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CENTENNIAL HISTORY
Fall River, Mass
COMPRISING A
RECORD OF ITS CORPORATE PROGRESS FROM 1656 TO 1816,
UTill SKETCHES OK ITS
MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES,
LOCAL AND GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS,
Valuable Statistlcal Tables, Etc.
PREPARKD UNDER THE DIRECTION OF A COHMITTEE
OF THE CITY GOVERNMENT, BY
HENRY H. EARL, A.M.
New York:
ATLANTIC PUBLISHING AND ENGRAVING COMPANY.
22790
S. W. GREEN,
Printer and Electrotvper
i6 and i8 Jacob Street,
NEW YORK.
OpeC. Cot-,
r 7V
E/7
PRESIDENT'S PROCLAMATION.
B Y THE PRESIDENT OF T HE UNITED ST A T E S.
r A PROCLAMATION.
^ Whereas, A joint resolution of the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States was duly-
approved on the 13th of March last, which resolution is as follows :
"Be it Resolved, B3' the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of Americr, in Congress
assembled, that it be and is hereby recommended by the Senate and the House of Representatives to the people
of the several States, that they assemble in their several counties or towns on the approaching Centennial
Anniversary of our National Independence, and that they cause to have delivered on such day, an historical
' sketch of said county or town from its formation, and that a copy of said sketch may be filed, in print or
manuscript, in the Clerk's office of said county, and an additional copy, in print or manuscript, be filed in the
office of the Librarian of Congress, to the intent that a complete record may thus be obtained of the progress
of our institutions during the first centennial of their existence ;" and
Whireas, It is deemed proper that such recommendation be brought to the notice and knowledge of
the people of the United States ;
^Now, therefore, I, Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States, do hereby declare and make known
the same, in the hope that the object of such resolution may meet the approval of the people of the United
States, and that proper steps may be taken to carry the same into effect.
Given under my hand, at the City of Washington, the 25th day of May, in the year of our Lord 1876,
and of the independence of the United States the one hundredth.
By the President, U. S. GRANT.
Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State.
PUBLIC RESOLUTION No. i.
In XLIVth Congress. — First Session, A.D. 1S76.
Joint RcSoJutioti on tJie d-lchratioii of the Cciitcimial in ilw several Connfies or Tovns.
Be it Resolved, By the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress
assembled, that it be and is hereby recommended by the Senate and the House of Representatives to the
people of the several States, that they assemble in their several counties or towns on the approaching
*^ Centennial Anniversar)- of our National Independence, and that they cause to have delivered on such day,
■N^ an historical sketch of said county or town from its formation, and that a copy of said sketch may be filed, in
^ print or manuscript, in the Clerk's office of said county, and an additional cop)-, in print or manuscript, be
X filed in the office of the Librarian of Congress, to the intent that a complete record may thus be obtained of
sj. the progress of our institutions during the first centennial of their existence.
Approved, March 13, 1876.
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.
Secretary's Department,
Boston, June 13, 1S76.
To the City Clerk :
Sir : I have the honor to transmit herewith an order of the Legislature of Massachusetts, which has this
day been received in this department, and a copy of the Resolution of Congress therein referred to.
Very respectfully your obedient servant,
Henry B. Peikce, Secretary.
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.
Executive Department,
Boston, April 24, 1876.
To the Honorable Senate :
I have the honor, herewith, to inclose for the disposition of the General Court, a Joint Resolution of the
Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, transmitted to me by the Secretary of State.
Alexander H. Rice.
SMTI LIBRARY
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.
House of Represeniatives, April 27, 1876.
Ordered, That the Secretary of the Commonwealth transmit to the Clerks of the several cities and towns
in the Commonwealth, a copy of the Joint Resolution of Congress on the celebration of the Centennial in
the several counties or towns, transmitted to the Senate by His Excellency the Governor, April 24th, 1876.
Adopted, Sent up for concurrence. Geo. A. Harden, Clerk.
Senate, April 28, 1876.
Concurred.
S. N. GiFFORD, Clerk.
City of Fall River,
Mayor's Office, June 4, 1S77.
Gentlemen of the City Council:
I am pleased to call your attention to a matter which, I have no doubt, will be of interest to you as
well as to the citizens generally, if it can be accomplished, — one that failed to be carried out last year,
owing to the limited time given to undertake the work. I refer to " The Centennial Volume," or " History
of Fall River."
The President of the United States and the Governor of the Commonwealth have recommended the
preparation of such volumes by every citj' and town, and that such volumes should be preserved in the
Congressional and Public Libraries, and the Historical Collections of every community. I am informed
that a considerable portion of this work has already been accomplished by private enterprise, particularly
the manufacturing industries of our city. Availing ourselves of what has already been done, I am of the
opinion that, at a moderate cost, a complete history of our city can be obtained. I would recommend this
matter be referred to a committee with authority to co-operate with the parties interested in the work, and
the expense attending the same be charged to Contingent Account.
Very respectfully,
Jas. F. Davenport, Mayor.
In Board of Aldermen, June 4, 1877.
Referred to Committee on Accounts, and sent for concurrence.
Geo. a. Ballard, Citv Clerk.
In Common Council, June 4, 1877
Laid on the Table.
A. B. Leonard, Clerk.
In Common Council, June 18, 1877.
Taken from the Table and concurred in.
A. B. Leonard, Cleik.
Fall River, September 5, 1S77.
At a meeting of the Committee of Accounts, held this day, to whom was referred the communication of
His Honor the Mayor, respecting a "Centennial Volume," or " History of Fall River," present Aldermen
Durfee and Davol, and Councilnien Webster and Greene ; Councilman Greene having been elected Clerk,
it was
Voted, That Henry H. Earl, Esq., be invited to co-operate with the Committee, and to supervise the
preparation of a "Centennial History of Fall River."
Wm. S. Greene, Clerk.
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF FALL RIVER.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Page
Fall River : Sketch of its Origin and Corporate Epochs i-6
Its Natural Advantages. 6-8
Cotton Manufactures from 1S10-1820, 9-22
" 1S20-1S30 22-35
" 1830-1S45, 35-56
" 1845-1860 56-62
•' 1860-1876 62-70
Growih of the Cotton Industry in America. 7'-97
Machines and Processes of Manufactcre, y8-iii
Statistics of Cotton Manufacture in Fall River 112
Organization of Corporations, 113-118
Sketch of Each Corporation, 118-150
Educational, Religious, Municipal, and Financial Features of Fall River;
Public Library, Churches, Cemeteries, Parks, Drives, Local Nomenclature, Water Works,
Fire Department, Banks and Savings Institutions, Custom-House and Post-Office, and Cit)'
Hall, 151-1S4
Newspapers and Steam Marine :
Historv of Press of Fall River, Steam Marine of Mount Hope Bay, ..... 185-197
Historical, Political, and Social Phases ;
Reminiscences of Col. Joseph Durfee ; Fall River in the Civil War; Fall River's "West
End ;" Settlement of State Boundaries, 1S62 ; Great Fire of July 2, 1843 ; Population of Fall
River from 1810-1875 ; Valuations, etc., from 1S54-1875, . 198-219
Celebration of the One Hundredth Anniversary of American Lndependence at Fall
River, July 4, 1876, 220-222
Corporate Annals of Fall River :
Sketches of Mayors ; Act of Incorporation of Fall River in 1S03 ; Change of Corporate
Name; Town Officers from 1803 to 1854; Members of Congress; Mayors; State Senators
and Representatives; Formation of a City Government ; List of City Officers for 1877, . . 223-248
ILLUSTRATIONS,
Page
City Hall, View, Frontispiece
American Print Works, " 37
Anthony, David Portrait • . . 11
Borden, Jefferson, " 41
Borden, Richard, '■ 47
Border City Mills, View, 143
"Bristol" Steamer, " i8g
BuFFiNTON, James Portrait 225
Chace, Oliver, " 15
City Park, View, 158
CuSTOM-HoUSE AND PoST-OfFICE, ... " 182
Davol Mills ■• 58
Davol, Stephen, Portrait 56
Davol, Wm. C •• 61
DuRFEE, Nathan, " 53
Eddy, Jesse, " 34
Engine-House, View 167
Fall River Bleachery •• 147
Fall River in 1812, Map of 4
Fall River Savings Bank 170
Mechanics' Mills View, 129
Merchants' Mills, " 127
Slade School-House, . ... '• 151
FALL RIVER
AND ITS(#
INDUSTRIES,
Sketch of its Origin and Corporate Epochs,
« <^> «
NEAR the head of Mount Hope Bay, at the date of the landing of the
Pilgrims, a small stream, stealing its waters from a succession of long,
narrow and deep lakes that lay in an elevated plateau a short league distant
from the shore line, made its way westward to the sea. The stream was
insignificant both in volume and expanse, its broadest part hardly exceeding
a rod, yet it ran down a constantly descending, often abrupt, channel with
such vehement rapidity that its daily contribution to the beautiful estuary was
far from inconsiderable. Its course from the start was over a hard sTranite
formation, and its last half mile of life a constant struggle to hold its own with
the air and rock, and save as much as possible of itself for the outstretched
palm of Narragansett. The Indian vocabulary found a fitting expression
for the little stream in the word Ouequechan, " Falling Water," while the
lakes were named Watuppa, or place of boats.
It is doubtful if Quequechan, though in the midst of the hunting grounds
of populous tribes, and paying its tribute to the Bay at a point nearly opposite
the rocky mount upon which the Wampanoags and Pocassets under King
Philip had erected their strongest fortress, was any thing more than a bab-
2 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
bling rivulet in the savage estimation, and the name was but an ordinary and
natural application of Indian sentiment. Time, however, has preserved the
sense if not the letter of aboriginal nomenclature ; Watuppa remains the
name of the lakes, and Falling Water is still suggested in the less poetical
Fall River of our own day.
The first settlement of the region comprising and immediately adjacent
to tlie city of Fall River was in the regular course of expansion of the Ply-
mouth Colony, and about the year 1656. In this year, on the 3d of July, the
General Court of Plymouth granted to a number of Freemen of the jurisdic-
tion a tract of land east of Taunton River, four miles in width, and from six
to seven in length, bounded on the south by Quequechan, and on the north
by Assonet Neck. Three years subsequently this grant was confirmed by a
warrantee deed signed by the local sachems, the consideration being " twenty
coats, two rugs, two iron pots, two kettles and one little kettle, eight pairs of
shoes, six pairs of stockings, one dozen hoes, one dozen hatchets, two yards
of broadcloth and a debt satisfied to John Barnes, which was due from Wam-
sitta to John Barnes." This grant was termed the Freemen's Purchase, and
after incorporation in 1683, Freetown. "The first settlers," says that indus-
trious and correct student of local history, the late Rev. Orin Fowler, in a
series of papers published in 1841, " were principally from Plymouth, Marsh-
field, and Scituate. Some were from Taunton, and a few from Rhode Island.
The earl}^ names were Cudworth,Winslow, Morton, Read, Hathaway, Durfee,
Terry, Borden, Brightman, Chase, and Davis. The Purchase was divided into
twenty-six shares, and the shares were set off — whether by lot or otherwise
does not appear — to the several purchasers. After the division into shares was
made, there was a piece of land between the first lot or share and Tiverton
bounds, which in 1 702 it was voted by the proprietors be sold ' to procure a
piece of land near the centre of the town for a burying place, a training field,
or any other public use the town shall see cause to improve it for.' Accord-
ingly this piece of land was sold to John Borden, of Portsmouth, R. I.,
the highest bidder, for nine pounds and eight shillings, and was the territory
on which that part of the village south of Bedford street, and north of the
stream, now stands. This John Borden is believed to be the ancestor of all
who sustain his name in this vicinity."
The occupation of the region north of Quequechan by settlers attracted
attention to the locality, and a legitimate result was a second grant by the
Governor, Treasurer and Assistants in 1680, to eight persons — Edward Gray,
of Plymouth ; Nathaniel Thomas, of Marshfield ; Benjamin Church, Daniel
Wilcox and Thomas Manchester, of Puncatest; and Christopher and John
Almy and Thomas Waite, of Portsmouth, R. I. — of a tract extending south-
OKIcnN AM) CORPORATE EPOCHS. 3
ward along the Bay, from the stream Quequechan to the town of Dartmouth
and Seaconnet, and inland from four to six miles. This grant was likewise
of territory bought from the Indian sachems for the sum of ^i 100, and was
termed the Pocasset Purchase, its township name being after incorporation
Tiverton.
Of the Pocasset Purchase Mr. Fowler records a division into shares,
following the precedent of its neighboring grant ; we quote his words in full,
as having a double interest in awarding due credit for the first practical reali-
zation of the value of Quequechan, and identifying the original entire control
of the water-power with a name that has ever since been so worthily associated
with the growth of Fall River. The Benjamin Church referred to was the
great captain in the King Philip wars, a man verily for the time, before whose
intrepid courage and wise command the great chief of the Wampanoags fell
a victim, and his successor Annawan yielded himself captive. "The Pocasset
Purchase (after reserving thirt\' rods wide adjacent to the Freemen's Purchase
and the river, and some other small tracts) was divided into thirty shares and
distributed among the proprietors, — the lot nearest the river being numbered
one. This piece of land, including the water-power on the south side of the
river to (the present) Main street, and on both sides east of said street to
Watuppa Pond, containing sixty-six acres of land, was also divided into thirty
shares and sold to the original purchasers. Colonel Church and his brother
Caleb, of Watertown (who was a millwright), bought twenty-six and a half
of the thirty shares, and thereby became the chief owners of the water-power.
On the 8th of August, 1691, Caleb Church sold his right in this property (13^
shares) to his brother Benjamin, who then became the owner of twenty-six
and a half shares. Probably John Borden purchased the other three and a
half shares. In 1 703, Colonel Church had moved to Fall River and improved
the water-power, by erecting a saw-mill, grist-mill and fulling-mill. His
dwelling-house stood between the present residence of Colonel Richard Borden
and that of his brother Jefferson, and remained till within forty years. He
continued at Fall River but a few years; and Sept. i8th, 1 714, sold the above
named twent3^-six and a half shares to Richard Borden of Tiverton, and Joseph
Borden of Freetown, sons of John ; and thus the lands on both sides of the
river, with all the water-power, came into the possession of the Borden family,
John Borden having previously purchased that on the north side west of
Main street."
The writer adds in a foot-note that Caleb Church sold his interest for
;^ioo. " At this rate the whole sixty-six acres was valued in 1691 at about
$740. The piece on the north side cost John Borden about S3 1.34; total,
$771.34. This included the whole of the water-power and most of the land
where the village now stands, together with a strip east to Watuppa Pond.
Twenty-six and a half shares of the above sixty-six acres were sold by Colonel
Church in 1714 for ^1000."
4 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
The neighborhood annals do not indicate an extraordinaiy increase in the
population or other relative importance of the two towns create 1 out of the
Plymouth grants, during the century succeeding their origina' settlement.
From data that still remain, it is evident that the settlers were generally
engaged in agriculture, with the usual proportion that prosecute the small
mechanical and other industries patronized by a rural community, and possibly
a larger component attracted by local associations to seafaring pursuits. For
some years the original centre of population of the Freemen's Purchase, or
Freetown, was at a point a little south of the small tributary of the Taunton
known as Mother's Brook, not far from the extreme northern bound of the
proprietary. At the southern boundary a colony was gathered, where Colonel
Church's mills were located on the stream (which began to be called Fall
River — the Indian name giving place to the more prosaic term of the whites),
and with the progress of time exhibited a gradual accretion, mostly from new-
comers. This growth was, however, very small for several decades, and
appears to have almost ceased at the commencement of the present century,
notwithstanding the excellent harbor and the natural advantages of the water-
power. " In the year 1803," observes the reliable authority before quoted,
"there were only eighteen dwelling-houses and about one hundred inhabitants
where the village now is. In North Main street there were six houses, occu-
pied by Charles Durfee, Daniel Bufifinton, John Luther, Abner Davol, Johrf
Cook, and Mary Borden. In East Central street there were four, occupied
by Nathan Bowen, Perry Borden, Seth Borden, and Elihu Cook. In West
Central street there were two, occupied by Nathan Borden and Daniel
Borden. In South Main street there were five, occupied by Simeon Borden,
Richard Borden, Thomas Borden, Benjamin Brayton, and Francis Brayton.
Near the shore there was one occupied by Thomas Borden. Of these
eighteen families nine were Bordens."
By Act of Legislature of Feb. 26th, 1803, a considerable part of the
ancient proprietary of Freetown was detached and erected into a township
named Fall River (changed to Troy in 1804, and again to its present name
in 1834), the first corporate existence of the place now known all over the
globe as, with one exception, the largest cloth-producing community on its
surface.
Before, however, the embryo municipality should find itself permanently
bounded or even an undivided whole under a single state or township gov-
ernment, a question long at issue between first the provinces and subse-
quently the federal States of Massachusetts and Rhode Island was to be
settled. This question, due to an original conflict of royal patents granted
to the two provinces, finally resolved itself into a dispute as to boundaries;
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ORIGIN AND CORPORATE EPOCHS. 5
a roval confirmation of a commission's report in 1 746 having set over to
Rhode Island several towns previously within the sovereignty of Massachu-
setts. One of these towns was Tiverton, the old Pocasset proprietar)^ For
many years, so far as the territorial transfer was concerned, it was conceded
by Massachusetts ; but an uncertainty existed as to the correct execution of
the King's orders defining the line of boundary. Even after the colonial
independence was established, this indefiniteness of the survey remained,
succeeding commissions in 1791 and 1S44 being unable to determine the
matter. The difficulty grew with consecutive years and with a greater ratio
as the manufacturing enterprise of Fall River developed, annually adding,
both to the population and capital absorbed in its special industries ; the
assumed and conceded northern line of Tiverton, though quite a remove
south of the purchase boundary upon the stream itself, under the status quo
exercising jurisdiction over and claiming taxes from a very considerable part
of its people and property. In 1854, the thriving town having attained the
conventional dignity of population, was made a city, and the vexatious
complication became yet more serious. But yet seven years were still to
elapse before a solution of the difficulty was reached and the boundary cor-
rectly adjusted. In 1861 this object was finally accomplished, and Fall
River, no longer obliged to acknowledge two jurisdictions, found herself
richer in territory by nine square miles, in population by 3593, and in taxable
property by $1,948,378.
The foregoing very brief chapter of history simply sketches the origin
and corporate epochs of Fall River. Its annals during the Revolutionary
War and the later contest with the mother country are so like those of other
localities on the coast, exposed to invasion by their convenient access and
secure harborage, that it is not needful to embody them in a purely indus-
trial work. The little community, suffice it here to say, during both strug-
gles bore its part loyally and bravely in support of the Declaration, repelling
important assaults of British troops as well as crushing a dangerous demon-
stration of Toryism within its own limits ; and those who read the record of
the early period v/ill find prominently associated with the organization and
conduct of the patriot cause, conspicuous in counsel and action, the same
names, the Bordens, Durfees, and others, that are identified with every stage
of the material progress of Fall River.
From a very interesting little local publication, designed as a con-
venient medium of information, and admirably combining in petto the depart-
ments of historv and directory, we extract the following general view of Fall
River and its industries, as a preliminary to a more detailed account of their
united development :
6 FALL RIVER AND ITS JNDUSIRIES.
" The busy, bustling city of Fall River is the embodiment of the
sagacity, energy, and successful industry of her own people. No city or
town engaged in similar pursuits has greater cause for satisfaction, or can
refer to stronger reasons for the exercise of a just pride in the achievements
of her own citizens. Most of the large manufacturing towns of New Eng-
land are the representation of the surplus capital of the older commercial
cities. Fall River is the outgrowth of home industry and good manage-
ment, which, under the blessings of a benign Providence, have given her a
foremost rank in manufacturing cities, and a continued success rarely enjoyed
by those engaged in manufacturing or commercial pursuits. Her citizens
have at various times met with reverses, in the way of conflagrations and
strikes, but upon recovering from them, increased prosperity has been the
result ; and whether in manufacturing or other business, the immense capital
which is wielded here is strictly within the hands of her own citizens.
" The words or motto of her corporate seal, ' We'll Try,' have thus
received a most significant and practical exposition, and, to-day, the swiftly
developing interests of Fall River represent a productive force at least
double that of any other New England city engaged in the same class of
pursuits. Business is managed with a thrift and exactness seldom attained ;
but thrift and exactness are not allowed to degenerate into littleness, nor are
preconceived opinions held with a tenacity which amounts to stubbornness.
Her manufacturers are conscious that the world advances, and desire to
advance with it, adopting those suggestions which are reasonable, keeping
fully up to the demands of educated labor, desirous of promoting the interests
of their employes in wages, hours of labor, and mental and physical requisites,
and making them feel that the interests of employer and employed are one
and inseparable.
" Fall River is a city and port of entry of Bristol county, Mass., and is
pleasantly situated on a rather abrupt elevation of land, rising at the head of
Mount Hope Bay, an arm of Narragansett Bay. It comprises an area of
about thirty-six and a half square miles, and about 23,330 acres, including
both land and water. It is eminently a manufacturing place, but is specially
noted for its cotton manufactories ; while its fevorable position as regards
railway and steamboat communications, its improvements in commercial and
mechanical industry, and its recent almost unparalleled increase in popula-
tion and wealth, have given it a name and importance second to none in the
commonwealth.
" In the union of hydraulic power and navigable waters, it is perhaps
without a parallel upon the American continent. Its hydraulic power is
derived from a small stream — Fall River — whence the name of the city
which has its source, or is in reality the outflow of a chain of ponds lying
two miles east of the hay, covering an area of some 3500 acres, and having
a length of about eight miles, and an average breadth of three quarters of
a mile. They are mostly supplied by perennial springs, though receiving the
outlets of several other sheets of water. The extent of country drained is
comparatively small — not over 20,oco acres, and the quantity of power there-
fore is to be attributed to the springs alluded to, and to the great and rapid
ITS NATURAL ADVANTAGES.
7
fall of the river, which in less than half a mile is more than 132 feet. Within
this distance there are no less than eight falls, each occupied by mills — the
height of fall at each mill being as follows :
Dam to Troy 2 feet 6 inches.
Troy C. & W. Manuf.ictory i ; •• 5}
Pocasset Mill 21 " S "
Ouequechan Mill " 21 " o "
Watuppa Mill 15 " 4^ "
F. R. Print Works 10 •• o" "
F. R. Manufactory 14 '■ ji "
Annawan Manufacturing Compan}' 14 " SJ "
F. R. Iron Works Company 13 •• 11 "
129 feet li inches.
The whole of this fall occurs in a distance of 2300 feet. In one case the
falls are only 136 feet apart, and this distance occurs between the two greater
falls. The flow of the river is one hundred and twenty-one and a half cubic
feet per second, or 9,841,500,000 imperial gallons in a year of three hundred
days, of ten hours each. The remarkable advantages of this river as a mill
stream have been increased by building a dam at the outlet of the ponds,
which gives the water an additional fall of two feet ; and its lower banks are
entirely built up with large manufacturing establishments, which so rapidly
succeed each other as scarcely to leave space between some of the buildings
sufficient for light and air. The river for almost its entire length runs upon
a granite bed, and for much of the distance is confined between high banks,
also of granite. Differing therefore from most other water-powers, this one
allows the entire space between the banks to be -occupied, and most of the
water-wheels connected with the older factories are placed directly in the
bed of the river. Moreover, while the river affords an almost uniform and
constant supply of water, it is never subject to excess, and an injury in
consequence of a freshet has never yet been known. The river is perfectly
controllable, and thus it is that the mills were built directly across the river,
the wheels placed in the bed of the river, and yet from an excess of water no
damage was to be apprehended. In later years, however, most of the breast
wheels employed in these older mills have been supplanted by the modern
appliances of turbine wheels and steam power."
" With the increase of w'ealth and skill in manufacture, and the entrance
upon the stage of action of younger men of enterprise and ambition, new
projects were formed, and as the older mills occupied all available space upon
the river banks, new situations were sought out and appropriated, and the
'New Mills,' so called, were first erected on the margin of the ponds to the
south and east of the city, and of which the stream is the outlet, and after-
wards in the northerly and southerly sections of the city, on the banks of
Taunton River and Laurel Lake. The growth of the city in this respect was
almost marvellous, no less than eleven large mills, of from 30,000 to 40,000
spindles each, having been erected in one year (1872), involving an outlay of
capital to the extent of $10,000,000, employing 50C0 hands, and adding an
immediate population of some 15,000 persons. \'illages rapidly sprung up
and clustered around each mill, while much of the interinediatc space was
8 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
divided into house lots, and appropriated for dwellings and stores. This
sudden occupation of outlying sections, and the necessary throwing out of
streets and lanes, progressed with unexceptional rapidity, especially for a
place of seventy years' settlement. In fact, so rapid was the change in
appearance, that what were once familiar scenes remained so no longer,
varying from day to day, as though viewed through a kaleidoscope.
"The number of incorporated companies for the manufacture of cotton
goods is now (1876) thirty-three, owning forty mills, or forty-three, counting
those having two mills under one roof, with an incorporated capital of
$14,735,000, but a probable investment of $30,000,000, containing 1,269,048
spindles and 30,144 looms.
"The latest statistics report the total number of mills in the United
States as 847, containing 186,975 looms and 9,415,383 spindles, manufactur-
ing 588,000,000 yards of print cloths per annum. Of these, New England
has 489 mills, containing 148,189 looms and 7,538,369 spindles, manufactur-
ing 481,000,000 yards of print cloths. Fall River has thus over one eighth
of all the spindles in the country, or one sixth of those in New England, and
manufactures over a half of all the print cloths.
"The following table will show the number of spindles in the mills of
Fall River at the close of each year respectively :
1865 265,328
1866 403,624
1867 470,360
1868 537,416
1869 540,614
1870 544,606
1871 780,138
1872 1,094,702
1873 1,212,694
1874 1,258,508
1875 1,269,048"
Notwithstanding the great natural advantages of the locality and their
appreciation by the colonial grantors, who had expressly reserved the water
and adjacent land on both sides as being of superior available value, except
the grain mill of Church, and subsequent small ventures by other persons in
the same general direction, no permanent foundation of Fall River manu-
facture was made till after the war of 181 2.
In 1811, however, at Globe village, as it has since been known, within
the then town of Tiverton, but the present southern wards of the city of Fall
River, Colonel Joseph Durfee, in company with a few other persons, erected
a small wooden building, which was, chronologically speaking, the first cotton
factory in the neighborhood. The little mill stood on ground which is now
the northeast corner of Globe and South Main streets. Its operations con-
tinued till 1829, when it was turned into a print works, and so occupied till
its destruction by fire in 1838.
In soliciting subscriptions to the capital of this initial enterprise, tradi-
tion has it that the most effective argument put to the local magnates was
COTTON MANUFACTURE A.D. 1810-20. 9
that " cotton cloth would darn much easier than linen." It seems difficult to
realize that the period is so short a remove from our own era when such
persuasion was necessary. We must remember, however, that even in Eng-
land, until the decade from 1780 to 1790, which saw the full development of
Hargreaves' and Arkwright's inventions, it was thought necessary to make
the warp of linen, using cotton simply for the weft of cloth. This was due to
two reasons : that the fibre of flax was so much longer and capable of a
greater tenuity than that of cotton, enabling it to be spun much more suc-
cessfully on the domestic spinning-wheels or the mill-jennys, and that the
raw material of the former was much cheaper than that of the latter. Nearly
all the cloth worn by New England people at this period was home-spun
and woven, the wheel and hand loom being essential properties of every
household.
How much of the work of yarn-making in Colonel Dunce's mill was done
by machine process does not admit of positive assertion. The raw cotton
was given out to the farmers' families of the neighborhood and hand-picked.
The yarn likewise was distributed among the diligent housewives to be
woven into cloth, then collected, put in merchantable shape, and thrown
upon the market. We may presume that the machine appointments of the
mill included a few of the Arkwright spinning-frames, carders, and probably a
calender.
The success of Colonel Durfee's enterprise was not great at any time,
and generally its operation seems to have been disastrous to its promoters.
They exhibited great energy and considerable nerve, but with hardly com-
mensurate judgment, due probably to want of practical knowledge. One of
their experiments is still remembered as illustrative of their operative ability.
Having- heard that a "tub-wheel" would run better and easier than a breast-
wheel, they put one into the mill. A short trial, however, soon dissipated
their sanguine anticipation, the new affair not working at all well, but run-
ning without steadiness, being difficult of control, and consequently breaking
the ends of the thread in the spinning processes.
Occasional reference will be made to the original Durfee mill, and its
subsequent fortunes detailed as we proceed. Colonel Durfee was a citizen of
considerable local prominence. During the Revolutionary war and the. British
occupation of Newport and Rhode Island, he was a zealous patriot, and received
his srrade of lieutenant-colonel, with the command of a regiment recruited
from the neighboring region, in merited recognition of his gallant service.
From such contemporary memoranda as are accessible, and the use of
a very valuable ms. record, written nearly half a century subsequently by a
gentleman now deceased, who was one of the originators of cotton manufac-
lO FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
turing, we are able to sketch the village as it was in size and population
about the year 1S13.
The resident community of Fall River, or Troy, as it was then called,
was located about what is now the centre of the city, the main street follow-
ing the line of the present principal thoroughfare northward, and another
considerable street trending eastward to the lake. The greater part of the
residences were in these two avenues. Within a territory appro.ximating to
one and a half miles square, which would be designated at that day the village,
were about thirty dwelling-houses, three saw-mills, four grist-mills, one full-
ing-mill, a blacksmithy with trip-hammer, and several small stores. The
population was estimated at three hundred.
One small, three-masted vessel, which had been engaged in foreign trade,
but was, for a short period after the war, hauled up in the creek where the
" Old Depot " was afterwards located, and a few small sloops, carrying cord-
wood to Newport and Bristol, constituted the local shipping interest. There
was no regular conveyance to Providence, and what freight was transferred
between the two places went by craft plying between Providence and
Taunton, which, in default of wharfage convenience at the Falls, stopped at
the ferry two miles up the river, where all the cotton and merchandise was
landed for some years. The first craft regularly sailing to Providence was a
small schooner, or two-masted lighter, large enough to load ten bales of
cotton and a small additional cargo of flour and miscellaneous goods. This
was succeeded by the sloop Fall River, of thirty or forty tons capacity, and
that again by the sloop Argonaut, and another craft whose name is for-
gotten, which sustained the communication till the steamer Hancock was
put on.
The religious and educational structures of the village v/ere far from
suggestive of their present number, convenience, or architectural beauty. " In
1 81 3," says our chronicle, "there was one poor old dilapidated wooden meet-
ing-house, neither plastered nor lathed, which stood upon the line dividing the
States, occupied occasionally. The regular place of worship on the Sabbath
was at the Narrows, about two miles east. There was one, and only one,
good schoolhouse in the village, which stood on the corner of Annawan and
South Main streets." The residences were of the usual simple and plain
construction adopted in early New England communities, the most preten-
tious one being erected by Charles Durfee in iSi i, and standing until 1857,
when it was burned down. The richest resident from 1813 to 1824 was
estimated worth $40,000, " and there were but a small number of this class."
The entire valuation for some years did not exceed $500,000, and the total
taxation in 18 13 was $1500.
BMTI LIBRARY
^i^^gy-z,-^
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7
COTTON MANUFACTURE A.D. 1810-20. n
The year 18 13 is memorable as inaugurating the first regular cloth-
manufacturing enterprise, on a substantial basis, in Fall River, this twelve-
month witnessing the organization of two companies and the erection of twc?
considerable factories. The corporate names were the Troy Cotton and
Woolen Manufactory and the Fall River Manufactory, the former having a
capital of $50,000 and the latter of $40,000. About fifty per cent of the sub-
scriptions for the foundation of enterprises so considerable for the period
were secured in neighboring towns, notably Tiverton, Newport, Warren,
Rehoboth, Swansea, and Somerset. The companies were both formed in the
month of March, the prominent promoters of the Fall River being David
Anthony, Dexter Wheeler, and Abraham Bowen ; and of the Troy, Oliver
Chace, Nathaniel Wheeler, and Eber Slade. Mr. Anthony was chosen treas-
urer and agent of the former company, and Mr. Chace agent of the latter,
with Mr. Slade as treasurer.
David Anthony, to whose previous experience of mill-work was due the
construction of one of the two original cotton mills of Fall River, and through
whose far-sighted and enlarged appreciation of the future of cloth manufac-
turing was subsequently wrought what may be termed " a departure," to which
Fall River industry is believed by many persons to owe a large degree of its
present advancement, was born in Somerset, Mass., January 9th, i 786. At
the age of fourteen he left the home farm to enter the service of the rich man
of the neighborhood, a large real-estate owner and country merchant, John
Bowers, who resided near by on Somerset shore. Young Anthony's occupa-
tion was various for the first two years in Mr. Bowers' service. But he was
faithful and intelligent, and soon rose from the duties of " chore-boy" to the
more responsible office of grain and salt measurer at the store, varied by an
occasional rent-collecting expedition, or a trip to Providence or Taunton, on
his master's business. In order to educate him in book-keeping he was
shortly taken into the counting-room, and not long after charged with the
superintendence of the retail department of the store.
In 1804, to the amazement and great disturbance of the neighboring
region, Mr. Bowers' affairs became so embarrassed as to force his suspension.
By the concurrent action of all parties, the youthful manager, then in his nine-
teenth year, was employed in closing out the stock of goods and settling up
the bankrupt estate.
Young Anthony's educational advantages had not been of a large nature^
but he was one to realize the best possible result of whatever opportunities
were offered him, so that his intelligence was of a thorough and correct stand-
ard. In the winter following his conduct of Mr. Bowers' affairs, the local
authorities engaged him to teach a small school. He accepted, and of his
SMTl I
12 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
expenence was accustomed to say that he found himself so poorly prepared
for imparting knowledge as to necessitate his own constant application to the
various studies j^ursued, in order to avoid a failure. Though urged to remain
the teacher a second season, he declined, satisfied that the discipline of tuition
had been of more profit to himself than to his pupils.
Leaving the pursuit of teaching, he made a four months' engagement with
John P. Hellen, a crockery dealer of Providence, travelling from Somerset on
horseback with his little pack of personal effects, and with a boy mounted
behind him to return the horse. Not choosing to take the horse all the way,
he finished the last half of his journey on foot. Mr. Hellen was so well satis-
fied with his services that he continued him in the same situation for two
years.
Mr. Anthony's connection with manufacturing commenced in 1808, when
he moved to Pawtucket, where Samuel Slater had been operating a cotton-
spinning mill for some years successfully, and obtained employment in the
factory of that extraordinary man, of whom he often afterwards spoke as the
'' father of the cotton-manufacturing business in this country." In Mr.
Slater's service, and that of the brothers Wilkinson, who at that day were also
large yarn producers, Anthony acquired all that experience and contemporary
knowledge could impart of the infant pursuit. His industry, honest deter-
mination, and intelligent aptness made him both valued and kindly regarded
by Mr. Slater, himself a prodigious worker and persistent projector of work,
while his own natural inclination for mechanical business was developed, and
the course of his future life shaped out.
Having to his satisfaction acquired a thorough practical knowledge of
manufacturing, Mr. Anthony in April, 181 2, not finding the occupation suited
to his ambition in Pawtucket, went to Rehoboth, Mass., where Dexter
Wheeler, with other persons, was operating a small factory. His connection
there does not seem to have been permanent, as he left Rehoboth in March,
18 13, and moved to Fall River, where he spent the remainder of his life
Mr. Anthony's immediate purpose in moving to Fall River was probably
to organize a cotton-manufacturing company. Dexter Wheeler, associated
with him, had run a small yarn mill by horse-power at Rehoboth as early as
1807, and possessed experience both as manufacturer and machinist.
The Fall River mill, which was the result of the efforts of these two men,
both yet in early manhood, was finished in October, 181 3. It was erected at
the head of the third fall from tide-water, a structure sixty by forty feet in
dimensions, three stories high, and intended for fifteen hundred spindles.
The lower story was of stone and the upper two of wood, an alleged reason
for using the latter material in completing the factory being that " there was
COTTON MANUFACTURE A.D. 1810-20. 1 3
not enough stone in Fall River to finish it with." A better explanation may
have been the general ignorance of the use of derricks for some years
throughout this region, an exemplification of which will be observed in the
account of the erection of the Annawan mill farther on. Though it is mat-
ter of tradition that stone was not regularly quarried in Fall River till 1823,
the suggestion of its insufficient supply for any conceivable scheme of erec-
tion, even though it contemplated liuilding all the Pyramids along the shores
of Watuppa, seems absurd enough in view of the fact that the city is full of
immense granite structures constructed of material taken out of ledges on the •
premises.
Mr. Anthony's subsequent life was identified with the progress of Fall
River. He retired from active business about 1839, having won the success
which his vast resources of judgment and energy were sure to achieve. Of
his return to his old pursuit of manufacturing twenty years after, in the
seventy-fourth year of his age, the subsequent record will include the proper
mention. When seventy years old, in a brief review of his own career, he wrote
the following words of counsel to young men : " Happiness and success in a
business life are promoted by correct habits, systematic living in all matters,
and great promptness in fulfilling engagements."
David Anthony was the first, in point of time, of the strong, energetic
and sagacious natures that have built up a community of substantial and pro-
gressive industries. No better analysis of his own sterling character could be
made than is indicated in his sententious counsel to a youthful friend quoted
above, each of the qualities therein mentioned as requisites to happiness and
success being distinctly and conspicuously his own.
Mr. Anthony was socially known as Deacon Anthony, he holding that
office in the First Congregational Church from 1S34 till his decease. He was
President of the Fall River Bank from its organization in 1825 for forty
years. He was three times married, his last wife, whom he survived but four
years, being the daughter of Thomas Borden. Of his seven children, two sons
are still resident in Fall River, and another, John B. Anthony, of Provi-
dence, worthily known as for some years the executive officer and head of the
Providence Tool Company, is the President of the Union Mill Company.
David Anthony died in Fall River on the 6th of July, 1S67, closing a
long, useful, and honored career, as one to whom the " well done, good and
faithful servant" is spoken through all the centuries.
As above stated, the structure of the Fall River mill was completed, and
the machinerv, made for it by Dexter Wheeler, in operation in October, 181 3,
seven months from the initial movement of the enterprise. With all the
resources of the great machine shops of the United States and Great Britain^
14 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
such expedition as this would be extraordinary did we not remember that the
processes available in 1813 were hardly a third of those now necessary to the
equipment of a cotton factory. But even with this consideration, this possi-
bility suggests itself, that a part of the machinery set up in the new mill may
have been transferred from the Rehoboth factory. However the case may
be, it is certain that this mill, started by David Anthony and Dexter Wheeler,
was the first cotton-spinning organization in the village known as Fall River.
Coincident with the starting of the Fall River manufactory was that of
the Troy Manufacturing Company. The articles of association upon which
this enterprise was inaugurated are dated, as approved, March 8th, 181 3:
" Articles of agreement for the regulation and well-ordering the concerns and
proceedings of the subscribers associated for the purpose of building a manu-
factory of cotton or other goods in the town of Troy, county of Bristol and
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, with a capital stock of $50,000, divided
into one hundred shares, to be paid by instalments. Article First : The
company shall be known and called by the name of the Troy Manufacturing
Company, etc." The articles, eleven in number, were signed by the following-
named persons, together subscribing for all the shares, namely : Amey
Borden, Clark Chase, Oliver Chace, James Maxwell, Jonathan Brown
William Slade, N. M. Wheaton, Oliver Earl, Eber Slade, Joseph G. Luther,
SheflTel Weaver, John Stackford for Charles Wheaton and self, Nathaniel
Wheeler, James Driscol, Benjamin Slade, Moses Buffinton, Nathan Slade,
Daniel Buffinton, Hezekiah Wilson, Benjamin E. Bennet, Joseph Buffinton,
Walter Durfee, William Read, Robinson Buffinton, John Martin, and Ben-
jamin Buffinton. Article Second providing for an annual meeting, at which
were to be chosen a moderator, clerk, and standing committee, consisting of
five persons, " whose duty it shall be to transact and do all the business of the
company during the year;" this annual meeting of the stockholders was
holden on the 7th of June, and James Maxwell, Sheffel Weaver, Nathan
Wheeler, Benjamin Slade, and Jonathan Brown were chosen Standing Com-
mittee for the ensuing twelvemonth. At this meeting it was voted to
petition the Legislature for a charter of incorporation. This charter having
been issued, February 22, 1814, a meeting was holden, July 25th, 1814, to
organize under the Act, and the name of the company was changed to the
Troy Cotton and Woolen Manufactory. There is also a record of a meeting
on the 7th of the same month, at which it was voted to mcrease the amount
of capital $16,000, assessing each share $40, payable quarterly during the
ensuing year.
The Troy Company's mill was built of stone gathered from the neigh-
boring fields, and designed to run 2000 spindles. The building was one
Tbmo "Oj BovreB-ITT
»-tTnni-.'P,t'h-lT;-hiTi» 'i.Tn^rnir-T^t fwy
COTTON MANUFACTURE A.D. iSio-20. 15
hundred and eight feet long, thirty-seven feet wide, four stories, and had a
low hip roof It was located at the foot of the fall, near to or directly on the
site of an old saw-mill. The date of its commencing operation was about
the middle of March, 18 14, the building having been tinished in the previous
September.
At the first meeting on March 9th, 18 13 (after the capital had been sub-
scribed), of the Standing Committee chosen bv the stockholders the previous
day to superintend the affiiirs of the company till the annual meeting, it
seems the Committee effected an arrangement with Oliver Chace as agent.
The following extracts from the minutes of this meeting are interesting:
" Agreed with Oliver Chace to superintend the company's business, as
agent for and on behalf of the Committee until the annual meeting in the 6th
month next, at two dollars and fifty cents per day, he to find himself horse
and to do the company's riding; said company to pay his board and expenses
and find the horse provender, etc., when in their service.
" Agreed to build the factory of stone, one hundred feet by thirty-six
feet, two stories above the main sill ; the windows in the body thereof to be
seven by nine glass, and for the loft six by eight.
" Agreed to have an iron shaft for the water-wheel seven inches square
in the middle and six at each end, fourteen feet long; said wheel to be four-
teen feet diameter and twelve feet float.
" Agreed to build a machine shop, twenty-five feet by thirty-six, two
stories high, and a blacksmith's shop, sixteen by twenty-five feet, with two
forges ; the two shops to be rented to John Borden, Junior, at one hundred
and fifty dollars per year."
John Borden, Jr., above named, and his brothers Isaac, Asa, and Levi,
were born on the island of Rhode Island. Their father pursued the trade of
a blacksmith, and after learning it in his shop, they went to Waltham and
worked in the machine shop there. John, who had probably acquired a knowl-
edge of cotton machinery at Waltham, where Mr. Lowell's manufacturing
enterprise was then developing, came to Fall River in 18 13, and by him, in
association with his brother Isaac, probably, the machinery for the Troy
Manufactory was constructed. He finally moved to Indiana, where he died
many years since.
Oliver Chace, the originator and agent of the Troy mill, had been
brought up as a carpenter and wheelwright, and could often be seen in his
early days with his broad-axe on his shoulder, around among the farmers
repairing their carts and farming utensils, an active, restless nature with a keen
eye for business, and not disposed to settle down in one place or occupation.
He was progressive, energetic, and always ready to look into and entertain
l6 FALL RIVER AND LLS INDUSTRIES.
new projects. When, therefore, attention was invited to the comparatively
new enterprise of cotton-yarn spinning by power, he was at once an inter-
ested observer, and soon was induced to embark jiersonalh' in the business
at Dighton. With the experience of manufacturing thus acquired, he came
to Fall River, and of the entire list of stockholders in the Troy was the only
one having a practical acquaintance with the industry.
The spinning enterprise in Fall River was started at a period when the
stimulus of a market closed to foreign production was giving an inflated
encouragement to domestic enterprise. The mills were hardly finished and
ready to operate before peace was declared and a revulsion came, cotton cloth
going down fifty per cent in price, and a general depression ruling the
country, so that factory stock was not worth more than half the original
investment. The depression was, however, but temporary ; yet, what with the
effect of the panic and the difficulties attending a new business, the Troy
does not seem to have made a profit during its first few years. The follow-
ing memorandum of a new contract with the agent, passed by the Committee
Dec. 30, 1 8 16, indicates an economizing disposition: " Agreed with Oliver
Chace to transact the business of the company in behalf of the Directors, and
to give him two dollars per day and find him sufficient house room for his
family (and garden), and he, the said Oliver, to board the Directors at these
meetings, as heretofore, without making any charge to the company ; this
until further agreement."
The matter of salary must have been a frequent and annoying subject
of settlement between the Board and its agent. The original contract with
him for three years from December 3, 18 13, gave him " one thousand dollars a
year and a convenient house for his family to live in, unless he shall build one
sooner, in which case he is to live in his own house." Whatever may be
thought of the smallness of the agent's remuneration, however, it seems really
munificent in comparison with that awarded the treasurer, Eber Slade, who
was annually voted " ten shillings per day, he to board himself."
Power-weaving was first done in the Fall River Manufactory, early in
181 7, Sarah Winters starting the first loom, Mary Healy the second, and
Hannah Borden the third. The last named (Mrs. William Cook), who was
then fourteen years of age, possesses a thorough •recollection of the then new
feature of factory work. The looms used were the invention of Dexter
Wheeler. They were very heavy and clumsy and constantly getting out of
order, weaving one yard of good cloth and ruining the next through the want
of control of the shuttle. The dressing was very poor, and at times the yarn
would mildew and rot on the beam, causing large quantities to be thrown
away, and a consequent great waste of material.
cor ION MANUFACTURE A.D. 1810-20. 17
In the interesting; MS. previously quoted, the statement is made that
" looms were first built in Fall River by John Orswell and Wheaton Bailey,
for the two above-named eompanies, perhaps about the year 181 7, each com-
pan\' putting" in operation twelve to fifteen." This is probably an error as to
time, and the machines constructed by Orswell and Bailev were doubtless on
the model of the Cartwright or Scotch loom, introduced into the country
in 1816, bv Gilmore. In the records of the Troy Company is found the fol-
lowing memorandum of action taken at a meeting, June 5th, 1820: "Voted
that the agent build and put in operation ten pair of water-looms, with prepa-
rations, besides the present ten now building, if he shall deem it expedient."
J\.nd again at the quarterly meeting the succeeding September, the agent was
instructed to put in "a new flume where the old saw-mill stood, and cut
down the raceway as low as that of the main stream, and remove the
machine-shop up to the said new flume, for the purpose of putting in a new
water-wheel, to carry machinery for spinning or weaving as he shall think most
expedient." Both of the above memoranda may be accepted as indications
that water or power looms were not set up in the Troy mill ])rior to the last
quarter of the year 1820.
The first weavers in the Fall River Manufactory were hired by the week,
r.L the rate of $2.50 per week ; but, when the looms were made to operate
more regularly and the weavers had acquired some experience, so that one
could run two looms and produce thirty yards of cloth from the pair, the
system of paying by the yard was adopted, and one cent per yard or thirty
cents per day became the average wages. Cloth was woven one yard wide,
and sold at twenty-five cents per yard, the production of water-looms at first
being plain cloth only.
As a suggestion of the number of employes in an early cotton factory
of the average size, the following statement, also embodying Mrs. Cook's
recollections, is interesting. The Fall River Manufactory employed in the
weaving-room fifteen persons to tend thirty looms, in the dressing-room three,
the spinning-room ten, and the carding-room three ; so that, including over-
seers, the total number directly engasre*^' in cloth production in 1S19 probably
did not exceed thirt3'^-five.
When the Troy commenced the production of stripes (1821), the
company colored its yarn in a small dye-house belonging to the mill.
The spinning frames set up in the tw^o mills were of seventy-two spindles
each, and the best spinners could tend a pair of frames, producing two and a
half skeins per spindle in a day's work.
Previously to 1820 stripes were woven in hand looms, and termed i and
l8 FALL KIVER AND ITS L\DUSTRIES.
3, or 2 and 2, as there was one white thread and three blue threads, or two
white and two blue, etc.
The two companies found it necessary not only to conduct the details of
manufacturing, but, it is evident, to exercise all the enterprise and shrewdness
of merchants in disposing of their production. The Fall River mill sold a fair
portion of its yarn in Philadelphia, and through commission houses. The
Trov sought a market in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and especially
in Maine. This adding merchandising to producing rendered the business
much more like drudgery than our own times afford any instance of With
the Providence mill-owners weekly sending their yarn into every nook of the
country to be woven, it was hard enough finding a farm-house whose women-
folk had not already been employed by those earlier birds from Rhode Island;
but it was harder yet to sell the goods in those days when the voice of the
broker was not heard in the land — at least not as much as it is now. The
following resolution of the Troy Directors, October i8th, 1819, touches this
matter : " Voted and agreed to establish a store at Hallowell, in the District
of Maine, for the purpose of vending cotton and other goods, for and on
account of the Troy Cotton and Woollen Manufactory, and that Harvey
Chace was chosen agent to conduct the business there, to be paid for his
services at and after the rate of $300 per year, his board to be paid by the
company. The company's agent was also authorized to make a shipment of
cotton and other goods to the State of Georgia this fall ( if he shall think it
expedient), for the purpose of purchasing cotton and other kinds of Southern
produce on account of the company."
The Harvey Chace above named, now proprietor of the Albion Mills at
Valley Falls, R. I., was a son of the agent. Succeeding minutes of record
from time to time indicate the continued support of his mission Down East
by the directors of the Troy, and also their approval of the Georgia ship-
ments. In this connection we refer again to the interesting RIcviorabilia pre-
viously quoted : " In the cotton business of that day there was a great amount
of book-keeping and clerical work, of which very few manufacturers now have
any idea. Every bale of cotton put out to be picked was booked, as was also
every web given out to be woven. A mill of seven thousand to ten thousand
spindles required more labor to take care of the yarn after its leaving the reel
and prepare it for or get it into the market, than all the spindles in Fall River
now (1859) demand.
" The price paid by the mills for picking the cotton given out was four
cents per pound, and five or six pounds was considered a fair day's work.
The Fall River mill secured Blair's Picking Machine, the first one in the
place, and it was in fact just introduced in the country. This acquisition in
1814 was calculated to save three quarters of the cost of picking. The
improvement encountered a violent opposition in the ignorant prejudice of
COrrON MANUFACTURE A.D. i8ro-2o.
19
consumers both of yarn and cloth, who believed its operation was detrimental
to the staple and consequentlv to the cloth itself.
" The dressing of the yarn for the looms was at first attended with much
difficultv and vexation. The first dresser used bv the Fall River Company
warped the beam b)' sections, say, one eighth of a ^'ard at a time, the beam
which received the yarn having as many sections as there were quarters of a
yard to the web. This process of dressing was so trving and troublesome
that an altogether different machine was devised, an im])iovement upon the
Waltham dresser, which received the yarn of section warps from beams
revolving over a small round roll. It was some years before this device gave
place to the dresser now in use.
" Until about the years 1820 to 1825, the roping was made in cans, with
open tops, or with tops which required to be wound upon the bobbin, by
hand, for use. 'Hie want of a better roving machine was a serious evil in
early manufacturing, greater speed of process being sadly wanted. Speeders,
so called, were used of various designs : Hinds', Arnold's, Simmons', Orswell's
(a kind known only in Fall River), and the Waltham, which, with all the
other Waltham inventions, for a time enjoyed the precedence.
"The 3"arn spun was reeled from the bobbin upon reels, 18 inches over,
into skeins of 7 knots, 80 threads to the knot. Twentv skeins was termed
a doflf, for which some three or four cents were paid ; the yarn was next sorted,
and everv skein weighed separatelv, thus determining how many skeins
weighed a pound.
" The yarn so sorted was put up into five-pound bundles, ready for market.
" In the early stages of cotton spinning, only a small proportion of yarn
was spun over. No. 16, for simple want of a demand. Yarn designed for
plain cloth, sheetings, or shirtings, was bleached upon the grass, no chemicals
l)eing used, and a good whitening required from four to six weeks. Most of
the yarn produced was woven into blue and white stripes, chambrays, tick-
ings, etc. The several prices were, for stripes 38 cents, shirtings 1 1 cents,
sheetings 50 cents, and tickings occasionally as high as $1 per yard.
" The wearing apparel of male operatives was generally cotton velvet, five
eighths wide, costing about $1 per yard. Females wore stripes, i and 3, 2
and 2, 4 and 2, etc., for their dresses, the making up costing from 50 cents to
75 cents.
" The imperfect development of the weaving machinery of the loom,
particularly through the unreliable motion of the shuttle, made a great deal
of poor cloth during those opening years of our manufacture. The best
weaving was at the rate of 85 to 100 picks per minute, turning out from 17
to 20 yards a dav as an excellent result. Power-loom production was also
regarded at first suspiciously, some still clinging to hand-wove fabrics, while
others insisted upon the threads being all warp, on account of its having more
twist than the weft spun for filling. A popular use for the warps then made,
the coarser yarns, among the countrv people, was to weave them into flannels
for sheets and underclothing; but for the finer article of production, really fit
for good shirtings, we were still dependent on the foreign manufacturers.
"During the years 1813-14 both the Troy and Fall River companies
20 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
erected sev^eral tenement houses, at a cost of $1500 each, for their work-
people, in which the agents also lived. The capacity of these first tenement
structures in the place was large enough for four families.
"The operatives, with the rare exception of an occasional Englishman,
were all natives. Very many of them, and nearly all the overseers, were
persons whose previous occupation had been seafaring, the suspension of
commerce during the war obliging them to' seek a new industry. Capable
and good men could be hired as overseers at from 4s. 6d. to 7s. 6d. per day,
payable mostly from the factory stores. Female operatives received from
$2.75 to $3.25 per week, having to pay Si. 75 for their board. Groceries were
exceedingly high — tea los. 6d. per pound, sugar 25 cents, coflTee TiT, cents,
molasses from $1 to $1.25 per gallon, and flour $17 per barrel. Fuel (wood
exclusively) and house rent were of course very much lower than they are at
the present time (1859), however, so that families were able to live quite
comfortably."
The first dividend paid to the stockholders of the Troy was in 1820 : "At
a meeting of the directors the fifth day of sixth month, at nine o'clock a.m.,
it was voted and resolved that the treasurer be authorized and directed to
pay out to the stockholders a dividend of twenty-five (S25) dollars on a share
at the expiration of three months from this time, and another dividend of the
same amount at the expiration of six months from this date."
Succeeding dividends are recorded, but one of which seems to have a
present interest, however : " At a regular meeting of the directors at Troy,
fifth month, twenty-fifth day, 1824, voted that a dividend of twenty-five dollars
on a share be paid to the stockholders in goods on demand, at the following
prices, namely :
f Brown shirtings at 10 cents.
I " " at II
t " " " i3i "
f " " " IS "
I Stripes " "14
f Gingham shirtings at 14^^ cents.
^ Check " " 14 "
iJ
Fair quality.
At the quarterly meeting, September 5, 1820, it was voted "to run the
mill evenings from the fifth day of tenth month to the first day of third
month, 1 82 1, and keep a watch all night for the same term of time."
" Also, to stop the practice of making fires in the vicinity of the mill for
the purpose of boiling clothes."
The two provisions against conflagration above recorded seem almost
prophetic, for the mill was burned down so completely that only a portion
of the walls were left standing, in the succeeding October. Immediate
COTTON MANUFACTURE A.D. 1810-20. 21
preparations were made for rebuilding, and machinery ordered of Harris,
Hawes & Co. ; but- there must have been some delay, as the agent was
authorized by resolution, September 3d, 1822, to dispose of half of the
contract. It was also voted "that the agent be authorized to have what
money he may find necessary for the company, if it does not exceed two
thousand and five hundred dollars, before our next quarterly meeting."
In December, 182 1, we find that negotiation was pending to lease for a
term of five years the Globe Manufactory, real estate and machinery, and
" also the Union factory in said Tiverton for one year." It does not appear
certain that the company secured the control of the Globe — Colonel Durfee's
original enterprise, in which he had met with disaster only, and which was
operated by various parties for some years preceding its occupation as a print
works in 1829. At any rate its own new mill was completed and in condi-
tion to run in the fall of 1823.
In 1 82 1, the Troy Company had erected a small building where the old
saw-mill, previously referred to, stood, which was called the " Little Mill."
This addition was nearly ready for occupation when the main building was
burned, and was immediately equipped with the few carders and looms
rescued from the fire, and a small supplement of machinery from the Globe,
and put in operation.
In 1843, "ill addition, of stone, three stories high, and 75 by 47 feet in
proportions on the ground, was made to the original Troy Mill. Ten years
later this new part was raised two stories and the building extended 80 feet
on the south, all the old wooden erections being removed. In i860 the
original mill of 1823 was removed, and the part known as the New Mill
erected, on the north, reaching to Bedford street, 296 feet long, 70 feet wide,
and five stories high.
Oliver Chace remained agent of the Troy until 1822, when he accepted
a similar position with the Pocasset Company. He was succeeded by his
son Harvey, who filled the place till 1842. The agents of the Troy since
1842 have been: Stephen Davol, 1842-1860; Thomas J. Borden, 1860-1876;
and the superintendents since 1827 (when the office of agent was divided
into the two now termed treasurer and superintendent), William C. Davol
to 1843; Abel Borden, 1843-1849; Joseph D. Brown, 1849-1872; John C.
Bartlett, 1872-1873 ; Chas. Green, 1873-1874; and William E. Sharpies, 1875
to the present time.
During the reconstruction of the Troy Company's factory, other manu-
facturing enterprises being in contemplation, the control and preservation of
the water-power seem to have been subjects of consideration, and instructions
were voted to the agent " to use his best endeavors to prevent the water being
22 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
turned, or anv part of it, from any of the ponds that empty themselves into
the one from which we draw our water, and for him to pay our proportion of
all expenses that may arise from legal or other means that shall he deemed
proper to prevent the course of said waters being turned, either by digging,
building, or otherwise."
At a meeting, held June 13th, 1822, it was voted that James Driscoll, on
the part of the Troy Companv, should be empowered to settle with the
Pocasset Company upon " a permanent mark for the height of flowage of the
pond."
From the mass of record and reminiscence accumulated in the foregoing
pages, it is hoped the reader will he able not only to compose for himself a
picture of Fall River as it was during the period from 1813 to 1820, but also
to form a correct appreciation of domestic cotton manufacturing in its
inchoate stag-e. If the illustrations and authorities furnished are wantinar in
detail, or have been discursively and incoherentlv presented, a generous con-
sideration for such defaults of construction is asked, in view of the fact that
the generation which witnessed the origin of Fall River industry has passed
away, the oldest now living, to whose memory appeal has been made, having
been but children at the period narrated ; and thus, with the exception of oral,
testimony on a few isolated points, the writer has been obliged to depend
upon minutes of record, which certainly were not made in anticipation of
future historic treatment, and upon memoranda, provokingly suggestive of
what their author could have done, jotted down nearly half a century after
the events and circumstances they indicate.
The ten years from 1820 to 1830 beheld a decided advance of the local
industry, not only in its cotton manufacture, but in other directions of eflfort
as well. During the period there were organized the Pocasset Manufacturing
Company, the Annawan and Massasoit, Robeson's, or the Fall River Print
Works, the Satinet Factory, the Fall River Ii^on Works Company, and the
Watuppa Reservoir Company, besides several minor establishments, and addi-
tions were also made to the older mills.
The Fall River Manufactory was enlarged in 1827, a small brick mill,
three stories high, being erected on the north. This mill, called the " Nan-
keen Mill," was run by Azariah and Jarvis Shove, for the manufacture of
nankeen cloth, until it was torn down, together with the old "Yellow Mill,"
as the first mill of the Fall River Manufactory was called, to make way for
the "White Mill," put up by the same company in 1839.
In 182 1, the land, including the falls just west of Main street, came into
the possession, largely, of the Rodmans of New Bedford, who organized the
COTTON !\[AXUFACTURE A.D, 1820-30. 23
Pocasset Manufactuiin<j Company with the original paid-in capital of
$100,000, with Samuel Rodman as President and principal owner.
Mr. Rodman was a gentleman of the "old school," and wore short
clothes, with long, fine silk stockings, knee-buckles, and buckled shoes; a
coat, broad-skirted, wide-cuffed, and of a drab color ; and a long waistcoat,
with broad flaps over the pockets. His appearance in town was always a
great source of attraction to the boys, who admired his tall, straight figure,
set off" by his old-time costume.
The company proceeded at once to develop their property, voting at
first to erect a grist-mill, but subsequently changed their plans, and having
engaged Oliver Chace, of the Troy Mill, as agent, began the erection of the
old " Bridge Mill," as it was known. This mill, standing just north of the
stream, and in front of the present Granite Block, Main street, was built of
stone, about 100 by 40 feet, three stories high, with a long ell on the south end,
parallel with, and extending over, the stream. The company's first purchase
of machinery for this mill was a thousand spindles, which were placed in the
south half, the north half being leased to D. & D. Buffington, for the manu-
facture of warp and batting. The old grist-mill, which formerly stood on this
spot, was torn down to make room for the new structure, but the old fulling-
mill still remained just to the south. The latter was the only mill of the
kind in this region. It was run by Major Brayton, and in it was cleansed and
fulled all the cloth woven by the farmers for heavy winter clothing. Both of
these mills were destroyed in the " Great Fire of '43."
The Pocasset Company seemed to have made it a point to encourage
smaller manufacturers, and to this end erected buildings successively for some
ten or fifteen years, which were leased to other parties. A small building, to
the west of the ell of the old " Bridge Mill," was occupied by Job Eddy, of
New Bedford, and subsequently by Edward and Oliver S. Hawes and others
for printing calicoes in a small way ; but this was of short continuance.
In the fall of 1824, Andrew Robeson, of New Bedford, came to Fall
River to establish a calico-printing business, and made arrangements with the
Pocasset Company to occupy a part of the building erected in 1825, and
known as the Satinet Factory. The capital ($50,000) for this enterprise was
generally subscribed in New Bedford. The south half of this building was
occupied by J. & J. Eddy for the manufacture of woollen goods (whence the
name " Satinet"), and continued to be so used by them till the erection of
the Wamsutta Steam Woolen Mill, on " Mosquito Island," in 184Q. In
1826 a stone building, on the site of the present Quequechan Mill, known in
those days as the " New Pocasset," was erected and leased to A. & J. Shove,
who sub-leased the north half to Chase & Luther, both firms engaging in the
24 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIKS.
manufacture of cotton into yarn and cloth. The succeeding year still
another stone building was put up, which was afterwards known as the
" Massasoit," and now as the " Watuppa Mill." It was a building so large
that it was considered no one firm would want to occupy the whole of it,
hence a partition wall was run from the foundation to the roof, and two
wheel-pits put in.
But a man had now come on to the stage of action whose ideas were
somewhat larger than those of his predecessors ; young in years, but confident
in his own powers and capacities, and with a training which specially fitted
him for the sphere in which henceforth he was to move and to occupy a com-
manding position. Holder Borden stepped forward and leased the whole mill
for fifteen years, fi^om Jan. i, 183 1. Doubtless the uncertainty of the busi-
ness, already exhibited in its ups and downs as affected by high tariffs or low
tariffs, by the defects of machinery as yet unperfected, or the irregularities of
a business not yet systematized, may have had their influence in deterring
others from attempting too much in this direction ; liut the time had now
arrived when it was to assume a more solid basis, and call into service men
of broad scope, far-sighted, comprehensive, and self-confident, to take hold
and advance the industry as it had never before been, at least in this country.
Such a man was Holder Borden ; and while old men shook their heads and
had their doubts and made their timid suggestions, he proceeded with a firm
hand and clear head to develop one scheme after another, till he gave to Fall
River an' impulse and a direction, a force and example, which she has not
outgrown to the present day.
Holder Borden, then but thirty-one years of age, assumed the manage-
ment of the Massasoit Mill. Making openings in the partition between the
two parts of the mill, he immediately filled it with machinery, and commenced
the manufacture of sheetings, shirtings, Marseilles vesting, stuff for corded
skirts, and other fabrics. Discarding the old method of distributing power
by heavy gearing, he was the first in this vicinity to introduce belting, by
which much of the noise and racket of machinery was done away with, and a
steady and more uniform motion secured to the different processes, to say
nothing of the reduction of friction and gain in power.
The mill at once acquired a reputation abroad, and in Providence, for
example, young men were advised " to go into business in Fall River," where
Holder Borden's great mill had just been started. This mill, which seems so
small in our day, had 9000 spindles, and was large, z'c/y large, when com-
pared with the 2500 or 3000 spindles heretofore considered sufficient for one
mill.
In a work published in Edinburgh in 1840, James Montgomery, who
COTTON MANUFACTURE A.D. 1820-30. - 25
visited America in 1S36, and was, lor a short time, Superintendent of the
York Mills at Saco, discussing the relative merits of shafting or belting, says :
" There are two mills at Fall River, in the State of Rhode Island, which
seem to decide the question in favor of the belts. These factories have equal
water-power, as the one takes exactly what passes through the other. The
one is geared with belts, the other with shafts, etc., and it is found that the
former can put in motion a considerably greater quantity of machinery than
the latter." The mill first referred to was probal)lv the Massasoit.
The enterprise was successful from the first, ami did much to give char-
acter and tone to a business which heretofore had met with only partial suc-
cess. From this period the main industry of Fall River was fullv and defi-
nitely determined, and, though the steps were sometimes slow and far between,
they have ever been forward. New hands and thoughtful minds have from
time to time turned their attention to the industry, and, as new exigencies
have arisen, have applied the skill of inventive genius, or the wisdom of expe-
rience, to advance its interests, until to-da)" Fall River stands foremost as the
centre of Cotton Manufacture in America.
With the establishment of the Pocasset Comijany and the various manu-
facturing enterprises, growing out of that new and pushing organization, all of
which were located upon and using the fall, it became necessary to establish
a general and responsible control of the water-power furnished by the stream
and the parent lake. Soon after the commencement of tJTe Pocasset Com-
pany's actual operation, the Troy Company, as appears from a minute of its
action on the 13th of June, 1822, instructed James Driscoll, one of its Direc-
tors, to confer with the Directors of the Pocasset upon a permanent mark for
the height of flowage of the pond.
The Troy Company acquired its ownership of the upj^er fall upon which
its mill was located, and a relative control of the whole water-power, through
the concession of its first-named stockholder, Amey Borden, who received
eleven of the one hundred shares of stock constituting the original capital of
the companv, in consideration of her grant of the land and water privilege.
Mrs. Borden was the widow of Simeon Borden, a great-grandson of Richard,
one of the two sons of the original John Borden, who in 1714, by purchase
from Colonel Church of the twenty-six and a half shares belonging to him,
became possessed of the land on both sides of the river, and consequent
owners of the entire fall. Probably during the century whicli elapsed between
this original acquisition and the organization of cotton manufacturing in
1 81 3, a considerable part of this property had passed out of the hands of the
descendants of the two brothers Richard and Joseph. It is evident, however,
that the Troy Compan)', as a representative of Mrs. Amey Borden, in a cer-
26 FALL RIVER AND ITS INnUSTRIES.
tain degree controlled the general privilege, and its records indicate that any
violation or invasion of its rights was jealously watched and guarded against.
In 1825, after a general conference of the parties interested, the ques-
tion of permanent preservation and control of the water-power was settled.
The Watuppa Reservoir Company was formed " to build a new dam above
the dam belonging to the Troy Company, for the purpose of raising the
water two feet above the present dam, and to pay the expense of flow-
age occasioned thereby." The' Troy Company gave the Reservoir Com-
pany the privilege of building the new dam upon their property. Acts of
Incorporation were secured from the Legislatures of Rhode Island and
IVIassachusetts, the latter of which bears date June 20th, 1826, and a code of
by-laws was adopted. The corporators were David Anthony, Nathaniel B.
Borden, Oliver Chace, and Bradford Durfee, they being representatives of
the several manufacturing establishments on the Fall River stream, namely,
the Troy Cotton and Woollen Manufactory, the Pocasset Manufacturing
Company, the establishment of Andrew Robeson, the Fall River Manufac-
tory, the Annawan Manufactory, and the Fall River Iron Works Company.
The company proceeded immediately to accomplish the object of the
organization, building the dam, in 1832, south of the present line of Pleasant
street, and paying the damage occasioned by the flowage of the land along
the banks of the river. The dam was constructed of quarried stone, under
the superintendence of Major Durfee, and attracted universal attention in the
village because it was the first stone laid in cement, and obviated a difficulty
never before entirely overcome, namely, the leaching of the water through the
crevices.
The building of factories and filling them with machinery naturally led
to an early demand for skilled machinists, and as early as 1 821, the firm of
Harris, Hawes & Co. was formed and occupied two floors of a building put
up for their use by the Pocasset Company ; the lower floor or basement was
used by Miller Chase as a grist-mill, and near by was a water-wheel, in con-
stant demand for the washing of clothes by the wives and daughters of the
leading men of the place, whose residences were then mostly on Central
street, and the vicinity of the Four Corners.
Much of the machinery of the Bridge Mill and the improvements made
in that of the Troy and Fall River was made by this firm. They subse-
quently moved into the north end of the Satinet Factor}', continuing the
business under the name of O. S. Hawes & Co. After Job Eddy removed
his printing machinery to New Bedford, the building was occupied by dif-
ferent parties as a bleachery and in 1S29 by the Fall River Bleaching and
Calendering Company.
COTTON MANUFACTURE A.D. 1820-30. 27
Just east of the present Watuppa Mill was a small building which had
been used several years by Edward Bennett & Brother as a carding factory.
It had but one set of machines, and employed some three or four hands.
Thus had the Pocasset Company fostered the manufacturing enterprise
of those days by providing a place to make beginnings.
While these changes were taking place near the head of the stream,
still others were going on below. In 1S25, the Annawan Manufactory
was organized with a nominal capital of $160,000, in 30 shares, and the brick
building, still standing, was erected near the junction of Annawan and Pocas-
set streets. The Annawan ran from 5000 to 7000 spindles. The brick for
the construction of this mill were burnt at Bowenville, from clay brought
from Long Island. Major Bradford Durfee was the Agent of the mill and
superintended its construction. Thirteen persons took all the stock, as fol-
lows : Abraham and Isaac Wilkinson, 4 shares ; Bradford Durfee, 2 ; William
Valentine, 2 ; Joseph Butler, 2 ; Richard Borden, 2 ; Holder Borden, 4; Ben-
jamin Rodman, 8 ; Francis Rotch, i ; W^illiam B. Rotch, i ; Thomas Swain,
I ; William Swain, i ; Charles W. Morgan, 2. Of this capital Siocooo was
paid in.
Major Durfee, then thirty-nine years of age, was an active, stirring man,
seeming to be in his element when engaged in some out-of-doors occupation ;
with the exception of a year or two spent as a ship-carpenter near New Bed-
ford, most of his life was passed in Fall River, where he was always a leader
among the independent, self-confident men of his time. He was one of the
orififinal eight owners of the Fall River Iron Works Co., formed in 1821, and
was conspicuously active in the improvement of what is known as " below
the hill." In building operations, in the construction of wharves, in the get-
ing out of stone, in devising means to accomplish certain ends, in readiness
of comprehension and clearness in imparting ideas, in all the various ways in
which one man gains and retains an influence over others, perhaps Major
Durfee has never had a superior in the city.
During the seven years succeeding the commencement of the cotton
business, the growth of the village was extremely gradual, its census in 1820
showing but fifty dwelling houses and about five hundred inhabitants. From
this date may be reckoned the more rapid and steady advance of population
and enterprise, the next ten years witnessing especially many and important
changes. There was no regular communication with the neighboring towns
till 1827. In that year the Steamer Hancock commenced running daily
between Fall River and Providence. Other steamers had previously at-
tempted to establish communication with neighboring places, but with only
partial success. Sailing vessels had also been employed, but of course were
subject to wind and tide. Kinsley's baggage-wagon went once 01 twice a
28 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
week to Boston, carrying down cotton yarn and bringing back two or three
bales of cotton, with other goods or merchandise. Fall River was one side
from the post-roads, and letters had to be sent or carried to Taunton. The
goods manufactured were sheetings, shirtings, twills, ginghams, blue and
white stripe, etc., and were sold in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia,
through commission houses.
The hours of labor began at 5 A.M., or as soon as light, and work con-
tinued till 8 A.M., when half an hour was allowed for breakfast. Another
half-huur was given at 1 2 M., for dinner ; and work then resumed till dark or
till half-past 7 P. M., in winter. Supper came after that. The male help
were treated to New England rum at 1 1 A.M., and considerable excitement
was created in 1827, when one of the mill foremen, recently deceased, refused
to carry it around among his help, saying " he was hired to oversee the card-
ing-room, not to distribute liquor."
The superintendent of a mill in 1830 received $2 per day, which was
thought to be an enormous price. Five shillings (83 cents) and a dollar per
day were considered good wages. Doffer-boys had 25 cents a day, and over-
seers of rooms $1.25 per day. Very much the same machines were used
then as now, though of course vastly improved in these later days. There
was the picker, by which the cotton was opened from the bale ; the first
carding-machine, called breaker ; the second carding, called finisher ; the
set of speeders, by which the roving was made (more carding being done
in those days than at present, resulting in fine, smooth threads, free from
lumps) ; then hand mules for filling ; throstle spinning for warp ; spooling ;
warping; and finally dressing; the latter operating eight beams at once — four
on each end, and making one web for drawing in and weaving.
The first print cloths were made in the Bridge Mill, seven eighths to a
yard wide, and were bought and printed by Andrew Robeson. They were
considerably coarser than the 28 inch 64 by 64 of the present day, being only
44 picks to the square inch, and of No. 20 or No. 25 yarn.
In the construction of the mills no derricks were used, but the stones for
the upper stories were carried up on hand-barrows or rolled up long inclines,
and it was thought quite wonderful when Major Durfee used oxen to draw
up the stone, brick, timber, etc., on the Annawan and White Mills.
At first only Americans worked in the mills, as there were very few
foreigners in the place. The establishment of Print Works effected an immi-
gration of English and Scotch, and after the " Great Fire," the Irish came in
considerable numbers to work in the Mills and Iron Works, and as day
laborers. Several of the mills had corporation stores, from which the
help were supplied with their groceries, dry goods, and other necessaries.
COTTON MANUFACTURE A.D. 1820-30. 29
Thus there were on Main street the Pocasset and Troy Stores, while the
wholesale store was Burr's, afterward Lindsey's, at the shore. Most of the
supplies were brought in sloops from New York. A hundred-ton sloop was
called large, and return freights of cloth, etc., were often divided as too valu-
able to risk on one vessel. There were also a number of vessels engaged in
the West India trade, taking out cargoes of New England rum and cloths,
and returning with a freightage of indigo, drugs, and other articles.
By reason of the inconsiderable size of the place, Fall River was little
affected by the changes of national policy on the tariff question, and hence
suffered little in the business depressions of 181 7 and 1825, though more in
that of 1829. The early tariff acts, while intended to be fully protective of
our infant manufactures, were, in fact, only partially so. Nearly all the duties
were 15 per cent or less, and the disparity between our people and those of
Europe in capital, skill, and other resources was too great to be overcome by
so slight a barrier. When the war of 181 2 began, it was seen that a more
radical protective policy was necessary, and all duties were doubled with the
twofold purpose of increasing the revenue and of stimulating manufactures.
