An historic record and pictorial description of the town of Meriden, Connecticut and men who have made it, Part 36

Author: Gillespie, Charles Bancroft, 1865-1915; Curtis, George Munson
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Meriden, Conn. Journal publishing co.
Number of Pages: 1252

USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Meriden > An historic record and pictorial description of the town of Meriden, Connecticut and men who have made it > Part 36

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Shortly afterwards the question again came up, because the previous act had not been properly enforced by the Selectmen, and, naturally, the pendulum swinging the other way, a vote was proposed which authorized any inhabitant to have liberty of using or vending spirituous liquors. The resolu- tion stood, aves 64 and nays 64. The moderator, Fenner Bush, then cast a negative vote and the resolution was defeated.

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EARLY HISTORY.

In the Connecticut Whig of October 20, 1852, appears the following advertise- ment :

"Bowling ! Bowling !

The Lovers of this healthful and agreeable exercise are respectfully informed that the far-famed

Hemlock Grove Alleys !

are open to the public every day and evening in the year (Sundays excepted). The establishment is conducted on strictly temperance principles and nothing is neglected that will contribute to the comfort of those who may favor it with their calls."

On page 380 is a reduced facsimile of a poster issued in 1857 which, in glow- ing words, pictures the attractions of the place and gives an idea of how popular the resort had become.

Another place of resort was on West Peak where attractions had been placed that drew a multitude of nature's admirers.

In the Whig of February 19, 1853, we are told that

"Mr. W. J. Cadwell of Hanover, is, we understand, engaged in an enterprise which will make the 'Hanging Hills of Meriden,' and especially West Peak, as familiar as 'household words.' He is constructing a road from the Waterbury turnpike to the summit of the Peak, which will be of so easy a grade the ascent will scarcely be felt. A house is to be erected on the Peak, and a telescope of great power, which is now being manufactured in New York, at a cost of $800, will be mounted on a revolving pedestal, affording a view scarcely surpassed in extent, variety of scenery and beauty. With West Peak, Hemlock Grove and Cold Spring we shall have summer resorts superior to any inland town in New England."

The house was duly completed and the telescope installed ; but the next year it was being conducted by A. J. Hills and for several years it was one of the at- tractions of the town. It was destroyed by fire all of forty years ago.

Capt. Geo. B. Conklin, who for several years owned and managed the Meriden Hotel already described, afterwards disposed of it to Peter Near and his wife, who maintained it for a number of years. Captain Conklin, however, did not intend to give up the hotel business but had larger ambitions than could be satisfied by the hotel at the corner of Railroad avenue and Main street. In the Whig of July 7, 1853, appears the following under the column entitled Brevities and News Items,

"Cold Spring House

One of the finest retreats in the country is at Cold Spring. Capt. Conklin has just finished his fine House, on an eminence near the spring, commanding a fine

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A CENTURY OF MERIDEN.

view of a large tract of country, and himself and lady are prepared to receive and entertain visitors. The ice left in the glens, the wild scenery, the beautiful drives in the neighborhood, combine to make it attractive to all. Call and see the cap- tain at his home, and taste his bounty and humor."

HEMLOCK GROVE.

The above named Grove is open for visitors and for the accommodation of Excursion and Pic Nic Parties. "THAT OLD ARM CHAIR"

and each of the lesser ones is as inviting as ever. The COLD SPRING,

is situated in the Grove-the water gushes from the crevice of a large rock which it is suggested Moses smote when he watered the Israelites during their forty years wanderings, furnishes an abundance of the material which makes Lemonade so good.

That "COMET" did not hit our "REVOLVER," We mean the Revolving Swing, and we are happy to Inform our numerous friends that It is as good as new.

THE BOWLING

ALLEYS

have recently been put in "tip top" order as all who use them can testify.

NATURES'HALL,

Our Pie Nic ground is capable of sheltering 15,000 persons. hnder its leafy canopy. Any Religious Society, or Sabbath School, or any of the Public Schools in town can have the use of NATURES' HALL at any time wilen not otherwise en. gaged, free of charge.

"EVERY. DAY BRINGS SOMETHING NEW"."

A DANCING BOARD

capable of accommodating the crowd, has been added to the other attractions of this famous resort. Parties wishing our "Pic Nic ground or Dancing Board should make application In season to prevent disappointment.

The O. B. B's will discourse sweet music if applied to in season. Our Military Friends are informed that we have a Target ground which defles competition as to location, shade &c. The Meriden Light Guards are respectfully Informed that it is at their service free of charge, at any time when not engaged. Pediars will not be allowed on the grounds with their "traps" without a permit from the subscriber. Meriden, June 1857. Our Motto-"First come first served." JULIUS ANDREWS.

