The Litchfield Manufacturing Company was founded in 1850 by Dr. Josiah G. Beckwith a local physician and druggist who operated a medical practice and pharmacy on South Street in the building currently occupied by the Post Office.   Beckwith acquired the property on South Street along the Bantam River that a decade earlier had been used by first Wadsworth, Lounsbury & Turner and later Julius Peck & Co. to manufacture shelf clocks.  The factory building at this time measured 80 by 50 feet and was three stories high. In 1851, the Company incorporated and several investors, including circus owner P.T. Barnum, joined the Board of Directors.  The Company manufactured papier-mâché goods such as small tables, card cases, fire screens, portfolios, small boxes, vases and clock cases as well as metal nails, ornamental hinges and clasps for everything from trunks to daguerreotype cases. Trained papier-mâché workers from England and Germany were brought to Litchfield to work for the Company and train local men and women in the technique.  At its peak, the factory employed over 50 people.  The success was short lived however.  In 1854, P.T. Barnum persuaded the board to move the factory to East Bridgeport.  A year later, due to financial difficulties, the factory closed.

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