Watertown History Page by Charlie Crowell

Watertown History Page by Charlie Crowell History of Watertown CT

This old postcard shows the Methodist Church (built in 1898) on the corner of Main Street and Cutler Street, and the Bue...
06/04/2025

This old postcard shows the Methodist Church (built in 1898) on the corner of Main Street and Cutler Street, and the Buell H. Heminway House at 305 Main Street.

There’s no date on this card but the trolley line wasn’t extended that far up Main Street until 1910, so it was after that.

The Heminway House, often referred to as a mansion, was built in 1895 by Buell Heminway and gifted to his son Buell Havens Heminway. It remained in the Heminway family for 45 years.

It was sold to The Methodist Church in 1956 rather than allow a proposed a gas station be built on the site.

On Father’s Day 1944, the Hamels of French Street received word that their son, who had been listed as missing in action...
06/04/2025

On Father’s Day 1944, the Hamels of French Street received word that their son, who had been listed as missing in action, and then listed as a prisoner of war, was doing well at a German POW camp.

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Watertown, June 21 - Sunday morning, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Hamel of French Street, received a telegram from the acting Provost Marshal General, Washington, D. C. which contained a copy of the exact message broadcast Friday night over short wave radio by their son, Staff Sergeant Joseph O. Hamel, a prisoner of war in Germany.

The telegram reads as follows:

“I want you to know that I am quite well and safe as a prisoner of war in Germany. Feeling fine.
Not wounded. Nothing to worry about, will write soon. Signed: Staft Sergeant Joseph Hamel."

The telegram arrived on Father's Day, and is rather odd coincidence is the fact that the telegram announcing that Staff Sergeant Hamel, who had previously been reported missing in action, was a prisoner of war in Germany arrived at the Hamel home the evening preceding Mother's Day, May 5.

Sergent Hamel, a first radio man and gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress had been reported missing in action over Austria April 2.

Since Sunday, Mr. and Mrs. Hamel have received numerous letters and phone calls from persons in various parts of the United States who heard the broadcast made by their son; some of the letters having come from as far distant Texas and Oklahoma.

Mr. and Mrs, Hamel and their family sincerely appreciate the interest and kindness shown by the senders of these messages.

Monday the Hamels received their son's prisoner of war address.

(WATERBURY DEMOCRAT, June 21, 1944)
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Joseph was captured by Germany and was imprisoned at Dulag Luft Grosstychow Dulag 12. He was later liberated from the POW camp and returned home.

Mr. Hamel joined the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1943. He retired as a highly decorated veteran from the U.S. Air Force in 1970.

Retired Master Sgt. Joseph O. Hamel Sr. died in 2008.

Here’s a picture I took in July 2010 showing the interior of the so-called “Axe Murder House" at the corner of Echo Lake...
06/04/2025

Here’s a picture I took in July 2010 showing the interior of the so-called “Axe Murder House" at the corner of Echo Lake Road and Buckingham Street.

That’s the front door toward the right.

As you can see, the place was a wreck by then. It had been vacant for over 20 years.

Many of the walls and much of the ceiling had been torn open as if someone was looking for something of value hidden there.

Just ten days after I took this picture, the house burned to the ground in a spectacular evening blaze.

The murder that took place there was that of an old farmer by the name of Titus Foote. He was hacked to death with an axe by his housekeeper, 20 year old Hannah Donovan, in May of 1861 as he was lying in bed.

She fled the scene but was located a couple miles away at the home of Curtis Dayton on Northfield Road. She was taken into custody and an inquest was held. Finding probable cause, she was then taken to the old jail in Litchfield (now a restaurant) and held until the fall county court session.

In September of 1861 she was found guilty of 2nd degree murder and sentenced to life at the Connecticut State Prison in Wethersfield.

A sheriff transported her to Wethersfield that November where she stayed until being pardoned by the General Assembly in 1867.

After that, she disappeared.

As for old Titus Foote? His grave is clearly marked at the Old Burial Grounds on Main Street.

Here are a few broken gravestones set aside at the Old Burial Grounds on Main Street. No one knows how many people are b...
06/03/2025

Here are a few broken gravestones set aside at the Old Burial Grounds on Main Street.

No one knows how many people are buried in the old cemetery. Many graves never had headstones, some stones have sunken into the soil out of view, and still others have been broken either through age, falling trees, or vandalism, and disposed of.

