The Connecticut was the first steamboat to traverse the length of the Thames River arriving in Norwich in October 1816. The advent of steamships coupled with the burgeoning railroad industry heralded the beginning of a revolution in freight and passenger travel that would have profound effects on Norwich and the nation as a whole.
In the decades that followed the Norwich & Worcester Railroad would construct a landing at Allyn’s Point on the Thames River in 1843 and make substantial financial investments in the steamboat industry. The Norwich Line, a small fleet of steamships would make regularly scheduled trips between New York and Norwich with rail service to Worcester and Boston.
Henry B. Norton was born in Branford, CT on My 5, 1807. Mr. Norton arrived in Norwich in 1824 nearly penniless. Within three years he was a partner in the Backus & Norton wholesale grocery business. As a merchant his diverse interests in business led him into a partnership with Captain W.W. Coit and the newly formed Norwich and New London Steamboat Company in September 1848. Together they purchased the steamships owned by the financially crippled Norwich and Worcester Railroad.
Under an agreement with the railroad they built two steamships Commonwealth I (1858) and Commonwealth II (1855) which were widely considered to provide state of the art accommodations for its passengers at the time. Henry Norton became the founder and first president of the Norwich and New York Transportation Company in 1858.
The Norwich & New York Transportation Company and founder Henry B. Norton purchased the entire fleet of steamships of the Norwich Line in 1860. The company contracted for the construction of two more ships, the City of Boston (1861) and the City of New York (1862). Both ships were speed merchants with the City of Boston setting a record of five and a half hours for a trip between New York and Norwich.
To visit the library’s collection of historical photographs and view the Steamships album click on this link: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmunLkxb