President 
 
A Brief Historical Sketch 
 
 * 
 
 /ETNA 
 
 Insurance Company 
 
 Hartford Connecticut 
 
 * 
 
 % 
 
 1819-1905 
 
The Leading Fire Insurance Company of America 
 
 WM. B. CLARK, President 
 
 W. H. KING, Secretary 
 
 A. C. ADAMS C. J. IRVIN 
 
 HENRY E. REES A. N. WILLIAMS 
 
 Assistant Secretaries 
 
 iETNA INSURANCE COMPANY 
 PRINTING DEPARTMENT 
 
$13 W.D.ft. h'Wfcth 
 
 \A 
 
 PRESIDENTS 
 
 
 > 1 
 
 ju 
 
 THOMAS K. BRACE 
 
 1819-1857 
 
 so 
 
 EDWIN G. RIPLEY 
 
 1857-1862 
 
 Hy 
 
 O 
 
 THOMAS A. ALEXANDER . 
 
 1862-1866 
 
 
 LUCIUS J. HENDEE 
 
 1866-1888 
 
 
 JOTHAM GOODNOW 
 
 1888-1892 
 
 r 
 
 
 WILLIAM B. CLARK . 
 
 1892- 
 
 <n 
 6 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2017 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates 
 
 https://archive.org/details/briefhistoricalsOOwood 
 
C. J. IRVIN 
 Assistant Secretary 
 
 W H. KING 
 Secretary 
 
 A. C. ADAMS 
 Assistant Secretary 
 
 A. N. WILLIAMS 
 Assistant Secretary 
 
 HENRY E. REES 
 Assistant Secretary 
 
DIRECTORS 
 
 Elected at the Annual Meeting, January 19,1905 
 
 DRAYTON HILLYER 
 NATHANIEL SHIPMAN 
 AUSTIN C. DUNHAM 
 MORGAN G. BULKELEY 
 J. PIERPONT MORGAN 
 ATWOOD COLLINS 
 WILLIAM B. CLARK 
 FRANCIS GOODWIN 
 CHARLES E. GROSS 
 JAMES H. KNIGHT 
 GEORGE H. DAY 
 CHARLES P. COOLEY 
 
 PRESIDENT SECRETARY 
 
 WM. B. CLARK W. H. KING 
 
 ASSISTANT SECRETARIES 
 
 A. C. ADAMS C. J. IRVIN 
 
 HENRY E. REES A. N. WILLIAMS 
 
 FINANCE COMMITTEE 
 
 WILLIAM B. CLARK FRANCIS GOODWIN 
 
 CHARLES E. GROSS JAMES H. KNIGHT 
 
 AUDITORS 
 
 ATWOOD COLLINS CHARLES P. COOLEY 
 
 SPECIAL AGENTS 
 F. W. JENNESS 
 C. H. HOLLISTER 
 W. A. WARBURTON 
 J. B. HUGHES 
 OLIVER H. KING 
 H. L. HISCOCK 
 H. O. KLINE 
 H. B. SMITH 
 PRIOLEAU ELLIS 
 A. W. SELKIRK 
 
 E. C. 
 
 — Home Department 
 
 JAMES S. MIDDLETON 
 F. W. MATHEWS 
 P. P. TUCKER 
 CHAS. H. PESCAY 
 JOS. M. BIGGERT 
 E. J. SLOAN 
 E. S. ALLEN 
 N. J. HEYWARD 
 JOS. W. RUSSELL 
 GEO. W. MILLS 
 FRENCH 
 
 Marine Department —W. F. WHITTELSEY, Jr., Special Agent 
 
 i 
 
 ■p 36176 
 
WESTERN BRANCH, CINCINNATI, OHIO 
 
 GENERAL AGENTS 
 
 KEELER & GALLAGHER 
 
 J. E. DAVIES, State Agent, RACINE, WIS. 
 
 L. B. MANSON, State Agent, LOUISVILLE, KY. 
 
 W. E. VANDEVENTER, State Agent, CHICAGO, ILL. 
 
 L. J. HUBBLE, Special Agent, SPRINGFIELD, ILL. 
 
 A. G. SANDERSON, State Agent, COLUMBUS, OHIO 
 
 (OHIO AND WEST VIRGINIA) 
 
 WM. B. GOODWIN, Special Agent, COLUMBUS, OHIO 
 (WEST VIRGINIA and SOUTHERN OHIO) 
 
 PAUL KLINE, Special Agent, COLUMBUS, OHIO 
 
 (NORTHERN OHIO) 
 
 GEO. A. ARMSTRONG, State Agent, DETROIT, MICH. 
 
 JAS. K. POLK, State Agent, NASHVILLE, TENN. 
 
 (TENNESSEE and ARKANSAS) 
 
 LOUIS H. WOLFF, State Agent, INDIANAPOLIS, IND. 
 THOS. E. SNYDER, Special Agent, INDIANAPOLIS, IND. 
 
 CHICAGO BRANCH, “Fire,” and “Inland Marine” 
 
 GENERAL AGENT ASS’T GEN. AGENT 
 
 JAS. S. GADSDEN LOUIS O. KOHTZ 
 
 NORTHWESTERN BRANCH, OMAHA, NEBRASKA 
 
 GENERAL AGENT ASS’T GEN. AGENT 
 
 WM. H. WYMAN W. P. HARFORD 
 
 C. W. POTTER, Special Agent, 
 EDGAR ROSS, 
 
 H. R. ENSIGN, 
 
 W. A. HAND, 
 
 E. W. TATMAN, 
 
 C. R. ELGAS, 
 
 H. C. UPHAM, 
 
 W. J. TIPPERY, 
 
 DENVER, COLO. 
 
 KANSAS CITY, MO. 
 MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. 
 DES MOINES, IOWA 
 TOPEKA, KANSAS 
 LINCOLN, NEBRASKA 
 OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA. 
 FARGO, N. D. 
 
 * 
 
 PACIFIC BRANCH, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 
 
 GENERAL AGENTS 
 
 BOARDMAN & SPENCER 
 E. C. MORRISON, Superintendent of Agencies 
 SPECIAL AGENTS 
 
 LOUIS MEL W. L. GAZZAM J. A. MURPHY 
 
In 1897, a very interesting work, 
 in four volumes, entitled “The New 
 England States,” was published by 
 Messrs. D. H. Hurd & Co. of Boston, 
 the second volume being in part 
 devoted to the History of Insurance 
 in Connecticut, which latter was 
 compiled from the records of the 
 Companies by Mr. P. H. Woodward 
 of this city. 
 
