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 III > Part 50
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PAINTERS, SCULPTORS AND ARCHITECTS.
who was perhaps the first of our citizens to collect works of art in any considerable quantity. The collection, which contains several thousand plates, is designed to illustrate the history of engraving on metal from the middle of the fifteenth century to the present time, and contains examples of the work of nearly all the promi- nent artists who have worked in the various manners of engraving.
PICTURE STORES.
The first local dealer in pictures was A. F. Abbott, who in 1862 occupied a part of the store in Reynolds block known as the Park Place book store. Previous to this time itinerant vendors and auctioneers occasionally offered pictures for sale, but there had been no permanent store of the kind in Waterbury. In 1866 the ' Naugatuck Valley Book Store and Art Emporium" was opened on Bank street, where P. J. Bolan's hardware store now is, with Charles S. Abbott as manager. The business was continued until 872. The oldest of the concerns now devoted wholly or largely to he selling of pictures and the making of picture frames are those f R. S. Curtis, B. Pollak & Co. and Alfred A. Adt.
PHOTOGRAPHY.
Photography in Waterbury may be said to have begun with the aguerreotype. In 1842, or thereabout, J. M. L. & W. H. Scovill ommenced the manufacture of daguerreotype plates. The most itricate and accurate machinery was necessary for the accomplish- ient of this, and skilled workmen had to be obtained. The first late was made at an outlay of $10,000. From the time that success ecame assured, the demand for the Scovill plates was always in xcess of the supply, and in 1845 the Scovill Manufacturing com- any furnished the whole supply of daguerreotype plates for the merican market.
One of the chief workers in the new industry was August Bras- rt, who manufactured the first daguerreotype plates ever made. . Daguerre of Paris had for some time been experimenting with ference to the new photographic process which afterward took s name, when, in 1838, wishing some plates polished in a peculiar anner, he applied to the proprietor of the factory in which young assart was employed. The work was given to Brassart, and he s engaged upon it for six weeks without knowing for what pur- se the plates were intended. The experiments were successful in exposure of two hours being allowed for each impression-and
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
photography passed from possibility to reality. Daguerre made his method public in 1839. In 1853 Henry H. Hayden, representing Holmes, Booth & Haydens, went to Paris in search of some person whom he could bring to Waterbury to make daguerreotype plates. He encountered Mr. Brassart, and came to an agreement with him. He came, and remained here, in the employ of Holmes, Booth & Haydens, until 1857, when the tintype superseded this branch of photography. From 1880 to 1894 Mr. Brassart passed his days at his photographic studio in Naugatuck, returning to his home in Waterbury every night. In 1894 he removed to Naugatuck.
Among those who had daguerreotype studios in Waterbury were a Mr. Peneel, who was in Gothic hall in 1845, J. Disbrow, who was in the old Apothecaries' Hall building in 1849, and Mr. Litch, who was on Exchange place in 1851. William King came to Waterbury in 1855, and was here as late as 1876, but has since died. In January, 1859, Everett & Burgess advertised "above forty kinds of pictures furnished, including ambrotypes and photographs," and William S. Kelley announced " photographs, ambrotypes, melanotypes and lightotypes." William H. Jones, in 1858, made a specialty of daguerreotypes of children, and C. F. Hendee advertised as a prac- tical photographer, "prepared to furnish views of scenery, public buildings and residences." But to G. N. Granniss belongs the dis- tinction of having been the first to establish the business on a per- manent basis in Waterbury. A building was erected for his use by William Brown on Exchange place, and on March 1, 1851, he took possession, and occupied it for nearly five years. He afterward removed to the Baldwin block, and in 1861 was in Elisha Leaven- worth's building. He remained there for fifteen years, and then removed to J. R. Ayres's building. In June, 1885, he sold his gal- lery and the business to Adt & Brother.
To Waterbury belongs the credit of having created a market and demand for the ferrotype, the first having been made in this city. William Delius manufactured ferrotypes about 1859, and at one time filled a thousand-dollar order from Germany. He was, by the way, one of the first Germans to settle in Waterbury, a man of excep- tional intelligence and scholarship. He was the son of a Lutheran clergyman, and a successful teacher of German. Mr. Kelley, above mentioned, did a large business in ferrotypes, sometimes producing in his small room alone 4000 dozen a day.
