Worcester City (part 1 of 58)

Worcester City

liesohed. That the erection of a Parer-tnill in this county ivould be of great public advantage, and if any person or persons will undertake the erection of such a mill and llie manufacture of paper, that it be recommended to the people of the county to encourage the undertaking by generous contributions and subscriptions.

Any person or persons that incline to set up that useful manufacture, the making of paper, may hear of one who will undertake to give di- ,rectious for building a mill, and will cany on the business in good shape with assistance.

From the pamphlet on "Early Paper Mills in Massachusetts," by Mr. E. B. Crane, and part of the Proceedings of the Worcester Society of Antiquity for 1886, we learn that Mr. Abijah Burbank, of Sutton, was the first to respond to this resolution.

Paper was evidently very scarce, for we find that for want of it but one-half of the Spy could be published October 30, 1776. This was no doubt due to the scarcity of rags, which evidently continued for some time, for on October 30, 1777, the following notice was published :

The paper-mills and, of consequence, the printing offices in this county must inevitably stop unless the good people are more careful in preserving their rags. The advanced price of 3d. per lb. for clean linen rags is°now given by the printers, which, together with the invaluable benefit which the public must derive from having a plentiful supply of paper books, cannot fail of the desired effect.

This difficulty seems, however, to have been overcome, for in May, 1778, Mr. Burbank advertised, - " The manufacture of paper in Sutton is now carried on to great perfection."

The business of Isaiah Thomas as printer and publisher in Worcester had become of considerable consequence. The Kev. Peter Whitney stated that no person had added more to the consequence and advantages of the town and county of Worcester than Isaiah Thomas. The publishing of the Spy was only a part of his business. After the war, in 1788, he conducted a printing-office in Boston and in Worcester, and carried on a large business as printer, publisher, bookseller and bookbinder.

Mr. Thomas lived on the site of the stone courthouse, just south of which his office was located. He employed in the various departments of his business one hundred and fifty hands.

To provide paper for his needs, Mr. Thomas, to quote from Mr. Crane's pamphlet, " presumiibly with the intention of erecting a paper-mill, on January 7, 1785, purchased of Ephraim McFarland , for ninety pounds, the southerly half of a dam and water privilege located at what is now known as Quinsigamoad village, and on the northerly side of the street,

" Owing, perhaps, partly to the unsettled condition of the affiiirs of state, and to the impoverished plight of the country, the building of the mill was deferred, and November 9, 1787, he sold the property for eightyfive pounds to Dr. Elijah Dix, from whom he again purchased it January 31, 1793, for one hundred pounds, and soon began the construction of a two-vat mill"; and, to again quote from Mr. Crane, "This mill, built by Mr. Thomas, was supplied with two vats of about one hundred and ten lbs. capacity, and they ran usually fifteen hours each day, employing ten men and eleven girls. The main product of this mill was hand-made paper, and from twelve hundred to fourteen hundred lbs. were turned out weekly." As to price of labor : The skilled engineer received about three dollars per week, vat-men and coucher three and a half dollars each without board ; ordinary workmen and girls, seventy-five cents per week each; boys, sixty cents each, and they were given board.

It was here at this mill that Mr. Zenas Crane, a native of Dorchester, toiled at the trade of papermaking for several years previous to the summer of 1799, when he set out from Worcester to establish, in company with Henry Wiswell and Daniel Gilbert, a paper-mill in the western portion of Massachusets, and succeeded so admirably in laying the foundations for a business that, through the careful and skillful management of Mr. Crane and his descendants, has assumed the most flattering proportions, and whose trade-marks, known as " The Old Berkshire," " Old Bed Mill," "Pioneer Mill" and "Government Mill," stand for as good an article of paper as can be found in this country or perhaps any other.

Mr. Thomas sold his paper-mill to Caleb and Elijah Burbank, of Sutton, February 24, 1798. This papermill wag the second in the county and the eighth in the State. Another building was erected shortly after 1811, below the Thomas Mill, and used as a sickle-factory by Gardner Burbank, Elijah's son ; afterwards it was converted into a paper-mill. This building was located in what is now the scrap-yard of the Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company.

In 1778 the principal articles, aside from food and the ruder kinds of cloth, were imported, and mostly from England. The resident of Worcester could find steel, bar iron, choice brandy, New England and West Indian rum, coffee, alum, brimstone, powder and shot at the store of Samuel & Stephen Salisbury, on the north side of Lincoln Square, just east of the Salisbury mansion, where the depot now stands.

Clock and watch-work was done in a small way, but not of a very fine grade, if we riiay judge from the following description of a watch suppo.sed to have been stolen : " A large old-fashioned watch with the

As a rule, shoemakers in the early days went from house to house, but in 1779 Nathan Heard appears to have established a small shoemaker's shop in Worcester.

Daniel Waldo, to whom reference has been made, opened, in 1782, a store near the bridge over Mill Brook at Lincoln Square, where he offered for sale best Heart and Club German steel, bar iron, 4dy. and lOdy. nails, window-glass, Dutch looking-glasses, iron shovels, spades, saddlers' ware, and in general, an assortment of hardware and West India goods, choice Bohea tea, etc.

In 1783, Abel Stowell manufactured clocks and watches in his shop south of the meeting-house, on the west corner of Park and Salem Streets. He made in 1800 the clock formerly in the Old South Church. The business of watch and clock-making appears to have been a considerable industry at this time. Benjamin Willard, of Grafton, who had an office with Isaiah Thomas, had sold two hundred and fifty-three eight-day clocks up to 1784.

The art of hat- making was early practiced in Worcester ; John Smith ofl'ered one shilling each for catskins in 1782, and in 1789 Nathan Blackburn advertises for an apprentice in the hat-making business.

In 1789 Palmer & Daniel Goulding owned a tanyard. Almost every town had a tan-yard, and leather of sufficiently good quality was made to serve the needs of the shoemakers and saddlers in the immediate vicinity.

Improvements in the simple conveniences for living were made from time to time, and in 1791 the appreciation of the necessity for a cheap and satisfactory artificial light is found in the construction of a new candle machine, - price, forty-five dollars, - with which it was claimed a boy could make three hundred and sixty rods of candle? per day.

Abraham Lincoln had a trip-hammer and gristmill a 'few rods from the court-house, which he offered for sale in 1795. It must have been located on Mill Brook. The works are described as containing two pairs of bellows that go by water, a grindstone and mill all under one roof; "said works and grist-mill are as convenient and as well situated for custom as perhaps any in the Commonwealth."

The desire for communication between the seaboard and Worcester appears to have been felt previous to March, 179(i, when some persons formedan association at Providence for making a canal to Worcester, and they were at that time invited to a conference in Worcester at the tavern of Ephraim Mower Later on, no doubt as a result of this meeting, a prospectus appeared setting forth the purpose of the Canal Company, which was to issue four thousand shares of stock at one hundred dollars each, which it was estimated would cover the cost of building the canal. Subscriptions were solicited ia Worcester; William Paine (at Dr. Lincoln's store), Joseph Allen (at his office), Isaiah Thomas, Thomas Payson, Daniel Waldo, Jr., and Samuel Chandler were appointed to receive them.

In October, 1796, a number of individuals petitioned the General Court for an act of incorporation for the purpose of cutting a canal from Great Pond in Worcester to Boston, but nothing was done at this time either with the Blackstone Canal or with the proposed canal to Boston. In 1822 surveys were made for the Blackstone Canal, which was afterwards put into successful operation, as appears later in the narrative.

In 1798 Daniel Denny had a card-factory on Mechanic Street near Main, opposite Mower's tavern (present site of Walker's building); later, he moved to Main Street, opposite present site of Bay State House. He, no doubt, bought his wire of Daniel Waldo, who imported it, and who, at this time, announced " Si.xteen casks of Wool and Cotton Card wire will be landed in a few days from the brigantine ' Aidar,' just arrived from Amsterdam."

Cornelius Stowell, the clothier, had, in 1785, a shop on the east corner of Park and Orange Streets. Abel (the clock-maker), Peter and Ebenezer were his sons. The two latter he took into partnership with him about 1790, when they began to manufacture woolen goods, print calicoes, carpets, dye and dress woolen goods. They had two fulling-mills, and dyed fine scarlet and deep blue colors in the best manner.

In 1804 Peter & Ebenezer Stowell commenced to weave fine carpets, and at one time had six looms of their own invention and construction in operation. They made the first carpets used in the State-house at Boston. July 19, 1809, a patent on wood screws was granted to Abel Stowell, and in January, 1816, he and his son were located on the Common, a few rods southwest of the Baptist meeting-house, where they conducted a miscellaneous business, dealing in stoves of cast and sheet iron, with their funnels, "as cheap as they can be purchased in Boston or any other place." Machinery of all kinds in brass and iron, particularly such as are used in carding and other factories; clocks for meeting-houses and printers' materials in iron and brass. Among his effects offered for sale by his administrators in May, 1819, was an undivided part of what is called the Black Lead Mine, consisting of two acres. This was, no doubt, what was later known as the Worcester Coal Mine. Black lead was procured here and ground into a paint, which was quite generally used.

In January, 1808, Curtis & Goddard were busy making chaises, and at this time appear to have moved from opposite the jail to a building south of the bank. Samuel Newhall had taken the noted stand of John Johnson, where he intended carrying on the soap-making business. Thomas Stevens, cabinet-maker, states that he has purchased the right to make and sell two kinds of churns for several towns in the county.

In May. 1810, John Earle and Erasmus Jones erected a woul-carding machine to pick, break and card wool at the building known as Lincoln's Trip- j hammer Shop, iifteen rods east of the court-house.

