Fred R. Patch

Photograph of Patch from the Rutland Historical Society Quarterly publication on his life (1993)

A Unique Perspective

Patch began as a millwright for the Vermont Marble Co. and eventually became Patch of Patch-Wegner; a huge manufacturing company specializing in marble machinery. Much of Patch's experience at every level of the marble industry and his interest in both marble-working machinery and the history of the region makes his first hand accounts incredibly valuable in better understanding what it was like working for the mills and in the Rutland area during the Vermont Marble Co.'s peak.

Patch's report on the marble industry and his correspondence with Otto Johnson regarding the history of Proctor can be found in the Proctoriana collection of the Vermont Historical Society's archives in Barre, VT.

Fred R. Patch was born in 1853 in Rutland, VT. His family moved to Sutherland Falls in 1865 where his father was a builder-contractor. Patch began working after a few years in a variety of jobs at the local marble mills, becoming acquainted with the industry. In 1870, following the organization of the Vermont Marble Co. by Redfield Proctor, Patch went to work for the company.

Section view of early marble mill as designed by Patch and his father

Throughout his time at the marble company, Patch used his knowledge of the industry to work with his father to design more efficient systems for mills and transporting marble around quarry sites, quickly rising to superintendent and then chief engineer.

In 1890, Patch left the Vermont Marble Co. and became superintendent of the Sheldon Marble Co. in West Rutland. When the Vermont Marble Co. overtook Sheldon Marble Co. a year later, he left again.

In 1891, in partnership with George and Newman Chaffee, Patch bought the foundry and machine shop of Mansfield and Stimson in Rutland and became manager of F.R. Patch Manufacturing Company. Designing, building, and selling marble milling machines with his knowledge of machinery after years in the industry made the company almost immediately successful.

Patch's manufacturing company expanded several times before merging with Julius Wegner Machine Works in 1927. By 1928, Patch-Wegner Manufacturing became the largest business of its kind in the United States with Patch as its president until 1934. He retired four years before his death in 1938.

F.R. Patch Manufacturing trade card

F.R. Patch Manufacturing facilities (1910)

F.R. Patch Manufacturing (1910)

For more information on Patch, see this Rutland Historical Society Quarterly publication from 1993.

References

F.R. Patch Manufacturing Co. trade card, 1893, World’s Columbian Exposition Collection. Winterthur Museum, Garden, and Library, Winterthur, DE.

Fred Patch Correspondence, Proctoriana Collection. Vermont Historical Society Leahy Library, Barre, VT.

Purdy, Elaine. “Fred R. Patch: His Personal Recollections of Life at Sutherland Falls and the Founding of Patch-Wegner Company.” Rutland Historical Society Quarterly 23, no. 2, 1993. https://archive.org/details/RutlandHistoricalSocietyQuarterlyVol.23No.21993/mode/2up.

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