New Hampshire Historic Property Documentation
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
New Hampshire State Recordation Document Electrosonics Site Chesterfield, New Hampshire RFP No. LBMA312 U.S. EPA Prime Contract No. 68-W-03-037 Task Order No. 0003 prepared for Shaw Environmental, Inc. Hopkinton, Massachusetts by John Milner Associates, Inc. Littleton, Massachusett s November, 2006 NEW HAMPSHIRE HISTORIC PROPERTY DOCUMENTATION PIERCE SHOPS (Electrosonics, Inc.) NH State No. 583 Location: 409 NH Route 9A (former Main Street), Spofford Village, Chesterfield, Cheshire County, New Hampshire. USGS Keene Quadrangle Universal Transverse Mercator Coordinates 18 710652E 47537000N Present Owner: Dino Zampini Present Use: Demolished (2005). Significance: At the time of its demolition in 2005, the only extant industrial building from the nineteenth and early twentieth century industrial village of Spofford, the Pierce Shops housed a succession of industrial enterprises, including production of spinning wheel heads, bits and augers, and paint brush handles, and was used in the twentieth century for the production of fine furniture. The building was also significant for its timber-framed construction. Framing elements illustrated the evolution of nineteenth century heavy wood framing techniques. PART I. HISTORICAL INFORMATION A. Physical History: 1. Date of erection: south block, c. 1810-1830, c. 1850, and c. 1915; north block, c. 1850-1880. 2. Architect/builder: Not known. 3. Original and subsequent owners: Reference is to the records in the Cheshire County Recorder of Deeds Office, Keene, New Hampshire. 1818 Property improved with a saw and fulling mill sold by Thomas Crane and Jonathan Hopkins to Joab Pond for $600 (Deed Book 77:285, February 10, 1818). 1818 Joab Pond sold .5 acre parcel containing saw and fulling mills to Luther Gilson for $605 (Deed Book 70:249, July 20, 1818). 1818 Luther Gilson sold the .5 acre parcel to Charles F. Daniels for $450 (Deed Book 82:41, August 22, 1818). 1821 Daniels sold the .5 acre parcel, described as located near the cotton factory, to Presson Farwell for $400 (Deed Book 85:539, May 19, 1821). Pierce Shops NH State No. 583 (Page 2) 1821 Presson Farwell sold the parcel, described as the site of a fulling mill, to Jimna Walker and Jacob T. White (Deed Book 85:539, June 9, 1821). 1825 Jimna Walker transferred partial ownership of the parcel to Jacob T. White (Deed Book 164:457, August 5, 1825). 1850 Jacob T. White sold the .5 acre tract, described as an old fulling mill and shed, to Charles B. Atherton and Andrew Barrett (Deed Book 170:554, January 1, 1850). 1857 Samuel F. Hopkins, acting on behalf of Andrew Barrett, transferred ownership of the .5 acre tract to himself (Deed Book 189:137, March 12, 1857) 1866 Helen M. and Ransford Comstock sold the property, described as adjacent to the blacksmith to William W. Hopkins for $700 (Deed Book 218:293, June 30, 1866). 1875 William W. and Miranda C. Hopkins conveyed the .5 acre parcel to Frederick B. Pierce (Deed Book 251:331, October 16, 1875). 1899 Frederick Pierce sold a half-interest in a .5 acre parcel containing industrial buildings and fixtures to Harry D. Hopkins (Deed Book 320:524, December 13, 1899). 1906 Pierce sold the remaining half-interest to Hopkins and relocated his business to a new factory in South Keene (Deed Book 343:202, March 14, 1906). 1911 Hopkins sold a parcel of one acre and 12.5 square rods to Frank H. Foster (Deed Book 396:8, May 22, 1911). Foster used the building for making tables. 1922 Annie L. Foster, widow of Frank H., sold the tract on which the building sits to Arthur H. Post (Deed Book 410:557, December 30, 1922). Post and employee Theron Yost operated Hampshire Craftsmen, producers of high-quality reproduction furniture. 1966 The heirs of Arthur and Ella M. Post sold the property to Elso, Inc (later known as Electrosonics) (Deed Book 748:395, April 2, 1966). 1983 Electrosonics, Inc. sold several tracts in Spofford, including the site of the building, to Robert M. Burton (Deed Book 1100:869, August 2, 1983). Pierce Shops NH State No. 583 (Page 3) 1987 Burton sold two tracts, including the site of the building, to GMR Associates with a mortgage held by Granite Bank of Keene (Cheshire County Deed Book 1262:266, September 23, 1987). 1993 After the mortgage was placed in default, Granite Bank sold five tracts including the building site to Dino Zampini for $25,000 (Cheshire County Deed Book 1473:755, December 2, 1993). 