USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, Connecticut, Volume I > Part 44
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It was formally unveiled in 1907 in the presence of Gen. O. O. Howard. Prof. Wm. H. Burr, of Columbia University, and Congressman George L. Lilley delivered addresses. The monument was unveiled by Miss Katherine L. Barnes, of Watertown.
A notable event in the history of Watertown was the unveiling on June 3, 1908, of the Scott Memorial, which was participated in by both the Waterbury and Watertown Chapters of the D. A. R. It commemorated "the sufferings and tortures. inflicted by the Indians upon Jonathan Scott and his wife, Hannah Hawks Scott."
ITS FIRE DEPARTMENT
The Watertown Fire Department was organized May 8, 1894. The number of members at that time was about fifty. The first officers were: Wm. H. Beers, chief engineer; E. W. Wheeler, assistant engineer; John J. Gailey, secretary ; James B. Woolson, treasurer. The department is divided into two companies, called Hook and Ladder, No. I, and Chemical Engine Co., No. I.
The present apparatus owned by the town is as follows: One combination auto-chemical and hose, with equipment; one hook and ladder truck with equip- ment ; one hand-drawn chemical of fifty gallons capacity. .
The present active membership of the department is sixty. The fire alarm system has been installed in the telephone central office and is directly connected with the telephone company's batteries.
Harry A. Skilton is now chief engineer of the department.
VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT SOCIETY
The Village Improvement Society was organized January 10, 1905, with Horace D. Taft as president, Mrs. Merritt Heminway as vice president, Mrs. Alfred Stephens, secretary, and Charles B. Mattoon, treasurer. Its present officers are: President, Robert V. Magee; vice president, Mrs. Merritt Heminway ; secretary, Harold E. Thompson; treasurer, Earl Hudson.
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The purpose of the society is to beautify and improve the appearance of the village, to assist in making sidewalks, in grading and in making any public im- provement that will benefit the town or its residents, and to try to stimulate a spirit of progressiveness in the people. The society has received the encourage- ment of the public and looks for a generous support in coming years.
DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
The Sarah Whitman Trumbull Chapter, D. A. R., was organized October 24, 1904. State regent, Mrs. Sara T. Kinney, met the twenty charter members at "Campsie," the home of Mrs. John A. Buckingham, and appointed Mrs. John A. Buckingham first regent. At a meeting following, Mrs. Buckingham appointed Mrs. Merritt Heminway, vice regent; Miss Cornelia B. Hotchkiss, corresponding secretary ; Mrs. Francis B. Noble, recording secretary ; Mrs. John H. Taylor, treasurer ; Mrs. Charles B. Mattoon, historian; Mrs. Robert T. Lewis, registrar.
Its present officers are : Honorary regent, Mrs. John A. Buckingham ; regent, Mrs. G. H. Decker ; corresponding secretary, Mrs. B. H. Heminway ; recording secretary, Mrs. George N. Griswold ; treasurer, Mrs. E. C. Fannie Low ; registrar, Mrs. H. A. Ashenden ; historian, Miss Marion Scoville; auditors, Mrs. James B. Woolson, Mrs. Charles Kelly.
TOWN OFFICIALS
Its present officials are: . Representative to the General Assembly, James G. Skilton; probate judge, Howard M. Hickcox; clerk and register, Bennett C. Atwood; treasurer, Howard M. Hickcox; selectmen, M. E. Brahen, Herbert T. Dayton, L. W. DuBois; school committee, A. A. Stone, Ernest K. Loveland, Wm. R. Smith, Charles W. Bidwell, Wm. S. Taylor, Myron Wheeler, Fletcher W. Judson, Daniel G. Sullivan, Adolph Recker.
CENSUS
The population of Watertown by the census of 1910 was 3,850. By the census of 1900 this was 3,100. It is estimated in 1917 at 4,500. Its grand list this year is $4,350,158, an increase of $3,000,000 since 1902. Its total indebtedness is $98,152. Its rate of taxation is 151/4 mills.
Much of its history, particularly that covering its railroads and other public utilities, is covered in the chapters devoted to Waterbury, for the two towns are closely allied and their interests merge into each other at many points.
