* * *

Members, wives, and guests of the Newtown Hook and Ladder Company gathered for a dinner-dance which marked the 100th anniversary of the company. The event was at the Fireside Inn last Friday evening and among the life members present and honored during ceremonies were Lou Pelletier and Albert Nichols. Both men have had a long association with Hook and Ladder and account for many years of service to the company and community.

* * *

Planning and Zoning Commissioner Alan Denslow accused Conrail of “passing the buck” after hearing their response to First Selectman Jack Rosenthal’s letter. In his September 28 letter to L. Stanley Crane, chairman of the board at Conrail, Mr Rosenthal asked Conrail officials to be aware that truck traffic has increased on Church Hill Road. “The bridge has been struck numerous times by trucks causing damage to the bridge,” said Mr Rosenthal. Mr Richard Hasselman, vice-president of operations at Conrail, said that Conrail officials inspected the bridge on October 5 and said Conrail expects to correct the problem within 90 days.

* * *

Dr Jacob Romo, regional director for mental health, has ordered that all work on a traffic gate at Fairfield Hills Hospital be stopped. The workers had already begun digging a trench in back of Kent House and according to one employee the gate was one week away from completion when Dr Romo ordered that “the land be filled in and the work be stopped.” If the gate is ever built, traffic will be rerouted around the hospital grounds.

 

November 28, 1958

In time for the Thanksgiving holiday load, the Sandy Hook bypass opened to traffic Thursday afternoon. The new road will carry through traffic from Church Hill Road, Newtown, just east of the railroad underpass to the present intersection of Routes 6 and 34 in Sandy Hook. The two-lane highway, along with the present road from Route 34 to the Rochambeau Bridge over the Housatonic, will eventually be widened to four lanes and become part of the new Interstate 84.

* * *

According to a news item which appeared in last Sunday’s New York News, the Dodgingtown Volunteer Fire Department won a third-place tie in the newspaper’s Vamps Award Contest for October for an unusual example of community enterprise, erecting its own fire headquarters at a considerable savings. It took the Dodgingtown Company better than seven years to complete the job, but when it was finished last month they had a gleaming new firehouse which cost only $40,000 to build. The men got the funds through carnivals, clambakes and fund-raising drives.

* * *

Residents of Shady Rest, Sandy Hook, have formed a bowling league and are bowling every Friday evening at the new alleys on Queen Street. Those enjoying the fun are Mr and Mrs Ross Phillips, Mr and Mrs Fred Soderquist, Mr and Mrs Curt Fitchitt, Mr and Mrs Oliver Hull Sr and Jr, Mr and Mrs Clarence Hull, Mr and Mrs Bill Pitcher, Mr and Mrs Paul Wilson, Mr and Mrs Win Gheen, Mrs Shirley Carlson and Allen Rasmussen.

* * *

The Connecticut Development Commission last Thursday designated a 12-town area including Newtown for a possible future planning region whereby the towns can cooperate more effectively in determining planning policy that effects regional neighbors. In order that the planning region be formed it will require passage of ordinance in the communities involved.

 

November 24, 1933

Something so new in its application of modern principles of treatment of mental disease as to be startling, and so perfectly appointed as to be a model to be followed hereafter, is the new Fairfield State Hospital in Newtown, which ultimately will have a capacity for treating 2,500 patients, and where nearly 500 now are undergoing treatment. On a tract of 771 acres the state of Connecticut has built 23 fireproof buildings at a cost of about $4,000,000. Fourteen more are projected, and when they are built, perhaps within the next four or five years, Connecticut will have the most modern and efficient institution in the country for the care of the mentally diseased. —From The Hartford Times

* * *

Scores of men and women of the town are planning to participate in the big bowling event at the Edmond Town hall alleys, Saturday afternoon and evening, when their skill on the alleys will be rewarded with the nice plump Thanksgiving turkey in the various events. The winners in each event will be rewarded with a turkey, dead or alive. There will be a charge of 25 cents for each event. The bowling will start at 2 pm and will continue until midnight.

* * *

The Sunset Tavern offers an inviting menu to families and individuals who may not care to fuss with preparations for Thanksgiving dinner in their own homes. It will be as follows: Thanksgiving Dinner $1.50. Fruit Cocktail. Green Turtle Soup. Corn Sticks, Crackers, Rolls. Celery Curls. Citron Pickle. Roast Native Turkey. Cranberry Jelly. Mashed Potatoes. Creamed Onions. Yellow Turnips. Cranberry Ice. Hearts of Lettuce with Russian Dressing. Plum Pudding. Hard Sauce. Mince. Pumpkin Pie. Ice Cream. Cake. Nuts, Mints, Coffee.

* * *

The Cyrenius H. booth library has recently received a gift of over 300 selected books, given in memory of Arthur Twining Hadley, who for many years was president of Yale University and a resident of Newtown. It was during Arthur Twining Hadley’s term of office as president of Yale that the Yale University Press and the Yale Review were inaugurated. This splendid memorial gift to the Cyrenius H. Booth library also include the Yale Review, a noteworthy quarterly.

November 27, 1908

REPRESENTATIVES-ELECT: WILLIAM C. JOHNSON — William C. Johnson is a son of Mr and Mrs E.L. Johnson of South Center. Mr Johnson has been engaged for some years in the ice business, and carries on general farming. Mr Johnson possesses qualities that make friends, and made a clean and vigorous personal canvass. HOBART H. CURTIS — Hobart H. Curtis is a member of the successful firm of Taylor, Curtis Co., who conduct a large general store at Sandy Hook. Mr Curtis is a vestryman of St John’s church and a man who has many friends. Both gentlemen will be actuated by high purposes in the important duties of their office.

* * *

Jones Brothers have opened a new feed store at Dodgingtown Center, where they will sell all kinds of feed and grain. It will be their aim to give their customers the best goods the market affords at reasonable prices. The farmers in that locality are much pleased to have the feed store opened there as it will prove a great convenience to them.

* * *

The Methodist parsonage was the scene of an interesting gathering, last Friday night, November 20, when quite a number gathered to eat supper and spend a very pleasant evening. Those who came remembered it was to be a donation to the pastor and his estimable wife. Everything went off as merrily as wedding bells. When the party broke up the parsonage was left the richer in its larder and cellar and the pastor’s pocketbook the heavier by over twenty dollars.

* * *

The interior of St Rose’s is being painted and decorated in very attractive style in honor of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the parish, which is to be celebrated in a fitting manner on July 29 of next year. Mr Moore is the artist and is showing himself to be a genius.