From Dave Brigham:
I grew up in Connecticut, living in a small world in a small section of a small town. Whenever I meet someone who says they're from the Nutmeg State, I invariably ask them, "Where?" More often than not, they'll mention a town or city that I've simultaneously heard of and have no clue how to find on a map. In more recent years, I've realized that there are plenty of areas of my hometown, Simsbury, that are also mysteries to me.
I grew up in the Weatogue section of Simsbury, which is located in the southwest part of town, bordering on Avon and the Farmington River, and including the highfalutin Ethel Walker School. I spent almost all of my time running amok in my neighborhood, blissfully unaware of the rest of Simsbury, never mind the world at large. I've written here a few times about Weatogue: February 7, 2013, "President Little, Part II: From Myth to Man," and September 20, 2011, "In Search of President Little."
In high school, my friends and I traveled to West Hartford, East Hartford, regular Hartford, South Windsor, Avon, Farmington, Berlin and other surrounding towns for entertainment: drive-in movies, midnight movies, X-rated movies, regular movies, miniature golf, high school hockey games, jai-alai. My knowledge of many of those towns is still contained in memories of places that are probably almost all gone.
The first time I went to Windsor Locks, most likely, was when I was 12 years old, and my family went to Bradley International Airport, and boarded a flight to Phoenix at the beginning of a 10-day vacation. I went to that town numerous times in the ensuing years, including more recently to the excellent New England Air Museum. In my mind, Windsor Locks was the airport and the airport was Windsor Locks. It never occurred to me that there might be more "there" there.
Until recently. I was thinking of a place to explore before visiting my mother in neighboring Windsor. I thought of Bradley Bowl, a set of lanes that, in my head, a) was set in a cool building and b) was still open. I had been in the parking lot of this place several years ago with my son, who wanted to watched planes come in and out of the airport. Well, I looked it up on Google Maps and found out that the name and the building had changed, and I was no longer interested. I also looked up images on Flickr, and realized the building might not have been that cool to begin with.
No problem, I figured. I'll just see what else there is of interest in Windsor Locks. Which leads me to today's post (finally...I know).
The first place I wanted to check out was the site of the former Windsor Locks Canal Company.
As regular readers know, I often do some research online ahead of exploring a town or city or neighborhood. When I saw a photo online of the red building above, it had "WINDSOR CANAL COMPANY" painted on the side. "What a great place to start!" I thought. So I was a little bummed to get in front of this place and find out the lettering had been painted over. Still, a cool site.
If I'd had more time, I would've walked the canal path that follows the route of the former towpath for the Windsor Locks Canal. "Today’s paved surface lies atop the towpath, the actual walkway which animals, often mules, hauled the freight barges by rope north and south along the water way," according to this State of Connecticut web site. The canal was built between 1827 and 1829, "to skirt the Enfield rapids in the Connecticut River. The continuous water connection from the Connecticut River valley farmlands above the rapids through to Hartford and points south provided farmers with expanded markets and investors with freight fees in this business venture." By the 1840s, however, the expansion of rail service doomed canals acrosss Connecticut and beyond.
The Windsor Locks Canal Co. was established in 1926 to distribute water. I'm not sure what these two buildings were used for, and whether they date back to the founding of the company. Somebody has floated the idea of monetizing the canal via boat tours and a museum inside the red building on the site. Not sure the status of that proposed project.
The railroad tracks you see in the foreground of the top photo are still active. Trains that run through here go as far north as Springfield, Mass., and as far south as New Haven, Conn. Further down this post I will share photos and information about a historic train station located along the line.
You won't be surprised that the next stop on my tour was a social club/fraternal organization.
Located on First Street, the Polish National Home was established in the late 1930s or early 1940s, I believe. The building is available for rent for various events.
A little further north on South Main Street is the stunning Soldiers Memorial Hall.
Dedicated in 1890 in honor of the town’s Civil War veterans, the Hall originally housed the J.H. Converse Post, No. 67, Grand Army of the Republic, according to this Historic Buildings of Connecticut post. The building was designed by "Frederick S. Newman in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. The museum inside the Hall honors Windsor Locks veterans of all wars, and the building hosts the town’s American Legion post," per the web site.
Across South Main Street from Soldiers Memorial Hall, on the other side of the train tracks and the canal, hard by the Connecticut River, is an industrial complex combining imposing new buildings with no windows and little personality with quintessential New England mill buildings located on the site of a business founded more than 250 years ago.
