USA > New Hampshire > Strafford County > Rochester > History of the town of Rochester, New Hampshire, from 1722 to 1890, Vol. I > Part 48
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The scene of this riot was near where the brick station of the Boston & Maine Railroad was built at Railroad-avenue crossing. It stirred up a great deal of bad blood among the citizens of Rochester, but more especially between Great Falls and Dover, so that for a long time it was not safe for a man living in either city to visit the other. The matter was finally settled by arbitra- tion, the Great Falls & Conway being obliged to move their track, while the Cocheco road was given the right of way over the land which the Great Falls & Conway had purchased.
February 28, 1849, the Boston & Maine company contracted to operate the Great Falls & Conway road " for one year from Jan- uary 1, 1849, and until one party shall give to the other six months' notice of its intention to terminate the same." Such notice was given by the Great Falls & Conway June 1 of the same year, and the contract was terminated January 1, 1850.
During the summer this road had built at Rochester two depots for merchandise, one of which was of brick and accommodated all the freight of this line till within a few years; one engine house 43×50 which accommodated three engines, and stood near Portland-street crossing, in front of the dwelling-house of Arthur D. Richardson; and one passenger station, a small wooden build- ing intended for temporary use, but which served the passengers of this road for more than fifteen years. This was then replaced by a neat wooden structure near where the union depot now stands, which was sold in 1884 to the Portland & Rochester Railroad, and moved to Saccarappa, where it is still used as a passenger station.
The first station agent was a Mr. Quimby, who served but a short time when he was succeeded by George W. Barker. Mr. Barker resigned in 1852, and entered the employ of the Pennsyl- vania Railroad, where he rose to the position of division super-
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intendent, and was considered a model official. The next agent was Deacon Thomas Brown, who faithfully served the company for twenty-three years and a half, until old age and increasing duties compelled him to resign. The position was afterwards filled by W. H. Tucker, C. H. Hayes, and N. T. Kimball who, after the consolidation of the Boston & Maine with the Eastern, had charge of all the railroad interests of the village.
The Cocheco Railroad was chartered in 1847, ground first broken in July, 1848, and was opened to Farmington in September, 1849. The first agent was Jacob H. Ela, who was followed by Henry M. Kelley and J. F. Hoyt. George F. Richardson was appointed in 1864, and was an efficient agent till the consolidation of the Boston & Maine with the Eastern, a period of more than twenty years, when he resigned. The first passenger station of the Co- checo road was a small wooden building near Wentworth street. The freight house was also of wood on the north side of the same street. A commodious brick passenger station was erected in 1868 near Railroad Avenue, which after the consolidation was removed and fitted up where it now stands as a union depot. A brick freight house was built about the same time just south of Railroad Avenue. When the two roads united, a large wooden freight house newly built by the Eastern, which had possession of the Great Falls & Conway road, was moved to the south side of the brick freight house, and from these two buildings all the freight business is now done. In 1860 the name Cocheco was changed to Dover & Winnipiseogee, and the road was leased in 1862 to the Boston & Maine.
About the close of the war, the question of new railroads began to be agitated. The old York & Cumberland road, which had been chartered to Great Falls through Saccarappa, Gorham, and Alfred, was completed as far as the Saco river. Prominent busi- ness men in Portland, Rochester, and the intervening towns were very active in having this road re-chartered to Rochester, under the name of Portland & Rochester Railroad Company. At the annual town meeting, March 10, 1868, Rochester voted to take forty thousand dollars' worth of stock in this road, and September 7, 1871, the selectmen were authorized and required forthwith to hire that amount and pay it over to the treasurer of the Portland & Rochester road, taking certificates of that amount of stock. The first regular train over this road to Rochester was July 31, 1871.
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BUSINESS OF ROCHESTER.
One principal object in securing this road was to open a through line from Portland to New York and the West. The Worcester & Nashua Railroad was specially interested in this matter, and the question of a connecting link from Nashua to Rochester was soon agitated. At a special town meeting, November 29, 1870, it was voted to take fifteen thousand dollars' worth of stock in the Nashua & Rochester road, "if running into the village of Norway Plains within three years." This time was afterwards extended three years more. The road was completed and regular trains running November 24, 1874.
The Portland & Rochester stock did not prove a profitable in- vestment. No dividends were ever declared, and under an amended charter about 1880, the town was compelled to take eight shares of the new stock in place of the four hundred originally owned. On the Nashua & Rochester stock the town received two dividends of six per cent each, and then sold the stock at ninety dollars a share.
