History of Carroll County, New Hampshire, Part 107

Author: Merrill, Georgia Drew
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Boston : W.A. Fergusson & Co.
Number of Pages: 1124

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Kennett's Spool Factory. - Henry Metcalf came to Conway in 1881 and built the spool factory near the railroad. He died after conducting it for some years, and in June, 1888, the present owner, Alpheus C. Kennett, bought it. He employs fifty hands. Peter Mitehell is superintendent. Mr Kennett uses in his factory a million feet of white birch annually. The power is produced

1874 he was assistant treasurer of Conway Savings Bank for eleven years, when he was chosen treasurer. IIe was one of the incorporators of the bank. He has done much probate business, and has had many complicated cases to unravel. He has been many times administrator, executor, and guardian, has held the commission of justice since 1861, and has been notary public about the same length of time, and was postmaster of Conway under President Cleveland. He is accurate and painstaking, au I discharges all trusts with ability and integrity. He married Sophia Greenwood, of Farmington, Maine, and has two children now living, George S. and HIenri P. A strong and true friend, a sagacious counselor, a lover of learning and advanced thought, Mr Wilder is one of Conway's leading men.

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HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.

by a steam-engine of 125-horse-power. He has a sawmill here, where last winter was sawed about 2,000,000 feet. Daily product of finished spools, one thousand gross. These are shipped mostly to the Middle and Western states and Canada, but the Mile End Spool Cotton Company, of Newark, N. J., uses the larger part.

The Conway House, built in 1850 by Samuel Thom, Nathaniel Abbott, and Hiram C. Abbott, was the finest house in the north part of the state. It was the hotel of all the section, the centre of the numerous stage lines, and has been patronized by many men of world-wide celebrity. Under Horace Fabyan and other landlords of repute, it was much frequented by summer visitors. Leavitt H. Eastman, the popular sheriff and insurance agent, was its genial host for years. Recently A. C. Fowler made extensive improvements on the hotel property, which have been continued by the present proprietors, L. L. Blood & Son. It accommodates seventy-five guests. The house was patron- ized by a throng of people this summer, and the poet Whittier was among the guests.

The Pequawket House, near the station, is the oldtime inn. It commands a lovely view. Daniel E. Pendexter is the proprietor, and is ever ready to entertain a guest with valuable information concerning the mountain region or with pleasant stories to while away the time.

Jonathan T. Chase (born 1794, died 1870), a clothier, came from Sanborn- ton and carried on cloth-dressing and wool-carding at the mill privilege by the iron bridge in Conway village for many years. He was a rigid Democrat and the first judge of probate of Carroll County, holding the office fifteen years. He built and occupied the house now the residence of C. W. Wilder. By his first wife, Fanny M., he had Francis R. (see article on Courts and Lawyers) and Laura A. (Mrs Hiram C. Abbott). By his second wife, Adeline F., he had William C., now a resident of Laconia. He was succeeded in business by Chase & Thomas Taylor, who conducted it for a long time.

William K. Eastman, a native of Loudon, came to Conway village from Concord about 1825, built the house now occupied by George H. Heath for his residence, and engaged in tanning. His tanyard stood where B. F. Clark has his garden. He began the manufacture of straw (binder's) board about 1845, erecting large buildings on the lower privilege on Pequawket stream, and with his sons, William W. and Hasket D., as Wm. K. Eastman & Sons, conducted business there until 1853, when they bought the clothing mills that Jonathan T. Chase had built on the east side of Pequawket stream (near the iron bridge), enlarged them, and extensively operated them until 1860, when Eastman & Pendexter (H. D. Eastman, Daniel E. Pendexter) became proprietors for eight or nine years. Then Mr Eastman was succeeded by Albert Merrill. Two or three years later A. Merrill & Son (Leroy S.) succeeded to the business and conducted it till Mr Merrill's death. The business was then dropped.

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The property is owned by L. S. Merrill and leased by Otis B. Merrill, who manufactures and finishes lumber. William K. Eastman was a prominent and successful man; acquired wealth, and benefited the community where he lived. He died in Minneapolis, Minn., in 1887, aged ninety-three years, eight months, thirteen days, and was buried in Conway. His sons, Hasket D., John W., William W., George H., are all prominent and wealthy citizens of Minneapolis, where the family has resided some years. W. W. Eastman is building the colossal Hotel Eastman at Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Davis & Fifield (Frank W. Davis and H. Boardman Fifield) are dealers in dry and fancy goods, clothing, boots and shoes, carpetings, jewelry, musical merchandise, ete., at Conway. Mr Davis erected the building now occupied by this firm, and carried on a general country store for a few years. He subsequently sold out the grocery and hardware departments and gave special attention to the line of goods carried by the present firm. January 1, 1885, H. B. Fifield became associated with him as partner, with the firm-name of Davis & Fifield. Since that time the business has been conducted on a strictly cash system, and by this method they have been enabled to give their custom- ers better goods at lower prices. Their trade has steadily increased, until at present there is not a store in the county, and but few in the state, that carries a more complete line of goods or does a larger business. The store is large, commodious, and comfortably heated. Mr Davis and Mr Fifield are pleasant, courteous gentlemen, worthy of their success and the patronage of the community.

