Amoskeag Axe Company

    In the summer of 1862, the Blodgett Tool Company leaders reorganized and on the 19th of July, the company was reincorporated as the Amoskeag Axe Company, a state-chartered corporation. Ezekiel Straw retained his position, as did George B. Chandler and Moody Currier. Virgil C Gilman join as a director as well. The company expanded in building size as well as workforce, and reportedly employed 60 men operating 14 trip hammers to manufacture approximately 144,000 units yearly.   Henry C. Reynolds continued as an agent for the Amoskeag company, and his technical abilities benefited the company greatly. He designed and patented a number of devices used for manufacturing axes as well as drafted a number of important designs for the form of axes the company would produce. Patent 67,584, dated August 6th, 1867, was a design for shaving axes after forging in a uniform manner that decreased the abnormal wave pattern in the grain of an axe head, allowing it to be smoother and thus cut more efficiently. Reynolds design patent 3,662, approved on September 14th, 1869, was one of the earliest American designs for a bevel bladed axe. Unfortunately, after working far too many years in the axe industry and being exposed to an extreme amount of ground industrial dust from both stone and steel, Reynolds succumbed to what was known as “Grinder’s Consumption” on January 12th, 1877.

The company continued a steady, profitable growth until the Panic of 1873. As the stock market of Europe crashed, over investing in the new lead industry of the U.S., railroad development, caused economic overexpansion, and then bank failures in the U.S. What was known at the time as the “Great Depression” triggered massive layoffs and decreased profitability, and the axe industry did not escape the effects. Ezekiel Straw was away fulfilling his duties as Governor of the state from 1872 until 1874, and in his absence the company foundered.

By his return in 1874, the Amoskeag Axe company had decreased its workforce significantly, and with the threat of a complete closure, was forced to decrease the active worker’s wages by 5% twice. Despite these drastic attempts to keep afloat, the company was forced to sell its assets and facilities to its main competitor, the Underhill Edge Tool Company, just 20 miles south along the Merrimac, in 1879.