USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > New Canaan > Landmarks of New Canaan > Part 35
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The Savings Bank played a most important role in the financing of the New Canaan Rail- road, lending amounts which had reached $44,500 by 1871. However, with true Yankee caution the loans were made to the railroad directors "on their joint and several notes," so that no loss appears to have resulted.
On October 30, 1875, the first actual fore- closure sale was authorized, the property being that of Edwin L. Arnold, and Junc 28, 1876, the treasurer reported that "the Arnold place was sold without loss to the bank."
[October 20, 1949]
The total deposits of the Savings Bank over the years reflect its successful beginning, a lean period in the 80's and 90's and then rapid growth during the past 50 years:
December 30, 1867, $128,677; July 1, 1879, $217,060; July 1, 1889, $80,583; July 1, 1899, $82,556; July 1, 1909, $277,733; July 1, 1919, $694,751; July 1, 1929, $1,718,970; July 1, 1939, $2,119,168; July 1, 1949, $6,102,658.
The minute book yields little information as to the difficulties in the period of contraction, but the bank was probably most affected by conditions in the town of New Canaan itself. Local industries gradually died out, and New Canaan had not yet become a commuting point.
The remarkable record from 1899 to date, and particularly during the past 20 years, re- flects the growth and development of New Ca- naan during that period, as well as the sound management of the bank.
In a mutual savings bank, all net earnings after reserves go to its depositors, and the New Canaan bank's history shows constant stress on economy of operation. For many years, the only salary paid was to the treasurer, aside from a small fee to a watchmen. The treasurer re- ceived $40 for the first six months of operation and only $600 per year as late as 1904. No rent was paid at first, but after 1865 the bank paid a small amount to the First National Bank of New Canaan for use of space. This rent was $250 per year in 1914, and rose to $2,000 per year by 1924.
By 1928, the Savings Bank felt the need for its own quarters, and on October 9, 1928, a committee was appointed to investigate a site and building. Later that month, the bank pur- chased, for $70,000, the so-called "Mead Block," named for Judge Stanley Mead's father.
This property was the original site of the Andrew Burtis blacksmith shop, with the Bur- tis home behind it. After its acquisition, the Savings Bank sold the north part to Walter Stewart for his grocery store, and another part
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The New Canaan Savings Bank
in the rear to Ward and Fitch, retaining only the land occupied by the bank building today.
Construction took place in 1929, and the present building was opened for a public re- ception on December 28, 1929, attended by 1,000 people, and for business two days later. The entire cost of land, building and equip- ment was approximately $80,000, which has now been written down on the bank's books to $42,900.
The Savings Bank, with its mortgage loans, has had many real estate transactions over the years, but many of the older ones are so briefly described in the bank's records that they are difficult to identify. One sale of interest was of 178 acres of land on Ponus Street, on March
30, 1898, to the rector, church-wardens and vestrymen of Grace Church in the City of New York, for a purchase price of $5,000. This pro- perty is the present site of the Country School. Many sales of houses and lots over the years were made for less than $2,000.
The management of the bank, through its 90 years of existence, has been noted for long ten- ure of office. Until 1935, the treasurer was not only the bank's chief operating officer but its only officer receiving substantial compensation, and during the 90-year period there have been but five occupants of the office. In 1935, the by-laws were amended and the president be- came the chief executive officer.
In the period of greatest growth, from 1925
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to date, John H. Behre was president from 1925 to 1946, and his son, Gerhard F. Behre, treas- urer from 1925 to 1946, and thereafter presi- dent.
John H. Behre was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., on July 6, 1862. After attending public schools and business school, he was engaged in the wholesale grocery business in New York until about 1905, when he moved to New Canaan for reasons of health. In addition to heading the Savings Bank, he represented the town and district in the Connecticut General Assembly as representative and senator.
Gerhard F. Behre was born in Brooklyn on January 22, 1892, and was graduated from Wil- liams College and the American Institute of Banking. He started his banking career with the National City Bank of New York in 1915.
A complete record of the officers of the Sav- ings Bank since its organization is as follows:
Presidents - Samuel A. Weed, 1859-1683; Watts Comstock, 1863-1872; Stephen Hoyt, 1872-1877;
Selleck Y. St. John, 1877-1879; Henry B. Rogers, 1879-1894; Edwin Hoyt, 1894-1898; F. E. Weed, 1898-1915; C. W. Hodges, 1915-1925; John H., Behre 1925-1946; Gerhard F. Behre, 1946- .
