HISTORY

In 1894, Martin W. Carr began to erect in Somerville at Davis Square a three-story factory for his jewelry, metal goods, and novelties manufacturing firm. Over the next several decades, the company expanded into additional structures on the site along the old Lexington and Arlington line of the Boston and Maine Railroad, and Somerville became a thriving industrial center for manufacturing, machining, and heavy industry.

According to the feature story in the Journal celebrating the company’s 1894 relocation to Somerville, “The way that Martin W. Carr and Company have always kept in the front of their business has been a constant endeavor to manufacture the best and most popular articles on the market, and by creating and meeting the demand for them.” Another clipping at the Somerville Public Library touted the company’s highly advanced level of technology: “…All of the vast amount of machinery and implements in this establishment is especially designed for its various purposes, and its operation by steam and electricity is as bewildering as informing to one who is favored by a superficial view of its operation. The public can have no idea of the intricate details of mechanism necessary for the production of articles which are found in all American homes from the humblest to the most luxurious.”

These articles included gold and silver jewelry, hairpins, belt and shoe buckles, button hooks, and garter clasps. Picture frame designs numbered in the thousands. Among the other merchandise produced were matchbooks, cigarette cases, ashtrays, hatpin holders, letter openers, souvenir spoons, ink stands, magnifying glasses, lamp shades, bud vases, napkin rings, and trays with imprints of the homes of American authors such as Emerson, Longfellow, and Hawthorne.

From the late 1800s until well into the 20 th century, the M.W. Carr and Company was the largest manufacturer of such items in America. Historians ascribe the long success of the company to the initial outstanding leadership of its founder, Martin W. Carr (1829-1902). In addition to his national reputation as a businessman, Carr, a direct descendant of Robert Carr, Governor of Rhode Island in 1692, was recognized for his active role in Somerville life, serving as an alderman, councilman, and school committee member.

Over the last half of the 20 th century, M.W. Carr and Company, along with many other manufacturers, found it increasingly difficult to hold its own against offshore competitors. In 1997, Carr’s descendants ceased operations and began to liquidate the company’s assets. In 2002, recognizing the historical significance of the structure and the factory site on which it stands, Building 5 Lofts, LLC, purchased Building 5 to rejuvenate the 19 th century factory for 21 st century living.