Catch up on past weeks in Valley History in the Valley History Archive

From the pages of the Evening Sentinel

This Week in Valley History...

June 28 - July 4

100 Years Ago - 1909

Monday, June 28

• A heavy shower, much needed for grass and crops, arrives in the afternoon.

• ANSONIA – A Star Street store gutted by fire at 5AM. This is the same store that was gutted by another fire last March. Although the damage to the building isn’t bad, the store’s stock is ruined, and the owner had no insurance. The fire is labeled suspicious, and on July 10 the State Police declare it was arson.

• SEYMOUR – The rainstorm causes the sky to turn very dark to the extent that trolleys have their headlights and interior lights on, yet there is no thunder or lightning.

• SHELTON – A house is struck by lightning in White Hills. The house rear of the house had a history of being struck by lightning, so the owner moved onto her porch as a precaution. This time, the lightning struck the porch. She was momentarily stunned by the experience, but uninjured. The house sustains moderate damage.

July 29

• DERBY - 114 public school children have had perfect attendance for the entire school year.

• SEYMOUR - The old freight depot will soon be vacated. This building was erected on Main Street in 1849, when the town was still a part of Derby called Humphreysville. An 1866 addition allowed the building to provide passenger service as well. The passenger service was discontinued in 1898, at which time the addition was razed. Thus, the old freight depot is still relatively unchanged from when it was first built. Its future is uncertain at this time.

June 30

• OXFORD – “The break in the extreme warm wave of the past week which came Tuesday was most welcome. While the heat here was not quite so excessive as in the cities, yet it taxed the endurance of the people greatly. There were no heat prostrations in town, so far as is known”.

Thursday, July 1

• The temperature is 80 degrees at 7PM.

• ANSONIA – The first open-air concert of the year by the American Brass Company Band is held at Wallace's Grove off Franklin Street. A large crowd is in attendance, Franklin Street is “a solid mass of people”. This year’s improvements to the American Brass Company-owned grove includes leveling the ground, beautifying the trees, and doubling its seating capacity, and better lighting and fencing. A 10' wide promenade of crushed stone now winds around the bandstand from Franklin Street.

• SHELTON – “Camp Barlow”, an unofficial fishing camp and resort for workingmen along the Housatonic River above downtown Shelton, opens for the summer.

July 2

• ANSONIA & SEYMOUR – The Ansonia Police and Seymour’s Prosecutor Atwater warn against “premature” celebrations of Independence Day. This includes setting off fireworks and breaking into churches to ring their bells at the stroke of midnight on July 4.

• DERBY – The Birmingham Iron Foundry has purchased the adjacent property of the Howe Manufacturing Company. The Howe factory was built in 1838 to manufacture pins, while the BIF dates back to 1836. The Howe plant will be altered for BIF as a pattern workshop and pattern storage facility. It was bought by Plume & Atwood of Waterbury on June 26, 1908, but they didn't do anything with it. The Birmingham Iron Foundry merged with Farrel Foundry, to become Farrel Birmingham in 1927. Today’s Home Depot now occupies the site.

July 3

• DERBY - Last year’s fashion dictated that women stick pins and combs in their hair, which was very good for Derby’s industries. This year, wearing hats is in fashion, which is negatively affecting the same industries. While some hope that pins and combs come back in style, others recall a similar situation after the Civil War when Derby’s hoopskirt industry collapsed after these went out of style, too.

• SHELTON - There is a movement to have Riverview Park lit by electric lights. Right not it is completely unlighted

July 4 - America's 133rd Independence Day

• ANSONIA – 3 are arrested for setting off fireworks just after midnight. Some churches and schools are guarded overnight to prevent pranksters from ringing the bells at midnight. The rest of the day is “saner and safer” than normal.

• DERBY – The City is “noisy but safe, though there is a racket the following day when merchants start offering discounts on leftover fireworks. 

• OXFORD – “The Fourth was very quiet in Oxford. The bells of the Congregational Church and Centre school were rung for a little time at an early hour in the morning. The bell of St. Peter's Church was not rung, as it is out of repair. There was some firing of crackers and firearms, but nothing of a disturbing nature was done by anyone”.

• SEYMOUR – The Town is relatively quiet this Independence Day.

• SHELTON – A man is arrested for setting off fireworks after midnight. An older resident says this was the quietest Independence Day he had ever known.

75 Years Ago - 1934

Thursday, June 28

• ANSONIA – The Evening Sentinel supports the AME Zion church's attempt to secure the old B’nai Israel synagogue on Colburn Street. AME Zion reportedly must vacate their present church building by July 2.

June 29

• Today’s high is 106, with a low of 71.

• ANSONIA - Two FERA projects are completed today. Benz Street has been widened and graded, and stone walls have built in places. Sixth Street has also been graded, with a new stone wall near the corner with Star Street. The FERA men will now be shifted to projects on Hill Street and the Fourth Street School.

