Laborers, Cordwainers (Shoe Makers) and Carpenters

Laborers (N=262) were also a major component of the work force, and included longshoremen who worked dockside loading and unloading the ships, warehouses and wagons. Laborers also included a variety of other unskilled types of laborious work, such as trench digging and street cleaning. Wagoners (N=7), teamsters (N=19), and truckmen (N=2) were employed moving goods from ships and warehouses to retail stores and beyond. Numerous people also worked for Stage Companies as workers or drivers (N=29).

A modest-sized shoemaking indusry (modest in comparison to other cities with shoemaking, such as nearby Lynn) was indicated by the number of cordwainers (N=185) working in Salem. Carpenters (N=107) also formed another part of the skilled workforce, engaged in building residences, commercial buildings and some also worked on shipbuilding. There are numerous other more specialized skilled occupations, many of which were affiliated with the shipbuilding industry. These included blacksmiths (N=44), machinists (N=15), caulkers (N=12), ropemakers (N=54), sailmakers (N=17), shipwrights (boat builders, N=34), shipjoiners (ship assemblers, N=4), pump and block makers (N=9), sawyers (lumber makers, N=2), wheelwrights (N=14), turners (N=4), spar makers (parts that support sails and rigging, N=6), riggers (N=2), gilders (detail painters, N=2) and a wood carver named Joseph True.

This is a section of the 1851 map of Salem, Massachusetts which depicts a series of ropewalks off of Bridge Street in the northeastern part of the city. These ropewalks include the P. English Ropewalk, the J. Gwinn Line and Twine Factory, the Steam Cordage Factory, the Laskey & Burley Line and Twine Factory and another unnamed ropewalk to the north of these. Additional ropewalks were located towards the center of Salem - the Mrs. Brown Cordage Factory on the east side of Washington Square (south of and parallel to Briggs Street), and the William Frye Rope Manufactory on the south side of Collins Cove. Ropewalks were rope manufacturing facilities. They were essentially narrow and very long warehouses that housed the equipment necessary to mechanically twist fibers into ropes. The long length of ropewalks was necessary in order to make strands of rope that were continuous, single pieces.