USA > Connecticut > Windham County > A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume I > Part 14
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There was one tailor shop conducted by an Englishman whose name was Elliott (grandfather of George S. Elliott), who was the first man to engage in the sale of "ready-made clothing for gents," a business which was afterwards opened and conducted successfully for many years by Mr. J. G. Keigwin in the Brainard House.
There was one cooper in the community, a bent old man, who was able to do but little work, but that little was all that was needed in his day. The old drug store near what is now the head of Railroad Street was popularly known by the name of its owner as Safford's drug store; afterwards for many years as L. J. Fuller & Son; then bought by Frank M. Wilson, and now known as Wilson's drug store.
Bassett and Wilson were the tinsmiths, plumbers and stove men for the entire community. Warren Tanner and Isaac Turner and Chauncey Wilson conducted the livery business in those days long before an automobile was dreamed of.
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The village boasted two lawyers, Joel R. Arnold and Elliott B. Sumner, both reputable and successful lawyers.
There were three principal physicians at this time, Doctor Witter, who lived in perhaps the most imposing house in the village at the corner of Main and High Street, where the postoffice now stands; Doctor Hill, who lived a little way to the east of him on the opposite side of Main Street; Dr. William K. Otis, who lived still further east off Main Street (since become Temple Street), and who after the death of the other two men was joined by a relative whose name was Stebbins.
There were three churches, the leading one of which, as was true all through New England, was the Congregational Church. There was also a Baptist and a Methodist Episcopal Church, and between sixty and sixty-five years ago the Catholic Church was organized in the hall connected with the Brainard House, where they held services for the months that intervened between the opening services and the completion of their house of worship, which was near the present site.
Notwithstanding there was a Protestant Episcopal Church in the Town of Windham, it was many years before there was any attempt made to organize such a society in Willimantic, but after a time occasional services began to be held, and some years later the site was purchased and a church erected.
The pastor of the Congregational Church at this period was the Rev. S. G. Willard, who was an exceedingly important and useful man, not only in his pulpit but did good services to the community as principal member of the school committee. He looked the typical, scholarly preacher ; a man of medium stature, pale face, light blue eyes, light hair, always wearing gold-bowed spec- tacles, and always with a serious expression on his countenance. Priest Willard, as he was called, was a notable man in the community.
The Baptist Church had quite a succession of pastors, none staying very long but the redoubtable Elder Swan was often heard in its pulpit and for a time his son, Charles Swan, was its pastor.
In the Methodist Episcopal Church the stay was limited to one year, and later two years, so that no man was able to stay long enough to make any decided impression on the community in those early days.
There were two school districts, then as now, equally dividing the ter- ritory ; the easterly one, known as the Natchaug School and the westerly one located about the middle of the western district.
Two men were prominent in this school, Mr. John F. Peck, than whom no principal was ever more dearly beloved by his scholars, whose stay was all too brief; later came that giant teacher, John D. Wheeler, whose discipline was perfect and whose teaching ability was great, and who, if he failed to win the personal affection and esteem which had been given to Mr. Peck, nevertheless lived and died a most respected member of the teaching force of the State of Connecticut.
Besides the Brainard Hall, which has been noted as the place where the Catholic Church was organized, there was also nearly opposite the present bank site the building known as Franklin Hall, which was the common place for entertainments, concerts, lectures and especially during the period just previous to and during the Civil war for political lectures.
The somewhat aristicratic folk of the slow-going and conservative Town of Windham Centre rather looked upon the Willimantic dwellers as hopelessly
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plebeian, but as has often been the case, the hopeless plebeians were not particu- larly disturbed by this estimate. They kept on their way and attended to their own affairs, and it was not so very long before in every important respect the scales were turned and so remained.
This then was the old Willimantic. A long, straggling assemblage of houses, inhabited by a quiet, industrious, hard-working people, having the four nuclei, the company stores and manufacturing plants above referred to, interspersed by a few other stores and straggling houses, three churches, two district schools.
