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 5
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UPPER MILL AND OFFICES.
PORTION OF THE UPPER MILL.
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This enterprise has made of Sawyers- named for the mills-a neat and prosper- ous village, the prosperity of the company also meaning the prosperity of the com- munity. On an average 600 hands are employed consisting of an unusually high class of operatives.
An average of $20,000 a month is paid out in wages to its employees. This means many comfortable homes and happy fam- ilies. Adjoining the mills and tastefully laid out on graded streets the company has erected fifty substantially built and comfortable cottages for the families of their employees. These tenements have the best sanitary arrangements and are kept in excellent repair. The company does all in its power to make its employees' lives comfortable and happy and have been
tion of the company and its business add- ed to and conducted by this Company.
The capacity of these two plants prov- ing insufficient for the demands of the in- creasing business, a third and larger one was erected at Dover, to which place the Somersworth shop was transferred, there- by giving the company two splendidly equipped plants, within a radius of a few miles and simplifying the management of the business to a minimum.
To the Dover plant has been added the extensive business of the John A. White Co. of Concord, manufacturers of all kinds of woodworking machinery, which has at- tained an enviable reputation in all parts of the world. This company is the most extensive of its kind in the world and through its agencies the machines are
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5 DOVER
SOMERSWORTH MACHINE COMPANY'S DOVER PLANT.
the prime factor in building up the grow- ing and healthy village which bears its name.
The Somersworth Machine Company.
This Company was incorporated under the laws of New Hampshire in 1848, as . the Somersworth Machine Company, and located at Great Falls, now the City of Somersworth.
From a limited business in general jobbing work it soon acquired, under able and progressive management, more than a local reputation and was able to enlarge and broaden all branches of its industry.
The purchase of the Salmon Falls Stove Works was made soon after the founda-
shipped to England, France, Germany, India, Japan, South America, Mexico and Canada. The Japanese Imperial govern- ment has purchased several machines and they are also used extensively by the vari- ous Japanese railroad companies. The Wm. White Textile Machine Co. of Nashua has also been added. The product of this company is famous all over the coun- try for its excellent wool washing machin- ery,-dusters, drying machines, steaming and crabbing machines, and other special textile machines. These machines are used in every large and well equipped woolen mill in the country and are also extensively used on the continent of Europe, India and Japan to which places the shipments are increasing. The de-
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mand for the machines is phenomenal and keeps the works busy all the time fill- ing the orders.
Besides the manufacture of ranges, heating stoves, furnaces, sinks, hollow ware, etc., at Salmon Falls, and wood- working machinery and textile machinery at Dover, this company are makers of many different kinds of special machinery and pulleys, hangers and shafting, etc.
The main shops of the company are located in Dover and consist of ten build- ings, foundry, machine-shops, storehouses, pattern-shops, iron house, coal sheds and stables.
The foundry and workshops are ideal for their separate purposes, being unus- ually well lighted and ventilated. The buildings are of brick and are very spa- cious, offering all the advantages to be de-
rooms as well as blacksmith shops, with steam hanımers, etc., in connection with them.
The pattern shops, storehouses, coal sheds, iron house and cleaning depart- ment are all of sufficient capacity for their respective needs, and the entire plant is lighted by electricity, generated by the company's own dynamos. A spur track runs into the yards from the main tracks of the Western Division of the B. & M. R. R. which pass in the rear of the buildings, thus affording every opportu- nity for quick and inexpensive freight de- livery.
The stove plant wherein are made the world famed Somersworth stoves and ranges is situated at Salmon Falls, three miles from Dover on the Salmon Falls River, about five minutes' walk from the
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SOMERSWORTH MACHINE COMPANY'S SALMON FALLS PLANT.
rived from guarantees of safety and con- venience for turning out all kinds of first- class work. The equipment throughout is of the highest order, none but the best tools and appurtenances to be found in the market being used.
The foundry is supplied with two large cupolas, one of sixty inches in diameter and another of forty-eight inches, with a melting capacity of 25,000 lbs. per hour, core oven, cranes, and all the parapher- nalia to be found in a well equipped es- tablishment. The building proper meas- ures 200 x 60 feet and in connection with it are the core room, foreman's of- fice and supply room, giving the foundry altogether about 20,000 square feet of available floor space. Each of the ma- chine shops contains 15,000 square feet of floor space and have tool and supply
B. & M. station. There are nineteen buildings in all, and the work shops are thoroughly equipped with all the latest improvements for stove manufacture. The quality of the productions in this depart- ment being so well known it is useless to elaborate upon them.
