Historic Mills of Connecticut

Companies Associated w/Complex

• Kelly-Fradet Lumber Co. 1965-Present (2015)
• Standard Metal Works Co. 1905-1922
• Thompsonville Lumber Corp. ca. 1922-1965

Use (Historic)

• Paper & Wood Products
• Transportation

Largest Documented Workforce

Unknown.

Historic Narrative

The Standard Metal Works Company was established in 1905 by James A. Colvin, a native of Cranson, Rhode Island, who had acquired Enfield’s beleaguered G.H. Bushnell Press Company in 1894. Colvin righted the press company’s ship and in 1905 established the Standard Metal Work Company (directly north of the G.H. Bushnell Press Company plant) for the production of pipe-based parts used by automobile manufacturers. The Standard Metal Works Company fell under the ownership of Mark W. and Guy W. Bushnell after Colvin’s death in 1915, and the Bushnells quickly moved to acquired sole control of the G.H. Bushnell Press Company. The combined firm continued to focus on manufacturing products for the automobile industry, however, much of the merged plant’s early work was dominated by wartime production associated with World War I. Notable among these contracts was a $50,000 order from the Bethlehem Steel Corporation for shell cases needed for munitions being manufactured for the French government. In 1922 the Standard Metal Works Company was sold to the Premier Manufacturing Company of Sandy Hook, Connecticut, and the Enfield plant was shut down. The property was subsequently acquired by the Thompsonville Lumber Corporation, which since 1903 had been controlled by William A . Fletcher, a Waterville, Vermont, native who also managed C.P. Chase and Company of Springfield, Massachusetts. Fletcher moved the lumberyard from High Street to Prospect Street in 1922, and the firm continued to operate at this location until it was bought out by the Kelly-Fradet Lumber Company of East Longmeadow, Massachusetts, in 1965. Kelly-Fradet continues to occupy the property where it sells a variety of building and hardware products.

Number of Existing Buildings

Four (4) adjoining blocks.

Dates of Construction

1905, 1909, ca. 1920, ca. 1960.

Architect

n/a

Builder

n/a

Building Type

• Administration
• Mill
• Warehouse / Production Shed

Architectural Description

The former Standard Metal Works Company plant is comprised of four adjoining primary blocks located on the west side of Prospect Street, opposite Oak Avenue. The earliest portions of the plant was a one-story, 40’ x 120’ red brick manufacturing building erected in 1905. This was enlarged in 1909 through the addition of a two-story, 80’ x 120’ concrete block addition abutting its north elevation. The later is particularly notable as its exterior walls are dominated by concrete block piers topped by concrete capitals, which frame full-height window bays. The bays have spandrel panels comprised of rough-cut stone blocks and concrete window sills on each floor. A denticulated and modillioned concrete cornice runs below the building’s low-pitch hipped roof. Loading bays with paneled wood doors are centered on the building’s north elevation, to the north of which there is a shed roof porch sheltering an additional loading bay. A one-story frame office block with a front-facing gable roof was added to the east side of the original block ca. 1920. Further frame additions were built on the north and south sides of the office building ca. 1960, all of which have been vinyl sided.

Exterior Material(s)

• Brick
• Concrete Block

Structural System(s)

• Load Bearing Masonry
• Wood Frame

Roof Form

• Gable
• Hip Minor
• Shed

Roof Material

• Asphalt

Power Source

• Electricity

Condition

Fair

Condition Notes

The factory is in overall fair condition. Although the original windows have been replaced and portions of the frame sections sided with vinyl, the majority of the plant appears to be structurally sound and well maintained.

Specific Location

The northern half of one legal parcel (92 Prospect St.) totaling 2.5 acres on the west side of Prospect Street, opposite Oak Avenue.

Adjacent To

• Railroad

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Parcel ID / Assessor Record Link

• 021/ / 0021 northern / Link →

Acreage

2.5

Use (Present)

• Commercial

Form Completed By

Lucas A. Karmazinas

Date

03/27/2015

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, 1947.
8. Hartford Courant, 1906, 1930.
9. The Challenge of Change: Three Centuries of Enfield, Connecticut History; Bridge, Ruth, ed., 1977.
10. Enfield, Connecticut; Miller, Michael K., 1999.