Watertown History Page by Charlie Crowell

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Watertown History Page by Charlie Crowell History of Watertown CT

Here’s a wide view of the old Heminway-Bartlett factory on Echo Lake Road. The silk company was founded in September of ...
10/07/2026

Here’s a wide view of the old Heminway-Bartlett factory on Echo Lake Road. The silk company was founded in September of 1888 by Buell Heminway and H.H. Bartlett. Heminway was the son of Merrit Heminway who had founded his own silk factory (also on Echo Lake Road) in the 1840's.

Buell Heminway was president of Heminway & Bartlett until his death in 1915 when Mr. Bartlett assumed the presidency.

The factory was located right at the end of the Watertown-Waterbury railroad line. In fact on one occasion in 1902, the train’s brakes failed and it steamed off the end of the tracks and smashed into the Heminway & Bartlett well.

It was the only one of the big seven local factories not located directly on The banks of Steele Brook.

The brick structure was the company’s office building.

(October 2010 Photo)

These corn stalks escaped the harvester in a field off Gurnseytown Road back in October 2010. In the distance was the re...
10/06/2026

These corn stalks escaped the harvester in a field off Gurnseytown Road back in October 2010. In the distance was the red Tara Farm barn which was still partially standing. This farm was known for many years as Cherry Farm.

Here’s an early photograph looking down DeForest Street.The Town Hall (built in 1894) is on the right and a team of hors...
10/06/2026

Here’s an early photograph looking down DeForest Street.

The Town Hall (built in 1894) is on the right and a team of horses is coming around the corner from what was known as Town Hall Hill, now Veteran's Hill.

The Civil War monument is present which dates the picture after October 1908.

The short post with the cone shaped top was where public notices were posted. In 2017 there was a messy controversy about an identical post still standing on the Waterbury Green.

The claim was that it was a whipping post used to punish slaves in the old days which was sheer nonsense and a total fabrication.

Regardless, the mayor had the post removed despite absolutely no evidence to support the claim.

Here's a bunch of kindergarteners from the 1963-64 school year. Most of these kids went on to graduate WHS in 1976.The t...
09/12/2026

Here's a bunch of kindergarteners from the 1963-64 school year. Most of these kids went on to graduate WHS in 1976.

The teacher was Mrs. Grayson.

The Class of ‘76 is having their 50th year reunion tonight.

After President Taft’s visit to Watertown in 1909, local druggist Dan Sullivan put this poster together, presumably for ...
08/18/2026

After President Taft’s visit to Watertown in 1909, local druggist Dan Sullivan put this poster together, presumably for display in his store window.

It shows photographs he took that day, two of which I featured in recent posts.

President Taft was in town on December 18th to attend his sister-in-law Winfred’s funeral at Taft school. Winfred (or Winnie as she was known) died of cancer. She was the wife of Horace Taft, founder of Taft School. Horace was the president’s brother.

The pictures seen here are the only known photos from that day aside from two photos taken by reporters.

One of the reporter photos was of the president’s railroad car “The Mayflower”. Another was taken at Taft School of the president and his two brothers together.

Pretty much the whole town turned out at the train depot on Depot Street to see the chief executive.

The president was accompanied by various Secret Service men and his personal military aid Colonel Archibald Butt.

A little over two years later, the Colonel went down with the Titanic. He is considered one of the heroes of the tragedy, having kept order, last seen by the railing with an iron bar in his hand.

An amusing thing happened during the president’s visit to Watertown. After disembarking the train, a carriage was waiting to take him to Taft School.

As the large overweight president stepped on the step to climb into the carriage, it looked like the whole carriage was about to fall over on him.

The crowd gasped.

Perhaps even funnier was that the president became wedged in the doorway of the carriage. Colonel Butt shoved the president through the opening and the carriage headed to the school.

The carriage was provided by the very wealthy Mrs. Buckingham who lived in the large home facing the center of The Green. The carriage was considered the finest in town.

I recently acquired this item along with many more photos related to Sullivan’s Drug Store.

This stone retaining wall at the corner of Main Street and Woodruff Avenue was built in early 1907 by the Connecticut Ra...
08/17/2026

This stone retaining wall at the corner of Main Street and Woodruff Avenue was built in early 1907 by the Connecticut Railway and Lighting Company.

The company built the trolley line from Waterbury to Watertown that year and needed to widen the roadway.

The town insisted that the trolley tracks run in a third lane along the west side of Main Street so not to hinder other vehicles.

Consequently, a slice of land had to be purchased from all the Main Street property owners after which this retaining wall was constructed.

