USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, Connecticut, Volume I > Part 8
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There are four rural routes out of the Waterbury postoffice.
The Waterville postoffice is an independent station, with George H. Ford as superintendent. There are in addition to this nine sub-stations.
The parcels post started in 1914 with one team used for part of a day. In 1917 the service consists of one auto truck and three teams.
The screen wagon service for registered mail consists of two first-class auto trucks.
In 1917 the demands for more room resulted in an appropriation of approxi- mately $6,000, to cover changes upstairs and on the main floor. The upper floor now houses the money order and registry divisions, with new offices for the post- master. About 800 square feet of space has been added to the working quarters.
The growth of the postoffice has kept pace with the growth of the city. Post- office receipts for 1893 were $56,047 ; for 1901, were $80, 180.64 ; for 1910, $162,- 287.60: for 1916, $232,120.90; for nine months of 1917, $175.077.90.
The postmasters since 1893 have been: 1894. Col. John B. Doherty ; 1894 to 1898, Daniel E. Fitzpatrick ; 1898 to 1906. J. H. Guernsey ; 1906 to 1915, James H. Pilling : 1915. E. M. O'Brien.
John T. Boylan was assistant postmaster for all of these appointees from 1894. succeeding Daniel E. Fitzpatrick in that year, until the date of his death, January I, 1916. James T. Kelley is now assistant postmaster.
The postal savings department started here as elsewhere in 1911 and has been very successful. There are at present, November 1, 1917. 1,460 operating accounts with total deposits of $388,221.
This shows almost a record percentage of growth for the United States. The figures for the six years are as follows :
October 31, IQII. $ 1,117
October 31, 1912. 9.617
October 31, 1913 . 1.4,472
October 31, 1914. 19,938
October 31, 1915 46.599
October 31, 1916. 199,740
October 31, 1917. 388,22I
In May, 1891, the letter carriers working out of the Waterbury office formed an organization, which is still active. Its officers in 1917 are: President, William McLean ; recording secretary, A. W. Nichols ; financial secretary, J. J. Scadden ; treasurer, George A. Stevens.
CHAPTER V PARKS AND CEMETERIES
FIRST MAP OF HAMILTON PARK-ENLARGING THE CITY'S HOLDINGS-LANDSCAPE WORK-DRAINAGE FOR PONDS-ANNUAL TAX PROVIDES FOR PARK IMPROVEMENTS -CHASE PARK CREATED-SWIMMING POOL A BIG SUCCESS-ATHLETIC FIELD EQUIPPED-PLAYGROUNDS BOUGHT FOR DIFFERENT SECTIONS OF CITY-THE MU- NICIPAL FIELD DAYS-THE LATER HISTORY OF THE GREEN-THE CLOCK AND THE FLAGSTAFF-THE FRANKLIN STATUE-THE CITY'S CEMETERIES.
The park system of Waterbury is the growth of the past twenty years. Aside from The Green, there were no public breathing spots or playgrounds two decades ago. Hamilton Park had just been given to the city by Mrs. David B. Hamilton in memory of her husband, and its improvement was a slow matter. The city officials could not see the importance of getting the full benefit of this beautiful spot at once. It was due largely to the constant urging and to the planning and work of City Engineer Robert Cairns that the first real steps toward park devel- opment were taken.
The first map of Hamilton Park was made by City Engineer Cairns in 1900. He then announced that the completion of a contour map in 1901 would make possible the systematic improvement of the park. The first work along this gen- eral line in 1901 was the laying out of the old Plank Road and the "Brass Mill" Road, which bounded Hamilton Park on two sides.
In 1902 the first notable improvement was made in Hamilton Park, the two parcels of land forming the triangle at the juncture of East Main Street and the Plank Road having been purchased to give the park a better entrance on East Main Street. In 1902, also, the survey of South or Windermere Park was made, so that the way was now clear for the actual work of transforming the park area into a garden spot. In 1903, at the suggestion of City Engineer Cairns, Landscape Archi- tect George Pentecost, of New York, prepared the first formal plan for the future development of the park. Mr. Cairns in this year took the first step to create the present lake ponds, which were then little better than mud holes. He began with the help of the street department to clear both of mud, arranged to fill the bottoms with gravel, and to construct a long and deep drain from Silver Street through the park to the ponds, thus enabling him in 1904 to regulate the water level. The grad- ing of two-thirds of a mile along the main drive gave the people an opportunity for the first time to get a view of the interior of this beautiful stretch of ground.
