USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Farmington > History of New Britain, with sketches of Farmington and Berlin, Connecticut. 1640-1889 > Part 24
USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Berlin > History of New Britain, with sketches of Farmington and Berlin, Connecticut. 1640-1889 > Part 24
USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > New Britain > History of New Britain, with sketches of Farmington and Berlin, Connecticut. 1640-1889 > Part 24
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45
The firms of Clapp & Hale and Parker & Co. were also engaged in making stocks when the business in New Britain was prosperous. In most of the shops there were usually two or three men and a number of girls employed. A part of the work was performed by women at their homes; the material having been cut in proper form at the shops, was sent to families in New Britain and in towns around' as far as Canton and Avon to be finished. This business was, for a few years, an important industry for New Britain, but was given up about 1840.
Before the stock business was suspended a partnership consisting of I. N. Lee and W. A. Churchill of New Britain, and John Cowles and Frank Cowles of Farmington, was formed for manufacturing pins in a shop on the east side of North Main Street. The business did not prove successful, but the shop was occupied by I. N. Lee, then by I. N. Lee & Co., and afterwards by I. N. Lee, in the manufacture of shirts. This business was taken up partly to take the place of the stock business when that was given up. The cus- tomers who had bought stocks of New Britain manufacturers
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urged these manufacturers to also supply the trade with ready-made shirts, and the business became an important industry in New Britain, the principal establishments being I. N. Lee & Co., Julius Parker & Son, and William Bingham.
About 1830, William B. Stanley, Henry W. Clark, and Lora Waters commenced the manufacture of machinery on the east side of Main Street, north of the present railway crossing. Waters was a practical machinist, and the com- pany made machinery for the shops in New Britain and vicinity, and also fitted out a cotton factory in Vermont. When the works had been running about a year, Frederick T. Stanley bought out the company and commenced the manufacture of door-locks and house trimmings. Soon after he took his brother, William B. Stanley, into partnership with him; the business was extended, and in 1832 a steam- engine was introduced and run by Westell Russell as engineer. This was the first use of steam as a motive power in New Britain. At that time the parish had no railway facilities, and all the coal used was carted from the docks at Hartford or Middletown. The business was continued in this place until 1837, when it was transferred to the shops of Stanley, Woodruff & Co.
In 1836, Cornelius B. Erwin, George Lewis, and William H. Smith, entered into partnership under the name of Erwin, Lewis & Co., Mr. Smith being the silent partner and furnish- ing most of the capital. For a few years the firm carried on the business of manufacturing small articles of hardware, and was located at the rear of the present site of the New Britain Savings Bank. There were a few other shops in which hardware was manufactured between 1830 and 1837, but most of these were closed by the financial panic of 1837.
O. R. Burnham, after giving up his store on Main Street, built a three-story shop on Elm Street, north of the site which has recently been occupied by the Brand Manufactur- ing Company, and had Messrs. Avery and Babcock associated with him in business. They made silk hats, and later, fringe dress ornaments and similar articles, but the business was
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continued but a short time. The building was then occupied by Elnathan Peck and George Dewey, who were engaged in the manufacture of hardware. They had an iron foundry and a horse-power in the Burnham shop. After the death of Mr. Dewey in 1846, Henry Walter went into partnership with Mr. Peck, and the firm became Peck & Walter. The business was continued for a time in the old shop and then removed to the North & Stanley Building (Sargent's Block), and Mr. Peck's sons, Henry and Charles Peck, were admit- ted into partnership. A few years later a joint stock com- pany was formed, known as the Peck & Walter Manufactur- ing Company. Mr. Peck afterwards sold out to J. B. Sar- gent, who in time came into possession of most of the stock, and the business was finally removed to New Haven. W. G. Coe, Elnathan Peck, and Horace Butler, afterwards manu- factured bed-screws for a short time in the Burnham shop. When the demand for this article ceased, Mr. Peck com- menced the manufacture of plumbers' goods in the shop of H. Butler & Sons, on Stanley Street. This business was removed to New Haven, and it is continued as a joint stock company, under the name of Peck Brothers.