The factory bells rang out about 5:30 in the morning to arouse the sleepers that they might prepare themselves for the day's work which began from 6 to a quarter past 6 in the morning and continued, with a brief intermission at noon for lunch, until 6 o'clock at night, and in the winter time, when, to avoid lighting up the factories, the morning work was begun about 7 o'clock, it continued in the evening until a quarter of 8, a half-holiday being granted on Saturday through the whole year.
The dwellers in this community were all interested in the education of their children, and well supported the public school.
They were interested in political affairs, and though the community was small, numbering hundreds then where it counts thousands now, there was intense patriotism and love of country. Willimantic gave its full quota of soldiers to the Civil war, and gave its heartiest support to its war governor, William A. Buckingham, and the war president, Abraham Lincoln. The period immediately preceding and running forward into and through the years of the Civil war was a period of great growth.
The Holland Silk Company, which had been doing business in a com- paratively small plant in Mansfield, came down to Valley Street and put up their first building, which was later followed by the addition of the second building across the street.
The Atwood Machine Company came in not far from this time. About this time the "Air Line" Road, from Boston to New York, came through, mak- ing the third line of railroad. Business blocks began to be completed, and the village grew very, very rapidly.
Seventy years ago all the land from the west end of the Stone Row below the present railroad station and the end of the White Row and the Smithville Company's plant, between Main Street and the River, was offered for sale for $300, and today a very large area of the business of the thriving city is con- ducted on that same property. It was then an old briar pasture; it is now city blocks.
If the reader wonders that no towering personality appears in these rem- iniscences, the answer is very simple. There was no such personality. Nat- urally the agents of the various manufacturing corporations were the leading men in their sections of the community, but beyond their business relations there was no hint of superiority or snobbery on the part of the Jillsons, the Haydens and the Tracys. One grocery man was as good as another, and the dry goods dealer was as good as they. It would be possible to give perhaps a list of fifty names, and it would be difficult for any one who was living in the community at the time referred to, to state why any one was, taken all in all, the superior of the others.
It may be said with truth, that, though the above description seems to indi- cate a monotony of business and social life, this was not the case, but real
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democracy, intense, earnest, intelligent, made up of strong personalities, was characteristic of this flourishing village, which accounts very largely for its influence in its section of the state.
In a community so busy as that of the old Willimantic there was little time for play, but the play spirit, born in the young human animal is reluctant to quit its hold till the early years of young manhood and young womanhood, and their responsibilities and cares take the time so completely as to leave little opportunity or time for recreation.
The one event, celebrated by both sexes in the old Willimantic really begin- ning the year's festivities, was the hanging of May baskets. On the evening of the first day of May, and after, in some instances, weeks of elaborate prepara- tion, surprising creations of papers of all colors and crimped in all shapes, and loaded with all manner of sweetmeats and notes which had words perhaps sweeter to the recipient than anything else in the basket, were hung at the doors of the favored of both sexes. It was a gala night, and sad indeed was the boy or girl, the young man or young woman, who failed of the May basket.
Then for the boys and young men there was the swimming hole at what was called the "yellow sand," about one-half mile up the river above the Wind- ham Company dam, while the more daring and venturesome plunged into the river from the ledge of rocks which abutted on the dam. Famous resorts were "Little Rock" and "High Rock," as diving places, just around the bend to the west of the present railroad bridge over the river, even more visible today than then because the woods, then on both sides of the river, are now cut away. Similarly named as "Little Rock" and "High Rock" were the diving places still plainly visible to the east of the lower bridge leading to Windham Road. This same river, with its wide coves opposite, the present site of the Protestant cemetery, formed a magnificent skating park for the winter, which was patron- ized by boys and girls, by young men and maidens and occasionally by those who were older and had forgotten that fact so as to mingle once more in the sports of youth.
Then, too, in the winter we never "coasted." .No dweller in old Willimantic ever heard such a word. We went "slidin' down hill," and great were the slides and long and happy. There was Thompson's Hill and Porter's Hill, and longest by far and best of all, the High Street Hill, where the slide began fully a half mile, perhaps three-quarters, from its end, for it began in the woods crowning the ridge between Willimantic and Mansfield, ran southerly down High Street, turned a sharp corner onto Main Street, thence west for a half block, then south, crossing the railroad and running (along what is now Bridge Street)-if the sled were strong enough, as some of them were, to hold six or eight burly men-almost to the river. It would take about a half-hour to walk back to the point from which one had started only a very few minutes before.
