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 4
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In 1857 party lines were not so strictly defined. The "Know-Noth . ing" party had just expired. John R. Rollins was elected mayor over Thomas Wright. Both Rollins and Wright were Whigs. The city
* Hon. Charles S. Storrow died April 30, 1904, aged 95 years.
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at the time was strongly anti-Democratic. Rollins was re-elected in 1858, over N. G. White, also a Whig, the Democrats throwing their support to Rollins' opponent as in the preceding year.
The Republican party supplanted the Whig party in 1859, and Henry K. Oliver, the Republican mayoralty nominee, was elected, though Daniel Saunders, Jr., the Democratic candidate, had the support of some of the most active Republicans. On the other hand, General Oliver was supported by influential Catholic Democrats and their followers. Feeling ran high, but the Irish vote being finally secured for the general, he was elected by a decided majority. The following year the political pot was turned over, and Daniel Saunders, Jr., was elected. It was during the first month of his administration that occurred the terrible disaster, the fall of the Pemberton Mill.
Party politics in municipal affairs continued to attract a keen interest in succeeding years, until party lines were wiped out at the adoption of the new city charter in 1912. For a number of years prior to then the Democrats were the dominating party, and are still, locally, in state and national elections.
In patriotism Lawrence has never been lacking, and in 1861 she gave one of the first martyrs of the Rebellion, when Sumner H. Need- ham fell in Baltimore on the memorable 19th of April. Lawrence furnished 2,497 men for the war, 224 over and above all demands. Ninety-two were commissioned officers. The whole amount of money appropriated and expended by the city on account of the war, exclusive of State aid, was $115,630.10. The total amount of State aid paid to families of volunteers, and which was afterward repaid by the Com- monwealth, was $192,233.05. The nation has never looked in vain to Lawrence in her need.
Lawrence has passed through numerous crises, and in the early years of the city the blows have been most severe. The tariff enacted soon after the first manufacturing here nearly paralyzed the industries just then started. The great and memorable panic of 1857-58 gave the city a set-back from which it slowly recovered. The Pemberton disaster came upon its heels, and the boom times of the war were followed by the rapid and demoralizing shrinkage in values in 1872-74. Nothing in the way of a serious calamity occurred from then up to within the past 27 years, except the cyclone in South Lawrence in 1890, which resulted in the loss of eight lives and great damage to property.
During her early history Lawrence suffered from both flood and fire. In 1852 the town was thrown into almost a panic by the great freshet of that year, when the highest pitch of the water was ten feet above the crest of the dam. This freshet washed out the abutment of the bridge and the toll house on the south side of the river, and, at intervals, the water reached the woodwork on the railroad bridge.
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There was dread of an overflow of the wing walls of the dam, and, to protect the town, a train of cars and a large number of teams were run night and day in conveying earth for an embankment. The low- lands on the river bank were flooded, and on a number of occasions since during heavy spring freshets these sections have been overflowed, though in recent years there has been little damage in this respect. The nearest approach to the freshet of 1852 was that of 1896, when the water reached nine feet nine inches, or within three inches of the great flood.
Destructive fires have been numerous, especially in the early years. One of the most disastrous fires that occurred in the city broke out on August 12, 1859, in what was known as the "United States Hotel", which was located on Essex street, midway between Appleton and Jackson streets. That structure soon went down, killing in its fall two young men. From this the fire spread east, destroying one or two stores, and west to Appleton street, wiping out what was then known as the "Church Block", embracing the Second Congregational church, with stores under same, and thence traversing north, carried down the courthouse. The Unitarian church, some distance removed, was ignited by the sparks and cinders, and badly damaged.
Another conflagration, which should be given special mention, was that started by the burning of the steam mill of Wilson & Allyn on May 2, 1860. The mill, formerly the meeting house which stood, in the pioneer days, on the hill near the farm house of Fairfield White, was a two-story building, and filled, from base to attic, with combustible materials. A brisk wind carried the burning embers high in the air and scattered them upon the roofs of buildings as far as Tower Hill. By the aid of ladders and water buckets many buildings in the path of the flying coals were saved, and every structure west of the railway escaped destruction. Several wooden workshops between the mill and the railway went down, and the large carriage manufactory of General Gale was saved with much difficulty.
