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c^z^.^^^^;:^^/^'^^^ C'Z:^^c^a-^^'^ - ^-^y
rr\m TOWN AND CITY OF WATERBURY,
-l- CONNECTICUT, FROM THE ABORIGINAL
PERIOD TO THE YEAR EIGHTEEN HUNDRED
AND NINETY-FIVE.
EDITED BY JOSEPH ANDERSON, D. D.
WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF ANNA L. WARD.
VOLUME II.
NEW HAVEN :
THE PRICE & LEE COMPANY.
1896.
^^tits
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1896,
By the price & LEE COMPANY,
In the Oflice of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME II.
CHAHTEK PAGE
I. A BIRD'S EYE VIEW, i
By tJie Rev. Joseph Anderson, D. D.
II. THE BOROUGH AND WATERVILLE, 13
By Dr. Anderson and the Hon. Frederick J. Kz'ng-s-
bury, LL. D.
III. WATERBURY AS A CITY, 33
By the Hon. Stephen W. Kellogg, M. A.
IV. THE STORY OF THE GREEN, 53
By Mr. Kingsbury.
V. STREETS, SIDEWALKS AND BRIDGES, .... 67
By Dr. Anderson and Nelson J. We It on.
VI. ORIGIN OF THE STREET NAMES, 79
From data furnished chiefly by Messrs. Kingsbury
and Welton. Introduction and summary by Dr.
Anderson.
VII. THE WATER WORKS AND THE SEWERS, ... 92
By Nelson J. Welton.
VIII. FIRES AND THE FIRE DEPARTMENT m
From data furnished by Chief Engineer S. C. Snagg,
John L. Saxe and others.
IX. THE RECORD OF HEALTH AND GOOD ORDER, . . 132
By Dr. Andersoft.
X. MEANS OF INTERCOMMUNICATION, 143
By Dr. Anderso7i.
XI. COMMUNICATION W^ITH THE WORLD WITHOUT, . 153
By Dr. Anderso?i and others.
XII. BANKING AND INSURANCE, 173
By Mr. Kingsbury {pp. lyj-i-j^)), Anson F. Abbott,
Dr. Anderson and others.
XIII. INDUSTRIES OF THE HOME LIFE, ..... 191
By Mr. Kingsbury. The biographies by various writers.
XIV. TAVERNS, HOTELS, OLD TIME LANDLORDS, . . 217
By Dr. Anderson. Biography of Captain Samuel Judd
by Projessor David G. Porter,
VI
Piatt, Clark Murray,
Piatt, William Smith,
Porter, Thomas,
Rice, Archibald Elijah,
Russell. Francis Thayer,
Scott, Charles,
Scovill, William Henry,
Smith, Earl, .
Smith, John Edward,
Spencer, Willard,
Turner, Edward Thomas,
Upson, Daniel,
Wells, Alfred,
Welton, George Wales,
Walton, Hobart Victory,
Welton, Nelson James,
White, Leroy Sunderland
White, Luther Chapin,
PORTRAITS.
PAGE
395
251
50
524
247
281
376
389
24
253
214
428
336
459
108
385
425
MISCELLANEOUS.
Benedict, Aaron, ......••• 299
Brown, Colonel James, ........ 205
Buckingham, John, ....••••■284
Half century employees of the Scovill Manufacturing company (nine portraits). 468
Mayors of Waterburi% 1858 to 1896 (twenty-two portraits), . . 44, 45
Scovill, James Mitchell Lamson, ....... 279
Terry, Eli, .......... 258
ILLUSTRATIONS IN THIS VOLUME.
ON STEEL (FACTORIES).
Benedict & Burnliam Manufacturing company,
Holmes, Bootli & Haydens, • •
Plume & AtwoodManufacturmg company a)
Plume & Atwood Manufacturing company (b),
Randolph & Clowes,
Rogers & Brother,
Scovill Manufacturing company, .
Waterbury Brass company,
Waterbury Watch company.
I'AGE
296
360
361
349
382
275
332
400
MISCELLANEOUS.
Waterbury centre in 1837, •
Centre square and flag staff,
The Green (Centre square) m 1857, • "
^rH^rBZslltl'lndScovm Ho.se, .3,3. • • •
Seal of the city.
The Green in 1851, •
The Green in 1890, .