CHAPTER XXX
WATERBURY'S NEAREST NEIGHBOR
COLONIAL AND LATER PERIOD-EARLY INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT-THE RUBBER INDUSTRY'S BEGINNING-SCHOOLS-CHURCHIES-IIOWARD WHITTEMORE LIBRARY -THE BOROUGH GOVERNMENT-THE WHITTEMORE BRIDGE-WHITTEMORE GIFTS -BANKS-PUBLIC UTILITIES-FIRE AND POLICE DEPARTMENTS-NEW POST OFFICE-THE GENERAL WASHINGTON HOUSE-THE Y. M. C. A. AND SIMILAR INSTITUTIONS.
Naugatuck, situated about twenty-five miles north of New Haven and Bridge- port, and the immediate neighbor to the south of Waterbury, is a thriving manu- facturing city of over fifteen thousand population. Its early industries were established because of the water power furnished by the Naugatuck River, which stream is now the center of a fine parking and highway system. This, with the natural beauty of the valley, makes it one of the beautiful towns of New England.
It has sixty-six buildings used for mills and manufactures which have a valuation of three million dollars. It has nearly two thousand dwellings, many of them very beautiful, and with a valuation of three millions.
It has excellent railroad facilities, having a double track system to Bridge- port, known as the Naugatuck division of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, on which a dozen passenger trains each way are available daily, and a through express service on this division between New York and Boston is well established. Its freight facilities are satisfactory, there being freight delivery from New York in less than ten hours from time of loading, in normal times.
The railroad follows the west bank of the Naugatuck River, while the trolley has its roadbed on the east bank, and in many cases its course on the hillsides is nearly as abrupt as the famous gorge ride of Niagara Falls. Trolley connections can be made to all parts of the state, as far as Boston to the north and New York to the south.
Naugatuck is one of the younger towns of the state, having been set off from Waterbury in 1844, incorporated in 1893 as a borough, which in 1895 was con- solidated with the town government. Its growth of population shows a most healthy condition. The official census of 1890 showed a population of 6,218; in 1900 a population of 10,541, and today it is estimated at about 15,000.
Naugatuck is the home of the rubber industry, and more rubber shoes and boots are made here than anywhere in the United States, the combined capacity of its plants being more than sixty thousand pairs daily. Its banking facilities are excellent. Its city water supply consists of four storage and one distributing reservoirs, having a total capacity of 150,000.000 gallons. Owing to the physical contour of the surrounding country the gravity system is used, and at the lowest point the pressure is over one hundred pounds. In addition, an auxiliary pump- ing station is maintained, should a prolonged drought or accident occasion its use.
Naugatuck has a most efficient fire department. All the factories have auxiliary protection, and the great pumps not only protect their own property, but
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could also be used as an aid to the local department should an emergency occur. Its school system is unsurpassed. This consists of twelve graded schools and one high school, situated at convenient places and representing an investment of nearly a million dollars.
The Congregational Church represents an investment of more than one hun- dred and fifty thousand dollars, including the parish house and the parsonage. The St. Francis Roman Catholic Church, with its school and parsonage, repre- sents fully as much, and Naugatuck has one of the finest public libraries in the State.
The work of enlarging the various industrial establishments of Naugatuck has been particularly heavy during the past eighteen months, the prosperity of the country reflecting itself in vast manufacturing additions.
The Goodyear Metallic Rubber Shoe Company has completed its new manu- facturing building, which is a five-story structure, 120 by 55, and will increase the capacity by 2,000 pairs daily, adding 200 workers to the pay roll. Further improvements are also planned.
The Goodyear India Rubber Glove Company has its plans completed for replacing the old mill with a new building.
The Dunham Hosiery Company has made alterations which enabled it to increase greatly its capacity, but the limit has again been reached, and the erection of a large building is in contemplation.
The Rubber Regenerating Company has just added a three-story building, 300 by 70, to its plant.
The Naugatuck Chemical Company is planning several new structures.
The Risdon Tool and Machine Company has greatly increased its capacity with additions.
The Eastern Malleable Iron Company has important additions and changes under consideration.
The new Tuttle home will be a beautiful addition to the residential section of Naugatuck.
