© 2021 Dr. Robert L. Rafford, Municipal Historian, Middlebury, Connecticut
1687. Breakneck Hill Road is first mentioned in history.[1]
1702. There are early white settlers in Middlebury, then part of Waterbury.[2] Isaac Bronson erects a house at Breakneck.[3]
1707. The first white child born in Middlebury is Isaac Bronson.[4]
1754 – 1763. The French and Indian war fought; Abner Munson of Middlebury serves, becoming our first veteran.[5]
October 1757. Josiah Bronson and 32 others living in the western part of Waterbury First Society (West Farms), Oxford, Southbury and the Old Society of Woodbury petition the General Court (now known as the General Assembly) for winter privileges of holding ecclesiastical meetings. The Congregational Society in Waterbury demurs, primarily because it would result in a loss of revenue. The petition is denied.[6]
1760. Another petition is submitted for full ecclesiastical privileges by Josiah Bronson and others; this time the General Court grants permission to hire a preacher for four months in the year from December first through the last day of March annually for three years.[7]
July 4, 1776. The Declaration of Independence is signed at Philadelphia and at least 30 Middleburians fight in the Revolutionary War.[8]
After 1776. The greatest influx of settlers moves into Middlebury after the Revolutionary War.[9]
March 14, 1780. Chauncey Judd, son of Isaac and Anna (Williams) Judd, a patriot of (now) Naugatuck, is kidnapped after escorting Ditha Webb to her home in Millville (now Naugatuck) after a quilting party. He had stumbled upon Tory sympathizers who had just plundered the home of Captain Ebenezer Dayton in Bethany. They included John (Alexander) Graham, David and Henry Wooster. The rescue attempt took rescuers through Gunntown, Long Meadow Swamp and Brookhaven, Long Island, New York.[10]
June 27, 28, 29, 1781. General Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, Comte de Rochambeau, marches through Middlebury with his French Army troops, encamping at Breakneck Hill, on their way from Newport, Rhode Island, to Yorktown, Virginia.
October 1782. Rochambeau and his troops return on their way to Boston after General Cornwallis surrendered to American and French troops at Yorktown, Virginia, on October 19, 1781.
1784. School houses are located on Three Mile Hill and Bedlam Hill.[11]
1784. Dr. Abel Bronson, son of Lieut. Josiah Bronson, and uncle of Silas Bronson, founder of the Waterbury Library, builds his hospital on Burr Hall Road in Waterbury, now Middlebury.
1786. The “old Society” of Waterbury agrees to pay for preaching in Middlebury for eight winter Sabbaths.[12] The Gunntown Parish (Episcopal) is formed, moving to Naugatuck in 1832; forerunner to St. Michael’s Church.[13]
September 17, 1787. The United States Constitution is signed at Philadelphia.
1788. School Districts of Waterbury include Breakneck and Hop Swamp.[14]
1789. The Constitution is ratified and becomes the law of the land.
1790. Methodist-Episcopal circuit riders conduct services in Middlebury.[15]
December 29, 1790. West Farms and the adjoining portions of Woodbury and Southbury are made into a distinct Society by the name of Middlebury.[16],[17]
January 27, 1791. The parish of Middlebury is formed.[18]
December 15, 1791. The Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution becomes law.
1792. The old Middlebury Cemetery is established in 1792 and expanded in 1842. It is cared for by the town and by the Middlebury Cemetery Association after it is incorporated in 1928.[19]
1793. The Congregational Church, the first church building, is erected on the west side of Green.[20]
September 22, 1794. An organizational meeting for the Middlebury Library is held at the home of Benjamin Munson. Proprietors pay 10 shillings each permitting them (and them alone) to borrow one book every two months.[21]
1795. School Societies take the place of town management.[22]
February 10, 1796. Members of the new Ecclesiastical Society of Middlebury are constituted a church as 12 persons enter into covenant relations.[23]
1797. Straits Turnpike, also called the Litchfield Turnpike (now called route 63) is laid out from New Haven to Litchfield along the eastern boundary of Middlebury.[24]
November 06, 1798. The Rev. Ira Hart is ordained and installed as the Congregational Church’s first minister.[25]
April 1800. A petition signed by Isaac Bronson and others of the society of Middlebury praying to be set apart as a distinct town is submitted to the General Assembly, but a negative is returned.[26]
May 1801. A petition of Isaac Bronson and others is renewed. A negative vote is returned.[27]
April 1802. A petition of Isaac Bronson is renewed and again voted down.[28]
November 11, 1802. The First School District meets and votes to build a schoolhouse, 18 by 24 feet. [29]
April 1806. The petition of Isaac Bronson and others is renewed. A negative vote is returned.[30]
July 30, 1806. John Bradley and Jared Munson announce they would continue the store previously owned by Samuel Smith, the original Middlebury Country Store.[31]
July 31, 1807. Middlebury is struck by a thunder storm that burns a barn.[32]
April 24, 1807. The petition of Ebenezer Smith and others praying for incorporation as a separate town is presented to the General Assembly. This time, the citizens are successful.[33]
September 29, 1807. Larmon Townsend, soon to be elected the first Town Clerk, “removed from his old stand in Middlebury, to the store lately occupied by Bradley & Munson.[34]
October 08, 1807. The General Assembly incorporates the Society of Middlebury as an ecclesiastical society by the name of Middlebury with town privileges, the ninth and last of the parishes and towns in the immediate vicinity to be given a –bury name. [35],[36]
November 16, 1807. Middlebury’s first Town Meeting is held, and Larmon Townsend is elected the first Town Clerk.[37]
December 9, 1807. The Rev. Ira Hart advertises that he will open a new school where arithmetic, grammar, composition, reading and writing will be taught; price, 25 cents per week.[38]
February 01, 1808. The first tax is levied on the Grand List of Middlebury, totaling three (3) mills.[39]
April 11, 1808. Middlebury votes to become part of New Haven County.[40],[41]
April 20, 1808. A newspaper article announces that Eli Bronson has been chosen Representative to the next General Assembly.[42]
November 21, 1808. The second tax is levied, lowered to two (2) mills.[43]
April 09, 1810. The third tax is levied, lowered to one-and-a-half (1½) mills.[44]
August 06, 1810. The federal decennial census is begun in 1790. Every ten years various data have been collected concerning the population of the United States. According to this census, the population of Middlebury is 847 (409 males, 416 females, 22 “other free persons,” i.e., African and Native Americans).[45]
February 28, 1811. A new school, the Union Academy, is erected on east side of Green. It is sold in 1859 to Center School District.[46]
