American Thermos Bottle Company Laurel Hill Plant - Norwich CT
Posted by: 
nomadwillie
N 41° 30.627 W 072° 04.622
18T E 743932 N 4599550
The American Thermost Bottle Company was built by William Walker in 1913
Waymark Code: WM7APN
Location: Connecticut, United States
Date Posted: 09/27/2009
Views: 2
In 1906, William Walker, an American businessman visiting Germany, learned of the invention of the vacuum bottle. He immediately began to import and market the new product in the United States. The following year, Walker created the American Thermos Bottle Company and began producing vacuum bottles in a Brooklyn, New York, factory. The product met with such success that the expanded New York plant proved inadequate within the first five years. Walker moved the Thermos Company to Norwich, Connecticut, in 1913. Five years later, the company had nearly doubled its size, and after World War II a second plant was opened in Norwich's Taftville section. The Thermos Company became Norwich's largest employer, with more than 1000 workers.
In 1969, the Thermos Company was sold to Household International, Inc., and in 1984, warehousing and manufacturing at the original plant in the Laurel Hill section of Norwich was consolidated into the Taftville location. In 1986, Household International announced that its Thermos division would be relocated to Freeport, Illinois. Thermos production in Norwich ended in 1988.
Street address:
11 Thermos Ave
Norwich , CT
County / Borough / Parish: New London
Year listed: 1989
Historic (Areas of) Significance: Event, Architecture/Engineering
Periods of significance: 1850-1874, 1900-1924, 1925-1949, 1950-1974, 1975-2000
Historic function: Domestic, Industry/Processing/Extraction
Current function: Work In Progress
Privately owned?: yes
Season start / Season finish: From: 01/01/2009 To: 12/31/2009
Hours of operation: From: 9:00 AM To: 5:00 PM
Primary Web Site: [Web Link]
Secondary Website 1: Not listed
Secondary Website 2: Not listed
National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed
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