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Freetown Historic Districts Database >
Early Industrial Period (1830-1870)
View Early Industrial Period (1830-1870)
Properties
Assonet Village Historic District While the opening of rail transport in the mid-1830s hurt Assonet's shipping trade, it did not destroy it. In fact, indirect access did not come to Assonet until the opening of the New Bedford and Taunton Railroad through East Freetown in 1840. Direct access only arrived in 1845 when the Fall River Railroad opened a depot on Elm Street just east of the district, with service from Fall River to Myricks. A year later it connected to Boston. The Census of 1840 records Freetown's first population decline, with the consequent slowing of home construction. Adding to the general westward movement of the seaboard population was the impetus of the gold rush of 1849. Seventy of the mostly young men in town caught gold fever, and many never returned. "The town has never fully recovered from the disheartening effect of this sudden and severe drain upon its young manhood." [Deane, John M., in Palo Alto Pierce, A History of Freetown, Massachusetts, J. Franklin and Co., Fall River, 1902, p. 237.] Boat building continued to be an important local industry in the first two decades of this period, although its peak year is thought to have been 1834, when seven boats were constructed in town. In 1848 the last ship built here was launched, but the two whaling voyages out of Freetown in the 1840s were disastrous. Commerce with the south continued, and Darien, Georgia became a meeting point for the Assonet shipping community. Several Assonet merchants opened stores there to trade with the poor whites of the Georgia interior. The floor of the Dean barn at 14 Water Street (1838, Map # 62.1) was constructed of planks from rafts floated down river from the Georgia interior for trade with Assonet merchants. By 1861 the fleet was reduced to four, and the Civil War put an end to this business. Freetown's combination of shipping and commerce in this period is illustrated by the career of Captain Washington Read. He was born in Freetown in 1813. As his father, a master of vessels in the marine service, had eleven children to support, Read went to sea at nine on his father's ship. He captained his own vessel at thirteen, plying between Fall River, Newport and Providence. Read entered the southern trade, then the West Indies trade, shipped to Europe, and at twenty-one became a master. He captained sixteen ships, crossed the Atlantic seventy five times, and rounded the world in 1850. He rescued fifty two passengers, never lost a vessel, owned many of his vessels, and ended his hugely diversified sea-going life in 1874. Settling in ship owner Elder Philip Hathaway's House, 36 Water Street (c. 1800, Map # 72, MHC # A-34, Photo # 3) Read might have remodeled the house at this time, as his wife was hardly home, having accompanied him on thirty eight of his transatlantic voyages. He was a State Representative in 1875. The mills, too, continued to power local industries. Henry Porter purchased the Winslow grist mill and made Cut nails and a succession of businesses manufactured edge tools at the Forge. On the south side of the Winslow and Porter dam were a trip hammer shop, and a blacksmith shop, (Map # 24.1). In 1853 Nathan R. Davis came to Assonet from Hartford where he had learned the gun manufacturing business. The firm he established here with Assonet resident David Thrasher would become the largest employer in town and survive into the 20th century. The partners began on Water Street, making muzzle-loading rifles, then moved to the Forge to obtain water power. In 1854 the firm removed to the now demolished Thresher building on the south side of Water Street near Pleasant Street. Here Davis and Thresher may have been the first in America to produce iron frame or lock frame shotguns. After a brief halt at the start of the Civil War, in 1861 the firm got an enormous subcontract to produce sights for Springfield rifled muskets carried by the Union soldiers. Thrasher retired in poor health in 1862 and Dr. Thomas G. Nichols of 15 North Main Street (c. 1800-1825, Map # 42, MHC # A-7) became Davis' partner. Davis probably built his own house next to partner Dr. Nichols at 21 North Main Street (c. 1853-1860, Map # 45). Benjamin F. Aiken, who worked at the factory, probably built the house at 1 High Street (c. 1855-1870, Map # 