USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > New Canaan > Landmarks of New Canaan > Part 31
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ization; Berrain R. Shute, first conductor; Charles Hayne, first treasurer, and Miss Ruth A. Child, who in 1922, when Mrs. Dye left for a trip around the world, became president and held that office until 1935 when other duties forced her to resign.
This small group of founders formulated the aims that are being followed today: to give to the community the best music within its powers, to provide ensemble training for those desiring its pleasures and benefits, and to aid in musical education through scholarships.
Under Mrs. Dye's untiring skill in organiza- tion and promoting the welfare of the orches- tra many people quickly became interested and funds were raised for maintenance and scholarships. In the meantime, Mr. Shute had gathered together a group of musicians eager to play.
To quote from a letter once written by Mr. Shute: "There were two or three men with
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army band experience who were much in- terested. Charles Ogden and Paul Ziesmer for instance, and several school graduates who had enjoyed the school orchestra under Mr. Bailey so much that they welcomed the idea most joyously.
"Besides, there were grown-ups who were only too glad of a chance to play. The town most generously allowed us the use of the town hall for rehearsals and concerts, and we started off with nearly 30 members.
"In those first years we were very generously helped by Dr. Perry Dickie and D. S. Bennett who not only showed their interest by play- ing in the orchestra but who also gave music and instruments ... John Thatcher, too, gave money and showed much interest .. . Later the Congregational Church, the Episco- pal Church and the Community School opened their doors to the orchestra when the demands on the town hall by others began to make re- gular rehearsals there impossible."
The first public rehearsal of the New Canaan Community Orchestra was given on Septem- ber 9, 1919. The soloists were Anthony Col- cone, violin, Miss Genevieve Stevens, cornet, and Miss Ethel Wilkins, contralto. The first number to be played in public on that occasion was the Coronation March, by Kretschmer.
The personnel of the orchestra was as fol- lows: Violins, Anthony Colcone, Joseph O'- Neil, George Bolton, Marjorie Scofield, Jesse Shutes, Mrs. George Everett, Miss Wood, Mur- iel Bowles, Rose Knapp, Abraham Cohen, Martin O'Shaughnessy, Allan Catto, Stella Knoble, Stella Bruno, Hilda Blockman, Kath- erine Cody. Viola: John Douglas, Segbert Brinckerhoff; flute, Herman Macdonald; cor- nets: William O'Shaugnessy, Genevieve Stev- ens; oboe, Charles Ogden; clarinet, Leon Seaf; French horn, Mabel Seaf; trombone, Walter Miller; drums, George Hoffman; piano, Mrs. R. L. White.
During the season of 1924-1925 Mr. Shute was obliged to be away and Robert T. Bailey, then director of music in the New Canaan public schools, took over for a year as conduc- tor. In 1926, Mr. Shute was finally called away
to establish the chair of music at Hamilton College and he continues to fill that position with great distinction.
Ray H. Harrington, Mus.B., of Greenwich, became conductor of the New Canaan Com- munity Orchestra upon Mr. Shute's departure from New Canaan in 1926 and continued until 1935 when he was succeeded by William O'- Shaugnessy, the present conductor of both the New Canaan Community Orchestra and the Junior Division, which was founded in 1928.
From the first, many distinguished artists took an interest in the amateur symphony or- chestra which was building up in this then small town and were generous in giving of their art through benefits for the New Canaan Com- munity Orchestra. Among early participants were Mr. and Mrs. Henry Hadley, Felix Sal- mond, cellist, Frances Callow, harpist, Frank Sheridan, pianist, Mary Perry King and her group of dancers, and Bliss Carman, poet.
In more recent years there have been Helen Oleheim, Metropolitan star; Renee LeRoy, famous flautist; Frank La Forge, noted pianist- composer-teacher, and many others. Fritz Kreisler and Daniel Gregory Mason have spo- ken their appreciation of the community music which the New Canaan orchestra has provided.
When, in 1928, the New Canaan Community Orchestra had developed musically beyond the ability of the very young people of the town, the Junior Division was founded under Wil- liam O'Shaugnessy, conductor. Here the young people play the same type of fine music as the senior orchestra, give their own concerts and, once a year, a joint one with the senior orchestra. The following editorial from the November 17, 1932, issue of the Advertiser written by the late L. D. Rowand, always a champion of the orchestras and for many years a member of the board of directors, will per- haps best tell the story of the warmth with which the community encouraged the efforts of the orchestra.