Vice president - Sereno E. Ogden, 1859-1868; Stephen Hoyt, 1868-1872; Augustus S. Dan, 1872- 1875; William St. John, 1875-1878; William L. Waring, 1878-1879; Thomas Raymond, 1879-1881; Joseph F. Silliman, 1881-1894; B. F. Hoyt, 1894- 1898; J. F. Bliss, 1898-1899; C. W. Hodges, 1899- 1915; J. F. Bliss, 1915-1919; J. H. Behre, 1919- 1925; Lewis B. Sutton, 1925-1946; George W. Duryea, 1946- .
Secretary and treasurer - Selleck Y. St. John, 1859-1877; R. L. Hall, 1877-1894; G. F. Lock- wood, 1894-1925; G. F. Behre, 1925-1946.
Secretary - C. S. Raymond, jr., 1946- . Treasurer - John M. Bryce, 1946- .
Assistant treasurer-Francis Keating, 1930-1943; C. S. Raymond jr., 1943-1946; Ethel W. Gelston, 1946- .
Chairman of the Board - Lewis B. Sutton, 1946- 1947.
THE WATSON-YOUNGS-KING- WEISENFELD HOUSE "Sunshine House"
HALSTED H. MYERS, Author
KEITH WARD, Artist
[October 27, 1949]
A poet made this house famous, in spite of its humble beginnings, and its complete meta- morphosis over the years-Bliss Carmen, poet laurcate of Canada.
The history of the property (on what is now East Avenue-north side-between "Clapboard Hill Bridge" and state highway 123) begins like many others in the district between Five
Mile River and Norwalk River. The Norwalk Indians sold it to Captain Patrick in 1640, and confirmed it by resale in 1651, when it was turned over to Richard Webb and 13 other Norwalk "proprietors in common."
The ensuing confusion in land claims, how- ever, caused the common proprietors finally to distribute the land by lot ("pitch") to the set-
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KEITH WARD
The Watson-Youngs-King-Weisenfeld House
tlers individually and it appears that on pitch No. 133, about 1739, this particular area fell to the lot of Caleb Benedict.
The seven to ten acres which are here being described, left the Benedict family, when Mat- thias and Trowbridge Benedict sold them on April 18, 1801, to Thomas Greenly, owner of adjacent acreage.
Thomas Greenly raised silk worms, and in pursuit of this hobby, borrowed a considerable sum of money. As part payment of such loans, he deeded on December 12, 1816, "seven acres near Clapboard Hill Bridge to Joseph Watson who dwells thereon." Joseph Watson had come from England in 1807 and, while applying for citizenship, had obtained permission by special act of the 1815 Legislature to buy this land, al- though still an alien.
He was a tool maker and with helpers, oper- ated a blacksmith shop which prospered as most did before the advent of automobiles, so much so that by 1827 he had accumulated 20 acres and reared so many children that when he died, his estate in 1835 was divided into nine parts. His son William reassembled as much as he could by borrowing money hither and yon, deeding first one piece then another as security.
For a $550 note, the town of New Canaan became temporary owner in 1837 of four acres including a dwelling, a blacksmith shop and outhouses. For the loan of $1,800 Walter Sco- field became temporary owner in 1839 of eight acres with two dwellings, a blacksmith shop and outbuildings.
Then, on April 2, 1859, Charles Brown took
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temporary title to the property as security for a mortgage endorsed by George Youngs, (the new blacksmith owner) and James Youngs, (an ex-teacher and Bridgeport book store owner). After George Youngs died in 1862, his estate held on until his wife died, then March 29, 1871, son James disposed of Charles Brown's mortgage interest and took title. James Youngs sold on April 4, 1908, ten acres with buildings thereon to Dr. Morris L. King, medical head of a New York life insurance company.
Dr. King and his wife, Mary Perry King, took the tiny house on the knoll with a view of the pond (Lake Wampanaugh), and the outbuild- ings, and completely reassembled and rebuilt them. They added a huge living room and porch on a lower level overlooking Five Mile River on the west, made a book-bindery shop out of the office annex on the east, and arranged a small studio facing the pond to the south.
In the big living room Mrs. King, whose hobby was teaching "speech and motion," in- cluding interpretive dancing, posture and dic- tion, to such celebrities as Ted Shawn, Ruth St. Denis and Walter Goodhue, gathered her New Canaan friends to see a dance recital by her ex-pupil, Ruth St. Denis, in the appropriate veils, quite an edification for those unfamiliar with the art.
Other pupils who could not afford to pay for lessons, were engaged as companions. In the book bindery, Dr. King worked at his hobby, which won him an English prize. In the studio were written, from inspiration gained on walks about New Canaan roads, the beautiful poems which are collected in a book called "Sanctu- ary," by Bliss Carmen (born 1861, died 1929).
