USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Concord > History of Concord, New Hampshire, from the original grant in seventeen hundred and twenty-five to the opening of the twentieth century, Volume I > Part 68
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5
00
00
66 1 pare of woman's white do,
2
13
00
66 3 yards of hat crape, at 50s,
7
10
00
Contra Rumford, January 15, 1763.
Cr.
By sundries brought from old ledger,
156
08
08
April 5 " cash
124
17 00
June 6 " cash, in full,
94
00
00
JOHN CHANDLER, DR.
1765
June 13 To 4 buttons
1 00 00
Mar. 11 " 1 / 2 bowl of tody
0
07
00
1 1 / 2 yds. of blue broadcloth, 17s.,
25
10 00
" 2 doz. buttons, at 30s
3 00 00
" 8 jacket do.,
0 10 00
1 1 / 2 yds. of blue camblet, 6
00 00
" 1 qt of rum at 24s, and 2 bowls of tody 2
12 00
July 22 " 1 gall. of W. I. Rum, 6s., 6 00
00
REV. TIMOTHY WALKER.
1763
Dec. 9 To the balance of your account 26
15 00
" 3 yds. of red shoe-binding, by Judith
0 09 00
Dec. 8 " 1 1 / 4 lb. of chalk, at 40s.,
2 10 00
66 " 2 qts of rum,
3
00 00
1764
Jan'y 2 " 1 / 4 lb of pepper, 18s.,
0
18 00
Feb'y 2 " 1 quart of W. I. rum, 35s.,
1
15 00
66 1 / 4 of bnckram,
0
12 00
66 16 " 1 gall. of W. I. rum, by Mr. Tim.,
6 00 00
June 2 " 1 / 8 yd of cambrick, by Judith, at 11s.,
1 08 00
66 66 " 1 punch bowl, at 15s., 0 15 00
66
" 1 / 8 yd of gauze, and to 1 / 2 skein of silk 1 04 06
66 2 2 qts. of rum, 00 3 00
Aug. 9 " Sundries paid Mr. Paul Burbeen, 50 00 00
66
11 " 1 gallon of rum, at 6s., 6 00 00
1 08 00
634
HISTORY OF CONCORD.
In a money point of view no industry has contributed more largely and more constantly to the material advancement of Concord than the granite business, and none can show more conspicuous evidences of aggressiveness and growth. From the Rattlesnake ledges have come many of the costly and stately ed- ifices now adorning cities stretching from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, while in the produc- tion of lesser but more endearing works, such as pub- lic shafts and pri- vate monuments, the number would be impossible to esti- mate. And yet the hidden wealth of the shapely hill was touched into life only a few decades ago. Simeon Abbott used to tell how his father bought thirty- six acres of Rattle- snake hill for fifty cents an acre, and how he sold a single rock for one hun- dred and ten dollars to Gass & Johnson, who in turn sold it on a contract at the state prison for fif- teen hundred and Granite Quarries. forty dollars, where
it was hammered and sent to New Orleans for the United States cus- tom house, and brought the sum of six thousand dollars. It is not an uninteresting incident to learn the process by which this particular "rock " was blasted, inasmuch as its contents formed one of the most historic structures in the country during the period of the Civil War.
4
635
MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT.
Seam-shot blasting was then tried for the first time, a seam being made by wedges driven through the depths of the rock and sand poured in to fill the crevices. The workmen then put twenty-five pounds of powder in the middle and over that they spread sand com- pactly pressed. The fuse was inserted in a thistle-stalk and the slow match made of tow extended to a safe distance. The explosion was all that could be desired, for the result produced eleven thousand feet of dimension stone, besides a large quantity of cellar and refuse mate- rial. In 1819, in connection with the work of the state convicts, Gass & Johnson made contracts for supplying Concord granite to builders in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, water carriage being the means of transportation, as the Boston and Concord Boating Company had then begun operations. For many years this stone was almost wholly worked and cut in the prison, but after 1834 or thereabouts this trade gradually dwindled from among men serving time for public crimes, and very properly became the calling of many of our citizens. In the building of the Washington monument the block presented by New Hampshire was taken from our ledges, and measured when finished four feet and two inches in width and eigh- teen inches in thickness.
Granite, which is really Concord's one raw material, has had much to do with the prosperity of the people, both in its quarrying and in its working, and yet its history is not a long one. In a small and irregular way granite has been used by builders and monument mak- ers for a considerable period, but its larger and more extensive use has only come about within the memory of many of Concord's middle- aged citizens.
