USA > Connecticut > Connecticut yesterday and today : 1635-1935 : celebrating three hundred years of progress in the Constitution state > Part 16
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FIRST OFFICERS OF CONSOLIDATION
MEIGS H. WHAPLES Chairman Board of Trustees FRANK C. SUMNER President Banking Department NATHAN I). PRINCE Vice-President HENRY H. PEASE Vice-President HOSMER P. REDFIELD Treasurer
ALLEN H. NEWTON Asst. Treasurer CHARLES A. HUNTER Asst. Treasurer WARREN T. BARTLETT Secretary
TRUST DEPARTMENT
ARTHUR P. DAY Vice-President J. LINCOLN FENN Trust Officer CHARLES C. RUSS Trust Officer CLEMENT SCOTT Trust Officer ALBERT T. DEWEY Asst. Secretary THOMAS J. ROGERS Asst. Secretary RAYMOND G. BLYDENBURGH Asst. Secretary CLARK T. DURANT Attorney
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THE DIME SAVINGS BANK OF HARTFORD
ERECTED
FOUNDED
1870
7925
. DIME SAVINGS BANK
.
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THE DIME SAVINGS BANK OF HARTFORD
ROBERT W. HUNTINGTON President
Present Officers and Directors
Officers
ROBERT W. HUNTINGTON President
Chairman of the Board
JOHN O. ENDERS Vice-President
NEWTON C. BRAINARD Vice-President
RICHARD I. WILLIAMS Secretary and Treasurer
LESTER C. MURPHY Assistant Treasurer
Directors
NEWTON C, BRAINARD
WILLIAM BROSMITH
DONALD L. BROWN
JOHN B. BYRNE
GEORGE A. CHANDLER
SOLOMON ELSNER JOHN O. ENDERS
CLARKSON N. FOWLER
PETER NI. FRAZER
ROBERT W. HUNTINGTON '
ALVAN W. HYDE
FRANK D. LAYTON
J. COLLINS LEE SPENCER T. MITCHELL
CLIFFORD B. MORCOM
FRANCIS A. PALLOTTI
FREDERICK F. SMALL
SAMUEL M. STONE
EDGAR F. WATERMAN
RICHARD 1. WILLIAMS
RICHARD 1. WILLIAMS Secretary and Treasurer
HE DIME SAVINGS BANK of Hartford was incorporated by act of Leg- islature in May, 1870, and opened for business on October I, of the same year, having its offices in the New Charter Oak Life Insurance Building on Main Street. Deposits as low as one dime were accepted, and $400 was set as the limit which a sin- gle depositor might deposit in one year. Interest was paid at the rate of 6 per cent semi-annually. One hun- dred and ninety-two accounts were opened the first day. Account No. I, opened October 1, 1870, is still active and the original pass book still in use.
Presidents
ALFRED E, BURR Sept. 12, 1870-July 18,1900 P. HENRY WOODWARD July 18, 1900-July 17, 1918
ROBERT W. IlUNTINGTON July 17, 1918-Marchi 30, 1932
ROBERT W. DWYER
March 30, 1932-May 2, 1934
ROBERT W. IHUNTINGTON May 15, 1934-
Treasurers
NATHANIEL B. STEVENS
Sept. 12, 1870-July 23, 1878
JOHN W. WELCHI July 23, 1878-July 19, 1893
THOMAS M. SMITII July 19, 1893-July 15, 1903
ROBERT W. DWYER July 15, 1903-March 30, 1932 RICHARD I. WILLIAMS
March 30, 1932-
ALFRED E. BURR First President
First Officers and Directors
Officers
ALFRED E. BURR First President
II. S. HAYDEN
Vice-President
HI. L. HOLCOMB
D. A. ROOD
N. B. STEVENS
CHARLES W. COOK
Secretary
NATIIANIEL B. STEVENS
Treasurer
Corporators and Directors
CHARLES R. CHAPMAN, Hartford
JAMES S. IIOWARD, Hartford ELISHA JOHNSON, Hartford F. W. CHENEY, Hartford IIOMER BLANCHARD, Hartford
N. B. STEVENS,. Hartford CHARLES W. Cook, Hartford
CHARLES A. JEWELL, Hartford
SAMUEL H. WINITE, Hartford
A. E. BURR, Hartford
D. A. ROOD, Hartford
E. N. WELCH, Hartford
JOSEPHI BISHOP, Hartford
IIENRY T. SPERRY, Hartford
HORACE LORD, Hartford
JOHN W. JOHNSON, Hartford
W. H. GOODRICH, Hartford BYRON LOOMIS, Suffield
JEFFREY O. PHELPS, JR., Simsbury
HI. S. HAYDEN, Windsor IIENRY L. HOLCOMB, Granby
EDWARD M. BRADLEY & CO., INC.
