USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Northampton > The Northampton book; chapters from 300 years in the life of a New England town, 1654-1954 > Part 21
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Such was the setting for the industrial and social life of the town. It is not surprising, then, to find the industrial activity in Northampton taking on new life in the years immediately follow- ing 1860. Throughout its development up to 1900, and indeed
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Industrial History: 1860-1900
beyond, no industry played a more important part than silk manu- facture. Begun in 1836 by Samuel Whitmarsh with outside capi- tal, it ran into difficulties and its assets were taken over by the Northampton Association for Education and Industry in 1841. Their efforts, too, resulted in failure but their idealistic and philan- thropic spirit lingered. In 1846, Samuel L. Hill, one of them, bought them out and formed a company which in 1866 was in- corporated as the Nonotuck Silk Co. The simultaneous develop- ment of silk twist and the sewing machine brought great pros- perity to the company. Profits were so large that in the depression year of 1873 a dividend of $62.50 was paid on each share of stock and from 1881 to 1893 dividends ranged annually from 10 to 20 per cent. Much later this was to become the Corticelli Silk Co. In 1865 the silk output of Northampton was valued at $303,000; ten years later it had risen to $1, 100,000; and by 1900 was $4,2 50,000.
A second important pillar in the town's industrial prosperity, initiated by the Florence group, was the Florence Manufacturing Company, incorporated in 1866. Beginning in a small way in 1854 as Littlefield and Parsons, which in turn was a successor of the A. P. Critchlow and Co. (buttons) of the 1840's, it at first made buttons and daguerreotype cases. It turned to hairbrushes and mirrors, then pioneered in tooth brushes, and eventually be- came the Pro-Phy-Lac-Tic Company. By the middle 1880's the company had expanded greatly and its business was world-wide.
The Florence Sewing Machine Co. began in Wells and Little- field's machine shop; here the first Florence Sewing Machine was made in 1861. By 1865 the company was employing 150 men and three years later doubled its capacity. In the 1870's it added oil stoves to its product. The company which absorbed it in 1891 still makes the Florence Oil Stove. Still another company launched by this same group of men was the Florence Furniture Co. in 1873, still operating as the Florence Casket Co.
From the profits made in these enterprises by the Florence group, further companies were formed, among them the North- ampton Emery Wheel Co. in 1867, a small company which pros- pered greatly. Then in 1874 came the Florence Tack Co. which flourished through most of the 1880's. A few years later came the Northampton Pegging Machine Co. which in addition to an ingenious hand operated pegging machine made hoes. There was also the Martin and Hill Cash Carrier Co. whose system of small
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boxes traveling on overhead tracks from a central cashier's office to all parts of a store was a perpetual wonder to small fry beside providing speedy service to customers. Lastly the Norwood Engi- neering Co. was launched in 1892 as a small firm employing about 30 men. Four years later it consolidated with a company from Holyoke, increased its capital to $50,000, and specialized in water filter equipment for the Holyoke paper mills and city systems.
Many companies were of course initiated by other groups. The metal industries were the most widely spread; 15 separate com- panies operated between 1836 and 1893. The Bay State Tool Co., established in 1854 had in its first year a payroll of 150 men and a product valued at $100,000. Four years later it failed and its plant was sold to W. T. Clement, C. A. Maynard, and C. W. Hawkes who continued the business of making agricultural tools, mainly for the South. Incorporated in 1862 it made bayonets, ramrods, and gun barrels during the war. Thereafter it broke up into two companies with a shuffling of partners who added cut- lery to their product and later specialized in it. Eventually two companies emerged, the Northampton Cutlery Co. of 1871 and the Clement Cutlery Co. of 1882. At its peak in 1891 the com- bined annual product was valued at nearly $430,000. Button making, begun by Samuel Williston of Easthampton in 1830, had passed its peak long before 1865 but still was of considerable size. Critchlow had resumed making buttons, pioneering in vegetable ivory, and E. N. Foote was making fancy buttons. These two plants in 1875 between them employed 200 workers.
Basket manufacturing was a large producer. The Williams Mfg. Co. began operations in Northampton in 1862 in a modest way, but by the 1880's was turning out 10,000 baskets a day and shipping them all over the world. At its height it was said to be the largest basket concern in the entire country.
