USA > Maine > Kennebec County > Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine; 1625-1892 > Part 67
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CITY OF WATERVILLE.
furnishing the tangle-toe." About this time George went to school in the old brown school house on the common. Damon was the teacher, and at the same time George Dana Boardman taught in the new dis- trict-in Lemuel Dunbar's carpenter shop.
On the south side of Silver street, near what is now Kennebec street, in early times stood a building used for the manufacture of whiskey from potatoes, which were so plentiful they could be bought for ten to fifteen cents per bushel. This distillery was owned and run by Doctor Appleton, the business being considered as respectable as any other in those days. After this Nathaniel Gilman operated a similar distillery on Front street, just north of the Captain Smith house. Doctoring whiskey was practiced even in those times when the juice was so cheap. Juniper berries were used, of which it is said quantities were to be seen in the loft of Mr. Gilman's old store, corner of Main and Front street.
After whiskey was no longer made on Silver street, the old house was fitted up for the tanning business. Elder Jeremiah Powers, a Free Baptist preacher, lived in the upper part and tanned in the base- ment. He was very fond of fishing, and was also full of ignorant superstitious beliefs. One night he was out with Tom Leeman after salmon. Catching no fish, he laid their bad luck to Aunt Hannah Cool, saying if they had given her a fish before starting they would have been all right. Aunt Hannah lived in a low wood colored house that stood where Walter Getchell lives, on Silver street. Her garden was full of roots and herbs that she carefully gathered for medicines -free to all. She had a keen black eye whose glance seemed to pene- trate the present and the future, her gray locks were brushed back behind her ears and fastened in a knot, she had a weird and attenuated look, yet never a truer, more kindly heart beat than hers. She brought up a homeless orphan and was full of good deeds to the sick and the sad. And yet this woman was regarded by many as a veritable witch, in league with the Evil One, and Elder Power's faith was so compre- hensive that he too believed she could bewitch fish if she disliked the fisher.
The oldest streets in Waterville are Main, Silver, Front, Water and Temple. The bog at the corner of Elm and Mill streets was such a deep bed of mud, that a corduroy bridge had to be kept over it for years. A frame bridge, twenty feet high, across the Hayden brook fell some seventy years ago, while two men were crossing it. Both escaped injury.
Silver street received its name in this wise. Nathaniel Gilman and Simeon Mathews, who were accounted the wealthiest men in town, both lived on this street, also Isaac Stevens, a well-to-do, jovial carpen- ter. The latter named it Silver street, saying, facetiously, that Mr. Gilman, Mr. Mathews and himself controlled more wealth than any
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other three men in town. The first house on this street was built by Reuben Kidder, and stood where Clarkson's stable does. This house was afterward purchased by David McFarland and removed to a new street, on which he set out the beautiful row of elm trees, from which Elm street took its name. By this wise act he has passed into the perennial avenues of history. Green and fragrant be his memory!
Moses Dalton built on Water street one of the first frame houses in the village of Waterville, and the very first brick building. The latter stood where the Merchants' Bank stands-too soft ground at that time for a solid foundation. The structure, three stories high, proved too heavy for its footing, and settled so badly that the upper story had to be removed. Hezekiah Stratton and Shubael Marston traded in it.
Edward Estee, before 1820, built the next brick building, where the Peavy Block now is, and traded in a part of it. Some of the other early traders-none of whom were temperance men, for even the clergy had not then learned that rum drinking was wrong, and all traders sold it, were: James Stackpole, Asa Redington, Nathaniel Gil- man, Simeon Mathews, Jediah Morrill, James Hasty, Dr. Daniel Cook, William Richards, Elah Estee, Deacon George W. Osborne (the first temperance trader in town), William and Walter Getchell, who burned out in 1835 and rebuilt in 1837, and Winthrop Watson, a very early settler, whose store stood on top of the hill near the old ferry.
The records of old taverns are sparse and uncertain. Doctor Will- iams built the first two-story house on the west side of the river be- fore 1795, and it was kept as a tavern by Mr. Jackins, Daniel Fairfield, and later by Colonel Mathews. The tavern known as the Parker House after 1847, was built and occupied by Dr. Moses Appleton for his private dwelling. In 1822 it was opened as a tavern by a Mr. Rob- bins. Major Ebenezer Bolkcom was the next landlord, and after him Mr. Page, Ora Doolittle, Reuel Howard, William Dorr and Joseph Freeman.
