Historic Mills of Connecticut

Companies Associated w/Complex

• Coe-Stapley Mfg. Co. ca. 1910-1920
• E.W. Carpenter Co. 1920-ca. 1954
• Hurwood Mfg. Co. 1903-1908
• John A. Hurley, Inc. 1908-1913

Use (Historic)

• Fabricated Metal Products
• Firearms, Weapons, Explosives
• Transportation

Largest Documented Workforce

176 (1944).

Historic Narrative

In 1901, George E. Wood, a resident of Southington, Connecticut, contracted with John A. Hurley, the proprietor of the Acme Manufacturing Company of Southington, to produce a solid-headed screwdriver of Wood’s own design. This work took place under the auspices of a firm organized in 1901 as the Hurwood Company. By 1903 Wood and Hurley’s relationship had deteriorated and the latter moved the business to his hometown of Bridgeport, Connecticut, where it continued as the Hurwood Manufacturing Company. Hurley built a new plant on Railroad Avenue and diversified the line of goods produced by the firm to include hardware, lanterns, and food choppers, in addition to screwdrivers and other hand tools. In 1908, the Hurwood Manufacturing Company was reorganized as John Hurley, Incorporated. This business concentrated on the manufacture of lanterns and food choppers until 1912, when lantern production was dropped. Hurley sold the food chopper business a year later in order to focus on his real estate and insurance ventures. The Railroad Avenue plant was subsequently acquired by the Coe-Stapley Manufacturing Company, which had shared a portion of the property with John Hurley, Incorporated since about 1910. The Coe-Stapley Manufacturing Company was organized by Benjamin L. and Benjamin S. Coe, William S. Stapley, and E.B. Shoemaker in October 1909. The firm produced a variety of sheet metal goods yet specialized in the production of automobile and bicycle pumps. The company expanded rapidly during the 1910s and by the end of that decade was acknowledged as being the largest manufacturer of automobile and bicycle pumps in the United States and Canada. This did not, however, prevent the firm from slipping into financial troubles and then bankruptcy in 1920. The assets of the business were in turn acquired by P.J. Holdsworth of New York, New York, who stated an intention to reorganize and reopen the plant. This, however, did not come to pass and the factory was acquired by the E.W. Carpenter Company. The E.W. Carpenter Company was organized by Edwin W. Carpenter, a former employment agent at the Remington Arms and Ammunition Company in 1917. The business began operations at 515 Union Avenue in Bridgeport where it specialized in the manufacture of machine tools. The firm eventually expanded production to include a variety of metal goods such as razors and staplers and by 1930 operated as an independent branch of Bridgeport’s Acme Shear Company. The E.W. Carpenter Company remained in operation until 1954, whereupon the Railroad Avenue plant passed to a succession of small manufacturers including Conso Metal Products, Incorporated, during the 1950s, and Consolidated Electro Dynamics Corporation, the United Pattern Company, and the Radio Printing Corporation, during the 1960s.

Number of Existing Buildings

Two (2) adjoining primary blocks.

Dates of Construction

1903

Architect

n/a

Builder

n/a

Building Type

• Mill

Architectural Description

The former Hurwood Manufacturing Company plant consists of two adjoining primary blocks located on the south side of Railroad Avenue, roughly 200’ west of Railroad Avenue’s intersection with Bostwick Avenue. The factory was erected in 1903 and consists of two red brick blocks. The main building fronts on Railroad Avenue and is a three-story, 100’ x 45’ block with a raised basement level, full-height brick piers, large segmental-arched window openings with stone sills and ten-over-ten double-hung wood sash, corbelled red brick window bays, corbelled red brick cornice, tile coping, and a flat roof. Four-story red brick stairtowers are centered on the north and south (front and rear) elevations. The façade stairtower contains the plant’s main entrance and rises to a red brick parapet with red brick corbels. The entry is accessed via a set of concrete stairs and is set in a round-arched brick opening. The entry door is a paneled wood unit flanked by a frame surround and with a round-arched transom above. A secondary entrance is set in a gabled brick portico located three bays to the west of the main entry. The second block associated with the plant adjoins the eastern end of the main building’s south (rear) elevation, thus giving the overall factory an L-shaped footprint. The rear block is a three-story, 42’ x 64’ building of a similar design to the main block yet lacking the decorative window headers and cornice. Another difference includes the third-story windows, which are set in rectangular rather than segmental-arched openings. A three-and-a-half-story red brick stairtower adjoins the eastern end of the block’s south elevation. A one-story red brick boiler plant formerly located immediately southwest of the manufacturing blocks was recently demolished after succumbing to neglect.

Exterior Material(s)

• Brick

Structural System(s)

• Load Bearing Masonry

Roof Form

• Flat
• Gable

Roof Material

• Asphalt

Power Source

• Electricity
• Steam

Condition

Deteriorated

Condition Notes

The plant is in deteriorated condition. The majority of the windows throughout the factory are heavily damaged or missing and the roof of the rear (south) block has collapsed. The exterior walls of both blocks, however, appear structurally sound although immediate stabilization is necessary to prevent accelerated deterioration due to interior exposure to the elements.

Specific Location

One 0.51-acre parcel (1565 Railroad Avenue) located on the south side of Railroad Avenue, roughly 200’ west of Railroad Avenue’s intersection with Bostwick Avenue.

Located in Railroad Avenue Industrial District (National Register, 1985).
http://npgallery.nps.gov/nrhp/GetAsset?assetID=a06ce45c-db25-47a8-834f-ce46e267dfb4

Adjacent To

• Main Roads

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Parcel ID / Assessor Record Link

• 19/ 300/ 10/A / Link →

Acreage

0.51

Use (Present)

• Other: Possible redevelopment by Cherry Street Lofts development team 2017
• Vacant

Form Completed By

Lucas A. Karmazinas

Date

01/22/2016

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 Fairfield County; Baker, William A., 1854.
6. Atlas of the City of Bridgeport; J.B. Beers & Co., 1876.
7. Atlas of the City and Town of Bridgeport; G.M. Hopkins & Co., 1888, 1917.
8. Atlas of Bridgeport; Kershaw, William H., 1910.
9. Sanborn Map Company, 1884, 1888, 1898, 1904, 1913, 1939, 1950.
10. Aerial Survey of Connecticut, 1934, 1951, 1965, 1970, 1985.
11. Bridgeport City Directory, Various editions.
12. Hartford Courant, 1929, 1920.
13. A History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City of Bridgeport; Orcutt, Samuel, 1886.
14. History of Bridgeport and Vicinity; S.J. Clarke Publishing, 1917.
15. Clouette, Bruce and Matthew Roth, Patricia Devoe. 1985 Railroad Avenue Industrial Historic District National.
16. Register Nomination No. 85002697. National Park Service.
17. assetID=a06ce45cdb2547a8834fce46e267dfb4.