USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Gazetteer of Cheshire County, N.H., 1736-1885 > Part 27
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In March, of that year, a committee was appointed to lay out house-lots in the townships mentioned, who, in June, made a report of the house-lots in the Upper township. Of these, fifty-four were laid out on what is now the city plain, twenty-seven on each side of the Main street, and the other nine upon the plain on the Swanzey line. They were 160 rods long and eight rods wide, each containing eight acres. This committee, being also author- ized to admit settlers, notified all persons who were desirous of taking lots to meet at Concord, Mass., June 26, 1734. A few days previous to the time for holding this meeting, the general court passed the following item :
" Voted, That after the sixty persons [grantees] for each township shall have drawn lots, given bonds, and paid their £5 each according to the order of the court, passed in July, 1732. they forthwith assemble at Concord, Mass., and then and there choose a moderator and proprietors' clerk, agree upon rules and methods for the fulfillment of their respective grants, for making further divisions, and attend to any other matters or things necessary for the speedy settlement of said townships."
Upon these several votes the proprietors of Upper Ashuelot entirely de- pended for titles to their land, as no charter was ever given by Massachusetts. The meeting was held at Concord, according to notice, on the 26th of June, when the following named sixty individuals paid £5 each to the committee, were formally admitted as proprietors of the township of Upper Ashuelot, and drew their house-lots. The numbers prefixed to each name denotes the number of his lot, No. I being the south lot on the east side of the street ; No. 54 the south lot on the west side; Nos. 27 and 28 the most northern lots on the east and west. sides :-
I. Capt. Samuel Sady. 154. Edward Twist.
2. Jeremiah Hall.
53. David Harwood.
3. Samuel Heywood.
52. Amos Foster.
4. John Witt.
51. Ebenezer Witt.
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CITY OF KEENE.
225
5. Joseph Wright.
50. Jonas Wilson.
49. Isaac Tomberlin.
48. Jabez Ward.
47. Josiah Fisher.
46. Thomas Abbott.
IO. Isaac Power.
II. William Hoaton.
12. Eleazer Allen.
13. Minister's lot.
42. Joseph Ellis.
14. Daniel Haws.
15. John Hawks.
16. Philemon Chandler.
17. Robert Moor.
38. Nathan Fairbanks.
37. Abraham Master.
36. Nicholas Sprake, Jr.
35. Joseph Allen.
34. Benjamin Whitney.
33. David Chandler.
23. Bartholomew Jones.
24. Joseph Priest.
25. Jonas Kees.
26. William Smeed.
29. Ministry lot.
28. School lot.
The following, Nos. 55-63 inclusive, are those laid out on the Swanzey line :-
55. John Burge.
56. Ebenezer Mason.
57. Daniel Hoar.
62. Samuel Witt.
58. Elisha Root.
63. Stephen Blake.
59. Mark Ferry,
60. Josiah Fisher.
61. Elias Witt.
The next day a full meeting of the proprietors was held, when Samuel Sady was chosen moderator and Samuel Heywood, clerk, and the meeting was ad- journed to the 18th of September, then to be held within the limits of the township. In that month the following persons, proprietors, or sons of pro- prietors, set out for the township, viz .: Jeremiah Hall, Daniel Hoar, Seth Heaton, Elisha Root, Nathaniel Rockwood, Josiah Fisher and William Puffer. None of them had ever visited the township, and as it was then considered quite a formidable journey thereto, " Deacon" Alexander, of Northfield, was secured to act as guide. They did not arrive at the line of the township until late in the evening of the 18th, the day appointed for the adjourned meeting to con- vene, so, as soon as their guide informed them that they had passed the town line, they immediately opened a meeting, only to adjourn it to the following day. Such was the first visit of the proprietors to what is now the city of Keene, late on a September evening, 151 years ago.
Even at this early date, however, a spirited controversy was in progress between the provinces of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, relative to the position of the boundary line between them (see page 64). The final settle- ment of this mooted question by King George II., in 1740, left the new town-
9. Thomas Weeks.
45. Robert Gray.
44. Jonathan Southwick.
43. John Nims.
41. John Guild.
40. John Corbit.
39. Nathaniel Rockwood.
18. Isaac How.
19. William Witt.
20. Jonathan Whitney.
21. Joseph Hill
22. William Puffer.
32. Isaac Heaton.
31. David Moss.
30. Edward Hall.
27. Joseph Hill.
6. Samuel Flood.
7. Solomon Kees.
8. Jonathan Morton. .
15*
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CITY OF KEENE.
ship far within the limits of New Hampshire. On the third of October the proprietor held a meeting to consider this grave subject of, which the follow- ing records of proceedings is left :----
" The proprietors being informed that, by the determination of his majesty in council respecting the controverted bounds between the province of Mass- achusetts and New Hampshire, they are excluded from the province of the Massachusetts Bay, to which they always supposed themselves to belong :
" Therefore, unanimously voted, that a petition be presented to the King's most excellent majesty, setting forth our distrest estate, and praying that we may be annexed to the said Massachusetts province :
"Also unanimously voted, that Thomas Hutchinson, Esq., be empowered to present the said petition to his majesty, and to appear fully to act for and in behalf of this town, respecting the subject matter of said petition, according to the best discretion."