Captain Coffin, Thomas Kimball, Levi Dow, Moses Whittaker, Elisha Howard and Cyrus Williams are the names of old landlords.
The Asa Faunce dwelling house, standing in what is now the Lockwood Park, and facing directly up Main street, was, sometime in the 'forties, converted by additions and a second story into a hotel, and was opened by Brackett & Robinson, as the Waterville House. Later it was kept by William Brown, who changed the name to The Continental. After him, Charles Smith & Sons and other landlords followed, till it degenerated into a tenement house. When the ground where it stood was being leveled, many human bones indicated the spot as an old Indian burying ground. Around one skeleton found in a sitting posture, Fred F. Graves found over 300 copper beads about
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CITY OF WATERVILLE.
the size of a straw, from two to three inches long, and punctured from end to end.
The first tavern where now stands the Elmwood, was a good-sized two-story farm house built by James L. Wood. About 1837 Dea. Abial P. Follensbee opened and kept a temperance hotel there for a year and a half, when he sold to Ivory Low, and removed to the brick house on Main street, where W. M. True now lives, and kept a tem- perance house there for two years. John L. Seavey in 1849 kept the Woods place, and named it the Elmwood. It was burned in 1864, was rebuilt in 1878, and kept by O. D. Seavey, then by Doctor Fitzgerald, James Osborne, Eben Murch, and since 1890 by Mr. Judkins.
To show what was once done in Waterville, a few facts concerning the Moor family are pertinent. Daniel Moor came here from New Hampshire in 1798. His sons, March, William and Daniel, began business in boating and lumbering-then built river steamers by the dozen. They sent five to California, sold two to Cornelius Vanderbilt, and one or more in Nova Scotia, besides several used nearer home. The number of steamers in use on the Kennebec was large. It was no unusual sight to see a half dozen lying at the wharf at one time, where the Lockwood mills now stand. In 1848 there were five steam- ers daily between Waterville and Augusta.
The following is a list of the persons who paid a tax in Waterville in 1809 greater than the poll tax, which was $1.58. This includes those who lived in what is now Oakland, and as there are some whose loca- tion then cannot now be fixed, the names are given in one list-being of general interest: Moses Appleton, $19.30; Ebenezer Bacon, $10.44; James Burgess, $10.13; Thomas Bates, $7.17; Joshua Bates, $2.52; Con- stant Bates, $2.25; Job Bates, $5.07; Timothy Boutelle, $8.98; Russell Blackwell, $3.43; James K. Blair, $2.67; Richard Clifford, $6.86; Jona- than Combs, $11.11; Thomas Cook, $11.50; Manoah Crowell, $7.39; James Crommett, $11.24; Hiram Crowell, $9.24; Seth Crowell, $5.42; Josiah Crowell, $4.83; Moody Crowell, $5.20; Baxter Crowell, $13.70; Isaac Corson, $21.28; John Cool, $11.03; Wilson Colcord, $7.43; Joseph Colcord, $4.26; John Crummett, $1.60; Timothy Clement, $1.85; George Clarke, $15.62; John Corson, $3.83; Jonathan Clarke, $2.73; Samuel Clarke, $2.00; Samuel Clarke, 2d, $3.00; Ansel Crowell, $7.56; Moses Dalton, $12.55; Richard M. Dorr, $4.00; Lemuel Dunbar, $4.40; Charles Dingley, $2.28; Daniel R. Emerson, $10.06; Micah Ellis, $7.93; Asa Faunce, $5.89; Jeremiah Fairfield, $16.65; Daniel Fairfield, $3.68; Fair- field & Getchell, $4.72; Elijah Gleason, $8.32; Reuben Gage, $4.23; Nehemiah Getchell, jun., $5.88; Reuben Gibbs, $6.52; Seth Getchell, $3.28; Heman Gibbs, $6.52; Nathaniel Gilman, $23.59; David Getchell, $4.51; Samuel Gilman, $4.31; James Gilbert, $2.96; Ephraim Getchell, $4.58; Abel Getchell, $2.76; Henry Gage, $2.19; Gilman & Watson, $9.46; Moses Healy, $4.45; Solomon Hallett, $9.41; Elisha Hallett, $9.91; Joseph H. Hallett, $2.63; Isaiah Hallett, $4.11; John Hume, jun., $1.74: Jonathan Heywood, $10.17; Reuben Hussey, $8.10; Samuel Holmes, $6.10; John Huzzy, $2.18; James Hasty, $10.69; David Huston, $3.14; John Hart, $4.12; Philip Hersom, $5.21; Heirs of David Hasty,
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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.
