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Overview of Manufacturing at Thamesville
1912 Map Showing Location of Several Thamesville Mfg’s
*Place cursor over maps to magnify
1892 Map Showing Location of C.B. Rogers & Co.
The development of manufacturing enterprises in Norwich grew over time. The beginnings of manufacturing in Thamesville was a pottery operated by Sidney Risley from 1845 to 1875. His first shop was located near the west bank of the Thames River, only a few blocks south of the present-day Norwich Police Station.
Thamesville was one of the last large-scale manufacturing sites to develop in Norwich. Two of the key components needed for efficient manufacturing were the availability of power and ability to transport both raw materials into a plant and export the finished goods. Purely based upon Norwich’s geography and native resources located at the Yantic Falls and Greeneville areas, these sites naturally developed first.
Soon after the New London Willimantic & Palmer Railroad was built in 1848, the Thamesville manufacturing site began to blossom at the C.B. Rogers & Company facility. Upon inspection of the map above, it can be noted that both the railroad (then operated by the Central Vermont Railroad), and the Thames river were available for transporting goods.
Also, the very important Thamesville power station was available to the manufacturers. Greeneville received the first large electric light light station in 1890, and as seen on the map above, Thamesville had a substantial power station by 1912.
All the manufacturers discussed in this section were located adjacent to both the railroad and the Thames river, giving them efficient means to make and transport their goods.
Acknowledgements
“Aero View of Norwich, Connecticut 1912”, by Hughes & Bailey
1892 Sanborn-Perris Fire Insurance Map of Norwich
“The Gas and Electric Early History”, by Ray Bourque
1845-1881 Sidney Risley Pottery
In 1845 Sidney Risley established a small pottery in Thamesville near the bank of the Thames river, behind present-day 76 West Thames Street. Sometime before September 1845, Risley moved his pottery to 4 Cove Street at Chelsea Landing. The advertisement shown below appeared in the 1857 Norwich Directory.
Sidney Risley, No. 4 Cove St. Manufacturer of Stone Ware in Every Variety
The Trade Supplied With All Kinds of Stone Ware, At the Lowest Market Prices
All Orders Thankfully Received and Promptly Attended To
Other advertised items included money safes for children and a cider bottle in the shape of a hollow ring made to be carried on the arm of a mower in the field.
Pitcher by Sidney Risley
This is a photo of one of pitchers that was created at Risley’s pottery.
Wood for the kiln was delivered by boat or a team of horses. Everyone in that section of the town knew when the fires were going at the pottery, for the dense black smoke from the three-foot sticks filled the sky for a space of from 36 to 50 hours, according to the particular kind of work being done. The clay used in the manufacture of the wares is said to have been brought from New Jersey and Long Island in schooners which anchored in the river nearby.
The wares of the Risley pottery, were loaded in wagons and peddled throughout all the eastern part of Connecticut using two one-horse wagons. One of Risley’s drivers, Alvin T. Davis, had his pottery wagon hitched with a fine pair of Newfoundland dogs ahead of the horses.
Crock by Sidney Risley
Risley’s son, George L. Risley, joined the business in 1865. He continued to run the pottery after his father’s death in 1875. George operated the pottery works until his own tragic death on Christmas eve of 1881. he went to the pottery to light the fires under an upright boiler, which blew up, and, going through the roof of the building, landed in the cove about 120 feet away. It is said that the force of the explosion was so great that the 1500-pound boiler passed completely over a fifty-foot elm tree at the rear of the pottery. Mr. Risley was so badly injured that he died that evening. An account of the accident appears in the January 1882 issue of the Scientific American magazine.
Benjamin C. Chace reopened the pottery about a year after George’s death, under the name of the Norwich Pottery Works. In 1885 he was succeeded by George B. Chamberlain, who continued it for about two years.
Acknowledgements
“A Modern History of New London County Connecticut, Vol. 2”, (1922), pp 550-551
“From Kiln to Collection : Norwich Pottery and Its Makers”, by Sierra Dixon
The complete list of sources may be found by clicking the “Bibliography” button, and, then typing “Sidney Risley” in the SEARCH box.