The business of these two roads in this village was done by a joint agent. A. U. Nason first held the position, and was suc- ceeded in 1876 by Charles W. Brown who continued in that capacity till the railroad interests of this village were united under one management.
The first Portland & Rochester Railroad station was a small wooden affair, with a waiting-room at one end and a freight-house at the other till 1876, when the latter was finished off for a ladies' room. This was used by both roads till the Boston & Maine obtained control of the Worcester & Nashua road. The Nashua & Rochester built a brick engine-house to accommodate six loco- motives, and a car house for six passenger cars. Their freight- house was the wooden building with slate roof now used by the Boston & Maine for a store-house.
At the time the question of the Portland & Rochester road was agitated, another line was chartered, connecting with the Boston, Concord & Montreal road at Concord. Much interest was excited, and the town voted to take fifteen thousand dollars' worth of stock when it should be completed. But this project has thus far failed.
At first business was not systematized as at present, consequently it is very difficult to get at the amount done when the Great Falls
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& Conway and the Cocheco commenced operations. At that time but one man was required to do all the business for each road, and the total station expenses for both roads was only sixty-five dollars a month. Now it requires fourteen men with a monthly expense of five hundred and thirty-two dollars. The monthly ticket business now averages about four thousand dollars, and the freight seven thousand. Over two hundred freight cars are handled daily at the station. On the opening of the Great Falls & Conway road, two passenger trains and one freight train each way were amply sufficient. The Cocheco road run two trains each way, one being a mixed train. Now forty regular trains a day are required. This gives some idea of the increase of the railroad business, and is also indicative of the material growth and prosperity of the town.
The postoffice at Rochester was established March 26, 1812, when President Madison appointed William Barker the first postmaster. He kept the office at the Barker tavern, where the Methodist meeting-house now stands. John B. Buzzell, appointed August 5, 1815, lived up stairs in the "Carter building," and kept the postoffice in his variety store below. David Barker, Jr., was appointed October 15, 1818, and kept the office in the Barker store under his law office, near the site of McDuffee Block. Hum- phrey Hanson was appointed July 8, 1823, and kept the office in the old brick drug-store, where Hanson's new block now stands. August 4, 1826, John McDuffee was appointed and kept the office in his store, where is now the north-east corner of McDuffee Block.
William S. Ricker was appointed August 14, 1829. He was a painter by trade, and kept the office at his residence in the Went- worth house opposite the town hall. April 11, 1831, John H. Smith, a young lawyer, son of John Smith the blacksmith, re- ceived the appointment and removed the office to the Hanson store. Lowell Kenney was appointed May 10, 1832, and kept the office in the store connected with his tavern at the lower end of the street. Dominicus Hanson, appointed September 16, 1835, re- turned the office to his store. He made great improvements in methods, and introduced the first boxes. The change was much appreciated by the citizens, and he held the position fourteen years. Gilbert Horney was appointed June 15, 1849, and served under Presidents Taylor and Fillmore. He was a native of Ports-
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mouth and had traded for a time at Farmington before coming to Rochester. He kept the office in his store, where is now the lower end of McDuffee Block. William Jackson, appointed April 23, 1853, brought the office back again to Hanson's drug store. Nicho- las R. Varney, appointed April 13, 1861, removed the office to the Lewis Hanson store, now occupied by Worcester & Greenfield. J. Frank Place, editor of the " Courier," was appointed May 18, 1865, and fitted up a room expressly for the postoffice in Dodge's brick building now occupied by M. L. Burr. Joseph H. Worces- ter, appointed April 5, 1867, retained the office in the same place. John G. Davis, appointed January 28, 1868, was a watch-maker and jeweler and removed the office to his shop in the Lewis Hanson store. George B. Roberts, appointed April 19, 1869, re- moved the office to its present commodious quarters on Hanson street. Osman B. Warren held the office a little more than seven years from his appointment, March 25, 1878. In July, 1885, Charles W. Howe, formerly a druggist, was appointed and retains the office to the present time.
The revenue of this office for its first three months in 1812 was $5.07. During the little more than four years since Mr. Howe became postmaster the office has done a business of $240,000. For the year 1889 its business was as follows : -
Postage stamps, stamped envelopes, and postal cards sold $5,149 73 Amount received for box rent . . 845 80
Amount received from sale of money orders 17,161 19 .
Amount received from sale of postal notes . 1,704 00 .