The only summer sport beyond that of swimming which was general was ball playing.
Barn ball, which was played by two, a pitcher and a batter, the pitcher throwing the ball against the barn, the batter endeavoring to hit it on the rebound, failing in which, if the ball was caught, the batter and pitcher changed places.
Then came "one old cat," played by three persons, a pitcher, a catcher and between them a batter. If the batter struck the ball, and the pitcher caught it, he and the pitcher exchanged places. If the batter struck at the ball and Vol. 1-8
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missed it and the catcher caught it, he and the pitcher exchanged places. This seems to have been the germ out of which the American game of baseball grew, for after "one old cat" came "two old cat" which was played by four persons, two pitchers and two catchers. That is to say, the man who had the ball at one end of the line was pitcher and the man at the extreme other end of the line was catcher, and when the ball went back their relations were reversed and the batters, if they made a hit, were supposed to run from goal to goal or base to base, exchanging positions every time a hit was made.
But really the most typical form of sport was seen in the May and June evenings when there was an hour and a half or two hours of daylight after the operatives were out of the mill and the street for half a mile was well filled with boys and young men each with a bat in hand and perhaps some twenty or thirty balls in motion. Any ball that could be caught or picked up at the end of its flight was to be batted back again in either direction, accord- ing to the choice of the batter and the game was for the strongest batters at either end to drive all the balls either up or down the street. It was a demo- cratic, free fight with no favor. Outside of this there were the Fourth of July picnics, which were gotten up for the Sunday schools of the various churches, meaning usually a clam bake, a great quantity of lemonade and a profuse sup- ply of watermelons, cake and ice cream, and likely a call for the doctor in many places before morning of the next day.
There was one outstanding fact in connection with the church life of the community which ought to be noted. There was never any particular rivalry in those days among the denominations or the leaders of church life, but the Methodist Episcopal Church had an unusually large number of good singers and Sunday evenings the services were of social nature, that is, there was no preaching. There was singing and prayer and public testimony or exhortation, a good deal of singing, which was so inspirational and enjoyable that the early drummers who traveled through that section of the state would finish up their business in Hartford or Norwich or New London early enough on Saturday to spend Sunday in Willimantic so as to attend that service, and enjoy the sing- ing on Sunday evening.
It was not an uncommon thing to have from two to three times as many people present at that service as could be found in any of the churches to listen to any of the preachers. A very unusual sort of meeting was this.
A NOTABLE GROUP OF PHOTOGRAPHS
In the office of the city clerk of Willimantic there is hanging on the wall in a suitable frame a remarkable group of photographs, as collected by the present city clerk, A. C. Scripture, of men who have been active in the profes- sional, business and public life of the community, and it might almost be called a composite of the life of Willimantic during the last half century. Mr. Scrip- ture has done a fine service in thus preserving in a public place such accurate likenesses of men who have had large share in the making of this community. A list of the names follows : Eugene S. Boss, George M. Harrington, Wm. Henry Latham, Ezra Stiles, James E. Hayden, Ansel Arnold, John M. Hall, John L. Hunter, Joel W. Webb, John Bradshaw, Nathan Stearns, Horace Chap- man, O. H. K. Risley, Thomas Chandler, Henry Fryer, Dr. T. M. Hills, John Scott, Wm. A. King, J. A. Lewis, Henry L. Hall, Jerome B. Baldwin, Daniel P.
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Dunn, Herbert R. Chappell, George W. Meloney, Oscar O. Tanner, George Hatch, Whiting Hayden, Abel Burnham, Samuel Adams, Chas. B. Pomeroy, Rev. F. L. DeBruycker, Amos F. Fowler, Silas F. Loomer, Wm. Vanderman, Horatio Bill, Chauncey L. Hooker, J. O'Sullivan, E. A. Buck, Robert Hooper, H. C. Murray, Dr. Chas. J. Fox, Dr. A. D. David, Dr. D. C. Card, Rev. J. H. New- land, Rev. Ralph G. Hartley, Rev. Ashley Day Leavitt.
