s h s update cupheag r t corne
TRANSCRIPT
I N S I D E T H I S
I S S U E :
Undemocratic
democracy 2
SHS Happen-
ings continued 2
Dateline
Aug—Sept
1956
3
Been to Vegas 4
Four’s a
Charm 4
Officer Down 4
Starving in
Town 5
US Mail of
Yesteryear 5
SHS 75 Years
Ago 5
So You Think
You Know Stratford
6
So You Think
You Know Stratford
7
S T R A T F O R D H I S T O R I C A L S O C I E T Y U P D A T E
CUPHEAG CORNER A U G U S T - S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 1 V O L U M E I V , I S S U E 1
M A R K T H E
D A T E S :
October 24th &
October 31st
“Strange Strat-
ford” bus tours,
1:30 & 4:00 from
Perry House.
October 31st
“Specters Galore
from Forest to
Shore” walking
tour.
Goody Bassett Ice
Cream Social,
Historical Society,
October 31st, 1-3.
HISTORICAL SOCIETY HAPPENINGS
Directors: Carole Fanslow Margo Paquette Stephanie Philips
John Sober
Historical Society Officers 2021-22
President Gail Liscio Vice President David Wright Treasurer Shirley Clevenger Recording Secretary Amanda DeBiase Corresponding Sec’tary Christine Duffy
Chairmanships: Building Committee Roger Salls Education Committee (Vacant) Finance Committee (Vacant) Gardens Committee Kevin Moore Governance Committee Barbara Firisin Grounds Committee Kevin Moore Hospitality Committee Pamela Hutchinson Host-Hostesses Committee Barbara Firisin Membership Committee Christine Duffy Newsletter Committee David Wright Programs Committee Gail Liscio Publicity Committee David Wright Research Committee Gina Pezzullo Statistics Committee Georgene Fasanella Ways & Means Committee (Vacant)
Th
e
Capt. David Judson House c.
1750
2021-22 Meeting
Calendar
Saturday November 13th 2pm
Sunday January 30th 2pm
Sunday March 27th 2pm
Sunday May 22nd 2pm
All meetings are free and open to the general public. Please bring a friend! Donations are gratefully
accepted.
nastasia Mills Healy is an award-winning travel writer formerly on staff at Condé
Nast Traveler, Fodor’s, and Travel Agent. She’s written for publica-tions including Time Out and From-mer’s and she’s a proud member of professional organizations including the Society of American Travel Writers. “Stasha” has been to 64 countries (goal is 100) and all 50 U.S. states. Stasha Healy has produced every type of communication imaginable including websites, marketing emails, ads, speeches, brochures, press releases, and annual reports. Her superpower is understanding an intention and carefully crafting the ideal message for the intended audience. She can also manage communica-tions: scheduling, sending, analyzing.
A Clients include major travel compa-nies, nonprofits, and small business-es. (Foregoing from Stasha’s web-site). Stasha is a world traveler, but she’s a relatively new resident of Connecticut. What Stasha learned early on was there was much about Connecticut that is “hidden in plain sight.” She’ll be sharing some of her many Connecticut discoveries dur-ing her presentation. Secret Connecticut: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Ob-scure tells 84 surprising stories such as the Connecticut residents who were president before George Washington, flew before the Wright brothers, and inspired the character of Indiana Jones; where you can go on safari or race a chariot; and how we ended up with America’s small-est Native American reservation.
SEPTEMBER’S GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING Saturday, September 25th, 2:00 pm, Stratford Library, 2203 Main Street
Anastasia Mills Healy (photography by Annie Watson) author of Secret
Connecticut.
________________________________
◊ ____________________________
"Even if all that has come down to us by report from the past should be true and known by someone, it would be less than
nothing compared with what is unknown … How puny and limited is the knowledge of even the most curious!”
Michel de Montaigne, 1585 ________________________________
◊ ____________________________
Ice Cream Social October 31st.
(“Spooky” ice cream photo from
www.biggerbolderbaking.com).
Historical Society Happenings
continue on page 2.
