USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Amherst > The history of the town of Amherst, Massachusetts, pt 1 > Part 35
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Of interest and value in this connection are the following agricultural statistics, those for 1837 taken from Bigelow's " Branches of Industry " for the year ending April 1, those for 1845 from Palfrey's manual, and those for 1855 from the Massachusetts census report.
In 1837, there were owned in Amherst 4? Saxony sheep, 698 merino, and 1090 of other kinds. The Saxony wool produced amounted to 105 pounds, the merino to 1832 pounds, other kinds to 3068 pounds. The average weight of fleece was two and three-fourths pounds, the value of the wool product $1,610, and the capital invested $3.264.
In 1845, there were owned in Amherst 2,054 sheep, valued at $2,568 ; 335 horses, valued at $15, 120 ; 1,668 neat cattle, valued at $30,083 ; 625 wine, valued at $9.375. The farm crops produced and their estimated
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
valuation was as follows : Corn, 18,930 bushels, $12,683; wheat. 311 bushels, $389 ; rye, 6.586 bushels, $4,940 ; oats, 8,903 bushels, $3, 116: beans, 200 bushels, $250; buckwheat, 500 bushels, $250 ; potatoes, 1,691 bushels, $4,022 ; other esculent vegetables, 750 bushels, $137 ; hay. 3,900 tons, $29,250 ; fruit, 4,805 bushels, $1,600 ; hops, 950 pounds, $100 ; tobacco, 29,638 pounds, $1,630 ; butter, 82,447 pounds, $10,306 ; cheese. 37,425 pounds, $2,245 ; honey, 422 pounds; $53 ; broom seed, 4,526 bushels, $1, 131 ; broom brush, 65,659 pounds, $3.939.
In 1855, there were owned in Amherst 429 horses, valued at $33,900 : 741 sheep, $1,417 ; 541 oxen and steers, $23,448 ; 1, 127 cows and heifers. $27,691 ; 525 swine, $4,500. Farm products and their valuations were as follows : Butter, 62,875 pounds, $12,575 ; cheese, 30,750 pounds, $3.075 : honey, 220 pounds, $44; Indian corn, 873 acres, $28,512 ; broom corn. 84 acres, $5,040 ; broom seed, 50 bushels per acre, $1,260; wheat, 19 acres, $648 ; rye, 593 acres, $6,685 ; barley, 2 acres, $63 ; oats, 310 acres, $4,090 ; potatoes, 238 acres, $11,348; onions, one acre, $315 ; turnips. one and one-acre, $19.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
MANUFACTURING INTERESTS .- PAPER MAKING .- TEXTILE INDUSTRIES. --- AMHERST COTTON FACTORY .- WOOLEN MILLS. - HAT MANU- FACTURING .- L. M. HILLS & SON .- IRON AND STEEL MANU- FACTURES .- KELLOGG PLANE FACTORY .- THE ROPER REPEATING RIFLE .- BOWIE KNIFE PISTOLS .- HOOP SKIRTS .- WIRE GOODS. -COOKING STOVES .- CARRIAGE MAKING. - CHILDREN'S CAR- RIAGES AND SLEDS.
While Amherst has never been a manufacturing center, it has been the home of extensive and diversified manufacturing industries. The two streams that flow through the town furnish a water-power which has been utilized for fully an hundred years for manufacturing purposes. Some of these industries were successful for a time, but the great majority proved losing ventures for those who engaged in them. In olden times, before the railroad era, the banks of New England streams and rivers were bor-
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LEADING MANUFACTURERS.
OLIVER M.CLAPP.
JAMES KELLOGG.
THOMAS JONES.
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LEONARD M. HILLS.
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OLIVER WATSON.
HENRY
HILLS .
F.
GEORGE BURNHAM.
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PAPER FACTORIES.
dered by mills and factories, located where good water-power could be secured at small expense, with little regard for centers of population or for markets. As railways were.built, and steam-power came into more general use, there arose a tendency toward the centralization of manufacturing industries in the cities and larger villages. Ready access to the sources of raw materials and to the markets for the manufactured product became a necessity, lacking which an industry, no matter how old-established or prosperous heretofore, was crowded to the wall by competitors more favor- ably situated. To one who has never made a study of manufacturing in Amherst, the number and variety of industries which have flourished here at various times must prove a source of surprise. Concerning some of these but little reliable data can be secured ; the records of others are more full and interesting.
