Worcester County, Massachusetts - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 43 of those read), 1889

Fitchburg has for many years been a manufacturing place of considerable note, and the varied products of her mills, factories and great machine-shops have to-day a reputation which, in many cases, is by no means limited to the United States.

The origin of all these industries, of which our city is now so justly proud, can be traced back to that unmitigated nuisance of the early settlers of the town, the north branch of the Nashua ; and to Amos and Ephraim Kimball, who had the temerity, in 1750, to build a dam across this obnoxious stream, belongs the honor of being the pioneer manufacturers of what is now Fitchburg.

carried off by freshets, but in a few years a more substantial dam was built of logs and V-shaped. Here the Kimballs erected a siw and grist-mill, which was in operation for many years thereafter.

It was fortv-four years before a second attempt was made to build a dam across the stream, and one of the daring Kimball family had a hand in the building of it.

In 1791 the son of Ephraim Kimball (who was also named Ephraim) and Jonas Marshall built the second dam, near the present site of the Pitts Mill, on West Main Street, and erected on this water privilege a saw-mill, and soon afterward clothiers' works and a trip-hammer were built a few rods below it.

Soon after the close of the Revolutionary War a fulling-mill and clothiers' works, a carding-machine and works for grinding scythes were established on the water privilege of the elder Kimball.

No further attempt was made during the rest of the century to utilize the water power, and the abovenamed concerns seem to have constituted the " manufacturing establi.shments " of Fitchburg up to the year 1804. In that year the third dam was built, and will be spoken of under "paper manufacture."

This was certainly a very small beginning, but it taught the people here that possibly the river was good for something after all, and that they might make it do enough work for them to pay for all the bridges it had carried away.

Cotton Manufacturing. - In 1807 there was another Ephraim Kimball (this time a grandson of the first Ephraim) on hand to build a dam, which was the fourth, across the river. On this site was erected a cotton-factory, now a part of the brick mill in Factory Square.

This was the third cotton-factory erected in the State, and was built and operated by a company of about thirty persons, including the workmen, who were obliged to take shares. The building was of brick, and thirty by sixty feet in size.

For a time the company did not prosper, but in a few years improved machinery was put in, and the business began to be lucrative. Unfortunately, however, the company had neglected to secure a proper title to the whole dam, and trouble soon began. The builder o( the dam owned the land on the opposite side of the stream, and the line between his property and that of the company ran in the middle of the river. He had lost money in building the dam and demanded four hundred dollars of the company to cover his loss. No notice was taken of this demand, whereupon he informed the company that half of the dam belonged to him, and offered to sell it to them for twelve hundred dollars. This offer being refused, he sold a part of the land and the title to his half of the dam to sundry persons, who immediately began to erect works on the bank across the stream. They freely used the water, and finally cut away their half of the dam. The cotton company, then in the enjoyment of a prosperous business, had to suspend operations, and became involved in a lawsuit, which wa^ finally decided again.st them, with heavy damages.

The result of all this was that in 1816 the company failed, and the property was sold for about one-third of its value to Messrs. Putnam & Perkins, who operated it as a cotton factory until 1822, when they sold it to Messrs. Town & Willis, who converted it into a woolen-mill ; and its history as such for the following sixty-five years will be given under woolen manufacture.

In 1887 the Parkhill Manufacturing Company purchased the property, enlarged the building and put in cotton machinery, thus restoring to the first cotton f^ictory built in Fitchburg its original industry.

The second attempt at cotton manufacture in this town was made by Captain Martin Newton, in 1810, in a small building near the site of the present "Stone Mill." He succeeded so well that in 1812, with Solomon Strong and Jonathan Flint, he built a cotton factory on what was afterwards called Newton's Lane. Here cotton manufacture was profitably carried on for over a quarter of a century. Later the building became a part of the Atherton estate, and was used fur manufacturing of various kinds. It is now owned by the Putnam Machine Company.

The " Red " or " Rollstone " Mill was built in 1813 by John and Joseph Farwell and Nehemiah Gile-, on the site of the Kimball & Marshall saw-mill, previously mentioned. Cotton cloth was made here.

In 1816 the mill was bought by Putnam & Perkins, who soon sold it to General Ivers Jewett, who, in 1833, sold it to Town & Willis. This firm continued the manufacture of cotton goods in this mill, and in 1834 secured Mr. Levi Sherwin to manage the business. Mr. Sherwin bought one-quarter interest in the mill in 1843, and the other three-quarters in 1857. In 1867, after having had the active management of the mill for thirty-three years, Mr. Sherwin sold it to Mr. Hiram W. Pitts, of Leominster.

Mr. Pitts built the present substantial brick mill to take its place in 1876. He died a few years ago, and, since 1882, his son, Mr. B. M. Pitts, has operated the factory, which is known as the Fitchburg Cotton Mill, or, perhaps, better as the Pitts Mill.

Cotton and carpet warps, batting, twine, etc., are produced. There are five buildings, the largest being the brick structure erected in 1876, which is fifty by one hundred feet and three stories high. It is well equipped with machinery, which is run mainly by water-power ; but there is steam-power in readiness to use when the water is too low to be of service.

The cotton-mill built on Phillips' Brook, about 1815, was afterward operated by Perkins & Baldwin. It was swept away in 1850 by the flood caused by the giving way of the Ashburnham reservoir.

1845. It was soon converted into a Hannel-mill, and, in 1850, was swept away by tlie flood. It was rebuilt and burnt in 1852. Soon afterwards a mill was erected on the same site, and used by Colonel Phillips for the manufacture of hosiery, etc., and, since 1861, has been operated as a woolen-mill by various parties.

The "Stone Mill," on Laurel Street, was built by Oliver Fox, in 1826. [t was operated as a cottonmill for a time by Mr. Fox, but he soon leased it to Percy Atherton ; still later it was run by other persons and used continuously as a cotton-mill until 1868, when it was purchased by Joseph Gushing, who has since operated it as a flour and grain-mill and elevator.

A curious fact in relation to the couatruction of this massive building is, that no derrick was used to place the huge blocks of granite in position. The-blocks were all hauled up an inclined plane by oxen.

The Fitchburg Duck Mill in South Fitchburg, now owned by David Nevins, was built about 18-18, and was formerly the property of George Blackburn & Co. Cotton duck is made here and the salesrooms are in Boston.

In the autumn of 1879 John Parkhill, Arthur H. Lowe and Thomas K. B. Dole formed a partnership and purchased the building long owned and operated j by the late Hon. Alonzo Davis as a chair shop. The firm put in thirty looms, and began the weaving of colored cotton goods in February, 1880.

In 1882 the firm was dissolved, and the Parkhill Manufacturing Company incorporated with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars. Since then their business has enlarged wonderfully. In 1882 an addition, one hundred and thirty-five by thirty-five feet, and two stories high, was built ; in 1883 a third story was added ; during the next two years another building, one hundred and fifty by fifcy-five feet, three stories high, and a new engine-house were built; in 1887 a new dye-house, one hundred and forty by fiftyfive feet, two stories high, and an immense steam chimney were put up, and the factory of the Fitchburg Woolen Mill Company purchased, as has been previously stated.

This thriving company, of which John Parkhill is president and Arthur H. Lowe treasurer, now operates about one thousand looms, employs about five hundred hands and produces something like nine million yards of cloth annually. The Toile du Nord goods made here have a justly celebrated reputation.

Early in 1888 the company built a causeway from their Circle Street mills across the pond to Rollstone Street, the intention being to fill up most of the pond, and utilize the made land, as the interests of the company may indicate.

The Cleghorn Mills, incorporated in 1885 with a capital of (me hundred thousand dollars, are located near River Street, and include a brick building, one hundred and seventy by sixty feet, and four stories high, and an annex of wood of the same dimensions, two stories high.

These mills went into operation in December, 1885, employ over two hundred hands and produce fine dress goods. Andrew Cleghorn is president and A. H. Lowe treasurer.

The Orswell Mill, ihe latest addition to the cotton industries of Fitchburg, was incorporated in 1886 with a capital of two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. The mill was built in 1886, and is three hundred and forty-six by seventy-eight feet, and four stories high. It has a capacity of twenty thousand spindles, is now in full operation, and produces a fine quality of cotton yarn. Warren M. Orswell is president and manager and Walter F. Stiles, treasurer.

Woolen Manufacture. - This was early begun here, though in a small way. In 1793 Ephraim Kimball had a carding-machine and fulling-mill near his saw and grist-mill, and close by were clothiers' works, where cloth was dyed, fulled and sheared.

The first woolen-mill put into operation here was the brick building, which, as before staled, was originally a cotton-factory, and was converted into a woolen-mill in 1822.

The following concise history of this enterpri.-e, written just previous to his death, in 1884, by Hon. William H. Vose, for thirty-five years manager, and for many years ti'easurer of the company, is well worth preserving here :

III 1822 Samuel Willis and Abial .1. Town purchased the Brick Cottonmill in the centre of the then village of Fitchburg, and founded what has ever since been known as the Fitchburg Woolen-BIill. They furnished it with two sets of cards and the necessary looms, spinningjenuies and finishing machinery for the manufacture of cassimeres made exclusively from fine wool. Subsequently Paul Farnum and Daniel Kimball (commission merchants of Boston) became owners in part, Abial J. Town, Samuel Willis, Paul Farnum and Daniel Kimball constituting the Company, and having an equal interest in the business.

In 18a4. the mill and machinery having been injured to some extent by lire, an addition was made to the main building, other necessary buildings erected, the water-power improved by a new dam and the capacity of the mill increased to three sets of narrow cards with Goulding's improved Condensers and Spinning-Jacks, whereby the process of first carding the wool into rolls and then converting the rolls into roping, on what was called a Bdhj, was ilispensed with, and the wool was taken from the Condenser to the Jacks, without any intervening process, and spun into yarn.

