The History of Harwich

1900-1950

Emily Jenkins

March 25, 2004

Block F

While changing in many respects, the way of life in Harwich, Massachusetts stayed the same to a certain extent between the years of 1900-1950. It became the home to a small, close-knit population as well as an abundance of summer visitors. The way of life in Harwich was one of hard work and family-oriented recreation. The main industries, tourism and cranberry harvesting, guaranteed a secure economy for the town’s inhabitants. The growth and prosperity that the seven villages of Harwich underwent during the first half of the twentieth century contributed to a beautiful community and provided for a fine quality of life for coming generations.

Harwich is located on the south side of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, with an extensive shoreline on Nantucket Sound (Town of Harwich). A part of Barnstable County, it is situated fifteen miles west of Hyannis along Route 28 (Harwich Massachusetts). Harwich was settled around 1665 and later incorporated in 1694 (Town of Harwich). The town is comprised of seven villages. They are North, South, East, West, Harwich Port, Pleasant Lake, and Harwich Center (Harwich Massachusetts). It was named by Queen Elizabeth after the English village called “Happy-go-lucky Harwich” (Harwich Massachusetts). This sister town was the home of the Mayflower, which has been rumored to have been made into a barn. One of the beams in the barn reads “ER HAR,” perhaps referring to the English port (Hennessey). Because of Harwich, Massachusetts’ location on the coast, it has been hit by many nor`easters and hurricanes. The most destructive hurricane hit in 1944, and German prisoners were brought in to repair the damage (Maloney, 94).

Education in Harwich from the beginning to mid 1900’s was a prime focus of the community, not unlike today. There were seven schools in Harwich that made it possible for students to not have to travel out of their villages in order to get an education (Monbleau, 12). There was the Pleasant Lake School, Harwich Port Grammar and Primary, the North Harwich School, two schools in East Harwich, the South Harwich School, and Harwich High School in Harwich Center. It consisted of two buildings, the Recreation Building and Brooks Academy (44). Harwich High School had only three teachers (12). Brooks Academy was formerly a seminary established by Sidney Brooks that was sold to the town for about $1,000.00 (34). The new high school, which is now the middle school, was built in 1937 (34). After the new high school was built, children in grades first through third attended Brooks Academy. It closed in 1949 when the elementary school was built (34-36). The small schools in the town made it a community effort with the parents in raising the children of Harwich.

Sports and recreation were year-round staples in the Harwich daily life. In 1927 or 1928, Harwich had its first football team. Some players had some equipment, and many of the boys were not prepared at all (Monbleau, 12). In the early twentieth century, locals and visitors alike also took advantage of the inviting beaches and mild weather. People from all over Cape Cod came to watch horse races at a racetrack that used to circle Wychmere Harbor (Maloney, 99). Sportfishing became popular among men and their families. Most men saw it as a recreational activity rather than a way to make a living (54). Boating also drew families in, and small and large yachts frequented Harwich waters (Maloney, 101). Families picnicked by the wharf on weekends and on pleasant spring and summer days (55). Watching sailboats on Pleasant Bay was a very popular family activity in good weather. Being tan was a sign of being a laborer, so in order to avoid getting a tan, women used umbrellas on these excursions (57). There were also a number of people who braved the chilly waters of Nantucket Sound for a swim, and ocean bathing became yet another water-oriented activity for townspeople and visitors (55). As the beaches got to be widely visited, facilities were needed in order to keep the beach and the water clean. The first public facilities for swimmers were built at Bank Street Beach (58). Summer was not the only time that people in Harwich had fun on the water. Winter was lively on Long Pond where ice-skating and ice-boating gained many participants (104). The ocean proved to be the main place families and friends congregated when not at school or work.

