USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Norwalk > The romance of Norwalk > Part 25
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The tale of Le Grand Lockwood's rise and fall and the story which centers around the mysterious looking stone mansion which may be just discerned through the trees from West ave., is one of the most fascinating in the his- tory of the town. Many a stranger and resident, too, has asked why the city never acquired the property. To this
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Norwalk can answer only that it "doesn't know." What would the city not give for that valuable site today? Yet now it is practically unpurchasable, not only because of the high price but because of the fact that the present owners do not wish to sell.
Le Grand Lockwood came of distinguished family. He was born August 14, 1820, in Pudding Lane, Norwalk, and married Anna Louise Benedict by whom he had six sons and two daughters. Lockwood and Co. was a rich com- pany. Lockwood was instrumental in the purchase of the Danbury-Norwalk railroad; he floated a bond issue of $2,000,000 for the New York, New Haven and Hartford. He was a giant in Wall St. In November, 1863, the finan- cier commenced buying those tracts of land which now make up the Mathews' estate, paying $48,410 for the first few tracts. There were ten in all, the last not being purchased until 1865.
Lockwood did not wait that long to build, but commenced in the spring of 1864. He piped his water from the reser- voir back of the Norwalk hospital and that same water sup- ply is still being used. The house, which was a copy of a Scotch mansion, was constructed entirely of imported stone, mostly Italian marble, and cost approximately $1,200,000. Ox carts brought the cargoes from the Norwalk river up West ave. Outside spreads a lawn, flattened years ago by the bare feet of hundreds of workmen; tall, stately trees; an iron fence erected at a cost of $10,000. Inside there are 18 main rooms grouped around a large rotunda which ex- tends three stories high. On the ground floor is a library, a music room with a giant painting of the Yosemite valley, a drawing room, a theatre, and card room. On the upper floors are billiard rooms, guest chambers and seven bed- rooms. The home was completed in 1866 and in the June of the following year, the Lockwoods celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. For two more years they enjoyed their dreamland and then came "Black Friday."
When the financial panic hit Wall Street, September 24,
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1869, Lockwood, as luck would have it, was away on a vaca- tion. When he returned the following day, he was a ruined man. Monday morning, September 27, 1869, found Lock- wood broken as to finance, but not as to spirit, and on his way back to work. He decided to pay his debts and ac- cordingly turned over the new home, which was his own, to the company to satisfy creditors. Lockwood was a genius and three months later, having partially regained his finan- cial feet, he was able to get title to his house again. Now he turned the estate into capital with which to work once more, and shortly mortgaged it. The place passed through several financial transactions.
Life was unkind to Lockwood in his later years. No sooner had he begun to extricate himself from his tangle of affairs, than he suddenly died, 1872. Shortly after the burial of the Norwalker in February of that year, the estate went on the market. There were no buyers, no applicants, and for several years the place remained prominent on the real estate listings. It was not until May 19, 1876, that it was found possible to get rid of the property and it was then sold for the ridiculous sum of $90,000 to Charles D. Mathews of New York city. And this, in the face of the fact that it had cost Lockwood $1,200,000 alone to build the house, not to speak of $60,000 expended for the land !
Several times previous to the sale of the Lockwood prop- erty, various citizens in town had urged Norwalk to buy it and under date of November 17, 1874, in The Sentinel appeared the following plea : "A movement is now on foot to purchase the Le Grand Lockwood mansion. This is now offered by Agent Mitchell at $110,000 while its cost, as is well known, was over a million. We wish the town of Nor- walk had the sagacity and enterprise to become its purchaser. The grounds could be and should be, thrown into a public park, while the mansion could easily and cheaply be con- verted into a public hall accommodating all our municipal wants and proving a lasting credit to the town." Since our fair city had neither the "sagacity" nor the "enterprise"
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at the time to purchase the property it fell into the hands of Charles Delincourt Mathews.
Mathews was a prominent New Yorker, who married Rebecca Mason Thompson. They had four children; Florence, who remained unmarried; Lillian, who married and has since died; Harry; and Charles. The latter is an internationally known architect. Miss Florence who is now 70 years old, is said to be very fond of the place. She comes to Norwalk every summer for a short time and it is under- stood that the property will not be sold during her lifetime.
