USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, Connecticut, Volume I > Part 52
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Center Cemetery, in the heart of the borough, was established in the early days of Wolcottville, and no one ever dreamed that the village would grow and expand to its present proportions. This cemetery was controlled by the Wolcott- ville School Society.
The rapid growth of the town in the twenty years from 1885 to 1905 caused an unexpected demand for plots, and the desirable burial sites were nearly exhausted, and no other suitable land adjoining was available.
In the spring of 1906 the question of some provision for the future became more pressing and among those who were active in an effort to solve the prob-
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TORRINGTON LODGE, NO. 372, B. P. O. E.
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WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
lem, and whose faithful and zealous work was regarded, should be mentioned the following citizens: Orsamus R. Fyler, Isaac W. Brooks, Robert C. Swayze, John F. Alvord, James A. Doughty, Luther G. Turner, Edward H. Hotchkiss, Charles H. Alvord, Frederick F. Fuessenich, Elisha J. Steele, Frank M. Travis and Willard A. Roraback.
The problem of finding available land within proper distance of the borough, combining the qualifications necessary for a cemetery site in area, drainage, nature of soil and reasonable freedom from rock was one that required much study and investigation. Various sites were suggested, which, because of failure to meet the conditions required in one or more particulars, were rejected.
The A. P. Hine property, on the hill overlooking the town from the south, was first suggested by James A. Doughty at a meeting held June 27, 1906. Sound- ings were made which indicated the suitability of the ground for burial purposes, and the location, with many natural advantages, commended itself to the judg- ment of the men especially interested. A canvass to secure the money with which to purchase and improve the property was started, but the progress was slow almost to the point of discouragement.
At a meeting held September 15, 1906, a generous offer was received from Mrs. Elizabeth F. Migeon to purchase and deed to an association formed for the purpose of procuring and establishing Hillside Cemetery the land south of the borough known as the Hine tract, and to erect a suitable entrance and gate- way for that portion which the association should decide to lay out and improve, provided that a sufficient sum of money, the amount to be determined by the association, be raised for the purpose of improving and keeping up this tract.
Under the inspiration of this gift, the work of raising the necessary money went forward rapidly, and on December 28, 1906, announcement was made that the required fund had been subscribed.
It was laid out by Olmsted Brothers, the famous landscape architects of Boston.
TORRINGTON'S BOROUGH HISTORY
Since its organization as a borough in 1887, Torrington has had nine war- dens: Henry J. Hendey, 1887; Lyman W. Coe, 1888-1889; Walter S. Lewis, 1890; James Alldis, 1891-1897 ; James A. Doughty, 1898-1902 ; George D. Work- man, 1903-1904 ; William H. Dayton, 1905-1911 ; Russell C. Blakeslee, 1912-1915; Frank E. Coe, 1916-1917.
The following table shows the growth of the Grand List of the Borough of Torrington :
1892. $3.269,991.00
I905
$6,417,470.00
1893
3,412,584.00
1906 6,656,409.00
1894
3,588,249.00
1907. 8,316,400.00
1895
3,762,079.00
I908. 8,316,400.00 1896
1897
4,479,206.00
1910. 9,374,057.00
1898
4,903,227.00
IQII. 10,014,263.00
1899
5.886,566.00
1913. 14,221,592.00
190I. 6,109,693.00
1914 14,626,791.00
1902.
5.975,592.00 6,016,663.00
1915 14,739,991.00
1903.
1916 15,020,875.00
1904.
6,214,765.00
1917 15,814,214.00
3,929,113.00
1909. 9,203,425.00
5,279,609.00 1912. 10,182,332.00 1900
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WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Following is its pavement record since 1906 up to January 1, 1917 :
Street
Pavement
Year
Sq. Yard
Cost
South Main.
Tarvia.
1913.
2,053.00
$ 1,731.91
South Main.
Amiesite.
1916.
3,995.00
6,098.18
Water
Tarvia.
1909.
1,872.00
1,651.28
Water.
Tarvia
. 1910.
1,805.00
1,651.57
Litchfield
Tarvia.
1913
944.22
985.47
Totals
10,669.22
$12,118.41
Plans for a $35,000 sewage disposal plant are now under consideration.
There are now in use substantially five miles of storm sewers. The fire depart- ment inventory shows an equipment valued at approximately seventy-five thou- sand dollars, with 160 hydrants available and nearly fifty fire alarm boxes.
The present "City Hall," which is so-called in the hope that Torrington will soon be incorporated as a city, was first used in 1899. Previous to 1865 the meet- ings were held in the churches.
