The Rochester Iron Works were established in 1865 to manufacture and repair steam engines and provide other machining and foundry services. The Works were owned and operated by Charles Allaire, Edward Chapman and William Purcis, and were located near First Street and First Avenue Southwest in Rochester, Minnesota.

In 1869 the business was taken over by David Dexter "Dexter" Livermore. Dexter Livermore's son, Frederick Dexter "Fred" Livermore, had trained as a printer but changed to being a founder and machinist, and took over his father's business in 1873, operating it as F. D. Livermore. By 1880 the Works' product mix included "Canedy's Anvil and Vise", patented by William E. Canedy. It appears that Canedy eventually took over manufacture/selling of his anvil-vise, while maintaining a cordial relationship with Livermore.

Ad from 1880 Minnesota Directory & Gazetteer

Dexter Livermore died in 1883; up until that time Frederick had been living with him (Frederick's mother had died when he was still a child). In 1884 Livermore and Canedy became junior partners in a business that made hay machinery, the Gleason Manufacturing Co. Frederick would get married in 1885 at age 44, though he would never have children. In 1889 Canedy moved to the Chicago area where he operated as Canedy & Edwards and then Canedy-Otto Manufacturing Co., which would go on to great success.

At the Rochester Iron Works, manufacture of steam engine business seems to have continued in a low-key way for years, but elevators and dumb-waiters gradually becoming, by about 1900, the major portion of the business. In 1902 Livermore sold the Works to George M. Marquardt, Jr., and Howard Lull. By this time they were no longer manufacturing anything of interest to this Vintage Machinery website; the subsequent history can be found in the excellent 2017 book, Lost Rochester, Minnesota, by Amy Jo Hahn.

Information Sources

• 1874-01-31 Scientific American, in the Business and Personal column, page 75.

  Machinist wanted, with some Capital, to take an interest in an established Foundry and Machine Shop. Address F. D. Livermore, Rochester, Minn.

• 1878 Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana Gazetteer and Directory, page 471, lists "Livermore Frederick D, founder and machinist, 4th and Oak."
• 1879-11-15 American Machinist, page 7, prints a letter from F. D. Livermore, Iron Founder and Machinist, Rochester, Minn., describing a method of driving pulleys, "devised by Mr. C. W. Streetes in my employ".
• 1882-05-05 The Northwestern Miller, page 293. "F. D. Livermore, of Rochester, Minn., has the contract for furnishing the machinery for the new elevator at Eau Claire, Wis."
• 1883 book History of Winona, Olmsted & Dodge Counties, (via a GenealogyTrails.com page), describing the effects of "The Cyclone of 1883": "The east wall of F. D. Livermore's foundry office was blown out, and the roof driven through the boiler shop."
• 1884 Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana Gazetteer and Business Directory, page 578. "Gleason Manufacturing Co (Wm E. Canedy Pres, J M Wilson Vice-Pres, Frederick D Livermore Sec and Treas, E P Gleason Supt), Mnfrs Hay Machinery."
• 1884-03-03 The St. Paul Daily Globe, page 8, "Rochester" column: "W. E. Canedey and F. D. Livermore have returned from Chicago, where they have been for the past ten days."
• 1885-04-10 Little Falls Transcript (via a GenealogyTrails.com page): "At Rochester fire damaged F.D. Livermore's iron foundry to the extent of $500."
• 1900-01-06 Improvement Bulletin (Volume 21 page 10).

  Rochester's Iron Industry

  In a recent write-up of the flourishing city of Rochester, Minn., and its citizens and enterprises the St. Paul Pioneer Press has this to say of F. D. Livermore and the Rochester Iron Works:

  Mr. F. D. Livermore, proprietor of the Rochester Iron Works, was born in New York City in 1841; came West in 1856 and settled in Rochester, Minn., where he learned the printing trade on the local paper. In 1862 he went to St. Paul and was a compositor on the Pioneer and Press for a few months, thence going to New York City. In 1869 he returned to Rochester, Minn., where he has ever since been engaged as an iron founder and machinist. His leading specialties are elevators and dumb waiters. His direct-acting hydraulic elevator, adapted both for fast passenger service and heavy freight work, is the simplest, safest, most compact and durable on the market, the cheapest to erect and the cheapest to operate, is noiseless, and needs no care except occasional lubricating of plunger and renewing of worn-out packing. The "Ideal" hydraulic dumb waiter is another specialty, and is peculiarly adapted to hospitals, hotels, clubs, restaurants and other places where food or supplies are to be raised to various heights, and this without the labor of pulling up the waiter by hand, as a pull on the operating rod puts the machinery in motion, and is stopped automatically at top and bottom of the run.

• 1902 book The Livermore Family of America, page 198.

  David Dexter Livermore...was born Aug. 6 1812, in Spencer; died Oct. 4, 1883, in Rochester, Minn... Children, born in New York City:
  i. Frederick Dexter, b. Mar. 9, 1841; m. Nov. 4, 1885, in Rochester, Mary Catherine, dau. of Horace and Anna (Chauncy) Cook, b. there Aug. 1858. He was educated in New York City and lived with his father until his death. He is now proprietor of the Rochester (Minn.) Iron Works, corner Fourth and Oak streets, manufacturing engines and boilers. No children. ...

• A 2008 environmental assessment by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (PDF).

  Dison's Cleaners/Former Foundry is located at 214 North Broadway... The property was also the former location of an historic foundry (Rochester Iron Works), as indicated on historical fire insurance maps from 1904, 1914, 1920, and 1928...

• 2017 book Lost Rochester, Minnesota, by Amy Jo Hahn. "Rochester Iron Works produced steam engines and grain-elevating machinery. Dexter Livermore bought the business in 1869. His son Fred took over in 1873.".

  Rochester Iron Works

  By the late nineteenth century, the city's mills had at least one steam engine used for backup in case water power supplied from the river was weak or nonexistent... Charles Allaire, Edward Chapman and William Purcis saw a lucrative business opportunity and were the first owners of the Rochester Iron Works. Built in 1865, the business included a machine shop and foundry and was located in the vicinity of First Street and First Avenue Southwest.

  In the 1871 Rochester Business Directory, an ad for Rochester Iron Works highlighted some of its services and products, including having iron founders and machinists and dealing in millstones, bolting cloths and separators. The ad also stated, "We manufacture and repair steam engines, mill machinery, threshing machines, horse powers, iron railings...and iron and brass castings of all kinds."

  A June 25, 1881 Rochester Iron Works receipt lists the company's services on the upper left side, which included "grain elevator machinery, boilers and engines, horse powers, shafting, pulleys, hangings, Monarch windmills, iron and wood pumps, iron and brass cylinders, pipes and fittings and iron and brass castings."...

  Dexter Livermore bought the business in 1869. His son Fred took over in 1873. In 1902, Livermore sold the business to George M. Marquardt Jr. and Howard Lull. The men decided a larger facility was needed. They purchased property and erected a large building and foundry at Second Street Northeast, just off Broadway near the Chicago and North Western rail tracks...