The End Of Time: Tercentennial Project Completed At Middle Gate

By Shannon Hicks

Middle Gate School students, parents, and friends returned to the playground at the Cold Spring Road school recently to complete a tercentennial project that will offer a capsulated history of Newtown for years. Armed with paint and chalk, the group put its final mark on the Tercentennial Timeline, which offers simple icons and just a few words with each icon to identify major dates and events during the first 300 years of Newtown’s history.

The painting of the timeline began last August, when painters of all ages met at the school a week before school opened for the 2005-06 session and put down the icons and lettering for the painted timeline that runs on either side of the school and stretches along the walkway that runs behind the building that joins the two play spaces.

Under the leadership of Newtown residents Robbin Chaber and Denise Rodriguez, work has been done in three sessions. The first century of icons and lettering was done last summer, the second was done during the autumn months, and with the return of warmer temperatures about 15 people returned to the playground during the recent Easter break to finish the job.

The idea for a timeline came out of what Ms Chaber called “a faculty brainstorming session” during the 2004-05 school year, when Middle Gate faculty members were deciding how to help their students understand, observe, and celebrate the 300th anniversary of their hometown’s purchase. A committee was formed to coordinate the school’s tercentennial events, and then when a subcommittee was created for the timeline, Ms Chaber and Ms Rodriguez volunteered to direct that project.

Ms Chaber and Ms Rodriguez worked with fellow Newtown artist Michael Morshuk to create the timeline, including the icons, dates, and phrases being incorporated into the outdoor project.

Town Historian Dan Cruson was called on for help in confirming important dates and events, and Middle Gate first grade teacher Helen Miller helped in deciding how much information should be included. Mr Cruson has created a fact sheet to correspond with the timeline that teachers can now use for their classes.

Newtown’s Park & Rec department started the work on the timeline when a few staff members visited Middle Gate last August to put down the white line that serves as the actual line running between the school’s two playgrounds. They also put in the notches where icons and their short descriptions would be placed.

Dates were put down in a sky blue shade, followed by yellow lettering. Icons were drawn by Mr Morshuk, and then the younger painters went to work painting those images.

Everything was first put down in chalk, and then painted right over.

In addition to events in the town’s history, the timeline also includes some events that happened on the national level. For the third century, this means students — and anyone else who wants to visit the playground to enjoy the timeline — are learning about the creation of Lake Zoar in 1918, the construction of C.H. Booth Library (1932), the construction of Middle Gate School (1964), the arrival of I-84 (1967) and Sand Hill Plaza (1990), among other events in town, while putting them into context of the right for women to vote (1920), the first radio broadcast (1921), the arrival of microwave ovens (1967) and 9/11.

“This should help students understand how national events affected Newtown,” Ms Chaber said.

“The teachers are very excited,” she continued. “We’ve just received some additional input from Dan Cruson, which has been turned into a seven-page handout that the teachers will now use while leading their students along the timeline.”