ColchesterTalks.com Free and open access to Colchester's rich history.
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ColchesterTalks.com Free and open access to Colchester's rich history.
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Class of 2008 Grad Committee info
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Interested in other local history within the state? Please visit our following website affiliates that are kind enough to list Colchestertalks.com Visit Connecticut's Heritage Gateway a program of
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C.H. Norton dam on Jeremy River at RT 149 (a)
The C.H Norton paper mill started in 1886 and lasted until 1968. In it's heyday it was a major industrial center for Colchester. It stayed in the Norton family until 1966. According the Nicholas Norton, at that time national legislation was passed requiring shoe manufacturers to state paper content in shoes. As a result, consumer taste changed and killed product demand. The Mill was sold to new owners in 1966 and eventually shut down in 1968. Click the following links to navigate this page. Photographs and materials from the Company's 75th Anniversary Brochure are published with permission from the Nicholas Norton family. For the PDF files, you'll need to enlarge for readability. Town of Colchester's history from its Lusignan survey State of Connecticut History 1886-1935 Company brochure history 1886-1928 Company brochure history 1928-1961
This summary is from from the Town of Colchester's Historical and Architectural Survey of Colchester, Connecticut 1991, np, 1991 In 1886 Clarence H. Norton bought the frame cotton mill of L.L. Dickinson
(c.186O) on the Jeremy River in North Westchester. Norton had earlier taken over
the nearby gristmill of his grandfather Captain Joseph Buell, a wealthy local
businessman. Norton transformed the cotton mill into a factory for the
production of binder's board. The C.H. Norton Company remained in business on
this site through at least 1968 manufacturing paper board products used in
buttons and clothing and binders board. Local Yankee families worked at the
company in the early days. But by the second quarter of the 20th century,
sizable numbers of Polish workers were also laboring in the mill. The original
cotton mill building and later replacements were all removed by 1928, when the
current building on Westchester Road [# 143] was completed. (Norton Co., p. 1-3)
Photo gallery
Mill circa 1886. Click here to enlarge
Mill circa 1900. Click here to enlarge
Mill production area circa 1920s Click here to enlarge
Mill flood from Hurricane of 1938 click here to enlarge
Mill production area circa 1950s Click here to enlarge
Mill circa 1961 click here to enlarge
(1) p. 43, Paul R. Lusignan, Town of Colchester, Historical and Architectural Survey of Colchester, Connecticut 1991, np, 1991 (a) Photo owned by Colchestertalks.com |
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