Worcester County, Massachusetts - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 79 of those read), 1889

Manitfacturing And Mkchanical Indu.Striks

BeitBons for Worcestey'a frimtinence as it Manufacturing Oilij - Ruom with Power for Rml - Merrijield BuiUing - Heiiwood Building - Estahrook Building - Enterprise of Worcester's Busiiiesa Men - Mechanics' Association - Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Wastiburn Sitops - Tiie [laboring Glasses - Evening Schools - Worcester's Rapid Growth - Heart of the Commoiiwfidth.

It has frequently been said that Worcester owes her prominence as a manufacturing centre to the unusual opportunities offered to mechanics to begin business in a small way, and without incurring the risk incident upon the erection and equipment of a shop. Indeed, had this not been the case, individuals, companies and corporations doing to-day a prosperous business would never have started. Many instances might be given of individuals who have begun with one machine, gradually increasing their business out of the profits realized from day to day, until it has reached considerable magnitude. Growth of this kind is healthy and likely to be permanent.

It would be almost literally true to say that there is no large manufacturing l)usiness in Worcester that has not at some time in its history been situated in one or another of the buildings erected for rent with power to a number of tenants. There are some exceptions, but they are few. An idea of the number of industries begun in this way may be obtained by noticing the occupants of the buildings erected for the accommodation of those engaging in mechanical pursuits.

The old Court Mill had been built some years when, in 1832, Samuel Davis leased it from Mr. Salis- I bury. Among the tenants here at one time or anj other were L. & A. G. Goes, builders of woolenspinning machinery, and subsequently, manufacturers of wrenches ; Ruggles, Nourse & Mason, manufacturers of agricultural implements; H. W. Miller, punching-machines for manufacturing nuts and washers; Thomas E. Daniels, builder of the planingmachine; Samuel Flagg, pioneer in the machinists' I tools business in VV^ircester. The old building was I burned in October, 1839, and Mr. Salisbury made a contract with W. T. Merrifield to rebuild the mill I by January 1, 1840, for Ruggles, Nourse & Ma.son threatened to move out of town unless it were finished by that time. After the foundations were in Mr. Salisbury thought the building could not be completed in the winter, and oflTered to release Mr. Merrifield from the contract, but Mr. Merrifield went ahead, although Worcester masons i-efused to lay brick in the winter, and he was compelled to bring masons from Boston to do the work. The building was completed by .January Ist.

Then came the Dr. Heywood building in Central Street, occupied by a number of firms, among them Samuel Flagg & Company and S. C. Coombs & Company, who established the business now conducted by the Lathe & Morse Tool Company. Mr. Merrifield occupied his present location in 1835; soon after he used a horse to furnish power to run a circular saw and a Daniels planer. In 1840 he put in an engine. The first brick building for tenants was erected in 1847, and additions were made to it every year until the fire of 1854, when the following were among the occupants: William R. Bliss, bootmaker; Town & Company, perforated board ; Hovey & Lazell, strawcutters; E. F. Dixon, wrenches; Lamb & P'oster, carpenters; Williams, Rich & Company, machinists; Samuel Flagg & Company, machinists' tools ; Prouty & Allen, shoe tacks ; Daniel Tainter, wool machin- ery ; C. Hovey & Company, straw-cutters ; C. Whitcomb & Company, machinists' tools; Charles E. Wilder, boot and shoe-machines ; H. Palmer & Company, box-maker; Towns & Harrington, portemonnaies; N. B. Jewett, seraphine-maker ; Thayer, Houghton & Company, machinists' tools; Furbush & Crompton, fancy looms; Richards & Smith, sash and blinds ; Luther White, machinist ; F. J. Gouche, plane-maker; Isaac Fiske, musical instruments; A. Sampson, wheelwright; S. O. Reed, wheelwright; Worcester Knitting Company ; Worcester Machine Company ; George Dryden, machinist ; Hood, Battell & Company, sewing-machines; Edward Lawrence, tool-maker; Daniel Palmer, box-maker; Howard Holden, grist-mill; Rodney A. M. Johnson & Company, wool-spinning machinery.

