USA > Connecticut > Connecticut as a colony and as a state; or, One of the original thirteen, Volume III > Part 15
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A journeyman cabinet-maker, while working in Michigan, without ever having seen a sewing-machine, conceived the idea of one; and in 1849, while a resident of Massachusetts, com- pleted its construction. Its peculiar features were a two- pointed shuttle and two-motion feed, which made a stitch at each forward and backward motion of the shuttle, while the feed motion enabled the machine to sew continuous seams of any length, straight, or at any angle or curvature. The Howe patent made a lock stitch, and by use of the shuttle interlocked the two threads; these improvements made a loop or double chain stitch, and while more thread was consumed, the seam was more durable.
Allen B. Wilson, the inventor of this new machine, received a patent in 1850; but not being satisfied with his shuttle, he sought a more efficient device, and finally invented a rotary hook and stationary bobbin, which with a four-motion feed completed the fundamental principles of a rotary hook lock- stitching machine, rendering it practical for family use. Mr. Nathaniel Wheeler, a member of a firm that manufactured buckles, buttons, and other small metallic wares at Water- town, while on a business trip to New York City in 1850, saw on exhibition one of Wilson's sewing-machines, and con- tracted with the patentee (engaging him as superintendent) to build five hundred of them at his factory. This contract was not carried out; but in its place a copartnership was formed under the name of Wheeler, Wilson & Co. for exploiting Wilson's inventions. This was succeeded in 1853
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by the joint-stock company of the Wheeler & Wilson Manu- facturing Company, and three years later the factory was removed to Bridgeport. The works in that city cover eight acres of ground, and employment is usually given to 1,200 men.
In the production of sewing machines the State is only exceeded by New Jersey; her seven establishments in 1900 gave employment to about 2, 100 hands.
The Weed Sewing Machine Company was organized in 1863 at West Winsted; their object was to manufacture an original sewing-machine, patented by T. E. Weed. They removed to Hartford two years later; the business was pros- perous until competition between the different manufacturers brought it to the verge of ruin. In 1878 the company was visited by Colonel Albert A. Pope of Boston, who submitted to them a proposition to manufacture for him the Columbia Bicycle. To this they agreed, and the work of their skilled mechanics, and their high reputation as sewing-machine man- ufacturers, were devoted to the perfecting of the bicycle. The result was so successful that in 1890 Colonel Pope, to facilitate manufacturing, was confronted with the alternative of either purchasing the stock of the Weed Manufacturing Company, or building elsewhere. A liberal proposition was made by Colonel Pope and his associates to the stockholders of the company, which resulted in their acquiring the entire property, and the company was absorbed by the Pope Man- ufacturing Company.
Thus, in fourteen years from the time Colonel Pope exhib- ited at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia the first modern bicycle, which he had imported from England, a chain of factories have developed in Hartford, which at times employ 5,000 hands, and placed Connecticut in 1900 fourth
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in a rank in the United States in the manufacture of bicycles. The business was for a time merged in the great trust, the American Bicycle Company, and its head office removed to New York, Colonel Pope retiring from the management. But without his ability and experience it ran down, and he resumed the management and restored the headquarters to Hartford.
There was organized in Hartford in 1879 the Smyth Manufacturing Company, for the development of a ma- chine for sewing books with thread; after overcoming many difficulties, the company has succeeded in introducing these machines into the leading binderies of this and foreign countries. They have also placed upon the market a book- case machine which operates automatically, except that one person feeds the cut cloth.
The first paper-making industry in the State was started at Norwich in 1766 by Christopher Leffingwell, under a promise from the Legislature to pay a bounty of twopence a quire on writing paper, and one penny a quire on all printing and common paper. This was discontinued, however, at the end of two years. Mr. Leffingwell in 1777 associated with him as a partner his son-in-law Thomas Hubbard, and the ownership of the mills has ever since remained in the family. The present company, the A. H. Hubbard Company, is sit- uated on the Yantic River, where colored paper is manu- factured.
Here the first Fourdrinier machine made in America was in 1829 placed and put in operation; previous to this, paper was made by hand, a sheet at a time. This machine was man- ufactured at Stafford by Phelps & Spofford; the drying cylin- ders were not added until 1831.
