A Look At The People Behind The Names Of Newtown's Roads

By Nancy K. Crevier

Traveling the 287 miles of road that twist and turn from one section of Newtown to another and lead the way from border to border of its neighboring towns, street signs point the way from one after another of streets and drives and cul-de-sacs.

It was early in Newtown's history, according to information in Ezra Johnson's book, Newtown 1705 to 1918, that the first roads in Newtown were laid out. An important stretch of road extending from the center of the village south toward Stratford — then bordering Newtown — was laid out in 1714, and was later known as Newtown Road. Church Hill Road and Boggs Hill Road were laid out in 1715. The earliest roads in Newtown most likely followed the paths of Indian trails.

As Newtown grew, so too did its winding trails of roads. The roads for the most part remained primarily gravel until the mid-1950s when the town initiated a program to surface and fix the dirt roads, making them more accessible for all.

As primitive as the roads were, most residents could find their way about the sprawling town due to common names that referred to crossroads and side roads, indicating the prominent landowners on the roads. For visitors, however, navigating the roadways was a challenge. It was not uncommon for several roads to be named for various prominent families homesteading in different parts of town.

In 1952 the Newtown League of Women Voters undertook the formidable project of officially naming the roads in Newtown in order to proceed with a zoning project and to assist First Selectman A.F. Dickinson in his task of placing street signs throughout the town. Caroline Stokes, who was then a member of the now-defunct group, recalled that the town before that "was a mixture of a jumble of names of all the roads. What we did was an effort to straighten out names of roads."

Divided into groups, the organization's women encouraged neighbors to gather together and come to an agreement on the name of a road. "A high percentage of road names were actually good," said Mrs Stokes, who is now the curator at the C.H. Booth Library. "The League of Women Voters straightened out many duplications of names by doing this," she said, with only a few remaining unresolved to this day. "Usually the road was named for the resident with the most frontage on the road, or it may have been named after several members of a prominent family," Mrs Stokes said.

The names of many roads are obviously derived from a topographical feature — Boggs Hill, Birch, High Rock, Twist Hill, or Rock Ridge, for example — or reflect the town's English ancestry, such as Queen Street, most likely named for Queen Anne, according to town historian Dan Cruson, or Hanover Road, named for the House of Hanover, from whom King George III of England, ruler during the American Revolution, was descended.

Newer subdivisions sport the names of the developers, or perhaps family members of the developers — Diamond Drive or Sealand Drive, for example. But many street signs in Newtown serve as reminders of the men and women who shaped the history of Newtown.

The Street

Directly off of Main Street (formerly Newtown Street or simply "The Street") at the intersection of Route 302 lies Glover Avenue. The property on either side of Glover Avenue belonged to the William B. Glover family. "The street was named for William B. Glover, my grandfather," said Joan Glover Crick, who still lives on Glover Avenue. "He was a first selectman of Newtown," recalled Ms Crick, "and a descendent of John Glover, one of those who first settled Newtown before 1710." A well-respected man, Mr Glover was the builder in 1857 of the brick building on the corner of Glen Road and Church Hill Road in Sandy Hook Center, home today to The Red Brick Tavern, and supplied the seed money for the building of St John's Episcopal Church. Ms Crick has always known the street as Glover Avenue, but remembered that it was sometimes referred to as South Street when she was growing up.

A little further south, running between Queen and Main Streets, is Lovell's Lane. "I expect that it was probably named after the Lovell family. Louis Lovell owned the garage on Main Street [where The Pleasance is now located]." Lovell's Garage opened in 1924, and later Mr Lovell also became an auto dealer for General Motors. "The Lovells lived on Queen Street and owned quite a bit of property in that area, so it wouldn't surprise me if it was named after them," said Ms Crick.

The Lovell name appears in Newtown history prior to Lovell's Garage, though. Edward Lovell was an organizing member of the Pohtatuck Grange in 1892 and also served as a trustee for Newtown Savings Bank in 1899. A March 17, 1933, article in The Newtown Bee congratulating Mr and Mrs Edward S. Lovell on the occasion of their 50th anniversary said that "Mr and Mrs [Edward S.] Lovell came to Newtown about 45 years ago, buying the Dea Turney farm, which Mr Lovell developed into one of the finest dairy farms in town. Three years ago he sold the farm to the Fairfield State Hospital and built new homes for himself and son."

The Hawleys

Still in the Borough is Hawley Road, between Elm Drive and South Main Street. Many Hawleys have called Newtown home, including one of the first founders, Benjamin Hawley, who in 1694 came to "Land's End" in Newtown, and Glover Hawley, who in the mid-1800s made the first cast iron plough here. But Hawley Road, said Ms Crick, a Borough burgess, is named for the town benefactress Mary Elizabeth Hawley. The family of Mary Elizabeth Hawley goes back to the early settlers of the mid-1600s, descending from Joseph Hawley who sailed from England to the new world and settled in Stratford. Mary Hawley, the eldest and only surviving child of hardware mogul Marcus C. Hawley and Sarah Booth, spent her early years in Bridgeport before moving with the family to the Booth homestead, now known as The Inn at Newtown, in 1872. Her life was a hodge-podge of fact and fiction, spiced by a brief Victorian marriage mystery, and a sad, cloistered life seemingly under the thumb of her tightfisted mother.