P A G E 2
T H E C U P H E A G C O R N E R V O L U M E I V , I S S U E 1 T H E C U P H E A G C O R N E R
UNDEMOCRATIC TOWN DEMOCRACY
V O L U M E I V , I S S U E 1
Prior to 2005, Stratford’s town motto had been: Strat-ford. A Town for all Sea-sons. Traces of the former motto can still be located around town. Some residents, tongue-in-cheek, contrived a derivation on that theme which was: “Stratford. A Town for No Reason.” In 1921, for many town residents, Stratford was, indeed, a town for no reason. Opinions on the future of town were basically divided between four schools of thought: 1) merge with Bridge-port because taxes were too high and services provided for the taxes paid were too mea-ger; 2) create a new town charter which would bring Stratford’s government into the 20th century; 3) merge with Bridgeport because it would be much more condu-cive to commerce; and, 4) do nothing because Stratford was just fine the way it was. To understand where Strat-ford stood in 1921 it’s im-portant to understand that all town business was conducted via a New England style town meeting. Stratford’s town hall could only accommodate about 200 attendees. This type of town meeting served Stratford fairly well as long as Stratford was a town of few residents. However, in 1921, Stratford’s population was approaching 15,000 residents and popula-tion growth was explosive. Additionally, Stratford wom-en had never been welcomed to town meetings. Town
meetings were largely the province of the men in town. Town meetings were usually filled with those who arrived early to vote against anything that did not suit the personal interests of the attendees. Speeches given during town meetings frequently droned on endlessly often completely unrelated to matters at hand. Some of the younger men just returned from the war, along with some of their el-ders, realized that most Strat-ford residents no longer had a voice in their town’s govern-ance. Donald and Frank Sam-mis, along with other Stratford men who wished to have Strat-ford continue to exist as a town separate from Bridge-port, crafted a new town char-ter featuring, among many other things, a Council-Manager form of government. Donald Sammis had done a great deal of research on the subject of town governance and found that a Council-Manager government form was succeeding very well for very many towns in many parts of America. Open, local meetings were held all over town to discuss the proposed charter. The meetings began in 1920 and continued on through 1921. Most Stratford residents real-ized something had to change in Stratford’s government and had to change soon. During 1921 alone, a pro-posed tax to buy a new fire truck, to aid the starving poor in town, to pay the school
teachers, and to hold a town election on the proposed char-ter were all voted down by the early arriving naysayers at the town meetings. There had been two large fires in town during 1921, including the Cen-ter School fire, yet, those at-tending the town meetings where a tax was proposed to buy a functional fire truck saw the naysayers defeat the pro-posal for a tax increase. Stratford’s proposed charter was revolutionary in that it allowed for a recall vote on town council members and proposed that women have an equal say in town government and elective offices. (We have posted a complete copy of the 1921 Town Charter on the home page of our newsletter website along with the opin-ions of many living in town at the time as to the need for the new charter). Leading up to the vote on the charter, no one new what the outcome would be. Many thought the vote would fail. No one could predict how the newly enfranchised women would vote. As it turned out, the women overwhelmingly voted to preserve Stratford as an independent town and to clear from office all those men who were making life in Strat-ford undemocratic and unrep-resentative. It would take a recall election, the first of its type in Connecticut, to finish transforming Stratford’s gov-ernment.
Town Meeting in the old
town hall. The Bridge-
port Herald, July 10,
1921.
HISTORICAL SOCIETY HAPPENINGS Continued from Page 1
We have many activities coming up over the next sev-eral weeks. We have one more Lighthouse Open House scheduled for Saturday, Sep-tember 18th at 1pm. Mary Ann Vlahac and the Town’s Economic Develop-ment Department will be host-ing “Strange Stratford Bus Tours” on Sunday October 24th and October 31st. The cost for the bus tours will be $15 and the proceeds will be donated to the Historical Soci-
ety, the Perry House and the Friends of Boothe Park. On Sunday, October 31st, the Historical Society will be sponsoring a Goody Bassett Ice Cream Social. You may decorate your ice cream with candy “creepy crawlies” and learn more of Stratford’s two accused witches. At 1pm and 3pm on Octo-ber 31st the Historical Society will be sponsoring “Specters Galore from Forest to Shore.” The program will begin at the museum with a brief slide show of some of
Stratford’s most haunted plac-es followed by a walking tour of the “haunted” houses in the neighborhood surrounding the Judson House. On Saturday, November 13th, we will be observing the centennial of today’s Washing-ton Bridge. The bridge opened to traffic in November of 1921 and a large parade proceeded from Devon, across the Wash-ington Bridge, south on Main Street, and terminated at Academy Hill. Join us as we reflect on 100 years of the fifth Washington Bridge.