4. Original and subsequent occupants: Available evidence indicates that the south block was used after 1820 by Jonathan S. Hopkins for the manufacture of spinning wheel heads. Shortly after its initial construction Roswell Bingham may have operated a brass foundry on the site. In subsequent years, the building was occupied by Elliott P. and Samuel F. Hopkins and others who used it to make wheel heads and other wooden goods including cribs and cradles. In the 1850s, the property was owned by Charles B. Atherton and Andrew Barrett, indicated in the Census of Products of Industry as the owners of a wood-turning business whose primary product was bobbins. During the 1860s, Benjamin Pierce employed 75 hands to manufacture wheel heads in the south block. By about 1880, Pierce’s enterprises had outgrown the available space and he built a “large and convenient building” [probably the north block] on the site of a portion of the old wheel head shop for the manufacture of paint and varnish handles. After Pierce disposed of the property and moved his business to Keene, William Hopkins manufactured brush handles in the building. In the early twentieth century, Frank and Austin Foster used the building for the manufacture of tables. In about 1922, Hampshire Craftsmen, started by Arthur H. Post and Theron Yost and supported by Morris Friedson, manufactured antique reproductions in the buildings. In the 1960s, Electrosonics purchased the buildings and manufactured circuit boards in them. Most recently the complex was known as Spofford Place and housed Spofford Total Energy Products and Wind River Woodworking (Chesterfield assessment card). 5. Builder, Contractor: unknown. 6. Original plans and construction: Although the exact date of construction is not known, the sequence of construction was evident in the timber-framed building fabric. The northern end of the south block, a two bay by two bay section, appeared to have been erected in 1810 to 1830. The exact date of this section was not known. Evidence included the use of an auger without a gimlet point or screw to drill peg holes. This tool was typically superceded in about 1810. This portion of the frame reveals the use of square rule joinery, introduced in New Hampshire about 1820. The central section of the south block appears to have been erected in c. 1850, while the portion closest to the road was added in about 1915. Pierce Shops NH State No. 583 (Page 4) 7. Alterations and additions: Study of the building framing suggests one early alteration to the south portion of the building. The oldest section of the building had a ridge board, while the second oldest did not, whereas typically buildings without ridge boards are older than those with ridge boards. A possibility, supported by the presence of fire-scarred timbers, was that the roof of the oldest part was rebuilt after a minor fire. 8. The first addition to the original two-story building was the two-and-one-half story north block. Based upon building fabric, this block may have been constructed as early as 1850. Anecdotal evidence cited by Randall in his history of Chesterfield suggests that the block may have been constructed c. 1880 during Frederick Pierce’s ownership of the property. Substantial alterations were made during the twentieth century to accommodate changing commercial uses. In the early portion of the twentieth century, the south block had a multi-light bay window on its façade and a flush doorway. In its last years, the façade had a recessed doorway and was fenestrated with a one-over one, vinyl, replacement window. Other alterations include construction of irregularly shaped additions to the east wall of the south block, sheathing of the south block in vinyl siding and the north block in aluminum siding, construction of a lean-to addition to the east side wall of the rear block, construction of an external stair on the north gable end of the main block, and installation of gypsum board interior partition walls and dropped acoustic tile ceilings. Many of these changes occurred following the acquisition of the property by Elso, Inc. (later Electrosonics) in 1966. B. Historical Context At the time of its demolition in 2005, the Pierce Shops was the only surviving industrial building of the nineteenth and early twentieth century industrial village of Spofford and provided a visible connection to the nineteenth century economic prosperity of the village. Chesterfield Factory Spofford was ideally sited to develop as the industrial center of the town of Chesterfield. The village, initially known as Factory Village or Chesterfield Factory, developed around the falls of Partridge Brook as it descends from Spofford Lake. Its first store was established by Ebenezer Stearns in about 1800. Its first hotel, known as Spofford House, was built as a residence by Elnathan Gorham in 1807. The post office was established in the village on January 12, 1828 with George S. Root its first postmaster (Mount Pistareen Grange 1949:37). The first mill to take advantage of the brook’s waterpower potential was a saw and grist mill built about 1800 that was owned at one time by Benjamin Farwell (Child 1885:96; Randall 1882:157). In 1805, Ebenezer Stearns, Moses Smith, Ebenezer Cheney and seventeen others were incorporated into a company called the Chesterfield Manufactory for the purpose of manufacturing “cotton yarn, cloth and woolens.” In the June 1809 Pierce Shops NH State No.