ack in 1691, Robert Perkin's petitioned the Massachusetts General Court for permission to erect a dam on the Town River for the purpose of powering a mill. In 1707, the first "charge" of iron flowed from the blast furnace. This was the beginning of the industrialization of Bridgewater.

Colonial America was heavily dependent on Mother England for everything from the clothes they wore to the nail that held their buildings together. The cost of these imports was high and money was short for the common man of the time.

Two of the greatest demands were for nails and shovels, required for the construction of homes and other necessary structures. These implements had to be produced from sheet iron which could be made only by the casting, rolling, and slitting of iron bars. All of this consumed a tremendous amount of power.

The reservoir above the dam site would be comprised of more than 400 acres of water storage. This water power would then be harnessed to turn water wheels which operated the bellows to provide air for the blast furnace. Other water wheels lifted the hammer to forge or pound the iron into usable shapes and consistency. There were also water wheels which turned the rolls to reduce the thickness of the iron bars into plates and to then slit the plates into strips to form hinges, nails, and other small iron items.

This primitive blast furnace would evolve over the next 150 years to become the second largest iron mill in the country by 1860.