THE TANNERY—HIGH-TECH BUSINESS OF ITS TIME

A community tannery fits into this picture as a business dependent on natural resources, but which also supplies the raw materials for the massive industrialization taking place to the south of the state.  The tannery of Unity, Maine was reflective of its geography and its era. The booming shoe making business in 18th and 19th century New England provided a large demand for leather, and the natural resources of Maine provided a good location for a tannery business, with plenty of land for cows, and the water, open space, and trees required for a tannery. Looking into the short life of this tannery provides a template in which to tell the story of rural Maine in the 1800s.

          The seven acre plot of land has more of a history than just the Pingree Tannery, although not much is known about what the land was used for. The entire amount of taxable property extended from the bridge to the old Gerrish blacksmith’s shop on which were located the tannery, three dwelling houses, bark sheds, store, and other buildings. We have discovered who owned it as far back as 1828 when Waldo County used to be a part of Kennebec County. In this year the ownership changed hands a total of three times and all within the same family. Eunice Hunt sold the Deed to the land to Stephen Hunt who then sold it to George Hunt. It wasn’t until four years later in 1832 that Hunt sold the land to Jesse Whitmore.

         In 1836 the land was purchased off of Whitmore by Ebenezer Larrabee. The sole purpose of this purchase was to in fact build a tannery which seemed to be a up and coming industry at the time in Maine with its thick forests. The money was loaned to Larrabee by David Pingree of Salem. Pingree was also the one who supplied the capital for the building of the tannery itself. The tannery, itself, covered about three-fourths of an acre including the bark sheds. Larrabee supervised the construction of the tannery as well as the tannery itself until his death two years later in 1838.

         One year after Larrabee’s death the land was sold at a public auction, because he had no will. It was held in Unity village and the buyer was Edward Southwick. Southwick also paid off all of the outstanding debts that Larrabee had. Southwick turned around and sold the land with the Tannery to Thomas Snell for a total of $15,000. Thomas Snell is the one who made the Unity Tannery work.  He owned the land and tannery from 1839 until 1857 when he died. At the time of his death the Tannery was on a decline, one that some say would never revive. And it never did, the buildings fell to ruin and were rumored to have been set on fire by some young men celebrating a Union victory during the Civil War. The land where a landmark of the town of Unity once stood has not been used since the Tannery.

          Snell employed 15 workers, costing him $375 a month per worker. The Unity tannery tanned a large amount of hides for its size. It is estimated that between 1836 and 1840 they converted 500 hides into leather. In 1850, the tannery produced about 100 tons of hides. This had an approximate value of$ 10,000. Later, the annual production was said to be 150 tons of hide valued at $37,500. That year, after all expenses, the tannery profited $1,300. For the size of the tannery, the number of hides that were produced was fairly surprising!