USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Ludlow > The history of Ludlow, Massachusetts > Part 15
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Operations were first commenced in a wooden building on the site later occupied by the stone factories, and consisted in the preparation of warps and yarn, which were sent out into all the adjacent country, and the webs were woven in hand looms. Wilbur F. Miller's mother (then about 15 or 16 years of age) wove some of the earlier ones while living at what was known as the Noah Clark place.
218
HISTORY OF LUDLOW
The stone buildings were commenced in 1821. The first building was a little way from the bridge, 103 feet long and 36 feet wide. This was completed the following year. Having received a charter, the proprietors met December 31, 1821, and organized as the Springfield Manufacturing Company. An additional mill westward, forty feet from the first, was erected in 1826, and was 115 feet long and 40 feet wide The machinery was manufactured in the buildings, the lower stories being used for the purpose. The first looms were set in motion in 1823. The fabric was sheeting, three fourths, seven eighths, and a yard wide. The mills were
AN OLD-TIME PICTURE OF JENKSVILLE
well constructed, and became the ideal buildings of the region. Stukely Smith was the mason, and Zebinus Pierce the carpenter.
The change in a town from the simplicity of rural pursuits to the noise and bustle of manufacturing is ever a marked one. The stream meandering along the limits of Ludlow, unobstructed by dam and crossed in a bridge of the rudest kind, only furnished a convenient channel for bearing away the waters flowing from marsh and spring; the same stream, no less rapid or picturesque, checked for an in-tant in its rapid coursings in order to do obeisance to human direction, to follow the bent of human inclination, not only bears away the gathered deposits of a highly fertile soil. but with showers of wealth returns more than it has taken, a thousandfold.
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INDUSTRIAL HISTORY
The history of the town cannot well ignore the fact that a large share of that prosperity which has made the town locally so well known had its beginnings within the first half of the nineteenth century. Moreover. those families best known to the marts of trade hereabouts will, upon consideration, find that while to some of them there was given prestige by reason of extensive acreage and hereditary wealth, to more the resources in their hands gained their largest increment during this period. And
ONE OF THE FIRST HOUSES BUILT AL JANESVILLE BY THE SPRINGFIELD MANUFACTURING COMPANY
Birthplace of C. D. Rood and W. F. Miller
further still, they who concede truth wherever found, will find that the chief factor in producing this state of prosperity was the manufacturing interest at Jenksville, as the village was then called.
It was a new life to Ludlow. Every farm increased in value as the factories developed. Every article of produce was worth money It no longer paid to team lumber to Willimansett for fifty cents on a thousand, for the logs were worth vastly more as wood. The cattle became too
220
HISTORY OF LUDLOW.
valuable to send roaming at large over the common lands, for it was worth while to feed them well and so get heavier beef for hungry mouths; while the soil was so much more salable that true economy called for strong fences. And, if we may digress a little, thus will it be as time rolls on. Every new mill, every new boarding-house necessarily consequent, added to the rapidly increasing cluster of villages and towns and cities on or near our limits, will add first to the intrinsic, then to the exchangeable, value of Ludlow farms. The true conditions for successful labor, - health, sobriety, industry, piety, being held in firm tenure, the town or its territory must have a future.
In 1833 it became necessary to enlarge the factories again. This time an addition was built eastward, 66 feet long and 40 feet wide, com- pleting the range of buildings, except the changes made after a fire and the gap between the first and second stone mills, which was filled about 1844. All these principal parts were dedicated by religious services. The tenements were erected from time to time, dating mainly from the erection of the factories. In 1844 Slater sold to a resident of the town. In 1837 Barber's History represents the concern as possessing two cotton mills, with ten thousand spindles, using five hundred thousand pounds of cotton in a year, manufacturing sixteen hundred thousand yards of cloth annually, whose value was one hundred and sixty thousand dollars. Eighty eight males and two hundred females were employed at that time. The capital invested had then increased to one hundred thousand dollars.
In 1840 the first building at the upper privilege was erected and used by the Company for gun works. They forged barrels under contract with the United States government, continuing their business for about six years, At the close of this period the privilege was used in the manufacture of cotton machinery.