"Music as interpreted by the New Canaan Com- munity Orchestra Tuesday evening in the first of its series of 1932-33 was music that long has had a
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place in the hearts of the people. It is a pleasure to speak of what the Community Orchestra did on Tuesday evening and what may be anticipated from it in the future. New Canaan should and does feel in accord with the organization which is doing so much culturally in this town and there is no organization within the community for which there is a greater spirit of friendliness than the orchestra.
"It has journeyed through the years toward a goal which we all realize is not achieved. It never will be reached because it is far beyond the horizon and stretches beyond the years. It is to bring to our town and its people good music, an apprecia- tion of it to foster it, not with a force behind it but because the people want it. There is no compulsion about the Community Orchestra. It seeks to attain its end as it should be reached, through a genuine and abiding love for music. It will continue to reach out for generations to come.
"Those who have heard and watched the Com- munity Orchestra in rehearsal have commented many times upon the spirit of the organization. Here we have a group of musicians of a high grade of attainment which is made up of friendly spirits. The rehearsals are joyous gatherings of lovers of music who are in attendance not because they are forced by pressure of circumstances to be there but because they want to be there and that makes for the spirit which pervades the rehearsals and is reflected when concerts are held.
"That is the spirit which is noted in the Junior Community Orchestra, which we soon are to hear in concert. Youngsters in whom there is the same love for good music as is found in the older group, meeting regularly, many of them giving up other pleasures, some of them genuinely sacrificing some- thing in order to be part of the junior organization. Under careful and loving guiding hands the young- er group is marching toward the same goal as that toward which the senior orchestra is facing, each within itself striving, and succeeding, in bringing into our town and into our homes and hearts a love for music which is said to be disappearing in many communities. While such organizations as our two orchestras continue, the muses of music need have no fear New Canaan will desert them."
Until 1933 the orchestras were supported by the sale of membership concert tickets and benefits. In that year another ideal of the organization was realized when all concerts by both orchestras were made free for all to
enjoy, and that policy continues. In the or- chestras themselves the same spirit prevails; no player is paid to play, nor are players asked to pay dues.
Maintenance of the New Canaan Commun- ity Orchestra and the Junior Division, scholar- ships, conductor's salary, music, instruments, rental of rehearsal and concert halls, printing and the many other incidental expenses come from memberships in the association, from one dollar up, by people in the community who be- lieve in the value of the work, with an oc- casional benefit.
The war years were difficult, but the orches- tra association kept faith with the 23 members of the senior orchestra in the armed services, many of whom wrote from far places that they hoped the orchestra was going on just the same and that their places would be waiting for them when they returned home. And they were. At home, almost every member of the orchestra was in some kind of defense work but they found time and strength to give to music for the refreshment it gave them and others. They journeyed eagerly to Avon Old Farms to play for the blind veterans during the war, and to a sanitarium for mental pa- tients.
The young people of the Junior Division, too, displayed the same loyal spirit, in some cases walking many miles to and from re- hearsals when no other transportation was available, doing their part to make music at home for fathers and brothers in the armed services.
Unlike many music institutions, perhaps, the method of the New Canaan Community Orchestra Association in choosing scholarship children takes into account the personality of the child as well as his talent. Though the or- ganization takes great pride in the talented chil- dren it has helped to prepare for musical careers it is no less proud of the little ones, often without anything but a love for music, whose lives have been enriched by their ex- periences in the Junior Division.
The New Canaan Community Orchestra and the Junior Division each give three con-
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certs a season in New Canaan. In addition, they cooperate with other New Canaan or- ganizations whenever they can be helpful. They have played at the invitation of other towns to stimulate community music in those places and the senior orchestra, for several years, has given the same concerts as are given here, at Stamford Hall for the pleasure of patients and staff.
