USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, Connecticut, Volume I > Part 46
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He was a director of the Colonial Trust Company of Waterbury, and was at one time president of the institution. He was a director of the Waterbury Hos- pital ; of Landers, Frary & Clark, of New Britain; of North & Judd, New Britain, and was one of the incorporators of the Naugatuck Savings Bank.
In private life Mr. Whittemore was unostentatious. While he entertained freely, his entertainments were simple.
Many of his private gifts will remain unknown save to the recipients, for Mr. Whittemore seldom gave publicity to his myriad bequests.
Publicly and privately he was always giving. Thus he had graded and kept in repair the seven miles of macadam roadway leading to his country home at Middlebury. He built the granite retaining wall along Hillside Cemetery. He it was who had 7.500 beautiful shrubs planted along both banks of the Nauga- tuck from the freight house to the station. He used his vast fortune very largely for the benefit of his home town and did not confine his gifts to Nauga- tuck. He built, at a cost of $250,000, the beautiful Buckingham Music Hall Block, in Waterbury, and later gave it to the Waterbury Hospital as an endow- ment.
NAUGATUCK'S BANKS
Naugatuck has two excellent banks. The Naugatuck National Bank, founded in 1883, has a capital stock of $100.000, with surplus and profits $215,000. Its deposits, early in 1917, were $800,000.
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Its present officers and directors are: Fremont W. Tolles, president ; Arthur H. Dayton, cashier; Howard B. Tuttle, vice president; George M. Rumney, assistant cashier; George T. Wigmore, assistant cashier ; directors, A. H. Day- ton, S. E. Hopkins, Fremont W. Tolles, Howard B. Tuttle, Dwight P. Mills, Tracy S. Lewis.
The Naugatuck Savings Bank was founded in 1870 by the following incor- porators : A. J. Pickett, Hiel S. Stevens, John A. Peck, John H. Whittemore, George A. Lewis, Homer Twitchell, John L. Isbell, B. M. Hotchkiss, Francis Spencer, David Smith, Samuel Hopkins, Bronson B. Tuttle, Calvin A. Hotch- kiss, Lucian D. Warner, Luther S. Platt.
In its report, October 1, 1916, its deposits were shown to be $2,994,380. It has on its books the names of 7,970 depositors, a gain in 1916 of 692. Its loans on real estate, mostly in Naugatuck and vicinity, total $1,395,094.
Its present officers are as follows: L. S. Beardsley, president ; W. T. Roden- bach, E. E. Hotchkiss, vice presidents; Arthur H. Dayton, secretary : H. A. Dalby, treasurer ; trustees, D. P. Mills, T. M. Bull, L. C. Warner, F. W. Tolles, Harris Whittemore.
THE PUBLIC UTILITIES
The Naugatuck Water Company was organized May 19, 1887. Its first offi- cers were: Homer Twitchell, president; Seabury S. Scott, secretary and treas- urer ; Thomas Conran, Adna D. Warner, Dr. F. B. Tuttle and B. B. Tuttle. directors. Mr. Twitchell served as president until 1890 and was succeeded by Dr. F. B. Tuttle. Other presidents in succession have been Willard Hopkins, A. D. Warner, William Ward and D. P. Mills, the last named holding the position at the present time.
In 1890, Mr. Scott resigned as secretary and treasurer, and in May, of that year, E. C. Barnum was called to the position and has continued to the present time.
The water was turned into the mains in the fall of 1889. It is obtained from six different reservoirs: Mulberry Hill, with a capacity of 10.000,000 gallons ; Candee Reservoir, with a capacity of 5,000,000 gallons; Prospect Storage, with a capacity of 110,000,000 gallons ; Long Hill Brook Reservoir, with a capacity of 1,500,000 gallons; the Straitsville Distributing Reservoir, with a capacity of 7,000,000 gallons; Long Hill Brook Storage Reservoir, with a capacity of 500 .- 000,000 gallons.
There is a total storage capacity of 630,000,000 gallons of pure drinking water, which is analyzed every month in the year.
The plant develops pressure of from 110 to 150 pounds, has 41 miles of 4-inch pipe or less, has 145 double and 2 single hydrants in use in Naugatuck by the borough and 58 double and 3 single hydrants used by private companies. The secretary issues an annual report to the directors and stockholders which shows the company in excellent condition.
The Naugatuck Telephone Company was organized in 1879 and in 1917 had over two thousand telephones in use.
