July 21, 1995

Original building project plans for Hawley School have been scrapped in favor of an addition to the school’s north side. It makes more sense, according to school officials, but also costs three times as much as the original project was first estimated to cost. The altered project is estimated to cost $3.6 million instead of the $1.2 million first quoted.

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Rainfall early this week did little to alleviate the summer’s increasingly drought-like conditions in the Newtown area. Sean Downey, a forecaster with the Western Connecticut State University Weather Center in Danbury, said Newtown is still more than two months behind in the amount of rainfall expected by this time each year.

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Workmen plan to start digging sewer trenches July 24 or 25 on Queen Street as the town’s sewer construction project heads into the central business district... workmen will start opening up trenches at the intersection of Grand Place and Queen Street and work their way northbound on Queen Street to Church Hill Road. Queen Street will remain open to traffic as the project progresses.

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Newtown Exxon and Catering By George became the first [slo-pitch] teams to clinch “A” division playoff berths on Sunday, July 16, as they both cashed in with one-sided victories. With three weeks left in the regular season, the teams have also assured that they will be the only two with winning records.

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Newtown’s Cub Scouts hosted their first Rooster 500 this year, which brought scouts from Packs 70, 170, and 470 into Pinewood Derby competition with each other for the first time. Winners of that competition were Steven Chuddy, first place, Pack 470; Peter Terrance, second place, Pack 70; and Jessie McGowen, third place, of Pack 170. Pack 270 sponsored the Rooster 500 this year.

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The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has completed its testing of a large 1950s industrial dump located off Glen Road near the Pootatuck River and has found the site to pose “no immediate threats to human health and the environment,”according to Mike McDonald of Site Discovery and Assessment Group. But the matter may be referred to Solid Waste division of the DEP to decide if the area should be “closed and secured,” or the debris removed... The affected area, covered with metal and plastic electrical parts, was discovered last fall by Newtown Environmental Action Team volunteers and brought to the attention of local health and zoning officials.

July 17, 1970

A Newtown artist, Robert Lougheed, is the designer of this year’s wildlife conservation stamp. Nationally known for his paintings of animals, particularly those of the old and new west, Mr Lougheed was approached in January of this year to submit his ideas for this year’s theme, the buffalo. At that time, what was wanted was an oil painting in full color. Mr Lougheed looked through his sketchbooks... then produced drawing after drawing to find just the right characteristic pose... the verdict was for one of Mr Lougheed’s black and white sketches — simple, vigorous, expressive of the tremendous power of the animal which once populated most of the continent.

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Everyone wants to use the pool at the new high school and everyone has his own idea on how it should be used. Also everyone is pretty much in the dark as to when it will be open to the public. Members of the Parks & Recreation Commission met with the Board of Education at the Board’s meeting Tuesday night, July 14, to discuss public use of the pool this coming fall. There were no final decisions made and the purpose of the meeting was mainly for the Commission to present a tentative schedule for when the public could swim.

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St Rose Church will have a new pastor before the week is out. The Rev Raymond H. Stephenson, presently pastor of Most Precious Blood Church in Trumbull, will take over the office held by the Rt Rev Msgr Walter J. Conroy before his retirement. The transfer has been announced by Bishop Walter W. Curtis, effective on July 25.

***

The Dualite Cardinals won the major league championship of the Newtown Little League. The Cardinals won over the Rexall Red Sox by winning the first two out of a possible three games.

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As of Thursday morning, July 16, most of the work on the pond at the town park had been completed as workers cut peep holes in the black top to relieve pressure on the underground system. Water was supposed to go into the pond on the same day, and the Parks & Recreation Commission has announced that it plans to inaugurate the use of the pond on Monday morning, July 20, at 9:30.

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Fairfield Hills Hospital adopted the geographic unit system on July 15. The new system will create there new “sub-hospitals” within the facility, each unit to serve approximately on-third of the total hospital population... Fairfield Hills will be divided into three units which will be known as the Bridgeport Unit, Southwest Unit, and the Northern Unit. Patients admitted to the Bridgeport Unit will come from Easton, Fairfield, Monroe, Stratford, and Trumbull, in addition to Bridgeport. Those patients admitted to the Southwest Unit will come from the towns of Darien, Greenwich, New Canaan, Norwalk, Stamford, Weston, Westport, and Wilton. The Northern Unit will draw patients from the rest of the towns within Fairfield Hills Hospital’s geographic area.

July 13, 1945

Production at the rebuilt Watkins Machine Shop, Sandy Hook, is expected to get the green light very soon, according to the statement of Reginald S. Watkins, genial and capable proprietor. The new building, with brick wall, concrete floors and asbestos roof, will be fireproof throughout. The fire, one of the most destructive within a considerable area circling Newtown in recent years, occurred May 4, crippling a number of industries dependent upon [Watkins] experts. Contrary to expectations at the time of the fire, much of the machinery withstood the ravages of the heat.

***

The Honegger Cup Men’s Doubles Tennis Tournament, now in its fourth consecutive year in Connecticut, will again bring to Honegger Farms, Walnut Tree Hill, distinguished visitors and well known tennis players from Newtown and surrounding Connecticut towns and from the famous West Side Tennis Club at Forest Hills, L.I., the nation’s “tennis capitol” where Davis Cup, National Singles Championships, and other matches have for many years made tennis history.

***

Pohtatuck Grange met Tuesday evening at the Grange Hall for a regular meeting. A letter has been mailed out to all Grangers asking for donations toward the cost of moving the Grange Hall. Moving the hall will be expensive, and the building committee has worked extra hard to raise the needed amount. No matter how large or small the donation may be, every cent counts.

***

On Saturday, July 14, an unusual auction, sponsored by the Woman’s Auxiliary of Trinity Church, will take place on the church grounds, Main Street, Newtown, at the Flag Pole, when E.S. Beardsley, the well known auctioneer, will open the much publicized “Attic Auction” at ten o’clock. A preview of donations shows a really astonishing collection... A pleasing sideline of interest to mothers will be a table of summer garments for the very young — sun suits, aprons, and pinafores.

***

First Lieut Edward C. Krawiecki, who is home on furlough, was the speaker at Tuesday’s noon meeting of the Kiwanis Club of Danbury, telling of some of his experiences while overseas. He served in the Army Air Force Signal section and covered much of the African and European theater of war during his two and one-half years of service.

***

There is at the Plastic Molding Company’s plant a “pill” room that has nothing to do with apothecaries weights and measures. The room, or building, is also known as the “pre-form” department because in it plastic molding powders are pressed into various sizes and weights of “pills,” lozenges, or discs for use by operators on the molding presses.

July 9, 1920

The microfilm containing 1920 Newtown Bee editions is kept at the C.H. Booth Library, which is temporarily closed due to coronavirus health precautions.

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