Historic Mills of Connecticut

Companies Associated w/Complex

• Carlyle Johnson Machine Co. 1909-1994
• Goetz Cracker Co. 1902-1909

Use (Historic)

• Food, Beverage, Tobacco
• Transportation

Largest Documented Workforce

108 (1980)

Historic Narrative

The former Carlyle Johnson Machine Company plant was erected for the Goetz Cracker Company in 1902 after a fire destroyed an earlier factory at this location on February 17th of that year. The fire was the second since 1898 to destroy the operation established by Frank Goetz, and seventy-five employees were thrown out of work as a result of the 1902 blaze. However, despite $50,000 in damages, the firm’s profitability encouraged them to rebuild quickly and soon over 100 employees were back at work in the new plant. The company continued to operate successfully for several more years yet the factory fell silent by the end of the decade. In 1909, the Main Street plant was acquired by the Carlyle Johnson Machine Company, a firm established in Hartford by Moses Carlyle Johnson in 1902. The primary product manufactured by the company, known as the Johnson Friction Clutch, was developed by Johnson in 1881 while he was employed at Pratt and Whitney. Johnson assigned the first patent for the design to Pratt and Whitney, which went on to apply it for use in its horizontal turret lathes as well as sold thousands of the device to its customers. Johnson reserved the right to establish his own works as part of his arrangement and he did so around 1900 under the name of the Helix Gear Company. The Helix Gear Company saw minimal initial success and it was not until later in 1900 when Johnson was traveling through Ohio that he made the acquaintance of a Mr. Stambaugh and Mr. Steese, who expressed a desire to invest in Johnson’s product. This infusion of capital allowed Johnson to organize the Carlyle Johnson Machine Company for production of an improved version of the Johnson Friction Clutch. Production began in Hartford in 1902 and was relocated to Manchester after the popularity of its product necessitated more spacious accommodations. The continued success of the firm was driven both by Johnson’s ingenuity, as well as by the financial talents of another Ohio man, Scott Simon, who had joined the company in 1905 in order to help the inventor market and manage the company. New products, including airplane and airship clutches and marine reverse engines and transmissions, were soon brought to market, thus maintaining a busy workforce of some 40 employees throughout the 1910s and 1920s. A slight reduction in sales during the late-1920s and 1930s resulted in the decision to lease the machine shop along Chapel Street first to the Lynn Leather Company, and then the Spencer Rubber Products Company, however, this was later reoccupied by Carlyle Johnson. The latter company shifted production to support the war effort following the outbreak of World War II, making few changes to the nature of its output due its direct applicability to military uses. The firm increased its productivity six-fold between 1942 and 1945, a period in which it manufactured a variety of clutches used in anti-aircraft and artillery weapons. The Carlyle Johnson Machine Company made a seamless transition back to civilian production in the post-war period and the firm continued to thrive during the second half of the 20th century. Additions to its Main Street plant were made ca. 1946, in 1974, and ca. 1980. By the latter year, the company employed a total of 108 workers, double the number at the company just four years earlier. By the early 1990s, the firm also maintained plants in Bolton and Windsor, Connecticut. The Manchester factory was eventually closed in 1994 and production previously located there was moved to the other plants. The Main Street complex has since been occupied by a variety of light industrial, commercial, and office tenants.

Number of Existing Buildings

Roughly eleven (11) blocks.

Dates of Construction

1901, ca. 1910, ca. 1946, 1974, ca. 1980.

Architect

n/a

Builder

n/a

Building Type

• Administration
• Mill
• Powerhouse
• Warehouse / Production Shed

Architectural Description

The former Carlyle Johnson Machine Company plant is comprised of roughly eleven adjoining and freestanding blocks located at the northwest corner of the intersection of Main and Chapel Streets. The earliest portions of the plant consist of those located nearest to the aforementioned intersection and include three red brick blocks erected in 1902. The factory’s office stands at the southeast corner of the complex and is a one-story, flat-roofed building measuring roughly 28’ x 30’. It has a three-bay façade, glazed brick watertable, round-arched door and window openings with glazed brick keystones, a denticulated cornice, and a corbelled brick parapet. The office’s north elevation abuts the factory’s main manufacturing block, this being a two-story, 40’ x 203’ brick pier structure with a front-facing, low-pitch gable roof. The building’s full-height window bays are recessed from the plane of the building and the fenestration is set in segmental-arched openings with brownstone sills. Exposed rafter tails are visible on all elevations. The third original block adjoins the manufacturing building’s north elevation and has an irregular footprint measuring roughly 37’ x 162’ overall. The one-story structure originally housed the plant’s boiler, shipping room, and coal storage, and is of utilitarian styling. The eastern end of the block has a brick parapet with denticulated cornice and all of the window openings are set in segmental-arched openings with brownstone stills. Additions to the plant are located to the west of the original blocks and were erected as early as ca. 1910 and as late as ca. 1980. The oldest is a one-story, 38’ x 120’ brick block that was built as a machine shop. This has segmental-arched window openings with brownstone sills and a front-facing gable roof with three ridgeline ventilators. This was enlarged through the addition of three adjoining brick and frame blocks ca. 1946. These are located to the north and west of the machine shop and measure roughly 28’ x 120’, 20’ x 56’, and 65’ x 112’. The four one- to two-story brick and steel-frame buildings comprising the remainder of the plant were built in 1974 and ca. 1980. They abut the western end of the original manufacturing building and measure 50’ x 215’, 84’ x 56’, 94’ x 123’, and 40’ x 140’.

Exterior Material(s)

• Brick
• Steel

Structural System(s)

• Load Bearing Masonry
• Structural Steel or Iron

Roof Form

• Flat
• Gable
• Hip Minor
• Shed

Roof Material

• Asphalt
• Metal

Power Source

• Electricity
• Steam

Condition

Fair

Condition Notes

The factory is in overall fair condition. Although sections of the earliest parts of the plant show some staining and deterioration along their exterior walls and have had most of their original wood windows replaced, the majority of the plant appears to be structurally sound and well maintained.

Specific Location

Three legal parcels (52 Main Street, 41 Chapel Street, and 28 Hilliard Street) totaling 3.85 acres at the northwest corner of the intersection of Main and Chapel Streets.

Adjacent To

• Main Roads

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Parcel ID / Assessor Record Link

• 75/ 3760/ 52/ / / Link →
• 75/ 1070/ 41/ / / Link →
• 75/ 2920/ 28/ / / Link →

Acreage

3.85

Use (Present)

• Commercial

Form Completed By

Lucas A. Karmazinas

Date

04/13/2015

Bibliography

1. List of Connecticut Manufacturers, 1922, 1924, 1930, 1932.
2. Directory of Connecticut State Manufacturers, 1936, 1939.
3. Industrial Directory of Connecticut, 1947.
4. Register of War Production Facilities in Connecticut, 1951.
5. Map of Hartford County, H & C.T. Smith, 1855.
6. Atlas of Hartford County, Beers, Baker & Tilden, 1869.
7. Sanborn Map Company, 1896, 1901, 1911, 1919, 1926, 1947.
8. Hartford Courant, 1902, 1905, 1921, 1930, 1945, 1980.
9. History of Manchester, Connecticut; Spiess, Mathias, 1924.
10. A New England Pattern: The History of Manchester, Connecticut; Buckley, William E., 1973.
11. Historic Resource Inventory of Manchester, 1998.
12. Roth, Matthew, et al, Connecticut: An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites (Washington DC: SIA, 1981).