Edmund Dwight Explained

Birth Date:	28 November 1780
Birth Place:	Springfield, Massachusetts, United States
Death Place:	Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Known For:	Founding of Massachusetts Board of Education Dwight Manufacturing Company Establishment of Hadley Falls Company Establishment of Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad
Signature:	Signature_of_Edmund_Dwight.svg

Edmund Dwight (November 28, 1780 – April 5, 1849) was a prominent American industrialist, educational reformer, and entrepreneur. He was known for being one of the chief supporters of the Massachusetts Board of Education, providing much of its early funding. He is also noted for his industrial ventures such as his role in establishing the Hadley Falls Company.

Biography

Dwight was a descendant of the famous Dwight Massachusetts family noted for its business operations that emerged out of Springfield in the 1790s.^[1] He studied law and travelled to Europe before joining the family business. He married the daughter of a wealthy Boston merchant in 1809. By 1820s, the Dwight family had pioneered the textile industry in Springfield.

Dwight was one of the Boston Associates who established the Hadley Falls Company which built Holyoke, Massachusetts, and providing early backing for the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad. This company, which was co-founded by Thomas H. Perkins, and George W. Lyman,^[2] was incorporated for the construction and maintenance of a dam across the Connecticut River.^[3] The harnessed water power was used by investors manufacturing cotton, wood, iron, wool, and other materials. Dwight was also responsible for the opening of various manufacturing companies along the Chicopee River, including textile manufacturing facilities of the Boston Associates.^[4]

Dwight was also an early founder of the American Antiquarian Society, backing Isiah Thomas with several other prominent Boston businessmen.^{[5] [6] [7]}

Notes and References

1. Book: Komline, David . The Common School Awakening: Religion and the Transatlantic Roots of American Public Education . Oxford University Press . 2020 . 978-0-19-008515-5 . New York, NY . 143 . en.
2. Book: Valente, A. J. . Rag Paper Manufacture in the United States, 1801-1900: A History, with Directories of Mills and Owners . McFarland . 2014 . 978-0-7864-5863-9 . Jefferson, NC . 134 . en.
3. Book: The Bay State Monthly, Volume 3, No. 5 . Litres . 2021 . 978-5-04-145232-2 . en.
4. Book: Cumbler, John T. . Reasonable Use: The People, the Environment, and the State, New England 1790-1930 . Oxford University Press . 2001 . 0-19-513813-9 . 36 . en.
5. Book: Benjamin W. Dwight. The History of the Descendants of John Dwight, of Dedham, Mass.. 1874. J. F. Trow & Son, printers and bookbinders. New York. 896.
6. Book: Eliot . Samuel . Bowditch . J. Ingersoll. Appleton. William. Smith. Alfred. Sargent. Ignatius. A Report of the History and Present Condition of the Hadley Falls Company at Holyoke, Massachusetts . 1853 . John Wilson & Son . Boston . 5.
7. Book: Bowen, Francis. Francis Bowen

   . Francis Bowen. Memoir of Edmund Dwight. 1857. Barnard's American Journal of Education.