Notwithstanding Mr. Hutchinson's visit to the King and his solicitation that the prayer of his majesty's subjects be granted, however, the boundary line was surveyed the following year, and it has never been changed.
From this time until 1753, then, the proprietors and inhabitants of Upper Ashuelot held their lands with no valid title, their property in reality belong- ing to the province of New Hampshire. But on the 11th of April, of that year, upon petition of the proprietors, a charter was granted by Governor Benning Wentworth, granting them the land embraced within the original limits of Upper Ashuelot, and a small additional strip on the eastern side, forming a new township under the name of Keene. This name was given by Governor Wentworth in honor of his friend, Sir Benjamin Keene, who was. then minister from England to Spain. As then granted, the township had an area of 25,248 acres ; but from this, September 27, 1787, was taken 1,920 acres towards forming the township of Sullivan, and December 9, 1812, 1,472 acres more towards forming the town of Roxbury, while at another date, 154 acres from Swanzey were annexed to Keene, so that it now has an area of 22,010 acres.
The surface of Keene is so charmingly diversified as to be at once a joy to the artist and pride of the husbandman. It lies principally upon a level and sub- stantially rectangular plateau, six miles in length and four in width, walled in on four sides by ranges of lofty hills. The mountain breezes which sweep upon it from the north in winter have an edge "keener " than a razor ; but he who endures the rigors of this season finds ample compensation in the genial season when the fertile plain and the rough hillsides are adorned with the verdure of spring, the blossoms and cloud-flects of summer, or the au- tumnal red and gold of the harvest fields and woodland foliage. Indeed, at this season it would be difficult to find a more charming retreat than this beautiful spot among the granite hills.
This broad valley is supposed to have been, in past ages, the bed of a primeval lake, and its deposits extend down to an unknown depth, covering about one-third of the territory, and varying in character from a clean sand to pure clay, with vast deposits of peat and swamp muck composed of the
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CITY OF KEENE.
vegetable accumulations of centuries. These tracts, however, when properly drained, make meadow land that will vie in fertility with the prairies of the West. The valley is watered by the Ashuelot and its tributaries, affording many fine mill-sites. The soil, generally, in the valley, is fertile, while the hill-sides are well adapted to grazing. Granite of a good quality for quarry- ing abounds in many parts, while a peculiar variety of this rock, called " rot- ten stone," is found in abundance in other localities, affording a fine material for road-making. It contains a portion of sulphuret of iron, which decom- poses, and leaves the rock in a very fragile condition, easily reduced, and convenient for use.
In 1880 Keene had a population of 6,784 souls. In 1884 it had eleven school districts and thirty-one different public schools, twenty-one of which were graded, and one a high-school. Its twenty school buildings, including sites, furniture, etc., were valued at $88,610.00. There were 1,216 pupils attending these schools, 147 of whom were pursuing the higher branches, taught during the year by two male and forty female teachers, the former at an average monthly salary of $91.67, and the latter $44.00 per month. The entire amount of revenue for school purposes during the year was $17,425.72, while the total amount expended was $15, 133.90. '
OF K KEENE, as a city, was brought into existence by an act of the legislature, approved July 3, 1873, incor- CITY V porating the same, subject to the acceptance, by a majority of votes, of the city charter so enacted. In March, 1874, the act was accepted by a vote of 783 to NEW E 589. The new government was duly organized May 1874 IMP 5, 1874, Hon. Horatio Colony being elected mayor. As previously stated, the entire township was included within the city limits, and is divided into five wards. The city proper, how- ever, is the old village of Keene, which President Dwight pronounced " one of the prettiest in New England."
