The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1872-12-31
The Estcy Organ Mandatory at Brat
tIebOro.

tIcboro
Nermont's list of manufacturing enter
prises is short but exceedingly honorable
one, for whatever credit there is in lead
ing the world in the manufacture of scales
and cottage organs belongs to ths Green
Mountain state and to the towns Of St.
Johnsbury and Brattleboro. Any state
might well be proud to have these great
enterprises within her limits, and we
may well pardon the pride which Ver-
monters naturally take in the unparalleled
success which has attended the energy
aud efforts of the men in charge of these
two great establishments. A noticeable
and significant circumstance connected
with the history of each of them is the
fact that they have been built up and
controlled by individuals rather than by
corpor ltions, and that what has elsewhere
been done by succession OF corporate
arrangements has here been accomplished
by two individuals who have grown up
with the business which they have fos.
tered and who have taken all its risks
and enjoyed all its successes.
The manufacture of reed musical in.
strumcnts dates back to 1S45 at Brat
tleboro, and, like many other now great
enterprises, it had a very humble begin
ming and but little success. After a
three years battle with adverse and un-
propltious circumstances, the men who
started the business concluded that dig
ging gold in the new Edorado of Cali
tornia would bring quicker fortune than
making melodeons at Brattleooro, and
they accordingly sold out, with the inten-
tion OF packing themselves off for the
Pacific coast, an intention, however, which
sickness prevented them from carrying
out. Mr.. Jacob Estey, then a thrifty
plumber, had some faith in the future Of
the enterprise and expressed his willing
less to furnish capital and become a ST..
lent partner with the parties who succeed
ed tho would-be gold-diggers The mao.
ufacturing department was for the next
seven or eight years conducted by differ
ent persons and with different success,
but Mr. EStey stood by with his money.
and in 1857 became an active partner
and financial manager, under the firm
name OF Estcy & Greene The financial
troubles Of 1857 bore hardly upon this,
as upon all other feeble industrial enter
prises, aud to that was added the same
year a fire which destroyed their manu-
factory, which stood near where the
Bratt eboro house now stands, and caused
them a heavy loss. Nothing daunted,
however, by this i'll fortune, the manufac.
tory was promptly rebuilt aud the irm
Of E-tey & Greene continued the busi-
ness until 1861, when Mr.. Estey took it
alone. Three years later, in 1864, he
was again burned out with heavy loss,
but he again rebuilt, and a year later
took in two partners under the 6rm namo
Of j. Estey e. Co. The business was
continued under this management for
about fifteen months, and these two part
ners then retired and their places were
filled by Mr. Levi X. Fuller, son.in.
; law of Mr.. Estey; and Mr.. Julius j.
Estey, his son. Mr.. Fuller had been in
the shops for seven years before, and had
thoroughly mastered the mechanical de.
tails Of the business, and the younger
Mr.. Estey had been his fathers assistant
in the business management of the con.
cern. The new firm was therefore a
strong one and fully prepared to push the
, business which they had undertaken.
/ From that time to the present the enter
prise has had con,tan. and gratifying
, success, and its history for the last six
years has been in gratifying and Cheerful
, contrast with the vicissitudes of the first
r twenty years of its existence.
After the second burning out in 1861
r the mandatory was located upon the
flats" in the buildings now occupied BY
) the Brattleboro furniture company, bu
the disastrous effect Of the frcshets in tha
locality, admonishcd them that another
location must be sought for the growth
and enlargement of their business. A
farm of some sixty or seventy acres, front
ing on 8irge street and overlooking The
: village, was selected as a suitable site 70
the erection Of the needed buildings il
r 1869, and the firm now has beyond ques
r tion the most convenient, complete ant
=, extensive reed organ mandatory in th
q world. There are seven three-story fac
4 tories, one hundred feet long. and from
c thirty to thirty-eight feet in width, al
r built the same distance from Rirge street
;. upou which they front, and forty fee
from each other. \ walk at the rear o
the sccoud story connects all these build
ings. and by the aid of this and by eleva
a tors in each building. the transportatio
Y OF articles from the different buildings
aud the different stories of the same build
j. ing, is very readily accomplished. L
e the rear of these main buildings are tw
l. large dry houses. which are used TO
seasoning the lumber and are kept at
uniform temperature of 100 degrees b
means of steam pipes There are also
i b'ack-mith's shop, a building for tn
a steam fire engine aud fire proof engin
!, house and they are now building larg
l. store house and gas works for supplyiu
= the manufactory with gas. There ar
r also within the enclosure two dwelln
sl houses occupied by the expressnen, watch
1t men and tiremen connected with the es
h tablshment, and in the rear of the mar
lr uiactory enclosure there has sprung u
'e quite a village Of comfortable and It'd
e looking dwelling houses, many of whic
l. are occupied by their workmen. Th
d factories and lighthouses are built Of WOO
= but the sides as well as roofs are covero
l. with slate, and the cornices are covere
d with tin. As further provisions agains
|, danger from fire, there is a steam fire en-
n gine ready for use at a moments uotic,
lie and an organized fire company, the mem
1t bers of which are drilled fortnighly, an
: are put through all the evoutions incider
A to an ordinary conhagration. Buckets {
'f water and fire extinguiqhers, with printe
y directions for their use and Management
III are kept upon every floor, and trust