Glenville/Rock Ridge Greenwich Real Estate

Glenville is well known as a historic milling village. In the late 1700s Dr. Sanford Clark established a mill that produced fever medication by grinding down Peruvian bark. There were also grist mills for grinding corn and wheat for local farmers. The largest mill was the one that produced cotton, wool and felt, and although it changed hands a number of times it maintained its same production purpose. Constructed in 1881 for the Hawthorne Mill Company, later owned by the American Felt Company, its fortress roof detail suggested strength and staying power.

Housing boomed during the heyday of mill production, as the mill companies built simple frame houses and rented them out to their workers at the rate of a $1 per room. Rooms in the stone castle (located where the current Western Civic Center now stands) were also rent out, until the building had to be torn down due to a deadly epidemic that broke out.

By the early 1900s, Glenville boasted a general store, two saloons, a grocer and a butcher. Glenville still had dirt roads and the only illumination was from the kerosene lamps shining through the windows of the homes. City water did not come to Glenville until the 1930s. The wells however, were close enough to the road that anyone passing by drank from them.

The American Felt Company ceased productions in 1979. The four story plant that was built (and still stands) and a train depot were renovated for mixed use and are still used today, featuring condominiums, office space and retailers. Many of the homes in Glenville, particularly on Riversville Road and the Hawthorne area are the original ones built by the industrialists for their workers.

Median Home Value: $775,900