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The
Old Stone Mill: by Wilbur F. Thompson.
John
Taylor of Wilton was the first to operate a mill in
the location that would come to be known as the Old
Stone Mill, and at one time- Perry's Glenburg Chemical
Works. John Taylor's Mill was called Taylor's Woolen
Mills or the Satinet Factory. He built a dam a short
distance above the mill and a canal to convey the water
to the mill (this canal is still visible from the train
today). He also built the house by the mill and lived
there many years.
Henry
Williams, who lived a short distance below the mill,
had charge of the dyeing, carding and spinning department;
his wife was one of the weavers. A man named Eli Glover
also worked there. He afterward ran the mills known
as Glover's Woolen Mill west of Sanford's Station in
West Redding (corner of Topstone Rd and Route 7 where
Cains Hill is. Cains ran a Fulling Mill).
View
from what is now the Georgetown Lions Club Ballfield
John
Taylor was in business many years, and after he retired,
a Welshman named Evans, from Derby, CT, continued the
business. After this, Blackman Bros., from New Milford,
ran it for a short time.
Later
Dr. N. Perry, of Ridgefield, bought it; and fitting
it up for a grist mill and to grind spices, called it
the Glenburg Chemical Works. Perry attempted to change
the name of Georgetown to Glenburg, but did not succeed.
His son, Samuel Perry, had charge of the mill for many
years. The famous remedies so well known in the 1850's
& 60's were made here - composition powders for colds,
magnesia powders for indigestion, the No. 9, a pain
killer, demulcent, compounds for coughs, and many others.
Spices were ground and all kinds of extracts were made
and sold. The country stores all kept the Perry remedies,
spices and extracts.
After
the death of Samuel Perry, the formulas for the Perry
remedies came into the possession of his brother-in-law,
Eli Osborn, who made them for many years, at his home
in Georgetown. The mill was sold to William J. Gilbert
who leased it to different parties who ran it as a grist
mill. Later the mill was owned by Samuel J. Miller…the
roots of the G&B factory ran deep.
About
Flax and Woolen Mills- Two of the most important
products of the farms of long ago were wool and flax.
On summer days flocks of sheep could be seen feeding
on the hillsides and waving fields of blue-flowered
flax could be seen on almost every farm.
Flax
was not harvested the same as grain or hay, but was
pulled up by the roots and stacked. Later in the season
it was put through a process of sweating or rotting
to separate the fibre from the woody part of the stalk.
It was then crackled to break the wood or straw of the
flax. This was done by beating it with wooden mallets.
After this, it was hetcheled or hackled; this was done
by drawing the stalks of flax over sharp pointed iron
teeth thickly set in a block of wood. This separated
the fiber from the woody or straw portion of the flax.
The fiber, after hetcheling, was called tow or lint;
this was cleaned and spun into linen yarn or thread,
and woven on the hand looms into different kinds of
linen cloth, and then bleached.
The
wool was worked up in a different way. After being sheared
from the sheep, it was washed and cleaned. Then it was
carded into a light fleecy mass (like the cotton batting
of today.) The hand cards were pieces of leather or
thin wood thickly set with fine wire points which caught
and separated the fiber of the wool. Sometimes the wool
was bowed the same as hatters' fur was in the olden
times. This was done with a large bow strung with catgut;
pulling the string caused it to vibrate in the wool,
separating it the same as in carding.
After
carding, the wool was formed into rolls, from which
it was spun into woolen yarn or warp and then woven
into woolen cloth of many kinds, and blankets. A cloth
for dresses and skirts was woven, called linsey-woolsey.
It had a linen warp and woolen filling; a heavier cloth
made of the same materials was called fustian.
After
washing, the cloth was dyed, fulled. and finished.;
oftentimes the warp and filling were dyed before weaving.
For many years all this work was done by hand on the
farms where the wool and flax were raised. Later little
shops and mills were built along the stream where the
wool and flax were prepared. for weaving and where the
home-made cloth was fulled and finished.
Mills
along Old Mill Road in Georgetown- by Wilbur F.
Thompson & notes by Brent M. Colley.
From
the early settlement of our state until about 1850,
the people living in our rural communities were, to
a great extent, independent of the outside world; the
farms and little shops and mills producing almost everything
used in the homes of their day. At one time there were
approximately sixteen busy shops and mills along the
banks of the Norwalk River from its source in Ridgefield
to tidewater in Norwalk. Today all that remains are
the bricks and stones of their foundations and dams.
