The Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing Company was one of the earliest firms in the United States established especially for the manufacture of steam locomotives. Located in Taunton, Massachusetts, the company was organized in 1849 and incorporated the following year by William A. Crocker, Willard W. Fairbanks, William R. Lee and their associates. [2] Their first engine, the Rough and Ready was delivered in May 1849. [3]
Willard W. Fairbanks was a machinist who had worked in Providence, Rhode Island building stationary and marine engines. The company's first engine was built from castings and plans prepared by George S. Griggs, who had been associated with the Boston & Providence Railroad, one of the earliest railroads in New England, which began operation in 1849. [4]
The company's shops were located on Wales Street just west of downtown Taunton along what was then the Taunton Branch Railroad, and later part of the Old Colony Railroad's vast system in Southeastern Massachusetts.
In 1852 the company faced new competition from their neighbor across the tracks, the Mason Machine Works, a successful Taunton textile machine company, that decided to enter the locomotive-building trade. [5]
By 1860, Taunton Locomotive had produced almost 300 engines. [6] In 1861, Harrison Tweed would take over control the company from Fairbanks, and lead it through perhaps its most productive period. He was succeeded by Parley I. Perrin (P.I. Perrin) in about 1871. Perrin began as a machinist had joined the company in 1846 as a forman and draftsman, and worked his way up through the leadership ranks. [7]
By 1877, Taunton Locomotive had its 675th locomotive. However, by then the company lagged far behind the larger locomotive builders of the time, such as Baldwin and Schenectady. The engines of Taunton, and the other New England locomotive builders were considered obsolete compared to these larger establishments.
In 1883, the locomotive works established the Huber Printing Press Company to supplement its dwindling locomotive business. That same year, Nahum Stetson became president, after the death of Samuel L. Crocker. [8]
The last locomotive produced by Taunton Locomotive was built in 1889. The company also ventured into steam-powered snow plows, and other items, but sales gradually declined during the last decade of the 19th century. The company lasted until 1899. Over 900 steam locomotives had been produced by the Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing Company in its roughly sixty years in existence. [9]
In 1906 the site of the locomotive works was purchased by New England Cotton Yarns, a large conglomerate of textile mills, based in Boston.
In 1947 the buildings of the Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing Company were demolished. [10]
The site is now occupied by a shopping center, constructed in the 1970s as part of an urban redevelopment plan by the City of Taunton.
The American Locomotive Company was an American manufacturer of locomotives, diesel generators, steel, and tanks that operated from 1901 to 1969. The company was formed by the merger of seven smaller locomotive manufacturers and Schenectady Locomotive Engine Manufactory of Schenectady, New York. A subsidiary, American Locomotive Automobile Company, designed and manufactured automobiles under the Alco brand from 1905 to 1913. ALCO also produced nuclear reactors from 1954 to 1962.
The Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) was an American manufacturer of railroad locomotives from 1825 to 1951. Originally located in Philadelphia, it moved to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, in the early 20th century. The company was for decades the world's largest producer of steam locomotives, but struggled to compete as demand switched to diesel locomotives. Baldwin produced the last of its 70,000-plus locomotives in 1951, before merging with the Lima-Hamilton Corporation on September 11, 1951, to form the Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton Corporation.
Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW) was a Canadian railway locomotive manufacturer which existed under several names from 1883 to 1985, producing both steam and diesel locomotives. For a number of years it was a subsidiary of the American Locomotive Company. MLW's headquarters and manufacturing facilities were located in Montreal, Quebec.
Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works was a 19th-century manufacturer of railroad steam locomotives based in Paterson, in Passaic County, New Jersey, in the United States. It built more than six thousand steam locomotives for railroads around the world. Most 19th-century U.S. railroads owned at least one Rogers-built locomotive. The company's most famous product was a locomotive named The General, built in December 1855, which was one of the principals of the Great Locomotive Chase of the American Civil War.
The Canadian Locomotive Company, commonly referred to as CLC, was a Canadian manufacturer of railway locomotives located in Kingston, Ontario. Its works were located on the south side of Ontario Street between William and Gore streets on Kingston's waterfront.
