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A
Brief History of Essex
by Don Malcarne
Town Historian
The Saybrook Colony was first settled at Saybrook Point adjacent
to the Connecticut River and Long Island Sound in late 1635. This
was not part of the Colony of Connecticut originally, and encompassed
an area that today includes the towns of Old Saybrook, Old Lyme,
Lyme, a small section of East Lyme, Essex, Deep River, Chester,
and Westbrook. It became part of Connecticut in the mid-1640s,
and by early 1648, had been divided into formal quarters. One of
these sections was Potapoug Quarter and included what now
are the towns of Essex, Deep River, and Chester, with
their villages of Centerbrook, Ivoryton, and Winthrop.
Initially, it might be assumed
that 1648 was therefore the settlement date of Essex, but that depends
upon what is defined as settlement. If this term means not only
a small number of families living in a place, but also a measurable
amount of economic activity, this date would have to be 1664. That
was the year that the small ship "Diligence" took
some cargo from Essex to Barbados in the West Indies, a first for
the area. The fact remains that there was a relatively small population
in Essex until the first quarter of the 18th century. In 1722, the
Connecticut Colonial Court allowed the establishment of the Second
Ecclesiastical Society in Center Sayebrooke. This was in recognition
of the fact that there were now enough residents to support a Congregational
Church. In 1727, there were at least 136 adult members of this church,
which represented the gross majority of the population of Potapoug
Quarter. Add an appropriate number of children and it can be seen
that a population of only 300 would be about the correct figure.
Previously, all residents had to attend church at the First Ecclesiastical
Society at Saybrook Point, a rather long distance away, considering
the travel conditions then. Center Sayebrooke later was renamed
Centerbrook, and is the middle village in the three village town
of Essex, which also includes Essex Village and Ivoryton.
Centerbrook became the home
of this church, because that village was the "center"
of Potapoug at the time. It is a fertile agricultural section, featuring
Scotch Plains (the Mud River Basin along Route #153)
and Lynde Plains, which parallel Main Street along the banks
of the Falls River. Centerbrook is also the site of the highest
waterfall on the Falls River. This is a stream that bisects the
town from west to east, and has often been referred to as the lifeline
of Essex. Over the years, starting in 1689, it has had eight dams
built across it, to provide power for various enterprises. The dams
built in 1700 in Centerbrook powered a sawmill, gristmill, trip
hammer shop, and iron works, and all were within 100 yards of the
church, built in 1724. This church was renovated in 1757, and replaced
by the current building in 1790. It remains the oldest extant church
structure in Middlesex County. The first minister of the Centerbrook
Congregational Church was Reverend Abraham Nott, who served
from 1723 to 1756. He was undoubtedly the most powerful and influential
person in Essex (which was named Potapoug until 1852) during this
period, as farming and religion dominated the local culture. It
has often been said that "one constant in the world is change,"
however, and by the time of the Revolutionary War, the rise of Essex
Village was proof of this statement.
The area of Essex called Essex
Village was originally named Potapoug Point. It bordered
the Connecticut River, and part of it was a peninsula with two large
coves on either side. Main Street on the "point" was not
laid out until 1748, and up to that time only a few people resided
here. However, with the outbreak of the War of the Revolution,
a dramatic cultural and demographic switch occurred in town. Captain
Uriah Hayden was commissioned by the Colony of Connecticut to
build the "Oliver Cromwell," the largest ship ever
constructed in the Connecticut River Valley, and the first ship
to be built and financed by the Colony. Captain Hayden lived on
the waterfront at the foot of Main Street and literally built this
vessel in his side yard. This established Essex Village as a place
to build the wooden sailing ships required by our new nation for
trade. The protected coves and the short distance from Long Island
Sound were important geographical features. Between the Revolutionary
and Civil Wars, over 600 vessels of various types were produced
here. Essex Village expanded greatly, eclipsing Centerbrook as the
center. Two ropewalks were
built, to accommodate the needs of the shipping industry for rope,
as shipyards emerged along the shorelines. Essex was unusual, for
it was an area where artisans were able to flourish and become entrepreneurs.
These were people who had highly defined skills and put them to
work in their own businesses. This was in contrast to some northern
parts of the Connecticut River Valley, where so-called "River
Gods" flourished. They were the landed gentry with direct
connections to the Congregational Church, thereby dominating their
(primarily) agricultural sub-cultures. Actually, Essex could be
referred to as one of the places where the capitalist system really
got started. Ships produced here were completed in a pre-industrial
manner, for no two vessels were alike. Each was designed for its
particular use and custom built. This is in direct contrast to the
subsequent factory system, which emphasized interchangeable parts.
The very success of shipbuilding
locally led to one of the great disasters in the history of Connecticut.