The information below (a large majority of which comes
from Wilbur F. Thompson) explains their history and
the individuals that worked them many years ago.
The
first mill to be built in the early days was the Grist
Mill, then the Saw Mill, Blacksmith Shop, Woolen Mill,
Tannery and Cider Mill. Georgetown was no exception
to the general rule, and along its streams and highways
are found evidences of many little home industries that
flourished, long years ago. It is probable that the
first corn and grain raised in Georgetown was ground
in the home-made mortars of wood or stone, with a pestle,
or in the old Indian stone samp mortars which can be
found in the rocks along the Norwalk River in many places.
The
first Grist Mills where the early settlers of Georgetown
had their corn and rye ground were located outside of
the village. One stood on the west bank of the Saugatuck
River, near the foot of Nobb's Crook Hill. (This was
about 1730). The miller's name was Jabez Burr. Many
years later a wind grist mill was built in what was
called Dumping Hole or Hill (now in Cannondale School
District,) about two miles southeast of Georgetown.
Another Grist Mill located at the intersection of Florida
Hill and Old Redding Road, operated by Peter Burr and
dating to 1737 was a likely source for the settlers
as well.
Clark
Map of 1856 showing Saw Mill and Foundry (earlier this
was the Grist Mill location
mentioned). The location is a tad to the left of E.B.
Sanford between the "E" and "D"
The
first grist mill in what is now the village of Georgetown
was probably built and run by George Abbott. If there
was one before this, the name of the owner is not known.
In 1764 George Abbott, formerly of Salem, Westchester
Co., Province of New York, bought of Ebenezer Slawson,
of Norwalk, a mill privilege on the Norwalk River for
the purpose of erecting a grist mill. The mill was built
and he commenced to grind corn and grain. There is also
a tradition that John Belden had built a saw mill on
or near the same site, and Abbott purchased that mill
site from him as well. Located on the only road between
Danbury and Norwalk it was a very profitable business;
people from miles around brought their grain to be ground,
or logs to be sawed up into lumber.
Clark
1856 Map showing Grist Mill, Saw Mill on the left
Abbott
ran the mills for many years and his wife (known as
"Aunt Lucy") kept a tavern or half-way house for the
teamsters traveling the Danbury and Norwalk turnpike.
A
long list of owners followed Abbott at this location.
-
The
next owner of the mill was Stephen Perry. He rebuilt
the dam and mill; and it became known as Perry's
Mill.
-
Later
Joseph Goodsell the 1st. ran the mill.
-
The
next owner was Ephraim B. Godfrey and his son Wakeman
Godfrey. Godfrey & Son ran the grist and saw mill
for many years and did a large business. Glenburg
Chemical Works would put Wakeman Godfrey out of
business.
-
Some
time after, Edwin Gilbert bought the property, rebuilt
the mill dam and mill, enlarging it, and fitting
it up for other manufacturing; for a while, Betts
& Northrop had a carpenter shop there as well. Blood's
patent flour sifter and other wire goods were made
there at that time.
- Later
the Gilbert & Bennett Co. gained ownership and changed
it into a wire mill, the third floor of this mill
was set up and ran the second machine in this country
for making wire netting and fencing in 1869 and '70.
In 1865 Gilbert & Bennett & Co. had installed the
first power machinery for making wire poultry netting.
It was used for that line of work until it burned
down around the early 1900's. G&B converted this
entire area into it's "Lower Factory" wire mills.
The
"Lower Factories" included several manufacturing buildings,
a wire drawing plant and a dam large enough to create
what was known as the Lower Factory Pond.
Lower
Factory Pond looking back toward Old Mill Road
The
Lower Factories were the last mills in this location
serving Gilbert & Bennett well in their life span. G&B
would later focus their attention on the factories we
know today between North Main Street and Portland Avenue.
Back then these factories were referred to as their
Upper Factories. Improvements in the railroad, particularly
the spur line that was run into the Upper Factories
in 1874 led to the expansion of and focus on this location.
The Lower Factories were all lost to fire over time.
Lower
Factory Wire Drawing Factory
The
Old Red Mill- by Wilbur F. Thompson and notes by
Brent M. Colley.
