USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, Connecticut, Volume I > Part 45
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TIIE RUBBER INDUSTRY AT BEACON FALLS
Rubber marks the beginning of the history of the little nearby Town of Beacon Falls, from a manufacturing viewpoint. Dating back as early as 1852, the orig- inal shop was erected by pioneers of the vicinity for the purpose of manufacturing hard rubber goods. The original mill, modern in its time, was operated more or less successfully for ten years, or until 1862.
Among the commodities made of hard rubber were powder flasks, which were at that time a necessary part of a hunter's equipment in the charging of the muzzle-loading shotgun, also the flint lock musket, which was then still in use. Whip sockets and buttons also played an important part in the output of the mill.
Following the year 1862 a split in the management occurred and a portion of the stock and equipment was moved to College Point, N. Y., and the balance to the adjoining Village of Seymour.
From 1864 to 1872 the little mill was operated as a shawl factory under the name of the Home Woolen Company. When the boys returned from the Civil war attired in the army overcoat, the style and idea brought in by. the survivors of the awful conflict was quickly adopted and shawls for men gradually ceased to become an article of dress.
During the period from 1873 to 1897 the plant was operated under several names and engaged in the manufacture of several commodities included in the cotton, knit and woolen goods line. During 1897 and 1898 the mill and many of the houses of the village were closed and the windows boarded up.
In the fall of 1898 the Beacon Falls Rubber Shoe Company was projected and organized, the first shoes being made in March, 1899. The personnel of the or- ganization at inception was as follows: President, George A. Lewis; vice president and general manager, Adna D. Warner ; secretary and treasurer, Tracy S. Lewis ; superintendent, Lewis C. Warner ; traffic department, LaVete Warner ; general selling agent, A. D. Wentz. The first rubber shoe was manufactured by the concern on March 15, 1899, under the immediate supervision of Mr. L. C. Warner, and also the first pair of rubber boots. From that day to the present moment, the manufacture of rubber footwear at Beacon Falls has been a con- tinuous and growing reality.
The business enjoyed a healthy growth, and in 1900 a four-story addition, 50 by 75 feet, was erected. This was followed in 1902 by the erection of another addition, 60 by 150 feet, and in 1908 a warehouse, 80 by 100 feet. In 1915 another story was added to the warehouse and the whole building stuccoed over. In April, 1904, the office and accounting department was badly damaged by fire and water, but the records of the plant were found in the vaults in perfect condition, permitting the business to continue without interruption or delay.
In 1909 a storehouse for supplies was constructed, 72 by 42 feet, comprising one-story and a basement. In 1915 another story was added. In 1912 a new vulcanizing room, 30 by 50 feet, was built. Following the year 1900 the present Boston, New York and Chicago branches were opened, and later incorporated under the laws of Massachusetts, New York and Illinois as distributing centers for New England, the Middle Atlantic and Western territories. In 1914, the Minneapolis and Kansas City branches were opened and a connection established in San Francisco.
This company, while entirely independent, has always held and enjoyed the most pleasant relations with its competitors. Their policy touching the em- ployee, the dealer and the consumer, is broad and liberal in business.
The company maintains a band within its organization which plays selections
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every noon time the year around, in front of the plant, while in the summer months many concerts are given in the cozy little park fronting on the main street, which are thoroughly enjoyed by the townspeople and oftentimes by auto- mobile parties from nearby towns.
The company has built and maintains a moving picture theater, attractive in design, for the entertainment of both the employees and the townspeople. The building also includes an assembly and dance hall, where the company's employees hold many enjoyable parties throughout the year, at low cost.
The company is interested, at the present time, and good progress is being made, in developing a colony of employees owning their own homes in Beacon Falls. A comprehensive plan has been worked out by the company's officials toward that end.
THE SCHOOLS OF NAUGATUCK
One of Naugatuck's greatest assets is its magnificent school system. It is interesting to note that the right to establish a free school near the site of Nauga- tuck was granted on February 25, 1642. Not until 1730, however, did Water- bury create a school district in that part of its limits known as Judd's Meadows or Salem.
After May, 1773, the Salem Society managed the schools within its limits and its first committee of school directors consisted of Isaac Judd, Terace Terrell and Asahel Porter. In 1774 the East side was created one district, the West side another. In 1777 the Center School district was established and in 1851 the latter was one of the five districts consolidated under the title Union Center School District.
Naugatuck's school boards began a system of proper housing and of increased modern education equipment in 1897 with the opening of the new schoolhouses at Union City and on Central Avenue, in the Union Center district. With the opening of the winter term, in 1898, manual training was introduced at the Salem school.
