USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Darien > Town of Darien, founded 1641, incorporated 1820 > Part 6
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In 1929 the Association was influential in the founding of the Welfare Council to function as a clearing house for all welfare work in Darien. Thanksgiving and Christmas funds as well as emergency relief funds are contributed each year.
An outstanding achievement of the D.C.A., to secure proper recreational facilities for the young people of the town, was the raising of $1600 in 1930 for the construction of public tennis courts on the high-school grounds. The money was obtained by means of exhibition tennis matches featuring Tilden, Hunter, Lott, and Cohen, with William Ziegler, Jr., donating the use of his tennis courts and grounds for the exhibition. It was also influential in secur- ing the appointment of a Recreation Commission, contrib- uted toward the purchase of playground equipment for the local public schools, and helped finance the employment of playground supervisors for the Royle, Baker, and Holmes Schools.
In 1930 the Thrift Shop was started, with the original purpose of raising money for civic improvements. How- ever, in the stress of the past four years, most of the pro- ceeds of the Thrift Shop have been diverted into unemploy- ment relief channels, through the Welfare Council. The Thrift Shop as well as the Christmas toy sales, both suc- cessful, have fulfilled a double relief purpose. The articles on sale are all donated and resold at low prices, thus mak- ing it possible for many Darien families to purchase cer- tain necessary things at a minimum. Proceeds from such sales have been used to help needy familes. The Thrift Shop has also given to destitute families articles of cloth- ing, bedding, blankets, money for shoes, etc., through the agency of the visiting nurses and the Welfare Council. Part of the money given to the Welfare Council from the Thrift Shop's proceeds has been used to secure permanent
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community improvements such as the school playgrounds which were put in condition under the supervision of the Welfare Council Unemployment Committee.
In 1931, cooperating with the New Haven Railroad, this Association helped to lay out a feasible parking plan for the local station plaza and expended considerable effort in putting this plan into operation.
The Association has been steadily working toward the future development of the town along Colonial lines and of an attractive and dignified business center, in coopera- tion with the Town Plan and Zoning Commission and the Conference for the Encouragement of Good Architecture. To this end it awarded a bronze plaque to E. H. Delafield for the best Colonial building erected in 1931 and has volunteered to make similar awards for equally outstanding new buildings.
In 1932 the Well Baby Conference was organized under the auspices of the Association and with the cooperation of other local organizations. The clinic was the result of a study made by an Association committee pointing to the need for some definite means of caring for the pre-school child. It is held once a month with a staff of four doctors, trained nurses, and volunteer workers. Over three hun- dred children are examined each year. The services of a dental hygienist have also been made available from time to time and in May, 1935, this work was made a part of the regular monthly clinic, the cost of which is met by the Association. The Association also set up a small fund for emergency medical treatment in cases where a child's family needs financial help.
The D.C.A., which has consistently cooperated in the development of Pear Tree Point Beach, made it possible in 1933 for a group of forty children to be taken twice a week to the beach and provided with a nourishing hot lunch. This present summer, as done last year, two Darien girls will be sent to the Girl Scout Camp at the expense of the Association. From its beginning the D.C.A. has advo- cated a community center for recreational and educational activities of the town's young people; such a community center might be used to centralize all of the Association's activities. The Association is still working to this end.
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The Association has cooperated with the Guild of the Seven Arts and in 1933 awarded a prize of fifty dollars for the best painting exhibited by the Guild.
Round-table groups on such subjects as books, gardens, interior decorating, child psychology, current events, and public speaking have been fostered by the Association. At the present time the Garden Group and the Book Group are proving most popular. At the end of each year thirty or forty recent books used by the Book Group are turned over to the Darien Library.
The present officers of the Association are: President, Mrs. G. P. MacNichol; First Vice President, Mrs. Rich- ardson A. Libby; Second Vice President, Mrs. Arthur G. Maury; Recording Secretary, Mrs. Ralph Case;' Corre- sponding Secretary, Mrs. Eugene Cowell; Treasurer, Mrs. Henry O. Phillips; and Assistant Treasurer, Mrs. Sanford Leland.
DARIEN PUBLIC NURSING ASSOCIATION, INCORPORATED
Florence G. Fahey, Head Nurse
Office in Town Hall-Telephone: Darien 1410
Office hours, 8:30 A.M. to 9:30 A.M., I to 1:30 P.M .; Saturday, 8:30 A.M. to 9:30 A.M.