The writer was employed in this mill in 1828-29 as a spinner on a Jenny of 80 spindles. The yarn was wound {as spun) on the spindles in "cops," and then "warped" on " warping-bars," consisting of a wood frame with pins in the sides, or posts, on which the female operatives extended tlie yarn by passing to and fro as many times, and using as many pins as would give the required length to the warp, after which the warp was '* sized " in a tub and drawn through a metal tube by hand to press the sizing out, and then stretched out in the sun, or in a warm room, to dry, and was tiien ready to be drawn into the barnesa and reed for the loom.

Later this primitive process has been superseded by the '* Dresser," as now practised, by which the yarn is warped, sized and dried by one continuous process.

After the enlargement of the mill in 1834 the proprietorship continued unchanged until the death of Mr. Willis, in 1843, -when the interest belonging to his estate was purchased by Porter Piper, and the interest of Paul Farnum was bought by William B. Towne. The Company, as thus constituted, continued until 1848, when the interest of Porter Piper was bought by William H. Vose, the present treasurer and manager. William B. Towne died in 1853, when Roby B. Safford became the owner of the one-fourth belonging to his estate. In 1855 Abial J. Town, the senior member, and one of the pioneers of the Company, died, and his interest was purchased by Daniel Kimball and William H. Vose, two of the surviving partners.

In 18Ij4 Daniel Kimball sold one-half of his interest to two of his sons, Daniel Kimball, Jr., and Herbert W. Kimball ; and William H. Vose sold one-half of his to his only son, George F. Vose, and the ownership became as follows, viz.: Daniel Kimball, one-fourth ; M'illiam H. Vose, one-fourth ; Daniel Kimball, Jr., one-eighth ; George F. Vose, one-fourth ; Herbert W. Kimball, one-eighth.

In 1SG1-G2 the mill was enlarged and new machinery put in, increasing its capacity to five sets, and other improvements added, materially increasing its capacity and value.

In 1867 George F. Vose died and bis interest was purchased by Kodney Wallace, Rufus S. Frost and Paul R. Hazeltine, and the ownership became as follows: William H. Vose, one-half; Rufus S. Frost, one-eighth ; Rodney Wallace, one-fourth ; Paul R. Hazeltine, one-eighth.

Paul R. Hazeltine died in 1878 and William H. Vose purchased the interest of his estate in the Company, making the several interests in the following proportions, viz. : William H. Vose, five-eighths; Rodney W'alUce, one-quarter ; Rufus S. Frost, one-eighth.

The Company has never, from the outset, failed to meet every obligation ; has always maintained a high reputation for the char.acter of its goods - having never used any cotton, slioddy or flocks in them - and for integrity and honorable dealing. Its members have been prominent amongst the business men of the community, connected with its financial institutions, and most of them honored, at various times, with positions of public trust and responsibility.

The invariable and continued success of the Company affords an example of what may be accomplished by careful, prudent and economical management of a comparatively small mill, with constiint supervision of the details of its business, without making haste to be rich.

After Mr. Vose's death the mill was managed for a year by his grandson, William V. Lowe, who was succeeded by Mr. Marcien Jenk^i, and in 1887 the property was sold to the Parkhill Manufacturing Company.

In 1823 a brick mill was built by Tyler, Daniels & Co., near the location of the present mill of the George W. Wheelwright Paper Company. It was later owned by various parties, who operated it as a woolen-mill. Samuel Slater, a noted mill-owner in those days, purchased it about 1830, and although, on account of his death soon after, it was in his possession but a short time, it was for many years thereafter known as the " Slater Mill." It was pulled down some twenty-five years ago. Hon. Joseph W. Mansur, one of the prominent men ofFitchburg thirty years ago, was one of its latest owners and occupants.

In 1832 Hollis Hartshorn built a brick woolen-mill nearly half a mile below the Slater mill. It was in operation for only a few years, being burnt in 1836.

of the town. Two of them were in Rockville and located on Phillips' Brook. One was the hosiery-mill previously spoken of as belonging to Col. Ivers Phillips. In 1861 it was fitted up as a woolen-mill, and has since been run as such by various individuals. It has been enlarged and additional buildings have been erected For some years the plant Las been known as the Berwick Mills, and is operated by James Mc- Taggart, Jr. The mills consist of three buildings, the main one being of brick and wood, forty by one hundred feet, and three stories high, and equipped with suitable machinery. It is run by water-power, but steam-power is in readiness to use if the water gets too low.

During the summer of 1888 Mr. McTaggart erected, close by the mills, a fine brick building, forty by fifty feet, to be used for a spinning room, and put into it three new Bassett & Jones operators.

The mill just below this was for some time occupied by Whitman & Miles, but in 1803 was converted into a woolen-mill. It became known as the Baltic Mill, and was for some years operated by James Phillips, Jr. In January, 1880, James McTaggart, Jr., acquired possession of it, and ran it in connection with the Berwick Mills. During the summer of 1888, however, it was not running.

In 1864 Alvah Crocker, Charles T. Crocker, George F. Fay and others built a woolen-mill near the junction of Westminster and Sanborn Roads, in West Fitchburg, to which the name of Beoli Mill was given.

The only woolen manufacturers now doing business here are James Phillips, Jr., and James Mc- Taggart, Jr. Of the mills operated by the latter we have already spoken.

Mr. Phillips ranks among the heavy woolen manufacturers of New England. He began business about 1872, in partnership with Edward M. Rockwell.

In 1872 Messrs. Rockwell & Phillips purchased the Beoli Mill, which at that time contained but twelve looms. In 1875 Mr. Phillips became the sole owner, and since then the business has increased vastly, and the greatly enlarged mills, which are now widely known as the Wachusett Mills, contain 150 broad looms, give employment to some 400 hands and produce worsted coatings and suitings of well known excellence, to the value of over $1,000,000 annually.

About 1875 Mr. Phillips began to run the mill previously occupied by J. Booth & Co. It was known as the Booth Worsted Company until 1882, when the Star Worsted Company was organized with a capital of fifty thousand dollars - James Phillips, Jr., president, and George N. Proctor, treasurer. This com- pany has since continued to run the same mill on West Street - now known as the Star Worsted Mill. Worsted j'arn is here made to the value of about four hundred thousand dollars annually, all of which is u<ed by the Wachusett Mills and the Fitchburg Worsted Company. The Star Mill gives employment to one hundred and twenty-five hands.

The Fitchburg Worsted Company was incorporated in 1880 with a capital of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars - James Phillips, Jr., president, and George N. Proctor, treasurer. The brick mill in South Fitchburg, formerly owned by George Blackburn & Co., was purchased and enlarged, and has since been used by this company for the manufacture of fine worsted suitings. The mill contains two hundred and fifty narrow looms and employs nearly four hundred operatives. The value of the annual product is about one million dollars.

The cloth made at the Wachusett Mills and the Fitchburg Wors!;ed Company's mill is all of high grade, and is considered equal to any manufactured in the United States.

The goods made at the Berwick Mills, operated by James McTaggart, Jr., arelikewiseof excellentqaality, and embrace a fine line of fancy cassimeres for men's wear.

Chaik Manufacturing. - This industry was begun here about 1816, by Levi Pratt. He built two dams on Sand Hill Brook, and at the northerly dam erected a saw-mill, and at the southerly a small shop for the manufacture of chairs. This shop was on the present easterly portion of the Pratt Road, near the house where Andrew Pratt now lives. In this shop and in a larger one, built in 1833, he made chairs for over thirty years.

John D. Pratt, afterward in company with Alonzo Davis, manufactured chairs here at an early period, his shop being located at the old Punch Brook Dam, near Academy Street.

In 1845 Alonzo Davis came to Fitchburg, and in company with Augustus Rice began the manufacture of chairs in Newton's Lane. The business was soon removed to the "Newton Factory," adjoining. Mr. Rice retired from the firm and John D. Pratt and Hiram Wood became partners with Mr. Davis. Still later this firm was dissolved and Mr. Davis formed a partnership with Mr. Pratt's sons, Henry T. and Charles E. Pratt.

In 1855 increase of business necessitated the construction of a new factory, which the firm built on what was known as "Tuttle's Flat." It was of brick, one hundred and fifty by forty feet, and four stories high. Here, the firm of A. Davis & Co. carried on the chair business until 1864, when Mr. Davis became sole proprietor. He continued the business until 1877, when the depression in trade made it unprofitable, and he closed the concern, which, till then, had been a source of profit to himself and a credit to the manufacturing interests of Fitchburg. In 1879 he

At this time there is but one corporation engaged in this industry here - the Walter Heywood Chair Manufacturing Company. This is a representative establishment, one of the largest in the country and widely known in foreign lands.

The founder of this company was Walter Heywood, who came to Fitchburg in 1841. In company with Leander P. Comee he built the Heywood & Comee block, and for a time the firm dealt in dry goods and groceries in the store now occupied by Leander Sprague &Co.

In 1844 the firm hired a part of the "Red Mill " on West Street, and began to make chairs. Ten hands were employed at first. The business increased, and two years later was removed to the upper portion of Alvah Crocker's building just erected on the site now occupied by the Fitchburg Steam Engine Company's shop.

Mr. Heywood, by no means dismayed, secured temporary accommodations fur the business; and as soon a.* Mr. Crocker completed the erection of a new building, one hundred and thirty by forty feet, three stories high, on the site of the one burned, he hired the whole of it. The business prospered, and in 1852 Messrs. Alton Blodgett, Lovell Williams and George E. Tovvne were admitted as partners; and soon afterward the firm leased land belonging to Mr. Crocker, in the rear of the chair-shop, and erected two large buildings thereon.