Bliss Carmen was a very sick man in the Adi- rondacks when Dr. and Mrs. King came upon him, diagnosed his ailment as tuberculosis, cured him, set him up in a small room in a New Canaan house, encouraged him to roam about the lovely countryside, and visit them for his meals and the peace of their studio to write in.
He died in New Canaan, as did Mrs. King later, and finally Dr. King. Among her effects
were found innumerable costumes of peasant and princess that she had collected all over the world, and some writings including a Colliers prize winning anthem.
The Morris L. King estate, on May 13, 1941, sold the house Mrs. King had named "Sunshine House" and the rest of the property to Miss Friedel A. Weisenfeld, reserving life use of the rear lot and cottage for the gardener Joe Guermonprez (of French extraction) and his wife (of German nationality.)
Miss Weisenfeld came from Duisdorf, Ger- many, to join her father on Long Island in 1916, and worked at the export-import business with the Lindeteves until she organized her own firm, Phil-Ogden Corporation, in 1945 to ex- port heavy machinery. Meanwhile she looked about for a home of her own, came upon the King property entirely by chance, and bought it at once.
Thereupon, the little house that records in- dicate Joseph Watson built about 1815, and that Dr. and Mrs. King rebuilt and expanded, has been subjected to another even more com- plete alteration.
Though we are sorry not to have Bliss Car- men's studio as a museum spot, Miss Weisen- feld and her architect are to be congratulated on the most attractive use of modern materials throughout the interior. The house is easily recognizable outside, and the peace of the gardens has been beautifully preserved in the midst of the bustling town that surrounds it.
"And there when winter comes with smoulder- ing dusk
To kindle rosy flames upon the hearth, And hang his starry belt upon the night, One firelit room is large enough for Heaven, For all we know of wisdom and of love, And the eternal welfare of the heart."
- Bliss Carmen
BLISS CARMEN's poem quoted by courtesy of Dodd Mead and Co.
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THE BIRDSALL HOUSE
MINERVA W. ROCKWELL and THEODORE W. BENEDICT, Authors
WALTER RICHARDS, Artist
[November 3, 1949]
Many of those fortunate persons who have lived most or all, of their lives in New Canaan, have observed, in connection with its growth, a constantly recurring phenomenon which be- comes more understandable as one's years of residence go on, and which is peculiarly exem- plified in the story of the old Birdsall House.
There is no other New Canaan in the United States, and perhaps it was the catchiness of the name (A New Land of Promise), or pos- sibly its natural beauty and seclusion, or its proximity to the sea and high elevation above it with the resulting rare combination of salt and mountain air, and the charming view of 40 miles of picturesque Long Island Sound, which was the lure which first attracted those who became known as the "summer people."
Or again it may have been the laudations of the renowned Dr. Willard Parker of New York who, through his friendship with our beloved Prof. Samuel St. John, purchased the former Church Hill Institute, now the Congregational Manse, together with a considerable tract of land on Oenoke Avenue, and made it his coun- try home and that of his family for three gen- erations.
Be the reasons what they may, New Canaan began to be spoken of and visited by "week- enders" and "summer boarders" and a number of our substantial farmers and other citizens, opened their homes to "welcome the coming, and speed the parting guest."
Outstanding among these hospitable homes were those of the Edwin Hoyts of Carter Street, the Misses Bertha and Minnie Weed of White Oak Shade, the Stephen E. Keelers of Smith Ridge, the Schneiders of West Road, and the Neumans of Pinney Road. Forerunner of all these was the New Canaan Hotel, later the
Birdsall House, whose porches filled with sum- mer guests are a well remembered sight among our elder residents.
The "week-enders" usually came again the next summer and stayed a month, the follow- ing year they would spend the entire summer and the next thing we knew they had pur- chased homes of their own, or bought a piece of land and built one.
It was in the very late 1700s that the division of the "Common Land" purchased from the Indians and held by some 50 "Proprietors" was largely accomplished and the "Homesteaders" of Canaan Parish, which lay partly in Norwalk and partly in Stamford, divided by the "Peram- bulation Line," began to realize that a new township was in the making, with its center ly- ing between Haynes Ridge, on the southern extremity of which stood the meeting house; White Oak Shade Ridge, which extended from White Oak Shade to the present Elm Street, and Benedict Ridge, now Brushy Ridge, on the east.
Rev. Thomas Hanford, the first minister of Norwalk, was the largest land owner on the Norwalk side, standing at the head of the list in "Ye Estate of Lands and Accommodations, in 1665, as followeth" with an assessment of £300.