The effect of this legislation was instantaneous. Every existing enterprise in
the country was quickened into new life, and many new industries were
created. In 18 16, shortly after the close of the war, duties were again low-
ered, and as a result, British manufacturers held almost complete possession
of our markets from that time till the enactment of the tariff of 1824. The
tariff of 1824 was the first thoroughly protective tariff act passed by Con-
gress in time of peace. In 1828 the duties were still farther increased, and a
wonderful impetus given to the industr)^ of the whole country. The marked
result of this policy was to advance the textile fabrics in number and finish,
laying the foundation of cloth printing, and as a consequence, greatly extend-
ing the domestic market for raw cotton. The stimulating effects of these
measures, so far as they affected Fall River, are seen in the number and variety
of enterprises started during those ten years, from 1820 to 1830. Before the
introduction of calico printing, the industry in the United States was con-
sidered to be in such a precarious condition, that no one would venture on
the production of the finer fabrics, and not until the making of dress and
other colored goods was the manufacture of cotton placed upon a permanent
basis.
Andrew Robeson, of New Bedford, was the pioneer of calico printing
in Fall River. Related by marriage to the Rodmans, when they came to
organize the Pocasset Company, he soon after made his advent in the place.
His father had several large flour mills at Germantown, Pcnn., which were
operated under the son's direction before he came North, and hence he was
30
FALL RIVER AND ITS INDITSTRIES.
often designated as the " old millwright." He was a tall, robust man, with a
large, powerful frame, black hair, quick movement, and withal an ardent
lover of the horse. Retaining his domicile in New Bedford, it was his daily
custom to drive over to his business avocations, making the journey of
fourteen miles upon a notoriously heavy road, frequently in a fraction over
an hour. Upon one occasion, hearing that his factory was on fire, he forced
the speed of his favorite roadster to its extreme achievement, and reached
the scene of conflagration in an hour, but the good horse fell dead in his
tracks at the end of his route. Mr. Robeson's extraordinary physical power
likewise found occasional illustrations, his best display of it, the piling of
three barrels of flour perpendicularly one upon the other, being still a remem-
bered feat.
Without previous experience, Mr. Robeson entered upon the business of
calico printing, then in its infancy in this country, with all the interest, pluck,
and enterprise of an ardent temperament. His first efforts, with the assist-
ance of imported help, English and Scotch, was in the direction of simple
colors, as blue and white ; afterwards block printing came into vogue, and the
number of colors was inci^eased to four, six, and seven. His progressive
spirit manifested itself in numerous experiments in his works, and naturally
any improvements or new results acquired would quickly be subjected to a
trial in his establishment. He thus kept abreast with the spirit of the age in
which he lived, and his business rapidly enlarged and became very remunera-
tive— in no long time outgrowing the limits of his first shop in the north
end of the old Satinet Mill. In 1826 he purchased the land and water-power
now occupied by the Fall River Print Works, and proceeded immediately to
the erection of the necessary buildings. These in turn were increased in
number as from time to time the business required, and in 1836 the last and
largest of all was built. The factories of Mr. Robeson always attracted atten-
tion from their clean, neat appearance, occasioned by the peculiar finish of
the exterior walls — a rough coat of blue mortar. Mr. Robeson hired the
workmen from Pennsylvania to construct his first mill in this style, and it
proved a great novelty in this section of the country.
Probably the first printing machine in the United States was con-
structed in Mr. Robeson's works. It was the joint production of Mr. Ezra
Marble, who came to Fall River, from Somerset, in 1824, and, at the age of
seventeen, went to work in the blacksmith shop of the printery, and a
Frenchman also employed in the shop. The latter having seen a printing
machine in France, imparted the idea to Marble, and, combining their efforts,
the two were successful in putting together a macliine which was set up in
COTTON MANUFACTURE A. I). 1820-30. 31
1827 in the printery, and, after a few alterations and a continued practice in
running it, was operated successfully for many years.
The works were known as the Fall River Print Works, and later two
sons of the founder, William R. and Andrew, Jr., were associated in the firm
of Andrew Robeson & Sons, which operated them. Copper rollers were
introduced in 1832, and yard-wide rollers in 1837, seven eighths having been
in use previously. The services of Alvin Clark, subsequently distinguished
as an optician and the manufacturer of the largest and finest astronomical
instruments in America, were secured, and bv him acids were first introduced
in the preparation of the colors. Block printing continued till 1841, the
works containing some one hundred tables at that date, when, in consequence
of a strike, machine printing was adopted and pursued so long as the works
were run as a printery. During the panic of 1837, a large stock of goods
accumulated, which were sold to great advantage when the market again
opened. One of the greatest obstacles to be overcome in the early days of
print works was to get the cloth properlv dried. The process of machine
drying had not then been commenced, and large drv-sheds were erected in
which the cloth could be exposed to atmospheric influences. A succession
of damp days would make a short supply of cloth, and the works would
occasionally have to shut down in consequence. The great and continued
success attending this business gave the firm of Andrew Robeson & Sons a
name and reputation abroad whicli insured an unlimited credit, and they
were induced to engage in kindred enterprises in a number of other cities.
The depression of 1848 found them with a business very extended and
with a large stock of goods on hand, and as a result, the impossibility of
gathering up the scattered ends quicklv enough caused their suspension. In
this calamity the firm had the sympath)- of the whole community. They
immediately made over their whole property to their assignees and creditors;
the help in the mills were paid in full, and such a division of the balance made
as realized in many cases even more than the original debt. Mr. Robeson
had ever the full confidence of those associated with or under him. In the
interests of his operatives, he established a school at his own expense, and
constantly had their best welfare at heart. Quick to see opportunities for
improvement, lie made a number of important suggestions which largely
contributed to the development of the place, and the advancement of its special
industry. The fear of bringing greater disaster and loss upon the community
was one of the main causes which led to the suspension of the firm, and as
business subsequentl}' turned, if they had continued a while longer they
would have successfully overcome their difficulties and have gone on to even
greater prosperity.
32
TALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
The Fall River Print Works was soon organized as a corporation, and
the printing continued with two modern machines, and one (the first ever
built in America) as a reserve; a specialty was made of Indigo Blues, and but
little attempted in other styles. In 1S58-64 cotton machinery was introduced,
the printing machines from time to time removed, and finally the works con-
verted into a cotton factory for the manufacture of print cloths.
The old Satinet Factory, which was demolished soon after the " Great
Fire," occupied a portion of the site of the present Pocasset Mill, the south
end abutting on Pocasset street, and the north end extending about half-way
between the stream and Central street. It was built of heavy granite blocks,
and was three stories high on the east side, and four or five on the west,
according to the formation of the land.
The manufacture of woollen cloth into a fabric known as Satinet, made
with a cotton warp and wool filling, was commenced in this mill in 1 825. The
business was carried on by Samuel Shove and John and Jesse Eddy, under
the firm name of Samuel Shove & Co. The firm was dissolved in 1834 by
the withdrawal of Samuel Shove, and the business passed into the hands of the
remaining partners under the firm name of J. & J. Eddy.
About two thirds of the mill was occupied as the Satinet Factory and the
remainder by Hawes & Marvel, the lower story as a machine shop, and the
upper in the manufacture of cotton warp for J. & J. Eddy. It was in a por-
tion of this building that Andrew Robeson first commenced the manufacture
of calicoes, removing to his own mill about the year 1827.
The looms were in the third story, the lathes swinging laterally, and the
vibration or oscillation of the building in the upper story was some four inches
or more, alarming the help at one time so that all left the building in a panic.
The}' soon returned, however, and after that very little attention was paid to
the matter, though at times barrels of water in the attic would spill over, if
the water was within six or eight inches of the top.
In the management of the business John Eddy was the manufacturer,
and Jesse the buyer and seller. The last-named member of the firm was
obliged to travel all over New England and some portions of the West for the
purchase of the necessary supply of wool ; his business also demanding a weekly
trip to Boston, which was accomplished in his own private carriage, there
being no public conveyance. It was his custom to go the whole distance of
fifty miles on one day, returning the next, and on several occasions when dis-
patch was required, the trip both ways occupied but a single day, — of course
a relay of horses being previously provided for.
In the times referred to (1825-35), the younger operatives in the several
manufacturing establishments were divided into three classes. The first, and
CO 11 ox MANUFAcrrURP: A.D. 1820-30.
the largest numerically, was popularly denominated " Cotton Bugs," from the
particles of that staple adhering to them, and the second " Blue Niggers,"
from the peculiar blue tint given to their unwashed faces by an admixture of
dye-stuffs and oil incident to their employment. The employes in the calico
works, comprising the third class, were without any distinguishing title, though
l)erhaps occasional!}' called " Calico Boys," when a particular term was needed.
The relation to each other of these distinct classes was not widely dissimilar
to that existing between different tribes of Indians, amicable at times, and at
others directly the opposite, according to circumstances, which were depend-
ent upon the seasons of the year and the presence or absence of snow. The
principal antagonism w^as between the " Cotton Bugs" and " Blue Niggers,"
the " Calico Boys" occupying a neutral position, ready to take sides with
either party, as occasion might dictate.
The winter campaign generally opened with the first snow-fall of sufficient
depth to allow of making a snow-ball, commencing with a sort of desultory
warfare or skirmishing, and finally developing into regular pitched battles.
At first only the boys engaged in these contests ; Ixit as the season drew
towards the close, armies of adults, the card-strippers, mule-spinners, jack-
spinners, ropers, and even overseers, became interested and took a hand.
These scenes were re-enacted with variations winter after winter, until the
friendly rains of spring melted the snow and the animosities of the bellige-
rents at the same time.
The proprietors of the Satinet Factory were remarkable for their affilia-
tion with their help, with whom they were ever on terms of easy intimacy,
always seeming to regard them as their equals in the social scale.
In the long Saturday evenings of the winter months many were the
gatherings around the old stove in the finishing-room, when the Messrs.
Edd)' were present and joined with their work-people in discussing the topics
of the day. To this encouragement and kind companionship on the part of
the princijjals is attributable, perhaps, the fact that so many of the employes
have risen in subsequent years to honorable positions in life.
The production of Eddy's satinets was largely increased from year to
year, and they became \yell known in all the principal markets as the best
goods of that style of fabric. In 1S43, however, the satinet manufacture was
discontinued, and a fabric of all wool, called " Cassimere," was commenced.
It was made in various shades of mixtures, and in stripe and plaid effects, and
almost entirely superseded the use of satinets for the best trade. Two years
later, in consequence of the demolition of the old Satinet Factory, to make
way for the larger Pocasset Mill for the manufacture of cotton goods, the
34 VAIA. RIVER AND ITS IJSIDUSTRIES.
business was removed to a place known as " Eagle Mill," situated about three
and a half miles south of Fall River, in the town of Tiverton, R. I.
Shortly after, the lirm of J. & J. Eddy was dissolved, but the business
continued in the above locality for a fev/ years, until the property was
destroyed b\' fire.
In the mean time Jesse Edd}', in connection with Joseph Durfee, bought
and located a mill on a tract of land just above the dam, and near the outlet
of the pond known as" Mosquito Island," designing to manufacture the same
kind of goods produced by J. & J. Eddy. But, as they were about ready to
commence operations, Joseph Durfee died, and it was not until January,
1849, that manufacturing was begun in the new mill. Jesse Eddy became
the proprietor, and shortly after took his son, Thomas P., into partnership,
under the firm name of Jesse Eddy & Son, by whom the business was con-
ducted for twenty-one years.
In 1873, upon the decease of the father, the business passed into the
hands of his two sons, Thomas F. and James C, who still continue the manu-
facture under the name of Jesse Eddy's Sons.
Jesse Eddy was born in Northbridge, in 1801. While yet a young man
he engaged in manufacturing at Woonsocket, R. I. Remaining but a brief
period at Woonsocket, however, he moved to Fall River, where he perma-
nently established himself in the business pursuits detailed in the foregoing
pages.
Mr. Eddy, though singularly unpretentious in his personal nature, was
one of the best known citizens of Fall River. A man of generous sympa-
thies, his kindly, genial bearing won the friendship of all who came in con-
tact with him. His sterling character as a citizen and thorough integrity in
his relations to the public were recognized by several positions of large
responsibility. As early as 1828, he was chosen one of the original Trustees
of the Fall River Savings Bank, and for many years was vice-president of
that institution and chairman of its Board of Investment. At a later period
his sound judgment in financial matters was distinguished by his election as
President of the National Union Bank.
Mr. Eddy's exceptional kindliness of nature, as developed in a constant
regard for the welfare of his employes, has been remarked in its proper con-
nection. He was a consistent, practical Christian in his action — one of the
too rare exemplifications of the truth that
" He prayeth best who loveth best
All things, both great and small ;"
COTICX MANUFACTURE A.D. 1S30-45.
OJ
and the highest tribute of society at his decease was a universal regret for the
endins: of a life, unobtrusive and unselfish, full of oootl and afentle deeds.
The manufacture of cotton goods having been brought to some degree of
perfection, the larger manufacturers began to look about them for a market
for their production, and finding a growing demand for calico prints, many of
them started small works of their own, which subsequentlv grew into con-
cerns with a national reputation. Thus the Spragues, Aliens, Dunnells and
others had their own printeries, and the success of these establishments
doubtless suggested to the Fall River manufacturers that something of the
kind might be attempted here. Such an enterprise was just suited to the tem-
perament of Holder Bcjrden, who had by this time got his Massasoit Mill into
perfect running order, and whose restless disposition could not brook inactiv-
ity while other avenues of business were opening before him. Accordingly, a
joint-stock company was formed in 1834, and the American Print Works
started under the agency and principal management of Mr. Borden.
Holder Borden was born June 1 7, i 799, and at the age of eighteen or
nineteen entered the service of David Anthonv, who was then running the
Fall River Manufactory. He remained with him perhajjs a couple of years,
when he removed to Pawtucket, and was at first clerk for the Wilkinsons,
large cotton manufacturers, but soon after was made agent of the Blackstone
Companv, owned by Brown & Ives. Here his independent, self-reliant charac-
ter speedih' manifested itself, for having been instructed to invest, as he saw
fit, quite a large sum of money belonging to the company, but then lying idle,
he proceeded at once to buy up all the cotton he could find for sale, and the
amount was so large that he shortly found the whole market in his own
hands,^ — in fact, that he had made a " corner in cotton." The company was at
first astonished, then frightened ; it was wholly unprecedented that an agent
should buy and sell of his own motion without consultation with his prin-
cipals. Holder Borden, however, was equal to the emergency ; he offered to
make the purchase his own, which was accepted, and in the end actuallv sold
a portion of it back to the company at an advance, realizing a very handsome
percentage on the whole transaction. The boldness of the operation, requi-
ring, as it did, great nerve and confidence, as well sagacity, illustrated perfectly
the character of the man as it manifested itself throughout his brief but bril-
liant career. He was a thorough business man, a merchant as well as a
manufacturer, knew how to buy and how to sell, varied his productions to
suit the market, gave up old methods when new ones were better, and so
kept fully up to, if not a little ahead of the spirit of his time.
In 1827, the Massasoit Mill was erected on the stream and leasecF for
fifteen years by Bro.wn, Ives & Borden, and filled with machinery for the
,5 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
manufacture of cotton o:oods at a probable investment of $100,000. When,
some years later, on account of trouble with low water. Brown & Ives wished
to move out the machinery to Lonsdale, Holder Borden, being too much of
a Fall River man to permit such a change, bought out their interest and
operated the mill on his own account. He subsequently became interested
as an owner in the Troy Cotton and Woolen Manufacturing Company, the
Annawan Mill, the Fall River Manufactory, Fall River Iron W^orks,etc., and
later became agent of the print works at the Globe. This, however, con-
tinued but a year, when he became the prime mover and active manager in
the organization of the American Print Works.
This enterprise he pushed forward with characteristic energy. Having
matured his plans, he proceeded one morning below the hill, took all the
teams and men he could find, staked out the foundation alongshore, set the
men to work, and drove off to Providence to attend to his other duties as
agent of the Blackstone Company. Such was the style of the man, con-
stantly scheming and planning something new, keeping his counsels to him-
self until ready for action, then pushing on vigorousl}^ to the completion of
his project. Not much of a talker, rather slow and deliberate in his speech,
he had little patience with discursive remark in others, especially at board or
committee meetings, and always demanded close attention to the subject in
hand. In person he was tall and slim, in complexion dark, and, contrary to
the usual custom, allowed his beard to grow for the protection of his throat.
In his dress and personal appointments he was extremely careful : he walked
with his head inclined slightly forward. He was a great smoker, and a lover
of a good horse — a necessity to him in his frequent journeys to and from
Providence. Although so full of business, he was as attentive to details as to
larger matters, and being somewhat of a nervous disposition, any inattention
or inaccuracy in little things was sure to excite his comments, and call forth
his displeasure. He possessed the happy faculty of impressing others with
his own views and aims, and in consequence was naturally a leader among
leaders. Rarely has one so young in years as Holder Borden attained such
prominence in a community and held it so securely during his entire career.
Rarely has so successful and so brilliant a business life been compassed by
fifteen years, especially when those are the first and early years of manhood.
Rarely does one from the start combine those three elements of assured suc-
cess, " bold energy," " untiring industry," and " unbending integrity."
The throat difficulty with which he had been troubled several years
developed finally into that insidious New England disease — consumption.
It ran its course rapidly, causing his death September 12, 1837, at the com-
paratively early age of thirty-eight years.
COTTON MAXUFAOTL'RE A.D. 1S30-45. 2>7
The American Print \VoH-:s, which is perhaps the most prominent legacy
of Holder Borden to the business world, was started up in January, 1835,
running four machines, with an average jModuction of 2000 to 2500 pieces
of prints per week. One half to two thirds of this quantity had a portion of
the colors blocked in. The Works continued under the management of
Holder Borden till February, 1837, when, in consequence of ill-health, he
resigned, and Jefferson Borden was elected agent and principal manager-
This management continued till February, 1876, a period of thirty-nine years,
when Thomas J. Borden was elected to the position.
This company stands pre-eminent among all the calico-printing estab-
lishments of the country for the persistent energy of its management, the
skilful adaptation of means to ends, its indomitable perseverance in the face
of the heaviest misfortunes and losses, and the appreciation of its efforts by
the public in the patronage received. Starting out, mainly as an experiment,
adjunct to the manufacture of print cloths, this corporation has gone directly
ahead on its own judgment, and won a place among the permanent institu-
tions of the citv and country.
In 1840, the Works were enlarged, a new machine building, dye-house,
etc., being added, and the production of prints about doubled. In 1857, the
companv obtained a charter of incorporation, when Colonel Richard Borden
was elected President, and so continued till his death, in P'ebruary, 1874. In
1858, the Bay State Print Works, then under the management of Thomas J.
Borden, was purchased by the American Print Works, and became a part of
the same corporation. By this arrangement, both establishments were con-
tinued under the management of Jefferson Borden, and the capacity for
production largely increased.
In 1867, a portion of the buildings of the American Print Works were
taken off, and a new structure of Fall River granite was commenced, but on
the 15th day of December of the same year, when the new building was just
about completed, and in appearance much like the present magnificent struc-
ture a fire broke out in one of the old buildings, which, notwithstanding the
untiring efforts of the firemen, destroyed the whole new part of the establish-
ment, with about half of the old, and their contents. This fire was preceded,
on the 6th of the same month, by a fire at the Bay State Works, which laid
in ashes the boiler-house and machine-room buildings of that establishment,
with most of the machinery and a small portion of the goods.
It was a terrible blow, involving, in the destruction of property and the
disruption of business interests, an estimated loss of two million dollars, half
of which went down with the buildings. Great sympathy was expressed in
*38 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
all business circles with the sufferers, and capitalists abroad proffered their
aid in loans to the company.
But the old heroic spirit that had controlled and organized the former
concern, did not quail before this unlooked-for disaster, and courteously
thanking their friends for their proffered aid, the company proceeded to
reconstruct the whole affair on a broader foundation. Notwithstanding the
total unexpectedness of the disaster, coming as it did on the very day before
occupancy, three hundred workmen were on the premises, clearing away the
rubbish and preparing the ground for rebuilding, by ten o'clock the next
morning. Few instances of similar energy are on record. In one year and
four months from the date of the conflagration, the remains of the old build-
ings were removed, a new foundation laid, and the present building erected
and filled with machinery. The amount of labor performed in this interval
can hardly be over-estimated, and the energy shown by the agent, Jefferson
Borden, in accomplishing so great a work in so short a time, has lieen rarely,
if ever, paralleled in the history of manufactures.
The main building is a handsome, massive granite structure, upon Water
street, near the wharf of the Old Colony Steamboat Company, and, includ-
ing basement and Mansartl roof, is five stories high. It is 60 feet in depth,
and presents a front of 406 feet on Water street, broken only by a finely
proportioned tower, some no feet in height, furnished with a large bell, and
one of Howard & Co.'s celebrated tower clocks, with four eight-feet dials.
In this tower is the main entrance. The front is principally built of beautiful
ashlar work. The first story has a succession of large arched windows, sep-
arated by a single hammered granite pillar, with cap and base, and attracting
the eye b}^ their graceful proportions.
Within the main room on the lower floor is space for twenty printing
machines. These machines are of a capacity to print about eighty million
yards of calico per annum, and to keep them in operation requires the united
skill of a whole corps of draftsmen and color mixers. Reckoning all the
force employed about the establishment, in all departments, the number is
nearly or quite a thousand persons, with a monthly pay-roll of about $30,000.
To drive the machinery for this work are used one thirty-four-inch engine,
four and one half feet stroke ; one thirt3Mnch, six feet stroke ; one sixteen-
inch, four feet stroke ; two nine-inch and two six-inch engines, and one brass
turbine water-wheel. To furnish steam for their impulsion, fifty-eight boilers
are constantly available.
The main building is flanked on the west by four Ls, all built of granite,
with substantial finish, and each separated from the main building by division
walls extending above the roof. The north wing and shed is 310 feet by 80
COTTON MANUFACTURE A.D. j 830-45. 39
feet, five stories ; the second, 68 by 40 feet, three stories ; the third, 195 hy 57
feet, three stories; the fourth, 173 by 41 feet, and five stories high. The length
of these added to that of the main building is 1 152 feet, the whole appearing
as solid and substantial as a fortress. In addition, there is one boiler-house, 100
by 50 feet, three stories, and another 195 by 55 feet, two stories; one engine-
house, 50 by 30 feet, and two stories; one dye-house, 100 by 50 feet, two
stories; a carpenter-shop and blue-dye house, 267 by 43 feet, and two
stories ; a shell-house, 90 by 34 feet, and two stories ; a chemical shop, 63 by
45 feet, one story; and a pump room, 38 by 16 feet, and two stories high.
The total length of these subordinate structures, 903 feet, added to the aggre-
gate of the main printery, with its Ls, giv^es the enormous extent of 2055
feet of solid stone masonry, and probably no similar establishment in America
can show so extended a frontage.
The different floors of the main building are fitted up for the various
operations in printing and dyeing. Four elevators are in constant use. The
arrangements for guarding against fire are as complete as they can be made,
consisting of two Worthington's duplex steam pumps of the largest size, two
rotary fire pumps, also the largest size, aad one force pump attached to the
water-wheel. Sixty-eight hydrants are distributed about the premises, so that
in case of a fire as many as one hundred and thirty-nine streams of water can be
made to play upon the buildings at once. Bracket balconies (double width), or
fire-escapes, are attached to each story, two sets being on the main building and
one on each of the Ls, while all communications between the buildings of the
new part have double doors, one of which is iron. The area of the works is 8 1 6|
square rods of land. Two additional buildings, on the opposite side of the
street, will be soon connected with the main structure by means of a tunnelled
way under the thoroughfare. They are substantial brick erections, one 156
feet by 50, and three stories in elevation ; the other 156 by 92, and two stories.
The former will be occupied for offices, designing-rooms and storage, the
latter for shearing, folding and packing rooms.
The building of the American Print Works is one of the finest devoted
to the printing business in the country, if not in the world, and attracts the
attention of all strangers as they enter the city by steamboat or railway. It
requires no less than six large mills to supply its printing machines with
cloth. Its ample rooms are furnished with modern appliances of science and
skill in each department, and the productions of this company are to be found
in all sections of the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
The great improvements made during the last few years in the texture,
style, and coloring of calicoes, or, as they are now better known in the dry-
goods market, " American Prints," are due to the enterprise, and in some
40
FALI, RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
measure to the business competition, of leading manufacturers, who have
brought to bear upon their production every appliance which the progress of
art and science has placed within their reach. The best designers in the Old
as well as in the New \Vorld have been sought out and kept constantly
employed in producing new and pleasing effects. The most skilful d3'ers and
printers have also been pressed into the service, while the substitution of
aniline and alizarine colors for the old madder process of dyeing has given a
variety of delicate shades and a perfection and finish to the work never before
attained. At the same time, the cost of these goods has been kept down to
a point which places them within the reach of all classes. The result of this
enterprise and improvement is seen in an enormous and steadily increasing
consumption, and, especially in days of popular economy, in a large substitu-
tion of prints for the more costly descriptions of dress goods. But there is no
class of goods in which the caprices of fiishion are so arbitrary and exacting.
The skill and resources of the manufacturers are continually taxed for
the production of novelties in coloring and design, and such is the demand of
this nature,, that no printing company can now hope to be successful unless it
is prepared to observe these caprices of popular taste, by changing its styles at
least twice a year, and to bring out just so many fresh and attractive lines of
fancies every spring and fall at the opening of the season. The magnitude of
the work involved in this continual change can be imagined wiu-n it is stated
that a single printing, company has put on the market two thousand different
patterns (each with several combinations of coloring) during one year. This
constant versatility of production is an absolute law of trade, which must be
obeyed.
But there are cycles in these fashions, and a style of print which goes
out one year comes in again as new after the lapse of three, four, or perhaps
half a dozen years. Some styles run out in a single season, while others last
through several. Hence the necessity of great caution in not producing any
surplus to be carried over, since goods that are a little out of style have to be
forced off, generally at a sacrifice. No specialty, unless of rare merit, can be
made to run over two seasons, while any striking innovation, such as the Dolly
Varden and Centennial prints, has usually but a very brief existence. Bright
colors are the rage for a season, then only the subdued or dead shades are
wanted. The styles have also to l)e adapted to the different sections of the
country where they are sold, as, for instance, the production of " Quaker"
prints for the Pennsylvania market, which is quite an important specialty.
Of necessity, therefore, the productions of a printery have to be of an almost
infinite variety, from the most V'i&X.y percale to the indigo print, which still
holds its place in domestic use.
c:Z^>C^^^^^lo'T^<^-^^-~v^_ — /<7^-C'-—t--C'C-<—cL-^
COTTON MANUFACTURE A.D. 1830-45. 41
The Bay State Print Works, the smaller of the two belonging to the
American Print Works Company, is situated at Globe Village, upon a stream
which issues from Laurel Lake and empties into Mount Hope Bav, and
which has been utilized for manufacturing purposes for more than sixty
years. It is really the outgrowth of the first cotton-mill built in this vicinity,
which, after passing through several hands sul)sequent to Colonel Jos. Durfee's
control, was purchased by Potter cSc Chatburn in 1829, and converted into a
printworks. Its first goods were printed in September, 1830. Since that
date it has been enlarged from time to time, and with varying degrees of suc-
cess been run in 1833-34 by Holder Borden, in 1835-39 as Tiverton Print
Works, 1839-42 by Walter C. Durfee, agent, 1843-44 by Prentiss & Marvel,
1845-53 by W. & G. Chapin, 1853-58 as Bay State Print Works, until
finally purchased by the American Print \Vorks Company, and run in con-
nection with their larger establishment at Fall River. It employs 250 hands,
has five printing machines, and turns out twenty million \-ards of printed
calico annually. Its engine is a thirty-inch cyHnder, six feet stroke, and
requires thirteen boilers for the generation of sufficient steam for the works.
On the 6th of that same December, 1867, which witnessed the entire destruc-
tion by fire of the main works at Fall River, a terrible explosion occurred in
the boiler-room of the Bay State Print Works. The boiler-house, containing
several boilers, was burst into fragments; the side and roof of the dye-house
were completely destroyed, and the building immediately enveloped in flames.
Much damage was done to the other buildings in the vicinity, but, as few
of the workmen had arrived, no serious injuries were inflicted upon the help.
This calamit}' threw one hundred and fifty persons out of employment, and
caused a loss of $100,000, partially covered by insurance. The energy of the
company was conspicuous, also, in recovering from this disaster. In three
months from the date of the explosion the works were entirel}^ repaired, the
machinery refitted, and the whole in successful operation.
Mr. Jefferson Borden, — through whose great energy and mtensely hopeful
spirit the devastating effects of the fire were so speedily removed, even from
the vision of the neighborhood, and the Print Works again set in operation,
the oldest living person of the residents of Fall River who have been identi-
fied with the inception, growth, and the present established supremacy of its
distinctive industry, — was born on the 28th of February, i8oi,m the then vil-
lage of Freetown. He was one of thirteen children of Thomas Borden, in the
fourth generation from John Borden the founder of the family in Fall River.
His father's farm was situated in the east part of the village, comprising a
tract upon which have since been erected the Richard Borden, Chace, and
other mills. Jefferson worked on the farm, going to school regularly as the
42 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
local season commenced, until September, 1816, when, in his sixteenth year,
he left home for the first time, and obtained a position as clerk in the provi-'
sion store of William Valentine, in Providence. In 18 19 he returned to
Fall River, thoroughly educated in the routine details of a business of trade
and barter, but already entertaining the ambitious vision of a commercial
career that would recognize no limits of its operations. His brother Richard,
six years his senior, was running the craft Irene and Betsey in trading trips,
in connection with his grist-mill, located on the lower stream. For the ensur
ing year Jefferson, when not absolutely needed on the farm, joined Richard
in the sloop expeditions to Conanicut and Prudence. In 1820 the two
brothers bought out the small store of Holder Borden, and Jefferson was put
in to conduct the business. In 1821, upon the organization of the Iron
Works enterprise, he was chosen clerk of the establishment. He retained
this position till September of the following year, when the company open-
ing a warehouse and salesroom in Providence, the business experience and
proclivities he had already demonstrated pointed him out as the most eligible
representative of the growing industry. Mr. Borden was a few months over
his majorit}^ when he undertook the office of agent of the company at Provi-
dence ; but the shrewd, sagacious promoters of the Iron Works knew they
had chosen the right man for the place. The event amply proved the cor-
rectness of their judgment, the agent's wise, systematic control really direct-
ing the home production of the company, while his keen perception and
clever manipulation of the market constantly extended the field of its opera-
tions throughout the Union.
For fifteen years Jefferson Borden remained at his place in Providence.
In 1837 the ill health of his cousin Holder made a vacancy in the manage-
ment of the American Print Works, and he was recalled to Fall River.
For thirty-nine years Mn Borden was the executive officer and manag-
ing agent of the Print Works, retiring from active control only during the
spring of the present year. He assumed the position at a period which will
not be forgotten in our financial annals as the extreme test of industrial and
commercial endurance. No panic has been more severe and no depression
of business more general than that of 1837, and its distressing stringenc)^
upon all elements of recuperative life was greater than it could ever again be,
in the degree that all industry and enterprise was comparatively immature,
the country itself lacking the great elasticity it now possesses in the wonder-
ful development of its natural and productive resources. To undertake the
work of carrying a great establishment successfully through such a period of
embarrassment on every hand, was a terrible trial of a business man's best
powers ; and it is undoubtedly safe to say, that when an all-wise Providence
COTTON MANUFACTURE A.D. 1830-45. 43
removed Holder Borden, the projector and worker, from the control and
.direction of the enterprise, the only person thoroughly fitted for the exigency
by experience and managing power, and probably superior to Holder in his
approved financial ability and estimation among capitalists, was wisely and
fortunately chosen.
Upon the destruction of the American Print Works by fire in 1867,
Mr. Borden's extraordinary capacity for recuperation and support through a
most trying period, was again in forced requisition. The rapid restoration of
the establishment in all its operative powers has already been remarked.
The eyes of all were able to observe with startled wonder the immediate
re-erection of the great structure, the spacious rectangle of solid granite going
up almost like the Khan's palace in Coleridge's phantasy, and the huge
engines and machines reassuming their old places with a concurrent prompt-
ness; yet few appreciated or ev^n guessed that greater difficulties than these
mere material matters, difficulties calling for rare credit and unquestioned
responsibility, had been met and overcome.
Since his return to Fall River, Jefferson Borden has been largely
concerned in the various enterprises that have marked the progress of the
city. A partner of the deceased Colonel Richard in the important special
undertakings of his later years, he was with him interested in the old Bay
State Steamboat Companv (of which he at one time owned three fifths of
the stock), the Fall River Railroad Company, the Borden Mining Company,
and other extensive operations.
Mr. Borden's retirement from immediate connection with active business
has not severed his close relation to the earnest life and progress of his native
city. He is still President of the American Print Works ; the Fall River Iron
Works Companv ; the Fall River Bleachery ; the American I.inen Company ;
the Troy Cotton and Woollen Company, and the Borden Mining Company;
Director of the Annawan Manufacturing Company ; President of the Meta-
comet National Bank, and officially concerned in other business organiza-
tions. His long life, full from the start of honest purpose, intense application,
and constantly hopeful energy, claims for him at last exemption from the
cares of business routine, and Providence has yielded to its declining years
the blessings such careers worthily demand, competence, the serene joy of a
beautiful home, and the affectionate esteem of the community.
Another of the great establishments of the city is the Fall River Iron
Works, established in 1821. iVfter Major Durfee had learned the ship-
builder's trade, in his sojourn at New Bedford, he returned to Fall River,
and, in conjunction with Colonel Richard Borden, then a young man run-
ning a grist-mill near the foot of the stream, engaged in the construction of a
44 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
number of small vessels at the mouth of the creek. After completino; the
labors of the day, the two would spend a good part of the night in a black--
smith's shop near by, executing the necessary iron work, or the Colonel with
his brother John would be up betimes in the morning, and over to Copicut
or down to Hellburn Woods to get out timber, knees, braces, etc., which the
Major and his assistants would work up during the day. Working along in
this way for a few years, the field and facilities for a larger business soon
developed themselves, especially in the working up of iron into spikes, bars,
rods, and other articles of constructive use.
The result of this exceedingly small and adventitious beginning, while
quite in the nature of Fall River successes, is also thoroughly characteristic of
the men whose correct perception, rich suggestiveness, and indomitable energy
builded the substantial prosperity of the city. The Fall River Iron Works
Company, as one of the most remunerative properties of the kind in the United
States, is an existing and perfectly logical and reasonable fact, representing a
moderately appraised value in stock and property of $1,500,003; but the
original premises of this practical argument were a miller and a ship carpenter,
and a business of sloop-building.
The financial basis upon which the Fall River Iron Works was started, —
Richard Borden and Bradford Durfee being the two promoters, but associating
with themselves Holder Borden, David Anthony, and William \^alentine,
Joseph Butler and Abram and Isaac Wilkinson, of Providence, — was $24,000.
Soon after its commencement of operations, the two Wilkinsons desiring to
draw out their contribution, S6000 was returned them, reducing the working
amount to $18,000. In 1825 the association became a corporation under the
law of Massachusetts. Its capital at this time was $200,000, which in 1845
was increased to $960,000; but all of this last aggregate, with over $500,000
more employed in the works of the compan\' and other constantly remunera-
tive enterprises, has accumulated from the earnings, not one dollar having
been added by subscription or otherwise to the net $18,000 originally invested.
Farther on may be discovered occasional suggestions of the circum-
stances that have aided a success so exceptional ; yet it is safe here to say,
that with a projection less energetic and sagacious, a control less wise and
determined, and in a community less industrious and provident, no such
success could ever have been achieved.
The first works of the Iron Company were erected on the ground now
occupied by the Metacomet Mill, and the production, hoop-iron, sold to New
Bedford trade for binding oil casks. Various sizes of bar-iron were also made,
and the manufacture of nails commenced, for which two machines were set
up. In those days, the heading of the best nails was done by hand, and was
COTTON MANUFACTURE A.D. 1830-45. 45
necessarily a rather slow process. When a sufficient quantity had been made,
Colonel Borden would load up a sloop and sail to New York and up the
Hudson until he etfected a sale. The company's nails always ranked well in
the market, and when, on one occasion, a few had been shipped as a venture
to Mobile, their superiority to the Pittsburg nail, made of soft iron, was so
marked, that a whole cargo was at once ordered, anticipating the product of
some days' operation.
The business proving very profitable, the works were enlarged from time
to time, other branches of production being added, until in 1840 the plant and
business were moved to their present location near High Hill, so called, where,
with the advantage of better organized buildings and more space, the posses-
sion of wharves and a water front is also secured.
The company has suffered twice by fire. On June 2d, 1843, the rolling-
mill was entirely destroyed. The fire broke out at half-past one o'clock in
the morning, and the whole establishment was in ruins in a very short time,
but before sunrise lumber was being hauled from various yards and prepara-
tions were going on to rebuild it. The owners did not even wait for the fire
to cool before the plan of reconstruction was adopted and measures taken to
replace their losses. In six weeks from the date of the fire the mill was again
in full operation. Such cool persistency always wins, and there is no occasion
to wonder that success of the most pronounced type has followed the efforts
of the company.
Again on the iith of November, 1859, the rolling-mill was discovered
to be on fire, and the flames obtained the masteiy for a second time, complete-
ly destroying the building ; but the same indomitable spirit met the misfor-
tune as calmly as before ; the mill was immediately rebuilt, and in a short time
in active work.
The works are operated wholly by steam, employ 600 hands, and consume
40 tons of scrap and pig iron per da^-. The operations are carried on in three
separate buildings — a rolling-mill, nail-mill, and foundry. Thirty-two thou-
sand tons of iron are used annually in the production of nails, hoops, rods,
castings, etc. There are 105 nail machines, the product of which is about
1 15,000 kegs of nails per annum. The monthly pa}'-roll averages $25,000.
When the Iron Works Company was first formed, it purchased for $10,000
the whole section of land lying along the shore to the south and west of the
Creek, as far as Annawan street on the south, and east to Canal street, and
the land south to Ferry street was also secured afterward. In the develop-
ment of this property. Major Bradford Durfee took a prominent and leading
part. Born in 1 788, the earlier years of his manhood were spent in ship-
building and kindred work. Up to 1821, about one vessel a year of from 20
46 FAl.l, IIIVKR AND ITS INDUSI'RTRS.
to 75 tons burden was constructed, and the- sloops Fall River, Golden Age,
Reindeer, the schooners High Flyer, the Irene and Betsey, and others were
launched and engaged in the coasting or West India trade. The superior
abilities of Major Durfee as a manager and constructor in all mechanical
departments here manifested themselves, and when the Iron Works Company
was formed with its eight owners, Colonel Borden was chosen agent, and
Major Durfee superintendent. The latter, thin thirty-three years of age,
entered upon the work with all the ardor of a young man in his prime, and
was never so much in his element as when putting up mill buildings, arrang-
ing machinery, constructing wharves, or forwarding some kind of outdoor
work. Thus the Iron Works wharves, the hammered stonework in the base-
ment of the Annawan Mill, and the superstructure itself, the canal to the
Print Works Pond, the dam, the new buildings and additions of the Iron
W^orks, were all under his direction. When the steamboat line between Fall
River and Providence was established, he took charge of that also, and regu-
larly, without fail, was on the wharf at the arrival and departure of the boats.
When the rolling-mill was destroyed by fire, Major Durfee was in the midst
of the ruins while they were yet hot, and with men and oxen hauled out the
lumber and material for rebuilding.
In 1838, in company with William C. Davol, he visited Europe, to exam-
ine the improved machinery in various departments of industry, more espe-
cially in cotton and iron manufacture, and as a result, brought out the Sharp
& Roberts self-acting Mule, the first one of which was set up in the Annawan
Mill, and lettered " Tippecanoe." It was the wonder of the town, and was
visited and examined by the whole community. The good judgment of Major
Durfee brought together the members of the firm of Hawes, Marvel & Davol
— Mr. Hawes the shrewd financier, Mr. Marvel sagacious and practical, and
Mr. Davol the skilful designer and inventor, an association of peculiar facul-
ties, which has had no inconsiderable share in advancing the manufacturing
interests of Fall River. They entered immediately upon the construction of
the English mules, securing the castings from the Iron ^Vorks foundry, and
finishing them in their own shops, and thus introduced a machine which
largely reduced the cost of manufacturing, and increased the production
manifold.
But this was not the only result of that visit. The travellers secui'ed
measurements and drawings for the " egg-shaped" furnace and boiler, by which
steam for motive power is generated without the cost of extra fuel, and some
of the original furnaces, constructed in this style, are in use to the present day.
Other information was acquired, and applied practically, upon their return
home, so that Fall River could hardly have sent forth two men to better
-t><^t--«4>?:-<=^' ^
COTTON MANUFACTURE A.Y\ 1830-45. 47
purpose, in securing practical results, than Major Durfee and William C.
Davol.
Major Durfee was a large, finely-formed man, tall, with black hair, a face
full, and generally considerably flushed — a peculiarity of the family — free, gen-
ial, and companionable in company, and affectionate and considerate at home.
Being so much of an "outside man," he was well known by the whole village,
and when, shortly after the "Great Fire" in 1843, he was suddenly prostrated
by disease, brought on, as is supposed, by his great exertions in that terrible
calamity, the sympathy of the whole community went out for him, and at his
death, after only twenty-four hours of sickness, it was felt almost as if his place
could not be filled.
But he who had so long been associated with Major Durfee in the man-
agement and development of the varied interests of the Iron Works Com-
pany, was ready to assume the double burden, and it fell to Colonel Richard
Borden to carry forward, single and alone, the growing business of that large
concern.
Colonel Borden, as he was always called, was born on the 12th of April,
1 795. What is now Fall River was then a portion of the town of Freetown,
and he was in his eighth vear when Fall River was incorporated, in 1803.
After the period of boyhood, his early years were spent as a farmer, and to
the end of life he continued his interest in that honorable pursuit. But,
step by step, he became identified with all the different leading business inter-
ests of the rapidly growing town, village, and city. He was early identified
with the maritime interests of the place, and gave fresh impulse to the local
shipping pursuit, when as yet it was but a rural village. While still a young
man, he ran a grist-mill ( 1812-20), which stood just west of the present
Annawan Mill, where the corn of the whole region was ground. In com-
pany with his brother Jefferson, it was his custom to go down to Prudence
and Conanicut Islands, in the sloop Irene and Betsey, which carried about
250 bushels of corn, and having secured a load, to return to Fall River and
tie up at a little wharf within the creek, and discharge directly into the mill.
The Irene and Betsey was also a sort of packet between Fall River and
the neighboring places, and the surplus meal was sold in Warren, Bristol, or
Providence, and a return freight secured, of provisions, groceries, cotton, etc.
Another mill was placed on the north bank of the creek, at the next fall above,
where the Annawan Mill is now, and a tramway had been constructed from
this mill (known as the Davenport Mill, but owned by Richard Borden, the
uncle of Colonel Richard) to the shore, and a car run up and down this
incline, drawn by a rope. This rope was wound on a drum, which connected
by gearing with the water-wheel, and thus the water-power was made to do
48 FAI.I, RIVER AND ITS INDISTRIES.
double service. The great strength of the Colonel was always a marvel to
the small boys, sent on horseback with a grist to grind, it being his ordinary
feat, after putting two or three two-bushel bags of meal on the horse with the
greatest ease, to take the boy and lift him to his place on top of all. It was
about this period he joined Major Durfee in the construction of several small
vessels, the lumber for which was prepared in a saw-mill adjoining the grist-
mill. Here, too, the strength of the Colonel found development, as, single-
handed, he would roll into position great white oak or mahogany butts, two
feet through, and twenty feet long.
In the organization of the Fall River Iron Works Company in 1S21,
that " earliest germ of the wealth of the city," Colonel Borden took an active
part, and w^as appointed treasurer and agent, a position which he filled ably
and satisfactorily up to the day of his final withdrawal from business, a period
of over fifty years. The Iron Works Company meeting with assured success
almost from the start, soon turned its attention to the improvement of its
landed estate, water-power, etc., and as part owners became largely interested
in enterprises somewhat foreign to its own legitimate sphere of work. The
agent of the company as its representative thus became an active participant
in all these schemes, and the business tact and skill of Colonel Borden were
brought into fullest exercise. In this way, the Iron Works Company became
owner in the Watuppa Reservoir Company, organized in 1826; in the Troy
Cotton and Woollen Manufactory ; in the Fall River Manufactory ; in the
Annawan Mill, built by it in 1825; in the American Print Works, whose
buildings were all erected by the Iron Works Company in 1834, and leased
to the Print Works Company; in the Metacomet Mill, built in 1846; in the
Fall River Railroad, opened in 1846, in the Bay State Steamboat Line,
established in 1847 ; in the Fall River Gas W^orks, built in 1847 ; ^s well as in
the erection at various times of buildings which were leased to individuals
for the establishment of business or private manufacturing enterprises.
The care and development of the interests of these corporations brought
into exercise those qualities which mark the highest order of business talent,
and which in him were combined to a remarkable degree, namely, clearness of
perception, excellent judgment and great energy, together with the highest
and purest moral integrity. Colonel Borden was a thorough business man, and
devoted himself untiringly to the trusts imposed upon him. These were
enough to crush any common man, but he possessed that happy faculty of
dropping one subject completely and taking up another as occasion required ;
and when he left his office he left his business there, too, putting it off as an
outer garment, so that in his home and in his familv he was untrammelled
and free from care, the loving father and grandparent, the genial host, the
COT ION MANUFACTURE A.D, 1S30-45. 49
centre of the heart's warmest affections and highest esteem. It is not surpris-
ing, therefore, that he filled a most uncommon list of offices of trust in the
community and in the State. In the cotton-manufacturing industries of the
city he was conspicuously interested, being identified with several companies
either as originator, or director. He was President and Director of the
American Print Works, the American Linen Comijany, the Troy Cotton
and Woollen Manufactory, the Richard Borden Mill Company and the Mount
Hope Mill Company, and Director of the Annawan and the Metacomet Mill
Companies. He was President and Director of the Fall River National
Bank, Director and Treasurer of the Fall River Iron Works, President of the
Watuppa Reservoir Company, Agent of the Fall River Furnace Company,
and Director of the Fall Ri\'er Gas Company. In corporations operating
outside his own home, his interests were also large, and his administrative
ability recognized. He was President of the Bay State Steamboat Com-
pany, Providence Tool Company, Cape Cod Railroad Company, the Borden
Mining Company of Frostburg, Md., and Director in the Old Colony Railroad
Company. One of those men whom office has to seek, though his patriotism
and conspicuous public service in an individual capacity might easily have
secured him any position his ambition could have aspired to in his native
commonwealth, the legislative terms he filled both in the Senate and House
of Representatives were probably the most ungrateful duties of a long life of
duty, and yet while the highest political position possessed no exaltation to
attract him, his genuine appreciation of a citizen's duty would not allow him
to refuse the humble town or village dignity of assessor or highway sur-
veyor, when his service seemed obviously needed. If there was one only
public recognition of his patriotism and public worthiness, those who knew
him can fancy he took pleasure in, it was doubtless the honor accorded to him
by the people of casting one of the electoral votes of Massachusetts for the
second time for Abraham Lincoln.
Colonel Borden's shipbuilding and boating experiences fitted him for
further enterprise in the same line, and under the auspices of the Iron Works
Company, a regular line of steamers was established between Fall River
and Providence, commencing in 1827 with the steamer Hancock. Other
steamers had previously attempted to establish communication between Fall
River and the neighboring places, but with only partial success. The Han-
cock was succeeded in 1832 by the steamer King Philip, the King Philip
succeeded in 1845 by the steamer Bradford Durfee, and in 1874 the steamer
Richard Borden was also placed upon the route. The popular excursion
steamer Canonicus is used as a spare boat, and to run during the summer
months to Newport, Block Island, and Rocky Point.
50 I'ALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
One of the largest debts of gratitude which Fall River owes to Colonel
Borden (and in this connection his brother, Jefferson Borden, still living and
honored in his native city, will not be forgotten) is for the present admirable
system of communication with New York and Boston. Up to 1846 there was
no communication direct by steam with either city, though the traveller could,
by going to Providence or Stonington, catch a train or a boat. At this time
Colonel Borden projected, and mainly by his own effort constructed, a rail-
road from Fall River to Myrick's, to connect with the New Bedford and
Taunton Railroad, and using the latter to join the Providence Riilroad and
complete the route by rail to Boston. This was an eccentric way of reaching
the State capital, and the next advance was consequently made to South
Braintree, striking the Old Colony Railroad of that day. A satisfactory
through route was thus secured ; but Colonel Borden, not satisfied yet, was
ambitious not only to have the communication opened for his favorite city,
but to make it self-sustaining. With this view he organized the Cape Cod
Railroad Company, of which he was president, and constructed a line from
Middleborough down to the Cape, as a feeder for his Fall River route. The
care, administrative and executive ability, and the financial involvement — for
he was not only the designer but the banker of the enterprise — were exces-
sive demands to be made upon one man in that comparatively early day ; but
Colonel Borden's resources in all respects were equal to the exigency. It
was his good fortune soon to see his railroad enterprise at least relatively a
success. His purpose in freeing Fall River from its isolation was at any rate
accomplished, and in a year or two he was reliev^ed of his new responsibility
by a consolidation of the roads he had constructed with the Old Colony.
In the mean time, being the second year (1847) of the Fall River Rail-
road, observing the success of the two steamboat lines running between
Stonington and Norwich (^Conn. ) and New York, Colonel Borden determined
to inaugurate a similar water communication for Fall River. His sole asso-
ciate in this enterprise was his brother Jefferson. The capital appropriated
was $300,000, and the line was started in 1847 with the Bay State, a fine craft
for that day, built for the company, and the old Massachusetts chartered as
an alternate boat. The following year the Empire State was launched and
put on the route, and in 1854 the mammoth Metropolis, the most superb
boat of her period on Eastern waters. Both of these boats were paid for out
of the earnings of the line, which was indeed such a success as in 1850 to pay
six per cent monthly dividends for ten successive months.
In 1864, dissatisfied with his connection with Boston z'id the Old Colony
Railroad, Colonel Borden* obtained an act of organization and set about a
second through route to Boston, starting from the west side of Mount Hope
■■•■ JefTcrson also was prominent in tliis scliemc at the start.
COTTON MANUFACTURE A.D. 1S30-45. 51
Bay, opposite Fall River. It was a great scheme, with a warranty of profit-
able result, through its control of the New York boat connection, but entail-
ing great effort and care upon a man, however energetic and indefatigable,
who was idv advanced in life. Unquestionably the road would have been
constructed, but the Old Colony corporation could not permit a competing
route to either terminus, and its policy, as it could not prevent the action of
the new company, was to control it by a purchase. The proposition was
accordingly made to Colonel Borden to transfer his charter to the Old
Colony Compan\', upon terms of a very favorable character to himself and
his stockholders. Had he been in middle life, retaining the physical as he
still did the mental vigor of maturity, it is doubtful if he would have enter-
tained any proposition, however favorable. In his consideration of the
business he determined to make it a condition of his acceptance that the Old
Colony Railroad Company should purchase the steamboat line to New York.
With this proviso, he made known his acquiescence in the proposition, and,
after a short deliberation, the Old Colony became possessed of the most
profitable water route to New York, and at the same time secured relief from
the certainty of a very dangerous competition.
It is hardlv necessary to add, that, with the exception of a short
interval, during which the line was operated by the late James Fisk, the Old
Colony Railroad Company has sustained it in a manner acceptable to the
public and largely profitable to the region for which it furnishes an outlet and
communication with the metropolis. The two immense steamers, Providence
and Bristol, originally built to equip a projected route, whose eastern terminus
was to be Bristol, R. I., but through a default in that enterprise, falling into
the control of Fisk's company, have for some years been the summer boats of
the Old Colony route, attracting by their extraordinary size and magnificent
appointments altogether the greater part of the travel between New York
and New England. The sister craft, the Old Colony and Newport, designed
for winter navigation, are smaller boats, of exceptional strength and staunch-
ness, but equally rich in all the appliances of comfort and luxury.
During the war of 181 2, the young Richard Borden joined the local
militia company as a private, and was promoted while yet in his minority.
From this first promotion he rose, step by step, till he attained the rank of
colonel, when he withdrew from the service that others might gain for them-
selves as noble or higher honors. His patriotism during our internecine
war developed in a most active interest on behalf of the Union and an earnest
care for the well-being of its defenders, will not be forgotten, while the
beautiful monument and grounds of the soldiers' burial-place, given by him,
at the entrance of Oak Grove Cemetery and the Richard Borden Post of the
5^
FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
Grand Army of the Republic, named in honor of his benevolence to the
soldiers and their families in the trying days of the rebellion, remain to
perpetuate his memory.
Personally, Richard Borden represented the best type of that pure,
straightforward, stalwart Saxon virtue which has proven New England's best
inheritance from the mother country. His sympathies were given to all
good things ; he was a man broad in his views, true and steadfast in his
convictions and feelings. A sincere, outspoken Christian in early life, iden-
tifying himself with those observant of the Sabbath, the public services
of the sanctuary and the requirements of the gospel, he became, in 1826, a
member of the First Congregational Church of the city, and afterwards one
of the leaders of the Central Congregational Church, which, to his energy,
liberality, piety, and judicious counsel, is largely indebted for the success that
has marked its subsequent history. In the mission Sabbath-school work he
engaged with his characteristic energy, for a long time going seven miles
out of the village for this purpose. His interest in this department of work
continued so long as he lived. The benevolence of his nature flowed out as
a deep and silent stream. He gave as to him had been given. None sought
aid from him in vain, when they presented a worthy cause. He was always
willing to listen to the appeal of the needy, and sent none such empty away.
" Home and foreign charities alike found him ready, yea, often waiting to
attend on their calls, and among our institutions of learning not a few are
ready to rise up and call him blessed for the timely aid rendered in the hour
of their greatest need. Thus he came to be looked upon as the foremost
citizen of the place, and his death left a void in the community which no
one wan will probably ever fill again. Generous, noble-hearted, sagacious,
enterprising, of untiring energy and spotless integrity, far-seeing, judicious,
ever throwing his influence and his means on the right side, he presents a
character for admiration and example, which is fragrant with all the best
qualities of our New England life."
The cursory sketch of his business career which space has permitted
will suggest the conspicuous qualities of Colonel Borden's mind and tempera-
ment, as the world saw them and events caused them to develop. It is
doubtful, however, if any qualities of his can be termed more conspicuous
than others, among those who really knew him, so well rounded was his
nature. His achievements were many and great, a few of them extraordinary
in view of his resources and experience, yet he did not possess one spark of
the so-called genius, to which exceptional successes are generally ascribed.
His brain was like his body, robust and full of forces; his mental process
direct and simple ; his faculties of perception and deduction more than the
COTTON MANUFACTURE A.D. 1830-45. 53
average in quickness and correctness of action ; his scope of observation and
consideration general and yet effective. He liad, moreover, a thorough self-
reliance and self-assertion, yet was not over-sanguine. The possession of
such a mental structure always assures excellence of judgment and conse-
quent success, if combined with a suitable temperament, and such was the
fact in the present instance. Colonel Borden's nerve was strong and undis-
turbed by sudden or severe trials. Exceedingly honest of purpose, he was
wonderfully persistent when his judgment supported his efforts, never giving
up when legitimate means and thorough industry could compass an end he
had started for. His industry was his conspicuous quality — if he had one.
He was an indefatigable worker while the day lasted.
Fall River, in every development of its thrifty daily life, its marvellous,
yet substantial, progress ; its financial stability in the storm that has shaken
older communities ; its constant advancement in the industrial arts ; its con-
servation and harmony of industrial forces ; its industrious, law-observing
population, bears the impress of the Bordens, Durfees, Anthonys, and Davols,
the sterling mark of honest artisans upon pure coin. As Samuel Smiles says
of Josiah Wedgwood : " Men such as these are fairly entitled to take rank
as the Industrial Heroes of the civilized world. Their patient self-reliance
amidst trials and difficulties ; their courage and jierseverance in the pursuit of
worthy objects are not less heroic of their kind than the bravery and devo-
tion of the soldier and the sailor, whose duty and pride it is to heroically
defend what these valiant leaders of industry have so heroically achieved."
From the panic of 1837, which affected every business centre in the
country. Fall River seems to have speedily recovered, since within a few
years from that date nearly every mill in the place was enlarged, though
only one new one built. The lease of the old Massasoit Mill, started by
Holder Borden, having nearly expired, a new mill, called also the Massasoit,
was built in 1S43 "^'ir the shore, and the machinery transferred thereto. This
mill was better known locally as "the Doctor's Mill," because in later years it
was largely owned and run by Dr. Nathan Durfee.
Dr. Durfee married the eldest sister of Holder Borden, whose widowed
mother, a sister of Colonel Richard and Jefferson Borden, had previously
married his cousin. Major Bradford Durfee. After the death of Holder
Borden, Dr. Durfee became identified with the manufacturing interests of the
town, which Holder Borden, Major Durfee, and Colonel Borden had so
successfully started, though his personal attention was not much given to the
details of management.
Dr. Durfee was born in Fall River, then Freetown, in 1799. tie was a
graduate (with his brother Thomas R.) of Brown University in 1824, they
54 F-^LL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
being the first college graduates from this town. He studied medicine and
received the degree of M.D. at Harvard Universit}^ but the practice of
the profession was not suited to his tastes, and he continued in it but a brief
period of time. He opened a drug-store on what is now Central street, a
little distance west of Main, erecting for this purpose the first brick building
in the township. It was very small, but was then remarkable for its neatness
and beauty, and its adaptedness to the use for which it was constructed. This
he occupied until the erection of his brick dwelling-house on the corner of
Bank and North Main streets, where the Mount Hope House how stands.
The first story of this house he occupied for his store until he gave up
the business, after a brief experience in it.
He soon discovered an interest in the growing industries of the place,
and though not entering directly upon the management of any one business,
was associated with others in the general direction of many new enterprises
coincident with the progress of Fall River. In this way he became a director
in the Fall River Iron Works, American Print Works, the old Fall River
Railroad, and the Cape Cod Railroad ; was one of the proprietors of the Bay
State Steamboat Line ; was largely interested in several of the banks, and, in
later years, entered heartily into the new manufacturing projects of the city,
and at his death was director in at least seven of the corporations and presi-
dent of three. In earlier times, as a mercantile venture, he embarked in the
whaling business, fitting out, in company with other persons, at this port,
several vessels for the whale fishery, and establishing oil works. The venture
did not prove very successful, however, and was finally abandoned. A more
successful enterprise was a flour-mill, which did an extensive business for
many years. As before stated, he was principal owner of the Massasoit
Steam Mills, for the manufacture of print cloths, which were destroyed by fire
in 1875.
Besides filling various municipal offices, Dr. Durfee was a Representative
to the General Court for several years, and was always one of the most
public-spirited of citizens. After the "Great Fire" he erected the Mount
Hope Block for a public house, not as a profitable investment, but to give
character and respectability to the then growing town. At the time of that
great calamity, his mansion house, which had been erected that year, was
thrown wide open for the reception and shelter of the suffering community,
its spacious halls and drawing-rooms affording sleeping accommodations for
eighty persons, whose homes had been destroyed.
Dr. Durfee was a large land proprietor, owning nearly one thousand
acres, a portion of it valuable for real-estate purposes, in and about the city.
He was always more fond of agricultural pursuits than of the details of
COTTON MANUFACTURE A.D. 1830-45. 55
business. He took great pleasure in reclaiming swamp land, and bringing
into a high state of cultivation, and consequent utility, rocky and almost value-
less pastures. This taste closely identified him with the agricultural interests
of the commonwealth. Besides being for some years the president of the
Bristol County Agricultural Society, he was the originator and president for
a long period of the Bristol County Central Society, and contributed liberally
both of money and zeal to its advancement. He was a trustee of the State
Agricultural College, and its treasurer until declining health necessitated his
resignation. Kind-hearted and genial in his disposition, he was ever ready
to help and encourage the unfortunate and despondent, the frequent losses
sustained by him in his readiness to aid those seeking his assistance never
chilling his sympathy or preventing his efficient action when again sought by
any who needed a helping hand. His large charity of nature forgave and
forgot hasty expressions of feeling, so frequent in active life, and closed his
heart against harsh or bitter recollections of differences with his fellow-men.
Dr. Durfee was always largely interested in the education of youth, and aided
many institutions by his contributions. He was a strong advocate of the
cause of temperance, and, during the activ^e period of his life, was a public
and efficient worker in it. His public spirit was conspicuously illustrated
by his liberality to the city in opening streets and avenues through his
property without charge, and ornamenting them with shade trees trans-
planted from his own grounds, under his personal supervision. His spacious
lawns and greenhouses, which were kept in a high state of cultivation, were
always open to the community, and in the season of fruits and flowers
especiallv, affording gratification and delight to multitudes of people ; and
this gratification of others always gave him the greatest pleasure.
The moral and spiritual welfare of his native town and city was ever
prominent in the mind of Dr. Durfee, who was one of the earliest projectors
of the Sunday-school work, and instrumental in establishing several suburban
mission schools. He was closely identified with the Central Congregational
Church, being an original member and contributor of one quarter of the lot
upon which the society's first house of worship was erected. Always one of
its most active and efficient members, he took an especially deep interest in
its development, and, with the late Colonel Richard Borden, furnished a large
portion of the funds used in the construction of the new and elegant edifice
erected in 1875, and considered one of the most perfect ecclesiastical struc-
tures in the country.
Dr. Durfee was made vq3 on a large plan, not with a calm and even
temperament ; he was not destined to the treadmill of life, but rather to larger
conceptions of things ; to deal with wholes, and not with parts. While he
56 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
received much \)y nature, and added to it by culture, he was not scholarly in
minutiae, but scholarly in general. His opinions were to be regarded as not
open to question, but to be accepted as facts ; such was the impression made
by him upon instructors, preachers, and public men. His life was closely
interwoven with all the life of the city, and while circumstances often mould
life, it was his part to mould circumstances, not to float on the tide, but rather
to seize opportunities and to use them to advantage. His talents were not
hid in a napkin, they were put at usury ; and in developing and advancing
the interests of others he was blessed in his own. He died April 6th, 1876.
Up to 1846, the mills for cotton manufacture were all small, about 100
by 40 or 50 feet, and two or three stories high ; but at that time the experi-
ence acquired by thirty years' practice led some of the manufacturers to
believe that a larger mill could be worked more economically and to l)etter
advantage. The improvements in machinery also demanded a different
arrangement from that heretofore adopted.
The Pocasset Company was the first to put this theory into practice by
building the present Pocasset Mill, 219 feet by 75 feet, and five stories high.
There were not wanting those who predicted a failure as the result of this
innovation, but the man who had planned the mill was not one to lose heart
because of adverse criticism. The mill rose story by story, and in the end
fully justified the anticipations of its builders. To Stephen Davol, then super-
intendent of the Pocasset Company's mills, belongs the credit of first ventur-
ing on this improvement. From childhood he had been connected with
cotton-mills, beginning with the Troy, where he i-ose through all the grades
from doffer boy to agent (1842 to i860), and whence he was called, when only
twenty-six years of age, to the superintendency of the Pocasset Mill in 1833.
By him were drawn all the plans for the erection and alteration of the mills
of the company. Up to the building of this mill it had been customary to
arrange the machinery floor by floor, introducing the belts or gearing, often at
a disadvantage or at great expense, wherever required ; but in this construction
the plan of the whole interior was determined upon in advance, the sectional
drawings made, and the best connections provided for. This fact becoming
known, manufacturers from abroad came to inspect the drawings and satisfy
themselves that what had liefore been regarded as an impossibility had really
been accomplished. The skill and experience of Mr. Davol as a cotton
manufacturer have been largely called upon in later 3-cars, as indicated by the
fact of his election on no less than ten different boards of directors.
Stephen Davol is now one of the oldest, if not the very oldest, cot-
ton manufacturers in New England, if we consider the number of years
devoted exclusively to that pursuit. Born in November, 1807, he entered
"^^
^
COTTON MANUFACTURE A.D. 1845-60. 57
the Troy Mill in 1818, standing at the foot of the ladder of which for years
he has kept the highest round. His elder brothers were already' doffer boys,
and he cried because he could not likewise be earning money in the carding-
room instead of going to school. His urgency finally prevailed with his
father, who apprenticed him for three years, after a first trial of the cotton-
mill, in the print works of Duncan, Wright & Co. The work there being
irregular, one week on and two off, he was not satisfied with it, and returned,
after a few months' trial of the printing business, to the Troy Manufactory, of
which, as has been stated, he was eventually to be the chief executive officer.
In 1846, also, the Metacomet Mill was erected bv the Iron Works Com-
pany, and filled with machinery. The plans of this mill were brought from
England bv Major Durfee and William C. Davol, and varied in a number of
particulars from any in this countr)'. The original mill, in Bolton, was the
" model mill " of England at that time, and its production was the standard to
determine the rating of all the cloth produced in the cotton-manufacturing
districts. It was a wide mill, 75 feet, and had iron posts and girders. In all
the old mills, timber alone had been used, and where these were exposed to
moisture, they became soft, and the floors settled slightlv, producing friction
and a consequent loss of power. The new arrangement obviated this difficulty,
and was seen to be an improvement at once. The mill started up smoothly
from the first, turned out a good production, and made money for its owners.
The death of Major Durfee left Mr. Davol as the only one conversant with
the plans, and the machinery was made, put in, and arranged wholl)^ under
his supervision, and the success of the enterprise is largely due to his skill,
judgment, and experience.
William C. Davol was born January 5, 1806, in Fall River, and while
yet a lad entered the Troy Mill, then just commencing operations. He was
made overseer of the spinning in 18 19, and superintendent in 1827, a posi-
tion which he occupied until 1841, when he became partner in the firm of
Hawes, Marvel «& Davol, and engaged in the manufacture of cotton machin-
ery. He was an intimate friend of Holder Borden and Major Durfee, and,
when the latter went to Europe in 1838 to investigate the improvements in
cotton and iron machinery, accompanied him. Increased consumption neces-
sitated increased production, and foreign competition demanded a large
reduction in the cost. For instance, skeins or hanks of yarn cost 11 cents
here, but only 3A cents in England ; and Mr. Davol, being a practical manu-
facturer, made it a point to ascertain the kinds of machinery used, and the
methods of working the raw cotton into the finished cloth. By letters of
introduction, a little Yankee ingenuity and persistence, he accomplished his
purpose so far as to effect an arrangement with the owners of the Sharp
58 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
& Roberts self-acting Mule, to secure patents for their manufacture in the
United States, and the manufacture of cotton and other kinds of machinery
from the most approved patterns was entered upon at once by the new firm
of Hawes, Marvel & Davol. Mr. Dayol soon projected improvements to
beautify and perfect the operation and durability of the self-acting mule, and
from these patterns built 180000 spindles. In 1847, ^ "^^ set of patterns
were made, which superseded the old, and from which 100,000 spindles were
soon constructed. In 1852 and in 1854 other new mules were perfected with
a combination of improved principles for spinning fine yarn. At the same
time Mr. Davol's inventive genius was at work upon other parts of cotton
machinery, resulting in patent carders, speeders and drawing-frames, bv which
the productive power was quadrupled. The advantage to any manufacturing
community to ha\ e among its number one such man, cannot well be esti-
mated, and the high opinion of Mr. Davol's practical worth may be gathered
from the opinion of a well-known cotton manufacturer, as expressed in the
statement that " William C. Davol was worth more to Fall River, for the
twenty years succeeding the building of the Metacomet Mill, than all others
put together, because of his improvements in cotton machinery." This is
high praise, but is in some respects justified by the statement of another noted
manufacturer, who said, " There's more in the man than in the mill."
The Davol Mills for the manufacture of sheetings, shirtings, silesias, etc.,
were named after Mr. Davol, who was elected and still holds the position of
president of the corporation.
In securing for the benefit of American cotton manufacturers the self-
acting mule of Sharp, Roberts & Co., Mr. Davol, by his clever persistency,
repeated the act of Samuel Slater in bringing over in his brain the spinning
machinery of Arkwright. Great Britain, while preaching free-trade to every
other industrial nation on the globe, and even spending largely of her gold to
undermine the protective policy in whatever country her manufactures have
sought a market, has never lost an opportunity to protect her own industries.
Shrewdly appreciating the fact that there is more than one mode of protec-
tion, and realizing the inconsistency of doing the work by imposts, while she
was advocating the abolition of imposts by competing countries, she has
availed herself of many ways to eflfect her purpose : in one case encouraging
her exports by a drawback in the shape of a remission of tax on particular
production ; in another, fostering a foreign trade by granting handsome sub-
sidies to a shipping line ; and in a third, securing all the economical advan-
tages of invention and improvement to her own production, by a rigid Par-
liamentary prohibition of the exportation of labor-saving machinery. From
the very dawn of her own industry, no people has been so intolerant of for-
COTTON MANUFACTURE A.n. 1845-60. 59
eign competition in its own markets as the English, and no government
answered so fully and quickly the appeal of its subjects for protection, in one
shape or another, as that of England.
In our colonial days, if a guild of London artisans found a small lot of
hats, made in the lean-tos of Massachusetts, or Pennsylvania farm-houses,
underselling their own manufacture, whether in England or any spot of its
domain, their immediate recourse was a petition to the lords in council,
praying that Americans be forbidden sending their fabrics for sale out of
their own provinces, and a favorable response was certain, without much
tying or untying of red-tape. When a fancy grew among the Manchester
and London weavers, during the first quarter of this century, that their
American and Continental brethren were interfering with their interests, by
weaving English-spun yarn, they beset Parliament for an act prohibiting the
spinners exporting yarn at all, and probably would have gained their wish,
if they had not assailed a more solid power in capital and influence than they
possessed in numbers.
As England was foremost for half a century in the machining of cotton,
a favorite policy of the government was to monopolize and retain every
mechanical improvement or invention in that department of industry.
Baines, in his " History of the Cotton Manufacture," published in 1835, in
a very serious consideration of the dangers of foreign competition to the
supremacy of the English production, lays this same flattering unction to his
soul : " English manufactures can be sold cheaper than those of other coun-
tries, especially owing to the extensive employment of machinery. This
country excels every other in the making of machines, and in the means of
making them advantageously ; and besides this, for the reason just mentioned,
our manufacturers are interested in having their goods produced as much as
possible by machinery." It is curious that neither he, nor any English writer
on this theme, has even suggested the well-known fact, that government
always forbade the exportation even of drawings of a new machine, at once
its decided economical value became recognized.
When the water-frame spinning system of Arkwright was introduced
in England, its appreciation by government was so high, that a prohibition
was immediately enforced against its exportation, and so rigid restrictions
instituted, that every passenger for America was searched at the custom-
houses, with the view of preventing the departure from the country of that
great improvement, even in the shape of patterns or drawings. To the cor-
rect eye, retentive brain, and constructive mechanical ability of Samuel Slater,
who had operated the machines for a considerable period, in one of the invent-
6o FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
or's own mills, was alone due the possession of the improvement in the United
States, for some years.
The story of Davol's securing the Roberts self-acting mule, a much more
elaborate machine in its action, is interesting, and develops, at a much later
day, the same monopolizing policy of the government. Mr. Davol spent
some weeks in Manchester, while Major Durfee had gone with other friends
to make a tour on the Continent, for the express purpose of studying the
various improvements in English machinery, and especially the new mule,
which had been patented by Mr. Roberts in 1830 and 1835, the most perfect
development of Compton's original idea. Major Durfee had hardly reached
the Continent before he wrote Mr. Davol that the Roberts machine must be
secured for Fall Ri\'er. Ere his return to England, an arrangement had been
made with the inventor for the patenting of the improvement in America,
and its manufacture under royalty, and a machine purchased, to be shipped,
as Mr. Davol supposed, at once. Upon applying, shortly before his own time
to take passage, for information as to his freight, he was apprised that tJic mule
xooidd be eielivcred in the yard of the zuorks. Surprised by such an unaccom-
modating mode of business, his inquiry elicited the fact, of which he was
heretofore utterly ignorant, that the sending or permitting the invention to
go abroad, in any shape, was not only disallowed by the authorities, but a
severe penalty prescribed against any attempt to evade the law. In this posi-
tion of affairs, no longer amazed by the non-action of Sharp, Roberts & Co.,
but still determined to possess the machine, an answer was made in response
to his anxious query how the freight could be placed on board ship at Liver-
pool, that a certain person in King street was accustomed to attend to such
business. Mr. Davol at once approached this mysterious agent, and after a
few words of mutual assurance, a verbal agreement — a written contract being
refused — was made, that the contraband freight should be shipped as soon as
possible, the reward to be seventy per cent of its cost, payable on its arrival
at New York. Satisfied at last that the machine would be sent at an early
moment. Major Durfee and Mr. Davol sailed for America. With all due
allowance for custom-house espionage and the consequent difficulties, they
looked for the arrival of their important freight a few weeks after their own
return. Some months elapsing, and still no receipt, they wrote. More than a
year passed, an unsatisfactory correspondence being the only result, the Eng-
lish side obviously fearing to compromise itself by letters at all matter of fact.
Finally, the organization of a new mill necessitating a considerable machine
equipment, it was decided to send out an order for ^10,000 in English machin-
ery, with the stipulation that the long-expected self-acting mule should be
shipped at once. About two years from the date of Mr. Davol's original
^^^'-<yj. ^Jj cc^u-cY
COTTON MANUFACTURE A.D. 1845-60. 61
purchase in Manchester, an invoice of small metal-ware, packed in the broad,
thin cases peculiar to plate-glass shipments, was entered through the New
York custom-house, for Fall River order. It came in a vessel from Havre,
suggesting the probability that the English authorities had been advised of
the presence of American manufacturers' agents in Manchester, and were con-
sequentlv on the watch for shipments to this country. The cases were in due
time received in Fall River. Upon opening them the machine was discov-
ered, its framework and every considerable piece, of iron or wood, with the
greatest neatness, sawn into bits a few inches in length. The assembling of
these bits together into the complete mule was, though a matter of difficulty,
and requiring a degree of patience, soon achieved by Mr. Davol, and the Rob-
erts invention at last entirely at his disposition.
In previous pages Mr. Davol's success in introducing the new sjjinning
machine, and his own improvements upon the English invention, have been
narrated. Any account of tlie full results of his enterprise, however, would
be imperfect without a supplementary relation, involving an episode which
seems to be inseparable from the careers of almost all who originate or improve
the details of production.
As already indicated, no sooner had the merits of the self-acting mule
and its production in Fall River become known, than an instant demand for
it sprang up in all directions. Manufacturers of cotton machinery resorted to
every possible device to possess themselves of the patterns, many of them
.sending their draftsmen to inspect and furtivelv carrv away working
sketches of them ; while one builder, bolder than the rest, declared openly that
he had come with his designer to secure drawings of the whole machine. He
was told he could have the patterns and a right to manufacture by paying a
royalty, but warned at his peril not to infringe the patent.
This default of success was succeeded by attempts to break down the
patent through claims of previous invention, similaritv to other machines,
and various kindred subterfuges, until finally, discovering that they could not
accomplish their purpose covertl)-, the cotton manufacturers and machine
builders combined openly to wrest the advantages, profits, and control of the
new machine from the patentees. For a single small firm to oppose such a
combination seemed almost an absurditv. But Mr. Davol was not a man to
surrender to difficulties easilv, and securing the best legal talent the country
could produce, fought the case to a successful issue. The cause attracted
universal attention, as it was one of the first patent suits brought prominently
into the courts, and was regarded as in some measure determining the rights
of inventors and the boundaries of inventions.
