USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Fairfield > This is Fairfield, 1639-1940 > Part 39
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Notice-Salt will Be Ground at My Mill in Hulls Farms on Tuesday and Wednesday May 21 & 22, 1872. Joel Banks. From The Fairfield Advertiser-1884. * *
Southport has quite a fine "fleet of sail" when seen collectively. The handsome yacht "Isabel" is being thoroughly overhauled by her owner, Capt. C. A. Meeker. She is about 38 feet long and 10 tons burthen. Capt. George Bulkley has his trim yacht "Nereid" also hauled out for repairs. She is 38 feet long and 8 tons burthen. Capt. W. B. Meeker's fine yacht "Ada" about 6 tons will reappear soon. Capt. M. Buckley's "Annie" 20 feet long is being put into first class shape. Beside the yachts we have the cat rigged boats, "Maud" belonging to R. L. Shepard; "Water Lilly", Lewis Curtis and Andrew Walker's the sharpies of Thomas Moore, 20 feet long; Horace Sickmund's 14 foot, two belonging to Buckley and Allen; a two master belonging to Will Jennings, T. Mitchell's 20 foot oyster boat and C. S. Guyner's 30 foot; the Buckley Bros. have a fine small sail boat. The large boats are the schooners "Henry A. Remsen", "Mary Elizabeth", "White Rock", "George Edwin", "Helen Mar", "Emily C. Deni- son" and "S. A. Faulkner". (Emily C. Denison sank at Charleston, Mass., raised and towed to flats- badly injured). Thus it will be seen that Southport has quite a navy, which if placed in line would make an imposing appearance.
May 29, 1884
The Marcelin Chemical Works have sold the ruins of the factory at Black Rock and their 7 acres of land to Irwin Strickland of Bridgeport for about $3,000.
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Ice Cream Saloon-Messrs. Bulkley & Allen have fitted up a very nice Ladies and Gentlemen's Ice Cream Saloon at their store on the dock, Main Street below the Post Office. Besides excellent cream which they sell by the plate, pint, quart or gallon, they keep the soda waters, root beer, etc.
Hotel Merwin-Fairfield, brilliantly lighted by gas-Grand Hops popular here. * *
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Allen Hotel-200 guests-people of wealth and refinement-bal-masque given for children. * * *
Free Railroad ticket from Bridgeport. Messrs. W. B. Hall & Co. of Bridgeport will during their great sale of silk and July sale of Summer goods give free return tickets to all who purchase to the amount of $10.
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There will be a display of Japanese Fireworks about noon at the Pickett Store, tomorrow-4th of July.
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Messrs. Fletcher & McEwan are rapidly complet- ing their improvements to the Wakeman Mills, at Sasco Lake. They are already manufacturing straw- board and employ 6 or 8 men. Success to the enter- prise.
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If you want a good clean shave neatly performed, A. C. Muser is your man. He also keeps in stock all of the desirable weekly newspapers.
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August 13, 1884
Mr. Robert Dickie has been on the Plain (Mill) with his thrashing machine during this week. He thrashed 50 bushels on Tuesday forenoon for E. Burr and had to come 2 miles with his machine, and spend an hour in setting it up besides. *
Mr. B. F. Bulkley is now rushing business at his cider mill. He makes 4 gallons of cider from a bushel of apples with his new power press. * *
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1886
Turkeys are abundant in this vicinity and un- usually well feathered for this time of year. We noticed, the other day, a remarkably fine flock at the residence of the First Selectman. *
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The Fairfield Rubber Works is now compelled to work some departments until 9 p.m. for a while in order to catch up with orders.
