USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Amherst > The history of the town of Amherst, Massachusetts, pt 1 > Part 36
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Previous to 1829, the firm of Hills, Wolcott & Co. was engaged in the manufacture of joiners' tools at South Amherst. The firm was dis- solved, March 16, 1829, and the business was continued by Samuel and Hervey Hills, who manufactured joiners' tools of the latest and most approved patterns ; they advertised to make any kind of tools according to drafts that might be furnished, also to supply wholesale purchasers on the most liberal terms.
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ROPER RIFLE COMPANY.
For several years George Burnham conducted a factory at East Amherst where planes were manufactured. In 1857, Ebenezer Nutting and E. Porter Nutting manufactured planes and other tools at a factory in South Amherst. The following statistics serve to show the rise and decline of this industry : In 1837, the value of planes manufactured was $8,000, the number of employes 10, the amount of capital invested $3,000. In 1845, the value of tools manufactured was $14,975, the number of employes 22. In 1855, the value of tools manufactured was $18,000, the number of employes 20. In 1865, the value of the product had declined to $3,000, the number of employes to 3. Porter Dickinson built a shop at East Amherst about 1835, where for many years he manufactured hammers, forks and edged tools. On his death in 1879, his son E. P. Dickinson, succeeded him, but has given his attention mainly to general job work.
The " Roper Repeating Rifles " were first manufactured in 1866. A company was formed to conduct their manufacture and sale, in which Amherst capital was largely interested.
The Hampshire Express, under date of April 19, 1866, published the following sketch of this enterprise :
" A new enterprise has recently been commenced in Amherst, and a corpora- tion formed. The parties concerned are Mr. S. H. Roper of Roxbury, the inventor of the rifle proposed to be manufactured and of numerous other valuable machines, Mr. Spencer, the inventor of the Spencer repeating rifle, which has proved so effectual in the late war, and Messrs. H. D. Fearing and L. M. & H. F. Hills. The capital stock is $100,000. The company will commence operations in the red building connected with Messrs. Hills Palmleaf works, which building they are now converting into a machine shop. The machinery introduced is of the very best and latest patterns, and will be sufficient to manufacture every part of the rifle but the barrel. These can be manufactured abroad easier than here. The rifle is the invention of Mr. Roper and has just been patented. So unlike any other fire- arm is it, that no difficulty attended the procuring of the patent. It is a novelty, and at the same time one of the neatest sporting pieces we have ever seen. The rifle which we were shown weighs but 43 lbs., carries a common pistol cartridge No. 30, and will do execution at 20 rods. It is breach-loading and contains eight cartridges. The action of cocking brings the cartridge into its right position and discharges the empty shell. The eight cartridges can be discharged in less than a minute. The inventor claims that he can attain a larger range with this gun than with any now manufactured. They will also manufacture a shot-gun on the same principle. This will be supplied with a quantity of steel shells for cartridges which can be loaded with common ammunition and capped with common percussion caps. Thus a sportsman can charge 50 or 100 cartridges at home, and with any ammini- that he chooses, and all he has to do in the field will be to load the revolving breech, as ! remove the empty shells. The company will employ at the outset about 30 tos' class mechanics, and increase their force as the market for their guns shall od. They have purchased a lot of land on the east side of the railroad tracks, mi! will soon erect houses for the accommodation of the workmen. We welcome gr. new enterprise to Amherst, believing that it is but a pioneer of many others i will embrace the advantages offered by this town."
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
The company was organized under its charter with the choice of Henry F. Hills as president, H. D. Fearing as treasurer, and these officers, together with L. M. Hills and S. H. Roper as directors.
In 1868, the company occupied a building situated near the New London Northern railway tracks. The guns first made and put on the market were found to be defective, and an unavailing effort was made to secure their return to the factory. The pattern was afterwards improved and a large number of the guns were made and placed upon the market where they met with a ready sale. A newspaper paragraph, under date of May 21, 1868, states that the company were just completing a second lot of guns, fifty in number, made after the new pattern, and had commenced on a new lot of 100. In addition to orders from all parts of this country, they had recently received an order from China. In July of the same year, announcement was made that the Roper shot-guns were meeting with unpar- alleled success. The demand for the product of the factory was so great that it was necessary to increase the capital stock, employ more hands and manufacture on a larger scale. The company had recently been granted a patent for a "close-shooting attachment" to the muzzle of their shot- gun, enabling one to shoot close or scattering as desired. The prosperity was short-lived, for in November, 1868, announcement was made that the company had sold patents, tools and fixtures to D. W. C. Perry, who with C. M. Spencer, inventor of the Spencer rifle, would carry on the business. The guns were loaded with four charges, which could be discharged in two and one-half seconds. Some of these guns are still in existence in Amherst. An article in the Springfield Republican, printed in December, 1868, states that it was proposed to remove the works to Springfield and form a stock company with a capital of $100,000 to continue the manufacture. The works were in operation in Amherst as late as April, 1869. Later on, they were removed to Hartford, Conn.
