USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, Connecticut, Volume I > Part 36
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In his report of 1917, the superintendent speaks as follows of the work:
"This has been a year of prosperity for the Boys' Club, and we have felt its results. We have cleared our indebtedness, paying off a debt of $18,000, so that we are now practically free from debt.
"Our membership has kept up to 1,000, its usual number. The gymnasium classes have been very popular, as they always are. The wireless class has a large membership, something very gratifying in these days when it has become necessary to prepare for all possible emergencies.
"Our Sunday night pictures and lectures have steadily grown in popularity. We have shown the Paramount pictures and our average attendance has been 600. This branch of our work has been very greatly helped by the acquisition of a new Powers moving picture machine, $400 toward the cost of the machine, $602, being the gift of a friend of the club, and the balance paid by the boys them- selves. The boys have also purchased a new player piano and paid for the picture films, raising the money by collections among themselves and their friends. The Bronson Library has placed a number of interesting books in our club library, as a loan library for the boys, and many books have been taken out to be read in the homes. Our club savings bank has received a large number of deposits. The endowment fund, which should eventually amount to $50,000 in order to place the Boys' Club on a permanent basis, has grown to $10,000 through the generosity of the late Mrs. Julia V. Warner Spencer."
In 1908 Mr. Combellack organized the Waterbury Boys' Club Band, which was soon so well trained that in the following year it gave concerts in Hamilton Park. To begin, there were twenty-four boys in the band, ranging in age from
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Edward Osphalat, the 8-year-old drum major, to boys of sixteen. In 1911 it was changed to the Waterbury Boys' Club Military Band, and a junior band for training was added.
It has visited neighboring cities, and is a part of all parades in Waterbury. The present membership ranges from twenty-four to thirty.
The following table gives a very good idea of the club's activities. It is a statement for 1916 and includes the savings bank statement :
RECEIPTS FOR 1916
Balance
$ 1,901.50
Miscellaneous
218.53
Interest on money in bank.
75.59
Receipt from Wade Endowment.
95.00
Gifts for special purposes
2,325.00
City Basket Ball League.
82.79
Athletic meet
52.10
Band
808.00
Pool
163.75
Loan
202.88
Board
10,798.65
Lodgings
3,684.25
Memberships
410.30
Club rents
1,178.15
Entertainments
714.25
General gifts
3,244.00
Special gifts for debt.
5,450.00
Total
$31,404.74
EXPENDITURES FOR 1916
Dining hall and kitchen $ 8,823.42
Bedrooms
834.53
Janitors
472.16
Salaries
2,669.50
Furnishings
908.73
Office
113.54
Lighting
707.49
Heating
1,529.69
Expense gift to Doctor Denman.
300.00
Christmas entertainment
34.50
Amateur League
72.79
Liquid soap
44.10
Traveling expense, physical director.
58.00
Incidentals
667.39
Tax on loan. .
62.80
Athletic Association
52.10
Athletic Association
1,291.68
Insurance
500.4I
Interest
785.00
Repairs
1,215.12
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Entertainments
1,435.00
Band
937.40
Loan
390.45
Water rent
195.36
Building fund
6,224.21
Balance
2,371.05
Total
$31,404.74
Boys' savings bank account for 1916; number of deposits 47; amount de- posited, $178.35 ; amount withdrawn, $176.10; balance on hand, $2.25.
The officers for 1917 are: President, Cornelius Tracy ; secretary, W. J. Lar- kin, Jr .; treasurer, Charles F. Mitchell.
These, together with F. S. Chase, Hugh L. Thompson, Truman S. Lewis, Charles P. Kellogg and John S. Dye, form the board of directors.
THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA
The Boy Scouts of America established a Waterbury Council in September, 1913. Prior to that in 1911 E. L. White had organized a Boy Scouts Troop at the Y. M. C. A., consisting of twenty-five boys. This formed the nucleus of the Boy Scout work in the city. This troop was superseded in January, 1912, by another organization called Troop I, with E. L. White as scout master. This troop met at St. John's Parish, as it was composed largely of boys from that church. In June, 1912, Troop 2 was organized at the First Methodist Church with C. F. Northrop as scout master.
The first officers of the council were: Julius Maltby, president ; W. J. Shana- han, secretary and treasurer, and E. L. White, scout commissioner.