Although there have been fires with greater amount of damage than the aforesaid conflagrations, none have occurred that covered so large an area. It has been frequently predicted that Lawrence will yet experience a terrible conflagration in one of its congested tenement districts, but it is to be hoped that the prospect will continue as a prediction only. An efficient, well equipped fire department, with a favorable combination of circumstances, has kept the number of destructive fires in recent years comparatively small.
Beyond a slow, steady growth of the city, there were few ex- traordinary public improvements during the 25 years that followed the Civil War. A notable improvement was the straightening of the Spicket River and the building of the main sewer through that section during the years 1883 to 1886. It might also be mentioned that street
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EARLY HISTORY OF LAWRENCE
letter boxes were introduced here November 15, 1867 ; that the first fire alarm telegraph system was completed July 25, 1869, and that the legislative act to provide for a water supply was accepted May 7, 1872. In November of the following year ground was broken for the reservoir on Tower Hill.
It is worthy of mention, in closing this chapter, that during the hard times of 1857, an invention of incalculable importance to the world was brought out successfully in this city by two of the employes of the Lawrence Machine Shop. We refer to the steam fire engine. The inventors were Thomas Scott and N. S. Bean. Although there were other engines built elsewhere at the same time, it remained for Lawrence to produce the most practical. This city was awarded the palm at a test of machines at Boston. The first engine built here was called the Lawrence and was purchased by the City of Boston. The invention was bought by the Amoskeag Company of Manchester, N. H., where the engines were manufactured for many years. These machines completely revolutionized fire departments, and Lawrence was not slow to adopt them.
PANORAMIC VIEWS OF MILL DISTRICT
INDUSTRIAL GROWTH
No history of Lawrence would be complete without a chapter devoted to the industrial growth of the city. Over half of the city's valuation comes from the 40 or more industrial concerns, and most of it represents property of the textile manufactories, their plants alone covering a land area estimated to be about 283 acres.
The development of the great mills has been the most remarkable feature of Lawrence's history. They are the backbone of the community,-the city's greatest asset. Their army of operatives would make a good sized city in itself. They give directly employment to about one-third of the population and, as the channels of trade are filled largely by the earnings of the textile workers, they are the life blood of the remaining two-thirds. Their presence has attracted other manufacturers in a great diversity of lines, and they have been a means of stimulating general enterprise. They have not only gained a world- wide recognition for themselves, but they have put Lawrence on the map as one of the greatest industrial centres.
The story of the small beginnings of these hives of industry, their prodigious growth, their present mammoth proportions and gigantic operations outrivals even the tale of the "magic growth" of western cities.
Prior to the building of the dam, the only industries here were the little Durant paper mill on the south bank of the Spicket, east of Newbury street, the Stevens' box shop on the site of the Arlington Mills, engaged in the manufacture of cases for the Chickering pianos, and the old Graves soap factory at the foot of Clover Hill; and in the whole area within the city's limits were less than 200 souls. Through- out all this territory were a few scattered farm houses, the nearest approach to a settlement being the "Four Corners", or cross-roads, where Andover street now crosses South Broadway. Through this small habitation flowed the Merrimack River with its latent power.
Briefly that was the industrial prospect when Daniel Saunders and his associates conceived the idea of turning the tremendous water power of the Merrimack at Bodwell's Falls to the use of manufacturing industry. That they builded well is evidenced by the great textile centre which today occupies the site of their operations.
During the three years required for building the dam, the foundation of the present industrial growth was laid. On April II, 1846, the Bay State Mills (now the Washington Mills plant of the
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LAWRENCE-YESTERDAY AND TODAY
American Woolen Company) were laid out and put in operation in 1847. Construction work commenced on the Atlantic Cotton Mills on June 9, and on the Essex Company's machine shop and foundry (now the property of the Everett Mills) on June 10, 1846.
