Mill Record Milford

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)
Simon Lake Laboratory DEMO’d 7/2020
Complex Name (Historic)
  • Simon Lake Laboratory
Address or Location
135 Broad Street, Milford
County
New Haven
Historic Designation
Associated Mill Community
n/a
Historic Information

Use (Historic)

Largest Documented Workforce

Unknown

Historic Narrative

The Simon Lake Laboratory was built by submarine designer Simon Lake (d.1945), who was born in Pleasantville, New Jersey, and attended the Clinton Liberal Institute and the Franklin Institute. He is best known for his participation in the competition to build the U.S. Navy’s first submarines in the early twentieth century. Unlike his competitor, John Holland of Electric Boat, Lake asserted throughout his career that submarines should be used to collect resources of the sea, not for warfare. Even when he held navy contracts for attack subs during World War I, he was a proponent of submarines for transport and salvage. He incorporated a company in Bridgeport called the Lake Torpedo Boat Company, with a new factory built in 1917. Shortly after the war, the company went out of business, marking the end of Lake’s relationship with the Navy. After his company closed he continued to design and build small subs and submersibles in the laboratory he built behind his Milford home. These submarines were designed to salvage precious cargo from sunken ships. After Simon’s death, his son, Thomas Edison Lake, and engineer and inventor himself, also utilized the laboratory. There he developed designs for military torpedo boats. The Lake family preserved the archives collected by Simon Lake and his son, Thomas Alva Edison Lake. See the Simon Lake Project and Archives website at http://www.simonlake.com/html/s_l_p.html.

Architectural Information

Number of Existing Buildings

Two (2) blocks.

Dates of Construction

c.1900

Architect

n/a

Builder

n/a

Building Type

Architectural Description

Approximately 120 feet long and 30 feet wide, the c.1900 building consists of two sections: a western one-story wood frame wing, and an eastern two story brick and wood frame structure, both with saw tooth roofs.

Exterior Material(s)

Structural System(s)

Roof Form

Roof Material

Power Source

Condition

Deteriorated

Condition Notes

n/a

Property Information

Specific Location

One 2.28 acre parcel directly behind (north of) the funeral home on Broad Street (Simon Lake's former residence), on the south side of the railroad tracks

Adjacent To

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Parcel ID / Assessor Record Link

Acreage

2.28

Use (Present)

Sources

Form Completed By

Michael Forino

Date

n/a

Bibliography

  1. The Hartford Courant, 1931-1945.
Representative View(s)Click on image to view full file


Photographer

n/a

Photography Date

n/a