Leyden — Industries

Extracted from "History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, Volume II," by Louis H. Everts, 1879.


      Although Leyden is an exceedingly hilly town, it contains much excellent farming-land, and. many of its farmers have grown wealthy upon the fruits of their agricultural labors. It is a natural fruit-and-grass region, and of these products the annual yield is large. Much attention is paid to the raising of stock and the manufacture of butter and cheese. The "Glen Spring Cheese-Factory" was erected at Leyden Centre in 1870, but the enterprise did not prosper, and in 1876 it was abandoned. The general character of the soil is loamy, and it has yielded profitable crops of tobacco, but very little of the "weed" is now grown in the town. Leyden was also quite famous at one time for sheep-raising, and produced yearly large quantities of wool. The only manufactories in the town in 1879 were three saw-mills and three grist-mills. In 1875 the products of the manufactories were valued at $2454, and the value of the agricultural and domestic products $95,260. The total assessed valuation in 1878 was $194,378, of which $163,912 was on real estate. The total tax State, county, and town was $3138.04, a rate of about $1.60 per $100.



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