Previous to 1776 there were seven paper mills in New Eng-
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land, only one of which was located in Connecticut. The daily output not being over one thousand pounds, which was not enough to supply home consumption, and the Revolution- ary War preventing shipments from foreign markets, new mills were started.
Watson & Ledyard erected in 1776 at East Hartford one of the first paper mills in the Connecticut valley. This mill supplied paper for a weekly issue of eight thousand papers from the Hartford press, in addition to the greater part of the writing paper used in Connecticut and by the Conti- nental Army.
The manufacture of paper has been continuous in the State since its inauguration at Norwich. The Chelsea Mills, located at Greeneville on the Shetucket River, and the Pacific Mills at Windsor Locks, were in 1860 among the largest of the kind in the world. High-grade book, writing and col- ored lithograph papers were made in large quantities. The Uncas Paper Mills, located at Thamesville in the city of Norwich, manufacture about ten tons of paper daily, which is largely used in making boxes.
The manufacture of paper has been since 1852 a leading industry in the town of Montville, The mills are located on the Oxoboxo River; at the outset book and newspaper were made, but they have given place to manilas. A plant in Sey- mour covering many acres is the outgrowth of a paper indus- try started in 1805 by General Humphrey; in 1857 Sharon Y. Beach and others became interested in it, and in 1880 the S. Y. Beach Company was formed. They make a specialty of colored papers.
Connecticut had in 1900 forty-nine establishments, rep- resenting $4,000,000 of capital engaged in the manufacture
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of paper; in book, wrapping, and straw board her annual production was 59,807 tons.
This production gave rise to kindred industries. The State ranked fifth in her manufacture of fancy paper boxes, and 1,632 wage-earners were employed in this branch. The most notable factory is located at Meriden, where it was estab- lished in 1862 by Edgar J. Doolittle. Here every descrip- tion of paper boxes is produced, from the cheapest cartons to the finest boxes lined with silk, satin, or plush.
Connecticut in 1900 ranked second in the manufacture of envelopes, making more than one-quarter of the total produc- tion of the United States. The Plimpton Manufacturing Company of Hartford dates its incipiency from 1865, and has one of the most perfectly equipped plants in the country, with a capacity of three million envelopes a day. The com- pany has since 1874, with the exception of one year, had the government contract for the manufacture of stamped enve- lopes.
The manufacture of hats has always held a prominent position among the industries of America. The abrogation by the Revolution of the acts of Parliament restricting their manufacture, stimulated the industry in a greater or less degree in almost every State of the Union. By the old pro- cess of hand labor, a man could make in a day four or five hat bodies, which was the first stage of preparation. As early as 1799 inventions were patented to cheapen the cost of production.
Though other industries had priority in the city of Dan- bury, the manufacture of hats has been the dominating fea- ture in its growth and prosperity. In a little red building at the northern edge of the village, Zadoc Bennett in 1780 started this industry, and he is rightly named the father of
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hatting in Danbury. The work was all done by hand, one journeyman and two apprentices being employed; three hats were made each day.
In 1810 there were fifty-six hat shops in operation in the township of Danbury, but no shop employed over five hands; the hats were finished in the rough, then sent to New York City to be made ready for sale. The shops were small plank rooms, heated by a wood fire, where men gathered about a kettle, and pulled and hauled the bodies of coarse fur which had been formed by their own hands, at the rate of one a minute. These shops gradually increased their capacity, which tended to cause a diminution in their number, and the inauguration of larger factories was hastened by the introduc- tion of machinery.
In 1820 a machine was invented for forming hat bodies; Stephen Hurlburt of Glastonbury a decade later secured a patent for the hardening of hats upon a cone, thereby cheap- ening the production of the stiff or Derby hat. This was followed by a machine for coloring, which hitherto had been a slow and tedious process; then in 1849 a fur-hat forming machine was patented, which revolutionized the trade.
The name of Mallory has been identified with hatting in Danbury since the early part of the nineteenth century. The pioneer Ezra Mallory established a hat-shop on a small scale at Great Plain in 1813, employing from six to twelve hands, and turning out from three to six dozen hats a week. The present firm of E. A. Mallory & Sons, who are descendants of the founder, possess one of the largest and best equipped hat factories in the country. They employ from 350 to 450 hands, and 48,000 dozen hats are made annually.
