USA > New York > Columbia County > History of Columbia County, New York. With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 89
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1861. Thomas J. Towne. Ira Buckman. 1862. Stephen H. Ilam.
1863. James Dingman.
1864. Isaac M. Schermerhorn. 1865. Barent Van Buren.
1866. Mathew Van Alstyne.
1867. James Dingman. B. C. Vosburgh. 1868. B. C. Vosburgh. 1869. Stephen II. Ham. 1870. Wm. R. Bennett.
1855. James Dingman.
1856. Bartholomew C. Vosburgh.
1857. Robert Chittenden.
1860. Isaac M. Schermerhorn. Abrain Burgert.
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
stately oaks and hickory-trees of nature's own planting. They contain about twenty acres, partly situated in the town of Glient. On one of the most commanding eleva- tions is the spacious "Columbia Springs House," one hundred and thirty feet long and three stories high, with cottages and other conveniences of a well-arranged summer resort adjoining. From the piazza of the hotel is unfolded a variety of charming views. At the base of the hill lies busy little Stottsville; beyond highly-cultivated fields can be descried the winding course of the Hudson, and still farther westward the magnificent Catskills loom up in all their grandeur, now bathed in light, now veiled in misty splendor. It is a scene that fills the mind of the beholder with a sense of pleasurable contentment, and which yearly attracts hundreds of visitors, who are benefited by these scenes as well as by the truly meritorious waters of the springs.
About a mile west from Stottsville, on the old turnpike, is
WHITLOCK'S CORNERS,
a small hamlet containing half a dozen houses, several shops, a store, and the home of Dr. Isaac M. Schermerhorn, the practicing physician of this part of the town. His prede- cessor was the late Dr. Henry Heermance.
Two miles north from this place, and about five and a half miles from Hudson, at the junction of Claverack and Kinderhook creeks, is the village of
STOCKPORT.
The place is handsomely located on both banks of the above streams, has two churches, several mills, stores, and factories, and contains about four hundred and fifty inhab- itants, who are engaged principally in manufacturing.
In 1828, Joseph and Benjamin Marshall purchased a large tract of land in this locality, including all the water- power on Claverack creek. On the upper falls, which had been improved for a woolen-factory by the Macy family, they printed the first cotton-cloth in the county. A com- pany was soon after formed with title of the " Hudson Print Works" (the establishment at that time being within the corporate limits of that city), which did an extensive busi- ness. Its growing proportions required the use of many buildings and gave employment to hundreds of men, mak- ing the place one of the busiest in the county. The finan- cial depression in 1837 compelled a cessation of work, which caused the removal of many of the inhabitants. Subse- quently the buildings were converted to other uses, the upper works being used as a tobacco-factory by Edward Roome, and a part of the lower for the manufacture of snuff. For several years this formed an extensive business, but was also suspended in 1850.
REYNOLDS' EMPIRE LOOM-WORKS.
These loom-works, of which a view is given on the oppo- site page, are situated in the town of Stockport, Columbia Co., a town noted for its early manufactures and its splendid water-power. As early as 1819 the little village of Colum- biaville had a cotton-factory of fifteen hundred spindles, two paper-mills, four carding-mills, two fulling-mills, besides grist, saw, and plaster-mills. Without going into a history
of the subsequent growth of the manufacturing interests of the town, we propose to speak only of one branch of industry which has been established within a comparatively recent period,-the Reynolds Empire Loom-Works,-a history of which we briefly condense as follows :
In the year 1852, Mr. Rensselaer Reynolds formed a co-partnership with a Mr. Benjamin, of New York, and purchased the old " Marshall Print-Works," in Stockport, then occupied by Roome's tobacco-factory. The firm im- mediately engaged in the manufacture of a new loom just invented by Mr. Reynolds, now and for many years past known as the Empire loom, and procceded prosperously till Dec. 10, 1858, when they were overtaken by disaster. A fire, originating in spontaneous combustion, broke out in the night and destroyed the best part of their works, caus- ing a loss of between $30,000 and $40,000 over the insur- ance. This was a heavy blow, and involved a vast amount of labor and expense in restoring the requisite machinery and patterns. But in the spring of 1859 the works were rebuilt, and resumed operation in July, with increased facilities for the manufacture of the new loom. Since that time, we believe, they have been in uninterrupted operation. The partnership with Mr. Benjamin was, however, dissolved, and Mr. Reynolds and his sons conducted the business till the death of the former, on the 8th of January, 1872, since which the sons have conducted the business on the excellent plan adopted by their father.
