The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1892-08-05
NEWS OF REAL ESTATE
4 Brief Review Of the History Of
the Sprague Property.
WHOLE VALUE WAS s2o,oOo.oOO
Uhe Canonchet Estate is All that is Left
Out Of this Great Property-Improve-
nsuts Near Blackstone Park-other
Realty News.

Tho fact that Cornelius S. Sweetland,
trustee OF the Sprague estate. is now pay
Ing Sprague creditors their last dividend
tmmediatoly calls to mind the crash OF
1873. and subsequent events In the history
Of this once vast estate. The amount of
real property once owned by the Sprague
family was immense and when William
6prague became Governor of the State of
RHODE ISLAND, he was called one of the
richest men in the country.
The A. g. w. Sprague Manufacturing
Company was organized In 1865. Appar-
ent prosperity attended every enterprise
this corporation embarked In, and when
the first indications Of the panic of 1878
were observed the public was so confident
In the business strength OF the Spragues
that people said they could not fail. All
branches of business and finance were in
tensely interested in the question whether
the Spragues would pull through. but
the despoilers of the Cranston Bank and
Franklin Institution were In IA far more
vital relation to the threatened trouble,
because tho A. & w. Sprague Manufac-
turing Company owed these corporations
total sum of $50 ,000
The Cranston Bank then kept open
cent. interest on deposits, though it was
long after the other banks had reduced
t,eir rate to O. The whole financial ma
chinery of the Spragues and of these
banks stopped running In 1873. The A. g.
w. Sprague Manufacturing Co. suspend
Cd payment on 81, ,000 900 In notes. The
banks were declared insolvent.
Il will be remembered that in these
columns sn account was given of an auc-
tion sale In which certain property which
belonged to these two institutions was
disposed of by order Of the receiver. At
tempts are still being made to settle up
the Affairs of these two banks which went
under at the time or the Sprague failure.
Dec 1, 1873, Zechariah Chafee was
made trustee of the estate and the mort
gage deed OF the whole property was
made to him.
harmony till 1877. That year the Hoyt
heirs (heirs of Susan Hoyt, nee Sprague,)
began a suit for one-half Of their grand
fathers portion of the A. q w. Sprague
Manufacturing. Co. property. They at
lacked the validity OF the trust deed In
ing right to the control OF their portion
OF the property for the benefit Of creditors.
The Supreme Court Of Connecticut de-
clarsd che mortgage void, and thereupon
the Hoyts assailed the engagement In
this State. The Supreme Court OF RHODE
tween the courts of the two states the
Hoyt children profted nothing from their
action.
Ia 1878 a number of CT ditors represent
ing -, 1000 o; liabilities sued Trustee
ChA6ee. Il was In this suit that Chief
xess. Judge Matteson and Judge Stiness
were all Interested In the Sprague prop
ertY--all the Judges, in fact-and all were
challenged. This brought about stay
Of proceedings, and though subsequently,
two OF the Judges parted with their inter-
est ~ the property. the case was never
In 1882 the court agreed that William
6prague had u right to the Quidnick
mills property. but ultimately the Quid-
nick estate was joined to that covered by
tho trust deed and In 1885 the mill, with
Mr.. Chafee In possession. was stopped.
1awsuits sprang up in other States, but
they resulted in no profit to the Spragues.
These lawsuits resulted in the organiza-
tion OF the Union Company, which was
desigued to purchase the Sprague
property, presumptively to the end that
the creditors should profit from the ready
money turned into the trustees hands.
This excited other creditors to action,
and so from 1880 to 1882 several PROPOSE
tions for the sale Of the whole estate were
made. Gen. Butler male an offer OF
e26oO.000 under certain conditions. One
offer was by Wilbour, jackson a. Co., of
this city, and this was so much counted
on that, when the firm did not come for
ward. a suit for contempt was brought
aeainst them. None of the offers, as q
whole, were accepted, and so the Union
Company went ahead. Trustee Cnaffee
as sSld the Mill %ill plant; one .;oo By oo one The
tic property for 500, 600, and so on. Tue
Quidnick Mills had been valued at $500, 600
and the Artic at $4,000
The Canonchet estate was sold In 1882,
but never delivered to it's purchaser.
Finally, William Sprague through his
second wife. was allowed to purchase IL
back again. Tue sale of the lew last re-
naming pieces OF the property has tax .n
pace under the trusteeshlp of Mr.. Sweet
land, Mr.. Chafee dying in 1891. The Bal
tic Mills la Connec icut,-t the last large
piece, was sold in the spring. 1t had once
Tor e125, 900, despite the fact that it had
become flre rum. After that there were
bnIy a few lots of land left in this city
and these have been sold at auction in
the last two months
The whole value OF the Sprague estate, |
according to the truss mortgage deed, has
liabilities of si4,ooJ,O 200. There are to-day
125 creditors and they have received a to.
tai OF between S5,oO0.0 900 aud 81, ,0Oo, 900 on
oheir claims.
cucn In brief Ia the history Of the
Spraxue estate. 1t Is of interest TO all
but especially to real estate men VINO
readily call TO mind all the events which
have transpired in its settlement and at
times have been greatly interested in the
sale OF the valuable property which be-
Ionged TO the estate.
The Depression I'm Irving Avenue.
Irving avenue is the natural driveway
or entrance to Blackstone Prk. Proba-
bly, every one who has driven along BUT
Ter avenue 10 enter the park by Irving
avenue has noticed the depression i'm the
ground at the junction OF these two ave-
nueA Property owners in the vicinicy
and others are OF the opinion IL "a
city's duty to fll up this depression and
the matter has been placed ia the hands
Of tie property authorities A ditch in
the middle OF the road Is worse than a
''thank-you-marm" which is found so
commonly In country roads.
Good roads enhance the value of conn
try property and good streets are essen
tial towards preserving the value of city
property.
Irving avenue has been curbed from
Butler avenue easterly, and general i'm
provements are continually being made