When rebuilt, the buildings measured over eleven hundred feet in length, fifty feet in width, and three stories in height; the area of the Hoors was over four acres and a half; the power was obtained from a three hundred and fifty horse-power engine, the .same which is running to-day. In 1859 Mr. Merrifield had leased rooms and power in his buildings to over fifty firms, each employing from two to eighty hands. Among them : - ^

Alzirus Brown, on the corner of Union and Ex- I change Streets, who, with fifty hands, engaged in the ] manufacture of Manny's Patent Mower and Reaper combined. Daniel Tainter, in Union Street, employed thirty hands in making woolen-carding machines and jacks. Johnson & Co. employed twenty hands making jacks for woolen machinery. Richardson & Mawhinney, in the same street, employed twenty-four hands on lasts and boot-trees. L. W. Pond occupied about two hundred feet of the first Hoor, under the preceding, for the manufacture of engine-lathes, planing-machines, etc., employing twenty-seven hands. He had a lathe thirty-seven feet long, capable of cutting screws of any length from one to thirty-three feet. He also used the largest and heaviest planingrnachine in the city, thirty-.seven feet long, six feet wide and four feet high, weighing forty tons.

Prouty & Allen, in the room north of Mr. Pond, employed from five to six hands in making iron or zinc shoe-nails, of which they turned off from one thousand to twelve hundred pounds per day. Battelle & Co., in the third story, had five hands engaged in the manufacture of sewing-machines. J. L. & I. N. : Keyes, on the east side of Union Street, did an extensive business, with eighteen hands, in board-planing. Hamilton Holt, in rooms over them, had four hands j engaged in making patent gutters, or conductors of j water from the roofs of buildings. C. Whitcomb & j Co. were doing a good business making machinists' ' tools and letter-copying presses, and employed fifteen hands. Towne & Harrington, with ten liands, made mowing-machine knives. Dresser & Wilson had about six hands making Jillson's patent animal-traps, | manufHcturiug two hundred per day. S. G. Reed &

(ieorge F. Rice, employed ten hands in the manufacture of Hovey's patent hay-cutters, corn-shellers and winnowing-mills, and a very superior article of boring-machine of his own invention. Joel W. Upham had from six to eight hands engaged in making very large water-wheels for manufacturing establishments, averaging from twenty to thirty per year. Isaac Fiske employed six hands making musical wind instruments. D. D. Allen & Co. manufactured boot forms. S. C. & S. Winslow employed from six to twelve hands in gear-cutting and light jobbing. Thomas Smith & Co. had four hands making patent bit-pieces and doing cold punching. The Machine Lathe Company in Exchange Street, of which Jason Chapin was president and A. L. Burbank treasurer, employed seven hands making bedstead lathes and in iron job-work. Charles E. Staples, with seven hands, made bit-stocks and window-springs and did light jobbing. Charles E. Wilder had a few hands in the manufacture of boot-crimping machines. Franklin Wesson had three hands in the gun manufacture. P. Gouldiug with .six hands, on the opposite side of the street, made thirty dozen of shuttles per week. U. T. and G. H. Smith made chair-lathes and did jobbing, employing four hands. William H. Brown had a jobbing shop with three or more hands.

Jltantime Colonel James Estabrook and Charles Wood, in 1851, erected the stone building at the Junction riow occupied by the Knowles' Loom Works. Wood, Light & Co. were to occupy part of it, which they did, and the rest of the building was to be rented to tenants. Shepard, Lathe & Co. moved into the north end of the building very shortly after the occupancy of Wood, Light A. Co. In 1857 Mr. Wood disposed of his interest to Colonel Estabrook.

The main building was four hundred and fifty feet long by fifty feet wide, and three stories high ; another building used for a forge shop and other work, two hundred by forty ; power was furnished by two fifty horse-power engines, made by Corliss & Nightingale, of Providence. Among the tenants were Wood, Light & Co., who occupied the two lower stories in the south end of the main building for the manufacture of machinists' tools, water-wheels, mill works, castings. J. A. Fay & Co. occupied a hundred feet on the second floor, manufacturing wood-working machinery, employing thirty hands. Joseph Barrett & Co., in the south end of the second floor, employed twenty hands in the manufacture of calico-printing machinery, Woodworth's planing-machines, machinists' tools, etc. Shepard, Lathe & Morse occupied one hundred feet of the first floor under the preceding, and manufactured engine-lathes and iron-planing machines. Whittemore Brothers, in the upper story, employed twenty hands in manufacturing machines ' for paring, coring and slicing apples. The American

The means thus afforded to individuals with limited capital to begin manufacturing unencumbered with an expensive plant, making it possible for a small business to be conducted with profit, is one of the chief causes of the diversity of industries which makes Worcester uniformly prosperous, and creates a thrifty and permanent class of working-people.

In striking contrast are some other New England cities, confined almost entirely to asingle industry, and with a large unsettled population of mill operatives, the business conducted by corporations, owned by non-resident stockholders and under a non-re.sident management. With such conditions, the prosperity of the community is uncertain, largely a matter of chance. In good years the dividends declared are not invested where they are earned, while in bad years the immediate community suffers, want soon overtakes the working-people, and crime follows in the wake of cold and hunger.