May 31, 1869, the Walter Heywood Chair Company, with a capital of $240,000, was organized as a stock company, under a special act of the Legislature.

The prosperity of the new company was, however, doomed, in the near future, to meet with a serious check. On the night of July 21, 1870, a fire broke out, which proved to be the most disastrous and costly in the history of Fitchburg, even up to the present time. By it was laid in ruins the entire establishment of this company, as well as several other buildings. The property loss amounted to over $120,000, of which $90,000 fell on the Walter Heywood Chair Company. Their insurance was .152,500.

This was a severe, but by no means a fatal, blow. Very soon after the fire the members of the company began to look about for a new site, and shortly purchased some nine acres of land on River Street, where the erection of the present commodious and well-appointed buildings was immediately entered upon and prosecuted with vigor.

brick, two stories high, with an attic. Two of these structures are each three hundred feet long and fifty feet wide, and the third is the same length, but ten feet narrower. All of them are located on the westerly side of River Street, ranging one behind another. Some three hundred men are employed in these shops.

There is also a handsome brick building, just north of the shops, used for office purposes, besides numerous lumber shed^^, stock-hnuses, etc. A railroad track, a quarter of a mile long, owned by the company, connects their premises with the main line of the Hoosac Tunnel Route.

This corporation successfully weathered the longcontinued depression in trade which began soon after the new buildings were occupied, and at the present time h.as a large and firmly-established business.

The founder, Walter Heywood, died in 1880, and, in order to settle Mr. Heywood's estate, the company, in 1885, sold out to a new corporation, composed of the surviving members of the old company, known as the Walter Heywood Chair Manufacturing Company, which company carries on the business at the present time, Lovell Williams being the president and George H. Spencer, superintendent and treasurer.

Soon after 10 o'clock on the night of April 6, 1888, fire broke out in the shop next to River Street, the eastern of the three main buildings, and for a time threatened to outrival the fire of 1870. The building was used as a paini and varnish- shop, and burnt fast and furiously ; and but for the heroic exertions of the entire Fitchburg Fire Department and the aid of a strong west wind, whicti blew the flames away from the other two huge buildings close behind it, the entire establishment would have been destroyed. As it was, the paint-shop was mainly destroyed, the loss being twenty-five thousand dollars. It was rebuilt of its former dimensions during the summer of 1888.

Fitchburg has but one establishment devoted to this industry exclusively. The business is conducted by Carmi M. Parker, under the name of Parker & Co. Mr. Parker began the manufacture of furniture in Merrimac, N. H., and in 1880 came to Fitchburg, where he has since carried on the same business in a large factory, formerly occupied by the American Rattan Company, in Newton Place.

The machinery is run by steam, and about forty hands are employed, most of whom are skilled workmen. House and office furniture is here manufactured from the various ornamental and durable woods, and is of excellent quality and finish. Mr. Parker has a .salesroom, under the name of the Fitchburg Furniture Company, on Main Street.

Mr. Parker has already built up a thriving business, and his factory has made a place for itfelf among the longer established manufacturing interests of the city.

Furniture is made to some extf nt by Mial Davis, at his North Street mills ; and the Charles A. Priest Lumber Company make the manufaciure of school furniture one of their specialties, at their factory on Rollstone Street.

The first individual, however, to use machinery in the manufacture of shoes in Fitchburg was Elijah M. Dickinson. He began to make them by hand in Marlboro' in 1842. Twelve years later he removed to Fitchburg, and continued the business in a shop at the corner of Main and Laurel Streets. He soon removed to a shop that he built on Oliver Street. Here he remained about six years, when, needing more room for his increasing business, he hired the factory in Newton's Lane, formerly the property of Captain Martin Newton, but then owned by Shepard F. Atherton.

Here he first began to use machinery, and soon built up a flourishing busine.-'s, and after remaining in this factory for some ten years, he moved into a building on Summer Street, owned by the Simonds Manufacturing Company.

During the last few years of his stay in Newton's lyane, Mr. Dickinson was in partnership with Henry D. Goodale, the firm-name being E. M. Dickinson & Co. Nathaniel Corning succeeded Mr. Goodale as partner about the time of the removal of the business to Summer Street. In 1876 Edgar F. Belding succeeded Mr. Corning, the firm-name remaining E. M. Dickinson & Co. This |)artnership continued some eight years, during which the firm, in 1881, erected the present substantial brick factory on the corner of Main and North Streets. The firm of E. M. Dickinson & Co., as at present constituted, consists of Mr. Dickinson and his son, Charles P. Dickinson, who has been associated with his father since about 1878.

The firm manufactures a fine grade of misses' and children's shoes, and employs about one hundred and twenty-five hands. The capacity of the factory is one thousand five hundred pairs per day, and the firm's trade is largely in the West and Northwest.

The Sole-Leather Tip Company, located in this building, is also owned and operated by this firm. Several million pairs of sole-leather tips are annually produced by this company, which are purchased by shoe manufacturers all over the United States and in Canada.

Dickinson, began to manufacture shoes on his own account in November, 1885. His business is carried on in the name of E. F. Belding & Co., and occupies the two upper floors of the Fitchburg Steam Engine Company's building. Children's and masses' shoes of a fine grade are here made at the rate of seven hundred pairs per day, and employment is furnished for some eighty hands.

Mr. Belding intends soon to erect a new factory which will double his present capacity and afford better facilities for carrying on his rapidly increasing business.

He was one of the first to make and introduce soleleather tips, and in 1884 the Fitchburg Sole-Leather Tip Company was incorporated with a capital of thirty thousand dollars, Henry A. Willis being president and E. F. Belding, treasurer and manager. The company does an extensive business in this line, selling their sole-leather tips for children's, misses' and youths' shoes to many of the leading shoe manufacturers of this country. The company owns valuable patented machinery expressly designed for the manufacture of thesf tips.

The first paper-mill in town was built by Thomas French in 1804, and stood on the site now occupied by the Rollstone Machine Co.'s works on Water Street. Mr. French also built a dam across the stream at this point. It was the third dam and was constructed in 1804.

General Leonard Burbank was the owner of the mill, which went into operation in 1805 ; and as long as it remained standing it was known as. the Burbank Paper Mill, though it was afterward owned by Crocker & Gardner and still later by Alvah Crocker. For over twenty years it was the only paper-mill in town. Alvah Crocker was the founder of the paper-makiu ' industry here, though he did not build his first mill until 1826. This mill was erected in what was then a swamp, difficult of access, as there was at that time no road along the river. It occupied the site of Rodney Wallace's present middle mill. Mr. Crocker expended considerable money on this spot, the dam alone costing fifteen hundred dollars; and in addition to the natural disadvantages of the place, he had other great difficulties to contend with.

Soon after his mill was built it was badly damaged by a freshet, and before long, to keep up with the times, he had to change from hand-labor to machinery, involving an expense of some ten thousand dollars. He was owing several thousand dollars on his original investment in the dam and mill, and to cap the climax, the commission house in Boston that had taken his paper in exchange for rags, chemica's, etc., informed him that he was in debt to them some four thousand dollars, and refused him further credit. With his characteristic indomitable pluck, Mr. Crocker worked day and night, opened separate accounts with his paper customers and exerted himself to the utmost to pay his debts, both principal and interest. The success of his arduous toil is well known.

Mr. Crocker was a true business man in every sense of the word - honest, clear-headed and possessed of great foresight. The majority of so-called business men do not look beyond their own particular line of business, and the advancement of their own interests.

Fitchburg has been blessed in the past, and is blessed at the present time, with some men who have broader views - who see that whatever advances the public good will be sure, sooner or later, to help them also. Among such the name of Alvah Crocker stands out prominently, and will be long remembered.

As an instance of his way of doing, the follojving is worthy of preservation. In 1834 the town of Fitchburg employed Mr. Crocker to secure a road along the Nashua River to the Westminster line. The landholders on the route of the proposed road refused to part with their land on terms which Mr. Crocker considered just and favorable to the interests of the town. He therefore bought the whole strip of land along the river to the Westminster line himself, and gave to the town what was needed for the Westminster river road. He did this at considerable personal expense, both of money and time, but it proved to be the basis of his financial success, for since then most of the paper-mills of Crocker, Burbank & Co., have been built on this land.

In 1851 Gardner S. Burbank came to Fitchburg, and went into partnership with Mr. Crocker, thus founding the well-known firm of Crocker, Burbank & Co, Charles T. Crocker was admitted to the firm in 1855, and George F. Fay and Samuel E. Crocker in 1863. Mr. Burbank retired from the firm in 1866, and in 1874 Alvah Crocker died. The business was carried on by the surviving members, under the same firm-name, until about 1879, when two new members were admitted - George H. Crocker, son of Samuel E. Crocker, and Alvah Crocker, son of Charles T. Crocker.

