USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > New London > Mirror to America : a history of New London, New Hampshire, 1900-1950 > Part 3
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NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1900 - 1950
you. It was a wonderful fragrance, although it didn't have a name like the wild ones they put on ladies' perfumes today."
There was a similar mercantile and community center at Elkins in the general store of Clark and Boynton, which stood east of the dam at the outlet of the lake. The Elkins Post Office was in this store, and in 1900 Charles Gay served as postmaster. Finally, at the other end of the Town in Otter- ville, either in or shortly after 1900, there was opened a gen- eral store. For a number of years in the early 1900's this was managed by Ralph W. Preston. New London's only drug store, called the "pop shop" by Colby Academy students, in 1900 was owned by William C. Leonard. It was located in a building, later destroyed by fire, on the site of the New Lon- don Pharmacy of 1950. Established in 1870 by Dr. Solomon Whipple, the drug store had been managed for a quarter of a century by his son, Amos H. Whipple. The latter sold the business to Leonard in 1896. Shortly after 1900 Leonard re- tired, disposing of the store to his clerk, Oscar C. Crockett. In 1902, because of ill health, Crockett sold his store to the Kidder brothers, and they shortly thereafter sold to Ralph H. Keil. After the fire of December, 1905, a new drug store was built, and by 1910 it was owned and managed by A. B. Stimson.
Other business and professional services available in New London in 1900 included the surveying craft of Ira S. Little- field; the insurance offices of Edwin A. Jones and Herman S. Adams; the legal knowledge of Nathaniel W. Colby; the medical skills of Dr. Charles A. Lamson and Dr. Anna S. Littlefield; the millinery shop of Miss Eliza C. Burpee; the itinerant meat peddlers, Frank S. Shepard and H. M. Whit- tier; the photographic stores of Christopher C. Gardner and E. A. Dean; the "Heidelberg Lithia Spring Water Company," whose source of supply was a reservoir just behind the main building of the Colby Junior College campus in 1950; the barber shop of Alfred Sargent in his home near the McConnell house on Main Street; the public hay scales on the land across from the Adams Brothers General Store; and the tin shop in
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A HISTORY OF NEW LONDON
Elkins owned and operated by Herbert D. Swett. About the latter a few words may be said.
Swett's tin shop stood on the present site of Scytheville Park. A veteran of the Civil War, Mr. Swett was a skilled artisan with sheet metal, and the last of the old-time Yankee tin peddlers in New England. During the winter months, he would fabricate his stock in trade, and in the clement seasons take to the road in search of business. His two-horse cart car- ried a glittering array of utensils, ranging from cups to wash- boilers. Since cash for these delightful articles was often diffi- cult to find, Mr. Swett traded his products for rags, which he could then sell on the Boston market. It often surprised a housewife to discover how large a bundle of rags was re- quired to secure a single cup. Many years after 1900 Henry Ford secured the Swett tin peddler's cart, and gave it an honored place in his museum of Americana at Dearborn, Michigan.16
Of manufacturing New London had little in 1900. The latter part of the 1800's had seen a shocking diminution of small industry in the Granite State, and New London's ex- perience had been no different from that of many other towns. Concentration of industry and mass production by machine were replacing older handicraft skills. At Elkins, so long the industrial heart of the Town, the former scythe works stood empty and disintegrating.17 The largest manufacturing plant in New London in 1900 was the wood-working mill of George Thurston in Elkins. This establishment made use of one of the still existing scythe buildings, and turned out some finished lumber, rake handles, clothes-reels, and other small wood articles. At Otterville Hiram Eastman ran another saw mill, which produced considerable unfinished lumber each year. Also in Otterville, a few rods lower down the brook from the saw mill, there was still functioning in 1900 the last carding mill to operate in New Hampshire. Owned by John Taylor, it served many sheep farmers, who annually brought their wool crop to be cleaned and carded.18
As manufacturing declined, however, a new and promis-
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NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1900 - 1950
ing enterprise was developing as a prop to New London's prosperity. This was the summer business. The roots of this development, so far as New London is concerned, went back to the 1880's and had grown rapidly in the 1890's.19 By 1900 or shortly thereafter there were close to a score of hotels and rooming places for "summer boarders" in New London. Al- phabetically arranged, among the leading establishments for this purpose at the beginning of the century were the follow- ing:
