{
  "slug": "deep-river-ivoryton-industry",
  "title": "Deep River and Ivoryton: factories and company towns",
  "towns": [
    "Deep River",
    "Essex"
  ],
  "counties": [
    "Middlesex"
  ],
  "dateRange": "1850–1999",
  "topic": "Industry & working life",
  "summary": "Piano parts, workers’ housing and the buildings of the lower valley’s ivory industry.",
  "history": [
    {
      "heading": "The factory shapes a village",
      "text": "During the nineteenth century, Comstock, Cheney & Company helped build Ivoryton around its ivory and keyboard business. The company’s influence reached housing, shops and community buildings. In 1865 a boarding house was built for male employees; ownership passed to the firm in 1866. Local prosperity depended on a material obtained through the killing of elephants.",
      "source_ids": [
        "state",
        "museum"
      ]
    },
    {
      "heading": "Homes, transport and recreation",
      "text": "The Town of Essex documents intensive construction of company housing from 1900 to 1904, including 27 houses in one part of Ivoryton. Postcards show the general store, factory and trolley lines within this working village. Comstock-Cheney Hall opened in 1910 as a recreation building and later became the Ivoryton Playhouse.",
      "source_ids": [
        "essex",
        "state"
      ]
    },
    {
      "heading": "A merger in 1936",
      "text": "Comstock, Cheney & Company merged with Pratt, Read & Company of Deep River on December 31, 1936. A separate realty company then handled non-factory property, including workers’ homes. Surviving factories, housing and the Deep River Historical Society’s bleach house allow industrial history to be read at different scales, from a piano component to an entire neighborhood.",
      "source_ids": [
        "essex",
        "museum"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "timeline": [
    {
      "date": "1865–1866",
      "event": "An Ivoryton boarding house is built and passes into company ownership.",
      "source_ids": [
        "state"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "1900–1904",
      "event": "Factory housing expands rapidly.",
      "source_ids": [
        "essex"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "1910",
      "event": "Comstock-Cheney Hall opens.",
      "source_ids": [
        "state"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "December 31, 1936",
      "event": "Comstock, Cheney merges with Pratt, Read.",
      "source_ids": [
        "essex"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "state",
      "title": "Connecticut Department of Education — Ivory and Company Towns documents",
      "url": "https://portal.ct.gov/sde/publications/business/ivory-and-company-towns/documents"
    },
    {
      "id": "essex",
      "title": "Town of Essex — 47 Acres",
      "url": "https://www.essexct.gov/532/47-Acres"
    },
    {
      "id": "museum",
      "title": "Deep River Historical Society — Bleach house and piano collections",
      "url": "https://deepriverhistoricalsociety.org/drhs-hosts-park-rec-campers/"
    }
  ],
  "images": [
    {
      "id": "d27aa3b404043ab0f8ba",
      "image": "/county-images/10ddb41b5d8313c833b2a723ce28073336ada58cfcf2b8e4be4ec53d5c387acd.jpg",
      "title": "F. M. Rose General Store and a trolley, Ivoryton — historical postcard",
      "alt": "F. M. Rose General Store and a trolley, Ivoryton — historical postcard",
      "date": "circa 1911–1915",
      "credit": "Historical postcard / Wikimedia Commons; original creator not identified",
      "creator": "Creator not identified",
      "source": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:F.M._Rose_General_Store_and_trolley,_Ivoryton_postcard.jpg",
      "rights": "Public domain",
      "license": "Public domain",
      "licenseUrl": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Public_domain",
      "kind": "postcard",
      "later": false,
      "originalCaption": "F.M. Rose General Store and trolley, Ivoryton postcard",
      "originalImage": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/F.M._Rose_General_Store_and_trolley%2C_Ivoryton_postcard.jpg"
    },
    {
      "id": "9a4556031a2ea3ef11c4",
      "image": "/county-images/1b3bbca71a3ac57e915aec5ae7f6dd0072b72f6421a151026f683db13e74fc86.jpg",
      "title": "Comstock, Cheney keyboard factory, Ivoryton — postcard postmarked 1908",
      "alt": "Comstock, Cheney keyboard factory, Ivoryton — postcard postmarked 1908",
      "date": "Postmarked 1908",
      "credit": "Historical postcard / Wikimedia Commons; original creator not identified",
      "creator": "Creator not identified",
      "source": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PostcardIvorytonCTKeyBoardFactory1908.jpg",
      "rights": "Public domain",
      "license": "Public domain",
      "licenseUrl": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Public_domain",
      "kind": "postcard",
      "later": false,
      "originalCaption": "PostcardIvorytonCTKeyBoardFactory1908",
      "originalImage": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/PostcardIvorytonCTKeyBoardFactory1908.jpg"
    }
  ]
}