The amount paid out for money orders and postal notes was about the same as that received. Twelve hundred and two letters were registered during the year, and one hundred and seventy- eight " special delivery " letters received. This office shows a steady increase of business each year, and will no doubt become a " second-class office " in the near future.
SQUAMANAGONIC.
Gonic, as it is now called, has always been an important part of Rochester. The following description of this village as it was in 1800, and the diagram on the next page, are from the remem- brance of Jonathan H. Henderson, who lived all his life in Gonic.
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7
6 0
Fts Rochester Village
0 8
4 Bananyton
1
5
4
main
13
-
10
9
2 0
at to Rochester neck
Street to Depot
170
15
and
180 C 12
road
old road
to lower mill
Dover.
GONIC IN 1800.
16
Street
14
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BUSINESS OF ROCHESTER.
No. 1, at the upper end of the village at the fork of the road leading to Barrington, is the school-house where Mr. Henderson * went to school in 1800, being then in his fifth year (p. 163). The building made over into a dwelling is still standing. In coming from their home just below Gonic, on the road leading to Roch- ester Neck, the Hendersons passed only four houses : - Nos. 2, 3, 4, and 5. No. 2 was the Jonathan Hurd house a few rods this side of Lewis F. Horne's, on the opposite side of the road. Many years afterwards it was moved into the village and occupied by Alexander H. Geer who still owns it. No. 3, just below the res- idence of the late N. V. Whitehouse (now occupied by his son), is where Elijah Varney built a house about 1776. Some years before he had bought the farm comprised in part of what is now the Factory Company's mill yard and field, and put up a small house afterwards used for a shoe-shop. He was a shoemaker and tanner, and had his bark mill and tan-vats where is now the Fac- tory wood-yard. He did a good business for some years, but went to keeping tavern, till his business was neglected and finally abandoned. This building was torn down about 1878 and the cellar filled up. No. 4 was a house built by Nicholas Varney on a lot given him by his father-in-law, Reuben Heard. It then stood nearly opposite the Demeritt house, now William H. Felker's, but was afterwards moved a short distance below, next to the Rufus Clark house. His father, Thomas Varney, built a blacksmith's shop at No. 11, where a dwelling house now stands, opposite the brick store occupied by Yeaton & Co. His sons, Silas and Nich- olas, both worked there. "They mended old traps, repaired gun- locks, and cut nails from Spanish hoops, - made tongs, gridirons, toasters, and such light work." Nicholas sold out and moved to Ossipee. Silas afterwards had a shop at No. 10, nearly opposite where the Bank now is. Henry Tebbetts bought the house and carried on blacksmithing there for some years. His widow married Daniel Newell, who was a famous drummer in his day, and the house is still known as the " Newell house." It is now occupied as a factory tenement house. No. 5 was the old Demeritt house, now occupied
* Jonathan H. Henderson was a man of much note here from 1820 to 1840. He was a schoolmaster, - (a person of much consequence in those days, ) - understood surveying, was a militia Captain, in politics an intense Whig, and in religion a pronounced Universalist at a time when Universalism was very unpopular. His later life was somewhat clouded by the drink habit, but he was altogether a man of mark in his time. He died December 20, 1878, aged 83 years.
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by William H. Felker, who married Samuel Demeritt's daughter Deborah. It was then a one-story house owned by Reuben Hurd who farmed and tended grist-mill. He was nicknamed " old By- the-Lord," from the frequency with which he used the expression. He went to Ossipee, and "'Squire Dearborn, tavern-keeper from the Plains," took the place. After him came Israel Whitehouse father of the late N. V. Whitehouse, Silas Varney, Ezekiel Hussey, and Samuel Demeritt, before the present owner. No. 6 is the Charles Place house now occupied by his widow. It was built by Micajah Hussey before the present century, but has been greatly improved in the last thirty years. In 1800 Ephraim Hammett lived there. He was a cobbler and also sold rum, "thus mending the soles of some customers and poisoning the souls of others." After him came Stephen Whitehouse, Dearborn Jewett who after- wards built the house occupied for many years by Aaron Clarke (now owned by Col. C. S. Whitehouse), and Silas Varney who died there. Nathaniel Hayes had a house at No. 7. His father owned the farm where Benjamin F. Hayes and his mother now live, to- gether with a large part of the Demeritt farm. Nathaniel might have owned it all, but he went to trading 'on a few groceries, neg- lected his farm, and the groceries too, and soon failing was obliged to leave " between two days," in October, 1802. At No. 8 a house was raised and boarded over as early as 1803-4, by Silas Varney. It stood empty for some years without windows or doors, when James Pickering bought it and fitted up a part of it so that he moved in. He traded in a store at No. 9, where the hay-scales formerly stood, now a part of the village square. He had to leave the State on account of some transaction in connection with a law- suit in which he was engaged, but came back in 1811. He was a Lieutenant under Captain Page, and "at night on muster days would march the Gonic and Neck boys down to the old store, where he treated them to what he called wine drawn from a hogs- head, and drunk from a pint mug and a tin measure." Somewhere about 1825-28 the old store was torn down by a party of citizens in disguise, who had become disgusted and indignant at the perform- ances carried on there. Capt. Phineas Varney bought the house at No. 8, fitted it up, and lived there till about 1814, when he went to sea in the war and never returned. His widow exchanged the place with William Currier for a dwelling and store at North
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BUSINESS OF ROCHESTER.
