The house at 17 County Street

The house at 17 County Street is on the site where Major General Daniel Dennison built his home in the early 1600’s, but which burned after 25 years. The present house was originally built as a mill near the EBSCO dam in 1843. The building has two historic names, Hoyt’s Veneer Mill, and Perkins & Daniels Stocking Factory.

Joseph Felt wrote, “The old saw mill fell into ruin, but a new building for veneer sawing was built by Mr. Benjamin C. Hoyt, about 1843. This was removed by Mr. James M. Wellington about the year 1859, to its present location on County Street.

Thomas Franklin Waters confirms and adds more in Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony: “Benjamin E. Hoyt had a mill for sawing veneers on the east end of the dam (the EBSCO dam) which was afterward removed by James Wellington to a location on County Street and was used for many years as a shoe factory by Wellington and Daniels in the upper story, and by Wellington for a dwelling house.”

The Perkins and Daniels Shoe Shop started in this small house on Summer Street, shown above, which no longer stands.

The Agawam Manual and Directory tells us that Farley & Daniels succeeded Perkins & Daniels in 1884. The photo on the right shows workers at their store which was located on Market Street. The tall older man in the front row is Richard Daniels.