Some applications of science to the arts first used in these works have proved a boon to manufacturers. The friction roller, now well-night indispensable in certain parts of machinery, was originated at Jenksville and given to the public with no restrictions of patent laws. It is also claimed, with good reason, that here anthracite coal was first used sue- cessfully in working wrought-iron. The principle, first brought out at Jenksville, is still in practical use, giving to the immense coal fields of this country and the world a vastly increased value.
Respecting the class of people who were brought into the town by
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INDUSTRIAL. HISTORY
these interests, it may be feared that the record cannot truthfully give a glowing description. Of course they were at first from the native population, largely gathered from rural towns. But this does not necessarily speak volumes in favor of moral or intellectual worth. The average native of two or three generations ago was not very far in advance of the average foreigner of to-day in many respects. The records of former days, the condition to-day of those who have not enjoyed such advantages as have been so freely offered hereabouts in later years, or of those dwelling beyond the immediate neighborhood of churches, plainly set forth the truth of the assertion made.
We are not surprised, then, to learn that the condition of society at the mills in Ludlow about a century ago was not eminently praiseworthy.
SPRINGFIELD MANUFACTURING: CO.
On Demand afterdole the Springtits Manufacturing Co. Chiama to pay to the code if Dexter for -
Deren Hundred seventy Three
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ONE OF THE NOTES ISSUED BY THE COMPANY
We need not be surprised to hear of very slight respect paid to the sacredness of the Sabbath or the rigid moral demands of the more deeply and intelligently pious people of to-day. Mr. Austin Chapman of Ellington, Conn., who resided in Jenksville about this time, gives the following doleful picture of these days: "As you pass the gun shops on Sunday some of the workmen would be busy, perhaps manufacturing articles for their own use. Near by would be a collection of boys playing ball. Soon we meet riflemen firing at a mark. A party of young people not far off are playing 'High-low-Jack.' A little further on are as happy a set as the brown jug coukl possibly make them, who in vain invited me to taste of the precious liquors inside the jug, which to my certain knowledge killed every one of the party inside of ten years. I have
› ››
HISTORY OF LUDLOW
known a large field of rye to be harvested on the Sabbath day. The immoralities did not extend outside of the village."
The affairs of the Company had gone on meanwhile, apparently with prosperity. True, in lieu of cash the help and other creditors had been asked from time to time to accept Company notes, but these were even better than cash, in their estimation. A large business was in progress, with the fairest prospects. The treasury was a bank to the inhabitants. Scarcely was there a person in town who was not glad of an opportunity to lend money there.
But to a smaller circle of lookers-on there had been a growing anxiety in reference to the management of the affairs of the Company. No one distrusted the agent, who, with all his brusque manners, evidently had a kindly and honest heart and hand. But there was friction within the ranks of the proprietors. At last the crisis came. It was suddenly announced to the astonished creditors that the Springfield Manufacturing Company had failed! Surely 1848 was an ill-starred year for Ludlow. Mr. Hall was dismissed from the new church at Jenksville. The place fails to appear on the next Methodist minutes. The town appropriations for 1849 fell fourteen per cent. Many a poor girl lost all her savings, while cases of persons who had no money in the concern were cited as unusual. The affairs of the Company went into the hands of Wood & Merritt of New York City.
The firm of Wood & Merritt, managing from 1848 to 1856, was after- wards merged into the first Ludlow Manufacturing Company. The power was for a number of years leased to George H. Deane, who fitted up the stone mills for the manufacture of jute goods, and the upper mill for the manufacture of wadding. After the expiration of the lease, Mr. Deane purchased the property at auction, paying $102,000, and formed the Ludlow Mills Company. He manufactured seamless bags in which business he was a pioneer. A more recent sale was to the second Ludlow Manufacturing Company, of which Lemuel II. Brigham was agent. The good- made at the stone mills were: gunny bagging, various kinds of crashes, plain and figured (bleached and finished ready for market), all kinds of hardware twines, and linen warps; at the upper privilege, cotton warps and seamless grain-bags of the same material. About three hundred operatives were employed. The expenses of the corporation monthly, exclusive of the cost of stock, were $13,000. Charles T. Hubbard, of Boston, was the treasurer of the Company and
Pic-ident of the Ludlow Manuale
CHARLES A THERAPY licher of theIndlow Manno tul
( HAPIES I HELEAPD Founder of Ludlow Manu Liettiming Assifiles
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SIDNEY SIFAFN- Vent of the Ludlow Manufacturing Isso lates
OFFICERS OF LUDLOW MANUFACTURING ASSOCIATES
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INDUSTRIAL HISTORY
its chief sales agent. There were connected with the establishment thirty houses, and a church, besides all the barns, sheds, etc. \ fire so far injured a section of the stone mills that it was considered advisable to place an iron roof upon it.