Name of Business
Proprietor
Fred B. Gay
Ai Worthen
Ruel Whitcomb
Cranehurst
Allen O. Crane
Glengae
Baxter Gay
The Heidelberg
Charles E. Shepard
Highland House
A. J. Messer
Hotel Sargent
Walter Sargent
King Hill House
Elmer Messer
Knight and Gordon's House
George Knight and Charles W. Gordon
Lakeside House
George S. Prescott
Messer Homestead
Frank Messer
Pleasant Lake Farm
Hiram Sargent and Son
Pleasant View House
Edwin F. Messer
Red Gables
William A. Messer and Son
Soo-Nipi Park Lodge
Theodore R. Shear
Stanley Homestead Twin Lake Villa
Benton M. Stanley Jackson Kidder
At these places a guest's board and room for a week, two in a room, might cost as much as $7.00! Those desiring a single room would have to pay as high as $8.00 weekly. At the most pretentious of all, Soo-Nipi Park Lodge, which boasted a score of auxiliary attractions for its guests, board and room ranged from $12.50 to $20.00 a week per person. In 1900 over 1,200 "summer boarders" were registered in New London, and the income from them was a steadying force in the Town's economy.20
This economic stimulus was not derived solely from "summer boarders." There was also a growing number of
The Brocklebank Burpee Hill House Cliff House
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A HISTORY OF NEW LONDON
persons who were coming to build permanent summer homes, thereby lending their support to the welfare and prosperity of the community. This trend likewise went back to the 1890's. In 1895, for example, the Rev. Thomas H. Sill had built a summer home in the "West Part," and Mr. and Mrs. James J. Tracy had purchased "Willow Farm." By the summer of 1900 Mrs. Tracy was deep in her plans for reconstruction and beau- tification of her property. The superintendent of her farm at the turn of the century was John K. Law. Nor were summer building and improvement activity confined to those who lived in the vicinity of Lake Sunapee. In 1901 several lots were sold on the west shore of Little Lake Sunapee, thus in- itiating a rapid development of that area.21 That summer, also, the Brocklebank was enlarged, and an addition put on Soo-Nipi Park Lodge. In 1904, the Hotel Sargent was extended, the new part including the portion whose street level in 1950 was occupied by the Village Studio and the barber shop. Thus the Town grew, partly because of its own energies and partly because of the infusion of capital and aspiration from the outside.
4. Spiritual and Intellectual Interests in 1900
In 1900 the New London Baptist Church was the only organized religious body in the Town possessing its own house of worship. One hundred and twelve years old that autumn, the Church held its services in a building which had stood on the crest of New London hill since 1826. The tower clock since 1884 had kept time for the Town, and the Church's famous "Revere bell" rang out each Sunday and on special occasions.22 Adjacent to the church building proper was the Parish House, or Vestry as it was then termed, which had been built and presented to the Church by George W. Herrick in the 1880's. Called to the New London pastorate in 1900 was the eleventh minister in the Church's history, the Rev. Dr. George Bullen. He was an able man, who remained in New London six years, and under whom constructive innova- tions in church organization were made. In the last month
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NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1900 - 1950
of 1900 the First Union Religious Society of Otterville, a group which had for a quarter of a century been holding services in that part of the Town, was incorporated.
In 1900 New London maintained six one-room "district schools." A seventh, the "North End" school near Bucklin's Corner, was closed that year. The six were as follows: the Colby Hill school, across the street from the 1950 Market Basket, with about 25 pupils in attendance; the Elkins school - still in service in 1950 - with 21 enrolled; the "Low Plain" school - in 1950 the American Legion hall - with 15 pupils; the "West Part" school - in 1950 an abandoned structure opposite the Fred Knowlton farm buildings on the King Hill road - with 10 pupils; the Burpee Hill school, with 10 pupils; and the Pleasant Street school on the road from the Four Corners to Pleasant Lake, with 8 enrolled. The New London school year at that time was twenty-six weeks; truancy prob- lems were hard to solve; and the whole course of instruction was not graded in the modern sense. All that the law required was that a child go to school for eight years. It was entirely the teacher's responsibility how the individual progressed during that period. Not until 1904 did the New London schools see the first experimenting with a two-fold division into "primary grades," (1-4), and "grammar grades," (5-8). The school board preferred local teachers, and the total cost of public education for 1900-01 was $1637.81. Among the devoted teachers in New London's district schools during the years at the turn of the century were Frances Gates Keil,23 Abbie J. Roby, Bessie A. Chase, Emma Stanley, Florence M. Bickford, Una R. Rowell, and Florence G. Sargent.
