Dr. Sterling: «If you name your town after me, I’ll build you a library» Town: «Sounds like a great deal, we accept» (Fast Forward) He never built the library, but amazingly the settlement still named it’s town«Sterling». That’s one pretty interesting nugget I took away from this marker. Another was the word«pyroligneous» which I had to look up to see it means — it’s some sort of a liquid released when wood is heated and its used as an anti-microbial or sterilizing agent. This two-sided marker from the CT Historical Commission has the familiar white lettering on a blue background. It’s located on the front lawn of the Sterling Municipal building and was dedicated in 1980. The marker is in pretty good condition with the start of minor chipping on the reverse side. The full inscription reads: Originally part of the long narrow area called Voluntown, this northern section separated and obtained town privileges form the Connecticut General Assembly on the second Thursday of May 1794. The name given was that of a temporary resident, Dr John Sterling, who had promised the Town a library in return for the honor. Dr Sterling failed to make good his promise, but a library was obtained by soliciting private donations. The first town meeting was held on June 9, 1794 at the home of Robert Dixon on Sterling Hill. The first post office was established as Sterling on October 1, 1809, the name later being changed to Sterling Hill. The American Manufacturing Company, also known as Potter’s Factory, was the first cotton mill in Sterling. It was situated on Quandock River about the year 1800, followed by the sterling Manufacturing Company on the Moosup River in 1808. Side Two Local industrialist William Pike pioneered in using chlorine as a bleaching agent for cloth and also established for the use of the dyer distilleries or sapworks that would extract the first pyroligneous acid made in this country. His son James discovered a process of coloring with a fast black that was superior to any then in use. With the advent of the first railroad in 1854, which connected Providence with Hartford, this made the distribution of materials much easier than before and contributed to the economic base of Sterling. Oneco, as it is known today, was named after Owaneco, son of the Mohegan Indian sachem Uncas, who had claimed ownership of large tracts of eastern Connecticut land in early colonial days. About the year 1820 Henry Sabin build a cotton factory here and named the village Sabinville. Smith and Williams began quarrying granite in this vicinity in the 1850’s, an industry that is still active Erected by the Town of Sterling, the Sterling Historical Society and the Connecticut Historical Commission 1980
