USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > The story of Essex County, Volume I > Part 36
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A consolidation of all the mills of Amesbury and Salisbury under one head occurred in 1854, when the Salisbury Woolen Manufactur- ing Company purchased the two Amesbury concerns. But in the busi- ness decline of the middle 'fifties the mills became idle. In 1856 the Salisbury Mills Company purchased the old Salisbury Woolen Mfg.
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Co. for $225,000, and, with a capital of $750,000, later increased to $1,000,000, proceeded to renovate the property. M. D. F. Steere was made agent, and served the company for twenty-two years.
The record of the Salisbury Mills Company from 1860 to 1875 is one of great prosperity. The year 1865 was among the most suc- cessful, the company earning $75,000, or fifteen per cent. on capital stock of $1,000,000. During this period several new mills were built. Up to 1875 the company conducted ten mills, most of them situated on the banks of the Powow, and did an annual business of $3,000,000. More than 1, 500 operatives were employed at this time.
In 1876, however, the mills were shut down, two years later being sold to the Essex Mills Company. They were not put in operation until 1880, when the Hamilton Woolen Company, of Southbridge, Massachusetts, purchased the property. Mr. Steere, formerly agent for the Salisbury Mills, continued for the new concern. The mills engaged in the manufacture of woolen goods until 1887, when cotton machinery was installed, and the woolen machinery moved to South- bridge. That year M. W. Quinn became agent.
The Hamilton Woolen Company continued to make cotton goods here until 1912, when the Amesbury branch of the concern was dis- continued. For several years the mills had been unprofitable. The advantage of water power had long been outgrown, most of the power being supplied by steam. The scattered buildings and the old type of tall mill construction increased trucking and elevator costs. Furthermore, the equipment of the mills had become obsolete. Thus ended an industry that had played an important part in Essex County industrial history for exactly one hundred years.
There have been in the county a number of other textile enter- prises, such as the various hosiery concerns of Ipswich, the Ballard- vale Mills of Andover, and Sutton's Mills in North Andover, the last two establishments being still in successful operation. Space does not permit, however, any further description of the various smaller mills. There remain the Essex County Mills of the American Woolen Company, as the climax of our textile development.
The formation of the American Woolen Company was a direct outgrowth of the textile development of Lawrence, although in its final form it included fifty-nine plants scattered through all the New England States, two in New York, and one in Kentucky. In spite of
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the wide scope of the company, Essex County is still the principal seat of production. Out of the total of 549,242 worsted spindles in the mills of the American Woolen Company, in 1930, 372,964 were situ- ated in the Washington, Wood, Ayer, and Prospect Mills in Law- rence, while the Shawsheen Mills in Andover had 65,6So more. At the height of its prosperity under the direction of William M. Wood, the company employed as many as 30,000 people whose wages were the highest paid in the textile industry. When it is realized that the concern has 549,242 worsted spindles together with 279,284 for woolen, it becomes evident that the American Woolen Company belongs to Essex County both by origin and by occupation.
"Twenty years ago," [ wrote Newton A. Fuessle, in 19193], "an idea began to glow in the brain of William M. Wood. He was at that time treasurer of the Washington Mills, at Lawrence, Massachusetts. He conceived of the service pos- sibilities of a strongly centralized federation of woolen mills. All about him he saw isolated, independent mills striving to produce their share of the nation's requirements, but each . handicapped when it came to buying, when it came to import- ing raw material, and when it came to marketing the finished fabric.
"Mr. Wood saw an enormous duplication and repetition of executive effort, creative effort, buying effort, and selling effort. He saw a competitive condition that was draining great reservoirs of energy-energy which, under proper cen- tralization and cooperation, might be translated into just that much more production and service.
"The idea of amalgamation took hold of him. He made a list of successful mill properties and organizations, so located and equipped that they might, with advantage to all of them, be fused together into unified coordination and control."
Although he met with considerable opposition toward his plans, Mr. Wood was successful in securing the support of a number of New England woolen men. In February, 1899, at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, in New York City, the American Woolen Company was
5. "Weavers of the World," by Newton A. Fuessle, "The Outlook," April 16, 1919, Advertising Section.
