Amesbury was settled in 1655 as a part of Salisbury, but was separated from Salisbury in 1666 and incorporated as the town of Amesbury in 1668. It remained as a town until 1996 when it became a city. To satisify the citizens who did not want to become a city, it was given the name "The Town of Amesbury".
The Amesbury Chronicle, the first newspaper, published its first edition in 1828, a year after the Provident Bank was chartered. The bank was located where the old Boyle's Drug store had its business.

In 1656, Thomas Macy and Richard Currier were granted permission to build a sawmill. They were able to supply staves for barrel making and lumber for houses and vessels. Fishing and ship building became major industries along the Powow and Merrimac rivers. Recent findings have given creditibilty that more ships were built in Amesbury than Newburyport or Salisbury.

Thomas Macy was one of the first settlers in Salisbury and one of the first to cross over the Powow River into New Town. He built his house in 1652, sold it to the Colby Family in 1654, where it still stands. He was in partnership with Richard Currier in building the first sawmill and it was built on the common. He was a well educated person and was the first clerk for the New Town Committee. In 1659, he befriended three Quakers who wanted shelter from a fierce rainstorm. They were there for forty-five minutes and left. They never spoke to each other. When word got back to his church about what he had done, he was brought before the general court and given a fine. It was against the law for anyone to befriend a Quaker. He pleaded with the court that he was destitute and could not pay the fine. The towns people turned against him and sometime in 1659, he left for Nantucket with his family in a rowboat in fear for his life. In Nantucket, he was one of the negotiaters to purchase Nantucket Island from the Indians.

Susanna Martin was convicted and put to death for witchcraft in 1692. The trial was in Salem and lasted for two months. The town's people concocted such outrageous lies about her that she was found guilty. Can one imagine such hate for a person that he would travel on horseback from Amesbury to Salem to convict an innocent person to death?  When word got to Cotton Mather and the governor's wife what was happening, they put a stop to the trials. Only three were convicted, but one hundred fifty were in prison waiting to be tried and two hundred more accused. The first person accused of witchcraft was a Salisbury resident in 1652, but his case was dismissed because the jury and trial lawyers were in disagreement with each other. We will never know if the accusers every regreted their actions.

There are numerous stories that have been written in our history books about our struggles and courage during the Revolutionary War. There is one story which has never been written and it tells about the moral spirit and courage of Amesbury. On July 10th, 1775, Adjuntant General Horatio Gates signed an order stating that no negroes, vagabonds, strollers, or a deserter from the ministerial service shall be allowed to serve. Captain John Currier, Officer in Charge of the Amesbury Regiment, resented the order not to enlist negroes. Therefore, he enlisted two slaves who were given permission by their owners to join. They were Sepio Gray and Robert Negro. He was not going to bring his regiment if these two men could not serve. He was given permission and by his action, these two were the first blacks to serve in the Revolutionary Army.

Permission was granted by the town committee in 1792 to build a bridge across the Merrimac to Newburyport. This became a part of the now famous Chain Bridge, the first in the country, and is still a major road and attraction. A very active ferry service had been a major way of transporting people across the river. In 1789, George Washington rode one of these ferries from Newburyport to Amesbury. On his way across the river, he spotted a ship with a flag higher than the American flag. He gave an order to have the captain of the ship to raise the American flag to the top and no flag shall ever be higher than ours. Lowell Boat Shop has been continuously making the famous sail surf dories for over two-hundred years. Men wearing tri-corner hats and powdered pony-tails to men with Boston Red Sox caps have been sailing them.

As the river flowed through Amesbury, it had a ninty-foot drop providing enough power to run saw mills, gristmills, and textile mills. From the town's beginning, industries sprung up all along the rivers. A hat factory was one of them. It later became the Merrimac Hat Factory, the largest makers of hats in the country. The first stage coach line from Amesbury to the Eastern Railroad line in Newburyport was put into service in 1846. Workers from all over were flocking to Amesbury. It was the center of industry. If one business failed, there were two others to take its place. From 1653, shipyards along the Powow and Merrimac Rivers were continually being built and they were one of the major industries

Jacob Perkins 1766-1849 Inventor-extraordinary

Alliance under sail, in a painting by Nowland Van Powell, courtesy of the Bruce Gallery, Memphis, Tenn Although not Amesbury natives, these two gentlemen had a great influence on our city.

