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Naugatuck

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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a township and borough of New Haven county, Connecticut, U.S.A., on the Naugatuck river, 5 m. S. of Waterbury, with an area of 17 sq. m. in 1906. Pop. (1890) 6218, (1900) 10,541, of whom 343 2 were foreign-born, (1910 census) 12,722. It is served by the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad and by interurban electric railways. Among the principal public buildings are the Whittemore Memorial Public Library (1892), a fine high school and the large Salem school (part of the public school system), all given to the borough by John Howard Whittemore of Naugatuck, who in addition endowed the library and the high school. The river furnishes water-power. Among the manufactures are rubber goods, chemicals, iron castings, woollen goods, cutlery, &c. The value of the factory products increased from $8,886,676 in 1900 to $11,009,573 in 1905, or 23.9%. The prominence of the rubber industry here is due to Charles Goodyear, who in 1821 entered into partnership with his father Amasa Goodyear for the manufacture of hardware. Vulcanized rubber overshoes were first made in Naugatuck, and in 1843 the Goodyear's Metallic Rubber Shoe Company was established here. The township was formed from parts of Waterbury, Bethany and Oxford, and was incorporated in 1844; the borough was chartered in 1893; and the two were combined in 1895.