Canal Towns: Avon

The canal's arrival was a transformative event for the small village of Avon, then known as Northington and existing as a northern society of Farmington. Before the canal, the hamlet of Avon Village, west of the Farmington River, consisted of only six houses and a church. The local center of commerce, including the taverns, post office, and store, was located east of the river in an area called Nod, which serviced the traffic along the Albany Turnpike. The canal, which was constructed through the area between 1828 and 1829, was routed along two significant, lock-free levels: an 11-mile stretch from Bristol Basin (modern-day Plainville) to Avon, and another 12-mile section from Avon to Granby.

The promise of the canal sparked a commercial "boom" that shifted Avon's center of gravity. Promoters and residents believed the waterway would "bring business direct to Avon," supplanting Hartford as the primary supplier for towns to the west, such as Collinsville and New Hartford. This anticipation spurred a wave of investment. A "costly and convenient basin" was excavated, a large store was built, and investors made plans for six or seven more stores and houses. Mary Curtiss Whitmore, who was born in Avon in 1829, later recalled her father having "staked much of his small fortune on the success of the canal". Notable canal-era locations included a large warehouse on the bank where barrels were hoisted from boats, wharves, and the basin built to service heavy freight.

The most impressive structure in Avon was the massive aqueduct built to carry the canal 36 feet above the Farmington River. This "picturesque feaure" of the valley was built from stone quarried locally. Ms. Whitmore recalled that crossing this aqueduct on a canal boat journey to New Haven as a four-year-old "made a great impression on my mind... The pouring of the water on each side as the boat passed over thrilled me with its sound and volume". This aqueduct and the canal itself became a center of local life; in 1827, Deacon Edward Hooker noted riding to "see the Canal Aqueduct & Northington Village", and in 1828, Farmington residents took a canal boat to Northington to attend a town meeting.

Avon (Northington) quickly became a regular and celebrated stop for both freight and passenger boats. In October 1828, the boat Weatogue arrived from Simsbury with 120 passengers, and the inhabitants of Northington "manifested their joy by collecting together, ringing bells &c." before adding 50 more passengers for the journey. By 1829, packet boats like the New England and the New Haven listed Northington as a scheduled destination. This traffic continued for years; in 1839, the daily "New Haven and Northampton Packet Boat Line" listed Avon as a stop with a fare of $1.75 from New Haven. By 1842, the local firm of Noble Towner & Co. was advertising its own "Canal Line of Boats to Avon," which included the boats Avon, Hope, and Winsted. Notable residents included Francis Woodford, who served as the Collector of Tolls before resigning in 1833, and H. B. Campbell, who was appointed to replace him.

Despite the initial boom, the canal's success was short-lived and fraught with challenges. The entire enterprise drained the fortunes of many investors, including Mary Curtiss Whitmore's father. The proposal of a "New Hartford side cut" threatened to divert traffic and investment away from Northington, acting as a "death stroke" to local speculation. The canal was also physically vulnerable. A severe flood in October 1843 caused thirty breaches along the line, including significant damage in Avon. Though a crew of 500 men was hired to conduct rapid repairs and the canal was "opened to Avon" again within a month, the canal era was drawing to a close. In 1846, the New Haven and Northampton Company, which had taken over the canal, received a charter to convert the towpath into a railroad, and by 1847, the waterway that had briefly made Avon a center of commerce was abandoned.