USA > Connecticut > Windham County > A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume I > Part 15
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A few years ago a local company was formed which erected a mill espe- cially designed for and leased to The Rossie Velvet Company, where various kinds of velvet material are manufactured. This concern has mills in other places and is doing a prosperous business. It is believed they will eventually acquire mill property and thus become one of Willimantic's permanent in- dustries.
Willimantic has several other smaller but prosperous manufacturing con- cerns, such as, The Hillhouse & Taylor wood working establishment, where a variety of building material is manufactured. They specialize in fine in- terior wood finishing. At the time the fine residence of the late ex-President Roosevelt was built at Oyster Bay, the woodwork of one or two of the principal rooms was turned out at the Hillhouse & Taylor shop.
The Vanderman Heating & Plumbing Company, with a shop on Valley Street, and foundry on Mansfield Avenue, employs skilled labor and are doing a good business.
The C. S. C. Box Shop where paper boxes and cartons are manufactured give employment to quite a number of help, and J. D. Chaffee has an estab- lishment for the manufacture of shoe strings and silk fish lines on Church Street.
The early business and commercial development of Willimantic was doubt- less greatly retarded from lack of banking facilities. The farmers in the sur- rounding country were obliged to go to Norwich and some even went to Hart- ford to do their banking, and naturally purchased much of their supplies in these places.
In 1842 The Willimantic Savings Institute was chartered and began busi- ness on the second floor of the old store building owned by the mill interests that are now The Quidnick-Windham Company. They remained there for nearly thirty years. As late as 1866 when John Tracy was president of the bank, Henry F. Royce, treasurer, and James Campbell, son-in-law of Mr. Tracy, bookkeeper, their equipment was very modest; two ordinary commercial safes being sufficient to hold their valuables; one with combination lock for cash and securities, the other with lock and key for their books. To illustrate the rather careless business methods of those days a story is told of a young man who went to the bank to withdraw some money for his father. On his way down
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town he counted the money and found he was $50 short. He returned to the bank and said to the clerk, "There is a mistake here, Mr. Campbell. I am $50 short." He was told in a rather pompous manner that the bank never corrected errors after the party had left the bank, and in spite of arguments, the clerk's statement had to stand.
Not long afterward the same young man called at the bank on a similar errand, but this time counted his money before leaving the bank and found that they had over paid him $50. He said nothing but left the bank. But returned in a short time and said, "There is a mistake again in my money, Mr. Campbell." He was told in vigorous and not over choice language that he might as well understand once and for all that the bank never corrected errors after the party had left the bank. He replied "That's all right, but you over paid me $50." Campbell cried, "Here, here, let me count that money." "No you don't," said the young man. "I'm satisfied to abide by the rules of the bank," and walked out.
In about 1870 the Savings Institute management erected the three story brick block on the corner of Main and Bank Street, the first really modern block in Willimantic. The west half of the first floor was fitted up as a com- modious and well appointed banking room, with a large fire and burglar-proof vault which has ever since furnished the home of the Savings Institute. In the early '70s The Willimantic Trust Company was chartered and located in the same quarters as the Savings Institute. While the trust company was not actively connected with the savings department, the fact that the same person was treasurer of both, closely associated in the minds of the public both institutions. The trust company seemed to do a flourishing business for a time, but through reckless investments and bad management it soon collapsed, entailing great loss on its stockholders. While the Savings Institute did not suffer financially it did suffer from loss of prestige and public confidence which hindered its growth for a long time. In 1890 Mr. N. D. Webster, who had been connected with the bank as bookkeeper for over twenty years, was appointed treasurer, and under his conservative and able management steadily regained public confidence and had grown to be one of Willimantic's solid financial institutions, with nearly five thousand depositors and, deposits of over $1,100,000.