Elnman's Power Press, Wert Meriden, Cena.

This building is now known as the old poor house, having been abandoned when the present "Cold Spring Home" was built a few years ago. It was Capt. Conklin's desire to make a resort that would be patronized by people of New York and other large places seeking a spot for rest and recreation, and indeed, in those

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EARLY HISTORY.

days it was a romantic and charming place; the Captain had built a rustic stone bowling alley and the spring at that time was celebrated on account of the great coldness of its waters ; for a number of years it was a place of resort for Meriden people, and it also seems to have had a New York clientage.1

The property was acquired by the town about 1860. The writer is in posses- sion of a diary of the period which gives accounts of excursions and picnics of the young people of that day and the names of Hemlock Grove, Conklin's Cold Spring House and Hill's West Peak House occur frequently in its pages.

It seems to have been in the period just mentioned that the attempt was begun to induce the public to buy building lots in that portion of Meriden known for many years as New City.

If there is crystallized truth in the aphorism of Montesquieu stating that "Happy the people whose annals are blank in history-books" then Meriden must have been a very happy place during these and succeeding years. The town was growing rapidly and the people were prosperous but its history has made little im- pression on the memory of those living.

The pages following are mostly gleaned from the diaries and newspapers of the period and while there is nothing startling to cull from the different sources, a fair idea of the events of succeeding years can be gained in this way.

In an issue of the Whig dated Sept. 15, 1853, attention is called to the rapidity of the work in constructing the State Reform School building ; the location of the

1 The following, taken from the Weekly Recorder, June 22, 1864, gives an idea of the place before its glory had departed :

"Cold Spring, in the western part of the town, under the great mountain, has from time im- memorial been a place of local resort, and has acquired some distinction abroad as a watering place. Some twelve vears ago a large hotel was here built and, for two seasons, kept as the Cold Spring House. The number of boarders were comparatively few, mainly New York celebrities, who could here pass away a few weeks pleasantly, amused with the natural beauty and romance of the place- with a drive on the spacious race course- with rolling "nine-pins" in the "cobble-stone" bowling saloon, or drinking mint juleps and sherry cobblers concocted from the cool, sparkling water that

poured forth from the iced spring beneath. But the Cold Spring House proved unprofitable as a hotel, and, after exchanging hands, proprietors, occupants and inmates, times numerous, finally, with its grounds, became the property of the town of Meriden, and here, for the three years preceding the first of January last, Mr. Nathan Fenn, a Connecticut Yankee, has cared for the poor of the town, and at the same time carried on a very extensive manufacture of brimstone matches, his shop being what was originally built for the bowling saloon of the Cold Spring House. Here he employs some fifteen

men, boys and girls, and puts up about two thousand gross of matches per month. Cold Spring is only an outlet for the water which, during the summer, melts away from the large quantities of ice remaining under the huge boulders of the Hanging Hills, and finds its way, under the surface of the ground, to this place. Strange as it may read to those who have not ocular evidence of the fact. it is none the less true that ice may be found around and under rocks in the vicinity of the spring through the months of July and August ! Although the crop of ice last winter was unusually small, vet Cold Spring had its due proportion ; and a visit to its natural, out-door "ice-houses" on one of the warmest days of last week, revealed its plenteousness. The temperature of the various localities betrays

almost instantly the whereabouts of the cooling luxury. Here the air about one will be as cool as that of an ice-house, while at a yard's distance the heated atmosphere of a summer s sun, In its sudden breath, is almost oppressive. Let those who are skeptical as to the existence of ice, in mid-summer, on a natural surface, and exposed to the action of the elements, visit Cold Spring and satisfy them- selves of its reality."

rk ise

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A CENTURY OF MERIDEN.

institution in Meriden having shortly before been determined by the legislature ; mention is made also of the new factory being erected for the Meriden Machine Company ; it is now occupied by M. B. Schenck & Co .; the work on the new hotel now called the Meriden House is described ; attention is called to the new brick store that John Ives is building on Broad street then called South Market street. And again the article speaks of the residence which is being constructed for Charles P. Colt on Colony street, which until a short time ago was the home of Major J. A.

OLD TOWN HALL.

Hurley : another dwelling, mentioned as partly built, is one that is to be the home of Hiram Butler, which is modeled on the style of a southern villa : it is to-day the homestead of Judge James P. Platt: and Franklin Hall, a brick block, until a few years ago standing immediately north of the Center Congregational church, was another building mentioned.

