174 



CITIES, AMERICAN. (WATEBBURY.) 



city has been dependent since its establishment 

 in 1853. The large building extends over 800 

 feet, with wings, towers, courts, and offices, and 

 is bordered with lawns, shrubbery, and flowers. 

 No strike has ever occurred among the opera- 

 tives, of whom more than 2,700 are employed, of 

 whom 1,100 are women, the majority being about 

 twenty years of age and unmarried. No children 

 are em ployed under sixteen years of age. ( Only 

 120 are of foreign birth. Boarding houses are 

 maintained by the establishment, and more than 

 one fourth of the operatives own their own 

 homes. The sanitation is excellent, and the 

 death rate less than one half of 1 per cent, per 

 annum. There is a mutual relief association 

 belonging to the factory for visiting the sick, 

 and numerous clubs are maintained for enter- 

 tainment and instruction. During midsummer 

 a fortnight's vacation is granted to all employes. 

 The wages average $15 a week for men and half 

 that amount for women. The highest price paid 

 to women is $2.50 a day and to men $5. The 

 capacity of the works is 2,000 watches a day, and 

 to 1889 4,000,000 had been manufactured. 

 More than 150 separate pieces are required for 

 an ordinary watch, and more than 3,700 opera- 

 tions to make a stem-winder. The mayor in 



1889 was a foreman in one of the departments of 

 the watch factory. Four of the alderman were 

 also employed there, and also two directors of 

 the public library and the chief of the fire de- 

 partment. Many workmen and some work- 

 women are stockholders in the company, and the 

 factory owns a band which gives performances 

 in the park. The assessed valuation of Waltham 

 in 1888 was $12,298,745, and in 1889 $13,958,- 

 330, of which $10,700,200 was real estate. It 

 has 3 banks, 1 of which is national and has a 

 capital of $150,000. Two daily and 3 weekly 

 newspapers are published. The expenditure 

 for police in 1889 was $10,850. The railroads 

 are the Fitchburg and the Boston and Maine. 

 The churches number 10. There is a hospital, 

 incorporated and organized in 1885. The library 

 contains 16.810 volumes. The streets are lighted 

 with gas and electricity, and there are 38 miles 

 of water mains. The 14 public-school buildings 

 are valued at $245,202 ; 64 teachers are em- 

 ployed and the enrollment is over 3,000. A 

 street railway connects the city with Newton. 

 The first large cotton mill in the United States 

 was established at Waltham in 1814, and is still 

 in operation, with a bleaching and hosiery de- 

 partment. The other industries include 2 iron 

 and brass foundries, 3 planing mills, 2 wagon 

 works, 1 brick, 1 box, 1 blind-fastener, 2 chalk, 

 1 chemical, and 2 cigar factories, also an incu- 

 bator company. 



Waterbnry,a city of Connecticut, in New Hav- 

 en County, near the center of the State, two and a 

 half hours distant by rail from New York city and 

 five hours from Boston. It is on Naugatuck river, 

 and is built upon hills having an altitude of 700 

 feet. The population in 1880 was 20.270, and in 



1890 had increased to 33,202. The city was in- 

 corporated in 1853, when it had a population of 

 5,137. In 1860 the manufacturing capital was 

 $3,750,000, and in 1890 it was $8,500,000, em- 

 ploying 6,000 persons and disbursing annually 

 $3,000,000 in wages. The general valuation was 

 $31,000,000. property being listed on an average 



of not over 35 per cent., and taxation is at the 

 rate of 10 mills. The growth by houses is 400 a 

 year. The city appropriations for 1890 were 

 $226,000, of which $43,000 were for streets, $15,- 

 000 for sewers, $12,000 for the fire department, 

 and $22,000 for police. The city property is 

 placed at $1,432,000 including schools, $760,- 

 000; water works, $300,000, the rents from 

 which reach yearly $42,000 ; and sewers, $150,- 

 000. The bonded debt is $499.000 (with $120,- 

 000 due the city), and the floating indebtedness 

 $98,000. Four railroads enter the city, and 

 there are 10 trains daily to and from New York, 

 8 to and from Boston, and 12 to Hartford. Tide 

 water is reached at Wilson's Point, Long Island 

 Sound, 40 miles distant, at Cromwell, on the Con- 

 necticut, and at New Haven and Bridgeport, 

 each 30 miles away. There is a large union de- 

 pot, and 350,000 tons of freight are handled 

 yearly. Reservoirs on high hills at some dis- 

 tance from the city supply 1,500,000 gallons of 

 water daily, having a combined capacity of 200,- 

 000,000 gallons. In the lower portion of the city 

 the pressure is very great. Electric lights are in 

 use, and there are 3 telegraph lines. A horse 

 street railway is in operation, and 2 lines of elec- 

 tric roads have been chartered. Four national 

 banks have a combined capital of $1,000,000. 

 There are 1 State and 3 savings banks, the de- 

 posits in the latter amounting to $3,000,000. A 

 board of trade was organized in 1889. In the 

 center district alone are 16 public-school build- 

 ings, and 78 teachers are employed. The school 

 enumeration for 1889 was 6,998. In addition to 

 the high school are 6 public evening schools. 

 There is a Catholic diocesan school for girls, a 

 convent with a large school in connection, a 

 parochial school, 2 others, and an industrial 

 school for girls under the management of Prot- 

 estant women. There are 14 churches, many of 

 them supporting missions and chapels in the 

 suburbs. The Bronson Free Library is claimed 

 to be the largest and wealthiest in the State, 

 numbering 44,000 volumes. A city hospital has 

 been erected, largely by popular subscription. 

 Three daily and 4 weekly papers are published. 

 The city is practically a county seat, the district 

 court covering several townships, and the Supe- 

 rior Court holding both criminal and civil terms. 

 It is the headquarters of the Second Regiment, 

 Connecticut National Guard, and has 2 of the 

 largest companies. There are 3 large hotels, an 

 armory, a rink, 3 halls, an opera house, and a 

 handsome Masonic temple. A driving-park as- 

 sociation has been lately incorporated. A steam- 

 boiler inspection company and an indemnity as- 

 sociation have headquarters at the city. Water- 

 bury is known as the " Brass City," from its 

 large brass-working establishments, several of 

 which cover from four to five acres each. There 

 are large rolling mills, and machine shops for 

 fine and special machinery for automatic opera- 

 tions. Pins, needles, hosiery, webbing, lamps, 

 malleable iron, silverware, electric goods, alumi- 

 num, carriages, beer, paper boxes, and blank 

 books are produced, while watches are a special- 

 ty, and a large percentage of all the buttons 

 used in the world, of whatever material, are 

 made here. The manufacture of buttons and 

 clocks at an early period led to the development 

 of the brass industries. The city park is shaded 