1812. At least 26 Middleburians fight in the War of 1812.[47]
1818. The State Constitution of Connecticut is adopted.
February 09, 1818. Mrs. Bradley slips on ice and falls head-first into her well, about 20 feet deep, with 7 feet of water, but sustains no injury. Her husband rescues her.[48]
June 1, 1820. The population of Middlebury is 838, a ten-year decrease of 9, or -1.1%.[49]
30 July 1820. A storm hits western Connecticut; cattle and a horse are killed in Middlebury.[50]
1826. Camp meetings (religious revivals) are held in Middlebury by the Methodist Episcopal church.[51]
June 1, 1830. The population of Middlebury is 816, a ten-year decrease of 22, or -2.6%. [52]
1832. A Methodist-Episcopal church is built about 1832-5, and still stands on the Green today, owned by Westover School.[53]
1839 . The original Congregational Meeting House on the west end of the Green is torn down and a new church erected in 1840.[54]
August 1839. Breakneck School in northern Middlebury, District 2, is established. Tylertown School in the western district is established later.[55]
June 01, 1840. There is a silk craze and several local citizens go into the business.[56] The population of Middlebury is 761. [57]
1846-1848. At least one Middleburian serves in the Mexican-Border War.[58]
June 01, 1850. The population of Middlebury is 763, with 374 males, 389 females (including 6 males and 8 females of African American descent), with 145 families counted and 389 dwellings.[59] This constitutes a ten-year decrease of 53, or -6.5% since 1830.
December 27, 1852. It is reported that in Middlebury, with a population of 760, not a single death occurred for the last seven months. In 1845 there were but two deaths in the town; in 1849 but six, all of whom were adults whose average ages were 79 years.[60]
About 1857. Lewis Terrell builds a recreation resort on Lake Quassapaug, which some years later is purchased by Hiram Wallace.[61]
June 01, 1860. The population of Middlebury is 664, a ten-year decrease of 99, or -13.09%. [62]
June 12, 1861. A 104-foot flagpole with 16 x 24 foot flag is installed at Middlebury Public Park (now the Green).[63] At least 30 Middleburians fight in the Civil War.[64]
1868 – 1873. Cotton Hollow Arch, also called New England Arch, on the Middlebury-Naugatuck Road, is built for the Providence, Hartford and Fishkill Railroad, and put in service in 1879; Tim and Thomas Goldsmith of Waterbury are builders.[65]
June 01, 1870. The Middlebury Improvement Committee is formed.[66] The population of Middlebury is 696, a ten-year increase of 32, or 4.8%. [67]
1872. Roswell B. Wheaton has citizens plant elm trees on Green.[68]
June 01, 1880. The population of Middlebury is 688, an increase of 24, or 3.6%.69]
Aug 09, 1880. Laying of rails between Waterbury and Hop Brook begins shortly.[70] Henry Wheeler of Middlebury is contracted to supply 220,000 railroad ties from Waterbury westward.[71]
March 12-14, 1888. A giant snow storm, the “Blizzard of ‘88”, blankets the area.72]
June 01, 1890. The population of Middlebury is 566, a ten-year decrease of 17.7%.[73] Data are culled from this census and tabulated, but virtually all the copies of the entire census are destroyed by fire in 1921.
1890. Lizzie Cowan is brutally attacked in Middlebury by Daniel S. Webster.[74] She is a school teacher along with her sisters; the Cowan family is a prominent teaching family in Middlebury, Waterbury and elsewhere. Daniel is the Native American uncle of Bessie Webster (see 1913).
1893-8. John Howard and Julia Anna (Spencer) Whittemore build a summer home on the eastern slopes of Lake Quassapaug, designed by the architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White.
October 05, 1896. The town takes over the library and relocates operations at Town Hall, opening borrowing privileges to all, not just proprietors.[75] Miss Mary Hine is the first librarian of the free library.[76]
1896-1897. Center School (now home of the Middlebury Historical Society, Inc.) is built by the town and John Howard Whittemore, designed by A. Milton Napier, architect in the firm of McKim, Mead and White, with Warren Henry Manning as the landscape architect.[77] Union Academy is moved away down Library Road and is today part of a house there.