At that time New London of itself had no facilities for publicly-supported secondary education. In fact, in that year in all the United States, there were barely a half million boys and girls in high school, or roughly 11% of the youth between the ages of 14-18.24 However, from the time the New London Academy had opened its doors in 1838, many local boys and girls had attended that institution. They paid, of course, from their own or their family's resources the requisite tuition. In
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A HISTORY OF NEW LONDON
the mid-1890's the New Hampshire legislature had enacted a statute permitting a town to contract with an academy for the public payment of tuition for properly qualified students. By action of the School Meeting in 1898 New London's taxpayers shouldered this responsibility, and each year thereafter a num- ber of New London boys and girls had the privilege of a free secondary education in their home town. In 1904, for example, after taking oral examination, eleven local youths were admitted to The Colby Academy. This arrangement with Colby continued from 1898 to 1928.
The Colby Academy in 1900 was entering upon a period of vigorous growth. In 1899 E. M. Shaw of Nashua had been elected as business manager of the institution, and during the ensuing years his ability in matters of finance helped to stabilize the economic foundations. Also in 1899, the Academy trustees were able to secure as headmaster an unusually gifted man, Horace G. Mckean, who, with his delightful wife, gave a drive and leadership to the institution which it sorely needed.25 Professor Mckean, in addition to his administrative duties, taught Ethics, English, and Oratory. He had on his faculty in 1900 the following teachers: Edna B. Arnold, Eng- lish, French, and German; Walter Bullen, son of the New London Baptist pastor, Greek and Latin; Herbert F. Morse, Mathematics and Science; Annie M. Roberts, Music, Botany, and Physical Culture; Nathaniel W. Colby,26 Business and Commercial Subjects. There were thirty boarding students that year, evenly divided between the sexes, and perhaps fifty "day pupils."
Of course, the Academy of 1900 was relatively a small institution compared with the Colby Junior College of 1950. But it was the heir of sixty-two years of proud traditions, and it had trustees, alumni, and friends who rallied to its support when the problem of its continuance seemed almost insuper- able. Its main building, formerly standing where Colgate Hall was later to be erected, had been destroyed by fire in 1892, and in 1900 the ruins still stood in melancholy array at the crest of the hill. The Academy of that period consisted of four
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NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1900 - 1950
buildings on what later generations have termed the "Lower Campus," i.e., that stretch of Main Street across from the drug store, and located between the Town Hall and the hotel. Beginning at the Town Hall and working down the street, these buildings were respectively Colby Hall, a boys' dormi- tory, erected in 1854 from the timbers of the original town house of 1788; the Gymnasium, built in 1893; the Heidelberg, a girls' dormitory, constructed in 1854; and the original Acad- emy building, erected in 1838, which housed the chapel and class rooms from 1892 until Colgate Hall was ready in 1912. Of these four structures, so prominent a feature of New Lon- don's Main Street in 1900, only the original Academy building was still standing in 1950.
One further aspect of New London's interest in things of the mind and spirit at the beginning of the century should be mentioned. The New London Public Library had been opened in April, 1897.27 Shortly thereafter the nucleus of the book collection assembled by the old Social Library organ- ized privately in 1801, was presented to the new public library. In 1900 the New London Public Library was housed in a single room at the Grange Hall (this structure, still standing in 1950, had been built in 1895). Supported by a $100 annual grant from the State of New Hampshire,28 and an equivalent "matching appropriation" from the Town, the Library was managed by three trustees, and presided over by the quietly competent Miss Emma Bartlett. The room was open to the public on Wednesday evenings, and on Saturday afternoons. In 1900 there were 312 lending cards in use, and during that year there was a book circulation of 2,677 volumes. Friends like Mrs. Mary B. Macomber, Dr. John P. Quackenbos, and Nathaniel W. Colby, are recorded as having given in 1900 a total of one hundred new books to the Library. That same year Mrs. James J. Tracy began her long interest in the institution by presenting the Library with subscriptions to a dozen of the leading American magazines.
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A HISTORY OF NEW LONDON
5. The Daily Life of the People
In a recent historical commentary on our country at the beginning of the 20th century we have been told that the American scene at that time had a tranquil, unhurried look, a gracious surface, and a sense of permanence which somehow in the years since have been lost.29 That this was true in New London there is no doubt. In the homes of 1900 there was little of modern plumbing, and nothing of scientific insulation, or of automatic heating. But there was an atmosphere of security, of very real comfort, and of pleasant satisfaction.
