Legislative Council members by a one vote margin Wednesday night decided that they will consider purchase of the Congregational Church property on Main Street, adjacent to Edmond Town Hall. With eleven of the 18 council members present, the vote was 6-5 to consider an appropriation of $530,000 to purchase the 5.47 acres of land, which includes the three-story parish house, a six-room cottage, and eight-room parsonage on Main Street, and the General Store building on Main Street.

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The Newtown Beautification Committee has announced that a special purchase of daffodil bulbs is being made available to non-profit clubs and groups in Newtown that wish to add to the public plantings that have been established within the past few years. Through the generosity and cooperation of Lexington Gardens, special prices on certain varieties of daffodils that are good for naturalizing will be offered when the bulbs are available in September.

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On the eve of a Planning & Zoning Commission hearing on the application of Newtown Housing for the Elderly Inc to expand Nunnawauk Meadows by 40 additional apartments, the non-profit corporation has announced it received a funding commitment to construct the new facility.

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In an era of growing shortages, the Newtown Park and Recreation Department has its own particular shortage to deal with: athletic playing fields. Park and Rec Director Lee Davenson said about 85 sporting and recreation teams, or about 1,750 people, used 13 different playing fields in town this year, but now face the loss of two or three of them. To compound the problem, the department is scrambling to find fields now. At its July 10 meeting a delegation from the Newtown Slow Pitch Softball Association appeared to request that more playing fields be made available. Members of that group said they’d had difficulty finding places to play and suggested possibly lighting fields at Dickinson Town Park so the fields could be used at night.

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Although half the town already knew about it, the announcement became official on Monday evening. The Republicans are planning big things for the Labor Day parade, or rather it may be more proper to say, planning a big thing. The Grand Old Party’s symbol, an elephant, a real live one, a 1,300 pound baby elephant will be joining the Republican contingent in the line of March. And who will be gracing the back of the pachyderm? You guessed it, folks. The rider will be none other than Newtown’s madcap Town Clerk Mae Schmidle, who, it is said, has already test driven the elephant and thinks it drives very well. Just what Mae will wear for the auspicious occasion is still a deep, dark secret, but one can count on the lady’s coming up with something most appropriate.

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STOP of Newtown, an organization formed four years ago to fight transporting of radioactive material on Route 34, is now undergoing reorganization as an anti-nuclear organization. About 25 attended a STOP meeting on Wednesday, August 15, in the town hall; the majority were young people, many of high school age. “This may be the time to restructure and reorganize,” said Mrs Mitzi Bowman, who was instrumental in developing the group originally.

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Newtown’s Board of Education will receive a plea on Tuesday, August 28, to provide school bus or van service for a private neighborhood in Sandy Hook, Pootatuck Park. Socha Larsen, president of the Pootatuck Park Association, said her group will make the request now that Narragansett Trail, the half mile long major access road into the neighborhood from Riverside Road, has been approved.

AUGUST 20, 1954

This Sunday, August 22, on the anniversary of its opening, Edmond Town Hall will begin its 25th year of service to the town as the seat of the town government, general meeting place and recreation center. In the past 24 years it has been the scene of many town meetings, commencement exercises, rummage sales, church fairs, dog shows, square dances, antiques auctions and Town Players performances. Day-by-day it has had a continuous parade of visitors going to the movies and on Monday nights, a lesser group meeting in Town Court to serve the ends of justice. In its 24-year history, Edmond Town Hall has been the focal point of the community and, to newcomers and tourists as well as to townspeople of long residence, a distinctive feature of Newtown.

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Herbert H. Cutler, member of the Board of Finance and chairman of the Newtown High School Building Committee, received the endorsement of the Republican Town Committee for representative in the General Assembly, at a meeting of the committee held last Friday evening, August 13, at Republican headquarters on Main Street.

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 John F. Holian points out that the emergency March of Dimes drive is on for the balance of the month and that while no drive will be carried on in Newtown because of the excellent response last January, he will be glad to receive contributions from anyone wishing to support the emergency campaign. The purpose of the emergency drive is to make up the shortage of funds which the National Polio Foundation now has as a result of the nationwide inoculations given to school children this spring.

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 Recent appointments to the staff of Fairfield State Hospitl include Dr Jacob de Jong, formerly of Norwich State Hospital, as senior resident in psychiatry; Dr George G. Ardito of New Haven as dentist; and Miss Betty Anne Geen as dental hygienist.

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Harold Carey, new chairman of the ways and means committee of the Newtown PTA has announced that the group will hold a rummage sale at the Town Hall gymnasium on October 9. Anyone having clothes, furniture which can be restored, dishes or white elephants they wish to have picked up may contact him at Garden 6-4138.

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The new officers of the Newtown Mothers Club set one of their prime objectives, the gaining of new and active members during the coming year, at a meeting held Monday evening, August 16, for a discussion of various official duties.

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The Vacation Church School of the Newtown Congregational Church closed last Friday, August 13, after a two-weeks session in which 58 children participated.

AUGUST 16, 1929

The new state insane hospital, to eventually cost $10,000,000, will be constructed in Newtown, the Board of Trustees for the new hospital having voted unanimously at their meeting at the Ridgewold Inn in Redding, last week Thursday. The Mile Hill site will be the location for the institution.

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DeForest Glover and Roger Treat are studying aviation at the Curtis Flying Field at Lordship.

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Willis Arndt left Monday to attend the New England Lecturers’ Conference held at Massachusetts Agricultural College at Amherst, Mass. Mr Arndt is the master of Pootatuck Grange.

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Henry G. Carlson of the Liberty Garage, who recently accepted the agency for the DeSoto cars, is showing one of the new demonstrator sedans at the Hawleyville Carnival, which is being held the 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th of this month.

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J.J. Keane has rented a store in Troy’s block in Sandy Hook for a radio shop, where he has a big display of Atwater, Kent, Bosch, and Sparton radios.

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Sunday morning Newtown experienced the most severe thunderstorm of the year. A flash of electricity came in to toast the bread of Thomas M. Houlian, member of the town Board of Finance, as he was enjoying his breakfast. The bolt apparently came in on the electric wire to split some rafters in the attic and emerge from a punctured hole in the roof.

AUGUST 19, 1904

John M. Beers lost 30 fowls from his hen roost one night last week.

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The handsome beds of flowers set out about the station at Botsford are cared for by Patrick Lyons. Lawyer C.G. Morris furnished the flowers for the beds.

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Miss Kate F. Camp left town last week on her return to her school duties in Minnesapolis, Minn.

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Miss Julia Duncombe and Miss Elsie Moore went to Camp Buell, near Great Barrington, Mass. Monday to join a camping party, to be chaperoned by Mrs L.M. Johnson of Dalton, Mass.

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J. Lane has rented S.A. Blackman’s blacksmith shop at Hawleyville and opened it for business last Monday. He is now prepared to do horse shoeing, carriage and wagon repairing, and all kinds of jobbing.

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Matthias Carroll of Great Ring captured a large hive of fine bees in a stump near his home a few days ago.

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Birdsey McEwen of Half Way River saw a fine young deer near his home one day last week.

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August Reiner, one day last week, had an unpleasant experience while out in the woods showing a friend his place. He lost his bearings and got lost. Not returning by dark, his family started out to find him and succeeded about 2 o’clock the next morning in locating Mr Reiner in Pine Swamp, two miles east of Botsford Depot.