USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Fairfield > This is Fairfield, 1639-1940 > Part 40
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Another interesting business of the past years was that of the Toll Road and the Toll Gate. These toll roads were roads prepared and main- tained privately, and passers-by were charged for the privilege of using the road whether they were alone on foot, or their animals passed over it, or they rode in a cart.
Book number Two for the Weston Turnpike Company dated December 1866 made delightful reading. This Toll Gate was on the Sport Hill Road at the intersection of Jefferson Street. If you were going southerly from Easton to Fair- field you would be charged the so called "Half Gate" rate but if you were coming out of Jeffer- son Street it was necessary to open the gate all of the way and you would be charged the "Whole Gate" rate. The rates shown on a toll board, -, which hung on the gate house, were:
THE RATES OF TOLL
Collectible by Law at a whole gate and half the sum at a half gate. Cts.
Every Coach, Stage Coach, Barouche, Phaeton
or other four wheeled pleasure carriage drawn by more than one horse .. .10
Every chaise, sulkey, gig, wagon, with body on springs and all pleasure carriages drawn by one horse only .05
Every loaded lumber wagon or cart drawn by one beast .04
Every loaded lumber wagon drawn by two beasts .10
Every empty wagon or cart drawn by one beast
.03
Each additional beast
.02
Each empty lumber wagon drawn by two beasts .05
Each additional beast
.02
Each loaded ox-cart .12
Each empty ox-cart .06
Each sleigh drawn by one horse .05
Each sleigh drawn by more than one horse .07
Each loaded ox-sled .10
Each empty ox-sled .05
Horse and rider .02
Horses, cattle and mules each .01
mills
Sheep and swine each .02
This was a regular little company with 100 shares having been issued at the outset. Stock- holders and officers in 1867 were: Mallett Seeley, President
Ezra Seeley, Moderator
E. S. Seeley, Clerk and Treasurer
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Clarissa Silliman Ira Sherman F. E. Silliman Anson Bennett David Silliman David G. Silliman N. L. Silliman
The cash collected from tolls averaged $45.00 to $55.00 a month and whoever tended the Toll Gate received $4.17 per month for his services. Some of the Gate Tenders listed included Edwin Luther, D. Peet, H. Ellis, Edward Botsford, Mr. Pratt, Mrs. Marsh, Seth Jennings, John G. Foot and Mrs. Foot, Mrs. Hall. The profits in 1869 amounted to $375.00. In the course of the years the annual dividend rate amounted to $1.75 or $2.25 or $1.50 or $1.00 and one year $2.75 per share. This, of course, was after all bills were paid.
The bills too were worth noting. In the winter the snow had to be cleared away from the Toll Gate and this bill amounted to about $9.00 each year-about 25¢ was paid for every snowstorm. The Rate Board had to be painted and this cost 90¢. Also for:
Cleaning the Toll House-2 days $3.00
Pump and fixtures for Toll Gate
6.00
6 lbs. of nails and hinges
.50
Lumber and Repair of Bridges 8.95
Window sash and glass .50
Nails, screws and door fixtures 1.50
etc., etc.
The Clerk received $2.00 a year for his services to the Company and a family generally lived in the Toll House.
The Company gave up their charter of the Road on July 23, 1887 having received $1800 from the Town of Fairfield and $1800 from the Town of Easton for the purchase of the Road for the Town's use. The Toll House was sold for $75. The coal remaining in the house sold for 80¢ and the oil for the Toll House for 70¢.
(File No. 240) HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 205 STATE OF CONNECTICUT HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
House of Representatives, March 3, 1886. The Committee on Roads and Bridges reported through Mr. Tuttle, Chairman of the Committee on the part of the House, that the Resolution ought to pass.
RESOLUTION
For the discontinuance of the Weston Turnpike, and for the establishment of a Free Public Highway. General Assembly,
January Session, A.D. 1886.
Resolved by this Assembly:
SECTION I. That the Weston Turnpike Com- pany, or either of the towns in which its turnpike roads lies, may petition the superior court in and for the county of Fairfield for the discontinuance of said turnpike road, and the laying out and estab- lishing of a free public highway in its place, which petition shall be accompanied by a summons, signed by proper authority, and served in the same manner as civil process upon the other parties interested therein. Said court shall have the same power to take any property of said turnpike company which the selectmen of any town or such court now have over individual or private property in laying out highways by the laws of this state.
