December 2, 1994

Seven years after firefighters saved the White Birch Inn from destruction by fire, they will be returning to burn it down. Selectman Gary Fetzer and members of the town’s Aesthetics Committee (more popularly known as the Eyesore Committee) held a press conference this week to announce that the boarded-up gray building on the corner of Queen Street and Church Hill Road will be torched by firefighters from Hawleyville and Newtown Hook & Ladder at 7 am on Sunday, December 18. “There was a lot of red tape to go through, but we finally have a first example of what our committee was formed to accomplish — the removal of eyesores in Newtown,” Mr Fetzer said. He credited a change in town and Borough zoning for the decision by the property owner, Richard Weihl of Consumers Petroleum in Fairfield, to allow the building to be removed. Once the White Birch is gone, the committee will turn its attention to trying to get rid of the former dry-cleaning establishment across from the Blue Colony Diner. The cleaners was gutted by fire in the late 1980s. The White Birch was built in 1929 and known for many years as The Kegs. There were gas pumps out front so guests could fill their cars while they filled their stomachs, and there were cabins for overnight guests. In 1948 Mack and Ginny Lathrop bought the building, modernizing the cabins, moved the pumps up the road, and changed the name to The Village Coffee Shop. Mack recalled that he and his wife took a break from their show business careers and ran the coffee shop, which had a juke box and catered to a young crowd for 13 years. The next owner removed the cabins and remodeled the restaurant in 1959. In 1965 the business changed hands again and was re-named the White Birch Inn.

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The Masons of Hiram Lodge No. 18 in Sandy Hook invite the community to attend the Christmas Tree lighting ceremony on Friday, December 9 at 6:30 pm in Sandy Hook center, next to the old post office. The Newtown High School Brass Band will provide holiday music, and Jolly Old Saint Nick himself will be on hand to light the tree. There will be refreshments at Hiram Lodge across the street from the Christmas tree immediately after the ceremony, and children can visit with Santa.

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A car fire which occurred after a motorist’s vehicle broke down late Wednesday destroyed one car and damaged two others in the parking lot at Trudeau’s Service Center on Route 25. Station owner William Trudeau said Dennis Parks of New Milford was driving through Newtown about 11:18 pm when he began to experience car trouble. Mr Parks pulled into Trudeau’s and left the car to call for assistance. After he left, the car caught fire, apparently because of a clogged catalytic converter. The fire was spotted by police officer Robert Haas, who was making a routine traffic stop on the street near Trudeau’s.

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Is Jack Frost nipping at your needle-nose pliers? Well then what are you waiting for! We have an extensive line of tools from Makita to Stanley, Master Mechanic and more — so shovel a path to Newtown Hardware today. Speaking of shovels…

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TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN: Having finally gotten my appetite back after Thanksgiving, I am looking forward to the Family Life Center’s Holiday Festival on Sunday. Aside from the historic house tour, the arts and crafts, and all the musical performances, there should be plenty to eat.

November 28, 1969

We often wonder, when we observe groups of today’s young people, what has become of old-fashioned pride in personal appearance and physical fitness. The long hair, tattered attire, hollow-chested slouch and general slovenly get-up of so many boys lead us to ponder why these young people show so little concern about the way they look. The same applies to the girls whose hair is usually as long and bedraggled as their mini skirts are short and ill-fitting — giving the combined effect of a person dressed in conspicuous ill taste. And if appearance is any indication, today’s boys and girls, from grade school to college, have little to show by way of physical skills and athletic ability. These qualities simply are not present beneath their hippie garb, which more often than not, covers an extreme lack of both. Unless the present trend reverses itself, the whole country some time soon will deplore the physical unfitness of the boys and girls who now take license with drugs or otherwise neglect their own health and well-being. We look forward to the day when these boys and girls with their long hair, short skirts and homely togs will be outnumbered by a generation of youngsters who will prize their fitness and show it, not by their outlandish costumes but by the way they walk and run, play games, and generally deport themselves.

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The Newtown Planning and Zoning Commission, meeting November 21, approved the final map of Clara K. Miller, foR subdivisions of 10.036 acres into four lots located on Old Green Road, Sandy Hook. A final map for Emmett and Gladys Close, “Hollow Oak Acres,” Taunton District, subdividing 17. 126 acres into four lots was approved with the stipulation that the town is granted slope rights to a maximum of 50 feet from the right of way of the road on lots 53 and 25 feet on lots 1 and 2. The appeal to subdivide was granted as the widening of Castle Hill Road would otherwise have worked a hardship in spoiling two lots for the developer without compensation.

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Assistant Superintendent of Schools A. Winthrop Ballard came home from Danbury Hospital on Monday, November 24, after an emergency appendectomy last Tuesday. He reports that he arrived at a meeting at 8 pm that night, left hurriedly at 8:15, and by 10 pm was minus an appendix. He is most appreciative of the many calls, cards, and messages from friends.

