Tenements-2 by Pete Zizka 5-18-2024 |
(Continued from last week.)
Last week we focused on the need for tenements for the workers in
Willimantic’s mills. But, to digress for a bit, we have to remember that
there were manufactories in North Windham (Hall’s Mill, Harris Jewelry
Manufacturers, Hartson Brothers) and South Windham (Smith-Winchester,
Wood Type, Radial Thread Buff). While the number of employees at any of
the firms did not vary greatly, many of them needed tenement type
dwellings. In the villages, the number of available tenements appeared
to sync well with the need for them. A Chronicle report from North
Windham reported, “The prospects
for this section of country appear very bright. Several new families
have moved into the village, and nearly all the available tenements are
occupied.” Another said, “Our empty tenements are rapidly filling, and
business of all kinds seems to be good.” In South Windham, it was
reported that, “Notwithstanding the fact that there have been several
tenement houses built here lately, tenements seem to be about as much in
demand as before, and a good one does not remain empty long.” In the
1880s, the Chronicle published many short reports of new tenements that
were being built and oftentimes mentioned who was moving in or out.
(This week’s photo shows the South Windham House which began as a
private boy’s school known as Pine Grove Seminary. It became a
hotel/tenement after it was purchased by the Smith and Winchester
Company.) In Willimantic, for a
while, the number of available tenements was able to keep pace with the
demand. Several announcements throughout the 1880s mentioned buildings
being converted into tenements (e.g. the Frink Block and the Hanover
Estate) and new ones being built as part of business blocks such as the
proposed Congdon Block to be built on Church Street. Buildings built
strictly as tenements were being put up. “E.
Bugbee will erect a building containing four tenements and two stores on
Valley Street. W.H. Lathan & Co. have contracts for four houses…” On the
other hand, some tenement space was being lost. An interesting note
appeared in 1881. “The Linen Company's row of stone houses near the
railroad are having their intestines knocked out preparatory to use as
store houses.” Willimantic was growing and prospering in the 1890s as
the mills expanded production and the needed workforce. The mills were
not the only ones contributing to the city’s growth. It was fast
becoming an important railroad hub and in 1883, the Chronicle mentioned,
“Good tenements are in demand by railroad men who will locate here
during the period of double-tracking the New England railroad through
this section.” Then, in 1898, the “Consolidated” rail system announced
that the city would be the terminus of all the freight crews’ runs. This
had already been started with many of the passenger runs as well. Under
the plan, “the locomotives on all through freight trains will go through
to Boston and East Hartford but the engineers and firemen will stop
here". At the time of the announcement, there was no set number of
people mentioned but it was felt that a significant number of crews
would be “compelled” to make their residence in the city. The rail
system was in the process of finding housing for the crews and promised
that as more housing became available, more crews would begin to reside
in the city. Continued growth in the
city presented continual problems of housing. A 1903 article mentioned
the growth of American Thread’s workforce and asked, “(W)here will the
newcomers be housed?. Never
before has there been a time when it was so difficult to get desirable
tenements”. It was reported that whenever a tenement was vacated, it did
not remain vacant for more than two days. One of the problems was that
there were many people in Willimantic who had the resources to build but
did not do so. They claimed that rising labor and material costs made it
impossible to build a dwelling, equip it with modern conveniences and to
expect a return when people were used to paying $12-15 per month ,”which
is about the extent of the ability of the ordinary laboring man to pay”.
From 1903 through 1920, the shortages continued and then there began to
be more and more reports of poor and/or unsanitary conditions in
many of the tenements. We’ll take a further look in some future
articles. |
<<HOME>> <<back to Historical Articles index>> |