USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Hamden > The history of Hamden, Connecticut, 1786-1936 > Part 23
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Another golden wedding celebrated in 1883 was that of Reverend Austin Putnam and his wife, in the Whitneyville church, where he was serving his forty- fifth year as pastor. The occasion was managed by Charles P. Augur, John Burton, and Eli Dickerman. The ushers were J. J. Webb, Deacon Payne, and Dr. Treadwell. There was a splendid ornamented cake; em- bedded in its surface were fifty gold dollars. The Young Ladies' Mission Circle presented another cake, "upon which was a dove, a horseshoe, etc., the dove having suspended by a ribbon from its beak a $ 10 gold piece."
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Another gift was "a large and elegant bronze metal ink- stand," and there was also "an elegant portmannaie with $50 enclosed."
The fraternal affection which has, since 1834, been exhibited between the Hamden Plains Methodist Church and the Whitneyville Church was marked by the first of many subsequent joint Thanksgiving ser- vices.
POST OFFICES
The postal facilities of the town had begun with Chauncey Foote's appointment as Hamden postmaster at Centerville back in 1834; and some of his successors were Leverett Hitchcock, Frederick Tuttle, and "Gib" Benham. Lucius Ives became postmaster at Mount Carmel in Ivesville in 1853, and the Mount Carmel Center post-office near the Axle Shop was set up later. Four years after this, Jesse Cooper became Whitney- ville's postmaster, soon followed by James Day.
It is said that Highwood people used to have their mail addressed to a store on Broadway in New Haven, where they would go to receive it. John Sanford used to take mail addressed to Hamden Plains church mem- bers from the Centerville post-office to his home on Saturday afternoon, distributing it in the church pews before service on Sunday morning. Visel's store on St. Mary Street was the first official post-office in High- wood. At the time that it was established in 1888 and a name had to be chosen for it, the Visels-looking from their windows at the high trees near the railroad tracks -suggested the name "Highwood," which was imme- diately adopted by the village as a whole, previously known as Hamburg.
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AGRICULTURE
In 1886 the number of cattle owned by Hamden farmers had somewhat decreased from the earlier days; no longer were there county fairs on New Haven Green, with 120 yoke of oxen wending their slow queue toward the expected prize. Horses were replacing oxen for farm work. Cows were as numerous as ever, for New Haven used nearly 6,000 quarts of Hamden milk a day, and there were at least 26 dairymen in the town. A New Haven company was innovating the centrifugal process of separating cream, and milk which did not contain 121/2 per cent solid was being rejected.
The census report listed hay as Hamden's chief agri- cultural product. There had been a marked increase in fruit raising, particularly of apples. As far back as 1844, five hundred barrels a year were sold from the Jonathan Dickerman farm in Mount Carmel. Again in 1885, there was an unparalleled abundance. John Dickerman, quaintly but a little confusingly said: "Apple pomace, when pressed with straw, has become of recognized value for feeding stock, superior to all roots except pota- toes, which should insure more care in preparing it, than has yet been bestowed."
Corn was still a favorite crop, and George Bradley developed some "Blunt's Prolific," one specimen of which he sent to the Paris Exposition. It consisted of one plant, stalk and root and nineteen fully developed ears. This exhibit was given honorable mention in a United States agricultural display.
WOOD
The first settlers in the wilderness which became Hamden found paramount use for wood, for their own
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consumption and for sale or barter with others. They used it for fuel, fence building, charcoal, and brick- making. Saw mills were scattered all over the area, with at least one in every settled community. In 1886 there were four mills run by waterpower, three by horse- power, and one by steam in Hamden, devoted exclu- sively to cutting wood into stove lengths. Five- to eight-foot lengths were in demand in the New Haven market, where as many as one thousand cords were sold annually, with an equal amount of kindling. Prices on delivery were $5 a cord for the soft woods, $6 for oak, and $8 for hickory.
The brickyards consumed nearly six thousand cords every year from Hamden woodlands. In 1885, Captain Crafts began to substitute bituminous coal, which he found to be cheaper. He also introduced brick-making machines, to replace the old hand-molding process, and dried the bricks on shelves instead of on the ground.
New uses for wood, beyond those of the earlier days, were for railroad ties, barrel hoops, wharfage piles, and building timber. There was an important sale of nut- bearing and shade trees. It was estimated at this time that there were seven thousand acres of woodland in Hamden.
