“The ABCs of Newtown” is a series tying each letter of the alphabet to something in Newtown. This week we continue with a look at an area of town located along part of Newtown’s western and southern borders.

Dodgingtown is a Census Designated Place, or a US Census location with an officially recognized name. It is located on the western side of Newtown and bordered to the west by Bethel and Redding.

The US Census Bureau notes that 0.43 square miles of land makes up Dodgingtown. There are no significant bodies of water within the district, also according to the Census Bureau.

For the purpose of this story, Dodgingtown is the area covered by the district’s fire company. Dodgingtown borders with the town lines of Bethel, Danbury, and Redding on the west, and Easton on the east. It includes the full length of Hattertown Road, and Sugar Street (State Route 302) as far north as Scudder Road and Longview Heights Road.

Its northern border roads include Ashford Lane at Cobblestone Lane, Birch Hill Road at Great Hill Road, Wildcat Road, and Plumtrees Road.

Using the Town of Newtown GIS map, Dodgingtown measures 10.79 miles, or 6,907.65 acres, or 300,897,265.88 square feet.

Dodgingtown includes most of Hattertown Historic District, a US National Register of Historic Places location, within its area. Botsford Fire Rescue covers one full parcel and one partial parcel of the 19.4-acre designated district.

The historic district is centered around a green that dates from the 19th Century. The district is bound by Hattertown Road, Hi-Barlow Road, Gregory Lane, and the intersections of Hattertown with Castle Meadow Road and Aunt Park Lane.

According to Newtown, Connecticut, published in 1989 by The League of Women Voters of Newtown, Inc., “Tradition holds that Dodgingtown came by its name because it lay within the area which for a long time was claimed by both Newtown and Danbury. When the Newtown tax collectors appeared, the citizens claimed vehemently that they were Danbury residents; when the Danbury agents turned up, everybody insisted they were Newtowners! Nothing could be proven while the boundaries were undetermined, so the dodging continued successfully for a number of years.”

(That section of Danbury, which lies to the immediate west of Dodgingtown, later became Bethel, the book also notes.)

Road & Location Name Roots

Most roads in Newtown did not have official names until the early 1950s. Before that, locals knew where everyone lived and gave directions by referencing homes and farms. Visitors had a very difficult time navigating. The League of Women Voters of Newtown is credited with getting roads named and signs posted, after running a contest to name roads consistently.

Some of the roads with interesting histories within Dodgingtown include:

Aunt Park Lane and Phyllis Lane honor two 19th Century residents who were known for the medicinal remedies they grew or found in nearby woods and fields.

Boggs Hill Road skirts an area referred to in the town records of 1716 as Ye Great Boggs and Ye Little Boggs. “Ye Great Boggs,” according to the current Town GIS map, covers 121+ acres, bordered along the east by Boggs Hill Road and on the west by Key Rock Road. The largest segment of the bog, 98 acres, is owned by Newtown Forest Association and is part of the Paul A. Cullens Wildlife Preserve, named for the former Newtown Congregational Church pastor and one of the founders of NFA (see “The ABCs of Newtown: C Is For Cullens”).

Ferris Road was named in the 1960s, Charles D. Ferris III told The Newtown Bee in 2008, for his father (Charles D. Ferris, Jr), and ancestors before him who had purchased, lived on, and farmed the land between Sugar Street, Scudder Road, and now their namesake road.

Hattertown Road and the historic district surrounding Hattertown Green were named for the hatting factories set up between 1821 and 1855. While small factories were set up in different locations across town, Hattertown “was the area of greatest hatting activity in the first half of the 19th Century,” according to the late town historian Dan Cruson.

Jangling Plains Road refers to the Middle English definition of jangle, or squabble. It references a 1711 dispute over a parcel of land between John Glover, who owned more land in town than anyone at that time, and the town.

Scudder Road was named to honor Captain Samuel Scudder, who owned a large piece of property where Scudder Road ends — at the intersection of Rock Ridge and Birch Hill roads. Scudder’s property included an extensive flagstone quarry beyond the back yard of the homestead.

Scudder Road’s previous name was Mine Hill Road, named for the quarry of the same name along that roadway.