The era of greatest advancement began with the election of the present super- intendent of schools, Frank W. Eaton, in 1900. In 1906 he was elected superin- tendent of the schools of the whole borough.
On May 10, 1905, the new high school, the gift of the late J. H. Whittemore, was dedicated with impressive services. He had also previously given the borough the Salem grade school. His son, Harris Whittemore, has presented the borough with the new Hop Brook graded school, which was opened and used in 1917.
The following is a summary of the school property :
High school building, Hillside Avenue ; brick, built 1905; condition, excellent ; property of the borough. Valuation of building and grounds, $300,000. Heat, steam boiler, furnishing direct and indirect heat regulated by thermostats ; blower and exhaust fans. Accommodations, nine class rooms, 373 sittings; cooking room; sewing room; two manual training rooms: library; commercial room ; chemical and physical laboratories with recitation room and apparatus room ; drawing room; assembly hall, 440 sittings; gymnasium with baths, lockers and dressing rooms for boys and girls ; offices.
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District
Union Center, Salem.
Valuation of property .$130,000
Central Avenue
40,000
Rubber Avenue
26,000
Beebe Street
17,500
Oak Street
18,500
Union City, Prospect Street.
22,000
Hop Brook 100,000
Millville
2,500
Pond Hill
3,500
Groveside
6,400
Straitsville
500
High School
300,000
The school attendance is approximately 3,500.
The Board of Education in 1917 is as follows: Thomas M. Bull, president ; Andrew C. Brennan, Howard L. Isbell, William Kennedy, secretary, George M. Rumney, Henry J. Freeman.
TIIE HOWARD WHITTEMORE MEMORIAL LIBRARY
The Howard Whittemore Memorial Library, the gift of the late J. H. Whitte- more, in memory of his son Howard, is one of the most distinctive of the public structures of Naugatuck. Naugatuck's first library was established by the Ecclesiastical Society in 1783, and was known as the "Old Salem" Library. Later this was merged into the "Juvenile Library," and later still it became part of the public school library. But the entire project of having a public library finally lapsed.
The gift of the late Mr. Whittemore of the new library building coalesced the various smaller libraries of the borough and there are now over 10,000 volumes on its shelves.
The trustees are Harris Whittemore, C. B. Tuttle, George L. Hinnan, Nils Olsen and C. T. McCarthy. The librarian is Miss Esther Goodyear.
HISTORY OF NAUGATUCK'S CHURCHES
The church history of Naugatuck dates from that request made to the Gen- eral Assembly in 1765 by Stephen Hopkins and other members of the first society in Waterbury "for a winter parish." That it was granted and extended is known, but little else is of record save an interesting letter from Nathan Hale, in which he says that his health will not permit him to preach at Judd's Meadows. This was written in 1770.
The first society meeting was held on the first Monday in June, 1773. Capt. Gideon Hotchkiss was chosen moderator; Ashbel Porter, clerk; for society's committee, Capt. Gideon Hotchkiss, Capt. John Lewis, Stephen Hopkins, Samuel Lewis, Esq., and Capt. Samuel Porter. At the next meeting, in December, Gideon Hickcox, J. Lewis, Jr., and John Hopkins were added to the society's committee, and a school committee consisting of Isaac Judd, Israel Terrill and Ashbel Porter was appointed.
In 1774, the first attempt to secure stated ministrations of the gospel was made. In August, Mr. Remily was invited to preach on probation; in October, Mr. Miles was called for settlement ; in April, 1776, the Rev. Abraham Camp was
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invited on probation; in March, 1777, the Rev. Mr. Barker received the same invitation; in January, 1781, it was decided to give a call to the Rev. Medad Rogers.
When the site for the meeting-house came under consideration, there was a wide difference of opinion as to the proper location. The territory now within the Town of Prospect held a considerable proportion of the inhabitants of the society, who naturally wished the meeting-house to be as near to their hills as might be, but they, like their predecessors in other societies, submitted to arbitra- tion The Court's committee set the stake high on the hill eastward of the river, on land of Gideon Hickcox. On this land, without having obtained a title to it, the meeting-house was built by the church and society.
This church building remained on the hill forty-nine years. It had a bell in 1794, at which date it was agreed to have the meeting-house bell rung at the cost of the society on each Sunday for all public meetings which are held at the meeting-house, for funerals when desired, and at nine o'clock each night, Satur- day nights excepted.
Abraham Fowler was the first settled minister. He was ordained in the meeting-house on the hill, January 12, 1785, and installed over a church of thirty- one members. He was dismissed March 13, 1799, leaving a church that had lost at that date by death, it is believed, but four of its 122 members.
