, also follow substantially old thoroughfares.
ANDOVER BRIDGE
Andover Bridge, the first bridge to span the Merrimack River at Lawrence, was built by a corporation known as the "Proprietors of Andover Bridge". This was the oldest corporation within Lawrence limits. In March, 1793, in the closing year of the first administration of President George Washington, an act was passed by the General Court of Massachusetts incorporating Samuel Abbott and John White, esquires, with Joseph Stevens, merchant, and Ebenezer Poor, yeoman, and associates, as the "Proprietors of Andover Bridge", for the purpose of erecting a bridge over the Merrimack River from Andover to Methuen, at Bodwell's Falls, close to where the Broadway bridge now stands. The charter provided that the bridge should be built within three years, should not be less than 28 feet wide, should have a centre span of 110 feet reach, over the main channel, to insure easy passage for great timber rafts. Tolls were fixed by the act for foot passengers and every kind of carriage from a chariot to a wheel- barrow.
The first structure stood on huge wooden piers, and cost about $12,000. The opening of the bridge, November 19, 1793, was a great local event. A company of infantry and a company of cavalry did escort duty at the celebration which was attended by many notable people from miles about. A boy named Stevens, while attempting to pass a guard stationed to keep the bridge clear for invited dignitaries, was fatally bayoneted by a soldier. Otherwise the occasion was of a joyful nature.
The corporation had a hard time of it. Adversity perched on its shoulders at the start, and frequently bore heavily on its patience and resources. Bridge building experience was limited then and the new structure had an ailing existence for eight or nine years. On August 28, 1801, a part of the bridge fell in ruins while a drove of cattle was passing over it. Some of the herd, 59 sheep, 6 cows and a saddle horse, perished in the waters of the river, and were paid for by the "proprietors". In the winter of 1802-3 the superstructure was re- built, but shortly afterward the great centre span collapsed. It was promptly repaired. Yet, four years thereafter, February 15, 1807, a great freshet and run of ice swept away the larger part of the bridge.
The structure had stood on the site of the present railroad bridge, but prior to the next rebuilding it was moved upstream to the present location, and permanent stone piers were substituted for wood. These
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ANDOVER BRIDGE
piers at times were terribly damaged by ice and logs. They were demolished, with the exception of one, when the present iron structure was erected in 1881. The remaining pier still stands in the bed of the river under the Falls bridge, but it does not sustain the structure.
In 1837 the old bridge was built, upon which many of the first comers to the new city rode over. It was a primitive affair without sidewalks. The entire width of 20 feet was reduced by huge strengthening timbers within the high board railing, leaving but 17 feet of passage-way crowded with travellers flocking in and teanis loaded with material for the dam, canal, new buildings and mill foun- dations from the ledges of South Lawrence and elsewhere.
In 1846 the bridge was absorbed by the Essex Company, and in the spring of 1848 the structure was raised nearly ten feet to the level of the railway line. This new structure was of a frame truss type. In the freshet of 1852, the toll house, south abutment and fishway all went down in the rush of waters. In 1858 the bridge was thoroughly reconstructed by the late Morris Knowles.
The bridge remained a toll bridge until 1868 when it became free, as a public highway, the city paying the larger part of the value and assuming the care of the bridge under the county commissioners' award. At the same time, Lawrence Bridge at Union street was made free in a like manner. The latter had been built in 1854-55 for the purpose of accommodating North Andover and Lawrence, and also avoiding the railroad crossing, at grade, near the Andover Bridge. Both bridges were destroyed by fire, Andover Bridge in 1881 and Law- rence Bridge in 1887, and were replaced by the present iron structures.
Andover Bridge, for over half a century, prior to the building of the dam, was the centre of activity in this locality and at the time of the influx to the "new city" it was the busiest place in the valley. But a short distance from the south end were the taverns at Shawsheen corner (corner Andover street and South Broadway), the scene of many joyous as well as bibulous gatherings. The half mile from the bridge to this corner was the race track in the old times. On muster and training days the old militia marched over the swaying arches, here and there in the ranks revolutionary patriots.
About 1814, some 15 British officers, prisoners, were quartered at Shawsheen corner to keep them away from the shipping of the ports. They proved quite an attraction, especially to the women of Shawsheen Fields, who found them to be excellent dancers.