Due to the embargo instigated by President Jefferson and
the following British blockade of the river during the War of
1812, ships were not being sold. In Essex, it was not the cargo
hauled by the vessels that was so important, but the sale of the
vessel itself. They were the primary medium of trade. In retaliation
to the blockade, privateers were being built in Essex. These ships
were designed to prey upon slow moving British merchantmen, and
bring captured spoils back to port for resale. The British spied
on the Essex shipyards, saw what they were accomplishing in terms
of building privateers, and early in the morning of April 8, 1814,
attacked Potapoug Point. They destroyed 28 ships worth about $200,000.00
(a veritable fortune at the time), and inflicted a massive defeat
on the Americans. It remains one of the great financial losses of
that conflict.
By the middle of the 19th century,
very large ships were being produced by the Essex yards. For example,
the "Middlesex" which was launched in 1851 displaced
over 1,400 tons, and the 1,118 ton "Irene" was
built the same year. Essex had as many as six "yards"
producing during peak periods, the most prominent of which was operated
by the Hayden family. Notably, Essex had a population up to the
Civil War that was predominantly English, featuring names such as
Clark, Pratt, Post, Hayden, Starkey, Lord, and Bushnell. A characteristic
of the next great change in town was a diversification in terms
of the cultural make-up of the populace, as well as another movement
of the center of the town.
As this next cultural phase
was about to start, a significant geographical change took place
in Essex. In reality, the name Essex had never been applied until
1820, when the Potapoug Point area became the Essex Borough of
Saybrook. In 1852, the State Legislature approved the formation
of a new town, further dividing the original Saybrook Colony. This
was called Old Saybrook and it included the current town of Old
Saybrook and Essex Borough. This combination lasted only two years
when Essex Borough was split from Old Saybrook, and the separate
town of Essex was formed. This was essentially the Essex Village
of today and was quite small geographically, basically including
land east of the Middlesex Turnpike (Route #154). In 1859, Centerbrook
and West Centerbrook (Ivoryton by the early 1880s) were added to
form the current 12 square mile town.
Samuel Merritt Comstock
was born in the West Centerbrook part of town in 1809. He became
a very influential person in our town's history and was responsible
for making Ivoryton an ivory and piano parts center of the United
States. He founded Comstock, Cheney & Co. with his partner
George A. Cheney in 1862. This firm became the most important
social and economic factor in the lower valley. As a result of the
continuing business success of Comstock, Cheney & Co., more
employees were required. The area towns could not meet this demand,
so, as with many places in the eastern part of the United States,
this need was filled by immigrants from southern Europe. Many Polish
and Italian people came to Ivoryton between 1890 and World War I,
and most became associated with this company. Ivoryton developed
a culture where the factory and the village were intertwined. Comstock,
Cheney & Co. built what is now the Ivoryton Playhouse
as a factory meeting hall, built a beautiful grammar school for
the community in 1900, helped build the Ivoryton Library, and erected
a great number of housing units for its employees. The village of
Ivoryton paid approximately 60% of the property taxes collected
in Essex from the end of the 19th century up to World War II.
The advent of radio as a new
form of home entertainment, and the start of the Great Depression
in 1930, spelled trouble for the piano industry. Comstock, Cheney
& Co. combined with its main competitor, Pratt, Read &
Co. from the neighboring town of Deep River, in order to survive.
Although this new company was located in Ivoryton, it took the Pratt,
Read & Co. name. During World War II, gliders were produced
for the U. S. government at this factory, and for a few years after
the war, the 15 year "pent-up" demand (the depression
and the war) for piano keyboards and actions kept this factory busy.
By the end of the 1950s however, Pratt, Read & Co. was forced
to move a great deal of its production to a facility it opened in
the town of Central, South Carolina. Unfortunately, this was a pattern
being repeated throughout New England. Diversification of its product
line occurred in the 1960s as Pratt, Read & Co. went into the
manufacture of golf clubs, plastics, and furniture.
There were other prominent
factories located in Essex. E. E. Dickinson Co. was the most
important producer of witch hazel (and associated items) in the
country, the Verplex Company manufactured fine lampshades,
and the Connecticut Valley Manufacturing Co. was a large
producer of drill bits. Tiley, Pratt & Company made wire
goods in a small shop on Dennison Road during the last quarter of
the 19th century, but expanded to a new factory on Middlesex Turnpike
shortly after 1900, where bicycle and automobile spokes were manufactured.
