Date: Fri 04-Apr-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

David-Merrill-mural-town-hall

Full Text:

Artist Searches For Newtown Celebrities For Town Hall Mural

w/photos

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

Thurber. Wally Cox. Grace Moore. Andre Hudiakoff. Alexander Scourby. Dagmar.

David Merrill is looking for the names of nationally known persons who have

lived in Newtown to paint them in the final mural at Edmond Town Hall.

The artist, who began painting the murals that line the staircases in the town

hall more than 10 years ago, intends to finish his work by sometime next year.

One section of wall next to a balcony theater door upstairs is really too

narrow for a painting, so Mr Merrill decided to use it to list notables who

have lived - and may still live - in Newtown.

"The first murals (along the building's southern staircase) touch on the

architecture and scenes important to the town," he explained. "The second part

(on the northern staircase) features the people and the names important to the

town, including those today who are keeping up the great (historic)

homesteads. It's different from the first side - and I think it should be."

As visitors climb the northern staircase, the murals begin with a reproduction

of the 1705 map of Newtown. Hot air balloons drift down from the ceiling next

to an image of the eagle statue, which sits in front of Edmond Town Hall in

honor of the memory of longtime building manager Francis Hidu.

"You have to subtly blend so that one scene blends into the next," Mr Merrill

explained, as the mural continued with a view of the house at 1 Poorhouse

Road, long identified as one of the oldest in Newtown, a view of Pond Brook

off Hanover Road, and the eagles hovering above the Shepaug Dam. A tranquil

reproduction of the Paugusset State Forest as it might have appeared in 1650

shows birds and animals and an Indian woman dressed in white.

"The forest scene takes you back in time to show the spirit of the Indian," Mr

Merrill said. "The Indian's white wedding dress reflects the purity of the air

and the purity of the water at the time when the forest was a haven for birds

and animals.

"The mother deer came to drink the water and was startled by our voices," he

said, pointing to a doe who looks out at the mural at passersby. "Wherever you

walk, her eyes are following you."

A view of Main Street, surrounded by paintings of historic houses, includes

the names of all of the town's first selectmen since 1712. On the landing,

halfway up, the Liberty Pole rises majestically up the wall.

"When the Liberty Pole stood on Main Street from 1914 to 1950, with the two

wooden masts fastened together and the halyard, it looked like you were

approaching a ship," Mr Merrill said. "When a steel pole was installed in

1950, someone had the foresight to take a saw and cut a section of the Liberty

Pole, mount it on a backing and give it to the Booth Library, where it has

been displayed.

"The spirit of Newtown is quite unique. I think it comes from the flagpole.

The people take great pride in the flagpole," he said.

Surrounding the Liberty Pole are the four clans of the Paugussett Indian tribe

and the men who negotiated the purchase of land that would become Newtown;

scenes of a farmer plowing a field with a team of oxen, a trapper in a canoe,

and the faces of many residents who were important to Newtown through the

years.

"I wanted to show the pioneer spirit ... carving out a community from the

woodland," Mr Merrill said.

The mural includes notables such as Peter Hubbell, who in 1711 was the first

town clerk, the images of state governors who were born or lived in Newtown,

Arthur Nettleton, William T. Cole, Salmon S. Peck, Ezra Levar Johnson, Charles

Goodyear, and Bee publishers Allison, Arthur and Paul S. Smith.

"These are all men," Mr Merrill pointed out. "When we get to the 1800s, we

begin to see the names of remarkable women."

"Ezra Levin Johnson was very important to recording the history of the town

but it was his wife, June E. Johnson, who put it all together - without her we

would not have the book. I was able to get a copy of the book and keep it in

my possession for a long time to use in my research."

The first women to gain prominence in Newtown included Susan Scudder, who was

the first to be elected to the school board. There are the faces of town

benefactress Mary Hawley and her maternal great-grandfather, Judge William

Edmond, along with more contemporary women like Zita McMahon, Mae Schmidle,

Margot Hall, Margaret Winchester, Barbara Tilson Albright, Ellen Parella,

Marvi Fast, and Sarah Mannix.

Among the 20th Century residents shown on the murals are William Honan, Sr,

and, Jr, SCAN founder Laurence Newquist, Ida Van Tassel, Mack and Ginny

Lathrop, and Joseph Grasso, music director at the high school for 32 years.

"The lives of this man," Mr Merrill said pointing at Joe Grasso's name and

then at the Lathrops'. "Just those three. The numbers of students and

youngsters whose lives they touched are phenomenal. Kids that weren't

interested in school got interested in music and found school to be exciting."

I'm like on a high - my psyche and energy are flowing into this," Mr Merrill

said as he painted shutters on the Grace Moore house, now owned by Elin and

Timothy Hayes. "Painting is an emotional thing. You have to bring everything

to it like an athlete for the big game, you have to be there in mind, body and

spirit."

The mural not only evolves, it changes occasionally.

"I made a drastic change last month in the center scene of Main Street," Mr

Merrill said. "I moved all the buildings back, widening Main Street, giving it

a more natural look."

The artist said that Mrs Fenn Dickinson, wife of the late first selectman,

called him twice in two years to make sure that he included the Dayton Street

Bridge, which he did, over the doors to the theater balcony.

Originally from Monroe, David Merrill lived for years in Southbury, where he

painted murals in the town hall there. He moved to Maine, then returned to

Southbury and was living there when he began the murals in Newtown in 1984. He

has since moved to Newtown, where he lives with his wife, Beryl, an assistant

tax collector in Newtown, whom he met while painting the murals in the town

hall.

Recently, the couple has been traveling to work together since Mr Merrill has

put aside much of his other work to concentrate on completing the murals.

"I'm not getting any younger and much of the work requires that I use

scaffolding and climb up and down ladders," he explained. "So, I'd like to

complete the project by sometime next year."

The work is painstaking - it takes about two weeks to paint one of the many

historic houses that are featured in the murals - but David Merrill works

intently, almost oblivious to passersby.

"Step by step we'll get there," he promised.

David Merrill invites everyone to send him the names of nationally prominent

persons who live, or have lived, in Newtown, care of The Mural Fund, PO Box

3112, Newtown 06470.