The Press., 1911-05-24

Rockville had not been idle; new in. dustries had been planned, improve ments ttudied and new streets laid out 1; a system of water work was being studied; the American Mill company wae organized, the mill site purchased. with land for boarding house and tenementa, and the plans were ready for an early start in the spring of l847 The develop nent of the water power, with the dam and fune for
 its f1fty-feet breast wheel, was con- sidered fine pic tce of engineering for those times. Reinforced concrete and Portland cement had not been thought of, and turbine water wheels were in the far away future. I was but an ordinary mechanic of very little ex- perience, but recall with pleasure the interest that took In watching the building of that high stone dam and the huge wheel under the hands of Mr. Rich, man that was master of his business.
 Our first work in the spring of 1847, while the plans were being completed and material collected fer all of the buildings. was on the store of Ocl. Elijah Smith and the residence of Nelson Kingsbury, the agent of the company, immediately followed by the erection of their large board
 ing house near the east end of the large open field, on which the first graded sohoolhOuse was built 8 few years later. The building of tie boarding house was held as & sort of knitting work that could be takan up at leisure, and as soon as the timber could ba got together the wolk of building of the mill was begun. The long, large timber was procured from western New York, rafted or by canal to Hartford. and thence by team to Rockville, and then came the counter. hewing and blaming, by hand, If all of that timber and making it ready to go into the mill. In an experience of fifty years have seldom found & me- chanic that would carry so much in his mind and direct SO many men of different classes and make SO few mis- takes as would Win. T. Ooggswell. There was large gang of woIkmen and very little disposition on the laIt of any to soldier, and 12 hours the days labor. Before the winter closed in the mill was enclosed. with win- dows on and the roof on, ready for such work as could be done in cold weather. The company had fitted a shop in or near the gristmill with a Daniels planer, that being the only planer in general use, and with that the heavy plank for floors, In place of ioists, was all worked and laid dur ing the winter by men by onntract, paying about 100 dollars per floor for the labor. During the early summer of 1848 the mill was 50 far completed as to admit of holding the celebration of the Fourth of July on the first floor, with good speakers and with the firing of Q cannon on the Brooklyn hillside and a grand display of fire- works in the evening. The evening was cool and slight frost the next morning, but with very little damage.
 With the rapid growth of the vil- lage it was thought best to build an- other church, and the Second Oongre- gational church was organized and MT. OoggsweM was engaged to build 1t He went to Bangor, Me-, and bought a schooner load of such soft, clear pine as cannot be found any. where short of the Pacific coast to-day. The lumber was delivered at Hartford, transported by team to the open field just west of where the church was to be built. and there, with our rip- saws and planes and hand matching tools, we spent several weeks prepar- ing the matched lumber for the deep Ionic frieze, and for the finish of the front porch and the material for the four Ionic columns and all of the mouldings. The lumber from Maine was not of uniform length or parallel width, 1t being often 20 or "A feet long and sAwn with the taper of the trees, so that in lining to uniform width there was some waste, and in gageing to an even thickness we us. ually had to use the jack plane to the extent of not less than ] of an inch and finished with the short jointer and smooth plane, it requiring large amount of elbow power. The frame was of native oak, and as she build ing was wide and high, 1t required long and heavy timber. The girders, of which there were two to each bent that was to carry 8 roof truss, were 12 inches square and about 45 feet long, and such timber was not easily found. It was SO hard to find shat I remember that one of the girders was of white hickory. The double gird- CTS over the auditorium were framed three feet apart and bridged with plank braces and one-inch iron rods, so that the roof trusses could be put together and raised after the body of the frame was up. At the general raising, in which the whole village was interested. MT. Ooggswell had provided himself with ample new ropes, one very heavy for each side and one somewhat lighter for the cen- ter, and new heave hemp sings for at- taohing she ropes to the frame. To the rope on the north side he had en- gagged Hubbard Tucker. with his pair of we'll trained horses, and only mon enough to guard against accident, and at the south side he had Ahial Fuller, with his good pair of oxen, and in the center he placed all of the men that were needed. The building was raised without single hitch, but the west bent was very heavy, being solid timbered with girts and studs. IA ~A