The conservative character of the political fathers of the city may be
judged by the fact that Samuel Bassett, who was first elected town clerk
in 1849, has served the town and city continuously in that capacity to
the present time. For the half-century before his election there had
been only three incumbents of the office.

[Illustration: Jonathan Bosson's house. Deacon Loring's house.
EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
Present site of D. & L. Slade's grain store; burned just after the late
war.]

The efforts of the land company, who fostered the early growth of the
city, were directed to induce people doing business in Boston to select
homesteads in Chelsea; but manufacturing was gradually introduced, until
to-day many important industries have become established, which have
given the place a world-wide reputation. Chief among these are the works
of the Magee Furnace Company. Their buildings occupy a lot of several
acres, fronting on Chelsea River. Here the celebrated Magee stove, in
all its various forms and patterns, is manufactured from the crude iron.
The establishment consumes two thousand tons of coal annually, and
converts four thousand tons of pig-iron into graceful and useful
articles. John Magee, the organizer and president of the company, is the
patentee of all the improvements. The works were established in Chelsea
in 1864; they employ five hundred operatives, and produce thirty
thousand stoves and furnaces yearly. These are shipped by car-load all
through the Northern and Western States, to the Pacific slope, reaching
Oregon without breaking bulk. Their goods are sold in England, Sweden,
Turkey, Cape Colony, Australia, China, and the islands of the Pacific,
although the home demand almost forbids their seeking a foreign market.
The popularity of their work may be known from the fact that one hundred