USA > Vermont > Chittenden County > History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 56
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1 The Charter Oak.
460
HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.
C. Kennedy and Robert Roberts. The home office, No. 176 Main street, Bur- lington, which was built by the company expressly for the transaction of their business, is a model of adaptation to the purposes for which it was intended. The following life insurance companies have for short periods had general agencies in this State with headquarters in Burlington : The Connecticut Mu- tual, represented by E. W. Bushnell ; the Charter Oak, by W. H. Hart ; the Continental of New York, by Mr. Edgarly ; the Brooklyn Life, by Rev. Mr. Haughton ; the Hartford Life and Annuity, by Charles Eaton ; and the Massa- chusetts Mutual, by Charles Parkhurst. The Homoeopathic Mutual of New York maintained a general agency for Vermont, with headquarters in Burling- ton, from 1872 to 1879. They have never since been represented in this State. The Mutual Life of New York was for several years represented by Rev. Buel Smith as special agent, and the Phoenix of Hartford by George Peterson. There are now only two general agencies in this county, that of the Equitable Life Assurance Society of New York, organized in 1859, and represented by W. H. S. Whitcomb as general agent, and the United States Life Insurance Company of New York, organized in 1850, and represented by C. A. Castle as manager. General T. S. Peck represents the National Life of Montpelier, and the Vermont Life of Burlington as local agent. The National is also rep- resented by C. A. Allen, the Mutual Life is represented by Charles P. Frissell, and the New York Life by L. F. Englesby. All these companies are on a solid financial basis and are steadily increasing in every element of prosperity. In presenting the above facts it has been the aim to do justice to all concerned. No important fact properly belonging to the subject has been intentionally omitted.
MANUFACTURING INTERESTS.
The accompanying table is taken from Walton's Register for 1811, and is not self-explanatory. A glance would impress one that the county, in the early part of this century, had attained far more importance than is usually ascribed to it. Considering the situation and relative condition of the county at that period, the array of figures is quite imposing. But on conversing with those who can remember the events of so remote a time, one comes to the conclusion that there were thus early no cotton factories with their scores of employees, nor extensive woolen mills, nor nail factories. Distilleries there may have been, and probably were, in abundance, either then or but little later ; there were tanneries that brought their owners a comfortable revenue for that day ; and there were numerous carding and cloth-dressing machines. But the manufactories and their products were all of the rudest kind, and sales were limited to a small area. The manufacture of lumber was one of the earliest and most widely extended of the industries of the county, and receives par- ticular mention in a previous chapter. But the references in the table to the
1
461
TOWN AND CITY OF BURLINGTON.
quantities of linen, cotton and woolen fabric turned out annually undoubtedly includes an estimate of what private families made for their own uses. The division of labor had not then been developed to its present degree, and many of the families then made all the cloth for home use, while blacksmiths made their own nails. At that time wrought nails were exclusively used, and though many were imported from Great Britain, no doubt there were blacksmiths en- terprising enough to make an extra shilling by entering into a modest compe- tition with the mother country. The largest tannery, probably, in the county was that of Horace Loomis, on Pearl street. The stores did not keep a large assortment of boots and shoes; but, as Captain Lyon relates, the shoes for each family were made by the itinerant shoemaker, the only kind, who boarded with the family until his work was completed. These were not necessarily in general use during the summer, as children, young men, and even maidens frequently followed the fashion of the day and went barefooted.
MANUFACTURES OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY IN 1811.
Burlington.
Williston
Shelburne.
Charlotte.
Hinesburg.
Huntington.
Richmond.
Essex.
Westford.
Milton.
Colchester.
St. George.
Total.
Yards of linen made annually
6,000 10,300 3,800
8,700
6,200 8,450 11,225 7,080
8,950 10,828
3,700
7,560
8,244 6,555
8,140 7,200
7,8101 3,860 7,300
3,600
455 83,260 400 74,673
Yards of cotton made annu'ly
200
330
97
100
50
70
64
78
75
30
2
980 695
Gals. of liquor distilled annu'ly
1,000
2,000
2,000
Tous of nails made.
6
2
2
10
Hides tanned annually.
1,100
380
300
200
150
150
. .
150
2,430
Calfskins tanned annually.
