The Goss House

I've been seeing a lot of buzz about this house on Facebook, with people wanting to know more about it. So here is some of its history. 

The Goss House, 70 Hillside Avenue, Photo from Realtor.com, 2025

 

The house was built as a wedding present for Ella Young and John H. Goss, who were married in 1901. Construction started in 1901 and was finished in 1903. Construction was paid for by Ella's father, Alden M. Young, while John Goss's father, C.P. Goss, contributed the land.

 Alden M. Young (1853-1911) made his fortune as a developer of trolley lines, including the Connecticut Railway & Lighting Company. He was also involved with the Albany Southern Railway, the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Brooklyn, Kings County Electric Light & Power Company, the American Mail Steamship Company, the American Gas and Electric Company, the Central Railway & Electric Company of New Britain, the Norwich Gas & Electric Company, and many others.

Originally from Hadley, New York, Young moved to Waterbury in the 1870s and it was here that he launched his career. He later had a home in Branford, Connecticut, where he founded the Pine Orchard Yacht and Country Club, and an apartment in Manhattan. 

In 1878, when he was 25 years old, Young established Waterbury's first telephone exchange, working as the superintendent and manager. The telephone exchange became the Waterbury division of Southern New England Telephone Company (SNET). Young retired from his position as superintendent in 1888.

In 1883, Alden Young became involved in electric lighting, which led to the formation of the Connecticut District Telegraph and Electric Company, later called the Connecticut Electric Company. The company build Waterbury's first electric light plant in a wood frame building on Bank Street, powering thirty street lamps in downtown. A new electric station was built in 1890 as interest in adding electricity throughout the city grew. By 1893, about two hundred miles of electrical wire had been installed in Waterbury by Young's company. Young was also involved in bringing electric light companies to Naugatuck, Thomaston, Norwich, Bristol, Putnam, and a few towns in New York and New Jersey.

Portrait of Alden M. Young from Electrical World, December 9, 1911

 

During the 1890s, Young started the Waterbury Traction Company, Waterbury's first electric trolley service. He later merging it with his Waterbury lighting company. He also founded the New England Engineering Company of Waterbury, which built electric plants, telegraph and telephone lines, and related work. In 1898, he was elected president of the National Electric Light Association.

In simplest terms, Young was an entrepreneur who saw the potential of introducing new technologies into everyday life, transforming the way we live. Edison and Bell are remembered for their inventions, but Young was one of the people who made it possible for the general public to benefit from those inventions. He persuaded others to invest in his companies, ensuring their success and his prosperity.

At the time of his election to president of the National Electric Light Association, Young was described as "a forceful character" who had "great energy and natural ability." He "developed a capacity for organization and executive management" that "commanded recognition." Young started his career working at telegraph companies in the early 1870s. 

 

Ella Young and John Goss

Alden Young and his wife, Ellen Shepardson, had four daughters. Ella Shepardson Young (1877-1933) was their second daughter, born in Buffalo, New York. The family moved to Waterbury shortly after Ella's birth. They lived on Cherry Street when they first arrived in Waterbury, then moved to lower Willow Street (then known as North Willow Street). During this time period, Waterbury's wealthiest residents lived in and near downtown. The Young family purchased their summer home in Branford in 1893. 

Ella Young (from ancestry.com)

 

Ella attended St. Margaret's School on Grove Street (later St. Margaret's-McTernan). She made her debut into Waterbury society in 1901, after her engagement to John Goss. A party was held by the Goss family at Leavenworth Hall to introduce Ella to the Goss social circle. Also debuting was Edith Wayne of New York, who was engaged to John's brother, C. P. Goss, Jr.

Ella Young and John Goss were married at the Young family's summer residence in Branford in June, 1902. Their honeymoon was spent traveling. When they returned, their new house, a gift from Alden Young, was ready for them to move in. Other wedding gifts included "the usual array" of silver, china, rugs, and other decorations for their new home.

John Henry Goss (1872-1944) was a son of Chauncey Porter Goss, who served as president of Scovill Manufacturing from 1900 to 1918. John Goss graduated from Yale in 1894 and began working at Scovill's button department, learning all aspects of the company's activities by doing them himself, starting out at ten cents an hour, sixty hours a week. He rose rapidly through the ranks (his father was the company president), becoming vice-president of Scovill and then, in 1938, president. He was vice president of the Connecticut Association of Manufacturers from 1914 until 1941.

 

John H. Goss later in life (from ancestry.com)

Goss was involved in a number of Waterbury organizations. As a young man, he was an officer of the Waterbury Golf Club, active with the Cotillion Club, and served as clerk for the First Congregational Church. He was also involved with the Y.M.C.A. Later in life, he served on the city's Board of Education and Board of Finance. In 1931, he was appointed by Governor Wilbur Cross to serve on a commission investigating jails in Connecticut. He also served on the State Water Commission, the Board of Directors for the State Farm for Women, and the State Board of Mediation and Arbitration.

Ella Goss was involved in charitable activities, serving as president of the Waterbury Industrial School and the Girls' Club. During World War I, she volunteered for the home service section of the Waterbury Red Cross. She was active in the founding of the Waterbury Business and Professional Women's Club, and was a trustee of Westover School in Middlebury. Ella was also a member of the Waterbury Women's Club, the Waterbury Hospital Aid Association, and was involved with the Waterbury Day Nursery. 

Ella and John Goss had three children:  Elizabeth, John, and Milton. In 1910, their household included Ella, John, the three children, a nursemaid for the children, and two female servants. The nursemaid was a German immigrant, while the servants were Irish immigrants. Ten years later, in 1920, the census showed only one servant living in the house with the Goss family, another Irish immigrant. In 1930, the household included a Swedish cook and her daughter, who worked as a servant for the Goss family.

