Stamford History Real Time

Whitman Bailey Selection for November Artist's View of Soldiers' Memorial at St. John's Park

Today is Veterans Day, so what is more fitting than a sketch of the Soldiers' Memorial at St. John's Park?

as seen from Hawthorne Street
Download Newspaper Clipping of November 14, 1925

Whitman Bailey Selection for October Looking East Across Rippowam Park

There has been a lot in the news lately about the downtown Mill River restoration project, so I was pleased to find an October sketch from the Whitman Bailey collection of Rippowam Park:

Looking East Across Rippowam Park

Download Newspaper Clipping of October 15, 1932

In the background, across the barely discernible Mill River with its concrete banks, can be seen the Roger Smith Hotel on Washington Blvd., later victim of urban redevelopment.  We wrote about the hotel earlier in the year.

Whitman Bailey Selection for September Toms House contains relics of early Stamford

Whitman Bailey obviously loved the Cove area, we have many of his sketches in our collection.  Here is the side view of Toms House at 319 Weed Avenue, as of September 1954.  Current online property records indicate that the house was built in 1843.  As of the 1977/79 Historic Houses Survey and the April 1979 record, the property belonged to to the William Dippel estate and, "The house has remained in the same family since its construction and has had the fewest alterations of any in this row of mid-19th century cottages which housed employees of the nearby Cove Mills."

Download Newspaper Clipping of September 4, 1954

Whitman Bailey Selection for August View on the End of Shippan Point

This is one of the few sketches by Whitman Bailey that are still familiar to us today. Who of us hasn't been down to Shippan Point to enjoy the view of the Sound?

Download newspaper clipping of August 3, 1935

As to the historical information in the article, we add the usual warning:

"At times, the accompanying vignettes are mostly folklore passed on to Mr. Bailey by residents of the areas where he was sketching.  In those instances he had no way of determining the truth of the story.  Nor have we.  It is presented as a sidelight to the sketch.  Therefore, researchers are cautioned to regard these tales as local color, interesting, thought provoking, but sometimes not entirely factual."

More on Shippan:

• A Concise History of Shippan
• A Childhood on Shippan
• A Selection of Postcards from Shippan and Shippan Point
• Wreck of Ennis' Patent Swimming Baths, Shippan Point, October 1894

(Reference file: Bailey 311.jpg)

Whitman Bailey Selection for June Artist's View of Stamford Yacht Club from Pier

Picturesque Stamford, 1892, in Marine Commerce and Yachting, pp. 205–214, writes about the Stamford Yacht Cub:

The yachting interests of Stamford have experienced remarkable development and expansion within the last few years, notably through the organization of the Stamford Yacht Club in the early spring of 1891.  Its first important step, after the choice of officers and trustees was the purchase of a suitable location on the west side of Shippan Point, containing about four acres of land, on which to build its club house.  This property was still further enlarged in the early summer of 1892 by purchase of the adjacent lot and cottage of Mr. Frank H. Hoyt.  The main building, bathing house and driving sheds, together with a one hundred and fifty foot dock reaching low water at a solidly constructed crib pier, were put up in 1891, in time for the formal opening of the institution which took place on the 25th of July.

The club was destroyed in a fire in 1913 and soon rebuilt.  Whitman Bailey's take on the subject:

Artist's View of Stamford Yacht Club from Pier

Download newspaper clipping of June 13 1931

Whitman Bailey Selection for May: Two Views by the Water, Night and Day

Whitman Bailey was much drawn to the water, it seems, considering his many water side sketches.  A search through May offered us two complementing ones: night and day. First from one of Mr. Bailey's favorite haunts, the Waterside:

Artist's View of Night Scene on Stamford's Canal

Download newspaper clipping of May 12, 1928

Then from the Cove:

April Whitman Bailey Selection: Artist's View from Foot of Strawberry Hill

Download complete newspaper clipping of April 2, 1927

The Advocate writes:

[...]  The great Elms of New Haven and Hartford are still vivid in our memory and one can recall numerous other Connecticut towns that can boast of these typical New England Streets.

One of the many charms of Stamford is that she still has just such streets in her residential sections, and Mr. Bailey has chosen for today’s pictorial subjects a scene looking down Prospect Street from the foot of Strawberry Hill, a section most familiar to us all.

March Whitman Bailey Selection: Reference Room at the Ferguson Library

The current renovations at the Ferguson Library's main building prompted this:

Interior of New Reference Room at Ferguson Library


Download complete newspaper clipping of March 19, 1932

This does look like a pleasant place, quiet and comfortable.  Today, of course, we have a main library – on what's called nowadays 1 Library Plaza; three branches, the Bookmobile, and besides reference desks plenty of computers which are always busy … and lots of online digital services of which this writer makes enthusiastic use.

February Photo Selection of the Month: Blacksmiths in Stamford

This one goes way back in photographic time, inspired by Whitman Bailey sketches:

Blacksmiths in Stamford

Before the advent of automobiles, blacksmiths were an important part of local business.  A blacksmith is defined as "a person who makes and repairs iron tools and horseshoes."  Or, as described in one caption:

Horse power was not a cheap means of transportation. Horses required daily care, were regularly shod and still had to be fed when idle. There were many blacksmith shops in Stamford whose primary business was the shoeing of horses.

February Whitman Bailey Selection View of Park Row, 1927

No more snow!  Instead, here is downtown Stamford in 1927:

View of Park Row as seen by Artist Bailey

Download complete newspaper clipping of February 20, 1927

Park Row does not exist anymore today, it was swallowed up by Urban Renewal.  It began approximately where the Atlantic Street garage entrance of the Landmark building is now.  As one can see from the text of the clipping, the view in the sketch is towards the Strand Theatre, next to the then under construction "New" Palace Theater.