$4.48; Benjamin Hersom, $2.60; William Heywood, $2.00; Prince Henry, $6.44; Timothy B. Heywood, $2.00; Andrew Hersom, $1.92; Samuel & Joseph Hitchings, $2.10; Frederick Jackins, $7.94; Reuben Kidder, $19.31; Jeremiah Kidder, $7.93; Francis Kimball, $4.60; Perley Low, $4.42; Nathaniel Low, $3.10; Nathaniel Low, jun., $5.17; Amos Low, $3.29; Thomas Leeman, $4.48; William Lewis, $6.63; Asa Lewis, $2.67; Widow McFarlane, $3.36; Thomas McFarlane, $3.58; Daniel Moor, $4.02; Samuel Moor, $4.95; Ebenezer Moor, $3.83; Ebenezer Moor, jun., $9.93; Nathaniel Merrifield, $5.11; Simeon Mathews, $2.19; John Mathews, $8.37: Jediah Morrill, $8.16; Abraham Morrill, $3.61; Josiah Morrill, $2.31; Alexander McKechnie, $5.17; William McKech- nie, $4.11; John Magrath, $4.65; Isaiah Marston, $8.92; Kenelm Mars- ton, $4.93; William Marston, $4.22; William Miller, $2.61; Joseph Mitchell, $10.42; Joseph Marston, $2.63; David Nourse, $6.09; Benja- min Otis, $3.51; Lemuel Pullen, $2.72; David Pattee, $5.91; Salathiel Penney, $3.94; Thomas Parker, $8.74; Eleazer Parker, $4.45; Zaccheus Parker, $6.37; Edward Piper, $2.28; William Phillips, $3.39; Oliver Pullen, $5.24; William Pullen, $11.60; Jonathan Pullen, $3 15; William Pullen, 2d. $6.53; James Pullen, $13.97; Dexter Pullen, $3.35; David Priest, $2.51; Asa Redington, $25.93; Moses Ricker, $3.78; Thomas Redington, $4.73; Joseph Rine, $2.36; Benjamin Rine, $7.46; John Rose, $6.67; Benjamin Rose, $2.74; George Ricker, $4.37; Levi Ricker, $3.06; Joseph Ricker, $5.77; Eleazer W. Ripley, $6.83; Asa Soule, $10.60; Jonathan Soule, $6.92; Jehiel Soule, $1.67; Almond Soule, $2.80; Michael Soule, $3 69; Benjamin Soule, $1.76; James Stackpole, $23.98; Jotham Stackpole, $3.05; John Stackpole, $2.00; Isaac Stevens, $4.93; Samuel Shorey, $8.81; Abraham Smith, $2.63; Reuben Shorey, $4.33; Elnathan Sherwin, $5.15; Artemus Smith, $4.71; Abijah Smith, $7.39; Eliab Smith, jun., $2.29; Lot Sturtevant, $6.92; Ichabod Smith, $2.26; George Soule, $2.98; Philander Soule, $6.13; James Shorey, $5.50; Pele- tiah Soule, $4.49; Heirs of Peleg Tupper, $2.84; Lemuel Tupper, $5.65; Elias Tozer, $5.25; Simeon Tozer, $7.55; Jed. Thayer, $6.44; Elias Tozer, jun., $2 77; Lewis Tozer, $2.77; David Webb, jun., $6.54; Samuel Webb, $6.61; John Webb, $5.97: Bryant Williams, $7.64; Daniel Wells, $5.46; William Wyman, $6.61; Joseph Warren, $2.22; James L. Wood, $31.53; David Wheeler, $3.98; Abisha Wing, $3.43: Ebenezer Watson, $5.12; William Watson, $2.66; George Young, $5.85; David Webb, $5.97; John Watson, $2.36; and John Wright, $6.16. The whole num- ber of taxpayers on the list in 1809 was 276. Lawyers and physicians paid an income tax.
