USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Darien > Town of Darien, founded 1641, incorporated 1820 > Part 3
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The officers are : President, William C. Keeley, Jr .; First Vice President, Frederick M. Schall; Second Vice Presi- dent, J. Grant De Remer; Secretary, Paul M. Browne; Treasurer, Charles A. Reynolds; Master of Fox Hounds, James A. Farrell, Jr .; Chairman, Polo Committee, Ger- ard S. Smith. These, with the following, constitute the Board of Directors : Donald Bush, Dr. A. Benson Cannon, John F. Caskey, Henry J. Davenport, John J. Farrell,
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Reed G. Haviland, John H. Lapham, Sam Lloyd, John Bright Lord, Thomas McCarty, Dr. Jerome Selinger, James Stark, J. K. Mickle and William Ziegler, Jr.
HANCOCK LANE
THIS development was acquired by Stoddard Hancock, the present owner, in 1923, when he purchased that part of the Henry L. Stoddard estate lying west of Middlesex Road. Henry L. Stoddard formerly owned the New York Mail and Express. The present owner's mother was born in the Stoddard home in 1853. The tenant house on the property, built in 1820, was restored and added to and became the first residence. Subsequently there was built a larger house, farther back, now the residence of Louis Haight; also a lodge, now owned by William Hill. The lane leading to this property was then called City Road; by petition the name was changed to Ox Ridge Lane.
In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, this section was populated by workers in the shoe guild, with New Canaan as its center. Coral stone foundations were found on the land and three very old orchards.
Hancock Lane was surveyed and built so as to open up the woodland and to make accessible the brook part of the property whose northern boundary lies opposite the junction of Mansfield Avenue and Pembroke Road. It is now a forty-acre section, with the comfortable atmosphere of Colonial-style homes, each with its own gardens, fields, and woodland.
ALLWOOD LANE
THIS development is a tract of woodland of about 130 acres known as the Fannie Bates Farm, lying on both sides of Hollow Tree Ridge Road, just north of the third hole of the Wee Burn Club.
The improvement was started in 1926 under the require- ments of the Town Plan and Zoning Commission. Roads have been surveyed, graded, and paved. They afford the property three outlets in different directions through old rights of way, one over the New Canaan branch of the
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HISTORY
New Haven Railroad at the Woodway Golf Club, one out to Camp Avenue, and one to Hope Street, Stamford.
RIDGE ACRES
IN September, 1928, a corporation was formed under the laws of the State of Delaware, called Ridge Acres, Inc. This corporation acquired a tract of land on Brookside Road, Darien, consisting of about eighty-eight acres, for- merly known as the Judge Hayes property. It consists of a high ridge, woodland and meadow, and was divided into parcels of not less than one acre; but most parcels have been sold in three- and four-acre tracts. To date, five houses have been built; one, known as the Judge Hayes house, has been remodeled and sold, and two new houses are planned for immediate construction. About one mile of hard-surfaced road has been built, and more roads are to be constructed. All roads are private and are main- tained by the corporation. There are several miles of bridle paths and a one-mile canter track used by members of the Ox Ridge Club.
The officers of Ridge Acres, Inc., are : Agnes Haviland, Norwalk, president; Ward B. Chamberlin, Wilson Point, vice president; Reed G. Haviland, Norwalk, treasurer; and George E. Curtis, Norwalk, secretary.
BIRCH ROAD
THIS development, lying to the north of the Post Road in the northeast section of the town, was started by Roy C. Lester in 1922 on a fifty-acre tract. The property is laid out in half-acre plots, and residences were erected in the beginning at the rate of about two houses a year. Some years later, twenty adjoining acres were cleared and im- proved, and at the present time there are thirty-three houses erected and several more in the course of construc- tion.
WEE BURN GOLF CLUB
SITUATED on high land in the northwest part of the town, this club has an excellent eighteen-hole golf course; three
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en-tout-cas, four clay, and three grass tennis courts; and a modern fireproof house.
This new course was built in 1924 and since its construc- tion has been selected by the Connecticut State and the Eastern Associations for several notable tournaments. The club also conducts periodical dancing assemblies and social entertainments and has acted as host, on a number of oc- casions, to meetings fostered by local civic and social as- sociations.
Its officers are: President, Burnet R. Ruggles; Vice President, Harold Hayes; Treasurer, Robert E. Allen; Secretary, Franklin V. Peale.
