 Hayden owned several business and mills in Haydenville, MA, a borough of Williamsburg, Massachusetts, including a brass factory, gas works, cotton factory, and foundry.He was also a part-owner of the Williamsburg Reservoir Company, which built the shoddy Williamsburg Reservoir, completed in 1866.On May 16, 1874, several months after Hayden's death, the dam failed catastrophically, causing a flood that killed 139 people and destroyed all four of Hayden's factories.