Picture Windsor Locks - Then And Now

WINDSOR LOCKS, CT — Once again, we look back at an image from Windsor Locks history from the great photo book Images of America: Windsor Locks, compiled by Leslie Matthews Stansfield in 2003. Today's trip takes us back 130 years, to an 1890 view of the Montgomery Co.

According to the Nineteenth Annual Report of the State of Connecticut’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, published in 1903:

"The firm of J. R. Montgomery & Co. was established in 1871, for the purpose of manufacturing cotton warps used in satinets and union cassimeres. The firm was composed of J. R. Montgomery as the active partner, with two others who constituted the partnership. A few years after the outside interests were bought by J. R. Montgomery, who continued the business under the old firm name, until in 1885. George M. Montgomery was admitted into the business as an active partner, and the line of manufacture was enlarged, taking up the making of novelty yarns, which was a new and unique line of manufacture. In 1891, the firm of J. R. Montgomery & Co. was merged into a corporation under the name of The J. R. Montgomery Co., of which J. R. Montgomery, President, and George M. Montgomery, Vice-President and Secretary, are the active managers. A new cotton warp mill and an addition to the Novelty Mill was built. The capital of $350,000 was invested in enlarging and increasing the scope of its business."

The mill complex along the Connecticut River closed in 1989 and the buildings deteriorated for nearly three decades, until a $62 million renovation project brought 160 apartments into the facility two years ago.

Here is a recent photo of the site, taken by me last week.

Do you have a photo of an old Windsor Locks business which no longer exists, to which you own the copyright, and which we could feature in this column? Email tim.jensen@patch.com.

To register for free Windsor Locks-East Windsor news alerts and more, click here.