Commodore John Barry 1745-1803 Father of the American Navy

The Continental Congress first Frigate ship, The Alliance, was built in Amesbury in 1777 and it was captained by Capt. Pierre Landais, a former officer of the French Navy who had come to the New World hoping to become a naval counterpart of Lafayette. His first mission was to carry General Lafayette and Patrick Henry to Paris. Benjamin Franklin, our ambassador to the French Court, had summoned for help in persuading France to join with us. When it left Amesbury, it was the "John Hancock". When France agreed to join in an alliance with us, Franklin renamed it the "Alliance". Captain John Paul Jones later relieved Captain Landis from command and took over the Alliance. He relieved the captain for deliberately firing on his ship, the Bonhomme Richard, in a battle with two English ships and causing so much damage that Jones had to abandon it. Captain John Paul Jones captained the Alliance until 1780. That year, it became the Flagship for Captain John Barry, the "Father of the American Navy". He proclaimed it to be the best frigate in the navy. With this great ship, Captain Barry captured or sunk more English vessels than any other naval officer. It fired the last shots of the Navy in the war. It was the only regular commissioned ship afloat at the end of the war in 1783. While sailing out of Proidence, R.I. on a mission to deliver a load of tobacco to Cuba, it struck a rock and was damaged so badly that the Navy deemed it to be too expensive to repair and it was sold to a merchant company and was used until 1789 when it was rendered to be unfit. It was docked at Petty Island where it rotted away. In 1901, a dredging crew found some of its hull.  Alliance Park was named for the area where it was built. 

Alliance Park at the intersection of the Powow and Merrimac Rivers

Dedication of the Alliance Park's new sign, funded by the Amesbury Improvement Association

In 1790, twenty-four year old Jacob Perkins, born in Newburyport, invented a nail making machine that could make a nail with a head. The machine was patented in 1795 and he set up a nail factory above the Powow River falls. He could make thousands of nails a day that were much cheaper. His nail factory was the first in the country. It was heavily damaged by fire in 1805. It was rebuilt and was in business until 1818. The building was sold in 1824 to a woolen company. He was perhaps one of the greatest inventors of all times.

1852 was Amesbury's year of infamy. Young boys from the age of ten were working in the mills. They worked from five in the morning until seven that night. They were given a fifteen-minute morning break, a fifteen-minute afternoon break, and a half-hour noon break. They were only allowed to leave the building at noontime, but hardly anyone ever left the building. The new owner of a woolen mill decided that the workers could not leave the building. The next noontime, one hundred boys protested this order and walked out. The new owner instantly fired them. The next day, the rest of the workers went on strike. Both Amesbury's and Salisbury's town committees signed a letter in favor of the strikers. The new owner would not relent and he hired fifty men to carry out his orders. What had once been an amicable relationship between the mill owners and the towns people was never the same. This was the beginning of the labor movement in America.

Fourteen year old George Edwin McNeill, who had been working at the mill for four years was one of the boys, decided to spend the rest of his life fighting for labor rights. He is commonly known as "father of the eight-hour work day". His idea was to work through the court system and when The Knights of Labor was formed in 1869, they used his ideas almost in its entirety. He joined the Knights in 1883 and became its treasurer. The Knights did not believe in strikes, but in 1886 a large part of the organization went on strike for the eight-hour day. There was so much violence that workers all over the country joined the new labor organization known as the AFL headed by Samuel Gompers. McNeill was one of them and he and Gompers worked together to build the AFL. He died in 1906. Never mind the modern day politicians, he is the true hero of the American workers.

It is claimed that more patents were obtained by Amesbury carriage mechanics for different appliances in rendering ease and convenience to riding vehicles than in any other carriage section of the country. These patents not only include various changes by which a two seat vehicle can be transformed almost instantly into a stylish single seat, but to patent wheels and springs. In fact, much of the machinery by which the manufacturer had been able to enlarge and carry forward his business, and its improvement, were the inventions of the mechanics. 

