Historic Mills of Connecticut

Companies Associated w/Complex

• Sperry Corp., Waterbury Tool Div. 1935-1941
• Vickers, Inc., Waterbury Tool Div. 1941-1966
• Waterbury Tool Co. 1916-1935

Use (Historic)

• Clocks, Precision Equipment

Largest Documented Workforce

150 (1935).

Historic Narrative

The Waterbury Tool Company was organized in Waterbury, Connecticut in September 1898. The firm was founded by Horace G. Hoadley and began operations manufacturing a ratchet drill designed by Professor Harvey D. Williams of Cornell University, under whom Hoadley had studied. Hoadley’s firm initially rented shop space in the New Britain, Connecticut plant maintained by the New Britain Machine Company, where it remained until a proprietary facility was erected on East Aurora Street in Waterbury in 1916. The company continually added to its product line throughout the early 1900s and by the late 1910s the firm manufactured a variety of machines, many employing hydraulic systems. These included variable speed devices used in naval applications such as rotating gun turrets, gun-elevating, shell and powder hoists, shell rammers, primary steering gear, and submarine diving rudders. In 1903, the company was the first to develop a successful oil-hydraulic piston pump and motor, a device that formed the basis of systems installed in the battleships USS Illinois and Virginia in 1906. The Waterbury Tool Company made considerable contributions to the American war effort during the First World War and both the business and its faculties were expanded during the 1930s. In 1935, the company was acquired by the Sperry Corporation of New York, an instrument and electronics manufacturer. Two years later, Sperry acquired Detroit-based Vickers, Inc., at that point the country’s largest producer of oil hydraulic machinery, which it merged with the Waterbury Tool Company (the latter firm operated as an independent division of Vickers) in 1941. Substantial additions to the Waterbury plant were completed during the Second World War and the company’s contributions to the war effort (mainly through the manufacture of hydraulic power transmissions) earned it a Navy ‘E’ Award. Immediately following the war, the company partially made up for the fall in government contracts by manufacturing light tractors for farm and home use. The Sperry Corporation eventually closed the Waterbury plant in 1966.

Number of Existing Buildings

Roughly six (6) primary blocks.

Dates of Construction

ca. 1916, ca. 1935, ca. 1940, ca. 1942, ca. 1960.

Architect

Leo F. Caproni (1942 addition)

Builder

Oscar Strubeck & Sons, Waterbury (1942 addition)

Building Type

• Administration
• Mill
• Warehouse / Production Shed

Architectural Description

The former Waterbury Tool Company plant consists of roughly six adjoining and freestanding primary blocks located on the north side of East Aurora Street, immediately north of East Aurora Street’s intersection with Tubing Street. The original manufacturing block, this erected ca. 1916, is located at the core of five adjoining blocks that front on East Aurora Street. The building is a one-story, roughly 150’ x 200’ red brick block with a flat roof topped by both sawtooth and clerestory monitors. The facility was expanded via additions adjoining the building’s north, south, and east elevations during the 1930s and 1940s. The north and south additions supplemented the company’s manufacturing space, while the eastern addition is a two-story, 138’ x 58’ red brick office building. A final addition of note stands roughly 175’ north of the main plant. It was erected ca. 1942 and expanded ca. 1960. The ca. 1942 construction consists of a two-story, 350’ x 125’ steel-frame and concrete block structure with full-height window openings spanning the second floor and a flat roof above. The ca. 1960 addition stands one story tall and measures roughly 190’ x 55’.

Exterior Material(s)

• Brick
• Concrete Block

Structural System(s)

• Load Bearing Masonry
• Structural Steel or Iron

Roof Form

• Flat
• Monitor
• Sawtooth

Roof Material

• Asphalt
• EPDM
• Tar and Gravel

Power Source

• Electricity
• Steam

Condition

Fair

Condition Notes

The plant is in fair condition. Many of the original windows throughout the facility have been replaced or the openings infilled with aluminum sheathing.

Specific Location

Two parcels (172 & 182 East Aurora Street) totaling 6.7 acres located on the north side of East Aurora Street, immediately north of East Aurora Street’s intersection with Tubing Street.

Adjacent To

• Railroad

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Parcel ID / Assessor Record Link

• 0160-0783-0007 southern / Link →
• 0143-0783-0211 northern parcel / Link →

Acreage

3.46; 3.24

Use (Present)

• Commercial
• Industrial
• Other: for sale 2/2019

Form Completed By

Lucas Karmazinas

Date

11/17/2016

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. Sanborn Map Company, 1884, 1900, 1924, 1962.
6. Aerial Survey of Connecticut, 1934, 1951, 1965, 1970, 1985.
7. Waterbury City Directories, Price & Lee Co., 1890-1960.
8. History of Waterbury; Pape, William Jamieson, 1918.
9. Hartford Courant, 1916, 1935, 1940, 1942.
10. Hydraulic Fluid Power; Skinner, Steve, 2014.
11. Information, historic photographs and sources for Leo Caproni courtesy Gregg Bateman (2018).
12. Caproni, Leo F., ‘Industrial Buildings’ (1942 booklet)