Sherborn’s Home Industries

Created by Jan Burruss

Map of Sherborn’s 19th Century Commercial Enterprises

Though there were only 115 families in town in 1800, many different small industries, stores, and crafts flourished in town. Most of the business of 19th century Sherborn were located along North and South Main Streets.

North and South Main

Streets

Map of Sherborn’s 19th Century Commercial Enterprises

Grist MillsSaw MillsHolbrook Cider MillBlacksmithsSteel ToolsCarriage ShopsWheelwrightsOx Yokes and SledsRope BraidingTanning and Whip MakingTanning and Shoe MakingGunsmithsWillow WeaversStraw WeaverIce Harvesting/Ice HouseGeneral StoresPaint MakingCoffin DesignerCommercial CanneryWatch RepairCoal Sheds and Railroad DepotIndian Head Quarry

Wheelwrights

Constructing balanced wheels for carriages and wagons was a difficult job. There were several wheelwrights in town, including Jeremiah Butler, who had a shop at 5 Butler Street. Vorestus Ware had his shop at 52 Goulding Street.

Andrew Jackson Church, who built his house at 1 Coolidge Street, invented a very successful carriage wheel jack, which was a tool for fixing wheels. Though it wasn't manufactured in Sherborn, his invention earned quite a lot of money for Mr. Church.

Ox Yokes and Sleds

Dexter Amsden lived in the second house built by the settler Thomas Holbrook on South Main Street near the Charles River. Amsden was known for the ox yokes and sleds he made from wood and metal. Almost every Sherborn farmer had a pair of oxen for heavy farm work and for pulling a plough through the heavy snow. The yoke went over the oxen’s necks and helped them work together.

Amsden made well-crafted sleds in many different sizes. Some were small and used for babies, others could carry several people. Some were plain wood, others were decorated with ironwork.

Tanning and Whip Making

The Dowse family came to Sherborn to escape the burning of Charlestown during the American Revolution, and they’ve lived here ever since. In addition to farming and apple growing, they were tanners. They made use of the swampy land near Everett Street in their leather dressing business. They dug pits in the wet swampy ground where they soaked the animal hides as part of the tanning process. They harvested bark and ground it up to get the tannin used in tanning leather. Some of the tanned hide was made into whips. The Dowses made well-balanced whips from one long piece of leather that was cut and braided by hand into a “lash” as long as 20 feet from the wooden stock end. These whips were used by stagecoach drivers. The last order for one of the Dowse’s whips came from Minnesota in 1876.

Shoe Making

The plow shoe was worn on southern plantations, so the Civil War (1860-65) cut off that market. The shop kept making the shoes, but stored them until one of the Dowse sons went south in 1870 with a freight car load of shoes to sell. As more shoemaking was done by machines, the small shoe industries in Sherborn and the rest of New England could not compete. The Dowse Shoe Manufactory (by then a paint factory) burned in 1907. The last shoe was made in Sherborn in 1908 by one of Mr. Coolidge’s sons.

N. DOWSE & SON, WHOLESALE

SHOE MANUFACTURERS,SHERBORN, MASS.

May 1st, 1856

Gunsmiths

Since Revolutionary times, Sherborn has had several fine gunsmiths. The first was Thomas Holbrook (born 1747), who made fowling pieces (guns for shooting wild birds). Some of these guns were used by soldiers in the American Revolution. Holbrook had a gun shop in his house near 37 North Main Street. This house now sits in a meadow at 91 South Main Street, where it was moved in 1896.

Lemuel Leland (born 1786) had a gun shop near Indian Brook, where it crosses North Main Street, near his home at 71 North Main Street. He had many apprentices including his own sons. The rifles crafted in Leland’s workshop were well-known and sold all over the country. These handmade guns were as long as six feet and were accurate for long distance shooting. The stocks were crafted out of curly maple or black walnut and inlaid with brass, steel, or silver.

Willow Weavers

The Fleming family had a willow weaving industry in town for nearly 50 years. They had learned the trade in England. They brought with them a special type of English tree called an osier, which they planted in Sherborn in the swampy area behind the current Post Office.

The Flemings built several houses, two of which, at 18 and 58 Maple Street, were built over a brook. Water was necessary to the weaving business, and the brook brought a plentiful water supply right to their basement weaving rooms.

They wove baskets of all sizes, from small trinket boxes to large shipping hampers. In Sherborn's Historical Society are two Fleming cradles, one a twin cradle made for Ida and Gertrude Fleming who were born at 37 South Main Street, in the 1870s.

JOHN FLEMING,MANUFACTURER OF

WILLOW CRADLES, CHAIRS,CARRIAGES, &C.,

May 1st, 1856 SHERBORN, MASS.

Rattan Furniture

One of the Fleming’s apprentices, Mr. Hayward, was interested in producing larger items such as baby carriages and furniture, but the Flemings didn’t want to go in that direction. Mr. Hayward then joined with Mr. Wakefield to form a company that gained fame as the producers of rattan furniture.

Straw Weaver

In 1855, Palemon Bickford had a straw manufactory built for him by Sherborn's master builder, Bowen Adams, next to what is now the parking area across from the Pilgrim Church. He produced many different sorts of items woven in straw. Woven straw hats in many styles were his specialty. Though his business was short-lived, his building was not. It was converted into a hall to serve as a meeting place for Sherborn residents until 1959, when it was moved to 17 North Main Street, to become a charming home.