The Cambridge of eighteen hundred and ninety-six: a picture of the city and its industries fifty years after its incorporation
Arthur Gilman, Ed.

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[391] many miles of Cambridge, and consists of making, by automatic and special machinery, handles of all kinds and special turnings of any description; in fact, any article turned from wood or ivory. A large variety of woods, both native and foreign, is used, and the concern claims to keep in stock more kinds of wood than can be found elsewhere in America.

Their extensive storehouses are filled with manufactured goods, and with material ready to be worked into any required shape. The business employs about twenty hands, and it is a matter of pride with the management that work is found for their employees every day in the year except legal holidays. The trade extends over the United States, with some export trade.

The officers of the corporation are Walter Ela, president and treasurer, and Richard Ela, manager.

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Charles place.

Charles Place, manufacturer of paper boxes, is located at 134 Norfolk Street. Mr. Place began business in 1885, occupying a cellar kitchen on the corner of Broadway and Moore Street, and employing five girls in the manufacture of fancy boxes. The growth of the business soon compelled a change in quarters, and Mr. Place moved to Norfolk Street. In 1890 the building was enlarged to one hundred by fifty feet and five stories in height, and about one hundred and fifty hands were employed. In 1893 another addition was made, fifty by forty feet, and from the present outlook more room will soon be a necessity. Employment is given to fifty men and two hundred girls.

The basement of the factory is used almost entirely for storage of stock; the other floors are given up to the making of boxes, from the tiniest pill-box to the largest used in the clothing and fur trade. The number of boxes turned out averages seventeen thousand per day. Machines specially designed for the work are run by steam power.

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H. M. Sawyer & Son.

This business was established in 1840 by Mr. B. D. Moody, and between that date and 1877 it was conducted by Pettingill & Blodgett, Pettingill, Moody & Blodgett, Pettingill, Moody & Sawyer, Pettingill & Sawyer, and finally, in August, 1877, the former partners having retired, Mr. H. M. Sawyer became the sole owner. In 1887 Mr. C. H. Sawyer being admitted, the firm was conducted under the name of H. M. Sawyer & Son, under which name it is now being run. At the time the business was established the product consisted largely of waterproofed hats, and it was not until some years later that waterproofed clothing was manufactured to any great extent. Of late years, however, clothing has become the largest feature in the product, and the goods are now sold in almost every country in the world.

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