 From this History, by permission 
 of Mr. D. H. Hurd, the Publisher, 
 and Mr. Woodward, the Author, we 
 make extracts, which are embodied 
 in these pages. 
 
 w. b. c. 
 
HISTORY 
 
 HE JEtna Insurance Company was incorporated 
 at the May Session of the Legislature 
 of Connecticut, in 1819, with a Capital of 
 $150,000; with privilege to increase to an 
 amount not exceeding $500,000. 
 
 Subscribers were required to pay within 
 thirty days after the first meeting of the corporation, 
 five per cent.; within sixty days, five per cent, more, 
 and the remaining ninety per cent, either in mortgages 
 on real estate, or indorsed promissory notes, approved 
 by the President and Directors, and payable thirty 
 days after demand. Each stockholder was entitled to 
 one vote for every share up to fifty, and there his 
 voting power came abruptly to an end. 
 
 At the first meeting of the stockholders, held June 
 15, 1819, at Morgan’s Coffee House, the following 
 Directors were chosen: Thomas K. Brace, Thomas 
 Belden, Samuel Tudor, Jr., Henry Kilbourn, Eliphalet 
 Averill, Henry Seymour, Griffin Stedman, Gaius 
 Lyman, Judah Bliss, Caleb Pond, Nathaniel Bunce, 
 Joseph Morgan, Jeremiah Brown, James M. Goodwin, 
 Theodore Pease, Elisha Dodd, Charles Babcock. 
 
 At a meeting of the Directors the same day, 
 Thomas K. Brace was chosen President, and Isaac 
 Perkins, Secretary. They voted to make the office of 
 Mr. Perkins the office of the Company also, and to 
 keep its account at the Phoenix Bank. By-laws were 
 adopted June 25th. These provided that the Directors 
 should be divided into four classes, taken in the order of 
 
/Etna Insurance Company 
 
 appointment, each to be on duty one month, following 
 in rotation. No money could be drawn from bank 
 except on checks signed by the President and counter¬ 
 signed by the Secretary. Directors were made ex-officio 
 surveyors for the Company. 
 
 How modest the beginnings of this Company 
 were, appears from the balance sheet presenting its 
 operations up to May 31, 1821. On the debit side 
 the principal item is the dividend of six per cent., 
 declared December 15, 1819, on the actual cash invest¬ 
 ment, making $900. From the organization till May 
 31, 1820, the total current expenses, including $225 for 
 the salary of Mr. Perkins and rent, reached the sum 
 of $451.82. During this period the receipts from all 
 sources amounted to $3,646.42; and as no losses had 
 occurred, the fiscal year closed with a profit balance 
 of $2,294.60. 
 
 The first policy, for $6,000, was issued August 17, 
 1819, and is treasured among the choice possessions of 
 the office. About a month later, the JEtna contracted 
 to assume all outstanding risks of the Middletown Fire 
 Insurance Company, amounting as it seems to nearly 
 $200,000. This was the first case of reinsurance of a 
 company in the State, and is believed to be the first 
 in the country. 
 
 Questions discussed and passed upon at early meet¬ 
 ings of the Directors often appear trivial; but are none 
 the less instructive because trivial, for they furnish 
 data for measuring the length of the road from crude, 
 tentative beginnings to the development of a highly 
 educated profession. Matters of detail are now turned 
 over to the experts, who fill the executive offices, and 
 to their trained assistants. Then the vital parts of 
 each policy, with the survey, were read to the Board 
 before delivery. Within eight months they wisely 
 voted to take no new risk in excess of $10,000 without 
 
 10 
 
A Brief Historical Sketch 
 
 a unanimous vote in its favor, and in such cases nine 
 were required to constitute a quorum. The next year 
 an agent was authorized to write not exceeding $17,000 
 on a single risk, and it is specially noted that nine 
 Directors were present and favored the exception. 
 
 Until the formation of the .Etna, the few American 
 companies in existence restricted their efforts almost 
 entirely to the local business that could be conveniently 
 secured by the executive officers. Very early the 
 ^Etna initiated a radical departure from the previous 
 method, planting agencies cautiously at the more 
 important centres of trade, and gradually extending 
 the system till every desirable place in the country was 
 occupied. Fires in 1827, as measured by the losses of 
 insurance companies, were in excess of the normal ratio. 
 
 Perils so thickened around the ^Etna that only 
 the Roman courage of the Directors saved it from 
 destruction. A committee, appointed to devise ways 
 and means to pay losses, made their report, November 
 22, 1827, and recommended that the bank stocks, 
 having a par value of $21,750, be sold, except $1,500 
 in the Eagle Bank of Providence; that all loans, 
 amounting to $6,780, be collected as soon as it could 
 be done without inconvenience to borrowers, and that 
 agents be pressed to remit balances on hand. From 
 the three sources it was thought that $80,000 could be 
 raised in time to apply on outstanding losses. For the 
 balance needed it was considered inexpedient to make 
 an assessment on the stock-notes. Accordingly, they 
 further recommended that loans be made at one or 
 more of the city banks on paper indorsed by some of 
 the Directors, and that the Board pledge themselves to 
 save the indorsers harmless. By a unanimous vote the 
 report was accepted and approved. 
 
 Thus the first dread crisis in the history of the 
 ^Etna was faced. From time to time other situations 
 
 ii 
 
/Etna Insurance Company 
 
 not less appalling have confronted the management. 
 While the constituent members have changed, the spirit 
 animating the body has never changed. Calamities, 
 sweeping away its assets and apparently leaving nothing 
 but a shadow bereft of substance, have again and 
 again been met with the same indomitable resolution 
 and overcome. 
 
 Owing to the disorganized condition of business, 
 the moral hazard was greatly increased. The Hitna 
 appointed committees to confer with other offices which 
 were undergoing like experiences; and, by mutual 
 agreements, there followed before the end of the year 
 a general raising of rates. Perhaps to-day this course 
 would be stigmatized by a certain class of writers as 
 a dangerous combination, but it saved the lives of such 
 as survived. 
 
 After paying out the funds derived from the sale 
 of stocks and the collection of loans, the Company 
 pledged to various banks, stock-notes to the amount of 
 $50,000 as security for loans. Before these were fully 
 paid, its condition had so improved that in June, 
 1830, the Directors voted a dividend of two dollars per 
 share. 
 