Bazel Munson of Mount Carmel, direct descendant of Joel Munson, was engaged almost solely in the business of wood and charcoal. Horace Johnson of Hamden Plains was another important dealer, who marketed hundreds of cords of wood a year.
Tall trees growing near dwelling houses were con- sidered a protection from lightning; and forest fires were a matter of anxious concern. There was a growing realization that some form of conservation of timber
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should be put into effect. Trees then common in Ham- den were:
oak poplar
basswood
whitewood
chestnut*
ash
butternut
hickory
birch
maple
gum
pine
spruce
hemlock
mulberry
cedar
beech
elm
willow
THE HAMDEN CENTENNIAL
The celebration of the one-hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of the town was planned by a com- mittee composed of the selectmen, Charles P. Augur, Walter Woodruff, and Thomas Cannon, and also of William P. Blake, Reverend Austin Putnam, Henry Munson, James J. Webb, Henry Tuttle, Ellsworth Cooper, Edwin Potter, Andrew J. Doolittle, and Lev- erett Dickerman. They were selected at the annual town meeting of 1885.
The third Tuesday in June, 1886, which was the anniversary of the first town meeting under the incor- poration, was chosen for the exercises. Plans for the celebration included a procession of representatives of the formal organizations and manufacturing establish- ments of the town, historical addresses, music, a "col- lation" or luncheon for the guests, a loan exhibition of historical relics, and a town history to be edited by Wil- liam P. Blake. The town appropriated $ 1,000 to cover the expenses.
Mr. Blake, a professor at Yale and formerly connect- ed with the University of Arizona, was an eminent
* Practically destroyed by a blight in 1917.
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geologist and mineralogist. It was largely owing to his survey of the minerals of Alaska that the territory was purchased by the United States from Russia in 1867.
The commemorative exercises were held in Center- ville, on the open lot north of Grace Episcopal Church. Three large tents were set up, one for the audience with seats for 1,500 people, and two for refreshment tables and benches, and a part of the grounds was designated as a parking space for vehicles. A large triumphal arch decorated with flags marked the entrance to the grounds. Stores were closed, and homes and other buildings decked out in bright flags and bunting.
Shortly after 10 A.M. on June 15, the procession started, led by the marshal, William E. Davis, and headed by the fifteen-piece Centerville Band. A line of carriages followed, bearing Governor Henry B. Har- rison and other prominent men. Fifty members of the A. O. H. of Mount Carmel marched in full regalia, and gaily decorated freight wagons bore displays of products manufactured in Hamden. The cases of Whit- ney firearms, surmounted by the original model of Whitney's cotton gin, attracted much attention; and there were many ice wagons and milk carts. The his- torical exhibit was crowded all day.
Exercises in the tent began with the singing of the Doxology, and the prayer by Reverend Mr. Putnam. A chorus of 150 trained voices and a four-piece orchestra furnished the music, and a Centennial hymn, written for the occasion by James Payne, was sung. Addresses were delivered by Mr. Blake, Governor Harrison, Hon- orable N. D. Sperry, who was a Representative in Con- gress, and Professor Simeon E. Baldwin, afterwards Governor.
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The "collation" which was served the two hundred guests was described by the Journal and Courier as consisting of "cold ham, turkey, chicken, tongue, beans, cake, native strawberries, ice cream, lemonade and cof- fee," after which eight hundred children from the Sun- day Schools marched about the grounds, singing their songs. In the afternoon, addresses were made by Father Hugh Mallon, Reverend L. H. Higgins, Rev- erend D. McMullen, Henry Tuttle, and James J. Webb; and brief remarks by Lucius and Julius Ives, Elihu Dickerman, and Honorable A. Heaton Robert- son. Eli Whitney, 2d, and his son Eli, were on the platform with the speakers.
Governor Harrison complimented the people on their beautiful town and its splendid history. Mr. Sperry's long address on the history of the flag, as re- ported by the New Haven Register, "was filled with patriotic fire that seemed to spread among the audience, and when Mr. Sperry got through, they all felt proud- er of their country than ever."
