***

The Silver Bridge over the Housatonic River on Connecticut Route 816, also known as Glen Road, is just one of the bridge rehabilitation projects included in Governor O’Neill’s $5.5 billion Infrastructure Renewal Program. The program, begun in 1984 and scheduled for completion in 1994, includes miles of road repairs and several hundred bridge rehabilitation and restoration projects.

***

David Grogins of Abbotts Hill Road has been appointed as a town attorney by the Board of Selectmen. He replaces Hugh Lavery. Although his primary field has been in commercial real estate, Mr Grogin has considerable experience in representing clients before various zoning boards.

***

It was a busy day for emergency services on January 3 when police responded to 13 accidents, nine in one hour, and the Newtown Ambulance Corps answered eight calls, five of which were motor vehicle accidents. Officer Paul Taylor responded to the scene where an unoccupied car had rolled across the lawn of a house on Riverside Road and went down an embankment and struck the family car and smashed into the garage.

January 13, 1961

James T. Chase announce this week that he and Mrs Chase have contracted to purchase the Atchison Block on Main Street and plan a program of extensive renovation and repair. The long frame building, long a landmark on Main Street, was once a social center for Newtown, with dances and other social events held in the spacious hall upstairs.

***

A brief, but impressive, ceremony was held in the Alexandria Room of Edmond Town Hall Tuesday morning shortly before the room became, for the day, the courtroom of the newly formed Connecticut Circuit Court which replaces the town and justice courts.

***

Hidden treasures sometime appear in the process of house cleaning. Postmaster Arthur Carmody of Sandy Hook, while doing so recently, found a booklet, “The First Five Years of the Newtown High School, 1902-07.” The booklet was done by Ross Jewell, who was the first principal of the Newtown High School.

***

The Board of Education regular meeting discussed the possibility of separate high school and elementary school bus transportation. The cost of the present combined system is $81,500. If high school and elementary school transportation are separated and ability grouping by schools is introduced, the transportation cost would rise to about $83,500.

January 10, 1936

The Sandy Hook Farm Bureau meeting has been postponed from Tuesday, January 14, to Friday afternoon, January 17. A Commercial ginger bread and a Kitchen Maid ginger bread will be demonstrated. Roll will be called, each member to answer the question “The most helpful remedy in my chest.”

***

During the year 1935, there were in the town of Newtown 24 births, 32 marriages, and 35 deaths. In 1934 there were 34 births, 33 marriages, and 40 deaths, so that while the number of marriages and deaths did not decrease to such an extent, there was a marked falling off in the number of births.

***

Under the guidance and sponsorship of the English and Music Departments of Hawley School, many of the students will attend a matinee of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” next Tuesday afternoon at the Edmond Town Hall theater. It is the first Shakespearean play to reach the screen, and it has as its score the Mendelssohn music especially arranged for the picture by Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

***

Harry Van Horn of the Newtown Water Company and men working with him were successful on Saturday in locating the leak in the water main on Church Hill. The leak was a serious one, as the pipe was entirely broken. People below the break were deprived of water while repairs were made on Saturday.

 

January 13, 1911

“Did an airship anchor aerially over Hattertown on Christmas Eve?” Many residents are asking the question. About 10 o’clock on Christmas Eve a citizen saw a bright, flickering light in the southwestern sky. This light appeared at first as an unusually brilliant star, but this was precluded by the fact that it momentarily increased in volume and brilliance. Another man happened along and the citizen called his attention to the strange object. Its motion slackened and finally ceased, it coming to a complete rest. For more than an hour the nocturnal visitor hovered at the one point. In the meantime the tidings spread and every resident was out of doors. Then a strange thing happened. The mysterious thing suddenly began to move, slowly at first, then rapidly. Returning to the starting point it lost all velocity, but only momentarily, as it began to traverse a course due west. After perhaps 10 minutes, the awestruck gazers were thrilled and amazed by an astounding denouement. The luminary suddenly faded and instantaneously like an electric flash, a fiery, scintillating mass of incandescent flame shot downward. Up, up from the seething radiance rose, at incredible speed, a glorious, sun-like sphere radiating intense opalescent rays. Its course formed a giant flaming arc across the Cimmerian sky, directly eastward, until it disappeared in a halo of sparks over Wakelee’s hill. Undoubtedly, its amazing course ended near the Castle Meadow Lake, in which case, it may never be found. There has been much discussion as to the nature of the uncanny night visitor.

***

C.M. Pratt of Brooklyn presented as a Christmas present to the Zoar Library the picture of all the Presidents of the United States, handsomely framed, which is to be hung up in the library building in Zoar when it is built. Mr Pratt also sent a check for $25, which is to be added to the fund for buying new books for the library. The fund for the new library building is growing and it is hoped by another year to have it built near the Gray’s Plain schoolhouse.

***

Charles Briscoe Glover, a native and highly respected resident of the town, passed peacefully away, Tuesday, at 3:30 pm, at his home on the Boulevard, aged 85 years. He was Newtown’s principal builder in his day, erecting practically all the buildings in the village of Berkshire, the residence of W. Homer Hubbell, the C.B. Taylor place, the residence of George B. Beers, and many others.

***

George Everetts, while cutting ice on Warner’s pond in Zoar last week, had the misfortune to slip into the water, but was quickly rescued by two of his fellow workers. Mr Everetts, who had always claimed there was a bed of fresh oysters at the bottom of the pond, was not able at the time when he went down, to locate it during his short stay in the water.