Stamford History Real Time

February Photo Selection of the Month: Hotels in Stamford

It's postcard time again! This time postcards of hotels from the late 19th to the late 20th centuries, albeit less of a selection than we could wish.

The Roger Smith Hotel stood on Washington Blvd. (formerly River St.)
from 1928 to 1981.

Postcards: Hotels in Stamford

'The Miller Excitement' – an 1840s Stamford all riled up

Update:  The term "Miller Excitement" had another meaning too, i.e., the Second Coming of Christ, prophesied for 1840.  One has to assume that the citizens of Stamford had a certain sense of humor.

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Collecting information about the Grand Union Hotel that was located on Main Street, I came across this hilarious story in Picturesque Stamford, 1892 (Historical Sketch, Chapter X.)

[...]  A profound and singular excitement – originating from an apparently inadequate cause – marked the closing months of 1842 and the early part of 1843 – indeed, its disturbing effects upon the social and even political life of the village did not disappear for two or three years.  It is known in the recollection of many of our older citizens of to-day as the “Miller Excitement.”  It appears that one Charles F. Miller and Martha E. Blackwell were married in Yonkers, N.Y., in 1834.   In 1842 the young wife, then 25 years of age, came to seek, as she alleged, release from a husband who, if we are to trust the contemporary expressions of the Advocate, was “as brutal and unfeeling wretch as ever bore the name of man,” and  “as vile a monster as ever trod the path of crime.”  The lady was young and handsome, and had awakened so much interest and so much warm sympathy among the young gentlemen of the town, that when her husband appeared in pursuit of her, engaging fleet of horses and flourishing a six-barreled pistol, he found insurmountable difficulty in carrying off the fair one.  He goes off, yet only to return later with a coach and four and several companions, but the reluctant wife is secluded in New Canaan.  She is not to be found, and he again retires baffled.  At last, on the 25th January, 1843, he appears once more with coach and companions.  Catching a glimpse of his wife in a window of the Stage House, he rushes up to her room and, seizing her in his arms, bears her off into the carriage, before anyone can interrupt him, and aided by one John Hamilton as driver, starts off at full speed towards New York.  It is in evidence that she was carried screaming through the village without hood or cloak, and with disheveled hair, vainly appealing for the help which nobody could render her while she was carried along at break-neck speed.  The villagers had by this time been divided into two distinct parties, Miller and anti-Miller.  The former held that the husband had a right to his wife – that she was no better than she ought to be, etc.  The anti-Millerites threw themselves body and soul into the fight, and no political campaign had ever so bitterly divided the sentiment of the community.  The episode of January 25 naturally excited these contending feelings to the highest pitch. Curses both loud and deep were heard at every street corner, and the question was acrimoniously debated at almost every breakfast table in the village.  It affected, more or less, the proceedings of of almost every lodge meeting, every social assembly, every political caucus, and even the churches were not wholly undisturbed by its influence.  The Millerites attacked Albert Seely, who had been a conspicuous anti-Miller champion, by organizing a joint stock company to build a new and finer hotel opposite the Stage House.  This was the origin of the present Grand Union Hotel.

Portrait Exhibit Opening in April: 'Best Face Forward'

BEST FACE FORWARD
Portraits from the Society’s Collections

will open with a Members' Reception on Sunday, April 26 at 2:30 PM.



The exhibit will be open to the general public beginning Tuesday, April 28.

Wine Tasting and Hors d’Oeuvres
Thursday, May 14, 6:00 PM

Courtesy of Country Wine and Spirits

Meet other Society supporters while sampling food and drink.
Exhibit will be open.
Raffle includes a chance to win a home theater system.
Look for your invitation in the mail.

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.

The First Published History of Stamford Available Online

Historical address, delivered in the First Congregational Church in Stamford, Ct. : at the celebration of the second centennial anniversary of the first settlement of the town
By Rev. J.W. Alford
Dec. 22d, 1841
40 Pages, Publisher: New York, S. Davenport, 1842
Alvord, John Watson, 1807-1880
Includes bibliographical references

Internet Archive, free subscription

Abstract: "I propose to exhibit only such facts as have direct reference to the event which has summoned together this assembly: I need no apology, therefore, for giving a brief detail of what is, to most of you, familiar history. ....... But in closing, let me ask, where are those Fathers? Gone_! Where are those who first peopled this fair village? Long gone to dwell with the dead! `Dust mingles with dust - ashes to ashes,' but their spirits are with God. Where shall we be, when next this anniversary returns? Gone too!_even the youngest grown aged and passed away! Long before that time, the voice of the speaker will be hushed in death, and the ear of the hearer lie dull in the dark cold grave!_But the place will teem with another population, who will receive from us, not only their existence, but those influences which will mould their character. From us the future generations in Stamford are to receive their civil advantages, their literary institutions, and their religious privileges. Their intellectual and moral character, whatever it becomes, will be the living record of our worth and care, and in them we shall still live, either in infamy or honor. How important, then, that we act well our part, that posterity may bless, and Heaven reward us!" John Watson Alvord, pp. 5, 39-40.

This book is also available for review in the research library at the Stamford Historical Society headquarters.

What We Do When the Chips Are Down is What Defines Us – Stamford Winter of 1933

What I learned today by looking back to Stamford February 1933

February 1933 Stamford Ct. (76 years ago), my father was 9 years old. That's him in the picture I scanned today. He's  all the way on the left with his buddies at the bottom of Puritan Lane in Glenbrook. The winter of 1932/1933 was the worst part of the great depression. Yesterday while visiting my parents I asked my father what it was like, what he remembers about growing up in Stamford during this tough time.

[Picture: Sledding was popular, especially on Puritan Lane and Plymouth Rd. as they had little through traffic. With no TV kids sledded all day till 10 in the evening. Top Row From Left: ?, John Ohlin, ?, ? . Lower row from left: Howard Anderson, ?,  Bues, Earl Parmater, ?, ?. ]

Apparently my Grandfather, Emil N. Anderson, a house builder and immigrant from Sweden, was able to find work most of the time during the depression. But even he had a tough time during the winter of  '33. My father remembers my grandfather spending several months at home while only my Grandmother was able to find work outside the home. What did grandfather do during this toughest time in economic history? Did he sit around the house and wait for things to get better?