Berwick. At No. 15 was a small house where Moses Varney, brother of Elijah, lived. He cobbled shoes, and tended the lower grist-mill. Anthony Pickering lived there in 1811-12. Afterwards Paul Ricker lived there for several years. It is now a tenement house of the Gonic company. At No. 13, in rear of where the Bank now is, was a one-story house with only two rooms, owned by one Catlin or Cartland. Thomas Varney bought it, and moved it to the knoll in the McDuffee field near the lower saw-mill. He was lame, one leg being shorter than the other, and was a carpenter, a tailor, and tended grist-mill. After he moved to Alton about 1806, the widow of Samuel Knowles lived here, then Henry Bickford, Jonathan Morrison, and lastly Daniel Hayes, whose wife tended the grist-mill till he sold out and went to Vermont. About 1850-55 the house was burned. Some time before 1804, Edmund Varney, son of Moses and brother of Joel, erected a small building at No. 14, on the spot where the spruce trees now are, in the Whitehouse garden, next to the residence of S. C. Meader, " but afterwards moved it across the path that went to the mill on to the corner above the Evans lot, between the mill-path and the road to the bridge." This last spot was just to the left of the foot-path in the Whitehouse garden. He fitted it up for a store, and put in a hogshead of rum and a few groceries. He had an Ensign's com- mission under Captain Page. "He failed up and absconded, and was not heard from for years." Benjamin Tuttle had a small house at No. 12, a little in from the willows below the bridge. " He used to go a fishing to the Shoals in warm weather. After he grew old, he went to live with his son." About 1811 William Smith bought the place, and lived there till 1814, when he went privateering and never returned. Job S. Hodgdon married the widow and lived there till they moved " down East." The old
house was torn down about 1860 when N. V. Whitehouse began enlarging the factory. No. 16 is the old yellow house which stood in the Whitehouse garden, directly in front of George W. Osborne's store, facing towards the bridge, and was moved by N. V. White- house about 1860 to the lot between Nos. 4 and 11. It is now a factory tenement house. It was originally of one story but was afterwards enlarged and another story added. Thomas Varney built it on land given by the saw-mill proprietors that he might build a blacksmith's shop and do their iron-work. His son
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Nicholas took the shop after his death. Benjamin Evans bought the house, kept a small grocery, and did job work till he died, about 1811. John P. Evans took off the roof, moved the building to the upper part of the lot, put on another story and an addition, and painted it yellow. He afterwards went to Macon, Georgia, and one of his descendants became a prominent officer in the Confederate Army of the Rebellion. The old store which stood near No. 9, before mentioned, was built by Howard Henderson in 1792-93. He traded there several years, and was succeeded by his son Jonathan about 1803. After him was Samuel Knowles, who lived in the chambers and died there. Then came James Pick- ering in 1811, and then Timothy Hurd, who enlisted and went to the Canadian frontier in 1813.
A general " country store " was built by one Spaulding, probably as early as 1820-25, and is now occupied as a store and dwelling- house. Downing Varney, who came to Gonic from Merrill's Cor- ner, Farmington, in 1838, and is still living in the village, occupied it for some years, and after him W. H. Y. Burnham had it till about 1853, when Enoch W. Gray took it. Since Gray's death, in 1874, the store has been managed by his widow, Mrs. Maria Gray. The building is now owned by Meshach T. Drew. In 1873 Nahum Yeaton, now Yeaton & Co., came from Rollinsford and went into the brick business, and in a few years took the Whitehouse brick store. Since then he has become a prosperous business man and an influential citizen. He married Helen Sawyer, daughter of Hon. Thomas E. Sawyer of Dover.