In 1920, her mother died and a new era began for the wealthy spinster. At the urging of her friend Arthur Nettleton, a banker, she began to manage her money in the manner that would make her legendary in Newtown. Her first gift was to the building of a new school now known as Hawley School. Her funds paid for the renewal and upkeep of the Village Cemetery, ornate gates to the cemetery were installed and an extravagant Hawley family monument was built near the entrance. The Soldiers and Sailors Monument on Main Street exists due to her gift of money, as does the Memorial Bridge near Hawley Pond (which was created through excavation paid for by Mary Hawley), Edmond Town Hall (named after her maternal great-grandfather) and the C.H. Booth Library. Until her death on May 11, 1930, Mary Hawley worked quietly and steadily to leave her family's mark upon the town.

Also in the Borough is Nettleton Avenue, which was part of one of the earlier subdivisions in town. Although Mary Hawley's friend and advisor Arthur Nettleton lived in the Balcony House on Main Street, it is very likely that this road was named in honor of the man who served as president of Newtown Savings Bank between 1938 and 1950.

Other Notables

Baldwin Road off of Route 302, also part of a 1950s subdivision, no doubt honors another founding family, that of Caleb Baldwin's, suggested Mr Cruson. Genealogical information provided in Ezra Johnson's book indicates that one Caleb Baldwin was town clerk between 1765 and 1799, and that another Caleb Baldwin served in that position from 1799 to 1843. The younger Baldwin's wife was the donor of most of the books that founded the Newtown Library.

Three generations of Baldwins, however, actually lived in the house located at 32 Main Street, a distance away from the road named for the family. Purchased in 1731, the Main Street residence became known as the Caleb Baldwin Inn, where the second Caleb served as innkeeper and Newtown's first postmaster. The younger Caleb not only was later the town clerk, innkeeper, and postmaster, but owner of Baldwin & Beers general store on the corner of West and Main Streets.

Off of Mt Pleasant Road, Blackman Road loops off the east side. Mr Johnson's book notes that John Blackman was one of 52 men "who purchased the township of Newtown of the Colonial Government." The Blackman name occurs time and again in Newtown's history. Judge Samuel Blackman resided in the home that stood on the property that is now the Dana-Holcombe House on Main Street. In the mid-1800s, the Blackman Manufacturing Co. made horse blankets in Sandy Hook Center in the building that had been the satinet factory on Church Hill Road. Reuben Starr Blackman had a hatting business in the Taunton District in the late 1800s and at the turn of the century S.J. Blackman operated the general store located in the Upham building in Hawleyville near the railroad station. At least two gentlemen with the Blackman surname served as first selectman in Newtown, Samuel A. Blackman in 1907 and Stanley Blackman in the mid-1900s. It was Clark S. Blackman who owned the first movie theater in Newtown. The theater on Church Hill Road, the site of today's Citgo station, showed silent movies between 1923 and 1930. Also on Church Hill Road was the Blackman Guest House, offering rooms to travelers during the 1900s.

The Blackman name was very familiar in town over the centuries, said town historian Dan Cruson, so it is difficult to say if the road was named after any particular member or branch of the family. "The Blackman family farm was on the corner of the road that now bears their name. Sometime in the 1930s, I believe, the road was straightened and became known then as Blackman Road. Before that it was called Snake Hill Road," said Mr Cruson.

Another founding father was Samuel Beers, who came to Newtown in 1706. No road presently exists to honor the longtime Beers family, but prior to the renaming of roads in 1952, what is now known as Palestine Road was called Beers Road. (For reasons unknown, residents of the area voted to change the name, at the same time renaming what was then called Palestine Road to Boggs Hill Road, according to a July 1952 article in The Newtown Bee.)

Just outside of the Borough is Blakslee Drive. Ziba Blak(e)slee operated at goldsmith business on Main Street in the late 1700s. A skilled tradesman, he cast church bells, and repaired clocks and surveyor's instruments. Other members of the Blakslee family include Charles F. Blakeslee, one of the men who incorporated Newtown Savings Bank in June of 1855, and James B. Blakeslee, who was one of the first Newtown Savings Bank trustees.

The house at 50-52 Main Street is often referred to as "The Budd House." In the mid-1900s, Stephen Budd lived there with his wife, Florence, a descendent of Henry Beers Glover who built the house in 1869. It is most likely that it is this Budd family, said Dan Cruson, for whom Budd Drive is named. "Budd Drive is one of the more modern developments," said Mr Cruson, "probably going up in the 1960s."

(This is the first of a series of stories about the historic figures behind Newtown's street names.)