Whitney Source: Leominster, Massachusetts, Historical & Picturesque - by William Andrew Emerson (excerpt - from full book online with Google Books Online) p.288 Leominster, Historical & Picturesque. In June 1886, Mr. Whitney determined to build a new factory for the still further increase and accommodation of the business. It is of brick, finely finished and furnished throughout. The building is four stories high in the main part and 136 feet long and 35 feet wide. The engine and boiler house is in the the rear of this part and is 26 feet by 40; it contains one of the finest engines in town. In this building the rooms face the south, are light, airy and pleasant. Nothing is lacking, which could make work healthy and comfortable. The upper floor is used for storing goods. The principal building has a front projection 24 by 33 feet. Here on the first floor is the business and a private consultation office. On the same floor is a room fitted up for use in case any of there operatives should be sick or meet with an accident. etc. etc. The means for extinguishing fire and the sanitary arrangements are as perfect as they could possibly be made. In deed, whatever Mr. Whitney undertakes, he may be trusts to finish in the most complete and thorough manner. Every room in these buildings speak of comfort and convenience. etc. ************************************** AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com.

I was born and raised in Leominster and can still remember the Whitney "Mansion" in which F. A. Whitney resided. The following is from my notes on him in my data base: Francis A. Whitney was born in Westminster, MA. He came to Leominster, MA at the age of twenty or thereabouts, and for a few months worked as a mechanic in the piano business. Then in company with F. W. Whitney he began the manufacture of children's carriages under the name of F. A. Whitney Carriage Company. Beginning in a small room, rented on the upper floor of an old factory, the business gradually increased until it became the largest children's carriage concern in the United States. Various changes occurred in the business at different times. About 1870 he bought out F. W., ran it a few years alone and then formed a corporation, of which he became president and held a majority of the stock. The firm employed 150 to 200 hands and manufactured about 40,000 carriages a year, which were sent even to Australia. He also began the manufacture of shirts in Leominster in company with a Mr. Gaines, a young man acquainted with the details of the business. They became, probably, the largest manufacturer of shirts in the United States at that time. They employed about 700 hands and manufactured 600 to 800 dozen (7,200 to 9,600) shirts a day. Their business amounted to about $1,000,000 a year. He was, as might readily be imagined, perhaps the most prominent and wealthy man in the town of Leominster. He gave large sums of money to the Church there and to other benevolences, and was held in the most universal esteem and affection as a benefactor of the poor and a public spirited citizen. His relations with his employees were especially harmonious and actuated by a mutual regard. He was several times asked to accept public office, but always refused to become a candidate and kept entirely aloof from political affairs.