April-August 1898. At least two Middleburians serve in the Spanish-American War.[78]
March 12, 1899. There is a fatal collision of the New York and New Haven Railroad trains near Bradley Station in Middlebury.[79]
June 01, 1900. The population of Middlebury is 736, a ten-year increase of 170, or 30.0%.[80]
June 27, 1904. The Irish-American Club of Waterbury erects a monument to General Rochambeau on Breakneck Hill in Middlebury and has a great dedication ceremony.[81]
1907. The cornerstone is laid for St. John of the Cross Roman Catholic Church.82]
July 01, 1908. Quassy Amusement Park is founded as a “trolley” amusement park.
October 01, 1908. A trolley line between Waterbury and Woodbury, passing through Middlebury, is finished.[83]
1909. Westover School for Girls is founded by Mary Robbins Hillard. Theodate Pope Riddle designs the structure.
April 15, 1910. The population of Middlebury is 836, a ten-year increase of 100, or 13.6%.[84]
1912. William H. Bristol dams Goat Brook and a smaller stream to form Fenn’s Pond.[85]
June 1913. Bessie Webster, born in Middlebury, and James Plew plot to kill Bessie’s husband, William Wakefield; Plew kills him in Cheshire and is hanged for the crime in 1914. Bessie, sentenced to die, has her sentence commuted to life in prison; after serving 20 years she is pardoned in 1933 after a national outcry from women who object fiercely to the judicial process for women.
November 24, 1914. St. John of the Cross Church, with 20 families, is dedicated by Bishop John J. Nilan.[86]
1917. At least 50 Middleburians serve in World War I.[87]
1919. A two-room schoolhouse is erected at Bradleyville but burns December 28, 1923.[88]
January 01, 1920. The population of Middlebury is 1,067, a ten-year increase of 231, or 27.6%.[89]
1921. Methodist-Episcopal services are discontinued in Middlebury.[90]
1922. The Lift-the-Latch Inn is established by May “Mae” Katherine Lunny (1881-1935) and the Rosanne Tea Room by Rosetta Smith Carley (1870-1934) and Annie L. Carley. (1872-1961).
December 28, 1923. The Bradleyville School house burns.[91]
1923. The Lift-the-Latch Inn on Tucker Hill Road is fully open for dining, begun a year earlier. Dancing is available on Wednesday and Saturday evenings.[92]
March 6, 1925. A new Hop Swamp School is dedicated at the same site of former Bradleyville School that burned.[93],[94]
1927. The Kissewaug School is closed.[95]
1928. The new Route 6A is built (present Route 64) and opened to traffic.
1928. The trolley service is discontinued, replaced by buses.
April 01, 1930. The population of Middlebury is 1,449, a ten-year increase of 382, or 35.8%.[96]
1930. The trolley line from Waterbury to Woodbury is discontinued and the tracks torn up.
1932. The new Center School is opened, replacing the one built in 1897 by McKim, Mead and White.
November 12, 1932. A bronze tablet is placed at Town Hall honoring Middlebury veterans of the French and Indian War (1), Revolutionary War (30), War of 1812 (26), Mexican War (1), Civil War (29), Mexican-Border War (1) and World War I (50) at the bicentennial of Washington’s birthday.[97]
1935. The first Four-H Club is organized by Delia S. Bronson.[98] The Middlebury Hockey Club is organized, Gordon Knowlton, as manager.[99]
April 07, 1935. A fire levels the Congregational Church and the Town Hall.[100]
December, 1935. The Mary R. Hillard Library is established at Westover School in the former Methodist-Episcopal Church.[101]
September 19, 1937. A new Congregational Church building is dedicated. The Rev. Ralph W. Rowland is the pastor.[102]
September 08, 1937. Kindergarten is begun in the old Center School with Miss Margaret Henderson in charge.[103]
About 1938. The railroad line from Waterbury to Danbury is discontinued. [104]
October 21, 1938. Mary Pickford, the film star, visits the home of Earl F. and Henrietta F. Copp of Porter Hill, and they dine at the Curtiss House in Woodbury. Earl Copp is vice-president of Risdon Manufacturing Company.[105]
By 1939. Karl Borromäus “Charles” Pfrommer, and his wife, Maria (Diedterich) Pfrommer, purchase the Lift-the-Latch Inn and run it until they retire in 1977, hosting over 900 weddings.[106]
1939. There were 288 children of school age in Middlebury.[107]
1940. The population of Middlebury is 2,173, an increase of 724 or 50.0%[108]
May 1940. It is announced that the arch across Straits Turnpike will be removed.109]
Fall 1940. Workmen begin destruction of Straits Turnpike arch way.[110]
October, 1940. Initial plans to make Straits Turnpike complete from Watertown to Naugatuck for $108,000 are underway; paving will be completed in Spring, 1941 from Park Road Extension southward.[111]
May-July, 1940. Athletic field, opposite entrance to Quassy, to be one of the most “attractive town athletic fields in the state,” purchased and prepared for use.[112]
November 1940. Workmen begin destruction of New England Arch on Straits Turnpike. [113]
1941-1945. Over 200 Middleburians serve in the Second World War.[114]
January 27, 1941. The Middlebury Volunteer Fire Department is formed after an August, 1940 fire at the Ray Bedell house on Fenn Road; Melville Skiff is appointed first Fire Chief.[115]
February 1941. Thomas Olsen purchases majority stake in Waterbury Clock Company.
