USA > Connecticut > Middlesex County > Centennial, 1836-1936. A brief account of the more significant events in the history of the county of Middlesex and of the growth of the Middlesex Mutual Assurance Company > Part 3
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·[ 28 ].
LOOKING DOWN MAIN STREET IN THE SO'S
However, except for a few isolated earlier cases in England, it is generally conceded that marine insurance was given its first real impetus at Lloyd's Coffee Shop in London, one of the many places mariners met be- tween voyages to swap stories of their experiences, and drink Scotch Whiskey instead of coffee. Because the captains of the sailing vessels around 1680 were usually their owners, a guarantee of safe delivery by them meant little or nothing in the event they were lost with their ship in a storm or in a conflict with pirates. So in true British-Scotch practicality, a take-off of the Chinese plan was effected, wherein the risk was distributed instead of the goods. Always at Lloyd's, no less than ten per- sons shared the risk, which meant in practical example that on a $10,000 risk each would take $1,000 of the risk for a given premium payment. If the ship returned, a good profit was earned by each participant in the risk. If the boat was off schedule in returning to the home port, the insurers often hastened to unload their burden on others, even paying the new "gamblers" a substan- tial bonus premium beyond that which they originally received. If the boat finally returned later, having been delayed by a storm or other reason, the new insurers gained a large stake. If not, the loss was heavy.
The length and character of the voyage were the two determinants of the premium to be paid the under- writers-a method, in principle, the same used today to determine premium on any property insurance, except that there now exist many valuable statistics to guide the companies in their determination of rates.
.[ 29 ].
[II]
HEN DISSATISFACTION with "things as they were" drove the Puritans out of f W England to seek opportunity and peace of mind in a new England, they brought with them many of the cus- toms and practices of England. How- ever, when the need for cargo insurance sprang up some fifty years after the first cultivation of the virgin soil, there were insufficient accumulations of capital by indi- viduals to adopt the Lloyd system. Thus, if a Colonial shipper desired protection on a cargo from a London insurer, a delay of weeks was experienced. Otherwise shippers were forced to face the hazards of wind, waves and pirates either without insurance at all, or until the protection could be effected in London.
The inconvenience of this unsatisfactory method led a number of merchants of Philadelphia, who had some accumulation, to form their own company to underwrite policies of marine insurance, starting in 1749. Although this organization was, in essence, individual underwrit- ing, the company was a partnership and all policies were written on the combined credit of all.
Three years after that, in 1752, after a long period when every home was forced to be a miniature fire com- pany with its own supply of leather buckets for carrying water to quench fire, it was comparatively easy to organ- ize the Philadelphia Contributorship for the "Insurance of Houses from Loss by fire". That company enjoys a triple distinction today. It was the first fire company to be formed on the American continent. It was founded under the inspiration and leadership of Benjamin Frank-
·[ 30 ].
lin. It is still in existence today. Afraid of the lightning hazard of trees and the greater difficulties of fighting fires where trees were present, insurance was denied to all property owners who insisted on having trees in close proximity with their houses.
This tree complex furnished the main reason for founding the second fire insurance company, in 1784, known as the Mutual Assurance for Insuring Houses from Loss by Fire. It was organized by a group of well- to-do citizens of Philadelphia who desired to have both "trees" and insurance, and was shortly afterward nick- named "The Green Tree" because of its firemark-a leaden tree posted on a wooden shield-which identified all properties insured by the company. Because of the slightly higher rate charged by the Mutual Assurance Company for assuming the extra hazard presented by shade trees, this event is generally accepted as the origin (in America at least) of the present system of schedule rating, which today measures the relative hazards of construction, occupancy and exposure and gauges the premium accordingly.
Numerous other mutual companies began to spring up as well as stock companies, beginning with the organ- ization of the first stock company-The Insurance Company of North America, founded in Philadelphia in 1792. With the exception of the mutual companies, already mentioned, and a trio of others to be referred to later, there have been comparatively few mutual or stock companies known beyond the narrow limits of a city or county that have withstood for a century the severe strains of the several great fire catastrophes or the urge to merge their identity with other organiza- tions. The Mutual Association Society of Virginia,
.[ 31 ].
founded in 1794, is one of the strong companies to with- stand the earlier "guessing" period in insurance under- writing. The Hartford County Mutual, founded in 1831, is another.
