USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester county; a narrative history, Volume II > Part 22
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In 1911 the deposits of the Wachusett National Bank were taken over by the Safety Fund National Bank.
Herewith we give a list of the banks of Worcester County commercial banks as they exist today, each with the year in which it commenced business :
ATHOL- Athol National Bank, 1874. Millers River National Bank, 1865.
BARRE- Second National Bank, 1912.
CLINTON-
Clinton Trust Company, 1920.
FITCHBURG- Safety Fund National Bank, 1874. Worcester County National Bank, Fitchburg Branch.
GARDNER-
First National Bank, 1865.
Gardner Trust Company, 1916.
LEOMINSTER-
Merchants National Bank, 191I. MILFORD -- Milford National Bank, 1865. Home National Bank, 1875.
NORTHBORO- Northboro National Bank, 1865.
NORTHBRIDGE- Northbridge National Bank, 1825.
NORTH BROOKFIELD- North Brookfield National Bank, 1917.
SOUTHBRIDGE- Peoples National Bank, 1819. Southbridge National Bank, 1836.
SPENCER- Spencer National Bank, 1875.
UXBRIDGE- Blackstone National Bank, 1825.
WEBSTER- First National Bank, 1875. Webster National Bank, 1918.
WESTBORO-
First National Bank, 1864.
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WHITINSVILLE- Whitinsville National Bank, I866.
WINCHENDON- Winchendon National Bank, 1864.
WORCESTER- Mechanics National Bank, 1865. Skandia Trust Company, 1930. Worcester Bank and Trust Com- pany, 1804. Worcester County National Bank, 1905.
Temperance Movement Begets County's First Savings Bank-The mutual savings banks of Worcester County were born in the temperance movement of the 1820's. At a meeting of the Worcester Association, a county organization, in the old village church at Northborough, October 18, 1826, a committee consisting of Rev. Joseph Allen of Northboro and Rev. Nathaniel Thayer of Lancaster "was appointed to consider and report what measures the members of the association should individually adopt for the prevention and suppression of intemperance." At a meeting April 18, 1827, the committee made a report recommending certain "individual action," and a larger committee was appointed to consider the whole subject. That com- mittee reported at a following meeting held in the church at Princeton, June 20 of that year, and there was interesting discussion but no definite official action.
But "among the measures recommended was the instituting of a county savings bank, as an encouragement to young men and others to lay up a por- tion of their wages instead of wasting them, as was too commonly the case in taverns and tippling houses." The proposal met with favor, and the moderator, Rev. Dr. Aaron Bancroft of Worcester, promised to talk over the matter with leading men of his town. The result was the formation of the Worcester County Institution for Savings, the first in the county, and the first in Massachusetts outside of Boston.
In the Massachusetts Spy of November 21, 1827, appeared this advertise- ment : "NOTICE. Those persons favorably disposed to the plan of a SAV- INGS BANK for the County of Worcester, are requested to meet at Capt. Thomas's Coffee House, in Worcester, on MONDAY EVENING NEXT, at 6 o'clock, to consult on measures necessary for carrying the plan into Execution. Nov. 21."
Of a subsequent meeting, the Spy of December 12 reported: "An adjourned meeting was held at Capt. Thomas's Coffee House in this town, on the evening of the 6th inst. to take measures for establishing an institution for Savings for the County of Worcester. The committee appointed at the former meeting, reported a petition for an act of incorporation, which was signed, and a Committee appointed to present the same to the Legislature.
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THE BANKS OF WORCESTER COUNTY
"The design of this institution," said the Spy, "is to afford to those, who are desirous of saving their money, but who have not acquired sufficient to purchase a share in the banks, or a sum in public stocks, the means of employ- ing their money to advantage, without running the risk of losing it, as they are too frequently exposed to do by lending it to individuals, who either fail or defraud them. It is intended to encourage the industrious and prudent, and to induce those who have not hitherto been such, to lessen their unneces- sary expenses, and to save and lay by something for a period of life, when they will be less able to earn a support.
"When the great safety of such an institution is considered, no other mode of investment offers so many advantages to those who have a small income which they wish to secure for future use. Any sum not less than a dollar is received in deposit, and when it amounts to five dollars, it is put on interest.