 Isaac Perkins retired in June, 1828. He practiced 
 law in Hartford from 1805 till 1840, serving for two 
 years as prosecuting officer for the county. For a 
 while he was in partnership with Thomas C. Perkins, 
 who became one of the most eminent lawyers in 
 the State. For the first nine years the business of the 
 Company was transacted in the office of Mr. Perkins. 
 His salary fluctuated, rising in 1823 and 1824 to the rate 
 of $900 per annum, with an allowance of $100 additional 
 for rent and firewood, and afterwards receding to $750. 
 In lieu of salary he was voted four dollars per day while 
 absent on the trip to Mobile, whence he reached home 
 about the middle of March, 1828. 
 
 12 
 
A Brief Historical Sketch 
 
 June 9, 1828, James M. Goodwin was appointed 
 Secretary, and served till May 1, 1837, when his resig¬ 
 nation of April 24th took effect. June 8, 1837, Simeon 
 L. Loomis, who for several years had been a faithful, 
 clerk in the office, was elected in place of Mr. Goodwin. 
 
 Dividends of one dollar per share were paid with 
 fair regularity from June, 1831, till December, 1834, 
 when the rate was increased to five dollars. By May, 
 1836, the situation had so improved that the Board 
 voted a dividend of twenty-five per cent, to be applied 
 on the stock-notes. Meanwhile the investment of 
 funds was resumed, including a subscription for three 
 hundred shares in the Hartford and New Haven Rail¬ 
 road, in the year 1835. 
 
 The .Etna was the first company to issue a fire 
 insurance policy in Chicago, having, in 1834, appointed 
 Gurdon S. Hubbard to represent it. The document was 
 on exhibition in the historical library of that city until 
 destroyed in the fire of 1871. Mr. Hubbard remained 
 a trusted agent of the Company until his retirement, 
 after more than thirty years of faithful service. 
 
 No small part of the pioneer work was performed 
 by the early Director, who traveled west and south by 
 stage and boat, long in advance of railways, estab¬ 
 lishing outposts at frontier towns which have since 
 developed into populous cities. In this way, to a 
 large extent, Cincinnati, Detroit, Chicago, Louisville, 
 St. Louis, Memphis, Natchez, New Orleans, Mobile, and 
 other places were reached, and the territory partially 
 preempted. He went armed with ample powers, his 
 instructions following in essential features the com¬ 
 mission given to Mr. Brace in 1838. In case of large 
 fires, the work now performed by the professional 
 adjuster then fell to the Director. As emergencies 
 arose, different members of the Board were selected for 
 special services at points near and far. Some became 
 
 13 
 
/Etna Insurance Company 
 
 very expert in discriminating just from unjust claims, 
 and in effecting settlements with all sorts and condi¬ 
 tions of men. 
 
 During the period of infancy, while the Company 
 was fighting for existence, the economical scale of 
 expenditures arranged for Secretary Perkins on his 
 initiatory trip through New England was rigorously 
 adhered to. Just twenty years later, in 1842, Joseph 
 Morgan, one of the original Directors, made an extensive 
 circuit, taking in New Orleans and Chicago, and all the 
 important intermediate towns. The journey, estimated 
 at six thousand one hundred and four miles, occupied 
 ten weeks, at an average expense, including fares and 
 hotel bills, of $3.29 per day. During most of his long 
 life, Mr. Morgan kept a diary. The record, filling 
 many volumes, is now in possession of his grandson, 
 James J. Goodwin. Chicago then had four or five 
 thousand inhabitants. St. Louis was six times as 
 large. A notable incident of the trip was a detour 
 to Ashland to visit Henry Clay. Mr. Morgan was 
 called on oftener than either of his associates to 
 do this kind of work. He was the father of Junius S. 
 Morgan, the eminent London banker, and grandfather 
 of J. Pierpont Morgan, whose more than royal power 
 in financial circles has been used effectively to purify 
 American railway management, and to rehabilitate great 
 properties wrecked by incompetence and fraud. Three 
 generations have been successively represented in the 
 directory by Joseph, Junius S. and J. Pierpont Morgan. 
 
 By an amendment to the charter secured in 1839, 
 the Company was empowered to issue policies against 
 the hazards of inland navigation. The privilege was 
 not exercised till the autumn of 1843, when the Directors 
 authorized agents at Apalachicola, Savannah, Macon, 
 Columbus, Mobile, New Orleans, Natchez and Louis¬ 
 ville, to take risks on cargoes on board of steamers 
 
 14 
 
STATE STREET OFFICE OF THE /ETNA INSURANCE COMPANY 
 FROM 1835 UNTIL SEPTEMBER, 1867 
 
A Brief Historical Sketch 
 
 and pole boats, but not on the boats themselves, nor 
 on the cargoes loaded on “that species of craft called 
 boxes, arks or broadhorns.” A policy issued October 
 4, 1859, at the rate of one-half per cent., on fifteen 
 negroes, valued at $16,000, bound from Glasgow, Mo., 
 to Carrollton, Miss., is still preserved at the home 
 office as a curiosity of inland insurance. 
 
 Affairs had so improved that in November, 1848, 
 the Board declared a dividend of eighteen per cent.— 
 eight in cash, and ten to be indorsed on the stock-notes. 
 
 The HEtna escaped the fire of December 16, 1835, 
 in New York city—the first in the series of great 
 American conflagrations—which destroyed property to 
 the value of $15,000,000, and bankrupted twenty-three 
 out of twenty-six local insurance companies. It entered 
 the city the following year, having for agent Augustus 
 G. Hazard, afterwards the organizer and president of 
 the Hazard Powder Company, of Enfield. It was not 
 so fortunate in the fire of 1845, which swept $6,000,000 
 of property from the business centre of the metropolis, 
 and cost the JE tna $115,000. When the news reached 
 Hartford, Mr. Brace called together the Directors, and 
 told them that the calamity would probably exhaust the 
 entire resources of the Company. Going to the fire¬ 
 proof safe, he took out and laid on the table the stocks 
 and bonds representing its investments. Little was 
 said, each member waiting for some one else to take the 
 initiative. At length, the silence was broken by the 
 question: “Mr. Brace, what will you do?” 
 
 “Do?” replied he. “Go to New York and pay the 
 losses if it takes every dollar there,” pointing to the 
 packages, “and my own fortune besides.” 
 
 “Good, good,” responded the others. “We will 
 stand by you with our fortunes also.” 
 