During the first twenty years of its existence this firm acquired the control of a number of large papermills, of which the following, taken from Mr. Eben Bailey's sketch of Fitchburg in the " History of Worcester County," published in 1879, is a brief history:

The Snow Mill, or Upper Mill, was built in 1839 by Samuel S. Crocker. Benjamin Snow, Jr., bought it in 1847, and Benjamin Snow, Jr., and Samuel Whitney sold it in 1802 to Crocker, Burbank & Co. The Cascade Mill was built about 1847. It was owned in that year by Samuel A, 'Wheeler, George Blown and Joel Davis. It was afterward bought by Franklin Wyman, E. B. Tileston and Jonathan Ware, who sold It to Crocker, Burbank & Co. in 1863, The Upton Mill, on the road to William Woodbury's, was Irailt in 1851 liy Edwin Upton and Alvah Crocker, and came into the possession of Crocker, Burbank & Co. in lf69. Tho Lj-on Mill was built in 1S53 by M. G. & B. K. Lyon, and bought of Moses G. Lyon by Crocker, Burbank & Co. inl8G9. The Hanna Mill was built by George and .Toseph Brown about 185'2. It was afterward owned by Samuel Hanna, who bought it in IHoli and sold it in 180(1 to Crocker, Burbank & Co. The Whitney 31ill, in Rockville, was built by Whitney & Bogart in 1847. It was afterward owned by Crocker, Burbank & Co., then by Samuel Whitney and later by William Baldwin, .Jr., who Bold it in 1SG8 to Crocker, Burbank & Co. The Stone Mill, below the Snow and Cascade Mills, was built in 1.S54. Onehalf of it was owned for some time by Samuel A.Wheeler and Joel Ames, and the other half by Alvuh Crocker. Crocker, Burbank & Co. came into possession of one half in 1864, and Alvah Crocker sold the remaining half to Crocker, Burbank & Co. in 1871.

The Snow Mill was destroyed by lire, October 15, 1884, the lo.ss being thirty-five thousand dollars. All the other mills are in operation at the present lime, and produce about thirty tons of book, card and newspaper every twenty-four hours.

As is seen by the above list of mills belonging to this firm, there were other persons here engaged in the manufacture of paper prior to 1860. Prominent among them was the firm of Jesse Lyon & Sons. One of their mills came into the possession of Crocker, Burbank & Co., and the other became the basis of the Fitchburg Paper Company.

December 31, 18G4, Rodney Wallace, Benjamin Snow, Jr., and Stephen Shepley bought this papermill, and the Kimball scythe-shop near bx, and began the. manufacture of paper under the firm-name of the Fitchburg Paper Comjiany. Stephen E. Denton was soon after admitted to the firm and took charge of the business at the mill.

In July, 1865, Mr. Shepley sold his interest to Messrs. Wallace and Snow. Mr. Denton died in June, 1866. January 7, 1869, Mr. Wallace bought Mr. Snow's interest, and January 23d of the same year purchased the interest of Mr. Denton's estate of Mrs. Denton. Since then Mr. Wallace has been sole proprietor of the Fitchburg Paper Company.

He soon made improvements in his mill whereby its product was incre-tsed from one ton of paper per day to two tons. In 1876 he built a substantial stone dam, and two years later erected a new brick mill just below the old one, thereby increasing the product to about six tons of paper per day.

In 1887 he built another large brick mill, near the junction of Phillips' Brook with the Nashua, and the present capacity of the three mills is over twenty tons of hanging, card, coloring and lithographing paperper day.

Quite a village has sprung up around the tsvo older mills. Just across the river are the tracks of Ihe Fitchburg Railroad, and Mr. Wallace has a freight station of his own, where all the raw material is received and the finished product shipped.

The office of the Fitchburg Paper Company is in the Fitchburg Savings Bank block. Mr. Wallace's two sons, Herbert I. and George R. Wallace, are actively associated with him, as is also his brother, William E. Wallace, in the management of the extensive business and attending to the office duties.

The mill of the George W. Wheelwright Paper Company, on Fourth Street, was built in 1864, by George W. Wheelwright & Son, and was for some years known as the Rollstone paper-mill.

The present company was incorporated in 1880 with a capita! of one hundred thousand dollars, and manufactures news, card, book and staining paper. The capacity of the mill is about five tons per day.

The mill of the Falulah Paper Company is located on Scythe-shop road. South Fitchburg. The company consists of Seth L. and Albert N. Lowe. The mill occupies the site of the Richardson scythe-shop, and was built by the Snow Paper Company in 1884. It came into the possession of the Falulah Paper Company in October, 1886.

Iron Industeies. - By far the greater portion of the manu acturing C()mpanies here are engaged in the production of machinery. Though not begun as early as some of the other industries, it has taken deep root here ; and within the last forty years has developed wonderfully.

It will be impossible to enter fully into the history and details of our many machine-shops, steam-engine manufactories, foundries, etc., in this limited sketch, but an attempt will be made in the following pages to give some idea of our great interests in this line of manufacturing.

The founders of the iron business here were two brothers, John and Salmon W. Putnam, who, in 1838 removed their business from Ashburnham to Fitchburg. The firm of J. & S. W. Putnam hired a room, twenty by thirty feet, in the old Burbank Paper Mill, then owned by Alvah Crocker, and began, in a small way, an industry that has since then become so large and important as to give to Fitchburg the name of the " Machine City."

Their business at first was mainly repairing, and furnished employment for themselves only; soon they began to make new machinery for various mills, and were obliged to hire an apprentice, and soon after a journeyman was engaged. The firm then began to make gear-cutting machines after the model of one devised by John Putnam; and this machine is now, nearly a half century later, made by the Putnam Machine Company with very slight change in its mechanism.

Their business rapidly increased, requiring, from time to time, an addition to their floor-room ; and, in 1845, Alvah Crocker erected for them a brick building, one hundred and fifty by forty feet, they occupy-

On the night of December 7, 18-19, this building, as has been before stated, was entirely destroyed by fire, and the machine and chair-malving industries of Fitchburg came very near being snuffed out together in their infancy. The firm of J. & S. W. Putnam lost twelve thousand dollars, the accumulation of over ten years of hard work, and had no insurance ; but two weeks after the fire the brothers were at work again under a temporary covering of boards.

They paid all their debts and the next year the firm made, as it were, a new start in a building erected for them by Mr. Crocker, and now occupied by the Union Machine Company.

The Putnam Machine Company. - In 1854 the firm of J. & S. W. Putnam & Co. was increased by the addition of four new members - Messrs. Charles Burleigh, John Q. and Sylvester C. Wright and Danvers A. Tenney ; and, on August 10, 1854, these eight individuals were organized as a partnership under the name of the Putnam Machine Company. Four years later, in 1858, the company was incorporated as a stock company, with a capital of forty thousand dollars. In 1866 the capital was increased to one hundred and sixty thousand dollars.

In 1865 the company began the manufacture of steam-engines. In that year Charles H. Brown brought out a new engine, which was patented by himself and Charles Barleigh. The patent was assigned to the Putnam Machine Company, and the engine, known .as the " Putnam" Engine, has since been, and still continues to be, manufactured by the company.

In 1866 it became evident that larger accommodations were imperatively needed. Accordingly, the company purchased about twenty-six acres of land, including the Atherton estate in Newton's Lane, and in July, 1866, began the erection of the extensive shops, foundries, etc., now occupied by the company. These buildings were completed during the next two years at a cost of over $200,000, and were admirably arranged for carrying on the company's large business.

The main machine-shop, extending along Putnam Street from Main Street nearly to the tracks of the Fitchburg Railroad is a one-story ]brick building, 625 feet long and 48 feet wide. In it are seven diflerent departments, each being devoted to the manufiicture of special kinds of machinery, but there is no partition throughout its entire length. Along the centre of the shop are thirty-five iron columns which support the main line of shafting, which runs all the machinery in the building. Power is furnished by three large cut-off steam-engines of the company's own manufacture.

shop is the oflice of the company, a handsome brick building of two stories, with a Mansard roof. From the east side of the main shop project five wings, twelve feet square, used as offices for the foremeo of the various departments ; and from the west side extend seven wings, six being 52 by 36 feet, and the seventh 52 by 44 feet, used for the setting up of the machinery made in the seven corresponding departments.

This extensive building is lighted by about three hundred large windows, and there are five hundred gas-burners ready for use when needed. It is heated by over six miles of steam-pipe, and has a floor-room of 37,000 square feet. In a word, the works, which were built from plans designed by 8. W. Putnam, could not have been more conveniently or effectively arranged.

Along the west side of the main shop is a roadway with which each of the seven wings communicates by means of large folding doors, so that heavy machines can easily be loaded upon trucks by powerful cranes.

West of the roadway are located the iron and brass foundries, pattern-shops, store-houses, &c. At the extreme southern end of the main shop is the blacksmith-shop, with its forges and heavy hammers.

At the time of the incorporation of the company Salmon W. Putnam was chosen president and manager, and continued to conduct the large business with great sagacity and ability for nearly fourteen years. His death occurred February 23, 1872, and was deeply felt by the community as well as the company. The senior member, John Putnam, though not active in the management of the affairs of the company, was for many years a director and one of the largest stockholders. He was daily at his place, where he was a most energetic and skillful workman up to the time he retired from business, in 1886. Many improvements in the machinery made by the company are due to his ingenuity and skill. He died July 31, 1888, aged nearly seventy-eight years, and his funeral was attended by the oflicers and employes of the Putnam Machine Company, whose works were closed during the day.

On the death of S. W. Putnam, in 1872, the presidency of the company was offered to John Putnam, but he preferred to continue his work in the field where he had for so many years searched for mechanical secrets rather than to accept an oflice, the duties of which would involve such a radical change, and he used his influence to have the presidential chair of the company given to Charles F. Putnam.

At the present time the management of the business is vested in S. W. Putnam's four sons,^Charles F., Henry O., Salmon W. and George E. Putnam, - and the works are in full and prosperous operation.

Besides steam-engines a very great variety of machines is made by the company, including lathes, drills, bolt-cutters, gear-cutters, planers, car-wheel borers, shafting, water-wheels, wheel-presses, hangers,

To show how far their products go, it may be here stated that the first two machine-shops built in China were entirely furnished with machinery made by the Putnam Machine Company. And it is also worth noting that it was the fortune of this company to make the rock-drills, air-compressors and other machinery which rendered possible the completion of that vast engineering feat, the Hoosac Tunnel.

The Putnam Tool Company, with works on Walnut Street, was established in 1882 with Salmon W.Putnam, president, and George E. Putnam, treasurer, and manufactured railroad and machine tools. March 18, 1886, it was consolidated with the Putnam Machine Company.

