USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > The town and city of Waterbury, Connecticut, from the aboriginal period to the year eighteen hundred and ninety-five, Volume I > Part 61
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In 1776, The town and proprieters chose a committee for the pur- pose of re-surveying "the Highway that goeth to Woodbury." They began on Christmas Day. Hitherto, the surveys to Wood- jury had been made by starting from the top of West Side hill. This time, they began at Mr. Andrew Bronson's corner by his house Judge Kingsbury's), and ran across West Main street 4 rods and I feet for the breadth of the street and ran west 15° 50' north 3 rods, where the width of the road was reduced to 68 feet. When reached the bridge the road was three rods wide. The old ossing place of the river had been 8 rods below where this survey laced it, so the road was widened at the river to II rods, by irning down the river 8 rods, which added to the 3 made it II, in ¿der to meet the old path. The west side the river, it started II .ods wide, and wound up the hill in various widths until it came . to the old 20 rod highway where the layout of 1720 started, from hich point onward it followed for the greater part of the way ne first survey, and its intermediate alterations.
THE ERA OF TURNPIKE ROADS AND STAGE COACHES.
During the war the task of maintaining the highways became especially burdensome by reason of the absence of many of the young workers. One by one the towns of the State applied to the General Assembly that the roads might be cared for by taxation. ie river roads were the most difficult to keep in order, being shed by freshets, and from 1740 onward the work of building dges had been unending-therefore, when the era of turnpike ids arrived, the people stood apparently willing to receive all the pd it might bring to them. It would cost too much money for Ing taxpayers to convert existing roads into "dug-roads " and irnpikes " and so capital-which came to bless and to antagonize people-received a welcome.
566
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
Toll was first taken in this state in 1792. It was where the high- way ran through the Mohegan reservation between New London and Norwich, and was collected three years before the turnpike road between New London and Norwich was incorporated. A little later, toll was taken on the "Stage Road" through Greenwich, and in 1794 a "toll gate " was established on the "Post Road" from Nor- wich to Providence.
The first turnpike company incorporated in the state was the Oxford company. It ran its stage-coaches through Litchfield to Massachusetts.
In 1797 came The Straits Turnpike Co. It was established to build a turnpike road from New Haven court house to the court house in Litchfield. The first meeting of the company was at the house of Irijah Terril in Waterbury (Salem Society), in Nov., 1797. Three turnpikes were to be erected on this road-one at some proper place between the house of Elihu Harrison in Litchfield and the house of John Foot in Watertown; one between the house of Joseph Nettleton in Watertown and Salem Bridge in Waterbury, and the other between the place in the highway called The Straits (of Beacon Hill brook) in Woodbridge and the school house north of Noadiah Carrington's house in that town.
This road, in its day, engendered much bitterness and strife. The people of Waterbury centre wanted to have it pass through the vil- lage, which was by many persons considered the natural way for it. Aaron Benedict was one of the incorporators, and his influence with the other directors, it is said, prevailed with them to have the road pass his house, on the plea that that was the most direct route. Waterbury centre was side-tracked and dissatisfied, while Water- town and Salem Bridge grew apace. It became an accepted route between New Haven and Albany and during busy seasons a pro- cession of teams was passing over it night and day. One is not surprised that Waterbury grew restless and longed for the quieting influence of "stage " horn and wheels.
At length the bridge at Salem needed repairing, and the Turn- pike company for its own convenience, apparently, made some slight repairs, which Waterbury refused to pay for. Finally, a freshet took away the bridge and the town proposed to make the company replace it, but the company sued the town for a new one and suc- ceeded in showing that their layout did not include the bridge. Just above the bridge, across the low land bordering the river, the company built a dyke to protect the road from overflow during freshets, which, it was claimed, turned the water under the bridge with so much force as to undermine one of the abutments and let
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OLD HIGHWAYS AND STREETS.
fall the new bridge that the company had compelled the town to build. The town sued the company for damages, but obtained no redress.
This was, perhaps, the first contest between the Corporation and the People of Connecticut. The contest has gone on at large from that time to the present-and has ended at last, it is said, in the State being completely and comfortably swallowed by a railroad company.