 Such an increase of premium receipts followed, that 
 in twelve months the JEtna was as strong in cash as 
 
 15 
 
/Etna Insurance Company 
 
 before. In March, 1848, a dividend of twenty dollars a 
 share, amounting to $50,000, was indorsed on the stock- 
 notes, and the money invested in solid securities, some 
 of which the Company still holds. Hitherto, it had 
 been forced again and again to part with favorite invest¬ 
 ments to pay losses; but here when about to enter upon 
 the last half of the century, the somewhat periodical 
 distresses due to smallness of resources passed away for 
 good. In February, 1849, the Board declared a dividend 
 of twenty per cent., applicable only to the payment of 
 the third and last installment upon the stock-notes. By 
 this operation these were finally extinguished. 
 
 Fifty thousand dollars were added to the original 
 capital in December, 1822. The Secretary was authorized 
 to offer the new stock at an advance of five dollars on 
 a share, not pro rata to holders of record, but “in such 
 number of shares and to such persons as in his opinion 
 may be most for the interest of the Company.” 
 
 In 1846, in conformity with a vote passed the 30th 
 of the previous December, $50,000 were added, one-half 
 payable in cash or its equivalent, and one-half in the 
 customary installment notes. In July, 1849, a third 
 increase of $50,000 was voted, to be paid in cash or 
 indorsed notes, running not more than eighteen months. 
 Thus the Company turned the middle of the century 
 with a fully paid capital of $300,000. 
 
 January 1, 1849, the JE tna owned bonds and stocks 
 valued at $269,550. Thirteen months later, with $50,000 
 of fresh capital in the treasury, its assets amounted 
 to $456,327.46, and its liability for losses to $141,344. 
 In the interim it disbursed $125,000 for a single fire in 
 St. Louis. 
 
 But the season of storms which culminated at 
 St. Louis, and sent many competitors to the bottom, 
 convinced the public of the inherent staunchness of the 
 HEtna; and by the prudent enterprise of its managers, 
 
 16 
 
A Brief Historical Sketch 
 
 even cruel reverses to the general interests of fire 
 insurance were made to bring to it large accessions of 
 business and revenue. 
 
 The Protection, the third fire insurance company 
 organized at Hartford, failed in 1854 through the 
 continuous unprofitableness of its marine department, 
 aggravated by the incurable injuries received at St. 
 Louis in 1849. It had been the pioneer in occupying 
 the small as well as the large towns of the West, but the 
 gains from these sources were insufficient to offset the 
 losses incurred at sea and on our inland waters. Here 
 was a broad gap to be filled, and the Hitna lost no time 
 in meeting the emergency; for it opened a branch office 
 at Cincinnati in 1853, with the firm purpose of keeping 
 step with civilization in progressive occupancy of the 
 West. When a few months later the Protection yielded 
 up the ghost, a material share of the business dropped 
 as ripened fruit into the lap of its rival. Soon a 
 thousand agents were at work west of the Alleghanies; 
 and in the ensuing period of exemption from large 
 fires, the Company rolled up wealth with a rapidity 
 never equaled before either in the United States or 
 elsewhere. 
 
 In 1854 the capital was increased from $300,000 to 
 $500,000, one-half contributed by shareholders and the 
 other half by a dividend from profits. The figures 
 remained at this point but a short time, for in 1857 they 
 were changed to an even million. In 1859, from the 
 profits of two years, the owners were gladdened by a 
 second stock dividend of half a million, which was 
 followed in 1864 by another for $750,000; thus making 
 it $2,250,000, at which the capital remained until 1866, 
 when it was raised by a stock dividend to the sum 
 of $3,000,000. Ambition to make the ^Etna the largest 
 fire insurance company in the country led the stock¬ 
 holders in 1881, by an issue of ten thousand new shares 
 
/Etna Insurance Company 
 
 at par for cash, to enlarge the capital to four millions, 
 where it now stands. 
 
 In 1851 the Company appointed its first traveling 
 or special agent, A. F. Willmarth, who a few months 
 later was made Assistant Secretary, but soon left. 
 The position of Assistant Secretary, evidently created 
 for Mr. Willmarth, remained vacant except during the 
 brief incumbency of Jonathan Goodwin, Jr., appointed 
 in 1868, when it was permanently revived in 1867 
 on the accession of William B. Clark to the official 
 corps. 
 
 Thomas Kimberly Brace, through whose influence 
 and exertions mainly the ^Etna was brought into 
 existence, warned by the infirmities of age, resigned 
 the Presidency in 1857, and died June 14, 1860, in 
 his eighty-first year. Stephen Brace (Bracey), the 
 emigrant ancestor, came from London and settled in 
 Hartford. His grandson, Lieutenant Jonathan, moved 
 to Harwinton in 1738; Jonathan, Jr., was born in 
 Harwinton, November 12, 1754, graduated at Yale 
 College in 1779, studied law, acquired a large practice 
 in Central Vermont, but returned to Connecticut, and 
 after residing in Glastonbury for a short time took up 
 his permanent abode in Hartford in 1794. He was in 
 public life forty-two years, less from choice than from 
 solicitation of his fellow-citizens. 
 
 Thomas K. Brace was born October 16, 1779, 
 graduated at Yale College in 1801, and settling in 
 Hartford, built up the wholesale grocery house of T. K. 
 Brace & Co. He was mayor of the city, 1840-43, and 
 in the latter year consented to run for Congress on the 
 Whig ticket, but was beaten by Colonel Thomas H. 
 Seymour. He was nominated for a subsequent term, 
 but declined in favor of James Dixon, who was elected. 
 Mr. Brace belonged to the safe and trusty order of men 
 to whom others instinctively turned for guidance. 
 
 18 
 
EDWIN G. RIPLEY 
 President 1857-1862 
 
 THOS. A. ALEXANDER 
 President 1862-1866 
 
 THOS. K. BRACE 
 President 1819-1857 
 
 LUCIUS J. HENDEE 
 President 1866-1888 
 
 JOTHAM GOODNOW 
 President 1888-1892 
 
 FORMER PRESIDENTS /ETNA INSURANCE COMPANY 
 
A Brief Historical Sketch 
 
 Edwin G. Ripley succeeded Mr. Brace, August 4, 
 
 1857. A New Hampshire boy, Mr. Ripley emigrated 
 to Hartford, where he learned the details of business 
 in the establishment of T. K. Brace & Co. Later he 
 became partner of his uncle, Philip Ripley, in the iron 
 trade. He was elected Secretary of the JE tna in June, 
 
 1858, and Vice-President a year later. He died August 
 26,1862. Quiet but forceful, his words were few, direct 
 and convincing. He was one of the first to see the 
 need of storing up reserves wherewith to meet the 
 heavy drains of hard times, and to open book accounts 
 with different classes of risks with a view to learn the 
 average cost of carrying each. 
 
