New Britain herald., 1919-06-25
DAYS NERSARY

following year the present brick shop was built.
 This industry introduced an eri- a tirely new line of work and furnished < employment to a large number Of persons. During the first few years the carding. spinning, etc., was done at the factory but much of the work E was sent out into numerous homes about town, where both men and women knit the cuffs on hand looms 1 did the scanning, worked the button holes and seWed on the cuffs and buttons and often the children did the ! raveling, a process necessary to give the knitted fabric a straight edge for shaping and scanning.
 Tn 1852 John Wizard organized the firm of Wizard and Porter and later of Wizard, Smith & Go. Their factory stood near Thompsons lumber yard. Here doors, sash and blinds were made and a general wood working busness, including houses.
 The foregoing constitutes the be- ginning of manufacturing in Plain- vile. The opening of the canal was the first incentive to it's establishment on anything like large scale and the coming of the railroads, the New
  1S4S, and the Boston, Erie and New England in 1850, was the foundation upon which it grew to it's present pro- portions.
 Contrary to the usual course, ths manufacturer preceded the store- keeper. The first store was opened in Plainville in 1929. The building in which this enterprise started stood on Pennington avenue where Frank T. Wheeler's house stands, and was built by Eenezer Hawley Whiting and Adna Whiting in 1928, the land having been purchased by the former in 1926.
 Ezenezer H. Whiting dug a, canal basin at the rear of this property and made ready to open general store Suddenly the plan was changed. Ghe whitings announced that they would move west and the property, inclTd~ ing the tavern, was sold to Timothy Cowles of Farmington for $5,750. January 22, 1880. Just before this deal had been completed. Austin r. williams and Henry Mygatt put in a S stock of general merchandise and opened for business April l, 1929 and pending the removal of the Whitings to the west, engaged Ebenezer as l K. often running as high as $25,00o perl ] year. 1 Writings Leave Town. D The removal of the whitings to ttal west extended as far as the presentl center of the town, where, on Septes1a i Der 10, 1880, Adna Whiting boughta fourteen acres of land. The purchasaI
 
 | included roughly the land nowH | bounded by West Main, Canal. BroadI 1 and Park streets, extending as far ash 1 where John B. Miner lives. In 18311 the Whitings built the large wooderD store still standing on Central Squarek dug a canal basin, known through E out the state as Bristol Basin, put irG a stock of general merchandise ands ! began a business which became ex- 1 tremely profitable. Coincident witf-S the beginning of this enterprise theS Writings opened up Whiting street also Park street and were instrumen- \ tai in having West Main street ex~s tended through to Bristol by the wayI l of Dublin Hill. Post Office Established.
 It was at this time that is in 1S50x that our post office was esta bIished1 Prior to 1900 our forefathers waIkedA or drove to Pennington center andA there received and posted their mail In 1900 post rider began to delfvef
 mail on the Great Plain. By 1922 deM liveries were more promptly madeA and oftener by stage coach. Early if k 1929 Ebenezer Hawley Whiting Lemuel Lewis, Edwin N. Lewis, John | \ Hotchlliss, realizing that the canal had given this community an impor tant place in the business world, ne8 one evening at the tavern just com pleted at what is known as Bios som's corner, and John H. Cooke
 drew up a petition to the postmasteA general requesting that an office bM opened on the Great Plain and recon mending the appointment of DrH Hotchl1iss as postmaster. When iH came to deciding upon a name foN the village, Lemuel Lewis suggeste4 Plainville. which was adopted and thS petition drawn accordingly. Thi document was sent to Washington I8 and the office was established Febru ary il, 1880, with Dr. Hotchkiss a the first postmaster. The office wa located in one of the rooms of thM tavern From that time the narnl
 Plainville has remained, despite thM fact that in the petition to thW general assembly asking for incor3 poration, it was proposed to substituta
 the name of Welch.
 The importance of Bristol Basin aH a trade center was greatly increaseT in 1884 when Harmanus M. Welch acM uuired land where the knitting miN stands, put up a large building anM opened another general store undeE the name of H. M. Welch & Cd8 Inst nreYions to this MT. Welch ha E.