'Throughout this great industry the plant and appurtenances are of a high order and the machinery comprises all the best and most modern labor saving devices in all departments, by which the expenses of production are reduced to a minimum, thus enabling the company to compete successfully with others as regards quality and also to offer substantial inducements to the trade generally in regard to price, which is always quoted at the lowest pos- sible figure. The products of the com- pany have reached a degree of perfection
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as regards quality and finish which it is impossible to imagine can be surpassed, and the working of each department is carefully supervised by thoroughly skilled and capable men. With such unsurpassed facilities and advanced methods it is not to be wondered at that the most gratify- ing success has been achieved, and that the result obtained is of a permanent na- ture cannot be doubted.
The officers of the company are : Pres- ident, O. S. Brown ; Treasurer, E. H. Gil- man ; Agent, James C. Sawyer ; Directors, O. S. Brown, C. H. Siwyer, E. H. Gil-
Foss and his son, A. Melvin Foss, who came to this city from Strafford where they had been engaged in the grocery and milling business. From its inception the enterprise achieved a notable and well deserved success, securing a firm hold on the favor and patronage of the public which has been greatly strengthened by the lapse of time.
The premises occupied consist of a spa- cious three story mill 100 x 75 in dimen- sions fitted up with all the latest improved woodworking tools, machinery and appli- ances operated by steam power, while
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D. FOSS AND SON'S MILL.
man, J. A. White, and J. C. Sawyer. These men are thoroughly experienced business men of undoubted standing, progressive, enterprising and possessing all the attri- butes so eminently necessary in the up- building of this splendid industry. They are men of honor and principle and in financial, commercial and social circles their names are honored and esteemed.
D. Foss and Son.
This business was established in Dover in 1874 by the present partners, Dennis
connected with their mill is an extensive box factory, one of the most complete concerns of the kind in New England. A specialty is made in this department of large packing boxes for the Cocheco Manufacturing Company, the various shoe shops and the trade generally, and a large and constantly increasing business is done. All orders are turned out promptly and in the best possible manner while their esti- mates in all departments are as low as is consistent with superior materials and workmanship. 'The firm is a valued feature of the industrial facilities of the
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city and has a well earned reputation for the ability, energy and honorable charac- ter of its management. Mr. Dennis Foss, the senior partner, was born in Strafford seventy-nine years ago and since coming to Dover has made and retained the friendship of our most respected citizens. Mr. A. Melvin Foss, who has the active charge of the business, was born in Straf- ford in 1847 and received his education at the public and high schools of his na- tive town. He was for two years employed in the grocery store of J. W. Jewell at Strafford which he left to enter his father's store where he remained for seven years, coming to this city with his father to found the pres- ent busi- ness in 1874. At that time they en- gaged in the man- GAS PLANT, DOVER, N.H. ufacture of boxes and did a gen- eral grain business to which was added, ten years ago, the manu- facture of doors, sashes and blinds. Mr. Foss served several years as school committee and was elected Mayor of the city in 1893 by a large majority, being re-elected two suc- ceeding years by largely increasing major- ities. There is no man in the city more intimately acquainted with its needs and resources, and his experience in pub- lic affairs has equipped him with an ex- ecutive ability sufficient to master every exigency that may arise. He is a direc- tor of the Dover Improvement Associa- tion and of the Masonic Building Associ- ation, Past Master, Strafford Lodge F. and A. M., Past High Priest Belknap Chapter R. A. M., Past Deputy Master of Orphan Council, Eminent Commander St. Paul Commandery, Knights 'T'emplar, and Ex-
WATER POWER STATION. BERWICK, ME.
UNITED GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY'S PLANTS.
alted Ruler Dover Lodge of Elks. Mr. Foss is a man of progressive ideas, thor- oughly reliable in all his dealings and the success the firm has achieved is of a sub- stantial and lasting character.
United Gas and Electric Company.
