USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > New Canaan > Landmarks of New Canaan > Part 34
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We believe that the Old Red School stood until it was torn down to make way for the building of the new house-probably around 1837. Across the street to the northeast stood the home of the Rev. Theophilus Smith ( Ash- well house); to the north and well back from the road was the stately, pillared home of Pro- fessor Samuel St. John. St. John Place was not cut through until after this house had burned in 1876. The Congregational Church which had almost the same location as now, was planning a new and larger meeting house.
The Perkins house was built by Clarinda Fitch Ayres and her two bachelor brothers, Philo and Semon. They built here because their mother had moved to the village after the death of their father and lived in the Livermore house, and their sister, Hannah Mitchell, lived a bit farther west on Brook Road.
Clarinda Fitch was the daughter of Joseph,
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a descendant of John Fitch, one of the early proprietors of Canaan Parish and of Thomas Fitch who settled in Norwalk in 1655.
"Uncle Joe" Fitch, as he was known to his neighbors, was a wealthy farmer who lived about three quarters of a mile north of Brushy Ridge. The old foundation of his house may be seen a short distance south of Hazen Perry's home. Joseph died in 1833, aged 80 years, leav- ing his wife, four sons and three daughters. One daughter, Mabel, had married Hanford Carter; Hannah had married Sherman Mitch- ell, son of the Rev. Justus Mitchell; the young- est daughter, Clarinda, was considered an old maid. After her father's death she was married to a man named Ayres and went to New York City to live. When her husband died a few years later, she returned to New Canaan with her two young daughters, Julia and Alecia, and it was then that she and her two brothers built "a new large house about 40 rods south of the Congregational Church." The old rec- ords show that Clarinda F. Ayres, widow, was admitted to the church September 18, 1842, from the Madison Street Presbyterian Church in New York.
In her stately house on Park Street, Mrs. Ayres lived for many years. Her mother, Han- nah Fitch, died in 1841 but it appears that her brother, Theophilus, continued to own and to live in the Livermore house. She made a home for Philo and Semon as long as they lived and many times had desirable people as boarders.
During her long life, Clarinda saw many changes in New Canan. Gradually industry had replaced farming and a thriving business center had grown up on Main Street. It was during the period before the Civil War that New Canaan was noted as a shoe manufactur- ing town. Other industries and mills flourished too and in 1859 New Canaan had its first bank.
In 1868 the railroad was opened and the first train steamed up to the Park Strect corner and stopped. We assume that Railroad Avenue or Elm Street was cut through about that time. For many years when there was agitation for a sidewalk on Park Street, the property owners argued that it would be money wasted because the railroad would certainly be extended to
Ridgefield very soon. As late as 1912, there was an effort made to have a side walk. Then the suggestion was defeated by those who thought that the state highway would come through Park Street.
Clarinda F. Ayres lived to be 80 years old. Her brothers had died and left her both the Perkins and Livermore houses and at her death in 1881, they became the property of her daughters Julia and Alecia.
Many people in New Canaan remember the Misses Julia and Alecia Ayres, who lived to be well past 70. They were tall, graceful women who carried themselves with great dignity and were noted for their charm and hospitality. Mrs. Kellogg remembers, especially, their de- licious tea biscuits and the large yellow cat who made his home with them. They took an active part in the founding of the Historical Society of New Canaan in 1889 and loaned to the society a silver tamarind spoon which was 200 years old.
For twenty years after the death of their mother they continued to own the two houses, renting one and living in the other. Mr. Silli- man, whose mother was their cousin, recalls that they often were able to rent both places and then came to stay at the Silliman home on Oenoke.
In 1891, while he was living in one of their houses, Mr. E. L. Fancher purchased from the Misses Ayres one quarter acre for a shoe fac- tory. This factory stood in the lower yard and extended onto the land now occupied by the Christian Science Church. After Fancher and Company had gone out of business, the build- ing was bought by Irving Lockwood and moved down the street where it is still being used by the New Canaan Lumber Company.
In 1902 the house with the columns was sold to Mrs. Edna H. Rogers who lived across the street in a house which was torn down in re- cent years to make way for the parking lot. Mrs. Thomas Hall, the daughter of Mrs. Rogers, says that her family did not live in the house but bought it for their own protection. Mrs. Rogers made several improvements, however. Luther Knapp recalls building the north chim- neys for new fireplaces and putting partitions
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Walter RivinNs
The Fitch-Ayres-Perkins House
in the attic to make two bedrooms and a bath on the third floor. The veranda on the south was probably added about this time.