One of the oldest companies was the Greenville Mfg. Co .- cotton goods. It was incorporated in 1846 by S. L. Williston of Easthampton and his brother J. P. Williston of Northampton, and Joel Hayden of Williamsburg. They were assisted by D. G. Little- field, and in 1852, A. Lyman Williston, son of J. P., entered the company which continued into the 1880's.
Here it is of interest to note that the oldest of all the companies now operating is Payson's Indelible Ink; always small, it was be- gun in 1834 by John Payson Williston and has been carried on
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Industrial History: 1860-1900
successively by his son, his grandson, and now his great grandson.
The Arms and Bardwell Mfg. Co. began about 1860, producing pocketbooks, diaries, writing desks, backgammon boards. In 1865 it produced 60,000 hoop skirts and 20,000 dozen portemonnaies. The Kingsbury Box and Printing Co. got its start making paper boxes for the silk mills.
Belding Brothers, already well established in Rockville, Conn. since 1864, started a branch of their silk manufacturing in North- ampton in 1876 with the incentive of $15,000 raised by North- ampton citizens. This company was the first to be owned by outside capital since the short-lived effort of Samuel Whitmarsh 40 years earlier. The Northampton mill was enlarged twice within 5 years and by 1886 the company of which it was a branch was incorporated with a capital of $1,000,000.
In 1898 Alexander McCallum, who had worked in silk in Hol- yoke since 1884, established with his son George and with E. F. Crooks, the McCallum Hosiery Co. with a capital of $50,000, doubled within 5 years.
There were many other local enterprises, none of them large, many of them induced by the success of some other company in a particular field-silk mills, button factories, cutlery companies; a few to exploit an ingenious invention-circular saws, safety fire- arms, spiral spring beds, self-folding clothes reels; others because of an obvious need-soap for silk mills, lumber companies, brick- yards, screws and nails, wire-frequently short-lived, all however furnishing employment to the steadily growing population and filling out the pattern of a thriving town.
With all this industrial activity Northampton was never domi- nated by it but remained primarily a residential town ministered to by its industry, and with a high degree of culture. This was strengthened by the establishment of Smith College for women.
Much of Northampton's industrial growth can be traced to the initiative and energy and resourcefulness of its leading men. S. L. Hill was one of the prime movers in the early decades here con- sidered. His activity began in silk in 1846 and spread over into sewing machines, brushes, emery wheels, and caskets; his son A. G. Hill carried on and added tacks and cash carriers. S. L. Hinckley was an early associate of S. L. Hill in several enter- prises as was his son H. R. Hinckley. So was George Burr and his son-in-law, F. N. Look, along with A. T. Lilly, J. D. Atkins,
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Ira Dimock, D. G. Littlefield, J. L. Otis, I. S. Parsons. Others who were prominent were Hiram Wells, H. F. Williams, his brother L. B. and his son, H. L. Williams, W. T. Clement, C. A. Maynard, C. W. Hawkes, E. E. Wood, W. W. Lee.
These men were not only enterprising and resourceful in busi- ness, they were creative citizens who took thought for the welfare of their employees and indeed for the whole town. The Hill In- stitute in Florence, the Lilly Library, the Community Hall, Lilly Hall of Science at Smith College, Look Park are concrete evi- dences of this. It was usual for such companies as the Nonotuck Silk Co. to arrange lectures, concerts, and dances in the com- munity hall for their employees. Their interest went to the ex- tent of providing boarding houses for the girls in their employ, and oversight of them.
In such ways and by wage incentives, together with pensions for longtime workers a feeling of loyalty to the company and pride in the company products and in their own contribution to it was fostered. The result was a stable labor force and the absence of labor unions. Only in the metal industries did labor unions find entrance. Throughout the period native labor constituted at least 75 per cent of the workers, more than half of whom, except in the metal industries, were women. Early in the period a 72-hour week was usual; in 1874 a Massachusetts law cut it to 60 hours for women in specific industries. Before many years the men in these industries secured the same reduction, and in 1892 a woman's week was shortened to 58 hours by act of the legislature. For much of industry, however, the 72-hour week persisted till after 1900.
