USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Norwalk > The romance of Norwalk > Part 19
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It is worthwhile to note, before leaving the discussion of St. Paul's that it was in the churchyard of this noted religious temple, after the Revolutionary War, that the American version of the Episcopal prayer book was written. It was a midsummer's day, very hot, so hot that the clergy- men who had gathered to confer on the matter of the new prayer book, with Bishop Seabury of Connecticut, could not work inside. So they selected the coolest spot they could find, under a great tree in the churchyard, and there, with their books and papers spread out on a square flat cenotaph, diligently went through the English prayer book and wherever they found a "God Save the King," painstak- ingly changed it to "God Save the President of the United States." Thus occurred the birth of the American Episcopal prayer book.
A "Missionary and Benevolent Society for the Purpose of Establishing Services of the Church and Building a Chapel
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for that purpose in South Norwalk" was organized Septem- ber 5, 1858 by a number of parishioners of St. Paul's, who felt it was time South Norwalk had its own Episcopal church. Rev. William Cooper Mead was named president ex-officio. A piece of ground was purchased for $1, 163.37, according to the Rev. Romily F. Humphries, former minis- ter in the church. In March, 1860 it was decided to build a chapel in South Norwalk, and a few months later the cornerstone was laid. The Rev. Thomas Edward Pattison, curate at St. Paul's church, was placed in charge of the serv- ices in the new chapel. Up to this time meetings had been held in Ely's hall, South Norwalk.
April 7, 1868, a new organization was formed and the Episcopal Society of Trinity Church, South Norwalk, came into being. Rev. Curtis T. Woodruff, curate at St. Paul's, became the first rector at Trinity church. In 1890 a move- ment was started for a new building. The corner stone of the new Trinity church was laid October 1, 1899 by the Right Rev. Chauncey Bunce Brewster and the building was consecrated by him May 26, 1900. It is situated on the corner of Flax Hill road and Fairfield ave. Rev. Chapman Lewis is the present rector.
A rich dark-brown building, made entirely of wood and shingled from roof to cellar, is the Grace Episcopal church of Norwalk, erected as the result of a petition sent in the spring of 1890 to the Bishop and Standing Committee of the Diocese of Connecticut, asking for a new parish in the town of Norwalk. The petition was signed by 125 persons, many of whom were prominent members of St. Paul's Epis- copal church. The Belden property on the angle of Belden ave. and Cross st. was purchased. April 20, 1891 saw the completion of the church which was dedicated by the Bishop on April 27. The Grace church rectory is the former Henry Belden house. Although not so pretentious as some of the other buildings, Grace church is nevertheless a pretty edifice, inside and out. Rev. S. H. Watkins of
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New Haven was named rector February 17, 1891. Rev. J. Benton Werner is the present rector.
Christ Episcopal parish in East Norwalk was organized November 15, 1905 and meetings were first held in a little shop on Van Zant st., where the Atlantic and Pacific store now stands. Previous to this time a mission, commenced in 1892 and fostered by St. Paul's Episcopal church, Nor- walk, had taken care of the religious needs of the East Norwalk Episcopalians. Christ Episcopal church, corner Gregory Boulevard and East ave., was built in 1908, ded- icated the following year and consecrated October 15, 1922. Rev. Robert B. B. Foote is the present pastor.
HUNGARIAN CHURCHES
The death of a little Hungarian girl on the railroad tracks in Springwood first brought to the attention of local people, the fact that the Hungarians in Norwalk had no church, no minister, no religious center of any kind. Through the ef- forts of H. O. Bailey who was interested in the little Hun- garian community, isolated, cut off from the rest of the city as it was, and the efforts of Miss Platt of the South Nor- walk Congregational church, Rev. Gerald Beard its pastor and Dr. M. Clifford Pardee,-John Petro, a Pennsylvanian Slav, a convert, who spoke Hungarian, was brought to Nor- walk. At the time, no Hungarian missionary or Bible reader was available.
For a while all went well. But Mr. Petro's knowledge of Hungarian was limited and there were many he could not please. More, the majority of the Hungarians, who were either Reformed church or Lutheran at heart, objected to being called Congregationalists and so they drew away and formed a second Hungarian society. Meanwhile, Mr. Petro worked hard and converted a number. Among them was Bela Basso who succeeded Mr. Petro in 1894. Mr. Basso was ordained pastor of the "Hungarian Congrega- tional church" in 1901. This organization has since dis-
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banded. Meetings were held in the Union Chapel building on Ely ave., torn down about two years ago.
