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The following was taken from the Souvenir Edition of the The Middletown Tribune, dated 1896. It was lent to us for this reproduction by Mike Giuliano, a local resident. Excerpts include short articles regarding the town, quarry businesses, and certain prominent citizens. The writing itself is classic late nineteenth century, and gives an extraordinary view of the time period, including some fascinating details of the quarry business at that time.
Charles H. Bell
Charles E. Blodgett
John Bransfield
Brainerd Quarry
Conn. Brownstone
Eastern Tinware Co.
Laverty
Middlesex Quarry Co.
Pickering Governor Co.
Shaler & Hall
Steam Brown Stone Co.
Strong & Hale
(An Introduction)
This picturesque town is beautifully situated on the east bank of the Connecticut River, where the latter sweeps around the bend opposite Middletown and Cromwell. Between it and Middletown the river is spanned by an iron bridge of the Air Line division of the N.Y., N.H. & H.R.R., and a new iron bridge with walk, driveway, and electric car accommodations. The bridge rests upon brownstone piers, and its total length is 1,300 feet.
The town was formerly a part of Chatham, but in May, 1841, it became a separate town, taking its name from Portland, England, a place famous for its freestone quarries. The main street is about two miles long with an average width of about sixty feet and is shaded for the most part by grand old elms and maples. It has many fine residences and from many points the view is delightful. The town has a fine soldiers' monument, and among its several churches are some fine specimens of architecture.
In 1894 a large and most desirable plot on Main Street was purchased from the estate of Jonathan Fuller to be used for town purposes. On this has been erected a splendid town hall building and the Buck Library building. Both are of brownstone, pleasing in architecture and solidly constructed. A connecting arch gives an appearance in front of practically one, large structure and together they make a handsome centerpiece for the town. Few Connecticut towns of the same size are as well provided in respect for the town hall building as Portland now is. On the main floor of the town hall building are well appointed offices and modern, fireproof record vaults - in the upper story a town hall for town meetings, and in the basement are cells of latest design for confinement of prisoners. Too in the basement is the apparatus for furnishing heat to both buildings.
The Buck Library is named for Mr. Horace B. Buck, a native and former resident of Portland, but now a retired manufacturer of Worcester, Mass. His interest in the town of his nativity led to his donating $2,5000 toward the erection of a suitable building for library purposes; the town appropriated $1,000 and the Shaler & Hall and Brainerd Quarries donated the brownstone. The old Portland Library Association, in March, 1895, donated all of its books to the Town of Portland for a free public library so that the new Buck Library has a nucleus of about 1,200 volumes.
There are many picturesque and beautiful spots in Portland, and a curious pond, formerly called Job's Pond is a point of interest and wonder. It is about two miles in circumference, forty to sixty feet deep and has no apparent outlet. It rises and falls as much as fifteen feet, but not from such causes as affect other ponds. It is often the highest in the dry season and lowest in the wet season of the year. When it begins to rise it rises regularly for six or twelve months, and then falls for about the same period. This peculiar action is supposed to be due to some very deep springs which are not affected until a considerable time after rainfall. This beautiful sheet of water is now known as Waroona Lake.
Formerly ship building was the chief industry of that part of Portland now called Gildersleeve, and for many years it was the most active business of the town. The first vessel built in Portland was launched in 1741. During the Revolution and the War of 1812 many vessels of war were built here at the different yards and some of these figure prominently in the nation's history.
In 1821 Sylvester Gildersleeve began ship building and from that year to 1884 the firm of S. Gildersleeve & Sons had launched 135 vessels, with a total tonnage of about 50,000 and a valuation of about two and a half million dollars. This business is still continued but not on such an extensive scale as formerly.
Brownstone quarrying has for many years taken precedence of all business in the town, and to this, more than to any other single cause is due the town's prosperity.
Quarrying has been conducted here for more than two hundred years and has only emphasizes the fact that the supply is practically unlimited. These quarries have given the town, and for that matter the State, a world-wide reputation. On the following pages much interesting information is given regarding the various quarries, their ownership and the methods of working and shipping.
The Pickering Governor Company's industry, and the tinware and enamel ware were industry of the Eastern Tinware Company, each in its line among the more important of the Union, are also located here, and there are sites innumerable along the river and railroads which are most favorably adopted for manufacturing purposes.
A National and a Savings Bank are located here, each of which furnishes ample facilities in its respective line. Both banks are in a thoroughly healthy condition, their governments are vested in excellent hands and the amounts standing to the credit of depositors in the Savings Bank shows thrift and providence on the part of Portland people.
The town is provided with an exceptionally good public water system.