Matthias William Baldwin was an American inventor and machinery manufacturer, specializing in the production of steam locomotives. Baldwin's small machine shop, established in 1825, grew to become Baldwin Locomotive Works, one of the largest and most successful locomotive manufacturing firms in the United States. The most famous of the early locomotives were Old Ironsides, built by Matthias Baldwin in 1832. Baldwin was also a strong advocate of abolitionism.
The Norris Locomotive Works was a steam locomotive manufacturing company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that produced nearly one thousand railroad engines between 1832 and 1866. It was the dominant American locomotive producer during most of that period, as well as the first major exporter of American locomotives, selling its popular 4-2-0 engines to railways in Europe and building the first locomotive used in South America.
Rhode Island Locomotive Works was a steam locomotive manufacturing company in Providence, Rhode Island. The factory produced more than 3,400 locomotives between 1867 and 1906, when the plant's locomotive production was shut down. At its peak, the locomotive works employed about 1,400 men who could produce some 250 locomotives a year.
William Mason was a master mechanical engineer and builder of textile machinery and railroad steam locomotives. He founded Mason Machine Works of Taunton, Massachusetts. His company was a significant supplier of locomotives and rifles for the Union Army during the American Civil War. The company also later produced printing presses.
Charles Tillinghast James was a consulting manufacturing engineer, early proponent of steam mills, and United States Democratic Senator from the state of Rhode Island from 1851 to 1857.
Erasmus Darwin Leavitt Jr., also known as E. D. Leavitt, was a noted American mechanical engineer best known for his steam engine designs.
Samuel Leonard Crocker was a prominent businessman and U.S. Representative from Taunton, Massachusetts. Crocker graduated from Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, in 1822. Throughout his life, he engaged in various manufacturing and civic interests in his hometown of Taunton and throughout Massachusetts.
The Mason Machine Works was a machinery manufacturing company located in Taunton, Massachusetts, between 1845 and 1944. The company became famous for an early invention by its creator, William Mason, the self-acting mule, first patented in 1840. The company also later produced locomotives, rifles during the American Civil War, and later printing presses. However, the production of textile machinery would remain the company's core business during the late 19th century, until its decline in the 1920s.
The Old Colony Iron Works-Nemasket Mills Complex is a historic industrial site located on Old Colony Avenue in the East Taunton section of Taunton, Massachusetts, United States, adjacent to the Taunton River at the Raynham town line. The site was first occupied by the Old Colony Iron Company, which had originally been established in the 1820s as Horatio Leonard & Company. The western part of the complex was sold to Nemasket Mills in 1889. The eastern part was acquired by the Standard Oil Cloth Company. The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
The Whittenton Mills Complex is a historic textile mill site located on Whittenton Street in Taunton, Massachusetts, on the banks of the Mill River. The site has been used for industrial purposes since 1670, when James Leonard built an iron forge on the west bank of the river. The first textile mill was built in 1805 and expanded throughout the 19th century. The complex was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984, and now contains various small businesses.
The Taunton Branch Railroad was one of the earliest railroads to be established in Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered by the state in 1835 as a branch of the Boston and Providence Railroad running between Mansfield and Taunton, Massachusetts. The railroad provided a rapid overland connection between the seat of Bristol County and Boston and Providence.
William Mason is a 4-4-0 steam locomotive currently on display at the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It was built for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, carrying that railroad's number 25. The locomotive is named in honor of its builder, William Mason, who built around 754 steam locomotives at his Mason Machine Works firm in Taunton, Massachusetts, from 1853 until his death in 1883. The engine had been one of the oldest operable examples of the American Standard design, and is the fourth oldest Baltimore and Ohio locomotive in existence, the oldest being the 0-4-0 no. 2, the Andrew Jackson from 1836, second oldest is the no. 8 0-4-0, John Hancock built later that same year, and the third being the 0-8-0 no. 57, Memnon of 1848. While operable, William Mason had been one of the oldest operational locomotive in the world, and the oldest in the western hemisphere.
Nahum Stetson was a leading businessman from southeastern Massachusetts during the 19th century. He is best known for his role in establishing the Bridgewater Iron Company as one of the largest iron works in the United States during the mid-1800s. Stetson was also involved in several other iron companies throughout the southeastern New England region, as well as other notable businesses, including banks and railroads. His grandson, Nahum Stetson (1856-1933) was part of the Steinway & Sons piano company, as part of its sales team and board of directors.