There were a few other individuals and firms that were engaged in some branch of manufacturing temporarily before 1837, but they were either quite limited in the amount of manufacture or time of continuance, or the names will appear in some one or more of the corporations formed or continued under the statutes for joint stock corporations. The busi- ness enterprise which had already partially transformed New Britain from a small agricultural hamlet to a thrifty manu- facturing village, had been begun and developed mostly by a few families. The Lees, the Harts, the Judds, the Norths, the Stanleys, and the Smiths, who had contributed so much to the foundations of the place, were natives of the town and had a local pride and interest in the success of the enter- prises undertaken.
The two men who had been especially prominent in giving direction to the infant industries of the parish at the very
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beginning of the present century, and who by their generous rivalry, as well as by their co-operation, energy, and activity, contributed to the growth and general prosperity of the place, Seth J. North and Thomas Lee, were born during the revo- lutionary war, and were brought up within a few rods of each other, amid the struggles which followed. For more than a third of a century, they exerted a prominent if not a control- ling influence in the affairs of the place. But from 1835 to 1850, several new men, some of them natives of the town, and some from other towns and States, became prominent in business enterprises, and helped to mould the industries which have been more recently developed. New Britain enjoyed to a considerable extent the prosperity which had come to the country between 1826 and 1836. Some individuals and firms had been very successful, others had been fairly prosperous, but the financial crisis of 1837, which overwhelmed so many elsewhere with disaster, brought great losses to the few manufacturers of New Britain.
Upon the revival of business after the depression of 1837, several new enterprises were undertaken which proved suc- cessful, and became the foundation of some of the largest manufacturing establishments of the place.
Stanley, Woodruff & Co., in 1835, erected the oldest of the present extensive buildings of the Russell & Erwin Manufacturing Company, and for a few years carried on the business of manufacturing locks ; but it was in 1839, when Henry E. Russell and Cornelius B. Erwin became the active partners of the firm of Stanley, Russell & Co., that the foundations of the Russell & Erwin Manufacturing Company were laid. They occupied the building erected by the for- mer company, which was known then as the "New Britain Lock Factory," and in a few years greatly enlarged the business.
In 1842, the manufacture of bolts, hinges, and other articles of hardware was commenced on Washington Street, near the Russell & Erwin manufactory, and this business was developed until it led to the incorporation of the Stanley Works. About the same time that F. T. Stanley was start-
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ing this enterprise, George M. Landers, on East Main Street, was beginning a business in the manufacture of hat and coat hooks, which has been developed and extended into the corporation of Landers, Frary & Clark.
A few years later, Philip Corbin and Frank Corbin, on South Stanley Street, established a business which, though limited at first, has grown with the growth of the place, and
I NEW BRITAIN LOCK FACTORY BRASS AND BELL FOUNDERY
ROZ
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FIRST OR ORIGINAL BUILDING OF THE RUSSELL & ERWIN MANU- FACTURING COMPANY.
the firm of P. & F. Corbin, since removing to Park Street, has become one of the leading hardware manufacturing companies of the country. These four large hardware com- panies, which were started between 1837 and 1850, have contributed largely to the business interests of New Britain. There were, during this time, several other small manufac- turing establishments started, some of which were suc- cessful.
.
of " Stanley
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The establishment of the New Britain Knitting Company, in 1848, introduced a new department of manufactures into New Britain, which provided employment for a different class of operatives than those required in the hardware manufac- tories. Nearly all of the other manufacturing companies which have been successful have been started since New Britain became a town.
In 1850, when New Britain ceased to be a parish or society in the old town of Berlin, and became itself, in law, the town of which it before was but a part, a few leading industries had become firmly established. The fostering care which they received, under the impulse given by the incorporation of the town, led to their further development.
When the assessment list was made up the year following the division of the town, there were in the place sixty-eight mills, manufactories, stores, or business places of some kind, of which twenty-three were assessed as having invested two thousand dollars or more, viz. : Russell & Erwin Manufac- turing Company, New Britain Knitting Company, North & Company, O. B. North & Company, A. North & Son, Butler & Sons, Peck & Walter, Churchill & Stanley, Strickland & Miller, Loomis, Smith & Company, Anderson & Alling, Hub- bard & Kellogg, Northrop & Lathrop, Bailey & Collins, F. T. Stanley, G. M. Landers, Thomas Hall, I. N. Lee, C. L. Bald- win, James Thompson, Henry North, Julius Parker, and A. L. Finch. This list includes a few mercantile firms and one lumber business, but most of the names were of manufacturing companies. There were a few other shops where the amount invested was less than $2,000.
