The Home Woolen Company is a historic textile mill complex on Main Street in
Beacon Falls, Connecticut
Beacon Falls is a town in western New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. It lies in the southwestern part of the state, and is bisected by the Naugatuck River. The population was 6,000 at the 2020 census, down from 6,049 at the 2010 ...
. Developed between 1853 and 1916, the complex housed major local employers, engaged first in the manufacture of woolens and rubber products. The complex has been converted to residential use. It was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 1984.
Description and history
The former Home Woolen Company complex extends along the east side of Main Street (formerly
Connecticut Route 8
Route 8 is a state highway in Connecticut that runs north–south from Bridgeport, through Waterbury, all the way to the Massachusetts state line where it continues as Massachusetts Route 8. Most of the highway is a four-lane freeway but ...
) at the southern end of the modest commercial center of the village. The complex occupies , and includes about 25 buildings, a combination of joined and disconnected structures built mostly out of brick. Its most prominent features are the long three-story facade facing Main Street, which is punctuated by a pair of five-story stair- and clock-towers. The styling is basically Italianate, with rectangular window openings, and corbelled brickwork on the towers.
[ With ]
The industrial development of Beacon Falls was spurred by the completion of a railroad line along the
Naugatuck River
The Naugatuck River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 river in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Its waters carve out the Naugatuck River Valley in the w ...
in 1849. The core of this complex was built in 1853 by the
American Hard Rubber Company, a licensee of
Charles Goodyear
Charles Goodyear (December 29, 1800 – July 1, 1860) was an American self-taught chemist and manufacturing engineer who developed vulcanized rubber, for which he received patent number 3633 from the United States Patent Office on June 15, 1844. ...
's
rubber vulcanizing process. That company operated here until 1858, producing, buttons, flasks, materials for use in shoe and garment manufacturing, and possibly also industrial machinery belts. The complex, which included a dam on the river and a diversion canal (both no longer surviving) was purchased by the Home Woolen Company in 1868. The company greatly expanded the plant, but suffered from Southern competition and closed permanently (after several temporary closures) in 1887. The next major tenant was the Beacon Falls Rubber Shoe Company, which operated here between 1898 and 1930, producing shoes an rubberized garments.
The complex has since been converted to residential use.
See also
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References
{{National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places in New Haven County, Connecticut
Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut
Buildings and structures completed in 1853
Beacon Falls, Connecticut