Bigelow Boilerworks

The Bigelow Boilerworks campus was the manufacturing headquarters of Bigelow Boiler Company, which produced water tube and fire tube boilers for nearly a century. In conjunction with the National Pipe Bending Company, which occupied the building next door, the Bigelow Boiler Company built and distributed boilers worldwide.

Before H.B. Bigelow acquired the land in the 1860s, it was the site of army barracks.

The Bigelow Company owned the site from 1869-1980s. The Company was operated by the Bigelow Family 1869-1963 and the Barnum Family from 1963-1980s.

The City of New Haven owned the site 1980s-2016.

G.L. Capasso, Inc. acquired the land in 2016.

1860: H.B. Bigelow purchases 8 Whitney Avenue. He produces wartime machinery, Leffel water turbines, small steam engines, and sugar mill equipment. The operation outgrows the facilities so Bigelow moves it to River Street.

1869: The original wooden factory on South side of River Street opens.

1873: The wooden factory burns and is rebuilt in brick with storehouses on North side of River Street.

1887: Bigelow Boilerworks employs hundreds of employees. The main products are boilers and steam engines, mainly Lancashire and fire-tube boilers.

1889: A fire destroys part of a wooden factory onsite. All facilities are rebuilt with fireproof construction.

1905: Bigelow Boilerworks begins making water-tube boilers.

1906: The high-bay erecting shop opens. It is sized for engines and cranes.

1963: Bigelow Company sold to Barnum family.

1980s. Bigelow Company goes out of business and City of New Haven acquires the property.

2000s and 2010s: Various redevelopment plans proposed, including the River Street Historic District Plan and a National Register of Historic Places registration applicaiton. Parts of the campus are demolished and cleared.

2018: The erecting shop (also called the assembly hall) slated for redevelopment.

Located at the mouth of the Mill River on a parcel formerly known as Grapevine Point, the Bigelow Boilerworks campus was situated at the intersection of rail and waterway routes. Locomotives transported materials and goods on train tracks along River Street, while barges and ships moved materials and goods through the New Haven Harbor. These two transit systems connected to national and global networks of trade and transportation.

The Mill River neighborhood and Fair Haven were industrial. Most of the housing stock in Fair Haven was developed for industrial workers' families.