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Established 1868
ALEXANDER MCALISTER 1868-1877
MCALISTER & WARREN 1878-1885
H. C. WARREN & CO. H. C. WARREN EDWARD M. BRADLEY 1886-1921
H. C. WARREN & CO., INC. EDWARD M. BRADLEY, President 1921-1927
EDWARD M. BRADLEY & CO., INC. 1927-1935
WDY
HEN Alexander McAlister founded the firm that is now Edward M. Bradley & Co., Inc. in 1868, soon after the ending of the Civil War, he engaged in numer- ous lines besides investment securities, such as fire insurance, steamship tickets, foreign exchange, and mortgages. Gradually investment banking developed into the paramount activity, and the other lines were eliminated altogether.
E. M. BRADLEY
The firm was a pioneer in the financing of public utilities when electricity was being developed for lighting and power. It was instrumental in financing the New Haven Electric Co. and the Bridgeport Electric Co. which later became the United Illumi- nating Co. The Company was also active in the financing of the Southern New England Telephone Co. (and was one of the first business houses in New Haven to have a telephone ), the New Haven Water Co. and the New Haven Gas Light Co.
After 1900, through the efforts of Mr. Edward M. Bradley, the firm became active in financing other gas and electric properties in Massachusetts and New York State, and has maintained an active interest in them up to the present day. Mr. Bradley has played a prominent part in the management of many of these companies, holding numerous director- ships, and in many instances serving on the executive committees.
Among the companies in which the firm has been interested are: North Boston Lighting Properties, Massachusetts Power & Light Associates, Springfield Gas Light Co., Rockland Light & Power Co., and Edison Electric Illuminating Co. of Boston.
Edward M. Bradley & Co., Inc. today carries on the traditions of integrity and service developed over a span of more than sixty-five years, and enjoys the confidence and respect of investors and financial in- stitutions, not only throughout Connecticut but also in outside financial centers.
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COOLEY & COMPANY
Successors to the Firm Established 1889
Francis R. Cooley
RANCIS R. COOLEY en- tered the investment and banking business in 1889 in the city of Hartford in a partnership known as Wil- son & Co., who were primarily note and mortgage brokers.
Mr. Cooley continued in this busi- ness until 1892, but in that year he formed his own firm known as Francis R. Cooley, Banker, and engaged in the investment business which embraced bank- ing, underwriting of security issues, as well as a general stock and bond broker- age business. The location of the office
Present Home of Cooley & Company
was at 4 Central Row and continued there until June of 1897, when the firm moved into larger quarters at 49 Pearl Street, the old Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company building. Here Mr. Cooley continued as a banker and broker and as an underwriter and dis- tributor of securities until October, 1915, when the firm changed its name to Francis R. Cooley & Company and be- came members of the New York Stock Exchange through the formation of a partnership consisting of Mr. Francis R. Cooley, Mr. Francis B. Cooley, Mr. Eugene S. Ballard, the member of the New York Stock Exchange, and Mr. Bertrand Andross.
The firm continued, tending more toward the brokerage business with the growth of larger markets and the im- proved facilities afforded by the New York Stock Exchange, until 1920, Mr. Eugene S. Ballard resigning to form his own firm and Mr. Francis B. Cooley pur- chasing the seat on the New York Stock Exchange, and Mr. Francis R. becoming a special partner until his death on No- vember 15th, 1933.