It is true that there are corporations in Worcester, but they are, almost without exception, the outgrowth of individual enterprise; the stockholders are residents, and in many cases, employes ; the dividends are largely invested in real estate, in business blocks, in tenements, in factory property, while the fortunes accumulated found our hospitals, homes for the aged and infirm, build otir churches, endow our schools.

While there are few large fortunes here, there are many small ones. There is, perhaps, less of luxury and display than in some communities, but more of thrift.

To properly take advantage of the opportunities here offered, an intelligent people was needed. Enterprise and sagacity have always been characteristics of the business-men of Worcester - early manifested in appreciation of communication with the sea-board, and secured by the building of the Blackstone Canal, and evidenced later in the building of the railroads, and always recognized in the high reputation enjoyed throughout the country by our manufiictures.

A desire for opportunities for education was manifest at a very early day. About 181!) a number of young mechanics, who had been active in reforming the schools and establishing a lyceum and temperance society, made an attempt to form a mechanics' association. This failed; but November 27, 1841, a public meeting was held to consider the question. Ichabod Washburn was chairman, and Albert Tolman secretary of this meeting. A committee was chosen, consisting of Anthonv Chase, William Leo-- gatt, Henry W. Miller, William M. Bickford, Putnam W. Taft, Levi A. Dowley, William A. Wheeler, Rufus D. Dunbar, John P. Ketfell, James S. Woodworth, Albert Tolman, Hiram Gorham, Joseph Pratt, Henry Goulding and Edward B. Rice, to consider the formation of an association having for its object "the moral, intellectual and social improvement of its members, the perfection of ihe mechanic arts and the pecuniary assistance of the needy."

The first meeting of the subscribers was held February 5, 1842. William A. Wheeler was elected president; Ichabod Washburn, vice-president; Albert Tolman, secretary, and Elbridge G. Partridge treasurer. Steps were taken to establish a library and an annual course of lectures. The first lecture was delivered by Elihu Burritt (then a resident of Worcester), and was upon the importance of educating the mechanics and workingmen of the country. From that time to the present the Mechanics' Association has provided a course of lectures every winter.

Another object in forming the as.sociation was the holding of an annual fair for the exhibition of the mechanical products of the city. The first fair was held in September, 1848, and was very successful. The reports of the judges were printed and widely circulated, creating a wide knowledge and con-sequently large demand for the products of Worcester mechanics. In July, 1854, in commenting upon the association and its work, the statement was made : "Notwithstanding the inadequate supply of waterpower, which is everywhere deemed so essential for the successful development of the mechanic arts, without the aid of a single act of incorporation, mechanical business has increased in this city by individual enterprise alone more than tenfold. The mechanics as a class are more enlightened and better educated than formerly; their course is onward and upward ; they are not only increasing in numbers, but continually expanding in influence and usefulness. Instead of being a small fraction of the population of a town of two or three thousand, as they once were, they are nearly a majority of the population of a city of twenty-two thousand; are the owners of nearly or quite half of the taxable real estate, and are producing from their workshops more than six millions of dollars annually. Their reputation for variety, excellence and finish on all labor-saving machines and implements extends far and wide through the land. Their products, branded with the name of some enterprising firm in Worcester, may be found in the shops, mills and factories and on the farms of every State in the Union."

In 1860 an act of incorporation was obtained from the State, and May 4, 18,')4, Ichabod Washburn offered to give ten thousand dollars towards the purchase of land and the erection of a Mechanics' Hall, provided an equal sum should be raised by the association. The offer was accepted and the condition complied with. In addition to the twenty thousand dollars thus raised, the association issued bonds to the amount of fifty thousand dollars, secured by mortgage upon the property, and further sums were raised as the work advanced, of which amount nearly forty-four thousand dollars was taken and paid for by two hundred and fifty-six members of the association, (iround was broken July, 18.55, and on the 3d of September the corner-stone was laid, the day being observed as a holiday. The building was completed in IS.'iT, and was dedicated March 19th of that year.

Another and striking illustration of the interest taken by the manufacturers and mechanics of Worcester in educational affairs is found in their generous contributions toward the building and endowment fund of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, a school free to residents of Worcester County.

The founder, John Boynton, of Templeton, provided that the school should be located in Worcester, if thecitizens would furnish the funds necessary to purchase a lot and erect suitable buildings. This condition was complied with, and among the contributors were workmen in twenty of the then (IStiS) largest shops and factories.

