Waterbury is a city in New Haven County in the state of
Connecticut in the United States of America. With almost 110,000
inhabitants (estimate 2016) it is the fifth largest city in
Connecticut.
Due to its past as an important location for
brass production and processing, the city is nicknamed Brass
City. This past is also reflected in their motto Quid Aere
Perennius (English: "What is more durable than ore?"). One of
the easternmost towns in the declining industrial Rust Belt,
Waterbury faces significant economic and social problems. In
2008, Forbes magazine ranked the city among the worst places in
the United States for business and careers.
The city is
also known nationally because four of its mayors have been
charged with crimes in office since 1940. Three of them were
sentenced to long prison terms, most recently Philip Giordano in
2003.
Theatre
The largest stage in Waterbury is the Palace Theatre, a
guest theater opened in early 1922 without its own ensemble. It was
closed in 1987 and only reopened at the end of 2004 after extensive
renovations. The Palace Theater seats 2,565 and is the largest
performing arts house in Connecticut (see also "Structures").
The
Seven Angels Theater is a smaller house for plays, musicals and
children's theater with its own ensemble.
Museums
Mattatuck
Museum
TIMEXpo Museum
Buildings
Waterbury has an extensive
architectural heritage from its industrial heyday from the mid-19th
century to the Second World War. Numerous architects or architectural
firms of national or international standing have worked for the city,
its companies or its residents, e.g. Cass Gilbert (1859-1934), the
architect of New York's Woolworth Building, Henry Bacon (1866-1924), who
became known through the Lincoln Memorial, the theater architect Thomas
Lamb (1871-1942) or the New York architectural firm McKim, Mead, and
White. Twenty structures and five building complexes in Waterbury are
listed on the National Register of Historic Places, including:
The Cass Gilbert District or Waterbury Municipal Center Complex is a
building complex that was built from 1914 to 1922 by the American
architect Cass Gilbert. In addition to the dominant City Hall, which was
built in 1914-1915 in the Colonial Revival style, the Chase Building
(1917-1919; formerly the seat of the Chase Brass Company; now used by
the city government), Lincoln House (1916-1917; today law offices), the
Chase Memorial Dispensary (1923–1924; now offices of a community
foundation), and the Waterbury National Bank (1919–1922; now a mortgage
company) to this building complex. Gilbert is said to have counted City
Hall among his best works.
The campanile-like clock tower of the
Waterbury Republican American Building is Waterbury's landmark. The
building can be attributed to the Neo-Renaissance and was built in the
early 20th century by the New York architects McKim, Mead, and White as
a train station (Union Station). The station opened in 1909 and was a
major interchange for rail routes to New York, New Haven, and Hartford.
Some interiors are lined with Guastavino bricks. The 73 m high clock
tower is said to have been added to the architects' design later on the
initiative of a railway representative. The Torre del Mangia of the
Siena town hall is said to have served as a model. Today the building is
the headquarters of the Republican American newspaper. A Metro-North
platform is to the south, outside the building.
The Palace Theater
was opened in early 1922 as the Poli Palace by impresario Sylvester
Poli. Construction began in 1920. The architect Thomas Lamb created an
eclectic building, predominantly in the Neo-Renaissance style, but also
with Greek, Roman, Arabic and originally American elements. The central
Webster Hall is an impressive theater hall with a richly decorated dome.
The Palace Theater was a cinema and vaudeville theater in its early
years. It closed in 1987 and reopened in late 2004 after extensive
renovations. The Palace Theater is the largest performing arts house in
Connecticut.