Specters and More From
Forest to Shore Walking
Tour, October 31st.
The Bridgeport Farmer,
March 21, 1921.
Interior of Town Hall c
1910.
P A G E 3 V O L U M E I V , I S S U E 1
Stratford Theater c 1934
NOW SHOWING AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 1956
You may view a slideshow of
our collection of newspaper pho-
tos from August and September
of 1956 on the home page of our
newsletter website:
www.stratfordhistoricalsociety
.info.
August 5th Trapeze Gina Lollobrigida, Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis
August 12th Rawhide Years Tony Curtis, Colleen Miller, Arthur Kennedy
August 19th The King & I Deborah Kerr, Yul Brynner
August 26th Moby Dick Gregory Peck, Richard Basehard, Leo Genn
September 2nd The Fastest Gun Alive Glenn Ford, Jeanne Crain, Broderick Crawford
September 9th Away All Boats Jeff Chandler, Julie Adams, George Nader
September 16th The Proud and Profane William Holden, Deborah Kerr
September 23rd The Burning Hills Tab Hunter, Natalie Wood
September 30th High Society Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra
DATELINE STRATFORD AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 1956
Longbrook Tournament Day. Ed Shivel running the bases. From the Stratford News, August 23,
1956.
David Wooster Junior High first day of school 1956. From The Stratford News, September 6,
1956.
Holy Name of Jesus girls’ softball team. From The Stratford News, September 6, 1956.
Stratford Ordinance Committee in session. From The Stratford
News, August 30, 1956.
The Stratford News August 2, 1956
The Changing Scene Around Town
At various points around town, the thruway construction has changed the quiet atmosphere to a mass of bang-ing noises. Trucks are transporting all sorts of materials. Men are digging, welding, erecting bridges, in order to complete this roadway. It’s going to take time, but soon the scene will change.
The Stratford News
August 16, 1956 Town Passes Pin-ball Law
An ordinance regulating pin ball machines and other mechanical amusement devices, and prohibiting persons under 16 years of age or younger from playing them unless accompanied by their parents was adopted Monday night by the Town Council. The ordinance had been proposed by the police Department last fall.
The Stratford News
August 23, 1956 Longbrook Park 1956 Champs in Recreational Competition
The town championship banner was awarded Longbrook Park Playground at Tournament Day exercises, marking the closing of the 1956 summer town recreational program. Second honors went to the playground children from Lordship and third place to Nichols Ave., the 1955 champion. Town Manager Harry B. Flood and Recreation supervisor James Penders presented the awards.
Sunday Herald August 26, 1956
Houseman Gets 3-Year Pact at ‘Shakespeare’
John Houseman has been offered a three-year contract as full-time artistic director of the American Shakespeare Festival Theater and Academy, it was learned yesterday.
Houseman, director of this Sum-mer’s Festival at the Stratford-on-Housatonic theater, will oversee both the acting company and the school for training young Shakespearean per-formers on a year-round basis.
Sunday Herald
September 2, 1956 Refugee from Russian Terror Starts New Life in Stratford
A White Russian refugee from red Soviet terror, now living in Stratford, had a tearful but happy family reunion this week. Vladimire V. Yurkevitch, who served as an officer in the White Russian Army during the civil war there, brought back from New York four smiling faces to his home at 496 Sec-ond Av. on Aug. 25. . . .A many faceted individual, Yurkevitch, now a laboratory technician at Vitramon, Inc., a manufacturer of electrical equipment in Long Hill, says he always “wished to come to Ameri-ca. In Europe, we heard such wonder-ful stories about the opportunities offered here.”
The Stratford News September 13, 1956
Crowd of 1,000 Watch Ground Breaking at Holy Name
More than 1,000 people watched ground breaking ceremonies Sunday for the eight-room elementary parochi-al school in the Holy Name of Jesus Church yard. The first shovelful of dirt was turned by the Most Rev. Lawrence J. Shehan, Bishop of Bridgeport, after blessing the ground upon which the school will be built.