Many of these men are mentioned in various accounts elsewhere in this volume, as the index will show. Those still active in the community are George M. Harrington, Willimantic's first mayor; William Henry Latham, whose firm has erected many business blocks and homes in and around this community ; Henry Fryer, who has made clothing for a very large number of those above named; William A. King, who has been their corporate and personal counsellor in legal matters, and is also among the most prominent men of the state in legislative capacity,-attorney general, candidate for Congress ; former mayors, Dunn, Chappell and Tanner, referred to in history of the city; George Hatch, for many years connected with Smith-Winchester Company, a leader among the Spiritualists, prominent in Windham's public life, and now living in retirement at South Windham; Chauncey S. Hooker, whose famous "Venerable Club" occupies a prominent place in this volume; and the Reverends Newland, Metho- dist, Hartley, Baptist, and Leavitt, Congregational, former pastors here, and now active in other communities, as recorded in the respective histories of their Willimantic parishes.
Samuel Adams was for many years famous for miles around as the man who could move buildings wherever they were desired to be put, and also as a general contractor in foundation work. His son, Nelson B. Adams, succeeds to the business, while another son, Samuel Adams, is the well-known market man on Main Street.
William Vanderman was founder of the Vanderman Foundry, a mechanic and inventor of superior ability, an energetic, public-spirited citizen, whose pluck and determination against early odds and the slowness of the community to appreciate his ability, and the merit of his business propositions, and his final success in establishing the business now carried on by John Reilly and Mr. Vanderman's sons, are factors in Willimantic life well remembered. In later years his sons have established a successful plumbing business in Hart- ford. His daughter, Grace, for several years her father's bookkeeper, mar- ried J. E. Sullivan of the Brick and Sullivan shoe firm.
John Bradshaw, a travelling man associated for many years with the Durkee, Stiles and Harrington firm, later Stiles and Harrington and now Harrington's, was widely known throughout Eastern Connecticut, respected for his integrity, and popular as a salesman; also actively identified with the development of the Willimantic fire department.
J. O'Sullivan was one of the most popular and substantial of Willimantic business men in his day, and as builder and contractor had a large share in the growth of borough and city. He was active in civie affairs, especially in the early development of the borough, and also as member of the town school board. Himself of firm faith and conviction, he was yet broad in his views and chari- table in his judgments. Sound common sense was his leading characteristic. He died Tuesday, May 3, 1915, widely lamented. His widow now resides in Willimantic.
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OUTLINE SKETCH OF WILLIMANTIC *
By A. C. Andrew'
I first knew Willimantic in the fall of 1866, when at the age of eight I came with my parents here to live. My father (Chas. N. Andrew) having just purchased the business of the general store which had been conducted in connection with the Tracy mill. At that time John Tracy was part owner and manager of what was known as the Tracy Mills, later The Windham Manufacturing Company, and now a part of The Quidnick Windham Company. This mill had been in operation then some thirty odd years. Its product was cotton print cloth which was sent to print mills in Rhode Island where it was made into calico, a material much in vogue for women's inexpensive dresses at that time. John Tracy was at that time, and until his death, which occurred a few years later, one of the leading men of Willimantic, very prominent in the business, social and political life of his day. He had a pleasing personality and was a typical "gentleman of the old school," always courteous, and if slightly reserved yet always approachable. He was particular about his dress and appearance.
QUIDNICK-WINDHAM MANUFACTURING CO. PLANT, WILLIMANTIC
Just east of the Tracy mills on Bridge Street was what was then known as the Hayden Mill where cotton print goods were also manufactured and I think cotton sheeting. This property (now also combined with the Quidnick- Windham Company, under the able management of Walter B. Knight) was then owned by Whitin Hayden and managed by himself and son, James. Whitin Hayden might be called eccentric and not approachable. His manner was gruff, at times surly. He was, however, possessed of New England shrewdness and very successful in his business affairs. His heart was all right too when you
* Willimantic, an Indian name, originally Willimansett, said to mean "Swift Running Water."'
