Landmarks of New Canaan, Part 12

Author:
Publication date: 1951
Publisher: New Canaan, Connecticut : The New Canaan Historical Society
Number of Pages: 522

USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > New Canaan > Landmarks of New Canaan > Part 12

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On January 1, 1939, a warm genial day, came to this old house over a hundred descendants of Justus Hoyt and Elizabeth Fitch-many of them children who passed it daily on their way to school, never dreaming that they had ances-

tral ties with it. It was an impressive occasion and left deeply imbedded memories upon these remote but direct descendants.

So far as the writer has been able to learn, this is the oldest house standing in New Ca- naan today that has never passed out of the original family first to own and occupy it. At the time of the 1939 reception mentioned above, a brochure entitled "Concerning an Old House and the People Who Lived Therein" was published and presented to the guests. It contains a full story of the house and of the genealogy involved.

NEW CANAAN TOWN HALL

CLARENCE E. COSTALES, Author

EDWIN EBERMAN, Artist

[July 10, 1947]

For some time prior to the construction of the present Town Hall, the town offices and meet- ings were in the Old Opera House approxi- mately across the street from the First Nation- al Bank and Trust Company. The old pot- bellied stove holds fond remembrances for many in town today, it being the target for some of the town's best sharp-shooters of the time.

It was recognized in 1907 that there was a definite need for a Town Hall to suitably house the offices of the town and for an auditorium to hold town meetings in and town functions and to house the police station. So on October 7, 1907, a motion was passed "that the Select- men be authorized and they are hereby au- thorized and empowered to obtain plans and estimates and drawings for the proposed town building, to be submitted to the legal voters of the Town at a meeting in April, 1908, and that the said building is to be located on the

present town lot." This lot had been secured by the town from F. A. Dickerman. On April 4, 1908, the Town Meeting was called with Joseph Silliman as chairman. "The plans for the new town house were presented to the meeting by Robert Ellwood and were dis- cussed by the meeting. Specifications were read by Mr. Ellwood who answered fully all questions asked him." "Voted, that the com- mittee of five be appointed by the chairman to confer with the selectmen in regard to a suit- able place for the erection of a town house and to act with them for the best interest of the town and to report at a special meeting to be called by the selectmen. The committee to have power and to have complete plans and specifications made and to let the contract to the lowest bidder for the building of the Town Hall on the Dickerman property, etc., and that the sum of $40,000 be appropriated for the said building and furnishing same and the

FICES OF NEW CANAAN

Edurn Eberman 1947.

New Canaan Town Hall

selectmen be authorized to issue bonds to that amount for the payment of the same." The committee appointed by the chairman was Francis E. Weed, Edward B. Lawrence, Han- ford S. Weed, Frank Dawless and Joseph Silli- man, and the selectmen at that time were Frank Stevens, Charles Hodges, Howard Northrup and George E. Raymond.

In December, 1908, "the selectmen were au- thorized to move the house and barns from the property to a site selected by the joint com- mittee and to excavate for the cellar under the house and foundations for the barns and to put the said buildings in suitable condition for the use for which they are to be occupied."

At a later date $5,000 more was appropriated

The old John Barbour residence when it stood on the present Town Hall site. 1 It has been moved back to the right as viewed from Locust Street. The boys are Richard M. Northrop and Theodore F. Benedict

for the building of the Town Hall and for the furnishing of the same. This seems to be one of the few meetings where the vote was not unanimous and the vote recorded on this ap- propriation was thirty-six in favor and eight against.

The building was carried through to com- pletion and at a Town Meeting held on Octo- ber 3, 1910, the committee made the following report: "Gentlemen, Your Committee known as the Town Hall Committee appointed at a Special Town Meeting held April 4, 1908, beg leave to report as follows: Such committee im- mediately held a meeting and organized, and it was voted and decided to invite several dif- ferent architects to visit New Canaan and look over our new town hall site, with a view for them to present annoynamous [sic.] designs for plans, we supplying them with blue prints of our lot together with our ideas for a new build- ing. We received seventeen (17) sets of plans from architects from New York City to Boston, Mass., including all our local Architects who

desired to compete. These plans as above stated were received annoynamous [sic.] and the committee and Selectmen together with Mr. H. Hobart Weeks who very kindly and effi- ciently acted as expert to the Committee, met several evenings and very carefully examined the several sets of plans and with much delib- eration and care, the plan of Mr. Edgar A. Josselyn of New York was considered to be the best one of the collection, and were [sic.] therefore accepted on a 5 per cent basis.