Spring, 1941. The new annex to the Bradleyville School is completed at a cost of $37,000.[116]
March 19, 1942. The new annex of the Bradleyville School burns. As a result, kindergarten classes are held in the old Center School building along with kindergarten classes from the new Center School.[117]
April 08, 1942. Ground is broken for the Waterbury Clock Company building, a new 120,000 square-foot plant in Middlebury to assemble precision instruments for the military.[118],[119]
01 June 1942. Joakim Lehmkuhl becomes president of Waterbury Clock Company, succeeding Charles H. Granger.
June-July 1943. Dr. Charles L. Larkin purchases old railroad rights of way from the Western Union Telegraph Company, to eventually become the Larkin Bridle Trail, which will lead to a riding academy he operates in Middlebury.[120]
May 11, 1944. Pupils from Bradleyville and Center schools hold Arbor Day program in memory of William M. Shepardson at Center School. A dogwood tree is planted in his memory and a Proclamation by Governor Raymond E. Baldwin read. The school is renamed Shepardson School.[121],[122]
September 14 1944. Middlebury and all Connecticut is hit by the second hurricane in six years.[123]
August 1945. Town Hall meeting to discuss addition to Shepardson School, a new school in Hillcrest section, and rebuilding part of Bradleyville School.[124] An addition to Shepardson and an addition to the Bradleyville School are approved the following January.
1946. Memorial School is dedicated. There are 566 children of school age,[125] and the town has 883 dwelling units.[126]
January 1946. The town assumes costs of bussing town students to parochial schools. Antonio J. Ferrante is issued permits to erect three buildings for stores between Four Corners and Bristol Park. The Middlebury Fife, Drum and Bugle Corps is formed with Leonard Ford and Joseph Dinova in charge.[127]
December 20, 1946. Fire destroys the post office and general store at Judd’s Corner. A temporary post office is established at Town Hall.[128],[129]
March 31, 1947. The rebuilt Middlebury Store is opened at Judd’s Corner.[130]
April 1948. A fire breaks out at Four Corners Store after 5:30 in the morning, causing an estimated $5,000 in damages.[131]
1948. The railroad line from Waterbury through Middlebury to Newtown, Connecticut, is discontinued.
February 02, 1948. Middlebury Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary formed.[132]
April 25, 1948. A spectacular fire partially destroys Four Corners grocery store owned by Concetta Dinova.[133]
October 26, 1948. Bradleyville School’s new $135,000 addition is dedicated. The superintendent of schools is Malcolm Letts; the principal is Mary Delaney.[134],[135],[136]
May 26, 1948. Fenn Pond is still known as Little Lake, and is owned by Gordon L. Knowlton.[137]
Feb 1949. A permit is issued for a gas station at Four Corners (later Sunoco), but resented by some local citizens.[138]
Oct 10, 1949. Middlebury Community Club formed “for the advancement of worthwhile community activities.”[139]
1950. The population of Middlebury is 3,318, up 1145, a jump of 52.7%, the largest 10-year increase ever.[140]
1950-1953. About 60 Middleburians served in the Korean War.
May 1950. Middlebury is included for the first time in the Waterbury Visiting Nurse Association services.[141]
1952. Memorial School opens.[142]
1953. Bradleyville School is renamed the Mary I. Johnson School.
1954. There are 1,264 dwelling units in Middlebury.[143]
1955. Middlebury’s first policewoman is Delia S. Bronson.[144]
October 26-27, 1957. The Town’s 150th Anniversary is celebrated. Governor Ribicoff attends.[145]
1958. St. George’s Episcopal Church is formed.
1959-1975. About 145 Middleburians served during the Vietnam War.
1960. The population of Middlebury is 4,785, an increase of 1467 or 44/2%.[146]
September 17, 1960. Formal dedicatory services of the Tabernacle Baptist Church (later the Middlebury Baptist Church) are held.
December 14, 1960. A town meeting votes to repeal an old ordinance which gave “each family the privilege of letting one milk cow run at large without any penalty.” In addition, it is voted that the selectmen won’t have to ring the 9 o’clock curfew bell and the town won’t have to pay the expense of “ringing the bell at funerals of all persons buried in this town.” Twelve voters attend the town meeting.[147]
December 14, 1960. A fire kills Gordon and Ethel Hurlbut, and destroys their home, Chesham Farm, the former home of Frederick Starkweather Chase and Elsie (Rowland) Chase.