SEC. 2. Unless the parties shall agree as to the judgment to be rendered on such petition, the same shall be heard by a committee of three disinterested persons, to be appointed by the court. Said com- mittee having thereupon given at least six days' notice to the parties interested of the time and place of their meeting, shall, under oath, lay out the same and estimate the damages sustained by said com- pany in taking their property for such free, public highway; also determine the proportion of said damages to be paid by each of said towns therefor, and report in writing their doings to said court. The said superior court, upon the acceptance of the report of said committee, shall render judgment that said towns shall pay to said turnpike company their proportion of said damages within such reasonable time as said court shall limit and appoint; and said towns, respectively, shall have power to raise and appropriate money for the payment of their portion of the same; and on failure to pay the same within the time limited by the court, execution shall issue for the same in the name and behalf of the said turnpike company; and such court shall make such order relative to costs as it shall deem just and reasonable.
SEC. 3. Whenever the property of said turnpike company shall be taken and compensation shall be made therefor for the purposes aforesaid, then such turnpike company shall surrender its property to said towns, and thereupon the same shall cease to be a turnpike road, its charter shall be repealed, and its said road shall be established as a free, pub- lic highway, and such company shall be discharged from all further liability on account of said road, and all persons traveling thereon shall be discharged from all liability to pay toll. Provided, said com- pany shall retain the right to collect its dues and close up its concerns the same as though this act had not been passed; and nothing in this act con- tained shall affect the claim of any person against said company.
Japanese Paper Ware too was a product of Fairfield being made by the Jennings Brothers. Their catalogue and price lists included listings of Hemp Fibre Basins, pails, cuspidors, bowls, foot baths, spittoons, etc.
Mr. Augustus Jennings of Southport and Captain Isaac Jennings of Fairfield started pa-
202
per manufacturing about 1860 in a mill on the Aspetuck River in Easton, and began making Japanese Paper Ware in 1867.
In 1892 or 1893, Charles B. Jennings, then owner of the business, moved it to Fairfield to do away with the long distance carting by horse and wagon of coal and materials, and the fin- ished products from the mill and his daily drive of twelve miles each way. The new mill was located at the present Round Hill Road and Pa- per Mill Lane.
In 1897 the mill made 30,000 pulp cannon wads for the United States Government. In 1904 the mill ceased regular production because of the increasing use of enameled ware in place of paper ware.
During that year it filled another order for pulp ignition discs, then operated intermittently until 1910 when a similar order was filled, after which it closed permanently.
In 1876 the Ware was given the Centennial Commission's Award for Lightness, Durability and Cheapness and in 1878 it was given the American Institute's Medal of Maintained Su- periority. Their catalogue said of the Ware:
Hemp Fibre Ware
For this ware, selected stock is used throughout, thereby rendering it very strong, while at the same time the weight of the ware is kept as light as is consistent with durability. Every article is moulded entirely in one piece without joint or seam of any kind.
Each piece is subjected to heavy hydraulic pres- sure, uniting it into a perfect inseparable body, and is thoroughly indurated and made impervious to moisture, heat or cold.
Every article warranted Positively Waterproof
A cut of their advertisement as it appeared in the Southport Chronicle on Wednesday, April 6, 1870 appears in the picture section.
Another early business was the ice business. The Wilsons up at the Mill made ice. They also made it over at Ted Nichols' Pond and down at Perry's and Bulkley's. The ice was cut into large blocks which were sawed by hand, then pushed down an opening in the water to the ice house where layer after layer was carefully stored in sawdust. The ice would have to be from 9" to 12" inches thick before it was cut. It was delivered to the stores and some home owners through the summer-as long as it lasted. There was a regu- lar ice route, just as the milkman or the butcher or the tin peddlar made his rounds. There is a
picture of Wilson's Icehouse in the picture sec- tion.
There was another company which one should mention. That is the Doscher Plane Company which located on Redding Road-on the east side just about half way between Verna Hill Road and Governor's Lane. There, were made small wooden planes-about one foot in length -in a small wood-working or carpenter's shop. This was probably about 1885 or 1890. The building was later moved to the Saugatuck Road in Westport where it was used as a boat building shop. The foundation for the building and the well still remain.
