The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
SHARING THE CITY’S HISTORY
New photo-filled book documents the contributions of immigrants
TORRINGTON — A new book filled with photos of Torrington’s past has captured the positive effect immigrants had on the city’s development, spirit and growth.
“Images of America: Torrington,” by Elizabeth A. Kaczmarcyk on behalf of the Torrington Historical Society, took two years to complete, according to Executive Director Mark McEachern.
The book is a photo album of sorts, with lengthy captions describing each scene, naming people in the photograph and providing the date the picture was taken.
Names of some of the city’s founding families — Besse, Workman, Cameron, Davey, Janssen, Dautrich and Gleeson, and later, Haddad, DeMichiel, Abbate, Toce and others — can be found throughout the publication, as well as the many churches, businesses, schools, civic and social clubs and individual enterprising citizens who left their mark. A labor of love, the book is a treasure trove, with each photograph telling a story.
Using photographs with illustrative captions, instead of lengthy essays, was the author’s goal, McEachern said.
“Elizabeth wanted to focus primarily on the images at the historical society, and she chose to do a historic summary for each chapter and provide a brief history of Torrington, based on that chapter,” McEachern said.
“With a force as powerful as the Naugatuck River, these immigrants came by the thousands in the early 1900s, doubling Torrington’s population and then doubling it again, at first threatening to undermine wages and overwhelm infrastructure, but soon leading to a sharp increase in overall prosperity.”
Excerpt from “Images of America: Torrington,” by Elizabeth A. Kaczmarcyk
“She spent untold hours on the captions for each photo and the chapter introductions.”
Kaczmarcyk worked with society staff members Gail Kruppa and Carol Clapp, as well as McEachern, to develop the chapters for the book.
“She had the benefit of our knowledge, and we proofread everything very carefully, over and over again,” McEachern said. “It was a team effort that made us all feel that we were part of the project.”
Torrington’s diverse population is the focus of the book.
In 1910, McEachern said, one-third of Torrington’s population were immigrants, one-third were children of immigrants, and one-third were “natives” or older immigrants whose families settled here a generation before.
“It highlights the ethnic history of Torrington, and that’s significant and will mean a lot to the people who read this book,” McEachern said.
Kaczmarcyk, a Torrington native who lives in Hartford, said the book began as an account of Slavic immigrants coming to the city, based on her mother’s history.
“Many years ago, I decided to write about Slovak immigrants, but I never did anything with it,” she said. “Eventually I contacted Arcadia, but they said they didn’t do books on specific groups like that, that it had to be comprehensive. So I reached out to the Torrington Historical Society.”
Kaczmarcyk was living in Seattle, and returned to Connecticut in 2015 and started working on the book.
“It was a little daunting at first, because I wasn’t familiar with the historical society’s archives, and I’d just go in every day, for a few hours a week, just to see what was there and going through it,” Kaczmarcyk said. “They were all very welcoming and so willing to help. Working with Mark McEachern, Gail Kruppa and Carol Clapp, the archivist and librarian, was just fantastic.”
The book’s first chapter, “Immigration,” explains her approach.
“If one looks carefully, traces of Torrington’s immigrant past are still visible all around town,” Kaczmarcyk wrote. “Cameron and Pulaski streets, the Germania Singing Society building, Fuessenich Park, and Besse Pond are just a few of the places that remind locals and visitors of the immigrants who came to Torrington in the 19th and early 20th centuries.”
Kaczmarcyk said in the 1830s, the English arrived, followed by a wave of Irish, German, Swedish and Scottish immigrants, followed again by Germans in the 1890s who established a prosperous downtown business district on lower East Main Street with saloons, restaurants, a high-class hotel and a performance hall.
“But it was the massive influx of Poles, Italians, Slovaks, Lithuanians, Hungarians and others that most shaped Torrington’s future,” Kaczmarcyk wrote. “With a force as powerful as the Naugatuck River, these immigrants came by the thousands in the early 1900s, doubling Torrington’s population and then doubling it again, at first threatening to undermine wages and overwhelm infrastructure, but soon leading to a sharp increase in overall prosperity ... for nearly 100 years, Torrington was a true ethnic mosaic that exemplified prosperous, industrious small-town America at its best.”
As families arrived and settled in the growing city, businesses and industry established themselves in many ways. Many arrivals opened their own businesses — barber shops, markets, small craftsmen’s shops, hotels and restaurants, while others worked in factories such as American Brass. The book’s chapters: Places of Worship, Farms, Factories and Floods, Schools, Businesses, Recreation, and Public Service and Civic Engagement, all share information about the families behind each institution and how they developed over time.
These days, much of Torrington’s industry is a memory, but the families who founded it can be easily found within the pages of the book.
“We are honored to have collaborated with Elizabeth Kaczmarcyk in bringing the richness of our photographic collections to light and presenting a fascinating overview of Torrington’s history to the public, in a way that is visually interesting and factually informative,” McEachern said. “Ms. Kaczmarcyk concludes her introduction with ... words that speak both for her and the historical society.”
“I hope this book helps to illustrate how thousands of hardworking citizens, whether forgotten or remembered, produced so many enduring civic benefits while striving to improve their lots and their community,” Kaczmarcyk said.
“My primary interest is how immigration developed everything,” she said. “What I discovered was that for the most part, Torrington was very welcoming when people came here.”
Copies of the book can be purchased at the Torrington Historical Society, 192 Main St., or online at www.torringtonhistoricalsociety.org.
Kaczmarcyk will sign books and talk at 6:30 p.m. April 11, at the Carriage House Gallery at the Torrington Historical Society. The public is invited. For information, call the society at 860-482-8260 or email torringtonhistorical@snet.net.