Harwich Center had always served as a place of character and meaning for the people of Harwich. It was where the main schools were, the main shops, and where all of the town business was taken care of. Through the early 1900's, Harwich Center retained its historical look of the 1870's. People in Harwich used to say that everything you needed, you could buy in Harwich Center. If you could not buy it there, you probably did not need it. There was a pharmacy and photographic studio, a shoe store, and a general store (69). Over the years, it also became the home to other shops, restaurants, and hardware stores. Harwich was the first town in Massachusetts to have a special day for honoring the community. A parade down Main Street in Harwich Center, sports contests, and a ball at the Exchange Building were the activities included in “Old Home Week” (Maloney, 96). The first cars in Harwich were purchased in about 1900-1901. An average trip to Boston took about seven hours (Monbleau, 12). Since many of the people of the town still used a horse and buggy, a town pump was installed with the help of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in order to provide relief for the horses (69). Caleb Chase, a Harwich resident, was a very wealthy and generous man who contributed a lot to Harwich as a society. He offered matching funds with the town and voters began building roads. The automobile era had begun in Harwich (78). Later, Chase also opened the Chase Public Library in West Harwich and made a large fund to help needy residents, which is still in effect today (79). In 1918, the first gasoline-powered engine was bought for $5,000.00. At that same time, a volunteer fire department was organized. More protection for the townspeople was ensured when in 1932, Harwich voters approved a police force and a single traffic light. Up until this time, the town had kept order with just one or two sheriffs (93). In 1935, voters also agreed to construct a municipal water system in order to help extinguish fires (92). The town was on its way to being not only safe, but safely protected.

One of the main men in the history of Harwich to contribute to the culture of the town did not give money; he gave art. A. Edward Crowell was a native Cape Codder who was a cranberry farmer like his father. He enjoyed carving things out of wood as a hobby, especially birds. He spent a lot of time in nature and enjoyed hunting. In 1912, Crowell went from cranberry farmer, hunter, and part time bird carver to carving full time. Crowell’s little workshop located in East Harwich generated about three hundred to four hundred carvings a year and was nationally recognized. The miniatures were sold for a few dollars each. A. Edward and his equally talented son achieved national fame for carving and painting the birds. Crowell stopped carving in 1939, but his pieces still exist and are occasionally sold for hundreds of dollars (Eastman).

The early economy of Harwich included maritime and agriculture. Its’ history has included boom and bust cycles from the community’s earliest days. The community’s economic emphasis shifted to cod fishing after the discovery of oil collapsed the whaling industry. The eventual decline of the fishing industry in Harwich, mainly cod and mackerel, was due to the fact that the port could no longer hold the boats coming in. They were increasing in size and could not be housed in Harwich (Town of Harwich). In 1860, 136 captains in Harwich had been respected and powerful. By 1900, only fourteen captains were left, some left commanding tugboats. That left only sixteen percent of Harwich men still making a living out of maritime trades (Maloney, 51). There were a couple of businesses left that thrived, however, even after the decline of maritime dependency. The Bank Street Fish Market was owned by Theophilus B. Baker Sr. (54). After World War II, the Snow family turned a failed lobster business into a successful retail operation that was called Thomson’s Clam Bar. During the summer season, Thompson’s grew crowds bigger than any other seafood restaurant around (O’Connell, 37-40).

Tourism became and remained one of the main sources of income for the town of Harwich. During the summer today, the population of Harwich triples (Harwich Massachusetts). This is due to the fact that in the beginning of the twentieth century, Harwich began to gain popularity with tourists and has grown as a resort community since. Visitors who came to Harwich enjoyed the fresh and saltwater beaches, fishing, sailing, and bird watching (Harwich Massachusetts). Visitors from all over Massachusetts and southern New England came to Cape Cod for summer vacations and it eventually drew in people from all over the nation, even the world. It was even sometimes referred to as “Hospitable Harwich” because of its laid back population, pleasant coastline, and hotel development that gave tourists luxurious or homey places to stay while they were there (O’Connell, 37). According to Caleb Chase, who loved to bring visitors to Harwich, the financial stability of the town depended on the utilization of its’ vacation attractions to make it known (Maloney, 78).

