Worcester City (part 55 of 58)

At length, in July, 1869, certain Worcester gentlemen, liecoming deeply interested in the undertaking, authority was obtained from the General Court for the city of Worcester and towns along the line of the road to take stock in it, which gave new heart to its friends and new impetus toward its construction. Worcester subscribed liberally, as did Gardner and other towns, and private capitalists also helped in a similar way. By this action success was assured to the road, and measures were at once taken to carry the desires ol those concerned in it into effect. Hence, on the 15tb of the following September, the directors of the corporation voted to put that portion of the road lying between Worcester and Gardner under contract for construction at the earliest possible date, and two months later, terms were concluded with Messrs. Cook &Co., of Canada, in accordance therewith. Work was at once begun and pushed forward with energy and zeal under the general supervision of the efficient president, Colonel Ivers Phillips, of Worcester. On the 26th of April following, that gentleman drove the first spike in the laying of the rails at Gardner, and on the 4th of July of the same year (1870), an excursion train from Worcester to Gardner passed over the road, though it was not until several weeks afterward that it was formally opened for regular traffic. It proved to be of great convenience and value to the town, but, like roads similarly situ.ated elsewhere, was obliged to struggle on by varying fortunes for many years, on account of financial limitations and other unpropitious circumstances.

Meanwhile the fact that immense quantities of lumber for manufacturing pnrjtoses were brought into town from the still extensive forest regions of New Hampshire, Vermont and Canada, created a need for better raeansof transportation in that direction, which the public recognized more and more, as the industrial interests of the community increased. Consequently a project was started in 1868 or '69 - even before the opening of the Worcester road - looking to the extension of tliat road to Winchendon, which would give the facilities required. In furtherance of that project, a petition was forwarded to the General Court asking for such an extension under the name of the Gardner & Winchendon Railroad. Inasmuch as the enterprising citizens of the two towns interested had already pledged funds for the building of the road, it was confidently anticipated that a charter, in response to the prayer of the petitioners, would be granted without delay. But much to the surprise, annoyance and indignation of all interested parties, a vast amount of opposition to the enterprise was developed, in which the Vermont and Ma.ssachusetts, the Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg, the Nashua and Worcester and the Worcester and Providence Corporations were notably active, using all possible monetary and other influence to prevent the accomplishment of the object desired. This opposition prevailed temporarily, necessitating a vigorous fight of three years' duration, when, as in the case of the Vermont and Mass.achusetts road twenty years before, Gardner conquered and the act of incorporation asked for was granted by the Legislature in February, 1872. In due time the location of the road was fixed and a contract for its construction was made with Mr. B. N. Farren, of Greenfield, who began work upon it in December following. In less than a year the last rail connecting the Boston, Barre & Gardner road with the Cheshire was laid, and on Thanksgiving Day, November 27, 1873, a train from Worcester, conveying the officers of the corporation and the mayor and other gentlemen of that city to Winchendon, arrived therein season for a substantial dinner at the American House. The road was opened for regular business two mouths afterward, February 2, 1874. Thu«, in spite of all opposition, was consummated an undertaking which was of vast importance, both to the Boston, Barre & Gardner Railroad corporation and to the industrial pro.^perity of Gardner for all time to come. The road as completed was made especially conducive to the town's welfare, by furnishing the leading manufactory of the place with direct facdities for transportation, and, by laying spurs of track, for the accommodation of other establishments. Struggling on for a series of years under difficulties already referred to, it was at length delivered from its many embarrassments by an arrangement with the Fitchburg corporation, according to the terms of which its entire management was tranferred to that body, which had previously secured control of the Vermont and Massachusetts road, so that at the present time all the railroad interests of Gardner are under the management of the Fitchburg Company, in which the citizens of the town are well represented. The present railroad system of the place, reaching out to the four cardinal points of the compass, and furnishing ready and easy communication with all parts of the country, and with all the markets of the world, seems to meet the essential needs of the people at large, and is highly satisfactory. A common station for both roads at the point of crossing, commodious and attractive, suited to the size of the town, the extent of business done and the style of public and private buildings in the place is an already existing need, and one which will undoubtedly be met at an early day.

Chapter Cxii Industriai, Interests

At the outset the inhabitants of Gardner were, by the very necessities of the case, tillers of the soil. Indeed, one of the leading objects in locating upon its territory was to obtain a livelihood - an adequate supply of the necessaries of life for themselves and their households. And this was to be done by none of the modern methods of the industrial and business world, but by making levies, in good, primitive fashion, upon the products of the earth, to be obtained by earnest, honest and persevering work. It was each man's business, after making a clearing in the wilderness, and providing some sort of shelter for himself and his dependents, to break the sod and plant the seed of hoped-for harvests. So it was the town entered upon its career, beginning at the bottom and building up by slow but sure processes to larger and to better things.

Most of these early settlers, in addition to their knowledge of agriculture, which was, of course, crude and limited, knew something of the use of such tools as were employed in the more essential trades, and were able to build their own rude dwellings, the cabin or log-house, and also whatever other structures they might need, together with many of the implements of husbandry. Time and necessity developed latent skill in various kinds of useful handicraft ; and some there were who, to their acquirements and toil as husbandmen, added, for their own and their neighbors' benefit, some special trade or branch of industry. Joseph Bacon, for instance, was a leading carpenter, and Andrew Beard and Timothy Kneeland pursued to some extent the same useful avocation. Seth Heywood, David Nichols and Jude Sawyer were blacksmiths; Jonathan Bancroft was a shoemaker, and no doubt " whipped the cat," as did others of that craft since that day. Gideon Fisher had the reputation of being '' a mighty hunter,'' though to what profit to himself or others does not appear ; and John Glazier, Jonathan Greenwood and Captain Elisha Jackson each kept an " ordinary," or public-house. Moreover, the first minister of the town. Rev. Jonathan Osgood, was a tanner by trade, though he probably never pursued that calling after coming to Gardner, except in a metaphorical sense. Albeit, like many another clergyman of days gone by, he was something of a farmer, and, moreover, a physician of acknowledged ability - withal, a man of many gifts.

For full fifty years farming was the principal occupation of the people of Gardner. Fathers trained their sons to the arts of the husbandman, and the sons, true to their training, succeeded to their father's calling and estate, each man's landed property usually going to his children. Mothers trained their daughters to be farmers' wives, and farmers' wives they usually became. By this honorable and honest vocation two generations of the first settlers of the town not only gained an adequate livelihood, but secured for themselves a competency, with provision, with rare exceptions, for misfortune and advancing years. Though the soil cannot be regarded as specially favorable to agricultural pursuits, yet it has always yielded fair returns for wise investments made, supplying many a household with the more substantial necessaries of life from the beginning and furnishing something for the growing home and outside markets with the flight of time. And while the farming interest of the town has relatively declined during the last half-century, yet it still, under the shadow of the more prosperous and imposing manufacturing and commercial activities, maintains a respectable place in the catalogue of industries, some of the more substantial and thrifty citizens being followers of the plow and keepers of flocks and herds. The demand which the constantly increasing population engaged in various kinds of manufacturing makes upon the tiller of the soil for all sorts of fresh produce is an ever-present stimulus to the farmer, and that he is by no means indifferent to it is sufficiently attested by the improvements continually going on in his department of the general industrial hive. To show what is being accomplished in his behalf, a few quotations are made from the last census reports sent to the Secretary of State, according to the requirements of the statutes of the Commonwealth. They relate to the year 1885, and are as follows, to wit: Number of farm-houses in Gardner 72 ; number of farm barns, 77 ; other farm buildings, 27. Estimated value of property invested in farming, S!378,948. Valuation of land devoted to farming, $223,618; of buildings, $102,670; of tools and machinery, .$13,893; of domestic animals, $33,499; of fruit trees, $5,268. Value of agricultural productions for the year, $92,476. Eighty-nine farms are owned by the men who work them and one is hired. The whole number of men engaged in farming is one hundred and eighty-five.

Coopering. - A considerable number of the people in Gardner at an early day supplemented their farming operations by the manufacture of tubs, barrels, pails and other kinds of wooden-ware of the same general sort, engaging in such work in the wintertime and at other seasons of the year when the weather was unsuitable for out door laboi'. After awhile this came to be in some instances the leading or perhaps the sole occupation, the call for such goods increasing as the town and country round about became more densely settled and householders more able to supply themselves with these conveniences of domestic life, or as the demands of the general market multiplied. Among those who carried on a considerable business in this line of production fifty or seventy-five years ago were Liberty Partridge, George Baker, Alvin

Greenwood, Robert Powers, Benjamin Kendall, Lewis Glazier, Smyrna Glazier, John Dyer, Hubbard Dunster, Walter Greenwood and others. The work was all performed by manual labor without the aid of any machinery, save only perhaps some very .simple kinds that could be propelled by hand or foot-power. With the invention of mechanical devices, by which the same kind of goods could be produced much more easily and rapidly by water or other power, first introduced some siity years ago, this sort of craft fell into disuse, and "coopering," as it was termed, existed only as a memery of bygone days.

