Sunday, March 5, 2023

Hawaiian Mission Houses, Arbor Press, Cos Cob's Caroline Mead, Booze Recipes, "Don't Dam It!" & More!

 



This podcast is made possible by 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 on the Atlantic Learning Consortium Network!

Aloha! E Komo Mai from my home in Honolulu, Hawaii. Welcome to the 7th of March, 2023 show! 

It’s Women's History Month across the USA. From the Greenwich Historical Society's History From Home online resource, you’ll learn from Heather Lodge about three women who left their mark on the town's history: Dr. Valeria Park, Anya Seton, and Gertrude Johnson Steadwell.


The Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives in Honolulu preserves Hawaii's oldest New England/Western-style homes and features an archive of American Protestant missionaries -including those who came from Greenwich, Stamford, Danbury and elsewhere. 

My special guest today is Mike Smola, curator of Public Programs. 


On Greenwich in the Gilded Age, our weekly journey will take us to Roanoke, built for Percy Rockefeller and his family as described in the February, 1908 edition of the Greenwich News.


On Greenwich Life As It Is -And Was, Lucien B. Edwards published a piece a century ago in January, 1923 in the Greenwich News and Graphic. It describes the building up of Cos Cob by Caroline Smith Mead, calling Mead Avenue "Cos Cob's Fifth Avenue," and how its stately homes originated, and that Mrs. Mead was Greenwich's first woman real estate developer -at age 81 years- before she died in 1910. 


On Crimes and Misdemeanors, in 1908 David Farrington was fined $5 for trespassing and shooting in self-defense a dog owned by Emil Boas -who, in turn, had his dogs confiscated and fined $10 for a lack of proper licenses. Both men engaged in a "he said, he said" heated exchange in the local press in "the court of public opinion." 




The Arbor Press' then-state-of-the-art printing plant, later Conde Nast in Old Greenwich, was ready to open to much acclaim in the local media in early 1920. We'll provide the details. 




On Wedding Bells in Greenwich, you'll learn about the nuptials in February 1908 of Dr. Lee DeForest, "the wireless telegraph inventor who is Marconi's greatest rival," and Nora Blatch, "daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W.H. Blatch of New York City, granddaughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and one of the very few women civil engineers in the world."


From All Around the Town, "Don't Dam It" yelled the headlines in 1907. An attempt was made to block the construction of the Mianus River Dam just north of East Putnam Avenue. 


In 1881, Greenwich's Reading Room and Library was celebrated as having "an educational influence on this community which cannot be overrated. 


"Secession is in the air" in 1907, when "wealthy New Yorkers" in 'Sound Beach' (Old Greenwich) and Riverside wanted to secede from the Town of Greenwich. 




Prohibition was in full swing in the 1920s. Yet, as was revealed in March, 1923, "If one wants to set up a home brewing and get real beer, if he wants to make his own sacramental wines, if he wants to get his own alcohol for making liquors or wishes to go further and obtain a thorough understanding of all the wines and ales and whiskeys the public libraries of the country supply all the information." 




I received a request from the new owners of 146 Old Mill Road in Round Hill. The new owners are curious about its history. They are also curious to know who the original owner of this charming home is. Do you know? 


Please contact me at greenwichatownforallseasons@gmail.com. 





The Ambassador Museum of the United States of America is a supporting sponsor of this show podcast. We're giving our listeners and their families a heads up with some terrific news! Our young people are to be invited to participate in an essay contest made possible by AMUSA. We'll have preliminary details, with a formal announcement on the March 14 show. 





Sports: More Than Just a Game is the newest exhibit at the Greenwich Historical Society, starting March 8, 2023. 


There’s lots to see, to do, and to learn about the history of the Town of Greenwich.


You’ve come to the right place to learn about the history of the Town of Greenwich, Connecticut, one of America's most interesting and extraordinary communities.  


We’ll have all this -and more- as our history continues to unfold. 



I'm Jeffrey Bingham Mead, your host. Thank you for listening to the weekly podcast released on Tuesdays. 


Contact me and join our growing number of listeners anytime via email at greenwichatownforallseasons@gmail.com


Show podcast episodes are posted weekly on various social media platforms. Click this link to the show's Facebook site. 


I also encourage you to like and visit the group You Know You're From Greenwich Ct If, where links to the show are posted weekly, too. 


Mark your calendars. The next show is scheduled for Tuesday, the 14th of March, 2023 from our home base in Greenwich, Connecticut. 

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