Shut Road, now a dead end off Poor House Road, once connected with another road before being shut off.

Sugar Street and Sugar Lane, within Hook & Ladder’s fire district, were named for the large sugar maple trees that lined the road from the center of Newtown into Bethel. Farmers tapped those trees for maple sugar and syrup. Most of the trees were felled when the road was widened and paved by the state in the 1920s.

The late town historian Dan Cruson believed Wiley Road, a tiny dirt road off Hattertown, just west of Key Rock, was named for Harry Wiley. When speaking to The Newtown Bee in 2008 for a series of stories concerning road names, Cruson mentioned Wiley, who owned property on Taunton Hill and Great Hill Road, where a quarry was located in the 1920s.

Additionally, the small cemetery on Hattertown Road just east-southeast of the intersection with Boggs Hill Road, is on its second name. Morgan Cemetery was founded as Underhill Cemetery, named for the family who donated the land and began burying family members there.

The name changed around the middle of the 19th Century, after Ezra Morgan established a store in the 1830s on the corner of Hattertown and Boggs Hill Road. Cruson called Morgan “an influential merchant in town.” Morgan was a prosperous farmer who was active in town affairs, and served three terms as a representative in the General Assembly. He was also president of Hatter’s Bank of Bethel for “many years,” according to one of Cruson’s multiple essays. The intersection where Morgan’s store was located soon became known as Morgan’s Four Corners.

The District’s Fire Company

Dodgingtown Volunteer Fire Company (DVFC) was founded in 1909, and incorporated in 1911, making it the second fire company in town.

Its first firehouse was constructed at 40 Dodgingtown Road, on land sold to the company by Dodgingtown native Al Bevans.

Bevans and his father were “very active in the Dodgingtown community,” Cruson wrote in his essay “Newtown Notables: Al Bevans, Dodgingtown’s Man of Entertainment.” Both men were key players in the founding of the fire company. Al served as its first chief, “a position he held for many years,” his obituary in The Newtown Bee noted. He was also state district fire warden of Fairfield County, a position he held until his death.

The company acquired its first motorized fire truck around its 25th anniversary, when then-Chief William Gowen arranged to have a 1927 Packard converted into a fire engine. That vehicle was in use until 1951.

The fire company moved to its current location, 55 Dodgingtown Road, in 1953. A new building at that location allowed the company to expand its holdings to more than one truck. It was renovated in 2009.

The 40 Dodgingtown Road property was sold to Newtown Montessori School. The property was sold again in April 2000, to Housatonic Valley Waldorf School.

The original firehouse building fell into disrepair and was demolished in May 2009. A new building for the Waldorf School took its place.

Dodgingtown Volunteer Fire Company celebrated its 100th anniversary with a semiformal dinner at its firehouse in March 2011.

Today the volunteer fire company is led by Chief Steve Murphy, who has held that position for ten years.

DVFC’s current officers are Assistant Chief Ryan Bolmer, Captain Steve Osmolik, First Lieutenant Joe Masso, and Second Lieutenant Chris Moquin. Its administrative officers are President Rob Michael, Treasurer Greg White, and Secretary Erin Murphy.

The company has three pieces of apparatus: a 2010 Pierce pumper, a 1998 E-One pumper, and a 2019 4 Guys Fire Trucks tanker.

It has 25 active members, Murphy said this week.

Al Bevans, Continued

Alfred Elizar (Al) Bevans, DVFC’s first chief, was born on May 14, 1871, to Sarah and Eleazer C. Bevans. The Bevans homestead, the former William Beard House on Dodgingtown Road, dates from 1819.

Bevans was known as a farmer, hat manufacturer, lightning rod salesman, entertainer, restaurateur, and painter, in addition to firefighter.

On July 13, 1928, Bevans opened Al Bevans Old Log Cabin, a roadside refreshment stand he had built on property opposite his homestead. A few years later the business became Al Bevans Log Cabin Lunch, and he began serving dinners and lunch.

A June 1932 issue of The Newtown Bee noted that Bevans had redecorated “his attractive refreshment stand at Dodgingtown on the Newtown-Bethel state road. A new large dining room has been added, the grounds have been rearranged, marine views have been painted on the screen and the place is now 100 percent Sunoco.”