January 25, 1962. Revaluation assessment for the town tops the $1-million mark for the first time. The top two taxpayers in Middlebury are the United States Time Corporation ($816,120) and the J. H. Whittemore Company ($198,630).[148]
November 05, 1962. Westover School dedicates a new multi-purpose structure.149]
November 18, 1962. A dedication of the Middlebury Baptist Church is held (groundbreaking was held on November 4, 1956).[150]
December 01, 1962. A new post office on route 6-A (now route 64) is dedicated.151]
December 17, 1963. The 11.2 mile stretch of I-84 between Middlebury and Southbury is officially opened to traffic.[152]
November 22, 1964. The Golden Jubilee Anniversary is celebrated for St. John of the Cross Church.[153]
January 08, 1965. Mrs. Thomas P. Boyd protests the cutting down of a cherished elm tree at Park Road Extension and Watertown Road.[154]
March 16, 1965. The South Street overpass wins an architectural design award from the American Institute of Steel Construction.[155]
1965-6. Route 63, Straits Turnpike, is completed around Hop Brook Reservoir.156]
1968. Hop Brook Dam is completed.
15 Dec 1969. The Oxford Airport, officially designated the Waterbury-Oxford Airport, is opened for limited use on this date. There is no official ceremony. [157],[158]
1970. The population of Middlebury is 5,542, an increase of 757 or 15.8%.[159]
1970. Fenn’s Pond (owned by the Spino family), originally formed in 1912, is established as a recreation center and sanctuary by the Middlebury Land Conservation Association.
1972. The new public library is completed and opened to the public.
1975. The Middlebury Historical Society is formed.
1973. The Middlebury Police Department is officially organized.[160]
1977. The Middlebury Historical Society, the Middlebury Land Trust and the Connecticut Historical Society join forces to save the Peck-Nichols House from destruction by the Connecticut Water Company, which is seeking to build a reservoir.[161] (See 2011)
1980. The population of Middlebury is 5,995, an increase of 453 over 1970, or 8.2%.[162]
May 06, 1980. On May 06, Patti Ann Savage officially becomes a firefighter, after her fight against members to become a member. Colleagues drop threat to resign en masse, but plan to continue to press lawsuit against her becoming a member.[163]
1982. Tranquillity Farm ceases and True Quality Farms takes its place.[164]
1982. The Middlebury Historical Society finds a new home in the former Center School, then in use as a Town Hall Annex.[165]
1985. John and Julia Whittemore’s summer house is taken down and parts of it sold.
Fall, 1989. Quassy’s carousel, crafted by E. Joy Morris of Philadelphia, is sold piecemeal.[166]
1990. The population of Middlebury is 6,145, an increase of 150 over 1980, or 2.5%.[167]
1990-1991. About 15 Middleburians serve in the Gulf War.[168]
2000. The population of Middlebury is 6,451.[169] Ledgewood Memorial Park is dedicated to Middlebury veterans of wars.
2003-ongoing. At least two Middleburians serve in Operation Iraqi Freedom.170]
March 2005. Middlebury begins preparing for its Bicentennial Celebration. Ultimately, Bob Desmarais, Terry McAuliffe, Ray Pietrorazio, Ron Vitarelli and Dennis Small become co-chairs of the Bicentennial Committee.
September 15, 2006. The Town of Middlebury acquires Fenn’s Farm, also called Brookdale Farm, from the Fenn family.
October 08, 2007. Middlebury becomes 200 years old.
August, 2011. Members of the Middlebury Historical Society and the Middlebury Land Trust joined together in forcing First Selectman Thomas Gormley to vacate his effort to destroy the Peck-Nichols House on Nichols Road for fire department practice.
June 2020. The Middlebury Land Trust purchases the remainder of the Peck-Nichols property, 6.5 acres and the house; the house is studied and renovation deemed too costly, so sold to a company that will disassemble it and reconstruct it in Iowa.
2020. The Middlebury Historical Society closes from mid-March through June due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.
2021. The Peck-Nichols House and surrounding land is purchased by the Middlebury Land Trust; the house is disassembled and rebuilt near Moscow, Idaho.
Notes to the Text
[1]. Delia S. Bronson, author and compiler, Bradford E. Smith, editor, History of Middlebury, Connecticut (Middlebury, Connecticut: Middlebury Historical Society, Inc., 1992), 3.
[2]. Helen Earle Sellers, Connecticut Town Origins, Their Names, Boundaries, Early Histories and First Families (Chester, Connecticut: The Pequot Press, 1942), 49.
[3]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury.
[4]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 3.
[5]. Engravings on the Ledgewood Memorial Park Monument, Ledgewood Park, Middlebury.
[6]. Sellers, Connecticut Town Origins, 49.
[7]. The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, from April 1836 to October 1776, transcribed and published in Accordance with a Resolution of the General Assembly, 15 volumes (Hartford, Connecticut: Brown and Parsons, 1850-1890), Volume 11, page 451. A Searchable text of the complete 15 volumes is available at the Web site of the University of Connecticut Libraries at <http://www.colonialct.uconn.edu/>, David F. Avery, Project Manager, © 2000-2005. This is the first evidence the author has found of a petition to the General Assembly.
[8]. Engravings on the Ledgewood Memorial Park Monument, Ledgewood Park, Middlebury.
[9]. Sellers, Connecticut Town Origins, 49.
[10]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 45-54.
[11]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 2.
[12]. Sellers, Connecticut Town Origins, 49.
[13]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 81.
[14]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 2.
[15]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 8.
[16]. Sellers, Connecticut Town Origins, 49.
[17]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 73.
[18]. J. L. Rockey, History of New Haven County, Connecticut, 2 volumes (New York: W. W. Preston & Co., 1892), 758, 763.