The Centennial celebration was one of the last pub- lic appearances of Reverend Austin Putnam, pastor for forty-nine years of the Whitneyville Church, and his prayer was one of the best-remembered parts of the ceremonies. He said in part:
Almighty God, our God and the God of our fathers, we come before Thee in thankful and joyful acknowl- edgment of Thy great goodness to us and to those who have gone before us in this place; to all who have lived in this town from the beginning of the history until now. We give Thee most humble and hearty thanks for the good laws which Thou hast given us, and for this pleasant spot where our lot is cast. We thank Thee that the lines are fallen to us in such pleasant places, and that we have so good a heritage. We thank
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Thee that in Thy good providence we see this day. . And we humbly ask for those who shall come after us in this town, the same blessings that we have asked for ourselves. In their possession, and under their care and culture, may this bright spot grow brighter and brighter till time shall be no more.
Professor Baldwin said that a member of the Good- year family had informed him that the property on which the celebration was taking place, had been owned by the Goodyears for more than two hundred years. He then said,
As we stand here on land that today belongs to Ham- den, and one hundred years ago was in the jurisdiction of New Haven, no one can congratulate you on your century of independent existence more than the citi- zens of the mother town. The true source of all the strength of American institutions lies in the number of its self-governing political communities. . . . We have a history to be proud of as Americans, and we here in Connecticut have a longer history of our own to be proud of. The institutions for which our fathers lived, and if need be died, we do well to commemorate on days like this. A hundred years of growing popula- tion and spreading industry, a hundred years during which no invading army has touched this soil; these things make up for Hamden a history that may not be a dramatic or brilliant one, but it is something better. It speaks of happy homes, of busy mill wheels, of self-supporting churches, of schools open to the poorest at the expense of all. This is the history of Hamden for a hundred years, and anniversaries like these teach us to recognize the blessings that we possess.
Let this day serve to remind us that we have re- ceived from our fathers a great inheritance, in institu- tions that are worth more than property-institutions on which all property depends-and this inheritance it
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is our business to transmit to our children. Let it be ours to do what we can to leave to future times unim- paired the heritage of freedom and self-government which is the ancient glory of the towns of Connecti- cut.
THE CENTENNIAL HYMN Written by Deacon James Payne, and sung to the Tune of "America"
Let every heart rejoice With instrument and voice, On this glad day. Tribute of praise we bring To God, our sovereign King; With Thy protecting wing Defend, we pray.
One hundred years have fled, And numbered with the dead The true and brave. Yet, for our common weal, We'll emulate their zeal, And to our God appeal, Our country save.
May Hamden ever be Worthy of Liberty Our fathers won; Let coming history tell Our parts we acted well; And may our sons excel What we have done.
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Part IV Only the Giant Sleeps
PART IV
ONLY THE GIANT SLEEPS
1886-1936
T URNING their faces to the dawn of a new century of civic life for Hamden, the minds of the townspeople still lingered on historic and commemorative thoughts. The Whitney- ville Church, saddened by the death, in September, 1886, of the pastor who had led them so firmly for nearly fifty years, held a joint ceremony with the teach- ers and pupils of the Whitneyville School. They plant- ed maples along Whitney Avenue, naming them for prominent members of church and community. The Putnam elm was set out on the lawn west of the church, nearly opposite the pulpit window.
A monument to the soldiers and sailors of four wars was set up on East Rock in June, 1887, erected after years of planning by the city of New Haven. The monument, 110 feet high, is surmounted by a figure of the Angel of Peace. The height of the Rock here is 405 feet. Visible for miles, particularly from the har- bor, it is fitting that the eye should be drawn to the imposing height of the red mountain, named "Rooden- bergh" in 1614 when first sighted by white men.
The new era of municipal progress initiated by the Centennial celebration brought a final decision on the question of a town hall, a decision that had been put off from year to year, ever since 1869. A petition signed by forty citizens requested that an adequate building
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be constructed at once, "with room for town meetings and accommodations for town prisoners." The town meeting which acted favorably upon the question was held on January 2, 1888. The old Centerville House site on the northwest corner of Whitney and Dixwell Avenues, was purchased by the town for $1,300 from William Ives, whose name was not so familiar as that of the earlier owners, Jesse Goodyear and Charles Dick- erman.
