THE JONES STORY (1845 - 1958)
CHAPTER THREE - Move to Pittsfield
By 1866 E. D. Jones reached the decision that he must avail himself of a location suited to growth. The Valley Gleaner (Lee) of January 3, 1867 carried this notice: — "Mr. E. D. Jones, millwright, has recently sold his stand and business at East Lee to Messrs. Henry M. Couch and Freeland Oakley who have taken possession of the shop and are prepared to build paper engines or do millwright work in prompt and workmanlike manner".
This further story appeared in The Valley Gleaner on March 30, 1871, under the caption "See Manufactures and Manufacturers".
"The firm of Couch & Oakley is composed of Messrs. H. M. Couch and Freeland Oakley, both young men, the former born on Lee and the latter in Columbia County, New York. Their establishment is in East Lee on the outlet of Greenwater Lake, the same in which Mr. E. D. Jones built up a reputation and fortune in manufacture of water-wheels and building paper mills. Both partners were journeymen under Mr. Jones and when the latter moved to Pittsfield in 1866 they bought him out and already made enough to own the property in fee simple. Their establishment is devoted exclusively to wood work. Not only are waterwheels made, but various wood work required in paper and other mills. For this purpose they employ in summer eight to ten men, and keep two wood planers, two buzz saws and one jig saw in constant operation."
Photo
at left - Remains
of Couch & Oakley Rood (Former E. D. G. Jones Shop) Flood of 1886. Click
photo to enlarge.
Misfortune overtook these men some years later in 1886 when during a spring freshet on April 20, Mud Pond Dam gave way. (This was a dam on the road past Belden Tavern impounding about forty acres and an average depth of twenty feet. This reservoir was intended for the regulation of the flow to the several plants downstream and was built in 1873.) "When this dam gave way the entire body of water swept through the valley and in about ten minutes ruined every mill on the stream. Seven persons were drowned. The eastern section of town was erased from the business activities of Lee." The Couch & Oakley (formerly JONES) plant was among those lost. Subsequently a new plant was built downstream but it never prospered to the same extent as in former years.
Although the business life of E. D. Jones during his twenty-one years in East Lee (1845-1866) was rewarded with achievement, his personal life knew tragedy. Both his first and second wives had died, leaving himthree children; one girl, Italia, by his first wife, and two boys by his second wife, Harley and Edward A. When they moved to Pittsfield Italia was thirteen, Harley was five, and Edward A. was three
Image at
left-Facsimile of postcard sent by E. G. Jones
(Circa 1879). Click image to enlarge.
When E. D. Jones moved to Pittsfield it was a town of about 10,000 population, it was not then the county seat (Lenox enjoyed that distinction until final transfer was made to Pittsfield in 1871^. Pittsfield, however, had the advantage of being on the main line railroad
east and west and was the terminus of a line going south to New York City. E. D. Jones acquired a small wooden shop on the west side of McKay Street and at the corner of Depot Street across from the freight terminal, very near the main line of the Western Railroad - later the Boston and Albany and now the New York Central, B & A Division.Activities at this new location were similar to those which were carried on in East Lee. Equipment was built largely of wood, such as tanks, beaters, rag dusters, with required metal components coming from adjoining shops. Contracts were taken for complete mills, with Jones supplying all that he could make, buying the rest, furnishing the design and crew to supervise plant instruction and installation of equipment. The circle of activity was gradually enlarged, made possible by nearness to railroads. Steam was used for power at the 'new plant' (on Depot and McKay Streets), an improvement of the power limitations in the previous location.
On the east side of McKay Street, opposite Jones' shop, was a small machine shop established by Gordon McKay (about 1844). Later this became McKay and Hoadley, but in 1852 these men moved to Lawrence, Massachusetts. Gordon McKay is credited with important contributions to shoe repair machines and establishment of the Lawrence Machine Company, which later became United Shoe Machinery Company. Ultimately Gordon became the richest Pittsfield native in history. This machine shop remained on McKay Street, passing through several owners.