The first factory in Amherst of which there is any existing record was situated on Mill river, just above the "City." It was owned in 1795 by a man named Rowe, who was engaged in the manufacture of paper. About 1807, Reuben Roberts came from Hartford, Conn. to Amherst, and in company with a man named Cox bought out Rowe. About 1809, Cox disposed of his interest in the concern, and Reuben Roberts was joined by his brother Ephraim, the business being conducted for many years under the firm name of Roberts Bros. They engaged at first in the manufacture of writing paper, most of the work being done by hand, the stock being reduced to pulp by the rude machinery which was then in use. They gathered rags through all the counties in the state to supply their mill, and carried the finished product to Albany by teams. Their mill stood in the ravine across the stream from the highway leading from the "City" to " Factory Hollow." The business established one hundred years ago was continued by the descendants of Ephraim and Reuben Roberts until 1894, when the mill, then owned by William L. and Manning Roberts, was destroyed by incendiary fire, Aug. 3. For several years preceding the mill had been employed in the manufacture of wrapping paper, straw and leather-board, with an output of about one ton per day.
Ephraim and John R. Cushman began the manufacture of paper in what was subsequently known as the " old mill," far up on Mill river, in 1835. They were sons of Ephraim Cushman and were born in Amherst early in the century. In 1854. they 'obtained a patent for a process of drying thick paper whereby it was prevented from warping out of shape. In 1859, they purchased a water privilege further down the stream and erected what is known as the " red mill." They manufactured straw-board and leather-board, the latter under a patent granted to John R. Cushman. The leather, in scraps and waste bits, is ground into pulp as in the manu-
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
facture of paper and made into sheets of any required thickness. Before the introduction of railroads, the products of the mills were carried to . Boston by teams. The business thus established by the Cushman broth- ers has been conducted by their descendants up to the present time. In recent years there has been added to the business the manufacture of " button-board," a material from which small pieces are punched with a die and manufactured into shoe-buttons. In 1863 A. R. Cushman bought out the interest of Ephraim Cushman, and the firm name was then J. R. Cushman & Son. Ephraim Cushman then bought a water privilege in "Factory Hollow" and erected a mill where, in part- nership with his sons, he engaged in the manufacture of printing and manilla paper. In 1866, the Cushman Bros. paper mill furnished paper for printing the New York Tribune. This mill was burned in 1873 and the business was given up. J. R. Cushman & Son continued the business at the "old " mill and the "red " mill until 1878, when it passed into the hands of Avery R. Cushman, son of John R., who still conducts it. In 1871, the business of the firm amounted to $75,000 annually ; since then it has increased considerably. The mills at present employ about 20 hands, turning out about three tons of straw, leather and button-board per day. Feb. 5, 1891, the "old" mill was burned and a new one has been erected on the same site.
Some time in the '5os, William H. Smith and John Wiley built a paper mill in what was known as " Westville," west of North Amherst, and con- ducted business under the name of the Westville Paper company. This mill was burned March 17, 1858. An item in the Express, referring to the fire, states that the mill had not been running for some time and the fire was doubtless of incendiary origin.
Bigelow's statistics for the year ending April 1, 1837, show that at that time there were two paper-mills in Amherst; 42 tons of paper were manufactured, valued at $7.000. Eleven males and seven females were employed and the capital invested was $8,ooo. In 1845, there were two mills ; the stock consumed amounted to 175 tons, from which 105 tons of paper were made, valued at $7,700. The capital invested was $7.700, the number of employes ten. In 1855, there were two mills in operation ; the stock consumed was 600 tons, from which was made 300 tons of paper valued at $24,000. The capital invested was $15,000, the number of employes 25. In 1865, four mills were in operation ; these produced 150 tons of wrapping paper valued at $15,000, and 700 tons of paper and leather-board valued at $70,000. The capital invested was $26,000, the number of employes 38.
At " Factory Hollow," about 1809, Ebenezer Dickinson, a well-to-do farmer, built a three-story wooden building in which to spin cotton yarn by
THE W. S. CLARK PLACE.
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OLD PAPER MILL AT NORTH AMHERST.
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AMHERST COTTON FACTOR ..
machinery. He had no experience in the business and, as a natural con- sequence, soon became hopelessly involved. He borrowed money from neighbors and friends, but failed to put the business on a paying founda- tion and it passed out of his hands. A company was formed in 1812 to conduct the business, ten men investing $1,000 each in the enterprise. The company was legally incorporated in 1814, under the following charter, the first to be granted to Amherst citizens for a manufacturing enterprise :
" An Act to establish the Amherst Cotton Factory :
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, That Levi Collins, Ebenezer Mat- toon. Samuel F. Dickinson, Elijah Eastman, Robert Douglass, Nathan Gilson, Asa Adams and Samuel Perrin, together with such other persons as may here- after associate with them, their successors and assigns, be, and they hereby are made a Corporation, by the name of the Amherst Cotton Factory, for the purpose of manufacturing cotton yarn and cloth, in the town of Amherst, in the county of Hampshire ; and for that purpose shall have all the powers and privileges, and be subject to all the duties and requirements contained in an act entitled An Act. defining the general powers and duties of Manufacturing Corporations.
