Manchester almanac, city directory, and business index, for 1879-, Part 25

Author: Clarke, John B. (John Badger), 1820-1891
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Manchester, N.H. : Mirror steam printing works
Number of Pages: 394


USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Manchester > Manchester almanac, city directory, and business index, for 1879- > Part 25


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The settlement of the controversy as to the boundary line of Massachusetts was effected in 1740, by cutting off and annexing to New Hampshire twenty-six towns which had formerly been claimed by Massachusetts, and among them was Tyngstown.


The settlers of the vicinity, being desirous of living in " town fashion," made application for a charter, and, as the territory was too small for a township, sections were taken from the adjoining towns, and at a meeting of the governor and council, September 3, 1751, a charter was granted, under the name of Derryfield, to a tract of land which comprised eighteen square miles of the south-west part of Chester, nine square miles of the north-west part of London- derry, and eight square miles of Harrytown, thirty-five miles in all, making a township of irregular shape and vari- ous soils. The north part of Harrytown, called Henrys- burg or Henrysborough, was left ungranted, but was annexed in 1792. The charter was written in the name of the king of England, George II., and signed by the governor of the province of New Hampshire, Benning Wentworth. The name of Derryfield is said to have been given to the new township because the people of Derry had been accustomed to pasture their cows within it.


The first meeting of the inhabitants of the new town was held September 9, 1751, at the old Hall tavern, at what is now known as " Manchester Center," and in that vicinity the town-meetings were held for nearly a century. At


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that meeting were chosen five selectmen, a town-clerk, two auditors, a constable, two tithing-men, two highway survey- ors, two invoice-men, two haywards, two deer-keepers, a culler of, staves, and a surveyor of lumber. Between the third day of March and the twenty-second of the next February, eleven roads were laid out, of which eight were wholly or in part new.


The men of Derryfield bore a prominent part in the Seven Years' War, between the British and French, which broke out the third year after the formation of the town- ship, the " Rangers," under command of Col. John Goffe, Capt. Robert Rogers, and Capt. John Stark, being espe- cially noted. It is a curious fact that Col. Goffe's men, dressed in odd clothes, wearing their hair long or tied in queues, their heads protected by woolen nightcaps, suggested to Dr. Shackburg, a surgeon in the British regular army, the idea of writing, to a tune called "Nankey Doodle," which had come down from Cromwell's time, a song in derision of these nondescripts, changing "Nankey" to " Yankey," and thus originating the title of the popular air of to-day.


Following the close of the war several efforts were made to introduce preaching and a higher order of civilization, but differences of opinion led to feuds and factious quar- rels, chief of which was concerning the location of the meeting-house, which was finally commenced but never finished as a meeting-house, although used for that purpose and for town meetings until the village near the falls grew up and the town-meetings were transferred to the latter place, when the old house was sold and converted into a dwelling-house. It is still standing, next to the burying- ground, on the road through the Center.


In the war of the Revolution, the men of Derryfield were prominent, such being the fervor of their patriotism that the selectmen and thirty-four out of thirty-six men able to bear arms went at once to the war on hearing the news of the battle of Lexington, leaving but two at home with the old and infirm. Capt. John Stark and his men were immor- talized by their victory at Bennington, for which the gal- lant commander was made a brigadier-general by the Con- tinental Congress.


After the close of the war, the town made commendable


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progress in providing for preaching and schooling, and sev- eral school-houses were soon built.


In 1792, a corporation was formed to build a bridge across the Merrimack, which was completed in September of that year, at the foot of Bridge street, and known as McGregor's bridge.


In 1793, the Hon. Samuel Blodget, of whom it was truly said, that he was " the pioneer of internal improvements in New Hampshire," took up his residence on the east bank of the Merrimack, near Amoskeag Falls. He had been a sut- ler in the colonial and revolutionary wars, a judge of the court of common pleas, and a merchant with extensive business connections, and was a shrewd, far-sighted man. His first project was the building of a canal round the falls, through which might be carried to market the vast quanti- ties of lumber that grew on the banks of the river. This was commenced in May, 1794, and, after exhausting his own private fortune and such funds as he could raise by lottery, was completed in May, 1807, only four months prior to the death of its projector, who was thus deprived of the fruits of his labors, the canal passing into the hands of the proprietors of the Middlesex canal, who reaped much advantage from it until the railroad destroyed its useful- ness, and it went to decay.


