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Mechanics Mills
| Name | Mechanics Mills |
| Ortssitz | Fall River (Mass.) |
| Art des Unternehmens | Textilfabrik |
| $Anmerkungen | Lage: Am Taunton River an seiner Vereinigung mit der Mount Hope Bay, etwa 1,5 Meilen nördlich des Ausflusses des Quequechan River. Firma gleichen Namens in Attleborough (s.d.). [Phillips]: The Mechanics Mill (one mill) organized in July 1869 with Thomas J. Borden as president and D. Hartwell Dyer as treasurer had a capital of 750,000. In 1872 Thomas J. Borden succeeded Mr. Dyer as treasurer. There were 53,712 spindles. It was merged with the Weetamoe Mills in 1926, and subsequently closed. |
| Quellenangaben | [Earl: Centennial history of Fall River (1877) 128] [Phillips: Phillips History of Fall River 2 (1944) 127] |
| Zeit |
Ereignis |
| 25.05.1868 |
Mit Thomas J. Borden, Stephen Davol, Lazarus Borden und weiteren Teilhabern werden die "Mechanics Mills" eingetragen. |
| Sommer 1868 |
Der Bau der Fabrik beginnt. |
| 01.07.1868 |
Die Gesellschaft wird gegründet, und die folgenden Fabrikbeamten werden ausgewählt: Präsident und Agent, Thomas J. Borden; Angestellter und Finanzleiter, D. H. Dyer; Direktoren, Thomas J. Borden, Stephen Davol, Lazarus Borden, Job B. French, Southard H. Miller, B. M. C. Durfee, Tillinghast Records, James M . Morton, Jr., und A. D. Easton. Ds Kapital beträgt $750.000, das sich auf 328 Aktionäre aufteilt. |
| 09.07.1868 |
Auf der Aktionärsverammlung wird eine Vergrößerung der Fabrik durch die Ergänzung von zwei Stockwerken und einem hinteren Flügel für die Öffner- und Pickerrämume, den Maschinenraum und das Kesselhaus, genehmigt. - Die Fabrik umfaßt dann 53.712 Spindeln und 1248 Webstühle. |
| 06.1869 |
Das Gebäude ist fertiggestellt, und die Maschinen werden aufgestellt. |
| 12.1869 |
Die Fabrik ist in vollem Betrieb. |
| Produkt |
ab |
Bem. |
bis |
Bem. |
Kommentar |
| Baumwollgarn |
1869 |
Beginn (Dezember voller Betrieb) |
1877 |
[Cent. hist. of Fall River (1877) 130] |
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| Baumwollgewebe |
1869 |
Beginn (Dezember voller Betrieb) |
1877 |
[Cent. hist. of Fall River (1877) 130] |
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| ZEIT | 1877 |
| THEMA | Beschreibung |
| TEXT | 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. 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 July 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 1.248 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 73 owned from eleven to twenty-five shares each, making 261 stockholders, no one of whom owned over 2.500 of the stock, and averaging less than 1.000 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 associations 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 \vas in the northerly section of the city, 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 by 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. Water for the boilers was obtained by digging a well 18 feet diameter, inside, and of sufficient depth to secure a permanent supply. 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 lying 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, 1871, 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 rear, one each side of the tower and one in the tower, extending to the roof, all operated by a powerful force-pump. In addition to this extraordinary provision, the mill yard has its hydrants, always in working order, and a large supply of hose and apparatus is in easy recourse. |
| QUELLE | [Earl: Centennial history of Fall River (1877) 127] |
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