In 1888, there were one hundred and seventy-six mills, manufactories, and stores, with an assessed valuation of $1,693,900 ; and at that time there was assessed as invested in mechanical operations, $1,090,250, and as employed in merchandise and trade, $270,789.
In the present town of Berlin, including that part of the Great Swamp Society which was afterwards in the Kensing- ton and Worthington societies, some of the earliest mechani-
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cal industries were developed which were to be found in either of the three societies which formed the original town of Berlin.
One of the oldest mills in the Kensington Society was the Bronson mill, located on the site of the principal shop lately occupied by the Peck, Stow & Wilcox Company, on Mill River, about a half mile southwest of the Berlin rail way station. Samuel Bronson, the owner of this mill, fur- nished sawed lumber for the first meeting-house built at Christian Lane in 1710, and when this meeting-house was seated in 1716, he was known as " Samuel Bronson, miller," . and was seated in the "first seat in the square body." He also furnished sawed timber for the second meeting-house built in 1732-33. At this mill-site there was a sa'w-mill and also a grist-mill. These were probably the oldest mills in the Great Swamp Society.
About a mile further up Mill River, and about a half mile west of the Congregational Church, in Kensington, was a grist-mill owned by Solomon Winchell and known as " Winchell's grist-mill." This mill was in use the latter part of the last century. There was a carding-mill connected with it. The grist-mills were at first used to grind the corn and other grain for farmers in the vicinity, but they were afterwards employed also in preparing kiln-dried meal for the West India market. The "Winchell mill" was sometimes called the "Percival mill," half of it having been owned by Doctor Percival. In 1801, Roswell Moore bought Winchell's half of the mill for two hundred and fifty pounds, and in 1817 it was wholly in the possession of R. Moore & Sons, by whom it was improved.
A few years later this mill was burned, but was rebuilt, and to the mill for custom work, a kiln-dry and oil-mill was added. The kiln-dried meal was usually sent to Middletown or New Haven by teams and then shipped to the West Indies. Linseed oil was made from the flax raised in the vicinity. This property, which was the upper or highest mill privilege on this stream, was situated on the west side of the road
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which leads from New Britain to Meriden or Southington. It was for more than half a century in the Moore family, and was known as "Moore's mills." On the south side of the stream a saw-mill was built in 1831. This was destroyed in 1865, and the same year Moore's grist-mill and privilege were sold to the Hart, Bliven & Mead Co. This firm occupied the premises in the manufacture of edge tools, until their sus- pension in 1879, when their successors, the Peck, Stow & Wilcox Co., took possession of the premises, continued the business for two or three years, and then removed the machinery to Southington. The mill was afterwards burned and has not been rebuilt.
About forty rods below these mills another mill was built by R. Moore & Sons, as early as 1825, for the manufacture of kiln-dried meal, but it was soon after used for grinding cement, which was quarried and burned in Southington, near the town line. The cement business was continued at this place with profit for more than thirty years. In 1865, the property was bought by the Moore Manufacturing Company, and employed in the manufacture of steelyards and floral tools until about 1879, when the business was practically closed. The building has been used as a cold storage, or retarding house, for several years.
A little below the last-mentioned building and about opposite the old lead mine, there was formerly a fulling-mill, probably built by the Percival family about 1800. A part of the old dam still remains, but the building has been gone for fifty years or more. About fifty rods below this site, on the west bank of the stream, was a tannery, built and owned by Seth Dickinson, who also had a shoemaker's shop near. The tannery was run by horse-power, so far as machinery was used. The business was given up and the building removed and converted into a dwelling-house more than forty years ago.