After Waterbury centre was thoroughly beaten in trying to do anything with The Straits Turnpike Co., the people resolved to have a turnpike road of their own, and in October, 1801, " The Waterbury River Turnpike Company" was incorporated. It was to run from a point near the center of Naugatuck, about forty miles, to the north line of the state. Among the incorporators were Noah M. Bronson of Waterbury and Asher Blakeslee of Plymouth. The dam- ages to individuals for land taken, were to be paid by the town wherein such land lay before May 1, 1802. Four turnpikes or gates for the collection of toll were allowed-one in Colebrook, in Tor- rington, at the bridge place across Waterbury river by Samuel Rey- yolds' house in Plymouth (whereby we have the name Reynolds Bridge), "and one other at or near the house of Jared Byington, Esq., in Waterbury (Salem)." "Reynolds' bridge" was to be built and kept in repair by the company. Other bridges, that the towns had been liable by law to build and maintain, were still left to the towns. The stock consisted of 1680 shares-the value of a share not stated.
At each of the four turnpikes the fares were 4 cents for each person or horse-for each chaise with one horse and passengers, 121/2 cents-for each four-wheeled pleasure carriage or stage-coach 25 cents. No animal was allowed to pass the gate without the pay- ment of one-half a cent. Exceptions were made. If a man were going to church, or to a society meeting, to a funeral, to a town or freeman's meeting, or to a gristmill, to military duty, or, if he lived within two miles of the gate and went not more than two miles beyond it on his farming business, he paid no toll. Four years later, another gate was permitted, and in 1822 there was one provided for, south of the point where Spruce brook comes to the river (above Waterville).
As the Straits Turnpike Company was the first to inaugurate the War of Corporations versus The People, so the Waterbury River Turnpike Company was the first to wound the community by dese- crating the graves of the fathers-its road being built along the east side of the river above Salem Bridge, between the cemetery and the river, on land properly belonging to the cemetery. The work was
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
carried on by digging into the bank and undermining the graves, without any support being furnished, so that some of the earliest buried and principal of the forefathers had their bones exposed by the action of the elements and were left sliding down and scattered about for the gaze of the indifferent passer-by. This action was seconded by the Derby railroad, which was built through an Indian burying ground and the ancient bones and buried implements were shoveled out like rubbish.
The era of turnpikes brought the era of taverns on a large scale. Many of them became notable. On the New Haven and Litchfield route were Bishop's tavern at Watertown,* Selah Scovill's a mile north, Simeon Smith's at Morris, Daniel Beecher's and Irijah Terril's at Naugatuck, Ahira Collins's at Straitsville, and on the Plymouth route Samuel Judd's held its own at least to 1816, in which year, the inn-keepers were Daniel Beecher (Salem), Samuel Judd, and Stiles Thompson (Middlebury).
It was said that at a certain date the stock of the Waterbury River Turnpike Co., was "all owned" or at least controlled by two men, Victory Tomlinson, and one of the Bronsons at Waterville. The story is also told that Tomlinson owned all the turnpike from his neighborhood (Mount Tobe) to New Haven, and, that he, not being known, was arrested as a vagrant as he sat one day by the wayside eating his dinner. He defended himself by saying that he was on his own property. Being asked to explain, he replied that he "owned all the turnpike." It was said to be his ambition to own all the land between Mount Tobe and New Haven.
It often occurred, at about that time, that capitalists made them- selves conspicuous by their shabbiness and coarse manners, and were mistaken for suspicious characters. Indifference to public opinion in the matter of dress and social observances on the part of those who were rich and thought themselves above criticism, led to strange complications, and furnished abundant and abiding anec- dotes for the story teller.
The Naugatuck valley was a centre of the turnpike interest, it being not only the home of the earliest turnpike road in the state, but was itself traversed about 1820 by the Humphreysville and Salem road, which was cut into the foundations of the hills along the east side of the river. It was also the starting point of other roads. In 1812, came the Southington and Waterbury turnpike road, which is now called the Meriden road. The western gate was within two hundred rods of the house of Reuben Lewis, in Wolcott.
* There were several others less conspicuous-in fact on all much travelled roads a tavern sign was to be seen every two or three miles-teamsters had their favorite stopping places, and in this way farmers found a market for hay and grain. F. J. K.
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OLD HIGHWAYS AND STREETS.
In 1823, the Woodbury and Waterbury Turnpike road was pro- jected and probably accomplished.
Notwithstanding the fact that Waterbury centre was not on the main turnpike road from New Haven to Litchfield, it steadily grew in numbers, and its activities were increased, as will be seen by the following "Assessments on Mechanics, &c., in Waterbury in 1816":
ATTORNEYS.
Legrand Bancroft, Bennet Bronson, Cyrus Clark, Samuel Frisbie.
PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS.
Edward Field,
Joseph Porter,
Nimrod Hull,
Jesse Porter.
INN KEEPERS.
Daniel Beecher,
Samuel Judd, Stiles Thompson.
TRADERS.
Burton & Leavenworth, Lampson & Clark, E. & A. Spencer.
GRIST MILLS.
Leavenworth, Hayden & Scovill,
Lois Payne, Jobamah Gunn, Jesse Wooster.
SAW MILLS.
Eli Adams & Co.,
N. Platt,
Levi Wooster,
Benj. Farrel, Asa Hoadley,
Elias Clark & Co., David Downs.
CARDING MACHINES.
Herman Payne, Alfred Platt & Co.
CLOCK MAKERS. Clark, Cook & Co.
BUTTON MAKERS. Leavenworth, Hayden & Scovill, Amasa Goodyear, Grilley & Wooster, Scott & Beebe.
BELL FOUNDER.
Erastus Lewis.
WOOLLEN FACTORY.
Scovill, Lampson & Co.
FLAX MILL.
Smith, Platt & Co.
TANNERS AND SHOEMAKERS.
Ashbel Stevens,
Andrew Bryan,
Culpepper Hoadley.
CLOTHIERS. Daniel Steele,
Leveritt Candee.
TAILOR.
Asahel Adams.
SADDLER.
Moylen Northrop. HATTER.
Elijah Hotchkiss.
COOPER.
Anson Sperry.
BLACKSMITHS.
James Brown,
Martin Stephens,
David Stephens,
Lyman Hitchcox,
Obed Tuttle,
Jesse Scott, Thaddeus Hotchkiss, Elisha Smith.
CARPENTERS AND JOINERS,
Lemuel Porter,
John Downs, Samuel Root,
Chauncey Root,
David Prichard, Jr.
Dyer Hotchkiss, William Hoadley, Jr., Richard Ward, Nathaniel Carroll, Eliel Mann.
570
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
During the period between 1797 and 1826, some one hundred and twenty turnpike roads were constructed. The Waterbury road was annulled in 1862, but before that date the road had been given up, except for about eight miles of its southernmost portion, whereon it kept a toll-gate between Waterbury and Naugatuck.
In 1851 Plank roads came into repute. Seven were constructed in three years. The Waterbury and Cheshire Plank Road Co. was incorporated in 1852. Three Waterbury men were among the incor- porators, William H. Scovill, John P. Elton and Arad Welton. The capital stock was $20,000. Shares $50 each. The toll-gates were at least three miles asunder, with a toll not exceeding three cents a mile for any vehicle drawn by two animals.
As this is written the last turnpike road in Connecticut passes out of existence, the committee of the superior court, Judge Brew- ster, F. J. Kingsbury and C. S. Davidson having made their report on the "Derby turnpike"-which report values the franchise at eight thousand dollars, upon the payment of which sum the road passes to the towns through which it runs, New Haven, Orange, and Derby.
The following interesting history of the "Bury Road " is given by Mr. Kingsbury:
THE BURY ROAD.
About 1840 Silas Hoadley, who lived at Greystone, tried to per- suade the town of Waterbury to build a road from Downs's saw mill, half a mile above Waterville on the Hancock brook, to the Plymouth line a little below his house. The distance was not much over a mile, but it was very rocky. The Waterbury authori- ties did not think the convenience of the road warranted the expense and declined to build it. Then Hoadley brought a petition to the County commissioners, and after a long hearing with able counsel and a cloud of witnesses the commissioners ordered the town to build the road. In the testimony a great deal was said about its being a better way than we had heretofore of reaching Plymouth Hill and Bristol-also that it shortened the distance from the Waterbury factories to large tracts of woodland, etc., etc. The road was built at a cost, I think, of about $1700. It made a very picturesque drive along the valley of the Hancock brook and some one gave it the name of "Bury " road, which it retained as long as it existed. The road crossed the brook near Downs's saw mill, and went the rest of the way to Hoadley's on the east side. In 1853 or 4, the Hartford, Providence and Fishkill R. R. was laid out taking this road from the bridge north and entirely destroying it. Suits were brought against the railroad to get damages or a
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OLD HIGHWAYS AND STREETS.
