From Historical Rutland: an illustrated history of Rutland, Vermont, from the granting of the charter in 1761 to 1911 by Rev. F. E. Davison, Rutland, Vt.: P.H. Brehmer, 1911, page 50:
Manufacturies
The manufacturing interests of Rutland have grown to their present proportions since the advent of the railroads. It is not possible in the space allotted us to describe the variety and extent of the industries gathered within the borders of the municipality. Chief among the enterprises of the city is the Howe Scale Works, which has a world-wide trade. A large proportion of the weighing scales used in the world are made in Rutland.
The old-fashioned household steelyards, by which our ancestors hung a package on one end of a tiltting bar and a weight on the other, looked at the irregular notches and guessed at the weight, have been superseded by the modern, ingenious, accurate and beautiful scale, so that today in all lands merchandise is weighed by them.
The Howe scale was invented in 1855 by two young men, F. M. Strong and Thomas Ross, who secured their first patent in 1856. In the fall of the same year they put up their first scale in Vernon, N. Y. In the spring of 1857 John Howe, Jr., of Brandon, purchased the patent and began the manuufacture at Brandon. A stock company was organized and the business continued until 1877, when the entire plant was removed to Rutland. Eleven acres of land were purchased and during the years 1877-78 commodious and convenient buildings were erected for the works on their present site. Governor John A. Mead is the president of this company, which is one of the institutions of Rutland and has contributed much to its growth and prosperity. It employs from 700 to 800 men, and has agencies in all the prinncipal cities of the world.
[51]
While the marble and scale works are the leading industries, industrial Rutland is not limited to these enterprises. As a matter of fact, Rutland is the greatest manufacturing center of Northern New England, and the hum of business is heard in every direction within her borders. According to the last census there was an increase in manufactures between 1904 and 1909 as follows: 51 per cent in the number of salaried officials and clerks; 24 per cent. in the number of establishments; 22 per cent in the capital invested; 8 per cent in the value added by manufacture; 6 per cent in the value of products; and 4 per cent in the cost of materials used.
There were 63 establishments in 1909, as compared with 51 in 1904; an increase of 24 per cent. The value of products in 1909 was $2,680,000. and $2,523,000 in 1904; an increase of $157,000, or 6 per cent. The average per establishment was approximately $43,000 in 1909, and about $49,000 in 1904. To give a catalogue of the various enterprises carried on is impossible. Besides marble in all its forms and scales of almost every variety, Rutland produces stone-working machinery, machinery and iron parts of all descriptions, car and engine supplies, stove linings, plaster, cement products, silos, creamery and dairy goods, women's clothing, men's shirts and collars, monuments of marble and granite, carriages, sleighs, chair stock, sand pumps, tin cans for food packing, mailing boxes, flags, decoration and aviation tents, sugar makers' supplies and confectionery and book publishing and numerous other enterprises occupy the attention of the wage earner and make the city an ideal place for the mechanic and skilled laborer.
The average number of wage earners employed in 1909 was about 1700. At present the capital invested is approximately $3,000,000 and there is paid in salaries and wages $1,500.000. On account of its location, geographically, the city is ideal for the investor, the manufacturer, the business world in all its ramifications. Four railroad trunk lines converge here with more than one hundred trains daily passing through our railroad yard, and Rutland enjoys the same freight rate as New York and Boston. The city [52] is only 92 miles from Albany, 234 from New York and but 167 from Boston. Rapid, frequent and commpeting means of communication with these chief cities, as well as all intermediate points, render the locaation of the Marble City advantageous in every way to the industrial world.