25 North Main Street, the Ipswich Public Library (1869)

The Ipswich Public Library at 25 North Main Street is a 1869 Greek Revival building constructed in 1869. Nathaniel Treadwell had purchased a dwelling house on an eight-acre lot facing North Main Street on Nov. 3, 1761 (109: 278). The heirs sold the old Treadwell home and land to the Trustees of the Public Library on July 11, 1865 (686: 160). The library and the first books were a gift to the town from Augustine Heard, and Professor Daniel Treadwell, in his will, made a large addition to the endowment. The wings on either side were added later. A portion of the land had been previously sold to the County to build a Probate Office, which was sold to the Agawam Lodge of Odd Fellows in 1867 when the deeds were transferred to Salem (739: 246).

Daniel Treadwell

Daniel Treadwell was born on October 10, 1791, in Ipswich, MA. In 1820, he invented the first powered printing press in America. In 1822, he co-founded the Boston Journal of Philosophy and the Arts and was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1823. In 1826, he devised a system of turnouts for railway transportation on a single track. He invented a machine for spinning hemp for cordage in 1829 that was capable of spinning 1,000 tons a year, which he furnished in 1836 to the Charlestown Navy Yard for making cordage. From 1834 to 1845, he occupied the chair of Rumford professor at Harvard University. From 1834 to 1845, he occupied the chair of Rumford professor at Harvard University.

Augustine Heard

The Ipswich Museum at 54 S. Main Street in Ipswich is a Federal-style structure built in 1795 by the wealthy John Heard. His son, Augustine Heard, owned clipper ships and competed with those of Salem and Boston in the China trade. By 1812, he was captain of his first ship, the brig Caravan. In 1830, at the age of 45, Heard settled in Canton, China, where he became a partner in the trading firm of Samuel Russell & Co., by then the leading American opium dealer in China. Meanwhile, in Ipswich, he started the Ipswich Manufacturing Company in 1828 with Joseph Farley, building a new dam and the Old Stone Mill. Heard set up his own company, Augustine Heard & Co., which became the third-largest American firm in China. In 1844, he retired to Ipswich.