Watertown

By Florence T. Crowell

Here, in stunning images and stirring narrative, is the history of Watertown, a community that lies near the center of western Connecticut. The town was once part of Mattatuck, a tract of land purchased from the Paugasett Indians in 1684. The fertile area first attracted Farmington residents, who settled down to farm the land. It was not until 1722, however, that the first sawmill was built. In time, new settlers joined the earlier families and, by 1739, they formed the parish of Westbury, which in turn was incorporated as Watertown in 1780. With more than two hundred unforgettable pictures, Watertown highlights the local men and women, buildings and churches, and neighborhoods and businesses that are the essential element of the town's lively history. It shows some of the nine one-room schoolhouses that children attended. It features the Taft School, a preparatory school for boys opened by Horace Taft in 1893; Mrs. Parke and her strange museum; and tavern keeper and farmer James Bishop. It proudly displays some of the firsts for Watertown: Merrit Heminway winding thread on spools, Wheeler-Wilson developing the lock-stitch sewing machine, and the Watertown Manufacturing Company designing and producing Lifetime Ware.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Sep 18, 2012
• ISBN: 9781439628409

Florence T. Crowell

For more than fifty years, the Watertown Historical Society has been collecting and preserving photographs of historic Watertown. Municipal historian, teacher, and author Florence T. Crowell draws from her many years of involvement with the historical society and local history to bring you this well-researched and rewarding view of Watertown as it was in bygone days.

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INTRODUCTION

Having been involved in local historical research as historical society president and vice president for more than 20 years, town historian for 13 years, and contributing writer for several local papers for more than 30 years, I am able to offer you this collection of images of Watertown, Connecticut. I have been fortunate to know some of Watertown’s older residents and have gleaned from them much history of bygone days. They willingly shared their memories and photographs, which bring together the history of the town as it evolved when religious groups, early settlers, farmers, and blacksmiths moved to the area. Watertown was later able to enter the 20th century with the arrival of the train, the trolley, and the automobile. I want to pass on a history of a town that I have called home for the past 58 years. I hope you enjoy seeing these old photographs of Watertown from the 1800s to the 1950s.

The area of Connecticut that became Watertown, when it was incorporated in 1780, has an interesting history. In the 1680s, settlers who had moved from Farmington to Mattatuck, which was later called Waterbury, were attracted to the area by the fertile farmland and its many streams. They purchased a large tract of land from the Paugasett Indians. Farms and sawmills sprang up, and soon the people saw the need of a place of worship.

They petitioned the General Assembly in 1732, seeking permission to establish a parish and build a church because it was difficult for many to travel to the church in Waterbury. The first petition was rejected, and two more were necessary before permission to hire a preacher was granted in 1739. Independence from Waterbury was not granted until the Society of Westbury incorporated in 1780 and became Watertown. The First Ecclesiastical Society was formed, and services were held in the home of George Lewis. In January 1740, John Trumbull, a Yale graduate, was ordained pastor of the new parish. Plans were laid to build a meetinghouse in the corner of the cemetery. The building was completed in 1841, and the 300 residents belonged to one church.

The town was made up of farms, sawmills, gristmills, and homes. Fulling and carding mills followed, and in the early 1800s, pewter buttons were being made. Using waterpower, factories sprang up along the banks of Steele Brook. Through the years, Watertown became a farming community. There have been more than 30 dairy farms, and every farm had a flock of sheep. The sheep were sheared and the housewife spun the wool into yarn to make garments for the family.

In the middle of the 19th century, Watertown had started manufacturing items that were shipped worldwide. The Wheeler Wilson Sewing Machine Company produced the lock-stitch machine. Merrit Heminway and Sons was the first to wind silk thread on spools. When Heminway died, his son, Buel, and William Bartlett formed the Heminway and Bartlett Silk Company and continued to carry on the business. During World War II, the company made nylon thread and supplied parachute cord to the military. The Watertown Manufacturing Company incorporated in 1915 and, in the 1940s, manufactured melamine dinnerware for various branches of the service in World War II. In the late 1940s, the company made Lifetime Ware, a plastic dinnerware designed by Jon Hedu. This product was used in many homes in Watertown. The Oakville Pin Company made straight pins, safety pins, hooks, and snaps and employed hundreds of local residents. Seymour Smith and Sons purchased the old sewing machine factory and made bull rings, pruning shears, saws, and other garden tools.

As Watertown has grown, it has become difficult to visualize what it was like in the days of John Trumbull. Perhaps this book will allow the reader to catch a glimpse of the Watertown of yesteryear as we continue to grow and flourish in the 21st century.

One

WESTBURY BECOMES WATERTOWN

This is the earliest available sketch of the buildings in Watertown. Known as Westbury in 1739, the town was renamed when it was incorporated in 1780. In 1834 and 1835, John Warner Barber visited every town in the state and sketched several sites. In 1836, he published Connecticut Historical Collections. The building on the left is the second Congregational church, built in 1772 on the present-day site of the town hall. The other spire is the second Episcopal church, built in 1794 on the green. In 1772, Rev. John Trumbull, minister of the Congregational church, built the large house to the right of the churches. The small building in the foreground was a school that was built c. 1800 on the site of the first school.

The First Ecclesiastical Society was formed in Westbury in May 1739. The next year, John Trumbull was ordained pastor of the new parish, and a meetinghouse was erected in the corner of the cemetery on