The work of the council consisted in extending the work, in organizing new troops and in supervising troops already organized. After Troop 9 was organ- ized it became apparent that the scout commissioner needed assistance, and C. F. Northrop was appointed deputy scout commissioner in September, 1915. During 1915 Troops 10 to 21 were organized, giving a total membership at the end of 1915 of approximately three hundred. Mr. Northrop now gave part time to the work on salary. In April, 1916, a financial campaign for funds was begun to raise $12,000 to continue the work for three years. This was the first of the financial campaigns along these lines conducted in Waterbury, and instead of $12,000, the amount raised was $24,000.
Troop 31, organized at St. Ann's Roman Catholic Church, was the last one instituted up to November 1, 1917, but in December five new troops were to be in shape for organization. The total membership December 1, 1917, was 750. The officers of the council now are: Darragh deLancey, president; C. H. W. Newton, T. F. Carmody, H. H. Heminway, vice presidents; C. E. Spencer, Jr., treasurer ; E. S. Sanderson, scout commissioner ; C. F. Northrop, secretary and scout executive.
The Waterbury Scouts have been a great aid in all of the war work, assist- ing particularly in both Liberty Loan campaigns and in co-operating with the Red Cross.
The Boy Scout movement seeks to help boys on leaving school to escape the evils of "blind alley" occupations, that is, such work as gives the boy a mere wage for the moment, but leaves him stranded without any trade or handicraft to pursue when he is a man and so send him as a recruit to the great army of unemployed, and what is worse, the unemployable.
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Scoutcraft includes instruction in first aid, life saving, tracking, signaling, cycling, Nature study, seamanship, campcraft, woodcraft, chivalry and all of the handicrafts. No expensive equipment is required. All that is needed is the out- of-doors, a group of boys and a competent leader. By combining wholesome, attractive, out-door activities with the influence of the Scout oath and law, the movement develops character.
In scouting, the boy does not stand still. The opportunity and incentive for progress is always at hand.
He becomes a tenderfoot, and then a second class Scout, and then a first class Scout. After this, the whole sphere of the Scout program is made available by the boy's own application in qualifying himself to pass the test for the various merit badges.
There are now among the Boy Scouts, a number who have become expert in making fire by friction, that is by the "Bow" method of rubbing sticks. Fire by friction was first made in Waterbury scout ranks by Raymond Bedell, formerly of Troop 2, now assistant scout master in Troop I, at Oakville. His fastest time was 351/5 seconds. Since then in local and state competitions the record has gone steadily down. James Walker of Troop II, Bunker Hill, broke the world's record for Scouts in a meet at Bristol, March 3, 1917, making it in 131%, seconds. Shortly after in an exhibition at the Brooklyn Athletic Club of this city he lowered this record to 12 seconds flat. In the fall scout meet held at Hamil- ton Park, October 6th, he again broke his record, lowering it to II seconds. He will soon in all likelihood make the record 10 seconds or better, as he has already done this in practice. Paul Steere and Jos. DeMunda of Troop II have both done faster than 12 seconds.
In the knot-tying contest Waterbury holds the state record, John Kitchenka of Troop 3 having made it in 18 seconds.
Scout meets are held regularly on February 8th, the anniversary of the scout movement, and usually a state meet is held about February 22d. It is also customary to hold local and state meets in October. In the last two state meets Waterbury outpointed all other cities in the state combined.
THE WATERBURY INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL AND GIRLS' CLUB
The Waterbury Industrial School and Girls' Club, founded to meet a great social need in 1865, is still working along the same general lines of helpfulness outlined by those far-seeing men and women in the earlier years of Waterbury's history. In 1890, through the generosity of Elisha Leavenworth, who gave it $10,000 toward a building fund, it opened the beautiful building on Central Avenue. In 1895 its charter was amended so that the corporation could hold property to the amount of $100,000.
On the death of Mr. Leavenworth in 1911, in addition to a gift of $25,000, the Waterbury Industrial School Association was bequeathed the Leavenworth house and part of the property touching upon the original site of the school itself. The house was moved back from West Main Street, placed so as to front upon Park Place, renovated, and so fitted up that ten children, besides three boarders, could be accommodated in it.
The house is now used as a home for the teachers and is in charge of the director, Miss Margaret M. Goodwin.
In 1914 the playground, which was part of the old Leavenworth garden, was opened and has been one of the most successful of the school's activities.
For small children there are now daily classes in cooking, sewing, knitting,
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embroidery, nursing and housekeeping. These are held from 4 to 5:30 each after- noon during eight months of the year. The little ones pay 5 cents a month for this privilege.
Similar classes are held in the evenings from 7:30 to 9:30 for girls who work during the day. For this privilege, the girls pay $1.00 a year. Twice a month there are social evenings and quite often during the season there are amateur dramatic performances and dances.