HISTORY FROM COLONIAL PERIOD
In his valuable history of Waterbury, Dr. Joseph Anderson has the following explanation of the derivation and meaning of the word "Naugatuck":
"The name 'Naugatuck,' which appears in the Paugasuck deed as the estab- lished designation of the Mattatuck River, was originally used in a very restricted sense, but is now the most frequently mentioned and most widely known of all the aboriginal names in the valley. The first instance of its occurrence is in the Records of the Jurisdiction of New Haven for May 27, 1657. Among the condi- tions proposed by the inhabitants of Paugasuck, upon which they were willing to 'submit themselves to the jurisdiction,' the first was in these words: 'That they have liberty to buy the Indians' land, behind them, that is over Naugatuck River, and not toward New Haven bounds, and also above them northward, up into the country.' In a deed to Thomas Wheeler, the same year, the name occurs again ; and again in a deed to Joseph Hawley and Henry Tomlinson, of Stratford, August 16, 1668, and frequently afterward in the Derby records and the colonial records of New Haven and Connecticut. This was the name by which the river was known in the lower part of the valley. Yet in a report made to the General Court by a Derby and Mattatuck committee, in May, 1680, it is designated once as 'Mattatuck River' and twice as the 'Naugatuck or Mattatuck.' When the planta- tion of Mattatuck became the Town of Waterbury, the name Waterbury was also
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applied to the river, but did not retain its hold upon it. Of course, it is impossible to say at what date the name 'Naugatuck' achieved a complete victory, but it appears to have had the field to itself for more than a hundred years past. Being used to designate the river, it came to be applied as a matter of course to the valley through which the river flows.
"This was the only use of the name until 1844, when it was adopted as the name of the new town. At the May session of the General Assembly in that year, that part of Waterbury embraced within the society of Salem, with portions of Bethany and Oxford, was 'incorporated as a distinct town, by the name of Nauga- tuck.' A year later (May, 1845), the Legislature incorporated 'The Naugatuck Railroad Company,' and from that time the old aboriginal name became a house- hold word to thousands who might not otherwise have known it."
As regards the meaning of this name, the traditional derivation is given in Doctor Bronson's "History of Waterbury." Naukotunk, the original form of the word, is there said to mean "one large tree," and to have been the original name of Humphreysville (now Seymour), which was so called from a large tree for- merly standing near Rock Rimmon at Seymour. The same derivation is given in a letter from Stiles French of Northampton, Mass., formerly of Seymour, who received it from the Rev. Smith Dayton, whose authority was Eunice Mauwee, the daughter of "Chuce." Mr. French says: "She told Mr. Dayton that the name Naugatuck meant 'one big tree,' and was pronounced by the Indians Naw-ka-tunk. This 'one big tree' stood about where the copper works in Sey- mour now are, and afforded the Indians a shade when they came to the Rimmon falls to fish." This tradition is apparently direct and authentic.
In a Derby deed, dated April 22, 1678, "the fishing place at Naugatuck" is definitely mentioned; and there can be no doubt that this ancient "Naugatuck," which gave the river its name, was at or near the spot where Seymour now stands. But it is quite as likely to have been designated the "fishing place at the bend in the river," as "the fishing place at the one tree." When "Chuce" went there, with his band, about 1720, it was the only piece of land in the Town of Derby which the Indians had not sold. Because of its value as a "fishing place" they clung to it to the last.
There is authentic evidence that the first white settler on the present site of Naugatuck was Samuel Hickcox, who on December 21, 1702, moved into the home he had built on what was then part of Judd's Meadows. Doctor Anderson this relates the first occupation of the valley :
"Judd's Meadows extended from Derby line to the upper limits of the valleys of Hop Brook and Fulling Mill Brook.
"The earliest known occupation of the meadows and uplands by the planters was for the use of their cattle. This information comes through grants that were made, some of which remain of record. In 1699 Abraham Andrews received one 'on the brook that runs through Benjamin Barnes's yard.' This was neither a 'door-yard' nor a yard for drying cloth, but an enclosure for cattle, designed to keep them in safety from wolves or other wild animals at night during the season of pasturage, a herdsman attending them during the day. The brook that ran through Benjamin Barnes's yard is that now insignificant stream along which the highway winds from Union City to the railway station.
"This region was subdivided by the English into meadows that were owned by certain of the proprietors, as Andrews's meadow at Union City, west of the river, Welton's lot up Hop Brook under the hills just above Andrews's Meadow, the Deacon's meadow at the upper part of the Naugatuck village and extending down to, if not below, the bridge. All of the above were on the west side of the
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PHOENIX RUBBER SHOE FACTORY, NAUGATUCK
ECET
GOODYEAR METALLIC RUBBER SHOE COMPANY, NAUGATUCK
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river. On the east side, across the highway from Grove Cemetery (which is in Wecobemeas), lay 'Ben Jones's' lot. Hickcox meadow was north of the river at the bend near the 'Old Canoe Place.' Above the burying-yard of 1709 was Thomas Warner's allotment. The miller, John Hopkins, obtained his portion of meadow at the lower extremity of the valley in the midst of a section of country naturally adapted to the raising of rye, an industry which at a later day became a leading specialty in that region, kilns being erected for drying the grain for shipment to foreign countries. Being near New Haven, the principal shipping port, the naturally superior lands in that vicinity were reckoned among the most valuable in the township for that purpose, and were appraised 140 years ago for more than their market value at the present time, that is, the river lands and those immediately adjacent, just above the straits. From the rapid and extensive spread of the landed possessions of the Hopkins and the Lewis families in all the region round about, the raising of rye must have proved a lucrative business in those days."