The Empire loom, as now manufactured, is one of the most perfect machines that has ever been constructed. With an unrivaled mechanical genius and the experience of about thirty years, Mr. Reynolds gradually improved and perfected his invention, until it is now the subject of some eight or ten patents, and stands absolutely unrivaled in simplicity, durability, and rapidity of operation. In order to understand the great improvements made in this important implement of domestic manufacture, it should be stated that previous to 1852 all looms were limited in their motion by difficulties which were supposed to be in- surmountable, and when Mr. Reynolds first announced that his loom would work successfully at one hundred and fifty " picks" (or movements of the shuttle) per minute, his claim was ridiculed as utterly impracticable. The patent- office incumbents scoffed at the idea, and compelled the in- ventor to file affidavits before granting his claim. Fortu- nately, by that time the loom was able to speak for itself, and among the affidavits produced was one from Mr. Nathan Wild, who certified that he had seen it work successfully at two hundred and forty picks per minute.
Thus the power of the loom was nearly or quite doubled by the inventive energy of Mr. Reynolds. The improve- ments, which have made it possible to run this loom at such increased speed, are too numerous to be described in detail within the limits of this brief article. Some of the most important of them, however, may be mentioned :
1st. A peculiar device for arresting the shuttle instantly, at any rate of speed, without throwing off or breaking the cap or bobbin, and releasing it at the moment of picking or throwing, so as to avoid friction.
2d. A new filling stop-fork, or attachment for instantly disengaging the motive-power, and stopping the loom in
Photo. by J. R. Allis, Chatham, N. Y.
PRyules
Following the cut and description of Mr. Reynolds' Empire Loom Works, which appear on the preceding pages, it is fitting and proper that we should give a portrait and biography of the inventor and founder.
Rensselaer Reynolds was born in Valatie, Columbia county, New York, on the 26th of August, 1807, his parents, Nathaniel and Sarah (Gillette) Reynolds, having settled there before the year 1800. He served an apprenticeship with the late Nathan Wild, of that village, and on February 14, 1830, married Elsie Burns, of Schodack, Rens- selaer county, New York. She was born June 16, 1814.
The mechanical genius of Mr. Reynolda was of a very positive and high order. As early as 1830 he commenced hiring tools of his em- ployer and set up in the machine business for himself. Five years later he became associated with his brother Benjamin (deceased), who was also of an inventive turn of mind, and in 1837 the new firm first came into somewhat prominent notice by the exhibition of a revolving battery for projecting balls by centrifugal force. This really ingen- ioua and effective device actually discharged six thousand two-ounce balls per minute, with four men at the crank, and before a military commission in Washington sent them entirely through a two-inch plank at a distance of over one hundred and twelve yards. Many of the leading artillerists of that day were highly pleased with the inven- tion, and Major Worth, then in active service, complimented the brothers Reynolds on the success they had achieved. But although the invention was one of great merit, that method of warfare proved impracticable, as it has in all the subsequent numerous experiments of the kind, and the sanguine hopes of the inventors were doomed to disappointment. The pecuniary loas to them was very heavy, and might have disheartened less resolute and determined men; but rallying at once, they resumed the general machine business, and were soon actively engaged in the manufacture of the looms then in use, to which they added many valuable improvements.
Mr. Reynolds from an early period in his life was constantly study- ing the scientific principles of mechaniam and applying them to the invention of machines of various kinds. He and Nathan Wild in-
vented the first gear-cutting machine in the United States, and made it a practical success. He invented the first machine for insulating telegraph wires for submarine purposes, and the first machine in the United States for making round matches. But his great inven- tion was the perfection of the Empire Loom, which he began to manufacture at Stockport, in company with Mr. Benjamin, of New York, in 1852, with which his name and interest were ever after associated till the time of his death, and by which he will be known to the world through many generations yet to come. Mr. Reynolds early saw and appreciated the defects in the common looms which, it was supposed, rendered it impossible to increase their rate of speed beyond certain limits, and he set his practical genius at work to overcome the difficulties hitherto considered insurmountable by the most skillful machinists. He succeeded, first in the invention, and then in gradually maturing and perfecting it, until it stands abso- lutely unrivaled for simplicity, durability, and rapidity of operation. It is safe to say that through the genius and enterprise of Mr. Reynolds the speed of the ordinary power-loom has been at least doubled, and, what is most interesting, this grand result has been attained without any troublesome complication of machinery.
