Historic Mills of Connecticut

Companies Associated w/Complex

• New Haven Clock Co. 1857-1960s

Use (Historic)

• Clocks, Precision Equipment

Largest Documented Workforce

2000 (1920s)

Historic Narrative

National Register nomination prepared 2016 by Archaeological and Historical Services Inc. The New Haven Clock Company grew out of a small wood clock manufactory established in the Terryville section of Plymouth, Connecticut, in 1817 by Chauncey Jerome. Most clocks made in the United States at that time had wooden movements, but by 1837, Jerome began to construct his movements from brass in a mill in Bristol. Wood parts swell and contract with humidity, causing clocks to become inaccurate at best. Brass movements have no such changeability and are therefore more accurate. Surprisingly, the labor to produce brass clock movements was less than that for wood and Jerome was able to undercut his competitors' prices. The Jerome Clock Company opened a manufacturing branch in New Haven in 1844, in an attempt to be closer to materials shipping. A year later, the mill in Bristol burned down, and the entire operation was moved to New Haven, where, in 1857, it was reorganized as the New Haven Clock Company. The company grew steadily into the twentieth century, reaching its full potential at the start of World War I. Like most metals industry firms during that time, the New Haven Clock Company benefited from war contracts, but they also benefited from trade embargoes on German clocks. The company became one of New Haven’s largest companies, with over 2,000 employees in the 1920s, producing over 3,500,000 watches and clocks per year. Like all companies, New Haven Clock was financially depressed by the Great Depression, only to be buoyed up by the Second World War, obtaining military contracts to manufacture mechanical time fuses used in shell casings. After the War, the company succumbed to labor troubles, and strikes or threats thereof plagued it for the rest of its existence. The New Haven Clock Company became nothing more than a real estate holding company by the 1960s. The New Haven Clock Company had three sites in New Haven: the Movement plant, the lumber yard and the Case shop; only the latter survives.

Number of Existing Buildings

Ten (10) blocks.

Dates of Construction

c.1870-1930

Architect

n/a

Builder

n/a

Building Type

n/a

Architectural Description

The ten connected buildings of the case shop form a u-shape fronting Hamilton and St John Streets and open to Wallace Street. The oldest buildings are all four-story brick with gable roofs constructed no later than 1886 along St John Street. The remaining buildings of the u are four-story brick dating from c.1920 and have both flat and gable roofs. Two smaller buildings on the outside northwest corner of the complex are from the same period: the street-side building has a hip roof and is only two-stories tall; the building to the rear is brick, four-stories tall and has a flat roof. . A c.1930 one-story shipping building sits inside the u.

Exterior Material(s)

• Brick

Structural System(s)

• Post and Beam

Roof Form

• Gable

Roof Material

• Asphalt

Power Source

• Steam

Condition

Good, Fair, Deteriorated

Condition Notes

n/a

Specific Location

The New Haven Clock Company case shop is located between St. John, Hamilton and Wallace Streets.

Individually nominated to the National Register of Historic Places, 2016.

Adjacent To

• Water (for Transport)

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Parcel ID / Assessor Record Link

• 201/571/400 / Link →

Acreage

1.92

Use (Present)

• Other: Rehab into low-income and artist loft housing in planning/process 2017. Taom Heritage purchased site 6/2018. City approved 7-year tax abatement ($51,591/yr during period) and $400k municipal funds toward clean-up in 5/2018, and $800k EPA Brownfield loan for environmental clean-up 10/2018. DECD approved $4million 20-yr 1% loan. Developers, Taom Heritage New Haven LLC (Portland OR Reed) committed $1.4million equity twd clean-up. All work stopped in 2020. In 2021, city officials cited as unsafe. 2023: developer owed back taxes and property to go into foreclosure. August 2023 city commissioners authorized purchase by New Haven Housing Authority for rehab into 100 mixed income, mostly affordable, apartments. As of 2024, a deal is contingent upon Reed finishing environmental as well as results of city due diligence.
• Vacant

Form Completed By

Michael Forino

Date

n/a

Bibliography

1. 1947 Industrial Directory of Connecticut.
2. The Hartford Courant, 1917-1961.
3. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, 1886-1951.
4. Roth, Matthew, et al, Connecticut: An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites (Washington DC: SIA, 1981).
5. Archaeological and Historical Services Inc. 2016. New Haven Clock Company National Register Nomination. National Park Service.