Long before Mathews became owner of the property, long before Le Grand Lockwood even thought of buying it, the place was occupied by several families, who had built small homes for themselves. The earliest known Norwalker who had any connection whatever with the property was David Martin, Indian fighter. His daughter married a Benedict and from this union was born Anna Louise Bene- dict, later the wife of LeGrand Lockwood. Before the lands were consolidated into the present estate, the property was owned by six families, it being recorded that in 1860 houses thereon were occupied by "J. Benedict, Mrs. Seymour, Mrs. Hotchkiss, Mrs. Samis, J. Nash, O. Seymour." A small section of property was owned by Charles Mallory. The house at the south end was known as the James Seymour First house and was a meeting place for the townspeople during Revolutionary times. When Tryon came to town, this building escaped the flames. Not so the Benedict home, which was burned to the ground. It was later rebuilt, and at the time Lockwood bought the property, stood on West ave., on the site of the present gatekeeper's lodge.
Many times after the property passed into the hands of the Mathews' family, Norwalk tried to buy it for the city. In the town records under date of 1886 we find that Nor- walk planned to purchase the land for the erection of a county courthouse and jail. This proposition passed into oblivion when the county buildings went to Bridgeport. The more inaccessible the property became, the harder
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Norwalk tried to buy it, and during the past few years ef- forts have been made to purchase it for a civic center.
WATER WORKS
The year 1870 in Norwalk marked the beginning of an agitation for a water reservoir for the first district, and also the organization of South Norwalk, formerly called "Old Well," as a city. It was early in the spring of 1870 when the people of Norwalk decided that the question of a water supply was the most important problem of the day. July 15, 1870, a charter for the purpose of providing Norwalk with a permanent water supply was procured and approved, being accepted at a special meeting of the electors, one month later. The building of the first reservoir known as Grupe's and located in the town of New Canaan was started in 1871 and at the time of its completion in 1873, the people marked the event with a special celebration. Since that time, Brown's and Scott's reservoirs in Lewisboro, New York, and Spring Hill reservoir in Spring Hill, have been constructed to aug- ment the supply from Grupe's reservoir. The total storage capacity is 425,000,000 gallons, supplying a population of about 12,000 persons. The daily consumption is about 2,- 000,000 gallons. The first district, part of the third district and the outlying districts including Winnipauk, Silvermine and other sections north of the first district use this water.
In 1923, the commissioners had the dam at Brown's res- ervoir raised six feet, increasing the capacity from 210,- 000,000 to 310,00,000 gallons. The first mains laid were a combination of cement and sheet iron, it being impossible in those days to lay iron pipes because of the prohibitive cost. These pipes, after being in the ground for 40 years, deteriorated, necessitating the substitution of iron pipes. This work has been done gradually and today none of the old mains are in use.
The second district water department supplies the lower end of the city. July 22, 1874, the General Assembly ap-
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proved an act entitled "An Act To Provide A Supply of Pure And Wholesome Water To The City of South Nor- walk." At that time an arrangement was made whereby Norwalk agreed to supply South Norwalk with water. There were a number of points in the agreement, one of which was to the effect that if the reservoir were low, the borough of Norwalk reserved the right to shut off the water from South Norwalk. The proposition was accepted by the water commissioners of South Norwalk, January 9, 1875. Immediately a special meeting of the voters in Nor- walk was called and the proposition rescinded. Four months later, South Norwalk decided to build a water system of its own. The system was completed in November 1875, four and I-2 miles of main and four miles of distributing pipe being laid and 45 hydrants set.