"Swept by Flames 

"Haverhill, Mass., April 6. – The little town of Amesbury, eleven miles northeast of here, the largest carriage manufactory in the world and home of the poet, Whittier, suffered terrible loss by fire last night, which has nearly wiped out the entire business portion and telegraph office. The fire broke out at 4 o’clock in the afternoon in the large factory of the Babcock Carriage Company and as the town is near the coast the heavy northeast wind prevailing swept the flames before it with irresistible force. There has for years been a squabble between the adjoining towns of Amesbury and Salisbury over the subject of annexation, and as a result both towns have neglected their municipal equipments awaiting the consolidation, and so there was no adequate fire department. Before aid was received the flames jumped from the burning Babcock Works to the post office, and twenty minutes later it, along with the telegraph office, was in flames. Word had to be sent by train to Haverhill, Lawrence and Newburyport asking for aid, which did not arrive on the scene till long after dark. By that time eight factories, aggregating over a million capital, were in flames, along with some twenty dwellings, and innumerable other stores and building were gutted.

"A cold rain prevailed at the time, which undoubtedly saved the entire place. Some hundred families are homeless. The day being a fast day was a legal holiday, so there was no work going on, and the sacred character of the day was sadly broken up.
 
"Amesbury, Mass., April 7 - Over a score of buildings were eaten away by the fire of Thursday night, as most of the carriage factories included several structures. The losses are roughly as follows: F.W. Babcock & Co., $200,000; A.N. Parry, $50,000; J.H. Clarke & Co., $50,000,  Hume Carriage Co., $50,000; C.N. Dennett, $75,000; M.M. Dennett, $40,000; Lambert Hollander, $20,000; N.H. Folger, $75,000; J.F. Chesley and Fannie Brown $2,000; Frank Sands and Mrs. Sands $3,000; Wingate Morse, $1,500; James Hume, houses $1,000; John Hume & Son, $5,000. The insurance is about $850,000 and the fire is believed to have been of incendiary origin."

On George Washington's birthday in 1894, there was a three-day exhibition of ten thousand carriages with all the makers showing their finest examples. There was train and trolley service for anyone who wished to come. This was one of the largest exhibition of carriages ever. Even today, annual car sales are held on George Washington's birthday.

Amesbury born, Ralph Clarkson, 1861-1942, made the first drawings of carriages in Amesbury in 1878. He was educated at the Amesbury High School and his artistic ability was recognized very early. In his school days, he was called upon to decorate the blackboards on special occasions. From his childhood, he wanted to become an artist and his first work was as a designer and draftsman. He studied at the school of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in the early 1880s under Frederic Crowninshield before moving to Paris to study under the renown Lefebvre. He eventually went to Chicago in 1896 and became an instructor and governing member of the Art Institute. One of his students was Texas's best known artist, Olin Herman Travis. He was also a leading member of the arts and crafts movement. In 1900, he was the president of the Chicago Art Commission and Chicago Art League. In 1898, he was a founding member of the Eagle's Nest Colony in Oregon, Ill. The Colony acted as a summer retreat for a variety of well known artists. The lease on the property lasted as long as one of the original founding members was alive. In 1942, the Colony ended upon his death. He is currently represented in the collections of the National Academy, New York and the Art Institute of Chicago. He also exhibited his paintings in the 1915 Pan-American Exposition in San Francisco. He was known for portrait, town-landscape, figure, and mural paintings. He excelled in all mediums

A Moment to Relax Ralph Clarkson

Portrait of Jacob Dickinson 44th US Secretary of War Ralph Clarkson

More and more streets and roads were being built and the Boston and Maine Railroad Company had a terminal in town. In 1872, Salisbury Mills made a dam on the Powow River above the town. It was built to control flood waters and to form a lake for recreational purposes. It was named Lake Gardner. By doing this, the owners figured that the value of real estate would be greatly increased. New churches of all faiths were being erected.

Without warning, Salisbury Mills shut down in 1876. Hundreds of workers were suddenly without jobs and a great depression set in. If work could be found, it was for less than living wages. This continued until 1878 when the mills were sold and the new owner hired hundreds of workers to refurbish the old buildings. In 1878, Merrimac Hat Factory was given permission to build a new factory on the Merrimac River at Bailey's stream. Over 650,000 hats were sold in 1880. Once again, Amesbury was on the move.