Bevans was also a celebrated local entertainer. He and his wife, Clara Belle (Comstock), whom he wed in November 1893, were both talented musicians. He was known for his singing and banjo playing; she was known for her piano and vocal work. They worked together in forming The Bevans Old Time Band.

Bevans also performed skits “with wit and charm, especially for Dodgingtown Fire House socials,” according to Cruson.

The February 15, 1918, issue of The Newtown Bee concurred, noting that “there is one thing Dodgingtown can do and that is to get up a show that is worthwhile, with such an actor in all lines as Al Bevans.” Bevans, et al, did a comedy event at the firehouse the previous week, and while “there is no slur to the other performers for all they did they bit for making the show a success … but when it came to his chalk talks there is no better operator along that line,” The Bee writer raved about Bevans. “How he can do it without more preparation is a mystery.”

Bevans was a member of Hiram Lodge No 18 AF&M in Sandy Hook, and Putnam Lodge No 36, Knights of Pythias in Bethel; he was a member of the Newtown Board of Relief; and a member of Bethel Methodist church.

Al Bevans died at Danbury Hospital on June 29, 1940, following an illness of several months duration, according to his obituary. He was, his obituary noted, “one of this town’s best known citizens.” He was 69 at the time of his death.

Honan Funeral Home helped his family with arrangements, although the funeral service was conducted at Bevans’ home. Local law enforcement officials were honorary bearers. The six active bearers were all members of Dodgingtown Fire Company. He was buried in Wooster Cemetery in Danbury.

His obituary noticed closed with the note: “A man of extremely friendly nature, ‘Al’ Bevans will be missed by a host of friends throughout Connecticut.”

Dodgingtown Notes

*Dodgingtown is where Scrabble was fully developed. The board game was invented by New York resident Alfred Butts, but it was Newtown resident James Brunot who turned it into the international phenomenon it became (see “The ABCs of Newtown: B is For Brunot,” February 26, 2021).

*The Monroe-Newtown Turnpike was one of five turnpikes set up to run through Newtown. Chartered in 1933, it is still largely intact. It begins in upper Stepney at the junction of Routes 25 and 59 and continues north, through Hattertown to Dodgingtown. The former turnpike is today’s Hattertown Road.

*In August 1912, The Battle of Newtown took place. These were war maneuvers, or the military buildup ahead of World War I, that included a full-scale “battle” involving 20,000 troops in the center of town, with no injuries. The event included troops passing through Dodgingtown.

*A quarry was once located at Mine Hill, called Scudder’s Quarry. In 1888, 500 to 600 tons of stone from that quarry were used to construct Castle Ronald (also known as Ronald’s Castle, or The Castle) atop Castle Hill. The quarry was located at the corner of Birch Hill and Rock Ridge roads (labeled Mine Hill in older maps of the region).

Dodgingtown was also home to a quarry that yielded a high grade of feldspar. Cruson wrote of a quarry in an area called Hopewell Woods, south of a now disused section of Old Dodgingtown Road and north of Hopewell Road, right on the edge of Newtown’s westernmost border with Redding. The Hopewell quarry was worked by New Jersey Flint and Spar Company and the International Pottery Company, both of Trenton, N.J.

*Another Hopewell district quarry opened just off the end of today’s Purdy Station Road, around January 1922, operated by mine and quarry business veteran Captain Charles Cook. The New Milford resident was, according to an August 1922 story in The Newtown Bee, extracting 100 to 200 tons of feldspar per month.

At the same time, Harry Wiley, of Wiley Road (above), also allowed Cook to mine his property on Taunton Hill Road, a few hundred yards south of Great Hill Road.

In April 1921, Cook leased mineral rights for the F.A. Young Farm, at the corner of Castle Hill and Great Hill roads. In September 1924, William B. Warner leased the mineral rights for the Young farm, after Cook had moved on. Warner opened a new ledge of pegmatite that had been missed by his predecessor, finding an unusually fine grade of the mineral. Warner christened the quarry the Grace Feldspar Mine.

Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.