Rev. Hanford, according to Prof. Samuel St. John's History of Canaan Parish, seems to have evoked the kindly regards of at least one of the Norwalk Indians, for in 1690 Winnipauk, In- dian Sagamore of Norwalk, conveyed by deed his "Island lying against Rowerton," containing 20 acres, which he affirms he had never by deed of gift made over to any, "but now by this my deed, I do give it freely to my beloved friend Thomas Hanford, senior minister of
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Norwalk, to possess and improve, to him and his heirs forever." As far as is known this is the only instance of a deed given by an Indian to an individual.
Rev. Hanford's holdings extended from White Oak Shade to White Oak Shade Ridge and presumably included the property upon which the Birdsall House stands, and which subsequently came into the possession of Ste- phen Hoyt.
It is recorded that in 1823 Mr. Hoyt sold to Bradley Keeler, for $125 "a certain tract 60 rods southeast of the meeting house, being that on which the Keeler house now stands," and in 1828 another tract "bounded north by Keeler, west by E. Nash, south and east by the high- way, for $300.
Although Bradley Keeler, who lived in the Weed house on Cherry Street, and is said to have at another time occupied the original part of the building now known as the Birdsall House, did not keep boarders, he did, "on oc- casion" accommodate travellers. This was in the early 1820s, when his carriage shop, which stood nearby, did a flourishing business.
Bradley Keeler married Polly, daughter of Stephen Hoyt in May, 1817, but we have rea- son to believe that their house was built about 1780-90, and the fact that the original frame is still intact is a tribute both to the workmanship and the materials used.
According to an article in the New Canaan Messenger of 1899, Joseph Scofield, writing of "New Canaan Seventy Five Years Ago," a Mr. Lucas first kept the hotel about 1840.
The land records of October 26, 1850, show that "a certain tract of land, in quantity two acres more or less, with a dwelling house, barn and outbuildings thereon, known as the Brad- ley Keeler place, bounded east by the highway and the place now occupied by said Keeler" was sold by Hanford Davenport and Samuel A. Weed to Joseph Butts of Kingston, N. Y., for $2,100 who, on December 10, 1850, sold it to Reuben A. Booth of New Canaan for $3,000.
Mr. Booth, after purchasing an additional tract, "in quantity one rood, more or less," from John Watson for $600 on December 27, 1850, sold the two parcels on March 3, 1852, for
$3,625 to Smith Booth, who in turn sold it to Loraine Butts, wife of Joseph Butts, jr., on March 21, 1854.
On October 17 of the same year Joseph and Loraine leased the property to Elmore G. Ben- son of Norwalk, to May 1, 1856, for $200 per year, with the proviso that "should the law of the State of Connecticut be so modified as to allow Hotel Keepers and Taveners to sell wine and liquors, and spirituous liquors to be drank on their premises" the rental shall be $400 per year, and with the further provision that cer- tain rooms and a portion of the land shall be re- served for their use, and that Benson shall fur- nish board and fuel in return for Loraine's ser- vices as housekeeper.
Apparently Mr. Benson did not make good, for we find another similar lease to George N. Foote for three years from April 3, 1856, and a third to Zophar Dixon of Pound Ridge for three years dated October 1, 1857.
Joseph and Loraine sold the property to Nel- son S. Finch of Ridgefield on April 21, 1858, but one year later he quit claimed it to the Butts again and they sold it that same day (April 16, 1859) to Sarah M. Osborne of New Canaan.
The Osbornes built the first addition to the hotel, according to Mr. Scofield's "New Canaan Seventy Five Years Ago," but on May 4, 1861, they sold it back to Joseph and Loraine Butts, who re-sold it that same day to Gilbert Birdsall for $4,700.
Mr. Birdsall was at that time superintendent of the Third Avenue Street Railway Company in New York City, living there in the winter and coming to New Canaan in the summer. He had bought a tract of land of more than 200 acres upon which the horses, worn down from their heavy work on the street cars, could be pas- tured and often restored to usefulness.
This tract extended from Brushy Ridge to considerably north of Ferris Hill Road and con- tained four houses, in one of which (now the residence of Mrs. A. V. Barnes ) Mr. Birdsall made his summer home. Later he sold this place and lived in one of the other houses on the higher ground on the east side of Canoe Hill Road.
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THE ORIGINAL HOTEL
THE BIRDSALL HOUSE ABOUT 1900
Walter Richards 1949
THE BIRDSALL HOUSE TODAY
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His daughter, Anna Bell Birdsall, married Franklin Stevens and lived in another of the houses which stands at the north side of the junction of Ferris Hill and Canoe Hill Roads, and which is still owned by a member of the Birdsall family-Mrs. R. B. Morse, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Stevens.