In the early days before there were any dams across the Willimantic River, there were a series of rapids beginning at a point above where the Quidnick-Windham Co. Mills are now located to a point below the Thread Mill site.
"Nothing in the past is dead to the man who would learn how the present came to be what it is."-STUBBS.
No. 5 Mill Main street looking west, showing old spool shop Thread Mill Square, with No. 6 Mill No. 2 Mill, built in 1865 No. 4 Mill The Bleachery No. 1 Mill Old Jillson Mill No. 3
AMERICAN THREAD COMPANY, WILLIMANTIC
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found it. He was careless of his dress, often visiting neighboring cities very ordinarily dressed, with his clothes covered with cotton from the mill.
A story is told of his once visiting a Norwich clothing store where the dapper young clerks were not particularly courteous to him. After looking about some time he finally selected a fine silk hat, asked the price, which the clerk told him, in a manner which implied doubt of his having the price. Mr. Hayden produced a roll which might have choked a horse and offered a bill, the denomination of which was too much for the cash drawer of the establish- ment to change. At another time he saw some boys playing in the street in front of the mill houses. He took the raggedest one in the lot by the shoulder and in a gruff voice said: "Come along with me." He took him to a clothing store and fitted him out with a new suit of clothes and a cap and said, "Go home and tell your mother to wash your face and hands, and you will look quite respectable."
The thread mills located at the lower end of the village and deriving their power from the same stream (the Willimantic River), from which the cotton mills obtained power were known as The Willimantic Linen Company. There were then but three mills, two stone and one wood mill. In the early '70s, Col. Wm. E. Barrows became manager and the business was immediately ex- panded. Number 4 mill was built, which was said at the time to be the largest manufacturing establishment on the ground floor in the world, except one of the buildings of the Krupp works in Germany. Under Colonel Bar- rows' management much attention was paid to the housing problem and the general welfare of the employees of the company. Under his direction The Oaks were laid out, a little village by itself of comfortable, small houses for one family each. The thread business has undoubtedly contributed more than all the other manufacturing interests together to the development of Willi- mantic.
While perhaps the stockholders did not receive the returns they felt that they should, under Colonel Barrows' management, the foundation which he laid for the welfare of the Thread Company's employees formed the basis of a policy which has always been continued. Later under the able management of the late Gen. Eugene S. Boss the thread business continued to expand. More mills were erected until now the corporation has six mills. They soon outgrew their water power and now both steam and electric power are used in connection with the water power. When the great American Thread Com- pany was formed, the Willimantic Linen Company was absorbed by it, and what was already Willimantic's largest industry has now become its great manufacturing bulwark.
While the cotton manufacturing business has always been the principal one, the silk industry has for years occupied no small place in its manufactures. The first silk mill in Connecticut was established years ago at Hanks Hill in the Town of Mansfield about six miles north of Willimantic. Later a small silk mill at Chaffeeville was established by O. S. Chaffee and son. After some ups and downs, the Chaffee interests came to Willimantic and The Natchaug Silk Company was formed. A fine mill was erected on Valley Street where broad goods were manufactured and they apparently did a thriving business for a time. Later they became involved in financial difficulties and the busi- ness was wound up. Still later The Windham Silk Company was formed for the manufacture of silk dress goods, coat linings, etc. They acquired the prop-
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erty which the Natchaug Silk Company had occupied and under able and conservative local management they have built up a very successful business.
The Holland Silk Company began business some sixty odd years ago, erect- ing two brick mills on Valley Street where sewing silk of an excellent quality has always been manufactured, and this concern has always been one of the dependable manufacturing interests of Willimantic.
The Morrison Machine Company was organized and conducted for years by the late Walter Morrison for the manufacture of silk and thread machinery. They were located in a part of the mill used by The Natchaug Silk Company. They too became involved in financial trouble and the business was closed up. Some years ago local interests organized The Willimantic Machine Company and erected a brick mill near the New York and New Haven Railroad tracks where its successful business was conducted manufacturing thread and silk machinery. Within a few years this company has been absorbed by the Atwood Machine Company of Stomington, but continues, though small, one of Willimantic's reliable manufacturing concerns.
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