USA > Connecticut > New London County > A modern history of New London County, Connecticut, Volume I > Part 30
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The town of East Lyme, with its Black Point colony (this section was once the reservation of the Niantic Indians), its large settlement at Crescent Beach, and its inns and cottages in Niantic proper, gets much of its living from summer visitors, but has also a considerable business in fisheries, and there is considerable woolen manufacture in the northern part of the town near Flanders village. Here is to be found a camping ground much used by the State militia. The former toll bridge, which succeeded the old Rope Ferry, has been replaced by a handsome bridge constructed recently by the county.
Crossing this bridge, we come into Waterford with its famous Millstone granite quarries. In Waterford was a settlement of the Rogerene Quakers whose adherents gave much trouble in New London in early times. New London, next to the east, will be described later.
After crossing the Thames on the old railroad bridge, given to the adjacent towns by the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad and con- verted into a highway bridge, we come to Groton. The industrial growth of Groton will be later described; its ancient history has already been touched upon. To the traveler the Groton of today has many points of interest.
The Monument, not very tall in itself, but situated at the crest of Groton Heights, commemorates the place where Colonel Ledyard and his comrades fell in September, 1781. Near the Monument one may see the remains of the old fort, and close by the Bill Memorial Library, one of many beautiful buildings given for public use in our county. The Hotel Griswold at Eastern Point, Groton, is one of the finest hotels on the coast, and is one of the many improvements made by the late Morton F. Plant, whose estates in East Lyme and Groton are model establishments for the county at large. The shipbuilding village of Noank lies within the town limits. The fine military road from Groton to Norwich takes one up the east bank of the Thames by the Naval Station (Submarine Base), equipped to accommodate several thousand men, with splendid facilities for harborage and wharfage.
The Mystic river, formerly the boundary between Connecticut and Massa- chusetts, separates Groton from Stonington. In the bay adjacent to Ston- ington is a stone marking the coming together of three States-Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New York. In Mystic village much building has been done in times past. Here also are made Lathrop's engines, Packer's Tar Soap, and various parts of machinery. Here also, as at the mouth of the Con- necticut river, the artists have formed a colony. Stonington is in many respects the Stonington of early days, but the whaler is seen no more. Time
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was when its seafarers led the fleet in Antarctic voyages. Relics and memo- rials tell of those days. The steamship line that ran to New York has been abandoned. Its chief industries today are the manufacture of machinery, printing presses, woolens, velvets, and threads. Its population has grown in the last decade from 9,154 (1910) to 10,236 (1920). Pawcatuck village, a part of Stonington, is, economically, a part of Westerly, Rhode Island, Paw- catuck river being the eastern boundary of New London county and of the State.
The most remarkable topographical feature of North Stonington is Lan- tern Hill, famous for the view from its summit and for the silex that is mined from its sides. A new State road now passes through North Ston- ington village, connecting Norwich and Westerly. The Wheeler School and Library is a fine structure, one of the many memorials erected in the county by private generosity. The main industry is agriculture. It has the largest area of any town in the county, with a population of 1,144 (1920). Its prosperous farms add much to the variety of scenery in the county.
To the north from North Stonington lies Voluntown, the least easily accessible town of the county. Its 656 inhabitants have, on an average, about four hundred acres apiece. Farming is the main industry, but the manu- facture of cotton goods is carried on successfully. Its hills and ponds make it a favorite resort for summer campers.
To the north of Groton lies Ledyard, then Preston, then Griswold, in succession. Ledyard, rich in history and in hills, is crossed by the State highway in its north-eastern corner, and has easy access to the outside world by the railroad running up the eastern shore of the Thames river. This agri- cultural community is cut up into many hamlets by its rugged contour. On the river front we find Gales Ferry, for a month each year the home of Yale and Harvard oarsmen. Decatur Hill is the most conspicuous landmark for miles around; Allen's Point, Stoddard's Wharf, Fort Point, and Poque- tonuck, bring to mind the Indian aborigines, the colonial settlers, and the days of Stephen Decatur.
