History of the city of Nashua, N.H., Part 76

Author: Parker, Edward Everett, 1842- ed; Reinheimer, H., & Co
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Nashua, N.H., Telegraph Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 652

USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Nashua > History of the city of Nashua, N.H. > Part 76

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If we look into the conditions that obtained at this time in Milford, Amherst, Hillsboro Bridge, Peterboro and kindred places, we find a restless spirit of enterprise which would have resulted in numerous small mechanical centers of a higher order than the Dunstable of 1825. Such places had begun to crystalize into the form indicated when the advent of the railway made great manufacturing centers a possibility and largely concentrated the surplus energy of such places in cities like Nashua, Manchester and Lowell.

In the winter of 1821 loungers in the country stores of Dunstable heard stories of marvelous doings at Pawtucket falls. It was reported that "no end of money had been put into a cotton mill, and hundreds of working people were finding employment, trade was good, land was rising in value." The gossip had its influence upon certain Dunstable men, who had saved money and were waiting for a good chance to invest it.

In 1822 an association was formed in Dunstable preliminary to incorporation, which purchased all lands between Mine falls and Main street, and in 1823 a charter was obtained by Daniel Abbot, Joseph Greeley, Moses Taylor, and others. The capital stock was fixed at $300,000, with the right to make it $1,000,000. This stock was divided into three hundred shares. B. F. French took thirty shares, J. E. and A. Greeley, thirty shares, Moses Taylor, thirty-six shares, Augustus Peabody of Salem, seventy-five shares, John Kendrick of Boston, fifteen shares, Daniel Webster, sixty shares. The stock was not all taken at first, and Daniel Webster never took the shares he subscribed for. The unsold shares were finally taken by Salem and Boston capitalists. The name adopted was the Nashua Manufacturing company. This company must have had on its board of directors some wise and far-seeing men to have planned the location and the surroundings of their mills and corporation houses so finely ; or was it because land cost nothing, and, having plenty of room, things, somehow, came into shape themselves.

Eben Runnells told the writer that when a boy he attended an auction of land within the present city limits, and purchased the lot at six and a quarter cents per acre.

The company first decided to locate the mills on the site they now occupy, bringing the water from Mine falls by canal. This canal was three miles long, fifty feet wide and ten feet deep, with a fall of thirty-six feet, and to dig it was a great enterprise for that day.

As a matter of fact the dam was poorly built and equipped, the canal was a ditch, the entire plant was crude and not for a moment to be compared to the efficient and finished plant of our day. The growth of this plant and of its business methods fairly represents the mechanical and business growth of its day.

The question of location must have been hard to decide. To us, of the present, it is plain, but let us wipe out all our railways, our city, and all our modern life, and the question would be hard to decide.

The first building erected was a machine shop, located on the northeast corner of the present mill lot, upon the river bank. Work was begun in this shop in 1824, Ira Gay, superintendent. Col. William Boardman, engineer. Mill No. I was built in 1825 and went into operation in 1826. The first mill agent was Asher Benjamin, a prominent architect of Boston.

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HISTORY OF NASHUA, N. H.

Mill No. I was one hundred and fifty-five by forty-five feet on the floor, and five stories high, with steep roof. It was built of brick in a good and substantial manner. Many of those who became workers in the mill labored in its erection. Thomas W. Gillis, who for so many years filled the agent's place, worked on the foundation with shovel and barrow.

The company not only provided a mill for work, but they built homes and boarding-houses for the workers. They built and stocked a store for the sale of family supplies and a meeting-house for worship. They had an agent for the mill, and an agent for outside matters. For this last named position, they obtained a bright and intelligent clerk from the employ of Greenleaf & Co. of Boston, (a firm interested in the company) by the name of L. W. Noyes, a name familiar to all who know the history of Nashua.

In 1827 Mill No. 2 was built and was in full operation in 1828. This mill was of the same size as No. 1, and six stories high. These two mills were run by breast wheels.

In 1836 Mill No. 3, of the same size as No. 2, was built, giving the company an aggregate of 32,000 spindles and seven hundred and ten looms, with the annual production of 9,300,000 yards annually ; or of fourty-four yards of cloth a day from each loom. That is, the cotton was carded, spun and woven at the average rate of forty-four yards per loom; a product at least fifty times more than could be produced by hand labor.