900
700
300
250
150
160
100
2,560
Pounds of wool carded annu'ly 10,000
7,000
5,000
5,000
12,000
. . 144,000
Annual amount received by clothiers for dressing cloth. . $1,400
$600 $1,600 $1,300
$1,100
$460 $1,900
$8,960
-
5,576 10,000
Yards of woolen made annu'ly
Number of looms.
450 29
72
38
2,000
300
7,300
.-
The most extensive manufacturing was done on the north side of the falls by Ira Allen. John A. Graham, the first practicing attorney in Rutland, in a series of letters written in 1797, mentions the " large mills, forges and iron foundries " of Mr. Allen. About 1800, and for years afterward, Daniel Stani- ford owned a distillery on the north side of Pearl street, just east from the present Winooski avenue, where he brewed ale, beer and porter, and manu- factured excellent gin. The distillery of Loomis & Bradley has also been men- tioned in a former page. Samuel Hickok built a brewery on the west side of Champlain street, which was burned. About 1837 George Peterson rebuilt it and for years continued the manufacture of ale. In 1871 it was taken by Ammi F. Stone, who ran it until 1878; he then practically converted it into an establishment for bottling lager. These were the best remembered of the early distilleries, though there were others-for instance, one on the Shelburne road, about a half a mile south of the present poor-house, operated by Elisha Bar- stow. This was within the memory of the oldest inhabitants. A grist-mill, plaster-mill, oil-mill, and several similar concerns have at various times been in operation on this side of the falls at Winooski; but those that have continued by succession to the present are mentioned particularly in a subsequent page.
30
462
HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.
Aside from the lumber interest, however, Burlington and vicinity were not widely known for their manufactures. Until the year 1827, when the Cham- plain Glass Company was formed, the town was rather agricultural and mer- cantile than manufacturing. The account of that company given in a former page shows that at first it was an experiment, and not altogether a successful one, until those who were with it from the beginning had profited by experi- ence. During the year 1835 several companies were formed and incorporated with a view to building up the industries of the place, and indeed may have awakened the spirit of enterprise that makes Burlington what it is to-day. Three of these companies were as follows: The Colchester Manufacturing Company, incorporated on the 9th of November, 1835, by Ezra Meech, John S. Potwin, Ebenezer T. Englesby, Samuel Hickok, Alvan Foote, Sion E. Howard, Sidney Barlow, and Jabez Penniman. They were empowered to hold property to the value of $500,000; and to engage in the manufacture of cotton and woolen goods. The first meeting was to be held in some public house in Burlington. On the following day the Winooski Block Manufacturing Com- pany was incorporated, with power to erect engines and machinery for manu- facturing ships' blocks, and other ships' tackle and equipage, and to hold prop- erty to the value of $100,000. The capital stock was $200,000. The first directors were George P. Marsh, Guy Catlin, John M. Catlin, Uriah Bliss, and Peter Stuyvesant. The Burlington Mill Company was also incorporated on the 10th of November, 1835, by Samuel Hickok, Luther Loomis, Henry Mayo, Timothy Follett, George Moore, Philo Doolittle, Sidney Barlow, and Carlos Baxter. The purpose of the incorporation of this company was the manufacture of cotton and woolen goods, and also the working of iron and manufacturing of machinery, the purchase of mill sites and the erection of mills in Chittenden county for the promotion of the manufacturing interests of the county. They were to hold property, if necessary, to the value of $200,- 000. The first meeting was to be held at the house of John Howard on the 8th of December, 1835. About this time the Legislature was enacting laws for the encouragement of those who were endeavoring to produce and manu- facture silk in the State. It is not, however, known that silk was ever manu- factured in this county.
The Pioneer Mechanics' Shops .- The temporary disadvantages caused the town by the opening of railroads through the State, mentioned in previous pages, were more than counterbalanced by the permanent encouragement offered to manufacturers by the greater facilities for transportation, which would have been impossible without railroads. In the spring of 1852 Frederick Smith and several other prominent men in town received offers of land from Henry B. Stacy and others, on condition that it be used for a site of some large factory which should restore the former prestige of Burlington and build up a manufacturing center in the place of the mercantile prominence of other times.
463
TOWN AND CITY OF BURLINGTON.
