A river town once called Judd's Meadow and then Salem Bridge, where the Goodyears made forks and rubber boots, Union City's hammers worked through the night, and the iron and rubber money of the 1800s built the buildings around the green.

New Haven County · Record checked October 11, 2026

31,519Population2020 census1
1844Became a townfrom parts of Waterbury, Bethany and Oxford1
25,000Boots and shoes a daypairs, Goodyear Metallic Rubber Shoe Company, 18902
900 feetHuntington Hillonce Twelve Mile Hill, per the 1892 county history3
4National Registerplaces, all still standing4

Then and now

The same town 149 years apart. Click either map to look closer.

Bird's-eye view map of Naugatuck, Connecticut from 1877 by O.H. Bailey, restored by KNOWOL

1877

The bird's-eye view

By O.H. Bailey

Naugatuck drawn as if from the sky in 1877, with street names and old landmarks: the Naugatuck Hotel, the railroad depot, Goodyear's Glove Manufacturing Company, the Tuttle Manufacturing Company, the Union Knife Company, the Naugatuck Machine Company and Seamless Manufacturing.5

See the 1877 printMore about this map
Map of Naugatuck, Connecticut in 2026, with the town green, the Naugatuck River, Union City, Platts Mills and 32 numbered landmarks

2026

Naugatuck today

By KNOWOL

Shaded hills from Platts Mills down to the river valley and the state forest hills on either side, every street, the green, Union City, Millville and Straitsville, and a guide of 32 numbered landmarks with the National Register sites marked.6

See the 2026 printMore about this map

The story of Naugatuck

The Goodyears and the rubber works

Rubber came to Naugatuck through one family. About 1812 Amasa Goodyear took over shops on Fulling Mill Brook and made round-tined forks, cast buttons and molasses gates. His son Charles, the inventor of vulcanized rubber, ran a paper mill at Cotton Hollow on Beacon Hill Brook with Burr Benham. After his discovery, Charles moved to Naugatuck with backing from his brother-in-law William DeForest, who had a woolen mill here, and set up in a small building in Union City. The Goodyear Metallic Rubber Shoe Company, which a 1904 history credits with the first Arctic shoe, had room for 2,000 hands by 1890 and could make 25,000 pairs of boots and shoes a day. Its works were known for a wooden water wheel about fifty-six feet across.78910211

Hoes by night

Eben Tuttle of Prospect invented the goose-neck hoe, and at first eight men made only twenty-five a day by hand. His first machine was a crude trip-hammer five miles away at Union City, and he could use it only at night. For several years the hoe blanks were carted down, hammered through the night and carted back to Prospect the next morning. In 1846 he moved to Union City, then a hamlet of scarce half a dozen houses. When his factory burned in 1858, his son Bronson asked John H. Whittemore, who had worked there only a few months, to be his partner. Tuttle and Whittemore took up malleable iron castings, the firm became the Naugatuck Malleable Iron Company in 1881, and Union City grew into a factory village.1213

When it was Salem Bridge

For about a hundred years before it was called Naugatuck, this place was Salem Bridge. The meadow by the river had been Judd's Meadow, after Deacon Thomas Judd's eight acres, and in 1773 the south end of Waterbury became its own parish, named Salem. Daniel Beecher kept a big inn on the west side of the river from 1797 until about 1834, on land where Bronson Tuttle later lived, and Harmony Lodge of Masons was organized in his house. Up the turnpike, the toll gate was kept by Francis Fouge, a French soldier or follower of Bonaparte. When he died, the band played dirges at his burial. The post office kept the name Salem Bridge until August 21, 1834, and the town of Naugatuck was formed in 1844.14151617181

Through the years

25 moments from 1680 to today.

  1. 1680A boundary stake is set on the summit of Twelve Mile Hill, now Huntington Hill.3
  2. 1686Deacon Thomas Judd draws eight acres by the river, and the place becomes Judd's Meadow.14
  3. 1702Samuel Hickox, counted as the first settler, has a house here by this year.1
  4. 1709Hickox builds a fulling mill on the brook that takes its name, Fulling Mill Brook.1
  5. 1709The Pine Hill burying ground is laid out, and Mary, wife of Daniel Warner, is buried there the same day.19
  6. 1721James Brown becomes the first tavern keeper in the town.20
  7. 1752Judd's Meadow is renamed Salem Bridge.1
  8. 1773The colony makes the south end of Waterbury its own parish, called Salem.15
  9. 1781The Congregational Church of Salem is organized on February 22.21
  10. 1783The Salem Library is begun, probably the first library in the Naugatuck Valley.22
  11. 1797Harmony Lodge of Masons is organized at Daniel Beecher's house, which is also an inn.17
  12. 1812About this year Amasa Goodyear, father of Charles, makes forks and buttons on Fulling Mill Brook.7
  13. 1834On August 21 the Salem Bridge post office is renamed Naugatuck.18
  14. 1844Parts of Waterbury, Bethany and Oxford are incorporated as the town of Naugatuck.1
  15. 1846Eben Tuttle moves his hoe works to Union City, then a hamlet of a few houses.12
  16. 1849The Naugatuck Railroad is built through the town.23
  17. 1858The Tuttle plant burns, and Bronson Tuttle and John H. Whittemore become partners.13
  18. 1861The Union City Brass Band goes to play for the Second Connecticut in camp near Washington.24
  19. 1882The brick town hall is finished, with a hall seating 850 people.25
  20. 1887Naugatuck's first electric arc light is lit on June 1.26
  21. 1892Nine rubber companies join to form the United States Rubber Company, organized in Naugatuck.1
  22. 1893Salem School is built facing the green, paid for by John Howard Whittemore.27
  23. 1931The Whittemore family gives nearly 2,000 acres for the Naugatuck State Forest.28
  24. 1936U.S. Rubber brings out Naugahyde, invented by its chemists in Naugatuck.1
  25. 1955Hurricane Diane's rains flood the Naugatuck River on August 19.1

Places to see

The numbers match the landmark guide printed on the 2026 map.

