Bovina Business, 1855

This entry first appeared in the Bovina UP Church Community Newsletter in February 2008. I will be doing other entries about Bovina businesses during the year, so I thought it made sense to repeat it here. And I'm submitting this while once again sitting in Russell's Store!

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Bovina for much of its history has been known as a farming community. But one cannot live by bread (or for most Bovina farmers, milk) alone. Farmers and non-farmers alike needed clothing and shoes. They needed materials to build houses and barns. And they needed some way to make some of their products useful. The 1855 New York State Census included a census of local businesses, providing a look at the kinds of businesses Bovina had in its 35th year of existence.

Bovina had abundant water power, allowing for a number of mills. Mills for grinding grain into flour and cutting lumber into boards. In 1855, Adam Scott and Thomas W. Dennis had grist mills. Each had on hand about 4000 bushels of grain worth about $3000 in 1855. The grain was converted into about 4000 pounds of flour and meal annually. Not wishing to use their water power just for making grain, Mr. Dennis and Mr. Scott also had lumber mills. Dennis’s grist and saw mills were located about where the town sheds are today, across from the residence of Pat and Hugh Lee. This was the site of the first mill in the hamlet, erected about 1800 by Alexander Brush.

One likely user of the lumber was John Johnston, who made wagons and sleighs. And since a wagon could not be constructed totally of wood, Johnston also was a blacksmith. Johnston had some competition, in both blacksmithing and wagon making, from Stephen Russell, William M. Miller and a Mr. McPherson. Bovina also boasted a wheelwright, Andrew Boyd. For harnesses, one could go to Charles R. Lee, where a harness set would cost about $27.

Transportation wasn’t the only need of Bovina residents. In 1855, Bovina had a number of people to help supply clothing and footwear needs. Mary Johnston had a woolen factory, where she had two men earning $20 a month and one woman (possibly her) earning $5 a month. The factory included a carding mill for preparing the wool, a fulling mill for its weaving, and a woolen mill for making the garments. It appears that this later became the Bovina Woolen Mills, under the proprietorship of her son, Thomas H. Johnson. Johnson’s factory was at the Butt End, located where Robert Scott built for Matthew Russell a grist-mill in 1801. Charles R. Lee was a clothier and also supplied cloth and carded wool.

One possible user of all this wool was John Phyfe. Phyfe was the local tailor, producing annually about 100 each of coats, vests and pantaloons. For finer articles, such as hats, bonnets and the like, there was a milliner, Mrs. Phyfe, probably the wife of John Phyfe. To protect the feet, Bovina had several shoemakers in 1855, including William Boggs, Robert Sloan and William Lull. They made both boots and shoes. Boots tended to outsell shoes by more than two to one. Mr. Lull didn’t have to go far for his leather. He also operated a tannery, which required some water power. Mr. Sloan’s shoe store was in present day Bovina Center, kitty corner from Hilson’s Store.

This 1855 census did not reflect stores, but in 1869, the hamlet of Bovina Center, then known as Brushland, had three stores, run by J. Elliot, T. M. Hastings (what is now Russells Store), and J.K. Hood.

Given that Bovina’s population during this time was only about double what it is today, it may seem surprising to see so many more businesses. One must keep in mind that during the mid to late 19th century, Bovina had no railroads and that the roads were mostly rough dirt. Travel was by horse, wagon or foot. Citizens of the town were not too likely to go very far to purchase clothing and footwear or to have their grain made into flour. They had to rely mostly on their local businesses. It would be several decades before transport and roads would allow Bovina residents the option of going to Andes, Delhi, Oneonta or beyond for their purchasing needs.