D. R. Brown was the architect, but the original plan was drawn by William P. Blake. It called for a large room, 100 by 50 feet, for meetings, besides offices and an entrance hall. A room on the upper floor, 50 by 30 feet, was rented to Day Spring Masonic Lodge for $ 125 a year. The basement, where the cells for prisoners were located, measured 60 by 32 feet. The original plan was for "no waterworks or plumbing, as water can be obtained from several excellent wells on the premises, and if it is desirable, a large cistern can be built to receive and store the rainwater from the roof." The total cost of the building was $12,872.88.
The parking problem was sometimes troublesome, even in 1888. Town meetings always were well attend- ed, as they could be depended upon to furnish excite- ment. It was suggested that fifty cedar hitching posts be set up, on the streets abutting the town hall property, but horsesheds were built instead behind the town hall, and they remained there for many years.
There may be no significance in the fact that the next vote on liquor license was so decisively-209-12I -in favor of license, but the new sheds were found to be very convenient for other purposes than shelter for horses and buggies. On Election Day many a voter would be spirited outside the hall, to receive, under
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cover of the sheds, refreshment and persuasion to vote in a certain way. One old ne'er-do-well used to loiter about the polls until some watchful party worker would ask, "Have you voted yet, Sam?" He would drawl wistfully, "Well, I haven't had much encouragement yet." After he had been escorted to the sheds and "encouraged," he would come back, wiping his mouth with his sleeve, to cast his ballot. There were politicians who worried a little about such votes as Sam's-which way did he actually vote? So "Gib" Benham figured out a scheme in which he promised the voter, "I'll give you two dollars; a dollar now and the other when my candidate wins in the election." In time the sheds be- came thickly papered with vivid and torn circus posters. Many were the types of conveyance housed there- wagons, buggies, phaetons, concords, and sleighs!
The auditorium of the old town hall was never deco- rated, the walls were plain brick, but it was nevertheless a joyous meeting place for many occasions of a social and town-wide nature. Periodically the firemen pre- sented an entertainment, with local people as the per- formers, before a highly appreciative audience, whose noisy enthusiasm inspired the participants to do their best. On dance nights there were not the complicated steps of today, but waltzes, two-steps, the Virginia Reel, and the square dance. Children would run among the dancers or sleep on the chairs, while their parents en- joyed themselves. The orchestra was composed of a piano player, a violinist, and a drummer. Most of the dancers were young people, but middle-aged and older people also took part. Everyone danced with everyone else, and hearty fun and laughter were shared by all.
When there were suppers, the long tables were set up the length of the hall, heavily laden with home-
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cooked food in irresistible plenty. Certain famous cooks were always urged to bring samples of their specialties, and seats near these toothsome viands were a matter of competition by the knowing ones. Beans and other hot foods were kept warm over the blasts of heat from the floor registers at the front of the hall. Those were the days when cooking and baking were arts perfected in every household-probably nothing on the tables came from the store, except the coffee. The ham was home- cured, the butter was churned at home, and the biscuits, bread, cake, and pie were something to dream about, both before and after eating.
Even today, town meeting can provide a packed house and fiery speeches on all sides of vital questions, but the atmosphere is changed. In the past, in the crowded breathless sessions, everybody in the hall knew every- body else. A conspicuous number of public-spirited men spoke fervently with earnest and fearless purpose to an audience of friends and neighbors, all of whom were vitally interested in, and affected by, the way the town was run.
They take their place in history as definite and essen- tial figures in the building of the town. Many of them were comparatively unlettered, a fact that detracted in no way from their force or influence. There will always be a need for citizens who are not afraid to give a straightforward expression of opinion in public, who are interested in their neighbors and their town, and who will make the town meeting-as it was in the warm, happy, hearty days of the old town hall-an occasion to shake hands in a sociable way with people from all parts of the town. From the farthest corners of the community, the citizens should be drawn together in a real spirit of cooperation toward a common end.
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THE MOUNT CARMEL CHILDREN'S HOME
James Ives died in 1888. His residence, once the Mount Carmel Young Ladies Female Seminary, was converted into a semiprivate institute for orphan and dependent children. About twenty-five children of Protestant families were taught and cared for, under a matron and a board of trustees. Children were received from all parts of the state, and one year's report showed a variety of contributions, ranging from $ I to $25 and coming from 360 individuals and church societies, along with donations of toys, bedding, mittens, stereoscope and views, pictures, piano, the cutting of children's hair, five gallons of linseed oil, casters for eleven beds, dis- count on drugs, subscription to the New Haven Regis- ter, two turkeys, gauge for windmill, nine needle books, and pocket money for the children.