The offer was seriously considered and resulted in the formation of a company, on the 31st day of May, 1852, under the style of the Pioneer Mechanics' Shop Company, for the purpose of erecting a suitable building, or buildings, on land donated by Henry B. Stacy, Henry P. Hickok, Eliza W. Buell, and Nathan B. Haswell, with steam-engines and fixtures for running machinery in said build- ing, the same to be rented to mechanics and manufacturers, in convenient allotments, in such manner as to facilitate and invite the introduction of new branches of mechanical and manufacturing industry. The capital of the com- pany was $30,000, divided into shares of $25 each. The Legislature granted a charter to the company in November, 1852. The first directors were Henry P. Hickok, Frederick Smith, T. R. Fletcher, Edward W. Peck, and Morillo Noyes.
In 1852 and 1853 the company erected a building on the east side of Lake street, of brick, four stories high, 400 feet long and fifty wide, divided into four apartments, each 100 feet long, with a heavy brick wall between each; the machinery in the shops being driven by two heavy engines in a building just east of shops. The southerly half of the building was rented by Cheney, Kil- burn & Co., and occupied in getting out chair stock for the chair manufac- turers in Massachusetts, and afterwards in the manufacture of chairs, finishing 600 daily.
The northerly half of the building was rented to various parties, and occu- pied in the manufacture of sash, doors, blinds, furniture, machinery, etc. The corporation having borrowed money required in the completion of their build- ings, and given a mortgage of their lands and shops to secure the payment, were unable to pay the same and it was foreclosed, the property of the corpor- ation passing into the hands of Henry P. Hickok.
On the 2d day of April, 1858, the shop was discovered to be on fire near the south end. A strong south wind was blowing and the building was totally destroyed, the loss being about $150,000. $8,000 being immediately donated by the citizens for its reconstruction, was utilized by Lawrence Barnes, who purchased the ruins and at once erected three brick shops, two stories high, each one hundred feet long and fifty wide. These shops, with others which were erected adjoining, were occupied by manufacturers of furniture, doors, sash, blinds, shoe lasts, boxes, axe helves, wagon spokes, iron castings and machinery, a large part of which found its way to foreign markets. When the first building was constructed, overtures for letting it were received with caution by people from other States or vicinities who were not willing to trust to the faith of Burlington people in the ultimate success of their enterprise. The result, however, justified the confidence of the citizens of Burlington, for the works proved to be, as one citizen has said, the nest egg from which all the manufacturing interests, excepting the cotton interests, have been de- veloped. A large steam planing-mill was erected at the foot of College
464
HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.
street, in which large quantities of lumber were dressed and prepared for market. The shops on Lake street were again destroyed by fire on the 21st of November, 1882, and rebuilt. The loss from this catastrophe was about $100,000. The property now belongs to J. R. Booth, a brief account of whose industry appears in a subsequent page.
The Burlington Woolen Mill Company was incorporated for the first time in the fall of 1835, at the time previously mentioned as the dawn of industrial progress in Burlington. The original corporators were Carlos Baxter, George Moore, Samuel Hickok, Luther Loomis, Henry Mayo, Sidney Barlow, Philo Doolittle, and Timothy Follett. This company continued the manufacture of woolen goods until 1851, when business was suspended and the property sold by the sheriff to Harding Brothers. They continued the business until 1861. The present company was organized in 1862, and obtained its charter Novem- ber 5 of that year. The corporators of this company were Charles L. Hard- ing, Arthur Wilkinson, John A. Turner, Joshua Stevens, Joseph Sawyer, and F. C. Kennedy. The capital stock was $200,000. Manufactured here are broadclothis, moscows, fancy suitings, ladies' dress goods and cloakings. The company make a specialty of indigo blue goods for uniforms of city police all over the country, and for employees of railroad companies. In 1881 the com- pany added a $10,000 spindle-mill for making hosiery yarns of the finest kinds, called the Colchester Merino Mill. One hundred and twenty-five hands are employed here. In all the company employ 825 operatives, and manufacture annually $1,000,000 worth of goods. The present officers are as follows : Joseph Sawyer, president ; F. C. Kennedy, secretary ; Thomas A. Patterson, treasurer ; directors, Joseph Sawyer, A. J. Adams, Joseph D. Sawyer, N. Dana Turner, and F. C. Kennedy. Mr. Kenndy has the practical management of the entire business.
. Another department of the Burlington Woolen Company is the Winooski Aqueduct Company, which supplies water by gravitation to Winooski. It has a reservoir with a capacity for 5,000,000 gallons. When these mills were started only fifteen sets of cards were used ; twenty-five are now barely suffi- cient. The mills cover two and one-half acres of land, and consume every year 1,400,000 pounds of wool, making 800,000 yards of cloth.
