Henry Croft Builds Grahampton, Deacon Potter Mead, Greenwich Police Raid the Rotary Club, Italians Stage Wild West Hold-Up!

 

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This podcast is made possible by Peter F. Alexander of Site Design Associates; the Long Island Sound Institute (LISI), the Ambassador Museum United States of America, Kevin M. J. O'Connor of Jeffrey Matthews Wealth Management, and listeners like you everywhere! 

Back by popular demand, I’ll take you on an excursion to one of Greenwich’s Great Estates. Henry William Croft decided to build a home in the mid country section of town. Finished in 1917, Grahampton was built of brick with a slate-to-tile roof with eight bedrooms, eleven fireplaces and six chimneys of nearly 300 hundred acres. 

April 22, 1880: Greenwich Observer.

From the Judge’s Corner, in 1930 Judge Frederick Hubbard told the story of a famous and gifted member of the Mead family of Greenwich -Deacon Abraham Mead, the eleventh son of Ebenezer Mead. He was a potter’s apprentice of Adam States of Dutch descent. His distinctive pottery exists in private collections, The Brooklyn Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. 

From Greenwich Before 2000, you’ll hear about historical events in the years 1875 and 1876. 

In crimes and misdemeanors in Greenwich history -as we continue to observe the 125th anniversary of the founding of the Greenwich Police Department- I will share with you a Police raid that took place a century ago in May 1922 in a private dining room in the Pickwick Arms Hotel populated by members of the Greenwich Rotary Club. 

In late April, 1922, the headlines read, ‘Italians Stage Wild West Hold-Up. Proprietors of Grocery in North Mianus Robbed in Bandit Fashion.’ Trust, me, I will have details. 

It is often said that if you stand still long enough the weather changes here in the New England states. You’ll hear about an unseasonably warm period in January, 1882.

In June, 1922, two New York men had a reportedly thrilling experience on the waters of Long Island Sound when their motor boat ran out of gas. Captain Samuel Peterson of the Indian Harbor Yacht Club came to their rescue.

An anonymous Greenwich resident was fit to be tied. The foghorn on Great Captain’s Island was disturbing his peace of mind. He expressed himself in poetic form, and you’ll hear how. 

December 23, 1942. 

In 1942, just before Christmas, it was announced that Patrolman James Finn was put in charge of the town's volunteer bomb agents. 

As always, my friends, there’s more history out there than we know what to do with. I’ll have this and more as today’s show unfolds.

Happy Earth Day! 

I am grateful for your friendship and support, as always. Thank you! 

Contact me at GreenwichATownForAllSeasons@gmail.com. 

I’m on Facebook, too. Just look for Jeffrey Bingham Mead and send me a friend request. The show is also available on Facebook at Greenwich, A Town For All Seasons. 

Learn more about the show -and listen to past episodes for free- on the web at GreenwichATownForAllSeasons.blogspot.com

Be sure to tune in for our next show, which is scheduled for Friday, the 29th of April 2022. 

Judge Hubbard's Greenwich Avenue, Bandits and Getaway Cars, Golf Course for Bruce Park and More!

 

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SUPPORT THE SHOW THROUGH GOFUNDME. THANK YOU!

This podcast is made possible by Peter F. Alexander of Site Design Associates; the Long Island Sound Institute (LISI), the Ambassador Museum United States of America, Kevin M. J. O'Connor of Jeffrey Matthews Wealth Management, and listeners like you everywhere! 

To all our Jewish neighbors and friends, near and far, enjoy a glorious Passover celebration. Indeed, Passover arrives today. May you and your families be surrounded by love, prosperity, joy and peace.

Today is also Good Friday, as Christians anticipate the arrival of Easter on Sunday. Here’s to wishing you joy and happiness. May you feel renewed by the change of season and be filled with the love and hope for days to come.

According to Judge Frederick A. Hubbard, no one is quite sure when Greenwich Avenue originated. Nevertheless, he was able in 1930 to share stories of the early development of what is today Greenwich, Connecticut’s main shopping and dining destination from his book. 

Just over a century ago, Erwin Edwards in his newspaper column Greenwich Life: As It is-And Was gave his readers a history lesson about the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad being one of America’s oldest -and you’ll hear about that. 

In crimes and misdemeanors in Greenwich history, as we continue to observe the 125th anniversary of the founding of the Greenwich Police Department, a century ago a daring holdup was staged in neighboring Port Chester, New York at the Mint Products Company. The bandits made good their escape in a wine-colored Dodge sedan, which was found abandoned along Brookside Drive in Greenwich. 

Bruce Park is recognized as one of the Town of Greenwich’s gems, a public park that is open to all. Did you know that an idea was floated to establish golf links there was seriously discussed. I’l details of what happened one hundred years ago. 

Earlier this week a Planning and Zoning Meeting was held regarding a proposal by a local developer to demolish historic buildings in the town’s Fourth Ward Historic District. It’s been written up in Greenwich Free Press and Greenwich Time. I’ll have some comments. 

To all -I send you my warmest wishes. I am grateful for your friendship and support, as always. Thank you! 

I’ve got a petition for you sign to halt the possible destruction of historic homes on Church Street in the Fourth Ward Historic District. 

As always, my friends, there’s more history out there than we know what to do with. I’ll have this and more as today’s show unfolds.

Contact me at GreenwichATownForAllSeasons@gmail.com. 

I’m on Facebook, too. Just look for Jeffrey Bingham Mead and send me a friend request. The show is also available on Facebook at Greenwich, A Town For All Seasons. 

Learn more about the show -and listen to past episodes for free- on the web at GreenwichATownForAllSeasons.blogspot.com

Be sure to tune in for our next show, which is scheduled for Friday, the 22nd of April 2022. 

