USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Municipal history of Essex County in Massachusetts, Volume II > Part 5
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In 1884 there was an agitation for the acquirement of the aqueduct plant by the city, and hearings were held by a committee of the city government, but no definite action towards this result was taken until 1890. In that year a committee of investigation was appointed, and in the following year the formal order of taking was passed by both branches of the city government, and this order was approved by the mayor, June 10, 1891. A commission of three was appointed by the Supreme Judicial Court to determine the price to be paid. The company made a claim for $3,000,000, but the commission fixed the price to be paid as $637,500, with interest from July 6, 1891, the city to pay the fees of the commis- sioners, amounting to $7,655. The total cost to the city of the hearings, including experts and counsel fees, was $22,000. The water commis- sioners early acquired 623 acres of land, around its storage basin and Lake Kenoza, at a cost of $157,432, a portion of which is under the con- trol of the Park Commission, forming beautiful Winnekenni Park. In 1894-5 the Millvale storage basin was constructed by damming East Meadow river. This has a capacity of 118,000,000 gallons, and the water from this is pumped through a 24-inch pipe into Kenoza Lake, a distance of one mile. In 1897, when the town of Bradford became a part of the municipality of Haverhill, the water commission took in charge the water system of that place. The source of this supply is Johnson's Pond, having an area of 22 acres. From this the water is pumped into a reservoir of 1,000,000 gallons capacity, and is conveyed by high pressure service.
The board of water commissioners consists of five members, each
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serving for five years, elected by the municipal council, and having full charge of all matters connected with the department. The chairman alone is paid, the other members serving gratuitously; the administra- tion of the board has been since its first formation of high character and excellent ability.
The response of Haverhill to patriotic calls has ever been imme- diate and full, and in the Spanish War, the Mexican Border War, and the World War her sons have freely offered themselves to their country. On February 15, 1898, the United States Battleship Maine was destroyed in the harbor of Havana, Cuba, by a submarine mine, as the investigat- ing committee officially declared. The relations between the United States and Spain grew more and more tense until they were severed on April 21. On that day the Senate passed a bill for a volunteer army of 100,000 men, and the North Atlantic Squadron sailed to blockade the harbor of Havana. The President's call for volunteers was issued April 23, and on April 25 President Mckinley made official declaration that a. state of war with Spain had existed since April 21.
As soon as war seemed imminent, measures were taken to fill to its full complement the local company, Company F of the 8th Massachusetts Volunteer Militia. The officers of this company were Captain, Will C. Dow; 1st Lieutenant, O. W. Svanberg (of Amesbury) ; 2nd Lieutenant, David E. Jewell; 1st Sergeant, David F. Whittier. There was a rumor that the company was to be called on Tuesday, April 26, and the city was. full of excitement on that morning, but it was not until May 4 that the order to move was received. On May 5 the departure of the company occurred. The address of farewell was given by the mayor, Daniel S. Chase, at the foot of the Common, where in years long past, the Revolu- tionary minute men and the Civil War volunteers had been given their God-speed, and with an escort of police and of the veterans of the G. A. R. and other oragnizations, a procession was made through streets to the railway station. The company went into camp at Camp Dewey in Framingham, and thence they went to Camp Thomas at Chickamauga, and later to Cuba.
In the War of the Mexican Border the same procedure was practi- cally repeated. The call of twelve strokes on the fire bells, repeated three times, on the morning of June 19, 1916, summoned Company F, 8th Regiment, M. V. M., to assemble at the armory on Kenoza avenue, to prepare to entrain for the South Framingham camp, there to await or- ders to proceed to the border. The officers were Captain, Charles H. Morse; Lieutenant, John D. Hardy; 1st Sergeant, George A. Colloton.
A year later the entrance of the United States into the World War made strong and serious demands upon the young life and all of the ener- gies and resources of Haverhill, as it did of all other patriotic communi- ties. On the morning of July 27, 1917, Battery A, Second Massachu- setts Field Artillery, which had been recruited in Haverhill, left for the Boxford training camp under these officers: Captain Charles H. Morse, Lieutenants Benjamin P. Harwood and William H. Root; 2nd Lieuten- ants George W. Langdon and Percy L. Wendell; 1st Sergeant Albert L. Houle; while, a short time later, Company F, commanded by Captain John D. Hardy; 1st Lieutenant George A. Colloton; 2nd Lieutenant John B. Peaslee; 1st Sergeant Harry C. Davis (of Merrimac), and num- bering 150 men, was taken by autos to the camp at Lynnfield.