Visiting Hours, 9 to 5 P.M .; Saturday, 9 A.M. to 12 M.
Night and Sunday work only by request of doctors.
Cost of visits : regular, $1.00 ; colonic, $2.00.
FOR a time previous to its final formation in October, 1921, a group of citizens led by Mrs. George H. Noxon, wife of Darien's then leading physician, felt the need of some agency to give nursing care to the people of their town, and when they obtained a gift of $1250 from the Red Cross, they got to work and organized with Mrs. Noxon, presi- dent; Mrs. Clarence W. Bell, secretary; Mrs. George F. Bearse, treasurer, and a Board of Directors of whom no list seems to be extant. Mrs. Bearse has continued in the same office ever since.
That first year, with the help of the Tuberculosis Fund, organized card parties, donations from private citizens and several societies and associations, besides a small fee from
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memberships, the Association functioned independently of the town, but during the following year the Selectmen voted $1000 toward the salary of the nurse, and they have con- tinued to pay a large part of this expense ever since.
The first nurse, Ruby Vose, was trained in the Henry Street Settlement in New York City. In 1925, when Miss Vose resigned to be married, Miss Mary Heffernan from the Bridgeport Visiting Nurse Association took her place, and when she, too, was married in 1929, the present efficient incumbent, Florence G. Fahey, a graduate of St. Francis' Training School of Hartford, who had taken the public health course at Teachers College, New York City, and done field work in the East Harlem Health Demonstra- tion in New York, was the Association's choice.
The dental clinics in the schools were established by the Association in 1922, and in 1926 the Nursing Association purchased its own dental chair. Since that time it has bought all necessary instruments and supplies, and with the help of some fees paid by the children's parents, has also carried the salary of Dr. Brodsky. The fact that the teeth of 925 children were examined and 232 cleanings, 585 fillings, and 654 extractions performed in these 44 clinics in 1934, and that there is a constant number of in- terested visitors from other schools in the State to observe this work, speaks for its success.
One major activity of the Association has been cooperat- ing in the sale of Tuberculosis Seals at Christmas time, and with the money obtained, providing milk for suspects, con- tacts, and sufferers from tuberculosis : sanatorial care for needy cases, visits to the Tuberculosis Clinic in Stamford for diagnosis of suspected cases, and X-ray photographs when desired by the doctor. Milk to the amount of 3135 bottles was distributed to undernourished children in the schools last year.
At first the office of the nurse was in the Royle School, but for some years the town has given her a room in the Town Hall, and here the regular monthly meetings of the Association take place on the first Monday of the month.
The Association was incorporated in July, 1934, with the following officers: Honorary President, Mrs. Aubrey Quackenbush; President, Mrs. Clarence Bouton; Vice
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President, Mrs. Terence Cusack; Secretary, Mrs. Florent E. Cantrell; Treasurer, Mrs. George F. Bearse; Chair- man, Nursing Committee, Mrs. Dewey Carter; Christmas Seal Chairman, Edith Cantrell.
The Board of Directors consists of Elizabeth Arcula- rius, Edith L. Cantrell, Mrs. Henry Jay Case, Mrs. Lucius Close, Mrs. Herbert J. Cornell, Mrs. Herbert Driggs, Edward H. Fuller, the Rev. James J. McGuane, Mrs. Byron Stookey, Mrs. Walter R. Van Tassel, Edward F. Weed, Mrs. Clarence Bell, Mrs. Dewey Carter, John W. Clark, Mrs. Edwin W. Cooper, Mrs. Frank De Courcy, Wilfred P. Forrest, Mrs. W. Douglas Macdonald, the Rev. Philip G. Scott, Mrs. Paul Tison, Annie Wecke.
Citizens of the town of Darien are entitled to make use of this service, and if they are unable to pay the small fee for a visit, they are treated free.
DARIEN LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS
THE Darien League of Women Voters, a branch of the State and National Leagues of Women Voters, an organi- zation for the development of an intelligent and active electorate, does not ally itself with or support any political party or candidate but indorses measures and policies. It urges every woman to become an enrolled voter in the party of her choice.
The local League was organized in January, 1929, as the outgrowth of an earlier group which, under the leader- ship of Mrs. A. H. Renshaw, was active from 1921 to 1924. Mrs. Paul W. Willson was elected first president and held that office until June, 1931. From 1931 until 1933 Mrs. Hugh Gallaher held the chair, to be succeeded until 1935 by Mrs. Alva B. Morgan. Miss Agnes W. Valentine was elected to the office in June, 1935.
