Why is there so much manufacturing in Central CT?

Submitted by solomonsalinger t3_119n17h in Connecticut

Perhaps a stupid question, but a question nonetheless.

I was born and raised here. Today I took the CT Rail from New Haven to Hartford and noticed along the train route how much manufacturing there is. The route was littered with lots of businesses manufacturing metal, etc.

I know it used to be a hub in the Industrial Age, with Meriden being the Silver City. But I was taught as a kid that was the past.

So, what’s the reason? Does the train line make it easier to manufacture? Do we have some special natural resources here?

Either way glad to see some good economic activity happening here!

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sucksatgolf t1_j9njyib wrote

Pratt and Collins sub out a lot of work to companies in CT. This happens at all steps of the business, from machining to repair, inspection, and specialized processes like heat treating.

I would imagine Kaman and Sikorsky are also responsible for their fair share of CT based vendors in their respective areas.

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Spartansam0034 t1_j9or1wh wrote

👆👆👆👆👆 100%. Used to travel to like 25 shops all doing contract work for P&W in CT. It goes all the way up to New Hampshire.

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Gil_V t1_j9o7gcl wrote

I finished up my career at a great little Sikorsky subcontractor in Enfield. Might have been the best job I ever had.

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B6304T4 t1_j9pwqv6 wrote

Yup. Take any pw or Collins product and basically every single sub component is manufactured by a mom and pop operation. From washers, to bolts, screws, printed wiring boards, connectors, harnesses, fan blades you name it. It's all made out of house. The only thing the big corps do (Lockheed raytheon, pw, EB) is design work, set requirements, and final assembly. Parts are all procured from all over the country and for commercial products, all over the world.

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sucksatgolf t1_j9rkgep wrote

East Harford still has a lot of raw material manufacturing, several buildings are dedicated to it. They were also making fan blades there when I left.

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SherrickM t1_j9n21t6 wrote

Manufacturing really never disappeared. It has ups and downs, just like anything else. And for a lot of it that might use big, heavy or difficult machinery, you're not likely to want to have to move it all that much, so if you can still stay put and make money, you might as well stick around.

I'd wager the train line is where it is because of the manufacturing, not the other way around.

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JaKr8 t1_j9n450f wrote

You also have a well educated workforce in general, both technical and professional, excellent access to 2 huge ports ( NYC, Boston), a well developed transportation network, and a concentrated, relatively stable ( ie non transient) population.

But in fairness, most of this can be said of a lot of areas of the country.

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solomonsalinger OP t1_j9n3gs2 wrote

That’s a good point, what came first: the train or the manufacturing? The history of the CT railroad would be an interesting read.

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BomBaBaBomDaDang t1_j9oiext wrote

Actually in that area the Farmington Canal came first.

And for other areas, rivers came first, and mills along them were later connected by rail.

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STODracula t1_j9osq78 wrote

And in Farmington you can actually see old buildings where the trains would divert to for deliveries.

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Professional-Tour621 t1_j9o346i wrote

Probably train/railroad. That line started in 1833 to connect Springfield MA and New Haven CT

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Puppyl t1_j9nfzo9 wrote

I mean, we've been a state that, while small, produces a lot of stuff since the beginning of time. one of my best examples of this is that during the Civil War Connecticut was producing a metric butt-ton of arms, ammo, and armaments for the Union.

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keytarin t1_j9r2dxs wrote

Forget where I saw the anecdote so I'm not able to confirm this fact, but I believe it was something like 40% of the total amount of gunpowder used by the Union army in the Civil War was produced at the Hazard Powder Mills up in Enfield.

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Impossible_Watch7154 t1_j9ocono wrote

Manufacturing in CT has seen a renaissance. Although the state has remained a financial center- with growth in healthcare and education manufacturing has returned- not the heavy machinery of the past- but more of a specialized 21st century manufacturing. The state never strongly participated in the high tech internet wave of the last 20 years . Those regions that put all their eggs in tech are now seeing job losses.

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LordConnecticut t1_j9phkqt wrote

It was by no means in the past! There’s a very strong manufacturing presence in CT, but the sector ebbs and flows. One reason for that is because a large portion of manufacturing in CT is tied to the defense and aerospace industries. When companies in CT win new contracts these companies and their upstream smaller contractors and suppliers that you noticed everywhere, also get a boost. But even if we won all the contracts, the Pentagon operates on a cycle, they’re not going to replace the entire nuclear sub fleet every year, for example, more like every 30 years, so the very nature of the industry is cyclical, nationally.

As it happens though, EB is gearing up for another round of this and hiring like mad, we’re entering a strong cycle again there.

Historically, of course, CT has had other manufacturing as well. Firearms, automobiles (briefly) and consumer goods like clocks and watches, bells, and textiles. Today our manufacturing is high-precision high-tech industries that our highly skilled labor force support.

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Downtown_Feedback665 t1_j9q3nk7 wrote

There’s all kinds of economic, historical, demographic, and even national security reasons why CT is home to a lot of manufacturing to this day.

Between Pratt/UTC/EB/Sikorsky/Raytheon, CT has continuously won contracting bids from the US gov & military industrial complex.

Some of the strongest industry/manufacturing skilled laborers per capita reside in CT.

