REHOBOTH and ATTLEBORO.234

town contained about thirty-two hundred people. There was a factory at Farmer’s Village, and one at Falls Village. There was a mill at Dodgeville, and the town had three hundred and fifty looms and thirteen thousand spindles. At Robinsonville, about half way between the north and east villages. the button business had been started, and has since developed into considerable proportions. A shuttle shop with twelve men was in operation at East Attleboro and — this is the first which we hear of Attleboro’s jewelry— there was a very little jewelry business. In 1835 the Boston and Providence Railroad was built, and Attleboro village took a start and rapidly caught UI) with its sister village.

During the civil war the town did its full share in furnishing men and money and in home work. It contributed a company each to the Seventh, the Forty- Seventh, and the Fortieth regiments, quite a number of men to the Twenty-fourth and 1 fifty-eighth, and had men in all branches )f the army and the navy. Rehoboth was not behind at this time, her sons also being found in all departments of the service.

Attleboro grew rapidly after the war, in consequence of the jewelry business, till in 1886 it numbered fourteen thousand people. Unfortunately its growth was not concentrated; there were two large villages, four miles apart, nearly equal in all respects, each with a high school, a fire department, a water supply system, and everything pertaining to a large and prosperous town. The idea of a separation was discussed for some time before it took place, which was in July, 1887. At that date Attleboro, the east village, was made a town with the old name, with a population of six thousand nine hundred, a valuation a little over $3.ooo.ooo. and one thousand six hundred

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