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 II > Part 12
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Up to the end of 1893 the cost of the sewer system, including its maintenance, was $455,500. Other data are as follows:
Total length of sewers,
26 miles
Number of man-holes, 767
Catch basins,
· 248
House connections,
2459
NORTHWEST ELEVATION.
RESIDENCE OF N. J. WELTON, HILLSIDE AVENUE -SOUTHEAST ELEVATION.
RESIDENCE OF N. J. WELTON, HILLSIDE AVENUE-SOUTHEAST ELEVATION
Nilsono. Wilton
109
THE WATER WORKS AND THE SEWERS.
NELSON J. WELTON.
Nelson James Welton, son of Lyman and Minerva (Judd) Welton, is a lineal descendant of Richard Welton, who is reputed to be the first male child of European parents born in Waterbury, the date of his birth being September 27, 1679. Nelson James Welton was born in Waterbury, Buck's Hill district, February 15, 1829, in the house occupied by Richard Welton and his descendants from 1708 to 1840, the property having passed through six generations by in- heritance.
The ancestors of Mr. Welton on both sides were staunch Episco- palians; on the maternal side he is the great-grandson of the Rev. Chauncey Prindle. He is a member and the senior warden of St. John's Episcopal church; was for fifty-two years in the Sunday School; thirty-two years a vestryman, and parish clerk from 1877 to 1889. He has been secretary and superintendent of the River- side Cemetery association since 1853.
Mr. Welton is a civil and hydraulic engineer, and is a member of the state board of civil engineers. He was appointed surveyor for New Haven county in 1850; was street surveyor of the city of Waterbury for thirty-two years, and was engineer in charge of the construction of the city water works and of the city's system of sewerage. He has been president of the water board, with the exception of two years, since 1867. He has served the city and town in various other official capacities, and was representative to the General Assembly in 1861.
Mr. Welton is a prominent Free Mason; was made a Mason in Waterbury, February 14, 1856. He is a Knight Templar; a Past Eminent Commander of Clark commandery, No. 7, and a Past Grand Commander of the Knights Templars of Connecticut. He is also a "Scottish rite " Mason, being a member of La Fayette con- sistory, S. P. R. S. 32°, of Bridgeport.
In 1869 Mr. Welton married Frances R. P. Lyon of New York.
ROBERT A. CAIRNS.
Robert Andrew Cairns was born in Waterbury, December 2, 1859. After completing the course at the High school, he entered the Waterbury English and Classical school, and prepared for college. From the age of seventeen until twenty-one he served his appren- ticeship as a machinist under his father, who was for many years one of the most skilled mechanics in the employ of the Waterbury Brass company. Having gained a good knowledge of this trade he entered the Rensselaer Polytechnic institute, at Troy, N. Y., and
IIO
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
was graduated with honor in 1885. He commenced practice in this city in 1882, and served during the following season as assistant to City Engineer Weld in the construction of the main sewerage works. From 1885 to 1887 he was connected with the Rensselaer institute as instructor in descriptive geometry and mathematical drawing, but resigned the position to take charge of the water works at Middletown, Del., an enterprise which he carried to success- ful completion. While thus engaged he also laid out and built the beautiful roads to the summit of South peak (1200 feet high) on the Billings estate at Woodstock, Vt. In the summer of 1887, in addi- tion to his other engagements, he became connected with the Lud- low Valve Manufacturing company of Troy, and served them as engineeer for two years. In 1889 he held the position of engineer of the water works at Centreville, Md., completing them in January, 1890. . Resigning his position with the Valve Manufacturing com- pany, he became a member of the firm of Hedden & Cairns, and engaged in the erection of iron and steel structures. As already mentioned, he was elected city engineer of Waterbury on Decem- ber 4, 1890. In December, 1892, he was chosen a member of the Board of Health.