Mr. Benjamin was soon succeeded as agent by Ira Gay, the efficient superintendent, and, in 1835, Mr. Gay gave way for Thomas W. Gillis, who occupied this responsible place for eighteen years. Mr. Gillis' mechanical education was a product of these mills; his wonderful energy and great ability was a product of the New Hampshire hills. It was largely through his efforts that the mills were brought into an efficient working shape, and that a corps of capable helpers were trained to the work, making possible the advance in the art which has continued until our day.

In 1844 Mill No. 4 was built, being of the same general size and design as the three previous mills. Mills Nos. 3 and 4 were run by turbine wheels.

In 1853 Mr. Gillis gave place to Daniel Hussey as agent. This change was effected, not from lack of ability and energy on the part of Mr. Gillis-whose management had made the enterprise successful and profitable-but because the change in methods attending the growth of the business had made a change in management necessary. The four mills of that day had been, practically, worked separately and independently of each other; each producing its own grade of work, and each having a separate account in the books of the company.

Economy required that these four mills become one, and under one overseer. The same was called for in the spinning, weaving, and all other departments of work. To bring about such a change effectually, there must be a change in the management, because the best of men become wedded to old ideas, and new men are required for an advance.

In the summer of 1856 Mill No. I was burned. The fire took at noon, while the help were at dinner, except two women who were driven by the flames to the roof, from which, in their fright, they jumped and were killed. The mill was at once rebuilt. Gradually the space between the mills was inclosed until a continuous building of one thousand feet in length was obtained, having twelve acres of floorage under one roof. The mill is run by eight turbine wheels having 3,425 horse power. The engine and boiler house, which is outside the factory proper, contains a 1,700 horse power engine and twelve boilers.

On Basin street is located the building containing the office and the large building used as machine shop and cloth room; six large storehouses, and a storehouse for cotton are included in the plant, also eighty-two tenement houses. Up to 1850 the help were all of New England origin. Many of the women who have graced our best homes and helped to give character to our city came to Nashua as mill girls.

In 1869 Mr. Hussey resigned, to be followed by D. D. Crombie; he to be, in turn, succeeded by Oliver P. Hussey, who remained until his death, in 1875, when Rufus A. Maxfield assumed the duties.

In 1886 E. M. Shaw was elected agent, to be followed in 1891 by William D. Cadwell, who is the present agent.

No mills ever had better management than that of the Nashua Manufacturing company. Improvement and progress have been gradual and continuous. For many years its production was

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HISTORY OF NASHUA, N. H.

coarse and heavy cotton shirting and sheeting. It now produces over one hundred kinds and grades of cotton flannels and blankets. From the first the mills have had constant employment, they never closed their gates but once, and that for only a short time, because of lack of work. This corpora- tion has a monthly pay-roll of $40,000, and employs 1,500 hands.

In May, 1825, Charles C. Haven and others, under the firm name of the Indian Head factories, bought the lower water privileges of the Nashua Manufacturing company and built their first mill the following year for the purpose of manufacturing woolen goods, Mr. Haven acting as agent. Lack of capital, enterprise, experience, or possibly all of these combined, soon brought the company to its end. Woolen manufacture calls for more and a greater variety of talent and skill than cotton. The wool must be washed, dried and go through various manipulations, must be dyed, the cloth must have its nap raised and its surface sheared. It requires trained and skilled labor and tools adapted to the work, all of which were lacking. The company made black, blue and brown broadcloth for men's wear, and were unable to compete with imported goods.

In 1830 the property passed into the hands of the Jackson company to be used as a cotton mill. This company represented a capital of $480,000. The name "Jackson" was unfortunate, political feeling ran so high as to prejudice the sale of goods under that name, with the result that the com- pany adopted the trade name of "Indian Head Mills," with a trade mark of an Indian's head, a mark now known and respected all over the world.

As to this trade mark proper, composed of the rude sketch of an Indian's head in its war paint and feathers, it is a matter of interest to note its origin. After a skirmish between the men of Dun- stable on the south side of the river and the Indians on the north, and when the Indians had given up the contest and retired from the field, the rude sketch of an Indian's head was found carved on the tree as a defiance by the Indians. The location of the tree was near where the Jackson mills now stand. This gave the name to the location, and to the mills a trade mark better known in China than in America. It is singular that this crude defiance of a savage should become the symbol of an en- terprise which embodies results greater than the world had ever seen at that day.