The Naugatuck Electric Light Co. was chartered April 16, 1887. Its first directors were L. D. Warner, A. H. Dayton, O. M. Young, B. B. Tuttle, E. H. Warrington, F. W. Tolles. On June 1, 1887, the first arc light was successfully illuminated in Naugatuck. The system is today operated by the United Electric Light & Water Company.
In 1862 The Naugatuck Gas Company was established, but this existed only
NAUGATUCK SAVINGS BANK, NAUGATUCK
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a few years, although service had been extended to the principal streets of the town. Gas is now supplied from Waterbury.
THE FIRE AND POLICE DEPARTMENTS
Naugatuck's Fire Department history begins in 1882, when George M. Aller- ton, then president of The Glove Company, organized a volunteer company. The organization was completed on February 6, 1893, as a company to protect the Goodyear India Rubber Glove Company's property and adjacent territory.
At the meeting at this time Robert M. Morse was elected as engineer chief. Isaac A. Moorse was elected as first assistant engineer, and Edward H. Jones second assistant engineer, and other officers elected were as follows: William H. Vreedenburgh, foreman ; J. L. Chevalier, first assistant foreman ; Andrew Wylie, second assistant foreman ; I. A. Moorse, secretary ; and John Trestrail, treasurer.
The twenty-three men in the original company were employes of the glove concern and the red shirt that formed a part of their uniform carried the com- pany's trade mark across the breast. The organization was known as "Glove Co. Hose No. 1," and their apparatus consisted of a jumper and about fifty feet of hose.
The town authorities established the Naugatuck Fire Department after the glove concern turned the apparatus over to the town in 1890. At that time it numbered thirty-five men. The company then became known as the Naugatuck Hose No. 1, and the force was increased to sixty-five men. The first building for the department was on Water Street, which was formally occupied March 15, 1892.
On September 4, 1899, the brick hose house in Union City was opened by the department with a parade in which twenty-two visiting companies with about one thousand men were in line. A huge tent was pitched on the green and dinner was served amid a general frolic.
Today the department numbers about one hundred men and is equipped with the most modern automobile apparatus. Two fire houses, one on Maple Street, and the other in Union City, furnish quarters for the department's men and apparatus, with the entire department under the direction of Chief Engineer George Hoadley.
The police department had its inception when the act of the General Assembly established the Borough of Naugatuck in 1892. At this time the borough charter limited the size of the police force to twenty-five men, the same number which is today policing the borough.
The act gives the warden and burgesses the power to appoint men up to this limit and no more. Should the borough find more police necessary. it would be necessary to have a special amendment to the borough charter passed by the Legislature.
The department is under the supervision of Chief J. B. Schmidt, and the force is divided among regular policemen and those assigned to special work.
NAUGATUCK'S NEW POSTOFFICE
It took the United States a long time to recognize Naugatuck as the name of the postoffice of the borough .* When it was first established, it was given the name Salem Bridge, which endured until August 21, 1834, when it was officially
* Doctor Anderson's history, previously quoted, under the heading of "History from Colonial Period," conveys the impression that the first official use of Naugatuck as the name of the settlement, was in the act of 1844 incorporating the borough.
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changed to Naugatuck, although the latter name had been commonly used since 1800.
In 1915 work began on Naugatuck's new postoffice on Church Street, and this was occupied in 1916. The building has a frontage on Church Street of 76 feet 8 inches, the depth on Cedar Street being 83 feet 8 inches. It is one story in height, fireproof throughout, and faced with light colored stone to the first floor line. Above the first floor light buff, rough texture brick with terra cotta trim is used. The roof is tile.
The concrete driveway for mail wagons enters the ground from Cedar Street at the rear of the building, where is also an entrance for employes and a base- ment entrance to the building. The entrance to the public lobby on the first floor is on Church Street.
The basement contains a boiler room, fuel and storage rooms, and a civil service room. On the first floor is the public lobby, the postoffice work room, the . money order and registry room and the postmaster's office, and two large vaults. The public lobby is 12 by 48 feet with a 16-foot ceiling. The floor is marble tile, and the walls are finished with a marble base.
SOME NAUGATUCK HOMES
While Naugatuck is essentially an industrial borough, it is also a town of beautiful homes. Five of the principal streets are the vantage points of structures that rival many residences in the larger cities.
Along North Church Street, Millville, Rockwell, Fairview and Terrace ave- nues, are homes that represent the best in the field of house design.
Among the most notable of these residences is the home of Mrs. J. H. Whitte- more on North Church Street. It is modern in design, surrounded by a large lawn that sets off the beauty of the residential picture.