There are five teachers regularly employed and twenty-five volunteer teachers.
One paid employee devotes all her time to the bathing facilities. These are showers and tub baths which are patronized daily by the children from poorer families and from the congested districts.
The officers in 1893 were: President, Mrs. S. E. Harrison; vice president, Mrs. A. S. Chase; secretary, Mrs. G. C. Hill; treasurer, Katherine L. Peck; prudential committee, Mrs. Rufus E. Smith, Katherine L. Peck, Elisha Leaven- worth, F. B. Rice, A. S. Chase.
The officers for 1917 are: President, Miss Katherine D. Hamilton; vice president, Mrs. Katherine L. Peck; treasurer, Mrs. Nelson A. Pomeroy ; secre- tary, Mrs. Edyth A. Allen ; auditor, Mrs. Albert D. Field; assistant auditor, Miss Della Field; prudential committee, Mrs. Katherine D. Hamilton, Mrs. Katherine L. Peck, Otis S. Northrop, Arthur R. Kimball, John H. Goss.
The income of the association is derived from private donations, an endow- ment fund, and from the fees from pupils.
To make it thoroughly effective, the work is not being carried on simply within the school, but all those who are actively engaged as teachers and assist- ants are making it a part of their work to visit the homes of their pupils, thus taking a personal interest in each child and gaining an insight into what that child most needs to make her a good American woman.
At the present time there is a total of ten cooking classes-five afternoon and five evening classes, and also two supper clubs. These supper clubs are one of the new departures in the school work. They are made up of the older girls who work during the daytime.
Because of their novelty and departure from the usual run of cooking classes, the supper clubs are specially interesting, but there is no lack of interest or of enthusiasm in just the plain cooking classes. The afternoon classes are made up of girls between the ages of eight and fourteen years. No girl who takes cooking in the public schools is supposed to take cooking at the industrial school. The classes begin with the most simple recipes and gradually work up through the harder and more difficult concoctions until they are able to master bread, cake, pie, etc.
The tasks which are set before the little workers are the very homely tasks of washing old tins, scrubbing sinks, cleaning stoves and the like, but the children enter into them with a zest that accomplishes wonders. To keep up this interest, the leaders are having the children make scrapbooks in which, by means of pic- tures cut from magazines, they arrange kitchens to suit their own tastes. Thus they learn how to plan with an eye for saving needless steps. In their visits to the homes of the children, the leaders see wherein the lessons taught at school are applied to home conditions and this transplanting into the homes what has been learned outside is unconsciously passed from the daughters to the mothers, and before long it becomes the customary way of doing things in that child's home.
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WATERBURY INSTITUTE OF CRAFT AND INDUSTRY
The Waterbury Institute of Craft and Industry, known until 1908 as the Young Women's Friendly League, is now in its twenty-eighth year of usefulness. It was organized in 1889 and incorporated in 1893. Its teachers are in charge of Miss Harriet Goddard Brown, and most of them are graduates of Drexel Insti- tute, Philadelphia. These instructors, whose departments give some idea of the nature of the institution's work, are as follows :
Miss Helen C. Palmatary, director of the school of housekeeping ; instructor in cookery and household economics ; Miss Helen J. Long, director and instructor of the courses in domestic art; Miss E. Lillian Gillespie, instructor of the courses in domestic art; instructor of the courses in handicraft; Mrs. Albert H. Fassen- der, instructor of the courses in pillow-lace-making; Miss Phyllis D. Clarke, director and instructor of physical training ; Miss Helene Cecil Tuttle, director and instructor of the courses in expression and dramatic art; Arthur Schuckai, director of the institute chorus.
The institution has now approximately two hundred pupils. It is supported by the tuition of the students and by private donations. The institute owns its building on Leavenworth Street.
Its officers in 1917 are: President, Anna L. Ward; vice presidents, Mrs. Frederick D. Buckley, Mrs. Arthur Reed Kimball, Mrs. Edward T. Root, Mrs. Otis S. Northrop, Mrs. Frederick Wilcox, Mrs. Jay H. Hart; treasurer, Floren- tine H. Hayden; recording secretary, Ellen R. Townsend; auditor, George E. Judd; advisory board, Mrs. Frederick M. Peasley, James S. Elton, Otis S. Northrop, Irving H. Chase, Archer J. Smith, Henry L. Rowland.
For nineteen years its annual exhibitions have given the people of Waterbury a fair conception of the extent and thoroughness of its work. On June 7, 1917, at its exhibition for this year, its new department in dietetics prepared meals in accordance with charts defining the number of calories necessary to sustain life according to the nature of occupation, height, weight, etc.
