USA > Vermont > Caledonia County > St Johnsbury > The town of St. Johnsbury, Vt. ; a review of one hundred twenty-five years to the anniversary pageant 1912 > Part 40
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WOODWORK Besides the iron-works at Paddock Village a large amount of wood-working has added to the hum of industry around the old Arnold Falls. Joseph Hancock's furniture of early years was equal to the best in style and finish. Ramsey, Morris, Rollins, Randall, Carpenter, L. O. Stevens, Severance, Orcutt, Pinard, Galer, Lynch, Jones and Shields are names well known as manufacturers of furniture, sash, doors, blinds, house finish and specialties in woodwork which have added to the business standing of the town. The output of these miscel- laneous products in 1900 was valued at $75,000.
MODERN CONVENIENCES Ice. When so much good ice was running to waste every spring it seems surprising that our ances- tors were content to cool their butter by depositing it under the well-curb or on the earth floor of the cellar, instead of utilizing nature's cooling material. Small bins for ice began to be built in the woodsheds before 1850, but regular business in ice was not taken up till long after. As late as 1880 there was one ice wagon running in the village, making three trips a week. It requires four wagons running every day to supply present day demands during the summer months. In 1907, Menut and Parks put up a plant for the manufacture of hygienic ice; the product was superior but as the expense exceeded the income, the making of a
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high grade of ice was abandoned and the proprietors returned to nature for their supplies. They harvest about 3500 tons in the winter, of which 1200 tons or more are distributed to patrons ; a large percentage of the ice is lost by the summer shrinkage. The annual business is about $5500-ice being delivered at rates rang- ing from 25 to 30 cents per hundred weight.
It is interesting to know that St. Johnsbury is the place where the true principle of refrigerator construction, now in uni- versal use, was first discovered and applied. This fact was estab- lished in 1871 when the court sitting in New York City ruled that what was then claimed by certain parties for a patent right had been long before applied in this town-"evidence is conclusive," said the Judge, "of the construction both in 1846 and in 1849 by Thaddeus Fairbanks, of refrigerators embodying the invention set forth in his application for a patent, and that these refrigera- tors continued in practical use and are produced in evidence in this case." The principle in question consisted in placing the ice above the food cabinet, thus securing a down-flow of dry, cool air. Mr. Fairbanks having neither time nor money for promoting his invention relinquished his rights ; in process of time they were valued at a million dollars.
Gas. Somewhile after 1850 the Fairbanks Company installed a gas plant for supplying light in their scale shops and residences. A few years later the pipe line was extended up Western Avenue for the benefit of the South Church and some other buildings; later still most of the public buildings on the Plain were lighted from this plant until the introduction of electricity. An effective and brilliant illumination was that of the Athenaeum on the even- ing of its dedication in November, 1871. In 1906, the St. Johns- bury Gas Company was organized, Geo. W. Cross president, and a plant was erected near the mouth of Sleeper's River. The pro- prietors were exceedingly generous ; pipe lines were laid thro the principal streets of the village and patrons were provided with service piping, gas ranges and meters free of cost at an ex- pense to the company of $125,000. The product of this plant is carbureted water gas made from crude oil and broken coal, used mostly on the cooking ranges; the price is $1.20 to $1.50 per
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thousand cubic feet according to the monthly amounts drawn from the meter; the total yearly consumption is about fifteen million cubic feet.
Electricity. The St. Johnsbury Electric Light and Power Company organized May 1888, was re-organized in 1891 with $50,000 capital, at which time there were on the streets 50 arc lights of 2000 candle power each, and for in-door use 36 arcs and 750 incandescents, on a circuit of 35 miles of wire. There are now 80 arcs and about 36,000 incandescent lamps, the circuit being 122 miles. This Company owns four power stations-one at the Belknap dam below the Fair Grounds, one at Passumpsic village, one at the Center, one east of the railroad station ; these four com- prise all the water powers of this vicinity on Passumpsic river with the exception of the Paddock village falls. The plant was pur- chased in 1913 by the Twin State Gas and Electric Company.
PHOTOGRAPHY The old-time Daguerreotype Car, painted white, sky-lighted, drawn by four horses, used to appear periodi- cally on our streets prior to 1850, and all the sun-pictures of that period were taken under its glass dome; there are still a few surviving specimens of 1849 that were printed in the Brooks car from Boston, which was moored a little way below the old burial ground.