J. M. Fifield & Co. (F. W. Davis and H. B. Fifield), dealers in flour, groceries, hardware, crockery, paints, shingles, etc., occupy a store in the same building with Davis & Fifield, and do an extensive business. J. M. Fifield is the manager. Mrs E. J. Shackford has a fine stock of millinery and fancy goods in this building.

G. F. Ridlon also keeps fancy goods and carries on the millinery business.

Sawyer Brothers (Sylvanus A. and Irving A.) were in trade opposite the Conway House from 1876 to 1882. From that date S. A. continued the business. The firm is now Sawyer & Hale, Frank W. Hale purchasing an interest in June, 1888. Irving A. Sawyer has been in trade alone on the North Conway road since 1882.

Elijah B. Carlton, a native of Eaton, succeeded to the Conway business of his brother, J. A. Carlton, in 1881. He is a live merchant, doing a busi- ness of $20,000 a year.

Levi C. Quint was born in Conway, his parents coming from North Berwick, Maine. He learned the tanner's trade of Joseph Hodsdon at Ossipee, and established himself in this in a small way during the Civil War, about two and one half miles above Conway on the west side of the Saco. In 1866 he removed to Conway village, and with Otis Buckman, of Bingham-

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HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.

ton, N. Y., formed the shoe-manufacturing firm of L. C. Quint & Co. This he purchased entirely the next year and closed up business. He was then foreman for W. H. Allen & Warren, and later clerk in their store. June 11, 1876, he began trading on his own account and has been in business ever since, combining lumbering, farming, and other enterprises with merchandis- ing. His range of merchandise is large, embracing dry-goods, groceries, grain, flour, boots and shoes, hides, skins, bark, wood, lumber, tools, hardware, and labor-saving farm machinery.

Allen & Warren for many years did an enormous business in tanning, lumbering, and merchandising. They did much to develop the resources of the town, and brought much money here, and were in active operation until about 1875. Their store was where Sawyer & Hale now trade, and their tannery and lumber-mill at the lower privilege on the outlet of Pequaw- ket ponds. The privilege was later leased by John B. Smith and Henry Bishop, who began making long and step ladders and clothes-horses in 1882. In 1884 Smith became sole owner, and in 1887 put in two portable mills to grind corn. He manufactures one hundred thousand feet of ladders annually, and sells five carloads of cracked corn and meal monthly.

Otis B. Merrill, son of Albert Merrill, manufactures lumber, shingles, etc., at the upper mills.

Leroy S. Merrill, a native of Conway, is an undertaker, and manufactures light wagons, carriages, burial caskets, etc. He has been in the business thirty-five years and proprietor for ten years. He has also a spool-mill, which at times employs several hands. His son, Archer H., has a carriage blacksmith shop in connection with his father's works.

J. H. Berry has a gristmill and lumber manufactory on the upper privilege on Pequawket stream. This is one of the oldest occupied mill sites in town.

Fred Eaton manufactures carriages and sleighs and conducts undertaking.

H. D. Davis, near the railroad station, deals in flour, corn, oats, etc.

S. S. Lovejoy, near the station, combines the sale of fruits, confectionery, etc., with tonsorial work.

Several minor tradesmen are located here.