No attempt can be made in this limited article to give the history of the participation of Haverhill in the World War, nor to name those who
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placed above all else the call of their country, and offered life, service and substance to win the victory. All activities, the recruiting of troops, the draft board service, the Red Cross, the Liberty Loans, all movements, were fully met and with the willing spirit, and the sacrifices and losses touched the whole city. More than 4100 young men were enrolled in the army and the navy, and more than one hundred gave their lives in sacrifice, while more than one hundred were cited for bravery.
The population of Haverhill, census of 1920, is 53,884; its valuation, 1921, is $64,890,531. The annual appropriation for all purposes is $2,- 016,374 ; for municipal administration solely, $1,700,129. For the schools the appropriation is $587,000, or 34 per cent. of the total for administra- tion. The schools are administered by a force of nearly 300 supervisors and instructors. The number of pupils in the high school is approxi- mately 1,700, and in all the schools above 8,000.
The fire department consists of the chief engineer, four assistant engineers, and seventy-four firemen. There are, in addition, two village companies, one in Ayer's Village and one in Rock's Village. The de- partment is completely motorized. The appropriation for this depart- ment, 1921, is $172,835. The police department consists of a marshal, deputy-marshal, and fifty-nine other members, and a reserve force of sixteen. The department is motorized, and has two motorcycle police. Since 1916 a police woman has been a member of the department, and has done excellent preventive and reformatory work in addition to other duties. The appropriation for this department is $123,942.
The city cares for its sick and injured by the General Stephen Henry Gale Hospital, instituted in 1916, for which the appropriation is $104,- 000; the Tuberculosis Hospital, for which the appropriation is $24,579, and a dispensary, for which the appropriation is $4,765; the Contagious Hospital, for which the appropriation is $21,900; the Hale Hospital, a public institution, administered by a board of trustees ; an infirmary con- nected with the City Farm; and a general Board of Health, equipped with nurses, school physicians, and school dentists.
The Public Library is one of the most serviceable in the State, and is most liberal in its provisions for lending. A system of branch libraries reaches each school in the city, and there are large and important public branches in Bradford and in Washington Square. The library is especial- ly rich in works of art and rare books, and its collection of editions, pamphlets, fugitive articles, pictures, and material relating to the poet Whittier is probably the most complete one in existence. The birth- place of Whittier, the scene of many of his poems, and world-known as the scene of the New England idyll, "Snow-Bound," is owned by the Whittier Association, and is preserved as a typical New England farm- homestead of the early nineteenth century. Its furnishings are those used by the family of the poet, the old kitchen being in this respect of especial interest. The extensive grounds are kept in the simple, homely style of Whittier's boyhood days. The house and grounds are open to the public.
In the limited space in this volume accorded to the city of Haver- hill, I have sought to present the outstanding matters of interest in the history of the place. But in every year of its existence there have been matters and occurrences worthy of being related, for which there is not room here, and its civic life has been constantly enriched by men and women of high character and lofty purposes and untiring energy, whose biographies are deserving of record:
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"And never in the hamlet's bound Was lack of sturdy manhood found; And never failed the kindred good Of brave and helpful womanhood."
To write these would make this article far transcend the bounds set for it, while not to write them occasions deep regret. For necessary omissions, the writer of this article craves forgiveness, while he writes, as the last line, the prayer of Whittier, "I pray God bless the good old town."
Here concludes Mr. Albert L. Bartlett's excellent narrative.