"Mr. Josselyn was instructed to call for bids from all local bidders of which Mr. C. E. Hub- bell of Ponus Street was the lowest bidder. The contract was therefore awarded to Mr. Hubbell to build our Hall. ...

"Sealed bids were received for new cells from four out of town firms, but upon careful thought and consideration they were all re- jected and we purchased the steel cells of Mr. S. Kuriansky which proved to be just as good for our purposes, as new ones, and at a much cheaper price. The following expenditures

were made from an appropriation of $45,000.

"Total $42,381.28 Unexpended balance 2,618.72

"Your committee in offering this report takes great pleasure in highly commending the ser- vices of Mr. Josselyn as Architect and Mr. Hubbell as Builder and feel that the New Town Hall will be a lasting monument to New Canaan for a great many years to come and also we wish to offer a unanimous vote of thanks to Mr. Hobart Weeks, who assisted the committee in selecting our plans, as by his wise

judgement [sic.] and council we feel that the best set presented were [sic.] adopted."

On April 20, 1937, the town issued $55,000 bonds for additions to the Town Hall and $45,000 for the building of a fire house. Con- struction of both proceeded at the same time. Mr. Purdy being the architect on the Town Hall and Mr. Kirby on the Fire House. The committee consisted of Messrs. Smith, Cos- tales, Leslie, Lahey, Pauley and Everett. Mr. Lyons was awarded the contract as builder.

In 1944 a police garage was added to house the ambulance and police cars.

THE OLD TOWN HOUSE- DR. LUDLOW HOUSE

WILLIAM F. WEED, Author

EDWIN EBERMAN, Artist

[July 17, 1947]

On Oenoke Ridge Road, near its junction with North Main and Park streets, stands the resi- dence of Dr. George C. Ludlow, pictured here as it is today. This house, also, is one that dates back for more than a hundred years, for it be- gan as the first building constructed by the town as the Town House, in the year 1825.

Before that time, after New Canaan was in- corporated in 1801, stated meetings, according to the Town Records, were held at certain times and dates, but no place is mentioned. We may assume, however, that meetings had been held in the old Meeting House of the former Canaan Parish, for on April 3, 1820, it was "Voted: to give the Congregational Society two dollars for each day that the inhabitants of this town shall assemble in the meeting house be- longing to said Society in New Canaan, and to pay for all extra damages which shall be done

to said house, when so assembled for the pur- pose of transacting the ordinary public busi- ness of the town."

"Voted: to give said Society two dollars for use of said meeting this day, and hereby di- rect the Selectmen to ascertain from the In- habitants of said Society the least sum they will charge, per day, for the use of said house, as aforesaid, and report to the next meeting."

If report was made it was off the record, and the following year the "Inhabitants were warned of a Freeman's Meeting to be attended, in the month of April next, to be held on the hill near the meeting house in this town" and thereafter, there were meetings when various propositions for obtaining a Town House were discussed, and, February 25, 1825, it was "Voted: that we build a Town House to be placed on the Southeast corner of Joseph Silli-

-Есличи Elerman

The Old Town House - Dr. Ludlow House

man's land." May 10, 1825, "Voted: that said house should not be built under any restric- tions or encumberences," and it was "Voted: to give Joseph Silliman Twenty Dollars for so much land as is necessary to build a Town House and said Silliman's home meadow, and for the privilege of sufficient room to repair said building when necessary."

January 16, 1826, "Voted: to finish the upper part of the Town House for the use of the Ma- sonic Society and rent the same to said society for twenty dollars per year for the term of twenty years."

April 1, 1826, "Voted: That the Sclectmen cause the Town House to be painted in the fol- lowing manner, viz., The front and gable ends, windows and window frames are to be painted with white lead. The North side and roofs with Spanish Brown; and Fish Oil to be made use of in all parts of the House."

"Voted: to instruct the Selectmen to loan money, if it be necessary to defray the expense of Painting the Town House.

"Voted: That the Selectmen contract with, and appoint, some person to collect the above Town Tax, this day levied, of two cents on the Dollar, as above; Likewise to attend to the ap- plications of two denominations of Christians, for the privilege of holding meetings occasion- ally for religious worship in said Town House." Later it was "Voted: That said Baptist and Methodist Societies shall have liberty to meet in said Town Hall Occasionally by making all damage good, that may be done in conse- quence."