In 1887 Mr. H. W. Burgett founded the Dover Electric Company on First Street and in the fall of that year the Fan Cookey Light Company, a small plant in Rochester was also purchased. This was at once changed over and remodeled and the city of Somersworth was poled and wired. In 1888 work was commenced on the New Dam Station on the Salmon Falls river about a mile be- low Somersworth and the Consolidated Light and Power Company, which su- perseded the other compan- les was organized. It was completed in twelve months and at once poled and wired. The same year the Roches- ter and Somers- worth sta- tions wereamal- gama ted with the New Dam Station making one power house for the entire system. The company was formed for the purpose of lighting and fur- nishing power to the contiguous cities and towns, namely, Dover, Somersworth, Roch- ester, Salmon Falls, Berwick, North and South Berwick and Lebanon, all within a radius of ten miles. In 1890-91 the com- pany purchased the old horse railway which ran from Sawyer's mills to Garrison hill and in September, 1892 converted it into a standard guage road and equipped it with electricity, extending it to Berwick Bridge in Somersworth, a distance of about seven miles. In 1891 the company leased the Dover Gas Light Company for a term
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of twenty years and furnished electricity and gas light to its patrons. Owing to financial difficulties the company was placed in the hands of a receiver, Jan'y 27, 1894, Wm. F. Brewster being appointed by the court. He was succeeded two months later by H. C. Patterson who acted as receiver for one year. The company was obliged to relinquish the street railway in the spring of 1895 but continued to supply it with power. Hon. H. L. Shep- herd of Rockport, Me., was appointed re- ceiver, April 1, 1895 and began the task of straightening out the affairs of the com-
companies in Maine and New Hampshire ; John Kivel, Dover, attorney; C. A. Davis, Boston, Mass., Eastern Manager General Electric Co .; Hon. Fred E. Richards, Portland, Me., President Union Mutual Life Ins. Co., President Portland National Bank, President Union Safe De- posit and Trust Co .; Hon. H. I .. Shep- herd, Rockport, Me., Vice President & General Manager S. E. & H. I .. Shep- herd Lime Company. Subsequently Hon. Albert Wallace of Rochester was elected president of the company, Hon. H. L. Shepherd, of Rockport, Me., treasurer
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THE A. CONVERSE PLACE LUMBER CO.'S BROADWAY MILL. حمـ
pany, his first step being to take it out of the hands of a receiver, which was accom- plished March 6, 1897. The present in- corporated company was then formed un- der the laws of New Hampshire and Maine and named the United Gas and Electric Company. The following were elected directors : Hon. Albert Wallace, Geo. E. Wallace, Rochester, N. H., firm of E. G. & E. Wallace; Hon. Geo. E. Macomber, Augusta, Me., President of Rockland, Thomaston & Camden Street Railway, and prominently identified with numerous Electric Light and Railway
and general manager and A. D. Rich- mond, member of the Board of Aldermen of the city of Dover, Gen. Supt. The success of the company under the new management has been most pro- nounced. Strenuous and well directed efforts have been made to secure new contracts for lighting and the supplying of power with pleasing success. Five
hundred arc and 3,000 incandescent lights are now furnished in Dover and surrounding towns and the company's outlook for a future of prosperity is as- sured. At a meeting of the board of di-
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rectors held in Dover in May last, it was voted to purchase the extensive water power plant known as the Portsmouth Manufacturing Company of South Ber- wick, to be utilized in connection with the New Dam Station. This will con- siderably augment the resources of the company and make the plant one of the best equipped in the state. It will con- sist of one 2,000 horse-power water, 1,000 horse-power steam, eleven Thomp- son-Houston fifty arc light dynamos, one 300 K. W. 500 Volt generator and three 350 K. W. three phase 3,120 Volts generators.
the former being equipped with all the latest modern machinery known to the trade. A very heavy stock is at all times carried of Western and Southern pine, oak, ash, mahogany and cherry dressed lumber and a large wholesale demand is supplied, the annual output being between 4,000,000 and 5,000,000 feet, over fifty skilled mechanics and laborers being con- stantly employed. The company makes a specialty of wood mantels and interior finish and among the contracts they have carried out may be mentioned the interior decoration of Elisha R. Brown's resi- dence, the Wentworth Home, the Chil-
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A. CONVERSE PLACE LUMBER CO.'S WHARF AND LUMBER YARDS.
The A. Converse Place Lumber Co.