Just
above the Lower Factory Pond was the location of perhaps
Gilbert & Bennett's most famous mill, the Old Red Mill.
The Old Red Mill was where G&B would come up with an
innovation that was so versatile it would propel the
company to greatness…Woven Wire. The list of woven wire
applications and products is far too long to discuss
in this document but I assure you it is one heck of
an impressive list.
An
abbreviated history of this mills at this location is
as follows:
Some
years after the War of the Revolution closed, David
Coley of Kettle Creek, Fairfield (now Weston) moved
to Georgetown. Coley was an iron worker who bought a
mill site in the same location as what would become
the Old Red Mill on the Norwalk River; he built a dam
and shop, put in a wooden water shed, a furnace for
smelting iron ore, a trip hammer, and commenced bus-iness.
Many kinds of iron goods were made, ploughshare points,
shovels and irons, cranes, pots and kettles, and ovens.
This industry gave work to quite a number of men and
continued for many years until Coley gave up the business
and the shop was left vacant. Later it was burned.
In
1821 Winslow and Booth ran a comb factory on Coley's
iron works site, erecting a small shop. This business
continued for some time and gave employment to quite
a number of people as well. Cheaper grades of combs
were made of cattle horns. The finer grades of women's
side and back combs were made of tortoise shell. They
like Coley gave up their business and moved away.
In
1834 the Gilbert & Bennett Co. bought the mill site,
rebuilt the mill dam and built the shop long afterward
known as the Old Red Mill. A wooden water wheel was
built to furnish power. The mill had two stories and
a basement. The top floors used for curled hair production,
the basement was where the sieve rims were steamed and
bent into shape.
Old
Red Mill, circa 1888
Interior
View, the leather belts coming down from the ceiling
ran
the machines and were powered by the water wheel.
In
1836 G&B experimented with drawn wire in an attempt
to improve upon the woven horse hair products they were
selling at this time. The experiment was a success and
they quickly began furnishing the Old Red Mill and Old
Red Shop with modified carpet looms to produce their
"wire cloth". The production of cheese and meat safes
soon followed. Following the introduction of hard coal
for fuel, a coal ash sifter or riddle was invented.
Later woven wire ox muzzles entered the product line,
then they discovered glue dried very well on woven wire
and came off much easier than the cotton cloth in use
at the time. The product line grew year by year until
they came up with the ultimate application…insect screens
or as we call them today window screens. The insect
screen was an instant hit on the market, cheesecloth
was in use prior to this so you can imagine the improvement
it made.
The
Lower Factories mentioned earlier in this document came
into play soon after. By the 1860's sieve production
along with other branches were moved into other shops
and the Old Red Mill was used for drawing fine wire
and later for tinning and galvanizing wire.
In
May of 1889 the Old Mill was lost to fire.
Gilbert
& Bennett
The
history of mills and dams is not complete without information
on the Gilbert & Bennett Manufacturing Company as
G&B exemplifies the flourishing 19th century mill.
In
1827, the Red Shop became the first mill occupied by
the company and as business prospered was later purchased.
The
Red Shop stood on the corner of Rt. 57 and Old Mill
Road. As the business grew improvements were made to
the shop for efficiency: a three-story addition was
built, A mill dam was built across the brook, and a
small pond was formed about 100 feet long and 60 feet
wide. This supply pond, or reservoir, located on what
is now Sasqua Trial, off Covenant Lane. On the north
side of the pond was the road to Weston, lined with
rows of willow trees. On the north shore of the reservoir
were vats for cleaning, washing and sorting the hog,
horse and cattle hair used in the curled hair industry;
there were also platforms for drying the hair. Later
this work was done in the rear of the shop.
The
first story of the shop was used for sieve making, and
the second for the curled hair business. On the floor
was a hairpicking machine and two hair rope twisters.
The power was furnished by a wooden overshot water wheel
(this was outside the shop on the north side.) The water
was carried in a wooden flume from the pond onto the
top of the wheel. The gate in the reservoir was opened
every morning and shut down at night.