M. A. Hanson, a native of Madbury, after having been in busi- ness for a time in Maine, came to Gonic in 1881, and started a shoe manufactory on the Barrington road. He employed about fifty hands with a pay-roll of about $1,000 per month, and an annual production of twelve hundred cases, valued at $50,000. In October, 1888, he sold to N. B. Thayer & Co., and removed to Charlottesville, Va., the following April. Thayer remained only a short time and went to Milton.
Brick-making was one of the earliest as well as most important industries of Rochester. There are signs of brickyards long since disused scattered all over the town, indicating that the early set- tlers opened a yard wherever a clay-bank cropped out, to supply
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BUSINESS OF ROCHESTER.
the wants of the immediate neighborhood. Naturally the clay-beds at Squamanagonic (p. 14), were very early utilized for this purpose - how early it is impossible to say. Two yards have certainly been continuously operated for more than a hundred years : - the one near Walker's bridge, and the other near the bridge in Gonic. Seventy-five years ago the former was known as the "Hoyt yard," from the man who worked it; and the other as the " Gonic brick- yard." A man by the name of Hurd carried it on about that time, and among the old-time brick-makers at this yard were also Anthony Pickering, Aaron Clarke, and Israel Varney. Fifty years ago N. V. Whitehouse operated it for a number of years. Since then it has been carried on by various parties, changing almost every year. E. D. & H. H. Elliott, brothers, took the " Hoyt yard " in 1880, and are still doing a large business. Ritchie & Osborne have two brickyards with an annual product of several millions. In 1873 Nahum Yeaton started a new brickyard near the Boston & Maine Railroad depot, and has been very successful. Anderson & Cochrane have three yards producing annually some ten million brick. The Richardson yard near the Nashua railroad also does a large business. The annual brick product of Rochester is more than thirty millions, which is claimed to be " more than in any other town in New Hampshire, and with one exception, perhaps, than in any other town in New England."
Mills were early established at Gonic, but there seems to be no data from which to determine when the first mill was built. Mr. Henderson, mentioned above, remembered hearing of a great freshet which carried away the upper saw-mill in 1785. It was soon rebuilt, to be again swept away in 1805. The grist-mill at the upper fall was rebuilt early in the century by Ebenezer Teb- betts and Samuel Downing, and again in 1825 by Tebbetts and Richmond Henderson, who put in a carding machine. Elijah Roberts was the master builder, and Levi Leighton of Farmington built the saw-mill. He put in the first wheel to run the carriage back that was ever known in this vicinity. " Before that they used to tread back with the feet." Mr. Henderson also remem- bered his father's sawing in " an old rickety mill," when he could lie down and take a nap while the saw was cutting a run.
Some facts in regard to the woolen manufacture at Gonic have already been given (p. 359).
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ROCHESTER.
THE GONIC MANUFACTURING COMPANY.
BY HON. CHARLES S. WHITEHOUSE.
Among the many industries that give character to the town of Rochester and contribute to its material prosperity and influence, woolen manufacture stands pre-eminent. From small beginnings it has grown and expanded to proportions large and beneficent. Woolen factories as they exist at the present time, especially like the mills in Rochester, are seldom large concerns at the start. They are oftener the product of some modest enterprise, and grow from small beginnings, expanding and widening their power and influences as their projectors gain in experience; and when man- aged with skill, tact, and perseverance become a source of profit to the owners and great benefit to the community.
The natural water powers of Norway Plains, East Rochester, and Gonic have been greatly developed in the last thirty years. To-day the three corporations in town give direct employment to a thousand operatives, disburse more than a quarter of a million dollars every year for labor alone, use nearly three and a half million pounds of wool, and produce a variety of goods valued not less than two million dollars annually. The indirect benefit to this community derived from such an industry is beyond esti- mate. The employment of so many people and the monthly dis- bursement of so much money naturally draws within the circle of its influence many other industries of great good to the public. It gives employment to hundreds in other vocations, makes a home market for the products of the farm and shop, stimulates other industries, increases the population, and in its train brings improved schools, more churches, greater intelligence, higher civ- ilization, and consequently enlarged facilities for enjoyment and happiness. Their permanency, when once established, is another important consideration in estimating their public value. Unlike many other industries, when once put in operation they must be kept going. They cannot start up and run when business is good, and shut down when depressed to wait for improved times. Once started they must be kept going, or bankruptcy to the immediate owners is the result. The large and expensive buildings and motive power required, the great variety of costly machinery
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