In 1872 this shop was operated by William dark and Company of which E. D. Jones was a member. The property was owned by H. S. Russell. In 1874 H. S. Russell sold the property at the corner of Depot and
McKay Street (east side) to E. D. Jones. He retained the adjacent property to the south, along McKay Street,
for his boiler shop which had been part of the operations started by Gordon McKay.
"The firm of William dark & Co. consisted of William dark, his two sons H.C. and J.W., and E. D. Jones. The class of work done included general machine and foundry work; manufacture of rotary pumps and paper mill machinery. The business furnished employment to about forty-five persons".
At this same time 1874, a new foundry on Ctapp Avenue (next street west and parallel to McKay) was built. Thus with the association of William dark (with a foundry), E. D. Jones was in a position to extend the range of machinery he could manufacture. There is no recorded evidence during this period of any interruptions in expansion of the business. The staff of competent men who could be trusted to carry on at mill sites was growing. Many of these men became well known in business and they remained with E. D. Jones all of their working lives.
Ever since his move to Pittsfield E. D. Jones had taken an active interest in affairs of the community, although he felt he could spend little time from his business. "His political career had its inception in 1879-80 when he acceptably represented the third Berkshire District in the State Legislature. He was returned to the State Senate in 1886-87, where he again rendered efficient service. He served on Joint Standing Committee on Federal Relatives; on Hoosac Tunnel, and Troy and Greenfield Railroad and Manufacturers. He was also on the Joint Standing Committees on Railroads and Towns. His most conspicuously valuable public service, however, was as Chairman of Pittsfield's Board of Public Works (1891-99) during the years which marked the most important development period in the county seat, viz., the installation of its first sewerage system. To this work he gave the best of his well-matured practical mind, and his associates freely accord him credit in large measure for the splendid results accomplished for the municipality in that connection."
Photo at left- Clock manufactured by Russel and Jones
Clock Company (circa 1888). Click photo to enlarge.
During this period E. D. Jones had developed many other business interests, one of the most interesting from a collectors point of view was manufacture of clocks. "In 1793 Eli Terry began manufacturing wooden clocks at Plymouth, Connecticut. Ever since that time, the business of clock-making has been continued by him and his descendants. In July 1880, the company removed to Pittsfield from Waterbury, Connecticut and was reorganized under the laws of Massachusetts; with E.D. Jones President, H.S. Russell, Clerk and Treasurer, C. E. Terry, Superintendent and General Manager, and S. G. Terry, Selling Agent."
"The company had an authorized capital of $75,000 of which $38,500 has been paid in." "The works are located at South Church Street, (later the location of Eaton Paper Corporation) consisting of a three story building of brick 154x40 feet and a two story case shop 130x30. They employed one hundred twenty hands turning out about 350, of nearly 150 different styles, per day."
In another account about the Clock Company - "About 1879, George H. Bliss, then a Pittsfield resident, invented a device for telephone signals, which was operated by clockwork attached to each instrument. It was principally through his efforts that the Terry Clock Company was organized (in 1880) and that the three Terry brothers were persuaded to come to Pittsfield from Connecticut (where their ancestors had been pioneer clock-makers in the United States). The new company soon became important to the town, not only because of the number of persons it employed, but also because of the extended sale of its product which advertised the name of Pittsfield in many thousands of households. In 1888, the business was reorganized, under title of Russell and Jones Clock Company, and soon afterward it was discontinued."
The Pittsfield Tack Company (organized by others) occupied the lower story of the Terry Clock Company building which was erected in 1883 by E. D. Jones and S. N. Russell. Unfortunately neither of these two businesses survived. The clock business discontinued operation in 1888. "The Terry Clock Company - appeared in a very popular and amusing play 'The Solid Gold Cadillac' on Broadway in 1954." E. D. Jones' grandson recalls that his grandfather had said, speaking of the Terry Clock venture, "that it cost him $100,000 to find out what made a clock tick".