Potash-Making. - In clearing up the lands of the new settlements of this region of country considerable quantities of wood, which otherwise would have been of no account, were utilized and made a source of income by the manufacture of potash, lor which there seems to have been a considerable demand at the time. A shop in which this article of commerce was produced once stood upon ground now covered by the extensive chair factory of the late S. K. Pierce & Co., owned and probably carried on by the William Bickfords - father and son - who had large tracts of the primitive forest in their possession. A similar establishment also occujiied the site of the First National Bank. By whom this was conducted has not been definitely ascertained, but it seems likely to have been built and owned by John Glazier, who resided in the house which is now the dwelling of William Austin, and who was a large land-holder in his day. Tliere were, without doubt, others in the early times, but no memorials of them have been found.

Tanneries. - About the beginning of the present century there was a tan-yard located on the flat land directly below the lumber-mill of Lewis A. Wright & Co., owned by John and Isaac Nichols, sons of David Nichols, one of the first settlers on the Gardner territory. It passed from their hands into that of their brother, Asa, who sold it in 1811 to Joseph Sweetser, of Watertown, and he, in turn, to George Scott. Mr. Scott was the last one engaged in the business in that locality, and is reinembered by the older inhabitants. A tannery once existed directly below the old Bickford Milir(now James Sawyer's), the vats of which could be recognized not many years since, but by whom it was run has not been ascertained. At a more recent date a Mr. Blaney carried on the same business on the west side of Green Street, just above the Elijah Brick place, the location of the vats being still plainly marked and readily recognized.

Nail-Makins. - In the year 1808 Abram G. Parker, of Westminster, and Francis Hill and David Perley, of Gardner, formed a co-partnership for the purpose of manufacturing nails and doing other kinds of iron work. They purchased the mill privilege now occupied by Wright & Read, built a dam and erected a factory, in which they placed machinery suited to their purpose, carrying on the business for several years. After some changes in the management, the property was disposed of, and the building was converted into a fulling and cardingniill, as will presently appear. Allusion has already been made to several blacksmiths in town during the first years of its history. It is proper to note the fact that at that period the making of nails was an important department of that trade, little or no machinery having been introduced or invented even for the jjroduction of that highly useful article.

The Manufacture of Cloth. - A very important industry of the first half-century of the history of Gardner, and one deserving a place in this review, was the production of cloth for domestic uses and to meet to a limited extent such demands as might come from the neighborhood and the community at large. Most of the goods from which the clothing (if both men and women, as well as children, was cut, were not only home spun, but homewoven, as the garments themselves were home-made. The farmers, as a rule, kept sheep, and grew their own wool, at least enough for the needs of the family, which was in time carded, spun and woven by members of the household, and made ready for any service to which it might be devoted. The cardboards, the spinning-wheel and the loom were as essential articles of household furniture and implements of household use as were the plough, the hoe and the scythe for the proper equipment of the farm and tillage of the soil. And the wives and daughters were as familiar with the former and as skillful in operating them as were the fathers and sons the latter. Little time for idle hands, either within or without the dwelling, was there in those days, when the grandparents of the present generation were doing their best to keep the wolf Irom the door, to provide shelter, food and raiment for themselves and their children, and to guarantee themselves and theirs against any and every contingency of coming need, - laying in that way the foundations of a prosperity for their town, in which those coming after them to their latest posterity might rejoice.

Fulling and Cardinu-Mills. - After the abandonment of the iron-works mentioned above, the building in which they were carried on was fitted up with machinery for cleansing and finishing the cloth produced in the homes round about, giving it, by what was termed the process of "ftilling," greater compactness of texture, which rendered it more serviceable and more pleasing to the eye. After a time also a machine for carding wool was introduced, which greatly facilitated the process and relieved the household of a large amount of difficult and tiresome work. This mill was run until about the year 1829 by Colonel Ephraini Williams, who then disposed of his interest in it, and the building was converted into a .shop for the manufacture of pine furniture, as will be duly set forth hereafter. In 1822 John Merriam having purchased the Caleb Jackson farm, lying on both sides of what is Winter Street, with the adjacent mill privilege, now utilized by S. Bent, Bros. & Co., erected a mill for fulling purjioses, which he afterwards enlarged sufficiently to enable him to jjut in a carding-machine to run in connection with the other business. The mill was used for the purposes indicated for about a dozen years, when Mr. Merriam left town. In 18S6 it was purchased by Sullivan Sawin and has been devoted to the manufacture of chairs from that date.

Cakd-Board Makixu. - The business of getting out boards to which cards were applied for purposes of hand-carding was carried on to quite an extent for a time in the history of the town. A shop devoted to this use belonging to .fosiah Wilder, Jr., situated on the Knowlton j)lace, in the north part of the town, was destroyed by fire in 1813. One Aaron Conant had a manufactory in the east part of the town. And as an adjunct to this industry Joseph Wright was engaged for awhile in getting out handles for such boards. The articles produced were readily disposed of at Leicester, where they were finished and made ready for the market.

Pine Furniture. - The building standing on the site now occupied bv Wright & Reed's chair factory, and used for many years as a fulling and clothing shop, was afterwards bought by Daniel J. Goodspeed, who began the manufacture of toilet tables and washstands, with other articlej of pine furniture. In 1846 the factory was burned, but immediately rebuilt and work resumed. Afterward Mr. Goodspeed left this locality and engaged in chair-making at the Henry Whitney Mill, the site of which is now occupied by the Howe Bros.' grist-mill, where he, some years later, was again burned out. Meanwhile a Mr. Baker associated with himself Lewis H. Bradford and the making of pine furniture was continued at the old stand, the firm bearing the name of Bradford & Baker. They went on for a few years, when the business was given up altogether.

Tubs and Pails. - One of the oldest existing industries of the town, and one which has been prosecuted with the fewest changes of any sort, is the manufacture of tubs and pails, now going on under the direction of Alfred Wyman, step-son of the late Amasa Bancroft, by whom it was represented for more than a half a century. It was established about the year 1832 by R. Heywood Sawin and his brother-in-law, John Damon, who had been previously engaged in getting out chair stock and in chairmaking at the old Joshua Whitney Mill site, known in later years as the Pail Factory. A saw-mill was erected at this spot soon after the town was incorporated, or possibly before, by Mr. Whitney, who settled near by in 1778, or thereabouts, and who owned considerable land in the vicinity. From Joshua \V^hitney it passed into the bauds of his son Joseph, who, in the year 1822 or 1823, sold it to his brother-in-law, Luke Sawin. In 1824, Luke sold to his kinsman, Sullivan Sawin, of Westminster, who in the year 1820 disposed of one-third of it to his son, Reuben Heywood Sawin, and one-third to his son-in-law, John Damon, retaining the remainder to himself. An addition w:is soon after put up, circular saws and turning lathes were introduced, and a large business was done in getting out chair stock, the rapidly increasing manufacture of chairs in the vicinity creating a great demand for that kind of production. A few years later, about 1831, anew shop was erected and chair-making was introduced, carried on in part by Sullivan Sawin, Jr., and also by the before-mentioned parties under the firm-name of " Sawin & Damon." But the then recent invention of machinery for the turning of pails and kindred ware, together with the abundance of timber near at hand suitable for the manufacture of such goods, induced the latter to go into that business, and they accordingly did so, associating with themselves Jonas Child, Moses Wood and a Mr. Vail, the last two of whom were located in Providence, and attended to the selling of what was made as part of the business of a general furniture house which they had established. This arrangement continued till 1836, when Sawin & Damon, having purchased a large tract of timber land in Fitzwilliam and erected a mill upon it, desired to dispose of their Gardner interests that they might devote themselves exclusively to the new enterprise in which they had enlisted. It was finally decided to dispose of the entire pail manufacturing business, which had been carried on under the style of the Gardner Pail Factory Co., and this was accordingly done. The purchasing parties were Amasa Bancroft, .Tared Taylor, Frederick Parker and Joel Baker, the firm being known by the name of Taylor, Bancroft & Co. In 1840, Mr. Bancroft bought out his partners and continued the business alone for twenty-five years, when he associated with himself his son-in-law, John C. Bryant, who remained with Mr. Bancroft till his death in 1882, the name of the partnership being Amasa Bancroft & Co. About a year after tlie death of Mr. Bryant, Mr. Bancroft received his step-son, Alfred Wyman, as associate in the business under the former name, and this relation continued till the decease of the original member of the firm early in 1888, who had the reputation of being the oide.st tub and pail manufacturer in the country. The busine.ss has always been carefully managed, without any effort to increase it to gigantic proportions, and has been attended with satisfactory results. For many years it has employed an average of eighteen men, and has turned out, annually, goods amounting to the value of about $25,000.

