USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, Connecticut, Volume I > Part 49
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57
382
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
half seconds pendulum. This brass timepiece and the half seconds brass clock before mentioned were excellent timepieces. Such was the state of the clock- maker's art, so far as relates to clocks for general use in the year 1807. To com- plete the contract mentioned, Mr. Terry was allowed three years. During this time he conceived the idea of making a thirty-hour wood clock with half seconds pendulum for general use, which would be much less expensive than the half seconds clock of cast brass. His first effort in this direction was unsatisfactory, the clock was substantially the movement of the thirty-hour wood clock with a seconds pendulum, the escapement wheel having sixty teeth instead of thirty to adapt it to a short half seconds pendulum. The cord passed upward and over a pulley on the inside of the top of the case and down around a pulley attached to the weight and back to the top of the case, where it was fastened. The front plate of the frame was an open plate, and the clock had no dial, but the figures to indicate the time were painted on the glass in the sash of the case. This clock did not suit Mr. Terry's aspirations, though he made and sold several hundred of them, and other manufacturers made and sold more than he did.
In the year 1814, he perfected a thirty-hour wood clock of a construction entirely new, both the time and striking trains having a greater number of wheels, and the clock being so radically different that it was really a new manu- facture. Aside from the ingenuity as shown in the general construction of this clock. there were two notable inventions: the one consisted in arranging the dial works between the plates of the frame, instead of between the front plate and the dial, and the other consisted in mounting the verge on a steel pin inserted in one end of a short arm, a screw passing through the other end and into the front of the plate. In wood blocks the pin was inserted in a button midway between the center and the periphery. By turning the button or arm, the verge was adjusted to the escapement wheel. In the manufacture of this newly constructed thirty-hour wood clock the numerous manufacturers of clocks at once engaged, and it became a very extensive industry, Mr. Terry making a very small fraction of the number made and sold. It superseded the half second clock made of cast brass, and that industry perished. This clock supplied the American market and export demand for clocks for a quarter of a century.
In the progress of the arts in this country, sheet metal began to be manufac- tured. and rolled brass became an article of commerce. With a supply of this article in the market, sheet metal clocks began to be made. These sheet metal clocks, with wire pinions, were much less expensive than wood clocks, and super- seded the manufacture of wood clocks as the manufacture of wood clocks had superseded the manufacture of clocks of cast brass. The two inventions before mentioned were adapted to brass clocks, as well as to wood clocks, and to sheet metal clocks, as well as to clocks made of cast metal, and one or both are found in nearly every clock made in this country, and also in clocks made in other coun- tries. It is worthy of mention at this point that all of the several kinds of clocks before mentioned were made to gauges, or so that the parts were interchangeable. The making of parts of a machine so that one part may be changed for a like part in another machine was an American idea. To whom the credit of the invention belongs, the writer regrets he is unable to state, but it was practiced in the clockmaker's art as early as the year 1807. But Mr. Terry did not confine himself to making low-priced clocks for general use. He made brass clocks of fine quality, and sold them to watchmakers for regulators, the price ranging from one to two hundred dollars, and he also manufactured tower clocks. His tower clocks were novel, and consisted of three parts, a movement, a part to move the hands, and the striking mechanism. By this construction the movement was not
-
=
-
-
-
SETH THOMAS WATCH AND MACHINE SHOP, THOMASTON
383
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
affected by the action of the wind and weather on the hands; the movement could also be placed in any part of the building desired, with a dial and handle attached and connected to the parts in the tower by a wire.