In Naugatuck the first burial was conducted in 1709, in what was afterward designated as Pine Hill Grave Yard, now known as the "Ancient Cemetery," between Main and Oak streets. In 1795 a small lot was set aside in the section now known as Hillside Cemetery, and the first interment was made in that year. The Grove Cemetery Association was organized November 8, 1886, and incor- porated in January, 1887.
Naugatuck was an integral part of Waterbury until 1844, and was known by the name of Salem or Salem Bridge. For all but corporate purposes, the latter name was used. Thus the Salem Ecclesiastical Society was organized in 1773, the church was organized in 1781, the building erected in 1782, and the first regular pastor, Rev. Abram Fowler, took charge of the parish in 1785. The name of Naugatuck for this section of what was Waterbury did not come into general use until 1800.
EARLY INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT
The first industrial plant of which there is any record was a carding or fulling mill, which flourished in 1710 on Great Brook.
The first instance of the Naugatuck River being dammed was in 1824. The power thus generated was applied to pioneer machinery used for the manufacture of gilt buttons. Later this power was used for the making of clocks, the oper- ating of carding machinery, and so forth.
The largest industry in Naugatuck has always been, as it is now, the rubber working enterprises which keep so many thousands of Naugatuck citizens em- ployed and busy. This had its start in 1843, shortly before the incorporation of the town.
Here one must turn to the author of Naugatuck's fortunes, Charles Goodyear, the inventor of the process for vulcanizing India rubber, and his connection with the great rubber industry here.
Charles Goodyear was born in New Haven, December 29, 1800. When he was still a child, his parents removed to Naugatuck, and it was here that he received his early education and grew to manhood. On August 24, 1824, he married Miss Clarissa Beecher, daughter of Daniel Beecher, a leading citizen of Naugatuck. At the age of twenty-one he became associated in business with his father, Amasa Goodyear, who was possessed of inventive ability and who was a manufacturer of buttons and hardware specialties.
It was in his father's factory, no doubt, that his inherited talent for invention developed.
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Charles Goodyear was the first to see the possibilities of India rubber as a commercial substance if it could be hardened. Before his discovery of the vulcanizing process was perfected, however, he experienced the most pitiful poverty. Often without food or clothing for himself and his family, subjected to the severest hardships, cast into prison for debt, looked upon as "rubber mad" by his friends, he continued his great work, confident that his efforts would be crowned with success.
The story of his discovery is well known. It was one of the simplest and yet one of the most useful discoveries which have been made. The history of the invention and introduction of vulcanized India rubber overshoes, which originated in Naugatuck, in the office of William C. DeForrest, brother-in-law of the inventor, is better told by Charles DeForrest, who in a letter to the late William Ward of Naugatuck, related the following :
"Mr. Goodyear, the inventor, Mr. Milo Lewis, Mr. Samuel H. Lewis and Mr. Elliot of New Haven, met in my late father's woolen factory in Naugatuck, Mr. Goodyear having provided the material and lasts for the purpose of vulcanizing a rubber shoe on a last. He had brought with him his eldest daughter, my late wife of blessed memory, with materials, and there she made the first pair of rubber overshoes, afterward vulcanized in a little shop just above the present grand plant of The Goodyear Metallic Rubber Shoe Company. From this modest effort came the great enterprise of millions of pairs yearly.
"The India rubber shoe interest up to about the year 1850 was the best paying license the inventor, Mr. Goodyear, had. At that time my father's advances to him were so great that he had to assign. Whereupon the litigation instigated by one Horace H. Day required eminent counsel and a committee of the rubber shoe manufacturers agreed to pay a retaining fee of $25,000 to the Honorable Daniel Webster, provided Mr. Goodyear would release to the licensees five-sixths of their royalties, namely, from three cents a pair to one-half cent a pair. This Mr. Goodyear, under pressure, agreed to.
