The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1883-06-27
The Stafford & Holden Manufacturing
Company.

| as manufacturing town Twenty-Five years
| ago it was known only as one of the best
farming towns in the state. The manufacture
| ing Of forks Is their Oldest business of any ac-
count. About the year 1862 the business was
| first established by ID. A. Herrick & Co. Her
| rick came from Brookfield we believe, and in
connection with his brother-in-law, L. E.
Adams put up small shop on, or near the
site oil the present works, and side by side with
what was then Whitcomb's saw mill LYMAN
w. Whitcomb was at that time CARRYING on
| quite an extensive business in the manufacture
OF doors, sash and blinds, in connection with
Lorenzo D. Blanchard and j. Addison Whit
COMP, and circular saw and planning machine
hau, we believe, already been introduced into
MS saw mill. But the introduction OF trip
| manner in close proximity Herewith was
something new and strange. It was an innova-
| ton upon the established rules and customs of
tne community. 1t was startling in the ex-
IRENE. IL awoke the echoes of the hills and
valleys that surround the staid old town, and
was put Gown at once as nuisance. 1t Sc
Iiously lnterlereo with the accustomed nap OF
| the peaceful villager The buzz and whirr Of
the saw and planer had lulled him to sleep in
| the long summer afternoons. The sharp lar of
| the trip-hammer made sleep impossible and
| gave him, at the same time, a frightful head
ache. IL was discordant to his aesthetic taste
dsagreeable to the sound, and, in his opinion
| entirely unnecessary. Real estate in that
| locality must depreciate in value by reason of
such an ear-splittlng institution and life would
not be worth the living within sound of it. So
| the sleepy old village expressed itself when
Herrick and his trip-hammer came to town.
But as the truthful old saying goes, There's
| nothing like getting used to a thing" AS the
obnoxious piece of machinery was bound to
stay, the discomforts of the neighbors gradually
wore away. The tympanum Of the village ear
became hardened to the clatter: other elements
OF progress came striding in and took up the
attention and diverted the mind. The Settle
ment Of 6 Brooklyn" just across the river, be-
gan about this time and was the talk of the
town. The irrepressible Seth Bruce staked out
his lot over there, and calmly took possession,
to the surprise and amusement of everybody.
We remember well the day he moved the old
shop across the river on the ice. How he re-
built the little house and settled down there
| alone" monarch of all he surveyed" The
place was nick-named " Brooklyn at once,
and TO the astonishment of everybody has
grown and thrived, like its illustrious name
sake, ever since. We expect, if we live long
enough, TO see second Brooklyn bridge
stretched across from the sand-bank on one
side to the rugged bluff on the other But we
are anticipating little and depressing from
the subject.
In 1865 the firm of Stafford & Holden was
first organized by Messrs. Frank Stafford and
Clark Holden, and became the owners and
proprietors of the fork factory. They made
some needed improvements increased the
| number of workmen, and where Herrick & Co.
had been making five hundred dozen forks a
y
twelve hundred dozen. They employed eight
hands at first and settled down to make a sue
cess OF the business. The next year they pur-
chased the real estate at cost of S. 800, took
| in Ira Trow as an additional member of the
firm and enlarged their business. For some
five years they manufactured about five thou
sand dozen of ice tools, but finally abandoned
that branch and put all their work into forks.
In March, 1876, the firm sold out to 1.-The
Stafford Holden Manufacturing Company "
the present concern-for $4,000. This was
a stock company composed of some of the
wealthiest and most prominent men in Barre,
who recognized the safety of the investment
and had faith in its future growth and prosper
ity. Thirty hands were at once employed and
seven thousand dozen forks were turned ont by
the company the first year. Then disaster
overlook them. In March, 1877 Just year
after the company was organized, the princi-
pal shop took fire and was burned to the
ground, together with large amount of stock
which was valued at $50 900; insured for S15-
600 This disaster was serious but by no
means ruinous. In the succeeding autumn the
company rebuilt the present works. They put
in new and improved machinery, doubled the
capacity for work, added steam power, and
commenced again with redoubled energy The
main building is of brick, two hundred by
forty feet, costing $4,000. The storeho cssrfs
one hundred seventy five by thirty-fve feet;
the office one hundred by twenty feet, two
stories and basement. The company mann
tools, including hay, straw and manure forks
OF all sizes, garden rakes and potato hooks
They use one hundred fifty tons of steel and
thirty tons OF ferule iron per year, and carry a
stock OF 25oO0O handles all the while The
handles are of the best white ash, mostly
turned by themselves. The steel comes from
Pittsburgh and New Jersey, and goes through
fifty or sixty different processes before it
becomes ready for the handle The company
is now turning out seventeen thousand dozen
nearly half of which m
countries-GeImany, England, Scotland, Rus
STA, Norway Sweden, France and the South
American republics. 1t sends its foreign goods
through agencies in New York and Hamburg,
ana the demand In those ports is constantly
increasing.
The present force employed now numbers
sixty men. large number of these men have
been at work in these shops for a dozen or
fifteen years, are men of good standing and
are old and experienced workmen. few of
them have been there even longer than that,
for instance Loren Blanchard, who, both as
partner and employe, has been a moving and
active element in the fork business ever since
1t was started here. He is just as spry as he
was twenty-five years ago, to all appearance
grows no older and no smaller. HAL o. Hatch
has stood at the trip-hammer for twenty years
or more but now has employment of higher
grade-in fact the forge shop is full of exper-
fenced hands-Charley Miller, Sherm. Robin
son and others-who seem never to get tired,
although occasionally deaf. Six trip-hammers
are running here now and there is no need of
any other indication to show the business done
by the concern In the other departments
there Is the same activity, with like exper-
fence and skill. MANY men of many minds -
are to be found in the Barre fork shop. There
are Professor Phillips and Chief Justice Basdell
working side by side, the professor handling
the paste-brush with as much ease, elegance
and grace as was formerly his wont to swing
the baton over an old-fashioned singing school.
The jovial Joseph NJ, the nimbe All and the
veteran Andrew j., are seen among the collec-
ton OF artists and artisans employed here. Mr.
Frank Stafford, one of the original owners
in the factory and whose name is still stamped
upon the goods, withdrew his stock in the
company in 1878 and now resides in St. Johns
bury. He went through the baptism of fire in
Chicago in 1871, being then a member of the
firm OF Fleetwood, Stafford & Co., of that city,
and having an interest in the Barre firm at the
same time. The Chicago firm represented the
Barre fork in the West, but met with great loss
by the fire, and Mr.. Stafford returned to Barre.
He is thorough adept in the fork business
and is still interested in the sale. Mr.. Clark
Holden, the present treasurer and superintend-
ent of the company, and one of the originators
of the business here, is the controlling force
STILL He has personal supervision over the
works, and gives his time and attention to its
every detail He is, and has been for the past
fifteen years. town clerk OF Barre and for six
years town treasurer The company is differed
as follows president, Hon. Josiah Wood;
trpa surar and sunarintandant CLARK Holdan.