"When the public water system was first put into opera- tion in South Norwalk," according to the pamphlet, "South Norwalk's Public Utilities," edited by the Board of Water Commissioners of South Norwalk in 1909, "a twelve inch pipe line, from the Crystal Lake Reservoir, at Silver Mine, furnished the city with water. At the dam and inlet gate- way there was constructed a filter, composed of layers of charcoal and sponges. For a while this worked well and the water was clear and free from vegetable growths. It, however, soon got clogged and filled with suspended sub- stances in the water and became unusable. Many of our people, probably, are not aware that the public water, over thirty years ago, was filtered. The plan proving impractic- able, it was removed and abandoned. As additions were made to the storage capacity, and reserve water supply, the conditions gradually grew worse, the water becoming dis- colored and disagreeable in taste, at certain periods of the year. A suffering populace patiently endured these un- pleasant qualities. Manufacturers overlooked the incon- venience, disadvantages and often times loss, that was in- curred on account of them. But the day of emancipation
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came. Everyone hailed it with joy. Today we celebrate the first anniversary of the 'Pure and Wholesome Water.' "
The day referred to was May 2, 1908 when the Water Purification plant erected by South Norwalk was put in com- mission. The plant is located about seven miles north of South Norwalk in the town of Wilton. The plant, which is fed and operated entirely by gravity is about 1,000 feet south of the city's largest reservoir, called City Lake, and into which two of the other reservoirs empty. The site chosen was at the maximum elevation that was deemed safe, so that at all times water might be drawn from the City Lake even at times of drought. The South Norwalk Water Works system now supplies South Norwalk, lower East Norwalk and Rowayton, the total normal capacity being 3,- 000,000 gallons per day. The upper end of East Norwalk is supplied by Norwalk. The city not only has a very excel- lent water supply but a very valuable one.
CHAPTER XXVIII "OLD WELL", SOUTH NORWALK
South Norwalk, Formerly Called "Old Well"' Becomes City In 1870-Location Of Well Open To Question-South Norwalk Sentinel Founded In 1870-Followed By Nor- walk Hour Year Later-South Norwalk Burned In 1875.
UNDER a charter granted by the Legislature of Connecti- cut, July 5, 1870, South Norwalk, formerly called "Old Well" was made a city. At that time, according to the recol- lection of several of the older citizens, South Norwalk was the smallest city in the United States, with 2,000 residents. The city was formally organized August 18, 1870.
THE "OLD WELL"
That the old city took its original name from an ancient well, there never has been any doubt. The exact location of that well is open to questioning. Some place it on the corner of Water and Haviland sts .; others on the corner of Washington and Water sts. One historian maintains that the old well was situated on the property of one Eliakim Raymond who owned a farm on Water st., north side be- tween Washington and Haviland sts., the old well being on the corner of Haviland and Water sts. On the other hand, Frank Becker, present owner of the property, 143 to 147 Washington st., corner of Water and Washington sts., claims that the well was and still is on his land. In the basement of the building which he owns at this address, which building now houses a restaurant, may still be seen the foundations of an ancient well, from which, he says, the community took its name.
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Mr. Becker says that he was a boy of eight when his father, Michael Becker first came into possession of a large block of property at the corner of Washington and Water sts., the property then being known as the Day Farm. The entire tract was barren except for two old farm houses. The "old well" was located in the front of the property near the corner bounded by Washington and Water sts. Its close proximity to the waterfront of the Norwalk river was a source of much convenience to the sailors plying the Sound and afforded them a means of getting fresh water for their supply with little trouble. It became a byword with the sea- faring men that they would meet at the "Old Well." In 1867, part of the property was condemned in order to straighten out Water st., and 18 feet of the land was re- moved in the project. The old well became lost in the march of progress. Now it reposes, no longer used, but still in existence, according to Mr. Becker, in the basement of his building.
The first mayor of the new city of South Norwalk was Dudley P. Ely, while the last, before consolidation with Norwalk, in 1913, was Robert M. Wolfe. The complete list is given in the appendix.
NORWALK NEWSPAPERS
The founder of the "Derby Transcript," E. A. Horton, established the "South Norwalk Sentinel," November 17, 1870. The following year, on May 6, 1871, the "Westport Hour" which later became the "Norwalk Hour," was founded. Mr. Horton ran the Sentinel for a short time by himself and then a joint stock company was formed under the firm name of the South Norwalk Printing Company, with D. P. Ely for president and Mr. Horton as manager and superintendent. During the next three years, in which time the paper consistently lost money, C. V. Arnold was editor, followed by H. E. Wing, followed by the Rev. H. N. Durney, pastor of the Congregational church.
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In February, 1873, a change was made in the ownership of the paper and its financial luck bettered. At that time, the stock company was dissolved and the concern purchased by E. A. Horton and James Golden, the latter from New York city. The paper now made money. Horton and Golden ran the Sentinel for a little more than a year when Mr. Horton retired and R. H. Golden, a brother of James, took his interest. The firm then became Golden Brothers and its business was successfully conducted by them, until April, 1879, when another brother, John F. Golden, was added to the firm, the paper continuing its success.
