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New Haven’s Enterprise Hall of Fame
Business & Civic Award-winners for the ages
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Business New Haven
1/25/1999
By:
Priscilla Searles
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Editor's note: Over the four years Business New Haven has been recognizing corporate and civic leadership, the question has often arisen: Who would be worthwhile honorees not just the most recent year, but the entire history of New Haven dating back to 1637?
It's a rhetorical question, of course, but we solicited the opinion of one person who knows better than most: Priscilla Searles, who
since 1993 has been compiling BNH's “From the Archives” and, using the resources of the New Haven Colony Historical Society and others, is recognized as an authority on the Elm City's civic and commercial history.
Using the same awards format found earlier on these pages, these are Searles' nominations for the individuals and companies who would rightly comprise a New Haven Enterprise Hall of Fame.
John Carrington's contribution to New Haven was as a newspaper publisher.
Born in Bethany in 1811, he was expected to enter the ministry, but in 1824 he came to New Haven and went to work as a apprentice in the newspaper office managed by Thomas G. Woodward. Carrington spent his time at the paper in the mechanical department, but also found time to write articles for several publications.
He left New Haven for a short time but returned to the city to publish, with Woodward as his partner, the Daily Herald, Connecticut's first daily newspaper. By 1845 he was sole publisher of the Journal & Courier, an outgrowth of the Herald.
Carrington struggled to keep the paper afloat, forming a partnership with John Hotchkiss. When Hotchkiss retired, a new company was formed, and several influential residents became stockholders and officers. In 1875, Carrington purchased the interests of all the outstanding stockholders and brought his two sons, Edward and John Jr., into the partnership.
Carrington had a reputation of treating all stories impartially. Reported Edward Atwater's History of the City of New Haven, published in 1887, “Mr. Carrington introduced into New Haven journalism a spirit of forbearance and courtesy toward men and newspapers of differing political faith or adverse views in all measures of public interest.” His fair treatment of all sides of an issue made the Journal & Courier accepted in homes of New Haveners from all walks of life.
The Courier's history dated back to 1755 and the Connecticut Gazette, established in New Haven by Benjamin Franklin. The weekly lasted 13 years, when the paper's assets became the property of Samuel and Thomas Green, editors of the Connecticut Journal and the New Haven Post Boy. When Carrington and Woodward purchased the paper in 1835, the name was changed to the Morning Journal & Courier. The Journal-Courier continued to be published until 1987, when it was folded into the New Haven Register.
Citizen of the Year, 1870
John W. Bishop
A mechanical genius, John W. Bishop's educational opportunities were extremely limited. Born on September 25, 1823, he went to work in a paint shop at age ten and four years later Bishop went to work on a farm. At age 16 Bishop was apprenticed to John Douglas, a renowned mechanical expert consulted by inventors, mechanics and scientists.
Bishop apparently thrived under Douglas' instruction and at the age of 21 he struck out on his own, opening a shop on Orange Street that manufactured machinery, pumps and steam fixtures. Bishop's business prospered, and four years later he moved it to Union Street and later to State Street. In 1860 he erected the Bishop Building on State Street and continued in the manufacturing business until retiring in 1863.
Bishop believed in helping others get a foothold in the business world, for example aiding the founders of the Grilley Co. (manufacturers of cap-crews, picture knobs and harness trimmings) get their business off the ground. Bishop was also involved in lumber and real-estate businesses.
Bishop's greatest community contribution was to draw attention to East Rock as a potential city park. Owning a great deal of the land that is now a part of East Rock Park, in 1870 Bishop offered to give the city of New Haven 100 acres for the park. The city had the land surveyed but took so long to accept Bishop's gift that, for a time, Bishop withdrew the offer.
In 1880, assured by influential friends that the city would proceed quickly with construction of the park, Bishop gave the city 50 acres. Others, such as Yale College President Noah Porter, were similarly interested in converting East Rock into a public park. Yale gave 20 acres to the city and, over time, other influential New Haveners as well as donated land to what is now a 400-acre park, one-quarter of which is located in New Haven and the rest in Hamden.
