Editing Wauregan, Connecticut (section)

==History==
Named for a [[Mohegan]] word meaning "Pleasant Valley"<ref>Chamberlain, Alexander F.  "Algonkian Words in American English: A Study in the Contact of the White Man and the Indian."  ''The Journal of American Folklore'', Vol. 15, No. 59. (Oct. - Dec., 1902), pp. 240-267; Chamberlain's source appears to have been: Hodge, Frederick Webb, ed. ''Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico'', v. 2. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1910.  p. 923.</ref> Wauregan has a long history as an [[industrial district|industrial village]]. In 1850, [[Amos D. Lockwood]], who was involved with the [[Quinebaug Mill]] in [[Danielsonville, Connecticut|Danielsonville]], bought the water privileges and surrounding land at Wauregan. After the Wauregan Mills Company charter was approved by the Connecticut legislature in 1853, the first mill was constructed circa 1853-1854. Wauregan Mills was well known for its woven [[cotton]] goods, including various types of [[flannel]].<ref name=milltowntour>[http://www.thelastgreenvalley.org/publications/brochures/mill_town_tour_07.pdf The Mill Village Tour], The Last Green Valley, Inc., 2007</ref><ref name=WQrecords>[http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/findaids/Wauregan_Quinebaug/MSS19810010.html#d0e67 Wauregan and Quinebaug Company Records], Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut, 2004</ref> Lockwood became the mill's first agent and recruited James S. Atwood as his superintendent, who became responsible for setting up all machinery and starting production. The principal product of Wauregan was cotton sheeting.

James S. Atwood, who purchased the mill from Lockwood in 1858,<ref name=milltowntour/> took particular interest in the village surrounding the mill, making it what he considered to be a "model hamlet" where his factory's employees "could find attractive and comfortable homes near their daily tasks."<ref name=WQrecords/> Under James S. Atwood's leadership,  Wauregan began to prosper. The mill was expanded, workers' houses were built, and several amenities to Wauregan village life were added. Worker housing in the village included 104 company-owned buildings containing 255 [[apartment|tenement apartment]]s for rental to workers, plus two [[boarding house]]s for unmarried workers. A [[railroad station]] was built in 1859 and a [[post office]] was established in 1860.  A company store was built in 1875 and operated with [[subsidy|subsidies]] from the company. Another building in the mill village housed a [[fire station|firehouse]], clubhouse, [[jail]], and a reading room and [[library]]. A [[dairy farm]] and nearby woodlands were also part of the mill operation.<ref name=WQrecords/> Atwood quadrupled the size of the factory, adding the south mill of the front block in 1859 and the entire rear block in 1867-68. The mill's labor force was around 750 people, with most living within the village. The mill would eventually reach a capacity of 56,616 spindles and 1,464 looms, with an annual output of eleven million yards.

When James S. Atwood died, management of Wauregan Mills was passed on to his twin sons, James Arthur and John Walter Atwood. The Atwood brothers continued to expand and improve the mill, which employed 325 men and 160 women and children as of 1917.<ref name=WQrecords/> The Atwood brothers successfully responded to the competition of the newer, steam-powered mills by producing finer quality cotton goods such as shirting for the [[U.S. Marine Corps]], and later [[rayon]], instead of the traditional cotton sheeting. Wauregan Mills had a close working relationship with [[DuPont]] and was one of the pioneers of [[synthetic fabric]]. This partnership led to the development of the technology to produce fabric made of a blend of [[wool]] and rayon. In contrast to many larger, corporate-owned mills that were wedded to a particular product, the economic organization of Wauregan Mills enabled its owner/managers to easily diversify and change its product mix to meet new demands resulting from competition from newer textile centers, allowing them to stay profitable through [[World War II]], much longer than many other larger mills.

After World War II, Wauregan Mills entered a period of decline from which it never recovered.  In the 1950s, free trade policies with Japan, which had modern equipment shipped to them by the U.S. as part of post-war reconstruction enabling them to produce fine cotton goods much more cheaply, resulted in the death of the New England textile industry as cheap cotton goods flooded the U.S. market. Wauregan Mills tried to emphasize their capabilities in synthetic blend output and also to reduce labor costs by negotiating with the labor unions to eliminate certain fringe benefits. In August 1955, torrential rains from [[Hurricane Connie|Hurricanes Connie]] and [[Hurricane Diane|Diane]] caused many dams along the Quinebaug River to break, including the one at Wauregan. The mill was flooded to the level of the first floor ceilings. Workers tried to salvage as much cloth, raw materials and machinery as they could but ultimately the company lost more than $1,500,000. The company borrowed a large sum of money in order to be able to resume production but they didn't have enough working capital to repair and modernize their facilities. In 1957, James Arthur Atwood III, grandson of James S. Atwood, and the rest of the company directors decided to cease all operations resulting in the company's final closing.

James Arthur Atwood III was responsible for disposing of the company's assets to pay off their creditors. Land, the water company, and other properties were sold, and the mill rented to various tenants over the next decade. [[American Standard Brands|American Standard]] was one of the early buyers and built a manufacturing facility in Wauregan soon after the Wauregan company closed.<ref>[http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/findaids/Amerstan/MSS19890084.html American Standard Company, Wauregan, CT Plant Records], Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut, 2005</ref> All the debts of Wauregan Mill were eventually paid off in 1970. In 1974, C&M Corporation, a vertically integrated manufacturer of [[electrical cable]], owned and occupied the former Wauregan Mills complex, where it operated as a production facility and as its [[corporate headquarters]].<ref>[http://www.cm-corp.com/FolderID/82/SessionID/%7B49758CBD-7D38-4441-9A7D-B41971F72545%7D/PageVars/Library/InfoManage/Guide.htm C&M History], C&M Corporation website], accessed July 18, 2009</ref><ref>Town of Plainfield Plan of Conservation and Development (2008), Section XIII. Village Redevelopment [http://www.plainfieldct.org/index_files/Page27800.htm]</ref> In 2014, the Wauregan Mill was sold to a real estate management company. 

The village is described as looking "much as it did in the 1850s."<ref name=milltowntour/>  The Wauregan Historic District was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1979.<ref name="nris"/>