Listed in the 1874 work, Wiley's American iron trade manual of the leading iron industries of the United States: "Iron foundry, steam engines, saw-mill machinery. Established 1842. Employ 50 hands."
We have found 1842 and 1851 patents granted to Franklin Muzzy of Bangor, ME, for shingle mills. Franklin Muzzy was an important figure in Maine politics, rising to the level of President of the Senate. An excellent article by Carol Toner, and appearing in Vol. 30 of the Maine Historical Society Quarterly, provides more details on Muzzy's life and work as a builder and businessman.
According to Toner, Muzzy had an early business partner, A. A. Wing, who was probably a more senior machinist; they operated as Muzzy and Wing Machine Works. Their operations moved from Bucksport to Bangor in the early 1830s. They made "sawmill and farm machinery as well as stoves and other ironware for residential needs."
The Muzzy Iron Works, on Franklin street, were incorporated in 1867, with a capital of $100,000. The buildings occupied by them are of brick and of the following dimensions: — The first is three stories, 40x120 feet, and used as a machine shop ; the second is a foundry, one story high, 40 X 86 feet ; and the third three stories, 40 x 50 feet, used as a store house. They employ fifty-five hands in the manufacture of machinery of all kinds, and pay especial attention to lumber machinery. Their machinery is driven by a steam engine of thirty-five horse power, with a tubular boiler of thirty-five horse power, built by this company. The business was established in 1830 by Franklin Muzzy. The office is on Central Street.
Information Sources
- According to a research paper from Old Sturbridge Village, the Baker Library at Harvard University has an 1834 Daniel B. Hinckley manuscript involving a clapboard machine made by Hinckley, Franklin Muzzy, and Nathan Perry. They were located in Bangor at that time.
- 1859 The Bangor, Brewer and Penobscot County Directory, by Augustus C. Smith, lists under Engine Builders, "Muzzy, F. & Co., 8 central".
- Volume 2 of the 1864 book, A History of American Manufactures from 1608 to 1860, by E. T. Freedley and E. Young, mentions "Franklin Muzzy & Co." as a machine shop in Bangor.
- Webb's New England Statistical Gazetteer,1869, pg. 38