R. R. Munson had a photographic gallery on Exchange place in 1864, and B. L. Scott succeeded him.
J. A. MacDonald and Philo Smith had photographic "cars" in 1873, and William Bradley was here at the same time. Crowell &
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PAINTERS, SCULPTORS AND ARCHITECTS.
Chapman were here in 1876, and were succeeded in 1877 by Crowell & Davidson and in 1878 by Crowell Brothers, who remained here a few years. Alderidge & Kendall were succeeded in 1878 by John W. Alderidge, who after a short time removed from the town. Stephen W. Glenney was here in 1879, but returned to New Haven. Adt & Brother began business in 1880, and, as already mentioned, bought out G. N. Granniss in 1885. L. D. Benton came in 1882 and continued in business seven or eight years. Other photographers- arranged for the most part in the order of their coming here-were J. H. Folsom, succeeded by C. B. Benedict, who was succeeded in 1886 by a A. J. Stahmer; H. Chabiss & Co., succeeded by W. F. Thoede; G. B. Spencer, succeeded by A. H. Buckley; Farrell Brothers, 1887; Crane & Johnson, bought out by Adt & Brother, the business being now conducted by S. B. Hill; the Crane Art company, 1889; Frederick A. Stone, and the Aristophoto company.
THE PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY.
The Photographic society of Waterbury was organized March 30, 1888, with twelve members and the following officers: President, Charles R. Pancoast; vice-president, Alfred A. Adt; secretary, William L. White; treasurer, Edward W. Mooring. The first rooms were in the Baldwin block on Bank street, but in 1890 the society removed to the Brown block on East Main street, and in 1893 to still larger rooms on South Main street. The society makes no dis- :inction between the professional photographer and the amateur, the one object being the study and development of the art of pho- ography. Meetings are held on the first and third Tuesday even- ngs of each month. The present membership numbers sixty or nore. The officers are: President, Hiram W. Hayden (since 1890); ice-president, Leroy S. White; secretary, Henry A. Hoadley; treas- rer, Edward W. Mooring.
SOCI
ETY
OF
18
8
WATER
SEAL, DESIGNED AND ENGRAVED BY H. W. HAYDEN.
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
ARCHITECTURE.
In a New England village, such as Waterbury was from its beginning until 1825, when it became a borough, or later, the his- tory of its material progress is largely a history of the building of its dwelling houses. Even as late as the year 1800, the village of Waterbury consisted of dwelling houses only, with the exception of two places of worship, two school-houses, a tavern or two, which were simply dwellings on a somewhat larger scale than ordinary, and two or three stores and factories-these latter hardly to be dis- tinguished from the frame dwellings of the period. Most of the houses were substantially of one pattern, belonging to a class still represented in well-preserved specimens on our country roads. They were simple in design, and required in their planning and construc- tion only the wit of the owner and skill of an ordinary carpenter. If a large family that had become wealthy desired to build a house more spacious than a neighbor's, a builder more skillful than the resident carpenter could be found in Hartford or New Haven and could be imported for the time being. Frederick J. Kingsbury in his paper entitled "Work for the Mattatuck Historical Society" (March 4, 1878), said:
The carpenter, until a very recent period, was the architect not only of his own fortune but of his neighbors' houses, as well as of the churches and other public buildings; and in connection with the joiners and carpenters the gradual growth of architecture and its progress from the log house (or whatever it was in which our ancestors began their simple life in the new settlement) to the most elegant struc. tures now seen among us, with its various periods of transition, will prove an inter- esting subject for research.
There were, doubtless, "periods of transition " even in the architec- tural history of our humble village, but the changes of fashion and the indications of actual advance during the long period preceding the borough organization were too slight to be dwelt upon herc. The Johnson house (page 872) built by John Scovill for his son Wil- liam about 1720, the C. D. Kingsbury house (page 241) built in 1760, the Bennet Bronson house (page 798) built by Jesse Hopkins about 1790, and the John Kingsbury house (page 795) built in 1805, repre- sent quite distinct types of dwellings and may serve perhaps as landmarks on the pathway of progress; but the most elaborate of them was within easy reach of a first-class builder and did not call for the skill of a professional architect. And the same is true of the brick stores, such as those pictured on pages 873 and 41, which were built about 1830, and of the earlier brick factories, the first of which was erected by Scovill & Buckingham in 1840.