May 3, 1847, in reference to the Town House, it was "Voted: to turn the house around so that the end may stand toward the street and that 12 feet be added to the front, after being turned around and that the upper room have the side

partitions taken out and the room finished off in one, and that the house be repaired by mak- ing the covering, the doors and windows, with the shutters, of wood. The lower room to be lathed and plastered, and the room in the up- per part of the house be walled, under direc- tion of the Selectmen, to the rafters, thence to the Gallows plate, thence across; provided the Selectmen can agree with the contractor."

"Voted that Joseph Scofield hold the key and take charge of the Town House for the ensuing year."

First Monday in May, 1847, "Voted: that the Selectmen be authorized to execute a convey- ance of the land to be relinquished to Joseph Silliman, formerly covered by the Town House."

Recorded in Volume 10, Land Records, page 136, May 1, 1848:

"Hanford Carter, Caleb S. Benedict and Charles Raymond, Selectmen of the Town of New Canaan, to Joseph Silliman-Quit Claim: to a certain piece of land on which the Town House of said town formerly stood, except part on which said Town House now stands, and which is enclosed by a fence Southerly to the highway, and for a more particular description of the boundary, reference is made to the deed of said Silliman to the town, of even date." (May 1, 1848.)

Additional information by MRS. JANE BARRY and STEPHEN B. HOYT

In 1864 the Town bought, "for town pur- poses," the building across from the Birdsall House in Main St. and sold the "Old Town House" to Noah Hoyt and his cousin, Stephen B. Hoyt, manufacturers of men's fine shirts. The Hoyts used it as a warehouse for a very short time and sold it in 1866 to Russell L. Hall.

In 1867 Mr. Hall sold the property, described in every deed as "the Old Town House" to the Ladies Benevolent Association of the Congre- gational Society, or rather, since ladies were not, apparently, suitable managers of their own organizations or finances, to the Society's

trustees, Charles Benedict, William Raymond and Edwin Hoyt.

In 1872, during the Reverend Mr. Green- leaf's ministry, the Association presented the Town House to the Congregational Society for a parsonage. The five years between 1867 and 1872 must have been busy ones for the ladies of the Association, since they seem to have fi- nanced the remodeling of the Town House from a meeting hall to a residence. Money rais- ing by the distaff side eighty years ago was more limited in scope, but no less active than it is now, and the number of "benefits" needed must have been enormous.

From the time the Ladies Benevolent Asso- ciation took over the house for a Congrega- tional parsonage until it was sold in 1926, four ministers lived in it. Of these we have the fol- lowing recollections which seem of sufficient importance to record here, for they add an in- delible flavor to this old house.

After the death of Rev. Theophilus Smith who was one of the outstanding men of his gen- eration, son-in-law of Professor Samuel St. John, designer and builder of the present church, the ministry passed through several rather brief tenures. The first to occupy the newly acquired parsonage might have been Rev. H. B. Elliott of whom the late Mrs. Charles Demeritt wrote:

"Mr. Elliott was city bred which might have given him an air of aloofness which led some par- ishoners to consider him a trifle aristocratic for a plain country church. I must confess I looked upon him with considerable awe. I have known him to smile but never heard him laugh. He would have fitted into a monastic life. He was a scholar and so remarkable were his sermons that strangers were wont to wonder how such a small church was financially able to hold a man of his ability."

In her history of a group of ministers of the Congregational church, the late Mary Drum- mond Tunney wrote of the next one to occupy this house:

"Among the long pastorates of the Church, 1871 to 1886, was that of Rev. Joseph Greenleaf, whose

ministry here was characterized by devotion to the duties of the parish and participation in all affairs tending to the benefit of the town. He was a model pastor. He knew every man woman and child and could call them by name. If one of his flock was absent from Sunday service, by Monday night he knew the reason why, either by inquiry or a per- sonal call. There was no suggestion of remonstrance. He simply wanted to satisfy himself that illness was not the cause. He was a great hand for statistics. The first of every year he reported how many visits he had made, how many baptisms, weddings and deaths, and how many had joined the church. He founded the Public Library which has con- tinued to this day. While his sermons were doubt- less correct in all matters of doctrine, they lacked the magic power of attracting and holding audi- ences. After fifteen years the congregation faced the most unwelcome task of telling a man they loved and respected that his mission here was at an end."