Minority Businesspersons of the Millennium: Willoughby Baker, Rachel Huggins Baker
Willoughby Baker emigrated to New Haven from the West Indies in 1905. Eventually opening a small business in New Haven, his story and that of his wife are important - not because of the success of his business venture but because their story typifies the struggle that many immigrants faced in their adopted home.
Arriving in New Haven with his brother and a friend, Willoughby Baker settled on Cedar Street. His daughter, Edna Carnegie, a retired New Haven public-school teacher, explained her father's earliest days in New Haven.
“They came to New York and somebody must have told them about work up in New Haven,” she recalled. “They discovered that although they had a trade, they could not get work in their trade because of their looks, their color. My father was a skilled shoemaker [but] had to wash dishes in restaurants. I guess he watched the cooks, [because he] learned to cook too.”
In fact, Baker became a first-class chef. He eventually became a cook for Skull & Bones at Yale. For a brief period he operated his own restaurant on Dixwell Avenue.
Rachel Huggins Baker likewise arrived from the West Indies. She had been in training as a teacher but could not find any opportunities for continuing in her field in New Haven.
According to Carnegie: “My mother did housework, sleep-in. In those days, you had to sleep on the job. She made two dollars a week. “
Rachel and Willoughby eventually settled in the area around Day Street in New Haven, raising 12 children. When their children began to arrive Rachel, like many others in the neighborhood, took in laundry to supplement the family income. Carnegie and her brother would deliver the laundry, sometimes carrying it for blocks. “We got a quarter,” recalled Carnegie. “We thought we were rich.”
Innovator for 1867: Charles Hervey Townshend
A sea captain by trade, Charles Hervey Townshend was a man of broad interests and seemingly boundless innovative ideas.
His experiments in oystering and his determination to improve New Haven Harbor gave the economy of New Haven a major boost and helped to launch the city into the industrial era.
Born in 1833, Townshend went to sea at age 15. Considered one of the most extraordinary American sea captains of the mid-19th century, Townshend became a ship captain first in sail - helming some of some of the fastest and largest packets operating between New York and Europe - and then, in 1867, in steam-powered vessels.
At age 37, Townshend ended his seafaring career, spending the remainder of his life studying and developing improvements in navigation methods, recording his family genealogy and writing historical books.
Townshend's contribution to New Haven's oyster business had a dramatic economic impact on the city. When the demand for New Haven oysters began to outstrip the supply, oystermen began importing seed oysters from Maryland. By 1850, New Haven oystermen were using 250 schooners to import 200 million bushels of seed oysters yearly to Fair Haven. Townshend realized that it would be more practical and profitable to produce seed oysters locally, and set out to prove it could be done.
After several failed experiments conducted in the moat at Fort Nathan Hale, in 1867 Townshend proved to New Haven oystermen that seed oysters cemented to old, used oyster shells and could be grown successfully in New Haven and marketed profitably.
His experiments were such a resounding success that by the turn of the century there were more than 50 oyster companies lining the banks of the Quinnipiac River. New Haven was producing 12.5 percent of the nation's total output of oysters and seed oysters.
Townshend dreamed of a New Haven Harbor that was a major port, exporting and importing goods directly to and from Europe, and he saw the deepening of the harbor and the construction of breakwaters as the answer.
He used the knowledge that he had acquired studying the great systems of harbor improvements in Europe and began to gather information and prepare arguments to back up his plan.
Working with a group of New Haven men who believed in his plan, he successfully persuaded Congress to appropriate funds to deepen the channel to 12.5 feet in 1871, and later to 16 feet over the Fort Hale Bar. In 1887 the harbor was dredged to a depth of 20 feet at mean low tide, 26 at high tide. (Today the channel is maintained at 45 feet.)
The present-day breakwater system was constructed in the 1890s in accordance with Townshend's plan. His system continues to help channel sediment flow out of the harbor and into the Sound.
Townshend's work, and the improvements it led to, made it possible for today's ocean-going, deep-draught vessels to enter New Haven Harbor. Tankers in excess of 50,000 tons bring in fuel, while freighters pick up scrap metal. And the oyster industry, almost completely gone by 1965, has begun the long climb back to vitality.
Founders Award, 1862:
Henry Austin
For more than half a century, Henry Austin was the leading architect of this region.