It was during these years that Mr. and Mrs. Marshal Stearns lived here. Mr. Stearns was one of the first of the New York commuters to make New Canaan his year round home.
In 1919, this corner again became a school. The Community School Incorporated bought the place from Mrs. Rogers and occupied it for five years before moving across the street. This was the school that was later to become the New Canaan Country Day School.
Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell Perkins purchased the house in 1924 from the Community School and the old place became a home once more. Mr. and Mrs. Perkins' five daughters grew up in this beautiful and spacious house and Mr.
Perkins commuted daily to Scribner's where he was a renowned editor and publisher.
Mrs. Perkins built the terraces and grape arbor on the south overlooking the sloping lawn. Here, shut off from the street by the tall trees and shrubs, is a cool and pleasant spot.
The classical revival in architecture is clearly shown in this lovely old house. The fluted Doric columns and the Paladian window above the portico are characteristic of many houses built in America in the late 18th and early 19th cen- turies. As we walk through the front door with its simple and beautiful side lights we wish we knew the architect who designed this house for Clarinda Ayres. She had evidently devel- oped in the few short years she had lived in New York a taste for simple elegance. The square front hall with its graceful stairway
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opens into a large living room flanked on the west by what was once the dining room with its rounded bay windows and on the east by a library. Wide double doors can close off these rooms. The kitchen is a large sunny room on the southwest corner.
Since the death of Mr. Perkins, Mrs. Perkins has remodelled, making an apartment upstairs. The attractive entrance and stairway in the
back hall made it easy to divide the house into two comfortable and roomy living quarters. Part of the veranda on the south has been en- closed to make a new dining room.
The excellent proportions and the quiet and refined detail of the house make a perfect back- ground for the gracious living it has seen in the past and will continue to see in the future.
THE KIRKBRIDE HOUSE "Five Wells"
FRANKLIN B. KIRKBRIDE, Author
[October 6, 1949]
In 1935, after more than twenty years on the Connecticut shore, the Franklin B. Kirkbrides moved inland. Before coming to New Canaan they had explored the territory from Stamford to Southport. Settling here they rented the Chi- chester house, now owned by Mrs. Walter T. Owen, then the property of the Harold Stokes.
This temporary foothold was to give time to determine whether they liked New Canaan and whether New Canaan approved of them. The Stokes saw to it that New Canaan's welcome was prompt and generous.
House-hunting not being productive of re- sults, land available for building was sought. A final choice was difficult for there were many attractive parcels of land. Finally one winter day an indefatigable booster of the charms of the town said almost in desperation, "Well, there is just one more place you have not seen," and led the way to the site of an abandoned gristmill up on West Road.
Through snow he piloted the homesteaders, along a little lane past tumbled in cellar walls, through catbrier, poison ivy, brambles and
junk heaps visible above a carpet of fine white- ness and so past a huge and magnificent elm tree, unique in the fact that from its main trunk, what must have been originally a limb, had at right angles and then driving skyward devel- oped into a companion trunk; then down to a bubbling spring and little watercourse with green grass along its sides flowing into the rush- ing, ice-edged Rippowam. One sight of the spring and its outlet and the search for land was over.
The fact that his houses were planned to fit the sites on which they were built, and that he was a friend and neighbor, led to the choice of Robertson Ward as architect.
The house was planned from the inside with no thought as to exterior until the floor plans were completed. It had to be an "inside out" house, that is, with a feeling of outdoors in every part of the structure. That meant big windows and plenty of them. As a matter of fact there are some 60 or more, with glass doors in addition.
The site of the old mill barn was chosen, just
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The Kirkbride House
above and alongside the Rippowam. To fit the contour of the land there are six levels in a two story and basement house.
In order to make it slow burning, reinforced concrete joists, cinder block and concrete floors were used. Appropriate hardware was difficult to find, but finally some that had been designed for the Cincinnati Union Station was selected. The outer walls were built of cinder blocks so as to be fire resistant.