In the meantime, the little group which had broken away from Mr. Petro's teachings had not been idle. Many of them had come from the village of Fony, Hungary. Search- ing around for a leader, they suddenly recalled their good friend, Rev. Gabriel Dokus then teaching in Hungary, and promptly sent for him. Rev. Dokus set sail for America in 1893. In that year, Hungarian Reformed church members in Norwalk organized and held meetings in the old South Norwalk Methodist Episcopal church. Rev. Dokus preached their first sermon. For three years the congregation gathered in the old church and then in the year 1896, under the di- rection of Rev. Dokus, they set about erecting their own building. A little white wooden church was constructed. At present it stands across from the present brick Hungarian Reformed church, on Lexington ave. March 29, 1896, Rev. Dokus preached his first sermon in the new wooden build- ing, which was continued in service until May 14, 1911, when the present brick church was dedicated. The old church has since been altered and renovated and is now known as the Springwood Theatre.
There are two other Hungarian churches in this city: the Hungarian Baptist of which mention has already been made and the Hungarian Catholic Cong. The Hungarian Ca- tholic Cong. church, St. Ladislaus, has an interesting his- tory. Rev. Victor Kubinyi was the first priest to hold Hun- garian Catholic services here, preaching in St. Joseph's R. C. church nearly 30 years ago. Later, Father Francis Gros conducted services for the Hungarian Catholics in St. Joseph's. It was he who went to Hartford to petition the bishop for permission to form a Catholic parish here for the Hungarians. In 1906, under the direction of Father Gros, the Hungarian Catholic Cong. church was organized here.
Rev. Stephen Chernitzky, now pastor of St. Stephen's Hungarian R. C. church, Bridgeport, was priest of the Hun-
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garian Catholic church here from 1908 until 1914. The present church, St. Ladislaus on Cliff st., was built under his direction, July 1910. When Rev. Chernitzky left, Father Dougherty was sent here for two weeks. In 1914, Rev. Joseph Nicholas Czabo came to Norwalk remaining here for four years. In 1918, Rev. Joseph Degnan came to St. Ladislaus Hungarian Catholic Church. In 1929 Rev. Aloysius Geist became the priest.
OTHER CHURCHES
In the little kitchen of the home of Mr. and Mrs. Orson Stannard, corner of Elizabeth and Day sts., on the evening of April 21, 1877, a group of earnest residents met to consider the matter of organizing the Advent Christian church. Orson Stannard was elected deacon and the old "Military Hall" in the Ely block was engaged for meetings. From then until 1887, the people gathered in various places. In that year it was decided that the church organization was worth a real home and accordingly the Advent Christian Society was formed October 30, 1887 to make provisions for that home. A lot on the corner of Van Zant st. and Harvey st. was purchased from Mrs. Richard Parmelee and the present chapel was erected and dedicated in August, 1888. Rev. H. H. Tucker was the first pastor.
About the year 1895 the Advent Christian Conf. of Con- necticut ordained Francis S. Ainsworth of East Norwalk, who had been one of the founders of the local church. He accepted a call to the Advent Christian church in East Nor- walk and served for four years. During the time when Rev. Lester F. Reynolds was pastor, the church was en- larged, a section being built on the front. Later the whole church was raised up and a vestry built underneath. In the time of the Rev. Frederick L. Piper, present pastor, who has been with the church for seven years, another addition has been built to the church, this time in the rear.
Nearly 60 years ago the first German Lutheran services
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were held in this city. At that time members of the little band met in East Norwalk, later in Whistleville, still later in Red Men's hall, Washington st. First regular services were held October 11, 1874, in the old frame chapel build- ing of the Congregational church then located on North Main st., near the railroad, where the Palace theatre now stands. Rev. H. S. Steup was the pastor. The congrega-
tion called itself St. Peter's German Lutheran church. In 1892, the Rev. Otto Apitz came to Norwalk to preach and during his time the women of the church were banded to- gether in a Ladies' Society. Pastors came and pastors went. During the vacancies, the little group of church members many times disbanded. In April, 1909, the Rev. Martin Steup of Holyoke, Mass., son of the Rev. H. S. Steup, aforementioned, came to Norwalk. He organized the present St. Peter's German Lutheran church. January 15, 1912, a building lot was purchased on Cedar st., ground being broken for a building, April 28, 1913. On August
IO, the cornerstone of the new German Lutheran church was laid and on December 7, the building was dedicated. Since then a parsonage has been bought on Livingston Place. This was about ten years ago. Under the direction of the Rev. Ewald C. Wenzel, present pastor, the church has grown greatly in numbers and importance.
