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Plans to build a new restaurant/inn at the spot where the Yankee Drover once stood have been submitted to borough officials and a public hearing is scheduled to discuss the validity of the non-conforming status enjoyed by the previous restaurant. Owners John Vouros and William Reibe are scheduled to meet with the borough zoning Board of Appeals. The proposed new restaurant covers the same ground are as the old one and is just over 15,000 square feet.

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One of the town’s most popular tradition, the $1 movie, is soon to be one of the town’s fondest memories. The Board of Managers of Edmond Town Hall have decided to raise the price of movies to $2. The rise of cable television and video cassette recorders has caused movie audience sizes all over the country to dwindle. With the cost of first-run movies now ranging between $4.50 and $5, the $2 charge is still a bargain for a movie.

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The Newtown Bridle Lanes Sleigh Rally, co-sponsored by the Newtown Parks and Recreation Department, is scheduled for Sunday, February 9, to start at 11 am at Dickinson Park in the heart of Newtown. Spectators will be welcome with lots of good parking, and warm town facilities open.

January 27, 1961

Friday’s storm followed by severe cold weather is certainly the town’s biggest news story for this issue. Nearly 30 inches of snow fell and drifted in places to more than eight feet deep. Temperature readings in the past few days have been as low as 32 degrees below zero, reported in the Glen area. Relatively warmer Main Street had a 22-below reading Sunday.

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Borough Warden Robert deVeer reports he has received several calls from residents concerning condition of sidewalks after snowstorms. Mr deVeer said it is the obligation of the householder to clear the walks crossing his land as soon as possible after a storm.

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Thirty-two friends of Mrs Joseph R. Engelberger, Mrs Hans W. Kretsch, and Mrs Frederick M. Herring met at the Engelberger home on Taunton Hill Road for luncheon and a swim. The ladies were not the hardy souls that one would first imagine when reading about swimming in January, for the Englebergers have enclosed their pool, which adjoins the house, and installed a most efficient heating system. Behind this party is the money-making project of the Garden Club of Newtown. All members were given $1 and told to make the dollar “grow.” Mrs Engelberger, Mrs Kretsch, and Mrs Herring chose to hold the swimming party and luncheon, using their dollars toward expenses, and charged their friends $1.50.

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Ninety persons attended the first worship service of Christ the King Lutheran Church at Hawley School auditorium last Sunday, January 22. Following the service, the First Selectman, Charles W. Terrell, Jr, in behalf of the community welcomed the church to Newtown. Congratulatory letters from churches in the area were noted by the pastor.

 

January 23, 1936

A stack of white baling hay at the farm of Morris Butensky in Hawleyville district caught fire on Friday morning. The gas engine of the baling outfit back-fired and ignited some gasoline, the flames from which quickly spread to the nearby haystack. A second haystack caught fire. The baling outfit was badly damaged and the loss amounts to several hundred dollars.

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It is reported that on Tuesday morning the thermometer at the home for Joseph Turner in the Hawleyville section registered 25 below zero. This was the coldest morning of the winter so far.

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A commendable piece of road work is being done on the Berkshire end of Botsford Hill. The road, which is very narrow and dangerous at all times, is being widened out, with the bad corners eliminated. The work is a WPA project.

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The boys’ basketball team of Hawley school is playing the team of the Danbury Trade school this Thursday afternoon in Edmond gymnasium. This game is played on Thursday afternoon instead of Friday evening on account of the card party being held in the Edmond gymnasium at that time.

January 27, 1911

The large heating and plumbing contract, amounting to something like $14,000, has been awarded to A.E. Brinton, the hustling Newtown plumber, for steam heating and plumbing at Castle Ronald. The material for the work is now being drawn from the station to the Castle by Hermon H. Peck.

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Eugene Botsford with his horses took a party of young people for a straw ride one evening, last week. Their stopping place was Taunton Lake, where they enjoyed skating for awhile, much to their satisfaction.

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From one section of the town come reports to The Bee of disturbances the result of alleged selling of hard cider. If the person in question is making his place a nuisance, the law abiding citizens of that community should appoint a committee to wait on the offending brother. The Editor, your ministers, or your selectmen cannot furnish residents the moral backbone and responsibility which lays in their own hands.

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N.N. Tiemann, Jr, was so unfortunate as to have a couple of his toes freeze, or get frost bitten, while skating on Taunton Lake, necessitating an absence from school of a couple of days.