In the department of domestic art Miss Helen J. Long, the director, ex- hibited an extensive array of wearing apparel, including suits, dresses, lingerie, waists, skirts and hats. Attractive collar and cuff sets made from odd material were an interesting feature of the display.
Hand work in the form of beaded work, embroidery and fancy stitching were in evidence on many of the dresses.
The feature of the display was the handicraft department, containing numer- ous exhibitions of loom work, including rugs and table covers of the most attractive styles. There are nine looms at the institute, and all were used con- stantly during the past year. Miss DeNeergaard, the instructor, had also on hand many pieces of hand tooled leather and basketware, trays and other articles in which block printed silk, an old industry revived, is used. There were also splendid exhibits of pillow lace making, made under the supervision of Mrs. Fassender.
TIIE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT IN WATERBURY
The temperance movement in Waterbury was at its height in 1894 and 1895. There was then in existence the Evergreen Temple of Honor No. 16, with George S. Butler as president, a branch of a national temperance association. This was dissolved in 1897. The Good Templars had one lodge known as "Fraternity," which remained in existence from 1894 to 1899. Its first president
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was William Loncka. The Good Templars in 1904 established Oscar II Lodge No. 50, with Andrew Olson as its first president. It still exists with a member- ship of nearly a hundred and with A. M. Anderson as its chief official and Carl G. Fogelberg and Andrew Munson as secretary and treasurer, respectively.
The Sons of Temperance also had a brief existence here, with High Rock Division, which began its work in 1894 and dissolved in 1898. Its first presiding officer was Arthur Hall.
The most determined campaign along temperance lines was waged during this period by the Catholic societies. In 1895 St. Joseph's Total Abstinence Society was organized and has been in existence ever since. Its meetings were at the outset held in St. Patrick's Hall and on every second Sunday in the month a mass meeting open to the public was arranged. It had its offices in the old Lilley Block and its first officers were: President, J. J. McDonald; vice president, J. F. McKnight ; recording secretary, P. F. Shields; financial secretary, Thomas Luddy; treasurer, D. J. Casey.
Its present officers are: President, Edward Dowling; recording secretary, M. H. Scully; financial secretary, William F. Guilfoile; treasurer, Jeremiah Dillane. The society now has its own clubhouse at East Main and Maple streets.
St. Patrick's Total Abstinence Society with Father J. H. Duggan as spiritual head and John F. Galvin as president, was organized in 1895 and did splendid work for some years, merging later into other church activities along similar lines.
The St. Aloysius Total Abstinence Society existed from 1896 to 1905, when it also merged into another similar church body.
The St. Francis Xavier Temperance Cadets were organized March 27, 1897, and continue to be a splendid influence for good in the community. The present officers are: President, Raymond Bergin ; secretary, James Kelly ; director, Rev. James J. Egan.
The Waterbury Roman Catholic Total Abstinence and Benevolent Society, which was organized February 21, 1860, was a flourishing organization in 1895 with the following officers: President, Henry R. Byrnes; vice president, James Meagher ; recording secretary, John Thompson; financial secretary, William C. Keenan; corresponding secretary, William Duncan ; chaplain and treasurer, Rev. Hugh Treanor; Marshal, James Eustace. This was a powerful organization which had made Father Matthew's cause its own, and its meetings on each second Sunday in St. Patrick's Hall were largely attended. It was active in its work until 1905, when its duties were assumed by other church bodies.
The Murphy Temperance Club, of which Adelbert F. Chandler was presi- dent, the Young Men's Temperance Union, J. F. Mix, president, and the Tem- perance Alliance of which Rev. W. P. Elsdon was the head, had brief but active existences during 1895 and 1896.
From 1895 to 1899 the Helping Hand Society of the Second Congregational Church held public temperance gatherings.
There was also a Reform Club which, under the direction of Rev. R. A. Nichols, held Sunday afternoon temperance meetings at Jacques Theater.
Practical work in the temperance cause was done by the Union Rescue Mis- sion, a movement in which the men and women of the whole city took an interest. It began its labors in 1895. Its first officials were: President, Aaron A. Bene- dict ; vice president, Mrs. F. F. Cook; secretary, Rev. J. G. Davenport ; treasurer, A. C. Mintie; board of management, Revs. W. P. Elsdon, Joseph Ander- son, J. G. Davenport, G. Eldridge, F. S. Townsend, C. Pike : Messrs. E. S. Robbins, A. C. Mintie, A. A. Benedict, J. N. Webb, G. H. Woodruff, T. Patchen; Mesdames F. F. Cook, F. L. Allen, O. E. Brower, A. C. Peck, N. Jenkins, G. O.
