Rolling Through Enfield, CT

From Dave Brigham:

As a young man, I went to Enfield, Connecticut, to see punk rock bands at the old Enfield Roller World. I saw Black Flag, Naked Raygun, TSOL, St. Vitus and a few bands I can't recall. You can read about bands that played at the former roller skating rink here and here, and learn about the history of the rink here

Here's what Black Flag was up to in that era, the mid''80s:

As a middle-aged man, I checked out Enfield's Thompsonville neighborhood to make photos, and to see the area where one of my lifelong friends lived as a young kid. I only walked through a small section in the northern part of the neighborhood, in what is or was known as Frenchtown. I assume this is because in the late 19th or early 20th century there was an influx of French-Canadian immigrants who worked in the mill there.

I wish I had more time to explore the town; maybe sometime in the near future.

My first stop was the former Bigelow-Hartford Carpet Mills, which was "once one of the largest manufacturers of carpeting in the United States," according to Wikipedia.

"The Bigelow-Hartford Carpet Company had its origins in a carpet manufacturing business established in Thompsonville by Orrin Thompson in 1828," Wikipedia continues. "Through the 19th century and into the early 20th century, it grew to become the nation's single biggest maker of carpet products. Built in part by mergers with other makers, it produced virtually every style of carpeting imaginable, and was thus able to achieve a dominant position in the industry. Demand for the company's products began to decline in the Great Depression, and the company reduced operations through the 1950s, finally closing production here entirely in the mid-1960s."

Located hard by a set of railroad tracks overlooking the Connecticut River, the old mill complex years ago was converted to an apartment development called Bigelow Commons. I've checked out numerous former mills that have been turned into condos or apartments or office/lab space. Bigelow Commons is the first one I've seen with very attractive outdoor pool.

This Patch article and accompanying photos contrast the post-urban renewal landscape of today, with empty lots and some abandoned buildings, with the more thriving area that existed in the 1950s.

Just north of the old carpet factory, at the corner of Alden Avenue and Church Street, is a lovely brick building that opened on July 1, 1923: the Polish National Home.

"The building was financed by the sale of shares in the club, at $5 per share, with buyers becoming voting members," according to this Patch article. "The building, featuring huge arch windows, chandeliers and a real opera stage, was used for many events, particularly live music from polka bands."

On the ground floor today are Smoke BBQ and Pierogi Queen, sister restaurants. There are also two banquet halls, one in the basement and one on the second floor, for which I believe those eateries provide catering.

Directly across Church Street is another nice old brick building, this one, like so many like it that I've seen in various cities over the years, occupied by a church: Ministries of Love & Hope, which calls itself a "full gospel deliverance church."

At the corner of College and Church streets is a former school that my friend told me to check out, as he had attended here when he was in kindergarten and first grade.

Currently (or perhaps formerly, hard to tell) home to the Thompsonville Enterprise Center, a business incubator, this place was originally the North School. It was one of two identical schools built in Thompsonville in 1860. The old school also served as the original location of Asnuntuck Community College.

At the foot of College Street, guarding the entrance into the mill apartments, is an absolutely adorable old apartment building.

I have to say, I'm glad I decided to make most of my Thompsonville images in black and white. I think the architecture and the skies work very well in that format. I wonder if there used to be a store of some sort on the ground floor.

South of that building, at the corner of Pleasant and Chapel streets, is a handsome commercial block that dates to around 1900.

Silvia's Thompsonville Cafe Bar & Grille is run by a "five-time gold medal winner in the National Chef’s Tasting competition," according to its web site. In addition to breakfast and lunch, the joint sells ice cream, smoothies, grinders and more.

Another place my friend suggested I check out was the building for the Greys Athletic Association. Located across from the Main Street entrance to Bigelow Commons, the building suffered a fire in late 2022 or early 2023.

Built around the turn of last century, the building was the clubhouse for the athletic association, a social club and fraternal organization that for 100 years has supported youth and adult sports leagues and "organizations dedicated to the less fortunate," as well as veterans and police and fire departments, according to the group's web site. Luckly, the group has found a temporary home elsewhere in Enfield.

On the side of the burned-out building is a roached-out ghost sign.

This is an old ad for Faber's carpet store, which was located somewhere in Thompsonville, perhaps in a building that occupied what is now an empty lot next to the old Greys club.

On Pearl Street, just south of the Enfield Dam, is a circa-1939 firehouse that is now in private hands. I like the "TFD" medallion at the roofline.