Mr. Cairns is well versed in his profession, and on different occa- sions has been called upon to deliver lectures upon scientific sub- jects. He is a member of the First Congregational church, and has been elected to various offices therein. In 1890 he married Mary Elizabeth Clash of Centreville, Md.
CHAPTER VIII.
EARLY FIRES-FIRST ACTION OF THE BOROUGH-A SECOND ORGANIZA- 1 TION IN 1832-THE "MATTATUCK" OF 1839 AND ITS FIFTY-FIVE MEMBERS-ITS ENGINE HOUSE-A NEW ERA-" MATTATUCK" DIS- BANDED ; "PHOENIX " RISING FROM ITS ASHES-A NEW ENGINE- FIRE COMPANIES UNDER A CITY CHARTER-THE COMMON COUNCIL IN CONTROL-FIRE LIMITS-THE CHARTER OF 1871 AND ITS BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS-THE COMPANIES AS ORGANIZED-STEAM AND HORSES-FIRE ALARM TELEGRAPH-LIST OF CHIEF ENGINEERS -SKETCHES OF THE SEVEN COMPANIES-TWO OF THE CHIEFS-A LIST OF NOTABLE FIRES.
A T two o'clock on the morning of February 25, 1833, occurred one of the saddest tragedies found in the chronicles of Waterbury. The Judd house on West Main street caught fire, probably from the funnel of a cooking-stove, and amidst a wild snowstorm was burned to the ground. Of the nine occupants of the house six escaped, while two children and a young man thirty-one years of age, perished in the flames.
At the time of the discovery of the fire by Mrs. Israel Holmes, flames were bursting from the front windows of the house. She had barely time to seize her two youngest children (Latimer, a boy of nine months, and Eliza, a year or two older), and make her way in safety from the burning building. Olive and Hannah Judd, who were daughters of the well-known Captain Samuel Judd and aunts of Mr. Holmes, having sleeping-rooms on the ground floor, also escaped unharmed. On the floor above slept Miss Harriet Nichols, also John N. Tuttle, the young man already mentioned, and Mr. Holmes's two elder children, Harriet, aged seven, and Margaret, aged five. Hearing the alarm given, Tuttle called to Miss Nichols to escape through the window, and then fought his way amid the flames to the room of the sleeping children, where in the heroic attempt to save their lives he lost his own. When the bereaved father returned on the morrow from a journey, he found his
II2
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
stricken wife mourning beside the smoking ashes of their desolated home .*
A disaster like this was well fitted to arouse the thoughtful citi- zens of the place in regard to protection against fire. But a serious fire at the Scovill Button factory, in March, 1829, had already led their thoughts in this direction, and a small fire company had been organized. In fact, a fire company was established in the spring of 1828, apparently with the following members:
Anson G. Stocking,
William H. Brown,
William Johnson,
Augustus Brown,
John P Elton,
S. M. Buckingham,
Israel Holmes (Ist),
David Welton,
Isaac Boughton,
George W. Benedict,
William Horton, Edward Horton,
Eri Scott,
George Warner,
Samuel Stocking,
Elisha Steele,
Samuel W. Hall,
Lucius P. Bryan,
John Bronson,
Edward Thompson,
James P. Goodwin.
The engine used by this company was a most simple affair, shaped like a churn on legs, carried about in a wagon and operated by two cranks.
We have no further information concerning the fire company of 1828. But in the borough records for August 31, 1830, we find the following:
Resolved, That to secure the citizens of said borough from damage by fire it is expedient to form a fire company. Therefore,
Resolved, That such able bodied citizens of said borough, not exceeding the number of sixteen, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, as shall enroll themselves as members of said company, and by their consent in meeting shall agree to submit to such rules and regulations as the wardens and burgesses shall make relative thereto, shall be and remain a fire company for said borough.
