It didn’t take long. Our new website showcasing the late 19th century images of “The Lost Slides of L.H. Kingsley” was posted just a few days before our first ID came in of an unidentified slide.
I thought the shell of a large building might have been from a big city somewhere in New England. Turns out it was in our own back yard -- it’s the MAYNARD HOE FACTORY of Northampton!
On the website, which includes more than 200 images, you’ll find it under Box One – Miscellaneous, #11.
I thought the shell of a large building might have been from a big city somewhere in New England. Turns out it was in our own back yard -- it’s the MAYNARD HOE FACTORY of Northampton!
On the website, which includes more than 200 images, you’ll find it under Box One – Miscellaneous, #11.
Maynard Hoe Factory, circa 1880s, by L.H. Kingsley, Hatfield Historical Museum Collection
Here’s what we learned from our researcher:
It was located about where the Smith College Faculty Club is now at the end of Green St. and just below the Paradise Pond dam. Forbes Library has a picture on its website HERE:
(As a side note, this is near where Northampton's mill was located in the 1600s.)
Here’s a shot from the other side, circa 1885, when the dam was being rebuilt, from Forbes Library's Digital Commonwealth site:
It was located about where the Smith College Faculty Club is now at the end of Green St. and just below the Paradise Pond dam. Forbes Library has a picture on its website HERE:
(As a side note, this is near where Northampton's mill was located in the 1600s.)
Here’s a shot from the other side, circa 1885, when the dam was being rebuilt, from Forbes Library's Digital Commonwealth site:
Maynard Hoe Factory, c. 1885, from Forbes Library Digital Commonwealth site
A History of the Mill River in Northampton that includes the following description of the Maynard Hoe Factory may be found HERE:
"At the Lower Mills, the site of Northampton’s first grist mill, a series of entrepreneurs from basket makers to wire factories to hoopskirt makers appeared and disappeared. The grist and sawmills of Upper Mills at Paradise Pond burned down in the 1850s, but two owners of a cutlery in Bay State, Maynard & Clement, built a large hoe factory in 1866 at Paradise Pond. The factory was plagued with financial, flood, and fire problems, and burned for the last time in 1919. A factory building remains at the Lower Mills, but there is no sign of the Hoe factory."
The following PDF identifies the location of the building on the Smith College campus.
And on this interactive website from Smith College, you’ll find three images of the factory, plus shots of what it looks like today.
Look what we have learned, prompted by L.H. Kingsley’s unidentified shell of a factory. Can you tell us about any of the other slides in the collection?
Check out the rest of the images HERE, where you’ll also find out how this treasure trove was discovered and donated back to the town where the images began.
Compiled by Kathie Gow, curator of the Hatfield Historical Museum
"At the Lower Mills, the site of Northampton’s first grist mill, a series of entrepreneurs from basket makers to wire factories to hoopskirt makers appeared and disappeared. The grist and sawmills of Upper Mills at Paradise Pond burned down in the 1850s, but two owners of a cutlery in Bay State, Maynard & Clement, built a large hoe factory in 1866 at Paradise Pond. The factory was plagued with financial, flood, and fire problems, and burned for the last time in 1919. A factory building remains at the Lower Mills, but there is no sign of the Hoe factory."
The following PDF identifies the location of the building on the Smith College campus.
And on this interactive website from Smith College, you’ll find three images of the factory, plus shots of what it looks like today.
Look what we have learned, prompted by L.H. Kingsley’s unidentified shell of a factory. Can you tell us about any of the other slides in the collection?
Check out the rest of the images HERE, where you’ll also find out how this treasure trove was discovered and donated back to the town where the images began.
Compiled by Kathie Gow, curator of the Hatfield Historical Museum