The Trolley Car Era 1889 - 1906

William Ellis Carriage Company, in January 1889, began to manufacture electric trolley cars. For several years he was very successful and employed eighty first class mechanics. In 1895 the plant was destroyed by fire and was never rebuilt. The Briggs Carriage Company started a year after Ellis, but the trolley car business closed in 1905. The business closed because it could not compete with much larger factories that began producing trolleys at a cheaper price. Ellis's and Briggs's cars were sold all over New England and as far west as St. Louis, Mo. and as far north to Montreal, Canada. Even though the trolley busisness was shut down, Briggs continued with his lucrative autobody building for Stanley and Locomobile until 1923 when both companies ceased building automobiles. According to an article in Autobody Magazine, Briggs Carriage Co.’s owner, Richard E. Briggs has retired and is disposing of his plant and equipment. After 47 years of carriage, streetcar and motor-body building will take a trip around the world.  (In 1880, the electric engine was first introduced by Siemens AG at the International Electricity Exhibition in Paris, France. The first electric street car was built in Richmond, Va. in 1887. Two years later, they were being built Amesbury. By then, there was only about a hundred miles of track in the country. All records of the two companies building electric trolley cars were hand written and none are known to exist. Two Briggs cars are still in existence, but no Ellis trollies are known to exist.)

Early in 1892, several Amesbury and Haverhill businessmen, including Charles Goss, L. J. Marston and W. G. Ellis, president of the Ellis Car Company of Amesbury, organized the Haverhill & Amesbury Street Railway Co. for the purpose of building an electric railway from Haverhill, through the thriving town of Merrimac, to Amesbury, a distance of approximately 11 miles.

The fist electric car over the Haverhill & Amesbury Street Railway ran from the Merrimac carhouse to Amesbury on Sept. 24, 1892. On Oct. 11 the line was completed to Monument Square, Haverhill, and in the evening of that day, officials of the town and invited guests rode from Haverhill to Amesbury. Regular service between Haverhill and Amesbury commenced on Oct 13th, and it is said that during the day, merchants of Haverhill paid the round trip fare of any Amesbury or Merrimac resident who came on the H. & A. to Haverhill to do his or her shopping!

Late in 1897, Promoter Wallace D. Lovell, the owner of the Hampton Beach Casino and Canobie Lake Park, announced plans to build a line from Hampton Village through Hampton Falls to Smithtown Square in Seabrook and the Massachusetts boundary and on through Salisbury Plains to the town of Amesbury. This was to join his Exeter to Hampton Beach Line at Hampton. He chose Amesbury because it was a busy industrial city with thousands of workers. His business depended on workers who didn't have the money to go to the northern resorts, but had the means to vacation at his   local resorts. The railroad company began operation with five open and five closed 10-bench cars, all built by the Briggs Carriage Company. Amesbury was the hub for all of the trolley lines that went to Hampton Beach. This included the towns of Haverhill and Newburyport.

At the beginning, the trolleys carried thousand of riders each summer. There was no winter service. Eventually, the enthusiasm began to wain and the company began to lose money. The Exeter, Hampton, and Amesbury Railroad continued in business under several different ownerships until 1927 when for lack of riders and being heavy in debt, it went into receivership and the assests were sold to pay off debts.

For sixteen years, Amesbury was the Trolley Car builders for the Northeastern section of the United States. Their cars were considered the best. Eventually, they could not compete with cheaper made cars.

The Automobile Body Manufacturing Era, 1896 -1932

Shortly after the turn of the century, an increasing number of automobiles were seen on the streets and the carriage makers realized that carriages would slowly fade away, but some carriage makers continued in business until 1913. The factories that switched to making automobile bodies produced most of the bodies in the automobile industry.

From 1896 to 1898 Hume Carriage Company made bodies for the Grout Brothers of Orange Ma. Their automobile was the Grout.When Grout wanted more, Hume declined because hed wanted to keep building carriages, but he reccommended Shields Carriage Company.

In 1898, The Stanley Motor Carriage Co. of Newton, Massachusetts, commissioned Currier, Cameron, and Co. to construct ten bodies for its new steam-operated automobile. As was their practice at the time, Currier & Cameron constructed the coachwork and subcontracted the painting and trimming to the Shields Carriage Co. In 1899, Stanley sold the steamer to Locomobile, bought it back that same year with the understanding that they could not make any automobiles for two years. Thus, began the mass production of automobile bodies in Amesbury that would last until 1932.