new road, and I think the case went to the Supreme court, but through some legal technicality nothing was accomplished. Then Mr. Hoadley began another long and expensive fight to compel the town to build a road on the west side of the brook. A road was built there, but I have the impression that Mr. Hoadley failed in his suit and built the road at his own expense. After a few years Mr. Hoadley died-a freshet carried away a considerable portion of the road and it has now been impassable for several years. It is a great saving in distance-and would make a very pretty drive and really ought to be rebuilt-although perhaps the mere economic use would hardly justify it. Mr. Hoadley had acquired a competence in the manufacture of clocks, but his fortune was seriously impaired by his expenses in connection with this bit of road. Probably if he had built it entirely himself in the first instance it would have been much more economical.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
THE WATER-POWERS OF WATERBURY-FIRST THE GRIST MILL AND THEN THE SAW MILL-SOME OF THE BEGINNINGS OF LARGE MANUFAC- TORIES-OTHER ENTERPRISES THAT HAVE BEEN FORGOTTEN-A CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO STREAMS.
T HE story of Waterbury's industrial development is in its beginning the story of Waterbury's water-powers, and these next demand our attention. If in these days of steam and electricity we are tempted to forget how largely industrial devel- opment owes its initiative to the water-power, we are reminded, by the latest engineering feat, that progress often doubles on itself. The discarded water-power of yesterday finds its vindication in the harnessing of Niagara to-day, and the transmission of its power to places of manufacture many miles distant. Along the track of the most matter-of-fact narrative, a chronicle of Waterbury's water- powers for example, lie curious suggestions, if one but looks for them. These, however, can be only hinted at in this general way.
GRAIN MILLS.
As Mattatuck was twenty miles from Farmington, the site of the nearest,* or at any rate the most accessible, mill for grinding grain, and as there was no road but a cart path over the mountain, one of the obvious needs of the new settlement was a "grist mill." The Grand committee under date of November 27, 1679, either of their own motion or at the suggestion of the townspeople, advised the inhabitants to build a sufficient corn mill (doubtless meaning by "corn " grain of all kinds), and said further:
And for encouragement we grant such persons [builders of the mill] shall have thirty acres of land laid out, and shall be and remain to them and their heirs and assigns forever, he or they maintaining the said grist mill as aforesaid forever.
* According to Davis's " History " a mill was built at Yalesville in 1677, and there was another on Wharton's brook in the lower part of Wallingford, built in 1674. Either of these was nearer than Farming- ton, but probably there was no practicable road in that direction. There is mention in a layout of land in 1686, near the junction of Beaver pond brook with Mad river, of the place " where the mill stones were brought over." They would hardly have been brought from Farmington by this route, and it may be that the stones from the Wharton brook mill, which seems to have been replaced by the one at Yalesville, were brought over to do duty here, as this would be a natural route, but evidently not at this time an easy one, or the fact would not have made sufficient impression to be so noted. They may have come this way from New Haven.
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OLD MILLS AND EARLY MANUFACTURES.
Stephen Hopkins, who was the owner of a mill in Hartford, accepted the proposal, built a mill and sent his son John to run it, but did not come here himself or remove his family hither. The mill and the land allotment attached to it became the property of John. He was from the beginning of his settling here a prominent citizen, and his descendants have perhaps furnished more men of distinction than any other family to be found in the town's history. The mill was built soon after the committee's vote of advice. It was perhaps already arranged for, and it seems to have been satisfactory, as on February 5, 1680, the record of the committee says:
It is further concluded that Stephen Hopkins, who hath built a mill at that plantation, shall have the thirty acres appointed and entailed in a former order to such as shall erect a mill there, and so much more land added to the said thirty acres as may advance the same to be in value of £100 allotment. There is also a house lot containing in estimation two acres granted to Stephen Hopkins as conveniently as may be to suit the mill, and the aforesaid Thomas Judd and John Stanley and the present townsmen [are] to lay it out to him, and also a three acre lot, according as the other inhabitants have granted to be laid out [to them ?] by these same per- sons for him.
The mill was built on Mad river (sometimes called "Mill river" from this fact) where the Scovill Manufacturing company's factory now stands .* The dam was placed across the narrowest point, where the two hills approach each other, very near the north end of the present south rolling mill. The mill stood immediately south of the dam, the north end of it resting in part on the wall of the dam. It had a fall of about eight feet. Portions of the lower timbers of the old dam, or its immediate representative, remained in place until about 1876, when they were finally torn out in the progress of improvement. The mill dam was open to the road for a short distance above the mill. It was utilized sixty years ago as a place to water horses and to wash wagons, as a bathing place for boys, and also for baptism by immersion. The writer remembers on one occasion having seen the ice broken away for this last named purpose.