Women's straw hats of fine quality were made in New Eng- land during the eighteenth century; the material used being
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field and meadow grasses, also oat straw, which was bleached in the vapor of burning sulphur and then braided. Miss Sophia Woodhouse, a resident of Wethersfield, in 1821 sent to the Society of Arts in London, England, samples of a new material for making straw hats in imitation of Leghorn; this was a meadow grass known as tickle-moth, which grew abundantly in that section of the country. The London deal- ers pronounced the bonnet sent for inspection superior in fineness and color to the best Leghorn, and the Society voted Miss Woodhouse a large silver medal and twenty guineas, on the condition that she would furnish them with seed, a description of the bleaching process, and the treatment of the grass, with evidence that she was the original discoverer of the process. The same year a patent was granted by the United States government to Gardiner and Sophia Wells (née Woodhouse) for a process of making bonnets and hats of grass.
The manufacture of fur and straw hats forms an important feature in the industrial enterprises of Norwalk, South Nor- walk, and Stamford. In 1900 Connecticut ranked first in the production of hats, making one-third of the aggregate num- ber manufactured in the United States, and furnishing employment to about 5,000 persons.
There is another article of wearing apparel in the manufac- ture of which she ranks first, viz., corsets. Her twenty-four establishments in this line represent a capital of over three mil- lions of dollars, and produce over twice that amount in man- ufactured merchandise, which is nearly fifty per cent. of the total production of the country. Nearly 6,000 operatives are employed. The city of Bridgeport is the centre of this industry. The Warner Brothers Company organized in 1874, employs nearly 2,000 hands. Langdon Batcheller &
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Co. is the oldest firm manufacturing hand-made corsets in this country. Their wares were formerly made in Paris and London; they erected their present factory in 1876, and their full force comprises 1,000 operatives. The Bridgeport Cor- set Company dates its organization from 1865; there is a branch establishment at Birmingham.
In the manufacture of carriages, the State in 1900 ranked tenth; though her one hundred and seventeen establishments are widely scattered, a large proportion of them are located in New Haven and its immediate vicinity.
The ten manufacturers of pianos in Connecticut produce annually 7,500 instruments, valued at $1,000,000, which causes the State to rank sixth in the Union in this line of industry. Organs are also made; in 1890 the self-playing organ, "The Symphony," was placed upon the market; in 1897 the "Angelus," the pioneer cabinet piano-playing attach- ment, was introduced; this was followed a year later by a competitor called "Pianola." All of these are manufactured in the city of Meriden.
The manufacture of graphophones and supplies for the same was commenced in Bridgeport in 1887.
In the number of typewriting machines produced, Con- necticut is only exceeded by New York; her three incorpo- rated companies, located respectively at Hartford, Derby, and Bridgeport, have an annual output of about $800,000.
The machine for the cutting of teeth in combs was invented by Phineas and Abel Pratt, residents of what is now Essex; its introduction stimulated the industry, and was the fore- runner of the present plant at Irvington, which manufactures all kinds of ivory goods, making a specialty of keyboards for musical instruments. The success of this establishment has
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encouraged similar manufactures at Deep River and other localities.
In chemical and allied products, Connecticut had in 1900 thirty-one establishments engaged in the manufacture of fer- tilizer, dye-stuff extracts, paints, varnishes, explosives, oils, etc.
The Stamford Manufacturing Company, located on the site of the original town grant to William Fitch, in connection with the grinding of corn and wheat, undertook that of spices and dyewoods. The property was purchased in 1832 by Henry J. and John C. Sanford. The former became a pio- neer in the successful production of dyewood extracts, par- ticularly of logwood; the name of Sanford on a package of extracts was sufficient evidence of its high standard. In later years the extract of licorice was added, and it has become the leading product of the establishment. The company was incorporated under its present name in 1844. Its business so expanded that larger facilities became necessary, and mills were started at different points in Connecticut, as well as in Westchester County in New York State. The export trade in the decade between 1850 and 1860 was phenomenal. Until 1870 the company was practically without a rival; since then, though it has had competition, it has more than quadrupled its output. The company owns a large tract of land in Asia Minor where the licorice root is gathered and cured.
