Bristol County, Massachusetts - Chapter 21: The Industries of Taunton, 1924 (part 1 of 2)

the persistent and the greater increase in the tides of action among the cities to the immediate south. It is a more ancient story here, that of Work, than is told in any other city in the county. It takes us farther back in its introduction than the first times of cotton or iron manufacturing, even to the years of the hamlet, when fishing and fishing only was the employment of the early comers, and when that odd but thankful phrase, "Taunton, good Lord," is said to have been first uttered. Who knows when that greeting and declaration was made use of? Tradition has it that it was a grateful greeting that was made to travelers passing this way in the spring when the river was abundant with herring, and the nets of the fishermen were full to breaking. Then, "What place is this?" would be sure of the hearty, resounding 'Taunton, good Lord." But should a wayfarer ask that question in the late winter, when the stock of the river fish had run low in the household, the reply would carry with it less cordiality, to say the least. Contained in the old phrase is the perennial reminder of an era of vast abundance of the finny tribes in our rivers, and of days of simple tastes and of wholesome manual labor.

Massachusetts has not overlooked the cod and its early-time association as an emblem. Taunton, noted for its alewives of old, has no herring representation on any seal or emblem. Yet there has never been any herring-run on these Atlantic shores that formerly bore comparison -with the multitudinous ones in April - an annual event, time out of mind. The seaward towns, the fishing-towns, so-called, send afar for the supply that has brought them their repute, - south for the mackerel, to the banks and shoals for cod and pollock, and their schooners chase the schools of hake and halibut to Fundy Bay and Labrador. But the migrant herring have from ancient times swarmed up to and through Cohannet and Taunton, and at times made fishing almost a pastime for the river fishermen. And long before white men came here, at least before any tangible record was made of the appearance of white men here, the Indians had their annual visitations from Montaup; and at the time of the swarming, when the famous herring-run was at its height on Mill river, they, too, swarmed here to capture the fish and carry loads of them away to their homes on the Atlantic shores; and those who camped here had their year-round plenty. In this relation, states the document signed by William Briggs, Jr., less than a century after the settlement of the town: "The ancient standers remember that hundreds of Indians would come up from Mount Hope and other places every year in April, with great dancings and shoutings, to catch fish at Cohannet. They set up their tents about the place until the season for catching alewives was past, when they would load their backs with burdens of fish, and load their canoes, to carry home their supply for the rest of the year. A great part of the support of the natives was from the alewives."

The herring-run was. one of the strong incentives to the first planters from Dorchester way to come here and try their luck at home-huilding and settling down for all time. The great river event, both in the Indians' time and in that of the first settlers, was the enormous herringrun, when there was enough for all. Gradually, as the years passed and the rivers became polluted, the herring-run has become less and _ less. Formerly it was the custom to pay as high as five hundred dollars for the fishing privileges at the various weirs, but at this time they are almost given away. The herring fisherman today is unable to make a living as was customary only a generation ago.

Mill-folk were at work early, as well, - James M.' Cushman, former town and city clerk, having conclusively shown that a mill had been built with its dam, on Mill river - hence the name. But the first captain of industry on that river of whom we have record was Thomas Lincoln, who, coming from Hingham, became owner of the mill property in 1649, his family arriving in 1652. For thirty-five years Mr. Lincoln was in control of this property, and in 1683 his sons John and Samuel became possessors of it. Robert Crossman, so far as known the first of the name here, purchased the mill in 1698-9, and rebuilt the old plant, the mills continuing to be known as Crossman's until 1823. The millers and the fishermen here were at odds for years because of the fact that the mill-dams prevented the herring from having full run upstream, thus lessening the product and the income of the fishermen.

Early Ironworking. - There is no known record to substantiate a conjecture that prospective bog-iron operations might have induced any of the settlers to make their homes in the Taunton territory. But it is a wellaccredited fact that only twelve years after Taunton was incorporated as a town, Henry and James Leonard and Ralph Russell, iron workers at Lynn and Braintree, were invited by Taunton town meeting, October 21, 1652, to come here and "join with certain of our inhabitants to set up a Bloomery Work on Two Mile River." How long before that had bog-iron been discovered in this section? Had John Winthrop, Jr., who passed through here in 1637, and under whose auspices the iron works at Braintree were begun in 1643, a knowledge that the ore abounded here? It is not an impractical question, but there is no reply to it. Yet we have proof that cannot be controverted that the iron industry, whose preliminaries were started here in 1652, was among the earliest industries in Taunton, and one of the longest-lived. The Raynham (Taunton) iron works were not the first in New England, contrary to a persistent misapprehension, they having been superseded by those at Lynn and Braintree, in both whose works the Leonards had been employed. The water wheels of the Lynn and Braintree forges having lagged for want of material from the swamps and ponds, the report gained currency that bog-iron mining at Taunton was to be proven, and that the townsmen there were aware of abundance of the raw material in swamp and by river shore.

Then, with the establishment of the first iron works in the Old Colony, as indicated by the town grant of record October 21, 1652, began the most remarkable business enterprise in New England, for the times and the population. The forty-five names of the company of the iron works here are those of the heads of nearly all the leading families in Taunton at the time; and they also include those of Governor John Leverett, Major Edward Tyng, of Boston, and others from other towns; and the first ledgers of the works, now in possession of the Old Colony Historical Society, show that there were few residents in this section who were not employed in some way by and for the "bloomerie." Whether or not John Winthrop, Jr., found ore here, the inhabitants themselves made sure of it on their own lands. The pigskin-bound ledgers referred to, that are stitched with the same material, and durable and distinct throughout, comprise the earliest entries of the anchor-forge works; and these were the discovery of the late Captain John W. D. Hall in a chimney place at the house of Deacon Elijah Leonard. Thomas Leonard, iron works manager, town justice and physician; Deacon Samuel Leonard and his son Elijah, had inscribed therein the record of the daily business of the concern. The town and neighborhood were deeply interested in the works, and the first partners of the bloomery were: Hezekiah Hoare, Thomas Gilbert, Richard Williams, Walter Deane, James Walker, John Tisdale, Mr. Gilbert, Sr., William Parker, Peter Pitts, Richard Stacy, John Cobb, William Hodges, Nathaniel Woodward, Timothy Holloway, James Burt, George Hall, Oliver Purchase, Edward Bobbitt, Jonas Austin, John Hathaway, Mrs. Elizabeth Pole, Mrs. Jane Poole.

In 1660, James Leonard was manager or master workman at the works, though he had held but half a share in the bloomery. By deed of May 1, 1675, his son Thomas received the management of the east hearth of the works, and soon afterwards his son James was made manager of the west hearth. And from that time onwards the Leonards for generations became managers of these works, Thomas Leonard installing his son Samuel at the east hearth, and James his son Stephen at the west hearth. When Stephen Leonard removed to New Jersey, his son Zephaniah took his place, and Samuel Leonard placed his son Samuel in charge of the west hearth of the forge. Eventually, in the year 1777, the control of the property went into the hands of Josiah Dean, who was at the head of the business for forty years. He was succeeded in 1818 by his son, Eliab B. Dean, who changed the works into an anchor forge in 1825, and so continued the plant for many years, until it was given up in 1876. For a time in the history of the forge, iron was used as a medium for money for the discharge of debts.

There was one forge in the town that was used exclusively by the Leonards - that was the one begun in 1667 by James Leonard at Whittenton. Upon his death, in 1691, half of the property came into the possession of his son, Captain James Leonard, one-fourth went to Joseph Leonard, and the rest to Uriah Leonard. In 1699, Captain James Leonard, son of Captain James (2) Leonard, purchased the share of his uncle, Uriah, and, taking as partner Captain Thomas Cobb, became owner of this branch of the works. Here Captain James (4) Leonard succeeded his father, and eventually Samuel (5) Leonard carried on the business until his death in 1807, when the works were abandoned.

There were Leonard iron works at Chartley, too, Major Thomas (2) Leonard and Captain James (2) Leonard having built a forge there in 1696-7, Major George Leonard, son of the former, becoming manager and clerk. Later the plant came wholly into the possession of the latter and his family, and the works were abandoned in 1790. Captain Zephaniah (4) Leonard built iron works at Hopewell in 1737 on his own account. It is stated that these works continued successfully until 1766, when the latest Leonard owner, Captain Zephaniah Leonard, abandoned the plant, which John Adam renovated for a rolling and slitting mill, so continuing a number of years. Samuel Leonard had a similar mill opposite Captain Zephaniah Leonard's forge. About the year 1695, Richard Stevens had a bloomery near the North Dighton furnace. In 1739-40, Bollen and Laughlin, of Boston, leased the works, and they becoming loyalists, William Laughlin,

Jr., came into possession. Later the works were transferred to Richard Stevens' descendants. The Baylies iron works, at Westville, are elsewhere referred to.

The first iron hollow-ware works in the Old Colony were those of John King and his associates at Littleworth brook, in 1723-4, the ore being supplied from the vicinity. Successive owners of these works up to 1828, when they were abandoned, were Captain Josiah King and Ebenezer Caswell, and General Cromwell Washburn and Colonel Nathan King.

At Westville, as well as at Raynham and Whittenton, in earliest days, was found the omnipresent bog iron, and in the year 1739 the Boston firm of Bollen & Laughlin set up their bloomery and forge, as the Leonards, the Deans and Burts had done elsewhere. Then came here the first of the Baylies name, Thomas Baylies, from London, England, as the manager of this works. Upon the death of Thomas came Nicholas, his brother, who not only succeeded to the position, but extended the iron works, and was widely known as one of the first iron manufacturers in this section. It was this Nicholas Baylies who was the means of saving the works when, in 1776, Bollen and Laughlin preferred to join the Tory party; and it was Nicholas who purchased the old Andrews Mills and other farms roundabout, and soon associated with himself in business Colonel Sylvester Richmond, of Dighton. Mr. Baylies was the founder of the Baylies clan in this section, and he was the father of Dr. William, Thomas §., and Hodijah Baylies. Yet we are to remember the iron industry here principally because of the ownership of Hodijah, who among other large contracts made an anchor for the frigate Constitution. Up to 1809 the village was known as Andrews' Mills. That year came John West, paper merchant, from Boston, to build the first paper mill in the Colony, hence the name, "Westville." John West's paper mill privilege was on the north side of the river, and in 1824 he associated with Samuel Crocker and Charles Richmond for the manufacture at his plant of both cotton and paper. Mr. West, who died in 1827, married a sister of Samuel Crocker, and built a house where now stands the Taunton postoffice, and that afterwards was occupied by Samuel L. Crocker.