The first colony of vacation houses in Harwich developed around Salt Water Pond where a syndicate of Brooklyn investors bought the area around the pond and renamed it Wychmere Harbor. (O’Connell, 40) Just before the twentieth century, the Nobscussett House in Dennis influenced the construction of the Hotel Belmont in West Harwich-By-The-Sea on Nantucket Sound. The Belmont was the self-proclaimed “Aristocrat of Cape Cod Hotels” (37). One of the few Cape hotel sites directly overlooking Nantucket Sound, it was large and very luxurious. It retained much of its historical beauty and flavor until it was later demolished and rebuilt as modern, boxy condos. Other old-time Harwich hotels included the Melrose Inn and the Snow Inn. They both kept their nineteenth century historical styles (O’Connell, 37). Around 1900, W.H. Doble, the president of the Quincy Pneumatic Scale Corporation, purchased forty acres and an old farmhouse in West Harwich that he remodeled for his vacation home. Over a span of three decades, Doble built fourteen houses for his friends and family. The signature property was called Mill House. Old Mill Point was one of Harwich’s most fashionable residential developments (O’Connell, 40). The town boasted a low crime rate, and let potential summer visitors know that Harwich was a very safe town. The Wychmere prospectus said that “the Cape is completely out of the line of the travel of vagrants; the constable is idle, and even at night women and children can walk anywhere without fear of molestation” (40). The efforts of the town in keeping it safe had paid off.

One of the first things to come to the mind of a Harwich resident when asked about the town’s economy is cranberries. Cranberries are still the town’s main export and were the livelihood of many families in the twentieth century. Harwich used the cranberry crop as means of reversing a declining economy (Maloney, 61). The first commercial cranberry bogs in the country were in Pleasant Lake. Alvin Cahoon was the first man to sell a crop of cranberries (Monbleau, 94). In the early 1930’s, cranberry growing became a passion. Alvin Cahoon, Cyrus Cahoon, Zebina Small, Nathaniel Doane, Abiathar Doane, and Nathaniel Robbins were all chief growers in Harwich (Cranberry Harvest, 28). In order for many people to remain employed during the time, they had to harvest cranberries. The work was shared in entire families and the whole community (Maloney, 67). In the fall, Harwich schools were suspended so that children could help their parents pick berries (Maloney, 61). The harvest became a tradition in families and a special time for people, especially children. The elders in their families would sing, and tell jokes and stories during the work (Cranberry Harvest, 100-101).

It was not easy work, however. During the cranberry harvest, pickers were assigned to rows marked off by cords. They used simple scoopers or their hands and were paid by the weight of buckets picked (Maloney, 62). The harvesting method that was the least damaging to the berries and vines was handpicking with palms up and fingers spread and slightly bent (Cranberry Harvest, 64). When picking cranberries, women wore a bonnet and a neck protector to keep away the mosquitoes. Pickers also protected their legs by wrapping them in burlap (Maloney, 62). Along with the townspeople, many immigrants participated in the picking. Cape Verdeans who immigrated to Cape Cod made a living by harvesting cranberries in Harwich. They were paid once at the end of the season and lived on credit during the season (Cranberry Harvest, 100) On the bogs, single men stayed in shacks or “shanties” that were overcrowded and workers had to gather their own firewood, provide their own food, cook it, and sleep on straw or flimsy mattresses (100). One observer in 1936 said, “These normals pitched their tents or erected rough cabins in the vicinity and went from bog to bog, as long as there were cranberries ripe for the harvest and not yet killed by the frost” (68). The owner or his designee watched to make sure that the harvesters picked every last berry and did not spoil the fruit in transit (Maloney, 63). Floaters were unharvested cranberries that could be salvaged after picking when the bog was flooded. In the early twentieth century, boys would get the floaters and keep half of the value and the other half went to the growers (66). The berries were carefully carried in 100-pound barrels to screening sheds. Although harvesters were responsible for cleaning their berries, screeners removed damaged fruit to prevent the others from becoming spoiled (Maloney, 64). Cranberries were brought onshore on rail cars or hand-pulled wheel carts. From the bog to boxes to the shore, they were taken to the screen houses (Cranberry Harvest, 72-73). After the cranberries were sorted, usually by elderly residents, they were ready to be shipped to major urban markets (Maloney, 65). Cranberries were said to have medicinal value, especially in the prevention of scurvy, and this attracted buyers. Indians had another interesting use for the berries; after they were dried, they molded them with fatty meat into cakes as an early version of the “energy bar” (68). Both the cranberry and tourist industries remained substantial parts of Harwich’s economy throughout the 1900's.

