USA > New Hampshire > Strafford County > Dover > Dover, N.H., its history and industries issued as an illustrated souvenir of...twenty-fifth anniversary of Foster's Daily Democrat, descriptive of the city and its manufacturing and business interests > Part 4
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The experience of the paper the edi- tor gives as follows : - " Flattering pros- pects " indeed ! Everybody laughed and hooted at the idea, while pretty nearly
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A CORNER IN THE EDITORIAL ROOM
A SECTION OF THE BUSINESS OFFICE.
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everybody hoped for the success of the venture, although they didn't believe it would live over three months. The exper- iment had been tried two or three times before and failed. We said it was because the experimenters didn't know their bus- iness. Our faith was a good deal like the grain of mustard seed we had read about, although rather faint at times. Flattering prospects ! O yes, very flattering-140 subscribers, half of whom had not paid a cent, and 150 more sold for which we got a cent and a half a piece - $2.25 ready cash from those sales. It was a big thing, a very big thing, with wonder- fully " flatter- ing pros- pects" ahead. We had a little advertis- ing at prices so small as to be hardly seen with the naked eye. The editor was alone in his calcula- tions and management . He had no financial re- sources, hav- ing lost all in a previous venture. He had friends, some of whom helped a little and others not a cent. He had two sons, George J. and Charles G., neither of them old enough to do the business, but both had learned to set up type and were very effective help in that way. Notwithstanding the alleged " flat- tering prospects " it was up hill work. We had to hire help, buy paper, pay rents, support a family and all that.
The weekly paper started a year and a half before was doing tolerably well, al- though we had to trust nearly everybody, get the pay when we could, and lots of it we never got at all. Things went on how- ever, gaining gradually on the whole, barely perceptible, but still slightly mov- ing ahead, hardly keeping square, but doing the best we could. The circulation improved slowly, kept on growing a little larger, and we kept on pegging away. We sent out can- vassers and they brought in a few ducats, but we had awful hard work for many years ; some- times ex- tremely blue, because the help must be paid, the paper bills must be met, and we didn't know how, nor where to get the money. Although a
GEO. J. FOSTER, BUSINESS MANAGER.
democrat in those days, we had a con- science and were disposed to show it some respect. Of course this being the case, we disagreed with the party leaders in some things
and there was a rupture which at the time boded no good to us. Still we spoke our mind freely, just as though we didn't care a pin, and told lots of homely truths about the men who tried to put a ring in our nose and run our thinking as well as printing apparatus. They imported a lurid warrior, bristling with flaming dag- gers who started another paper to destroy us, but new friends rallied around us,
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more practical and less selfish than those we had before, and we "went for" the false ones red hot which they soon found out. Instead of going down, we took the road up, and up we went. When that fight was over and we had gathered up, laid out and buried the dead, we had more friends and a little more money than be- fore. But still we were in the financial swamp and had a struggle to keep head above ground. And there we waded and paddled on until the pres- idential year 1880 came along and some of the then oppos- ing political brethren started a competing daily, the Re- publican, to divide with us the enormous profits w e were gather- ing in. It was only for the campaign, but when that was over it changed hands and they con- cluded to keep it run- ning. And from this point dates the turn of the tide with the DAILY DEMOCRAT.
Meanwhile, during those weary years of anxiety and toil, for nothing but a bare living without a dollar ahead for a rainy day, the two sons had been getting along to maturer years and had learned to do the business. They too had been schooled and had profited by it. A year or two later all the financial and business affairs of the concern were turned over to the
older one George J., while the younger, Charles G., took charge of and superin- tended the departments of the interior. The paper had once been enlarged and it was then enlarged again. They went to business as the editor had never been able to do, because editorial and business duties could not all be properly attended to by one man. The editor can write the English language with reasonable accuracy, run a tilt with an adversary in sufficiently effective fash- ion and make himself under - stood by the common run of intelligent mankind, but in financial and general executive management , the two sons take the lead. The younger of them has for the past two years acted the im- portant part o f assistant editor and done good work in that capacity.
CHARLES G. FOSTER, ASSOCIATE EDITOR.
