Historic Mills of Connecticut

Companies Associated w/Complex

• Creamery Package Manufacturing Company 1923-1955
• Dairy Machinery and Construction Co. 1910-1917
• Davis-Watkins Dairymen’s Manufacturing Company, Dairy Machinery & Construction Co. Div. 1917-1923
• Manger Die Casting Company, Inc. 1956-Present (2015)

Use (Historic)

• Fabricated Metal Products
• Machine Tools, Machinery

Largest Documented Workforce

25-49 (1939)

Historic Narrative

The Dairy Machinery and Construction Company was founded by Joseph Willmann, an immigrant from Alsace-Lorraine, in 1904. Willmann had entered the family business, which manufactured milking equipment and pasteurization machinery, in 1889, and in 1903 he traveled to the United States to sell patents associated with the family’s products. Willmann ended up settling in Derby and the following year established a plant on Canal Street in Shelton, Connecticut, which manufactured various machines used by the dairy industry. Willmann’s Dairy Machinery and Construction Company remained in Shelton until 1910, whereupon a new factory was built on the east side of the Housatonic River in Derby. The Dairy Machinery and Construction Company was incorporated in 1911 with Willmann serving as president; Paul C. Schnizler, vice-president; H.B. Tuyford, secretary; and Cornelius Granger, treasurer. With the outbreak of World War One the company shifted its efforts to the production of copper bands for artillery shells and depth bombs. In the post-war period, it returned to dairy equipment, diversifying its catalog to include homogenizers, ice cream freezers, milk heaters and coolers, and other specialized equipment, much of it of Willmann’s own patented designs. By the late 1910s, the Dairy Machinery and Construction Company numbered among the nation’s largest manufacturers of machinery and supplies used by the dairy industry. In 1917 the firm joined with four other concerns to form the Davis-Watkins Dairymen’s Manufacturing Company, a corporate entity valued at $4,500,000. In addition to the Dairy Machinery and Construction Company, this group was comprised of the Dairymen’s Manufacturing Company of Jersey City, New Jersey; the Davis Milk Machinery Company of North Chicago, Illinois; the Minnetonna Company of Owatonna, Minnesota; and the L.A. Watkins Merchandise Company of Denver, Colorado. The Dairy Machinery and Construction Company operated as a semi-independent branch of the resultant corporation until 1923, at which time the Davis-Watkins Dairymen’s Manufacturing Company was acquired by the Creamery Package Manufacturing Company, a Chicago-based firm originally organized for the manufacture of butter tubs and other dairy equipment in 1887. The Creamery Package Manufacturing Company continued to utilize the former Dairy Machinery and Construction Company factory until 1955. The plant was then closed and remained vacant for one year before it was acquired by the newly-formed Manger Die Casting Company, a manufacturer of zinc castings and dies. This company still occupies a portion of the Roosevelt Drive factory, yet today shares the plant with a retailer of used books and antiques.

Number of Existing Buildings

Roughly six (6) primary blocks.

Dates of Construction

1910, ca. 1920, ca. 1970.

Architect

n/a

Builder

n/a

Building Type

• Administration
• Mill

Architectural Description

The former Dairy Machinery and Construction Company plant is comprised of a group of roughly six adjoining blocks forming an L-shaped complex on the western half of the block framed by Roosevelt Drive, B Street, Park Avenue, and A Street, and with one additional freestanding building situated along the block’s eastern boundary. The majority of the complex was erected in 1910. This includes a two-story, 40’ x 145’ red brick machine shop located at the intersection of Roosevelt Drive and B Street and extending north; a one-story, 40’ x 50’ red brick pattern shop situated at the corner of A Street and Park Avenue; and a one-story, 50’ x 160’ red brick sheet metal shop adjoining the pattern shop and extending east along Park Avenue. The latter has a one-story, 60’ x 22’ ell on its southern elevation, this enlarged by the addition of a two-story, 22’ x 28’ block on its western side ca. 1920, and a one-story, 60’ x 20’ office block ca. 1970. The final structure associated with the plant is a one-story 34’ x 82’ foundry building with clerestory monitor roof erected at the corner of Park Avenue and A Street ca. 1920. The former Dairy Machinery and Construction Company plant is typical of brick mills erected throughout the mid-to-late 19th and early-20th centuries. The complex is characterized by its red brick walls dominated by rows of large windows set in segmental-arched openings. The machine, pattern, and sheet metal shops all have brownstone window sills and corbelled brick cornices. The southern elevation of the machine shop employs recessed window bays framed by brick piers and rising to a corbelled arch on the second story. This detail is employed extensively in the design of the factory directly to the west – this formerly occupied by the F. Kelly Company and Union Fabric Company – suggesting that the two plants were the work of the same architect. Fenestration throughout the former Dairy Machinery and Construction Company factory primarily consists of double-hung frame sash, this in twelve-over-twelve arrangements.

Exterior Material(s)

• Brick

Structural System(s)

• Load Bearing Masonry
• Structural Steel or Iron
• Wood Frame

Roof Form

• Clerestory Monitor
• Flat
• Monitor

Roof Material

• Asphalt

Power Source

• Electricity

Condition

Good

Condition Notes

The complex is in generally good condition. Some of the original windows throughout the complex are mildly deteriorated, however, the exterior walls and roofs appear sound and well maintained. The windows on the second-story of the block flanking B Street (the machine shop) have been recently replaced, albeit with aluminum units reasonably sympathetic to the building’s historic character.

Specific Location

One 1.84 acre parcel on the north side of Roosevelt Drive and comprising the entire block framed by Roosevelt Drive, B Street, Park Avenue, and A Street.

Adjacent To

• Main Roads

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Parcel ID / Assessor Record Link

• 9-4 6 (for record, use link and type in address or parcel number) / Link →

Acreage

1.84

Use (Present)

• Commercial
• Industrial

Form Completed By

Lucas A. Karmazinas

Date

01/13/2015

Bibliography

1. List of Connecticut Manufacturers, 1922, 1924, 1930, 1932.
2. Directory of Connecticut State Manufacturers, 1936, 1939.
3. Map of New Haven County, H & C.T. Smith, 1856.
4. Atlas of New Haven County, Beers, Ellis & Soule, 1868.
5. Industrial Directory of Connecticut, 1947.
6. Register of War Production Facilities in Connecticut, 1951.
7. Sanborn Map Company, 1896, 1901, 1906, 1912, 1924, 1947.
8. Aerial Survey of Connecticut, 1934, 1965.
9. Bird’s Eye View of Birmingham, Connecticut, O.H. Bailey, 1876.
10. The History of the Old Town of Derby, Connecticut, 1642-1880, 1880.
11. History of New Haven County, 1892.
12. Tercentenary Pictorial and History of the Lower Naugatuck Valley, Malloy, Leo T., 1935.
13. Derby, Connecticut 300th Anniversary Commemorative Book; 1675-1975, 1975.
14. Hartford Courant, 1911, 1963.
15. The First Fifty Years; 1887-1937, The Creamery Package Manufacturing Company, 1937.
16. Derby City Directories, 1900-1950.