Biddle and Smart was the largest builders of bodies. They were the makers for Hudson Motor Co. and Thomas Motor Company which built the Thomas Flyer that won the Great World Road Race of 1908. As early as July 1910, the company produced a series of limousines and coupes for Hudson Motor Car Company which looked very similar to the Simplex closed cars of the year earlier. This proved to be a fruitful association and by 1923 they had become an exclusive supplier to Hudson, building five and seven-passenger sedan bodies and the occasional In the mid-1920s customers also included Rolls-Royce, Lincoln, Peerless, Marmon, Mercer, White, Chalmers, Speedwell and Haynes. Production jumped to over 12.000 bodies in 1923. The plant expansion continued and that year they took over Currier Cameron & Co. and their large "Colchester Mill" on Elm Street. In 1925 buildings from Hollander & Morrill Body Co., Witham Body Co., and T.W. Lane Company were added. The added capacity permitted acceptance of a small order from the Rolls-Royce Springfield plant. In September 1926, the Bryant Body Co. was taken over to obtain a building on Cedar Street. This brought the total space to nearly a half million square feet in twenty-one buildings in six different sections of town. The company's production peaked in March, 1926. 400 bodies a day were produced in three eight-hourshifts by 4,736 employees. When Hudson built is own factory in Detroit, it was not a good sign for Biddle and Smart.  By the end of 1926, all steel Hudson sedan bodies were coming from the new factory and by 1928 Biddle & Smart production had dropped by sixty per cent. They made Hudson bodies until 1931, the year that Hudson ceased buying from them. After completing the contract with Hudson for 1930 model bodies in the summer of that year, the Amesbury concern was advised that, beginning in 1931, it would no longer be the outside source for Hudson bodies. The company tried for a brief period to market aluminum boats, but within months the company was out of business. While they were in business, they made bodies for more companies than any other manufacturer, including Fisher Body

1932 Franklin 163 Walker Carriage Co. made most of the bodies from 1908-1932 Last body to be built in Amesbury

Walker Carriage Co. produced bodies for a number of automakers; Abbott-Detroit, Buick, Holmes, Jordan, Lexington, Packard, Paige, Reo, Studebaker, White and Winton, but they were closely associated with the H.H. Franklin Mfg. Co. of Syracuse, New York. From 1910 through 1932, Walker produced bodies for the air-cooled Franklin, and for most of those years Franklin Motor Co. was Walker’s largest customer and Walker was Franklin's principal supplier of coachwork. Walker was the last Amesbury factory to make automobile bodies. The company ceased making them in 1932. Walker was the largest user of aluminum in the world. They slowly faded away and all assets were sold in 1936.

Among the body building companies that developed in Amesbury shortly after the introduction of metal covered bodies in 1910 was the Clark Carriage Co. Their first motor car bodies were built of aluminum for the Buick Motor Car Co. They continued to do work for this company during the entire career in the automobile business, specializing in the Buick touring car. In 1913 seven to ten bodies per week were finished. A large brick factory at the corner of Oakland and Chestnut Street housed the establishment where in 1916 one hundred and twenty-five men were employed. The Walker Body Co. bought out the Clark Carriage Co. in 1920.

Hollander and Morrill Co. made bodies for several makers, but in 1913 they started making bodies for Detroit Cadillac based in New York. Detroit Cadillac, the maker of taxicabs, became their biggest customer and the company was very prosperous until 1922. From that year, they went down hill and out of business in 1925.

When Currier, Cameron & Co. became overwhelmed with orders from Locomobile, they turned to Leitch Carriage Co. for bodies in the white, unpainted, to help meet the order, and Leitch eventually became part of the official Locomobile body program. Leitch also produced bodies for several taxicab copanies in Boston and New York.. As business increased the firm relocated from their rented quarters in the old Electric Light plant on Oakland Street to larger quarters on Cedar Street adjacent to Brigg’s railcar manufacturing facility. Leitch’s catalogue and letters to perspective buyers claimed to be the largest body maker in Amesbury and to have forty-five workers, but those claims were untrue because he only made five bodies a week. Leitch’s Cedar St. plant was severely damaged by a 1913 fire that destroyed most of their stock of dried lumber and the firm mosy likely ceased operations at that time. Only one Leitch-built automobile body is known to exist, a dark blue touring car that was built for a 1913 Locomobile.