During the six years of its existence the Darien League through its working committees has supported and helped to arouse public opinion on various measures sponsored by the National and State Leagues. Measures of interest to Connecticut which have been promoted include various educational improvements, jury service for women, im- provement of State institutions, juvenile courts, tax investi-
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gation, old-age pensions, and unemployment insurance.
The principal local projects undertaken started with the passage of a town ordinance excluding non-voters or non- taxpayers from voting at town meetings. A detailed study of the sewerage situation was made, the facts presented to the town, and permissive legislation procured in Hart- ford to allow the town to put in an adequate system when- ever it was ready. Other results for which the League has worked are increased appropriations for additional school teachers; a larger representation of women on the Board of Education ; a woman's incumbency as one of Darien's two representatives in the State Legislature; the Juvenile Court for Fairfield County, which was finally created by the 1935 Legislature; and a Family Welfare Society for the town.
Two studies of the local schools have been made, one in 1933 and one in 1935. Study groups have been held by the different departments from year to year, starting in 1929 with a first course in parliamentary law, which was given to enable the women of Darien to take an intelligent part in town meetings. Groups for the study of child- welfare problems, taxation problems, international rela- tions, and educational problems have been popular.
At its regular monthly meetings, which are held on the second Monday of the month except during the summer, the League has presented many well-known and interesting speakers who have talked ably on various subjects pertain- ing to the League's program of work. Any woman resi- dent of Darien wishing to ally herself with the group working for good government locally, in the State, and nationally may do so at any time. The membership dues are one dollar annually.
THE AMERICAN LEGION
THE local American Legion Post, named in honor of Lieut. Ernest F. Sexton, who was killed in action in France, was organized in the fall of 1919.
The Post has for years been active in Boy Scout work and acts as sponsor of the Sea Scout unit. The Post at present is conducting a campaign to raise $2000 to build
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an addition to the Boy Scout Cabin. The Post has won State-wide admiration for its rehabilitation work in the cases of needy veterans, spending large sums in this work during the depression years.
The Auxiliary has equally distinguished itself in relief work in the State as well as locally. One of the major annual events of the Auxiliary is the Easter-egg hunt held at the Fitch Home at Easter time, when more than 400 local children are entertained.
The officers are: Post Commander, J. Leo Wright; First Vice Commander, Salvatore Mazzeo; Second Vice Commander, Raymond Donnell; Adjutant, Andrew Cher- pack; Finance Officer, Harold W. Browne; Historian, Harold B. Scribner; Sergeant-at-Arms, Herman Cooper- man. The regular meeting night is the first Thursday of each month.
Officers of the American Legion Auxiliary Unit are : President, Mrs. Elsie Muench; First Vice President, Elsie Knobel; Second Vice President, Mrs. Elizabeth Wallace; Secretary, Mrs. Betty Pendleton; Treasurer, Mrs. Jane Adams; Chaplain, Mrs. Olive Cherpack; Historian, Mrs. Julia Kemp; Sergeant-at-Arms, Mrs. Lillian Mazzeo. The regular meeting night is the first Tuesday of each month.
THE "DARIEN REVIEW"
THE Darien Review, Darien's only newspaper and job printing plant, which is now rounding out its thirty-ninth year, was founded in 1896 by Stephen and Adelaide Bass, brother and sister, of Darien. The paper, which was founded in a one-room frame structure on Old King's High- way, now has offices at the corner of the Boston Post Road and West Avenue; these comprise three editorial rooms, a business office, and a fully-equipped composing-room and press-room.
The ownership of the Darien Review finally passed from the Bass family to the firm of Pentecost and Hodgman. Mr. Pentecost was a minister who resided in Tokeneke. Hodgman was a member of the rubber manufacturing
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family. Another minister, the Rev. Emil C. Richter, fol- lowed the Messrs. Pentecost and Hodgman as publisher of the Review. Pentecost and Hodgman moved the office from Old King's Highway to its present location, which was the former site of the Darien Post Office.
John E. Williams was the next owner of the Review. He sold the business to Arthur C. Hatch, now Mayor of DeLand, Florida, who in turn sold it to Major Alfred N. Phillips, Jr., of Stamford in 1924. Major Phillips, who was inaugurated Mayor of Stamford for his third term on January I, is still president of the Review Corporation, publishers of the paper. Its editor is Charles R. Mitchell, with Harold Yudain as associate editor.