During the sixty-three years that the Salem church was one of the churches of Waterbury it had a settled pastor but thirty-nine years. It was organized without a pastor; in 1800 it entertained, apparently without a pastor, the mem- bers of the "Consociation of the Western District of New Haven County," con- sisting of eleven reverend elders and ten delegates; it passed, without a pastor, through the momentous period of religious excitement caused by the preaching of Nettleton, during which time eighty-two members were received into its fold.
Changes in the village caused the removal of the meeting-house to the site now occupied, where it was rebuilt in 1831. In 1854 it was removed to make place for a larger edifice, which was dedicated in 1855. The first parsonage was built in 1845.
In 1900 the Congregational Church decided to build the magnificent new building which now stands on the site of its old structure. Among the notable gifts which made this possible was one of $40,000 by the late J. H. Whittemore. The building was dedicated in 1903. Its present pastor is the Rev. Phillip C. Walcott ; clerk, H. A. Dalby ; treasurer, B. N. Wilmot ; society's clerk, F. B. Rol- linson ; society's treasurer, H. A. Dalby.
St. Michael's Protestant Episcopal Parish was formed Feb. 7, 1786. In 1803, the parish voted to build a church and the site was selected several miles south- west of the Naugatuck village. In 1830 it became evident that the center of population would shift from the hills to the meadows along the Naugatuck, and the meeting-house was moved to a site south of the present Congregational meet- ing-house.
On August 15, 1875, it was sold to the Naugatuck School Board and re- moved to make way for the new church edifice. In 1860 the first rectory was built.
The present officers of the church are: Rector, Rev. Phillip C. Pearson ; senior warden, F. F. Schaffer; junior warden, A. H. Dayton; clerk, E. E. Hotchkiss ; treasurer, J. W. Rogers.
A class of Methodists was organized at Naugatuck about one hundred years ago. Actual meetings were held earlier than that in Union City and Straitsville. On July 30, 1851, a site for a meeting-house was purchased on Water Street.
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A second church building was occupied in 1868. In 1886, a site for the present Methodist Episcopal Church building was purchased at 204 Meadow Street.
Its present officers are: Pastor, Rev. A. M. Davidson ; clerk, G. L. Hinnan ; treasurer, C. W. Houseknecht.
Among the citizens living in the Salem society soon after 1800 were a num- ber of Baptists, who first worshipped in the church in Waterbury. In October, 1817, sixty persons living in Salem, Prospect and Bethany were set off from the Waterbury society to organize a new church in the localities indicated. Two meeting-houses were built, one on Fulling Mill Brook, and by December 22, 1819, the second was organized in the Straitsville locality.
It is the one on Fulling Mill Brook which later became the Naugatuck Baptist Church, with a fine church edifice on Prospect Street, in Union City.
The present officers are: Pastor, Rev. John Pounder; clerk, Emily Killer ; treasurer, Mrs. Eli Decker.
The other Protestant churches of Naugatuck are as follows, with date of organization. Among these is the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Salem Church, whose church building was erected for them in 1891 through the generosity of the late J. H. Whittemore.
.German Evangelical Lutheran Church, 615 High Street. Dedicated 1903: Pastor, Rev. Arthur Baum ; secretary, Adolph Dillinger ; treasurer, Michael Pope.
St. Paul's Lithuanian Ev. Lutheran Church, Curtiss Street. Organized August 31, 1903. Pastor, Rev. Ewald Kories; secretary, Edward Hermonat ; treasurer, Charles Pudem.
Swedish Congregational Bethany Church, 174 Fairview Avenue. Organized February 21, 1894. Pastor, Rev. Frank Sahlin ; clerk, Carl Anderson ; treasurer, Edwin Anderson.
Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Salem Church, organized 1887. Pastor, Rev. Carl D. Bostrom ; clerk, Alfred Peterson ; treasurer, J. Emil Anderson ; super- intendent of Sunday School, John E. Bohlin ; sexton, N. P. Lindahl.
St. Francis of Assisi Roman Catholic parish was constituted in 1866. Some time about 1850 the first mass of the Catholic Church in Naugatuck was said at the house of Patrick Conran. A mission was soon established and a small frame church was erected in 1859. In the course of nine years, the members of the mission were enough in number to form a separate parish. It was con- stituted in 1866, and Rev. Father Brady became the first resident priest.