It may be as well to say that at this time the Company owned seven hundred acres of land, a large portion of which was mapped out into streets and building lots. The extent of water power was estimated at over twenty-five hundred horse power, of which only a small portion was in use.
THE LUDLOW MANUFACTURING ASSOCIATES
The beginning of the business now carried on by the Ludlow Manu- facturing Associates dates back to 1848. In that year Charles T. Hubbard, then a junior partner in the old firm of Sewall. Day & Co., started the "Boston Flax Mills" at East Braintree, Mass., where there was a small water power. In 1852 the business was incorporated. the original subscription being $50,000. Of this Mr. Hubbard took $7,500. his father-in-law, Benjamin Sewall, took $11,000. These are the only original subscribers whose interest in the business has been continued to the present time. From 1848 till his death in 1887, Mr. Hubbard was the treasurer and managing head of the business.
In 1864 Cranmore N. Wallace, returning from service in the army, entered the mill as office clerk. He is now (1911) president and selling agent.
In 1868, Mr. Hubbard, acting for various creditors of the Ludlow Mills Company, bought their property in Ludlow, Springfield, and Wilbraham. The business was reorganized under the name of the Ludlow Manufacturing Company and Mr. Hubbard was chosen treasurer ; Mr. Lemuel H. Brigham was retained as agent.
The property consisted of the old stone mills referred to elsewhere; also a small one and one-half story wooden cotton mill and a small machine shop. The cotton mill was run on seamless cotton bags until its destruction by fire, a few years later. The old stone mills were used for the manufacture of twines, and of bagging for covering cotton.
At this time the approach to the village was through an old-fashioned wooden bridge. The village consisted of very few old tenement houses, one church, and one single-room schoolhouse owned by the Company, situated on two country roads. The nearest railroad was the Boston
HISTORY OF LUDLOW
and Albany, one mile distant. Later the Springfickl and Athol Railroad was run through the village and a spur track laid into the mill yard.
In the meantime the Boston Flax Mills at Braintree had been grow - ing by small additions here and there, until in 1878 there was such a conglomeration of small, detached mills with antique power equip- ment, that it was evident that the mills must be rebuilt entirely or moved to a new location.
OFFICE BUILDING OF LUDLOW MANUFACTURING ASSOCIATES
Mr. Hubbard then arranged to sell the good will and machinery of the Flux Mills to the Ludlow Manufacturing Company. To receive this machinery the latter company built a new mill (No. 4), and also the present lower canal (since enlarged).
About this time (1878) new streets were constructed, a number of new cottages and a six-room schoolhouse built.
In 1881. Mr. John E. Stevens was engaged as superintendent. In 1887, Mr. Hubbard died and was succeeded by his son. Charles W.
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INDUSTRIAL. THISTORY
Hubbard, the present treasurer, a graduate of Harvard College, class of 1878.
Since 1887 the managing officers of the Company have been: Charles W. Hubbard, treasurer; Cranmore N. Wallace, selling agent ; John E. Stevens, manufacturing agent (died 1905); and Sidney Stevens, who succeeded his father in 1905.
Of the mills now standing, there existed in the spring of 1888 only No. 4; the old stone mills being condemned as unsafe, were temporarily
strengthened; No. 5 mill was built to receive the machinery which was taken out of the old mills; and a canal was built on the upper dam, also a wheelhouse containing wheels of about 250 horse power to run this mill. The completion of this building was celebrated by a ball and supper given to the operatives and residents of the town.
The new gunny mill having been completed and running, in the spring of 1889 the directors voted to build a mill known as No. 6. Upon
HISTORY OF LUDLOW
its completion this mill was used for the exercises dedicating the Hubbard Memorial Library.
The treasurer's annual report of 1889 says: "The village is steadily improving ; the Company is extending its water pipes, and has made a start on a very complete system of drainage."