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PAINTERS, SCULPTORS AND ARCHITECTS.
There is a more important division into periods than that which turns upon architectural variations,-namely, that which makes account of special building eras in the history of the town and city. The opening of an important building era is referred to on page II, and another and more important one is described on page 564. Others may readily be recognized by any one who examines, even hastily, the volumes of the Waterbury American ; for from the earlier days of "Editor Cooke " until now, articles have appeared in it, year after year, in reference to the growth of the city and the number and character of the buildings erected. At the end of the half century, for example (December 20, 1850), we read:
To even the most casual observer it must be evident that our village for the last twelve months has spread over a much wider field than that heretofore occupied, developing from the centre in almost every direction. Land in the outskirts has been laid out into streets and squares, and a large share of the dwellings erected will be found located at different points on the margin of the valley. The adjacent hills have been invaded by the spirit of modern improvement, and some of them are now covered with residences. An air of still greater romance is thus given to our delightful village, reposing as it does within an area surrounded by one of the most picturesque amphitheatres of which nature can boast.
From the computation before us, it appears that the number of buildings put up during the present year is 140, of which 114 are dwelling houses, some of the first lass, but mostly two-story cottages of neat and tasteful architecture, models of comfort and elegance. Of factories there have been erected eight of brick and five f wood, some of which are of the largest class; three brick stores and one of wood; wo brick shops and five of wood. As for public buildings, a religious chapel is in ourse of construction, and a large and imposing brick edifice for the High school s nearly completed.
A year later, while Waterbury was still in the "borough period," ve find another report, in which the following new buildings are numerated, besides various dwelling houses: The factory of the Vaterbury Jewelry company; the rolling mill of the Benedict & Burnham Manufacturing company; the rolling mill of Brown & Brothers; the building and tower of the Manhan company; the uilding of the Hook and Eye company. We find again that dur- ng 1853-the year of the incorporation of the city-216 dwelling ouses were erected, seven factories, a new postoffice building and church, and the foundations laid for another church; also that Iotchkiss (afterward Irving) hall was dedicated.
Up to this time, if the services of an achitect were in any case quired-and we must bear in mind that besides the large brick ictories, three or four important churches and a high-school build- ig had been erected-such services must have been secured in me other town than this,-except that D. H. Meloy (an architect ; well as a builder) had been available since 1847. But in 1854 we
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
find in our new city a resident architect, Henry B. Welton. He was a son of the Rev. Joseph Davis Welton, and a brother of Hobart and Joseph Welton, whose names appear elsewhere in this volume. He remained here, however, but three years, and after his removal had no successor until 1863, when Robert W. Hill removed from Naugatuck and opened an office in this city. Since that date, as has already been stated on page 11, about a dozen architects have opened offices here, six or seven of whom are now (at the close of 1895) actively engaged in their profession. Brief biographies of some of these men are here added; also biographies of two or three who have been prominent in past years as builders.
BUILDERS AND ARCHITECTS.
DAVID HOADLEY, son of Lemuel and Urania (Mallory) Hoadley, was born in Waterbury, April 29, 1774. In his youth he learned the trade of carpenter, and soon became distinguished as a builder. He was employed upon the third house of worship of the First church in 1796, shortly afterward built the Judge Kingsbury house (page 795), the residence of J. M. L. Scovill (page 281), the Beecher house in Naugatuck, and a Congregational house of worship in Milford. At the invitation of several prominent men of New Haven, Mr. Hoad- ley removed to that city in 1814, and while there designed and superintended the building of the North Congregational church, Trinity church, the old Tontine hotel, and some important resi- dences. It is related that he was engaged in building Trinity church during the blockade of New Haven harbor by the British, in the war of 1812-14, and that a vessel from the Maine coast. bearing materials for its construction, was detained by the block- aders. Mr. Hoadley wrote to the commander of the hostile forces a letter in which he made so able a plea for the release of the lum- ber to be used in the sacred edifice that the heart of the good English churchman was touched, and he forthwith permitted the vessel to pass the blockade.