The pioneer daguerreotypist who obtained a residence was F. B. Gage whose St. Johnsbury Portrait Gallery was opened 1851 in the Emerson Hall building then standing on the Athenaeum site. He was ingenious, painstaking and skilful as an artist, with a touch of eccentricity and droll humor; he styled himself The-Old-Daguerreen, The-Man-with-the-long-flowing-Beard, crea- tor of Daguerreotypes, Ambrotypes, Statutypes, Colorotypes ; he took first premiums at the County Fairs and diversified the columns of the Caledonian with his whimsical verse. The lines here given were entitled
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& SO FORTH & SO ON
BY THE FLOWING BEARD
How swiftly the moments of life hurry on, Nor slow forth nor slow on, But swift as the tide of a swift rushing river They flow forth & flow on & so forth & so on.
Then O, as you row down the River of Life, As you row forth & row on,
Have your likeness preserved in a case or a frame To show forth and show on & so forth & so on.
And e'en though the weather be cloudy or fair Or snow forth & snow on,
And e'en though the tempest should rise in its wrath & blow forth & blow on, We'll take you a picture you won't be ashamed When you go forth & go on To show forth & show on & so forth & so on.
The Gage gallery in Brown's block at the time of his death, was purchased by Geo. H. Hastings and has descended thro suc- cessive owners to W. H. Jenks, the present proprietor. Long time photographers on Eastern Avenue were T. C. Haynes and C. H. Clark. A photographic artist of eminence was D. A. Clif- ford over the Post Office block, who died in 1889. For 47 years he had kept himself master of every known process of his art. Among 167 exhibitors, English and American, at the Lambert ex- position in New York 1878, the first prize for large carbon work was awarded D. A. Clifford of St. Johnsbury, Vt., and two of his pictures were kept by Mr. Lambert as specimens of American photography to be exhibited in England. Clifford was for sev- eral years, until his death, vice-president of the American Photog- raphers Association ; for his enthusiasm in the art he was called among the members the old war horse from Vermont; it was agreed that his landscape pictures were adding much to the popu- lar fame of Green Mountain scenery, chiefly of this immediate vicinity.
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NEWSPAPERS The Farmer's Herald and The Caledonian have already come under review on pages 184 and 219. Complete files of both are preserved at the Atheneum; the volumes of the latter cover a period of seventy-seven years and contain valuable infor- mation relating to events of the last half century.
In 1869 the St. Johnsbury Times was established by Arthur Ropes, D. K. Simonds and Edwin L. Hovey, as an independent sheet, a free lance. It was published on Railroad Street ; con- tinued three years and in 1872 the plant was bought by T. H. Hoskins of Newport; the name of the paper was changed to the Vermont Farmer, edited by Royal Cummings. Five years later in 1877 it went into the hands of John W. Lewis, receiver, with liabilites of $5000. In December, 1879, it was revived under the name of the St. Johnsbury Index, A. B. Howe, editor; it was sold to J. E. Harris in 1883, and he in turn sold it the next year to the Caledonia Publishing Company, organized with $10,000 capital, subsequently increased to $15,000. This company, composed of business men from this and other towns in the county, Dudley P. Hall of Lyndon, president, took over whatever property was left of the Index after paying notes and bills payable of a good many thousand dollars. The experience of fifteen years had demonstrated that St. Johnsbury was not a favorable field for radical journalism. Meantime a new situation had developed. Mr. Blaine had not received the full support of his party here in the recent presidential campaign. One result of this was the es- tablishment by the Caledonia Publishing Company of
THE ST. JOHNSBURY REPUBLICAN The first issue was brought out March 26, 1885 ; Edward Johnson of Burlington was appoint- ed editor and C. T. Walter business manager, and the new paper prospered. In 1890, the Republican Block was erected, which, besides providing superior facilities for publishing purposes, was a valuable addition to the group of substantial buildings in that locality. In 1894, the paper was sold to L. P. Thayer, who for four years conducted it as a private enterprise. Then in 1898 it was purchased again by the Republican Company to whom the block belonged, the principal ownership being in Lyndon, and Mr. Walter became editor and manager. The Republican has
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continued to have favorable patronage and good standing in the state ; at the present time the two newspapers of this town are eight-page sheets well printed, of the same political faith and nearly identical in style and make up.