The Stratford News September 20, 1956
Connecticut Yankees Visit Television City
CBS television played host to the “Connecticut Yankees,” Drum & Bugle Corps of the Anderson-Dunn-Hotchkiss American Legion Post 42, when they toured Television City, world’s largest single television plant, during the American Legion Conven-tion in Hollywood.
The Stratford News September 20, 1956
Curfew Law Hearing is Octo-ber 1
A curfew ordinance prohibiting a person under 16 years of age from being on the streets after 11 p.m. unless accompanied by a responsible adult was adopted this week by the Town Council for its first reading and a public hearing was arranged. The Council action came despite an opinion of Assistant Town Attorney Theodore I. Koskoff that such legisla-tion is illegal unless the Council is willing to declare that an emergency exists in which the Police Department is unable to cope with the situation. “I do not believe such a condition exists,” he said.
Sunday Herald September 23, 1956
Clearwater Defeats Cardinals by 2 to 1
SACRAMENTO, Calif.—The Clear-water, Fla., Bombers, who lost in the finals last year, handed the defending champion Raybestos Cardinals their first defeat in the 1956 World soft-ball title tournament by a 2-1 score last night. ...The Cardinals will play again today against the winner of the Auro-ra, Ill., Sealmasters vs. Springfield, Mo., News Leader Parrots game last night, which followed the Cardinal contest.
P A G E 4
T H E C U P H E A G C O R N E R V O L U M E I V , I S S U E 1
Josephine Salerno
T H E C U P H E A G C O R N E R
“BEEN TO VEGAS”
V O L
my performance of “Twelfth Night.” The student performance was given for the benefit of actors in the regular company, the staff and members of the Ladies Guild. Many attending the guild's 15th annual party for the staff and cast expressed surprise upon seeing the head on its accustomed place. Police said it was irreplaceable and no monetary value could be given. Katherine Hepburn had starred in Shakespear's [sic] “Merchant of Venice” and many other pro-ductions at the theater over the years. A museum of costumes she has worn in past performanc-es is nearby.
the American Shakespeare Festi-val Theater Friday. The bust of the star, who once reigned as Queen of the Nile in Shaw's "Antony and Cleopatra," had mysteriousty [sic] disappeared from its niche in the thea-ter lobby about a week ego. An unidentified person, belived [sic] by witnesses to be an actor, walked into the lobby with the sculpture under his trench coat. The bust was returned to its niche wearing a sign which read, “I’ve been to Vegas.” A spokes-man said the nose was chipped and the head was loose. Minutes before, the missing work of art had been the topic of conversation among members of the theater staff before an acade-
Over the years, some really valuable artifacts have gone missing from the town: “Kate’s (Katharine Hepburn) Cottage” for one. It’s never clear how these artifacts disappear, or why. However, even for Strat-ford, this Hartford Courant news item is especially curious. As far as we can determine, this news item appeared in no local Stratford or Bridgeport newspapers.
The Hartford Courant August 28, 1971
Stolen Bust of Hepburn Back in Theater Niche
STRATFORD - Katherine Hep-burn, cast as Cleopatra (in bronze), returned to the lobby of
IF THREE’S A CHARM, WHAT’S FOUR? are very proud over the event. They can now boast of a larger population and they think that it will add to the glory of the town to have it spread broadcast over the country that four children have been born at one birth in its limits. Mr. Stickles is proud of his little ones, and while he may not be well supplied with this world's goods he will do his best to raise the quadruplets and hopes that the number will not be increased at the next birth. His farm is certainly fruitful in raising a family if not in raising vegetables. Sadly, Mrs. Stickles, and one of the quadruplets, did not survive.
