Fisherville - Grafton MA - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

Six villages were formed near the centers of manufacturing activity and were called: Grafton (center); New England Village (North Grafton); Centerville (Brigham Hill by the river); Farnumsville, Fisherville, and Saundersville (South Grafton). All but Grafton were located by significant water power

The first start in manufacturing, at this place, was made by Timothy McNamara, who, having purchased the land where the mills now stand of Moses Sherman, and the water power rights of Austin Holbrook, in 1830 began work upon the dam, building it jointly with the Blackstone Canal Company, they using it as a feeder for their canal. At this
point, in 1831, he sold his rights to a company composed of Peter Farnum, Luther Wright and Daniel Pitts, called the Canal Cotton Company, who at once began building the factory, a four-story brick building, 84 by 44, which was completed and in full operation, with sixty looms and the necessary preparation, in the fall of 1832. It was operated by this company until 1842, when Peter Farnum and W. A.
Fisher, who had been connected with it from its first start, bought the property of the company and run it jointly until 1845, when W. A. Fieher bought out Peter Farnum's interest, and the same year sold Erastus Fisher cue-quarter, and the following year a second quarter. They, as W. A. Fisher & Co., continued until 1857, when E. Fisher bought the remaining one-half. In the following spring he sold one-
quarter interest to Henry D. Fisher. Up to this time no changes had been made in the buildings or machinery. In 1859 they built an addition to the mill, 44 by 25, two stories, and on the site of the canal locks a building which was used as a grist-mill until 1864, when this machinery was removed and replaced by cotton machinery, and the number of looms increased from 60 to 106. In 1868, E. Fisher transferred one-quarter each to George W. Fisher and Albert L. Fisher, the firm name being E. Fisher & Sons. In 1869, the frame mill was enlarged to its present size, 100 by55, three stories, and the capacity increased to 160 looms and the necessary preparation. The annual consumption of cotton is 400,000 pounds, producing 1,500,000 yards of cloth.

County / Borough / Parish: Worcester Year listed: 1996 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Event, Architecture/Engineering Periods of significance: 1800-1824, 1825-1849, 1850-1874, 1875-1899, 1900-1924, 1925-1949 Historic function: Domestic, Industry/Processing/Extraction Current function: Domestic Season start / Season finish: From: 01/01/2008 To: 12/31/2008 Hours of operation: From: 9:00 AM To: 5:00 PM Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Street address: Not listed Privately owned?: Not Listed Secondary Website 1: Not listed Secondary Website 2: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   07/22/2009 kristinafamily visited it 11/23/2008 nomadwillie visited it

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