Wages of the workers look pitifully small by 1954 standards especially when their long day is considered. In 1875 the wages for men ranged from $1.25 to $2.75 a day; for women from 75 cents to $1.00; and for children under 16, from 40 cents to 70 cents. By 1890 men earned from $12 to $18 a week and women averaged $7.50. The population of the town kept pace with its industrial growth, almost doubling between 1860 and 1880 and increasing a full 50 per cent between 1880 and 1900 to 18,643.
The period from 1860 to 1900 was a time of prodigious growth throughout the nation and in that growth Northampton more than held its own. There were occasional setbacks for industry during those years, coinciding with country-wide business de-
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pressions. In 1873 Northampton was less involved than most places because silk, at that time its largest industry, was hardly affected. In 1893 came the most serious recession with all com- panies feeling the strain. For several years there was wide-spread unemployment, reduction in wages, part-time operation of plants, and in some cases shut-downs of several months' duration. The greatest percentage gain came between 1855 and 1865 when the value of production rose almost 160 per cent from $1,018,480 to $2,622,652, most of it undoubtedly between 1860 and 1865 under the pressure of wartime needs. From 1865 to 1875 the gain was 40 per cent. In the following years the increase was much smaller, averaging 14 per cent a decade to 1891 and actually decreasing for a few years thereafter. In 1896 the value of production was less than in 1886. Not until 1901 were full recovery and renewed ex- pansion achieved.
The era here considered, 1860-1900, is notable in the maturing of Northampton from a small country town to a distinguished city, cosmopolitan far beyond its size. During this period there were established the basic industries which in subsequent years were the source of its further expansion, and at the same time the civic, social, and cultural pattern of its life.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden Agricultural Society
By LILLA STONE PARSONS AND JOHN GORDON
P LANS for a local Cattle Show were first drawn up in 1818; but it was not until the following fall, October 14-15, 1819, that the first fair was really held, on the corner of Main and King streets, the site of the fairs for almost 40 years. During those years the fair was held a few times on the Bridge Street Common, and once or twice in Greenfield or West Springfield, thus making good its title of "The Three County Fair."
At that time Northampton was a country village with only 3500 population. Main Street was lined with many fine old houses still in the hands of the original families; there stood the handsome old white church, the old Court House and Town Hall and a few shops. This was before the days of railroads. Travel was by stage- coach, three or four coaches arriving daily at the old tavern standing on the site of our present Draper Hotel. Freight came up the river in flat boats, the War of 1812 was hardly over, and In- dian warfare was still a memory in the minds of many living.
In these simple surroundings arose the idea of the agricultural fair, an effort to improve the work and profits of the farmers. At that time probably 95 per cent of the people in Northampton were so employed. At these early fairs the cattle, sheep, and horses were shown on Main Street and "articles of domestic manu- facture" were displayed in the Town Hall. On the second day of the fair, a band led the way down Pleasant Street to the meadows where plowing matches were the event of the morning. This was followed by a dinner in one of the old taverns and public exer- cises in the old church where the famous orators of the day held forth. Noah Webster, Edward Everett, Isaac Bates, and Rufus Choate were among the earlier orators who held the crowd spell- bound.
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The Gothic Seminary housed in turn many of the Town's famous Schools
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The Northampton High School
RENDEZVOUS Of the ROBBERS
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1
RESIDENCE OF CASHIER
KIT OF TOOLS
GETTING · COMBINATION'
The Great Bank Robbery: Rendezvous of the Robbers (upper left); Residence of Cashier (center); Intimidating In- mates (upper right); Getting "Combination" (lower right); Kit of Tools (lower left); inside (lower center) and out- side (middle right) of Bank
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The first president was Judge Joseph Lyman, father of the man who gave Northampton its Academy of Music; the first vice- president was Noah Webster, compiler of the dictionary. A framed copy of the first premium list still hangs in Lawyer A. D. Morse's office. It totaled $275. Prizes were offered for best milch cows, best oxen, etc., but there is no mention of the different breeds of cattle now so important. There were no prizes offered for fruit or vegetables; but prizes were given for best woolen cloth, linen, etc. Those were the days of spinning wheels in every home. At first many prizes were given in silverware, generally adorned with a sheaf of wheat and the initials "H. F. & H. Agri. Soc." There are homes in this county today where this silver- ware can still be seen, won by those capable men and women of 130 years ago.