In the early '70s The Merchants Loan and Trust Company was chartered to do a general banking business, and about the same time the Dime Savings Bank was chartered. These institutions were both located in the same quarters in the MacAvoy Block. Later the trust company moved to quarters further down Main Street, and in about 1878 was chartered as The First National Bank of Willimantic. In about 1884 or 1885 The First National Bank and Dime Savings Bank together erected the fine three-story brick block which is known as the United Bank Building, the First National Bank occupying the east half of the ground floor and The Dime Savings Bank the west half. The busi- ness of The First National Bank from this time expanded and seemed to be meeting a long felt need of the business public. At the death of the cashier in about 1893, it developed that the bank's condition was unsound and it was obliged to go into the hands of a receiver. About the same time The Dime Savings Bank was found to be in an unsound condition and it too went into the hands of a receiver. The failure of The Natchaug Silk Company, occurring about this time, caused, in connection with the collapse of the two banks, great financial distress. It was thought at the time Willimantic had received a
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blow from which it would never recover, but subsequent history has proven this to be false.
In 1832 The Windham National Bank was chartered and located at Wind- ham Center. The business was of course small and development slow, but in 1879 the bank was moved to Willimantic and located in the same banking rooms as The Savings Institute for a time. The growth of its business was not large at first, but in 1886 Mr. Guilford Smith became president and Mr. H. Clinton Lathrop was appointed treasurer. Under the new and broader man- agement which was at the same time conservative and able the business steadily developed, and in 1895 when The United Bank Building was sold to settle the affairs of the defunct First National and Dime Savings Bank, it was pur- chased by The Windham National Bank. The bank has continued to expand and furnish the public with all the facilities of a modern banking institution. A few years ago safety deposit vaults were added to its equipment for the convenience of the public. The bank has occupied the quarters formerly oc- cupied by The First National Bank, but their constantly increasing business necessitates more room. During the present summer (1920) the first floor of the building has been entirely remodeled, and when the changes are com- pleted will furnish banking rooms second to nothing in Eastern Connecticut. The bank will occupy the entire ground floor of the building. The Windham National Bank has undoubtedly contributed as much or more than any other element to the sound business and financial development of Willimantic. The bank is today, thanks to the same able management of the past thirty-five years, one of the soundest financial institutions in the state. It has over three thousand depositors with deposits of over $1,300,000, with average daily de- posits of from $50,000 to $60,000.
From 1895 to 1910 there were but two banks in Willimantic; the Wind- ham National Bank, doing a commercial banking business, and the Willimantic Savings Institute, a savings bank business. A number of the leading business men felt that without prejudice to either of these institutions there was room in Willimantic for more banking interests. In conjunction with some out- side interests a charter was obtained for a trust company in 1911, known as the Willimantic Trust Company, with a savings bank department. It was established in the Tilden Block, then controlled by the Jordan interests. This building was destroyed by fire in the fall of 1916. It was replaced by the Jordan Block, a four-story concrete construction, fire-proof building, Willi- mantic's latest, largest and finest business block. Quarters were specially de- signed and constructed in the east end of this building for the Willimantic Trust Company, with a large up-to-the-minute fire and burglar-proof vault, with every other feature which makes it as finely appointed a banking room as any, in Eastern Connecticut. Under the able management of its president, Mr. F. D. Jordan, who has occupied that position from the first, and a capable board of directors, the bank has steadily grown. It now has in its commercial department some nine hundred depositors with deposits amounting to $435,000, and in its savings bank department over twenty-three hundred depositors, with deposits of $680,000. A unique department conducted by the commercial part of the bank is the Christmas Club, with over fourteen hundred depositors and deposits of $18,000. This department is doing a good work in teaching and encouraging thrift.
Willimantic's banking needs seem well provided for for some time to come,
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although the business and commercial expansion of the last decade would war- rant the belief that it will make good use of all its facilities. As giving some idea of what this growth has been, the combined deposits of the two commercial banks, the First National and the Windham National in 1886 were but slightly over $400,000. Today the deposits of the Windham National Bank alone are $1,300,000. The commercial department of the Willimantic Trust Company, $435,000, making the combined deposits of Willimantic's two commercial banks in 1920 one and three-quarters millions of dollars, as against $400,000 in com- mercial banks in 1886.
