In 1828 Jesse Jenks Jr. built a factory in the area known as the Cheshire Harbor on the Hoosac River at the northern edge of town where Cheshire borders Adams. It was a three story building measuring 50 feet by 34 feet with the first floor being built of stone and the second and third of wood. He employed 15 people in 1829 making fabric, coarse sheeting and shirting of cotton. They had 383 spindles and 12 looms producing 80,000 yards annually with projected growth of three times that.
Jesse's son Elisha eventually took over this business where he was very successful. Elisha was buried in the West mountain Road cemetery where his gravesite is marked by a very large monument circled by an iron fence and gate. Within these boundaries are also buried Elisha's two wives and his father and mother, Jesse and Lucretia Mowry Jenks.