USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, Connecticut, Volume I > Part 50
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In 1836 the following description appeared in "Barber's Historical Collec- tions":
"Wolcottville, the principal village in the Town of Torrington, is situated in a valley near the southern boundary of the town, at the junction of the two branches of the Waterbury and Naugatuck rivers, twenty-six miles from Hartford, and forty from New Haven. The village consists of about forty dwellings, a hand- some Congregational Church, a three-story brick building used as a house of worship by various denominations (also as an academy), four mercantile stores, two taverns, a postoffice, and an extensive woolen factory, and an establishment for the manufacture of brass is now being erected. It is believed to be the only one of the kind at present in the United States."
ERS OF MERCY.
MONUMENT ERECTED TO THE MEMORY OF THE SISTERS OF MERCY, TORRINGTON
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In 1836 the first town meeting was held in the village, an innovation for the town, as all their meetings up to this time had been held on the hills. Until 1865 these elections and meetings were held in one of the three churches, but in the latter year the Methodists sold their meeting house to the town and it was changed into a village hall. The altar was taken out, but the pews remained in place for the accommodation of the town people. These meetings were held in this old Methodist Church until the new City Hall was erected in 1899.
In 1881 the name of the village was changed to Torrington by the Federal postoffice authorities, as there had been great confusion in the mails because of the two names by which the town and the village were designated, and because of there being a town named Wolcott in Connecticut. The Government changed the name of the village in the western part of the town from Torrington to West Torrington and gave the name of Torrington to the Village of Wolcottville. Tor- rington was incorporated as a borough in 1887, its limits being practically those of Wolcottville.
No early history of Torrington is complete without a mention of John Brown, of Harper's Ferry fame. He was born in the northwestern part of the town, May 9, 1800, and the old Brown homestead is still in existence, although very much dilapidated, and it is today owned by a John Brown Association, who are considering making a John Brown Museum of it in the future.
Another noted man born on the eastern hills of the town was Samuel J. Mills, the father of foreign missions in America. A monument has been erected to his memory by the citizens of Torrington.
THE FIRST HIGHWAYS
The first road in Torrington was nothing more than a trail which followed the line of the present highway through the center of Torringford to Litchfield, by way of what is now Old Litchfield Street, and Four-Story Hill. As early as 1734 travelers between Litchfield and the settlements on the Connecticut River were accustomed to use this trail. Gradually it became a well-known highway and was the first real road that connected Torrington with another settlement. The second highway was made about 1760, through its intersection with the road through from Torrington to Litchfield. This second highway was twenty feet wide and Main Street follows its course. Shortly after this second road was built, another was laid, from the intersection of the first and second roads, to West Torrington. The course of this highway was the same as that followed by Water Street, Migeon Avenue and the West Torrington Road. South Main Street was not laid until 1786.
TORRINGFORD SETTLEMENT
The first settler in Torringford was Abraham Dibble, or his son, the historian does not know which. Dibble came from Windsor in 1744. The second resident was Benjamin Bissell, who built a house near the Harwinton line the next spring. So far as recorded, there were in Torringford in October, 1759, 22 families, consisting of 166 persons, many of whom were small children. A petition was sent to the General Assembly at that time, asking that they be exempt from payment toward the support of Rev. Mr. Roberts, and that they be given permission to maintain worship among themselves. They were very poor and were anxious to be free from public taxes. The next spring another attempt was made to secure freedom from the burden of supporting the church, giving
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as a reason, "their distance from the places of worship; the number of children and older people who could not go such distance regularly ; the expense attending the education of their children, clearing new farms, constructing highways, and the many inconveniences of a new country." But their request was not granted. This section of the town was called East Torrington until 1761, when New Hart- ford gave its consent to the annexation by Torrington of the four miles of the west tier of land for the support of the gospel; and a church society was formed in 1763 under the name Torringford, the name being made from the names Tor- rington and New Hartford. The Torringford church was built in the summer of 1768. Torringford has always been an agricultural community, and has never engaged in industrial pursuits to any extent. The nearest to this was the brick industry conducted early in the last century on the hill above Burrville.