In Stamford there is a chemical laboratory for the manu- facture of vegetable extracts; and two miles from the centre of the city, at Glenwood, are works for the refining of cam- phor and wax.
That Connecticut ranks third in the manufacture of leather belting is largely due to the Jewell Belting Company of Hart- ford. The foundation of this enterprise was laid by Pliny
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Jewell in 1845, when he established a tan-yard on what is now Bushnell Park; his ancestors had been tanners for sev- eral generations. Three years after making Hartford his place of residence, he opened a shop for making leather belts. He was the third person in America to engage in that special business.
Manufacturers of the United States, and indirectly of Europe, were educated by Pliney Jewell and his sons to sub- stitute leather belting for their costly and cumbersome sys- tem of gearing, for the conveyance of their power. Tan- neries were established at different points in the United States, where materials for belting were exclusively made. The pres- ent company was organized in 1883, and they have long held the record for large belts.
The Norwich Belt Manufacturing Company was started in 1845 by C. N. Farnum. A specialty is made of dynamo and other high-speed belting, and a great number of straps for various purposes are produced.
The year 1810 saw the establishment at East Windsor and Suffield of the first cigar manufactories in the United States. The first cigars made in the United States were rolled by hand in the former town, and peddled by the women. There were in 1870 two hundred and thirty-five factories in Connecticut, but the census of 1900 gives only two hundred and sixteen, making the State rank tenth in the Union.
Tobacco was grown in New England in the decade ending with 1650; the cultivation, however, was abandoned until the beginning of the nineteenth century, when it gradually revived. In 1825 the crop was of such magnitude as to war- rant the establishment of a warehouse at Warehouse Point. Eight years later it was ascertained that Connecticut tobacco possessed the firmness of texture, strength of tissue, and
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smoothness of surface so desirable for cigar wrappers; these facts tended to make the raising of the plant one of the most profitable industries of the State.
There are scattered throughout Connecticut manufactories embodying usefulness and uniqueness in their productions, which have all materially aided in advancing the reputation of the State as a hive of industrial wonders. In a work of this character, it is impossible to cite all; a few are appended, however, to give the reader some idea of the diversity of manufactured articles produced.
Nearly a half-century ago, a factory was established in Middletown on Little River, a tributary of the Connecticut, and named by the Indians Chawana; the concern was called by the people of Middletown "The Mosquito-Netting Fac- tory," as bed canopies and netting for protection from mos- quitoes were manufactured. The introduction of wire screens for windows necessitated a change in productions, and the manufacture of dress linings and hammocks was added; the latter being made of jute, cotton, silk, in fact any material that could be woven, and in all colors. The city can boast of another unique industry, viz., ship chandlery, of which Wil- cox, Crittenden & Co. are the largest manufacturers in the world.
A machine was invented in 1852 to cut corks; previous to this time they were made by hand, and were ill fitting and very unsatisfactory. In that year John D. Crocker, an artist, while calling at a drug-store in Norwich, heard the druggist complain of the corks then in use. After experimenting, Crocker patented a machine to manufacture round and taper- ing corks; it cut from twenty to thirty corks a minute. A copartnership was formed to manufacture the article, and the
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enterprise was a success from the start. The business is still carried on at Norwich.
The manufacture of Lincrusta-Walton, which is used extensively for decorative wall coverings, and ornamentation in other ways, was begun in 1882 at Stamford. The town of Westport numbers among its industries a morocco factory, the production of "The Utopia Embalming Fluid" and other disinfecting and antiseptic preparations, also a satchel manu- factory.
The only place in Connecticut where Eli Whitney's great invention is manufactured is New London, where it was estab- lished in 1846. The gins made here are very popular with the planters throughout the cotton belt. In this city is the largest industry of bed comfortables in the world; horse blankets, carpet linings, and quilted fabrics are also among its standard productions. On an old mill site on the Oxoboxo River, the Palmer Brothers manufacture cotton and down bedquilts and comfortables.
The well-advertised "Packer's Tar Soap" made at Mystic, and the Williams Shaving Soap made at Glastonbury, are among the manufactured products of Connecticut.