As we have said, from the establishment of a compet- ing paper and the turning over of the business man- agement to the sons of the editor, the paper took on new life and soon bounded to the front. The nominal competition put us all "more on our muscle," as such things generally do, and the circulation and advertising showed it at once. The editorial de- partment, the news department and the business department were all better man- aged and run, and have been ever since as our success fully proves. Soon after
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CYLINDER PRESS ROOM.
JOB PRESS ROOM.
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these things happened, the democratic party in 1885 succeeded to the executive power in the nation, but with no honor to itself or the country. So false and un- American was its policy, so cowardly and perfidious were its leaders that the con- tinuance of our adhesion and support in- volved the loss of the confidence of the better portions of the community, and, of more importance still, if possible, the sac- rifice of our self respect. As was our clearest right, we took our own course, and the public support we have since re- ceived is the best evidence that we made no mistake.
The DAILY DEMO- CRAT is the pioneer of local newspaper work in the State. The first to adopt and make conspicuous the purely local feature in that work, employ- ing special local re- porters to gather in all home transactions worthy of note, thus securing and holding the local attention and support, it has lived to see all others fol- low its example and adopt this feature which they never thought of before, and it really gives the most important and essential value to the local journals every- where. Also the first to bring into the state the telegraphic news service of the American Press As- sociation, it has seen all others follow on until that too covers the entire field. To this we have also added the very latest Associated Press service which has become the very conspicuous feature of our daily editions, furnishing, as it does, the latest telegraphic news possible for our people to obtain and read at their homes each night when the labors of the day are closed. So now, being the most profi- table and best newspaper property, with one of the best office plants in the state,
FRANK P. WALDRON, CITY EDITOR.
on we go. There is no such word as fail or halt in this concern. Nothing but the best will ever satisfy us and that we shall have, cost what it may.
From a very small beginning as we have related, with second hand printing material, presses and type badly worn, purchased on credit and paid for in installments, as best we could, and the one man sinews as the power to turn the wheel about 400 an hour, sweating, panting and foaming as he applied his muscle at the crank; from this delightful state of things we have gone on to what is seen today. Five times has the paper been en- larged and four times have new presses and additional steam power been purchased to do our newspaper printing until we now have one of the latest improved, fast run- ning web perfecting stereotype presses, capable of turning out 10,000 copies per hour of perfect papers printed on both sides from stereotype plates, cut, folded and counted all at once. And the paper has grown in size and cir- culation until it is now an eight page seven columns to the page sheet, 35×47, with (supplements when necessary, hav- ing a daily circulation of from 3500 to 7000, depending on the character of the news and the height of public excitement ; on some occasions it goes as high as 10,000 copies. The circulation reaches out into all the neighboring towns and cities in New Hampshire and Maine, to a constit- uency of some 60,000 people. It goes into a large majority of the families in a circuit of 25 miles, principally to the north, east and west of the office of publi- cation, and has come to be the chief re- liance for local, city and county news. The circulation is constantly increasing,
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notably since the war with Spain has been the chief topic of public interest. From steam we have changed to electric power, and it requires a 20 H. P. motor to drive our machinery. There are con- stantly employed in the office 18 persons, and also connected with the paper are eight reporters and correspondents, and more when occasion requires. New type has been several times provided and job) presses added until we have as well equipped a printing office as any neces- sity requires. A poor beggarly concern has grown to be as robust and stalwart an institution of the kind as there is in the state or anywhere northerly or easterly of Boston.
It has all come from hard work and earnest persistent purpose to meet the public de- sires, to reach the popular heart, to ₹ 16 serve the people, to build up Dover and its near community, and always champion what seemed to be the best interests of the whole. Now here we are this 25th anniversary day. No previous day of our life ever saw the DAILY DEMOCRAT in so good, sound, healthy and growing condition, as it is today. Owning PATRICK MONE, SOMERSWORTH REPORTER. this and other re- sources free from the incubus of debt, it is booming as never before, and is a con- stant reminder of the rapid and important progress which a quarter century can ac- complish in these hurrying times. Dover has grown and everything has grown al- most beyond comprehension. This country is the greatest and best on the globe. We have liberties and privileges such as nobody on the earth ever en- joyed or saw before. A happy nation, state and city, all are ours. A happy peo- ple indeed. The sun never shone on the like before, and God help us all to pre-
serve and maintain it as the most precious of all that is possible to enjoy in this world.