After
the horse and cattle hair was cleaned it was twisted
into ropes, then boiled to set the curl. After drying,
it was wound into hanks or bundles, and sold in this
form or picked out by hand ready for use in cushions,
etc. The longer horse hair was picked and kept separate
and woven into bottoms for the hair cloth flour and
gravy sieves. This was woven on small frames called
looms, into squares a little larger than the sieves
they were to cover. This weaving was done by women of
the village. First by the women in the families of the
firm, and later by Mrs. Polly Canfield, Mrs. Ezra Brown,
Mrs. Sherman Bennett, Mrs. Matthew Bennett and her daughters
(one daughter, Mrs. Waterman Bates, was one of the last
ones to weave haircloth in Georgetown).
In
making the sieves, the thin wooden rims were cut from
whitewood plank sawed from logs at Timothy Wakeman's
saw mill that stood north of where the upper Gilbert
& Bennett Mfg. Co.'s plant now stands, then smoothed
by hand, steamed and bent into shape and nailed; the
hair cloth bottom was then put on and held in place
by a narrow hoop or rim, which was fastened on by nailing.
The edges of the haircloth were then bound around the
sieves with waxed thread. This work was done by women
at their homes - it was called binding sieves. Mrs.
Aaron Bennett, Mrs. Samuel Main, Mrs. Aaron Osborn,
Mrs. Samuel Canfield, Mrs. Burr Bennett, Mrs. Orace
Smith and others did this work.
The
men who worked to the curled hair and sieve industry
at different periods in the Red Shop were Benjamin Gilbert
and his sons William J. and. Edwin; Edmund O. Hurlbutt,
John F. Hurlbutt, William B. Hurlbutt, Aaron Bennett,
Sturges Bennett, Isaac Weed (Mr. Weed married Angeline,
daughter of Benjamin Gilbert, and built the house opposite
the Sturges Bennett place,) Samuel Main, Aaron Osborn.
All
this time, the weaving processes were being accomplished
by hand, and the material used was horsehair. Horsehair
was at the best, unsatisfactory-which caused the company
to ask itself: "why could not some other material, more
durable, more efficient, be substituted?" And not stopping
at merely thinking it, they purchased some fine wire
and began to experiment. The commercial weaving of wire
by hand was impractical and machinery for such a purpose
being unheard of, they improvised and borrowed a neighbor's
carpet loom and so the first wire cloth came into being.
In
1834 the Gilbert & Bennet Co. found that the growing
business needed more power than the little mill pond
furnished and bought the mill site of Winslow and Booth
on the Norwalk River. Winslow and Booth ran a comb factory
there making combs from cattle horns and tortoise shells
in the 1820's. Prior to Winslow and Booth, the mill
site was owned by David Coley, an iron worker; he built
a dam and shop, installed a wooden water shed, a furnace
for smelting iron ore, a trip hammer, and commenced
business. Some of the ore was brought from Roxbury and
Brookfield and some was taken from the ledge east of
where Jessie Burr Fillow lived, on the road from Branchville
to Boston district. There is a tradition that there
was an iron furnace near this ledge before the War of
the Revolution. The limestone used in smelting the ore
came from Umpawaug hill. Many kinds of iron goods were
made, ploughshare points, shovels and irons, cranes,
pots and kettles, and ovens.
G&B
rebuilt the mill dam and built the shop long afterward
known as the Red Mill. The mill had two stories and
a basement. The first floor was used for the curled
hair industry using power. In the basement the sieve
rims were steamed, bent into shape, and later other
work was done there as well. A wooden water wheel was
built to furnish power for the mill.
With
the weaving of wire cloth, the process of making of
cheese and meat safes commenced. Aaron Osborn did this
work, assisted by his brother, Eli Osborn. Aaron Osborn
created these cheese safes for nearly fifty years. With
the introduction of hard coal for fuel, the coal ash
sifter or coal riddle was made. Samuel Bennett, Henry
Williams and others worked at this branch. Later ox
muzzles made from wire were introduced. Most of the
men who worked in the Red Mill had worked in the Old
Red Shop doing the same kind of work.
On
Oct. 15, 1835, Benjamin Gilbert deeded to Sturges Bennett
and William J. Gilbert each a one-third interest in
the Red Shop, the land (1/4 of an acre) with the mill
pond, also rights in the reservoir on the hill. Near
the Red Shop on this land was a small two-story building
used by Uncle David Nichols as a wagon shop (part of
this building was used by Benjamin Gilbert be-fore the
Red Shop was built.) The price paid was $133 for each
third. The land was bounded on the north, east and west
by the highways, on the south by Sturges Bennett's home
lot.