At East Amherst, just across Fort river on the road leading to Pelham, there was, as early as 1837, a shop were cutlery and pistols were manu- factured. April 1, 1836, Henry A. Morrill, Silas Mosman, Jr. and Charles Blair formed a copartnership for the manufacture of cutlery and machinery. From a Georgia man, who was the patentee, the firm secured a contract for manufacturing "bowie-knife pistols." For a description of this unique weapon the writer is indebted to the Boston Courier, which published the following item under date of Aug. 30, 1837 :
" At Amherst about a mile east of the principal village is a small establish- ment, now in its infancy, which we found was entirely unknown to its near neigh- bors. The principal article which it produces is a weapon, which has yet hardly made its appearance, and which will not, probably, for many years, if ever, be much used in New England. It is called the Bowie-Knife Pistol, a combination
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RIFLE FACTORY.
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AN OLD WOOD-CUT OF COMMON.
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MANUFACTURE OF WIRE.
of these two articles, the knife being fixed by means of a spring to the lower side of the pistol barrel. These instruments are intended for the hunter, and the man- ufacturer has a contract for one thousand for a Georgia man who is the patentee. They are made in three sizes."
The business panic of 1837, and the failure of Knowles & Thayer, who had endorsed the firm's paper, proved a death-blow to the enterprise. An advertisement published in the Hampshire Gasette under date of March 8, 1837, is of interest in this connection. It reads as follows :
" Wanted-Six or eight filers, who can do first-rate work, and who feel smart enough to do a day's work in ten hours, without raising higher pressure of steam than cold water will make, and can leave their long yarns until their day's work is done. Such will find good encouragement by applying immediately to
MORRILL, MOSMAN & BLAIR."
The partnership was dissolved in July, 1838, the business being car- ried on by Silas Mosman and Charles Blair until February, 1839, when the water-power, machinery and patents were disposed of at assignee's sale. Statistics for 1837 show the value of bowie-knives and pistols manufactured to have been $2,000, the number of employes four and the capital invested $1,500.
The manufacture of wire hoop-skirts was at one time a flourishing industry in Amherst. It was established in 1863, by Charles D. Clapp, who employed from three to four hands. The work was carried on in a shop located west of the meeting-house, where L. M. Hills had developed his palin-leaf business. In 1865, H. J. Bardwell and E. H. Haskell, the latter coming from Gloucester, were taken into partnership in the business, a patent on a " collapsing skirt " was secured, and the number of employes was increased to about 30. The firm was known as the "Odessa Skirt company ; " they manufactured the "Odessa patent collapsing skirt," described in an advertisement as "the greatest invention of the age." It could be altered in an instant from the " Empress trail " or " tilting " skirt to a " Paris trail" or " Parlor invisible " skirt. The shape was " the most beautiful in the market :" it could "never move of its own accord," but would " always stay in the position placed by the pleasure of the wearer." In 1867, S. H. Emanuel of Gloucester bought an interest in the business, and its rapid development calling for increased accommodations, it was thought best to remove the works to Gloucester.
B. F. Allen & Co. began the manufacture of wire goods in Amherst in 1855, in the building now occupied by E. P. Dickinson. They sold out the business in 1856 to Allen Bros., and in 1860 it was bought by L. H. Allen who has since conducted it. The goods manufactured consist of wire cloth, screens, corn-poppers and wire goods of all kinds. The busi- ness in its best days, before these goods were made by machinery, employed
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
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about ten hands. The product was formerly sold throughout New England and the West, but in later years the market has been confined to New. England. Statistics for 1855 show that 4,000 wire covers, riddles, etc. were manufactured and the number of employes was 13.
