By Nancy K. Crevier

What is in a name, we might ask. As primitive as the roads were in the early years of Newtown's history, 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 called by the same surname of the same family members 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. The names of many streets reflect a pride in the people who settled the land more than 300 years ago, and of the many figures who have since left their mark upon Newtown's history.

This second in a series of articles focuses on streets that lie outside of the borough, and the people behind the names.

Edmond Road

Judge William Edmond established a practice of law in Newtown in May of 1782, and lived here until 1858. From 1805 to 1819, he was an appointed judge of the Superior Court. Judge Edmond is better known, though, as the great-grandfather of Mary Elizabeth Hawley, the benefactress of Newtown. Edmond Town Hall was named in his honor by Ms Hawley, who donated the money to build the new town hall in the early 1930s, and Edmond Road off of Church Hill Road also honors the venerable judge.

Dayton Street

Closer to the bottom of Church Hill Road in Sandy Hook Center begins Dayton Street, connected to Glen Road via a small bridge. Newtown Connecticut Past and Present published by the League of Women Voters in 1955, carries a tale of this road"s naming as told to publishers by Doris Dayton Dickinson: Judge Charles W. Dayton, her grandfather, was "challenged to ride across the bridge [connecting the road to Glen Road] on a donkey wearing fine clothes and a high silk hat. If he met the challenge, the road would be named after him. He was a big man which may have been why he chose to cross in a horse and buggy, but the road was named in his honor anyhow."

Johnson Drive

Just beyond the center of Sandy Hook off of Riverside Road is a short road named Johnson Drive. The name Johnson appears hundreds of times in Newtown's history, but it is the descendants of Lieutenant Colonel Ebenezer Johnson, a witness of the deed for Newtown given by the Indians in 1705, that are best known. Ebenezer Johnson built his home on what is now Route 25, and later built a nearby home for his son Ezra H. Johnson. It was in this home at 84 South Main Street, now being refurbished by Judy Fishman and Andy Wiggin, that Newtown's first town historian, Ezra L. Johnson, was born. Johnson Drive is quite some distance from the Johnson farm, however, so it may be that this road honors one of the many other Johnsons who have made Newtown or Sandy Hook their home. It is also feasible that the road name would have honored President Andrew Johnson.

Goodyear Road

A small dirt road extends off of Riverside Road not far from Johnson Drive, named Goodyear Road. The 1854 map of Newtown marks a factory on Glen Road as "Goodyear Rubber Packing." Later known as the N.Y. Belting and Packing Co. and the Fabric Fire Hose Company, it was Sandy Hook resident Charles Goodyear who founded the company and who gained renown in 1839 for the technique of the vulcanization of rubber.

Ezra L. Johnson wrote in his tome Newtown 1705 to 1918, "The accidental discovery of vulcanization by Charles Goodyear, and his subsequent experiments, gave a wonderful impetus to its development. Rubber at once became an essential in the sciences, in manufacturing and in domestic life, and now forms one of the great industries of modern times." Mr Johnson noted that despite Charles Goodyear's contribution to science, he "lived and died poor." The rich history of his name, however, is immortalized locally in metal on Newtown's street sign.

Philo Curtis Road

The Curtis name goes back many generations in Newtown. Philo Curtis Road runs between Riverside Road and Pole Bridge Road and was named for a successful late 18th Century Sandy Hook farmer whose property bordered what is now Riverside and Philo Curtis Roads. The Philo Curtis home was actually on Riverside Road. It was not uncommon for prosperous farmers of the day to own one or two slaves, and in The Slaves of Central Fairfield County by town historian Dan Cruson, Philo Curtis is listed as owning a slave, Jenny. Philo Curtis also served as selectman of Newtown, according to Mr Cruson.

Jeremiah Road

The writers of Newtown Past and Present suggest that Jeremiah Road, which runs from the intersection of Pole Bridge and Philo Curtis Roads to Bennett's Bridge Road, is named for Jeremiah Turner, "the first white child born in Newtown," who is buried in Lands End Cemetery. Newtown 1705 to 1918 also makes mention of Jeremiah Turner. He was granted the rights by the fledging town to construct a grist mill in 1711 on what is now Taunton Lake, and also a sawmill on Half Way River. Mr Turner failed to proceed with the construction of the grist mill, for reasons unknown.

Bennett's Bridge Road

There is no bridge of note on Bennett's Bridge Road off of Route 34. The road merges into a private way, Lakeview Terrace, near the Housatonic River. But once upon a time, said Mr Cruson, the road meandered along the river all the way from the corner of Route 34 and what is now called Bennett's Bridge Road to the end of Riverside Road "where just after the Revolution, brothers Abel, Isaac, and Thomas Bennett constructed the bridge that spanned the Housatonic until the early part of the 20th Century. The stone pylons that supported Bennett's Bridge can still be seen poking above the waters of the river. Because the road once led to the bridge, it came to be called by that name, even though at some point the road was cut off from its access to the bridge. An A. Bennett is shown on the 1854 map of Newtown as having a home in the area about where the road now merges into Lakeview Terrace.

Bresson Farm Road

The bicentennial 1905 map shows the homestead of F. Bresson off of the main road, now Route 34, and J. Bresson near the Half Way River. Francis Bresson, the son of that F. Bresson, still lives in the area. He said that Bresson Farm Road, running between Bennett's Bridge and Yogananda Street, was named by the developer of the Charter Ridge area for his family. The family farm is actually located on Bennett's Bridge, but their property included 135 acres at one time, bordered by Bennett's Bridge, Osborne Hill Road, Chambers Road, and the Paugussett State Forest, said Mr Bresson. The farm was an active dairy farm from around 1900, when his father bought the property, said Mr Bresson, until 1963 when Francis Bresson's brother sold the farm. 'We used to average 102 head," recalled Mr Bresson. "One barn housed about 48 milkers, and other barns housed the horses and the heifers."

Osborne Hill Road

The Osbornes behind Osborne Hill Road remain a mystery. Betty Lou Osborne is certain that the road is not named for them, despite living in proximity to the road. "Jim moved here from Ohio, and when the sign first went up, it was 'Osborn' without the 'e'at the end," said Mrs Osborne. In recent years, the newer sign has sported an "e" at the end, however. "It was called something else by all the locals a long time ago," Mrs Osborne remembered, "but we have never known who the Osborn was that the sign was named for."

Longtime residents of that area John E. Kearns and Francis Bresson say that so long as they can recall, the road has been called Osborne Hill, but neither remember an Osborne family ever having lived nearby. Mr Kearns does remember that when the town erected the sign for Osborne Hill Road, an unhappy John Frier, who had long lived at the far end of that lane, dug up the street sign and replaced it with his own: John Frier Road. Apparently, the town agreed to disagree, and the street sign for Osborne Hill Road was replaced. Whether or not Mr Frier ever sought his revenge again is unknown.

Homer Clark Lane

Homer Clark Lane is an abbreviated road halfway between Bennett's Bridge Road and Paugussett Road. Mr Clark operated the Clark-Burr Meat Wagon in the early 1900s, delivering freshly butchered meat, cut to order, to southern Newtown residents. His horses, Dick and Spot, faithfully pulled the wagon about town.

More names behind the roads, down the road.