On May 5, 1832, according to the records of that date, the number of members was increased to twenty, and on May 21 the warden and burgesses were instructed to erect a suitable house for a fire engine on the ground granted by the proprietors of the Waterbury
* The sermon preached at the funeral of the victims of this fire was published in a pamphlet of twenty- four pages, with the following title : "Chance and its Design. A Discourse delivered at the Interment of the Remains of John Nelson Tuttle and Hannah Ardelia and Olive Margaret Holmes. By Joel R. Arnold, Pastor of the First Church of Christ in Waterbury, Conn. New Haven : Printed by Baldwin and Ellis. 1833." An appendix, pp. 22-24, gives an account of the fire, and adds: "The parents of the children have great satisfaction and consolation in the character of their oldest daughter, having reason to hope that she was interested in that religion by which they have themselves been sustained in this severe affliction. The hope is cherished by those who best knew Hannah, that she was the subject of renewing grace when about five years of age." From an article by Charles U. C. Burton in The National Magazine for October, 1857, pp. 290, 291, we learn that "the citizens of Waterbury erected a monument upon the spot where the three vic- tims were interred in the old burial ground." Mr. Burton says further : " An old elm which stood nearly in front of the house, and had extended its shadows over the heroes of the Revolution, struggled manfully for life after the fire, notwithstanding its seared condition. Although it presented on one side only a charred trunk, it continued to send forth fresh branches and verdure ; but within the last two or three years the old tree has disappeared, and with it the last vestige of the old Judd place."
II3
FIRES AND THE FIRE DEPARTMENT.
academy, and the sum of thirty dollars was appropriated for that purpose.
In 1839, or thereabouts, a new organization was formed known as the Mattatuck Engine company. Edward S. Clark, previously con- nected with the fire department of New York city, had come to Waterbury to reside, and it was mainly through his influence that the company was organized. The following were the first mem- bers :
Anson G. Stocking,
Edward S. Clark,
G. W. Benedict,
William Johnson, James P. Goodwin,
Hiram W. Hayden,
S. E. Harrison,
Samuel A. Castle, Henry Steele,
Milo Hine,
John Clark, Aner Bradley,
Henry Merriman,
David S. Law,
Samuel H. Prichard.
An engine belonging to the old Empire company of New York city was procured, and through the supervision of Hiram W. Hayden, James P. Goodwin and Edward S. Clark was put in complete order and painted red and black. It was of the "goose-neck " pattern and was a powerful engine. It was afterwards sold, and sent to California.
According to the list just given, the members numbered fifteen. On August 30, 1843, the warden and burgesses voted to add fifteen more to their number, and established a "constitution and laws" for the company. At a borough meeting on September 2, of the same year, it was voted that all persons admitted into the Matta- tuck Fire company should pay the sum of three dollars to the treas- urer of the company, and at that time the following persons were formally enlisted, some of them having already served for several years :
Isaac Boughton,
James P. Goodwin,
George W. Benedict,
John M. Stocking, Samuel A. Castle, John Cowel,
Anson G. Stocking,
Edward Terrell,
George Bronson,
Stephen Harrison, Edward S. Clark,
William Sandland,
William B. Barrows,
Henry B. Clark,
Rufus E. Hitchcock,
William B. Frost, George Tompkins,
Alonzo Granniss,
Charles Bronson, Willis Johnson, S. M. Cate,
Harry Bronson,
David Welton,
Hiram Hayden,
O. H. Bronson,
E. B. Leavenworth,
Norman Steele,
At subsequent dates, extending from September 5, 1843, to May 8, 1847, the following additional members were elected :
David S. Law, Ephraim Welton, Frederick Treadway,
Elisha J. Barnard,
Edward B. Gilbert,
Elias W. Webster,
Aner Bradley, James Boyce,
Preserve G. Porter,
Israel Holmes, Edward Alling,
Lucius Roberts,
Milo Hine, 8
Chauncey M. Hatch,
Edward Hayden,
II4
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
Joseph Shipley, David Manchester,
Henry A. Matthews
Leonard Morris, James Hodson,
James S. Wilson,
William N. Bacon, Loren L. Platt,
Eli B. Gibbud,
William S. Bronson,
E. L. Pratt,
William Bodine.
