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THE WAY WE WERE

JULY 20, 1973

The Belden House on Main Street has a new name. The Newtown Historical

Society's board of directors has voted to call its headquarters on Main Street

"The Matthew Curtiss House" after the building's first owner. The land on

which the house stands originally was owned by Benjamin Sherman of Stratford,

and in 1714 he gave his right to it to his son, Job Sherman. The property

changed hands several times and Matthew Curtiss owned it in the early 1780s

when it is believed the house was built. Matthew Curtiss was born in Newtown

in 1746, served as a lieutenant in the Revolutionary War, and died in Newtown

in 1824. Members of the same family, members of which spelled their names both

Curtis and Curtiss, also started the Curtis Box Company in Sandy Hook (now

Curtis Packaging) in the 1890s.

A new transfer station is being built at the town landfill. Once it is

completed, residents will be able to drive their cars under a roof to unload

refuse and will be protected in all kinds of weather.

The Labor Day Parade Committee for the Summer Festival announced this week

that Mr and Mrs Paul Smith have been chosen as honorary marshals for this

year's parade. The Smiths are being recognized for their many contributions to

Newtown which extend beyond the pages of The Newtown Bee . The theme for this

year's parade is "A Salute To Community Service Organizations." Letters have

been mailed to area organizations inviting them to participate.

After a year of work, the Planning Commission of the Borough of Newtown

presented its revision to the Borough zoning regulations at a public hearing

at Edmond Town Hall on Tuesday night. Some 25 to 30 residents of the borough

attended, expressing their approval of the commission's work. A few residents

said they believed the regulations should be more restrictive in several

areas. Willard Christensen, borough warden, suggested that two-family homes

should be required to have double sanitary disposal systems. He said the sign

regulations also should be tightened before the revisions are adopted.

A town meeting Wednesday evening voted almost unanimously in favor of a

special appropriation of $197,421 to improve the ventilating system at the new

high school. Only one "no" vote was heard. Town Counsel Robert Hall presented

a guarded opinion that some part of the cost may be recovered by bringing suit

against the architect, and perhaps against the contractor as well. Albert

Goodrich of Boggs Hill Road questioned why the same contractor who had done

the original job was being awarded the contract to do the corrective work.

Manfred Moses of the firm of Moses, Abrams, and Solomon, the engineering

consultants hired by the town to diagnose the ventilating problem and design a

solution, said the repair work would be closely supervised by his firm.

The Board of Selectmen voted Tuesday evening to set up a committee of citizens

to study the probable impact of the proposed extension of the Route 25

expressway through Newtown to link with I-84. First Selectman Frank DeLucia

invited citizens interested in serving on the committee to get in touch with

the selectmen and said the board would work out the details and set up the

committee as soon as possible.

Congressman Ronald Sarasin paid a visit to Newtown on July 14 and many

constituents came to talk with him in his bright red, white and blue bus

"office" parked at the Wheeler Shopping Center. Topics discussed ranged from

benefits to the blind, pensions, the high cost of lumber, and, of course,

Watergate. Arrangements for the visit were made by Robert Hall, who was

Congressman Sarasin's field director during the campaign.

JULY 23, 1948

Three traffic accidents on Main Street Monday afternoon and evening calls once

again to the fact that travel is fast and traffic is heavy along that stretch

of thoroughfare which serves as both part of Route 6 and the main street of a

New England village, like mixing blood and water, The Bee editorial said this

week. The editorial urged the state to move Route 6. There is no way to

enforce the 35 mile per hour speed limit now that Newtown's resident state

trooper has been transferred away and no one has been sent to replace him.

Last Thursday evening residents of Newtown and the surrounding area turned out

in great numbers to witness the largest firemen's parade ever to be held here.

More than 20 visiting fire companies and 10 drum corps participated in the

event, a spectacle that came as a highlight of the four-night carnival. The

New Canaan Fire Company won first prize for the best apparatus; best appearing

firemen's unit was Echo Hose Company of Shelton. Fairfield Fife and Drum Corps

was the best musical unit; Grassy Plain of Bethel was judged best appearing

drum corps. The parade was judged from the judges stand in front of the

Archison block on Main Street.

More than 50 people attended the Borough Zoning Board meeting last Thursday

evening to hear a request by Ernest A. Weihl of Bridgeport for the

reclassification of a portion of the Mayer property at the north end of Main

Street from residential to business. Mr Wiehl and his associates explained

that they want to erect a business block and service station on property

between the Mayer house and the Liberty Garage (diagonally across from

Currituck Road). But a petition was presented which bore the names of most of

the nearby property owners and many other borough residents who objected to

the proposed reclassification. Many opponents spoke including Mills Waggoner,

William Hunter, George Trull, Warner Bailey, Albert Knapp, W.M. McKenzie,

House Jameson, Paul S. Smith and Mack Lathrop. At the closing of the hearing

the zoning board met in executive session and denied Mr Wiehl's request.

The Newtown Bees won their ninth straight game in the Pomperaug Valley League

on Sunday afternoon when they routed Oxford 11-1 on the Oxford team's home

grounds. Joe Cavanaugh combined with Johnny Kocet and Burr Morgan in the

pitcher's box to allow only six scattered hits, with Jim Cavanaugh doing an

excellent job behind the plate.

The transportation to Hawley School and to Curtis Pond closes on July 28. The

Red Cross instructors will be at Curtis Pond during August on Mondays,

Wednesdays and Fridays from 1 to 3 o'clock if enough sign up to be there. The

attendance at swimming classes continues to stay around 50 each day, even

though some children have been away on vacations with their families.

Members and friends of the Newtown chapter, United World Federalists, will

hold an outdoor picnic next Tuesday at the home of Mrs Roger Howson on Taunton

Lake. All should bring their own food, sandwiches or picnic dishes, already

prepared. Members are likewise asked to bring their own chair, cushion or

blanket to sit on.

James M. Simpson, 37, operator of the Redwood Cabins located on Route 6

between Danbury and Newtown, died Tuesday morning as a result of an illness

incurred in military service. Mr Simpson, a resident of the Stony Hill

district, had operated the cabins for 12 years. He served as a first

lieutenant in the Signal Corps of the 1st Air Force during World War II and

participated in the invasions of New Guinea and New Britain.

A military funeral was held on July 8 at Cornell Funeral Home in Danbury for

former Newtown resident Raymond L. Pease who was killed in action at Normandy

Beach on July 8, 1944. Members of the Raymond L. Pease Post 163, American

Legion, Newtown, were in charge. The veteran's body was returned to this

country recently for burial in Wooster Cemetery, Danbury. Buglers at the grave

were from the Charles Howard Peck Junior and Senior Post 308, VFW, Newtown.

Irving Shaw sounded taps. The Sandy Hook Fife, Drum and Bugle Corps sounded

echo. Battery B, 963, Field Artillery, National Guard, furnished the firing

squad.

Two busloads of 70 or more children mixed with a few adults as leaders left

Newtown at 9 o'clock Saturday morning to see the Yankees defeat the St Louis

Browns at the stadium, 4-0. It was Tommy Heinrick Day and the party saw Tom

accept a new Buick, some airplane luggage and other items. He started off by

getting the first of his two hits of the day at his first time up.