The first considerable undertaking in granite building was the old state prison, built in 1812. A few years later, in 1816, the erection of the state house was begun and completed in 1819, the granite being quarried at Rattlesnake, and hammered by the convicts in the prison. In 1834 Luther Roby and William Green acquired what was known as the Summit ledge, and opened and worked, it is said, the first quarry ; for before that time nearly all the granite had been taken from boulders. This original quarry, now filled in, was not far from the spring in the rear of the new state prison. Although Mr. Roby was first and last a printer, he gave considerable attention to this new industry, and during his ownership opened other good quarries, among them the one now operated by the Granite Railway Company. The quarry of this company is found on what is almost the highest point of Rattlesnake hill, not far from the village of West Concord, and about one thousand five hundred feet from the main highway.
This company, under the energetic and intelligent management
636
HISTORY OF CONCORD.
of Oliver E. Sheldon, in the sixties gave to Concord granite its great start as a distinct and beautiful material for building and monumental purposes. Among the imposing and excellent work from this quarry are the grand monoliths and capitals of our state house, the city hall in Boston, the Charter Oak building in Hartford, the Equitable and the Staats Zeitung building in New York. Between this quarry and the highway is the Hollis quarry, formerly carried on by Thomas Hollis, from which came the beautiful "Ether " monument in the Boston Public Gardens, whose figure representing the Good Samari- tan is considered one of the finest pieces of granite sculpture in the world.
South of the Granite Railway quarry some twelve hundred feet, and about as far distant from the highway, is the Fuller quarry, long operated by Henry M. Fuller, Andrew J. Holmes, and Carlos G. Pressy, and bought in 1882 by Sargent & Sullivan.
This quarry, under the management of this last-named firm, fur- nished the stone for the Concord post-office and court house, the Manchester post-office, and also for the soldiers' monument in the latter city. Again to the south three hundred feet is the Blanchard quarry, long worked by David Blanchard, and close by lies the Donegan & Davis quarry. Southwest from here are the Runals, Davis, and Sweat quarries, which produced the stone for the Boston Masonic Temple.1 South of these works and about two thousand fcet from the state prison is the quarry now known as the New Eng- land quarry, No. 1. It was formerly the property of the Concord Granite Company, which under the management of E. C. Sargent furnished the material for the custom house in Portland, the Suffolk Savings bank, the Massachusetts Historical Society, and other well- known edifices in Boston. This afterwards came into the ownership of Sargent & Sullivan, who carried it on for several years when they sold it, together with the Fuller quarry, to the New England Granite Works of Hartford, Conn. This quarry will go down in history as the birthplace of the magnificent Congressional Library at Washington, for from here came the material, and in the shops of the company were cut and formed the graceful and beautiful features of that imposing structure. The contract involved was one of the larg- est ever known in the building world, calling for three hundred and fifty thousand cubic feet of granite and one million three hundred thousand dollars in money. To complete the whole contract required six years. The work kept more than three hundred men busily em- ployed, and the money paid in wages was not far from one million dollars ; while to transport to Washington the results of this vast
1 Destroyed by fire.
637
MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT.
labor called into use upwards of twenty-two hundred railway cars. The president of this corporation was James G. Batterson of Hart- ford, one of the foremost business men of America, a man of bound- less energy and executive capacity, identified with insurance as well as marble, onyx, and granite interests.
Southeast of quarry No. 1 is the large quarry of Ola Anderson, while across the railroad are his cutting sheds. The soldiers' arch in front of the state house came from this quarry.
The extent of the granite industry is shown not alone by the great quarries with their lofty mast-like derricks, but also by the numer- ous yards seattered in the vicinity of Rattlesnake. From 1890 to 1901 the number of persons and companies engaged in cutting or pol- ishing or in quarrying, or both, is considerable, including Frank R. Clark, John McGuire & Co., L. O. & H. B. Peabody at West Con- cord, who carry on both quarrying and cutting, Hanneberry & Halli- gan, William Hodge, The New Hampshire Granite Company, a co- operative company, C. Trenoweth & Co., Oliver Racine, Thomas H. Dunston, W. C. Fraser & Son, Thomas Nawn, George F. Clark, A. G. MeAlpine & Co., Thomas Fox, W. S. Lougee, John Tressider & Son, C. Dimond, La Rochelle & Fanney, J. Rankin, John Swenson, The Capital City Granite Company, Orrin Whidden, M. G. Gannon & Son, W. N. Howard, Thomas Harrison, James Clancy & Com- pany, M. McGuire, William Foley & Son, Charles McDonald, Sylva- nus and Andrew Smith, Otis Trussell, W. H. Perry.
