Charles A. Nelson , A. M., Waltham, past, present and its industries, with an historical sketch of Watertown from its settlement in 1630 to the incorporation of Waltham, January 15, 1739.

The first goods manufactured were made in imitation of those imported from India; ‘a heavy sheeting of No. 14 yarn, 37 inches wide, 44 picks to the inch, and weighing something less than three yards to the pound,’ according to Mr. Appleton's statement in his pamphlet. The first entry upon the original record book of goods manufactured, kept at the factory and still in use, stands thus:— ‘1816, Feb. 2. 31 pieces:—912.2 yards, 4-4,’ or 36 inch goods.

It seems hardly credible now that only sixty-four years ago there was but one shop in Boston, and that on Cornhill, where domestic goods were sold. This shop was kept by one Mrs. Isaac Bowers. Samples of the new goods were offered for sale by her; the people praised them and made no objection to the price asked, but would not buy. Mr. Appleton, however, then a partner in the firm of B. C. Ward & Co., found an auctioneer, a Mr. Forsaith, who disposed of them at once at over thirty cents per yard, and continued to sell them at auction at about that price. Mr. Appleton received a commission of one per cent for attending to the sales, and this became the established rate for a long period. The factory at Waltham was the first where all the processes for the manufacture of cotton into cloth were arranged within the walls of the same building. But few changes have been made from these arrangements as established by Mr. Lowell in the first mill built here.

With the influx of mechanics came a necessity for dwelling-houses, which the company provided. The boarding-houses were ‘put under the charge of men or women from the farming districts, of known good character, with stringent regulations for the government of the same.’ The founders determined that their factory should not be surrounded by the vice and poverty that prevailed in the manufacturing towns in England. A school-house was built on Elm Street, and a school maintained at the company's expense for more than ten years, and worship was held in it on Sundays.

Early in 1816 the company decided to erect a new mill 150 feet