Other significant activities of E. D. Jones about this time was the formation of Third National Bank in 1881 of which E. D.Jones was its first President and member of the original Board of Directors; and in the same year, in partnership with Solomon N. Russell, the construction of the Central Block on North Street. At that time the block was mentioned as a fine addition to the city. In 1880-2 the Keith Paper Company was built at Turners Falls, Massachusetts. E. D. Jones had a substantial financial interest in this mill, and in its subsequent
expansion. He served as a member of the Board of Directors; while there were other paper mills in which he held temporary financial interest, the Keith Paper Mill is the only one which he retained an interest in for many years.
Photo
at left - Goodrich Block, located at corner of North and Depot Streets. Clark
machine Shop in rear (1872) Click photo to enlarge.
On or before 1880, Harley Eber Jones, eldest son of E. D. joined the business as a bookkeeper. In 1887, Edward Archie Jones, second son of E. D., joined the business following his graduation from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In that year the Pittsfield Directory carried JONES under the heading of:
"Jones, Edward D. G., millwright and mill architect Wm. Clark & Co., McKay & Depot; House,7 East St. (location of Pittsfield Girls's Club,now)Also the following half page advertisement:
"Wm. dark & Co. Machinists & Iron Founders McKay St. Cor. Depot St.
Manufacturers of Crocker Iron Rotary Fire and Supply Pumps, Crocker Turbine Water Wheels, Rag Engines, Dusters, Elevators (with and without self-closing hatches), Gearing, Pulleys. Job work done in the best manner. H.C.CIark - John dark - Edward Jones."
If this all seems modest it was intended that way, the advertisement was more for patronage of the publisher than it was to serve a practical purpose. By this time most business was being done at some distance from Pittsfield. This news item is typical: -
"Millwright E. D. Jones, of Pittsfield, Mass., is building a large mill for Ontario Paper Company at Watertown, New York. He furnishes drawings, superintends work, and puts in the machinery. Robert S. Francis, long in service with Mr. Jones, is foreman of the job."
When E. A. Jones, fresh out of MIT, joined his father, he found drawings and records were scanty. His first task was organizing an engineering department and to set up a system of engineering records. The first group of records were kept in book form, and included all drawings that were available. It was a substantial volume which covered the six to eight years to that date, (i.e. 1880 onward). It is surprising to see in this list, firm names which are well known today. Some of these companies, or their successors, have remained good customers through the years. The list below is either for a complete mill, or for components for a mill which had been built earlier.
Keith Paper Company, Turners Falls, Mass.1880
Hudson River Pulp & Paper Co., Corinth, N.Y. (now 1.P. Co.) 1883
Byron Weston, Dalton, Mass. 1885
Murray Crane, Government Mill, Dalton, Mass. (now Crane) 1885
Gilbert Paper Company, Menasha, Wisconsin 1886
Kimberly-Clark, Neenah Mill
Neenah, Wisconsin 1886
Hurlbut Paper Co., So. Lee, Mass. 1886
Ticonderoga Pulp & Paper Co., Ticonderoga, N.Y. (now 1.P.) 1897
Coy Paper Co., Claremont, N.H. 1887
J.B.Rolland & Son, St. Jerome, Quebec, Canada 1897
L.L. Brown Paper Co., Adams, Mass. 1888
Oji Paper Co., Japan 1888
Ontario Paper Co., Watertown, N.Y. 1888
Fox River Paper Co., Appleton, Wisconsin 1890
Dalton School House, Dalton, Mass.1890
It should be noted that the firm built several school houses. How many other structures or how many other things that were built that seem strange to the main course of business is not known. The above list is by no means complete and is only an indication of some of the names that appeared during those years. A list of kinds of equipment built to serve the trade during these years was also extensive.
Photo
a left - Wagon dumping jack made by Jones. Click photo to enlarge.