Naugatuck, Connecticut

Naugatuck, Connecticut
—  Borough  —
Seal
Location in New Haven County, Connecticut
Coordinates: 41°29′23″N 73°03′05″W / 41.48972°N 73.05139°W / 41.48972; -73.05139Coordinates: 41°29′23″N 73°03′05″W / 41.48972°N 73.05139°W / 41.48972; -73.05139
Country	United States
State	Connecticut
NECTA	Waterbury
Region	Central Naugatuck Valley
Incorporated	1844
Consolidated	1895
Government
- Type	Mayor-burgesses
- Mayor	Bob Mezzo (D)
Area
- Total	16.5 sq mi (42.7 km2)
- Land	16.4 sq mi (42.4 km2)
- Water	0.1 sq mi (0.2 km2)
Elevation	207 ft (63 m)
Population (2010)[1]
- Total	31,862
- Density	1,943/sq mi (750/km2)
Time zone	Eastern (UTC-5)
- Summer (DST)	Eastern (UTC-4)
ZIP code	06770
Area code(s)	203
FIPS code	09-49880
GNIS feature ID	0209191
Website	http://www.naugatuck-ct.gov/

Naugatuck is a consolidated borough and town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town spans both sides of the Naugatuck River just south of Waterbury, and includes the communities of Union City on the east side of the river, which has its own post office, Straitsville on the southeast (along Route 63, and Millville on the west (along Rubber Avenue).

History

Naugatuck was settled in 1701 as a farming community in rural Western Connecticut. As the Industrial Revolution commenced, Naugatuck was transformed into a hardscrabble mill-town like its neighbors in the Naugatuck Valley.

Goodyear Metallic Rubber Shoe Company & Downtown Naugatuck (c. 1890)

Rubber was the chiefly manufactured product. The United States Rubber Company (renamed Uniroyal Inc. in 1961) was founded in Naugatuck in 1892 as a consolidation of nine rubber companies, and maintained their corporate headquarters there until the 1980s. Their Footwear Division manufactured Keds “sneakers” in Naugatuck from 1917 until the 1980s. U.S. Rubber also produced Naugahyde in a Naugatuck factory, but it is no longer produced there.

Due to an increase in the price of sulfuric acid, which was needed for the process then used for reclaiming old rubber, the United States Rubber Co. formed the Naugatuck Chemical Company on June 1, 1904, and the company soon was in the forefront of the chemical industry in the United States. Naugatuck Chemical remained a subsidiary of the U.S. Rubber Co. until, under Uniroyal, it gained independence as Uniroyal Chemical Co. They moved their operations to Middlebury, Connecticut in the 1970s.

The Risdon Manufacturing Company, established in Naugatuck around 1910, began by producing safety pins. Local housewives and children were often hired to attach the pins to cardboard for easy sale. Risdon became the manufacturer of total packaging for cosmetics, personal, household and other consumer products and home sewing notions such as common pins, needles, snaps and other accessories. It is now the Crown Risdon Co., headquartered in Watertown, Connecticut.

In the 1960 Harold Barber founded H. Barber and Sons in the community. The company which builds beach rakes for picking up debris and grooming beaches claims to be the largest such business in the world.^[2]

Naugatuck was the home to Peter Paul, the Hershey Foods division that produces Almond Joy and Mounds candy bars, however the Hershey Co. closed the Peter Paul factory in November, 2007.

The normally peaceful Naugatuck River that flows through Naugatuck overflowed its banks on August 19, 1955.^[3] Fed by over 10” of rain from Hurricane Diane, the river cut a path of destruction that forever changed the face of Naugatuck.

Town history sign found on the Naugatuck Green

As American manufacturing declined in the late 20th Century, the mills closed and the town fell on largely hard times. With the expansion of suburbs, especially in New Haven and Fairfield County, the town is largely a bedroom community for the middle class. With this, many of Naugatuck's neighbors are fairly wealthy. Middlebury and Oxford are affluent towns that have higher performing school districts, but the price to live in these suburbs is high. Currently, many new more expensive homes are being built as people from Fairfield county and other areas are looking for more affordable housing and convenient access to major highways.

Naugatuck High School (c. 1910). A McKim, Mead, and White design, the building is now Hillside Intermediate School, following erection of a new high school on Rubber Avenue in the late 1950s.

The local high school, Naugatuck High School, has a storied football rivalry with the high school in Ansonia that is one of the longest in America. Like the other rival high schools in the Naugatuck Valley, the two teams meet the morning of Thanksgiving Day. The first meeting was in 1900. Ansonia is the long-term winner in the series. Naugatuck High School's mascot is the greyhound and its colors are garnet and grey.

The town of Naugatuck is affectionately referred to as "Naugy" by its residents. The town common features 11 commissions by the renowned New York architecture firm of McKim, Mead and White.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 16.5 square miles (42.6 km²), of which, 16.4 square miles (42.4 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.2 km²) of it (0.36%) is water.

Government

Naugatuck is unique in Connecticut government for being the only consolidated town and borough. Every other borough in Connecticut is a special services district located within another town, the unit of Connecticut local government. Naugatuck has both a town clerk and a borough clerk managing official records, the same as Connecticut cities having two clerks: a town clerk and a city clerk.

Naugatuck is also one of the few municipalities to elect its local officials during May of odd-numbered years, along with the other boroughs and two rural towns (Bethany and Ashford). Other Connecticut towns and cities elect their officials in November of odd numbered years.