"Institutions of this kind have been established very generally in all the principal towns of England, and in many places in our own country, and have always been attended with the most salutary effects. Similar consequences may reasonably be looked for in this country, where the number, who would wish to avail themselves of such an institution, is large and annually increas- ing. It is, therefore, with satisfaction that we have noticed the incipient measures in relation to this subject, and hope it will be pursued till carried into effect."
The act of incorporation was made effective on February 8, 1828. The corporators named in the charter show that the whole county was interested. They were Daniel Waldo, Frederick W. Paine, Samuel B. Thomas, Pliny Merrick, Benjamin Butman, Stephen Salisbury, Jr., Samuel Jennison, Silas Brooks, David Brigham, Calvin Willard, Oliver Fiske, Charles Allen, George Wall, John W. Lincoln, Isaac Goodwin, John M. Earle and Emory Wash- burn, all of Worcester; Solomon Strong, Leominster; Andrew H. Ward, Shrewsbury ; Seth Hastings, Mendon ; William Stedman, Lancaster ; Stephen Goddard, Leicester ; Simeon Sanderson, Westminster ; Jesse Bliss, Brookfield ; Benjamin Adams, Uxbridge; William S. Hastings, Mendon; and James Draper, Spencer.
At the first meeting of the corporators in April it was announced that every town in the county was then represented on the board by one or more members.
The bank opened for business, June 4, 1828, in the quarters of the Worcester Bank, which offered them free of rent. At first the office hours were from two to five o'clock on Wednesday afternoon only. Not for some years was the bank open on every business day.
After seven months of business the treasurer reported there had been received from eighty-one depositors $5,250, of which had been withdrawn
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WORCESTER COUNTY
$223, leaving on hand $5,027. The profits for the period were $37,82 and expenses $11.38, leaving a net profit of $26.44. At the close of the second year deposits totalled $13,564. In 1834 they were $158,672.
The Fitchburg Savings Bank was next to be chartered, in 1846, and fol- lowing were the Southbridge Savings Bank in 1848, the Clinton Savings Bank and the Worcester Mechanics Savings Bank in 1851, and the North Brookfield Savings Bank, the Winchendon Savings Bank and the Worcester Five Cents Savings Bank in 1854. Not one of all the county savings banks is an infant. The youngest, the Bay State Savings Bank of Worcester, started business in 1895 and the next youngest the Warren Savings Bank was incor- porated in 1882, more than half a century ago.
The mutual savings banks now doing business in Worcester County, together with the year in which they were organized, follow :
Baldwinsville-Templeton Savings Bank, 1871.
Barre Savings Bank, 1869.
Clinton Savings Bank, 1851.
Fitchburg-Fitchburg Savings Bank, 1846; Worcester North Savings Institution, 1868.
Gardner Savings Bank, 1868.
Leicester Savings Bank, 1869.
Leominster Savings Bank, 1865.
Milford Savings Bank, 1851.
North Brookfield Savings Bank, 1854.
Southbridge Savings Bank, 1848.
Spencer Savings Bank, 1871.
Uxbridge Savings Bank, 1870.
Warren Savings Bank, 1882.
Webster Five Cents Savings Bank, 1868.
Westborough Savings Bank, 1869.
Whitinsville Savings Bank, 1872.
Winchendon Savings Bank, 1854.
Worcester-Bay State Savings Bank, 1895; Peoples Savings Bank, 1864; Worcester County Institution for Savings, 1828; Worcester Five Cents Sav- ings Bank, 1854; Worcester Mechanics Savings Bank, 1851.
The assets of these savings banks total more than $300,000,000 and their deposits more than $275,000,000.
The Cooperative Banks of the Shire-Cooperative banks were first established in America a little more than a century ago, under the name of savings and loan associations, the system having come over from Great
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THE BANKS OF WORCESTER COUNTY
Britain where even then it was a well-founded institution. Their appeal is to the small home builder, and it is for this class of thrifty people that they are conducted. Our county has thousands of homes which were built with money saved through these banking institutions.
