Taftville, Connecticut
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Taftville is a small village in eastern Connecticut. It is a neighborhood of Norwich, CT but has its own post office (ZIP Code 06380). It was established in 1866 as site for the large Taftville Mill, later Ponemah Mill, a cotton textile factory built on the Shetucket River where a large dam could be built to provide power. The large mill building (Building No. 1) was purported to be the largest weave-shed under one roof at that time. The original workers were predominantly Irish immigrants; a strike, however, caused most of them to be replaced with French Canadians, who would come to number more than 70% of the population. Ponemah Mills operated for about 100 years.
There is a public elementary school called Wequonnoc School and a private elementary school called Sacred Heart School (http://www.sacredhearttaftville.org). [1] Students then attend Kelly Middle School. After graduating from there, they move on to either Norwich Free Academy, an independent school serving Norwich and several surrounding towns, Norwich Technical High School, or other surrounding high schools. There are two churches: Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church and the Taftville Congregational Church.
Among the more accomplished Taftville residents was Ned (Edward) Hanlon who managed the Pittsburgh Alleghenys (1889), Pittsburgh Burghers (1890), Baltimore Orioles (1892-1898), Brooklyn Superbas (1899-1905), and the Cincinnati Reds (1906-1907). Another ballplayer was the Quebec-born right fielder, Augustine "Lefty" Dugas, whose family settled in Taftville. He played for the Pirates, Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Senators between 1930 and 1934.
In the academic arena Saunders Mac Lane, was the son of the Minister of the Taftville Congregational Church and a mathematician of world note, who spent his career at the University of Chicago, Yale and Harvard. He was the co-author of A Survey of Modern Algebra, a book which was the standard work in that field for many years.
