Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Inauguration on Friday

For the first time in a decade, a new Mayor will be inaugurated in Waterbury this week. The public ceremony will be held on Friday, December 2. The event is free and open to the public. After the ceremony is over, I recommend trying one of our great downtown restaurants. I've includes links to most of them below the invitation (I couldn't find websites for all of them, and I've left out eateries that are not open for dinner).



East Main Street
City Hall Cafe
Golden Wok II
Louie's Pizza House
Zachary's Pizza House

South Main Street
El Americano Restaurant

Bank Street
Churrascaria Braza Brazilian Bar & Grill
Diorio's Restaurant & Bar

Leavenworth Street
Drescher's Restaurant
Signature's Restaurant

West Main Street
La Cazuela Restaurant & Lounge

Friday, November 18, 2011

Robert Wakeman Hill

In the years that I have been working with Waterbury's history, I have repeatedly come across references to an architect named Robert Wakeman Hill. He usually is overshadowed by later Waterbury architects, and I haven't felt like I was very familiar with his work. Some of his better-known buildings were destroyed long ago, while many others simply aren't recognized as being his work.

Earlier this year, I started researching Hill for the Waterbury Hall of Fame. I also put together a slideshow of his buildings for the Induction Ceremony which was held recently. Since then, I have been working on putting together this blog post and have found a few more buildings which I believe he designed. I have included buildings outside Waterbury as well.

Hill was active in Waterbury beginning during the Civil War and continued working until the early 20th century. For a time, he was one of only two architects in Waterbury. He designed buildings when Waterbury was first growing into a city. His buildings were located in what was then the core of the city, primarily downtown, the South End, Brooklyn, North Square and Hillside. As the city development spread outward in the 20th century, the older neighborhoods were neglected. Several of the R.W. Hill buildings that survive in Waterbury are in poor condition. Others have been demolished or drastically modified. I have including historic images when possible to show what has been lost.


Robert Wakeman Hill, in Anderson's History of Waterbury