About the year 1834, the firm of Clapp & Rust was formed for the manufacture of cooking-stoves, which were then a great novelty, very few, · if any, being in use in Amherst at that time. The castings were made at Trask's foundery in Springfield, and brought to Amherst where the work was completed. The shop stood on the site now occupied by G. E. Thayer's store. The firm employed two or three men beside themselves in the factory and opened a store at the center village for the sale of their wares. In November, 1835, the firm of Clapp, Spencer & Co. was organized, con- sisting of Oliver M. Clapp, John H. Spencer and Timothy Hubbard. In an advertisement published in the Hampshire Gazette in 1835, they invited the attention of the public to an examination of "a new and highly improved cooking-stove which they are now manufacturing at their shop in Amherst." They continued in business until about 1837, when the "mulberry craze," in which O. M. Clapp was early interested, and the failure of Knowles & Thayer and Morrill, Mosman & Blair, whose paper Clapp & Rust had endorsed, put an end to the manufacture of stoves in Amherst. One of the stoves, bearing the name of Clapp & Rust, was in use in the family of Joseph Dickinson until about 1885. Statistics for 1837 give the value of stoves manufactured as $2,500, the capital invested $800, the number of employes ten. Statistics for 1837 also show that 70 plows and 300 axes were manufactured in Amherst. Benoni Rust was for some time engaged in the manufacture of steel springs in a shop located near the New London Northern railroad. Statistics for 1845 give the value of steel springs manufactured as $1.600.
Lyman Knowles began the manufacture of carriages in a shop front- ing on "the Green " at South Amherst about 1827. In 1830, he removed to East Amherst, where in partnership with Asahel Thayer he carried on a large business in the manufacture of fine carriages under the firm name of Knowles & Thayer. For several years this was one of the largest and best- known concerns engaged in carriage manufacturing in Massachusetts. Their product was of superior workmanship, commanding a ready sale at good prices. Their factories were' located on the road leading to Pelham, including shops for wood-working, iron-working, upholstering and painting. From 100 to 150 hands were employed in the various departments. Asahel Thayer was a deacon in the Second Congrega- tional church, endowed with all the shrewdness and sagacity in bargain- ing proverbial in Yankee deacons. A story is told of him, in the time
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299.
CARRIAGE MAKING.
when the carriage-making industry was in its infancy and the members of the firm were their own traveling salesmen. Dea. Thayer had a carriage built which he intended to sell to the president of a bank in Greenfield. Especial pains was taken in its manufacture, the best of materials being employed. The night succeeding the day when the last coat of varnish was applied was bitter cold and the varnish cracked badly. Another coat was applied but this served only to bring out the markings in bolder relief. The deacon started for Greenfield with three carriages, including the one of special make. Having disposed of two carriages, he called on the bank president and told him that he had a chaise of superior quality for sale, adding, "It has a peculiar finish known as the turtle shell, and there is only one man in the United States who can do that kind of work." The president inquired the price, and was told that he could have chaise and harness for $275. After a little bargaining a sale was effected at $250. There is no record to show if other carriages were adorned with the "turtle-shell " finish. The panic of 1837 caused the firm of Knowles & Thayer to suspend. The business was sold to Loren Blanchard who con- tinued it, on a smaller scale, some little time.
A petition dated at Amherst, Jan. 22, 1838, was addressed to the Gen- eral Court. It stated that the subscribers, having associated themselves together for carrying on the business of manufacturing carriages and harness at Amherst, were satisfied that the business could be conducted more advantageously to all concerned by a corporation, and therefore prayed that they might be incorporated under the name of the Amherst Carriage company, with the right to hold real estate to the amount of $10,000 and- personal estate to the amount of $20,000. The first name signed to the petition was that of Robert C. Kid ; other names of well -. .known men were those of Ebenezer Mattoon, Jr., Leonard M. Hills and Oliver Watson. The petition was accompanied by a memorial signed by 50 persons, nearly all resident in Amherst, requesting that it be granted. No less than three remonstrances were filed against the petition. The first was signed by 23 persons, who protested against incorporating any business already safe and flourishing in the hands of individuals ; the second signed by: 47 names of persons resident in Cambridge and engaged in carriage- making and allied trades : the third signed by 47 journeymen, also engaged in the business of carriage manufacture. Despite these remonstrances, the committee on manufactures reported a bill favorable to the petitioners, but it failed to be enacted. Statistics for 1837 show that during the pre- Ceding year carriages were manufactured to the value of $100,000. capital was invested amounting to $30,000 and the number of employes was 100. When the carriage business was given up the factory buildings were dis-
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
connected and parts are yet standing, in use as dwelling-houses. A. W. Hall has carried on a small but prosperous business in the manufacture of . carriages, express and farm wagons, sleighs, etc., in a factory at North Amherst, since 1879. He employs from three to six hands.
