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Mills of Hamden
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Business New Haven
8/12/96
By:
Priscilla Searles
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Mills were an integral part of everyday life from the earliest days of Connecticut. Lumber had to be cut into planks, grain ground into flour. Like other communities, Hamden began to construct mills for various uses in the 17th century, employing as energy sources local ponds and rivers, such as the Mill River. .
In the early days of Hamden a meeting was held to consider taking over the then only mill in town. The town expected its one mill to operate at a profit but the mill was not doing well financially. It was decided that if the miller would grind Indian in addition to English corn, no action would be taken by the town to take over the project and also that no other mills would be constructed in Hamden. The town kept this rule for some 50 years. In the days when the bible was the ultimate authority, one of the first Hamden millers, John Lovell, was whipped "for sinful dalliance with the little wench of Goodman Hall." Hamden's only mill was sold to the town in 1659.
The Hamden mill was the site of an important page in New Haven's history. On May 11, 1661, it provided a hiding place for the Regicides, Colonel Edward Whalley and Colonel William Goffe. The two men had signed the death warrant of Charles II's father and when the latter ascended the throne, were forced into hiding. The pair spent two days in the mill, then leaving to hide out in nearby woods. They ended up in Judges' Cave where they stayed until June 11.
A fire at the mill in 1662 left the town with only nails and some iron tools remaining. Grain had to be taken to Milford for three years but at last, in 1665, William Bradley and Christopher Todd took over the property. A new mill was constructed and the operation was expanded. The toll was increased to two quarts of grain and if the miller did a really good job grinding the grain, a voluntary tax could be taken. Clearly, traveling to Milford for four years had made the town more willing to cooperate with the millers.
In 1733 Munson obtained permission from the town to build a dam across the Mill River. He was given two acres of land with the understanding that he would make a cartway over the steps of the dam within two years -- not an easy task considering that the work had to be done by hand. Munson set up a grist and saw mill. The steps across the dam made his mill available to residents living on the other side of the Mill River.
By the middle of the 18th century grist mills were again developing serious financial problems. In 1761 New Haven millers joined Hamden's in sending petitions to the General Assembly protesting a legislative act that limited the millers' toll to one pint of grain for bolting (sifting) each bushel of flour. Grist mills were costly to construct and most millers provided bolting mills for the convenience of residents. Being paid in grain was the only way to make the operation profitable. The millers wanted a quart as toll or payment, pointing out that New York millers received a great deal more for providing the same service.
In the early days of Connecticut textiles were produced at home. Families grew flax for linen cloth and raised sheet for wool. But homespun cloth was less than perfect. The results were often loosely woven, clumsy and shapeless. Fulling mills were able to wash away the natural grease in wool, thicken the material and shrunk and press it into a form that looked and wore better than anything that could be produced in the home. Filling mills became an instant success with residents who could now bring their wool to be processed.
Other types of mills appeared in Hamden during the 18th and 19th centuries. Most farms grew flax for linen production. The seeds of the plant are used to produce linseed oil. Linseed oil mills gave residents and additional source of income. During the Civil War sugar was very expensive and not available. In 1864 the Centerville Fair exhibited sorghum, a grass cultivated as grain and forage and as a source of syrup. The cider mill in Centerville, next to Mix's Pond, had been turned into a sorghum mill, giving people a readily available sugar substitute.
The Gazeteer of the States of Connecticut, published in 1810, lists Hamden has having a paper mill, fulling mill and two grain mills, serving a population of 1,716.
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