These gentlemen, with the following, form the Board of Directors : F. Eugene Ackerman, Merrel P. Callaway, Fannin W. Charske, Hawley T. Chester, Thomas Crim- mins, Edward H. Delafield, John W. Doty, Dr. John H. Dunnington, Frederick T. Fisher, Percival E. Furber, Walter A. Hafner, Edward B. Lewis, Jr., Harold R. Mixsell, Frederick L. Munds, Dr. Jerome Selinger, William H. Young.
John Golden and Frank Bonneau are the golf and tennis professionals, respectively.
The late Floyd A. Delafield and the late William Free- man French, M.D., the latter the elder son of the Rev. Louis French, for a half century rector of St. Luke's Episcopal Church, first interested Darien in the ancient game of golf. These two gentlemen played at it wherever a smooth bit of pasture land could be found. This was in the late eighties. Their enthusiasm, in 1895, brought together a number of other residents, who formed the Wee Burn Golf Club. They included the late John D. Crim- mins; Walter Capen, son-in-law of Senator Frederick Bruggerhoff, and the latter's son, Edward Bruggerhoff- all residents of Noroton. There were also Lewis Cisco- Smith, then living in Darien but now making his home in Stamford, and several others. Several Stamford men joined later.
Land sufficient for a course of seven holes was leased from the late George W. Strangward, and the golfers began operations as an organized club-the first in Con-
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HISTORY
necticut and either the second or third in the United States. A small house on the Post Road was rented for a club- house. Mr. Strangward stipulated in the lease that the use of his land as a golf course must not prevent its use as a pasture for his cows, and it became necessary to in- close one of the seven holes with a fence, making play at that particular point decidedly tricky, not to say difficult.
Later a holding company, formed from among the club members, purchased the links, which were enlarged to nine holes. The house on the knoll opposite the course, now occupied by Mrs. Charles H. Seeley and family, was built for a clubhouse. Still later the old Fitch homestead was acquired and served as the clubhouse until the organi- zation removed to its present home.
Charles H. Seeley and Genevieve Hecker rose to the top of national amateur ranks from first playing on the old links.
In the course of time, several of the Stamford members withdrew and formed the now defunct Hill and Dale Club in that city. A number of the members of the old Wee Burn are still members of the Wee Burn Club today, be- sides belonging to the Woodway Club, which was formed later.
William Ziegler, Jr., Artemus Holmes, and Col. Thomas Crimmins were presidents of the club during the period of its reconstruction. Frank H. Simmons followed Col. Crim- mins in 1929. Harold Hayes, chairman of the greens com- mittee, had much to do with the supervision and mainte- nance of the new links .. So far as can be ascertained, the early records of the club no longer exist. Mr. Capen was for a long time the secretary, but what he put on paper at the club meetings is not in the possession of the present or- ganization, and data for the foregoing brief sketch of the beginnings of this popular club has been obtained from one of the early members, who fortunately has a good memory.
The name Wee Burn was taken from the small stream, Stony Brook, which ran through the old grounds. A "wee burn" winds its way through the present links, also.
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WOODWAY COUNTRY CLUB
THE Woodway Country Club dates from 1916, when a number of the members of the Wee Burn Golf Club found that, due to the increasing popularity of the game, the old nine-hole links on the Post Road in Noroton was becoming overcrowded, and in order to obtain better facilities for the enjoyment of the sport, decided to form another club whose course would offer eighteen holes. On August 8 of that year, the Woodway Country Club was organized and duly incorporated, with the following objectives as stated in the articles of incorporation :
"To establish, maintain, control and operate a country club for the encouragement, development and enjoyment of golf-playing and other out-of-door games and amateur sports and for the promotion of social intercourse among those to whom its membership privileges shall be accorded."
The first meeting of the new club was held at the Su- burban Club in Stamford, December 4, 1916; the first meeting of the Board of Directors, December 13. Theo- dore R. Hoyt was elected president, and the acquisition of approximately 150 acres in the town of Darien and 45 acres in the town of Stamford, for constructing an eight- een-hole golf course, was authorized.
On July 1, 1918, occurred the formal opening of the new club. At that time the course of 6430 yards, which could be increased on occasion to 6630 yards, was the long- est eighteen-hole golf course in this section of Connecticut. It was laid out by Willie Park, a well-known "pro" golfer and golf architect. Since then four clay tennis courts have been constructed and other facilities for outdoor sports added.