A bit of old Exchange place,
bSi: S::' ;: Ma'* .SSS ,a£te, the so-caUe. m^..n^,
The West Main street bridge, • •
Foot bridge across the Naugatuck (before X840), •
Waterbury from the Abrigador, 1891, â– â–
Distributing reservoir, • • ■'
Cooke street reservoir, • • • '
Prospect reservoir, . •
East Mountain reservoir, ■• ' '
Residence of N. J. Welton, • • . • ' . j^ngine company
Mutual Hook and Ladder -"^P!^"^'^";^;,^ 1"
Waterbury and Meriden stage hue advertisement,
The first tLe-table of the Naugatuck railroad. . •
Naugatuck railroad station, bmlt m 1867. •
New York and New England ^^^^"^l^,,,^ station. .890.
Meriden, Waterbury and Connecticut 1 iver 1 an
Ba"L str;et in 1890; Waterbury National bank, • â–
"^^^^oi'^^ Connecticut indemnity association.
Dr Samuel Elton's gig (or "riding chair ),
Dr. Frederick Leavenworth's carriage, .
No. 2,
I'AGE
16
21
25
32
3f>
41
52
55
65
68
71
73
77
78
89
96
96
97
97
108
122
155
158
159
161
163
174
177
1S6
199
199
Vlll
ILLU8TBATI0NS.
An elm on Holmes's meadow,
Burton's tavern, afterwards the "Mansion House,'
Advertising card; Brown's hotel, .
The Dime Savings bank; also the office of Holmes & Parsons, bankers.
The residence of Charles D. Kingsbury, 1S89,
Buttons of sterling silver, made by Joseph Hopkins before 17C0,
Advertisement of clocks,
The first brass lamp,
Residence of the Hon. Green Kendrick,
The Prichard homestead, 1890,
The old Cooke homestead, .
Hand-made brass lamp, 1820,
Lafayette button.
Factory of J. M. L. & Wm. H. Scovill, 1835,
The Scovill Manufacturing company, 1858,
Residence of H. W. Scovill; previously occupied by J. M. L. Scovill,
Residence of F. J. Kingsbury,
Residence of C. P. Goss, ....
Button card, dedicated to Abel Porter,
The Harrison " Log Cabin" button,
The Benedict & Burnham factory in 1858,
Rose Hill cottage, residence of J. C. Welton, 1874,
Rose Hill in 1892, residence of A. S. Chase,
Rose Hill cottage in 1894, ....
The East mill of the Watei-bury Brass company, 1858,
The West mill of the Waterbury Brass company, 1858,
Brown & Brothers, 1858,
Residence of Dr. James Brown,
Colonel James Brown's house,
A doorway of 1760, .
Holmes, Booth & Haydens in 18;
Maplewild, the residence of H. W. Hayden,
Factories of the Waterbury Button company,
Factories of the Waterbury Clock company; also the Clock-case shop,
Pine Hill in 1881; factory of the Watch company.
The Parrel homestead; occupied, 1895, by Dr. Walter H. Holmes,
Hotchkiss & Merriman Manufacturing company.
Residence of the family of C. B. Merriman,
Carvings in wood and stone, by H. V. Welton,
First High School building,
Second High School building.
The Bank street school-house.
The second Academy,
The Academy as remodelled in 1841
An Academy programme of 1846,
St. Margaret's school, 1895,
Convent of Notre Dame; its early home,
Convent of Notre Dame, 1892,
Hillside avenue school in 1889,
^- CHAPTER I.
THREE SCORE YEARS AND TEN FROM 1825 ONWARD — A BIRD'S EYE
VIEW "the HOMOGENEOUS BECOMING HETEROGENEOUS" THE
BOROUGH CITY GOVERNMENT AND ITS DEPARTMENTS INDUS-
TRIAL DEVELOPMENT A GREAT MANUFACTURING CENTRE
SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES LAW AND MEDICINE PHILANTHROPY
AND REFORM LITERATURE, LIBRARIES, NEWSPAPERS MUSIC AND
OTHER ARTS MILITARY HISTORY FRATERNITIES.
PRESIDENT TIMOTHY DWIGHT, of Yale College, in the
preface to his " Travels in New England and New York " —
a work written between 1802 and 1805 — apologizes for tiie
lack of exciting incident in his pages in these words :
Adventures of all kinds must be very rare in a country perfectly quiet and
orderly in its state of society. In a series of journeys sufficiently extensive to have
carried me through two-thirds of the distance round the globe I have not met
with one. Nearly every man whom I have seen was calmly pursuing the sober
business of peaceful life, and the history of my excursion was literally confined to
the breakfast, dinner and supper of the day.