We append hereto a sketch prepared by the late Dr. A. H. Quint for the His- tory of Rockingham and Strafford coun- ties recently published :-
" Foster's Democrat," a weekly news- paper, was established in the city of Dover, N. H., in January, 1872, by George J. Foster & Co., and has been is- sued on Friday of each week ever since. On the 18th of June, 1873, the same firm issued the first number of Foster's Daily Democrat. On these journals J. L. Fos- ter is the editor, and his two sons, George J. and Charles G., are the business man- agers. The daily ven- ture was made as an experiment, the suc- cess of which was at that time generally considered to be very doubtful. But the proprietors decided to push it at all hazards. They thought they knew their business, and the result has proved that they were not mistaken. Sev- eral previous attempts had been made by other parties to es- tablish and sustain a daily newspaper in Dover, but they had always failed for lack of experience and business capacity of the projectors. But the senior Foster in this case had seen a good many years of editorial experience, while the juniors were practical printers and trained in the business management of a daily newspaper. In these weekly and daily enterprises the proprietors started out full of pluck and energy, de- termined, as they said, to make things" lively, and treat everybody and all sub -; jects fairly, squarely, and honestly, giving all sides in all cases a chance to be heard, and granting all shades of honest opinion a medium of expression before the public.
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These journals are boldly independent, running with no mere machine as such, the organs of no ring, wearing nobody's col- lar, and while ready to listen to all good advice, will submit to no dictation in re- gard to their conduct or management from any source whatever. They have a large and increasing circulation, their ad- vertising support is liberal and generous, and alike profitable to publishers and pa- trons. The Senior Foster, assisted by such local and other reporters as may be necessary, devotes his whole time and at- tention to the editorial conduct of the papers, while the two sons have entire
They have an extensive reading and in- fluence in the community. Starting with very meagre means, the concern has grown to yield a handsome income, and is a very valuable property as well as an important journalistic enterprise of the city and state."
Such words of praise and commenda- tion coming wholly unsolicited from a man such as the Revd. Dr. Quint, whose reputation as a literateur was far reaching, is an eloquent tribute to the merits of the paper not only as a means of disseminat- ing news but also of inculcating those principles of equity and justice upon which
RESIDENCE OF CHARLES G. FOSTER, WEST CONCORD STREET.
charge of the printing and business de- partments, employing the competent sub- ordinates necessary to meet all require- ments.
Connected with these newspapers is a large and well-appointed job printing office, with good workmen constantly em- ployed. The whole establishment is pro- vided with the best modern machinery, driven by electric power, and its several departments are continuously engaged in thrifty and profitable business. The suc- cess of these newspapers proves that they are well conducted and enterprising.
the well-being of the community at large rest.
The high standard upon which the foundation of Foster's Daily Democrat was built has been rigidly adhered to and will be always maintained. It has from its inception aimed to be a journal of the highest grade, giving the news of the world, but sedulously avoiding the sensa- tional and salacious now such a common feature of papers less careful of their ut- terances. A brilliant and prosperous past and present predicts a splendid future for the paper.
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RESIDENCE OF JOSHUA L. FOSTER, HANSON STREET.
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RESIDENCE OF GEORGE J. FOSTER, HOUGH AND MOUNT VERNON STREETS.
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The Cocheco Manufacturing Co.
There is no single interest in the city of Dover that will at once so completely represent the solid character of the city's commercial growth and indicate the qual- ity of its citizenship than what is to be found under the roofs of the Cocheco Manufacturing Company.
In 1810, two years before the establish- ment of the cotton industry in Dover, the population numbered but 2,228. The embargo and the war of 1812 interfering
nearly doubled, the census of 1830 show- ing it to be 5,449 ; that of 1840, 6,458; of 1850, 8,168 ; and of 1860, 8,502. The increase has been steadily maintained ow- ing largely to the steady and remunerative. employment to be found in the factories.