 

The House

Modeled after Elizabethan, Baroque, and Georgian architecture, the house is situated on Hillside Avenue with a view overlooking the city. The house has three floors of living space for an estimated 5,590 square feet. Features include a pair of Dutch gable ends, English Tudor style parapets and pilastered chimneys (there are four fireplaces), and Georgian influences in the main entry. The house has remained in the Goss family until now: the last resident was the grandson of John and Ella Goss. The house sold on January 9, 2026 for $625,000.

Photograph by Randy Clark for Houses of the Hillside Neighborhood, published by the Mattatuck Museum in 2007

 

 

Interior photo from Realtor.com, 2025

 

Interior photo from Realtor.com, 2025

 

Interior photo from Realtor.com, 2025

 

The Bombing

Until 1920, Waterbury's factory owners felt comfortable living in the heart of the city, close to their workers. The disparity in quality of life between the wealthy, who divided their time between mansions in the city and summer homes by the sea, and the low-paid factory workers who lived year round in the city, was taken for granted. The factory owners invested in better quality housing for their workers during the 1910s, and they worked to develop city parks and other public resources to improve the quality of life for their employees. By the 1950s, however, Waterbury's factory owners were moving out of town, establishing a wall of distance between themselves and their employees. A series of frightening events in 1920, including a bomb explosion at the Goss house, marked the beginning of a major shift in how Waterburyians interacted with one another.

The end of World War I was marked by social turmoil. In the United States, many Russian and Italian immigrants were viewed as dangerous anarchists and terrorists, socialists spreading the "red terror" of Bolshevism. Factory workers who advocated for improved labor rights through unions were frequently labeled as anarchists. (For more on this, see my earlier post, "A Century of Melting Pot Frictions, Part Four")

Waterbury's brass workers went on strike in 1919, and again during the summer of 1920. Roughly 20,000 brass workers, primarily unskilled immigrants, went on strike. Their demands included equal pay for women doing the same work as men, a minimum pay of 75 cents per hour, reducing the work day to eight hours, and recognition of workers' shop committees. The 1920 strike was organized by the New England Workers' Association.

On May 29, 1920, just before midnight, a bomb exploded on the patio of the Goss house. Windows were shattered, but the solid stone and brick of the house was undamaged and no one was injured. 

 

New York Herald, May 31, 1920

 

Crowds gathered to view the damage, which was minimal, but as John Monagan would later recall in his memoir, the bombing "shook the complacency of Waterburians to realize that militant terrorism could suddenly and brutally shatter the customary calm of Hillside Avenue."

The motivation for the bombing was a mystery. Only one stick of dynamite was used. Some theorized that the bombing was done merely to frighten Goss and other factory owners, not to cause any physical harm. Others believed it was "an anarchist attempt to take life or destroy property, or both." Not knowing what would happen next, the Waterbury police stationed guards at the homes of the factory owners and certain city officials.

Observers were confused that John Goss seemed to have been targeted by labor rights activists, since he had a reputation for being the best employer in the city, doing more for his employees than any other company had. In a circuitous argument, some suggested that the workers were resentful of Goss's generosity, that they preferred to do things for themselves rather than to have an employer assist them. As with any shocking and unexplained event, there were countless theories that revealed more about the people who came up with them than about the actual event.

John Goss projected a fearlessness about the bombing, saying "If to get me is their purpose, they can get me, and they know they can, but as for using dynamite to settle labor difficulties, dynamite has never been successful in that, and it never will be."

Luigi Scalmana, president of the New England Workers' Association, expressed sorrow over the bombing and insisted that his strikers had nothing to do with the incident.

Waterbury's Superintendent of Police, George M. Beach, had no leads but cast blame on Louis F. Post, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor, and the U.S. Department of Justice for not deporting immigrants Beach called "anarchist agents." Beach was angry that immigrant workers who were "active in agitation" weren't deported after having been arrested on suspicion of anarchist activity.

 

After the Bombing

Concerns about John Goss's safety remained an issue after the bombing. The following year, the Waterbury police department assigned three plain clothes officers to guard Goss's house after learning that Goss had been threatened by "Russian radicals" who were unhappy about "the present industrial depression."

Norwich Morning Bulletin, December 19, 1921

 

 

Despite any fears for his safety, John Goss was undaunted in his dedication to Waterbury and to his employees.

 

Sources

John Monagan, A Pleasant Institution: Key-C Major, 2002 

Edith Reynolds & John Murray, A Brief History of Waterbury, 2009 

Jeremy Brecher, Banded Together: Economic Democratization in the Brass Valley, 2011 

Anderson, The Town and City of Waterbury, Volume 2, 146, p. 453. 

“Telephonic News,” Electrical Review (December 1, 1888), p. 6. 

“Mr. Alden M. Young,” The Electrical Age (June 18, 1898), p. 337. 

“City News,” Waterbury Democrat, December 6, 1901 

“Goss-Young Wedding,” Waterbury Democrat, June 17, 1902 

“Many More June Weddings,” The Morning Journal-Courier, June 18, 1902 

“Alden M. Young,” The New York Times, December 5, 1911 

“Obituary,” Electrical World (December 9, 1911), 1461. 

“Alden M. Young,” The New Haven Union, December 16, 1911 

“Beach Doesn’t ‘Fall’ for Strike Parade,” Hartford Courant, June 6, 1920 

“Waterbury, Conn.,” The Metal Industry (June, 1920), p. 291 

“The Death of Mrs John H. Goss,” Waterbury Democrat, October 16, 1933 

“John Goss Dies,” The Journal, October 16, 1944 

“J.H. Goss, Former Head of Scovill, Dies at 71,” Hartford Courant, October 17, 1944