The form of license granted in 1823 was this: "Be it known that Nathaniel Gilman, Esq., is hereby licensed to sell wine, beer, ale, cider, brandy, rum and other strong liquors by retail at his store in the town of Waterville for one year from date. Waterville, Sept. 9, 1823." This was signed by the three selectmen and the treasurer. Similar licenses were issued the same year to: John B. Walker & Co., Smith, Ingraham & Co., Burleigh & Partridge, George W. Osborne, Edmund C. An- drews, Simeon Mathews, Blackwell & Loring, James Hasty, William Richards, Daniel Hume, Alden & Allen, Levi Rogers, Jediah Morrill, Daniel Cook, Johnson, Williams & Co., Shubael Marston, Edward Esty, jun., John Burleigh, William Phillips, William F. Bachelder,
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CITY OF WATERVILLE.
Levi Dow, David Page, Samuel Kimball, Hallet & Cornforth, Thomas B. Dickman, Elisha Hallet, John Partridge and Elah Esty. Lucius Allen was licensed to sell liquors at his dwelling house, and John Combs and Luther Ingraham were licensed as " Inholders "-nothing said about selling liquors. The fee paid in most of the cases was $6.
In 1834 the town first instructed the selectmen not to grant any licenses and to prosecute all violations of license laws. On the ques- tion of license they steadily voted no from year to year. At a meeting of the board in 1841-" Resolved that Cyrus Williams having applied for license, this board will grant a license to said Williams to be an Innholder in said town during the coming year, without the right to retail wine, brandy, rum, or any other spirituous, vinous or fermented intoxicating liquors." 1844-" Voted that the licensing board be in- structed to grant a license to one person to sell spirituous liquors for medical and mechanical purposes, and that the liquors be furnished by the town; that a record be kept of the quantity sold and to whom, and no credit be given for any liquor sold." The board were in- structed to license no one else and to prosecute all who violated the license laws. William Dyer was duly licensed October 26, 1846, the first town agent according to the state law in Waterville. Mr. Dyer declined and Ira H. Low was appointed to fill the vacancy. 1848- " Voted to license two persons in the East village and one in the West village in said town to retail spirituous liquors for medicinal and me- chanical purposes only." Ira H. Low and William Dyer were licensed in the former and Samuel Kimball in the latter. 1849-" Voted to raise the sum of $300, to defray the expenses of the town for the sup- pression of the sale of spirituous liquors."
It is a curious reflection that the citizens of Waterville and Wins- low got along without a bridge over the Kennebec till 1824. During that year a covered toll bridge was built by a stock company that did good service till the flood of 1832 washed it away. Another covered toll bridge was built by private parties, among whom were Jediah Morrill, Timothy Boutelle, the Redingtons and James Stackpole. This bridge served the public till, in its turn, a freshet swept it away in 1869. The county commissioners immediately ordered a new bridge built by Waterville and Winslow, and appointed G. A. Phillips, agent of the town of Waterville, to superintend its construction. The work was pushed so vigorously that a covered structure costing $32,000, and free to all, was ready for use in less than a year from the loss of the old one. Mistakes in the construction of this bridge caused its partial failure in a few years. Its piers were excellent, however, and now sustain the present iron bridge built by the two towns in 1884, and costing $40,000.
At the town meeting of March 3, 1823, Johnson Williams, Jediah
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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.
Morrill, Nehemiah Getchell, William Pearson, Hall Chase and Asa Redington, jun., were selected fire wardens, and Asa Redington, jun., Nathaniel Gilman and Abigail Smith, police officers. Daniel Fairfield and Joseph Warren were elected meeting house keepers. 1847 " Voted that a night watch shall be established within the East Village till the next annual meeting. This watch shall consist of fourteen sober, tem- perate, and moral men. Two out of the fourteen shall, in rotation, serve each night." 1846. " Voted that the sum not exceeding $100 be paid out of the treasury of the town to defray the expense of vaxinat- ing said inhabitants."