Some small effort had been made to establish banks of that character, but with small success. It was not until the middle 1870's that they secured a substantial foothold in Massachusetts. In about 1875, a group of influential citizens interested themselves in the cause, convinced that banks conducted on that system would supplement the usefulness of the mutual savings bank in an important and highly beneficial manner. The influence of these advo- cates prevailed, and from that time on they were established in rapid succes- sion. The Worcester County cities and towns were quick to see the oppor- tunity afforded the family of small means to secure a home of its own. Then, too, the purely democratic nature of selection of officers was appealing to the average Yankee, as savoring closely of the town meeting.
The first two to start business were the Fitchburg Cooperative Bank and the Worcester Cooperative Bank, both of which date from 1877. There followed next the Home Cooperative Bank of Worcester, incorporated in 1882, and the Clinton Cooperative Bank, the Milford Cooperative Bank and the Equity Cooperative Bank of Worcester, incorporated in 1887. Today, twenty-one of these institutions are doing business in the shire, with assets of many millions of dollars. The list of cooperative banks follows :
Athol Cooperative Bank, 1889.
Clinton-Clinton Cooperative Bank, 1887; Wachusetts Cooperative Bank, 1913.
Fitchburg-Fidelity Cooperative Bank, 1888; Fitchburg Cooperative Bank, 1877.
Gardner-Chair-town Cooperative Bank, 1915; Gardner Cooperative Bank, 1889.
Grafton Cooperative Bank, 1887.
Leominster-Leominster Cooperative Bank, 1888; Mutual Cooperative Bank, 1931.
CHAPTER XLV.
Industries
The historian who attempts to explain the rise of any region as an indus- trial center as the inevitable result of great natural advantages will meet with difficulties in accounting for Worcester County's high place in the realm of manufacturing. The usual formula is to state that the quantities and vari- eties of raw materials derived from forests, minerals, farms-"natural resources"-are the bases of diversified manufactures. An abundance of either "white" or black coals providing inexpensive power, numerous and highly improved transportation systems, strong financial institutions and the creation of an ingenious artisan type of worker, are among other so-called prerequisites of industrial growth and leadership. Orra L. Stone, in an article written in 1928, on the "Industries of Metropolitan Boston," said that : "The environment and economic demand conspired to establish industries in Boston, on the Atlantic seaboard, in the early days of New England. The five primary factors attending the early development of Boston's industrial life were :
"I. Available water power that met the requirements of the period.
"2. Inventive genius and the skill of its mechanics.
"3. The commercial resourcefulness of its population.
"4. The development of shipping due to the fact that in the earlier years of the settlement of the Atlantic seaboard, the population was almost exclu- sively dependent upon fisheries and overseas trade, with the exception of agricultural pursuits.
"5. The accumulation of capital by naturally thrifty people, who were forced to economize in order to live."
Whether one accepts the ordinary historical formula or the more applica- ble one of Mr. Stone, if applied to the industrial birth and growth of the Worcester section, one arrives at the conclusion that the "Heart of the Com- monwealth" became so despite the lack of, rather than because of, unusual
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resources of nature, labor and wealth. It never was blessed with the chief early advantages of Boston-location upon the seaboard. In truth Worcester started the race heavily handicapped. When first settled and for many years thereafter, it did have valuable forests, but they were rapidly depleted because there was no other fuel available. Its water powers possibly were equal to the age in which they were utilized on very small scales, but when industries grew larger the most of its hydro-power had to be brought in from more favorably situated sections. The competition of its elder brother Boston was overwhelming from the beginning, and this refers not only to the making and distribution of articles of commerce, but also for the finest of its artisans, mechanics, laborers and inventive geniuses. The flow was always in the direction of the coast from which the Worcester region was practically sepa- rated until the Blackstone Canal to Providence, Rhode Island, of 1828 seemed to have provided an outlet to the seven seas, but which actually proved more or less worthless. The canal was rendered completely useless when a few years later the era of railroad building, or speculation, provided a better means of getting things to market. Even then the coastal cities held most of the advantage and were the magnets which drew the skilled workman from the territories lying immediately back of them geographically.