March 13, 1810, when the population of the town was six hundred and fifteen, and the first mill had just been built upon the river at Amoskeag, the town chose Thomas Stickney, John G. Moor and Amos Weston a committee to petition the legislature to change the name of


DERRYFIELD TO MANCHESTER,


and the request was complied with at the June session of that year. The new name was chosen in compliment to Judge Blodget, who had said the town would become "the Manchester of America." Mr. Weston was the father of the Hon. James A. Weston, Manchester's honored ex-mayor and ex-governor of the State.


As stated above, the first mill had just been built at Amoskeag. This was on the west bank of the river, in what was then Goffstown, and was owned by Benjamin Prichard, and Ephraim, David, and Robert Stevens, who were the nucleus of a stock company which held its first meeting


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January 31, 1810, as "The Proprietors of the Amoskeag Cotton and Wool Factory," and was incorporated in June of the same year as " The Amoskeag Cotton and Woolen Manufacturing Company." Its mill was forty feet square and two stories high. There was then no picker, and the cotton was ginned in the neighborhood at four cents a pound. The machinery consisted only of spindles, and the yarns, at once the company's dividends, the officers' sala- ries, and the operatives' wages, were either sold as they were spun, or woven for the company by the housewives of the town.


After several changes in ownership, and some increase of facilities, the mill property and privileges came into the possession of the " Amoskeag Manufacturing Company," which was incorporated in 1831, and which purchased large tracts of land on both sides of the river, and acquired con- trol of the immense water-power which has made Manches- ter what it is to-day. Although essentially a monopoly, the history of this company has been marked with a broad liberality, both as regards its lands and the use of its water- power; and by giving away or selling at low prices to ac- tual settlers its lands, and leasing mill-sites to new corpora- tions, it invited capitalists and built up a village, stimulating the growth already begun.


Manchester was first represented in the legislature as an independent town, unclassed with others, in 1816, Isaac Huse being chosen in March of that year as a representa- tive.


Major-General John Stark, the hero of the Revolution, died May 8, 1822, aged nearly ninety-four years. He was buried in the presence of a large concourse of people, with military honors, in a private cemetery on the " Stark place," and the family erected over his remains a plain granite shaft.


The " Mammoth road," after much controversy and an order from the court, was built in 1834, and was designed to facilitate the travel between Concord and the towns below.


October 24, 1838, the Amoskeag Company made its first public sale of lands to men who were builders of the com- ing city. A few streets had already been laid out and graded, and this sale gave increased vigor to the growth of the town, several blocks and public buildings being erected


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soon after. The second sale occurred in October of the fol- lowing year, including land bounded by Elm, Hanover, Union, and Merrimack streets, which brought higher prices than the first, owing to the rapid growth of the town.


In 1839 the town voted to establish a system of police and a board of health, and measures were taken for protec- tion against fire. An engine-house was built on Vine street, and a fire-engine, called " Merrimack No. 1," was purchased, the first owned by the town, although the Stark Mills already had one, and another was owned by the town of Bedford and located in the village of Piscataquog, then a part of Bedford.


The first newspaper published in Manchester was estab- lished by John Caldwell, in 1839, and was entitled " The Representative." It was a weekly Democratic paper, con- tinuing by the above title until 1842, when it was merged with " The Manchester Democrat."


The new village thus established on the river's bank soon eclipsed the old town at the Center, from which it was then separated by a dense wood, and mutual jealousy and ill-feeling naturally arose, to such a height that at the annual meeting of 1840 thirty constables had to be chosen before the business could be proceeded with. There were two sets of candidates, representing the interests of the old and new towns, and the latter carried the day and there- after held the reins of government. At this time the population was three thousand three hundred and twenty- five.


In 1841 the first town-meeting was held in the new village, in a hall on Amherst street. During this year the town voted to accept a deed of the Valley Cemetery from the Amoskeag Company, and bought of the latter for twenty-four hundred dollars the lot on the corner of Elm and Market streets, where the city hall now stands. School-houses, churches, and other buildings were erected, new streets laid out, and the march of progress was onward. A new town-house was built, at a cost of seventeen thousand dollars, and the next year the first town-meeting was held in it.