Mr. Birdsall did not carry on the hotel busi- ness himself, but had several different man- agers from time to time. It is recorded that on January 22, 1863, he leased the property to John Burk of Norwalk for $400 a year for three years, with the option of renewal, which ap- parently Mr. Burk did not care to do, for about 1867 Leroy Taylor of Danbury came to New Canaan to take over the management of the hotel. (Mr. Taylor was grandfather of Mrs. Bertha Purdy Putney, who resides on South Main Street. )
The New Canaan Era, in its issue of Decem- ber 5, 1868, has an article which reads: "Mine Host of the New Canaan Hotel can keep a ho- tel. We are told, and we have every reason to believe it, that our local hostelrie is one of the best managed establishments in the State, or anywhere. Taylor is out with an advertisement in this week's paper."
The advertisement reads: "New Canaan Ho- tel. This hotel has lately undergone important improvements. It is enlarged by the addition of eight rooms and the proprietor now believes himself in a position to meet all the wants of his patrons. The travelling public will find here every accommodation necessary for conven- ience and comfort. Boarders by the day or week received on reasonable terms. In connection with the Hotel the subscriber has a commodi- ous barn with first rate accommodations for horses, which he will keep by the day or week to suit owners."
[November 10, 1949]
The original part of the hotel (the back part ), was a two gabled house built on colonial lines. Cooking was done in the huge fireplace, and the house had a reputation, which it car-
ried as long as it served as a hostelry, for good food, clean, comfortable rooms, and hospital- ity.
Nearby was a livery stable, in which horses, wearied by their long, hard journeys over roads that were difficult to say the least, were cared for in a way that caused more than one owner to travel extra miles so that his team might find the good fodder and bedding provided there.
An outbuilding was built off from the kitchen from which home manufactured gas was dis- tributed to the dining room, the lower halls and the sitting room. Mr. Taylor's daughter was taught how to pull the lever which would re- lease the gas for lighting.
At the end of the hall on a drop-leaf table were rows of lamps and candles, each one marked for its particular room. A woman came in each day to care for the lamps, filling and cleaning them, trimming the wicks and occa- sionally "boiling up the burners." Candles had to be kept in good order and the snuffers at- tached.
In 1868 the hotel was "further improved," ac- cording to the Era: "The bar will be moved into a room adjoining it, and a sitting room will be made downstairs. Mr. Taylor is a popular and enterprising host and his hotel is kept in good style. His table is always supplied with good and substantial fare, and his liquors are of the choicest brands. The dinner furnished a week or so since to the delegates of the Senatorial Convention which met here, put to shame the New Haven hotels on a similar occasion, and proved that Mr. Taylor is equal to any emer- gency. The hotel is a success and deserves to be one."
The annual Fat Man's Clambake used to be held at the hotel. "Some of these men tipped the scales at over 300 pounds. Indeed, the poor men who weighed a mere 200 were very much in the minority, the average weight being 279 pounds. (The highest was 368.)"
"On August 20, 1870, there was much excite- ment in the hotel. One of the boarders was quietly sewing when she was startled by a rifle or pistol shot crashing through the window over her head. On investigation it was found that some boys firing at a cat missed their mark
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Walter Richards 1944
and seriously endangered the life of the es- timable lady. Such gross carelessness in the handling of firearms deserves the severest cen- sure.
"The fire in the stables of Wallace Dann nearby the hotel brought out all the male in- habitants of the town, and so well did they work with the primitive fire-fighting appara- tus that the hotel was not burned at all. Old pieces of blankets, carpets and rugs were satu- rated with water and put on the roofs of the hotel; the children were removed to the Curtis homestead and the staff prepared big buckets of coffee to serve the fire fighters." The Era mentions the fire as a "grave event."
The Democratic Senatorial Convention was held at the hotel, with L. M. Monroe as its chairman. This was followed by the Probate
Court Convention. Later in the same year (1870) the Era mentions the spirit of progress evidenced in "further improvement of the ho- tel by mine host, Mr. Taylor, who is busy pre- paring the sitting room on the ground floor to make room for a billiard table.
"We have no room for a billiard table now in the village, and it is more than likely that Mr. Taylor's new enterprise will pay hand- somely. He is very accommodating and prom- ises a handsome reward to anyone who can make 13 shots in one."
The following year Mr. Taylor announced that J. C. Jones would open a livery stable in connection with the hotel, advertising that "The stables are located in the rear of our pop- ular hostelrie. Come and see me!"
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