There was a candy factory in half of the old Fairfield hotel on Spring Street (Post Road) in 1915 operated by Shaker Naseff, a candy manu- facturer from Allentown, Pennsylvania. There was also another factory, The Tyson Brothers Company-a branch of the American Rubber Substitute Co. which made rubber substitutes and stood across from the duPont Company on Mill Plain Road-where Ludlowe Court is now. That burned on May 5, 1908. This company had come from Stamford just a year previously and had shipped a number of carloads each week.
Then too there was a factory which made un- derwear-The Eastern Underwear Manufactur- ing Company-which stood on Sanford Street.
The Mohican Spring Water Company in the Fairfield Woods district was another business and was noted for its spring water for miles around and was employing twenty-five people when it burned in 1905. They made Ginger Ale Lemon Soda, Root Beer and Soda Water. One of the senior citizens with whom I spoke said it was the "best drink and tasted so good".
E. J. Flanagan had a plumbing and hardware store.
The Fairfield Aluminum Foundry Corporation which started about 1906 in Fairfield produced castings of an alloy of aluminum which proved to be of great importance to the automobile trade. The castings which were produced had a tensile strength of 52,000 lbs. to the square inch in 1907. This factory became a division of the Aluminum Company of America in 1922.
In 1957 these departments were moved to the Bridgeport plant.
Special mention should be made of those busi- nesses which have not already been mentioned and have survived the toll of time.
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Buckingham and Company
Buckingham and Company started in South- port in 1892 with the initial product of coal being offered for sale. There was soon a demand for fertilizer by the farmers and this was brought by barge to Southport Harbor. It wasn't long be- fore grain too was added to the list of saleable goods. Today this is still a family company un- der the leadership of Clyde S. Buckingham.
E. I. duPont de Nemours and Company
The Fairfield division of the E. I. duPont de Nemours and Company was previously known as the Fairfield Rubber Company with Mr. E. P. Harral serving as president. This company orig- inated about 1879 and manufactured rubber coated fabrics for raincoats, work aprons and carriage tops.
The duPont Company purchased the plant in 1916. The same products were manufactured ex- cept that one principal product was automobile decking.
When steel replaced rubber coated fabrics for auto tops in the early 1930's, other products were produced such as upholstery materials for trucks and furniture, corset materials, flexible ventil- ating tubes for underground mines, rubber coat- ed fabrics for gaskets and diaphragms, and vari- ous other products of this type.
The major items manufactured today are de- signed for specific use in the rapidly growing industrial field.
The C. O. Jelliff Manufacturing Corporation
Charles O. Jelliff, the youngest of seven boys, was fourteen years old at the outset of the Civil War in 1861. His brothers having gone off to War left him at home alone with his parents. As the War days closed and his brothers came home, he chose to go to a neighboring town to learn the wire business with his brother Aaron.
When Charles Jelliff came to Southport in the 1870's he rented a little store on the waterfront, bought a few groceries and numerous tin cans. He painted the cans in various colors and ar- ranged them in tidy rows on the long shelves. These gay empty cans made a brave show and helped to impress the occasional customer. He hired a small boy to help in the store and when there were no customers in 1880, Charlie and the boy made ox muzzles, leader guards and horsehair flour sieves, the trade taught him by his father. A hand loom was used to turn out these products, for which a local market existed through a few hardware stores. From this it was
a short step to wire riddles (sieves) to separate onion seeds from chaff-truly an answer to the local farmers' prayer. Bird cage mesh and cop- per mesh for dynamo brushes too are listed among his early products.
As the business grew, a larger store was rent- ed and the gaily painted empty cans were re- placed by tinned foods and full cans of paint. A grocery and hardware store occupied the first floor of the new building while looms and wire working machinery were on the other floors. Another clerk was necessary and a horse and delivery wagon were purchased. On the side of the wagon was printed in big yellow letters "Charles O. Jelliff, GROCER". In 1902 with additional capital, the company became incor- porated.
By 1907 this second building too was out- grown and the initial part of the current factory was erected and the C. O. Jelliff Manufacturing Corporation went on to greater success. The first power loom was immediately installed to weave twilled-herringbone brass screens to strain tur- pentine. For the first year this loom was pow- ered by a kerosene engine until the United Illum- inating Company's power lines reached South- port in 1908.