A good housekeeper would be proud of her living room with its antimacassars, its starched lace curtains, its spool- legged table, its wicker rocking chairs, its decorative "base- burner," and perhaps a "cosy corner." Edison's "Concert Phonograph" or talking machine might be found in more affluent homes,30 holding an honored place on the center table. In the kitchen there might be a pump to bring well water into the house, or in fortunate locations gravity could carry spring water to the dwelling. Close to the cook stove would perchance be hanging a copy of Leavitt's Farmers Almanac. National advertising was just beginning to influence housewifely purchases, and Ingersoll Dollar Watches, Bon Ami cleaner, "Pettijohn's" and "Force" breakfast foods were finding their way into daily use.31 Dietary habits were in a process of slow change from the older pattern of New England. Per capita consumption of potatoes, bread, and meat were starting to decline all over the nation, while the use of citrus fruits, fresh vegetables, ice cream, and other sweetstuffs was on the upgrade.32
Amusements and recreations in New London at the turn of the century were many and agreeable. To begin with, there were the attractions of lodge, secret society, and fraternal order, of which groups New London in 1900 counted organ- izations of Masons, Eastern Star, Odd Fellows, Rebekahs, and the Grange. The Baptist Church had its routine of activi- ties and functions dear to the hearts of the members. In the winter time, New London's social spotlight focussed on the
21
NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1900 - 1950
"Grand Levee." No better description of this affair has ever been penned than the one by Mrs. Gay in her poem, "The Old Town Hall":33
Will you go with me down memory lane To the old town hall tonight? The wind is blowing like a gale But the stars are shining bright; What do we care for wind or snow When dressed in our furs, with a buffalo, And horse that is young and full of vim, And a girl who is tall and fair and slim, We are off to the grand Levee.
I close my eyes and see them all Seated around in the old town hall; I see them forming into line
To Blaisdell's orchestra keeping time. General Clough and his wife were there
And Major Messer so tall and fair, Captain Jack in his white cravat, Captain Gay and Uncle Mack; Charlton Woodbury and John Pingree,
A pair who always would agree. Edward Todd in his coonskin coat And Eli Shepard telling some joke. Oh, didn't we have fun, For life was real and we were young.
To the old Armory overhead, Could there ever be such a spread? When Ransom cooked the oyster stew, Whipped cream pies and coffee, too, Doughnuts, cheese and apple pie- Some would eat till I thought they'd die.
But the old town hall has passed away, With the old horse sheds and the horse and sleigh. And all that remains are memories To the few who are left of that long line That formed the Grand March in ninety-nine.
Winter also brought sleigh-riding, - with some racing now and then among the owners of smart cutters and fast- stepping horses -, and, for the youngsters, sliding on the hills. In 1900 "Oh, what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh" had real meaning to the people. Wisely, however, they pre- pared for it by heating soapstones for the feet, warming bottles of hot water for the bearskin or buffalo robe coats, and by sometimes placing a lighted lantern under the lap robe in
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A HISTORY OF NEW LONDON
an effort to achieve a minimum of central heating. The sound of bells was everywhere during a New London winter. Work teams had steel bells fastened to their collars. Sleighs had bells attached to the shafts. Often, even the horses had bells tied to the body straps. "When a snappy roader whisked the pung to town on Saturday evening to do the trading, the music of the bells was sweet in the frosty air."34
In the warm months came another train of pleasant events. Memorial Day, always fragrant with lilacs, saw the G.A.R., "the boys in blue," still strong and numerous despite their advancing years, take the responsibility for the program on May 30. There were picnics and excursions to nearby places such as Mt. Kearsarge or the Shaker Colony at En- field.35 Old Home Week, first proclaimed by Governor Frank W. Rollins in 1899, had its initial observance in New London in 1900 under the sponsorship of the Grange, and continued annually thereafter. Bicycle riding was an ever popular sport and means of transportation, and the tribute to the "bicycle built for two" was meaningful.36 New London's Cornet Band, dating back to 1888, and led in 1900 by Herman S. Adams, furnished many a concert during the warm weather months. In the autumn a visit to some one of New Hampshire's fairs was an event looked forward to by New London people.37
At the beginning of the century, as has always been true in New London, the local citizens were alert to the world outside their Town boundaries, and discussed with interest the rapidly-unfolding developments of the time. In 1900, William Mckinley triumphed over William J. Bryan in the presidential election, to the satisfaction of the majority of New Londoners. The aftermath of the Spanish-American War - to which one New London man, Karl Sholes,38 had gone as a volunteer - still lingered in the air, and the "pacification" of the Philippines by American troops was of more than pass- ing interest. Reports of the gold discoveries in the Klondike excited some local imaginations.39 In 1900 the "Boxer Rebel- lion" in China was followed with concern by many in New London because their friend and neighbor, John Hay, Secre-
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NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1900 - 1950
tary of State of the United States, spent his summer weeks at his estate on Lake Sunapee, a few miles south of the Newbury- New London line.40 Victoria, ruler of Great Britain and the far-flung British Empire, was closing her extraordinary reign amid the harsh fighting of the Boer War in South Africa, and it was obvious that the era thus ending would always be char- acterized by the great queen's name. As they would do fifty years later, people were arguing whether the new century began with 1900 or with 1901.