On June 20, 1825, General Lafayette passed over Andover Bridge in his triumphal journey from Boston to Concord, N. H.
In was on this bridge that Daniel Saunders and his associates stood in March, 1845, when they conceived the idea of harnessing the waters of the Merrimack River for the use of industry, and of laying the foundation of the city.
SPICKET R.
A
T
UEN
E
W
0
RIVER
MERRIMAC
TORNEIRE
E
R
O
C
SHAWSHINE R.
PLAN OF THE
STREAMS, ROADS& HOUSES, AS THEY WERE IN 1845, ON THE TERRITORY WNERE NOW STANDS
THE CITY OF LAWRENCE.
HAB
PHOTO. ELECTROTYPE CO ROSTON
The dots seen on the above map represent the houses which were located within the terri- tory now included in the city, when the Essex Company began operations. It will be noted that the nearest approach to a settlement was at the "cross-roads" on the Andover side of the river, where the old Lowell road ( Andover street) crossed the Turnpike (South Broadway).
THE ESSEX COMPANY
The history of the Essex Company is practically the story of the founding and early development of Lawrence. This corporation con- ceived the idea upon which the city is built,-the harnessing of the waters of the Merrimack River and turning their power to the promotion of manufacturing industry. With the construction of the great dam was laid the corner stone of Lawrence, one of the foremost textile manufacturing cities in the world.
From the very beginning the Essex Company was closely identified with the growth of the community. Not only did it make possible, through the wonderful water power it established, the foundation of the city's great industries, but it was a tremendous factor in inaugurat- ing many of the public improvements and utilities, the benefits of which the present generation is enjoying.
The Merrimack Water Power Association, formed in 1843, with Samuel Lawrence as president and treasurer, and Daniel Saunders as agent, with associates, mainly from Lowell, was the forerunner of this more powerful chartered company. The pioneer association secured lands and made surveys that greatly simplified and facilitated later operations. It had been demonstrated that, at and about Bodwell's Falls by the historic Andover Bridge, there lay a tract of land resting upon foundations of imperishable blue stone and so shaped and environed by nature as to be a rare site for a permanent dam and a connected system of canals, and for the building of a manufacturing city. Industries having been established at Lowell and elsewhere in New England, from 1825 to 1845, enterprising operators were already convinced that great opportunities for the employment of capital and labor lay in the establishment of textile industries by water falls on Merrimack River.
It, therefore, came to pass that the Essex Company was in- corporated March 20, 1845, and on that very day the active promoters visited the site of Lawrence and perfected general plans for future operations. In less than one month from the granting of the charter the company was duly organized and the capital of one million dollars had been subscribed without the issue of circular or prospectus. The directors were Abbott Lawrence, Nathan Appleton, Patrick T. Jackson, John A. Lowell, Ignatius Sargent, William Sturgis and Charles S. Storrow, all manufacturers or financiers of high character.
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LAWRENCE-YESTERDAY AND TODAY
The work of this company at Lawrence in early years was primarily important. It controlled and forced the situation. Aside from operations at Lowell there were really few models for guidance, and founders were required to design and also to execute plans. Fortunately, at the outset, Charles S. Storrow, the pioneer railroad superintendent and engineer, who for several years had successfully managed the first passenger railway in New England-the line from - Boston to Lowell-became the resident manager of the company's affairs, and, with a corps of assistants, immediately commenced locating and constructing the dam and canals and laying out the new town in accordance with a definite and well considered plan.
Abbott Lawrence was president of the company during all the early years. These two men, both enthusiastic and forceful in the execution of plans, pushed forward the work of development and of town building with a rapidity that won the admiration of those who watched every step of progress. Daniel Saunders was upon the spot, a shrewd adviser and a judicious purchaser of needed lands.
