ARMORY.
The military establishment consists of a fine State armory which cost $30,000 in which the “Standish Guards,” chartered in 1818, have their quarters. The “Guards” were one of the best companies in the dandy Fifth Regiment, and their past history in the Civil and Spanish wars is highly creditable. They were “Minute Men of 1861,” responding under Capt. Charles C. Doten on the first call for troops the morning of April 16, 1861, and with their regiment, then the Third Massachusetts, were the very first of any troops of the war, either National or Volunteer, to go within the rebel lines as they did when on the gunboat “Pawnee” they ran the rebel batteries and destroyed the Norfolk navy yard, and rescued the frigate “Cumberland” on the night of April 20, 1861. In the Spanish war, commanded by Capt. W. C. Butler, they were in camp in the South, but the regiment, the Fifth, was not sent to Cuba, while all the while in instant readiness for active service. Again, June 21, 1916, as company D of the Fifth, they at once responded to the call for state troops to defend the Mexican border, and splendidly maintained their patriotic record, under the command of Capt. Charles H. Robbins,—the Lieut. Col. of the regiment being their former commander, Capt. W. C. Butler. The company returned Oct. 21, 1916 and received a hearty welcome from the townspeople. As part of the National Guard, the company was mustered into the United States service for the European war, Aug. 8, 1917, under command of Capt. A. J. Carr, and with 141 men went into camp at Framingham, Aug. 17, where the 5th and 9th regiments were consolidated and became the 101st U. S. N. G. Infantry, in the 26th Division, embarking for service in Europe, Sept. 7, 1917.
Its Industries
The character of Plymouth’s industrial life has entirely changed within a half century. Within the memory of men now living, the time was when the town boasted a fleet of seventy-five fishermen, and enjoyed prestige as a fishing port. In common with other seaport towns of New England, this industry has departed, but thriving manufactories have risen in its place and coal barges and steamships are doing business at the port, superseding the old fishing schooners which once crowded the wharves or whitened the harbor with their sails.
Plymouth’s manufacturing industries show great diversity of character, and are exceedingly prosperous. The yearly value of their total product is not far from fifteen million dollars. The great cordage works at North Plymouth are the very largest concern of the kind in the world, employing above 2,000 hands, and have built up a flourishing corporation hamlet in that quarter of the town. Their manufacturing product is over $10,000,000 a year, and their big steamships bringing from Yucatan directly to Plymouth great cargoes of fibre as raw material, give the port, as one of foreign import, rank in Massachusetts over all other ports of the state directly next to Boston. There are three large mills engaged in the production of woolen and worsted cloths, one busy concern making rugs and mats, while three extensive factories keep many of Plymouth’s inhabitants employed in the manufacture of tacks, nails, and rivets. An iron foundry does a large business in stovemaking, and at Chiltonville there is a big branch plant of the Boston Woven Hose and Rubber Company, under Plymouth management which supports quite a village of its own. Besides these are the manufactories of insulated wire for electrical purposes, zinc and copper, saw gummers and swages, barrels, boxes, kegs and kits, and numerous smaller enterprises. The Plymouth Electric Light and Power Company furnishes current to several of these establishments, besides sending current to Kingston, Duxbury and Marshfield, Middleboro and Carver for domestic and street lighting. It also lights Plymouth, having in its circuits of the several towns, nearly 40 miles of wire. The Cape Cod Canal, on both sides for its entire length, is illuminated by the P. E. L. Co., through a special system of heavy aerial conductors comprising a circuit of about 30 miles.
Plymouth’s manufactured products bear an excellent name in the markets of the world, her cordage and woolen goods being particularly well known as of the very best character.
In 1912 the town granted to Andrew Kerr a large area of the sand flats in the harbor for propagation of clams, proving a good enterprise for the town. The herring fishery, employing many small boats each autumn at the mouth of the harbor, is also a productive industry of many thousands of dollars a season.
Of late years many Plymouth residents have engaged in cranberry culture on an extensive scale, and their ventures have been exceedingly profitable, amounting to about $400,000 yearly. Together with the adjoining town of Carver, which is still more extensively engaged in cranberry raising, the two towns produce more than one-fourth of the cranberries grown in the entire United States. An industry, which is of large proportions, is the raising of brook trout and spawn for the markets.