Historic Mills of Connecticut

Companies Associated w/Complex

• Barnaby Mfg. Co. c.1945
• Bridgeport Safety Emery Wheel Co. ca. 1890-ca. 1925
• McCathron Boiler Works 1906-late-20th c.
• Watson Iron Works Co. ca. 1880-ca. 1890

Use (Historic)

• Fabricated Metal Products
• Machine Tools, Machinery

Largest Documented Workforce

10-24 (1939).

Historic Narrative

The McCathron Boiler Works Co. was established in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1906. The business was founded by Henry N. McCathron, a native of Oswego, New York, who began work in the boilermakers’ trade at the age of 14. In 1900, at the age of 29, McCathron moved to Bridgeport and found employment as a foreman at the Bridgeport Boiler Works Company. He remained with this business for six years before setting out on his own account, whereupon he established a small shop at 72 Knowlton Street in Bridgeport that specialized in boiler, sheet iron, tank, and smokestack fabrication. This firm was incorporated with $5,000 in capital in 1909, at which time it was led by McCathron as president, and E.C. Spargo as secretary and treasurer. In 1915, McCathron left the business in order to take the dual position of president and treasurer of the Bridgeport Boiler Works Company. Management of the McCathron Boiler Works Company in turn passed to E.A. Hooper and F.E. Lockwood who served as president-treasurer and secretary, respectively. Around 1925, the McCathron Boiler Works Company significantly expanded its operations by acquiring the plant immediately to the north of the boiler shop after its tenant, the Bridgeport Safety Emery Wheel Company relocated to Stratford, Connecticut. The majority of the Bridgeport Safety Emery Wheel Company’s Knowlton Street factory (this originally built ca. 1880 for the Watson Iron Works Company) was demolished and a new steel-frame manufacturing block with a clerestory monitor roof was erected for the McCathron Boiler Works Company. The McCathron Boiler Works Company continued to occupy the plant into the late 20th century.

Number of Existing Buildings

Roughly five (5) adjoining primary blocks.

Dates of Construction

ca. 1875, ca. 1880, ca. 1906, ca. 1925.

Architect

n/a

Builder

n/a

Building Type

• Mill
• Warehouse / Production Shed

Architectural Description

The former McCathron Boiler Works Company plant is comprised of five adjoining primary blocks located on the east side of Knowlton Street, roughly 375’ south of Knowlton Street’s intersection with East Washington Avenue. Several of the buildings associated with the boiler works predate the company’s occupancy. The oldest is the two-story, roughly 55’ x 50’ Italianate-style red brick block located at the southwest corner of the plant. This was erected as a residential building ca. 1875 and then acquired by the McCathron Boiler Works Company in 1906. It has flat-arched window openings with stone sills on its first floor, a cast iron cornice with engaged pilasters and cast iron corbels between the first and second floors, rectangular window openings with stone keystones on the second floor, a denticulated cornice along the roofline, and a low-pitch hipped roof. The second oldest block associated with the plant was erected roughly 32’ north of the ca. 1875 building ca. 1880. The ca. 1880 building is a two-story, 26’ x 108’ red brick block with a brownstone foundation, segmental-arched window openings with brownstone sills, a denticulated cornice, and flat roof. It adjoins the ca. 1875 block via a one-story, 102’ x 26’ red brick building erected for the McCathron Boiler Works Company ca. 1906. The latter block was one of two additions erected by the company ca. 1906, with the second being a one-story, 35’ x 77’ red brick block that adjoins the west elevation of the ca. 1875 building. Both of the ca. 1906 blocks have segmental-arched window openings with stone sills and stepped brick parapets. The northern block has a flat roof, while the block adjoining the west elevation of the ca. 1875 building has a low-pitch front-facing gable roof. The final building associated with the former McCathron Boiler Works Company shop was erected ca. 1925. It is located at the northeast corner of the plant and is a one-and-a-half-story, 75’ x 130’ steel-frame block with a full-length clerestory monitor and front-facing gable roof. The building is sheathed in corrugated metal siding and has large expanses of multipane metal sash with pivot-style openings.

Exterior Material(s)

• Brick
• Steel

Structural System(s)

• Load Bearing Masonry
• Structural Steel or Iron

Roof Form

• Flat
• Gable
• Hip Minor
• Monitor

Roof Material

• Asphalt
• Metal
• Tar and Gravel

Power Source

• Electricity
• Steam

Condition

Fair

Condition Notes

The complex is in fair condition. The vast majority of the original window openings in the brick blocks have been infilled with concrete block, however, overall, the facility appears to be well maintained and structurally sound.

Specific Location

One 0.91-acre parcel (72 Knowlton Street #76) located on the east side of Knowlton Street, roughly 375’ south of Knowlton Street’s intersection with East Washington Avenue.

Located in East Bridgeport National Register District (1979).
http://npgallery.nps.gov/nrhp/GetAsset?assetID=fc40e5d5-e31a-4b7a-8d95-dd40eeba7e17

Adjacent To

n/a

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Parcel ID / Assessor Record Link

• 41/1659/3 / Link →

Acreage

0.91

Use (Present)

• Industrial

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, 1909.
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. Brilvitch, Charles W. 1979. East Bridgeport Historic District National Register Nomination No. 79002659. National Park Service.