DARIEN LIBRARY
WHILE the Darien Free Library Association, as we of today know it, dates back only to 1894, there apparently was such an institution as far back as 1842. Some time ago there was sent to Miss Hughes, the present librarian, a copy of a small pamphlet, The Constitution and By-Laws of the Darien Library Association, with a catalogue of books belonging to the Association, September 1, 1842. The booklet was printed in New York, by J. M. Elliott, 33 Liberty Street. It consists of nineteen closely printed pages, but contains no list of officers and gives no indica- tion where the library was located. No one now living can throw any light on the beginning or end of the Asso- ciation. The catalogue shows that the library contained about 400 volumes, all well chosen for the period.
The present Darien Library has a consecutive history dating from 1894 or thereabout. The pioneers in the movement were George P. Brett, now chairman of the board of the Macmillan Company, publishers, of New York City, then a resident of Darien, owning and occupy- ing what now is the Auchincloss estate on Mansfield Ave- nue, and Annis Brady, now Mrs. George H. Noxon, at present a resident of Stamford. Mr. Brett and Miss Brady called a meeting at the home of the latter to dis- cuss the question of forming a library association. There
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was a good attendance, and the consensus favored the undertaking.
This was followed by a public meeting at the Town Hall, presided over by the Rev. J. M. Carroll, then pastor of the M.E. Church. The late Arthur S. Bibbins, then prin- cipal of the Centre School (now Royle School) was chosen president, with Miss Brady as secretary. Mrs. Theodore W. Austen and the Rev. Arthur Requa, pastor of the Pres- byterian Church, were named a finance committee, charged with raising funds to equip and house the library.
The money with which to establish the Library was fur- nished in part by a series of lectures which Mr. Brett in- vited friends of his, prominent literary and well-known public men, to deliver in Darien, the proceeds being wholly devoted to the expenses of the Library. The first real collection of books was formed by Mr. Brett by obtaining from his brother publishers donations of books amounting in all to several thousand volumes.
The first library was in the house then standing at the corner of Sedgwick Avenue and the Post Road, occupied by Wesley Brady. Later it was removed to the rooms over the present Review Building, and still later to the old Bell Homestead on the Post Road. There it remained until the present quarters in the Delafield block were leased. It has grown steadily in usefulness and prestige, and the volumes on its shelves now number more than 12,000. The circula- tion is steadily increasing. Special attention is paid to the children's department. This really had its genesis in a gift of a large number of children's books by the late Mrs. Ray Holland of Delafield Island, given in memory of a child she lost by death. It has been constantly added to and now forms an important feature of the library.
The library officers are Emily Louise Plumley, presi- dent; Edward H. Fuller, vice president; Richardson A. Libby, treasurer, and Simon W. Cooper, secretary. They, with Mrs. Charles Bates Dana, Mrs. Noah H. Swayne, Mrs. Henry C. Hodges, Jr., M. Ormand Milton, the Hon. Alfred Tweedy, and First Selectman Andrew Shaw, at large, constitute the Board of Directors.
The librarian is Elinor M. Hughes. She has a part-time assistant, Dorothy Ely.
GREEN'S LEDGE LIGHT FROM CONTENTMENT ISLAND
NEW GRADE SCHOOL
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صي
$2.20
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GUILD OF THE SEVEN ARTS
THE Darien Guild of the Seven Arts was organized in 1927. The idea was first suggested by Ruth Merriman to a group of friends gathered at her studio on May 19, 1927. Mrs. Thomas F. Hickey was requested to assume the task of promoting the project, into which she entered with enthusiasm. Within a surprisingly short time a lively interest was aroused among workers in the various arts, and with this assurance of support, an organization meet- ing was held on June 9, 1927, at the home of Mrs. Doro- thea Warren O'Hara in Appletree Lane, attended by forty residents. At this meeting officers were elected, committees appointed, activities planned, and the name of the Guild adopted.
The officers elected were : Winter W. Drew, president; Maurice Tingley, vice president; Mrs. Thomas F. Hickey, secretary, and Ruth Merriman, treasurer. As a board of managers, W. W. Drew, David Humphrey, Mrs. Thomas F. Hickey, Ruth Merriman, Mrs. Dorothea Warren O'Hara, Mrs. Paul H. Smart, Harry Schlicting, Maurice Tingley and Raymond Thayer were elected. The first ex- hibition by the Guild was held in the studio of Harry Schlicting, on Mansfield Avenue, from July 2 to July 17, 1927.
