Historic Mills of Connecticut

Companies Associated w/Complex

• Lewis cotton mill c.1830-1848
• Richards cotton mill c.1823-c.1830
• Sidney Blumenthal and Company, Uncasville Shelton factory 1911-c.1963
• Thomas G. Faria Corporation c.1963-present
• Uncasville Mfg. Co. c.1848-1911

Use (Historic)

• Clocks, Precision Equipment
• Textiles
• Transportation

Largest Documented Workforce

Unknown

Historic Narrative

The earliest known works at this site was a grist mill built by Levi Lester c.1794. The site was purchased in c.1823 by Peter and Henry Richards who built a cotton mill, taken over by Charles and George Lewis in c.1830. The company was reorganized by the Lewis brothers as Uncasville Manufacturing Company in 1848, to produce woolens. In the early twentieth century (after 1911), after experiencing financial difficulties brought on by changing market trends, the company was acquired by a Shelton based textile company, the Sidney Blumenthal and Company, established c.1854 by a German immigrant. The Shelton plant, built in 1898, utilized both textile machinery and labor from Germany. The Montville facility became known as the Uncasville-Shelton factory. The company produced many different textiles, including silk, and is noteworthy for its early use of rayon (c.1905). It also di all the weaving, dyeing, printing and finishing at its factories in Bridgeport, Shelton and Uncasville. The Uncasville-Shelton factory output was predominately piled fabrics and mohair plush, averaging nearly 3,000 miles of fabric annually in the 1950s. At its height, Sidney Blumenthal operated five factories. In the early 1960s, the company closed the Uncasville operation. Since then the factory has been occupied by the Thomas G. Faria Corporation, a manufacturer of marine and automotive instruments established in 1956. Key early products have included a submarine simulator used by the Electric Boat Company and tachometers for the Ford Motor Company. It was the need to meet Ford's demand for 100,000 tachometers a year that led to relocation in the Montville factory c.1963. Listed on the National Register 2021 as part of the Uncasville Mill Historic District.

Number of Existing Buildings

Roughly ten (10) primary blocks.

Dates of Construction

c.1880-1924

Architect

n/a

Builder

n/a

Building Type

• Loft
• Mill
• Powerhouse

Architectural Description

The complex is comprised of ten connected buildings, including a boiler house with smokestack and a detached pumping station along the brook. All of the structures are brick, built before 1924, and in some cases as early as the 1880s. The oldest structure is a five-story loft with raised monitor roof. Other structures include a three-story brick building with gable roof, two two-story brick buildings connected by an enclosed corridor, and four one-story flat-roof brick buildings.

Exterior Material(s)

• Brick

Structural System(s)

• Post and Beam
• Wood Frame

Roof Form

• Gable
• Monitor

Roof Material

• Asphalt

Power Source

• Electricity
• Steam
• Water (Turbine)

Condition

Good, Fair, Deteriorated

Condition Notes

n/a

Specific Location

One 10.64 acre parcel at the corner of Pink Row and Depot Square in the village of Uncasville. The Oxoboxo Brook runs directly through the site.

Adjacent To

• Water (for Power)
• Railroad

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Parcel ID / Assessor Record Link

• 074-038-000 (for record, use link and type in address or parcel number) / Link →

Acreage

10.64

Use (Present)

• Industrial
• Other: Dakota Partners is in redevelopment planning for the site as of 2017. Jan 2022 DECD Brownfield award: $999,000 for environmental remediation activities at the former Uncasville Manufacturing Company located at 42 Pink Row. This will allow for the adaptive reuse of the existing historic building and 10.6 acre-property into 72 housing units.

Form Completed By

Michael Forino

Date

August 2014; November 2016

Bibliography

1. 1947 Industrial Directory of Connecticut.
2. The Hartford Courant, 1911-1967.
3. Sanborn Fire Insurance Atlases, Montville, CT.
4. Henry A. Baker, A History of Montville (1896).
5. 'About Us,' Faria Beede Instruments Inc. (n.d.). Web; accessed November 2016.
6. Roth, Matthew, et al, Connecticut: An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites (Washington DC: SIA, 1981).