The growth of manufacturing in Connecticut cannot be more fully illustrated than by comparing the statistics at the opening of the nineteenth century with those of the end. The former mark the era when the infant industries of the State had gained a respectable footing in the commercial interests of the commonwealth.
There were in 1810 fifteen States in the Union, and Con- necticut, with a population of 261,492, represented about one twenty-seventh of the entire number of inhabitants of the country. Of these 18.4 per cent. were engaged in agricultural pursuits, 6.4 per cent. in manufacturing, and 1.3 per cent. in
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commerce. Her manufactured products in 1810 amounted to $7,771,928, which in proportion to her population equaled that of Massachusetts, and was only exceeded by Rhode Island. As an agricultural State she was seventh. The value of her landed property and improvements was $88,534,971, in which she was exceeded by Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. Connecticut gave evidence thus early that manufacturing was to be her pre- dominant interest.
In 1900 she ranked as the twenty-ninth State, numbering 908,420 persons, representing about one eighty-third of the entire population of the forty-five States; nearly 2 1 per cent. of these were engaged in her 9, 128 manufacturing establish- ments, which had an invested capital of $314,696,736, plac- ing her seventh in manufactures and in the amount of her products eighth in the Union. The increase in her agricul- tural interests has not been so conspicuous : in 1900 she had 26,948 farms, averaging eighty-five acres; her landed prop- erties and improvements were valued at $97,325,068; in the value of her lands she was the thirty-fourth, and in the amount of her improvements the twenty-fourth State; less than five per cent. of her inhabitants were engaged in this industry.
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CHAPTER XVIII THE ADVANCEMENT OF INTERNAL INTERCOURSE
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I T was not until the latter part of the eighteenth cen- tury that any efforts were made on the part of Con- necticut to improve her primitive highways. How little progress had been made in road construction is illustrated by the fact that for a period of one hun- dred and forty-four years the colonial authorities had ordered only one new highway to be built. The transporta- tion of troops and supplies for the Revolutionary army had shown the vital necessity for perfecting these arteries of inter- nal intercourse, in order to further the commercial relations between the citizens of contiguous States.
The era of the construction of turnpikes was inaugurated in 1792, by the chartering of the Mohegan Turnpike Com- pany to build a roadway from Norwich to New London. In 1808 there were thirty-nine turnpike companies in operation, with seven hundred and seventy miles of highways, the cost of construction being from $550 to $2,280 per mile; the most expensive one was that between Hartford and New Haven. From this time until 1839 one or more companies were incorporated annually, until over one hundred were in operation, intersecting the State in every direction, diverging from common centres to outlying districts.
These turnpikes were under the supervision of commis- sioners, and were strictly regulated by law. The toll-gates were placed at intervals of ten miles; the charges ranged from one cent for a single animal to twenty-five cents for a stage-coach and horses. The charters of the pioneer com- panies terminated soon after the last ones were granted; the introduction of railroads made them unprofitable as invest- ments, and eventually they all became free.
The construction of turnpikes encouraged stage-coach lines, and in 1802 there was a daily route established between
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New York and Boston. A little over three days were con- sumed in transit; the stopping-places for the night were at Worcester, Hartford, and Stamford; the coaches arrived at these points about eight o'clock each evening, and resumed the journey the following morning at three. As late as 1842 there were twenty-two stage routes centering at Hartford; the longest of these ran to Haverhill, Massachusetts, and Brat- tleboro, Vermont. These daily coaches brought to the merchants of the commercial centers, orders from customers throughout the western part of Massachusetts and Connecti- cut, and also from the eastern part of the State; for the inland transportation, regular lines of freight wagons were established.
The citizens interested in forming commercial relations with that vast territory lying north of the boundary line of the State, urged that the Legislature should take some action to utilize for freighting purposes those extensive water- courses which crossed the country in a northerly direction from tidewater. Attempts were made to dredge and form a channel in the Housatonic River; but its bed was of such a rocky foundation that little progress was made. The Nor- wich Channel Company was incorporated in 1805, for improving the Thames River; if they succeeded in making it navigable for vessels drawing eight and a half feet of water, they were to be empowered to demand certain tolls. The company made but slight headway, and about twenty years after its incorporation it was merged with the Thames Bank of Norwich.
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