Its public school system is modern and intelligently directed and its school buildings are a credit to the town and its people. It's fire department is well managed and is directed by a progressive and efficient chief engineer in whom perfect confidence is reposed. The splendid pressure of the public water system and judicious location of hydrants add greatly to the efficiency of this department. Plans are about perfected for the construction of an electric street railway which will bring the more remote parts into closer connection with the business portion of the town and which will doubtless cause an appreciation of property along and near its route.
Charles H. Bell
Charles E. Blodgett
John Bransfield
Brainerd Quarry
Conn. Brownstone
Eastern Tinware Co.
Laverty
Middlesex Quarry Co.
Pickering Governor Co.
Shaler & Hall
Steam Brown Stone Co.
Strong & Hale
Portland is built around and above the immense quarries which have practically supplied the entire country with brownstone. They cover and immense tract, and every agency that science or mechanical skill could devise has contributed to make the present system of quarrying, lifting, hauling and shipping as nearly perfect as human ingenuity can make it, while about a dozen years ago they were supplemented by a steam mill for cutting and turning rough stone into shapes. Historically no quarries in the country are more interesting. For more than 200 years they have been operated, but now work is done upon a scale seldom attempted even in modern quarrying. For a great distance along the Connecticut River stretches the stone, the buildings containing the machinery necessary for the operation of the quarries, the carrier cranes and travelers used in conveying the stone to the cars and vessels used in transportation, the railways upon which the freight cars are driven to any part of the great yards and quickly loaded by the locomotive cranes which run upon the same tracks, and the docks where schooners and boats are loading for distant cities. Hundreds of men hurry hither and thither; thousands of hammers multiply the anvil chorus, while here and there a dull detonation and a small cloud of dust show the location of a blast which has rent many tons of valuable rock from its base, leaving it ready to be split, hoisted from its resting place and sent away to become part of a beautiful structure in some distant city.
Looking up the river to the right the docks of the different quarry companies are seen, and rising from the river are the hills in which great excavations have been made by the removal of untold quantities of rock. Two centuries have sufficed to make great gaping wounds in the hillside, but added centuries of work cannot exhaust the unlimited deposits hidden beneath the surface. Where the excavations have been made there are faces hundreds of feet high, in which are strata of varying thickness and color. Grim and dark the imposing masses rise from the bottom of the pits, solid as the foundations of the world. In the depths channelers and steam drills keep up their ceaseless operations. Part way up the perpendicular face of the cliff perhaps a company of men may be at work with hand drills, and on the very brink of the artificial precipices the arms of the immense derricks swing out and drop their fathoms of cable by which the blocks are hoisted. Every machine is modern and the great blocks are handled like toys.
The several quarries are practically limitless, and all of them will see generations of operatives come and go after the present workmen finish forever. Fleets of vessels and barges transport the stone after it is quarried. These go down the Connecticut River and Long Island Sound to New York, Philadelphia and other seaboard cities, and there are residences in San Francisco built of brownstone which was carried around Cape Horn.
Satisfactory tests if the resisting qualities of Connecticut brownstone have been given from time to time - among these were the mechanical tests made with the United States Testing Machine at the Watertown Arsenal which gave the average crushing strength of the stone used in buildings, monuments, etc., as 14,307 pounds per cubic inch - but in some of the older New England churchyards its durability is best evidenced. In these may be seen legible inscriptions on monuments and tombstones which may be have faced the snow and rain and heat and cold of two centuries and are still in better condition than many hardly a quarter of as old made of other stones. But though used to some extent for monumental purposes it is primarily a high grade building stone and is distinguished from all others in its uniform color, a rich permanent brown, tinted according to variations in the strata, its fine even rift or reed, its easy working qualities, adapted for the finest carving, or dressed down to a perfectly smooth, even surface. It is used in large quantities in cities, not only where stone fronts are features but with brick and other material with which it can be effectively combined. The results are pleasing, and buildings so constructed have the appearance of being capable of lasting forever. It is the ideal stone for the better class of residences in New York and other large cities and it is said that fully ninety-nine one-hundredths of the brownstone used in New York is from the Portland quarries. Its popularity suffers no abatement, it is considered by architects and builders as the most desirable of building stones, and as much brownstone is being used in New York and other large cities of the country today as at any time in the past.
The annual Production of the best quality of stone is estimated at about 1,000,000 cubic feet, but twice that quantity is sold annually, the coarser portion going into piers, foundations, abatements walls and may other uses of similar nature.
Charles H. Bell
Charles E. Blodgett
John Bransfield
Brainerd Quarry
Conn. Brownstone
Eastern Tinware Co.
Laverty
Middlesex Quarry Co.
