History of Stamford, Connecticut
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The history of Stamford, Connecticut
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[edit] Early history
Stamford was known as Rippowam by the Native American inhabitants to the region, and the very first European settlers to the area also referred to it as such. The name was later changed to Stamford after a town in Lincolnshire, England. The deed to Stamford was signed on 1 July 1640 between Captain Turner of the New Haven Colony and Chief Ponus. The land that now forms the city of Stamford was bought for 12 coats, 12 hoes, 12 hatchets, 12 glasses, 12 knives, four kettles, and four fathoms of white wampum. The deed was renegotiated several times until 1700 when the territory was given up by the Native American inhabitants for a more substantial sum of money.
One of the primary industries of the small colony was merchandising by water, which was possible due to Stamford's proximity to New York.
Starting in the late 19th century, New York residents built summer homes on the shoreline, and even back then there were some who moved to Stamford permanently and started commuting to Manhattan by train, although the practice became more popular later.
Stamford incorporated as a city in 1893.
[edit] Twentieth century
Stamford is the birthplace of the electric dry shaver industry. By 1940 Colonel Jacob Schick employed almost 1,000 workers at the Schick Dry Shaver Company on Atlantic Street.[1]
[edit] Downtown development
Despite its age, Stamford has very few historic buildings. This can be attributed to a massive urban redevelopment campaign (starting in the 1960s and gaining steam in the 1970s) that changed the face of the downtown, giving it its distinctive look as a modern, very urban-looking business district with a high skyline.
The few historic buildings include the Old Town Hall (1905, currently unoccupied), the Hoyt Barnum House (1699), and the old Yale and Towne building (1869, part of the Yale and Towne complex was destroyed in a fire on April 3, 2006), which was once a lock company (the city seal has the two keys from it).
The F.D. Rich Co., a construction company founded by F.D. Rich Sr., an Italian stonemason (with an Americanized name) several decades before, was the city-designated urban renewal developer of the downtown,
The redevelopment was contentious, with groups of residents suing to prevent the demolition of nine city blocks and the displacement of 400 businesses and 1,100 families.[2]
After building High Ridge Park, a suburban corporate campus, in the 1960s, the company put up the city's tallest structure, Landmark Building, and the GTE building (now One Stamford Forum). The Stamford Marriott, with a revolving restaurant dining room at the top, overlooking Long Island Sound, is another F.D. Rich landmark that changed the look of Downtown. [2]
In the 1970s F.D. Rich Co. also built 10 Stamford Forum (designed by Steven M. Goldberg of the New York office of Mitchell/Giurgola),[3] and in the 1980s it built the 1-million-square-foot Stamford Town Center mall, 4 Stamford Forum (designed by Cesar Pelli), 6 Stamford Forum (Arthur Erickson) and 8 Stamford Forum (Hugh Stubbins), 300 Atlantic Street and 177 Broad Street. When real estate prices collapsed in the 1980s, the company had to sell nearly all of its properties, although it continues to rent space in Landmark Square.[4]
Many of the buildings along Tresser Boulevard, parallel to Interstate 95, had little but garage entrances and exits accessing the street, although they presented a modern, glittering glass facade to travelers along the highway. The Rich family (which still owns F.D. Rich Co.) was criticized for creating pedestrian-unfriendly streets, and Tresser Boulevard became notorious among many architecture and urban design critics.
"The streets were never meant to be for pedestrians," Robert N. Rich, then head of the company, told a reporter for the New York Times in 1999, apparently referring to Tresser Boulevard and the immediate area around it. "GTE came here because they were bombed in New York. Crime was a problem in the city. That's why the buildings were designed to be impenetrable."[2]
Over the years, other developers have joined F.D. Rich Co. in building up the downtown, including Antares, which has built some of the large condominium projects, and W&M Properties, which built and owns Metro Center, a prominent building just south of the Stamford train station where Thomson Corporation, officially a Canadian company, has its operational headquarters.
F.D. Rich Co., still headquartered in the Landmark building, sold nearly all of its Stamford buildings (including the Landmark) in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The company recently built and owns a Courtyard by Marriott hotel at the corner of Summer and Broad streets. The Rich Forum, a downtown performing arts center, is named after the Rich family.