The first real manufacturing industry in this section was the making of clocks at Holbrook Mills in Hart Hollow. Quite a business developed and a number of buildings were erected. As the natural outlet of the place was through Torring- ton, the inhabitants allied themselves with Torrington and attended church here. Holbrook Mills were established by Abijah Holbrook, who came from Bellingham, Mass., to Goshen, July, 1787, and purchased land in Hart Hollow. Mr. Holbrook is described by the historian as a "polished gentleman far in ad- vance of his generation in that particular." As evidence of the truth of this statement it is interesting to recall that he issued an emancipation proclamation sixty-five years before Lincoln issued his. He released a negro man and woman who had been his slaves. In his letter of emancipation he expressed the convic- tion that "all mankind by nature are entitled to equal liberty and freedom." Elijah Pond, his brother-in-law, came from Grafton, Mass., in 1790, and engaged in the mills and other enterprises with his brother-in-law. It was their intention to work the old iron mine on Walnut Mountain, but they gave up this plan after investigating the difficulties involved.
About 1800 Capt. Elisha Hinsdale came from Canaan to Hart Hollow and commenced the manufacture of scythes and axes, engaging also in general black- smithing. Hinsdale succeeded in building up considerable business. His products were carried by wagon to the Connecticut River, where they were shipped by water to many other states. Hinsdale also built a gristmill a little north of Hol- brook's on the Hall Meadow Brook.
Abijah Holbrook died in 1812, and two years later his widow, Mary, sold all the interests to Erastus Lyman and Thearon Beach, of Goshen, for $2,150, and moved to Western New York. Elisha Hinsdale sold his property in 1816 to his brother and went west. After the death of Holbrook and the removal of Hins- dale, the business died out and now there is practically no sign of it. The close observer, however, may find here and there the ruins of an old house or shop building in Hart Hollow, and desolation rules.
In February, 1813, Elijah B. Loomis, of New York, and Abner M. Warriner, of Torrington, entered into partnership and built a mill for the manufacturing of cotton, woolen and other goods at West Torrington, or Torrington Hollow, as it was then called. This plant was built near the bridge on the Goshen turnpike. After seven or eight months' operation it was mortgaged in September, 1813, to David Wadhams and David Thomas, of Goshen, to procure capital to continue business, but the mill did not prosper and in 1827 was sold for debt. The plant changed hands several times until it came into the possession of Eratus Hodges, who for a time conducted the business with some success. Then it was discon- tinued and Mr. Hodges and Norris North turned their attention to the clock- making business in 1820, and a couple of years later built a factory in West Tor-
RUINS OF THE FIRST FACTORY OF GAIL BORDEN CONDENSED MILK COMPANY, BURRVILLE, NEAR TORRINGTON
BIRTHPLACE OF JOHN "OSSAWATTOMIE" BROWN, NEAR TORRINGTON
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rington. This clock business continued for about four years and then went to pieces. After the clock-making business was discontinued in West Torrington, a lock factory was established. The leading spirit in this industry was George D. Wadhams. This also languished for a year or two, then died. The next industry to be started was that of making skates, which was continued here for several years and then removed to another town. The property vacated by the skate company in 1869 was used by Chester L. Smith, of Litchfield, for a toy factory. He made sleds for the children and continued the business successfully until his death in August, 1876. After his death, his successor conducted the business for some time. There was a gristmill below the site of the present bridge in 1800, but there is no record of the man who built it or how long it continued. The sawmill was built a little up the street, northeast of Wrightville, in the early part of the century, and in 1856 or 1857 Ormel Leach made some improvements in it. He ran it for a number of years ; then built the mill at West Torrington, which Willard H. Barber conducted for many years. Mr. Barber purchased the property in 1868.
TORRINGTON'S EARLY INDUSTRIAL EXPANSION
The oldest manufacturing corporation of Torrington is the Warrenton Woolen Company, formerly the Union Mfg. Co., under which name it was conducted for half a century.
In 1837 Francis Newman Holley, an iron founder of Salisbury, came to Wol- cottville, and with John Hungerford formed what was known as the Union Manufacturing Co. In 1849 Mr. Hungerford retired and George W. Slade joined Mr. Holley in the business. At this time they were manufacturing fine doe-skin. In 1856 a disastrous fire destroyed the plant, but it was immediately re-erected with improved equipment. In 1859 Ransom Holley, Samuel Workman and Jesse B. Rose became partners in the business and remained in it until 1873. In that year the Holley Bros. retired but remained active in the development of the vil- lage. In 1894 the present name, the Warrenton Woolen Company, was adopted.