Other beautiful residences are those of F. F. Schaffer, John E. McDonough, William J. Neary, Howard B. Tuttle, Lewis C. Warner, Mrs. B. B. Tuttle, and Mrs. A. C. Tuttle.
THE GENERAL WASHINGTON HOUSE
Naugatuck possesses a house in which Washington and his staff were once entertained. It is situated in a picturesque spot on Woodbine Street, and is in a remarkably good state of preservation.
In the days of the Revolution, it was used as a tavern and there is indisputable evidence of the fact that Washington spent a night there while traveling between New York and Boston. Some years ago a bronze tablet was attached to the house by Melicent Porter Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, of Waterbury.
On the tablet is inscribed the following :
"Porter House. General Washington with a retinue of officers and men was entertained in this house one night during the War of the American Revolution by Capt. Thomas Porter and his wife, Mehitable. Erected by Melicent Porter Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, Waterbury, Conn., December, 1901."
THE YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION AND SIMILAR INSTITUTIONS
The Naugatuck Young Men's Christian Association was founded in 1895. It is today planning the erection of one of the most beautiful Young Men's Christian Association buildings in the state. In a campaign early in 1917 it obtained pledges for $285,000 and this is now being paid into its treasury.
NAUGATUCK STATION, OF THE NEW HAVEN SYSTEM
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THE NEARY BLOCK, NAUGATUCK
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It has received as a gift a fine business property on Maple Street, and this will probably be sold to pay for a site in a more desirable location. At present it occupies a suite of rooms on Water Street, and has a membership of several hundred.
Its officers are: President, A. H. Dayton, who was one of its founders; vice president, Harris Whittemore ; general secretary, W. E. Brown; treasurer, E. E. Hotchkiss.
The idea of the day nursery in Naugatuck was first given expression at a large gathering of ladies in the rooms of the Working Girls' Club on April 7, 1911, in a talk given by Miss Dejean. The idea was taken up quickly and energetically and by May 3Ist a house on Central Avenue, wisely furnished and well-planned for the comfort of the children, was opened as a day nursery. The association was fortunate in securing as the first matron, Mrs. Charles H. Andrews.
Mrs. Andrews made of the nursery a home-like place, and in her faithful attention to the economical running of the house and her showing of personal interest in each child, she started the nursery according to a high standard.
For a year the nursery flourished, until in June, 1912, it became necessary to find a new home because the house was needed for other tenants. At this time Mr. Harris Whittemore generously offered the present home on Water Street, which is centrally located and admirably fitted for such a home.
The nursery is financed by an association, the membership fee in which is $1.00 a year, with the privilege of giving as little or as much as one desires. There are many generous gifts each week of food, clothing, toys and furniture. Each physician in town gives his services to the nursery for one month in the year.
In 1912, when it became necessary to raise funds for the payment of bills incurred by the re-building of the new home, Tag Day proved how many friends" the nursery had, for many sacrificed their time in soliciting funds, and there was a phenomenal response in the sum of $2,000, which placed the association securely on its feet, freeing the house from debt.
The purchasing of supplies for the house, which the younger children wear ? while in the house, the bed linen, mattresses and such household necessities, is in charge of a supply committee, of which Mrs. North Woodford is chairman.
The responsibility for the repairs and upkeep of the house proper is in charge of a house committee of which Mrs. Richard Owens is chairman.
The officers of the association are: President, Mrs. W. G. Hard; treasurer, Mrs. G. Dana Warner; secretary, Mrs. F. F. Schaffer.
The Naugatuck Working Girls' Club, organized December 17, 1897, is located at 19 Park Place, and is an organization that endeavors to make life pleasanter for girls who must struggle for a living in various lines of commercial endeavor. The club is non-sectarian, self-governing, with efforts toward encouraging self support.
Its courses of instruction include cooking, sewing, dressmaking, English, embroidery and physical culture. It has rooms equipped for class work, social intercourse, a small library, many magazines, a piano and a Victrola. Aside front other means of entertainment, the members of the club hold Sunday afternoon teas and occasionally indulge in afternoon walks.
The keynote of the club is comfort, amusement and above all, contentment. The officers of the club are constantly creating new activities that will aid in the development of its members, create further opportunity for friendship and opportunities for improvement.
The officers are: K. Maude Smith, president ; Margaret Doolan, vice presi- dent ; Celia Alm, secretary ; Catherine Sugrue, treasurer.
