Manchester National Fish Hatchery
By Vance Polton
Today we are headed back to January of 1897 and the opening of the Manchester National Fish Hatchery. While for the most part the construction of the hatchery was completed in 1896, it was in late January of 1897 that the hatchery received its first batch of eggs to hatch: 200,000 lake trout eggs; followed in early February by 46,700 rainbow trout eggs that came from the Neosho National Fish Hatchery down in Missouri. Neosho National Fish Hatchery, the oldest national fish hatchery still in operation, was opened in 1888. Robert Sidney Johnson was Manchester's first superintendent and served as such from 1896-1909. Mr. Johnson can be seen in the attached photo of the interior of the main hatchery building.
To give you a feel for what the Manchester National Fish Hatchery looked like back in the late 1800's. I have attached a "modified" map of the hatchery grounds that I pulled from the 1899 Report of the U.S. Fish Commission (modified in that they didn't do colorized maps back then or add photos) and a few photos that I scan out of a photo album made by Will J Dick of Manchester back in 1897. William was 17 years old at the time and was the son of Charles Dick, the owner of the Clarence House Hotel from 1893-1899. The Clarence House was the first hotel in Manchester and was established in 1855.
A few things to note: 1. They purposely planted vegetation into the hatchery ponds. 2. The original waterline coming down from the spring was made out of wood. 3. In William's photos, I'm not sure his idea of a highway matches ours of today. 4. It's hard to read in the scan of the photo of the bridge but the sign says: Horses not permitted on hatchery grounds.