The carriage business of Samuel R. Bailey which during the early 1900s was the largest of its kind in the East, began to manufacture auto bodies and automobiles in 1903. The Bailey Electric Victoria Phaeton was the best known product. Bailey did not allow small mill machinery in his factory after it was invented, until it became necessary to do so in order to handle large automobile orders. Their Victoria body was rather simple in construction, requiring less time to complete than did other bodies of the period, but the construction of their own electric-powered chassis was a very toilsome task. During the firm's interest in the auto business of the town, they employed thirty experienced body-makers. The business was located on two floors in Babcock's No.5 plant on Chestnut Street. S.R. Bailey built the electric car and produced them until 1915. When he stopped making cars, he switched to making body parts. His company was the only one to build a complete automobile in Amesbury.

Thomas Edison tried for five years to make a battery that was suitable for electric cars. He finally gave up.

One of the first business organizations in the east to engage in the manufacture of aluminum auto bodies was formed in Amesbury in 1907. It was called the Amesbury Metal Body Co., and was composed of James H. Walker, John Foster, Fred England and J. Albert Davis, all of whom were once members of various body concerns of the town, but because of the invention of metal covered bodies, severed their relations and founded one of the most prosperous of all local metal shops. Their establishment was, like many others, located in Babcock’s No.5 plant on Chestnut Street where they employed some forty metal workers. Because of their building metal fenders and engine heads for various auto chassis they completed only eight finished motor car bodies per week. During their six year’s stay in Amesbury before going to Detroit in 1913, more than one-half of their work was for the Stevens-Duryea Motor Co. but they also built bodies for the Studebaker, Packard, and Alco automobiles. This firm was the second in the country to press-out metal engine hoods and door panels but very little of this work was done in Amesbury.

Gray and Davis and Atwood Mfg. Co of  Amesbury, were the largest makers of carriage lanterns in the US, quickly used these lanterns for automobiles. Their display of lamps at the top automobile shows drew attention to their quality of workmanship. Their lamps were on over one-half of all  automobiles buiilt.

Copied from the 1903 Horseless Age Magazine
1903 Boston Automobile Show

Gray & Davis, of Amesbury, Mass., exhibited a complete line of their fine lamps. Mr. Gray, who was personally in charge of the exhibit, cited as a fact illustrating the high-grade character of their product, that all the rigs in the show equipped with their lamps listed over $2000. One night during the show, two or three of their finest lamps were stolen, which is another indication that their high grade is appreciated. Mr. Gray reports having done an exceptionally good business, and is very well satisfied, not withstanding the loss.

Pettingell’s shop was destroyed by the 1888 Amesbury Fire, but he rebuilt and continued to introduce new machinery. By the late 1890s C.F. Pettingell manufactured over 30 different machines, all earmarked for the carriage building industry. Products included tenoners, tilting arbor bevel saws (table saws) and irregular template dressers for wooden working plus friction cutters and rolling formers for sheet metal fabrication and their ever-popular rim and felloe rounding machines.

In 1905, C.F. Pettingell retired and A.G. Bela purchased the firm reorganizing it as the Pettingell Machine Co. The firm’s most popular product was the Pettingell Automatic Hammer. Body panels that required several days of hand hammering could be finished in less than an hour using the labor saving device which was designed specifically for the automotive body business. The firm’s largest customer was the Fisher Body Corp. who used over 500 Pettingell power hammers in their factories. During the teens, twenties and thirties their specialized equipment could be found in every firm in the country that dealt with either manufacturing or repairing composite automobile bodies.

In 1913, Bela started building bodies for Winton automobiles. In 1916, he moved to Framingham, MA and sold his business in 1918.

Amesbury has the unique distinction of being the first and only maker city in the country in which a rattan ( wicker) automobile body was ever manufactured. The company was Amesbury Rattan and Reed Co. 

By the way, those little bumper cars, or the original name "Dodg'em", that you see and your children drive at all the amusement parks were first manufactured in Amesbury in 1919 by Carlton Witham of Merrimac.

There were several factors that caused the demise of the automobile body building industry in Amesbury. Chief amongst these were the panic of 1907, First World War, 1922 recession, and the Great Depression of 1929. In each instance, the smaller automobile companies could not survive and they each declared bankruptcy or were swallowed by the major manufacturers. As each one disappeared, the affects were devastating to Amesbury. By 1925 only Biddle and Smart and Walker were still in business but hundreds of their workers were unemployed. Their only customers were Hudson and Franklin. Hudson built a body factory in Detroit, MI in 1929 and informed Biddle and Smart that their services were no longer needed. Franklin ceased buying from Walker in 1932. So ended the body building in Amesbury. With the closing of this industry, thousands of workers were now unemployed.