The A. Converse Place Lumber Com- pany was incorporated in May last, succeeding the firm of Converse & Hammond which was established by Joshua Converse in 1870. The company deals extensively in wholesale and retail lumber and manufactures every descrip- tion of interior and exterior finish, wood mantels and stair work, their trade ex- tending generally throughout New England and adjoining states. Their offices and yards are situated on Cocheco street and cover an area of six acres with ample wharfage facilities and all requisite con- veniences for a successful and systematic conduct of affairs. The mills and branch yard occupy three acres on Broadway,
dren's Home, the Catholic church, Newmarket, the Richardson Dormitory, Hanover, the annex to the Wentworth House, Portsmouth and several others. The officers of the company are : Presi- dent and General Manager, A. Converse Place ; Secretary, Edward M. Horne. Mr. Place was born in Salmon Falls and graduated from the South Berwick Acad- emy in 1886, when he entered the employ- ment of the firm of Converse & Hammond in which he became a partner in 1889. He is thoroughly conversant with every branch of the extensive business he conducts, and under his experienced and conservative management a future of prosperity is assured to the company. He is a Thirty- second Degree Mason, a director of the Co-operative Bank, a member of the
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Security Company and represents Ward 3 in the Common Council. In business and social circles he is highly esteemed for his sterling integrity. He is an active member of the Bellamy Club. Mr. Horne is a native of Somersworth and a graduate of the High School of that city. He was bookkeeper for the Dover Clothing Company until 1894, in which year he accepted a similar position with
Dover Furniture Co.
One of the best and most prominent furniture establishments in this part of the state, carrying the largest and most com- plete stock, is that of the Dover Furniture Company. The premises occupied for the business embrace a substantial four. story and basement building at the corner of Third and Chestnut streets, opposite
DOVER FURNITURE CO
DOVER FURNITURE CO.
DOVER FURNITURE COMPANY'S WAREHOUSE.
Converse & Hammond. In addition to his secretarial duties Mr. Horne repre- sents the company on the road and has established an enviable reputation for his honorable dealings and business-like meth- ods. He is most popular among a large circle of friends who esteem him for his many excellent qualities. Mr. Horne is Master Mason of Moses Paul Lodge and a member of the Bellamy Club.
the Boston & Maine depot, each floor measuring 40x100 feet and of easy access by means of the elevator. The stock shown is as complete as modern methods demand. It comprises all the latest novelties and prevailing styles in artistic home furnishings, parlor, library, dining- room and chamber furniture ; carpets, rugs, floor cloths, portieres, draperies, pictures and everything, in fact, in high
HUA WEVOO
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grade and medium house furnishings for the mansion or cottage. The success of the house from its inception in 1892 has been most pronounced and their trade is very large, people coming from the ad- joining towns, within a radius of thirty miles to purchase their house furnishing goods from this well known house. From ten to twelve courteous assistants are con - stantly employed and three teams are kept busy delivering orders.
The business was founded, in 1892, by the present partners, J. Everett Ewer, and J. Eugene Mooney, both of whom are
Mr. Ewer was born at Week's Mills, Me., and took a collegiate course at the Gardner High School. During his school days, and for a couple of years afterwards, he engaged in journalism and then spent ten years in the saddlery hardware fur- nishing business in Providence, R. I., which he left to form the present partner- ship. He is a Thirty-Second degree Mason, Moses Paul Lodge, A. F. and A. M., a member of Providence Chapter, Orphan Council, Dover, St. John's Com- mandery, Providence, and Rhode Island Consistory, S. P. R. S.
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AN INTERIOR VIEW DOVER FURNITURE COMPANY.
thoroughly conversant with its every de- tail and are capable and progressive busi- ness men who have made a close study of successfully catering to the public require- ments. In this lies the success they have achieved.
Among the recent furnishing contracts carried out by this firm may be mentioned the complete furnishing of the Wentworth Home for the aged, several cottages and hotels at York Beach, Wells Beach and Other seashore resorts, the hotels at Milton Three Ponds, Gonic, Epping and the Granite State Park Hotel.
Mr. Mooney is a native of Whitefield, Me., where he was born in 1870. He was educated in the public school of his native town, afterwards taking courses at the Pittston Academy and Augusta Business College. Upon completing his education he engaged in the furniture business with Messrs. Preble and Keene, Gardner, Me., where he remained three years, afterwards accepting the position of manager for the Portsmouth Furniture Company which he left to engage in his present enterprise. He is a member of the Bellamy Club, a member of Moses Paul Lodge,
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A. F. and A. M. and the Dover Lodge of Elks.