The Manufacture Op Chairs

The leading industry of Gardner, overshadowing all others and contributing more than all others to the prosperity and wealth of the town, is chair manufacturing. It is this which distinguishes it above all other towns in the county, and has given it a name and an honorable fame far and wide throughout the length and breadth of the laud, and even in foreign realms. iSo important a factor in the development of the material, social and civil interests of the community, in shaping its fortunes and determining its history, deserves a somewhat detailed and careful statement of its growth from humble and unpretending beginnings through the various stages of expansion and progress up to the grand and imposing proportions which it has, at the present writing, attained. And to such a statement the attention of the reader is hereby invited.

It is generally understood and believed that the father and founder of the chair-making business in Gardner was James M. Comee, son of David Comee, who came from Lexington some ten or twelve years before the incorporation of the town, and settled near the junction of Pearl and Chapel Streets, in the east part. David was the son of David, who was the son of John Comee, the first of the family in the country, as is supposed, a resident of " Cambridge Farms," afterwards Lexington, at the time of its organization as a precinct in 1693. He is said to have served in the battles of Lexington, Bunker Hill and Bennington. He married (1) Christiana Maltman, also of Lexington, by whom he had seven children ; and (2) Hannah Maltman, the mother of eight more. Of these fifteen children James M. was the second, born April 18, 1777. He married Sarah Putnam, and located at the top of the hill on what is now Pearl Street about the year 1800, upon the estate now owned and improved by Webster Gates, who married his grand-daughter, Mary F. Jaquith. In the year 1805, so far as can be learned, he began the making of chairs, in a very small way, in one of the rooms of his dwelling-house, doing most of the work at the outset with his own hands. Finding the business profitable, Mr. Comee soon called in some of the lads or young men of the neighborhood to assist him as apprentices. Among those thus employed at an early date were Enoch, Elijah and Jonas Brick, while, later on, were Isaac Jaquith, Elijah Putnam, Luke Fairbanks, Joseph Jackson and others. Several of these men afterwards started the same business on their own account and prosecuted it for a longer or shorter term of years, more or less successfully.

The chairs first made by Mr. Comee were undoubtedly constructed wholly of wood, the seats being of solid plank, either in one ])iece or in several pieces, firmly glued together. Rocking-chairs constituted a considerable portion of the goods produced ; some having a seat entirely flat, except, it may have been hollowed out somewhat with an adze; and others, more easy and tasteful, having what was called the raised seat. Not many years transpired, however, before a new style of seat came into vogue, known as the flay seat, which proved to be very acceptable and salable, and which was in good demand for a quarter of a century, or until superseded by the more modern and more artistic rattan or cane-seat. This seat was manufactured from a plant often found in this locality, growing in marshy places and along the borders of sluggish streams, known to botanists as a form of the genus Typha Latifolia, and to people at large as the cat-tail flag. Being of a tough, fibrous nature, with considerable thickness of structure and of sufficient length, it was well adapted to the use designated. The leaves were wound around the four sides of a seat-frame, and, when carefully twisted and woven by a skillful hand in four compartments, whose intertwining lines converged from the corners to a common centre, presented a neat and attractive appearance. It was much more pleasing to the eye and more comfortable than the hard, stiti" wooden seat which it largely supplanted, and was deemed a decided improvement upon it in many respects. Few, if any, chairs of this sort are now made, though specimens of them may be found in the dwellings of most of the older New England families.

In the early period of chair manufacture, the work was done mostly by hand, even to the getting out of the stock, only a small turning-lathe, propelled by foot-power, being used for preparing the round stufl". What machinery was used was very simple and the tools were very few, so that the need of other than the force resident in the human muscle had not then been made manifest. Hence, for some years, chairs were made in the simple, slow, laborious way designated. The industry was in the elementary, formative period of its development, feeling its way along towards better methods and a well-assured success. An advance was made and a positive advantage gained when horse-power was introduced to facilitate the turning of stock and the doing of some of the more tiresome parts of the work, for which some simple mechanical apparatus had been invented.

The chairs made by Mr. Comee were, for many years, taken to Worceste*-, Lowell, Springfield and Boston, with teams of one or more horses, driven by himself or by persons in his employ, who sold them in small quantities, as opportunity ofi'ered, - sometimes even disposing of them from house to house, in the more sparsely-settled towns. In such a small way did ISIr. Comee begin this important manufacture, and by such unpretending methods did he prosecute the work by which he earned for himself a name long to be remembered in his native town and wherever the business he did so much to make a permanent interest in the community is pursued.

Probably the first of Mr. Comee's apprentices to establish a business on his own account, and carry it on successfully for a long series of years, becoming thereby the second permanent chair-maker in Gardner, was Elijah Brick. He went to his trade in 180(5, when fourteen years of age, and served in good old-fashioned style till he was twenty-one. Continuing with Mr. Comee as journeyman for a year, he bought, in 1814, a place half a mile north of the Common, on which he settled, built a small shop and commenced the making of flag-seat chairs. He em- ployed his brother Enoch to assist him about the wood-work", and female help to make the seats. Later on, Benjamin Howe was in his service, and others, afterward, as his business increased. For many years he marketed his goods himself, carting them, with his own team, to Boston, Salem, Providence and elsewhere. About 1840 he extended his operations and commenced making cane-seat chairs, which had then become somewhat popular, and were rapidly rising into favor, with the trade and with the general public.

During the ten years following the date of Mr. Brick's setting up the making of chairs there were other persons who did the same thing, but their undertakings were small or of very brief continuance, and did but little towards building up the manufacture into a permanent and commanding position in the place. Among these was Jonas Brick, who began in a shop near the Wright saw-mill in 1818, the first of the trade, so far as is known, in the south part of the town. He was in business, however, but a short time, and at an early date left the town.

The chair-making era of Gardner history may be divided into two parts : the first covering a period of about twenty-five or thirty years, the second of fiftyflveor si.xty years. The former passed over or gave way to the latter with the introduction of machinery into chair-shops, to be run by water or other power, and also with the introduction of the use of rattan as an important element or constituent part of the material for the production of chairs. The transition from one to the other of these divisions may be regarded as having taken place substantially between the years 1830 and 1835, during which period the germs of most of the existing large chair establishments were first planted and began their process of growth and development, as will hereafter appear.

Recofrnizing the distinctive characteristics of the chair-manufacturing industry which marked the change alluded to, and looking over the list of those who were active and instrumental in bringing that result to pass, it is eminently just and proper to make special mention of the part taken in the matter by Mr. Elijah Putnam. Disappointed, as no doubt he was, in many of his plans and expectations, and not to be counted among the successful manufacturers of the town, he yet was, for a long series of years, connected with the chair business, and perhaps contributed as much, in his way, to the development of this branch of production and to the new departure which ushered in the better day of chair-making, as any other individual. Fertile iu inventive resources, he yet was not gifted with that practical judgment and executive ability which were needful to use those resources to the best advantage, and make them productive of the most profitable and .satisfactory results. J^ull of new ideas in regard to the manufacture of chairs, and abounding in designs and devices of a mechanical nature, he lacked the power of embodying his ideas in a feasible working system, and of applying his contrivances in an effectual way to the attainment of the ends proposed. Nevertheless, he rendered e.ssenti.il service to his calling and to Ihe community by his suggestions, by his hints at improvements or his imperfect conceptions of tools and machines, which he could not of himself work out to successful issues, but which others, of a more practical turn of mind, getting possession of, could easily put to efficient and remunerative service. And it is believed that some of the more valuable kinds of chair-making machinery and various improvements in the business, which first came into use and rendered important aid in advancing to its present commanding position the chief industrial interest of the town, originated in the prolific brain of this man, who, himself derived but little pecuniary advantage from them, but to whom credit for them in due degree should be assigned, even though others were instrumental in giving form to the ideas and principles involved, and in putting them into successful operation.

Mr. Putnam wa.s one of the apprenticed workmen of James M. Comee. After closing his apprenticeship and perhaps working as journeyman for a time, he married, and settled upon the estate opposite the Common, where Charles Scollay now resides, going into business for himself about the year 1825. He possibly began in one of the rooms of his dwellinghouse, but soon erected a shop in which to carry on his trade. He employed numerous workmen as time went on, some of the oldest and best known chairmakers of the town having served more or less under him. The usual foot-lathe was the only machinery he had at the beginning; but following the bent of his genius, he afterwards made use of a steam-engine of his own invention, which, however, did n<it prove a success. He then constructed and put up a windmill, as some still living remember, but this also failed to serve the purpose intended and was removed. He finally introduced horse-power, which supplied his needs till 1838, when he bought the mill jirivilege, now occupied by John A. Dunn, of William S. Lynde, built a dam and removed his shop thither, continuing the business for seven years, when he sold out to Cowee, Collester & Co., from whose hands the property passed, after several changes, to its present ownership. Mr. Putnam also carried on business awhile on the site to which Conant, Ball & Co. have recently removed, but his shop was burned in 1839 and the privilege was transferred after a time to L. H. Sawin, tlie predecessor of those now in possession of it.