In addition to the well-written description, or rather, story, of Haverhill, by Hon. Albert L. Bartlett, other important facts in the his- tory and detailed development of the city follow. From a publication put out in 1919, by the Haverhill Chamber of Commerce, the same having been written by Daniel N. Casey, secretary of that body, this is found rela- tive to the city's growth :
Haverhill is the fastest-growing shoe city, and in the period from 1909 to 1914, which was the last taken by the census of this State, Haverhill made a net gain of thirteen shoe manufacturing establishments, leading all other competing shoe centres in the number of concerns gained in this period. In that five years also, Haverhill gained a total of fifty-two manufacturing establishments, and in 1919 had a total of nearly four hundred industrial plants. Haverhill has more in- dividual shoe manufacturing concerns than any other city on the North American continent, about one hundred and thirty-five firms being devoted to the manufacture of boots and shoes. Haverhill is also a center for the cut-stock trade, there being about one hundred and forty firms engaged in this line. Worsted goods, hats, morocco goods, leather, box-board, wooden and paper boxes are also produced in Haverhill. Haverhill for a long time was known strictly as a woman's shoe center, and is today the slipper city of the world. Her manufacturers have also gone into the production of other lines of footwear, so that now Haverhill is producing twenty- five million pairs of shoes a year for men, women and children in turns, welts, and Mckays.
The growth of Haverhill in all lines, particularly in the last ten years, has been steady. Haverhill has added an average of one thousand persons a year to her population in the past decade, has built an average of a modern shoe factory a year in the past ten years, and in the last five years has added seven and one-half million dollars to the value of her manufactured products, while her building per- mits have averaged close to a million and a half every year. New concerns and complete store alterations have naturally followed and 2,000 tenements and homes have been built. Gas in Haverhill in 1919 is eighty cents per thousand feet. Elec- tricity for lighting is eleven cents kw. hour, with a power rate as low as any in the State. Haverhill has forty miles of street car trackage. It has an area of thirty-two square miles. There are two general hospitals, a tuberculosis and a contagious hospital. Sixty trains a day arrive and depart from Haverhill depot, on the main line of the Boston & Maine. Direct express service to Boston and express direct to New York. Haverhill has four national banks, a trust company, three savings and two co-operative banks. Settler in 1640, made a city in 1870, Haver- hill has a population of 53,000.
Albert M. Child, secretary of the Haverhill Shoe Manufacturers' Association, two years ago had an article published, from which many of
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the subjoined points have been extracted, showing, as they do, much that is relative to Haverhill's great and growing industry :
. When we study the history of shoemaking, we find it to be one of the first industries to be taken up in Haverhill, after John Ward and his band of adventurous spirits paddled up the Merrimac in 1640 and settled in the most beautiful spot which their eyes beheld upon its banks. From making shoes for themselves, then for their neighbors and then on and on, the industry grew, until in the fifties and sixties, the city was developing into a Shoe City, reaching that distinction when receiving its city charter in 1870; and in the summer of that year proving that fact, when her shoe manufacturers entertained upon the eastern shore of Lake Kenoza shoe buyers from every State in the Union, bringing them from Boston by spcial train, banqueting them in the "Old Stone House" and returning them to Bos- ton. Haverhill shoe manufacturers of 1870 knew and practiced successful methods of making, advertising and selling their goods. Their successors, with this in- herited knowledge, have, with infinite study, acquired the highest ability in devising new styles and fancy combinations to attract and please the buyer. Her shoe workers are born to the business, growing up in it, trained in it; employers and em- ployes thinking, talking, dreaming and making shoes. So Haverhill well merits its acknowledged position as the "Leading Slipper City of the World." The Cham- ber of Commerce slogan, "Haverhill Shoes Tread the Carpets of the Globe," is just as true as though stated in less-thrilling language.
In 1876 at the Philadelphia Centennial, an exhibition of shoes by a local firm, Hazen B. Goodrich & Co., won a medal for unsurpassed style and workmanship. Although the style was the square toe and low heel of the period, the workmanship cannot be bettered today.
In 1919, the value of men's shoes made was $6,000,000. From the State statis- tics in 1914-seven years ago-Haverhill had 126 manufacturing establishments de- voted exclusively to the making of boots and shoes. The capital invested was approximately $9,500,000; the value of the stock and material was $14,569,417; and the amount of wages paid $6,318,254, while the value of the products reached $25,- 319,953.
In 1916 the Bureau of Statistics for Massachusetts had these figures on the various industries of Haverhill: Number of factory institutions, 364; capital in- vested, $20,496,000; value of stock and material used, $28,000,000; wages paid that year, $8,598,000; average yearly earnings, $643.96; number males employed, 8,832; females employed 4,521; value of products, $44,000,000. These industries were classed as follows: Boot and shoe cut stock and findings, 135 concerns; boots and shoes, 119; boxes, fancy and paper, 6; bread and bakery products, 18; cutlery and tools, 4; foundry and machine shop, models and patterns, 6; tobacco manufac- turers, 4; other industries, 67.
