Page "Torrington, Connecticut" Paragraph 7

Israel Coe and Erastus Hodges began the construction of two brass mills on the Naugatuck River in 1834.

This event sparked the beginning of the brass industry in Torrington, which later would spread throughout the entire Naugatuck Valley.

In 1849, the Naugatuck Valley railroad was completed, connecting Torrington with other population centers, ending its isolation, and stimulating further industrial growth.

Soon, Torrington was producing a variety of metal products, including needles, brass, hardware, bicycles, and tacks.

Torrington's growing industrial plants attracted English, Irish, and German immigrants throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Between 1880 and 1920, Torrington's population exploded from 3, 000 to 22, 000 as immigration from southern and eastern Europe increased ; most immigrants during this period were Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, and Italians.

Torrington was chartered as a city in 1923.