New Britain herald., 1922-07-29

ley plant was owned and occupied b
 J, B. Sargent & Co. for the manufac
 ture Of hardware, The factory, a
 such. went Into disuse upon the re moval Of Sargent X Go, 10 New Ha , ven. Some Of the machinery and tn old water wheel remained in positio [ until 1874, when the wheel was start
 cd up again to demonstrate the vAlf Of the water power In connection witt
 the award of damages which the cit
 was to pay for diverting the strean
 into the Main street sewer. At on,
 time this old shop was known by tn, name of "sargents Block" havinl
 been used as a tenement house.
 The first saw mill in New Britai,
 was erected about l7bo by Jame
 Judd on this stream near the junction
 Of North and Stanley streets. In du,
 time 1t was owned and run by two of Judd's sons James and Daniel, whc
 sold 1t to J. Shipman & Sons. The, erected new shop near the old saw
 mill and continued the manufacture Of brass goods which they had ther been engaged in for a few years, run. ming their lathes at first by foot pow. CT. Some of our early manufacturers ran their machinery by horse power The first steam power employed in any of our factories was in 1882 when Frederick T. Stanley installed an engine in his lock shop on the east side Of Main street above the railway Shipman &; Sons flourish ed for a time but failed during the ! financial crash of 1887. o. B. North & Go. bought the shipman plant and about 1S5o erected a larger plant near the north end of Hartford avenue. It became the property of J. Shepard & Co.,, manufacturers of umbrella and parasol stretchers. The business was city purchased the plant preparatory to the introduction Of the sewer sys- tenn.
 The Bass River.
 Two small streams arise in the northwest part of New Britain and flow easterly across Pennington ave- nue and then unite as the principal branch of Bass River After crossing Stanley street 1t turns southerly and easterly into the town of Newington above Clayton. Here it forms a small loop, crosses the town line again into New Britain and flows southerly until it meets an east-bound branch from Stanley Quarter and then flows easterly il 70 Newington again where it unites with the Lock Shop brook and for'rs what Is called Pipers t,lt t,.r t,f to uo,x whicl. flows into the Connecticut at Hartford.
 About 1-;1 Timothy Stanley, a tanner and shoemaker by trede, had his tanne:y ol Pass ItiNac c little east of Stanley ctreet and north of the road leading tc Corhin's Corner. The river furnished him with water pow CT with which Ee ran. besides his tanncry, a saw mill, cider mill and distiIery. He died in 1877 and his son, Oliver, who was also 9 tanner, succeeded his father at these mills. In August, 1881, John Stanley. a son of Oliver, sold his homestead on Stanley street to Henry L. Bidwell, reserving, however, the tannery, dis tillery and cider mill'' also 'the 'niil and water power Bidwell obtained patent for an Improvements in cooking stoves in 1S33i which stoves he manufactured at Stanley Quarter, probably at the Stanley mills.
 In the year 1916, the skeleton of Luther's mill was standing near the loop of the river in tie town of New ington. This mill has the earliest record of any water power plant in or near New Britain. Although it is within the border of another town it was a New Britain mill, built on a New Britain stream and was first built and run by New Britain men. It was erected about 1725 by Will liam and Ebenezer Smith of Stanley Quarter. At later date it was owned and run by Ebenezer Smith, Jr., who died In 1767, giving the mill by his will to his sons, Elisha and Lemuel. Benjamin Adkins owned | the mill in 1777 when Sarah, the wife of Stephen Hollister, was bap- tized in Adkins mill pond" It is stated in Stiles history of Wethers- field that this site was occupied by grist mill built by Benjamin Adkins. This was followed by another built | by Joseph and James Churchill" Joseph Churchill died in 1872, but the mill was known as "Churchill's mill" as late as 1862. The last person to own and run the old mill was Martin Luther He occupied the place for many years but the old mill and all of its millers have now passed away.
 Water motors of various kinds con- nected with the city water works were formerly used quite extensively Tor driving machinery in small shops, 'or blowing church organs and other purposes, but they have been mainly by electric motors. There Ire a few water motors still in use Or domestic and other purposes but 10 one at present pays large water .ents by reason of such use. With he exception of these few motors, all he water wheels which now furnish power for the people of New Britain Ire located in other towns where the power Is converted into electricity before it comes to us. The water power plant on the Pennington River ' tt Rainbow now daily supplies the Stanley Works with a large amount ,f electricity for power purposes.