At a town meeting held April 29, 1844, the movement was started to build a town hall, but nothing tangible was done until 1853. The diary already quoted

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EARLY HISTORY.

says under date of February 18 that year, "this afternoon attended a town meeting held for the purpose of considering the expediency of building a town house : after an angry discussion a motion was made to adjourn which was finally carried after much excitement." Another meeting was held a week later and there was again a clash owing to a desire by uptown residents to have the new building in their section, and a like wish vigorously expressed by downtown interests. A compro- mise site, midway, was finally selected and the property of the widow of Roswell Cowles was bought and the building was begun shortly after a town meeting held Sept. 17, 1853. It was considered a very fine structure when finished and the cost is said to have been about $30,000. It was not completed for use until the latter part of 1855 and the following copy of a newspaper announcement tells the story of its first use by the public :

GRAND CONGRATULATORY FESTIVAL

The Citizens of Meriden and vicinity are invited to participate in a SOCIAL FESTIVAL AND GRAND CELEBRATION To be held at the NEW TOWN HOUSE on

WEDNESDAY EVE, DEC. 5TH, 1855

There to appropriately celebrate the completion of the above named splendid edifice and to formally Dedicate the

LARGEST PUBLIC HALL IN THE STATE

The occasion will be enlivened by appropriate speeches, music, etc. and by a

FREE COLLATION

The proceeds after paying Expenses will be given to the Meriden Young Men's Institute

Admission 25 cents ; children Half Price

N. B. Should Wednesday evening be stormy, the Festival will be held on the first pleasant day hereafter.

Per order

JULIUS H. PRATT, Chairman of Town Committee.

a d

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CENTURY OF MERIDEN.

The new town house was duly and properly opened on the date announced, viz. Dec. 5, 1855, and the first use it was put to after this "Grand Congratulatory Festival" was a lecture by Henry Ward Beecher on the evening of December 28th, under the auspices of the Young Men's Institute ; the subject was "Patriotism," and the editor of the Weekly Transcript does not seem to have been greatly impressed by the famous man's efforts for he says under date of Jan. 3, 1856, "As a lecturer he is the most able, the most conceited, the most pathetic, the most silly, the most eloquent, and the most vulgar that we ever saw stand before a refined audience."

The first town meeting took place in the new building Mar. 31, 1856. Pre- viously the basements of the Center Congregational and the Broad Street Baptist churches had been used, not only for town meetings but for elections as well.

As already announced, the rooms of the Young Men's Institute were moved to the town hall and thenceforth the various lectures arranged by this association were held in the hall and indeed all amusements that required a large auditorium were held there. In 1889 it was decided to enlarge and remodel the building and the work was finished in 1891. On the morning of February 14th, 1904, it was. totally destroyed by fire. On Tuesday, Aug. 17, 1858, a very elaborate celebration of the completion of the laying of the Atlantic Cable or Ocean Telegraph, as it was called, was held in the town hall. At 9 o'clock a. m. the American and British flags were floated from the dome and a discharge of three signal guns notified the public that news had been received of an exchange of messages between the Queen of England and the President of the United States. Bells began to ring and a cannon in charge of the Light Guards belched forth its thunder in a national sa- lute of thirty-two guns in the morning and twenty-one guns in the afternoon. In the evening a crowded meeting was held in the hall at which General Walter Booth presided and ringing speeches were made by Rev. Mr. Miller, Judge James S. Brooks, Dr. James Wylie, Dr. Hatch, Dexter R. Wright and others. A brass band was present, patriotic songs were sung, the hall was beautifully illuminated, and af- ter the meeting a procession through the streets took place in which the Light Guards took part, accompanied by bands from Meriden and Wallingford: the streets were brilliantly lit by bonfires and an enormous one was made on West Peak. Altogether it was one of the most spectacular events that had ever taken place in Meriden.

The weekly press consisting of the Whig, the Transcript and the Chronicle, covering the period from about 1852 to 1859, contains little of local news but much information was printed in the advertisements which have been freely consulted in the foregoing pages. But with the establishment of Riggs' Literary Recorder in 1863 considerable of local interest was printed and one of the first articles of this nature which seems to the writer to contain matter worth inserting in these pages in an abridged form is the following from the issue of Sept. 26, 1863:

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF MERIDEN ABOUT 1855, FROM WHAT IS NOW PROSPECT STREET.

VIEW OF WEST MERIDEN, TAKEN FROM THE DOME OF THE OLD TOWN HALL, IN 1865.

