History of Rocky Hill: 1650 - 2018 Robert Campbell Herron October 2017 Bring Us Your History ........................................................................................................ 4 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. 4 Origins: 250,000,000 BCE to 1730 CE .............................................................................. 4 Dinosaurs ........................................................................................................................ 4 Pre-European History...................................................................................................... 5 The Europeans Arrive ..................................................................................................... 5 The Settlement of the Town ............................................................................................ 6 Maritime Rocky Hill ........................................................................................................... 6 The Ferry ......................................................................................................................... 7 The River and Seafaring ................................................................................................. 7 Rocky Hill and Slavery ..................................................................................................... 10 Slaves in Rocky Hill ..................................................................................................... 10 Rocky Hill and the Slave Trade .................................................................................... 11 The Underground Railroad ........................................................................................... 12 Early Industry.................................................................................................................... 13 Mills at Dividend .......................................................................................................... 13 Tinsmiths and Yankee Peddlers. ................................................................................... 17 The Foundry .................................................................................................................. 18 Fishing........................................................................................................................... 18 Ice .................................................................................................................................. 19 Other Industries ............................................................................................................. 20 Farming ............................................................................................................................. 20 Early Churches .................................................................................................................. 21 Medicine ........................................................................................................................... 21 Rocky Hill Comes of Age ................................................................................................. 23 Incorporation ................................................................................................................. 23 Ground Transportation Replaces River Transportation ................................................ 23 River Improvements and Steamboats ....................................................................... 23 The River, the Farmington Canal, and Steamboats .................................................. 24 Motor Vehicles, Bridges, and the Ferries ................................................................. 25 A Brief History of Rocky Hill – First Draft 1 Suburbanization. ........................................................................................................... 26 Commuting ............................................................................................................... 27 Railroads, Trolleys, and Buses.............................................................................. 27 Silas Deane Highway ............................................................................................ 27 Farms Give Way to Real Estate Development ......................................................... 28 Interstate 91 ........................................................................................................... 28 Demographic Changes and More Churches ................................................................. 29 Catholics in Rocky Hill ......................................................................................... 29 Episcopalians ........................................................................................................ 30 Present Truth ......................................................................................................... 30 Schools .......................................................................................................................... 31 Libraries ........................................................................................................................ 32 Public Services .............................................................................................................. 35 Postal Service ............................................................................................................ 35 Police......................................................................................................................... 35 Fire Department ........................................................................................................ 37 Ambulance Service ................................................................................................... 38 Public Works ............................................................................................................. 41 Refuse ................................................................................................................... 41 Sewers and Drainage............................................................................................. 42 Public Works Today ............................................................................................. 42 Growth and Change .......................................................................................................... 42 Electricity, Telephones, Radio ...................................................................................... 42 The Quarry .................................................................................................................... 43 Rose Hill Cemetery Park .............................................................................................. 43 Veteran’s Home. ........................................................................................................... 44 Parks .............................................................................................................................. 44 The Park Commission ............................................................................................... 44 Ferry Park.................................................................................................................. 45 Shipyard Park ............................................................................................................ 45 The Green.................................................................................................................. 46 Bulkeley Park ............................................................................................................ 47 Dinosaur State Park................................................................................................... 47 Sunnycrest Park ........................................................................................................ 47 A Brief History of Rocky Hill – First Draft 2 Elm Ridge Park ......................................................................................................... 48 Quarry Park ............................................................................................................... 49 Dividend Park ........................................................................................................... 49 Foundry Labor Problems .............................................................................................. 50 Digging Up Native American History: The Morgan and Lone Pine Sites ................... 50 Rocky Hill at War ............................................................................................................. 51 King Phillip’s War ........................................................................................................ 51 French and Indian War.................................................................................................. 51 Revolutionary War ........................................................................................................ 52 Barbary Pirates The Quasi-war, and Impressment ....................................................... 53 War of 1812 .................................................................................................................. 54 Civil War ....................................................................................................................... 54 War with the Plains