Central Park in New Britain began as the Village Green, a grassy field that served the needs of a colonial New England town, and as New Britain became an industrial center the surrounding area grew more urban while the green became a community gathering place. During the 20th century it was used for celebration and entertainment, with concerts at a gazebo, an ornamental water fountain, and, after the city built the Soldiers Monument in 1900, a stronger sense of place and collective ownership. The park became especially well known for its annual Christmas tree tradition after community leader Elise Traut, wife of inventor Justus A. Traut, helped fund a municipal celebration inspired by German Christmas customs and by seeing boys decorate a bush near her house; in her will she left funds to sustain “The People's Christmas Tree,” and by 2013 the festival marked its 100th anniversary as one of the nation's oldest public Christmas tree lightings. New Britain's industrial life predated the city's founding, and despite limited waterways, early manufacturers relied on workers, horsepower, and later steam power, with Frederick T. Stanley introducing a steam engine and Seth North regarded as the father of local industry alongside founding industrial families including the Lees, Booths, Judds, Harts, Beldens, and Stanleys. After New Britain separated from Berlin in 1850 and gained a rail connection, factories and the workforce expanded as the town rose to national prominence through innovation, specialization, and interdependence. By the twentieth century, major industries including North and Judd, Landers, Frary and Clark, Fafnir Bearing, New Britain Machine, and Stanley Works helped make New Britain known as the “Hardware Capitol of the World,” drawing skilled European immigrant labor after the Civil War. By the 1940s these industries were among Connecticut's largest employers, with fifty-hour workweeks and sharply increased factory labor during World War II, when local companies also recruited women to replace men who had enlisted. The city's manufacturing productivity left a lasting impact, and its industrial artifacts preserve the memory of a community shaped by industry.