"The patent was sustained by the United States courts at Trenton, N. J., and Mr. Goodyear gave up five-sixths of his income from India rubber overshoes. Thus comes the establishment of Naugatuck's greatest industry.
"We also learn from the correspondence preserved by one of our large rubber companies that many of Mr. Goodyear's experiments were worked out in Nauga- tuck and that Naugatuck's part in assisting him was a most important one."
TIIE PRINCIPAL INDUSTRIES
While Naugatuck is chiefly a rubber manufacturing community, it also has other industries employing several millions of dollars of capital and several thou- sand workers. The manufacture of underwear and sweaters plays a large part in the borough industries, as does also the making of specialties in malleable iron.
Naugatuck's gigantic rubber industry is represented by The Goodyear's India Rubber Glove Mfg. Co. and The Goodyear's Metallic Rubber Shoe Co., two of the borough's largest concerns. Each employs hundreds of workers and the output is sold in nearly every part of the world.
The Goodyear India Rubber Glove Company began business in Litchfield in 1844, and was brought to Naugatuck in 1847, when it was incorporated under its present name. The growth of the company was steady and today the plant covers many acres of land.
The concern is engaged in the manufacture of gloves, rubber clothing, dress shields, nursery sheetings and a large variety of druggists' articles. The industry
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NAUGATUCK MALLEABLE IRON COMPANY, 1895
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includes three plants and its employees number more than 2,000. It is here that 75 per cent of the rubber gloves and mittens used in the United States are pro- duced. Throughout the entire plant is modern, sanitary and a cause for just pride on the part of Naugatuck citizens.
The pioneer company, the Goodyear Metallic Rubber Shoe Co., had small beginnings, but the plant of today is one of the most modern of its kind in the world. The company is the oldest manufacturing corporation in the borough, having been founded in 1843. Yet in the many years of its existence, there have been only six presidents, namely, Samuel J. Lewis, the founder, Hon. James E. English, George A. Lewis, son of the founder, Samuel P. Colt, James B. Ford, and the present executive, F. F. Schaffer.
Both of these factories are owned by the United States Rubber Company, which has also established a reclaiming plant as a part of its organization. In it modern and sometimes original methods of using waste material are used by Edward A. Andersen, its manager. Tons and tons of old rubber boots, overshoes, tires, etc., are ground up, treated and turned out as marketable rubber.
The Naugatuck Malleable Iron Company, located at Union City, has one of the largest and most modern factories of its kind in the state. A specialty is made of tires for carriage and wagon wheels and castings that are used for the manu- facture of guns, pistols and other articles that require tough metal. It also makes a specialty of shear castings to which steel blades are welded.
The business was started on the partnership plan in 1858 by Tuttle & Whitte- more, the latter being the father of the president of today, Harris Whittemore. Later the firm became known as the Tuttle-Whittemore Company, and in July, 1889, was incorporated as the Naugatuck Malleable Iron Company. The capacity of the plant, which covers six acres, is eight thousand to ten thousand tons a year.
Boxmaking is another of Naugatuck industries, the White & Wells Company making several thousand paper boxes daily. The rubber factories of the borough use most of these boxes for packing their goods. The factory is one of the several branches of the company which is a joint stock corporation, organized under Con- necticut laws. The business was organized in 1893.
The Naugatuck Chemical Company is another of Naugatuck's industries. It produces chemicals of all sorts, including sulphuric and muriatic acids and other heavy chemicals. The products are sold in nearly every corner of the globe. The company was organized and incorporated in June, 1904, and consists of several of Naugatuck's most widely known business men under the direction of James B. Ford, the president.
The Diamond Laboratory, established in 1888, for the manufacture of marsh- mallow cream, has 7,500 feet of floor space, modern machinery, and is a model in sanitation. The business is carried on under the direction of Mrs. Ida E. May.
The Naugatuck Manufacturing Company is engaged in the manufacture of brass, bronze and aluminum castings in the rough or finished. Salesmen sell their products all over the United States. The making of chains is another branch of the business.
The Dunham Hosiery Company was started in 1876 and incorporated under its present name in 1880. The products of the company are hosiery, underwear, sweaters and similar articles which are the very best of their particular lines. The plant is well fitted and modern in every respect, and became very busy soon after the outbreak of the European war, owing to large orders received for the Allied armies. The long-time president of the company, A. C. Dunham, died in 1917.
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