The paper mills referred to were continued by Richard Park, then by Park, Lincoln and Park, by Caleb M. Lincoln and Edwin Park, associates, the machinery finally being sold to Caleb M. and Lorenzo Lincoln for their North Dighton mill. The cotton mill was in the centrol of Crocker and Richmond up to the year 1837; then of Etheridge Clark and of George and Jonathan Bliss and Alexander Hodges. The entire property then went into the hands of the Lovering Brothers, and the mills became converted into a spinning mill to supply yarn for the Whittenton mills. In May, 1904, the concern became the property of the Westville Spinning Company.

Cotton Manufacturing. - Close to the old Lincoln and Crossman mill privilege, to the east of it, in the latter part of the seventeenth century, was located the old "Green Mill" at the junction of Hill and Weir streets, on Mill river, and this was the first manufactory for cotton goods in Taunton. Captain Silas Shepard coming from Wrentham in 1806, saw the advantages of this manufacturing location, and he purchased of Judge Samuel Fales his share in the mill privilege at that point. Associated with Samuel Leonard and Samuel Crocker, he built the Green Mill, and there Jesse

Hartshorn and Thomas Bicknell, expert manufacturers, for a dozen years assisted Captain Shepard in the manufacture of cotton yarn; and during the War of 1812 hundreds of women in the vicinity wove ginghams and tickings for the yarn. An addition was built to the mill in 1818. In 1824, the Green Mill was made an appendage to the print-works where machines were introduced for printing calicoes. In 1844 the mill was again remodeled into a bleachery for the Taunton Paper Manufactory, by William A. Crocker and others, and eventually Samuel L. Crocker came into possession of the property and dismantled the mill.

The old brick mill location on Mill,river held much industrial interest in its day. It belonged to Rev. Samuel Danforth, fourth minister here, who purchasing in 1688 of Bartholomew Tipping, willed it to his son Samuel. In turn, Thomas Cobb of Attleboro purchased in 1760 and built a rolling and slitting mill. In 1799, his son Jonathan came into the property and in 1801 his son Jonathan B. Cobb became the owner. After 1803, the business was carried on successively by Samuel Fales, his son Samuel, and Job King. Samuel Crocker and Charles Richmond here built, in 1823, the brick mill for the manufacture of printing cloths for the new calico works. That year, the brick mill property was merged in the Taunton Manufacturing Company, so remaining until 1834, when the brick mill reverted to Charles Richmond and his associate Samuel Crocker. After the reverses of 1837, Crocker and Richmond again resumed business here, and afterwards in 1843, Robert S. Dean and Lovett Morse had charge of the plant. Charles Richmond built a brick mill in the rear of the old one in 1845 for the manufacture of cotton ginghams, which business afterwards was transferred to Thompsonville, Connecticut. The old brick mill was burned in 1845 and rebuilt in 1846. The Dean Cotton and Machine Company with a capital of $100,000 was started here in 1848, to manufacture cotton cloth and machinery. Again, in 1872 the Taunton Cotton and Machine Company took control, which was succeeded in 1882 by the Park Mill Company.

Tke Dean cotton mill, fifty feet in length, two stories in height, was built on Ljittleworth brook at Barehole Neck in 1812, for manufacturing cotton yarn, the members of the joint stock company being Robert Dean, Jesse Hartshorn, Joseph Dean, jr., William Strobridge and Caleb Turner. This was known as the third cotton mill in Taunton, it being built upon the site of a grist mill formerly the property of Moses Cain, Joseph Dean, sr., Caleb Turner, Henry Strobridge and Robert Dean. Mr. Hartshorn retired in 1818, and he was succeeded by Benjamin Lincoln and he by Harvey Hartshorn. Robert Dean died May 24, 1822, and he was succeeded by Robert S. Dean. Charles R. Atwood and Charles H. Stephens followed in succession, after which the Dean mill was closed as a cotton manufactory. The factory was purchased in 1838 for a box board and stave mill by James Sproat and Eleazer Richmond, Charles Richmond continuing the business more than forty years till his death October 19, 1876, Charles R. Richmond succeeding his father in the same business.

The Taunton Manufacturing Company was organized in January, 1823, with a capital of $100,000 in real and $400,000 in personal estate, the incorporators being Samuel Crocker, Charles Richmond, Israel Thorndike, Eds mund Dwight, John McLean, Harrison Gray Otis, William H. Eliot, Wil- liam H. Prescott, Israel Thorndike, jr., Samuel Henshaw, Harrison Gray Otis, jr., for the purpose of rolling copper and iron, and manufacturing cotton and wool. The company owned the Whittenton Cotton Mills property, the Hopewell Mills property and the calico printing works property. In 1827 the business was conducted under the firm name of Crocker, Richmond & Company. In 1823, again, the Crocker and Richmond firm had started the calico printing works under the auspices of the Taunton Manufacturing Company. In 1833 the Calico print works were printed by the Bristol Print Works for the purpose of manufacturing delaines and calicoes. The business was brought to a close in 1845. The Taunton Manufacturing Company was transferred to Cyrus Lathrop of Easton in 1840, Charles Richmond having retired in 1834. James K. Mills & Company, who had been associated in the company ten years, retired, receiving the Whittenton Mills estate as their share. In the year 1818, Charles Richmond purchased the old properties of Samuel Leonard and of Leonard and Dean at Britanniaville, and built a cotton factory of stone and brick, one hundred feet in length. In 1821, another mill about the same size was built here, "to make Hopewell shine with industry,' as Mr. Richmond phrased it. In 1823 the Hopewell Mill property was merged with the capital stock of the Taunton Manufacturing Company, and after a brief control of William A. F. Sproat, in 1844 Cyrus Lothrop obtained possession. Successively, the property then passed into the hands of Charles Albro, in 1844, Charles Albro and Porte W. Hewins in 1883, and L. Beebe & Company of Boston in 1888.

The originator of the Oakland Mills was Captain Silas Shepard, of Wrentham, who was early associated with Samuel Crocker and Samuel Leonard with the beginning of cotton manufacturing here. He purchased an old privilege on Rumford river in 1827, and in 1828 he had completed a stone mill, one hundred and sixteen feet in length, where cotton yarn was manufactured at first; but in 1831, Captain Shepard added looms for making cloth, and so continued for several years thereafter. Then, cotton or canton flannels were manufactured, this being the first mill in the Old Colony to make that sort of goods. With his son-in-law, Lewis Chesbrough, he enlarged the factory, and Captain Shepard continued in the business until his death, which occurred in 1864. Mr. Chesbrough continued the business a number of years, and in 1869 the Oakland Mills were purchased of Mr. Chesbrough and his heirs by Amos F. Howard and his son Bion, who further improved the property in 1880, when two buildings were constructed and much machinery added, the capacity of the plant for manufacturing fabrics being doubled. Both Mr. Howard and his son died in 1881, and since that time the mills were conducted by Joseph S. Tidd, son-in-law of Amos F. Howard. Denims and tickings are the product of the mills, the capacity of the plant being about two and a half million yards a year.

In 1823, under the management of James K. Mills and Company, of Boston, the Whittenton Mills were incorporated with the property of the Taunton Manufacturing Company, and in 1831 a new stone mill was built. In May, 1835, James K. Mills & Company severed their connection with the Taunton Manufacturing Company and assumed proprietorship of the mills. Willard Lovering became joint proprietor in September, 1836, and many improvements were made. Fire destroyed the older mill in January,

1839, and a large weaving mill was built in its place. In 1857, James K. Mills and Company closed out their proprietorship. In 1858, Mr. Lovering with his sons purchased the Whittenton. Mills property, and then began the improvements which have made these mills the most extensive in this city. A few years before the death of Willard Lovering, which took place December 15, 1875, his sons Charles L., William C. and Henry M. Lovering succeeded to the proprietorship. The Whittenton Mills Manufacturing Company became incorporated in January, 1880, with a capital of $600,000, the officers being William C. Lovering president; Charles L. Lovering treasurer; Henry M. Lovering agent and clerk. The business was sold to the Lyman family of Boston in 1910, and the officers for 1923 are: President, Arthur Lyman; treasurer, Ronald T. Lyman; agent, Frederick H. Gooch; superintendent, Ernest K. Vanderwarker. The product is dress ginghams and cotton blankets, and eleven hundred and fifty hands are employed.