The few stores in Willimantic seventy-five years ago were obliged to obtain their goods from Norwich, hauling them over a poor country road seventeen miles by horse or mule team. Most of the merchandise came from New York to Norwich by sailing craft. In about 1840 the New London Northern Railroad was built, thus giving Willimantic direct connection with tide water at New London. At a later period the construction of the Providence, Hartford and Fishkill Railroad placed Willimantic in direct rail communication with Provi- dence and Hartford, which materially assisted in Willimantic's commercial growth. In the late '60s or early '70s the building of the Air Line Road from Willimantic to New York and the building of the division of what had become the New York and New England Railroad, now New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, from Willimantic to Boston, gave Willimantic unusual rail- road facilities and made it the principal railroad center of Eastern Connecticut. As late as 1870 the general or country store where you could buy anything from codfish to calico, rubber boots to molasses, or a barrel of flour to a paper of pins, occupied a prominent place in the commercial life of Willimantic.
The general store at the upper mills conducted by C. N. Andrew and later by Geo. M. Harrington, that of the Carpenter Brothers, in the building at the head of Bridge Street, where the Ford garage is now located, and the store of the Willimantic Linen Company, located in a building erected for the purpose (but now used for the company's offices and the Dunham Library), all did a thriving business until the early '80s. Of course, grocery stores, meat markets, dry goods stores, clothing stores, etc., were already beginning to be established in various parts of the village. Willimantic merchants have always been alive to public need and ready to carry stocks whose size and variety satisfied public demand. And today you can find in her many stores every article of merchan- dise which may be obtained in larger cities.
Willimantic has always been fortunate in having a goodly number of pro- fessional men of more than ordinary ability. The clergymen, the doctors, the lawyers have each included many men that have placed their stamp on the history of Willimantic and aided in making it what it is today, if still small, a typical New England city. The many acts of kindness and charity performed by the clergy and medical profession which have endeared their names to the past generation would take pages to record. The establishment of St. Joseph's Hospital, a Roman Catholic institution, though broad in its management, its doors being open to all, regardless of race, color or creed, has unquestionably enabled the medical profession to do even more for the people of Willimantic and the surrounding country than the hard-working doctors of earlier days could do.
Among the stories that are told of earlier lawyers, the following will show that there were all kinds in those days as now. A poor wash woman called
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on one of the leading lawyers, long since gone to his reward, and complained of a party on the hill who owed her $2.50 that she was unable to collect. He told her he thought he could get it. She called later and inquired what success he had had. He smiled and rubbed his hands and said, "Oh, I got it all right." She thanked him and asked how much she owed him. He replied, "Well, I ought to get $3.00, but you are a poor woman so I shall only charge you $2.50. The collection just covers my fee, so we are square."
Again, on a warm June day a woman bustled into the office of George W. Melony, who was busy with a client, and said rather abruptly, "Are you Squire Melony ?" "Melony is my name, Madam." She said, "Well, I am mad." "You have the appearance, Madam, of being somewhat agitated. Take this fan and sit down by this open window and compose yourself." After a time he turned to her again and said: "Was there something I could do for you, Madam ?" "Yes, I want to sue one of my neighbors for slander." "I make and sell butter for a living, and this man has been to all of my customers and told them that I was a nasty, dirty sloven." "That is a pretty serious charge, Madam. Did your customers believe it ?" "No, they didn't. Not one of them." "Then you haven't suffered any injury only to your feelings." "No, but I want to sue him just the same." "Is this neighbor of yours worth property ?" "No, he is a worthless stick, poorer than a church mouse." "Well, lawsuits are expensive luxuries and if you sued him and got judgment you probably could not collect damages. So if I were in your place I believe I would forget it." After a moment or two she replied, "I don't know but you are right, Mr. Melony, I thank you very much for your advice and how much do I owe you?" "I guess there will be no charge for that. I will charge it up to profit and loss."
