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Frank J. Sprague and North Adams

Frank J. Sprague’s lineage in the New World began in 1629 when Ralph Sprague and his two brothers from the Upwey Hamlet in Devonshire, England, sailed on the Lion’s Whelp for Salem, Massachusetts. Following arrival, as the family expanded during the remainder of the seventeenth century, they settled primarily in Massachusetts, many in Malden. While Ralph was a founder of Charlestown Massachusetts and one of its early leading citizens, subsequent generations were primarily farmers, millers, and sturdy New England landowners. There also were adventurers, such as Ralph’s son, John, who fought in the gruesome King Philips War of 1676, while later Uncle Joshua crossed the plains in a prairie schooner heading for the California gold fields. The first Spragues in North Adams apparently arrived in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century, probably seeking work in the young and vibrant textile industry. Yet nowhere in Frank’s ancestral biography was there any hint of the inventive genius he would demonstrate after entering the world in the mid-1800s.

Frank Julian Sprague was born July 25, 1857 in Milford, Connecticut where his father, David Cummings Sprague, was superintendent of a hat factory, while his young mother, Julia King, struggled to keep house with poor health. A son, Seaver, was stillborn three years before Frank, and a younger brother, Charley, arrived three years after him. Life in the shore community of Milford was not easy, but the Sprague family seemed to be surviving reasonably well when disaster struck and Julia died from a sudden illness in early 1866. David lost it completely, deserting his two young sons to head west to seek his fortune. He shipped the boys off to North Adams to be cared for by his oldest sister, a maiden aunt they scarcely knew, Elvira Betsy Ann Sprague. (She was later married as Ann Parker).

Frank adored his mother and was initially devastated. Never reconciled with his father (who was killed at a train crossing in Rahway, New Jersey in 1896), Frank recovered quickly, realizing that he not only had to find his own way, but also had Charley to care for. Census records show that he lived with several different Sprague families during his eight years in North Adams. However in later life he only wrote about his aunt Ann, referring to her as his foster mother, and North Adams as his hometown. Stern, demanding, but also loving, Aunt Ann turned out to be a wonderful blessing in disguise. Speaking at his 75th birthday celebration, Frank said of her: “She was a woman of the finest New England type, and of striking beauty. Living in a modest frugal way as an occasional school teacher, with great sacrifice she devoted herself to her charges (Frank and Charley) with sanity of judgment, but also with high regard for much needed oversight. She was indeed a strict disciplinarian, but I think something vital must have been instilled in me by this devoted woman.”

Things were very tight financially, and Frank recalls selling lemonade and apples on the street corner to raise a little extra cash (see Dalzell, p. 27). Initially the boys attended the North Adams public schools, followed by Drury High School, at the time a private military academy. Hazing of new students was common at Drury, especially of brash young know-it alls like Frank. However this didn’t last long since, while of only medium size and easy to knock down, Frank always seemed to bounce back and give more than he had taken until they tired of the sport. It also quickly became clear that no one dared touch Charley. There was a more important confrontation later when he was a a plebe at Annapolis and battled a much larger upper classman into submission over a matter of principle. Years later his Annapolis roommate, by then Admiral James H. Glennon, recalled the event to Frank: “... persecution kept up and finally a fight with a third classman was arranged. You were a sorry sight after the battle, but you licked your man.”

By today’s standards, North Adams in the mid 1800s was a wilderness, with candles and dangerous whale oil lamps for light, fireplaces and stoves for heat, often no running water in the house, no telephones, no refrigerators, and with chamber pots and outhouses serving for waste elimination. Streets were still much like the rutted, flooded Indian trails they once were. A stage coach ride over today’s Mohawk trail was a never- to-be forgotten ride through hell, and railroads were just beginning to provide local service. Still, when the Civil War ended, the city gradually became a boom town as the textile industry, led by the Arnold Print Works, began to surge. New technologies were also making their mark everywhere.

Steam power was beginning to drive great locomotives, threatening the nation’s existing canal systems and replacing water power in factory machinery. Arc lighting was bringing brightness into the world, and in New Jersey a “Wizard” was hard at work on a much better idea. Telegraphy had created instant communications, only to become obsolete at the moment Watson heard Bell’s famous voice request. Yet the power of Michael Faraday’s strange “electric fluid,” discovered in 1821, and largely demystified by Faraday and others over the next ten years, still remained a curiosity waiting to be exploited by a host of brilliant inventors, including Frank Sprague. Moreover, North Adams was about to become less remote, as its own “big dig,” the Hoosac Tunnel, slowly and dangerously ground its way through the nearly five mile granite barrier of the Hoosac Range, opening into North Adams in 1876 after killing nearly 200 workers.

As the Sprague brothers settled into their new home, Frank became increasingly recognized and respected in North Adams. Far from being a bookish recluse, he was noted as mischievous, but not overly so (see Middleton, p. 7), extremely inquisitive, and brilliant, with excellent grades at Drury, especially in the sciences and mathematics. He could be found almost anywhere in the small city, often visiting textile manufacturing and support shops to try and understand how the machinery worked. He was fascinated with the Hoosac Tunnel progress and became friends with its construction contractor, Walter Shanly. As they talked, Frank imagined what the steam, smoke and dirt from the engine must be like in the tunnel. Probably this helped spur him eventually into the about-to-explode field of electric driven transportation. But without any money, how could he afford a college education?

Although he had no interest in a military career, based on the recommendation of Drury superintendant, Isaac Dunham, he decided to apply for the free education offered at the U S Military Academy at West Point. Scraping together train fare from several local acquaintances, in 1874 he travelled the 75 miles to Springfield to take the competitive exam. However, upon arrival he found to his chagrin that the exam was for the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and not West Point. So be it. He took the four day exam, scoring highest of the 13 applicants. Then, based on further strong recommendations from the North Adams community, including a judge, two local pastors, and Shanly, he won and accepted the appointment. As it turned out, for someone interested in electricity, Annapolis was one of the finest engineering schools in the country, and a much better choice than West Point would have been. (See Rowsome p. 22).

The young seventeen year old who left North Adams for Annapolis in the fall of 1874 was very different from the frightened, orphaned child of six that had arrived there from Connecticut eight years earlier. Built something like a trim middleweight boxer, without all the muscles and the training but just as fearless, he walked with a hitch in his gate which some mistook for a swagger. He always seemed to be moving, his tousled sandy hair often in disarray, and it was clear that wherever he was heading, he expected to get there, the sooner the better. Although polite, he was never bashful, and his confidant clear pale blue eyes glittered with intelligence and enthusiasm, ready to take on whatever the world had in store for him.

Leaving behind Aunt Ann and Charley (who spent the rest of his life in North Adams as an accountant), and borrowing $400 from Shanly and a local bank, in late September he headed south for the Naval Academy, passing through New York City for the first time. (See Rowsome p. 23 for Frank’s fascinating first impressions.) On September 29, 1874 he accepted his appointment as a Cadet Midshipman, and a journey to a lifetime of electrical invention began.