May 1, 1877, the following-named gentlemen met and organized the Elizabeth Poole Mills: Albert E. Swasey, Ira F. Lawry, Charles A. Lawry, Charles L. Lovering, William C. Lovering, Henry M. Lovering, William Mason, Saul W. Eddy, Henry L. Breed. At a later meeting the first officers were elected as follows: Charles A. Lawry, clerk; Albert E. Swasey, treasurer; Ira F. Lawry, Charles A. Lawry, Albert E. Swasey, William C. Lovering and Henry M. Lovering, directors; Ira F. Lawry, president. At this meeting the capital stock was placed at $75,000, and the mills were equipped to make both cotton yarns and cloth. During the early years the mills manufactured canton flannels, tickings, domets and velvets. Wide looms were installed in 1895, and cotton blankets were added to this list. In 1891 the capital stock of the company was increased to $100,000. In 1903 the management of the mills passed from the stockholders to the selling house, Faulkner, Page & Co. In 1910 the mills were reorganized under the name Old Colony Manufacturing Corporation. Faulkner, Page & Co. having dissolved partnership, the mill was sold in 1912 to Henry S. Culver, Henry H. Culver and Walter A. Merrill. At this time the capital stock was reduced from $100,000 to $15,000, and new money added so that the capital stock stood and still stands at $60,000. The larger part of the looms were disposed of when this change of ownership took place, and yarns became the chief product of the mill. The number of employees is one hundred and twenty-five. The present officers of the corporation are: Henry S. Culver, president, who is also treasurer of the Westville Spinning Co.; Henry H. Culver, treasurer and superintendent, who has been connected with the company since 1883; Walter A. Merrill, clerk and assistant treasurer. These three also comprise the board of directors.

The Taunton Cotton Mills Company, manufacturers of cotton goods, were incorporated in 1916, with Obadiah Butler as general manager and Charles EF. O'Gara as superintendent. About three hundred hands are employed.

The first of the extensive plants upon entering the business section of East Taunton is that of the Corr Manufacturing Company. The business was incorporated December 5, 1895, Colonel Peter Corr, president, and H. H. Shumway, treasurer. The plant commenced manufacturing cotton cloth and yarn in 1896, with about 40,000 spindles and 1000 looms. Since that time the number of spindles has increased to 64,800, and the number of looms to 1260. The number of hands employed in 1923 was 475. The officials at that time: President, Peter Corr; treasurer, James A. Boynton. The board of directors, the above-named and Frederick Mason, A. Cleveland Bent, Thomas G. Cox and James P. Corr.

The Taunton River Mills plant began operations in the year 1906 by the D. G. Dery corporation, as manufacturers of broad silks. The plant has a capacity of 350 looms, and employs 250 hands.

The Cohannet Mills were incorporated in 1874, with a capital of $100,- 000, and located on the Mill river, Adams street. A brick mill was then erected, three hundred and thirty feet in length and fifty feet in width, for spinning cotton yarn. The officers at that time were: President, John E. Sanford; treasurer, C. L. Lovering, who resigned in 1878, when E. B. Maltby was elected, who was also clerk. The capital was increased to $200,000 in 1881, when No. Two Mill was erected, three hundred and sixtyfive feet in length, seventy-two wide. In 1890, No. Three Mill was built in Weir Village, four hundred and twenty feet long and one hundred seven feet wide.

The Taunton Oil Cloth Company was incorporated in 1850 to manufacture pebbled and enameled oil cloth. The capital was $25,000. President, John E. Sanford; treasurer, Thompson Newbury.

The Taunton Knitting Company are knitters and manufacturers of men's and boys' union suit underwear, which is sold direct to the retail stores. It was incorporated August, 1905, by Charles L. Macomber, president; Abbott F. Lawrence, treasurer; and the following directors: Charles L. Macomber, Abbott F. Lawrence, Franklin D. Williams, and Frank L. Cady. The present officers are: Franklin D. Williams, president; Charles R. Hodges, treasurer; directors: Franklin D. Williams, Charles R. Hodges, George F. Williams, Edward H. Shive, and Thomas H. Caswell. Of notable interest is the office building, which is practically the unchanged homestead of the late Captain Fish.

The Nemasket Mills organized in 1890 with a charter for spinning cotton and woolen yarns. President, Lewis B. Williams; treasurer and clerk, Abbott F. Lawrence; directors: Lewis B. Williams, Wm. H. Bent, Peter H. Corr, Nomus Paige, Enos D. Williams, Arthur M. Alger, Frank L. Cady, Chas. L. Macomber and Abbott F. Lawrence. Charles L. Macomber was agent, and Gilbert Broome superintendent. In 1900 Nemasket Mill was sold to the New England Cotton Yarn Company.

The Winthrop Cotton Yarn Company was organized in 1900 with charter the same as Nemasket. Officers: President, Charles L. Macomber; treasurer and clerk, Abbott F. Lawrence; directors: Charles L. Macomber, Abbott F. Lawrence, Frank L. Cady and Franklin D. Williams. Orville Macomber, superintendent.

The Fabric Weaving Company was incorporated in December, 1919, to manufacture curtain cloth. The officers: President, W. R. Pepler; treasurer, W, S. Pepler; clerk, H. H. Pepler.

Brick-Making. - This began as an industry in early times, but the first to go into the business by the wholesale was Francis Williams, who was born in Raynham in 1779. For more than a quarter of a century he was a manufacturer of brick. He died in 1868, and his son, the late Alexander Hamilton Williams, who was born in Taunton in 1823, succeeded his father in the business. He brought the enterprise to its highest plane of activity in his day, in his association with other Taunton men for corporative business. Together with Jonathan Macomber in 1868 he was one of the originators of the Taunton Brick Company, that was started with a capital of $75,000. Hon. Edmund H. Bennett was president of the company, and Hon. C. F. Johnson treasurer. In 1872, Mr. Williams organized the Williams Brick Company, whose production amounted to about 4,000,000 annually. Mr. Williams was a direct descendant of Richard Williams, one of the first settlers, and he owned ninety of the original one hundred acres that constituted the homestead of his ancestor. On Linden street stood the brick kiln of Deacon John Godfrey, who was succeeded in the business by his son John, and later by his grandson Horatio. Other brick manufacturers of early days were George W. Godfrey, Isaac Howland and Company, Abial Staples, Philip E. Williams and Company, John W. Hart and Company, - where the Stiles and Hart branch yard now stands, - John Hall Staples.

The clay deposits in and around Taunton from early times have been the source of a very practical industry on the part of Taunton townsmen, Of the many brick-making concerns that once existed, however, there is now but one, that of the Stiles and Hart Company, which with its capacity of 10,000,000 bricks annually does more business with its modern machinery annually than all the older concerns combined. This firm, now the only exponent of the machine-made brick hereabouts, has a plant and equipment more extensive than any of the groups of the old style, and with a source area of the materials for the finished product that will far outlast the present generation. The company has but recently installed new machinery which with the aid of the industrial railway is now able to turn out two hundreds bricks every minute. The carrier system that has been installed takes the brick from the brick-making machines by means of cables, thus entirely replacing the former manual labor. The clay in the adjacent pits is excavated by means of electric shovels. In the course of a season, about four thousand cords of wood are used at the kilns, the wood being cut on the company's own properties. There is shed room for the drying of 7,000,000 brick, and a rack-drying room for 1,000,000. The Hedge-Hog machine, the first used in mixing the clay, was introduced about the year 1835; and in 1854, the Hall machine, the first to hold a mould, replaced the Hedge-Hog. Ten years later the Martin machine, run by steam power, revolutionized the industry. The officers of this company are as follows: President, E. G. Stoddard, New Haven; vice-president, David B. Andrews, New Haven; treasurer, Henry W. Redfields, New Haven; manager, John J. Mansfield, Taunton.

The Shipping Business. - One might have stood on the bridge at Weir Village on any day of the past century, with unobstructed view of the lively shipping activities of this, the port of Taunton - a port, though many miles from the seaboard. There was then unceasing movement, with the coming and going of a fleet, at the time when the freighting departments of the steam railroad were in the making. Down stream from the brick grain house of John J. Paull to the last storage warehouse in sight, there was always a parade of masts; their noisy decks below, often two or three abreast, alive with crews and stevedores, loading or unloading their cargoes. The grain that was then imported into Taunton for further transportation amounted to a quarter of a million of bushels annually; about ten thousand casks of lime, cement, plaster and moulders' clay were on their way here, season after season; many thousand tons of coal, as well as materials for copper production, and thousands of bales of cotton. Here was a great outlet for the product of nail and tack factories, the iron piping and anchor foundries, and small iron wares of a great variety; and five million of bricks were being annually shipped from this port. Immense amounts of grain were deposited in the John Paull storage warehouse, and in the buildings of C. A. Briggs, LeBaron Church, William Church, Church and Allyn, and Joseph Dean, while at the Briggs elevator building thousands of bushels of grain were ground into meal.

Every other home in Weir Village at that time was that of a seacaptain, and among the men of those times who commanded sloops and small schooners were: Captain Seth Presbrey, of the Peace and Plenty; Captain William Presbrey, the Ranger; Captain David Vickery, the Hannah; Captain Sylvester Jones, the Union; Captain Benjamin Cooper, the Sally; Captain Peter Hall, the Industry; Captain Daniel R. Presbrey, the Samuel Crocker; Captains Hodges Lincoln and Eugene Lincoln, the Sally W. Pounder; Captains Barney Presbrey, John O'Keefe and George E. Paull, the Roanoke; Captains Frank Bugbee and Andrew Deering, the J. C. Chew; Captains George Coleman, sr., and George Coleman, jr., the Sylvester Hale; Captain Joseph Ashley, the Charles; Captains Samuel Simmons and George O. Trefethen, the Sally Y. Chartre; Captain William Dean, the Messenger; Captain George Phillips, the C. C. Smith; Captain William H. H. Dean, the Abel A. Parker; Captain Willis Morris, the Noantic; Captain James Witherell, the Virginia; Captain James Phillips, the Dart; Captain Abiathar Staples, the Harriet; Captains Hiram Burt and John P. Staples, the James Nelson; Captain Albert French, the Oliver Ames; Captain Noah Thrasher, the W. D. Wagnum; Captain John Sullivan, the Mount Hope; Captain George A. Norcutt, the Clio; Captain Miller, the Bristol; Captain King, the John W. Parker; Captain Abiathar I. Staples, the Wild Pigeon; Captain Charles Strange, the Emma; Captain Samuel Tisdale, the Clarissa Allen; Captain Jacob Phillips, the Albert Field; and many others.