Be it further enacted, That the said Corporation may be lawfully seized and possessed of such real estate, not exceeding the value of thirty thousand dollars, and such personal estate, not exceeding fifty thousand dollars, as may be neces- sary and convenient for carrying on the manufacture of cotton yarn and cloth in said town of Amherst."
This company conducted the mill for several years, manufacturing cotton yarn and giving it out to families to be woven on hand looms. As none of the incorporators had any knowledge of the business, they engaged the services of an Englishman named Odber to take charge of the machinery. In 1814, L. Collins, agent for the Amherst Cotton Manufacturing company, advertised that machinery of all kinds for cotton and woolen manufacturing could be bought of the company. In June, 1814, the name of the concern was changed to the Amherst Cotton Factory. In the Hampshire Gazette, under date of July 24, 1822, appears the following notice :
" All persons indebted to the Amherst Cotton Factory, either by Book or Note, are hereby called upon to make payment by the First of August next. Should anyone neglect this call, they may expect their accounts will be put into other hands for collection.
For the Amherst Cotton Factory, ISRAEL SCOTT, Treasurer."
The investment proved a permanent one, the capital being exhausted by poor management and business reverses. Most of the parties engaged in the enterprise gave up the business in disgust, but Gen. Mattoon would seem to have been connected with it as late as 1830. Ebenezer Dickinson, the original owner of the mill, broke into the building after it had passed
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
from his possession and stole a quantity of cotton yarn. An officer armed with a search warrant found the yarn stored in the garret of his dwelling. Dickinson fled to Ohio, where he died in poverty, but before leaving Amherst he recorded his curse upon the " Hollow," where he had lost his property. The ill fortune that attended for many years the various enter- prises there conducted was ascribed by many to the effects of this curse.
Elnathan Jones was in possession of the first mill as early as 1836. and owned and conducted the business until the mill was burned in 1842 ; in company with his son Thomas he rebuilt the mill and continued the business. In the early '4os, Thomas Jones owned three mills in the " Hollow," where he manufactured Kentucky jeans. He sold these mills to the Amherst Manufacturing company. This company was chartered in 1846, the act of incorporation bearing date of Feb. 7, and giving the names of Thomas Jones, John S. Adams and J. M. Whitcomb as principals in the venture. The business of the corporation was the manufacture of. cotton and woolen goods in Amherst, and it was authorized to issue capital stock to an amount not exceeding $100,000. The company sunk all its capital, and Jones bought the mills again in 1854. It would appear, from such sources of information as are available, that Jones sold at least two of his mills to Dana Wheelock in 1854. In the Hampshire Express, under date of Nov. 8, 1854, is published an account of the burning of " Wheelock Mill No. 2." The loss on the building and machinery was estimated at $12,000, on which there was no insurance. About 40 persons were employed in the mill. The Express also records, under date of April 30. 1857, the burning of the "Jones factory " at North Amherst. The flames spread with great rapidity, and the operatives, many of them females, saved themselves by jumping from the second-story windows. The building. including a large stock of raw material and cloth ready for the market. was destroyed. The factory was built in 1851 and was owned by Thomas Jones & Bros .; it cost S10,000, and was insured for $7,000. The stock. owned by Jones & Alexander, was valued at $3,000 and was not insured.
A statement of the affairs of the Amherst Manufacturing company. printed in the Express under date of Jan. 18, 1848. is signed by Thomas Jones as president and by Charles Adams and William Kellogg, Jr. as directors The capital stock paid in amounted to $26.000, the debts to $23,783.98. Bigelow's " Branches of, Industry " published in 1837 contains no notice of cotton manufacturing in Amherst. Palfrey's statistics for 1845 show that there was one cotton mill in Amherst with 672 spindles. The amount of cotton consumed was 120,000 pounds, from which was manufactured cotton yarns valued at $7,500 and cotton batting valued at $150. The capital invested was $5,000, the number of employes 17, 5
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WOOLEN MILLS.
males and 12 females. The state census for 1855 shows that there was one cotton wicking mill in Amherst. The amount of cotton consumed was 50,000 pounds, the value of wicking manufactured $7,000, the number of employes 5.
