We Are All Connecticut Yankees:
Diversity in the 19th and Early 20th Century

Immigrant Entrepreneurs

While some immigrants found work in existing Connecticut factories and offices, others established their own businesses soon after arriving in the state.

< Nicola Pallotti began investing in real estate shortly after he came to Hartford in 1866 from his native Italy. The commercial block on Morgan Street known as the Pallotti Block was just one of his many holdings. David Kaplan, a Russian immigrant, became one of the Hartford founders of the B’nai Zion Society, which met in his shoe store at the corner of the Pallotti Block.

Adolph Zweibelhofer
in his barbershop in the
Mohegan HotelTelephone Company
South Norwalk, ca. 1915
Photo CD: 0543 File: Img0068.pcd

< Adolph Zweibelhofer emigrated from Rostok, Germany at the urging of his brother Frederick, who operated a “hair emporium” in New York City. Adolph’s own lavishly-appointed barbershop was located in a first class hotel in the seaport city of South Norwalk.

< Men were not the only entrepreneurs. The Irishwoman Mrs. Kelley sold milk from the back of her donkey cart. The houses at the far left are part of Potsdam Village, built by arms manufacturer Samuel Colt for his German workers.

< Abraham Hoffman was a Russian Jew who emigrated to Hartford in 1898. He opened the Hoffman Wallpaper Company in 1903, selling wallpaper, paint, and artist’s supplies. Among the paints on display is Hazard Bronze Green manufactured at the Hazard Lead Works in Hazardville, Connecticut.

< The young man at the left is Milton Bacharach; the elderly man at the right is Roger Welles III. Bacharach, a recent graduate of Yale law school, was the son of William Bacharach, a German Jew who emigrated to Hartford in 1880. By 1902, Welles had retired, leaving Bacharach, then aged 24, the sole partner in the firm.

Link to other essays in this Journey:

>> Introduction: We are All Connecticut Yankees
>> Celebrating Ethnic Origins
>> Becoming Americans
>> Diversity In The Workplace

>> Guideposts
>> Suggestions for further reading