*** Welcome to piglix ***

Beacon Falls, Connecticut

Beacon Falls, Connecticut
Town
Official seal of Beacon Falls, Connecticut
Seal
Location in New Haven County, Connecticut
Location in New Haven County, Connecticut
Coordinates: 41°26′19″N 73°03′20″W / 41.43861°N 73.05556°W / 41.43861; -73.05556Coordinates: 41°26′19″N 73°03′20″W / 41.43861°N 73.05556°W / 41.43861; -73.05556
Country United States
State Connecticut
NECTA Waterbury
Region Central Naugatuck Valley
County New Haven
Incorporated 1871
Government
 • Type Selectman-town meeting
 • First Selectman Christopher J. Bielik (D)
Area
 • Total 9.9 sq mi (25.6 km2)
 • Land 9.8 sq mi (25.3 km2)
 • Water 0.1 sq mi (0.2 km2)
Elevation 207 ft (63 m)
Population (2010)
 • Total 6,049
Time zone Eastern (UTC-5)
 • Summer (DST) Eastern (UTC-4)
ZIP code 06403
Area code(s) 203
FIPS code 09-03250
GNIS feature ID 0213387
Website www.beaconfalls-ct.org

Beacon Falls is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, on the Naugatuck River. The population was 5,246 at the 2000 census. The population increased to 6,049 at the 2010 census.

Settlers from Derby, Connecticut moved to the Beacon Falls area in 1678. The town was incorporated in 1871 on lands carved from the neighboring towns of Bethany, Seymour, Naugatuck and Oxford.

The history of Beacon Falls is tied to the series of manufacturing concerns that operated in the town's impressive brick factory buildings on North Main Street, adjacent to the Naugatuck River. The last and most successful of those concerns was the Beacon Falls Rubber Shoe Company (1898-1921). During the late 19th and early 20th centuries rubber manufacturing thrived in the Lower Naugatuck Valley. This followed the invention and 1844 patent, by Connecticut native Charles Goodyear, of a chemical process called Vulcanization to convert natural rubber into a durable, flexible, waterproof material. In the 1850s the American Hard Rubber Company built a brick factory in Beacon Falls, utilizing water power from the nearby Naugatuck River. The company made buttons, whip sockets, and powder flasks. After that company was acquired and moved to Long Island, the empty brick building was bought by the Home Woolen Company, which in the 1860s expanded and manufactured woolen shawls, popular at the time with men, women and Civil War soldiers. The Home Woolen Company thrived for 20-plus years until it became insolvent in 1887.

The 1898 inception of the Beacon Falls Rubber Shoe Company lay in the decision of Samuel J. Lewis, President of the Goodyear Metallic Rubber Shoe Co. of Nagautuck, Connecticut, and his son Tracy S. Lewis, Secretary and Treasurer of that company, to resign and start a new business together. In 1898 the two Lewis men bought the Home Woolen Company facility and started the Beacon Falls Rubber Shoe Company. The new company enjoyed great success for over two decades. From 150 pairs of shoes manufactured in 1899, by 1920 5.5 million pair were shipped; during that same time the town's population doubled. The company specialized in rubber soled boots with leather uppers (like today's "L.L. Bean" boots), and rubber soled athletic shoes with canvas uppers (now called "sneakers"). The footwear was marketed under the brand name, "Top Notch."


...
Wikipedia

...