1845 to 1851 he perfected his loom for the weaving of Brussels and
Wilton carpets, the greatest of his inventions; and he established the
Bigelow Carpet Mills here. He also invented the loom for the weaving of
wire-cloth. It is claimed that the first production in the United States
of finished cotton cloths under one roof and under the factory system
was not at Waltham in 1816, but at Clinton in 1813; neither place was
the first to spin by power, nor the first to produce finished cloths
without the factory system. The comb industry dates from the eighteenth
century. The first of the modern textile mills were established in 1838
for the manufacture of coach-lace. Clinton was a part of Lancaster, now
a small farming township (pop. in 1910, 2464), until 1850, when it was
set off as an independent township. The earliest settlement goes back to
1645.

See A. E. Ford, _History of the Origin of the Town of Clinton,
Massachusetts, 1653-1865_ (Clinton, 1896).

CLINTON, a city and the county-seat of Henry county, Missouri, U.S.A.,
on the Grand river, 87 m. S.E. of Kansas City. Pop. (1890) 4737; (1900)
5061 (470 being negroes); (1910) 4992. It is served by the St Louis &
San Francisco, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, and the Kansas City,
Clinton & Springfield railways. The city is situated on the border of a
rolling prairie about 770 ft. above the sea. The vicinity abounds in
coal, but is principally agricultural, and Clinton's chief interest is
in trade with it. The principal manufactures are flour and pottery.
Clinton was laid out in 1836 and was incorporated in 1865.

CLINTON, a village of Oneida county, New York, U.S.A., on the Oriskany
Creek, about 9 m. S.W. of Utica. Pop. (1890) 1269; (1900) 1340; (1905)
1315; (1910) 1236. It is served by the New York, Ontario & Western
railway, and is connected with Utica by an electric line. Several fine
mineral springs in the vicinity have given Clinton some reputation as a
health resort. There are iron mines, blast furnaces, and iron smelters.
Clinton is the seat of Hamilton College (non-sectarian), which was
opened as the Hamilton Oneida Academy in 1798, and was chartered under
its present name in 1812. It was founded by the Rev. Samuel Kirkland
(1741-1808), a missionary among the Oneida Indians; its corner-stone was
laid by Baron Steuben; its shade trees were furnished by Thomas
Jefferson; and its name was received from Alexander Hamilton, one of its
early trustees. It