Saturday, April 22, Earth Day and a Hockanum River walk, 1:00 p.m. Robertson School, 65 North School Street, front steps of old building. Union Village designated a National Historic District in 2002.
Our walk starts at Robertson School, named for John T. Robertson (1856- 1922), organizer of the J.T. Robertson Soap Company, maker of Bon Ami scouring powder., with interests in the Orford Soap Company, in Manchester, Syracuse, N.Y., and Montreal, Canada. Mr. Robertson was one of the organizers and original directors of the Manchester Trust Company.
We’ll walk along streets in the
North End to Union dam, originally built in 1866, where the Hockanum river flows out of Union Pond. On this 53rd annual Earth Day, we’ll acknowledge the Hockanum’s drastic change from pollution to recreation, and the benefits of the clean air and clean water legislation of the 1970s.
We’ll see housing originally built by the Union Manufacturing Company for its employees. The cotton mill was established in 1794 by Samuel Pitkin, and operated through various ownerships
until 1900, when the treasurer absconded with its funds. Cheney brothers bought the buildings and water rights, and built an electric generating plant in 1901 on North Main Street next to the river. No buildings remain at the site of the former mills.