Henry M. Clark,
In another place in the borough record is the following list of persons "excused from acting as firemen in the Mattatuck Fire company for the borough of Waterbury":
Elisha J. Barnard, John M. Stocking, Charles Bronson, Harry Bronson, Edward Alling, Henry B. Clark, George Bronson, Israel Holmes (Ist), Samuel A. Castle, Willis Johnson, John Cowel, William Sandland, Ephraim Welton, C. M. Hatch, Edward Hayden, Elias W. Webster, Edward B. Gilbert, David Man- chester, Loren L. Platt, Aner Bradley.
On September 12 of the same year George W. Benedict and Abram Ives were appointed to dispose of the old engine and engine house and to find a location for a new engine house ; and Edward Chittenden and Charles Scott were made a committee to procure by subscription the sum of $100 for the purpose of erecting a new building. It was voted, October 9, that a tax of one cent on the dollar be laid on the list of 1842, to defray the expenses of building an engine house for the use of the fire company ; said tax to be made payable by November 15, 1843. The same meeting made choice of Lucius P. Bryan as collector. On November 16, the warden and burgesses, not satisfied with the old constitution, appointed a committee to draft a new one more nearly adequate to the needs of the company. At a special meeting, May 25, 1844, it was
Voted to lay a tax of two cents on the dollar on the polls and other ratable estate of the borough of Waterbury, on the grand list of 1843, to defray the expense of purchasing 200 feet of leading hose and two short lengths of suction hose, to purchase a hose cart for the use of the engine now owned by the borough, to con- struct reservoirs and to defray all other necessary expenses,-said tax to be made payable by June 20, 1844.
Messrs. William H. Scovill, Aaron Benedict and Alfred Blackman were appointed a committee for this purpose. On August 2 of that year, the number of the firemen was again increased, the limit this time being placed at sixty.
At a meeting held on March 12, 1849, five years later than the last mentioned date, a new era in the history of the fire department was entered upon. It was voted :
That the present fire company being insufficient for the needs of the town, a company of 100 men in two divisions be organized, with two engines and the neces- sary apparatus; that the old engine be sold or exchanged, and an additional engine house built.
II5
FIRES AND THE FIRE DEPARTMENT.
Such other details were to receive attention as should "place the fire department upon a sound footing, such as the wants of the public demand." The committee to which the matter was referred reported the following :
Cost of two medium engines manufactured by L. Button & Co.,
Waterford, complete (each $500), $1000
Cost of 500 feet of leading hose, 275
Cost of two hose carts (estimated at $25 each), 50
Cost of engine house, 160
Freight and other expenses,
100
Total,
$1585
They also reported that the old engine would sell for not less than $300, and with 300 feet of hose was worth $400. These pro- ceedings were afterwards decided to have been irregular, but the same results were reached at a meeting "legally warned and held" on May 30.
At a special meeting of the warden and burgesses held in Wash- ington hall on May 10, the Mattatuck Fire company was declared disbanded, and it was
Resolved, That such able-bodied citizens of said borough, not exceeding the number of 120, and not under the age of eighteen years, as shall enroll themselves and be enlisted by the warden and burgesses of the borough as members of the fire company, and by their consent in meeting shall agree and submit to such rules and regulations as the warden and burgesses shall make relative thereto, shall be and remain a fire company for the borough of Waterbury.