In 1932 the Company started making resist- ance wire and now draws many alloys of copper, nickel and iron for precision resistors and heat- ing elements-both high and low temperature. Three years later the exclusive rights to the E. O. Norris patents on a process for electro-deposi- tion of metals in the form of one piece screening were acquired by the Jelliff Co. With Mr. Norris' cooperation, the process was perfected commer- cially and today LEKTROMESH is one of the basic items of their line. This material is either pure copper, pure nickel or nickel-on-copper. It is produced commercially in meshes as fine as 400 per inch and as large as 25. Its great ad- vantage is that it does not ravel at the edges nor can one distort the mesh, both sides being per- fectly smooth. It has a high tensile strength and can be bent, cut, drawn, soldered and otherwise mistreated. The coarse "meshes" are produced in continuous strips from a rotating cylinder, while the finer screening (200 per inch and finer) is made in single flat sheets. In addition to weaving, Jelliff forms mesh and LEKTRO- MESH into fabricated products such as dipping baskets, fuel strainers, filters and other objects.
Insect screening too is another one of the Company's active products. The type 316 stain-
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less steel makes the screening eminently satis- factory for salty atmospheres, since it does not ever stain paint.
During World War II, C. O. Jelliff Co. re- ceived one of the first Army-Navy "E" awards in our area and four stars were added by V-J Day. More recently the Company was honored by a special Chemical Engineering Achievement Award for its part in the Atomic Bomb Project.
Jelliff makes wire and holes formed by wires of all sizes and in all quantities. They are par- ticularly well known for their specialization in fine wire, microscopic holes, and pilot run jobs. Orders range from hundreds of thousands of square feet down to a few square inches. Wire products in steel, brass, nickel and copper manu- factured here, are now in demand for hundreds of uses.
Today this business which started as a "side line" to a grocery store on the waterfront is a large and successful industry.
The Fairfield Hardware Store
The Fairfield Hardware Store opened its doors in 1913 as the A. J. Benway Company-a paint store. In December 1914 Mr. Thomas Forsythe took over the ownership of the store, changed the name to the Fairfield Hardware Store and added a general hardware line to the items offered for sale. In March 1915 Mr. Edgar Riker, the pres- ent owner joined the staff and over the years the business has grown and the saleable articles' list expanded. As early as 1916 supplies were sent from New Haven by trolley and unloaded in front of the store the day following the place- ment of the order.
During World War I many wooden boxes were made and sold. These boxes were especially made for parcels to be sent overseas so that the men in service might enjoy a few goodies from home.
Mr. Riker, who has sold to customers over the years, is now selling to their grandchildren, and has seen the business change from the large pur- chases of one customer being replaced by per- haps fifty customers. In the early days there were many large estates in town and the care- taker did the purchasing of the large order for the estate. "Now with so many smaller houses about, people are doing their own work much more-it's the do-it-yourself age", he said.
In 1945 the Fairfield Hardware Store moved to its present location east of where it had been and on the south side of the Post Road.
Mr. Riker is proud of the fact that so many lads who started with him, selling in the store after school hours, now have their own hard- ware stores in nearby towns-and are successful.
The Handy and Harman Company
As the years went on, the Handy and Harman Company, whose executive office is in New York, established its plant in Fairfield in 1915,-hav- ing come from Bridgeport. The principal prod- ucts at that time were sterling silver sheets, bars, wire and silver anodes for electroplating. Both products were used primarily by the silver- smithing industry in the production of sterling and plated silverware.
An important development in the Company in the early 1930's was the introduction of Easy Flo and Sil Fos, low melting brazing alloys, or strong solders for which Mr. R. H. Leach, for- merly Vice-President was responsible. Those alloys found wide use throughout industry in the joining of parts for refrigerators, motors, piping, ship building, and so forth. During World War II, those products and related al- loys were in extraordinary demand, and their production in unprecedented quantities earned for the Company six Army-Navy E awards.
Another important activity of this plant is the recovery of precious metal from scrap and in- dustrial waste.
With the addition of new alloys for the elec- trical, electronic, and chemical industries, the technical uses of silver and other precious metals now surpass the demands of the silverware in- dustry for which the Fairfield plant was orig- inally established.
About 430 are employed at the local plant.
