Firearm Factory of the Month: N.R. Davis & Co

The story of N.R. Davis & Sons starts with the man who started the company. Mr. Nathan Russel Davis was born in Somerset, MA on August 18th, 1828. 

At the age of 19 he began an apprenticeship as a machinist in Taunton, MA. He then went to work for Gunsmith George Foster in Taunton, making rifles by hand. This would have been around 1850 or so.
Some texts list Davis as working for Colt in Hartford in 1852, but that might not be correct as Colt's Armory in Hartford didn't open until 1855.
On July 1st, 1853, Davis moved to Assonet, MA to enter into a partnership with local businessman David C. Thresher.
They set up a forge along the Assonet River to make muzzle loading rifles.
The river provided the machine power, and the local bogs and swamps provided the iron ore.
In the Fall of 1854, they moved operations to a building owned by Thresher on Water Street.
In 1858 they began making a muzzle loading shotgun.

In 1861 they closed up shop due to the outbreak of the Civil War. They reopened the following year after being awarded a contract to produce sights for the Springfield Rifle. Soon more employees were added (near 100 employees) and work went on around the clock.

In 1862, due to his failing health, Thresher sold his interest in the business to a Dr. Thomas Nichols.

On May 19th, 1864 the Davis gun factory was burned to the ground. It is believed that the fire was set by a Democrat or Confederate sympathizer. The fire occurred just two months after the Colt Armory in Hartford was destroyed by fire which was also suspected to have been set by a Democrat.

The company, though not insured, rebuilt by buying new, modern machinery and moving to the second floor of the Nichols & Sampson building on Main Street in Assonet. It is not known if the partner in the company, Dr. Thomas Nichols, was connected to the owner of the building Capt. John Nichols.
By the end of the Civil War N.R. Davis and Co had made some 600,000 rear leaf sights for the Springfield Rifle.

Shortly after the war, breech loading shotguns were being produced by the company.
In the winter of 1873/1874, the company relocated once more to the empty building once occupied by the Assonet Machine Company. The building sat on Water Street, not far from their original forge and the Thresher building.

In 1883 Dr. Nichols passed away and his shares were purchased by Davis. The following February Davis' two sons W.A. and N.W. were admitted as partners and the company re-incorporated as N.R. Davis and Sons.

Nathan Russell Davis passed away on Aug 14th, 1907, just 4 days short of his 79th birthday.

At some point after that the company was renamed Davis-Warner Company.

In 1929 the Davis-Warner Co. merged with the Crescent Firearms Company to form the Crescent-Davis Corporation.

A year later the new corporation was purchased by Savage-Stevens. In 1932 operations were moved to the Stevens plant in Springfield, MA. The Crescent-Davis guns remained in the catalog until 1941. 

None of the old factory buildings exist today.

I believe the site of the Thresher building on Water Street is now Hathaway Park

and the Nichols-Sampson building, which is also gone, was probably on Main Street where it crosses the river, they would have needed the water for power.

Sources:

Multiple Authors (1902) A History of the Town of Freetown Massechusates with an Account of the Old Home Festival, Fall River, MA: J.H. Franklin & Co.

CRESCENT F. A. CO. Model Photos :: Gun Values by Gun Digest

Crescent Fire Arms Co. (american-firearms.com)


https://unblinkingeye.com/Guns/Warner/warner.html

http://www.scottcreative.net/Default.asp?ID=33&pg=Short+History+of+N%2ER%2E+Davis+%26+Sons+Shotguns

https://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=198973

https://www.heraldnews.com/article/20080723/NEWS/307238908

http://parkerguns.org/forums/showthread.php?t=13035
http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/23181554

https://books.google.com/books?id=3SsWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA231&lpg=PA231&dq=NR+Davis+factory+assonet+MA&source=bl&ots=96k1BcwS9E&sig=ACfU3U2ceP3G4pGEpXavRKZSdKn5HPfAjQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjQ54XHp5fmAhWVv54KHSIACgIQ6AEwCHoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=NR%20Davis%20factory%20assonet%20MA&f=false