218. Connecticut in the Industrial Revolution: Making Buttons in Cheshire
Release Date: 10/01/2025
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218. Connecticut in the Industrial Revolution: Making Buttons in Cheshire
Grating the Nutmeg
A button sounds like a very ordinary thing. But button production in Cheshire was part of Connecticut’s pioneering role in the precision manufacturing revolution of the nineteenth century. According to connecticuthistory.org, button production began with pewter buttons in the mid-eighteenth century but quickly turned to brass in the early nineteenth century. By 1860s, machines in the Scovill Brass factory in Waterbury produced 216,000 buttons per day. This type of industrial production volume for an everyday necessity such as buttons propelled investors and entrepreneurs to establish...
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217. The Smith Family of Glastonbury: Hannah and Her Daughters
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In this episode of Grating the Nutmeg, Natalie Belanger tells us about how two journals kept by a Revolutionary War-era girl in the ’s collection have inspired an original work of music. Several years ago, Leonard Raybon (Associate Professor of Music at Tulane University) encountered two journals and other writings by Hannah Hadassah Hickok, held at the Connecticut Museum. Hannah was the matriarch of the non-conformist Smith Family of Glastonbury. Her daughters would go on to became nationally famous for protesting their lack of voting rights in the 1870s by...
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216. Brewing Community: Labor, Alcohol, and Unrest in Industrial New Britain
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Immigrants from Lithuania who made their way to New Britain, Connecticut at the beginning of the twentieth century found work in the city’s factories turning out tools and hardware. Their weekly routine included work, church and socializing at neighborhood saloons. But major upheavals in American society were happening at the time that affected their lives including the rise of organized labor, the temperance movement, anti-immigrant sentiment, and labor strikes. In this episode, we have two new voices in public history, Central Connecticut State University students Jon Kozak and...
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A button sounds like a very ordinary thing. But button production in Cheshire was part of Connecticut’s pioneering role in the precision manufacturing revolution of the nineteenth century. According to connecticuthistory.org, button production began with pewter buttons in the mid-eighteenth century but quickly turned to brass in the early nineteenth century. By 1860s, machines in the Scovill Brass factory in Waterbury produced 216,000 buttons per day. This type of industrial production volume for an everyday necessity such as buttons propelled investors and entrepreneurs to establish companies such as the Ball & Socket Manufacturing Company. But what were the benefits and costs of Cheshire’s industrial development during Connecticut’s Industrial Revolution?
Cheshire’s Ball & Socket factory has been transformed into a community arts center as we discovered in Grating the Nutmeg episode 167. New Lives for Old Factories. But its industrial past has not been forgotten-new research by noted historian Elizabeth Fox has been shared with the public in outdoor signage and a feature story in the Fall 2024 issue of Connecticut Explored. Fellow historian Agnes Wnuk has been researching the history of the factory and its effect on Cheshire. My guests Elizabeth Fox and Agnes Wnuk today will share what they’ve uncovered so far! Elizabeth “Betsy” Fox is a retired museum consultant. She lives in Cheshire and has been involved with Ball & Socket Arts as a volunteer for over ten years. She has also written some great articles for Connecticut Explored magazine. Historian Agnes Wnuk has been involved in preservation work at museums and libraries.
Ball & Socket Arts will present a public program on the oral history project and button production at 6:30pm on Nov. 13th, 2025 at the Cheshire Public Library. Get more information here: ballandsocket.org/events/2025/11/13/pushing-buttons-collecting-oral-histories-about-ball-socket-manufacturing
Did you know Waterbury, CT has been a hub of button-making for over 200 years? Buttons aren’t just functional; they’re miniature works of art! Opening October 12, Beau McCall: Buttons On! is the first-ever retrospective of the renowned textile artist known as “The Button Man,” showcasing his striking wearable and visual art created entirely with buttons. The exhibition is complemented by the Mattatuck Museum’s impressive Button Gallery, home to over 20,000 buttons, offering a unique blend of creativity and history through January 4. Get more information here: https://www.mattmuseum.org/exhibition/beau-mccall-buttons-on/
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To listen to our episode on Ball & Socket Art’s transformation, stream free here:
https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/167-new-lives-for-old-factories-cheshires-ball-socket-arts
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
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