 On the 10th of September following, Thomas A. . 
 Alexander was elected President, and held the position 
 until his death, March 29, 1866; although, broken in 
 health by continuous labor, he had resigned the previous 
 October. Mr. Alexander entered the service of the 
 ^Etna as a clerk in its New York agency in March, 1848. 
 Upon the resignation of A. G. Hazard in July, 1845, 
 he was promoted to fill the vacancy. He moved to 
 Hartford in November, 1858, to take the Secretaryship 
 of the Company. Having nearly reached the term of 
 threescore years and ten, he died at Bergen, N. J., 
 greatly respected and lamented. 
 
 In April, 1852, Chillicothe, Ohio, called for $115,000, 
 and three months later, Montreal took $105,000. For 
 the next ten years the Company enjoyed remarkable 
 immunity from large losses, considering the extent and 
 magnitude of its business. With the turn of the tide, 
 even the $168,000 required to settle the Portland claims 
 in July, 1866, and the $120,000 sent to Vicksburg in 
 January, 1867, did not perceptibly interrupt the increase 
 of assets. 
 
 Strangely enough, the phenomenal prosperity of 
 the Company provoked internal dissensions in regard to 
 
 19 
 
/Etna Insurance Company 
 
 the disposition of profits. A party among the stock¬ 
 holders, strong in number and influence, strenuously 
 resisted the policy of accumulating a reinsurance fund. 
 Any deviation from the early practice of treating a 
 premium as fully earned the instant it reached the 
 treasury, was denounced as a “new-fangled” notion 
 without justification in theory or fact. They demanded 
 a distribution of all earnings, either in cash or in new 
 shares, which the recipient could convert into cash. 
 Reserves for reinsurance were not then required by 
 law. Warned by the practices and consequent failure 
 of the Protection, the managers of the Effna, long 
 in advance of legislative action, saw the fallacy of 
 the reasoning and the danger of the method. They 
 urged that over and above the capital, an insurance 
 company should have a fund large enough to reinsure 
 its outstanding risks. This view is now universally 
 enforced by law and has become a truism of the 
 trade, but early advocacy of the doctrine raised a 
 tempest around the officers of the ^Etna. Fortunately 
 they were supported by the dominant Directors and won 
 the fight. The decision of that controversy played a 
 large part in giving to Hartford its preeminence in 
 underwriting. 
 
 A dealer, struck by the frequency of fires among 
 his customers, asked Mr. Ripley if the Company made 
 money on paper mills. He could not answer the 
 question, but like Paul on the road to Damascus, saw 
 a bright light. Several years in advance of competitors 
 he began to arrange statistics in regard to relative 
 hazards, and the task has been extended to cover every 
 kind of risk. Upon the fulness and accuracy of the 
 record must rest the claims of underwriting to a 
 scientific basis, including the fairness with which the 
 burden of losses is distributed by means of a justly 
 graduated scale of premiums. 
 
 20 
 
A Brief Historical Sketch 
 
 In 1853, the general agent of the ^Etna at Cincinnati 
 prepared the first blank proof of loss. In substantially 
 the original form it has since come into universal use. 
 
 Not content with furnishing indemnity to an ever 
 widening circle of patrons, the .Etna initiated the work 
 of educating the public in art by publishing the first 
 chromo poster in 1855. The picture represented a 
 steamer throwing a stream of water upon a burning 
 block. 
 
 The Company was the first to introduce the use of 
 outline charts in 1857. Out of this germ grew the 
 Sanborn maps, now an essential part of the equipment 
 of all large offices. 
 
 As far back as September, 1819, the JEt na issued 
 a book of instructions for the use of its agents. It 
 classified risks, fixing the rate for each, and excluded 
 some as non-insurable. It insisted upon correct 
 surveys as serving to expose frauds, prevent lawsuits, 
 and secure truthfulness. Buildings and fixtures were 
 not to be estimated above their worth in cash, and any 
 proposal for more was of itself a cause of suspicion. 
 The rule was not to be enforced against personal 
 property, merchandise, etc., which was liable to vary 
 in kind and quantity. The insured was entitled to no 
 more than the value of the property proved to have been 
 destroyed. The correctness of the rules laid down in this 
 little book (believed to be the oldest of the kind in the 
 country) has never been successfully assailed, though 
 attempts for the encouragement of robbery have been 
 made through valued-policy laws and other schemes. 
 
 In April, 1866, Lucius J. Hendee was elected Presi¬ 
 dent; Jotham Goodnow, Secretary. November 20, 1867, 
 William B. Clark was appointed Assistant Secretary. 
 
 In 1835 the Company bought of William H. Imlay, 
 for $9,570, a lot on the north side of State street, and 
 proceeded to erect the block now containing three 
 
 21 
 
/Etna Insurance Company 
 
 stores, numbered 134-142. For its office it occupied No. 
 134 till the completion, in 1867, of its brown-stone 
 building on Main street. 
 
 By the Chicago fire of 1871, the Etna lost $3,782,000 
 To meet the impairment the capital was reduced one- 
 half, and immediately refilled by cash payments of 
 $1,500,000. Thirteen months afterward the Boston fire 
 absorbed $1,635,067 more, and the inroad was made 
 good by a further contribution of $1,000,000 from the 
 shareholders, making $2,500,000 furnished by them 
 in a year to maintain the technical solvency of the 
 Company. After deducting the losses at Chicago, over 
 $2,600,000 of assets were left in the treasury exclusive 
 of fresh contributions. 
 
 Mr. Hendee passed away September 4, 1888, aged 
 seventy. He was born in Andover, Conn., July 13, 
 1818. He assisted his uncle, Abner Hendee, in his store 
 in Hebron, from 1836 to 1852, when he succeeded to the 
 business. Both uncle and nephew were faithful and 
 trusted agents of the .Etna. While living in Hebron, 
 Lucius J. took deep interest in the political controversies 
 that led up to the war, serving as State Senator in 1856, 
 and as State Treasurer three terms, 1858-61. July 3, 
 1861, he was elected Secretary of the Etna, and in 
 April, 1866, President — in both cases succeeding Mr. 
 Alexander. LTnder his administration the great reverses 
 at Chicago and Boston were met. After paying nearly 
 $5,500,000 to the sufferers from those two fires alone, 
 the Company came out of the ordeal stauncher and 
 with higher credit than ever before. Sincere and 
 upright, genial and gentle, Mr. Hendee was beloved by 
 his associates both in office and out. 
 