At this time the number and variety of manufactures in Massachusetts appear to have increased considerably. Some idea of these, in 1810, may be had from a notice issued from the marshal's office in Boston July 17th, asking for information in regard to the following industries: tanneries, distilleries, sugar refineries, breweries, paper-mills, oil-mills, snuff-mills, chocolate-mills, gunpowder-raills, glass-works, fullingmills, carding-machines (going by water), hemp and flax spinning-mills, cotton and wool-spinning mills, rope-walks, furnaces, air furnaces, forges, bloomeries, rolling and slitting-raills, cut-nail factories, triphammers and steel-furnaces.

The sudden increase in the variety of manufactures may be attributed to the embargo, declared in December, 1807, aud to the complications then existing between this country and France and England, which led to an almost complete stoppage of importations, aud manufactories of cotton goods, woolen goods, iron, glass, pottery and other articles rapidly sprung into existence.

Previous to the embargo, according to Hildreth,' there were in the United States but fifteen cottonmills with a total of eight thousand spindles. By the end of 1809 eighty-seven mills were built, of which sixty-two were in operation - forty-eight by water and fourteen by horse-power - working thirty-one thousand spindles, and many more were in process of erection.

Most of the saws used in Worcester in 1810 doubtless came from the works of Elijah Waters & Co., at Sutton, who kept on hand steel-plate and saw-mill saws of various sizes.

One of the earliest machine-shops in Worcester was that of Earle & Williams, in 1812, opposite the courthouse, where they carried on the business of machinemaking, and advertised for sale machinery for spinning cotton and wool, carding-machines, and brass castings. Their shop was destroyed by fire January 5, 1815.

In April, 1813, the attention of shoe and bootmakers is called to a new and useful improvement, secured by patent, for putting shoes and boots together with copper nails, without any sewing. The patentee announces that he will attend at Captain Mower's tavern in Worcester (the site now occupied by Walker's building) from the 12th to the 20th instant, for the purpose of selling patent right, and claims that the invention "has been proved to answer every purpose for beauty, ease and convenience, and vastly more durable, at a saving of about half the work, and remedies -all the evils attending iron nails and wooden pegs."

In April, 1815, the Worcester Tannery is offered for sale. It is described as situated in the centre of the town, and is one of the most extensive and convenient establishments in the State, in perfect repair, and with all the accommodations and necessary tools for carrying on the business.

"Through the middle of the yard runs a large brook, confined by a very handsome stone wall. A few rods from the tan-yard is a building in which bark is ground by water, and in which there is a patent bark-mill, strong and well-constructed."

Some reason for the sale of the tannery may be found in the heavy taxes upon leather. The other tanneries in different parts of the county appear to have suffered, for no less than nine are offered for sale during 1816 and 1817.

If you nialce a single boot or shoe above $5 value without giving bonds to secure the diity to Government, you do it at your peril, and are subject to a penalty of not less than S500 I

Wliat is your situation better than that of Virginia negroes? You must account for every pair of boots you make to the Collector. You must tell how much you ask for them, whom you make them for, and how many pair you make ; and, to crown the whole, all this must be done under oath. No, that does not crown the whole ; one thing more, whenever a customer breaks, orrunsaway, or cheats you, in addition to the loss of the article itself, and the labor, you must pay the duty upon it to ihe Government I This is the crowning, the cap-sheaf.

Silversmiths, carpenters, jobbers, hatters, tailors, tobacconists, boatbuilders, tin-men, blacksmiths, and ye mechanics and manufacturers of all articles and commodities of whatever name and nature, be ye also ready. A One of S500 awaits you unless you comply with the provisions of these arbitrary, iniquitous laws passed by Congress the I6th and 27th February, 1815.

In May, 1815, Earle & Williams give notice that in addition to machinery for carding wool, they will have in operation, about the 1st of July, machinery for the spinning of wool, which can be spun at a rate greatly below Ihe price of hand-.spun. They al<o give notice, June 21st, that, in connection with Asa Mann, they have in operation, near Stone's tavern, south part of Leicester, machinery for carding wool.

Joshua Hale, at the same time, states that he has put his machines for carding wool and spinning cotton in most excellent order, and attends them himself; also that he has for sale cotton yarn made of cotton selected by himself in Savannah, which he warrants to be the best.

In September, 1815, Thomas & William Stowell advertise that they have improved the building lately occupied for a wire-factory, one and a half miles south of the meeting-house, where they have put their works in the best order for dressing cloth, and are in readiness to meet any demands in their business.

John W. Lincoln, in January, 1816, advertises all sizes of nail-plates from the Millbury Rolling-Mill Company. This company was established in the latter part of December, 1815, for the purpose of manufacturing nail-plates and rods.

William Hovey, June, 1816, advertises a double carding-machine in operation for custom work at his factory, one mile south of the meeting-house in Worcester, where merino wool is carded in the best manner.

October 2d he gives notice that he has taken George March into company with him, and that at Hovey's mill they will manufacture wool into cloth ; price for spinning wool, three cents per skein.

At this time considerable interest was manifested throughout the country in manufactures, and frequent meetings were held for the purpose of devising means for their encouragement. A committee of the Legislature in New York urged that members of Congress be instructed to attempt to have the duties on woolen and cotton increased ; urged the public officers to clothe themselves in American cloth, and that manufactures be exempt from taxation, and manufacturers from serving in the militia, and from other public duties.

It appears to have been quite popular at this time for American statesmen to appear in clothes of American manufacture. It is said that Henry Clay, when once in Millbury, was presented with a roll of blue broadcloth, the product of the mill of Colonel Sheppard, and Mr. Clay remarked that his next suit of clothes would show Congress what American manufacturers could do.

Daniel Webster also had a suit of clothes made for his use in AVashington from cloth made by the Goodell Manufacturing Company, at Millbury, woven, very likely, upon looms made by W. H. Howard, of Worcester.

The Members of the Worcester Honorable Society, being prisoners for debt on parole, and deprived of the means of supporting themselves in prison, or their families at home, or of paying their debts, and unwilling their time and talents should be lost to themselves or to the public, hereby give information to their creditors and the good people of this vicinity that there are in the society those who can perform the business of farming, shoemaking, masons, clock and watch repairing, card making, mathematical and meteorological instrument making, painting and glazing, engraving, distilling, rope making, etc., and solicit a share of their patronage in the above-named kinds of business, which they can perform within the limits ; and they engage they will promptly and faithfully attend to all business entrusted to them.

This is iateresting, as indicating the variety of small manufactures carried on in and about Worcester at this time, and as illustrating the unfortunate working of the law then in force, which deprived many worthy men of any opportunity of escaping from their misfortunes.

In October, 1819, the Worcester Agricultural Society gave its first exhibition. Among the Worcester exhibits of domestic manufactures were two pieces of kerseymere and one calfskin, tanned and curried in two days by Eeuben Wheeler.

The judges noted with regret that no hoes, scythes, plows, wool, cotton and machine-cards were exhibited in a county which had long been distinguished for the manufacture of these articles, and, in their opinion, no cotton cloth sufficiently good was offered to be entitled to a premium.

Chapter Cxcii Manufactueing And Mechanical Industries

Strmnu and Mill Privilegea - Population of Worcesler - Blackstoiie Canal - The JtaUroadt -The First Expresses - The Old Coal Mine - Peat- Stage Lines,

The introduction of steam-power, the opening of the Blackstone Canal and the railroads, have made it possible for a large manufacturing city to grow where otherwise no considerable progress could have been made; for had it been necessary to depend altogether upon water-power, few large factories could have been located upon the small streams which constitute the head-waters of the Blackstone.

These streams, nevertheless, have played a most important part, affording means for starting manufactories which have since so largely developed in size and variety ; while the increased demand for power has been met by the introduction of steam-engines, through whose medium the waters which formerly were directly applied to the water-wheels, and whose capacity was consequently limited, are now equal to any demands which may be made upon them. For these reasons the w.ater privileges and streams deserve prominent mention in any account of the manufacturing industries of Worcester.

The Eamshorn stream, so called, rises in Ramshorn Pond, which lies two-thirds in Millbury and one-third in Sutton ; it flows in a northerly direction and is joined by Kettle Brook in the northeasterly part of Auburn.

Kettle Brook rises in Paxton, is fed by Lynde and Parsons Brooks, flows in a southerly direction and joins the Ramshorn stream, as above stated ; the united streams, known as French River, flow in a northeasterly direetion. At New Worcester, Tatnuck and Beaver or Turkey Brooka unite with French. Kiver, and the course becomes a little south of east. At this point the stream is known as Middle River for about a mile; Mill Brook then joins it, and from this point the river is known as the Blackstone.

Eamshorn Pond is owned by the manufacturers on the Blackstone River, who are assessed for all expenses and repairs. The pond and stream have a water-shed of nine thousand two hundred and fifty-tive acres. There are five privileges on this stream, previous to its entering the town of Auburn, the third privilege being that occupied by the old shop of Thomas Blanchard, where the eccentric lathe was invented by him, and is of considerable historic interest. The sixth privilege, which is in Auburn, is known as Larned's village or Pondville. There was a saw-mill here as early as 1794; later a mill was built for the manufacture of woolen goods, which has since been used for worsteds. Pond & Larned formerly owned this privilege, which is now occupied by Kirk, Hutchins & Stoddard.

The seventh privilege has long been known as Dunn's Mills ; here saw, grist and shingle-mills have been located at different times; plow handles, probably for Ruggles, Nourse & Mason, were at one time made here. The old mills were burned some time ago, and the privilege is now used for a shoddymill.

A mile beyond. Kettle Brook and Ramshorn stream unite, not far from the French meadows, on the left of the Norwich and Worcester Railroad coming from Auburn to Worcester.

The first privilege is an old saw-mill, but little used and somewhat dilapidated, owned by the town of Leicester. The second privilege down the stream is what was known formerly as Mulberry Grove (now Mannville), and is at present utilized for the manufacture of satinets by the Mann Brothers.