In 1904 the expenditure of the $5,000 appropriation under the direction of the city engineer was devoted to the rougher work, leaving the finer work for a later period. Especial attention was given to the widening of the main drive and getting its surface smooth and hard. The slopes along the driveway were covered with_ loam and seeded. A number of foot paths were laid out and roughly graded, care being taken to avoid too heavy cutting or running into valuable trees or shrubbery. These considerations compelled some variations from the exact locations shown on the plans of the park, but in general this was strictly followed. The total
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GREEN, WITH ST. JOHN'S CHURCH AND SOLDIERS' MONUMENT, WATERBURY
-2801
VIEW OF WEST MAIN STREET, LOOKING NORTH, WATERBURY
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length of driveway in the park at the end of 1904 was 3,254 lineal feet, and the length of paths was 6,830 feet.
On the path along the top of the ridge parallel to the Plank Road a small rustic summer house was built with rustic seats. The old mill dam on Carrington Brook was repaired and made tight, and the small pond cleaned out and refilled with gravel. This made a shady little wading pond. The most expensive piece of work done in 1904 was the completion of the work of digging out the sink south of the Plank Road and north of the Tompkins property, and the completion of the connection with city water. There had always been a pond here, with a consider- able depth of soft, peaty mud at the bottom, and several children had in times past lost their lives there. It was now easy to arrange for an ornamental fountain in the center of the pond.
The fountain in Stanley Park, done entirely by the city engineer's department, was completed in 1904.
George C. Walker took active charge as superintendent in 1905, having been appointed in the previous year. Some new paths were laid out and graded and the main drive was extended across Carrington Brook and given a new outlet at the Plank Road. A concrete steel arch bridge was built at the brook crossing and much pains was taken in the design of the structure and in the arrangement of the various accessories to produce a pleasing effect.
The small pond used for a skating rink during the winter was drawn down in the spring and the gravel refilling to a uniform depth of 30 inches was completed. A fountain was placed in the center and it was decided to try the experiment of using the pond as a swimming and wading pool. Only children under twelve years were admitted. A shelter was built for the boys and a room in a barn nearby was used by the girls for dressing. A man was always on duty at the pond to guard against accidents and to prevent boisterous conduct. During July and August the pool is used daily by several hundred children.
The playground idea was made prominent in 1905. Besides the swimming and skating, swings were put up in the grove, and a ball field roughly laid out. By actual count on one Sunday this summer, nearly 3,000 people entered Hamilton Park.
A special appropriation of $15,000 was made in 1915 for the purchase of all of the land not already owned by the city in the block bounded by East Main Street, Plank Road, and the Brass Mill Road. The owners held out for $17,500, and the matter being brought to the attention of Miss Caroline A. Platt, she generously offered to make up the difference. Her offer was accepted, and the land purchased and named Proprietors' Common, in memory of the original settlers of Waterbury.
The city now held in one compact tract at this point about sixty-five acres of land, and the next step was the improvement of the Plank Road.
In 1905 Mrs. A. S. Chase purchased the land adjoining the Naugatuck River and Riverside Street, between the hospital grounds and Riverside Cemetery, a tract beautifully situated and well-wooded, and presented it to the city to be used for park purposes as a memorial to her husband. Taken in connection with the hospital and cemetery grounds, it makes a continuous line of park for nearly a mile.
A charter amendment providing for an annual tax for park purposes of one quarter of a mill passed the General Assembly and became a law operative for 1906. Consequently there was available for 1907 about $10,750. Additions were made to the number of grass plots at street intersections, of which hereto- fore there were only Stanley Park, at East Main and Elm streets, one at North
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Main and Hill streets, and one at West Main Street and Highland Avenue. In 1906 a small one around the elm tree at Bank and Grand streets, and another at North Main and Cooke streets were created. These green oases in the midst of paved streets added greatly to the attractiveness of the city.
The appropriation under the new tax brought about rapid improvements particularly at Hamilton Park. Boats were placed on the lake for the first time. Flower beds were laid out, trees were set out, and work was begun on the swim- ming pool and on the athletic field.
At Chase Park the first permanent improvements were made in 1907.
