On This Day in 1813…
George M. Landers was born!
Happy birthday to George Marcellus Landers: born on this day in 1813 to Marcellus and Marietta Hoyt Landers, George was a politician, businessman, and a profoundly influential figure in the city of New Britain. His family moved to Hartford, Connecticut when he was seven years old, and at sixteen he took an apprenticeship under New Britain carpenter Aaron Hart. By 1841, he had opened his own business on East Main St., making coat and hat hooks. In 1853, he formed a joint stock company called the Landers & Smith Manufacturing Company. When Smith retired after the 1862 acquisition of the Meriden company Frary, Cary & Co., the company reorganized and was renamed the Landers, Frary, & Clark Manufacturing Company. Landers, Frary, and Clark quickly expanded their manufacturing to include table cutlery, opening the Aetna Works plant just four years later in order to keep up with the expanding demand.
George M. Landers, c. 1865-1880. Library of Congress.
In addition to business and manufacturing, Landers was also very active in politics. During the division of New Britain from Berlin, he advocated for the new city to have more than a single representative due to its much greater population, and was elected to the position in short order. He served three terms in the Connecticut House of Representatives, in 1851, 1867, and 1874. He also served in the Connecticut Senate in 1853, 1869, and 1873, as the State Bank Commissioner in 1874, and was elected to the forty-fourth and forty-fifth Congress in 1874 and 1876. He was responsible along with F.T. Stanley and H.E. Russell for bringing municipal water services to the city, as well as constructing sewers in the city. Additionally, Landers served on several boards and commissions for city schools and libraries and as a director of the New Britain Gas Co. and the New Britain National Bank
He died in 1895 at the age of 82, and is buried at Fairview Cemetery. His memorial plaque can be viewed in the Walnut Hill Park rotunda. You can learn more about the history of Landers, Frary & Clark here, or in the museum during our open hours, every Weds. and Sat. from 1:00 PM to 4:30 PM.