One thing we do know for sure is that the cemetery was crowded. Grave diggers complained that wherever they dug they ran into an existing grave.

Over the years, some bodies were exhumed and moved to the Evergreen Cemetery on North Street. Still others were taken away for reburial in other towns

Record keeping was generally nonexistent. Most of what we know about the cemetery comes from old church records, the inscriptions on the stones themselves, and in some cases, newspaper clippings.

The cemetery dates back to 1741. By the 1910s, it had largely fallen into disuse. The last person to be interred here was reportedly Martha Beardsley who died in 1926.

This scene has certainly changed in recent years. I took this photo from inside the Old Burial Grounds on the corner of ...
06/03/2025

This scene has certainly changed in recent years. I took this photo from inside the Old Burial Grounds on the corner of Main Street and French Street.

The former Sunoco gas station (left) and the small cape (right) are both gone today, replaced by a Starbucks and its parking lot.

The gas station was built in 1948.

After it closed in the early 70s, the building was converted into a convenience store called the Cupboard (1975). The Cupboard closed in December of 1988 and a Bess Eaton Donut Shop moved in.

The donut shop didn't last long.

Later, a number of other businesses operated from the building including a used car dealership.

The little cape was built in 1955. It was once home to a hair salon.

The stone wall seen here surrounds the cemetery. It was built by the Daughters of the American Revolution in August of 1908.

The DAR held a "drawing bee" whereby local farmers used their wagons and teams of horses and delivered 100 loads of stones to the cemetery.

Needless to say, it was back-breaking work. It was all done by volunteers.

Here’s a 1970 view of Watertown’s WWI memorial, formerly a rocking “balancing rock” leftover from the last ice age. On M...
06/03/2025

Here’s a 1970 view of Watertown’s WWI memorial, formerly a rocking “balancing rock” leftover from the last ice age.

On May 21, 1921, people gathered to dedicate this monument which had been placed on the grass triangle by the Town Hall. It was erected to honor the 261 men and wonen from Watertown who served in WWI. About a dozen of the men were killed and are buried in Europe.

The boulder, estimated to weigh about 12 tons, was moved to this site from its original location off the abandoned part of Old Baird Road off Woodbury Road.

It was originally a rare “balancing rock”, deposited by the receding glaciers of the last ice age about 13,000 years ago.

In its original spot, it was so finely balanced on a ledge that a child could push it and it would rock back and forth.

Nine "sturdy" horses were used to move the stone. It was placed on a massive wagon and moved to this site, but not without great difficulty.

The rock was originally on the Sperry Farm and later Richard Sperry, who donated the boulder, asked the town to hire engineers to make it a rocking, balancing boulder again in its new location. The request not taken seriously.

Today, wreaths are placed at this monument each Memorial Day and Veteran's Day in memory of these heroic men and women.
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In its original location, this boulder, and another rock in the same vicinity known as “table rock” where local attractions. Church groups and others held summertime picnics there.

(Photo credit: Florence T. Crowell)

The very first electric street light in Watertown was installed and illuminated on January 18, 1898. It was located on t...
06/03/2025

The very first electric street light in Watertown was installed and illuminated on January 18, 1898. It was located on the corner of Main Street and Depot Street opposite the old Railroad Hotel that stood where West’s Chevrolet later stood.

Immediately, a crowd of hundreds formed beneath the light. For the first time in history, the center of town was not shrouded in darkness after the sun went down.

As this article states, the light was just the Waterbury Traction Company’s way of showing the town what they could have. The light was only temporary. The town would have to come up with a way to pay for it, or it would be turned off.

One night it didn’t turn on and people gathered wondering what the problem was. It was just a malfunction but some wanted to climb the pole thinking it needed to be relit with a match.

The light was soon repaired.

Eventually however, after no action was taken to pay for the light, the Waterbury Traction Company pulled the plug and the town was plunged back into darkness.

But the people had seen the light (pun intended) and at a town meeting, the money was allocated for six street lights to be erected up and down Main Street.

The only obstacle remaining was to get people to agree exactly where the lights should be placed. That resulted in some tense debates.

Naturally, everyone living on Main Street wanted a light near their homes.

(Article from the WATERBURY DEMOCRAT, January 19, 1898)

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Early on, some neighborhoods paid for their own street lights. Watertown Heights was one. That’s the Scott Avenue, Highland Avenue, Prospect Street area.