The tower clock which he made for the City of New Haven deserves special notice. The city at this time ( 1826) had no building suitable for a tower clock and the clock was placed in Center Church, on the "Green." This clock had the usual dial work, the hands connected with it showing mean time on a dial, and an extra train or dial works whereby the hands connected with it showed apparent time on an extra dial. This duplex clock, showing both mean and apparent time, was not liked by the citizens, who were accustomed to apparent time, which was everywhere kept except in two or three of the principal cities, sun dials having been common and every house having its own mark. The extra dial work, dial and hands for showing apparent time were removed, and the man in charge was instructed by Mr. Terry to set the clock to mean time, for he was determined that the clock should show mean time, and he still owned it and could do as he pleased, the city not having accepted it. In a tower on one of the build- ings of Yale College, there was a public clock "with an apparatus attached to it, which produced a daily variation from true time equal to the variation of the sun," causing the clock to show apparent time. These two public clocks, not a block apart, one showing apparent time and the other mean time, occasioned a spirited controversy in the public press as to what was true time, or the proper time to be kept, in which there was a mixture of ridicule and learning. Those curious to read the controversy are referred to the files of the city papers of that day, to be found in the library of Yale. The communication signed "A Citizen of the United States" was written by Mr. Terry, and shows that he was a master of the whole subject. At this day it seems strange that there should have been such a controversy, that learned men and others should have advocated the keep- ing of apparent time, and that, in the year 1811, on a signal from the observatory of the college, a heavy gun on the Public Square was fired at noon to give the people the exact time to make their noon marks. Many residents of the city and graduates of the college in all parts of the country will remember these two old public clocks which for many years chimed out their discordant notes.
Some confusion has arisen from the failure of writers on the art to distinguish between clocks of cast brass and sheet metal clocks. The making of clocks of cast brass, the making of sheet metal clocks, and the making of wood clocks, so far as the mechanical part is concerned, are three distinct arts,-are three distinct industries. Eli Terry died in Plymouth, in the post village of Terryville, called after his oldest son, Eli Terry, Jr., February 24, 1852, falling short of the age of three score and ten one month and eighteen days.
Seth Thomas was the son of James and Martha Thomas, and was born in Wolcott, Conn., August 19, 1785. His early education was very meager, con- sisting of a very short attendance upon a distant public school. He served an apprenticeship to the trade of carpenter and joiner, and spent some time on the construction of Long Wharf, in New Haven. Leaving at his majority with a small kit of tools and a very small sum of money, he associated with Eli Terry and Silas Hoadley under the firm name of Terry, Thomas & Hoadley, in the southeastern part of the Town of Plymouth, now known as Hancock Station, on the New England Railroad, and commenced the manufacture of clocks.
In 1810 Mr. Terry sold his interest, and the firm continued two years as Thomas & Hoadley. Mr. Thomas then sold his interest to Mr. Hoadley and came to the western part of the town, then known as Plymouth Hollow, and purchased the site where the large new factory is now located, and began the manufacture of clocks on his own account.
384
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
He was twice married, first to Philena Tuttle, April 20, 1808. She died March 12, 1810. He was married to Laura Andrews, daughter of William and Submit Andrews, April 14, 1811, who survived him. She died July 12, 1871. He was the father of nine children, three of whom, and all then living, died in September, 1815, in the year memorable as the one of the dysentery scourge.
The clock business, from small beginnings, increased rapidly, and he after- ward built a cotton mill and a brass rolling and wire mill. Politically he was a whig. He was a member of the Congregational Church and contributed largely to the building of the church in Plymouth Hollow.
In 1853, feeling the infirmities of years coming upon him, in order to avoid the stoppage of his works consequent upon his death, he organized the Seth Thomas Clock Company under the joint stock laws of Connecticut. He died January 29, 1859.
Six of his children who survived him were: Seth, Jr .; Martha, who married Dr. William Woodruff ; Amanda, who married Thomas J. Bradstreet ; Edward ; Elizabeth, who married George W. Gilbert ; and Aaron.
Today the Seth Thomas Clock Company occupies three immense buildings, and the only regret of the officials is that the structures are widely separated. This is due to two other ventures of the great-grandfather of the present execu- tive head of the Seth Thomas Clock Company, Seth E. Thomas, Jr. First of all, just before the middle of the last century, he started a cotton mill on Elm and East Main streets. This was given up and was made the movement shop of the clock works. Later he was instrumental in founding the rolling mill which, with its water right on the east side of the Naugatuck, is now one of the plants of the Plume & Atwood Company. The latter company has just completed a large addition and is at present building a "recovering" plant close to the river.
In 1905 the changes in the manufacture of clocks necessitated a larger set- ting-up room, and this, which is known as the "varnish" building, was put up on the old site. The new structure is 110 by 80. The only building that has been torn down was the old storehouse. The first building erected, and in which the business was started, still stands at the south corner of the plant and is in con- stant use. The new five-story building on the site of the old storehouse was completed and occupied in 1915. It is 240 by 60 and is used for assembling, storage, and general offices. The marine department was built by the sons of the original Seth Thomas. This is where the movements are made. It is four stories in height, size 240 by 30, with a wing added later.