1848-1897 C.B. Rogers & Company
Caleb B. Rogers got his start in the woodworking machinery business working for the J.A. Fay & Company in Keene, New Hampshire. After several years of cooperation in Keene, Caleb Rogers and J.A. Fay partnered to build a second factory on the west side of Norwich. The factory was located near the present-day Norwich Police Department.
The new facility was needed to produce the company’s newly designed sash sticking machine. This machine met with an unprecedented demand. Over a three year period period the company sold one machine per day, on the average.
*Place cursor over photo to magnify
C.B. Rogers & Company was a large manufacturer of wood-working machinery. The Norwich factory first started in 1848 on a small scale, but gradually increased. By 1863 it was incorporated as a joint stock company.
Their machinery found sales not only in the United States, but was also in South America, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia and various European countries.
Over the years their machinery was exhibited all over the world and won more than 100 gold, silver or bronze medals.
In 1873 the company their machines were shown at the prestigious Vienna International Exhibition, in Vienna. They exhibited a variety of machinery including a double-surface and matching machine, a four-sided molding machine, a four-sided molding machine, a double head and cape tenoning machine, a sash sticking machine, a hub mortising machine, a saw arbor and a grooving saw arbor.
The factory, including the foundry, covered nearly three acres of ground. The manufactory surrounded three sides of a quadrangle, and consisted of the main building, 125×45 feet, four stories, with blacksmith shop, 30×25 feet, attached; a wing, 65×40 feet, four stories; and a second wing, 50×20 feet, three stories. The fourth side was occupied by a storehouse, 100×30 feet, three stories, for lumber and coal. The factory had about 40,000 feet of floor space.
The engraving shown above is a depiction of the interior of the C.B. Rogers & Company factory in Thamesville
The machine shown above is a three-side, 24 inch planer. It was manufactured by Rogers in 1872
In 1888 the company employed 125 people at an average wage of $560 per year ($14,700 in today’s dollars). C. B. Rogers supervised the entire Thamesville plant, and upon the death of Fay in 1854, Fay’s interests in the company were transferred to Rogers.
C.B. Rogers died an untimely death in 1871. He was one of a dozen people who died aboard the steamship “City of New London”. The ship caught fire and sank only 3½ miles from the Chelsea Harbor port. To learn more about the accident, CLICK HERE
After his death the company continued to operate successfully under the guidance of Lyman Gould. In 1897 C. B. Rogers & Co. merged with ten others to form the American Wood Working Machine Company.
Acknowledgements
“Norwich Connecticut: Its Importance as a Business and Manufacturing Centre and as a Place of Residence”, 1888, page 26, by the Norwich Board of Trade
VintageMachinery.com
VintageMachinery.com
The complete list of sources may be found by clicking the “Bibliography” button, and, then typing “Rogers” in the SEARCH box.
1893-1927 Uncas Paper Mill
In 1893 the Chelsea Paper Company was reorganized as the Uncas Paper Company. Soon after the reorganization, the new mill, shown above, was built in Thamesville. The company became a a division of the American Strawboard Company. This mill, like the Chelsea Paper Mill in Greenville, was also one of the largest paper mills in the country. However, the Uncas Paper Mill focused on producing paper board products and paper boxes rather than paper used for print, produced by the Chelsea mill. Uncas mill products were sold around the world and their plant operated around the clock utilizing two 12-hour shifts to keep up with demand.
As a part of Norwich’s 250th Anniversary in 1909, the Uncas Paper Company entered a handsome float which attracted much attention. The float featured a canoe on a sixteen-foot carriage, with material about it representing water. Elevated length-wise on the float was a roll of news board four feet in diameter. At each corner was a roll of paper, the product of the mill, and on each side of the float were four foot circles, through which could be seen Indians paddling the canoe. The rings were decorated with roses and foreign flags, representing export trade, and at the front and back were large American flags. The float was drawn by four horses and bore the sign, Uncas Paper Division, American Strawboard Co.
The Uncas Paper Company was forced out of business by lawsuits in 1927.