Mr. Francis B. Cooley announced his retirement on June 30th, 1934, from the firm of Francis R. Cooley & Com- pany, and at that time a new firm was formed called Cooley & Company, the partnership consisting of Charles P. Cooley, Jr., Roy P. Crary, John J. Murtha and Laurence W. Simonds. The
Charles P. Cooley, Jr.
offices of this firm continued at 125 Pearl Street, where they were established in July of 1927, until January 1, 1935, when they moved to new offices at 100 Pearl Street, where they are at present en- gaged in investment brokerage business.
These firms have been members of the New York Stock Exchange since 1915, and have been prominent as dealers in Connecticut securities, have participated in the distribution of bonds of many Connecticut municipalities, as well as providing facilities for the execution of orders in stocks and bonds of Connecticut corporations.
PUTNAM & CO.
- Investments -
6 Central Row, Hartford
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COLT PATENT FIRE-ARMS MANUFACTURING COMPANY Founded 1836
Samuel Colt
AMUEL COLT, the pioneer in intro- ducing into Hartford manufacturing on a large scale, through personal efforts, perpetuated and extended by the able assistants whom he called around him, communicated a very decided impulse to the modern industrial sys- tem of the world.
He was born in Hartford, July 19, 1814. At the age of ten he entered his father's factory at Ware, Mass., and at fourteen was sent to a boarding school at Amherst, but preferring to gain knowledge in a broader field he shipped before the mast for Cal-
cutta, in July, 1827, and on the voyage made a model which held the germs of the future revolver. Re- turning home, he again entered his father's mill, where, under the tuition of Wm. T. Smith, a chemist in charge of the dyeing and bleaching department, he obtained a practical acquaintance with chemistry, becoming quite expert as a manipulator. At the age of eighteen, with the knowledge and dexterity ac- quired in the primitive laboratory at Ware, he made his second venture alone into the great world under the name of Dr. Coult, as a lecturer upon nitrous oxide gas. His tours extended from Canada to the
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VIEW OF PRESENT PLANT SITUATED ON SITE
years. He often experimented before full houses, and thus obtained the means for developing the in- vention which even at this time seems to have held him with the strength of an absorbing passion. While most boys are still at school, or under the tutelage of parents, he had visited the antipodes, instructed large audiences from the platform, and multiplied by six the effectiveness of the pistol. In February, 1836, he obtained a United States patent for a ro- tating cylinder containing several chambers to be dis- charged through a single barrel. The previous year he had taken out patents in England and France. In 1836, The Patent Arms Manufacturing Company was established at Paterson, N. J., with a proposed capital of $300,000, about one-half of which was paid in, for making the revolvers. Colonel Colt put forth strenuous efforts to have the government adopt the weapon, but two boards of United States officers re- ported against it. Meantime, under the pressure of necessity, many were sold at reduced prices to Texan rangers, and played an important part in winning Texan independence. Later the revolvers were used by a few of our troops with great effective- ness in the Seminole war, the savages becoming utterly disheartened on finding that their pursuers could keep up a deadly fire without stopping to re- load. Thus, in spite of official criticism and con- demnation, the pistol forced recognition of its merits by actual tests on the battle-field. But the demon-
stration came too late to save the Paterson company that failed in 1842, because the government with- held the encouragement which the promoters of the enterprise had a right to expect as justly due to an invention of such obvious value to the nation.
With the suspension of the works at Paterson the manufacture of the weapon stopped, while in time the demand, chiefly from the frontier, completely drained the market. At the outbreak of the Mexican war, in 1847, General Taylor sent to Colonel Colt for a supply. Although none were then to be had, the opportunity so long deferred had come at last. Colonel Colt constructed a new model containing many improvements, and having contracted to fur- nish 1000 for $28,000, made them in an armory hired for the purpose in Whitneyville. From this time forward his genius found an ever-broadening field for its exercise, and pecuniary rewards rolled in with the momentum of a mountain torrent.