To Mr. Putnam, moreover, belongs, with but little doubt, whatever credit is due for the introduction of the cane-seat to the chair manufacturing fraternity of Gardner and for making the rattan business an important branch of the predominating industry of the community. It was, so far as can be ascertained by extensive and painstaking inquiry, under his auspices that the first cane-seating was done in the town ; it was by his agency that imported rattan was first brought to the place, split, shaven and made fit for use; and it was under his management and in his name that cane-seat chairs were first actually produced here and put upon the market, as will be more fully set forth in subsequent pages.

Recurring once more to the date at which Mr. Putnam began his career and when several others also were looking to the same calling as a means of livelihood and of worldly prosperity, it may be stated that the increased and increasing demand for chair stock occasioned thereby suggested the use of water-power, of which there was considerable not yet improved in town, as an easily available agency for meeting that demand. Mr. Ezra Baker seemed to be the first to turn the suggestion to practical account and appreciate the opportunity offered for a new and promising industrial pursuit. A plan of action presented itself to him, which he very soon proceeded to carry into effect. He purchased a small mill privilege on Kneeland Brook, situated half a mile northwest of the northern extremity of Crystal Lake, constructed a dam, erected a shop and put in one or more lathes for the turning of posts and stretchers and other parts of chair material. At that time the timber used was bought of the farmers round-about, who prepared it for the lathe by cutting it the required length, splitting it and taking off the corners, as it was not then deemed possible to turn a square stick. The circularsaw had not come into use. But its day was at hand, and it was not long before Mr. Baker purchased one, put it into his shop and prepared his own lumber for the lathe. This was the first saw of the kind in town. In 1828, the business of Mr. Baker increasing on his hands, he purchased the Fairbanks gristmill, afterwards sold to Elijah Putnam as stated, and transferred his machinery there, where he operated for several years. Previous to this change on the part of Mr. Baker, Asa Parley erected a shop of considerable size on the same stream, near where Clark Street crosses it, and fitted it up for the same kind of work. It was not long after this that 8awiii & Damon engaged in the same business at the Pail Factory site, and about the .same time Merrick Wallace, who married the daughter of Ezra Baker, bought of Deacon Fairbanks the small privilege above his grist-mill, where the main factory of Heywood Bros. & Co. now is located, built a shop and went into the business of getting out chair-stuff there. Similar enterj)rises were started elsewhere in town and went on with a varying success, until the demand was more than met, or until chair-makers came to sec that it was for their advantage to prepare their own material, when the work of getting out stock as a separate and independent calling was given up and became an integral part of the general business of chair manufacture. This was another feature of the transition from the earlier to the later period of the chairmaking era - from the old to the new system of ways, means and methods of chair production.

A sketch of the existing chair establishments ot Gardner, such as is proposed, will involve a still further consideration of the change alluded to, since some of them date back to the time when it occurred, and since some of their founders were more or Ics active in bringing it about. But before going on to present such a sketch, it seems proper to submit as briefly as may be an account of the introduction and use of rattan as an important adjunct or component part of the manufacture in its more modern aspects and achievements. Constituting as it does a distinct branch of the general industry under notice, and possessing characteristics peculiar to itself, it may be considered under the specific name of

The Rattan Bu.sinesis. - Rattan is a species of the palm tree bearing the scientific name of Calamus Rotai^g and a product of the forests of the East Indian Islands, especially of Sumatra and Borneo, and of the Malayan Peninsula. It is a slender ])lant, scarcely ever exceeding an inch in diameter and of great length. It is sometimes supported by the larger trees among which it grows and sometimes runs along the ground forming a tangled web, through which it is impossible to pass. The peculiarities which render it valuable for a great variety of uses, and which give it commercial importance, are its remarkable flexibility and strength, its extreme length combined with uniformity of size, its capability of being split into small strips and the hard,silicious glazing with which it is coated. It is gathered by the natives of the region where it is produced, and prepared for shipping at very little expense, and then sent to different parts of the world. The eastern nations of Asia have for a long time known its value and have used it in making various articles of furniture, baskets, sievesi mats, and even hats and shoes. Large quantities of it are employed in China as bands for tea-chests, to secure them against the perils of transportation. It was probably in this way that it first became known to Western Europe and to America, where its properties are now so well understood, and where it is al the present day so largely utilized in the production of many kinds of house furnishing goods, children's carriages, and numerous styles of fancy articles ; also for decorative purposes, being easily made to assume unique and newly-devised forms, pleasing to the eye and taste. Its adaptability to an indefinite but everincreasing number of uses has given it in these later years a wide distribution and an unbounded popularity throughout the civilized world.

At what date rattan was first used as a part of chair construction in this country has not been determined, nor in what locality, nor by whom it was thus originally employed on these shores. It was first brought to the notice of the people of Gardner and vicinity in that connection about the year 1830, at which time chair-seats were being made of it in or near the City of New York, whence they were sent in different directions and put into chairs by those already engaged in chair manufacturing. It does not appear that any of tlie trade in Gardner made use of any of these New York seats in their business previous to the date at which what are called cane-seats were actually produced within its borders, though it is quite certain that they were purchased and used to some extent in neighboring towns about that time. The work of putting the rattan, or cane as it was more familiarly called, into these New York seats was done in part, at least, by the inmates of the penitentiary ol the State of Connecticut, and it was by that avenue that the "seating" of chairs and the making of caneseat chairs first found its way into this town.

It was in the year 1832 or 1833 that .Tohn Cowee, an employe'' of Mr. Elijah Putnam, visited the Connecticut State Prison, and, by going through the department wliere the inmates were engaged in "seating'' chairs and carefully watching their movements, obtained an idea of the way in which the work was done. Whether he did this on his own motion, or at the .suggestion of Mr. Putnam, is not known. After leaving the prison he purchased a seat and also some cane made ready for use and returned home, bringing the articles with him. Going to the shop of Mr. Putnam, he carefully took the cane from the seat, studying the process closely, and then went to work with the prepared cane, putting the seat in again and so producing the first scat of the kind that was actually " seated" in town. This point gained, it was not difficult to go on to tlie construction of a cane-seat chair in all its parts from beginning to end. And this Jlr. Putnam proceeded at once to do. Making the frames by facilities easily obtained, he engaged women to come to his house, where they were taught the mystery of seating, and where they were employed for a time in doing that part of the work, one of the rooms of his dwelling being devoted to that use. These seats he put into chairs which, when finished, were sold with other articles of his production, and the caneseat chair business was fairly inaugurated in the community where it was in after-years to attain undreamed-of proportions and achieve a most wonderful success. The " -seating " continued to be done on Mr. Putnam's premises until it was found that the demand for the chairs could not be met unless the seafs could be produced more rapidly than was possible in that small way, when the practice of " putting out" seating was inaugurated - that is, of distributing the frames and cane in families in the neighborhood, by the members of which the interweaving process was carried on. As the cane-seat chair grew in popular favor and the business of manufacturing it increased, this work of "seating" was enlarged proportionally, expanding and extending itself until it became an important industry on its own account, affording employment to the inmates of hundreds and thousands of homes in the region round-about and contributing, as a source of income, largely to the comfort, prosperity and happiness of multitudes of people.

To begin with, the cane put into the seats was 0I3- tained from outside, probably from New York, prepared for use. Very soon, however, in 1833, Mr. Warren Sargent, from Dummerston, Vt., and a little later his brother, John R. Sargent, came to the place and went to work getting out cane, as it was termed, in Mr. Putnam's shop, and, most likely, under his auspices, where they carried on business for a time, inducting others into it and establishing it upon a permanent basis. Leaving town after a few years, they were succeeded by Benjamin H. Rugg, a skillful and successful cane-worker, for a long while at the Heywood shop and at his own residence on Green Street ; Robert G. Reed, who worked first at Mr. Putnam's and afterward at James M. Comee's; Edmond Newton, at South Gardner ; Asher Shattuck, who was first employed at Putnam's in 1838 and, after serving at several places, finally in the cane department at the Heywood establishment in the West Vill.-ige, and perhaps others. Probably Mr. Shattuck is the oldest living cane-worker in Gardner, and the one who has been longest connected witli that special industry.