The third privilege is what is known as Kent's, built by the father of Mr. P. G. Kent, of Jamesville, who first built a saw-mill, then changed it to a shoddy-mill, then into a satinet-mill, which is now run by P. G. Kent & Brother.

The fourth privilege is Bottomly's brick mill, built by him, and known as his third mill. It is now owned and occupied by E. D. Thayer, and utilized for the manufacture of satinets.

The eighth privilege is the old mill built by Thomas Bottomly, an Englishman. This was one of the first mills built in this region, and is said to have been built before any of the mills on the stream. Mr. Bottomly was one of the pioneers in the broadcloth business, which he conducted at this mill for many years. It has been remodeled, and is now owned and run by George W. Olney. Mr. Hodges was Mr. Olney's predecessor.

The ninth privilege is one on which a mill was built by Thomas Bottomly for the manufacture of broadcloth, and was known as his " second mill."

Lynde Brook empties into Bottomly's Pond, and a short distance up this stream is the Worcester Reservoir. This mill has passed through several hands, and is now owned and occupied by Albert E. Smith, who makes woolen goods.

The tenth privilege was occupied by Robert Young for a saw-mill, which was afterwards changed into a satinet-mill and was washed away in the Lynde Brook disaster ; it was then merged in the Ashworlh & Jones privilege.

The eleventh privilege was formerly occupied by a grist-mill, built by a Mr. Adams, who sold it to Wadsworth & Fowler. The grist-mill was torn down and replaced by a satinet-mill, which, after some time, was sold to Ashworth & Jones, who erected there a handsome mill, one hundred and seventy by fifty feet, four stories high, which was run on beaver cloth. In 1886 it was purchased by Mr. E. D. Thayer, Jr., who carries on a large business in the manufacture of woolen goods.

The twelfth privilege was originally occupifd by a shingle-mill, then by a paper-mill, which was changed into a satinet-mill ; it then passed into the possession of Ashworth & Jones, who connected it with the privilege next above.

The thirteenth privilege is known as Darling's, and was first occupied by Solomon Parsons. It then passed into the hands of Mr. Darling. Satinets have always been made here.

The fourteenth mill is known as Hunt's. This was also built by Solomon Parsons, and sold to Bellows & Darling. Cotton batting was first made here, and then satinets. It is now run by a Mr. Butler in the manufacture of satinets.

The fifteenth is the Jamesville privilege, which Benjamin James bought of the heirs of the Burnett estate. It was originally a saw-mill in the woods. Mr. James bought soon after 1850 and built the factory, which he ran on hosiery till about 1860 ; he then changed to army cloth, and after that to fancy cassimeres. It was run up to the time of Lynde Brook disaster, when the dam was destroyed, the water plowing twenty feet beneath the dam. The mill was rebuilt and ran on cassimeres till about 1880. It passed through several hands, and finally came into the possession of P. G. Kent & Co., who enlarged the mill and now make satinets. There is

History Op Worcester Countf, Juassachusetts

The waters of Kettle Brook come into the Stoneville Pond at the end nearest New Worcester; at the other end a stream comes in which has been known as Young's Brook, and by other names. About a mile up this stream was an old paper-mill, erected about 1834 by Nathaniel S. Clark and Baniel Heywood. Kettle Brook with this stream carries the Stoneville Mill, now operated by the Stoneville Worsted Company in the manufacture of yarn for the carpet-mill of William J. Hogg.

In 1834 Jeremy Stone owned this mill; it then went into the possession of Edward Denny, next of A. L. Ackley, and later was changed from woolen to cotton goods.

John Smith bought the mill about 1858, and it was subsequently run by his sons - C. W. & J. E. Smith - for many years. About a mile from this point Mill Brook joins the Eamshorn stream, and thence proceeds through the French Meadow:-, and is known as the French River.

At the next privilege Mr. Trowbridge, grandfather of William T. Merrifield, built, in 1810, a mill for the manufacture of cotton yarns. There had previously been a saw-mill, and possibly a grist-mill at this point. At this time Joshua Hale was carding wool at the privilege now occupied by Albert Curtis, and the farmers were in the habit of taking their wool to Mr. Hale to have it carded and spun, and bought their yarn at Trowbridgeville, doing the weaving at their own homes.

Tatnuck Brook has a water-shed of eight thousand nine hundred and forty-three acres. Upon an old map, published in 1784, a trip hamaier-'mill, a cornmill and a saw-mill are found upon Tatnuck Brook within the limits of the town of Worcester. The first mill recollected by those now living is a sawmill in Holden, owned by a man named Hall; this was prior to 18-50. The second pi'ivilege was near the outlet of the present reservoir, where there was another saw-mill.

The third privilege was at Tatnuck. The fourth privilege was the old mill built in 1834 for David T. Brigham, in Tatnuck, near the bridge on the road to New Worcester ; it is now used for making satinets. It was built by William T. Merrifield in 1834. The fifth privilege was Patch's saw and gristmills.

Tne sixth privilege was a small mi^l, and the seventh, the upper privilege now occupied by the Coes Manufacturing Company. This and the lower privilege on Leicester Street are more particularly described in that part of this article which treats of the wrench business. Tatnuck Brook was known at one time as Half-

Way River, as the bridge at New Worcester was halfway from Boston to Springfield. On its tributary, Turkey or Beaver Brook, a saw-mill was located in 1784.

Nest to this privilege is the one occupied by the Hopeville Manufacturing Company, manufacturers of satinets. This was occupied by Thomas Sutton in 1831, where he put in the first iron water-wheel in the county. Sutton's original mill was burned in 1862. About 1848 there was a cotton-mill here run by S. H. Thayer. This was formerly known as Hornville, so called because, when the first mill was built, there was no bell, and the help were called to work with a horn.

Next come the carpet-mills, once the location of White & Boyden's machine-shop, where Mr. Albert Curtis learned his trade. Hatch & Gunn here commenced the manufticture of broadcloth in 1827; they were the first in Worcester to make woolen goods throughout. Then comes the Wicks Manufacturing Company, who recently commenced the manufacture of worsted suitings.

The next privilege is the one now occupied by the Worcester Wire Company, which has been used as a manufacturing site for many years and for many different purposes.

Upon the map previously referred to published in 1784, North Pond is said to cover thirty acres of ground. John Pierce's map, 1795, gives the area of North Pond forty acres, and says that in that year there were in Worcester five grist-mills, six saw-mills, one paper-mill. Near where Mill Brook leaves North Pond there were situated, in 1784, two fulling-mills; just southeast of the court-house was a trip-hammer shop. Between the two and just north of Lincoln Square the old mill of Captain Wing was located in 1685. Then a grist-mill, probably on the site of the Crompton Loom- Works, and a saw-mill was located at Quinsigamond, with the statement that "there is soon to be a paper-mill."

Mill Brook has a water-shed of seventy-seven hundred and fifty acres. The first privilege below North Pond Dam was occupied by a cotton-mill built by George T. Rice and Horace Chenery, about 1830.

The second was a factory built by Frederick W. Paine for Washburn & Goddard, and occupied by them until 1834; then by Goddard & Parkhurst until 1838, when it was leased for a short time by Ichabod Washburn, and was later occupied by William Crompton until it was burned in February, 1844.

Worcester

About 1836 N. Eaton & Co. had a paper-mill here. The Olivers, stove dealers, next used the privilege to grind black lead. In the fall of 1854 Mr. Samuel Warren purchased the property of Mrs. Oliver, and ran it as a tannery until 1885. Mr. Warren's ancestors on both sides for three generations were tanners. His main business was to supply the cardmakers with their leather. This water privilege has recently been purchased by Stephen Salisbury.

The fifth. Court Mills privilege. Abraham Lincoln had a trip-hammer shop here in 1795 ; Earle & Williams a machine shop in 1812, and a bark-mill was probably run in connection with the old tannery located just back of Exchange Hotel in 1815.

Before Court Mill was burned there was an old one-story building located here, used in 1828 by William Hovey for the manufacture of shears and straw-cutters. The basement of the new Court Mills was built of the stones which came from the old jail, which stood on the square facing the present depot.

The sixth privilege was built by F. W. Paine, at the corner of School and Union Streets. It was occupied at first by a small wooden building, thirty by eighteen, two stories high ; the basement was occupied by W. H. Howard, lead pipe manufacturer; the second story by Calvin Darby, who ran a carding-maehine. Mr. Howard was bought out by Ichabod Washburn in 1822, and January 1, 1823, Mr. Washburn and Benjamin Goddard formed a partnership, and at the same time bought out Calvin Darby. They manufactured woolen machinery here until their removal to Northville, in 1831. March, Hobart & Co. succeeded them. The premises have been occupied by various parties from 1822 till the present time in the manufiicture of woolen machinery, N. A. Lombard & Co. being the present owners.

The Red Mills were occupied by sash and blind and cutlery manufacturers, while from the same privilege was obtained power which ran the woolenmill of Fox & Rice, on the other side of the street. This privilege was sold, and the site became part of the sewerage system in the mayoralty of James B. Blake.

The eighth privilege was occupied by the upper and lower paper-mills at Quinsigamond, later and at present by the works of Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company.

Mill Brook has played an important part in the development of the manufacturing interests of Worcester, and three distinct privileges on this stream have been occupied by wire factories, while the first experiments of Ichabod Washburn were conducted at the present location of the Lombard Factory, on School Street. The fir»t wire-mill was located at Northville, and later was moved down the stream to the Grove Mill privilege, and later still the Quinsigamond privilege was used for this business. Mill Brook is now condemned to the main sewer shortly after it leaves the works of Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company, in Grove Street, from which it emerges into the Blackstone, just below the works at Quinsigamou'l.

It was not until 1820 that Worcester took first rank among the towns of the county. The census of 1765- 76 gave Worcester the fifth place in population, following Sutton, Lancaster, Mendon and Brookfield. In 1790, 1800 and 1810 Worcester stood third in order, Brookfield and Sutton preceding.