The Bronson mill, further down the stream, which has already been described as one of the oldest mills in the town, was bought by R. Moore & Sons about 1836. This purchase
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gave this company control of all the mill privileges then existing on Mill River. They built at the last-mentioned mill-site a new dam of stone and cement, which was one of the first of the kind built, and one of the best in the country. This property and mill privilege was, in 1842, rented by Jonathan T. Hart, who used it in the manufacture of brass goods. A few years later it was bought by a Mr. Sanford. He erected a woolen-mill, but failing in busi- ness, the mill passed into the hands of a joint stock com- pany, which, for a few years, carried on the manufacture of woolen goods. The business was then discontinued, and the. property was sold to the Hart Manufacturing Company and converted into a shop for the manufacture of hardware.
A little more than a quarter of a mile below, on the same stream, and on the road to the railway depot, the only remaining factory on Mill River was erected before 1840, for the manufacture of German silver spoons. This enter- prise was a failure, but the building now known as "the lower shop" was used as a wheel shop, then for shredding and winding rubber, and finally for spinning silk. Milo Hotchkiss had a saw-mill on the premises for a time. The privilege was afterwards sold to J. T. Hart, and the prop- erty passed to the Hart Manufacturing Company. It was then owned by the Peck, Stow & Wilcox Company, and used for the manufacture of brass goods until 1888.
On the east branch of the Carnelles stream, sometimes known as the "Stocking Brook," there was formerly a tan- nery, the business being conducted by William Stocking & Son, in the early part of this century. Further up on the same branch were two saw-mills, one built by Edward Peck, and the other by Isaac Botsford. The latter mill was after- wards converted into a shop for the manufacture of tin buttons and other small articles. On the Carnelles stream, there was a saw-mill built by Hezekiah Judd, but it was used only a short time.
About forty years ago, Kellogg Warner built a saw-mill near Panther Swamp on the west mountains. It was soon
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abandoned, however, probably from lack of water. When the railway station was located in its present position, the old Berlin depot, half a mile south, was bought by D. C. Spencer, moved to a site near his house, and for several ycars used for the manufacture of wheels by the aid of steam power. Since the removal of the machinery and business of the Peck, Stow & Wilcox Company in 1888, there has been very little manufacturing in Kensington. Attention has of late been given more exclusively to agriculture, and the rais- ing of fruit for market. The Connecticut Valley Orchard Company has an orchard of several thousand trees, the greater portion peach trees, in the south part of the town. R. Moore and some others have cultivated the smaller fruits quite successfully.
The origin and history of the early manufacture of tin in the Worthington parish have already been noted. There were in this parish several mills for sawing lumber and grinding grain into flour and meal at an early date. One of the most important of the grist-mills was on the Mattabesett River, in the present limits of East Berlin. At this mill and also at Blair's on Belcher's Brook, in the south part of the parish, in addition to the custom work for farmers in the vicinity, kiln-dried corn meal was prepared for the West India market, and usually sent to Middletown for shipment. The mill in Beckley Quarter was in Wethersfield until Berlin was incorporated as a town in 1785. These mills and the saw-mills in the south part of the parish were occupied principally in supplying the local needs of the parish, but the latter also prepared lumber for export. There was a carding- mill in the southern part of the town, and another at East Berlin. John Dunham and Seth Savage had each a tannery, and some others had arrangements for tanning the leather used in their own shoemaker's shops. There was a distillery in Beckley Quarter, and another nearer the center of the parish.
Quite early in the history of this parish, Shubael Pater- son, a son of Edward Paterson, the tinman, after conducting
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the tin business near his father's shop for several years, engaged in the manufacture of fur goods, making muffs and other articles at his shop on West Street. Afterwards he went into partnership with Benjamin Wilcox, and manu- factured cotton-yarn in a shop in the eastern part of the society. The yarn was spun at the shop, and then taken to private houses where it was woven into cloth on hand-looms, principally by women. Elishama Brandagee made spool cotton at Blair's mills. There was also at this locality a manufactory of agricultural tools, such as hoes, iron rakes, etc., but the mill was burned and the business given up.