In 1842 the town voted to build reservoirs for fire pur- poses, constructed several school-houses, and the Amoskeag Falls bridge, and inaugurated the custom of printing the annual reports. Several churches were built, the lyceum


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organized for lecture courses, " The Manchester Demo- crat " was established by W. H. Kimball and Joseph Kid- der, and the trial trip of the Concord railway was made June 28, the road being opened to the public on the fourth of the following month.


In 1843, a strong temperance agitation induced the town to appoint a liquor agent, and instruct the selectmen to prosecute all violators of the law. The same year the town voted to fit up a " house of correction," and to build the " Hooksett road."


In 1844, the Manchester Atheneum - the nucleus of the present city library - was organized. On the twenty- sixth of September the third land-sale of the Amoskeag Company took place, comprising the tract bounded by Elm, Merrimack, Union, and Park streets, which was sold at prices in advance of those at the previous sales. On the twelfth of August the town-house was burned, and in less than three weeks the town voted to build another on the same spot. Warned by the loss, the town built new reser- voirs, enlarged the old ones, voted to buy two new fire- engines, and appointed a committee to consider the sources of water supply. Their report was, that Massabesic Lake was the only available source, but thirty years elapsed before the suggestions of the committee could be carried into effect.


The year 1845 was marked by several important events. The present city hall was built in October, at a cost of thirty-five thousand dollars. The question of sewerage and drainage was taken into consideration, a board of engineers was established, the court of common pleas was held in town for the first time, the Hon. Ira A. Eastman presiding, and two newspapers, " The Independent Democrat," and the " Saturday Messenger," were established. The former was subsequently moved to Concord, and the latter united with " The American." On the thirtieth of September of this year, occurred the fourth and last extensive land-sale of the Amoskeag Company, embracing the tract between Elm, Lowell, Union, and Orange streets. On the twenty- sixth of March, occurred the celebrated " Parker murder," an event which created a wide-spread sensation, the perpe- trator of which is to this day unknown, although vigorous efforts were made to discover and bring to justice the author of the crime.


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In 1846, a sewer was built through Elm street from Bridge to Granite, and several more roads were laid out in the compact part of the town. A committee was chosen at the annual meeting in March to petition the legislature for a city charter, and at the June session of the same year the legislature passed an act to incorporate the City of Manchester, which was accepted by the town on the first day of August, by a vote of four hundred and eighty-five yeas to one hundred and thirty-four nays. The first elec- tion occurred August 19, at which the usual city officers were elected with the exception of mayor, there being four candidates and no choice. On the first day of September, a second election for mayor was held. resulting in the choice of Hiram Brown, the Whig candidate, by twenty-four ma- jority, in a vote of eleven hundred and fifty-four. The city government was organized in the town-house, Septem- ber 8, 1846, in the presence of a large concourse of people. The population at this time was 10,125.


The history of the city from its incorporation to the pres- ent time, has been marked with a rapid but healthy growth. Its latent natural resources have attracted the attention of capitalists, and the liberal spirit manifested to new-comers has drawn to its population the industrious, thriving, and public-spirited from the hills of our own State, and from neighboring States, until the population has increased in thirty-five years from less than one thousand to more than thirty thousand souls.


The various manufacturing enterprises, associations, and organizations, which unite to make up its material and social prosperity, will be noticed in detail under their ap- propriate headings, and the historical, descriptive, and sta- tistical information appended will, we believe, give some idea of the city as it is at the present time.


A BRIEF DESCRIPTION


of the city to-day may be interesting in this connection. Manchester lies on both sides of the Merrimack River, six- teen miles south from Concord, seventeen north from Nashua, forty-one west from Portsmouth, twenty-six north- west from Lawrence, fifty-two north-north-west from Bos- ton. On the east is Massabesic Lake, the largest sheet of still water in the State south of Concord, through which


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passes the line between Manchester and Auburn. On the south are Litchfield and Londonderry, on the west Bedford and Goffstown, on the north Goffstown and Hooksett.


