Northborough Manufacturing Company Records

The company, also referred to as the Northborough Manufacturing Co., was located in Northboro (Northborough), MA. It was chartered on February 18, 1814, to manufacture cotton and woolen cloth and yarn. As with many early mills, carding and spinning were probably the only forms of manufacturing and the yarn was "put-out" to local residents for weaving to be exchanged at the mill (cash or barter) when completed. The company languished due to the flooding of the market with foreign goods after the end of the War of 1812; its prospects were not bettered by the improved business conditions granted by the Tariff of 1816. In 1821 a committee was appointed to sell the property, which was purchased by Isaac Davis, the son of one of the company's original incorporators. His partners were Asaph Rice, Oliver Eldridge, and Robert Rogerson. Davis was the manager of the mill and Eldridge managed the sale of goods. In 1831, Davis and Eldridge obtained a new act of incorporation as the Northborough Cotton Manufacturing.