At a town meeting held Monday, September 13, 1830, the following was enacted: " Be it ordered by the town-That all that part of the town included within and bounded by the following limits, viz .: On the east by Kennebec river, on the north by the north line of river lot numbered 106-on the west by the mile and half stream so called, and on the south by the south line of river lot numbered 102, shall hereafter be called and known in the by-laws and other records and proceedings of the town by the name of the Village of Waterville."
The police, sanitary and street regulations of the village were stringent, and sensible rules were made concerning the management of fires and stoves in private buildings. Some of the restrictions were curious, and some were impracticable. A fine of one dollar was im- posed on the owner of any chimney, flue or stove pipe that should burn out in such a manner that the flames were visible at the upper end thereof, or that should throw out burning cinders, except where the roofs of buildings were wet, or covered with snow, and between the hours of sunrise and noon. No light should be carried into a hay loft, or other place filled with highly combustible materials, except in a lantern, and a fine of fifty cents was imposed for smoking a pipe or cigar on any street or sidewalk, or in stable yard or outhouse-with a provision that a person might smoke in his own workshop.
The oldest fire company in Waterville was formed about 1810 by Captain Abijah Smith, Nehemiah Getchell, James Stackpole, Timothy Boutelle, Russell Blackwell, and others. A hand engine, made by Stephen Thayer, of Boston, was bought. This was of the most primi- tive construction. Water had to be brought in pails, and turned into a tub, from which it was forced by a couple of ordinary pumps through a leaky hose. One day some one wrote the word " Bloomer" on the machine at the time bloomer dresses were being worn by a few dar- ing women. The joke took the fancy of the boys, and by that name it was run, retired, and is now remembered. This company and this engine were all the protection Waterville had for years against fires. It was supported by voluntary aid, which in the nature of things, was in the course of time changed to a general tax. After the usual oppo- sition, the following legislation was procured:
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CITY OF WATERVILLE.
" An act to establish the Ticonic Village corporation. Approved March 24, 1836.
" Beginning south line lot No. 100, on Dr. McKechnie's plan, west one mile-thence north to south line of lot No. 107-thence east on south line of said lot to river-thence south by river to place of be- ginning-which together with the inhabitants thereon be and the same is hereby created a body politic and corporate by the name of The Ticonic Village Corporation.
" Said corporation is hereby invested with the power at any legal meeting to raise money for the purchase, repair and preservation of one or more fire engines, hose and other apparatus, and for erecting and repairing of engine houses, and water cisterns, and organizing and maintaining an efficient fire department, and also a further sum not exceeding $50 annually to pay the expenses of ringing one of the bells of said village. The officers of said corporation shall be a super- visor, and a clerk and treasurer."
It is apparent that this was not a village corporation for any pur- pose except to compel all property holders to support a fire depart- ment. The town at its annual meeting in 1835 had voted the sum of $225 for the purchase of a fire engine. This, with the incorporation of Ticonic village, caused a general movement for adequate protection against fires.
Engine Company No. 1, for Ticonic village corporation, was orga- nized in 1836. The members in 1839 were among the first citizens of the village: Samuel Appleton, Joseph Hasty, Joseph O. Pearson, Will- iam Getchell, jun., James Pearson, George Wentworth, John A. Rhodes, Isaac W. Wheeler, Jonathan Stanley, Llewellyn E. Crommett, David Shorey, Joseph Percival, Reuel Howard, jun., Arthur Blish, James Hasty, jun., Walter Getchell, B. K. Scribner, Eben Freeman, William G. Penny, Eliphalet Gilman, Elisha Howard, Sumner Percival, William Golder, Otis Getchell, William H. Pearson, Silas Getchell, Charles H. Thayer, Philander Soule, Estes W. French, Jarvis Barney, Moses Get- chell, Dr. Nathaniel R. Boutelle, James S. Read, Wadsworth Chipman, Lewis Purrington, Edward H. Piper, Hiram P. Cousins, Orea Doolittle, David Golder, Charles K. White, George H. Esty, Joseph Nudd, Sam- uel S. Parker, Henry H. Eames, Joseph C. Whitman, Eldridge Get- chell, S. T. Williams, Aaron Healey, William H. Blair, Oliver Paine, Nathaniel Gilman, jun., Albert Bolkcom and Charles F. Gilman.