In the same year the Company secured an amendment of its charter (Chapter 200) authorizing it to establish an "effective and complete electrical plant," and to sell power to the inhabitants of Ludlow within a mile of the Chicopee River.
In January, 1891, finding it was necessary to make an immediate increase in the production of one of the departments, the management created a temporary frame spinning mill, and the construction of No. 2 mill was authorized, together with the installation of 1,000 horse power water wheels. On December 15, 1891. an addition to the marline mill was voted.
After planning all the additions mentioned to mills and machinery, the managers found there was a shortage of power, and in view of future requirements, purchased in December, 1891, a mill site just above Red Bridge on the Chicopee River.
At a directors' meeting hell on February 14, 1893, attention was called to the need of auxiliary steam power. In the treasurer's report. Septem- ber, 1894, mention was made of a loss of sales from want of the power to run the machinery.
In 1894, the corporation acquired rights in Chapin pond. under Chap. 200, Acts of 1889.
September 20, 1894, the building of No. 1 mill and No. 3 mill was authorized, also a steam plant at No. 3 mill, and the construction of a machine shop. In accordance with this authorization there was installed No. 3 mill a tandem Corliss engine of 1,500 horse power, also an electrical drive to the upper dam of 400 horse power.
In 1897 the Company urged upon the City of Springfield and the town of Ludlow the necessity of replacing the old covered wooden bridge across the river with a high level iron bridge; and by offering to pay half the cost of the approaches it succeeded in bringing about this improvement in the approach to the village.
The volume of their freight was growing at such a rate that direct connection with the railroad seemed to be an immediate necessity. In 1897 the Company bought the Moran farm lying between the Chicopee
229
INDUSTRIAL HISTORY
River and the main line of the Boston and Albany Railroad, and sur- veyed for a branch line from their mill yard to connect with the main line, including a bridge across the river. This bridge was completed in 1905, and two or three miles of extra tracks and sidings were added to the Company's freight yard.
In the spring of 1898 the machine shop was doubled in size, and it was decided to build a plant not only sufficient to meet their immediate needs, but one that would last for several years to come. They bought
RED BRIDGE DAM
more land on the river above Red Bridge, and in 1900 commenced work on the present dam at that point.
At the same time No, 8 mill was started, and as it was expected that two years would be required before water power could be developed at Red Bridge, a steam plant of 1,000 horse power with electrical transmission was installed at the upper dam.
This power house was built twice as large as needed for this installa- tion, as it was even then thought by the directors that the growth of the
230
HISTORY OF LEDLON
Company's property would be so rapid as soon to absorb all the power at Red Bridge and the auxiliary steam power already installed at Ludlow. To provide for all this increased development of manufacture, six ware- houses built in 1891 were torn down and State Street laid out and built, also a new mill office.
Upon the completion of No. 8 mill it was dedicated February 16, 1901. with a ball and supper given to the operatives and residents of the town. and a large number of invited guests from Boston and Springfield.
POST OLE
BUSINESS BLOCK, SHOWING POST OFFICI
The First Regiment Band of Springfield, consisting of thirty pieces. provided the music and about thirty-five hundred people were entertained.
In the same year ( 1901 a large block was built to provide stores and dwellings for the growing village.
In developing not only the manufacturing plant, but also the village itself, in laying out and building the village park and various streets, in constructing sewers in providing club rooms, etc , the official- found they
231
INDUSTRIAL. HISTORY
were acting beyond the powers granted to them under the general laws. This was one of the reasons for changing the form of organization to that of the trust agreement, which went into effect January 1, 1902. This new form of organization places the control of the business in the hands of nine trustees, acting under a written agreement defining their powers.
In 1905, No. 8 mill having been outgrown, No. 9 mill was built; in 1900, No. 8 annex; and in 1907, No. 10 mill. In 1906 the Stevens Memorial was built a clubhouse for the use of the operatives, the
building of which had been under consideration for several years. Later a large athletic and play Gekl was laid out and fenced. It provides a quarter-mile cinder track, fields for baseball and football, a wading pool, a large platform and shelter for kindergarten plays, besides various swings, teeters, and slides.
For about twenty years previous to the building of the Stevens Memorial the Company had provided temporary quarters for the men's and women's clubs.
