# 218.  Connecticut in the Industrial Revolution: Making Buttons in Cheshire

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Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/grating-the-nutmeg-500787/218-connecticut-in-the-industrial-revolution-making-buttons-in-cheshire.md
Podcast: [Grating the Nutmeg](https://stenobird.com/podcast/grating-the-nutmeg-500787)
Published: 2025-10-01T14:09:00+00:00
Episode link: https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/218-connecticut-in-the-industrial-revolution-making-buttons-in-cheshire
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Duration seconds: 2566

## Resource

A button sounds like a very ordinary thing. But button production in Cheshire was part of Connecticut's pioneering role in the precision manufacturing revolution of the nineteenth century. According to connecticuthistory.org, button production began with pewter buttons in the mid-eighteenth century but quickly turned to brass in the early nineteenth century. By 1860s, machines in the Scovill Brass factory in Waterbury produced 216,000 buttons per day. This type of industrial production volume for an everyday necessity such as buttons propelled investors and entrepreneurs to establish companies such as the Ball & Socket Manufacturing Company. But what were the benefits and costs of Cheshire's industrial development during Connecticut's Industrial Revolution? Cheshire's Ball & Socket factory has been transformed into a community arts center as we discovered in Grating the Nutmeg episode 167. New Lives for Old Factories. But its industrial past has not been forgotten-new research by noted historian Elizabeth Fox has been shared with the public in outdoor signage and a feature story in the Fall 2024 issue of Connecticut Explored. Fellow historian Agnes Wnuk has been researching the history of the factory and its effect on Cheshire. My guests Elizabeth Fox and Agnes Wnuk today will share what they've uncovered so far! Elizabeth "Betsy" Fox is a retired museum consultant. She lives in Cheshire and has been involved with Ball & Socket Arts as a volunteer for over ten years. She has also written some great articles for Connecticut Explored magazine. Historian Agnes Wnuk has been involved in preservation work at museums and libraries. Ball & Socket Arts will present a public program on the oral history project and button production at 6:30pm on Nov. 13 th , 2025 at the Cheshire…

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