Daniel Gregory Mason has long pleaded for more amateur community music. A recent wri- ter, Antonio Modarelli, director of the Char- leston Symphony Orchestra, says, "If true cul- ture is to be developed these communities must establish their own local groups fostering continuous training and actual participation in the arts. They must develop a knowledge of and interest in music ... among their own citizenry ... The kind of organization which is right for a city of five million population is of course entirely different from that which can be had in a community of five thousand persons. But both types of musical organiza-
tions are a vital part of our national cultural life ... " It is due to the vision of a short 30 years ago and the help of many in the inter- vening years that the New Canaan Community Orchestra and the Junior Division have been able to give music to their town through the pioneering time and far beyond.
Upon Miss Child's resignation in 1935 as president of the New Canaan Community Orchestra Association, Mrs. L. D. Rowand, who had been vice president since 1928, suc- ceeded her. The present officers and members of the board of directors follow:
Mrs. L. D. Rowand, president; Miss Myra Val- entinc, vice president; Miss Marguerite Suter, sec- retary; Mrs. Robert D. White, treasurer. Directors: Dr. Theodore W. Benedict, Rev. Loring D. Chase, Miss Ruth A. Child, Dr. Thomas P. Cody, Mrs. Charles F. Eddy, II, Willis T. Holt, George Low- man, Dr. Daniel Gregory Mason, Walter W. Naum- burg, Miss Anne L. O'Shaughnessy, and musical conductor, William O'Shaughnessy.
THE NEW CANAAN BRANCH LINE
RICHARD B. FANT, Author
MELBOURNE BRINDLE, Artist
[February 17, 1949]
The railroad from Stamford to New Canaan is strictly homemade. The cost was $264,000 and you wouldn't believe New Canaan could raise that much money for a voluntary project. Eighty-two years ago it did. The population can only have been a few thousand, for in the hot election of 1868 the vote here was only 304 for Grant and 233 for Seymour.
The period after the Civil War was one of business expansion, greenback inflation, and feverish speculation. In the victorious North
business boomed, and the conquest of the West was pushed with enthusiasm. During the eight years after Appomattox railway mileage of the country doubled; 30,000 miles of track was laid in addition to the 1,800 miles which first spanned the continent.
It was in this atmosphere that the New Ca- naan Railroad was conceived. Industrialization was advancing everywhere and New Canaan had to have a railroad if she was to follow Nor- walk, Stamford and other places round about
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in becoming a rich factory town. This fervor got the railroad built and lasted through a whole generation of disillusionment about the factories.
It must have required tremendous effort to raise the money but unfortunately that story was not recorded, for New Canaan had no newspaper then. Dr. T. W. Benedict remem- bers having heard his uncle say that J. & J. Benedict, the big shoe company, invested $1,500, considering it a necessary business ex- pense whether or not the railroad ever paid out. Miss Mary H. Travis remembers a poor shoemaker who had put his life savings of $100 in the stock.
The New Canaan Railroad was chartered by act of the legislature in 1866. Capital was raised in the form of seven per cent first mort-
gage bonds and $50 par common stock. In 1870, the earliest records, bonds outstanding totaled $75,756 and stock $164,000. In sub- sequent years additional bonds were created bringing that total to $99,878.
Construction was begun in 1867 and the road was substantially finished in a year. Cost approached $30,000 a mile, which is high even for these days. Most railroad construction in that era was accompanied by a little graft and some with a lot, so that all the money paid in didn't reach the road bed. The record is blank in this regard as to our road but the strictly local nature of the project should have made large pilfering unlikely. On the other hand it was obviously an expensive road to build; the unusual amount of cut and fill can be readily seen today.
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The first train ran on July 4, 1868. It is a pity no record of the occasion exists. Legend has it that Independence Day celebration that year was extraordinarily gay and that the custo- mary booming of the cannon was reinforced by a clanging of the engine bell as the train pulled to a stop from its first trip up the line. As part of the day's celebration, roundtrip tickets were sold to Stamford for eighty-five cents.
Frank A. Shutes, popular conductor of the Express who retired a few years ago, has des- cribed the original train as a single car on the front of which was mounted a small upright steam engine. The rear of the car was enclosed against the weather and provided with parallel benches down the side on which the passen- gers could sit facing each other.