In the course of a past generation, more than one hundred schooners of the deep water type, from two to six-masters, were owned and operated by Taunton men. For years, Gardiner D. O'Keefe, Esq., has been compiling data concerning that notable fleet of schooners that had not its like anywhere in the world for speed, beauty and tonnage. The complete story of those notable vessels as told by Mr. O'Keefe would fill a volume of the size of the present one. Their author, who is the son of one of the most widely known of the sea-captains of his day, has made a very valuable and extensive survey and study of the formerly fine fleet of Taunton-owned vessels.

corporated in 1912, during ten years it enlarged its working territory over twelve hundred per cent. Previous to the introduction of the railroad through New England making connections with the grain-producing sections of the country, the city was one of the leading grain centers of Southern New England. Its waterway made possible the shipment of large quantities of grain from the West by means of the Great Lakes, Erie Canal, Hudson River and Long Island Sound. Weir Village was the scene of considerable activity in the industry. From this section of the city much of the surrounding country less fortunately situated was supplied with grain; and farmers from Brockton, Mansfield, Middleboro, Attleboro and Bridgewater drove their horses, oxen or mules to the Weir for their supply of feed. By the advent of the railroad into New England, opening a cheaper means for shipping grain, the Taunton grain industry was reduced to a local affair with a radius of working territory limited by the advances of dealers from nearby cities. But after several vears of slackened business, it became evident to a group of six men under the leadership of H. Stanley Wood that there was a future for grain in this section of the country, if properly handled. A company, the Stanley Wood Grain Company, was formed, with Mr. Wood as treasurer and manager, George H. Schefer president, Elisha E. Walker vice-president, and Dr. Charles R. Borden, clerk. The place of business when the company was formed in 1912 was a short distance from Broadway, near Taunton Green. The floor space was limited to about one thousand square feet, including with the main building a building known as the Gifford store on Porter street, where the grain and feeds were unloaded from the cars and stored until they could be carted to the down-town storehouse. All deliveries were made in horse-drawn vehicles, and an area of approximately one hundred forty-four square miles was supplied from this store-house. It was but four years later when the need of more floor space and an elevator was felt, and land was purchased on Harrison avenue, running west along the railroad tracks. The work of building a large warehouse was completed in July, 1917. In 1919, in spite of opposition on the part'of residents of the neighborhood, an elevator was completed. Since that time the business has continued to grow rapidly. A branch store was opened at Weir Village by the acquisition of the property and business of J. Paull & Company, one of the leading grain distribution concerns during fifty years when Taunton's shipping industry was at its height. Another branch was established in June, 1922, in the town of Middleboro, by the purchasing of the Bryant and Soule business with a retail store on Wareham street and an elevator and warehouse on Cambridge street. In March, 1922, the same group of men formed another corporation, the Stanley Wood Milling Company, and purchased the property and business of the Skinner Milling Company of Pawtucket. The four stores of the two corporations opened a working area of over seventeen hundred forty square miles, an increase of sixteen hundred square miles over the area covered by deliveries when the company was first formed. A fleet of eight trucks cover this territory. The business line of the concern, which during the first few years of activity consisted of the selling of poultry, stock and horse feeds manufactured by larger concerns, has given way in a large part to the manufacturing of its own brands of feeds and, since milling machinery has been installed at Taunton, Middle-

Metallurgic Industries - - The oldest establishment of its kind in the United States is that of Reed & Barton, manufacturers of sterling silver and electroplate, whose extensive works occupy the site and privilege of ancient mills of grain, wood-sawing and fulling. This is the story of the beginnings of the present business. Isaac Babbitt, born in Taunton, July 26, 1799, was a nephew of the jeweler, Charles Babbitt, and of whom he learned the jewelry trade. He with William Crossman, also a jeweler, and born in Taunton, September 19, 1794, formed partnership in 1822. Mr. Babbitt having his attention called to the imported Britannia ware from England, began to experiment with it, and he was assisted in his efforts by William W. Porter, who had some experience in the pewter button shop of his father. Babbitt and Porter, with William A. West, one day rolled a small sheet of the mixture they had made, and found that it rolled well. It was done with a pair of jeweler's hand rolls, and this was the first Britannia metal rolled in America.

Babbitt and Crossman concluded to start in the business, and they hired a room with power, of Roswell Ballard, in his woolen mill on Spring street, afterwards the Albert Field tack works. They had several lathes, and a set of four-by-twelve steel rolls, made by Elias Strange of Taunton, and these are the set of grooved rolls now used by Reed and Barton for rolling wire. Their dies and moulds for the work were made by Caleb Porter. In 1826 they built a new mill on School street, the Leo brick building, and installed a James Rotary engine, the first steam power started in town; and the mill force was organized by choice of Isaac Babbitt, superintendent; William W. Porter, foreman; and about fifteen hands were set at work during the year. In 1827 they commenced on tea ware, and the first tea-pot finished was exhibited in their show window on Main street, now Tisdale's jewelry store, and attracted much attention as the first American manufacture of this sort. An order of eight sets was laid out, and was the first lot made, they being fluted in a lead die, under a screw press, and soldered by a blast of hot air from a charcoal stove. Charles E. Barton entered as an apprentice in 1827, he being a brother-inlaw to Mr. Crossman, of the firm. William A. West joining the company, it was then known as Babbitt, Crossman & Company, and in the spring of 1828 Henry G. Reed entered as an apprentice. In 1829, Isaac Babbitt, superintendent, was receiving two dollars a day wages; William W. Porter, foreman, one dollar; Charles E. Barton, thirty-one cents, and so on. Mr. Babbitt retired from the company in 1830, but retained the superintendency; he was succeeded in the company by Zephaniah Leonard, and the firm became Crossman, West & Leonard.

Goods at this time were ordered to come from Boston "by first wagon," and the agent went into the city to drum Boston, in a chaise, with his goods packed in an old-fashioned round chaise trunk. In 1830 also, William Porter introduced the ring die, under screw press, and the company was incorporated as the Taunton Britannia Manufacturing Company. In 1830 work was commenced on a new mill at Hopewell, this being the "Old Mill" or north end of the West Side factory, dimensions one hundred by. forty feet. It is a matter of interest at this time to state that William Porter, having seen a description of Professor Silliman's new blow pipe, had the new mill fitted with similar lamps for soldering, to use whale oil. Early in 1831 the plant was installed in the new mill, with about thirty hands at work. In 1832, William Porter spun a lot of about three hundred dozen looking-glass frames, the idea having originated with him, and this being the first spinning done with a burnisher in this country. Pratt & Crossman had this spinning process patented, but never succeeded in enforcing their patent.

William Porter prepared a soft metal box or bearing for the rolls, and named it box metal; it proved a success, and Babbitt some six years later having left the factory, got it patented under the name of Babbitt metal, by which name it is now called. Business becoming poor, the factory was forced to suspend in 1833. Crossman & Pratt had the plant for awhile, but did not make a success of it, and soon gave it up. The Taunton Britannia Manufacturing Company failed in 1834, and sold out to Horatio Leonard, son of Zephaniah. Leonard, who owned the water power, and had leased it to them. Nothing was done at the factory for an entire season. In 1835, Henry G. Reed and Charles E. Barton formed a company under the style of Reed & Barton, and taking the plant of Horatio Leonard, began business.in a small way, Mr. Reed presiding at the lathe and Mr. Barton at the soldering. In 1837, Horatio Leonard gave his son Gustavus a deed of the Britannia mill plant, and he joining the Reed & Barton Company, they adopted the name of Leonard, Reed & Barton, with Leonard as financial agent, and Reed as superintendent. This placed the company on a substantial basis, and by the end of the year they had about twelve hands at work. A display of the goods of the company was made at the exhibition of the American Institute at New York in 1838, and an award of a gold medal was made them. During the following year their business increased, more hands were employed and progress was made, the pewter wares of the earlier years being laid aside and nothing but pure Britannia goods being put upon the market. Then commenced the manufacture of coffin plates, they being pioneers in this line of ware. Mr. Leonard died in the spring of 1845, and the appraisal of the plant after his death was $20,000, not including real estate and water power. The firm at this time consisted of Henry G. Reed, Charles E. Barton, Estate of Gustavu& Leonard. The employes were: Clerk, Alfred Brabrook; polishers: Fred A. Harvey, William P. Barker, James A. B. Woodward, Charles H. White, George Graves; fitters: Noah Williams, Nathan Wilbur, Solomon Dean; solderers: Barnus L. Burbank, John Allen, Andrew Reed, Rebecca Robinson, Patty White; spinners: Calvin T. Macomber, Peleg Francis; turners: William W. Porter, Eli Eldridge, Edwin Reed, Nathaniel B. Leonard, E. W. Porter; stampers: Jahaziah Burbank; casters: Edmund Perry, John W. Thayer; designers: Josiah W. Strange; wrapper, Mrs. Mary W. Barker.

