I remember when we first got to go to Mr. Bigs Department Store on 8th Street in the Greeneville section of Norwich. We entered the parking lot across 8th Street, which at one time had held a factory building for the U.S. Finishing Company.

There was a long overhead sign on 8th Street that indicated where to go. At one time this overhead structure, holding the sign, was a covered conveyor for U.S. Finishing, leading into its 1950 warehouse which would later become Mr. Bigs.

So, once we crossed the road and walked down the concrete stairs, this adventure led me into a new world.

Mr. Bigs opened a new window for many into a large local department store. The inside was cavernous, filled with different sections including the one that held great wonderment for me: toy models. Years later I used this store to pick up clothes for our children, window coverings, or whatever was needed at a very reasonable cost.

I’d always stop to see my old next-door neighbor, Joe, who was the manager. But as time went on, this store was overshadowed by larger and more convenient buildings and malls in Norwich and other cities.

Mr. William Greene, a Harvard graduate, purchased land on both sides of the Shetucket River after having traveled to Lowell, Massachusetts, and seeing the great cotton mills there. He saw the potential of the power of the Shetucket.

Greene employed James Baldwin, an engineer, to begin construction of a dam in 1829, about 1,300 feet north of the present Greeneville Dam. (It can still be seen at low river water.)

A water power canal was also constructed at the same time. By the year 1833, when the construction was completed, two cotton mills and a paper factory were in operation. The nearly mile-long hand-dug canal allowed water to be sent to water wheels for the powering of the factory’s machinery.

In 1882, construction of the present Greeneville Dam began, allowing greater water flow, therefore more power for added factory capacity.

William Greene bought a large cotton mill called the Quinebaug Company and he changed the name to the Thames Manufacturing Company. Due to the Depression of 1837, Greene reorganized and called the holdings the Shetucket Company. Greeneville became the name of this area and was designed as an inclusive mill town.

Thinking ahead, sewers were installed to keep the inhabitants healthier.

The Norwich Bleaching, Dyeing, and Finishing Company was established in 1880 between the Shetucket River and the Norwich Water Power Company’s canal, an outgrowth of the pre-electric age in manufacturing. The newly formed Norwich Bleaching, Dyeing, and Printing Company had access to the Providence & Worcester Railroad and the proximity to the Ponemah Mill with its production of millions of yards of cloth per year.

This made sense as an industrial entity since the Ponemah had its own switcher engine for the movement of its product to the Bleachery. When the processes of bleaching, dyeing, and printing were complete, the Providence & Worcester Railroad shuttled the product to various railroads for delivery to customers.

In 1887, President Hugh H. Osgood stated: ”The yards of goods turned out by the Norwich Bleaching, Dyeing, and Printing Company equals 28,408 ½ miles and would extend around the world with about four thousand miles to spare.”

Prior to waste water treatment, the sewers of Greeneville emptied into the Shetucket. It must be noted that many Greeneville residents would take their ‘Saturday night bath’ in the river and even boys and girls would cool off due to the summer heat. Folk tales tell of people coming out of the river, dyed in various shades of what colored dyes were being flushed into the river at the time of their baths. The thought in those days was: “The solution to pollution is dilution.”

In 1900, the Bleachery became United States Finishing Company with a total of 20 buildings. During the war years it provided a vast amount of dyed yarn needed for the war effort. It continued to be a major employer in Norwich until 1958 when it moved its operation to the Carolinas where land was cheaper, taxes less, buildings had one floor, and wages were lower.

Bill Shannon is a retired Norwich Public School teacher and a lifelong resident of Norwich.