Before Worcester had become firmly established in industrial affairs, the regions along the Connecticut River, and to the farther West had become capable competitors with marked natural advantages and fewer commercial and transportational difficulties. It need hardly be pointed out that it was but little more than six decades ago that the accumulated wealth of Worcester financiers was sufficient to contribute importantly to the development of its own enterprises, and not for a much longer period have its productions forced their way into coastal and overseas markets. All of which facts and condi- tions are given space here, not as an apologia of Worcester County, or in dis- paragement of its numerous advantages and fine qualities. On the contrary they are brought out because they tend to show in sharp contrast the remark- able achievements of the region industrially against a background which had few outstanding features. They indicate that the laurels fit exceedingly well upon achievements made under great difficulties and in the face of many dis- couragements. Few greater compliments can be paid industrial Worcester than to remark that it did, and does, things so well that it has made it eco- nomically profitable for raw materials to be brought from distant places to Worcester and its fellow-manufacturing cities and towns, these to be made into finished products which must again be sent to the four quarters of the globe.
Historically, manufacturing is coeval with the settlement and growth of Worcester County, and the industrial changes coincident with, and the cause
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of, its broad development. The first hundred years, however, were charac- terized by simple household and neighboring industries, the handmaids of agriculture, as contrasted with the modern factory system. Our Puritan forefathers were not poor, as a whole, nor lacking in business acumen and ambitious enterprise. Many were the progressive of their day in both old and new Englands, and wealthy with the means and skill to secure the neces- sities of life, and not a few of its luxuries. A large percentage were of the merchant class and some, upon finding little outlet for trading, turned to agriculture as a means of producing not only food and raiment, but wealth. All were land-hungry. Indian wars ruined the settlements made prior to 1702 in the Worcester region, but slowly thereafter the colonizing of the area pro- ceeded. It is worth remembering as bearing upon the kinds of manufac- tures and of artisans, known as "Yankee," which later became and remained outstanding in the development of manufacturing in the United States, that during the first century of Puritan colonizing the migrants to eastern Massa- chusetts were ninety-nine per cent. English, all of which made for a solidarity characteristic of no other part of our country. The eminent historian, John Fiske, stated that up to the Revolution no county in England was more thor- oughly English than the New England Colonies.
The foregoing observations have bearing in this chapter only because they hint from what kind of folk the industrial leadership in later generations came and suggest one of the reasons why a great reservoir of skilled workmen was established in the eastern Massachusetts territory, which not only estab- lished it in the forefront of industrialism, but has been drawn upon by all the states of the Union. It was inevitable that the New Englanders should turn to manufacturing so soon as the farming, to which they had been forced by circumstances, was producing surplus materials. It was inevitable, also, that when manufacturing grew to an extent that it reduced the market for goods from the mother country, it should come in conflict with the ancient "mercan- tile system" of England. This shrewdly worked out system, or policy, exploited New England as a source of raw materials and farm products for the fostering country. All attempts at the production of manufactured articles in the Colonies were restrained, in order that these must be purchased from abroad, and thus build up the wealth and power of the mother nation. It was this system which for more than a century and a half held in check the indus- trial development of the American Colonies, and which eventually came to be one of the causes of the Revolution. Interestingly enough, this British restraint upon the manufacturing ambitions of our forefathers, helped to engender much of the ingenuity and inventive genius of New Englanders. The disadvantage of being unable to obtain tools, machinery and industrial secrets from overseas, inspired the Colonists to work out ways and means of
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doing things and of making their own tools and devices. Not until after the Revolution, or perhaps one should write, until after the War of 1812 that resulted chiefly from Great Britain's attempt to suppress our commerce in manufactured products, and which was followed by the wholesale "dumping" of her goods in this country with the intent to discouraging the growth of our industries, not until then did manufacturing take on the aspects of a major affair, and the advantages reaped from the ingenuity and persistence developed by the repression of the English "mercantile system."
One may pass over the industrial history of Worcester County prior to about the 1820's with the statement that it was simply a part of the whole, and not particularly different from any other section of interior Massachu- setts. The progress of these years was mostly along agricultural lines and in such industries as catered to the needs of the farmer. A pioneer on the land utilized his axe, hoe, drawing knife, and other simple tools to take care of his moderate necessities. At first he beat out his grain for meal by hand, but many of the charters of the "plantations" required the building of a gristmill as soon as there were enough settlers. The number of "Mill" brooks and creeks in Worcester County and New England indicates where the first power came from, although the windmill was tried before it was proven unsuitable to local conditions. The man on the farm had to be a jack of all trades mak- ing his own gear; the uncanny abilities of the Yankee at whittling are pro- verbial. Most of the first non-agricultural activities had to do with the use of woods, the making of buildings, furniture, receptacles, implements, vehi- cles, and the pioneers of the Worcester section were not only fortunate in the variety and quantities of its woods, but in the demand for wooden articles by the coastal towns. Several Worcester towns early won fame for their wood- workers. Tanning was one of the first industries and with it the making of footgear, and other leather products. Wool was the most used material for clothing and household purposes.