NORTH CONWAY has a world-wide fame as the centre of White Mountain travel. It is one of the leading of White Mountain resorts, and has the advantages of two railroads, which run numerous trains in the summer, and impart a metropolitan activity. The village is on a terrace overlooking the intervales of the Saco, and the drainage is perfect. An irregular street, wind- ing and turning in artistic abandonment, is bordered by elegant houses, old- time rambling structures, unimposing business houses, and large hotels with unfenced grounds. A beautiful park fronts the Boston & Maine station. Side streets shoot off from the long main street, and cozy homes, summer boarding- houses, attractive churches, pine groves, artists' studios, and magnificent moun-

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tain prospects mix and mingle in the spectator's vision. It is a city of summer hotels. In the winter a quiet, uneventful place, it gives no promise of its summer brilliancy, and few things remind one of it except the closed hotels, the matchless view of Mount Washington in the clear, frosty air, the changing and witching play of light on the ridge of Mote, and the startling nearness of snow-crowned Kearsarge. But in the summer it is a city among the hills. The strange enchantment of its witching beauty is felt by thousands who hurry and jostle along its crowded streets, or fill the long lines of coaches, carriages, buggies, and "buckboards," in haste to visit the myriad places of entrancement in the vicinity. The unchained Saco now winds along in a vale of emerald, flashing its waters in many a fairy nook of beauty. The pine groves are resinous with perfume, and invite to long walks, no one knows whither. The mountain brooks chatter down the steep sides of the neighbor- ing steeps, and all is activity, bustle, and enjoyment. The large hotels and summer houses are thronged with people. The stations are crowded at all hours, and the whistles of arriving and departing trains seem almost continuous. Such is North Conway in the summer.

The term North Conway is applied to the three villages North Conway, Intervale, and Kearsarge Village - all within the four-mile ride "around the square." Together they have nearly thirty hotels and boarding-houses, with places of worship for Protestant Episcopal, Baptist, Congregational, Method- ist, and Swedenborgian denominations. The institutions and business interests of North Conway village are : -

LIBRARIES. - " Conway and Bartlett Library" was incorporated in 1802. In 1820 it contained one hundred and seventy-five volumes. Some of them are now in the public library.

Seavey Circulating Library. - About a quarter of a century ago, Miss H. W. Seavey, then residing at Seavey Cottage, commenced, with about sixty books, a circulating library. This number was gradually increased to three hundred. After a few years, Miss Seavey, with her sister, Miss M. A. Seavey, removed to their present home, where the library has been kept, with the excep- tion of two years, when the books were at the Old Academy building. The number of volumes is now from five to six hundred ; the books are well selected. Many of the standard authors and a variety of miscellaneous works can be found here.

Public Library. - This library was organized in 1887. There were then more than forty members. A gratifying interest in this undertaking was shown by the summer sojourners here. Mr James Schouler donated over a hundred volumes. Mrs Rebecca A. Silsbee, of Salem, also gave substantial proof of her approval in its establishment. The first officers were : N. W. Pease, president ; Mrs M. L. Mason, secretary ; James L. Gibson, treasurer ; Miss Jennie McMillan, librarian ; James Schouler, Dr J. H. Pitman, and Dr W. H. Bragdon, directors. The number of volumes is about one thousand.

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HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.

North Conway Water-works was organized under the laws of New Hamp- shire, January 19, 1883, with a capital of $8,000, which was afterwards increased to $15,000. The original stockholders were: Lycurgus Pitman, Alfred Eastman, Thomas P. Murphy, W. M. Pitman, William H. Bragdon, L. W. Brock, George V. Eastman, Charles J. Poole, James L. Gibson, W. H. Jacobs, F. L. Mason. Work was begun at once, and the company commenced to furnish water August 23, 1883, supplying forty-one hotels and families the first year. One hundred places are supplied, and the supply from the present source is adequate to fill double the present demand. The water is of extreme purity, and is drawn from the sources of Artists' brook. The reservoir stands 175 feet above Main street. W. M. Pitman has been president, and Lycurgus Pitman secretary and treasurer, from the first. Alfred Eastman was superin- tendent until 1886 ; he was succeeded by Lycurgus Pitman.

The North Conway fire district was established in 1888, and Alfred Eastman, Nathan W. Pease, and Isaac W. Kalloch were the first fire-wardens.

The North Conway Band has been in existence about twenty-five years, and consists of twenty pieces : W. B. Barnes, leader. In 1885 the members of the band built the rink from the massive timbers of the old Congregational church.

Highland Lodge, No. 24, Knights of Pythias, was organized in May, 1884, with thirty-three members, and these officers : Lycurgus Pitman, Past Chan- cellor ; Fred B. Osgood, Chancellor ; Dr J. H. Pitman, V. C .; A. B. Franklin, Prelate ; George F. Boston, M. of A. ; J. L. Gibson, K. of R. and S .; N. W. Pease, M. of E .; H. H. Dow, M. of F. The chancellors since Mr Osgood are : J. H. Pitman, A. B. Franklin, H. W. Harmon, H. B. Colbath, George F. Boston. This order has drawn its members, of whom it now numbers forty, from the best class of business men. Meetings are on the first and third,. . Fridays of each month at Masonic Hall.