This " sober business of peaceful life " he describes on a subsequent
page. He says :
Every farmer labors on his own ground and for the benefit of himself and his
family merely. This, if I am not deceived, is a novelty, and its influence is seen to
be remarkably happy in the industry, sobriety, cheerfulness, personal independence
and universal prosperity of the people at large. Great wealth is not often found,
but poverty is almost unknown. A succession of New England villages, composed
of neat houses surrounding neat school-houses and churches, adorned with gar-
dens, meadows and orchards, and exhibiting the universally easy circumstances of
the inhabitants, is, at least in my own opinion, one of the most delightful prospects
which the world can afford.
Within twenty years after these words were penned a change
had begun in the social and industrial life of New England which
may well be designated "the great transition." A region occupied
almost exclusively by an agricultural community became the seat of
important and rapidly growing manufactures; a shifting of the pop-
ulation took place, and additions were made to it from without. In
other words, the inhabitants of the rural districts removed to a con-
siderable extent from the hillsides to the river valleys and the
cities, and the tide of immigration from the old world flowed in
with increasing fullness. The transformation was of course most
2 HISTORY OF WATERS URY.
marked where the development of manufactures was greatest, and
accordingly we trace these changes very readily in Waterbury and
the Naugatuck valley. The immigration into Waterbury was at first
chiefly from Ireland, with a sprinkling of English, Scotch and Ger-
mans. The French Canadians and vSwedes came afterward in con-
siderable numbers, and some years later the Italians. At the
present time (1894) the foreign population, with their children of
the first generation, considerably outnumber the representatives of
the earlier American stock.
In the evolution which has taken place, the change "from the
homogeneous to the heterogenous " can be traced in various other
directions besides those already indicated. At first, the organiza-
tion of the community — in Waterbury as elsewhere — was simple.
There were three chief functions, the town, the school and the
church. The local government was shaped by an annual town
meeting; the township was divided geographically into small school
districts, and the churches at the centre numbered two. But in
1825 a borough was organized, which in 1853 gave wa}^ to a city
government, while the town organization lived on (as it still does)'
exercising those primitive governmental functions which belonged
to it from the first. Again, certain school districts lying around
the centre were incorporated as a Centre district, with its board of
education and its finance committee, while the outlying territory
remained under the old school management; and as for the
churches, their number was more than doubled, as well as the num-
ber of denominations they represented.
In the city charter of 1853 various functions of mimicipal gov-
ernment, such as the laying out and the care of streets, protection
against fires and against disease, and the establishment of a police
system, were assigned to the Court of Common Council. In the
new charter, secured in 1871, these various functions were put in
charge of boards of commissioners and conducted as distinct depart-
ments, and from that time onward the history of the city (munici-
pally considered) is a history of these several departments. The
later charter provides for a department of streets and sewers, a fire
department and a police department, but makes no mention of a
health department or a water supply. The charter of 1853, how-
ever, provided for a health committee, which since 1885 has devel-
oped into a board of health; and as regards the board of water
commissioners, it was created by the "act to provide for a supply of
pure and wholesome water," passed by the legislature in 1867.*
♦ See " The Charter with it^> Amendments," edition of 1868, pp. 39-47; also, " Charter and Ordinances,"
1874.
A BIRD'S EYE VIEW. 3
While this process of evolution was taking- place in the govern-
mental life of the community, other corporations were coming into
existence or, having been created elsewhere, were securing a place
in WaterburV, to meet the various wants of the people. These,
although independent of the city government, were as indispensable
to the community as the government itself and its various depart-
ments These private corporations are of two kinds— those that are
strictly local in their scope, and those that provide means of com-
munication between Waterbury and the rest of the world. To the
first class belong those corporations that have undertaken to
furnish the city with artificial light (whether produced from gas or
bv electricity) and with a messenger service; to which may be
added the telephone and the city railway companies (although
these are now reaching out beyond city limits). The banks of the
city each of which has its history, are also included m it, and so
are 'the insurance organizations doing business m Waterbury,
especially those having their headquarters here. The cemetery
associations belong also to this class,-their history being closely
connected with that of the ancient burying-grounds of the town.