In 1835 the company had two mills one hundred and fifty-five by forty-seven feet, and five stories high. They ran 11,000 spindles, three hundred and eighty-eight looms, and employed four hundred and seventeen females and eighty-seven males. Benjamin F. French, agent. Mr. French was not a manufacturer but a lawyer. By his wisdom and good management the mills were brought to a high standard for skill and for product. David Gillis was an efficient manager under Mr. French.

In 1832 Mr. French was followed by Judge Edmund Parker. He was a man beloved by all who knew him. Mr. Parker held the agent's place eleven years; Mr. Herrick, four years; H. T. Robbins, ten months; Walter White, one year; P. Lawton, two years; Benjamin Saunders, eleven years; and Oliver P. Hussey, four years. During all these years the capacity and efficiency of the plant was in- creasing. Mr. Saunders devoted much energy to beautifying the grounds of the mills and the various property belonging to the company. To his spirit of improvement, in the appearance of our sur- roundings, the city of Nashua is greatly indebted.

In April, 1871, William D. Cadwell, having served the Nashua Manufacturing company as superintendent for some years, was elected agent. He filled this place so well that in 1891 he was elected agent of the Nashua Manufacturing company, and has held the position of agent for both companies to the present time.

This company make a line of especially heavy goods adapted to the eastern market, very many of their goods being sold in China. The fact that they have often to defend their trade mark from English and Canadian pirates is a high compliment to the efficiency of the management and the quality of goods manufactured.

William T. Spear, the efficient superintendent of the mills, has given much attention to the ex- amination of cotton fibre through the use of the microscope, and to utilizing the result obtained in this manner, by the aid of photography. As the cotton raised in different localities has each its pecu- liar growth, and as some kinds are much better than others, it follows that this company is able to select its stock to the best advantage.

We herewith give a copy of a photograph taken from cotton fibre by the process referred to above. It will be seen that the cotton fibre grows in the form of a flat ribbon, and that the various twisted or corrugated forms it afterward assumes is a result of climatic action during the process of drying.

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HISTORY OF NASHUA, N. H.

The best fibre is well corrugated so that the fibre becomes locked together and thus makes continuous connection. The open, uncorrugated fibre is of little value as it makes a feeble thread and is hard to work. The fibre found floating in the air of a mill is always of the latter kind. The company has also employed a system by which every pound of cotton is traced from the picker to the finishing room in such a way as to insure economy and efficiency.

Since 1885 this company has maintained a complete meteorological station, from which monthly reports are sent to the government. These reports include all atmospheric phenomena, including pressure, temperature, humidity, motion, precipitation, electric effects and a record of bright, clear, cloudy and foggy weather, also any surface movement of the earth. This station is under the charge of Charles H. Webster.

The power of this company is water, one thousand horse power, and steam, eight hundred horse power. It is of interest to note that the efficiency of this plant has been augmented one hundred per cent, using the same power and help, because of improved methods and machinery. The mills have a floorage of four acres, with suitable machine shops and storage outside of the mills.

COTTON FIBRE.

The present capital of the company is $600,000. They run 35,720 spindles, and 1,212 looms, and employ eight hundred hands. This company at first employed two hundred and fifty hands. Output, 1832, 2,300,000 yards ; 1895, 19,000,000. Pay roll in 1832, $3,000 monthly ; in 1895, $26,000.

The Vale Mills company erected its first building in 1845; it was what is now known as the east mill, and was used for making satinet goods. Later this mill was used by Walter Crane for making twine. The mill on Main street was built as a machine shop and owned by Thomas W. Gillis. It was occupied by Gillis & Taylor for making sewing machines. In 1854 the Harbor Manufacturing company was formed, T. W. Gillis, agent, and I. H. Marshall, treasurer and clerk. This company purchased the east mill, and also the one on Main street, using the east mill for carding and spinning and the mill on Main street for weaving. Seventy-five hands were employed.

In 1863 the entire stock of the company was purchased by Benjamin Saunders, who renovated and modernized the entire plant and changed the name to "Vale Mills." Five hundred ring spindles and one hundred thirty-nine-inch looms are used. The goods manufactured are mainly thin goods.

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HISTORY OF NASHUA, N. H.