This then. the city of Keene, lies in the charming valley of the Ashuelot, hid among its shade trees, with cliff-crowned hills'round about. From the monument on Beech hill, looking west and north, one gets a fine view of the whole valley. The broad meadows and natural parks of scattered elms stretch three miles away, across the river to West hill, which has an altitude of 850 feet. Below are the older and later channels of the riotous Branch, and its four arched bridge. The Catholic cemetery, the race-course, and the Island pond, are on the left. In front are the distant meadows, the amphi- theatre of hills, and in the background, the peaks of the Green mountains. On the right are the seven church spires of the shady city, and the turrets of the high school building, court-house, city hall, and more distant jail. Ob- truded upon one's notice, also, are the tall chimneys of shops and mills- Faulkner's, Colony's, Woodbury's Mechanic's railroad, Beaver, and new shoe- shop, while a solitary chimney marks the site of Governor Hale's furniture
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CITY OF KEENE.
shop. Still more to the right, under the hill, are the dark pines which shade Woodland cemetery. Since 1856 this grove has became whitened with sculp- tured marble, with storied monument and "animated bust." Across the brook which runs between, lies Woodlawn, a newer cemetery.
But the valley itself is the most interesting feature of the scene. Once the bed of an ancient lake, the tributary streams poured in their annual layers of sand, which now form the delta terraces, often a theme for the high school graduate. On one of these are slate gravestones of the first settlers. The three clay-beds and brick-yards indicate the still-water era of this lake period.
A tree society once flourished here, and Main street, with its fine old elms is a theme for the poet." It is eight rods wide and nearly a mile long. Of this street Thoreau said : "You can see a chicken run across, half a mile off." It ends in the square, widening to thirty rods. Here front the stores, the Cheshire House, banks, and the public buildings ; here stood the church and horse-sheds of the fathers, now replaced by a little park of Elm trees ; here also, is the "soldier in bronze," and John Humphrey's iron water-bowl ; here pulses the heart of the city ; here was held the great war meeting; here the review of the 6th New Hampshire, afterwards so famous, and here were held the meetings of the scarred veterans ; here roared the guns for General Jack- son ; here marched the Keene Light Infantry ; and here now parades the "guard."
The hills which environ the city, furnish beautiful drives. The artist would choose Gray's hill, from which to paint his picture of the valley. There are specimens of graphite and soapstone on West. hill, and amethysts on Hurri- cane hill. Visitors find a delightful drive to vessel rock, to the bowlder of the signal station at Mine hill, to Pinacle hill and Batchelder's stairs, to great iron bridge, to the granite quarries, the Summit cut, to ponds and lakes, the beau- tiful Surry mountain, to Mt. Caesar and Marlboro glenn. The young and ardent stroll to Beaver brook falls, Glen Ellen, to the Pot-hole and Glacier water-fall ; to the reservoir, and Ascutney bowlder near by ; the monument, the high bridge, the mineral spring, Huggins and Crisson hills, not forgetting Goose pond, -- the city's water supply, three miles away,-while all delight to picnic in Tilden's grove, and on the famous old fair grounds. The energetic time themselves round the six-mile square.
Keene is also a well-planned city. Its grand avenue, Main street, extends nearly due north through the middle of the valley, perfectly straight, and at a width of eight rods for almost a mile, to Central square. Here it branches, making two avenues, somewhat less in width, but still ample. One of these diverges slightly to the east of north, and leads to the towns of Sullivan and Stoddard. The other deflects at a similar slight angle to the west, and is the road to Surry and Walpole. Other streets are generally laid out at right- angles or parallel with Main street, so that the street system is symmetrical without being precisely of the checker-board pattern.
The first meeting of the legal voters of Keene for the choice of city and
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CITY OF KEENE.
ward officers was held on the second Tuesday in April, 1874, when the fol- lowing officers were elected, and on the 5th day of May, following, were duly clothed with administrative powers : Mayor, Horatio Colony. Aldermen,- ward one, Horatio Kimball; ward two, Edward Farrar; ward three, Don H. Woodward; ward four, Francis C. Faulkner ; ward five, Reuben Stewart. Councilmen,-ward one. Alanson S. Whitcomb, Francis French, Franklin J. Ware ; ward two, Henry H. Darling, Miles S. Buckminster, George W. Hol- brook ; ward three, Joseph R. Beal, James W. Dodge, Nathan G. Woodbury ; ward four, Frederick H. Kingsbury, Leander W. Cummings, Charles N. Wilder ; ward five, William Dinsmore, Oscar J. Howard, Horace Hamblett. Clerk, Henry S. Martin. President of council, Henry H. Darling.
