Wolcott History – A Chronology of Wolcott

Recently someone posted in the “You know you’re from Wolcott, CT if…” group a graph of the population of Wolcott based on census records from the town’s founding in 1796 to 2010. (See http://connecticuthistory.org/over-time-wolcotts-historical-population/). This was great information and prompted me to produce this new blog entry. So these are the annotations to go along with that graph.

Pre-1796 - Settlement

The first settler to make his home in Wolcott (then called Farmingbury) was probably Jacob Benson who settled on “Benson’s Hill” (where the center of Wolcott now is) in 1729. John Alcox, along with his wife Deborah, and his young daughter, Lydia, settled in the Spindle Hill area in March 1731. While it would be 65 years before the incorporation into Wolcott, that doesn’t mean that little was going on. There were many things required that led up to this incorporation.

From this initial “population” of only a few individuals, many more people either moved into the area or were born into these families. Families like the Upson, Thomas, Frisbie, Judd, Wakelee, and others were among them.  By the end of this period the population numbered approximately 1000 (948 in the 1800 census).

One of the first things that the settlers did was to establish a new parish of the Congregational Church – previously they were part of the Waterbury parish. In 1773 the money was raised to build a new church so that they had their own. Also, the families needed to provide for those individuals who died in town. In 1764 the Center/Edgewood Cemetery was formed, followed shortly thereafter by the Southeast Cemetery (1772), and the Pike’s Hill Cemetery (1774). Schools were also formed, although in the beginning they were in people’s homes.

The Farmingbury Training Band, the forerunner of the Mattatuck Drum Band, was begun in 1767. It is the oldest continuously active fife and drum band in the country.

The initial request to the Connecticut legislature to recognize this new town was made in 1770, but requests were denied each time until the final granting of incorporation in 1796, when the town was named Wolcott after the lieutenant governor, Oliver Wolcott, who cast the deciding vote in favor of the incorporation.

1796-1810 - Initial Growth

For the next decade or so, things continued in a positive fashion. However, the town fathers did not always manage it well. Two new cemeteries were added: Northeast Burying Ground (1805) and Southwest Burying Ground (1807). Sawmills and other industry in town was expanding.

Seth Thomas, who had been born in Wolcott in 1785, began making clocks shortly after the turn of the century. However, a few years later he asked the town fathers to construct a road from where he wanted to build a clock factory (on the Mad River near the current intersection of Route 69 and Center Street) to the large town of Cheshire to the east. The town fathers rejected his request, so in 1807 Seth instead started a factory in another town (the current town of Thomaston). This conservatism may have been the cause of the start of a decline in population.

1810-1930 - Decline and Stagnation

From its high in 1810 (952), the population of the town began a slow decline, eventually bottoming out at fewer than 500 (491) in 1870. It did not reach 1000 in population again until 1930. During this long period little of note happened, with perhaps one exception.

In the late 1860s, following the Civil War, there was a resurgence in industry in Waterbury. In order to power their factories, there was a need for consistent water power. A good source of this water power was the water flowing down the Mad River and other streams in Wolcott. In 1874, the reservoirs at Cedar Lake, Chestnut Hill Reservoir, and Hitchcock Lake were created by the construction of dams. In the 1880s a similar dam was built to form the Southington Reservoir #2. The Scovill Reservoir was added in 1917.

Also, in 1874, Samuel Orcutt, the then pastor of the church on the green, wrote his seminal book on the history of Wolcott. (As an interesting historical note, the origin of the name “Woodtick”, the legend behind Potuccos Ring Road, and the story Jack’s Cave can be found in his book.)

1930-1939 - Growth Begins

200 years after the first settlers, and 130+ years after incorporation, Wolcott was still a very small town. But that was about to change. In 1935, a new road (now called Route 69) was built that ran from Waterbury, all the way through Wolcott, and into Bristol. This road was built with steam-powered equipment and was the first paved road through town. The only other paved road was Meriden Road which ran along the southern border of town. All the other roads in town were gravel or stone and they were only graded in the early spring and late fall. There were also no snow plows to keep them open in the winter. The town’s first snowplow began operation in 1936.

This new road added easy accessibility to people working in either Waterbury or Bristol and opened up the town to a significant growth spurt, nearly doubling the population by the end of the decade.

1940-1949 - Growth Continues

By 1940 the population was about 1800 with most of this growth taking place in the latter part of the previous decade. But this was only the start of the upward curve.

The end of World War II in 1945 saw all the servicemen coming back from overseas and the start of the baby boom (1946-1964). Many of these men were getting married and wanting to buy a home and start a family. With jobs available at the many brass mills in Waterbury, what better place to do so than Wolcott, with the relatively short commute down Route 69.

The one room schools in Wolcott were quickly going to be overwhelmed and the first of the new schools, Alcott School, was built in 1945. A planning committee began thinking of other new schools which would also be needed.

By the end of the decade, the population had once again doubled to about 3500.

1950-1970 - Population Explosion

As the baby boom continued through 1964, so did the growth in the population of Wolcott. (The term “bedroom community” has more than one meaning.) Over this period the population more than tripled from 3,500 to 12,500. New tracts of homes were also added such as the maze of streets between Beach Road and Lyman Road that was built in the early 1950s.

New schools were also added an accelerating pace. Frisbie School opened its doors in 1950, followed by Wolcott High School in 1958 (prior to that high school age children took the bus to Waterbury), Wakelee School in 1960, and Tyrrell School in 1964. Some of these schools had major additions as well, especially the high school as the first of the baby boomers reached high school age.

Other indications of the town “coming of age” were (1) getting its own post office (previously, residents in the northern part of town received their mail from Bristol and in the southern part of town from Waterbury), (2) getting its own phone exchange (also previously from Bristol or Waterbury and a long-distance call from one part of town to the other), and (3) having its own Catholic Church parish with the building of St. Pius in 1955.

Another change late in this period was the change from the town being governed by selectmen to having a mayor/town council form of government. The growth in population necessitated this change.

1970-Present - The Town Matures

While the town continues to experience growth, it is not nearly as dizzying as in the past. During the period from 1970 to 2010 the population increased to 16,200 – about a 30% increase in 40 years. The first of the baby boomers are now of retirement age so the number of individuals over the age of 65 is increasing.

Next year Wolcott will be 220 years old, and in only 16 years it will have been 300 years since John Alcox and his family settled in the wilderness of Farmingbury. Those of us who have family roots back to the Alcox family and others from the town's beginning can be proud of our heritage and how the town has shaped us, just as we have helped to shape the town.