In the prosecution of his rights, Mr. Davol received much encourage-
62 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
inent and personal assistance from Micah H. Ruggles, agent of the Pocasset
Manufacturing Company. Mr. Ruggles had come to Fall River in 1826,
and seems to have made an impression upon the community almost at once ;
for on the organization of the Fall River Savings Bank in 1828 he was made
its president, and continued in the position until the year of his death, in
1857. In 1837 he was appointed agent of the Pocasset Company, and for
twenty years conducted its increasing business with a skill and success which
manifested executive talent of the first order. From the ease with which he
grasped alike minute detail and general principles, and his knowledge of
the leading principles of law, it was obvious that if he hatl turned his atten-
tion to that profession he would have taken rank with the foremost among
its great leaders. A prudent counsellor, far-seeing and sagacious ; an excel-
lent observer, clear, quick, accurate ; executing with ability whatever he under-
took, and having a mind stored by experience with a large and unusually
varied knowledge of men and things, he was invaluable as a friend and helper
in a case which assumed such proportions and involved such interests as did
that of Mr. Davol's. It was, as it were. Fall Riv^er against the country, and
Fall River won.
Mr. Ruggles always occupied a prominent position in the Fall River
community. He was its representative to the General Court from 1833
to 1838 inclusive. He took a leading part in politics, and was conspicuous
in the great Anti-Masonic movement of 183 1. His sympathies were strongly
on the side of freedom, caring but little for the trivial details of conventional
life ; he manifested a degree of independence in the formation and expression
of his opinions but seldom met with. Rising above mere part}^ views upon
the great questions of the day, it was sometimes his fortune to stand alone in
his policy and action. Believing that what was worth doing, was worth
doing well, he carried this sentiment into practice, and, when the great fire
swept away the old " Bridge Mill" and contiguous buildings on Main street,
as agent of the Pocasset Company he projected and carried to completion
the erection of the Granite Block, and a year or two later the present
Pocasset Mill. The former has ever since been one of the principal features
of the centre of the city, an enduring monument in its massive proportions
and substantial construction of the liberal forecast and sterling honesty that
reared its walls. While, therefore, Mr. Ruggles was not so prominent as a
manufacturer, in other and important particulars he exerted a marked influ-
ence-in the community up to the time of his death, in 1857.
In 1852, a new enterprise was established in the formation of the
American Linen Company for the purpose of manufacturing the finer linen
fabrics on a large scale. As it was the first enterprise of the kind in the
country, considerable interest was manifested, both at home and abroad,
COTTON MANUFACTURE A. P. 1860-76. ■ 6
o
concerning the success of the undertaking. The buildings of the company,
of stone, were erected on an extensiv'e scale and in a very substantial manner.
These consisted of a factory, 300 feet by 63, four stories high, with store and
heckling-house, 150 feet by 48; a bleach house, 176 feet by 75, and a finishing
building, 176 feet by 45, three stories high, with 10,500 spindles and 300
looms. An agent was sent to Europe to select and import the necessary
operativ^es, and to meet their immediate wants it was necessary also to
import sev^eral hundred tons of flax fibre. In the spring of 1S53, the first
productions were sent into the market. These consisted of blay linens,
coating and pantaloon linen, sheeting, pillow and table linen, huckaback,
and damask towelling, crash and diaper, which were received with such
favor by the trade that at first it was impossible to supply the demand. But
before the mill was in full operation, the demand for such goods as the
company proposed to manufacture almost entirely ceased, for the reason that
cotton and thin woollen fabrics were very generally substituted for linen
goods. On this account it was determined, in the year 1858, to remove the
machinery from the main mill into the outer buildings, and substitute
machinery for the manufacture of cotton print cloths, and in this department
the company has continued to the present time.
Up to the year 1859, what mav be termed a sort of centralization char-
acterized and directed the progress of industry in Fall River. One business
organization, the Iron Works Company, exercised over the enterprise and
advancement of the place a recognized power and influence. Prosperous in
its own legitimate pursuits, successful in all its outlying projects, numbering
among its stockholders the large land-owners and leading capitalists, and thus
representing, if not itself owning, interests in every productive institution ;
through its riparian property commanding that part of the shore-line most
eligible for wharfage, and thereby controlling both water and land communi-
cation, this corporate Briareus, with the brain of Mercury, for nearly four
decades, seemed to hold the growing town and city, with all its industries
and enterprises, in its hundred arms. That this embrace had been a kindly
and fostering one, our previous record abundantly witnesses. In the nature
of things, however, it could not last forever ; the day must come when the
child would leap forth from his guardian's and mentor's lap, — when the very
material strength and wisdom that guardian had imparted would prove the
essential features of his charge's independence.
While the Iron Works had enjoyed for so many years the direction and
control of the interests of the place, introducing, promoting, and fostering new
industries, and more firmly establishing in its own prosperity the fortunes of
the community, the individual wealth was year by year increasing, and the
business men of the city gradually acquiring the means which, when the in-
64 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
spiration should come, would be available for a new departure. But the
suggestion was needed, and in 1859 it was given by a citizen supposed to be
outside the circle of industrial pursuits.
Hale Remington, to whose instrumentality was mainly due the last stage
of Fall River manufacturing development, came to the city in 1833, entering
the drug-store of Dr. Nathan Durfee. In a short time he purchased the entire
interest from his principal, and extended the business by adding to the stock
dye-stuffs and chemicals consumed in manufacturing. Subsequentlv, his
restless and ambitious temperament requiring occupation more active, he
engaged in the coal business, adding to it in time a general insurance agency.
For the latter, his genial and affable bearing, combined with a nature full of
energ\', gave him especial fitness, and he became popularlv and worthily known
throughout New England as a leader in the business.
Mr. Remington's general acquaintance with the individual resources of
Fall River, and his observation of the success of combined movement in
other places, led him to propose the organization of a cotton-manufacturing
company, based upon the general contributions of men of small capital.
Fortunately he found a counsellor and active cooperator in David Anthon\-,
who, though in his seventy-fourth year, was still earnestly interested in local
progress, and the man of all, from his thorough experience in manufacturing
and the general esteem he possessed as a practical business operator, to assure
the success of a new enterprise. Indeed, it is very doubtful if, without Mr.
Anthony's active association, Mr. Remington would have attained any sub-
stantial success, his own identity with the cotton industry having been
limited to a brief agency of the Globe Print Works.
The result of the combined efforts of Mr. Remington and Mr. Anthony
was the formation of the Union Mill Company. The latter subscribed very
largely to the capital and was chosen treasurer, Mr. Remington being one of
the original directors. The president of the compan)^ to-day is John B.
Anthony, of Providence, a son of the man so largely instrumental in the
industrial progress of Fall River.
A fortunate hit as to the time of starting, and the excellent management
of the veteran treasurer, made the Union Mill a splendid and immediate suc-
cess. Recognizing no antagonism between the new departure and the okl
controlling influence of local industry, the example of combining a multitude
of small resources became speedily a topic of consideration and discussion,
and the successful precedent gave such a stimulus to popular enterprise, that
the formation of similar companies was an almost immediate result. Within
fifteen years succeeding the development of Mr. Remington's original sugges-
tion, twenty-five distinct manufacturing' corporations have been organized,
adding an immense number of spindles, and a corresponding increase of
CO 1' lux MANUFACTURE A.U. 1S60-76. 65
capital, business, and population, and raising tlie city to its permanent suprem-
acy among the cloth-producing centres of America.
The way once opened, and the first experiment proving that the idea was
not only among the possibilities, but capable of a realization even beyond the
hopes of its most sanguine projectors, others were not slow to pursue the
lead, and the Union Mill Company was followed in 1863 by the formation of
the Granite Mills, in 1866 bv the Durfee and Tecumseh Mills, in 1867 by the
Davol, Merchant's, and Robeson Mills, and in 1868 by the Mechanic's Mills.
But it was the two years 1871-2 that witnessed the most surprising
developments in this direction. For a city of its size, wealth, and population,
it would seem that two or three new companies were sufficient to absorb its
surplus capital, energy, and ambition ; but company succeeded company, until
fifteen new corporations had been formed, the land purciiased, laid out into
mill sites and tenement lots, the foundations put in, and the massive walls
reared story by story, the machinery contracted for, received and set in place,
and the busy hum of more than a million spindles added to the pervading
anthem of labor and production.
So surely does enterprise beget enterprise, that scarcely had one company
been organized and located, before a second, a third, and even a fourth would
purchase the neighboring property ; and what had before barely given a
farmer's family its moderate subsistence, became the home of hundreds, and
furnished a product in manufactured goods to the value of thousands of
dollars. The price of land took an immense leap upward, that in the centre
of the city doubling and trebling in value, while in the outskirts a foot was
held almost at the former rate per rod. Masons, carpenters, and mechanics
were in excessive demand ; wages were increased, and work was abundant.
The machine shops at home not having the capacity to supply the imme-
diate demand, cotton machinery was imported in large quantities from abroad^
special agents being sent out in some cases to hasten it forward. Every-
where was hurry and bustle. Shares in the new corporations were at a
premium before even the foundation was in. The news spread abroad, and
capital flowed in from the neighboring cities. Old conservative manu-
facturers, traders, and bankers at first stood aghast, then vielded to the subtle
influence, and finally rivalled the most venturesome in their investments and
in the formation of still other companies.
Young and old partook of the spirit of the times and made their sub-
scriptions, and while some of the companies had less than fifty stockholders,
others had from three to four hundred. By a wise provision of State law,
under which the various companies were incorporated, the shares (whatever
was the capital stock in total ) were made one hundred dollars each, thus
giving an opoortunity to all, to rich and ])oor alike, as well to the man of
66 FALL RIVER AND IT-S INDUSTRIES.
moderate means as to the man of wealth, to become owners in these various
enterprises ; and it not unfrequently happened that the operatives of a mill
became joint owners with the larger capitalists, and sharers in the proceeds of
their own productive industry. The subscriptions were made payable in
instalments of about ten per cent per month and spread over a year, so that
there was no sudden draft to bear onerously upon the stockholders, and the
principle of partial payments enabled many to make small investments of
from one to five or ten shares each. ^
When at length the summer of 1872 drew to a close, and a little space
was given to review the proceedings of the past two years, to gather up the
scattered threads of enterprise here and there, to comprehend as a whole
what had been done, and to devise plans for the future, it was found that the
fifteen companies just organized, involved an outlay of capital to the extent
of $13,000,000, had added over half a million spindles to the number already
running, required 6000 more hands, and had brought into the city an imme-
diate population of some 20,000 persons.
In full running time (averaging ten hours per day), the mills now incor-
porated will employ 14,000 hands, using 135,000 bales of cotton yearly, in
the manufacture of 340,000,000 yards of cluth. The monthl)' pay-rolls
amount to over $400,000, which are paid as follows : one fourth of the mills
paying the first week, another fourth the second week, and so on consecu-
tively through the month.
From statistical reports for the year 1872 (the era of "new mills"), and
a comparison of the relative wealth of the cities of the commonwealth, it
appears that Fall River ranked fourth in valuation of personal, and sixth in
real estate valuation; that the aggregate gain in one year (1872) was
$8,701,300, or forty-one per cent — with one exception the largest gain, either
in amount or percentage, in the whole State. In the scale of tax rates, the
city stood third on the list, but two having a lower rate, and in point of
population advanced from the eighth to the fifth.
It is especially noteworthy, that notwithstanding the extraordinary
growth of the industries of the place during the last decade, but a small pro-
portion of foreign capital is invested, or has been sought for, in so remarkable
developments of enterprise. This statement, while particularly true of the
later growth, will, moreover, apply to the history of thirty years back with
almost equal justice. The wealth of Fall River is its own earnings, and to
the studious economist there is no more interesting example of an accretion
of resources through the provident care of small beginnings, an unpre-
tentious and silent, but unremitting energy, and a singularly wise and tena-
cious grasp of opportunities, than this true history, stranger than any fiction,
more exciting than any romance, affords.
COTTON MANUFACTURE A.D. 1860-76. 67
Some small suggestiuii of the original contributions to the industrial
capital of the place has been given in the foregoing pages." About half the
original investment in the year 1813, for instance, was furnished in the
adjacent towns of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The advent of the
Robeson famil)" brought in $50,000 of New Bedford UKKiey. The larger
part of the $100,000 upon which the Massasoitwas started was furnished by
Brown & Ives, of Providence ; and from one third to one half of the Anna-
wan's original capital was raised out of town. But in six or seven years
Holder Borden's management of the Massasoit had made so much profit for
the firm, that he was able, out of his own share, to purchase the interests of
his Rhode Island backers ; and this is but one instance.
In the case of the Linen Mill Company, $200,000 of its whole capital
of $500,000 was invested by outside parties, and when the original amount
required an additional $200,000 to rearrange the factory for a production of
cotton, the aggregate was reached by an assessment of stockholders.
A very cautious and conservative citizen, whose means of information
were exceptionally good, writing of the resources of Fall River about 1858,
before the extraordinary development of the place had commenced, remarks :
" My impressions are, that several years after the commencement of business
in Fall River the valuation of all the property in the whole town reached
only $500,000. It is now over $9,000,000." His estimate of the aggregate
of original investments in manufactures up to that time, " owned by the resi-
dents, brought into the place, and earned," is $650,000. " The valuation of
property by the assessors is about ten millions of dollars — about as much of
real as of personal estate. The items may be set down as follows :
"Cotton Mills (150,000 spindles), water-power and land $2,000,000
Print Works 200,000
Woollen Mill So.°oo
Iron Works 1,000,000
Furnaces 20,000
Steamboats 700,000
Bank Capital and Deposits 2,000,000
1500 Dwellings 1,500,000
Real Estate, including Wharves 1,000,000
Miscellaneous Stocks 250,000
Invested in Trade and Merchandise 150,000
Invested in Vessels 100,000
Market and Cemetery 100,000
Religious Edifices 150,000
Educational Edifices 70,000
$9,290,000
68 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
" At the present time there are ten or possibly more residents worth
$100,000 and over; one may be estimated at half a million. Probably there
are from twelve to fifteen worth $50,000. In the year 1831, two of our citi-
zens reckoned up a list of ten persons worth $10,000 and upwards, and in 1837
were able to add to it seven others."
Such plain and simple figures as the foregoing introduce with almost
dramatic effect the statistical exhibit of Fall River in 1876, which we extract
from Mr. Sanborn's interesting paper read before the Social Science Associa-
tion, at its meeting in Saratoga, in September.
" The population of Fall River fifty years ago was less than 3000; in 1840
it was 6738; in 1850, 11,524; in 1855, 12,680; in i860, 14,026; in 1865,
17,481. Up to that time, which was the close of the civil war, its increase
had been no greater than that of other thriving towns in Massachusetts.
Exclusive of the 3300 inhabitants gained from Rhode Island by annexation
in 1 862, it had neither increased nor diminished its population during the civil
war ; while some Massachusetts cities, Worcester and Springfield, for example,
had gained from twenty to forty per centum during the war ; and others,
Lowell and New Bedford, for example, had lost from six to fifteen per cen-
tum of their population. But immediately upon the close of the war Fall
River began to gain in population and wealth with remarkable rapidity. In
1870 it contained 26,766 inhabitants, or almost twice as many as in i860 ; in
1875 it contained 45,340, or more than three times the population in i860.
The only other Massachusetts city that has trebled its population in these
fifteen years is Holyoke, which from 5000 in i860 grew to 16,260 in 1875.
" But Holyoke shows no such gain in wealth as Fall River made during
the same period. The assessed valuation of Fall River, which in 1861 was but
$ 1 1,261,065, and which so late as 1869 was but $21,400,000, had risen in 1873
to $47,416,000, and in 1875 to $51,401,000. Holyoke, which in 1861 had a
valuation of $2,270,439, and in 1869 of $5,370,000, had only risen to $8,578,000
in 1873, and to $9,681,000 in 1875. Thus the taxable and actually taxed
wealth of Fall River increased nearly 400 per centum in the fifteen years from
i860 to 1875, and it more than doubled (an increase of 121 per centum) in
the four years preceding the panic of 1873.
" The growth of a single industry in Fall River since the civil war is
even more extraordinary. In 1S65 the city reported fifteen cotton-mills, with
only 241,218 spindles; in 1875 there were thirty-eight mills, with 1,280,000
spindles. In 1865 the annual product of these mills was reported at less than
30,000,000, while in 1873 it was more than 330,000,000 yards, or eleven times
as much. The reported capital in 1865 was but $3,126,500; in 1875 it was
$20,368,000, or more than six times as much. Between 1870 and 1874 the
number of cotton-manufacturing corporations was increased from eighteen to
thirty-four. In 1865 the reported number of cotton factory operatives, in a
population of 17,481, was 2654, of whom 1037 were males and 161 7 females.
In 1875 the number of cotton factory operatives, in a population of 45,260, was
11,514, of whom 5467 were males and 6047 were females. Within ten years,
COTTON MANUFACTURE A.D. 1860-76. 69
therefore, this portion of the population had increased from fifteen per centum
of the whole to more than twenty-five per centum of the whole. In fact, the
persons of suitable age and capacity to labor, who are directly or indirectly
at work upon the cotton industries of Fall Riyer, are no doubt more than
half and may reach two thirds, of the whole industrious population. The
capital employed in cotton manufactures bore eyen a larger ratio to the
whole capital of the city in iS75,and so did the value of the manufactured
product to the whole product of the city industries. Thus the whole capital
reported in 'manufactures and related occupations ' being §23,078,000, that
employed in cotton manufactures was §20,484,000, or almost 90 per centum ;
while of the manufactured product ($23,027,000) $20,228,000, or about the
same percentage, were of cotton goods. In 1870 the whole manufactured
product of cotton goods in the United States was valued at less than
$180,000,000, so that Fall River manufactures more than a tenth part of all
that are produced in the country. There is no single city in the United
States that manufactures so much cotton as Fall River, and it has even been
asserted that there is no city in the world which has a larger cotton manufac-
ture. This is a mistake — for Manchester in England, in 1871, employed
20,346 persons in its one hundred and eleven cotton factories. But when we
consider that Manchester has ten times the population of Fall River (476,000
in 1 87 1 ), while Fall River employs more than half as many cotton spinners
as Manchester, it is easy to see that our American city may soon surpass its
English prototype in this special industry. Ten years more like the last ten
would see this accomplished.
" It is proper to mention in conclusion, that the wealth of Fall River is
owned almost wholly by residents, and that its business interests are con-
trolled by its own people, rather than by persons living at a distance. This is
one of the causes of its prosperity ; for all its citizens have a direct interest in
making it prosperous, and work industriousl)' to that end. It is also, perhaps,
the chief reason why the cotton manufacture there has not given way during
the depression of prices for two years past. ' If you want your work well
done,' says the proverb, ' you must do it yourself.' The Fall River manufac-
turers have attended to their own investments, and their operatives, being
citizens of the towm, and having a deep interest in its success, have submitted
to restrictions and reductions of wages which might not have been available
in cities like Lowxll. In the recent conflicts between capital and labor at
Fall River there have been faults on both sides, but the result seems to show
that on neither side was serious injustice done. The future is uncertain, but
there is a fair prospect that the overgrowth of a single industry there will prove
to have been but a slight excess, which was, perhaps, unavoidable in firmly
establishing a manufacture that may prove itself able to compete in the
markets of the w^orld with the same industiy in countries where it has been
long established."
The forty cotton mill structures of Fall River are located in groups, and
may be distinguished as those on the stream, those at Mechanicsville at the
north, those at Globe Village (originally Tiverton) at the south, and a small
70
FALL RIVER -AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
number on the shores of Mount Hope Bay. Ascending the stream are situ-
ated the Metacomet, Annawan, Fall River Manufactorv, Fall River Print
Works, Watuppa, Quequechan, Pocasset, and Troy. These are the oldest
mills in the place, and all of them are below the dam.
On the stream above the dam, following nearly to its head along its east
side, are the Union Nos. i and 2, Durfee Nos. i and 2, Granite Nos. i and 2,
Crescent, Merchants, Barnard, Wampanoag, Stafford, Flint, and Merino, the
last five, with their tenements, forming a community by themselves known
as Flint's Village.
On the west bank of the stream, above the dam, are the Tecumseh No. i,
Robeson, Davol, Richard Borden, Tecumseh No. 2, and Chace Mills.
Some two miles north of the stream, at Mechanicsville, are located the
Mechanics, Weetamoe, Narragansett, Sagamore, and Border City Nos. i
and 2.
At the extreme south, some four miles from the Mechanicsville group,
taking their water from Laurel Lake, are the Slade, Montaup, Osborn, King
Philip, and Shove Mills.
The American Print Works, the Fall River Iron Works, the American
Linen Company's Mills, Nos. i and 2, and the Mount Hope Mill are located
successively on the Bay southward from the stream.
THE GROWTH
OF THE
COTTON INDUSTRY IN AMERICA.
THE first culture of cotton in the United States for the purpose of raising
a material to be worked up into a fabric was pursued on the peninsula
between the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays as early as 1 736, it having
been before that time chiefly regarded as an ornamental plant, and reared only
in gardens on the eastern shore of Maryland, the lower counties of Delaware
and occasional localities in the Middle States. Previously to this date — about
1733 — its culture seems to have been experimentally undertaken in South
Carolina, where it was to be met with in gardens. An exportation of seven
bags from Charleston, in 1 747-8, is recorded ; but doubt is thrown upon its
growth in the colony. A few years later it was a recognized production of
the Carolinas, in a very small way, as also of French Louisiana. But cotton
was not to any appreciable extent a production of the Southern States ante-
rior to the Revolutionary War, and its use as a material to be spun and woven,
with its relative value as an article of national wealth, was hardlv thought of in
comparison with hemp and flax. ^Vhatever was raised was consumed at home,
and in 1770 the total entries of American, cotton at Liverpool amounted to
three bales from New York, four from \"irginia and Maryland, and three bar-
rels from North Carolina.
In 1784 an importation of eight bags of cotton at Liverpool was seized,
on the assumption that so large a quantity could not have been of American
production. The next year, however, the exportation from Charleston regu-
larly commenced, one bag being shipped to England from that city. During
the same twelvemonth twelve bags were entered at Liverpool from Philadel-
phia, and one from New York. The increase thenceforward was marked.
The bag averaged 150 lbs., and from i 786 to 1790 the following quantities
were exported: 1786, 6 bags; 1787, 109 bags; 1788, 389 bags; 1789, 842
bags; 1790, 81 bags — aggregating 1441 bags, or 216,150 lbs.
72
FALL RIVER AND LI'S INDUSTRIES.
In I 786 the culture of cotton had become so successful that Mr. Madi-
son, in a convention at Annapolis, Md., called to consider the depressed con-
dition of the country, remarked, in his address, that " there was no reason to
doubt the United States would one day become a great cotton-growing
country."
The invention of the cotton-gin by Eli Whitney in i 793-4, by which the
labor of one man could clean for market a thousand pounds of cotton instead
of the five or six pounds by the usual hand process, at once gave an impulse
to the culture of the plant. In 1795 South Carolina exported $1,109,653 in
value of production, and the growth of the whole country reached 8,000,000
lbs., of which three quarters were shipped abroad. In 1801 the product aggre-
gated 40,000,000 lbs., of which half was exported. South Carolina alone yield-
ing 8,000,000 lbs.
The following table, carefully prepared by B. F. Nourse, Esq., of Boston,
and perfected to the present time, shows the total annual production of cotton
in the United States from 1825 to the present year, inclusive :
Years ending
August 31.
Production.
Bales.
Consumption.
Bales.
Exports.
Bales.
Average
Net Weight
per Bale.
Average Price
per lb. N.Y.
Cents.
1825-26
720,027
12. ig
1826-27
957. 2S1
149.516
854,000
331
9.29
1827-28
720,593
120,593
600,000
335
10.32
l828-'2g
870,415
118,853
740,000
341
9.88
i829-'3o
976,845
126,512
839,000
339
10.04
i83o-'3i
1,038,847
182,142
773,000
341
9.71
1831-32
987,477
173.800
892,000
360
9-38
1832-33
1,070,438
194,412
867,000
350
12.32
1833-34
1,205,394
196,413
1,028,000
363
12.90
1834-35
1,254.328
216.S88
1,023,500
367
17-45
i835-'36
1,360,725
236,733
1,116,000
373
16.50
1836-37
1.423.930
222,540
1,169,000
379
13.25
l837-'38
i,Soi,497
246,063
J. 575.000
379
10.14
1838-39 ■
1,360,532
276,018
1,074,000
384
13-36
1839-40
2,177.835
295.193
1,876,000
383
8.92
1 840 -'4 1
1,634,954
267,850
1,313,500
394
9.50
1841-42
1.683,574
267,850
1.465,500
397
7-85
1842-43
2,378,875
325,129
2,010,000
409
7-25
l843-'44
2,030,409
346,750
1,629,500
412
7-73
l844-'45
2,394.503
389,000
2,083,700
415
5-63
l845-'46
2,100,537
422,600
1,666,700
411
7.87
l846-'47
1,778,651
428,000
1,241,200
431
II. 21
l847-'48
2,439,786
616,044
1,858,000
417
8.03
i848-'49
2,866,938
642,485
2,228,000
436
7-55
1849-50
2.233,718
613.498
1,590,200
429
12.34
i850-'5i
2,454.442
485,614
1,988,710
416
12.14
1851-52
3,126,310
689,603
2,443,646
428
9-50
1852-53
3.416,214
803,725
2,528,400
428
11.02
1853-54
3,074,979
737.236
2,319,148
430
10.97
1854-55
2,982,634
706,417
2,244,209
434
10.39
1855-56
3.665,557
770,739
2,954,606
420
10.30
1856-57
3.093.737
819,936
2,252,657
444
13-51
1857-58
3.257.339
595.562
2.590.455
442
12.23
1858-59
4,018,914
927.651
3,021,403
447
12. oS
i859-'6o
4,861,292
978.043
3,774.173
461
11.00
COTTON AND ITS MANUFACTURE.
73
Years ending
August 31.
Production.
Bales.
Consumption.
Bales.
Exports.
Bales. .
Average
Net WeTght
per Bale.
Average Price
per lb. N. Y.
Cents.
i86o-'6i
3,849,469
843.740
3.127.56S
477
13.01
iS6i-'62
31.29
i862-'63
67.21
i863-'64
101 . 50
iS64-'6;
83-38
i865-'66
2,269,310
666, 100
1,554,654
441
43.20
i866-'67
2.097,254
770,630
1.557.054
444
31-59
iS67-'68
2.519.554
906,636
1.655,816
445
24-85
l868-'69
2,366,467
926,374
1,465,880
444
29 01
1869-70
3.122,557
865,160
2,206,480
440
23.98
iS7o-'7i
4,362,317
1,110,196
3,166,742
442
16.95
i87[-'72
3.014.357
1.237,330
1,957.314
443
20.98
1872-73
3.930,50s
1,201,127
2,679,986
464
18-15
1873-74
4,170,388
1.305,943
2,840,981
466
19.30
i874-'75
3.832.991
1,207,601
2,684,410
468
18.
1875-76
4,669,288
1,356.598
3,252,994
471
13-
The history of cotton manufacture in the United States commences with
the organization of a factory at Beverly, Mass., in 1787. Previously whatever
cotton had been made into cloth had been spun on the ordinary spinning-
wheel, which was a property of nearly every household, and woven on the
hand-loom. The first spinning-jenny seen in America was exhibited in Phila-
delphia, in 1775, constructed by a Mr. Christopher Tully after the plan of
Hargreaves. This machine, spinning twenty-four threads, was secured by an
association of persons desirous to establish domestic enterprise, who formed
themselves into a company, termed " The United Company of Philadelphia for
Promoting American Manufactures." This Company, besides operating Tully s
machine, employed four hundred women in hand-spinning and weaving. The
Company was speedily a success, the stock rising from its par value of ^10 to
£ij 6s. 6d. in two years. The business, however, was not long carried on by the
Company, but in a few years was controlled by one of the directors, Samuel
Wetherill, who during the Revolution had contracts for woollen fabrics for the
army.
Though some years before the close of the war the spinning-frames of
Arkwright had been operated in England, it was next to impossible to pro-
cure patterns, or even drawings, of them for the United States. Not only
did parliamentary legislation prohibit the exportation of new inventions, but
the statutes were rigidly enforced, to the degree even of searching private
eflFects and preventing the emigration of skilled artificers from the country.
Thus in 1 786 a complete set of brass models of Arkwright's machines, packed
for Philadelphia, was seized on the eve of shipment ; and in i 784 a German
was fined ;^500 for attempting to form a colony of English workmen for one
of the Low Countries.
74 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
In 1786, the Hon. Hugh Orr, of Bridgewater, Mass., employed two
brothers, Robert and Alexander Barr, recently come from Scotland, to con-
struct for him, at his' machine-shops, three carding, roving, and spinning
machines. It is probable Col. Orr did not contemplate himself inaugurating
a manufacturing enterprise, but was actuated by a desire to promote a new
industry. At anv rate he succeeded in securing a favorable report from a
Legislative committee appointed to examine the machines, and a grant of
;^200 to the machinists, supplemented by the gift of six tickets in the State
Land Lottery, in which there were no blanks, " as a reward for their ingenuity
in forming those machines, and for their public spirit in making them known
to this Commonwealth."
The cost of the machines was ^187, and they included probably the
first stock card in the country.
The approval of the Commonwealth was next given to a model of an
early and imperfect form of Arkwright's water-frame, brought from England
by Thomas Somers. Col. Orr, still the medium of the State's liberality, was
commissioned to advance ;^20 to the artisan, who had visited England at his
own risk and expense, for the purpose of perfecting his construction, which
was exhibited with the machines of the Barr Brothers, and called the
"State's Model." A water-frame, built from drawings made after this model
by Daniel Anthony, of Providence, who had engaged with Andrew Dexter
and Lewis Peck to establish a manufacture of jeans and other " homespun
cloth " of linen warp and cotton filling, was subsequently set up and operated
in Providence.
The factory at Beverly, previously alluded to as the first establishment
in the United States actually producing cloth by machinery, was equipped
with one or more spinning-jennies and a carding-machine, the latter imported
at a cost of $1100. The Legislature appropriated /500 as a public aid to
the enterprise. The factory was visited by General \Vashington during his
New England tour in 1 789, and his diarv refers to the processes pursued as
follows: "In this manufactory they have the new invented carding and
spinning machines. One of the first supplies the work, and four of the
latter, one of which spins 84 threads at a time by one person. The cotton
is prepared for these machines by being first (lightly) drawn to a thread on
the common wheel. There is also another machine for doubling and twist-
ing the threads for particular cloths ; this also does many at a time. For
winding the cotton from the spindles and preparing it for the warp, there is
a reel which expedites the work greatly. A number of looms (fifteen or six-
teen) were at work with spring shuttles, which do more than double work. In
COTTON AND ITS MANUFACTURE. -5
short, the whole seemed perfect, and the cotton stuffs which they turn out
excellent of their kind ; warp and filling both cotton."
The Beverly factory was a brick structure run by horse-power, a pair of
large bay horses, driven by a boy, giving motion to the wheels. The
establishment, under the management of John Cabot and Joshua Fisher, was
continued for some years. The raw cotton was obtained from the West
Indies in exchange for fish, " the most valuable export in possession of the
State." In 1790, in answer to a petition for State aid, another grant of
;/^iooo, to be raised in a lottery, was made conditionallv upon the proceeds
being used "in such away as will most effectually promote the manufacturing
of cotton piece goods in this Commonwealth."
Up to this time (1790), it is believed — notwithstanding the efforts of
Somers and the Barrs to construct Arkwright's machinery — that spinning
was done at Beverly and in Rhode Island by the jenny alone. The Bridge-
water essays, probably imperfect realizations of a very crude original knowl-
edge of the English invention, had served but to stimulate the public mind
to patronize domestic enterprise.
In such a situation of the industry, the dcjis ex niachnia appeared in the
person of Samuel Slater.
Samuel Slater, a native of Derbyshire, born in i 768, when fourteen years
of age was apprenticed to Jedediah Strutt, at Milford, a cotton manufacturer
and partner with Sir Richard Arkwright in the spinning business. He served
Mr. Strutt the full time of his engagement (six years and a half), and con-
tinued still longer with him superintending the construction of new works
his design in so doing being to perfect his knowledge of the business in
every department. Previous to the termination of his apprenticeship. Slater
had read a newspaper account of the interest awakened in America, and the
bounties offered for the production of suitable machinery for cotton manu-
facture, and had quietly determined, after thoroughly familiarizing him-
self with the improved machine processes, to try his fortune in the New
World.
Aware of the impossibility of taking away models or drawings, as the
custom-house officers scrupulously searched every passenger, Slater pursued
his study of the minutiae of the business with the most diligent and thought-
ful exactness of observation, and — thanks to a rare retentiveness of memory
controlled by a very clear and positive brain power — made himself an abso-
lute master of the industry in all its details.
On the 1 7th of November, 1 789, he landed at New York. The follow-
ing January, dissatisfied with the opportunities offered by the New York
Manufacturing Company, with which he had corresponded, for developing
76 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
his ideas, he came to Providence and contracted with Brown & Almy to pro-
duce a " perpetual card and spinning" system for them. This firm, at the head
of which was the then venerable Moses Brown, had already operated a sort of
hybrid spinning device constructed after the Bridgewater designs, which
turned out " too imperfect to afford much encouragement," and was predis-
posed to patronize the thorough acquirements of one who claimed to have
worked under both Strutt and Arkwright. On the i8th of January, Mr.
Brown took Slater out to Pawtucket, and, providing him with the needed
facilities, set him at once at the production of the improved machines.
Laboring almost entirely by himself, Slater succeeded on the 20th of Decem-
ber in starting three cards, drawing and roving, with seventy-two spindles,
entirely upon the Arkwright principle. They were run by the water-wheel
of an old fulling-mill for the period of twenty months.
In April, 1793, Almy, Brown & Slater erected a small mill, known to
this dav in Pawtucket as the Old Factory, running at first seventy-two
spindles, and gradually increasing machinery and space as the business
warranted.
In 1798 Slater, associating himself with Oziel and William Wilkinson
and Timothy Green, under the firm name of Samuel Slater & Co., started a
new factory in Pawtucket. In 1806, in connection with his brother John,
who came from England bringing a knowledge of the most recent improve-
ments and j^rocesses, he organized a new establishment in Smithfield, R. I.,
which developed into the present large village of Slatersville.
David ^Vnthony, one of the founders of cotton manufacturing in Fall
River, who died in 1867, from 180S to 181 2 was in the employ of Samuel
Slater, and of the brothers Wilkinson. F:r the former he entertained a
most exalted esteem, often speaking of him as " the father of the cotton
manufacturing business in this country." " He was not onlv a manufacturer
of cotton and the first in the business, as machinist and mathematician, but
he was a rare business man. He was always attired in his business suit of
velvets" (the dress worn in the cotton mills of the period), " and looked like
an overseer so far as outward appearance indicated his position. His pay
for taking the agency of two mills was $1.50 per day from each. He was,
of course, by no means an educated man, but he was a constant worker,
saying of himself that sixteen hours' labor a day, Sundays excepted, for
twenty years, had been no more than fair exercise."
The introduction of the Arkwright " perpetual spinning " system by
Samuel Slater gave an almost immediate impulse to cotton manufacturing
throughout the countrv. Several persons, learning the processes under him,
left his employment and started individual enterprises. The celebrated
COTTON AND ITS MANUFACTURE.
n
"New York Mills" at Utica originated in a small factory put up in 1807-8,
by B. S. Wolcott, Jr., who worked in Pawtucket. The first factory in New
Hampshire was put in operation in 1804, by one Robbins, another of Sla-
ter's graduates. At Cumberland, R. I., a mill was started in 1801 ; and at
Rehoboth, Mass., opposite to Pawtucket, R. I., a second factory (the first
being Slater's "White Mill") was erected in 1805.
The Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Gallatin, in his report on domestic
industry, April 17, 18 10, made the following statement: "During the three
succeeding years, ten mills were erected or commenced in Rhode Island.
and one in Connecticut, making altogether fifteen mills erected before the
year 1808, working at that time 8000 spindles. Returns have been received
of 87 mills, which were erected at the end of the year 1809, 62 of which
Avere in operation, and worked 31,000 spindles, and the other 25 will be in
operation in the course of the year 18 10."
According to Benedict's History of Rhode Island, in 1809 "there were
1 7 cotton mills in operation within the toiuii of Providence and its vicinity,
working 14,296 spindles; and in 181 3 there were said to be, within thirty
miles of Providence, in the State of Rhode Island, n factories, of 30,660
spindles; and in Massachusetts 20 factories, of 17,370 spindles, making 53
factories, running 48,030 spindles.
Cotton factories were started at Watertown, Mass., in 1807; at Fitch-
burg in 1807; at Dedham in 1808; in Dorchester in 181 1, and in Waltham
in 18 1 3. In 1808 the companies at Peterborough and Exeter, N. H., were
organized; in 1809, one at Chesterfield; in 1810, one at Milford, Swanzey,
Cornish, and Amoskeag Falls; in 181 1, one at Walpole, Hillsborough, and
Meredith ; there being at the commencement of the second war probably
fifteen cotton mills in New Hampshire, operating from six to seven thou-
sand spindles.
The first cotton factory in Maine, then a district of Massachusetts, was
built at Brunswick in 1809.
The Census of 18 10 furnishes the following classification of the industry
by States:
Massachusetts 54
New Hampshire 12
Vermont i
Rhode Island 28
Connecticut I4
New York 26
New Jersey 4
Pennsylvania 64
Delaware 3
Maryland II
Ohio 2
Kentucky 15
Tennessee 4
(None in any other Slate.)
The war of 1812, of necessity raising the price of cloth extraordinarily
(articles, previously imported from England, and sold at 1 7 to 20 cents per
78
FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
yard, bringing 75 cents by the package), stimulated the infant industry in
such a degree, that at its close there were reported, within a short radius of
Providence, 96 mills, aggregating 65,264 spindles. The average number of
spindles in mills of the period was 500 ; the largest in the country, that of
Almy, Brown & Slater, ran 5 1 70.
In 181 5 was compiled for a committee of manufacturers a statement of
the number of mills and spindles in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Con-
necticut. This statement, made for the purpose of providing a just basis
for assessment to pay the expenses of an agent to represent the manufac-
turing interest before Congress, furnishes the subjoined items :
Mills. Spindles.
Rhode Island 99 68, 142
Mass.ichu setts 52 39.468
Connecticut 14 11,700
165 119,310
The Committee on Manufactures of the United States House of Rep-
resentatives the same year, in a report to Congress, tabulated the condition
of the cotton-manufacturing industry, as follows :
Capital $40,000,000
Males employed, of the age of 17 10,000
" " under 17 24,000
Females, including children 66,000
Wages of 100,000, averaging $1.50 per week (sic) 15,000,000
Cotton manufactured, 90,000 bales 27,000,000
Number of yards 81,000,000
Cost, averaging 30 cents per yard 24,300,000
Succeeding the close of the war of 1812, and prior to the effective ope-
ration of the tariff of 1816, a severe and general depression fell upon the
industry, many companies suspending, and the strongest struggling on with
difficulty.
From 181 5 to 1820, a second revolution in the business, hardly less
important in its results than the introduction of the water spinning- frames
had been, was to be experienced in the addition of the power-loom to the
series of mill processes. Previously to this application of power, the work of
manufacture in the factory had been limited to the carding, drawing, and
spinning stages. The product of yarn was sent out to be woven into cloth
on hand-looms, and, as will be seen in subsequent pages, more than half the
drudgery and detail of the mill agent was to conduct the manifold and
complex system of outside production. The mills in the neighborhood of
Providence kept wagons running constantly into the rural districts, inva-
COTTON AND ITS MANUFACTURE. 79
ding both Massachusetts and Connecticut, bearing out yarn to be woven
and returning with the product of the hand-looms, worked by the farmers'
wives and daughters of the country side. In the period anterior to the
introduction of jennies and water-frames, and the assembling of the different
stages of preparation under organized systems of factory labor, all the details
of cloth-making had been the legitimate pursuits of the domestic circle.
Thomas Jefferson — who was himself a household manufacturer of this early
type, having two spinning-wheels, a carding-machine, and a loom in his
dwelling, by which his home folk made more than two thousand yards of
cloth annually — though finally an advocate and even a partisan of organized
factory industry, was in 1 786 an eloquent writer in behalf of the time-hon-
ored custom of production in the family. It was not, indeed, without at
least a show of resistance, that the old style gave way to the new, the former
subsidizing the same art of invention to its support, through which the latter
has won its eventual triumph. In 18 12, when the water-frame with its
seventy-two or more spindles was building up the industry in constantly
increasing mills, portable spinning-frames capable of spinning from six to
twentv-four threads, made expressly for family use, were sold about the
country, meeting particular welcome in districts remote from the manu-
facturing centres. The construction of these domestic jennies and billies —
as they were termed — was pursued on quite a large scale. The twelve-
spindle billy sold for $48 ; the carding-machine, suitable for a large house-
hold, S60 ; the spinning-machine, for cotton, of twelve spindles, $25 ; and the
loom, with flying shuttle, weaving twenty yards a day, $65. At the great
Industrial Exhibition of this first Centennial of the Nation, in the American
department, were to be seen instances not only of the old foot-worked
spinning-wheel, but likewise of these later more pretentious devices, by
which the lingering spirit of old time housewifery sought to assert itself
against the progressive future.
The power-loom, though invented by Cartwright and put in operation at
Doncaster, in 1785, was not recognized as a success, or even as a practica-
ble suggestion, when Samuel Slater left the old country. Improved by various
succeeding inventors, and finally made practical through the warp-dress-
ing appliance of Radcliffe and Ross, and the modifications of its working
details by Horrocks in 1813, it had by that year become an object of favor-
able consideration with the English manufacturers, and, despite the riotous
antagonism of the hand weavers, two thousand four hundred were in use in
Great Britain. Some years prior to this, rumors of the invention had reached
the United States, and ( though as in the case of the water-frames the impos-
sibility of securing models or drawings of the invention was well enough
B'
80 ¥A]A. RIVKR AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
knuwn ) stiniulaled the leaders of domestic cotton manufacture to efforts in the
same direction. As early as 1 806, according to Mr. Samuel Batchelder, whose
brief record of the " Cotton Manufacture in the United States" is our
authority for many statements in these pages, T. M. Mussey, at Exeter, N. H.,
produced a loom capable of weaving, but possessing no claim as a labor-sav-
ing machine. About the same time a \'ertical loom was made at Dorchester,
and Mr. Batchelder saw another in operation at Dedham, weaving about
twent)' yards of coarse cloth per day. Neither of these was, however, supe-
rior to the hand-loom in economical results.
The following memoranda of various attempts to weave by power in
Rhode Island during the years of the war, when cotton manufacturinar was
making its first extraordinar}- advance in that State, have been furnished for
this work by the Hon. Zachariah Allen, of Providence :
" In March, 18 12, John Thorpe, of Providence, obtained a patent for a ver-
tical power-loom, and put it in operation in the mill of Henry Franklin at
Johnston. About the same time Samuel Blydenburgh made and put in
operation at the Lyman Mill, in North Providence, twelve power-looms for
weaving cotton cloth.
"Thomas R. WiUiams soon after (181 3) followed, putting in operation
several looms.
" Mr. Elijah Ormsbee constructed several power-looms near Providence
in 1 8 14.
" Mr. Silas Shepherd, of Taunton, states that he constructed an experi-
mental power-loom in 181 1, and, in the winter of 181 2, commenced making
them for sale in connection with John Thorpe.
" But all of these looms failed of successful operation on account of the
imperfect system of dressing and beaming the warps, and also for want of a
device to prevent the smashing the warp when the shuttle failed to go through
the web to its place in the box.
" Mr. Francis C. Lowell introduced power-looms into the Waltham Mill,
operated by a cam and weight to act on the lay to beat in the filling. This
pattern of loom was copied from the work on weaving by John Duncan,
Plate XI Y. These looms were put in operation in 18 14, and all the opera-
tions of making the yarn, dressing it, and weaving were performed in superior
manner, taking precedence.
" The first cotton mill in which all parts of the manufacture were accom-
plished to delivery of the finished cloth, in Rhode Island, was in Olneyville,
belonging to Henry Franklin and John Waterman.
" The first wide looms for weaving woollen broadcloth were put in opera-
tion in Allendale, North Providence, in the year 1826."
COTTON AND US MANUFACTURE. 8l
To two very piogrcssi\c manufacturers, Mr. Francis C. Luwell of Bos-
ton, and Judge Lyman of Providence, the dexelopment of weaving by power
was mainlv due. Mr. Lowell visited" Europe in 1810-1 1, and, if he did not
see the Scotch loom in operation, was doubtless acquainted with its results
and general principles. Returning to America, he organized the Boston
Manufacturing Company in February, 18 13, and late in the same year com-
pleted the erection at Waltham of a factory of seventeen hundred spindles.
In 1 8 14 he devised, constructed, and put in successful operation a power-loom
differing essentially from the Scotch loom, but accompanied by the dressing
macliine of Horrocks, which Mr. Lowell had procured drawings of, and
materially improved upon.
In the perfection of the Waltham loom, Mr. Batchelder remarks that
application was made to Shepherd, of Taunton. Capt. Shepherd, one of the
oldest manufacturers of cotton machinery in the country, was believed by
David Anthony to have been the first who experimented upon the production
of a power-loom.
The Waltham loom was a satisfactory success, and the mill in which it
was operated was the first in the United States, and possibly in the world,
conducting all the operations of converting the raw cotton into finished
cloth. Lowell, who was as remarkable for his projecting and organizing
capability as for his inventive genius, died in 181 7 at the early age of forty-
two. W^hen Nathan Appleton and others of his associates in the Waltham
enterprise, a few years after his death, were beginning on their land at East
Chelmsford the immense industries which for many years constituted the
largest cotton-manufacturing centre in America, they paid only a worthy
tribute to his extraordinary merit in naming the future city Lowell.
Hardly more than a year (September, 1816) subsequent to the Waltham
invention, the Scotch loom was introduced in this country b}^ William Gil-
more, a Scotch machinist, who was thoroughly acquainted with the original
construction of Cartwright, and the various improvements which had ren-
dered it a practical machine. Of Gilmore, Mr. Allen's memoranda says :
" Th'e principal great impulse given to power-loom weaving was accomplished
by William Gilmore, who came from Scotland with the latest improved
Scotch loom, warper, and dresser, in 18 15. He built several looms at the
Lyman factory in North Providence."
Gilmore's first communication with manufacturers in New England
was at Slatersville with John Slater. Mr. Slater was in favor of accepting
his proposition to construct the Scotch loom for his company, but, in the
depression of business, his partners were averse to any new investment of
82 FALL RIVER AND ITS LN'DUSIRIES.
capital. At this time fortunately, Judge Lyman, who had employed Blyden-
burgh to put up several looms in his mill, which did not operate satisfac-
torily, heard of the foreign machinist, and at once employed him to build
twelve machines. They were completed fully to the satisfaction of the
patron, and successfully operated early in 1817.
This was the first introduction of the crank-loom in this country, the
maker receiving fifteen hundred dollars for his services — a most inadequate
recognition, if we consider the enormous benefits accruing to the industry
from its results.
"Mule-spinning," says Mr. Batchelder, "having been introduced in
Rhode Island, the building of the power-loom by Gilmore completed the
manufacturing system of that State within about three years from the time
when the power-loom was put in operation at Waltham.
" It was not until ten years after the crank-loom had been in use in
Rhode Island that it was adopted at Waltham or Lowell, and in neither
place, nor in any of the mills that followed their system, was mule-spinning
introduced until after 1830."
The last important advance in mill machinery through the introduction
of the self-acting mule of Sharp & Roberts will be noticed at length in the
history of Fall River cotton manufacture.
With the completion of the processes of cloth-making, within the fac-
tory, by the introduction of the power-loom, the industry became perma-
nently established in the United States. Notwithstanding the unstable policy
of parties upon the question of tariffs and imports, the number of mills was
constantly increasing, and, as they began to be built on a larger scale, the
number of spindles was likewise even more largely extended.
From the statistics of cotton manufacturing embodied in the census of
1820 the following statement is extracted :
States Pounds of Cotton Number of States Pounds of Cotton Number of
ANNUALLY SPUN. SpINDLES. ' ANNUALLY SPUN. SPINDLES.
Maine 56,500 3.070
New Hampshire 412,100 13,01a
Massachusetts 1,611,796 30,304
Rhode Island 1,914,220 63,372
Connecticut 897,335 29,826
Vermont 117,250 3,278
New York 1,412,495 33, 160
New Jersey 648,600 18,124
Pennsylyania. 1,067,753 13,776
Delaware 423,800 11,784
Mar)rland 849,000 20,245
Virginia 3,000
North Carolina iS.ooo 288
South Carolina 46,449 588
Kentucky 360,951 8,097
Ohio 81,360 1,680
This estimate, showing a material falling off from the figures presented
to Congress in 1815 by the Committee on Manufactures, was evidently
COTTOX AND ITS MANUFACTURE. 83
inadequate. !n 182 1, as will appear, the amount of cotton consumed in
domestic manufacturing was 20,000,000 lbs.
In 1825, the number of spindles operated in the United States was
estimated at 800,000, and the cotton worked up, 100,000 bales. The
average price per pound was 1 1 cents. The average price of the prints of
the Merrimac Company at Lowell was 25.07 cents per yard.
In 1826, quoting Bishop's Histoiy of American Manufactures, the
number of distinct factory buildings in New England was estimated at 400,
averaging 700 spindles each, or 280,000 in all. The new ones were very
large, the old ones quite small. Each spindle was presumed to consume
about one half a pound of cotton per day, or 140 pounds per annum, which,
for 280 days' work, gave 39,200,000 pounds, or about 98,000 bales for the
year's consumption. About one third of the buildings employed power-
looms, one third hand-looms, and the others spun yarn and twist for the
Middle and Western States. The factories were distributed about as
follows: In Massachusetts, 135; Rhode Island, iio; Connecticut, 80;
New Hampshire, 50; Maine, 15; Vermont, 10. The number of cotton
factories in all the other States was estimated at 275, of the same av^erage
size, which would make the total annual consumption about 150,000 bales>
or 60,000,000 pounds.
In 1 83 1, in the midst of the heated controversy between not only
parties, but individual thinkers, upon the proper and just tariff policy, a
convention of prominent promoters of domestic industry was held in the
city of New York on the 26th of October. This convention included over
five hundred delegates from the Eastern and Middle States, Virginia, Mary-
land, and Ohio, and its discussion elicited correct and reliable statements of
the condition and relative importance of " the various pursuits of domestic
industry." The subjoined summary of the report of the Committee on
Cotton Manufacture is copied from Mr. Bishop's History :
" From the best information that could be obtained, the Committee on Cotton, of which
P. T. Jackson, of Massachusetts, was chairman, estimated the crop of the United States, after
the year ending October i, to be, in the Atlantic States, 486,103 bales of 306 pounds each, equal
to 148,747,518 pounds, and in the Southern and Western States, 552,744 bales of 411 pounds,
equivalent to 237,177,784 pounds, giving a total crop of 1,038,847 bales, or 375,925,302 pounds.
The domestic consumption amounted to more than one fifth of the whole crop ; and the value
of the product, allowing it to be increased four-fold in the process of manufacture, probably
four fifths that of the cotton crop, and equal to the value of the whole quantity exported.
"The following is a summary of the detail of the cotton manufacture in the twelve
Eastern and Middle States, including Maryland and Virginia. But owing to misapprehension
of the question respecting capital, only that employed in fixtures was returned, and some
manufacturers were reluctant to give the details of their business, for which reasons it was
thought that one fourth to one third might be safely added to the account. The statement
was exclusive of no less than thirty establishments returned from the Southern and W^estern
84
FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
States, from which no accurate details were received, and also of family manufactures. The
cotton mills in the twelve numbered seven hundred and ninety-five.
I Tola! in
'Cotton Mills.
Machine
Shops.
Capital (principally in fixtures) in dollars..
Spindles in operation
Yards of cloth made
Pounds of 3'arn sold
Pounds of cotton used (214,822 bales). . . .
Hands employed (females, 38,927)
Pounds of starch used
Barrels of flour for sizing
Cords of wood
Tons of coal
Bushels of charcoal
Gallons of oil
Value of other articles in dollars
Spindles building
Hand weavers
Total dependents
Annual value in dollars
Aggregate wages
40,614,
1,246
230,461,
10,642
77.757.
62,
1,641,
17.
46,
24.
39.
300.
599.
172,
4.
"7.
26,000,
10,294,
503
900
000
316
157
253
245
519
420
205
338
223
024
760
625
,000
i944
Bleach-
eries.
2,400,000
3,200
1,960,212
g,6oo
3,500,000
1,248,000
900,000
738
429,625
Printeries.l Total.
19,250
276,625
1.403
1,036,760
209,814
1,000,000 ' 44,914,934
1,505
1,300
30,000
2,250
2,800
935.585
67,600
2,070,873
18,455
76.519
45.920
303.13'^
3,766,285
2,860 1 131,489
1,500,000 : 32,036,760
402,965 I 12,155,723
From 1 83 1 to 1836 a large increase of the capacity of distinct mills
was observed, the new erections averaging from five to six thousand
spindles. This enlargement of mill capacity continued with the growth of
the industry, but is now believed to have reached its ma.ximum.
It is unfortunately impossible to furnish an e.xact statement of the
number of mills engaged in the various branches of cotton manufacture in
the United States. In 1850 they numbered 1094, employing 92,286 hands,
consuming 288,558,000 pounds of cotton, and realizing a product worth
$65,501,687 upon a capital invested of $74,500,931. In i860, there were
1091 mills of 5,235.,727 spindles, employing 122,028 hands, consuming
422,704,975 pounds of cotton, producing $115,681,744 of goods, on an
invested capital of $98,585,269. In 1870 the number of distinct producers
had fallen off to 956 ; but this does not indicate a diminution in the industry,
the estimate of spindles operated being 7,132,415; the hands employed,
135,369; cotton worked up, 409,899,746 pounds; capital invested
$140,706,291; and the value of product, $177,489,739. The foregoing
figures are taken from the census reports for the several decades. The report
of the amount of cotton worked up in i860 is obviously an error, and is more
correctly estimated by Mr. Nourse at 364,036,123 pounds.
The subjoined summary of the strictly cloth-producing business of the
country was made up in November, 1874, by the thorough statistician of the
New York Commercial and Financial Chronicle, and its tables republished
in 1875 as a correct exhibit of the industry.
COTTON AND ITS MANUFACTURE.
85
STATEMENT OF THE NUMBER AND CAPACITY OF COTTON MILLS IN THE
UNITED STATES AND THE CONSUMPTION OF COTTON FOR THE YEAR
ENDING JULY i, 1874.
Northern States.
No. of No. of No. of
t Mills. Looms. Spindles.
Maine i 24
New Hampshire j 42
Vermont ! 10
Massachusetts 1 194
Rhode Island 115
Connecticut ' 104
New York .
New Jersey. . ,
Pennsylvania..
Delaware
Maryland. . . .
Ohio
Indiana
Minnesota
Total.
55
17
60
8
21
5
4
I
660
12,415
20,422
1,274
71,202
24,706
18,170
12,476
2,000
9,772
796
2,399
236
618
24
176,480
609,898
855,189
58,948
3,769,292
1,336,842
908,200
580,917
150,968
452,064
47,976
110,260
20,410
22,988
3,400
8,927.754
Southern States.
No. of] No. of
Mills. Looms.
Alabama
Arkansas
Georgia
Kentucky-
Louisiana
Mississippi. . . .
Missouri
North Carolina
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Virginia
Total
No. of
Spindles.
16
1,360
2
28
42
2,934
4
42
.3
300
II
348
4
382
.SO
1,055
18
1,238
42
1,014
4
230
II
1,664
187
10,495
57,594
1,256
137,330
10,500
15,000
15,150
18,656
55,498
62,872
42,058
10,225
56,490
487,639
RECAPITULATIONS.
No. of
Mills.
No. of
Looms.
No. of
Spindles.
Average Size
of Yarn.
No.
Total Northern
660
187
176,480
10,495
8,927,754
487,569
28.56
12.50
Grand Total
847
186,975
9,415,323
27.73
COTTON USED.
Lbs. Bales.
Northern States .507,790,099 1,094,387
Southern States 59,793.775 128,526
Total 567,583,873 1,222,913
We have seen that the number of spinning spindles in the United States on the ist of
July, 1874, was 9,415,383 against 7,114,000 at the same date of 1870, and 6,763,557 at the same
date of 1869, as follows :
1874. Looms. Spindles.
North 176,480 8,927,754
South 10,495 487,629
Total 1874 186,975 9,415,383
1870.
North 147,682 6,851,779
South 5,852 262,221
Total 1870 153,534 7,114,000
1S69.
North 6,538,494
South 225,063
Total 1869 6,763,527
The above records a very rapid progress since 1870, being about 33 per cent in the
number of spinning spindles.
86
FALL RIVER AND FFS INDUSTRIES.
GOODS MANUFACTURED THIS YEAR.
No portion of our inquiry has been more difficult than the obtaining of statistics with
regard to production, and no one, of the results reached, possesses more interest. The most
notable feature is the enormous production of print cloths. It is to be regretted that we have
no figures for previous years with which to make comparisons, or by which we could show
the growth of this branch of manufacture, but it is well known they have increased rapidly of
late years. Of course we do not claim that these results of quantities and kinds of goods are
as exact as the returns of consumption ; but we believe they are as close an approximation as
the nature of the case will permit.
STATEMENT OF THE KINDS AND QUANTITIES OF COTTON GOODS MANU-
FACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES FOR THE YEAR ENDING JULY i, 1874.
New
England
States.
Middle
and Western
States.
Total
Northern
States.
Total
Southern
States.
Total
United
States.
Threads, yarns, and twines, lbs . 32,000,000
Sheetings, shirtings, and like plain
goods, )-ards 520,000,000 |
Twilled and fancy goods, Osnaburgs,' j
jeans, etc., yards [ 204,000,000
Print cloths, yards | 481,000,000
Gingham, yards 30,000,000 I
Ducks, yards 1 14,000,000
Bags, No j 5,000,000
gg, 000, 000
90,000,000
80,000,000
107,000,000
3,000,000
16,000,000
1,000,000
131,000,000
610,000,000
284,000.000
588,000,000
33,000.000
30,000,000
6,000,000
18,000,000 149,000,000
97,000,000 \ 707,000,000
22,000,000 : 306,000,000
; 588,000,000
i 33,000,000
30,000,000
■ 6,000,000
Besides the above, there is a large production of hosiery and knit goods, made of cotton
by itself or mixed with wool, of which we are able to give no satisf.actory statement. Another
year we hope to push our investigations as to production in every direction.
The exportation of cotton cloth was an important feature in the
commercial relations of the country at a comparatively early period of the
industry. The goods first made at Waltham were heavy sheetings, of
the kind which has since been the staple production, and under the name
of "American domestics," won and retained the preference for excellence
of quality in every market of the world. The superiority of this branch of
American production was soon recognized by the British manufacturers, and
the dangerous competition threatened therein was very seriously discussed by
the commercial and practical writers of England. S(j great was the alarm of
the cotton interest of Manchester, that it resorted not only to furtive attempts
to create a public sentiment in this countr}^ antagonistic to protection, but
adopted trade-marks, mill-tickets and stamps similar to the American, and in
every possible way sought to imitate the production of the New England mills.
So persistent was this effort, that in 1827 the demand for American domestics
in Brazil was considerably aflFected by the competition of a lower grade of
goods, pretending to be New England fabric, but made in Manchester, and
offered at a less price. The efforts of Manchester to substitute its inferior
cloth, though pursued with desperation of purpose, were, however, only
COTTON AND ITS MANUFACTURE. 87
temporarily successful, the American exportation constantly increasing. Dr.
Livingstone, who was in his youth a weaver, in his first published record
of travel, speaks of finding in the hut of a negro king a piece of Manchester
cloth labelled New York Mills — so wretched an imitation of the well-known
fabric it claimed to be, that he seems to wonder at the attempted deception
even in the wilds of Africa.
In 1835 the exportation had attained a really respectable position,
promising, if continued, to consume a considerable proportion of the entire
production. Of this period Mr. Bishop remarks:
"The quantity of cotton long cloths imported this year from the United States into China
was 134,000 pieces, and of cotton domestics 32,743 pieces; while of cotton goods the whole
importation into that country in British vessels was only 75,922 pieces. The importation of
American piece goods was nearly double that of the previous year, amounting to 24,745 pieces.
An extensive manufacturer of Glasgow, who had for several 3'ears supplied Chili with cotton
domestics, spun and woven in his own works to the best advantage, had latterly been obliged
\o abandon the trade to American competition. At Manilla, 35,240 pieces of thirt3'-inch and
;ooo pieces of twent\'-eight-inch American gra}' cottons were received, and only 1832 pieces of
Belfast manufacture. The ports of Rio de Janeiro, Aux Cayes, of Malta, Smyrna, and the
Cape of Good Hope, were also overstocked with American unbleached cottons, to the
exclusion of British goods, which they undersold."
The terribly disastrous effects of the civil war, almost sweeping
American commerce from the seas, at last gave to the British manufacturer
the advantage he was unable to secure in a legitimate competition. Up to
the appearance of rebel privateers upon the ocean, our domestic production
in nearly every foreign market was preferred to the British, and in China had
well-nigh driven it from the field. Mr. Eli T. Sheppard, United States
Consul at Tien-tsin, the principal port of entry for cotton fabrics, in a com-
munication to the State Department, October 10, 1872, in regard to the
relative position of American and British stuffs, remarks as follows :
" The importation of American cotton manufactured goods into China is
worthy of our most earnest consideration. Ever since the British plenipo-
tentiary, who signed the treatv at Nankin in 1842, informed his countrymen
that ' he had opened up a country to their trade so vast that all the mills in
Lancashire, by running night and day, could not make stocking-stuff enough
for one of its provinces," the question of supplying China with manufactured
cottons has been one of the most absorbing interest for the wisest statesmen
and political economists of Great Britain.
" During the year 1 86 1 , before the civil war in America had seriously
crippled our commerce and manufactures, 133,401 pieces of American drills
and jeans were sold in Tien-tsin, netting in gold 8583,223. So great, indeed,
had become the demand for American cotton fabrics, that the demand far
exceeded the supply.
"Against the 133,401 pieces of American goods imported at Tien-tsin in
88 FALI, RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
1861, the number of pieces of English drills imported was only 3599 pieces
for the same period. In other words, the trade at this port in American
cottons was, in round numbers, forty times that of English manufactured
articles of a like character. During the war the imports of American cottons
became merely nominal, while a corresponding increase of English fabrics
supplied the market. From this I infer that there is no good reason why
American manufactured cotton goods should not again resume their place in
the markets of China.
" Cotton manufactures form at present the largest part of the direct trade
between England and China, and Tien-tsin has already become the largest
importer of these articles in the empire."
In 1859 and i860, preceding the war, there were severally shipped from
the port of New York alone to China and the East Indies 53,662 and
47,735 packages. In 1861, the efifect of the war not yet being seriously felt,
the amount fell off to 31,91 1 packages. In 1862 to 1865 the exportation was
entirely cut off, and the Chinese market virtually lost to American industry.
Since the close of the internecine struggle, efforts have been made to re-estab-
lish the trade, the shipments from New York in 1866 being 6,972 packages;
but it is a difficult undertaking to build again both trade and commerce.
Meanwhile the competitors of the United States in China, the English
and Dutch manufacturers, had enjoyed the trade without even a contest ; the
former not only, in the forced absence of his old antagonist, still pursuing
the dishonest practice of assuming his trade-marks, and using every means to
counterfeit his production in appearance, but resorting to a fraudulent deba-
sina: of the fabric in both material and finish that has threatened to close the
Eastern market to all European as well as American enterprise. This perni-
cious policy of the Manchester cotton interest was manifested to some degree
in the early period of competition, English cloth having always discovered a
proportion of foreign matter in its material when tested by washing. Within
the present decade, the practice of introducing clay and other matter to
increase the weight, and exaggerating the " sizing" far beyond the requisite
degree needed to dress the warp properly, has, however, reached a point at
which adulteration is a mild term to apply to it. The fraud had in 1873
become so flagrant as to force the British merchants in China to memorialize
the Manchester Chamber of Commerce upon the subject, and the London
Times to utter the protest of honest industry as follows :
" It seems a pity that the present exhibition was not made the oppor-
tunity of instructing the public in that dark chapter of the cotton manufac-
ture known as the ' sizing ' question, concerning which a memorial went up
to the Government last year from the weavers of Todmorden, and has been
COTTON AND ITS MANUFACTURE. 89
followed this year by a very clear and emphatic report from Dr. Buchanan, a
Government officer commissioned to make inquiries. This matter of the
' sizing ' of cotton lies in a nutshell, and we will state it shortly for the infor-
mation of those who are not likely to see Dr. Buchanan's temperate but
decided report. Up to twenty years ago fermented flour and tallow were
used in the cotton manufacture to give tenacity to the warp and to lessen the
friction in weaving. It was then found that the brown color imparted to the
cloth by size made from cheap and bad flour could be corrected by china
clay added to the size, and furthermore that this clay lessened the amount of
tallow needed in the size. The clay came thus into use, and its use became
still more general when the Russian war raised the price of tallow. Presently
came the American war of secession, and the manufacturers were forced to
put up with bad, short-fibred cotton, difficult to weave. It was then further
found that a free use of size gave to poor sorts of cotton the needful tenacity
of twist, and, weight for length being the test of good cloth, it was also evi-
dent that the more the size used the greater the weight. Thus veiy soon a
practice crept in, and has now spread largely over the cotton trade, of unwar-
rantably loading cotton witii quantities of size laid on to the warps to the
extent of forty, sixty, and even, as the weavers assert, one hundred per cent
of their original weight. This practice of deliberate adulteration has become
in the cotton trade a recognized detail of manufacture ; but, however it may
be viewed by those interested in the practice, it must still seem a downright
dishonesty to the outer world. But the dishonesty of this practice is not the
worst part of it, for the weavers suffer far more than the public, being com-
pelled to inhale the dust of the clay as it rises from the warps. The Govern-
ment report shows this ' heavy sizing' process has thus converted weaving
from a healthy into an unhealthy occupation ; that it has made the weaving-
room more dusty than the carding-room, and that it has sensibly increased
among weavers in the clay-using mills lung diseases and the death-rate. It is
intolerable that operatives should thus suffer because their employers choose
to indulge in a questionable practice, and we trust that in the name of com-
mon humanity and commercial morality some speedy stop may be put to a
state of things so deeply scandalous."
In March, 1874, Mr. Sheppard, the very intelligent representative of the
United States at Tien-tsin, in his official report to the State Department,
referred at length to the adulteration fraud, accompanying his document with
copious extracts from the North China Herald and other public expressions,
indicating the disgust of all European residents in the Celestial Kingdom :
"Although the raw material used in manufacturing these fabrics, consumed
by China, is chiefly produced in the United States, yet American cotton must
now pass through the looms of England and Holland before it can find a
market in China. The superior qualitv of American cotton is well known to
Chinese traders. Our cotton goods, by reason of their cheapness before the
war, supplied the China markets to the exclusion of all others, and created
go FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
a demand that, since our war, has steadily increased to its present imposing
magnitude. The superiority of our cotton still remains an enduring advan-
tage possessed by American fabrics over all others; but this important advan-
tage is now almost entirely neutralized by their high cost, as compared with
those others.
" One material advantage reaped, and still enjoyed, by England from the
civil war in the United States, was the monopoly of supplying China with
manufactured cotton goods. Cheap labor was unquestionably the cause of
this ; but after the monopoly of this trade had been fully secured to England
as a consequence of our war, English manufacturers did not rest satisfied
with the single advantage sustaining their monopoly — cheap labor — but
resorted to counterfeiting American trade-marks that had become popular
among the Chinese. The end in view was duly attained, by successfully
palming off inferior English cotton fabrics upon unsuspecting native mer-
chants as American manufactures, and thus our share in this trade was still
further effectually reduced to its present insignificant proportions. As might
be expected, deception was not confined to counterfeiting trade-marks and the
names of American mills ; a wider field was opened for its practice, and the
system of over-sizing or weighting the cotton goods with worthless substances,
such as clay, etc., was commenced by English manufacturers shortly after our
war, and has since developed into what it is at present — a gigantic fraud.
" By this practice cotton goods, which are sold by the piece, weighing a
certain number of pounds, are so prepared by manufacturers as to reduce the
proper amount of cotton from one third to one half; and this deficiency in
weight is made up by worthless rubbish, which does not outlast the first wash-
ing to which the cloth is subjected by the native consumer, who is deceived in
buying it.
" Although our interest in the trade is now so small, it is well to mention
here that this fraudulent ])ractice is receiving the countenance of American
trade-marks, which are still extensively used by English manufacturers ; and
thus, the injury which American trade at first suffered through counterfeiting
is now aggravated by the further dishonestv of adulteration.
" It is a question whether this fraudulent practice of over-sizing would
have occasioned so much outspoken condemnation among those who are in-
terested in the English trade, excepting manufacturers, had it not been that an
unlooked-for result of over-sizing — namely, mildew, made its appearance to
such an extent that a large pioportion of English cotton goods sent to China
was, and is still, found to be unmerchantable as sound goods on reaching this
country. Hence, over-sizing, or weighting, is now better and less offensively
known as the 'mildew question.' The English manufacturers and merchants
appear to have joined issue on this question. The merchants and their agents
accuse the manufacturers of dishonesty, and the latter rejoin that merchants
encourage and sustain the practice of weighting by buying goods so prepared
in preference to honest goods. Meanwhile the trade continues, and weight-
ing increases, and is likely to continue so long as the Chinese consumer is
the chief sufferer.
" But the iniquities of the English trade in cotton goods are working its
COTTON AND ITS MANUFACTURE.
91
disorganization, and perhaps destruction. When, after having fatally over-
reached themselves, those interested in the trade are found, as they now are,
each enjoining upon his neighbor one of the first principles of morality taught
in the maxim that ' honesty is the best policy,' there is ground for hope that
honesty will be allowed to prevail over deceit and fraud. But an honest trade
implies honest competition ; and honest competition in the foreign cotton
goods trade in China would result in the ascendency of American interests,
and a complete reversing of the present huge and unnatural disproportion
between American and English trade in China."
It is of course understood that the bulk of iVmerican exportation of cot-
ton manufactured is of the " domestic" article, in which the raw material
enters more largely into the product. The balance of trade in cloth is
largely against the United States, England still finding with us a market for
her very finest fabrics, and France and England both sending us enormous
quantities of prints. In 1874, for instance, while our total of exports was but
$3,091,332, our total of imports of manufactured cotton was $28,183,878.
During the twelvemonth now closing the outward movement of American
" domestics" has been extraordinary, the largest in many years, and hopeful
augury for the future is justifiable. It is also gratifying that in our own mar-
ket American prints have begun to secure the permanent approval of their
merits which is really due to their quality and finish, and that consequently
the year's close will show an importation largely decreased from previous
annual summaries.
The following tables of exports from the ports of New York and Bos-
ton, of manufactured cotton, from 1849 to 1876 inclusive, compiled by the
New York yonrnal of Commerce, will be found both interesting and valu-
able. The statement for 1876 includes only the shipments reported up to
the week ending November i8th, inclusive.
Destination.
1S49.
1850.
185I.
1852.
1853.
1854-
Packages.
Packages.
Packages.
1,479
8,765
1,713
321
292
306
21
3
3
70
82
147
131
89
903
77
13
69
736
292
■208
loS
56
54
643
396
112
3,2Sl
1,194
2,682
S65
462
988
1,475
250
1,445
1855.
Mexico
Dutch West Indies
Swedish West Indies..
Danish West Indies... .
British West Indies... .
Spanish West Indies. .
St. Domingo
British North America,
New Granada
Brazil
Venezuela
Argentine Republic. . .
Cisplatiae Republic. . .
Packages. Packages.
1,920
359
51
116
19
97
324
4
163
1,783
548
957
2,463
289
16
56
131
129
1,208
47
206
1,478
990
249
Packages.
820
352
24
261
131
132
1,895
195
153
3.I7S
865
86
Packages.
2,972
337
6
284
499
1,143
411
16
131
2,764
1,094
468
92
FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
Destination.
Central America
West Coast South America
Honduras
Africa
Australia
East Indies and China
All others
Total packages shipped from New York. . .
Add packages shipped from Boston to
all ports
Total packages from both ports
1849.
1850.
1851.
1852.
1853.
1854.
1855-
Packages,
Packages.
Packages.
Packages.
Packages.
Packages.
Packages.
354
607
1,218
653
713
43
495
2,603
3.426
1,395
2,743
1,642
809
1,153
859
lOI
150
246
179
276
401
475
538
1,772
3,405
1,239
200
1,007
529
1,324
1,908
13.143
20,ogi
27,902
38,413
18,889
12,436
11,929
231
130
31
25
82
550
251
24,006
32,155
40,560
54,692
34,828
24,280
27,585
41.344
34,307
46,589
59,395
54,729
35,428
34,093
65,350
66,462
87,149
113,987
89,557
59,708
61,678
Destination.
1856.
1857.
1858.
1859.
i860.
1861.
1862.
Mexico
Dutch West Indies
Swedish West Indies
Danish West Indies
British West Indies
Spanish West Indies
St. Domingo
British North America
New Granada
Brazil
Venezuela
Argentine Republic
Cisplatine Republic
Central America
West Coast South America
Honduras
Africa
Australia
East Indies and China
All others
Total packages shipped from New York. .
Add packages shipped from Boston to all
ports
Total packages from both ports
Packages.
4,897
151
10
427
880
151
228
25
949
3.756
335
590
190
158
1 60
1,874
2, 060
17,674
267
Packages.
2,084
581
564
207
223
591
42
560
2,751
268
90
lOI
3,710
170
1,414
418
12,676
203
Packages.
2,446
317
4
691
2ig
358
262
14
627
4.466
523
328
200
4,195
436
1,200
109
43,419
180
34,782 26,653 ! 59,994
37,880 I 26,000 29,875
Packages.
2,475
531
696
227
366
977
18
967
3,637
919
903
55
6,606
259
323
135
53,662
1,793
74,549
31,661
Packages.
4,873
664
47
952
497
193
2,169
10
1,381
8,103
1.328
1,111
53
13,291
389
1,406
323
47.735
1,793
86,318
33,588
Packages.
2,766
569
38
522
537
374
1.257
60
2,005
5,400
1,421
430
23
5.299
245
876
180
31,911
1.823
55.736
18,146
72,662 52,653 89,869 106,210
119,906
73.882
Packages.
2.427
84
316
165
140
484
23
6og
953
141
145
I
I
12
49
3
187
47
5,787
4.238
10,625
Destination.
1863.
1864.
1865.
Packages.
1,886
Packages.
849
Packages.
112
9
3
29
I
8
149
66
63
16
24
86
12
9
30
356
86
83
4
II
1866.
1867.
1868.
Packages.
Packages.
1,090
1,837
133
157
33
"87
254
399
292
140
244
69
14
575
253
2,343
1,716
1869.
Mexico
Dutch West Indies
Swedish West Indies. .
Danish West Indies..,
British West Indies.. . ,
Spanish West Indies. . ,
St. Domingo
British North America
New Granada
Brazil
Packages.
282
42
16
58
22
9
3
423
261
Packages.