In 1861, or more than three-score years ago, George Wingate Chase wrote a small volume devoted to the history of Haverhill, in which is found this description of the shoe making industry of the town, from the earliest date. This is all the more interesting when one learns that about one-seventh of all the value in foot-wear in the United States comes from the present-day factories of Haverhill, for these great plants have their salesmen in all civilized countries of the entire globe. (Beginning on page 532 of the work just named, this article reads as follows) :
The first shoemaker in the town was doubtless Andrew Greeley, who came here in 1646, and some of his descendants still reside here and are engaged in the shoe
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business. From the above date until within the present century (Eighteenth), shoemaking was confined almost exclusively to the wants of our own community. Shoes were not made up in quantities and kept on hand for sale, like most kinds of goods at the present day; much less were they manufactured for the foreign trade. The time is almost within the memory of persons living (1861), when it was the common custom, outside the villages, for shoemakers to "whip the stump"; i.e., go from house to house, stopping at each long enough to make up a year's supply of shoes for the family. Farmers usually kept a supply of leather on hand for the family use and in many cases they were their own cobblers. Sometimes a farmer was also a shoemaker for the whole neighborhood, and worked at it on rainy days and during the winter months.
In the villages, the "Village Cobbler", or shoemaker, gradually came to keep a little stock of leather on hand, and to exchange shoes with the farmer, tanners and traders, and others for produce, leather, foreign goods, etc. In this village, as late as 1794, there is said to have been but two shoemakers. Robert Willis remem- bers being in the shop of Enoch Marsh, in that year, when the latter was making a pair of shoes for Captain Benjamin Willis-of the privateer brig Betsey-between the soles of which a layer of gold pieces was placed. The precaution proved to have been timely, as the brig was captured the same voyage.
In the course of time, store-keepers began to keep a few shoes on hand for sale. This grew out of the barter system of trade, then so common. They bartered with the shoemaker for shoes; bartered the shoes with the back country farmers for produce, and then bartered the produce for English and West India goods.
In 1795, Moses Gale, of Haverhill, advertised that he had "several thousand fresh dry hides" which he would exchange for shoes, and would give credit until the shoes could be made from the same hides. This is the earliest authentic in- formation we have found of what might be called a wholesale shoe business in town. From this time on, the manufacture of shoes was regular and grew rapidly. Among the earliest to engage in this line were Moses and James Atwood, who also kept a store in the village. During the war of 1812, the first named sent a wagon load of shoes to Philadelphia, on which he realized a handsome profit. Later Mr. At- wood moved to Philadelphia and founded the first wholesale shoe house of that city.
Phineas Webster was of the earliest, if not the very first, who made the whole- sale manufacture of shoes his business; this commenced in 1815. At first he ex- changed most of his shoes in Danvers for morocco and leather. The Danvers tanners and curriers packed their shoes in barrels, sugar boxes, tea chests and hogsheads, without regard to size or quality, then shipped them to Philadelphia and Baltimore, where they were exchanged for produce.
In March, 1832, there were twenty-eight shoe factories in Haverhill, viz: Jacob Caldwell, Caldwell & Pierce, Anthony Chase, Tappan & Chase, Samuel Tappan, Charles Davis, Benjamin Emerson, Jesse Emmerson, Samuel George, Joseph Gree- ley, Gubtal & Haseltine, Harmon & Kimball, Moses Haynes, Caleb Hersey, Kelly & Chase, Richard Kimball, Oliver P. Lake, Thomas Meady, James Noyes, Peter Osgood, Page & Kimball, Daniel S. Perley, Job Tyler, Isiah Webster, David Whit- taker, Whittier & George, John Woodman. The first morocco used here came from Newburyport and Danvers. The first morocco dressed here was by Jesse Harding.
In 1836, Rufus Slocumb, who ran the first line to Boston that year, made one hundred and fourteen trips, taking from Haverhill in all, that year, 26,955 cases of shoes, amounting to nine hundred and nine tons.
