WINCHENDON — The Bull Spit Brewing Company is relocating its brewery to an old foundry once owned by Goodspeed Machine Co. in Winchendon. 

Founded in around 1845, Goodspeed Machine Co. used the foundry on Tannery Pond to make woodworking machines, such as turning lathes (lathes are machines designed to shape wood, or metal), ball bearing shapers and wood planers. 

The foundry, located on 4 Summer Drive, is just one of many dilapidated manufacturing plants in Winchendon.  Originally home to Native Americans from the Pennacook and Nipmuck tribes, Winchendon was officially incorporated in 1764 and became home to many mills thanks to the Millers River. 

Initially, the mills in Winchendon made shingles, then in 1887, a businessman from New Hampshire, Morton Converse, began Converse Toy & Woodenware Company and made toys such as hobby horses, wagon blocks and even pianos. The toy manufacturing in Winchendon didn’t stop with Converse. There was also another toy manufacturing factory in Winchendon that some historians say was the largest of its kind in the 19th century. Needless to say, Winchendon has since been dubbed “toy town.” But that moniker is itself historic because after manufacturing slowed in the country following World War II, much of the industry in Winchendon fell to waste.

But today, The Bull Spit Brewing Company is breathing new life into the dilapidated buildings once owned by Goodspeed Machine Co. Rather than tearing them down, Keith Kopley, Bull Spit’s owner, plans on revamping the foundry and including old historic relics and pictures of the now defunct company into the refurbished brewery. There are other buildings behind the foundry once owned by Goodspeed Machine Co. that Kopley plans on using for storage.

The town was so pleased that Kopley decided to move his business into the old foundry that officials obtained grants to clean up the industrial waste and contaminants in and around the buildings, free of charge. 

“We are very excited about this partnership that will be going down at 4 Summer Drive. It’s been a longtime coming and it will be good to see that space activated for the community to use,” said Justin Sultzbach, the town manager of Winchendon. Later adding, “the town took the property through tax title and actively and aggressively sought out grants to clean up the site.”

Sultzbach said that some of the hazardous materials removed from the area were asbestos, roofing materials, and fuel and metal leaks that leached into the soil in the mid-1800s, which weren’t considered hazardous then, but are now. 

Sultzbach added that a brewery is a perfect fit for an old foundry because the vast vertical and lateral space in the building permits for the accommodation of storage tanks, refrigeration equipment and other brewing accessories.

“At the end of the day, brewing is manufacturing, and an old foundry is a manufacturing center,” said Sultzbach.

Kopley has a site plan in process for the old foundry in Winchendon, which he plans on opening next May. 

“The layout is basically going to be a really big brew house, all the fermentation tanks and ‘brights’ and we have a canning line coming in and a lot of cold space,” explained Kopley. “So, we can basically can and put it right into cold space and we are going to have a pretty large taproom area for the winter.”

Kopley’s site plan also includes outdoor seating, a sound stage for bands and entertainment, and yard games outside the old foundry building along Tannery Pond.  In the foundry will be a taproom where he’ll serve guests depending on the weather. 

“We are going to be primarily outdoors. The taproom will be open as the weather permits. I don’t know that we are going to have outdoor and taproom at the same time. If it’s beautiful outside, we may as well be outside,” said Kopley.