At this time, skilled workmen were receiving but $1.50 to $1.75 per day, and a man's board was about $1.75 a week, working hours at that time being from 5 a. m. to 7 p. m. There was no time-keeper in the factory, each hand keeping his own time. Pay-day was once in three months, or quarterly. The mill was heated very imperfectly by a few small cylinder stoves for coal; the burnishing suds would often freeze on the lathes while at work in cold weather. The casting furnaces were run by a wood fire, and the entire mill was lighted with small whale oil lamps. 'The wood handles for tea ware were made in Rehoboth by Jarvis Smith, and the hinges and joints for covers were made by Charles Babbitt, a jeweler at the Green. Alfred Brabrook kept the books, did all the packing, and japanned the wood handles and tips; Henry G. Reed worked at the turning lathe; and Charles E. Barton was the head solderer. Both these men lived in the double tenement house next south of the Bay street school. At that time, also, William Mason occupied about two-thirds of the third story of the old mill as a machine shop, with about thirty hands; and Stephen Rhodes had one-third of the basement for a tack works, with twenty hands. Marcus M. Rhodes was the "boss" of the Rhodes factory. James Dixon had a shop on the third floor; and later he was the founder of the crucible business in this town. Cotton Bradbury had a small machine shop on the third floor, where Luther R. Babbitt made tools for his Dighton Cotton factory. In 1847, Henry H. Fish, brother-in-law of Gustavus Leonard, purchased the interest of Leonard in the company as a silent partner, and the name Leonard being dropped, it became again simply "Reed & Barton," which name it has held since that time. Mr. Fish's son, George H., came that year to learn the trade. Reed and Barton then bought the block tin plant of Nathan Lawrence, of Baltimore, Maryland, and moved it into their works, bringing Mr. Lawrence to manage it, and hiring his two hands, James Williams and John C. McDonald, as workmen. This block tin was simply a new name for ancient pewter, and the firm made a large line of it for many years. In 1848, Reed & Barton commenced making hand-rubbed Britannia ware, and they imported several Englishwomen to introduce the work. That year, too, they commenced electro-plating, and DeForest H. Peck was brought from Connecticut to install a plant for them; Manning W. Fox was secured from Connecticut to introduce the silver burnishing. The firm established a branch of pearlcutting to furnish the non-conductors for tea-pot handles, of which they used large quantities. In 1850 George Brabrook came as a helper for his brother Alfred in the packing department, and he became a partner in 1859. The firm began the manufacture of sterling silver in 1889. The Reed & Barton corporation was incorporated in 1888, with a capital of $600,000. Their present manufactory includes a cluster of sixteen spacious and substantial buildings erected from year to year, as exigencies required, and covering six acres of flooring. In 1923 six hundred and fifty hands were employed at this plant, the product being in the order named, thus: sterling silver, electro silver-plated ware, and gold-ware, bronze, etc. The officers of the corporation: President, William B. H. Dowse; vice-president, Charles S. Weeks; treasurer, William R. Mitchell; secretary, Franklin D. Putnam; assistant secretary and general manager, Mark Anthony.

In 1826 three brothers, Samuel L., George A. and William A. Crocker, commenced the rolling of sheet copper at a water power in the town of Norton. The business under their management prospered and increased to such an extent that in 1831 it was incorporated under the name of the Taunton Copper Manufacturing Company. One of the principal uses for copper when the business was started was for sheathing the hulls of wooden ships to protect them against fouling, the destructive work of marine borers. Soon after their incorporation, a composition of copper and zinc was patented in England known as Muntz.or Yellow Metal, which answered the same purpose as copper for sheathing ships, and could be produced at a_ lower figure. Within a few years the Taunton Copper Manufacturing Company secured expert labor from England, and commenced the manufacture of Muntz Metal in this country, that product being a large part of its output until the wooden hulls were replaced with iron or steel, when it was no longer needed. About the year 1836 the company purchased the next power above them on Wading river, and constructed a canal above the dam, which gave them an increased head of water from twelve to twenty-one feet. The location, however, in Norton was not a favorable one for transportation, and in 1848 additional plant was started at Weir Village in Taunton. The Norton plant was operated in connection with the Taunton plant until 1886, when the whole works were consolidated at Weir Village. ,

At the start and until after the Civil War, the copper used by the company was imported from foreign countries in the form of ore, and a large smelting plant was operated first in Norton, then in Taunton, and then at Portsmouth, Rhode Island. Early in the seventies the mining of copper in the United States had reached a point where it became unprofitable to import foreign ores, and the refining of copper was gradually assumed by the mining companies so that smelting works at Portsmouth were finally entirely abandoned. The company followed the changes in the market in its products and has kept abreast of the requirements at all times. Samuel L. Crocker acted as treasurer of the company from its organization until his death in 1883. He was succeeded in 1884 by Henry F. Bassett, who served as treasurer until 1919, when he became president and agent. In 1900, owing to the radical changes in the nature of the business, it became wise and perhaps necessary to consolidate with competition in the immediate neighborhood, and as a consequence the interests of the Bridgewater Iron Works, which manufactured non-ferrous material, was purchased. Taunton Copper Manufacturing Company, Revere Copper Company, and the New Bedford Copper Company, were consolidated under the name of the Taunton-New Bedford Copper Company, and two plants, one in Taunton and one in New Bedford, were maintained. C. A. Cook, the president of the New Bedford Copper Company, became vice-president and agent of the Taunton-New Bedford Copper Company, and filled that office and later that of president until his death, January 1, 1919. The business has grown from comparatively small volume to a maximum of twenty million pounds per year during the war period, and is maintaining its proportion of the existing business in this country at the present time.

Famous in its day was the Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing Company, this being among the first companies established especially to manufacture locomotives in New England, the first locomotive being built here in May, 1847. The works were built in 1846 near the Central station of the N. Y., N. H. & H. railroad, and incorporation took place in 1847, the incorporators being William A. Crocker, Willard W. Fairbanks, William R. Lee, and associates. William A. Crocker was elected presi- dent, W. W. Fairbanks agent and treasurer, and Charles R. Olney clerk. The capital stock at first was $50,000, but in 1864 it was established at $218,500. The company attained a high reputation for its product, and the locomotives turned out from the plant were a propelling power throughout the country. 'lhe company added to its business in 1883 the Huber, later the Huber-Hodgman, printing press. 'lhe business was discontinued about the year 1905, the officers at that time being: President, Robert T. Gammell; treasurer, William R. Billings; directors: Robert T. Gammell, Henry F. Bassett, Charles T. Dorrance, Walter C. Baylies, William C. Davenport.

The Mason Machine Works Company was founded by William Mason in 1845, who buiit the most complete plant for the manufacture of cotton machinery in this country. Previous to the erection of the present plant, Mr. Mason had engaged in the building of power looms, in 1829, when he was but twenty years old. In 1833 he brought out the first successful ring-spinning frame, and in 1842, he perfected his wonderful invention, the self-acting mule. In 1842 he became the proprietor of the machine shop formerly owned by Crocker and Richmond; but this shop soon proving inadequate for the growing business, the present plant was begun in 1845. In 1852, preparations were made for building locomotives in addition to cotton machinery, the first locomotive from this plant being turned out in 1853. After the financial crisis of 1857, Mr. Mason accepted a contract to furnish one hundred thousand Springfield rifled muskets for the United States government, the larger portion of the machines required being designed by Mr. Mason. In 1873, the business was incorporated under the name of Mason Machine Works, the first officers being William Mason, president; William H. Bent, treasurer; Frederick Mason, agent. The Campbell printing press was added to the manufacture in 1879. William Mason died May 25, 1883. A very complete line of carding, spinning, and weaving machinery is now being built, and wherever cotton is spun or cloth woven, Mason machinery will be found in operation. The full operating capacity of the plant is about one thousand men, and the ownership and management of the plant remains in the Mason family. Colonel Frederick Mason, who has spent his life-time in connection with the plant, is the president of the corporation. Associated with him are several direct members of the family.

Stove Manufacturing - A commendable affiliation of municipality and industry was demonstrated on June 2, 1923, when the new William E. Walker Memorial Park at Weir Village was donated to the city by Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Leach, son-in-law and daughter of the late captain of industry for whom the park was named. 'The transfer of the park to the city was accompanied with the presence and speech-making of His Excellency Channing H. Cox, Governor of the Commonwealth; His Honor Leo H. Coughlin, mayor of Taunton; Oscar A. Hillard, commander of William H. Bartlett Post, No. 3, G. A. R.; and William H. Reed, publisher of the Taunton Daily Gazette. "He being dead, yet liveth," might well be declared of the man for whom the new park was named, and in whose memory a multitude of people had assembled - for it was in large part through his own toil, foresight and enterprise that the vast plant adjoining the park, that of the Weir Stove Company, was assured for Taunton. It may well be said that the new park, for years since the passing of the former grain business an unsightly place, is now a beauty spot for the city, a culmination of a life work. When we speak of the Weir Stove Company as a concern that is a monument to older and allied industries, as well as to the specialty in stove-manufacturing that it represents, we might add another syllable to the word, "monumental," since that is more expressive of the present-hour growth and activity of the plant that has made this municipality the outstanding one in New England for the product, the Glenwood Range.

The incident of the park presentation has been referred to in order ° to show how the past of this manufacturing foundation is linked up with the present, locally, and how completely of Taunton are its origin and neighborhood relationships, though the fame of it is nothing less than world-wide. The plant and its immediate location have shared in every one of the changes that have come to pass in stove-manufacture for about a half century. Of course, stoves were made much earlier than that, but from this one great industrial fabric there has been a veritable genealogical succession of stoves from the great-grandparent stove of the simplest style to the radiant grand-daughter range of this moment, a revelation to generations past and present. History proves all things, and the history of the stove here and of its builders is proof of its value to the economics of industry. A widespread and remarkably well equipped set of buildings occupies a section of the extreme south part of the city at that ancient Weir along by the river, where the Indians of the Wampanoag tribe set their fish weirs from time immemorial, and whither the first white settlers followed, and established their own weir, and lay their first rough bridge, fully as early as 1637. The story of the beginnings of things is always of interest, particularly so when the present-day business of corporations is so successful and progressive that it may be looked upon as a monument to the earliest industries associated with the location.