An artesian well provides a bountiful supply of water, a septic system takes care of sewage and a "split system" provides heat and hot water; forced air in the main house, steam heat in pantry, kitchen and servants' quarters.
The front entrance is sheltered by a roof which connects the garage, storeroom and pump room with the main house. No sketch was ever made of the exterior of the building.
The rooms which were planned were just cov- ered with walls and roofs.
The interior color scheme was developed by William Muschenheim, a well-known architect and colorist who had been trained in Vienna. Old family furniture, with only a few pieces of modern design, seem appropriate in their present setting and blend in well with their surroundings. While there is not a picture in the house, each window frames an attractive outlook.
The land had been bought from the Oenoke Corporation and approval of building plans was required. When they were submitted to Jack Mulliken for his O.K. he was obviously disturbed and drew a long breath before he finally gave consent. During construction the "sidewalk superintendents" dubbed the place "The Fairfield County Jail!"
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At first it certainly did look raw and bare- one sympathizing friend suggested the house could be planted out.
The place has been kept as nearly as pos- sible in its natural state. Landscaping has fol- lowed nature; along the stream ferns in vari- ety. In the woods galax, trillium from North Carolina, arbutus, lady-slippers, laurel, rhodo- dendron, ground pine add variety to the charm of gurgling water and shady paths. The lilacs, lilies of the valley, rhubarb and grape vines are all relics of a bygone day. Only the primrose path is new. Dogwoods, 50 of them, sycamores, a holly tree and shrubbery after 11 years are beginning to press in on the house and garage and "overgrown" is today a more accurate de- scription than "raw." Four of the five wells on the place are old surface wells, while the fifth is the artesian well.
Stephen Hoyt is reported to have said the mill dam went out some 80 years ago. What was once a large body of water is now forest, with a tall, straight tulip poplar across the stream from the house towering above the sur- rounding trees. Two of the original millstones are still within a few feet of where they were when the old mill was in operation.
Today "Five Wells" is no longer considered radical. It is a "transition" house, for there was no thought on the part of owners or architect of going modern when it was planned and built. The objective was to make the house func- tional, using appropriate materials such as alu- minum window sash, slate window sills, steel baseboards, cantilever construction in the big bay window overlooking the stream, omitting plaster picture mouldings under the ceilings, making the entire stairwell of aluminum and glass and the stairs themselves designed after a theatre set. The flat Barrett roofs and the awning covered roof deck were in 1937 non- conforming too.
Robertson Ward had never built a modern house and he was skeptical at the start, but be- came more and more enthusiastic as the work progressed. Construction involved many prob- lems and he showed keen insight and ingenu- ity in their successful solution. The house was built at a time when conventional lighting was
still the vogue and the simple indirect lighting effects which were introduced were just fore- runners of more radical later ideas.
The house seems appropriate in its setting and has a charm of its own. It is certainly an easy house to live in. It has possibly influenced a changing public opinion in regard to New England home architecture in New Canaan.
Note by BEATRICE GUENGUERICH
The above land was part of a tract purchased in 1814 by Daniel Davis of Wilton from James Stevens of Stamford for a consideration of $1500. It con- sisted, according to the old records, "of one tract of land with dwelling-house, barns and mills there- on, in quantity 48 acres."
There were three Davis brothers, Daniel, Burr and Walter, also a sister, Annabell. Two of the brothers, Daniel and Burr lived on this property. The former lived in the main house and the latter in a small house. Walter lived on High Ridge Road.
Daniel must have had a mill on the property because it was there when he bought the land. There is another record of his buying 4 of a grist mill in the North part of the town of New Canaan.
Mrs. H. B. Slawson of Norwalk who is now in her eighties, lived in the neighborhood in her early days. She tells an amusing story about Daniel and her father, Mr. Edwin Selleck. It seems Mr. Selleck made barrels and he was also the preacher in the Methodist Chapel at Sellecks corner. Daniel stopped in the shop one day while Mr. Selleck was working on a barrel and kept pestering him. He was particularly trying and finally Mr. Selleck turned to him and said "Daniel, what makes you so ornery? What do you live for?" Daniel put his hands on his hips and answered "Reverend, I guess the good Lord just put me here to try the patience of the righteous."
