Reconstruction and Rev. John Scott

In 1871, the Waterbury American published a pair of letters written by Rev. John Scott, a Waterbury man who was working for the American Missionary Association in North Carolina. Scott was a teacher as well as a Congregational minister: he built a small church and school in Dudley, N.C. as part of a larger mission to educate people who had been freed from slavery and to encourage them to join the Congregational Church. The Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups were terrorizing freedmen and anyone who helped them. Three days after construction of Rev. Scott’s church and school was completed, the building was destroyed by arson. The fire was started in the school’s library, guaranteeing that none of the books would survive.

Last night our beautiful church was burned to ashes. ... They woke me at two in the morning only to see the building fall. ... By its blazing timbers we knelt down that night, and prayed that God would help us; prayed for the 150 pupils that would come in the morning and find neither house nor books: for the 200 people who, next sabbath, would look for a place to worship and find none. Books, papers, all were lost.
(Excerpts from John Scott’s letter to Rev. Charles C. Painter, published in “Ku-klux Outrages in North Carolina,” Waterbury Daily American, March 9, 1871)

Members of the Ku Klux Klan,
illustrated in Harper's Weekly, December 19, 1868

The destruction of Scott’s church and school happened in February, 1871, one of countless acts of terrorism being perpetrated throughout the South by white supremacists. There were so many incidents that some people in the North, including the editor and publisher of the Waterbury American, started to think it was all fabricated by politicians seeking to pass legislation giving more power to the federal government. They read accounts of atrocities taking place in the South and found them difficult to believe. Some dismissed the news as one-sided, assuming that reports of racist violence were exaggerated or somehow misleading.

A History of the Miller & Peck Buildings

Two of the oldest buildings in downtown Waterbury are about to be demolished. Previous owners allowed the buildings to decay so badly that they can't be saved and are no longer safe to enter. The buildings have long been called Miller & Peck, since they were home to the Miller & Peck store for decades. I was recently asked about the history of the buildings and found far more than I expected.

The Miller & Peck buildings in 2023: north on the left, south on the right

 

The Miller & Peck buildings stand side-by-side on South Main Street. The building to the north (on the left when facing them) is white, with ornate Greek Revival columns flanking two-story windows. The building to the south (on the right when facing them) is blue and resembles a typical New England Greek Revival house, only bigger, with three floors under the pediment. (For ease of reference, I will call them "north" and "south" in the rest of this article.)

Both buildings were constructed out of wood almost two hundred years ago, with several additions built behind them over the course of a century. The National Historic Register nomination form for the Downtown Historic District lists the two buildings as having been constructed sometime around 1830.

I've spent the past few weeks poring through the Waterbury Land Records and various other sources tracing the history of the two buildings. A precise date of construction for either building has proven to be elusive, but what I have found is fascinating. There is undoubtedly more to find: this is merely a starting point.

My research here is focused on the history of the buildings. The history of Miller & Peck as a business is a story for another day.

George Washington Ate Here

During the Revolutionary War, Waterbury was far removed from any battles, but still saw hundreds of soldiers as they marched through Connecticut. Long before the construction of I-84, West Main Street and East Main Street served as major thoroughfares for travelers passing through town on their way to or from Hartford. In September, 1780, General George Washington was one of those travelers. He stopped in Waterbury to dine with a friend, Joseph Hopkins, on his way to Hartford.

George Washington, 1780-82, by Charles Willson Peale
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

Mapping Inequality

I haven't been posting here as often as usual, partly because I've been working on several writing projects for publication elsewhere. The first of those projects is completed: a short essay about Waterbury for the University of Richmond's website, Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America.

 

"Redlining" is the term used to describe the work of the federal Home Owners' Loan Corporation which, during the 1930s, rated residential neighborhoods in cities throughout the country based on their opinion of whether or not they were good investment areas for banks. A home in a green-rated neighborhood was considered low risk for mortgages. Red-rated neighborhoods were considered high risk, discouraging banks from issuing mortgages in those neighborhoods. Residents of green neighborhoods were white; residents of red neighborhoods were Black or "a low class of foreigners."