Quite possibly one of the most important parts of Harwich’s history is one of the most forgotten. The Harwich Exchange was once located on the corner of Pleasant Lake Avenue (Route 124) and Main Street (Route 39) in Harwich Center (Dumas). It was built, burned down, and rebuilt in the nineteenth century, and stood all throughout the time period between 1900-1950 (Doane, 5). The rebuilt Exchange cost $40,000.00 to build and was 58 feet by 100 feet and 104 feet tall. Samuel Small was a Cape Codder who was an architect in Boston and he designed the edifice. The foundation for the Exchange was made from Brewster stone and there were 100,000 West Barnstable bricks were used on the first floor. The Victorian-style building had carved ornamentation, a brick and wood exterior, a columned piazza, iron urns at four corners on the roof, French and German plate glass windows, and a rooftop cupola (Dumas). The cupola was 104 feet above the ground (Doane, 16). It was used as a fire watch tower. During World War II, it was used as a lookout for enemy submarines and ships. The cupola could be seen by ships off the coast of Chatham. A state inspector from the time period said that the Exchange, “was built in every particular to conform with the building rules for a city block and unnecessarily strong for a county building” (Dumas). By building the Exchange, Harwich had achieved the tallest and finest structure in Barnstable County (Doane, 16).

The Harwich Exchange served many different purposes. These included balls, concerts, lectures, and amateur plays (Doane, 16). The first floor contained stores, an auditorium was on the second floor, and on the third floor was a skating rink. The auditorium was the largest on Cape Cod and could seat 800 people (Dumas). The Harwich Junior Theater was established in the Exchange Hall by Betty Bobp (Monbleau, 170). Harwich High School began to have their graduation ceremonies there because of its beauty and magnificence (Doane, 12). The Harwich Exchange was a very important and meaningful part of many resident’s lives, not just in Harwich, but on all of Cape Cod. People came from all around to watch plays and participate in activities, and a special excursion train was put on to Sandwich after performances on Wednesday evenings (Doane, 16). The Exchange was eventually demolished after the mid-1900's because of new tastes in architecture, maintenance and repair costs, lack of parking, and a reluctance to climb the old, carefully constructed stairs (Doane, 16).

The years between 1900-1950 were very important in the shaping of Harwich, Massachusetts. The culture and industry that developed during that time had a lasting impact on the town and made it what it is for today’s residents. Harwich retains its shoreline beauty, industrial success, and family-oriented way of life it was known for in the first half of the twentieth century.

WORKS CITED

Cranberry Harvest: A History of Cranberry Growing in Massachusetts. New Bedford, MA: Spinner Publications, 1990.

Doane, Virginia S. The Birth of a Building. Cape Cod, MA: Jack Viall, 1965

Dumas, Carol K. “The Exchange Building: A Local Landmark Lost.” The Cape Codder 2 October 1992.

Eastman, Peggy. “From Cranberries to Craftsmanship.” Cape Cod Times 13 June 1992.

“Harwich Massachusetts” 1 Mar. 2004 <http://ohwy.com/ma/h/harwich.htm>

Hennessey, Gail. “Mayflower Mystery: Was the Pilgrim’s Ship Recycled into a Barn?” Time For Kids 16 Nov. 2001: 7

Maloney, Joan M. Images of America: Harwich. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2001.

Monbleau, Marcia J. At Home: Harwich Cape Cod Massachusetts. 1993.

O’Connell, James C. Becoming Cape Cod: Creating a Seaside Resort. NH: University Press of New England, 2003

“Town of Harwich Massachusetts” 1 Mar. 2004 <http://www.harwichmarealestate.com/Harwich.html>