The Burlington Flouring Mill was originally erected by the Catlin Brothers some time previous to 1830, and was operated for years by Henry W. Catlin as a custom mill. It finally came into the hands of the Woolen Mill Company, who wanted the sole control of the water privilege, and for fifteen years oper- ated as a flouring mill by them. Unable to compete with the roller process for making flour, it ceased running when that process became general, and since then has been operated only as a custom grinding mill. It is under the man- agement of F. C. Kennedy.
The Burlington Cotton Mills .- The general movement of 1835 towards
465
TOWN AND CITY OF BURLINGTON.
establishing the reputation of Burlington as a manufacturing center, embraced within its scope the manufacture of cotton. Indeed that was an object appar- ently thought of before the rest, for a company under the name of the Win- ooski Manufacturing Company was incorporated on the 7th of November, 1833, by Timothy Follett, Justus Burdick, Dan Day, and Guy Catlin. It was empowered to hold real property to the amount of $100,000, and purposed to begin the making of cotton and woolen goods on the lower fall at Winooski. The first meeting was held at the tavern of Cady & Doolittle, on Water street, on the first Monday of January, 1834. The enterprise soon came to its end, and nothing of importance was done towards the manufacture of cotton until 1845, when a firm under the title of the Winooski Mill Company was given a charter by the Legislature, and was organized the same year by the election of proper officers, Joseph D. Allen being president. The capital stock of the new company was $25,000. In 1853 the Legislature authorized the increase of the capital to $75,000. Manufacturing was begun in a small wooden build- ing known as " the oil mill," on the west side of the road near the south end of the covered bridge at Winooski Falls. The works were destroyed by fire on the night of January 1, 1852, and in the following spring a lot about twenty rods above the bridge was purchased and a commodious brick and stone fac- tory erected, 45 x 103 feet, in addition to the wooden structure already stand- ing, 34 x 84 feet.
In 1858 two brothers, Joel H., and Stephen Gates, had come to Burlington from Brattleboro, and engaged in the manufacture of furniture in the old Pi- oneer Shops, subsequently forming a partnership with Cheney Kilburn, and styling the firm Gates, Kilburn & Co., of whom Mr. Kilburn and Joel H. Gates went to Philadelphia in 1860, and established a branch house for the finishing and sale of their products. Upon the death of his brother in 1865, Joel H. Gates returned to this place, and the firm continued the same business under the name of Kilburn & Gates. In 1869 they erected the factory on Pine and St. Paul streets.
In 1876 the old cotton-mill company having failed, relinquished the larger share of their business and property to the Howard National Bank, in the in- terest of which Joel H. Gates was appointed to act as assignee. In the follow- ing year the bank obtained absolute ownership of the mills, and Mr. Gates continued to operate them as agent until 1880. Meantime, in 1877, Cheney Kilburn had retired from the old firm of Kilburn & Gates, Robert G. Severson, of Philadelphia, succeeding him, and the firm name was changed to Joel H. Gates & Co. In 1880 the firm closed out their furniture business, and Mr. Severson removed to Burlington. They then purchased the cotton-mill prop- erty, immediately enlarged the buildings, and removed the looms from the falls to the Pine street factory, so that now all the spinning and carding are done at the falls, while the weaving is performed in the new building. The works
466
HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.
cover an area of about fourteen acres, including the sites of six or seven tene- ment houses (some of which contain several families), a large boarding-house, and the factories. At present about 25,000 to 28,000 yards (fifteen miles) of cotton cloth is manufactured every day, and shipped to calico printers in New York, Boston, and other large centers. The firm employs from 330 to 350 hands.