It was the first city incorporated in New Hampshire, is the largest and wealthiest, possesses one-tenth of the State's wealth, produces one-eighth of its manufactured goods, and is the fourth city in the United States in the value of its cotton and woolen manufactures.


VILLAGES.


The city has several villages which arose from geographi- cal circumstances, viz. : Piscataquog, Amoskeag, Manches- ter Center, Goffe's Falls, Bakersville, Hallsville, Janesville, Youngsville, and Towlesville. Amoskeag was named from the falls -" the place of much fish ;" Piscataquog from the river - " the place of much deer ; " the Center because it was the original town. Goffe's Falls was named for Col. John Goffe, Bakersville for Joseph Baker, Hallsville for Joseph B. Hall, Janesville for Mrs. Jane Southwark, Towles- ville for Hiram Towle, and Youngsville for the Youngs who dwelt there. Several of these villages have nearly lost their identity by being merged in the city proper in its expansive growth, this being especially true of Hallsville, Towlesville and Janesville. Amoskeag and Piscataquog each have their stores and hotels, and are thriving villages. Goffe's Falls is situated on Cohas Brook, the outlet of Massabesic Lake, whose waters supply power for hosiery, crash, and cassimere mills. It is a station on the Concord railroad.


STREETS.


Manchester's center of population and business is nearly half way from its northern and southern limits, and on the east side of the Merrimack, along the east bank of which are stretched its manufactories, their canals running par- allel with the river, and bordered by the track of the Con- cord railway, and a street of sixty feet in width which be- longs to the corporations. Forty or fifty rods to the east of this and parallel with it, at an elevation of ninety feet from the surface of the river, extends the city's main thorough- fare, called Elm Street, two miles and a half long, paved in part with granite blocks, bordered with brick or concrete


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sidewalks, and shaded with trees. It was laid out as a public highway by the selectmen of the town on the fifth of May, 1840, one hundred feet wide, twelve feet on each side for sidewalks, and ten feet in the center for ornamen- tal trees. The streets are laid out to cross each other at right angles, running nearly north and south and east and west.


SQUARES.


There are five public commons in the heart of the city, gifts from the Amoskeag Company, in addition to the pri- vate squares which surround its own blocks and those of other corporations. These commons are known as Merrimack, Concord, Tremont, Hanover, and Park squares. The larg- est of these commons is Merrimack, containing five and seven-eighths acres, bounded by Elm, Merrimack, Chestnut, and Central streets. It is surrounded by a substantial iron fence, and has, on its northern side, a large pond, supplied by a culvert leading to it from Hanover square. Near the center is located the soldiers' monument. Concord square is bounded by Concord, Vine, Amherst, and Pine streets, is intersected by Chestnut street, and contains four and five-eighths acres. It is surrounded by a stone edging, has numerous shade trees, and a small pond of water near its center, fed from the Hanover-square pond. Hanover square is bounded by Union, Amherst, Beech, and Hanover streets, and contains four acres. It has a large pond, sup- plied by the waters of Mile brook, and is well supplied with shade trees. Tremont square is situated between Pine, Bridge, Union, and High streets, and contains two and a half acres. Some of the original forest trees yet remain upon it. Park square, situated between Chestnut, Park, Pine, and Cedar streets, contains three and a half acres, is very level, without water, and partially shaded.


CEMETERIES.


The city owns two large cemeteries, the older of which, known as the " Valley," is now almost within the compact part of the city, although in 1840, when given to the town by the Amoskeag Company, it was considered far out from the village. It contains nineteen and seven-tenths acres, and is bounded by Auburn, Pine, Valley, and Willow streets.


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It is irregularly divided by a gorge through which flows the Cemetery brook, and is a spot of much natural beauty, to which art has lent additional adornment.


Pine Grove Cemetery comprises a tract of about forty acres, two and a half miles south of the city hall, between the Calef road and the River road. This was acquired by purchase, and both cemeteries are under the charge of a committee, annually elected by the city councils.


