|
Historic Research |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||
|
Researched by Stonehill College, Easton, Massachusetts ...It is worth noting that there is an American company, founded in 1774, which is still operating and the history of which parallels and reflects in many ways the history of our nation. The company is the O. Ames Company, historic maker of shovels, which holds the distinction of being the oldest continuous business operations in the country. More important than the antiquity of this company, is the contribution that even a brief review of its history can make toward understanding many aspects of our culture, both from national and local points of view. Nationally, the Ames company may be associated with the agricultural basis of the English colonies and later, during the expansion of the young nation, with the construction of roads, canals and railroads. The company played a key role in the drama of the Civil War, and later played its part in the formation of the political and social fabric of American society during the expansive decades following the Civil War. Locally, the company brought about many changes in the New England region where it originated, changing the town of Easton, Massachusetts from an agrarian to an industrial village, changing the work force from mainly self-employed farmers and artisans to dependent workers and ultimately being the cause of change from a largely Anglo-Saxon society to a pluralistic population. The company originated through the Yankee ingenuity of a Captain John Ames of West Bridgewater, [Massachusetts] who in the late eighteenth century undertook to build American-made, metal blade shovels to fill an important need in the colonies. Until this time only wooden shovels had been made in America. Under the English system of mercantilism metal shovels up to this time had been made only in England and imported to the colonies. The germ of John Ames' idea was to produce shovels locally, less expensively and more adapted to local needs than the imported shovels. The forests furnished a plentiful supply of the kinds of wood needed for flexible shovel shafts and strong handles, and there was an equally plentiful supply of bog iron, a raw material which could be used to make inexpensive shovel blades. At the original iron shop in West Bridgewater, the major process was molding the mellable iron with a trip hammer powered by local water power.... So efficient became his operation that it might be considered the first primitive assembly-line operation in the United States. Shovels were made, a dozen at a time, loaded into a wagon, taken to Boston and sold in the marketplace. John Ames wisely channeled his profits into producing more and more shovels. .... [John was raised as a Puritan and was taught]...the importance of hard work, diligence, application and thriftiness.... [This puritan ethic would would be passed on to Oliver and Oaks Ames] [Oliver born to John in 1779]...moved the shovel works to Easton, [Massachusetts] in 1803. It was under his aegis that the company expanded from a local to a national company. In the expansion of the nation that began in the early nineteenth century, the company found ample opportunity for growth and an important role in the Westward movement. The various means by which the nation was linked created constant demand for shovels --- construction of canals, better use of waterways, the opening of roads and highways between the States and into the frontier, and finally, the development of the railroads --- all used the shovel as a basic tool.... When gold was discovered in California in the 1840s people rushed west and the Ames shovels followed. So by mid-nineteenth century Ames products were sold from north to south and from the eastern seaboard to the Pacific. By this time the shovels had become highly specialized and differentiated. From the original simple, straigh-handled shovel with a flat rectangular blade, special shovels were being designed for new tasks in agriculture, in construction and in railroading. In addition to providing a basic tool for the nation, the Ames company, through its profits, sought other developing businesses in which to invest. The profits being brought into Easton were too much to be invested locally... Like other Boston area entrepreneurs, the Ames turned toward the railroads of New England and the Midwest. The Civil War diverted attention for a time away from unifying trend of the western railroads toward the disunifying force of conflict. Orders for shovels for military uses pored into Easton and the plant could not keep up with the large demands. Oakes Ames, one of the sons and heirs of the dynamic Oliver, was elected to Congress in 1863 where he served for ten years. He saw among the national interests the need for construction of a transcontinental railroad. At the same time President Lincoln, struggling to preserve the Union, was equally determined to prevent division of the East and West. He threw all the prestige of the Presidency behind the Railroad Act of [1862 and] 1864, which guaranteed private enterprise subsidies and land rights to build the railroad.... [Following the Civil War President Lincoln called upon "the broad-shouldered Ames", while a U.S. Congressman, to spearhead the building of the first transcontinental railroad.] While Oakes was president of the shovel company, his brother Oliver became president of the Union Pacific. Oakes agreed to finance the company by pledging the income and holdings of the shovel company. [Oakes and Oliver were prime movers in realizing the dream of a coast-to-coast railroad.] [On May 10, 1869 after four years of often incredible hardships and frustrations the Central Pacific's engine "Jupiter" and the Union Pacific's coal-burning "No.119" gently nosed cowcatchers at Promontory Summit, Utah. That moment marked the beginning of a massive expansion of the Nation's economy and gave further impetus to the myth of the Great American West, still a national legend. This arrangement actually put in jeopardy the finances of the Ames family. In addition, national land and credit backed the railroad. The looseness of regulations for these resources and the new situations created by huge sums led to the first great national political scandal --- the Credit Mobilier. Oakes Ames had been accused of profiteering on the construction of the railroad. Yet, he had almost lost the shovel company due to the loans against the firm's assets. The Ames family managed to pay back the loans but had difficulty eliminating their association with the scandal.... |
||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