Nutting & Hayden carry on a large tool manufacturing business, and in Penacook is the polishing shop of the Merrimack Polishing Company, and in the same ward machinery used in the granite indus- try is made by the Concord Axle Company.
In 1854 there were thirty men employed in our granite industries. In 1874 there were five hundred, with a pay-roll amounting to three hundred and sixty-four thousand dollars, and with an output of eight hundred thousand dollars; but the greatest activity followed the con- tract for the Congressional Library, when the industry gave employ- ment in all departments to more than a thousand men, who with their families made Wards 3, 4, and 9 among the most active and pros- perous sections of the city.
Whatever turn the future may take respecting the material advance- ment of Concord, carriage and coach making will always be insepara- bly associated with the name of the town itself. As a distinct trade, carriage building may be said to have begun with the coming to Con- cord of Lewis Downing in the early years of the last century, though prior to that time there were a few blacksmiths and wheelwrights do- ing repairs and mending. Among the wheelwrights were Thomas W.
638
HISTORY OF CONCORD.
Thorndike and John Titcomb, both of whom carried on their small business for many years, probably, before the following card was in- serted in the columns of the New Hampshire Patriot, on August 3d, 1813 :
Lewis Downing respectfully informs the inhabitants of Con- eord and its vicinity That he has commenced the wheelwright business in Coneord, near Mr. William Austins' Store where he flatters himself that by strict and constant attention to business and the correct and faithful manner in which his work will be executed, to merit the patronage of the public. N. B. carriages of all kinds repaired on the shortest notice.
Lewis Downing was born in Lexington, Mass., the 23d of June, 1792, and there learned his trade from his father and an elder brother, both of whom were skilful workmen. He came to Concord in April, 1813, and opened his shop as stated in the Patriot, its situa- tion being two or three doors south of the corner of what is now Main and Washington streets. Two years later he bought the " Dun- can Estate," so-called, at the south end, and moved his business there in May, 1816. This property had a frontage of five hundred feet on Main street, and, like nearly all the "lots " on the west side of South Main street, at that time, extended through to what is now South street, thus comprising a territory that in after years developed into a rieh and populous section of the eity.
On the site of the large establishment of our day, Mr. Downing built his first shop, employing but few hands and using no power machinery. At that time he made Concord wagons and some heavier wagons for the freight traffie, then in its infancy, between Boston and towns in New Hampshire and Vermont. Soon was added the building of the famous two-wheeled chaise, the ancient vehicle of luxurious dignity-one of the first becoming the property of Nathan- iel Bouton, who had then just entered upon his long ministry among our people. It is a record in the old day-book kept by Mr. Down- ing, that the first Concord wagon was sold to Benjamin Kimball, Jr., in November, 1813, for sixty dollars. Up to about the year 1826 there were not more than a dozen workmen, but from that time the business began to grow; for the possibilities connected with coach building suggested themselves to the energetie proprietor, and he de- termined to make stage-coaches a feature of his business. In pursu- anee of this plan he engaged a young and well recommended artisan of Salem, Mass., to come to Concord and build for him three coach bodies, the rest of the work being done by Mr. Downing and his workmen. The name of the young artisan was J. Stephens Abbot, and the first stage-coach, the joint product of his and others' skill,
639
MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT.
was sold in July, 1827, to John Shepard, a well-known stage driver of the period. This was the first vehicle of that kind ever made north of Salem, and was the pioneer of that long train of coaches which penetrated to the remotest parts of the earth, to California, Australia, Peru, and the Transvaal ; wherever venturesome civiliza- tion pushed its way the Concord coach was sure to be seen. A part- nership was now formed (1828) under the name of Downing & Abbot, continuing until 1847, when it was mutually dissolved. Two firms resulted from this change. Mr. Abbot kept the shops and plant at the South end, taking as partner his eldest son, Edward A. Abbot, the firm becoming J. S. & E. A. Abbot, while Mr. Down- ing built new shops west of Main street opposite the Phenix hotel, and took into partnership his sons, Lewis Downing, Jr., and Alonzo Downing, under the firm name of L. Downing & Sons. Business increased largely with both firms, the help numbering upwards of two hundred, who were for the most part skilled workmen. The Civil War, calling for ambulances, baggage wagons, quartermasters' teams, and gun carriages, gave a great impulse to this Concord indus- try, while the opening of new countries increased the demand for stages and mail carts.