Onion Farming
I feel that the onion farming of the 19th cen- tury should be discussed in detail here for the Southport Globe onion is still sold today by seedsmen all over the country. This area was probably the onion center of the East. The farm- ers worked hard and long and hoped for a good price in New York at the close of their yearly efforts. Three schooners went weekly to New York. The young boys of the families were kept from the Spring and early Fall terms of school as they had to help out in the onion fields. The ground had to be carefully prepared with all of the little stones raked off, the soil gently leveled and smoothed. The seeds were then planted by
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a seed sower which dropped 14-18 seeds per foot of the row. The rows were twelve inches apart. These were planted just as soon as the frost was out in hopes that a slightly earlier harvest might be realized. The little white pickle onions were the choicest and brought the best price. The boys and men would weed onions day after day for a dollar a day and their dinner at noon. Farmers from Greens Farms and Greenfield Hill sent their produce to New York via the market boats and the trains. Two large freight cars loaded to capacity of 125 barrels left Southport every day. The farmers preferred the boats however for the transportation cost was less and they could be sure that they would not be frozen enroute. The Captain of the sloop sold the onions in New York, charged the farmer 22¢ commission on every barrel (23/4 bushels made a barrel) as his fee and returned the remainder of the selling price to the grower. Prices varied with the de- mand. $10.00 per barrel was the highest price I could find and 15¢ per barrel the lowest. The
saying was that when seeds were expensive, onions would bring a good price. The average price per barrel would be about $1 to $3. The story goes that it was nothing to see the wagons (horse drawn) and oxen drawn carts loaded with barrels of onions lined up from Southport Har- bor along Main Street and Pequot Road to the Bronson Road Railroad Bridge on shipping day. The boats went once each week. A four horse wagon would carry 12 barrels and many a year a single farmer would have from 100-500 bar- rels. These were loaded on board, covered with canvas, then piled with a layer of salt hay and another covering of canvas on top-all of this to prevent freezing. The Henry Remson, cap- tained by Felix Heney of the Banks line carried 2,000 barrels and the Falkner captained by "Brad" Wilson of the Meeker line, carried the same amount. The Mary Elizabeth of the Jen- nings line had a hold with a capacity of 1500- 2000 barrels. Shipping would begin in Septem- ber and continue throughout the winter until the last one was sold. My Dad often said that it would take all summer to raise them and all winter to get rid of them.
(Southport Chronicle, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 1870)
MARKETS
The sloop Mary Elizabeth, J. Jennings & Son, leaves for New York every Saturday night.
The sloop Henry J. Scudder, W. B. Meeker & Sons' Line, leaves for New York every Tuesday night .- See advertisement.
LATEST MARKET PRICES OF PRODUCE
White Onions $6.00 per B'l.
Yellow Onions 3.50 per B'l.
Red Onions
3.50 per B'l.
Potatoes
3.50 per B'l.
Turnips
Apples
Hay
1.00 per cwt.
Straw
1.15 per cwt.
Eggs
.50 per doz.
Butter
.50 per lb.
Corn
1.05 per bush.
Fowls
1.40 per pair
The invention of the Meeker Smoothing Har- row was a real innovation in the life of an onion farmer for with this piece of equipment the preparation of the soil for planting was made much easier and all the farmers bought one.
Onions had been raised as early as 1760 ac- cording to the records.
SOME ONION NEWS ITEMS
March 11, 1886-Fairfield Advertiser
900 barrels of onions were shipped from the depot last week.
March 29, 1871-Southport Chronicle
Onions are lower. Faces are longer. Never mind! Next year don't hold on for such immense prices.
In 1860 the average sized farm in Connecticut contained 99 acres; in 1870 93 acres, and in 1880, 80 acres.
We have read of the early efforts of the Townsfolk to have a "Smith live among them" and one fully realizes how very important this tradesman must have been. Until the event of the automobile some forty years ago, blacksmith shops were numerous in all parts of Town. John Jennings had one of the very early ones, as had Caleb Brewster of Revolutionary War reknown. These men established their own trade-not by invitation but by their own initiative.
As the 19th century became the 20th, there was Jim Trainor's in Southport and George Lewis across from the Deerfield School, McGar- ry's in Fairfield Center, Mike Sharkey's on Red- ding Road just north of where Catamount joins it, Ben Burr's at the corner of North Street and Black Rock Turnpike, Charles Wakeman's on Banks North Road. Thomas Beecher's at Platts- ville-noted for oxen and horse shoeing. Frank E. Lane had established his shop in Southport in 1886. A picture of his shop is carried in the picture section.
Daniel Squire, a stout strong blacksmith had kept a shop on Bronson Road and had sold Dr. Dwight his land back in 1783. Stephen Hull had also had a shop as had Darius Grant.
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Hull Sherwood told in December 1814, "We get our oxen shod at Jabez Squires for a dollar" and on January 18, 1813, "Father got the mare shod at George Sherwood's" .- thus two addition- al tradesmen. The Blacksmith at the foot of Sport Hill would not only shoe horses but fixed wagons too. Lacey's Shop was especially noted for this type of work. There was still another shop at the corner of Hill Farm Road and Duck Farm Road and Morris Wilson had one just off the Black Rock Turnpike on Hemlock Road where only oxen could be shod. The oxen were put in a sling- like frame, tied head and feet and then hoisted up to have their shoes put on. Further south on Black Rock Turnpike was Charles France's little blacksmith shop set close to the road. This still stands today on the property of Mr. and Mrs. Richard H. MacDonald. This property was orig- inally called Steep Rocks in 1814 but was later known as Samp Mortar Farms and was owned by Alden Gould, the Brickmaker. Then there was Foster's blacksmith shop up in Aspetuck. He was also a wagon maker.