[III]
T HE SPIRIT OF INDEPENDENCE and self- reliance so characteristic of Middle- town through the struggling days of settlement, the subsequent upbuilding of its enviable commercial shipping center, and the inauguration of manu- facturing and banking, prompted the organization of its own fire insurance company-The Middlesex Mu- tual Assurance Company. Its charter was granted by the General Assembly, at New Haven, then one of the two capitals of the state, at 2 P. M., June 2, 1836, in response to a petition signed by Noah A. Phelps, Rich- ard Hubbard, Henry Carrington and Charles Wood- ward. At the first meeting, held June 13, 1836, at the courthouse, officers were elected as follows: Richard Hubbard, president; John L. Smith, secretary and treasurer.
The enterprise was given its first impetus with the writing of policies Nos. I to 14 inclusive on the prop- erties of the officers and directors who met for the first time, and thereafter for some years, in the rear of John L. Smith's jewelry store opposite the Middletown City Hall (afterwards occupied by Neville's Candy Shop, "Pop" Sheridan's Lunch and the Handy Lunch. It is now number 266 Main Street and owned by Mary E.
·[ 32 ].
JOHN L. SMITH
Atkins Estate). Besides calling for a premium, these policies carried with them a 6% demand note from the insured, and in addition a charge of 75 cents was levied on each policy to provide a salary for the secretary. The Middlesex Mutual then offered fire protection on houses, churches and school-houses and their contents, and to this day offers protection to the same class of risks as well as urban property.
So grave were the risks involved in the early under- writing days of the company that the directors met every day to consider carefully each new application before authorizing the issuance of a policy. Little won- der that so much painstaking effort was given over to the consideration of new insurance risks when one con- siders the wholly inadequate and undependable fire- fighting methods and equipment of the period.
Although Middletown was more progressive than most towns in the state in the matter of fire prevention, methods and equipment, yet withal fires were exceed- ingly difficult, and more often well nigh impossible, to extinguish after they once gained headway in a wooden building. By an ordinance passed in 1799, Middletown had been divided into three wards, each consisting of a school district. It further required the fire wardens "to examine the state of the chimnies, fire places, hearths, stoves and receptacles for ashes in any and all houses or shops, within their respective wards not to endanger the buildings taking fire, and in all cases where the said (items) in the opinion of such warden is not sufficiently guarded, he is hereby authorized and directed to give such orders as he shall judge necessary". The penalty for refusing to obey the warden was specified as two dollars. The fire apparatus listed was-"Six ladders of
·[ 33 ].
suitable length, six pike poles ( two kept in each ward), two Fire Hooks, Chains and Ropes".
In 1803 an ordinance was passed requiring "Every resident or owner of a house, store or office to keep in constant readiness and repair one good Leather Bucket containing not less than two gallons . . . any person setting up a stove in a house without the examination and approbation of the fire warden's was to pay a fine of two dollars . . . Each warden must visit all dwell- ings in his ward at least once a year. to see if they were provided with buckets and ladders . . . Each warden must appoint three respectable free-holders from his ward, each of whom on every alarm shall take with them one or more Bags or Sacks and take charge of all property necessary to be removed on account of Danger from such Fire . . . a tax of two cents on the dollar was voted for the purpose of purchasing a fire engine, six ladders, six pike poles and two fire hooks .. . and if any person whatever shall be found smoaking of segars in any highway in the city he shall forfeit and pay the sum of one dollar."
Thus enabled by the preceding regulations, Elijah Hubbard and Enoch Parsons proudly informed the General Assembly in 1803 that Middletown had pro- vided "An engine and that a company was formed to take care of and work the same". James Casey received the appointment as first foreman of this company, which a few years later became known as Mattabesett Fire Company No. I. In 18II a second company was organ- ized, later becoming known as Pacific Engine Company No. 2. (See photo of fire engine used by Mattabesett Fire Engine Company No. I, page . This engine which took an active part in a fire fighting demonstra-
.[ 34 ].
"26
SENTINELA
AITNESS.