On the 1st of January, 1865, Lewis Downing, senior, after half a century of active labor, retired, the Main street property was sold, and the firm of Abbot, Downing & Company formed, which continued un- til 1873, when it was succeeded by the present corporation, the Abbot- Downing Company. The works at the South end were greatly en- larged, new power and machinery put in, and the capital stock fixed at four hundred thousand dollars. For several years prior to 1873 the firm of Harvey, Morgan & Co. (George P. Harvey, Rufus M. Morgan, and J. C. Harvey) had carried on the carriage-making business on the east side of Main street nearly opposite Fayette street, but their business and shops were now merged in the new corporation, and the members of the firm became shareholders and active factors in the conduct of the Abbot-Downing Company. The works covered six acres of ground, and two hundred and seventy-five men found em- ployment. The workmen there have always represented the best product of New England, skilled and well-to-do, most of them own- ing honses and other property, men of consideration in the commu- nity, many of whom having been called to publie office in the city and state governments. Some of these workmen have been con- nceted with the Abbots and the Downings since youth, and at a dinner given to the forcemen of the shops by Lewis Downing, Jr., the president of the corporation, in May, 1897, it being the sixtieth anni- versary of Mr. Downing's connection with this business, three of those
640
HISTORY OF CONCORD.
present had seen more than fifty years of continuous serviee, while all had grown grey in the service of the company.
It is estimated that during the last half century the pay-rolls of the Abbot-Downing Company show that a sum aggregating eight million dollars has been paid for labor, nearly every dollar of which has been of direct value to Concord and its citizens. As nearly all this money came from ont of the city it may readily be seen how powerful an influence the carriage-building industry has been in laying some of the foundations of the city's prosperity. With such a profitable industry as the example presented by Abbot & Downing, it was not strange that other shops for carriage making were started at different times. At West Concord, Chandler Eastman & Sons have carried on this kind of business for three generations, and their shops to-day contribute their share to the eommereial energy of the city. At the North end, adjoining the North church, was for many years the ear- riage works of Samuel M. Griffin, and in the rear of State street, near Pleasant, were the shops of Flanders, Houston & White, all giving good employment to from sixty to one hundred men.
The Concord harness, like the Coneord wagon, has brought fame and fortune to our people, and like the other industry, its beginnings were also humble. James R. Hill eame to town in the early forties and began business alone, working day and night, and never failing to keep his engagements. One of his first shops was in the rear of what is now Exchange bloek, whence, driven by fire; he went to the west side of Main street, occupying several loeations before building the present manufactory. In 1865 Mr. Hill formed a partnership with George H. Emery and Josiah E. Dwight, who finally succeeded to the extensive business. One hundred, and sometimes many more than that number, of skilled workmen found employment in this industry, and the pay-roll has had much influence in adding wealth to the city. As a curious fact it may be noted that a majority of the Canadian French families that first eame to the city were represented by some member who found work in Hill's harness shop.
The manufacture of musical instruments has been one of Coneord's oldest industries, one firm, that of Preseott, having a business eareer of more than eighty years. Abraham Preseott, the founder, eoming to Concord in 1834, from Deerfield, where he had carried on a small business as a "'eello" maker, continued and enlarged his trade by including reed instruments and organs. In 1845 the business name became Abraham Prescott & Son, afterwards Preseott & Brother, the elder Prescott having retired, and in 1858 Prescott Brothers (Abra- ham J. and George D. B.). In 1886 the manufacture of organs was discontinued, the entire attention of the firm being then given to the
611
MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT.
making of upright pianos. The Prescott Piano Company was incor- porated in 1891 with a capital of fifty thousand dollars; the officers at the present time being Willis D. Thompson, president, and George D. B. Prescott, treasurer.
The factory was for many years in Merchant's exchange, after- wards at the south end of Main street, near the railroad, which was completely destroyed by tire carly in 1896, entailing a large loss and compelling a removal to the building erected by Samuel M. Griffin, adjoining the North church, as a carriage shop, and subsequently occupied by the Haley Manufacturing Company for drawing wire, skate making, and other purposes. The manber of skilled workmen employed varies from thirty to forty, many of them having been connected with the shops for periods of twenty-five years and even longer. It is estimated that since the beginning up to the present. time more than eight hundred thousand dollars have been paid as wages to these employees, and of this a very large part has been distributed at home.