In 1830, Peter Ingram built a small woolen mill on Mill river above the " City." The business was successful for a time, but succumbed to the panic of 1837. It was afterwards reorganized under the firm name of Peter Ingram & Co., and the business continued until 1847 when the mill was burned. The loss was about $6,000, partially covered by insurance. In 1837, Peter Ingram, as agent for the factory, advertised that wool would be carded for customers and woven into cloth at the factory. Wool would be taken in the fleece and returned cloth, the work to be done upon shares or for an agreed price per yard. In 1845, Thomas Jones and a Mr. Brad- ford built a woolen mill which was burned in 1857. In 1852, the West- ville company, consisting of William H. Smith, George Cutler, Luke Sweetser and Thomas Jones, built a woolen mill on the site now occupied by S. E. Harrington & Son's wood-working factory. This mill was burned March 26, 1355 ; the loss was SS, 600, the insurance $5.150.
Statistics for 1837, show there were two woolen mills in Amherst with four sets of machinery. Wool was consumed to the amount of 39,000 pounds, from which was manufactured 62, 195 yards of cloth valued at $40,337. The capital invested was $30,000, the number of males employed was 22, females 30. In 1845, there were two woolen mills ; the amount of wool consumed was 102,200 pounds from which 252,000 yards of Kentucky jeans were manufactured, valued at $52,600. The capital invested was $18,000, the number of males employed 25, of females 30. In 1855, there was one woolen and cotton mill ; amount of wool consumed 16,000 pounds, cotton consumed 20,000 pounds, Kentucky jeans made 145,600 yards valued at $28,000, number of employes 20. The series of disastrous fires that destroyed so many mills proved a death-blow to the textile industry at North Amherst. After the year 1860, there is no further mention of any attempt to manufacture either cottons or woolens in Amherst.
Early in the present century, palm-leaf was brought from Boston to Amherst and manufactured into hats. It was brought to Boston by vessels trading with the West Indies. When the Boston & Albany railway was opened for business the palm-leaf was 'carried to Palmer by rail and thence carted to Amherst in teams. Henry Jackson, the veteran teamster, brought many loads of leaf to Amherst before the Amherst & Belchertown railway was built. The leaf was distributed among many families living in Amherst and adjoining towns, where it was split by hand, braided, sewed, fashioned into hats and the latter disposed of to the local merchants in exchange for
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
goods. Many persons were engaged in the business, but it was not until the fall of 1829 that an attempt was made to systematize and develop it as a distinctive industry. In. 1829, Leonard M. Hills came to Amherst from Ellington, Conn. and engaged in the manufacture of palm-leaf hats in a little shop at East Amherst. The business prospered and was soon enlarged to include the making of "Shaker " hoods, at that time and for many years thereafter a popular article of female wearing apparel. The old " hood shop," yet standing on Main street and now owned by the New London Northern railway company, was erected by Mr. Hills in 1859 ; it is a large and commodious building and the business of hood-making there conducted for many years gave employment to large numbers of people. In 1856, L. M. Hills erected mills at "Factory Hollow," where in partner- ship with his son Henry F. he carried on the business of hat manufactur- ing. The mills were carried away by the great freshet in 1863, when Hills & Son erected a large wooden factory building on the site now occupied by the mill of Burnett & Son. The first building on this site was occupied by a factory for splitting palm-leaf, which was burned in 1860. L. M. Hills continued in business until his death in 1872. In July, 1868, a patent was issued to John C. Smith of Chicopee and L. D. Hills, son of L. M. Hills, for a loom for weaving palm-leaf by power, work that formerly had been done by hand.
Some idea of the extent of the business conducted by L. M. Hills & Sons may be gained from a long article published in the Boston Advertiser in 1871. At that time Massachusetts was the only state in the Union where palm-leaf was manufactured into hats. The only factories for carrying on this work were located at Amherst, Barre, Palmer and Fitchburg. Of these, the factories at Amherst were the most important as regarded the size of buildings, the amount of business and the completeness of the work done. L. M. Hills & Sons were the largest operators in the business in America. All the leaf used in the work came from Cuba. The straw was bleached, split and dyed at the factory, and then sent out to be braided into hats and woven into webs for shaker hoods. This work was all done by hand, generally by the wives and daughters of farmers. The firm had agents in all the New England states to handle the braid. Country mer- chants frequently took the leaf and distributed it among the families in their neighborhood. The hats were gathered up and returned to the factory to be bleached a second time, pressed, trimmed, and packed for the market. Hydraulic presses were used. The business for the year 1871 amounted to about 100,000 dozen hats. In addition to the palm-leaf business, large quantities of hats were imported from Malaga, Spain, and from Leghorn, Italy, to be bleached, pressed and bound. Braid was also imported from
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I. D. FEARING AND CO'S HAT FACTORY, BURNED IN 1880.