102). It was he who designed and developed the reliable Rival Hammerless gun which won a patent in 1886. The plant was burned in 1864, perhaps by a southern sympathizer, but soon reopened in the Sampson and Nichols Store building, which was demolished on 1995, (Map # V 6, MHC # A-18). In 1869 the firm seems to have purchased Dean's Hall built in 1847 on Water Street. It was converted it into the large, mansard roofed Assonet Machine Shop/Davis Gun Factory (Map # 601.1) but gun production was not consolidated there until 1873-1874. Farming continued to play a role in the life of this mainly residential area: J. D. Wilson, who lived at 5 Elm Street (c. 1734/1790, Map # 5, MHC # A-52, Photo # 2) listed himself as a farmer and mill owner on the map of 1871, as did Col. E. W. Pierce. Corn and wheat for the village and vicinity were stored over the winter in a warehouse on the lower wharves, probably the Water Street Store House Site (Map # 74.3), or at another at about the location of Col. Pierce's Tenant House at 14 South Main Street (Map # 87.1) which burnt in 1886. A now demolished Blacksmith Shop was located north of the "Old Homestead" at about 8 South Main Street (Map # 82.1) at least by 1853 and probably earlier. In 1871 the shop was operated by J. Shrove who may have lived at 18 South Main Street (c. 1860/1900, Map # 89). Tanning continued at the Tan Yard, 10 Elm Street (Map # 8, MHC # A-54) under the Briggs family's ownership. H. Elbridge Tinkham came to Assonet in 1853 and began shoemaking. He lived in the Adonian Crane house at 2 Forge Road (Map # 33). After being wounded in the Navy during the Civil War, Ensign Tinkham became the station agent at the Assonet depot. Much of the District's commercial building of this period has been demolished, including the South Main Street Johnson Store (Map # 79.1) and a Livery Stable, 9 South Main Street (after 1800, Map # 83.1) that had been constructed of timbers from the Winslow tide operated Grist Mill (Map # 83.2) just east of the site. In 1833 the Baptist/First Christian Church decided to replace its 1793 Meeting house (Map # 96.1). The First Christian Church, 30 South Main Street (Map # 96, MHC # A-27) was erected at the side of the older building, which was then demolished. The new church was designed in the Greek Revival style favored by the new republic. It underwent several stylistic and functional alterations between 1867-1868 and the building extended the building to the rear for an organ. The facade was altered, so that instead of two doors flanking a center window, the pattern was reversed and a central door was installed. Commerce continued to thrive at the Four Corners. In 1869 John Peabody erected a new store at 1 South Main Street (1869, Map # 78, MHC # A-17). The son-in-law of Capt. Sylvanus S. Payne of 38 Water Street (c. 1780-1800, Map # 73, MHC # A-33, Photo # 3) who kept the "Old Corner Store" at 2 South Main Street (1810/20, Map # V-6, MHC # A-18) Peabody had succeeded him there before building his new grocery shop. The old store became a tack factory and then a grocery again. Peabody lived in the Strange/Lawton/Peabody House, 26 South Main Street (c. 1850, Map # 95, MHC # A-25). It may have been Capt. Job Lawton and his wife Polly Strange, that built the Gothic Revival-style house. Lawtons Wharf at the foot of The Lane, and the sea wall (Map # V 11-13) next to it was built for Lawton in 1848. On a voyage across the ocean Lawton lost his rudder, but improvised a replacement out of ropes and chains. For his ingenuity he received public praise and recognition from insurance companies. In 1865 the Assonet Burial Ground, South Main Street (Map #101, MHC # 818) was established, perhaps because of the necessity of burying a number of Civil War veterans. The area had served as the muster field for the local militia, but when that organization was reorganized as a state militia, the old field must have been unused. Many buried in the Fall River cemetery were re-interred in the new cemetery. top East Freetown Historic District As East Freetown grew its transportation options broadened. As shown by the map of 1794 the district had been served only by East Howland Road, Washburn Road and County Road from its juncture with Mason Road to the south. Its north end halted at its intersection with Washburn Road. Gurney Road must have existed but was not shown on the map of that year. By the map of 1831, Dr. Braley/Gurney Road appears, as does the