While many of the old employees have been with the company for over forty years, no one is now living who personally knew the original Seth Thomas. The officers of the company at the present time are: President, Seth E. Thomas, Jr .; vice president and general manager, Mason T. Adams : treasurer and secretary, G. S. Havelin.
The Thomaston Knife Company was organized in 1887 by Joseph M. War- ner, and located in what had been first a woolen mill, and later a clock factory. He remained at its head until 1912, when E. H. Frost, of Bethlehem, Conn., bought the controlling interest. The company employs seventy-five people ..
The Thomaston Mfg. Co., on North Main Street, which makes automatic screw machine accessories, is a comparatively recent addition to Thomaston's industries. It was incorporated in 1913 with a capital of $15,000. John Gross is president ; E. B. Gross, secretary. It employs twenty men.
SCHOOL BUILDING, THOMASTON
MAIN STREET AND OPERA HOUSE. THOMASTON
CITY HALL, TORRINGTON
UNITED STATES POSTOFFICE, TORRINGTON
CHAPTER XXXIII
TORRINGTON'S RAPID GROWTH
SUMMARY OF ITS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT-ITS EARLY HISTORY-TORRINGFORD- EARLY EXPANSION-SCHOOLS-CHURCHES-BANKS-CHAMBER OF COMMERCE -LIBRARY -- Y. M. C. A .- HOSPITAL-NEWSPAPERS-ELKS' CLUB HOUSE- PARKS-CEMETERIES -- BOROUGH HISTORY.
Torrington is unique in Litchfield County in its phenomenal civic and indus- trial growth. From 1800 to 1890 its percentage of increase in population was 8212. From 1890 to 1900 the increase was 100 per cent; from 1900 to 1910, its population increased from about 9,000 to 15,490.
The population on July 1, 1917, as estimated by the United States Census Bureau, is 20,040. But this is an exceedingly conservative figure when it is remembered that in five years the pay rolls of its thirteen leading manufacturing plants have increased from 5,000 to 9,000. The American Brass Co., Coe branch, employs in Torrington 2,600 people as compared with 1,800 five years ago. The Chamber of Commerce of Torrington feels, therefore, justified in claiming a population at this time of 23,500, which would give Torrington the largest pro- portionate increase of any town in Connecticut, a record which it has held for three decades.
Including the water and light companies, but not including its banks, and allowing for proportionate capital of the Torrington branch of the American Brass Co., there are in Torrington today fourteen industrial corporations with a working capitalization of over nine million dollars.
The assessed valuation of the borough in 1892 was $3,269,991. In 1915 this had increased to $14,739,991, and in 1917 to $15,814,214.
From the borough records of March, 1916, the following facts are taken, although in 1916 and in 1917 each item has been further appreciably increased. Torrington had on March 1, 1915, 31.09 miles of public streets, 8.56 miles of private streets, 5.80 miles of streets with bituminous surface, 28.40 miles of side- walk, 3.63 miles of storm sewer, 392 street lights, practically all of 60 candle power, 153 hydrants, 29 public fire alarm boxes and 13 private fire alarm boxes. It has perhaps the largest mileage of concrete walks in the state.
Torrington has in the past five years expended or contracted for the expendi- ture of between $600,000 and $700,000 for new schools.
The school enrollment for 1913-14 was 2,979; for 1914-15, 3,078; for 1915-16 it was 3,473. For the fall of 1917 it will reach 4,000. So great has been the pressure for school room that during the past two years in the Center School there were eight classes with half a day schooling. The congestion in other sections was nearly as great. New schoolhouses, completed and building, will relieve this pressure.
There are twelve churches with property valuation of nearly a million. It has one national bank with deposits of $3,000,000, two trust companies and one savings bank. It has 7,100 savings depositors, who have on deposit nearly three million dollars.
Vol. 1-25
385
386
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
The following list of larger industries, of which the histories are given in detail in these pages, tells how they are officered in 1917, with capitalization and date of organization. It gives some conception of the growth of Torrington.
The American Brass Co., Coe branch, incorporated in 1863, has the follow- ing officers in 1917: C. F. Brooker, president ; E. J. Steele, vice president ( until July 1, 1917), succeeded by Frederick L. Braman ; James B. Thursfield, manager ; Frederick L. Braman, assistant manager, became vice president on July 1, 1917.