CHAPTER XXXI
THE TOWN OF SEYMOUR
ITS THREE NAMES-POPULATION-CHURCHES-SCHOOLS-LIBRARY-SEYMOUR'S BANK-ITS MANUFACTURING INTERESTS-TRANSPORTATION-THE SEYMOUR RECORD-FIRE PROTECTION AND DEPARTMENT-PARK AND MONUMENT-TOWN OFFICERS-SOCIETIES AND CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.
Seymour has had three names in its long history. The first which clung to it for over a century was Chusetown, the name of a friendly Indian chief. The second to which it might well have clung, but for a desire to do honor elsewhere, was Humphreysville, after David Humphreys, who started many of its industries, gave of his time and his money to develop the town, and whose life is a chapter of deep interest to all who study the development of the Naugatuck Valley. In 1850, when it incorporated, it took the name of Seymour, after the governor of that name.
In 1900 the population of Seymour was 3,541, with a school enumeration of 789. In 1910 the population had grown to 4,786, and today it is approximately six thousand. Its grand list in 1902 was $2,803,781. In 1917 it is $4,350,128. . Its children of school age in 1917 number 1,274.
From this small town there go forth annually a considerable percentage of all the fountain pens used in the world. Aside from brass and copper goods, now developed into its main industry, with a factory employing 1,400 hands, it makes plush and brocatelle, hard rubber goods, boring implements, edge tools, horse nails, paper, telegraph cables, bicycle parts, eyelets, grommets, and now during the war period, munitions.
It is, however, much more than a mere manufacturing town,-it is a beautiful home town, with its citizens working harmoniously to develop it along up-to-date civic lines. This civic pride has been handed down from father to son, and is evidenced in such splendid gifts as its library building, its park, its church addi- tions, and its soldiers' monument.
In the following history, the facts covering its development up to 1902 have been obtained largely from the excellent book on Seymour written and published by Wm. C. Sharpe, editor of the Seymour Record. In his volume he has delved thoroughly into early sources, narrates with a virile pen the story of its land- marks and has even gone fully into the genealogical history of its noted families.
ITS CHURCHES
The oldest existing religious organization in Seymour is the Congregational Society, which was formed November 3. 1789, as appears by an old manuscript preserved in the records of the Town of Derby.
Rev. Benjamin Beach was the first pastor and appears to have been in Sey- mour before the formation of the society, as he had the parsonage built in 1789. In 1817 the church, or, as it was then called, the meetinghouse, was sold to the Methodists and a new church was built on the plateau south of the Whittemore
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Tavern. This church was begun in 1818 and was built in more modern church style than the original structure, the spire, however, not being added until 1829.
The growth of the village in succeeding years was in such direction as to make the location of this second church seem altogether too much to one side of the center of population, and in 1846 a third church was begun, the church now standing. This church was dedicated April 20, 1847, and has been in use seventy years. In 1890 the church was enlarged by an addition on the south end, with interior changes at a cost of about five thousand dollars and a new pipe organ at a cost of $2,500.
The church has an excellent parish library of several hundred volumes, which was donated by Hon. James Swan in 1883, for the use of adults, and to which large additions have since been made, beside the Sunday School library of several hundred volumes.
Rev. Dr. Geo. F. Abel is now pastor.
Rev. Jesse Lee, the New England apostle of Methodism, first came to Derby in 1791 and from a Methodist society formed there came those who constituted the first Methodist organization in what is now Seymour. This, according to evidence recorded by one of the early veterans, was February 7, 1797, with Daniel Rowe as leader. The original members were Jesse Johnson, Isaac John- son, Esther Baldwin, Sarah Baldwin and Eunice Baldwin; George Clark, Lucy Hitchcock, Silas Johnson and Olive Johnson were soon added to the number.
At first the meetings were held in private houses and in schoolhouses, and in the assembly rooms of the Dayton, Whittemore and Moulthrop taverns, and it is recorded that as early as 1803 they were allowed to hold meetings in the old Congregational meetinghouse.
In 1817 the Methodists purchased this church and raised it a story, increasing the seating capacity by putting in side galleries.
The old meeting-house was sold for $100 and was torn down, and the corner- stone of a new church was laid June 19, 1847. The church was Gothic in de- sign, 40 by 60 feet, with a basement mostly above ground, containing a com- modious lecture room and two classrooms, and had an excellent toned bell.