For twenty years or more the work of getting out cane was done by hand. It was a slow, difficult, laborious process, requiring care, skill and quickness of motion for its successful prosecution. Numerous steps intervened between the taking of the material in hand by the worker and the leaving it ready for the hand of the seater. It was received, as it is now, just as it was shipped from its native shores, just as it was taken from its native forests, indeed, except that the leaves crowning its top and the spines grown at its several joints had been removed, after which it had been put into bundles of one liundred stalks each, about sixteen feet long, doubled in the middle and compactly tied together. The first thing done with it was to straighten it, so that it could be easily handled and conveniently worked. Each stalk was then passed through the hand from end to end and every joint was taken off or pared down witii a common 'knife, so as not to interfere with the further working of it, or with the drawing in of the strands when woven by the usual method into a seat. This was termed cleaning the cane. When this was accomplished the act of sjilitting or slabbing took place, which consisted, in the case of the smaller rods or stalks, in quartering them from end to end, and when they were larger, in taking off from the several sides enough to make two strands, with the exception of the last one. perhaps, which would sometimes make but one. This was also 'done with a common knife and required special care and skill to prevent waste. Eacli strip thus produced was afterwards ploughed or passed under a sharp-edged tool, shaped like the letter V, being held in place by proper appliances, whicli would cut away most of the core or woody portion of the strip, and at the same time so nearly split it into two equal parts as that they could be readily separated. Each of these parts was then drawn between two properly adjusted cutters, which reduced it to a uniform width and was termed g.auging the cane. It was afterward planed or brought to a uniform thickness by passing it over another cutter set into a block of wood, likening it to the carpenter's tool from which this step of the process derived its name. This concluded the mechanical part of the work. The cane thus prepared was then parceled out into lots of one thousand feet in length in the aggregate, neatly tied in bunches of convenient size, and after being sufficiently bleached, was deemed ready for use. In this, the original method of getting out cane, each part of the work was distinct and separate from all others, and the power employed was that resident in the bones and sinews of the workmen, small pincers being used for holding the strands in the drawing processes and whenever the fingers could not conveniently and successfully serve the end desired.

But this slow method was destined to be superseded. The invention of machinery and the use of water or other power for the purpose of preparing rattan for the various kinds of service to which it was applied, was only a question of time, and the time came many years ago. In the year 1849, Mr. Sullivan Sawyer, then of Templeton, but now of Fitchburg, secured letters patent on a machine " for splitting and dressing rattan," and also on one for cutting rattan, in 18.51. These are the first inventions connected with the luisiness mentioned in the reports of the Patent OHice of the United States, but for ten years fi'om the date of the first of these they averaged one annually. A third patent was issued to Mr. Sawyer for a cane" working machine in 1854, and a fourth in 1855. In 1852 one was granted to Joseph Sawyer, of Royalston, and another in 1854, as also one in the same year to Mr. A. M. Sawyer, Templeton. In 1855 Mr. U. C. Reed, of Philadelphia, was similarly honored ; also Mr. C. C. Hull, of Charlestown. In 1858, George S. Colburn, then of South Reading, but for many years a resident of Gardner, and the manager of the cane department of the Heywood Manufactory until a recent date, took out his first patent for a rattanmachine, as he has also received several since that period. Some of these machines were of only experimental service, not standing the test of practical use ; but they were helps to that more perfect system of mechanisms and devices by which cane is now prepared for the muliiform uses to which it is applied. As a matter of fact, out of these several inventions there were evolved two or three machines, differing from each other in some respect.s, which were put to effectual use, and for a time supplied very largely the needs of the cane-seat chair-making public. At what date these went into successful operation it is difficult to determine. Indeed, Ihey were being experimented with and improved for several years, and turned out much imperfect work before they gave reasonable satisfaction, a result which was achieved about the year 1858 or, it may be, a little earlier ; but it was not far from that time that the problem of getting out cane by machinery was regarded as .solved, and tbat a new era had opened to that branch of business. For some years succeeding that period but little cane was worked in Gardner, that which was consumed in the town being prepared for the most part at Boston or Fitchburg, where large companies, organized for the purpose, had control of that department of the chair-making industry, and supplied the demand existing in this vicinity. Later on, however, arrangements were entered into by the partiesconcerned, under which the business of getting out caue was resumed in this place about the year 1875, where it has been continued under diflx'rent and varying auspices to the present time. Numerous improvements have been made in cane-working machinery as the business has gone on, and many new inventions have been brought forward, some of which have proved valueless, while others have been . of great service. Of these (produced mostly in the shops where the work is carried on) but few have been protected by United States patents, and so do not appear in any i)ublic record. One of the most important of these later machines, however, it may be stated, was the fruit of the practical sagacity of Mr. George S. Colburn, for which he received letters in recognition of its originality and merit from the United States Patent Office, bearing date November 18, 1879. It is substantially the machine now in operation in the only cane-producing establishment in Gardner, one of the largest in the world, and one from which all the cane used in the vicinity is now received, though it has been subjected since it was tir.-it started to sundry modifications and improve ments, whereby its work is rendered more perfect and satisfactory.

But not only have there been great improvements in the methods of getting out cane or of preparing it for use, but also in the ways and means of working it after it is so prepared, as well as in the styles or forms it is made to assume, when it is finally adjusted and finished for the market. Originally the only seat produced was what has been called the Chinese pattern, whether because it was devised in China and brought thence to this country or not is not known, but probably for that reason. It consisted in arranging the strands of cane passing from one side to ihe other of the frame and from front to back, in pairs, crossing each other at right angles ; each strand so interwoven with the others as that it passed first above and then below one running transversely, in regular order, all being attached to the frame by putting them in their proper place through holes made for the purpose. These pairs were adjusted according to the distance between the holes, usually about half au inch apart, causing square openings of a corresponding measurement to be made. Through these openings other strands were interwoven diagonally in two directions, thus cutting off their corners and making them octagonal in form. This produced a firm, substantial piece of werk, which when well executed was strong, durable and pleasing to the eye. A binding around the edge covering the holes in the frame gave it proper finish. This style of seat was the only one made for many years, and the same pattern of weaving was put into backs when cane-back chairs came into vogue. The work in it was always performed by hand, an adroit use of the fingers being necessary to a rapid execution of the diflercnt interlacing processes. This is the kind of seating substantially which was distributed far and wide throughout the community and furnished remunerative employment to a multitude of families for a long series of years. After a time some variations from it were introduced, gratifying to the popular taste, but not changing materially the character or method of the work.

It can be at once seen that seating according to this method was at best but a slow process, and so one not likely to satisfy the demands of this hurrying, fast-driving age. Seats must be made at a more rapid rate than was possible under the old, long-prevailing system. To meet the exigencies of the trade and of the times, a loom for weaving cane into a continuous web by the use of power was invented - the production of the mechanical skill of Mr. Gardner A. Watkins, formerly of Proctorsville, Vt., but at the time and since a resident of Gardner, whose ingenuity in this department of manufacture was repeatedly recognized and honored by the United States Patent Office during the years 18G7-G9. Other looms have been invented by other parties since that period, and numerous improvements have been made upon the original designs. The product of the looms first brought into use and run to much profit was what may be termed the solid web, similar to that of the simpler kinds of woolen and cotton cloth. It made a strong, durable seat, but had no artistic merits, and hence, was not suited to the higher, nicer grades of goods. Changes have been going on. New appliances have been added and difl'erent patterns of webbing have been devised, but everything thus I'ar brought out as the result of the introduction of the loom has been open to the same objection. No invention for weaving cane, so far as is known, has yet been able to make the Chinese seat pattern or anything nearly equal to it in artistic excellence and attractiveness. Yet a loom, or a device, has been invented by the USB of which the production of that precise iiattern has been greatly liicilitated. It admits of such an arrangement of certain jjarts of its mechanism as that the several pairs of transverse strands which enter into the constru tion of the ordinary seat, constitu- ting what is often termed warping and checking, can be woven together in proper form to receive the oblique or diagonal strands. Moreover, au ingenious contrivance has been devised, by the use of which these diagonal strands can be interwoven with wonderful ease and dispatch. It consists of a large needle, long enough to reach in an oblique direction from one side to the other of a web of cane prepared as just stated, having a revolving point whicli works its wa}' through the pr.)per openings by the turning of a small crank on the part of the operator, carrying with it as it advances a single strand of cane which it leaves in its rightful place, when it is it-elf withdrawn. By the use of these two inventions in connection with each other, the work of making seats of the original Chinese pattern at an immense saving of both time and labor is accomplished, and their introduction is likely to affect very seriously the old practice of hand-seating, even if it does not eventually bring it to an end. Moreover, that practice is threatened in another direction. There is a machine in process of construction, pas-^ing through its experimental stages, and promising success, which, while it may not produce the Chinese pattern exactly, will fabricate something .so much like it that the casual observer would scarcely notice the difference, and hence can readily be substituted for it in many if not in all the nicer kinds of cane-chair manufacture. A.nd, besides, this machine, when perfected according to the plan of those engaged in developing it, as it is quite likely to be, will do not one style of weaving alone, but an indefinite variety of styles in form and figure, by simply changing some of its constituent parts relatively to each other, or some of its multiform and intricate movements. In view of what has already been accomplished and will probably soon be accomplished, the whole matter of making even the better classes of cane-seats is very likely to undergo entire reconstruction at an early day.