In 1907 the swimming pool at Hamilton Park was thrown open to the public and met with instant approval; as did the playground opened in the spring of the year. The north end was this year given the playground at Locust and Wal- nut streets.
It was found necessary in 1907 to add several thousand yards of loam to the soil of The Green before seeding. This made it a beautiful park for the summer,
In 1908 the "Indian Basin" to the left as one enters Hamilton Park was changed from a marsh into a fine lake, many aquatic plants adorning its surface.
Ladies' day was instituted at the swimming pool, and benches were generously placed about the park during this year.
During 1908 the work of grading and turfing Library Park was begun, and 1909 saw the removal of the Hotchkiss Paper Company plant, the packing houses and residences, the result in every way justifying the improvements.
In 1909 the appropriation from the special park tax amounted to $12,750. In Hamilton Park new paths were laid out, all buildings were painted and the children's playground was enlarged.
In 1909 also new paths were constructed in Chase Park, seats were placed in all available spaces, and four band concerts were given during the summer months.
The city in 1909 established its third playground, leasing a large plot of ground on Sylvan Avenue.
The year 1909 is known as the elm-beetle year. The park department found it necessary to cut down forty trees, many of them the fine old trees planted on The Green from 1842 to 1845. Constant spraying, however, put an end to the trouble, and there was little of this nature to contend with in the following year.
In 1910 the small zoo at Hamilton Park had grown in a year and contained two monkeys, four coons, one possum, one red-tail hawk, one large owl, one fox, ten grey squirrels, and twenty guinea pigs, almost all donations.
During this year, the pool was used for hockey and polo and in the summer as many as 500 children patronized it in a day. The baseball diamond and the lawn tennis grounds were laid out this year.
Elisha Leavenworth's gift of $3.500, on condition that the city appropriate a like sum for a bridge over Sled Haul Brook in Chase Park, hastened the work of improving this beauty spot. A new rustic dam, a new foot bridge and many new paths were laid. In this year the old Town Cemetery, which has not yet been improved, was added to Chase Park.
In 1911 the appropriation for parks had grown to $13,025. This year there were four playgrounds, one-half acre in Washington Avenue having been added to the list. In this year Miss Helen E. Chase gave the old Waterbury hospital buildings and grounds as an addition to Chase Park, in memory of her mother, Martha Starkweather Chase.
One of the largest and most expensive improvements in the city's park system was the grading and loaming of the sand bank on Riverside Drive.
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During 1911 Euclid Avenue Park was graded, loamed and seeded.
In 1912 a new rustic bridge was built over Carrington Brook in the main driveway in Hamilton Park. The zoo was also greatly enlarged, two swans being among the gifts. The athletic field was enlarged, one new double lawn tennis court and one basketball field were laid out.
In 1913 Hamilton Park had become the great breathing place of the city. It was in this year that the entire population seemed to regard it as a playground. Thousands attended a very successful skating carnival, as well as two municipal athletic meets. Memorial Day exercises by the children proved an attractive feature. The lawn tennis tournaments, the baseball games, basketball games, all drew large crowds. These events have become permanent and have in the past year been more extensive than ever.
In 1913 a movement was begun to replace the elms destroyed on The Green in 1910. In all sixteen elms were planted, of which nine were donated to the city by George Tracy. Eight additional elms were planted in 1914.
The Chase Park Recreation House was renovated throughout, furniture in- stalled, and a supervisor placed in charge. The opportunities for recreation include gymnastics, basketball, dancing, reading, sewing, etc.
In 1916 the Goss family presented the city with eighteen acres at the east end of Hamilton Park, and this addition is now being improved. In 1917 the American Brass Company gave the city five acres adjoining Hamilton Park on the south. These gifts will in the near future, when the many improvements are completed, round out Hamilton Park.
In November, 1917, through the agency of Lewis S. Reed, of the Manu- facturers National Bank, approximately a dozen small tracts, involving property on the east and west sides of Cooke Street, East Reid Street and adjoining thor- oughfares, was purchased and the announcement was made that these lands will probably be the gift to Waterbury of a public-spirited citizen. It is the purpose of the donor to create a new city park.
The official valuation of the park property at the beginning of 1916 was $955,000. With the recent additions it is now well over the million mark. In this valuation The Green is placed at $510,000.