In 1820 Worcester took first place, and from that time to the present has shown a constantly-increasing percentage of the population in the county. That percentage amounted to something over eleven per cent, for the decade ending 1830, and over fifty per cent, for the decade ending 1880 ; while of the increase (17,142) in the population of the county between 1880 and 1885, 10,098, or nearly fifty-nine per cent., belongs to the city of Worcei-ter ; and of the population of the county, which was 244,039 in 1885, Worcester had 68,389, or a little over twenty-eight per cent. In 1820 the population of Worcester was 2,962, and of the county 73,625.

This brings us to the time of the building of the Blackstone Canal between Worcester and Providence, which marks an important epoch in the progress of Worcester, and too much credit cannot be given its projectors for appreciating the necessity to Worcester of communicaiion with the seaboard. It is true that the canal was never of great practical value, by reason of the better facilities for business afforded by the railroads. It is equally true that without the railroads the canal would have ensured the growth and prosperity of the town.

The plan of making a navigable water-way from Providence to Worcester was first suggested, in 1796, l>y Mr. John Brown, of Providence, and his associates, but the Legislature of Massachusetts, failing to assent to an act of incorporation, it was not then carried into execution.

upon which the following gentlemen served : Levi Lincoln, John Davis, John W. Lincoln, William E. Green, John Milton Earle, Edward D. Bangs.

In September, 1822, the surveys of the canal were completed. According to the report of the committee, the length of the canal would be forty-five miles and the descent from Thomas Street to tide-water in Providence 451* feet.

The ground was bored every twelve rods for the whole distance, and upon the route selected no rock was found within the depth of excavation. The engineer reported, " I have come to the conclusion that a canal 32 feet wide at the top, 18 feet at the bottom and 35 feet depth of water, would be a proper size to be formed, and that locks of 70 feet between the gates and 10 feet in width would be sufficiently large for the trade intended."

The excavation in Rhode Island was commenced in 1824, and a meeting of the Blackstone Canal Company was called at the Thomas Coflee-House, Worcester, April 9, 1825, for the purpose of forming a corporation.

Great expectations were formed of the amount of business that would be done, and it was claimed that the canal would more than double the value of real estate within six miles of it. The subscription books for $400,000 of the capital stock, were opened in Providence, April 27th ; three times the required amount was subscribed for, and the stock sold at a premium.

Fears were entertained in Boston at this time that the canal would divert trade from Boston to Providence ; to counteract this, a plan for a railway between Worcester and Boston was proposed. It is related that a wag, happening to be in town when the account of the sale of canal stock was received, was asked what the Boston folks would do when they heard of that. "Oh," replied he, "they will rail a-way ! "

The first canal-boat to arrive in Worcester was the " Lady Carrington," which arrived from Providence October 7, 1828, and moored in the basin in Central Street, at head of canal at eleven o'clock, and was advertised "To take passengers for Millbury to-morrow morning, returning in the evening, and she will remain here during the present week for the accommodation of parties."

The arrival of the " Lady Carrington," according to an account in the National jEgis, October 8, 1828, " was greeted on passing the locks by the cheers of the multitudes assembled. On reaching the Front and Central Streets bridges continued cheers hailed its approach. At eleven o'clock the boat arrived in the basin, and the commissioners and the crowd assembled were addressed by Colonel Merrick, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, who expressed the sentiments appropriate to the occasion. On the conclusion of his remarks, enthusiastic cheers, the thunders of cannon and the peal of bells welcomed the visitant to the town. The commissioners and other gentlemen of both States were passengers on che boat, and with the gentlemen of the town partook of a collation at the house of the Governor."

Port of Worcester, October 8, 1828, Arrived .yesterday, Canal-boat Carrington," Captain Dobson, from Providence, with slate and grain for Nathan Heard.

Canal-boat " Providence," Captain Dobson, with 10,00(1 lbs. lead pipe from T. & J. Sutton, machinery from ^^'illiarn Hovey, and iron castings from Sumner Smith.

Arrived, canal-boat " Worcester," Captain Green, from Providence, with 3457 lbs. of iron for Washburn 4 Goddard, 4169 lbs. of lead to J. 4 T. Sutton, 13 bales of cotton, 3 tons of logwood and one ton of copperas for William Buffuni, Jr.

But there were three serious drawbacks to the prosperity and profits of the canal, which soon made it unpopular with most of its stockholders and patrons. Unfortunately, a portion of the canal was located in the Blackstone River, and boats were more or less delayed in high, and also in low water, and in some seasons for weeks were detained with goods which were wanted for immediate use or sale. In some years the canal was for four or five months closed with ice. In a season of drought the manufacturers were jealous of the boatmen drawing so much water, and on several occasions in Rhode Island the owners of the mills and of the water-power ordered large loads of stone tipped into the canal-locks to prevent the boats from passing, which almost excited a riot among the boatmen, and some of the millowners were afraid their mills would be fired, as they had been threatened.'

April 22, 1846, the Spy states that the canal company had sold all that portion of the canal in Massachusetts, with all the privileges and franchises, except the reservoirs, for the sum of twenty-two thousand five hundred dollars to the Providence and Worcester Railroad Company, and April 25, 1849, the locks, boats and water-rights were advertised for sale. The last toll was collected November 9, 1848, but meantime more efiicient means of communication between the sea-board and Worcester was afforded by the railroads.

The Boston and Worcester Railroad Company was chartered June 23, 1831, to build a line from Boston to Worcester, - a distance of forty-four miles. A train was run through to Worcester July 4th; but it was not until July 6, 1835, that the road was formally opened, although the cars had, for some time previous, been running from Boston to Westboro', and, as early as April 16, 1834, to Newton. The train of July 6th to Worcester consisted of twelve cars drawn by two locomotives, and contained the president, directors, stockholders and invited guests to the number of about three hundred.

The train, which left Boston at a quarter before ten, arrived in Worcester at about one o'clock. It was met by a committee, of which Charles Allen was chairman ; a procession was formed under the direction of General Nathan Heard, and proceeded to the Town Hall, where a collation was served and speeches made. At four o'clock the train started on the return trip to Boston.

At the Insane Asylum, when the first locomotive passed, one of the inmates remarked : " Well, that beats the very devil ; 1 never before saw a critter go so fast with such short legs !"

In April, 1836, the business of the Boston and Worcester Railroad Company was said to have been more than double the amount of that of the corresponding time of the year preceding ; passenger cars were well patronized, and there was more freight than the company was prepared to care for. During the first five months of 1837 the receipts were twentysix thousand dollars more than during the same period in 1836, and continued to show a steady increase.

The Western Railroad Company was chartered February 15, 1833, to construct a line from the terminus of the Boston and Worcester Railroad to Springfield, and thence to the western boundary of the State. A mass-meeting was held in Faneuil Hall, Boston, October 7, 1835, to take measures to ensure the subscription to the capital stock of $2,000,0U0. This was accomplished, and the following winter the Legislature authorized a subscription of $1,000,000 in behalf of the State, making the capital stock S3,000,000. At this meeting Edward Everett made a speech, in which he insisted upon the importance to Massachusetts of "Communication with the West."

Trains commenced their regular trips between Springfield and Worcester October 1, 1839. The time occupied in making the journey was about three hours. A public dinner was given in Springfield in honor of the opening of the road, October 3, 1839, on which occasion Edward Everett said :

Let U8 contemplate the entire lailroaJ, with its cars and engines, as one Tast machine. What a iiortent of art I Its fixed portion one hundred miles long ; its movable portion flying across the State like a weaver's shuttle. By the seaside in the morning, here at noon ; and back in the compass of an autumnal day. And the power which puts all in motion, must wondrous, a few buckets of water ! ... Did we live in a poetic age, we have now reached the region where the genius of steam communication would bo personified and embodied. Here wo should be taught to behold him a titanic colossus of iron anil of brass, instinct with elemental life and power, with a glowing furnace for his lungs and streams of fire and smoke for the breath of his nostrils ! With one hand he collects the fura of the arctic circle, with the other he smites the forests of Western Pennsylvania. He plants his right foot before the source of the Missouri and his left on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, and gathers in his bosom the overflowing abundance of the fairest and richest valley on which the circling sun looks down.

September 14, 1867, the two Massachusetts corporations were consolidated under the name of the Boston and Albany Railroad Company, and on December 28, 1870, a further consolidation was effected with the New York roads, thus forming the present organization.

The Norwich and Worcester Railroad Company was chartered in March, 1833. The first meeting of the company was held at Webster July 1, 1835. The length of the routes surveyed was a little short of sixty miles, and passed through thriving villages, while upon thebanks of the adjacent streams there was said to be water-power sufficient to carry one million spindles ; the number of cotton-mills was seventy-five and of woolen-mills twenty-seven, exclusive of Worcester and New London. There were said to be one hundred and forty manufacturing establishments between Norwich and Worcester, within five miles of the road. Though fifteen miles longer than the Boston and Worcester Railroad, it was estimated it would cost five hundred thousand dollars less. Regular trips between Worcester and New London commenced March 9, 1840, and the fare to New York by this route was fixed at five dollars.

R. W. Whiting, Nov. 21, 1838, advertises that, havino- made arrangements with the Boston and Worcester Railroad Co. to occupy a part of a car, to be run with the passenger train to Boston in the morning and back in the afternoon, commencing on Monday, 26th of November, he will take charge of all packages, bundles, etc., which may be entrusted to his care, and will see them safely delivered the same day, and that he will also transact with promptness any other business committed to his care.

He had an order-box at the Temperance Exchange, Railroad Depot and the American Temperance House, where he could be found after seven in the evening and before seven in the morning.