At the present time the four Putnam brothers and their mother hold a controlling interest in the company, which is officered as follows : President, Charles F. Putnam ; Vice-president, Salmon W. Putnam ; Treasurer, Henry O. Putnam ; General Superintendent, George E. Putnam.

Each of the seven special departments of manufacture has an able man at its head as foreman. Over five hundred hands are employed, many of whom are skilled workmen who have grown old in the employ of the company.

Tlie Fitchburg Steam- Engine Company. - The business of this company was founded in 1871, under the name of the Haskins Machine Company, and is carried on in a substantial brick building on Water Street, occupying the site of the Heywood chair-shop, burnt in 1870.

John F. Haskins organized this company and went into the building as soon as it was completed, and on April 4, 1872, he gave a grand ball in honor of the dedication of the building to the uses of the Haskins Machine Company. Mr. Haskins was full of fun and frolic and, though now a resident in lands across the ocean, is well remembered by many Fitchburg people.

In 1875 Hale W. Page, Frederick Fosdick and Charles Fosdick purchased the entire concern, together with its good-will, and changed its name to the Fitchburg Steam Engine Company. Mr. Page was president of the company until his death. May 17, 1887, when Frederick Fosdick was chosen to the position. The officers of the company at the present time are : President, Frederick Fosdick ; Superintendent, Charles Fosdick ; Treasurer, William E. Sheldon ; Secretary, William J. Clifford.

This company employs about sixty hands, most of whom are skilled workmen, and manufactures horizontal and vertical automatic cut-ofl' engines, electric light engines, boilers, shafting, hangers, pulleys, etc.

A specialty has been made of the manufacture of the " Fitchburg " steam-engine, the great merits of which have been everywhere acknowledged.

The products of this company, and particularly their engines, have a wide reputation, and are in use all over the United States. A large foreign trade has also been established, which extends to Central and South America and most of the European countries.

Careful personal supervision of, and strict attention to, the details of the business, on the part of the Fosdicks, have brought to the company its present well-deserved prosperity.

Both brothers are active and prominent in public aft'airs, Frederick Fosdick having served as mayor of Fitchburg in 1886-87, and Charles Fosdick as president of the Common Council in 1886.

C. H. Brotvn <t Co. - The founder of this wellknown steam-engine manufacturing firm came to Fitchburg in 1849 ; and to him may be ascribed the establishment of the steam-engine business of Fitchburg, which now forms so great a factor in the manufacturing interests of the city.

Soon after coming here Mr. Brown bought onethird interest in the firm of J. & S. W. Putnam ; and before long he introduced a new feature into the firm's business,--the making of steam-engines, and took entire charge of this department.

In 1855, as before stated, he brought out the " Putnam " engine, which was built under his supervision until 1859, when poor health compelled him to give up active work for a time ; and he soon sold his interest in the Putnam Machine Company.

After four years' rest Mr. Brown again began business, in a small way, in Newton's Lane. It soon began to increase, and in 1866 he hired one-half of the second story of the building occupied by the Fitchburg Machine Works, on Main Street (at that time called Summer Street).

In 1871 he invented a new engine, since well-known as the " Brown " Automatic Cut-off Steam-Eugine. Its great merits and points of superiority over other engines were soon appreciated by the trade, and it was not long before it became evident that better facilities and larger accommodations were necessary in order to supply the demand.

At this time, and for some years previous, the business was carried on under the firm-name of C. H. Brown & Co., Elbridge G. Stanley being Mr. Brown's partner.

In 1873 the firm purchased a large lot at the corner of Main and Willow Streets, and erected thereon a commodious and substantial brick building, which has been occupied by C. H. Brown & Co. since 1875.

exclusively, employing some sixty hands and turning out the engines at the rate of four per month, on the average ; and, as soon as built, these engines are sent to purchasers in various parts of the United States and Canada, and also in many foreign countries.

The Fitchburg Machine Works. - The foundation of the business of this company was laid in 1864, by James L. Chapman, who, in the spring of that year, came to Fitchburg and formed a partnership with Sylvester C. Wright, for the manufacture of machinists' tools. This was in " war times," and machinery was very scarce and hard to obtain. The firm's outfit was quite meagre, consisting of an old chain lathe from the " Stone Mill ; " an old chain planer from a blacksmith and machine-shop in Townsend ; a secondhand Gould shaping-machine bought in Newark, N. J. ; an old pattern-maker's lathe and second-hand engine lathe from a shop in Newton's Lane.

This was all the firm could secure, and, with this collection of machines, they started business in the Atherton building, and began to make their own patterns.

In about a year the firm removed to the corner of Main and Laurel Streets, where I. C. Wright & Co.'s hardware store now is. Here, with more room and improved machinery, they prospered. Hale W. Page and Artemas R. Smith were admitted as partners, and thirty hands were employed.

February 2, 1866, the firm moved to the present location of the Fitchburg Machine Works. The building belonged to Sylvanus Sawyer, and storfd on what was then called Summer Street. At first the firm hired only the easterly half of the building, but soon bought out Mr. Sawyer and occupied all the building, excepting the portion leased to Charles H. Brown.

January 1, 1867, a stock company was organized, including the four members of the firm and Eugene T. and Lowell M. Miles, Augustus Whitman and Jared Whitman, Jr., under the name of the Fitchburg Machine Company, and for ten years the business was carried on by this company.

In 1877 this company was dissolved and a new one organized under the laws of general copartnership. The name adopted for the new company was the Fitchburg Machine Works, and its members were Sylvester C. Wright (superintendent), James L. Chapman (treasurer), Walter Heywood, Harrington Sibley and Joseph S. Wilson.

On the death of Mr. Wright, in December, 1880, Mr. Cliapman became superintendent as well as treasurer, and since then has had entire charge of the business.

This company manufactures all kinds of metalworking machinery, including lathes of different varieties and sizes, iron planers, milling machines, shaping machines, drill presses, etc., and employs some fifty hands.

Their business was started in 1864 in the scythe shop of Abel Simonds at West Fitchburg. Mr. Simonds, who, since 1832, had manufactured scythes and edge tools in West Fitchburg, gave up business in 1864 and leased the shop to the new firm. His long experience had made him well versed in the working of steel, and he seems to have handed his knowledge down to his sons.

The firm started under the name of Simonds Brothers & Co., and was composed of George F. and Alvin A. Simonds and Benjamin Snow, Jr. Machine knives, mower and reaper sections, etc., were manufactured and a prosperous business soon established.

In 1868 the Simonds Manufacturing Company was incorporated with a capital of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and the works were moved from West Fitchburg to their present location. Here the same line of manufacture was continued until 1878, when, on account of a consolidation of the mowingmachine knife and reaper section interests by Western manufacturers, the company sold that department of their business, and began the manufacture of saws by an entirely new method of tempering and straightening. They entered the field in competition with many old established saw manufacturing firms, but the superiority of their product, in every respect, soon enabled them to build up a large business, and that, too, at prices in advance of all competitors.

The ofiicers of the company are: George F. Simonds, president; Daniel Simonds, vice-president and treasurer; Edwin F. Simonds, manager of the Chicago works; John Simonds, manager of the San Francisco works.

The inventive genius of George F. Simonds has brought into the possession of this company many valuable patents covering their processes of manufacture and radical improvements in the adjustment of circular saws, etc.

A speciality is made of the "Simonds" saw,covered by many patents, a circular-saw unequaled in uniformity and quality of temper, and in its adjustment - facts abundantly attested by the wide sale and universally acknowledged superiority of this saw. Various other kinds of saws are also made by the company, such as crescent-ground, cross-cut saws, straightground gang, mill, mulay and drag-saws, band-saws, etc.

The "Simonds" knives, planer knives, etc., and every descrijition of pattern knives are also manufactured by this company and have a very large sale.

The Simonds Rolling-Machine Company. - On Willow Street, close by the Simonds Manufacturing Company's buildings, are the works of the Simonds Rolling-Machine Company.

This is a comparatively new enterprise, and is wholly due to the inventive genius of George F. Simonds, who, early in 1884, had his attention drawn, by an incident, to the possibility of moulding metal articles of circular shape to any given form, while rotating them on their axes between two surfaces moving in opposite directions. Experiments were made with putty balls between wooden surfaces, and so satisfactory were the results that a substantial machine was constructed, which successfully rolled various small articles, such as spheres, small projectiles, machine handles, etc.

The result of this was the incorporation, in November, 1886, of the Simonds Rolling-Machine Company, of Boston, with a capital of fnur hundred thousand dollar^, and George F. Simonds president. This company has purchased all the patents granted to Mr. Simonds in the United States and Canada, relating to the forging of metal articles by rolling.

Patents on this new process of metal-working have been secured throughout the principal countries of the world ; and, early in 1886, the Simonds Steel and Iron Forging Company, Limited, with a capital of £150,000 was organized in London, England, by some of the leading British manufacturers.

The works of the Simonds Rolling-Machine Company, located in this city, are for experimental purposes mainly, and about sixty skilled workmen are engaged in te-iting and developing the capabilities of the machine, which seem to be without limit. The products are turned out with marvellous rapidity, and in accuracy and quality are far superior to those made by any other kuown process.

As an evidence of the importance of this mechanical discovery, it may be stated that at the last annual meeting of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, held in Boston in February, 1888, the members of the Institute came in a body to Fitchburg on February 23d, expressly to witness the work of this machine.

Companies are now being organized to manufacture under these patents in all the large cities of the United States and Canada, and without doubt this process will soon supersede all others in the manufacture of many articles.