Later in life Mr. Hoadley returned to Waterbury, and died here in 1840. An obelisk was erected over his grave with only the brief inscription "D. Hoadley." At the time of the removal of his remains from the Grand street to the Riverside cemetery (July, 1891), Robert W. Hill contributed to the American a biographical sketch, in which he said: "As a self-taught architect, Mr. Hoadley had, in the opinion of the writer, no superior in his day in this state; the correctness of his designs and purity of details equalling the work of the best professionals. He had a sound judgment, a well balanced mind, a generous and honest heart."
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His first wife, Jane Hull of Waterbury, died here in 1799. His second wife, Rachel Beecher of Kent (a sister of Mrs. Austin Steele), died in Hartford, April 12, 1857 (see Ap. p. 67).
David Hoadley, the son of David Hoadley by his second marriage, was born February 13, 1806. He was eight years of age at the time of his father's removal to New Haven, and a few years later entered the drug store of Hotchkiss & Durand in that city, as clerk. In April, 1827, he removed to New York, and there engaged, on his own account, in the wholesale drug trade. In 1848 Mr. Hoadley retired from active business, because of ill health, but continued to fill a prominent place in social and financial circles. He held at various times the positions of president of the American Exchange bank, president of the Panama Railroad company, and director in the Life Insurance company of New York, besides other posts of responsibility.
When about sixty-three years of age Mr. Hoadley purchased a country place at Englewood, N. J., and there resided until his death in August, 1873. (For further details see the American of December 8, 1873.)
DAVID HUMPHREY MELOY, son of Merritt and Catharine (Platt) Meloy, was born in West Haven, January 22, 1826. He received his early education in his native town, and studied architecture with Sidney M. Stone of New Haven. He lived for a time in New Haven, following the trade of a builder. He came to Waterbury in 1847, and was one of the workmen engaged in the building of St. John's church in that year. He afterward went into business on his own iccount as a contractor, and employed in some instances a hundred nen at once. In November, 1862, he enlisted in the Twenty-third regiment of Connecticut volunteers for the war for the Union, and illed out his nine months' term of service. In 1878, or thereabout, ne discontinued the building business and from that time forward confined himself to architecture. Mr. Meloy, drawing upon a prac- ical experience of nearly half a century, compiled and published n 1890 an illustrated work entitled, " Progressive Carpentry," which las come into extensive use among builders and joiners.
On January 22, 1849, he married Sarah Preston, daughter of eman Sherman of Woodbury. They have had three children, daughter who died in childhood, and two sons, Edward Sherman nd Arthur Sherman, both of whom are architects.
BENJAMIN PULASKI CHATFIELD, son of Pulaski and Amanda Tibbals) Chatfield, was born in Oxford, January 15, 1828. When eventeen years old, he went to New Haven, to learn the mason's cade, and served his time as an apprentice until he was of age.
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
He came to Waterbury in 1852, to work on the first High School building, and in the following spring became foreman for George Welton. After a year or two he began business for himself, his first contract being made with Holmes, Booth & Haydens for their first factory. In the years following he built a number of factories and other important buildings, including the church of the Immac- ulate Conception and St. John's.
While engaged in building St. John's church Mr. Chatfield be- came interested, pecuniarily and otherwise, in Dr. P. G. Rockwell's project for a sanitarium in Aiken, S. C. (page 858). He ultimately gave up his business here, and in 1869 removed to Aiken to take charge of the new enterprise, which had in the meantime been transformed into a hotel. He has been connected with it from that time until the present, and has also been interested in other hotels in the south and the north. In the summer of 1873 he was one of the managers of Fenwick Hall in Saybrook. For three or four years he was the proprietor of the Planter's hotel at Augusta, Ga., and in 1887 opened the Mountain Park hotel at Hot Springs, N. C., which he conducted for two seasons.
At the time of the incorporation of Waterbury, Mr. Chatfield was made a councilman. In 1862 he was nominated for represent- ative by the Republican party as a " war Democrat," and was elected. During the riots of 1876, preceding the election of President Hayes, he was acting intendant (or mayor) of Aiken, and was instrumental in preventing a bloody conflict between the whites and the blacks. After the election, when there were nearly 200 white men under. indictment in the United States courts for riotous acts committed during the campaign, he visited Washington three times, appeared before the cabinet, and made a successful plea for a compromise. None of the cases were prosecuted, and peace between the whites and the blacks was permanently restored. He was postmaster of Aiken during the Garfield and Arthur administrations, and in 1894 was elected alderman.
