Boston S.H Gregory & Co Civil War 1862 Paper Hangings P.Whitin & Son Cotton Mill

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Boston S.H Gregory & Co Civil War 1862 Paper Hangings P.Whitin & Son Cotton Mill:
$26.99

Boston, Massachusetts....S.H Gregory & Company, Importers, Manufacturers, Wholesale and Retail Dealers in French and American Paper Hangings...Washington Building, No. 225 Washington, opposite Franklin Street...S.H Gregory & C.W Robinson listed as Officers...OrnateCivil War Billhead datedJuly 21, 1862sent to P.Whitin & Sons Cotton Mills of Whitinsville, Massachusetts...about 7 3/4 inches wide x 4 3/4 tall... no other pictures or billheads are included...Samuel Hall GregoryFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Portrait of S.H. Gregory, 19th century

Samuel Hall Gregory (1814–1892) was an interior decorator and wallpaper manufacturer, importer and retailer in Boston, Massachusetts, in the 19th century. \"He was known for being one of the first \'high society\' decorators in America.\" He worked in Boston with a succession of business partners: C. Dudley Brown, James H. Foster, S.M. Hurlbert, Charles W. Robinson, and also with T. Christy and S.S. Constant of New York. In 1852 Gregory served on the board of the newly established Boston Young Men\'s Christian Association, the first YMCA chapter in the United States. He worked on Court Street (1840s-1870s) and West Street (1880s) in Boston, and lived in Brookline, Massachusetts.....

Ames Building...Located at 1 Court Street and Washington Mall in downtown Boston, the Ames Building and he was in it too...

Entrance of Ames Building c.1894

Court Street (est. July 4, 178 is located in the Financial District of Boston, Massachusetts. Prior to 1788, it was called Prison Lane (1634–170 and then Queen Street (1708–178. In the 19th century it extended beyond its current length, to Bowdoin Square. In the 1960s most of Court Street was demolished to make way for the construction of Government Center. The remaining street extends a few blocks, near the Old State House on State Street