The capital of the Warrenton Woolen Company, organized in 1844, is $250,000, and its officers in 1917 are: President, John Workman; secretary, Frank E. Coe; treasurer and general manager, S. C. Workman; assistant man- ager, F. R. Appelt.
The Domestic Vacuum Cleaner Co. was incorporated in 1912. Its capital is $326,000. The officers in 1917 are: President, F. P. Weston ; treasurer, Gail Z. Porter. The National Sweeper Co., incorporated in 1900, has a capital of $100,- 000, and is under the same management.
The capital of the Excelsior Needle Company, organized in 1870, is $1,000,000. Its officers are : President, Frederick P. Weston ; secretary and treasurer, C. B. Vincent. The Standard Company, organized in 1900, has a capital of $1,200,000, and its officers in 1917 are: President, Frederick P. Weston ; secretary, George E. Hammann ; treasurer, Charles E. Morehouse. These two companies and the Progressive Manufacturing Co. are controlled by the Torrington Co., which may be described as an international corporation for the manufacture of needles.
The Torrington Building Company, incorporated in 1902, has a capital of $150,000. Its officers in 1917 are: President, Harlow A. Pease ; secretary, Wil- liam B. Waterman ; treasurer, Howard J. Castle.
The Torrington Electric Light Company, incorporated in 1887, has a capital of $625,000. Its officers in 1917 are : President, John Workman ; secretary, F. F. Fuessenich; treasurer, Frank M. Travis.
The Torrington Manufacturing Company, incorporated in 1885, has a capital of $250,000. Its officers in 1917 are: President, J. A. Doughty ; secretary and treasurer, Robert C. Swayze.
The Torrington Realty Co., incorporated in 1910, has a capital of $150,000. Its officers in 1917 are: President, L. Cleveland Fuessenich; secretary, Henry HI. Fuessenich ; treasurer, Frederick W. Fuessenich.
The Torrington Water Co., incorporated in 1878, has a capital of $400,000. Its officers for 1917 are: President, J. N. Brooks ; secretary and treasurer, C. L. McNeil.
The Turner & Seymour Mfg. Co., organized in 1848, has a capital of $350,000. Its officers in 1917 are: President, L. G. Kibbe; secretary, S. C. Workman; treasurer, E. E. L. Taylor.
The Union Hardware Company, organized 1884, has a capital of $600,000. Its officers for 1917 are: President, Thomas W. Bryant ; secretary, Christian G. Hoerle ; treasurer, Frank J. Damon.
The capital of the Hendey Machine Co., organized in 1870, is $900,000. Its officers in 1917 are: F. F. Fuessenich, president and treasurer ; Charles H. Al- vord. vice president and manager; Frederick M. Mckenzie, secretary; F. W. Fuessenich, assistant treasurer.
The Hotchkiss Brothers Co., organized 1901, has a capital of $160,000. Its officers in 1917 are: President, Henry E. Hotchkiss; secretary, Harry J. Wylie; treasurer, Edward H. Hotchkiss.
The Progressive Mfg. Co., incorporated 1905, has a capital of $100,000. Its officers in 1917 are: President, John H. Alvord ; secretary and treasurer, Geo. E. Hammann.
THE HENDEY MACHINE COMPANY, TORRINGTON
387
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
To this list it is essential to add the Fitzgerald Mfg. Co., incorporated in 1912, which in its two plants at Torrington and Winsted employs 400 hands, and has a total capitalization of over $100,000.
The latest building improvements give some conception of the industrial ex- pansion of Torrington during the past two years, and throw light on the prospect of a still greater growth in the near future.
The Coe Brass branch of the American Brass Company has just completed its new casting plant, and its new rod mill. With these and with the improve- ments planned on Water Street, the capacity will be nearly doubled.
The Hendey Machine Co. is now building a new casting shop. A big addition was completed about two years ago.
The Standard Mfg. Co. this spring completed its three-story addition, occupy- ing a space of approximately 300 by 100 feet.
The Union Hardware Company is planning a new addition.
The Turner & Seymour Manufacturing Co. is building an addition to its casting shop.
The Excelsior Needle Company built a new addition in 1915.
The Torrington Mfg. Co. is putting up an office building.