The town of Preston, today a suburb of Norwich, has within itself Preston City, a village that was once the metropolis of its farming population. Its name, like that of Jewett City in Griswold, reminds us that the West is not alone in place-names based on hopes rather than accomplishments. The Norwich Hospital for the Insane, at Brewster's Neck, marks the modern progress of State and county in social amelioration of the helpless.
Griswold, once a farming village, has become the home of manufactures, which will be described when we consider the industries of the county. West of Griswold lie four children of Norwich-Lisbon, Sprague, Franklin and Bozrah. Their rich scenery and fertile fields have attracted many former residents who have returned to build up and occupy the ancestral farms. Their water power has built up thriving communities at Versailles and Occum (named for Samson Occum of Dartmouth College fame), at Baltic, and at Fitchville.
Of Lebanon, much has already been written. On the Central Vermont
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railroad, but somewhat isolated from modern industrial growth, she retains her earlier simplicity and charm. One who desires to revive his memories of earlier days can do no better than to visit the village, see the long common, characteristic of early New England settlements, inspect the old War Office, preserved as a historic memorial, survey the broad fields heavy with crops. As the people of the town say, "We supply Norwich with butter and cheese, and the State with Governors, especially when they want good ones." With never more than three thousand inhabitants, it has furnished five governors. of the State, who served collectively for thirty-eight years.
The central towns of the county, Norwich and New London, too, abound in monuments of supreme interest to the antiquarian. New London, with its splendid harbor, its State pier (costing over a million dollars), its railroad facilities, its natural beauty, and its successful industries, must become in time a metropolis for Eastern Connecticut. Its face is set toward the future, but its present beauty is enhanced by many an historic memorial.
The Shaw Mansion of Acadian memories contains many relics of great interest; the old mill has already been referred to; the Nathan Hale school- house, kept as a museum of Revolutionary relics; the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument near the railroad station at the foot of State street-these and many more reminders are to be found. But even more impressive are the buildings of recent times, both public and private.
The Y. M. C. A. building, the Public Library, the Club buildings, the Plant building, the Munsey building, the splendid school buildings, the hos- pitals, the stores, the parks, the remarkable villas of the summer colonists, combine to make New London a wide-awake, modern city, proud of its past, even prouder of its future. Of its industrial growth we shall soon speak.
As one follows the road up the west side of the Thames, he sees the buildings of Connecticut College so beautifully situated on the hill; he passes through Waterford and Montville, and comes to Norwich, the "Rose of New England." This is the route followed by the old "Mohegan Trail," with slight modifications. Uncasville (in Montville) is well named for the chief. Kitemaug, Mohegan Hill, and Trading Cove, remind us that in this region the Mohegans lingered longest ; do, in fact, linger to this day. Montville gets its living today chiefly from manufactures, though there is some farming.
Norwich, on its hills, is at the head of the Thames, where the Shetucket and Yantic join. Rich in interesting memorials, it has many modern build- ings and public works of which to boast. In Norwich are a number of parks (the largest, Mohegan Park) aggregating four hundred acres. Norwich is the burial place of Uncas, of Miantonomoh, and of Captain John Mason. The Uncas monument was dedicated in 1833, the Miantonomoh monument in 1841, the John Mason monument in 1871.
The most remarkable of the buildings of the last fifty years is the Slater Memorial building given in 1888 by Mr. William A. Slater, in honor of his father, John F. Slater, who gave one million dollars for the education of freedmen in the South. This building, with its museum and art collections, belongs to the Norwich Free Academy.
The development of Norwich within the past fifty years has proceeded
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largely on industrial and commercial lines. The Bank buildings, the Shan- non buildings, the Otis Library, the Town Hall, the Thayer building, the Backus Hospital, one of the best plants of its size to be found anywhere, the Buckingham Memorial building (formerly the residence of Governor Buck- ingham, and now devoted to patriotic purpose, under the control of the Grand Army of the Republic and the members of the American Legion), are only a few of its notable structures. New buildings are planned for the immediate future-a new Y. M. C. A. building and a modern school building of splendid equipment on the West Side. The beautiful residences, the noble trees, the sightly streets and parks make Norwich well worthy of its title of the "Rose of New England."