The following year Colonel Colt transferred his plant to Hartford, occupying at first the premises west of the former Hartford Fire Insurance offices, and moving soon after to more commodious quarters on Mechanic street. In 1852, he bought a large tract in the south meadows, within the city limits, which he enclosed with a dyke one and three-fourths miles long, twenty feet high on the low grounds, and one hundred feet wide at the base narrowing to a driveway of forty feet on top. Its walls strength-
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CHOSEN BY COLONEL. SAMUEL COLT IN 1852
זו, וד וד ח׳ וב, וד. 77. 77.
ened and beautified by willows afford sure pro- tection against the heaviest freshets of the Connec- ticut. In the fall of 1855, the new armory was ready for occupancy. It consists of two parallel buildings five hundred feet long, and four stories high, con- nected at the center by a building 500 feet long, the whole resembling in form a capital H. Offices and warerooms were added at convenient locations. To keep pace with the rapid expansion of the busi- ness, in 1861 the armory was practically duplicated. Nearby were also erected dwellings for the workmen, a public hall, and a library. On the same grounds a beautiful memorial church has been built since the death of Colonel Colt by Mrs. Colt, who also built later as a memorial to her son Caldwell Hart Colt the Parish House.
Like most born leaders, Col. Colt exercised keen discrimination in the choice of his assistants, whom, in spite of a stern discipline, he held with hooks of steel through the spirit of fairness, kindness, and generosity that pervaded his intercourse with them. Quick to discover merit, he was also profusely liberal in rewarding it when devoted to his service. The combination of intellectual forces grouped around him as the business developed had probably never been equaled in any other industrial establishment. His own personal force and magnetism were so ir- resistible that, when a penniless youth of twenty-one, he could persuade hard-headed capitalists to invest
$300,000 -- then a much larger sum than now-in a plant for the manufacture of his pistol. The project failed, not because his enthusiasm rested on an un- substantial or insufficient basis, but because he was far ahead of the age, and the task of educating the public in time to avert the catastrophe was too heavy for a single boy. When at length prosperity brought opportunities for the full exercise of his mental re- sources, the doors of cabinet ministers and kings flew open at his bidding, while in his presence the ablest recognized their peer.
In 1849, Col. Colt secured the services of Elisha K. Root, a machinist who had learned the trade from its rudiments, and who had been the master mind in rejuvenating and modernizing the axe factory at Collinsville. Placed at the head of the mechanical and manufacturing departments, Mr. Root brought to the position rare inventive skill guided by sound judgment, and a constant purpose to reach the best results by the simplest methods. Aided by other bright minds, he was indefatigable in devising and constructing machinery for making all similar parts of the revolver interchangeable, and for producing them cheaply. A full treasury furnished the work- ers with ample facilities for elaborating their ideas. The armory became a genuine training school in applied mechanics, where absolute excellence, even if beyond human reach, was the only recognized standard. Under the tuition of Col. Colt, E. K.
COLT'S ARMORY TRAINING GROUND FOR LEADERS
Root, Samuel H. Bachelor, Horace Lord, and other teachers, subordinates, adopted like ideals, and as they colonized elsewhere, many in positions of prom- inence, have been noted for the superiority of their work. The union of mental and pecuniary ability enabled the establishment to push far ahead of any- thing previously accomplished in the art of gun- making, in the complete adaptation of mechanical means to ends. Col. Colt cared little for the first cost of a machine, provided it operated with exact- ness and economy, well knowing that the most perfect appliances pay for themselves quickest.
Perhaps some future historian will show the deep and wide-spread influence of Colt's Armory as an educational center, by giving the biographies of its more prominent graduates. For Hartford it has furnished organizers and presidents to the Pratt & Whitney Co., the Machine Screw Co., and the Bill- ings & Spencer Co .; to Yale University it has given a distinguished professor, and going farther from home the circle widens too broadly to be outlined within our limits.
After the Mexican war, calls for the revolver poured in from all quarters of the earth-especially from our own frontier, from California, Australia, the Crimea, and the East Indies. Meantime the work of simplification and improvement kept pace with the demand. From the department for the manufacture of gun machinery several foreign arm- ories were largely equipped.
Col. Colt was one of the first to appreciate the possibilities of the submarine torpedo, having begun in boyhood experiments which were kept up at in- tervals through life. He was also the first to con- struct and lay a submarine telegraph cable, having by this means, in 1843, successfully connected New York City with stations on Fire and Coney Islands.
