Ansonia Clock Company

Ansonia, CT

Historically, the Ansonia Clock Company did not have its roots in Ansonia, the Connecticut town after which it was named, but some 35 miles northeast in the great clockmaking town of Bristol. In 1841, Theodore Terry, nephew of Eli Terry, the man who had started the manufacture of inexpensive clocks in the first decade of the 19^th century, formed a partnership with Franklin C. Andrews. The new firm of Terry & Andrews was formed to tool up and manufacture inexpensive brass clocks.

In 1850 Anson G. Phelps, a wealthy industrialist from New York who operated large foundry operations at Birmingham (now Derby), Connecticut, persuaded Terry & Andrews to leave Bristol and become allies with his foundry operations. On May 7, 1850, Anson G. Phelps, Theodore Terry and Franklin C. Andrews formed a joint stock corporation known as the “Ansonia Clock Company” for the manufacture and sale of clocks, movements and related wares. The new location, Ansonia, was a village in the town of Derby, Connecticut, which Anson Phelps had named after himself.

The Ansonia Clock Company’s business proceeded well until about November of 1854, when the factory was reduced to ashes. The loss was estimated at $120,000. Thereafter, Theodore Terry became involved with P.T. Barnum, the great showman, in a clock venture called the Terry & Barnum Manufacturing Company. That company went bankrupt in March of 1856. In addition, for the fifteen years following the 1854 fire, Phelps, Dodge & Co. manufactured movements for the trade and a few cased clocks. Although the history of clockmaking at Ansonia is more difficult to follow during this time, clocks from this period are labeled “Ansonia Brass Company” or “Ansonia Brass & Battery Company”. However, the clockmaking business once again became a major operation after the Ansonia Brass & Copper Company was organized on February 11, 1869.

After eight years, another reorganization took place which separated the foundry operations from the clockmaking operations.  On December 21, 1877, a joint stock corporation was formed at New York City adopting the original name, “Ansonia Clock Company”.   Two years later, in April of 1879, a large factory was commenced at Brooklyn, New York and its new machinery was installed in the spring of 1880. The incorporators of the new company were primarily the officers of Phelps, Dodge & Co., with one important exception, Henry J. Davies. Henry J. Davies of Brooklyn was a man whose influence and leadership would be strongly felt in coming years. Davies designed figurine clocks, swing clocks and other unusual novelties highly regarded by today’s clock collectors.

On October 27, 1880, the Brooklyn factory of the Ansonia Clock Company was totally destroyed by fire. Despite the setback, a new building was immediately erected and within a few years the entire clockmaking operation was centered at Brooklyn.

By January of 1883 Ansonia had sales offices in New York, Chicago and London. By 1886 they offered 228 clocks and by 1914 this number had grown to almost 450! They had become known for their iron-cased clocks often made with white metal figurines, clocks with imported china cases and crystal regulators. Non-jeweled watches were added to their line before 1894 and by 1929 they produced an estimated 10 million of these watches.

By the mid-1920’s the company was definitely in trouble. The end culminated with the sale of the firm to Soviet Russia’s Amtorg Trading Corporation. After the sale, some workmen from Brooklyn went to Russia for up to 18 months to get the machinery in operation and train the Russian workers.