Patten’s Pond Area: An “Industrial Park” That Disappeared Long Ago

Patten’s Pond area in 1880. Mechanics Row at the top left hosted several manufacturing companies, and the mill building at the bottom, labeled “40,” stood near the site of today’s post office.

On your next visit to the Amesbury Post Office or the Family Dollar store on Main Street, gaze across the street to the picturesque little body of water called Patten’s Pond. On the right-hand (north) edge of the pond behind the foliage lies the quiet neighborhood of Mechanics Row. The area is an established feature of our city’s landscape, and so it’s natural to assume it has always looked as serene as it does now.

But a recent report by ACM Industrial Survey Team volunteer Mike Harrold reveals that this area was a busy “industrial park” in the late 1800s. Patten’s Pond itself was created for industrial purposes. It had been a lazy little stream called Moody’s Creek passing under Main Street on its way to merging with the Powow River near the bottom of Noel Street. Then in 1832, Main Street was raised to act as a dam, creating a mill pond for powering a mill that pressed oil from sunflower seeds. (The oil was used in cooking and paint-making.)

Mike’s report explains how the sunflower oil operation didn’t last long, and the site on the east side of Main Street (near today’s post office) eventually became Amesbury Woolen Co., a four-story brick building with extensions and outbuildings. Around the same time, manufacturing operations started to appear on nearby Mechanics Row, on the northern edge of the pond. Between the years of 1870 and 1928, Mechanics Row hosted several manufacturing companies with products that included carriages, wheels, metal castings, carriage-making machinery, thermometers, leatherboard, and iron carriage hardware.

Not much evidence of industry remains on Main Street or Mechanics Row today. The area quickly converted to residential and commercial use as carriage-making and associated industries declined in the 1890s. But thanks to Mike’s report, the history of its industrial beginnings has been preserved in the ACM archives.

Read the full report: “Factories of Patten’s Pond & Mechanics Row.”