The invention of the loom, whereby a continuous web of the woven cane was rendered possible, necessitated the designing of some method of splicing the strands in some sure and effectual way. This necessity was met by Mr. Watkins, in the evolution of a machine or series of machines, about the year 1870, by the operation of which, in proper order, the ends of strands proposed to be united could be scarfed so as to exactly match each other, and then, the corresponding scarfed parts being duly chareed with cement, be brought together and subjected to pressure in such a way as to cause them to adhere firmly without perceptibly enlarging the size of the strand at the point of juncture. The several devices by which this result is secured are exceedingly ingenious, and reflect much credit upon the inventor. The work is done so thoroughly and neatly that an inexpert eye will scarcely detect the place where the splicing is done, even in the strand, and much less when in the finished articles of productioD. Another method of gplieing, evincing considerable inventive skill, which has been widely employed, is that of brin;;ing the squared ends of the strands to be united together in line, and then bending about the two a little band or clasp of thin metal with serrated edges, which, when pressed closely into the substance of the cane, holds the parts securely together. This, though much used, does not make so neat a piece of work as the other method, and is nbt likely to be so durable or satisfactory to the chair-using public.

The use of the loom-woven seat, or of a seat made independently of the frame to which it was to be finally attached, also made it necessary to originate some plan of effecting that attachment, instead of the old one of passing the strands through holes bored for the purpose, which had to be abandoned. Two new ones have been employed with fairly satisfactory results. One of these is to turn the edges of the seat, cut to a proper size, down inside the frame and fastening them by a thin strip of wood on each side, firmly kept in place by screws. When carefully adjusted, these strips would hold the seat securely, as in a vise, and being underneath, would not be seen to disadvantage. Another plan is that of making a groove or channel continuously on the four sides of the frame, then cutting the web or seat exactly large enough to have its edges pressed into this groove without protruding on the outer side, and made secure by a stri|) of wood or spline prepared for the purpose, and forced into place after a suitable application of glue, to render everything firm and sure. A contrivance for beading the spline, and also for embossing the frame around it, operating in connection wiih the other processes, gives the whole a neat finish when completed. Every part of this work is done by machinery, the fruit of the inventive faculty of different persons, some of it being very ingenious, complex and heavy and of immense power. It is capable of being worked with such rapidity that, operating in connection with the loom continuously, only four minutes are required to make an entire seat, reckoning from the time when the cane is in the strand ready to be woven, to the time when the work is completed ready to be put into the chair for the market.

It is a noteworthy fact in this matter of the u^e of rattan as an element of chair and other manufacture, that a much larger portion of it is now made serviceable than was formerly the case. For a long time after it was introduced it was believed that only the external parts were of any practical value, which must be put into the goods in such a way as that the wear would come altogether upon the smooth, silicated surface. It has been found, however, that what remained after the outer portions are removed may be utilized in a great variety of ways. And much of the reed and rattan work of the present day, so pleasing to the taste and so deservedly popular in the form of chairs and other furniture, children's carriages, ba.-kets, etc., is composed of these portions once dtemed of no account and consigned to the flames. These same portions are also split into strands and, after being properly dressed and made smooth, are put into seats and other parts of the chair, just as those strands are which have the silicated surface. Goods thus fabricated have a presentable appearance, are durable and acceptable to the trade. In the ways indicated, almost the entire substance of the rattan is now turned to some profitable account, the actual was.te being exceedingly small.

Before proceeding to give an account of the several chair manufacturing establishments of Gardner, the history of which will present further details touching the development of this interesting and important industry, it seems desirable to offer a few general observations upon the business under notice. And it may be remarked, to begin with, that the practice of using labor-saving machinery, which was first resorted to fifty-five or sixty years ago, and which was one of the principal features of the change from the old to the new methods of production, has become essentially universal. Invention has kept pace with the evergrowing demand for goods and with the multiplication of styles, supplying every department of manufacture with mechanical devices suited to the ends it was designed to secure. Space will not admit of a description of any of these devices, even of the most wonderful and valuable of them, nor yet of the simplest statement of the special use to which they are respectively put. It must suffice to say that they are multitudinous in variety, ingenious in design, thorough and complete in construction, wonderful in operation and in the execution of their appropriate work, many of them seeminglygifted with almost human instinct and practical sagacity. So completely do they supply the needs of the chair manufacturer, that nearly all of what is termed hand-work - that is, work done by human strength - is that of feeding the machines and of putting the different parts together afier they have been prepared as indicated.

It seems needful also to state that much of the work of getting out stock, by which is meant cutting it from the original stick or log, and making it ready for the machine which shall put it into its final shape, is done in or near the lumber regions of New Hampshire, Vermont and Canada, or of more western localities, what is thus prepared being sent in bulk to the factories for further manipulation and use. Tracts of wood-land are sometimes owned by the manufacturers themselves, as are also the mills employed in connection with them, so that the entire process, or series of processes, required in the production of chairs, from the time of the felling of the tree whence comes the material that enters into their construction to the time when they are finally put upon the market, is under one and the same general management. But usually the stock is brought to the factories " in the rough," having been purchased of parties who make a distinct business of preparing it and supplying the demand which exists for it in that form.

Manufacturers usually finish their own goods, - that is, they not only put them into proper shape as complete articles of furniture, but they paint and varnish them and make them ready for final use in the dwelling of the consumer. It is not unfrequently the case, however, that in putting chairs together, they are left unglued; so that, after they have been finished, they may be taken to pieces and closely boxed for convenience of transportation to distant places, where they may be " set up " and made ready for sale. Sometimes, too, they are shipped "in the wood," without having been put together or painted at all, to be completed and put upon the market at the place to which they may be consigned. All the larger chair establishments at this day have a repair department, well equipped with the fi.\tures and appurtenances of a machine-shop, in which not only is the necessary repairing done, but new machines, or parts of machines, constructed, and where any new invention brought out in any establishment may be put into proper form, tested, experimented with and, if proved to be of practical value, made ready for service.

It is now in order to present as briefly as may be a sketch of the several establishments which are in successful operation in the town, and which, with their antecedents, to be incidentally noticed, may be regarded as fairly representing the industry under consideration during the more memorable part of its existence. They will be introduced substantially in the order of their historic and commercial importance.

Heywood Bros. & Co. - The history of this firm and of the business which it represents runs back more than half a century, to the early days of chairmaking, and of those other activitie.s in the community which have been closely related to it. During all this period the family name has been identified with this industry, and has occupied a prominent place in everything pertaining to its expansion and prosperity. As early as 1826 Walter Heywood, third son of Benjamin Heywood, whose father was one of the first residents of the town, having then but recently attained his majority, began the work of making chairs in a little shop standing in the yard attached to his father's house, which occupied the site of the present Town Hall building. At this date his older brothers, Levi and Benjamin Franklin, were engaged in running an old-fashioned country store nearby, although it is probable that both of them worked more or less at chairs in the way of learning the trade. Not long after, a new shop was erected by Walter on the spot where now stands the dwellingof Asher Shattuck, at the corner of Central Street and Woodland Avenue, in which the business was carried on till 1834, when it was burned. Meanwhile, Mr. Heywood associated with himself his brothers B. F. and William, younger than himself, also Moses Wood, of Gardner, and James W. Gates, of Boston, and in May, 1831, bought the privilege and shop of Merrick Wallace, where the principal factory of the present firm stands, and at once enlarged the facilities so as to accommodate them to their plans of increasing business. About the same time Levi Heywood, who, with his brother Benjamin F., had previously given up the store, went to Boston, where he opened a warehouse for the sale of chairs on his own account. In 1835 he returned to town and entered the firm just referred to, which was operating under the name of B. F. Heywood & Co. In 1887 the partnership was dissolved, the business being assumed by the Heywood Brothers, residing in town. A few years later Levi Heywood, who seemed to be more enterprising and progressive than his associates, especially in regard to the introduction of machinery, bought out their interest and went on for a while sole owner and manager of the concern. Subsequently, about the year 1844, he formed a co-partnership with Moses Wood, then of Providence, a member of the original firm, and his youngest brother, Seth, the firm name being Heywood & Wood. This arrangement went on till 1847, when Mr. Wood retired and Calvin Heywood, son of Levi, and Henry C. Hill, for some years manager of the painting department of the establishment, came in to fill the vacant place; the style of the new partnership being Levi Heywood & Co. Four years after this the firm resolved itself into a joint stock association, to which employes were admitted upon subscription to the invested capital, constituting what was known as the Heywood Chair Manufacturing Company. This new plan continued in operation for about ten years. In 18(51 the shops of the company were consumed by fire, when the joint stock experiment was abandoned.