Immediately following the first exhibitions, permanent quarters were secured in a loft at 182 Post Road, which was converted into an attractive studio and exhibition gal- lery. This first home of the Guild was for several years the scene of many noteworthy exhibitions, excellent plays by local artists, musicales, dances, lectures, receptions to contributing artists, and class instruction by competent teachers in the various arts.
The Guild was particularly fortunate in having for its president during the formative years Winter W. Drew, a man of ability and wide experience, a sincere patron of art, who gave unstintingly of his time and ability to the up- building of the Guild and to carrying forward the purpose for which it was created.
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DARIEN THEATRE
OPENED with appropriate ceremonies on September 5, 1929, this picture house, located in the Delafield group of attrac- tive colonial buildings, has become one of the show features of the Darien business section. Among its stockholders who made the theatre possible are over 100 residents of the town, and from time to time the various organizations of the town use it for benefit performances and enter- tainments.
Situated as it is on the Post Road, with free parking space available and easily accessible for its patrons, this place of amusement and entertainment draws a daily attendance from not only Darien, but all of the surround- ing towns. It has a seating capacity of 700, about one- third of which is in the loge.
The theatre is most modern in its construction, with comfortable seats and excellent ventilation. Its perfect acoustics, with other notable features, have made it one of the best-known theatres in its part of the State, and it has attracted much favorable comment from critics and authorities high in the motion-picture business.
DARIEN REAL ESTATE BOARD
ORGANIZED on November 1, 1929, at a meeting attended by thirty-five representative men and women comprising residents operating in the real-estate field in Darien, the Darien Real Estate Board is today an active body of about fifty members. Its business is conducted under a constitu- tion and by-laws modeled after those of the national and State boards.
There are four classes of members, active, associate, af- filiate, and non-resident; all are elected by the Board of Directors. Its aims and objects are to maintain high stand- ards of conduct in the transaction of real-estate business and to enforce a code of ethical practice among its members in their dealings with one another and the public.
The board has an Appraisal Committee which furnishes, for fees, appraisals of property and certificates of valua- tion. It supplies information about the town to outside in-
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quirers. An Arbitration Committee adjudicates differ- ences between members. There are also Legislation, Tax- ation, and Vigilant Committees, the purpose of the last being to expose items of real-estate publicity and adver- tising which are unethical and dishonest.
The officers are : President, E. H. Delafield; Vice Presi- dent, Herbert Wheeler; Secretary, G. Leroy Kemp; Treas- urer, Mrs. C. R. Wright.
THE HOME BANK AND TRUST COMPANY
A NUMBER of public-spirited citizens of the town, who be- lieved there was a field for a bank in Darien and that the proper development of the town demanded such an insti- tution, organized the Home Bank and Trust Company of Darien in March, 1911, under a special charter granted by the State of Connecticut.
On January 2, 1912, this bank commenced business in modest offices in the building erected for it by George M. V. Schlichting, with a paid-in capital and surplus of $37,500, and the following Board of Trustees: Thomas Alsop, Henry M. Baker, Clarence W. Bell, Charles B. Fitch, Franklin Lynch, Alfred Morehouse, Jr., Howard Stout Neilson, Mark W. Norman, George H. Noxon, William E. Street, Arthur Taylor, G. D. Tilley, Mark D. Wilber, and Charles E. Williamson. The officers were: Mark D. Wilber, president; Henry M. Baker, vice presi- dent; Howard Stout Neilson, vice president; and George F. Bearse, secretary and treasurer.
The need for the bank was quickly proven by ever- increasing demands which overtaxed its facilities until the fire of January, 1918, afforded a solution by enabling the trustees to obtain by purchase the most advantageous lo- cation in the town for a suitable building.
On February 19, 1918, the stockholders voted to in- crease the capital stock of the bank from $30,000 to $75,000, in order that an up-to-date banking office might be erected upon the location purchased by the bank at the corner of the Boston Post Road and Center Street. The stock was sold at a premium and the surplus account in- creased by the sum of $15,000.
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The new offices were occupied on April 15, 1919, and at that time were considered adequate for the needs of the bank for many years to come. However, in 1924 it was necessary to erect an addition to the bank building in order to handle properly the continually increasing business.
Owing to this business and the growing importance of the bank to the community, it was again necessary to in- crease its capital, and in January, 1925, the stockholders voted to increase its capitalization from $75,000 to $100,- 000. As this stock was sold at a premium, the sum of $12,500 was added to the surplus account.
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