The members of the original Board of Directors of the club were : the Hon. Schuyler Merritt, Theodore R. Hoyt, Herman C. Fleitmann, James H. Knapp, Henry W. Banks, Jr., Charlton Wallace, Andrew J. Post, Frederick C. Taylor, Thomas Crimmins, George L. Storm, A. Victor Barnes, and Percy H. Williams.
The present officers of the club are: Andrew J. Post, president ; Samuel G. Adams, vice president; Clarence W.
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Bell, secretary and treasurer; George R. Smith, assistant secretary; Board of Directors : Samuel G. Adams, George D. Arthur, Clarence W. Bell, Gen. Henry C. Hodges, Walter S. Hoyt, Charles D. Lockwood, Samuel N. Pierson, Louis H. Porter, Andrew J. Post, Robert C. Ream, Charles Stewart Smith, Arthur W. Stark, and George E. Warren.
NOROTON YACHT CLUB
ORGANIZED in 1928, this club built its clubhouse the fol- lowing year. Its flag officers are all skippers and boat- owners in the Star class. Motorboat owners are in the minority. It has two deep-water anchorages. One, a pro- tected basin, is assigned to power boats because they can more easily navigate through the narrow entrance. The other, an open basin, is given over to sailing craft, which can beat their way against head winds and tide up to their moorings.
On the first floor of the clubhouse is a lounge, the dining- room, and kitchen. A sail loft occupies the entire second floor.
The Noroton fleet has grown steadily since the club was started and now has eighteen Stars competing weekends for the monthly prizes and season's championships. The club specializes in sailing for the youngsters and has thir- teen boats in its Wee Scot class, skippered by youths from eight to fifteen years of age. For three successive years, the Wee Scot fleet defended a cup donated for an inter- club race with its Stamford rival, and last year the Noro- ton boats brought home a similar cup for a Star class team race against Stamford.
The club also has its schooners, ketches, sloops, and yawls, and its burgee was carried across the Atlantic to the Mediterranean within one year after the club was or- ganized.
Its officers are : Commodore, Paul H. Smart; Vice Com- modore, Harold Nash; Rear Commodore, Gayer G. Dom- inick; Fleet Captain, Lindley M. Franklin; Secretary and Treasurer, A. E. Crane. Its directors are : Thomas Crim- mins, Edward H. Delafield, Reed G. Haviland, Paul H.
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Smart, A. E. Crane, Ernest G. Draper, Harold Nash, F. Carroll Taylor, and Richmond Weed.
THE TILLEY BIRD FARM
DARIEN Shore country, with its bays, its coves, tide water lagoons, plus its salt meadows, fields, woods, and the fresh water streams flowing through, makes an unusual cover ground for land and water birds. Ornithologists have counted as high as 200 different varieties in a day's walk over this terrain. Good Wives' River, Five Mile River, Scott's Cove, and Gorham's Pond were for years a great natural feeding ground for flight birds and are still visited by various migrations of water fowl. The hermit thrush, golden wing woodpecker, meadow lark, kill deer, cat bird, flicker, brown thrasher, song sparrow, warblers, vireos, blue jay, robin, and pheasant are common sights in the woods and fields. King fishers, hawks, the heron family and fish crows hunt along the tide water. In the late Fall and early Spring mornings, commuters on the station plat- form see wedges of wild geese and duck winging overhead between the shore and Tilley's Pond. This pond, near the railroad station, has for years been a familiar sight to travelers on the New Haven trains, and passengers have come to refer to Darien as the "place where the bird pond is." To it, in the bird migrations during spring and late autumn, come these flight birds. They know it is a resting and feeding ground on their long journeys from the north to the south and vice versa. Although it is but a stone's throw from the railroad tracks, and a motor highway bor- ders its southern bank, these wild creatures of the air in- stinctively come into it as a refuge. They have a sense of complete protection and they are some of the shyest and wildest varieties-the American black duck, green- headed mallard, green-winged teal, wood duck, Canada goose, and brant.
G. D. Tilley, the naturalist and the creator of this bird sanctuary, grew up from a boy in the fields and woods along the shores of Darien. He has been interested in birds and the study of them since he was a child, and started collecting rare birds as a hobby fifty years ago. As
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HISTORY
a young man he made many trips to Europe bringing back consignments of feathered beauties, thus coming in per- sonal contact with internationally known dealers, collectors, writers, and heads of zoological societies such as Hagen- backs, Jamracks, Castangs, and Michael L'hoest of the beautiful Antwerp Zoo. This hobby finally became a busi- ness, and it was probably the first of its kind established in the United States.