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EARLY HISTORY.

"PARKERS SNOW & CO.1

We have during the past week visited the extensive manufacturing establish- ment of Parkers Snow & Co. of this town-a firm which enjoys a large amount of capital and employs more workmen than any two manufacturing establishments in the state.2 Parkers Snow & Co. employ upwards of four hundred and fifty men, and their monthly pay roll foots up more than eighteen thousand dollars. This princely company manufacture machine work of all descriptions, including Campbell's Country Printing Press, Coining Presses, Steam Engines, boilers and apparatus for heating dwellings and public buildings. In the gun works, about three hundred men are employed who turn out from eighty to one hundred Spring- field Rifled Muskets per day," etc., etc.

On Friday, March 11, 1864, the Recorder printed the following :

DESTRUCTIVE FIRE $72,000 WORTH OF PROPERTY DESTROYED

ONE MAN KILLED : TWO SERIOUSLY INJURED.

The most destructive fire our town ever witnessed occurred Wednesday morn- ing [March 9], consuming five buildings, seventy-two thousand dollars' worth of property and burning seventeen different firms and families out of doors. The fire originated in Andrews Exchange Building and was first discovered by George A. Fay shortly after two o'clock (midnight) when he saw the reflection of the fire upon his walls.3 He immediately arose and before he had succeeded in getting dressed the light disappeared. He watched some five minutes to see if anything more could be discovered ; but seeing nothing he again retired. It did not at that time occur to him that it might be a fire and he took no notice of the matter till some twenty minutes afterwards when the fire was again reflected with considerable brilliancy. Upon going to the window, he could plainly see sparks and brands of fire dropping through the second floor into H. T. Wilcox & Co.'s grocery store directly beneath. He immediately dressed, gave the alarm and rushed down to Lyman Clark's4 and caused the steam whistle to be sounded. At this time and for half an hour afterwards, an ordinary fire engine would have saved the adjoining buildings on either side. Mr. Fay now set himself about getting out the safe and stock of Mr. D. F. Southwick5 who was absent in New York and also made an effort to secure the valuable library of Hon. O. H. Platt whose of-

1 Successors of Snow, Brooks & Co., a firm composed of Oliver Snow and James S. Brooks. Parker Brothers' Gun factory is the direct successor of Parkers, Snow & Co.

2 Certainly an exaggerated statement.

3 He was then rooming in what we now call the Circle Hall Building.

. 4 Where Saleski's building is now situated, 37 S. Colony street.

5 Boot and shoe dealer.

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A CENTURY OF MERIDEN.

fice he reached by ascending the water conducting pipes. But the intensity of the atmosphere rendered it impossible for him to penetrate the room and he was obliged to give over the undertaking. The flames soon generated a gas among the chem- icals, and when the walls of the buildings became sufficiently weakened, they were suddenly thrown outward. Some twenty persons were standing in front of the building, on or near the walk, where the walls fell over, when they all rushed back, receiving trifling injuries, but three men were seriously injured. Mr. Porter Ed- gerton, engraver, was struck on the head by the falling walls and rendered sense- less. He was dragged from the ruins and carried to the depot and expired in half an hour." The buildings destroyed by this fire were Conklin's, or Near's hotel, the Collins block, Andrews' Exchange, and the building standing where Mosher's Drug store is located, at that time occupied by W. A. Butler.

From the diary of George A. Fay the writer has learned of another fire which broke out at 3 a. m. on Sept. 5, 1862, in the machine shop just south of the rail- road station when it was located on Winthrop Square. The shop was destroyed, the house of J. S. Norton, Sr., just west of it, was also burned to the ground and the passenger station badly damaged. The shop at that time was occupied by some one making sewing birds for Bradley & Hubbard Mfg. Co.

On July 16, 1870, occurred the great fire which completely destroyed the two top floors of the main building of the Meriden Britannia Co. The Republican of that date has this to say :

"The most terrible fire which has ever afflicted this city broke out this morning in the Meriden Britannia Company's works." "The fire originated in the top- most story at the north part of the brick building. At about two o'clock [a. m.] a disagreeable smoke was smelt in the composing room of the Republican office * In ten minutes afterwards the Britannia shop gong blew out its stern summons. The 2 a. m. down train at this moment came along and added its warn- ing voice, and the alarm becoming general the city fire department were soon on the spot. The flames spread rapidly and the firemen were unable to stay its slow but sure onward progress. * In twenty minutes after the fire was first discovered the flames burst through the roof. At 3 a. m. the roof fell in with a tremendous crash and the flames increased in their intensity." Ac- tive work saved the two lower floors from destruction, but the loss was great and for several months the large force employed by the company was thrown out of work, and the damage not only to the company but to the community at large, was very great.

