I W Jones Eng'r.

I W Jones Eng'r was an engineering firm that operated from offices on Main Street in Milton, New Hampshire, from 1899 to 1930. The firm built water-powered factories and hydroelectric plants. Ira W. Jones was the principal of the firm.

Bronze plaque on masonry that enclosed mill wheel at J Spaulding & Sons Company mill in North Rochester, NH

Ira W Jones Biography

Ira W. Jones was born in Milton on June 10, 1854. His father was George H. Jones (1826 – after 1910), and his mother was Lucy Jane Varney (1827–1897). Ira had an older sister Addie V. (1848 - ?), an older brother Charles A. (1852 - ?), and a younger sister Nettie J. (1863 - ?). In the 1870 US census Ira and his brother Charles are shown as working on their father George's farm in Milton. However, in the 1880 census, while Charles is still shown as working on the farm, Ira's occupation at 25 years of age was shown as "sets water wheels". In the next available census from 1900, Ira is now living in Lebanon, Maine, across the Salmon Falls River from Milton. He had married Lucia C. Wentworth in 1887 and had two children, Nettie age 13 and Mary age 8, at the time of the 1900 census. Ira's occupation was listed as hydraulic engineer in 1900.


Ira W. Jones' formal education began in the public schools in South Milton, New Hampshire.[1] He graduated from Milton High School and went to Boston, where he studied drafting at Starr King Drawing School. After completing at Starr King, Ira Jones spent three additional years in Boston making patterns and models. He then spent four years learning the millwright trade before spending a year and a half with a Worcester machinery manufacturer as a machinist and draftsman. For the next 13½ years, from about 1887 to 1900, I.W. Jones worked selling equipment from machinery manufacturers in Dayton, Ohio, and Worcester. Around 1900 Jones founded an engineering and consulting firm that employed 10 to 15 engineers. The offices of I.W. Jones Engineers were on Main Street in Milton. The firm specialized in dams, water wheels and turbines, mill buildings and hydroelectric plants and undertook contracts all over New England, the southern states and Canada.

I W Jones Eng'r. projects

Date Client Location Construction contractor Scope of project
1899–1900 J Spaulding & Sons Co (AKA Spaulding Fibre) North Rochester, NH Unknown Dam, run, race, mill wheel/turbine, mill building for Leatherboard
1906 Passumpsic Fiber Leather Co. Passumpsic, VT Stephen and Theodore Chase (owners) Reinforced concrete Leatherboard mill, and flumes[2]
1907 Androscoggin Pulp Co. South Windham, ME Aberthaw Construction Company, Boston, MA Pulp factory[3]
1910–1920 Lockhart Mills Lockhart Shoals, SC Unknown Hydroelectric power plant
1911–1912 Milton Leatherboard Company Milton, NH Aberthaw Construction Company, Boston, MA Reinforced concrete dam, run, race, mill wheel/turbine, mill building for Leatherboard
1912 Cabot Mfg Co Topsham, ME Aberthaw Construction Company, Boston, MA Reinforced concrete paper mill, dam, forebays, and flumes[4]
1916 Groton Leatherboard Company Groton, MA Unknown Dam, run, race, mill wheel/turbine, mill building for Leatherboard
1916 Swanton, VT Highgate Falls on Missisquoi River Unknown Dam and hydroelectric power station for Swanton, VT[5]
1918 Lockwood Company Waterville, ME Plans announced One story hydroelectric power plant[6]
1929 South Tamworth Industries Tamworth, NH Unknown Ambursen Dam for saw mill[7]

References

  1. ↑ History of Strafford County New Hampshire and Representative Citizens; John Scales, Editor Dover Daily Democrat; Richmond - Arnold Publishing Co.; F. J. Richmond Pres. & C. R. Arnold Sec. and Treas.; Chicago, IL; 1914; pp 877-878.
  2. ↑ "Concrete in Factory Construction"; E. A. Trego; Cement Age; Vol. III, No. 5; October 1906; pp 302 - 303.
  3. ↑ "Reinforced Concrete Structures for Manufacturing Purposes"; Leonard C. Watson; Engineering Magazine; Vol. XXXIII, No.3; June 1907; p401.
  4. ↑ "Construction Methods on a Reinforced Concrete Paper Mill and Dam", Cement and Engineering News; William Seafert, Editor and Publisher; Chicago, IL; January 1912, p.24.
  5. ↑ "Problems Cities are Studying with Experts"; Municipal Journal; November 2, 1916; Vol. XLI, no. 18; p553.
  6. ↑ Electrical Review; June 1, 1918; Vol. 72: no. 22, p933.
  7. ↑ Determination of Eligibility for South Tamworth Industries Historic Area; January 13, 2003; p 6 of 66.