New London county history could be fairly estimated from its names, chiefly Indian, English, and Biblical. Certainly in Norwich these names are significant. Yantic, Shetucket, Quinnebaug, Wauregan, Mohegan, Oc- cum, Wequonnoc, Ponemah, are a few names that will keep the Indian aborigines in mind for centuries to come.
Judge Samuel O. Prentice, in his historical address delivered at the 250th anniversary celebration in 1909, thus refers to the history of Norwich for the past fifty years:
The limits of the city have been extended four times, and those of the town once. In 1874 the Greeneville section was added to the city, as were Laurel Hill and Boswellville in 1875. In 1901 the western portion of the town of Preston was taken into both the town and city, and in 1907 that portion of Mohegan park which lay without the city limits was included in them. In 1870 the completion of the city's fine water supply system, work upon which had been begun in 1867, was fittingly celebrated, and on July 4th President Grant honored the city with a visit, and received the enthusiastic welcome of its people. The same year the first street railway line was built. It extended from Greeneville to Bean Hill. It was electrified in 1892, and since that time radiating lines have been constructed furnishing direct and convenient communication with a large portion of Eastern Connecticut. In 1904 the city became the owner of its lighting plant. The year 1873 saw the occupation of the combined court, town and city building, which during the last year or two has been undergoing the process of enlargement to meet the increasing demands upon it. The spring of this same year also witnessed the erection at the head of the Great Plain of the monument to the memory of the soldiers and sailors of the Civil War. This theater was opened in 1890. The following year the Otis Library was made free, and in 1892 enlarged, and thus the way prepared for the invaluable work it is now doing. The year 1893 was made memorable by the completion of the William W. Backus Hospital, for whose beautiful location, admirable plant and ample endowment, Norwich owes an inestimable debt of gratitude to Mr. Backus, and to that most generous of her sons, William A. Slater. In 1894 the Masonic Temple was dedicated, and in 1905 the new Post Office was opened.
Fifty years have passed. They have been eventful ones, and have wit- nessed great changes in the business, industrial and social life of this country. Material prosperity has abounded ; the spheres of business activity have won- derfully broadened; industrial growth and expansion have been marvelous, and populations have multiplied and centralized as never before in our his- tory. Many centers of population have increased in numbers and been trans- formed in character so as to be scarcely recognizable. Riches have been
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amazingly multiplied, and have fallen to the lot of very many who had not been trained to their use. Extravagance and display have set their alluring examples in many quarters, making simple and unostentatious living harder and less common than it used to be. New standards of various sorts have come to supplant the old, and former ideals have given place to others. The changes which have taken place, however, have been by no means uniform. Cities have prospered and increased, where the country has not to the same extent, or not at all. Some cities have thriven and grown almost in spite of themselves, where others have had to plod their way to larger things. Some communities have found wealth dropping into their laps with the minimum of effort, while others have been obliged to win their achievements by per- sistent endeavor. Nature's bounty has not been the same to all sections ; the advantages of location have not been uniform ; and the facilities of trans- portation, which have played a large part in industrial and business history, have not been shared in equal measure. Norwich has not found itself the beneficiary of some great natural deposit of coal, iron ore, gas, copper or gold to contribute to the expansion of its industries, the increase of its population and its accumulation of wealth. It has not found itself the center of some great industrial development. It has not been favored by exceptional transportation facilities. The great lines of railway passed it by on either hand. It has thus been left without those aids to growth which certain other places have in greater or less degree enjoyed, and it has been compelled to rely for the most part upon the resources and energy of its people for what it has attained. The situation, however, has not been without its compensa- tions. Success won by effort is blessed in the winning. It is blessed in the character it develops, and in the type of manhood it creates. And there has been success. Of this there are evidences on every hand, and the fact that the population has practically doubled within the last fifty years amply attests it. But the conditions have not been such as to invite heterogeneous population of all sorts and kinds to the extent and of the character found in some other localities. Sudden wealth has not come to many, and to many unfit to use it. The new rich do not infest its streets and knock at the door of its society. What has come has been earned, and in the earning, the stability, the solidity and the strength of the old days has not been dissipated. The dignity of the simple life in its best sense has not been lost sight of, nor the standards and ideals of the former days forgotten. There has been retained a closer touch with the country than is common with cities. The ranks of its trade and its professions have been recruited very largely from the surrounding farms and villages, and that influence has been a constantly powerful and wholesome one. The best blood of the country round about, and the most of it the blood of a New England ancestry, has flowed to this center to invigorate its life. As a result of all these influences and condi- tions, Norwich, it seems to me, is today more truly representative of the old New England spirit, and better typifies the life and thought and sterling character of the fathers, than any other large and growing center of popula- tion of my acquaintance.