1,496
310
170
335
273
138
30
1,083
1,494
COTTON AND ITS MANUFACTURE.
93
Destination.
1863.
i?64.
1865.
1866.
1867.
1868
1869.
Venezuela
Argentine Republic
Cisplatine Republic
Central America
West Coast South America.,
Honduras
Africa
Australia
East Indies and China
All others
Total packages shipped from New York . .
Add packages shipped from Boston to all
ports
Packages.
32
13
19
I
5
II
5
30
Packages.
9
2
8
6
2
4
24
2,776
421
Total packages from both ports 3,i97 j ii396
Packages.
4
17
3
1,132
264
Packages.
35
77
59
293
5
807
6,972
52
Packages.
116
551
399
3
1,024
47
2,016
4.558
197
194
308
9,416
6,802
13,875
9,031
Packages.
303
529
121
3
207
121
2,700
15,677
1,715
26,048
11,422
502 16,218 22,go6 37,470
Packages.
84
1,377
247
49
667
38
2,255
10,471
485
21,047
7,185
28,232
Destination.
1870.
1871.
1872.
1873.
1874. 1875.
1876.
Mexico
Dutch West Indies. . .
Swedish West Indies.
Danish West Indies...
British West Indies...
Spanish West Indies.
Packages.
680
270
■285
261
St. Domingo 1,698
" 48
1,139
1,712
164
617
256
54
624
39
1,927
3,174
1,051
British North America.
New Granada
Brazil
Venezuela
Argentine Republic
Cisplatine Republic
Central America
West Coast South America.
Honduras
Africa
Australia
East Indies and China
All others
Total packages shipped from New York.. .
Add packages shipped from Boston to all
ports
Total packages from both ports.
14,482
7,550
Packages.
1,948
339
139
241
731
829
43
1,464
2,431
381
85
317
4
387
81
1,524
583
17,049
11,157
Packages.
1,593
329
'281
348
646
625
32
785
2,886
458
472
255
44
336
164
1,583
1,798
510
Packages.
1,402
330
161
323
6lo
1,376
93
643
2,879
252
1,194
745
252
972
136
1,024
2,302
2,382
13,045 17,281
7,442
Packages.
1,529
318
139
438
409
1,123
81
1,012
3,699 !
708
285
671
148
195
1,049
6,349
4,704
Packages.
1,230
194
'ns
329
328
2,867
664
1,224
5,320
1,276
1,000
73
77
990
298
2,614
10,017
8,886
23,047
13,876
37.574
16,935
22,032 i 28,206
17,934
24,723
36,923
54,509
Packages.
1,635
95
194
723
780
1,927
825
4,156
4,831
1,880
523
505
310
425
607
2,7.';7
68
13,415
27,172
63,828
24,392
87,220
The cotton manufacture of Europe and America at the close of 1874 is
shown in the subjoined table :
No. of Founds per Total Bales of Average
Spindles. Spindle. Pounds. 400 Pounds. per Week.
England 37,515,000 32 ,259,836,000 3,149,590 60,569
United States 9,415,383 65 522,378,200 1,305,943 25,114
Russia and Poland 2,500,003 60 150,000,000 375,000 7,212
Sweden and Nonvay 305,000 65 19,825,000 49,562 913
Germany 4,650,000 55 255,750,000 639,375 12,296
Austria 1,555,000 67 104,185,000 260,463 5,009
94 FALL Rn'ER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
No. of Pounds per Total Bales of Average
Spindles. Spindle. Pounds. 400 Pounds. per Week.
Switzerland 1,850,000 25 46,250,000 115,625 2,223
Holland 230,000 60 13,800,000 34,500 663
Belgium 800,000 50 40,000,000 100,000 1,923
France 5,000,000 42 210,000,000 525,000 10,096
Spain 1,750,000 46 80,500,000 201,250 3.870
Italy Soo,ooo 56 44,800,000 112,000 2,154
Totals 66,370,383 .. 1,747,324,200 6,868,308 142,042
The four principal centres of the manufacture are in Massachusetts and
New Hampshire. The first factory was started in Fall River in 1813. At
Amoskeag Falls, New Hampshire, a mill was operated in 1804, but the large
enterprise of Manchester dates from 1831. The first cotton mill in Lowell,
then East Chelmsford, was established in 1822, and the first in Lawrence in
1849. F^'l River is at present, and promises to continue to be, the chief seat
of the manufacture in the United States.
In 1837 the Secretary of State of Massachu.setts was instructed by a
concurrent vote of the Legislature to prepare a statistical exhibit of the sev-
eral conspicuous industries of the Commonwealth. The following statement
of the cotton manufacture, tabulated by counties, was embodied in his
report :
Counties.
!
No. of No. of
Mills.' Spindles,
Suffolk I . .
Essex [ 7
Middlesex 34
Worcester j 74
Hampshire i 6
Hampden 1 20
Franklin 4
Berkshire 31
Norfolk 32
Bristol 57
Plymouth j 15
Barnstable 2
Dukes Cou.-ty |
Nantucket I
Total .
282
13,300
165,868
124,720
8,312
66,552
5.924
35.260
25,782
104,507
I3,2q8
1,508
Pounds of
Cotton con-
sumed Y'rlv,
804,222
17,696,245
5,292,018
563,000
4.727.302
135,045
1,390,162
1,365,953
4,814,238
480,884
6,848
Yards of
Cloth man'fd
Yearly.
2,301,520
52,860,194
20,280,312
1,574,000
15,107,583
1,081,140
7.530.667
4,953,816
18,382,828
2,052,061
195,100
565,031 ! 37,275.917 i 126,319,221
Value of Cot-
ton Goods
man'fd Y'riy.
Dollars.
Males
em-
ploy'd
F'mles
em-
ploy'd
372.
5.971,
1,991
176,
1.504,
76.
575.
509.
1,67s,
1S2,
19
972 i
172
024
060 '
896 I
125 I
0S7 I
383
226
474
240
13,056.659
115
1054
1384
72
626
48
339
280
987
85
7
402
6435
1998
233
1886
140
766
583
2015
279
20
4997
14,757
Capital in-
vested in the
Cotton mnfr
Dollars.
337,500
6,909,000
2,015,100
216,000
1,698,500
90,000
633,725
609,500
1,622,778
230,616
7,000
14.369,719
In comparison with the figures of this report of the cotton manufacture
of Massachusetts in 1837, Fall River makes the following exhibit in 1876:
No. of
Mills.
No. of
Spindles.
Pounds of Cotton
Consumed Annu.illy.
Yards of Clotli
Manufactured.
Employes.
Capital
Invested.
33
1,258,508
58,050,000
340,000,000
14,000
$30,000,000
The extraordinary development of Fall River has been effected by
several causes. Baines attributed the origin and growth of Manchester to
the fortunate location of the place in the centre of a district rich in "water-
COTTON AND ITS MANUFACTURE. 95
power, fuel, and iron," possessing " ready communication with the sea by
means of its well-situated port, Liverpool," and early enjoying the " acquired
advantage of a canal communication." These tributary circumstances are
generally wanting in the case of Fall River, which possesses neither iron nor
fuel in close proximity to its demands, and reaps no appreciable advantage
from its water bevond its use in the engine-rooms and the bleaching pro-
cesses. Yet in several respects the location of the city is fiivorable to the
prosecution of its great industry. Its relation to the sea, more immediate
than that of its great rival, is a positive aid, the depth of water at its wharves
admitting the loading and discharging not only of coasting craft, but of large
ships. Thus the coal absolutely necessary tor the fuel of the mill engines,
and the iron worked up in its machine shops and foundries, are conveyed
from the mines, in most cases, entirely by water carriage, reducing the cost of
freightage to the miniiiuim figure, and giving the hive of industry on Mount
Hope Bay a superiority over manufacturing towns situated inland and obtain-
ing their supplies b\- railroad.
In the relation of Fall River to the sea exists likewise a circumstance
favorably affecting the manufacture of cotton. One of the traditional claims
of England to an advantage over other countries in this pursuit has been its
" sea-girt " position, which assures a constant humidity, that is an essential, in
a greater or less degree, in all the stages of cloth production. Of course, the
atmosphere of the region in and about Fall River has far from the same
deo-ree of moisture that is permanent in England, and a still less constituent
proportion than that of the Irish coast, exposed immediately to the dense
fogs of the Gulf Stream, and especially created (if we may credit the supersti-
tion of the Belfast people) by a beneficent Providence for the fabrication of
linen ; yet, with its slight remove from the ocean, whose moist breath is soft-
ened by its passage up the inland estuary, while the English air carries the
extreme of humidity to the spinning and weaving processes, that of the great
American manufacturing district probably enjoys the really proper mean of
temperature. In this connection an extract from recent statements of the
Coast Survey officials regarding the relative temperatures of New England
localities is of interest : " Locally there are some important modifications of
this general character, chief of which is the softening of the extremes of heat
and cold on the islands and coasts of the south-east, Nantucket, Barnstable,
and Bristol counties. The well-known mildness of Newport continues all
along the coast, and the difference" (between it and the extreme cold of
interior Massachusetts) " in winter is very marked. The Gulf Stream comes
near enough to be sensibly felt, in addition to the general modifications" (of
the inland rule of extreme heat or cold) " caused by the extension, as it may
be called, of these districts into the sea. Though storms are very violent off
96
ALL KIVKR AND ITS TNDUSTRTES.
Cape Cod, and the long circuit southward of Nantucket, the temperature is
still so much modified as to be •j'^ warmer for the mean of the winter months
at Nantucket than at Cambridge, and nearly 5" warmer at New Bedford.
Williamstown" (Berkshire County) "is j'^ colder than New Bedford for the
average of the winter months."
It will be remembered that New Bedford and F'all River are closely
contiguous points, bearing about the same relation to the sea.
The internal administration of a Fall River industry is not essentially
diflferent from that in other advanced centres of cotton manufacturing, treas-
urers, agents, and superintendents of mills exercising the duties conventionally
attaching to those offices. But, unlike other centres, the treasurers are inva-
riably residents, and generally the subordinate offices are filled b}^ persons
immediately interested in the business. The stockholders likewise are, in a
much greater proportion than governs elsewhere, " native there, and to the
manner born." This is a very great, indeed, an almost incalculable factor in
the general development. Absenteeism, the curse of most large congrega-
tions of industry, is unknown and, happily, unfelt in its baleful influences. The
community itself, in its integral construction and outward manifestation, is
one of active, interested workers, the owners and projectors breathing the
same atmosphere with the operatives, who, in their turn, under such a system,
may also become, by diligence and temperance, owners and projectors. From
this condition of the community results the intensely practical spirit that per-
vades and controls the place, and assures conservatism of management and
wise husbandry of resources through the control and under the watchfulness
of a universal intelligence. Too much importance can not be ascril)ed to this
most fortunate sympathy of the social and economical constituents of any
population ; but its largest uses and richest results are manifested in the great
cotton-manufacturing centres.
To the conservatism and practical nature of the people of Fall River is
due the fact that the histoiy of the place shows so insignificant a number
of industrial disappointments. In 1871-2, when mills were springing up in
number like a forest, the business world was dazed by the extraordinary
spectacle, and wiseacres, who did not know its people, began to mutter, " Fall
River is mad, downright crazy." The event has not, however, justified the
censures of the C3aiics or the croakings of the seers. On the contrary, the
statisticians have discovered that the number of spindles added to the produc-
tive force was demanded by the development of trade, and that what appeared
to be the inspiration of an inflated unreason was really the movement of a
calm and intelligent calculation. Speculative ideas and business charlatanry,
so far from being encouraged, are not even entertained by these practical
COTTON' AND ITS MANUFACTURE. 9;
schemers, and the result is that no phice hi New England, within our ken,
has so very small a grave-yard of deceased enterprises, great expectations that
have died of slow consumption or sudden collapse.
What the future has in store for Fall River, if we study simply its past,
need not be answered indefinitely. To-da}^ not a spindle in its mills, nor a
granite block in their walls, is weighted with a mortgage. It is the first city
in the extent of its cotton manufacture in the United States, and second
only to Manchester in the world. Its resources are within its own com-
munity, and the market for its production is the whole globe. So long as
the same conservative enterprise, honest purpose, and harmony of effort,
which have established its fortunes, are the distinctive qualities of its people,
it will continue to be, as it now is, the finest monument of American industry.
PROGRESS OF INVENTIONS IN COTTON MACHINERY.
Anno Domini.
1765. Fly Shuttle (John Kay) and Drop Box (Robert Kay).
1767. Spinning Jenny — Patented in 1770 — Hargraves.
1769. Spinning Frame — Arkwright. Wyatt's Patent was in 1738, but
was not put into practical operation.
1775. Mule — Jenn}- and Frame combined — Crompton.
1785. Power Loom — brought into general use in 1820 — Cartwright.
1792. Cotton Gin — Whitney. American.
1797. Cards — Whittemore. American.
1797. Reeds — Wilkinson. American.
1S07. Steam Engine— Wyatt and Fulton. American.
MACHINES
AND
PROCESSES OF MANUFACTURE.
THE perfection of machine process which has been reached in the produc-
tion of a single yard of cotton cloth is one of the best illustrations of the
attainment possible to patient study and indefatigable experiment. Baines,
the Lancashire historian of cotton manufacture, already quoted, who wrote in
1835, after rehearsing the train of processes, cannot forbear exclaiming: " It
is by iron fingers, teeth, and wheels, moving with exhaustless energy and
devouring speed, that the cotton is opened, cleaned, spread, carded, drawn,
rove, spun, wound, warped, dressed, and woven. The various machines are
proportioned to each other in regard to their capability of work, and they
are so placed in the mill as to allow the material to be carried from stage to
stage with the least possible loss of time ; all are moving at once — the opera-
tions chasing each other; and all derive their motion from the mighty engine,
which, firmly seated in the lower part of the building, toils through the day
with the strength of perhaps a hundred horses. Men, in the mean while, have
merely to attend on this wonderful series of mechanism, to supply it with
work, to oil it? joints, and to check its slight and infrequent irregularities ;
each workman performing, or rather superintending, as much work as could
have been done by hoo or three Imiidred men sixty years ago'.'
Yet all this perfection of machine process is only the attainment of many
years, half a century at least, and of the worn-out lives of a legion of workers.
Brains and hands, working hopelessly in too many instances, were two or
three decades in labor before the spinning-frame was evolved, and it is to-day
even in doubt to whom the original credit of that great invention belongs.
From Crompton's mule to the improved mule of Roberts, fifty years inter-
vened. The Scotch loom of the clergyman Cartwright was invented in 1785,
and though it was the original suggestion of all power-weaving processes^
the inventor would hardly recognize his idea in the improved machine of the
present day. While the principles involved were all suggested in the first
constructions, time has wonderfully developed their perfection and magnified
both the extent and the quality of their results, so that, what with an enlarged
experience and advanced practical science, the model mill of the present
must indeed be pretty near the culminating point of excellence in location,
structure, labor organization, and mechanical equipment.
PROCESSES OF MANUFACTURE.
99
To explain satisfactorily, for the comprehension of the general and unprac-
tical reader, the elaborate operation through which a yard of cotton cloth is
produced, would be impossible by means of ordinary letterpress, a patient
inspection of processes from stage to stage, and story to story, in the mill,
being the only mode of imparting a knowledge that involves so much beauty
of theory and ingenuity of application. The following bare and superficial
suggestion of the processes of manufacture may not, however, be without its
value to the reader.
Among the more recently erected mills of Fall River there are probably
three or four — possibly a larger number — superior in organization of labor and
machine process to any in the world. As the most recent constructions, they
not only possess the very latest practical features of perfection in all details
of equipment, but are the best efforts of the wisest brains of a community of
experts. The general production of the Fall River mills is print cloth, and
when we state the probable and generally conceded fact that a yard of print
cloth costs to produce in that city less than the same yard costs to produce
in any other manufacturing district in the United States, the inference is
obvious as to the relative capability of production.
In print-cloth parlance the standard of extras — as the marketable first
quality goods are termed — is a piece or cut 28 inches in width and 45I yards
in length, having 64 threads per inch running lengthwise, and 64 threads run-
ning crosswise, the cloth — that is, the goods have a standard fineness of 64
threads, or 64 by 64. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the
transv'erse threads the weft.
In the production of a yard of cotton the first stage regards the prepara-
tion of the raw material for the machining into threads. Every mill has its
cotton house, conveniently located as is possible, fire-proof so far as ordinary
care will secure that qualification, and dry. In a few of the later Fall River
structures, where the location has permitted, the basement, but partially sunk,
is used for storage of the raw material. The average stock carried by a mill
is one thousand bales. Two thirds of the cotton worked up in Fall River is
purchased directly for account of the mills, in the South. The grade runs
from good ordinary to low middlings. Gulf and bottom-land cottons are
much preferred, although it is brought to the city from every part of the pro-
ducing region. No day passes that a Fall River mill treasurer has not an
opportunity to purchase stock, and that quotations from every cotton centre
in the country are not presented by the local brokers.
The first introduction of the raw cotton to its new life is its conveyance
to the mixing-room, where the bagging and hoops that it put on in the South-
ern cotton-press are removed. An average quantity of twenty-five tons is
lOO FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
assorted ready for the subsequent operation of cleaning. Here we have our
initial glance at the white mass, and can imagine, or attempt to, the myriad
myriads of fibres in that fleecy pile. Taking a tiny lock between finger and
thumb and pulling the staple, what a delicate filmy nothing is the cotton fibre !
It would beggar fancy, could we estimate the infinity of fibres in that moun
tain of twenty-five tons, reflecting that one week's work of the six towering
stories demands that all the fibres of three such mountains shall be cleansed,
dusted, straightened and laid out side by side, roved and twisted, and finally
elongated into miles on miles of thread of warp and weft, to be interlaced
and woven into 250,000 yards of cloth.
Manufacturing conventionalism has originated many expressions strange
to well-disciplined terminology, and one of these is the word bing. The bing
is the heap of cotton after it is mixed.
In all well-ordered factories it is considered of large importance to con-
stitute the bing of fair proportions of all the bales. The wool from each bale
is evenly spread in a layer upon a perfectly clean floor, so that when the
whole number of bales are opened a section cut through from top to bottom
will include a contribution from the whole stock. As the cotton in one bale
may, notwithstanding the most careful discrimination, be superior or inferior
in part or whole, this procedure is obviously important to assure uniformity
of the character of yarn, which is a prime quality. No small skill or judg-
ment is exercised in the mixing operation, in order to improve a weak stapled
quality and make it work into good yarn. Cottons differing at all consider-
ably in their length of staple and form of fibre lack the elements of strength
and tenuity, and the careful manufacturer regards this difficulty with the
utmost jealousy, often using fingers and sometimes the microscope to deter-
mine characteristics of his raw material. It is said that cotton-brokers — and
why not mixers — in exceptional instances, can detect the original locality and
year of a bale of cotton, blindfolded, by the simple pull of staple and feel of
fibre in their fingers.
Having been mixed, the first introduction of the fleecy bing to its new
life is at the eight-inch orifice of a tin or sheet-iron tube. A man sitting at
the mouth of the tube does nothing the live-long dav but throw armful after
armful of cotton into it, a strong inhalation drawing it through as fast as it is
served. Urged swiftly along its dark passage, the cotton is precipitated upon
and into a revolving cylinder, having an inner bottom wall of fine screen-
work and an internal mechanism of moving arms. During its revolution it is
beaten and whipped violently by the active arms, the consequent agitation
together with a strong air-current forced into the cylinder, separating the
usual constituents of dust, sand, and other foreign matter, and driving it through
PROCESSES OF MANUFACTURE. jqi
the screen, to which the main body cUngs till thrown from an extended apron
in fleecy masses on the lk)or.
There now remains a proportion of seeds, nubs, and leaves yet to be
expelled. This is the office of a train of pickers, from each of which, as it moves
along, the cotton issues cleaner and cleaner. The pickers first receive the cot-
ton between revolving fluted rolls, from which it is torn into minute fragments
by the swiftly operating blades of what is termed the beater, the object being
to loosen the hard-packed filaments of the pressed bale, and still farther disin-
tegrate the foreign material. Conveniently situated at this point is an aper-
ture through which enters a powerful draught, which seizes the light fibres as
they are torn by the flat blades of the beater, and lodges them on the face of
a revolving screen, at the same time expelling the more palpable dirt and
leaves from the machine. Carried on the exterior of the screen, the cotton is
next introduced to another set of rollers, beaters, and screens, until, free from
all its plantation and press-room vices, it emerges in a coil of broad laps of
proper weight and uniform thickness, ready to be subjected to the operation
of the carding-machines.
The office of the carding engines — generally two, a breaker and finisher —
is to still farther separate the filaments and to complete the work of the
pickers, and to turn out the cotton, straightened in parallel direction of staple
and fibre, in an ultimately continuous strand. If we look in our Webster
Unabridged at the common word sliver, wdiich from time immemorial is asso-
ciated with the wounded fingers of childhood, many of us will be able to catch
the meaning of a term that the agent of a Fall River mill uses with an entire
correctness of original phraseology and application that must be conceded,
but a disregard for the pronunciation of the outside world which is at least
startling. The sli-vcr of the cotton-manufacturer's terminology is a provincial
English word, and expresses the condition of cotton in a straight strand or
ribbon ; and it is the business of the carding-room to perform the operation
upon the raw material which shall entitle it to this appellation.
Uncurled from the roll of laps by a movement so slow as to be imper-
ceptible to the eye, within the grasp of fluted iron rolls, the cotton is now
exposed to the revolving surface of a large cyHnder, as thickly studded with
minute, exquisitely fine, and hook-pointed teeth as the drum of a music-box.
Caught by this legion of tentacles — and it seems impossible for a single
particle, however insignificant, to elude them — every fibre is torn individually
from every other fibre, and from all foreign substances. The bunch or seed
that may have escaped the picker, essays in vain a farther intimacy with the
cotton. It can not hide itself away among the interstices of the teeth, but,
left on the surface, is at once caught up in a series of " top slats," also armed
102 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
with tentacles, which cover the upper periphery of the machine. Opposite to
the side of the carding cyhnder, at which the cotton lap attaches to it, is
another cylinder, some i6 to i8 inches in diameter, called the doffer, whose
office is to receive the carded, straightened body of dismembered filaments
and roll it out in a fleecy sheet, combing delicately but decidedly the fibrous
constituents into a uniform direction.
The extreme tenuity of the sheet as it falls from the doffer ma)^ be
inferred from the fact that it is only a hundredth part the thickness of the lap
which entered the main cylinder.
This thin sheet, as it proceeds from each doffer, is made to pass through
an elliptical orifice, and is thus formed into the s/i-z'cr or strand, about an inch
broad and perhaps one eighth of an inch thick. The cards are worked in
gangs, twelve or thirteen of them together, usually placed in a row, and each
deposits its charge upon an endless belt, which traverses their united frontage,
gathering up the combined production, and finally delivers it to the curious
and clever process of the railway head.
The duty of this machine is to transform the bulky mass of fibre coming
from the thirteen cards into a small, even, and manageable strand. The
railway head is a series of rolls, kept in proper relative contiguity by weighting,
to which converge, by means of the belt above referred to, the ribands of
cotton from the rank of cards. The stream of ribands, ten inches broad and
an inch thick apparently, enters the rolls, and, coming out so thin as to almost
resemble cloth of the same width, is swept into a trumpet, delicately poised
on springs and having an elliptical aperture hardly one eighth by half an inch
in dimensions. Through this small aperture passes the entire product of
thirteen cards. The function of the trumpet is double, it being not only to
govern the confluence of these distinct streams of machine fii)re and reduce
them to an approximate stage of their subsequent proportion, but also to
correct any errors of weight due to an occasional default of its principles. To
the observer's eye it has a generally swaying motion ; a downward deflection
indicating overweight in the coincident delivery, and an upward the opposite.
As soon as it discovers a discrepancy, however, it automatically increases or
slackens the speed of the delivery roll, and thus regulates the excess or
deficiency.
From the mouth of the trumpet the strand of sli-ver is coiled in a cylin-
drical case, standing ready to receive it. In the average Fall River mill there
are twelve of these gangs or sections of cards, six of which treat the cotton
which goes into the warp, and the same number that for the weft. In England,
previous to the invention of the railway head, which was originated at the
cotton factories in Matteawan, N. Y., each card delivered into its individual
PROCESSES OF MANUFACTURE. 103
can, and an independent process was requisite to unite tlic products in one
strand.
We have now arrived at the first forrri of the thread. We have the
cotton clean, the fibres straight and parallel, hut the thread is much too large,
and altogether lacks strength, being nothing more than a spongy continuity,
held together by the mere coherence of its staple. To reduce it to a suitable
size and impart the needed degree of strength, are problems next claiming
our attention, the solution of which calls for two processes of drawing, three
of speeding, and finally the function of the mule, or yarn finishing proper.
Twist is the element which adds strength to sli-ver, by compactly twining
about each other the cotton fibres. In the drawing-frames no twist is
imparted ; in the speeders, or roving-frames, only so much as will afford
enough strength to uncoil itself for each succeeding process; but in the mule
all the twist is furnished that a perfect and enduring thread demands. From
each consecutive stage of the process of manufacture we are now consider-
ing, the strand gradually emerges smaller and smaller, nearer and nearer
approaching the yarn, which is our objective.
The process of drawing is conducted by machines involving the same
principle as the railway head, and not unlike it in general design, having
rollers and funnel preserving the same relations to each other. In the first pro-
cess three separate strands, the product of the railway head, are drawn down
by the action of tinted rolls, and then united through a trumpet or funnel in
one strand. The second process is an exact copy of its precedent, the same
number of strands emerging from the first train of drawing-rolls being sub-
jected to a second operation of union. The effect of this machining has been
not only to reduce the relative bulk of the sli-ver, but to perfect the straighten-
ing of filaments, and by associating ribands of sli-ver to strengthen the whole.
The strand is now ready for the action of the speeders. These are three
in number, namely, the slubber, intermediate, and jack. The processes of
these machines are all similar, the work being simply a series of stages. As in
the drawing-frames, the grooved rolls are still essential features, reducing
gradually the volume of the strand. But, as twist is first here introduced, an
entirely new feature is now for the first time found, in the presence of the
spindle.
From the cans containing the product of the drawing-frames, the sli-ver
is first subjected to the train of rolls, and then passes automatically on its way
till seized by a bifurcated attachment of a revolving spindle, of which there
are generally thirtv to each slubber or coarse-roving frame. The spindle like-
wise carries a wooden bobbin or spool, the flyer, as the bifurcated attachment
is called, setting over it on the spindle. The strand, in the grasp of one of
I04 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
the arms of the flyer, is swung round and round by its revolution, and thus
compelled to assume a regular degree of twist, while, directed by the other
arm, it is wound about the convenient bobbin in layers of coil. '
The rolls through which the strand is fed, and the spindle which carries
both flyer and bobbin, have each their regular and certain speed of revolu-
tion, but, while the flyer revolves with the spindle, the bobbin has its inde-
pendent motion and different in speed from that of the flyer. This variance
of velocities is necessary, since, if both revolved with the same speed, the small
periphery of the bobbin could not take up the full measure of roving, as the
strand is called after twisting, fed to it by the extended arm of the flyer. To
meet this exigency has required no especial skill in mechanical movements,
but a second difficulty presented itself, much more serious. This discovered
itself in the increasing surface of the bobbin, its volume enlarging with every
additional coil of roving, while the stream itself was not at any time accelerated
or slackened. The result was that the bobbin must have what may be termed
a speed varying from itself, a velocity of rotation in inverse ratio to its increase
of periphery. The solution of this problem, for a time baffling the inventive
powers of many excellent machinists, was at last achieved by Mr. Henry
Houldsworth, of Manchester, England, who devised an equational motion,
by which every exigency was allowed for. It may well be called the differ-
ential calculus applied to mechanism ; a more beautiful device certainly is not
known in the whole range of cotton machinery.
The slubber, or coarse-rover, is followed by the intermediate. This
machine has just half the number of bobbins of its predecessor, two bobbins
in the former delivering strands to one in the latter frame. The same process
is pursued with the jack or fly-frame, which is the last of the train of roving-
machines.
The bobbins of the fly-frame represent the finished product of the card-
ing-room. All the stages of the manufacture so far described are under the
direction of one man, who employs about sixty operatives to perform his
work in all its branches.
From the processes of the three speeders, the sli-ver, or, under its new
appellation, roving, receives just so much twist, and no more, as is essential
to enable it to unwind, without impairing its uniformity. Having still to
undergo a process of elongation and consequent attenuation, a proportionately
increasing union of filaments is obviously demanded.
The finishing and spinning stage of the cotton thread is now reached.
The machine by which these final operations are performed is termed a mule.
The name of a hybrid animal was probably given to the machine at its birth,
because it had two distinct functions — to subject the cotton strand to its
PROCESSES OF MANUFACTURE. 105
extreme tension, and thus draw it down to the constituency of thread, and to
exert upon it the maximum torsion required to give it a permanent twist,
and thus, by the perfect implication of its filaments, to assure its strength.
The mule is the most ingenious and complex machine used in cotton
manufacturing. If it possesses no isolated feature as curious as Houlds-
worth's exquisitely clever application of equational mechanism to the speed
of the bobbin, in the antecedent process, it is the combination of numberless
adroit achievements and ingenious devices, contributed by as many inventive
hands almost as its whole has parts. No man can claim as his own invention
the machine as it now is, the growth of many brains and product of many
inventions.
Twenty years ago the hand mule was not infrequently met in American
factories — a machine which could not perform its work without manual assist-
ance in its regular and necessary changes. The self-acting mule of to-day
operates of and through itself, and embodies the poetry of manufacturing.
Six or eight hundred spindles, and sometimes even a thousand, set in a
carriage, moving backward and forward automatically, hum busily around at
a speed of 6000 revolutions in a minute. On these spindles is built the
cop, or conical ball of thread spun by the two-fold operation.
Like the drawers and speeders, a mule has its essential train of rolls. The
roller-beam may be imagined occupying the background of the machine.
The bobbins, bearing the accumulations of the last speeder's work, are set in
a creel back of the roller-beam, and their strand ends inserted between the
rolls. In the foreground of the machine, perhaps five feet from the rolls, and
parallel with them, are the spindles, in regular alignment, close ranked
together. This rank of spindles, actuated by the will of the tender, travels
forward to the roller-beam and backward to its own position, its carriage, not
obvious to the view, running upon three or moi^e ground rails. The spindles
are first run up to the roller-beam to receiv^e the ends of the bobbin strands.
These attached, the farther operation is thus described by Dr. Ure : " When
the spinning operations begin, the rollers deliver the equally attenuated
rovings as the carriage comes out, moving at first with a speed somewhat
greater than the surface motion of the front rollers. The spindles mean-
while revolve with moderate velocity, in order to communicate but a
moderate degree of twist. When the carriage has advanced through about
five sixths of its path, the rollers cease to turn or to deliver thread. The
carriage thenceforth moves at a very slow pace, while the speed of the spindles
is increased to a certain pitch, at which it continues till the carriage arrives at
the end of its course. The spindles go on revolving till they give such an
additional twist to the thread as may be desired, the degree of twist being
Io6 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
greater for warp than for weft. The spindles then stop, and the whole
machine becomes for a moment insulated from the driving-shaft of the
factory. Now the delicate task of the spinner begins. First of all he causes
the spindles to make a few revolutions backward. In this way he takes off
the slant coils from their upper ends, to prepare for distributing the fifty-four
or fifty-six inches of yarn just spun properly on their middle part. He, using
the /a//cr-wn-e with his left hand, gives it such a depression as to bear down
all the threads before it to a level with the bottom of the cop, or conical coil,
of yarn formed, or to be formed, round the spindles. Under the control of
an experienced eye, his right hand at the same time slowly turns the handle
of a pulley in communication with the spindles, so as to give them a forward
rotation, and his knee pushes the carriage before it at the precise rate requisite
to supply yarn as the spindles wind it on. As the carriage approaches to its
primary position, near to the roller-beam, he allows the faller-wire to rise
slowly to its natural elevation, whereby the threads coil once more slantingly
up to the tip of the spindle, and are thus ready to cooperate in the twisting
and extension of another stretch of the mule."
Dr. Ure's description gives a correct idea of the general operation of the
mule as it was in England in 1865. Im.provements made since the issue of
the volume from which quotation is made, and due to American ingenuity,
have, however, still farther developed the self-acting nature of the machine,
till it is now indeed, in all respects, automatic. In the perfected mule of
American production — which, made by Hawes, Marvel & Davol,of Fall River,
and other manufacturers of spinning machinery, is now generally purchased
for the equipment of mills — instead of the one faller-wire indicated by Ure,
there are two, the upper, or faller proper, which leads the thread and forms
the cop, and the lower, or counter-faller, which stiffens the thread and assists
the operation of its companion. These wires, supported by curved arms or
hooks, placed at intervals along the rank of spindles, are extended parallel
with the spindles at a distance of about three eighths of an inch. The hooks,
actuated by a weight, incline downward when the carriage is nearly run out,
thus dropping the wire to the base of the spindle and pressing down the
thread. When the carriage retires, the hooks rise again, elevating the wires
and relieving the cops. The wires can be controlled by hand, but this is
unnecessar)^ and when their action is wholly automatic the cops are better
than those produced by the most experienced spinners. In this respect the
improvement is a very valuable one, while there is the still farther impor-
tant advantage gained by the automatic process, that the spinner, relieved of
his constant care of the faller-wires, has only to watch the general operation
PROCESSES OF MANUFACTURE. 107
of the mule, preserve the continuity of threads, and repair those that are
broken.
Looking at the spinning process, in which sometimes a thousand
spindles are twisting, stretching, and winding up a thousand threads, the mule
of mechanism seems much more like a sentient organization than the mule
of nature.
In the average Fall River mill, 40,000 of these spindles run back and
forth, in industrious locomotion, all day long, as busy as the ant of fabled
story.
The same machine can be adapted for the production of warp or weft,
the former being coarser and requiring more twist. The weft on leaving the
mule is ready for the loom, the warp still requiring some preparatory attention
before it is in condition. The thread in both cases, however, is all right, as
the stage of manufacturing ended with the spinning process.
Our yard of print cloth, it will be remembered, is 28 inches broad,
having 64 threads to the inch, and consequently i 792 threads of warp must be
used to constitute its whole width. It is obvious that the yarn-beam, which
is to furnish the material for the loom's consumption, must, therefore, hold
1 790 threads, the weft forming the two outside threads. The operation of
transferring the thread from the cops to this beam is not direct, there being
intermediate stages worthy our notice.
In the first place, the warp cops are wound on spools, 6 inches long
and 4 inches in diameter. These spools, 338 in number, are then arranged
in a creel or stand, and subjected to the warping-machine, an ingenious
contrivance credited to the eccentric Jacob Perkins, inventor of the steam-
gun, which detaches their threads and winds them, each distinctly, the whole
number preserving an exactly parallel alignment, on its beam. Five of these
beams thus freighted are then taken to the slasher, or dressing-machine, where
they are all wound on to the main yard-beam for the loom. During its
passage through the slasher, the yarn is stretched and ironed, and also
measured into sections of forty-five and one quarter yards, the points being
indicated by a red, blue, or yellow dve, where the weaver is to take off a cut.
The Fall River mills weekly consume 50,000 lbs. of potato starch in dressing
their yarns.
The yarn-beam, 34 inches in length, has now wound upon it i 790 parallel
coils, each something more than 15,000 feet, and together forming a body of
warp, as the thread is now termed, 1 8 inches in diameter.
The weft-thread requires no dressing, or even manipulation, after the
finishing stage in the mule, being at once taken, cop by cop, and placed in the
shuttle to do its duty as an individual thread in the weaving process.
lo8 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
If we reflect that the function of a shuttle in a loom is the same as that
of a needle in a woman's fingers, it is obvious that the warp must be made to
assume some shape different from a web of 1 790 threads, stretched upon a
perfectly even plane. In the process of darning, the sempstress's intelligent
and habile fingers direct the needle over and under the threads of the fabric
she works upon. The shuttle has to darn, but has no sentient intelligence to
direct its point, and is obliged to run its course to and fro in the loom,
whether it passes a thread or not This being the case, it is necessary to
arrange the warp threads so that the shuttle, carrying its thread of weft, will
pass over one and under the next, and vice versa across the web. To eflfect
this, recourse is had to the harness.
The harness, or heddle, as it is called in England, was a necessary fixture
of the original hand-loom, and, until some more clever and convenient device
shall supplant it, will remain a fixture of the power-loom so long as men
weave cloth. Possessing neither mechanical beauty nor the least degree of
ordinary inventive ingenuity, its place is permanent and its function indispen-
sable.
The harness is a web of varnished hempen twines, running perpendicu-
larly and quite close together, enclosed in a framework just heavy and strong
enough to give it permanent shape. In forming the web, each couple of
twines by a system of knotting is furnished with an eyelet, or small loop, so
that the harness has a row of eyelets crossing its entire length. The pair of
harness are separately suspended by pulleys from an arched beam of iron which
rises over the loom — one a little lower than the other, so that the ranks of
eyelets will be on a different level — and passing down into the loom, are
secured to the machinery of a set of treadles, by which they receive such
upward and downward play as the work demands.
Before placing the yarn-beam in its position on the back of the loom it
is necessary to pass its threads through the two harnesses that are required in
the production of plain cloth. This is done in the web-drawer, which sepa-
rates the I 790 ends of thread, and puts half of them through the eyes of one
harness, and half through the eyes of the other. The beam is now set in its
place and the harnesses suspended from their iron archway. The next opera-
tion is to take the ends of each pair of threads, held by the loops of the har-
nesses, and insert them in the dents of the reed, a light framework of wood,
after passing through which they are finally secured to the cloth-beam, which
is situated on the front of the loom, relatively opposite to the yarn-beam. If
the reader has been able to follow this description of the arrangement of the
warp, he will see that after passing the loops of the harnesses it is divided into
two webs, or banks of web, the threads of which have an upward and down-
PROCESSES OF MANUFACTURE. iqq
ward pla)^ through the harnesses, actuated by their treadle connection. The
space thus opening and constantly changing for the race of the shuttle, and
with each motion offering a thread alternately above and below its plane, is
termed shed. With every play of the shuttle crosswise, its coadjutor, the reed,
vibrates backward, beating icp, or forcing the threads of weft to close together,
and then, resuming its position, gives place for the return of the busy worker.
This is, roughly and superficially sketched, the process of the loom, utterly
prosaic and destitute of the fine mechanical achievement and the poetry of
motion discovered in the spinning stage, yet a veritable realization in its
operation of the cognate process pursued by human fingers.
The foregoing summary of the different stages of manufacture, though
without the assistance of illustrative cuts to make its details clear to the
unpractised contemplation, will still impart a general idea of the operation
through which the raw material from the Southern cotton-press is spun and
woven into 64 by 64 print cloth in the Northern mill.
How long a period is consumed in the passage of the raw material
through the consecutive processes, is a question that may suggest itself to the
curious mind. It is not so easy to answer this question in the regular opera-
tion of a mill, but assuming a new grade of cotton to be put into a mill, fur-
nishing the entire preparation for the looms, it would require fully seven
weeks to work up the whole bing, though within ten days a portion of it
should have issued in the shape of cloth. The latter period may therefore be
accepted as a fair length of time to go through all the processes, under good
average working conditions.
The manufactured cloth is conventionally allowed to weigh seven yards
to the pound of cotton consumed ; that is, one yard weighs one seventh of
a pound, or 2^-^ ounces. This does not of course represent the entire weight
of cotton as taken from the bale for the specific yard, there being an unavoid-
able waste in the various operations ; and practically, calculating the propor-
tional weights of hoops and bagging for which the mill has to pay, about
three ounces gross weight in the bale is the equivalent of the vard of Fall
River print cloth. The estimate is also somewhat affected bv the grade of
cotton used (some grades showing much less foreign matter and making less
waste than others), and by the care taken to utilize the waste. The first
figures given of the weight allowed (sj^^ ounces) to each yard indicate a
waste of JgSjj- ounces in the gross amount. The value of this waste is realized
by selling it, and by so much diminishes the gross amount, leaving a net waste
relatively small. Manufacturers ot print cloth, out of every gross pound of
the grades commonly put in, expect to obtain from 5 to 5^ or 5^ yards of
fabric.
no FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
The waste per gross pound is now estimated at about fifteen per cent in
the New England mills. In 1831 it was perhaps twenty per cent.
The experience of the Fall River cotton manufacturers has led them to
the conclusion that the most desirable size of a mill, for the manufacture of
print cloths, is one of 30,000 spindles. In such a mill, the different parts
balance each other to the best advantage; that is, if properly arranged, the
looms will just take care of the preparation — the carding, spinning, dressing,
etc. — with no surplus or deficiency. It is also about as large as a superinten-
dent can handle easily, by keeping up the different ends, and having every
thing run smoothly, without hitch or break.
Such a mill, according to the Fall River standard, should be built of
stone or brick, 300 feet long, 72 feet wide, five stories high, with hip or flat
roof, the latter more desirable on account of fire. It will have a capacity of
30,000 spindles and 800 looms, will employ 325 to 350 operatives, and use
about 3500 bales of cotton in the production of 9,000,000 yards of print
cloths per annum. A capital of $500,000 would proliably be required to pay
the cost of the mill and machinery (which are generally reckoned in the pro-
portion of two fifths and three fifths), and allow a small margin for working
capital. From four to ten acres is generally allowed for a mill site, varying
according to the number of tenements put up for the operatives.
There are some twelve general departments in a mill of from 30,000 to
40,000 spindles, and employing from 350 to 450 persons. These are divided
as follows : 8 pickers, 8 card-strippers and grinders, 4 drawing-tenders, 24
speeder-tenders, 30 other card-room hands, 32 spinners, 36 other hands in
spinning-room, 28 spoolers, 6 warpers, 3 slashers, 1 1 web-drawers, 200 in the
weaving department, and some forty on miscellaneous work. Each depart-
ment is necessary to every other, and all act as forwarders of the general
work. If one department, though never so small, becomes disarranged from
any cause, the result is a disarrangement of all the other departments of the
mill. Hence the necessity that the mill " when wound up," as it is called,
should have all the departments balance each other in their production, and
that the superintendent should be a man of skill and judgment, and of suffi-
cient capacity to keep the whole machine well in hand.
Of course a very important factor in the perfect organization of a
cotton factory is the arrangement of the different departments of machinery.
The system pursued in Fall River disposes of the five stories allotted to
manufacture, as follows : The first and second floors are used for weaving,
the third for carding, and the fourth and fifth for spinning. The engine is
placed in an ell, running from the centre of the rear of the mill and gen-
erally opposite to the tower, which furnishes the main ingress and egress on
PROCESSES OF MANUFACTURE. in
the front. The main driving-wheel, from which proceed all the belts trans-
mitting the power to the various departments, is entirely within the basement
of the main structure, thus bringing the source of transmission in the closest
possible relation to its work. This ell, usually three .stories high, is occupied
by the mixing-room and the picking-room, the latter on a level with the
third story of the mill, so that the picking stage delivers its cotton on the
same level to the carders, where it is divided, a part led off in one direction
to form the warp and the remainder in the opposite direction to form the
weft. After undergoing the various processes of the carding-room, the prep-
aration, still preserving its newly assumed relations, passes up through
elevators located at each end of the mill, to the stories occupied by the spin-
ning machinery, whence the cops are lowered, when finished, to the weaving
floor. In the factories of New England, at the period of Mr. Montgomery's
visit and description, the second story was used for the carding, the third the
spinning, and the fourth and attic the weaving and dressing.
The cotton is generally stored in a separate building, though in occa-
sional new mills of six stories the ground floor is, by a very convenient and
economical arrangement, devoted to this purpose.
The average wages for operatives of all ages are a trifle abov^e those of
Lowell and Lawrence, and while Fall River has to compete on short ten-
hour time directly with the Rhode Island mills, not regulated as to hours
of labor, the former makes a better showing in the remuneration accorded to
its operatives.
The operatives employed in Fall River are mostly foreigners, but the
American, French, and Irish elements are well disposed as a rule, and give
little trouble except when led by the English (Lancashire) operatives, who,
having come from the most discontented districts of England, have brought
their peculiar ideas and the machinery of their home style of agitation along
with them. This system is not relished by the other operatives, but so potent
has been the influence of the active element that it has sometimes held the
others in awe, and in times gone by has even been so powerful that if one of
the trades-union men went into a mill and held up his hand, all the operatives
at once, quitting their machines, left the mill, and went outside to find out
why it was that they left their work. But it is hoped that the day of this
style of terrorism and despotism has gone by, and that the compulsory
system of school education, now in force in Massachusetts for factory
children, will put them in a position to control their own motions, rights, and
interests.
I 12
FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
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Pleasant Street. .
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Alden Street. . . .
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Bay Street
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Rodman Street. .
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Fall River Manufactor
Fall River Merino Co
Fall River Print Work
Flint Mills
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Tecumseh Mills
Troy C.&W. Manufact
Union Mill Co
Wampanoag Mills.. . .
Weetamoe Mills,. . . .
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ORGANIZATION OF CORPORATIONS.
President : Jefferson Borden.
Clerk and Treasurer : Walter Paine 3d.
Directors : ']e.Sex%o'[\ Borden, Philip D
AMERICAN LINEN COMPANY.
Borden
Borden,
I Richard B.
Paine 3d.
Annual Meeting-
George B. Durfee, Walter
2d Wednesday in February.
AMERICAN PRINT WORKS.
President : Jefferson Borden.
Clerk : Thomas J. Borden.
Agent and Treasurer : Thomas J. Borden.
Directois . Thomas J. Borden, Jefferson Borden,
Nathan Durfee, George B. Durfee, John S. Brayton.
Annual Meeting — 1st Tuesday in August.
ANNAWAN MANUFACTORY.
/•j-wjVi-K/.- Jefferson Borden. . Directors- Holder B. Durfee, Jefferson Borden,
Clerk and Treasurer: Thomas S. Borden. | Wm. B. Durfee, Wm. Valentine, R. B. Borden.
Annual Meeting — ist Tuesday in August.
BARNARD MANUFACTURING COMPANY.
President : Louis L. Barnard.
Clerk and Treasurer : Nathaniel B. Borden.
Directors . L. L. Barnard, Stephen Davol,Wm. H.
Jennings, A. D. Easton, Arnold B. Chace, Robert T.
Davis, Simeon Borden, James M. Aldrich, N. B.
Borden, Alphonso S. Covel, John Campbell, Jos. A
Bowen, Wm. H. Gifford.
Annual Meeting — 3d Thursday in January.
BORDER CITY MILLS.
President : S. Angier Chace. I Wilson, Chas. P. Stickney. Elijah C. Kilburn, Ches-
Clcrk and Treasurer : George T. Hathaway. ter W. Greene, Geo. T. Hathaway, James A. Halh-
Dircctors : S. A. Chace, David T. Wilcox, Job T. | away, Isaac Smith, George Parsons, H. B. Durfee.
Annual Meeting — 4th Wednesday in October.
CHACE MILLS.
President: Augustus Chace.
Clerk and Treasurer : Joseph A. Baker.
Henry, George W. Grinnell, Robert K. Remington,
Edward E. Hathaway. William Mason, Charles P.
Directors : Augustus Chace, Cook Borden, fames | Stickney, Joseph A. Baker.
Annual Meeting — In October.
CRESCENT MILLS.
President : Benjamin Covel.
Clerk and Treasurer ■ Alphonso S. Covel.
Directors. Benjamin Covel, Daniel A. Chapin,
Wm. B. Durfee, Alphonso S. Covel, Griffiths M.
Haffards, Joseph Brady, David F. Brown, John F.
Nichols, Lafayette Nichols.
Annual Meeting — 2d Wednesday in February.
DAVOL MILLS.
President . William C. Davol.
Clerk and Treasurer : Wm. C. Davol, Jr.
Directors : William C. Davol, Chas. P. Sticknev,
Foster H. Stafford, Frank S. Stevens, Jonathan
Slade, John P. Slade, Wm. W. Stewart, Edward E.
Hathaway, W. C. Davol, Jr.
Annual Meeting — in April.
114
FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
DURFEE MILLS.
President .■ John S. Brayton.
Clerk : Hezekiah A. Brayton.
Treasurer : David A. Brayton.
I Directors : John S. Brayton, David A. Brayton
I Israel P. Brayton.
I Annual Meeting — 2d Wednesday in October.
FALL RIVER BLEACHERY.
President: Jefferson Borden.
Clerk and Treasurer: Spencer Borden.
Directors: Jefferson Borden, Spencer Borden,
Richard B. Borden, Philip D. Borden, Bradford D.
Davol, Charles P. Stickney, Thomas Bennett, Jr.,
George B. Durfee, Crawford E. Lindsey.
Annual Meeting — last Monday in May.
FALL RIVER IRON WORKS COMPANY.
/■;•«/(/<■«/.• Jefferson Borden. | John S. Brayton, William B. Durfcc, Richard B
Clerk and Treasurer : Robert C. Brown. i Borden.
Directors : Jefferson Borden, Holder B. Durfee, | Annual Meeting — ist Tuesday in August.
FALL RIVER MANUFACTORY.
President : Holder B. Durfee.
Clerk: John S. Bravton.
Treasurer : S. Angler Chace.
I Angier Chace, Christopher Borden, James M. An-
j thony.
I Annual Meeting — 2d Tuesday in March.
Directors : Holder B. Durfee, John S. Brayton, S.
FALL RIVER MANUFACTURERS' MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY.
President: Stephen Davol.
Secj-eta>y and Treasurer : Isaac B. Chace.
Directors : Stephen Davol, S. A. Chace, D. A.
Brayton, T. J. Borden, Jefferson Borden, Wm. H.
Jennings, Walter Paine 3d, I. B. Chace, P. D.
Borden, R. B. Borden, E. C. Kilburn, Andrew G.
Pierce, George T. Hathaway, T. F. Eddy, George B.
Durfee.
Annual Meeting — 1st Wednesday in March.
FALL RIVER MERINO COMPANY.
President: Frank S. Stevens. I Robert T. Davis, Wm. Mason, Samuel M. Luther,
Clerk and Treasurer : Seth H. Wetherbee. Danforth Horton, John D. Flint, Samuel Wadington,
Directors : Frank S. Stevens, Foster H. Stafford, | Samuel W. Flint, S. H. Wetherbee,
Annual Meeting — 4th Thursday in January.
FALL RIVER PRINT WORKS.
President: Linden Cook. I Directors: Linden Cook, Charles P. Stickney,
Clerk and Treasurer: Andrew Robeson. | Andrew Robeson.
Annual Meeting — 4th Wednesday in January.
FALL RIVER RAILROAD.
President : Joseph R. Beauvais.
Clerk and Treasurer : Thos. B. Fuller.
Directors: J. R. Beauvais, C. R. Tucker, G. A.
Bourne, Geo. Wilson, G. S. Phillips, L. L. Kollock,
W. R. Wing, of New Bedford : R. T. Davis, J. D.
Flint, of Fall River ; L. S. Judd, of Fairhaven ; and
J. H. Perry, of Boston.
Annual Meeting — ist Wednesday in December.
FALL RIVER SPOOL AND BOBBIN COMPANY.
President : Cook Borden.
Clerk : Bradford D. Davol.
Treasurer: Nathan B, Everett.
Directors : Cook Borden, F. H. Stafford, Wm. H.
Jennings, Stephen Davol, David Bass, Jr., Wm.
Lindsey, Walter Paine 3d, Joseph Healy, Geo. T.
Hathaway, S. A. Chace, Aug. Chace.
Annual Meeting— last Tuesday in October.
ORGANIZATION OF CORPORATIONS.
1^5
FALL RIVER STEAMBOAT COMPANY.
President : Charles P. Stickney.
Clerk: Thomas J. Borden.
Treasurer : Charles P. Stickney.
Directors : Charles P. Stickney, Stephen Davol,
Philip D. Borden, S. Angier Chace, Daniel Brown,
Augustus Chace, T. J. Borden, Walter Paine 3d,
Robert K. Remington, Geo. B. Durfee.
.Annual Meeting — ist Tuesday in February.
FALL RIVER, WARREN AND PROVIDENCE RAILROAD COMPANY.
President : Onslow Stearns.
Clerk : John S. Brayton.
Treasurer : John M. Washburn.
I Directors : Onslow Stearns, Chas. F. Choate, Bos-
ton ; J. S. Brayton, T. J. Borden, Fall River; Benj.
I Finch, Newport ; E. N. Winslow, Hyannis.
Annual Meeting — 2d Monday in March.
FLINT MILLS.
President : (ohn D. Flint. I meon Borden, Wm. Carroll, Frank L. Almy, William
Clerk and Treasurer : Geo. H. Eddy. [ T. Hall, Gardner T. Dean, George H. Eddy, Junius
Directors : John D. Flint, Wm. H. Jennings, Si- | P. Prentiss, Samuel W. Flint, Danforth Horton.
Annual Meeting — ist Monday in November.
GRANITE MILLS.
President : William'Mason.
Clerk and Treasurer: Charles M. Shove.
Directors : Wm. Mason, Edmund Chase, Chas. P.
Stickney, John S. Brayton, Iram Smith, John P.
Slade, Charles M. Shove.
Annual Meeting — 4th Monday in October.
KING PHILIP MILLS.
President: Crawford E. Lindsey.
Clerk : Azariah S. Tripp.
Treasurer: Elijah C. Kilburn.
Directors : C. E. Lindsev, Jonathan Chace, Jas.
Henry, S. Angier Chace, Edwin Shaw, Philip D.
Borden, E. C. Kilburn, Benj. A. Chace, Simeon Bor-
den, Chas. H. Dem, William Lindsey.
Annual Meeting — last Thursday in October.
MANUFACTURERS' BOARD OF TRADE.
President : Walter Paine 3d.
Vice-President : Geo. T. Hathaway.
Secretary : Simeon B. Chase.
Treasurer : Isaac B. Chase.
Annual Meeting — 3d Friday in Januar)*.
MANUFACTURERS' GAS COMPANY.
President :
Clerk and Treasurer : Chas. P. Stickney.
Directors : S. Angier Chace, —
Au-
gustus Chace, Chas. P. Stickney, David A. Brayton,
Wm. C. Davol, Jr., Foster H. Stafford, Thomas
F. Eddy, Joseph .\. Baker.
Annual Meeting — 3d Monday in June.
MASSASOIT STEAM MILLS.
President :
Clerk : Charles Durfee.
Treasurer: Holder B. Durfee.
Directors .
B. Durfee.
, S. Angier Chace, Holder
Annual Meeting — 3d Monday in May.
ii6
FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
MECHANICS MILLS.
President : Stephen Davol.
Clerk : James M. Morton, Jr.
Treasurer : George B. Durfee.
Directors : Stephen Davol, Job B. French, Thos. J.
Borden, George B. Durfee, Tillinghast Records,
Southard H. Miller, James M. Morton, Jr., John B.
Hathaway, F. S. Stevens.
Annual Meeting — ist Thursday in February.
MERCHANTS MANUFACTURING COMPANY.
President : James Henry. I gustus Chace, Robert S. Gibbs, Chas. H. Dean,
Ckrk and Treasurer : Wm. H. Jennings. Crawford E. Lindsay, Jas. M. Osborn, Richard B.
Directors : \3.xa^^ Henry, Wm. H. Jennings, Au- 1 Borden, Robert T. Davis.
Annual Meeting — 4th Wednesday in January,
Agent : Thomas S. Borden.
METACOMET MILL.
I Owned by the Fall River Iron Works Co.
MONTAUP MILLS.
President : Geo. B. Durfee.
Cierk and Treasurer : Isaac Borden.
Directors : Geo. B. Durfee, Isaac Borden, Thos. J.
Borden, Wm. L. Slade, Holder B. Durfee, William
Valentine, Bradford D. Davol, Weaver Osborn, Geo.
H. Hawes, Wm. H. Ashley, Benj. Hall.
Agent : Jefferson Borden, Jr.
Annual Meeting — 4th Monday in October.
MOUNT HOPE MILL.
I Owned by American Print Works.
NARRAGANSETT MILLS.
President: Holder B. Durfee. Iter H. Stafford, Daniel McCowan. David T. Wilcox,
Clerk and Treasurer: James Waring. 'Samuel Watson, James P. Hillard, Robert Henry,
Directors : Holder B. Durfee, James Waring, Fos- 1 Samuel Wadington, Wm. Beattie, Geo. W. Nowell.
Annual Meeting — In October.
OLD COLONY RAILROAD COMPANY.
President : Onslow Stearns.
Clerk: George Marston.
Treasurer : John M. Washburn.
Directors ■ Onslow Stearns, Uriel Crocker, Chas.
F. Choate, F. B. Hayes, Boston ; Benj. Finch, New-
port ; Oliver Ames, Easton ; Samuel L. Crocker,
Taunton ; Jacob H. Loud, Plymouth ; J. S. Brayton,
T. J. Borden, Fall River , R. W. Turner, Randolph ;
E. N. Winslow, Hyannis ; P. S. Crowell, Dennis.
Annual Meeting — 4th Tuesday in November.
OLD COLONY STEAMBOAT COMPANY.
President : Onsiow Stearns.
Clerk : Chas. F. Choate.
Treasurer : John M. Washburn.
Directors : Onslow Stearns, C. F. Choate, Silas
Pierce, Jr., Boston : Benj. Finch, Newport ; T. J.
Borden, C. P. Stickney, Fall River; Albert Terrill,
Weymouth ; Oliver Ames, Easton ; Wm. Borden,
New York.
Annual Meeting — 4th Tuesday in June.
OSBORN MILLS.
President : Weaver Osborn.
Clerk and Treasurer : Joseph Healy.
Directors : Weaver Osborn, Frank
S. Stevens,
Charles P. Stickney, Joseph Osborn, John C. Milne,
Joseph Healy, Edward E. Hathaway, Geo. T. Hatha-
way, Benj. Hall, George W. Gibbs, Chas. H. Dean,
Annual Meeting — last Tuesday in April.
ORGANIZATION OF CORPORATIONS.
117
POCASSET MANUFACTURING COMPANY.
President : Samuel R. Rodman.
Clerk and Treasurer: Bradford D. Davol.
Annual Meeting-
I Agent : Stephen Davol.
I Directors : Stockholders, who meet quarterly,
-last Monday in January.
RICHARD BORDEN MANUFACTURING COMPANY.
President : Thomas J. Borden.
Clerk and Treasurer : Richard B. Borden.
Annual Meeting-
I Directors : Richard B. Borden, Thomas J. Borden,
I Philip D. Borden, A. S. Covel, Edward P. Borden.
-2d Tuesday in November.
ROBESON MILLS.
President : Charles P. Stickney.
Clerk and Treasurer : Louis Robeson.
Directors : Charles P. Stickney, Wm. R. Robeson,
Linden Cook, Wm. C. Davol, Jr., Frank S. Stevens,
Samuel M. Luther, Louis Robeson.
Annual Meeting — ist Monday in Februar)'.
SAGAMORE MILLS.
President : Josiah C. Blaisdell.
Clerk and Treasurer : Geo. T. Hathaway.
Directors : J. C. Blaisdell, L. L. Barnard, John D.
Flint, James W. Hartley, Geo. T. Hathaway, Jos.
McCreery, James A. Hathaway, Job T. Wilson.
Annual Meeting — 4th Monday in October.
SHOVE MILLS.
President : John P. Slade.
Clerk and Treasure* : George A. Chace.
Directors : John P. Slade, Geo. A. Chace, William
Mason of Taunton, Edmund Chase, Lloyd S. Earle,
Josiah C. Blaisdell, Isaac W. Rowland, Charles M.
Shove, H. B. Allen, Asa Pettey, Joseph E. Macom-
ber, Clark Shove, George W. Slade.
Annual Meeting — in February.
SLADE MILLS.
President: William L. Slade.
Clerk : John C. Milne.
Treasurer: Henry S. Fenner.
Directors : Wm. L. Slade, S. Angier Chace, Jerome
Dwelly, Wm. Valeraine, Frank S. Stevens, Richard
B. Borden, Benj. Hall, James M. Osborn, Jonathan
Slade, John C. Milne, Daniel Wilbur.
Annual Meeting — last Tuesday in January.
STAFFORD MILLS.
President : Foster H. Stafford.
Clerk and Treasurer: Shubael P. Lovell.
Agent : Foster H. Stafford.
Directors : F. H. Stafford, Wm. C. Davol, Chas. P.
Stickney, Robert T. Davis, Edmund Chase, Danforth
Horton, Wm.L. Slade, Weaver Osborn, Wm. Mason.
Annual Meeting — 4th Tuesday in January.
TECUMSEH MILLS.
President : Augustus Chace.
Clerk and Treasurer : Simeon B. Chase.
Directors: Augustus Chace, Cook Borden, Jona.
T. Lincoln, Andrew M. Jenning, Samuel Wadington,
D. T. Wilcox, John Southworth, S. B. Chase.
Annual Meeting — 4th Tuesday in October.
TROY COTTON AND WOOLEN MANUFACTORY.
President : Jefferson Borden.
Clerk and Treasurer : Richard B. Borden.
Annual Meeting-
I Directors : Jefferson Borden, Stephen Davol, Thos.
I J. Borden, John S. Br.iyton, Richard B. Borden.
-1st Tuesday in February.
Il8 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
UNION BELT COMPANY.
President : Richard B. Borden.
Clerk and Treasurer : A. S. Covel.
Agent : William H. Chace.
Directors: R. B. Borden, \V. Paine 3d, B. D.
Davol, Wm. H. Chace, A. S. Covel, E. C. Kilburn,
T. J. Borden.
Annual Meeting — 3d Thursday in January.
UNION MILL COMPANY.
President : John B. Anthony. I Wm. Mason, Elijah C. Kilburn, Charles P. Dring,
Clerk and Treasurer : S. Angier Chace. 1 Foster H. Stafford,
Directors : John B. Anthony, S. Angier Chace, | Annual Meeting — 3d Monday in January.
WAMPANOAG MILLS.
President : Robert T. Davis.
Clerk and Treasurer : Walter C. Durfee.
Directors : Robert T. Davis, W. C. Durfee, John
D. Flint, Stephen Davol, Foster H. Stafford, Wm. H.
Jennings, Geo. H. Eddy, Lloyd S. Earle, Simeon
Borden, Alphonso S. Covel, John H. Boone.
Annual Meeting — 4th Monday in January.
WfeETAMOE MILLS.
President: Job'B. French. I Josiah C. Blaisdell, Francis B. Hood, Henry C.
Clerk : John E. Blaisdell. Lincoln, Wm. Lindsey, John P. Slade, Wm. H.
Treasurer: William Lindsey. | Ashley, Charles H. Dean.
Directors : Job B. French, Elijah C. Kilburn, Annual Meeting — 4th Wednesday in January.
SKETCH OF EACH CORPORATION.
The following somewhat detailed notices of the different corporations,
embodying facts, figures, and general information, which could not well be
introduced in the cour.se of the narrative, it is believed will be of value as
well as of interest.
The Fall River Manufactory.
As full an account as was possible of the organization of this mill, which
shares with the Troy Cotton and Woollen Company the credit of initiating
the manufacture in Fall River, has been given in preceding pages. The fac-
tory erected in 1813 was enlarged in 1827, and again in 1839. In 1868 it
was entirely destroyed by fire. During the next year the present mill, con-
siderably larger than the original structures, was erected.
The Fall River Manufactory was incorporated in 1820, with a capital of
$150,000. The destruction of the records unfortunately prevents the same
detail of its first year's experience that has been furnished of the Troy.
Dexter Wheeler, who was David Anthony's most active associate in putting
up and equipping the first factory, was a mechanic of very good ability. He
died in 1836, at the age of fifty-nine. It is unfortunate that memory preserves
no more facts of a man who is regarded by many as having exerted a para-
mount influence in developing the early enterprise of the place. That he was
SKETCHES OF CORPORATIONS. 119
something of an inventor as well as machinist, the contrivance and actual
operation of the power-looms made by him sufficiently evidence. During
his practical solution of the weaving problem, tradition says, he labored so
incessantly, giving neither mind nor body rest for consecutive days, that a
temporary aberration was the result.
The present factory of this corporation is of stone, 275 feet long, jt, feet
wide, and five stories high, with a flat roof. It is built directly across the
stream, and utilizes the fall by two turbine wheels of 140 horse-power each.
As a supplementary motor the mill also operates a Corliss engine of 300 horse-
power, fed by two upright boilers. The mill contains 600 looms and 25,992
spindles. Its production is print cloth, of which 7,000,000 yards are annually
made, consuming 3000 bales of cotton. Provision is made against fire by
the constant readiness of two large force-pumps, and stand-pipes and hydrants
connected with the city water-works.
The present list of stockholders of this company numbers forty-seven.
The company owns thirty-eight tenement houses for its operatives. Dr.
Nathan Durfee was president of the company up to the time of his death.
The Troy Cotton and Woolen Manufactory,
incorporated in 18 14, has a capital of $300,000. The several alterations of the
mill structures have been fully detailed. The factories of the Troy Company
front on Troy street, running from Bedford to Pleasant street, and occupy
half of the block upon which the United States Government is now erecting
a fine public building for the post-office and other purposes. The number of
looms operated is 932, and of spindles 38,928, producing 10,250,000 yards of
print cloth, and working up 4000 bales of cotton in a year.
The Pocasset Manufacturing Company
has a present capital of $800,000. As the third cotton-manufacturing enter-
prise in the place, its large agency in the general development has been
frequently observed in the course of the general narrative.
The original stockholders of the Pocasset were eight in number, namely,
Samuel Rodman, Abraham Bowen, Oliver Chace, Clark Chase, William
Slade, Nathaniel B. Borden, Nathaniel Wheeler, and Edward Bennett. The
capital was fixed at $400,000, but was increased to $800,000 in 1849. The
company own two factories, namely, the Quequechan Mill for the manufac-
ture of print cloths, and the Pocasset Mill, for the manufacture of sheetings
and shirtings.
The Quequechan Mill commenced operation in 1826. It is built of
stone, 319 feet long, 48 feet wide, and five stories high, with a pitch roof,
and contains 16,392 spindles and 492 looms.
I20 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
The Pocasset Mill commenced running in 1847. It is also built of stone,
208 feet long, 75 feet wide, and five stories high, with a pitch roof and a square
tower on the end which fronts the street. It was the first of the wide mills,
so called, and contains 20,352 spindles and 422 looms. The machinery is run
by a Corliss engine and three turbine wheels. The fire apparatus consists of
two force-pumps, stand-pipes, hydrants, sprinklers, and complete connections
with the city water-works. The company owns fifty-four tenements and
employs 550 operatives.
The present number of stockholders is twenty-one.
The Annawan Manufactory.
Abraham Wilkinson, Benjamin Rodman, Bradford Durfee and their
associates were incorporated Fei^ruary 8, 1825, under this name, which claims
historic interest as that of one of King Philip's most famous captains. One
of the lower water privileges on the Fall River stream was purchased of the
Fall River Iron Works Company, and a brick mill, with finished stone in the
lower stories, immediately erected under the supervision of Major Bradford
Durfee. This mill building, extending from bank to bank of the stream, is
still standing, and is 181 feet long by 46 feet wide, and five stories high,
including basement. The machinery is run by a turbine wheel, assisted
occasionally by a small engine of 50 horse-power. The Annawan contains
10,016 spindles and 192 looms, and works up about a thousand bales of cotton
annually in the production of 2,150,000 yards of print cloth. Its fire appa-
ratus consists of one rotary force-pump, hydrants, and connections with the
city water-works. It is lighted by gas from the works of the Fall River Gas
Company. Thirty-two tenements are provided for the accommodation of the
operatives. The capital stock was originally divided into thirty-two shares,
and taken by thirteen subscribers. The present number of stockholders is
twenty-eight.
The Metacomet Mill,
owned exclusively by the Fall River Iron Works Company, was erected in
1847. The factory is placed on the west bank of the Fall River stream,
just below the lower fall. It is built of stone, 247 feet long, 70 feet wide, and
five stories high, with basement and a barn roof The machinery, of which
about two thirds is American, is arranged for the manufacture of print
cloths 64 by 64. It contains 23,840 spindles and 591 looms, and manufac-
tures about 6,500,000 yards of cloth annually, from 2500 bales of cotton.
The motive power is a single Corliss engine, rated at 375 horse-power, and
turbine wheels which carry about one third of the machinery. The steam is
generated in three upright boilers of 180 horse-power each. Protection from
SKETCHES OF CORPORATIOxMS. 121
fire is furnished by a steam pump, wheel pump, stand-pipes, and connections
with the city water-works. The mill is lighted by gas from the Fall River
Gas Works. The company owns fifty-si.x tenements.
The American Linen Company,
incorporated in 1852, for the manufacture of linen fabrics, owns two mills,
both built of Fall River granite. The No. i Mill, 301 feet long, 63 feet wide,
and four stories high, with a barn roof, was erected in 1852, and designed
for the manufacture of linen fabrics. In 1858 it was decided to change the
production to cotton print cloths, and the mill was accordingly enlarged by
the addition of another story, the other dimensions remaining as before. The
No. 2 Mill, built in 1866, was 393 feet long, 72 feet wide, and five stories
high, with basement, and a barn roof On th-e 29th of June, 1876, a destruc-
tive fire broke out in the fourth story of this mill, used as a mule-room, and
before it could be mastered burned out the upper two stories, besides occa-
sioning considerable damage to the lower rooms. Immediate preparations
were made for rebuilding, and within four months the mill was in operation
again. A flat roof was substituted for the barn roof, which had proved so
dangerous in case of fire.
The mills contain 82,512 spindles and 1956 looms. Each mill is
dependent on the other — the No. i Mill, not being suited to the long mules
used in the manufacture of cotton goods, is occupied for the carding, warping,
spinning, and spooHng processes, while in the lower three stories of the No.
2 Mill is done all the weaving, and in the upper two stories the weft spin-
ning, etc.
The machinery is driven by two double and one single Corliss engine,
the steam for which is furnished by sixteen tubular boilers.
Eight thousand five hundred bales of cotton are worked up annually
into 21,000,000 yards of print cloths, 64 by 64. The company employs 1000
hands, and has provided 1 10 tenements for the accommodation of their
families.
Protection against fire is furnished by two powerful steam pumps, stand-
pipes, hydrants, and sprinklers in each mill ; connections with city water
throughout, and a hose company detailed from the operatives in the mill.
James P. Hillard has been superintendent for many years.
The present number of stockholders is seventy-five.
The Union Mill Company,
incorporated in 1859, '^^'-11 be remembered as the first result of a movement
to establish industries upon the basis of general subscriptions of the com-
122 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
munity. At this period steam iiad been introduced as a motive power into
but few mills in Fall River.
In the summer of this year, Mr. Hale Remington conceived an enter-
prise which developed into the organization of the Union Mill Company and
the erection of the No. i Mill of that corporation.
Mr. Remington invited Mr. David Anthony, Mr. S. A. Chace, and Mr.
Oliver Chace to join him. Mr. Anthony was quite advanced in years. He
had been one of the earh' manufacturers of the town, but had retired from
active business. He was of sound judgment, and his early experience made
him a good adviser.
These gentlemen together fully decided upon the practicability of the
movement. Mr. Oliver Chace owned a large tract of unimproved property
in the southerly part of the city. He wished the mill located upon it. This
land was carefully inspected, but no site was found quite satisfactory to Mr.
S. A. Chace.
The latter then looked over the town and selected the site upon the
Quequechan River, and having taken his associates to that location, they at
once agreed with him in his choice.
Mr. Oliver Chace fully concurred in the wisdom of the choice, but
withdrew because he wished all his investments to benefit his landed estate.
The other gentlemen purchased the land and matured their plans for the
erection of a print-cloth mill of about 15,000 spindles, and the organization of
a corporation with a capital of $175,000, in shares of $1000 each. This stock
was soon pledged by about twenty gentlemen, whose subscriptions varied from
one share to twenty. Mr. Josiah Brown was employed as architect and
draftsman, and much advice was given by Mr. William C. Davol.
The erection of the mill building was commenced in the month of
August and was completed in December. The cotton machinery was built
by Marvel, Davol & Co., of Fall River, and William Mason, of Taunton ; the
engines by the Corliss Steam Engine Company, of Providence. The whole
establishment was completed and in operation early in March, i860.
The corporation was organised under the General Statutes on the 31st
day of December, 1859, by the election of S. Angier Chace, president ; David
Anthony, treasurer ; Simeon Borden, clerk ; and S. A. Chace, David Anthony,
Hale Remington, William Mason, Charles O. Shove, and Charles P. Dring,
directors.
The enterprise proved signally successful, and has led to the starting in
Fall River of more than 1,000,000 cotton spindles, and a relative growth of
the city in every direction.
In 1865 the company erected its No. 2 Mill, of about 30,000 spindles,
SKETCHES OF CORPORATIONS. 123
without any increase of the capital stock. Twenty shares of the stock have
since been purchased by the company, and the capital reduced to $155,000.
The present number of stockholders is thirty-one.
The Granite Mills,
so called from the material of their two fine structures, was the first enter-
prise established during the dark days of the war.
For several years, Charles O. Shove, Esq., had contemplated the erection
of a cotton-mill. In the early part of 1863, with the co-operation of Edmund
Chase (with whom he had had many conferences upon the subject) and
others, he took the preliminary steps for the organization of a company with
a capital of $225,000, divided into shares of $1000 each.
A charter was secured under date of March 3d, 1863, by which William
Mason, Southard H. Miller, Charles O. Shove, and their associates were
incorporated as the "Granite Mills."
William Mason was elected president; Charles O. Shove, treasurer ; and
William Mason, Lazarus Borden, Edmund Chase, Samuel Hathaway, Charles
O. Shove, and Charles P. Stickney, the first board of direction.
A mill site was purchased, comprising the lot fronting on Twelfth street,
and extending from Pleasant to Bedford street, and the construction imme-
diately commenced of a factory 328 feet long by ;o feet wide, and five stories
high, with a barn roof Prudential considerations, due to the uncertainty
which prevailed in business circles at the time, led the managers to contract
at first for machinery for but half of the mill. In Mav, 1864, however, it was
determined to increase the capital stock to $400,000, and to put the whole
mill into complete running order. Two months later (July, 1864), the stock
was further increased to $415,000, but reduced again in 1871 to $400,000.
The plans, specifications, drawings, and indeed the estimates for the establish-
ment in its entirety, were tabulated by Mr. Shove, the prime mover of the
enterprise.
Owing to some delay in receiving the machinery, and the enormous
price to which cotton advanced, the mill did not commence running until
January, 1865, and the first lot of cotton manufactured into print cloths netted
the company a loss of $60,000. But better times soon dawned, the mill be-
gan to run at a profit, paid up its indebtedness, remunerated its stockholders
handsomely, and in 1871 it was determined to build a new structure on land
bought on the north side of Bedford street, and quite contiguous to their first
purchase.
This mill, also of granite, is 378 feet long, 74 feet wide, and five stories
high, and when finished was considered one of the most perfect in the city,
124
FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
harmonious in proportions, stately in appearance, and complete in detail.
Every provision for the comfort and safety of the operatives, and the manu-
facture of the raw cotton into the finished cloth, that industrial science could
suggest, was adopted, and experts regarded the two mills as models and
standards of excellence. But experience, " that dear school for learners,"
taught that perfection had not yet been attained. On the morning of Sep-
tember 19th, 1874, a fire started in the mule-room of the No. i Mill, which soon
got beyond control, and the dense black masses of smoke, terrifying the
operatives in the upper stories, created a panic, which prevented their using
the means of escape at hand, and numbers threw themselves from the upper
story to the ground. Twenty-three persons were killed and thirty-three
wounded in this dreadful calamity. The upper stories of the mill were burned
before the fire was subdued.