Pickering Governor Co.
Shaler & Hall
Steam Brown Stone Co.
Strong & Hale
The Shaler & Hall Quarry Company
The quarry which was first opened in this vicinity passed into the possession of Shaler & Hall in 1788 and now forms a part of the Middlesex Quarry Co., it having been consolidated with the Russell & Hall property in 1841 and a new company organized and incorporated as the Middlesex Quarry Co. The present Shaler & Hall quarry was purchased in 1791 while the quarry referred to above was being operated. It is sometimes called the "lower quarry" from the fact that it is the first seen on approaching from the railroad or new Middletown and Portland bridge. The company has a capital of $1,000,000, owns one and a half miles of water front (the longest on the river), has a property of 1,000 acres and is equipped with 1,000 feet of docks, three miles of private railway, two locomotive cranes, eight hoisting engines, twenty-five stationary boilers, and at times gives employment to about 300 men.
Its officers are John H. Hall, president; W.H. Edwards, secretary and treasurer; Frederick DePeyster, general manager and executive officer; Samuel B. Whitby, superintendent. Mr. Hall is a grandson of Samuel Hall, who opened the present Shaler & Hall quarry. He is president of the Joint Association of Stonecutters and Quarrymen of New York City and vicinity and general manager and vice-president of the Colt's Patent Fire Arms Co., of Hartford, Conn. Mr. DePeyster, the general manager, is a native of Ohio, and prior to holding his present position, which he has filled for the past five years, was general manager of the New England Brownstone Company, of Cromwell, since its inception. The company's product is shipped to every part of the United States and Canada.
Charles H. Bell
Charles E. Blodgett
John Bransfield
Brainerd Quarry
Conn. Brownstone
Eastern Tinware Co.
Laverty
Middlesex Quarry Co.
Pickering Governor Co.
Shaler & Hall
Steam Brown Stone Co.
Strong & Hale
The
Brainerd Quarry Company
Work was
begun in this quarry as
early as 1783 by Hurburt & Roberts. in 1812 the property was
purchased by Erastus and Silas Brainerd, and until 1847
the business was conducted under the firm name of E. & S. Brainerd.
Silas Brainerd died in 1847, and for three years following the style was
E. & S Brainerd & Co., and from 1850 to 1884 it was
Brainerd Quarry Co. A charter had been grant in 1879 but the Brainerd
Co. was not organized until 1884. The charter allowed the purchase of
additional land which led to an increase of the original capital of 320,000
to its present figure of $440,000. The company has a large amount of private
rail, constructed on the plan of an inclined plane. leading to the quarries.
The cars run on a down grade when loaded and are returned by horses. in
1891 the company constructed the largest and most powerful traveling carrier
in the world. It is about 700 feet in length, 60 feet wide, and by its
use stone of of almost any weight can be handled with ease, and in the
space over which this carrier runs about 800,000 cubic feet of stone can
be stored. it runs parallel with the water front and renders the loading
of vessels an easy task. The company owns about 800 feet of docks to which
vessels of good draught can come. This, with the added facilities which
the rails of the N.Y., H & R.R. afford, renders the labor of shipping
to any part of the country a mere matter of putting the stone on board
car or vessel. The system throughout is so perfect as to require the least
possible aid from manual labor, yet the company gives employment to from
150 to 300 men, according to the season. The officers of the company are
LeRoy Brainerd, president and general manager, and Frank Brainerd,
president secretary and treasurer. Mr. LeRoy Brainerd has been connected
with the stone business since 1862, and has held his present position
since 1891.
Charles H. Bell
Charles E. Blodgett
John Bransfield
Brainerd Quarry
Conn. Brownstone
Eastern Tinware Co.
Laverty
Middlesex Quarry Co.
Pickering Governor Co.
Shaler & Hall
Steam Brown Stone Co.
Strong & Hale
It seems strange that for about two centuries after quarrying was commenced nobody had the foresight or enterprise to establish in connection with or adjacent to the quarries a plant for cutting and finishing the rough stone and giving it shape and dimensions to meet the wants or caprices of the architect or builder, but the fact remains that up to the year 1884 no such plant existed in Portland. That year the flour and grist mill of Mr. E.I. Bell was destroyed by fire, and while contemplating the loss and the necessity of rebuilding the mill he hit upon the idea which crystallized in the establishment of the extensive works known as the Connecticut Steam Brown Stone Co.
