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Hobart B. Bigelow
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Business New Haven
1/1/1995
By:
Priscilla Searles
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Hobart B. Bigelow was born in North Haven in 1834. His mother was a Pierpont, a descendant of the Rev. James Pierpont, one of the founders of Yale College and pastor of Center Church on the Green. Bigelow attended the local district school until his family moved to Massachusetts. He began his business career at age 17 when he went to work for the Guilford Manufacturing Company to learn the trade of machinist. çompleting his apprenticeship at the New Haven Manufacturing Company, he then went to work for Henry Ives and Addison Smith.
Ives and Smith had acquired a company that had been established by Cyrian Wilcox in 1833. The original foundry and machine shop was located on Whitney Avenue near Grove Street on the banks of the Farmington Canal. By 1836 the company was manufacturing malleable iron under the name Wilcox and Pryor. The company underwent a number of changes and names over the years and a year after Bigelow joined the firm, Wilcox was back in control.
By 1861 Bigelow had bought out Wilcox's interest in the machine shop, conducting business under the name of The Bigelow Manufacturing Company. He advertised he was located at the old stand of Wilcox and Gay at 8 Whitney Avenue at the head of Church Street. Bigelow claimed to be prepared to do all type of shafting and well work. His ads also stated that he had or could make to order presses, drops, fan blowers, tire-benders, etc. and carried a line of stopcocks or valves of every description, from two inch (costing $12) to 36 inch ($500).
Despite the unsettled business climate during the Civil War, Bigelow's business grew rapidly. The war created enormous demand for implements and machinery. Under a contract with the federal government, Bigelow began to manufacture machinery for the production of rifles as well as producing individual rifle parts, receiving high praise from the War Department. By 1870 the plant extended through Temple Street, forcing Bigelow to move to a new location on Grapevine Point in Fair Haven. He began filling orders for the Imperial German Armory in the former Civil War barracks.
In 1873 a fire nearly destroyed the new plant. The company was disbanded but Bigelow continued on for a number of years under his own name. He remained successful in the business world by continuing to diversify, producing the Lefell turbine water wheel, gold mining machinery, portable engines and apparatus for sinking oil wells, paper-box machinery, water-front forges, cranes, and cock valves. The Bigelow Company was incorporated 1883 by George Barnum and Hobart's sons, E.L. and W.P. Bigelow.
Bigelow's success in the business world made him a popular choice for the world of politics. Between 1863 and 1881 he held a number of political offices, including: member of the Common Council, councilman, alderman, supervisor, fire commissioner and member of the General Assembly. In 1878 Bigelow was elected mayor of New Haven. It was under Bigelow's administration that the East Rock Park Commission was created and the park opened. Bigelow also pushed for the building of the breakwaters. In 1880 he was elected governor of Connecticut.
Following his retirement from politics, Bigelow returned to the business world, serving as president of the Merchants' National Bank of New Haven and as an officer of the Bigelow Company. The company that still bears his name was now producing steam engines, sugar mill machinery and boiler for the West Indies. Today the company, still a manufacturer of boilers, is located in Madison.
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