The works here are as yet only in embryo, so to speak, and very little manufacturing of products for sale is done. There are, however, a few articles made for sale to a limited extent, such as various kinds of axles, projectiles, machine tool-handles, spindles, etc.

with a capital of $60,000, and at first manufactured machinists' tools. In 1870 the manufacture of hosecarriages and steam fire-engines of the " Jucket " pattern wa^ begun, and continued several years.

In 1876 the company transferred its stock, etc., to Crocker, Burbank & Co., who put in new machinery, and continued to build paper-machinery under the old name of the company.

In 1887 a stock company was formed, with these officers: John Burney, president; Samuel E.Crocker, treasurer; Emmons Crocker, secretary. This company also retained the name of Union Machine Co., and put in new machinery. It ranks to-day among the best establishments of this kind in the country.

Special attention is paid to the manufacture of large Fourdrinier and cylinder paper-machines, and the company also makes rag and Jordan engines, screen-plates, and all other kinds of paper-mill machinery.

Francis Sheldon & Co. carry on business as millwrights, and also manufacture rag-engines, cylinderwas^hers. rag-cutters and dusters for paper-mills.

Ezekiel Davis, who owns the shop formerly operated by Alfred White, in Rockville, makes papef-mill bars and bed-plates and rag-cutter-knives, besides all varieties of machine-knives.

The Rolhtone Machine Company. - This company, whose works are near those of the Union Machine Company, was also incorporated in 1867 and has always made wood-working machinery, and has built up quite a large business. Machines made by this company are in operation in almost all sections of the United States.

In addition to wood-working machinery, this company manufactures the following: The C. F. Smith system of ice-making and refrigerating machines; the E. N. Gates system of hot water heating for dwellings, and the Hodges' Universal Angle Union, for plumbers' use, in connection with steam, water or gas-works.

A. D. Way mouth &Co., who, for the last forty years have made the well-known Waymouth Lathe. Their shop is in Newton Place, and they are the sole manufacturers of A. D. Waymouth's new patent self-adjusting and self-centreing lathe for wood-turning.

Charles W. Wilder makes Wilder's Patent Turning Lathe, which was invented by him, and does all kinds of wood-turning at his shop on Water Street.

C. H. Cowdrey secured improvements on the original Waymouth lathe and makes lathes of his pattern, and also shafting, pulleys, etc., at his shop on Main Street.

Franklin S. Lovell has machine works on Boutelle Street, where he manufactures saw-mill, grist-mill and wood-working machinery. He also makes C. M. Flint's patent saw-mills, as well as gingham machinery, dynamos and various kinds of electrical machinery.

The Burleigh Rock-Drill Company. - Charles Burleigh, the inventor of the rock-drill bearing his name, came to Fitchburg in 1850, and soon bjecame a member of the firm of J. & S. W. Putnam. Later he was prominently identified with the Putnam Machine Company. His death occurred May 28, 1883.

When work was begun on the Hoosac Tunnel all the rock-tunnelling had to be done by hand. It was slow work, and the danger arising from lack of ventilation increased as the work advanced. About 1865 the late Alvah Crocker, it is said, applied to Mr. Burleigh to devise some description of power-drill to complete the tunnel, which at that time it seemed almost an impossibility to finish with the methods then employed.

The result of Mr. Burleigh's study of this difficult problem was the invention by him of the Burleigh Rock-Drill and Patent Air-Compressor, a combination which was cajiable, not only of drilling holes from three-fourths of an inch to five inches in diameter, to a depth of thirty feet, at a rate of from two to ten inches per minute, according to the nature of the rock, but also of thoroughly ventilating the tunnel at the same time, thus obviating this great and fatal source of danger.

These machines have produced a complete revolu tion in the work of rock-tunnelling. By means of them the completion of the Hoosac Tunnel was rendered possible, and since then large use has been made of them, both in this country and abroad. Among the many great engineering feats, where the use of these machines was indispensable, may be mentioned the Sutro Tunnel, Hell Gate, Brooklyn Bridge and several of the great tunnels in Europe.

In 1867 the Burleigh Rock-Drill Company was incorporated, with a capital of $150,000, to make and sell these machines, of which the world is the market.

Boiler Manufacturing. - David M. Dillon, of Fitchburg, was the first person to make boilers of steel, and though laughed at by other boiler-makers for trying such an experiment, the success he has made of it and the wide and constantly increasing sale of his boilers have caused a smile to settle on the genial countenance of Mr. Dillon, showing the truth of the adage, '' He who laughs last, laughs best.''

He started his business in 1870, in a shop at the corner of Main and West Streets. The people in that previously quiet neighborhood strenuously objected to the noise produced. So, after remaining there two years, Mr. Dillon, finding that he needed more room, and being naturally of an accommodating disposition, moved his works to a shop he had built on Crocker Street, where, for the past sixteen years, he has carried on his rapidly increasing business.

Of the several other varieties of iron industries not yet mentioned, we have space to speak of none in detail, except the foundries. A few other iron and steel products made here, that may be mentioned briefly, are files, manufactured by Hon. Eli Culiey, who has carried on this business here since 1868 ; agricultural implements, by R. A. Leonard & Son ; steel horse-collars and boiler-makers' tools, by Alexander Thompson ; pneumatic and hydraulic machines, by the Fitchburg Manufacturing Company ; water-motors, by C. A. Sawyer & Co. ; electric machinery, by Irving W. Colburn ; small tools, models, etc., by C. S. Tolman, H. P. Tyrrell and the Fitchburg Novelty Works ; brass finishing, by A. W. Hubbard ; and keys, etc., by S. W. Galpin. Lack of space forbids further enumeration.

Several residents of Fitchburg, not yet mentioned, have, by their inventions, done much toward the building up of the machinery business here. Among them are the following : Louis D. Bartlett, inventor and perfector of the Bartlett Automatic Cut-off Steam-engine ; Sylvanus Sawyer, inventor of machinery to split rattan into chair cane, and also known for his improvements in rifled cannon projectiles and in the manufacture of jewelers' lathes, etc. ; Horace F. Hodges, inventor of Hodges' Universal Angle Union and other ingenious devices ; and George E. Bowers, inventor of Bowers' dynamos.

Foundries. - Besides those connected with the Putnam Machine Company, there are at present in town four foundries, - three iron and one brass.

The one longest established is now operated by the firm of Heywood, Wilson & Co. It is located at the lower end of Main Street, and has always been known as

The Fitchburg Foundry. - This was established by Asher Green about fifty years ago, and for nearly thirty years was located on Water Street, opposite the site now occupied by the Union Machine Company.

Mr. Green was alone at first but, later, David Ware was in company with him, and, for a time, his son, J. S. Green, was associated with them.

In 1860 Mr. Green retired and sold his interest to Waldo Wallace, and the business was carried on under the name of Wallace, Ware »& Co., until 1864, when Mr. Wallace became sole [iroprietor.

In 1866 George Wheelock and Joseph S. Wilson bought half the interest, and, upon Mr. Wallace's death the same year, Walter Heywood and Harrington Sibley purchased the other half. The business was carried on for about two years under the name of Heywood, Wheelock & Co.

In 1868 the present foundry buildings were erected and the business removed thereto ; and, about the same time, Mr. Wheelock sold his interest to HaleW. Page, and the name of the firm became Heywood, Wilson & Co. Mr. Page left the firm in 1875, and Mr. Heywood died in 1880, and at the present time the business is carried on by Messrs. Wilson & Sibley, who have retained the firm-name of Heywood, AVilson & Co.

The Rolhtone Foundry. - It was established nearly forty years ago by the firm of Davis, Page & Co., consisting of Joel Davis, Hale W. Page and Artemas R. Smith. After a time, Mr. Davis retired, and the firm became Smith, Page & Co., and, still later. Smith & Page.

On July 21, 1870, the fire which destroyed the Heywood chair-shop also entirely ruined this foundry, causing a loss of twelve thousand dollars. A large brick building was immediately erected on the same site, and the business wa« carried on by Smith & Page until Mr. Smith's death, in March, 1875.

In 1875 Lyman H. Goodnow removed from Worcester to Fitchburg and became an equal partner with Mr. Page in the business ; and, in 1877, Mr. Goodnow became, and has since continued to be, the sole proprietor of the Rollstone Foundry. Mr. Goodnow makes a specialty of the manufacture of large flywheels and iron fronts for buildings.

On the night of October 17, 1885, this foundry was again badly damaged by fire, the loss amounting to over fifteen thousand dollars; but the building was soon repaired, and the foundry in operation again.

M. J. Perault's Iron Foundry is on Water Street. The business was started in 1883, by Marshall & Farnsworth, for the manufacture of fine castings.

In July, 1884, Mr. Perault, who had been foreman of the Fitchburg Foundry since 1871, bought the establishment, and has since successfully carried it on.

Brass foundries have been in existence here for over thirty years. In 1858 Messrs. Levi Stevens and George Wheelock had a brass foundry near the Rollstone Foundry. A year or two later the firm dissolved, Mr. Wheelock taking charge of the old foundry and Mr. Stevens starting a new one at the corner of Main and Laurel Streets.

Mr. Hardy was formerly with Mr. Stevens, and later, in company with George Wheelock, succeeded Mr. Stevens in operating the Laurel Street foundry, under the firm-name of W. A. Hardy & Co.

About 1872 Mr. Hardy became sole proprietor, and removed the business to his present location, where he has since successfully conducted it. He makes a specialty of machinery castings, and is the inventor of Hardy's Patent Car Axle Boxes, and enjoys a considerable share of railroad patronage.

A number of manufacturing establishments have been carried on in Fitchburg, which, for various reasons, have been discontinued, or have removed from town. A few of them have been of importance in the business interests of the place in years past, and are worthy of mention in some detail ; and as many of them were engaged in the manufacture of iron and steel products, they come most appropriately under the pre.'^eut head of ir.)n industries.