We may sum up the charms of our county by saying that the only excuse one of our citizens finds for going away in summer is to avoid summer visitors ; the only excuse one can have for moving away is the anticipated pleasure of returning to dwell here after his fortune is made.
It will be extremely difficult for the skeptic to find another region of like population that has received so many proofs of the generosity of its citizens in public bequests, as shown in charitable organizations, schools, libraries, and monuments.
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And, while all that makes for patriotism and culture has been retained, New London county has progressed in its business development in an im- pressive way. A brief survey of the main lines of industrial development is here presented. The banking system of the county is presented in a special article.
Taking a large view of the county, we note its abundance of water power. The tributaries of the Yantic and the Shetucket, with numerous smaller streams flowing into the Thames, the Connecticut, and the Sound, are marked with mill settlements. The estuary of the Thames furnishes adequate transportation facilities for Norwich and New London. Stonington has a fine harbor of its own, and the railroad makes the county easy of access for more rapid transportation. One characteristic of the industries of the county is their diversity, so that no one industry determines the pros- perity of our communities.
Farming is carried on to a considerable degree in every town but New London, where town and city limits coincide. Dairy farms and market gardens have good markets within easy reach. The farming classes are as a rule prosperous, progressive, and happy. With the good roads and motor vehicles they combine the advantages of country life and urban resources. In Colchester and Montville, considerable colonies of Jewish farmers have settled. Scattered through the county are numerous estates managed more for pleasure than for financial return. But the mass of the farming popu- lation is composed of the original independent stock that has been the real backbone of our country.
The enlightened policy of the State makes it possible for every child of a rural community to get a high school education at no greater expense than the city child has to meet. Free public libraries abound, many of which were given by enlightened citizens. Traveling libraries are sent out by the State Library Committee. The telephone, the motor car, the morning news- paper, the church life, the grange meetings, the trolleys, universal education, and commerce, bind together the county with a solidarity unknown fifty years ago.
Far more important, financially, than the farming, is the cotton industry of the county, which, in diverse forms, is undoubtedly the support of more people than any other form of manufacture. Numerous villages have sprung up around the factories in many places. These villages are many of theni model settlements, in which the laborer is encouraged to live in comfort, amidst clean and sanitary surroundings, with play grounds, community cen- ters, social diversions, all of which tend to increase his individual progress and good citizenship. The chief centers of the cotton industry are Norwich, Jewett City (Griswold), Baltic (Sprague). The woolen mills at Hallville (Preston), Yantic (Norwich), and Thamesville (Norwich), do an extensive business. The making of bed quilts of many kinds is carried on in the mills of Palmer Brothers at New London, Uncasville (Montville), and Fitchville (Norwich). These mills have a capacity of many thousand quilts a day. The silk industry of the Brainerd & Armstrong Company (New London), and the
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J. B. Martin Company (Norwich), has reached large proportions. The ship- building industry follows the shore from Stonington to New London, and many forms of machinery, marine and of other sorts, are manufactured throughout the county.
The paper industry has reached large proportions, one plant at Thames- ville turning out one hundred and twenty-five tons of strawboard daily. The manufacture of firearms, too, is a long-standing and prosperous business. The American Thermos Company has its chief factory in Norwich. To give some sense of the variety of products of our manufacturing districts we submit an outline by districts.
New London manufactures ships and ship machinery, silk fabrics, motors, brass tubing, carpet lining, boilers, printing presses, quilts, paper boxes, elec- tric specialties, underwear, machine tools, vises, poultry feeders, heating ap- paratus, mattresses, hats and caps, clothing and many lesser products.
Norwich manufactures pistols and other firearms, cutlery, plating, cotton and woolen goods, velvet, silk, paper, steam boilers, boxboard, carriages, pul- leys, electric supplies, leather and belting, machinery of many sorts. It is the seat of the largest plant of the United States Finishing Company.