The improvements made by Mr. Saunders and the addition to the width of the goods doubled the capacity of the mills. The works are driven by turbine wheels, two hundred and twenty-five horse power, and by a one hundred horse power steam engine.

The company was incorporated and the name of Vale Mills assumed in 1868. They employ seventy hands. Mr. Saunders died in 1888. Edward Labree has charge of the works, at present, (1897) and Markman Dexter of Boston is treasurer.

The Harbor Machine shop was situated on the west side of Main street, south of Salmon brook. We have seen this shop occupied by E. F. Ingalls for general blacksmith work and for making various useful articles in a small way. Later it became the centre for small enterprises in the machinists' line; indeed, for years it was the only mechanical centre outside the Nashua Manufacturing company's shop. In this shop Howe, of sewing machine fame, struggled with one of the great problems of the day; and here Ami George built his first railway spike machine. In 1850 Houghton & Whitney occupied it and employed ten hands. In 1853 we find Kelley & Mack in possession ; ten hands. In 1857 Geo. H. Johnson & Co. occupied it; ten hands. It was last occupied by A. H. Saunders, and was demolished when the new dam was built in 1883.

In 1838 John H. Gage began to make machinery in the Nashua Manufacturing company's shop on Water street. In this shop he built the first engine lathe made in America. It was of the English type, using a chain feed. In 1825, when the Nashua Manufacturing company began its works, there were no shops in America that made machinists' tools as a specialty, each shop built its

WILLIAMS' FOUNDRY.

own crude tools. This shop of Mr. Gage's is believed to have been the first establishment in the United States devoted exclusively to the manufacture of machinists' tools. Mr. Gage made heavy machinery and shafting and did general machine work. Early in 1843 his shop was burned and a large part of the tools and fixtures were a loss.

In 1851 a partnership was formed under the name of Gage, Warner & Whitney, and in 1852 they built the large shop on Hollis street, where their business was much enlarged. They built machines for railroad corporations, cotton machinery to go south, and turbine waterwheels. This company made the first automatic gear-cutter ever put on the market. Mr. Gage was a man of enterprise and business ability, and Messrs. Warner & Whitney were men of marked ability, each in his own department. Mr. Gage was killed in 1862 by the accidental discharge of his gun when hunting. His death was a great loss to the company, in a measure paralyzing its enterprise. In 1873 Mr. Warner died, and in 1895 Mr. Whitney also died.

In 1845 the Nashua Iron foundry started business under the firm name of S. & C. Williams. Their works were located on Temple street on the lot now occupied by Roby & Swart. There was,

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HISTORY OF NASHUA, N. H.

before this, a small foundry on Water street owned by the Smith brothers. This foundry the Williamses bought and united with their own, making theirs the only foundry in Nashua for some years. The business quietly increased and very heavy work was done. One of the kettles used would contain six tons of melted iron and was made at the forge shop by Daniel Dearborn at a cost of two hundred and sixty dollars, and it now stands as a monument and ornament in the yard of Mrs. Charles Williams on Temple street. The price of castings at the commencement of this business was five and six cents a pound. When this company bought and built their works, a ravine from the river extended across Temple street into their lot. This ravine they filled, and they also built the wharf skirting the railroad, where their freight was loaded and unloaded. To do this, the space between their lot and the railroad was filled in to the depth of twenty feet, raising the grade of the street in the ravine that amount. The foundry was completely destroyed by fire in 1845. Before the fire was extinguished, the work of rebuilding was begun, this time of brick.

The loss was $40,000, but the good character, ability and pluck of the brothers enabled them to overcome the situation and replace their plant. They employed some one hundred and twenty-five hands. Their castings ranged from the lightest possible, to the heaviest sugar machinery. Later the Chelmsford foundry was incorporated with this under the name of Williams, Bird & Co. This was an unfortunate connection, resulting in the failure of the company, and the Williams brothers resumed business under the old name. It then passed into the hands of a stock company, but was finally bought by Charles Williams, who continued it until 1892, when he retired from business. His son Charles having died, and he having become unable to attend to affairs because of infirmities and age, the plant was sold to Roby & Swart.