It has been said that Lawrence was, at the beginning, purely a business enterprise, but it is also conceded that the needs of a future community were clearly foreseen by the promoters and that steps were wisely taken to provide for coming population in advance of the then prevailing conception of public needs. Seldom do promoters encounter at the start more difficulties than did the founders of Law- rence. Textile manufacturing, in monster mills, was then an experi- ment in America. The works designed were upon a large scale, re- quiring heavy outlay and years of working and waiting for conclusive results. When operations were fairly begun adverse legislation and financial depression came to hinder and disturb, but the directors and managers of this company were men of courage, integrity and loyalty. Their fortunes and their reputations were staked upon the success of an enterprise that would affect the lives of thousands of men and women in this and in other lands, and provide new opportunities for bread winners. Failure would result in loss to the stockholders and would also prove a public calamity and a blow at industrial development in America. The leaders, doubtless, had an eye for ultimate profits, but there was also a philanthropic spirit manifest in their action.
The public at this day probably does not fully realize the extent of the activities of the Essex Company, prior to the incorporation of the city. Besides building the dam, canals, the first streets and drainage system, and fitting lands for habitation, the company built, equipped and for years operated the great machine shop, with foundry and forge shops, all of stone, (afterward controlled by a company organized as the "Lawrence Machine Shop", and now included in the Everett Mills group) ; also built fifty brick dwellings and a large boarding house, and made expensive improvements in deepening and
23
THE ESSEX COMPANY
straightening the Spicket River from the Machine shop raceway to its mouth.
1
As a protection against fire, at the joint cost of the company and the Bay State Mills, the Prospect Hill reservoir was built and connected with a system of water mains. Andover Bridge was purchased and repaired by it ; a fine brick hotel (in later years enlarged and now the present Franklin House) was erected; gas works were needed, and this company, joining with the Bay State Mills, built the first works ; the lumber dock, on Water street, was excavated, and lumber manu- factured and sold in immense quantities during the busy early con- struction period.
In the loft of the machine shop, a full set of worsted machinery was set up and operated experimentally,-the first attempt to develop that since important and growing industry of the city. Flumes, race- ways, wheelpits and protecting walls were built, at great cost, at the central mill site. The company also engineered and built for owners, and, in some cases, built and sold to the original owners, the first Atlantic Cotton Mills, the Upper Pacific Mills, the Pemberton, Duck and Machine Shop buildings.
The central and beautiful Common, Storrow Park, Bodwell Parl: Union Park and Stockton Park, besides a large tract of land on the west bank of the Shawsheen River, from Market to Andover streets, were reserved by the company and conveyed by deed of gift to the inhabitants of Lawrence to be forever used as public grounds. Besides for recreation, it gave freely of lands for religious and educational purposes. In fact, there was hardly an activity working toward the development and advancement of the "new city", in which this corpor- ation was not concerned. It was only after the progress of Lawrence was well under way and new enterprises took up the task of further development that the Essex Company turned its entire attention to the care of its own works, and the business of the company is now practically confined to the rental of its mill powers and the improve- ment of its remaining lands.
It may be truthfully said that few incorporated companies have been operated continuously, for more than 70 years, along definite lines so little changed. In the whole history of the company there have been but two treasurers in general management, Charles S. Storrow and Howard Stockton. The engineers in charge have been Capt. Charles H. Bigelow, Benjamin Coolidge and Hiram F. Mills, although of late years Richard A. Hale, assistant engineer of the company, has practically filled the position of engineer. George D. Cabot, Capt. John R. Rollins, Henry H. Hall, Robert H. Tewksbury and Roland A. Prescott have in turn served as accountant and cashier. George Sanborn was connected with the company for 52 years, from 1845 to 1898, the most of the time as superintendent of outside construction.
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LAWRENCE-YESTERDAY AND TODAY
At his death, in 1898, he was succeeded by his son, George A. Sanborn, who still holds the position.
A large percentage of titles to real estate in Lawrence originated - ith the Essex Company and its records of deeds and surveys, open tor public inspection, greatly simplify the work of examiners in perfecting titles.
THE LAWRENCE DAM.
BUILDING OF THE DAM
The construction of "The Great Stone Dam", perhaps the greatest contributing factor in developing Lawrence as one of the leading manufacturing cities of the country, was begun in the summer of 1845 and completed three years later.
At the time of building it was the most massive structure of the kind in the country and it remains, after more than three score and ten years, as permanent and complete as when first imbedded upon the solid rock foundation.