As soon as the debris could be cleared away, the mill was rebuilt with a
flat roof, however, instead of the barn roof, which through its inaccessibility
had proved itself a very fire-fiend, and every additional safeguard furnished
that experience or wisdom could suggest. Five distinct means of escape are
now provided on every story of the mill. Tanks of water are placed over-
head, and sprinkler pipes liberally distributed to every part of the structure.
There are five stand-pipes to each mill, and hydrants connected with the city
water-works, besides two powerful force-pumps, one in each building, con-
nected by a pipe underground, so that both can be used on one mill should
necessity require. The recurrence of another such calamity thus seems to
have been put beyond the possibility of a contingency.
The company owns about eleven acres of land, and has built nearly
one hundred tenements for the accommodation of its operatives. The
machinery of the No. i Mill, mostly of American manufacture, is propelled by
a double Corliss engine of 650 horse-power, fed by twenty-four cylinder
boilers. Water for steam purposes is drawn through a canal from the upper
Fall River stream. The engine of the No. 2 Mill is also a double Corliss
engine of 750 horse-power, with twenty-four cylinder boilers for the genera-
tion of steam. The machinery, spinning-mules, and fly-frames are English,
the remainder American. The No. i Mill contains 33,856 spindles and 860
looms; the No. 2 Mill, 44,664 spindles and 1008 looms Nine thousand bales
of cotton are used in the annual production of about 2 1 ,500,000 yards of print
cloths, 64 by 64. The company employs 900 operatives, with a monthly pay-
roll of $22,000. The mills are lighted by gas from the Fall River Gas Works.
The present number of stockholders is sixty. In July, 1875, Charles O. Shove,
the originator of the enterprise, who had managed the manufacturing and
SKETCHES OF CORPORATIONS. 125
financial departments of the company from the beginning, died after a short
illness, and his son, Charles M. Shove, was elected his successor.
The Robeson Mills.
For some years previous to the death of Andrew Robeson, Sn, in
1862, the subject of a cotton-mill to be erected at some future time was
frequently discussed by himself, William R. Robeson, Samuel Hathaway, and
Linden Cook. The idea did not assume tangible form, however, until some
years after the death of Mr. Andrew Robeson, Senior. In 1865, it was
determined to realize the project, and to erect a mill upon land belonging
to the Rodman estate on Hartwell street, a short distance above the upper
or Troy dam. A meeting for organization was held December ist, 1865, at
which a board of directors was chosen, consisting of Andrew Robeson
Jr., Charles P. Stickney, Samuel Hathaway, William C. Davol, Jr., Linden
Cook, Samuel Castner, and losiah Brown. Samuel Hathawav was elected
president, and Linden Cook treasurer. The new corporation took the name
Robeson Mills, from Andrew Robeson, Sr., and was duly incorporated
February 20, 1866. A brick mill, three stories high, with a French roof, 222
feet long and 76 feet wide, was erected during the year 1866, after plans
furnished by Josiah Brown, architect. It was filled with American machinery,
and commenced running in March, 1867. In 1875 the mill was considerably
enlarged, by taking off the French roof, carrying up the walls two stories
higher, and finishing with a flat roof The mill now runs 21,632 spindles and
552 looms, and manufactures annually 6,500,000 yards of print cloths 64 by 64,
from 2500 bales of cotton. The motive power is furnished by two Corliss
engines, a high-pressure of 160 horse-power and a low-pressure of 217 horse-
power. The steam is generated by eighteen cylinder boilers. Water is con-
veyed directly to the mill by a canal dug from the stream. The mill is lighted
by gas from the Manufacturers' Gas Company. The fire apparatus consists
of two force-pumps, stand-pipes, hydrants connected with the city water-
works, and sprinklers distributed through the three upper stories and picker-
house. The company owns about seven acres of land, and has provided thirty-
three tenements for its operatives. The present number of stockholders is
twenty-five.
The Tecumseh Mills.
The demand which arose at the close of the war for cotton fabrics of all
kinds gave an immense stimulus to the business, and led to the enlarging of
the mills already in existence and to the building of still others. The "Te-
cumseh Mills" was a direct outgrowth of this demand and the improved
prospect for all business enterprises. Some steps looking to the formation of
126 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
the company were taken in the latter part of 1865, but the firsi regular
meeting for organization was not held until February 17, 1866. An act of
incorporation, under date of I^'ebruar}' 8th, 1866, had been secured, by which
Augustus Chace, James W. Hartley, John P. Slade, and their associates were
incorporated as the " Tecumseh Mills Company," with a capital of $350,000
in shares of $1000 each. This stock was taken by eighty-nine subscribers.
Land was purchased on Hartwell street, bordering also on the Ouequechan
River, a short distance above the upper or Troy dam, and immediate steps
taken for the erection of a mill of about 20,000 spindles. Augustus Chace
was elected president, Isaac B. Chace treasurer, and the following board of
direction, namely : Augustus Chace, James W. Hartley, Louis L. Barnard,
Lazarus Borden, Jonathan T. Lincoln, Cook Borden, and Danforth Horton.
The necessary contracts were made, and in the course of the year the mill
was erected, filled with machinery, and put in operation.
In 1872 it was determined by the corporation to build another mill of
about the same capacity as the first, on land bought for the purpose on Eight
Rod Way. This project was also consummated, and the mill started up in
1873. The company now owns two mills, built of granite, for the manufac-
ture of print cloths 64 by 64. The No. i Mill contains 20,480 spindles and
480 looms, and is ig6 feet long, 72 feet wide, and five stories high, with a
pitch roof The machinery is mostly of foreign make, and is driven by a
Corliss engine, built at Taunton, of 400 horse-power. Steam is supplied by
four tubular boilers.
The No. 2 Mill contains 21,686 spindles and 534 looms, and is 200 feet
long, 74 feet wide, and five stories high on the south, six on the north, with a
pitch roof The machinery is also mostly of foreign manufacture, and is
driven by a Corliss horizontal engine of 400 horse-power. Steam is generated
in fifteen C3'linder boilers.
The production of both mills is about 12,000,000 yards of print cloths
per annum. The consumption of cotton is 4500 bales. Four hundred opera-
tiv^es are employed, with a monthly pay-roll of $12,000. The company has
all the best and most recent improvements for the prevention of fire, includ-
ing force-pumps, stand-pipes, hydrants, sprinklers, and connection with the
city water-works. The mills are lighted by gas from the Manufacturers' Gas
Company. The company owns nine acres of land and fifty-three tenements.
The present number of stockholders is ninety-nine.
The Durfee Mills
probably present the finest view to the eye that seeks something like artistic
effect in this great congregation of factories. They consist of two very large
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SKETCHES OF CORPORATIONS. 127
five-Story structures at right angles with Pleasant street, occupying a large
square beautifully grassed, and fronted by a handsome iron fence. The
buildings, including a spacious office structure which stands between them,
are of granite. The company was organized in 1S66, with a capital of
$500,000, and named after Major Bradford Durfec, whose son, since deceased,
was the principal stockholder and original president. Mill No. i was erected
the same year, and its companion in 1871. The company runs 87,424
spindles and 2064 looms, being the largest capacity of any corporation in
Fall River. Its production is print cloth, of which 23,000,000 yards are
annually made, consuming 9500 bales of cotton, and employing 950 opera-
tives. The number of stockholders is seven.
The Davol Mills Company
was organized December ist, 1866 — nineteen persons contributing the entire
capital of $270,000 — and named after one of the conspicuous promoters of
cotton manufacturing, William C. Davol. A site was selected above the dam
and on the west side of the pond, in such proximity to the latter as to assure
a convenient supph' of pure water for steam purposes. Ground was broken
for the foundation, April ist, 1867, and on the nth of March, 1868, the first
yard of cloth was woven. The mill structure is essentially different in design
and material from the Fall River type of long, straight granite factories.
The mill proper forms two sides of a quadrangle, the picker, engine, and
boiler houses constituting the remainder. The mill and out-buildings are of
brick, the former four stories high, flat roof, and with its two sections 457 long
and "jT, feet broad. The machineiy is entirely of American manufacture.
The production of the Davol Mills is shirtings, sheetings, silesias, and
fancy fabrics. The shirtings stand very high in the retail market, and at the
Centennial E.xhibition elicited, not only the highly commendatory award of
the Commissioners, but the admiration of the visitors and particularly of the
European experts. The company now numbers thirt3'-five stockholders.
The Merchants Manufacturing Company,
organized October 24th, 1866, operates the largest distinct mill in Fall River,
and few larger are known to us in New England. The promotion of this
conspicuous enterprise was due to the great business energy and tact of Mr.
William H. Jennings, who, after digesting carefully his scheme, secured all the
capital ($800,000) in the brief period of two days. The site selected for the
factory was the lot now bounded by Bedford and Pleasant, and Thirteenth
and Fourteenth streets, then owned bv the heirs of N. B. Borden and other
parties. This property was purchased in preference to the Wardrope estate,
at first decided upon, but finally considered to be too limited in area.
,28 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
On the 2d November, a permanent organization of the company was
arranged, W. H. Jennings being chosen treasurer and corporation clerk,
and James Henr)^ W. H. Jennings, Augustus Chase, L. L. Barnard, Robert
S. Gibbs, Charles H. Dean, Crawford E. Lindsey, Robert K. Remington, and
Lafayette Nichols, directors. At a subsequent meeting James Henry was
made president, and Mr. Jennings, clerk.
Ground was at once broken for the erection of a factory, Lazarus
Borden superintending the design as building architect, Tillinghast Records
being master mason, and James B. Luther, master carpenter. The design
contemplated a structure of Fall River granite, 397 feet long by 92^^ broad,
six stories in height, including a Mansard roof, with a capacity for 54,324
spindles and 1242 looms. The work of building pushing on rapidly, in Jan-
uary, 1867, Mr. Jennings, accompanied b)- Lazarus Borden, embarked for
England, for the purpose of purchasing the picking, speeding, and spinning
machinery in Manchester. The mill was -completely finished during the last
days of 1867 — the English machinery arriving coincidently — turned out its
first cloth in February, 1868, and in the early fall was in full operation. Its
production has been print cloth, 64 by 64.
In connection with building matters, the company purchased twelve
additional acres of land on Pine, Davis, Plane, Cherry, and Locust streets, and
on a part of it erected one hundred tenement houses for its operatives.
The business proving successful, at a special meeting, January 2, 1871,
the stockholders authorized their directors to proceed at once to the erection
of an addition to the mill structure, it being considered better to enlarge the
original building than to build a distinct mill. The new erection was com-
menced early in the spring, Samuel Luther supervising the masonry, and
David G. Baker the wood work. Early in 1872, the addition was completed
and filled with English machinery in full operation. The Merchants Mill,
thus extended, contains, under one roof, 85,570 spindles and 1942 looms.
The Merchants, in all features of perfection, the structure of the mill,
the excellence and amplitude of its machinery, the simplicity for so immense
an establishment of its labor organizat-ion, and the admirably devised and
sustained economy of its successive stages of production, is a superb ex-
ample of the industrial triumphs of Fall River. The number of its stock-
holders is two hundred and fifty.
The Mechanics Mills
claims attention as the enterprise next following the Merchants, in the print-
cloth production, and particularly by its location in the extreme northern
district of the city, founding a new colony and setting the first example of
erecting a mill at any distance from the stream.
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SKETCHES OF CORPORATIONS. 1 29
By a special charter granted by the Legislature of Massachusetts, May
25th, 1868, Thomas J. Borden, Stephen Davol, Lazarus Borden, and their
associates were incorporated as the Mechanics Mills.
The charter was accepted, and the corporation organized Julv ist, 1868,
and the following officers were chosen, namely : President and agent, Thomas
J. Borden ; clerk and treasurer, D. H. Dyer ; directors, Thomas J. Borden,
Stephen Davol, Lazarus Borden, Job B. French, Southard H. Miller, B. M.
C. Durfee, Tillinghast Records, James M. Morton, Jr., and A. D. Easton.
The original scheme was to build a mill 375 feet long, 92 feet wide, and
three stories high. At a meeting of the stockholders, held July 9th, 1868, it
was determined to increase the size of the mill by the addition of two stories
in height, and a wing on the rear for opening and picker rooms, engine-room,
and boiler-house, the mill to contain 53,712 spindles and 1248 looms. The
capital stock was fixed at $750,000, divided into 7500 shares of $100 each.
The stock was largely distributed among parties of small means, there being
in all 328 stockholders, 188 of whom owned from one to ten shares each, and
•jT, owned from eleven to twenty-five shares each, making 261 stockholders,
no one of whom owned over $2500 of the stock, and averaging less than
$1000 each. The organization of the Merchants Manufacturing Company in
1867, with a capital of $800,000, and about 250 stockholders, and of the
Mechanics Mills in 1868, with a capital of $750,000, and 328 stockholders,
were the development of a new feature in the ownership of manufacturing
property in Fall River, all previous enterprises of the kind having been asso-
ciations of parties of considerable wealth, while these two were the result of
bringing together in large amounts the funds of parties of very moderate
capital, and enabling them to receive all the advantages in the conduct
of the business that persons of ample means, associated together in
small numbers, derived. The Mechanics Mills scheme was in other aspects
somewhat of an innovation upon the previous practice in Fall River. All
of the cotton-mills of any magnitude previously built had been located near,
and took their supply of water, either for power or for making steam, from
the outlet of Watuppa Lake to tide-water. The location selected for the
Mechanics Mills was in the northerly section of the citv, bordering upon the
Taunton River, at its junction with Mount Hope Bay, about one and a half
miles north of the outlet of the Quequechan River.
This section had previously been occupied solely bv private residences
there having been no mechanical or manufacturing establishments in the
vicinity. A wharf, about 400 feet long and 100 feet wide, was built at the
westerly side of the mill site, where all coal for the use of the mill is landed
within a few rods of the boilers.
I30 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
Water for the boilers was obtained by digging a well i8 feet diameter,
inside, and of sufficient depth to secure a permanent supplv.
For two or three years this mill was entirely isolated from the other
manufacturing establishments of the city, and was regarded by the operatives
as being quite out of town, but the rapid extension of the cotton industry has
resulted in the erection of five other mills still farther north, making: six
factories in that neighborhood, aggregating 225,528 spindles and 5448 looms.
This colony of mills is about two miles north of those Ivins: along- the stream,
and constituting the central group. As a third group of five mills is located
in the vicinity of Laurel Lake, about the same remove south of the centre of
the city, the extreme distance from the most northerly to the most southerly
mills of the city is over four miles.
The location of this northerly group of mills being two and a half to
three miles from the granite quarries in the easterly part of the city, and very
accessible either by rail or tide-water to the brick-yards of Taunton, all of
these six mills have been built of brick.
The Mechanics Mills was the first new mill in the country provided
with slashers for dressing warps — a system which has since almost entirely
superseded the old method of dressing, as it can be operated for about one
quarter the expense, a larger percentage of reduction in cost of production
than has been made in any other department of cotton manufacturing since
the invention of the self-operating mule.
The following changes have occurred in the officers of the corporation
since its original organization :
February 3d, 1870, James M. Morton, Jr., was chosen clerk; February 2,
1 87 1, Thomas J. Borden was chosen treasurer, and resigning the office of
president, Stephen Davol was chosen to that position; February, 1876,
Thomas J. Borden resigned the office of treasurer, and George B. Durfee was
elected to fill the vacancy.
Two of the original directors, Lazarus Borden and B. M. C. Durfee,
have died, and Mr. A. D. Easton resigned. These vacancies have been filled
by the election of John B. Hathaway, George B. Durfee, and Frank S.
Stevens.
The erection of the mill commenced in the summer of 1868, and was
completed and the machinery set up by June, 1869, the establishment being
in full operation in December. The company has about twelve acres of land,
exclusive of mill site and wharf, and has built one hundred and twenty-six
tenements. The fire-prevention of the mill is ample, comprising Parmelee's
automatic sprinklers in the upper three stories and the opener and picker
rooms, connected with the city water-works, as well as stand-pipes, front and
SKEVCHKS OF CORPORATIONS. j :- ,
rear, one each side ul' the tower and one in the tower, extending to the roof,
all operated by a powerful force-pumj). In addition to this extraordinary
provision, the mill yard has its hydrants, always in working order, and a large
supph' of hose and apparatus is in easy recourse.
The "Stafford Mills"
was organized under the Cycneral Statutes of Massachusetts, December 12th,
1870, with a capital of 8500,000, in shares of $100 each. Foster H. Stafford
was elected president and agent, and Shubael P. Lovell clerk and treasurer,
with the following board of directors : F. H. Stafford, Samuel Hathaway,
Charles P. Stickney, Robert T. Davis, William C. Davol, William L. Slade,
Danforth Horton, Edmund Chase, and \Veaver Osborn.
On the i8th of March, i87i,this corporation was dissolved, and the sub-
scribers, twentv-two in number^ reorganized under a special charter granted
by the commonwealth to Charles P. Stickney, Samuel Hathaway, Foster H.
Stafford, and their associates, as the " Stafford Mills," with a capital of
$550,000. The persons chosen officers in the first organization were elected
to the same positions under the special charter.
The company assumed the name of " Stafford Mills," in honor of their
president, who was the projector of the enterprise, and whose long experience,
untiring devotion to the business, and proved skill and success had justly
earned him the confidence and esteem of his associates.
Mr. Stafford is one of the few practical manufacturers of to-day, whose
life has compassed almost the whole range of cotton manufacture from its
beginning in this country.
Having entered the mill when a boy, scarcely more than seven or eight
years of age, he has been connected with it in various capacities for more
than fifty years. Coming to Fall River in 1842, he was for ten years the
superintendent of the old Fall River and Annawan manufactories. When
Mr. Lazarus Borden resigned the superintendency of the Metacomet Mill, that,
too, was joined to these, and he continued in the charge of all three until
1859. Desiring then to enter into business for himself, he removed to Paw-
tucket, and with his brother commenced the manufacture of thread. In 1859
the new enterprise of the Union Mill was projected, and the managers, in
casting about for some one to superintend the operations, speedily placed
themselves in communication with Mr. Stafford, and the success of that
experiment was due in no small degree to the practical knowledge and skill
of Mr. Stafford. After ten years' service at the Union Mills, during which a
second mill was built, of twice the capacity of the first, without any increase
of capital or assessment on the stockholders, dividends paid amounting to
,32 FALL RIVRR AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
several times the original subscripliun, and the stock increased more than
five-fold in value, leading the way for many enterprises of a similar character
w^hich have followed — Mr. Stafford resigned his position, and with Mr. Samuel
Hathaway and others organized and put into successful operation the new
enterprise of the " Stafford Mills."
Land was purchased at a spot known as White Brook, at the junction of
the old Bedford road and Pleasant street, not far distant from the upper part of
the Quequechan River. Work on the foundation was begun in April, 1871,
and some portions of the machinery were started the next January. The mill is
built of granite, 374 feet long, 70 feet wide, and five stories high, with an L
for engine-house, boilers, |)icker-house, etc. Stairways are placed at each end,
and thus the whole space is rendered available, while safe means of ingress
and egress are afforded. As Mr. Stafford quaintly says, " Towers don't pay
dividends" — the tower was omitted. The machinery is partly foreign, and
occasioned considerable delay in starting up the mill on account of its non-
arrival. The engine is a double Corliss of 600 horse-power, and is supplied
with steam by twentv-four cylinder boilers. Water is drawn from the Que-
quechan River, the Brook water not proving quite clear enough generally for
manufacturing purposes, though it could be used if a better supply were not
near at hand.
The mill contains 34,928 spindles and 860 looms, and manufactures
10,000,000 yards of print cloth, 64 by 64, per annum. It is lighted by gas
from the Manufiicturers' Gas Company, and has all the modern appliances for
protection against fire.
The company, instead of buying land and building tenements for their
operatives, adopted the plan of loaning the necessary capital to those owning
land in the neighborhood and taking leases of the houses erected by them ;
thus securing the accommodations required, helping the land-owners near by,
and saving so much of an investment in unproductive real estate and deprecia-
tion in buildings. One hundred and tw^enty-four tenements were built and
leased on these terms, and within a few years the money loaned was repaid^
and the ownership fully vested in the original proprietors of the land — a
specimen of co-operative ownership which might perhaps be profitably fol-
lowed in other communities and in other departments of trade. The com-
pany now owns about fifteen acres of land, including its mill site. The
present number of stockholders is forty.
SKETCHES OF CORPORATIONS. 133
The Weetamoe Mills Company
is the outgrowth of the prosperity of the mills of the decade of i860 to 1870.
The first steps in the organization of the company were taken by D. Hartwell
Dyer, Esq., who opened the books for subscription to a capital stock of
$550,000. He met with such success that $100,000 was offered in excess of
the amount named. The first meeting for organization was held December
29th, 1870, and the following board of direction chosen: L. L. Barnard, Job
B. French, Jonathan I. Hilliard, Josiah C. Blaisdell, William Lindsey, Francis
B. Hood, Henry C. Lincoln, E. C. Kilburn, and D. H. Dyer. L. L. Barnard
was elected president, and D. H. Dyer treasurer. The act of incorpora-
tion is dated February 24th, 1871. The number of original subscribers was
two hundred and seventy-five. Land for a mill site was purchased on the
banks of Taunton River, near Slade's Ferr3^ and the new corporation assumed
the name of " Weetamoe," after the Queen of the Pocassets, who was drowned
near by, in crossing the river. Another tract of land, north of Mechanics-
ville, was purchased for tenement houses. Work on the mill building was
begun in March, 1872, and within ten months the looms were running off
cloth. The plans were all drawn by Mr. Dyer, who, more or less connected
with cotton-mills from his boyhood, in later years had turned his attention
to the architecture of mill buildings, and the preparation of plans and speci-
fications for the same.
The mill is of brick, 320 feet long, 74 feet wide, and five stories high
with basement. It has a flat roof, and an L for engines, boilers, etc. Most
of the machinery, looms, spoolers, cards, etc., is American, but a small portion
English. The engine is a double Corliss of 500 horse-power, and steam is fur-
nished by five sections of the Harrison boiler. The water for steam purposes
is supplied by wells dug on the premises. The mill is lighted by gas from
the Fall River Gas Works. There are sixty-five tenements, the outer walls of
brick, for the accommodation of the operatives. The company owns nine
acres of land, together with a fine wharf privilege, which is utilized for the
landing of coal, cotton, building material, and supplies. The present number
of stockholders is three hundred.
The Slade Mill
is noteworthy as the first erected of the group of factories located in the
southern district of Fall River. The enterprise was initiated by the owners
of a large tract of unimproved land a few rods south of the Globe Village, on
and about what is known as Cook's Pond (or Laurel Lake) — Messrs. Wil-
liam L. and Jonathan Slade, Benjamin Hall, and the Dwelly heirs — who
134
FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
entered into a joint agreement, on the ist of May, 1 871, to sell their real
estate for the erection of a mill thereon. Before the day was concluded everv
share of the stock had been subscribed, and probably double the amount
could have been raised. The original subscribers were but twenty-seven in
number, conspicuous in the list, in addition to those already mentioned as
owners of the one hundred and fifty acres of land conceded to the company,
being Frank S. Stevens, John C. Milne.W. and J. M.Osborn. Richard B. and
Thomas J. Borden, S. Angler Chace, David A. Brayton, B. M. C. Durfee, and
William Valentine. On the 13th of May a permanent organization was
formed, Mr. William L. Slade being chosen president and James M. Osborn
treasurer. Ground was at once broken for a mill, and the structure of brick
rapidly pushed forward.
The effect of this new industrial movement was phenomenal. Real
estate in the vicinity took an instantaneous upward turn, plots of unoccupied
land in every proximate direction being picked up by eager purchasers almost
before the owners could name a price, acres that were not valued a few years
previously at $200 going off for $10,000. The shares of the new company
rose from par ($100) to $172, before the foundation of the factorv had been
completely laid.
In the midst of this activity — so surely does one enterprise beget others
— other companies were formed, and the King Philip, Osborn, and Montaup
Mills soon in process of erection on jiortions of the land originally owned by
the Slade corporation.
The result of this pioneer enterprise has been the establishment of a new
village, adding probably 5000 to the population of Fall River, and over
$2,000,000 to its production. One of the finest public-school edifices in the
city has been erected on Main street, near the mills, known as the Slade
school, and a new church has likewise been built for the Catholic community.
The highways, thrown open on its real estate by the company, have been
accepted by the city.
The Slade Mill produces print cloth. Its capacitv is 10,000,000 yards
annually, consuming 4000 bales of cotton. It runs 37,040 spindles and 860
looms. The present number of stockholders is seventy.
The Richard Borden Manufacturing Company
was initiated early in 1871. The entire capital of $800,000 was 'taken by
twelve individuals, and May 19th the charter was accepted. At the first
meeting of organization, Thomas J. Borden was elected treasurer and corpo-
ration clerk, and Richard Borden, Philip D. Borden, Thomas J. Borden,
Richard B. Borden, and A. S. Covel, directors. Richard Borden was chosen
SKETCHES OF CORPORATIONS.
135
president at the subsequent board meeting. At the same meeting it was
voted to purchase of Colonel Richard Borden the real estate owned by him,
and known as the Borden farm, lying east of the Eight Rod Way and south
of the Ouequechan, as well as two acres belonging to Cook Borden, adjacent.
Portions of the land were afterwards sold for the erection of the Chace and
Tecumseh Mills.
The mill, which is one of the most perfect structures for manufacturing
purposes in the country, was erected and " wound up" under the personal
supervision of Thomas J. Borden, who made the plans of construction and
machine equipment. It started full operation in February, 1873, the present
number of spindles (1536 having been added to the original design) being
44,064, with 1032 looms. Its production annually is 12,000,000 yards of
prmt cloth. The present number of stockholders is fifteen.
Colonel Richard Borden dying in February, 1874, his son, Richard B.
Borden, was elected president, and continued in that office until the early
part of 1876, when, by the resignation of his brother Thomas J., he was called
to the more active duties of treasurer. Thomas J. Borden is now the presi-
dent of the company.
The Wampanoag Mill Company
was the result of a preliminary meeting on the 23d of May, 1871, at which
Stephen Davol, J. D. Flint, William H. Jennings, L. S. Earl, Walter C.
Durfee, and R. T. Davis were associated for the purpose of projecting a new
corporation. On the 31st of the same month, the capital of $400,000 having
all been taken up, a meeting of stockholders was held to organize the com-
pany, at which Walter C. Durfee was elected treasurer and corporation clerk,
and R. T. Davis, J. D. Flint, Walter C. Durfee, Stephen Davol, Foster H.
Stafford, Simeon Borden, George H. Eddy, A. L. Covel, L. S. Earl, W'illiam
H. Jennings, and John H. Brown, directors. At a subsequent meeting R. T.
Davis was chosen president.
The land for the mill site was purchased of Messrs. Davis and Flint,
fifteen acres in extent, and the construction of the factory at once proceeded.
On the ist of April, 1872, within ten months of laying the first stone, cloth
was woven in the mill. The company now owns eighteen acres of land,
and has erected thereon ten large tenement houses admirably planned, and a
dwelling for its superintendent. The mill has a run of 28,000 spindles and 704
looms, producing 8,000,000 yards of print cloth per annum. Its provision
against fire consists of two powerful force-pumps, besides the usual quota of
hydrants, all connecting with the city water-works. The present number of
stockholders is ninety-eight.
FAI,L RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
The Narragansett Mill
was the third erection of the group in the northern district. Its original
promoters were Daniel McCowan, James Waring, A. D. Easton, and others.
The capital, originally $350,000, was on the acceptance of the charter, July
6th, 1 87 1, increased to $400,000. At the meeting of organization, July 12th,
James Waring was chosen treasurer, and A. D. Easton president. The mill
was finished and wound up for operation by the latter part of December in
the following year. Its capacity is 27,920 spindles and 700 looms, producing
print cloth and corset jeans. Its real estate on the east side of North Main
street, twenty-one acres, including a tract, also, on the west side of that
thoroughfare, was purchased of Job T. Wilson and others. Its present
stockholders number two hundred and forty.
The King Philip Mills Company.
In the spring of 1871, Messrs. C. E. Lindsey and E. C. Kilburn of Fall
River, and Jonathan Chace of \^alley Falls, R. I., had several interviews with
reference to building a cotton-mill for the manufacture of fine cotton fabrics.
Believing that there was an opening for an enterprise of that class, they
decided to test the practicability of the scheme by opening books for subscrip-
tions to a capital stock of $500,000, contemplating a mill of about 36,000
spindles. The matter was put in charge of Mr. E. C. Kilburn, and within a
fortnight the whole amount of $500,000 was taken by forty-seven responsible
persons, and an additional $160,000 asked for. But at the first meeting of the
subscribers, held July 14th, 1871, for organization, it was decided to limit the
capital stock to $500,000. A code of by-laws was adopted, and the first board
of directors elected, consisting of Jonathan Chace, James Henry, S. Angier
Chace, C. E. Lindsey, Philip D. Borden, Charles O. Shove, E. C. Kilburn, A.
S. Tripp, Benjamin A. Chace, Simeon Borden, and Charles H. Dean. E. C.
Kilburn was elected treasurer, and A. S. Tripp clerk of the corporation. At
the first meeting of the board of directors, held the same day, Crawford E.
Lindsey was elected president of the corporation.
The act of incorporation bears date September 15th, 1871.
It was at first decided to erect the mill on a tract of land belonging to
the late Oliver Chace and his children, situated on the corner of Middle and
Bay streets and on Sprague street, containing about twelve acres. But upon
digging a well to test the supply of water requisite for steam purposes, it was
found entirely inadequate, and the treasurer was instructed to look up other
locations. At a meeting of the directors, held September 4th, 1871, negotia-
tions were approved, which resulted in the purchase of twenty-one acres of the
SKETCHES OF CORPORATIONS. 137
Dodge Farm, so-called, and fifteen acres of the Slade Mills land adjoining,
making a tract extending from Laurel Lake on the east to South Main Road
on the west, and comprising about thirty-seven acres. Preparations were
immediately made for putting in a foundation, and work continued until cold
weather put a stop to out-door operations. It was resumed the next April,
and the mill carried forward to completion.
The mill building, located on the west shore of Laurel Lake, is con-
structed of granite, most of which was taken from a ledge on the premises,
and is 320 feet long by 92 feet wide, four stories high on the front and five
on the rear. The engine and picker house, attached to the main building at
the south-east corner, is three stories high, 65 feet long, and 50 feet wide ; the
boiler-house, on the north side of the picker-house, is one story high, 98 feet
long, and 50 feet wide.
The mill was built under the superintendence of the treasurer, assisted
by W. F. Sherman and F. P. Sheldon, architects and draftsmen. The
mason work was done by A. T. Pierce of Dighton, and the carpentry by L.
T. Miller of Fall River. Machinery began to be introduced in October,
1872. The mules were built bv Parr, Curtis & Madeley, and the speeders and
rbving-frames by Howard & BouUough, of Accrington, England. The card
and spinning frames were furnished bv the Saco Water-Power and Machine
Company, of Biddeford, Maine, the looms and shafting by Kilburn, Lin-
coln & Company, of Fall River.
The mill started up in January, 1873, but on account of delays in receiv-
ing machinery from England, was not in full running order until late in the
summer. The panic of 1873 occurred just as the first finished goods were put
into the agent's hands, but notwithstanding the depression and falling market,
they were well received, soon made for themselves a name, and have since
maintained an honorable reputation with old and well established manufac-
tories of like productions.
The regular makes are now " King Philips" fine wide sheetings, ^, -|, and
1^; " King Philips" fine cambric muslins, and " King Philips" jaconets. There
are also manufactured " Laurel Lake Sheetings," and various other kinds of
brown sheetings and umbrella goods. The mill runs 37,440 spindles and 776
looms, and works up some 3000 bales of cotton annually in the production of
5,500,000 yards of cloth. It requires about 425 hands to operate its ma-
chinery, while its monthly pay-roll amounts to $12,000. The engine is a
Harris-Corliss of 550 horse-power, made by Wm. A. Harris, of Providence,
R. I. Twenty-four cylinder boilers are in constant use to furnish the neces-
sary steam. .Vbundance of water is supplied by the lake, from which a canal
leads directly into the engine-room. The fire apparatus consists of two of the
138
FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
largest size Fulton steam-pumps, and the mill is also connected with the
Slade Mills, not far distant, by a six-inch iron pipe, to which the pumps of
each mill are attached, so that in case of fire the one can assist the other.
The mill is lighted by gas furnished by the Slade Mills, and conveyed through
the pipe above referred to, which thus answers the double purpose of a gas
conduit, or, in case of fire, by shutting off the gas, it becomes a water conduit.
Stairs are at each end of the mill building, and fire-escapes are attached to each
story, front and rear. The company owns si.x houses with four tenements in
each, and two blocks with twenty-eight tenements each, making in all eighty
tenements ; also a house for the superintendent, connected with the mill by a
bell, to be used by the watchman in any sudden emergency at night. Mr. B.
W. Nichols was appointed superintendent in October, 1872, a position he has
filled honorably and successfully to the present time. The stockholders of the
King Philip Company number one hundred and forty.
The Crescent Mills CoRroRAXKiN
was organized October 25th, 1 871, with a capital stock of $500,000. The
original stockholders numbered thirt\'. Ground was broken for foundation
in the same month, and the work rapidly pushed forward till cold weather,
when operations were suspended until spring. The main building is of granite,
339 feet by 74, four stories and attic above the basement. The picker-house
building in rear is 85 by 50 feet, three stories high. The first cotton was put
in December 21st, 1872, and the first cloth produced February 8th, 1873, and
the entire mill was in full operation August 30th, 1873.
The picker-house machinery and roving-frames were built by Messrs.
Walker & Hacking, Bury, Lancashire, Eng. The cards, mules, looms, and
spinning-frames were built by \Villiam Mason, of Taunton, Mass.
The engine was furnished by the Foundry and Machine Company of
Taunton, Mass. It is of the Corliss pattern, having the cylinder 26 inches
diameter by 5 feet stroke, and working up to 450 horse-power. The twenty-
four boilers, cylinder pattern, were made by the Fall River Iron Works
Company, and are 30 feet long by 30 inches in diameter. The mill contains
33,280 spindles and 744 looms, manufacturing |- fine brown sheetings and
special styles of fine goods for printing and converting. Three thousand five
hundred bales of cotton are used annually, producing 6,000000 yards of cloth.
The original officers of the corporation were : Benjamin Covel, presi-
dent ; Lafayette Nichols, treasurer ; and Benjamin Covel, L. Nichols, D. A.
Chapin, William B. Durfee, J. F. Nichols, Joseph Brady, David F. Brown,
G. M. Haffards, and A. S. Covel constituted the board of directors.
Mr. Nichols served as treasurer until November 12th, 1873, when he
SKETCHES OF CORPORATIONS. 139
resigned, and was succeeded by Mr. R. B. Borden. Mr. Borden tilled the
position until the annual meeting, February 9th, 1876, at which time he also
resigned, and Mr. A. S. Covel, the present treasurer, was elected to fill the
vacancy.
The land purchased for the mill site is bounded by the Ouequechan
River, Eio-ht Rod Way, and Pleasant street. It contains about twenty-five
acres, and is the centre of a circle of eighteen large mills, and was chosen on
account of the valuable water-front, its proximity to so many large corpora-
tions, and its consequent prospective value as an investment. Already the
Fall River Railroad Company has a large tract of this land for their termi-
nus, and several large lots have been leased to parties for different branches
of business. The company numbers ninety-four stockholders.
The Montaup Mills
was projected by Josiah Brown, Esq., of Fall River. In following his busi-
ness as a civil engineer, Mr. Brown had been brought in contact in various
parts of New England with mills for the manufacture of bags, duck and
cotton bats, and conceived the idea that in Fall River, with its numerous
cotton-mills, there was an excellent opening for such an enterprise. Having
put his ideas in form, and broached the subject to several of his friends, he
found them ready to make the necessar}' investment, and within a week after
the books were opened, the whole amount was subscribed, and the preliminary
steps taken in the formation of the company. The first meeting was held
November 14th, 1871, by the original subscribers, thirty-five in number,
and the following board of directors chosen : Josiah Brown, Bradford D.
Davol, George B. Durfee, A. D. Easton, William L. Slade, Isaac Borden,
George H. Hawes, William Valentine, Holder B. Durfee, and Thomas J.
Borden. Josiah Brown was elected president, and Isaac Borden treasurer
and clerk of the corporation. The capital was fixed at $250,000, and the
name of" Montaup Mills" adopted as the corporate name, suggested by the
Indian name of "Mount Hope." The act of incorporation bears date
December ist, 1871.
Between eight and nine acres of land were bought on the northern shore
of Laurel Lake, and as soon as the plans could be drawn, work was begun on
the foundation. The mill is built of brick, 242 feet long and 74 feet wide,
and four stories high, with a flat roof An L for a picker-house projects on
the east, "j"] feet long by 29 feet wide, three stories high. On the west is
another L, 30 by 20, two stories high, occupied as an engine and boiler
house. Josiah Brown was the architect ; John O. Chace, the mason ; and
W. T. Wood, the carpenter. The cards were furnished by William Mason, of
140
F\T,I. RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
Taunton ; the drawing-frames b)^ the Whitin Machine Company, of Whitins-
ville, Mass.; the speeders by Parr, Curtis & Madeley,of Manchester, England ;
the spinning-frames by Fales & Jenckes, of Pawtucket, R. I.; and the looms
by the Lewiston Machine Company, of Lewiston, Maine.
Operations on the foundation were begun February 13th, 1872, and the
work advanced with such rapidity that the engine was started January 2d, 1873,
and the weaving February 7th, 1873, or in a little less than a year from the
first breaking of ground.
The company entered immediately upon the manufacture of first quality
seamless bags, cotton bats and duck, running 7200 spindles and 112 looms,
from which it can produce 600,000 bags (two-bushel) annually. The
company employs 125 hands, and its pay-roll is $3000 per month. The
works are run by a single engine, of 350 horse-power, made by the Corliss
Steam Engine Company, of Providence, R. I. Steam is furnished by three
upright boilers of 1 50 horse-power each. A canal from the lake conveys the
water directly into the engine-room. The mill is lighted by gas made from
oil, and manufactured on the premises. Two Fulton steam pumps, and
connections with the city water-works, give ample protection against fire.
Fire-escapes upon the front and rear of the mill, and stairways at each end^
give ready means of exit in any sudden emergency. The company owns si.x
houses, containing thirty-six tenements, which are rented at moderate rates
to the operatives. Mr. John F. Hamlet has filled the office of superintendent
since the organization of the company, and has brought to his position a large
and skilled experience in this particular branch of cotton manufacture. The
company numbers seventy-five stockholders.
The Osborn Mills
enterprise was due to the suggestion of Weaver Osborn, Esq., who, in consulta-
tion with Messrs. Easton & Milne and Joseph Healy, proposed the formation
of a company with $500,000 capital for the manufacture of print cloths. The
books were opened, and before night the whole amount was subscribed, and
the same evening " rights" sold at three per cent premium. The first meeting
of the original subscribers, thirty-five in number, was holden October 9th, 1871,
and the company organized with the following board of directors : Weaver
Osborn, Joseph Healy, James T. Milne, Benjamin Hall, Andrew J. Borden,
Joseph Osborn, Joseph E. Macomber, George T. Hathaway, John C. Milne,
D. H. Dyer, and Edward E. Hathaway. Weaver Osborn was subsequently
elected president, and Joseph Ilealy treasurer and clerk of the corporation.
The capital was fixed at $500,000, and the name of " Osborn Mills," in honor
SKETCHES OF CORPORATIONS. 141
of the president, selected as the corporate name. The act of incorporation
bears date February ist, 1872.
A tract of land on the eastern shore of Laurel Lake, comprising about
fifteen acres, was secured as a mill site, and a smaller lot of five acres, near by,
purchased for tenement houses. Plans for the mill were drawn during the
winter by D. H. Dyer, architect, and work begun on the foundation April 4th,
1872. The mill is built of granite, from a ledge on the south shore of the
lake, and is 318 feet long by 74 feet wide, five stories high, with a flat roof
and a basement. A finely proportioned tower at the centre affords means of
entrance and exit. An L, on the west, 90 feet by 40, and three stories high,
serves as an engine and picker house, to which is attached a boiler-house, 41
feet by 42, two stories high. The mason work was done under the direction
of Williim M. Manley, and the wood work by David D. Grinnell, both of Fall
River. The looms and cards were furnished by William Mason, of Taunton ;
the mulos and speeders by Walker & Hacking, of Manchester, England ; the
spoolers by Payne & Matthewson, of Pawtucket ; the warpers by the Hope-
dale Machine Company, of Hopedale, Mass. ; the drawing by the Whitin
Machine Company, of Whitinville, Mass., and the shafting by William Sellers
& Co., of Philadelphia. The mill building was put up, the machinery placed
in position, and weaving commenced (March 10, 1873) in less than a year
from the time of beginning work on the foundation. The mill was " wound
up" for the manufacture of print cloths 64 by 64, and contains 37,232 spindles
and 930 looms. Four thousand two hundred and fifty bales of cotton are
used per annum in the production of 11,000,000 yards of cloth. Four
hundred and twenfy-five hands are employed, and the monthly pay-roll
amounts to $11,000. The motive power is furnished by a double steam-
engine of 500 horse-power, made by the Corliss Steam Engine Company, of
Providence, R. I. Four upright boilers, 12 feet in diameter, supply the steam,
while an abundance of water is secured by a canal from the adjacent lake.
The mill is lighted iiy gas from the Fall River Gas Works. The fire appa-
ratus consists of two Niagara force-pumps, with two stand-pipes and two
hydrants connected with the city water-works. The company has provided
for its help thirteen houses, containing forty-nine tenements. Mr. Joseph
Watters has proved an efficient and practical superintendent from his first
appointment, at the formation of the company. The stockholders are two
hundred and six in number.
The Chace Mills Company
was organized in 187 1-2, the original promoters of the enterprise being
Augustus Chace, George W. Grinnell, and J. M. Earl. The first suggestion
142
FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
of the new cori)uratioii was the effort of a i'fw gentlemei\ associated with
Mr. John P. Slade, to start a mill a considerable distance south, on the shore
of the Oucquechan Pond. The locality proposed being considered too far
removed from the city, the undertaking resolved itself into another enter-
prise, v.'hich terminated in the formation of the Chace Company.
The Chace Mill, located on Rodman street, is a granite structure, 377
feet long by 74 feet wide, and six stories elevation. The engine-house and
picker-room occupy an L, three stories high, in the rear. In this mill the
basement, a full storv, remarkably dry, airy, and light, is used for cottcjn
storage.
At the first meeting of organization, Augustus Chace was chosen presi-
dent, and Joseph A. Baker treasurer. The superintendent, George H. Hills,
though probably the youngest man in the vocation in Fall River, has had an
exceptionally thorough experience, having, with an early prepossession for
cotton manufacture, perfectly acquainted himself with all the details of the
industry by entering a mill vvhile yet a boy, and successivel\' working his way
up to overseer in every department. This is a very unusual tuition, but it
has given Mr. Hills a knowledge of cloth production in all its stages that
cannot be too highly appreciated.
This mill contains 43,480 spindles and 1056 looms, producing 12,000,000
yards of print cloth out of 4500 bales of cotton. The company has a capital
of $500,000, distributed among one hundred and ninety stockholders.
The Flint Mills
was organized in February, 1872, with a capital of $500,000, which was
increased to $600,000 in October of the same year. The act of incorporation
bearing date February 28th, 1872, names John D. Flint, Stephen C. Wright-
ington, Simeon Borden, and William H. Jennings, their associates and
successors, as the new corporation. The number of original subscribers was
about two hundred. John D. Flint was elected president, Stephen C.
Wrightington treasurer, and J. D. Flint, Robert T. Davis, Stephen Davol,
William H. Jennings, William T. Hall, Daniel McGowan, Gardner T. Dean,
S. C. Wrightington, William Carroll, and Cornelius Hargraves, the board
of direction. Mr. Wrightington resigned in March, and George H. Eddy
was elected treasurer to fill the vacancy. The organization assumed the
name of Flint Mills, in honor of its president, and the village which has .since
grown up in the vicinity of the mill, is known locally as " Flint Village."
Land for a mill site and tenements was purchased on the upper part of the
stream, near where it issues from the South Pond, and before frost was out
of the ground f)perations were begun for the foundation of the mill. The
1
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^\
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H
SKETCHES OF CORPORATIONS. 143
mill is built of stone, in accordance with plans drawn b\- D. H. Dyer, archi-
tect, and, unlike most of the cotton-mills in the city, is a wide mill, after the
English style, being 300 feet long by 94 feet wide, instead of the usual width
of 72 to 74 feet. It is five stories high, with a flat roof, and a finely propor-
tioned tower in front. The machinery is mostly American, and arranged for
the manufacture of print cloth 64 by 64. The mill commenced running in
April, 1873, and manufactures 12,500,000 yards of print cloths per annum.
It contains 45,360 spindles, 1008 looms, and employs 450 operatives, with a
monthlv pay-roll of §11,000. The machinery is driven by a double Corliss
engine of 650 horse-power. Steam is supplied by five upright boilers of 1 70
horse-power each. Water is taken directly from the stream by a canal dug
for the purpose. The mill is lighted by gas made from petroleum, and
furnished by the Wampanoag Mills near by. The fire apparatus consists of
two large force-pumps, stand-pipes, hydrants, sprinklers, and connections with
the city water-works ; also a large tank in the back tower. The company
owns forty-two tenements, and about sixty-two acres of land. The present
number of stockholders is two hundred and fifty.
The Border Citv Mills
is the project of George T. Hathaway, Esq., who, after consultation with
Messrs. S. Angier Chace and Chester W. Greene, of Fall River, and James
A. Hathawav, of Boston, solicited subscriptions to a corporation of one
million dollars capital. The stock was taken by about one hundred and fifty
subscribers.
The first meeting for organization was held April 29th, 1872, at which
the following gentlemen were elected a board of direction : S. Angier Chace,
Stephen Davol, Chester W. Greene, E. C. Kilburn, Charles P. Stickney, A. D.
Easton, George T. Hathaway, John M. Dean, William E. Dunham, James E.
Cunneen, Horatio N. Durfee. S. A. Chace was subsequently elected presi-
dent, and George T. Hathaway treasurer. An act of incorporation was secured
under date of June 3d, 1872, and the name of " Border City Mills" adopted
— a name often applied to Fall River because of its proximity to the State of
Rhode Island.
It was at first contemplated to erect a single mill of some 75,000 spin-
dles, but the experience of the past seemed to indicate that such a number of
spindles could be handled better in two mills than in one, and the final deci-
sion was given for the erection of two mills, of about 35,000 spindles each.
Thirty acres of land were purchased in the north part of the cit)', at a point
known as Wilson's Cove, on the east bank of Taunton River, and immediate
preparations were begun for the erection of the No. i Mill. The site chosen
144 ^■''^^^ RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
had admirable facilities for the transaction of business, a good depth of water
on the west, where a wharf was easily constructed for the reception of build-
ing material, coal, cotton, freight, etc., while on the east was the Old Colony
Railroad, from which a spur was built directly past the doors of the mills to
the wharf, and by which cloth and supplies could be readily shipped north or
south.
The mills are built of brick. The No. i Mill was located near the shore,
and work begun on the foundation in June, 1872, from plans furnished by
Josiah Brown, architect and civil engineer. It is 318 feet long, ji, feet wide,
and five stories high, with an L for engine and boiler room. It was filled
with machinerv, mosth' of American manufacture, and started up in June,
1873. The No. 2 Mill was located some distance east, quite near the rail-
road. It was also built of brick, 329 feet long, 73 feet wide, five stories high,
with basement and L, and started up in March, 1874. The motive power of
each mill is furnished by a double Corliss engine of 565 horse-power. The
steam is generated in the No. i Mill by four upright boilers, while the No. 2
is provided with twenty-four cylinder boilers. Water is drawn from wells
dug on the premises. Both mills are lighted by gas furnished by the Fall
River Gas Company. The No. i Mill contains 35,632 spindles and 880
looms, and the No. 2 Mill, 36,512 spindles and 880 looms. They consume
about nine thousand bales of cotton annually, in the production of 20,500,000
yards of print cloths 64 by 64. Each mill is provided with two large force-
pumps, together with sprinklers in each room, as well as stand-pipes and
hydrants connected with the city water-works. The comp.ny owns twenty
blocks, containing one hundred and fifty-eight tenements. James E. Cunneen
has been superintendent of the mills since the organization of the company.
The present number of stockholders is three hundred and fifteen.
The Sagamore Mills.
The first meeting for the organization of the Sagamore Mills was held
March 6th, 1872. The number of original subscribers to the capital stock, of
$500,000, was one hundred and seven. An act of incorporation was soon
after secured, and on the completion of the organization, L. L. Barnard was
elected president, Francis B. Hood treasurer, and the following board of direc-
tion : L. L. Barnard, F. B. Hood, Josiah C. Blaisdell, James W. Hartley,
Charles McCreery, Jonathan I. Hilliard, Joseph Borden, William M. Almy,
D. Hartwell Dyer, and Job T. Wilson. A tract of land on the borders of
Taunton River, a little north of Slade's Ferry, was purchased, and work on
the foundations of the mill begun in July, 1872. The mill is built of brick,
SKETCHES OF CORPORATIONS.
145
from plans drawn by D. H. Dyer, architect, and is 320 feet long, 73 feet wide,
and five stories high, with a flat roof, tower, and basement.
The machinery was started in July, 1873, and is about half American
and half English. The engine is of 400 horse-power, the boilers (six
sections of the Harrison boiler) of about 50 horse-power each. Water
is supplied by wells dug on the premises. The mill is lighted by gas, fur-
nished by the Fall River Gas Company. The fire apparatus consists of two
steam pumps, stand-pipes, hydrants, sprinklers, and connections throughout
with city water. The company owns thirty-five acres of land and forty-eight
tenements. The mill contains 37,672 spindles and 900 looms, and works up
annually 4000 bales of cotton into 10,500,000 yards of print cloths. It
employs 425 operatives, with a monthly pay-roll of $10,000. The present
number of stockholders is two hundred and sixty-eight.
The Shove Mills.
The first steps in the formation of the Shove Mills were taken by John
P. Slade, Esq., and it was mainly through his instrumentality that the organi-
zation was finally eflfected, a charter secured, and the project brought to a
successful issue. During the early stages of the movement, he had frequent
consultation with Messrs. Charles O. Shove, George A. Chace, and Joseph
McCreery.
The first meeting of the subscribers, thirty-one in number, for the
organization of the company, was held March 4th, 1872. The act of incor-
poration is dated April 2d, 1872. The capital was fixed at $550,000, and the
name of " Shove Mills" assumed as the corporate name, in honor of Charles
O. Shove, a prominent cotton manufacturer of the city, and the first presi-
dent of the new corporation. John P. Slade was elected treasurer, and the
following board of direction : Charles O. Shove, Joseph McCreery, George
A. Chace, Lloyd S. Earle, William Connell, Jr., Nathan Chace, Isaac W.
Howland, Josiah C. Blaisdell, and John P. Slade.
Land for a mill site was purchased on the western shore of Laurel Lake,
just within the line of boundary between Massachusetts and Rhode Island,
and further purchases beyond the boundary line were made for tenement
blocks.
No active steps towards building the mill were taken until the fall of
1873, when a foundation only was put in. Work was resumed in the spring
of 1874, and the building carried forward to completion, and filled with
machinery. The mill is a handsome granite structure, 339 feet long, 74 feet
wide, and five stories high, with a basement, a flat roof, and a large square
tower running up at the centre. The machinery is mostly American, and
146 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
commenced running in April, 1875. The engine is a Harris-Corliss, of 500
horse-power. Steam is generated in twenty-four cylinder boilers, and abund-
ance of water is furnished by the neighboring lake. The mill contains 37,504
spindles and 960 looms, and manufactures 11,500,000 yards of 64 by 64 print
cloths per annum. Four hundred and twenty-five operatives are employed,
with a monthly pay-roll of $1 1,000. The mill is heated by steam, and lighted
by gas made from petroleum and manufactured on the premises. The com-
pany has provided ample protection against fire, by two force-pumps, stand-
pipes and hydrants, front and rear, and sprinklers within the mill. Fire-
escapes are placed on the ends and at other convenient places about the mill,
thus affording, with the tower, rapid and safe means of exit in any sudden
emergency. The company owns forty-eight tenements and one hundred and
twenty-two acres of land. The number of stockholders is one hundred.
The Barnard Manufacturing Company
was projected in October, 1873, by L. L. Barnard, Stephen Davol, W. H.
Jennings, and N. B. Borden. At the meeting of organization, on the 14th of
that month, Mr. Barnard was chosen president. N. B. Borden treasurer and
corporation clerk, and L. L. Barnard, Stephen Davol, W. H. Jennings, A.
D. Easton, R. T. Davis, Simeon Borden, J. M. Aldrich, N. B. Borden, A. B.
Chace, A. S. Cove), John Campbell, Cornelius Hargraves, and W. H. Gilford
directors. A site was secured for the erection of a mill in the eastern part of
the city, on the Quequechan River, and in convenient proximity to the New
Bedford Railroad, which was then in contemplation.
On the 20th of October foundations were commenced for the engine and
boiler houses and continued seven weeks, until suspended by the approach
of unfavorable weather. During the ensuing winter the plans for factory
and machine equipment were carefully perfected and the machinery con-
tracted for. On the 2d of April, 1874, work was resumed, William R. Hus-
ton, of Providence, taking the contract for building the mill structures.
The mill was not entirely wound up and all the machinery in operation
before April 7th, 1875, though weaving on a partial scale commenced on the
9th of January. The longer period, however, was but one year exactly from
the day upon which the contractor commenced his building operations. The
mill has a capacity of 28,400 spindles, with 768 looms, producing 9,000,000
yards of print cloth annually, and working up 3500 bales of cotton. The
mill structure is of granite, presenting a fine appearance, and possessed of the
amplest and most improved safeguards against fire. The capital of $350,000
is owned by sixty-nine stockholders.
^
Cn:
SKETCHES OF CORPORATIONS.
The Fall River Bleaciiery.
147
Up to that extraordinary year in the progress of Fall River (1872) the
cloth production of the city had lacked one important element of a business
perfect in all its stages — the immediate neighborhood of ableachery. During
the remarkable industrial development of that twelvemonth, however, atten-
tion was naturally drawn to an enterprise so obviously essential to local busi-
ness. Among those who took particular interest in the establishment of
bleaching works was happily one exceptionally suited to fashion and conduct
a project of the kind — Mr. Spencer Borden. Mr. Borden, the eldest son of
Jefferson Borden, one of the two conspicuous original promoters of local
progress surviving, had enjoyed advantages for acquaintmg himself with the
technical and scientific branches of manufacture of an exceptional character,
having, after two years' tuition in the dye and color department of the Ameri-
can Print Works, spent a like period in Europe, inspecting the advanced
systems of Manchester and Mulhouse, and studying applied chemistry and
other arts used in cloth production, both at Paris and London.
Early in 1872, Mr. Borden prepared a carefully digested and elai)orated
scheme for a bleach works, and first submitted it to the owners of the great
Wamsutta Mills in New Bedford. It was not only cordially received by
them, but when, by their then agent, Mr. Thomas Bennett, Jr., laid before
other local capitalists, very favorably entertained by them likewise. Large
manufacturers in Rhode Island, and every mill in Fall River that bleached
or was likely to bleach its cottons, also welcomed Mr. Borden's suggestion,
and every thing seemed to indicate the time had come when this important
adjunct of large cotton-manufacturing interests should be called into existence.
Committees to secure a site were appointed, and visited every stream of
importance in Fall River, Tiverton, Somerset, and as far off as the Bridge-
water ponds, gauging and analyzing the water, and examining the water-shed
and freighting facilities.
It was finally decided that the lower privilege of the so-called Sucker
Brook, about two miles from the City Hall on Stafford road, near the
Rhode Island line, was the most available situation.
The following reasons led to this decision : Upon gauging the stream in
May, it was found there were 1250 cubic feet per minute flowing in this brook
to the Watuppa Pond. At the time when the people of Fall River desired
to introduce water into the city, Stafford Pond, the source of this brook, was
found to be the purest water examined, or whose examination was recorded
in any of the water reports of the country^ This beautiful sheet of water,
lying 225 feet above Mount Hope Bay, has no stream flowing into it, is fed
1^8 FALL RIVf:R AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
entirely by boiling springs at its bottom, and is so clear that fish swimming
far beneath the surface can be plainly seen from above. Its only outlet is the
Sucker Brook, which flows a mile and a half, falling 75 feet in the distance,
to the site decided upon for the new industry. Again, coming from another
valley to the east of Stafford road, a very pure stream flowed into the same
hollow land as the Sucker Brook. This, upon being traced to its source,
was found to issue from a collection of about twenty springs situate on the
so-called Newhall and Dickinson Farms.
Having decided upon this location for the bleachery, the lower twenty-
five acres of the Israel Buffington or Howard Farm, including the site of the
old batting-mill, run formerly by Mr. Buffington, on this brook, were bought
by some of the more prominent promoters of the enterprise. To this were
afterwards added the three acres on Newhall Farm, where the springs were
situated, a strip ten feet wide connecting that with the first purchase, and,
still later, about twenty-five acres of the farm of Isaac Cook : thus securing
the whole valley lying along the Sucker Brook, and the brook itself, from the
lower side of the Job Estes privilege nearly to Watuppa South Lake, with
right to deepen the brook even to the lake.
The books of the company were then opened and the stock so quickly
subscribed, that before a stone had been laid it was quoted at iioin the
market. Prominent among the subscribers were Messrs. Jefferson, Philip
D. and Richard B. Borden, Stephen Davol, Frank Stevens, C. F. Lindsey,
C. P. Stickney, George B. Durfee, Walter Paine (3d), of Fall River ; Messrs.
Thomas Bennett, Jr., William J. Rotch, Edward D. Mandell, Edward C.Jones,
William W. Crapo, Charles L. Wood, Andrew G. Pierce, Joseph Arthur Beau-
vais, Edward L. Baker, Jonathan Bourne, Jr., Charles L. Hawes, David B.
Kempton, of New Bedford ; Messrs. T. P. Sheperd & Co., John O. Water-
man, George Bridge, and Arnold Peters, of Rhode Island; and Mr. Dempsey,
of Lewiston, besides others.
A meeting of the stockholders being held, Jefferson Borden was chosen
president, Spencer Borden, agent and treasurer, and Messrs. Thomas Ben-
nett, Jr., Richard B. Borden, Bradford D. Davol, Crawford E. Lindsey, Philip
D. Borden, George B. Durfee, and Charles P. Stickney, with the president
and treasurer, directors of the corporation. Plans for the proposed bleachery
were drawn by the agent and accepted by the directors, Mr. Walter J. Paine
performing the architect's functions, the mason work being done by Slade W.
Earle, and the carpentry and joinery by Obadiah Pierce.
It was decided to build of stone, and of this material enough fine granite
was found on the premises to answer the requirements of construction.
A level having been determined for the ponds, which were to be raised,
SKETCHES OF CORPORATIONS. 149
the site of the building was excavated thirteen feet below this point, to allow
of this grand fall of water into the washing machines, and to fill the kiers and
boilers without pumping.
Two entirely separate ponds, of five acres each, varying from eight to
eleven feet in depth, were raised — one for the water of Stafford Lake, the other
for that from the springs. The buildings were so placed that the front
toward the west made the back wall of the Stafford-water dam, that toward
the south the back of the spring-water dam, and these walls were built seven
feet thick, and laid in cement to the top of the dam, which is thirty feet
wide.
Workmen then went to the Newhall Farm, cleared and stoned the
springs, and run-ways from them into a stone reservoir one hundred feet
square, where they were all collected. Earthenware pipes twelve inches in
diameter were laid thence to conduct this water one quarter of a mile to the
spring-water pond already mentioned. Meanwhile other gangs of men, with
hoes and shovels, cleaned all the mud and stumps out of this spring pond,
wheeling every thing that could contaminate the water out upon firm land —
a labor which cost above $4000. As a final precaution against defilement of
the pure water needed in bleaching, brick filters were built in each pond, as
follows : An arch, of four feet radius and sixteen to twenty feet long, was
first laid in good hard body brick. Six inches outside of this another arch
was started, and as it rose, charcoal of the size of robins' eggs carefully put into
the space between the two arches. The ends were then built up solid, and
all water that enters the pipes of the Fall River Bleachery, besides its perfect
natural purity, is filtered through two courses of brick and six inches of fine
gravel or charcoal. A sixteen-inch pipe supplies the boilers, kiers, and first
six washing machines from the Stafford-water pond. A ten-inch pipe of
spring water supplies the two final washers, the eight rinse boxes — a feature
peculiar to this works and the Lewiston Bleachery, the invention of Mr.
Dempsey, of Lewiston — the mangles, sprinklers, and water for the paper-collar
combining, of which more later.
Not to go further into minute details, the bleachery was built with twelve
kiers, or a capacity of twelve to thirteen tons per diem, all the other machinery
being in the proportion necessary to take care of this amount of cloth, and
including all that was late and desirable in bleaching and finishing machinery.
Besides the experience acquired by the agent in his survey of European works
and his scientific studies, the company was most fortunate in the acquisition,
before tiie works started, of Mr. Michael Partington as superintendent — a man
whose years of practical intimacy with the business and ability to manage
men have been of immense advantage to the undertaking.
I50 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
The boilers are of Corliss' upright pattern, he being also builder of the
engine. This is high-pressure, and with the exhaust steam the kiers are
boiled. The dry-sheds at this works are the only ones where cloth is never
handled either in hanging or taking down, the whole being done by machinery.
They are also the only ones entirely independent of the weather a very
imjjortant desideratum in a place where one of the first articles of faith with
the management is that no satisfactory finish can be gotten upon any cloths
but those dried by hanging in air.
The buildings are arranged so that the capacity of the works can be
doubled — to twenty-four tons per diem — -without additional construction,
excepting that of dry-sheds. Already the desire of the managers to please
the public is appreciated, and no finish is more popular in market than that
of the Fall River Bleachery.
In ten months from the time the axe was applied to the forest, stately
buildings rose, ponds were made, and cloth put through the bleaching pro-
cess. In three of the hardest years the business of the country ever labored
under, meeting a panic the first year of its existence, the bleachery has made
friends enough to more than fill the machinery it started with, and already
kiers, boilers, and folding machines have to be added.
Not only so, but in this Centennial year a new industry has been added
to their already large business. Having concluded that a bleachery was the
place where paper-collar stock could be most advantageously handled, it was
decided to add machinery for this purpose. Usually, goods have been sent
to a bleachery brown, gone through the bleaching process, and, when starched
and finished, packed in rolls of — say looo yards each. In this condition they
are shipped to the "combiners," where they are united with paper, and the
combined stock calendered until highly finished. The great advantage of
doing this at a bleachery is the saving in extra packing and transportation ot
the white cloth to the cumlMuers. Moreover, when the whole business is
done under one roof, certain processes, usually applied before the bleached
goods are shipped away, may be omitted without detriment to the quality of
stock when combined.
The paper-collar stock finished by this bleachery has met with so good
a reception in market, that the company is adding new and more complete
machinery to that already in jjosition, the entire pai:)er-collar floor, when com-
plete, being intended to produce 1 5,000 to 20,000 yards of yard-wide stock per
diem. The new machinery is also intended to combine cloth as wide as f to
f, which will be of immense advantage to the manufacturer of paper collars
and cuffs, allowing him to get a greater number of the strips from which
these articles are cut, with only the edge waste incident to all yard-wide
muslin.
^'
\
^''
FALL RIVER:
ITS
EDUCATIONAL, RELIGIOUS, MUNICIPAL, AND FINANCIAL FEATURES.
SO far as the mental and moral elevation of their work people is
concerned, the manufacturers of Fall River have spared neilher cost
nor effort, fully realizing the value to their individual interests, as well as to
the social economy of their city, of an intelligent and hopeful community of
operatives. In every direction this desire of the promoters of the local
industry has shown itself The apartments of the Christian Association are
nightly filled with the mill-workers, both male and female, and the same
assertion is true of other reading-rooms, opened by benevolent enterprise in
less central districts. In some of the companies the list of stockholders
includes quite a respectable proportion of operatives, and the policy of secur-
ing such an interest among the workers is earnestly pursued.
The system of local instruction, ordered by the admirable educational
laws of the State, is thoroughly organized and generously sustained, general
tuition being provided in i high school, 19 grammar schools, 26 intermediate,
57 primary, and 2 evening schools. The report for 1876 shows a force of
131 teachers and an attendance of 4,918 pupils, the total e.xpenditure of the
municipality for educational purposes being $134,964, of which $76,163 was
teachers' wages.
The city is provided with a free public library and several circulating
libraries, all of which are well supplied with the most recent publications, and
are accessible to all. There are also numerous private and society libraries
and local book-clubs, and it is a well-authenticated fact that Fall River has a
152 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
much greater proportion of readers than is commonly found outside of the
larsfer and wealthier cities.
In its secular and religious teachings, Fall Riv^er appears determined,
notwithstanding all obstacles, to maintain a good moral reputation in the
community. The great evil with which all manufacturing cities and towns
have to contend, at the present day, especially, is the indiscriminate sale and
use of stimulants, and with this evil the moral and sober-minded people of
Fall River are constantly battling. It is worthy of note, however, as being
somewhat at variance with the commonly received opinion concerning ignor-
ance and crime, that there is much less punishable vice and criminality in
Fall River than in most manufacturing places. There is comparatively little
violence, pilfering, or prostitution. Although poor and ignorant, the new
population of Fall River is industrious, and shows no serious proclivity to
offend against good order. One reason for this prevalence of good order is
doubtless the policy of the manufacturers to secure for operatives men and
women with families, and not a mere shifting class, moving from one manu-
facturing town to another as their necessities require.
While the principal manufacturing business of Fall River consists in the
production of prmt cloths, its industrial activity is also largely engaged in
the printing of calicoes, in the manufacture of iron, in the forms of hoops,
rods, nails, castings, etc., and of machinery. In the various machine shops of
the city is manufactured machinery of every description, though mostly con-
fined to cotton machinery. No better cotton machinery is found in the
country than that made at Fall River.
The harbor formed at the mouth of Taunton River is safe, commodious,
easy of access, and deep enough for ships of the largest class. The navigable
interests of the city are by no means inconsiderable, and besides the vessels
owned in the place and engaged in the coasting trade, many, and some of
them of a large class, are annually chartered to bring from foreign and domes-
tic ports lumber, coal, iron, and various other articles required for local con-
sumption.
The district of Fall River includes the ports of Taunton, Dighton,
Somerset, Freetown, and Swansea. The registration includes 92 sailing ves-
sels, with a tonnage of 1 1,733 ; 23 steamers, with a tonnage of 15,025 ; and 6
barges, with a tonnage of 1,974 ; or a total measurement of 28,732 tons.
The city has within its borders, and in its immediate vicinity, an inex-
haustible supply of fine granite, equal in quality to any in the country. This
granite is extensively wrought, giving employment to and affording support
for numerous persons. The fortifications at Newport, R. I., and the founda-
tions of the State House at Albany, N. Y., were constructed mainly with
PUBLIC LIBRARY. 153
granite obtained from tlicse quarries, and it has been used largely for building
purposes in the city itself.
Of fine public buildings there are comparatively few, but the elegant,
commodious new Central Church, built of brick and sandstone in the Vic-
torian early English Gothic style, stately in proportions, complete in detail
and reputed to be one of the most perfect ecclesiastical structures in New
England ; the Episcopal Church, unique, yet chaste and beautiful with its
rough ashlar work and brick trimmings ; the substantial and massive Borden
Block, containing the Academy of Music and numerous fine stores and
offices ; together with the Fall River Savings and Pocasset Bank buildings,
the older Granite Block and City Hall, recently transformed at large expense
into a noble edifice of modern style, give a foretaste of what may be expected
in this direction when capital is a little more at leisure.
Fall River includes the localities popularly known as Copicut, Globe
Village, Mechanicsville, Mount Hope Village, New Boston, and Steep Brook.
The municipality is divided into six wards, and is governed by a mayor,
a board of aldermen of one member and a common council of three mem-
bers from each ward. It is the seat of the Second District Court of Bristol
County, and has a police force of 70 members, under the city marshal.
Fall River is 49 miles south of Boston, 183 miles north-east of New York,
17 miles south of Taunton, 18 miles south-east of Providence, 14 miles west
of New Bedford, and 18 miles north of Newport. Daily lines of steamers
connect Fall River, Providence, Newport, and New York, while three lines
of railways give ample passenger and freight communications inland. Four-
teen passenger trains pass to and fro between Fall River and Boston daily.
Public Library.
A free public Hbrary, where the people of both sexes and all classes
may have easy and constant access to a large and well-stored treasury of the
world's lore in literature, science, and art, is the crowning glory of that sys-
tem of public education which has been, from her earliest history, the pride
of Massachusetts. The system of public instruction in the common schools,
excellent as it is, closes with the period of childhood. The great and im-
portant work of educating the people demands an agency which shall con-
tinue its operation after the school-days are over, and when the active duties
of mature age have been reached. To meet this demand, the system of
public libraries was inaugurated, the first institution of the kind known
to the world being established in Massachusetts in 1853.
In i860, an ordinance was passed by the City Government of Fall
154
FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
River for the establishment of a free public library, and an appropriation
made for its maintenance. A library room was provided in the City Hall,
building, and properly fitted for the purpose. The Fall River Athenaeum, es-
tablished in 1835, transferred to the city its collection of some 2400 volumes,
other contributions were made by associations and individuals, and the
library was opened to the public May ist, 1861. During the first year, the
subscribers numbered 1,248, to whom were delivered 30 252 volumes, at an
average of nearly 100 volumes per day.
The successful experience of each year since its organization has afforded
conclusive evidence of the usefulness and stability of the institution. For
the year ending August ist, 1876, there were issued 130,717 volumes, at a
daily average of 437 volumes, and also for the same period 67,960 periodicals,
at a daily average of 227. The number of subscribers was 5,299, and the
total number of books in the library was 14,448 volumes.
The original space assigned to the library soon became too limited for
its use, and various expedients were resorted to for temporary relief, but no
adequate provision was made until the completion of the alterations of the
City Hall building (1872-3), when the whole lower floor was arranged and
fitted with every convenience for the purposes of a library and reading-
room. The latter is one of the finest in the State, being light, pleasant,
cheerful, and spacious, and easy of access to the public. The government of
the library is vested in a board of trustees consisting of the mayor, ex
officio, and six other citizens.
Churches.
There are in the city twenty-six churches, well arranged and commodious,
supplied with well-educated and talented preachers, and attended by fair-
sized and some of them by large congregations. Mission schools, shedding
the kindly influence of Christianity here and there, have been established in
various parts of the city, and, under the care of devoted and self-sacrificing
teachers, have continued from year to year with growing numbers and in-
creasing usefulness.
First Baptist Church. — Organized, 1781. Church on North Main
Street, corner of Pine Street. Built, 1850. Pastors: Revs. Amos Burroughs,
'783-4; James Boomer, 1 795-1 803 ; Job Borden, 1 795-1 833; Arthur A.
Ross, 1827-29; Bradley Minor, 1830-33 ; Seth Ewer, 1830-33; Asa Bron-
son, 1833-44; Velona R. Hotchkiss, 1845-49; ^- P.Mason, 1850-53 ; Jacob
R. Scott, 1853-4; P. B. Haughwout, 1855-70; Daniel C. Eddy, D.D.,
1871-73 ; Albion K. P. Small, 1874-.
RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES. 155
First Congregational Church. — Organized, 1816. Church on North
Main Street, corner of Elm Street. Built, 1832. Pastors: Revs. Augustus
B. Reed, 1823-25; Thomas M. Smith, 1826-31; Orin Fowler, 1831-50;
Benjamin J. Relyea, 1850-56; J. Lewis Diman, 1856-60; Soloman P. Fay,
1861-63 ; William W. Adams, 1864-.
Society of Friends. — Organized, 1819. Church on North Main Street,
between Pine and Cherry streets. Built, 1836. Overseer in Fall River,
Nathan Chace. The first meetings of the Society of Friends in Fall River
were held about the year 181 2, the attendants coming mostly over the river
from Swansea and Somerset.
First Methodist Episcopal Church. — Organized, 1826. Church on South
Main Street, opposite Borden Street. Built, 1844. Pastors: Revs. N. B.
Spaulding, E. T. Taylor, E. Blake, D. Webb, J. M. Bidwell, S. B. Hascall, M.
Staples, J. Fillmore, H. Brownson, P. Crandall, previous to 1840. Revs.
Isaac Bonney, 1840; Thomas Ely, 1842 ; George F. Pool, 1844; James D.
Butler, 1845; David Patten, 1847; Daniel Wise, 1849; Frederick Upham,
1851 ; Elisha B. Bradford, 1853 ; John Howson, 1855 ; Thomas Ely, 1857 ;
Andrew McKeown, 1859; Chas. H. Payne, 1861 ; Henry Baylies, 1863 ;
Joseph H. James, 1865 ; John D. King, 1867 ; S. L. Gracey, 1870; Alfred
A. Wright, 1871 ; Ensign McChesney, 1874.
First Christian Church. — Organized, 1829. Church on Franklin Street,
corner of Purchase Street. Built, 1844. Pastors: Revs. Joshua V. Hines,
Benjamin Taylor, H. Taylor, James Taylor, Simon Clough, M. Lane, A. G.
Cummings, Jonathan Thompson, previous to 1840 ; Revs. P. R Russell, 1841 ;
A. M. Averill, 1843 ^ Elijah Shaw, 1845 ; Charles Morgridge, 1847 ; Stephen
Fellows, 1848; David E. Millard, 1852; B. S. Fanton, 1855; Thomas
Holmes, 1863 ; Hiram J. Gordon, 1865 ; S. Wright Butler, 1866.
Unitarian Church. — Organized, 1832. Church on North Main Street,
between Cherry and Locust streets. Built, i860. Pastors: Revs. George
W. Briggs, 1 834-1 83 7 A.C.L. Arnold, 1840; John F.W.Ware, 1843; Sam-
uel Longfellow, 1848 ; Josiah K. Waite, 1852 ; W. B. Smith, i860; Charles
W. Buck, 1864; Joshua Young, 1869; Charles H. Tindell, 1875-1877.
Church of the Ascension (Protestant Episcopal). — Organized, 1836.
Church on Rock Street, between Franklin and Pine streets. Built, 1875.
Rectors: Revs. P. H. Geeenleaf, 1836-1837 ; George M. Randall, 1838-
1845 ; Amos D. McCoy, 1845-1847; Emery M. Porter, 1849-1862; A. M.
Wylie, 1863-1868; John Hewitt, 1870-1872 ; Henry E. Hovey, 1872-1873;
William McGlathery, 1 8 74- 18 76 ; William T. Fitch, 1877.
Central Congregational Church. — Organized, 1842. Church on Rock
Street, between Bank and Franklin streets. Built, 1875. Pastors: Revs.
156 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
Samuel Washburn, 1844-1849; Eli Thurston, 1849-1869; Michael Burn-
ham, 1870.
Second Baptist Church. — Organized, 1846. Church on South Main
Street, between Annawan and Spring streets. Built, 1838. Pastors: Revs.