He has for many years been a member of the Masonic order, and has held the highest offices in the lodge, the chapter, the council and the commandery. He is one of the charter members of Clark commandery and is still connected with Harmony lodge and the other Masonic bodies of Waterbury.
On December 11, 1848, he married Sarah Eliza Judd of Bethany. They have had eight children, only one of whom, John Lyman, is living.
ROBERT WAKEMAN HILL, son of Samuel and Polly (Brackett) Hill (page 933), was born in Waterbury, September 20, 1828. He was
تدكـ
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PAINTERS, SCULPTORS AND ARCHITECTS.
educated in the common schools, and studied architectural drawing at the Young Men's institute in New Haven, where he stood high in his class, and afterward held a teacher's position. He subse- quently studied architecture with Henry Austin of New Haven, and A. C. Nash of Milwaukee, Wis. He returned to Connecticut in [858 and practiced architecture for a short time in Naugatuck. In 1863 he removed to Waterbury and has continued to reside here and o follow his profession, in all branches of which he has an exten- sive practice. Mr. Hill was architect for the state under Governors Bigelow, Waller, Harrison and Lounsbury. He built the state armories at Waterbury, New London, Bridgeport, Norwalk and New Britain, and has furnished plans for public buildings as fol- ows: In Waterbury, the City hall, St. Margaret's school, the Hall Memorial chapel, St. John's Parish house and eight of the public chool buildings; in Watertown, the Taft school, the public school, he DeForest library; in Litchfield, the court-house, the almshouse, he fire department building, three public schools, two hotels; in New Britain, the opera house, the Bartlett school, the post office uilding; in Thomaston, the town hall and two public schools; in Vinsted, the Beardsley house and two public schools; in Ansonia, he opera house block; and churches and parish houses in a large umber of towns in Connecticut and beyond it.
THEODORE BARNARD PECK, son of Josiah Tracy and Ellen Lewis Barnard) Peck, was born in Bristol, January 14, 1856. He went to chool in his native town and at the Hartford High school, and fterward entered Cornell university. He took the full course in chitecture, and graduated in 1877 with the degree of "B. Arch." e was subsequently employed as a draughtsman in offices in New ork and Bridgeport, and worked for a year or two in Bristol. He me to Waterbury in 1881, and after a year and a half spent in the fice of R. W. Hill went into business for himself. During the ars that have passed since then, he has been busy in a quiet way, ing important and characteristic work in Waterbury and the sur- unding towns.
EDWY ETHELBERT BENEDICT, son of the Rev. Amos M. and Emily . Benedict, was born at White Hills, April 29, 1851. During his yhood he lived in a number of different places, his father having d a variety of parishes in Connecticut and New York. Having ceived a common-school education he left home with $1.50 in his cket (which he had borrowed to pay his fare), and at once began rk at the trade of carpenter. He became a foreman, and after- ird went into business as a builder. He studied drawing in the enings, and made architectural plans for his employers. Being
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
shut out from a more active business life by a serious accident, he decided to make architecture his profession, opened an office in Winsted in 1883, and came to Waterbury in 1884.
On October 21, 1875, he married Martha, daughter of William S. Wilson of Fairfield. She died December 17, 1886, and on June 18, 1890, he married Luella, daughter of George M. Van Ostrem of Winsted. There are two sons and two daughters.
WILFRED ELIZUR GRIGGS, son of Henry C. Griggs (page 392), was born in Waterbury, May 2, 1866. He prepared for college at the Waterbury English and Classical school, and after having been in the employ of the Waterbury Clock company for two years, entered the Sheffield Scientific school of Yale university in 1884. He graduated from there in 1887, and from the Columbia School of Mines in 1889, having pursued the full course in architecture. After a year and a half spent with New York architects, he returned to Waterbury in January, 1891. After a time he entered the office of R. W. Hill, with whom he has been informally connected for sev- eral years. Among the buildings designed by him are the Seminary building of Fisk university in Nashville, Tenn., and in this city the buildings of the Young Men's Christian association, the Odd Fel- lows, the New England Engineering company, the office of the Waterbury Clock company, the factory of the Rogers & Hamilton company, and the parsonage of the First church. In connection with Mr. Hill he has prepared the plans for the large and costly residence of E. B. Van Winkle in Litchfield.
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