THE MIDDLE YEARS
son, Charles Willis Alling, succeeded him, a new mill was built, introducing spinning-looms, enabling them to weave cloth.
For many years the section around the Alling mills was called Jerusalem. As far as can be learned, this name came from a chance remark one day by the elder Mr. Alling. The mill people had many children, and, noticing them out playing one day, he said, "Why it is like the children playing in the streets of Jerusalem.'' So from that day on, it was ''Jerusalem." Later Mr. Alling took his two sons, Amos H. and Charles B. Alling, into the business with him. They carried on the business there until 1759, when they moved to Birmingham, later called Derby, and built a much larger mill.
The mill in Orange was left to be run by a younger brother, Leonidas W. Alling. During the Civil War, cloth for Union soldier uniforms was made in this factory. This mill was destroyed by fire in 1900. The story is told about a practical joker, named Crofut, who one day said to the girls who worked in the Alling mills, ''Want to see some fireworks? Well, just look out the window." Lying outside the saw mill across the street there was a log, which had evidently been rejected, for it had lain there for some time. Mr. Crofut thought he could blow it up; so he bored a hole in it, inserted some powder, lighted it, and then backed away to await developments. Nothing happened, so he went over, got astride the log, and leaned over to blow up a flame. Suddenly the charge went off, and he went up with it. His little experiment cost him the loss of an eye.
On July 27, 1827, Stephen Twining conveyed to Henry Fitts and Lewis Gilbert mill property situated on the Wepawaug, a little south of the Alling milks. The deed describes a dwelling, barn, saw mill, fulling mill, carding shop, dye shop, and grist mill. There was no road near the property, as Mapledale Avenue had not been put through at that time. After 1850 this property fell into disuse, and in 1863 it was conveyed to a son of Charles W. Alling.
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