Dublin Hill/Higganum Cove State Register of Historic Places

The Haddam Historical Society is pleased to announce that we have contracted with Kristen Keegan of Bywater Historical Services to research and write the Dublin Hill/Higganum Cove Connecticut State Register of Historic Places Designation Report. She will spend the next few months researching, photographing and documenting the area. The Haddam Historical Society received support for this project from the State Historic Preservation Department of the Department of Economic and Community Development with funds from the Community Investment Act of the State of Connecticut.

The district is comprised of primarily small, two-story factory workers’ housing built by or for employees of Higganum’s mills. In addition to the mills located along the Higganum River, the village also contained two other large industries; D. and H. Scovil Hoe and Clark Cutaway Harrow (formerly known as Higganum Manufacturing) each employing over 100 men. The village also contained smaller factories which made builders hardware and chandeliers. Many of the factory employees were immigrants to the United States from Sweden, Germany and Ireland and later Italy and Eastern European countries such as Czechoslovakia. The area also contains one Colonial period farmhouse and a number of larger, more ornate factory owner or managers homes in the Italianate or Second Empire style.

The workers’ housing reflects the growth of the area’s industry during the second half of the 19th century and development of neighborhoods for employees at the factories. The buildings are also a strong link to the working-class and immigrant families of the community whose stories of diligence, determination and industriousness are an important part of our community’s heritage.

We plan on presenting her findings with a program in the fall.