The Dover Cotton Factory was incor- porated December 15, 1812, with a capi- tal of $50,000, which built in 1815 the No. I factory at Upper Factory Village ; it was a wooden structure and has long since disappeared. The company had its capital enlarged June 21, 182 1 to $500,000,
COCHECO MFG. CO.'S DAM.
with mercantile pursuits, the business men of the town embarked in other industries. In that year the Dover Cotton Factory was incorporated, and as the lower falls were supposed to be fully occupied by other mills, the first factory was built two miles up the river and was long known as the upper factory.
The rapid advancement of the town in wealth and population dates from the es- tablishment of this great enterprise. In 1820 the population was 2,870. Within the next ten years these numbers had
about the time when it bought up the ti- tles of the Lower Falls. The capital was enlarged June 17, 1823 to $1,000,000 and the name changed to the Dover Man- ufacturing Company, but it was not suc- cessful and a new company, the present Cocheco Manufacturing Company, was incorporated June 27, 1827, with a capi- tal of $1,000,000, which purchased of the old company all their works and property.
No. 2 mill was built in 1822 but this building ceased to be called No. 2 when the new No. 2 (first section), on the
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COCHECO MFG. CO.'S MILLS, LOOKING NORTH.
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north side of the river, was opened for work in 1881. The old No. 3 was occu- pied in 1823 and was superseded by the new No. 2 (second section), which began work in 1882. No. 4 was opened in 1825, and No. 5 in its present form, which re- placed the old printery in 1850. On March 28, 1877 it was voted to build No. I mill and increase the capital stock to $1,500,000. The new No. 1, standing on the south side of Washington street, was finished in 1878.
F. Curtis, who remained until 1834, when Moses Paul became agent. He was suc- ceeded August 1, 1860, by Zimri S. Wal- lingford, who had been superintendent from 1849, and over the mechanical de- partment for five years previous. Mr. Wallingford was succeeded by John Hol- land, the present agent, Charles H. Fish, being appointed September 1, 1895.
The first printing of calico in these works was executed under the superinten- dence of Dr. A. I. Porter, who was suc-
COCHECO MFG. CO., REAR VIEW OF NOS. 2, 3 AND 4 MILLS.
The manufacture of cloth began under the care of John Williams, the first agent. He was the founder of this industry here, and thus of Dover's prosperity. It was his indefatigable activity which turned capital to these falls. Moses Paul was clerk when the works came to the lower falls ; John Chase, its first general mechan- ical superintendent ; Andrew Steele, its first master mechanic ; Samuel Dunster, the builder of the first practical machinery of the calico printery.
John Williams was succeeded by James
ceeded, before 1830, by John Duxbury, a thoroughly experienced English printer. His successors have been George Mathew- son, John Bracewell, Washington Ander- ton, James Crossley, and the present su- perintendent, Howard Gray. The original printery was in the present No. 5 mill and other buildings near, but now removed.
It is not possible, in our limited space, to trace in detail the growth of this indus- try from its small beginning to its present stupendous proportions, nor is that nec- essary. Men of today are moved most by
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contact with, and contemplation of, pres- ent progressiveness, rather than influenced -save in sentiment-by what has been.
The cotton manufacturing industry of Dover was really a small affair prior to 1827. Up to that time it met with but half-hearted treatment at the hands of men whose foresight did not at once real- ize the possibilities of the future for this business. The first masterly grasp of the situation which took hold in real earnest to evolve fame for our city and wealth and employment for its citizens was given the
one which in the day of their active privi- lege labored with that degree of intelli- gence which lifted not alone themselves, but scores of others to place and fame and comfortable circumstances in life, and pro- vided employment and homes for thous- ands more.