Mr. Tilley at first started advertising in a small way in magazines and exhibited his birds in leading shows in espe- cially built aviaries, pools, and ponds. Gradually his busi- ness grew. He has stocked many of America's largest and finest estates, as well as selling to the smaller amateur col- lectors. He was the first to import many rare species, and at the same time export native birds to distant parts of the globe. Among the rare species he has imported are the pink-headed duck and the open bill ibis from India, the former being now practically extinct and its skin worth five hundred dollars. Among the most valuable of his exported birds are the cranes, including the almost extinct whooping crane. The last one exported brought eight hundred dol- lars alone.
In the course of his work during all these years, he has won hundreds of ribbons at exhibitions and has come to be regarded as an international authority on bird life, made a large collection of bird books and pictures, and is active in photographing and writing on field ornithology. He built the first pond around three springs and a brook in 1895, and some years later deepened and enlarged it, completing the present large pond.
The annual importations of the swan from Holland in the late winter of each year attract a great deal of interest among the townspeople of Darien and the traveling public passing through.
PART II CHURCHES
ST. LUKE'S CHURCH
MANY of the original colonists at Ring's End did not come by way of Massachusetts but landed direct from England, probably at New York. They were of the same class as the Wethersfield men, but of a later and different genera- tion. This accounts, no doubt, for their loyalty to the Crown at the outbreak of the Revolution. They were probably also communicants of the Church of England. It is not known where they first assembled for service. Middlesex was strictly Puritan. They probably rode to Stamford, and it was not until 1854, in the Union Chapel, which stood near the present St. John's Roman Catholic Church on the Post Road, that the first recorded Epis- copal service was held in the town of Darien.
St. Luke's Parish was organized August 30, 1855. The founders were : James E. Johnson, Ira Scofield, Charles A. Bates, John D. Bates, Francis Bates, Walter H. Bates, Isaac H. Clock, Edward A. Weed, John Waterbury, and John W. Waterbury.
The history of St. Luke's Parish, published in 1930, and written by Simon W. Cooper, parish historian, tells the story of this church in detail, how it was built, the devo- tion and loyalty of its parishioners and its rectors.
Benjamin Fitch, who founded the Fitch Home for Sol- diers at Noroton Heights, gave the land. The corner- stone was laid on August 11, 1856, and the church opened for service almost exactly one year later. Lack of space prevents setting down the names of the parishioners who in the following years made the splendid gifts and endow- ments which finally completed St. Luke's and made it one of the most beautiful and complete houses of worship in Connecticut.
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The first gift was the altar rail, presented by John Hecker, the same man who later gave the silver commun- ion service and whose widow several years later erected the marble altar in his memory. The Hecker family lived on Old King's Highway South, not far from Stony Brook. The original Hecker came from Bavaria. His two sons, John and Isaac, born in New York, were early apprenticed to a baker. Isaac, at the age of eleven, read Kant's Critique of Pure Reason while working in the bakeshop, went to Brook Farm in 1843 to study, later became a pub- lic speaker, traveled to Rome, became converted to Ca- tholicism, was ordained in London in 1849, and returning to New York, started the Paulist Fathers, which he super- vised until his death, and in 1865 founded the Catholic World. John Hecker continued in the bakery business and later founded one of the nation's largest flour-milling corporations. He was a prominent citizen and a public benefactor. Several of the Heckers are buried at Spring Grove.
ST. JOHN'S CATHOLIC CHURCH
PRIOR to 1888 the Catholics worshipped at St. John's, Stamford. That year, the site of the present church in Noroton was secured from Mr. Francis S. Fitch and the cornerstone was laid on November 29, 1888. The church was dedicated on December 15, 1889, under the patronage of St. John. The church remained under the jurisdiction of St. John's, Stamford, until May 1, 1895, when the Rev. Timothy M. O'Brien was appointed the first pastor. In April, 1900, Father O'Brien was promoted to Thomaston, Connecticut, and he was succeeded by the Rev. Daniel J. O'Connor, whose tenure lasted till July, 1910. The rectory was built in 1906. The Rev. James J. McGuane, the present pastor of St. John's, was appointed in July, 1910. To accommodate the increasing number of worshippers, the church was enlarged to its present dimensions in 1927.