Mr. Bell at once put his ideas into execution, constructing the works and conducting the business himself from 1884 until 1891, when the present company was incorporated. The location is all that could be desired, situated in the heart of the quarries and connected with them by private railways and two large and powerful traveling derricks capable of sustaining great weight. One covers ground sixty feet by two hundred; the other forty-five by two hundred. By these agencies any desired piece of stone may be quickly transported to the mill to be sawed, cut and formed into any size or pattern required, a vast amount of labor being thereby saved and a consequent reduction made in the cost to the consumer. The mill is fully equipped with diamond saws and gang saws, planers, rubbing bed, lathes and turning machines which perform the same services for stone as similar machines do for wood, only more remarkable owning to the nature of the material. Here too are a host of skilled workmen cutting and carving blocks of stone according to architects' plans, and when this cut the several pieces may be numbered and set up in any part of the globe with as much certainty of fitting in their respective places as if cut on the spot where the structure is being erected. Bridge work is an important feature of the business, and all the cut stone for abutments to bridges on the N.Y., N.H. & H.R.R., are furnished by the Connecticut Steam Brown Stone Co. Such is the utility and economy of an establishment of this character located amidst the quarries, and its special advantages are not lost sight of by noted architects and large contractors, and the list of public and private buildings for which stone has been provided would be too long to enumerate in a work of this character.
Not only Connecticut brown stone but all kinds of sand and freestones and limestones are cut and prepared, and standard sizes such as are used in ordinary buildings are always in stock, as is also a practically unlimited supply of sawed stone of various thickness that can speedily be concerted into any desired form.
Besides the advantages of immediate railroad connections with the mill the company has abundant water frontage and dock facilities, thereby being enabled to ship orders by land or water with all possible dispatch. Mr. Bell may well feel proud of this enterprise. At the time of the destruction of his flour mill he had had no experience in the stone business and the bringing of his plans to such a successful issue speaks well for his ability and versatility. The industry is a valuable auxiliary to Portland's quarrying business and is a positive benefit to the general business of the town. The capital of the company is $100,000. Mr. E.I. Bell is president, treasurer and general manager, and his son, Mr. Henry C. Bell, is secretary. The former is a native and life-long resident of Portland, his family being among the older ones of the place. Formerly he had been engaged in the grocery business and immediately previous to 1884 in that of flour and grain. He represented the town in the state legislature of 1889-90, and was a delegate to the Republican National Convention at Minneapolis in 1892. He is director in the Middlesex National Bank of Middletown and a trustee of the Freestone Savings Bank of Portland. He also is vice-president Shaler & Hall Quarry Co., president of the Connecticut Steam Stone Co., East Cambridge, Mass., president Portland Building Association, president Portland Board of Trade, president Portland Club, secretary and treasurer Portland Wharf Co., chairman board of relief. He is identified with every measure that may benefit his town and is universally looked upon as one of the most progressive of its citizens.
Charles H. Bell
Charles E. Blodgett
John Bransfield
Brainerd Quarry
Conn. Brownstone
Eastern Tinware Co.
Laverty
Middlesex Quarry Co.
Pickering Governor Co.
Shaler & Hall
Steam Brown Stone Co.
Strong & Hale
In 1819 a quarry was opened by Robert Patten and Daniel Russell above the old Shaler & Hall quarry. The firm at first was Patten & Russell, afterward becoming Russell & Hall. In 1841 this quarry was united with the original Shaler & Hall property and the firms were incorporated under the name of the Middlesex Quarry Co. The company at one time gave employment to 600 men, and 45 yoke of oxen and 16 horses were required to do the lifting and handling, but with modern appliances all this has changed. A track around the quarry, equipped with cars and locomotive, dispenses with the use of ox teams and also with a great deal of manual labor, but as it is the company employs from 200 to 400 men, according to the requirements of the business. Everything is in the way of labor-saving machinery that experience could suggest or mechanical skill devise is employed at this quarry. The facilities for shipping are all that could be desired, - docks to which vessels of good draught can come and private rails connecting with the Air Line division of the N.Y., N.H. & H.R.R. furnish ready means of shipping to any part of the country with the least possible labor and without transshipment. The product is sent to all parts of the United State and Canada and some has been exported to Europe. In Toronto the new Parliament buildings and several bank and insurance buildings are constructed from stone shipped from this quarry, and the list of such buildings in the United States includes five U.S. post offices, the Cooper Institute, Astor library, Union club, Hotel Normandie and some of the most notable mansions of New York. There are few if any, of the leading cities in the Union which do not contain one or more specimens of this company's product.
The capital of this company is $500,000. F. Gildersleeve is president, Charles A Jarvis, secretary and treasurer, Henry A. Cornwall, general manager, and Archibald C. Goodrich, assistant manager.
