Fall Rivers' Industries

B. Borden, 1876 to date . No presidents wer e
elected under the original corporation ; since
1862 they have been Richard Borden, Jefferson
Borden, John S . Brayton and the tatter' s
son of the same name . The directors ar e
John S. Brayton, Richard B . Borden
. Davol and Oliver S. Hawes. , Bradford D Th e
superintendent is William E . Sharples .
The Pocasset Mfg . Co. was organized i n
1822 with a capital of $100,000 and acquire d
the land just west of Main street, includin g
the falls. Samuel Rodman of New Bedfor d
was the principal owner . The company
voted first to erect a grist mill, but change d
its plans and built what was called "The
Bridge Mill" on the north side of the strea m
near Main street, after tearing down th e
old grist mill that stood on the spot . One
thousand spindles were placed in the sout h
half of the new structure and the north hal f
leased to D. & D. Buffinton for the manu -
facture of warp and batting. This mill ,
which was of stone, three stories high, 40 x
100, ran north and south, with a long el l
over the river, and it was here that the firs t
print cloths were made, 7/8 yd. wide, an d
44 picks to the square inch . It was burne d
in 1843, together with the old fulling mill ,
which stood farther south, and the compan y
shortly after erected the present Granit e
block on the site, sold a few years ago . A
year or two later it erected a part of it s
present factory, 219x75, and five stories in
height, the first large mill to be constructe d
here and notable for its width as well as it s
length. It commenced running in 1847 .
This plant has been enlarged from time t o
time, most recently by the purchase of the
Fall River Manufactory. Oliver Chace, th e
first agent of the company, served until hi s
death in 1837, and was succeeded by Micah
H. Ruggles, 1837-57 . Stephen Davol followed
Mr. Ruggles as treasurer and agent from
1858 to 1873, when the office was divided an d
Mr. Davol became agent, with Bradfor d
Davol treasurer. The latter remained i
n office till 1891, when he was succeeded by W .
Frank Shove, the present treasurer. Henry
S . Howe, Theophilus Parsons and Willia m
S. Whitney were agents, succeeding Stephe n
Davol. Thomas E. Brayton has been president
since 1891, having succeeded Stephe n
Davol and Horatio Hathaway . The capital
has gone through various changes. It wa s
reduced in 1888 from $1,160,000 to $800,000 ,
and in 1893 to $600,000, the present figure ,
by the payment of $200,000 to the stock -
holders. The corporation now operates
HISTORY OF FALL RIVER 7 7
114,208 frame spindles, and 2,912 looms, of
which 1,862 are for wide goods . The directors
are Samuel W. Rodman, B. R. Weld ,
George S. Davol, Joseph F. Knowles, Thoma s
S. Hathaway, B . D. Davol, Thomas E. Brayton,
Edward L. Anthony, and W. Fran k
Shove. Thomas Connors is superintendent .
Early in its history the company built a
number of stone structures to rent for smal l
manufactories. In one of these, erected i n
1825 and known as the Satinet factory, the
business of Robeson's print works was firs t
carried on, while the south part was occupied
first by Samuel Shove & Co ., and later
by John and Jesse Eddy, the successors o f
this firm, in which they had been partners ,
for the manufacture of woolens, a busines s
that gave the mill its name. It was built
of heavy granite, with the north end on th e
stream and the south on Pocasset street ,
and was three stories in height on the eas t
side. It was torn down to make room for
the present Pocasset mill, and the Eddy s
removed to the Eagle mill in Tiverton, wher e
the business was carried on several year s
till the factory was burned . The fir m had
been dissolved some time before, and Jess e
Eddy in company with Joseph Durfee erected
the Wamsutta mills. Mr. Durfee die d
before manufacturing began and it was car-
ried on successively by Jesse Eddy, Jesse
Eddy & Co. and Jesse Eddy's Sons (Thoma s
F. and James C .) till a few years ago .
The "New Pocasset" was built in 1826, o n
the site of the Quequechan mill, and lease d
to A. & J. Shove and Chase & Luther, fo r
cotton manufacturing .
The small mill now run by the Pocasse t
at the west side of its main plant was buil t
in 1827 and known first as the Massasoit an d
later as the Watuppa mill. It was so larg e
for its time that it was not thought one fir m
would wish to take all so a partition wa s
built and two wheelpits put in. It wa s
leased by Brown & Ives of Providence for
cotton manufacture, but they soon becam e
dissatisfied with the water power and pro -
posed removing the machinery to Lonsdale .
Holder Borden bought out their interest and
continued the mill on his own account. It
was notable as the first mill in this vicinit y
in which power was distributed by belts in -
stead of gears. In 1843, when the lease ha d
about expired, the Massasoit mill on Davol
street was erected and the machinery transferred.
This last was better known as "th e
Doctor's mill," because in later years largel y
owned and run by Dr . Nathan Durfee. It