John [ Smither
AMB
WELL
OENTRAL MARI ET. '
1 117 .7
3
THE COMPANY'S FIRST HOME, THE JEWELRY STORE OF JOHN L. SMITH
tion during Middletown's celebration of the Connect- icut Tercentenary last year is the property of the Mid- dlesex Mutual Assurance Company being on display on the balcony above the entrance door of its home office. )
Fire fighting in Middletown was still in the "hand pumper, spike, ladder and bucket" stage when the Mid- dlesex Mutual Assurance Company started to accept fire risks twenty-five years after Pacific Engine Com- pany No. 2 was formed. Although the equipment, the morale and the skill of the firemen was on a par with that provided by larger towns and cities, yet in com- parison with the motorized forced feed and chemical equipment of today, a fire insurance company of that day took far greater chances on paying "total losses" than our modern companies. Little wonder then that "passing on policy applications" was a daily occasion of "great moment" in the lives of the early directors of the Middlesex Mutual.
Even though times were bad and life moved slowly, "stretching out" meant more than yawning to those charged with the conduct of Middlesex Mutual affairs. Determined to expand business, the directors voted on July 15, 1836, to pay $9.30 to John L. Smith and William S. Camp for expenses of a trip to Haddam to promote the interests of the company. Unfortunately for the sake of the story teller's fancy, no record is available of that first business trip to Haddam. Doubt- less it was a wearisome two-day jaunt behind "old Dobbin" punctuated by jolts and stops at an occasional tavern for refreshments, unless perchance Messrs. Camp and Smith had joined one of the temperance societies which started to flourish in Connecticut in 1829.
.[ 35 ].
On July 23, 1836, Harvey Treadway of Middle- town was appointed as the company's first agent. He was supposed to review premises of all applicants for insurance and secure appraisal by some indifferent per- son in the neighborhood. He was also authorized to take cash and give receipts for premium payments.
Between this first promotional effort in 1836 and 1852, when it was voted to find a suitable business office and furnish it, the company became well launched on a successful career of fire underwriting. It held its first annual meeting in the courthouse, June 25, 1837, when it re-elected its president, secretary and treasurer and elected eighteen directors. Nine of these directors were from Middletown and one each from Durham, Haddam, Chester, Deep River, Essex, Saybrook, Kil- lingworth, East Hampton and East Haddam.
A few years prior to the organization of the Con- necticut Temperance Society with its branches in almost every town, Middletown was producing annually 600 hogsheads of rum. So heavy was the drinking in one Middlesex County town that five gallons per person was consumed. In 1827 there were 1400 retailers of liquors in the state, or one person in 25 engaged in furnishing the others with intoxicants. Gradually there grew up a resentment toward excessive drinking, which resulted in the organization of 130 temperance societies during the twelve-month period between 1829 and 1830, a rapid decline in liquor importations and a drop of nearly $1000 in the state receipts for liquor licenses.
Despite heavy drinking, the great financial strain of the depression of 1837, which wrecked many long established businesses, the Middlesex Mutual continued its conservative growth, paid its first fire loss of $250.,
·[ 36 ].
OUR SECOND HOME WAS IN THE BASEMENT OF THE UNIVERSALIST CHURCH
October 16, to Seth P. Burr for the destruction of his barn and added another agent-Gardner Morse of New Haven-to its field force. Mr. Morse's contract called for the payment of a commission of 371/2 cents for every risk given to the company. By 1842 when the westward trek of the romantic caravans was on in earnest, the Middlesex Mutual broke into print with its first advertisement in a Middletown newspaper. Two years later saw the beginning of its investment program which started with the purchase February 27, 1844 of 48 shares of Middletown National Bank stock at $84.50 per share.
At a directors' meeting in 1853 came the decision that the company, launched so inauspiciously 17 years before, had outgrown its swaddling clothes and make- shift office and that a suitable headquarters office should be secured and adequately furnished. By 1853 when the first headquarters office was established in the base- ment of the Universalist Church the directors voted to pay themselves the princely sum of $150 annually to be divided among those who attended the meetings, held every day at 4 P. M. except Sunday and those days when there was no business to transact.
Thus from the planting under the roof of John L. Smith, the jeweler, the insurance "seedling" had grown in 17 years to a strong sapling, well rooted and growing as a useful service unit, making an ever-increasing con- tribution to the safety of property investment in Mid- dletown, and throughout Middlesex and New Haven Counties.
·[ 37 ].