Mr. Reynolds built up a large and prosperous business at Stock- port during the thirty odd years in which he was engaged in manu- facturing the splendid product of his own fertile brain and enter- prise. He was a man of rare mechanical and scientific attainments, of great liberality and public spirit, particularly in the cause of education, of strictest integrity, and of an unblemished reputation in all the walks of life. His sudden death, on the 8th of January, 1872, gave a shock to the community as the loss of a personal friend. But a few days before he had been busy with preparations for a New Year'a reception to be given by one of his daughters,-an event which he anticipated with much pleasure, but which was deferred on account of hia illness. He died peacefully, as if passing into sleep.
Hia surviving family consista of six children, his four sons being his successors in business at Stockport, New York.
+
ITIFIII
LITH BY L H EVERTS &CO PHILA. PA
EMPIRE LOOM WORKS, R.REYNOLDS' SONS, PROPRIETORS,) STOCKPORT, COLUMBIA CO., N. Y.
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
case a single thread of filling breaks. So accurate and deli- cate is the construction of this portion of the loom, that it never fails to perform its appointed task ; and when we con- sider the prodigous speed at which the machines are run, it appears truly wonderful that the simple parting of a frail cotton thread can be made to act with such precision and force as to cause an instantaneous stoppage without the in- tervention of human aid.
3d. The centrifugal friction pulley, which is an indispen- sable part of the loom. Mechanics will understand readily what is meant, but for the general reader it may be neces- sary to say that this pulley is the point of contact between the motive-power and the machine driven, and such is the nature of the construction that one may be instantly discon- nected from the other by a slight movement, without shift- ing the belt.
4th. A patent double-acting brake, by which the auto- matic action of the stop-fork is aided and completed (in- vented by Byron Reynolds, one of the present proprietors). This is a perfect security against injury to the gear by sudden stoppage.
The works are divided into ten distinct departments : 1st, a foundry ; 2d, a forging, bolt-cutting, and tapping depart- ment; 3d, a trimming-room ; 4th, grinding and polishing; 5th, boring, turning, and finishing; 6th, painting; 7th, setting up the looms, fifty or so at a time; 8th, a depart- ment for sawing out the wood for frames; 9th, framing ; and 10th, wood-turning for all the various parts required to be fitted in a lathe. Each one of these departments has its foreman, and all are under the immediate superintend- ence of Mr. Byron Reynolds, who is one of the best mechanics in the State.
A large part of the machinery employed in constructing the looms has been devised and made by Mr. Reynolds him- self, and many of the processes invented by him for this purpose are entirely original. All the machinery used is especially adapted to the work to be done, and the perfect order and system in all the minutest details is one of the most striking features of the establishment. The Empire loom is composed of some five hundred distinct parts or pieces, yet such is the accuracy with which all are produced, that each one will fit in any machine. Like the American watch, every piece is made by a uniform gauge, and can be duplicated to any extent. With the ordinary complement of one hundred hands, one hundred and fifty looms can be completed in a month.
A large part of the orders received for these looms are from foreign countries; they are sent to England, Austria, Mexico, Peru, and Japan, besides the supply of the home trade.
A printing establishment is connected with the works, which runs a Gordon power-press, doing all the printing of circulars, etc., for the proprietors, and such job-work for the neighborhood as is applied for, or as may be desirable to do. Altogether, this is one of the finest embodiments of home talents and ingenuity in a manufacturing enterprise to be found anywhere in the State, and reflects great credit upon its originators and managers.
The business is now conducted under the firm-name of R. Reynolds' Sons, the proprietors being G. Byron Rey-
nolds, R. Burns Reynolds, Frank A. Reynolds, and Joshua Reynolds.
THE EUREKA PAPER-MILL
was established in 1862, by H. S. Van De Carr, and occu- pies the site of a former bleaching-factory, operated by Thomas Pilling. The mill was destroyed by a freshet in 1869, but was rebuilt the same year, and is at present a substantial brick structure, fifty by seventy-five feet, with the usual adjunct buildings. Power is furnished by a dam across Claverack creek, eighteen feet high. The mill is supplied with two large machines and three five-hundred- pound engines, giving employment to thirty men, and pro- ducing eight hundred reams of light wrapping-paper per day.
On the opposite side of the stream is Van De Carr's mattress-factory, which has been in operation the past eighteen years. All kinds of mattresses are manufactured, but a specialty is made of husk mattresses, consuming about three hundred tons of husks anuually. Eight men are employed.