A Whitin Spinning FrameHistorical Note:The Whitin family of Whitinsville, Massachusetts were textile mill operators and textile machinery manufacturers during the 18th and 19th century. The origin of the Whitin Machine Works began with Paul Whitin, born in 1767 south of Worcester, Massachusetts. At the age of 14, Whitin apprenticed with a blacksmith in the town of Northbridge, Massachusetts, and later served as a journeyman blacksmith in South Northbridge (later Whitinsville, named for the Whitin family). Through a business connection, Whitin met James Fletcher who owned an iron forge on the Mumford River in Northbridge. Paul Whitin married Fletcher\'s daughter and they had four sons; Paul Jr., John, Charles and James. In 1809, Paul Whitin and Fletcher established theNorthbridge Cotton Manufacturing Company. The company was one of the only power driven cotton mills in the United States at was very successful due to lack of British imports from the Embargo Act of 1807. In 1815, Whitin, in partnership with his two brother-in-laws and Fletcher founded the cotton mill, Whitin and Fletchers. Whitin bought out his in-laws in 1826 and, with his two sons Paul, Jr. and John Crane Whitin, established the firm P. Whitin and Sons, with Paul Jr. marketing the mill\'s products and John as the mill operator. Upon entering in partnership with their father, the Whitin brothers built a very large brick mill, in anticipation of expansion. The original blacksmith shop, previously owned by James Fletcher supplied the mill with machine parts. Paul Whitin died in 1831 leaving his widow, Betsey, and three of their sons Paul Jr., John, and Charles as owners of the mill. As production increased, more space was required and Whitin family purchased the defunct Northbridge Cotton Manufacturing Company building. With the increased workload, John turned over supervision of the mills to his brother Charles, so he could spend more time conducting research in the brick mill\'s repair shop. John wanted to increase speed and mechanize the cotton picking process without harming the delicate cotton fibers. Hand picking cotton was expensive and time consuming, and no single machine could handle the combined picking and carding processes simultaneously. John Whitin\'s research resulted in a design for a picker, which he patented in 1832. Between 1832 and 1834, three pickers were produced and installed in P. Whitin & Sons cotton mill. This marked the beginning of the machine shop at Whitinsville. The Whitin picker was soon the best available machine on the market and remained unchallenged for nearly twenty years. Demand for the picker skyrocketed, and by mid-century the machine shop was producing nearly fifty orders a year. John C. Whitin also diversified his product line to include cards, railway heads, spinning frames and looms. P. Whitin & Sons saw major growth and expansion in the twenty years leading up to the Civil War. The firm moved out of the old brick building and built a larger granite structure across the river. Machinery parts produced in machine shop were sold to textile mills in two-thirds of the states in the Union and in Canada and Mexico. Although the machinery business was flourishing, it was still a subordinate part of the expanding Whitin family empire. P. Whitin & Sons had more than 13,000 spindles and were still producing large amounts of cotton sheeting. In 1847, the youngest brother, James Fletcher Whitin was admitted to the firm when the family matriarch, Betsey, sold him half her shares. James had been working in the administrative offices for more than a decade and wanted a more active role in the company\'s management. The Whitin brothers had focused cotton production at their mill in Whitinsville, but soon began purchasing nearby cotton mills at bankruptcy sales. Between 1841 and 1859 they purchased the Uxbridge Cotton Mills, the Riverdale and Rockdale mill properties and the Douglas Manufacturing Company giving the firm six mills in the Northbridge vicinity. On December 31, 1863, P. Whitin & Sons dissolved due to conflicting family interests and the Whitin family matriarch\'s desire to divest her stake in the company. The distribution of Betsey\'s stake would be equal shares to each brother, Paul Whitin Jr., John C. Whitin, James F. Whitin and Charles P. Whitin. Paul Whitin Jr. received the Rockdale and Riverdale mill properties; Charles P. Whitin received the stone mill and old brick mill in Whitinsville and the East Douglas mill; and James F. Whitin received the Uxbridge mill. John C. Whitin took control of the machine shop and ceased all future interest in textile manufacturing. After the dissolution of P. Whitin & Sons, John C. Whitin closed the recently purchased Holyoke Machine Shop in Holyoke, Massachusetts, to concentrate on the machine shop in Whitinsville. Whitin transferred trustworthy Holyoke employees Gustavus Taft and Josiah Lasell to the Whitinsville machine shop. In 1868, John C. Whitin formerly retired. He incorporated the Whitin Machine Works, became the largest shareholder and appointed his son-in-law Josiah Lasell as treasurer and Gustavus Taft as superintendent of the shop. The power structure continued into the 1880s as the business thrived. The machine shop supplied parts and equipment to recently built mills in New Bedford and the Rhode Island area. In 1882, John C. Whitin died and Josiah Lasell assumed the role of president. The next generation of family members entered the business; Josiah M. Lasell, Cyrus Taft, and George Marston Whitin. In the mid-1880s, cotton production began shifting to Southern mills as cheaper labor was available in the south. George Marston Whitin, the grand-nephew of John C. Whitin and son-in-law of Josiah Lasell had been actively engaged in managing the Riverdale Mill, previously owned by his grandfather Paul Whitin Jr. In 1886, Marston Whitin became treasurer of the Whitin Machine Works, two months before Josiah Lasell\'s death. When Gustavus Taft died in 1888, his son Cyrus Taft succeeded him as factory agent. Between 1886 and 1915 Marston Whitin guided the Whitin Machine Works\' operations. He reorganized the management structure by doing away with job work, centralized the accounting practices, made technological advances in machine parts and led Whitin through the rise of the Southern cotton manufacturing boom. Whitin took full advantage of the rise of the southern market and hired a southern agent to coordinate orders and sales. Such brisk business allowed Whitin Machine Works to expand again. The company saw four new buildings erected under the leadership of Marston Whitin. Upon Marston Whitin\'s death in 1920, his son-in-law E. Kent Swift became the treasurer of Whitin Machine Works. Swift had been working for the company since the turn of the century and in an executive role since 1913. Swift guided Whitin Machine Works through the labor starved era of World War I, the dip in production that occurred as a result of the post-war depression and the crash of the stock market. He expanded business in China and Japan, added new products including spinning frames and wool cards and oversaw a smooth transition to war work with the outbreak of World War II. Whitin produced oil pumps, steam engines, turbines and projectiles for the government war effort. After World War II, labor unionization and new leadership affected Whitin Machine Works. The majority of Northbridge residents and their families worked for the \"the shop\", as it was called, making the community very insular. The factory had always offset lower wage payments with various community perks including housing, medical services and educational services. With the advent of affordable motor vehicles, reliable labor could be drawn from outside the immediate community. The new commuting workers demanded higher wages and the benefits of unionization. J. Hugh Bolton, former vice-president of the firm was elected as President in 1946. Bolton was able to navigate the demands of unionization while also keeping the company prosperous. He oversaw a post-war business boom with employment numbers topping 5,000 workers and expanded the firm\'s operations into South American markets. In 1966, Whitin Machine Works was sold to White Consolidated Industries and the factory doors were finally shut in 1976..

The Whitin Cotton MillWHITIN Genealogy: (the very beginning --- 1st to 3rd generations) Paul Whitin (g), the son of Nathaniel Whiting and Sarah Draper (b.1767) marries Elizabeth (Betsey) Fletcher in 1793. They have six children, five sons and a daughter: Paul Whitin, Jr. (b.1800); Nathaniel Draper Whitin (b.1804); John Crane Whitin (b.1807), who marries twice--first to Catherine Have Leland in 1831, then to Sarah Elizabeth Pratt in 1875; Charles Pinckney Whitin (b.1809); James Fletcher Whitin (b.1814) and their daughter, Margaret Fletcher Whitin (b.1817). His family came from Dedham, MA. He was an apprentice in his father-in-law\'s forge, and worked most of the land that is now the village called Whitinsville, inc. 1809. That same year, Paul Whitin, James Fletcher and others from Northbridge and Leicester, worked to erect The Northbridge Cotton Manufacturing Company. This was first a tiny building made of wood, two and one-half stories high. This was a spinning mill, having 200 spindles and only the third cotton mill in the Blackstone Valley at this time.