On March 1, 1863, the Messrs. Byxbee Bros. (John C. and Major Theodore) began the erection of a wooden hotel building just south of Winthrop Square (or the passenger station of the N. Y. & N. H. R. R. as it was then) and for several years conducted a well appointed hostelry : on Mar. 21, 1868, the building was de-

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EARLY HISTORY.

stroyed by fire and for a time it was feared that the entire block of buildings south to Main street would follow in its wake ; but diligent effort by the firemen confined the conflagration to the hotel. The embers had hardly begun to cool before the Byx- bee Brothers had started to clear away the debris and soon the walls of the present brick block were in process of construction.

The factory of the Meriden Woolen Co. was built by the firm of J. Wilcox & Co. in 1865. Their factory had been previously located where the present plant of the Wilcox Silver Plate Co. branch of the International Co. is situated, on the south side of Pratt street. On May 3, 1865, fire completely destroyed the old shop, throwing the workmen out of employment and stopping for a while the large pro- duction of goods which had been placed on the market in increasing quantities by this enterprising firm. It was considered at the time as the most disastrous fire that had ever visited Meriden.

In the year 1869 there was standing between the block now occupied by Gris- wold, Richmond & Glock and the First National Bank, the old Elisha A. Cowles residence, used at the time by Mrs. Moses Wright as a boarding house; west of that a structure once the home of the post office and immediately west of that, the dry goods store conducted by the firm of Williams & Smith. On the morning of Dec. 3, 1869, at 2 a. m., a fire was discovered in the old post office building and in spite of all efforts that structure, Mrs. Wright's boarding house and the dry goods store were completely destroyed by the conflagration.

In 1870 H. C. Wilcox began the erection of the block which now occupies the site of these burned structures, ground being broken Feb. 15. It was so much in advance of any building previously erected in Meriden that it was called Palace Block, a name which it retains to this day.

In the month of March, 1860, occurred a very destructive fire which destroyed the block of buildings on the north side of East Main street from State to Pratt streets. It began in the "furniture emporium" belonging to George R. Willmot and on account of the limited apparatus for fighting fire in those days the district was swept clean.1

In giving a list of places of amusement in Meriden during this period one has been omitted that was so bizarre, quaint and unique that a place in the list is cer- tainly deserved. Reference is had to what was known as Eagle Cottage on South Colony street on ground now occupied by the Meriden Brewing Company. The earliest reference to it that the writer can find is contained in the issue of the Re- corder under date November 13, 1863, and then evidently on account of one of the eccentricities of architecture or ornamentation developed by that singular man. Norman Allen, the owner of the place. All sorts of odd attractions were added as the years went by, mainly mechanical contrivances designed to be excited by a breath of wind to some surprising performance. On top of the house was perched

1 Diary of Mrs. Benj. H. Catlin.

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A CENTURY OF MERIDEN.

a counterfeit presentment of a man and a lion and when the wind blew the man was convulsed into various contortions in his efforts to get the mastery of the beast of prey. Like arrangements were scattered about the grounds ; the house was painted in a most surprising combination of black and white, as if it had been raining paint on South Colony street, and in an apple tree was built a pavilion where ice cream and lemonade were served. As the years went by the place at- tracted so much attention that Mr. Allen determined to make of it a place of amuse- ment. According to the Republican of April 12, 1870, Mr. Allen was given per- mission that week to build a wooden house on his premises for the purpose of mak- ing a music room, menagerie and "happy family," and on June 15, 1870, accord- ing to the same paper "Norman Allen's picturesque residence, with its beautiful grounds will be opened to the public this evening. Should the weather be favor- able a grand display of fireworks will take place. The balloon parlor will be lighted with gas, the English lion ignominiously suspended in chains to the neck of a very big spread eagle, the emblem of this glorious country, will roar gratis, the eagle will favor the public with its best screech, Norman Allen will deliver an inaugural address, the band will play and so will the fountains," etc.

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An historic record and pictorial description of the town of Meriden, Connecticut and men who have made it, Part 36

Author: Gillespie, Charles Bancroft, 1865-1915; Curtis, George Munson Publication date: 1906 Publisher: Meriden, Conn. Journal publishing co. Number of Pages: 1252

Author: Gillespie, Charles Bancroft, 1865-1915; Curtis, George Munson
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Meriden, Conn. Journal publishing co.
Number of Pages: 1252