PLEASANT STREET IN 1875- LOOKING NORTH.
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HAT MANUFACTURING.
Canton, China. About 100 persons were employed in the building, but this was a small proportion of those engaged in the palm-leaf business. The hood-factory employed a large number of hands. The products of the factories were sent to New York city, where they were sold by a resi- dent member of the firm. The first year that L. M. Hills was engaged in the business his receipts amounted to about $5,000. Before his death, the business of the factories amounted annually to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
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On the death of L. M. Hills in 1872, the hat business was purchased of his heirs by H. D. Fearing & Co., a firm organized at that time and consisting of H. D. Fearing, C. M. Osgood and E. A. Thompson. They carried on the business of finishing hats for other parties. Their business prospered, and in 1880 their monthly pay-roll amounted to upwards of $5,000 and 250,000 dozen hats were sent out from their works. April 23, 18So, their factory was destroyed by fire, and the same year a fine brick build- ing was erected which cost, with machinery and other equipment, upwards of $100,000. From the time that ground was broken for the new factory until it was finished and ready for business only eighty days elapsed. The contractor was John Beston, Jr. In October, 1891, C. M. Osgood withdrew from the firm, and in 1892 the business was sold to George B. Burnett & Son. The latter firm now employs upwards of 250 hands during the busy season and their business is rapidly increasing. The Hills Co. was organized in 1877, with Henry F. Hills as president. A factory was erected on the east side of the New London Northern railway tracks, but this was burned in 1880, at the same time time that Fearing & Co's factory was destroyed. The fire started in the factory of The Hills Co .; the loss of the two concerns was something like $150,000. The Hills Co. rebuilt on the same site, where they now conduct a flourishing business, the number of hands employed in the busy season averaging about 325. E. L. Dean & Co. still continue to split and bleach palm-leaf and manufacture palm-leaf hats.
Statistics for 1837 show that there were two hat factories in Amherst ; the number of hats manufactured was 1,200 dozen, the value of the product $3.600, the number of males employed 5, of females 2. In 1845, the number of palm-leaf hats manufactured was 317,236, valued at $56,696; the number of males employed was 5, of females, 65. In 1855, there were two straw hat and bonnet factories ; the value of their product was $32,000, the number of employes 173. In 1865, there was one establishment for the manufacture of palm-leaf for hats, hoods and bonnets. The value of stock used was $20,000, tons of leaf prepared 120, capital invested $8,000, employes 20. There was one establishment for the manufacture of hats, hoods and bonnets. The value of stock used was $30,000, number of hats
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
made 50,000 dozen, of hoods made 30,000 dozen, value $135,000, capital invested $17,000, number of employes 55.
Many industries for the manufacture of articles constructed in whole or in part of iron or steel have been conducted at Amherst. Perhaps the most important, certainly the most successful in its day, was the manufac- ture of planes at East Amherst. About 1835, James Kellogg bought from Eli Dickinson a shop at South Amherst that stood on the site now occu- pied by C. E. Hayward's factory. There he engaged in the making of bench planes and molders' planes. The business prospered, and a part- nership was formed under the name of Kellogg, Washburne & Fox for its development. This firm was dissolved in April, 1839, and immediately thereafter James Kellogg and Hiram Fox formed a partnership "for the merchandising and manufacturing of joiners' tools in Amherst." The capital stock was $8,000. The firm was dissolved in 1840, Mr. Kellogg continuing the business. In 1839, the business was removed to that part of Amherst which subsequently acquired the name of "Kelloggville." Here two factories were erected, one of brick and one of wood, which were stocked with machinery of the latest pattern. Success attended the new venture, the business increasing so rapidly that the factories were frequently unable to fill the orders which came from all parts of the country and even from abroad. Experts declare that better planes were never made than those sent out from Kellogg's factory in Amherst, and many years after the business was suspended orders for the goods continued to come in. When the works were in full operation some twenty men were employed and planes of all kinds were manufactured. The operatives were well paid, and residing near the factories they formed a flourishing little community which, as stated above, was christened " Kelloggville." James Kellogg retired from business in 1867, and was succeeded by his son William. A sketch of the business, written in 1869, states that the woodwork of the planes was made from beech, box and rosewood, and the irons were brought from New Haven and fitted at the factory. The average daily output from the factory was 150 to 200 planes. In 1886 the dam of the pond that furnished power for the factories was carried away and for several years the works have remained idle.
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