In 1865 the old Methodist Meeting-house was purchased and altered into a Town Hall.
The borough officers on January 1, 1917, were: Warden, Frank E. Coe ; burgesses, Mahlon S. Foley, Frederick H. Baldwin, John DeMichiel, Howard J. Castle, Harry Vaill and Constant Bouillon ; clerk, Carl B. Ekvall; treasurer, John H. Seaton ; borough sheriff, Wilford A. Sears ; collector, Patrick Phalen ; auditors, Henry J. Wylie, Dennie Hildreth ; health officer, Dr. Elias Pratt : borough engi- neer. Charles A. Patterson ; superintendent of streets, Harry I. Holcomb ; chief of police, William E. Nevin; captain of police, Nicholas Calabrese ; judge of Borough Court, Bernard E. Higgins ; prosecuting attorney, Thomas J. Wall ; judge of Probate Court, Willard A. Roraback ; chief engineer, Fire Department, E. J. Kelley.
The town officers are : Selectmen, Charles S. Newcomb, Francis N. Hopkins, Peter J. Cavanaugh ; assessors, Louis Longhi, George H. Atkins, Charles W. Volk- man ; town clerk, Wm. A. Gleeson ; town treasurer, John N. Brooks.
WEST WINSTED ABOUT 1860
CHAPTER XXXIV WINSTED IN THE HILLS
ITS HISTORY FROM COLONIAL DAYS-WINSTED BOROUGII-POLICE AND FIRE DEPART- MENTS-LIGHTING-SCHOOLS-PUBLIC LIBRARY -HOSPITAL-CHURCIIES- NEWSPAPERS-ITS INDUSTRIES-BANKS-CIIAMBER OF COMMERCE-Y. M. C. A .- WINSTED CLUB.
Winsted, situated at the head of the Naugatuck Valley, at an elevation of 1,000 feet, amid the picturesque hills of Litchfield County, is one of those thrifty, progressive manufacturing towns for which New England is noted. Its site is in many respects an ideal one. It is at the northern terminus of the Naugatuck division of the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad,-three hours' ride from New York City, and less than two hours from Waterbury, Bridgeport, and New Haven. Winsted is the natural gateway to northwestern Connecticut and the Berkshire hills, and is the trading center for over a score of towns and villages, having a population of 30,000 people.
The adjoining town on the west is Norfolk, which is noted for its beautiful country estates and villas.
A trolley line connects Winsted with Torrington, ten miles down the valley, and it is expected that in the future the link between Torrington and Thomaston will be built, thus giving Winsted trolley connections with the rest of the Con- necticut Company's trolley system.
There are three stage routes leading into Winsted, one from Montville, Mass., via New Boston, Mass., Colebrook River, Robertsville and Riverton; a second from Sandisfield, Mass., via South Sandisfield, Mass., North Colebrook and Colebrook, and the third from Winchester Center.
Winsted is an ideal manufacturing town. Mad river, a magnificent stream of water, comes tumbling down the gorges and uniting with the overflow from Highland Lake, which forms a great reservoir of 489 acres, circles through the town, affording many valuable water privileges. There are over twenty-five going concerns, turning out a surprisingly large variety of products, among which are clocks and regulators, brass, steel and iron pins, hair pins and clips, men's hosiery, underwear, coffin hardware and undertakers' materials, upholstery hardware, house trimmings, electric and gas portables and fixtures, bronzes, art glass domes and shades, lamps, candelabras, ink stands, pocket cutlery, chisels, drawing knives, gauges, scythes, hay and corn knives, cranes, lifts, derricks, bolts, milling and other machine tools, special machinery. lumber, sash doors, blinds, spool and embroidery silk, piano stools, chairs, sheet brass and copper goods numbering over 3,000 articles, etc. The splendid railroad connections permit quick shipments to all points.
A superb water system constructed at great expense and owned by the town has been in use for years. The town now has a modern sewer system and has during the past year installed a model garbage collection plant. There are efficient fire and police departments. There are many miles of excellent side- walks and all the principal streets are macadamized as well as the main roads
405
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WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
leading into town, totaling about fifteen miles. Winsted has just finished laying about one and one-half miles of a Warrenite (asphaltic) road. Over $120,000 has been expended, mostly by the state, in the improvement of the four principal roads leading respectively to Norfolk, Colebrook River, New Hartford and Torrington.
