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Neighbor News

A Place In Naugatuck History: A Tour of Rt 63 and Rt 8 in 1938

From the Bethany line to Straitsville to downtown Naugatuck to Union City: these roads showed the diversity of the borough.

The year is 1938, jump in my brand new Pierce-Arrow 1801 Convertible Coupe and let’s take a tour of two state roads, Route 63 and 8.

The roads we will travel are Macadam, a road surface made of compressed layers of small, broken stone bound with tar or asphalt, and concrete surfaced highway.

As we come through Bethany heading towards Naugatuck, we pass Aviation Field, also known as Bethany Airport. It is now used for maintaining airplanes for sightseeing tours but certainly had its glory days.

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In 1922, Harris Whittemore Jr., himself a pilot bought the airfield and the “Bee Line,” a local charter service was born. When the Kelly Act in 1925 allowed private contractors to transport U.S. mail, The Bethany Bee Line filed for the New York, Hartford, and Boston route. When a Boston company filed as well, they decided to merge and became Colonial Airlines. They expanded to passenger service in 1928 and later became part of American Airlines.

Just past the airport, we pass a mink farm, which is common in our area at this time. As we go down a long hill, a mill once stood where the water from a brook splashes over a small stone dam. The highway passes below Beacon Hill, if we venture up to its summit, the church spires of several Naugatuck Valley towns can be seen.

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Beyond Cotton Hollow Brook, we enter Straitsville, once a center of great activity. Factories and mills filled the banks of the nearby brooks while the town had a number of stores and the Salem Bridge Post Office, the borough’s first.

The Collins Hotel believed to be designed by David Hoadly in 1811, stands close to the roadside in Straitsville. The owner Ahira Collins used the French term “Hotel” instead of the commonly used British term "Inn" or "Tavern" in a show of love for the French.

The Collins Hotel had four ovens to keep up with the steady stream of visitors to this popular stagecoach line known for their exceptional food and drink. There was even a bowling alley in the basement of the hotel much to the delight of the passengers waiting for their coach to arrive.
The arrival of the Naugatuck Railroad in the mid 1800’s marked the end of Straitsvilles heyday as the activity switched to the downtown area.

Continuing on, if you glance across the street you see the Laurel Lodge Trout Pools, which are operated privately. Nearby an old shear shop once stood beside the stream.

As we continue on state road 63, we pass the now deserted grounds of the Beacon Valley Fair Grounds where many country fairs took place. The fairs here rivaled any in the state, with many local business having booths, food of every kind and all kinds of attractions.

In October 1919, local schools were closed at noon so the children could witness the motorcycle and horse races as well as other concessions. Twenty-five cents would get you a bus ride from the Maple Street Bridge to the fair grounds.

The estate of Chief Two Moons, the infamous Indian medicine man, is also nearby. Chief Two Moon’s popular patent herbal concoctions were widely used and made him a very wealthy man. The 1918 influenza epidemic caused a surge in business with not a single of his patients losing their life according to newspaper accounts.

He was cleaver in his advertising using a fleet of cars, a bus and an airplane to distribute his goods. He was also a generous man in his giving to the needy, but only in the condition that they would keep his gift a secret. It wasn’t until his memorial service in November of 1933 that folks shared their own personal stories of his giving, paying for an operation of a crippled child, hundreds of food baskets during the holiday season and rent and fuel assistance for the needy. Mr. James Courtney, an owner of a nearby business, knew of at least 300 families the Chief had assisted in Waterbury alone.

Further down to the left we pass the Peter Paul Candy Factory. Peter Paul Halijian came to the United States in 1870. He worked at the Rubber Factory but in his free time, created candies which he would often sell at the railroad station to passengers. He later organized a candy business in New Haven with five partners. The business expanded with such leaps and bounds after the creation of the Mounds bar they relocated in Naugatuck in 1922.

We now come to state road 8 as we pass the location of the main plant of the U.S. Rubber Company footwear and druggist division. At this time in 1938, Naugatuck products range from iron castings, motion picture cameras, chemicals, chocolate bars and so much more. The smoke and chemical’s pouring from the factories along with the odors, hide the scenic beauty just beyond the factory gates.

As we enter Union City, considered the foreign section of town, we see many homes and business of every kind. Many a Polish wedding was held in this area where gay music fills the air from a rented hall.

This is also the birthplace of Billy Burke, who won the 1931 U.S Open playing with steel-shafted golf clubs, the first person to do so. When Billy was 15 years old, he was playing with his friends when the caddie master from the Naugatuck Golf Club spotted him and asked him to carry clubs for the golfers. They gave Billy clubs and a bag so that he could learn the game, knowing that he could not afford to buy these items. He lost his ring finger and damaged his pinky while working at the foundry but still continued to play.

Called the “Boy Marvel” he won the Naugatuck Club championship in a hard driving rain. His win of the US Open was the longest playoff to date. After 144 holes and 589 stokes, Billy won by a single stroke. His Polish immigrant parents as well as the community of Union City could not have been more proud!

Ending our tour, we come to The Porter Tavern built in 1752, on Woodbine Street is just off North Main Street. It is here troops from General George Washington’s army found food and warmth on their way to battle when the British attacked the New Haven coast the summer of 1779.

The highway continues along the east bank of the Naugatuck River through a smoky area that heads towards Waterbury.

I say we head back down Main Street to Behlman’s Tavern for the coldest, finest beer on tap in the Valley. Phil Behlman and his partner Edward Fahey's investment of $1,760 in 1911 for a special cooling system, along with Phil’s training by an old German brew master from Hellmans Brewery in Waterbury, has ensured perfection in every glass. Since prohibition ended in 1933, we no longer have to enter through the back door!

Until next week when we find another place in Naugatuck history - take your own walk back in time at Behlman’s - now The Old Corner Café where you will enjoy the same tin ceilings, delightful German food and dare I say a men’s room even the ladies will want to take a peek at!

Credits: History of Naugatuck by Constance Green; Connecticut Federal Writers Project by, Somerset Publishers; oldcornercafenaugatuck.com; National Polish American Sports Hall of Fame.

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