As a result of the burning of the shops and the consequent relinquishment of the joint stock experiment, a new firm was formed the following year, consisting of Levi and Seth Heywood, Charles Heywood, son of Levi, and Henry C. Hill, assuming the style of Heywood Brothers & Co., which has been retained to the present time. Early in 1868 Charles Heywood and Henry C. Hill withdrew from the concern, and Henry and George Heywood, sons of Seth, entered it. Subsequently, Alvin M. Greenwood, sonin-law of Levi Heywood, was admitted, and still later, Amos Morrill, who married the daughter of Benjamin F. Heywood, long before deceased. In 1876 Charles Heywood re-entered the partnership, and remained in it till his death, in June, 1882. Before the year expired, his father, Levi Heywood, who had been connected with the establishment half a century, and to whose insight, energy, business ability and untiring persistency its success was chiefly due, as was in large degree the industrial prosperity of the whole town, also passed away. Seth soon retired, disposing of his interest to his sons, while Mr. Mor- rill bought Charles' share and part of that of Levi, which reduced the firm to four members at the opening of 1883, each having an equal interest under the re-adjustment. Four years later George, son of Seth Heywood, left, and George H., son of Henry, purchased an interest and become a partner with the remaining members, the charge of the Boston warehouse, then recently opened, being assigned to him. During the present year (1888) an interest in the business has been purchased by Calvin H. Hill, a clerk in the Gardner office, and also by John H. Welch, of the New York house. The firm at this writing consists of Henry Heywood, Amos Morrill, Alvin M. Greenwood, George H. Heywood, Calvin H. Hill and John H. Welch, and retains the name of Heywood Brothers & Co., which has distinguished it for twenty-seven years and by which it is known and honored throughout the land, and in realms beyond the sea.

This company confined itself to the production of the line of goods usual in chair manufactories till the year 1874, when they started the business of making reed and rattan chairs and furniture, as a branch of their regular work. This department has proved a valuable adjunct to the establishment, having increased in extent and in variety of style and workmanship from the beginning, incorporating with it a few years since the making of children's carriages in every conceivable diversity of design and elegance, and attaining at length wonderful proportions and unexpected importance. It is carried on in a building three hundred feel long, sixty feet wide and four stories high, well supplied with machinery, run by a Corliss eogine of eighty horse-power. The firm have had a large establishment for the manufacture of the same kind of goods in San Francisco for some year.^, and this very season have erected a building for the same purpose in Chicago, three hundred and sixty feet long, fifty feet wide and four stories high, in which some four or five hundred hands are to be employed.

The bu^iness done by this immense establishment in the town of Gardner for the year ending August 31, 1888, was upwards of $700,000, while its entire business for that period exceeded two and a half million dollars. Employment is given in the Gardner shops to about thirteen hundred persons, whose monthly pay-roll is not far from fifty thousand dollars, or six hundred thousand dollars per year. The extent of floorage in these shops is three hundred and forty thousand square feet, or a little less than eight acres. The several engines used to run the works amount, in the aggregate, to three hundred and twenty horse-power, while the boilers are capable of producing five hundred and sixty horse-power. The concern, including all its departments, is undoubtedly the largest of its kind in the couniry, and probably in the world.

the extensive manufactory of this enterprising and prosperous firm experienced varying fortunes during the first half of its history. It was originally purchased of William S. Lynde, in November, 1834, by Benjamin F. Heywood & Company, who built a dam and erected a saw-mill for the purpose of getting out lumber for use, probably in their chair factory already in operation on the stream above. The building was afterwards enlarged, furnished with machinery and used in part for the manufacture of chairs. At a later date it was sold to Martin Dunster, who removed to it the business of making boxes and various articles of wooden-ware which he had previously carried on in a shop located on what is now Broadway, near Otter River. A portion of it was let to Colonel Ephraim Williams, who established there a machine shop for making repairs and doing incidental iron work. In 1844 the whole establishment was destroyed by fire, and the property was purchased by several gentlemen, the principal of whom were John Edgell and the late Charles W. Bush, who, under the name of Edgell, Bush & Company, rebuilt and began the manufacture of boxes, chairs, settees and house-finishing material. After running a few years, they sold to Nichols & Baker, who used the premises for a grist-mill and for carrying on a general flour and grain business. That being given up, the estate was bought at auction, in 1863, by Philander Derby and Augustus Knowlton, who had been making chairs at the present shop of A. & H. C. Knowlton & Company, under the firm-name of Derby & Knowlton. They fitted it up as a chair factory and run it in connection with their other estab!i>hnient. Two years liter, Henry C. Knowlton, brother of Augustus, entered the firm, and the name was changed to Derby, Knowlton & Company. Under this management business increased rapidly, necessitating new buildings and new machinery, which were snpjilic d from time to time as the case required. In 1868 Mr. Derby and the Knowlton brothers separated, the former retaining this shop and continuing business on his own account for eleven years, when he received, as partners with himself, his son, Arthur P. Derby, and his sons-in-law Gec^rge Hodgman and George W. Cann, who have gone on together to the present, time under the style of Pbilander Derby & Company. From small beginnings this establishment, under the' general supervision of the senior member of the firm, who has displayed great enterprise, business sagacity and untiring persistence in the pursuit of purposed end-', aided latterly by his younger associates, has grown to immense jiroportions, enlarging its facilities from year to year, and increasing its production until it holds a place second only in importance to that of any other concern in town. The firm has warehouses in Boston and New York, and a halfinterest in a house in Chicago, one of 'the largest of its kind in the great West. The amount of business done in Gardner the last year was about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which employed from one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and fifty men, while the entire business of the firm has reached in the aggregate nearly a million dollars a year. The commodious shops of the company are filled with a good supply of the best machinery used in the manufiiclure of chairs, some of the most ingenious and serviceable portions of which were devised, constructed and perfected oq the premises, especially those pertaining to the rattan department, which is an interesting and important feature of the establishment.

S. K. Pierce & Co. - The extensive manufactory with which the familiar name of S. K. Pierce, recently deceased, was identified for more than forty year.-i, occupies the site where long ago stood the old potash works belonging to the estate of Captain Wm. Bickford, a large land-holder of his time in the village of South Gardner. It was purchased about the year 1830 by Stephen Taylor, SLproU-gf, it is said, of the Pierce family, who had been doing a small chairmaking business for a brief period in the fulling-mill of John Merriam, located on the site of the present establishment of S. Bent & Bros. He fitted it up for a chair-shop, and began the manufacture under the old system, all the work being done by hand. The business soon outgrew its narrow accommodations, when the old building was removed and a new, more commodious and more convenient one took its place. A dam was built across thestream near by and waterpower was introduced, with which to run the simple forms of machinery that were put in. Here Mr. Taylor, by industry, economy and careful management, built up a large and prosperous business, rendering it necessary for him to secure additional facilities in order that he might meet the increasing demand for his goods - a demand created by the excellent quality of his work and by the reputation he had acquired for integrity, trustworthiness and honor in all his dealings with his fellow-men. Desiring at length to relinquish business, he sold out to Mr. S. K. Pierce, who had learned the trade of making chairs when a youth, and who, after working at difierent places, had entered the employ of Mr. Taylor a year before. Mr. Pierce formed a partnership with his brother, Jonas Pierce, and the two went on together for three years, when the relation was terminated by limitation. During that period a one-story building, sixty feet by thirty, served the purposes of the firm, in which eight men were employed, besides the proprietors, who themselves performed their regular day's labor with the others. The chairs produced, which met with ready sales, were carried to Boston by the then existing methods of transportation, a single team of two horses doing all the work at first, though at the end of the three years of partnership the business had grown so much as to require two teams of four horses each to meet its requirements in that regard. After continuing alone for some time Mr. Pierce associated with himself Philander Derby, one of his workmen, who remained a partner only two years, when Mr. Pierce assumed once more the sole control of afliiirs, going on prosperously as before. With the rapid growth of business, additions were made as seemed desirable to the shop included in the original purchase, until in 1858 it was deemed wise to begin a thorough readjustment of the entire establishment, with its fixtures and appurtenances. Accordingly, someof the old buildings were removed to make room for the first part of the present spacious structure, whose full proportions and complete equipment were reached nine or ten years afterward. Since that time additional buildings have been erected for workshops or store-houses as the interests of the business required. The main factory, as it now stands, is ninety feet long.by forty-five wide, four stories high above the basement, with an addition of the same height fifty-six by thirty feet. Numerous other buildingi devoted to purposes incident to the business added to this, complete the outfit in the respect under notice of this great concern. The mechanical equipment now in use is of the most approved kinds and patterns, and is operated by a water-wheel of fortyfive horse-power, with an accompanying steam-engine for supplementary purposes of seventy-five horsepower. Over a hundred men are employed in this establishment, and a business is done amounting to about 1175,000 annually. Some six years ago Mr. Pierce associated with himself his son. Prank J. Pierce, who had grown up in the manufacture and was well acquainted with its details, and who was therefore qualified to share with his father the responsibility of its management. By a sad fatality the senior member of the firm was stricken with pneumonia in the latter part of the winter of 1887-88, and died after an illness of only five days. Arrangements have been made between the several parties financially interested in this establishment, whereby it is now going on as hitherto, under the name of S. K. Pierce & Son, Mr. Frank J. Pierce being manager.