The general manger, Henry A. Cornwall, is a native of Portland and enlisted in 1862, remaining in the army until the close of the war. He served in the legislature in 1890 and 1891, and is at present a director if the First National Bank of Portland, the Portland Building Co., and the Masonic Benefit Association of New Haven. He had been connected with the quarrying business since 1867, and with this company since 1868. In 1894 he was appointed general manager but the duties of the office have rested upon him since 1893
Charles H. Bell
Charles E. Blodgett
John Bransfield
Brainerd Quarry
Conn. Brownstone
Eastern Tinware Co.
Laverty
Middlesex Quarry Co.
Pickering Governor Co.
Shaler & Hall
Steam Brown Stone Co.
Strong & Hale
A quarter of a century ago Mr. Blodgett came to Portland, and excepting one year, 1875, which was spent in Hartford, he has since continuously resided here. The drug store of which he is proprietor and which is one of the widely known mercantile establishments of Portland, antedates his advent and had been conducted by Dr. Julius Blodgett for some years previous. Fire destroyed the old building in 1876, the present one being erected on the same site, and the business was reopened with Mr. C.E. Blodgett as proprietor.
The store is an inviting one and its location is favorable, being nearly opposite the town hall. The premises comprise the store proper, laboratory in the rear, with basement extending under both, in addition to a large stock-room, and all are filled to repletion. The stock carried is large and carefully selected, comprising everything usually found in a first-class drug emporium, as well as all of the side lines which usage now-a-days associates with the apothecaries' trade, such as toilet, nursery and sick room articles, etc. The store is a headquarters for physicians' and surgeons' supplies; a large prescription business is done, and some preparations from formulas owned by Mr. Blodgett have gained a strong foothold on this vicinity.
Mr. Blodgett, though a native of Stafford Springs, is now thoroughly identified with Portland, and both he and his establishment are popular with Portland people. The business of which he is proprietor has enjoyed uninterrupted prosperity and in addition to his own the services of an assistant, also a registered pharmacist, are constantly in requisition. Mr. Blodgett is a director in the Portland National Bank and he represented Portland in the legislature of 1886.
Charles H. Bell
Charles E. Blodgett
John Bransfield
Brainerd Quarry
Conn. Brownstone
Eastern Tinware Co.
Laverty
Middlesex Quarry Co.
Pickering Governor Co.
Shaler & Hall
Steam Brown Stone Co.
Strong & Hale
Charles
H. Bell
The
large establishment of
Main Street and Freestone Avenue, in Portland, has been in existence for
upward of half a century. It was comparatively a small affair until, in
1867, Mr. Edwin Bell bought the building and with his sons,
Mr. E.I. Bell and C.H., continued the business under the firm
name of E. Bell & Sons. Since 1876, Mr. Chas. H. Bell has
conducted the business alone, excepting from 1879 to 1881, when Mr.
G.C. Bell had an interest. in these twenty years the present proprietor
has instituted many changes in the property , enlarging and adding to
the original building, and has made a virtually new structure. The business
has also undergone marked development and all of the first and second
stories of the building, the basement extending under the whole, together
with a storehouse i the rear are now devoted to it, and all available
space is utilized. The transactions cover everything in way of groceries,
staple and fancy, flour, hay, grain and feed, light agricultural implements,
etc., and, excepting boots and shoes the articles usually found in general
stores. Business is conducted on broad guage principles, hay and flour
being purchased in car-lots, the different other commodities in like large
quantities and a particularly extensive and varied stock is carried. The
trade covers all of Portland, three teams being regularly in use and much
of the time an additional one is required.
Mr. Bell has worked earnestly and intelligently
in developing the business to its present proportions and has earned the
success which it has met. He was born in Portland and comes of a family
which has resided in the town for upward of a century, and for several
years he has been a director in the First National Bank. Aside from the
business already spoken of Mr. Bell, as a member of the firm of Bell &
Anderson, at No. 20 Freestone Avenue, is keenly interested in an enterprise
of much promise, the manufacture of the Anderson lead pipe coupling. This
coupling is an innovation on previous methods for all kinds of lead pipe
connections. It is the product of ideas of Mr. John Anderson, Mr. Bell's
partner, and was patented March 5, 1895, and patents have been applied
for in European countries and Canada. Simple in construction and principle,
but possessing qualities which immediately commend it, it is pronounced
by experts to be the best lead pipe connection in the market and the easiest
and most quickly adjusted. Mr. Bell has thrown his usual energy into the
enterprise and as the demand for the coupling increases as its qualities
are becoming known he is making provision to enlarge the capacity for
production to meet the growing demand.
Charles H. Bell
Charles E. Blodgett
John Bransfield
Brainerd Quarry
Conn. Brownstone
Eastern Tinware Co.