children instead of one made their appearance in the Stickles home. Even this did not disheart-en the proud father but when they came four at a time he began to figure how long he stand that racket on the income from his farm. Friday his wife gave birth to four little ones, three of which are girls and one a boy. The largest child weighed seven pounds. The smallest five, and the total weight of the four is twenty-four pounds. The children and mother were reported to be doing well last night and Dr. Lewis, the attending physician, thinks that he will have no difficulty in saving the mother and the little Stickles. The old residents of Stratford
Bridgeport Herald August 30, 1896 Four of a Kind
O. H. Stickles is a very success-ful farmer who resides on Clap-board hill, in the quiet town of Stratford, and is not only raising large crops but a large family as well, and if the family continues to increase in the future as rapid-ly as it has in the past, he will be compelled to try his hand at raising mortgages on the farm to keep the little Stickles that contin-ue to come into his family. If they come one by one the fanner might be able to stand it, but they do not come singly. The first three did, but when the time for the fourth increase in the family came around two
OFFICER DOWN AUGUST 1946
Bust of Katharine Hep-burn in Cleopatra cos-
tume. Photo from http://www.acgart.gr/ACG-
COLLECTION/ARTISTS/R/RicF/RicF1960cleo.htm
Bridgeport Herald, August 30,
1896
William Schreiber.
Photo from Officer Down Me-
morial Page.
Off icer Schreiber was wounded July 15, 1946 while attempting to arrest burglary suspects at Domenick’s Res-taurant, 140 Boston Avenue.
The Stratford News August 2, 1946
Patrolman Schreiber Dies Of Wound—Funeral To Be Held In St. James'
Church Saturday Complications attacked Patrol-man. William F. Schreiber over last weekend and he died in Bridgeport Hospital at 2 o'clock on Wednesday afternoon. His funeral services are to be
held Saturday morning. The three men arrested on July 15, following the burglary of Domenick's Grill whcih [sic] led to the shooting of Officer Schreiber, were arraigned in the Stratford Town Court at noon on Thursday, formally charged with murder in the first degree and remanded to the county jail in Bridgeport without bail. A week ago Mr. Schreiber seemed to be on the road to recovery from his dangerous wound, barring complications. The complications which came involved the lungs and kidneys. For two days before his demise
on Wednesday his condition was regarded as serious. ...Officer Schreiber was an alumnus of Harding High School and of Ohio University. He was an excellent football and baseball player...He was appointed a patrolman on April 2, 1942, and was absent in the Navy from August 10, 1943, to August 18, 1945, being a petty officer 1/C. Officer Schreiber's estate will derive a substantial sum from the workmen's compensation insur-ance policies which the town carries. Underwriters estimated roughly yesterday that such com-pensation may reach $6,000.
The Bridgeport Evening Farmer
August 11, 1921
WHAT IT COST TO SEND
MAIL IN OLDEN DAYS
If you are one of the people who
look up from your bank book and then
begin to talk about the “good old
days” when a dollar was still worth a
dollar and a square meal could be
bought for a quarter [sic], if you read
in the papers a few days ago that
Congress is contemplating raising the
price of stamps to three cents instead
of two, you probably became rather
indignant at the idea. But consider the
history of stamps for a minute.
In those same far-famed good old
days of low prices, at the time when
your grandad was penning love letters
to grandma, it cost him ten cents for
each letter if it had to travel over
300 miles and three cents if it went
less than that distance. Until 1860
nothing but letters and printed mat
ter were transported by the post
office and as late as 1863 there
were only 49 cities in the country
which had free delivery.
Some letters were recently found
in Stratford in an old house that was
being cleaned. They dated from
early in the last century to about
1840 and showed very well how let
ters were sent in those days. No
envelope was used, the writing paper
being folded in such a way that the
outer face was left blank for the
address, and then sealing wax was
placed on it to keep it closed. There
were no stamps then, in fact prepay
ment by means of stamps did not
come into use here until 1856. In
stead the letter was carried to the
post office, usually only one in a city,
and there it was paid for according
to the distance it had to go. From
Stratford to New Haven cost 10
cents and from New Haven to
Charlestown, S. C., required a 25
cent fee. These prices gradually
were lowered as the department
developed and as the transportation
facilities of the country improved, but
it was not until 1883 that the uni-
form rate of two cents for a letter
any place within the United States
went into use.