A.sa Bronson, 1846-1857; Charles A. Snow, 1858-1864; John Duncan,
D.D., 1865-1870; Frank R. Morse, 1871-1873; Henry C. Graves, 1874.
United Presbyterian Church. — Organized, 1846. Church on Pearl
Street, corner of Annawan Street. Built, 1851. Pastors: Revs. David A.
Wallace, 1851-1853 ; William Maclaren, 1854-1867; Joshua R. Kyle, 1869-
1875 ; James H. TurnbuU, 1876.
St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church. — Organized, 1851. Church on
Bank Street, between Main and Rock Streets. Built, 1852. Pastors: Revs.
Ralph W. Allen, 1851 ; John Hobart, 1853 ; M. J. Talbot, 1855 ; Samuel C.
Brown, 1857; J. B. Gould, 1859; J. A. M. Chapman, 1861 ; Samuel C.
Brown, 1863; Alfred A. Wright, 1865; George Bowler, 1866; Francis J.
Wagner, 1868 ; Emory J. Haynes, 1870; George E. Reed, 1872 ; George W.
Woodruff, D.D., 1875.
Brayton Methodist Episcopal Church. — Organized, 1854. Church on
Globe Street, Globe Village. Built, 1850. Pastors: Revs. A. H. Worthing,
1855; C. A. Merrill, 1857; A. U. Swinerton, 1859; Elihu Grant, 1861 ;
William P. Hyde, 1869; George H. Lamson, 1871 ; Charles S. Morse, 1873 '<
Edward A. Lyon, 1875.
Church of the New Jerusalem. — Organized, 1854. Church on Rock
Street, between Cherry and Locust streets. Built, 1869. Leader, John
Westall.
North Christian Church. — Organized, 1842. Church on North Main
Road, Steepbrook. Pastors: Revs. William Shurtleff, 1861 ; Moses P.
Favor, 1866; Charles T. Camp, 1872; O. P. Bessey, 1874; O. O. Wright,
1876.
North Methodist Episcopal Church. — Organized, 1859. Church on
North Main Road, Steepbrook. Built, 1854. Pastors: Revs. Philip Cran-
don, 1861 ; George H. Manchester, 1863; John Gilford, 1865 ; John Q.
Adams, 1867; J. G. Gammons, 1869; Philip Crandon, 1871 ; R. W. C
Farnsworth, 1873.
Quarry Street Methodist Episcopal Church. — Organized, 1870. Church
on Quarry Street, between Bedford and Pleasant streets. Built, 1870.
Pastors: Revs. Samuel M. Beal, 1873; Richard Povey, 1875.
Third Baptist Church. — Organized, 1871. Church on Brownell Street,
Mechanicsville. Pastors: Revs. Ambler Edson, 1872-1873; Frederick A.
Lockwood, 1 8 74- 1 8 76.
RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES. 157
Third Congregational Church. — Organized, 1874. Church on Hanover
Street, corner of Maple Street. Built, 1874. Pastors : Revs. Leander S. Coan,
1874; Calvin Keyser, 1875.
Terry Street Methodist Episcopal Church. — Organized, 1875. Church on
North Main Road corner of Terry Street. Built 1875. Pastor, Rev. William
B. Heath, 1875.
Central Mission Sabbath School.— Organized, 1854. Chapel on Pleasant
Street, comer of Si.xth Street. Rev. Edwin A. Buck, missionary.
Columbia Street Mission (Baptist). — Organized, 1859. Chapel on
Columbia Street, corner of Canal Street.
New Boston Chapel, New Boston Road. — Organized, i860. Pastor, Rev.
James L. Pierce.
King Philip Mission (Congregational). — Organized, 1874. Re\^ Robert
F. Gordon, missionary, 1875-1876.
St. Mary's Church (Roman Catholic). — Organized, 1836. Church on
Spring Street, between Main and Second streets. Pastors: Revs. John Corry,
Richard Hardy, Edward Murphy, 1840; Assistant Pastors: Revs. John
O'Connell, Cornelius McSweeney, 1875.
Church of the Sacred Heart (Roman Catholic). — Organized, 1873.
Church on Linden Street, between Bank and Pine streets. Pastor, Rev.
Mathias McCabe, 1875 ; Assistant, Rev. James Masterson, 1875.
St. Ann's Church (French Catholic). — Organized, 1873. Church on
Hunter Street, corner of William Street. Pastor, Rev. A. de Montaubricq,
1873-
St. Joseph's Church (Roman Catholic). — Organized, 1874. Church on
North Main Road, opposite North Cemetery. Pastor, Rev. William H. Brie,
1874.
St. Patrick's Church (Roman Catholic). — Organized, 1874. Church on
Slade Street, Globe Village. Pastor, Rev. J. Kelley, 1874.
Our Lady of Lourdes (French Catholic). — Organized, 1874. Church on
Bassett Street, corner of Ashton Street, Flint Village. Pastor, Rev. P. J. B
Bedard, 1874,
Cemeteries.
Oak Grove Cemetery occupies an elevated spot in the north-easterly sec-
tion of the city. The land for this purpose, purchased in 1855, originally
comprised a lot of forty-seven acres, which was enlarged in 1866 by the pur-
chase of twenty-eight acres adjoining. The ground is well laid out with
gravelled walks and roadways, and its natural beauties enhanced by a taste-
fully ordered profusion of trees, shrubbery, and flowers. Numerous monu-
158 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
ments of artistic design have already been erected. A shrewd philosopher in
social science has said, " Let me see the burial-place of a people and I can
tell the degree of taste, refinement, and kindly feeling that exists among
them." In the application of such a test, Fall River has little to fear. Oak
Grove, though limited in extent, being already one of the most beautiful
cemeteries in New England.
The North Cemetery, upon North Main Road, was for many years the
principal burial-place of the city. After the purchase and laying out of Oak
Grove Cemetery, the remains of many persons there interred were trans-
ferred to the new grounds. Quite contiguous to the North Cemetery is another
cemetery owned and occupied by the Roman Catholics, this denomination
also owning other cemeteries in the outskirts north and south of the city.
Parks.
Fall River possesses so large and uninterrupted a prospective of sur-
rounding land and water, that the absence of a specially ordered and arranged
area of pleasure-ground in the very centre of industry and life might easily
be pardoned. Ten or, at the most, twenty minutes' walk in any direction
will take one into the country or bring him to the shores of the beautiful
bay, while many parts of the resident region, with their broad avenues and
well-shaded open spaces, fairly justify at least the suggestion of riis in nrbc.
With such immediate land and sea scape, a more sordid municipal organiza-
tion would not have been seriously blamed if large and valuable territory,
now allotted to the uses of relaxation and pleasure, had been put to business
purposes and covered with mills, shops, or dwellings. The brains that
planned and the capital and enterprise that have promoted the growth of
Fall River have happily entertained a more generous and humanitarian view
of their trust. Appreciating the gregarious nature of a community of work-
ing people, the first thought was to provide an easily accessible ground for
their assemblage and enjoyment out of labor hours. The initial step in this
direction was taken in 1868, the municipal government securing two areas of
unimproved land, one in the north-east and the other in the southern part
of the city. The former, comprising some fifteen acres, includes a fine natu-
ral plantation, previously known as Ruggles's Grove, and, in the possession of
such sylvan attractiveness, required little if any additional outlay to render it
a charming and salubrious resort. The growth of trees is luxuriant and the
contour of the land comely, so that, with the exception of a very few private
properties, this little territory is one of the most lovely spots in the city. The
larger and more pretentious ground in the southern limits stretches from
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DRIVES AND LOCAL NOMENCLATURE. 159
Main Street to the Bay. It is sixty acres in area, liaving a length of 3,800
and a breadth of 800 feet. The eastern part, bounded by Main Street, is
high table-ground, affording a view of the city to the north and the river
with Mount Hope and Somerset shore to the west. Gradually sloping
down to the water, it is superficially well adapted for grading and ornamenta-
tion. Though originally lacking the umbrageous beauties of the " Grove,"
the large number of trees which have been set out on its borders promise be-
fore many years to supply this serious deficiency, and, when the designs of
the eminent landscape artists charged with its laying out have been exe-
cuted, the new park will be a superb pleasure-ground for the community.
Drives.
The city possesses not a few beautiful drives, some of which cannot be
excelled, especially those on the outskirts of the city proper. Highland
Avenue stretches off along the margin of the hills to the north, affording
numberless fine views up the river, and down the bay, and over the country
beyond. " Eight Rod Way," so called because its width is just eight rods, is
a pleasant avenue on the south, stretching along the margin of the South
Watuppa, giving a fine view of the great granite factories along its borders,
thence over the hill to Laurel Lake beyond, a beautiful sheet of water,
around whose northern shore may be seen another cluster of mills, huge,
substantial structures, alike noble and grand in appearance.
Broadway, leading from the south, also affords excellent views of the
city, the bay, the opposite shores, and of Taunton River winding down from
among the hills to the north ; while for calm, quiet country views, close at
hand or stretching off miles in the hazy distance, the equal of North Main
Road, on a bright sunny day, cannot often be found. To these may be
added the longer drives — Bell Rock Road, the Pond Road, Stone Bridge
Road, and the Ferry Road (to Somerset), each having its own peculiar
attractions of quiet country life, of hill and dale, of meadow, brook, and
woodland, or the more stirring scenes of the seashore, with the white glisten-
ing sails of the shipping, the swiftly gliding steamers, and the rush of the rail-
way cars.
Local Nomenclature.
Many of the corporations, banks, associations, and local institutions
have assumed Indian names peculiar to the neighborhood. The following is
a list of such names, with a brief explanation of the origin and meaning of
each.
l6o FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
ANNAWAN — 1600 (?)-i676. "An officer." A Wampanoag, one of King Philip's most famous captains.
CANONICUS — 1557 (?)-i647. Chief of the Narragansetts ; a friend of Roger Williams.
CORBITANT — isgo (?)-i624. Sachem of Pocasset tribe ; chief residence at Gardner's Neck, Swansea.
KING PHILIP — 162S (?)-i676. English name of Metacomet, youngest son of Massasoit, and his suc-
cessor, in 1662, as chief of the Wampanoags.
MASSASOIT — 1581-1661. Sachem of the Wampanoags and chief of the Indian confederacy formed of
tribes in Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. A staunch friend of the English.
METACOMET — Indian name of King Philip, second son of Massasoit.
MONTAUP— " The Head." Indian name of Mount Hope.
NARRAGANSETT— " At the Point." Indian tribe on west side of Narragansett Bay.
NIANTIC — "At the River Point." Sub-tribe of the Narragansetts.
POCASSET — "At the opening of the Strait" — /.<•., Bristol Ferry into Mount Hope Bay. Indian name of
territory now including Fall River and Tiverton.
QUEQUETEANT — " The place of falling water." Indian name of Fall River.
QUEQUECHAN — "It leaps or bounds." Indian name of the stream — Fall River — signifying falling
water or quick-running water.
SAGAMORE—" A leader." Title of Indian chief.
TECUMSEH — 1770-1813. Chief of the Shawnees ; distinguished for his eloquence, braver)-, and manly
virtues. Prominent on the Western frontier in the war of i8i2.
WAMPANO.'VG — "East landers" — i.e., east of Narragansett Bay. Indian tribe dwelling north and east
of Narragansett Bay, west of Mount Hope Bay.
WAMSUTTA — 1625 (?)-i662. English name, ."Mexander. Eldest son and successor of Massasoit in 1661.
WATUPPA — " Boats or the place of boats." Name of the ponds east of the city.
WEETAMOE — 1620 (?)-i676. "Wise, shrewd, cunning." Daughter and successor of Corbitant as
sachem of the Pocasset tribe ; resilience at Fall River ; drowned while crossing Slade's Ferry.
Water Works and Fire Department.
The system of public water works, regarded by engineers as one of the
most perfect, both in design and construction, in the Union, is justly a con-
stant cause of self-congratulation to the residents of Fall River. The natural
resources of the district in which the city has grown up, almost unique in the
wealth and purity of their treasure, hardly need be suggested to the reader
who has formed his own conception of the eastern plateau, extending parallel
with the community of mills and residences, and bearing in its bosom the long
chain of spring-fed lakes. Farther on will be given a comparative view of the
enormous volume of water which this unequalled natural reservoir contains.
The value of Watuppa to the city, regarded simply as an element in its indus-
trial progress, is very great, but when its more recent service, as a sure and
powerful antagonist of fire, and a never-failing purveyor of health, cleanliness,
and comfort in every household, is considered, its worth is really beyond our
powers of estimate.
The editor is indebted to William Rotch, Esq., the superintendent and
engineer of the Water-works Board, who has been actively identified with the
projection and construction of the system, for the following detailed account
of this most important public enterprise :
Fall River is fortunate in the possession of a beautiful lake of fresh water
within two miles of the centre of the city, whose purity is unsurpassed by any
other public water supply equally extensive and so easily attainable, and yet
whose advantages were so little appreciated a few years ago, that some per-
WATER WORKS. l6l
sons gravely suggested that Fall River might find it necessary to go to the
Middleborough ponds in order to obtain a sufficient supply of water.
Watuppa Lake, the source of supply for the water-works, and also for
eight mills that run by water-power, on the lower part of Quequechan
River — the outlet of the lake — is seven and two thirds miles in length,
with an average width of about three quarters of a mile. It is fed princi-
pally by springs and small streams, which collect the water from the sur-
rounding hills. The drainage area is sparsely settled, and covered princi-
pally by a young growth of oak, interspersed with pine and chestnut; and the
soil is exceedingly favorable for the collection of a pure and abundant water
supply, being composed principally of sand, gravel, and gravelly loam, inter-
spersed with numerous boulders, and resting generally on a solid stratum of
granite rock.
The whole area included by the water-shed contains about 20,000 acres,
or 31.25 square miles, and is capable of furnishing a daily supply equal to half
the amount of water used by the city of Paris, or about double the quantity
used by the city of Boston ; so that even if the rapid growth of Fall River
during the last half-dozen years should continue during the next half century,
the supply of water would still be comparatively inexhaustible, so far as the
demands of the city are concerned.
In fact, the lake is capable of furnishing a daily supply of about
35,000,000 gallons, and of this the water-works took less than 1,000,000
gallons per day during the year 1875, -^^d fibout 1,500,000 gallons per day
during the excessively dry season in the summer of 1876. The daily average
for the whole of the year 1876 will undoubtedly be less than one and a
quarter millions.
According to the analysis made by Prof John H. Appleton, in 1870, the
water of Watuppa Lake is remarkably pure, there being but 1.80 grains of
solid matter per gallon ; while the Cochituate and Croton waters, as analyzed
by Prof Silliman, in 1845, contained respectively t,.t,j grains and 10.60 grains
per gallon. Later analyses indicate that the water supplied to New York is,
however, purer than when analyzed by Prof Silliman. The water of the
Schuylkill, analyzed by Prof Silliman, contains 5.50 grains per gallon ; the
Pawtuxet, at Providence, contains 2.14 grains per gallon; and the average
amount of solid matter in the water furnished to London by nine different
companies is about 20 grains per gallon.
The nature of the soil around Watuppa Lake, and the fact that the
neighboring country is very thinly settled, will make it impossible for many
impurities to reach the lake, and will insure the purity of its waters for many
years.
1 62 • FAT,L RTVER AND ITS INDUS IRIES.
In the spring of 1871 the first Board of Water Commissioners was
appointed by the City Council, and in the fall of the same year work was
begun upon a road which it was necessary to construct for a distance of
nearly a mile and a Jialf to give access to the place selected for a pumping
station.
During the year 1872 the foundations of the engine-house, boiler-house,
and coal-house were built, and the superstructure was completed the following
year, being constructed of granite quarried in the immediate neighborhood,
on the lot bought by the city for the pumping station and reservoir.
The gate-house, where the water is taken from the lake, was built 225
feet from the shore, where the depth of water is ten feet ; so that in years of
extreme drought, when the lake is sometimes five feet below high-water
mark, there is a depth of at least five feet of water at the gate-house and four
feet in the pump-well.
The engine-house was made large enough for four engines — two for the
high-service and two for the low-service — which it was thought the increas-
ing wants of the city would ultimately require.
The first engine was built in 1873 ^7 the Boston Machine Company, and
was put in operation January 5th, 1874, the first water being supplied to the
city on January 8th. This engine is a double horizontal condensing engine,
similar to the engines at Boston Highlands, which were built by the same
company, and consists of two pumps 16 inches in diameter, and two steam
cylinders 28 inches in diameter, both cylinders and pumps having a stroke of
42 inches, and working from one crank-shaft with one fly-wheel, 15 feet in
diameter, and weighing 1 5 tons. The engine possesses one important advan-
tage— which on several occasions, while the community was dependent on its
unassisted efforts, has proved very useful and essential — the fact that its two
parts are symmetrical, and, although designed to work together, capable of
being run separately, and one half stopped if it is necessary to make any
repairs or to adjust or replace the valves.
This engine pumps directly into a 24-inch force-main, extending from
the engine-house to the centre of the city at the corner of Main and Bed-
ford streets, a distance of a mile and three quarters, and this force-main sup-
plies the low-service — that is, all those portions of the city which can be satis-
factorily supplied with an adequate pressure from a reservoir, which is
intended to be constructed at some future time on the hill near the pumping
station, where the elevation of the highest point is 256 feet above tide-water.
The remainder of the citv, comprising about one quarter of the whole
area, and situated i)rincipallv on two hills on either side of the Ouequechan
River, forms the high-service, and is supplied by a distinct system of pipes
fed by a 16-inch force-main, extending a distance of a mile and a quarter from
WATER WORKS. 1 63
the engine-house to Robeson and Twelfth streets, from which place lateral
pipes are laid to the two hills above referred to.
The high-service is supplied directly by an engine built in 1875 by
Henr)' R. Worthington, of New York ; but cross-pipes with suitable gates are
arranged at the engine-house, so that either or both services can be supplied
by either or both engines, which is an important provision in case of an acci-
dent to one of the engines, or in case of a large conflagration necessitating
more than the capacity of a single engine. The guaranteed capacity of the
Boston engine is 3,000,000 gallons in twenty-four hours, but at the time of
the lire at the American Print Works, December 8th, 1874, it pumped for an
hour or more at the rate of 4,000,000 gallons in twenty-four hours.
The guaranteed capacity of the Worthington engine is 5,000,000 gallons
in twenty-four hours, but during the fire at the American Linen Mill, June
29th, 1876, it pumped for a time at the rate of 5,500,000 gallons in twenty-
four hours. This engine, known as the " Worthington Duplex Pumping
Engine," consists of two horizontal, direct-acting steam engines, of equal
dimensions, placed side by side, and so connected that the motion of one will
operate the steam valves and change the motion of the other. Each engine
works a separate pump, and has two steam cylinders, one high and one low
pressure, the two pistons being connected with the same rod, which is pro-
longed into the pump cylinder to form the pump rod. The low-pressure
piston is connected with the main rod by means of a cross-head and two
small rods with outside stuflfing-boxes. thus avoiding the danger of leakage
through an inside stuffing-box between the two cylinders.
The smooth and noiseless action of the engine, and the ease with which
it performs its work, are very striking, and it is difficult to realize that the
piston-rods, which seem to move so easily, are really working against a resist-
ance of about fifteen tons.
The principal dimensions of the engine are as follows :
Diameter of high-pressure steam cylinders 29 inches.
" low " " " 5oi "
" " pump plunger (air-pump side) 22 "
" " " (north side) 22^ "
" " piston-rod for water cylinders 4 "
Maximum length of stroke 50 "
Diameter of air-pumps 27 and 29! "
Stroke " " 23 "
The contract horse-pow^er of the engine is 176, equivalent to raising
5,000,000 gallons 200 feet high in twenty-four hours, with a plunger speed not
exceeding 1 10 feet per minute. Several trials have been made to test the
164 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
capacity of the engine, and it has been found to exceed the contract guaran-
tee in this respect.
Besides this guarantee of "capacity," the engine was guaranteed to show
a "duty" of 65,000,000 — that is, to be capable of raising 65,000,000 pounds of
water one foot high with 100 pounds of coal; and October 4th, 1876, a trial
took place, with the following result :
Duration of trial, 13 hours.
Total number of strokes, 31,376.
Average number per minute, 40.23.
Average length of stroke, 49.7 inches.
Capacity of pump per stroke, 82.3 gallons.
Total amount of water pumped, 2,582,245 gallons, or 22,535,932 pounds.
Total lift, including friction in force-main, 217.52 feet.
Total weight of coal burned, 6600 pounds.
Duty, 70,977,177, showing an excess of 9 per cent above the guarantee.
The amount of water pumped during each \ear since the water-works
have been in operation is as follows :
Year.
Total No. of Gallons Averaee per Day ^^'^^ Inhabitant Each Consumer
pumped. & f -r p^^ ^iay. per Day.
1874
187s
1876(10 October)
185,116,305
296,007,606
297,658,014
507,168
810,980
1,086,343
11-65 84.53
18.02 70.83
24.69 49.38
The extreme drought during the summer of 1876 increased the con-
sumption for a short time to 1,800,000 gallons per day, but this was caused,
to a great extent, by the large amount used by some of the mills that were
unable to obtain the usual supply from the pond, which, during the month of
October, fell to within a few inches of the lowest point recorded during the
last forty years.
The number of pipes laid and gates set, previous to September ist, 1876,
will be found in the following table :
Size.
P
pes (lineal feet)
24 inch
11,488
20 "
21,317
16 "
26,823
12 "
17,799
10 "
18,801
8 "
52,246
6 "
89,789
Total
..238,263
Gates.
12
24
40
36
30
100
249
491
(or, 45.13 miles).
WATER WORKS. 1 65
The number of flush hvdrants in use September ist, 1876, was 291, and
the number of post hydrants 1 70, making a total of 461.
The number of service-pipes at the same date was 1440, and the number
of meters 484.
The amount of rock encountered in laying the main pipes has averaged
2 1 per cent of the total amount of trenching, or about nine and one quarter
miles out of fortv-five, and this item alone has increased the cost of the work
at least $100,000.
One of the most conspicuous features of the water-works is the tower,
containing two stand-pipes, three feet and six inches in diameter, one for the
high-seryice and one for the low-service. The top of the low-service
stand-pipe is 48 feet above the highest point of the 24-inch force-main, and it
is provided with two waste outlets, one 3 feet below the top, and the other
13 feet below. The top of the high-service stand-pipe is 88 feet above the
highest point of the 1 6-inch force-main, and it is likewise provided with two
waste outlets, one 3 feet and the other 23 feet below the top. The lower
outlet is provided with a gate, which, on ordinary occasions, is kept open, the
height of this outlet being sufficient to give all the pressure required for the
regular supply in the higher portions of the city, but in case of fire this gate
can be closed, and the water will then rise to the upper outlet, giving 20 feet
additional head for the fire streams.
The two outlets of the high-service stand-pipe are connected with a pipe
leading into the top of the low-service stand-pipe, and while the daily con-
sumption in the city is comparatively small, it is found to be more economi-
cal to run but one engine, and pump all the water into the high-service
stand-pipe, the low-service being supplied through the waste-pipe of the high-
service.
The tower is built entirely of granite, quarried upon the spot, with the
exception of a part of the cornice, some of the " quoins' and some of the
arch stones over the doors and windows, which are made of a handsome blue
stone, found in the immediate vicinity. Most of the work is "rough ashlar,"
the buttresses, window-caps, etc., being left with "quarry face," and there is
very little hammer-dressed stone in the building.
The base is 21 feet square to a height of 22 feet 6 inches, surmounted
by an octagonal shaft 60 feet 6 inches high, with an outside batter of half an
inch per foot. The inside diameter is 15 feet 6 inches at the bottom, and
12 feet 9 inches at the top. The pipes occupy the centre of the tower, and
around them is a circular iron stairway leading to the top.
At a height of 72 feet above the base of the tower, and 324 feet above
the sea-level, is a balcony, 3 feet wide, on the outside of the tower, furnishing
[66
FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
a most extended view in every direction, comprising the cities of New Bed-
ford, Taunton, and Providence, and most of the country within a radius of
twenty miles. The whole height of the tower from the base to the vane is
121 feet.
The total cost of the water-works, up to October ist, 1876, is
$1,328,456.14.
The cost of maintenance and the revenue for the first two years after
the introduction of water was as follows :
Items.
Interest on bonds, per annum
Management and repairs
Cost of pumping
Total cost of maintenance, per annum
Revenue, per annum
Excess of revenue over management, repairs, and pumping
1874.
Total.
57,694 67;
15,328 19^
7.933 52.
80,956 38
24.336 95
1,075 24
Per 1000
1 gallons
pumped. j
cts.
3i-i6
8.29
4.28
43-73
13-15
0.5S
1875.
Total.
67,660 00
18,917 24
10,504 52
97,oSi 76
41.439 19
12,017 43
Per 1000
gallons
pumped.
cts.
22.86
6-39
3-54
32-79
14.00
4.07
From January ist to October ist, 1876, the revenue has been $43,142.51,
and this will probably be increased to $50,000 by the end of the year. The
cost of management, repairs, and pumping will be about $25,000, so there
will be a balance of about $25,000, to go towards paying the interest on the
bonds. This balance will go on increasing every year, and, provided a proper
policy is pursued with regard to water rates and the use of meters, the
water-works should, in a few years, be entirely self-supporting ; for if the
city can receive payment at the rate of three cents per hundred gallons, as
allowed by the Ordinance, for all the water pumped, the revenue will, in a
short time, exceed the total cost of maintenance. This can be done by
preventing water from being wasted without being paid for, and to accom-
plish this, no way is so efficient as to make the use of meters as universal as
possible.
It has been the endeavor of the Water Board to encourage the use of
meters in all cases, for such a policy is beneficial both for the city and for the
consumer, because not only is the cost of measured water in most cases less
than by the ordinary rates, but a large amount of waste is prevented, and the
cost of pumping diminished.
The Fall River Water Works have been constructed in the most sub-
stantial and durable manner, with a liberal allowance for the probable growth
of the city. The main and distributing pipes are of ample size and strength,
the fire hydrants are placed at frequent intervals, and the pumping machinery,
^ ^n
^1 ^
EI&HT ROD WAY
FIRE DEPARTMENT. 167
boilers, and force-mains arc duplicated, so that nothing hut an extraordinary
concurrence of circumstances could cut off the supply of water. Taking
into consideration the thoroughness with which all parts of the work have
been planned and executed, the high price of labor and materials during the
years when most of the work was done, and the unusually laro-e amount of
rock encountered in laying the pipes, the cost of the work will not appear
excessive; while the purity, abundance, and favorable location of the source
of supply make it probable that Fall River will find its water-works satis-
factory and adequate for all the wants of the city for many years to come.
The Fire Department of Fall River has necessarily been for many years a
conspicuous feature of the municipal organization. Aside from the very large
proportion of wooden domiciles, the value of the mill structures and machin-
ery in the city — at a low calculation, ^25,000,000 — and the immense loss that
would fall upon the community by their destruction, have not only inspired
a more than ordinary spirit of precaution in this particular, but enlisted and
retained in the ranks of the department the sterling and responsible residents.
As a consequence of this last circumstance, the several companies are com-
posed of the most worthy young men of the city, and the department has
been generally superintended by some prominent citizen, whose pronounced
executive ability and large material interest in the general safety against con-
flagration have especially commended him for the position.
The present chief of the department, for instance, is William C. Davol,
Jr., the treasurer and agent of the Davol Mills. Two years since the position
was ably filled by Holder B. Durfee, treasurer of the Massasoit, and for sev-
eral terms by Thomas J. Borden, whose active interest in the department
will not soon be forgotten.
With the completion of the water-works, extraordinary resources for
the prompt extinguishment of fire were at once assured. The system of
hydrants, judiciously disposed, in every part of the city, has rendered these
resources available for any. unusual exigency.
The fire department consists at present of seven very powerful steamers,
each with a complement of sixteen men and three horses ; one extinguisher
engine, nine men and one horse ; two hook-and-ladder trucks, eighteen men
and two horses ; and one hose company, nineteen men and one horse.
Notwithstanding the heterogeneous population of a considerable part of
the city, and the want of proper conservation perhaps to be inferred, the fires
in Fall River are few in number, and show a relatively small annual average
of loss. In 1875 the department was called out by genuine alarms but t,-]
times, and the total loss for the year was $162,052, of which $157.98/ was
covered by insurance.
x68 FALI, RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
The efficiency of the Fire Department has been greatly enhanced within
the past few years by the erection of engine-houses in different sections of the
city, so distributed as to make every point easily accessible by at least two
steamers with their trained corps of firemen. The latest of these buildings,
and most complete in all its appurtenances, is the engine-house upon Eight
Rod Way. It is constructed of brick, with granite trimmings from the local
quarries, and has within spacious rooms for a hook-and-ladder truck and a
steam fire-engine. The large basement, extending under the whole building,
is used for storage, heating apparatus, coal, etc., and contains a tank sixty
feet long, for washing hose. The second story contains the reception-rooms,
bath-rooms, sleeping-hunks, etc. The tower, one hundred feet high, is used
for drying hose, and for suspending the alarm-bell. A stable in the rear con-
nects directly with the rooms containing the fire apparatus, the first stroke of
the alarm opening the stall doors (fastened by springs) and allowing the
horses to take their respective positions with the least possible delay. The
building, as completed, cost about $20,000, and, like the other engine-houses
in the city, possesses all the latest conveniences and improvements for the
expeditious use of the apparatus in case of fire.
BANKS AND SAVINGS INSTITUTIONS.
The Fall River National Bank.
CJia7-tci- — Oinginal, 1825 ; National, 1864.
The first meeting of the citizens of Fall River to take into considera-
tion the expediency of establishing a bank in the village was held at the
office of James Ford, Esq., January i8th, 1825. The record reads as follows:
"At a meeting of the citizens of the village of Fall River, at the
office of James Ford, Esq., January 18th, 1825, pursuant to previous notice,
to take into consideration the expediency of establishing a bank in said
village, David Anthony being called to the chair and James Ford appointed
secretary, it was
'' Voted and Resolved, That a petition be presented to the Legislature,
at their present session, for a charter for a bank ;
" That a committee of five be appointed to receive subscriptions for the
stock, and to cause the petition .to be presented ;
" That Oliver Chace, David Anthony, Bradford Durfee, Richard Borden,
and James Ford be this committee;
THE FALL RIVER NATIONAL BANK. 169
" That five cents on a share be paid by the subscribers to defray the ex-
penses that mav accrue in obtaining an act of incorporation ;
"That Oliver Chace be treasurer to receive the above money.
"A true copy. Attest : M. C. Durfee."
The act of incorporation contains the names of Oliver Chace, David
Anthony, Bradford Durfee, Richard Borden, Nathaniel B. Borden, John C.
Borden, Lucius Smith, Samuel Smith, Clark Shove, Harvey Chace, Edward
Bennett, Arnold Buffum, James Ford, James G. Bowen, William W. Swain,
Benjamin Rodman, William Valentine, and Holder Borden.
At the first meeting of the stockholders, April 7th, 1825, Oliver Chace
David Anthony, Bradford Durfee, Sheffel Weaver, Edward Bennett, Gideon
Howland, Benjamin Rodman, John C. Borden, and Richard Borden were
elected directois, and at a subsequent meeting of the directors. May 3d, 1825,
David Anthony was chosen president and Matthew C. Durfee cashier.
One of the present officers of the bank, whose father was an original
stockholder, recollects, as a boy, riding on horseback from Freetown to bring
the specie, in bags, to pay for his father's stock. Having hitched his horse to
a pair of bars where the Stone Church now stands, he then, with his heavy
load, trudged down into the village, which seemed quite a distance away.
It was the only bank of discount and deposit in the village for twenty years.
David Anthony, after a service of fortv years, resigned the office of presi-
dent, on account of ill-health, in 1865, and was succeeded by Colonel
Richard Borden, who, having deceased in 1874, was succeeded by Guilford H.
Hathaway.
Matthew C. Durfee continued as cashier until 1836, when he resigned
and was succeeded by Henry H. Fish, who served twenty-seven years, re-
signing in 1863. George R. Fiske was elected his successor and served until
1873, when he resigned and was succeeded by Ferdinand H. Gifibrd.
The first banking house of the Fall River Bank was a brick building,
erected in 1826, on the corner of Main and Bank streets. It was destroyed
by the great fire in 1 843, but rebuilt of the same material the same year.
The Fall River Bank started with a capital of $100,000, which was in-
creased to $200,000 in 1827, and to $400,000 in 1836. In 1844 it was reduced
to $350,000, but increased again to $400,000 in 1864, when it was incorporated
as The Fall River National Bank, No. 590 The management of its busi-
ness has been conservative and far-sighted, resulting in continued prosperity.
It is also a fact worthy of note that, taking into account the many years
of its existence, the changeable condition of trade, the monetary crises,
etc., which it has experienced, this institution has never been obliged to pass
a dividend.
170 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
The Fall River Savings Bank.
Incorporated in 1828.
The first savings bank in tlie United States was established at Phila-
delphia, in the year 1816. The second was organized in Boston in the same
year, and during the next ten or twelve years several were established in dif-
ferent parts of the commonwealth. The intensely practical and sagacious
men who had to do with the early business interests of Fall River quickly
discerned the advantages of such institutions to a community largely made
up of day-laborers and people of small means, and accordingly made appli-
cation for a charter for a savings bank. A charter was granted March i ith,
1828, by which Oliver Chace, James Ford, Harvey Chace, Bradford Durfee,
John C. Borden, Clark Shove, and Hezekiah Battelle were constituted a
corporation by the name of " The Fall River Institution for Savings."
The declared object of the institution was " to provide a mode of ena-
bling industrious manufacturers, mechanics, laborers, seamen, widows, minors,
and others in moderate circumstances, of both sexes, to invest such part of
their earnings or property as they could conveniently spare in a manner
which would afford them profit and security." The organization of the new
institution was speedily completed by the election of Micah H. Ruggles as
president, Harvey Chace secretary, and a board of eighteen trustees, viz. :
David Anthony, Samuel Chace, Nathaniel B. Borden, John C. Borden, Harvey
Chace, Joseph Gooding, James Ford, Bradford Durfee, Richard Borden,
John S. Cotton, Clark Shove, Philip R. Bennett, Joseph C. Luther, Jesse
Eddy, Enoch French, Hezekiah Battelle, Matthew C. Durfee, and Wm. H.
Hawkins. James Ford was elected treasurer, and Enoch French, David
Anthony, Matthew C. Durfee, Jesse Eddy, and Harvey Chace a board of
investment.
On May 28th, 1828, the bank was opened for business, and $65 was
deposited on that day by four depositors. During the first year, there was
$3224 received from 58 depositors, but of this amount $518 was withdrawn.
The first dividend was made in October, 1828, amounting to the sum of $13.04.
From 1828 to 1837, $181,276 was received and $85,764 was withdrawn,
leaving less than $100,000 on deposit. The dividends for the same period
were at the rate of from 5 to 5^ per cent per annum. From 1836 to 1842, the
semi-annual dividends ranged from 3 to 3A per cent, and as they increased so
also did the deposits, which in 1842 amounted to $350,000. The next ten
years the increase was much more rapid, so that, in less than twenty-five years
succeeding the organization, the deposits exceeded a milHon of dollars, a
very large amount for those days.
THE FALL RIVER SAVINGS BANK. I/l
Since the opening of the institution, with the exception of the years
ending with March, 1S49, '58, and '62, there has been an annual increase.
For four or five years succeeding the latter date, the increase was over
$100,000 annually. The dividends from April, 1837, to October, 1866,
amounted to $1,819,162.31; and of this sum, $1,255,483.63 was accredited
to depositors and the balance paid out as stock dividends. During these
thirty years, $8,006,834.63 was credited to deposits and $6,322,881.69 paid
out on deposit or dividends account. While these amounts would not,
perhaps, attract special attention at a day when moneyed transactions are
reckoned in millions and even billions, in the period mentioned they
were regarded with both surprise and curiosity. Since 1867, the business
of the institution has advanced even more rapidly, for several years gaining
from half to three quarters of a million annually, and in one year (1870)
showing a total increase for six months of $500,000, a sum almost incon-
ceivably large, taking into consideration the size of the city and the
character of its population. There is little cause for wonder that, with
such an exhibit, the name and credit of the bank should spread abroad,
and its reputation for careful management and sound investment bring
to it deposits from every one of the New England and some of the
Middle States.
A careful comparison of the several savings banks in Massachusetts
shows that this bank has paid more interest on the same amount of
deposits for a term of years than any other in the State. It can also be
said, without fear of contradiction, that no savings bank in the State
has been conducted with so little expense. For the first fourteen years
of its existence, the whole amount paid to the several treasurers for
services, office-rent, fuel, lights, and stationery, which in those days were
required of the treasurers, was but $3762.52, or an average of but little
more than $250 per year, while the average amount of deposits for the
same time was more than $100,000,
The practice of rigid economy in the expenses of the bank, instituted
at the very beginning of the enterprise, is illustrated by the following
minute of record, under date of April 2d, 1829: " Voted, That the treasurer
be allowed fifteen dollars for his services for oflice-rent, etc., for the year
past." And again, under date of April 7th, 1834, we find: " Voted, That
sixty-two and a half dollars be appropriated to the treasurer for his serv-
ices, office-rent, and stationery for the past year."
As the bank commenced so has it continued, and it is doubtful if
another institution of the kind can be found whose percentage of expense
account will average so small as compared with the amount of business
transacted.
i7- FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
Another feature — perhaps not peculiar to this bank alone, but ac-
counting in some measure for its remarkable and long-continued pros-
perity— is the fact that every loan is required to be guaranteed by two
sureties, even though the principal may have given a mortgage or col-
lateral to secure the final payment of the loan. As a result of this doubly
secure method of conducting its business, the bank, with one or two
minor exceptions where the amount paid J>/2(s the interest has more than
equalled the principal, has never lost a dollar of its loans in the long
half-century of its existence, during which its operations have amounted
to thousands of millions of dollars.
The first act of incorporation of the Fall River Institution for
Savings provided for its continuance for a term of twenty years. In
April, 1847, by special vote of the Legislature, the act was continued
without limitation. In April; 1855, the naine of the bank was changed to
" The Fall River Savings Bank."
The bank has had but three presidents, viz. : Micah H. Ruggles, from
1828 to 1857; Nathaniel B. Borden, from 1857 to 1865 ; and Job B. French,
from 1865 to the present time. Its original place of business was in the
office of James Ford, the first treasurer. In 1830 it was removed to the
store of Hawkins & Fish, south-east corner of Main and Bedford streets,
Mr. Wm. II. Hawkins having succeeded Mr. Ford in the office of treas-
urer. In Juh", 1833, Mr. Hawkins was succeeded by Mr. Henry H. Fish,
who was in turn succeeded in 1836 by Mr. Joseph F. Lindsey. Mr. Lindsey
devoted the best years of his life to the interests of the bank ; and upon
his retirement in 1877, after forty years' service in an office which he had
conducted with marked honesty, ability, and courtesy, was complimented
with the appointment of vice-president of the corporation. His successor
as treasurer was Mr. Charles A. Bassett.
The bank continued in Mr. Fish's store till some time in 1841, when an
increase of business demanded more room, and a small building in the rear of
the old Post Office on Pocasset Street was procured. It remained here about
a year and was then removed to the basement of a house on North Main
Street, owned and occupied by Dr. Nathan Durfee. This house was de-
stroyed in the great fire of July, '43, and a private dwelling was occupied
by the bank until the next January, when the Mount Hope House Block
was completed on the site of the former office. The bank was then
moved into the office in the south-west corner of this block, where it re-
mained until the coinpletion of its own banking house on North Main
Street, opposite the head of Elm Street, in March, 1869.
Thus for forty years the bank carried on its business with no special con-
THE FALL RIVER SAVINGS BANK.
173
veniences for office work, — sometimes quite otherwise. On several occasions
committees were appointed to take the matter into consideration, but with-
out definite result. In 1S67, however, the urgent necessities of the bank
compelled the appointment of a committee, the result of whose efforts is
apparent in the present symmetrical and elegant building.
The building is rectangular in form, its dimensions being 43 feet by
66 feet in the main walls, exclusive of belts or projections. Its height
is 40 feet at the front and 39 feet at the rear. The walls are of faced brick,
20 inches thick, while the steps, buttresses, and underpinning are of fine,
hammered granite. The banking room, upon the lower floor, is airy,
spacious, and provided with everything that can render it convenient. The
entire inside finish, including shutters and sheathing, is of butternut,
with black-walnut bases and mouldings. The banking room is entered
through a vestibule having two sets of fly-doors with black-walnut frames,
and sashes glazed with the finest quality of plate glass. The counter,
semi-circular in form, sweeps well out into the centre of the banking room,
and has convenient openings, plainly marked, for the different branches of
business. During the building of the banking house, the vault was con-
structed in the best and most approved manner which knowledge or experi-
ence could suggest, being as strong as granite, iron, and brick combined could
possibly make it. The different locks on the vaults and chests are burglar
proof and of high cost. As new and later improvements have been devised
they have been added, and no expense has been spared to insure the greatest
safety and security to the books, funds, and other representatives of value
deposited. Adjoining and connected with the banking room are two ante-
rooms for the use of the trustees and treasurer, carpeted and neatly fur-
nished. Gas is carried throughout the building, and both the upper and lower
halls are perfectly adapted for the purposes for which they are designed. The
upper hall is occupied by the Mount Hope and King Philip lodges of Free
and Accepted Masons, being arranged and finished in an elegant and
convenient manner. Between the upper and lower stories there is no con-
nection. The building taken as a whole is complete in all its parts, and
is a credit to the architect and builders, the institution itself, and the city
which contains it.
The bank has fully realized the hopes of its founders, proving a blessing
to thousands of the moderately conditioned citizens, men, women, and chil-
dren of Fall River. The policy of the bank has always been liberal, as
becomes the conservator of the savings of the people; the surplus of good
times has been treasured up for the wants of hard times ; the earnings of health
placed in security against the necessities of sicknesss ; the accumulations from
selt-denial added to by loan, for the purchase of a house and home for the
174
FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
family. The bank has also been a conservator of the business interests of the
place, its board of investment consistently aiming to strengthen the hands of
industry at home, to make loans among the constituents of the bank, rather
than to invest their funds in public stocks and national enterprises. Especially
has the wisdom of this policy been exemplified in sudden emergencies result-
ing in monetary crises, when distrust and alarm have spread throughout busi-
ness circles. The consciousness of the substantial basis of their loans and the
visible evidences of property have inspired a mutual trust and confidence
which has proved a source of strength to the bank and indirectly given
steadiness to the whole community. Some of the strongest enterprises of
to-day have been tided over difficulties and helped to their present secure stand-
ing at home and abroad by this conservative management of the trustees.
Hence, as a result, in the half-century of existence of this institution, it
has steadily risen in local esteem as a model of careful management and judi-
cious investment ; it has been a training-school for the officers of some of the
banks of this and other cities, and by its age and character has commanded
the respect and interest of similar institutions throughout the country.
The National Union Bank.
Charter — Original, 1823; National, 1865.
Reckoning by years, " The National Union Bank" is the oldest bank in
the city, having been chartered as " The Bristol Union Bank," of Bristol, R. I.,
in 1823. Its authorized capital was $50,000, with the privilege of increasing
the same to $200,000 The shares were placed at $100 each. It began business
in January, 1824, with a paid-in capital of $10,000, which was increased within
the next two years to $40,000. The bank has undergone many changes in
its various departments during the half century of its existence, as indicated
by the following table :
NAiME.
Capital.
President.
Cashier.
Location.
1823..
Bristol Union Bank
$10,000
Bristol, R. I.
1824. .
30,000
j Barnabas Bates |
j Parker Borden f
Nath'l Wardwell
1825..
40,000
Josiah Gooding
1826..
Wm. Coggeshall
1830..
Tiverton, R. I.
I83I..
Fall River Union Bank
1834..
100,000
1838..
David Durfee
1846..
200,000
Nath'l B. Borden
1856..
Fall River, R. I.
i860..
Daniel A. Chapin
1862..
Fall River, Mass.
1865..
National Union Bank
Jesse Eddy
IS66..
300,000
1874- ■
Cook Borden
THE NATIONAL UNION BANK— MASSASOIT NATIONAL BANK. 175
In 1830, Fall River, Mass., affording a more promising field for banking
operations, the bank was removed from Bristol and located in Tiverton, just
over the line from Fall River, and its name changed to the Fall River Union
Bank. Its office was on South Main Street, opposite the head of Columbia
Street. In 1837 the bank erected for its accommodation the brick building
corner of South Main and Rodman streets, and removed its office to the
lower floor, where it continued its business until 1862. In that year, by the
change of boundary line, Fall River, Rhode Island, became Fall River, Mas-
sachusetts, and the i)ank was removed to the office in the south-west corner
of the market building, now City Hall.
In June, 1865, the bank became a national banking association, under
the name of "The National Union Bank," No. 1288. In 1872 the office of
the bank was removed to No. 3 Main Street, opposite the Granite Block,
where it has a well-lighted and easily-accessible banking room for the trans-
action of its business.
The Massasoit National Bank.
Charter — Original^ 1846; National, 1864.
The Massasoit Bank was organized June 2d, 1846, with an authorized
capital of $ioo,coo. Jason H. Archer was elected president, Leander Borden
cashier, and Jason H. Archer, Oliver S. Hawes, Azariah Shove, Nathan
Durfee, Henry Willard, Iram Smith, and Benjamin Wardwell a board of
directors. The bank commenced business in December, 1846, with a
paid-up capital of $50,000, which was increased in the following March to
Sioo,ooo. In January, 1854, the capital stock was again increased to
$200,000.
In October, 1852, Dr. J. H. Archer, having removed from the town, re-
signed his office as president, and Israel Buflfinton was chosen his successor.
In October, 1864, Charles P. Stickney was elected president, vice Israel Buf-
finton, resigned. No change of cashier has been made since the original ap-
pointment of Leander Borden.
In December, 1S64, the bank was converted into a national banking
association, under the name of " The Massasoit National Bank," No. 612.
It was also made a depository and financial agent of the United States.
Regular semi-annual dividends have been made uninterruptedly since its
organization in 1846. Sixty dividends have been paid, as follows : 15 of 3^, 8
of 3^^, 13 of \%, I of \\% 13 of ^%, and 10 of 6^. In addition to dividends
paid, municipal taxes assessed to shareholders during the last three years
have also been paid to the amount of $14,446.
The bank when first established occupied rooms in the north end of the
1/6 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
Mount Hope Block, corner of Main and Franklin streets. It continued
here for thirty years, or until 1876, when it was removed to its more commo
dious and convenient banking house at the Four Corners, the north-east
corner of INIain and Bedford streets.
Citizens' Savings Bank.
Incorporated in 1851.
In 1 85 1 the October session of the General Assembly of the State of
Rhode Island passed an act incorporating " The Savings Bank" to be
located in Tiverton. Oliver Chace, Jr., Cook Borden, Thomas Borden, Clark
S. Manchester, and their associates and successors were created a body politic
under the name and style of " The Savings Bank," with peri^etual succession.
The amount of deposits to be received was limited to $400,000.
The bank was organized November 15th, 1851, by the election of
Joseph Osborn president, Charles F. Searle secretary, Wm. H. Brackett
treasurer, and a board of fifteen trustees. Cook Borden, Oliver Chace, Jr.,
Weaver Osborn, William C. Chapin, and Samuel Hathaway were chosen a
board of investment. The bank was opened for business December ist,
1851, at the office of the Fall River Union Bank, and on that day the first
deposit was made.
In June, 1854, the bank was removed to the office in the south-west
corner of the Fall River Union Bank building on South Main Street, comer
of Rodman Street, and continued there until the change in the boundary
line between Rhode Island and Massachusetts, March 15th, 1862, when it
became a Massachusetts institution under the name of the Citizens' Savings
Bank, and was removed with the Pocasset Bank to the north-west corner of
the market building, now City Hall. In January, 1873, the bank was again
removed to the office prepared for it, in connection with the Pocasset Na-
tional Bank, in the latter's new building, erected for a banking house and
other purposes, on the corner of Main and Bedford streets.
In December, 1862, Wm. H. Brackett resigned the office of treasurer on
account of removal to another city, and Edward E. Hathaway was elected
to fill the vacancy.
The first dividend was declared June 4th, 1852, viz. : three per cent for
the preceding six months. There have been fifty semi-annual dividends de-
clared, up to the first of December, 1876, and the average annual per cent
paid has been 6.68 per cent.
THE METACOMET NATIONAL BANK. 1 77
The Metacomet National Bank.
Charter — Original, 1853; National, 1865.
The Metacomet Bank was incorporated by the Legislature of 1 85 2-3
with a capital stock of $400,000. It was organized in the summer following,
by the choice of Jefferson Borden as president, Azariah S. Tripp cashier, and
a board of nine directors, viz. : Jefferson Borden, Nathan Durfee, William
Lindsey, Philij) D. Borden, Thomas J. Borden, Daniel Brown, ^Villiam Carr,
William Marvel, and Joseph Crandall. The bank was located in the brick
building opposite the American Print Works, corner of \Vater and Pocasset
streets, and commenced business in December, 1853.
A few months' operations were sufficient not only to vindicate the judg-
ment of its founders, that another banking institution was needed in the
town, but to demonstrate that still further bank accommodation was required
to quicken local industries and develop business resources, which the more
discerning felt had been only partially employed. By these clear results of
their short experience, the managers of the bank were assured that it could
profitably use a larger capital. Application was accordingly made to the
Legislature, at its next session, for authority to increase the capital stock to
S6oo,ooo, which was granted. The new capital was mostly subscribed by the
old stockholders, and all paid in the same year, 1854. The capital was then
as large as that of any bank in the commonwealth outside of Boston.
In 1865 the institution was converted into a national banking associa-
tion, under the name of " The Metacomet National Bank of Fall River," No.
924. After having been located twenty-three years on the boundary of the
" Border City," it removed in 1876 to the commodious apartments and eligible
situation for banking purposes now occupied by it in the Borden Block, cor-
ner of South Main and Pleasant streets.
The operations of well-managed banks furnish very little material for
local annals. They are not instituted to pioneer business enterprises or to
stimulate new adventures, but are subsidiary in their scope and object.
When kept within their "true sphere," they erect few visible monuments to
indicate the part they have taken in building up and developing the resources
of a manufacturing and commercial city. The history of the Metacomet
Bank, covering the period of the greatest business development and growth
of Fall River, is no exception to this recognized view of the province of a
bank. For nearly a quarter of a century it has quietly and sucessfully prose-
cuted legitimate banking unvexed by dissensions within, undisturbed by mis-
fortunes without.
178 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
Few changes have taken place in its management, and in this particular,
at least, the bank has been most fortunate, perhaps, — a rare exception. Since
only the experience and established character which mature age alone can
give is thought eligible to official position in moneyed institutions, it is quite
remarkable that the same president and cashier and a majority of its nine
directors respectively hold, in the twenty-fifth year of its organization, the
positions to which they were chosen when the bank first commenced bus-
iness. The records also show that in fifteen consecutive annual elections of
officers, the board of directors chosen consisted of the same nine individuals.
Such a record is specially interesting and noteworthy in view of the fact
that at the beginning of this period the average age of the nine was nearly
fifty years, and is an unusual instance of exemption from the visitation of
Him who waits on all and only passes by the most favored for a few short
years. The first death occurring in the board of directors was that of the
late Dr. Nathan Durfee, after twenty-three years of official service.
The Pocasset National Bank.
Charter — Original, 1854 ; National, 1865.
The Pocasset Bank was incorporated by the General Assemblv of the
State of Rhode Island in May, 1854, Moses Baker, Oliver Chace, and Joseph
Osborn being named in the charter. The bank was organized June 3d, 1854,
by the choice of Oliver Chace, Samuel Hathaway, Weaver Osborn, Gideon
H. Durfee, and Moses Baker of Tiverton, and John C. Milne and Wm. FI.
Taylor of Fall River, Mass., as directors. Oliver Chace was elected president
and Wm. H. Brackett cashier.
The bank was located in the Fall River Union Bank building, corner of
South Main and Rodman streets, then in Tiverton, R. I. In 1856 the town
of Tiverton was divided, and that part wherein the bank was located became
Fall River, R. I. In 1862 the boundary line between Rhode Island and
Massachusetts was changed, Fall River, R. I., being set oflF to Massachusetts,
and the bank, by authority of the Legislature, became a Massachusetts insti-
tution and was removed to the office in the north-west corner of the market
building, now City Hall, on Main Street.
February ist, 1865, the bank was organized as a national bank under the
title of "The Pocasset National Bank," No. 679. In 1872 the bank purchased
the lot on the south-east corner of Main and Bedford streets, and erected
on this elegible site (it being one of the Four Corners, so called) a fine
building of dressed granite, three stories high, with a Mansard roof In
THE FALL RIVER FIVE-CENT SAVINGS BANK. 179
January, 1873, the ofifice of the bank was removed to the convenient and
well-arranged banking rooms provided on the lower floor of this building.
January 7th, 1862, Oliver Chace resigned the presidency, and Samuel
Hathaway was elected to fill the vacancy. December 9th, 1862, Wm. H.
Brackett resigned as cashier, and Edward E. Hathaway was elected in his
place. April 15th, 1873, Weaver Osborn was elected president to fill the
vacancy occasioned by the death of Samuel Hathaway.
The bank has been a success from the first, as indicated by the fact that
it has never passed a dividend and has a growing surplus account.
The Fall River Five-Cent Savings Bank.
Incorporated in 1855.
This institution was the development of a desire to encourage the indi-
\ydual commencement of saving. Its promoters recognized the fact that a large
part of the population attracted to the city by its industrial occupations, un-
taught in New England thrift but used to living from hand to mouth and spend-
ing at once the earnings of the week, whatever their amount, might be induced
to save little by little, if the sanctuary for small offerings were established in
their midst. Other banks, already many years in existence, would take care of
the dollars ; one that would receive and cherish the pennies was the desideratum.
The excellent results of the dime and half-dime savings institutions of other
and larger communities were noted with delighted approval, and the conclu-
sion was soon reached that a bank for such humble deposits must be started
in Fall Riv^er. During the winter of 1855, a positive move was made towards
the realization of this essentially benevolent design. In an act of incor-
poration dated April loth of that year, Messrs. S. Angier Chace, Hale Rem-
ington, Walter C. Durfee, James Buffinton, E. P. Buffinton, B. H. Davis,
Asa P. French, and Alvan S. Ballard were named as incorporators. The in-
stitution was organized on the 25th of the succeeding October, its officers
being S. Angier Chace, president. Hale Remington, secretary, Charles J.
Holmes, J L, treasurer, and S. Angier Chace, Asa Fames, E. P. Buffinton, Abner
L. Westgate, and Robert K. Remington, a board of investment. A board of
trustees of twenty-six members was likewise chosen. A very earnest interest
in the success of the new enterprise was entertained by the promoters, and
few public objects have elicited a larger or more practical sympathy. At the
outset, one gentleman offered the use of a convenient banking room, rent free
for a year, while three others supplied all the furniture of the institution, including
a safe and account-books.
l8o FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
The bank was opened for the transaction of business January ist, 1856,
and its first di\'idend was paid in June of the same year, at the rate of six per
cent per annum. The dividends of the bank have been as follows, viz. :
3 at the rate of 5 per cent per annum (/>., during the war, i862-'3), 12 at
the rate of 6 per cent, 19 at the rate of 7 per cent, and 7 at the rate of 8
per cent. The operations of the bank have been eminently successful and
satisfactory to its projectors and present managers.
The office of the bank has always been located in the south end of the
Mount Hope Block: from 1856 to 1869 at No. 55 North Main Street,
and from 1869 to the present time two doors south, at No. 53, it being the
office on the corner of North Main and Bank streets.
The Second National Bank.
Charter — Origmal, 1856; National-, 1864.
The Second National Bank was originally incorporated June 4th, 1856,
as the Wamsutta Bank. The corporators were S. Angier Chace, Hale
Remington, and William Mason, second, and the capital was fixed at $ico,ooo_
S. Angier Chace was elected president, Charles J. Holmes, Jr., cashier, and
S. A. Chace, Hale Remington, Jas. B. Luther, Brownell W. Woodman, E.G.
Kilburn, Thos. F. Eddy, and Thos. Almy a board of direction. The office
of the bank was located in the Mount Hope Block, North Main Street,
second door north from Bank Street.
In May, 1864, the corporation became a national banking association,
under the name of the Second National Bank of Fall River, No. 439. The
capital was increased to $150,000. The bank has proved a profitable invest-
ment for its stockholders, having paid dividends as follows, viz. : 12 of 3 per
cent, I extra of 5 per cent at the time of the increase of the capital stock,
22 of 5 per cent, and i of 6 per cent. The present capital is $150,000, with
a surplus account of $50,000. In 1869 the office of the bank was removed
one door south, to the corner office of the Mount Hope Block, which had
been conveniently arranged and fitted for a banking house with ante-rooms,
vault, and other riecessary accessories.
The First National Bank.
Date of Charter, January, 1864.
The First National Bank of Fall River was organized January 23d,
1864. It was the first bank in this section of Massachusetts established
THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK— UNION SAVINGS BANK.
l8i
under the National Bank Act. Its number is " No. 256," only that number
of national banks, being in existence in the United States at the time of its
organization. Its capital was fixed at $200,000. Hon. John S. Brayton was
elected president and Mr. Charles A. Bassett cashier. In March, 1865, the
capital stock was increased to $400,000, which is its present figure. From the
date of organization until 1870, it was a United States depository and
financial agent. The bank was located at No. 14 Granite Block, on the
corner of Main and Central streets, the south-west of the Four Corners, so
called. There has been no change in its location up to the present time.
Mr. Chas. A. Bassett, cashier, having in 1877 been elected treasurer of the
Fall River Savings Bank, was succeeded by Mr. Hezekiah A. Brayton.
The Union Savings Bank.
Incorporated in 1869.
The Union Savings Bank was incorporated April 24th, 1869, with
Gardner T. Dean, Edwin Shaw, and Lafayette Nichols as corporators. An
organization was immediately effected by the choice of Augustus Chace
president, James M. Morton, Jr., secretary, D. A. Chapin, treasurer, and a
board of twenty-five trustees. The board of investment consisted of Cook
Borden, William B. Durfee, Gardner T. Dean, Lafayette Nichols, and
Alphonso S. Covel.
The bank opened for business in May, 1869, having its office in the
south-west corner of the market building, now City Hall. In 1872, having
purchased the estate on Main Street, midway between Bedford Street and
Market Square, it removed to its own convenient and well-arranged bank-
ing rooms, where it has since continued, doing a safe and profitable busi-
ness with an accumulating amount of deposits and an increasing number of
depositors.
BANKS OF THE CITY OF FALL RIVER, MASS., FROM THE OFFICIAL REPORTS, JAN., 1876.
Name.
ESTAB.
President.
Cashier.
Capital
Surplus
AND Int.
156,960
66,835
162,141
337,108
104,738
65,323
431.018
DiS'CT
Day.
Fall River National Bank. . . .
National Union Bank
Massasoit National Bank
Metacomet National Bank. . .
Pocasset National Bank
Second National Bank,
First National Bank
1825
1830
1846
1853
1854
1857
1864
G. H. Hathaway
Cook Borden
Chas. P. Stickney
Jefferson Borden
Weaver Osborn
S. Angier Chace
John S. Braytin
F. H. GifFord...
D. A. Chapin...
L. Borden
.\. S. Tripp
E. E. Hathaway.
C. J. Holmes.:.
C. A. Bassett
400,000
300,000
200,000
600,000
200,000
150, 000
400,000
Mon.
Fri.
Wed.
( Mon.
'\ Thu.
Tues.
Thurs.
Daily
2,250,000
1,324,123
l82 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
SAVINGS BANKS OF FALL RIVER, MASS., FROM THE OFFICIAL REPORTS, JAN., 1876.
N.\ME.
INCOR.
Treasurer.
Deposits.
Deposi-
tors.
Disc't
D.1Y.
Dividends.
Fall River Savings Bank
Citizens' Savings Bank
Five Cent Savings Bank
Union Savings Bank
1828
1851
1856
1869
J. F. Lindsey
E. E. Hathaway
C. J. Holmes
D. A. Chapin
6,099,863 59
1,940,356 72
1,488,818 62
661,527 68
11,585
2,88;
5,752
1,440
Tues.
Fri.
Mon.
Fri.
Apr. Oct.
June. Dec.
June. Dec.
Nov . May.
10,190,566 61
21,622
United States Custom-House and Post-Office.
The increasing business of the port of Fall River, and the rapid multi-
plication of its manufactories, necessitated the procurement of larger and more
convenient accommodations for the offices of the general government. The
proper representations were accordingly made to Congress by the faithful
member from the district, Hon. James Buffinton, and through his instrumen-
tality an appropriation of $200,000 was secured in the year 1873, '^'''d a com-
mission of leading citizens appointed to select a suitable building site. The
lot finally chosen for the purpose was situated on Bedford Street, corner of
Second Street, it being a central location and convenient to all parts of the
city.
In 1875 a further appropriation of $40,000 was made by Congress, and in
1876 additional sums of $25,000 and $20,000, making a total of $285,000.
The building was designed and the plans completed in 1875 ^Y Mr. William
A. Potter, supervising architect, to whose professional ability it is certainly
very creditable. Labor upon the foundation was begun in September, 1875,
under direction of Mr. Edward T. Avery, superintendent of construction, and
it is expected that the building will be ready for occupancy early in 1879.
The government structure has a frontage on Bedford Street of 125 feet,
and on Second Street of 84 feet. It is three stories elevation, with a steep,
high roof, the total height from street curb to line of roof being 92 feet. At
the two flanks, and facing on Bedford Street, are circular pavilions which
project from the body of the building, and between these, on the ground-floor,
are the entrances to the post-office, through five broad archways. The main
features here are the large monoliths of polished red granite, each in one
block, 5 feet by 3 feet 6 inches, finished by elaborately-carved capitals of gray
granite. A noticeable amount of carved work of a high order is displayed upon
the Bedford Street front, in red and some in gray granite.
On the Second Street frontage, the entrance to the custom-house is the
prominent feature of the design. This entrance-way, with its arches, polished
columns, massive buttresses, corbels, crockets, copings, etc., is a masterpiece
UNITED STATES CUSTOM-HOUSE AND POST-OFFICE— CI TY HALL. 183
of architecture, occupying a space 29 feet in breadth and two stories in
height. The main body of the building is gray rock-faced ashlar, laid in
regular courses. The mullions and reveals of the windows, the interior of the
arcade entrances to the post-office, and other prominent points are of gray
granite, finch' dressed. The band courses, sills, lintels, cornices, water-tables,
etc., are of red granite, similarly face-finished.
The entire ground-floor is occupied by the post-office, the second floor
by the custom-house, while the third floor can be used for the United States
courts whenever required. The construction is fireproof throughout, the
floor being of iron, concrete, and brick, and the roof of iron, concrete, copper,
and slate. All interior walls are of brick, all exterior of granite; the flooring
of the corridors, etc., is covered with marble and tiles laid in cement. The
basement-floor is also cemented, and the foundations rest on a solid bed of
concrete. The cost of the building, with furniture complete, is estimated at
about 8350,000, the land costing $132,000. The new structure, when fully
completed, will be one of the greatest ornaments of the city.
CITY HALL.
The first town house was established at Steep Brook, the then centre
of business, in 1805. In 1825 a new towm house was erected on land now
occupied by the North Cemetery. In 1836 this building was removed to
Town Avenue, and occupied until the completion of the new town hall and
market building, erected, after the great fire, on Main Street. In 1845-6 the
present City Hall building, built of Fall River granite, was erected in Market
Square, at an expense of $65,000, including lot, foundation, sidewalks, furni-
ture, etc. It was considered a model public building for the time, solid and
substantial in its construction, and judiciously arranged with a lock-up or
town prison in the basement, a market on the first floor, and a large town hall,
with offices in front, upon the second floor. The hall was one of the best in
the State, and more commodious even than the far-famed Faneuil Hall of
Boston. With the growth of the city, however, more office accommodation
was required, and in 1872-3 the building was entirelv remodelled (the origi-
nal walls only being left) and rebuilt, with the addition of a Mansard roof
tower, clock, bell, etc., at a cost of §200,000.
The present noble edifice, from its positon and fine proportions, is an
architectural ornament to the city, and wall furnish, for many years to come,
ample room for the use of all departments of the government. The Public
Library and Reading Room occupy the main lower floor, the second is
devoted to offices for the heads of departments, while upon the third are
184 F'^I'L RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
spacious chambers for the boards of aldermen and common councilmen,
with ante-rooms attached. From the tower is obtained a fine bird's-eye view
of the whole city, the harbor, and bay, tog:ether with the country beyond. It
is a worthy monument of public spirit, taste, and utility, and in its solid and
substantial proportions an object oi" pride to the citizens.
FALL RIVER:
ITS
NEWSPAPERS AND STEAM MARINE.
OUR country had reached its semi-centennial before a newspaper was
published in Fall River, and not until twenty-three years after the
settlement of the town did any one have the courage to venture out upon
the sea of journalism. The first number of the Fall River Monitor was
issued January 6th, 1826, by Nathan Hall. The town was then under the
corporate name of Troy, although the name of Fall River, by which it was
first called and to which it was changed back in 1834, still existed as the
name of the village, the place of the publication of the paper. The office of
publication was in a brick building on Bedford Street, south side, about mid-
way between Main and Second Streets. The size of the paper was 19 by 24
inches, four pages, and four columns to a page. The first post-office ante-
dated the paper some fifteen years, and the first two cotton mills by thirteen
years. The paper was printed on a Ramage press similar to the one used
by Franklin. The ink was distributed upon the type by balls, the very
ancient style of the art.
The following detailed history of Fall River journalism is part of an
interesting contribution to the local annals from the pen of a veteran citizen,
whose professional experience is older than that of any still living represent-
ative of the Massachusetts press. Of the Monitor he observes :
" The publisher in his opening article 'feels assured that it [the paper]
will receive a liberal patronage, provided it be conducted on fair principles
and contain that varietv of intelligence which subscribers have a right to
demand.' Still he adds, ' The number of patrons at present are not sufficient
to warrant the undertaking. We hope, however, that our paper will not be
found entirely without merits.' Even at this early period, he finds it neces-
sary to add that among the obstacles to be met with is the fact that ' our
country abounds in public journals, which are dailv increasing ; they are man-
aged by able hands, and have opportunities of news which we cannot imme-
diately possess.' He hopes that ' these difficulties may be obviated by an
1 86 FALL RIYB:R AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
extensive correspondence and increasing facilities of intercourse which per-
vade ahnost every part of our land.' He alludes to the ' genius and enter-
prise of the native citizens, and the knowledge and skill of strangers whom
Providence has brought within its borders, which has raised it to a rank
hardly second in the county of Bristol.' "
" The ludicrous side of life was then as apparent as now, for we find the
veritable sea-serpent was seen in those days fully as large as these, besides it
was the common practice of about all the dealers in groceries to dispense
the ardent liquid which we fear has introduced a most dangerous serpent
into many families, the fruits of which their descendants are still reaping to
their sorrow and disgrace. The lottery was a fashionable institution, and
some of our prominent citizens were agents for the same.
" At this time (1826) there were ten factories on the stream, six of which
were in operation with 10,000 spindles, one iron and nail manufactory, a
furnace, and a forge. The mills gave employment to al)Out j 300 persons.
There were only four churches in existence here. The Congregationalists,
with Rev. Mr. Read pastor, worshipped in a house which stood where is now
situated the Annawan Street school-house, and the Baptists still worshipped
in the old meeting-house near the buttonwood-tree, with Rev. Job Borden
pastor. The Methodists held meetings in the old school-house on the cor-
ner of South Main and Annawan Streets. Of the place of worship of the
other religious society we are not advised. A writer who sailed up the river
to Somerset speaks of Fall River as ' a city of the wilderness, rising in the
midst of hills, trees, and water-falls and rural scenery.'
" It contained thirty-six stores, a tavern with a stone post thirty-six feet
high, three physicians, one attorney, one brick-yard, and one bank with a
capital of 8100,000. This writer well says, ' Industry is the presiding god-
dess of Fall River ; an idle man could no more live there than a beetle in a
bee-hive.' Well has it maintained its reputation from that day to this.
" The number of advertisements, though quite limited, was respectable
for this early period of our history as a town. Among these we note that
John S. Cotton offers a variety of goods at his store, at the old stand at the
corner formerly occupied by the Fall River manufactory, viz. : Dry goods,
groceries, crockery, glassware, and hardware. John South wick was also
a dealer in the same articles. J. & D. Leonard supplied the people with
paints and oils, but as nothing is said about paper hangings, we infer that
Fall River people had not attained to the style necessary to make them
a profitable commodity. Bennett & Jacobs were prominent dealers in West
India goods and groceries, as also was Hiram Bliss. Enoch French & Sons
supplied the people with boots, shoes, and leather, which, by the way, is
the only store which has remained till this day, the same being continued by
one of the sons, and a grandson, under the firm name of Job B. French &
Son, at or near the old stand, but with greatly increased facilities. Samuel
Shove & Son were engaged in the dry goods business, also including in
their stock crockery, earthen and glass ware. Blake & Nichols were
dealers in staple goods. Peleg H. Earl was the merchant tailor. James
Ford dispensed the law. Joseph Luther and J. Ames taught private schools
NEWSPAPERS AND STEAM MARINE. 187
Bcnj. Anthony and John Southwick were the auctioners. James G. Bowen
was the Postmaster. Matthew C. Durfee was the only bank cashier. Susan
lennines was the tailoress, and Mrs. Hannah Allen the mantua-maker. David
Anthonv was agent for a Boston insurance company. John C. Borden
and David ^Vntlionv were among the principal owners of real estate, and the
former was Justice of the Peace, his name appearing occasionally as officiat-
ing at marriage ceremonies. A Masonic lodge was in being here at this
early day, of which Rt. W. Leander P. Lovell was master, and John C. Bor-
den was secretary and tyler, with Rev. A. B. Read as chaplain.
" Benjamin Earl entered the office of the Monitoi- as an apprentice late
in the fall of 1826. After serving three years and continuing labor in the
office some six months longer, he purchased the office with all its materials,
including the good-will and list of subscribers, and commenced its publication
on the ist of July, 1830, continuing it until 1838, when the business was
sold out to Tripp & Pearce. During the last year or tw^o of Mr. Earl's con-
nection with the office, J. S. Hammond was associated with him in that and
other business.
" James Ford, Esq., officiated as editor of the Monitor during the most of
the period of its publication by Mr. Earl.
" During the pul)lication of the Monitor by Mr. Earl, the Morgan excite-
ment on Masonry and anti-Masonry sprung up and waxed hot and bitter be-
tween the contending adherents on either side ; and also the "great Hodges-
and Ruggles' contest," as it was afterward called, for Congressional appoint-
ment, which finally terminated in the election of Hodges on the seventh bal-
lot. The Monitor took the Masonic side of the question in controversy, and
this gave to its publisher the cognomen of 'Jack-mason.'
"In March, 1838, Earl & Hammond sold out their interest in the paper
to Messrs. N. A. Tripp & Alfred Pearce. Their partnership continued but
three months, when Mr. Henry Pratt assumed the obligations which Mr.
Pearce had thrown off". Thus for many years the publishers were Messrs.
Tripp & Pratt. In 1850 Mr. Tripp went out of the firm, and in 1857 en-
gaged in the publication of the Daily Star, which soon after came into ex-
istence.
" For many years previous to the fire of 1843, the Monitor was published
in the Exchange Building, which stood where the City Hall building is now
located. After the fire it sought temporary quarters in the rear of Mrs.
Young's residence, on North Main Street, until the Borden Block, which
stood where the new one is now erected, was finished, when the office was
removed thither. When the Pocasset House was rebuilt, the office was re-
moved to its present quarters, where it has remained ever since.
" In 1 84 1 Wm. S. Robertson, the present proprietor, entered the office to
serve an apprenticeship, after concluding which he continued in the employ
of Mr. Henry Pratt, the publisher, most of the time till about 1855, when he
engaged in business himself. In December, 1868, he assumed the publica-
cation of the Monitor, which had been suspended for some months. For two
years it was run as a free paper. January ist, 1871, it was enlarged, a small
subscription price charged, and it has undoubtedly now a far wider circula-
1 88 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
tion than at any period in its history. It has always been issued as a weekly
paper. The names of those who at various times have wielded the editorial
pen in its columns are in their order as follows : Joseph Hathaway, Esq.,
Charles F. Townsend, Matthew C. Durfee, James Ford, Esq., Hon. Joseph E.
Dawley, and William. S. Robertson, the present publisher and proprietor.
Contemporary Papers.
" While the Monitor has lived through this long period, there have come
into existence many newspapers, both daily and weekly. Some of them
were short-lived, merely giving a flickering light and expiring, while others
have continued until this day. The first of these was the Moral Envoy
(anti-Masonic), which was started in 1830 by George Wheaton Allen, a native
of Batavia, N. Y. This journal continued to be published about a year,
when in 1831 it was succeeded by the Village Recorder, Noel A. Tripp
publisher. This was issued once a fortnight from the same office as the
Mofiitor, for a short time, until 1832, when it came out weekly. After run-
ning nearly three years, the Recorder was merged in the Monitor.
" In 1836 there was started the first Democratic paper, a weekly, called the
Patriot. The publisher was William. N. Canfield. It was edited a few months
by B. Ellery Hale, after which the editorial work was mostly performed by a
coterie of writers, among whom were the late Dr. P. W. Leland, Dr. Foster
• Hooper, Jonathan Slade, and Louis Lapham, Esq. These were the " forty
fathers," so termed by James Ford, Esq., who at this time edited the Monitor.
The Patriot was a journal of considerable ability, and did good service for
the Democracy. It lived four or five years, and was succeeded by the
Archetype, which was started in 1841, under the management of Messrs.
Thomas Almy and Louis Lapham. After one brief year's existence it suc-
cumbed to an inevitable fate, and was followed by the Gazette, published by
Abraham Bowen, and edited by Stephen Hart. This was also short-lived,
when the Argus, a new candidate for public favor, sprung up under the edi-
torial supervision of Jonathan Slade, with Thomas Almy as publisher. The
office being destroyed in the great fire of 1843, the paper was suspended.
About this time was issued the Flint and Steel, a small weekly sheet edited
by the late Dr. P. W. Leland. It was in the interest of the Democracy, and
gave full scope to the talent possessed by the Doctor in making the sparks of
criticism and sarcasm fly thick and fast.
" At its demise, various ventures in journalism were made, among them
The Mechanic, by Mr. Thomas Almy, the Wampanoag, and some others we
do not now recall. The Weekly News was started in 1845, ^^ith Messrs.
Almy & Milne as publishers. The paper is still published in connection
with the Daily News by Messrs. Almy, Milne & Co. Since the date of that
publication we have had the All Sorts, by Abraham Bowen, published occa-
sionally, yc//;-«fl'/, weekly, by George ^ohftxtsow. People's Press, tri-weekly, by
Noel A. Tripp. The All Sorts and Journal lived for a season. The Press
was published five years, and then, in 1865, was merged into the Monitor.
"The Labor Journal, published by Henry Seavey, was started in 1873,
and is still in existence. The LEcho du Canada, an organ of the French
N
V
^
■^
V
N
■>.
^
N
o^^^.