Further entries in the National Register exist for:
the Downtown Waterbury Historic District and Bank Street Historic
District building complexes; and the Hillside Historic District and
Overlook Historic District residential areas
the Washington Avenue
Bridge and Sheffield Street Bridge
the office and residential
buildings George S. Abbott Building, Benedict Miller House, Enoch
Hibbard House, George Grannis House, John Kendrick House and Stapleton
Building
the factory buildings of the Matthews and Willard Factory,
the Waterbury Brass Mill and the Waterbury Clock Company
the Elton
Hotel
the parks and cemeteries Lewis Fulton Memorial Park, Hamilton
Park and Riverside Cemetery
Bishop School, Webster School, and Wilby
High School
the synagogue Beth El
Other notable structures in
Waterbury include:
The Carrie Welton Fountain (Carrie Welton Fountain
or Horse on the Green) was built in 1888 and was originally intended as
a drinking fountain for horses. On the base is a horse sculpture by Karl
Gerhardt (1853-1940). The fountain is located on the east side of The
Green, a central square in Waterbury. The fountain and sculpture were
built at the behest of animal rights activist Caroline Josephine Welton
(1842-1884) and are among the city's landmarks. The horse sculpture
represents Welton's black stallion, Knight.
The Soldiers Monument at
the west end of the Green was erected in 1884 and commemorates the
soldiers and sailors who fought in the Civil War. Funded entirely by
donations, it was executed in granite and bronze to designs by George
Edwin Bissell (1839-1920). The bronze works come from the Paris
foundries Gruet Jeune and Ferdinand Barbedienne. In addition to honoring
the soldiers, the monument also addresses the topic of emancipation and
education of the Afro-American population. It is crowned by an
allegorical figure of Victoria, a good three meters high.
the Clock
Pillar Clock on the Green, St. John's Episcopal Church, Church of
Immaculate Conception, Waterbury Post Office, Statue of Father McGivney,
Company Headquarters Anaconda (Anaconda American Brass Building), the
monument to Benjamin Franklin (Benjamin Franklin Statue) and Drescher's
Restaurant
Parks
Library Park
Waterbury is located in the hilly and wooded north of New Haven
County and is part of central western Connecticut. The city is located
53 km southwest of Hartford, the capital of Connecticut.
Waterbury was built on a rocky plain on the middle reaches of the
Naugatuck River. This area of the river course is also known as the
Central Naugatuck Valley. The city is surrounded by granite outcrops to
the east and west. The eastern part of the city is traversed by the Mad
River, which then turns west and empties into the Naugatuck in the city
area. The mean height of the city is 82 m; its lowest point at 65 m and
its highest at 294 m above sea level.
The urban area extends over 74.9 km2, of which 74.0 km2 is land and 0.9 km2 is water.
Waterbury is located in the temperate zone and has a humid
continental climate (Zone Dfa according to Köppen and Geiger). Spring
and Autumn in Waterbury are characterized by fresh winds. Summers are
warm and humid; the winters are cold and dry. Average January
temperatures are -5°C and average July temperatures are 22°C.
July is the warmest month and January is the coldest. The highest
recorded temperature was 38 °C (July 1995) and the lowest -30 °C
(January 1961). The heaviest rainfall falls in September.
The history of the city of Waterbury begins with the southwestern
expansion of the Connecticut colony, founded in 1639. At that time,
today's urban area was claimed by two Algonquian-speaking Native
American tribes: the Tunxis, who lived west of Hartford, and the
Paugussett, who lived east of the Housatonic River. The area was called
Matetacoke, Matitacoock or Mattatuckokë (German: place without trees) by
its native inhabitants. The Indian name is first mentioned in a 1654
land title of the two Farmington settlers John Standley and John Andrews
and probably refers to the grazing grounds of the Naugatuck flood
plains.
On October 9, 1673, 26 Farmington settlers submitted a
petition to the Connecticut Colony General Court, asking permission to
plant at Matitacoock. The General Court agreed on the same day. The
actual beginning of the European conquest of modern-day Waterbury dates
from 1674. The land was gradually transferred from 1674 to 1685 in three
treaties by the Tunxis and in one treaty by the Paugussett to the
settlers for single-digit pound amounts.
Shortening the Indian
name variants, the name of the plantation was registered on May 18, 1674
as Mattatuck. The settlers had to leave Mattatuck again in 1675 during
King Philip's war, but returned in 1677. In the course of granting city
rights (town ship) as the 28th city of the Connecticut colony on May 15,
1686, the name was changed to Waterbury. In 1691, the city's colonial
administration allowed the founding of an independent parish.