After Daniels' death, Walter Davis bought some of this land in 1856 at public auction. One piece of land was described as "2 acres more or less with the remains of an old grist mill thereon and bounded Northerly and Westerly by land set out as dower to the widow of said Daniel Davis."
Walter Davis must have been very enterprising because he bought quite a little land in New Canaan. In 1892 he gave to Annabell Davis Bailey 14 acres more or less with an unfinished house. She and her husband also bought some of the land
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owned by Walter Davis after his death. From the description in the records it would seem the four- teen acres owned by Annabell Bailey is the present site of the Kirkbride house.
Of the several mills of Canaan Parish days we have considerable information, but this ancient Slawson mill which stood on the Kirkbride prop-
erty has baffled all research thus far. As to the Slawsons themselves, they have all disappeared from here. They were a numerous and important people from the Stamford side of the parish. There is a legend that one of them was a counterfeiter and his estate was confiscated but we find no documentary proof of it.
THE NEW CANAAN SAVINGS BANK
S. PEARCE BROWNING, JR., Author
JOHN PAUL TURNER, Artist
[October 13, 1949]
The New Canaan Savings Bank this year cele- brated its 90th anniversary. Incorporated by special act of the Connecticut legislature on May 30, 1859, it was formally organized on the following June 9 and commenced business on July 1, 1859.
Since there was no newspaper in New Canaan at that time, the event was announced by a handbill, a facsimile of which accom- panies this article. Deposits were received immediately (in fact they appear on the first ledger as being made on June 30), and at the close of business on July 1, 1859, the new bank had deposits of $2,289. Such was the beginning from which the bank grew, until 90 years later, on June 30, 1949, it held deposits of over $6,000,000.
The concept of a mutual savings bank re- sulted from the industrial revolution which began to be felt as the 18th century drew to a close. More and more people who had made their living on farms, where little cash was ne- cessary, began to work for wages in factories, on railroads or for other business enterprises.
Although receiving payment in currency, they had no safe place to keep it, and this
brought a demand for banks in which working men could place their savings. Commercial banks were few at that time and not particu- larly interested in savings accounts.
Actually, it was in Scotland that the first mu- tual savings bank was founded in 1810, and the credit is given to the Rev. Henry Duncan of Ruthwell, Scotland, who conceived the idea of collecting the small savings of his parish- oners for safekeeping and investment to meet future emergencies.
All of the income was to be divided among the depositors according to the amount of their deposits, and the cardinal principle of this first mutual savings bank was, as it is of mutual savings banks today, the safety of the depos- itor's savings rather than income.
People became interested in this new kind of bank for the man of small means, and it was not long before the news reached the United States. From 1816 to 1818, public spirited men in Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, Salem and New York became interested and founded savings institutions. In 1819, the Society for Savings, the first mutual savings bank in Con- necticut, was founded in Hartford, which was
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The NEW CANAAN SAVINGS BANK
Having been incorporated by the Legislature of the State of Connec- ticut, and duly organized, the public are respectfully informed that said Bank will be ready to receive deposits of
From One Dollar to Four Hundred Dollars,
From any one person in any one year,
ON AND AFTER THE FIRST OF JULY NEXT,
And on as favorable terms as any similar institution.
The Legislature of our State have very strongly guarded the interests of depositors; and the Board of Managers being composed of well known and careful citizens, it is confidently presumed that it will receive the entire confidence and cordial support of all such as desire the benefit and convenience of such an institution in our community.
The following Officers have been chosen for the ensuing year :
SAMUEL A. WEED, President. S. E. OGDEN, Vice President.
MANAGERS.
Benjamin Hoyt,
Chas. Benedict,
Watts Comstock,
Wm. St. John,
N. E. Weed, Wm. L. Waring, Chas. Raymond,
Benjamin N. Heath, Geo. Lockwood,
A. S. Comstock, E. J. Richards, Alexander Law.
S. Y. ST. JOHN, Secretary and Treasurer.
NEW CANAAN, June 10th, 1859.
BAKER & GODWIN, PRINTERS, PRINTING-HOUSE SQUARE, OPPOSITE CITY HALL, NEW YORK.
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also the year in which the Aetna (Fire) Insur- ance Company of Hartford was founded.
Following the establishment of the Society for Savings in Hartford, similar savings insti- tutions were organized in Norwich, Middle- town, New London, New Haven and other Connecticut towns. The New Canaan Savings Bank was the 30th so organized, out of a total of 72 in the state.
