Historic Mills of Connecticut

Companies Associated w/Complex

• Connecticut Co. 1907-ca. 1920
• Connecticut Lighting & Power Co. 1900-1901
• Connecticut Railway & Lighting Co. 1901-ca. 1906
• Consolidated Street Railway Co ca. 1906-1907
• James Beggs & Co. ca. 1920-ca. 1929
• Norwalk Tramway Co. ca. 1889-1900
• Standard Oil Co. of N.Y. ca. 1929-1940
• Universal Oil Products Co. 1940-1987

Use (Historic)

• Fabricated Metal Products
• Transportation

Largest Documented Workforce

Unknown.

Historic Narrative

The Norwalk Tramway Company was chartered in South Norwalk, Connecticut on May 6, 1889. The firm operated several streetcar lines throughout South Norwalk and although its main offices were located at 40 South Main Street, its primary power generation station was built at the intersection of Meadow and South Main Streets shortly after its incorporation. Around 1895, control of the company was sold to a group of New York investors represented by the law firm of Waller and Waller, which was led by Thomas M. Waller, a former governor of Connecticut, as well as S. Harrison Wagner and Frederick H. Reed. The new ownership rapidly moved to expand the reach of the firm by establishing new lines to Darien, Westport, and Silver Mine, Connecticut, however, financial and logistical difficulties prevented most of the plans from being executed. The Norwalk Tramway Company struggled to remain in operation through the late 1890s, and in September 1900 the firm was sold to the United Gas Improvement Company of New York, New York and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which had also acquired a number of other local streetcar companies and utilities, including the Norwalk Street Railway Company and the Norwalk Gas Company. The streetcar lines were operated by the Connecticut Lighting and Power Company, a branch of the United Gas Improvement Company, until 1901, whereupon management of the parent firm organized the Connecticut Railway and Lighting Company for the purpose of serving as a holding company for all of its streetcar operations. By 1901, the latter also included such businesses as the Central Railway and Electric Company, Derby Street Railway, and the Central Railway and Electric Company of New Britain. Starting around 1906, the streetcar lines controlled by the Connecticut Railway and Lighting Company were leased to the Consolidated Street Railway Company, a subsidiary of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. In 1907, executives at the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad organized a new entity, the Connecticut Company, for the purpose of consolidating the railroad’s extensive network of streetcar lines and the various companies that operated them. The Consolidated Street Railway Company was included in this merger, thus giving the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad effective control of all trolley services not only in Norwalk, but also those in New Haven, Bridgeport, Hartford, New London, Stamford, and Waterbury. The only Connecticut cities outside of the Connecticut Company’s network were those in Bristol and Danbury. The Connecticut Company retained the former Norwalk Tramway Company power station and car barn (this enlarged ca. 1901 by the Connecticut Railway and Lighting Company) until around 1920, whereupon it passed to James Beggs and Company, a New York, New York-based manufacturer of boilers and water filters. The tenure of James Beggs and Company was short-lived, however, as the property passed to the Standard Oil Company of New York by the late-1920s. The latter firm used the plant for road oil and asphalt storage until 1940. It then passed to the Universal Oil Products Company, which retained the facility until 1987.

Number of Existing Buildings

Six (6) adjoining primary blocks.

Dates of Construction

ca. 1889, ca. 1901, ca. 1910, ca. 1960, ca. 1970.

Architect

n/a

Builder

n/a

Building Type

• Mill
• Warehouse / Production Shed

Architectural Description

The former Norwalk Tramway Company generation station is comprised of six primary adjoining blocks located on the south side of Meadow Street, directly opposite from its intersection with South Main Street. The plant’s original block was erected ca. 1889 and fronts on Meadow Street. It is a one-and-a-half-story, 35’ x 100’ red brick building with an ashlar stone foundation, brick piers, full-height window bays with rectangular openings and denticulated and corbelled headers, a gabled red brick parapet, flat roof, and two clerestory monitors. The primary entrance to the building is located at the southern end of the façade (west elevation), and consists of non-original metal and glass doors and transom set in a plain wood surround. Fenestration throughout consists of replacement metal sash and spandrel panels, these with hopper-style openings. The plant was enlarged through the addition of a two-story, 100’ x 80’ addition adjoining the east elevation of the original power station ca. 1901. This building is of brick pier construction and has red brick walls, large segmental arched window openings with stone sills on its north elevation, full-height round-arched bays on its south elevation, a low-pitched front-facing gable roof, and a full-length clerestory monitor. The block was further enlarged ca. 1910 when a two-story, 53’ x 25’ red brick addition was built at the northern end of its east elevation; and ca. 1960 when a two-story, 47’ x 25’ steel-frame and glass vestibule was erected at the southern end of its east elevation. The final additions to the facility were completed ca. 1970 when two large metal-frame warehouse-style blocks were erected on the east side of the plant. They consist of a two-story, 270’ x 100’ block with corrugated metal sheathing and a front-facing gable roof; and a one-story, 32’ x 130’ block with corrugated metal sheathing and a shed roof. The latter adjoins the western end of the larger building’s south elevation.

Exterior Material(s)

• Brick
• Steel

Structural System(s)

• Load Bearing Masonry
• Structural Steel or Iron

Roof Form

• Clerestory Monitor
• Flat
• Gable
• Monitor
• Shed

Roof Material

• Asphalt
• Tar and Gravel

Power Source

• Electricity
• Steam

Condition

Fair

Condition Notes

The complex is in fair condition. Although the majority of the windows throughout the plant have been replaced, the factory appears to be well maintained and structurally sound.

Specific Location

One legal parcel (2 Meadow Street) totaling 3.52 acres located on the south side of Meadow Street, directly opposite from its intersection with South Main Street.

Adjacent To

• Main Roads

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Parcel ID / Assessor Record Link

• 5/84/56/0. / Link →

Acreage

3.52

Use (Present)

• Commercial

Form Completed By

Lucas A. Karmazinas

Date

11/06/2015

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 New Haven County; Clark, Richard, 1859.
6. Atlas of New Haven County, Beers, Ellis & Soule, 1868.
7. Aerial Survey of Connecticut, 1934, 1951, 1965, 1970, 1985.
8. Sanborn Map Company, 1891, 1896, 1901, 1906, 1922, 1950, 1958.
9. Norwalk Directory; Various editions.
10. Hartford Courant, 1896.
11. New York Times, 1900.
12. Norwalk after Two-hundred & Fifty Years; Norwalk Historical and Memorial Library Assoc., 1901.
13. Norwalk; Grant, Lisa Wilson, 2014.