In
1836, it was found the light cloth and carpet looms
in the village were not heavy enough for wire weaving.
A few looms were built and set up on the third floor
of the Red Shop. Among those who wove wire cloth at
this time were Isaac C. Perry, George Perry, Moses Hubbell
and his wife Betsy, William Perry, and probably others.
William Perry wove a fine wire cloth, called strainer
cloth, used for straining milk and other liquids. George
Perry built a shop south of his home which was later
owned by John Hohman, and wove for the Gilbert & Bennett
Co. Isaac Perry's son-in-law also built a shop for weaving.
James
Byington, Aaron Jelliff, Henry Olmstead and his brother
William, Lorenzo Jones, Thomas Pryor, George Gould,
Anton Stommell, George Hubbell, and Granville Perry
wove wire cloth in the old Red Shop. As the business
grew, Anson B. Hull was hired as Bookkeeper. The office
was on the first floor of the shop; in connection with
book-keeping, he ran a small store. He was with the
company for many years. Later he moved to Danbury, where
he was freight agent for the D. & N. R.R., until his
death.
In
1842 Edwin Gilbert became a member of the Gilbert &
Bennett Co. (40 years later he became president of the
Gilbert & Bennett Mfg. Co. ) He, with his brother William
J. Gilbert and E.O. Hurlbutt, comprised the selling
force. Their selling methods being to load Conestoga
wagons and deliver through the country as sales were
made. Even under these difficult conditions, the sale
of Gilbert & Bennett goods spread throughout the South
and as far West as the Western reserve of Ohio.
In
1847, Benjamin Gilbert, the founder of the business,
died after an illness of several years that incapacitated
him from active business. A saw mill was established
for making sieve frames in 1848 and in that same year,
steam power was first introduced as a source of power.
Because of Gilbert and Bennett's rather isolated location,
it derived its power not from coal but from water turbines.
Water pressure became a constant with the purchase and
control of Great Pond, a reservoir located 5.27 miles
northwest of the mill on the Norwalk River at the Ridgefield-Redding
town line in that same year.
The
business at the time was still based on sieves and curled
hair. Additional space could not go to waste, so in
the year 1850, the manufacture of glue was added to
further expand the company. The existing glue manufacturing
process was studied by the company and found to have
several disadvantages. They found that because glue
was being dried on cotton netting some of it adhered
to the fabric, this was a waste and led to higher costs.
Another disadvantage was that the glue itself would
contain bits of cotton which interfered with its adhesive
quality. They resolved these problems by manufacturing
wire netting upon which the glue would be dried. When
the glue dried, it could be separated from the wire
netting with little difficulty, and as a result revolutionized
the glue-drying process across America.
In
1853 David H. Miller of New York City entered the employ
of the Gilbert & Bennett Co. as bookkeeper. He brought
in fresh ideas and new ways of working which greatly
increased the efficiency of the company. (Fifty-three
years later he became president of the Gilbert & Bennet
Mfg. Co., and held that position until the time of his
death in 1915). The Rapid growth of the Gilbert & Bennett
Co. continued with Edwin Gilbert as salesman and Charles
Olmstead running one of the freight wagons. With the
building of the D. & N. R. R., the freight wagons were
taken off one after another and the railroad did all
the carrying of goods. One of these old freight wagons
was used as late as 1864 carting materials between the
factory and the depot. Edmund O. Hurlbutt withdrew from
the firm in 1860.
With
the building of other factories, one by one, the various
branches of the industry were moved from the old Red
Shop, until only the wire weaving was left. In 1861,
Eli G. Bennett opened a dry-goods and grocery store
on the first floor of the Red Shop. The business grew
until the whole floor was occupied, and a large amount
of business was done. Here many young men received their
first business training. In 1869 Sturges Bennett who
now owning the property had the Old Red Shop torn down
and built in its place the store known for many years
as Connery's store. The timbers of the Old Red Shop
were bought by Anton Stommell, who used them in building
his house on the street running east from the Weston
road, which is now Highland Avenue. Later he sold it
to Elijah Gregory.
Connery's
Store, at or just before turn of the 20th century.
