At the Center Bridge: Craft and Industry Along the Scantic
- Feb 9
- 5 min read
Near the Center Bridge in South Wilbraham, an area that later became the town of Hampden, the Scantic River supported a small but active industrial village during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Along both banks of the river, modest workshops emerged, drawing on waterpower to sustain the local economy during the formative years of southern Wilbraham.
One of the earliest known shops in the Center Village stood near what is now 650 Main Street, close to the bridge. Records show that in 1797, Joel Chaffee operated a blacksmith shop at this location, using a trip hammer and bellows powered by the Scantic River. Ownership of the shop changed hands several times over the following decades, passing to Walter Shaw in 1807, Josiah Beebe in 1814, and Calvin Shaw in 1816, reflecting the continuing importance of blacksmithing to the growing community.
A second blacksmith shop, established later, stood at the western end of the Center Village. In 1855, J. B. Cunningham operated a blacksmith shop just west of a residence believed to have been built by Robert O. Sessions in 1852. That house still stands today at 477 Main Street. Later owners of the shop included Joseph W. Stimson and, by 1886, Charles W. Twist. In the early twentieth century, the shop was operated by John Swenson, who holds a notable place in local history as the first chief and is widely regarded as the “father” of the Hampden Volunteer Fire Department. Swenson personally constructed the body of the town’s first fire truck, completing the work by hand.
The earliest recorded owner of the land immediately west of the bridge was Elisha Woodward, who built his home there in 1796. That house still stands at 32 Riverside Drive. In 1797, Woodward sold twenty acres of this property to Jonathan Flynt, who in that same year established a fulling mill on the south bank of the Scantic River just west of the bridge. This mill is widely regarded as Wilbraham’s earliest known venture into cloth manufacturing. Fulling was a critical stage in textile production, during which woven cloth was cleansed, shrunk, and thickened through the combined use of moisture, heat, and mechanical pressure.
In 1807, Jonathan Flynt transferred ownership of the mill to his son, Jonathan Flynt Jr., who greatly expanded the operation. He added several supporting structures, including a carding machine shop, a dye house, and a clothier’s shop. Most of these buildings were likely located west of the house, though a barn that stood east of the residence into the early twentieth century may have originated as one of the early shop buildings. At the time, a clothier’s role extended beyond selling cloth to include the dressing and finishing of textiles.
Around 1806, Flynt Jr. erected a dam on the Scantic River, likely the same structure that survived into modern times before being washed out. He also constructed a bridge across the river, which may have been the first bridge to span the Scantic at the center of the village. The property continued to support a succession of operators in the years that followed. Isaac Morris was in business there in 1810, followed by George Wright and Jonathan Clark in 1811. Clark Dorman operated the site for the next three years. From 1814 until 1867, Beriah Smith and Levi Smith conducted a substantial dyeing and cloth-dressing business at this location, marking more than fifty years of continuous textile-related activity.
Nearby, Daniel and Jonathan Chaffee operated a tannery, possibly as early as 1804, the year in which they acquired three tracts of land in the area. Daniel Chaffee worked as both a shoemaker and a tanner, and records indicate that the brothers were granted permission to use waterpower for a bark mill, an essential component of the tanning process. The exact location of their tannery is uncertain, as the Chaffees owned property on both sides of the Scantic River. It may have stood on the south bank near present-day 622 Main Street, close to Daniel Chaffee’s residence. An 1855 map of South Wilbraham also shows a tannery along the riverbank near what is now 674 Main Street, suggesting that leatherworking remained an important local industry well into the mid-nineteenth century.
Daniel Davis Chaffee, son of Daniel Chaffee Sr., later engaged in rubber-related manufacturing and shingle production. His shop was located along Ballard’s Brook, a small stream flowing from the mountain roughly halfway between South Road and the Scantic River. A small mill pond once existed near the road, with a canal directing water to the mill.
Stephen West, who lived in the Center Village at what is now 667 Main Street, was an enterprising shoemaker and leatherworker. He produced shoes, gaiters, saddles, harnesses, saddlebags, and other leather goods, and was well known for his skill, attracting customers from South Wilbraham and neighboring towns. His clientele included Deacon William Colton of Longmeadow, the Reverend Samuel Willard of Wilbraham, and Ezra Barker, the Wilbraham schoolmaster. West also operated a bark mill and bark house, both essential to the tanning process, and townspeople often settled portions of their accounts by delivering loads of bark, reflecting the barter-based economy of the period.
From 1799 to 1808, West operated a tavern from his home. His account books list beverages such as rum, gin, flip, cider, brandy, and egg punch, offering insight into social life at the time. He also manufactured bricks and supplied building materials, providing lumber, shingles, nails, lime, and bricks in 1789 for the home of the Reverend Moses Warren, South Wilbraham’s first minister, located at what is now 653 Main Street. Because so many residents conducted business with him, West’s account books provide an unusually detailed record of everyday economic life in early South Wilbraham.
As the industry expanded, larger enterprises followed. In 1847, Erasmus Chaffee, whose home stood at what is now 10 Riverside Drive, granted Samuel Beebe, William V. Sessions, Eleazer Scripter, and Luther Sage the right to excavate and construct a canal across his homestead lot. The canal was specified to be four feet wide at the bottom and eight feet wide at the top at ordinary water height. This work was undertaken in preparation for the construction of the large woolen mill that later stood near 546 Main Street.
Another early industry was established in 1806 when John Roper purchased land from Jonathan Chaffee and constructed a mill for cleaning clover seed, an operation that became well known in its day. The mill separated usable seed from chaff and debris, a valuable service at a time when clover played an important role in improving pastureland and soil fertility. Roper later expanded his enterprise to include chair manufacturing. Deeds describe the mill’s location as beginning 12 rods and 14½ feet west of the northwest corner of Jonathan Flynt Jr.’s dye shop. Since the exact location of that dye shop is unknown, the precise site of Roper’s mill cannot be determined, though it was likely situated along the riverbank south or southwest of present-day 546 Main Street. In later years, the mill was moved across the road and converted into a boarding house for workers employed at the nearby Lacousic Mills.
This account offers only a glimpse into the early industrial life of South Wilbraham’s Center Village. Numerous small industrial hamlets existed both upstream and downstream along the Scantic River, as well as on its tributaries, supporting residents and agriculture during the town’s early years. Taken together, these shops and mills illustrate how the Scantic River transformed a simple river crossing into a productive village whose influence extended well beyond its modest size.
Comments