In 1879, the paper was moved from its location on South Main st. on the site of the present store of James Donnelly, to Washington st., into a building erected by General Nelson Taylor and later known as the "Sentinel building." At the same time the stationery and paper business was added to that of publishing and proved very successful. At the time of which we are speaking, the paper was published every Wednesday, its policy being independent. The paper became a daily, Saturday, Dec. 3, 1887. James F. Golden ran the business until he died. Publication was continued by his estate until 1923. At that time The Evening Sentinel was purchased by the newly formed Sentinel Publishing Co., of which Leigh Danenberg is president; Wendell P. Milligan, vice-president and treasurer; and A. Golden Kelley, secre- tary.
An irate commuter on the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company was the direct cause of the founding of the Norwalk Hour. One fine day in 1869, B. W. Maples, commuter to New York, was expelled from the train because he had mislaid his commutation ticket and re- fused to pay the single trip fare demanded by the conductor. Mr. Maples promptly sued the railroad company. The case did not come up immediately, there being many post- ponements. In the meantime a number of articles favoring the company, appeared in the newspapers. The commuter noticed that they always appeared just before the case was
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scheduled to come up. He decided on a little experiment and dispatched articles favoring himself to every newspaper in this vicinity. Only one article was used.
That settled Mr. Maples. He decided to have a news- paper of his own where he could print articles which would favor his side of the case. Being unable to buy one any- where around here, he founded a newspaper instead, the Westport Hour coming into being, May 6, 1871. For ten months the paper appeared bi-weekly. At the end of that time, it was published once every week. In December, 1874, Mr. Maples won his suit. He no longer had any use for the paper and decided to discontinue it. On looking over the books, however, he found that the paper was making money and so decided to keep it.
In 1873, the paper had been removed to Norwalk. The following year, it was consolidated with the Westport Ad- vertiser. The paper was independent at the time. For a long time the new paper carried two names and was dated at both Norwalk and Westport. Mr. Maples ran it until his death. In 1895, the Norwalk Hour became a daily. In 1901, the Hour Publishing company was incorporated with Arthur Wheeler 'as president and Edward Thomas as treasurer and general manager. In 1923 Mr. Thomas be- came president and has continued in that office ever since. The "South Norwalk Champion," the "Norwalk Record" and the "Norwalk Democrat" were three local papers which lived and died during the past century.
It will be remembered that the first paper in Norwalk was commenced in 1800 and that in 1818 Roswell S. Nichols and Philo Price purchased the Picket concern and issued the "Norwalk Gazette" every week. During the fol- lowing years the paper changed hands many times, being in the charge of first one and then another : Seth W. Benedict, James Reed, Timothy Merwin, lawyer; William G. Hyer, later Episcopalian clergyman; J. U. Ammerman, brother in law of P. T. Barnum; Judge Stephen Smith, George Taylor, James H. Hoyt, A. Homer Byington, Henry W.
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Hyatt. In April, 1858 Joseph B. Ells and George N. Ells were joint owners. From that date until 1880 the Gazette was being conducted under the firm name of A. H. Bying- ton and Co. The paper continued until 1900.
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SOUTH NORWALK BURNED
South Norwalk was nearly wiped out of existence May 17, 1875, by a fire which swept the business section of the city and caused damages of more than $125,000, an enormous cost in those days. Flames were discovered at 3:40 in the morning in the factory of the Lounsbury Brothers and Rock- well Co., shoe manufacturers, located on the site of the present store of Rogers and Stevens, South Main st. The policeman who first smelled smoke, immediately turned in an alarm which called out the South Norwalk fire department.
No sooner had the latter arrived than an explosion shook the Lounsbury plant, the force of the concussion blowing out windows in stores some distance away. The men saw at once that the fire was getting out of control and so they sent a hurried call to Norwalk which hastened to dispatch two fire companies. By this time it was after four in the morning and flames had eaten through the factory of the Lounsbury company and were rapidly consuming the founda- tions of the structure of the Fairfield Insurance Co.'s build- ing, next door, north.
