August 27, 1993

Main Street is the setting for the 18th annual Labor Day Weekend Book Sale at the Cyrenius H. Booth Library. The sale dates and times are September 4 from noon to 5 pm, with numbered tickets going on sale at 7 am. There is an admission charge of $5 ($3 fir residents) Saturday only. Admission is free on Sunday and Monday. Hours are, Sunday, September 5, 11 am to 4 pm; Monday, September 6, 9 am to 1:30 pm with books at half price, and 2 – 4 pm with books sold at $5 a bag for whatever items remain. There is a definite take-me-out-to-the-ballgame flavor at the book sale this year, with team and world series year books as well as a number of team pennants. The 1960 Pirates will be represented along with the 1972 Mets. Other sale highlights include an unusually large collection local history and genealogy, along with the usual large offerings in cookery, fiction, children’s stories, art, and other topics.

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Edmond Town Hall will no longer need Port-a-johns, much to the relief of office workers. On Tuesday, T&C Excavation replaced the broken underground pipe leading from toilets in the building to the septic field, fulling restoring the town hall to the modern age of plumbing. After the pipe broke in the previous week, town hall was left with only the toilets in the gymnasium. Therefore, four Port-a-johns were rented and set up behind the building near the financial department.

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After two years of work and more than a little controversy over its concepts for improving traffic flow in the town’s central commercial district, the Planning and Zoning Commission has approved a new Plan of Development for Newtown. The document is supposed to guide the course of the town’s physical and economic growth for the next ten years. Yet many of its most important objectives, having to do with economic growth and preservation of natural and historical resources may be hard to reconcile, much less implement. The general picture the new plan presents of Newtown in the year 2000 is a town with a diverse population of varied economic and social backgrounds. This population will live in a town where commercial services and jobs are readily available, where development thrives, and where historic buildings are preserved, and open spaces abound. We love this vision of Newtown but see no indication that local agencies are preparing to follow through with actions necessary to realize the vision. We hope that in the next decade the town’s land use agencies do not settle for status quo. The value of the new Plan of Development depends on how it is used.

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Favorite Memories Of Labor Day Parade. By Kristen De La Vega, 9. I have lots of memories of the Labor Day Parade. I liked when I marched with my Brownie Troop. We held up a banner as we marched in the parade. We gave out candy to toddlers to make them happy. It also made us happy with the fact that we were sharing. I will never forget the time last year, when we marched in the rain. When I got home, I was wet, but I did not care because I had a good time. I also like when I saw the end of the parade finish. I liked all of these memories and I hope that this year I can pick up some new memories to add to my old ones.

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The Newtown Historical Society kicks off its fall season with open house tours of its headquarters, the Matthew Curtiss House at 44 Main Street, on Sundays from 2 – 5 pm during September and October. The society’s trained staff of docents will be on hand to lead guided trips back into the living style of the 18th century. On Labor Day, immediately prior to, and after the parade, the house will be open for tours.

August 30, 1968

The Bee’s Jim Lightfoot, who raises prize Southdown on his Woodbury farm, wil go to the Fair at Spencer Mass., on Saturday, August 31, to judge the sheep show, and on Tuesday, September 3, he will be in Rutland Vt., in the same capacity.

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During the school year 1968-69, senior high school students will not be permitted to park in any of the numbered spaces in the south parking lot or the north parking lot at the rear of the gym. All of these spaces must be used to provide parking for administration, teachers, clerical, and custodial personnel. Thee will be limited parking for students along the grassy strip across from the gym. Students must get a parking permit from the office for an assigned space. They will be issued on a priority basis.

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Last Saturday, August 24, Newtown High School classes of 1946, 1947, and 1948, gathered at the Hawley Manor Inn with husbands and wives for a combined reunion. The group of 58 was divided about equally into residents and those who had moved out of town and elsewhere since graduation. The cocktail hour and dinner were followed by an informal program. In 1946, 11 girls and 4 boys graduated; 1947 and 1948 boasted 29 members each. Newtown High School was on the top floor of Hawley School, with four classrooms and a lab. Vincent Gaffney’s agricultural room, the gym, and locker rooms were in the basement. The auditorium served as the library and study hall, large enough to hold the high school assemblies. The current high school has 55 classrooms, with more to come in the new school.

