History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

486 HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
in his own name. He invented a number of
important machines pertaining to his branch of
manufacture. Among them are a burr-picker, a
wool-drying maciiine, a patent atomizer for oiling
wool, and a metallic waste-card for reducing yarn,
til read- waste, and soft flannels to wool.
In 1877 he built a new and larger shop on the
opposite side of the stream. This was finished,
and the machinery moved into it, in 1878.
In the census of 1875 Sargent's mill is said
to have one establishment for the manufacture of
woollen machinery: capital, $37,5:12; value of
goods manufactured in that year, $46,011. To
Mr. Sargent belongs the credit of building up the
village of Graniteville. When he came there in
1854 there were only five or six houses, and only a
saw and grist mill upon the stream. In 1875 there
were eighty-nine families, and these have since
increased to a hundred at least. There are now in
that village a machine-shop, a worsted-mill, hosiery,
two stores, milliner's shop, post-office, and
the Methodist Church, all of wiiich have come into
existence since 1854; and all tlie leading enter-
prises have sprung up under Mr. Sargent's fos-
tering care. The growth of that village is an
illustration of New England thrift and industry.
Mr. Sargent was born in Hillsborough, New Hamp-
shire, July 17, 1818, and died July 16, 1878.
The business is now conducted by his sons.
The Chauncy ilills were established in Granite-
ville, August, 1874. There is one set of machinery
for the making of Shaker socks. One hundred
pounds of wool are used, and fifty or si.\ty dozen
])airs of socks are made eacli day. Thirty persons
arc employed in the mill, and work is given to
many more out of it. M. H. A. Evans is proprietor,
IS.-).'), witli John W. Abbot as mauagin-' partner,
and Joini W. 1*. Abbot and Charhs '(!. Sargent as
special partners. At first lliey manufaehircd fine
worsted yarns for (lie making (if l)raiils and uphol-
stery goods, cmpldung abdut Iwcniy liands. In
1S57 Mr. Sargee.t retired IVom tiie iirm, and Mr.
Allan CaiiKM-on became an active partner. In Jan-
uary, I.S.-)S, their works, as well as those of Mr.
Sargent, were entirely dcslroyrd by lire; but in
January, 185!t, llicv a^ain hr-an Ihihiuss in ,,nc
half of a largr st, me 'null, In. v Mr. Sargrnt,
ahnul one ciglilli of a mile bildu llic Innner
site. Tlii-.-e pivniises [\\v\ have eontinncd to
occupy to the present time, with frequent ad-
ditions to give increased facilities of production.
When they started anew they began the manu-
facture of carded yarns, used in making carpets.
In 1878 Abbot and Company leased the part of the
mill formerly occupied by Sargent and Sons, and
also built a stone addition to the mill occupied by
themselves, sixty feet long and two stories high,
and proceeded to fill it with machinery, thus nearly
doubling their former productive capacity. Find-
ing this still insufficient to meet the growing wants
of their customers, they purchased, in October,
1879, the buildings and water-power at Forge
Village, formerly occupied by the Forge Village
Horse Nail Company, and filled the buildings with
improved machinery. Abbot and Company employ
in their difi'erent mills one hundred and eii^hty-
five hands, using each week about thirty tliousand
pounds of clean wool, and producing twenty-four
thousand pounds of yarn per week.
In 1875 the valuation of the town was:
real estate, §897,232; personal, §212,532 ; total,
§1,109,764. Rate of taxation, §1.48 per hun-
dred dollars; number of polls, 529. Total value
of manufaclunil piodnris, S l'.)l,.j61; products of
agneultniv and (|nanyiiig, Sl'.)((,120; total products,
.SCSI, CM.
May 1, IST'.l, tlie \aluation was: real estate,
§S17,'.)I1]; ])crsonal estate, .^132,830; total,
§950,731. Tax per hundred dollars, §1.18;
number of polls, 488.
The population of the town in 1776 — forty-
seven years after its incorporation — was 1,193;
in 1790 it was 1,229 ; in 1800, 1,267; in 1810,
1,330; in ls::(i, l.liii); i,, 1S30, 1,329; in 1840,
l,f3li; in ls.-,ii, l,l7;i; m I SCO, 1,624 ; in 1870,
Jolin Murpliy superintendent, and Jerry Murpiiy
foreman.
1,803; in 1S75, 1,933. There was a decrease of
so from 1820 to 1830, — the only decade in which
The Al,l)ot Worsted Mills began business in a loss occurred.
There are four principal villages, — the Centre,
Forge Village, (iranifeville, and Brookside; the
three last nanuxl being on the line of the Stony
Brook llailroad.
Al Ihe Cnlrcone mile from the railroad, stands
the large toMn-liall on Mam Sireet,— a bnihling
two stories In-h, uilh Iwo largr audicncc-rodms,
library, selcclnn'n's nu.in wilh safcM-vanll atlachcd,
and ail the cuncnuaHrs hclongingln mo.lrrn st rne-
Inivs of its kind. Its est, wilh llic land, was
about §10, It uasdrdieated in March, 1S71.
Abbot Park, at llic ('cntiv, is a gem in a brilliant
setting. In IS III this was an unfenced common,