As it was agreed that this mon-ey would not be accepted unless the drive was a success this amount will have to be refunded. The only hope for the town poor is that the selectmen will meet in special session and levy an addi-tional tax of one mill to cover the emergency. All during the winter the selectmen have been doing all in their power, and it seems probable that this action will be taken to relieve the suffering. From certain quarters there has been [sic] complaint upon the part of a select few because Stratford got such “shameful publicity.” The truth was spread about in hopes that the wealthy and healthy would help the needy...
predicament for some days, at least. The charity commission that undertook to handle the situation, which is critical, regardless of reports to the contrary, have about decided to throw up the sponge. Hopes that a fund of $20,000 to take care of the situation could be raised by voluntary subscrip-tion from those of the town able to give without depriving them-selves of food and shelter, have been shattered. The charity commission met in executive session last evening, and found each other to be a discouraged and disgusted lot. Efforts to date have brought forth about $5,200, just about a fourth of the amount needed.
Following the end of World War I, war production ceased leading to plant closings and many layoffs. Dozens of fami-lies in Stratford were effected leaving hungry children who alternated school attendance and daily food consumption with their siblings. We have published all of the articles related to these poor families and posted them to our news-letter website.
The Bridgeport Times May 20, 1921
There are 485 people in Strat-ford today, without funds, without means of support, and without food, and it begins to look as though they will remain in that
Stratford school youngsters enjoying a lunch of milk and sandwiches which is served every day. Photo from The
Bridgeport Times, May 19, 1921.
485 STRATFORD PEOPLE WITHOUT MONEY OR FOOD P A G E 5 V O L U M E I V , I S S U E 1
poles into a travois for transporta-tion before the paleface came out of the rising sun and put the curse of the horse and wagon on him. The general topic for the evening announced by Mrs. Georgiana T. Greeley, chairman of the program committee, is I Remember When. Mrs. Frank R. Sammis, curator of the society, has a very distinct remembrance of those days when bags were manufactured here (about the time that the Rev. Dr. Burchard unwittingly made certain the election of Grover Cleveland as president) and will tell about that important small industry. Mrs. Vanderbilt will read published com-
ments about the old names of Strat-ford streets. William Howard Wilcoxson, gen-eral historian of Stratford by consen-sus, will hark back to the days when the Housatonic River was free and will brief the history of the shad industry here before man killed it by throwing dams across the stream. A special exhibit of articles made of mother of pearl will be arranged in the General Hawley Room for the meeting. Officers will be elected after the report of the Nominating Commit-tee, of which James A. Mallett is chairman. Annual reports will be made by
STRATFORD HISTORICAL SOCIETY 75 YEARS AGO
WHAT IT COST TO SEND MAIL IN THE “OLDEN DAYS”
Stratford’s Post Office 1803-1857
as rendered by Edward Lamson
Henry c 1860.
the president and the several other officers, and by the committee chair-men: Donald S. Sammis, Mrs. Harry A. Burnes and Mrs. Frank H. Fargo, vice presidents; Miss Cornelia B. Thompson, recording secretary; Miss Harriet B. Blakeman, corresponding secretary, and John W. Richardson, treasurer. Chairmen—Mrs. Robert N. Brock-way, Membership; Mrs. John W. Richardson, Publicity; Mrs. Harold C. Lovell and Mrs. Roy C. Sanborn, Hospitality; Mrs. Frank R. Sammis, and Mrs. Maynard S. Wallace, House.
The Stratford News September 20, 1946
Musty Tomes Being Searched Ahead Of Histori-
ans' Meeting Atomic bombs, robot airplanes, inter-planetary rockets and other modern pests will be ignored when the Stratford Historical Society holds its annual meeting in Judson House on Academy Hill Friday evening of next week. President Merritt D. Vanderbilt will guide his fellow-historians into the past ages of the horse and buggy and other present curiosities — perhaps into the days when the con-tented Amerind lashed a couple of
The article shown below was
published in the August 30th,
1956 edition of The Stratford
News. The challenge issued in
the article was for readers to try
and guess the location of each of
the featured Stratford scenes.
Some of these scenes are fairly
obvious. Some are much more
obscure. We thought it would be
fun for those of you with long
Stratford memories to challenge
yourselves with these scenes. The
answers are on page 7. Howev-
er, it would be no challenge at all
if we just gave you the answers,
so we printed the answers upside
down and backwards. You’ll
need to hold page 7 up to a mir-
ror to reveal all seven answers.
