Manufacturing in Winslow, Maine The Winslow Register Compiled by Mitchell and Davis 1904 Kent's Hill: Published by the H. E. Mitchell Co. 1904. pages 40-46 Manufacturing. The first saw mill in Winslow probably had a grist mill for a running mate, built at the same time, and quite likely under the same roof. The mills were built before 1770 and, in the opinion of Mr. E. A. Paine, at the expense of the Kennebec proprietors to encourage the settlers and induce more to come. The builder was Benjamin Runnels then living in Pownalboro who was a soldier in the Revolutionary war; being a blacksmith he helped forge the chain that kept the British from going up the Hudson river. In 1778 he moved to Winslow -- was a farmer, trader, lumberman and speculator, and a representative to the general court. The next mill on this stream was situated about twenty rods above and was owned by the Norcross family, who probably built it. David Garland, who worked in it in 1819, said there were ruins of a double mill a few rods below -- undoubtedly the old proprietors' mill, built a half century before. Franklin Hayden moved the Norcross mill a few rods further up the stream, in which he fell and lost his life on election day in 1840. He was to have been married that same evening. His brother Thomas, took the mill after his death. It was in use till near 1880. Following this stream up three-fourths of a mile we come to a saw mill built by Major Josiah Hayden nearly 100 years ago. In 1822 he bought a grist mill of John Drummond and moved it close to the side of his saw mill. His son Thomas J. Hayden succeeded to the property and placed in the upper story a grain thresher and separator that was worn out and have been replaces with better ones. The grist mill originally had two runs of stones, one of which has been taken out. This mill property has always remained in the family, being owned and managed later by W. Vinal Hayden, a grandson of the builder. On the opposite side of the Hayden mill pond is a fine bed of clay. About seventy-five years ago William Hussey and Ambrose Bruce built a factory on this dam and established a pottery that became quite famous. Mr. Hussey was something of an artist in his line and manufactured a variety of earthen ware. Most of the milk pans then used by the house-wives in this section were his handiwork. His goods were in great demand. He would make up a hundred dollars worth and have a good time on the proceeds before making another batch. Too fond of convivial enjoyments, a business that might have been largely ncreased was allowed to decline and finally collapse. On the same stream a few miles below, John Getchell built in 1791, and for years ran a saw mill on the west side where the woolen mill now is . Between 1820 and 1830 a company composed of Joseph Southwick, Howland, Pruden and Moses Taber, built a hemp mill on the east side of the stream and distributed seed among the farmers. Hemp was grown, but its manufacture did not pay. About 1830 Church and William Bassett, from Bridgewater, Mass. bought this property and mad shingles and barrel staves and put in carding machines. Church bought his brother out and soon started a woolen mill. He sold a part of his poser to Wilber, who made shingles and had a grain treshing machine and competition was brisk. The saw mill burned in 1846. In 1851 Edmund Getchell and his sons, Ira E. and Leonard, bought one-fourth of the water privilege on the west side and built a shop in which for fifteen years they made shingles and did wood working of various kinds, making large lots of spade handles for gold diggers uses in California. In 1857 John D. Lang, Henry W., Theodore W. and Charles A. Priest bought the east side privilege and built a grist mill, and changed the woolen mill into a shoe peg manufactory. To the latter business Charles A. Priest turned his entire attention, inventing a machine for cutting shoe pegs that made him independent of a patent that had monopolized the cutting of those wooden nails for years. His trade extended to Liverpool, England, where one firm took 1,000 barrels of pegs a year at sixty cents a bushel. A fire in 1865 burned all the building on the east side. The Priest brothers then sold the grist mill privilege to John D. Lang, who then built the present mill. Charles A. Priest rebuilt his peg mill and continued that business till they were no longer used in large quantities. He now uses the building for a job shop in wood or iron work. About 1880 Mr. Priest and Charles A. Drummond brought the grist mill of Mr. Lang, and Albert Cook. built the shoddy mill now run by Cook and Jepson. Early in the present century John Drummond built on the brook that has since been called by his name, near the river road, a grist mill, in which were two runs of stones. This mill was operated by him in 1822, when he sold it to Major Josiah Hayden, and built a saw mill in its place. The stream, never large or constant, became much smaller as the forests were cut off, until it failed to furnish water enough to run the mill with any profit, after about 1840. Frederick Paine had a plaster mill of Clover brook that did business from 1820 to 1870. On the stream running from Mud to Pattee pond, John Getchell built a saw mill before 1795. Isaac Dow afterwards repaired it and made shingles there. One-half mile below on the same stream was Alden's saw mill, which ran down and was rebuilt by Esquire Brackett, who lost his life in it in 1840, by a blow from the saw frame. John Brimmer sawed