Tiley, Pratt also produced a few automobiles in the first decade
of the 20th century, aptly named the "Tiley." The Verplex
Company took over the Tiley, Pratt building after 1935. The Connecticut
Valley Railroad put its line through Centerbrook in 1870 and
set up passenger and freight terminals there. This fostered the
growth of a small industrial complex, which included the E. E. Dickinson
Co. distillery and bottling/storage facilities. Within the past
half-century all these local factories have closed their doors,
but the railroad has been saved by becoming a tourist attraction.
World War II essentially marked the end of the cultural movement
to the Ivoryton section of Essex that had started around the time
of the Civil War, but another change was commencing in Essex.
This next cultural movement
concerned not only the closing of the large factories in Essex,
but came about with the improvement of travel conditions in our
country. The Interstate Highway System made it easier for
people to move about. Combine this with the enormous growth (and
popularization) of pleasure boating and Essex Village became once
again a marine focal point. The fact that so many fine older homes
remained from the late 18th and early 19th centuries in the greater
Essex Point area was testament to a lack of commercial demand for
property here since 1860. These older structures have been renovated
and Essex Village has become a combination of residential, retail,
and tourist places. The selection of the town as "the Best
Small Town in America" in a 1994 book, has also encouraged
a change in the demographics of Essex.
Essex is really a "child
of three rivers," the Connecticut, the Falls, and the Mud.
These three waterways have played vital roles in the evolution of
Essex, at different times, due to the demands of agriculture, pre-industrialization,
or industrialization. These rivers have also been the source of
chaos, due to flooding and other severe weather conditions. The
Connecticut River flood of 1936 was the greatest locally in recorded
history for that body of water, and literally inundated the waterfront
properties in Essex. The Falls River suffered a "500 year"
flood in early June 1982 when up to 15" of rain fell in Essex
in a short period of time. The flooding was terrible, but got immeasurably
worse, when a dam that was built for the Comstock, Cheney &
Co. in 1872 on Bushy Hill in Ivoryton, burst. The mile long pond
backed up by this structure roared into the Falls River basin, causing
enormous damage. All of the old water-power dams along this river
were either weakened or destroyed. The September 1938 hurricane
also caused havoc in Essex and the valley. It came after days of
rain, resulting in many trees being uprooted due to the high winds
and softened earth, and many pleasure craft in Essex Harbor were
destroyed. A similar storm with even higher velocity winds occurred
in September 1815, but with a far smaller population and fewer structures,
was not as disastrous.
It is often asked if any "famous"
people resided in town. This is an interesting question, for there
were many locally famous individuals, such as the already discussed
Uriah Hayden and Samuel Comstock. However, dealing with those that
may have been significant nationally or internationally, we have
had a few. Judge Samuel Ingham who resided on Main Street
and practiced law here during a great deal of the 19th century,
ran for Governor of Connecticut on four occasions and served a few
terms in the United States Congress. In the 20th century, Essex
was the home of Connecticut Governor Chester Bowles. He was
head of the Office of Price Administration during World War II,
served as a Representative to Congress, and was later American Ambassador
to India. Mr. Bowles also was a founder of the advertising firm
of Benton and Bowles. Currently, former Governor and United States
Senator (both Connecticut positions) Lowell Weicker resides
in Essex. Frank Lloyd Wright was the son of an itinerant
minister, and allegedly his family lived in town for a few months
around 1870. Famous CBS newscaster Charles Kuralt had a home
on Dennison Road for many years, while Meade Minnegrode,
an author who wrote the lyrics for the "Whiffenpoof Song"
while a student at Yale, lived on both Little Point Street and West
Avenue. Carolus Huska, a local artist and picture frame carver,
designed the famous General Electric Company symbol, for which he
was supposedly paid $25.
Essex is unique in certain
ways, due mostly to the described shifting of the cultural focus
of the town over the past 300 years. This shift has resulted in
three Congregational Churches, two Episcopal Churches, two libraries
(both private institutions, but partially town supported), and most
interestingly, Essex has three zip codes, with three post offices.
This seeming duplication (and tripling) of functions has taken place
in a town with a current population of slightly more than 6,500
persons, which is the historical high.
The town today is losing many
of the hallmarks of the past. In many ways, it is becoming one town,
rather than three villages. There is no question that it has become
primarily residential. Over 80% of current property tax income originates
from this source, while this figure was under 50% not long ago.
There is still industry however, as many sharply focused smaller
manufacturers have located here, primarily in the Centerbrook
Industrial Park. This industrial area is adjacent to an abandoned
airfield, once known as Doane's Airport. Howard Hughes
landed here a few times in the 1930s, when he was visiting one of
Old Saybrook's most famous residents, Katherine Hepburn.
Essex will continue to focus and refocus, a current example being
the commercial growth around Bokum Corners at the intersection
of Route #153 and Bokum Road. However, as Essex continues to change
it maintains an eye on the past, for it does not want to forget
its heritage.
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