The Swedish Bethlehem Congregational church was or- ganized in 1890 by the Rev. J. A. Biddle. It is at 68 Van Zant st. Rev. Otto Edwards is present pastor.
Twenty-eight years ago in May, 1901, a Christian Science society was organized in Norwalk at the home of Mrs. Abbie Moody, 100 East ave., since dead. Of the charter members only three remain alive: Mrs. Elizabeth Morrison of 9 Arch st., this city; and Ralph Moody and Mrs. Esther Hathaway who moved away from Norwalk some time ago. In 1913, the present property on the corner of West ave. and Butler street was acquired and the society organized as a church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, the fol- lowing year.
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Henry K. Selleck, registrar of Norwalk, recorded the con- stituent members of the Brookside Chapel non-denomina- tional, July 13, 1872, and in that year, first chapel services were held. The chapel was built on property given by Wil- liam R. Lockwood, with the provision that the property be used only for non-denominational religious purposes, for all time. At the present time there is only one chapel ga- thering a year, usually in August.
Sixty-two years ago, the West Norwalk Union chapel in West Norwalk was built, the families in the community donating $10 or $25 toward its erection, or else providing material and labor. The chapel, which is still in existence, is located on West Norwalk ave., on the east side near the intersection of Fillow st. Services are held about once a month. The Ladies' Aid society of the chapel and the West Norwalk Improvement association still meet there. At one time both this chapel and the Brookside chapel were well attended but the advent of the automobile brought the outlying districts nearer to the center of the city to the bigger churches and so the chapels suffered in attendance.
At one time there was a West Norwalk Methodist Mission in West Norwalk but it disbanded many years ago. Another religious center which has since been closed, was the Spring- wood Union chapel on Ely ave., run by Charles Lawrence for many years. At the present time there is in Springwood on Ely ave., the Neighborhood Center, founded by the Rev. Corrado Riggio of Saugatuck, two years ago. Rev. Riggio who is now in New York, also organized the Neighborhood Center in Saugatuck.
In the year 1905, the Jewish people in the community decided that they needed a place of worship of their own and in that year the Beth Israel Synagogue, the substantial build- ing on the corner of Concord and South Main sts., was erected. Chiel Fleischer is the present cantor of the syna- gogue, he having been here for about six years. He was preceded by Cantor Kessler who was here for 15 years. In November, 1929, Rabbi David Genuth came to the Syna-
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gogue. At the present time there are 100 sustaining mem- bers of the congregation. In connection with the above it is interesting to note that a Hebrew school was fostered by Jewish residents of the community more than 35 years ago. It met in Raymond's hall, Washington st. At the present time, sessions are held in the Y. M. H. A. building, West Ave., between 85 and 90 pupils being registered. David Greenberg was instructor in 1929. Nine years ago, Jewish residents, feeling that they needed a meeting and social hall, met in the old South Norwalk Trust Co. building. Thus be- gan the Y. M. H. A. Six or seven years ago, Y. M. H. A. members decided on quarters of their own and forthwith ac- quired the large house which stood for many years at Mon- roe and South Main sts. Two years ago, the present commodious quarters on 'West ave. were purchased and the Y. M. H. A. moved into a new home.
Eighteen years ago, in 1911, the Swedish Lutheran Mes- siah church was organized, the church being erected on the present site, 8 Fort Point st. Rev. A. J. Okerblom of Bridgeport was the pastor and he still visits the church on occasion to preach. Services are usually conducted by a student pastor from Upsala College, N. J. The Church of the Nazarenes, Liberty Square, was organized December 14, 1926. The Rev. Alfred Anderson is the pastor. The Salvation Army at the present time has a flourishing branch at 24 Washington st. The story of the Methodist churches in Norwalk was given earlier in the history.