All things considered, retrospection makes clear that 1900 was for Americans in general and for the residents of New London in particular, a pleasant period in which to be alive. It was a hopeful and cheerful time in which tomorrow was promising, a time when progress seemed certain and the skies bright.41
NOTE TO CHAPTER ONE Population Figures throughout the History of New London
1786: 219
1840: 1019 1900: 768
1790: 311
1850: 945
1910: 805
1800: 617
1860: 952 1920: 701
1810: 692
1870: 959
1930: 812
1820: 924
1880: 875
1940: 1039
1830: 913
1890: 799
1950: 1470
-- --
The abnormal growth in population between 1940 and 1950 is explained by the following quotation: "In the 1950 Census, for the first time, college students were included in the population of the community in which they lived while attending school."42 Mrs. Jeanne S. Shepard, Census Enumer- ator for New London in 1950, has informed the writer that the number of Colby Junior College students included in her count was precisely 400. Thus, the net population for New London in 1950 was 1070, the largest the Town has ever known in its history.
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24
A HISTORY OF NEW LONDON
A LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AS USED IN THE NOTES
Full Title
Cited as
The Franklin Journal-Transcript
F. J-T.
Lord, Myra B., A History of New Lon- don, N. H., 1779-1899, Concord, N. H., 1899.
Lord, History
New London Town Report
N. L. T. Rpt.
Records of the Town Clerk of New London
T. C. Records
Rowe, Henry K., The First Century of Rowe, First Century Colby, Cambridge, Mass., 1937.
NOTES FOR CHAPTER ONE
The quotation at the head of this chapter is from an article by Claude M. Fuess in Social Education, March, 1947, p. 105.
1According to New Hampshire law, boundaries between adjacent towns must be jointly "perambulated" by their respective Selectmen at least once every seven years. New London's bounds are divided into three sections only one of which is "perambulated" in any given year: (1) the Wilmot line; (2) the Newbury line; (3) the lines touching Sutton, Sunapee, and Springfield. At the time these words were written, the most recent "perambulation" had been in the autumn of 1948, along the line indicated by (1) above.
2W. P. Houston, "The Mountain Scenery of New London," Colby Academy Voice, April, 1898, reprinted in Lord, History, pp. 735-739.
3The Poems of Kitty Gay, Franklin, N. H., 1947, pp. 8-9. Other trib- utes to Mt. Kearsarge may be read in the poem entitled, "Kearsarge," by Edna D. Proctor, quoted by M. M. Currier, ed., A Summer in New Hampshire, Concord, 1904, pp. 145-147; and in the verses by Enid Kiernan, "The Strength of the Hills," cited in E. H. Tappan, ed., An Anthology of New Hampshire Poetry, Manchester, 1938, pp. 160-161.
4Note such booklets as Colby's Guide and Souvenir, edited by N. W. Colby and W. C. Leonard, New London, 1897, pp. 13-18, 35-63, or Guide, Souvenir and Map of the Central Lakes Region of New Hampshire, 1910, pp. 5-17. See also the photographic essay on the Lake Sunapee "golden trout" in the National Geographic Magazine, October, 1950, and the article by A. W. Atwood, "The Merrimack: River of Industry and Ro- mance," National Geographic Magazine, January, 1951.
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NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1900 - 1950
5Colby's Guide and Souvenir, pp. 3-12, contains an excellent sketch of this matter by LaRoy F. Griffin, one-time faculty member at Colby Academy.
6On the list of Town officers named in the text, the posts of Hogreeves and Viewers of Fences had become obsolete by 1950. In an earlier genera- tion the former had been responsible for recovering stray pigs, while the latter had served as umpires in cases of neighborly disputes over the condition of fences.
7The Concord coach used by Charles E. Shepard on the Potter Place run from 1888-1911 was given in 1947 to Colby Junior College. It was No. 425 on the books of the company, and had been built originally for L. C. Currier of Hopkinton, N. H. Ordered on March 12, 1874, it had a stated passenger capacity of nine, and weighed 1700 pounds. Data from Coach Book No. 3, Abbot and Downing Company, now in the New Hampshire Historical Society collections at Concord.
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