Acknowledgements
“The Celebration of the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Settlement of the Town of Norwich, Ct and the Incorporation of the City, the One Hundred and Twenty-Fifth, July 4-6, 1909”, by William C. Gilman, published in 1912, page 166
“The Norwich Evening Record”, by Cleworth & Pullen, 1894, page 61
Public Domain
The complete list of sources may be found by clicking the “Bibliography” button, and, then typing “Uncas Paper” in the SEARCH box.
1916-1921 Norwich Woolen Co. - Thamesville
The first Norwich Woolen Mill was established in 1827 and operated in the present-day Yantic neighborhood of Norwich. The enterprise was incorporated as the Norwich Woolen Company circa 1877. They manufactured flannel, a high-quality carriage cloth. By 1900 the firm had transitioned into the production of woolen and worsted fabrics for suits and outerwear. At that time the company employed approximately 125 employees turning out 250,000 pounds of product per year.
In 1916 the company expanded its production when it built a new, more modern plant in the Thamesville area of Norwich. The Thamesville mill was conveniently located adjacent to both the Thames river and the Central Vermont Railway, had the ability to easily transport raw materials and finished products both into and out of the mill. Refer to the map located at the top of this webpage.
1921-1955 American Woolen Co. - Thamesville
In 1921, the mills owned by the Norwich Woolen Company in both Thamesville and Yantic were acquired by the American Woolen Company, a large conglomerate of New England textile mills originally established in 1899. They idled the Yantic mill after consolidating all production at the Thamesville facility. At the time of the transaction, the American Woolen Company was the largest manufacturer of woolen and worsted fabrics in the world and maintained 58 mills in eight states.
In 1921 the Norwich mills employed around 500 workers and were equipped with 24 sets of carding machines and 170 broad looms. These were purchased along with the respective plants for a sum of $570,000 ($1.4 million in today’s dollars). The American Woolen Company rapidly increased production and by the end of 1921 the Thamesville mill alone boasted 650 employees, 21 sets of cards, 88 looms, 7056 spindles, and 32 knitting machines.
Employment dropped below 300 by the late-1930s, however, American Woolen continued to maintain the Thamesville plant into the 1950s. By 1954, competition with Southern textile mills forced the company to close the Norwich factory and the remaining 150 employees were laid off.
The plant was in turn acquired by Sawyer Displays, Inc., a Putnam, Connecticut based manufacturer of display and advertising products. Sawyer Displays occupied the Thamesville factory into the late-20th century.
Acknowledgements
ConnecticutMills.org
“Special Acts and Resolutions of the State of Connecticut, Vol. 6, from the Year 1866-1870”, 1872, page 977
by the William Rogers Mfg Company
1889-1938 Norwich Cutlery Company
For many years the Norwich Cutlery Works was a branch of the International Silver Company. They made steel blanks in the shape of knives, forks, carvers, etc. The plant was located on the Thames river, as shown at the top of this webpage, employing about 100 workers.
The firm began production in 1889, and its entire output of steel table cutlery blanks was purchased by the William Rogers Manufacturing Company for plating and finishing in Hartford. The blanks were coated with silver or gold.
Norwich Cutlery initially employed 50 hands and was capable of turning out 150 dozen knives per day. The company operated in this manner for ten years before being acquired by the International Silver Company in 1899.
The photo on the left illustrates a typical finished product that the William Rogers Manufacturing Company (based in Hartford) sold at retail. The Norwich Cutlery Co. made “blanks” that were used by the Rogers Company to make plated silverware similar to the ones shown here.
The International Silver Company was organized under the laws of the State of New Jersey on November 19, 1898. Essentially a holding company, the firm acquired control of 17 of the most significant manufacturers of silver products in the United States and Canada within its first year of existence.
The International Silver Company grew to become the largest producer of silver products in the United States and by the early 1900s had expanded into a massive industrial concern valued at $20,000,000.
International Silver made numerous improvements to the Norwich plant and occupied it into the 1930s, by which time employment there had risen to 140 hands. Damage resultant of the 1938 Hurricane, however, was deemed not worth repairing and International Silver vacated the plant at that time.
Acknowledgements
ConnecticutMills.org
“Picturesque and Industrial Eastern Connecticut”, 1914, page 8, by the Eastern Connecticut Development Committee
“William Rogers Mfg Co. “Wedding Bells” Pattern”, Quora.com