An Industrial Skeleton Awaits Rebirth

Awesome photographs, and a fantastic slice of New Haven history. This whole project is an inspiration to those thinking about how to create new jobs to replace bygone industry...

Sad but beautiful photos!

My Dad spent more than 40 years working in that building. It's sad there are still jobs for the working class.

That was absolutely fascinating. My friend works at Higher One and is looking forward to how this project will turn out. Thank you for the great article and fantastic photos!

These photos are really shocking and yet fascinating, my father went to work there as a boy and spent all of his life behind those walls I never saw the inside of it. but passed bye everyday going to school, i can remember it was very noisy. It is truly a land-marked building and should stand forever all these construction company in the area should donate some time and effort to this cause. I'll share these photos with my father. Thanks for the article great work.

The above photos is an accurate representation of what has been and continues to be, the reality for many others in this area.

All one need do is walk 2 blocks north into NewHallville, starting at Starr, Thompson, Hazel to Newhall streets to see an even greater need for housing restoration.

The families in these areas are past Winchester employees.

Unfortunately, these areas go unnoticed by the city and it's developers.

As a Result, we witness live, the dispassionate and disproportionate application of resources to the city's poor.

History :(

I agree the photos are fantastic. I love industrial and construction photos. Photos such as they tell story's long after they are taken. You can feel the life that once was there, you can feel the sadness that came. The photos represent people and their lives, the history of an industry and a city. The dreams of what is to come from the heartache of the loss. Hopes of the rebirth of a community. Thank you for sharing Tom. Truly beautiful artful photos that made me feel.

Thanks Tom for this amazing photo essay

Awesome photos.

One clarification, the state is providing $5 million or so but the actual cost of a renovation like this is much higher!

I agree with webblog1 that the area north of the plant has been extremely hard hit. We are seeing the impact of these issues in Newhallville, now. The ripple effects get worse every year, even many years after the plant closings. Even as recently as the 1990s, Newhallville's poverty rate was significantly below the city average, and its median income was higher than that of the city. In these measures, it is now quite a bit worse off than the city as a whole. Crime rates in Newhallville are also elevated far over the city as a whole - one Police Lieutenant recently said that more than 50% of shootings occurred in the few blocks north of the Winchester plant, despite the fact that the area represents less than 5% of the city's population.

The state needs to come up with a major operation to help the people in this neighborhood, not just throw $5 million at renovating the building.

The lack of opportunity in Newhallville is especially appalling when you consider that the federal tax cut extension proposed by Obama and the GOP will give a total tax cut of over $155,000 to EACH Connecticut household within the top 1% income bracket, while only giving a cut of about $300 to the average worker in Newhallville.

Photo essay of the year. Thanks so much for capturing this essence of this most historic place.

Now - what will it take for CT to get motivated to mastering the vanguard on the technical, economic, cultural and legal reform aspects of what's needed to become really good at recycling buildings like this. The state is filled with them. We ought to be the smartest and best place do to this kind of work. Bravo for Winstanley, Yale and whoever else is behind this important project!

Brilliant images by T.M. A picture is worth a thousand words, and Mac's photo- journalism continues to amaze. Thanks to New Haven Indy for thinking out of the box and enriching our lives with such insightful imagery. If I hadn't already become a subscribing member, this report would certainly have influenced me to do so.

The blocks north of the Winchester plant, including Winchester Avenue and it's bisecting streets, represents a massive opportunity to provide housing for future employees of the soon-to-be reused factory. In the 1990s, in large part due to the foreclosure crisis, the city demolished swaths of buildings in Newhallville and the Hill. There are 1/8th acre lots just sitting there with utilities in place, sidewalks, streets, and sewers and all that needs to be done is to overcome the stigma that has associated itself with inner city neighborhoods. Crime is down significantly in New Haven from 15-20 years ago and it's time to stop with the exaggerations and misinformation about city life.
Hopefully decades of red-lining will be overcome and people will seriously invest in places like Newhallville to make them as vibrant as East Rock is, and we do not have to rely on gentrification because there are enough abandoned buildings and vacant lots to provide housing for all income levels without resorting to demolition.