Good luck.
SO YOU THINK YOU KNOW STRATFORD... P A G E 6 V O L U M E I V , I S S U E 1
The Stratford News August 30, 1956
Here are a few scenes at random around town of familiar and well known spots and land marks. See. how many you may recognize. Admittedly, they are shot from odd, intriguing angles, but they all have been with us for quite some time. There are no prizes to go with suc-cess, but it may be fun for you to see if you can guess more, than your neighbor. The answers are printed upside down (and backwards, on page 7,) to make it harder for you to peek.
1. 2.
3. 4. 5.
6. 7.
Of course, what fun would it be
if we didn’t attempt to replicate
the scenes on page 6 with the
same scene as it appears today.
As best we could, we photo-
graphed page 6’s scenes from the
same angle today. Then, just to
make these contemporary scenes
correlate as best we could with
their historic image from page 6,
we transformed the current pho-
tos into black and white newspa-
per prints. Taking some of these
photos, today, was particularly
challenging since some of the
buildings shown on page 6 no
longer exist.
SO YOU THINK YOU KNOW STRATFORD... P A G E 7 V O L U M E I V , I S S U E 1
1. 2.
3.
4.
5.
7. ANSWERS
1. The rear wall of the westbound
railroad station looking west.
2. Granite Pulpit in the Sunken
Garden at Boothe Memorial
Park.
3. Flagpole on the front wall of the
Post Office (today’s Ole Dog
Tavern).
4. Stained-glass window of the First
Methodist Church facing Main St.
5. The Honor Roll board in front of
the Town Hall from the Town
Hall steps.
6. The outside balcony of the
Shakespeare Theater.
7. Entrance to High School Gymna-
sium on King St.
967 Academy Hill Rd
P.O. Box 382
Stratford, CT 06615
Phone: (203) 378-0630
Fax: (203) 378-2562
E-mail: [email protected]
Stratford Historical Society
Our mission is to preserve, protect, cherish, and celebrate the history of the Town of Stratford.
www.stratfordhistoricalsociety.org
hose of you night owls who were able to stay awake for The Late Show, or
you insomniacs, no doubt recall David Letterman’s Top 10 lists. Letterman’s top tens were regularly reported on by other media sources as well. Letterman has sauntered off into retirement, but it occurred to us that it might be education-al to create some Stratford Top 10 lists. For instance, what are the Top 10 Stratford political events? "President (Timothy) Dwight (of Yale and William Samuel Johnson colleague), in 1789, writes: Stratford is better built than either Fairfield or Norwalk...The inhabitants have long been agitated by religious and political controver-sies.”
Number 4 is a very strange story of a 1955 police “sex scandal” which nearly cost Town Manager, Harry Flood, his job. This is a story of Stratford town politics at their most abject. On September 22, 1955, the following story appeared on the front page of The Stratford News.
PROBE GIRL'S SEX CHARGES LEVELED AGAINST POLICEMEN
T “Town police officials this week have been investigating a complaint by a 16-year-old Pennsylvania girl charging that several mem-bers of the police force had intimate relations with her while she was visiting here this past summer...Also involved in the case is a 16-year-old Stratford girl who is also said to have been intimate with several Stratford police officers.” That story was bad enough, but it got worse; 1956 was an election year. The Town Council had been decidedly Repub-lican for generations. The town Demo-cratic party sensed an opportunity to paint the Republicans in a bad light by accusing them of not desiring a proper “peoples” investigation into the police officer’s misconduct. Sadly, Town Manager, Harry Flood, being a member of the town’s Republican party, became the convenient target on which to pin the police investigation’s lack of transparency. Harry Flood was loved and respected by nearly everyone in town. He’d served the town well in many capacities through the years and was undeserving of the brow beating he received from those
THE STRATFORD TOP 10
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www.stratfordhistoricalsociety.info.
seeking to find fault with the police inves-tigation. Ultimately, the Democrats dismissed Harry. Harry refused to vacate his town manager office. Ultimately, the case went to the State Supreme Court and Harry was vindicated, but not before most of Connecticut was made aware of the dis-pute.