It seemed that real estate speculators were about to tear down another irreplaceable piece of the unique architecture of Weymouth.
This little “control center” one room brick building with slate roof and details sat as part of the Lincoln Perrault Buick Dealership that operated here at 660 Broad Street until the 1960’s.
I tried to sketch it before the power shovels smashed it into landfill rubble.
It probably served as the control point for the garage bays of this Dealership.
I looked a little more into the site’s history and it seems that before the dealership rose in 1929, an immense Shoe Factory filled the site.
Mr. Marshall Dizer built this factory in 1861. It would answer the immense demand for boots and shoes that the civil war generated.
He and his wife lived right across the street from the factory in this home (still standing). According to Debbie Sullivan of the Weymouth Historical Society, Mrs. Dizer kept a beautiful garden here next to the home. But Mr. Dizer “wanted to add water power to his factory so he flooded the garden to make the pond.” She surmises that “He may have put in this gazebo as a consolation prize for Mrs Dizer!”
The water power did not work out. And later, after 1880, he had added steam power – an engine room with smoke stack to drive a system of pulleys that operated the machinery on every floor.
Each year added more innovative shoe making tools.
But the most interesting link to this Dizer factory takes us all the way to the American Frontier.
Manifest Destiny was driving Americans west. And in the 1860’s, before the transcontinental railroad appeared, rivers offered the best means of getting people and cargo West.
And the Missouri River offered a 2,300 mile water path from St. Louis on up to Fort Benton and the gold fields in what was then Montana Territory.
Rivermen devised a wide, flat bottomed, steam driven, “Missouri” stern paddle wheeler that could operate in the sometimes very shallow Missouri River (3 foot draft!) and also carry lots of cargo.
The danger of going down in these boats lurked on every bend. Father Pierre DesMet S.J. said in 1838, “steam navigation on the Missouri is one of the most hazardous things a man can undertake.”
On March 18 of 1865, as the civil war was coming to an end, the steamer Bertrand left St. Louis for a “Mountain Run”. On April 1st, less than two weeks later, at the notoriously treacherous Desoto meander of the river, the Bertrand hit a ‘snag’ which is a submerged tree. The pilot steered to the west bank and passengers and crew escaped but it sank within minutes.. twenty miles north of Omaha. – She became one of ~400 steamboats to go down on the Missouri from 1850 – 1930.
The archaeologist / author Ronald Switzer relates the story this way, “The crew removed only a few items before the rushing river silted it over under water.
For more than a century thereafter, the Bertrand remained buried until treasure hunters discovered it on a National Wildlife Refuge.
Salvors began to uncover it under the guidance and rules of the National Park Service.
As it turns out the anaerobic conditions of the mud and silt cover left the lower hull and its cargo in tact and “as new”.
Archeologists then carefully removed, recorded, and preserved over 300,000 (of the estimated 2 million individual artifacts) that they deemed worthy of stabilization.
These preserved today in the “Bertrand Collection” building offer a time capsule of “the industry, technology, and commerce in the Trans-Missouri West of the 1860’s”.
And there, in one of the cargo boxes recovered, were sixty pairs of miner’s boots from “M. C. Dizer & Co. of East Weymouth, Massachusetts”.
Mr. Switzer explains that, “Dizer was probably the largest producer of “Donelson” fancy nailed miner’s boots during the 1860s. …[these were] hip-length boots [with] soles studded with steel studs in floral patterns and .. heels [with] steel caps… attached.”
He goes on, “Marshall C. Dizer, born in Weymouth, September 23, 1822, became by 1894 “the largest in the world for the class of goods he made.”
Hard to believe that these world renowned boots — headed for the gold fields of Montana — came from right here in the Weymouth factory
that represented the pinnacle of Weymouth’s footwear years. …where the tiny building now sits.
Happily the bulldozers left it standing!
Notes
With Special Thanks to:
Debbie Sullivan, Weymouth Historical Society
Ron Switzer, Author – Southwest Anthropology and Western History
Dean Knudsen – former Curator, Bertrand Collection
Bill Cantine – Museum Specialist, Desoto National Wildlife Refuge
For More on the Bertrand See:
National Geographic Channel, Drain the Oceans, Season 4, Episode 1 The Wild West. https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B09BMHK5TT/ref=atv_wl_hom_c_unkc_1_1
A video version of this post here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TObVix8RVnU
References
Billion Chevrolet Buick GMC – History. (n.d.). Billion Chevrolet Buick GMC in CLINTON, IA | Davenport, Quad Cities, Muscatine, and East Moline, IL Chevrolet, Buick, and GMC Vehicle Source. Retrieved March 18, 2022, from https://www.billionclintongm.com/History
Buick showroom circa 1931
Brick chimney built by Gustavus Pratt for the Dizer shoe Co. (n.d.). Digital Commonwealth. Retrieved March 27, 2022, from https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:v405sm01s
British land educational broadsheets. (1992). Local Local History. https://www.locallocalhistory.co.uk/brit-land/index.htm
The British Land Company PLC, (Educational Publications), 10 Cornwall Terrace, Regent’s Park, London NW1 4QP The text and illustrations are copyright but may be photocopied and circulated for classroom use. In the early 1990s British Land, in conjunction with the Design Council produced an award-winning series of Educational Broadsheets which were distributed to schools throughout the United Kingdom.
