The Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing Company was one of the earliest firms in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

established especially for the manufacture of

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

s. Located in

Taunton, Massachusetts Taunton is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Bristol County. Taunton is situated on the Taunton River which winds its way through the city on its way to Mount ...

, the company was organized in 1849 and incorporated the following year by William A. Crocker, Willard W. Fairbanks, William R. Lee and their associates. Their first engine, the ''Rough and Ready'' was delivered in May 1849.

Company history

Willard W. Fairbanks was a machinist who had worked in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

building stationary and marine engines. The company's first engine was built from castings and plans prepared by

George S. Griggs George S. Griggs (1805-1870) was a pioneer master mechanic in the earliest days of railroading in the United States. Griggs, like other mechanics of his age, learned the art of machining at Locks and Canals Machine Shop. In 1834 the Boston and Pro ...

, who had been associated with the

Boston & Providence Railroad The Boston and Providence Railroad was a railroad company in the states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island which connected its namesake cities. It opened in two sections in 1834 and 1835 - one of the first rail lines in the United States - with a ...

, one of the earliest railroads in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

, which began operation in 1849. The company's shops were located on Wales Street just west of downtown

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

along what was then the

Taunton Branch Railroad The Taunton Branch Railroad was one of the earliest railroads to be established in Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered by the state in 1835 as a branch of the Boston and Providence Railroad (which opened in 1835) running between Man ...

, and later part of the

Old Colony Railroad The Old Colony Railroad (OC) was a major railroad system, mainly covering southeastern Massachusetts and parts of Rhode Island, which operated from 1845 to 1893. Old Colony trains ran from Boston to points such as Plymouth, Fall River, ...

's vast system in Southeastern Massachusetts. In 1852 the company faced new competition from their neighbor across the tracks, the Mason Machine Works, a successful

textile machine company, that decided to enter the locomotive-building trade. By 1860, Taunton Locomotive had produced almost 300 engines. In 1861, Harrison Tweed would take over control the company from Fairbanks, and lead it through perhaps its most productive period. He was succeeded by Parley I. Perrin (P.I. Perrin) in about 1871. Perrin began as a

machinist A machinist is a tradesperson or trained professional who not only operates machine tools, but also has the knowledge of tooling and materials required to create set ups on machine tools such as milling machines, grinders, lathes, and drilling ...

had joined the company in 1846 as a forman and draftsman, and worked his way up through the leadership ranks. By 1877, Taunton Locomotive had its 675th locomotive. However, by then the company lagged far behind the larger locomotive builders of the time, such as Baldwin and

Schenectady Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

. The engines of Taunton, and the other New England locomotive builders were considered obsolete compared to these larger establishments. In 1883, the locomotive works established the Huber Printing Press Company to supplement its dwindling locomotive business. That same year, Nahum Stetson became president, after the death of Samuel L. Crocker. The last locomotive produced by Taunton Locomotive was built in 1889. The company also ventured into steam-powered snow plows, and other items, but sales gradually declined during the last decade of the 19th century. The company lasted until 1899. Over 900 steam locomotives had been produced by the Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing Company in its roughly sixty years in existence.

Legacy

In 1906 the site of the locomotive works was purchased by New England Cotton Yarns, a large conglomerate of textile mills, based in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. In 1947 the buildings of the Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing Company were demolished.Taunton Daily Gazette article The site is now occupied by a shopping center, constructed in the 1970s as part of an urban redevelopment plan by the City of Taunton.

References

{{NA Loco builders Defunct locomotive manufacturers of the United States Taunton, Massachusetts Industrial archaeological sites in the United States Industrial buildings and structures in Massachusetts Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1849 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1899 1849 establishments in Massachusetts 1899 disestablishments in Massachusetts Defunct manufacturing companies based in Massachusetts