Gracy House
On June 7, 1836 Solomon Reed purchased a piece of land from Ambrose Stone consisting of “2 acres plus 125 rods more or less along with the privilege of bringing water for manufacturing purposes in a ditch or otherwise with the most convenient place across the other lands of said Ambrose.” The purchase price was $159. Tradition has it that Solomon Amidon, Jr. and Joseph Burton built the Satinet Factory about 1836.
The following spring, on April 12, 1837, the Franklin Manufacturing Co. was incorporated by Samuel H. Reed, Joseph Burton and Solomon Amidon, Jr. Almost immediately a large factory building and housing for its workers was erected. The Satinet factory was built to make a cotton/wool fabric known as satinet which was in high demand in the late 1830s. The first year of business was recorded in the Statistical Tables of the Conditions and Products of Certain Branches of Industry in Massachusetts for the year 1837. It showed that Franklin Manufacturing had a dozen people working for them, 6 men and 6 women. They consumed 7,500 pounds of wool weaving 10,000 yards of cloth valued at $7,000. The capital invested for that year was $17,000.
The first mention of a dwelling on this lot seems to be two houses listed on the Assessors records for 1847. The large house was said to have been built as a tenement for the factory workers with four apartments and two entrances. The second house attached by a covered walkway has always been known as the Deverall House (from a family by that name who lived there) and was a single-family dwelling.
Satinet is a finely woven fabric with a finish resembling satin, but made by combining wool and cotton yarns. It was an important commodity in New England for much of 19th century because of its waterproof properties. It was used on whaling ships and for uniforms during the Civil War.
By 1845 the factory put out 42,500 yards of cloth using 40,000 pounds of wool. It employed 8 men and 6 women. The value of the cloth was $23,375 and according to the MHC Reconnaissance Survey, the Franklin Manufacturing Co. represented 21 percent of the value of the county satinet production for that year.
On December 4, 1847, after the death of Solomon Reed, Franklin Manufacturing Company was leased to Stephen Day of Pittsfield for a period of five years. The lease was then renewed for another five years. In 1855 Day produced 12,000 yards of cloth using 4,000 pounds of wool. In 1857 he purchased the entire property “2 acres, 125 rods more or less, dwelling house, barn, factory and store house along with stores, kettles, tools and machinery” for $2,600.00.
Day continued operation but records show it was never run to capacity after the 1840’s when the demand for the fabric waned. The factory ran until about 1875 after which it sat empty and decayed.
When Day purchased the property in 1857, he converted the house into a two-family dwelling and moved his wife and two daughters into it. An interesting little jingle was inspired by this house when owned by the Days. The man renting the other side from Days was a Mr. Knight and there was the Deveral house in the back. A family by the name of Lord owned the little house, now gone, on the village green. A lady visiting, the Days was heard to exclaim, “Why, there’s a day and night in the same house with the Lord in front and the devil behind!”
The Days lived in the house until Stephen Day’s death in 1891 when the property passed to his oldest daughter Ann Cone. Ann sold forty square rods of land to the Town for a “Town House” May 8, 1895.
On October 3, 1898, Ann Cone sold to Edward A. Tower “land, dwelling, factory, barn, store-house excepting a lot of land conveyed by the grantor to the Town of Rowe for a Town House.” The sale was for $1.00. Mr. Tower was a music teacher from North Adams. During the time that Mr. Tower owned the property he tore down the factory building which had fallen into disrepair. Tower coached the Rowe Choral Group, fifteen or twenty adults who enjoyed entertaining, and the house was full of song for many years.
The property remained in the Tower family for sixty-nine years. Mr. Tower died in 1907, but the house continued to be occupied by his widowed daughter, Mrs. Linne Jones, and eventually just summers by her daughter, Mary Jones White. It was sold by the estate of Mrs. White in 1967 to Sarah Jane Gracy. In 1982 the town acquired the house and all the property for the new fire station and leased the house back to Gracy. Upon her death in 2004 the property reverted to the town. A group of towns-people came together to clean it out and make repairs so the building could be used.
From 2004–2018 the building was used for various things, most recently the Council on Aging held monthly meetings there. But much of the building had not been used due to accessibility issues. For the most part the building has been empty. In the summer of 2018 is was discovered that there were issues with mold that required the building to be closed.
Residents should know that the Gracy House is one of the last pieces of manufacturing history remaining in town. It bears little resemblance to its former self but its situation in the center of town can not be discounted. Many buildings have been removed over the years as one can see in the old photographs of the town center. The removal of one more should be considered carefully. The expenses that would be incurred by the taxpayers would not be small if the decision is made to keep it, yet the center of town will be poorer if it is removed.
Text by Joanne Semanie. Photos from the Museum archive.