MAPLE SUGAR The early methods of sugar making and soap making were ludicrously similar ; the fluid contents of the big iron kettle suspended on forked sticks over the fire were re- duced to the desired consistency, poured off, stirred and stored in barrels for the year's supply of the family. There was little if any sugar or soap to be marketed ; it was yet a good while before cane sugar either in brown bulk or in white cones wrapped in blue paper made its appearance. By the year 1850, however, Cale- donia County had a reputation for sugar, the product that year being 854,820 pounds ; this was more than any other County in the state produced, Washington, Franklin and Orleans being next in productiveness. This town, however, was never famous as a sugar producer; sixty years ago more was made than now, there were more trees then. In 1857, the maple groves on seventeen of the Four Corners and Goss Hollow districts yielded 16,190 pounds of sugar, principally on the farms of the early settlers, Gardner Wheeler, David Goss, Aldrich, Hawkins, Houghton, Ayer and others.
Whatever rank St. Johnsbury has failed to attain in the pro- duction of sugar is being rapidly offset, so to speak, by its in- creasing importance as a distributing center-George C. Cary's transactions in maple sugar amount to a million dollars annually ; the Towle Maple Products Company, now operating in the con- crete block on the meadow, send out a like amount of Log Cabin Maple Syrup and cakes to all parts of the world. In this estab- lishment the syrup purchased from the farmers is reheated by steam, pumped thro a filtering press into tanks holding 2200 gal- lons, then piped into copper kettles, reheated and drawn into re- ceptacles for shipment. The volume of this business began to appear in September, 1912, when a special train in five sections of 25 car loads of maple products was dispatched from the St. Johns- bury works across the continent to San Francisco. With sugar business aggregating two million dollars annually, this town is at the present time the largest maple sugar market in the world.
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CLUBS AND ORDERS
THE BOARD OF TRADE
The St. Johnsbury Board of Trade was established February 25, 1891, with sixty charter members, H. N. Turner, President. For ten years it was an important institution, public spirited and practically useful ; its membership included 150 of the business and professional men, and there was a paid Secretary. The Board of Trade Rooms on the first floor of the new Republican Block became an open forum for the discussion of almost every question relating to the prosperity and welfare of the town at that period. Much attention was paid to business and industrial in- terests ; in 1893 there were sent out 50,000 circulars setting forth the main features and attractions of St. Johnsbury. Numerous public functions were organized and conducted by the Board of Trade, such as the reception to President Harrison; the patriotic send-off to Company D on its departure to the Spanish war; the relief fund to San Francisco after the earthquake. Matters of this sort continued to be taken up by officers of the Board after suspension of its regular meetings in 1900. The annual banquets were notably interesting, not infrequently with speakers of na- tional reputation as guests. The first of these was at the Town Hall in February, 1892 ; there were 160 covers, and the remark was made that "this is the first time in the history of the town that all its interests were combined in so large numbers." A year later, "the largest banquet ever in St. Johnsbury" was pre- pared by Landlord Krogman in the Stanley Opera House, at which the guest of honor was the new-born Woman's Club, repre- sented by Mrs. Jonathan Ross, its President.
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THE MERCHANTS' ASSOCIATION
In March, 1890, fifty-seven men were organized under the name of the St. Johnsbury Merchants' Association, the object being to correct abuses of the credit system, to collect bills and to keep lists of cash customers and of others whose credit was not good. Two years later this body became a department of the Board of Trade ; in March, 1896, it resumed independence and came to be much more than a local institution. Its membership of 750 in 1898, represented seventy-five towns and cities, with net receipts of $1,131.82. Each year its business methods attracted wider range of patronage ; a Boston house reported having in one year collected more than fifty accounts in six different states, and ranked the St. Johnsbury Merchants' Association superior to any similar system. The membership includes leading manufacturers; merchants, wholesale and retail ; banks and bankers ; profession- al men; gas, electric, telephone, insurance, coal and ice com- panies, from 208 towns and cities in the United States and Canada. During 1912 there were 1470 names put on the cash customer list; total on this list is 17,305; the entire membership of the Associa- tion has been 2954, President, L. N. Smythe; Secretary and Treasurer, C. H. Bagley.