An idea of the magnitude of this con- cern can be gleaned from the fact that the plant alone covers an area of over 25 acres, the floor space, devoted exclusively to manufacturing, occupying 30 acres. The company at present operates about
COCHECO MFG. CO. PART OF NO. 2 MILL AND MACHINE SHOP.
cotton industry when the Cocheco Manu- facturing Company assumed the control of the mills in 1827. This gave such an im- petus to the business that it then became a settled fact that Dover's greatness as a manufacturing centre was assured. From that time dates a progressive march of business prosperity for this company which stands almost, if not entirely, alone in the records of quickly successful response to the intelligently guided methods of mant- facturing goods. In years to come the company will be gratefully remembered as
130,000 spindles in 2,800 looms and em- ploys over 2,000 hands constantly. It manufactures in its mills cloths of various kinds, which they print in their extensive print works. The print works contain 16 print machines, with bleachery and finish- ing mills, with ample accommodation for it's product of over 65,000,000 yards of finished cloth per annum. These cloths are all the various printed fabrics now called for by the trade. A large part of the product during the past few seasons has been the finest grades of lawns and
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organdies, which are rapidly taking the place of the fine imported fabrics. The water-power of the Cocheco River furnish- es about one-half the power used in the , works, the remainder being obtained from steam, in the making of which about 20,000 tons of coal are used yearly under the 45 boilers. In the construction of the mills every care and attention has been given to light and ventilation, and every convenience has been provided for
of prosperity and usefulness even greater than those of its proud record of the past.
The officers of the company are as fol- lows : President, T. Jefferson Coolidge, Boston ; Treasurer, Arthur B. Silsbee, Bos- ton ; Selling agents, Lawrence & Company, Boston, New York, Philadelphia & Chica- go ; Resident Agent, Charles H. Fish ; Su- perintendent of cotton mills,John Drowne ; Superintendent of print works, Howard Gray.
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COCHECO MFG. CO. PORTION OF UPPER YARDS.
the well-being of the employees that mod- ern scientific architecture and sanitation has made possible.
The goods manufactured by the com- pany are everywhere recognized as supe- rior in all respects and are widely esteemed by the trade and consumers, the different qualities being standard in all sections of the country. That this important indus- trial enterprise has reached the zenith of its career no one conversant with its ad- vanced methods will admit, and its con- stantly increasing reputation for superior- ity of products gives promise for a future
Sawyer Woolen Mills.
The Sawyer Woolen Mills have been indissolubly associated with the commer- cial prosperity of Dover since 1824 when Alfred 1. Sawyer came from Marlborough, Mass., and established the business from which the present large concern has sprung. At that time the Great Falls Manufactur- ing Company owned all of the water-pow- ers in the Bellamy Bank River and had also secured land covering the outlet of Chesley's Pond, Barrington, upon which now stands the reservoir dam. In 1845
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BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF SAWYER WOOLEN MILLS.
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Mr. Sawyer bought of the Great Falls Manufacturing Company all their rights in the property and continued the business without interruption until his death in 1849. The business then passed to his brother, Zenas Sawyer, 1849-50; Z. and J. Sawyer, 1850-52 ; F. A. and J. Sawyer (Francis A. Sawyer of Boston, and Jona- than Sawyer of Dover), 1852-1873, when Charles H. Sawyer was admitted, and the concern incorporated as the Sawyer Woolen Mills, with a capital of $600,000. Flan- nels were exclusively made until 1862,
falls of which is controlled and utilized by the company, as is also the reservoir at Barrington, which was built in 1863-64 and enlarged in 1881, with a capacity of about 450 acres. Tide water reaches to the lower mill and is navigable for coal barges and sloops of moderate capacity. The Portsmouth and Dover branch of the Boston & Maine R. R. has a station at the mills, the freight of which can be dis- charged directly into the warehouses.
The equipment of the mills is modern and first-class throughout and it is what is
SPINNING ROOM SAWYER WOOLEN MILLS.
when the machinery was gradually changed until 1866, since which attention has been entirely devoted to the manufacture of fine fancy cassimeres, cloths and suitings in the production of which the mills have earned a reputation for quality and dura- bility of goods which is unsurpassed by any similar concern. In 1891 machinery for the manufacture of worsted yarn was added.
The mills are located on the Bellamy River, the water-power of the three lower
called a thirty-nine set mill. These thirty- nine sets of machinery constitute an im- mense plant. The output of the mills is celebrated for uniformity of texture and elegance of finish, commanding the high- est price in the tailoring and clothing trade markets throughout the country. The officers of the company are thoroughly conversant with every detail of the woolen business, and are energetic and wide- awake in advancing the interests of the company.
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