Winchester is the town with which the borough has recently been merged, and connected with the town building is the courthouse, where the greater part of the court business of the county is done. There are five schools and some beautiful churches, and five flourishing hotels whose reputation for excellent service extends far beyond the limits of the state. There is a $30,000 theatre, two national banks having capital, surplus and undivided profits of over $600,000, and deposits of over a million, and two savings banks with over $4,000,000 deposits.
Winsted has been favored in its public institutions, many of the benefactors having been lavish in their gifts. The Gilbert School has an endowment of nearly $800,000, the William L. Gilbert Home for friendless children an endow- ment of nearly $650,000 and the Litchfield County Hospital an endowment of nearly $160,000, all having ample buildings and grounds and first-class equipment throughout. There are two fine free libraries and a centrally located, new, $45,000 Y. M. C. A. building.
The business blocks have an imposing appearance. The Hotel Winchester block was erected at a cost of about $100,000 and the Hurlbut Bank building cost $40,000 ; then there are the Camp, Beardsley, Wetmore and Winsted Real Estate Co.'s blocks which give Winsted a business-like appearance. The factories are nearly all of brick construction. The New England Pin Co. greatly enlarged its buildings in 1913. The Winsted Hosiery Co. also spent $25,000 in additions. During 1916 the Winsted Edge Tool Works and the Fitzgerald Manufacturing plant, both of which were damaged by fire, have been completely rebuilt.
There are two public parks within the borough, one at the east end with soldiers' monument and memorial fountain ; the other, Memorial park, on the crown of the hill in the west portion of the borough, has a commanding view and is graced by the beautiful memorial tower, sixty feet high. There is a fine athletic field connected with the Gilbert school with covered grandstand, bleachers, and dressing rooms. There are three cemeteries in the borough and all are well cared for. Forest View cemetery is situated upon a sand knoll and commands a charming view up and down the river valley.
ITS HISTORY FROM COLONIAL DAYS
The land lying within the town of Winchester, of which Winsted is now an integral part, was a part of that tract known 225 years ago as the "western lands." Before 1686 it was owned by the Connecticut colony. When it was learned that Sir Edmund Andros had arrived at Boston bearing the authority of the crown to revoke the colonial charter of Connecticut and to assume the government. the general court fearing the unoccupied lands of the colony would be sequestered by the haughty Andros, met in January, 1686, and granted to the towns of Hart- ford and Windsor, "those lands on the north of Woodbury and Matatock, and on the west of Farmington and Simsbury to the Massachusetts line north, and to run west to Housatunnuck river (provided it be not, or part of it, formerly granted to any particular persons), to make a plantation or villages thereon."
It will be remembered that the charter was never surrendered to Andros and upon his flight in 1689, after it was learned that King James II had been deposed and William and Mary had succeeded to the British throne, the charter govern- ment was resumed.
OLDEST HOUSE IN WINSTED Built by David Austin about 1771
HIGLEY TAVERN OR UNION HOTEL, WEST WINSTED Torn down about 1876. Stood just west of present Hurlbut National Bank
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WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
Though their title was defective, the towns of Hartford and Windsor did not propose to give up their claims to the tract of land hastily granted to them in the emergency and twenty-two years after the grant was made a committee was appointed to make a survey.
In order to more fully establish their rights, steps were taken by the towns in 1715 to lay out a town in the tract and the town of Litchfield was laid out about 1717. Upon its being found that residents of Farmington had secured Indian titles to a portion of the tract, a compromise was made with them. After the land within the new town of Litchfield had been disposed of to settlers, a committee was appointed to lay out a new township north of that. The com- mittee's report was accepted in 1723, the new town embracing the east side of Cornwall, the whole of Goshen, the west half of Torrington and the southwest corner of Winchester.
The general assembly seems to have awakened to the situation at this time, for at the spring session in that year the king's attorney for New Haven county was directed to prosecute the trespassers in the name of the governor, and the company and five members of the committee appointed to dispose of the land were arrested and prosecuted.
As a result of the controversy, the general assembly in the October session, 1724, appointed a committee to investigate the claims of Hartford and Windsor and upon the committee's report, wishing to preserve the peace and to have the lands settled as expeditiously as possible, the general assembly at the May session, 1726, decided that the lands in controversy should be divided between the colony and the towns. The line of division coincided with the dividing line between Colebrook, Winchester and Torrington on the east, and Goshen and Norfolk on the west, and the colony took the western section and the towns the eastern. The territory conceded to Hartford and Windsor embraced the towns of Colebrook, Hartland, Winchester, Barkhamsted, Torrington, New Hartford, Harwinton and Litchfield, making an area of about 326,806 acres, while there was reserved in the colony the land embraced in the towns of Canaan, North Canaan, Norfolk, Corn- wall, Goshen, Warren and about two-thirds of Kent, making an area of about 120,000 acres.