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The annual pancake supper sponsored by the Newtown Rotary Club will be in the Alexandria Room of the Edmond Town Hall, Saturday, December 13 from 11 am to 8 pm. Delicious pancakes accompanied by sizzling sausages promise to be a treat for the entire family. Tickets are $1.25 a person or $3.75 for a family. William Morrissey and James Heth are this year’s chairmen. Tickets can be purchased from any Rotarian. Proceeds go to Rotary’s community projects.

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Santa has started his long trip from the North Pole to visit the children of Newtown. He will arrive December 2 aboard a 27-foot float carrying his sleigh and reindeer. The float will travel down Queen Street to the Grand Union parking lot at 2 pm on Tuesday, December 2, where he will be available to talk to children personally until 5 pm. Elves from the Grand Union and the Triple S Blue Stamps have helped make this trip and others to towns along the Eastern Seaboard possible.

November 24, 1944

Dr and Mrs Richmond Stephens of Taunton District have sold their home at Whitestone, N.Y., and in the future will make Newtown their year-round residence.

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Betty Semen, daughter of Mr and Mrs William Semen, Sandy Hook, who was injured in an accident three weeks ago, returned to her home Sunday afternoon, and at the latest report is improving nicely, although both legs, which were broken, will be in casts for some weeks longer.

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The Bee has not, in a long time, enjoyed such prompt and wholehearted response from its correspondents, and in fact from everyone, as has been shown in submitting early copy for this week’s issue. Such help during a “short” week is greatly appreciated and the staff wishes to say thank you in public. Newspaper publishing, like any other enterprise, is a real chore in these war days of shortages — particularly in manpower. We feel that the good nature and human nature of the American people is under a severe test of its quality and stating power. Cooperation and a spirit of helpfulness can be more of a value on the home front than is sometimes realized. Thanks again.

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“Doc” Crowe has announced that Corbett and Crowe’s Drug Store in Sandy Hook will be open all day on Thanksgiving Day, closing at 5:30 pm.

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WANTED TO RENT — furnished modern 6 to 8-room house and garage, near grade and high schools in Newtown or on bus line and school bus line in town. Will pay $64 to $75 month rent. Excellent care of house. Six in family, four adults. Jan 1 occupancy. Write: Lincoln Orvis R.D. 1, box 145, Batavia, Illinois.

November 21, 1919

TOWERS SET ON FIRE AND SUSPENDED STRUCTURE DROPPED INTO RIVER: On Monday morning about 3 o’clock men in the employ of Connecticut Light and Power Co., who have built the big dam at Stevenson, set fire to four towers, to which the big cables were attached, holding up the Zoar suspension bridge across the Housatonic River, and in a short time the bridge, side railing, planks, and all sank to the river bottom. The men tried, it is said, to set fire to the bridge in the middle of the structure, but it wouldn’t burn worth a cent. So they fired the towers and the trick was done. There was a general series of bonfires above the dam Sunday night. The old Upson house, the Noe house and barns, the old Fred French blacksmith shop and the old Whitehead house a mile up the river were set on fire and burned. Fifty or 60 people gathered to witness the fires. Fred French bought the George Smith store at the east end of Zoar bridge, took it down, and moved it up on the hill. Stanley Smith of Ansonia bought the old Dillon place, where his ancestors were reared, and moved it over to Monroe, along with the big stone door steps. The fine old bridge, which was dropped into the river Sunday night, used to be regarded as a wonderful piece of engineering and skill. It formed an attractive addition to the landscape of the valley and served its generation very well. J.B. Downes of Half Way River tells the editor it was built about the year 1876 by a man named A.B. Fishler who hailed from New York state. Before the suspension bridge was erected there was an old wooden bridge with piers in the river. This was taken away by the freshet of 1857. The bridge was very narrow, with it impossible for two teams to pass. The big basin is filling rapidly. Chief Engineer Hoard tells the editor it will be full and running over in 10 days to two weeks. He has quite a force of men at work on the dam. The bridge on its crest was completed far enough for people to pass over Sunday night.

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The public schools of the town will close next Wednesday night for the Thanksgiving recess Thursday and Friday. Schools reopen Monday.

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An auto truck conveyed the household goods of Michael Blake from Walnut Tree Hill to Bridgeport, Monday.

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Mrs Daniel Keane passed Sunday in New York, visiting her husband at the Roosevelt Hospital. She found him gaining nicely.

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A number of Sandy Hook young people attended the basketball game in Bridgeport, Tuesday evening. The Blue Ribbons and Jersey City teams contested for the horns, Jersey City winning 20-19.

Please consider sharing your old photographs of people and places from Newtown or Sandy Hook with The Newtown Bee readers. Images can be e-mailed to kendra@thebee.com or brought to the office at 5 Church Hill Road to be scanned. When submitting photographs, please identify as many people as possible, the location, and the approximate date.