Round Hill's Ezekiel Lockwood House, Sunridge Farm, A Riot in Glenville, A Night on Great Captain's Island in 1890 and More!

 

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SUPPORT THE SHOW THROUGH GOFUNDME. THANK YOU!

This podcast is made possible by Peter F. Alexander of Site Design Associates; the Long Island Sound Institute (LISI), the Ambassador Museum United States of America, Kevin M. J. O'Connor of Jeffrey Matthews Wealth Management, and listeners like you everywhere! 

A century ago you could depart the train from New York City at the Greenwich Railroad Station, rent yourself and your party a 'touring auto,' go shopping and explore Greenwich. Note the prices.  

Today you’ll hear another of Judge Frederick A. Hubbard’s columns about a venerated antique farmstead in the heart of Round Hill: the Ezekiel Lockwood House built in 1745, making it one of the town’s oldest homes still standing in the 21st century.

This Great Estate in Greenwich’s backcountry was once owned by Isabelle and Clarence Mott Woolley, a realistic copy of the rustic fattoria of northern Italy, the farmhouses of the Veneto region. It's name? Sunridge Farm.

Imagine yourself venturing out by boat to Great Captain’s Island off the Lord Island Sound coast of Greenwich in late Spring to spend the night. That’s what a lucky reporter for The Greenwich Graphic newspaper did in 1890 -the locale of a historic lighthouse built in 1868 that still graces the island today. 

In crimes and misdemeanors in Greenwich history, as we continue to observe the 125th anniversary of the founding of the Greenwich Police Department, you’ll learn about a riot that took place in Glenville in 1907, one in which officers were apparently attacked and arrests were made. 

Have you have driven by the Thomas Lyon House that is off West Putnam Avenue at the state line with New York? That venerated home’s restoration and preservation is a project of the Greenwich Preservation Trust -a project and an organization I urge you to support and join. 

I’ve got a petition for you sign to halt the possible destruction of historic homes on Church Street in the Fourth Ward Historic District. 

I’ll share news of public events at the Greenwich Historical Society and so much more as today’s show unfolds. 

Contact me at GreenwichATownForAllSeasons@gmail.com. 

I’m on Facebook, too. Just look for Jeffrey Bingham Mead and send me a friend request. The show is also available on Facebook at Greenwich, A Town For All Seasons. 

Learn more about the show -and listen to past episodes for free- on the web at GreenwichATownForAllSeasons.blogspot.com

Be sure to tune in for our next show, which is scheduled for Friday, the 15th of April 2022. 

April Fools Day! No Fooling Here: Dan Quigley Statute 8-30g, Judge Frederick Hubbard 'Judge's Corner Column and More!

 

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SUPPORT THE SHOW THROUGH GOFUNDME. THANK YOU!

This podcast is made possible by Peter F. Alexander of Site Design Associates; the Long Island Sound Institute (LISI), the Ambassador Museum United States of America, Kevin M. J. O'Connor of Jeffrey Matthews Wealth Management, and listeners like you everywhere! 

In Greenwich resident Dan Quigley's piece, The Corporate Interests Behind Desegregate CT, published on March 19 in Greenwich Free Press, "The topic of Transit Oriented Development (TOD) and the bevy of 8-30g proposed developments in Greenwich and other towns has clearly become an issue of focus. While adding affordable housing and TOD are laudable goals, to what extent it gets done and in whose hands it rests to determine that process is a very complex debate. This led me to do some research on the main proponent for affordable housing in our state, a group called Desegregate CT."

After the article caught my attention, I contacted  who, in turn, connected me to Dan Quigley. I was curious to learn more -including plans to demolish historic homes in Greenwich's Fourth Ward Historic District -which is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

We met at Coffee for Good in the historic 1856 Solomon Mead House on the campus of the Second Congregational Church for a wide-ranging and illuminating conversation about the issue of "affordable housing" and Connecticut Statute 8-30g -a subject that has manifested itself in media headlines and lively conversation and debate. You'll hear our exchanges on the Talk of the Town segment.

You're invited to sign this petition opposing demolition of the seven significant historic structures located in the Fourth Ward Historic District. Ask your neighbors and friends to do the same. 

History is kaleidoscopic, often featuring a dazzling assortment of overlapping stories and storytellers. Greenwich, Connecticut is no exception. One of my early 20th century favorites is Judge Frederick Augustus Hubbard. Among his writings was the book Other Days in Greenwich. 

Hubbard's columns from The Greenwich Press were collected, edited and organized by Frank Nicholson, then published as Greenwich History: The Judge's Corner. 150 Vintage Newspaper Columns by Frederick A. Hubbard. 

I'll share one of his columns about Dearfields, the Mead house that once occupied the site of the Greenwich Library which was relocated to Grove Lane in 1929 by Ralph E. Brush. It was visited by the Marquis de Lafayette (pictured above) on his tour of the United States. 

Speaking of Judge Hubbard, he will be featured in our historical crimes and misdemeanors segment observing the 125th anniversary of the founding of the Greenwich Police Department.

Don't forget to check out the public event offerings by the Greenwich Historical Society. Go to the events scheduled for April, May and months ahead here. 

Contact me at GreenwichATownForAllSeasons@gmail.com. 

I’m on Facebook, too. Just look for Jeffrey Bingham Mead and send me a friend request. The show is also available on Facebook at Greenwich, A Town For All Seasons. 

Learn more about the show -and listen to past episodes for free- on the web at GreenwichATownForAllSeasons.blogspot.com

Be sure to tune in for our next show, which is scheduled for Friday, the 8th of April 2022.