Weekly Update

Greetings from beautiful, sunny Easton!  Sunny, but cold, with temperatures only into the low 30’s.  Still, it is refreshing to see the bright sun, and soaking it up for a few minutes reminds us that spring isn’t far off!
 
Today we will take a look at two South Easton businesses that supported the Brockton, Ma. shoe industry.  We recently received from Burt Lewis a book entitled History of the City of Brockton, Massachusetts with the following byline: Showing Its Industrial and Commercial Interests and Opportunities.  It was published in 1904 by the Brockton Trade Board to promote industrial accomplishments and opportunities within the city of Brockton.  It features a number of buildings and street scenes, but focuses on the Brockton shoe industry and supporting businesses.  There are a number of advertisements throughout that helped to defray the cost of printing.  Among those ads are two from South Easton, the F. H. White Machine Company, and the Ross Heel Company.
 
Along the shores of what was once Dean’s Pond, on the northeast corner of Depot Street and Washington Street, a mill complex arose that could trace its ancestry back to the 1690’s.  The mill we all remember best was the former J. O. Dean Grain Mill, where I purchased my grain for the chickens that I raised for 4-H.  Going north along the dam, there were once two other large buildings.  In 1881, brothers John O. Dean (1835-1912) and Thomas H. Dean (1819-1892) erected a building adjacent to the grain mill and began the Ross Heel Company, which made “Artistic Wood Heels” for the Brockton shoe manufacturers.  The “artistic” adjective was used to point out that these heels were finely finished and intended for use with fancy women’s shoes.  Demand for these perfectly crafted heels increased, and the business flourished.  Among the workers there was a man named Frederick H. White, a machinist who could repair the heel making machinery and make jigs and fixtures as needed to support production.
 
Following the death of Thomas Dean in 1892, Amasa Heath became a part owner of the business.  He began at least by 1895 a machine shop in partnership with Frederick White in a new building that stood immediately north of the Ross Heel Company building.  It was once known as the Heath and White Machine Company.  Eventually White became the sole owner, and the company was renamed F. H. White Machine Company by 1915 (John Dean died in 1912).  The company billed itself as “Builders of Experimental Machinery” and was aimed at the shoe industry, manufacturing customized machines including piano string machinery (used for crating), rawhide gears, and heel lift skiver machines.  The skiving machines mentioned would be used to smoothly surface shoe leather and shape leather heels.  This company was successful as well, employing many people, and both companies hired J. E. Goss to pick up workers from across town and bring them to their jobs in South Easton.
 
Around 1927, F. H. White sold his company to Ross Heel, who had plans to expand the business.  However, the expansion did not survive the 1929 stock market crash and the beginning of the Great Depression.  By 1934, both buildings were gone, and only the grain mill remained.  Sadly, that too was torn down just a few years ago.
 
In the attachment, I have included the two ads from the Brockton book.  Also included is a nice image of the factories that once stood along the Dean Pond site, now all entirely gone.  From left to right are the F. H. White Machine Company, in the center is the Ross Heel Company Building, and to the right is the former J. O. Dean grain mill.
 
I worked for the Brockton Tool Company, 7 Central Street, South Easton in the 1970’s and 1980’s.  The company made heel and sole injection molds for the shoe industry.  My foreman was a hale fellow named Arthur Perry.  His father, Quentino Perry, was foreman at Ross Heel prior to its closing.  Quentino was hired as a foreman at Brockton Tool and had a long career there, moving with the company to Easton from Brockton around 1947.  As was so often the custom, Quentino hired his son Arthur to run machinery and trained him up to take over as foreman when he eventually retired.  And as so often happened, when Quentino retired, his son Arthur became foreman.  One day during my time there, a heated discussion arose between a worker and Foreman Perry, which quickly reached the point where the worker began packing his tools to walk off the job.  Trying to get the last word in, the irate worker yelled at Perry, “Who retired and made your foreman anyway?”  to which came the truthful reply, “My father!”  All of the old-timers exploded in laughter, which pushed the worker, now completely embarrassed as well as mad, right out the door.  A few days later, he came back begging for his job, which was granted to him, and he returned to his workbench like nothing ever happened.  Brockton Tool was good that way – they always took their workers back.
 
Until next week, stay well,
Frank


-- 
Frank T. Meninno

Curator, Easton Historical Society and Museum
508-238-7774

www.eastonmahistoricalsociety.org