Civil War Prisoner of War Interred At WatertownWatertown, Conn., June 17, 1907 - The remains of the late Gilbert E. Royc...
06/02/2025

Civil War Prisoner of War Interred At Watertown

Watertown, Conn., June 17, 1907 - The remains of the late Gilbert E. Royce, who died at the Soldier's Home Friday night, were brought here for interment in Evergreen Cemetery this afternoon.

Mr. Royce was seventy-four years old and a veteran of the Civil War, serving in the First Connecticut Calvary. He was captured by Confederates troops and spent three months in Libby Prison.

Mr. Royce has spent most of the time since the close of the war in Watertown, leaving here only a few weeks ago for the Soldier's Home.

He was a member of Federal Lodge, F and A. M. He leaves two sons, Edwin G. Royce of Stamford and Charles M. Royce of Waterbury, and one daughter, Mrs. Clara F. Beckett of Watertown.

NOTES - Libby Prison was a Confederate prison at Richmond, Virginia during the Civil War. It gained a notorious reputation for overcrowded and harsh conditions. Prisoners suffered high mortality from disease and malnutrition. By 1863, one thousand prisoners were crowded into large open rooms on two floors with open, barred windows leaving them exposed to weather and temperature extremes.

The "Soldier's Home" mentioned here was Fitch's Home for Soldiers and Orphans located in Darien, Connecticut

Seen here is Edith Skilton signing the guestbook at the old Watertown Historical Society on DeForest Street. “Miss Edith...
06/02/2025

Seen here is Edith Skilton signing the guestbook at the old Watertown Historical Society on DeForest Street.

“Miss Edith” as she was known, was born in Watertown on December 16, 1870. She lived to the remarkable age of 103. She was, for many years, Watertown's oldest inhabitant although she moved to the Elm Park Baptist Home in Cheshire for a while just prior to her death where she was claimed as Cheshire's oldest resident.

I had the pleasure of visiting her at her home out at the end of Skilton Road. She loved talking about Watertown’s past. She was approaching 100 at the time and was as sharp as ever and a very refined lady.

Her house was truly a time-capsule. She still had a hand pump at her old-fashioned kitchen sink instead of a faucet. The pump drew water from a well outside.

Miss Edith never married. She was the daughter of Julius and Emily (Bryan) Skilton. Interestingly, Watertown has a Skilton Road and a Bryan Road named for both of her parent’s families.

In her later years, she donated many old relics to the Watertown Historical Society Museum. She also occasionally spoke at gatherings there, telling tales of early life in Watertown.

In the 1950s, Miss Edith, Aunt Grace Foote, and others, wrote a history of the Gurnseytown part of town.

Edith Skiton died on August 19, 1974 in Cheshire and was buried in the Skilton plot at the Evergreen Cemetery on North Street in Watertown.

Julius James Skilton (1836-1920)
Emily Amelia Bryan Skilton (1845-1872)
Edith Skilton (1870-1974)
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Seen on the wall to the right is the rare and invaluable 1854 wall map of Watertown.

A quarter century ago, I did some newsletters for the WHS Class of ‘75. This was around the time the class was having it...
06/02/2025

A quarter century ago, I did some newsletters for the WHS Class of ‘75. This was around the time the class was having its 25th reunion.

I tried to keep my name out of it but within a few months a couple of sleuthy classmates figured out it was me and the gig was up.

Now, another quarter century has passed and the illustrious Class of ‘75 is planning another reunion for October, the big 5-OH!

Anyone recognize this old Oakville home? This one remains a mystery. This view is probably from the 1910s.
06/02/2025

Anyone recognize this old Oakville home? This one remains a mystery. This view is probably from the 1910s.

Here’s a nice aerial view of Lorraine Gardens on Main Street. This is courtesy of John Brody, whose family owned the nur...
06/01/2025

Here’s a nice aerial view of Lorraine Gardens on Main Street. This is courtesy of John Brody, whose family owned the nursery, sent by way of Robin Tofield.

Located at 1359 Main Street, after the business closed, all the buildings were demolished. By 2013, the site was leveled in preparation of new construction.

Today, the site is home to three national chain stores, AutoZone Auto Parts, Advance Auto Parts and Dollar General Store.

Thank you John & Robin!

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Watertown, CT
06795

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