Poor's Manual of Railroad Securities does not mention the New Canaan Railroad until 1870 but at that time the equipment is des- cribed as one locomotive and one passenger car and the track as consisting of 8.26 miles main line and .34 miles of siding, all of 50 pound rail. A time table published in the first issue of New Canaan's first newspaper, the Era, on October 3, 1868, called for six round trips a day. The trip to Stamford was scheduled at 26 minutes while the return took 30 minutes.
Dr. Samuel St. John was the prime mover in organizing the railroad. He was a lawyer, geo- logist and chemist and a professor at the Col- lege of Physicians and Surgeons in New York. He was born and reared in New Canaan. With him was associated his friend, Dr. Willard S. Parker, greatest surgeon of the day for whom the hospital of that name in New York stands as a memorial.
They were among the town's first commuters who had to take the Ridgefield stage to Stam- ford landing, thence by sailboat to New York or else had a long walk to Stamford station and a local train all the way. Besides them the orig- inal directors were: Sellick F. St. John, Ste- phen Hoyt, Joseph B. Hoyt, Joseph D. Warren, Andrew K. Comstock, Alex Law and William E. Raymond.
Dr. St. John was president; William St. John, treasurer; Noah W. Hoyt, secretary; F. E.
Weed, ticket seller and freight agent. During the life of the company there were some re- signations and deaths and the following served as replacements for varying lengths of time: A. S. Comstock, W. G. Webb, C. G. Child, G. F. Lockwood, S. P. St. John.
In the first issue of the Era on October 3, 1868, an article told of an inspection trip dur- ing which the train made the journey in 12 minutes. The fine smooth road bed was de- scribed in glowing terms. Next to it appeared a big advertisement for the first mortgage bonds of the Union Pacific Railroad stating in bold type that 800 miles was now completed and steel would reach the Pacific in '69!
Traffic was disappointing from the first. Results for 1870 show gross revenues of $15,- 598 and an operating deficit of $5,012. As for the two previous years, Poor's says laconically "expenses have hitherto exceeded receipts." The road carried 37,827 passengers and 3,832 tons of freight in 1870 and operated 19,744 train miles, which only averages about three and one-quarter round trips a day.
There was gradual improvement for the next four years during the wild boom times of greenback inflation, high prices, speculation and an unfavorable balance of trade. The best year for traffic was 1873 but higher rates and lower expenses made '74 the most profitable. Bond interest of $6,423 was paid in full in 1873, '74 and '75 but only in '74 was it fully earned. Profits that year were $8,009 derived from $19,- 697 of revenue less operating and maintenance expenses of $11,688.
The panic of 1873 ended the boom and busi- ness activity throughout the country turned downward in '74 and remained depressed for about five years. Strong recovery did not comc until 1879 when specie resumption coincided with bumper crops and heavy exports due to general crop failure abroad.
The 70's, like the 1930's, were characterized by queer money schiemes, inflation and talk of repudiation. The free silver movement was born then. Political attack on normal economic forces had the usual effect of prolonging the correction and discouraging initiative.
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It was too much for the New Canaan Rail- road Company. Traffic shrank steadily until in 1878 gross revenue amounted only to $13,004. Expenses were cut some, but maintenance ac- tually increased as equipment grew older so the net result was a profit from operations that year of only $1,136.
Bond interest had already fallen $8,000 be- hind and no payment was possible in 1878. The road was petitioned into bankruptcy and on the day of specie resumption, January 1, 1879, A. S. Comstock and William E. Raymond took over control as trustees for the bond holders.
At the same time the Era expired. F. E. Weed, who later founded the thriving business of Weed & Duryea, suffered a double blow, for he was editor of the paper as well as ticket and freight agent for the railroad.
In his last issue on December 27, 1878, he penned these plaintive lines: "For ten years the artery of our life had been under the charge of surgeons of its own choice, skillfull, honest, liberal men, who worked hard against unto- ward circumstances to keep their charge in that condition of self maintenance while pul- sating for the public good."
Editor Weed, despite his trouble, must have had a sense of humor for the very next para- graph, undistinguished by headlines and ap- pearing to be part of the same story, boasts that "Messrs. S. Hoyt & Son have built at their nurseries one of the largest and most conven- iently arranged pig stys in the state."
