Business at Savage Manufacturing

Once the Williams family acquired the land as the primary investors of the Savage Manufacturing Company, the Williams family needed to find the equipment.  What they lacked in knowledge about cotton manufacturing wasn’t a problem due to their considerable business acumen.  They turned to Dean Walker from Medway, Massachusetts, the son of machinist and miller Comfort Walker. 

Dean was living in the center of the cotton manufacturing boon and was soon an expert in making spinning equipment and the other basic needs for a cotton manufacturer.  He agreed to set forth Baltimore in the early part of 1824 and started a manufacturing business at Savage Factory where he supervised the construction of cotton machinery. 

To accommodate the expense of the foundry for making the machinery and a bleachery for the textile products (shirting and sheeting), Savage Manufacturing Company needed more funds so they borrowed $12,000 from the Bank of Baltimore in March of 1824 for “operational expansion”.  By the end of the year the Factory was operating 1,800 spindles, 120 power looms and employed 200 persons ranking among the most active in the Baltimore area.  

Dean Walker remained at Savage Factory until 1827-1828 when he purchased the Franklinville Factory in Harford County.  At the end of 1826, Savage Manufacturing Company borrowed $15,000 from the estate of a friend, Robert Watson .

In March 1828, it was announced that Daniel Hack would carry on the work of Dean Walker, including the contracts for manufacturing. Savage Factory not only carried out cotton duck manufacturing but they also had a bleaching operation, sawmill, grist mill, and iron foundry for making irons molds to build machinery.  Daniel Hack continued in this role until about May 1831 when the partnership with Hack and Amos Williams was dissolved. 

Horace Capron who grew up in a cotton manufacturing family, came to Savage Factory after his employment at Warren Factory on the Little Gunpowder River ended due to a June 1830 fire at that facility.  Capron was asked to modernize the interaction of the gears and orientation of the machinery to make it more efficient and durable.  Much was done at Savage Factory during his tenure and Amos Williams took advantage of the Factory’s growth before Capron left in 1836 for Laurel and Thomas Lansdale came to Savage.  By 1838 Lansdale was superintendent of the cotton machinery manufacturing, was postmaster in 1840, and left in 1842 to be the superintendent of Triadelphia's cotton mill operations.  While at Savage, Lansdale was focused on manufacturing and extremely supportive of building the blast furnace to try to expand that business, but it was rarely used.