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launched. It involved the amalgamation of eight concerns, all but one in New England, of which the Washington Mills Company, of Lawrence, was outstanding as the largest unit entering the merger. The capital stock of the enterprise was $29,501, 101 in common stock, and $20,000,000 in preferred, a rather high capitalization in view of the $12,000,000 total appraisal value of the several mills. Frederick Ayer, of Lowell, principal stockholder of the Washington Mills, became president, while Joseph G. Ray, of Franklin, N. H. and Wil- liam M. Wood became vice-president and treasurer, respectively.
After the formation of the American Woolen Company, the process of amalgamation went on for years. Plant after plant was purchased, and several new ones constructed. The Prospect Mills, of Lawrence, were purchased in 1897, along with several other New England plants. The construction of new mills, however, was con- fined to Essex County, where the company built the Wood and Ayer Mills in Lawrence, and the Shawsheen Mills in Andover.
The Wood Worsted Mills were organized in 1905, with capital of $1,000,000. When completed, the plant was the largest in the world, consisting of two buildings, one 1,000 by 125 feet, the other 350 by 125 feet, each of six stories. The mills were equipped with 1 58 cards, 171 combs, 224,618 spindles, and 1,502 looms, manufacturing prin- cipally worsteds. In 1910 the Wood Mills became an integral part of the American Woolen Company. The Ayer Mills, somewhat smaller than the Wood Mills, were completed that same year, also being devoted to worsted.
The Shawsheen Village experiment, which involved the construc- tion of the Shawsheen Mills, was undertaken in 1918, under the lead- ership of Mr. Wood, president of the American Woolen Company since 1908. The project constituted a notable example of paternalism in the labor relations of a large corporation. A complete, well planned, and tastefully laid out community was built by the company in a sparsely settled part of Andover, not far from Lawrence. Mod- est but attractive houses for the mill hands, and more pretentious dwellings for the officers of the concern were erected. A sumptuous office building, since used at least part of the time as the main office of the American Woolen Company, is the town's most outstanding building, save perhaps for the mills themselves. In addition, the company constructed various other buildings, such as stores and recreation places, that are necessary to the life of a community.
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The houses were offered for sale to the occupants by an agency of the company, through the medium of monthly payments amounting to little more than the rental. At the same time stock in the company was sold to the employees, by which transaction 13,000 people became part-owners of the enterprise.
Needless to say, there has been some discontent among the work- ers, for any form of paternalism, even when administered liberally, is likely to result in friction with the more individualistic among those with whom it comes in contact. Nevertheless, the superior housing conditions and the cheerful surroundings afforded have more than compensated for any difficulty inherent in the project.
The American Woolen Company, from its inception in 1899 until structed in Essex County, are considered the finest worsted mills in the world. Although not a tremendously large plant, the modern five-story mills contain 42 cards, 72 combs, 65,680 worsted spindles, and 468 looms, and by themselves support the busy community around them.
The American Woolen Company, from its inception in 1899, until the early 'twenties, was a very successful concern. At that time, in 1924, William M. Wood, having completed twenty-five years of active service in developing the company, resigned from its presi- dency and retired to private life. For many years the stock of the company was considered as secure an investment as could be found. During the World War the company prospered amazingly, the mills working day and night in the production of military uniforms in addi- tion to the usual business. At this time a surplus productive capacity was developed that, after the war, the management strove to divert into foreign trade. Unfortunately, after a temporary boom, the export market went to pieces. The affairs of the company sank so low that 1928, in most industries a prosperous year, actually showed a deficit. It was only in 1933, after drastic retrenchment and careful attention to merchandising, that the American Woolen Company once more showed a profit under the management of William B. Warner, who succeeded Andrew Pierce, in 1930. Needless to say, the prosperity of Essex County has not been enhanced by these years of depression in the woolen industry.