The lands were next surveyed and divided into townships and on February II, 1732, the towns of Hartford and Windsor executed deeds of partition by which the inhabitants of Hartford became the owners of Hartland, Winchester, New Hartford and the eastern half of Harwinton and the inhabitants of Windsor had Colebrook, Barkhamsted, Torrington and the western half of Harwinton. A law was passed by the legislature providing for the subdivision of each of the towns among the taxable inhabitants, by assigning to each his whole interest in one or another of the townships. The land-owners of each township were incor- porated as proprietors, with the power to allot to each his pro rata share accord- ing to the taxable lists of 1720.
The oldest conveyance of lands recorded in this town is dated November 28, 1729, by which John Kilbourn of Hartford conveyed to Jonathan and David Hills of Hartford all his rights, title share and interest in and to a large tract of land commonly known as the "western lands" belonging to the towns of Hartford and Windsor.
On May 14, 1744, the 106 proprietors of Winchester were called together and organized, William Pitkin being chosen moderator and Thomas Seymour clerk and register of deeds. Other meetings were held relative to the division of the township in 1750, 1751, 1753. 1756, 1757 and 1758. During the twenty- nine years that the Hartford proprietors took to consummate a plan of division,
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WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
many of the owners sold their undivided rights, giving deeds for the same. Caleb Beach of Goshen secured one of these undivided rights by deed of May 21, 1750, and a short time afterwards, believing, evidently, that a division of the land would not take place for some time, he appropriated a small tract on the east side of the Hall Meadow road about forty rods east of the Goshen line and a half mile north of the Torrington line and erected there the first dwelling house in the town.
Settlements were made in Goshen, Norfolk and Canaan before the allotments were made in Winchester, and a trail was used to reach them passing through New Hartford across the northeast corner of Winchester and the southwestern part of Colebrook to Norfolk Center. It is not definitely known just where it was located. It is believed to have been the first to have pierced the town and to have been traveled for twenty years. Because of a demand for a better road both for settlers and for the "accommodation and benefit of his Majesty's subjects and especially in time of war, for travelling or marching either from the central or eastern parts of the colony" towards Albany, the general assembly in 1758 ap- pointed a committee to explore and find out a better way. As a result a new road known as the "old north road" was built within the next three or four years. Up to 1800 this was the principal thoroughfare of the colony in the direction of Albany. It passed over Wallins hill by the schoolhouse down to Still river by Rollin Wilson's, then up Smith hill and by the Rowley pond to Colebrook. It is said that "continental troops passed over it for frontier service," among the num- ber being Col. Ethan Allen, and that "detachments of Burgoyne's army, as prison- ers of war, marched over it to the quarters assigned them." Another trail through the township was the "old south road," passing from Burrville up by Landlord Matt's tavern on to the south part of Norfolk.
At the meeting of the proprietors January, 1758, a committee was appointed to draw lots to determine the order in which the land should be set off to them.
The first census of the colony taken in 1756 gives the population of Winchester as 24. The largest town in the county was Woodbury, with 2,911, more than twice that of any other town. The next census was taken in 1774, and gave Win- chester 327 whites and 12 blacks. Woodbury then had 5,224 whites and 89 blacks. Westmoreland had 1,922. This was one of the towns of Litchfield county and comprised the whole of the valley of Wyoming, Pennsylvania.
Under an act of incorporation, the first Ecclesiastical society meeting was held June 29th, 1768, and organization was perfected.
The early records of the society are extremely interesting. Services were held at John Hill's house, near the Hurlbut cemetery. Some time during the year 1769 the first meeting house was erected on the west side of a road which was discon- tinued long ago, near the Luther Bronson place. It was 24x30 feet, with nine- foot posts supported by log piers and was unfinished inside. The steps were hewn out of a log and an outside stairway led to the second floor, which was used as a gallery. Services were held there for twenty years. There was no heating apparatus except the "foot stoves of the women, and the sound doctrine of the minister."
The first town meeting under an act of incorporation was held July 22nd, 1771. The record of it is as follows :
"At a town meeting of the Inhabitants of Winchester, lawfully assembled on Monday, the 22nd day of July, 1771.
"Warren Gibbs chosen Moderator of sd. meeting.
"Eliphaz Alvord chosen Town Clerk and sworn.
"Jonathan Alvord and Seth Hills, and Samuel Wetmore, Jr., chosen Towns- men.