[19]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 7.
[20]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury.
[21]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 131.
[22]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 9.
[23]. J. L. Rockey, History of New Haven County, Connecticut, 2 volumes (New York: W. W. Preston & Co., 1892), 758, 763.
[24]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 177.
[25]. J. L. Rockey, History of New Haven County, Connecticut, 2 volumes (New York: W. W. Preston & Co., 1892), 758, 764.
[26]. Connecticut Archives, Record Group 01, Towns and Lands, Index, Series 2, Middlebury, microfilm 188, Connecticut State Library, Hartford, Connecticut.
[27]. Connecticut Archives, Record Group 01, Towns and Lands, Index, Series 2, Middlebury, microfilm 188, Connecticut State Library, Hartford, Connecticut.
[28]. Connecticut Archives, Record Group 01, Towns and Lands, Index, Series 2, Middlebury, microfilm 188, Connecticut State Library, Hartford, Connecticut.
[29]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 97.
[30]. Connecticut Archives, Record Group 01, Towns and Lands, Index, Series 2, Middlebury, microfilm 188, Connecticut State Library, Hartford, Connecticut.
[31]. Connecticut Journal (New Haven, Connecticut), 14 August 1806.
[32]. Connecticut Herald (New Haven, Connecticut), 18 August 1807, page 3.
[33]. Connecticut Archives, Record Group 01, Towns and Lands, Index, Series 2, Middlebury, microfilm 188, Connecticut State Library, Hartford, Connecticut.
[34]. Connecticut Herald (New Haven, Connecticut), 29 September 1807, page 3.
[35]. Sellers, Connecticut Town Origins, 49.
[36]. Connecticut Archives, Record Group 01, Towns and Lands, Index, Series 2, Middlebury, microfilm 188, Connecticut State Library, Hartford, Connecticut.
[37]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 81, 139.
[38]. Connecticut Herald (New Haven, Connecticut), 29 December 1807, page 4.
[39]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 76.
[40]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 7.
[41]. J. L. Rockey, History of New Haven County, Connecticut, 2 volumes (New York: W. W. Preston & Co., 1892), 760.
[42]. Litchfield Gazette (Litchfield Connecticut), 20 April 1808, page 3.
[43]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 76.
[44]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 76.
[45]. 1850 U.S. census, New Haven County, population schedule, Middlebury, printed page 80, National Archives microfilm publication M432, roll 45, examined at the Web site of MyFamily.com Inc., Provo, Utah, located at <http://www.Ancestry.com>.
[46]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 102f.
[47]. Engravings on the Ledgewood Memorial Park Monument, Ledgewood Park, Middlebury.
[48]. “Singular Preservation,” American Mercury (New Haven, Connecticut), 24 February 1818, 2.
[49]. Connecticut State Register and Manual (Hartford, Connecticut: Connecticut Secretary of the State, 2005), with Web site located at http://www.sots.ct.gov/RegisterManual/SectionVII/Population1900.htm, information taken from the United States Bureau of the census.
[50]. The Hartford Courant (Hartford, Connecticut), Tuesday, 15 August 1820, page 03, column 03.
[51]. Connecticut Courant (Hartford, Connecticut), 04 September 1926.
[52]. Connecticut State Register and Manual (Hartford, Connecticut: Connecticut Secretary of the State, 2005), with Web site located at http://www.sots.ct.gov/RegisterManual/SectionVII/Population1900.htm, information taken from the United States Bureau of the census.
[53]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 8, 119. The Methodist Episcopal Church officially was formed in Baltimore in December 1784. In 1939 the northern and southern branches, which had been formed in 1844 over the split about slavery, came together to form the Methodist Church (Wikipedia.com).
[54]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 6, 70.
[55]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 98, 101.
[56]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 18, as written by George B. Bristol in 1910.
[57]. Connecticut State Register and Manual (Hartford, Connecticut: Connecticut Secretary of the State, 2005), with Web site located at http://www.sots.ct.gov/RegisterManual/SectionVII/Population1900.htm, information taken from the United States Bureau of the census.
[58]. Engravings on the Ledgewood Memorial Park Monument, Ledgewood Park, Middlebury.
[59]. 1850 U.S. census, New Haven County, population schedule, Middlebury, printed page 80, National Archives microfilm publication M432, roll 45, examined at the Web site of MyFamily.com Inc., Provo, Utah, located at <http://www.Ancestry.com>. Precise population figures for Middlebury in the 1840 U.S. census are not available.
[60]. The Cleveland Herald (Cleveland, Ohio), 27 December 1852.
[61]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 18, as written by Levings Abbott in 1907.
[62]. Connecticut State Register and Manual (Hartford, Connecticut: Connecticut Secretary of the State, 2005), with Web site located at http://www.sots.ct.gov/RegisterManual/SectionVII/Population1900.htm, information taken from the United States Bureau of the census.
[63]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 16.
[64]. Engravings on the Ledgewood Memorial Park Monument, Ledgewood Park, Middlebury.
[65]. Benson Scrapbooks, IV-106, 108. Research has failed to locate information about the Goldsmiths.
[66]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 17, 37.