The city of Worcester, now far in the lead as the manufacturing center of the county, and of the Commonwealth, outside the Boston Metropolitan area, was relatively slow in getting started. Here industries, in 1827, consisted of "the large paper mills belonging to Elijah Burbank, five modern machine shops, at which great quantities of machinery of various kinds were made, one small cotton factory, a lead aqueduct factory, and other works of minor note." This is a strange group for a village of that early date, where practically none of the raw materials used, save wood, were to be found in the neighborhood. Less than a hundred years ago, 1837, Worcester was annually turning out manufactured articles to the amount of nearly a million dollars (969,569). It was, however, slightly dependent upon local, or regional supplies, for its
Wor .- 39
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principal raw materials. The value of woolen goods woven in eight mills totaled $360,352. Next in order were nine manufactories of woolen machinery, whose productions were valued at $240,000. Cotton goods, coaches and chaises, boots and shoes, and the paper from two mills were next in order, their values being $62,182, $60,000, $59,000, and $54,815, respec- tively. Of successively diminishing values were the wire, hat, iron casting and straw bonnet industries.
The making of woolen goods was carried on in a number of places at this time, for sheep were numerous all over New England, although the finer wools came from the Berkshires and Vermont. The invention and improve- ment of woolen-making machinery were progressing rapidly, and Worcester evidently had the enterprise and the skilled men to construct the still simple machines. Samuel Lawrence says that "not a yard of fancy wool fabric had ever been woven by any power loom in any country, till done by William Crompton in 1840." Cole describes a typical woolen mill as "Housed in a wooden structure 26 feet by 50 and two stories high, were four sets of cards, 155 spindles, and 4 looms ; while the labor force of the 'factory' consisted of only 9 persons." Worcester's eight woolen mills, in 1837, had sixteen sets of machinery, and employed altogether, one hundred and twelve males and one hundred and thirteen females. Nor must one think that anything approach- ing the factory system of employment and the consolidation of industries had as yet begun. Even in the boot and shoe-making business it was not until the middle of the last century that the trade turned away from the small shop usually located in a home where three or four persons did most of the work by hand. Even after the Civil War, many of the so-called factories "put out" much of the work done, although these were the pioneer days of the large plant and elaborate machinery. Today there is scarcely a process that has not yielded to machinery. After all, the literal meaning of the word manu- facture is "to make by hand."
The Worcester wire mill that was doing a business in 1836, of $45,000, probably had its inception in Spencer, as early as 1812, when wire was drawn by hand. In 1831 Ichabod Washburn and Benjamin Goddard began to make iron card wire and wire for wood screws in Northville, near Worcester. Washburn, in 1834, moved to the outskirts of the larger town and con- tinued his operations, and made wire "equally as good as the English." Prac- tically none of the iron used came from Massachusetts, and some of it was imported. Henry S. Washburn became a partner, in 1845, an act which gave new impetus to the business. He was the head of the Quinsigamond Iron and Wire Works established in 1846, in which was mounted the first rolling mill. Two years later, Philip S. Moen, a son-in-law of Ichabod Washburn, also became a partner in the works and the firm prospered greatly. Ichabod
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Washburn had in the meanwhile (1840), acquired water rights in South Worcester and erected a wire mill. Benjamin Goddard was made the man- ager and so continued for the following twenty-seven years. His sons con- tinued its direction, and the name is among those of the heads of the succeed- ing corporations, the Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company, the American Steel and Wire Company, the Wickwire Spencer Steel Corpora- tion, and subsidiaries. Prominent in the merged companies of the last-named corporation were Erastus B. Bigelow, George F. Wright, Charles H. Morgan', Jabez Bigelow, Harry W. Goddard, and Theodore H. Wickwire.
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