Springfield 1636-1886, History of Town and City, by Mason A. Green ...

338 SPRINGFIELD, 1G36-1SS6.
removed in 1799, and a more commodious one built. Tlie old store
was drawn by loug lines of oxen up Main street to Mr. Dwight's
meadow (Barnes's lot) , an event which greatl}^ impressed the school
children of that day. When Jonathan's sou, James Scutt Dwight,
grew up (Master James they called him) , he was taken in as a
partner. This was about 1790. At the time of the building of
1799 the firm was Jonathan Dwight & Son. About 1804 Jonathan
Dwight withdrew from the firm, the name of Henry, the youngest
son, was added, and the firm was James & Henry Dwight. About
1809 Henry removed to Utica, N.Y., and the firm of J. & E. Dwight
was formed, embracing James Scutt, Edmund and Jonathan Dwight,
Jr., and this was dissolved by the death of James in 1822. The
firm had distributing branches at Huntington, Greenfield, South
Hadley Falls, Northampton, and Westfield. In November, 1813,
they seut J. D. Whitney, of Northampton, to England during the
war as their ageut to purchase goods, to be ready to ship on a return
of peace. In 1815 they opened a store in Boston (Broad street) ;
aoods to a large amount Avere stored and sold there and distributed
to the branches, under the management of William H. and J. W.
Dwight.
One cannot dismiss the Dwight corner without indulging in a little
antiquarian dissipation. At that old corner resided the spirit of the-
ology, politics, and business. If the ideas of trade were progressive
and full of faith in the town, the religion and politics were both of a
reactionary nature at times ; and who will dispute us in saying that
over the Dwight counter local toryism gradually died out and local
Unitarianism was born?
The new Dwight building was of brick, two stories, but another
story was added later. On the south side of the causeway, near Main
street, a large watering-trough blocked up the street somewhat, espe-
cially on the days when the farmers drove to the Dwight corner to
trade. The Luke Bliss residence, on the corner, near this watering-
trough, was an ancient two-stor}^ brown house, and attached thereto