No review of Willimantic for the past fifty years, no matter how superficial would be complete without some reference to B. F. Bennett, more familiarly known as Frank Bennett or Uncle Frank. In his time probably there was not a man, woman or child in Willimantic or for miles around who did not know him. He was a veritable David Harum-a typical Yankee trader; one of a New England type to be found two or three generations ago, but now, like many old New England institutions, only a memory. He would trade anything from a farm to a jack knife, and undoubtedly in his lifetime held the title to more Connecticut farms that any other man whoever lived in this locality. He was always genial and had a merry laugh whose contagion was irresistible. He was never too busy to crack a joke or tell a funny story. He could often be seen in his wagon on Main Street standing by a corner with a knot of men listening to a funny story. As soon as he had finished he would burst into a peal of laughter in which everyone joined. They could not always tell after- ward just what the point of the joke was, but they laughed because Unele Frank laughed. On the gate post in front of the farm house where he lived on Coventry Road was a sign that for years was a land mark. It read : "Hunt and fish all you please, grub furnished free if necessary." As an illustration of his characteristic remarks, when the question was being discussed of a change in the Willimantic government from borough to city he was asked his opinion. He replied, "Well, boys, what's the use of changing choristers in the middle of the tune when the music is going good?" At another time he was talking real estate trade with a prominent Willimantic business man. They were a couple of hundred dollars apart and there they stuck. Unele Frank finally
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said, "Well, I'll tell you what I'll do, I'll split the difference with you, and it is a darn mean man that won't split the difference." They traded. While it, was generally believed that no one ever got the better of Uncle Frank in a horse trade or any other for that matter, he died a poor man.
Willimantic, which is a part of the Town of Windham, was incorporated as a borough in 1833. The government consisted of a court of burgesses and a warden, with a borough clerk and a treasurer elected annually. Under the borough government the streets were lighted with kerosene lamps. At a later period by electricity. A small police force was established, and in 1883 a sys- tem of public waterworks was built, the water being taken from Natchaug River, a large dam built at Mansfield, where a pumping station was installed, operated by both water wheel and steam power; the water being pumped from this point to a distributing reservoir on Hosmer Mountain, from which point it was distributed to all parts of the borough by gravitation. A supply of excellent drinking water was thus obtained with ample for fire protection.
Sewerage needs, which naturally follow the installment of a water system, did not receive attention until about 1892, when an excellent sewerage system was built, which meets the needs of the entire business section and much of the residential section. In 1893 Willimantic was incorporated as a city, being divided into four wards. The early city government consisted of two boards; a board of aldermen and a board of common councilmen. The board of alder- men consisted of four aldermen, one from each ward. The board of council- men of eight councilmen, two from each ward. There was also a councilman- at-large who presided over the board of councilmen; a mayor and city clerk and treasurer. Later the Board of Councilmen was abolished, leaving but one board, consisting of seven aldermen, one from each ward and three aldermen- at-large. The city government organized an excellent police department, a city court was established, and a fire department, a volunteer one which had been established under the borough government, was still further improved and provided with excellent equipment. It has recently been reorganized with one company of paid men on duty day and night and all apparatus motorized.
In 1896 the Town of Windham erected the Town Building at the corner of Main and High streets, and by a lease arrangement the City of Willimantic was provided with quarters; the police station and police court room, the city clerk's office, with ample vaults for city records, common council chamber, and mayor's office. The building also contains the town clerk's office, with ample vaults for all town records, selectmen's room, tax collector's office, and judge of probate's office. A fine hall for public assemblies, a library with ample room for its 10,000 volumes and space to grow; also Grand Army rooms, which is a much more sensible and practical way of evidencing what Windham did in the War of the Rebellion than erecting soldiers' monuments, as so many other places have done; and a fine Superior Court room, where the courts for Wind- ham County are held one-half of the time.
Willimantic has always given careful attention to its schools, and as the needs have grown schoolhouses have been built, so that at the present time with the excellent brick schoolhouse at the Oaks, containing only primary grades, and the fine brick Natchaug School, which replaced the old wood struc- ture containing eight grammar grades, the First District or Model School on Windham Street, built within a few years and its thoroughly up-to-date high
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school, built only a short time ago, which is open to pupils of surrounding towns, is abreast of any city of its size in the state.
