Thomaston, CT, is relatively a small industrial town, set in picturesque Litchfield County, along the Naugatuck River. A drive from the northernmost point to the southernmost can be completed via a single, two-lane road, in a few short minutes. One cannot drive the length of that road without noticing the brick and cement façade of a building where an industrious man’s genius put Thomaston on the map----The Old Seth Thomas Clock Factory. Everyone in town knows the building. Rows of large, closely placed windows provide natural light to each of its four stories, and its iconic tower clock stands proud with four faces that look to the north, south, east, and west. But for too many decades surprisingly few knew much more than, “it was a clock factory”. 

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The people of Thomaston are proud of its historic beginnings.  Yet, there was a decades-long period of time when proper education and recognition of that history were ignored.  Today, there are dedicated townspeople working to bridge that  knowledge gap.  

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Lifelong residents of Thomaston, and others who settled there more recently, volunteer to preserve its historic riches.  They work tirelessly, meticulously cataloging and displaying documents, photographs and other artifacts; treasures from Thomaston’s storied past.  The Thomaston Historical Society, located in the Town Hall, houses a rich collection of archives, from research on local families, to war records, to photographs and paintings, to  maps and memorabilia, dating back to the Colonial era.  Seth Thomas and his wife Laura Andrews Thomas once lived in a colonial home on Main Street.  The house remains, well-preserved, as the present day home of the Thomas-Bradstreet House Museum, an offshoot of the Historical Society.  

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Seth Thomas, son of a Scottish immigrant, was an early American clockmaker; a title that tells only part of his story.  Thomas’ true genius was in business.  At the age of twelve, Thomas was sent to apprentice with Daniel Tuttle, a carpenter in the town of Plymouth, a short way from Wolcott, CT, his hometown.  He emerged a finely skilled woodworker and was hired by Eli Terry, a local clockmaker, to construct a suitable interior structure for his new larger factory.  Once Terry witnessed his extraordinary skill, he asked Thomas to begin making wooden clock parts and assembling them for precision timekeeping.  Terry eventually sold that business to Thomas and an associate, Calvin Hoadley.

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Thus begins the career of Seth Thomas.  Thomas wanted to establish his business in the town of his birth, but, after failing to find suitable land in Wolcott, he built his first factory in Plymouth Hollow. The town was later named Thomaston in his honor.  Economic challenges of the times notwithstanding, Thomas would remain financially strong.  The shrewd entrepreneur simultaneously ran additional ventures, including his long owned farm.  When cotton textiles became popular, Thomas established a cotton mill.  Once brass became a common material for clock parts, he purchased a brass mill .  Even at the young age of seventeen, Thomas had begun to purchase land; a practice he continued whenever he found an available parcel, further deepening his financial security.  Some of this land was developed, creating homes for the very skilled workers and craftspeople whom he recruited from around the world.  Thomas knew that his employees formed the foundation of his success.

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In an enlightening telephone interview with Kristin Mossiman, Chairwoman of the Thomaston Historic Commission,  she highlights her efforts to elevate the Seth Thomas legacy to its proper berth in the hearts and minds of Thomaston’s residents. Ms. Mossiman has taken a strong lead on this work to insure that the man who brought prosperity to the town will be remembered for all time.  Though this writer  read a number of historical accounts of Thomas, from boyhood through his remarkable life, Ms. Mossiman’s exuberant, passionate telling of her story breathes life into those written words. 

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Tell me about the educational program you have created for fourth graders to preserve the legacy of Seth Thomas.

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When I went away to college in Boston and people would ask me, “Where’s Thomaston?” and I would say, “You know, home of Seth Thomas”, like everybody knew that.

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And you realized that was not the case?

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I thought, “this is crazy”.  And I realized that so many generations had gone by, and you had such an influx of people with all these big neighborhoods now…and nobody knew anything and the kids didn’t know anything. And that was kind of the genesis of the whole idea of the program… it’s called the Passport Program, so the kids have a workbook that they use and they get stamps every month…it’s very interactive and they meet all kinds of different members of the community.

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How long  does the program run?

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It’s a year-long program that’s been going for about seven years now.  Each month the kids go on field trips in the downtown area where…everything has a relationship back to Seth Thomas and his family; from the fire department to the town hall, to the land where all the churches are.  We use the museum as a launching pad for that whole program every academic year. Prior to the fourth grade program I was a substitute teacher in Thomaston…so I was seeing every grade from kindergarten to six and I had the opportunity to introduce almost every grade to Seth Thomas…I would bring my ‘box of clocks’ and tell them stories according to their grade level…you literally have a generation of kids now that have heard the story in some way, shape or form

 

That’s wonderful.  I look forward to taking a tour of the Museum.

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I often have dreams about a children’s book about Seth Thomas because I think his story is amazing, and the fact that it’s a fluke that he ended up here in Thomaston. This is not where he wanted to be.  If he had not ended up here in Plymouth Hollow…we would be a very different town.

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Here is a link from a Fox 61 News interview with Kristin Mossiman in 2016.

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Often, we take our forbearers for granted without thinking about what they accomplished during markedly challenging times, or about the undeniable impact they had on our lives.  Our snapshot of Seth Thomas’ boyhood is not the picture of an upbringing one would consider to be a grooming for greatness.  Indeed, greatness was his destiny, greatness that would become the fortunate inheritance of Plymouth Hollow.  Thomas' legacy, left in the wake of his multifaceted business success, is the very foundation of Thomaston, CT.  Today, Thomaston enjoys a multicultural citizenry and a strong standard of living, in a scenic, family-oriented community.

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