Concord Mill Dam Company Stockholders and Property Holdings, April 1838

This 1838 record of the Concord Mill Dam Company’s stockholders and property holdings provides a wealth of information about the company's status after a little more than a decade in business. Extending along both sides of Main Street, the company’s many buildings and lots dominated the landscape of the Mill Dam and were valued at more than $10,000. The stockholders, who had invested nearly $10,000, included the owners of the Company and other Concordians with the means to invest, among them, Cyrus Hubbard, David Loring, Abiel Heywood, John Stacy, and Alvan Pratt. Another investor, attorney Nathan Brooks, had an office on the Mill Dam and frequently performed legal work for the company. Many of the men involved in the Mill Dam Company were also members of the Social Circle in Concord—a self-perpetuating private men’s organization—and consequently formed part of an elite social and politically influential network.

The Stow family was heavily involved in Mill Dam Company ventures. Nathan and Cyrus Stow, along with Abel Moore and Daniel Shattuck, were listed in Private and Special Statutes of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from May 1822 to March 1830 as incorporators of the Mill Dam Company.