Wilcox And Crittenden Company

Wilcox-Crittenden & CO
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The company was started by Eldridge H. Penfield and his uncle Ira K. Penfield in 1848 to manufacture metal sail grommets. William W. Wilcox was an employee. This lasted two years. Eldridge H. Penfield left and William W. Wilcox invested and the company became Penfield & Wilcox. I.K. Penfield retired in 1859 and Joseph Hall, JR. joined. The company was called Wilcox & Hall. Hall retired in 1867 and in 1869 three partners were added, Albert R. Crittenden, E. Bound Chaffee, and Homer Churchill.

The company was called Wilcox-Crittenden & CO. It became a division of North & Judd in 1955. By 1971 it was a Gulf & Western company and by 1975 a division of Gulf & Western Manufacturing Company. Thetford Corporation purchased the company in 2003. This company is in Middletown, RI.

The mill complex consists of four surviving mill buildings, built between 1814 and 1917, and foundational remnants of others, as well as two brownstone dams.

Mills A, B, C:
Mill A, built in 1814 to house weaving operations, was converted into an office when larger facilities were built. Mill B, located to its north, is 247 feet (75 m) long, and was built between 1901 and 1912. Mill C is a concrete block structure built in 1907, and is 350 feet (110 m) long.

Mill D:
stands across the ravine of Pamachea Creek from Mill C, and is the youngest of the four buildings.
Pictures Below From Images Of America Middletown:

ALBERT R. CRITTENDEN:
NOTE: This story and the pictures are also from ©”A Noble And Glorious Cause” by Thomas E. La Lancette:
© 14th Conn. Necrological Committee Report for 1921.

Indian Hill Cemetery,
Middletown, Connecticut.
INSCRIPTIONS
ALBERT R. CRITTENDEN SERGT. CO. B. 14TH REGT.
CONN. VOLS.
DEC. 4, 1843 - SEPT. 15, 1921

ALBERT R. CRITTENDEN OF B CO. Died on September 16, 1921 aged 76 years at his home in Middletown, Conn., after an illness of several months duration.

He was born in Portland, Conn., on December 4, 1843, being descended from Abraham Crittenden who came from England soon after Connecticut was first settled. He received a good school education ending with two years at the Brown Military Academy of New Haven. At the age of 16 he entered the employ of Wilcox Hall, ship chandlers, and applied himself with such thoroughness and marked ability that he was soon placed in charge of the shipping department.

On August 11, 1862 he enlisted from Middletown, Conn., and was mustered August 20th. He was promoted Corporal August 25, 1863, wounded at Morton’s Ford, Va., February 6, 1864 and was mustered out May 31, 1865. Comrade Crittenden took part in twenty-five of the thirty-four engagements in which the regiment participated. When unable to do active service he assisted in the hospital; on one occasion performing a difficult surgical operation that saved a comrade’s life.

Returning to Middletown and his former employer he became a salesman and traveled for 25 years over most of the northern states. In 1869 the firm was changed to Wilcox, Crittenden & Co., and in 1890 Comrade Crittenden retired from road to participate in the management.

He entered actively into the civil affairs of the city at this time becoming its mayor for two terms. He was the first president of the Middlesex Hospital and a founder of the Middlesex Historical Society.

He served as a trustee of Wesleyan University and a director of the Middletown Savings Bank. He was a member of the First Congregational Church, St. John’s Masonic Lodge, Mansfield Post. G.A.R.., the Society of the Army of the Potomac, the Army and Navy Club and the Second Corps Club.

Comrade Crittenden was a man of unusual intelligence and could talk entertainingly and instructively on a large variety of subjects. His sterling fidelity in all the relations of life and his genial spirit and manner endeared him to his fellow citizens.

Comrade Crittenden served as president of the society and for many years as chairman of the Necrological Committee. He always felt a keen interest in his comrades of the 14th regiment although his health has not permited his attending the reunions the past few years. He is survived by his widow and one sister.

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