The new company was organized in two divisions, known as Phoenix Fire company No. 1 and No. 2, and the following persons were enlisted :
William J. Nicholson,
William Bodine,
Henry Chambers,
Elias W. Webster,
William H. Stone,
Ransom Chipman,
George W. Munson,
Eli B. Gibbud,
Hiram Curtiss,
John C. Hall,
Alfred Forest,
Orrin H. Bronson,
Nathan W.Tomlinson,
Henry B. Platt,
Harry Hall,
James Scarritt,
Eli Perkins,
John Adams,
Samuel B. Hall,
Alonzo M. Robe,
William Morris,
Burr C. Denny,
Henry Churchill,
Erastus Peirce,
Lucius S. Beach,
E. S. Sperry,
George C. Scarritt,
Henry Tomlinson,
David Welton,
A. F. Taylor,
David Castle,
Chauncey C. Judd,
William H. Kirk, Isaac A. Mattoon,
Hobart Smith,
William L. Merrell,
F. A. Tolles, F. L. Talmadge,
Sheridan Turrell,
Ruel F. Sanford, Edward Jeffrey,
William Van Velsor,
Charles D. Upson, Lyman C. Camp, James P. Goodwin,
Daniel T. Munger, Timothy Guilford,
William Mason, Henry Terrell, Charles Payne, Charles Porter, James Farrell, O. W. Minard, Jesse D. Flint.
Edward L. Pratt,
116
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
The officers of No. I were as follows : Foreman, Henry Merriman; assistant foreman, J. P. Blake; secretary and treasurer, John Ken- drick. The officers of No. 2: Foreman, James P. Goodwin; assistant foreman, Lucius S. Beach; secretary and treasurer, Eli P. Gibbud. It was voted at the same meeting that the warden and burgesses be authorized to sell the old fire engine, to procure two new engines, two hose carts, 500 feet of hose and other necessary appa- ratus, and to purchase, or lease, a lot of land, and erect an engine house thereon. The engine to be sold was a curious affair, work- ing horizontally. It admitted of only eight persons to man the arms, and the force was about equal to a garden machine. At the organization it was voted that the first man who got to the fire should have the privilege of holding the pipe. On August 16, 1849, a new constitution was presented, and was approved by the warden and burgesses, and on November 6 it was voted that a new engine house, not to exceed $100 in cost, be erected. In a statement of the financial affairs of the borough, brought down to May 7, 1850, it appeared that the following bills had been paid in December pre- ceeding :
J. & D. Sellars, for hose, $307;
Abraham Van Ness & Co., for fire engine, $800;
O. H. Bronson, for hose cart,
$120; ·
and that the amount received for the old engine was $200. The good people of the borough seem to have felt the pressure of these expenses, and we find them, on June 22, requesting the warden and burgesses "to prepare a by-law to repeal the vote authorizing them to procure a lot of land and a brick engine-house, unless the money can be raised otherwise than by a tax." At a meeting on November 19, following, Green Kendrick, L. P. Bryan, G. W. Benedict, James Scarritt, S. M. Buckingham and William Perkins were appointed a committee "to raise the sum of $400 to defray the expense of building an engine house, and for the benefit of the fire department, the same not to be built unless the sum of $400 be raised." What amount was raised does not appear, but on November 28, 1851, the warden is directed "to expend not to exceed $30," out of money raised for the benefit of the fire company in procuring stoves and repairing engine house No. 2, while on November 13 of the fol- lowing year, it was voted to impose a two per cent tax for the purpose of building a new engine house, costing not over $600, and purchasing 800 feet of hose, the expense not to exceed $500.
Having now reached the epoch of the incorporation of Waterbury as a city, we are interested to observe what place was assigned to the fire department in the new city charter. It provided that the Common Council should have power to make laws relative to
FIRES AND THE FIRE DEPARTMENT. II7
preserving the city from fire, and forbidding the erection within certain limits of any building "unless the outer walls thereof are composed of brick or stone and mortar." The Common Council was empowered to continue and control the two fire companies already organized, and it was specified that all property of any kind pertaining to the department should become the property of the city. The Common Council was given absolute control also over any fire companies which in the future it might be expedient to organize, as well as the right to compel the service, under penalty of fine, of a sufficient number of able-bodied men to act as firemen, should such fail to volunteer. Any active member of a fire company was, in recognition of his services, exempt from the payment of a poll-tax. By an ordinance of the Common Council, approved March 20, 1867, the " fire district " was marked out, within whose limits the erection of any wooden building, excepting under strictly specified conditions, was forbidden. In the later charter of 1871 these limits were enlarged so as to cover an area of eighty acres, and a series of regulations, more stringent than before, regarding the erection or enlarging of wooden buildings, was added.