Many of the property owners took advantage of the situation and profited handsomely.

With a little imagination, you can picture the trolleys passing this scene right up close to the wall.

Other retaining walls built by the trolley company along Main Street included the big one at the bottom of Academy Hill, the one at the bottom of Cherry Avenue, and another that was located where Crestwood Ford was. That one was removed in the early 1960s.

Today, the retaining wall seen here is giving way to progress and new sidewalks.

That’s St. John’s School in the distance.

This was President William H. Taft arriving at the Watertown depot on December 18, 1909. He came to town for his sister-...
08/17/2026

This was President William H. Taft arriving at the Watertown depot on December 18, 1909. He came to town for his sister-in-law’s funeral at Taft School.

He is seen on the open rear observation platform of the presidential railroad car called “The Mayflower”.

The young boy behind the president was Charlie Taft, the president’s son. He was a student at Taft School and made his way through the crowd to greet his father although at first, Secret Service men didn’t recognize him causing a bit of a delay.

The Mayflower was a famous custom-made private Pullman railroad car used as a "rolling White House" by early 20th-century U.S. presidents.

The car Included a secure, comfortable sleeping bedroom and personal living space where the president could rest during overnight transit between cities.

The buildings in the distance lined Depot Street going up toward Main Street.

This photo was taken by local druggist Daniel Sullivan. This is the original photo, now in my collection of Watertown by stuff.

On December 18, 1909, President William Howard Taft visited Watertown to attend the funeral of his sister-in-law at Taft...
08/14/2026

On December 18, 1909, President William Howard Taft visited Watertown to attend the funeral of his sister-in-law at Taft School.

Seen here are Mrs. Daniel Sullivan and her two children Alice (1902-1992) and George on their way to the train depot to join the crowd awaiting the president’s arrival.

In the distance is the depot. To the right is the Heminway Bartlett factory.

Pretty much the whole town showed up at the train station that day.

This photo was taken by Dan Sullivan (1876-1955) who owned a Main Street pharmacy. You can see his shadow in the lower left corner.

He took the only known pictures of President Taft from that day. I’ll share those in my next posts.

Here's a nice 8x10 of Daniel Sullivan's Drug Store on the corner of Main Street and Heminway Park Road opposite the Wate...
08/10/2026

Here's a nice 8x10 of Daniel Sullivan's Drug Store on the corner of Main Street and Heminway Park Road opposite the Watertown Library.

This photo is not dated but I’d guess it was in the 1940s.

The little addition on the left was built in 1928.

Further to the left is the house that burned on April 7, 2017, sufficiently to necessitate its demolition.

The large store display windows weren’t used exclusively for merchandise and advertising materials. Often, Mr. Sullivan would assemble interesting local displays which ranged from photographs from around town, to the works of local artist, or even local antiques and artifacts, in an attempt to draw customers to his store.

Often the displays were mentioned in the Watertown columns of the Waterbury newspapers.

Sullivan arrived in town in 1899 and opened a pharmacy on the corner of Main Street and Depot Street.

In 1909 he relocated to the “brick store” on the corner of Echo Lake Road.

Finally, in 1917 he built the store seen here.

The business closed in 1967 after 68 years.

This photo is credited to Dan A. Maren’s Studio.

For you fans of Watertown’s “Stone House” on the corner of DeForest Street and The Green, here’s a very similar house cu...
08/09/2026

For you fans of Watertown’s “Stone House” on the corner of DeForest Street and The Green, here’s a very similar house currently for sale.

This one however, is located a little way into Woodbury on Route 6.

Asking price? $865,000.

Built in 1854, this Italianate home showcases a highly symmetrical square layout, a low-pitched roof line with deep overhanging eaves, and a distinctive rooftop belvedere (cupola).

Something not mentioned in the real estate listing is that in 1978, there was a grisly double m*rder in the house.

On the afternoon of May 3, 1978, the bodies of Bruce Gilbert and Henry Kulesza were found in their combination home-antique shop in Woodbury (seen here). Gilbert was lying dead on the kitchen floor. His death was attributed to stab wounds of the abdomen. Kulesza's body was discovered at the foot of a set of stairs. His death was caused by multiple fractures of the skull and stab wounds of the chest. Death in both instances had occurred the previous night. The premises were in disarray, and the upstairs rooms, one of which contained a safe, appeared to have been ransacked.

The tragedy was the result of a botched burglary by four men, two from Waterbury and two from Watertown.

The murders sent shockwaves through the normally peaceful town of Woodbury and beyond.

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Watertown, CT
06795

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