A busy summer for history artifacts

Outreach Education Committee features objects connected to local businesses at monthly Senior Center presentations

The monthly history artifact and pop-up library visits at the Senior Center continued through the summer, with our Outreach Education Committee focusing on objects related to three successful businesses in Waterbury: Roby's Cider Mill, Derby & Ball, and WDEV.

W. A. Roby Evaporated Cider bottle

In September, 1917, Warren A. Roby (1881-1977) purchased Arthur Huntley Graves' cider mill located just on the Duxbury side of the river. Roby, who also ran the grocery store in Waterbury Center at one time and worked in the lumbering business, operated the mill for nearly 50 years. According to presenter Skip Flanders, there were probably 3 or 4 cider mills operating in Waterbury Village at the time, and Roby's two-story mill was one of the largest and best-known.

Evaporated cider was popular as a sweetening agent because it was less expensive than sugar. People stored and used it for cooking throughout the winter. "Not much went to waste as cider mills," explained Flanders.

Roby's was large enough to regularly ship barrels of its evaporated cider by train to locations in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and New York.

The pop-up library included books about cider-making for interested readers to check out.

Derby & Ball snaths and bats

A scythe snath from the WHS collection.

As a preview of the society's latest exhibit in the Steele Community Room, the committee showed off a scythe snath and a couple of baseball bats made by Derby & Ball, a company founded in 1920 with the merger of two already-thriving snath manufacturing companies: Edwards & Edwards in Waterbury and Derby, Ball Corp. in Bellows Falls. More about this company, the exhibit, and the Senior Center presentation can be found in this post from July.

The exhibit is open through September 23.

WDEV's winter croquet trophy

At the most recent presentation in early September, lunch-goers reminisced about their favorite programming on WDEV, which began broadcasting in 1931 under the direction of Harry Whitehill, then also the publisher of the Waterbury Record, and Lloyd Squier. Such content as "Music To Go To the Dump By," Red Sox games broadcasts, the weekly list of local birthdays submitted by "Birthday Lady" Winona Hoffman, kids' letters to Santa, music by Don Fields and His Pony Boys, and the nightly poetry reading by Squier ranked among listeners' most cherished radio memories.

In late winter, when snow was still on the ground, WDEV hosted a winter croquet tournament in Rusty Parker Park from 1985-2019. The trophy, which was the presentation's featured artifact, rotated to the latest winning team until the next year's contest. The Waterbury Fire Department dominated the list of winners during those 35 years. Presenter Skip Flanders proudly noted that he and his fellow EFUD Commissioners -- "The E-Fudders" -- took home the trophy for the very last time before turning it over to the historical society.

Books about croquet and even a croquet set were available to check out from the pop-up library.