John A. Dunn. - The business of chair-making was commenced on the location where now stands the large and bu.sy factory of John A. Dunn, in 1838, when Elijah Putnam bought the water privilege of Win. S. Lynde, and, having constructed a dam, moved his shop there, and supplying it with machinery, put himself and his men to work. Seven years after, Mr. Putnam sold out to Thorley Collester, Ruel G. Cowee and Benjamin H. Rugg, who continued the business under the firm-name of Cowee, Collester & Co. for a short time, when Maro Collester and Edward Stevens purchased Mr. Cowee's interest, and the style was changed to Collester, Rugg & Co. At a later day Maro Collester and EdwardStevens retired, and Franklin and George Eaton took their p'aces, when the firm-name was again changed to Collester, Rugg & Eaton. When Mr. Collester died, in 18G2, Mr. Rugg and George Eaton left, and Nathaniel Holmes became associated with Franklin Eaton, forming the comjiany of Eaton & Holmes. Later John A. Dunn was admitted to the firm, which then toob the name of Eaton, Holme.'* & Co. In 1875 Mr. Holmes sold his interest to Isaac J. Dunn, brother of John A., and the firm-name became J. A. & I. J. Dunn, under which business was carried on till 1886, when John A. bought his brother's share and has since conducted the enterprise on his own behalf. Up to the year 1859 or 1860 the machinery of the factory was run wholly by water-power, at which date, a large addition having been made, a twenty- five horse-power tteam-engiiie was put in for supplementary purposes. In 1870 Eaton & Dunn exchanged this for one of one hundred horse-power, which is still in use. In 1877 another considerable enlargement was made to the establishment. The business has been increasing rapidly in later years and promises well for the future. The amount done advanced from one hundred and forty thousand dollars in 1SS5 to one hundred and seventyfive thousand dollars in 1887, and the extent of shoproom at the present date is twice what it was ten years ago, while the facilities for doing work have been multiplied proportionally. A great advantage was gained to ibis establishment and to others in the vicinity in 1881, when a spur of the Fitchburg Railroad wa.1 laid, furnishing greatly-improved and muchneeded conveniences for the transportation of stock and manufactured goods.

Samuel Bent Bros. & Co. - This is one of the more recently formed chair manufacturing firms of the town, and one which, by inherent energy, close attention to business and personal integrity and honor on the part of those concerned in its management, has attained a well-merited success. The privilege on Mill Street which it occupies was first improved by John Merriam in 1822, who used it for the purpose of carding wool and fulling cloth. In 1836 he sold it to Sullivan Sawin, who had recently left the pail factory and settled near by, and it was fitted up for chair-making, the business being carried on by his son, Sullivan Sawin, Jr., in a small way for a few years. Sullivan, Jr., was succeeded by his brother, John, who improved the premises, increased the business and continued it for about twenty-five years. Besides some of the cheaper grades of wood-seat chairs and stools, he manufactured what were called office-chairs, which had a large run for a time. For many years he made a specialty of school furniture, both chairs and desks, which he sold to William G. Shattuck, of Boston, a large dealer in that kind of goods, and which through him were scattered far and wide throughout the country. He also made large quantities of children's chairs of different patterns and sizes, employing some six or eight men in his business. About the year 1860 he retired, and was succeeded by his brother-in-law, A. Allen Bent, who had been many years in his service, and who run the establishment with satisfactory results until 1869, when he disposed of the property to his younger brother,

Charles, then just returned from California. Mr. A. A. Bent made a specially of children's chairs, but he also turned out bent work, some styles of which, designed by hims-elf, proved very popular, and are still jiroduced and put upon the market. Mr. Charles Bent at once associated with himself his brothers, Samuel and Eoderic L., under the name of Samuel Bent & Bros., and the firm started out on its prosperous career. They soon found it necessary to enlarge their accommodations, and improve in many ways their facilities for business, an experience repeated several times during their history. The old buildings have been removed and new ones, adapted to the growing wants of the manufacture, have taken their places. Their main shop is one hundred and twenty feet long by forty wide, two stories high with a commodious, well-lighted basement in which the heavier work is done. There is also a building one hundred and sixty feet long by forty wide, two stories high, which is used for a paint-shop and store- house, and in which is the ofiice of the firm. A large barn has recently been erected for the convenience of the business. In 1880 a spur track was laid to the factory from the B. B. & G. Railroad, greatly improving the shi])ping facilities - the firm doing the grading at an expense of $-1000 and the corporation laying the rails and furnishing the rolling-stock. Besides the common style and grade of goods produced by this enterprising concern, they supply the market with a large number and variety of children's toy chairs, mostly of fanciful design, for which there has in recent years been a great demand. Besides an excellent water-power, which is rendered doubly valuable by reason of the South Gardner Reservoir, elsewhere described, the establishment is provided with a fifty horse-power steam-engine for heating purposes, and for supplementing the water-wheel if necessary. About one hundred men are employed, and an annual business is done of $150,000. Mr. Samuel Bent, the senior member of the company, died in 1883, his son, Charles Leslie Bent, succeeding him in the firm, the style of which was changed to S. Bent Bros. & Co.

CoNANT & Bush. - This company consists of Chas. W. Conant, formerly member of the firm of Conant, Ball & Co., and C. Webster Bush, the present clerk of the town. In 1875, Mr. Conant, having withdrawn from active participation in the business with which he had been connected for some years, took the lead iu establishing the enterprise of which he is now the head, for the purpose of manufacturing reed and rattan chairs, getting out cane and doing other kindred work. The firm c immenced operations in 1883, in the building known as the "Alley Paint-Shop," near the railroad stations, which they had purchased, fitted up and furnished with new and improved machinery suited to their special line of production, including a steam-engine for the supply of needed power. The venture proved successful, the firm rising rapidly to a creditable and commanding position, having produced the first year over a thousand bales of cane prepared for use, besides what they did in the chair-making department of their establishment. Two or three years later they entered into an arrangement with other cane-workers, whereby they engaged to suspend for a time that line of work, and have since confined themselves strictly to the manufacture of reed and rattan chairs in a manifold variety of useful and ornamental forms. They have recently purchased the "Carney Building," standing near the "Kendall Crossing," on South Main Street, and have fitted it up for the manufacture of all kinds of children's rattan carriages, which will hereafter hold a prominent place in their establishment. They have been employing, on an average, about a hundred men, and doing a business of $140,000 a year, which, by the enlargement referred to, will be considerably increased in the immediate future. With ample accommodations and all needful appliances for turning out work, the prosperity of this firm, managing theit affairs with characteristic enterprise and sagacity, is assured beyond all peradventure.

CoSANT, Ball & Co. - In or about the year 1852 Aaron B. Jackson and Aaron L. Greenwood purchased the water privilege which for many years had been utilized by the father of the former for running a grist-mill, with lands adjoining, located on the north side of Broadway, three-fourths of a mile west of the Sjuth Gardner post-office, upon which they erected a factory for making various styles of cane-seat and back chairs. Here they started and carried on business till 1857 or 1858, when they sold out to Abner and Leander White, who continued the same under the name of A. White & Co. The leading member of this firm, Abner White, had been engaged in chair-making for many years in Gardner and elsewhere, and occupied, for a time, a notable place in that industry, though he seems to have been a wandering, rather than a fixed star in the brightening galaxy of chair manufacturers. In the year 1802, John R. Conant, who had been previously associated with Mr. White, entered the firm, from which, a year later, Mr. Leander White retired, Charles W. Conant, brother of John R., succeeding him. Mr. Abner White withdrew in 1866) and the business went on under the management and name of Conant Brothers for two years, when Carlos E. Ball, who had charge of the Boston department established some time before, entered the partnership, the name being changed to ('onant. Bill & Co., which itstill bears. Seven years later Charles W.Conant retired from active membership in the concern for the purpose of inaugurating a new undertaking, though he remained a silent partner till 1884, when he severed hit connection with it altogether. Additions were made to the shop and fixtures from time to time as the requirements of the growing business dictated. Beginningwith the use of water-power alone, a gradual change to steam was made, resulting in its exclusive use in 1882, when the Gardner Water- Works were established and the control of the stream issuing from Crystal Lake, on which this factory was located, passed into the haudi of the corporation having charge of those works, by act of the Legislature. Early in the year 1888, the firm bought out the stand occupied by L. H. Sawia fora generation, to which the business has been transferred with reasonable expectation of railroad facilities not hitherto enjoyed, and of an increased production of goods. The buildings recently taken possession of are undergoing renovation, enlargement and a general improvement, as are all the accessories of the establishment. The works are operated by an engine of forty horse-power attached to a boiler of twice that capacity. The production of this firm has hitherto been restricted to a fine class of goods, mostly of mahogany, cherry and black walnut stock; but a decline in the popularity of the hitter of these woods has necessitated somewhat of a change in the material used, though not in the quality or style of the work, which has been distinguished for excellence and good taste wherever it has been known. The business of the firm has nearly doubled in ten years, amounting now to about §100,000 annually, and furnishing employment to forty men. Within a few weeks the main factory, so lately vacated by this concern, has been destroyed by fire.