THE COMMERCIAL CLUB
The Board of Trade remained quiescent and was not revived under the same name; but a process of metempsychosis was going on and when ten years were fulfilled it appeared again re- incarnated in The Commercial Club, born April 20, 1910. A dis- tinctive feature of this body was the energy with which younger men addressed themselves to the public welfare. Charles W. Steele was the first President. A large and wide awake member- ship was enrolled, with annual dues of five dollars. One of the first matters taken up was that of the water supply for domestic uses, in view of the fact that the condemnation of the river water by the State Board of Health had not been taken seriously. Other important interests forwarded have been the promotion of new industries, improved roads and highways, more adequate fire
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protection and advantageous insurance rates, better freight and transportation facilities, underground wiring, cleaner streets and a sensible Fourth of July. To the Commercial Club is mainly due the establishment of Merchants Day, the St. Johnsbury Ver- monter of October, 1911, the guaranty and success of the Pageant of 1912, securing appropriation from Congress for a Federal Building, also the very satisfactory hotel equipment of the new St. Johnsbury House. A wholesome town spirit has been awakened and many hundreds of dollars spent for town better- ment ; the Club Banquets at Pythian Hall for discussion of cur- rent problems have brought together large and representative as- semblies. As a diversion, this masculine body had the audacity to challenge the Woman's Club to a spelling match.
THE ST. JOHNSBURY WOMAN'S CLUB
"In great things Unity In small things Liberty In all things Charity."
"We, the women of St. Johnsbury, interested in the beauti- fying and improvement of our beloved town, and in promoting a kindly feeling and broad unison of spirit and action within its borders, do band ourselves together into an association for this purpose, and to insure success adopt the following Constitution." This was the preamble under which the Club was organized in the Board of Trade Rooms, May 9, 1892, with Mrs. Jonathan Ross first President and Mrs. Elisha May vice President.
That the Woman's Club has never lost sight of its original purpose to work for the good of the town, is plainly seen in its fruitful record of twenty years. Appropriations were immediate- ly made for village improvement and for securing the Home for aged women. Following the disastrous fire of October, the same year, the Club raised and distributed a relief fund of $404.82. Street cleaning was undertaken and lawn settees placed in the parks at the expense of the Club. In 1896, the sum of $266 was given the Village Trustees for the erection of drinking fountains and stone water troughs. An appropriation of $160 was made in 1904, for a vacation school on Summer Street, at which basketry,
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woodwork, repairing, sloyd, sewing and cookery were taught. The results of this were so gratifying that during the following year the town voted $300 for the same purpose and this experi- ment in industrial training was continued for some years. The Club also introduced into the schools a penny stamp savings system; during a single month 150 children made deposits amount- ing to $50. The employment of a district nurse was inaugurated in 1906; for this purpose generous sums were voted, which at successive town meetings were supplemented by liberal appro- priations from the town. A booklet containing a digest of the laws of the state relating to women and children was published by the Club, and through its efforts an important revision of our Village charter was secured.
The activities of the Woman's Club have not been limited to local interests. In 1896, it took the initiative in the project of bringing together all similar clubs in the state, the result of which was The Vermont Federation of Woman's Clubs organized in this town with a St. Johnsbury woman first President. The first traveling libraries in the state were purchased and sent on their trips by the St. Johnsbury Club; these were subsequently presented to the Vermont Library Association and have grown to be an important feature in its work among small towns. Mean- time a system of rural district libraries has been instituted by the Club for the schools of our own town; of these there are five in constant circulation, with headquarters at the Athenaeum. The influence of this Club was recognized in the passage of child-labor laws, pure food laws, and in the appointment of women on the state boards of charitable institutions, the first to serve in this ca- pacity being one of its own members.
Among public entertainments provided by the Woman's Club, not to speak of many musical ones, have been addresses or read- ings by Mrs. General Custer, Julia C. R. Dorr, Sallie Joy White, Kate Gannett Woods, Alice Freeman Palmer, Mabel Loomis Todd, Katherine Lee Bates, Isobel Strong, Frances Dyer ; with now and then an interesting man on the rostrum for variety.
A recent important enterprise is the acquisition of the Dr. Folsom property on Cherry street for a Club House. This is
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centrally located, and the buildings and grounds are adaptable to any desired development; including under present plans an ample auditorium, rest and guest rooms, facilities for classes in domestic science and other feminine accomplishments, and an inviting resort for young women who have no home.
