Round Hill’s Fort Hills Farm, Brooks and Rivers in Greenwich, Michael Donahue Robs St. Mary’s School, Peary's North Pole, and More!

Jabez Mead House (East Putnam Avenue and Indian Field Road). Hester Bush Mead. 

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On Greenwich in the Gilded Age, our journey will take us to Fort Hills Farm, “a show place in the Round Hill section” of Greenwich, owned by Reinhard Siedenburg. It was designed by William F. Dominick, who also designed Christ Church Greenwich, Riverside School and St. James Episcopal Church in New York City. 

On The Judge’s Corner, Judge Frederick A. Hubbard reminisced in 1932 about the west side of Greenwich Avenue, a disastrous fire, a kidnapping case in 1874, a fish market and ice cream saloon and more. 

On Greenwich Life As It Is -And Was, Erwin Edwards wrote in 1919 about Greenwich’s rivers and brooks. After asking why Native Americans, European colonists and the wealthy owners of beautiful estates came to Greenwich, Edwards pointed out that, “All came here for the same reasons, because of its location, its hills and vales, its woods, its brooks and rivers and its harbor.”

On Crimes and Misdemeanors, in 1908 Michael Donahue was held in $1000 bonds for burglarizing Saint Mary’s parochial school and Dr. Piatti’s stable. Even several teacher’s desks were broken open with money allegedly taken. 

On Greenwich Before 2000, we’ll travel back in history to the years 1890 through 1893.

From All Around the Town, William Mead Keeler, editor of the Greenwich Observer took issue in 1879 with the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act in an editorial. 

There’s fantastic things happening at Greenwich’s Bruce Museum in the early 21st century. It was announced to the public on January 5, 1912 that Robert M. Bruce’s home would be used as an art museum. 

In February, 1908, intrepid explorer Robert E. Peary lectured at Fehr’s Opera House in neighboring Port Chester, New York about his search for the North Pole. Many Greenwich residents attended. 

In 1908, Greenwich Dog Warden Barrett Jones was in Byram attempting to catch Mrs. John Gotschalk’s St. Bernard, for it was untagged and unlicensed. 

It’s Black History Month. You’ll hear about Hester Mead, an African American woman whose legacy is a unique painting she created of the Jabez Mead House that once stood on the corner of East Putnam Avenue and Indian Field Road. They are interred in Union Cemetery off Milbank Avenue. 

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 February, 2023.