In the south part of the Worthington parish, on another branch of the Mattabesett River, Simeon North had a pistol factory, which was continued until the water in the stream was insufficient, and the business was then removed to Stad- dle Hill, Middletown. Elisha Cheney, a brother-in-law of Mr. North, made screws for the pistols until the business was removed to Middletown, and he then engaged in the manufacture of clocks, making at first tall, cased clocks, and afterwards mantel clocks. In the eastern part of the town, Levi North, in the early part of this century, made scythes, by hand, which were noted for their excellence. A few years later, Jedediah North made tinner's tools and machines in the same locality. The shops afterwards passed into the hands of Franklin Roys, S. C. Wilcox, and others, and the business was continued by the Roys & Wilcox Com- pany. In 1870, the business and premises became the prop- erty of the Peck, Stow & Wilcox Company, which continued the manufacture of tinner's tools and employed more than one hundred hands at this place.
Franklin Roys also founded near the establishment last mentioned, in East Berlin, a shop for the manufacture of corrugated iron fire-proof shutters, doors, and metal covering for buildings. The business increased in volume, and was conducted by " The Metallic Corrugated Shingle Co.," and then under the name of "The Corrugated Metal Co." until it passed into the hands of the Berlin Iron Bridge Company in 1870.
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Elias Beckley for a time had a shop in Beckley Quarter for the manufacture of tinman's tools; and there were a few other small shops for making small articles.
After the organization of Berlin as a distinct town, trade centered largely in the Worthington Society. The stores of Elishama Brandagee, Elisha Edwards, Beckley & Shipman, Loveland, Alfred North, Henry Galpin, and others, were popular, and some of them had .a large custom, not only from the parishes of Berlin, but from surrounding towns. Con- siderable of the trade was barter, exchanging dry goods and groceries for the products of the farm.
While the construction of the Farmington canal, chartered in 1822, did not bring to the old parish the com- mercial advantages which had been expected, by placing Unionville in connection with canal navigation, it brought to this village facilities which were improved to its rapid growth and business importance. In 1830 the Farmington River Manufacturing Company was chartered, with a capital of two hundred thousand dollars, the incorporators being James Cowles, Thomas Youngs, John T. Norton, and Abner Bidwell. Mr. Youngs sold out his interest to the other incorporators, who proceeded to construct a dam and canal. About the same time James Cowles and Augustus Cowles built a store, and a wharf was built on the river, back of the store, for the convenience of loading and unloading boats on the canal. In 1832, a factory for making patent wood screws was erected, and in 1833, " The Patent Wood Screw Manu- facturing Company " was incorporated by the General Assembly, and, from about this date, manufacturing business was well established in Unionville.
Screws were made for a time by Sherman Pierpont and Elisha Tolles, but after about three years the business was abandoned and the building was employed for the manu- facture of clocks, spoons, oyster tongs, rivets, and other small articles.
Between 1835 and 1837, the manufacture of saws was carried on by L. R. Graves and others, and clocks were made by Seymour, Williams & Porter.
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In 1837, Rufus Stone and E. K. Hamilton prepared for the manufacture of paper by leasing land and power for that purpose. Afterwards a partnership, under the title of Stone & Carrington, conducted the business until in 1848 it was sold to William Platner and Samuel Q. Porter. The new firm of Platner & Porter enlarged the business, erected new mills, and became so successful that in 1860 the Platner & Porter Manufacturing Company was organized under the laws of the State, and the manufacture of a high grade of book and writing papers was conducted by this company.
The manufacture of mincing knives, screw-drivers, and . other articles of hardware was conducted for a time by David A. Keyes, but the business was subsequently removed to Bridgeport.
The water-power was increased by James Cowles, James L. Cowles, and others, by the building of new dams and enlarging the canal and head-gates. For many years the water-power was leased to the individuals and companies that used it, but in 1877 the reservoirs, dams, canals, etc., forming the water-power, were bought by those using it, and the Union Water-Power Company was formed. The power was then increased by further improvements.
Furniture was made in the factory near the bridge as early as 1844, and for several years following.
The manufacture of nuts and bolts, begun by Dwight Langdon in 1857, after his death passed into the hands of Andrew S. Upson and George Dunham. These gentlemen having possession of an important invention for the manu- facture of nuts, were able to increase the business, and in 1864 the Union Nut Company was organized. Under this title and that of the Upson Nut Company organized Janu- ary, 1883, the business has been greatly enlarged and become one of the most prosperous in Unionville. The capital of the Upson Nut Company is $300,000. Andrew S. Upson is president and Samuel Frisbie secretary.
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