NEWSPAPERS AND STEAM MARINE. 189
Canadians, was started in 1S73, and lived about two years. The Saturday
Morning Bulletin, a free paper weekly, started in 1872, is still issued."
Daily Papers.
"The first daily paper was The Spark, published in 1848,3 small cam-
paign paper, under the editorial supervision of Louis Lapham, Esq., which
lived but a few weeks. The first daily paper that survived was the Daily
Evening Star, started in 1857, by Mr. Noel A. Tripp, afterward, in 1858,
called The Daily Beacon, and edited by Louis Lapham, Esq. It continued
one year, when it was purchased by Messrs. Almy & Milne, by whom it is
still published under the firm name of Almy, Milne & Co. It is now called
the Fall River Daily Evening News. The daily Border City Herald is
now in the fourth year of its existence. Previous to this, the Monitor pub-
lished a daily edition in 1865 for nine months, and in 1868 the Daily Times
was published from the Monitor office for about eight months."
Journalism in Fall River cannot have lacked in variety, however unfruit-
ful it has been in enriching the publishers. Certainly no class have labored
with greater zeal to attain success. That they have not reached to the stand-
ard of metropolitan journalism is not their fault. Though the prophet might
go to Mahomet, Mahomet could not go to the prophet. The tendency to
monopolies has not left journalism untouched, and, outside of the great
cities, there are few journals which attain sufficient patronage to cope with
them. But that the citizens of Fall River have given some sort of support
and encouragement to newspapers is manifest by the number and variety of
undertakings in this line during the half century whose record is presented
in these pages.
Mount Hope Bay and its Steam Marine.
This beautiful estuary, some nine to ten miles in length, and var}nng
from three to five miles in breadth, is the right arm of the larger Narragansett,
through which, on the west side of Rhode Island and the narrow and deep
Seaconnet on the east, it empties into the Atlantic the combined tributes of
the Taunton, Cole's, Lee's, and Kickamuit rivers. Among our Eastern
bays there is certainly none more charming in situation and outline than
Mount Hope, and had it the same surroundings of palm and flower-covered
hills, the same city of centuries in the background, and an Italian sun in a
concave of blue overhead, the comparison which returned tourists are fond of
making for it with the Bay of Naples would not be unfair, or at all preten-
tious. The calm loveliness of this picturesque water, though recognized and
IQO FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
amply appreciated by the industrious communities upon its shores, is not the
distinctive merit suggesting our present consideration. As a harbor or
roadstead, easily made in whatever weather, broad enough to shelter navies
upon its unbroken expanse, sufficiently deep for the passage of the largest
ships, and l)y its landlocked position protected from storms in all directions,
Mount Hope Bay is of the largest value to Fall River and its people.
In the course of the purely narrative part of this work, allusions have
been made to the local advantages of Fall River, and in their proper, con-
nection brief notices incorporated of the means of communication with other
business centres. The commercial facilities afforded by the situation of the
city, upon so secure and spacious a sheet of water, are of inestimable account
to its future. Between New York and Boston, with the possible exception of
New Bedford, there is no harbor possessing the number and excellence of
features that this landlocked bay can claim, all others either lacking in room,
ease of access, or sufficient depth. The singular availability of Fall River
as a location for bonded warehouses, its docks and piers possessing a draught
of water adequate to the approach of the largest vessels, and its railroad and
marine communication offering the best freight carriage north and south,
has not infrequently drawn the attention of engineers and capitalists. The
railroad features of the place may be said to be unique in one important
respect — that the main line from Boston, following the shore of the bay, ad-
mits of dock connections at any desired point along the whole water-front,
and the New Bedford line entering the very heart of the city, and landing
goods almost at the doors of the mills, though constructed fifty years
after the laying out of the highways, crosses but one public street. The
exceptional advantages of the location as an industrial centre, due to the
cheap transportation of coal, cotton, iron ores, and other raw material, at its
command, constitute an important integer in the general enterprise and pros-
perity. Should foreign commerce, in some not far distant day, appropriate to
its uses the remarkable advantages already largely enjoyed by domestic trade,
such a result would be neither illogical nor surprising.
Occasional suggestions have been afforded in the preceding history of
the early modes of travel and freight carriage established between Fall River
and Boston, New York and Providence. A more complete record of the
progress of communication in those directions, prepared by a careful hand, is
embodied in the following pages.
Early communication with the neighboring places was limited to private
conveyance, until the establishment in 1825 of a stage line for passengers
between Fall River, Providence, and New Bedford, the terminus of each line
being at Slade's Ferrv, where the only means of crossing was by sail or row
THE PROVIDENCE LINE. 19 1
boat. Isaac Fish, who also ran coaches to Boston, Bristol, and Newport, via
Bristol Ferry, was the proprietor of the Providence line, and I, H. Bartlett
had control of the New Bedford line. In 1826, a horse-boat was put on at
Slade's Ferry, so that the stages could come over to the village. This simple
craft ran satisfactorily for many years, but in January, 1847, was superseded
by the steam ferry-boat Faith, which in turn made way for the Weetamoe,
in March, 1859. The completion of the new iron railroad bridge in 1875,
erected by the Old Colony Railroad Company at this point of the riv^er, with
carriage road included, rendered the ferry, which for generations had been a
great public convenience, useless, and the boats were accordingly with-
drawn.
As business advanced, and there came the necessity of more frequent
intercourse with the neighboring towns and of transportation to and fro of
merchandise, corn, grain, provisions, etc., the convenience of water communica-
tion was noted, and efforts made to realize the marine advantages of the local-
ity. At first, sailing craft of greater or less capacity were employed, the
Irene and Betsey, a two-masted lighter, and the sloops Fall River and Ar-
gonaut, each of thirty or forty tons, being the first to ply regularly on the
waters of the Mount Hope and Narragansett bays. Soon sailing packets
began stated trips to New York, Albany, Newport, and Providence ; and then
came the Eudora, a propeller built expressly to run between Fall River
and New York as a freight boat. She was the first propeller in use here or
on any of the adjoining waters, and was commanded by that veteran captain
of the Sound boats, William Brown.
The Providence Line.
Shortly after the organization of the Fall River Iron Works Company,
with Colonel Borden as managing agent and treasurer, a regular line of com-
munication by water between Fall River and Providence was established
under its auspices. The early experience of the Colonel in shipbuilding and
boating well fitted him for further and more extensive enterprises in such
direction, and, with the advent of steam-power in navigation, a steamer was
purchased and placed upon the route. The first boat was the Hancock, built
in Castine, Maine, in 1827, and brought to Boston, where she was purchased
by Mr. Holder Borden, soon after her arrival. She measured 98 tons, was 89
feet long, 18 feet beam, and about 6 feet depth of hold. The Hancock was
commanded by Captain Thomas Borden, who went to Boston to bring her
to this port, and, in coming through the draw at Stone Bridge, encountered
considerable difficulty on account of the width of the steamer and the narrow-
192 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
ness of the draw. She began running regularly between Fall River and Pro-
vidence in September, 1828, occupying about three hours in the trip. A
picture of her is still in existence, but so blackened that the outlines only
can faintly be traced. The picture, which is a ]);iinting, was discovered a few
years since covering a chimney flue, where it had been placed by one who
failed to appreciate its value. A number of figures are to be seen on the open
deck of the boat, appearing to an ordinary observer like very black gentle-
men wearing extremely angular coats and enormous hats.
The Hancock was succeeded in 1832 by the King Philip. She was
built in New York, and measured 169 tons. Her length was 120 feet,
breadth 20 feet, and depth yl feet. She also was under the charge of Captain
Borden, and for more than a dozen years made her trips regularly between
the two ports, without accident or noticeable incident.
In 1S45, the Bradford Durfee was placed upon the route, the King
Philip being used as a supplementary boat. She was named for one of the
most active and most energetic business men of his time, largely concerned
in manufacturing pursuits, and having much to do with out-door affairs,
especially in shaping and erecting the earlier docks and wharves of the city.
The Bradford Durfee has been kept in good repair, is still in active service,
and appeals to be as strong and as safe as ever. She has a square engine —
a style peculiar to the earlier New York boats — which has done excellent
service.
The staunch and noble Canonicus was next added to the list of steamers
owned by this company. Built in 1849, and commanded by Captain Benja-
min Brayton, she was run for a few years between Newport and Providence,
vm Fall River and Bristol, and subsequently as an excursion boat to different
points. In 1862, she was sold to the United States Government, to be used
as a transport; in 1865, bought back again by the Iron Works Company,
she is now employed for extra service and occasional trips to Rocky Point,
Newport, Block Island, and other resorts during the summer months.
" None know her but to love her," and she has ever proved one of the most
popular and reliable boats on these waters.
In 1854, the Metacomet appeared in the bay, a very beautiful steamer,
owned by the same company; she was built in New York, was 170 feet
long, 26 feet beam, and 9 feet depth of hold, being about the same size as the
Canonicus. She also was disposed of in the early days of the rebellion, trans-
formed into a gunboat, named the Pulaski, and finally wrecked on the coast
of Mexico. In 1874, the steamer Richard Borden was placed upon the
route. She is one of the fastest, if not the fastest, boats in either Mount Hope
or Narragansett bays, having travelled the distance, about thirty miles, in one
THE NEW YORK LINE. 193
hour and a half, including stoppages. She, with the Bradford Durfee, now
forms a line of two boats, each day, one leaving either city in the morning
and returning in the afternoon.
One of the peculiarities of this line is that it has been absolutely change-
less. It was owned at the outset by the Fall River Iron Works Company^
and they own it now. Security and stability have ever been its characteris-
tics. There has never been any decided opposition. One or two boats have
made a few trips between Providence and Fall River, but they were soon
withdrawn. The boats have landed at their present wharves in Fall River
and Providence for many years. The Iron Works Company own the wharf
at which the boats land in Bristol, and they hold the wharf at Bristol Ferry
almost in perpetuity. Even the running time has changed but little, about
two hours being the average, summer and winter.
In the summer of 1829, a Liliputian steamer, called the Experiment,
made occasional trips upon the Providence River and between Taunton and
Newport, sending a boat ashore with passengers at Fall River. Other steam-
craft, the Babcock, the Rushlight, and the Wadsworth, at sundry times at-
tempted to establish communication between Fall River and neighboring
ports, but with only partial or no success. In 1847, the Perry, a steamer
looking much like the Canonicus, was built for Rufus B. Kinsley, to run be-
tween Newport and Fall River. She made three trips a week to Fall River,
running alternate days to Providence. In June, 1848, she began running to
Fall River in the morning, and to Providence in the afternoon, but, her
owners soon finding that two trips daily to Providence would be more profit-
able, she was withdrawn entirely from the Fall River route.
In May, 1827, the Marco Bozzaris, a steamer, was advertised to run be-
tween Dighton and New York, stopping at Fall River — " Passengers to be
taken by stage from Dighton to Boston." Whether any trips were ever
made, cannot now be stated with certainty, but the project thus boldly put
forth was realized twenty years later, with only this change — that Fall River
became the grand centre of transfer from water to land transportation.
The New York Line.
In 1847, shortly after the completion of the Fall River Railroad opening
direct railway communication with Boston, the Bay State Steamboat Com-
pany was formed with a capital of $300,000, and in the spring of that year,
the steamer Bay State, built expressly for the line, commenced her regular
trips between Fall River and New York. Man)^ citizens will remember the
May morning when she proudly entered the harbor, an event signalized by
194 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
the firino; of guns, ringing of bells, and the, if possible, more demonstrative
shouts and cheers of the excited people, who crowded the high bluffs along
the shore, or pressed forward upon the wharf which was henceforth to be her
point of arrival and departure. She was the pioneer of a noble and emi-
nently successful enterprise.
The Bay State proved worthy of her name. She was commanded by
Captain Joseph J. Comstock, who was subsequently captain of the ocean
steamer Baltic, and always the same popular and gentlemanly commander.
The length of the Bay State was 320 feet; her tonnage, 1600. Until the
completion of the Empire State, of equal size and power, the steamer Massa-
chusetts was chartered as alternate boat, and commanded by that long-expe-
rienced veteran, Captain William Brown. In 1854, the mammoth Metropolis,
the most superb steamboat of her period, was added to the facilities of this
admirably conducted line. Built and equipped solely from the profits of its
business, she was as strong as wood and iron combined could make her, and
elegantly furnished throughout, eliciting among the townspeople almost as
much excitement and commotion on her arrival as was awakened by her pre-
decessor, the Bay State. Her length was 350 feet, breadth of beam 82 feet,
and depth of hold 15 feet. Her capacity was 2200 tons.
The conception of the organization of this favorite through route of travel
between Boston and New York, via Fall River, was largely due to Colonel
Richard Borden, by whom also the railroad was projected and mainly
constructed. Other business men were interested in this latter movement
and aided in its development, among whom were Andrew Robeson, Sr., who
was its first president, his successor, Hon. Nathaniel B. Borden, and David
Anthony, who was treasurer. Jefferson Borden was also most prominent
in the management, and shared with his brother Richard in the organization
of the steamboat line. Until 1846, there had been no communication
direct from Fall River by steam or rail wnth either Boston or New York,
although the traveller might, by going to Providence or Stonington, catch
a train or boat.
The Bay State Steamboat Company in course of time passed into the
control of the Boston, Newport and New York Steamboat Company, and,
the Old Colony Railroad Company having in the meantime extended their
road from Fall River to Newport, that city (1864) was made the eastern
terminus for the boats of the line. Soon came another change, the steamers .
becoming the property of the Narragansett Steamship Company, then under
the control of Messrs. Fisk and Gould, of New York, and the eastern ter-
minus was re-established (1869) at Fall River, the conviction having forced
THE NEW YORK LINE. 195
itself upon all, whether travellers or proprietors, — that there was the most
convenient and popular point of ingress and egress.
A year or two more, and this favorite line of travel became the property
of the Old Colony Steamboat Company, forming, in connection with the Old
Colony Railroad, then running b)' a new and shorter line, via Taunton, to Bos-
ton, the safest, the most delightful in point of scenery, and by far the most
comfortable route between the commercial centre of the nation and New
England.
The older steamboats having had their dav, including the Governor, the
Senator, and the Katahdin, which were chartered from time to time and used
as winter boats, as also the State of Maine, purchased about 1850 and prov-
ing one of the best sea boats ever in Eastern waters, the Old Colony Steam-
boat Company is now equipped with the staunch and beautiful steamers,
Newport and Old Colony, as winter craft, and the truly magnificent floating
palaces, Bristol and Providence, for the milder and pleasanter portions of the
year. The latter steamers, built in 1867, each 373 feet long, 83 feet beam,
16^ feet draught, and 3000 tons measurement, excel all other steamers afloat
in elegance of finish, furniture, and appointments. They each have 240 state-
rooms, and sleeping accommodations for 800 to 1000 passengers. The offi-
cers and crew of each comprise 1 30 persons. The most experienced and
cautious pilots are employed, every precaution is taken to guard against casual-
ties of all sorts, and ample provision is made for the w^elfare and safety ol
passengers should disaster occur. One of the later features of the line, of a
rather aesthetic character, is an evening concert in the saloon by a fine band.
It is so highly appreciated as to be considered now well-nigh indispensable.
This route, " The Old Fall River Line," has continued for thirty years
the favorite of the travelling public, on account of its certainty, and its uni-
form speed and safety. Among the hundreds of thousands of people trans-
ported by this line during the Centennial year, not one received injury.
That this route to New York, for comfort, convenience, and beauty of scenery,
far excels all others, there is no question. Passengers leaving Boston in the
early evening, have a delightful view of the harbor, with its islands, shipping,
and way out to the sea ; pass through numerous towns and villages, and an
everchanging landscape ; and then, for a score of miles, sweep along the banks
of Taunton River to Fall River, a distance by rail of 48 miles, travelled in an
hour and fifteen minutes, in spacious and elegant cars, over a road-bed smooth
and even, laid with steel rails the entire distance. From the decks of the
steamers, as they pass down the bay in the still hours of twilight, may be
seen one of the finest and most varied panoramic views in New England,
rich in historic and natural interest. At the start is Fall River, with its
196 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
church spires and mammoth manufactories, rising abruptly from the bay on
the east ; the bare, bald summit of Mount Hope, the seat of the Indian
sachem King Philip, a little farther down on the west ; while the islands and
softly undulating waters of Mount Hope and Narragansett bays stretch
away towards the south until Newport is reached. Passengers by this route
secure a good night's rest, and arrive in New York or Boston in ample sea-
son for extended travel south, or north and east, and for all business pur-
poses
Freight Lines.
In 1866, the transportation of freight to and from Fall River had
increased to such dimensions, that enterprising gentlemen obtained a charter
and organized the " Fall River Steamboat Company." The propellers Alba-
tross and United States, each between 400 and 500 tons measurement, were
purchased and placed upon the route to New York, running two trips each-
weekly, between the two ports. Upon the formation of the Old Colony Steam-
boat Company., comprising some of the gentlemen connected with this line,
the boats were sold to the new company, and are now run in connection with
the larger steamers for the transportation of freight.
In the spring of 1865, the Fall River and Warren Railroad, connecting
with the Providence and Bristol line at Warren, being ready for travel, the
steamer Oriole was put on as a ferry-boat, connecting this road at its eastern
terminus, opposite the city, with the Old Colony Railroad at their depot on
Ferry Street. On the completion of the new bridge at Slade's Ferry, the
railroad, having in the meantime been purchased by the Old Colony Railroad
Company, was extended and brought over the river into the city, thus dis-
pensing with the ferry-boat and inaugurating a route for freight as well as for
passengers between Fall River, Providence, and further west. Several large
coal steamers, bringing 1000 tons of coal each trip, arrive weekly at this
port, and there are besides other steam-craft used for freight, excursions, and
tugboat purposes. A large fleet of tugs used in the fishing business are wholly
or in part operated by citizens of Fall River, and belong to the steam marine
of Mount Hope Bay.
The Clyde Line,
In March, 1876, the proprietors of the Clyde line of steamers, perceiving
the natural advantages and facilities for business afforded by Fall River, deter-
mined to make that port the eastern terminus of a line of freight propellers
to Philadelphia. They placed two boats upon the route, the Norfolk, of 41 1
THE CLYDE LINE. 197
tons burden, and the Defiance, of 381 tons, each capable of canying the con-
tents of thirty-five railway cars. Connections were made with the Old Colony
Railroad, thus opening up a new and direct route from Boston to Philadelphia,
and avoiding the perils of Cape Cod and Vineyard Sound on the one hand,
or the intricate windings, shoals and shallows, rocks and sand-bars of inland
river navigation on the other.
The venture proving unexpectedly successful, and verifying the wisdom
of the movement, the next year the company added to the line the Vindi-
cator, a propeller of 102 i tons burden, one of the largest on the coast, and
capable of stowing 4000 bales of cotton, or the contents of one hundred cars.
Applying here the truth, " coming events cast their shadows before," it may
not be too much to predict that active business men in Fall River of to-day
will, in their time, witness the arrival and departure of steamships from their
harbor on lines to be established direct between Fall River and foreign ports.
FALL RIVER:
HISTORICAL, POLITICAL AND SOCIAL PHASES.
THERE is still treasured by a very few of our oldest citizens, a modest
pamphlet, coverless, not exceeding twelve pages, and altogether unpre-
tentious in typographical execution, yet exceedingly valuable for its true
picture of the settlement as it was about the middle of the last century, and
for the record of local patriotism it has preserved. Its author, referred to
in the early pages of our narrative, was a conspicuous citizen, identified
with the original industrial enterprise of the settlement (then Tiverton,
R. I.,) as the projector of the first spinning factory, and noted for his intelli-
gent and comprehensive observation. In 1834, still possessing a vivid re-
collection of the incidents of his youth and maturer years, he wrote the
interesting, though much too brief, record of local events, which is here re-
produced in its entire volume.
REMINISCENCES OF COL. JOSEPH DURFEE,
RELATING TO THE
EARLY HISTORY OF FALL RIVER, AND OF REVOLUTIONARY SCENES.
"Joseph Durfee was the eldest son of the late Hon. Thomas Durfee.
He was born in April, in the year 1 750, in what is now the city of Fall River.
At that time, and until within a few years, the Fall River stream was owned
by the Bordens. Much of what now is the city, where are elegant buildings
and a dense population, was then a wilderness, where the goats lodged in the
winter seasons. The Bordens and the Durfees were then the principal pro-
REMINISCENCES OF COL. JOSEPH DURFEE. 199
prietors of the Pocasset Purchase, and owners of the land on the south side
of what is now Main Street, for more than a mile in length. Thomas and
Joseph Borden owned the south side of the stream, and Stephen Borden
owned the north side. Thomas Borden owned a saw-mill and a grist-mill at
that time, standing where the old saw and grist mills stood near the iron-
works establishment.
" Thomas Borden left a widow and four children, viz. : Richard, Chris-
topher, Rebecca, and Mary. Joseph Borden, brother of Thomas, owned a
fulling-mill, which stood near where the Pocasset Factory now stands. He
was killed by the machinery of his fulling-mill. He left four children, viz. :
Abraham, Samuel, Patience, and Peace. Patience was my mother. Stephen
Borden, who owned the north side of the stream, had a grist-mill and a saw-
mill, standing near where the woollen establishment has since been erected.
He left six children, viz.: Stephen, George, Mary, Hannah, Penelope, and
Lusannah.
"The widow of Joseph Borden was afterwards married to Benjamin
Jenks, by whom she had six children — John, Joseph, Hannah, Catherine,
Ruth, and Lydia. The widow of Stephen Borden was married to John
Bovven, by whom she had two sons — Nathan and John.
" At that time, and until within a few years, there were but two saw-mills,
two grist-mills, and a fulling-mill standing on the Fall River. There are now
about forty different mills on the river. The stream was very small ; but the
falls were so great that there was little occasion for dams to raise a pond suf-
ficient to carry the wheels then in operation. A small foot bridge, which
stood near where the main street now crosses the stream, afforded the only
means of passing from one side to the other of the stream, except by fording
it. There was formerly a small dam near where the Troy Factory now stands,
over which the water flowed the greater part of the year. When it failed,
those who owned the mills near the mouth of the stream hoisted the gates
at the upper dam and drew the water down. It was no uncommon thing,
twenty-five or thirty years ago, for the water to be so low and the river so
narrow at the head of the stream, that a person might step across without
difficulty. It was frequently not more than six inches deep. At one time
there was a foot bridge of stepping-stones only across the Narrows between
the North and South Ponds.
" Our country has been involved in three wars since my recollection.
The first was with the French and Indians — when we fought for our lives.
The French offered a bounty for every scalp which the Indians would bring
them. It was therefore certain death to all who fell into the Indians' hands.
I distinctly recollect the time when General Wolfe was killed — and of seeing
the soldiers on their march to reinforce the army. I saw many men enlist
into the service, and among them, Joseph Valentine, father of William Val-
entine, of Providence. I was then about ten years of age.
" The second war was with Great Britain, during the greater part of
which I was actively engaged in the service of my countr}'. We then fought
for our liberty. We were divided into two parties, called Whigs and Tories —
the former, the friends of liberty and independence ; the latter, the enemies
200 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
of both. Before the Revolution broke out, the Whigs were busy in making
saltpetre and gunpowder, in making and preparing small arms, in training and
learning the art of war. At this time, we of this State were British subjects,
and constituted what was then called the Colony of Massachusetts. Conven-
tions were held in the colony to transact the business and consult upon the
affairs of the colony. At one of these conventions I received a captain's
commission, signed by Walter Spooner, Esq., and took the command of a
company of minute men.
" British ships, commanded by Wallace, Asque, and Howe, early in the
Revolution, were oflT our coast, in the river and bay, harassing and distressing
the towns of Newport, Bristol, and other towns on the river. I was called
upon with my company and such others as could be mustered to guard the
shores and prevent the British from landing, until the colony could raise a
force sufficient to protect the inhabitants from their depredations.
" In 1776, after the battle on Long Island, a reinforcement was called for
to cover the retreat of the American troops. I was ordered to take the com-
mand of a company of sixty men and march forthwith to the army then re-
treating from New York. These orders were promptly obeyed. With the
company under my command, I joined the regiment commanded by Colonel
Thomas Carpenter, and by a forced march we reached the army a few days
before the battle at the White Plains. In that engagement I took an active
part.
" Soon after my return home from the battle at the White Plains, the
British landed at Newport, on Rhode Island, and took possession of that town.
I was called upon to proceed immediately with my company to assist in cov-
ering the retreat of the small forces then commanded by Colonel John Cook
from the island of Rhode Island. This was effected without loss, though at-
tended with difficulty and delay, as there was then no bridge from the island
to the mainland. At that time, the inhabitants in the south part of Massa-
chusetts and Rhode Island were in a critical situation. They were nearly
surrounded with British emissaries. A part of the English squadron lay off
our coast, and their troops had possession of the south part of Rhode Island.
Both were harassing our towns, destroying property, and making prisoners
of the inhabitants. In addition to this, we had Tories at home, enemies in
disguise, who were aiding and abetting the British, while they professed
friendship for the cause of liberty, and for those who were shedding their
blood to obtain it.
" Early in the spring of 1777, I received a major's commission, and was
stationed at Little Compton, in the State of Rhode Island, in the regiment
under the command of Colonel John Hathaway, of Berkley, Mass. At Little
Compton and in that neighborhood I continued several months on duty with
the regiment, often changing our station, to repel the invasions of the enemy
and to protect the inhabitants from their frequent depredations. In the fall
of 1777, I returned home to Fall River. I found the citizens, among whom
were my relatives and best friends, exposed and continually harassed by the
enemy. I applied to several of the leading and influential men of this place,
and proposed raising a guard for the safety and protection of the inhabitants.
REMINISCENCES OF COL. JOSEPH DURFEE. 20I
They coincided with my views, and the necessity of a guard to protect our
defenceless inhabitants. I went to Providence to consult General Sullivan,
who was commander-in-chief of all the forces raised in this section of the
country, and to obtain assistance from him. He approved of my plan of
raising a guard, and gave me an order for two whaleboats, and an order also
for rations for twentv men, drawn upon the commissarv, then at Bristol. I soon
raised a guard, procured the store now standing at the end of the Iron Works
Company's wharf in this place for a guard-house, where we met every day,
called the roll, and stationed sentinels for the night to watch the movements
of the enemy and give the alarm when approached. The orders of the sen-
tinel were peremptory — that if a boat was seen approaching in the night, to
hail them three times, and if no answer was received to fire upon them. It
was not long before one of the guard, Samuel Reed, discovered boats silently
and cautiously approaching the shore from the bay. The challenge was given
but no answer received. He fired upon the boats. This created an alarm,
and the whole neighborhood were soon in arms. I stationed the guard be-
hind a stone wall, and kept up a constant fire upon the enemy until they
brought their cannon to bear upon us, and commenced firing grapeshot
amongst us — when, as we were unable to return the compliment, it was deemed
advisable to retreat. Two of the guard were sent to remove all the planks
which laid over the stream for foot people to cross upon, and to cut off, as far
as possible, every facility for crossing the stream, except the upper bridge.
We then retreated slowly until we reached the main road, near where the
bridge now crosses the stream. I then gave orders to form and give them
battle. This was done, and never were soldiers more brave. So roughly
were the enemy handled by our little band of Spartans, that they soon beat
up a retreat, leaving behind them one dead and another bleeding to death,
besides the wounded, whom they carried away.
" The wounded soldier, left by the enemy, before he expired, informed me
that the number of the enemy who attacked us was about 1 50, commanded
by Major Ayers. When the enemy landed, they set fire to the house of
Thomas Borden, then nearly new. They next set fire to a grist-mill and a
saw-mill, belonging to Mr. Borden, standing at the mouth of the Fall River.
These buildings I saw when set on fire. When the British troops retreated,
as they were compelled to do, from the shots of our little band of volunteers,
they set fire to the house and other buildings of Richard Borden, then an
aged man, and took him prisoner. We pursued them so closely in their
retreat, that we were enabled to save the buildings which they had last fired.
The British were frequently fired upon and not a little annoyed by the mus-
ketry of our soldiers, as they passed down the bay in their boats on their
retreat. Mr. Richard Borden, whom they took prisoner, was in one of their
boats. Finding themselves closely pursued by a few American soldiers, who
from the shore poured in their shot and balls upon them as fast as they could
load and fire, and finding themselves in danger from the musketry of these
few brave Whigs who pursued them, they ordered Mr. Borden, their prisoner,
to stand up in the boat, hoping that his comrades on the shore would recog-
nize him and desist from firing upon them. But this he refused to do ; and
202 FALL RIVER AND LFS INDUSTRIES.
threw himself flat into the bottom of the boat. While laying there, a shot
from the Americans on shore killed one of the British soldiers standing by
his side in the boat. Mr. Borden was obstinately silent to all the questions
which were asked him ; so that not being able to make any profitable use of
him, they dismissed him in a few days on parole, This engagement took
place of a Sabbath morning, on the 25th of May, 1778. The two British
soldiers killed in this engagement, were buried at twelve o'clock on the same
day of the battle, near where the south end of the Massasoit Factory now
stands.
" During a considerable part of the month of August following, we were
busily engaged in procuring arms, ammunition, and provisions for the soldiers,
and in building flat-bottomed boats and scows for the troops to cross over the
river on to Rhode Island, with a view to dislodge the British army, who then
had possession of the island. A barn, now standing near the Stone Bridge, was
occupied for a commissary store, of which I had the charge until things were
in readiness and the troops prepared to cross over to the island, when I
left the store in charge of my friend and relative, Walter Chaloner.
" In the fore part of August, i 778, the American troops embarked in the
boats and scows prepared for them, and landed on Rhode Island, where I
joined them, having been appointed a major in Colonel Whitney's regiment.
Our troops were then marched to a spot but a short distance to the north of
what is called Butts' Hill, where they encamped for the night with but the
canopy of heaven for a covering and the ground for our beds. But we were
animated with the hope of liberty — with a belief that we were engaged in a
righteous cause — and that He who sways the sceptre of the universe would
prosper our undertaking. At this time we were anxiously looking for the
French fleet, from which we hoped for assistance against the enemy, whose
numerous bodies of troops were before us. Soon the French fleet hove in
sight, when the British set fire to the shipping in the harbor and blew up
most of the vessels within their reach. Not long after the French fleet came
up, the British fleet appeared in the offing. Immediately the French fleet
tacked about, went out and attacked the British squadron, when broadsides
were exchanged, and a bloody battle ensued. A tremendous storm came on,
long remembered as the August storm, in which the two fleets were separated,
and many who had escaped the cannon's mouth found a watery grave. The
French fleet, or so much of it as survived the storm, went into Boston to
repair, and the remnant of the British fleet went into New York.
" Soon after this storm, our troops marched in three divisions towards
Newport — one on the East road, so called, one on the West road, and the
brigade commanded by General Titcomb moved in the centre — until we came
in sight of Newport, when orders were given to halt, erect a marquee, and
pitch our tents. General orders were issued for a detachment from the army
of three thousand men, our number being too small to risk a general engage-
ment with the great body of British troops then quartered on the south end
of the island. Early on the next morning a detachment of troops, of which
I was one, was ordered to proceed forthwith and take possession of what was
called Hunneman's Hill.
REMINISCENCES OF COL. JOSEPH DURFEE. 203
" The morning was foggy, and enabled us to advance some distance unob-
served by the enemy ; but the fog clearing away before we reached the hill,
we were discovered by the British and Tory troops, who commenced such a
heavy cannonade upon us, that it was deemed expedient by the commanding
officers, to prevent the destruction of many of our brave troops, that we
should fall back and advance under the cover of night. .Accordingly, when
night came, we marched to the hill undiscovered by the enemy. We imme-
diately commenced throwing up a breastwork and building a fort. When
daylight appeared, we had two cannon mounted — one twenty-four pounder,
and one eighteen — and with our breastwork we had completed a covered
way, to pass and repass without being seen by the enemy. The British had a
small fort or redoubt directly under the muzzles of our cannon, with which
we saluted them, and poured in shot so thick upon them that they were
compelled to beat up a retreat. But they returned again at night to repair
their fort, when they commenced throwing bombshells into our fort, which,
however, did but little damage. I saw several of them flying over our
heads, and one bursting in the air, a fragment fell upon the shoulder of a
soldier and killed him.
" At this time we were anxiously waiting the return of the French fleet
from Boston, where they had gone to repair. But learning that they could
not then return, and knowing the situation of the British troops, that they
were enlarging and strengthening their forts and redoubts, and that they
had reinforcements arriving daily from New York, it was deemed expedient
by our commanding officers, Lata3^ette, Green, and Sullivan, all experienced
and brave Generals, that we should retreat to the north end of the island.
" Accordingly, on the 29th day of August, early in the morning, we struck
our marquee and tents and commenced a retreat. The British troops followed,
and soon came up with our rear-guard and commenced firing upon them.
The shots were briskly returned and continued at intervals, until our troops
were joined by a part of our army a short distance to the south of Quaker
Hill, so called, when a general engagement ensued, in which many lives were
lost on both sides. At night, we retreated from the island to Tiverton. On
the following day we left Tiverton, crossed over Slade's Ferry and marched
through Pawtucket and Providence to Pawtuxet, where we remained until
our time of service expired.
" Some time after this, I received a lieutenant-colonel's commission, and
took the command of a regiment to guard the sea-shores, and a part of the
time my regiment was stationed at Providence. I soon received orders from
General Gates, who at that time was principal in command, to march with
my regiment to Tiverton and join General Cornell's brigade. The war
now raged throughout the country. Old and young, parents and children,
all, excepting the Tories, were engaged in the common cause of their country
— in breaking the shackles of Colonial bondage — in obtaining her liberty
and achieving her independence. Old England now began to examine the
prospects before her. She found after a bloody contest, what she might and
ought to have known before, that her rebellious colonies, as she was pleased
to term them, could be ruled, but not ridden upon ; that by mild and liberal
204 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
measures she might have retained a valuable part of her kingdom. She
discovered her error too late to profit by it. The brave people of her colo-
nies were resolved to throw off the yoke, and themselves be free.
"On the 29th day of October, 1779, the British troops left Rhode Island,
and the American troops, under the command of Generals Gates and Cornell,
marched on to the island and took possession of the town of Newport. On
the 29th day of December following, my time of service having expired, I
returned home to my family. This was the coldest winter known during the
last century. The river and bay were frozen over so thick, that people with
loaded teams passed all the way from Fall River to Newport on the ice. I
continued in the service of my country until about the close of the Revolu-
tionary war, when I removed from Fall River to Tiverton, in the State of
Rhode Island, where I lived about thirty years. During this time, I was
elected by my fellow-citizens to several offices in town, and was a member
of the General Assembly for many years.
" When Thomas Jefferson was elected President of the United States, in
1 801, and the Democratic fever raged to the highest pitch, I was what was then
called a Federalist, and having repeatedly sworn to support the federal Con-
stitution, could not consent to turn my coat wrong side out. I was therefore
not permitted to hold any office for some time after. But in time this party
fever abated, and finally the people united in electing Mr. Monroe, under the
general appellation of Federal Republicans. Attempts have since been made
to alter the Constitution, that noble fabric reared by the Revolutionary patri-
ots, and should they succeed, it will be in my estimation like sewing new
cloth to an old garment."
Fall River in the Civil War.
At the outbreak of the rebellion Fall River had been a municipality
exactly seven years, its city charter dating April 1 2th, 1 854, and the attack upon
Fort Sumter having occurred April 1 2th, 1861. Although possessing less than
one third of its present population, and hardly a quarter of its taxable valuation,
it was still an important city, and had just begun, perhaps, to show promise
of the high rank since attained as a cotton-manufacturing centre. The
incorporation of the Union Mill Company in 1859, and its very successful in-
auguration, had given a new and popular impetus to the manufacture of cot-
ton cloth, heretofore confined to corporations that had been established many
years. The moment seemed to be ripe for somewhat of a departure from
the old-time, conservative, and, in a sense, monopolizing influences that had
long prevailed, and business men were looking forward to new ventures and
undertakings. The general aspect of the place was thriving. The wheels
of manufacture and of trade were in motion, and the city was alike active and
prosperous. Its population in 1861 was 14,026, and its valuation $11,261,065.
FALL RIVER IN THE CIVIL WAR. 205
The news of the firing upon Fort Sumter quickened all the loyal and
patriotic impulses of the citizens, and stirred them into immediate effort.
The children proved worthy descendants of their sires, for as the inhabitants
of Fall River, then Freetown, declared for the Independence of the Colo-
nies July 15th, 1776, but a few days after the Declaration of Independence of
the United States, so the citizens of Fall River pronounced at once and with
no uncertain utterance for the preservation and maintenance of the Union.
A call, signed by Hon. N. B. Borden, James Ford, Hon. James Buffinton,
Hon. E. P. Buffinton, and twenty-eight other prominent residents, was imme-
diately issued for a public meeting. The opening words of the call had the
true ring of patriotism. " Be this our motto," it said, " Our God and our
country. War is proclaimed ; rebellion stalks abroad as yet unscathed ; the
enemy is plotting the nation's destruction, and fight or fall is now the inevi-
table result." The meeting, convened at the City Hall on the evening of
April 19th, 1861, was one of the largest and most enthusiastic ever there
assembled. The attack upon the Massachusetts soldiers in the streets of
Baltimore, on that day, and the intense and bitter feeling consequent upon
this and other acts of the rebels and their sympathizers, had thoroughly
aroused the citizens. The meeting was called to order by Hon. N. B. Bor-
den, who read the call, was chosen chairman, and made the opening address.
Speeches were also made by David Anthony, James Ford, Hon. James Buf-
finton, Dr. Foster Hooper, John Collins, John Westall, J. C. Blaisdell, R.
T. Davis, and Walter C. Durfee. Dr. Hooper offered the following resolu-
tions, which were adopted by acclamation :
" Resolved, That the Government of the Union shall be sustained.
"That the city government be requested to appropriate $10,000 in aid of
those who may volunteer, and for the support of their families.
" That each volunteer be paid the sum of twenty dollars per month from
the city treasury, in addition to what is paid by the Government."
On April 24th, the committee of the City Council to whom these reso-
lutions were referred, reported as follows :
" Whereas, etc., in the southern section of our country public law is disre-
garded, the authority of the United States set at defiance, and armed forces
have been, and are, organizing with the avowed purpose of overthrowing the
government as formed by our Revolutionary fathers, and of establishing a
new government, in which freedom of the press, of speech, and of the indi-
vidual man shall be more restricted — in a word, a government for the per-
petuation of slavery ; and
Whereas, etc., for the repelling of such forces the standing army being inade-
quate, the President of the United States has made requisition on the several
States for militia ; therefore, to the end that said requisition may be more
readily answered.
2o6 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
Ordcj'cd, That to each of our citizens who may join a militia company
of our city, organized according to law, pledged to render military service
whenever and wherever required, whether by authority of the State or the
United States Government, there be paid from the city treasury the sum of
fifteen dollars for outfit, when such company shall be mustered into service ;
and thereafter, for a term not exceeding three months, fifteen dollars a month,
the latter to be applied for the support of the family or dependants, as the
soldier may direct ; and if, at the expiration of the service, a balance, or the
whole, shall remain unpaid, then payment to be made to the soldier in per-
son, or his legal representatives: these payments to be made in addition to
compensation that may be realized from the United States Government."
The order was adopted by the City Council, and $10,000 were appro-
priated in accordance therewith. Meanwhile, enlistments were rapidly going
on. A company was already partly formed, under Lieutenant Cushing, who
had seen service in the Mexican war, and a rille company, composed of some
of the best young men in the town, was being organized under Captain, after-
wards Lieutenant-Colonel, C. W. Greene. Fall River was the third in the
list of applicants in the commonwealth to Governor Andrew for permission
to raise military companies. April 29th, the mayor was requested to apply
to the State authorities to furnish two hundred (200) muskets for the two
companies organized in the city. These were mustered into the United
States service June i ith, 1861, and formed companies A and B of the Seventh
Massachusetts Regiment of Volunteers, commanded by Colonel, afterwards
General, D. N. Couch, of Taunton, and by Lieutenant-Colonel Chester W.
Greene, of this city. Besides the above-mentioned companies, a third was
formed, composed mainly of" adopted citizens." It was not deemed expedi-
ent, however, for them to be mustered into service at the time, and June 5th,
1 86 1, the city government voted that twelve dollars be paid to each mem-
ber, and they were disbanded. In September, 1861, a bounty of fifteen dol-
lars was authorized to be paid to each volunteer who should join a company
then forming, which was afterwards mustered into active service.
The first Fall River soldier who fell in the struggle for the nation's life
was Nathaniel S. Gerry, a private in Company A, Seventh Regiment Mas-
sachusetts Volunteers ; and the first commissioned officer was Lieutenant
Jesse D. Bullock, of the same regiment, who died June 25th, 1S62, from
wounds received at the battle of Fair Oaks. The City Council, as a mark of
respect to their memories, attended the funerals of those patriot .soldiers in a
body, and a deep sense of sadness was manifested throughout the com-
munity.
As the war was prosecuted with greater strength and vigor on the part
of the Government, the energies put forth by Fall River did not flag. The
FALL RIVER IN THE CIVIL WAR. 207
President having called for three hundred thousand more men, a public meet-
ing was held July i ith, 1862, at which it was recommended to pay each volun-
teer for three years' service a bounty of one hundred dollars. The following
resolution among others was adopted :
" Resolved, That our old men contribute of their substance, and our strong
young men tender their services ; remembering that if in ancient times ' for
a good man some would even dare to die,' surely for the necessary support of a
righteous cause there should be no hesitancy because life would be attended
with hazard." The resolutions were adopted the next day by the city govern-
ment, and the mayor was directed to make arrangements for enlisting men.
On the 14th of August, 1862, another citizens' meeting was held, at which it
was resolved that "the patriotism of Massachusetts will sustain the Govern-
ment in putting down the rebellion at any cost of men and money." It was
also voted to raise, by subscription, money sufficient to add one hundred
(Sioo) dollars to each volunteer's bounty. A resolution was passed to aid
the Rev. Elihu Grant to raise a military company for active service. Sep-
tember I, 1862, the city government voted to pay a bounty of two hundred
($200) dollars to each volunteer for nine months' service, when credited to
the quota of the city, and forty-five thousand ($45,000) was appropriated for
the purpose.
Thus the work went on, the succeeding years until the close of the war
witnessing no diminution in the loyalty or energy of the people. The city
furnished 1845 '''"'^•"' to aid in trampling under foot the rebellion, which was
a surplus of -21 over and above all demands. Thirty-seven of these were
commissioned officers. It is hardly within the scope of this chapter to give
the names of those who went from this city, or to follow them in their
various battles upon the land and sea. They bravely acquitted themselves
wherever they were called, many of them cheerfully giving up fine prospects
and more than comfortable homes at the behest of patriotism and duty.
The roll of 163 names of fallen heroes on the soldiers' monument in Oak
Grove Cemetery shows in part only the sacrifice in human life made by Fall
River in the struggle for national existence.
The following is a summary of the different regiments in which Fall
River men served, and will give a correct idea of the extent of their services.
In the three years' regiments of Massachusetts volunteers, the city furnished
Companies A and B, of the Seventh Regiment; Company G, Twenty-sixth
Regiment ; a large portion of Companies F and G, Fifty-eighth Regiment ;
and a number of men for the Ninth, Eleventh, Twelfth, Sixteenth, Seven-
teenth, Eighteenth, Nineteenth, Twentieth, Twenty-second, Twenty-fourth,
Twenty -fifth. Twenty -eighth. Twenty -ninth. Thirty-second, Thirty -third,
2o8 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
Thirty-seventh, Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, Fifty-fourth, and Fifty-seventh regi-
ments of infantry ; also for the Fifth and Sixth Batteries of Light Ar-
tillery, Second and Third regiments and First Battalion of Heavy Artil-
lery ; and for the First, Second, Fourth, and Fifth regiments of cavalry.
Besides the above. Fall River men also served in the Regular Army, Gen-
eral Service, Signal Service, and in regiments from Rhode Island, Connecticut,
New York, and Illinois. Four hundred and ninety-seven men from Fall River
also served in the United States Navy. In the short-term service the city fur-
nished companies C and D, Third Regiment (9 months), also a number for
the Eighth, Forty-third, Forty-sixth, Forty-seventh, and Forty-eighth
Regiments, (9 months) ; for the Sixty-first Regiment (i year) ; Company D,
Sixteenth Regiment (100 days) ; Fifth Unattached Company (90 days) ;
Twenty-first Company (100 days); and also men for the Fifth, Fifteenth,
Eighteenth, and Twenty-fourth Unattached Companies (100 days).
The amount of money appropriated and expended by the city on
account of the war, exclusive of State aid, was one hundred and seven thou-
sand eight hundred and twenty-eight dollars, and three cents ($107,828.03).
The sums of money raised and expended by the city during the years of the
war for State aid to soldiers' families, and which were repaid by the Com-
monwealth, were : In 1861, $7,262.25; in 1862, $29,771.67; in 1863, $36,-
476.10; in 1864, $34,000 ; in 1865, $20,003. Total amount, $1 27,510.02.
The city was fortunate in having for municipal officers, as well as in
other places of power and trust, men of high integrity and undoubted patri-
otism. During the whole war, the city government was especially active in
striving to promote the public weal. Its members worked hand in hand with
the soldiers, encouraging them with words of sympathy and cheer, and by
many tokens of material aid. The mayor, through the entire crisis, was Hon.
E. P. Buffinton. He was thoroughly acquainted with, and commanded the
confidence of the people. His labors were incessant and untiring. Ready
in emergency, quick to note the public pulse, a keen observer of men and
things, he controlled the masses, and imbued them with his own blunt, un-
swerving loyalty. He was emphatically the friend of the soldiers, doing all
within his power, as chief magistrate, to provide for their needs and to further
their interests. Large in stature, his heart corresponded to his physical pro-
portions. His private generosity was as unostentatious as it was unstinted.
His services to the city and to the nation were great, and deserve lasting
remembrance. The aldermen during the years of the war, all of whom were
substantial and trustworthy citizens, and steadfastly cooperated with the
mayor in his labors, weie: In 1861, George H. Eddy, Nathaniel B. Borden,
Asa Pettey, Jr., John Mason, Jr., James Ford, Job B.Ashley; in 1862, Joseph
FALL RIVER IN THE CIVIL UAR. 209
Borden, Nathaniel B. Borden, Asa Pettey, Jr., John Mason, Jr., James Ford,
Job B.Ashley; in 1863, Samuel Hathaway, Joseph Borden, Nathaniel B.
Borden, Benjamin Covel, Charles O. Shove, Walter Paine, 3d; in 1864,
Weaver Osborn, Joshua Remington, Nathaniel B. Borden, Daniel Stilhvell,
Walter Paine, 3d, Philip D.Borden; in 1865, James Henry, Joshua Rem-
ington, Nathaniel B. Borden, Daniel Stillwell, Walter Paine, 3d, Philip D.
Borden.
The member of Congress from this district during the war, and to whom
the city is as largely indebted, perhaps, as to any one man, was Hon. James
Buffinton. Mr. Buffinton enlisted as a private in Company "A," Seventh
Massachusetts Regiment, at an early hour of its organization, and positively
declined to be elected to any oflice therein. He took part in its preparatory
drills and movements, marching in the ranks, and went with it when it was
mustered into service. At Camp Brightwood, Washington, he was appointed
adjutant of the regiment, under Colonel Couch. He performed the duties of
his position until the fall session of Congress in 1861, when his constituents
demanded his discharge, and the resumption of his seat in Congress. The
first mayor of Fall River, and an old resident, he was thoroughly informed
concerning the city and its surroundings. The work done by Mr. Buffinton
for his soldier constituents was enormous. He was the friend and counsellor
of them all. In camp, in hospital, in field, he watched over them. He gave
to them without stint, time, labor, money, and unbounded sympathy. When
the hills around Washington were white with the tents of the nation's de-
fenders, and when the mails were overflowing with correspondence to their
homes, Mr. Buffinton would, after a hard day's work, sit far into the night,
until perforce his hand refused longer to write his name, franking the thou-
sands of soldiers' letters brought to him. In every way in his power, he
gave comfort and cheer. His influence smoothed rough places and overcame
obstacles. Many of the enlisted men and officers from his district were sons
of his old friends, and he was to them, away from their homes, at once a
father and companion.
In Congress, Mr. Buffinton's course was far-seeing, sagacious, patriotic.
He was not gifted with the graces of oratory, and he was seldom heard on
the floor of the House; but he had great personal influence and magnetism.
Dignified, affable, of commanding presence, intimately acquainted with the
prominent men of the time, he seldom failed in accomplishing the things he
undertook. Quick to discern, he was prompt to act. He had the quiet per-
siste'ncy, the calm self-possession, that achieves success. Sprung from the
good old Quaker stock, that so moulded and shaped events in the early his-
tory of Fall River, Mr. Buffinton inherited many of the qualities of his
2IO FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
ancestry. He was like them in his methods and habits. The teachings
and examples of such men as Oliver Chace, Sen., Edmund Chace, Sen.,
Daniel Buffinton, and other Quaker settlers here, had left their impress on
him ; and, although he had grown away, perhaps, from the tenets of their
religious faith, the virtues inculcated in his early training steadfastly remained.
At the capital, Mr. Buffinton's counsel was much sought by the leading
men, and for years he was a colleague of many of the most prominent
statesmen of the country. With them he put forth every endeavor for the
suppression of the rebellion and preservation of the Union he loved. Citizens
and soldiers of Fall River and of New England have abundant reason to
cherish his worth and honor his memory, for he gave the best years of his
life to the service of his city and his country, and at times, moreover, when
that service was fraught with difficulty and peril.
At one of the public meetings held here, it was resolved that " our old
men contribute of their substance and our young men tender their services."
This resolution was fully carried out. The elderly men did contribute abun-
dantly of the sinews of war, and the young men went forth to fight the battles.
The old families, the Bordens, Durfees, Chaces, Bufiintons, Davols, were
public-spirited and patriotic. They were ready in every emergency with
material as well as with moral aid. Asa representative man. Colonel Richard
Borden was prominent in all loyal endeavors. His influence was as great as
his generosity was unbounded. Advanced in years, engrossed in the charge
of large manufactures, he nevertheless always answered the numerous calls
upon him in his country's behalf. Quiet and retired by nature and disposition,
domestic in his habits, his frequent presence at the public assemblages was
hailed with enthusiasm. His house was the abode of hospitality, open to
statesman, executive, officer, soldier, alike. Fall River, by reason of its pro-
minence as a steamboat connection between New England and New York,
was a great centre of transportation. Many regiments from various States
passed through the city on their way to or from the capital. Colonel Borden,
as agent of the steamboat company, was always ready with his boats at the
demand of State or Government officials, and he acquired a reputation far and
wide as a prompt and excellent business man.
His private liberality was very large. The soldiers' monument in Oak
Grove Cemetery was presented by him, and his deeds of generosity to soldiers
and their families were manifold. A rare old man, his .memory will ever be
green in the hearts of those who knew him.
No allusion to Fall River in the Civil War would be in any sense com-
plete without referring to the noble part acted by her clergy. One and all
they were intensely patriotic, and the churches were fortunate in being pre-
FALL RIVER IN THE CIVIL WAR. 211
sided over by men of vigorous loyalty. Especiall) is the cily indebted to the
services of Rev. Eli Thurston and Rev. P. B. Haughwout. Mr. Thurston's
voice was heard on every public occasion. Who that listened to him can for-
get his ringing utterances! Strong, logical, incisive, both in thought and
speech, he dealt scathing blows at the rebellion and the causes whence it
came. His church was always kept, so to speak, attuned to the key-notes of
patriotism and duty. He manifested an interest in every public act. A great
reader of the press, in the crises of peril he haunted the periodical stores to
obtain the latest news. He liked to read the Nnv York Tribune, and the
stirring appeals of its editor, Horace Greeley, whom in the strong and forcible
qualities of his mind Mr. Thurston much resembled. The New York papers
were then received the day after their publication, and the Saturday's issue did
not arrive till Sunday morning. Mr. Thurston's copy was left at his house,
and he used to state in private conversation that he could not resist the temp-
tation to look it over before the morning sermon. But oftentimes the reading
so worked upon him, that he had to discontinue the practice, in order to keep
his mind calm and free for the duties of the da}'. Brave preacher of the
gospel of truth, champion of liberty, defender of freedom, with him faith
has indeed given place to sight.
Mr. Haughwout was a worthy compeer of Mr. Thurston. Quick in
action, intense in thought and speech, he too was highly strung to loyalty.
He was always eloquent in behalf of his country. He could brook no delay.
He was often impatient at men and things. Like Joshua, he would have
commanded circumstance and compelled success. He had an intuitive per-
ception of the country's danger, and his historical learning and great research
often led him far in advance of the experience of the hour. The eloquent
words he uttered in pulpit and on the rostrum will long be remembered.
He appealed to every loyal emotion; he kept to glowing heat the fires of
patriotism ; his sentences were breathing brilliant heart-throbs, animated with
love for country and devotion to the cause. He, too, has gone to his reward.
The other clergymen were also strenuous in devotion. Rev. Mr. Adams,
Rev. Mr. Snow, who afterwards became cha})lain in the Third Mass. regi-
ment, Rev. Mr. Chapman, and others, performed well their parts. The
Catholic priest. Rev. Edward Murphy, was unsparing in his efforts. His
people were taught the strict line of patriotism. Having lived here almost
a generation, Father Murphy, as he is lovingly called was really a father to
his flock. He loved his people and was loved by them, and he held them
with firm, unwavering hand to the path of duty.
The women of Fall River during the struggle were worthy of the city
and of the cause. They were constant with their help and loving work.
2 12 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
As early as April 27th, 1861, a ladies' sewing society was organized. For six
weeks the members met daily, working from morning until evening, and
afterwards they usually came together one afternoon in each week. Many
other meetings were held for work and consultation, and several ladies did
their work for the society at their own dwellings. Mrs. Richard Borden was the
president, Mrs. Avis Ames, vice-president, and Miss A. C. G. Canedy, secretary.
The Committee of Arrangements comprised twenty-two of the prominent
ladies of the town, and the society retained its organization from April 27th,
1 86 1, to July 28th, 1865, with some change in its officers, although Mrs.
Borden remained its president during the entire period. Miss Caroline Bor-
den, the treasurer, Mrs. Ames, Mrs. William Munday, Mrs. S. Angier Chace,
Mrs. Mary A. Brayton, Mrs. Mary Young, Mrs. Foster Hooper, Mrs. Mary
Durfee, and many other ladies rendered valuable services. The society
received during the time of its existence $3347.76 in cash, which was properly
expended for materials to be made up for the soldiers. Among the articles
furnished were 200 soldiers' uniforms, 231 bed-sacks, 131 bed-quilts, 365 bed-
comforters, 87 blankets, 355 sheets, 262 pillows, 307 pillow-cases, 167 cushions
for wounds, 90 dressing-gowns, 380 cotton shirts, 292 flannel shirts, 284 shirts,
209 drawers, 1164 pairs woollen hose, 1365 handkerchiefs, 2246 towels, 5589
yards, 323 rolls, i box and 4 bundles of bandages, 127 boxes of lint, and a
great number and variety of other articles, including pin-cushions, wines,
jellies, pictures, newspapers, books, etc., etc. These articles were generally sent
to the front through the agents of the Sanitary and Christian commissions. A
great number of valuable donations were sent to Portsmouth Grove Hospital,
in Rhode Island, only a few miles south of this city, including a Thanksgiving
dinner. In November, 1863, a fair was held at the City Hall, extending
through several evenings, in the management of which the ladies were very
successful. A children's lint society was also kept up during the war, alter-
nating its meetings at the different homes of the children. On the whole, the
patriotic devotion of the ladies of Fall River was worthy of great praise.
In the space devoted to this chapter but a general idea can be given of
the part Fall River took in the civil war, and it has only been the intention
to touch upon the salient points and features of the history of the city during
the momentous struggle. The unwritten experience of good deeds done by
city and citizen alike is a part of the common heritage. The names of the
brave men who went from this city at their country's call, the acts of heroism
they performed, the sacrifices they made, the wounds they suffered, the glo-
rious deaths they died, may not be recounted here. These will live in the
hearts of their posterity, and are memorials more enduring than any chiselled
in granite or sculptured from marble.
FALL RIVER'S "WEST END." 213
Fall River's " West End."
The following description of the principal street and residences of Fall
River, about the middle of the fourth decade of this century, is from a paper
prepared by one of our older citizens some years since. It embodies his
recollections and impressions of those early days, and will doubtless bring
to mind many pleasant memories to a few now living, as well as convey some
rather surprising information to those younger in years.
Every considerable city or town has usually its West or Court End,
so called. Fall River once had a West End. But who, at the present day,
walking through Central Street would imagine it was ever the Court End of
the town } Let us take a walk down this avenue, noting on either hand the
stores, residences, and their occupants as we pass toward the river.
At the south-west corner of Main and Central streets was " Cotton's
Corner," so called. The store on this corner, owned by John S. Cotton, was
the store of the place. The shelves were well filled with a mixed medley of
goods — ribbons, tapes, galloon, needles, pins, cambrics, muslins, sheetings,
shirtings, factory checks, molasses, butter, cheese, flour, spices, powder, hard-
ware, ox-yokes, plows, stick-baskets, and various other goods — all ready to
supply the townspeople and " over the pond-ers." Behind the counter stood
the ver)' obliging clerk, John B , his face full of smiles, ready to antici-
pate your every want. In front of the store was the market-stand, where
the wagons from the country might be seen at early dawn, well supplied with
the suhstantials of life.
On the opposite corner (where is now Durfee Block) was B. W. Chace's
store, filled with domestic goods, groceries, crockery, and hollow-ware, where
the ladies went to get a new hake-pan, or cover, should the old one be cracked,
and where friend Chace was ever ready to give directions how to boil the
covers in lye to prevent their cracking. In those days a cracked bake-pan
cover, a leaky tea-kettle, and green, round pine-wood were the greatest evils
of housekeeping.
Passing westward, the eye was first caught by a building whose basement
was used for many years as the Congregational meeting-room, and next by
Dr. Durfee's brick-front drug-store, where the Doctor greeted all with a smile
and a welcome, while his genteel and polite clerk, H. R , stood behind
the counter to supply customers with pills, or plasters, or whatever they
wanted most. Then came the stately residence of Major Durfee, kept as the
crack hotel of the place, where the upper ten secured a temporary home.
Across the street was the house of Esquire Ford in which Aunt Dorcas kept
114
FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
a lady's shop, where the ladies of the town got all their fine fixings, and found
their hearts' desire in things tasty, unique, or antique. Next was I. & D.
Leonard's paint-shop. They were the only persons then in town to make
the houses shine inside or out. Close by was Messrs. Wilcox & Wardwell's
tin-shop, and then S. & J. Smith's meat-market, where the best of steaks
were sold for 6^ cents per pound, and thought high at that. The fish-market
was nearly adjoining, so that within a few feet could be obtained fish, flesh, or
fowl suited to every appetite. After the Dunbar House came that of Mr.
Horton, who kept a stock of West India goods, and whose daughters were
the belles of the place. When he died he possessed quite a competence, and
from the proceeds of his estate was built, in the old burying-ground, a fine
tomb, the first ever erected in this vicinity.
The next structure (Burroughs') was kept as a genteel boarding-house
for the overseers, engravers, and clerks of Robeson's Print Works. No
gentleman could get boarded for less than /zco dollai's per week, and no lady
for less than a dollar and a quarter.
Crossing the street, and stepping a short distance northward, we enter
Stone Lane, on the westerly side of which were several stone cottages, mostly
used as boarding-houses for those working in the satinet factory of Samuel
Shove & Co., later J. & J. Eddy, and the machine-shop and cotton-mill of
O. S. Hawes & Co. A little further along, on the easterly side, was the resi-
dence of Aunt Hannah Durfee, in which several young men boarded, who,
becoming sometimes a little too boisterous in the exuberance of youthful
spirits, were quieted with the threat of being reported to her brother, the
Major.
Still further westward, on the north side of Central Street, was a neat
little cottage occupied by S. K. Crary, Esq., town clerk, public instructor,
and a prominent citizen in other relations. Next came another small cot-
tage ; but not so small were the Occupants, for the united weight of the two
heads of the family was something over a quarter of a ton.
On the south side of the street, standing a little in from tne sidewalk,
was the Methodist meeting-house, a fine, commodious wooden structure,
where gathered weekly crowds of waiting souls to hear the stirring words of
truth from the lips of Father Taylor. Occasionally he might be seen leading
a band of joyful converts down to the riv^er's edge, there to receive the sacred
rite of baptism.
On the north side of the street stood the smithy and dwelling of Father
Healy. The smithy was one of the institutions of the day ; and especially
was the house well manned, since the injunction laid down in Genesis i : 28 had
been faithfully obeyed by Father Healy and his consort. But a short distance
SETTLEMENT OF STATE BOUNDARIES— 1862. 215
off was the hotel of Captain Sanford, furnishing entertainment for man and
beast. The captain was a frank, open-hearted man, and studied well the wants
of his numerous customers. For their social enjoyment, he built a ten-pin alley
under a row of apple-trees in his orchard west of the house, where they exer-
cised their athletic powers without molestation.
Across the street was the Marshall Warren huusc, a large, square dwell-
ing overlooking the harbor and the mouth of the creek, the descent to which
was short and abrupt and not always free from danger. .
A few years later, near the junction of Central and Main streets, Mr.
Samuel Shove built a large, showy drug-store, with enormous bow-windows,
and from these at night shone forth with dazzling lustre the globes of
vari-colored waters. This was the store resorted to by the young men of
the place for their supplies of the best Spanish-American cigars and mint-
drops. Then, too, came the famous store of Messrs. Lovell & Durfee, filled
with the choicest groceries to be dealt out to the elite of the West End by
Cotton's custom-drawing clerk, the smiling and ubiquitous J. B .
Such were the residences and attractions, such the style, of Fall River's
"West End " in i<S34.
Settlement of State Boundaries — 1862.
The territory embracing the present city of Fall River was included
in that part of New England subsequently known as Plymouth Colony. Its
charter was granted in 1629, and by it one half the waters mentioned as the
Narragansett River formed her western limit. The first charter of Rhode
Island, granted to Roger Williams in 1643, did not conflict with the claims
of Plymouth, but a succeeding one issued by Charles II., in 1663, extended
some parts of the eastern boundary of the former three miles to the east and
north-east of Narragansett Bay. Plymouth immediately took measures to
secure her rights, and, on the report of a special commission appointed by
the king, her claims were confirmed.
Until 1 740, the boundaries of Plymouth, as established by her original
charter of 1629, were recognized as the true boundary between Massachu-
setts and Rhode Island. In that year, however, Rhode Island sought to
have the question reopened, and a commission appointed by George II. ren-
dered a decision which was immediately appealed from by both provinces.
The award, nevertheless, was confirmed by the king in 1 746. The lines thus
decreed were run ex parte by Rhode Island. Massachusetts, having good
reason to suppose that the boundaries had been marked in accordance with
2l6 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
the decree of the king, took no measures to have them examined until 1791,
when, on account of renewed difficulties, the ex-partc lines of Rhode Island
were properly examined, and found in every case to infringe upon Massachu-
setts territory.
One of the decrees in the king's award mentioned "a certain point four
hundred and forty rods to the southward of the mouth of the Fall River,'
from which a line was to be run three miles towards the east, forming the
northern boundary of that part of Rhode Island. In measuring this four
hundred and forty rods, the ex-parte commissioners of i 746 " measured round
a cove or inlet, and followed the sinuosities of the shore" until they reached a
point from a quarter to a half mile further north than if the same distance
had been measured in a straight line. From this point they extended the
three-mile line, running it through the southern part of the village of Fall
River at the old Buttonwood Tree, so called, on Main street, a little north of
the present line of Columbia Street. No definite decision of the question
in dispute was reached at the time, and in 1844 another commission was ap-
pointed, which in 1848 made a report to their respective legislatures.
In a matter so seriously aflfecting the interests of Fall River, it was
deemed expedient to appoint a committee, consisting of Rev. Orin Fowler,
Dr. Foster Hooper, and Dr. Phineas \V. Leland, to petition the Massachu-
setts Legislature not to allow any settlement of the boundary line less advan-
tageous than that granted by George II. in 1746. This committee claimed,
and gave good reasons therefor, that George II. designed that the point from
which to run the three-mile line should be 440 rods in a dij'ed line from the
mouth of the Fall River. They showed that in making these measurements
as they h^d, "the Rhode Island commissioners added to their State a thickly-
settled territory with about 1500 inhabitants, and a taxable property valued
at nearly half a million of dollars, when, if the measurements had been made
in straight lines, not only would the design of George II. and his commis-
sioners have been carried out, but Fall River would have been brought within
the bounds of one State, with no danger of its thickly-settled territor}' being
again placed under a divided jurisdiction." In consequence of these represen-
tations, the Massachusetts Legislature refused to ratify the decision of the
commissioners of 1848, and, by agreement of the two States, the question was
referred to the United States Supreme Court.
In i860 the Supreme Court appointed engineers, with instructions to
measure and mark a described line which should be the true boundary
between the two States, the decree to take effect in March, 1862. The full
claim of neither State was granted, but such a boundary fixed as to give an
undivided jurisdiction to denselj^-populated districts, without infringing on
THE GREAT FIRE, JULY 2, 1843. 217
the rights of any. By this change of boundary, Massachusetts acquired a
territory comprising about 1 1 square miles. Of this, about 9 square miles,
with a population of nearly 3600 and a taxable property of some $2,000,000,
were embraced within the limits of the city of Fall River.
The Great Fire, Jii.v 2, 1843.
A distinct point of departure in Fall River chronology is the devastating
conflagration which in 1843 swept away in a few hours the accumulations of
years of industrious enterprise. Few fires have wrought a more wholesale
destruction than this. The community, which has builded a strong, robust
city upon the ruins of the burned village, retains a very vivid memory of the
scourge that levelled its best streets thirty-four years ago. Among these sad
recollections there are, moreover, not wanting those that are pleasant, hap-
piest of all being a cherished memory of the demonstrations of sympathy
and material aid its desolation called out from all parts of the land. New
Orleans and Savannah joining with New York and Boston in their contribu-
tions to the suffering people.
About three o'clock on the afternoon of Sunday, while the church-going
part of the community were wending their way to the several houses of wor-
ship, an alarm of fire was heard. The crowd of citizens who hurried towards
the locality of the danger most feared in manufacturing neighborhoods, dis-
covered a small carpenter's shop on the north side of Borden Street, near the
corner of Main, entirely enveloped in flames and the fiery element already
threatening adjoining buildings. The early summer of 1843 was an unusually
hot and dry period. The water in the stream was very low, and the flume, which
was then undergoing repairs, was entirely empty. The time, moreover, was
vears anterior to the introduction of steamers, and the sole defence of Fall
River against serious conflagrations consisted in a few small hand-engines,
worked by volunteer firemen, and the improvised bucket brigade of house-
owners.
Operating such poor agencies as best they could, and relying almost des-
perately upon their natural dependence, the half-depleted stream, for water,
the citizens worked manfully in their fight against the terrible element. A
strong, fresh wind from the south was blowing at the inception of the fire,
and its fierce impulse hurled danger and ruin directly into the heart of the
city. No rain having descended for weeks, the thickly populated quarter —
largely constructed of wood, its roofs and cornices dried to the consistency of
tinder by the prolonged summer heat — offered but the slightest resistance to
2l8
FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
the flying embers. At one moment more than a score of dwellings and stores
were in flames, and but an instant's embrace of the raging element seemed
sufficient to reduce the stateliest victim. For seven hours the devastation
continued. Meanwhile, the sympathizing people of Bristol, ten miles dis-
tant, had hurried to the scene of disaster, the same gale that impelled the
flames speeding their white-winged craft, with the fire-engine on board,
through the ferry and up the bay. The scene was truly heart-rending — a
thriving community absolutely in the grasp of a relentless enemy, with hardly
a weapon of defence in its possession.
Strong men still living shudder at the remembrance of that sad Sabbath
afternoon. Before the most hopeful vision, no hope seemed to rise. Hap-
pily, however, a merciful Providence intervened at last to save a portion of
the town. Guided by His wise order who rules the powers of that nature
which he created and governs, the wind suddenly changed its course, blew
in an opposite direction from the district still untouched, and finally sub-
sided.
The destruction had been very large, comparatively enormous. The area
burned over covered twenty acres in the heart of the village, extending from
Borden Street, on the south, to Franklin Street, on the north. All the stores
in the place, except six or eight in the remote suburbs, were in ruins.
The occasion of the fire, as finally discovered, was the thoughtless mis-
chief of a few Sabbath-breaking boys, who were amusing themselves with a
small cannon, a burning wad from which inflamed a dry heap of wood-
shavings that had accumulated under the floor of the carpenter's shop. Near
the close of the conflagration, preparations were made to blow up with gun-
powder several structures that stood as helpers to its progress, but the sub-
sidence of the gale rendered such continued procedure unnecessary.
The following summary of buildings destroyed and trades temporarily
dispossessed was published soon after the fire:
Number of families residing within the burnt
district at the time of the fire 225
Persons belonging to those families i,334
Persons in addition, employed or doing busi-
ness in the burnt district, but living out,
about 600
Number of buildings burned, not including
the smaller ones 196
Of which there were used as dwelling-houses,
and occupied by one or more families each 95
Hotels 2
Churches (Methodist and Christian Union). 3
Cotton factory (Old Bridge Mill) I
Carriage factories 2
Banks 2
Cabinet warehouses 3
Marble factory i
Tannery r
Livery stables 4
Dry-goods establishments destroyed 17
Clothing " " 11
Grocery and provision establishments, in-
cluding 3 or 4 crockery stores connected . . 24
Boot and shoe stores destroyed 6
Hat and cap " " 3
Book and periodical stores destroyed 3
Hardware " " 3
Milliners' shops destroyed n
POPULATION— VALUATION, ETC.
219
Mantua-makers' shops destroyed 5
Apothecaries' " " 6
Jewellers' " " 3
Harness-makers' " " 3
Stove and tinware " " 3
Brass foundries destroyed 2
Blacksmiths' shops destroyed 3
Machine " " 2
Carpenters' " " 8
Reed-maker's shop " I
Shoe-makers' shops " 7
Plane-maker's shop " i
Roll-coverer's " " i
Turner's " " i
Painters' shops " 8
Butchers' " " 4
Soap-boiler's shop " i
Cigar factory " i
Restaurants " 7
Bake-houses " 2
School-house destroyed i
School-rooms besides destroyed 3
Athena;um " i
Custom-house " i
Post-office " I
Auction-room " i
Counting-rooms " 7
Dentists' " " 2
Stage office " i
Printing offices " 3
Lawyers' " " 5
Physicians'" " 5
Barbers' shops " 3
Whole amount of loss on buildings $264,470
" " " other property. . . 262,015
$526,485
Whole amount of insurance 175,475
Excess of loss $351,010
POPULATION— 1810-1875.
POPULATION OF FALL RIVER AT VARIOUS TIMES.
1810 I,296]i84g 11,003
1820 1,594 1850 11,170
1830 4,159 1S51 10,786
1840 6,738^1852 11,605
1844 9,054|i853 12,285
1845 10,290 1854 12,700
1846 11,174
1847 11,646
1848 10,922
1855 12,680
1856 12,926
1857 12.395
1858 12,81511867 21 174
1859 12,524 1868 23,023
i860 13,240' 1869 25,099
1 861 14,026 1870 27,191
1862* 17,461
1863 15,495
1864 17,114
1865 17,525
1866 19,262
1871 28,291
1872 34,835
1S73 38.464
1874 43,289
1875 45,160
* The increase in population in 1862 was owing to the annexation of the town of Fall River, R. I., which contained a population
of about 3,590.
VALUATION, ETC., 1854-1875.
VALUATION, TAX, ETC., FOR THE LAST TWENTY-TWO YEARS.
j
Year. Valuation.
Amount
Tax. raised by
Taxation.
No.
Polls.
Year.
Valuation.
Tax.
Amount
raised by
Taxation.
No.
Polls.
1854
i8?i;
$8,939,215
9,768,420
9,888,070
10,041,610
9.923,495
10,700,250
11,522,650
11,261,065
12497,720
12,696,105
11,057,645
$5 80 $56,523 70
5 60 59,425 15
6 20 66.078 26
3.II7
3.148
3,181
3,241
3.208
3,121
3,238
3.544
4,288
4,105
4,304
1865
1866
1867
1868
1869
1S70
1S71
1872
1873
1874
1875
$12,134,990
12,762,534
15,220,628
$16 50
17 50
17 00
$209,272 20
232,827 62
269,020 95
262,872 74
346,310 99
374,753 22
392,974 15
471.835 53
636,451 61
662,486 II
768,464 37
4,461
4,740
5,135
6 002
i8s6
i8s;7
7 40
7 20
7 00
7 40
8 60
83,161 61
77.929 35
79.583 25
90,124 61
17,919,192 14 00
21,398,525 15 60
1858
6,247
6,743
7,070
8,870
iSkq
i860
29,141,117
37,841,294
47,416,246
49,995,110
51,401,467
13 00
12 00
13 00
12 80
14 50
I86I
1862
1863
II 50
iS 00
154,218 76
207,731 61
II. 119
II 571
1864
In 1840 the number of taxable polls was 1,603. The valuation of real estate was $1,678,603 ; of personal estate, Ji, 310,865; total,
$3,989,468.
ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY
OF
AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE,
July 4th, 1876.
OFFICIAL PROGRAMME.
00
— 1
GRAND
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
OF
AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE,
4th July, 1876,
AT
4.30 A.M.
GRAND SALUTE of One Hundred Guns, on the
Park. Raising of the National Flag.
6.30 A.M.
RINGING of ALL the BELLS of the City for half
an hour.
9 A.M.
The several divisions of the military and civic pro-
cession will form as follows ;
First Division on east side of Main Street, right
resting on Bedford Street.
Second Division on north side of Pleasant Street,
right resting on Main Street, with left of line extend-
ing along east side of Second Street.
Third Division on north side of Pleasant Street,
right resting on Second Street.
Fourth Division (with the exception of the coal
trade) on the north side of Bedford Street, right rest-
ing on Main Street. The coal trade to form on south
side of Central Street, right resting on Main Street.
And at 9.30 a.m., sharp, the procession will move in
the following order :
Police Skirmishers.
Platoon of Police.
Marshal, Col. Bradford D. Davol.
Chief of Staff, Capt. S. L. Braley.
James T. Milne,
Nathan D. Chace,
Clark Chase,
Daniel E. Chace,
Timothy T. O'Keefc
aids.
Wm. E. Dunham,
Charles C. Buffinton,
Earl P. Bowen,
Horatio N. Durfee,
Alvan C. Seymour,
George H. Borden.
FIRST DIVISION.
Chief of Division,
Aids. Major John M. Deane.
Third Regiment Band.
Co. B, Third Regiment, M.V. M.
Friendly Union Lodge, I. O. O. F.
Court of Good Samaritans, 5910.
Caledonians.
Aids.
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF 1S76.
221
Aids.
SECOND DIVISION.
Chief of Division,
George O'Brien.
Aids.
St. Mary's Band.
St. John's Catholic T. A. and M. R. Societ)'.
Young Men's I. A. C. T. A. and B. Society.
St. Patrick- T A. and M. R. Society.
Sacred Heart T. A. and B. Society.
St. Joseph's Society (Cadets), 60 muskets.
Ancient Order of Hibernians, Division No. i.
Ancient Order of Hibernians, Division No. 2.