The ancient craft of boot and shoemaking, long practiced in Essex County, was little changed in its general character when the
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last century had reached its halfway mark. The industry had increased in size, at the same time concentrating in Lynn and Haver- hill, and a greater number of boots and shoes were being shipped each year to the South and West, and even to foreign countries. Further- more, the scale of the operations had been enlarged, in that the fac- tory was supplanting the workshop. Instead of being carried on by many independent craftsmen, each assisted by one or two helpers, an increasing proportion of the industry was conducted in small fac- tories, where a number of workers under a single management divided the work between them, each confining himself to a limited number of operations. But the method of putting the shoe together remained practically unchanged, and it was only the development of a machine process of shoemaking that made the industry what it is today.
The condition of the boot and shoe industry immediately before the shift from workshop to factory, which preceded its mechanical revolution, is described by Martineau, in "Society in America":6
"The shoemaking at Lynn is carried on almost entirely in private dwellings, from the circumstance that the people who do it are almost all farmers or fishermen likewise. A stranger who has not been enlightened upon the ways of the place would be astonished at the number of small square erections, like miniature schoolhouses, standing each as an appendage to a dwelling house. These are the 'shoe shops' where the father of the family and his boys work, while the women within are employed in binding and trimming. Thirty or more of these shoe shops may be counted in a walk of half a mile. When a Lynn shoe manufacturer receives an order, he issues the tidings. The leather is cut out by men on his prem- ises; and then the work is given to those who apply for it, if possible in small quantities, for the sake of dispatch. The shoes are brought back on Friday night, packed off on Satur- day, and in a fortnight or three weeks are on the feet of dwell- ers in all parts of the Union. The whole family works upon shoes during the winter, and in the summer the father and sons turn out into the fields, or go fishing. I knew of an instance where a little boy and girl maintained the whole fam- ily, while the earnings of the rest went to build a house. I
6. "Society in America," Harriet Martineau, Vol. II, p. 248.
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saw very few shabby houses. Quakers are numerous in Lynn. The place is unboundedly prosperous, through the temperance and industry of the people. The deposits in the Lynn Sav- ings Bank in 1834 were about $34,000, the population of the town being then 4,000. Since that time both the population and the prosperity have much increased."
The industry in Lynn was confined mainly to the manufacture of women's shoes. By 1850 the trade had so prospered that the orders from all parts of the country grew too large for the workmen of Lynn to handle. The manufacturers sent materials all over New England to be assembled into shoes and returned for final shipment to the markets. By 1855, 9,275,593 pairs of shoes were produced in Lynn, all representing almost purely handwork. The "Great Strike" of 1867 was aimed principally against the distribution of work among out of town workmen. But the rapid addition of machinery, which was just becoming evident, made the "putting-out" of materials unnecessary, and, in fact, uneconomical.
In Haverhill, also prominent in the production of women's shoes at an early time, conditions were somewhat similar, even though the town did not have the prestige in the shoe trade that Lynn enjoyed. In 1832 the twenty-eight shoe manufacturers were highly prosperous and their business expanding. By 1836 there were forty horses and eight oxen engaged solely in freighting the product of the Haverhill shops to Boston. In 1837 there were forty-two shoe shops, which by 1857 had increased to ninety, producing annually shoes valued at $3,754,240. Even then the production of slippers ranked high among the industries of Haverhill.
Before the boot and shoe industry was mechanized, it was car- ried on, to some extent, as an adjunct to farming or fishing, in prac- tically every Essex County town and village. Danvers, Georgetown, Methuen, Marblehead, Rowley, Topsfield, and Amesbury all made shoes, as did the larger cities. In some of these towns the industry died out entirely, in a few cases being restored within the last few years. Topsfield, for instance, shipped 200,000 pairs of shoes in IS37, and yet for many years the town has not had a single shoe factory.
Essex-28
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It was with the introduction of shoe machinery that Essex County rose to its prominent position as the seat of the women's shoe indus- try of the country. The sewing machine, whether a "Singer" or a "Grover & Baker," is not certain, first appeared in Lynn about 1852, while Moses How installed a "Singer" in his Haverhill factory in 1857. The Mckay machine for sewing soles on uppers, using the invention of Lyman R. Blake, of South Abington, Massachusetts, appeared in 1858, and was first used by William Porter and Sons, of Lynn, in 1861 or 1862. With these two inventions, in addition to other less momentous improvements, such as the Sturtevant pegging machine, the character of shoe manufacture underwent rapid change, and Lynn and Haverhill prospered amazingly. The factories grew larger and the division of labor within them became more minute. The introduction of the Goodyear welt method of attaching the sole to the upper, and Jans Matzeliger's lasting machine, in 1871 and 1883, respectively, completed the revolution of the shoe industry, and gave further stimulus to the development of modern manufacturing technique. Hundreds of other inventions and improvements upon earlier devices have been made, until now the manufacture of shoes is among the most highly mechanized of all industries.