Mercurio's
Domenic Mercurio Sr. came to Fairfield in 1900 and opened a fruit store in the building where the Bracken Saloon had been located on what was then called Broad Street-now the Old Post Road. (See the picture section for a view of this first Mercurio store). From this store he went with his horse and wagon and his large baskets of fruit to the homes in the community.
The fruit-and later vegetables too, were al- ways the best and Mr. Mercurio took great pride in arranging it just right on the stands. The fruit had to be fresh and it had to be perfect. There was a rule which applied to all-no one touched the fruit. The story goes that after the stands had been ever so carefully arranged he put a
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cocoanut on the stand and had a sign next to it which read: "Don't Pinch the FRUIT-Pinch the COCOANUT".
By 1913 the site of the first little store was sold and Mr. Mercurio opened at a new location on Spring Street-now the Post Road-the cur- rent location of MERCURIO'S.
At the new site, business expanded and the old reliable horse and wagon were eclipsed by a used Stevens-Duryea touring car converted into a truck. None of the traditions were aban- doned however. It was still against the law of the store to pinch anything but the cocoanut. The fruits and vegetables still had to be the best. Groceries were soon added for the customers. First came a line of premium macaroni prod- ucts. Then came the rest of the groceries, top foodstuffs for which the store is still noted. Many of us remember the large bunches of bananas which always hung outside the door. There were always two bunches-one the bright golden yellow variety and the other of the short- er chunky rich red kind and to a child of the time, they seemed the largest and most luscious bananas that ever grew.
The Mercurio children had worked side by side with their Dad and in 1928 they assumed the responsibility of the store. The small Post Road store was enlarged.
In 1930 MERCURIO'S was singled out by Fortune Magazine as an example of a family grocery store in a period when chain stores were coming of age. Once again in 1934 the store was expanded.
.
The reputation of MERCURIO'S spread as a fine store where the seeker of the best in food could buy everything. Besides the items for the average meal, there were the epicure's delight. You could buy a loaf of plain white bread or a box of imported Dutch biscuits-a pound of hamburger or a tin of snails, pheasant or truffles -- store cheese or Italian Bel Paese; a chocolate bar or a $4.25 pound tin of assorted glaced fruits.
This has been a real family store from the be- ginning and now the third generation of the family is actively engaged in the business. This is truly a Mercurio business and truly a Fair- field business.
Switzer's Drug Store
Switzer's Drug Store in Southport has had a long record of business, having first been estab- lished on the waterfront in 1860-about where the Pequot Yacht Club now stands. J. Frederick
Jennings, we believe, was the first owner. Hard- ing B. Rieffestahl another owner sold the store to K. J. Damtoft in 1885. The store under the new ownership was open seven days a week and not unlike the drug stores of today carried in addi- tion to drugs-candy and kerosene. That store also had the first phone in Southport-a wall phone. Mr. Frank V. Damtoft, son of K. J. told me that as a little boy he attended Miss Augusta Smith's Seaside Seminary and as he drove his goat past the store each day on the way to school, the goat refused to go by the Drug Store until his father-K. J. had come out of the store and giv- en the goat a piece of candy.
In 1895 the store was sold to Luin B. Switzer and in 1920 it was moved from the harbor to its present location and expanded. A picture of the first store is included in the picture section of the book.
The Bullard Company
Edward P. Bullard, who had lost both his parents before he was seven, had been brought up on a farm near Great Barrington, Massachu- setts. The jobs that gave this boy his greatest pleasure were those in or near the tool shed. It was said that this was his world at an early age and special care was given to each tool. A chance to repair or adjust these early farm tools and simple machinery brought the lad running. This interest was recognized and en- couraged by the farm family with whom he lived and arrangements were made for Mr. Bullard to serve an apprenticeship in a machine shop in Whitinsville, Massachusetts - immediately following his seventeenth birthday. From then until 1880 his life was filled with valuable ex- periences which led to his founding in a rented loft in Bridgeport a machine shop.
The Bullard Company, organized in 1880 as the Bridgeport Machine Tool Works on Broad Street, Bridgeport by E. P. Bullard moved to its present location in Fairfield in 1920. The prod- ucts which were initially offered were engine lathes, these having been designed by Mr. Bul- lard. In 1894 the name of the company was changed to the Bullard Machine Tool Company and six years later the first vertical turret lathe, which currently accounts for a large portion of the Company's business, was produced.
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