William Fallon came to Greenfield from Southport and opened his shop at the corner of Hill Farm Road and Hillside Road. As he left Southport everyone proclaimed that he would go hungry up there in the country and would have "to eat snow balls and cedar tops" to keep from starving. He was such a good shoer I've been told though that it wasn't long before he sent word back to his doubting friends "to come on up-for the snow balls and cedar tops were fine". The story goes that Mr. Fallon was so accom- modating that it was a common sight to see 10 or 12 horses along Hillside Road waiting their turn to be shod. The shop was a sort of shed-like structure with a combination stone and brick furnace. He later moved to the corner of Verna Hill and Greenfield Hill Road where the former Greenfield Hill Fire House stood.
Mr. William McGarry's shop is one remem- bered by all of us who have lived in Fairfield very long. This shop had been started by Mr. McGarry's father John and his grandfather Michael Fox on the land adjacent to the front yard of Sherman School-the northeast corner of the front schoolyard just south of the large buttonball tree about 1840. In 1871 it was moved across the street to its final location because Sher- man School was to be built. To many when it closed in 1941, it was sort of the end of old time Fairfield, for modern stores sprung up on all sides and across the street but the pungent smell
of the burning hoof was a nostalgic reminder of Fairfield as it had been and we hated to see it go. There is a picture of it included here.
There were undoubtedly many, many others which I have failed to find or hear about, but certainly we realize there was a goodly number of blacksmith shops.
In looking over some old accounts, I found these of Mike Sharkey's. They show amounts paid to Mr. Sharkey in 1881-1882 by Mr. Frank Sherwood.
1 shoe on Charley .31 CA
Shoeing Billy 1.25
2 shoes on Charley .63
Sharpening shoes on Charley
.75
2 shoes on Billy .62
Repairing chain
.25
Shoeing two horses 2.00
3 new shoes
.94
Setting shoes on 3 horses
2.00
2 shoes on Bill
.62
2 shoes on Fan
.62
2 shoes on colt
.62
3 shoes on Doll
.93
Shoeing 2 horses
2.30
There were some other single factories, shops and businesses which should be mentioned. Ger- shom Hubbell who lived on Hillside Road was a leather boot and breeches maker and his daugh- ter Priscilla was said to be the best glove maker for miles around in 1795. Hull Sherwood bought a pair of gloves from her in 1816 for 9 shillings.
The current Greenfield Hill Congregational Church parsonage was a gun factory during the Civil War. This was run by Isaac Milbank. In this so called armory he manufactured the Mil- bank rifle and it is said that one can still obtain shells for this rifle.
There was still another gun factory over in the Wilson's Mills area and several kinds of guns were manufactured there. One in particular was a sort of a boot shaped pistol and another a per- cussion lock, smooth bore. Sam Wilson was the manufacturer. He made the first rifle in Fairfield County. In all, he made more than one hundred guns and repaired many others. He did a great deal of iron work including 12 sets of saw mill works excluding the crank. His shot guns sold for $5.00-$10.00 each and his rifles for $30.00 each. It took him a week to make a gun. He couldn't keep up with the orders from all about and they came from as far away as Ireland. He bore the barrels out of solid iron. The story goes that he ordered hundreds of crow bars in New York. These crow bars were drilled and used for bar-
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rels of guns. He also bought iron by the bar from Miah Perry.
His father-in-law Eliphalet Lyon lived on Burr's Street just above where Old Academy Road joins it and he wove the first carpet on Green- field Hill. Dr. Dwight brought him a piece which he had purchased in New York asking him if he thought he could weave one like it. Mr. Lyon told him to go home and cut up his old clothes, sew them end to end and he believed he could make a similar one. Dr. Dwight did as he was bid and returned a while later with the requested neces- saries. Mr. Lyon had unraveled his sample, knew the pattern and proceeded to make the carpet.
Just off the Black Rock Turnpike, north of the Merritt Parkway, gun barrels were made. They bore them out right there too.
There was a distillery up at the Still Pond off Catamount Road where they made cider brandy in 1870. That was called the Beaverdam Dis- tillery and there was another run by Mr. Beach over in the eastern part of town.
There was also a carpet factory on North Street run by Isaac Smith. This "factory" wove yards and yards of rag carpeting. Folks would take their rags cut in strips and sewed together and on his big loom, Mr. Smith would weave car- pets for them. A picture of the carpet factory is included in the picture section. Mrs. Polly Banks, my great grandmother who lived on Redding Road also wove carpets for neighbors and friends who needed new floor coverings.
