Canal Towns: Plainville

Originally part of Farmington, Connecticut until its incorporation as a separate town in 1869, Plainville's development was profoundly shaped by the Farmington Canal's construction and operation between 1828 and 1847.

The canal's construction through this section involved considerable engineering challenges, as the waterway curved broadly around the southern end of Redstone Hill. Construction along the eastern side of the hill necessitated moving the tow path to the downhill side of the canal as far north as the center of Plainville. This area formed part of the remarkable 27-mile "long level" between Lock 6 in Granby and Lock 7 in Southington, where engineers successfully maintained the canal bed at a constant elevation of 182.5 feet above sea level.

Ebenezer Hawley Whiting and his brother Adna established themselves as prominent merchants in the area. In 1829, they completed a hotel on the corner near what became known as Whiting's Basin. The Whitings later moved west about half a mile and enlarged the canal to create Bristol Basin, near what would be the center of Plainville, where they built the establishment known as Whiting's General Store. The brothers operated several canal boats between Bristol Basin and New Haven, purchasing wheat flour directly from vessels in New Haven harbor to avoid port charges. Most of the shipping business followed them to their new location, and clocks from the manufacturers of Bristol, Terryville, and Plymouth were shipped from their wharf, with one firm alone shipping 500 clocks weekly.

Plainville possessed the canal's only dry dock, a remarkable engineering feature that demonstrated the town's importance to canal operations. This rectangular excavation, located off the west side of the canal between Bristol and Whiting's Basins, measured approximately 80 feet long and 30 to 40 feet wide. Built of stone and timber shortly after the canal's completion, it stood just back of what later became the creamery building, with access provided by a channel entering the canal. The facility featured gates similar to those used in canal locks, allowing it to be isolated from the main waterway. A waste weir at the opposite end enabled workers to drain water into the adjacent low-lying marshes near the Pequabuck River, providing convenient facilities for building new canal boats and repairing damaged vessels.

Harmanus M. Welch operated a warehouse at Bristol Basin and owned his own boats, including the canal boat Ceres, which unloaded directly at his dock. His prominence in canal commerce eventually led to a distinguished political career, including service as Mayor of New Haven from 1860 to 1863 and as President of the First National Bank for over twenty years.

The canal's commercial viability declined throughout the 1840s as railroad competition intensified. In 1845, engineers surveyed the canal route in preparation for railroad construction between New Haven and Northampton. The survey revealed that the route along the canal line to Bristol Basin, a distance of 28 miles, proved more feasible and less expensive than anticipated, with an average grade not exceeding eight feet per mile. By 1846, discussions intensified regarding the conversion of the canal to railroad use, with Plainville identified as a crucial junction point where the proposed railroad would intersect with a potential branch line from Hartford.