Continuing south on Pearl Street, I came to a shuttered store in a building dating to 1920.

The building has been vacant for at least 15 years, from what I've read online.

A short distance away, at 28 Prospect Street, is a beautiful old church that was the final stop on my brief tour.

The Enfield assessor's database says this house of worship dates to 1859. I believe it was originally known as St. Andrew's Episcopal; today it is the Amazing Grace Church.

A Sharp Old Factory in Collinsville, CT

From Dave Brigham:

Before exploring Collinsville, CT, earlier this year, I think the last (and only) time I'd been there was in the early 1980s when my sister lived in an apartment in the village. Hard to believe, considering that I grew up a 15-minute drive east-northeast from this part of Canton, hard by the Farmington River.

As you can tell from these photos, each of the two times I swung through the 'Ville, it was gloomy. Raining the first time, cool and cloudy (with rain later in the day) the second. Nevertheless, I was quite charmed by the village, which I'd seen pictures of in various places online over the years, leading to my decision to finally get off my duff and check it out.

While there are many great buildings with local businesses along Main Street and the side streets, I focused on the former factory of The Collins Company, which for 140 years manufactured axes, hatchets, machetes and other sharp tools.

The company’s founders, brothers Samuel and David Collins, were born into a wealthy family, according to this ConnecticutHistory.org article. "Their father, Alexander Collins, was a lawyer in Middletown and their mother Elizabeth was from the well-to-do mercantile Watkinson family of Hartford. When Alexander died in 1815, his widow moved the family to Hartford. Samuel was 24 years old and David age 21 when they decided to open an axe factory with their cousin William Wells. The Collins & Company factory opened in 1826 with the purchase of an old gristmill and a few acres of land along the Farmington River in Canton."

The company thrived for decades, selling its products around the country and the world. The brothers built dams along the Farmington River, expanded the number of buildings in their manufacturing plant, constructed worker housing, a Congregational church, a bank and other buildings for the community. The company also "secured a rail line for Collinsville to transport [its] goods and material by offering the railroad company a right of way through company land, a depot, and $3,000," according to the ConnecticutHistory article.

As you can see, the former factory's buildings are quite photogenic. The company was in business until 1966, having suffered a tough business environment after the devastating 1955 flood that hit Connecticut.

These days, there are businesses in some of the old mill buildings, including Antiques on the Farmington, a multi-dealer shop; TOOWi Wellness; a hair salon called Milkweeds; Almost Home Studio, which specializes in family and pet portraiture and landscape paintings; and Downright Music, a music school.

The old factory complex spreads across multiple buildings along the Farmington River. You can get great views from the bike path that runs through part of the complex, located along the old railroad right-of-way.

There are opportunities aplenty for urbexers who want to trespass and risk life and limb. But you know me - that ain't my thing.

Whenever I explore around an old mill complex, I wonder whether there's a redevelopment plan. A company called Ranger Properties indicates on its web site that it has reached an agreement to buy the old Collins factory. "The restoration plans for the historic site [call for] more than 200 apartments and a commercial hub that dominates the Collinsville section of Canton on a 20-acre river-front property," per the web site. "The plan is to refurbish 23 of the 25 decaying brick buildings, construct several new apartment buildings, add a partly underground parking garage, and create a public river walk and plaza along the Farmington River."

Stay tuned....

Une Belle Surprise Along the French River

From Dave Brigham:

I explored Webster, Mass., recently, and the most impressive thing I stumbled across was in neighboring Dudley (see December 2, 2023, "Webster: Founded by a Famous Industrialist, Named for a Well-Known Statesman").

As I walked along Main Street in Webster, making photos of the many great late-19th century buildings, my gaze drifted up and to the west, toward two imposing gray towers rising in the near distance. "Is that a prison up ahead?" I wondered. "Or a Scottish castle?" I'd driven into Webster from that direction, but hadn't noticed that building, whatever it was.

It was, of course, an old mill, the one-time Stevens Linen complex, located on the western banks of the French River, right on the town line with Webster.

Founded in the 1840s by Henry Hale Stevens, the linen production company was built on the site of the former Merino Woolen factory, which rose in 1812, according to MACRIS. "The Merino Woolen Factory was one of the earliest textile manufacturing concerns established in the United States. It was a contemporary of Samuel Slater's mills established on the Eastern side of the French River in present day Webster."

I believe parts of the Merino mill were incorporated into the Stevens facility.