As we have now looked upon the city of to-day, let us turn backward to the days of little things. At a meeting of the proprietors held October 26, 1737, it was voted to lay out one hundred acres of upland to each house-lot, the lots to be drawn by chance. No. I fell to a Mr. Morse, who made his pitch in what is now the heart of the city. Nathan Blake had a house on what is now Main street, near the General Wilson house, the first erected in the township, and the frame of the original Congregational meeting-house was just completed, while just north, on Beaver brook, was a new saw-mill. Such was the city of Keene in 1737. Ten years later there had been forty dwellings erected in the township, though how many of these were in the city proper it is impossible to say. But during that year they were all abandoned on account of Indian depredations, and later were burned by the savages. Of the buildings known to have been in the city, however, were five dwell- ings, a meeting-house, and a fort. The latter, built in 1738, occupied nearly the present site of the house of Hon. Edward Gustine. The church stood just north of Nathan Blake's house, having been moved from the south end of Main street in 1741. Just south of Blake's was Mrs. Clark's house, and south of that the McKenny house. On the corner where Baker street turns off from Main was the dwelling of - Dorman, while on the north side of Baker street, near the brook, stood another dwelling. In a well belonging to the latter a man hid for two days, during the Indian attack of 1746, and escaped unharmed. In 1750 or '51 the inhabitants began to come back to their possessions here, and in 1752 eight or ten dwellings had been erected.
In 1800 the village had grown to considerable importance. Aside from its fifty-two dwellings and usual complement of shops, etc., there were four stores, three school-houses, three taverns, a jeweler, a distillery, tannery, saw-mill, grist-mill, pot and peal-ash works, fulling-mill, blacksmith shop, printing of- fice and New Hampshire Sentinel, masonic-hall, meeting-house, and jail. The old Dr. Adams house occupied the site of the fort and in it was kept the postoffice.
Of what the village's business facilities were in IS19, an idea may be ob- tained from the following extract from an address delivered by Samuel A. Gerould, in 1868, descriptive of his first visit here, in the former year :-
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CITY OF KEENE.
"I entered the village at the south end of Main street. As I neared the common at the northern terminus of the street, in the center of which was a large church whose broad front looked down the whole length of Main street, I was perfectly delighted with the beauty of the village, and felt if I could only get into business here I would be made for this world. At that time there were but six stores in Keene, the names of the firms and individual traders being as follows : A. & T. Hall, the oldest, dry goods, groceries, drugs and medicines ; Appleton & Elliott, groceries, dry goods, hardware, and man- ufacturers of window glass ; William Lamson, a very popular trader, dry and fancy goods, groceries and crockery ; Justus Perry, dry goods, groceries, crockery, and manufacturer of glass hollow ware; Dr. Hough, dry goods, groceries, drugs and medicines ; and Lynds Wheelock, a successful trader in dry goods, groceries, crockery and glass-ware. Another store, the seventh, was then closed by the sheriff. which I desired to re-open by purchasing the goods. This I did, and here I have been since-forty-nine years, in the business of dry goods, groceries, crockery, glass and silverware, watches jew- elry and carpets-perfectly satisfied with my location, business and success."
We would also add, Mr. Gerould is still one of the honored citizens of the place he has so long made his home.
MANUFACTURES.
Cheshire county, with perhaps a few towns in the northerly portion of Worcester county, Mass., adjacent thereto, may be regarded as the birth- place of wooden-ware manufacturing, and until 1860 it was noted as the principal center of that class of manufacture, and it is yet quite a prominent industry of the vicinity, though the business, as it has extended, has gone largely to other places where timber is more plentiful. It is said that the first wooden-pails made by machinery were manufactured at Keene, by Jehiel Wilson, who now resides at South Keene.
The manufacture of clothes-pins by machinery is said to have originated in Rindge, or Winchendon, Mass., and forty years ago was confined almost exclusively to a few towns in that immediate vicinity. The machinery then used was of the most primitive nature, consisting only of the hand lathe, in which the pins were turned by the " gouge and chisel," applied by the dextrous hand of the workman, and a few circular saws used in preparation of the timber and in cutting the slots. At that time the product of a shop em- ploying half a dozen operatives would be about sixty gross per day ; but soon after this the introduction of special machinery began to increase the facilities of production, and to-day the output of a like number of operatives would be at least five times as great as in 1845. With improved facilities and increas- ing demand, a larger number of manufactories sprung up in different parts of the county, until at one time, from 1855 to 1865, perhaps forty or fifty might have been enumerated, with capacities for turning out from 100 to 300 or 400 gross of pins each per day. Limited timber supply, however, has caused them to scatter in various directions, until at present we think only two of any note remain-those of Z. Willard and Farwell Bros., of Harrisville.
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CITY OF KEENE.
