TH An Invitation to a Birthday Party: Dover's HOW DOVER GREW The Development of her Factories HE commerce of Dover con- Doctor had scarcely turned his back sists chiefly of lumber. The upon the town when portentous events material is daily diminishing, began to transpire. and in a short time will probably fail. Whether a substitute can be found by the inhabitants, I am ignorant." Thus, with a trace of pessimism as to the future progress of the town, Dr. Dwight presents his analysis of Dover in 1796, a town which has prospered but whose prosperity, if one may judge from plainly written signs, is a thing of the past. It is quite evident that the Reverend gentleman had never examined the town records to find a significant item under the date of 1643: "George Webb was presented by the Court 'for living idle like a swine."" Such intolerance of idleness is a guarantee of enterprise whether or not the forests become exhausted. And indeed, the In 1798, a young man by name Jeremiah Stickney began a new enterprise in Dover, the manufacture of cotton and woolen hand cards. Until the manufacture of cards by machinery superseded the old process of setting in the teeth by hand, he kept his little factory running, largely through the employment of children. He gave up his business in 1822, but lived to see the cotton and woolen business in Dover, to which his mill contributed, reach surprising proportions. The cotton industry started first. In 1813, with a capital of $50,000 the "Dover Cotton Factory" was incorporated. At five o'clock on January 19 in that year the proprietors of the On this spot in 1623 was founded the first permanent settlement in New Hampshire. factory met at Mrs. Lydia Tibbetts' house and laid the foundations of the organization which in later years was to develop into the Cocheco Dept. of the Pacific Mills. Mrs. Tibbetts appears to have been a guardian spirit of the infant industry, for when in 1821, with an increased capital of $500,000, the Dover Cotton Factory laid the foundation stone of Mill No. 2 at the Lower Falls, it is recorded that "the brethren afterwards partook of a collation at the house of Mrs. Tibbetts, and spent the evening in characteristic harmony." It was ten years before the woolen business began. In 1824, "Mr. Alfred I. Sawyer commenced the business of cloth dressing at the place formerly known as Libby's mills, which was the foundation of and has since grown into the Sawyer Woolen Company." So read the old records. The Sawyer Woolen Company in its turn has become a part of the American Woolen Company and still turns out large quantities of fine woolen and worsted goods. In 1823 the Dover Cotton Factory changed its name to Dover Manufacturing Company, once more increased its capital to $1,000,000 and built Mill No. 3. Five years later, in a time of business depression, the business changed both name and management, becoming the Cocheco Company. That this business prospered is Two warlike Dover citizens met at this point to fight a duel, thought better of the idea and went home without drawing their swords, but the place is called Bloody Point. evidenced by a note from a Boston paper of 1829: "the last weekly Dover Packet from New Hampshire, brought nearly as many cotton and woolen goods to this market as were brought by the packet ship Dover, and more than were brought by the packet New England from Liverpool. Cotton goods which were This spot will figure largely in Dover's celebration. It is Guppey Park and on August 22 a great Community Picnic will take place here. once purchased in England for 38 cents, and thought remarkably cheap, were not better cottons than can now be purchased here at 20 cents." That the business was not without the troubles and vexations which modern mills are heir to is indicated by a brief note in the town records of 1834: "March 4.-Mills of Cocheo Manufacturing Company stopped for three days in consequence of a turn out of the female operatives, occasioned by a reduction of their pay." Perhaps the most interesting chapter of Dover's mill history is the visit of Lafayette. The General came to Dover in June, 1825, was received with all manner of honor and celebration, and in his sight-seeing was taken to the mills of the Dover Manufacturing Company. The account of his reception gives a picture of the cotton mill of 100 years ago. We quote from a newspaper report: the Great Gate of the Factory yard was thrown open, discovering a double line of females employed in the Factory, to the number of nearly 200, tastefully and handsomely dressed in white with blue sashes. The General, on entering the Factory yard, was repeatedly cheered with the huzzas of hundreds from the tops of the buildings surrounding the Factory yard; he was conducted by Messrs. Williams and Bridge into the Factory, the porch of which was tastefully decorated with wreaths of evergreen and roses. The Factory was still for a moment, but as if by magic it was instantly in full operation, attended throughout by the girls who had received the company on entering the yard, each at her proper place and busy in her proper employment. On leaving the Factory, the General was conducted to his carriage and escorted by the committee of arrangements and marshalls of Dover to "On arriving opposite the Cotton Factories the carriages were halted, the line of the state of Maine." The account goes on to tell of the appreciativeness of the distinguished visitor. Evidently the tastefulness tastefulness of attire and decorations made its impression on the General. He declared that the mills were "much more perfect than any he had witnessed" and that the quality of goods was "far superior to any he had seen in the country." And the account closes with a paragraph which, though having little bearing on Lafayette and his visit, is nevertheless interesting as a bit of Dover mill history: "It was a subject of regret that he could not have examined more particularly the machine shop, where nearly all the parts of the whole machinery for the establishment are manufactured from the raw material, where some valuable improvements have been made in the mode of preparing the important parts of the machinery, as well as highly valuable alterations made upon those generally in use in the larger manufacturing concerns." Three hundred years ago, a tiny settlement of English merchants. Two hundred years ago, a village struggling in the midst of Indian wars, in days of such danger that schools had to be closed for fear of Indian raids, yet a village going pluckily forward in enterprises of bridge building and the laying out of roads. One hundred years ago, a town standing at the very beginning of a business enterprise which was to change its whole life and character. Today, one of the most important manufacturing towns in New Hampshire. That is Dover. And her celebration of her three hundredth birthday brings from all parts of New Hampshire and from the world outside the hearty congratulations one gives for work well done. One hundred years old: The Strafford Savings Bank of Dover. THE SAVINGS BANK CENTENNIAL The One Hundredth Birthday of Two New Hampshire Banks BY JAMES O. LYFORD T HIS year is the Centennial of New Hampshire Savings Banks. The legislature of 1823 granted two savings bank charters, one for the Portsmouth Savings Bank, at Portsmouth, and the other for the Strafford Savings Bank, at Dover. This was seven years after the first savings bank was chartered in this country. Four years earlier, in 1819, an attempt was made by the citizens of Portsmouth to obtain a charter. A bill was introduced in the house and passed that body, but it was defeated in the senate. There is nothing in the records of the legislature or in the newspapers of that year that shows why the bill failed to receive the approval of the senate; but in 1823, when the charter for the Portsmouth Savings Bank was passing through its various stages in the house, a leading member remarked that as the principles of the bill were new and required some consideration he would move that it be referred to the judiciary committee. That committee prompt ly made a favorable report. It was probably conservatism in dealing with a novel proposition that postponed for four years the starting of savings banks in New Hampshire. The charter for the Portsmouth Savings Bank was signed by the governor June 26, 1823, and that for the Strafford Savings Bank, July 1, 1823. The Portsmouth Savings Bank received its first deposit August 20, 1823, and the Strafford Savings Bank, February 28, 1824. These savings banks have had an uninterrupted existence ever since they opened their doors. From 1823 to 1838 six additional savings banks were chartered, only two of which are now in operation,the New Hampshire Savings Bank at Concord, which opened in 1830, and the Laconia Savings Bank at Laconia, which began business in 1831. The third savings bank chartered failed in 1841, and for a few years the legislature refused to grant applications for charters. It was not |