In 1847 there was the largest exhibit of live stock ever seen at a local fair, 300 head horned cattle, 96 horses, many of them Mor- gans, and 172 yoke of working oxen. What a sight if we could see that many yoke of oxen on Main Street today! They might hold up traffic; but they certainly would arouse more excitement than double that number of automobiles.
In 1856 the Main Street location was no longer possible, and the officers of the fair bought 15 acres of land on North Street, built a half-mile track, a small grandstand, and a wooden fence enclosing part of the grounds. The total expense was $4461, a huge debt for a society that had never before charged any admis- sion, and only asked 10 cents now. Horse racing, as a fair attrac- tion, began with the building of the new track. Races were be- tween local horses, driven by local men riding in high wheel wooden sulkies. After a few years a small exhibition hall was built to house the "articles of domestic manufacture," also displays of fruit, vegetables, and flowers. This hall lasted only a short time, being blown down in the hurricane of 1878. Premium lists in 1850-60 now begin to mention different breeds of cattle, Ayr- shires appearing first, followed by Durhams and Herefords; but the popular Jerseys and Holsteins of today do not appear for some years. Prizes for fruit or vegetables first appear in 1850. By Civil War days people were experimenting with many varieties of apples and pears. In 1856 one person entered 22 varieties of pears and 34 varieties of apples. Probably no person in the Valley could do that today. In the Woman's Department there were
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similar changes. Women no longer wove linen and woolen cloths. In the '60's they entered rag carpets, straw bonnets, wax flowers, as evidence of their skill. Canned goods first appear in 1866, soon after the first Mason glass jars made their appearance. After the destruction of the hall on North Street the exhibits returned to Main Street and were shown on the second floor of the City Hall. This location proved more convenient for spectators and exhibi- tors alike; but holding the fair in two such widely separated locations began to be disastrous, even though the admission was now 20 cents and the grandstand now cost 10 cents.
The coming of horse racing ended the old plowing matches, followed by formal dinners and oratory. Horse racing grew steadily more popular. The Northampton Driving Park Associa- tion had built a half-mile track and small grandstand surrounded by a high wooden fence on Fair Street. This location was much more central than North Street. The Three County Fair direc- tors rented the Driving Park grounds for a year or so at $100 per year, and finally bought out the Driving Park Association. At first there were only a few acres, but gradually the Fair Association increased its holdings until now they own 22 acres. They have 8 large buildings, 5 smaller ones, sheds for 350 horses, and value their holdings at $ 150,000.
An exhibition hall was the first building erected, followed by horse and cattle sheds, merchants' building, automobile building, youth's building, poultry house, etc. During the years, fire, floods, and wind have damaged the buildings many times. After the flood in 1927 and again in 1936 the loss was so great that many felt the Fair could not go on. Work bees, special fund-raising drives, and the sale of season tickets helped out in some of these crucial years. One summer the Fair ran "The Pageant of the Road," written and directed by Mrs. Clifton Johnson and presented on two nights in June. This made a good sum in a year when it was badly needed.
From 1900 to 1915 the Three County Fair, in cooperation with Granges and Farmers Clubs, ran one or two Farmers Institutes every winter, in different towns of the county. These meetings were largely attended, and a great help in advancing the new ideas in agriculture. With the beginning of county extension work in 1915, these Farmers Institutes were abandoned. But the Extension Service has always been of great help with all Fair problems, and by 1917 its work with boys and girls clubs had be-
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come so popular, that the Fair erected a Youth's Building for their exhibits. Every year since, this has been one of the most interest- ing exhibits. The work to keep boys and girls interested in agri- culture is probably one of the most valuable parts of the present program.
During the years, the public has enjoyed widely differing forms of entertainment. Those first plowing matches and long orations would not draw much of a crowd today. Since those days, we have had firemen's musters, tugs of war, football games, balloon ascensions, log chopping, troops of U.S. cavalry, horse shows, track meets, square dances, bicycle races, auto-wagon races, fife and drum contests, fireworks, and once a wedding. The first board of directors who proposed some form of evening en- tertainment cautiously voted a few dollars for fireworks. Today the Fair spends $7500 for entertainment, excluding racing ex- pense.
