* * *

Residents overwhelmingly favor constructing an Olympic-sized swimming pool at Timothy B. Treadwell Memorial Park according to the poll conducted by the Parks and Recreation Commission over the last several months. Estimated to cost between $600,000 and $700,000, the pool would be treated as a new proposal rather than the third stage of a phased project. Many respondents indicated the time had come for a swimming facility in the Sandy Hook area of town.

* * *

Against a backdrop of tall grass and cattails, two white birds strutted through the shallow end of Hawley Pond at the south end of Ram Pasture, their yellow beaks piercing the water now and then to snatch a tasty morsel. Although the Canada geese outnumbered them and the ducks were friendlier, the two great egrets feeding during the late afternoon of Wednesday, August 15, were the clear-cut celebrities of this avian gathering.

* * *

First Selectman Jack Rosenthal announced Monday, August 20, that Newtown had solved its septic waste problem for the next 20 years by signing an agreement with three other towns to set up a central dump site in Danbury. Bridgewater, Brookfield, and Redding will join Newtown in the $520,000 project which will call for the renovation of the Danbury sewage treatment plant.

 

August 28, 1959

The new addition to the high school is a beehive of activity with large crews of construction workers on hand to push toward its completion. Despite schedule setbacks suffered in the carpenters’ strike and the plumbers’ strike, the work is reported to be progressing at a fast clip. The addition will enlarge the school by 33 classrooms. Changes are being made in the present building to add seven classrooms. The building and alterations will cost about $1,120,000.

 

* * *

The St Rose centennial bazaar is in full swing with a week of activity, fun and fellowship on the parish grounds. A very large turnout of parishioners, townspeople, and residents of area towns gathered Tuesday evening for the block dance to the music of the Fred Tucker orchestra. This Thursday evening a trip to Miami will be awarded and on the final night, a four-door Cadillac will be awarded.

* * *

According to First Selectman Edward J. Coleman, this 1959 summer season has been the best in terms of community use and attendance since the Dickinson Memorial Park first opened in 1956. The beach on the western side of the pond was enlarged, the parking lot was improved and an improved drainage system was installed. Facilities for the children were increased last summer with the wading pool given by the Lions Club. Something new, and satisfactory to young and old alike, was added to the park scene when the Yankee Snack Bar was installed in the parking lot on Memorial Day.

* * *

The Newtown Bowling League is preparing for its schedule of contests to be held this coming fall, winter, and spring. The matches will be held this year at the Newtown Bowling Alleys, just off route 25, at the intersection of Queen Street and the road leading into the Fairfield Hills Hospital.

August 24, 1934

A company of 125 ladies from Newtown and the north end of Fairfield County, enjoyed a garden tour, Wednesday afternoon, under the auspices of the County Farm Bureau, visiting gardens in Newtown and Brookfield. Starting from Newtown they first visited the garden of Mrs D.C. Peck, where they inspected the garden devoted to cut flowers. Next, they visited Mrs Stanley J. Blackman’s. At Mrs E.C. Platt’s they inspected the gladiola, hydrangeas and petunias.

* * *

Allison P. Smith and Judge Edward S. Pitzschler gave an entertainment, Tuesday night, at the Federal Transient camp on Botsford Hill. Judge Pitzschler kept the men in constant laughter and was applauded again and again. On Sunday afternoon next the FERA band of Bridgeport will give a concert at the camp.

* * *

The first annual horse show on the Newtown Country Club grounds, Sunday, the closing event of the Club’s Country fair, attracted a crowd of over 500 people. The success of the event was largely due to Capt Andrew Poe, who is always a popular manager and a host in himself.

* * *

The eighth annual carnival of the Hawleyville Volunteer Fire Company, takes place on Friday and Saturday evenings, August 24 and 25, and promises to be a hummer. There will be games of chance and games of skill, with all of the popular booths. There will be no admission fee to the grounds. The carnival is a benefit for the Fire Company and is a community institution.

 

August 27, 1909

“They bit off more than they could chew.” That is the story of the game last Saturday, between the team of the Men’s Federation and the Seasides of Bridgeport, which was won by the visitors, 9 to 3. But at that, it was interesting for the onlookers. The visitors were composed of some of the best amateurs in Bridgeport. Although the locals were “licked” they were not disgraced, for the visitors had what is very properly termed a “fast” team.

* * *

John Behn had the misfortune to lose one of his oxen, last Saturday. On examination a small piece of wire was found, which it had swallowed.

* * *

On Wednesday afternoon, Rev Alexander Steele, pastor of the Congregational Church, Levi C. Morris, the genial proprietor of the Broadway store, and Allison P. Smith, Editor of The Bee, by invitation of Mamert Wolceowski, the hustling and successful farmer of Sugar Street, went in Mr Wolceowski’s Mitchell car to Lake Quassapaug and Middlebury. They had made the journey through the White Deer Rocks with safety and had emerged on to a level section of road when an accident not on the program took place. Two cows loomed up on the horizon and in avoiding them the machine skidded into the ditch and in less time than it takes to say “Jack Robinson” had jumped crosswise of the road and had crashed into a sandbank and a pile of dry rails. All four gentlemen escaped serious injury, but that car was temporarily out of commission.