CT also harbors centralized access to shipyards, NYC, Boston, & DC. Which is to say that recruiting/retention of employees is easy, and that deployment of newly manufactured equipment is relatively easy as well.

This is all while CT is basically home to critical military infrastructure that’s juuuuust out of range from the most likely attack targets on US soil (in the Northeast at least)

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GreaseM0nk3y96 t1_j9pejx7 wrote

Lots of little guys left from catering to the giants of the Industrial age.

The giants died off and the little guys found other markets.

Most of the eyelet manufacturing industry is still in ct.

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merryone2K t1_j9qvb0x wrote

Yeppers. Son is an apprentice tool-and-die maker with about 1K hours left on his apprenticeship and when he gets to journeyman status, the (eyelet) world is his oyster. Some of the eyelet manufacturers here in Watertown were giving $10K signing bonuses last year!

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GreaseM0nk3y96 t1_j9qyiwf wrote

My youngest brother just finished his apprenticeship loves it so far.

Your son made a good choice.

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TheSecretAgenda t1_j9qmqrg wrote

Goes back to Colt Firearms. Making guns with interchangeable parts requires precision manufacturing and machine tools. People who became proficient in using machine tools spun off many businesses from Colts and the spin off businesses needed businesses to support them. The Connecticut River was a major transportation hub so you get a lot of industry along the river.

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polyworfism t1_j9n6ig1 wrote

I'm wondering if it's rivers, and zoning that hasn't changed much in centuries

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Early-Emphasis-2417 t1_j9odox0 wrote

I'm not an expert on it but I'd guess shipbuilding back in the day is what started it. Lots of wood and a fair amount of rivers to yeet the wood into.

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RededHaid t1_j9ohoou wrote

Train lines allowed manufacturers to receive materials and ship goods at a time when the trucking industry lagged. Spurs can bring a train car directly to a loading dock. You don't have to look very far back to when New England was an Industrial stronghold. Having seen the supply chain issues the last few years, I wouldn't think the benefit of having things being made local would cause confusion.

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xing216 t1_j9n34oo wrote

I'm no economics expert, so this is probably heavily generalized and comes from my point of view, not necessarily facts. If that makes sense. Freight lines make it easier and cheaper to transport large amounts of manufactured stuffs. Being located near one decreases the cost of transporting goods to the freight station. If that didn't your question, people also generally don't like living next to a noisy train line.

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uthyrbendragon t1_j9ow0jh wrote

So if Meriden was the silver city, does Waterbury have a history in brass as I saw a sign the other day for the brass city.

What other cities in this state have specific histories like this? It’s intriguing and would love some good reference book recommendations

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merryone2K t1_j9qvzmg wrote

Ansonia - The Copper City[3]
Berlin – Geographic Center of Connecticut[4]
Bethlehem – The Christmas Town[5]
Bridgeport – The Park City[6]
Bristol-Clock City[6]
Cheshire – Bedding Plant Capital of Connecticut.[8]
Danbury – Hat City.[6][9]
Derby – Connecticut's Smallest City[10]
East Hampton – Belltown USA[11]
Groton – Submarine Capital of the World[12][13]
Hamden – Land of the Sleeping Giant[14]
Hartford-Insurance Capital of the World[15]
Manchester – Silk City[6]
Meriden – Silver City[6]
Middletown – Forest City[17]
Naugatuck – Rubber City[6]
New Britain-Hardware City[6][16]
New Haven – The Elm City[6][19] (reported in the 1880s as City of Elms[20])
Norwich – Rose City[21] or The Rose of New England[22]
Stamford-Lock City (a reference to the now-defunct Yale & Towne lock factory).[16]
Waterbury – The Brass City[6][24]
West Haven – Connecticut's Friendliest City[25]
Willimantic – Thread City[6]
Winsted – Laurel City[26]

From wiki but I'm too lazy to take out the citations.

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uthyrbendragon t1_j9qxa6o wrote

Well there it is - some of them seem a bit ‘quirky’ but interesting nonetheless!! Thanks!

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kimwim43 t1_j9qami3 wrote

Meriden is the Silver City of the World, Waterbury was the Brass City. Meriden made the best shotguns of anywhere in the world, I forget the name. One was gifted to the last czar of Russia. Meriden made So many different manufactured goods. Lamps. Bicycles were invented in CT.

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shibby69420 t1_j9r5qro wrote

Wait’ll OP learns about Connecticut in the late 1800s!

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nkdeck07 t1_j9ro0vo wrote

Look at where the Connecticut river goes. All manufacturing in New England was almost always setup near a river for power and transportation (look further North in MA and you'll see the manufacturing trend continues further north into Springfield)

Once an area is established for manufacturing people tend to stay and continue using the area for the same reason.

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[deleted] t1_j9n1qf6 wrote

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Early-Emphasis-2417 t1_j9oev0k wrote

Yeah, because hospitals can't be outsourced to China.

And actually the grocery store distribution around here fascinates me. "Space is always the issue" seems valid at times but there are some big stores in tight places. No Aldis west of Fairfield. "Well that's Fairfield County for ya" seems valid but ShopRite is more of an eyesore and the quality differential with Aldi is immaterial in my opinion.

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