Both partners are highly esteemed in business and social circles, are young, ambitious but conservative in their meth- ods, and to this and their intimate acquaintance with business methods may be ascribed the success they have achieved.
Thomas H. Dearborn & Co.
A history of the business interests of Dover would not be complete without
nearly every business man in the city who prognosticated that such an extensive es- tablishment could not be made a success in Dover but nothing daunted they took the step. Five years later they added nearly as much more room, and a well equipped cloak room was opened. Two years ago they took the basement in which they opened a kitchen furnishing department. The rapid growth of this house can be attributed to the same cause which has made the success of all large concerns, perseverance, energy and honest dealings combined with hard work,
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RESIDENCE OF THOMAS H. DEARBORN, SILVER STREET.
reference to the dry goods and depart- ment store of Thomas H. Dearborn & Co. which was established by the present partners Thomas H. Dearborn and Frank N. French in 1884. From a small be- ginning this establishment has grown to be second to none of its kind in this sec- tion. Upon first coming to Dover they purchased the dry goods business located in the store 470 Central Avenue. Two years later an opportunity presented it- self to secure what is now a part of the present large concern. This step was taken against the judgment and advice of
a liberal use of printer's ink and keeping faith with the public.
Thos. H. Dearborn was born in North- field, N. H., in 1860. He received his education at Exeter and New Hampton and upon leaving school engaged in the dry goods business in Exeter. Subse- quently he went to Texas and was en- gaged in raising sheep and horses, finally coming to Dover to engage in his present business. He is a conservative but en- terprising business man who has attained his present position by merit alone. Mr. Dearborn is a member of Moses Paul
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THOMAS H. DEARBORN.
FRANK N. FRENCH.
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THOMAS H. DEARBORN & CO.'S STORE.
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Lodge F. & A. M., the Royal Arcanum, an Elk, and Redman, and is a deservedly popular citizen of wide acquaintance and great influence in the business life of the city, being president of the Dover Com- mercial Club. Frank N. French was born in Exeter, in 1860 and graduated from Exeter Academy, subsequently tak- ing a business course at the New Hamp- ton Commercial College. He was en- gaged in the dry goods business in his native city until he came to Dover and formed the present partnership. Mr. French is a Mason, a member of the Bellamy Club and is most highly thought of by the community at large.
Dover Business College.
With the young man of ambition the question above all others is how to get a start. In order to secure a foothold somewhere he must be able to do some-
THOMAS M. HENDERSON, Principal Dover Business College.
thing useful. The Dover Business College course of study is designed to qualify the prospective business man to cope with the difficulties he is sure to meet. It gives thorough and scientific training in those
things that the business proprietor and manager should be thoroughly familiar with, and without which he will be con- stantly handicapped in his business career. The College was founded on the principle that permanent success in business, as elsewhere, must be based upon adequate preparation. The Dover Business College furnishes the training and preparation that fit young men and women to achieve success which would otherwise be long deferred if not actually unattainable. The College has earned a reputation for effi- ciency in helping young people on the road to success. It puts them in posses- sion of a practical business education ; it assists its graduates to responsible and lu- crative positions ; its course of study and training and the association with its capable teachers and energetic business students give an incentive to effort and an impulse to ambition. The College was founded in October, 1896, by Bliss Brothers of Conneaut, O., Mr. T. M. Henderson being appointed principal. In July, 1897, Mr. Henderson acquired the business which he conducted under the original name un- til last January when the title became as at present. The class-rooms are located in the Odd Fellows block and consist of five spacious rooms excellently equipped for business purposes, the main class-room measuring 40x60 feet. The students have the advantage of working in a well ap- pointed business office which also con- tains a First and Second National Bank thus making them thoroughly conversant with every detail of business life. The prescribed courses of study are classed as Commercial, Shorthand and Practical English. The Commercial Course is de- signed to furnish a thorough preparation for a successful business career. It gives a complete course in the science and me- chanical work of bookkeeping and all its collateral branches, the Williams and Rogers System being adopted. In the Shorthand classes the Dement-Pitman System is used, being the very latest de- velopment of the world-famed Pitman method. This is a very strong feature of the College as shown by the responsible positions now being held by some of the graduates in the Shorthand department.
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