For Masonie and Odd Fellows lodges see Chapter XVIII.

North Conway Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was organ- ized in August, 1885. The present officers (1889) are : Rev. Dr John Worcester, president; Mrs Helen Merriman, vice-president ; Dr Joseph H. Pitman, secre- tary ; Mrs John Bryce Carroll, Mrs M. L. Mason, James H. Gamble, John Babb, L. W. Brock, James L. Gibson, directors.

The North Conway &. Mount Kearsarge railroad was organized in April, 1885, with a capital stock of $400,000. The first board of directors was : N. W. Pease and Lycurgus Pitman, of North Conway ; J. E. Manning, of Boston ; M. C. Wentworth, of Jackson ; William Wheeler, of Concord, Mass. The officers were: N. W. Pease, president ; William Wheeler, vice-president ; Elbert Wheeler, treasurer ; Lycurgus Pitman, clerk ; George E. Mansfield, manager.

The construction of the railroad to the summit of Mt Washington proved

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such a profitable investment that several mountain railroads have been built in Europe and South America with gratifying financial results. It will not be many years before a number of the mountain peaks of New England will be ascended by these roads. The North Conway & Mount Kearsarge railroad will be of immense advantage to the people of Chatham and country farther north as a means of communication and an outlet for the immense lumber and granite product of that section, while the mountain division will afford to thousands one of the finest panoramas of scenery in the state.

RAILROAD STATIONS. - The Portland & Ogdensburgh railroad, under its management by the Maine Central, is receiving much attention. A large addition has been made to the North Conway station, which is now an elegant building with stained-glass windows, the interior of native woods finished with oil, and a marble-topped fountain in the ladies' waiting-room. James L. Gibson has been station agent since 1876, and is a courteous and capable official. The Boston & Maine station is roomy and pleasant, and of an odd Persian, or Muscovite, architecture. The large clock facing the village is an ornament as well as a thing of use. The station agent, Charles J. Poole, is pleasantly remembered by the summer travelers for his many acts of court- esy. He has been in office since the opening of the road. He is also agent of the American Express Company.

There are two physicians, one lawyer, a taxidermist, a public library, a circulating library, and various business houses. It is, however, and will ever be, chiefly a summer resort, and its hotels by far the largest business factor.

HOTELS. - In 1825, when a few summer visitors began to come hitherward, the taverns along the upper Saco from Thomas Crawford's Notch House were the little Willey House, Abel Crawford's Mt Crawford House, Samuel Still- ings's and Obed Hall's taverns at Upper Bartlett, the Meserves' East Branch House on the site of Pitman Brothers' elegant hotel bearing the same name, S. W. Thompson's small tavern where now stands the Kearsarge, Daniel Eastman's Washington House, now the Cliff, the McMillan House, Thomas Abbott's Pequawket House at Conway village, and Benjamin Osgood's at Black Cat. From 1825 occasional travelers came to see the mountains, but not till late into the thirties did people come to pass the season. At that time the three hamlets of Conway were but little dots along the pleasant winding roads, with Conway Corner as the starting-point of stages for various places, and the development of accommodations for pleasure-seekers is best given in the history of the various hotels.

Kearsarge House. - The creation of North Conway as a central point of summer travel is due largely to Samuel W. Thompson, son of Jonathan. He succeeded to the lands of his father, and in 1825 carried the mail from Conway to Littleton on horseback once a week. The route was on the west side of the Saco, and was continued in this manner for four years, when a two-horse team

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HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.

was put on. In 1837 Conway Corner was the great centre of all stage lines. Mr Thompson had opened his house as a tavern, and established an opposition stage line from Portland to Fabyan's. In three years' time he had made North Conway the established terminus of the route, and started a line from North Conway to the Glen House.1 This line he conducted until the opening of the Portland & Ogdensburgh railroad. The same year he met the artists Champ- ney and Kensett on Sebago lake. They were contemplating a trip to the mountain region, and he persuaded them to come to North Conway, and the same season fifteen artists and painters made his house their home. He made an arrangement with them to board them for a low price, carry their dinners to them, and they were to put " North Conway " on their sketches, and through these this place acquired celebrity and attracted tourists. Mr Thompson, in 1840, enlarged his house to accommodate from thirty to forty guests, cut a bridle-path to the top of Mount Kearsarge, and named his house from the mountain. On his sign and carriages he first spelled the name " Kiarsarge," but a meeting of the oldest inhabitants decided that the name was properly " Kearsarge." Sabatis, the old Pequawket Indian, gave the Indian name as Ke-sough or Ke-a-sock. Mrs Fox, who gave the name to the historic war-vessel that sunk the Alabama, came to Mr Thompson's house in delicate health. She secured Mr Thompson's personal services to aid her in an ascent of the moun- tain, and received marked benefit from the trip ; and it was repeated. She said she had these ascents in mind when she named the vessel.