The Nashua Iron and Steel works were first established Jan. 2, 1839, under the name of the Nashua Manufacturers and Mechanics association, the stock being divided into sixty shares of five hundred dollars each. The corporation was organized Sept. 20, 1845; Thomas Chase, president; C. B. Fletcher, clerk ; and the name changed to Nashua Iron company and the capital stocked raised to $100,000. In 1872 the name was changed to Nashua Iron and Steel company, and the capital stock was raised to $500,000.

The works began with one small shop on Hollis street, with three small hammers, and developed with great rapidity because of the expansion of all kinds of mechanical interests and the rapid growth of railways. The company soon developed the most powerful plant of its kind in New England. The works were under the superintendence of D. H. Dearborn for several years; he was followed by Samuel K. Wellman.

To fully realize the work this company has performed, and the nature of its progress, we must recall the fact that all railway iron, most wrought iron, and all steel was imported ; that the low grade steel, such as the Bessemer, which has in our day largely taken the place of wrought iron, had not appeared on the market. Indeed, the "Iron Age" had not materialized in America.

The company's three small hammers soon became ten large hammers, and a Nasmith hammer of ten tons was erected in 1863. Its small shop soon became seven large shops, covering fifteen acres of land. Its works included a rolling mill for working scrap iron into bar iron, a Semmes-Martin steel furnace of 36,000 pounds capacity, and a large machine shop on Hollis street for finishing work. The steel plant was put in working shape in 1866 under Superintendent Wellman. The furnace was the first of its kind built in America and marks an era in the steel manufacture of this country.

It is a matter of interest to note that the huge masses of iron used as stoppers for the ports in the turret of the "Little Monitor," which did such noble service in Hampton Roads were forged in this shop. The making of steel tires for the driving-wheels of locomotives has been for many years a specialty. Steamer shafts, stationary engines, forgings, and steel plate in the rough, and all kinds of heavy forgings are furnished by this company. It has an annual business of $750,000 and employs from one hundred and fifty to three hundred and fifty men at the present time. Aretas Blood of Man- chester is the manager.

The grandfather of George W. Underhill, the founder of the Underhill Edge Tool company, made axes in Chester, New Hampshire, and his father started the same business on Haverhill street in Boston about 1820, where George W. learned the trade. He began business in Nashua in 1839 on Water street, with one man and a common blacksmith's kit, and finished his work on a common grindstone until 1852.

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HISTORY OF NASHUA, N. H.

In 1852 Mr. Herrick, owner of the mill privileges now known as Edgeville, interested himself with Mr. Underhill and others and a company was formed, shops were built and work begun. The company was incorporated in 1852; capital $60,000; George W. Underhill, superintendent. The works were located at the mouth of Salmon brook on the line of the Nashua & Lowell railroad. The company showed great energy and push. They were prompt to secure and adopt all improvements in machinery and methods. They made edge tools, such as axes, hatchets, adzes, chisels, with an out- put of some $135,000 annually. John H. Gage was an active promoter of the company and the first president, and H. M. Goodrich the first treasurer. In 1857 C. B. Hill became treasurer, and in 1866 the capital stock was raised to $80,oco by an assessment upon the stock.

In 1879 the entire plant of the Amoskeag Axe company was acquired, materially enlarging the business. Employment was given to one hundred skilled laborers with an output of 120,000 axes per year, besides other goods. A large export trade was maintained with South America and Australia. The enterprise was not a success financially. The property was sold to a trust; the machinery was removed to Douglass, Mass., and the real estate passed into the hands of Roby & Swart.

The Nashua Lock company originated from a thought in the fertile brain of Samuel Shepard. All latches and locks were of the English type and make, and were secured upon the side of the door with a catch projecting from the door frame. Messrs. Shepard and Baldwin were makers of doors, and the thought came to Mr. Shepard that the lock could be placed in a mortise and so be enclosed within the material of the door. In 1832 Charles Gay made in a small way what is known as the "rotary grand lock." This fact may have set Shepard to thinking upon the subject of door locks. Some one was employed to exploit the idea and finally the door, sash and blind business was sold and a company formed in 1834 by Samuel Shepard and David Baldwin to make locks

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History of the city of Nashua, N.H., Part 76

Author: Parker, Edward Everett, 1842- ed; Reinheimer, H., & Co Publication date: 1897 Publisher: Nashua, N.H., Telegraph Publishing Company Number of Pages: 652

Author: Parker, Edward Everett, 1842- ed; Reinheimer, H., & Co
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Nashua, N.H., Telegraph Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 652