The accompanying illustration shows the situation of the mill + with reference to the pond, probably as it was from the beginning, although the building here pictured was not very old. The mill was in the north end of the building next to the pond, and the mill
* When the mill was built the name of the river was "Roaring river." After the building of the mill, the name was changed to " Mill river." Because the mill dam sent the water back on Daniel Porter's three- acre lot, the town allowed him a part of the highway on Grand street, near the corner of Bank.
t This cut appears again in Vol. II, p. 277. The original sketch was made by Lucien I. Bisbee, book- keeper in 1835 for J. M. L. & W. H. Scovill. In the cut in Vol. II, p. 278, dated 1858, the building in the. foreground is the office, and stands on the site of the miller's house.
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
door is seen near the north end of the building, looking in the cut more like a long window than a door. The south end of the build- ing is the rolling mill. The building on the extreme right is the button factory, built in 1830 to take the place of one on the same site which was burned. The miller's house at this date stood in front of the mill on the west side of the road. The house lot of two acres was at the corner of East Main street and Exchange place, the property now owned by the heirs of William Brown. It extended east to Great brook, and the house stood fifty or sixty feet westward from the brook. Later it became the property of Ephraim Warner and for many years prior to its demolition, some- where about 1840, was known as the Ephraim Warner house. At one time it was a hotel .* John Hopkins had also another house near the mill, probably for the miller. A portion of the thirty acres was laid out to him south of Union street, running down to, and perhaps below, Liberty street. This whole tract was known for many years as Mill plain. It is some- times called on the records "Hopkins's Mill plain," and sometimes " Hopkins's plain." This is to be distinguished from "Sawmill plain," at the east end of Waterbury. Several pieces were given in different parts of the town to complete the thirty-acre grant. To carry out the agreement in regard to the £100 propriety the for- feited allotment of Deacon Langton was granted to Hopkins, the provision being made that one-half the allotment should be entailed to the mill, as were the thirty acres in case the committee "granted the same." On February 16, 1682-3, the committee ratified the action, naming John Hopkins as grantee. This is the record:
In reference to what lands are granted by the inhabitants of Mattatuck to John Hopkins the present miller we do well approve of, and in case they shall see cause to ease the entail of any part of the £100 allotment we shall not object against it.
Occasional troubles between the town and the miller arose which gave rise to several modifications of the original agreement, and a removal by vote of the town of the entail from some part of the land. On January 17, 1732-3, Stephen and Timothy, sons of John Hopkins and executors of his will, conveyed their interest in the mill and the thirty acres to Jonathan Baldwin, Jr., of Milford (who
* See Vol. II, p. 224.
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OLD MILLS AND EARLY MANUFACTURES.
was, however, Jonathan Baldwin, Sr., of Waterbury, as he had a son known as Jonathan Baldwin, Jr., also frequently as Colonel Bald- win). Jonathan Baldwin died in 1761, and the mill property passed to his heirs, and finally into the hands of Colonel Phineas Porter, who married Mr. Baldwin's granddaughter. In 1783 Phineas Porter conveyed it to Lieutenant Aaron Benedict and Captain Benjamin Upson, and thereafter for some years the mill is referred to on the record as "Benedict & Upson's mill." In 1805 Aaron Benedict sold his half to Lemuel Harrison, who, apparently, also acquired Upson's half. In 1808 Lemuel Harrison sold his interest to Abel Porter, David Hayden, Daniel Clark and Silas Grilley, who con- stituted the firm of Abel Porter & Co., Waterbury's first gilt button makers. They purchased the property for the button business. The firm afterward became Leavenworth, Hayden & Scovill, then J. M. L. & W. H. Scovill, and finally the Scovill Manufacturing com- pany, as related in Volume II.
The mill remained a mill long after there ceased to be any use for it. At last it got out of repair from lack of use. About 1850 some men of no influence or standing attempted to raise the ques- tion whether the mill lands had not been forfeited by failure to keep up the mill. These lands for the most part had long before been sep- arated from the mill and sold to various persons. The equities were so evidently in favor of these holders that the ancient proprietors (as many as could be found) met and voted to release any supposed interest they might have under the mill grant. Dr. Bronson * has quite a full history of the matter, and seems inclined to the opinion that the proprietors acted without due authority. He apparently does not bear in mind the vote of the committee of February 6, 1682, giving the proprietor inhabitants the right to ease any part of the entail that they should see fit to, which right was certainly acted upon once, if only once.
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