Mill Record Middletown

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Disclaimer: Content for these properties was compiled in 2014-2017 from a variety of sources and is subject to change. Updates are occasionally made under Property Information, however the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation (dba Preservation Connecticut) makes no representation or warranty that the information is complete or up-to-date.

Complex Name (Common)
Meech and Stoddard
Complex Name (Historic)
  • Meech and Stoddard
Address or Location
52 North Main Street, Middletown
County
Middlesex
Historic Designation
Associated Mill Community
n/a
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Historic Information

Companies Associated w/Complex

  • Meech and Stoddard 1871-1906
  • Meech and Stoddard Inc. 1906-1961

Use (Historic)

Largest Documented Workforce

10-24 (1936)

Historic Narrative

The Meech and Stoddard Company was established as a partnership between George T. Meech and Orrin E. Stoddard in 1871. Upon returning from military service during the Civil War, Meech spent some time on his family’s farm in Gales Ferry, Connecticut before traveling to New Haven to attend a four-month business class at the Stone Accounting and Secretarial School. With this education he traveled to Middletown in 1866 and found employment at a grocery store operated by William A. Hedge. Driven by ambition, however, Meech left that position in 1868 and entered into a partnership with L.N. Barlow, an established grain dealer. Meech’s association with his partner only lasted until 1871 when Barlow left the business. Upon Barlow’s departure Meech was joined by Orrin E. Stoddard, a boyhood schoolmate. The resultant firm of Meech and Stoddard dealt in the sale of flour, grain, feed, and field seeds. It conducted its business at 340 Main Street, and by the 1880s had established a feed mill on North Main Street along the rail line. The firm experienced continued success into the 1900s and Stoddard retired in 1903. Meech retired three years later, at that point passing the company to his two sons, George E. and Harold M. Meech, who incorporated the firm. Meech and Stoddard enlarged its North Main Street plant between 1901 and 1907 through the addition of a 100,000-bushell grain elevator, supplementing the existing infrastructure which included four steel grain grinders and four separators. The Meech brothers further expanded the plant between 1907 and 1913 by adding a 32’ x 168’ one-story storage building extending south from the grain mill. This was further supplemented by the construction of another storage building, this being the 46’ x 196’, two-story reinforced concrete structure that dominates the plant’s site today. Meech and Stoddard abandoned their Main Street office and consolidated operations on North Main Street in 1929. The company remained in business at this location for another 32 years, eventually closing its doors in 1961. The greatest disaster in the plant’s history struck a year later when a massive fire consumed a large portion of complex, this still stocked with grain and other product. The conflagration destroyed the company’s office, boiler house, and a storage block, which were demolished shortly thereafter. Buildings formerly located to the north have likewise since been lost, however, the foundations and portions of their brick or frame walls remain as evidence of their former location.

Architectural Information

Number of Existing Buildings

Four (4) blocks.

Dates of Construction

ca. 1910, 1916, ca. 1950

Architect

n/a

Builder

n/a

Building Type

Architectural Description

The former Meech and Stoddard complex consists of two clusters of adjoining buildings located on the east side of North Main Street opposite Stack Street. The most notable of the surviving portions of the milling and grain storage plant is a 46’ x 196’, two-story reinforced concrete warehouse building. Built in 1916, its western elevation is dominated by full-height window bays delineated by two-story concrete piers. The bays are filled with multi-pane steel sash with hopper style openings. The north and south elevations lack window openings and the only penetrations on the east elevation are five small openings on the upper section of the second story. The building has a flat roof and its northern elevation rises into a tall, concrete parapet. A two-story brick block, this likewise used as a storage structure, is located adjoining the northeast corner of the reinforced concrete building. This was erected ca. 1910 and lacks ornamentation or window openings, its only notable feature being a door opening centered on its north elevation. South of this building is a one-story frame block that adjoins the eastern elevation of the first building described. This was also built for storage use ca. 1910. Its eastern elevation is interrupted by irregularly placed door and window openings and it has a flat roof. Buildings formerly located to the north of the aforementioned blocks have largely collapsed or been demolished. The exception is a 14’ x 36’, one-story frame building with side-gabled roof located along the street. This was built ca. 1950 and has a centered entry with cross-gable portico.

Exterior Material(s)

Structural System(s)

Roof Form

Roof Material

Power Source

Condition

Fair, Deteriorated

Condition Notes

The building is in fair to deteriorated condition. Sections of the exterior walls and many of the steel-frame sash are deteriorated, however, the building does not appear to be open to the elements. Storage structures located to the north of the primary structure have been reduced to roofless exterior walls or foundations.

Property Information

Specific Location

One legal parcel (52 North Main Street) totaling 1.25 acres on the east side of North Main Street opposite Stack Street.

Adjacent To

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Parcel ID / Assessor Record Link

Acreage

1.25

Use (Present)

Sources

Form Completed By

Lucas A. Karmazinas

Date

11/25/2014

Bibliography

  1. List of Connecticut Manufacturers, 1922, 1924, 1930, 1932.
  2. Directory of Connecticut State Manufacturers, 1936, 1939.
  3. Atlas of Middlesex County, F.W. Beers & Co., 1874.
  4. Middletown Bird’s Eye View, 1877, 1915.
  5. Industrial Directory of Connecticut, 1947.
  6. Register of War Production Facilities in Connecticut, 1951.
  7. Sanborn Map Company, 1889, 1895, 1901, 1913, 1924, 1950.
  8. Aerial Survey of Connecticut, 1934, 1965.
  9. Middletown City Directory, 1887-1960.
  10. History of Middlesex County, Connecticut, 1884.
  11. The Hartford Courant, 1935, 1961, 1962.
Representative View(s)Click on image to view full file



Photographer

Lucas A. Karmazinas

Photography Date

11/25/2014