October 28, 1988

First Selectman Rod Mac Kenzie decided to close his office in Edmond Town Hall on Thursday, October 27, and also on Thursday, November 3, so he and his staff members can catch up on the backlog of filing. Mr Mac Kenzie said he was “extremely reluctant” to take this action, but that filing still needed to be done from July, August, and September, as well as for this month. On days when the selectman’s office is closed, Mr Mac Kenzie said calls made to his office through the town hall switchboard will be transferred to his home telephone.

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Many Newtowners may have had trouble balancing their checkbooks in recent weeks because of outstanding checks to the tax collector. Before she resigned from office this week, Newtown Tax Collector Audrey Grasso explained that the problem, caused by a staffing shortage, should be cleared up in the next few weeks, as a part time employee has been hired. Due to an overload of payments in the busy months of July and August, coupled with the staffing problems, some tax payments have sat uncashed for several weeks.

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Members of the Second Company Governor’s Horse Guard applauded the October 22 dedication ceremonies for the Guard’s new quarters, in the old dairy barn at Fairfield Hills Hospital. After making renovations, the Guard will relocate from its leased facilities in Bethany in May 1989; until them, its horses will remain in Bethany. The Guard was welcomed to town by Senator Fred Lovegrove and Rep Mae Schmidle. Due to the rain that morning, the Guard held its ceremonies on foot and indoors, rather than holding its scheduled mounted drill outside.

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After 19 years of walking about 100 yards around to the visitors’ side of the field for a hot dog or a cup of coffee then going back to the bleachers, the Newtown Pop Warner fans will now be able to grab a snack in between plays. The league has built a new concession stand, thanks to the tremendous volunteer efforts by many companies and individuals, in a more suitable spot — on the field. The purpose of the new shack, which is now located almost at midfield, is to bring in a greater revenue, and to allow the parents, who work voluntarily in the stand, to watch their children play.

November 1, 1963

Mr and Mrs William Craig of Newtown have purchased the former Hillandale Restaurant, located on Route 6 and 202, the Newtown-Danbury Road. With three teenage children in their own family, Mr and Mrs Craig believe that there is a very definite need for a pleasant meeting place in Newtown for the entertainment of young people. Thus the Hillandale Teenage Nite club has been born. Teenagers will run the enterprise with Mr and Mrs Craig supervising. No liquor will be served or allowed on the premises. Mr and Mrs Craig have planned the Hillandale for teenagers; however parents are welcome to come at any time.

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Barton L. Weller, president of Vitramon, Inc, told Newtown Rotarians at the Yankee Drover Inn, Monday night, he continues to expect ultimate expansion of the company’s operations into Newtown and that the level for profit will, as always, determine when and how much. He said, “This would not be the year for construction on the land at Dead Man’s Curve, but we hope to get the land in attractive and usable condition.” Mr Weller said that “possibly a year from now, we can announce a research laboratory there.”

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Formal dedication of the newly completed club house of the Newtown Country Club will take place on Saturday, November 16. The affair will be a dinner-dance for all members and their guests. With the completion of the new club house, many other activities are being planned on a year-round basis. Suppers will be scheduled on a regular basis, special events for the ladies of the club, and other activities.

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Hunters and hikers are still cautioned to stay out of the woods, and all people are asked to defer burning until more rain has fallen. While there has been some rain, it had not been sufficient at press time to permit normal resumption of the usual fall activities of hunters, hikers and others who like the outdoors, and the warnings against burning trash or other setting of fires were, consequently, still very much in effect.

October 28, 1938

During the past week a beautifully illustrated Cuban government magazine, mailed from Havana, Cuba, reached The Bee office with the simple address, “The Bee Hive, Connecticut, USA.” The Bee staff was quite impressed by the fact that mail bearing such a incomplete address should reach the office without any delay. A small world, after all.

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The firemen were called to the residence of Dr J. Benton Egee in Sandy Hook on Monday morning, to extinguish a blaze in a hot water heater in the cellar. While attempting to light the heater, surplus oil exploded and became ignited, but with several blankets Dr Egee and the firemen were able to extinguish the fire before it spread to cause any damage.

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In a recent issue of the Saturday Evening Post was an advertisement of the Statler Hotels carrying the picture of Mrs Harrie Wood, her Dodgingtown home and a ginger squash pie. The pie was made from a recipe belonging to Mrs Wood, by a chef at one of the Statler hotels.

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The Homestead Farm in Dodgingtown, owned by G.C. Morgan of Newtown, is to be congratulated on the amazing new world’s record set by their pen at the Storrs Egg Laying Contest. The 1938 Storrs contest closed on September 22 with the Homestead pen of Reds not only holding the highest record for all breeds at Storrs, but for all other US egg laying contests, as well. The pen of 13 hens laid 3,715 eggs, and had a total of 4,001 points. This represented an average of 285.75 eggs and 307.7 points per bird in 51 weeks. No other pen in the history of egg laying contests has ever made an official average of more than 300 points per bird in 51 weeks, for all 13 birds in the pen.

 

October 31, 1913

At the whist party to be given at the Grand Central hotel on Friday evening, it has been arranged to have a watchman for the teams and autos, so that goblins will be compelled to look elsewhere in order to have their fun. So everyone that drives to the party may be sure that their property will be looked after as well as possible.

People who attended church on Sunday could not be classed among the “clear weather Christians” even though the sun did shine for a few minutes just before church. The rain came down in buckets just as church was out and more than one new winter bonnet received a christening.

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The demonstration of the use of dynamite on the farm under the auspices of the State Board of Agriculture was held a the farm of J. Arthur Sherwood, master of the Connecticut State Grange, in Easton, on Wednesday. About 250 were present, all the nearby towns being represented. An exhibition of rock and stump blasting, and ditch digging was given.

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The Hale Hotel Co. have incorporated under the laws of the state to take over the lease and business of W.F. Hale at the Newtown Inn. The object of the incorporation is to promote the hotel business at the Newtown Inn and advertise Newtown’s attractions. The hotel will be put in first class condition and will be opened in the spring as an up-to-date hotel. During the winter the hotel will be open to care for transient guests at a very reasonable figure.