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Robbins, J. H. Tripp, K. H. Simons, T. D. Bassett, R. M. Strong, W. A. Holgate, W. Berkeley; executive committee, the above named officers and Mrs. G. O. Robbins, Rev. Frank S. Townsend, Mrs. R. M. Strong; committee on superin- tendent, Rev. J. G. Davenport, E. S. Robbins; committee on rooms, A. C. Mintie, Mrs. G. O. Robbins, Rev. C. Pike, E. S. Robbins, Mrs. K. H. Simons.
In 1898 it had established itself at 267 South Main Street with John E. Hendsey as superintendent. In 1900 Edgar Forrest was superintendent, but the city in 1901 took up the charitable end of the work and the mission was dis- continued.
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union has been a quiet but consistent and persistent advocate of the cause in Waterbury for much over a quarter of a century. In 1895 its meetings were held at 267 South Main Street in the rooms of the Union Rescue Mission. Its officers then were: President, Mrs. F. F. Cook, vice presidents, Mrs. Asa Peck, Mrs. N. Jenkins, Mrs. G. O. Robbins, Mrs. J. II. Tripp, Mrs. K. H. Simons, Mrs. R. A. Nichols, Mrs. W. A. Holgate, Mrs. C. S. Gaylord, Mrs. G. S. Fields; recording secretary, Mrs. O. E. Brower; acting corresponding secretary, Mrs. F. F. Cook; treasurer, Mrs. F. L. Allen. These represented practically all of the Protestant churches in the city.
From 1900 to 1903 the W. C. T. U. met in Alliance Hall. In 1903 the organ- ization moved to 149 South Main and in 1906 it went to 47 East Main Street.
Its present officers are as follows: President, Mrs. Frank F. Cook; record- ing secretary, Mrs. Charles Wickwire; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Edwin Morgan; treasurer, Mrs. James Angrave; Mrs. W. Schofield, city missionary ; directors, Mrs. V. M. Neeld, Mrs. Wm. Holgate, Sr., Mrs. Edw. Morgan, Mrs. N. Jenkins, Mrs. Wm. Thompson, Mrs. Milton Wittler.
Mrs. Wm. Thompson is chairman of the medal contest and supervises an annual competition among school children for the best recitation or essay on a temperance topic.
THE EARLY CLOSING MOVEMENT
The movement for early closing of business houses has been a continuous agitation beginning with the first organization of business men in the community. One of the first accomplishments, and this dates back to 1900, was the agreement to keep stores open on only two nights of each week, Wednesday and Saturday. Prior to that, there had been three nights of work, including Tuesday, in many if not most of the stores of the city.
The efforts of the present chamber of commerce were for five years directed to a 9 o'clock closing on both Wednesday and Saturday.
In April, 1917, the business men's branch of the chamber of commerce finally managed to get the merchants together for a conference. At this the signatures were obtained, and the 9 o'clock closing, both Wednesday and Saturday, has been in effect ever since. There are but few stores outside of the agreement.
The movement for a Tuesday afternoon holiday during the summer months was agitated for years, but was only spasmodically carried out by a few mer- chants until 1908, when, under the chairmanship of H. W. Langley, a committee visited all of the merchants and secured their consent to the inauguration of the half holiday in 1908.
From July to Labor Day, the Tuesday half holiday has been the rule. A few of the hardware stores and others, however, give the Saturday half holiday.
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THE COMMUNITY CHRISTMAS TREES
Waterbury was one of the first cities in the country and the first in Connecticut to establish the custom of the Community Christmas Tree. This was due to Rev. John N. Lewis, who, in 1913, collected funds privately and put up a tree on The Green. The city, through Mayor Scully, took up the idea next year and since then it has been an annual event.
A loose organization known as the Christmas Tree Committee exists, which is called together by the mayor annually and ordered to find a tree and make arrangements for its decoration and dedication. The park and street superin- tendents furnish labor and supervise the cutting and erection of the tree. The electric light company furnishes free current for the lighting and the tree is wired free by local electrical contractors. The printing offices furnish song sheets and usually there has been a volunteer chorus of school children, trained by the music supervisor, to lead the thousands who assemble in a program of Christ- mas and patriotic music. A bugle sounds, and the lights are turned on to music by a band. All this takes place annually on Christmas Eve. It was decided in 1917 not to bring out the school children in a body as the weather sometimes makes the affair in the nature of a hardship for the youngsters. In 1916 the tree was erected in Library Park, but in 1917 it was on The Green once more.
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