In the other group-corporations that provide communication
between Waterbury and the rest of the world-are the several rail-
road telegraph and express companies and the post office. How-
ever' difficult it may be, in some cases, to obtain the historical facts
-as for example those relating to the telegraph and express com-
panies-it is of course true that all such organizations have a
history and it is only by reference to their origin and rapid growth
that the largeness of their work can be fully grasped, and the
extent to which the community is dependent upon them appre-
AVhile these modern forms of social activity were coming into
existence, and corporations were being organized fortheir proper
conduct the industrial life of the community was rapidly develop-
ing along the ancient lines, and at the same time branchmg out in
entirely new directions. The process of differentiation is strik-
ino-ly exhibited in the history of the trades connected with the
''food supply" of the community,-when for example we compare
the simple conditions of a previous generation in regard to'food
and drink with the elaborate and complex system of the present
dav While the country village was being transformed into a busy
manufacturing centre, the old-fashioned "country store" grew into
an extensive collection of grocery stores, fruit stores, bakers shops
and druo- stores. The meat supply and the milk supply passed
through a similar development, while in place of the cider cask, the
4 HISTORY OF WATERBUBY.
rum barrel and the old-time tavern came the modern hotel, the
brewery, the soda-water fountain, the long array of saloons and the
liquor traffic in its vast dimensions. The trades relating to the
other necessaries of modern life underwent a like development.
From the first, the carpenter and builder had of course a recognized
place in the community; but how little the forefathers could have
anticipated that multiplication of carpenters, masons, tinners,
plasterers, painters, cabinet-makers, house -furnishers, which has
actually taken place. From the first, fuel was one of the absolute
necessities of life, but over against the wood-pile of 1825 we place
the immense coal-trade of to-day and that consumption of fire-wood
in our factories which involves the destruction from year to year
of entire forests. The ice trade is of course a strictly modern
industry, and the same may be said of the extensive business
carried on through the various intelligence offices and laundries.
One of the significant facts in our social life is the supersedure of
native American " help " by servants secured from Irish, German
and Swedish sources. We have accounts elsewhere of the simple,
customs of the fathers in the matter of dress — how the clothing of
the household was made at home, of "home-spun," with the occa-
sional aid of the itinerant tailor and shoemaker. Over against all
this we must place to-day our two hundred dressmakers, and a long
array of merchant tailors, clothiers and men's " outfitters." The
blacksmith is perhaps not so conspicuous in the community now as
he was a century ago, but carriage-making has meantime come into
existence and grown to be an important industry. As for the
sewing machine, although its manufacture is not at present con-
ducted within Waterbury limits, its place in the industrial history
of the town is well known.
From the modern point of view this sociological history of the
community is by no means the least important. But the data from
which details could be gathered are not on record, and the memory
of the "oldest inhabitant" does not altogether avail. Like other
communities, Waterbury has taken care of itself in a way so
informal and matter-of-course that the process has attracted but
littlg attention. You do not trace it in the town records; it has
not been the work of corporations possessed of a documentary
history; it is revealed only to a small extent in the newspapers of
the period, while even in their business advertisements there is
very little that is helpful. But in the meantime, Waterbury has
been doing a work, not for itself but for the outside world, which
has been phenomenally large, and of this the record is more com-
plete. Since 1825 it has grown to be a notable manufacturing
A BIBB'S EYE VIEW. 5
centre— the chief seat of one of the great industries of America.
It has been devoted to the manufacture of brass and the multitude
of articles of which brass is a component part. In the history of
modern Waterbury, the history of the brass trade is the most
important division. Early in the century, there lived in the town a
group of men who possessed more than the average of Yankee
ingenuity, and who added to their inventive skill an unusual
amount of enterprise, perseverance and business tact. These men
were the fathers of the brass trade, the vital force of various new
factories, the founders of industrial Waterbury. A monument over
the grave of one of them bears the inscription, " Because I was the
city is." This may not be true of any one man, but of this group
of men such a declaration might with propriety be made. Their
plodding industry, their patience, their struggles and victories,
constitute a most interesting chapter in our earlier industrial
history, and after the enactment of a general law for the organiza-
tion of' joint-stock companies (in 1837) we can see their influence
propagating itself through new channels and extending into all
parts of the world. The number of joint-stock companies organ-
ized in Waterbury down to 1845, was eight; the number since then,
244. A hundred of these have been employed in the working of
brass and other metals, and while many of them have ceased to
exist, some have grown to be not only large in the volume of their
business but far-reaching in their influence— possessors, in fact, of
a noteworthy history. The history of the most prominent of these
concerns can be given in considerable detail, and in close connec-
tion with it stands the life-record of the men who have organized
and controlled them. The industrial division of our work contains
accordingly, in addition to the early history of Waterbury manu-
factures and a complete list of joint-stock concerns, sketches of the
leading manufactories of the town and biographies of their active
managers. There is added a remarkable list of patents secured by
Waterbury inventors, exhibiting to some extent the vast variety of
articles manufactured in the place. In a natural connection with
all this comes a comparatively recent development, the Waterbury
Board of Trade; also the Waterbury Club, consisting of business
men.
