Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Essex was prosperous in the late 1700's to early 1800's.
Its two deep coves on either side of Essex village center provided good space for ship building. That's what the made the town wealthy for those years. Then the British burned Essex to the ground during the War of 1812 and destroyed the ships being built there. The town recovered somewhat until the Industrial Revolution. When ships began to be iron clad and had steam engines, Essex could not longer compete in ship building. Although it did have some manufacturing - Dickinson Witch Hazel, for example
and the Ivoryton piano works.
Old Saybrook was always a small town but has a good trading history which kept it economically comfortable. It depended on river trade in which river boats carried goods down stream until they could be taken out to sea beyond the Cornfield Shoal and their cargo transferred to ocean going boats.
North Cove In Old Saybrook is the only quasi deep water spot in the area. It used to be deeper than it is today. I remember hearing that much of it was filled in to some extent when the railroad bridge was built across the river.
Historic Saybrook was connected by both freight rail & the streetcar network. A bit out of the way for big industry is my guess as major freight traffic would bypass the area.
Just found out from a little googling that Saybrook changed its name to Deep River in 1947.
The town of Deep River was part of the original Saybrook colony which sprawled up and along both sides of the CT River..
Eventually a variety of areas broke away and renamed themselves.- Lyme, Old Lyme, Essex, Old Saybrook, etc.
Deep River retained the name Saybrook until 1947 when it renamed itself Deep River.
Careful confusing the word Saybrook with the actual town of Old Saybrook. Lots of people drop the
" Old". Nothing happened in 1947 in the town of Old Saybrook with its name.
Thanks for the replies Willow Wind and GoHuskies. That's the kind of information that I was looking for. It seems like such a great location with a major river and no nearby cities that it is weird that it did not develop at the same rate along with the rest of CT's cities. Judging by population it was significantly smaller than the other cities I mentioned after the Civil War.
I just took out a board game to look at the map. Its a railroad game set during the 19th century on a map of New England and Old Saybrook must have been important enough to make it on the map and it is associated with Ivory.
The Ivory came down the river from the Ivoryton section of Essex. Starting in the mid to late 19th century Ivoryton became the country's top producer of finished Ivory. Comstock- Cheney & Pratt- Read, two manufacturers in Ivoryton, had cornered the market.
By then the railroad was going through Old Saybrook, so down the CT River came the Ivory where it could on a train or could go on river boats out to ocean going vessels.
The Connecticut River is the longest and largest river in America without a city at its mouth.
This is because of the sandbar at it's mouth that makes the river extremely shallow and unnavigable for larger ships.
If the dredging techniques that are available today existed in the 1600, 1700 and probably even 1800s, there would be a large port and city there. And given that both New London, a few miles east, and New Haven, a few miles west, both have tremendous natural harbors, there was no need to develop Old Saybrook.
-Founding in 1630s was bad timing given the soon-to-start English Civil War, which halted Puritan migration - Mass. had a big head start over Connecticut/New Haven/Saybrook Colonies
-Re: above, Rhode Island got started at same time, but was open to all Protestant religions and Jews, which other colonies were not, without this Newport never becomes a major colonial port because it's leading merchant was Jewish. This more than anything allowed both Newport and Providence to grow larger than any colonial Connecticut city.
-New England had lousy soil compared to Pennsylvania and places further south and west, so most of its colonial cities/towns were seaports, Hartford was the only interior New England town > 2,500 at the 1790 census, and it was only the 15th largest in the region. This hurt Old Saybrook, because being on a river meant much less than it did elsewhere in the country. Prior to industrial revolution, you had to make it strictly as a seaport.
-Most successful seaports in New England south of Boston - Nantucket, Newport, New Bedford, New London - all depended on exporting whale oil - this industry never developed west of New London, partly due to where you could catch the large fish. They also were not diversified economically, and lost out to New Haven, Providence, and other cities as industrialization came along in the 19th century.
-New Haven and Providence hung around on the coastal trade until they grew as industrial centers, while Old Saybrook's own residents left and headed up the river valley to become farmers.
-Connecticut was one of the least urbanized northern states in 1800 with just 5% of its pop. in towns > 2,500. It was much more dependent on farming than the rest of New England. Its largest city then wasn't New Haven or Hartford, but New London, due to the soon-to-bust whaling industry mentioned above.
Interesting discussion. I think timing is part of it. Like has been mentioned Old Saybrook was a trading port and the CT river was important to early settlers. Essex built ships as did other ports higher up on the river, but not very large ones. The river valley in the Hartford area is the best farmland in the state, and as such that area grew quickly, and trade remained important. But large ships could not go up the river it was smaller ships that made the trip up and down the river. Trade was completed at the port at the mouth of the river or other New England ports then shipped up river (or down) from the rich farm land of the Hartford valley region.
The railroad crossed the river and caused more shoaling in the late 1800's around when dredging was becoming an option. I think if the railroad was not built then you likely would have seen the lower CT river valley be much more industrialized then it is. Also at the same time Fenwick had become the home for wealthy summer houses in CT and conservation efforts started which likely blocked some more development that would normally have happened.
Also interesting side note. There was more industrial shipping on the river in the early 20th century with lots of industries from Middletown on up to Hartford using it. You also had the canal to bypass Enfield falls so shipping happened but again it is kind of amazing how little industrialization happened between Middletown and Old Saybrook.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