  • 3Naugatuck GreenDowntown. Given to the town in 1831.
  • 4Naugatuck StationCedar Street. Station building by Henry Bacon.
  • 6Naugatuck State ForestEast and west of the river. Whittemore family gift of 1931.Visit their website
  • 9Bronson B. Tuttle HouseMeadow and Church Streets. The last industrialist's mansion standing.
  • 14Congregational Church of NaugatuckThe green. McKim, Mead & White design of 1902.
  • 16United States Post Office-Naugatuck MainChurch and Cedar Streets. Spanish Revival, five round arches.
  • 21Former Salem SchoolMeadow Street. Brick Renaissance Revival school of 1893.
  • 26Whittemore Glen State ParkNorth of town. 242 acres of woods and trails.
  • 28St. Michael's Episcopal ChurchThe green. Episcopal church on the green.
  • 30Howard Whittemore Memorial LibraryThe green. McKim, Mead & White library of 1891.Visit their website

On the National Register

All 4 places in Naugatuck on the National Register of Historic Places that still stand today, oldest first, and why each one matters.4

  • Naugatuck Center Historic District

    Listed 1999 · Roughly bounded by Fairview Avenue, Hillside Avenue, Terrace Avenue, Water Street and Pleasant View Street

    The civic and business center that grew up around the green, which an innkeeper gave to the town in 1831. Its churches, schools and public buildings show the wealth of Naugatuck's rubber and malleable iron makers, and John Whittemore hired McKim, Mead & White to design at least eleven buildings in town.29

  • Bronson B. Tuttle House

    Built 1879 · Listed 1990 · 380 Church Street

    A red brick Queen Anne mansion built for Bronson Tuttle, co-owner of a firm that made cast iron parts and farm tools, to a design by Robert W. Hill of Waterbury. It's the only survivor of a row of industrialists' mansions, was given to the town in 1935, and now holds the local historical society.30

  • Salem School

    Built 1893 · Listed 1983 · 124 Meadow Street

    A brick and brownstone Renaissance Revival school facing the green, designed by McKim, Mead & White and paid for by John Howard Whittemore. It was the third school on the site, after a one-room schoolhouse of 1773 and an Italianate school of 1852, and it closed as a school in June 2025.27

  • US Post Office-Naugatuck Main

    Built 1916 · Listed 1986 · Church and Cedar Streets

    Designed in 1915 and finished the next year, it's one of the most architecturally sophisticated post offices in Connecticut, buff brick with terra cotta and marble and five big round arches. The town got a finer building than most places its size because of its industry and its McKim, Mead & White neighbors.31

In their words

“It is pleasantly located on both sides of the Naugatuck river, and with Union City, a mile further up the stream, forms one of the most thriving manufacturing places in the state.”

History of New Haven County, Connecticut, 189232

“These have changed it from a poor agricultural section to one of the richest, most active parts of the county.”

History of New Haven County, Connecticut, 1892, on Naugatuck's factories23

“The people of Naugatuck may well regard their school as the pride and boast of their village.”

The Connecticut Common School Journal, 185533

Nearby towns

Sources

  1. Naugatuck, Connecticut, Wikipedia
  2. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on the rubber companies, Internet Archive
  3. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on Twelve Mile Hill, Internet Archive
  4. National Register of Historic Places listings in New Haven County, Connecticut, Wikipedia
  5. Bird's-eye view of Naugatuck, Connecticut from 1877, restored by KNOWOL
  6. Map of Naugatuck, Connecticut in 2026, KNOWOL (USGS elevation, Census Bureau roads)
  7. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on Amasa Goodyear's shops, Internet Archive
  8. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on Cotton Hollow, Internet Archive
  9. History of Connecticut in monographic form (1925), on Charles Goodyear, Internet Archive
  10. Connecticut as a colony and as a state (1904), on the Naugatuck rubber companies, Internet Archive
  11. The town and city of Waterbury, Connecticut (1896), on the mills of Long Meadow Brook, Internet Archive
  12. Genealogical and Family History of the State of Connecticut (1911), on Eben C. Tuttle, Internet Archive
  13. Representative citizens of Connecticut, biographical memorial (1916), on John H. Whittemore, Internet Archive
  14. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on Judd's Meadow, Internet Archive
  15. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on the Salem Society, Internet Archive
  16. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on Beecher's Inn and the toll gate, Internet Archive
  17. Ceremonies of dedicating the new masonic temple in Waterbury (1889), on Harmony Lodge, Internet Archive
  18. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on the Salem Bridge post office, Internet Archive
  19. Ancient burying-grounds of the town of Waterbury, Connecticut (1917), Internet Archive
  20. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on James Brown's tavern, Internet Archive
  21. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on the Congregational Church of Salem, Internet Archive
  22. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on the Salem Library, Internet Archive
  23. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on roads, bridges and the railroad, Internet Archive
  24. The military and civil history of Connecticut during the war of 1861-65 (1869), Internet Archive
  25. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on the town hall, Internet Archive
  26. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on the electric light company, Internet Archive
  27. Salem School (Naugatuck, Connecticut), Wikipedia
  28. Naugatuck State Forest, Wikipedia
  29. Naugatuck Center Historic District, Wikipedia
  30. Bronson B. Tuttle House, Wikipedia
  31. United States Post Office-Naugatuck Main, Wikipedia
  32. History of New Haven County, Connecticut (1892), on Naugatuck village, Internet Archive
  33. The Connecticut Common School Journal and Annals of Education (September 1855), Internet Archive