Contrary to the custom of railroad trustees in later years, Messrs. Comstock and Raymond apparently went after a return for the bond holders and figuratively used an axe to get it. In '79 they barely squeezed out an operating profit; but with drastic reduction of expenses to below $8,000 and a little gain in traffic pro- fits were brought up to $6,830 and $7,171 in '80 and '81. Six percent on account of back in- terest was paid on the bonds in both years, but this proved the peak of the improvement.
The trustees tried all sorts of schemes to get business, although the schedules were reduced and service must have been awful at such a low level of operating expense. Round trips
were sold for 50 cents and a special Glenbrook to Stamford rate was established at five cents. This caused a loud cry of discrimination be- cause the rate from Springdale to Stamford was 20 cents and to Glenbrook 10 cents. It was the old story of monopoly versus competition- Springdale had no other railroad, but Glen- brook did, and the five cents was designed to take Glenbrook trade away from the New York & New Haven.
Results in 1882 were worse and by then road and equipment must have been in a sorry fix for expenses jumped in '83 to $10,567 and, with revenues only $13,114, the operating pro- fit fell with a thud to $2,548. The New Ca- naan Messenger, successor to the New Era, commented that it ought to be clear by now that the road should be sold quickly to the people building the railroad from Danbury before they made a deal with the Port Chester and Ridgefield Railway, or else the New Ca- naan line would never get out of the hands of trustees.
A new company, the Stamford and New Ca- naan Railroad Company was formed on Janu- ary 23, 1883, with the stock being issued pro rata to the bondholders of the New Canaan Railroad Company, the charter of which was cancelled by the legislature on February 1. On May 7 Comstock and Raymond as trustees, handed over all the property to the new com- pany which then operated the road for a few months.
A lease was arranged with the New York, New Haven and Hartford for one year at $4,- 000, rental beginning October 10 and was ex- tended from year to year until in '87 it was made for 99 years. The New York, New Haven & Hartford was generally called the Consolid- ated Road in those days. It had been formed only ten years earlier by consolidation of sev- eral lines, notably the New York & New Haven and the New Haven & Hartford. These were the pioneer lines in this part of the country, dating from 1844 and 1833 respectively. In 1883 the Consolidated system ran from Wil- liamsbridge, N. Y. to Springfield, Mass., and consisted of 123.2 miles of main line and 17.5
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miles of branches and sidings-today it operates 1,838 miles not counting sidings and double or multiple tracks.
The New Haven had acquired a majority of the Stamford and New Canaan Railroad Com- pany stock at the time of the original lease and from time to time thereafter it bought addi- tional shares until it had 100 per cent. On Octo- ber 1, 1890, the property was absorbed into the New Haven; the Stamford and New Ca- naan charter was surrendered and that com- pany ceased to exist.
The Messenger reported on October 27, 1883, that "the little New Canaan Railroad" has been sold for a reputed figure of $100,000." There is no other record of the price. Such a figure would amount to par value of $100 a share for the new stock and would have re- turned the original investment to the old bond- holders but not the arrears of unpaid interest. Actually the New Haven had only bought a majority of the stock at that time and it is more likely that varying prices were paid with an average of much less than par.
The independent operating record of the road was so poor that par sounds like a high price and railroad promoters of that day were not given to generosity. An inquiry to the New York, New Haven & Hartford as to the price paid has brought no reply-probably the re- cords do not exist after so many years and a reorganization.
At any rate the common stock of the orig- inal company, representing an investment by hopeful New Cannan citizens of $164,050 was wiped out to the last penny.
It was widely rumored that the Consolid- ated would extend the New Canaan line to Ridgefield and Danbury there to connect with the New England Railroad. The Danbury News on November 19, 1883, stated for a fact that the connection would be made just east of the fair grounds and quoted an officer of the New York, New Haven & Hartford as saying that the line would be double tracked.
The Ridgefield Press gloated on November 17, 1883, that its town was sure to be reached by one railroad or another. "If the New Canaan
extension is not put through the one from Port Chester is sure to be. We should be glad of the better facilities for getting to New York but think of having to go through New Ca- naan!"
Alas, neither line was ever built, and Ridge- field suffered because of its divided allegiance. But the Consolidated did improve things for New Canaan. More frequent schedules were run-at higher prices-and the old 50 pound iron rail was soon replaced with 70 pound steel.
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