Chace Road, which connected the district to Assonet by way of the presently named Gurney Road. County Road's northern terminus was still Washburn Road. By the time the 1851 map was drawn, County Road, which may previously been an unimproved track, was extended as a listed road northward into Lakeville. Opportunities for rail transport came when, in 1840 the New Bedford and Taunton Railroad from Boston to Providence opened with a depot on Chace Road not far west of the district. Its coming may have stimulated the economy in the district: several houses were enlarged, others were constructed and a second store appeared. About 1844 carpenter Elam N. Davis purchased a piece of Rounsevell land and constructed a one story building on County Road, now 2 Washburn Road (Map # 16, MHC # C-107). In 1854 it was purchased by Joseph Rounsevell who ran it as a store. Six years later it was sold to David Lawrence, who added a second story on the original building and constructed an addition on Washburn Road. Lawrence continued the store, and operated a Cooper Shop (c. 1860, Map # 18.2) across Washburn Road. The Dam (ca. 1800?, Map # 18.3) upstream of the bridge may have related to the shop. The three grog shops in the eastern part of town, among them the Webber Tavern (on the site of 26 Washburn Road c. 1825-1872, Map # 30.1) and the Rounsevell Tavern, 170 County Road (ca. 1727, Map # 10, MHC # 110) were perceived as a problem, and the East Freetown Washingtonian Temperance Society was established in 1846 to cope with their effects. Its membership came to include district residents James Ashley, Horatio Braley, Fisher Cleveland, Arad Leach, Marcus M. Rounseville and store-owner Reuel Washburn, Secretary and Treasurer. Several men of the district joined the approximately seventy men who left Freetown for California when gold was discovered, among them Arad Leach of 36 Washburn Road (Map # 34), and Joseph Rounseville of 2 Washburn Road, (Map # 16) as well as a Webber of the Webber Tavern (Map # 30.1) and Walter S. Rounsville who never returned. [By the mid-19th century, the traditional spelling of Rounsevell was gradually changing to include alternative forms of Rounseville and Rounsavill.] The enterprising Reuel Washburn, purchased the old company store from the Providence Iron Foundry and built a large Gothic Revival house on Washburn Road (c. 1851-1957, Map #25.1). By 1852 he had become Postmaster, as the Post Office, closed in East Freetown for thirty years, was reestablished in his store. A member of the School Committee from 1855 through 1857 and 1859-1861, he served as Assessor from 1847 through 1853 and again in 1855, 1857, '64 and 1865. In 1849 Horatio A. Braley erected his neat Gothic Revival house at 17 Washburn Road (Map # 23, MHC # C-104). Curtis Braley was the builder. Horatio was a blacksmith whose shop stood east of the house on Washburn Road as shown on the map of 1871. Sea Captain Granville S. Allen opened a Box, Board and Shingle Mill at the Rounsevell Dam off County Road (c.1727?-1780, Map # 13.1) on the south side of the brook about 1858. These firms turned out the plentiful, cheaper, short pieces of wood and from them made boxes for storing or shipping all sorts of produce. He seems to have run the mill in conjunction with Marcus M. Rounseville's Grist Mill on the brook's north side (c. 1727?-1780, Map # 14.1). Allen married Rachel Lawrence and built his house opposite the mill at 173 County Road (c.1858-1864, Map # 12, MHC # C-108). Allen represented East Freetown on the School Committee, serving from 1862-1864. Remodeled to house the mill's unmarried male workers, Captain Allen's Little House, 176 County Road (c. 1844, Map # 15, MHC # C-109) was originally a barn on the Lawrence House property at 2 Washburn Road (Map # 16). It was moved across the road to its present site, possibly to make way for the Lawrence House addition. A number of East Freetown residents participated in the Civil War, among them Fisher Cleveland, Calvin Thomas Jr., and Lieut. Charles G. Bosworth, (31 Washburn Road, (c. 1857, Map # 31) who had come to the "Furnace District" in 1850 as a carpenter and married Rachel Ashley in 1852. Bosworth enlisted as a private in 1861 and was soon promoted to Sergeant, then Lieutenant. Terribly wounded at the Battle of The Crater, he recovered "mainly by force of will," but could only do light work as carpenter when he returned. top |
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