A number of grist-mills have been operated at Stockport. One of the most noted was Joab Center's mill, on the site at present occupied by Rossman's. The former mill was supplied with wheat brought from western New York in canal-boats, and floated up Stockport creek to the falls at Columbiaville, from where it was taken by teams. The present mill is one of the most complete in the county, being supplied throughout with modern machinery. There is also a grist-mill in a part of the old print-works, the motor being a small stream from the eastern part of the town and Ghent, which here empties into the Claverack.
In the same building are manufactured " Philips' spiral corn-huskers," by a company which was organized for this purpose Jan. 23, 1871, with a lease of fifty years, and a capital of $100,000 in shares of $100 each The trustees elected were Allen Rossman, Peter Philip, David Crapser, Peter S. Pulver, Tobias New, Leonard Miller, and Rens- selaer Reynolds. The husker has met with considerable favor, and with further improvements will be recognized as one of the labor-saving machines of the age.
A public-house was early kept on the site of the present Brookside Hotel, by C. C. Hoes, and this place has been used for tavern purposes ever siuce.
The " Hudson Print Works" had one of the first stores, the building being afterwards occupied for trading pur- poses by Philip Van Valkenburgh, Edward Roome, and others. Jacob Kittle is at present the principal merchant. In this building is the Stockport post-office, H. S. Van De Carr postmaster. The office is on the Kinderhook route, and has a daily mail. It was first established at Columbia- ville, where Charles W. Bently, Joseph Wild, and others held the office.
Among the physicians who resided at this point were Drs. Robert Hicks, John II. Philip, and George W. Cook.
One mile north from Stockport is the romantic hamlet of
CHITTENDEN'S FALLS.
An excellent water-power of thirty-feet head is here afforded by Kinderhook creck, which was first improved by George Chittenden, formerly one of the proprietors of the
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
Balance, of Hudson. Mr. Chittenden was a practical paper-maker, and was interested in the first mill in the county, at Stuyvesant Falls, in 1801. In 1809 he put up the second mill in the county, on the west side of the falls, which took his name. Here he manufactured printing, bank-note, and wrapping-paper, using machinery which was devised by him, and which, though crude, compared with the present machinery, yet produced paper of superior quality. The mill has been several times enlarged, and is at present supplied with an eighty-four-ineh machine and seven engines. It has not been operated the past few years.
On the opposite side of the stream is J. W. Rossman's paper-mill, in a substantial brick structure, forty-six by one hundred and fifty-seven feet. It has been operated in its present condition since 1862, and as a paper-mill since 1846. Before that time the site was occupied by bleaching and white-lead works. The mill has a sixty-two-inch and a sixty-eight-inch machine, with four thirty-six-inch en- gines, and is capable of producing fourteen hundred reams of light wrapping-paper per day. Twenty-five hands are employed. Mr. Rossman also controls an excellent water- power on Kinderhook creek, below this point.
Cut nails were also manufactured by George Chittenden, and an excellent grist-mill was formerly at this place. Here is also a Universalist meeting-house, which is at pres- ent unused.
COLUMBIAVILLE
is a manufacturing place, on Stockport creek, about one mile east from Stockport Station. Saw and grist-mills were operated here at an early day by Marks Barker and others. The creek was navigable for sloops to this point, and as the location was convenient to the Hudson, and central for the surrounding country, considerable business was done. In 1809 " The Columbia Manufacturing So- ciety" was formed at Hudson, with the following officers : President, Thomas Lawrence; Secretary, John F. Jenkins ; Treasurer, Seth Jenkins. The above mill-seat was pur- chased the following year, and a contract made with James Wild, an English machinist, for the erection of a building and supplying it with machinery for the manufacture of cotton goods. In 1812 the building on the north side of the creek was erected, and two years later most of the workingmen's houses. The project was successful, large quantities of goods being manufactured, which were sold in New York by Lawrence & Van Buren. In 1815 an inventory of the property showed assets amounting to $85,520. For a long term of years John G. Coster was president of the society, which exercised all the privileges of a corporate body, including the functions and powers usually bestowed upon incorporated villages. Columbiaville was vested with these powers until after the erection of Stockport, but the original society disbanded about 1824. That year the factory on the south side of the crcek was crected, and was operated by James Wild, while the Jen- kins brothers carried ou the old mill. Subsequently both mills were operated by the Wild family, who owned them until 1877, when J. A. Ilover became the proprietor. The two mills are supplementary to each other, have six thousand spindles, one hundred and forty-eight looms, and
produce thirty thousand yards of plain cotton cloth per week. The operatives employed number eighty.