As shown in the sketch of Lawrence Barnes in another part of this work, he was unquestionably the man who by his energy, foresight and business man- agement, and by his disinterested efforts in behalf of the growth of Burlington, really gave to it its importance as a manufacturing center. Soon after the con- struction of the Pioneer Shops he began to send lumber in boats from Three Rivers, in Canada, to Burlington, whence it was shipped to different parts of New England. After the burning of the Pioneer Shops he purchased the site and rebuilt the works. His first partnership was formed in 1859 with Charles and David Whitney, of Lowell, Mass. Since that time numerous changes have taken place, Mr. Barnes remaining until a few months before his death at the head of the Burlington branch of the concern. D. N. Skillings and Mial Davis became interested in the business in 1862, and offices were established at Boston, Detroit, Montreal, Ogdensburgh, Albany and Whitehall. In the mean time an extensive trade in western lumber had been added to that in lum- ber from Canada, and finally usurped all, or nearly all, of the business. In 1869 Mial Davis withdrew from the firm, to become a member of the firm of Shep- ard, Davis & Co., who purchased the Canadian branch of the trade. From 1873 to 1878 Mr. Barnes had practically retired from all portions of the busi- ness except that going with the Burlington office, but in the latter year became a member of the stock company that was then incorporated under the laws of Massachusetts, with Mr. Skillings as president, and Charles Whitney as treas- urer. In 1880, upon the death of the former president, Mr. Barnes was chosen to be his successor, and continued to act in that capacity until his death. The business of this company has grown without interruption from the beginning, lumber being now shipped by them at the rate of from 70,000,000 to 100,000,- 000 feet per annum. The office at Burlington is under the able management of D. W. Robinson.
In 1869 the firm of Shepard, Davis & Co. was formed in Burlington, and was known at Boston under the name of Shepard, Hall & Co. This con- cern succeeded to the Canadian portion of the business of L. Barnes & Co. The present stock company was incorporated on the Ist of September, 1878, under the name of the Shepard & Morse Lumber Company, having offices at Burlington and Boston, Tonawanda, N. Y., Ottawa, Ont., and East Saginaw, Mich. The present officers and directors are Otis Shepard, president and gene- ral manager, Boston ; James Maclaren, Buckingham, P. Q., George H. Morse, William A. Crombie and Horace B. Shepard. Messrs. Morse and Crombie are
467
TOWN AND CITY OF BURLINGTON.
managers of the business at Burlington. It will thus be seen that the company is under the most experienced and efficient management. They own a dock front of 4,000 feet, at which from thirty to thirty-five vessels can at the same time discharge their cargoes, and have twenty-five acres of piling ground, with a capacity of carrying a stock of from 25,000,000 to 30,000,000 feet of lumber. Their planing-mill, 280 x 40 feet, with a Corliss engine of 250 horse-power, was erected in 1868, and gives capacity for dressing 30,000,000 of feet per annum. With other facilities in their possession, this enables the company to dress a total of 40,000,000 of feet a year. Nearly 600 operatives are employed, about 300 of them here, and annual transactions are effected involving the handling at the several places of business of from 80,000,000 to 100,000,000 feet of lum- ber - the trade extending over the entire United States, and largely in foreign countries. The reputation of the city and the volume of its business have thus by this company been greatly increased within the last few years.
H. R. Wing and James A. Smith came to this city from Niagara Falls, N. Y., in July, 1852, and started the manufacture of lasts, boot-trees, crimps, etc., in the old foundry building on the corner of Main and Battery streets. This building, together with the stock of the occupants, was lost by fire two years later. With the proceeds of their small insurance they began to repair their injured fortunes, and in six months were again running their machinery in the Pioneer Shops. Here again they suffered losses by fire, but they removed to Winoo- ski, and in ninety days were again selling their goods in the old markets. When the Pioneer Shops were rebuilt they removed into them, where they con- tinued until they came into their present quarters. G. F. Wing had before 1852 opened a store and salesroom in New York city, but he and James A. Smith have been removed by death, leaving H. R. Wing the surviving active partner, though Mrs. J. A. Smith retains an interest in the business. They em- ploy men both here and in New York city.
The firm of W. & G. Crane was established in the fall of 1858, the senior partner having come to Burlington in the winter of 1855-56, to operate for Mr. Barnes the first dressing-machines in town. When the partnership was formed the business was confined to the manufacture of packing boxes, but was more and more engaged in the manufacture of lumber, until the latter had entirely engrossed the activities of the firm. Pine lumber is a specialty. Their busi- ness is exclusively wholesale, and gives employment to from 100 to 125 men. Steam mills are operated here for re-sawing and re-dressing lumber ; the dock and piling ground of the company gives capacity for the handling of 60,000,- 000 feet per annum. In addition to this, the firm own one-half of the stock of the Vermont Shade Roller Company at Vergennes ; are associated in Mus- kegan, Mich., with E. A. Pope, where about 46,000,000 feet are annually handled; and own a half interest in the retail lumber house of O. Woods & Co., at Natick, Mass. They handled 15,000,000 feet of lumber here in 1885.
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