The manufacture of children's carriages and sleds has for many years been a prominent feature of Amherst's industries. Thousands of dollars have been invested in it and hundreds of persons have found in it the means of securing a livelihood. The first Amherst man to engage in this line of manufacture was Eli Dickinson, whose factory was located a little north of the site of C. E. Hayward's present factory at South Amherst. Mr. Dickinson had previously been engaged in the manufacture of faucets, but had no water-power connected with his shop. Benjamin Allen and C. E. Hayward began the business in 1845, and about a year afterward Mr. Hayward's brother, C. F. Hayward, went in partnership with him. For five years they manufactured children's carriages exclusively, and then engaged in the making of sleds. The business was very successful until "hard times " came in 1857-58. In 1864, C. F. Hayward conducted two factories at South Amherst. During the year he disposed of his interest in one to his nephew, C. E. Hayward, who has conducted it since that time. In its busiest days from ten to fifteen men were employed the product of the factory being about 10,000 wagons a year. Children's carts and wheelbarrows have also been made at this factory. The material used in the business is bought in Amherst and vicinity, and the product is sold to jobbing houses in New York. The present output of the factory is about 5,000 sleds and 3,000 to 4,000 wagons each year. C. F. Hayward . continued in business until his death in 1879, when the stock was bought by C. E. Hayward and A. J. Robinson, who carried on the business in partnership for almost a year. At the end of that time Mr. Robinson bought out the business and continued it until ISSS. The average annual output of the factory was valued at $10,000, the average number of hands employed was ten, the amount of lumber used per year was 30,000 feet, the amount of capital invested $6,000. C. L. & S. H. Goodale engaged in the same line of business in 1865, and continued in it about ten years ; they occupied a shop a little south of Mr. Hayward's. In 1869, their .annual output was about 5,000 children's sleighs, 1,000 tip-carts, 700 wagons and 500 wheelbarrows. They employed from three to five hands. At Mill Valley, David Dexter, in 1869, was engaged in the manufacture of children's sleighs and saw-horses. He employed from one to three hands and the annual output was 500 sleighs and twenty dozen saw-horses.
Statistics for 1837 show the value of children's wagons manufactured .to have been $1,500, the number of employes ten. In 1845, the number
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GEORGE BURNHAM.
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of wagons made was 7,000, valued at $8,500, the value of velocipedes : made, $1,200. In 1855, the number of wagons and sleds manufactured was 74,900, valued at $14.985, the amount of capital engaged, $2,800, the number of employes, 18. In 1865, there were three establishments in town devoted to the manufacture of this line of goods ; the number of children's carriages and sleds made was 17,750, valued at $18,000, the capital invested, $2,000 ; the number of employes, 12.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
MISCELLANEOUS MANUFACTURES. - " BURNHAM'S MILLS."-WOOD-WORK- ING ESTABLISHMENTS .- FAUCETS .--- TANNERIES .-- BRICK-MAKING .. -- AMERICAN BUTTON COMPANY .- BONNET-MAKING .- LESSER INDUSTRIES.
Many branches of wood-working industry have been conducted in Amherst. Among the most important were the various enterprises carried on. at " Burnham's Mills " at East Amherst. In view of Mr. Burnham's promi- nence as a manufacturer in Amherst, a brief sketch of his career is here presented. George Burnham, Jr. was born in East Hartford, Conn., Jan .. 28, 1817. He received a common school education and served an appren- ticeship at bench plane making in New Hartford, Conn. Completing his apprenticeship, he removed to Amherst, April 10, 1841, taking a position. as journeyman plane maker with Luther Fox then carrying on a bench plane business near the river in the eastern part of the town. In the course of a year, a company was formed of Hiram Fox, Benoni Thayer, Aaron Ferry and George Burnham, they buying the business from Luther Fox and carrying it on for about two years. The business was then bought and continued by George Burnham for a number of years, being finally sold to a company in Middletown, Conn. to which place it was removed. Mr. Burnham then equipped his shop with presses for pressing straw hats, and for some time did a general pressing business, pressing hats for L. M. Hills and others through the Connecticut Valley. Later a partnership was formed with Stephen W. Gilbert for the manufacture of axe and other handles, this partnership terminating with the new year, Mr .. Burnham continuing the business alone. In 1855, axe-handles were manufactured to the value of $30,000 ; the capital invested was $12,000, the number of employes ten. July 22, 1858, one of the buildings being struck by light-
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF AMHERST, MASS.
