Workers in Wiler's Oil Cloth Factory.
Hubbard Free Library
When the railroad came to Hallowell in 1851 it appeared that the long-running contest between “the wharf and the waterfall” – between maritime commerce and manufacturing – was over. The Cotton Mill, built in 1844 as the Hallowell Cotton Factory, initially relied on ships to carry cotton to its looms and coal to its steam plant, but soon switched to rail.
Soon, reliable transportation attracted other industries such as oilcloth factories, iron works, shoe factories, a sandpaper mill and The Heart Cure Co., a large mail order patent-medicine concern. The largest single employer, established after the Civil War, was the granite industry. For over 50 years, it employed close to 500 skilled stone cutters and sculptors, many of whom came from the British Isles, Spain and Italy. These artisans produced some of the finest public monuments and statuary found in America.
The 1850s also brought significant political change, and a significant loss of territory, to Hallowell. In 1797 the Massachusetts General Court voted to allow what is now Augusta to separate from Hallowell, and gave it approximately half of its 95 square mile area. Then other parts of the community sought their own identities and obtained legislative permission to break away. When Chelsea, Manchester and Farmingdale were created, Hallowell’s area was reduced to five square miles, transforming it into one of the smallest cities in the state.