The Pacific Mills and the Pemberton were incorporated in 1853; the Lawrence Duck Company in 1853; the Everett in 1860; the Law- rence Woolen Company (now Kunhardt's) in 1864, and the Arlington in 1865.
For the first quarter century, after the starting of the pioneer mills at Lawrence, manufacturing in America was a matter largely of experiment. Machinery and methods of operation had not been perfected : the prejudice against home made fabrics had not been overcome by actual and extensive tests. It would take a volume of goodly proportion to fully narrate the experiments, the trials, the partial failures and the eventual successes of local enterprises, and a larger volume in which to pay due tribute to the patient labor and hard study of scores of men who within the walls of our mills have by investigation and by trial brought processes of textile manufacture to such a state of perfection that it is now mostly a contest between rivals as to which shall be entitled to preference and public favor when all have attained to model methods and have discovered and applied processes differing only in degree.
Many things, all important in modern life, had their beginning here. The worsted industry was made practical and leading in the mills of Lawrence. The use of wood pulp and Manila grass in paper manufacture was demonstrated to be practical at the original Russell Paper Mills. Machinery for the sewing of leather and other devices in the perfection of shoe machinery were first attempted and brought to some degree of perfection in the old Lawrence Machine Shop, a concern that, while it failed as a corporation, left much that was valuable to its successors elsewhere. There is nothing the value of which it is so hard to estimate as the value of a practical and useful invention in processes of manufacture, for millions eventually share in the benefits secured. In every branch of textile and paper manufacture important inventions and improvements have been made by Lawrence mechanics and manufacturers.
Our industrial plants are constantly reaching out for improvements and, notwithstanding the impression among some people abroad, who are not familiar with the requirements of the work, a vast amount of skill and ingenuity are necessary for the successful operation of the big textile mills. As the head of one of the large plants of the city has very aptly put it :- "The factory of today calls upon almost every department of human knowledge for its development and maintenance. It demands the services of the civil, mechanical, hydraulic and steam engineer, the carpenter and the builder of brick and stone, wood and
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iron, the foundry and the machine shop, the inventor, the mechanic, the skilled artisan, the engraver, printer and dyer. It also needs the chemist, the electrician and the man of scientific research."
It was with the operative population of Lawrence, that the Pacific set up the first combing machines used in the country ; the Washington made the first all-wool dress goods, the famous Bay State shawls and blue flannel coatings being originated by these mills ; the Arlington was the first to successfully manufacture, in the United States, black alpacas, mohairs and brilliantines, in which class of goods England formerly had monopoly. With the Lawrence operatives originated Paul's self-acting mules, the Pearl spindle for cotton spinning, the Wade bobbin holder which revolutionized the process of spooling, the high speed steam engine, and the successful steam fire engine, to mention but a few of the notable inventions originated and developed here.
The financial crisis of 1857 struck a severe blow to Lawrence's industries, and the growth of the city during its first decade was very much retarded. Nearly all the mills suspended for a short time; then occurred the failure of the Bay State Mills and their reorganization. The terrible Pemberton Mill calamity of 1860 was an added blow. But, owing to a big demand for the products of the local mills during the war of the Rebellion, Lawrence took a new start. The boom times during and after the war, however, were followed by the rapid and demoralizing shrinkage in values in 1872-74. Other depressions have occurred, coming about once in every 10 years, though not as serious as those experienced in the early years. But the Lawrence industries have weathered the gales in a manner that indicated a sound stability.