 September 26, 1888, Jotham Goodnow was elected 
 President; William B. Clark, Vice-President; Captain 
 Andrew C. Bayne, Secretary; and James F. Dudley and 
 William H. King, Assistant Secretaries. 
 
 22 
 
OFFICE OF THE /tzTNA INSURANCE COMPANY 
 1867 1903 
 
A Brief Historical Sketch 
 
 Mr. Goodnow died suddenly, November 19, 1892, 
 at the age of seventy-one. He came from Fall River 
 to Hartford in 1856, was bookkeeper in the Hartford 
 Bank till 1864, when he went to Rockville as cashier 
 of the First National Bank. Soon after, he accepted 
 the cashiership of the City Bank of New Haven, and 
 in 1866 the Secretaryship of the H£tna. His most 
 impressive characteristic was unswerving devotion to 
 what he believed to be right. He detested evil-doing 
 and fraud under all forms and guises. Love of right 
 sometimes made him appear unduly intolerant of 
 wrong. He served in the Common Council, not because 
 the position was agreeable, but from a desire to promote 
 public welfare. The positions he held best indicate the 
 estimate placed by others upon his capacity. 
 
 Erastus J. Bassett, adjuster for the HStna since 
 1862, and widely known for his skill in the profession, 
 died July 27, 1891, at the age of seventy-one. Andrew 
 C. Bayne followed, October 12, 1898. Although born in 
 Scotland, he entered the military service of the United 
 States at the outbreak of the Civil War, and was 
 wounded five times, thrice seriously. He entered the 
 regular army in 1866, and was retired in ’71. Before 
 his call to the home office, he had served the Company 
 as special agent, with headquarters at Albany. 
 
 November 80, 1892, William B. Clark was elected 
 President; and December 7th, Andrew C. Bayne, 
 Vice-President; James F. Dudley, Secretary; and 
 William H. King and Egbert O. Weeks, Assistant 
 Secretaries. 
 
 The death of Captain Bayne brought further changes 
 in the official corps. James F. Dudley became Vice- 
 President; William H. King, Secretary; and E. O. 
 Weeks and F. W. Jenness, Assistant Secretaries. All 
 these gentlemen were veterans in the service of the 
 Company. Seth King, father of William H., was 
 
 23 
 
Etna Insurance Company 
 
 enrolled in 1838, and for ten years did all the clerical 
 work in the office. 
 
 President Clark was born in Hartford, June 29, 
 1841. His father, A. N. Clark, was manager and part 
 owner of the Courant during and after the war. The 
 son, after serving a short time on the newspaper, in 
 1857 entered the office of the Phoenix Fire, of which he 
 became Secretary in 1863. In 1867 he resigned to take 
 the Assistant Secretaryship of the A Etna. On the death 
 of Mr. Hendee, the office of Vice-President, created in 
 1853 for Edwin G. Ripley, and after his promotion 
 allowed to remain vacant, except when filled for a brief 
 interval in 1862-63 by Henry Z. Pratt, was revived for 
 Mr. Clark. Although still in the prime of life, in term 
 of service he is the oldest insurance official in the city. 
 He has served as an Alderman, and on the Board of 
 Water Commissioners, and as a Director is connected 
 with several financial and benevolent institutions of 
 the city. 
 
 James F. Dudley, Vice-President, was born in 
 Hampden, Me., February 1, 1841; graduated at Bowdoin 
 College; taught a while; for several years conducted a 
 local insurance office at Bangor, Me.; in 1874, became 
 special agent for Pennsylvania for the North British 
 and Mercantile Insurance Company; in 1876, took the 
 special agency for the Etna for the same territory, 
 and later for New York; in 1885, returned to the North 
 British, acting as assistant manager in New York city, 
 when recalled to the Etna in 1888. 
 
 William H. King, Secretary, both by inheritance 
 and association, seems to be almost an integral part of 
 the Etna. His father was connected with the Company 
 over forty-four years. William H., born July 4, 1840, 
 after a short term of service during the war entered the 
 office of the .Etna in 1862, becoming Second Assistant 
 Secretary in 1888, First Assistant Secretary in 1892, and 
 
 24 
 
A Brief Historical Sketch 
 
 Secretary in 1893. Declining attractive offers to go 
 elsewhere, he has remained steadfast in attachment to 
 the institution to which his life-work has been devoted. 
 
 Egbert O. Weeks, Assistant Secretary, was born of 
 New England parentage in Pennsylvania, October 
 28, 1847. Beginning his work in insurance with the 
 Wyoming Company of Wilkes Barre, Penna., he later 
 became special agent of the Lancashire, and of the 
 Liverpool and London and Globe. In May, 1883, he 
 entered the service of the ^Etna, with office at Wilkes 
 Barre. In 1889 he moved to Philadelphia, taking 
 supervision of Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, West 
 Virginia and the District of Columbia. He was one of 
 the founders of the Underwriters’ Association of the 
 Middle Department, serving almost continuously upon 
 its Executive Committee, and as President one term. 
 He was called to the home office in December, 1892. 
 On the death of Vice-President Dudley, which occurred 
 suddenly at New Orleans on the 19th of March, 1897, 
 Mr. Weeks was elected a Director and Vice-President, 
 and filled these offices most satisfactorily until his 
 decease, which occurred on the 31st of October, 1902. 
 
 The promotion of Mr. Weeks to the Vice-Presidency, 
 and Mr. Jenness having resigned and returned to the 
 New York field, left the Company without Assistant 
 Secretaries, and, on the recommendation of the officers, 
 the Directors unanimously elected Alexander C. Adams 
 of Boston, New England general agent, and Henry E. 
 Rees of Atlanta, Ga., Southern special agent, Assistant 
 Secretaries on the 7th of April, 1897. 
 
 Mr. Adams is a native of Massachusetts. He was 
 in the service of the Howard of Boston from 1865 to 
 1872, then Assistant Secretary of the Globe of Boston 
 until 1877. In that year he received the appointment 
 of New England field representative of the Liverpool 
 and London and Globe. He served in that capacity 
 
/Etna Insurance Company 
 
 fourteen years, and in 1891 transferred his allegiance 
 to this Company. 
 
 Mr. Rees is a native of Georgia, and at the time 
 of his election was special agent of this Company at 
 Atlanta. He was identified with the North British and 
 Mercantile while Mr. Dudley was assistant manager of 
 that company in the United States. 
 