SCHOOLS
CHAPTER XXIII
Deplorable Condition of Local Schools in 1839-School Societies Labor Under Heavy Burden-Struggle For High School Lasts 38 Years-History of Present Public Schools-Private Institutions of Learning in Norwalk.
NORWALK now appeared to be making rapid strides in all directions with the exception of that of education. The town fathers looked to the industrial progress of the town, kept watch on the finances and to the best of their ability, guarded the interests of the community.
In keeping with the forward march, the Borough of Nor- walk was formally chartered on the first Wednesday of May, 1836. The following were the first borough officers elected July 11, 1836 :
Warden; Joseph W. Hubbell. Burgesses ; William S. Street, Matthias Hubbell, Stephen T. Brewer, Stiles Curtis, Levi Clark, Timothy T. Merwin. Treasurer; Charles Thomas. Bailiff; James Stevens. Haywards; Levi Clark, Jason Merrill, William Cleveland, Richard Camp, Daniel Nash, Robert Cameron, John Wasson, Lewis Whitney, James S. Kellogg. Pound keepers; Eli Sanford, Nathan Jarvis, Matthias Hubbell, Buckingham Lockwood. Inspec- tor of coal, wood and hay; James Stevens. Inspector of grain; Edwin Lockwood. Inspector of butter; James Por- ter.
The first meeting of the Burgesses was held at the Town House, July 18, 1836. On July 30, the following officers were named at a special meeting of the freemen of the Borough :
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Fire inspectors : Charles Isaacs, Henry Selleck, Gould D. Jennings. Street inspectors : William I. Street, John Bur- rall, George St. John. Assessors: Moses Gregory, William St. John and Stephen T. Brewer.
POOR SCHOOL CONDITIONS
In the matter of education, Norwalk was exceedingly backward, the schools reaching a low water mark in the fourth decade of the 19th century. A discouraging out- look on the local situation was presented in the Connecticut Common School Journal for January and February 1839 which was in part as follows :
"The schools figuring in this report were those in the Old Well, Flax Hill, South Center, North Center, Down Town, Pudding Lane, North West, Over River and North East districts. The best that can be said about this exposure is that the conditions here were similar to those which ob- tained in the state at large and that other towns were as remiss as Norwalk. The schoolhouses with few exceptions, were poor specimens of architecture and construction. Re- ferring to one building with two rooms the language of the report is: 'A school is kept overhead, and the lowness and indistinctness of the voices which was witnessed, is believed to be owing in part certainly, to the usage of keeping the voices of the pupils supressed in order that the schools may not hinder each other.' School rooms were poorly furnished. There was multiplicity instead of uniformity in text books. Twenty-one different reading books were in use in the schools of the town. An equal diversity of books was found in other branches of study."
It is not surprising that the public schools were in ill repute and poorly attended. In 1838, out of 941 children of school age, only 319 were in common schools, leaving 622 or nearly two-thirds of the whole without benefit from the public money. The total expenses of the schools amounted to about $3,500 or $II for each registered pupil.
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Considering the value of money in those days, the poor schools cost enough to have been much better than they were. The taxpayer of that time was not especially interested, for little of his money went to pay the expenses of the public schools.
The causes of this state of affairs, decidedly uncompli- mentary to a so-called progressive community, might well be laid to poor management by the school societies. These societies were the result of laws passed in 1795, 1798 and 1799, which took control of schools from the town and passed it into the hands of certain groups of townspeople designated as school societies. The First School Society of Norwalk, it is believed, was organized just before the close of the 18th century with Stephen Lockwood, Taylor Sherman and Ebenezer Phillips on the committee. The Society labored along as best it might without much co- operation from the town. The people felt that the respon- sibility belonged to the Society and they were perfectly will- ing that the group should shoulder it all alone.
During the early years of the 19th century, the state provided a large sum of money for education and Norwalk received its just proportion. Instead of adding to this sum with local funds, the townspeople did their best to make the state appropriation cover all expenses and sought to keep the costs of the schools within this appropriation, so that they need not tax themselves a single cent for the upkeep of their own schools. Such an attitude struck the death knell of the progress of education in Norwalk for many years. Indeed, had it not been for the many private in- stitutions which sprang up during the decline of the public schools, Norwalk young people would have been very badly off for education. By 1853, school conditions in Norwalk had improved slightly, due in great measure to the manage- ment and help of Henry Barnard, who had been named secretary of the Board of Commissioners of Common Schools in Connecticut. He was virtually state school super- intendent.