• DERBY - Two Minerva Street men, aged 46 and 40, are killed in after being struck by a car on Housatonic Avenue near the Yale Boathouse and the Blue Light Inn across the street from the boathouse. The car flees the scene. Acting on a tip, within two hours the police track the car to two Shelton men. They are arrested. The driver appears to have been intoxicated.

• OXFORD – “Our city friends seeking quiet and beauty of the country will find such peace and beauty on some of the side roads in Oxford. Governors Hill Road, leading from Oxford Center to Quaker Farms, a distance of 2 miles, is well worth driving over. The road is in fair condition for auto travel, is arched for much of the way with trees, and as it winds its way over the hills and through the dells, it becomes to a nature lover a source of pure delight. Try it next Sunday”.

• SEYMOUR – A man dies of heat prostration at 11:30 PM at his cousin’s home on Shelton Avenue.

• SHELTON - Eastern Distilleries, Inc will move into the old Harris, Seybold, & Potter factory. It will employ 35-40 men.

• SHELTON – “The George W. Scranton home on Coram Avenue, adjoining the Gardner property, one of the oldest residences in that section of the city has been demolished by the owner. Mrs. Flora H. Gardner, and the site is now being graded to beautify the place. Considerable other work is being done on the rear of the Gardner property on the Prospect Avenue side. Mr. Scranton is president of the Derby Gas and Electric Company”.

June 30

• Today’s high is 101, with a low of 71.

• OXFORD - Camp Palmer, the Bridgeport Knights of Columbus Camp, opens for its 13th season along the Housatonic River. The enrollment for the first two weeks is 75, which is a record.

• OXFORD – “Yesterday was a day of high temperature throughout this section, the highest being reported by Eugene Wyant of Woodside Avenue, who stated his thermometer at one time was 104 degrees in the shade”.

Sunday, July 1

• Today’s high is 101, with a low of 71.

• SHELTON – 5,000 people visit Indian Well State Park. A Maple Street girl rescues a drowning boy in the Housatonic River.

• SHELTON – Camp Irving, the Housatonic Council’s Boy Scout Camp, opens for the season. A record 50 campers have signed up for the first week. Camp Irving was located where Housatonic Well Fields are today.

July 2

• SEYMOUR – The Seymour Playground Association inaugurates the summer season with the opening of the pool at Legion Park. Over 500 swim the first day.

July 3

• A shower dumps 0.35" this evening, and may finally put an end to the heat wave and waters thirsty crops.

• DERBY - FERA has approved painting two book rooms and the window casements at Derby Public Library this month.

• OXFORD - Camp Pomperaug of the Bridgeport Scout Council opens today on Lake Zoar with 125 Boy Scouts.

July 4 - America's 158th Independence Day

• Temperatures are 92, but far less humid, dropping to 68 at night. The holiday was noisy, reminding many of how Independence Day was celebrated before the Great Depression struck.

 50 Years Ago - 1959

Sunday, June 28

• SEYMOUR – Most of the Town clergy sign a joint statement deploring perceived bullying, hazing, and intimidation among students within the public school system, igniting a debate among parents, town officials, and school officials that lasts for some time.

June 30

• ANSONIA – The Ansonia Housing Authority receives a formal contract from the Federal Government assuring 165 new low-income housing units in the Broad Street area. This area would become today’s Olson Drive.

• ANSONIA – The contract between American Brass Company and Local 445 of the International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers, which was to expire at midnight tonight, has been extended to the next scheduled meeting on July 9. Meanwhile, contract talks between that union, along with Local 3571 of the United Steelworkers of America, and Farrel-Birmingham continue today in New York City.

Wednesday, July 1

• DERBY – The 101 year old Howard and Barber Department Store is acquired by Shartenberg's-New Haven, Inc., which operates a similarly-sized department store in the Elm City, effective tomorrow. They plan not to make any changes and will keep the store's name.

• DERBY - Governor Ribicoff signs a Reservoir Bill which, among other things, will allow the Housatonic Council to develop a new Boy Scout Camp in Goshen.

• SEYMOUR - Sen. Prescott Bush announces approval of a $398,686 federal loan, and a $268,926 federal capital grant, to the Town of Seymour for the 5-acre Second Street Urban Renewal Project.

July 3

• SHELTON - Hundreds view a street parade on Howe Avenue, which leads the way to a fireworks show at Lafayette Field. Entertainment is provided by Capt. C Whiskers, host of the Popeye Theater on WNHC-TV.

July 4 - America's 183rd Independence Day

• The day is relatively quiet, with few incidents throughout the Valley.

• DERBY - Thousands jam Ryan Field for the annual Fourth of July fireworks display.

• SEYMOUR – A Police Sergeant has a heart attack at his home, and dies at Griffin Hospital at 44. He was appointed to the Seymour Police Department in 1947.

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