William F. Harnden has always been credited with being the father of the American Express system. His advertisement is found in the Spy of June 24, 1840, where he announces that the Worcester, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Boston Baggage Express will commence July 1, 1840, running daily, and that he will forward in his express car daily, packages, bundles, etc., to and from each of the above-named places, - to Boston by steamboat-train

All packages must be marked Harnden's Express, and sent to his office, N. lead's Hat Store, one door north of the Post-Office, Worcester. Simeon Thompson, agent, Worcester.

September 2, 1840, Burke & Co. advertise the New York and Boston Baggage Express, via Norwich and Worcester, run by the subscribers, P. B. Burke & Alvin Adams. Packages to be left at J. B. Tyler's, Worcester.

The question of a railroad between Providence and Worcester, a distance of forty-three miles, was seriously discussed as early as 1837, but nothing was done for several years. In August, 1845, the enterprise came nearly to a stand-still, although eight hundred thousand dollars had been subscribed under the Rhode Island charter and one hundred thousand dollars under the Massachusetts charter; but the Rhode Island charter required that the whole capital of one million dollars should be taken up before the company could proceed. The amount was linally raised, and a consolidation was effected November 4, 1845, of the Massachusetts and Rhode Island Companies, each of which was chartered in 1844. The main line was opened in October, 1847, when a train, made up of nine covered cars and twelve or thirteen open cars, drawn by three powerful engines, arrived in Worcester with twelve hundred passengers from Providence and towns on the line.

The Worcester and Nashua Railroad Company, organized in November, 1846, was a consolidation of a company of the same name, chartered in Massachusetts March 5, 1845, and the Groton and Nashua Railroad Company, chartered in New Hampshire December 4, 1844. The road was opened from Worcester to Nashua, a distance of forty-six miles, December 18, 1848. The Nashua and Rochester Railroad Company was chartered July 5, 1867, and opened from Rochester to Nashua, a distance of forty-eight miles, November 24, 1874. William A. Wheeler was one of the principal promoters of the Nashua Railroad, and was the superintendent of construction.

December 1, 1883, the Worcester & Nashua and Rochester Railroads were consolidated under the name of the Worcester, Nashua & Rochester Railroad Company, which company was leased to the Boston & Maine Railroad Company October 30, 1885, for fifty years from January 1, 1886.

The Boston, Barre & Gardner Railroad Company, running from Worcester to Winchendon, a distance of thirty-six miles, was chartered April 24, 1847, as the Barre & Worcester Railroad Company, and April 24, 1857, as the Boston, Barre & Gardner Railroad Company. It was opened to Gardner, September 4.

1871, and to .Winchendon, January 4, 1874. It was taken posession of by the Fitchburg Railroad Company March 7, 1885, and merged in the latter company as a branch, July 1, 1885.

It will thus be seen that from an early day Worcester had the advantages of the best railroad facilities, and to this, and to the introduction of steam-power, is to be most largely attributed her rapid growth as a manufacturing city. At the present time there is not only direct communication with all points north and south, but there are five outlets and thirteen different lines, more or less, affording direct communication with the AVest. Edward Everett's wish, so strongly expressed in his speech in Faneuil Hall prior to the opening of the Western Railroad, is most perfectly fulfilled.

In 1823 attention is called to the advantages possessed b_^' Worcester which should make it a large manufacturing centre. Encouragement is found in the fact that towns in the interior of England, with no greater local advantages, have contained from 10,000 to 15,000 inhabitants, and since the introduction of steam-power, a population of from 80,000 to 100,000 has been reached. It was stated that Worcester would soon be at the head of canal navigation, and in addition, her " inexhaustible store of anthracite coal, well calculated for steam-engines," was referred to as being of the greatest value.

Considerable attention was given in 1823 to the examination of the anthracite coal deposits, which were located northeast of the city, west of Plantation Street, and near its junction with Lincoln Street, now known as the Old Coal Mine.

The coal was said to be of the same variety as the Rhode Island, Schuylkill and Lehigh coal, and was found, according to statements then made, to ignite easier than any of them and to burn longer. Careful comparisons were made of the relative value of these different varieties and the result, with a given quantity of each, showed as follows :

Worcester coal lasted five hours; Lehigh, four hours twenty-five minutes; Rhode Island, three hours thirty-six minutes. The thermometer was raised by the Worcester coal to one hundred and seventy-nine degrees ; by the Lehigh, to one hundred and sixty ; by the Rhode Island, to one hundred and thirty-four. The Worcester coal burned brighter than the others, and with more flame. It was confidently asserted that when the Blackstone Canal should be completed Worcester coal would be the cheapest fuel for Providence; it was estimated, however, that the Worcester coal was more impure than the Lehigh, containing a considerable portion of earthy matter that remained in the form of ashes after burning ; but,' in spite of this, it was thought that it would answer a valuable purpose. Tests were made at the Worcester Brewery, which appear to have been satisfactory, for in February, 1824, application was made to the General Court for the incorporation of the Massachusetts

For the next two years it appears to have been used as the principal fnel in the brewery of Trumbull & Ward, and was also used in Colonel Gardner Burbank's paper-mill. It was found there, that about half of the bulk of the coal remained after the fire subsided, but upon replenishing with new coal it was mostly consumed in the second burning, and Colonel Burbank found the expense of keeping a fire with this coal to be less than the expense of cutting wood and tending fire, if the wood were delivered at the door free of expense.

In December, 1827, the proprietors of the brewery burned coal taken from the land of William E. Green, which was a little distance from the mine, but appeared to be of a somewhat better quality^

Work at the coal mine must have been prosecuted with some vigor, for in February, 1828, fifteen or twenty young men and a blacksmith were wanted to work there.

In November, 1828, an opening twelve feet wide and eight feet high had been carried into the hill about sixty feet, at a descent of about twenty-five degrees, and a railway was laid, on which the coal was carried from the mine to the place of deposit, in loads of fifteen hundred pounds.

In February, 1829, the Worcester Coal Company was incorporated, and in March, 1829, the Worcester Railway Company, with a capital of fifty thousand dollars, with authority to build a railway from the mine to Lake Quinsigamond and to the Blackstone Canal, but the enterprise appears to have been abandoned shortly afterwards. The coal was found to be too impure for economical use. It was somewhat

Peat was also found in the meadows about Worcester. In 1856 it w.as introduced into the Wire Factory as a substitute for wood and coal ; in three years nearly two thousand cords were used in this way, and it was found that a cord of well-seasoned peat would produce as much heat as a cord of dry oak wood ; and a cord and a half of peat would generate as much steam as a ton of anthracite coal.

It was estimated that peat could be used to good advantage for manufacturing purposes at a saving of from thirty-three and one-third to fifty per cent, over any other kind of fuel. It had the remarkable quality of keeping fire a long time, even burning for a week after the fire had gone down. In April, 18.'56, the Worcester Peat Company was formed, but no business of consequence appears to have been done by it. It was no doubt found that coal was the cheaper fuel.

In June, 1827, Worcester is spoken of as containing " the large paper-mills belonging to Elijah Burbank, five machine shops, at which great quantities of machinery of various kinds are made, one small

Prior to 1813 there was no stage or mail route between Worcester and Providence ; in that year, or 1814, it was attempted to run a stage, but the business was only sufficient to support a cheap carriage and two or three horses, and the proprietors abandoned it.

Until 1819 the mail was carried once a week in a one-horse wagon ; an attempt was then made to run a two-horse stage twice each week, but this did not pay, and was abandoned.

Chapter Cxciii Manufacturing And Mechanicai, Industries

Fahrica tiitd M<ichiitetlt for 3Taking Thetn^Eixrly Mauu/nctitre of CLolh - CondUwn of Woolen Manufacture - John Gouldiug - Manufacture "f 0»(to» oud n'onlen Machhienj - Card Clothing - Loomtt - Caryela - Thread.

We have already noticed that Samuel Brazer in 1790 advertised to sell " corduroys, jeans, fustians, federal rib and cotton," and that at the same time he and Daniel Waldo were proprietors of the Worcester Cotton Manufactory. There was then scarcely any machinery for the manufacture of cloth in America; it had been introduced into England, but there were severe laws against its exportation to the colonies.

The process of making cloth, as early conducted, was entirely by hand-power. Hand-cards were used for straightening the fibre of the wool or cotton, which was spun by a_ single spindle driven by a wheel kept in motion by the hand of the operator. The yarn was woven upon hand-looms, and the cloth thus made was sent to the fulling-mill, which was the first branch of the business not conducted in the household.

John Earle and Erasmus Jones in 1810 " erected wool-carding machines to pick, break and card wool at the building known as Lincoln's Trip-hammer shop, fifteen rods east of the Court-house."

In 1811 William Hovey, an ingenious mechanic, advertised a new shearing-machine, called the "Ontario Machine," and warned all persons against making or using a machine embodying the principle on which thii w.as constructed, " which covers a spiral revolving shear working against a straight blade or cutter." One of the advantages claimed for this machine was that it could be carried anywhere in a one-horse wagon, and could be operated either by hand or water-power. It was claimed that this machine would facilitate that laborious branch of the business ten-fold.

Hovey constructed another machine in 1812, in which the shears moved across the cloth on the same principle as hand -shears, and he claimed that with this machine he could shear about two hundred yards of broadcloth a day as well as by hand.

Comb-plates for wool-carding machines were offered for sale in 1814 by Daniel Waldo at his store and by Earle & Williams at their shop. At the same time Merritield & Trowbridge were engaged in making cotton and woolen machinery at the Trowbridgeville privilege.

The prices generally adopted for wool-carding at this time, in Worcester County, were seven cents per pound for common wool, with an addition of three cents when oil was found liy the carders ; twelve and a half cents per pound for carding half-blooded merino, with the like addition for oil; twenty-five cents per pound for carding full-blooded merino, with the like addition.

