The last half of the nineteenth century saw a dizzying array of mills being built, some changing hands every three or four years. About 1850, the Coombs saw mill became the Ellis Saw Company, purchased in turn by Mr. A B Bates who sold the firm to Hubbard and Blake about 1865. Further details of this business follow. These mills at Coombs's Dam were sold to Dustin and Hubbard in 1887.
Also at the Coombs's Dam between Winslow's tannery and the grist mill, Lyon, Bragg and Hubbard built a woodworking and jobber's shop which was sold to Dustin and Hubbard in 1887.
Coombs's gristmill, bought by Thomas in 1836 as mentioned earlier, was sold respectively to Silas H and Edwin Bailey (1856) who replaced the mill after the original had been carried away by a flood; Joshua Bowman was the next owner (date unknown), selling to Blaisdell and Wheeler, then to Samuel Blaisdell, to Dustin and Hubbard in 1887, and then to (D F) McLure and Danforth in 1887, and D F McLure, who operated it until 1894. At one point, 1878 to 1880, E A Bailey and Son operated the gristmill.
Winslow's tannery, 1836, was sold to Alvin Atwood, 1864, Horace Parlin, 1867, A J Libby who converted it to a shingle mill, then to Dustin Hubbard in 1887.
The Dustin and Hubbard Manufacturing Company organized in 1887, the founders being Frank E Dustin, George A Dustin, W H Dustin, John U Hubbard, George W Hubbard, J B Newhall, and George H Bryant. This firm purchased the Hubbard and Blake mill, as well as the mills of Lyon, Hubbard and Bragg (1885-86); A J Libby; and Blaisdell's grist mill, then owned by Mrs. Samuel Blaisdell. These latter mills are descended from the oldest mills along the stream, having undergone many changes.
H C Winslow manufactured harnesses here in 1882, and was succeeded in business by A Winslow Co, operating from 1884 to 1922, one of the last industries on this dam.
The firm grew rapidly, did much business and then declined as quickly as it rose, having been in operation only five years, from 1887 to 1892. They controlled all the water power at the Coombs's Dam but Kingsbury wrote, "After several years of activity and apparent prosperity, this company met with financial difficulties, and is now doing but little business."
Dustin and Hubbard sold to the Oakland Machine Company in 1892, which in turn sold to the Oakland Woolen Company in 1902, operating until 1915. This firm was building a mill there in that year, the smokestack of which was still standing in 1973, though taken down several years later. The Oakland Woolen Company was owned later by American Woolen of Vassalboro which operated the mill from 1916 to 1933. The American Woolen Company itself went out of business in 1956.