In my former life, I worked in manufacturing as an engineer. The factories where I worked are closed now, operations moved off shore.

Echoing others, the photo essay was fascinating and so sad.

My father is a retired tool and die maker. I grew up with a South Bend Lathe and a Bridgeport Milling Machine in the basement. While nowhere as skilled as my father, I did some metal working, under his watchful eye.

My father gave me such an appreciation for those men and women who could take metal and make something. When paging through the pictures of the Winchester factory, I just think about the many skilled craftsmen, talented workers, people who made stuff with their hands, provided for their families, and who had a sense of pride in their work.

Thanks for this piece.

The Veeder-Root building in Hartford is a good example of reclaiming an old manufacturing facility for new industry.

Looks like 48 Grant St., in the Hill, former New Haven Chair Company. These industrial dinosaurs are all over New Haven. What can we do with them?

Jonathan - crime may be much lower citywide, and the vast majority of city neighborhoods no worse than the state average. But that doesn't apply in Newhallville. The crime rate in Newhallville may actually be worse now than it was during some of the worst years of decades past. Dixwell is several times safer than it was, in part because Elm Haven is gone, but that doesn't help people on Read Street.

anon,
It seems that in the 80s and 90s, the lower blocks of Newhallville (south of Ivy) were experiencing problems of drug gang influence (the Newhallville Dogs, the Ville/2x) and the crime and other social problems in this section of the neighborhood were similar to those in other struggling areas of the city. I am familiar with the home ownership prevalence in Newhallville, but I have a feeling that this was concentrated in the area north of Ivy and west of Dixwell. A peculiar thing has occurred since the 90s, however. The violence and crime that once plagued lower Newhallville has shifted to the northern section of the neighborhood. Newer gangs and reincarnations of older drug gangs have greatly increased crime and social disorder in the northern section, that previously did not exist. Crime is actually rather low in the lower section (I think due mostly to sheer lack of residents thanks to building demolition, negative stigma, increased imprisonment of non-violent offenders and families moving out thanks to cheap mortgages), as compared to years past. The area west of Dixwell has remained fairly stable in comparison and has avoided, at least for now, the problems that have occurred in the neighborhood between Dixwell and Winchester.
So yes, while crime is down city wide, crime in the northern section of Newhallville is up compared to previous years. But the lower section has had decrease in violent crime and the number of shootings in this section (between Ivy and Division) is actually kind of abnormally low (not exactly sure why) and has been for several years. This is the area that has enormous potential, because of the recent drop in violence and because of the amount of vacant, buildable land that already has access to infrastructure and utilities. We need to get this information out there, so that investment in this section of the neighborhood can spur mixed use buildings on Winchester Avenue with affordable housing above retail shops aimed at servicing new employees that will work in the renovated factory (in the model of upper State Street-small groceries, restaurants, cafes, etc), and single family and 2-family houses can be built on vacant lots on adjacent streets aimed at middle class residents. Perhaps that city can provide incentives to rehab historic buildings, or persuade companies to provide incentives to live in the city. We need to advertise our strengths, otherwise it seems that this project will just be another 360 State.

Actually, IF you really wanted to rejuvenate the area, there MUST BE some manufacturing jobs in place!
Is this going to happen? I doubt it!
There ARE small scale manufacturers out there, as well as "other" types of business that NEED more room. IF we opened a "Start-up" {seed?} facility, THIS would be better {IMHO}!
We should open a center that charges LESS THAN half of the going $rate$ per$ $square foot! This WOULD help those fledgling companies move out of their basements/garages, and expand.
Right now, those owners may not have the money to pay top dollar for a rent, so they stay small!
FACT: Make it easier for them to expand, and they WILL HIRE more people!
BTW, the place looks the same as when My Grandfather, father, and I worked there! Well, except for the pealing paint. The buckled floors were to be found in several areas of the buildings, especially on the top floors!