Just as the society for Savings in Hartford was founded almost at the time that the boom in western real estate burst and the country went into its first general depression, the New Canaan Savings Bank was organized on the verge of the Civil War, for 1859 was the year in which John Brown raided Harper's Ferry, raising in more acute form the great issue of slavery. However, as has been pointed out by a leading authority," mutual savings banks in Connecticut and depressions started off to- gether and have seen much of each other ever since.
As was the case in most localities, the infant savings bank in New Canaan began under the auspices of its most prominent local citizens. The first paragraph of the minute book lists as those present at the organization meeting: Samuel A. Weed, Benjamin Hoyt, Nehemiah E. Weed, William St. John, Charles Raymond, Alexander Law, Marvin W. Fox, Samuel S. Noyes, Watts Comstock, Sereno E. Ogden, George Lockwood, Charles Benedict, Lewis Lockwood, William L. Waring, Benjamin N. Heath, J. E. Ayres, David S. Rockwell, Han- ford Davenport, William G. Webb and Darius Davenport.
At the first meeting held on June 9, 1859, the incorporators adopted by-laws providing for a president, vice president and not to exceed 12 managers to constitute a board of managers. The treasurer was to be the chief operating officer, and under the charter no president, vice
president or manager could receive any com- pensation for his services.
The amount which any person could deposit in any one year could be not less than $1 nor more than $400. The treasurer was authorized to place "in the Fairfield County Bank, for safe- keeping, till put to use, all moneys of the cor- poration."
For the first officers there were chosen Sam- uel A. Weed, president; Sereno E. Ogden, vice president, and Selleck Y. St. John, treasurer and secretary. Mr. Weed, who was the grand- father of Miss Amanda Weed, was a merchant and partner in the general store operated by Hoyt and Weed, and a leading citizen of the community. Mr. Ogden was a builder and well known local business man. Mr. St. John, post- master of New Canaan, later became the cash- ier of the First National Bank and Trust Com- pany of New Canaan when it was founded in 1865.
The first office of the Savings Bank was that of its treasurer, Selleck Y. St. John, and nothing in the minute book indicates any change until some time after the First National Bank and Trust Company was organized in 1865. It is believed that from that time on, until 1929, when the present Savings Bank building was opened, the Savings Bank occupied quarters with the First National Bank.
The problem of investments arose imme- diately, and one of the important functions of the Savings Bank has always been as a local lender, usually on first mortgage. The first resolution authorizing loans in New Canaan was adopted on July 5, 1860:
"Voted, that the application of Stephen Hoyt be granted to the amount of $250, also that of Polly Keeler for $300 be granted, and also that of S. Heyatt provided Mr. Weed and Mr. Hoyt are satisfied about the same."
The first security investments authorized were on October 5, 1860, when it was
"Voted, that we buy 10 shares of the Bank of Commerce of New York City and $1,000 Ten- nessee State Bond."
# Ralph W. Chapin, in "The story of the Mutual Sav- ings Banks of Connecticut," to whom acknowledgment is made for these facts on the early history of savings banks.
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The investments of the bank must actually have started earlier, since after the first six months of operation, on December 31, 1859, it had earned $524.82, declared a dividend of six per cent to depositors, paid the treasurer a sal- ary of $24.29 and carried $100 to surplus.
Borrowers on mortgage had to be educated to make payments promptly and on July 18, 1861, the board of managers
"Resolved that the treasurer be instructed to notify delinquents that their interest must be paid on or before the 25 inst. or proccedings for foreclosure will be commenced."
One of the most important investments ever made by the Savings Bank was on February 8, 1865, when the board of managers voted to subscribe for 85 shares of "a national bank about being organized in this town." Not only did this greatly contribute to the successful or- ganization of the First National Bank of New Canaan, but the association so commenced endured through the years, with the Savings Bank utilizing the First National Bank's facili- ties and remaining for many years one of its important stockholders.
The first detailed financial report in the min- ute book was on December 30, 1867, when the treasurer reported: Deposits: $128,677, a gain of $32,466 in the past year; Earnings: $5,355; Investments: Loans on mortgage, $63,988; bank stocks, $15,000; United States Bonds, $52,000.
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