[edit] Twenty-first century
On September 11, 2001, nine city residents were murdered in the terrorist massacres of that day, all at the World Trade Center: Alexander Braginsky, 38; Stephen Patrick Cherry, 41; Geoffrey W. Cloud, 36; John Fiorito, 40; Bennett Lawson Fisher, 58; Paul R. Hughes, 38; Sean Rooney, 50; Randolph Scott, 48; and Thomas F. Theurkauf Jr., 44. A total of 65 Connecticut residents were murdered.[5]
In the early afternoon of August 3, 2006, one of the hottest days of the year when air conditioning raised electricity consumption, downtown Stamford experienced a blackout after underground electricity cables on Summer Street overheated and caught fire. Many offices were forced to close down. A concert (part of the Alive@Five series) with Hootie & the Blowfish continued at Columbus Park early that evening, but many restaurants had to throw out their food beforehand.
[edit] On the National Register
- Agudath Shalom Synagogue — 29 Grove St. (added June 11, 1995)
- Benjamin Hait House — 92 Hoyclo Road (added December 30, 1978)
- C. J. Starr Barn and Carriage House]] — 200 Strawberry Hill Ave. (added October 14, 1979)
- Church of the Holy Name — 305 Washington Blvd. (added 1987)
- Cove Island Houses — Cove Road and Weed Avenue (added June 22, 1979)
- Deacon John Davenport House — 129 Davenport Ridge Road (added May 29, 1982)
- Downtown Stamford Historic District — Atlantic, Main, Bank, and Bedford Sts. (added November 6, 1983)
- Downtown Stamford Historic Distric (Boundary Increase 2) — Roughly, Bedford Street between Broad and Forest Streets (added February, 2003)
- Fort Stamford Site (added October 10, 1975)
- Gustavus and Sarah T. Pike House — 164 Fairfield Ave. (added June 24, 1990)
- Hoyt-Barnum House — 713 Bedford St. (added July 11, 1969)
- John Knap House — 984 Stillwater Road (added April 5, 1979)
- Linden Apartments — 10-12 Linden Place (added September 11, 1983)
- Long Ridge Village Historic District — Old Long Ridge Road bounded by the New York State Line, Rock Rimmon Road, and Long Ridge Road (state Route 104) (added July 2, 1987)
- Main Street Bridge — Carries Main Street over the Rippowam River (added June 21, 1987)
- Marion Castle, Terre Bonne — 1 Rogers Road (added August 1, 1982)
- Nathaniel Curtis House — 600 Housatonic Ave. (added May 15, 1982)
- Octagon House — 120 Strawberry Hill Ave. (added September 17, 1979)
- Old Town Hall — between Atlantic, Bank, and Main Streets (added July 2, 1972)
- Revonah Manor Historic District — Roughly bounded by Urban Street, East Avenue, Fifth, and Bedford Streets (added August 31, 1986)
- Rockrimmon Rockshelter (added September 5, 1994)
- South End Historic District — Roughly bounded by Metro-North railroad tracks, Stamford Canal, Woodland Cemetery, and Washington Boulevard (added April 19, 1986)
- St. Andrew's Protestant Episcopal Church — 1231 Washington Blvd. (added 1983)
- St. Benedict's Church — 1A St. Benedict's Circle (added 1987)
- St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church — 628 Main St. (added 1987)
- St. Luke's Chapel — 714 Pacific St. (added 1987)
- St. Mary's Church — 540 Elm St. (added 1987)
- Stamford Harbor Lighthouse — South of breakwater, Stamford Harbor (added May 3, 1991)
- Suburban Club — 6 Suburban Ave./580 Main St. (added September 10, 1989)
- Turn-of-River Bridge — Old North Stamford Road at Rippowam River (added August 31, 1987)
- US Post Office-Stamford Main — 421 Atlantic St. (added 1985)
- Unitarian Universalist Society in Stamford — 20 Forest St. (added 1987)
- Zion Lutheran Church — 132 Glenbrook Road (added 1987)
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ [1] "About the Avon" web page at web site for the Avon Theatre, accessed 28 June 2006
- ^ a b c [2] New York Times article, "Commercial Property/Stamford, Conn.: A Pioneer Business Park That Confounded Critics," by Eleanor Charles, Sept. 26, 1999 Page accessed on 23 June 2006
- ^ [3]Horsley, Carter B., "About Real Estate: Offices Designed to Serve as an Entry to Stamford," New York Times, August 26, 1981, accessed August 9, 2006
- ^
- ^ Associated Press listing as it appeared in The Advocate of Stamford, September 12, 2006, page A4