THE LATER HISTORY OF THE GREEN
The Green is a civic treasure which is so dear to our citizens that they are never able to agree what shall be done to it or with it. Nothing in Waterbury impresses the observant visitor as much as this beautiful central park and it is justly the pride of our citizens to maintain its fresh sightliness. When it was graded, fenced and planted with elm trees in 1842 the work was paid for by public subscription, J. M. L. and W. H. Scovill providing about half of the money. Seventy years afterwards when some of these trees died some of our citizens hastened to provide young trees to succeed them. From 1890 to 1910, when the elm-leaf beetle committed its ravages hereabouts, the trees on The Green were at their finest, and the long rows of great elms presented vistas of great charm. It is no wonder that our people love The Green.
This affection takes two forms, part of the population desiring to add orna- ments or encumbrances to The Green and the remainder being anxious to keep it free of everything but grass and trees. Mayor Kilduff must be placed in the latter class for in 1902 he summarily removed and banished to Hamilton Park the wooden band-stand which had stood for ten years, and which had had several predecessors. Mr. Kilduff pronounced it to be "the last relic of a jay town"
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and forthwith the proper authorities saw that it went. While it stood there band concerts were held on The Green regularly during the summer in most years and as the population of the city grew, the attendance ran up into the thousands so that it was impossible for everybody to keep on the walks and the grass plots suffered. This is what led to the removal of the band-stand.
The original suggestion for the Soldiers' Monument was made in an editorial in the Waterbury American on November 26, 1870, and was occasioned by the overthrow by the wind of a ship's mast which did duty as a liberty pole. It stood almost in the same location as the present steel flagstaff. The editor of the American expressed satisfaction at the removal of "the unsightly mast that had swayed in the wind so long" and expressed a hope that "some work of art-a monument or a fountain-which shall be a real ornament to The Green" would be erected in its stead. A series of articles followed, which eventually resulted in the erection, fourteen years later, of the monument. However, when its site was selected, the feeling that The Green should not be encumbered helped to determine its location at the west end of The Green instead of upon it and at the center.
The only adornment (or encumbrance) placed upon The Green in the last twenty-five years is the handsome granite clock tower erected through the efforts of the Chamber of Commerce and the Waterbury Republican. This was dedicated on November 25, 1915, in "Old Home Week."
The clock was wholly the idea of Charles A. Colley, then president of the Chamber of Commerce, who had been talking up the project for more than a year. To arouse public interest he wrote a playlet produced at a benefit perform- ance at Fox's Theater, now The Strand, which netted $150, as a nucleus for the fund. The plan met with some opposition on the ground that no further monu- ments should be placed on The Green. To prove that his idea was popular, Mr. Colley went around asking likely prospects to subscribe a little, usually five dollars. When he got five $5.00 subscriptions in a day, he called it a day's work and quit. Thus the fund grew slowly but persistently until it approached $2,000. Then Mr. Colley electrified the community by announcing a gift of $2,500 from Truman S. Lewis to complete the clock fund. Violent thunderstorms ensued with efforts to prevent the erection of the clock, but Mr. Colley had already secured authorization from the city and having a good part of the public behind him defied opposition so that the work proceeded. On its completion its opponents found that the result was much more satisfactory than they anticipated though they still regret the loss of the flower bed which it had abolished.
The 135-foot steel flag pole which was presented to the city during "Old Home Week," by George Tracy who collected the $600.00 necessary for this, met with no such opposition as Mr. Colley had encountered, some of the opponents of the clock subscribing to the fund to show that they did not object to a flag-staff on The Green. An American flag of the largest size regularly made, twenty by thirty feet, is hoisted on special occasions ; a smaller flag is for ordinary use.
On Christmas Day, 1916, the large flag was hoisted. A very high wind was blowing that afternoon and it was found later that the strain had sprung the top mast of the pole. Mr. Tracy had this section taken down and shipped back to the makers, John Simmons & Sons of New York, who generously replaced it with a much stronger top mast which was hoisted into place in the spring of 1917. It is guaranteed to withstand the strongest wind.
The late Elisha Leavenworth in his will left $15,000 for a monument of Benja- min Franklin which will be unveiled in 1918.
