The hill behind Newtown High School near the senior parking lot is on its way to being a memory. H.H. Stone & Sons of Southbury is removing the hill, and the sand and gravel will be used by Newtown’s Highway Department. The leveled area will increase Newtown High’s athletic field space and will probably be the spot on which tennis courts will be built in the future.

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Renovations At The Middle School — The $5,975,000 renovation project okayed by the Legislative Council in April has begun in earnest now that the schools are emptied for the summer. The majority of the work will be done in the A Wing, which was built in 1952. New windows, lights and boys and girls bathrooms will be installed, walls are being torn down to make way for portable dividers and improvements will be made to the sidewalks and curbing. A new entrance way will be built where the ramp between Wings A and B and the patio had been and air conditioning will be installed in the enlarged nurses quarters, student service area, administrative offices, the library and the computer rooms.

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The weekend beginning August 14 will be one of events and entertainment focused on the arts, with a jazz concert kicking off the festivities Friday evening and an arts and crafts exhibit on Saturday, August 15. The Funky Butt Jazz Band will be presented on the lawn behind Cyrenius H. Booth Library, Friday. On August 14, an exhibit of poster-size prints made at Shorewood Fine Art Reproductions in Sandy Hook will open at the library. SCAN will present a summer arts and crafts show and sale on the Newtown Middle School lawn, Saturday. Magician Jean Raymond Maljean will present a show for children and Pierre Rochman II and his band, Common Ground, will play. George Montecalvo will offer exotic edibles.

August 3, 1962

At 11:30 on Wednesday morning, First Selectman Charles W. Terrell, Jr, assisted Mr and Mrs Joseph Chase in a ribbon-cutting ceremony, which officially opened the renovated Chase Building — 333 Main Street, at the Flagpole. Mr Terrell took the opportunity to thank Joe and Sallie Chase on the fine improvement which they had made in Newtown’s Main Street. The Chases, in turn, expressed their satisfaction in restoring the building and their appreciation that so many people had come to the official opening.

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Motorcades, a helicopter, a marching band, and all the trappings of an old-fashioned political rally greeted those present for the Republican Rally held at the Italian Community Center last Saturday. The crowd, estimated by First Selectman Charles W. Terrell, Jr, at 1,000, did justice to some four thousand hot dogs and hamburgs served up by food chairman Charles D. O’Connor and his committee.

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A change, which is not the first in its history, is being planned by H.G. Warner and Co. of Sandy Hook. This closeout sale of dry goods is only the most recent event in a long and sometimes checkered career. Founded about 1835, the Brick Store came to the Warner family in 1857 when rum and whiskey barrels rested in the cellar and a horsewhip rack was within easy reach. Smith P. Glover, an early partner, had a pharmaceutical license. George Taylor, another partner, was an undertaker and H. Hobart Curtis (partner) sold insurance. The year 1950 saw the expansion of the General Merchandise department and its move upstairs. This month will be another landmark in the 127-year history when that department will be closed.

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Mrs Nicholas Danuszar of Riverside Road, Sandy Hook, has acquired a rare musical instrument called the celestina. The instrument, encased in a wooden cabinet 13x12x14, is operated by a handle which, when cranked, forces air through a series of holes and produces a musical sound similar to that of a pipe organ.

July 30, 1937

Mr and Mrs Russell M. McIntosh of Darien have purchased a commercial farm, located at the Head of Meadow district, Newtown, from W. Wotchowski. The property consists of 140 acres of meadow and woodland with several stream; an old-fashioned house of 12 rooms, together with a large 2-car garage and four outbuildings. This property, formerly the Northrop Homestead, commands a beautiful view of the surrounding countryside. The new owners will continue to run the place as a dairy farm.

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Allen Northey Jones has added to Northey Farm in South Center district a handsome cow barn. It is made of stone and will be all ready for the stock in about a week.

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Sometime between the hours of 8 and 11 o’clock Saturday evening, burglars ransacked the home of Walter A. Reynolds on Queen Street, taking with them, $25 in cash and several pieces of jewelry belonging to Mrs Reynolds and their daughter, Marion. Bureau drawers had been pulled out and things strewn about generally throughout the house. The robbery was a particularly bold one as it was a moonlight night and Mr Reynolds’ home is situated on a corner directly opposite the homes of John C. Beers and Mrs Lydia Glover, both of whom had been sitting on their verandas.

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Those who laughed themselves sick at last winter’s donkey basketball games, will be tickled silly to know that the Dodge City Burro Ball Company is bringing their stable of fast moving mounts to Pine Grove Park in Sandy Hook for a twilight game on Sunday, August 1, starting at 7 o’clock. The rules of this game require that the players ride, pull, push or carry their donkeys in every play, so that horsemanship of the better sort is an absolute necessity.

 

 

August 2, 1912

Fred Muller, aged about 36 years, disappeared last Thursday night or early Friday morning from Mr Carries’ in Hanover, where he was employed. Muller took with him his best suit and about $60 in cash, but left behind all of his clothes and belongings. He was a Swiss and was an excellent worker, above the average farm hand. It is feared he may have met with foul play, as no tidings has been heard from him where he usually stops in New York.

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Rum and reckless auto driving were responsible for a bad auto accident on the state road, Wednesday afternoon. It appears that Heiney Block and Neal Gilbert had filled themselves up with booze on Wednesday afternoon. Block had his father’s auto. He stopped near Botsford and was strongly advised by several men to run the car home at once. Heiney Block thought differently and on the way up street picked up Francis Keane. The car was running, it is said, at a furious rate and when it struck the driveway near E.L. Johnson’s residence, the car went into the air and Gilbert and Keane were pitched out onto the roadway. Block was so bewildered that he kept on as far as W.H. Prindle’s before he discovered Gilbert and Keane were missing. Selectman Johnson had gone to the assistance of Gilbert, who was a horrible looking object. Sheriff Blakeman arrested Block. Francis Keane was but slightly bruised.

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Handy Hints: To Dry Handkerchiefs — Do not hang them by one corner, this also applies for napkins, tidies, and other such small pieces. Colored pieces should not be dried in the sun. Or clothes hung out on Sunday. Another Rubber Sheet Use — Place one over your basket of sprinkled clothes. They are more evenly moist if they can dampen over night. “Glads” — To eliminate those “glads” you do not wish to keep, after several methods I find it best, to pull up whole plant. You also then have the nice leaves to go with the blossoms.

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Several neighbors of D.B. Parmalee of Hattertown turned out, last Tuesday and Wednesday, and harvested his hay crop for him. Mr Parmalee has been suffering from abscesses on one of his hands for the past 10 weeks and was unable to do any work. He wishes through the columns of The Bee to thank all his friends and neighbors who have so kindly assisted in the work of getting his hay.