Laverty
Middlesex Quarry Co.
Pickering Governor Co.
Shaler & Hall
Steam Brown Stone Co.
Strong & Hale
John
Bransfield
A quarter
of a century
effects many changes. It is that length of time since John Bransfield
went into business as a member of the firm of Condon & Bransfield,
and for twenty-three years past he has had no partner. From the start
he had steadily but rapidly enlarged the scope of his operations and his
business premises now cover a large tract on either side of both Main
Street and Air Line Avenue, making as a whole one of the most valuable
business properties on the town. In 1877 he came into possession of the
fine property fronting on Main Street, purchasing it from St. Mary's Church
corporation, and the old hotel, which was once the largest in Middelsex
County, has been so much enlarged and in different ways changed that it
is virtually a new building. In this is his grocery store in which about
all the commodities found in general stores, with the exception of boots
and shoes, are dealt in. In addition to this are numerous storage buildings
for commodities of different kinds, and a large coal and wood yard, the
latter equipped with steam engine and machinery for sawing and splitting
fuel wood. His coal sheds have the capacity for housing upward of 2000
tons and are convenient alike to docks on the Connecticut River and to
the tracks of the Air Line railroad.
In groceries Mr. Bransfield carries one of the
heaviest stocks in the county; he also a heavy carrier of paints, oils
and goods of similar nature, as well as of heavy and light agricultural
implements, flour, meal and feed, baled hay and straw, fertilizers, etc.,
blue stone flagging and curbing. In every department good order and system
are apparent, the whole property shows care in its management, and in
the plot back of his grocery building on the east side of Air Line avenue
neatly trained grape arbors offer cool shady retreats in the warmer months.
Mr. Bransfield was born in Portland and except
a few years during childhood has spent his life in the town. He has earned
the appellation "self-made," and prosperity has attended his
efforts. Aside form his growing business interests he has come into possession
of much valuable property, over forty tenements being part of it, and
through and over all order and good management are apparent. In politics
he is a Democrat and for fifteen years past has been chairman of the Democratic
town committee.
Charles H. Bell
Charles E. Blodgett
John Bransfield
Brainerd Quarry
Conn. Brownstone
Eastern Tinware Co.
Laverty
Middlesex Quarry Co.
Pickering Governor Co.
Shaler & Hall
Steam Brown Stone Co.
Strong & Hale
Located in Portland at the eastern end of Freestone Avenue, and adjacent to the Air Line Railroad, is the plant of the Pickering Governor Co., its principle product being the Pickering governor, used the world over, for controlling the speed of steam engines of nearly every class.
The governor is the invention of the late Hon. Thomas R. Pickering, the patentee, and is the first governor ever made on the spring principle, being a marked departure from other forms of governors in use at the time, all of which depended in the sluggish action of gravitation and were necessarily very heavy in their build. In the Pickering governor, the law of gravitation is so completely ignored that it will work in either a vertical, inclined, horizontal or inverted position; by ignoring the force of gravity it is possible to make the governor much lighter than any ever before in use. Another prominent and original feature of this governor is its being constructed on such principles that a mechanical movement is obtained without a joint, a principle which justly earned immediate recognition by all authorities on mechanics. The radical departure from the old-fashioned gravity governor in the invention of the Pickering spring governor though at first disparaged by other makers was afterwards approved by them as shown by the application of springs to their governors, and at the present time the spring principle is incorporated in some form or other in nearly every make of governor; there have been many improvements in additions and attachments to the Pickering governor, which are properly protected by patents.
The plant being one of the two largest in the United States, is admirably adapted to the manufacture of the governor. All material is received at the works in the raw state and s put through the processes of casting, forging or machining n the premises, until the governor is completed and ready for use. The governors range in size from 3/8 inch to 12 inch steam connection, in height from ten inches to six feet, and in weight from five pounds to one thousand pounds. Power is furnished by a twenty horse engine, which also drives a dynamo for supplying light throughout the premises. The electric plant was installed in 1890 and was the first private plant in this vicinity. Particular attention is given protecting against fire, by system of electric clocks, private fire-department, composed of employees, supplied with regulation fire department equipments, and hydrant located in avenue nearby furnishing water from four connections at ninety pounds pressure. From sixty to seventy people are employed in the works, principally skilled mechanics, who are counted among the town's best citizens.