Among others engaged at different times in the manufacture of organs, melodeons, and various parts of musical instruments, were Charles Austin, David M. Dearborn, Daniel F. Secomb, Morrison & Courser, Ballon & Curtis, Levi Liscom, A. F. Severance, Daniel B. Bartlett, Joseph W. Prescott, and Jacob B. Rand.
In 1850 James S. Norris bought out the bakery business of Ebenezer Symmes, and cularging the plant by adding a confectionery branch, made his business one of the largest in the state. For many years the late George W. Crockett, former postmaster, was a partner, and since his death the business is conducted by James C. Norris & Company.
The Blanchard Churn was long one of the sterling products of Concord's industry, and for many years it occupied a foremost place among the dairy implements of this as well as foreign countries. The making of churns began in 1818 by Porter Blanchard, and con- tinned by him and his sons, Charles P. and George A. Blanchard, for more than seventy years. Their last factory was in the brick building in the rear of Stickney's new block. In connection with this business the older Mr. Blanchard made drums. Thousands and thousands of churns were maifactured in Concord, and the business gave steady employment to many workmen.
On the site of the Statesman building was once a busy factory, occupied by Joseph Palmer in the manufacture of wagon springs, known in commercial phrase as " Palmer spring." A score or more operatives found work in that industry, while across the street stood the silver-plating establishment of Smith & Walker.
The Page Belting Company, second to no industrial establishment
42
642
HISTORY OF CONCORD.
in Concord, has long exercised a deep business influence among our people. The site of the works on the highway leading around Horseshoe pond is on a spot used for one enterprise after another for several years before it passed into the control of the Page brothers ; once there was a large steam sawmill on the premises, and after- wards the extensive tannery of Cyrus R. Robinson & Company, the last occupants, who sold the property to George F. and Charles T. Page in 1871. Since then the history of the property has been one of constant change and growth, until the plant became one of the largest in New England. The beginnings were small, but improve- ments began to be soon manifest in the enlargement of the plant and conduct of the business. In 1872 a charter was granted by the legislature and the capital stock fixed at seventy-five thousand dol- lars, which was subsequently increased to one hundred and twenty- five thousand dollars, then to two hundred thousand dollars, and in 1891 to five hundred thousand dollars. In 1880 the capacity of the works was about five hundred hides a week, which was increased each year until it was doubled. In the meanwhile the number of hands employed kept increasing, going from eighty to one hundred and ninety, the pay-roll showing a similar increase year by year until it amounted to nearly one hundred thousand dollars annually. From power of fifty-horse rate the increase advanced to three times that, while the value of the goods more than doubled. The total capacity in 1899 was twelve hundred hides a week or some sixty thousand in a year, representing a quantity of leather equal to more than a mil- lion pounds. The employees of this company come from all nation- alities, even Armenians are found, and the product of their united labors finds markets in every civilized country on the globe.
Concord has long been noted for the excellence of its iron work, and the foundries have done their part towards the city's growth. When William P. Ford came to Concord in 1837 there was a small foundry situated on Warren street, nearly opposite the Central Fire Station, carried on by Reuben Martin and Edmund Davis, who em- ployed a few workmen. There Mr. Ford went to work as a moulder, and the next year became a member of the firm under the name of Martin & Company. In 1843 the firm was Ford & Pillsbury (Thomas W. Pillsbury), and so continued until 1846, when the latter retired and Theodore H. Ford was admitted. In 1850 the old foundry on Warren strect was abandoned for a new building at the North end, and in 1860 the firm bought the large plant of John D. Cooper & Company, near the tracks of the Concord Railroad, carrying on both establishments until 1865, when the partnership was dissolved and two new firms succeeded. William P. Ford retained the foundry at
643
MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT.
the North end, which became known as William P. Ford & Company (George H. Marston), John W. Ford being afterwards admitted, and so continued until the death of the senior partner in 1901. The South end business was made into a partnership consisting of Theo- dore H. Ford and Benjamin A. Kimball, which continued until 1892, when Mr. Ford dying and Mr. Kimball retiring, the present firm of Ford & Kimball (Jerome Ford and Henry A. Kimball), sons of the original partners, succeeded to the business. This firm has done a general foundry business, including brass mouldings, and has also been a large maker of car wheels, while that of William P. Ford & Company has confined its work to the making of stoves, sinks, and ploughs. Both firms do a large business, giving constant employ- ment to about fifty men.
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