Considering results already quietly accomplished in village improvement, in the development of refined culture and practical arts, in the unifying of diverse or sectional interests, in the culti- vation of unbiased public spirit and a broadening vision, the Woman's Club will be accorded a front rank among agencies working together for the good of the town.
DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
At this point mention should be made of the organization which undertook to secure for St. Johnsbury a permanent record of its history. A chief feature of the order of The Daughters of the Revolution has been to perpetuate the memory of the early patriots, to secure and preserve documents, events and traditions of the past, both national and local. With this in view the present writer was urged by the local Chapter to compile the historical narrative set forth in this book, and at the same time the expense of its publication was assumed.
This Chapter, taking the name of the town god-father, was organized June 17, 1897, the 122nd anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hall. Obviously the membership could not be large tho the name was a long one; there were twelve charter members and during the seventeen years about forty in all. Anniversaries of notable days in the history of the state and nation are appro- priately commemorated, with occasional public entertainments. Future generations interested in past events of the town as re- corded on these pages will acknowledge indebtedness to THE ST. JOHN DE CREVECŒUR CHAPTER of the DAUGHTERS of the AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
FRATERNAL ORDERS
THE MASONIC
The beginnings of Masonry in this part of the state were at Danville, where Harmony Lodge No. 14 was established in 1797.
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This lodge was removed to St. Johnsbury in 1812, meeting first in Major Butler's house on the Center Village road, later in the hall of John Barney's Tavern and in Hezekiah Martin's hall, till 1829, at which time anti-Masonic agitation was at its height, and the lodge expired. Among the Masons of that period were some of the prominent men of the town : Calvin Jewett, John Barney, John Armington, Jerry Dickerman, Ezra Ide, Hezekiah Martin, Eleazar Sanger, Stephen Hawkins, Joseph Fairbanks, Joel Roberts, and others. The last paragraph on the books of Har- mony lodge records that Erastus Fairbanks was chosen represen- tative to the Grand Lodge in 1831.
· Twenty-two years later came the establishment of Passump- sic Lodge No. 27. Among the first officers were Dr. Calvin Jewett, Francis Bingham, Franklin Fairbanks, Pearl D. Blodgett. For ten years a hall over the Bingham drug store was occupied, then for about twenty years the hall in Union Block. Masonic Hall on Main Street was built in 1885, and occupied 46 years, until the completion of the new Masonic Temple on Eastern Avenue in 1912. This building, devoted entirely to the uses of the order, is an imposing structure, sixty by eighty feet ground floor, richly and tastefully furnished, with ample accommodation for all departments and functions. C. A. Calderwood was chair- man of the building committee. Its cost was $35,000 ; the finest Masonic building in the state; membership is about 400. De- partments : Passumpsic Lodge No. 27; Haswell Royal Arch Chapter No. 11; Mizpah Lodge of Perfection; Caledonia Council No. 13; Palestine Commandery No. 5, K. T .; Mystic Star Chapter No. 29. The writer is indebted to R. C. Sulloway for facts above given.
ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS
Caledonia Lodge No. 6 was established at Danville, January 1, 1847. The chief officers were Charles S. Dana and David Boynton, who soon after became citizens of St. Johnsbury. In 1850, the Lodge was removed to this town. It may have been in connection therewith that on the fifth of February that year "two omnibus loads of Odd Fellows went to Danville, each Fellow
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made even by an Odd Sister." In 1853, a division occurred in the Lodges of the State (over the color question) in consequence of which Caledonia Lodge and all others excepting four, dis- banded. It was reinstituted January 19, 1869.
On the 23rd of July, 1874, the corner stone of the Odd Fel- lows Block on Railroad street was laid, with ceremonies. This was a three story brick building with tower, completed at a cost of $20,000 and dedicated December 1, 1874. Twenty-one years later, after extensive improvements, the Hall was rededicated on the occasion of the quarter century State Encampment, May, 1895. There were 250 representatives of the Order in the parade, and a complimentary entertainment was given in Music Hall; the ad- dress of the evening was given by Rev. Dr. Heath. The athletic contests of Field Day at the Fair Grounds have attracted throngs of people.
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