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The State of Connecticut stepped boldly into the picture in 1856 and promptly abolished all school societies. This meant that the responsibility for the upkeep of the local schools was suddenly transferred from the First School So- ciety of Norwalk, to the town of Norwalk. The town took over all the districts in the community and in addition the South, Middle and North Five Mile River districts, which had, up to this time, formed part of the Darien School Society. Thus in 1856 we find Norwalk in control of some nine districts: Union, South Union, Down Town, North Center, North East, North West, North Five Mile River, Middle Five Mile River and South Five Mile River.
Two more school districts were formed in the early 1860's, the Broad River district in '60 and the Center dis- trict in '61. This brought the total number of school dis- tricts up to II. A twelfth, if such it might be called, was formed by special act of legislature when Sheffield Island was constituted a separate school district "with all the priv- ileges and immunities belonging to the other school districts of this state." The act was passed in 1859. Under the guardianship of the town, education in this community pros- pered. New schools were built, the old ones enlarged and remodeled. Norwalk took a generous step forward in the matter of education October 13, 1869, when it voted $15,- 000 for school expenses during the coming year "to make the schools free of expense to the districts of the town for the period of at least 30 weeks."
STRUGGLE FOR HIGH SCHOOL
During the latter quarter of the 19th century, the ques- tion of a Norwalk high school came before the town meet- ings countless times, and it took the city fathers no less than 38 years to make up their minds on the subject of ad- vanced education for their sons and daughters, from 1871 to 1909. For many years the community offered a make- shift high school education in each of the schools of the
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four larger districts, South Norwalk, Over River, Center and East Norwalk, where high school departments sort of "grew up" in the schools. December 18, 1871 mention of a local high school first appeared in the town records and Edward W. Stuart was named to act with the Board of School Visitors to take up the matter of establishing a local high school. Two years later the Board was asked to draw up a list of scholars who were forced to go to other districts in the city, other than their own, in order to take up the higher education which was denied them in their own dis- tricts. At a town meeting held in May 1875, the report of the joint board of school visitors and selectmen on the subject of schools, advised using the schoolhouse in the Over River district for the purposes of a high school for advanced scholars. The report was accepted and laid on the table.
In April, 1877, a committee which had been appointed four months previous to make an additional report on the advisability of a local high school, recommended the im- mediate establishment of an institution of higher learning. The meeting promptly killed any such recommendation, twice as many being of a negative, as of an affirmative mind.
The school visitors tried again December 28, 1882, recommending the establishment of a high school and ac- companying the recommendation with a resolution authoriz- ing the selectmen to establish such a school and to appropri- ate $1,600 toward its erection. The report was gratefully accepted; the resolution and the recommendation promptly rejected. Matters dragged along after this for 15 years with no further attempts being made to establish a high school in Norwalk. June 26, 1897, the discouraging infor- mation is contained in town meeting report to the effect that the matter of establishing a high school had been "indefin- itely postponed."
The Honorable John H. Light decided to see what he could do and at the gathering of the council June 28, 1900, presented a petition for the establishment of a town high school, under Chapter 138 of the General Statutes. The
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petition was put to vote and lost. Hope broke over the horizon for the education idealists of Norwalk when at town meeting under date of September 20, 1905, a new report of the high school committee was read and accepted and it was voted: "That the selectmen be and they hereby are au- thorized and directed to purchase the property known as the 'Mallory' lot on West ave., in the town of Norwalk (said property now being owned by Raymond Brothers and by John McMahon) for high school purposes at a cost not exceeding $11, 500." It was then voted that $83, 500 should be set aside for the erection and completion of a high school building. The following month, J. G. Gregory named a high school building committee consisting of: John A. Os- born, Abiathar Blanchard, Josiah R. Marvin, Charles L. Glover and George S. Kendall. Two new members had to be added to the committee April 30, 1907, because of the resignation of Josiah Marvin and the death of Abiathar Blanchard. William C. Foster and Augustus C. Golding succeeded them.
After matters had progressed so far, the town fathers suddenly lost heart and their minds became crowded with doubts and distrusts on the proposed high school. So they decided to hold a special meeting May 10, 1907, in order to allay their fears on just a few of the following questions :
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