The manufacture of shoe-pegs was formerly carried on at Chesterfield, Swanzey, Troy and Dublin, and, from 1861 to 1865, quite extensively at Keene, where they have been made on a quite limited scale until within two or three years past. But this business is now numbered among the things of the past in this section of the country, having been transferred principally to a few establishments located in Pennsylvania, with two or three perhaps in New York and northern New Hampshire. Most of the modern machinery for this branch of manufacturing is of New Hampshire origin, and from 1860 to 1870, and later, it was manufactured largely at Keene, whence it has been sent to various parts of the United States, British provinces, and Germany.
In the line of machinery, Keene was the starting point of the J. A. Fay & Co., and other extensive wood-working machinery establishments, which now have branches at Cincinnatti, Chicago, New York, and Norwich, Conn., and formerly at Worcester, Mass. The business having developed from a small beginning in the manufacture of patent mortising machines, by one George Page, at a shop on Washington street, operated by horse-power. This afterwards engaged the attention of the late Hon. Thomas M. Ed- wards and Aaron Davis, who had a small iron foundry at South Keene, to which place the works were removed, and a manufactory driven by water- power was established. They were afterward joined by J. A. Fay, an ener- getic and shrewd business man, who succeeded in developing the business so largely and rapidly as to give occasion for the establishment of branch manufactories at Norwich, Conn., Worcester, Mass., and Cincinnati, Ohio, while that at Keene grew to mammoth proportions, and was continued until after the death of Mr. Fay, being wound up by the resident partner and manager, Edwin Joslin, Esq., who retired from active business in that line, and transferred its good-will to the branch at Norwich, which is still continued under the style of C. B. Rogers & Co., who have sales-rooms at New York city, while the branch at Cincinnati continues under the old and widely-known firm name of J. A. Fay & Co., with branch sales- rooms at Chicago, New York, &c. The Worcester branch having been sold many years since to Messrs. R. Ball & Co., and later to Messrs. Witherby, Rugg & Richardson, who are at present extensively engaged in the manufac- ture of a line of wood-working machinery which has been developed from the parent establishment many years ago at Keene.
The manufacture of glass was also carried on quite extensively at one time. For this purpose the New Hampshire Glass Co. was incorporated, about the close of the war of 1812. They carried on the manufacture of window-glass about one year, upon the present site of the county jail, when they failed. Aaron Appleton and his nephew, John Elliott, then purchased the property, and the business was conducted by them or under their auspices until about 1845, when circumstances arose which rendered the manufacture of glass unprofitable here, and it was abandoned. The land was sold as a site for the county jail in 1884. A company was also formed, about 1815, for manufac-
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CITY OF KEENE.
turing glass bottles, of which Henry Schoolcraft was manager. This com- pany also failed, and the plant was sold to Justus Perry, who accumulated a handsome property in the manufacture of demijons and black bottles. His half-brother, Samuel, and Quincey Wheeler succeeded him in the business, which they carried on until 1840 or '45, when it was removed to Stoddard, where, after a few years, the buildings burned, and the business ceased.
Cheshire Steam Mills .- In the latter part of 1854 a large lot of old growth pine timber was blown down on land situated in the northerly part of the town, and to work the same into merchantable lumber a steam mill of about fifty horse power was erected on Court street, by Messrs. Stephen and Charles Chase, which was operated by them some five or six years, when it was sold to Charles Chase and Madison Fairbanks, who removed it to a site on Davis and Ralston streets, near the Ashuelot railroad, about 1860, putting up quite extensive shops, and increasing the steam plant to about 120 horse-power, which was used by various manufacturing enterprises, such as saw and grist-mills, machine shop, and manufacture of pails, shoe-pegs, sash, blinds and doors, etc., etc., being run by Messrs. Chase and Fairbanks, and afterward by Mr. Fairbanks alone, until January 15, 1869, when the main building was burned. It was partially rebuilt, however, by Mr. Fairbanks, but soon after sold to Hon. S. W. Hale, who disposed of portions of the estate to A. B. Heywood and D. W. Beekly, who erected a brick building about 80 x 45 feet, three stories in height, and afterward (about 1872) disposed of the same by sale and lease to W. B. Wadner, of Boston, who, being unable to operate it profitably, discontinued business and transferred his interests to a Mr. H. Emerson, also of Boston. After standing idle several years, the property was again pur- chased by Mr. Hale, who made extensive additions to the buildings, which were furnished with machinery for the manufacture of furniture, which busi- ness was run until the buildings were destroyed by fire, July 23, 1884. As the engine and boiler, etc., were but slightly injured, it is probable that the mills will again be rebuilt.
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