It was begun in 1796 by John & Joseph Farwell, who had a scythe-shop near the present corner of River and Main Streets. Here they made scythes for a quarter of a century, or so, and the Farwell scythe acquired a considerable reputation.

About 1830 John T. Farwell and Alpheus Kimball started a scythe-factory just below A. Crocker & Co.'s paper-mill, and began to make scythes of the Farwell pattern. Two years later Mr. Farwell left the firm, and the business was carried on by Mr. Kimball, who later took his three sons, Alpheus P., William and John W. Kimball, into partnership, under the firm-name of A. Kimball & Sons. After the death of Alpheus Kimball, about 1860, the business was conducted, from 1860 to 1862, by W. & J. W. Kimball, and after 1862 by William Kimball alone, who sold the shop in December, 1864, to the Fitchburg Paper Company.

Soon after Mr. Farwell dissolved his partnership with Mr. Kimball, he went into company, in 1832, with Abel Simouds, the firm-name being J. T. Farwell & Co.

This firm built a new scythe-factory farther up the river, above the junction of Phillips' Brook and the Nashua. Mr. Farwell retained the right to the Farwell pattern, and the firm manufactured these wellknown scythes for about twenty years. During a portion of this time Leonard C. Sanborn was also a partner.

After Mr. Farwell retired Mr. Simonds continued to make scythes and edge-tools, his son, Joseph F. Simonds, being in company with him part of the time, until 1864, when he gave up business and rented the shop to the new firm of Simonds Bros. & Co.

About 1846 Alpheus P. Kimball, in company with John L. Chandler, built a scythe-factory in South Fitchburg, on what is now Scythe-shop road, on the site of the present mill of the Falulah Paper Company. Here scythe-making was carried on by the firm of A. P. Kimball & Co. for a few years. Mr. Kimball soon sold his interest, and for a time the shop was run by Mr. Chandler, in connection with other partners, under the firm-name of J. L. Chandler &Co.

It is evident from the above brief account that scythe-making was at one time an important industry here. Official stati-tics of 1855 show that during that year there were made in Fitchburg seven thousand nine hundred and twenty-five dozen scythes, valued at sixty-two thousand and seventy-two dollars, and that fifty-eight hands were employed in the three scythe fflctories.

The Whitman & Miles Manufacturing Company. - Among the earliest manufacturers of edgetools in Fitchburg were Albert G. Page and Alfred White. The firm of Page & White began business in Rockville, where the Berwick Mills now stand, about fifty years ago, and was the origin of the above-named company, one of our most valuable manufacturing establishments, now, unfortunately, not numbered among the industrial firms of Fitchburg.

Page & White made edge-tools of various kinds. After a few years Mr. White retired from the firm, and began business for himself in a large sho)> in Rockville, farther up on Phillips' Brook, and built up a prosperous business in the manufacture of engine bars and plates, rag-cutter and trimming-knives, shingle-knives, etc. For a time he was in company with Masa Willis, but during a considerable period was alone. He died September 13, 1885, and the business established by him is now carried on by Ezekiel Davis, formerly of the Whitman & Miles Manufacturing Company.

After Mr. White's withdrawal from the firm, Mr. Page formed a partnership with Messrs. F. Stiles and William E. Taylor, under the firm-name of A. G. Page & Company, and continued business at the same shop.

About 1847 this firm was dissolved, and Edward Aldrich became Mr. Page's partner, and the business was carried on by Page & Aldrich until 1852, when a new firm, Page, Whitman & Company, was established, still retaining the old shop. This firm was composed of Mr. Page, Augustus Whitman and Calvin Foster, and made a specialty of the manufacture of socket chisels, planing and paper-knives.

In 1856 this firm was dissolved, and Mr. Whitman and Eugene T. Miles took charge of the establishment under the firm-name of Whitman & Miles. Business prospered, and in 1864 the Whitman & Miles Manufacturing Company was incorporated, and the works removed to new and commodious shops in West Fitchburg. A very large and rapidly increasing

The company had a branch establishment in Akron, Ohio, and in 1876 the Whitman & Barnes Manufacturing Company was formed, and the Whitman & Miles Manufacturing Company consolidated with it. The works were removed to Akron, and Fitchburg thus lost a valuable and prosperous corporation.

The American Rattan Co. - This comjiany was incorporated in 1852, with a capital of $46,800, and manufactured chair-cane from rattan. Previously, this kind of work had been done by hand, but this company put in the machines which had recently been invented by Sylvanus Sawyer and his brother, Addison, for splitting cane.

For many years the American Rattan Company was one of the most prosperous and profitable manufacturing concerns in the United States. The works were in Newton's Lane.

After twenty-three years of prf sperity, due largely to the able management of Moses Wood, who was president of the company from its incorporation till his death, in 1869, and also its treasurer from 1855, the company was consolidated in 1875 with the Wakefield Rattan Company, of Boston, and in April, 1878, the business was entirely removed from Fitchburg.

Some idea of the importance of this company may be obtained by stating the value of its products in difierent years and noting the remarkable increase.

The loss of this company, and of the Whitman & Miles Manufacturing Company - two of our heaviest and most prosperous concerns - coming, one so soon after the other, increased, in no small degree, the business depression then existing in Fitchburg.

The Buckeye Mowing-Machine Company. - This company began business here about 1864, occupying two large wooden buildings in West Fitchburg, near the junction of Depot road and Westminster river road. In connection with it was the Bay State Horse- Rake Company. Mowing-machines, horse-rakes and laundry-machines were here manufactured and a prosperous business was built up.

In 1865 oflicial statistics show that eight hundred and fifty mowing-machines were made here during that year, valued at one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. The product was greater a few years later.

September 15, 1873, one of the large buildings occupied by this company was destroyed by fire and the other considerably damaged, the loss being fifteen thousand dollars. The works were rebuilt, and in 1876 were purchased by Richard A. Leonard, who continued the manufacture of mowing-machines and also made packing cases there until January 29, 1886, when both buildings were burnt. Soon afterward the mowing-machine business was removed to Worcester, Mr. Leonard continuing the making of pacliing cases and agricultural implements in a new factory opposite the site of the old shops.

Many other industries have been carried on here in the past that are now extinct in Fitchburg. A few of them may be mentioned, as follows : Tanneries were early established here, and the one operated by Caldwell & Sprague a half-century ago nearly, located near the old V. & M. R. R. engine-house, was quite an important concern. Bellows were made here to a considerable extent during the first half of the present century by various individuals, prominent among whom was Dea. Abel Thurston. Hats were also formerly made here. Parts of piano-fortes were made by Hale W. Page ; fan blowers, sewing-machines, etc., by C. P. Marshall ; vises by the New England Vise Co. ; hoop-machines by the American Hoop-Machine Co. Prior to the discovery of petroleum a large number of candles were made here by John P. Sabin. During the war cannon, cannon-balls and bomb-shells were made here to a considerable extent.

The Grain Bilsiness. - Grist and saw-mills were the first concerns in the manufacturing line started in Fitchburg. We have already spoken of the mill built by the Kimballs about 1750, where for many years the grain for miles around was ground.

From about 1800 to 1822 there was a grist-mill run in connection with the Parwell scythe shop, near the corner of the present Main and River Streets.

A little later Sheldon & Pillsbury's grist-mill was built, on the site now occupied by the Star Worsted Company's mill on West Street. In a few years this mill acquired considerable reputation for bolting flour in a superior manner, and grain was brought to it from places quite distant. It was equipped with two runs of stoues, a corn-cracker and flour-bolter, and in 1835, according to Mr. Torrey, the average amount of flour made at this mill was five barrels per day ; and Mr. Torrey was of the opinion that during the year 183G the production would be doubled.

The mill erected about 1836 by Captain Levi Pratt on River Street was, for a time, used by him for the manufacture of powder kegs, but for many years the site has been occupied as a flour and grain-mill. Several parties have carried on this industry there in years past, among them Franklin Mclntire and Ira Carleton and the Fitchburg Flour Company. In 1881 Charles P. Washburn purchased the property; and in 1883 Frederick F. Woodward bought one-half interest, since which time the mill has been successfully operated by the firm of Washburn & Woodward.

In 1884 a store-house, one hundred by thirty feet, was built to accommodate their increasing business. The firm possesses every fiiciiity for carrying on their large wholesale and retail trade in flour, grain, meal,

Let us now return to the Kimball saw and gristmill. On the site occupied by it was built, in 1826, the "Stone Mill," which, for over forty years, was operated as a cotton-mill. In 1868 Joseph Gushing bought the property, and since then the firm of J. Cusliing & Co. has carried on the flour and grain business there. Mr. Cushing's son. Milton M. Gushing, was in partnership with him, but died some years ago.

A very large business is done here, the mill having a grinding capacity of several thousand bushels of corn per day. A track, some six hundred feet long, connects the establishment with the main line of the Fitchburg Railroad. This track was built in 1871, and on September 2d, of that year, the completion of the "Joe Gushing Railroad," as it was called, was the occasion of quite a jollification.

In connection with his mill Mr. Gushing has several large store-houses, and, by a rather singular coincidence, he has, just across the stream, a sawmill and lumber-yard. So the first manufacturing industry in Fitchburg is, at the present time, exactly reproduced on the identical site, though on a vastly greater scale.

The LiTMBER Business. - As before noted, Fitchburg has had saw-mills located on the various streams and brooks within the limits of the town since the earliest period of its history ; and the lumber business has always been an important item in the industries of the place.

It would be useless to try to give, in detail, the history of this business; so we shall content ourselves with simply a brief mention of the more important concerns of this kind that have existed here in the recent past, or are in operation now.