In Lynn, particularly, the growth of shoe manufacturing during this revolutionary period was remarkable. As early as 1864, about ten million pairs of boots and shoes were manufactured there, valued at $14,000,000; in 1928 the footwear and allied products made in Lynn were worth more than $50,000,000. Lynn is now the second ranking boot and shoe city in the country, and leads all others in the production of women's shoes. In recent years the quality of the goods made here has been greatly improved, the highest grades of women's shoes being produced. Over one hundred concerns are engaged in this business in Lynn, of which the largest is the A. E. Little Company, which is capitalized at $2,275,000 and employs 1,200 operatives. The others all employ less than 500, the average being much lower than that.
The shoe industry in Haverhill, though rather smaller than that of Lynn, has progressed along somewhat similar lines, and Haverhill ranks third among the shoe manufacturing cities of the country. In 1875 the value of the boots and shoes made here amounted to $10,196,840, while in 1927 the boots, shoes, shoe cut stock and find-
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ings were worth $37,342,787. Like those of Lynn, the Haverhill concerns engaged in the manufacture of shoes are numerous, and small to medium in size. Haverhill is the country's largest producer of slippers.
The manufacture of boots and shoes in Essex County is by no means confined to Lynn and Haverhill. Salem, Newburyport, Marble- head, Beverly, Danvers, Amesbury, Methuen, Saugus, and several other communities pursue the shoe industry to a greater or less degree. The value of shoes, cut stock, and findings produced in Essex County outside of Lynn and Haverhill in 1927 was almost $16,000,- 000, or over fifteen per cent. of the total production. Since then even a greater proportion of shoes have been produced in the smaller centers because of the tendency in the last few years for manufac- turers to scatter in order to avoid domination by labor unions.
More boots and shoes are produced in Essex County than in any other similar political division in the country, although the South Shore, or Brockton district in Massachusetts, comprising parts of Plymouth, Norfolk, and Bristol counties, is the nation's ranking shoe center. The value of the boots and shoes produced in the South Shore district was $79,566,004 in 1927, while the figure for Essex County was $71,804,614. But when shoe cut stock and findings are reckoned in, Essex County led the Brockton district $100, 183,305 to $99.089,958 that same year. At that time there were 273 plants engaged in all types of boot and shoe manufacture in Essex County.
The leather industry, as an adjunct to the manufacture of boots and shoes, has long been important in the industrial scheme of the county. Lynn, Salem, and Haverhill, as ancient seats of shoe mak- ing, have had tanneries from very early times, and the preparation of leather has been carried on in many other Essex County communi- ties. But for many years the leather industry has concentrated in Peabody, formerly a part of Salem and later known as South Dan- vers. By 1855 there were twenty-seven tanneries, twenty-four curry- ing plants, and several other firms engaged in preparing morocco and lining skins. These concerns employed approximately five hundred men and annually produced leather valued at $1,490,000.
The manufacture of finished leather has steadily increased until now Peabody easily leads the other Essex County cities engaged in this industry, and ranks high among the leather producing centers of
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the country. In 1926 the value of the leather products made in Pea- body was $22,515,682, and 4,400 men were engaged in the tanning, currying, and finishing of leather. Among the numerous leather pro- ducers in the city is the A. C. Lawrence Leather Company, controlled in turn by the packing firm of Swift & Company. This concern employs upwards of 1,650 men in its Peabody factory, and is capi- talized at $4,500,000. The other leather companies, however, are considerably smaller, each normally employing less than five hundred men.