After a disastrous 1941 season, during which it rained all four dates of the scheduled event, the rebirth and modern era of the Three County Fair came in 1942 when voters of Hampshire County authorized pari-mutuel wagering in connection with run- ning horse races. Extensive reconstruction of the racing plant was required to add the money-making, crowd-drawing races to the Fair program. For over a century the Fair had always been held the first week in October. At this 1943 Fair the date was shifted to Labor Day week. Since then, only once in the past ten years has inclement weather interfered with the program. Through the income from pari-mutuel racing, indebtedness has been paid off and the grounds and building facilities greatly expanded. Even the race track was figuratively picked up and moved back from the grandstand to make room for the thousands who now visit the Fair daily to witness the sport of kings.
The new income made possible construction of new, long- needed cattle barns, improvements to existing buildings, construc- tion of new ones, and a resumption of the old time "plowing con- tests" in a modern setting and in a modern version. They are now the oxen and horse drawing contests, which are staged three days of the Fair under direction of W. Briceland Nash, current presi- dent, contests which have grown to a New England champion- ship stature. The modern version of the Fair also provides literally
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a Children's Day, with the Kiddieland feature taking on added size and importance each year.
In conclusion, horse racing, a prime requisite of the Fair in the early days, which gradually faded from the picture, has now come back in modern dress, and appears to have been the blood transfusion needed by the oldest fair in the United States to as- sure its continued longevity and another 135 years of service to Hampshire County agriculture and farmers.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Banks and the Great Northampton Bank Robbery
By ISABEL A. HOLDEN
I N 1803 Northampton was a thriving, growing community. A sawmill, papermill, pottery works, rope walk, the spinning and weaving of duck canvas, and a broom factory nearby made up the industrial life, and extensive farming outside the town made it an important agricultural center for this section. The coaches stopped on their way west from Boston and north from Springfield. These favorable economic conditions caused several outstanding men to petition the state for a bank charter. Among them was Levi Shepherd, who owned the rope walk and canvas factory and whose son Thomas later became involved in the canal and was the first person to build on Round Hill. Oliver Smith, later responsible for the Smith Charities, was also a peti- tioner.
In January of that year a long article on the merits of banking was published anonymously in the Gazette. It ended with a dra- matic simile which, supposedly, would really strike home: “In short, a Bank, like our own majestic river, would by its periodic overflowing remove every obstruction, carry down its current every nuisance, and deposit a soil whose product would be rich and luxuriant."
Consequently, 2 1 years after the establishment in Philadelphia of the first bank in the United States, the first bank in the three river counties was started in Northampton. It lived to the end of its charter in 1810 when it was discontinued in a climactic snarl of affairs which the newspapers of the period intimated would take a long time to straighten out. It was superseded in 1813 by the Hampshire Bank with several directors from the original in- stitution. This, in 1837, merged into the Northampton Bank,
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which had been founded in 1833, and, as Northampton National Bank, continues as the oldest bank in the city. Henry Gere in his reminiscences speaks of the man who was, for many years, the "Old Bank's" president. "Deacon Eliphalet Williams as he came along down King Street in the morning, swinging the big key to the bank vault, was also a striking and familiar sight. The key was tied at the end of a short stick, for convenience of handling, and the stalwart president would occasionally give it a whirling, sum- mersault motion, by way of entertainment for himself, no doubt, and possibly to check the enthusiasm of those who might be pos- sessed of burglarious intentions. Deacon Williams was accustomed to ask those who applied at the bank for loans 'what use they were going to make of the money?' Sometimes this gave offense to the customer, but complaining availed not, for the Deacon was master of the loan situation."
The Northampton Institution for Savings, the first savings bank of the town, was granted a charter in 1842. Its incorporators were public-spirited men whose names are closely associated with the town. Among them were Charles P. Huntington, the first president, Jonathan Hunt Butler, Dr. Benjamin Barrett, and Sam- uel Hinckley. It was specified in the by-laws that the office "shall be kept in some central place." This, for 10 years, was the office of the treasurer, Dr. Barrett. The next location was an upstairs room on Pleasant Street and from there it moved to the corner of Center and Main Streets, the present location of the Cooperative Bank, where its vault rested immediately above that of the North- ampton Bank at the time of the Great Robbery. The present building was erected in 1914.
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