Industrilization By bobthecop Mar 18, 1680 1st mill in Westford - saw and grist mill - is erected Near Nab Pond on Saw Mill Brook Mar 18, 1680 Jonas Prescott given a land grant on Forge Pond and builds a corn/grist mill Mar 18, 1710 First of 5 iron forges erected in Forge Village{the 4th or 5th earliest in new England} Mar 18, 1724 Fullling mill built at Brookside - stays in business for 140 years Mar 18, 1729 Incorporation of Westford Mar 18, 1796 Construction of Middlesex and Pawtucket Canas finished Mar 18, 1823 Isaac Carkin opens the Oak Hill Quarry - the first quarry in Westford Mar 18, 1823 Charles Hollis hews granite from boulders in town and hauls them to Boston - unofficial beginning of the granite industry in Westford Mar 18, 1823 Benjimen Palmer comes from Maine-buys 80 acres of land-opensa quarry {stays in buisness for almost 100 years} Mar 18, 1826 Incorporation of Lowell Mar 18, 1835 Opening of the Boston and Lowell Rail Road Mar 18, 1840 Forge Village Nail Company is bought out by the Abbot Worsted Comapny Mar 18, 1847 Opening of the Nashua and Lowell Rail Road Mar 18, 1848 Opening of the Stony Brook Rail Road Mar 18, 1848 Official opening of the Stony Brook Rail Road (leased and used by the Nashua & Loweel Rail Road) Apr 18, 1848 Opening of the H.E. Fletcher Company Quarry Mar 18, 1854 Charles G. Sargent and Frnacis A. Calvert buy Thomas Richardson's saw/grist mill in Graniteville and open the C.G. Sargents and Sons Company Mar 18, 1862 Moore Brothers buy the main mill in Brookside and convert it to the manufacture of yarn Mar 18, 1864 Thomas Hittinger buys the picnic area of Forge Pond and expands his ice buisnesss ot Westford Mar 18, 1865 Forge Village Nail Company formed-buys land and water rights of the iron forges{thus ending iron industry in Westford} Mar 18, 1872 Opening of the Framingham and Lowell Rail Road Mar 18, 1873 Opening of the Nashua, Acton, and Boston Rail Road Mar 18, 1879 Abbot and Company comes into existence and begins the manufacture of carpet yarns in Graniteville Mar 18, 1887 Boston and Maine Rail Road takes over lease of the Stony Brook Railroad Mar 18, 1895 Opening of the H.E. Fletcher Rail Road Mar 18, 1925 Closing of the Nashua, Acton, and Boston Rail Road Mar 18, 1953 Final local and regional passenger trains on the Stony Brook Rail Road Mar 18, 1957 Abbot Worsted Mill landand buildings bought by the Murray Printing Company Mar 18, 1974 Closing of the Framingham and Lowell Rail Road