Peabody is not alone in this section in the production of leather, however, for Lynn, Salem, Beverly, Danvers, and Haverhill all sup- port thriving concerns. Essex County had, in 1927, eighty-one leather firms, doing a yearly business of $40,840,308, of which over $18,000,- 000 is attributed to plants outside of Peabody.
The manufacture of electrical appliances has in the last fifty years become a major industry of Essex County. The great General Elec- tric Company represents the consolidation of a Lynn concern with the Edison General Electric Company of Schenectady, New York, and Harrison, New Jersey. The Lynn plant of the General Electric Company now affords employment to more workmen than does any other concern operating in Massachusetts.
The electrical industry was brought to Lynn through the initia- tive and foresight of a small group of local manufacturers, who, in the early 'eighties, were looking for a suitable way to invest the profits derived from their shoe interests. Fortunately for the Essex County city, a pioneer electrical company was on the market, and the Lynn men took its purchase under consideration.
Charles A. Coffin, who later became president of the General Electric Company, was one of this original group. He was a well- to-do shoe manufacturer of Lynn, and became, almost from the first, the guiding genius of the electrical development. Mr. Coffin was first told of the opportunity to buy an electrical concern by his friend, Silas Barton, also in the shoe business in Lynn. The company that they considered buying was the American Electric Company of New Britain, Connecticut.
The syndicate, before taking steps to purchase the electrical com- pany, set out to investigate the possibility of electric illumination. At that time, early in 1882, the local Grand Army Post was just com-
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pleting a new building, and an attempt was made to persuade the veterans to install electric lights. Silas Barton and Henry A. Pevear undertook to arrange a demonstration. In Boston they found an electric lighting concern, known as the American Electric Illuminating Company, which was conducting a demonstration in a store window. Barton and Pevear, after inspecting the lights, stealthily gained access to the basement in an attempt to find out more about electric lighting. There they found a dynamo marked "Manufactured by the American Electric Company, New Britain, Connecticut," the very concern which the Lynn syndicate were considering purchasing. Encouraged by seeing products of this concern actually in use, Barton and Pevear went to New Britain and inspected the plant, being much impressed by the personnel and equipment. Without indicating their desire to purchase, they arranged for a demonstration of electric lighting at the Lynn Grand Army Building.
In April, 1882, the Lynn Electric Lighting Company was organ- ized by Barton, Pevear and others, for the distribution of electric power, and the demonstration and installation was successfully com- pleted by the New Britain concern. Soon after, the same group of men, with the addition of Charles A. Coffin and a few others, resolved to negotiate for the purchase of the American Electric Company. The cooperation of Professors Thomson and Houston, the leading patent holders of the New Britain company, was secured, and the controlling interest in the company was purchased from Mr. Stockly, the previous financial backer.
It was proposed to change the name of the concern to the Thom- son Electric Company, in honor of Professor Elihu Thomson, the leading scientific genius of the enterprise. Professor Thomson, how- ever, insisted that his old colleague and co-holder of several patents, Professor Houston, be included. Professor Houston at the time was inactive in the electrical business, being engaged in teaching school in Philadelphia. The upshot of the matter was that the name became the Thomson-Houston Electric Company.
Permission to change the name of the company, and to remove to Lynn, was obtained from the State of Connecticut. The company was organized early in 1883, with capital of $250,000, increased from $125,000, with Henry A. Pevear, president ; Charles A. Coffin, vice- president : Silas Barton, treasurer and general manager: J. J. Skin-
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ner, Secretary; Elihu Thomson, electrician; and E. W. Rice, Jr., assistant electrician. All were Lynn men but Professor Thomson and Mr. Rice, who came with the company from New Britain. The con- cern removed to Lynn late in 1885, where it occupied a new factory building constructed to receive it, on the corner of Western Avenue and Federal Street.
The rise of the Thomson-Houston Electric Company was rapid. From early 1884 until the formation of the General Electric Com- pany there was neither a dull period nor any uncertainty about the future of the concern. A sales office was opened at 131 Devonshire Street, Boston, and put in charge of William B. Hosmer, whose sales ability was an important factor in the success of the company. By 1887 the annual business amounted to $1,000,000, six hundred hands being employed, and the Thomson-Houston Electric Company had become a leader in its field.
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