The George Hine place on Church Street was purchased in 1868, as the site for the future church property in Naugatuck. Ground was broken April 7. 1882, for the present fine church edifice on Church Street. The cornerstone was laid July 23, 1882, and the building was completed in 1890 at a cost of $100,000. The edifice is purely Gothic and of a cruciform shape. The auditorium seats 1,200 people, and, like the large chapel, is finished in oak and walnut.
St. Francis Academy was erected immediately after the dedication of the church. This was followed by the building of the rectory. Rev. Thomas Carney, now pastor, built the beautiful convent, which completes a great square of church buildings. He has also been helpful in the establishment of the splendid library now owned by the parish.
The assistant rectors are Rev. Edward Leo Morrison and Rev. M. F. Higgins. .
Saint Hedwig's Polish Roman Catholic Church, at 32 Golden Hill, Union City, was built in 1906. Its rector is Rev. Paul W. Piechocki.
THE BOROUGH GOVERNMENT
The old Salem Parish was incorporated as a town on the petition of William DeForrest and others, February 16, 1844. The first officers chosen were as fol-
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ST. FRANCIS SCHOOL, NAUGATUCK
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CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH AND PARISH HOUSE, NAUGATUCK
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WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
lows: Clerk, Charles S. Peck ; selectmen, Aronson Glover, Enos Osborne, Bur- ton Sperry ; treasurer, Isaac S. Johnson ; town agent, Charles Middleton ; tything- men, Francis Webster, Orin Hotchkiss, Monroe Serrells, Enos Hopkins, William H. Tomlinson, J. O. Hotchkiss.
The first regular election was held on the green between the Episcopal and Congregational churches in October, 1844, the voters lining up on either side of the ballot box, showing which ticket they were favoring.
The Naugatuck Probate District was created in 1863, David Smith serving six years as its first judge.
The Town Hall was built in 1882, at a cost of $54,000. The first bridge at Naugatuck was a little more than one hundred rods above the present one. The old Salem Bridge was replaced with an iron structure in 1883, and another iron bridge was built at Union City in 1891.
In 1893 the Borough of Naugatuck was created and George D. Bissell was elected the first warden. The following is a complete list of wardens of the borough from that date until 1917:
George D. Bissell 1893-1894
F. F. Schaffer 1894-1895
E. E. Stevens 1895-1896
E. E. Stevens 1896-1897
John J. Gorman 1897-1898
F. F. Schaffer 1898-1903
John J. Gorman 1903-1904
WV. T. Rodenbach 1904-1906
Harry Roberts 1906-1907
W. T. Rodenbach 1907-1908
Thomas O'Loughlin 1908-1909
J. W. Rogers 1909-1910
Wm. J. Neary 1910-1912
A Barton Cross, Jr 1912-1914
Howard B. Tuttle 1914-1917
Since 1893 the borough government has made a great change in the physical appearance of Naugatuck. A sewerage system is now established, with over four- teen miles of pipe laid. In the matter of paving, the borough has been thoroughly progressive, its latest addition being the completion of the work on Rubber Avenue.
The borough and town government for 1917 is as follows: Warden, Howard B. Tuttle ; burgesses, Lewis C. Warner, Peter Hall, Martin F. O'Brien, Tracy North, Eugene Patterson, John F. Maher; borough clerk, Frank A. Sears; bor- ough treasurer, George T. Wigmore ; tax collector, John E. Bohlin; registrars of voters, George P. Young, Hugh Burns ; superintendent of poor, William G. Hard; superintendent of streets, William H. Moody ; borough engineer, George C. Ham ; judge of borough court, Frank A. Sears; deputy judge, Joseph J. Hall : prosecuting attorney, Claremont I. Tolles; clerk of court, Walter E. Brown : auditors, Victor N. Peterson, Edward J. Welch ; selectmen, Charles O. Fellows, Frank Arendholz, Timothy Fitzgerald ; town clerk, Joshua W. Rogers; justices of the peace, John E. Bohlin, Hugh W. Burns, Robert W. Dibble, Henry J. Free- man, Thomas F. Glynn, Clayton L. Klein, Martin F. O'Brien, C. Henry Squire, Claremont I. Tolles.
THE WILITTEMORE BRIDGE
With simple but impressive ceremonies, and in the presence of several thou- sand people gathered together to honor the memory of Naugatuck's greatest
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benefactor and public-spirited citizen, the handsome and imposing structure which will forever be known as the John Howard Whittemore Memorial Bridge, spanning the Naugatuck River on Maple Street, was dedicated May 30, 1914. It was one of the most important and interesting events in the history of the borough and was a most touching and affectionate tribute on the part of a grateful and appreciative public to an esteemed citizen, who did so much for Naugatuck.