ning during a hard shower, the entire plant was destroyed by fire. Mr. Burnham immediately rebuilt and continued the handle business. Later a run of stone for grinding corn was added and he did a general milling business. Still later a steam plant and saw-mill were added to the business. In the fall of 1868, he formed a parthership with E. B. Fitts for manufac- turing pumps, which business was carried on for some time, the whole works being disposed of to Mr. Fitts. They manufactured an "anti-freezing glass cylinder pump," owning a patent on a new process for boring logs. In the spring of 1871, Mr. Burnham removed to Worcester and was engaged in various kinds of business in that city. He died in Worcester July 11, 1893.
In 1863, Asahel Dwight and. William Dickinson conducted a factory at South Amherst on the site now occupied by Merrick's saw mill and cider-mill. They manufactured wooden pumps, shingles and broom- handles. In IS70, the business was removed to Mill Valley, where it was conducted by Asahel Dwight and his brother Nathaniel until 1878. Many .of the pumps they manufactured were sold in Hadley, and a few in Con- necticut. Asahel Dwight has continued the manufacture of pumps up to the present time, his shop being located at Mill Valley.
Sometime in the '6os, Charles H. Bangs and George E. Howes formed ·a partnership for the manufacture of doors, sashes, blinds and tobacco- boxes. The business was conducted in a building which stood on the site now occupied by A. W. Hall's carriage-shop, which they bought of Elijah . Gibbs. In 1869, Charles H. Bangs sold out his interest to Dwight Graves, and the firm of Dwight Graves & Co. was organized, consisting of Dwight Graves, B. F. Kellogg and George F. Howes. In 1876, Mr. Howes dis- posed of his interest to O. C. Bangs. When Cushman's paper mill was burned at " Factory Hollow," Dwight Graves & Co. bought the water priv- ilege and built a new mill in 1880, which they now occupy, doing sawing. planing and matching of lumber, and also manufacturing door and win- dow-screens.
In 1866, S. E. Harrington came to Amherst and bought of Messrs. Church and White a mill which had been built some two or three years before by Edward Graves, who had used it for dressing lumber. Mr. Har- rington bought from Greenfield machinery for the manufacture of seed- sowers and cultivators, making this 'line of work a specialty for several years, but at the same time carrying on a general business in wood-working. In ISSI, his son, F. W. Harrington, became associated with him under the firm name of S. E. Harrington & Son. The business as carried on at present embraces the dressing of lumber, and the manufacture of mould- ings, brackets, window-frames, blinds, screens, etc. Most of the product of the mill is used by Amherst builders.
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TANNERIES.
In 1872, Levi E. Dickinson bought from Jonathan Cowls a saw-mill at North Amherst where he engaged in a general line of job work. The following year he engaged.in box-making. In 1879, he removed to the center village, and built the factory he has since occupied, below the tracks of the New London Northern railway. In 1882, he began the manufac- ture of boys' tool-chests, which has since become an important feature of his business. The factory is equipped with machinery of the latest pattern, but little work being done by hand. Mr. Dickinson works up about one million feet of lumber annually, nearly all pine and of native growth. About 40,000 boys' tool-chests are made each year, being sold to jobbers in New York. Several hundred carpenters' and machinists' chests also form a part of the annual product, and a good business is done in the manufacture of creamery butter-boxes from whitewood. The average number of hands employed is fifteen.
Early in the present century, Eli Dickinson began the manufacture of wooden faucets in a little shop at South Amherst on the site of the house now occupied by his grandson, Edwin E. Dickinson. His friend, "'Squire " Rood, drove an old horse hitched to a lumber wagon about the town, gathering up old boots and shoes to be used by Dickinson in the manu- facture of his faucets. He made them by a process on which he had secured a patent. His factory contained a turning lathe and a few other rude tools. His lathe was turned by horse-power. He had several boys, who assisted their father at his work when not in school. His principal market was Baltimore, where he went once a year to dispose of his wares. It took him from two to three weeks to make the trip. He moved his busi- ness to Plainville but remained there only a short time. Later on, two brothers, Luther and Dexter Fox, engaged in the same line of business, making competition so sharp that Dickinson gave up work and sold his shop in 1835 to James Kellogg.
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