V. 



* 



THE HOUSE OF WALTER BAKER & CO. LTD. 



IT is stated, on what appears to be good authority, 1 that the chocolate 

 mill erected on Neponset River, in the town of Dorchester, Mass., 

 in 1765, was the first mill of that kind established in the British 

 provinces of North America. It was connected with a sawmill, operated 

 by water-power, and was regarded as a somewhat doubtful experiment. 

 Its establishment was due to the representations made by John Hannan, 

 an Irish immigrant, who 

 had learned the business 

 of chocolate making in 

 England. The new in- 

 dustry prospered in a 

 small way, and on the 

 death of Hannan, in 1780, 

 Dr. James Baker estab- 

 lished the house which 

 has continued under the 

 name of Baker without interruption from that day to this. 



After the death of Dr. James Baker the business fell in the order of 

 succession to his son Edmund and his grandson Walter. On the death 

 of the latter in 1852, Sidney Williams, who had been his partner for 

 some years, continued in charge of the affairs until he died two years 

 later (1854), wnen Henry L. Pierce, a relative of Walter Baker, took 

 the management of the business, first as lessee and later as sole owner. 

 During the forty-two years in which he had control he raised it from a 



OLD STONE MILL OF WALTER BAKER & CO. 

 (REBUILT IN 1849.) \ 



1 History of the Town of Dorchester, Mass., 1857. 

 46 