At the same time Ichabod Washburn built, equiplied and endowed a machine-shop, connected with the institute, in which studeuts were to be taught the practical manipulation of tools. This conception of a school-shop is unique. The maximum number planned for by the founder to be instructed at any one time was twenty. For the past five years over one hundred pupils have received instruction each year.

Meantime the schools of the city have increased in number and efficiency. No child, however poor, need be deprived of a thorough education, free of any cost for instruction, and in the public schools being even relieved of the expense of buying books.

Up to 1840 manual labor in our shops was, for the most part, performed by Americans. Worcester - naturally attracted boys from the country, and the farmers' sons became our mechanics.

About this time Irish emigration commenced and, as the heavier kinds of manufacture were introduced, the Irishman became an important factor in our industrial development and indispensable to our material progress.

Since 1880 a large Scandinavian population has been added to Worcester, probably not less than six thousand or seven thousand men, women and children, of which about three thousand are men and boys. They are thrifty, industrious, capable and lawabiding people, who have come to make this country their home. They are found in most of our shops and are employed exclusively in some of them. They support five churches, in which their own hinguage is spoken. Their children attend the public schools; in 1887 the number of children was five liundred and seventy-four.

Another element in our population is the Armenian. There are at the present time about four hundred Armenians in Worcester, the larger number from the province of Harpoot. Very few of them have had any mechanical training, having been engaged, in their own country, in agricultural pursuits, either as peasant farmers or as laborers for farmers. This occupation affords scarcely more than a bare subsistence, the wages being from twenty cents to thirty cents per day. Some of the Armenians intend remaining here and are gathering their families about them. Two-thirds of those now here have been assisted in their emigration by the earlier third. None of the Armenians would contemplate a permanent return to their own country, if assured of work. They are timidly cautious, and do not wish to send for their families until they have earned the means to sustain them for an extended time. They are convinced that a knowledge of the English language is essential and are anxious to improve their opportunities for

The evening schools are invaluable in giving our large foreign adult population an opportunity to acquire sufficient education to become useful and intelligent citizens. An examination of the records shows that out of G91 who attended the evening schools during the past year (1888), 165 were Irish, 155 Armenians, 153 Scandinavians, 111 French, 45 English, 31 American, 14 Poles, 12 Germans, 3 Mexican, 1 Scotch, 1 Portuguese.

At the evening drawing-schools opportunity is afforded to learn free-hand drawing and drafting, of which our intelligent mechanics are quick to avail themselves. The average attendance during the year 1888 was one hundred and thirty-nine.

According to the census of 1885, there were seven hundred and seventy-two establishments engaged in manufacturing and mechanical industries in the city of Worcester ; the total capital invested, $18,344,408 ; value of stock used in a year, $15,016,756 ; total value of goods made and work done, $28,699,524, the diflferent industries standing in the following order: - Metallic goods, other than iron; boots, shoes and slippers ; iron goods ; wood and metal goods ; building material for building and stone-work ; textiles ; food preparations; miscellaneous clothing and straw goods; woolen goods; paper and paper goods; leather; printing and publishing; paints, colors, oils and chemicals.

June 30, 1885, there were employed in manufacturing and mechanical industries 16,566 people - 13,413 males, 3153 females - of which 2475 were under twentyone, and 14,091 twenty-one and over; 10,512 of these work by the day, and 6054 by the piece.

Worcester has developed from a country town to a large manufacturing city in less than sixty years. The population in 1830 was a little over four thousand, and to-day is probably eighty thousand.

Within that time the steam-engine, the railroad, telegraph and telephone have enormously increased the productive power of labor. The improvement in the condition of tlie laboring classes is no less marked; contrary to the opinion once held, the introduction of labor-saving machinery ha.s advanced instead of lowering wages; has reduced, instead ol extending the hours of labor. The laborer receives a constantly-increasing proportion, the capitalist a constantly-decreasing proportion in the division ol gains. Many of our mechanics own their homes, and are naturally deeply interested in the welfare of the city. Avenues for advancement are always open to the capable and industrious. From their ranks will come the leading business men of the next generation, upon whom the continuance of prosperity will depend.

It is worthy of note that the causes of Worcester's prosperity are found within and not without. No abnormal conditions have prevailed, a change in which can bring disiister. No Government works or patronage of any kind have contributed to her advancement. We need not fear the natural advantages of other sections of the country, for there must always be conducted here the manufacture of the finer grade of good.s, requiring intelligent and delicate manipulation. As we review the past and forecast the future, we can but feel that Worcester is worthy of her civic sea!, - The HEATiT of thk Conr;\roN-