I found some early weaving prices:
Capt. John Not debtor £ s d
-for weaving twenty-three yards of
woolen cloath at 5 shillings per yard 5/10/0 -for weaving three yards of linen
cloath at eighteen shillings per yard 2/19/0 January ye 4, 1749.
Rag carpets were undoubtedly much less ex- pensive especially when one furnished his own rags.
H. Noah Osborn made combs. There was also a comb factory on Sturges Highway just north of Hulls Farms Road and still another over on the Saugatuck. It was just a little shed-like build- ing along the side of the road that used the river for power. I saw an advertisement in an early newspaper which read "cash paid for ox horns at the comb manufactory". There was also a plaster mill close by the comb factory on a sluice way which cuts in from the River. Frank Sher- wood mentioned going to the plaster mill and getting 300 lbs. of plaster.
The Bradley Axe factory also on the Sauga- tuck and described for me by Mr. and Mrs. John Fanton came to its location on that river in 1872 from a spot on Hulls Highway just below where Mrs. Sarah W. Wood now resides. That first axe and edge tool factory of David Wakeman in the Hulls Farms district was like a blacksmith shop really. Wakeman Bradley, having learned his trade in Fairfield, went to the Lyons Plains Road spot and established the Bradley Axe and Edge Tool Factory. There they made axes, broad adzes, hatchets, turpentine tools, ship carpenter tools, ship mauls, caulking irons, socket chisels, drawing knives, rabbit knives, box scrapers, pruning shears, garden trowels, machettes, etc., etc. It is said that the trip hammers could be heard all the way to Fairfield and Southport on a frosty morning. $1.00 a day and board was the pay for the superintendant and when he kept the books he received 15¢ an hour extra. Mr. Fanton further told me that they did "a power- ful business on agricultural tools and with the South for hoes but the Civil War shot the hoe business all to pieces". The grinding was hard on the men and "they used to wear wet sponges over their mouths and noses but it eventually got into their lungs and they dropped with consump- tion". There were open fires throughout the fac- tory and a wind box all through the shop. The factory was completely burned in 1911.
Another enterprise: The Saint Mark, a hotel which once stood where the Fairfield Chapter of the American Red Cross now stands on the Old Post Road was a thriving establishment in 1880 and boasted "Large airy rooms, parlors and verandas, electric bells, Gas, Post and Telephone Office. Beautifully situated amid scenes that charm the eye, its excellent drives, attractive walks, freedom from all restraints, combine with its healthful and invigorating atmosphere to ren- der it one of the most homelike of all Summer Resorts. Hops, Concerts, Tableaux, Theatricals will be arranged for and for recreative purposes, every requirement provided. Transient rates $2.50 per day", in its advertisements. It was open all year. See the fine picture in the picture sec- tion.
McCarrick's Harness Shop at the corner of Fairfield Woods Road and Black Rock Turnpike was known for miles around for his fine har- nesses. McCarrick also had a harness shop in Southport in 1870.
Hamilton and DeLoss was a company which was planned in December 1916 on the site where
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the Mckesson's Office building now stands, for the purpose of supplying partly formed hollow- ware and flatware for the jewelry and silverware business. The thought being that if partly shaped spoons and teapots could be made here, it would greatly expedite the work of the silversmith as it would only be necessary for him to embellish the piece with his own designing.
By the early spring of 1917 this plant was ready to meet the demand for the stampings from the silversmiths but then the United States entered World War I and of course nearly all of the American manufacturers were busy making war goods. Hamilton and DeLoss too received several Government contracts. They made brass eye pieces for gas masks and cases for food for the Army. Some nickel and silver parts were made as well-all as parts of implements of War. As World War I came to an end in Novem- ber 1918, no hollowware pieces had as yet been made and it was decided to sell the Company to the Hawthorne Company of Bridgeport, which in turn made stampings for automobile trays, flashlights, etc.
Kennel Food Supply Company
The Kennel Food Supply Company, manu- facturers of high grade dog foods had been in Fairfield a long time and just this past Fall moved to Lorain, Ohio.
The story of the Kennel Food Supply Com- pany goes back to the late 1890's when Simon C. Bradley, who bred and trained hunting dogs, gained a wide reputation by his success in field trials and exhibitions throughout the country. After many experiments, Mr. Bradley developed a balanced food for his dogs and started baking the mixture in one form of biscuits in an oven in the kitchen of his home. On his trips to vari- ous field trials he took the baked food with him and occasionally gave some of the biscuits to other trainers and kennel owners. The food proved so tempting that soon trainers and owners were asking him to prepare it for them and al- most before he knew it, he was in the dogfood business.
