Much of Stamford, Connecticut's industrial history can be told through the locks, latches, knobs, and keys that were produced in the former Yale & Towne Lock (Y&T) complex in the City's South End. Linus Yale, Jr., a Massachusetts-born inventor, and Henry R. Towne, a Philadelphia engineer, came to Stamford in the late 1860s, attracted by the ample labor supply, proximity to railroad lines, and good harbors for schooners and flatboats. The partners built a small factory to manufacture Linus Yale's revolutionary invention: a mass-produceable tumbler cylinder lock with a flat key.

Although Yale died during construction of their first building, Towne led the company to success as one of the world's largest hardware manufacturers. The complex eventually covered 21 acres and one million square feet, including brass and iron foundries, sawtooth-monitor production centers, and later, multi-story loft buildings. At one time, Y&T employed 4,000 people, close to 25% of the city's population; Stamford became known as Lock City.

In the late 1960s, Y&T gradually closed down its operations in Stamford, leaving behind an industrial wasteland of 30 buildings. Although a portion of the buildings were demolished in the early 1980s, the remaining industrial spaces began to fill up with painters, sculptors, musicians, and photographers attracted by low rent and vast work spaces. By the year 2000, most of the complex was rented to artists, while antique shops took over the one-story foundry buildings

The lofts were especially attractive to photographers, not just because of the economics, but because of the special quality of light. They say that artists love Paris because of its silvery light; Y&T appealed to photographers for a similar reason: the beautiful, warm light reflected off the nearby waters of a 19th century canal and Long Island Sound poured in through oversized windows. But the light was only one factor. The complex was visually exciting, with looming, prison-like loft buildings, a giant smokestack, the jagged, sawtooth roofs of the courtyard factories, the multi-paned windows that reflected the skyline of Stamford, the surprise-filled passages between buildings, the views of city and Sound from the rooftop, the signs still posted on brick walls, advertising long-departed occupants - all contributed to an exciting visual kaleidoscope, a photographer's paradise.

The remaining Y&T structures are now slated for demolition or adaptation for a residential enclave. The artists have moved to other city lofts; the antique shops have closed. In a tribute to both Y&T and the artists who followed, the current site developer, Antares Real Estate, sponsored an exhibit, Yale and Towne: Portraits Locked in Time. This exhibit included works of 15 photographers, most of whom rented Y&T loft space at one time or another. The evocative photographic portraits of the twisted and rusted skeleton of Y&T's past constitute a tribute to the photographer's eye and how it can turn dross into visual gold.

Although the exhibit gallery recently closed in June, the photographic collection has been shifted to the halls of the Antares office complex at 333 Ludlow Street, Stamford, CT. If interested in viewing the Y&T images, contact Elizabeth Marks, at: EMARKS@elliman.com, or Craig Dececchis, at: CDececchis@antaresrealestate.com, and arrange a viewing time in the Antares complex.

The photographic exhibit, coordinated jointly by the Historic Neighborhood Preservation Program (HNPP) and Historical Perspectives, Inc. (HPI), is only one component of Antares' efforts to celebrate the history of the South End. An educational packet for public distribution, as well as interpretive signage for the proposed waterfront esplanade, which is required by the City's Zoning Board, will also be developed over the next year by HNPP and HPI. Both of these outreach programs will cover thousands of years of activities in southwest CT, beginning with the archaeological evidence of the Native American occupation of the marshes and hillocks bordering Long Island Sound.