 On the decease of Vice-President Weeks, Messrs. 
 C. J. Irvin of Philadelphia, special agent for Eastern 
 Pennsylvania, and A. N. Williams of Hartford, special 
 agent for Western New England, were elected Assistant 
 Secretaries. 
 
 Dr. Irvin is a native of Pennsylvania, and had a 
 successful career as an underwriter in the employ of 
 the Fire Association and the Continental Insurance 
 Company before entering the service of this Company. 
 
 Mr. Williams is a Connecticut native, and made a 
 record for himself as special agent of the Phoenix and 
 this Company before becoming an officer. 
 
 As before referred to, the Company established a 
 Western Branch at Cincinnati in 1858, under the admin¬ 
 istration of J. B. Bennett, who was succeeded by his 
 brother, F. C. Bennett, in 1870. On the death of the 
 latter, in May, 1897, Messrs. Keeler and Gallagher were 
 appointed general agents, Mr. Keeler having been con¬ 
 nected with the Branch from boyhood, and Mr. Gallagher 
 having been one of the Company’s most efficient special 
 agents and adjusters in New York State. 
 
 The Northwestern Branch was established in 1891 at 
 Omaha, Neb. Mr. Wm. H. Wyman was elected general 
 agent, and Mr. W. P. Harford, assistant general agent— 
 both gentlemen long in the service of the Company. 
 Mr. Wyman, September 15, 1904, celebrated the fiftieth 
 anniversary of his connection with the JEtna, and the 
 occasion was remembered by the presentation by the 
 Directors and Officers of a silver loving-cup. 
 
 26 
 
A Brief Historical Sketch 
 
 The Pacific Branch was established at San Francisco 
 in 1866, and has been ably conducted for thirty-seven 
 years by Geo. C. Boardman, general agent, and later 
 by Boardman and Spencer, general agents. 
 
 For many years a branch office was maintained at 
 Buffalo, N. Y., under the management of Captain E. P. 
 Dorr, general agent; and later, Oscar T. Flint, general 
 agent, for the conduct of the Inland Marine business. 
 The Lake business is now under the control of the 
 Chicago general agents, Messrs. Gadsden and Kohtz, 
 and the Coast and Harbor business is transacted through 
 local agents, reporting direct to the Home Office of 
 the Company. 
 
 i 
 
 27 
 

 Jl 
 
 . 
 
* 
 
 OFFICE OF THE /ETNA INSURANCE COMPANY 
 
 ERECTED 1903-1905 
 
 BENJAMIN WISTAR MORRIS, Jr., Architect 
 NEW YORK 
 
NEW FIREPROOF OFFICE BUILDING 
 
 N view of the fact that the Company had 
 outgrown the building used by it since 
 1867, and not being of fireproof construction, 
 and also not adapted to modern methods 
 of conducting the business, it was, after 
 six months’ careful consideration, voted by 
 the Board of Directors, on the third day of 
 December, 1902, to construct a new fireproof building, 
 occupying the site of the old office and the building on 
 the north, occupied by the Republican Club, which the 
 Company had purchased several years previously. 
 
 A Building Committee of five was chosen by the 
 Board, consisting of Messrs. Francis Goodwin, Chas. 
 E. Gross, Jas. H. Knight, and the President and 
 Secretary of the Company. After investigation, it was 
 concluded to engage Mr. Benjamin Wistar Morris, Jr., 
 of No. 5 West 81st street, New York, as the Architect, 
 and this occasion is taken to commend most heartily his 
 services in behalf of the Company. In the meantime the 
 Company took a two years’ lease of temporary quarters 
 in the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company’s 
 building, and in May, 1903, the razing of the old build¬ 
 ing was commenced. When the concrete foundation 
 for the cellar walls was completed, the first two bricks 
 were laid by the President in the presence of the full 
 official force of the Company. From that time on, 
 steady progress was made, interrupted only by the 
 severity of the weather during the winter of 1903-04. 
 
 The building has a frontage of 94j£ feet, and is 165 
 feet in depth, five stories in height. Granite, limestone, 
 
 29 
 
/Etna Insurance Company 
 
 brick and iron construction, with tile roof and steel 
 roller shutters on exposed sides, in fact as nearly fire¬ 
 proof as human ingenuity can devise. The main or 
 street floor is occupied by the Local Agency, bicycle 
 and wardrobe rooms and the printing office of the 
 Company. The second floor front, by the Directors’ 
 room, President and Secretary’s offices, and the main 
 office, “two stories in one,” 80x100 feet, a commanding 
 room, probably not excelled by any office in this 
 country. The third floor front, by bookkeepers, classi¬ 
 fication clerks, stenographers and special agents. The 
 fourth floor is reserved for the future growth of the 
 business of the Company. The fifth floor contains the 
 lunch rooms and kitchen, and an immense filing room, 
 which will no doubt answer the purposes for which it is 
 designed for a hundred years to come. 
 
 The main office room referred to (80x100 feet) is 
 fitted almost entirely with metal fireproof furniture from 
 the Art Metal Construction Co. of Jamestown, N. Y. 
 
 P. S.— In closing this Brief History we announce 
 the gradual moving to our new office, and expect to 
 be fully installed on or before June first. 
 
 30 
 
LARGE FIRES AND AMOUNTS PAID BY THE /4ETNA 
 
 1839 
 
 RICHMOND, VA., . . . $15,000 
 
 STONINGTON, CONN., 24,000 
 ST. JOHN, N. B. 33,500 
 
 NEW YORK CITY (Oct.), 45,000 
 
 NEW YORK CITY (Dec.), 12,000 
 
 1840 
 
 WILMINGTON, N. C., . 
 NEW YORK CITY, . . 
 ITHACA, N. Y., . . , 
 
 PATERSON, N. J., . . 
 
 28,000 
 
 12,000 
 
 11,000 
 
 13,000 
 
 1845 
 
 NEW YORK CITY, . . 
 
 120,000 
 
 1846 
 
 ST. JOHNS, N. F., . , 
 
 77,000 
 
 1849 
 
 ST. LOUIS, MO., . . . 
 
 125,000 
 
 1852 
 
 MONTREAL, CAN., . . 
 CHILLICOTHE, O., . . 
 
 105,000 
 . 114,000 
 
 1866 
 
 PORTLAND, ME., . . 
 
 170,000 
 
 1867 
 
 VICKSBURG, MISS., . . 
 
 110,000 
 
 1871 
 
 CHICAGO, ILLS., 
 
 3,782,000 
 
 1872 
 
 BOSTON, MASS., . . 
 
 1,635,000 
 
 1874 
 
 CHICAGO, ILLS., . . . 
 