More from MACRIS: "The Steven's Linen Works prosperity and expansion (by the early 20th C. it was the largest enterprise in the United States devoted to the manufacture of linen towelling) is largely responsible for the decidedly urban character of East Dudley." According to the National Register of Historic Places registration form for the former mill's historic district, the Stevens facility was the "first, and last, factory in the United States to spin flax and weave linen cloth by machine."

The mill, which operated under other names, but by the Stevens name for the longest time, is slated for redevelopment, I was pleasantly surprised to find out. I wrote that sentence after reading this press release from the Town of Dudley, which was issued in February of this year. Further research, however, leads me to believe I might need to put a pin in my above statement about a new life for the old mill.

In August 2020, property owner "Stevens Mill Owner LLC of Columbia, SC, bought the 6.95-acre property and its 267,000-square-foot mill at 8 Mill Street," according to the press release. "Project developer Camden Management Partners, who holds Stevens Mill Owner LLC, proposed a $43 million plan to renovate the mill into 156 apartments, a public event space, a possible tap room, and a river walk along the adjoining French River."

Sounds good, right? But despite a quote in the release from a financial consultant indicating, "The project isn’t at risk," and that "The delays up to this point are normal and customary as it related to making sure we have an accurate historical renovation," I saw no signs of anything happening at this site. And online searches for Camden Management Partners and its financial consultants, Weddle Real Estate Investments, didn't overwhelm me with confidence. The former has no web site, while the latter's indicated that the connection isn't private, and I was warned that the site might be an imposter. Here's hoping things move forward with this project.

Mmm...Old Sandwich

From Dave Brigham:

Helpful, humorous and hued in a homey fashion, the directional arrow above wasn't all that necesary on my short exploration of the Upper Shawme Dam in Sandwich, Mass., but I really appreciated it.

As often happens in advance of an adventure, I started on Google Maps. Zeroing in on the dam, which is located between Route 130 and Grove Street, I realized I could also take in the nearby Old Town Cemetery during my quick outing.

The dam is situated within the 40.6-acre Cook Farm Conservation Lands, which the Sandwich Conservation Trust acquired in 2003 from members of the Cook family. "This acquisition allowed the town and Commonwealth to rebuild the deteriorated 1812 dam which Samuel Wing and his brothers built for their cotton spinning mill – the first factory on Cape Cod," per the conservation trust's web site.

Sandwich is the oldest town on Cape Cod, having been colonized in 1637 by settlers from Saugus, Massachusetts, per Wikipedia.

My short walk from the small parking lot along Route 130 was quite pleasant, as the path is plenty wide and there are a few relics hiding in the brush.

Before long, I was approaching the dam, which holds back Upper Shawme Lake from Shawme Lake, the latter of which eventually drains down to the Dexter Grist Mill near the center of Sandwich.

In order to rebuild the dam, conservators needed to remove "cedar logs and sheathing that made up the original outlet structure," according to the 2009 Annual Reports of the Town Officers of the Town of Sandwich (scroll down to page 92). The logs were found to "be intact and a fresh cedar scent emanated from the freshly-cut butt ends," the report continues.

In addition, the report estimates that the accompanying concrete fish ladder was installed in 1910.

Near the dam is a small boulder with a poem on a plaque, along with a tiny frog sculpture.

The poem (click on the photo to enlarge it) is by Hilaire Belloc, a "Franco-English writer and historian of the early 20th century," according to Wikipedia. "Belloc was also an orator, poet, sailor, satirist, writer of letters, soldier, and political activist."

Next I made my way to Grove Street and the aforementioned Old Town Cemetery.

Opened to great fanfare in 1663 (well, probably not), the boneyard contains approximately 200 memorials, according to a minimalist MACRIS manuscript. The last burial here occurred in 1939, according to this Sandwich MA Geocaching web page, which is a Girl Scout Gold Award Project.

Among the well-known Sandwich residents buried here, according to the Girl Scout page, are: Thomas Tupper, founder of Sandwich; Edmond Freeman, founder of Sandwich; Thomas Burgess, grandfather of author Thornton Burgess; and Benjamin Fessenden, owner and proprietor of the Fessenden Tavern, known today as the Dan'l Webster Inn and Spa.

For more posts about Sandwich, check these out:

July 23, 2021, "In Sandwich, No Bread, Just Dead"

May 28, 2021, "Brady's Island Was Once a Whole Bunch Bigger"

March 6, 2021, "A Historic Life Change on Cape Cod"

October 6, 2018, "Scratching Around the Flea Market"