Historic Mills of Connecticut

Companies Associated w/Complex

• Albert Pick & Co. 1919-ca. 1929
• American Fabrics Co. ca. 1934-ca. 1940s
• Blackstone Silve Co. ca. 1929-ca. 1931
• E.H.H. Smith Silver Co. 1903-1919
• Hardware Specialties Manufacturing Co. ca. 1940s-ca. 1950s

Use (Historic)

• Consumer Products, Small Appliances
• Fabricated Metal Products

Largest Documented Workforce

100-500 (1927).

Historic Narrative

The E.H.H. Smith Silver Company was established by Eugene Hulbert H. Smith of Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1899. The firm manufactured high-grade flatware and originally maintained an office and factory on Murray Street in New York City. Smith was also associated with the Silver City Plate Company of Meriden, Connecticut, and remained connected with that firm until it was acquired by the International Silver Company in 1908. In 1903, Smith and several partners incorporated the E.H.H. Smith Silver Company, which was identified as being based in Bridgeport. The officers included Smith as president and treasurer; W.H. Browne, vice-president; Charles F. Francis, secretary; and W.H. Bullard, assistant secretary. The company’s manufactory was then moved from New York to Stratford after the firm purchased a mill on Bruce Avenue that was formerly identified as the ‘Skidmore factory.’ Manufacturing activities were then combined with those of another of Smith’s ventures, the E.H.H. Smith Knife Company, and a variety of silver plated knives, forks, spoons, and other tableware were soon under production. The E.H.H. Smith Silver Company continued to manufacture high-end silver plated wares into the late 1910s. Throughout the 1910s the company advertised itself in local directories as ‘Manufacturers of Artistic Cutlery and Sterling Effects in Quintuple Plated Spoons and Forks.’ In 1919, the firm was acquired by Albert Pick and Company, a retailer of general merchandise based in Chicago, Illinois, which maintained manufacturing operations in the former E.H.H. Smith Silver Company plant into the 1920s. During the early 1930s the mill was briefly operated by the Blackstone Silver Company before it passed to the American Fabrics Company, a lace manufacturer with a substantial plant in Bridgeport, around 1934. During the 1940s and 1950s the factory was occupied by the Hardware Specialties Manufacturing Company, a metal goods manufacturer operated by Bridgeport residents Jacob J. and Abraham I. Zimmer.

Number of Existing Buildings

Roughly seven (7) primary blocks.

Dates of Construction

ca. 1900, 1910, ca. 1940, 1955.

Architect

n/a

Builder

n/a

Building Type

• Mill

Architectural Description

The former E.H.H. Smith Silver Company factory is comprised of roughly seven primary adjoining and freestanding blocks located on the west side of Bruce Avenue, opposite Bruce Avenue’s intersection with Seymour Street and on the north side of the New York-New Haven rail line. The majority of the plant was erected ca. 1900, while the two-and-a-half-story red brick block fronting on Bruce Avenue was built in 1910, and the two-story red brick block at the rear of the complex was erected ca. 1940. The ca. 1900 buildings consist of a two-story, 18’ x 94’ buffing, brazing, and benchwork shop; a one-story, 40’ x 86’ stamping building; a two-story, 70’ x 38’ burnishing, plating, and soldering building; and a one-story, 28’ x 37’ boiler plant. These buildings have a mix of concrete or sheet metal panels applied to all elevations, which obscure the original character of the blocks and, it is presumed, cover many of the original window openings. The 1910 block, however, is better preserved. This housed an office, stock and packing rooms, and a machine shop. The building is of brick pier construction and has paired windows set in rectangular or segmental-arched openings with stone sills (and in the case of the rectangular openings, lintels), corbelled window bays, a corbelled brick cornice, tile coping, and a flat roof. The final building associated with the property is a one-story, 40’ x 86’ concrete block structure built south of the 1910 block in 1955. This has a concrete panels applied to its façade (east elevation), multi-pane metal sash, a stepped parapet, and a flat roof.

Exterior Material(s)

• Aluminum Siding or Paneling
• Brick
• Concrete

Structural System(s)

• Load Bearing Masonry
• Wood Frame

Roof Form

• Flat
• Gable
• Shed

Roof Material

• Asphalt
• Tar and Gravel

Power Source

• Electricity
• Steam

Condition

Fair

Condition Notes

The complex is in fair condition. The exterior elevations of the earliest portions of the plant have been sheathed with modern siding materials and most of the original windows throughout the complex have been replaced.

Specific Location

One legal parcel (115 Bruce Avenue) totaling 1.09 acres located on the west side of Bruce Avenue, opposite Bruce Avenue’s intersection with Seymour Street and on the north side of the New York-New Haven rail line.

Adjacent To

• Railroad

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Parcel ID / Assessor Record Link

• 20/8/1/1. / Link →

Acreage

1.09

Use (Present)

• Commercial

Form Completed By

Lucas A. Karmazinas

Date

08/04/2015

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 Fairfield County; Baker, William A., 1854.
6. Sanborn Map Company, 1913, 1924, 1949.
7. Bridgeport City Directory, Various editions.
8. History of Bridgeport and Vicinity, 1917.