Tracking The History Of The Housatonic Railroad

By Jan Howard

A local writer and active mountain biker and hiker took local residents on a 19th Century trip along the route of the former Housatonic Railroad along the Pequonnock River during a slide presentation September 10 sponsored by the Newtown Historical Society.

The meeting room of the C.H. Booth Library on Main Street was filled with train buffs and history lovers who enjoyed Sue Del Bianco’s pictorial visit to historical sites, such as Parlor Rock, cow tunnels, Beers’ Gristmill, Lake High-High, the Tungsten Mining Company, and the Radcliff Shirt Factory.

Ms Del Bianco is the author of historical books and a member of the Trumbull Historical Society Board of Directors. She also teaches freelance writing in Trumbull’s Adult Education program. She is an avid mountain biker, hiker, and photographer.

The railroad corridor, which has been long abandoned, has been developed into hiking and biking trails south of Newtown.

Once, however, the railroad passed local industries and attractions, now historic areas. The area along the river had become an industrial area because of the power available from the Pequonnock River. The first mill was built in 1702, and paper mills, sawmills, and metal working plants were developed along the valley. Railroads soon followed.

“There was extensive work in the valley to lay it down,” Ms Del Bianco said of the Housatonic Railroad line.

Many of the train stations were not regular stops, she noted, and trains would only stop if a sign were displayed, saying “Stop.”

The early trains went about ten miles an hour, she said. Early railroad couplings came apart, there were fires and many train wrecks. However, despite this, “They helped the development of industry in the Pequonnock valley.”

On September 30, 1905 a railroad conductor fell asleep at the controls and ran full throttle into a freight car, Ms Del Bianco said. “Five people were killed. A prize oxen that was on its way to the Danbury Fair survived. You can still see some remains of the train wreck.”

One of the first paper mills in the valley went out of business when the reservoir was developed. Where the reservoir was located is swamp land today, Ms Del Bianco said.

Ice cakes were harvested and stored in an icehouse beside the reservoir. “An iceman would take the ice to Bridgeport to sell to people for their iceboxes,” she said. A cornerstone of the Trumbull icehouse exists today.

A shirt factory on Broadway Road became a witch hazel factory. In 1973 it was destroyed by fire. The Beers gristmill had one of the first generators in Trumbull.

Rocks are all that remain of the Tungsten Mining Company, which was destroyed in an arson fire, Ms Del Bianco said. The entrance to a kiln on the property was plugged because children were playing in it, she noted. There is also a fenced area because of a 30-foot drop into a gorge.

When the local industries were no longer in operation because of industry’s move to more urban areas, the railroad needed to develop alternatives to hauling freight. “They wanted to make the train ride as interesting as possible,” Ms Del Bianco said.

In addition to the attractions of the scenic beauty of the river’s gorges and white water, the Housatonic Railroad created such artificial attractions as Parlor Rock in Trumbull, which was created on a large flat rock at the foot of a scenic waterfall. Parlor Rock was to be entered by train. Just north of the Long Hill Station there was a wooden platform about 100 feet in length and five feet wide. Passengers would step off the train and climb steps about 15 feet in height.

At the top of the steps was a water fountain with a large iron bird in the center with a long neck from which water flowed from its beak back into the fountain. It was made of bricks and concrete six feet in diameter and two feet high. The brick basin remains.

Parlor Rock was the first use of electricity in Trumbull. It had four croquet fields, roller skating rink, an octagonal shaped dance hall that was 60 feet across, swings, a carousel, boating, and picnic facilities. A bridge over the train tracks led to the baseball field.

“The Parlor Rock baseball team played for about 40 years,” Ms Del Bianco said. “It was a pretty well-known team.”

 By the late 1880s, a large toboggan slide was also in operation. It was 60 feet high with a 300-foot track. At night, it operated with lighted lanterns. During the winter, there was ice skating on Lake High-High, which was created by a dam. Rowboats were rented for 25 cents a day in the warmer months.

“There were a lot of drownings, and they drained it,” Ms Del Bianco said.

A main promenade north of the croquet grounds included seven small gazebos with a ten-foot overhang to provide shade. There was a refreshment stand, which sold peanuts, watermelon, ice cream and soda. The carousel was complete with music and a brass ring and a decorative piece of artwork. No photographs or records exist about who built it.

In 1901 Parlor Rock was discontinued because of competition from other amusement parks. The hiking and biking trail leads to it and people still picnic there today, but all traces of the amusement park are gone, Ms Del Bianco said. “Absolutely nothing is left. There’s nothing there.”

The wood floor from the roller skating rink was later used in the Ritz ballroom in Bridgeport, she said.

The bike path between Monroe and Trumbull passes the site of the Gregory’s Four Corners burial ground, site of the grave of the Monroe “witch,” Hannah Cranna, the subject of local folk lore and legend.

In Stepney, the train tracks passed French’s store and the post office. The Stepney Depot was one of the oldest in Monroe, Ms Del Bianco said. “It cost 30 cents to ride in 1940.”

The bike route passes over the railroad bed near a man-made lake in Wolfe Park in Monroe. The railroad bed passed farmland with stonewalls. There were cow tunnels under the tracks that prevented cows being hit on the tracks, she said.

In Newtown, the Housatonic Railroad tracks still exist. “They are rusty, but solid,” she said. The tracks ran all the way to Pittsfield, Mass., she added, and the Rails to Trails program wants to expand the bike trail from Long Island Sound.

Future Historical Society programs include a blacksmith demonstration on September 16 and an open-hearth cooking program on October 21 at the Matthew Curtiss House on Main Street. It will present a program on Dolls as a Reflection of Society by Melissa Nash Coury on November 13. All programs are free and open to the public.