During the American Revolutionary War, the majority of residents
committed themselves to the cause of the young republic. Almost 700
residents of Waterbury are said to have fought in republican military
units, while around 70 to 80 residents fought for the loyalist side,
loyal to England. Most of their belongings were confiscated. Waterbury
loyalist Moses Dunbar was hanged in Hartford in 1777 for alleged
treason.
Waterbury's industrialization began in the late 18th and
early 19th centuries. Grain and sawmills that used the existing
hydroelectric power already existed before that. The oldest company
still in existence today is the zinc processing company Platt Bros. &
Co. (founded 1797). In 1802, Abel Porter & Co. began manufacturing
brass, which was new to the United States. The company later became part
of the Scovill company. The still existing companies Waterbury Buttons
(button manufacture) and Waterbury Companies (conglomerate), both
founded in 1812, date from this time.
From the middle of the 19th
century, however, brass processing companies and clock manufacturers,
such as Chase Brass & Copper (founded in 1837; now based in Ohio),
American Brass Co., Benedict & Burnham, Waterbury Clock Co .(now part of
Timex) or Waterbury Watch Co.. Waterbury and the middle Naugatuck region
was considered the brass capital of the world and American Switzerland
during this period. In the 19th century, the city's population grew
rapidly from just over 3,000 inhabitants in 1800 to over 50,000 in 1900.
The prosperity of the time is still evident today in the impressive
architectural heritage from the late 19th century. In 1894 the city
received an electric tram, the route of which later extended far beyond
the actual city area (abandoned in 1937).
At the beginning of the
First World War, Waterbury already had almost 80,000 inhabitants. The
importance of the city's industrial products to warfare created a surge
in demand. After the United States entered World War I in 1917, about
6,100 residents of the city were drafted into military service.
The successful development of the city and economy continued until
around 1930. In the 1920s, important municipal facilities such as the
Palace Theater or the Lewis Fulton Memorial Park emerged. However, the
global economic crisis that began in 1929 was the first major turning
point in Waterbury's long economic decline: high unemployment led to a
stagnation in population development that has persisted to this day.
In 1938, one of the nation's first birth control counseling centers
opened at a public facility, the Chase Dispenary, part of Waterbury
Hospital. The historian Garrow pointed out in 1994 the importance of
this event for the later legal landmark decision in the case of Roe v.
Wade down.
In 1939/40, investigations by the daily newspaper
Waterbury Republican led to the corrupt mayor T. Frank Hayes (Democratic
Party) and 22 other defendants being sentenced to long prison terms. The
newspaper received the 1940 Pulitzer Prize in the Public Service
category.
The Second World War brought an economic revival in
Waterbury as part of the conversion to wartime production. The
importance of the industrial location led to fears of becoming a
possible target for German air raids. A newly built Waterbury Clock Co.
time fuse factory was built into the hills near Middlebury, camouflaged
against air raids and structurally prepared for flooding in the event of
an invasion.
During World War II, 12,000 men and 500 women from
Waterbury served in the US armed forces. 282 of them died in the war.
The effects of the war on the city were detailed in Ken Burns'
documentary series The War (2006).
In the first 200 years of the city's existence, population growth stagnated. Since the second half of the 19th century there has been a rapid increase in the number of inhabitants in the course of industrialisation. This development broke off with the global economic crisis in the early 1930s. Since then, the city has experienced minimal population growth and experienced a temporary population decline in the 1970s.
According
to the 2005-2007 American Community Survey, Waterbury's 108,554
residents live in 41,939 households, of which 33.2% are single-person
households. Children under the age of 18 live in a good 35% of
households. The average household size is 2.54 people. With a share of
73.3%, English is the dominant household language, followed by Spanish
with 16.5%. 13.4% of the population was born outside the United States.
27.1% of the residents attribute their origins to Latin American roots,
20.7% to Italian and 12.2% to Irish.