 95,000 
 
 1875 
 
 OSHKOSH, WIS. 
 
 VIRGINIA CITY, NEV., 
 
 66,000 
 
 72,000 
 
 1878 
 
 ST. JOHN, N. B., . . . 
 
 262,000 
 
 1880 
 
 MILTON, PENNA., . . 
 
 80,000 
 
 1882 
 
 HAVERHILL, MASS., . 
 
 1888-89 
 
 BUFFALO, N. Y., . . 
 
 1889 
 
 NEW YORK CITY, . . 
 ELLENSBURG, WASH., 
 SEATTLE, WASH., . . 
 SPOKANE, WASH., . . 
 LYNN, MASS., . . . . 
 BOSTON, MASS., . . . 
 
 1891 
 
 ST. LOUIS, MO., . . . 
 
 1893 
 
 BOSTON, MASS., . . . 
 FARGO, N. D., . . . . 
 MINNEAPOLIS, MINN., 
 
 1896 
 
 ONTONAGON, MICH., . 
 
 1900 
 
 BLOOMINGTON, ILLS., 
 OTTAWA, CAN., . . . 
 PRESCOTT, ARIZONA, 
 ASHLAND, WIS., . . . 
 
 1901 
 
 JACKSONVILLE, FLA., 
 
 1902 
 
 WATERBURY, CONN., 
 PATERSON, N. J., . . 
 
 1903 
 
 CINCINNATI, O., . . . 
 ST. JOSEPH, MO., . . 
 
 1904 
 
 BALTIMORE, MD., . . 
 ROCHESTER, N. Y., . 
 
 SIOUX CITY, IOWA, . 
 TORONTO, CAN., . . 
 
 $54,000 
 
 33,000 
 
 16,000 
 
 9,000 
 
 59,000 
 
 62,000 
 
 92,000 
 
 31,000 
 
 13,000 
 
 27,000 
 
 27,000 
 
 21,000 
 
 12,000 
 
 17,000 
 
 198,000 
 
 29,000 
 
 12,000 
 
 168,000 
 
 19,000 
 
 44,000 
 
 20,000 
 
 13,000 
 
 727,000 
 
 58,000 
 
 13,000 
 
 181,000 
 
CAPITAL STOCK OF THE /ETNA 
 
 ( 1819 ) 
 
 $ 150,000 
 
 ( 1822 ) 
 
 $ 200,000 
 
 ( 1846 ) 
 
 $ 250,000 
 
 ( 1849 ) 
 
 $ 300,000 
 
 ( 1854 ) 
 
 $ 500,000 
 
 ( 1857 ) 
 
 $ 1 , 000,000 
 
 ( 1859 ) 
 
 $ 1 , 500,000 
 
 ( 1864 ) 
 
 $ 2 , 250,000 
 
 ( 1866 ) 
 
 $ 3 , 000,000 
 
 ( 1881 ) 
 
 $ 4 , 000,000 
 
A POEM 
 
 Written by Benjamin B. Whittemore on 
 the Occasion of the Dedication of the New 
 Building of the iEtna Insurance Company, 
 Hartford, Conne&icut, June the eighth, 1905 
 
 W HEN ancient Greece arose to fame 
 
 And gave the world her classic name, 
 She, early to her service, brought 
 Her men of philosophic thought, 
 
 Her poets, who in verse have told 
 Of all her gods and heroes old, 
 
 Her sculptors, by whose works unsealed 
 Her very self has been revealed, 
 
 Her architects, whose genius gave 
 In column, frieze and architrave, 
 
 Those forms of beauty which outlast 
 The storms of ages long since past, 
 
 And which, in ruins, still impart 
 The glories of Corinthian art. 
 
 ’Tis well that they whose wisdom planned 
 The building of this temple grand, 
 
 Did choose from architectural styles 
 The noblest of those ancient piles, 
 
 Inwrought, in an impressive way 
 With ideals of a later day, 
 
 And that the structure, thus refined, 
 
 Shows strength and grandeur well combined. 
 
And it is well that ’mid these walls, 
 
 And in these fair and ample halls, 
 
 A noble enterprise should come 
 And find again a fitting home. 
 
 Unlike the Prodigal of old 
 Whose story is so sadly told, 
 
 This wand’rer is returning now 
 With added laurels on its brow, 
 
 And finds its day of welcome here, 
 
 The proudest in its long career. 
 
 Conceived in philanthropic vein, 
 
 With faith in fair and honest gain, 
 
 From North to South, from East to West, 
 Its honored service is confessed. 
 
 Upon its records there appears 
 The story of those many years 
 When tried by fire and sorely scourged, 
 With giant strength it soon emerged, 
 
 And with new courage always blessed, 
 
 It on its mission bravely pressed. 
 
 Now, sharer in this rare success, 
 
 And one in mutual helpfulness, 
 
 The city where this structure stands 
 A retrospective thought commands, 
 
 This city of the people’s pride, 
 
 So famous by the riverside. 
 
 ’Twas here the Puritan once came 
 And left the impress of his name. 
 
 Here Freedom eloquently spoke, 
 
 Protected by the Charter Oak. 
 
 Here, patriotic fires have burned, 
 
 And words to actions have been turned, 
 
Here, when those daring men and wise 
 Conceived this early enterprise, 
 
 Was but a simple, peaceful town, 
 Untouched by thought of great renown. 
 Behold, now in these later years 
 What grand development appears 
 In industries of every shade 
 Redoubled with each new decade, 
 
 Where busy wheels so blithely sing, 
 
 And anvils in the chorus ring, 
 
 While busy hands are daily made 
 Co-laborers with the marts of trade. 
 
 Then, as the evidence and gift 
 Of strenuous effort and of thrift, 
 
 Behold, how wealth with generous thought 
 Is to the public service brought, 
 
 How Nature’s charms are everywhere 
 Made lovelier by aesthetic care, 
 
 How Education bears a part 
 In forms of Labor and of Art, 
 
 All serving best as they relate 
 To rendering happier man’s estate. 
 
 Now, at the very fountain head 
 Whence all this flood of life has spread, 
 
 In undisputed honor lies 
 
 This most distinguished enterprise, 
 
 Which, with its neighbors of the Guild 
 An all important role has filled, 
 Contributing financial streams 
 Beyond the wildest of their dreams. 
 
 Long may the JEtna. here abide, 
 
 Her patrons’ comfort and their pride, 
 
 And may no future trials cast 
 A shadow on its glorious past. 
 
 Boston, Mass. 
 June 1, 1905