Mayor

• Mayor Bob Mezzo (D)

Burgess

• Tamath K Rossi (R) - Deputy Mayor
• Michael Ciacciarella (D) - Second Deputy Mayor
• Michael Bronko (R)
• Robert J. Burns (D)
• Laurie Jackson (D)
• Robert A. Neth (R)
• Ronald SanAngelo (R)
• Patrick J. Scully Sr.(D)

Superintendent

• John Tindall-Gibson Ed. D

Board of Education

• David Heller (R) - Chair
• Dorothy Neth-Kunin (R) - Vice Chair
• James Scully (D)
• Diana Malone (R)
• Glenn Connan (R)
• Debra Brackett (D)
• James Jordan (D)
• Scott Slauson (R)

Economic Development Commission

• Chester Cornacchia - Chair
• William Hass - Vice Chair
• Charles Marenghi
• Ray Kryskowsi
• Alipio Da Silva
• Robert Hill
• Kathy McGrath
• John Kenworthy
• Ralph Roper
• Doug Brinckerhoff

Zoning Commission

• Joseph Saverise (D) - Chairman
• Thomas Mariano (D)
• Rick Cool (R)
• Neil Mascola (D)
• Diana Raczkowski (D)

Transportation

Naugatuck is served by buses of the Waterbury Division of Connecticut Transit. Route N1 connects the borough center to the Millville section of town and Route N2 connects the borough center to the Straitsville section of town. The town also has a Metro North railroad station (Naugatuck) along the Waterbury Branch of the New Haven Line. The principal highways through the town are Route 63 (connecting to New Haven), Route 68 (leading to Meriden), and the Route 8 expressway (for Waterbury, Derby, and Bridgeport).

Demographics

As of the census^[4] of 2000, there were 30,989 people, 11,829 households, and 8,292 families residing in the borough. The population density was 1,890.9 people per square mile (730.0/km²). There were 12,341 housing units at an average density of 753.0 per square mile (290.7/km²). The racial makeup of the borough was 91.76% White, 2.85% Black or African American, 0.26% Native American, 1.68% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 1.58% from other races, and 1.85% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.47% of the population.

Of the 11,829 households, 36.3% of them had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.3% were married couples living together, 12.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.9% were non-families. 24.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 3.13.

In the borough the population was spread out with 26.9% under the age of 18, 7.3% from 18 to 24, 33.1% from 25 to 44, 21.0% from 45 to 64, and 11.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 94.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.5 males.

The median income for a household in the borough was $51,247, and the median income for a family was $59,286. Males had a median income of $42,103 versus $29,971 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $22,757. About 0.9% of families and 1.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.4% of those under age 18 and 6.0% of those age 65 or over.

Voter Registration and Party Enrollment as of October 25, 2005[5]
Party		Active Voters	Inactive Voters	Total Voters	Percentage
	Democratic	5,497	172	5,669	32.29%
	Republican	3,222	123	3,345	19.05%
	Unaffiliated	8,011	369	8,380	47.73%
	Minor Parties	154	9	163	0.93%
Total		16,884	673	17,557	100%

On the National Register of Historic Places

Salem School, from a 1905 postcard

• Bronson B. Tuttle House — 380 Church St., now headquarters of the Board of Education (added December 29, 1990)
• Naugatuck Center Historic District — Roughly bounded by Fairview Avenue, Hillside Avenue, Terrace Avenue, Water Street and Pleasant View Street (added August 30, 1999)
• Salem School — 124 Meadow St. (added December 3, 1983). Before construction of the first Naugatuck High School (now Hillside Intermediate School), high-school classes were held on the top floor of this building.
• US Post Office-Naugatuck Main — Church and Cedar Streets (added February 21, 1986)

Notable residents

• Billy Burke, golfer, winner of the 1931 U.S. Open
• Charles Goodyear, the first American to vulcanize rubber, lived in Naugatuck as a young man. His brother, Henry Goodyear, founded the Goodyear Metallic Rubber Shoe Company in Naugatuck that became part of the U.S. Rubber Company in 1892.^[6][7]
• Frank "Spec" Shea, professional baseball player, nicknamed "The Naugatuck Nugget".^[8]
• Adrian, noted Hollywood costume designer, born and raised in Naugatuck. Designed costumes for films such as The Wizard of Oz. Won a Tony Award for his costume designs for the Broadway play, Camelot.^[9]
• Shirley Grey, Stage and movie actress during the 1920s and 1930s, born and raised in Naugatuck.^[10]

See also

• Laurel Park Incorporated
• Gunntown Cemetery
• Hop Brook Lake

Notes

1. ^ U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates
2. ^ Barber Company History
3. ^ "1955 Flood". http://www.naugct.com/Flood.htm. Retrieved 2011-02-02. 
4. ^ "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov. Retrieved 2008-01-31. 
5. ^ "Registration and Party Enrollment Statistics as of October 25, 2005" (PDF). Connecticut Secretary of State. Archived from the original on 2006-09-23. http://web.archive.org/web/20060923151511/http://www.sots.ct.gov/ElectionsServices/lists/2005OctRegEnrollStats.pdf. Retrieved 2006-10-02. 
6. ^ C. Slack, Noble Obsession, (Hyperion, 2003)
7. ^ Federal Writers' Project, Connecticut: a guide to its roads, lore, and people, (US History Publishers, 1938)
8. ^ "The Ballplayers - Spec Shea". Baseball Library. http://www.baseballlibrary.com/ballplayers/player.php?name=Spec_Shea_1920. Retrieved 2008-07-30. 
9. ^ IBDB
10. ^ Shirley Grey IMDB

External links

• Naugatuck Economic Development Commission NEDC
• Naugatuck Historical Society
• Howard Whittemore Library
• Naugatuck Arts Commission
• Naugatuck postcards from the 1800s and early 1900s
• Northwest Connecticut Convention & Visitors Bureau