Francis Holley was one of the main factors in bringing the Naugatuck Rail- road to Wolcottville, he and others subscribing $75,000 toward the enterprise. In 1868 he organized the Wolcottville Savings Bank, of which he was president until his death in 1878. The new postoffice at the corner of Water and Prospect streets is on the site of what was the old Holley homestead.
It is to Israel Coe that the town owes its greatest industry. In 1834 he pur- chased a mill privilege in Wolcottville and began the manufacture of brass kettles. His partner in the enterprise was Israel Holmes. In 1841 the partnership was changed to a corporation and the name of Wolcottville Brass Co. was adopted. Its capital was $56,000, and its first stockholders were Israel Coe, Anson G. Phelps and John Hungerford. In 1842 John Hungerford became president and in 1848 owned practically all of the stock. In 1863 Lyman W. Coe purchased the Wol- cottville Brass Co., with which he had been connected in 1845, and started under a new corporation name, the Coe Brass Mfg. Co. From this time on the brass industry began to advance and was enlarged later by the addition of the Ansonia plant of Wallace & Sons. On the formation of the American Brass Co. in 1898 the Coe Brass Co. became one of its subsidiaries.
Lyman Wetmore Coe was Torrington's leading citizen from 1863 to the time of his death. It is an interesting fact that he was a lineal descendant of Ebenezer Lyman, first settler of Torrington, and of Jonathan Coe, who came to the village in 1735, and also of John Wetmore, who united with the Torrington
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church in 1758. Associated with Mr. Coe in the purchase of the brass company were Elisha Turner and James S. Elton, who were then prominently connected with the Waterbury Brass Company.
It was the friendship of Elisha Turner for Lyman W. Coe that induced the former to bring the Turner and Clark Mfg. Co. from Waterbury to Torrington. This firm also owned the Seymour Mfg. Co., and on May 18, 1863, the two companies joined their forces and elected directors of what was to be known as the Turner & Seymour Mfg. Co.
In this same important year of 1863 Achille Migeon returned from New York to Torrington, where his parents were living, and organized the Union Hardware Co .. with a capital of $12,000. The first factory was located in what is now West Torrington, in a building which had been used in 1820 as a clock factory and later as a lock factory. George D. Wadhams was interested in the making of skates in this factory when it was sold to the Union Hardware Co. In 1865 the Union Hardware Co. moved into their new factory, which was built on the site of their present location.
It was in September, 1863, that L. W. Coe purchased of Jesse B. Rose for $8.000 the property of the Wolcottville Knitting Co., consisting of land' with factory buildings, store house, water-wheel, and machinery, dam and all water privileges, three houses, etc., and transferred the same to the Turner & Clark Mfg. Co., of Waterbury. In the following May, this company moved to what was then known as Wolcottville. Among the employees of the Turner & Clark Mfg. Co. in those early days was John Hendey, the father of Henry J. Hendey. The company also brought to Torrington the firm of Hopson & Brooks. This firm was then manufacturing suspender buckles in Waterbury.
In June, 1864, it was purchased by the Turner & Clark Mfg. Co. It was in this factory on Water Street that the idea was first suggested and a machine was built for pointing the steel for making sewing machine needles by an improved method. The leading manufacturers of sewing machines were invited to Wolcott- ville to consider the new process, but refused to put any money into the venture. It was after this refusal, but not until 1866, that A. F. Migeon, Elisha Turner and Charles Alvord formed the Excelsior Needle Co. The swaging machines invented by Hopson & Brooks were from time to time greatly improved by Wil- liam H. Dayton. In fact, Mr. Dayton probably made more practical mechanical and labor-saving improvements for the benefit of Torrington than any other man, but, after all, it was the inventions of Orin L. Hopson and Heman T. Brooks which were responsible for the beginning and the growth of a great exclusive industry peculiar to Torrington. Prior to 1866, sewing machine needles had been made by slow milling process ; it was the Hopson & Brooks invention which decided Messrs. Migeon, Alvord and Turner to organize a company to exploit their ideas. From a paid-up capital stock of $15,000, with $10,000 in patents, it has grown, until today its capital stock is $1,000,000. Today it is owned by what is known as the Torrington Company, although the needle company still keeps its corporate existence. It manufactures besides needles, knitting machine needles, hook needles, spokes and nipples. The capitalists who control it today have capitalized it and its subsidiary companies at $4,000,000. Under another name, the Standard Spoke and Nipple Company, it manufactures only spokes and nipples.
