WATERBURY, a city of Connecticut, in New Haven County, the fourth in population in the State, and one of the most important manu facturing centres in New England. It is situated on both sides of the Naugatuck River, 21 miles above its junction with the Housatonic, 22 miles northwest of New Haven and 32 southwest of Hartford. In January 1902, by an amendment to the charter, the city became coterminous with the town, so that it now covers an area seven or eight miles square. Its physical fea tures are greatly diversified Its streams and wet lands Probably suggested its name, given to the town at the time of its incorporation. Its earliest designation. gifiatetacoke" (shortened to )dattatuck), means a place or land without trees, and had reference probablt to the primeval meadows on the Naugatuck.
History.— The first attempt at a settlement was made in 1674, by men of Farmington, on the high land west of the river, known ever since as the Town Plot. The breaking out of King Philip's War led to the abandonment of this site and the planters, when they returned, settled on the east side of the river, nearer to Farmington, calling the place the Town Spot. The settlement was formed under the order of the General Court. upon the payment of about L2.500. The men numbered 31, and for 26 years uo outsider was admitted as a proprietor. Mat taw& was incorporated as a town (of Hartford l'ialuty), with a change of the name to Water bury, in 1686, occupying then a territory about right miles wide and 18 miles from north to south For more than a century its growth was slow. In addition to the natural disadvantages of the situation, there were such disasters as the 'great flood* of 1691 and the "great sickness' 4 1712 The organization of a church — always an important event in a New England plantation — did not take place until 1691. The town and parish were identical until 1738, when Westbury (now Watertown) was set apart as an ecclesi astical society. Northbury (now Plymouth and Thomaston) secured similar rights in 1739, and thenceforth the original parish became known as the First Society. The church belonged, of course, to the Congregational denomination. No other existed in the territory until 1737, when Episcopal services were introduced. The town was represented in the Revolutionary War by about 800 men, an extraordinary number.
Throughout its history, Waterbury has suf fered seriously from fires. The losses in 1880 81 and in 1892-94 were exceptionally large, but were far surpassed by those of the great fire of 1902, which amounted to more than $2,000,000. A fire company was organised in 1828 and sev eral others later, and a fire department was es tablished under the first city charter in 1854. This has developed, much after the fashion of other cities, into a paid department, with a chief engineer, and equipped with a modern auto mobile apparatus.
Manufactures, etc.—The conditions that surrounded the settlement of the town and limited its agricultural prosperity became an im portant factor in its subsequent development. Under the discipline of poverty and hardship, a group of men grew who possessed inven tivegenius, and, in addition, patience, economy and pluck. When the manufacturing era opened, these men were at the front, ready to make use of their opportunities, while the rapid streams of the region furnished the necessary water power. 'The farmers' sons became manufac
turers—makers of dodo and buttons —and along the several streams little factories and mills grew up. whose products met the growing demand of the tune. It was in response to this demand, emphasized by the War of 1812-15, that the brass industry of Waterbury received its early impetus—an impetus which was en hanced anew, and very greatly, by the War for the Union. By 1840 the manufacture of sheet metal and wire bad taken the lead of all others. But there were many uses to which sheet brass could be applied beside button-making, and Waterbury manufacturers were quick to dis cover them. The great manufactories are still known locally as trolling mills,• but the articles produced in them are of endless variety. Through the latter half of the 19docentory the bulk of the brass manufacture was carried on by six concerns, one of which came into exist ence in 1802, and another a few years later. These six manufactories still hold their prominent position, but meanwhile others have sprung up and attained to great Import ance, some devoted to one specialty and some to another, and several of them rivaling in the ex tent of their product the older establishments. Buttons, buckles, pins, hooks and eyes, suspen ders, harness trimmings, rivets, wire, tubing. gas fixtures. lamps, brass kettles, boilers, clocks. watches, spoons, forks, flasks, percussion caps, photographic matenals, coins for South Amen can things of all kinds made wholly i or in pan of brass — are Sent forth from their packing rooms by hundreds of thousands, and shipped to all parts of the world. The chief seat of the brass industry in America is the Nauga tuck Valley. and Waterbury is its dominant centre. There are also many important estab lishments quite outside of the brass industry— machine shops of national reputation, foundries, manufactories of cutlery, of hinges, of traps, of aluminum goods, paper-box factories and vari ous others. The number of Waterbury con cerns which organized under the 'Joint Stock Law' of Connecticut between 1843 and 1911 was about 300. One hundred of these were companies working in metals; the rest were corporations manufacturing other materials, or mercantile and miscellaneous concerns. Many of these have ceased to exist, but the surviving corporations number over 150. The fame of the Waterbury watch was worldwide, yet few people know that one of the largest clock fac tories on the globe is here. In 1845 the capital employed in manufactures amounted to $653, 825; in 1890 the amount of the capital was $17, 682,500, and the value of the product, $17,712, 829; and, in 1910, the amount of the capital was $35,000,000, the value of the product $50,350,000, and the total wages paid $12,000,000. In 1914 the capital was $49,000,000 and the gross prod ucts almost $51,000,000. Waterbury, having manufactured munitions during the War of 1812, and during the Civil War, again turned to the manufacture of war materials in 1914, and continuously during the World War has turned out munitions to the extent of tens of millions of dollars.