I didn't shoot any photos of the new buildings -- Ahlstrom Munskjo on the left (more about that company below) and Algonquin Power on the right -- so I've provided an embedded Google Map shot above.
Now it's time to show the old-school brick mill buildings that I love so much!
"Until 2000, Windsor Locks was home to the oldest corporation listed on the New York Stock Exchange, the Dexter Corporation," per Wikipedia. "Established in 1767 as C.H. Dexter and Sons, the company grew from a family-owned saw and grist mill and evolved into a multi-national producer of long fiber papers and chemical laminates. In its 233 years of operation, the company grew from manufacturing tissues, toilet paper, and tea bags to marketing more specialized products like medical garments and industrial finishes."
Around the turn of the 20th century, the company sold off divisions to various companies, in order to avoid a hostile takeover. Its Dexter Nonwoven Materials operation was sold to the Finnish Ahlstrom Paper Group, which was founded in 1851. Munksjo was found in 1862 in Sweden. In 2017, the Nordic companies merged into the company that now owns the former Dexter business. The Windsor Locks plant produces tea bags, but I'm not sure what else.
(I'm not sure when the newer part was added to the mill.)
A short distance north along South Main Street is the Montgomery Mill Apartments complex.
"The firm of J. R. Montgomery & Co. was established in 1871, for the purpose of manufacturing cotton warps used in satinets and union cassimeres," according to the Nineteenth Annual Report of the State of Connecticut’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, as quoted on this Historic Buildings of Connecticut web page. "...A few years after the outside interests were bought by J. R. Montgomery, who continued the business under the old firm name, until in 1885. George M. Montgomery was admitted into the business as an active partner, and the line of manufacture was enlarged, taking up the making of novelty yarns."
Continuing: "In 1891, the firm of J. R. Montgomery & Co. was merged into a corporation under the name of The J. R. Montgomery Co., of which J. R. Montgomery, President, and George M. Montgomery, Vice-President and Secretary, are the active managers. A new cotton warp mill and an addition to the Novelty Mill was built."
"In the 1890s, the company began producing tinsel products, eventually becoming the country’s largest manufacturer of decorative and electric tinsels," according to the HBC web site. "In 1920, the Montgomery Company purchased the adjacent Anchor Mills Paper Company building, razing it and building a new white reinforced concrete building, which extended southwards from the 1891/1905 structure. The Montgomery Company ended its operations in Windsor Locks in 1989 and the factory buildings...remained vacant, suffering fires in 2006, 2009 and again" in 2011.
In 2019, the renovation project to turn the old mills into apartments began.
As you might expect with this large mill complex and the former Dexter operation just a short walk away, there was a train station close by. I imagine mill workers used to walk across the swing bridge pictured below to get to and from the station.
Built in 1875 for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, the station was shuttered by Penn Central in 1971 (Mick Melvin wrote about this station for the blog back in 2016, before restoration efforts had begun). Penn Cental and Amtrak passengers continued to use the platform, but the building was only used for Penn Central equipment storage, per Wikipedia.
"Penn Central later attempted to demolish the station, but a local group succeeded in having it listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. Amtrak bought the Springfield Line infrastructure, including the 'remarkably intact' station, in 1976," per Wikipedia. "Service moved to the current location – a new park and ride stop just south of Interstate 91 – in 1981.
"The 2004 Recommended Action of the New Haven Hartford Springfield Commuter Rail Implementation Study included the construction of a new Windsor Locks station on the existing south-of-downtown site. A single high-level platform was to be constructed, with a pedestrian bridge leading to an added parking area on the west side of South Main Street. A second platform serving a restored second track would have been added later.
"However, local preference was to move the station stop back to the original downtown site. Spurred by a 2000 arson that damaged the structure, the Windsor Locks Preservation Association (WLPA) was formed in 2004 to support repair and reuse of the building. By 2007, the WLPA and the town had secured $274,000 of the estimated $700,000 to purchase and repair the station, and serious consideration was being given to moving the Amtrak stop there as well. However, after years of unsuccessful negotiations about the sale and future use, the WLPA disbanded in 2011. The town took over negotiations and purchased the station from Amtrak in December 2014. In 2015, the town began planning renovations of the station building for future use as a 'shared workspace'."
I know the project isn't done yet, but it seems like there will be a happy ending. I love it when cool old buildings get restored and reused!
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