Born in Mount Carmel in 1804, Austin, also a designer and builder, studied under Ithiel Town, designer of the truss bridge. Austin opened his own business in 1837, soon gaining the unofficial title of “Father of Architects.”
Austin was commissioned by Yale to create a plan for the new Yale Library in 1842. One of his designs that is familiar to New Haveners is his Victorian Gothic City Hall, dedicated in 1862. Considered a daring architectural design, the building included an atrium reaching up to the top of the building and a skylight to illuminate the wrought-iron staircase. The original façade of this landmark was incorporated into the new City Hall, constructed in 1986.
Austin's trademark towers graced the New Haven railroad station, built in 1849 and converted to a market in 1874. The building was destroyed by fire in 1894. Austin and his apprentice, protégé and future partner David R. Brown collaborated on the design of the Davies mansion, located on Prospect Hill. Once considered the most splendid New Haven home of its day, the house, now owned by Yale, was about to be taken down when, in 1980, it was saved by the protests of concerned citizens who wanted the famous landmark preserved for future generations.
Having designed numerous private homes, some say that there was a towering, Austin-designed villa on every New Haven street. One of Austin's most familiar designs is the massive gateway to the Grove Street Cemetery, built in 1845 and inspired by the temples and tombs of ancient Egypt.
A prolific architect, Austin did not restrict himself to New Haven. His designs can be found as far away as Maine and New Jersey.
Corporate Citizen of
the Last Century: The
Southern New England Telephone Co.
New Haven's fourth major utility, the Southern New England Telephone Co. began under humble circumstances on January 15, 1878. George W. Coy, manager of a local telegraph office, had been inspired to organize his own telephone business after watching a demonstration of the new voice-transmission contraption by inventor Alexander Graham Bell.
A small room was rented in the Boardman Building at State and Chapel streets. Office furniture consisted of a kitchen table and packing boxes. Eight telephone lines were strung on poles to serve a handful of subscribers and on January 28, 1878, the company commenced operations in the first city to provide telephone service.
The operation was unimaginably crude by modern standards: It required six separate connections and disconnections to complete a single call. The original goal of the company was to run five miles of wire and operate 100 telephones over a period of ten years.
When the exchange began operation it had 21 subscribers. On February 21, 1878 the company issued its first list of subscribers: 50 names in the world's first telephone directory. However, addresses and phone numbers were not listed and did not appear until 1888.
That first directory was a classified listing and included the Register Publishing Co., Quinnipiack Club and C. Cowles & Co. Only 11 residential subscribers were listed. In less than three months, however, the telephone exchange had 150 subscribers and after one full year more than 400 homes and businesses were using the telephone.
By 1880, the New Haven District Telephone had expanded beyond its ability to capitalize continued expansion. So Morris F. Tyler, legal advisor to the enterprise, organized the Connecticut District Telephone Co. to assume ownership of the assets of the tiny pioneer company with provisions for raising new capital. At the same time another company was organized to manufacture, buy and sell telephone equipment. The company, gaining the attention of people around the world, expanded quickly. Armed with $500,000 in capital, the Connecticut Telephone Co. was formed, the company that gave birth to the Southern New England Telephone Co.
Small-Businessperson for 1784: John E. Bassett
John E. Bassett established a hardware store in New Haven in 1784. Dealers in manufacturers' supplies and general hardware, the business was located on Chapel Street. What made Bassett's store notable was not its product line - but the fact that the business continued uninterrupted until 1968. Over the years the company manufactured hardware, cutlery and ice skates, to name but a few items.
Bassett entered the hardware business as a clerk for E.B.M. Hughes, eventually taking over the latter's business. The store had begun as a small general store in 1784, owned by Titus Street. Street continued in business alone until 1792, when Hughes joined him as a partner. The War of 1812 made it difficult to collect outstanding receipts, and the company was dissolved and re-formed as a means of facilitating financial settlements. Bassett joined the business in 1855. He became known for his enterprise and integrity in the hardware trade.
An unusual giant pocketknife used in a Bassett promotional display and remembered by many old-time New Haveners can still be viewed on display at the New Haven Colony Historical Society.
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