For some time he continued to bake at home but the demand grew so fast that he built a plant on the site of the most recent business on Mill River just below the Sturgis Road bridge. Here he installed one oven. The business grew and the plant was expanded. It was said in 1908 that 5 or 6 tons of dog food were shipped each day. All went well until August 1917 when the plant was destroyed by fire after being struck by lightning.
Undaunted, Mr. Bradley immediately started to erect a new plant and in November of the same year the business was resumed. Mr. Bradley con- ducted the business until his death in 1936.
The original formula of Mr. Bradley's was improved from time to time as newly discovered and tested nutrients were added but even today it remains the basis of the biscuits and other dog foods manufactured by Kennel Food Supply Company.
More than forty ingredients go into the mixers which blend them into a dough resembling grand- mother's old fashioned molasses cookies. From the mixers the dough would go to a rolling ma- chine and then through a machine which kibbles it into designated sizes and thence to the ovens.
The Company was one of the first to put a canned dog food on the market. A number of other special diet foods for dogs and other ani- mals were produced at the Fairfield plant. One of the products-Chim Crackers, which contain raisins among other ingredients, are made especially for feeding monkeys. They are sold to Universities throughout the country. Other products would include Rabbit Pellets, special food for rats and mice, wild bird food which contains especially prepared biscuits in addi- tion to a mixture of seeds. In 1946, Kennel Food Supply Company became a division of Hygrade Food Products of Detroit.
The gentleman who once said that nutrition- ally dogs eat better than their masters spoke a real truth here. Salesmen for the company often eat a bite of one of the biscuits as they are ex- plaining the merits of their products.
As this company moved its operation to Ohio in the Fall of 1959, another bit of old Fairfield was chipped away.
Ernest and Floyd Burr had a carriage and wagon repair shop on North Street with an up and down saw being remembered by some; and Charlie and Joe Kloberdanz had a Tinning and Plumbing Shop on Black Rock Turnpike at the Merrit Parkway exit. Michael Lacey had a wag- on shop on Mill River at the Sport Hill Road in Plattsville. There-wagons were built, repaired and painted. A picture of this shop is included here.
Walter Perry made oxcarts on the west side of Merwin's Lane just about where Mr. and Mrs. Frank Labbance now reside.
There were other handle factories for axes, shovels, etc .- one at Dave Gould's in Aspetuck.
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There were sorgham mills where they first soaked the sugar cane like corn stalks and then squeezed out what sugar there was and made a syrup of it. One of these was on Sturges Highway just north of Hulls Farms Road.
There were slaughter houses where butchering of beef, sheep, hogs and calves was an ongoing process-one of these stood on Jackman Avenue just off Stratfield Road.
Jonathan Bulkley recorded on January 26, 1846, "Mr. Samuel Henshaw sold his place a week or two ago-including his Mill Pond to Bridgeport folks for to set up Manufactures of Saddle Trees".
There was a flax mill over on Black Rock Turnpike, just across from where Mr. and Mrs. Richard MacDonald reside.
Still another business worthy of note was that of the newspaper, The Fairfield Gazette, a week- ly established on July 13, 1786 by Stephen Mil- ler and Francis Forgue. Prior to February 15, 1787, the firm took Peter Bulkley into the part- nership and the firm's name became Miller, Forgue and Bulkley and the title of the paper be- came "The Fairfield Gazette or the Independent Intelligencer". Early in August 1787, the firm was dissolved and Forgue and Bulkley became the firm's name. The last issue located is that of September 23, 1789. These advertisements ap- peared in the February 22, 1787 issue:
Fairfield Gazette: Printed by Miller, Forgue and Bulkley - subscriptions for this paper at seven shillings per annum. Essay, Articles of Intelligence etc., etc. are thankfully received and every kind of work in the Printing Line performed with neatness, accuracy and dispatch.
Also:
Two coppers Per pound Given for clean Linnen and Cotten Rags at the Printing Office.
In this same issue appeared the following item: Fairfield, February 22
On Tuesday last arrived at Black Rock the Brig Fairfield, Capt. Smedley from Hispaniola, laden with Rum and Molasses.
On the same day sailed from Black Rock, the sloop Fairfield, Whitney master, for Boston and sloop Dolphin, Thorp master for Dolphin.
There have been other papers over the years. The Southport Chronicle which started in Novem- ber 1867 and continued to 1901 is the next one we know about. Then there was The Fairfield
Advertiser from 1884 to 1890, The Fairfield Weekly Record, April 29, 1897 to April 21, 1899. The Fairfield News, July 1, 1922 to 1957 and now the Town Crier, which has taken the place of the News since 1957.
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