Willimantic was fortunate in being selected by the State of Connecticut some thirty odd years ago as the location in Eastern Connecticut for the estab- lishment of a state normal school. About twenty-five years ago a fine building was erected by the state on land given for the purpose by the Town of Wind- ham on the corner of Valley and Windham streets. The influence of this school has done much to stimulate the public schools and has also been of great benefit to Willimantic in making it, a sort of educational center for this section of the state.
At the present time there are seven church edifices in Willimantic. The Baptist Church, a wood edifice, and the Methodist, a stone edifice, both hav- ing been erected prior to 1870. The Congregational of brick, and the St. Joseph, Roman Catholic, built in the '70s ; the Swedish Lutheran, of wood con- struction, built about twenty years ago; St. Mary's, Roman Catholic, erected some twenty years ago, and St. Paul's Episcopal Church, built some five or six years ago. The St. Joseph's Roman Catholic replaced a wood structure, the Congregational an old wood structure and St. Paul's Episcopal, replacing an old wood structure.
Other buildings which have been erected in the last forty years, which have contributed to Willimantic's appearance, as well as filling each in their way business and public needs, are the Turner Block, northeast corner of Main and Church streets; Murray Block, corner of Main and Church streets northwest; Jordan Block, Main Street, near Lincoln Square; European House Block, partly rebuilt after fire, southwest corner of Main and Railroad streets; Crans- ton Block, south side of Main Street, replacing old wooden buildings destroyed by fire; Opera House Block, northwest corner of Main and North streets ; United Bank Building, Hayden Block, now Chamber of Commerce Building; Savings Institute Building, northeast corner of Main and Bank streets; Hotel Hooker, northwest corner of Main and Bank streets; Arnold Block, south side of Main, opposite Bank Street; Gem Theatre, Young Men's Christian Associa- tion Building, Kimball Block, Gelinas Block, north side of Main; Leanard Garage Building, northwest corner of Main and Walnut streets; Hall Block, northeast corner of Main and Walnut streets; Postoffice Building, northeast corner of Main and High streets; Town Building, northwest corner of Main and High streets; Jordan Garage, northeast corner of Main and Windham streets; all brick or cement construction, and a goodly number of brick and cement buildings for business, manufacturing and other purposes scattered in other sections of the city.
The Willimantic Journal, a weekly newspaper, established some sixty years ago and discontinued several years ago, was for years one of the best weekly papers published in Connecticut, and contributed in no small degree to Willi- mantic's growth and development. The Willimantic Daily Chronicle, estab- lished in the '80s, and years ago housed in its own building, an exeellent brick structure on Church Street, has from its very beginning been closely asso- ciated with the business life of the community.
The telephone first introduced into Willimantie some forty years ago, had its beginnings in a very small way. The first central being located in the rear of H. E. Remington's clothing store, and with but one operator. But very few telephones were installed at first. The business men of those days evidently
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being rather skeptical of its practical usefulness. The late Henry Flint, one of the early druggists of Willimantic, was among the first to install a phone. A story is told that he was so pleased that nearly every one who came into the store was invited to try the new phone. His invariable remark being, "It won't cost you anything, I pay for it." Among his callers were a number of traveling men who accepted his invitation with others and used the phone for toll and long distance calls. Mr. Flint did not understand that these were extra, and when the bill came in at the end of the quarter he nearly had an attack of heart failure. From this time on the use of the phone was confined strictly to Mr. Flint and his clerks. As everywhere else the telephone has played a very important part in the development of Willimantic. Today there is scarcely a business concern, no matter how small, manufacturing concern, lawyers, doc- tors, dentists, without a phone, besides hundreds of Willimantic homes. Lines now stretch out into the rural districts for miles, so that many farm houses are within as close touch of everything in Willimantic as if they were within the city limits. The telephone business has grown so that the Southern New Eng- land Telephone Company several years ago erected a two-story brick building on High Street, which they occupy exclusively.
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