Historic Mills of Connecticut

Companies Associated w/Complex

• Seymour Smith and Son Co. 1912-c.1985
• Seymour Smith Co. 1866-1912

Use (Historic)

• Consumer Products, Small Appliances
• Fabricated Metal Products
• Firearms, Weapons, Explosives

Largest Documented Workforce

101-200

Historic Narrative

This site on a bend of the Steel Brook was developed as early as 1725, when David Scott built a sawmill. Scott’s sawmill was followed by the Leverett-Candee Company, a small manufacturer of satin linings for coats; that building was destroyed by fire. In 1849, Nathaniel Wheeler, Alanson Warren, and George Woodruff purchased the site to build a larger water-powered mill for the production of steel buckles. Nathaniel Wheeler met Allen Wilson, a sewing machine designer in New York, and in 1850 Wilson became a partner in the firm, which was reorganized as Wheeler and Wilson Company in 1853 to make sewing machines. By 1856, Wheeler and Wilson Company had outgrown the buckle factory and removed its operations to Bridgeport, Connecticut, where it eventually merged with the Howe Sewing Machine and later became a part of Singer Sewing Machine Company. Seymour Smith (born in Springfield, Vermont in 1815) eventually purchased the empty factory. He had been employed at the Carpon Woolen Mills in Uxbridge, MA at the age of 20, and had become superintendent in the Rogerson Cotton Mills in Rogersonville, MA, by age 35. Smith left Rogerson in 1850 and moved to Worcester, MA, where he began the Smith and Buxton Company with Daniel Buxton to manufacture light hardware. After six years, Smith bought Buxton’s interest in the company and moved the operation to Sharon, CT. While in Sharon, the new Seymour Smith Company leased space at the Hotchkiss Sons Company, an ordnance manufacturer famous for its innovations in the development of heavy artillery. The Seymour Smith Company was a subcontractor for Hotchkiss and the Wheeler and Wilson Sewing Machine Company, making sewing machine screwdrivers. The company also produced bench stops, carpet stretchers, saw sets and bullrings. In 1866, at the end of the Civil War, Seymour Smith Company purchased the original Oakville factory building of Wheeler and Wilson Sewing Machine Company. Once in Watertown, Seymour Smith purchased the Connecticut Shear Company of Naugatuck, and started to produce garden implements, perhaps their most well-known product, as well as braces, spoke shaves, and pliers. Beginning in 1879, its products were sold and distributed through a New York City retailer by the name of John H. Graham and Co. When Smith’s son came on as partner in 1884, the firm name changed to Seymour Smith and Son Company, and was incorporated in 1912 as Seymour Smith and Son Inc. In 1928, the original wooden buildings of the Wheeler and Wilson Sewing Machine Company were demolished to make way for a modern brick structure of 25,000 square feet. Around 1940-41, the building was expanded, likely to accommodate the conversion to rifle and magazine production for World War II. The company subcontracted for major arms producers such as Winchester Repeating Arms Co. and Underwood Elliot Fisher. After World War II, it resumed production of pruning and cutting garden tools, including tools under the 'Snap-Cut' trademark. It operated at the Watertown location until around 1985 when it was purchased by Vermont American and manufacturing operations were moved to Pennsylvania.

Number of Existing Buildings

Three (3) primary blocks.

Dates of Construction

1928, c.1940-41, post-1962

Architect

n/a

Builder

n/a

Building Type

• Loft
• Mill

Architectural Description

The former Seymour Smith and Son Company factory is a 60,000 square foot, three story brick factory located along Steel Brook in Oakville, Connecticut. The brick wood-frame block along the east bank of the Steel Brook, approx. 310’ by 55’, appears to be the first factory built by the Seymour Smith Company in 1928. A 60’ addition at the northern end was likely constructed c.1940-41. The interior layout of this section remains largely intact and undisturbed. This building was likely used as the main production area, while the northern addition was the painting department. An eastern block perpendicular to the main factory was built after 1962; approx. 100’ by 50’, it is steel frame with brick curtain walls.

Exterior Material(s)

• Brick

Structural System(s)

• Load Bearing Masonry
• Post and Beam
• Wood Frame

Roof Form

• Flat

Roof Material

• Asphalt

Power Source

n/a

Condition

Excellent

Condition Notes

Excellent condition. Building is in full use.

Specific Location

One 11.31 acre parcel on the northwest corner of Main Street and Rockdale Avenue

Adjacent To

• Water (for Power)
• Main Roads

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Parcel ID / Assessor Record Link

• 123 200A 1 / Link →

Acreage

11.31

Use (Present)

• Commercial

Form Completed By

Michael Forino

Date

08/20/2015

Bibliography

1. Hartford Courant, 1930.
2. Sanborn Maps, 1927, 1962.
3. Watertown Historical Society.
4. Six Generations: A History of Seymour Smith and Son Inc. (Oakville, CT: 1981).
5. Town of Watertown Tax Assessor's Office.