The most important building at Speedwell is
the Factory where Alfred Vail and Samuel F. B. Morse perfected and
demonstrated the electro-magnetic telegraph in 1837-1838. Because of
the significance of this event, the National Park Service designated
the Factory a National Historic Landmark in 1975.
The original structure was a one-story building with a garret and cellar dating back to the late 18th or early 19th century. About 1830, a second story was added for cotton looms, and in 1850 a grist mill was set up in the first floor and basement, run by an overshot waterwheel 24 feet in diameter. During the winter of 1837-1838, the second floor was vacant and Stephen lent it to Alfred and Samuel F. B. Morse for their work on the telegraph.
In 1968, when the trustees of The Speedwell Village acquired the property, the Factory was deteriorating. The basement walls had sunk into the wet soil, jamming the waterwheel. Water had also rotted the wooden supports of the grist mill. The weight of the millstones had pulled down the center of the whole building, giving the floors and the roof a sagging appearance. The stairs and much of the first floor had rotted away, and the roof needed to be replaced.
The first job of the trustees was to shore up the building to prevent its collapse. An underground drain was installed outside the foundation to intercept water which had been flooding the basement. Parts of the first floor and basement stairways were replaced, and the collapsed walls were rebuilt on concrete footings. The exterior of the Factory was repainted its original color. As funds became available, more restoration work was accomplished. The south wall of the Factory basement, then made of wooden frame, was replaced by stone. The roof was rebuilt and the waterwheel was rolled out on railway tracks and put back in working order. The wheelhouse was restored. The exterior of the Factory now appears as it did in 1838.
Mrs. Thomas W. Streeter Sr. of Morristown was the moving force behind the restoration of the Factory. She provided both the dedicated leadership and financial support necessary for such an ambitious enterprise. She was helped by William Van Vleck Lidgerwood and by the many friends and trustees of The Speedwell Village who gave their time, talent, and financial assistance in the various stages of development. Federal matching grants provided money for some of the documentary research and structural restoration. A grant from the John Jay and Elizabeth Jane Watson Foundation helped restore the wheelhouse and roof, and a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities created the telegraph exhibit on the second floor of the Factory.
The Telegraph Factory is now not only an important scientific museum but a monument to the development of communication in the world.