Colonel Colt planned to add to the armory a plant for the manufacture of cannon on a large scale, but did not live to carry out the idea. Amid her- culean labors and far-reaching schemes he died Jan- uary 10, 1862.
The Colt Patent Fire-Arms Company had been incorporated in 1856. Elisha K. Root was now elected president, and held the position till his death, July 5, 1865. He was succeeded in the presidency by Richard W. H. Jarvis.
February 5, 1864, half of the original armory was destroyed by fire, involving an estimated loss of $800,000 in machines and $400,000 in stock, be- sides valuable models and drawings. The buildings were restored fire-proof on the old foundations. One half of the armory was saved, and in this the work went on without interruption.
The production of revolvers increased from 37,616 in 1859, to 111,616 in 1862, and 136,579 in 1863. In the years 1863 and 1864 over 95,000 muskets were also made. After the war the pro- duction declined with the demand.
In addition to revolvers, rifles, and automatic pistols the Company from time to time engaged in the manufacture for outside parties of steam engines, sewing machines, the famous Gatling gun, printing presses, and other specialties. At the present time 1750 men are employed.
After the Civil War General William B. Franklin was for many years Vice-President and General Agent. After his retirement in 1888 Caldwell H. Colt was Vice-President for a short period.
Succeeding Mr. Jarvis the following men have served as Presidents of the Company:
SAMUEL COLT 1855-1862
ELISHA K. ROOT 1862-1865
RICHARD W. H. JARVIS 1865-1901 JOHN H. HALL (Gen. Manager and Vice-President) 1886-1901 JOHN H. HALL (President) 1901-1902
LEWIS C. GROVER
1902-1909
WM. C. SKINNER
1909-1911
CHARLES L. F. ROBINSON
1911-1916
WM. C. SKINNER
1916-1921
SAMUEL M. STONE
1921-
After the termination of the World War the Company was left with a great excess of plant space and facilities which had been created to serve the United States Government during the war.
To utilize that space, products new to the Com- pany were put into production through rights and property acquired from other firms.
Power washing-machines for use in restaurants, hotels and for industrial purposes comprised the first new unit. An Electrical Division in which service boxes, fuses, etc., are made, is another unit. A large and important unit is known as the Plastics Division in which materials are hot-molded from phenolic and similar compounds. Articles such as closures for bottles and metal tubes, buttons and a wide variety of miscellaneous articles are here produced in large quantities. A sub-division of that unit is devoted to the manufacture of molded brake-lining and sheet- packing.
Practically the entire space in new buildings erected for war material purposes is utilized by these new industries, also a portion of the old fire-arms plant.
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The Present Officers of the Company are:
SAMUEL M. STONE, President FRANK C. NICHOLS, Vice-President
F. T. MOORE, Vice-President and General Works Manager
HAROLD T. FAIRWEATHER, Treasurer
ARTHUR L. ULRICH, Secretary
LESLIE T. GOODRICH, Assistant Treasurer
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PRATT & WHITNEY COMPANY FOUNDED 1860
FRANCIS A. PRATT, 1827-1902
AMOS WHITNEY, 1832-1920
RANCIS A. PRATT, was born in Jay, N. Y., in 1827, but at eight years of age his family moved to Lowell, Mass. After a grammar school education, he was apprenticed to Warren Aldrich, a thorough mechanic and a wise teacher of the old school.
He was only twenty-five years of age when he came to Hartford to work in the Colt Armory. Two years of intensive study and work brought to Mr. Pratt an invitation to become the superintendent of the Phoenix Iron Works of Hartford.
At the Phoenix Iron Works, there is no question that Francis Pratt developed much of his executive ability while retaining by a many-sided experience, the mechanical in- genuity that was his own special gift. But the most im- portant factor in his Phoenix Iron Works experience was the meeting there of a man who, in due time, was to become his partner in an enterprise that would carry their joint names into the distant places of the world, and so far into the future that no man may even guess the years these names will survive.
The above biographical sketches of Amos Whitney and Francis A. Pratt are from "Accuracy for Seventy Years", published by Pratt & Whitney in 1930.