Drain the oceans season 4 | Episode 1. (2021, August 2). Mallinson Sadler Productions; 422 South; National Geographic. https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B09BMHK5TT/ref=atv_wl_hom_c_unkc_1_1
Movie compilation using footage from the US Fish and WIldlife recovery of the Bertrand.
Gerber, R. (2022, March 24). Steamboat bertrand collection, 1434 316th Ln, Missouri Valley, IA 51555, USA. BusinessYab | Find Local Businesses – Search, Contact and Review. https://www.businessyab.com/explore/united_states/iowa/harrison_county/missouri_valley/316th_lane/1434/steamboat-bertrand-collection-712-388-4800.html
Picture of Bertrand Collection composite
Hazleton, A. (2019, December 24). The steamboat bertrand collection and site. Clio. Retrieved March 24, 2022, from https://theclio.com/entry/89524
Photo of Dizer fancy Donelson Miners Boots – The Bertrand Exhibit – Aubrey Hazelton
James Edwards Trott obituary (2011) Great Falls Tribune. (2011, February 13). Legacy.com. https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/greatfallstribune/name/james-trott-obituary?id=25378006
Biography of James Edwards Trott who painted the picture of the Bertrand sinking.
Lenihan, D. (2017, September 1). The bertrand – Nebraska on the frontier of shipwreck archaeology. Nebraska Archaeology. Retrieved March 27, 2022, from https://nebraskaarchaeology.org/2017/09/01/the-bertrand-nebraska-on-the-frontier-of-shipwreck-archaeology/
Missouri River. (2001, July 28). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved March 18, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_River
Pepe, W. J., & Pepe, E. (2004, March 16). Weymouth – Postcard History Series. Arcadia Publishing | Local and Regional History Books. Retrieved March 26, 2022, from https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/Products/9780738534947
Pictures of Dizer’s home and the factory after chimney added
Petsche, J. E. (1974). The Steamboat Bertrand – History, Excavation, and Architecture. National Park Service – U.S. Department of the Interior. Retrieved March 18, 2022, from https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/464601
Story of the Missouri River stern paddle wheel packet Bertrand with photos.
Shannon1. (n.d.). File:Missouri river basin map.png. Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved March 17, 2022, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=67852261
Map of the Missouri River drainage basin in the US and Canada. made using USGS and Natural Earth data
Steamboat Bertrand in Desoto National Wildlife Refuge. (n.d.). Google Maps. Retrieved March 18, 2022, from https://www.google.com/maps/place/Steamboat+Bertrand/@41.4682129,-95.9909873,12.43z/data=!4m12!1m6!3m5!1s0x0:0x5cf1ee6e1465c019!2sSteamboat+Bertrand!8m2!3d41.5219112!4d-96.0289342!3m4!1s0x0:0x5cf1ee6e1465c019!8m2!3d41.5219112!4d-96.0289342
Site of Bertrand excavation in National Park
Steamboats.com online Museum – Dave Thomson wing. (n.d.). Steamboats.com. Retrieved March 17, 2022, from https://steamboats.com/museum/davet-photos18.html
ROSE BUD Missouri River 1877 – 1896 Sternwheel Packet from Way’s Packet Directoy Number 4837
Sullivan, D. S., & Dumont, E. J. (2016, November 28). Weymouth (Then and now): Sullivan, Debbie Sargent, Dumont, Erica Jill. Amazon.com. Retrieved March 26, 2022, from https://www.amazon.com/Weymouth-Then-Debbie-Sargent-Sullivan/dp/1467124206
Includes picture of Dizer Factory in 1880 before power plant and chimney added. Courtesy of
Switzer, R. R. (2013, October 29). The steamboat bertrand and Missouri River commerce. Google Books. Retrieved March 24, 2022, from https://books.google.com/books?id=PTDJAQAAQBAJ&dq=m+c+dizer+factory+weymouth+ma&source=gbs_navlinks_s
Definitive archeological story – only reference to Donelson Boots and Dizer found
TheWildWest from MSP TV on Vimeo. (n.d.). https://player.vimeo.com/video/579765667
Torrey, B. (1933). The shoe industry of Weymouth. Seeking my Roots. https://www.seekingmyroots.com/members/files/H003541.pdf
Published by the Weymouth Historical Society
Trott, J. E. (n.d.). Bertrand sinking | U.S. fish & wildlife service. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. https://www.fws.gov/media/bertrand-sinking
Sinking of the Bertrand by James Edwards Trott who died in 2011. Probably drawn in the 1980’s.
Way Jr., F., & Rutter, J. W. (1995, February 15). Way’s packet directory 1848 – 1994: Passenger steamboats of the Mississippi River system since the advent of photography in mid-continent America. Amazon.com. https://www.amazon.com/Ways-Packet-Directory-1848-1994-Mid-Continent/dp/0821411063
“Rosebud”, Missouri River 1877 – 1896, # 4837
Wilmer, T. (2014, October 28). De Soto National Wildlife Refuge Riverboat Bertrand. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4MKciUu_-k
Interviews curator of collection with useful information.
Desoto National Wildlife Refuge Bertrand, Tom Wilmer https://youtu.be/n4MKciUu_-k
Here's What I Found 