Historic Mills of Connecticut

Companies Associated w/Complex

• Eagle Lock Co. 1854-1970

Use (Historic)

• Fabricated Metal Products
• Metal Treating and Finishing

Largest Documented Workforce

approx. 800 (c.1945)

Historic Narrative

NOTE: 2025 SHPO determined not eligible for NR listing due to significant loss of buildings in complex from 1978 fire. The Eagle Lock Company was formed by the consolidation of several early nineteenth-century enterprises. The most notable began in 1832, when an English immigrant and locksmith, Stephen G. Bucknall, opened a small lock manufactory in Watertown, Connecticut, one of the first American lock works in the country. After two years, his small shop and his unique skills were acquired by the Terryville firm Lewis, McKee and Company run by Eli Terry, son of the clock maker. In 1841, after Eli Terry's death, the business was bought by the Lewis and Gaylord Company, and then consolidated in 1854 with the James Terry Company, a manufacturer of carpet bag frames, as the Eagle Lock Company. Production grew such that, by the 1890s, the firm was one of the largest trunk lock manufacturers in the world, employing nearly 500 workers. Products included trunk and cabinet locks, as well as high quality security-grade pad locks, and, in the early twentieth century, screw-machine products. The company experienced precipitous growth with the onset of the First World War, and even greater expansion during the Second World War, nearly doubling the number of employees. With major defense contracts, it became an attractive target for large firms looking to create subsidiary industries. In 1943, with the largest profit margins in company history, Eagle Lock was sold to F. Bowser Inc., of Fort Wayne, Indiana, operating under its original name in Terryville. After the War, the board of Eagle Lock deliberated, but never initiated, a move to the southeastern United States for tax purposes. The company’s financial situation began to deteriorate and it was again sold in the 1960s to the Delaware firm Penn-Akron Corporation. The Eagle Lock Company continued to flounder after the sale and by the 1970s, faced foreclosure and bankruptcy. While there were attempts to purchase the manufacturing complex, none appear to have succeeded, and the majority of the plant was demolished for new development.

Number of Existing Buildings

Five (5) blocks.

Dates of Construction

c.1908, c.1924, c.1940

Architect

n/a

Builder

n/a

Building Type

• Loft
• Powerhouse
• Warehouse / Production Shed

Architectural Description

The remnants of the former Eagle Lock Company factory complex are located at the east and west corners of the intersection of South Main and Main Streets in Terryville. It is unknown exactly when this site became home to the company, but its location near the Pequabuck River, which runs directly through the site, indicates that the original operations were water powered. At the firm’s height, the Eagle Lock Company complex consisted of over 50 buildings, while today only five survive. The oldest date to c.1908-1910. The first is a one story brick production shed with gable roof on the corner of South Main Street and East Orchard Street; this building held such operations as packing, stocking and shipping, buffing and plating and pin-lock production. The second is a two-story brick power house between East Orchard Street and South Eagle Street; the smokestack has been partially demolished. The five-story brick loft building on the north side of South Main Street and the south bank of the Pequabuck River was constructed in 1916 (date plaque high on building). To the southeast is a small one-story, storage shed built during the same period. On the north side of the Pequabuck is a one-story brick structure likely constructed during the 1940s.

Exterior Material(s)

• Brick

Structural System(s)

• Post and Beam
• Structural Steel or Iron

Roof Form

• Flat
• Gable

Roof Material

• Asphalt

Power Source

• Electricity

Condition

Good, Fair, Deteriorated

Condition Notes

n/a

Specific Location

Four parcels totaling 5.1 acres at the east and west corners of the intersection of South Main and Main Streets in Terryville, including 56 East Orchard Street.

Adjacent To

• Water (for Power)
• Main Roads

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Parcel ID / Assessor Record Link

• 00228100 power house / Link →
• 00225500 western lot / Link →
• 00289300 northeastern lot / Link →
• 00289400 eastern lot / Link →

Acreage

0.66; 1.57; 2.3; 0.57

Use (Present)

• Commercial
• Vacant

Form Completed By

Mike Forino

Date

n/a

Bibliography

1. 1947 Industrial Directory of Connecticut.
2. Hartford Courant, 1892-1979.
3. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, Terryville, 1908-1942.
4. Judy Giguere, Plymouth Revisited