Townsend Harbor is a village in

Townsend, Massachusetts Townsend is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 9,127 at the 2020 census. History Townsend was first settled by Europeans in 1676 in an area known by indigenous people of the area as Wistequassuck, an ...

, containing Harbor Pond dammed from the

Squannacook River The Squannacook River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 3, 2011 river in northern Massachusetts. It is a tributary of the Nashua River and part of the Merrimac ...

. At this location Jonas Spaulding and his brother Waldo started a mill in 1873 that made leatherboard (composed of leather scraps and wood pulp). They did business as Spaulding Brothers. Their family business expanded to locations in

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

and western

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

."Tonawanda News"; Spaulding Supplement; Oct 14, 1961; p1, front page. Jonas Spaulding expanded further into leatherboard manufacturing, founding a second mill at

Milton, New Hampshire Milton is a town in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 4,482 at the 2020 census. A manufacturing, resort and residential town, Milton includes the village of Milton Mills. The primary village in town, where 593 peop ...

, around 1893. This allowed Jonas to bring his three grown sons: Leon C., Huntley N., and Rolland H. Spaulding, into the business in a second company organized as J. Spaulding and Sons. The senior Spaulding started construction of a third leatherboard mill at

North Rochester, New Hampshire North Rochester is a community in the city of Rochester, New Hampshire, United States, and is the site of the third leatherboard mill built by Jonas Spaulding. Jonas' sons were Leon C., Huntley N. and Rolland H., of whom Huntley N. and Rolland H. ...

. It began production in 1900 shortly after his death. The three Spaulding sons were successful and acquired the Spaulding Brothers mill in Townsend Harbor in 1902, making it part of J. Spaulding and Sons. They later moved their corporate offices to

Rochester, New Hampshire Rochester is a city in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 32,492 at the 2020 census. In addition to the downtown area, the city contains the villages of East Rochester, New Hampshire, East Rochester, Gonic, New Ha ...

. The three brothers continued to expand the business, building a vulcanized fibre mill in

Tonawanda, New York Tonawanda (formally ''City of Tonawanda'') is a city in Erie County, New York, United States. The population was 15,130 at the 2010 census. It is at the northern edge of Erie County, south across the Erie Canal ( Tonawanda Creek) from North To ...

in 1911, and a fourth leatherboard mill at a second location in Milton in 1913. They continued the company as J. Spaulding and Sons until about 1924, when they changed its name to the Spaulding Fibre Company to reflect its product. The corporate offices were moved to Tonawanda, New York, as that plant became the biggest operation. It reached its peak of production and employment in the 1960s, after having added product lines in Spauldite (a competitor for

Bakelite Polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride, better known as Bakelite ( ), is a thermosetting phenol formaldehyde resin, formed from a condensation reaction of phenol with formaldehyde. The first plastic made from synthetic components, it was developed ...

) and a

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...

tube. Operation of the leatherboard mill at Townsend Harbor ceased in 1957, after the last two surviving siblings, Huntley Spaulding and his married sister Marion S. Potter, died. The two siblings had previously created a charitable trust that took over the Spaulding Fibre Company after their deaths and sold off all assets within 15 years.

References

Points of interest

Reed Homestead The Reed Homestead (circa 1809) is a historic home currently operated as a historic house museum in Townsend Harbor, Massachusetts. Overview The house is notable mainly for its well-preserved murals on the second floor, attributed to Rufus Porte ...

{{authority control Villages in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Villages in Massachusetts