John Howard Whittemore died at Naugatuck, May 28, 1910. On July 1, 1910, a committee was appointed "for the purpose of designing, establishing and placing a suitable memorial in the Borough of Naugatuck, to perpetuate his name and memory."
On July 1, 1910, a mass meeting of the people was held and at the meeting the following vote was passed :
"That a committee of eleven be appointed to make all arrangements for and to do whatever is necessary in collecting a fund, designating, establishing and placing a suitable memorial in the Borough of Naugatuck to perpetuate forever the name and memory of John Howard Whittemore."
In accordance with that vote the following committee was appointed: How- ard B. Tuttle, Miss Josephine A. Maher, William Kennedy, William T. Roden- bach, Harry I. Crampton, Samuel E. Hopkins, Mrs. George A. Lewis, Fremont W. Tolles, Carl W. Thompson, F. F. Schaffer, Charles T. McCarthy. Later the following were added: William J. Neary, A. B. Cross, Jr., George C. Ham.
The memorial tablet was unveiled by Gertrude Whittemore, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harris Whittemore, a granddaughter of the man to whose memory the bridge was erected.
Mrs. Bronson B. Tuttle, widow of Bronson B. Tuttle who in life had been for many years a business associate of Mr. Whittemore, made the suggestion that as Mr. Whittemore's gifts were always of a practical character, the memorial should be one which, while adding to the beauty of the borough's environment, should also be of the greatest use to the community, and as the old iron bridge over the Naugatuck River on Maple Street, between Water and Main streets, was becoming unsafe and would have to be replaced within a short time, she suggested that a beautiful bridge at this point would fill all the artistic and practical requirements of a suitable memorial.
The idea met with approval and a sub-committee was appointed to take charge of the construction, consisting of Samuel E. Hopkins, Howard B. Tuttle, and William J. Neary. The architect was Henry Bacon, of New York City, one of the country's foremost bridge designers. The general contract for building was given to the Tidewater Building Company of New York City, a company with whose operations Mr. Whittemore had in life been long identified. The sub-contractors were Charles F. Parsons Co., of New York City, and Thomas F. Jackson, of Waterbury, and the superintendent in charge of construction was Claude Wilson.
Work was begun on June 19, 1912, the first abutment being started July I, 1912, and the first stone laid August 1, 1912. The north side of the bridge, it being built in sections, was opened on December 13, 1912. The old iron bridge was removed February 5. 1913, and the piers and abutments were completed May 5, 1913.
The south side was completed about September 1, 1913, and opened about September 10th of the same year.
THE WHITTEMORE GIFTS
On May 28, 1910, John Howard Whittemore, Naugatuck's foremost citizen and principal benefactor, succumbed to death. Flags were hung at half mast on
THE WHITTEMORE MEMORIAL BRIDGE, NAUGATUCK
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many buildings and on many private residences, as a token of appreciation of a noble citizen and as an expression of regret at his unexpected death. The serv- ices followed two days later, the most impressive ever held in the borough's history.
Naugatuck, as it appears today, is largely a monument to his memory. It was through his efforts that the present passenger station was secured for the borough, Mr. Whittemore using his influence as a director of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad to obtain the station and allied improvements. Other reasons for his being remembered in Naugatuck are the Howard Whitte- more Memorial Library, the Public Park and Soldiers' Monument, the Nauga- tuck Golf Clubhouse, the Public Playground on Meadow Street, the Salem School, and the Naugatuck High School, which were all either provided by Mr. Whitte- more or obtained through his efforts.
Numerous Naugatuck enterprises owed to Mr. Whittemore their success, his knowledge of affairs making his advice invaluable. In public affairs he was a valuable aid to the progress of the borough.
Mr. Whittemore was born in Southbury October 3, 1837. He attended the public schools there until he was ten years old, when he became a pupil of the Collegiate and Commercial Institute of Gen. William H. Russell, in New Haven. He had intended to enter Yale, but circumstances prevented him from taking the intended course.
Mr. Whittemore's career was entirely commercial until the time he came to Naugatuck and entered the employ of E. C. Tuttle & Co., manufacturers of farm tools, remaining with them until they were burned out in July, 1858. A few months later he formed a partnership under the name of Tuttle & Whittemore to produce malleable iron. The firm continued until 1870, when it was organized as a joint stock corporation under the name of Tuttle & Whittemore Co., and ten years later as the Naugatuck Malleable Iron Company. Other malleable iron companies were organized in various parts of the United States, all remaining under the control of the Naugatuck concern.
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