Breathing new life into an undieing legacy

United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form

Downtown Waterbury 

Historic District

       Waterbury is a small industrial city of about 110,000 (this number may be subject to revision) people located along the Naugatuck River in western Connecticut. Hartford lies 28 miles to the northeast, New Haven is 19 miles to the southeast, and Danbury is 30 miles to the southwest. The Downtown Waterbury Historic District includes 130 buildings in the principal commercial and municipal government areas of the city. Downtown Waterbury, as it stands today, is mostly the product of building done in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The commercial and municipal core of the city grew up on the meadow lands of the east bank of the Naugatuck River that had accommodated the original small settlement of the eighteenth century. As the city grew, additional areas for homes and industries were developed on the slopes of the surrounding hills, eventually ringing the city center with houses, factories and small shops.

     These satellite settlements were once connected with downtown by trolley lines; today they are served by buses. North, South, East, and West Main Streets, which converge at Exchange Place, form the major downtown arteries, together with Bank St., which runs south from Exchange Place, and Grand St., which parallels West Main St. one block to the south. The other streets in the District are either connectors between these major thoroughfares, or are streets whose major length and importance lie outside the district's boundaries. There are two tracts of open public space in the District. First, the Green, a remnant of the original town common, is located at the foot of West Main Street,

     The second is Library Park, located between the railroad station and the Bronson Library on the south side of Grand St. The boundary of the District is determined by distinct physical barriers. To the north of West Main Street lies a residential area of single-family homes; north of East Main St. is an area of mostly vacant urban renewal lots. The district's eastern boundary is formed by a large open square at the junction of East Main, North Elm and South Elm Streets, and by recent construction (parking garage) on the east side of South Elm Street. From South Elm the boundary runs southwest, crossing School, Spring, Brook, South Main, and Bank Streets, and is determined by older buildings to the north and vacant land or new construction to the south.

     The boundary crosses Grand Street in a diagonal line from Bank Street to Cottage Place, skirting new construction to the east and encompassing the U.S. Post Office at the corner of Grand and Cottage. From Cottage Place the boundary continues westward, including on Field Street the Armory as well as the buildings already listed on the National Register District as part of the Cass Gilbert/Waterbury Municipal Center. The boundary runs northwest.

     This District includes properties with the following street addresses.  Some addresses are given as inclusive numbers (e.g. 68-78 Center St.); in these cases the numbers refer to one building with a number of store fronts or entrances. Buildings without numbers are identified by their common name, such as "Immaculate Conception Church."