Naugatuck

Naugatuck is a consolidated borough and town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 30,989 at the 2000 census. The town spans both sides of the Naugatuck River just south of Waterbury, and includes the communities of Union City on the east side of the river, which has its own post office, Straitsville on the southeast (along Route 63, and Millville on the west (along Rubber Avenue). Naugatuck was settled in 1701 as a ... more

Naugatuck is a consolidated borough and town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 30,989 at the 2000 census. The town spans both sides of the Naugatuck River just south of Waterbury, and includes the communities of Union City on the east side of the river, which has its own post office, Straitsville on the southeast (along Route 63, and Millville on the west (along Rubber Avenue). Naugatuck was settled in 1701 as a farming community in rural Western Connecticut. As the Industrial Revolution commenced, Naugatuck was transformed into a hardscrabble mill-town like its neighbors in the Naugatuck Valley. Rubber was the chiefly manufactured product. The United States Rubber Company (renamed Uniroyal Inc. in 1961) was founded in Naugatuck in 1892 as a consolidation of nine rubber companies, and maintained their corporate headquarters there until the 1980s. Their Footwear Division manufactured Keds “sneakers” in Naugatuck from 1917 until the 1980s. U.S. Rubber... less