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Hopeville

Hopeville Hopeville

History of Hopeville
Located next door to Washington Hill, the Hopeville neighborhood is bordered by Piedmont Street, South Main Street, Perl Lake Road, Sylvan Avenue and Edgewood Avenue. In 1955, when the Naugatuck River overflowed its banks, residents watched as freight cars, chunks of houses and furnishings flowed down the river.

The neighborhood, an all-American mix of Irish, Italian, Polish and Hispanic, consists of trim single families, double- and triple-decker homes and clean streets. "I've been favorably impressed with the Hopeville area since coming here," said the Rev. Robert Werme, pastor of South Congregational Church since December 1992. There's been little crime residents can speak of, which suits them fine.

The Hopeville Community Club, started in 1951, successfully convinced the city to garner land for a school because numerous single-family homes were being built in Gilmartin, Macary said. [Referring to James 'Jim' Macary, president of the club from 1955-57.] "Houses were going up so fast, we recommended the city buy some of the land before it was overbuilt and there was no room for a school," Macary said. The club disbanded in the mid-1960s and members joined neighboring Washinton Hill and Gilmartin clubs, Macary said.

Waterbury consisted of nine districts, or communities, and had 14 school districts. Macary's section was known as Simonsville after Andrew Bayley Simons, a Goshen native. At age 17, Simons learned teh carpenter's trade and worked in Torrington, Thomaston and other Naugatuck Valley towns before settling in Waterbury about 1855.

Ten years later, he purchased the Gabriel Post farm and made extensive improvements on the property. That's how it became the Simonsville District. Simons built nearly 30 houses on Middle Street, Simons Avenue and George Street. The Sweet Life Cash and Carry wholesale grocery building used to be Simon's factory, where he manufactured paper clips, Parillo said. The school district was called Horse Pasture, and was so named because land in Hopeville had been sequestered for horses to graze, according to Waterbury history books. But the name Hopeville originated from the Hope Manufacturing Company started by Goshen native Henry Avery Matthews and other Waterbury businessmen. They made harness trimmings, and coach and saddlery hardware. Matthews served one term as mayor of Waterbury from 1884-86.

Hopeville
Excerpt of an article By Robyn Adams, Waterbury Republican-American — January 27, 1995

If you have a special knowledge of Hopeville or any other Waterbury neighborhoods, please contact us so we can record and share your story for others.


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