Annual Pewter Ornament To Be Sold At The Parade

The Newtown Woman’s Club’s 16th annual pewter Christmas ornament, showing a view of the former John Beach Memorial Library on Main Street, will go on sale for $8 each in front of the C.H. Booth Library during the Labor Day Parade.

After the parade, the ornament will be available through the C.H. Booth Library, the Drug Center Pharmacy, Lexington Gardens, Joy’s Hallmark, and The Newtown Bee. Previous ornaments also will be be for sale at the parade for $10 each and are also available at the Booth Library all year.

Proceeds from the sale will be donated to local charitable and civic organizations.

According to Town Historian Daniel Cruson, in January of 1876, the Newtown Library Association was organized when 100 books were donated to form the core of the association’s collection. For many years the collection increased and was housed in a variety of locations including private homes, the Chase Block at the flagpole, and the red brick building that originally housed the probate court office and until recently was the home of the Bee’s Antiques Library.

In 1900, the library finally got a permanent home when Rebecca Beach, a lineal descendant of the Rev John Beach, founder of Trinity Episcopal Church, donated money to construct the building that still stands today at the head of Main Street across from the Soldiers and Sailors Monument. When the cornerstone for the new library was laid on July 23, 1900, it was set down by John Francis Beach, assisted by his uncle, John Kimberly Beach, seventh and sixth generation lineal descendants of Rev Beach. The building commemorated the memory of their ancestor who founded Trinity Episcopal in 1732 and continued to serve as its minister until his death in 1782. He was extremely popular and due to his efforts, the population in Newtown had a high percentage of Loyalists during the Revolutionary War, according to Mr Cruson.

In 1932 town benefactor Mary Hawley built the C.H. Booth Library and the Beach Library became superfluous. Over the next two years the holdings of the Beach Library were incorporated into the new library’s collections.

In 1934 the building was sold and turned into a private dwelling. It is now the home of John Reed, former superintendent of schools, for whom Newtown’s new intermediate school is named.

The sale of the ornaments is the chief fundraiser of the Newtown Woman’s Club, GFWC. All proceeds are donated to area charities or organizations chosen by the club members. Recipients have included the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Association, the Regional Hospice, the Newtown Woman’s Club Scholarship, FAITH Food Pantry, Newtown Meals on Wheels, the C.H. Booth Library, Newtown FISH, and others.

Lorraine VanderWende and Mary Antey are co-chairpersons of the ornament project.

Previous ornaments in the series include the Newtown rooster weathervane, 1988; The Bee weathervane, 1989; the flagpole and the Meeting House, 1990; the General Store, 1991; the former Yankee Drover Inn, 1992; Edmond Town Hall, 1993; the Cyrenius H. Booth Library, 1994; the Ram Pasture, 1995; the Matthew Curtiss House, 1996; Hawley School, 1997; the former Fabric Fire House Company, 1998; the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument at the head of Main Street, 1999; the view from Castle Hill, 2000, The Pleasance, 2001; and the Curtis Packaging General Store, 2002.

Past ornaments are available for purchase at the C.H. Booth Library.