In 1837, Haverhill had forty-two shops running, and fourteen tanneries and leather dealers. In 1857 the place had ninety shoe factories, eighty-two of which were in the center of the place; also eighteen inner sole and stiffening factories. The Boston & Maine railroad books show that these were the shipments for three
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decades: In 1850 there were shipped 46,000 cases; in 1855 there were 59,984 and in 1860, it reached 67,856 cases of shoes shipped out of the place.
The latest City Directory gives the following list of factories as connected with the shoe trade in Haverhill: Box factories, nine; black- ing-makers, four; last manufactories, two; leather-board makers, four; leather dealers, fifty-one; leather manufacturers, three; morocco manu- facturers, two; wooden heels shops, sixteen. The number of individual companies or firms in the shoe business in the city is one hundred and forty. The sum total of value of boots and shoes made in Haverhill in 1920 was $30,000,000.
Not alone in the manufacture of shoes has Haverhill been noted as an industrial center. As early as 1747, a hatter named Jonathan Web- ster engaged in the manufacture of hats for men and boys. Other early hatters were Nathan Webster, Isaac How, John Ayer, John A. Houston & Co., the last-named company were employing fifteen men in 1861. Two hundred and fifty dozen hats were being made each month at that date. The products were carted to Boston and Salem. Some were taken on horseback and others in one-horse carts. They were made of beaver fur, and some of muskrat hides, as well as others of raccoon fur, the last named being "every day" hats. The best fur hats sold at $7 each and lasted a lifetime. At one time this was a big industry in Haver- hill.
When the Chamber of Commerce for Haverhill published its booklet setting forth the advantages of the city in 1918-19, it recited Postmaster L. F. McNamara's account of the postal affairs of Haverhill, and the same will here follow:
Doing an annual business of more than $140,000, and employing over one hundred people in the transmission of its business, the Haverhill postoffice must be considered a most important link in Haverhill's industry. Haverhill is a first- class postoffice and enjoys practically all of the postal advantages of the larger cen- ters. Mails are received and dispatched at all hours during the day and night, and eleven contract stations, dependent upon the Haverhill postoffice, are so estab- lished that they render convenient service to all the citizens.
In 1893 the erection of the present postoffice building, in Washington Square, was begun and was finished and occupied the following year. The cost was $75,- 000. The land on which the postoffice stands is part of the original grant of two hundred acres of parsonage land, which was granted as pasture land, to Rev. John Ward, the first minister of Haverhill. On this lot also was set the first engine-house erected in Haverhill, this latter having been built in 1783.
The postoffice has kept pace with the growth of the city. September 1, 1882, Haverhill was given its first letter carriers, and at that time there were but five. Today Haverhill has thirty-nine regular and ten substitute carriers, thirty-four regular and six substitute clerks and four rural carriers. There are three branch offices in Groveland, South Groveland and Georgetown. The eleven contract sta- tions include East Haverhill, and Ayers Village. There are nine numbered stations, and one independent station in the Bradford district.
In the last ten years, while Haverhill has been growing ten thousand people, the revenue of the postoffice has nearly doubled. For the calendar year ending 1906
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the receipts were $78,439.40, and for the calendar year ending January 1, 1917, the receipts were $143,926.75. May 1, 1917, there were 364 depositors in the postal savings department and there were $59,625 to their credit. There are about 200 mail boxes in the city proper and suburbs.
Midnight collections are made from all boxes in the principal residential and business districts, and clerks are on duty all night, dispatching these mails on the early morning train. Two parcel post teams are operated all the time, and several special delivery boys are employed to handle this special matter. The present postmaster, appointed in 1913, succeeded Charles M. Hoyt, who was appointed in 1909. Clarence B. Lagacy is assistant postmaster, Nelson R. Foss has charge of the finances, George L. Kelly is superintendent and John J. Cronin is assistant superin- tendent of mails.
The records from 1900 to 1917 show many interesting features, in- cluding these: Highest temperature recorded, 104 degrees on July 4, 1911. Lowest temperature recorded, 17 degrees below zero, on Febru- ary 12, 1914. The average yearly precipitation has been a fraction more than thirty-eight inches. Greatest precipitation in 1900, when it was forty-eight inches. The least precipitation was in 1914, when it was only twenty-eight inches. The average snowfall is fifty inches, but in 1916 it was one hundred inches. The least snowfall in any one year was in 1913, when it was less than twenty inches. Greatest velocity of wind was in 1915, on December 27, when it was eighty-five miles per hour.
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