Mr Thompson enlarged the Kearsarge four times to meet the increasing influx of visitors. The last was in 1871, when a stock company was formed, and the Kearsarge as it is to-day was erected, costing (with furniture) $130,000. It was opened June 19, 1872, and has accommodations for from two hundred and fifty to three hundred guests. With each addition, new improvements were introduced, new features became part of the great establish- ment, until now, in the height of summer season, it is the leading hotel, and a great emporium of business, with its large parlors, retine of servants, eleetrie lights, and stands of various articles of merchandise. Until 1878 the Kear- sarge was open all the year; since then it has been a summer hotel. S. W. Thompson conducted it until 1873, when Thompson, Son & Andrews succeeded him. S. W. & S. D. Thompson were the next proprietors, keeping it until 1881. S. W. Thompson then ran it two years, when the firm became Thomp- son & Sehoff. Mr Alfred Schoff, who is also proprietor of the Mansion House, Greenfield, Mass., has been manager since 1887.

North Conway House. - Nathaniel R. Mason was the pioneer of summer boarding. A small, one-story house of ten rooms was remodeled and enlarged

1 Later Mr Thompson bid off the mail routes (which he was instrumental in establishing) from Meredith to North Conway, Littleton to North Conway, and Portland to North Conway. From this time North Conway has been the capital of the mountain region.

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and opened as the North Conway House about 1850. It was then of its present proportions. Mr Mason continued as landlord of this house until 1881, when Mahlon L. Mason, his son, used it as a lodging-house in connection with the Sunset Pavilion for a year. In 1882 Freeman HI. Mason, son of Nathaniel, became proprietor of the hotel, but died in a few months. His suc- cessor was Levi J. Ricker, who leased the property of Mrs F. H. Mason, and still conducts it. This is the only hotel in North Conway open the whole year. It is centrally located, accommodates one hundred guests, and has a generous patronage in winter as well as in summer. Mr Ricker was born in Maine, of Carroll county parentage, commenced hotel life as steward of the Kearsarge House, and is extensively known as a pleasant and courteous landlord. In 1889 Mr Ricker transformed the old Washington House into the Cliff, furnished it with new furniture, and uses it as an adjunct to the North Conway House. No finer views can be shown than are presented from the Cliff.

The Sunset Pavilion was built in 1869 by Frank L. and Mahlon L. Mason with sixteen rooms for guests. Two years later they erected Mason's Hotel on Main street, north of the park. They soon divided their property, Frank taking Mason's Hotel (which was burned in 1882), and Mahlon the Pavilion, of which he has remained proprietor. The Sunset Pavilion has been enlarged and improved, accommodates one hundred and fifty guests, and is one of the successful hotels of the mountain region. No hotel in the White Mountains has a more beautiful situation. It is built on the famous " Sunset Bank," which forms the western wall of the plateau overlooking the intervales of the Saco, on which, sheltered by the mountains, rests North Conway village. Its ample lawn of about five acres, shaded with elm, maple, and balm of Gilead trees, is one of its charms. A piazza twelve feet wide and three hundred feet long surrounds the hotel. There is pure running water on each story, electric bells, bathroom, and large, light, and pleasant chambers. The music hall, built in 1887, is unique. It is a separate building sixty by thirty feet in size, open to the roof, and makes a delightful concert and dancing room, and keeps the hilarity of young people from disturbing quiet-loving guests.

Bellevue House. - Some years ago John A. Barnes was keeping a few guests in a cottage not far from the present Bellevue House. Selling this, he found a site from which a most charming landscape was seen, and con- structed the Bellevue. In a very short time it had attained a high degree of popularity, and this it has retained under the administration of Mr Barnes, one of Conway's most energetic and capable men, and his sons Fred, George, and Dennis. Mr Barnes died in August, 1889. The character of the house will be continued after the model of the past. "There are sufficient reasons for the Bellevue's great popularity. It is charmingly situated, - a ' beautiful

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History of Carroll County, New Hampshire, Part 107

Author: Merrill, Georgia Drew Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Boston : W.A. Fergusson & Co. Number of Pages: 1124

Author: Merrill, Georgia Drew
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Boston : W.A. Fergusson & Co.
Number of Pages: 1124