lumber in it for years, after which shingles were made there until about 1870. Ezra Crosby built, in 1807, a saw mill on the Wilson stream three miles from the river. After operating it several years, he sold it to Ephraim Wilson, who sawed lumber thirty years and sold it to Amos Foss. At the mouth of the Pattee stream on the bank of the Sebasticook, Stephen Crosby, in 1780, built and operated a saw mill and a grist mill. They were worn out before 1830. Joel Larned built the next saw mill and ran it twenty-five years. About 1845 Zimri Haywood built, on the same dam, a plaster mill, grinding Nova Scotia stones brought up the river on the old fashioned long boats. No plaster was ground after about 1870. Abijah Crosby then bought the property and put in a shingle mill. Fred Lancaster and Charles Drake, later proprietors, bought the property next, and put a circular was in the mill, which is one of the few now running in town. Ebenezer Heald was granted 300 acres of land in Winslow in 1790. Soon after this he built a saw mill and a grist mill on Bog brook, both of which mills served their day and generation and peacefully passed away before 1810. Jefferson Hinds built a second grist mill there, in which John Nelson put a shingle machine. The whole establishment broke camp in the flood of 1832. Just above, on the same stream, Asher Hinds and Thomas Smiley built a double saw mill that worked its life away for its owners. Their sons replaced it with a new mill, that had passed its prim when the freshet of 1832 induced it to retire from business, and has no successor. The large stream saw mill, built by Edward Ware in 1890, stands on the historic ground of Fort Point. These premises, which were leased of the Lockwood Company, include the larger part of the palisade enclosure of old Fort Halifax. The main building over 300 feet long, is filled with all modern appliances for cutting lumber. An engine of 300 horse power, and the labor of sixty-five men cut nearly a million feet of lumber per month for eight months of the year, besides about 3,000,000 each of shingles and laths. This immense output is mostly dimension lumber for the Boston markets, and is made from logs floated from the timber sections of the upper Kennebec. The largest pulp and paper mill in Kennebec county has been built in Winslow by the Hollingsworth & Whitney Company, on the east bank of the Kennebec, at a cost of three-quarters of a million dollars. For this purpose sixty acres of land, extending three-fourths of a mile along the river, were purchased of the Lookwood Company. An immense dam was thrown across the river at the north end of the property, and a channel dug around it that transformed the entire purchase into an island. The buildings are about 800 feet long, requiring in their construction 15,00 cubic yards of solid stone masonry, and 2,500,000 brick. Machines of the largest capacity, making paper 134 inches wide, are used. This mill, combining every modern appliance, converts into pulp, logs containing 6,000,000 feet of lumber per year, from which twenty-four tons of manilla paper is manufactured each day. Good clay for making brick may be found in many places in Winslow. Reuben Simpson made brick near the river two miles above Ticonic Falls for the brick house now standing there, over one hundred years ago. John Jackson made brick on the farm now owned by Ira Getchell in 1823, and Edmund Getchell made brick near North Vassalboro from 1845 to 1855. Stephen Abbott made brick near his house and in 1826 Williams Bassett made brick on the Hampden Keith place, and another yard was in operation fifty years ago, east of the burying ground near the river. About 1872, Norton & Leavett opened a clay bed on the bank of the river, near the east end of the bridge, in which were made the brick for the Lockwood mills a year or two later. In 1873 Mr. Carter opened the present Purington yard, and made brick till Norton & Leavett bought him out in 1878. J. P. Norton bought Mr. Leavett's interest in 1877 and the next year he sold one half to Horace Purington, and Norton & Purington made brick and took building contracts for ten years. Indications of tin ore were noticed by Charles Chipman in the appearance of stone scattered along a brook on the J. H. Chaffee's farm about 1870. Daniel Moore, Doctor Salmon of Boston, Mr. Chipman, Thomas Lang of Vassalboro, and others investigated and believed the ore could be found by mining. A company was formed that sunk a shaft 100 feet or more in the rock. The amount of tin found increased as the shaft went down, but the quantity did not pay expenses. Work was suspended about twenty-two years ago, and has not been resumed. The most important industry of recent years in Winslow is the ground wood mill, "Pulp Mill," of the Hollingworth and Whitney Company. This concern began operations in Winslow in 1892 by building a magnificent plant on the "Island" opposite Colby College. This concern has made additions to its plant till its employees number about 700 men, and it pay roll is about $30,000 a month. Tina Vickery ************************************************* * * * * NOTICE: Printing the files within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. * * * * The USGenWeb Project makes no claims or estimates of the validity of the information submitted and reminds you that each new piece of information must be researched and proved or disproved by weight of evidence. It is always best to consult the original material for verification.