Stout Building - Wakefield Rattan Company, circa 1866
Description:
"The rattan industry was established by Cyrus Wakefield sometime in the 1830s or 1840s. In 1855, Cyrus Wakefield, a resident of the Town of South Reading, brought his growing enterprise to South Reading. He purchased property on Water Street, 'a short distance east of the Center Depot,' which consisted of two mill ponds, one on each side of the road, and a few small buildings which had been used for various manufacturing purposes. The Stout Building, a cane a rattan shop, was named after Richard S. Stout, one of Wakefield's foremost citizens and a large stockholder in the company. He was the superintendent of this department, a position which was later held by his son, George H. Stout. The building was destroyed in the great fire of 1881, which destroyed all original buildings, with the exception of a large, long wooden building near the Vernon Street side of the property. Damage was estimated to be $190,000 and the company went on to rebuild, eventially becoming the largest rattan business in the nation." -- Text from calendar by Jayne M. D'Onofrio. Image from the Wakefield Municipal Gas and Light Department annual calendar, 1999 Photo courtesy of the Wakefield Item Company.