An improvement over the ordinary single spindle spinning-wheel is offered by the proprietor, located at Sikes' Tavern, who offers for sale "The Farmer's Spinner," which carries from eight to twelve spindles attached to a single spinning-wheel.

As an indication of the improvements being made in the construction of machinery, attention is called in 1822 to the fact that William Hovey is constructing cylinders for carding-machines entirely of iron, being cast in four parallel pieces.

Stephen R. Tenney is engaged in building woolcarding, matting, shearing and brushing-machine.s, in the building formerly occupied by Trowbridge & Merrifield as a cotton factory.

January 1, 1823, Mr. Washburn took into partnership Benjamin Goddard (2d), and continued in the same business, to which they added that of carding wool, having purchased the machines lately owned by Mr. Calvin Darby.

In June, 1824, Brewster & Fox advertised the best carding-machines and workmen at their establishment, one mile south of Worcester Village, - the South Worcester privilege - carding, si.x cents; oiling and carding, seven cents.

William B. Fox, who seems at this time to have separated from his former partner, Mr. Brewster, dresses " Handsome wear " at his cloth-dressing factory, one mile south of Worcester, at twenty cents per yard, " common at sixteen cents."

Sarah Hale, widow of Joshua Hale, offered for sale, March 1, 182G, the factory at New Worcester, consisting of the building " occupied for many years past for the purposes of manufacturing cotton and carding custom wool;" but not finding a customer, she had the machines put in good order and resumed business.

September 13, 1826, William B. Fox moved his wool-carding and cloth-dressing business to the new building erected on the privilege formerly owned by Samuel Flagg, a few rods south of Worcester Village.

The woolen business at this time was in a most depressed condition, and was said to be done at a loss, even with the most prudent management. It was feared that the probable stoppage of the mills would be severely felt in the community. A meeting was held about this time in Boston, and it was decided that it would be advisable to apply to Congress for an increase of duties on imported woolens, or a reduction of the duty upon wool.

The cotton fabrics made in this country at this time were of excellent quality, and the business was in a much better condition than the woolen business.

A meeting was called in Worcester for Friday, December 1, 1826, at "Stock well's," to consider the depressed state of the woolen manufactures. At that meeting a memorial to Congress was prepared, signed by Emory Washburn, James Woolcott and Major John Brown.

One of the most valuable contributions to the woolen machinery of the world was the endless rolling, or American card, invented in 1826, by John Goulding, a native of Massachusetts, and for many years a mechanic at Worcester. Previous to the development of this machine the rolls, or rolling issuing from the carding-machine, were limited to the breadth of the card, and the ends of the separate rolls had to be spliced together by hand process, by a machine called a "billy." Goulding dispensed with the " billy," and, by an ingenious combination of devices, obtained an endless roll, and so perfected his machinery that he could use it successfully from the moment the rolling left the dull end of the first picker until it was converted into yarn fit to be manufactured into cloth. This device has been styled the most important advance in the card-wool industry of that early period.' Some knowledge of the equipment of a woolenfiictory at this time may be had from a notice of a sale in June, 1827, at the woolen-factory then lately occupied by A. & D. Aldrich, and about one mile south of New Worcester, at which were to be offered for sale ten satinet-looms, one double carding-machine, one billy, one shearing-machine, one roping-machine, one press, one copper-kettle, one potash-kettle, pressplates.

In February, 1828, William Hovey stated that he is about to stop his manufacture of satinet shearingmachines, but will continue to make broad and cassimere shearing-machines with vibrating or revolvingshears, and also metallic grinding-machines for keeping the machines in order.

In March, 1830, it was proposed to erect in Worcester a patent hemp and flax-machine, and the Worcester Hemp Company oflered to furnish seed to the farmers on the following conditions :

The company would furnish seed at the market price for cash, or in payment would take good notes on interest payable in hemp stem at eighteen dollars per ton, gross weight, when the crop was harvested and delivered at the machine, or would furnish the seed and sow on shares. The company offered to pay eighteen dollars per ton gross weight for good hemp stem delivered at the machine cut, or fifteen dollars without.

In March, 1831, Lewis Thayer and George Willey commenced the manufacture of loom-pickers at New Worcester. Lewis Thayer "carded wool at three and a half cents per pound and waited one year for his pay."

In August, 1831, Washburn & Goddard sold their business of manufacturing woolen machinery to March, Hobart & Company, composed of Andrew March, George Hobart, Henry Goulding and B. F. Smith. This firm was dissolved in 1832, and was succeeded by Hobart, Goulding & Company, who dissolved March 25, 1832. They manufactured pickers, carding-machines, condensers, jacks, etc., also comb-plates, and were succeeded by Goulding & Smith.

February 24, 1836, Goulding & ^^mith dissolved, D. T. Brigham having retired from the firm in 1834, and Henry Goulding continued the business alone. A co-partnership was formed, April, 1837, under the title of Henry Goulding & Company, consisting of Henry Goulding, John Gates, (2d), and Luke Witherby. They were burned out in August, 1838; the building, which was of brick, was valued at three thousand five hundred dollars, and was owned by Frederick W. 'Paine; the tools and machinery, valued at eight thousand dollars, were destroyed. This concern built at that time about sixty thousand dollars' worth annually of woolen machinery.

Nov. 1."), 1844, Goulding & Davis, who had succeeded, dissolved, and Henry Goulding continued. April 1, 1 851 , Willard, Williams &Company, bought out Henry Goulding ; the firm was composed of Fitzroy Willard, Warren Williams, N. A. Lombard, Charles A. Whittemore and H. W. Conklin ; this firm was succeeded April 2, 185.3, by F. Willard & t^ompany, composed of Fitzroy Willard, Charles Whittemore, N. A. Lombard and H. W. Conklin. This firm was succeeded April 1, 1861, by Bickford & Lombard, who were succeeded by N. A. Lombard, the present proprietor, who has been connected with the business since 1851.

From 1823 until the present time this business has been confined to the manufacture of woolen machinery of different kinds, and at present includes carding and spinning machinery, spinning jacks, pickers, dusters, willowers, etc.

The firm of Phelps & Bickford was composed of Horatio Phelps and William M. Bickford; W. M. Bickford succeeded William Stowell, August 31,1831, and built woolen machinery, condensing, picking, napping and brushing-machines, also spinning jacks, at the Stowell shop in New Worcester; he was succeeded by Abel Kimball, who continued the business at the same place.

Horatio Phelps manufactured looms of all kinds in the shop formerly occupied by William Howard, at South Worcester, from whom Mr. Phelps had purchased the right to make his patent broad looms. Phelps & Bickford continued to manufacture here, after the formation of their copartnership, all kinds of woolen looms. In October, 1834, they removed from South Worcester to Court Mills, then a new building erected by Stephen Salisbury for the accommodation of parties desiring to lease factory room. Phelps & Bickford afterwards occupied part of the wire factory in Grove Street. Later, Mr. Bickford continued the business alone, and in 1859 he employed twenty-three hands in building looms in the west wing of the Grove Street mill. December 28, 1860, he moved to Merrifield's building, in Exchange Street, where he was prepared to build all kind^ of Crompton looms and other fancy looms, broad and narrow ; also walking, dressing and spooling machinery, with steam cylinders or pipes for drying ; also all kinds of machinery and tools for making wire.

August 17, 1831, John Simmons & Co. announced that they had formed connection in business, and will supply at their new shop in New Worcester the following machinery : Broad and narrow shearing machines, pressing-machines, napping-machines. This copartnership was composed of John Simmons, Abel Kimball and Albert Curtis, and was dissolved February 21, 1832. Mr. Curtis in 1831 took a lease of Lewis Thayer, the then owner of a part of the water privilege which was originally owned by Joshua Hale. Here he erected a machine shop. The old Hale building was a wooden factory, two stories and a basement, and stood where the middle building of the Curtis & Marble factories now is.

Albert Curtis was born in Worcester, 1807. At the age of seventeen he was apprenticed to White & Boyden, who manufactured woolen machinery at South Worcester, near the present location of the carpet-mills. After learning his trade he worked here for three years as a journeyman, at one dollar and twenty-five cents per day. In December, 1829, he went to Pittsburgh, but returned in January, 1831, and again entered the employment of White & Boyden. While learning his trade he became acquainted with his fellow-workmen, Kimball and Simmons, and they conceived the idea of going to New Worcester and starting for themselves. The firm of John Simmons & Co. was succeeded by Simmons & Curtis, who continued to make shearing and other machinery. In 1833 Mr. Curtis purchased Mr. Simmons' interest, and continued alone until 1834, when Mr. William Henshaw became a partner and so continued until 1839, the firm-name being Curtis & Henshaw. They had not room enough at New Worcester for their business, and for a time leased room of Ichabod Washburn, in the wire-mill in Grove Street. This copartnership was dissulved January 8, 1839.

About 1840 Mr. Curtis purchased of him the Ramshorn water privilege, building and satinet machinery, consisting of two full sets. He had previously bought the Lewis Thayer water privilege, where the old dam stood on Tatnuck Brook, to run his machine-shop. Mr. Curtis leased the old building to John Metcall and William C. Barber, who ran it until 1842, when it was burned, together with the machine-shop of Mr. Curtis, which was a wooden building with a basement. The original dam on the privilege stood one hundred feet from the bridge toward the location of the present dam, and was about sixty feet long and four feet high.

After the fire of 1842, Mr. Curtis immediately rebuilt the machine shop (52 x 30 feet), three stories high. In 1842 he built a factory on the site of the old Hale mill, a portion of which he leased to Sumner Pratt, to make cotton sewing tliread. Mr. Curtis afterwards had an equal interest with Mr. Pratt, and bought him out in 1844. The basement of the building was rented to L. & A. G. Coes, who manufactured wrenches. While Mr. Sumner Pratt was liere in the thread business, Mr. L. J. Knowles and a Mr. Hapgood purchased his product and spooled it in another room of the same building, and put it on the market.