A consultation was held and it was decided to lay a line of hose from a nearby cistern and to attempt to gain con- trol of the fire in that manner. All went well for awhile and the thousands of townspeople who had gathered in the excite- ment thought that the rest of the city was safe. They breathed sighs of relief, but they reckoned too optimistically for no sooner had the firemen succeeded in getting a good stream of water leveled at the burning buildings, than the cistern supply gave out. Frantically, the firemen jerked the hose from the cistern and dragged it to a second, some dis- tance away. During the intermission, the fire gained a fresh
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hold and spread to the upper stories of the Fairfield Fire Insurance Co.'s building. Here were housed the Old Well club rooms and the rooms of the City Council. Officials dashed up to the council chambers only to discover that all the valuable papers and records had gone up in smoke.
Panic struck other business men whose buildings were in the vicinity. They, seeing destruction threatening their own plants, made valiant efforts to get furnishings, materials, and records, safely to the streets. Some succeeded, others failed. The fire continued to gain headway. Both the big buildings housing the Lounsbury company and the Insurance com- pany were razed and the flames traveled to a block of stores which were housed in a low, wooden, one story building stretching from the Insurance company building on South Main St., to the corner of Washington st. For a time it was feared that the fire. would spread to the South Norwalk steamboat dock. The flames were finally brought under control when they were checked by the south wall of the Lounsbury building, next to the present Donnelly building.
The Evening Sentinel, which was then housed on the up- per floors of the building now occupied by Donnelly's on South Main st., was threatened for a time but the flames spread north instead of south and so it was saved. The Lounsbury Co. suffered most in the fire, its loss being $75,- 000, only $59,000 of which was covered by insurance. The Fairfield Insurance Co. suffered a loss of $15,000, being insured for $12,000. The small stores in the long, low building on South Main to the corner of Washington sts. suffered damages from $200 to several thousands of dollars.
LIBRARIES-TELEPHONES
CHAPTER XXIX
Four Libraries In Norwalk-First Was Commenced In 1878-Steamship "Adelphi" Explodes in Harbor Killing Many-First Telephones In City Regarded as Fakes- Telegrams In Olden Days Used Only In Urgent Cases.
A HOUSE to house canvass through the streets of Norwalk in the year 1878 resulted in a collection of more than 500 volumes and provided a nucleus for the founding of the South Norwalk Library, now on West Washington st. Pre- vious to this time, 30 business men had met in the council chambers, July 6, 1877 and heard General Nelson Taylor present the idea of founding a free reading room. A com- mittee composed of E. Hill, R. H. Golden, C. W. Doty, G. S. Kendall, and Nelson Dickerman, was named to devise a plan and execute it. Members reported November 17, 1877, recommending : first, the formation of a corporation ; second, the raising of a fund for a lot and the erection of a building; third, the establishment of an income for the maintenance of the institution.
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SOUTH NORWALK LIBRARY
January 1, 1878, the South Norwalk Library and Free Reading room came into legal existence with General Nelson Taylor as president; E. Hill, vice president; and C. W. Knudsen, treasurer. Rev. James M. Taylor, a staunch sup- porter of the idea was the first librarian. Life membership in the corporation cost $4 a year. After the 500 volumes were collected under the joint direction of the librarian, John W. Scott and Nelson Dickerman, they were placed on the shelves of a small free reading room on South Main st.,
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supported by the Women's Christian Temperance Union. The little reading room prospered. Small gifts were made, benefit affairs were given. Friends and supporters of the library were not idle, using their time to make plans for a library building and grounds. A lot was purchased on lower Washington st., in 1880 for $1,200.
In March 1885, it was voted to build according to plans submitted by General Taylor, T. I. Raymond and Christian Swartz, a committee of three. It was about this time that the W. C. T. U. reading room closed and so the library books had to be stored for six months in the basement of the South Norwalk Baptist church. Due to the fact that some difficulty was experienced in the raising of the money, the building planned did not materialize. Instead, a plain three story business block was erected. On the first floor was a store to which was annexed a one story addition fitted up for the library and reading room. A tenant was found who took the 'store at $200 a year, "with the agreement to fur- nish light and heat and to take care of the room and books, which solved the question of attendance." The remainder of the building was rented to other tenants. This building, 108 Washington st., now houses the Fox Cycle and Hard- ware Co. Here was an institution started without a dollar of capital or a single book, grown after a few years, into a corporation owning property worth about $9,000 with its liabilities well in hand and its running expenses provided for.
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