In this second charter the fire department was placed upon a new footing by the establishing of a board of fire commissioners, consisting of the mayor and four others, each of whom should hold office for two years, and secondly, by providing that a fire marshal should be elected annually, whose duty it should be to keep strict watch and ward over all heating and cooking apparatus throughout the city, and to inspect, at least once in three months, all places in which gunpowder, fireworks, burning fluid, gas or inflammable oils are manufactured or kept.
The Waterbury Fire department of 1854, organized under the first city charter, had for its chief engineer Edward S. Clark, and for assistants Nathan Dikeman and Henry Merriman. (The full list of chief engineers is given on page 119.) The fire companies, whose origin in 1849 has been spoken of, were at this time manned as follows. The officers of Phoenix, No. I, were :
Foreman, Henry Lane. Assistant foreman, Richard Welton. Second assistant, William Laird.
Treasurer, Samuel H. Prichard.
Secretary, A. M. Belcher.
The officers of Protector, No. 2:
Foreman, James P. Goodwin. Assistant foreman, Daniel T. Munger. Second assistant, Francis Welton.
Secretary and treasurer, Timothy Guilford.
-
I18
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
The second division of the company, formed in 1849, seems to have adopted the name of "Protector." In September, 1856, a reor- ganization seems to have taken place, with a change of name; for we find the following record:
Waterbury, No. 2: Foreman, James Wallace; first assistant, James T. Ladd; second assistant, Frank Woodruff; secretary, A. I. Goodrich; treasurer, Elam Gaylord.
Four years later-September 4, 1860-Citizens' Engine company, No. 2, was organized. Monitor Hose company, No. 3, was organized on February 8, 1868; Mutual Hook and Ladder company, No. I, on September 28, 1872; Protector Hose company, No. 4, on January 16, 1881; Rose Hill Hose company, No. 5, on March 18, 1881, and Brass City Hose Company, No. 6, on February 2, 1887.
Until the year 1880, hand engines only had been in use, the engines and hose carts being hauled to the fire by the firemen themselves. In April of that year, however, the fire department invested in a Silsby steam fire engine, of the rotary build, which was placed in charge of Company No. I, and in honor of the veter- ans named "Phoenix." In November, 1883, a similar engine of the same make was purchased for Fire Company No. 2, and christened "Citizens."
Four years later five horses were purchased for the department; two to draw the Citizens' engine, one for the hose wagon of the same company, and two for the Hook and Ladder truck. In August, 1889, a new hose wagon was presented to Engine Com- pany No. I, and it was deemed advisable by the city to procure two horses to draw this wagon, also to use two instead of one on the hose cart of Company No. 2. In May, 1889, a Preston aerial fire truck was purchased, weighing 7190 pounds and costing $3000, which required three horses to draw it.
In 1879 the question of a fire alarm telegraph was agitated, and a committee was appointed to investigate what is known as the " Watkins system," represented by the Waterbury Automatic Signal Telegraph company (since merged in the New England Telephone company). The committee reported that they had failed in obtain- ing satisfactory proposals or information from the company. After a thorough investigation of the various fire alarm systems the committee decided to recommend the Gamewell system, and on Jan- uary 6, 1882, the board of fire commissioners recommended its adoption to the Court of Common Council. The suggestion met with favor in the Common Council, and the Gamewell fire alarm system was placed in the city under a contract for $5000. On February 22, 1883, it was tested and accepted by the board of fire commissioners.
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