Palmer Manufacturing Company.

The company, located in Palmer, Mass., was incorporated in 1831 by John S. Wright, Thomas Lord and Luther Parks for production of cotton and woolen cloth and machinery. It had bought the rights and property of an earlier failed company, the Three Rivers Manufacturing Co., which had been incorporated in 1826. Joseph Brown was brought in by the new owners to finish the canal and devise new manufacturing methods; Brown served as agent until 1859. The mill produced print cloth and sheeting and seems to have prospered until the Civil War. The company also owned boarding houses, tenements, a saw mill, canal and aqueduct, blacksmith shop, grist mill, store and working farm. The mill burned in 1863 and the company was sold to John S. Wright. The site remained idle until 1872 when it was bought by the Otis Co. of Ware, Mass.