[67]. Connecticut State Register and Manual (Hartford, Connecticut: Connecticut Secretary of the State, 2005), with Web site located at http://www.sots.ct.gov/RegisterManual/SectionVII/Population1900.htm, information taken from the United States Bureau of the census.
[68]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 17.
[69]. Census images from MyFamily.com, Provo, Utah, Web site located at <http://www.Ancestry.com>.
[70]. The New Haven Daily Morning Journal and Courier (New Haven, Connecticut), Friday, 09 August 1880, page 02, column 01.
[71]. The Hartford Daily Courant (Hartford, Connecticut), Monday, 16 August 1880, page 02, column 04.
[72]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 171.
[73]. United States Census Bureau, United States Department of Commerce, information located at their Web site located at <http://www.census.gov/index.html>.
[74]. Sandusky Daily Register (Sandusky, Ohio), 01 March 1890, page 1, column 4.
[75]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 131-132.
[76]. Thomas R. Egan, “Library 170 Years Old,” The Waterbury Republican, The Sunday Republican Magazine (Waterbury, Connecticut), 22 November 1964, 6-7.
[77]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 104.
[78]. Engravings on the Ledgewood Memorial Park Monument, Ledgewood Park, Middlebury.
[79]. The Naugatuck Daily News (Naugatuck, Connecticut), Monday, 13 March 1899, pages 01, column , and 04, column 04.
[80]. United States Census Bureau, United States Department of Commerce, information located at their Web site located at <http://www.census.gov/index.html>.
[81]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 42.
[82]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 90.
[83]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 61.
[84]. United States Census Bureau, United States Department of Commerce, information located at their Web site located at <http://www.census.gov/index.html>.
[85]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 55-58.
[86]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 92.
[87]. Engravings on the Ledgewood Memorial Park Monument, Ledgewood Park, Middlebury.
[88]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 113.
[89]. United States Census Bureau, United States Department of Commerce, information located at their Web site located at <http://www.census.gov/index.html>.
[90]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 8.
[91]. Benson Scrapbooks, VIII, page 45. A little history of the schoolhouse is presented here.
[92]. Rosemary Jackson, “Middlebury inn Latch closes on…” The Waterbury Republican (Waterbury, Connecticut), 5 March 1978 (her description of inn becoming a tea room in the 1920’s and a restaurant in 1938 were inaccurate. See Lift-the-Latch Inn advertisement, The Waterbury Republican (Waterbury, Connecticut), Saturday, 19 May 1923, 12:6.
[93]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 113, 116.
[94]. Benson Scrapbooks, VIII, page 45. A little history of the schoolhouse is presented here.
[95]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, II.
[96]. United States Census Bureau, United States Department of Commerce, information located at their Web site located at <http://www.census.gov/index.html>.
[97]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 29-30.
[98]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, III.
[99]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 56.
[100]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 145f.
[101]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 119.
[102]. The Waterbury Republican (Waterbury, Connecticut), 20 September 1937, 1:7.
[103] “Town to Set Up Kindergarten,” Newspaper article, unknown newspaper, dated 01 September 1937, Benson Scrapbooks, Middlebury Historical Society, volume III, page 78.
[104]. Benson Scrapbooks, IV-106.
[105]. Benson Scrapbooks, IV-24.
[106]. Website of Klemm Real Estate, 6 Titus Road, Washington Depot, Connecticut 06794, advertisement, 02 April 2020, at http://www.klemmrealestate.com/pages/rPropertyDetails.php?190, accessed 02 April 2020.
[107]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 110.
[108]. United States Census Bureau, United States Department of Commerce, information located at their Web site located at <http://www.census.gov/index.html>.
[109]. Benson Scrapbooks (Middlebury, Connecticut: Middlebury Historical Society), volume IV, part II, page 78.
[110]. Benson Scrapbooks (Middlebury, Connecticut: Middlebury Historical Society), volume IV, part II, page 106.
[111]. Benson Scrapbooks, IV-105.
[112]. Benson Scrapbooks, IV-78, 91.
[113]. Benson Scrapbooks, IV-106-110.
[114]. Engravings on the Ledgewood Memorial Park Monument, Ledgewood Park, Middlebury.
[115]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 153-155.
[116]. Benson Scrapbooks, Middlebury Historical Society, Volume V, page 61, and Volume VIII, page 45.
[117]. “Fire Loss is $37,000 in Middlebury School,” The Hartford Courant (Hartford, Connecticut), 20 March 1942, p1.; also see Benson Scrapbooks, Volume V, pages 60-62.
[118]. “Waterbury Clock Co. Plans Assembling Plant,” the Hartford Courant (Hartford, Connecticut), 28 January 1942, 5.
[119]. Helen Hickcox Benson Scrapbooks, Volume V, pages 66-67.
[120] Helen Hickcox Benson Scrapbooks, Volume V, page 100; article originally probably from the Waterbury Republican-American.
[121]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 107-108.
[122]. Benson Scrapbooks, Volume VI, page 37.
[123]. Benson Scrapbooks, Volume VI, page 33.
[124]. Benson Scrapbooks, VI-52. Newspaper article, possible Waterbury Republican-American, August 1945.
[125]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 109-111.
[126]. Price & Lee’s Watertown, Middlebury, Thomaston Directory for 1956 (New Haven: Price & Lee, 1956), 16A.