As for the beginnings of the Weir Stove Company's plant itself, they were made in the year 1879, when Charles F. Baker, William E. Walker and George E. Wilbur, first associates of the present extensive plant, purchased the flagstone manufacturing shop and adjoining property of Zabina Blake, on West Water street, and there lay the foundations of a group of buildings and of the business that is planned and carried out therein that have not their equal this side of the city of Detroit. The three men who thus opened the way for the long procession of newer interests in the line of buildings and inventions and appliances that were to follow, were practical men of affairs and expert moulders, and they started business in their small shop, Mr. Wilbur having direct oversight of the pattern-making department from the first. Little by little, with the increase of their business, the larger buildings began to be constructed, and in a short time thirty men were being employed in the manufacture of the Glenwood Range. A small, plain and simply made stove that worked itself into the market quickly was the original of that stove, and today, all the goods of the firm, improved and modern to the minute, bear that name and stamp. The set of buildings on the west side of West Water street were constructed in 1902, and with that, the old forges of the past have given way to the splendidly equipped foundries of the present; and a set of skilled workmen in one line of iron production has been succeeded by another yet more skilful in the manufacture of the more economic and modernized of household utensils. Hence comes the product, the Glenwood Range, that goes out into the uttermost parts of the earth; and it is often asserted that the Taunton globe-trotter has found no warmer nor more welcome friend in Manitoba or in Russia than the Glenwood. Annually, thousands of tons of pig-iron are made use of in the manufacture of this stove - pig-iron that is brought here from Buffalo and the Great Lakes front, as well as from the Pennsylvania furnace districts. The big brick and iron furnaces or cupolas at the plant take care of and make fluid all the iron that comes to the plant for the moulding-room processes, the largest of the cupolas having a capacity of twenty-five tons. Two hundred and sixty pieces enter into the making of the stove, and the processes of making and fitting these pieces are intensely interesting, from the patternmaking to the final polishing of the completed range. From this plant are sent forth, annually, seventy to eighty thousand stoves, and several hundred moulders and other employes are engaged in the occupation of making the Range. Aside from Detroit, no other plant has so large a capacity for stove manufacturing. It is estimated that the buildings have an area of about nine and one-half acres. Joseph L. Anthony is president and Robert M. Leach treasurer of the company.

Taunton successors to the founders and moulders of a century ago share both the memory and the remnants of the materials of one of the city's earliest industries, as they bend to their labors in the work shops of the White Warner Company - once those of the Taunton Iron Works. The conflagration of a few years ago and the consecutive changes incident to the building and improvement of the property, have eradicated the foundations and the ash-heaps of a business that once kept pace with every era of the progress of the town. Upon the former situation of two old business houses, the White Warner Company, manufacturers of the Household Range, have laid their foundations; and twice from the ashes of serious loss by fire has this concern arisen to become as it is today, the second largest of the stove-building plants in New England. Hon. Richard E. Warner, treasurer of the company and former mayor of Taunton, tells the interesting story of a firm that continues the more than traditions of excellence of workmanship and of production, begun long ago:

Though we have not always been the White Warner Company, for nearly forty years, or from the time this firm started out in the industrial world, the Household Range has been with us - a range created in our own foundry and warming hearts and homes throughout this country and abroad. Our own pioneers were Charles P. White and George L. Walker, capable men with business brains and foresight, who in March, 1882, established themselves on land and in buildings leased of the Strange Cylinder Saw and Machine Company, 31 Tremont street. There they first erected a small foundry and employed eight moulders, as a_ beginning and a nucleus for the plant of the present hour. They continued under that style for a little over a year, or until July 1, 1883, when Richard E. Warner was admitted to the firm, which then became known as White, Walker & Company. Mr. Walker retired in 1886, and the present firm was incorporated as White Warner Company. We were a blue-shirted and overalls-wearing group of men, with the experience taught of practical men. Old foundrymen will recall Charles P. White, of our firm, whom I have no hesitation in naming as the then first foundryman in New England. He was one of those old-line men who had the privilege of beginning their iron-working experiences at what I would call the very foundation-stone of iron work in New England - the ancient Leonard lot. Those were the hard years, when he drove a horse around the windlass then in use to provide the forced draught for his foundry cupola at those old works. Later on he became the foreman at the Oscar G. Thomas foundry, then he launched the beginnings of our present concern. We built our Office last, not first, as is the custom today, and there we kept our books, holding our meetings in the carpenter's shop, and our safe was the carpenter's chest itself. Mr. White died in 1903, and his partner, George L. Walker, went into the insurance business.

In 1887 the leased property on Tremont street was purchased, and another foundry building was added, giving the plant a capacity of forty-two moulders. Ten years later, or in 1897, the company was incorporated as the White Warner Company, with Charles P. White as its president, and Richard E. Warner as treasurer.

The first disaster was when a serious fire devastated the property, August 2, 1908, destroying all but two buildings, the old machine shop, and the foundry that had last been built. But just eleven days from the date of that mishap, or on August 13, the Taunton Iron Works location was purchased. At that place two buildings then remained of the former housing of the older concern - the pipe-shop and the stove-mounters' building - the new foundry being built on both sides of the old foundry site. The White Warner Company was thus located at the extreme end of Weir Village, among the newer plants in the same line of business. But in 1912 fire again visited the property, one of the most extensive of the city's fire history, when not only were the old buildings of the Iron Works wiped out, but other structures as well, with the one exception of the new moulding shop. The plant was almost immediately rebuilt, with an upto-date moulding room and storehouse, complete in all its arrangements. The capacity of the plant at present is sixty-five moulders, one hundred and twenty employes altogether. The product, that also includes the Quaker Range that in 1852 had been made at the old Iron Works, is sold all over the United States and in Europe.

Not only is the Oscar G. Thomas Company stove foundry one of the long-established plants of widely recognized worth; but, according to its old property holdings and the accounts of its transactions, it has upon it the peculiar stamp of a typical Taunton firm. As long as this generation can remember, the business has been where the plant now stands; while older generations knew that its immediate predecessor formed one of a group of iron-workers, whose traditions had been handed along from yet others. One of the most interesting facts, therefore, connected with the history of this firm, manufacturers of the Herald Ranges, is that it is the longest in business of any of the stove-building group at Weir Village. The land was originally bought for iron-working purposes in 1843 by the late John H. Eddy, who actually started the present business; and when the late Sampson Perkins came in as a joint proprietor with Mr. Eddy, just a few years later, the genealogical association of the plant's personnel was assured, for Mr. Perkins was grandfather of the late Oscar G. Thomas, whose name is that of the firm's style.

Their business increased, so that in ten years' time, or in 1855, land adjoining their old property was purchased, and again in 1861. Mr. Eddy severed his connection with the firm November 1, 1867, when Mr. Perkins assumed the responsibilities of sole ownership. The grandson of the latter,

Oscar G. Thomas, associated himself with Mr. Perkins from January 1, 1870, to the time of Mr. Perkins' death, in September, 1873. From that time until 1911, Mr. Thomas was in business alone, when the Oscar G. Thomas Company was incorporated. Meantime the Union foundry, built by Joseph Wright, on Third street, came into the possession of Mr. Thomas, his son-in-law, Mr. Wright having been agent for the old Taunton Iron Works, as well as agent and treasurer of the Union foundry. The present company also purchased, in 1918, the Bridgeport Crucible Company's plant, formerly that of the Phenix Manufacturing Company, to the south. The company he so well represented, and indeed the entire city, suffered a severe loss when Mr. Thomas, philanthropist and citizen of great business enterprise, died, December 10, 1920. The present officers of the company are: President, Howard Thomas; treasurer, Robert Whitmarsh; clerk, Miss Laura Thomas. These officers and the two daughters of the late Oscar G. Thomas comprise the board of directors. In bygone days the present site of the Oscar G. Thomas Company's plant, and all the land from the river to Somerset avenue and from Second to Third streets, was the property of the maternal great-grandparents of Mrs. Oscar G. Thomas; and Benjamin Burt, from whom John H. Eddy had bought for the beginnings of the business, was a great-uncle of Mrs. Thomas. This is but one interesting instance of the long tenure or the frequently recurring tenure, of old business properties in New England.

The Leonard & Baker Stove Company was established in 1908, when only eight moulders were required to do the work of the plant. Reorganization of the company took place in March, 1921, the board then being Eugene L. Baker and Chester N. Leonard and Lewis L. Lincoln. Alfred W. Tallman, formerly treasurer of the Somerset Stove Foundry Company, became affiliated with the business. The Leonard & Baker Company in 1920 took over the patterns and business of the Somerset Company, acquiring the right to the name Glendale, as applied to ranges and heaters. The Leonard & Baker Company have also always manufactured the Fairmount range. They have been manufacturing forty-five ranges a day, and employing one hundred and sixty moulders. The officers in 1923: President, Charles H. Macomber; vice-president, Alfred W. Tallman; Eugene L. Baker, treasurer; Lewis L. Lincoln, assistant treasurer.

Among the first foundries in Taunton for the casting of stoves and small wares was that of Deacon Samuel Leonard, who in 1845 built a small foundry below the Whittenton Mills. Lemuel L. Leonard, his son, associated with him soon afterwards, Deacon Leonard dying in 1868. Lemuel M. Leonard removed from Whittenton in 1868 and built a foundry in Wales street. He died in 1876. The Leonard Codperative foundry was organized in 1877, with a capital of $25,000. It was reorganized in 1891, as the New England Stove Company. L. B. West was president, and W. H. Lindsay treasurer.