Mr. Greenleaf might be called the last of the "autocratic Congregational ministers." He worked hard, preached hard, hewed to the mark even to shooting his deacon's pig after re- peated warnings to keep the beast out of his garden. He was School Visitor during his entire stay here. He put a lot of sturdy living into this old house.

The next occupant, Rev. F. W. Hopkins, a young man with young children, was the first of the "moderns." Friendly and brilliant, he was really a true Congregationalist from the lay standpoint where doctrine and theology now met the challenge of growing pains. He was a born actor and orator. He preached with- out notes on slightly unconvential texts such as "The Old Fashioned Girl," "Bright but Bad Young Men," "Shallow Love and Quick Mar- riages," "Flaps and Flirts." People came from far and near and the church was crowded. Everybody wanted to join the choir and to know this fascinating man who said "Satan's darts never pierced the leather apron of the blacksmith." It was written of him "In addition to these gifts of discourse, he had a speaking voice of wonderful beauty. Many times it was remarked "Just to hear Mr. Hopkins read a hymn was as good as a sermon."

Mary Drummond Tunney wrote "Mr. Hop- kins came to New Canaan overburdened with old debts. Generous to a fault, he had no idea of the value of money. It was this failing that eventually led to a change of pastors."

So in 1891 the old house welcomed a new occupant. It is supposable that he was chosen with sensitive consciousness of certain disap- pointments of the recent past. Their judgment proved sound and altogether fortunate, for Dr. J. Howard Hoyt, preacher, pastor, and leader gave thirty years of his life to the parish while living in this house. A born farmer, he became a tower of strength and friendliness to the Grange, and was also an active member of the Masonic Lodge. As a preacher he lacked noth- ing of Mr. Greenleaf's scholarship but, of course, being farm bred, was too conservative to follow Mr. Hopkins' brilliant flights. He was a most understanding and lovable man and a peacemaker in many hot controversial inci- dents. The late Henry Kelley fondly dubbed him "The Pope of New Canaan." The Hoyts had no children but Mrs. Hoyt's nephew Ed- ward Bennett lived with them and thus sup- plied that note of warm and normal living to this house which had seen but too few chil- dren grow up within its walls.

In 1922 began the last chapter in the story of this house as a parsonage. Rev. Merrill Fowler Clarke, young bachelor just home from the war with a Croix de Guerre, accepted a call to preach in the Congregational Church and moved into the old house with his sister, Miss Marjorie, as hostess. During his thirty years as pastor the church has shown its great- est strength. A quiet worker but with profound undertanding and a wisdom almost beyond his years, he has now retired as pastor emeritus, and devotes his rich experience and zeal to church organizations in national and world wide interests. Everybody has always called him by his first name as they also call his wife, Mrs. Clarke, "Mary." So intimately known in New Canaan today, this is hardly a proper ve- hicle for full biography of the Clarkes. The old house retained its character of dignity and friendliness unbroken throughout its history as a home for Congregational ministers.

When the Congregational Church took over the present parsonage the Town House was sold in 1926 to Mrs. Lucinda B. Bateson of New York City. Mr. and Mrs. Morgan B. Moore (Mrs. Moore is a daughter of Mrs. Bateson) became its first non-clerical residents. They, with their two children and twin spaniels, at once made it an attractive home. They were people of distinct charm reflecting cultured backgrounds. Although their stay was brief, they quickly became important in their church, social and civic relations. The twin spaniels seemed also to realize their responsibilities as "V. I. P.s" and trotted regularly every morning down to the town hall and made themselves comfortable and "on call" next to the town clerk's desk. The late Ernest Brown, town clerk at the time could hardly start the day until the Moore spaniels appeared.

In 1938 Dr. George C. Ludlow acquired the property. From his several years of practice in New York and New London, he brought Mrs. Ludlow and his young family to what he hopes, and everyone who knows him hopes, will be his final permanent home. George C. Ludlow is a descendant of that branch of the ancient Ludlow family which settled in New Jersey where his grandfather the late George Craig

Ludlow for whom he is named was their gov- ernor.

Mrs. Ludlow was Mary Gallatin Hoppin, de- scended from Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury in Jefferson's administration. He was an eminent figure in his day, minister plenipo- tentiary on several foreign missions and author of the famous "Gallatin Plan." Mrs. Ludlow is also descended from Elbridge Gerry, signer of the Declaration of Independence.