Geographically considered, Torrington lies in the beautiful Naugatuck Valley, nineteen miles north of Waterbury and forty miles from the tide waters of Long Island Sound at New Haven. The Naugatuck Division of the N. Y., N. H. & H. R. R. connects it with both cities, and also with Winsted on the north, and an electric railway system furnishes additional communication with Winsted. The surroundings are picturesque, good drives are on every hand, and the tops and slopes of the neighboring hills command varied and expansive views on every side.
Red Mountain rises sheer and bold against the northern sky line like a mighty buttress. The other hills slope in graceful outlines above the valleys beneath,- the restful type of pastoral scenery. The Shawngum (softened from Shawan- gunk) hills are extremely picturesque, in places palisadic in formation.
EARLY HISTORY OF TORRINGTON
The parent colony from which Torrington has its origin was Windsor. In May, 1732, when the General Assembly partitioned what is now the Borough of Torrington, it contained 20,924 acres. The only addition that has been made since that time has been the annexation of a small part of Litchfield. Historians assert that the name was brought over from Devonshire, England, where a ham- let called Torrington has existed for many centuries. Unquestionably some of the English from that village had come to Windsor in the early days of that town. The meaning of Torrington is "a hill-encircled town," which well suited the new community.
In October, 1734, the early settlers constructed a fort, fearing a raid from the Mohawk Indians. In 1740 the first town meeting was held on December 9th. At this gathering Ebenezer Lyman, who had been the first to settle in the new town, was chosen moderator, and on the 15th of December, 1740, the first regular town officers were elected. As a matter of fact, the first dwelling house in the town was built by Joseph Ellsworth in 1734, although he did not become a per- manent resident of the town. The second house was built by Ebenezer Lyman in 1735, and in this place he resided for a long period. In June, 1738, a daughter was born to the Lymans, the first birth in the Town of Torrington.
In 1741 the little community organized its church. In 1751 it erected its first
388
WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
meeting house, following it in 1755 with its first schoolhouse. All these structures were built about the fort and were of log construction. These first log houses were not built in what later came to be known as "Mast Swamp," the valley section along the Naugatuck, but upon the western hills ; the later dwellings were put up on what were known as the "Torringford hills" and afterwards some dwell- ings were erected on the "Newfields" hills. That portion of the town later called Wolcottville, which is now the Borough of Torrington, was the very last to be populated. It was covered for more than sixty years after the organization of the town in 1740 with a thick forest of pines which were used largely by ship- builders along the Sound for masts; in fact, many of these splendid, long pine poles were sent to England for use in the construction of ships in the navy of Great Britain. It is this use of the pine that gave the name of "Mast Swamp" until 1806 to what is now the Borough of Torrington.
Amos Wilson was the first to use the water power of the Naugatuck for mill purposes in 1751, near the present site of the Hotchkiss Brothers Company. This brought about the first era of frame dwellings, and John Brooker, in 1803, on the spot where South Main and Litchfield streets intersect, erected the first home with lumber from Wilson's Mill. In 1806 the villagers changed the name of their little community from Mast Swamp to New Orleans Village. This was the period of the Louisiana Purchase, and a considerable emigration had started from New England to the new territory. It is believed that the settlers in Mast Swamp had heard so much of New Orleans that they decided to call their own little com- munity by that name. There is no other plausible explanation for the change of name.
In 1813 Governor Oliver Wolcott and some other members of his family from Litchfield purchased the water privileges extending from Wilson's Mill southerly to the point where the stream is now bridged. In the same year the woolen mill was built on the river on what is now known as Water Street. It was during the construction of this mill by the members of the Wolcott family that the sugges- tion was made to change the name of the valley from New Orleans Village to Wolcottville. For over sixty-eight years this was its designation. The first schoolhouse was built in 1814 on Main Street. In 1820 the first church was con- structed of brick on South Main Street. The "Gazeteer of the States of Con- necticut and Rhode Island" in 1819 described the little village as follows :
"Wolcotville, a village of eighteen houses, has been built principally since 1802, and is an active, flourishing place. Its growth has been chiefly owing to the establishment of an extensive woolen factory, which is now owned principally by his Excellency, Oliver Wolcott. It is one of the largest establishments of the kind in the state, employing about forty workmen and manufacturing from twenty to thirty-five yards of broadcloth daily, at an average value of $6.00 per vard."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.