Mill Record Seymour

RETURN TO ‘FIND MILLS’

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)
New Haven Copper Co.
Complex Name (Historic)
  • New Haven Copper Co.
  • Olin Corporation
Address or Location
79 Main Street, Seymour
County
New Haven
Historic Designation
Associated Mill Community
n/a
Historic Information

Companies Associated w/Complex

  • Humphreysville Copper Co. 1848-1855
  • Monarch Brass and Copper Corp. c.1950-2001
  • New Haven Copper Co. 1855-c.1950
  • Olin Corp. 2001-2007

Use (Historic)

Largest Documented Workforce

50 (2007)

Historic Narrative

The New Haven Copper Company began as the Humphreysville Copper Company, a partnership between John W. Dwight (son of Yale president, Timothy Dwight), Raymond French and others in 1848, in what was at the time a section of Derby along the Naugatuck River. The company established a wharf and small smelting operation in East Haven around 1853, where copper ore was delivered, refined and then shipped to the rolling mill. The company reorganized in 1855 under the name New Haven Copper Company. As the reorganization took place, the company’s tangible connection to New Haven was threatened with locals complaining about pollution; the New Haven smelting operations closed in 1857. Throughout the remainder of the nineteenth century, the New Haven Copper Company grew, functioning primarily as a rolling mill, producing sheet and rod brass to other manufactures for use in finished products. During the Second World War, the company received contracts from the U.S. Maritime Commission to produce ship-related items. Considering the company’s specialties, it is likely that they produced marine quality sheet brass. At some point in the mid-twentieth century, the facility became a holding of Monarch Brass and Copper Co. out of Waterbury, which was itself purchased by the Olin Corporation in 2001. Under Olin, the New Haven Copper Company continued to operate as a rolling mill, producing copper strip for cable table, electrical connectors, and transformer windings. In 2007, the Olin Corporation closed the New Haven Copper Company facility, laying off its fifty employees.

Architectural Information

Number of Existing Buildings

n/a

Dates of Construction

c.1884-1894, post 1986

Architect

n/a

Builder

n/a

Building Type

Architectural Description

The oldest surviving building dates to between 1884 and 1894, and is not visible from the street. It is two-story brick with hip roof at the western end of the complex along the east bank of the Naugatuck River, and has a one-story brick flat roof addition to the south. The buildings to the east were likely built after a propane leak explosion and fire that destroyed most of the older structures in 1986. They are mostly concrete or corrugated steel structures. Until at least 1950, the property on which the complex sits was divided on a north to south axis by a headrace, which ran the factory’s waterpower systems until the late nineteenth century.

Exterior Material(s)

Structural System(s)

n/a

Roof Form

Roof Material

n/a

Power Source

Condition

Good, Fair, Deteriorated

Condition Notes

n/a

Property Information

Specific Location

SWC of Deforest and Main Streets

Located in Downtown Seymour Historic District (1983).
http://npgallery.nps.gov/nrhp/GetAsset?assetID=9c1c2e31-b8fc-40cf-9afe-c788b63b4c71

Adjacent To

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Parcel ID / Assessor Record Link

Acreage

3.39

Use (Present)

Sources

Form Completed By

Mike Forino

Date

August 2014; December 2016

Bibliography

  1. 1947 Industrial Directory of Connecticut.
  2. The Hartford Courant, 1853-1986.
  3. Sanborn Maps, Seymour, 1884 -1949.
  4. Resolves and Private Laws of the State of Connecticut, volume 4 (New Haven: 1857).
Representative View(s)Click on image to view full file


Photographer

Erin Marchitto

Photography Date

August 2014; December 2016