When discussing Holyoke's prominent 19th-century inventors and industrialists, B. F. Perkins's name enters the conversation.
Benjamin Franklin Perkins, better known as B.F. Perkins was born in Sunapee, New Hampshire, on July 21, 1826. He arrived in Holyoke in 1857 to take a machinist job at Hampden Mills. In 1873, he left his employment as overseer of the machine shop to open his own business, where he was recognized as one of Holyoke's finest machinists.
His first mill location was in Asa Willard's building at 12 Appleton Street, where he manufactured and repaired machinery. In 1884, the company was one of the first 400 subscribers to Holyoke's new telephone exchange. The telephone cable house was atop Parson's Hall, with operators in rooms below who answered calls at a switchboard and transferred them to their destinations.
In 1882, Mr. Perkins began manufacturing calendar rolls, a series of metal rolls at the end of a paper machine. When paper passed through the rolls, it would become smoother and glossier.
In 1884, B.F. Perkins relocated his company to the Cabot Street mill owned by the Holyoke Water Power Company. The space was previously occupied by Ashcroft & Barker Manufacturing Co., a producer of gas and steam fitters' tools and water heaters. B. F. Perkins now had more space than at the Appleton Street site.
At the time, Benjamin Perkins and his family resided at 40 High Street at the corner of Fountain Street. In 1885, the Perkins family moved to 250 Pine Street, a new cottage house purchased from A. A. Coburn. He sold the High Street house to the Bibeau sisters, who were seamstresses.
In 1886, Mr. Perkins did not own his own paper press. Two Holyoke merchants lent him $1,000 to purchase his first press.
In 1888, a destructive fire at the Cabot Street mill complex significantly damaged the B. F. Perkins space. With $5,000 in insurance money, the business moved to the corner of Railroad and Division streets. Railroad Street was renamed Heritage Street. J. Lewis Perkins, the son of B.F. Perkins entered the business that year, and the concern's name was changed to B.F. Perkins & Son.
B. F. Perkins was granted a patent on a filtering device in 1889. In addition to calendar rolls, the company was manufacturing ventilating fans.
The 1890s were marked by further growth. In 1890, the company purchased the former Shannon grist and woolen mill and water power on the Stony Brook in South Hadley. The 27-foot falls produced 700 horsepower for 9 months of the year. The company added new machinery and calendar rolls and planned to make 2.5 tons of manila paper and calendar paper.
In 1893, B. F. Perkins purchased the remaining half of the Stony Brook Mill from J. & K. Shannon, and now owned the entire mill building.
Citations:
Newspapers.com (paid subscription): Citations: Holyoke (Massachusetts) Transcript & Transcript-Telegram; Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican; publication dates and pages are shown.
Ancestry.com (paid subscription): Price & Lee Holyoke, Massachusetts, City Directories
Hampden County Registry of Deeds, Springfield, Massachusetts
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