The Hendey Machine Company was founded in 1870 by Henry J. and Arthur Hendey, who began the making and repairing of iron machinery in a small shop, using for motive power a rotary steam engine built by one of the brothers. In 1871 they took a lease on the East Branch Spoon Shop. In 1874 the Hendey
TORFINGON LINE
THE TORRINGTON LIBRARY
7:111
TORRINGTON HIGH SCHOOL
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Machine Company was organized with a capital stock of $16,000. This was later increased to $300,000, and is now $900,000. The company manufactures lathes, shapers, planers and ships them to all parts of the world.
In 1885 the Torrington Mfg. Co. started its organization with a capital stock of $25,000, manufacturing upholstery nails, novelties, special machinery and all kinds of brass turnings.
In 1857 Charles Hotchkiss and his son, Edward C. Hotchkiss, purchased the old Wilson Mill property with the oldest known water privilege in that section. Henry Hotchkiss, another son, entered the firm in 1867. In the early '8os, on the retirement of the father, the name was changed to Hotchkiss Brothers, and in 1887, when Edward H. Hotchkiss became a member, the name became Hotch- kiss Brothers & Company. It was not incorporated until May, 1891, and it has since become known as the Hotchkiss Bros. Co. Its capital stock at the time of its incorporation was $60,000.
TORRINGTON'S SCHOOLS
The first schoolhouse in the town was built inside the stockade of the fort at the Lyman place in 1741. The second was in Torringford in 1764. During the early years of the town's history the educational facilities consisted largely of private schools, of which there were four at different times. The Torringford school was essentially a public institution and was supported by a tax levied on property in that section of the town. This tax was at first "penny half-penny on the pound," but in 1770 the tax was 4 shillings on the pound. The school was under the direction of the Torringford School Society. Later in 1823 Epaphras. Goodman founded an academy in Torringford. This academy was of a rather select character and was for the teaching of advanced subjects. It continued for nearly thirty years and turned out a considerable number of students who later became prominent in public life.
Wolcottville schools grew out of the experience gained by the Torringford School Society. The Wolcottville school district was not formed until 1812, and there were no taxes for this district until 1815, although a schoolhouse had been built on Main Street, just north of where the W. W. Mertz Company store now stands. It is probable that this was erected by popular subscription. This first schoolhouse consisted of only one room until 1818, when another was added. About 1840 a one-story brick schoolhouse was built on Litchfield Street, and a year later another on George Street. Three years later another was built on Church Street, west of where the railroad now is. In 1859 Lauren Wetmore gave to the town the land where stood the high school building, which was destroyed by fire in 1913. The original section of that building was erected in 1863. This school was called the Academy. The school on George Street was abandoned - at this time. The first principal was Lucius Clark, who was also in charge of the new school during the first two years after its erection. The schools of the town were consolidated in the latter part of 1863. There was also in the early part of the century a school in West Torrington, which had been erected by the joint efforts of several men, one of whom was Erastus Hodges. This school was continued for some thirty years. There was an institution called the Brick Academy, established in the early days of Wolcottville on Main Street, south of the Center Bridge.
The town has fourteen school buildings, including those under construction. Of these six are, or will be when completed, of fine modern construction.
In the last three years Torrington has appropriated between $600,000 and
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$700,000 for new school buildings. This includes the new Grammar School on Riverside Avenue, the one on Church Street, the South School and the new high school which is also in part a graded school.
The new high school building, known as the Center School building, which cost $300,000, is one of the finest in the country. The Grammar School at River- side cost $120,000, and that on Church Street will cost $150,000.
The site of the new high school building is on Church, extending through from Prospect to Barber Street. The frontage is about 233 feet on Church Street and 220 feet on Prospect Street. The capacity is about 1,000 pupils. There is a minimum of corridor space. There are two courts, and all rooms, including auditorium and gymnasium, are lighted by outside windows, without any impair- ment of light.