The most marked development in the industrial growth came in 1905 when William M. Wood of the American Woolen Co. conceived the plan of procuring yarn for the various mills of the concern without being dependent upon other manufacturers. Thus it was that the mammoth plant which bears his name came into being. The build- ing of the Wood Mills started a decade of mill construction in Lawrence such as has probably never been witnessed in any other tex- tile centre. Within a few years most of the leading plants made big additions. The erection of the Ayer Mills (named for the late Frederick Ayer, a manufacturer of note) followed and the Arlington Mills were greatly enlarged, several new buildings being constructed by this corporation at a cost estimated to be nearly a million dollars. Large additions were made to the Pacific, Washington, Everett, Kun- hardt and Duck. The big, new print works of the Pacific, besides the large coating mill of the Champion-International Paper Company (into which concern were merged the Russell paper mills), were built during this construction period ; also the Uswoco Mill of the United States Worsted Company, the Katama Mill and the worsted and me-
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rino yarn mill of the Monomac Spinning Company. Many of the minor industrial plants have also increased their facilities for production. Besides, new industries have come to the city, the most notable of the recent arrivals being the Walton Shoe Company, which has occupied the old Stanley machine shop building on Haverhill street, and the Diamond Match Company, opposite the Wood Mills, the scouring liquor waste of which it uses in the manufacture of its product.
The Everett, Kunhardt and Lawrence Duck are listed among the big textile mills, but the American Woolen, Pacific and Arlington stand out as the mammoth plants of the city, their immense proportions and their great volume of production amazing all tourists. These three, in their groups, have single buildings that dwarf the average factory structure. In the case of the American Woolen Company, this is especially true. In fact, in size, there is no other to compare with the Wood Mills. Some idea of the size of this immense plant may be gained by recalling that the main building is a quarter of a mile long, 123 feet wide and six stories high ; that there are 29 acres of floor space under one roof, and that from three-quarters of a million to a million pounds of wool are consumed each week by the plant when it is running to its full capacity. The Washington and Ayer, the other big plants of the American Woolen Company in Lawrence, are huge in size, though not nearly as large as the Wood.
Not only is the plant of the Wood Worsted Mills the largest single mill plant in the world, but it has the distinction of having been erected in a shorter time than any other manufacturing establishment of magnitude. Conceived one day, it was, as it were, in operation the next. Cloth was being manufactured in April, 1906, where a long line of willow trees and birches were swaying in the breezes of the previous August.
Had the prediction been made in the summer of 1905 that machinery would be humming in a mammoth mill eight months later where, at the time of the prediction, there existed only a rough, half-wooded field along a winding river bank, it would have been regarded as preposterous. Yet 900 men accomplished this seeming impossibility. There was no magic to it. It was not an Arabian Nights dream. It was a twentieth century wonder, made possible by foresight, industry, energy, persistence and skill.
It remained for a man who had risen from the bottom to the top of the, mill ladder to startle the industrial world with this example of what dash, pluck and push can do when backed by brains. The Wood Mills stand today a monument to the enterprise of William M. Wood.
The growth of the Arlington Mills has also been most remarkable. From the small wooden structure that was wholly consumed by fire in 1866 to the great system of mills that reach out beyond the city limits
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INDUSTRIAL GROWTH
into the adjacent town of Methuen is a long step in factory develop- ment. The Top mill of this group is one of the largest mill buildings in the country. This concern is famed for its most extensive variety and its quality of yarns, besides its specialties in plain and fancy fabrics. Notable improvements in the process of the manufacture of dress goods originated at the Arlington. The record of the cor- poration for regular payment of dividends for 40 years has been interrupted only by the omission of a dividend on Jan. 1, 1914, and this lapse was made up on July 2nd of 1917, when a special dividend of $2 a share was paid in addition to the regular quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share. Joseph Nickerson, Albert W. Nickerson, William Whitman and Franklin W. Hobbs, the present head, have been the controlling minds in the building up of this great institution.
The Pacific Mills, also, have had a marvelous growth. Their buildings cover an immense area. The main mill is one of the most prominent structures in the city ; it is 806 feet long by 72 feet wide, and seven stories in height. To go through the various rooms of this building would necessitate the walk of more than a mile. The new print works, located on a seventeen acre lot, have absorbed the Hamil- ton works of Lowell, besides the works of the Cocheco Mills of the corporation at Dover, N. H. They are reputed to be the largest plant of their kind in the world. The Pacific stand pre-eminent among the mills of their class in America. Their products are world-famous. Locally the plant is regarded as the most steadily operated in the city. On March 31, 1913, this corporation bought at auction the Atlantic Cotton Mills, thus securing a valuable site for a new mill and much desired room for further expansion later when the pioneer Atlantic is torn down. The guiding heads of the great concern are Robert F. Herrick, president, and Edwin Farnham Greene, treasurer.