The manufacture of cotton-weaving machinery was here carried on by James Wild, and much of the first machinery in the State was constructed by him. Surgical instruments were also manufactured by William R. Golden, giving em- ployment to many men.
North of the village are Smith's super-phosphate factory and fruit-preserving works, which have become quite im- portant industries. An establishment for the manufacture of pressed brick was put up near Columbiaville, but did not prove successful, and the works are now idle.
James Wild was one of the first merchants of the place, keeping a store in a yellow house near the forks of the roads, which was largely patronized. C. W. Bentley, James Van Alen, and others have since been in trade. The public- house on the main road north has been kept by McNulty, Clary, and Hoes.
A lodge of Odd Fellows-Good Intent, No. 6-was in- stituted Nov. 28, 1828. The first meetings were held in Wardley's tavern. About 1855 the lodge was transferred to Stuyvesant Falls.
Stockport Station is a simple station on the Hudson River railroad, and Judson's Landing is a place on the river where boats sometimes touch ; there being no villages at either place.
THE HUDSON RIVER SEMINARY.
The movement to establish a manual labor school on the banks of the Hudson began about 1865, and was headed by David Smith. With this purpose in view, he purchased a large tract of land at the mouth of Stockport creek, four acres of which, on an elevation commanding a fine view of the Hudson, were set aside for building purposes, and a portion of the adjacent grounds was devoted to garden- ing. In 1836 a large five-story brick structure, containing ninety-six rooms, was erected by a joint stock company, iu which the same year was opened a seminary under the superintendence of Prof. E. D. Maltby, assisted by George Schenck and others. Nearly two hundred students were in attendance, and the school would no doubt have flour- ished if its financial basis had been sound. On the 6th of May, 1837, it was incorporated by the Legislature, but soon after was closed for want of funds. A select boarding- school was subsequently conducted in the building by the Rev. Alden Scovel, which, after a few years, was also dis- continued. The house became the property of Joseph Wild in 1847, and five years later was demolished. The ground is now covered by a vineyard.
THE STOCKPORT METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
In August, 1828, Benjamin Marshall conveyed to John Broadhead, Thomas Harleigh, and Andrew Gregg, trustees of the Methodist Episcopal church, at the " Hudson Print- Works," a building lot on which was erected the following year a plain meeting-house, costing $1200. At this period the church was connected with other Methodist appoint- ments, and was served by the Revs. Cyrus Foss and Cook, with John Bellamy and John Broadhead as local preachers. Years after, the meeting-house was enlarged and repaired,
E
OFFICE
BLEACH HOUSE
SPER
MILL
LITH BY L. H EVERTS &CO PHILA PA
RESIDENCE AND PAPER MILL OF J. W. ROSSMAN, STOCKPORT, COLUMBIA CO., N. Y.
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
and used as a place of worship, until 1866, when a dispute arose concerning the ownership of the lot on which the house stood, which caused its removal to its present location. The house has been further enlarged and improved, and is now generally known as the " Centenary Church." The changes in the building were made by Cornelius Welch, builder, and the trustees being John Van Buren, Peter I. Stupplebeem, William Harder, Adolphus Prinder, James E. Kent, and Richard Hiscox.
A very comfortable parsonage was afterwards erected on a lot donated for this purpose by H. S. Van De Carr. The church and parsonage are estimated to be worth $7000.
In 1877 the church enjoyed a notable revival, which re- sulted in forty-three additions to the membership, making the present number one hundred and sixty, who are under the pastoral care of the Rev. James Birch. The other pastors, in the order of succession, were Revs. Russell Little, Humphrey Humphries, J. Carley, Wm. Thacher, C. Fuller, K. Hatfield, S. L. Stillman, J. B. Wakely, Wm. Gothard, Hiram Lamont, Asa Bushnell, Loyal B. Andrus, John Campbell, Goodrich Horton, Wm. G. Browning, Richard Hiscox, William Brush, Aaron Hunt, Jr., James G. Bates, James N. Shaffer, Charles W. Lyon, W. S. Bouton, W. E. Clark, W. Stevens, C. B. Langdon, J. G. Slater, W. C. Fowler, Aaron Hunt, S. P. Galloway, and J. Ackerman.
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