The last article in his will was as follows:
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"I further direct that said Executors ( Edwin S. Hunt and John R. Clayton), immediately make to the City of Waterbury a formal offer to erect on the westerly end of the Public Square or 'Green' in said City, a statue to Benjamin Franklin, with such necessary surroundings, railings and pavement as to them, my Executors, shall seem wise and proper, and to expend for the purpose a sum not to exceed $15,000; I further direct that in the event that the authorized officers of the City of Waterbury shall not give such consent within one year after the receipt of such proposition, said Executors are directed to turn said amount into the residuary fund, and immediately and forthwith close up this estate."
Mr. Leavenworth in his lifetime discussed this bequest with Edwin S. Hunt, one of his executors, and suggested that a committee of citizens have the selection of the statue in charge.
With this in mind the following committee was appointed to select the sculptor and to arrange for the site and all details connected with the erection and unveil- ing : J. Hobart Bronson, chairman ; C. P. Goss ; Rev. Charles A. Dinsmore, D. D. : J. Richard Smith ; H. S. Chase ; Otis Northrop; Mark L. Sperry ; Miss Alice E. Kingsbury ; and Miss Florentine H. Hayden.
This committee in 1913 selected Paul Wayland Bartlett as the sculptor, a choice that was not alone governed by the fame that Mr. Bartlett's many noted works had brought him, but by the fact that he was a native of Waterbury, while his father, Truman Howe Bartlett, was himself a distinguished sculptor and did some 'prentice work here before he was able to study abroad. He himself had been named after a noted citizen of Waterbury.
Paul Wayland Bartlett was born in 1865. He essayed sculpture as a boy, exhibiting at the age of fourteen in the Salon at Paris a bust of his grand- mother. In 1887 he won a medal at Paris with his famous "Bear Tamer," now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. In 1900 at the Paris exposition, he represented the United States on the International Jury of Awards for Sculp- ture. In 1908 he was made an officer of the Legion of Honor, having been named a Chevalier in 1895. His principal works are: statue of General Joseph Warren, Boston; equestrian statue of Lafayette, in the square of the Louvre, Paris, the gift to France from the school children of the United States ; statues of Columbus and Michel Angelo, in Congressional Library, Washington : a door for the tomb of Senator Clark in Woodlawn Cemetery; six statues on the front of the New York Public Library ; pediment over house wing of the Capitol, Washington. He is represented in all the leading museums and academies of design by either original work or replicas.
Mr. Bartlett, whose studio was in Paris, as soon as terms had been agreed upon, prepared a small model, showing Benjamin Franklin as philosopher and diplomat, and this was exhibited in the rooms of the Mattatuck Historical Society.
The local comment was favorable, although there were many who believed that Franklin should have been shown as a young man, but this was a matter which the committee left entirely to the artist, feeling that the statue was to all extent an inspiration, and it was not long until the consensus of opinion here favored the work the sculptor had shown.
In the meantime, the war had broken out and the shipment to America of the large clay model from which the cast was to be made was prohibited, coming under the list of articles barred by the government from use of shipping.
Mr. Bartlett then removed his studio to Washington and began work at once on an entirely new model, clinging, however, to the conception of the aged sage. but greatly changing and improving the plan of the work. It is now nearly ready for casting and he announces that it will be unveiled in 1918.
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The question of a site has been under consideration for over a year. By the will of Mr. Leavenworth the "westerly end of The Green" was specifically des- ignated. This was in view of the old Leavenworth homestead being on West Main Street, and thus there were considerations of a tender nature that inclined the members to carry out the bequest literally.
But there has always been a feeling in Waterbury among those who have an eye for landscape work that The Green was not a suitable site for either clocks or statuary, but that it was designed to be a beautiful grass plot with walks and flower beds, and old trees. It is quite certain that in time The Green will be practically surrounded by mercantile establishments. Furthermore, it is impossible to give a beautiful statue the proper setting in so small a park.
The committee has therefore decided to place the statue in Library Park, where it will be part of what is even now considered the civic center of Waterbury.
Another proposed addition to The Green which has aroused very mixed senti- ments is the erection of a public comfort station at the east end of The Green. This project took shape after the destruction of the old City Hall, which as re- modeled contained such an institution, though the fire forestalled its opening, and it was never used. After successive administrations had been under siege by both the opponents and advocates of the station for several years, an appropria- tion of $25,000 for the purpose was made in 1917 but the high construction costs that prevailed in the succeeding year made it impossible to build it within the appropriation much to the delight of those who were threatening injunction pro- ceedings. The money remains in the city treasury awaiting further decision.
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