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Let it be known that … Apart from our usual trend of having a bit of fun with this column, we are going to take space to mention an incident with the serious automobile accident last Friday evening on Route 202 near the entrance to Sugar Lane. We were among the first to arrive at that scene and the driver of the car lying in the road with his young daughter beside him. Her left arm seamed to be hurt quite badly, yet she was as calm as could be. She assured her father that he would be all right, and also mentioned that he was going too fast. Our hats are off to this brave six-year-old.

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Two unidentified gunmen entered the Wesley Elwood Home on Route 7, Brookfield, August 27, on the pretext of using the phone. They then forced Mr and Mrs Elwood, their daughter Nancy, and her friend Harold Raymond to open the safe and hand over $15,000. Mr Elwood operates a well tile and concrete manufacturing business adjacent to his home. No one was injured. The bandits were still at large Thursday morning.

September 3, 1943

A rare evening of chamber music was enjoyed on August 28 at “Catalpa Hill,” the Sandy Hook home of Dr and Mrs Ralph Fogelson. The three artists who participated in the trio are New York professionals. Carl Ziegler, cellist and teacher, has played with many orchestras on the concert stage and on radio. Edmund Zygman, violinist, has had an extensive career as a conductor of symphony orchestras throughout the world. Charlotte Schwartz Fogelson, concert pianist, and on the faculty of Julliard School of Music is now devoting considerable to ensemble music. The glow of their performance will long remain with those who had the opportunity of listening to these superb artists.

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Mrs Russell Strasburger wish to thank those who made the sale of herbs a success. The friendly cooperation of the Newtown Bee and the staff at Knapp and Trull’s story is greatly appreciated by the Housatonic branch of the American Association of University Women.

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After an absence of several years in Bermuda, during which time she was engaged in concert singing, Jenny Lee, who has won herself a bright spot with many American audiences as a well-known soprano and singing teacher, has come home. She has opened her home studio in Brookfield center Her return is a resumption of the work Jenny Lee has carried on here before, and she is resuming teaching Individual and Class Form Instruction.

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With the opening of Newtown schools Wednesday, September 8, several new teachers will assume their duties in the classrooms to replace those who have gone into military service or accepted other positions. Miss Helen Woodward on Maine will teach the social sciences class at Hawley School during the coming year. Miss Woodward replaces Miss Harriet Rice who has taught at Hawley School for the past three years. Theodore P. Emery will instruct the science classes and will be director of guidance and visual education. Mr Emery formerly taught at Bar Harbor High School in Maine for thirteen years. Miss Rena Case of East Orange will replace Edward Fuller who is now with the Navy in New York. Miss Clara Jillson of Hawleyville will become the teacher at Land’s End School to replace Miss Evelyn Krakow who has been transferred to Hawley School where she will teach the sixth and seventh grades.

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William O’Shae and family, who have made their home in Stepney for some time, are living in the Mary Egan residence in Sandy Hook.

August 30, 1918

Three cheers for Rev Mr Tomlin. Village improvements continue and the best of it is the way everybody has had a good for and joins in. Rev Tomlin has worked like a beaver all these hot days and has achieved wonderful results. Never was the street so clean and trim. Complementing Mr Tomlin on his results, “Oh” said he, “If they could only keep it so.”

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Over 90 men enjoyed the clam bake of the Newtown Republican Club at the Newtown Inn on Friday last. The bake was superb and Mine Host Parker received high praise. Sheriff Someon Pease of Bridgeport was among the guests present.

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With the death of Matthew Culligan, another of the brave defenders of the Nation in the Civil War, has passed to his long rest. Mr Troy thinks there are but six veterans now living in town: Patrick Lynch, Ephraim Brisco, Ezra Young, Henry Coger, and Charles Hawley.

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Loaded Auto Trucks Breaking Down The Bridges. The selectmen are kept busy repairing bridges broken down by the large lumber auto trucks from Torrington. They are drawing from eight to ten tons beside the weight of the truck and light lumber bridges cannot hold the weight.

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Contractor T.F. Brew has newly shingled the Bradley residence occupied by Andrew Donlon.

Please consider sharing your old photographs of people and places from Newtown or Sandy Hook with The Newtown Bee readers. Images can be e-mailed to kendra@thebee.com or brought to the office at 5 Church Hill Road to be scanned. When submitting photographs, please identify as many people as possible, the location, and the approximate date.