The Presbrey Stove Lining Company, one of the oldest plants of the kind in New England and the oldest in Taunton and its surroundings, which corporation also operates the Presbrey Fire Brick Works, was incorporated in 1866 as the Presbrey Stove Lining Company, with William B. Presbrey, son of the founder, as manager and business agent. Up to the year 1868 the homestead of William B. Presbrey stood on the site of the present office building. It was then removed, and the first buildings of the present plant were put up. In those days the plant was turning out annually about $20,000 worth of linings, and whatever other products could be manufactured from clay and that were being called for at the time. Within recent years, the output was ten times that figure. As the years passed, there had never been recorded any shut-down of the business, and the call for the product had been steadily on the increase. At the death of Mr. Presbrey, Henry T. Root, of Providence, was the president of the company, and afterwards Daniel A. Trefethen held that position. There are few people now living who may recall the long, low sheds that stood near the Broomfield brook on the right of the road. It was there in 1826 that William Presbrey, Sr., commenced making brick, and later clay linings for the old Taunton Iron Works; and soon afterwards for stove works in Boston, at Plymouth and North Dighton. The materials for the lining-making were first brought from Gay Head, afterwards from New Jersey, as today. The plant has its holding of about five acres of land, all formerly of the old Presbrey properties, whereas in the early days it was less than an acre along by the brook, on the other side of the street. The plant met with disaster on March 22, 1921, when a $100,000 fire burned a large part of it to the ground; but within a very few weeks the firm had recovered itself, and the kilns were soon rebuilt. The fire brick manufactured by this company are noted for their uniform size, shape and color. They are made of the best selected stock, well and evenly burned in the most modern and improved kilns, and are recommended for furnaces in gas and copper works, pottery, fire brick, stone ware and lime kilns, steam boilers and rolling mills. Among the various grades of fire brick are No. 1, C, and Diamond, and the various stove linings made by this company is fire-stone brand, which has made quite a reputation for itself. It is noted for its excellency in fitting, being highly non-clinker, lasting in many cases for several years. They furnish employment to over sixty men and boys, and the output, enormous in volume and value, is distributed all over the United States and exported to foreign countries. Any shape or size of fire brick is made promptly to order from pattern, and all goods are supplied at lowest ruling market price. The fire bricks manufactured by the Presbrey Stove Lining Company are in use in many of the largest industrial establishments throughout the country and have always given universal. satisfaction. The company is the successor of William and AIbert Presbrey, who had been engaged in the same industry for a period of over forty years. They have enjoyed a most unusual degree of prosperity, which is chiefly due to the efforts of the officers of the company, and who are Henry JT. Root, of Providencce, Rhode Island, president; B. C. Pierce, treasurer and manager; Messrs. Daniel A. Trefethen, John W. Hart, of Taunton, and William Miller, of Fall River, Massachusetts, directors. They are variously connected with other enterprises, whose succcess has been fully as pronounced as that of the Presbrey Stove Lining Company.

An occasional small item to the effect that a certain schooner under command of Captain So-and-So has come up Taunton river with a load of clay consigned to one of the stove-lining works, or one of the stove foundries, has only a passing comment; yet that small vessel and others are doing their share in bringing to this port something over two thousand tons of clay each trip, to be used in the manufacture of stove linings, an industry that helps in the maintenance of close onto three hundred families. The little fleet of schooners, - the B. F. Jayne, the Laforest L. Simmons and others that begin their business with their cargoes of clay about April Ist, and haul up at their home port the first of December, come to Taunton annually with about eight thousand tons of clay, all told. Charles S. McCall, superintendent of the Standard Stove Lining Company, who has been in the business of making stove linings practically all his life, states that the clay-carrying fleet has been coming and going more than a half century on the same errand.

You cannot mix together any of the blue clay that you will find, locally, and prove it by fire. The kind required comes from New Jersey, and it is the kind that solidifies and stays so, when acted upon in the kilns. Many years ago, for the making of pottery and for certain kinds of stove-linings, we had clay brought from Gay Head. We read that in yet earlier days the Indians used to bring it up here in their canoes, and trade it for the necessities of life.

The clay that now comes from New Jersey for our uses is a handsome red and blue clay, with some yellow and some white, as near to the pipe clay as any I have ever seen. All are pliable and easy to mix, the result being a carmine-colored material that performs to perfection the required work. The red clay, as it comes from the pit is far more liable to shrinkage than the blue, and both have to be mixed with the yellow-whitish clay for right results.

It is understood that Gay Head was so called because of the "gay" colorings of the clay, as seen a distance out from the headlands. The big heaps of clay in the receiving sheds of the stove-lining companies' plants, though they come from further away than Gay Head, have the same appearance of "gaiety" of colors, the extreme of blue and red, a beautiful yellow, and an almost perfectly white and harder clay, the pipe clay - not used for making pipes, however, but in the composition of stove-lining brick. Tons and tons of the beautiful, clean materials are in the receiving sheds. In an adjoining shed, the clays are being mixed, and placed in a mill, that is ground either by machinery or horse-power. "Years ago,' said Mr. McCall, "we were accustomed to mix sand with the clay, for solidifying and adhesion. Since then, it has been discovered that a certain hard clay, itself, well ground, serves the purpose much better. The sand caused a rougher surface on the moulds that is done away with in the use of the fine clay." As the wheel turns about in the mill, stirring up the pliable clays of different colors, the red clay finally dominates. 'The red vegetable matter in the clay in the last processes burns white, since it is a vegetable and not a mineral matter."

The expert moulders in their own sheds are all the time requiring of the mill the mixed product, and fill the moulds and set them away for temporary hardening. Then comes the kiln-drying and hardening - a big oven that is calculated to hold about 16,000 linings, and with 2000 degrees of heat to prove the worth of the clay.

The Williams Stove Lining Company was started by John R. Williams in 1846. The name Williams Stove Lining Company was first used in 1890, the firm becoming incorporated in Massachusetts in 1908. The plant is located at the lower end of West Water street, on Taunton river, and the buildings cover nearly four acres. The products are brick stove linings, Eagle asbestos stove clay, and incandescent gas fuel. The firm manufactures in smaller quantities Eagle patching plaster and Eagle liquid and paste stove polish. The goods are distributed throughout the United States and Canada, but the principal markets are in the East. The raw materials, such as fire clay and coal, are landed from vessels or barges into the buildings of the plant. The company operates steadily throughout the year, and employs fifty or more hands.

The Staples Coal Company was incorporated in May, 1888, by Joseph Stickney, Sylvanus N. Staples, Herbert. M. Staples, Lewis Williams and Herbert A. Dean, and organization ensued, with the following-named officers: President, Sylvanus N. Staples; clerk, Lewis Williams; treasurer, John G. Hannah. None of the original organizers of the company are now living... Sylvanus' N. Staples died June 10, 1893, and was succeeded by Joseph Stickney as the president; Lewis Williams died December 23, 1902, and was succeeded as clerk of the corporation by Charles D. Burt, of Fall River. Joseph Stickney died December 21, 1903, and was succeeded by John G. Hannah as the president. Herbert M. Staples died February 14, 1904, and Herbert A. Dean died September 25, 1904. The duties of Mr. Staples and Mr. Dean were taken up by Frederick Ludlam, now the agent of the company, at Taunton, and clerk of the corporation, and Arthur C. Staples, son of Herbert M. Staples, now local sales agent at Taunton. The company purchased the assets and succeeded to the old firm of Staples & Phillips, of Taunton; soon thereafter it acquired the assets of the Globe Coal Company, and later the property of the Globe Wharf, at Fall River.

The fleet carried during the first year of its operation by this company about 150,000 tons; the company's fleet now consists of thirty-two barges and ten tugboats. The Staples Transportation Company was organized in 1908, with a capital of $1,500,000, for the transportation of coal from shipping ports (Southern and New York) to Sound and coast ports of Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Maine. In 1913 three different firms amalgamated, and the Staples Coal Company, with a capital of $2,000,000 is now the holding company of the plants in Taunton, Fall River and Rhode Island, the Atlantic Coal Company and the Maritime Coaling Company. The president of the holding company is Robert I. Jenks, of New York. The president of the Staples Transportation Company is John G. Hannah.

John Magee, the founder of the Magee Furnace Company, came to New England at an early age and learned the trade of tin and sheet iron work, and established a business in Lawrence, Massachusetts. During this time he conceived the idea of making heating and cooking stoves on different lines from what had ever been produced. After having had the patterns made, it was very difficult at that early age to find anybody that would manufacture them. In 1856 the patterns were taken to the Norton Furnace Company, located at Norton, Massachusetts, and there they were made in increasing numbers. The Norton Furnace Company, as a result, were obliged to build an extension to their plant. In 1860 Mr. Magee became a member of the Norton Furnace Company, which at that time was comprised of Eugene Butler, James A. Lincoln, Jr., and John Magee. Mr. Magee later withdrew from the company and interested men of large capital in his enterprise, establishing the present Magee Furnace Company.

The foundry, occupied for years at Chelsea, Massachusetts, was originally built by the Norton Furnace Company, but was taken over, on the dissolution, by Mr. Magee, about 1863. In 1868 the company was incorporated under the Massachusetts laws, being' one of the first companies to take out a charter in this commonwealth. They continued manufacturing in Chelsea for years, finally selling their plant to the Texas Oil Company and locating at Taunton, within four and a half miles of the original manufacturing plant. The company's products are sold in all parts of the country and are serving upwards of 1,500,000 people. They are also operating in Wakefield, and are about to start a new foundry for the manufacture of gas ranges at Weir Village, Taunton. The officers of the company are: Alfred E. Stockbridge, president and treasurer; Robert P. Burton and S. Olin Field, vice-presidents; Alfred E. Perrin, secretary; Clarence F. Wiley, superintendent.

These were the beginnings of the Paragon Gear Works: Forty years ago, James Evans started at Weir Village a plant for the nickel plating of stove trimmings, serving the various stove foundries that were located in this vicinity. The business grew rapidly as the stove foundries prospered. until, at the height of this business, forty to fifty polishers alone were employed on this class of work. Mr. Evans took into partnership his two sons, C. Everett and Edwin H. After his death, the business was continued by Everett, Edwin giving up active participation and becoming the sheriff of Bristol county, but still retaining his interest in the business.