The
Red Mill was phased out in this time period as well,
and was used strictly for the drawing of fine wire,
tinning and galvanizing wire in it's later years. In
1889 the Old Red Mill was burned down and new mill was
built in its place.
A
wire mill was built on the factory premises in 1863
to provide "facilities for drawing iron wire." Prior
to this, the manufacturer had purchased iron wire from
a mill in Worcester, Massachusetts. Distribution was
becoming more accessible, the tools of commerce in the
shape of rail and water shipping and transportation
facilities were rapidly extending their scope. The telegraph
was shortening the distance between manufacturer and
purchaser. Wholesalers were tightening the link between
making goods and selling them. So, expanding as rapidly
as their needs justified, Gilbert & Bennett & Co. added
new buildings and equipment, in 1865 installing the
first power machinery ever used in the United States
for making wire poultry netting. For many years they
manufactured all the poultry netting made in the United
States. This was not a large amount at the time, for
the manufacturing was but a small part of the transaction
as the trade had to be educated to its use. Gilbert
& Bennett with perfect confidence in their goods continued
to push them and the limited field at the time expanded
to cover every part of the United States.
Original
Upper Factory Buildings lost to the fire noted below.
A
fire destroyed the plant on Sunday May 11, 1874. Just
at the sun rising, the cry of "fire" startled the village,
and the latest, most complete and most valuable of the
factory buildings was found to be on fire. There was
no fire apparatus with which to fight the flames, and
the company's officials and the throngs of men, women
and children that quickly gathered could do nothing
but look on while building after building with its intricate
and costly machinery was reduced to ashes. In an hour
and twenty minutes the buildings were destroyed. Damage
amounted to $200,000 for which the mill had $40,000
of insurance. The decisions that were made in rebuilding
the properties insured Gilbert and Bennett's success
for generations to come. One of those decisions was
to lobby the Danbury and Norwalk Railroad to run a line
into the mill. The Danbury and Norwalk Railroad traveled
through Georgetown as early as 1852, but it was during
the 1874 reconstruction that the railroad was convinced
to run a spur line into the mill property. The track
that came into the mill, branched off from the railway
just before the Georgetown Train Station where Miller
Hall stood, two team tracks split to the left, one lead
to the back of Georgetown Station and the other extended
further to the road. The main track split in two, where
it joining again in the factory. In addition to Miller's
Hall, two small sheds also stood, one of which was a
coal shed. The spur line enabled the company to ship
and receive material more efficiently, and reduce the
manpower required in the process.
New
Upper Factory Building...this building still remains
in the factory today.
The
new railroad spur line had another advantage: Steam
power. Steam power was dependent upon coal and coal
was a raw material transported in bulk by rail. Steam
power added a great degree of flexibility to the modern
manufacturer. The mill owner was no longer a slave to
a specific location on a river, nor was he at the mercy
of seasonal variations in the amount of water available
in an out-of-the-way stream allowing him to make consistent
schedules for production. Gilbert and Bennett was no
longer dependent on the Norwalk River.
Following
the fire G&B made another successful decision: The
Iincorporation of The Company. Gilbert and Bennett was
reorganized as a joint stock company on May 30, 1874
and the machinery that adorned the new buildings was
the newest and best possible. The mill was opened and
operating within the year.
The
officers of the corporation were: Sturges Bennett, President;
William W. Beers, Treasurer; David H. Miller, Secretary
The
above officers, with Edwin Gilbert and William J. Gilbert,
comprised the board of directors. William W. Beers was
later made president of the company, serving in that
capacity from 1876 until his death in 1879. The newly
incorporated company went into the field with a vigor
which within a few years multiplied their sales and
output many times over.
About
this time steel replaced the iron wire of earlier days.
The increased facilities of the wire mills enabled the
company to handle the steel and to draw all such wire
used in their manufacture. This they continued into
the 1980's, using a specially selected stock of the
highest grade. Bronze, copper, and brass wire were drawn
for use in their goods as well. Gilbert & Bennett was
the first in the country to manufacture and market galvanized
wire cloth. This soon replaced the plain iron wire cloth
which until that time had been carried in stock by all
hardware dealers.
By
1887, the wire industry had finally come of age and
the increase of business taxed their factory capacities
to the point that the glue and curled hair departments
had to be sold off. From that point forward, the factory
was devoted to wire fabrics exclusively.