52.7% of the population is
female and 47.3% male. The median age is 34.2 years. 23.9% of the
residents are younger than 18 years and 13.3% older than 65 years.
63.6% of residents over the age of 16 count themselves among the
employed population. Of these, 10.0% are unemployed. At 24.8%, the
education, health and social services sector has the highest share of
employment. The median household income is USD 39,115 compared to USD
50,007 nationally. 18.8% of the population lives below the poverty line
(13.3% US total), including 29.7% of those under 18 and 10.8% of those
over 65. 30.2% of all households received social transfer payments. Only
14.5% of the population had a higher education degree compared to 27.0%
nationally.
The Board of Aldermen consists of 15 Aldermen and is elected every two years. He governs the city together with the mayor. Currently, nine aldermen belong to the Democratic Party and two to the Republican Party. Four deputies are independent.
The
current mayor, Michael Jarjura (Democratic Party), has been in office
since 2002. He was first elected in 2001 and has been re-elected three
times since then. In his second re-election, Jarjura ran as an
independent candidate, having not been nominated in his own party's
primary.
Jarjura succeeded Republican Sam Caligiuri, who served
as administrator for Philip Giordano, who resigned in 2001. Giordano was
arrested as part of a corruption investigation in mid-2001 on sex
offenses and sentenced to 37 years in prison in 2003.[8] Giordano was
the fourth Mayor of Waterbury to face indictment in office:
In
1940, Mayor T. Frank Hayes was sentenced to several years in prison for
stealing public funds.
In 1988 Mayor Edward Bergin was arrested on
bribery charges but later acquitted due to lack of evidence.
In 1992,
Bergin's successor, Joseph Santopietro, was sentenced to nine years in
prison for corruption.
National political representation
Waterbury
sent five representatives to the Connecticut House of Representatives
and two senators to the state Senate. Currently, three MPs are Democrats
and two are Republicans. Democrats and Republicans each provide one of
the two senators.
In the elections to the US House of
Representatives, Waterbury has two constituencies. Its inhabitants are
therefore involved in the election of two deputies. Currently, the city
and area are represented by Rosa DeLauro and Chris Murphy; both are
Democrats. In the last US Senate election, Joe Lieberman received 52.2%
of the Waterbury vote.
In the 2008 presidential election, turnout
was 58.5% (63.0% nationally). The Democratic candidate pair Obama/Biden
won 62.7% of the vote and the Republican candidate candidate
McCain/Palin 35.7%.
From 2001 to 2007 the City of Waterbury budget was under the receivership of the State of Connecticut (Waterbury Financial Planning and Assistance Board). In December 2000, the rating agency Fitch classified the city's bonds as speculative (grade BB) due to a high structural deficit. Since 2008, the city has taken responsibility for its own budget again.
The largest taxpayer is the GGP-Brass Mill shopping centre. National companies headquartered in Waterbury are commercial bank Webster Bank (established 1935) and specialty chemicals company MacDermid (established 1922). None of the big companies that shaped the city's industrial past remain based here: Scovill moved to Georgia and Timex to neighboring Middlebury.
Waterbury is one of the terminuses of New York's Metro-North, a
regional rail service that connects areas north of New York with
Manhattan. Hartford, Boston and New York can be reached from Waterbury
via Interstate 84, which intersects Route 8 at Waterbury.
Waterbury-Oxford Commercial Airport (IATA code: OXC) is located about 10
km south-west of downtown Waterbury and is primarily used for private
business and charter flights. However, it is not served by scheduled
services. The nearest major scheduled airport is Hartford (IATA code:
BDL). In addition, New Haven Airport (IATA code: HVN) offers a few
domestic scheduled services.
media
Waterbury has a daily
newspaper, the Republican-American. The conservative-leaning newspaper
has a circulation of around 60,000 and is one of the oldest daily
newspapers still published in the USA. It emerged in the early 1990s
from the merger of the Waterbury Republican (founded 1881) and the
Waterbury American (founded 1844) (see also »Buildings«).
