This engine was designed and built by the William A. Harris Steam Engine Company, on corner of Park and Promenade Streets, Providence, RI. William A. Harris was the plant superintendent at the Corliss Steam Engine Company until 1869, when the Corliss patent ran out. He then started his own company using the Corliss valve design.
This girder framed Harris steam engine has a 16″ bore X 42″ stroke, and a 13′ diameter X 27″ wide flywheel. It made about 150 horsepower and ran about 90 RPM. It was originally ordered by the J.P. & J.G. Ray company in Franklin, MA on April 15, 1895. James Paine Ray, Joseph Gordon Ray, and others in the Ray family ran several cotton and wool textile mills specializing in shoddy, a type of wool made from recycled wool cloth. The Ray family also ran the railroads, banks, electric companies in Franklin, MA. The Rays built the Ray Memorial Library and the J.G. Ray Fire Station in Franklin, MA.
This Harris steam engine was subsequently sold to H.T Hayward also in Franklin, MA. H.T. Hayward was also very successful in the textile and railroad business. By 1899 most of the woolen mills in the USA were combined into the American Woolen Company, of which J.G. Ray was vice president.
This Harris steam engine finally sold to the Pond Lily Company, named after Lily Pond on the West River in Westville section of New Haven, CT where the company was located. The company opened in 1896 and manufactured dyed and finished cotton piece goods, shoes, and other fabric. The steam engine was donated to the NEWSM in 1977 by Evelyn Moulton and her son David, just before the mill closed in 1978. The mill was demolished in late 1980s, is now the Pond Lily Nature Preserve.