The development of our school system has been referred to. It
passed through the same phases here, for the most part, as in other
places in Connecticut. From the first, schools were established by
the town; the district system was afterward adopted, and also a
" school society " came into being. But in addition to the district
schools existing in 1784, a school for the higher education of young
6 HISTORT OF WATERS URY.
persons was thought to be necessary, and it was opened under the
favorite name of "academy." The "old academy" was succeeded
in 1825 by the "new academy," and in 1850 that was practically
merged in the high school. The incorporation of the Centre dis-
trict in 1849, while it left an outside circle of rural districts man-
aged in the old way, placed the schools of the city upon a somewhat
different basis, and communicated to them a new impulse. The
increase in the number of the city schools, although very great, has
hardly kept pace with the increase of the population, so that patron-
age for a large number of private schools has always been found.
The chief of these are St. Margaret's school for girls (under the
control of the Protestant Episcopal diocese of Connecticut), the
school of the Convent of Notre Dame and the parochial schools
belonging to the Roman Catholic church. Although Waterbury
throughout its later history has been devoted so largely to manu-
factures and trade, it cannot be accused of indifference to education
or a disregard for the claims of the higher learning. Its position in
the world of scholarship is well represented by the roll of graduates
included in a subsequent chapter — a list, remarkably large, of the
graduates of colleges and professional schools who have at one time
or another lived in Waterbury. It ought to be added that Water-
bury has done her part fairly well in the support of the lecture sys-
tem which has filled so large a place in our modern American life.
In the days when the "lyceum" was at its height, the famous lec-
turers were invited to the city, and in recent years also various
courses of lectures, at private schools and elsewhere, have been gen-
erously sustained.
In the evolution of ecclesiastical affairs, the course of events has
been similar to that which can be traced in the other large towns of
the state. From the beginning of the settlement until about 1740,
only one church existed here, and only the one church was thought
of. When the first representatives of the Church of England
appeared upon the scene, they found that the "tables were
turned"; t/i ey wero. the dissenters and Congregationalism was "the
standing order." These two forms of church life, without any
other, if we except a small congregation of "Separates" in
Columbia society (now Prospect), existed side by side in the rela-
tive positions just indicated, until nearly the beginning of the pres-
ent century. After the Revolutionary war, Methodism began to
make its voice heard in the land, and in 1790 Bishop Asbury visited
Waterbury and preached in the " Separate " meeting-house. About
the same time the principles of the Baptists began to find accept-
ance in the town, and a Baptist church was organized in 1803. It
A BIBB'S EYE VIEW. 7
was more than thirty years after this that the first Roman Catholic
service was held in Waterbnry, and more than twelve years later
ere the Catholics of the town had a regular pastor. But from that
time onward the growth of the Roman Catholic church in Water-
bury has exceeded that of the other churches; for it has been neces-
sary to provide church accommodations and religious services not
only for the children and grandchildren of the first Irish immi-
grants, but also for German Catholics, French Canadians, Italians
and Lithuanians, as they have become established within Waterbury
limits. A recent estimate (1894) places the Catholic population at
18,000. The Protestant immigration, while increasing the Congrega-
tional and Episcopal churches, has involved the organizing of Ger-
man and Swedish Lutheran congregations. Besides these, a church
of Adventists has been in existence for some years, also an
"African Methodist Episcopal Zion " church. A L^niversalist
society, organized in 1870, built a chapel and held services in it for
several years under the ministry of three or four successive pastors.
Not counting this organization, which has long been inactive, the
churches (or parishes) of the town of Waterbury now number
twenty, — three of which are Congregational, two Protestant Epis-
copal (besides a chapel at Waterville), four Methodist Episcopal,
two Baptist, and five Roman Catholic. At the celebration of the
bi-centennial of the original Waterbury church, November 4 and 5,
1 89 1, the Congregational churches participating — those descended
wholly or in part from the First church — were twelve in number.
We pass readily from church and clergy to the other learned
professions, and first to the law. Under the simple township organ-
ization of the earlier days, and in fact until the incorporation of
the city, the only court in Waterbury was a justice's court and the