This company, with the first Ticonic engine, did admirable work for nearly twenty years, when a new generation, in 1854, organized the famous Waterville No. 3, and bought, an engine with which they won memorable victories over the best fire organizations in central Maine. They were never defeated in a public contest. The fourth engine was brought from Pittsfield, Mass., about 1860, where it had been used a short time, and was known here as Ticonic No. 1.
Chief engineers of the fire department have been: Samuel Reding- ton, Samuel Appleton, E. L. Getchell, W. A. Caffrey, W. B. Arnold,
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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.
Dr. F. C. Thayer, H. G. Tozer, C. R. Shorey, J. D. Hayden, A. H. Plais- ted and'W. F. Brown. Simeon Keith was a member of the department from 1837 to 1887. Hand engines were succeeded by the present steamer in 1886 and the fire alarm was adopted in 1892.
MILLS AND MANUFACTORIES .- We propose to describe the various mills and manufactories on the Emerson or Messalonskee stream in its course through Waterville, beginning with the lower or last privi- lege before it enters the river. This was probably first utilized by Silas and Abijah Wing, who constructed a dam, a saw mill and a grist mill. Samuel and Joseph Hitchings came in 1809, from Boston, and bought the property of them. Samuel put up another building where he made wool carding machines and turned bedstead posts.
Deacon Daniel Wells built a carding and clothing mill on the same dam, supplied with machinery made by Samuel Hitchings, and ran it till about 1832, when he changed it to a shingle mill. About 1820 the old saw mill was rebuilt by Joseph Hitchings, and about 1830 the grinding and bolting machinery were taken from the grist mill to the Crommett grist mill on the upper dam. The great freshet of 1832, the only one ever known to do any damage on this stream, carried all the buildings on the Hitchings dam away except Deacon Wells' card- ing mill, which was burned two years later.
The saw mill, which was carried but a little ways by the flood, was brought back and put in operation, soon after which the Hitchings brothers sold the dam property to Francis Batchelder, of Boston, who built another saw mill on the other side of the stream and did for a few years a large but unprofitable lumber business. The property was abandoned and the mills rotted down. The site is now owned by Samuel Hitchings, son of Joseph.
The next privilege above, now owned by Webber & Philbrick, was the site of one of the earliest saw mills in Waterville, built and owned by Asa Emerson, from whom the stream took its name. One of the election notices in 1790 was posted by vote of the town on Emerson's mill. The old buildings and dam wasted away and the power had been idle for years till, in 1833, Joseph P. Fairbanks, one of the three famous scale builders of St. Johnsbury, Vt., and Arba Nelson built the present dam and began making cast iron plows in December of that year, under the firm name of Fairbanks, Nelson & Co. The "Co." comprised Erastus and Nelson Fairbanks, of St. Johnsbury.
After a few years the Waterville Iron Manufacturing Company was formed, John Webber and Fred P. Haviland becoming stockhold- ers and directors. In 1843 these two men bought the entire property and added stove making. Webber & Haviland continued the business for the next twenty-eight years. In 1871 a half interest was sold to Frank B. Webber and C. T. Haviland, sons of the senior partners, and Webber, Haviland & Co. in turn changed, in 1873, to Webber, Havi-
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CITY OF WATERVILLE.
land & Philbrick, at which time F. B. Philbrick bought an equal part- nership with F. B. Webber and C. T. Haviland. The present firm of Webber & Philbrick was formed in 1882, when C. T. Haviland dis- posed of his interests to his partners, who have given steady work for the past ten years to twenty-five men, and are the only concern in the foundry and general machinery business in Waterville.
The next dam above was built soon after 1850, by Erastus O. Wheeler. Samuel Appleton, Zebulon Sanger and John Ransted built a paper mill and made newspaper stock. The Warrens and Monroes, of Boston, the next owners, made cedar bark paper till they were burned out. In 1873 Winslow Roberts and A. P. Marston bought the site and built a large factory, in which they made wooden shanks, used in the manufacture of boots and shoes, for several years, employing fifty people. Their works were burned in 1878, rebuilt, and again destroyed by fire the next year, since which no business has been done on this dam.
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