James Madison Bent (1812-1888)
James Madison Bent was an influential person in town affairs
and the economy of the town. During the Civil War he owned the Bent Shoe
Factory with his brother William. The factory made use of sewing machines which
were invented in 1856, power being generated at first by horses walking in a
circle. The factory was later powered by steam engines. Bent had a talent for
inventing labor-saving machinery which helped his shoe factory prosper. The
Shoe Factory transformed the southern end of town called Cochituate, bringing
streetcars, waterworks and electric lights. An 1883 newspaper article quoted in
Helen EmeryÕs book describes the changes:
ÒForty (1843) years ago...Cochituate Village...consisted
of less than half a dozen weather-stained houses, no church, no school, no post
office, no business ...Today substantial residences, also churches and schools
abound, the factory of Bent and Sons is daily turning out (shoes), thrift and
enterprise are everywhere apparent and the hand whose work is seen in it all is
that of James Madison Bent.Ó
At the main intersection in
the southern end of town, several Bent homes were located. The colonial house
on the SE corner where he grew up belonged to his father.
The imposing James Madison
house , according to Helen EmeryÕs research, was Òbuilt perhaps in the late
1850s or early 1860s diagonally across from the factory on the NE corner (of
this intersection). ...(It) became
more and more of a showplace. By
1880 there was a fountain in front of the house. ...A newspaper item tells us that a pair of rare Peking
ducks had been acquired for the fountain pool. (In) December small spruce trees were placed in the
fountain, and their frozen shapes glistening with ice were described as being
Ôlike fairylandÕ...(It) was torn down in 1954.Ó
A Civil War story in the Wayland Town Crier, March
1954, recalled: ÒBack in 1863, according to the best available deductions,
Myron Bent (James Madison BentÕs son), then 14 ran away to join the Union
Army. As 14 was somewhat below
military age,...the family had him discharged...after heÕd reached the
South.
He arrived home,...about the dirtiest boy in
Massachusetts, and his mother plunked the returned veteran into a washtub and
gave him the scrubbing of the century.Ó
Another son William lived on Shawmut Avenue. William was not
the business man his father was. After James Madison died, he and his brother
and sons brought the family into debt requiring the factoryÕs sale to the Dean
family.
The bus tour visits the site of BentÕs factory, his nearby
home, as well as Dudley Pond where he introduced a steam-powered boat which
became the talk of the town.
Bent built his
summer home on Dudley Pond 20 years after the war.
As a citizen of the town, he held many offices andÓ in 1856
he was a member of the lower house of the State Legislature.Ó He was actively
involved in developing the state water system bringing water from nearby Lake
Cochituate to Boston.