Best Web Design in Waterbury, CT (2026)

Web Design for Waterbury, Connecticut

Waterbury, in the Naugatuck River valley of New Haven County, is Connecticut's 'Brass City,' once the nation's dominant producer of brassware and a major clock- and watchmaking center. Settled in 1674, it grew into an industrial powerhouse whose Scovill, Chase, and Anaconda brass mills once sprawled across more than 90 buildings. Its 240-foot Union Station clock tower, copied from a medieval Italian tower, still dominates the skyline even as the city works to recover from mid-century industrial decline.

AppWT works with Waterbury, CT businesses from Livonia, Michigan, mostly online and travelling as needed.

About Waterbury

Also known as. The Brass City.

History. Settled by English Puritans in 1674 as part of Farmington (originally called Mattatuck Plantation, in the Town Plot area) on land inhabited by Algonquian bands. Admitted as Connecticut's 28th town in 1686 and incorporated as a city in 1853; the name derives from the many streams feeding the Naugatuck River. Led the United States in brass manufacturing through the early-to-mid 20th century, reflected in the city motto 'Quid Aere Perennius?' ('What Is More Lasting Than Brass?'); at its WWII peak about 10,000 people worked at Scovill Manufacturing alone. The Waterbury Clock Company's Ingersoll one-dollar pocket watch sold about five million units, and its 1933 Mickey Mouse watch sold 11,000 on the first day at Macy's and more than two million within about 18 months, rescuing the company during the Depression. Brass employment collapsed after WWII, from a peak near 50,000 workers to fewer than 5,000 by the 1980s; the 2020 census counted 114,403 residents.

Local economy. Historic industrial base of brass, clocks and watches (roots of Timex and Ingersoll), and silverware, with Scovill, Chase, and Anaconda American Brass among the largest mills. Today's largest employers include the City of Waterbury, Waterbury Hospital, and Post University. The city suffered steep post-industrial decline and was ranked worst in quality of life among 300 U.S. metros by Money magazine in 1992.

Culture and community. The Palace Theater, a 1922 Renaissance Revival house designed by Thomas W. Lamb, is on the National Register of Historic Places and hosts touring shows. The Mattatuck Museum showcases the city's industrial history and Connecticut art. Annual events include the Brass City Brew Fest and the Brass City Jazz Fest. Waterbury has a large Italian-American community (over 20 percent of residents) alongside notable Albanian, Cape Verdean, Portuguese, and Lithuanian populations. Notable natives and residents include 'Hogan's Heroes' actor Bob Crane, Baseball Hall of Famer Roger Connor, HIV researcher Robert Gallo, and celebrity chef Scott Conant.

What makes Waterbury distinct. The city motto literally boasts that nothing lasts longer than brass ('Quid Aere Perennius?'). The Mickey Mouse watch, made by the local Waterbury Clock Company, saved the firm from Depression-era bankruptcy. Union Station's landmark tower is a scaled copy of a medieval bell tower in Siena, Italy. Holy Land USA's giant illuminated hilltop cross has been a regional roadside curiosity since the 1950s. Waterbury is notorious for political corruption: Mayor T. Frank Hayes (convicted 1940), Mayor Joseph Santopietro (nine years in 1992), and Governor John G. Rowland all served time.

Waterbury Landmarks and Local Life

• Union Station's clock tower: the 1909 station gained the tower in 1916 when McKim - Mead & White adapted Siena, Italy's 14th-century Torre del Mangia; it rises 240 feet with 318 steps and 16-foot brass Seth Thomas clock dials, and the building now houses the Republican-American newspaper
• Holy Land USA - an 18-acre roadside religious theme park on Pine Hill founded in 1956 by attorney John Baptist Greco, marked by a large illuminated cross visible from Interstate 84
• The Palace Theater and the Mattatuck Museum downtown.
• The Bank Street Historic District - with well-preserved 19th-century architecture