After Mr. Curtis bought out Mr. Pratt, he put in looms for making cotton sheetings. The mill was continued as a cotton-mill for several years, when it was converted into a satinet-mill. In 1845 the South Mill was built and used for the manufacture of cotton sheetings and drillings.

At the north end of Curtis bridge was the old wheelwright .shop of E. Graves, now used as a dwelling-house. Mr. Curtis bought out Graves in 1837, and continued the wheelwright business until about 1840.

The mill built in 1842 was changed to satinets in 1857. In 1802 Mr. Curtis took Edwin T. Marble into partnership in his business for manufacturing woolen machinery for finishing woolen, silk and cotton good.s, and th.at partnership has continued to the present time.

This company makes a specialty of shearing machinery, the improvements in which have been greater than in any other machinery used in the manufacture of woolen goods. Mr. Curtis built the first machines for shearing or trimming cotton cloth built in this country ; they were used to remove the fuzz from cotton cloth. In old times this was accomplished by singeing or burning.

A shearing-machine made in France was sent from Pawtucket to Mr. Curtis to be repaired. Mr. Curtis examined it and thought it could be improved. He began building the machines then and has continued ever since. Up to that time the French machines had been used in this country. They had one set of shears ; the Curtis machine nov/ has from two to five sets. One machine made at the present day will do as much as twelve did in 18.30.

December 10, 1833, William H. Howard and Silas Dinsmore made cotton and woolen machinery at their machine shop near the Court-House, and continued in business until September 30, 1834, when they dissolved. In November, 1834, Silas Dinsmore commenced the manufacture of power-looms at the same place, and April 13, 1835, formed a co-partnership with Fitzroy Willard, continuing in the same business. In 1838 Fitzroy Willard was located at Court Mills, where he manufactured broad power, satinet and cassimere looms, and in 1840 Silas Dinsmore manufactured reeds at Court Mills.

The card-clothing industry has been a most important one, and was naturally among the earliest in which the colonists engaged, for the reason that it is essential to the manufacture of textile fabrics. The use to which carding is put is to separate the fibres of the material being worked, and to lay them parallel. The process consists in the reciprocal motion of two surfaces covered with short pointed teeth, between which the stock is placed. Formerly this was done by hand, and was conducted in the household.

" It is probable that either cards proper, or tgols closely resembling them, were used as far back as the dawn of civilization, when the art of the manufacture of textiles was in its very infancy. To within a comparatively recent period the processes were very rude, depending mainly on hand labor, and thus the cards employed diftiered somewhat in their shape from those used at the present day.

" Tq produce them, a sheet of leather was taken about eighteen or twenty inches by about four inches in width. This was ruled by lines into cross sections as a guide for the workman, who used a pricker with two blades, piercing two holes at a time at the point where the lines intersected until the whole sheet was pierced. This accomplished, the wire was taken, each pin or shaft being separately bent into a staple by hand. The prongs of the staples formed the card teeth, which were inserted also by hand, one staple at a time, into the perforated leather sheet above described.

" The sheet, with its wire teeth, was now nailed upon a board, and called a card. With this appliance, or rather with a pair of them, the operator carded. He placed tufts of cotton, wool or other fibre between them, and drew the one over the other for several strokes until both were equally filled, and then, by a reverse stroke, he cleaned out the fibre in the form of a roll, called a carding, which was used by the spinsters for making their yarn."

Tacks were first used in making hand-cards, and they were for a time manufactured in this country by cutting them out of sheet-iron with a pair of shears. The tack was held in a vise and headed by a single blow. About six hundred and fifty tacks were required for nailing each dozen pairs of handcards to the boards on which they were used. All the tacks used for this purpose for many years were made by hand in the manner described above, until Thomas Blanchard, of Sutton, invented an automatic machine for making the tacks from strips of sheetiron.

Daniel Denny, whose card-factory has been noticed, probably followed the practice of giving the teeth out to women and children, who would set them in the leather at their homes.

Card-setting by hand was done as late as 1828. Earle & Chase, whose store was at the corner of Thomas and Main Streets, state in August, 1826, that persons who wish for cards to be set can be accommodated at their store. In 1820 the average price paid for setting cards by hand was forty-two cents per square foot. A good setter would put in about twenty thousand teeth in a day. The best machines to-day will set three hundred teeth per minute, at an average cost of five cents per square foot. Wages paid cardsetters in 1829, $1.81? per day; at the present time, $3.50 to $4.50 per day. The cost of setting cards is now something less than one-eighth the amount paid sixty years ago, and the wages paid average three times as large.

Amos Whittemore, of Cambridge, had patented a -card-setting machine in 1797, but it could not be used by others, and the cards made by hand at Ijcicester were of better quality.

In 1785 the manufacture of cards was begun in Leicester, and to this industry the growth and prosperity of the town is largely indebted. In 1789

Looms. - " Weaving is the art by which threads or yarns of any substance are interlaced so as to form a continuous web. It is perhaps the most ancient of the manufacturing arts, for clothing was always a first necessity of mankind.

" The simplest form of weaving is that employed in making the mats of uncivilized nations ; these consist of single untwisted fibres, usually vegetable, arranged side by side to the width required, and of the length of the fibres themselves, which are tied at each end to the stick which is so fixed as to keep the fibres straight and on the same plane ; then the weaver lifts up every other of these longitudinal threads, and passes under it a transverse one, which he first attaches by tying or twisting to the outermost fibre of the side he commences with ; and afterward, in the same way, to that on the other side, when it is passed through the whole series. The accession to the art of spinning threads of any length enables more advanced nations to give great length to the warp, or series of threads which are first arranged and to pass the weft, or transverse thread, backward and forward by means of a shuttle without the necessity of fixing at the sides. That kind of weaving which consists of passing the weft alternately over and under each thread of the warp is called plain weaving ; but if the weaver takes up first one and then two threads alternately of the warp series, and passes the weft under them for the first shoot of his shuttle, and raised those which were left down before for the second shoot, he produces a cloth with a very difterent appearance, called twill.

"There are few arts which require more patience than weaving; as many as from one to two thousand threads often constitute the warp, and these threads may be so varied in quality as to produce many varieties of fiibric. From that cause alone there are almost infinite variations ; many may be produced by the order in which the threads are lifted for the passage of the weft ; that of itself can also be varied as much or more in its quality and other circumstances, so that the inventive genius of the weaver finds incessant opportunities for its display, and nice arithmetical calculations are required in estimating and allotting the numerous threads to the endless variety of patterns which are constantly passing through the loora."' The first practical power-loom was devised in 1785 by Dr. Edmund Cartwright, of Derbyshire, England, a minister of the Gospel, and ignorant of mechanics. He is said to have had his attention turned to the subject by the remark that when Arkwright's patents for spinning yarn by power should have expired, so

> Much of the material used in the article on card-clothing, is taken from a book called " A Century Old," published by the T. K. Eailo Mfg. Co., and written by II. G. Kittredge and A. C. Uuuld.

many persons would go into the spinning business that no hands would be found to weave the cotton. He spent thirty thousand pounds in endeavoring to perfect his loom, and in 1808 received a grant from Parliament of ten thousand pounds for his services. Steam-power was applied to his looms in 1807.

Improvements were rapidly made upon the Cartwright loom by other inventors, and it was soon brought into general use for both cotton and woolen goods.

Ichabod Washburn speaks in his Autobiography of seeing a power-loom in the winter of 1813-14, which was so crude that all the cog-wheels were made of wood, and expresses the opinion that it was probably the first power-loom in the United States. Whether this be true or not, it is certain the power-loom had not, at that time, been long in operation in this country.

In the fall of 1823, Wm. H. Howard and Wm. Hovey were in business together, and after building various kinds of machinery, commenced building broad power looms, and finally settled on the common Scotch looms as the best, and put them in operation at the factory of the Goodell Mannufacturing Company, Millbury, at the Pameacha factory in Middletown, Conn., attheTorrington and Litchfield factories, and elsewhere.

This partnership was dissolved, and early in 1825 each manufactured these looms on his own account, William H. Howard building broad power cassimere and kerseymere looms, carding and shearing-machines at his shop, one mile south of the Main Street in Worcester, - South Worcester privilege.

For satisfactory proof of the superiority of his looms, he referred to the Goodell Manufacturing Company in Millbury ; to Wolcottville IManufacturing Company, in Torrington, Conn. ; and to Zachariah Allen, Providence, R. I.

These looms were sold for one hundred and twentyfive dollars each, delivered at the shop in Worcester, including the expense of putting them in operation.

In 1828 Rice & Miller advertised for sale satinet power-looms, and in 1830 Wheelock & Prentice took the shop theretofore occupied by William H. Howard^ at South Worcester, and purcha-sed of him the right to build his improved looms, upon which he had a patent for an improvement in the lay motion, consisting of an irregular slot in the sword of the lay through which it w.as tiioved. There are many looms now in operation with this movement.

In 1832 Horatio Phelps carried on the loom business at the shop formerly occupied by William H. Howard, having purchased the right to make and sell the Howaril Improved Patent Broad-loom.

The business was conducted at the same place in 1833, by Phelps & Bickford, who advertised that they were prepared to build to order all kinds of woolen looms of the most improved plan. In addition to the

Prescott Wheelock was building looms at his shop in New Worcester in 1833, of any description that the public might want, and in 1835 Silas Dinsmore and Fitzroy Willard formed a copartnership to manufacture power-looms ; they dissolved in November, 1835, Fitzroy Willard continuing the business at the same place in Court Mills, where he manufactured broad powersatinet and cassimere looms. Hebuiltfifty broad power looms in Worcester for W. & D. D. Farnum, and Mr. Samuel Porter helped set them up in the mill at Blackstone, in 1835. Most of the machinery for that mill was built in Worcester. Henry Goulding constructed the carding and spinningmachines.