Gilbert
and Bennett continue to prosper at the turn of the century
attracting not only new business but immigrant labor
as well. Swedish immigrants actively recruited by the
company arrived in great numbers by the end of the 19th
century. The Swedish neighborhood was first located
in the Weston section. By the 20th century they occupied
a good portion of the housing provided on Portland Avenue
by the company, where they built their church. Scandinavian
surnames also predominated on New Street by 1927. Ethnic
neighborhoods were also established by the Polish and
Italian immigrants in Georgetown, although a few Italian
Americans lived in the Wilton section of Portland Avenue
and in Ridgefield section of Branchville.
In
the 20th century the company's reliance on the Norwalk
River dimished but it's association with it did not.
Great Pond, no longer a source of power became a source
of entertainment. The pond purchased in 1848 was used
for family gatherings by the employees of the factory:
swimming, fishing and sunning in the summer, skating
in the winter. My grandfather recalls walking and/or
hitching rides to the pond throughout his childhood.
When a trip to Ridgefield was out of the question the
factory's "Upper Pond" off of Portland Avenue
was a popular swimming hole and was used by the Town
of Redding's in the 1960's thru the early 70's when
Topstone Park was established. The swimming area at
the "Upper Pond" was created and maintained
by the Georgetown Lions Club and the local Boy Scout
Troop who aided in the removal of gargage each spring.
Among the clutter picked out of the pond in April of
1967 according to the Redding Pilot were a television
set, a baby carriage, and over 60 tires. The Lower Factory
Pond was never used for swimming or fishing as it was
heavily polluted by the factory's wire manufacturering
waste. My grandfather noted that "it glowed green"
at one point in his childhood.
The
Great Pond, Upper Factory Pond and Lower Factory Pond
were all washed out in the "Flood
of 1955". Practically all of the
dams on the Norwalk River were destroyed by the flood.
The dam at Buttery's Mill on the Silvermine River, suffered
extensive damage as well.
The
Upper Pond Dam at the G&B Factory during the Flood
of 1955.
Today
Great Pond continues to serve the community as a swimming
hole. The Gilbert and Bennett Company transferred it's
rights to the Town of Ridgefield in the 1990's for the
whopping fee of $1 in the great Gilbert and Bennett
family tradition of giving back to the community. The
Upper Pond in Georgetown remains a popular fishing hole
for local residents and their children and some even
venture out in a small boat from time to time.
Ridgefield
Mills along the Norwalk River
At
this time I have limited information on the mills above
Georgetown/Redding in Ridgefield. However, the map below
shows Eli Glover's Woolen Mill mentioned above in the
Old Stone Mill text and a Saw Mill above it in the location
of the Golf-Art Building located there today. In addition
to Glover's Woolen Mill there was also a Fulling Mill
owned by a man named Cain...thus Cains Hill Road above
it.
What
Powered These Early Mills?
Answer:
The Water Wheel. The
function of a water wheel is to power a machine to perform
a task. Although we don’t think of it with today’s advanced
computers and production systems, the water wheel was
one of this country’s first labor-saving devices. The
amount of power or energy generated by the wheel is
measured and described in horsepower. A unit of horsepower
is equivalent to 550 feet power per second. Water wheels
of the 19th century could operate at ten to thirty horsepower
but most functioned with between fifteen and twenty.
Water wheels were made of wood. For best results they
should be kept in constant use. If not, parts would
dry and shrink, eventually becoming loose. Northern
mill owners often would build wheels into mills—devising
crude heating systems to keep it ice-free in winters.
Buckets, into which the water was directed, would leak,
diminishing the amount of power of the wheel. The wheel
was certainly not indestructible under the best of conditions.
Over a span of five to ten years, most parts of the
wheel would need to be repaired or replaced.
The wheel was set in motion by water entering its buckets.
The flow of water was the most crucial contribution
of the entire process. To insure a constant flow, a
dam was built as close to the mill site, and wheel,
as possible. If the dam was any distance from the wheel,
water had to be carried from the dam to the wheel via
a canal or flume.
Efficiency
of all wheels depended upon the head (the difference
in level between water feeding the wheel and that leaving
it.) A wheel performing at a site with a great head
water would be quite large and use many buckets. For
best results, water should leave the wheel quickly.
