Spofford Village attained national stature in the 19th century for the manufacture of bits, augers, and gimlets in a series of shops powered by Partridge Brook. Beginning about 1825, Benjamin Pierce, members of the Hopkins family, and others also began to manufacture "patent accelerating heads" for hand spinning wheels in a wooden building on this site. These attachments provided rapid spindle rotation that was suited to spinning the wool of Merino sheep. By the 1860s, Spofford Village was producing over 60,000 patent heads each year for sale throughout the nation.