This institution was included as a part of the town school system, until the Community Center (New Ha- ven Orphan Asylum) came to Whitneyville and the Home was absorbed by them.
BLIZZARD OF 'EIGHTY-EIGHT
The blizzard of 1888 was an experience in which Hamden shared; travelers deserted their sleighs, which were quickly buried in snow, and took refuge in near-by homes. Depth of snow, especially in 12- and 15-foot drifts, isolated households for days. Almon Deane was the Mount Carmel railroad station agent at the time, and under the lee of the church horsesheds which a huge drift almost concealed, he managed to rescue the school- teacher from across the street, where she was helplessly marooned.
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The History of Hamden THE BLUE HILLS PARK
John H. Dickerman, who wrote a history of Mount Carmel Parish in which he extolled the beauties of the Sleeping Giant, opened a park upon its summit and ad- vertised it as follows:
Blue Hills Park will be opened July 4, 1888. A Carriage drive to the summit, requiring two miles of easy grade, has been constructed, which with tables and outfit in pleasant groves on the top, will be offered free on that day to all who will join in a basket picnic. Your presence is cordially invited. The views embrace an area of more than one hundred miles in extent, cov- ering the Sound and Lond Island south, and Moun- tains Tom and Holyoke north. Entrance to Park one mile east of the "Steps," one and one-half miles from Mt. Carmel Railroad Depot. J. H. DICKER- MAN, Mt. Carmel, Conn.
This celebration was attended by two hundred people, and fifty vehicles drove up to the top-an accomplish- ment never before or since effected.
This event marked the beginning of an ever-increas- ing use of the mountain as a park, where many people went for the enjoyment of its natural beauty.
There were a number of cottages, during the course of the years, on the mountain. The oldest, on the fourth mountain, was built by Jonathan Dickerman in 1875. Both John Heaton and Willis Cook built on the head of the Giant, carrying up all the material for their cottages by hand. Mr. F. A. Park had, on the third mountain, a beautiful trap-rock house covered with English ivy. The veranda extended out to the edge of the cliff, which at that point had a sheer drop of 125 feet.
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The Brockett-Mann cottage was the most familiar to mountain climbers. It stood just beyond Mr. Park's, and was a white one-room wooden building, with a porch covering one side. There was a unique cable and windlass which carried a weighted pail to and from a spring of water 325 feet below. Through the generosity of the owners, countless people made use of the place, from which could be seen an unparalleled view to the southward beyond New Haven to Long Island in the Sound. This spot on the mountain was once marked by a government coast signal station. It had a tower more than 30 feet high, with a platform where one might stand to obtain the fullest enjoyment of the view.
New Haven colonists said in 1729 that the mountain should be a "commons forever," and the paternal old Giant, sleeping though he may appear to be, bears per- petually living beauty of wild life for free enjoyment to all who care to rest or play upon his ample bosom.
BOATS ON LAKE WHITNEY
Another recreation, boating on Lake Whitney, was gaining in popularity. Day's boathouse did a large busi- ness in the renting of canoes and boats. Before the rais- ing of the dam in 1860, Yale men used to row up Mill River and carry their shells over the dam and into the lake. The eighteen-eighties and 'nineties were the days of Yale regattas on the course which started at the bridge above the Whitneyville Church and ended at the Davis Street bridge. All of Yale's great oarsmen of that time received a part of their training there, and many a race was rowed down the lake. On such an exhibition day, the lake road (Lovers' Lane) would be
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jammed with spectators, colorful with the light dresses of the ladies, and the blue coats, white trousers, and the stiff straw hats banded with blue ribbon, of the men. There were vendors of peanuts, popcorn, flags, and bal- loons, and a great amount of cheering besides. One race was noted for the costumes of the contestants; in one shell were men with long black whiskers (which were false), and the opposing crew wore high silk hats! In 1900 Yale built a boathouse on the east bank of the lake, across from Day's.
After the New Haven Country Club had acquired the property along the east shore in 1901, groups of young people on their way to a dance there, occasion- ally embarked at Day's boathouse in canoes which were decorated with bright paper lanterns, and glided to their destination up the smooth waters of the lake to the tune of strumming mandolins and guitars.
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