Knights of St. Patrick.
THIRD DIVISION.
Floral and National Cars.
Aids.
Chief of Division,
R. K. Remington.
Aids.
ist Regiment U. S. Artillery Band.
No. 1. — Floral Car.
No. 2. — Grotto.
No. 3. — Floral Car.
No. 4. — Indian Scene.
No. 5.— 1776.
No. 6. — Declaration of Independence.
No. 7. — America.
No. 8. — England.
No. g. — Ireland.
No. 10. — France.
No. II. — 1876.
FOURTH DIVISION.
Trades.
Chief of Division,
Aids. Tames P. Billiard. Aids.
American Linen Company.
Fiske & Munroe.
Covel & Sandford.
F. R. Water Works.
Davis & Fish.
Martin Wallace.
Cook & Grew.
Fraprie & Walters.
F. R. Laundry.
Kinsley's E.xpress.
J. D. Flint & Co.
D. W. Baldwin.
Cobb, Bates & Yerxa.
F. R. Plumbing Co.
Dailey's Tea Store.
Edward Herbert.
F. R. Coal Co.
|. A. Eowen & Co.
M. T. Bennett, Jr., & Co.
Wm. H.iwes & Co.
The Route of March will be as follows ; North
Main, Locust, Rock, Prospect, Highland Avenue,
Winter, Cherry, Linden, Bank, Ford, Bedford, Quarry,
Pleasant, Fourth, Morgan, and South Main Streets to
the Park, from thence through South Main 10 the
City Hall, where the procession will pass in review
before His Honor the Mayor and the City Government
and dismiss.
r2 o'clock m.
RINGING OF BELLS of the City for half an
hour.
12.30 P.M.
TUB R.\CE on the Ponds for Prizes of $I2, $8
and $5.
GRAND YACHT RACE on the River, for Prizes
amounting to $150.
2.30 p.m.
CALEDONIAN GAMES on the Park, fifteen in
number, and Three Prizes for each game.
Music by the ist Regiment U. S. Artillery Band.
List of Games.
Throwing hammer.
• $6
$4
$2
Standing high jump.
■ 5
3
I
Sack race over 18-inch hurdles.
5
2
I
Putting stone
. 6
3
2
Mile race,
8
6
3
Hitch and kick
. 6
4
2
Highland fling
6
3
2
Wheelbarrow race,
■ 5
2
I
Pole vaulting, ....
8
4
2
Boys' race (under 12 years), .
■ 3
2
I
Hop, step, and jump.
6
3
2
Short race, twice around,
. 6
3
2
Tossing caber
5
3
2
Three-legged race.
■ 5
3
2
Quoits, on natural sod,
6
4
-
222
FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
Twenty-five cents will be charged from all compet-
itors for each game.
No person allowed within the ring but the commit-
tee, competitors, judges, pipers, and members of the
press.
All persons wishing to compete will hand in their
names to the committee at least one game ahead of
the one they wish lo compete for.
The judges to be appointed by the committee, and
their decision to be final and indisputable.
The games to be conducted under the Rules of the
N.A.U. C.A.
3 P-M.
PARADE OF BATTALION of ANTIQUES and
ITORRIBLES, which will be one of the finest events
of the day.
Platoon of Police.
Aids. Chief Marshal. Aids.
Third Regiment Band.
Colonel and Chaplain in Carriages.
Cavalcade.
Staff. Governor. Staff. ~
Band of Tin.
Infantry.
St. Mary's Band.
Varieties of all kinds, both Ancient and Modern,
representing every thing under the Sun and
Moon, going from grave to gay,
from civil life to City Hall ; on the earth and under
the sea.
In fact, comprising all that is laughable or serious
on the earth or above it.
Route of Parade.
From Torrent Hall to Park, where there will be a
grand review ; from Park to Morgan Street, Morgan
to Fourth, Fourth to Pleasant, Pleasant to Main, and
pass in review before His Honor the Mayor and City
Government ; Main to Franklin, Franklin to Winter,
Winter to Prospect, Prospect to Rock, Rock to Frank
lin, Franklin to Main, Main to Torrent Hall, and dis-
miss.
6.30 P.M.
RINGING OF BELLS of City for thirty minutes.
7 P.M.
GRAND SALUTE of One Hundred Guns, on
Highland Avenue.
7.30 P.M.
CONCERT ON THE PARK, from 7.30 to 9.30,
by St. Mary's Band.
7.30 P.M.
CONCERT .It CORNER of HIGHLAND AVE-
NUE and PROSPECT STREET, 7.30 to 9.30.
During the evening the Balcony of the City Hall
will be illuminated with gas jets, representing a
shield, with the word " Liberty " over it, and the fig-
ures 177^ ^"'1 1876 on either side.
Fireworks of all kinds are prohibited on the route
of the processions during their formation or marcli.
The citizens are requested to decorate their resi-
dences during the day and illuminate them at night ;
in fact, to unite as a people in making the day one we
shall be glad to remember as the Centennial Anni-
versary of our Nation.
committee.
Mayor Jas. F. Davenport, Chairman,
Alderman Holiier B. Durfee,
Alderman Bradford D. Davol,
Alderman P. R. Sullivan,
Councilman Wm. E. Dunham,
Councilman Joseph Waters,
Councilman Philip H. Regan,
Councilman C. V. S. Remington, Secretary.
Corporate Annals
OF
FALL RIVER.
■JU'^i^Ia'J.
SKETCHES OF MAYORS
Hon. James Buffinton, First Mayor.
HON. JAMES BUFFINTON was born on "Chaloner Hill," in Troy,— now Fall River,—
Mass., March i6th, 1817. His parents removed to Swanzey, near the village of that
name, in his infancy, where the first years of his childhood were passed, and where he com-
menced attending school ; but soon the interests of the family caused their return to his
native village, which henceforward became his home. His earlier years were those of self-
denial and constraint, yet all through his boyhood and youth his promptness in thought and
independence in action were indicative of the coming man. His parents were members of the
Society of Friends, his mother being an approved minister of that body of Christians for
many years. She was careful in the training of her youngest born — the subject of this sketch
— to inculcate in his mind the love of truth and virtue, to lay a foundation for the principles
of honesty and uprightness, and to nurture him in a strict regard for the same.
He attended public and private schools a part of each twelvemonth, until he was some
fifteen )-ears of age, when he was sent for two or three terms to the Friends' boarding-school,
in Providence, R. I., where he made good use of his privileges, and progressed satisfactorily in
his studies. Here, as elsewhere, the activit)' of an irrepressible nature often led him to the
front, and in sports and exercises of muscular power and skill he ever showed an ambition to
lead. After leaving school, he commenced the study of medicine with the late Dr. Thomas
Wilbur, pursuing his investigations in this science successfully to the period when he should
have attended medical lectures, as a finishing step to make him a veritable M.D. Failing to
obtain the necessary funds at the proper time satisfactorily to himself, he turned his attention
to teaching, and spent two or three years as a preceptor in public and private schools at West-
port, and afterwards in Dartmouth, at or near Padanaram, the southern extremity of the
town. Here, from constant association with men interested in navigation, his thoughts were
turned in this direction, and he finally shipped for a whaling voyage on board the ship South
Carolina, about to sail from that port.
Making a successful voyage, he returned home and engaged in business as a druggist.
Subsequently, abandoning this enterprise, he entered the dry-goods and millinery trade.
About this time, also, he united in marriage with Miss Sarah Perkins.
These changes in his earlier life may seem to some evidences of a weak and vacillating
mind, while in fact they were only caused by those circumstances which .affect most young
men dependent upon their own exertions.
During these years he possessed the full confidence of his fellow-townsmen, who often, by
their suffrages, acknowledged his qiialificat'ions, electing him to positions of trust and useful-
ness. He was a prominent and efficient member of the Fire Department, and in 1851 was chosen
selectman, being re-elected in 1852, and again in 1853.
On the adoption of a city charter, in 1854, he was elected mayor by a majority over all of
331, in an aggregate of 1261 votes. This was the year when the city was visited by Asiatic
2 26 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
cholera, which raged as an epidemic, causing much distress and grief to many of our poorer
famines and to some of those in higher life. In this emergency he was often called upon for
assistance, and in his official capacity met all calls wisely and well, promptly rendering services
personally which others would not give for humanity's sake or for adequate reward. He
visited the ill and destitute, and ministered to their immediate necessities with his own
hands, removed the sick and dying to the hospital provided by the city for their comfort and
care, and in several instances prepared the dead for decent burial. His course in these fearful
weeks of suffering made him many firm personal friends, who never forgot his self-sacrifice
and devotion when others, panic-stricken by the scourge, forsook and neglected them.
At the second city election, in 1855, he was re-elected mayor; but the same autumn, his
executive abilities having become more generally known and appreciated, at a convention
called to nominate a candidate for Representative in Congress, he was chosen by acclamation,
and subsequently elected by a majority of several thousand. Thus was opened to him a wider
field for those qualities of mind and heart which nature and culture had given him, and which
secured for him a re-election again and again. He was in many respects a model Representa-
tive, faithful to duty, watchful over the interests of his own constituents, and eminently loyal
to his country. His votes were invariably cast for the right, his voice outspoken for liberty,
and his influence always in the interest of the welfare and prosperity of the nation at large.
He was a consistent and persistent friend of the slave, losing no opportunity to swell the con-
stantly increasing demand for universal freedom. When the rebellion was being inaugurated,
his attention in the House was, if possible, increased, and no effort was lost to advance the
nation's cause and preserve her life and usefulness. On his return home, early in the spring of
1861, he immediately set influences at work to raise a company of volunteers in person, join-
ing the " boys in blue" in their drill, their marches through the street, and in all their pre-
parations to become defenders of their country's life and integrity.
In 1864 Mr. Bufiinton having declined a re-nomination for Congress, accepted an office in
the Internal Revenue Department, tendered him by the United States Government during
President Johnson's administration.
The duties of this office — General Treasury Agent — were satisfactorily performed for a year
or two, when he was appointed Revenue Collector for the First District of Massachusetts,
which office he held until after the death of Mr. Eliot, his successor in Congress, in June, 1870,
when he was again elected, by those whom he had so faithfully served in previous years, as their
representative in the national councils. He served two terms, and was re-elected for a
third, when death intervened. Thus was spent the remainder of his useful life, the last few
weeks in distress of body, yet to the last with the same alert mind, anxious to do his whole
duty, prompt in his attendance upon each session of the House, and finally dying with the
harness on. He remained in his seat, against the wishes of his friends, until the adjournment
of Congress, when he came home to die in less than one hour after being welcomed by his be-
loved domestic circle. Sabbath morning, March 6th, 1874.
The news of his arrival home, and the sad and startling intelligence of his death, were
rapidly spread from lip to ear throughout the city, and many of his devoted friends, political
and others, hasteneji to offer their condolence and sympathy to his bereaved family.
His funeral obsequies were attended by a large concourse of relatives and friends, resi-
dents of this and many other towns in the State. Remarks were made by a number of the
clergy of the city eulogistic of his manly and honorable course in life, and regretful, yet
submissive to the decrees of divine Providence, for his comparatively sudden and unexpected
removal from the scenes of earthly labor.
The procession bearing his body to its last resting-place, in Oak Grove Cemetery, passed
through weeping hosts of his less-honored fellow-citizens, who remembered his care over
and provision for them in their time of dire suffering and trial, and thus manifested their
respect and regard for one who had proved himself unquestionably their friend in all the pub-
lic positions of honor and of influence where, by their suffrages, they had delighted to assist in
placing him.
SKETCHES OF MAYORS. 227
Hon. Edward P. Buffinton, Second Mayor,
Under a g-overnment like ours, where arbitrary and conventional distinctions are unknown,
and blood has but little or nothing to do with the advancement of men to positions of respon-
sible trusts, and where all the avenues to preferment are open to honorable competition, it is in
no wise surprising that so many from the humbler walks of life attain to places of coveted
exaltation. Indeed the surprise would be greater were this not the case, for it is patent that,
in human affairs, the great majority of persons of this class have come from humble life ; and
it is this fact that gives greatest lustre to the spirit and genius of our institutions. With these
few words do we preface the brief biographical sketch of one who in life endeared himself to
all who knew him.
Edward Purington Buffinton, son of Aaron and Rebecca Buffinton, was born in Westport,
Mass., November i6th, 1814. His parents coming to Fall River when he was but a lad, he was
almost to the " manor born," and grew up personally interested in all that related to the
prosperity of the growing town. Early in life he became satisfied that man was born to labor,
and, acting upon the good sense and sound and comprehensive logic conveyed in the lines
" He who by the plough would thrive,
Must either hold, himself, or drive,"
applied himself diligently to business, proudly conscious that working for daily bread was
as honorable as it was necessary to the development of manly youth and robust, healthy
manhood. As a consequence, he was hardly in his teens before he was known as a hard-
working, money-saving boy. His school advantages were quite limited; but, like many other
boys similarly situated, he tried to make up, as far as he could, his lack of school-hours, by
devoting all his spare minutes to the acquisition of such knowledge as could be made practi-
cally available in after-life. His motto was, '' Whatever I undertake to do, I will do it the best
I know how ;" and his steady, undeviating fidelity to this line of action went very far towards
making him the man he was. He was a great reader of the lighter kind of literature, and
loved so well to read aloud that he would sit by the winter fireside at home and read for
hours, to the comfort of his mother and the edification of the family. His reading, if it did
not strengthen and sharpen his habits of thinking, at least gave him a good insight into
the workings of the human organization, and developed, to their richest blossoming, those
gentler attributes of our natures — love, kindness, affection — which constitute the charm of
social intercourse, sweeten home-life, and make it so full of enjoyment.
Mr. Buffinton engaged in business for himself early in life as a market-man, following the
occupation of his father. His market was on the corner of Main and Pocasset streets, until
the erection of the town-hall and market-building in 1846, when he removed thither, and
continued in the same pursuit until the close of his life, being one of the leading merchants in
that department. Mr. Buffinton was "as honest as the days are long," regarding shain and
pretence with a hatred as strong as was his love and respect for clean, downright, every-day
honesty in everything and" everywhere. Living and acting upon the grand old proverb that
" worth makes the man," and realizing, in its fullest conception, the fact that every honest call-
ing is honorable— be it preaching, pleading, or marketing, — he strove to dignify his business to
the honorable rank of a profession by honoring it himself.
It is not surprising that one growing up with the growth of the town, interested in all that
appertained to its prosperity, and actively participating in most of its earlier organiz.ations,
should become popular with all classes, secure the good-will of the people, and be compli-
mented with honorable expressions of it. In 1852 Mr. Buffinton was elected to the Massachu-
setts House of Representatives, where he showed the same fidelity to his convictions that
characterized him in all the business relations of life. Continuing to enjoy the confidence of
the people, in 1854, when Fall River changed its form of government and became a city, he
228 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
was honored with an election to the Board of Aldermen, and in November, 1855, was chosen by
the cit}' government to the mayoralty, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of
Hon. James Buffinton, who had been elected to the national House of Representatives. The
following year, 1856, he was elected to the same office by the people. The three succeeding
years he devoted to his business and private affairs, during which he was free from the cares
and responsibilities of official life, and happy in the change. In i860, however, he was again
elected to the mayoralty, and held the office for seven consecutive years — a period during
which our country went through the most trying ordeal in its history.
From the inauguration of the rebellion to its close, Mr. Buffinton was at the head of the
city government, and had an experience from which a man of weaker nerve and baser metal
would have shrunk discouraged. But he bore up under the pressure laid upon him with a
fortitude and firmness that astonished even his most ardent admirers. His labors were almost
incessant day and night, in season and out of season, but he never for a moment faltered in
the discharge of his duties, and his entire administration was distinguished for judiciousness,
care, economy, and humanity. A patriot to the core, he did every thing that one in his position
could do to help put down the rebellion and preserve our liberties. He stood the strain upon
his patience with a moderation and resoluteness that reflect honor both upon his character as a
magistrate and as a man, and, while doing all in his power toward the furtherance of the cause
and struggle for freedom, was carefully considerate of those who went from our midst to fight
its battles and win its victories, and humanely thoughtful of those they had left behind. With
an eye to the economical administration of city affairs, he was uniformly careful in his dealings
with those who thronged his office for aid, and if he ever erred in judgment, it was always on
the side of humanity. Though a large man, his heart was the largest part of him, and the
record of his administration during the years of our civil strife is one of noble heart-service.
His love of approbation corresponded with his kindness of heart, and nothing grieved him
more than to find that his best-directed efforts in any line of action failed to be properly
appreciated. He was sensitive, as is every true man, to the touch even of ingratitude, and nothing
wounded him deeper than the indifference of those to whom, some time in life, he had shown
generous and timely favors. His sense of justice was remarkably keen, and rarely, if ever,
was he at fault in judgment. His readiness to assist others became proverbial, and his gener-
ous nature often led him to do for his friends that which ended in serious pecuniary losses to
himself. At home he was a devoted husband and a kind, indulgent father.
Not a great man, as the world estimates greatness, he was one who gained the highest
respect of his fellow-citizens, and held it to the last.
His death occurred on the morning of October 2d, 1871, and with his burial was laid to
rest all that was mortal of one whose life and service must, in the years to come, hold an im-
portant place, and constitute one of the brightest chapters in the history of our city.
Hon. Nathaniel B. Borden, Third Mayor.
Hon. Nathaniel B. Borden was burn April 15th, 1801, and died April loth, 1865. His birth-
place was in a house which stood formerly on the south side of Pocasset Street, a short distance
from Main Street. This house had a local celebrity from the fact that two British soldiers
were shot and killed at its eastern doorway when the British made their attack upon the village
during the Revolutionary War.
To a common country-school tuition he added a few months' attendance at the Plainfield
Academy, Connecticut, but having soon abandoned the idea of acquiring a libera! education, he
returned home, and, though scarcely twenty years of age, was elected clerk and treasurer of the
Pocasset Company, then but just formed. He held this position till 1837, when he resigned on
account of the press of public duties. He was a member of the Massachusetts Legislature in
1831, 1834, 1851, and 1S64. He was a Representative in the Congress of the United States from
SKETCHES OF .MA^■()RS. 229
1837 to 1840 inclusive, and again in 1843-44. Tn his tluties as a legisIalDr lie bnjuglit extensive
practical knowledge, a cool, deliberative judgment, and a tirni purpose to dcj what he believed to
be right in itself, regardless of personal or party consequences, ever placing his convictions of
public duty above real or supposed personal interests.
At the time of the agitation of Free Masonry and ;'nti-Masonr\- he look decided grounds
against secret institutions in a free country, and, it is said, opened his own house for anti-
Masonic meetings when no other place could be obtained for the purpose.
He was among the early and prominent friends of the slave, and assisted many a fugitive,
either directly or indirectly, on his road to freedom. At a time w'hen it was fashionable to
mob Abolitionists he opened the Washington School-House, then his private property, in
which to form an anti-slavery society.
He was for many years in local public life as town clerk, selectman, highway surveyor,
and a sort of general guardian to look after the interests and welfare of the community, thereby
contributing largel)' towards securing the good order, credit, and prosperitv of the town and
city. He believed it to be a duty for every citizen to serve his countrv when called upon to
occupy any official position for which he was qualified. Under the municipal organization he
was an alderman for several j'ears, holding that position at his death. In 1856 he was chosen
mayor, and during the trying times of the winter of 1856-7, while the mills were stopped and
hundreds were out of emplo3'ment and destitute, he employed many of the idle laborers having
no legal residence here, at a low rate, in necessary work about the city. He believed it to be a
just and wise as well as a humane policy to provide for their wants temporarily, and secure to
the city, at the same time, the benefits of their cheap labor. The)' w-ere thus retained, at com-
paratively little additional expense to the city, where their useful services would again soon be
required, and the objectionable course avoided of throwing them as a burden upon the State,
with all the family disorder and social degradation consequent thereupon.
At various times he held the position of president of the Fall River Savings Bank, the
Fall River Union Bank, and Fall River Railroad Company, performing the duties devolving
upon him with efficiency and zeal.
He possessed naturally a happy, cheerful disposition, was a pleasant companion, and often
manifested a versatile talent and great powers of endurance. With a moral integrity unim-
peached and unimpeachable, a large heart, and generous sympathies, he passed through life
shedding light upon and assisting, by kindly acts, his fellow-man wherever found, without
regard to the color of his skin, the place of his birth, or the nature of his creed. Liberal in his
religious faith and upright in his dailj' walk, he was to oppression an enemy, to the oppressed
a friend. By his death the city lost a faithful public servant, and the poor their best benefactor.
Hon. Josiah C. Blaisdell, Fourth Mayor.
Hon. Josiah C. Blaisdell was born in Campton, New Hampshire, on the 22d of October,
1820. In his boyhood he attended the common district school, and later was a member of the
Literary and Scientific Institution at Hancock, N. H. While yet a young man, he removed
with his parents to Methuen. Mass., from whence, in 1843, he came to Fall River for the pur-
pose of entering the law office of James Ford, Esq. Upon the completion of his studies, he
eno-aged in the practice of his profession, and has continued its active duties to the present
day, rising step by step, until he has gained a foremost position at the bar of his adopted
town, and has become generally well known in this section of the State.
His first entrance into public life was in 1858, when he was elected a member of the Massa-
chusetts House of Representatives. In 1864 he was appointed, by Governor John A. Andrew,
a member of the Board of State Charities, completing an unexpired term of two years. In
i856 he was reappointed to the same office, by Governor Alexander H. Bullock, for a further
term of seven j'ears, but resigned after serving two years. He was chosen a member of the
State Senate in 1865, and again of the House in 1866.
230 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
In 1858, b)' the sufTrages of his fellow-citizens, he was nominated and elected mayor of
the city, and in 1859 was comphmented with a re-election to the same prominent and respon-
sible office. His administration of public affairs was marked by a rigid attention to economy,
and, if distinguished in no other respect, was, at least, peculiar in this, that it lived within its
income. The years of his mayoralty coming just after the crisis and business depression of
1856-7, it was the demand and expectation of the citizens that the government should be con-
ducted judiciously, faithfully, and economically; that no new enterprises should be entered
upon unless imperatively demanded ; that " acts and deeds of retrenchment" should be the
watchword throughout the year ; and in accordance with this well-known and positive ex-
pression of the people's wishes municipal affairs were administered.
Realizing that the head of the government exerted no inconsiderable influence upon his
associates in office, Mr. Blaisdell clearly defined the scope of work demanded by the times,
and, by careful and judicious suggestions, provided for such action only as would promote the
interest and prosperity of the city. The two years of his administration were distinguished,
therefore, by the preservation and continuance of existing public affairs rather than the inau-
guration of new and untried enterprises. Attention was chiefly devoted to the ordinary de-
partments of municipal life ; " to the public schools, those guide-boards to growth and intelli-
gence ; to the police, the conservators of peace and good order; to the fire department, that
the means and facilities for extinguishing fires might be always ready ; and especially to
finances, that excessive taxation might not retard the growth of the city, nor parsimony
belittle her position." Thus husbandingher resources, the city was placed in a position to enter
upon that career of enterprise and expansion which has characterized her progress since the
opening of the year i860.
Since Mr. Blaisdell's terms in the mayoralty and as Representative and Senator, he has
been brought by official life more or less continuously before the public, and in 1874, upon the
organization of the "Second District Court of Bristol," in recognition of his qualifications as
a lawyer and a man of sound and discreet judgment, he was appointed presiding judge. He
has since that date filled the position ably and well, to the satisfaction of his brethren of the
bar and the public at large.
Hon. George O. pAiRiiANKs. Fifth Mayor.
George Otis Fairbanks, the oldest child — and only son — of a family of nine children, was
born in Medway, Norfolk County, Mass., February 14th, 1815.
His parents lived upon a farm, and during the first ten years of his life he passed the time,
as was customary in those days for farmers' sons, in light work about the homestead and in
attending school, receiving all the advantages and privileges both of public and private tuition
within convenient distance of his home. He left the public school when thirteen years old,
but spent some portion of the following four years at a private school, or in study at the Medway
Classical Institution.
Being then seventeen, he commenced teaching, and four of the next five years were spent
— the autumn and winter months — at this employment in the neighboring towns of Upton and
Canton. During these four years — the fifth being one of confinement by sickness — when not
teaching or studying, he worked on his father's farm, or was engaged as clerk or assistant in
manufacturing establishments within the limits of his native town. At the expiration of this
period he commenced teaching as a permanent employment, and for some eight or nine years
was thus engaged in the town of Dedham and in the city of Lowell, where he became a pop-
ular instructor, and won the esteem and confidence of the community.
Leaving Lowell, he went to the town of Newburyport, where he continued teaching two
years more, and then, making one of those changes so common and characteristic of young
men in New England communities, set about learning a trade. He commenced studying and
SKETCHES OF MAYORS. 231
practising- to fit himself for the dental profession, and, after spending several months in pre-
paration, chose FM River as the place for his permanent location. He removed thither in
December, 1845, and was for many years the leading member of his profession.
Doctor Fairbanks, on becoming a resident of the town, soon manifested a laudable interest
in public affairs. This interest was recognized by his fellow-citizens, who elected him one of
the General School Committee, three years after his entrance intQ the community, compli-
menting him with a re-election in 1849 and 1S50.
In 1852 and '53 he was chosen a member of the Boai'd of Selectmen ; in 1861, elected to the
Common Council, and, upon the organization of the board, chosen its president. In 1S66 he was
elected one of the General School Committee for the term of three j'ears, and made chairman
of the board, on its organization for business. In December, 1867, he was elected mayor of
Fall River, and the following year re-elected to the same honorable and responsible office.
At the annual State election in 1869, Dr. Fairbanks was the choice of the city as one of its
representatives in General Court, and, from the first, was an eflicient and influential member of
that body. He was re-elected to this oflice in 1870, '71, '72 and '73, and again in 1875.
At the second session of the Legislature, of which he was a member, he was appointed on
the Committee on Railroads, and continued one of its number during his entire membership
of the House, the last two years being second only on the list. His labors were arduous, but
his efforts untiring, and fully appreciated by his associates on the committee. As he has
risen step by step in usefulness and in influence in the community, so has his faithfulness to
duty, and his promptness in its discharge, in each of these public positions won for him many
warm friends among his fellow-citizens and in the State at large.
As a chief magistrate, his strong desire was to see the city give large attention to and take
high rank in whatever would bring prosperity and happiness to the mass of the people. It
was the aim of his successive administrations to look well after the more common and every-
day wants of the people ; to consider not only the important and more prominent features of
city care and expenditure, as highways, police and fire departments, schools, the poor, etc., but
to have in mind the moral and physical well-being of the citizens, their health, the sources of
amusement, entertainment, and culture.
It was to this administration, and more particularl}- to his own personal interest and influ-
ence in the matter, that Fall River is indebted for the public parks in her northern and south-
ern sections; for the magnificent roadway over the hills to the north, Highland Avenue:
for the broadening and grading of Pocasset Street, that main thoroughfare from the shore to
Main Street ; for the first of the large and substantial as well as ornamental public buildings,
the Morgan Street school-house ; and — more than all, holding in view the greatest immediate
benefit to the greatest number — that daily recurring blessing to the laboring poor of the com-
munity, the free public baths, the first of which was established as an experiment, after
repeated and persistent efforts on the part of Mayor Fairbanks.
Hon. Samuel M. Brown, Sixth Mayor.
Hon. Samuel M. Brown is a native of Swanzey, in this State, and was born on the third day
of February, 1825. The house in which he was born is still standing, a short distance directly
north of Cole's Station, on the Fall River, Warren and Providence Division of the Old
Colony Railroad, and is the same in which his paternal ancestors for three successive gen-
erations have lived and died. Here he spent his early years, enjoying the ordinary advan-
tages and performing the various duties incident to farm-life.
In February, 1842, being then seventeen years of age, he came to Fall River, and obtained
employment in the store of Caleb B. Snow, who was at that time engaged in the grocery busi-
ness on Annawan Street.
In 1846, being out of health, he returned to Swanzey, where he remained until the early
232
FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
part of the following year, when he again came to Fall River, which has since been his resi-
dence. During these years he was engaged as clerk in the wholesale grocery business most of
the time. In January, 1869, by the suffrages of his fellow-citizens, he was chosen to the impor-
tant and responsible position of mayor, and so satisfactory was his administration of public
affairs that once and again was he re-elected, serving four terms in all.
Since 1869, his time has been principally occupied with the duties of the public offices to
which he has been called. He was elected to the Common Council in the fall of 1857, and held
that office the three succeeding years, as also during the year 1864. He has served one year as
clerk of the council, fourteen years as trustee of the Public Library, two years on the General
School Committee, two years and an unexpired part of a third as treasurer and collector, and
two years as assessor.
His administration as mayor fell within those years shortly following the war of the rebel-
lion, noted as a period of unexampled business activity throughout the country. Fall River
shared largely in the prevailing prosperity. The manufacturing business of the city was greatly
increased, there was an addition of more than fifty per cent to the population, and the valuation
of the city was more than doubled within those four years. A corresponding e-xtension of the
public works of the city was called for, and accordingly much was done within that period by
the city government in the way of public improvements.
Several school buildings were erected, one engine-house was built, and the Fire Alarm
Telegraph was established. Extensive improvements were also made in the streets and sewer-
age of the city. The water-works and the changes in the City Hall building were projected
and work upon them considerably advanced within Mr. Brown's administration, but neither
was completed until the following year. Many of the improvements named were recommended
by the mayor, and nearly all received his approval.
The frequent elections of Mr. Brown to responsible positions, since his entrance upon
public life, mark the high appreciation of the citizens of his integrity and worth, all his acts
as a public officer having merited and received the cordial approbation of his constituents.
Hon. Robert T. D.\vis, Seventh Mayor.
Robert T. Davis, M.D., was born in County Down, North of Ireland, of parents and ances-
try Presbyterian on the paternal, and Quaker, or Friend, on the maternal side, August 28th, 1823.
He came to America when three years old, his father having made a previous sojourn in
this country, during which two daughters were born. His father, who was a linen manufac-
turer, went back to his native land in the interests of his business, but, returning soon to
America, settled at Amesbury, Essex County, where the earlier years of our present subject
were spent. Dr. Davis' academic education was received at the Friends' boarding-school, in
Providence, R. I., and at the Amesbury Academy. He came to Fall River in his youth, and
studied for the medical profession with Dr. Thomas Wilbur, on South Main Street, living in
his family, and subsequently uniting himself more intimately with them by marriage with the
eldest daughter. She died not long after, and some years later he was again united in marriage
with a lady of Westchester County, New York, she also being a Friend. Dr. Davis pursued
his professional studies for a period at the Tremont Street Medical School, Boston, but gradu-
ated from the Harvard Medical School, in 1847. He was Dispensary Physician a short time
in Boston, going thence to Waterville, Me., where he spent three years, when he again
returned to Fall River, and commenced practice as a physician and surgeon in 1850. With the
exception of four years spent in New York City, Fall River has continued to be his place of
residence and business. The doctor, soon after his permanent settlement in the city, became
an active and prominent member of the Bristol County South Medical Society, and was elected
president — at the time, probably the youngest man ever chosen to that position. For several
years he likewise held the office of councillor in the association.
SKETCHES OF MAYORS.
233
His more public life commenced about 1851. In that yeur a town meeting was holden in
Town Hall, to see if the town would instruct its representatives in General Court to cast their
votes for Hon. Charles Sumner as Senator in Congress, there being a prolonged contest in
that body to fill this office. At this meeting Dr. Davis addressed his fellow-citizens in
favor of thus instructing their public servants, and most eloquently and forcibly urged the im-
portance of Massachusetts being represented in the Senate by men true and faithful to the
interests of freedom.
In 1853 he was chosen a member of the State Constitutional Convention, and in 1S59 and
1861 a State Senator. He was appointed, in his first term, chairman of the Committee on
State Charitable Institutions, and was also a member of the Committee for the Revision of the
Statutes, the latter committee sitting between the two sessions of the Legislature.
Dr. Davis soon proved himself to be a fluent, convincing, and pleasant public speaker,
during his first term as Senator delivering a speech, which was published, in favor of the erec-
tion of the statue in honor of our commonwealth's great advocate of popular education, Hon.
Horace Mann.
At a public meeting in Boston, on the day of the execution, in Virginia, of John Brown, he
sp-^ke in earnest condemnation of the spirit of the slave power, and predicted that this act
would prove a fatal blow to the "peculiar institution."
In 1861, in the Senate, he was made chairman of the Committee on Education, also chair-
man of the Special Committee on the Abolition of Capital Punishment, whose report was written
by him; the bill presented for this object, while adopted by the Senate, being lost in the
lower House.
In relation to the change of boundary line dividing Massachusetts and Rhode Island, in
1861, a matter which caused great interest and much excitement in the community, he was
very active and efficient in securing the line finally adopted and ratified by the Legislature of
each State.
He was a member of the National Republican Convention which nominated Abraham
Lincoln for President, in i860, and also a member of that which nominated Gen. Rutherford
B. Hayes as a candidate for the same office, in 1876.
He was appointed by Gov. John A. Andrew a member of the State Board of Charities, and
is now, and has been since its organization, a member of the State Board of Health.
In 1S73 Dr. Davis was elected mayor of Fall River, holding this position one year (but
declininga re-election). On retiring from the mayoralty, he donated his entire net salary to the
"Children's Home," a charitable institution of the city. In his inaugural, he recommended
mprovements involving large expenditures of money, but which seemed necessary in the
changing circumstances of the city. These recommendations were mostly adopted and
finally consummated by the city. His administration was one of unusual activity in all depart-
ments, great enterprises being made or projected during that year, and more labor performed
than in the same period before or since. Some of these improvements were the erection of
three spacious school-houses, three engine-houses and police-stations, the widening of
Pleasant Street, from Sixth Street to the "Narrows" (a very important measure), the laying
out and completing of other streets, etc. A plan of sewerage for the city was recommended
and adopted by this government, and the "Betterment Law" was first put in operation. The
City Hall was also completed in Its remodelled form, and dedicated tliat year.
Dr. Davis is an earnest, public-spirited man, of good judgment, quick in perception,
generally correct in his conclusions, prompt in his efforts to advance measures which he
believes will prove for the good and welfare of the community at large, and broad in his views
of the necessities of the hour.
The constant friend and advocate of general education, he was elected a member of the
General School Committee first in 1851, and has always given his voice and his vote for the
best interests of the scholars of our public schools. It was during his administration as mayor
that the city government adopted the provisions of State law whereby all school text-books
are furnished the scholars of the public schools free of expense to themselves — a plan which
234
FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
has worked well and satisfactorily to the entire community since its adoption. He is a gentle-
man of large mental culture and benevolent disposition, possessing a kind and sympathetic
heart. Having made good use of the opportunities given him of self-improvement, he has
wrought his own way in the world, and been successful in his professional practice as in other
respects. Early in the revival of interest in manufacturing pursuits in the city, he became
much interested, and manifested his confidence therein by making large investments in this
kind of property as well as in real estate. He was elected president of one corporation and
director in several others, and thus, in various ways, has come to be one of our best and
most useful public men — one whom his fellow-men have delighted to honor, and one who
has never disappointed their hopes or betrayed their trust and confidence.
Hon. Jame.s F. Davenport, Eighth Mayor.
The Hjn. James F. Davenport was born at Bjlleville, New Jersey, March 4th, 1832. His
father, a calico printer, died when he was but eighteen months old, leaving a widow with five
young children. The family moved to Taunton, Mass., in 1839, and to Fall River in 1841. Mr.
Davenport had but meagre educational advantages, attending the public schools in Fall River
from 1841 to 1848, and then going to New Jersey to learn the trade of an engraver. He had a
natural talent for mechanics, and, as a boy, found his happiest moments when at work upon or
about machinery. In the process of learning the engraver's art, he worked in the print-works
at Belleville and Paterson, N. J., and at Providence, R. I., but returned again to Fall River in
1853, where for the next twenty years he was employed in the American Print Works, filling,
during the later years of this period, the position of superintendent of the engraving depart-
ment. From this responsible private service he was called by his fellow-citizens in 1874 to
become mayor of the city of Fall River. For the few years previous to this date, his close at-
tention to the duties of his business had greatly impaired his health, and left him but a modi-
cum of his wonted strength and vigor, entailing a physical weakness with which he has had to
contend through most of the successive terms of his mayoralty.
Mr. Davenport at an early period manifested an active interest in public matters, always
aiming to keep himself thoroughly informed on the questions of the day. His first oflicial life
was as a member of the Common Council of Fall River in 1862. In 1871 he was again elected a
member of the council, and upon its organization was chosen president, but held the position
only a few months, when he was transferred to the Board of Aldermen, to fill a vacancy occur-
ring in his ward. He was re-elected an alderman in 1872 and 1873, and in 1874 received the
Republican nomination for the office of mayor. To this honorable and responsible position he
was elected by a large majority, and, by the action of his fellow-citizens, was continued in the
same office during the years 1875, 1876, and 1877.
Mr. Davenport's administration as mayor developed executive talent of a high order. His
term of service covers a period of four years, full of active labor, and calls for prompt, discreet,
and decisive action. During these years he has ever striven to act up to the sentiments
expressed in his first inaugural address, viz., "As public servants, let us openly and earnestly
endeavor to perform honestly the duties incumbent upon us, deciding every measure that may
be brought before us for our consideration upon its true merits, with no disposition to evade
responsibility or ignore any reasonable demand made upon us by our fellow-citizens." His
term of office coming just at the close of an unexampled period of prosperity and growth,
when, within six or seven years, a population was added equal in number to that which it had
taken more than half a century to reach, involved many great and necessary improvements
and public works, and a correspondingly large expenditure of money. Many of these were
authorized by previous governments, but the execution of them was left to Mr. Davenport's
administration, and in providing th3 necessary funds and carrying out these important measures.
SKETCHES OF MAYORS. 235
fraught with the future well-being of the community for many years to come, the highest execu-
tive ability and most careful and considerate judgment were called into constant requisition.
Thus, for example, a comprehensive system of sewerage having been adopted, upon an elabor-
ate and scientific plan, suited to the wants of an expanding community, most of its main trunks
and man)' of its connecting branches were constructed during the years 1873-77, involving an
expense of over $250,000. Closely connected with sewerage was the system of public water-
works, costing nearly or quite a million and a half of dollars, the means for which, realized by
the sale of bonds, were mainly negotiated for and funded under the special supervision of Mr.
Davenport, as chairman of the Committee on Finance. The widening of South Main Street,
from the Park to the Rhode Island line, something like a mile and a quarter; of Pleasant Street,
from Sixth Street to the Narrows, perhaps a mile and a half ; of North Main Street, from the
Narragansett Mills to Steep Brook, about a mile ; the erection of the Davis. Slade, and Daven-
port school-houses, and three engine-houses and police-stations, all authorized or begun by pre-
vious administrations and necessitating an outlay of over $400,000, were consummated within
these years (1873-77). The City Hospital was also built, the Park graded and improved, and
many other measures of public utility accomplished, an expenditure demanded by the urgent
and imperative wants of a community which, within a few years, had increased twofold in
wealth, population, and business, and had more than doubled the area over which its interests
were spread.
To be at the head of a government supervising these vast interests has been no meie
child's play, but has called for the highest wisdom and discretion of the chief executive, and
in devoting his whole time and attention to the duties of his office, Mr. Davenport has fairly
earned for himself the commendation and confidence of his fellow-citizens. Through his
instrumentality the floating debt of the city, amounting to more than a million of dollars, was
successfully funded at a long term of years and a low rate of interest, and the credit of the city
so established that temporary loans to large amounts are easily secured, while the bonds of the
city have passed into the hands of capitalists for permanent investments, the few that come
upon the market being quickly disposed of at a good premium. Notwithstanding these verj'
large expenditures, the government the past two years has been so economically administered,
that it has lived within the appropriations, though smaller than usual, and the debt of the city
has also been decreased.
The rapid expansion of the city involved many changes in the subordinate departments of
municipal administration. The police force was reorganized, and its numbers increased, upon
the completion and occupancy of the new police stations in the northern, southern, and eastern
sections of the city. The moraU of the force was brought to a higher standard, and greater
efficiency secured in the discharge of their various and important, often delicate, duties. The
introduction of water and the establishment of a large number of hydrants gave a new phase
to the administration of the fire department, which led to its reorganization and distribution,
and resulted in a more completely equipped department, and an improved /lerso/i/n-/ oi the force.
The appointment of the members of both of these forces devolves upon the mayor and alder-
men, and in filling these positions Ma3'or Davenport has ever sought to increase the dignity
and efficiency of each department, and to eliminate all elements that might impede the discip-
line, energy, and cohesion of either body of men.
Another outgrowth of the rapid e.xtension of the city in all directions, and the consequent
changes involved in the laying out of highways, and improving the facilities of communication
between different sections, was the question of benefit and damage to abutters, the settlement
of claims for land taken, the rights of owners, and the thousand and one questions which arise
where municipal and private rights are involved. Time is always required to bring these vari-
ous questions to a point, and it was the lot of Mr. Davenport's administration to receive from
its predecessors a legacy of lawsuits and questions of land damages, the settlement of which
he found at an early date to be one of the most perplexing of his duties. Happily constituted
bv nature, with a kind, conciliatory spirit, calm and undisturbed amid trying difficulties, and
peculiarly apt and winning in his contact with men, Mr. Davenport was especially fitted to deal
236 FALL RIVER AND ITS INDUSTRIES.
with all these cases, successfully adjusting most of the points in controversy without resort to
the courts, and, in cases where litigation had already been begun, securing results far more favor-
able than the city could secure by negotiations with the opposing party. No small part of
the time of the mayor has been required to examine the legal questions which have arisen, and,
in the process of this schooling. Mayor Davenport has developed an exceptional aptitude for
the comprehension and management of the intricate and perplexing problems of civic admin-
istration.
Mr. Davenport, upon his first election to the mayoralty, determined to devote his whole
time to the duties of his office, and has continued to do so through the successive years of his
administration. His services, as a result, have been eminently successful, and no mayor ever
had the confidence of the community to a higher degree. Conservative and prudent in matur-
ing measures, yet prompt and vigorous in action when occasion demands, Mr. Davenport has
qualities that especially' fit him for public life. In the several years of his mayoralty, during
which the laboring population have become restless, and been prompted to covert, if not open,
violence by irresponsible leaders, when the least symptom of wavering or uncertainty on the
part of those in authority might have precipitated riot and bloodshed, the firmness and
courage of the chief executive were put to the severest test, and so satisfactorily did Mr.
Davenport meet the crisis, that his praises have been sounded on every side. Unassuming
in demeanor, and slight in physical proportions, he nevertheless has shown that he possesses
an unflinching spirit, equal to all emergencies. Most affable and amiable of men, he has always
made hosts of friends among those with whom he has been brought in contact.
ACT OF INCORPORATION
OF THE
TOWN OF FALL RIVER,
Bristol Couxtv, Massachusetts.
1803.
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.
Ill the year of our Lore! one thousand eight hundreel and three, AN ACT to divide the town of
Freetaivn, and to incorporate the southerly part thereof into a separate town bv the name of
Fall River.
BE it enacted, by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and
by the authority of the same, that the southerly part of Freetown, in the County of Bristol,
as described within the following bounds, with the inhabitants thereon, be, and they are hereby
incorporated into a separate town by the name of Fall River, viz. ;
Beginning in Taunton Great River so called, and thence running south seventy degrees,
east on the lines dividing the lands belonging to the heirs of Samuel \'alentine, from the lands
of the heirs of William Valentine, and so continuing the same course about eight hundred and
sixty rods, till it intersects a line running from the town of Dartmouth, north twelve degrees
east, by the easterly of the twentieth great lot owned by Thomas Borden and Richard Borden,
thence on the line last mentioned to Dartmouth line. Thence by the lines of the town of
Dartmouth and Westport to the State of Rhode Island, thence on the line of said State into
said river, thence by the channel of said river to the bounds tirst mentioned. And the said
town of Fall River is herebv vested with all the powers and privileges, rights and immunities,
to which other towns are entitled by the constitution and laws of this commonwealth.
Section II. Be it further enacted, that the said town of Fall River shall pay all the arrears
of taxes, which have been assessed upon them, together with their proportion of all debts
owed by said town of Freetown prior to the date of this Act, and that all questions relative to
property already existing, shall be adjusted and settled in the same manner as if this Act had
not been made ; and that all property rights and credits of said town of Freetown be received
and enjoyed by the said town of Fall River, according to their proportion of the taxes of said
Freetown, as assessed in the last tax-bills.
Section III. Be it further enacted, that the said town of Fall River shall take upon them-
selves, and support one half of all the poor now actually chargeable to said town of Freetown,
and shall also bear, and pa)' one half of the expense of supporting such poor persons as may
be sent back upon said town of Freetown from other towns, who removed from said town of
Freetown prior to the passing this Act.
Section IV. Be it furjher enacted, that of all State and County taxes which shall be levied
and required of said towns previous to a new valuation, the said town of Fall River shall pay
four tenths.
Section V. And be it further enacted, that Charles Durfee, Esq., be and he is hereby
authorized to issue his warrant, diiected to some suitable inhabitant of the said town of Fall
River, requiring him to notify and warn the inhabitants of the said town qualified by law to
vote in town affairs, to meet at such time and place as shall be expressed in the said warrant,
to choose all such officers as other towns within this commonwealth are required by law to
choose, in the months of March or April annually, and the officers so chosen shall be qualified
as other town officers are.
238
CHANGES OF CORPORvVTE NAME.
In the House of Representatives, February 24, 1803. This bill having had three several
readings, passed to be enacted.
JOHN C. JONES, speaker.
In Senate, February 25, 1803. This bill having had two several readings, passed to be
DAVID COBB, President.
February 26, 1803. Bv the Governor approved.
CALEB STRONG.
True copy attest.
JOHN AVERY, Secretary.
A true copy attest.
WALTER CHALONER, Tnmi Clerk, for 1S03.
Change of Name. — "Fall River" to "Troy."
In a warrant for the assembling of the legal voters of the town of Fall River, dated March
2ist, 1804, a portion of article 5th reads — " Also to know the minds of the town respecting
altering the name of the town, and if altered, by what name they would wish it called." At a
meeting held May 8th, 1804, it was voted "that the present town of Fall River shall be called
Troy." Tradition reports that this action was induced by a prominent citizen who had recently
visited Troy, New York, and who became so enamored of its name, that, upon his return he
induced his fellow-townsmen to give up the suggestive and appropriate name received from the
red man, and assume that derived from the ancient and mythical Homeric city.
1804.
An Act to change the name of the town of Fall River, in the County of Bristol.
Be it enacted, by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled,
and by authority of the same, that from and after the passing of this Act, the name of the
said town of Fall River shall cease, and the said town shall hereafter be called and known by
the name of Troy, any law to the contrary notwithstanding. And nothing in this act contained
shall be construed to. impair any rights of the said corporation ; but the inhabitants of said
town shall have, enjoy, and exercise all the powers, privileges and immunities as a corporation
by the name of Troy, in as full and ample a manner as though the name of the said town had
not been changed.
This Act passed June 18, 1804.
"Troy" to "Fall River."
At a town meeting assembled March 18, 1833, it was voted "That it is expedient to have
the name of the town of Troy altered to that of Fall River," and " that the selectmen be directed
to petition the Legislature now in session, for an act to alter the name of the town of Troy to
that of Fall River."
1834.
An Act to change the name of Troy to Fall River.
Be it enacted, by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembledi
arid by the authority of the same, that from and after the passage of this Act, the name of the
town of Troy, in the County of Bristol, shall cease, and the said town shall hereafter be called
and known by the name of Fall River, and by this name shall be entitled to all the rights and
privileges, and subject to all the duties and obligations to which it would have been entitled
and subject if the name had not been changed as aforesaid. February 12, 1834,
. CLERKS OF TOWN AND CITY, 1S03-1S76. 239
Town Clerks of the Town of Fall River, 1803-1854.
1803 Walter Chaloner i year.
1S04 to 1813 inclusive, . . . Benjamin Brightman 10 years.
i8i4to 1S15 " .... Wm. B. Canedy 2 •■
1816 from March to Nov. 2, . . Nathaniel Luther, when at a town meeting was made
the following record : "Nathaniel Luther, the Town Clerk, being absent, made choice of Joseph
E. Read to act as Town Clerk the remainder of the year (at all town meetings and all other
business pertaining to the Town Clerk's duty) in the absence of Mr. Luther."
1816 from Nov. 2 to 1820 inclusive, . Joseph E. Read, 5i years.
1S21 to 1824 inclusive, . . . John C. Borden 4 "
1825 Nathaniel B. Borden, . . . . i year.
1826' to 1830 inclusive, . . . Benjamin Anthony 5 years.
1S31 to 1835 " .... Stephen K. Crary, 5 "
1836 to 1845 " ... Benjamin Earl 10 "
1846 to 1847 " .... George S. Baker, 2 "
1848 to 1852 " ... Sam'l B. Hussey 5 "
1853, John R. Hodges i year.
City Clerks, 1854-1876.
1854, John R. Hodges, i year.
1855'to 1863 inclusive, . . . Alvin S. Ballard 9 years.
1864101876 •• ... Geo. a. Ballard 13 "
2 40
TOWN OFFICERS, 1S03-1S54.
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rows OFFICERS, 1S03-1S54.
241
> 3
'Z O
K «
D. S
Mieah H. Rugg
-Anthony Mason
Philip R. Benne
Job B. French.
Elijah Pierce.
M. H. Ruggles.
Anthony Mason
Caleb B. Vicke
William Ashley
Gilbert H. Dur
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Asa Bronson.
Simon Clough.
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TOWX OFFICERS, 1S03-1854.
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FALL RIVER A CITY, 1854.
Formation of a City Government.
PRELIMINARY ACTION.
At a town meeting, called by warrant, dated Jan. 25th, 1S54, and holden Jan. 28th, inst.,
// was I'p/t'i/, That a committee be raised to petition the Legislature in behalf of the citizens
of Fall River for a City Charter, and also that the same committee draft the form of such a
charter as they in their judgment may think the wants of the people may require, and report
^t an adjournment of this meeting.
I'o/t'if. That this committee consist of seven members.
Voted. To increase this committee by adding two.
Voted, To choose this committee by nomination at large.
Nominated -3.^6. made choice of Jiihn Westall, Foster Hooper, Nathaniel B. Borden, Israel
Buffinton, Thomas Wilbur, Robert C. Brown, Eliab Williams, Samuel L. Thaxter, and Louis
Laphani.
Voted, That this committee have power to fill vacancies.
Voted, That the committee be instructed to report in print.
Voted, That the committee print and circulate fifteen hundred copies of their report of City
Charter, and that said committee circulate their report one week previous to the time to which
this meeting may adjourn.
Voted, To adjourn to three weeks from this day.
Pursuant to adjournment, the inhabitants met in the town hall, February i8th, 1854, James
Buffinton, chairman, who called for report of said committee, which was read b)"- Dr. Foster
Hooper.
Voted, That the report be accepted.
Voted, That the selectmen be instructed to carry out the recommendations of the report.
At a subsequent town meeting, held by adjournment, after the adoption of several amend-
ments in the draft for City Charter, it was voted to accept the report of the committee to draft
a City Charter, as amended.
Voted, That the committee who made the draft of the City Charter be a committee to
petition the Legislature to grant said City Charter.
At a town meeting legally convened, April 22d, 1854, in the town hall, to decide. Shall the
act to establish the City of Fall River, passed by the General Court of this commonwealth, and
approved by the Governor, April 12th, 1854, be accepted — yea or nay.'
Voted, Yeas 529. Nays 247.
Fall River thus became the thirteenth city incorporated by the State of Massachusetts.
City of Fall River.
1854-
Pursuant to the provisions of the City Charter, a meeting was held in e.ach of the six
wards, May 6th, 1854, and a city government chosen, as follows :
For Mayor, James Buffinton.
Ward.
1. James Henrv,
2. Edward P. Buffinton,
Aldermen.
Ward.
3. Oliver H. Hathaway,
4. Alvin S. Ballard,
Coinnion Council.
Ward i. Robert C. Brown,
2. Henry Wilbur,
3. Oliver Grinnell,
4. Chris. W. Tillinghast,
5. John Mason, Jr.,
6. Smith Winslow,
Wni. Goodman,
Obadiah Chace,
Gardner Groves,
Nath'l Bonney,
David S. Brigham,
Sheffield Brightmaii,
Ward.
5. Edwin Shaw,
6. Julius P. Champney.
Peter J. Dennise,
Henry Diman, Jr.
Howard B. Allen,
Wm. M. Almy,
Thomas T. Potter,
Albert Winslow.
244
MAYORS AND MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.
Organization of the First City Government.
lifay 15///, 1854.
At a session of the Mayor and Aldermen elect, May 15th, 1854, previous to the administer-
ing of the oath of office, the members of this Board, and Board of Common Council, made choice
of Alvan S. Ballard, clerk pro tem.
Ordered, That a set of Rules and Orders presented by Alderman Shaw, be adopted by this
Board temporarily.
Voted, That a committee of two, consisting of Aldermen Shaw and Henry, notify the Com-
mon Council that this Board is now ready to meet them in convention for such business as may
legally come before the City Council.
In Board of Common Council, concurred.
Adjourned to City Hall, to meet in convention.
The officers present were then marshaled into the City Hall by Col. Wm. Sisson, accom-
panied by the selectmen, where a large number of the citizens were in attendance to witness
the ceremonies, and to hear the inaugural address of Mayor Buffinton.
The meeting was called to order by Chester W. Greene, chairman of the Board of Selectmen,
and the throne of grace was addressed by Rev. Benjamin J. Relyea.
The names of the city officers elect were called by the Clerk, and the oath of office
administered by James Ford, Esq., Justice of the Peace.
Chester W. Greene then addressed the Mayor in behalf of the Board of Selectmen.
Mayor Buffinton then delivered his inaugural address.
After which the Boards of Aldermen and Common Councilmen separated, each going to
their respective rooms.
Mayors of the City of Fall River.
1854-1876.
Hon. James Buffinton,
" Edward P. Buffinton,
" Nathaniel B. Borden,
" Josiah C. Blaisdell, .
• • 1854. '55-
S 1856. '60, '61, '62,
'63, '64, '65, '66.
. . . 1857.
. . 1S5S, '59.
Hon. George O. Fairbanks, . . 1867, '68.
Samuel M. Brown, . 1S69, '70, '71, '72.
" Robert T. Davis 1873.
James F. Davenport, 1874, '75, 76, '77.
Members of Congress.
RESIDENTS OF FALL RIVER.
Hon. Nathaniel B. Borden.
Rev. Orin Fowler. .
Hon. James Buffinton.*
XXVth Congress,
XXVIth
XXVIIIth
XXXIst Congress,
XXXIId
. XXXIVth Congress, .
XXXVIth
XXXVIIth
XXXVIlIth
XLIId '•
XLHId
* Elected to the XLIVth Congress, but died before the opening of the session.
1837-38
1839-40
1843-44
1849-50
1851-52
1855-56
1859-60
1861-62
1863-64
1871-72
1873-74
STATE SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES.
State Senators.
245
RESIDENTS OF FALL RIVER.
Fall River w.is first honored in 1838, by the choice of one of her citizens to the position of
State Senator of Massachusetts.-^ Since that date, she has often had a representative in this
branch of the Great and General Court, viz. :
A.D. 1838 Hon. John Eddy.
1S40-1842 Dr. Foster Hooper.
1843 Dr. Phineas W. Leland.
1845-1847, . . Hon. Nathaniel B. Borden.
1848, Rev. Orin Fowler.
1854 Col. Richard Borden.
1855-1856 Hon. Joseph E. Dawley.
A.D. 1857, . . . Hon. Jeremiah S. Young.
1859-1861 Dr. Robert T. Davis.
1865, . . . Hon. Josiah C. Blaisdell.
1867-1868, . . Hon. Samuel Angier Chace.
1 869- 1 870, . . . Hon. John B. Hathaway.
1871-1874, . . . Hon. Charles P. Stickney.
1877, . . . Hon. Charles J. Holmes.
Representatives to the Ma.s.sachusetts Legislature.
1854-1876.
„ j Mark A. .Slocum.
'^54 j Job G. Lawton.
C Daniel Leonard,
n J Asa P. French.
'''55 I jona. E. Morrill.
[ Benjamin H. Davis.
r Brayton Slade.
„ ^ I Jona. E. Morrill.
'^5'' i John S. Brayton.
[ Job B. Ashley.
I' Jona. E. Morrill,
n J Vernon Cook.
'^57 j Brownell W. Woodman
[ John E. Grouard.
„ 0 ( Josiah C. Blaisdell.
'^5« 1 Jona. E. Morrill.
o ( Stephen C. Wrightington.
'^59 ^ Thomas T. Potter.
q, S Lloyd S. Earle,
'"°° ( Stephen C. Wrightington.
„, ( Lloyd S. Earle.
'"°' j Stephen C. Wrightii:;; on,
„- S Simeon Borden.
'^^- } Henry Pratt.
„, ( Simeon Borden.
■^'^^ I Henry Pratt.
„, ( Nathaniel B. Borden.
""^■* } Andrew D. Bullock.
„, j S. Angier Chace.
'^''S ^ pred. A. Boomer.
ofTf: \ Josiah C. Blaisdell.
\ John B. Hathaway.
1867,
1868,
1877.
Abraham G. Hart.
John B. Hathaway.
Abraham G. Hart.
Weaver Osborn.
Irani Smith.
Abraham G. Hart.
Weaver Osborn.
Iram Smith.
( Edward T. Marvell.
1870, . . . . ^ George O. Fairbanks.
( Abraham G. Hart.
( Frederick A. Boomer.
1S71 •< Weaver Osborn.
( George O. Fairbanks.
( Thomas F. Holder.
1872, ....•< George O. Fairbanks.
( George H. Eddy.
( George O. Fairbanks.
1873 < Charles J. Holmes.
( Weaver Osborn.
C George O. Fairbanks.
1874, . . . . < Daniel McGowan.
( John Davol, Jr.
C Southard H. Miller.
1875, ....-< Nicholas Hathaway.
( William Carroll.
( George O. Fairbanks.
1876, . . . . < Weaver Osborn.
( Albion K. Slade.
f Weaver Osborn.
I John B. Whitaker.
-! Iram Smith.
Franklin Gray.
Pardon Macomber.
* While still a part of Freetown, Hon. Thomas Durfee, a citizen of Fall River, was chosen a Senator, from 1781 to 1788.
246
CITY GOVERNMENT OF FALL RIVER, 1S77.
GOVERNMENT
CITY OF FALL RIVER,
1877.
MAYOR.
HON. JAMES F. DAVENPORT.
ALDERMEN.
Ward I. JOSEPH O. NEILL.
Ward 2. PATRICK J. LUNNEY.
Ward 3. QUINLAN LEARY.
Ward 4. JOHN A. MACFARLANE.
Ward 5. BRADFORD D. DAVOL.
Ward 6. HOLDER B. DURFEE,
CITY CLERK
GEO. A. BALLARD.
COMMON COUNCIL.
WILLL'\M S. GREENE, President.
Ward i.
William Wolfendale*
William H. Chace,
Edward P. Baggett.
Ward 2.
James D. O'Neil,
Patrick [. McCarty,
Michael L. Ivers.
Ward 3.
H. Gordon Webster,
William Burgess,
John A. Connelly.
Ward 4.
Henry Norsvvorthy,
Andrew McDermott,
Dennis Garvly.
Ward 5.
William S. Greene,
Joseph M. Darling,
Simeon B. Chase.
Ward 6.
John P. Slade,
James H. Wilson,
Charles L. Ritley.
Augustus B. Leonard, Clerk.
* Resigned, March s, 1S77.
CITY GOVERNMENT OF FALL RIVER, 1S77.
CITY OFFICERS.
247
City Clerk, George A. Ballard.
Treasurer and Collector, James C. Brady.
Auditor, George W. Billings.
Superintendent of Streets, Danforth Horton.
Superintendent of Schools, William Connell, Jr.
City Marshal, Andrew R. Wright.
Chief Engineer Fire Department, Wm. C. Davol,
Jr.
City Solicitor, Milton Reed.
City Physician, J. A. Tourtelotte.
Superintendent of Almshouse, Joseph Borden.
Superintendent of Oak Grove Cemetery, J. B
Morrill.
Superintendent of North Cemetery, James C
Hyland.
Clerk of Common Council, A. B. Leonard.
City Messenger, D. D. O'Neil.
Warden Court House, Edward Driscoll.
Surve)'or of Lumber, Herhert A. Skinner.
Sealer of Weights and Measures, D. D O'Neal.
Inspector of Milk, Elisha Fuller.
Measurer of Grain, Andrew Fercuson.
SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
Chairman,
JAMES M. ALDRICH.
S^cretnrv,
WILLIAM CONNELL, JR.
James M. Aldrich,
Jerome Dwelly,
Andrew J. Jennings,
Charles J. Holmes,
William H. Bric,
William W. Adams,
Charles E. Mills,
Iram Smith,
Thomas F. Eddy.
Sufi, of Public Schools,
WILLIAM CONNELL, JR.
William Read,
Truant Officers,
John Brady.
POLICE DEPARTMENT.
City Marshal,
ANDREW R. WRIGHT
Assistant Marshal,
ALBERT T. PIERCE.
Captaiv ,
HENRY A. DEXTER.
Emanuel Wilcox,
Charles Hinckley,
Sergeants,
John Deardon.
Clerk of Police Department,
Stephen B. Gardner.
William B. Ling,
Julian T. Pember,
048 CITY GOVERNMENT OF FALL RIVER, 1S77.
FIRE DEPARTMENT.
Chief Engineer,
' WILLIAM C. DAVOL, JR.
Assistant Engineer,
ISAAC T. BROWNELL.
District Engineers,
District No. I. Alvan C. Seymour, [ District No. 2, Benj.amin Mott,
District No. 3. Edward T. Marvel.
TRUSTEES OF PUBLIC LIBRARY.
Mayor Davenport,
Henry Lyon,
Charles J. Holmes,
Simeon Borden,
Robert T. Davis,
J R. Leary,
Walter Paine, 2d.
Libraiian, William R. Ballard.
V\^ATUPPA WATER BOARD.
Philip D. Borden,
William Lindsey,
John Butler.
Superintendent, WiLLIAM RoTCH.
Registrar, C. H. Churchill.
SINKING FUND COMMISSIONERS.
Mayor Davenport,
George W. Billings,
alphon.so s. covel,
Jeremiah Kelley,
ASSESSORS.
John H. Estes.
Charles P. Stickney,
Simeon Borden.
William S. Greene.
Samuel M. Brown,
INDEX.
PAGE
Act of Incorporation of Fall River as a Town. . . 237
Agents of Troy Co 18S
Aii Sorts, Newspaper 1S8
American Linen Co 62, 113, 121
Print Works 35, 37, 113
Annawan Manufactory 27, 113, 120
Anthony, David n, 64, 76, 118,122
" John B 13
Appropriations for Union Defence 207, 208
Ai-chetype, Newspaper 1S8
Area of Fall River 6
Argonaut, Sloop 10, Igl
Argus, Newspaper 18S
Ark Wright's Inventions 73
Assessors, 1877 248
Assonet Neck 2
Bailey, Wheaton 17
Banks and Savings Institutions 168
Barnard Manufacturing Co 113, 146
Bay State Print Works 41
Bay State Steamboat Line 50, 194
Bay State, Steamer 194
Beacon, Daily Paper l8g
Bennett's Carding Factory 27
" Bing" of Cotton 100
Blair's Picking Machine 18
Blaisdell, Hon. J. C 229
" Bobbin" 103
Borden, John, of Portsmouth 2, 3
" John, Jr 15
" Holder 24, 35, 191
" Jefferson 41, 50, 194
Richard, a prisoner of the British troops 201
Hon. N. B 228
" Col. Richard 43. 47, 134, 191, 210
" Richard, Steamer 192
Capt. Thomas 191
Thomas J 37, 113, 1 29, 135
" Border City," The 4, 143
Border City Mills 113. 143
Boston, Newport and New York Steamboat Co. 194
Boundaries, Change of State 4, 215
Bovvers, John 11
Brayton, Capt. Benj 192
"Breaker," Cotton loi
" Bridge Mill" 23, 26
Bristol, Steamer 195
Brown, Capt. William 194
Brown, Hon. S. M 231
PAGE
Buffinton, E. P 208, 227
" James 209, 225
b. & D 23
Buildings, Public 153
Bulletin, Paper 189
Calico Prints 130, 135
(First) 23
Canonicus, Steamer 192
" Carding" .... loi
Carding Machine 74
Cemeteries 157
Centennial Celebration, July 4th, 1876 220
Chace, Harvey. . ."*. 18
" & Luther 23
Oliver, Sr 15, 21, 23, 136
" Mills 113, 141
Change of Name, " Fall River" to " Troy" 238
" "Troy" to "Fall River".. 23S
Church, Caleb 3
" Col. Benjamin 3
Churches 10, 154
City Government 153, 243, 246
" Hall Building 184
" Clerks of Fall River 239
" Officers, 1877 246
Citizens' Savings Bank 176
Climate 95
Clyde Line, The 196
Communication with other Places in 1813 to
"Cop" 107
Corporations, Organization of 113
Corporate Seal of Fall River 6
Cotton, First Culture in U. S 71
" Annual Production (1825-1876) 72
Cloth, Export 86
" Factories, First 78
" First Exportation 71
" First Manufacture 73, 77
" Machinery, Exportation forbidden 74
" " First Manufacture 75
" Gin 72
Machinery (1830) 28
" Manufacture (1831) 83
Mills, " New Era" 7, 65, 96
" Machiner5% Inventions of 97
" " Grade" 99
" to Cloth, Time of 109
" Mills, Size of Standard no
" Departments of no
250
INDEX.
Cotton, Arrangement of no
Manufacture (in 1812) Process, 9 ; (1876) g8
Goods Price (1S24) 20
" Atmospheric Effects 95
" Storehouse 99, in
Picking 18
Mills (1810) 77,(1815) 73,(1850-70) 84,
(1S74) 85
" Manufacture in Europe 94
" into Cloth, Process of 98
Cotton's, John S.. Store in 1825-34 186. 213
"Creel" 107
Crescent Mills 113, 138
Daily Papers 189
Daily Neivs 188
Davis, Hon. R. T 232
Davenport, Hon. J. F 234
Davol Mills 58, 65, 113, 12?
' ' Stephen 56
" Wm. C 46, 57, 127
" Departments" of a Mill no
Dividends of Troy Company, 1820 20
" Doffer" 102
" Drawing" 103
Dressing Yarn in 1S13 ig
Drives 159
Durfee, Major Bradford 26, 27, 43, 45, 127
Bradford, Steamer 192
Col. Jos 8,9.198
" Charles 10
" Mills 114,126
" Dr. Nathan 53
Early Settlers 4
Eddy, J. & J 23
" Jesse 32
Educational Interests 151
Eudora, Propeller 191
" Evils" of Manufacturing Communities 152
Fall River and its Industries 1
" First Settlement 2
" Incorporated 4, 237
" Boundary Dispute 4, 215
Motto of. 6
' ' Location of 6
" Natural Advantages of 6, 95, 190
" Water Power 7
" " New Mills" • . . . . 7, 65, 96
" Spindles 8
In 1813 10
" Manufactory. 11,12, 16,22,114, 118,166, 201
" Bleaching and Calendering Co 26
" Print Works 30, 114
" Iron Works 43, 63, 114
I " Growth (" New Mill" era) 7
Fall River Resources (1858) 67
" Bleachery 114,147
" Manufacturers' Mutual Insurance Co. 114
" Merino Co 114
" Railroad to Myrick's 50
" Railroad to New Bedford 114, 190
" Spool and Bobbin Co 114
" Steamboat Co 115,196
" Warren and Providence R. R 115
" Monitor 185
" In the Revolution 19S
" " The Border City" 4, 143
" General View 5
" Area 6
" Hydraulic Power 6
Valuation (1813) 10; (1858) 67
" Recapitulation (1876) 68
" "Its Future" 97
To other Cities 153
" National Bank 168
" Savings Bank 170
" Five-cent Savings Bank 179
" and Warren and Providence R. R. . . 196
" Sloop 10
" In the Civil War 204
" " West End" 213
Fairbanks, Hon. G. 0 230
"Finisher" (Cotton) loi
Fire Department 160
" " Officers, 1S77 ... 248
" The Great, 1843 217
First National Bank 180
Five cent Savings Bank 179
Flint Mills 115, 142
Flint and Steel, Newspaper 188
' ' Flyer" 103
Formation of City Government 243
Freight Lines 196
Freemen's Purchase 2
Gazette, Newspaper 188
Globe Mill 8-21
" Village 8
Granite Mills 65, n5, 123
Product 152
Great Fire, The 151, 217
Hancock, Steamer 10, 191
Harbor of Fall River 152, 190
" Harness" . . 108
Harris, Hawes cS: Co 21, 26, 32, 46, 58
Haughwout, Rev. P. B 2n
Healey's, Father, Smithy 214
Herald, Daily Paper 189
Hours of Labor 28
Hydraulic Power ., 6
INDEX.
!5I
Industries of State 94
" Fall River 8, 67, 94
" Intermediate" 103
Inventions in Cotton Macliinery 97
Irene and Betsey, Sloop 191
" Jack" 103
Journal, Paper 188
King Philip Mills 115, 136
" " Steamer 191
Labor Journal iSS
Ladies' Work for the Union 212
" Laps" (Cotton) loi
V Rcho (ill Canada 188
Libraries 151, '53
Local Nomenclature
" Nankeen Mill " 22
Narragansett Mills 116, 136
" Steamship Co 194
National Union Bank 174
Banks, Standing of iSl
New Mills 7, 161
New York Line, The 50, 193
" New Pocasset " 23
Newport, Steamer 195
Newspapers 185
Nomenclature 159
North Cemetery 157
" Park 15S
Number of Employes in Early Mills 17
Oak Grove Cemetery 157
159 Old Colony Railroad 50, 116, 190
Location of Mills 70
"Loom" 108
Looms, First Built 17
Loom, Power 78
Waltham 81
" Scotch 81
Machines, Cotton (1811)9; (1830)28 ; (1876)... 98
Machinery, Inventions of Cotton 97
Manufacturers' Board of Trade 115
Gas Co 115
Manufacturing, Process of 98
Markets for Yarn 18
Massasoit Mill 24, 35, 53, 115
" National Bank 175
Mayors, Sketches of 225
" Steamer 195
Steamboat Co 51, 116, 195
" Old Fall River Line " 1^5
Operatives in Mill 17
" Nationality 20,28, in
" Number in Mill no
Organization of Corporations 113
" a Mill 96
Orswell, John 17. '9
Osborn Mills 116, 140
Panic of 1837 53
; Parks 15^
' Patriot, Paper 18*
People s Press 188
'■ Pickers" loi
of Fall River 244 : picking Machine 18
Mechanic, Newspaper 1S8
Mechanics' Mills 65, 116, 128
Members of Congress 244
Merchants' Manufacturing Company .. .65, 116, 127
Pocasset Purchase 3
" Manufacturing Co 23,56, 117, 119
National Bank 178
Police Department, 1877. . . 247
Metacomet Mill 57. ' '6, 120 I Ponds, Flowage 17, 22, 25
National Bank I77 Population Tables 219
" Steamer 192
Metropolis, " 194
Mill Buildings, Size of 56
" Groups 69
Mills, Fall River Standard no
Officers of 9^
Arrangements of no
" '■ New Era" 7, 65. 96
" Mixing Room" 99
Monitor, Newspaper 185
Montaup Mills n6, 139
Moral Envoy, Newspaper 1S8
Mother's Brook 4
Mount Hope Bay 189
" Mill n6
"Mule" 58, 104
Prices of Provisions, 1S13 20
" Cloth, 1813 20
Print Cloths, First Manufactured 28
" " Process of Manufacture 98
" " Standard (64 X 64) 99
Printing Machine, First 3°
Providence Line, The 27, 49, igi
" Steamer 195
Public Buildings 153
" Library I53. 248
•' Schools 151.247
Quequechan i
Mill 23, ng
" Railway Head " 102
Murphy, Rev. E 211 Railway Lines 153. 190
252
INDEX.
■• Reed " 108
Remington/Hale 64, 122
Reminiscences of Colonel Joseph Durfee 198
Regiments to which Fall River contributed dur-
ing the Civil War 207
Representatives to General Court 245
Revolutionary War 5. 200
Robeson, Andrew, Sr 23, 29, 125
Mills 65, 117, 125
Rodman, Sam'l 23
"Rolls" 103
"Roping" 19
" Roving " 104
R. Borden Manufacturing Company 117. '34
Ruggles, Micah H 62
Sagamore Mills 117, 144
Salaries of Agents and Treasurers, 1S13 16, 76
Satinet Factory 23, 32
Savings Banks, Standing of 182
Schools 10, 151
School-Houses
School Committee, 1877 . 247
Second National Bank 180
Settlement of State Boundaries 215
Sharp & Roberts Mule 58
Shipping 10, 152
Shove, Charles O 123.145
" A.&J 22, 23
" Mills 117, 145
" Shuttle " 108
Sinking Fund Commissioners, 1877 24S
Slade Mills "7. i33
Slade's Ferry 191
"Slasher" 107
Slater, Samuel 12, 75
" Sliver " (Cotton) loi
" Slubber " 103
South Park 158
Spark, Daily Paper 189
" Speeders " ig, 103
"Spindles" 105
Spindles, Cotton (1820— 1876) 83
in Fall River 8, 112
Spinning Frames 17. 74
Stafford Pond I47
" Mills 117. 131
" Foster H 131
" Standard " of Print Cloths 99
State Senators, Residents 245
Statistics of Mills, Spindles, etc 77, 84,94, 112
Stage Line 190
" Lines to Providence and New Bedford. . . 191
Stai, Daily Paper 189
Steamboat Lines 27, 49, i8g
Steam Marine of Mount Hope Bay 189
Steam Ferry-boats 191, 196
Stone, First Quarried 13
" Sucker Brook" 147
Tariffs 29. 83
Taylor, Father 214
Tecumseh Mills 65, 117, 125
Thurston, Rev. Eli 211
Times l8g
Town Clerks of Fall River 239
" Officers " 240
Transportation 10, 27, 95, 191
Troy C. & W. Manufactory. .. 11, 14, 17, 20, 25, 117,
119, 199
Trustees of Public Library, 1877 248
" Tub-Wheel" 10
"Twist" 103
Union Mill Co 64, iiS, 121
" Belt Co 118
" Savings Bank l8l
United States Custom House and P. 0 182
Valuation in 18 13
' ' Tables
Villages in Fall River
Village Recorder
Wages of Weavers (1818)
" " Cotton Pickers
" " Operatives, (1830) 28; (1876)
Wampanoag Mills 118,
IVainpnnong, Paper
Wards, City
" Warp and Weft"
" Waste "
Water Frames
" Power, Height of Falls
" Works
Watuppa Lake I47.
Mill
' ' Reservoir Co
Vi^ater Board, 1877
Weaving First by Power 16, 79
" Imperfect
"Web "
Weekly News
Weetamoe Mills 118,
" Weight " of Cloth
"West End" of Fall River
Wheeler, Dexter 12, 16,
"White Brook "
" White Mill "
Wilkinson Bros 12, 44
10
219
153
188
17
18
III
135
188
153
107
109
74
7
160
161
24
26
248
81
19
108
188
133
109
213
iiS
132
22
, 76
Yarn, Dressing 19
" Yarn Beam " t07
" Yellow Mill " 22
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