THE HISTORY OF THE THROOP WAGON WORKS IN MORRIS (SOUTH FARMS)

by Walter D. France, Historian

Reprinted from The Morris Historical Society Newsletter, June 1994.

 

Dan Throop married Olive Smith and their son, Monroe, was born in 1818, the first of nine children. Dan worked with Enos Carpenter, a builder, and in 1816 the Carpenter home (No. 226 Lakeside Road) was built and in 1820 Dan Throop’s house, just to the east, was built (No. 210 Lakeside Road). Enos ran a shop opposite of his house and in 1841 deeded ½ interest in his business to Dan Throop. Enos and Dan started building wagon bodies.

 

By 1856 Dan and his son, Monroe, bought out Enos’s business and house and Monroe moved into Carpenter’s dwelling. Brother, George Throop, born in 1829, also worked in the wagon shop and lived in the house of this father, Dan. The wagon shop, still standing, was a multiple story building, about 50 ft. by 30 ft. with a 15 ft. diameter water wheel (later changed to a turbine) built on the south side. The water wheel was fed by a stone lined canal that ran several hundred feet from the Mill Pond, east of the shop.

 

Wagon parts were fitted, drilled and partially assembled on the second floor with final assembly on the first floor. In 1867 Monroe and George Throop moved the former Baptist Church ¾ mile west to their property. This building, 38 feet by 34 feet, was set up across the road from the shop. The building was desirable for a paint shop because it had plastered walls, thereby being “dust free.” This building was the Throop Trim Shop. On May 21, 1880 George, age 51, sold to Monroe, age 62, all interest in the Wagon Shop, machinery, water privileges, store house and Trim Shop. Monroe continued to assemble and paint wagons into the 1890s. We know of no Throop wagons or photographs that have survived, however, the wagons in the Morris Historical Society represent the types made.

 

Editor’s notes: In the years since these Historic Notes were written, some of the landmarks may have changed or are no longer visible. The historic plaque is on a stone on private property, on the right side of the driveway at #210 Lakeside Road. The Morris Centennial Committee, in 1959, arranged for the placement of plaques mounted on stone monuments to mark historic sites for buildings no longer in existence.

 

The following story about the Throop brickyard was given to the Morris Historical Society by Mrs. Mary Waugh of Lakeside at an unknown date:

 

Incidents of Old Brickyard Operated Ninety Years Ago

by Emeline A. Keeler Marsh, August 30, 1926

 

Incidents, as they come to mind, of the old Brickyard on the Throop Farm, Morris. Conn. One of my early recollections is of the old brickyard, where I saw them grind the clay, by having a horse attached to a long swinging pole which guided him round the path around the claypit, where the clay was being rendered of the proper consistency to be moulded into bricks. It seems to me that my grandfather, Dan Throop, called the upright log which had ever so many heavy pins attached – “the Crag,” and as the horse walked around the pit, the crag turned around and the long pins stirred the clay from the bottom of the pit which was mixed with the water which seemed to be always present in the pit, and after a time the contents of the pit was a smooth pasty mass. Next thing that I remember is seeing the bricks a dark mud color, set in orderly rows to dry in the sun; if it was likely to rain when they were in this stage, the workmen hurriedly covered them with boards, of which there seemed to be a good supply on hand near by, for that purpose. Next visit would be the bricks in the kiln, which was built up hollow in the interior to make place for the wood which was to be used in the “burning” or hardening of the bricks.

 

Another visit which I remember best of all was when the burning was actually in progress. At that time the brick-kiln looked like a low church building with pointed arched windows and as we drove away from grandfather’s after nightfall it looked like a house all ablaze inside and suggested a place of torment. This burning kept up for several days and was in the hands of an expert, who knew when and where to push in the well-seasoned wood which lay in piles nearby. Thus the work of burning the bricks was kept up day and night, until the one in charge pronounced it fit. Then long rakes were used to rake the embers through these window-like apertures, and the kiln was finished, and the fine red bricks, as soon as they were properly cooled, were ready to be hauled away for building purposes, etc.

 

Now the writer is over 71 years old and this memory of the brick-kiln reaches back from 60 to 65 years. I lived three miles distant and made occasional visits to grandfather’s where the bricks were made, so there are many things of which I am ignorant, such as how the water was introduced into the pit, if sand was used to mix with the clay, etc.

 

(Signed) Emeline A. Keeler Marsh, August 30, 1926

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Editor’s note: Emeline Amelia Keeler Marsh, the daughter of William R. Keeler and Elizabeth (Throop) Keeler was born in Bantam, Conn. on June 20, 1855. She led a most interesting life, first as a teacher in Oregon, Oklahoma, and Arizona and later as a matron on Ellis Island working for the immigration service. On May 27, 1942 Emeline died at the home of her son Miles Marsh in Great Falls, Montana. Her remains were brought east by her son and were buried in Bantam Cemetery, next to her parents and sisters Martha, Carrie and Julia Keeler.