There
are also some local radio stations, such as WATR 1320 AM (founded in
1934).
hospitals
Waterbury has two major hospitals: Waterbury Hospital
(established 1890) and St Mary's Hospital (established 1907). Both
houses are academic teaching hospitals of Yale University. The main
building of Waterbury Hospital was designed by the well-known architect
Henry Bacon (1866-1924).
Higher educational institutions
In Waterbury is the Post
University, which developed from a college to a specialized university
in 1990 by following Tokyo's Teikyo University. The University of
Connecticut also has a campus in Waterbury.
schools
The vast
majority of schools are combined in the Waterbury Public Schools school
district. In the 2006-07 school year, 18,218 students attended the
district's schools. About 65% of students come from low-income families.
The school district is one of the so-called minority-majority districts
because the majority of the students come from population groups that
are classified nationally as ethnic or religious minorities. Waterbury
Public Schools was the first Connecticut school district to introduce a
mandatory dress code for its students and enforce it through the courts.
There are still private schools, e.g. B. Chase Collegiate, Holy
Cross High School, Sacred Heart High School or Yeshiva Gedolah School.
sons and daughters of the town
Mark Richards (1760–1844),
politician
Julius Hotchkiss (1810–1878), politician
Joe Connor
(1874–1957), baseball player
J. Farrell MacDonald (1875–1952), actor
and director
Joseph Edward McCarthy (1876–1955), Roman Catholic
minister, Bishop of Portland
John Gregory Murray (1877–1956), Roman
Catholic minister, Archbishop of Saint Paul
Matthew Francis Brady
(1893–1959), Roman Catholic minister, Bishop of Manchester
Edward W
Goss (1893–1972), politician
Walter Leo Weible (1896–1980),
Lieutenant General
John Sirica (1904–1992), federal judge
J.
Joseph Smith (1904–1980), politician
Rosalind Russell (1907–1976),
actress
John S. Monagan (1911–2005), politician
Phil Bodner
(1917–2008), musician
Fritz Barzilauskas (1920–1990), football player
Stan Freeman (1920–2001), jazz pianist and arranger
Harry Daghlian
(1921–1945), physicist and first victim of a nuclear accident
Ralph
Spinella (1923–2021), fencer and Olympian
Bob Crane (1928–1978),
actor
Ralph Ferraro (1929–2012), film composer and arranger
Joe
Diorio (1936–2022), jazz guitarist and music educator
Ted Casher
(1937–2023), jazz musician and college teacher
Robert Gallo (born
1937), microbiologist and co-discoverer of the HI virus
Porter Goss
(born 1938), politician and director of the CIA from 2004 to 2006
William J. Hoye (1940–2022), philosopher and theologian
Mario Pavone
(1940–2021), jazz bassist
Thom Mayne (born 1944), architect, Pritzker
Prize for Architecture
Sam Pillsbury (born 1946), film director,
screenwriter and film producer
Greg Stafford (1948–2018), game
designer, editor and neo-shaman
Annie Leibovitz (born 1949),
photographer
Carl Barzilauskas (born 1951), football player
Gary
Franks (born 1953), politician
Sheryl Lee Ralph (born 1956), actress
and singer
Harold Marcuse (born 1957), historian
John G Rowland
(born 1957), politician
Christopher Lloyd (born 1960), screenwriter
and producer of comedy series
Rick Mastracchio (born 1960), NASA
astronaut
Dylan McDermott (born 1961), actor
Elizabeth Gilbert
(born 1969), writer
Mercedes Martinez (born 1980), wrestler
Ryan
Gomes (born 1982), basketball player
Tim Abromaitis (born 1989),
basketball player
Jonathan Michel (* ≈1990), jazz musician
Allie
DiMeco (born 1992), actress
Gemma Acheampong (born 1993), Ghanaian
sprinter
Personalities who worked in the city
Malcolm Baldrige
(1922–1987), Chairman of the Board of Scovill Inc. and later US
Secretary of Commerce from 1981 to 1987
Feodor Fedorenko (1907–1987),
Nazi war criminal extradited to the Soviet Union in 1984