[127]. Benson Scrapbooks, Volume VI, page 56 (probably Waterbury Republican-American article).
[128]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 150-152. The fire was not in 1940, as erroneously stated in the 175th anniversary book for Middlebury.
[129]. The Waterbury Republican (Waterbury, Connecticut), 21 December 1946, 1:1.
[130]. Benson Scrapbooks, Volume Eight, page 19
[131]. Benson Scrapbooks, Volume Eight, page 32
[132]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 157.
[133]. The Hartford Courant (Hartford, Connecticut), Monday, 26 April 1948, page 01, column 07.
[134]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 112, 115.
[135]. The Waterbury Republican (Waterbury, Connecticut), 27 October 1948, 22:1.
[136]. Benson Scrapbooks, Volume VIII, page 45, probably from a Waterbury American article, date unknown.
[137]. Benson Scrapbooks, Volume VIII, page 32, from a Waterbury American article of 26 May 1948.
[138]. Benson Scrapbooks, VIII, page 49.
[139]. Benson Scrapbooks, VIII, page 56.
[140]. Connecticut State Register and Manual (Hartford, Connecticut: Connecticut Secretary of the State, 2005), with Web site located at http://www.sots.ct.gov/RegisterManual/SectionVII/Population1900.htm, information taken from the United States Bureau of the census.
[141]. Benson Scrapbooks, VIII-59.
[142]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, III.
[143]. Price & Lee’s Watertown, Middlebury, Thomaston Directory for 1956 (New Haven: Price & Lee, 1956), 16A.
[144]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, III.
[145]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 33f.
[146]. United States Census Bureau, United States Department of Commerce, information located at their Web site located at <http://www.census.gov/index.html>.
[147]. The Waterbury Republican (Waterbury, Connecticut), 14 December 1960, 1:7.
[148]. The Waterbury Republican (Waterbury, Connecticut), 25 January 1962, 23:1.
[149]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 121.
[150]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 94-95.
[151]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 152. Additionally, a First Day Cover, in the possession of the Middlebury Historical Society, states the dedication was on December 1, 1962.
[152]. “Route Opens,” The Hartford Courant (Hartford, Connecticut), December 17, 1963, 14.
[153]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 24.
[154]. The Waterbury Republican (Waterbury, Connecticut), 08 January 1965, 3:4.
[155]. “Ives Accepts Rt. 84 Award,” The Hartford Courant (Hartford, Connecticut), 17 March 1965, 15.
[156]. Bronson and Smith, History of Middlebury, 24.
[157]. “State To Open Oxford Airport,” The Hartford Courant (Hartford, Connecticut), Friday, 12 December 1969, page 23, column 01.
[158]. “Oxford Airport Officially Open,” The Bridgeport Telegram (Bridgeport, Connecticut), Tuesday, 16 December 1969, page 08, column 03.
[159]. United States Census Bureau, United States Department of Commerce, information located at their Web site located at <http://www.census.gov/index.html>.
[160]. Anonymous, “A Police Department With Roots In Rural Middlebury,” The Weekly Star (Woodbury, Connecticut), 03 February 1986, page 01; article in file “Police Department” (September 2017).
[161]. “House To Be Preserved,” unknown newspaper publication (Newtown Bee?), 04 January 1977, A7.
[162]. Connecticut State Register and Manual (Hartford, Connecticut: Connecticut Secretary of the State, 2005), with Web site located at http://www.sots.ct.gov/RegisterManual/SectionVII/Population1900.htm, information taken from the United States Bureau of the census.
[163]. “Woman Wins Fight To Join Fire Department,” The Hartford Courant (Hartford, Connecticut), Wednesday, 07 May 1980, page 29, column 01.
[164]. Margaret DeMarino, “How True Quality grew on Tranquillity Farms,” The Waterbury Republican (Waterbury, Connecticut), 11 July 1892.
[165]. Mark Azzara, “Middlebury turns 175; Historic group excited,” Waterbury Sunday Republican (Waterbury, Connecticut), 02 May, 1982, page 19. “This autumn, the town will take over the Shepardson School, converting much of it to office space and vacating the Annex which now is used as offices for the town’s inspectors, several commissions and the Sewer Department.”
[166]. Frank Juliano, “Quassy’s carousel is a unique example of a lost art form,” The Waterbury Sunday Republican, The Sunday Republican Magazine (Waterbury, Connecticut), 03 September 1989, 2.
[167]. Connecticut State Register and Manual (Hartford, Connecticut: Connecticut Secretary of the State, 2005), with Web site located at http://www.sots.ct.gov/RegisterManual/SectionVII/Population1900.htm, information taken from the United States Bureau of the census.
[168]. Engravings on the Ledgewood Memorial Park Monument, Ledgewood Park, Middlebury.
[169]. Middlebury Community Profile at the Web site of ePodunktm © 2006, located at <http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=9196>.
[170]. Engravings on the Ledgewood Memorial Park Monument, Ledgewood Park, Middlebury.
© 2021 Dr. Robert L. Rafford, Municipal Historian, Middlebury, Connecticut
The Middlebury Historical Society, Inc., 4 Library Road, Middlebury, Connecticut 06762; Mailing Address: P.O. Box 104, Middlebury, Connecticut 06762. Contact President@middleburyhistoricalsociety.org.