2.32
HISTORY OF LUDLOW
The flow of water in the river during the fall of 1909 was unusually small, and even with steam power it was impossible to run all the machinery. The trustees, therefore, decided to enlarge the steam plant, and in the summer of 1910 installed at the upper power house three Babcock and Wilcox boilers and a General Electric turbine and gen- erators, with a capacity of 2,500 horse power. The upper and lower steam plants were also connected by a 4-inch pipe, thus allowing one boiler plant, under usual conditions, to supply all the steam needed. Such has been the growth of the manufacturing plant at Ludlow.
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STEVENS MEMORIAL BUILDING
CHI.SINEI SIRELI
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VIII
EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS
Earliest appropriations -Districts School meetings Schoolhouses Furnish- ings Fuel -Pupils' equipment -- Industrial work -The teacher - Teachers' wages-"Boarding around" Mary Newell Long service Length of school year - Abolishment of districts Village schools New building- Grades - Course of study Enrollment High school-Manual training. -
Domestic science Supervision district First superintendent High school graduates-Graduate from higherinstitutions - Evening schools -Extracts from school reports Statistics School committee- Open-air vacation school-Ludlow textile school "Winding Wave."
OUR young people in school to-day, with their fine buildings, their abundant, free equipment, and their trained teachers, can hardly realize the privations, the hindrances, and difficulties which confronted parents, teachers, and pupils a century or more ago.
The earliest reference to education is in 1777, when, in troublous times and with an inflated currency, the town voted [400 for the support of schools. A little later came an appropriation of [20 (867), which in 1794 had increased to €35 ($117). In 1800, the amount raised was 8133. The appropriation of $150 in 1801 was lessened only one year, while it increased fifty dollars occasionally until in 1828 it had become $400, and in 1840, $500 was voted. Generally there were only prudential committees to manage the affairs, until in 1827 an examining com- mittee was added. This seems to have been the period of the formation of school districts. To be sure, at its very beginning (1802) the south and southeast districts found it profitable to unite. It seems that there was an early district arrangement for all in that part of the town to attend at the house east of the present No. 9 district building. After- ward the Miller Corner people clamored for a change of location, and secured a district organization. The coalition of 1802 was another victory for Miller Corner. Leave was given in 1805 to move the Middle schoolhouse near to the pound, a location close by J. P. Hubbard's. The Alden district was set off in 1808, the Center in 1809, Wallama-
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HHISTORY OF LUDLOW
numps in 1814, and the Lyon in 1822. The southeast people made another effort in 1818 and secured again a distinctive district existence. The first reference to West Middle is dated 1822.
The adjustment of school matters seems to have been given at first to the selectmen, but not always to the liking of the citizens, for in 1788 they vote to accept their arrangement of districts. "Except Eight Families East of Cap' Joseph Miller's; and two Families North of Zephaniah Rood's."
Districts. A committee for districting appointed the next year did their work successfully. District No. 1 included the present 1 and 2, very nearly; No. 2 was about the same as the present No. 3 ; No. 3 of that day was the Miller Corner of 1875 ; No. 4, Cherry Valley; and No. 5 the existing No. 9. The selectmen were to hire the schoolmasters and maintain six months' schooling in Nos. 1 and 3. In 1791, a committee to locate and build schoolhouses was intrusted with 290 for the purpose. Its recommendations for location were as follows: For the west district, a few rods south of Israel Warriner's house, probably at or near the present location; for the middle district, at the northeast corner of Elisha Hubbard's fence, on the meeting-house road, near the former residence of B. F. Burr, north of the road; for the south district, about twenty-six rod- south of Capt. Joseph Miller's, at a stake, near the present home of Dwight Blackmer; for the southeast district, twenty rods west of David Daniels' barn, north of the highway, and a few rods north of the school lot of to-day; for the northeast district, near where the new reservoir road turns from the highway, south of the Reuben Sikes place. Mr. Peter Damon's land and money for school purposes were joined with the southeastern school in Granby, in 1794. Minor changes occurred in the location of schoolhouses from time to time, the principal one being in Miller Corner, where the lot now occupied was taken. In 1794, the school business passed into the hands of a committee from each district.
After years of contention we find in 1822, our town settled upon ten districts as the desired number. From the fact that they remained intact for sixty years, except Number 7, which was effaced by the Springfield Reservoir, the inference is that the plan was a satisfactory one. The people were loyal to their schools, working in every way for their good.
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