STOP TWO: NORWICH (population 40,014) – The Wauregan, 25 Broadway
High Roads and Low Roads (Tours)- Route 9 and a little bit of Route 9A
- Back to 44, next right onto Grove Street (Route 12)
- Route 12 turns right at Killingly Ave, turns into Putnam Pike
- Goes through Attawaugan into town of Killingly. Go straight across intersection of 101.
- Turns into Main Street, go through Killingly Center, take a left onto Water Street and right onto Dyer Street, which will turn back into Route 12
- Route 12 is now Wauregan Street, then turns into Putnam Road. It will enter Wauregan and then Plainfield.
- This will become Main Street and then Norwich Road into Jewett City
- In Jewett City, it becomes Main Street, goes under Rte 395 and becomes River Road
- It will then become Norwich Ave, Boswell Ave and then turns left onto North Main Street
- Follow North Main Street. Take a right onto Main Street
- Park on Main Street, Broadway will be on the right.
Notes about travel: It took me 72 minutes to drive the 35.5 miles to Norwich. It was pretty rural for a while, traveling through places like Plainfield which was incorporated in 1693. It was confusing going into Norwich center and I did drive around the same region twice before settling for the city parking garage.
About Norwich in the 1930s:
In the guide book, there is a detailed section about Norwich. When the book was published, there were 23,021 people living there. The guide book describes Norwich as being “a busy industrial city at the junction of the Yantic and Shettucket Rivers, which merge together to create the Thames. The guide book describes in detail the “narrow crooked streets, cobblestones and buildings from many different time periods.” In this time period, industries in Norwich included making thermo bottles, velvets, woolens, awnings, table cutlery, leather goods and metal products. There were two hotels in this timeframe.
About the Wauregan:
The Wauregan was slated to be demolished in 2019. The Wauregan Hotel, opened in 1855, was clearly one of the most important historic buildings in the downtown. Furthermore, the Wauregan had a distinguished history. Built by a consortium of businessmen and community leaders headed by William Buckingham — merchant, manufacturer, mayor of Norwich, and future governor of Connecticut and U.S. senator — the Wauregan was the meeting place for the movers and shakers of Norwich. The upper floors were reserved for residential use, while the lower three floors were intended for overnight guests. Most famous of all guests at the Wauregan was Abraham Lincoln, on the night of March 9, 1860. At the invitation of the Republican state committee, Lincoln spoke at five Connecticut cities in support of Buckingham’s bid to be re-elected governor of Connecticut. In 1870, a reception at the Wauregan honored U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant, returning from a Fourth of July celebration at Roseland Cottage in Woodstock. Booker T. Washington attended a reception in his honor at the Wauregan in 1908. In the 1950s, famous actors such as Bela Lugosi, Gypsy Rose Lee and others made the Wauregan their stayover while in town for Norwich Summer Theatre performances. Many citizens worked to prevent it from being knocked down and today it is 70 units of moderate income housing, 4,000 s.f. of retail space, ballroom restoration, and 100-space parking garage.
Notes from letters
The beginning part of this letter focused on my grandfather writing about white he envisioned his future with my grandmother to be like. He then said now I shall return to the present day. This morning I ran across Cliff in the valley, and I told him which Hall had to say regarding the trip. There was a lot more information that went back-and-forth between saying Jason and the others around. I arrived in town about 11:30 this morning and put in for displays and chalk that took me up to 530. Got back to the hotel, shaved, had dinner, sat in the lobby for a few minutes and here I am writing you. The last mail has left so this won’t leave until tomorrow morning. Today was another touch of spring and I know how much you would like to have been on here instead of being in your dreary office. This was written on February 25, 1931
Coffee Shop & General Notes about Norwich: Cream Coffee Shop, 48 Franklin Street. The coffee shop was really neat and had both inside and outside seating. It was very busy with a variety of people (from older people to firefighters). I had a delicious peach-apricot iced tea. The downtown was interesting – lots of murals on buildings, but there were also a lot of empty storefronts. There was a gallery on the other side of the Wauregan, but it wasn’t open until later. Currently, there are a little over 40,000 people who live in Norwich. I spent 43 minutes in downtown Norwich.
Waiting 