Remarkable improvements have been made in the mills, tending to the physical and mental comforts of the workers. Not only have the hours of labor been greatly reduced, but the sanitary arrangements have been much improved. At the very beginning of manufacturing here operatives began work at 5.30 o'clock in the morning ; there was a half hour for breakfast and a half hour for dinner ; the day's work closed at 7 o'clock in the evening and was a day of 13 hours. Later the noon respite was increased and the breakfast recess discontinued while the working day has been reduced to II and then to 10 hours, and now the 54-hour law sets the length of time at 54 hours a week. Instead of starting work at 5.30 a. m. the operatives in the mills now begin at 6.45 a. m. In the early days lighting and ventilation were poor. Besides, there was little chance for rest or recreation, while the wages were very small as compared to what are paid today, and the method of paying not so convenient as the weekly system in vogue now.
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During the earlier years of Lawrence the principal industries were the large cotton and woolen mills, located mostly upon the North canal and dependent upon the dam in the river for their power. But after the Civil war many industries of wide range of character were drawn to Lawrence. A second canal was constructed on the south side of the river, and as the calls for more mill sites were made, this canal was extended in length. Steam power is also used in many factories and shops, and, within a few years, electrical power has been introduced, the Pacific Mills having in operation a large electric power house a short distance from the plant. Paper mills, machine shops, iron and brass foundries, wood-working estab- lishments, shoe factories, and many others have been added to the industries of the city. A notable feature of the expansion of the larger plants is the gradual disappearing of the old corporation board- ing houses.
The diversified nature of the textile industries of Lawrence has done much to keep it on the level keel of prosperity when other manufacturing cities staggered under the depression in their one line of production. When the cotton goods market is poor the worst- ed goods market is apt to be all right, and, as Lawrence manufac- tures both lines extensively the city is not so seriously affected when one market falls off. This city does a tremendous business in worst- eds, being according to the United States Bureau of Statistics, the second largest producer of fine worsteds in the country, Philadelphia alone leading it.
The relationship between capital and labor, between the employer and the employed, is always an important factor in any manufacturing community. Lawrence, with a few exceptions, has been free from strikes and labor troubles. The only controversy that could be con- sidered as very serious was the big strike of 1912, which was attended with violence and, through the misrepresentations of unscrupulous or ignorant writers, brought the city into ill-repute. As a rule the corporations and employers have been liberal and fair in their manage- ment of affairs and the laboring classes have been reasonable and patient in their demands; each preferring peaceable arbitration to compulsory measures for the settlement of their difficulties.
The many small property owners in Lawrence bear testimony to the thrift and industry of its wage earners. The city is noted for the large percentage of working people who own their homes.
TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS OF PROGRESS
From 1890 to 1917 Lawrence had its greatest development. These years are remarkable for the great number of public improve- ments made, and the extraordinary expansion of the city's industries and subsequent influx of population and growth of property valuation.
The year 1891 saw the passing of the horse car and the applying of electric power on the street railway, whose lines soon began reaching out through all parts of the city and to surrounding cities and towns. The removal of Gale's hill and the filling in of the low lands of ward five were started, and steps were taken toward the establishment of a filtration system in connection with the city's water supply that year. The following year the construction of the filter beds was begun. In 1896 the high service system was added to the water works. In the meantime, there was a radical departure in school house construction with the building of the Rollins school, which was soon followed by the erection of the Tarbox school in 1895 along the same modern lines. The State armory was completed, as was the Public Library building during this construction period. Great improvements were made in the sewerage system, the Water street sewer, draining the lowlands of ward five, being built in 1893, and the construction of the Shanty Pond sewer, draining the section of South Lawrence west of South Broadway, being started in 1895.
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