Peabody Narratives

Peabody's Leather Industry

The earliest references to the leather industry in this area was in 1638 when the General Court issued a memorandum “To remember to barke the second month for the tanning of diverse hides to come.” Trees were cut and stripped of their bark for that purpose. The General Court in 1640 ordered that hides and skins of animals, whether secured by casualty or slaughter, should be preserved and dried, tanned and dressed. The first tanner in the area was Philemon Dickerson who was granted land “to make tan pits and to dress goat skins and hides” in 1639. The first tanners in Peabody were Joseph Boyce and John Burton. John Burton was credited with having the first tan vat in Peabody in 1661, located north of Andover Street near the railroad bridge.

According to historians, the Indians were the first to discover that Peabody was good for tanning and dressing the skins of fur animals because of the qualities of its water. The first white settlers in 1630 traded with them by giving beads, hatchets, and fishhooks in exchange for furs and peltry. The early farmers and settlers also took the hides of animals they raised and finished the leather for their own use. The water in the ponds and brooks of Peabody was especially adapted to the manufacture of leather. Because of this, Peabody was destined to become the world’s largest producer of leather.

Tanning progressed slowly up to the time of the Revolution. In early manufacturing many a settler sank an old boat in his farmyard and finished the old cowhide. They also tanned the skins of moose, bears, wolves, deer, and other animals. The leather went into shoes, harness, and clothing. Leather breeches were commonly worn, as were coats, and there were also “peti skirts” for fishermen and farmers made of leather. Wash leather was made into leggings.

There was a brisk trade between the people of Peabody and the northern settlements. It was a common sight in winter for great sleds from towns and villages in New Hampshire and Vermont to appear in Peabody. They were filled with butter and eggs, great piles of sheepskins, and dry hides. That merchandise was exchanged for West India goods and salt fish, earthenware and leather, the products through which Peabody became famous throughout the East.

The early tanneries were somewhat primitive by modern standards, and the beam houses were without warmth or comfort. As late as the 1850s, it was the custom for the tan yards to be without covering; in winter, it often required a half-day’s work to chop the covering from a pit. In 1835, some 3,500 tan vats in town tanned 140,000 sides of leather. The introduction of steam boilers and the invention of the splitting machine revolutionized the leather industry in 1840.

As the old-time tanners dropped out, they were replaced by new blood with more modern ideas. By 1855, the leather industry had become the chief industry of Peabody. There were then 27 tanneries and 24 currying establishments. By 1860 the value of manufactured products in Peabody totaled $2,843,000 of which $1,610,000 was in leather. The average yearly pay of a leather worker in 1860 was $375 a year. The leather industry by 1865 employed 542, had a capital of $761,000 and a valuation of products of $3,028,000. It produced a total of 327,656 sides of leather, and 498,000 skins of morocco bindings. Peabody was a well diversified industrial community in that period.

From City of Peabody, MA Official Website - www.ci.peabody.ma.us