The Hon. Thomas Pickering, the inventor and late president of the company, was born in England in 1831, coming at an early age to this country, locating in New York and studying in the public schools and Mechanics' Institute, being educated as a mechanical engineer. About 1862 he commenced the manufacture of the governor which has attained such prominence in engineering circles throughout the world. In 1868 he produced the first bicycle in the United States, or as then called a velocipede, which he built very closely to the lines of the present bicycle, using tubing for frame, as had since been universally adopted; the principle difference in the present bicycle being the rubber tires and the chain drive. A great number of machines were put on the market, orders being received from such remote countries as China. This fad finally dying out the machine was taken to Europe. He afterwards sold some of his patents to a prominent bicycle concern in the United States.
Mr. Pickering ably represented the United States at international exhibitions at Paris three times, Vienna and Melbourne, besides being Commissioner at the Centennial and New Orleans. He was elected in Nov., 1894, to represent the twenty-second senatorial district of Connecticut, and died in February twenty-first, 1895, in the performance of his duties as senator.
The Hon. John H. Hall, the treasurer pf the company, and president since the death of Mr. Pickering, was born in Portland, March 24, 1849, and is a descendent of John Hall, an Englishman, who settled in Roxbury, Mass., in 1633. After leaving school he went to New York, and at the early age of nineteen years was the head of the foreign and insurance departments of the coffee importing house of Sturgis, Bennet & Co. In 1877 he returned to Portland and managed The Pickering Governor Co., having purchased a large interest in the business. In 1884 he was chosen president of the Shaler & Hall Quarry Co., and in 1888 accepted the vice-presidency and general management of the well known Colts' Pat. Fire Arms Mfg. Co., of Hartford. Mr. Hall was elected in Nov., 1894, to represent the first senatorial district of Connecticut.
Mr. Richard H. Pascall, the superintendent of the company, has been connected with the industry for more than thirty years, and in his present capacity since 1878, being also associated with Mr. Pickering in establishing the bicycle business in this country. With Mr. Pascall originated the thorough and practical system, which he has so successfully developed in all departments of the plant, resulting is so great a production from the numbers employed. He is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, taking a lively interest in any advancement in mechanical lines. He takes active interest in the public schools, and has been chairman of the High School in Portland for a number of years, this school ranking among the highest in the State.
Mr. Pascall is a comrade of Mansfield Post, No. 53, G. A. R., and he had been chief engineer of the Portland Fire Department since its organization in 1884.
Stephen S. Hall, the secretary of the company, was born in Portland, January 18, 1864, his parents owning the farm, a portion of which afterwards became the site of the company's plant. He entered the employ of the company as bookkeeper in 1881, and on its incorporation in 1888, was chosen its secretary; he had been with the company fifteen years. He is treasurer of the Second school district, trustee of Freestone Savings Bank, and has served as assessor for the town.
Charles H. Bell
Charles E. Blodgett
John Bransfield
Brainerd Quarry
Conn. Brownstone
Eastern Tinware Co.
Laverty
Middlesex Quarry Co.
Pickering Governor Co.
Shaler & Hall
Steam Brown Stone Co.
Strong & Hale
The extensive works of this corporation are adjacent to the Air Line Railroad in Portland, and the mills cover some three acres of ground. A spur track of this railroad extends into the company's premises, thus affording superior facilities for receiving raw material and forwarding the manufactured product. The buildings are of brick and are solidly constructed and are fitted throughout with expensive and ingenious machinery of the most improved modern type. The company's property, however, comprises a tract of about forty acres on either side of the railroad in Portland with the buildings thereon. Near to the factory it has many dwellings for the accommodation of employees at a nominal rental, and the company has its own private reservoir, the holding capacity of which is about 100,000 gallons.
In 1888 this property was sold under mortgage to a syndicate of New York capitalists, and from the latter it was purchased by Mr. Joseph Scheider, who organized the present corporation under the laws of the State of New York, with a capital of $100,000 which is still intact together with an accumulated surplus of $50,000. The stock of this company, together with that of the American Stamping Company, which was organized later with a capital of $450,000, and which has large factories in Brooklyn, N.Y., is owned by practically the same stock holders, and the two companies occupy business offices jointly in Brooklyn.
The officers of the Eastern Tinware Company are Joseph Scheider, president; E. Ettenheimer, vice-president; and J.A. Einstein, treasurer.
The officers of the American Stamping Company are J.A Einstein, president; F.A. Einstein, vice-president; Edmund J. Scheider, second vice-president; and E. Ettenheimer, treasurer.
From 400 to 450 people are employed at the Portland factory; two steam engines with an aggregate of about 300-horse power operate the works and the products are plain and retinned stamped ware, japaned, galvanized and enameled ware, and tinners' trimmings, and in addition the company also does galvanizing and retinning for outside people as well as stamping.