All the looms which have been spoken of up to this time were plain looms, so-called, the fancy loom being an invention of later date. The plain loom is one in which a few harnesses, operated by cams, are used. The goods woven on this loom are like cotton or twilled fabrics.

The modern fancy loom varies in range from two to forty harnesses. The movement of these harnesses is controlled by a pattern-chain, made up to correspond with the different make of goods, and for different colors of filling in the goods, drop-boxes, or movable boxes are required, which are also controlled by chain, according to the pre-determined pattern. With these boxes from one to seven colors can be Used.

In the trade at the present time the cam-loom, with a single box, whether of two or eight harness capacity, is usually spoken of as a plain loom, and any loom whose mechanism is controlled by chain made up according to a pre-determined pattern, is usually spoken of as a fancy loom.

Up to 1836 the harnesses of all power-looms were operated by cams ; consequently the changes of weave of which the looms were capable were very limited, and goods for which an intricate figure or design was required were necessarily woven, as formerly, in a hand-loom.

In 1830 William Cronipton, a native of Lancashire, England, a practical weaver both by hand and power, came to Taunton, Mass., and entered the service of Messrs. Crocker & Richmond.

While in the employ of that firm Mr. Crompton invented a loom to weave a certain i)attern of goods which the looms in the mill could not weave, for which a patent was issued to him in 1837, and the loom was introduced into the manufacture of cotton goods. This loom was the first power-loom invented in which the figure or pattern desired to be woven could be made up in a small chain, and when placed upon the loom would control suitable mechanism to move the harnesses to weave the proper figure. Mr. Crompton went to England and procured a patent for his loom in that country, and in 1839 he returned to the United States, and in 1840 introduced his invention into the Middlesex Mills, in Lowell, Mass. Up to that time no fancy woolens had been woven by power in this country or in Europe, except those woven on hand-looms.

In a letter written in 1877 to the late George Crompton, Esq., by Mr. James Cook, agent of the Middlesex Mills in 1840, the following interesting statement is made :

The writer, Dow in his eighty-third j-ear, in looking over a lot of old samples, came across a piece of fancy woven cloth, the very first woven in this country by power; and the idea crossed his mind that it might he interesting to you to learn the heginning of this great revolution in the fabric now in use very generally in this country to the extinction of the plain fabrics formerly used to a great extent.

Your father came to the Middlesex Mills in this city from Taunton, and represented to the writer and Mr. Edward Winslow, now deceased, a machinist in the employ of the Middlesex Company, that he had a loom at Taunton for weaving fancy cottons which he thought might he applied to woolen fabrics. The cotton loom was sent for by the Middlesex Company. Jlr. Winslow and myself altered one cassimere loom with the assistance of your father, who was good mechanic, by putting on Crompton's patent. The experiment was an entire success; the alteration was extended very soon to all the cassimere lo-ims and then to the broad looms, so that the whole of the weaving power of the mills was in that direction.

Mr. Samuel Davis states that soon after this, happening to be in Boston, he accidentally met Mr. Crompton at an hotel there, who told him about his loom. Mr. Davis was then building carding and spinningmachines in the old Court Mills, and Mr. Crompton stated to him that he wished to get some one to build his loom ; that he had been to Lowell and Lawrence; also to Dedhani, but thought that he should close the contract at Lowell. Mr. Davis said he was not building looms, but that Worcester would be a good place to have the looms built, and that Phelps & Bickford would be good parties to undertake their manufacture.

Mr. Crompton came to Worcester and was introduced to Phelps & Bickford, who were then building plain looms. Phelps & Bickford made an arrangement with Mr. Crompton to build his looms upon a royalty, and continued doing so till the expiration of the patent.

In February, 1844, the mill at North ville, owned by Ichabod Washburn, F. W. Paine, G. A. Trumbull, and occupied by William Crompton, was totally destroyed by fire.

In 1848 William Crompton lived in Millbury, where he was engaged in the manufacture of woolen and cotton goods, and where he also had a machineshop. April 12, 1848, he advertised to sell various kinds of tools used by him in the manufacture of machinery, as he had determined to confine himself to the manufacture of cotton and woolen goods.

Mr. Crompton later removed to Connecticut, where his son, George, worked in Colt's factory. The Crompton patent, meantime, had expired ; but it was renewed for seven years, and George Crompton came to Worcester, and associated himself with

After occupying for a short time quarters in the wire-mill in Grove Street, they hired the Red Mill, near the foot of Green Street, employing about fifty hands in the manufacture of the Crompton loom.

At this time William M. Bickford, the successor of Phelps & Bickford, employed twenty-three hands in the west wing of the Grove Street mill in building looms.

August 1, 1S.39, Furbush & Crompton dissolved. Mr. Crompton continued the business, buying the Red Mill property, and in 1860 erected a new building, which was a substantial brick structure, one hundred and ten feet long by fifty feet deep, three stories high, besides the attic, exclusive of an ell for an engine-house.

The successive imi)rovements in the Crompton loom can best be given by a quotation from an interesting pamphlet on that subject, published by the Crompton Loom Worl<s in 1881 : " Furbush & Crompton made narrow looms from 1851 to 1857, when they brought out a fast-operating, Broad fancy loom, with improvements in box-motion. Broad looms, up to this period, operated at about 45 picks; the new 1857 Broad looms, with twenty-four harnesses and three boxes at each end, reached a speed of 85 picks per minute. This was a great stride in production ; no advance has been so great since then. The narrow fancy cassimere loom, with three boxes at one end, up to this time had not obtained the .speed of 85 picks per minute ; but with important improvements in the reverse motion, the simplification of devices for operating the lays by means of the ordi nary cranks, the use of the ordinary narrow shuttle and the reduction of the size of the shed made a fast economical Broad power-loom of 85 picks a possibility. One weaver could attend one Broad loom as readily as one narrow ; therefore ' broads ' at once came into favor and use, and the comparative exclusion of narrow looms was foreseen.

" Furbush & Crompton built looms until 1859, when the partnership was dissolved. The patents granted to and owned by the firm were in part for improvements in double reverse motion, E. W. Brown's invention, of which they were the sole owners ; said patents were by mutu.al agreement territorially divided - the New England States and the State of New York to Crompton, and the remainder of the country to Furbush, and by said agreement Furbush was debarred from making looms of any kind whatever in Crom|)- ton's territory.''

In December, 18(i0, William M. Bickford moved his factory to Exchange Street, in Merrifield's building, where he was prepared to build all kinds of Crompton looms and other fancy looms, broad and narrow. This led to a lawsuit which resulted in Bickford's being found to be an infringer of the Crompton patents. On his death, in 181)3, the business went out of existence, the patterns being sold to the Crompton Loom Works. Various improvements, many of them patented, have been made from time to time, Mr. Crompton having taken out over one hundred patents in the United States, besides a large number in foreign countries. A number of patents have also been taken out by Mr. Horace Wyman, superiutendent for many years of the Crompton Loom Works.

Mr. George Crompton died 188G, and the business was incorporated .lanuary, 1888, with the following officers : M. C. Crompton, president ; Horace Wyman, vice-president and manager; Justin A. Ware» secretary and treasurer.

In June, 1842, we find the following notice: " We were shown some miniatures taken by Mr. Knowles at his room in Brinley Row, which we think for beauty, boldness and distinctness, exceed anything we have seen."

In February, 1843, L. J. Knowles & Co., in connection with their daguerreotype business, advertise to do electro-gilding and silver-plating.

In 1844 Sumner Pratt leased a portion of one of Mr. Curtis' buildings, at New Worcester, for the manufacture of cotton sewing-thread. Mr. Knowles and a Mr. Hapgood had quarters in the same building, and purchased thread of Mr. Pratt, which they spooled and put on the market.

In 1847 Mr. Knowles commenced the manufacture of cotton warp at Spencer, and in 1849 removed to Warren. During the years 1855 to 1858 he was engaged in the manufacture of satinets in Warren, and made some imi)rovements on the looms he was then running, for two of which he took out patents in 1856 - one for a close shed cam- jack for harness motion, and the other for separate picker for each cell in the dropshuttle box. In 1857 he constructed a drop-box mechanism, for operating drop-boxes by means of cranks set at the opposite extremes of their throw, under the direction of a pattern-chain, or its equivalent. This was the germ of the mechanism of the fancy loom, which has developed by successive stages into the loom as built by the Knowles Loom Works at the present day.

L.J. Knowles and his brother (F. B. Knowles) began the manufacture of looms for sale under the firmname of L. .7. Knowles & Brother, at Warren, Mass., in 1862, and the first looms were made for hoop-skirt tapes, with woven pocket for the wires, and for bindings, tapes, etc. The loom was patented in 1863.

This branch of the business continued till the fall of 1866, when the company removed to Worcester, Mass., ofcupying Dr. Sargent's Block - Allen's Court. During 1866 the company began the manufacture of cam-looms for satinets, doeskins and other plain goods, and patented a cam harness motion for this loom in November, 1866.

In 1868 they began to make these looms with dropboxes at each end, so as to use different colors of filling for checks, plaids, etc. In 1871 they began to make the drop-box looms, with chain or fancy harness motion, so as to e.xtend the range of looms according to the requirements of the patterns. Out of this grew the fancy woolen loom of the present style, the first one of which was built in 1872, and sold to the Jamesville Mills, of this city.

In the spring of 1873 the first broad loom of this style was made from new and heavy patterns, and from that time many thousands have been built for the woolen-mills of the country. This loom was patented in 1873. Meantime, the loom business had grown so that in 1876 from seventy-five to one hundred men were employed. The loom was shown at the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, and as a result won for itself a wide reputation. A forty harness loom was made in 1876, and the first one was shown at this exhibition, and a number of them were sold.