Within a few months of the organization of the Essex Company, July 5, 1845, the contract for the construction work was let to Gilmore & Carpenter. Excavations commenced August 1, 1845. The first stone was laid in the foundation line of headers at a point near the centre of the river by John A. Carpenter of the firm of contractors on September 19, 1845, and three years afterward, September 19, 1848, on the same day of the month and hour of the day, the last stone of the completed structure was laid at a point above the first bed stone, under the direction of the same contractor. The engineer in charge of the construction was Charles H. Bigelow, a captain of engineers in the United States Army. Under his supervision the north canal was also constructed.
The dam is constructed of huge granite blocks, laid in hydraulic cement firmly embedded and bolted upon the river rock bed. The thickness at the base is 35 feet, narrowed gradually to about 13 feet below the crest stone. The greatest height of masonry is 32 feet and the average plunge of water 25 to 26 feet without flashboards. The masonry, including wings extending inland, is 1,629 feet in length. The overflow of water is 900 feet wide from wing to wing, the crest line curving slightly upstream. A solid filling of earth, backing the masonry and sloping back, one foot in six, protects the structure. The south wing wall is 324 feet long and the north wing 405 feet. The original cost of the structure, at the time of building when prices of labor and material ruled low, was about $250,000.
It is conceded to this day that the dam and guard locks were an advance upon engineering methods at the time. No re- building or special repair has been needed as no weakness or defect has been apparent since its completion. It stood the test of the flood of 1852, the most destructive on record for the Merrimack River, when
27
BUILDING OF THE DAM
the old toll house, part of the Falls bridge and the fishway went into the swirl of water, ice, logs and debris.
THE NORTH CANAL
The building of the North Canal went on simultaneously with the construction of the dam. Water was let into the upper portion of this canal, to test the banks, on November 29, 1847. The guard locks were finished the same month. The entire canal was not filled until a year later, however. The North, or principal canal, is 5,330 feet in length and 100 feet wide at the beginning, narrowing to 60 feet at the outlet and is 12 feet in depth, the bottom being graded to a fall of one foot in 10,000 or six inches in its course. About 12,500 horse-power or 140 mill powers for ordinary working hours in the driest season was developed.
The banks of the canal are, to a large extent, artificial, necessitat- ing a vast amount of thorough construction. The stream follows the line of the river, and the intervening space, measuring about 400 feet, is now the site of a continuous line of some of the city's most important industrial plants.
The South Canal, built by stages in more recent years, now measures three-quarters of a mile in length, is 60 feet wide and 10 feet deep.
The magnitude of this great water power development is conceiv- able in the fact that the great pond or reservoir formed by the building of the dam has an area of about one square mile. This large storage area, and the system of natural reservoirs, the lakes and ponds upon the Merrimack and its tributaries, covering more than 100 miles, fed from about 4,600 square miles of drainage area, prevent fluctuation and scarcity in dry seasons.
FIRST COMERS TO "NEW CITY"
The influx of population, following the beginning of the construc- tion of the dam, brought a great number of people from various walks of life to the "new city". Business and professional men, and mechanics and laborers of all kinds began to settle here, coming from the country for miles about.
Among the first comers was Amos D. Pillsbury of Georgetown, who came to procure a shop for the manufacture and repair of boots, but, finding no available place, he purchased a gondola at Newburyport, 32 by 12 feet, on which he built a "stateroom", put in a stock of boots, shoes, leather, tools, cooking utensils and provisions, arrived at the "new city" just before the first land sale, anchored in the river below the bridge, threw out his plank and commenced business. Here he continued until cold weather, when he removed to Essex street into one of the new stores. He built in 1847 a building near the lower end of Common street, which he called the Montezuma House, one of the first hotels here. It was built without plan or system; the usual order of procedure was reversed by commencing at the top and leaving off at the cellar, it being raised and the roof covered before the cellar was dug. After a slight application of Spanish paint and the painting of the word Montezuma in large letters where no one would expect to see it, the building was completed. The walls of the house were covered with religious mottoes, and the guests were regaled with a constant flow of Scriptural quotations from the proprietor in place of the intoxicating beverages that were to be found at the other hotels. Both the Montezuma and its proprietor were noted for their pecu- liarities. About this time Horace Greeley visited the town and stopped at the Montezuma, having been directed there upon inquiring for a hotel where liquor was not dispensed. Being of the same mind as regards the use of intoxicants, the famous journalist probably found his host interesting.
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