The Ludlows have four children, George, Jr., just graduated from Trinity; Anne married to James Jackson, 3rd of Dedham, Mass .; Thomas and Mary at school.

This old house differs from its contempo- raries in architecture and structure. Since it was built to house not a family but groups of people, it has no massive central chimney, neither great fireplaces nor Dutch ovens. Its sturdy timbers mortised and tenoned and its wide floor boards here and there testify to the generation which built it. As New Canaan landmarks go, this house is unique in its ac- cumulation of human associations, and to all appearances should go on for another century, ever shadowed by the spires of St. Mark's and the Congregational churches so warmly related with its long history.

THE COUNTRY CLUB OF NEW CANAAN

JOHN G. PENNYPACKER, Author

EDWIN EBERMAN, Artist

[July 24, 1947]

Except for a few of the oldest country clubs, which started as tennis or cricket clubs, most of the older country clubs in this country started as golf clubs. Like them, New Canaan's Country Club had its formal beginnings as a golf club. Its property was purchased and the beginnings of a nine hole course laid out and

played on in 1898. Early the following year it was incorporated under a special act of the General Assembly as the New Canaan Golf Club, the name being changed to the present one in 1904, when the club house and first ten- nis courts were built and trap shooting facili- ties provided.

Eduru Eberman 1947

......

The Country Club of New Canaan

These dates mean that, as golf clubs go, New Canaan's is relatively venerable. St. Andrew's, near Hastings-on-Hudson, the oldest golf club in continuous existence in the United States, was founded in 1888 and very few others were begun until the later 1890's, when the game suddenly became very popular. By 1900 per- haps as many as 1000 clubs are thought to have been in existence in the United States- many of them very primitive and many long since defunct-as compared with an estimate of 5000 courses today. Among nearby clubs, Wee Burn's original course (nine holes, on the Post Road) was started in 1894 and incorpor- ated in 1897, the present course being built in 1926; Brooklawn at Bridgeport was incorpo-

rated in 1895, Greenwich in 1898, and Wood- way in 1916.

As a result of the club's age, only a few of the older New Canaan residents and fewer still of the club's present members know very much of its origins and early history. The story has interest because it closely parallels that of the development of New Canaan itself during the past fifty years, from an agricultural and then an industrial center in the Nineteenth Cen- tury to the residential and suburban commun- ity that it is today. The club has not merely reflected this development but has contributed importantly to it, by the wholesome type of attraction that it has offered to prospective new residents.

100

The real beginnings of the Country Club may be said to date back to 1892, when the Oenoke Field Club was organized by members of a dozen or so families of city people, most of whom then owned summer homes on lower Oenoke Avenue. The club had two tennis courts on what is now the large garden north of Miss Bliss' house. Besides its tennis, the club served as quite a gathering place for members particularly on Saturday afternoons; tea was served at a rudimentary club house which the club built, consisting of an open piazza with two lockers, one for the tea things and the other for the tennis paraphernalia. By the later 90's, however, some of the members had be- come increasingly interested in the idea of trying the new-fangled game of golf.

The real "father" of the country club and its president until his death in 1904 was Dr. Ed- ward W. Lambert, for whom Lambert Road is named. For many years the chief medical examiner of the New York Life Insurance Company, he began coming to New Canaan as a summer resident about 1874 and lived for many years on Oenoke Avenue, where the Hampton Inn now stands. Apparently a man of great charm and capacity for leadership, something of the importance of his contribu- tion to the formation of the club-not to men- tion other interesting details of other days, other prices-may be gathered from the fol- lowing brief excerpt from the minutes of the organization meeting of the New Canaan Golf Club Incorporators on May 8, 1899:

"The President then reported that he had pur- chased for the benefit of the Club the "St. John" property of 208 acres on Smith Ridge for the sum of $5,000-that he had paid $1,000 cash thereon, and for the balance of the consideration he had given his notes of $4,000 bearing 5% interest; and that to provide the funds for said $1,000 payment and also to pay for the various improvements here- tofore made on said 'St. John' property (by the laying out of links thereon) he had collected by subscription $4,475 from different persons inter- ested in the success of the Club, in addition to their annual dues .. . . "

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Landmarks of New Canaan, Part 12

Author: Publication date: 1951 Publisher: New Canaan, Connecticut : The New Canaan Historical Society Number of Pages: 522

Author:
Publication date: 1951
Publisher: New Canaan, Connecticut : The New Canaan Historical Society
Number of Pages: 522