As the business grew, it was moved from its first location at Weir Village to the plant on Cushman street, formerly occupied by the H. A. Williams Manufacturing Company, manufacturers of twist drills. In addition to nickel plating of the cast-iron trimmings, the business was enlarged by the manufacturing of nickel-plated rolled steel trimmings, this concern supplying not only the local foundries with these steel trimmings but others located in other parts of the country. The manufacture of oven thermometers was also started, this being one of the first concerns in the country to take up the manufacture of thermometers, with which all stoves are now equipped. This part of the business was eventually disposed of to the Standard Thermometer Company of Boston. The business was incorporated in 1902 under the name of Evans Stamping and Plating Company. As the various stove foundries began putting in their own nickel-plating plants, this department gradually decreased in size, and in 1907 the manufacture of the Paragon Reverse Gear, a transmission for marine internal combustion engines, was begun and has continued up to the present time. By 1913 all the other various activities of this concern had been disposed of, and the manufacture of this transmission is now its only product. The concern is now known as the Paragon Gear Works, although the corporate name still continues. In 1909, Everett Evans died and the plant was purchased by Richard Wastcoat, in the latter part of 1910. The present product is part of the equipment of the majority of the American-built marine motors today, and shipments are being made not only as a part of the equipment of these motors, but also as independent units to all the countries in the world. 'These transmissions are built for all sizes of marine motors, from the smallest up to the heavy duty 200 horsepower Diesel motors and for the four hundred to five hundred horsepower high-speed racing motors.

The New Process Twist Drill Company, 34 Court street, is one of the oldest manufacturers of twist drills in this country, having been manufacturing continuously under original basic patents for more than forty years, and selling direct to the railroads, industrial plants and supply houses from coast to coast, in addition to a considerable export trade. John M. Goodwin, for many years general manager, died in July, 1922. The present organization consists of Dr. Byron L. Dwinell, president, and Colonel Peter H. Corr, treasurer. Associated with the management are Albert G. Foster, Howard Corr and James T. Waite.

The Atlas Tack Corporation of Boston was formed in 1891 by the merging with others of the Albert Field Tack Company, the Taunton Tack Company, the American Tack Company, the Plymouth Tack Company, and the Island Creek Tack Shop. Albert Field began to manufacture tacks and nails on the site of the Deacon Roswell Ballard fulling mill, Spring street, Taunton, in 1827, with two machines, delivering the product himself with a hand cart. In 1855 the business was taken over by A. Field & Co. In 1859 the firm became A. Field & Sons, and in 1869 was incorporated by act of the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as the Albert Field Tack Company. Up to the time of the merger the business under the Messrs. Field had flourished and been very profitable from the beginning, the present substantial and valuable brick buildings representing the growth of the plant. In the rear of the opposite side of Spring street is the No. 2 Mill, so called, the construction of which the further necessities of the business required. This plant is separate and apart from that on the original site, and is not one-half its size. The Taunton Tack Com- "pany was organized in 1854, with a capital of $20,000, by a few practical tack makers; it was incorporated in 1855. In 1870 the capital was increased to $60,000, and the works removed to the present site, on Weir street. In 1873 the capital was again increased to $120,000. A fire in 1878 destroyed part of the works and the present plant was then erected. This, like the two Field plants, proved to be a thriving and successful establishment. The business of the American Tack Company, at Fairhaven, was begun by Arby Field, in a small and primitive way, on the present site, in 1824. It fell into the hands of Jude Field, or from father to son, in 1840. In 1855 it passed to William S$. Guerineau. It was bought by the American Nail Machine Company, a Massachusetts corporation, in 1865. In 1867, after a partial destruction of the plant by fire, there was a reorganization of the business under the more appropriate name of the American Tack Company. From this time up to 1891, when it became one of the eight plants whose owners joined together to form the Atlas Tack Corporation, its growth was rapid, its dividends large and the wisdom of its location at tidewater proven by the erection of its splendid stone buildings, paid for out of its earnings. Samuel Loring began the making of tacks in a water power plant on Island Creek, Duxbury, previous to 1842. The business grew to such an extent that in that year he purchased and occupied another and much larger water power plant on Town Brook, at Plymouth, where he established a second tack factory on a much larger and more extensive scale, under the name of the Plymouth Tack Company. In 1886 the ownership became vested in the firm of Loring & Parks, and it so remained until the merger, of 1891. The two plants, while very much smaller than any of the others in this sale, experienced an equal degree of success. The product of the several plants included tacks and nails, steel shoe shanks, wire nails, and brads, rivets and burrs, copper belt rivets and burrs, eyelets, double pointed tacks and staples, tufting buttons, lining and saddle nails, glazier points and cast-head coffin tacks.

The Greenfield Tap and Die Company in 1920 purchased all of the common stock of the Lincoln Twist Drill Company. Beginning July 1, 1921, the Lincoln Twist Drill plant began to operate as a branch factory of the Greenfield Tap and Die corporation. The Lincoln Twist Drill Company on May 1, 1917, succeeded the Lincoln-Williams Twist Drill Company. The officers in 1923: President, Frederick H. Payne; vice-president, treasurer and general manager, Edward Blake, Jr.; secretary, Paul T. Irvin.

The Taunton Aluminum Novelty Company was started in 1899 by Amos A. Fisher to make novelties, fancy goods and tableware in aluminum. Mr. Fisher died in 1902, and the plant was sold to George Mulligan, who ran it about a year, when he sold the works to Yates and Corr, who removed the business to Granite street. E. A. Fargo & Company started another aluminum novelty works in 1904, in the new Field Tack Works, in the rear of the armory.

The F. B. Rogers Silver Company was incorporated February 11, 1883, the Rogers Cutlery Company, of Shelburne Falls, this State, taking about one-third of the stock, and turning in their plant as their share, the balance being taken by Taunton parties. The factory of the Porter Company, on Winthrop street, was purchased by the Oliver Ames Company, of Easton, and the Shelburne plant was moved there and put into operation. Soon afterwards, or in 1899, the West Silver Company was incorporated, with L. B. West as president; A. H. Williams, treasurer; and Lewis Williams, E. W. Porter and A. W. Williams, directors. In January, 1907, the personnel of the firm was again changed, when W. J. Davison, C. A. Woodward and H. E. Nearing became stockholders, and entered the board of management, with A. H. Williams as business manager and W. F. Preston as the president of the company. The product is silver-plated hollow ware, and about sixty-five hands are employed.

The Cohannet Silver Company was begun in 1903 by A. M. Burns, William A. Dreghorn, William FE. McIsaacs and E. W. Burns, as a britannia and silver-plating company. The Cohannet Vulcanizing Company was incorporated September 29, 1917, with capital stock, preferred $500,000, common $500,000; Charles S. Davis is the president; Myron E. Wood, treasurer.

In 1892, George Poole and Edward F. Roche left the West Silver Company and formed the Poole & Roche Company, to start a britannia works in the shop vacated by Reed, Barton & Company, on Court street. They began with a similar line of table ware. In 1893, Louis Busiere joined them, and, removing to Whittenton, they started under the name of Poole, Roche & Company. In 1895 they incorporated as the Poole Silver Company. Mr. Roche died in November, 1906, and Mr. Poole in January, 1907. Mrs. Minnie Poole is the president, and Arthur E. Poole treasurer and clerk.

ton, and formerly connected with the Taunton Crucible Company, of Taunton, organized a company with the capital stock of $50,000 for the manufacture of graphite crucibles and retorts, now known as the Bay State Crucible Company, on the site formerly occupied and known as Wright's Pottery. The first officers were Willis K. Hodgman, president; E. D. Paige, treasurer; with the above-named and Franklin D. Williams as directors, and James M. Westgate, clerk. The concern has enjoyed a successful business career ever since its organization, its products being shipped and used from coast to coast in the United States, as well as being exported to several foreign countries. During the World War, the company was compelled to increase its plant output 200 per cent, until now its annual output is 85,000 crucibles. Practically all of the raw material entering into the manufacture of these goods has to be imported from India, Africa and Germany, only two ingredients of the several used being produced in America. The goods manufactured by this concern and known as the Bay State Brand are used for melting brass, bronze, gold, silver, steel, and other metal alloys, and are used by many of the largest smelting and refining companies in America, for the refining of gold and silver, as well as in their lead refining process. It is generally understood that the first graphite crucibles manufactured in the United States were manufactured in Taunton; but out of the seven concerns who later occupied themselves with this line of manufacture in the New England States, the Bay State Crucible Company is now one of the two remaining concerns in the New England States manufacturing this product, and the only one in Massachusetts.

The M. M. Rhodes & Sons Company business house was established in 1861, for the manufacture of hoopskirt trimmings and linings nails. Its founder, Marcus M. Rhodes, was an ingenious inventor, bringing out from time to time new articles as the trade demanded. In 1872, he took his two oldest sons, Charles M. and George H., into the business with him, at which time they commenced the manufacture of papier mache shoe buttons, this being the first factory in America to turn out this product. In 1888 a third son was taken into the firm, and the company was incorporated. In the late nineties the shoe-button industry was at a standstill, and the plant was obliged to find other products to manufacture. Mr. Rhodes then designed a tufting or upholstery button, with a papier maché top, which has now been on the market for twenty-five years. He next produced a new method for covering shoe-lacing hocks with enamel, and this department of the business is still carried on. In 1910, a grandson, Marcus A. Rhodes, was taken into the firm. The year 1918 marked the addition of another branch of the business in braiding; and for the past five years they have been building up an active trade in shoe laces, which are sold chiefly in the New England shoe district. The officers of the company in 1923: President, Ralph E. Barker; vice-president, Charles M. Rhodes; treasurer, Marcus A. Rhodes.

The Hughes Eyelet Company was organized in February, 1903, for the manufacture of high-grade shoe eyelets. For two years this manufacture was carried on and domestic trade taken care of. In 1905 fire practically destroyed the factory and the company was reorganized under the same management as before and the plant rebuilt on the same site. The manufacture of shoe eyelets was continued for the next ten years, handling demands of both domestic and foreign markets and gradually branching out into special and fancy eyelets, to which has recently been added the manufacture of small metal stampings used extensively and in great assortment by the electrical trade. A large part of the plant is today kept busy with the manufacture of these small metal specialties.

One of the pioneers in the lumber business in this city was the late Captain Abiathar Williams, at his location on Ingell street. He was succeeded by his sons, Abiathar K. and George B. Williams. Their successors are Abiathar G. and Alfred B. Williams.