The present edifice was built in 1891, at a cost exceeding eighteen thousand dollars, including the refitting of the older structure, which is used for a lecture room and for the Sunday School. The subscription for the new church was headed by L. T. Wooster with $1,000, and all gave liberally, then and since, so that the society is now clear of debt and in possession of one of the handsomest churches in the valley. The new church was dedicated June 19, 1891. The beautiful pipe organ, which was put in at a cost of $1,500, was also the gift of L. T. Wooster.
The present pastor is Rev. G. W. Simonson.
On the 12th of February, 1797, thirty-nine persons living within the bounds of the proposed new parish, were notified to meet on the 20th of that month at the house of Dr. Samuel Sanford for the purpose of forming a Protestant Episcopal society. At the time named, all were present and Benjamin Davis was elected moderator, Samuel Sanford clerk, and Joel Chatfield, Israel French and Jonathan Miles, society's committee.
The land upon which the church now stands was purchased of Leverett Pritchard March 23, 1797, for $60.
The first rector of the church was Doctor Mansfield, whose parish consisted of the present towns of Derby, Orange, Woodbridge, Seymour, Oxford, South- bury, Naugatuck and Waterbury. He was rector of St. James' Church, Derby, seventy-two years without a break,-a solitary instance, it is believed, in the
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Episcopal Church of this country. He lived to the ripe old age of ninety-six, and died in 1820.
The Sunday School dates from 1827, and in the same year a bell was obtained for the church. The name of the parish and church was changed from Union to Trinity at Easter, 1856, and in the following year the church was repaired and improved at a cost of about six thousand dollars. The seating capacity of the church was doubled and the interior was re-furnished. The remodeled and reno- vated building was dedicated by Bishop Williams, May 11, 1858.
At present the rector is Rev. W. A. Woodford, appointed in 1900.
Roman Catholic services were first held in Seymour in 1844, in the "Old Long House" on the site of the fire engine house, by Rev. Father Smith of New Haven. There were then only six men of the Roman Catholic faith in the village, then known as Humphreysville. They were Nicholas and Daniel Brockway, Nicholas Cass, Patrick and Thomas Gaffney, and James Quinlan. The "Long House," in which mass was celebrated in 1844, was on the east side of what is now Raymond Street. It was a two story building, intended for six families, and was torn down some fifty-five years ago, and the fire engine house now stands where the south end of the "Long House" was.
The first resident pastor, Rev. John McMahon, was stationed there in October, 1885, and remained until May 1, 1886, when Rev. R. C. Gragan was appointed pastor.
Ground was broken for a new church May 4, 1888, and the cornerstone was laid by Right Reverend Bishop McMahon, July 15, 1888. The church was occu- pied for the first time December 25, 1889, and was dedicated May 18, 1890.
The Church of St. Augustine is a handsome building, of wood, facing on Washington Avenue, and overlooking the central part of the town. Its dimen- sions are 53 by 101 feet, with a spire 118 feet in height, and dials on the four sides, ready for a clock. A fine bell has been put in. The interior of the church is finished in cherry and oak, and the frescoing is in light shades, giving a very pleasing effect. The windows are of stained glass. The seating capacity of the church is 600. The cost of the edifice was $13,000.
The three handsome altars finished in gold and white, were all donated, the large central altar by Rev. R. C. Gragan, then the pastor of the church; the altar of the Blessed Virgin by the Scapular Society and the Society of the Children of Mary ; and the altar of St. Joseph by Mrs. Ellen Fitzgibbons. Starting with six Catholics in 1844, St. Augustine's Parish has today about seven hundred mem- bers, 600 in Seymour proper, and the remainder in Beacon Falls and Oxford. Father C. A. Leddy is now in charge of the parish.
The German Lutheran Church was organized in 1893 under the direction of Rev. Jacobus Wittke. A site was selected on West Street, near Church Street, and the building was erected in 1894 and was dedicated on Thanksgiving Day. Rev. Jacobus Wittke resigned in 1894 and was succeeded by Rev. R. Lucas, who remained until 1897. Rev. Max Mueller was the pastor in 1897-8, and the Rev. Paul E. T. Lempke followed. The present pastor is Rev. H. A. Hunziger.
The Great Hill Methodist Episcopal Church is one of the oldest Methodist societies in Connecticut, and at one time ranked highest in strength and numbers in the Derby Circuit, which then included the towns of the Naugatuck Valley as far as Waterbury.
The present church edifice was built by subscription in 1853-4. Almost the only preaching on the hill for the forty years preceding had been by the Meth- odists, to whom the old Congregational Church had been given up. The church was dedicated on Wednesday, October 25, 1854.
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