Some twenty years ago the Fitchburg Lumber Company carried on quite an extensive business at their yards on Water Street. The company was incorporated in 1868, with a capital of $200,000, but was not able to go through the financial depression that came a few years later.

Alvah A. Beckwith operated au extensive lumber business, and sash and blind shop on Rollstone Street, over a score of years ago ; and after his death, December 17, 1868, the business was carried on by the Beckwith Lumber Company until 1878, when the properly was leased by Charles A. Priest, who subsequently purchased it.

Mr. Priest was formerly with the Fitchburg Lumber Company, and operated their yard on Water Street after the company gave up business, until he leased the property of the Beckwith Lumber Company. After purchasing it he greatly enlarged the buildings, and established a prosperous business. He died in September, 1887, since which time the concern has been carried on by the C. A. Priest Lumber Company. The plant is now quite exten- sive, and a large business is done in lumber and in the manufacture of doors, sash, blinds, stairs and all kinds of builders' finish. A specialty is made of the manufacture of school furniture.

For some years Lorenzo Barker had a lumber-yard and sash and blind factory on North Street. The property afterward came into the hands of Deacon Mial Davis, who greatly increased the facilities for bu.siness, and he now operates it a-i a steam mill, manufacturing doors, sash, blinds and all kinds of house finish. Mr. Davis also deals largely in lumber.

William A. Garno has a steam saw-mill on Lunenburg Street, where a considerable business is done in getting out lumber and making doors, blinds, etc.

Frederick A. Beckwith, son of A. A. Beckwith, has a lumber establishment in Newton Place, and does a large business iu building materials, house finish, etc.

Arthur F. Goodfellow has a genuine old-style saw-mill on Wanoosnac Brook, near the Old Turnpike road, where he turns out a large supply of boards.

Soap and Candle Manufacturing. - This industry dates back to an early period in the history of Fitchburg, for, prior to 1800, there was a soap shop on the site now occupied by Crocker Block, to which tradition says the name "Old Potash'' was applied.

At the present time there is but one soap manufactory in town, - that of Cowdin & Walker. Their business has been long established, having been begun by John P. Sabin over forty years ago. Mr. Sabin was for a time in company with Cahill Tolman and S. H. Evans in the " Old City." The firm carried on the grocery business, and also made soap and candles on a small scale.

Prior to the use of kerosene a large amount of candles was made here. Official statistics show that in 1855 ten tons of tallow candles, twenty-five tons of hard soap and six hundred pounds of soft soap were manufactured here, the aggregate value being eight thousand dollars. In 1865 the production of candles in Fitchburg was only three thousand pounds.

Natt Cowdin became a partner with Mr. Sabin in the soap business about 18(50, the firm name being J. P. Sabin & Co. Some years ago Mr. Sabin retired from the business, and for the past twenty years or so Mr. Cowdin, in company with C. C. Walker, has carried on the concern, the firm name being Cowdin & Walker. A considerable business is done here, chiefly in soft-soap. Mr. Sabin died May 14, 1 885.

In 1859 Charles Davis began the manufacture of soap in a shop on West Street. He soon formed a partnership with George H. Phelps, and in the course of a few years the firm moved into a new shop on Boutelle Street.

About 1871 Mr. Phelps sold his interest to Mr. Davis who then formed a partnership with his brother, Joel Davis, under the firm name of C. Davis & Co. For several years following the firm did not run the shop, but leased it to A. B. Gibbs & Co., and later to James Mitchell. C. Davis & Co. operated the shop from 1875 to 1882, when the business was given up. Charles Davis died October 29, 1885.

The firm of S. M. Brown & Co. had, for several years, a soap shop on Townsend Street near Pearl Street, but about 1881 the firm removed the business to a location near the Westminster depot.

The FiTCHBUEr, Railroad Car Shops. - These are located in what is now called East Fitchburg and are in process of construction at the present time.

The plans prepared provide for six. large buildings. Four of them range side by side, each being one hundred by four hundred and eighty feet, anJ covering about an acre of ground. The one nearest the river is to be the paint shop, the next the passenger car shop, the next the freight car shop and the easterly one the oar repairing shop. Each of these immense buildings will be divided by two fire-proof cross walls into three sections.

Of the two other structures, which run at right angles to the four above-mentioned, one is to be the wood-working shop, sixty by three hundred feet, and the other, parallel with it, is to be the machine shop, sixty by four hundred feet. The wood-working shop will be two stories high and the other five buildings one story. The foundations will be RoUstone graniie and the structures will be built of brick made at the yards of Edwin A. Goodrich, in this city.

The buildings will be substantial, well-proportioned structures and a credit to the Fitchburg Railroad and the city for which the corporation was named.

Brick Manufacturing. - Edwin A. Goodrich owns and operates three brick-yards in Fitchburn- - one on Summer Street, one at South Fitchburg, and the Pound Hill yard, in the northwesterly part of the township. He makes several million bricks annually and has a well-established and prosperous business.

Bakeries. - These have been in existence here for over a century. The first mention of this industry occurs in relation to David Gibson, who, about 1781, built a bake-shop on the site where now stands the house which belonged to the late Ebenezer Torrey, Esq.

For the last sixty years or more there has been a bakery where the steam bakery of H. B. Boutelle now stands, on Circle Street (originally Baker's

Street). For many years this shop was carried on by William M. Pride. It is now under the proprietorship of Henry P. Boutelle, who employs steam-power in the manufacture of bread, crackers, etc., and does a large business, both in this city and in surrounding towns.

Other bakeries in town are operated by James Brock, Horton & Raymond and Phelps & Cooper. Herbert N. Rugg does considerable fancy baking of cake, etc., in connection with the manufacture of confectionery.

Granite Quaeiiying. - Fitchburg, possessing as it does an almost inexhaustible supply of good granite near the city, in the shape of Rollstone Hill, has made the quarrying and working of granite one of her staple industries.

For many years this source of profit and employment was comparatively unused; during the past seventy-five years, however, extensive quarrits have been opened and worked on this hill.

Among the earliest to engage in this business was Samuel A. Wheeler. Fitch Downe, who died recently, was for some years a granite contractor and worker.

For many years Mr. Wheeler did a large and important business in granite. Most of the time he was in company with others. In 1844 Charles Davis was his partner, and the firm furnished the Rollstone granite of which the Fitchburg Railroad Station in Boston is built, beside filling other large contracts. He was also in company with Joel Davis at one time.

Most of the dams and the stone-work of the bridges across the north branch of the Nashua, in Fitchburg, were built by S. A. Wheeler & Co., and still stand as a testimonial to the firm's thorough workmanship.

Wells R. Bardwell is another of the old-time stoneworkers. He was at one time a member of the firm of Childs, Bardwell & Co., granite workers, on West Street.

At the present time the following individuals and firms work quarries on Rollstone : Frederick A. Hale, Sylvester P. Litchfield and F. A. McCauliff & Co. There are also several parties engaged in working granite and as granite contractors, as follows: Henry E. Ames, George Hamilton, Daniel O'Connor, William T. Shattuck and George A. Terrell.

Large amounts of granite are annually taken from Rollstone and used for under-pinning and building purposes, paving blocks, flag and curb-stones, monument'', etc. The quarries are worked nearly all the year.

The firm of Hartwell & Reed, on Main Street, carrier on one of the longest established marble-works in the country. The business was begun by Isaac Hartwell in 1831. Some twenty years later George Reed became his partner. Mr. Hartwell died some years ago, aud the business is now carried on by Mr. Reed and his son, Edward H. Reed, the old firm name being retained.

The FiTCHBURG Gas Company was organized in 1852, with a capital of sixty thousand dollars, and has since coniinued to manufacture gas for the illumination of our streets and dwellings. The company, of which Hon. Rodney Wallace is president, and Henry F. Coggshall treasurer, has gas-works near the railroad, a short distance southeast of the depot, with two gasometers of sixty-five thousand and twenty-eight thousand cubic feet respectively, and maintains about twelve miles of street-mains.

The Wachu.sett Electric Light Company was incorporated in 1883, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, to furnish electricity for lighting purposes. The principal streets in the city are now illuminated by electric lights.

The central station of the company is on Water Street, and is furnished with a two hundred and seventy-five horse-power engine and the usual accompaniments. The capacity is upwards of one hundred and fifty Thompson-Houston arc lights.

Beside street-lights the company furnishes light for many of the stores in town, and, in the near future, proposes to furnish electric power for mechanical purposes. Arthur H. Kimball is superintendent.

There is space to speak of only a few more of the many other industries here that have not yet been mentioned. Though they may seem to be small when compared with some of the great corporations in town, yet they are all of importance to the prosjierity of Fitchburg.

The few we shall mention are the American Pruning Company, the Fitchburg Carbonized Stone and Pipe Company, the Fitchburg Enamel Works, Fitchburg Pipe Covering Company, Fitchburg Spirit-Level Company, J. T. Smith, manufacturer of clothesdryers, towel-racks, etc.; J. Joel and W. J. & F. C. Wheeler, cigar manufacturers; Marshall & Farnsworth, pulley-covering makers ; H. B. Adams, S. G. Gushing and the Novelty Turning Company, manufacturers of all kinds of wood-turning, organ materials, etc.; C. L. Tenney, pattern and model-maker; Jonas Whitney, for about half a century a manufacturer of organ materials; S. N. Weston, reed manufacturer; Cyrus Tolman, maker of emery grinders, saw arbors, etc.; besides numerous carriage-makers, carpenters and building contractors, blacksmiths, etc, etc.

A volume might easily be written on this one subject of the mechanical industries of Fitchburg; but want of space compels the writer to omit much and condense what is written. The intention has bten to treat all fairly, and it is hoped that this result has been accomplished.