Upon the first floor there are, in addition to the executive departments, ten class rooms for grammer grades, toilet and locker rooms with emergency rooms or hospitals for both sexes, and the auditorium with stage and dressing rooms.
On the second floor there are five class rooms for grammar grades; a high school study hall for 110 pupils with three class or recitation rooms in connection with it; a room 24 by 30 for the school library ; the commercial department, two large rooms; toilet and locker rooms for boys and girls, and a rest room for women teachers ; the gallery of the auditorium. Upon each floor the several class rooms are so arranged that they may be thrown together into larger rooms if de- sired.
The third floor, which is devoted entirely to the high school, provides two study halls for 110 pupils each, with six class or recitation rooms; the science department ; drawing department ; two teachers' rooms; toilet and locker rooms for pupils.
The science department consists of two large laboratories with a lecture room and five smaller rooms conveniently arranged for specimens, preparation work, supplies, apparatus, etc. The equipment with its desks, tables, ample hoods, cases, etc., is complete and perfect. The hoods and tables are finished with stone tops and fully equipped with gas, water, air blast, electricity, etc. The drawing de- partment consists of two large rooms.
The auditorium seats 650 on the main floor, 300 on the gallery, and 80 on the stage. On the main floor five exits with a width of 35 feet are provided for front of room, and additional exits are provided near the stage, in side walls. For the gallery there are three exits with a width of 21 feet. Main floor and gallery are entered from level of corridor without steps and entrance. The room is designed with special reference to its acoustic properties.
The gymnasium is so arranged that it can be used by boys or girls at will. The height is such that a running track may be put in if desired. The rear en- trance permits the gymnasium to be used evenings without the occupants having access to the balance of the building.
The Board of Education is as follows: Thomas W. Bryant, George E. Cook, Charles H. Alvord, John Calhoun, Dr. T. M. Ryan, Wm. Fred Mills, Wm. A. Gleeson, Rev. Otto Seidenstuecker, Frederick W. Fuessenich. The superintendent of schools is George J. Vogel.
CHURCHES OF TORRINGTON
As early as 1739, while the settlement consisted of only a few families, the General Assembly was presented with a memorial bearing the names of twenty- five men who prayed to be organized into a society, and that taxes might be
THE THIRD CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, TORRINGTON
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, TORRINGTON
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imposed for the "support of a gospel ministry." History records the organization of a church October 21, 1741, with the Rev. Nathaniel Roberts as pastor, and there is reason for thinking that he preached in Torrington at least a portion of the time during the first year of the existence of the ecclesiastical society. For over thirty years this first church in Torrington was known as "The Church of Christ in Torrington." Like many other churches in the state at that time it was sometimes referred to as Presbyterian, though without any connection what- ever with the Presbyterian Church. Some time after the death of its first pastor, in March, 1776, it took the denominational name of Congregational. Thus came into existence what is now the First Congregational Church of Torrington.
The Torringford church was the next organized, probably in September, 1764. The society was incorporated in October the year before, and held its first meet- ing under the name of "Torringford" the following December. The reason, or rather the condition, which led to the organization of this second church, and a plea which largely influenced the Legislature in granting it rights of a separate body, was the existence of the deep and dangerous swamp which the people in that section of the town were obliged to traverse in order to reach the First church. With these two churches rests the history of Congregationalism in Torrington for inore than the next sixty years.
It was not until December 3. 1829, that the first organized movement for the establishment of what is now the Center Congregational Church was instituted. This movement resulted in the formation of the "Village Society of Torrington," and was brought about largely by Capt. Uri Taylor, whose name is memorial- ized in one of the handsome windows, unveiled in 1900. For nearly twenty years the gospel had been preached in Wolcottville (now the Borough of Torrington) by various ministers of different denominations, the people assembling at one place and another, not having any established house of worship nearer than the two churches above described. Captain Taylor manfully and promptly stepped in and led off in the erection of a house of worship. He therefore gave the land and built thereon a Congregational meeting-house, the building now occupied in part as a library and in part as a school on the corner of Church and Prospect streets, before either the society or the church was organized. Others aided but on him rested the greater part of the responsibility of the undertaking. He built the parsonage the same way, and "passed the whole property, of meeting house and minister's dwelling, into the hands of the society, without any claims except the reservation of one pew in the church for his descendants as long as they shall choose, or shall be here to occupy it."
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