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| Joseph Griswold Jr., founder of Colrain’s cotton mill. |
When 20-year-old Joseph Griswold Jr. set up a shop making doors, sashes and blinds on the North River (just north of the current location of Marty’s Repair) in 1828, he was founding a dynasty and a cotton industry in Colrain that employed much of the town’s population for more than 100 years.
A prodigious worker who was said to have laid 7,000 shingles single-handedly in one day, as well as a former teacher, inventor, and ingenious industrialist, Griswold was an extraordinary man. Sons and grandsons would follow him in the business, which expanded to mills in Turners Falls. Despite fire, floods and economic crises, they became the wealthiest and most influential family ever in Colrain.
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| Brick cornice salvaged from the Griswold cotton mill in Griswoldville. |
In founding the Griswold Memorial Library in 1908, Joseph III memorialized his father and mother, who bore 13 children while sharing the work in the early years of the business.
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| Griswold Memorial Library, opened in 1908. |
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| Plaque commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Griswold Memirial Library in 2008. |
At the business meeting at 7:00 pm, members of the Historical Society will discuss the Pitt House property situation, now that the town has voted to convey the property to the Historical Society. (Article in the Greenfield Recorder.) They will also discuss fundraising plans for a handicap-accessible ramp and other needed repairs. The meeting and talk are open to the public, and refreshments will be served.
For more information, call Joan McQuade at 413-624-8818.
