Unionville

By Clifford Thomas Alderman

Originally known as the Union District or Langdon's Quarter, the village at the western end of Farmington was officially named Unionville by the U.S. Post Office in 1834. Settling along the banks of the Farmington River, Unionville's early residents were an industrious group, diverting water into canals to power numerous family-run mills and factories and producing a host of manufactured goods. Although smaller than the neighboring industrial cities of New Britain and Bristol, Unionville gained an extraordinary manufacturing prominence in the Farmington Valley. Through carefully preserved vintage photographs from the Unionville Museum's collections and from private sources, Unionville chronicles the village's resilient spirit throughout its many transformations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Sep 18, 2012
• ISBN: 9781439638781

Clifford Thomas Alderman

Clifford Thomas Alderman grew up in Unionville and has deep family roots in Connecticut�s Farmington Valley. He currently serves as the president of the Unionville Museum and is a member of both the Farmington and Burlington Historical Societies. He is noted for his research and work to preserve the Unionville legacy of Connecticut chair maker Lambert Hitchcock.

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Museum.

INTRODUCTION

Farmington, Connecticut, has a long and storied history. Dating back to its founding almost 400 years ago, it has either witnessed or participated firsthand in many of the great events and movements that are included in American history books: English settlement and subsequent interaction with Native American tribes, the revolution, temperance movements, abolitionist efforts, development of canals and railroads, Civil War, industrialization, Prohibition, the advent of the automobile, two world wars, economic recessions and depressions, the baby boom, and more recently, increased suburbanization and the dwindling of precious open space.

By 1774, Farmington’s population was ranked 10th largest in the 13 colonies. Farmington had eight daughter towns, all of which through the years, while they professed to love their mother, eventually asked for their independence from her guiding hand: Southington in 1779, Berlin and Bristol in 1785, Burlington in 1806 (separated from Bristol), Avon in 1830, New Britain in 1850 (separated from Berlin), and Plainville in 1869. As sometimes happened in earlier times, though, the youngest daughter—Unionville—remained in her mother’s house.

Originally established in the 1700s as the Union District in Farmington, the official naming of Unionville did not occur until 1834, when the U.S. Post Office formally established a post office for the village and officially named it. The naming followed the fashionable trend of the time of attaching the French suffix ville—meaning city or town—to place names in the decades following the American Revolution. Indeed, Unionville’s naming was not unique, with Collinsville, Whigville, Forestville, Tariffville, Plainville, and Bakerville all within a few miles. Some early sources also refer to the area as Langdon’s Quarter, Lovelytown, and Union Village.

Although there was some limited settlement of the Union District by the late 1700s, the area rapidly grew with the harnessing of waterpower to operate mills and manufactories. By the mid-1830s, the area became a hive of industrial activity as entrepreneurs and workers flocked to Unionville’s water-powered mills and factories. Over the next century, Unionville’s manufacturing prowess would stand out among Farmington Valley towns and the nearby highly industrialized cities of New Britain and Bristol. All manner of items were made in Unionville: clocks, mousetraps, axe helves, gun stocks, fine writing paper, nuts and bolts, woven felt, cotton batting, cabinet furniture, ball bearings, oyster tongs, cutlery, razors, carpenter’s tools, and more.

At the same time all the manufacturing activity was going on, a village of churches, schools, and homes was built as well. In less than three quarters of a century from the time Unionville was named, it could boast four churches (Congregational, Methodist, Roman Catholic, and Episcopal), one of the first high schools in Connecticut, a town hall, and comfortable, well-built homes along tree-lined streets that would be the envy of any community. Civic-minded residents worked for village improvements, including street lighting, a water company, and perhaps most importantly a fire district.

Early in the 20th century, Unionville became, in the words of Margaret Hepburn Perry, The tail that wagged the dog, which in 1905 led some in Farmington to try to split off daughter Unionville from the mother town. The effort failed, with a sometimes uneasy alliance between mother and daughter through the ensuing years.

Unionville’s second century has presented some significant challenges. The Great Depression, the decline of manufacturing, the catastrophic flood of 1955, and the redevelopment of Unionville Center in the 1960s all posed significant challenges to Unionville’s identity. Through all this, Unionville has maintained a strong spirit, with an attitude not of resignation but of resiliency and creative reinvention. After nearly 200 years, Unionville remains at its essence what it started out as: a quintessential New England village.

Lest anyone assume that Unionville’s most vibrant days are behind her, consider this: In the last 25 years alone, residents established a museum, a village improvement association, and a historic district. Business and small shops are once again beginning to flourish, and residents continue to take pride in their village. Equally important, the old differences between the two sides of town continue to fade.

My interest in Unionville’s history dates back to a chance purchase of vintage Unionville postcards by my paternal grandmother, Marie Stalk Alderman Noble (1909–2005). As a child, I spent hours pouring over their colorful lithographed images, studying them to identify the views, to see what was still there, and what had changed. My interest was further bolstered by my maternal grandfather, Albert Thomas Pearce (1898–1991), a soldier of the Great War and immigrant from Great Britain who came to the United States in 1923 and eventually settled in Unionville. His stories of life in Unionville during an earlier era always captivated my interest. All that was later set aside, as I went off to college in Washington, D.C., and remained to work there afterward. Upon returning to Connecticut in the 1990s, their rediscovery reignited my interest in Unionville and its fascinating multifaceted story.

The photographs used in this book, by design, cover Unionville only up to the period of around the mid-1960s. My focus has been to highlight various aspects of life in Unionville during its great years of growth and development during the Victorian era through the first half of the 20th century.