During a recent day at the Sheridan House, I got into a discussion with a visitor over whether Winchester or Ashuelot was a “company town.” The short answer is no…though there is always an asterisk. You could possibly argue that Ashuelot was closer than Winchester, but they didn’t have any great benefit by not being company towns.
“Company Towns” are generally defined as towns created by industrial organizations in remote areas to attract and support workers and their families. Some folks might compare the Company Town to current high-tech company “campuses,” but the comparison doesn’t really work. The closest work experience I’ve had was in Las Vegas, where labor rules dictated that the casino needed to feed employees who worked 6 or more hours. This created a definite hierarchy among casinos – comparing menus, quality, and enforcement of the rules, but most people didn’t experience the down side. One day, I decided to leave the office to attend a function at my son’s school, and not only did I lose my free meal, but I also had to clock out for the time I was away from the office.
Yes, I lost lunch and my pay for that time, but that’s easy compared to living in a Company Town. Let me tell you about the experience of one of my husband’s ancestors, a coal miner in western Pennsylvania.
As I was researching this ancestor, I found his census record for a town I wasn’t familiar with. I opened Google Maps to see where it was, but there was no record. Weird, so I did more digging. It turns out this ancestor lived in a true Company Town. Since the mines were in a remote location, the mining company built dorms and houses to attract workers. This was well before cars – and most train lines – so commuting was not an option. To attract workers with families (i.e., stable, reliable workers), the company also built parks, schools, and stores. Sounds great, right? Not until you factor in that the mining company could pay you in specie – money that could only be spent at the company store. So the company not only set your wages, but also set the prices for rent, groceries, healthcare, and everything else you needed in town.
Surely the companies were fair, right? Not so much…
Remember how I said I couldn’t find the town where my husband’s ancestor responded to a census taker? This was one of the towns “lost” in the Coal Wars between 1890-1930. In these Company Towns, the companies were committed to profits, not their workers. Since they controlled every financial aspect of their employees’ lives, they were able to make sure employees made only just enough to live. As employees realized that the amazing life they were promised couldn’t be achieved in the Company Town, they started striking for better conditions. The mining company found this inconvenient, and decided it would be easier to “close” the town – that is, destroy all infrastructure and wipe it off the map.
Could that have happened in Winchester or Ashuelot? Probably not, but the alternative wasn’t much better. In this area, settlers needed to be self-sufficient, and “farmer” was the main occupation. As the Industrial Revolution gained momentum, most companies found settled communities around the rivers they wanted to use for power. So while you may have the same family owning the industry and local stores, they didn’t own the entire town. Areas like Manchester, where I taught and started getting interested in the Industrial Revolution, were unique since they had a strong river that wasn’t navigable AND land that wasn’t suitable for farming, so they could establish a pseudo-Company Town. In Manchester, the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company built not only the mills, but also rooming houses, schools, hospitals, dance halls, baseball parks, and so on.
Winchester and Ashuelot did not have the same setup, since farmers had settled the area for many decades before the Industrial Revolution. Additionally, with limited space around the Ashuelot River, the railroad became more influential not only in bringing riches (and ideas) from afar, but also sharing our agricultural bounty with the world. Since factory space was limited, the ability of one company to create a Company Town was also limited.
However, if the company decided to move on, the mill would close as well. This was a problem, especially in Ashuelot, as we can see when Hugh Sheridan decided to close and sell the Ashuelot Manufacturing Company. In the 1916 auction binder for the Sheridan House, Manufacturing Company, and surrounding buildings, one of the main selling points was the local population who were ready to work – that is, the mill was closed and they couldn’t work until it was reopened.
Originally published July 2024
