Taunton Lake Timeline—

Skating Tragedy, Monkey Business, Fish Stories, And Water Worries

By Dottie Evans

 The following is a brief summary of nearly three centuries of facts, concerns, and reminiscences surrounding Taunton Lake that were gathered from several publications. These included Newtown Remembered by Andrea Zimmermann, Dan Cruson, and Mary Maki; Newtown, Past and Present, by the League of Women Voters; and the last 100 years of “Way We Were” columns in The Newtown Bee. The concern for water quality was a constant theme ever since the first settlers recognized that glacial Taunton Lake, which is more than a mile long and is Newtown’s largest freshwater pond, was a precious source of clean drinking water.

 

Waterpower Fuels Industry

In 1711, the year of Newtown’s incorporation, it was voted that Benjamin Sherman, Ebenezer Prindle, and Samuel Sanford should inspect Taunton Pond as a possible grist mill site. The colony induced Samuel Sanford to build a mill on Pond Brook.

Between 1831 and 1832, Beach Camp’s diary makes frequent mention of his ladies’ comb factory run by “waterworks” along Pond Brook. [Pond Brook is a fast-flowing stream whose source is at the north end of Taunton Lake.]

January 16, 1866 — Andrew J. Nichols (1837–1925) bought a saw mill on Pond Brook from Grandison Payne. He ran it as a saw and gristmill, later on adding a cider mill. His grandson, Al Nichols (1911–2000), remembered playing in the brook and finding bits of comb and buttons made out of horn.

[Taunton Lake was always a fisherman’s favorite watering hole, and there are records as far back as 1858 of area residents attempting to regulate the sport.]

1870 — The pond was stocked with black bass, and no fishing was permitted for the next three years.

1898 — In February, The Bee notes, “Best Ice at Taunton Lake, cut 12-inches thick and very clear.”

“The farmers all had ice houses to cool their milk. Ice-cutting ended in the early 1930s, when electricity came in,” recalls Al Nichols in Newtown Remembered.

August 17, 1900 — Charles L. Briscoe of Taunton presented ex-Senator Houlihan with a bass from Taunton Lake that tipped the scales at 5¼ pounds.

August 23, 1901 — Edward Camp captured a 4½-pound bass in Taunton Lake.

August 30, 1901 — John C. Mason living on Mt Pleasant claimed to have seen a snake near Taunton Lake that was a full ten feet long. “The rapid movement of the snake prevented any measurement of the circumference,” according to The Bee.

  July 24, 1903 — The honor of catching the premium bass in Taunton Lake belonged “thus far this season” to Wilbur Briscoe. It weighed four pounds and ten ounces.

Sad Drowning Accident

February 13, 1903 — A sad case, and one that appealed to the sympathies of every father and mother in town, was the drowning accident that occurred in Taunton Lake. Harry Burton Maynard, the oldest son of Mrs Benjamin Maynard, came home from school Friday afternoon, took his skates and went directly for the pond. This was the last his mother saw of him. After a short time had elapsed, she became worried and seeking for him, she noticed skate tracks on the ice. Becoming alarmed, she called for help, and after some time Chester Northrop and Edward Camp took a boat and went out. The ice was so tender that it broke immediately when the boat was pushed out. With grappling irons, the body was soon found in 15 feet of water.

[Al Nichols recalled a Mrs Annie Maynard (1860–1951) who was, presumably, this boy’s mother.] “She lived at the outlet where Pond Brook flows from Taunton Lake. She rented boats to fishermen who came from Danbury and Bridgeport, and her daughter, Maude, ran a little store in the basement of the home and sold penny candy.”

In 1907, the Borough contracted with the Newtown Water Company to provide fire hydrants at $30 each per year. At this point, Taunton Lake provided ice skating in winter and fishing in summer. Rowboats were also allowed.

July 10, 1908 — The Newtown Water Company buys an acre of land near the “bulkhead” of the outlet from Taunton Lake.

May 20, 1910 — Water Company was found by a local chemist to have good quality.

Water Company Rules

August 8, 1913 — Water Company issues orders to stop bathing in Taunton Lake.

August 22, 1913 — A “watch” is initiated to apprehend illegal bathers.

[Electricity did not come to the Taunton Lake area of Newtown until the 1920s.]

May 24, 1928 — The State Engineer came from Hartford to Newtown and made an inspection of the sanitation existing around Taunton Lake, finding it “very satisfactory.”

November 16, 1928 — The lake is stocked with pickerel and bullheads.

February 1930 — Edward Olmstead filled his ice house and his neighbors turned out to help him with the task.

August 1, 1930 — “There is a pet monkey wandering about in the woods adjoining Taunton Lake, and if he is seen by any of the local residents, Allan Thompson of Liberty Street, Bridgeport, would like to know about it,” notes The Bee. Frightened by thunder and lightning while sitting in the trees, Chico the monkey disappeared and was the object of a fruitless search.

August 11, 1933 — a 5¼-pound bass was caught in Taunton Lake

1934 — Newtown Fish and Game Club was founded by Al “Red” Wagner and Fred Luf, father of lifelong Newtown resident Wilbur “Skip” Luf.

1950s or thereabouts––Reminiscence by R. Scudder Smith on growing up in Newtown.

“We were like Huck Finn back in those days when you could go over and sneak into Taunton Pond when you weren’t supposed to, when it was our drinking water, and they would say no swimming and we would go over in the evening and take a dip.” (Newtown Remembered)

July 15, 1960 — Restrictions as to lot size were made relative to the water pumping station owned by the Newtown Water Company. The 1969 Plan of Development for Newtown discusses impounding the Pootatuck River and Pond Brook as possible drinking water sources.

August 8, 1975 — Algae buildup in Taunton Lake is noted.

August 4, 1978 — Reports in The Bee of “lousy water that customers are getting from the Newtown Water Company and Taunton Pond.” Polly Brody of Main Street, a member of the town’s Legislative Council, told fellow council members “it’s time the consumers be informed regarding circumstances surrounding the poor quality of the water.” She also suggested exploring a moratorium on recreational uses in the pond.

August 11, 1978— Newtown Health Department officials to review the drinking water status. Dr Thomas F. Draper, health officer, and Jack Goett, town sanitarian, consider subsurface septic system disposal problems, as well as the status of the Newtown Water Company’s problems with water from Taunton Pond. Thirteen percent of nearly 500 properties surveyed by the State Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in May were found to have failing septic systems.

November 10, 1978 — Dr Thomas F. Draper said it is not true that a micro-organism, which can cause prolonged diarrhea, had been found in Taunton Pond.

November 16, 1979 — The Newtown Water Company, faced with a December 31, 1980, deadline of complying with the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, began tests to determine whether enough flow can be obtained to make a site on South Main Street a source to replace Taunton Pond.