STONE CHIMNEY ON SITE OF FIRST HOUSE BUILT IN WINCHESTER, 1756
FIRST FRAME HOUSE IN WINCHESTER Built by Caleb Beach, 1756
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WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
"Robert Mackune chosen Treasurer.
"Warham Gibbs chosen Constable.
"Abraham Filley chosen Grand Jury Man.
"Oliver Coe and Noah Gleason and David Goff chosen Surveyors of High- ways.
"Josiah Averit and Joseph Hoskin chosen Fence Viewers.
"Robert Mackune chosen Leather Sealer.
"Adam Mott and Beroni Hills chosen Tything Men.
"Voted, that David Austin's cowyard be a pound for the present.
"Voted, that a Maple tree near the meeting-house shall be a sign-post.
"David Austin chosen key-keeper.
"Voted, that the Annual Town Meeting in this town shall be on the first Monday of December, at nine of the clock in the morning at the Meeting House of said Town, and that the selectmen shall set up a notification on the sign-post twelve days before the said first Monday for sd. meeting.
"Test, Eliphaz Alvord, town clerk."
Winchester men had an honorable part in the revolutionary war. The first reference to it in the town records was made in the annual town meeting of 1775, when it was voted "that the troopers be freed from paying anything for their colors," and "to raise two-pence half-penny on the list of 1775 to purchase a town stock of powder and lead, and also to pay other necessary charges arising in the town."
Seventeen soldiers from this town went to Ticonderoga in 1775 to Captain Sedgwick's company, Colonel Hinnan's regiment ; two marched to the relief of Boston on the Lexington alarm, and so on. It would seem that about all the men in the town enlisted at one time or another during the war.
At the town meeting Jan. 13, 1778, the Articles of Confederation were pre- sented for approval and by vote on each successive article were accepted, and thereupon the oath of fidelity to the state of Connecticut was administered to those present and certified in the records. The names of the others who took the oath later were also recorded.
Three events of great moment to this town were the opening of the Green Woods turnpike, the Naugatuck railroad, and the Connecticut Western railroad. The former occurred in 1799. Up to that time the only road connecting the two sections of the town was one coming down the hill from the lake by Austin's mill as far as Main Street, then northerly to Hinsdale Avenue, thence easterly to Still River, and up Wallin's hill to the "old north road." This was the only way of reaching Hartford or any of the eastern towns of the state, and was a rough, hilly road to travel. The only building on the present line of Main Street, from Henry Street to Still River bridge were Higley's tavern, where K. T. Sheldon's photograph building stands, the foundation of the chimney of which is still to be seen there, and a gambrel-roofed house on the site of Mrs. Moses Camp's residence. Boyd says: "The opening of the Talcott mountain and Green Woods turnpikes was an event as auspicious to our fathers as was the opening of the Naugatuck railroad to their children or as is the majestic march of the Con- necticut Western railroad trains up the Norfolk hills to our present community."
Again Mr. Boyd says: "The iron horse paid his first visit to the Winsted depot Sept. 21, 1849. The first passenger train came up on Saturday, the 22nd, and returned on the following Monday."
The Naugatuck Railroad Co. was granted a charter in 1845 to build a road from Derby to Plymouth. Upon receiving a bonus of $30,000 and payment of land damages, Alfred Bishop and others had agreed to complete the line to Water-
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WATERBURY AND THE NAUGATUCK VALLEY
bury by 1849. In 1847 the company was authorized to extend the road to Winsted, which Mr. Bishop agreed to do for another bonus of $30,000 and the right of way. Citizens of Winsted assumed half the bonus and all the right of way in this town and citizens of Torrington and Plymouth the other half of the bonus and the remainder of the right of way. There was some bickering as to whether the station should be at the Winsted park, the "flat" or in the "west village."
In 1866 a charter was granted to the Connecticut Western Railroad Co. with power to construct a road from Collinsville to the Massachusetts line at North Canaan. In 1868 the Dutchess and Columbia Railroad Company and the Con- necticut Western Railroad Company got a new charter to build from Hartford to Collinsville, thence connect with the line previously chartered and then by diverging through North Canaan and Salisbury to connect with the Columbia and Dutchess road. On August 22, 1868, the town of Winchester, by a vote of 366 to 66, voted a subscription to the stock of the company of five per cent on its grand list, amounting to $116,000, and individual citizens of the town subscribed for $74,900 more of the stock. The other towns followed Winchester's example. The first passenger train went over the road from Hartford to Millerton and returned Dec. 21, 1871.
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