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PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
THE Noroton Presbyterian Church was organized on No- vember 4, 1863, in the exciting days of the Civil War. There were originally only twenty-one members. The fact that the present attractive church building was erected two years later, in 1865, indicates that this was a devoted group of families of means as well as faith to assume such an undertaking in those dark days of strife and discord. Benjamin Weed and William Cummings were the first elders. Church services have been held continuously ever since.
In connection with the church is a large and flourishing Sunday School, well staffed by an enthusiastic corps of teachers. There also is a young people's organization holding regular meetings which have been addressed by prominent persons on a wide range of topics.
Rev. James W. Coleman was installed May 31, 1866, as first pastor of the church and he preached here until January 1, 1874, when he was called to the Presbyterian Church of New Haven. For seven years following this, students of the Union Theological Seminary supplied the pulpit. Rev. Edward Park Cleaveland was pastor from 1881 to 1886, going to the faculty of the Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and between his pastorate and that of the Rev. George R. Montgomery the following ministers have been heads of this Noroton church :
Rev. Edward T. Bloomfield, Rev. Thomas L. Elliott, Rev. Arthur Requa, Rev. Carlos Martyn, Rev. William Sinclair.
The first officers of the Church were : Elders, William A. Cummings and Benjamin Weed; Deacon, Capt. Isaac Weed. They and the following constituted the first Board of Trustees : Lewis E. Clock, Dr. O. W. Ballard, Charles R. Bishop, and John S. Waterbury.
DARIEN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH
METHODISM in Darien dates back to 1788, when meetings were held here at various homes, in charge of lay readers.
WEED HOUSE, NEARWATER LANE, 1749
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ROAD DOWN LONG NECK
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CHURCHES
It was not, however, until 1850 that the matter of erecting a church building was taken under consideration. A so- ciety of fifteen members was organized and grounds for a church were given by Mrs. Abraham St. John, wife of the church clerk. The church was dedicated on September 3, 1851, the Rev. John Kennaday being in charge of the service. It was a very modest place of worship, with a single aisle through the center, the women sitting on one side and the men on the other, as was the custom in all Methodist churches at that time.
Among the charter members was Henry Scofield, then a young man of twenty-six years, who later became a mem- ber of the New York East Conference and filled many pulpits in various sections. The first pastor was the Rev. William F. Smith, and since then forty-five of the clergy have been in charge of the local church. The present in- cumbent is the Rev. Wilmot P. Lord.
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
DARIEN's oldest religious organization is the First Con- gregational Church, with a history dating back to 1737. What now is Darien was then known as Middlesex. The first meeting of the new society was held on June 15, 1739, since which date there has been no break in the history of this venerable parish. The first church building stood on the site of the present tennis courts at the junction of Brookside Road and Old King's Highway. The present church was erected in 1837 and is a town landmark.
The first settled pastor was the Rev. Dr. Moses Mather, who began his labors here in 1744, continuing them until his death in 1806. More detailed reference to the church will be found elsewhere in this book.
Today the Congregational Church is one of the most prosperous in the township. During recent years a large and amply equipped parish house has been erected in the rear of the church edifice and the property otherwise im- proved. A number of organizations have been formed from the membership, and all are rendering efficient service in the religious and secular work of the parish under its minister, the Rev. Philip Gordon Scott.
PART III GOVERNMENT
BOARD OF SELECTMEN
ORIGINALLY the local Selectmen had charge of almost all administrative duties in the town government, but with the growth of the municipality and the added complexities brought about thereby, various matters have from time to time been transferred to separate departments, until now it can be said that the Selectmen's duties are any which have not been relegated to others.
Specifically, the Board acts as the enforcing agent for the Town Plan and Zoning Commission, issues building permits, appoints various public servants, enforces the laws relating to dogs, calls regular and special town meetings in accordance with the statutes, locates fire hydrants and street lights and sees to the proper maintenance thereof, arranges an annual Clean-Up Week, and attends to sundry other matters. The Selectmen are the town's legal rep- resentatives in many respects and as such sign the notes issued annually to secure funds in anticipation of tax re- ceipts. They also sign deeds for any town property which they may be authorized by the town meeting to dispose of. They also represent the town in making various other con- tracts for purchases or for services, although in this they share with certain other departments from time to time.
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