Sawmill Brook and the Furniture Industry

Despite the challenges of a cold climate, rocky soil, silted harbor, and often dangerous seas, the early settlers in Manchester showed remarkable resilience. In 1761, Moses Dodge began manufacturing parlor chairs in his shop at 21 School Street, eventually expanding to Desmond Avenue. Demand for quality household furnishings was strong in the colonies, particularly in the wealthy cities and Southern plantations. European imports were costly and often unavailable due to embargos, wars, high tariffs, and shipping costs. Shallow-bottom barges ferried the timber into town and transported the finished furniture to Boston, Salem, Gloucester, Newburyport, and beyond.

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By 1837, 12 woodworking mills employed 120 workers in Manchester, a town of only 1600 people. Artisans built beautiful cabinets, desks, tables, and chairs in shops owned by Moses Dodge, Caleb Knowlton, Larkin Woodberry, Alfred Jewett, and Rust and Marshall. Another manufacturer was Charles Lee, who hired 18 handcrafters at one dollar per day to carve ornate Rococo Revival beds from mahogany, rosewood, and pine. At the peak, there were as many as 43 wood shops and mills in town.

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One prominent industry innovator, John Perry Allen, inadvertently invented a wood saw that cut thin hardwood veneers sought by furniture makers throughout the country. Allen built his factory on Sawmill Brook, near the current Seaside No. 1 firehouse museum. In 1822, a shop accident broke some narrow teeth on his saw blade, requiring him to redesign the entire cutting assembly. To his surprise, the new configuration worked better than the industry standard. Allen’s new superior saw could divide a mahogany wood plank four inches thick into sixty veneer sheets, a significant improvement.

Unfortunately, John’s good luck did not last. A competitor patented Allen’s veneer saw innovation, and in 1836, a fire destroyed his factory and much of the village west of Sawmill Brook (learn more about the hand tub "Torrent," which fought this fire, at Seaside No. 1).

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When the Civil War erupted, the Union Navy blockaded Confederate ports which effectively closed Manchester’s lucrative markets in the South. After the war ended, furniture manufacturing gradually moved to the country's West and South, where labor and lumber were less expensive. The first and last Manchester manufacturer, the Dodge Company, continued to meet the demand for quality furniture until 1965, when the fourth-generation descendant and owner, Charles E. Dodge, passed away.

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Manchester’s master artisans left a lasting legacy, designing and creating fine furnishings as handsome as those made by the renowned European shops of Chippendale and Hepplewhite. The Manchester-by-the-Sea Museum houses many original pieces of exquisite furniture made locally, further preserving this legacy.

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Sources:

- Abbott, Gordon Jr., Jeffrey’s Creek: A Story of People, Places, and Events in the Town that came to be known as Manchester-By-The-Sea, 2003.

- Lamson, Rev. D. F., History of the Town of Manchester, 1895.

- Welin, Beth. “Manchester 101," Lecture, Manchester Historical Museum. 

- 1995 350th Anniversary Committee, Manchester-by-the-Sea, 1645-1995, 1995.