image/svg+xmlFROM THE OHS FILES:
A recent review of local documents uncovered a copy
of a petition from April 18, 1871 to the Connecticut Gen-
eral Assembly. It was signed by residents of Bethany,
Oxford, Seymour and Naugatuck. Their request was
‘....inhabitants of said portions of said Towns hereinaf-
ter described requires that said territory and the inhab-
itants there of should be erected and incorporated into
a New Town to be called the town of Home....your peti-
tioners alledge the following to wit Near the Center of
said territory and on both sides of the dividing line be-
tween the towns of Bethany and Oxford to wit the Naug-
atuck River is situated a large and densely populated
manufacturing village known as Beacon Falls so called
said village is rapidly increasing in wealth and popula-
tion and will continue so to do and already contains a
population of about Seven Hundred inhabitants and in-
cluding the surrounding territory being described con-
taining a population of about One Thousand inhabit-
ants. And said Village is convenient and easy of access
to and is the natural market and business center for the
inhabitants of said described Territory and now has a
Church, Post Office, Rail Road Depot and Telegraph
Office and Ten Stores etc.’
The petition went on to describe the hardships put on
residents of the four petitioning towns when they were
required to conduct business necessary in their town
centers ‘... only accessible to them by passing over a
rough, difficult and dangerous road running over the
range of high and steep hills that rise above the Naug-
atuck River....’
What is more the state would benefit as ‘...the grand
list of said New Town will amount to the sum of Five
Hundred Thousand Dollars or more.’
Further support for their plea went on ‘....said Village
known as Beacon Falls is situated on both sides of the
Naugatuck River, the boundary line between the Towns
of Bethany and Oxford and suffers much in its police
regulations from the fact, that said portions of said Vil-
lage are neither the jurisdiction of different towns to wit
Bethany and Oxford and are far from the Centers of
said Towns.’
Then the proposed boundary lines in each town were
defined. The points specifed such landmarks as Cotton
Hollow Brook, the houses of Ebenezer Seely and
Ebenezer Riggs, H.C. Baldwins house, various high-
ways, the house of Miles Culver, deceased; Skokorat
road about eight rods north of the house of Naman Peck
and continuing to Pines Bridge School District and also
the Nyumph School District...said boundary line to be
more fully indicated by a map of said territory to be sub-
mitted to your honorable Body.’
The 52 signers must have had some success. The
Town of Beacon Falls, CT is planning to celebrate
the150th anniversary of their incorporation in 2021.
Beacon Falls was incorporated in 1871 from the four
towns described in the petition. In 2018 its population
was 6182. The town is named for Beacon Hill, the look-
out used by colonists to monitor Native American activi-
ties and movements. The proposed name of ‘Home’ for
the town came from the Home Woolen Mill a major
employer in town from 1853 to 1916. Their buildings on
the main street of the town were converted to residen-
tial use and in 1984 were listed on the National Register
of Historic Places.
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