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Chapter Three The Railroad and Civil War Period
F ERRY BOATS AFFORDED the only means of crossing the Connecticut at Middletown up until the railroad era which followed that of the stage- coach and toll road ( 1802-1803).
Always enamored with its great natural highway- the Connecticut River-the citizens of Middletown attempted to "drown the thought" that railroads would supersede water as a means of transportation. The mirage of prosperity brought by water-borne com- merce continued a delusion to Middletown leaders long after the West Indies trade had dwindled and neighbor-
·[ 38 ].
ing towns had rapidly expanded their industries by attracting young men from rural areas and by inducing the Hartford and New Haven Rail Road Company to include their towns in the right of way. A tardy realiza- tion that Middletown must have a rail outlet if it was to expand manufacturing came too late to keep her in the running commercially with certain other cities which she had surpassed in business volume and population. She clung to third place in size until Norwich forged ahead in 1840. Gradually other cities which had put forth their utmost efforts to cultivate industries and had used their persuasive wiles with success on the rail- road companies, stepped ahead until today Middletown ranks 17th as a population center in the state.
The realization that Middletown was being out- distanced by neighboring towns, largely because she lacked railroad facilities, steeled the efforts of the city's leaders to secure a rail outlet which could offer the equal in service given to neighboring towns then located on the main line of the Hartford and New Haven. The result was the granting of a charter by the Legislature in 1846 to the New York and Boston Rail Road Com- pany for building a line from New Haven to Windham with authority to build a drawbridge at Middletown. This charter stirred up hostility at Hartford and brought rejoicing in Middletown. The elation and en- thusiasm thus engendered in Middletown brought a town meeting vote January 25, 1847 to contribute $897,000 through the sale of stock towards the con- struction of the road. But Governor Toucey dampened the enthusiasm by vetoing the act, claiming that no bridge should be constructed at any point below the highest point of entry-his home town of Hartford.
1
·[ 39 ].
Influential citizens and steamship companies backed up the Governor's action under the pretext that the con- struction of a bridge at Middletown would prevent vessels from going beyond that point. Legislators from the small towns, largely east of the river, entered the heated controversy on the side of Middletown and secured the approval of the charter over the Gover- nor's veto. But the bridge clause was repealed again on the second attempt in 1848 after the company was organized and work started. Although the repeal checked the enterprise, hope for constructing the bridge was evidenced by seven renewals of the charter between 1848 and 1868 when the bridge clause was re-enacted over violent opposition. As if in contemplation of vic- tory, the company was reorganized the previous year with David Lyman of Middlefield as president and O. V. Coffin (later Governor and president of the Mid- dlesex Mutual Assurance Company) as treasurer.
Work on the road was started in June 1867 and pushed so vigorously that both passenger and freight trains were operated from New Haven to Middletown before August 1870 and the bridge completed Decem- ber 17, 1872. Traffic to Willimantic opened August 12, 1873. Here at last was the beginning of a rose-colored era of rail transportation and commercial prosperity, thought the enthusiasts ! But alas, the gloom spreaders of the promotion era were to have their day of "I told you so". Built over most difficult terrain which entailed high construction costs, the road cost $6,000,000 with Middletown's share of the expense reaching the $897,- 000 as permitted by the town meeting vote of January 25, 1847. Lack of profitable traffic to pay the interest on the bonds of this expensive venture led to the purchase
.[ 40 ].
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FARMERS MECHANICS' SAVINGS BANK
FIRST NATIONAL BANK
MUTUAL
ASTURANGE CO
D' DENTIST
THE MIDDLESEX MUTUAL BUILDING, OUR THIRD HOME
of the first mortgage bonds in 1875. The bondholders organized a new company-Boston and New York Air Line Railroad Company the following year. It was leased later in 1882 for a 99 years term to the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, remaining to torment the officials of that road as a money loser and both the officials and towns with large interest sums upon which there was no return.
The costly dream, still being paid for, since all serv- ice and revenue stopped in 1927, removed from the New Haven Road treasury $151,440 in 1933 as in- terest on the $3,777,000 outstanding New York and Boston Air Line First Mortgage Gold Bonds. Many towns are paying interest on the bonds they gave to the state for advancing gifts to the New Haven Road.
