The Nutmeg State has a reputation to outsiders as being somewhat of a dull state where few things have happened, but we have a surprising amount of history in Connecticut. It’s truly shocking how many everyday items were invented in Connecticut: hamburgers, lollipops, Frisbees – the world just wouldn’t be the same without everything that’s come from here! One of the state’s most important inventions isn’t quite as well-known as some of those others, but arguably made much more of a global impact. Did you know that vulcanized rubber was perfected right here in Naugatuck, Connecticut?
The town of Naugatuck is in New Haven County and spans both sides of the river that shares its name. Interestingly, it’s the only place in Connecticut that’s both an incorporated town and a borough.
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Naugatuck boasts an expansive historic district that’s centered around the town green.
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This area of the state is unsuitable for farming due to rocky soil, but played an important role in manufacturing in the 19th-century.
Farm Security Administration/Library of Congress
Around 1831, a young Connecticut businessman by the name of Charles Goodyear became fascinated by the potential offered up by natural rubber.
Southworth & Hawes/Wikimedia Commons Natural rubber (also known as gum elastic) was used industrially at the time, but its soft, sticky texture and propensity for rot meant that it was not a very practical substance for many purposes.
Goodyear experimented extensively and eventually developed the process of vulcanization. Using heat and nitric acid, he was able to harden the rubber so that it could be used much more widely, through a wide array of environmental conditions.
German Federal Archives/Wikimedia Commons
While he technically made his discovery in Massachusetts, Goodyear perfected his process in Connecticut, patenting it and and forming the Naugatuck India-Rubber Company in 1844.
Goodyear Rubber Company/National Archives and Records Administration/Wikimedia Commons Naugatuck became the country’s hub of rubber production, churning out rubber shoes and gloves.
Goodyear’s process of vulcanization was so monumental that it remains unchanged nearly two centuries later. It’s no exaggeration at all to say that he truly changed the world.
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Rubber was so instrumental in the town of Naugatuck that you can find a street named Rubber Avenue there today. Charles Goodyear’s name lives on through the Goodyear Company’s famous blimp and tires. The company was founded by an unrelated Ohio man and named after Goodyear since his invention made the production of tires possible.
Kala Bernier/Flickr
Enrique Chia/Google Local
Farm Security Administration/Library of Congress
Southworth & Hawes/Wikimedia Commons
Natural rubber (also known as gum elastic) was used industrially at the time, but its soft, sticky texture and propensity for rot meant that it was not a very practical substance for many purposes.
German Federal Archives/Wikimedia Commons
Goodyear Rubber Company/National Archives and Records Administration/Wikimedia Commons
Naugatuck became the country’s hub of rubber production, churning out rubber shoes and gloves.
HopsonRoad/Wikimedia Commons
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Address: Naugatuck, CT 06770, USA