The two corporations are among the largest in the world in their respective lines. They are heavy importers of plate and pig tin, and their plants are complete in every detail. The goods on leaving their hands, are ready for the consumer, and a corps of salesmen is kept constantly on the road on the companies' interest selling to jobbers and dealers throughout this country as well as foreign countries, with which latter a considerable export trade has been established.
Charles H. Bell
Charles E. Blodgett
John Bransfield
Brainerd Quarry
Conn. Brownstone
Eastern Tinware Co.
Laverty
Middlesex Quarry Co.
Pickering Governor Co.
Shaler & Hall
Steam Brown Stone Co.
Strong & Hale
Strong & Hale
The extensive
yard and
numerous storage buildings of this representative lumber establishment
are between the Middletown and Portland and Air Line bridges in Portland,
a location alike convenient for supplying patrons in both Middletown and
Portland. The premises have good frontage on the river, vessels of good
draught can easily come alongside the firm's gether with the close proximity
of the Air Line railroad give excellent facilities for transportation
by either rail or water.
The transactions cover lumber and builders' materials
of all kinds, including builders' hardware, oils, varnishes, turpentine
and colors, lime, cement and hair, doors sash, blinds, etc. All kinds
of lumber for which there is demand are carried and odd or fancy woods
can quickly be procured. The trade covers Middletown, Portland and Cromwell,
Connecticut River points and stations on the Air Line railroad, and a
considerable lumber business is done in carlots.
The firm of Strong & Hale is well known throughout
this section. Its business was founded by E.B. Talyor and A.H.
Hale under the firm name of Taylor & Hale. Later it became
Taylor & Strong, Mr. Asaph Strong, father of one of
the present members becoming Mr. Taylor's partner, and still later Mr.
Hale again assumed an interest and the present firm name was established.
About twenty years ago Mr. E.B. Strong acquired his father's interest,
and he and Mr. Hale have successfully continued the business. Mr. Strong
was born in Portland but for some years has resided in Middletown. He
grew up in the lumber business and has been connected with it since leaving
school. Mr. Hale is virtually a life-long resident of Portland and formerly
taught school in the Gildersleeve High School and in Middletown. He has
frequently been called upon to serve in public capacity, having filled
long terms as town auditor, acting school visitor, and assessor, and this
year he is county auditor and commissioner of jurors. Though a life-long
Democrat he was elected from a Republican district to the State legislature
of 1895-6, a result in no small measure due to his personal popularity,
and in the session of this year he was clerk of the committee on manufactures.
Charles H. Bell
Charles E. Blodgett
John Bransfield
Brainerd Quarry
Conn. Brownstone
Eastern Tinware Co.
Laverty
Middlesex Quarry Co.
Pickering Governor Co.
Shaler & Hall
Steam Brown Stone Co.
Strong & Hale
The veteran
merchant of the town
and also one of its oldest residents is Mr. James Laverty. He came
here with his fathers and other members of his family in 1849 and has
since resided here. He started in business in April, 1854, had successfully
continued up to the present time, and if appearances are a criterion to
judge by, it is probable that he will successfully continue for years
to come.
For twenty years he conducted the largest store
Portland has ever had - its transactions covering groceries, dry goods,
boots and shoes, liquors and the articles usually found in general stores,
but June 4, 1884, this was destroyed by one of the largest fires Portland
has known. Though a serious disaster it served to show the mettle of the
man. The fire got in its deadly work on Thursday, wiping the building
completely out of existence, yet the following Saturday night, Mr. Lavery
had a new building completed, even to the ice box, and was doing business
as usual.
That building was moved back and the present
brick building was completed in November, 1884. The latter is a solidly
built structure, well constructed throughout and excellently arranged
for conducting his large business. An elevator connects the different
floors, a portion of the upper floor is the hall of the Young Men's Literary
Society, and all of the main floor, the basement and the rear of the upper
floor are reserved for his own business. A particularly heavy stock is
at all times carried, the transactions being at wholesale and retail in
wines, liquors, ales, etc., a specialty being made of first class goods,
and his wholesale trade covers Portland, Middletown and neighboring towns.
All teaming is done from the rear doors, a wide driveway leading to these
and to his livery stables which are well back from the street and in the
rear of his brick building. He has been in the livery business since previous
to the war, purchasing it from Joe Williams and it has ever been
the largest in the town. The stables are well equipped and in addition
to a large livery outfit he also has four comfortable hacks for public
service.
My Laverty has seen many changes in the business life
of Portland since he came to the place and though the longest in business
of any of its merchants he is yet among the most active and public spirited
of the town's business men.
He is of an active and industrious nature, his
success in business has been earned and his integrity is above question.