MOS WHITNEY was born in Biddeford, Maine, in 1832, the son of Aaron Whitney who was an expert machinist and locksmith. It was natural for such a father to apprentice Amos in the Essex Machine Company of Lawrence, Mass., at the age of fourteen. For three years the boy worked on the cotton machinery, locomotives and machine tools made at the Essex plant and after one more year as journeyman on machinist's tools, Amos Whitney followed his father to "Colt's Pistol Factory" in Hartford. It was here in Hart- ford that he met Francis A. Pratt with whom he was to begin their great business in 1860.
He was a splendid executive, a good salesman, with enough mechanical knowledge and skill to supplement the great talent of Francis Pratt. By his own example, Amos Whitney invoked the loyalty of the men in the shop and the integrity of all he dealt with in the outside world. Especially in the Pratt & Whitney shop there was a re- markable bond of sympathy between the workers and their employer.
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ACCURACY FOR THREE-QUARTERS OF A CENTURY
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The first building on the present site, built in 1865.
The plant at a later date, showing bridge which replaced the original wooden structure.
INDY COMPANY -SMAIL TOOL DEPARTMENT
EF
The buildings which were built in 1900 for making small tools.
HE year before the Civil War - in 1860 -- Francis A. Pratt and Amos Whitney decided that they would pool their meager resources and work out their own business. Meanwhile they both retained their jobs at the Phoenix Iron Works, do- ing their work in a small rented room on Potter Street. One of their earliest accom- plishments was the building of Spencer's Automatic Silk Winders designed for the Cheney Silk Mills in Manchester which were later adopted by the Willimantic Linen Company.
Soon after their first success a fire burst out in their little room and destroyed all their carefully collected equipment, forç- ing them to move to the "Woods" building where they spent five successful years dur- ing the Civil War period. It was during this time that Pratt & Whitney Company received the impulse which was to see them on their way to a sound and progressive business. Both had received training at Colt's Armory and were experts in gun manufacturing, so that with the war time demand they were offered the opportunity of immediately expanding their venture.
In 1862 Monroe Stannard of New Britain was taken into partnership. Each of the three men contributed $1,200 and Mr. Stannard took active charge of the shop since both of the original founders continued to remain in the employ of the Phoenix Iron Works. By 1865 the work had grown to such proportions that the company was able to construct its own building on the present site and Mr. Pratt and Mr. Whitney both began to devote all their efforts to the enterprise. At first Pratt & Whitney occupied but one floor of the new building, renting the remainder to the Weed Sewing Machine Co. Through- out the same years the original capital of $3,600 had grown to $75,000. Even this amount was found insufficient to carry out the large contracts that the company had on its books, so Roswell S. Blodgett and Seth A. Bishop were admitted to equal partnership.
In July, 1869, The Pratt & Whitney Company were formally incorporated un- der a charter from the State at a capital- ization of $300,000. This was increased
HAS MADE PRATT & WHITNEY CO. A LEADER TODAY
mostly by earnings to $400,000 by 1873 and to $ 500,000 by 1875. These figures stand as indicative of the progressiveness and integri- ty of the firm.
The Civil War had given to Pratt & Whitney its real start in the manufacture of fire arms. It was the experience gained in this work that turned the thoughts of both men toward the idea of mak- ing interchangeable parts "as like as peas in a pod". In those days every piece of machinery was assembled and fitted by hand, and no two supposedly the same would interchange. This new idea of interchangeability had been thought of and talked about to some extent by Eli Whitney and Samuel Colt, but it remained for Amos Whitney and F. A. Pratt to make the idea practical on a large scale. Much of the success of this system depended upon the devel- opment and use of accurate gages and trustworthy standards of length. In 1860 there was no commercial standard inch. They realized that a practical standard inch of exact dimensions was the basic requirement upon which the entire system would have to be built. Pratt & Whitney Co. estab- lished the inch. The standard was accurate to millionths of an inch. Early in 1879 William A. Rogers, then a professor of astronomy at Harvard College, aided by George M. Bond, a graduate of Stevens Institute of Technology, com- menced a series of efforts contin- uing through the three following years to create a comparator for absolutely correct measurements within a limit of one fifty-thous- andth of an inch. These men were backed entirely by the skill and resources of Pratt & Whitney Co.
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