People of Naugatuck
Gertrude Whittemore
Daughter of John Howard Whittemore
Some Distinguished Naugatuck Women
by D. J. Blackwell
Today, and for some years now, “women’s rights” have been getting considerable attention. Because they have won many rights the call for such now is less strident than in the past. Many groups of both sexes have talked much about rights, sometimes forgetting that there are no rights without duties or obligations. This seems to be better understood now than in the past. It used to be said, “A woman’s place is in the home”, but today, many women are effective in the professions, business and other fields. Gradually women have taken a more active role in community and civic affairs. This was true in Naugatuck and it might be worthwhile to consider some of these people and their contributions to life in town.
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About this time (1911), Gertrude Whittemore, daughter of J. H. Whittemore had Hamilton House built on Walnut Street as a boarding house for teachers and others who worked in Naugatuck but did not have a home here. She purchased the bank building next to the town hall and had it converted to a superb children’s library which was in use as such until the property was taken over for the new town hall. When I was in grammar school, in the spring Miss Whittemore invited each eighth grade to come to her house and go through the conservatory to receive from the gardener a rose bush, carnation plant or similar plant to be taken home, planted and nurtured in the student’s own garden.
Reference - Naugatuck Historical Society News, September/October 1998
Images of America - Naugatuck & Naugatuck Revisited Dana J. Blackwell and The Naugatuck Historical Society (November 1, 1996) Ron Gagliardi (August 25, 2004)
Ms. Whittemore set up safe houses for single and widowed women in the borough. The most notable is the Hamilton House.
As with the rest of the Whittemore family, Gertrude was a champion of education. She was the force between the 1906 Naugatuck Truancy law which guaranteed education up to 8th grade. She joined the Working Women’s Club, which taught young working women in Math, English & Literature. She also purchased the old Naugatuck National Bank Building for use as the Children’s Library.
On the left is the National Bank building that Gertrude turned into a children's library.
In 1923, Gertrude Whittemore purchased an organ (with her own money) and donated it to Hillside Covenant Church.
Hillside Covenant Church Undated
The Working Girls Club Clubhouse
19 Park Place
Organized in 1896, The Working Girls Club of Naugatuck was an organization that was interested in the well-being of the (mostly single) women that worked mainly in the factories of Naugatuck (although teachers and clerical workers were part of the club as well). The Club was also part of a larger organization within the state called the Connecticut Association of Women Workers. The state association had a yearly “reunion” that was well attended. Delegates from Naugatuck, Derby, New Britain and New Haven (all industrial hubs at the time) outnumbered delegates from the rest of the state.
Gertrude Whittemore was heavily involved in both the Naugatuck club and the State Association along with her mother Julia Whittemore (Mrs. JH!) and her longtime friend and fellow Naugatuckian K. Maud Smith. In 1908, Gertrude, using her own money, had the house at 19 Park Place constructed as a clubhouse for the Working Girls Club.
A newspaper article from 1910 describes the house: “a modernly equipped building of three stories is maintained as a clubhouse where the girls gather to enjoy social intercourse, to receive instruction in the several classes conducted on almost every evening of the week, and to enjoy the many facilities provided for recreation.” The first-floor housed a library and reading room, a large living room with a piano, a cooking room (where the girls learned to cook), and the kitchen. The second-floor housed sewing and hat-making rooms, as well as, an apartment for Maud Smith (who functioned as the House Mother). The third floor contained classrooms.
Gertrude Whittemore followed in her parents’ footsteps and devoted her life to the betterment of others.
Undated
August 2019
Naugatuck’s history is full of strong, innovative women. Gertrude Whittemore, daughter of J.H. Whittemore, was one of those women.
With the help of other notable Naugatuck women (Mrs. Harris Whittemore, Mrs. Alice Warner, Mrs. Charles Spencer) Ms. Whittemore helped start the first daycare in the borough, the Naugatuck Day Nursery. The women were inspired by a story of a young daughter of a widowed factory worker that narrowly escaped death in a kitchen fire that started while she was cooking dinner for her working mother. Ms. Whittemore also set up safe houses for single and widowed women in the borough. The most notable being the Hamilton House.
As with the rest of the Whittemore family, Gertrude was a champion of education. She was the force behind the 1906 Naugatuck Truancy law which guaranteed education up to 8th grade. She sponsored the Working Women’s Club which taught young working women in Math, English & Literature. She also purchased the old Naugatuck National Bank Building for use as the Children’s Library.
Hamilton House
The Hamilton house location today. Home located where the two newer houses are in lower right. The house in the postcard background is the 3rd house on Elmwood Street.