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ICHABOD WASHBURN'S SHOP
[8]
IT WAS the desire and hope of Ichabod Washburn that he might be spared
to fashion the first product of the shop. Toward the end, the success
of this project was his consuming interest, and though nearly
exhausted, he insisted on being driven to the top of the hill a few
days before his death that he might view the progress of his
workshop. Two months after his death it was sufficiently complete to
admit students for practice work.
Had Mr. Washburn been spared for but a few years the early struggles
of the machine shop would probably have been relieved, for he would
have realized that even the generosity of his original plan was not
adequate to carry the plant through the initial period of developing
products and markets. The trustees to whom the affairs of the shop
were committed did all in their power to make ends meet, and it was
due chiefly to their tenacity that the experiment eventually
succeeded.
The first shop committee was composed of Charles H. Morgan, David
Whitcomb, Stephen Salisbury, and James Blake. They were
commissioned to direct what kind of manufacturing business
should be carried on, and to propose rules for management. The
superintendent was authorized to make expenditures for stock,
but not to make contracts on the credit
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