Stonington manufactures machinery, printing presses, woolen and velvet goods, threads, Packer's Tar Soap, cotton goods, and goods of less importance.
Griswold's Mills are mostly cotton mills, but at Jewett City we find the Aspinook Company, one of the great bleaching and printing plants of the country.
Groton builds ships, and engines for submarines. Its main industry is looking after summer visitors.
Sprague makes cotton goods, woolens, paper, electricity, hospital supplies and novelties.
Lyme makes undertakers' hardware, birch oil and witch hazel extracts. Waterford makes paper, bleaching and dyeing products, and has large in- terests invested in quarrying and monumental work. Montville makes quilts, cotton goods, paper boxes, paper, and electricity (Eastern Connecticut Power Company.) Preston with its cotton and woolen goods, Bozrah with bed quilts and shoddy, Voluntown with cotton manufacture, Colchester with paper and leather goods, East Lyme with its granite quarries, menhaden fisheries, woolen goods, dyeing and bleaching, are mainly agricultural, as are the other towns of the county.
The varied industries of the county have brought in many allied interests, banking and commercial, too numerous to mention. A list of the main busi- ness firms of the county is here attached. Many of them are of such propor- tions as to merit special articles, and some are referred to in other parts of the history.
The grand list of the county, which does not include non-taxable prop- erty of religious, educational and charitable institutions, and public properties of great value, is over ninety-two millions, approximately six hundred dollars per head for each one of its 155,311 inhabitants. Its tremendous banking capital will be touched upon in another article. Among the main manufac-
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turing concerns of the county are the following:
American Pants Co., Norwich
American Strawboard Co., Norwich
American Thermos Bottle Co., Nor- wich
Atlantic Container Products Co., Norwich
Atlantic Carton Corp., Norwich
Atlantic Products Co., Norwich
Atlas Radiator Pedestal Co., Nor- wich
Bard Union Co., Inc., Norwich Blue Star Overall Co., Norwich
Brainerd & Armstrong Co., Norwich Carpenter Mfg. Co., Norwich. Cave Welding & Mfg. Co., Norwich Chelsea File Works, Norwich
City of Norwich Gas & Electric Dept., Norwich
Climax Specialty Co., Norwich
Connecticut Cord Iron Corporation, Norwich
Connecticut Pants and Knee Pants Co., Norwich
Connecticut Popcorn Co., Norwich Coronet Knitting Co., Norwich
Crescent Fire Arms Co., Norwich
Crystal Spring Bottling Works, Norwich
Davis Warner Arms Corp., Norwich
Eastern Pants Co., Norwich
Empire Skirt Co., Norwich
Geisthardt's Steam Saw Mill, Nor- wich
Gien Woolen Mills, Norwich Hammond Process Co., Norwich
Hartford Mosaic Marble Co., Nor- wich
Ideal Pants Co., Norwich
Lang Dye Works, Norwich
Lester & Wasley Co. (Machinery). Norwich
J. B. Martin Co. (Velvets and Silks), Norwich
New London-Norwich Sign Co., Norwich
New York Mineral Water Co., Norwich
Norwich Belt Mfg. Co., Norwich
Norwich Marble & Granite Works, Norwich
Norwich Overall & Skirt Co., Nor- wich
Norwich Paper Box Co., Norwich
Norwich Wood Working Co., Nor- wich
Norwich Woolen Co., Norwich
Norwich Woolen Mills, Norwich
Oakdale Cordage Co., Norwich
Parker, Preston & Co. (Paints), Norwich
Pequot Brass Foundry, Norwich
Pequot Rug Factory, Norwich
Phoenix Fire Extinguisher Co., Nor- wich
H. B. Porter & Son Co. (Woodwork- ing), Norwich
Reliance Yarn Company, Norwich Richmond Radiator Company, Nor- wich
Saxton Woolen Corp., Norwich
Shetucket Harness Co., Norwich
Thames Valley Mills (Woolen), Norwich
Turner & Stanton Company (Cord- age and Small Wares), Norwich Ulmer Leather Co., Norwich
United Metal Mfg. Co., Norwich
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