There are also the old burying-ground at the Center ; one at Goffe's Falls; one in Amoskeag; one in Piscata- quog ; one near Bedford line, occupied by the Roman Catholics ; one near the school-house at Harvey's mills, known as the " Merrill cemetery ; " one in the eastern part of the city, known as "Stowell's ground ; " the " Ray cemetery," on the River road near Amoskeag Falls; the " Forest cemetery " on the old Weston farm in the south- eastern part of the city ; and a small yard in the north part of the city. Some of the above are private, and all, except the Catholic burial-place, are but little used.


BRIDGES.


The first bridge of any importance within the limits of Manchester was built across Cohas Brook, on the road lead- ing from the Center to Londonderry, in 1738, at private expense. The first bridge over the Merrimack was built in 1792, at the foot of Bridge street, by a corporation and was known as McGregor's bridge. This went to ruin about 1815, and was replaced in 1825 by another. Twelve years later it was bought by the Amoskeag Company and the toll on foot-passengers abolished. A freshet carried off two piers in 1848, but these were replaced, and the bridge remained till 1851, when it was entirely swept away, and has not been rebuilt. Granite bridge was built in 1840, by a company at what was then known as " Merrill's Falls," on the Merrimack. Eight years later the toll was abolished, and the bridge became the property of Manches- ter and Bedford. The ice-freshet of 1851 carried it off, and the present one was built by the two towns that year, and, on the annexation of Piscataquog, passed entirely into the hands of Manchester. A bridge was built in 1842 over the Merrimack at Amoskeag Falls, by a corporation. It was made a free bridge in 1852, and carried away by a


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freshet in March of the next year. The city rebuilt it in 1854. Several bridges were built over the Piscataquog River in early days by the town of Bedford. A wooden one, built in 1843 by that town, was burned in 1862, and immediately replaced by an iron one by the city, Piscata- quog village having been annexed to Manchester in 1853. This bridge fell in 1873, under a loaded team, and the present wooden one was built in its place. When the Con- cord railroad was built in 1842, a single track bridge was built across the Merrimack at Goffe's Falls. This was enlarged in 1869 to a double-track bridge, without at all interrupting the trains. The bridge over the Merrimack on the Manchester and North Weare railroad, built in 1850, was burned in 1871 and a new one was constructed that year. The Amoskeag Company has a bridge of its own across the Merrimack, connecting its yards on either side of the river.


WATER-WORKS.


As early as 1844, the question of a system of water- works received the attention of the citizens, and after several ineffectual efforts to induce private individuals to engage in the enterprise in the capacity of a stock com- pany, the city councils, in 1871, asked authority of the state legislature to undertake the construction of water- works, which was granted by an act of June 30, 1871, and ratified by an ordinance passed by the councils on the first day of August. This act authorized the expenditure of a sum not exceeding six hundred thousand dollars for the con- struction of the necessary works, which were to be in charge of a board of seven commissioners, of which the mayor is an ex-officio member. After extended preliminary surveys, and much discussion, Massabesic Lake was finally fixed upon as the source of supply ; and the work of construc- tion was commenced in July, 1872, under the superintend- ence of Col. J. T. Fanning, who was appointed chief engi- neer. A substantial dam was built across the outlet of the lake at Cohas Brook, a suitable canal and penstock con- structed, leading the water to the pumping-station, where it turns the wheels and feeds the pumps which drive it through the force-main, seven thousand feet long and twenty inches in diameter, to the reservoir at Manchester Center. This basin has a capacity of sixteen million gal-


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lons, is one hundred and fifty-two feet above Elm street at the city hall, one hundred and eighty-eight feet above the level of Canal street at the passenger-station, and one hun- dred and thirteen feet above the level of the pumps which supply it.


The pumps are worked by two turbine wheels, and are double acting, forcing the water toward the reservoir with both up and down strokes. They can be run at a maximum speed of thirty strokes a minute, at which rate each pair will deliver one thousand nine hundred and eighty gallons a minute, or two million eight hundred and fifty-one thou- sand two hundred gallons in twenty-four hours. This would supply sixty gallons a day to each individual in a a population of forty-seven thousand five hundred persons. Both pairs of pumps will together deliver a quantity suffi- cient for a supply of sixty gallons daily for each individual of ninety thousand people. The total cost of construction, as given in the last report of the commissioners, was some- what over seven hundred thousand dollars, the excess over the original six hundred thousand being authorized by a subsequent act of the legislature.




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