Another fancy dream of railroad prowess for Mid- dletown was also blasted when the Connecticut Valley Railroad, completed in 1871 between Hartford and Saybrook, proved to be a "dud" as a revenue producer sufficient to pay interest charges on more than $2,250,- 000 worth of bonds, of which Middletown purchased $242,000. The road was first incorporated in May 1868 by a number of influential citizens, among whom were O. V. Coffin, Henry Hubbard, J. W. Hubbard and J. S. Walkley. Financial difficulties caused by the unex- pected high cost of construction and the lack of a suffi- cient volume of traffic led to reorganization as the Hartford and Connecticut Valley Railroad Company on July 1, 1880, and later to the discontinuance of pas- senger service in 1933.
Throughout a part of this trying period of railroad promotion and sorry realization, Middletown and other towns in the county suffered an ordeal of taxation
.[ 41 ].
which few towns in the state or elsewhere have been called upon to bear. The growth of established business was stifled. Newcomers sniffed the air and went else- where to start their enterprises. Ill-kept streets replaced traditional New England tidiness. But the health and vigor gained from earlier business conquests was too strong to yield permanently to the buffets of adverse fortune. Despite a slower growth than some of her neighboring cities as a manufacturing center, and a feeder railroad instead of a main line, Middletown en- joyed a gradual growth while retaining a certain homely domesticity and a quaint charm and culture, in short, a more satisfying "design for living" than experienced by the people of other cities which teemed with commercial activity. Professor John Fiske of Cambridge, Mass., in his memorable historical address on the occasion of the city's 250th anniversary in 1900, characterized the in- herent qualities of Middletown thus :
"From the reefs of mere vulgarizing dollar-worship her prow has been steered clear. In the social life of the town some of the old-time charm, something of the courtliness and quiet refinement that marked the days of the spinning-wheels and knee buckles has always re- mained and is still to be found. Something very much indeed, has been due to institutions of learning, the university and divinity school; much also to the preser- vation of old traditions and mental habits through sundry strong personalities-the saving remnant of which the prophet speaks. In the very aspect of these broad, quiet streets, with their arching trees, their dig- nified and hospitable, sometimes quaint homesteads, one sees the sweet domesticity of old New England unimpaired. Nowhere is true worth of character more
.[ 42 ].
justly valued or cordially welcomed with small regard to mere conventional standards; and this I believe to be one of the surest marks of high civilization :"
II
M IDDLETOWN, LIKE MOST NEW ENGLAND towns, had experienced a conflict-a battle of words-over the slavery issue, for a generation prior to actual blood- shed in 1861. It had divided parties in Congress and in every state Legisla- ture. It rent ecclesiastical affiliations asunder ; split up families and friendships of long standing, and like an earthquake shook the whole superstructure of govern- ment. Although non-believers in slavery for themselves which they had long since dispensed with, numerous business men of Middletown and other northern towns and cities preferred to permit the Southern planta- tioners to own slaves rather than hazard a war which would mean certain loss of their Southern business- ruin and poverty for many. The feeling ran higher and higher and words became more bitter as the zero hour for actual conflict approached. Then the issue became more luminous. The government stood for a united nation-freedom. The flag stood for the government. When the force of these simple facts was weighed against the lack of freedom in a nation half-slave and half-free, the people of Middletown united whole- heartedly to support the government and uphold the flag. Those were stirring days. From the files of an old newspaper of April 24, 1861, the exciting news of the day read :
.[ 43 ].
"The red, white, and blue; these are the prevailing colors everywhere. In the store windows goods are arranged to display the national flag. Red, white and blue cockades are worn about the streets. The ladies display the colors in their dresses. They have been busy for the last two or three days making up uniforms for the volunteers, in preparing bandages, lint and other things necessary. A. M. Colegrove has given the whole stock of his underclothing in his store for the use of the volunteers from this city."
On the previous evening of April 20, a great mass meeting was held in McDonough Hall. Patriotic speeches were made and a president, Charles C. Tyler, and several vice presidents were elected. One of the resolutions passed was as follows :
"Resolved that we tender to the governor of this state in support of the principles herein avowed, all the material aid at our command, assuring his Excel- lency that in this hour of our country's peril the honor and renown our good old state gained by revolutionary struggle and sacrifice shall not be dimmed by want of fidelity on our part."
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