Complete history of every body builder with photos of the bodies that they built can be seen on  my Early American Automobiles web site.

In the 1960's two major interstate highways, I-495 and I-95, merged at Amesbury. People began discovering Amesbury for its potential and affordability. When industrial parks were created and businesses were sought to locate in the area, the city once again was on the upswing. Within the last ten years, the downtown area has been revifified. One-way streets and traffic circles for easier driving, vintage style lamp posts, flower basket hangers, and store windows with flower boxes. Where there once was a hap-hazard market square has now over-sized vintage brick tree lined sidewalks. Trees were planted on every street. Store fronts have been redone. Investors have bought the old mill buildings and have renovated them into offices, condominiums, and studios for artisans. The old railroad station has been redone to its former self. A river walk is now under construction from the downtown area to the Merrimac River for nature walks and studies. A Hat Museum with the largest collections of hats in the world and a Railroad Museum are located on Water Street. Located nearby will be the Carriage Museum when the building is finally renovated. The Bartlett Muesum, once an 1840 school house on Main Street, houses one of the best collections in the East for Indian artifacts. There are scheduled nature studies in the nearby Amesbury Forest for groups throughout the summer months. When out of town business saw what was happening in Amesbury, they started moving in and where upscale restaurants were once non-existent are now the norm. Two more are now planning to open very shortly, but one can still find some great home cooked meals at several restaurants in town. To make it happen, it took the city government, business organizations, and the citizens working together. It took Amesbury a long time to find this out, but it was worth it.

Josiah Bartlett Physician-Statesman 1729-1795

George Edwin McNeill Boy Laborer-Author-Labor Activist 1837-1906

John Greenleaf Whittier Poet-Editor-Abolishnists 1807-1897

Amesbury has had many famous sons and daughters and many famous visitors who have been immortalized in history books. Pictured here are just three of them.

When the people of Salisbury expelled these families to the other side of the Powow River, little did they know what they gave up. The eighteen families who dared to cross the river were the foundation of what Amesbury is today. Their descendants overcame every obstacle known to man, including slaughter by Indians, families wiped out by diseases, a tornado, in 1773, that damaged or destroyed over two hundred structures, fire after fire that burned down large sections of businesses, and intolerance to worship as one desired. When Indians attacked, they repelled; when diseases killed, they buried their dead, grieved, prayed to God, and went on; when the tornado struck, they went through the rubble salvaging what they could and built stronger structures; when fires destroyed, they hauled away the ashes and built brick buildings; and they persevered intolerance until they overcame. They had a caring heart. When the great fire of 1811 that destroyed the Newburyport waterfront and homes, Amesbury residents were the first ones there with food and clothing for the needy. They took in the homeless and shared with them with what little they had. They gave them comfort and love.

They adapted to changing times with the most and the best. They built the best ships, carriages, trolley cars, and automobile bodies. This city was world renowned. These statements are not hype. They are factual as recorded in historical records. This is a "Can Do" city.

Every city of every state has had events that no one is proud of, but it is how people have dealt with these issues to become a better city that counts. Should we deny or forget that they happened? That would accomplish nothing. As long as we remember, we can say, "never again!" Amesbury is no exception, but all in all, it is an exceptional place and anyone can proudly say, " I am from Amesbury."

The Powow River starts at the Powwow Pond in Danville N.H. and is named the Powwow River, but when it enters Massachuetts, it becomes the Powow River. The Merrimac River is Merrimack River in New Hampshire. The ore for the ironworks came from the bed of the Powow River. Who would think that this tranquil little stream that meanders through the meadows and woods, in and out of two states, would suddenly have a ninty-foot drop with such force that it could supply enough energy to modernize industries and transportation?

Which city is older, Newburyport or Amesbury? If you guessed Amesbury, you are correct. Amesbury is one hundred years older than Newburyport

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History of Ellis Family

For the best Early American Automobiles from  website on the internet  with over 1500 photos from 1877-1929, visit my 
Early American Automobiles

Most of The History of Amesbury was taken from the sources on the  Links Page.

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Web pages were designed and photographs were taken by

Royal Feltner
72 Haverhill Rd.
Amesbury, Ma. 01913   

To email me, type this address on your email system. "elroyal@comcast.net". 
Otherwise, it may not reach me. Web mail is terrible.

Attacking Anxiety And Depression

Amesbury churches with addresses are pictured below.