Historic Mills of Connecticut

Companies Associated w/Complex

• New Britain Undergarment Company ca. 1942-1961
• Parker Shirt Co. 1898-ca. 1942

Use (Historic)

• Apparel & Accessories
• Textiles

Largest Documented Workforce

50 to 99 (1939)

Historic Narrative

The origins of the Parker Shirt Company date to around 1830, when Julius Parker first established a stock (kind of cravat) factory on Walnut Street. As stocks declined in popularity during the 1850s, Parker shifted his efforts to the production of men’s dress shirts. By the 1870s, production took place in a small brick factory previously located directly to the east of the present plant, the former demolished during the late 1930s. During the mid-1860s, Julius Parker brought his son Charles J. Parker into the business, thus forming J. Parker and Son. The company continued to operate under this name until June 1896, when the firm was incorporated as the Parker Shirt Company by Julius and Charles J. Parker, and C.F. Frisbee. The Parker Shirt Company produced high quality garments identified as the 'Tiffany of the dress shirt business.' Just two years after the company was incorporated, demand for the firm’s product necessitated an expansion its Walnut Street plant. The three-and-a-half-story, 30’ x 105’ addition cost roughly $20,000 and now comprises the easternmost block of the surviving factory. At the time of its construction, the Hartford Courant noted that the addition would increase the size of the factory fifty percent, while allowing production to be doubled as a result of it being fitted out with the “most improved and modern machinery.” The success of the Parker Shirt Company is further illustrated by the fact that another substantial addition was required by 1909. This consisted of a three-and-a-half- and four- and-a-half-story, 42’ x 96’ block built on the west side of the 1898 block, which again allowed the company to increase turnout by fifty percent. This expanded capacity allowed the firm to successfully meet an order for 3,000 dozen uniform shirts placed by the United States government in the summer of 1917. The Parker Shirt Company continued to be run by the Parker family until 1937, when Charles J. Parker, at that time president and treasurer of the firm, died at the age of 87. The company remained in business through the early 1940s, however, in 1946 its plant was acquired by the New Britain Undergarment Company, a knitware manufacturer incorporated in 1942. New Britain Undergarment occupied the building until 1961 when it passed to Modern Plumbing Supply, Inc. The plant has passed through various hands since the 1960s and its current (2015) tenant is Link Mechanical Services, Inc., a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning service company established in 1992.

Number of Existing Buildings

Two (2) adjoining blocks.

Dates of Construction

1896, 1909

Architect

n/a

Builder

n/a

Building Type

• Mill

Architectural Description

The former Parker Shirt Company plant is comprised of two adjoining primary blocks located on the south side of Walnut Street, roughly halfway between Arch and Prospect Streets. The earlier of the two buildings is a three-and-a-half-story, 30’ x 105’ red brick block erected abutting the western elevation of an earlier portion of the plant (this since demolished) in 1898. The building housed laundering operations in its raised basement, office and shipping uses on the first floor, sewing on the second floor, and a cutting room on the third floor. The block is three bays wide, however, its façade blends into the details of the block to its west, which was erected in 1909. The latter block measures 42’ x 96’ and is of red brick construction. It abuts the western elevation of the 1898 block and extends along Walnut Street, thus giving the factory an L-shaped footprint. The seven eastern bays of the 1909 block stand three-and-a-half stories tall, while the five western bays rise to four-and-a-half stories. The whole of the factory’s north (façade) elevation is unified by its red brick walls, brownstone stringcourses delineating each floor (these with brick corbelling on the first and second floors), segmental-arched door and window openings, and corbelled brick cornices on the uppermost floors of each block. A four-and-a-half-story red brick stair tower is located on the south (rear) side of the 1909 block, to the southeast of which there is a covered loading dock running the length of the 1898 building to a rectangular six-story red brick chimney. All sections of the factory have flat roofs.

Exterior Material(s)

• Brick

Structural System(s)

• Load Bearing Masonry

Roof Form

• Flat

Roof Material

• Asphalt

Power Source

• Electricity
• Steam

Condition

Fair

Condition Notes

The factory is in fair condition. The majority of the exterior walls appear to be in good condition, however, there is some staining and deterioration visible on the south side of the 1909 block. All of the original windows have been replaced, and some of the window openings have been partially infilled with red brick.

Specific Location

One 0.52-acre parcel (34 Walnut Street) on the south side of Walnut Street, roughly halfway between Arch and Prospect Streets.

Adjacent To

n/a

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Parcel ID / Assessor Record Link

• C8B/ 49 / Link →

Acreage

0.52

Use (Present)

• Other: For sale 11/2023: 31 one and two bedroom project as been brought through CT HRTC Part 1 and Part 2 process, environmental studies and cost estimation done. 41,966 sq ft
• Vacant

Form Completed By

Lucas A. Karmazinas

Date

02/05/2015

Bibliography

1. List of Connecticut Manufacturers, 1922, 1924, 1930, 1932.
2. Directory of Connecticut State Manufacturers, 1936, 1939.
3. Map of Hartford County, H & C.T. Smith, 1855.
4. Atlas of Hartford County, Beers, Baker & Tilden, 1869.
5. Industrial Directory of Connecticut, 1947.
6. Register of War Production Facilities in Connecticut, 1951.
7. Sanborn Map Company, 1884, 1890, 1895, 1909, 1950, 1954.
8. Aerial Survey of Connecticut, 1934, 1965.
9. Birdseye View of New Britain, 1875.
10. New Britain City Directory, 1860-1960.
11. Hartford Courant, 1898, 1909, 1917, 1937, 1942, 1961.
12. History of New Britain, With Sketches of Farmington and Berlin, Camp, David, N., 1889.
13. Roth, Matthew, et al, Connecticut: An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites (Washington DC: SIA, 1981).