In 1815, Paul Whitin became a partner with Colonel Fletcher, Betsey\'s father, and his two brother-in-laws, Samuel and Ezra Fletcher, under the firm name of Whitin and Fletcher. Then they built a second mill of 100 more spindles than the first one. This mill stood on the opposite side of the Mumford River. Paul Whitin then bought out the Fletcher shares in 1826 and formed a new partnership with his two sons, Paul Jr. and John Crane. The new company was called Paul Whitin and Sons. The very same year a new brick mill was constructed, having 2000 spindles, still standing there today, largely due to a matching state preservation grant to restore it. Paul Whitin\'s two other younger sons, Charles P. and James F. later entered into the family-run business but at a much older age. However, Nathaniel and Margaret had no interest. Before Paul, their father died in 1831, his family decided to build some Federal-style, brick houses on what is now Fletcher St. for his original workers. With the cotton business on a solid basis and escalating in 1845, Betsey Whitin and her sons built a new, stone textile factory, largely of granite known as the Whitinsville Cotton Mill, which gave the family business 7,500 more spindles. This is now called the restored Cotton Mill Apartments (seen above) and they are privately owned.This new mill was part of the boom of the Cotton Industrial Revolution taking place during the latter 1840\'s, after the great depression of 1837-1842. With the wartime demand for cloth to come later during the Civil War (War of the Rebellion), the Whitin family, indeed had the capital and means to install a steam power plant to augment waterpower technology that involved turbines and belt-driven crude machines. During this same period, two-family wooden tenements of Greek Revival design were added to those first built on Fletcher St., Elm St. and Railroad Ave. (now Linwood Ave.): they were able to provide 280 mill workers to staff this newly built granite cotton mill. The Whitins also saw to it that their machinery would be fixed if broken or worn and that new parts would be produced with the provisions in a small machine shop, housed on the first floor of the brick mill.

Now the real start of the WHITIN LEGACY took root with the creative abilities and engineering talents of John Crane Whitin. In 1831, he designed and had patented a new cotton picker machine that outperformed others in the previous mills. This was indeed to be first of other successive inventions that would make the WHITIN MACHINE WORKS into a great textile plant. This factory grew into a floor space containing 1 and 3/4 of a million square feet, after meeting first regional and national demands and expanding its spindles and machinery into overseas markets.

In 1847, the Whitins built \"The Shop,\" which consisted of a new textile production area that was four times larger than the brick mill. It contained machine shops, foundries, and other specialized structures. Then more housing was provided for new workers on North Main St. and on other side streets as Irish workers poured into the labor pool that same year. Just seven years prior, John C. Whitin had developed the first of stately mansions, which had occupied land where the Whitin Gymnasium now stands. During this time also, Paul Whitin Jr. had married Sarah Chapin and built a new Italian-styled home, along with his brother in 1856, where Banning\'s former flower shop stood.

Later in 1864, John C. Whitin added a large section to the 1847 machine shop. This consisted of the bell tower along North Main St. The business of the machine shop was tripled by this section, and Charles also decided to add a big bell to the 1845 Cotton Mill. More construction followed by adding four-family row houses along North Main and High Streets. Then later this same year (1864), Betsey and her four active sons decided to divide their business. Paul Jr. got the Rockdale and Riverdale Mills. Charles P. received the Whitinsville Cotton Mill and the little brick mill. But John C. got the \"crown,\" The Machine Shops of 1847 (The Shop) proper. James F. got the Crown and Eagle Mill of North Uxbridge, and the land near the Whitin Railroad Depot, where he had built in 1866, the Linwood Cotton Mill, and five years later, a Victorian mansion which is now a private home, formerly the Victorian restaurant. The 1870\'s saw another depression and temporarily stopped all cotton mill expansion, but at this period of time, many company-designed buildings serving the community were built. The Town Hall (1872), John C. Whitin\'s new estate (1875), Castle Hill Farm (1875), and Arthur Whitin’s mansion on Linwood Ave, along with the Whitinsville Spinning Ring Co., built jointly by Charles Pinckney, Whitin\'s son, and Charles Trowbridge. Also in 1875, The Shop\'s first superintendent, Gustavus Taft, who was John Cranes\'s personal choice, had a Gothic Victorian Mansion built, which is now Carr Funeral Home on Hill St. The Clarke School (1878,) made of wood along with St. Patrick\'s R.C. Church (1870), were constructed with Whitin donations. This was indeed the beginning of Victorian construction Whitinsville and the definite foundations of a paternalistic dynasty.Early years in the 1900\'s would see the need for the Whitinsville Savings Bank (1905) and more schools, as the town\'s young people and work force grew. In addition to the Clarke school, the Aldrich School, the Whitin-Lasell High School, Social Library, the Whitin Gym, and the Whitinsville Golf Course were all built before 1930.