Construction of tailraces were used for this purpose.
Tailraces were made of oak, pine, or cypress as these
woods would contribute most to a long existence.
Mills
of the 19th century generally used three types of wheels.
The overshot wheel was one that water entered from the
top. Its diameter could be as great as sixty feet and
its width could be three feet. Buckets were ten to fifteen
inches in depth and the head for efficient operation
was ten to forty fest. It operated at approximately
65% to 75% efficiency.
The
breast wheel allowed water to enter at the side just
above the shaft. It operated best with an eight to ten
foot head and the efficiency level for the breast wheel
was 50% to 60%. The undershot wheel was commonly found
at medium-sized dams of five to eight feet. It functioned
with a low head and the bottom of the wheel was always
submerged in the stream. A gate was installed at the
bottom of the dam to direct a constant flow at the wheel’s
vanes. (The undershot had no buckets as there was no
need to hold the water for any length of time). The
vanes were placed eighteen to twenty-four inches apart.
This wheel could operate when water in its reservoir
was very low, but at best operated only at 40% efficiency.
Why
the demise of these once active mills?
The
year 1860 saw “sixteen busy shops” along the Norwalk
River from its source in Ridgefield to the Norwalk town
line. By 1923 there were four or five. Mills along the
Norwalk River in Wilton and Redding as well as those
in Weston collapsed for the very reasons that factories
in Norwalk, Danbury, and Bridgeport prospered. These
small mills were dependent on water for their source
of power. They didn’t move to steam because they weren’t
located on major rail lines where coal could be readily
imported (*with the exception of Gilbert and Bennett).
Also, most mills were not large enough for this type
of major transformation. The largest mill in Wilton
in 1860 manufactured shirts. It employed twenty-four
people. The small mills of Fairfield County couldn’t
compete with factories in larger cities which manufactured
their product faster and cheaper, if not better than
they could. The small, interior mill town that could
not attract a railroad not only suffered from access
to raw materials. It also was at a disadvantage transporting
its products to markets. But the ultimate death knell
for the water-powered mill was the sophisticated marketing
practices that larger manufacturers and their profits
could afford. Big companies opened retail stores to
sell directly to their customers. Catalogue buying allowed
shoppers to conduct their business through the mail,
eliminating the need for peddlers. And advertising in
newspapers signified that 19th century manufacturing
had become a multi-faceted, big business. Weston, Wilton,
and Redding mills were in a struggle to survive, and
they were in way over their heads.
Yet
Georgetown’s wire mill, Gilbert and Bennett, not only
survived but prospered. It succeeded because its management
made the same necessary decisions that leaders of all
successful American industries were making. In Gilbert
and Bennett’s case, these were the same steps they had
been taking since its establishment in 1818. The Georgetown
mill continued to adapt to changing markets and economic
conditions and they wisely foresaw future trends and
developments. Gilbert and Bennett also benefitted from
a vast amount of good fortune and very loyal, innovative
employees.
As
mentioned earlier, growing 19th century factories moved
to steam power. Because of Gilbert and Bennett’s rather
isolated location, it derived its power not from coal
but from water turbines. However, G&B's isolation
problem was solved in 1874 when the railroad was convinced
to run a spur line into the mill property and steam
power soon followed.
Spur
line into the mill. To the left is the Georgetown Train
Station.
Another
key to developing urban centers of manufacturing after
the Civil War was immigration. Before 1850 immigrants
were outwardly deterred from settling in Connecticut
by property ownership restrictions. By the 1870s and
1880s, however, foreigners were seen as a cheap and
abundant source of labor. Immigrants were drawn to large
cities because many were ports or located on important
transportation lines. Once there, unskilled factory
jobs, usually in areas in or within walking distance
of their neighborhoods, provided the necessary employment
and security. Although harassed by the Know-Nothing
Party members in the 1850s, and again in the 1880s and
1890s by the American Protective Association, and inspite
of main-line Democrat and Republican conservative, anti-labor,
anti-immigrant attitudes, immigrants were here to stay.
In 1890 Connecticut had a rural population of 123,097
and an urban population of 623,161. And by 1900 foreign-born
residents made up 59% of the state’s people.
Visit
www.historyofredding.com
for more information on the History of Redding and Georgetown,
CT
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