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Darien, Connecticut
Official seal of Darien, Connecticut
Seal
Located in Fairfield County, Connecticut
Located in Fairfield County, Connecticut
Coordinates: 41°03′04″N, 73°28′45″W
NECTA Bridgeport-Stamford
Region South Western Region
Incorporated 1820
Government
 - Type Representative town meeting
 - First selectman Evonne M. Klein
Area
 - City 60.6 km²  (23.4 sq mi)
 - Land 33.4 km² (12.9 sq mi)
Population (2005)
 - City 20,452
 - Density 612/km² (1,585/sq mi)
Time zone Eastern (UTC-5)
 - Summer (DST) Eastern (UTC-4)
ZIP code 06820
Website: http://www.darien.org/

Darien is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States.

Contents

As of the 2000 census, the town population was 19,607, but a July 1, 2002 Census estimate put the town's population at 19,887. Like its neighbor to the north, New Canaan, Darien is one of the most affluent small communities in the United States.

Two Metro North railroad stations serve Darien: Noroton Heights and Darien.

The part of Interstate 95 that runs through Darien is considered the most dangerous stretch of that highway in Connecticut. [1]

Both the 1975 and the 2004 versions of the film The Stepford Wives were filmed in part in Darien.

The public library in Darien, the Darien Library, has consistently ranked in the top ten of its category in the HAPLR (Hennen's American Public Library Ratings)Index of libraries.

The McDonald's restaurant located at the rest stop on Interstate 95 southbound, between exits 10 and 9, is the busiest McDonald's in the country.[2]


[edit] Local pronuncuation of the town name

Contrary to the "Darien" entries in all dictionaries, the vast majority of town residents pronounce the name of the community “Dairy-Ann” with the stress on the last syllable. Evonne Klein, the first selectwoman, pronounces it that way and says that's the way she hears it pronounced by "99 percent" of residents. The way locals pronounce it, it rhymes with "Mary Ann," not "Marion."

"You can always tell when someone is not from here because they do pronounce it the way it’s spelled," Louise Berry, director of the town library, said in a 2006 interview.[3]

[edit] Government and politics

Darien is primarily a Republican town, voting for George Bush in the last 2 elections, but now has a Democrat in office as First Selectwoman. In 2004, Evonne Klein became the first Democrat elected to the post in 14 years. This was due to the overall disapproval of the previous Republican first selectman, Robert Harrel.

Elected bodies in the town government are a five-member Board of Selectmen, a nine member Board of Education, a seven-member Board of Finance, a six-member Planning and Zoning Commission, three-member Board of Assessment Appeals, and a 100-member, nonpartisan Representative Town Meeting. The town has several elective offices as well: the town clerk, probate judge, registrar of voters, tax collector and treasurer.[4]

The Board of Finance approves financial measures, including the town budget; the Board of Education controls the town's public schools; the Representative Town Meeting is the main legislative body of the town.

As of December 1, 2005, the town had 12,099 registerd voters, with 6,445 Republicans (53.1 percent), 1,940 Democrats (16 percent) and 3,703 unaffiliated voters (30.6 percent).[5]

[edit] Public safety

In 2005, the town police department responded to 20,030 incidents, including 595 motor vehicle accidents, 1,766 motor vehicle infractions, and issued 254 traffic tickets and 1,150 traffic warnings. Police made 104 arrests for driving under the influence and received reports of 152 larcenies, 27 burglaries, three attempted burglaries, 82 incidents of vandalism, 19 assaults and six motor vehicle thefts. Police made 33 larceny arrests, 10 for burglary, 11 for vandalism, 15 for assault. No robberies, rapes, arsons or murders were reported in 2005.

The town received 1,675 false alarms in 2005, two actual alarms, 304 alarms that were canceled and 17 caused by weather.[6]

Darien has three fire departments, all of which are staffed entirely by volunteers. The Noroton Heights Fire Department, founded 1904, has about 150 members. The Noroton Fire Department, founded in 1896, has 140 members. The Darien Fire Department, founded in 1895, covers the eastern side of town, encompassing about 45 percent of the land area.[7] The Noroton Heights and Darien Fire Departments cover a portion of Interstate 95 from exits 9 southbound to exit 13/14 northbound, one of the most disaster-prone streches of highway in the country.[1]

[edit] Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 38.4 km² (14.8 mi²). 33.3 km² (12.9 mi²) of it is land and 5.2 km² (2.0 mi²) of it (13.41%) is water. The town has four exits on Interstate 95 and its northern border runs near to the Merritt Parkway. It also has two Metro North railroad stations for commuter trains into New York City, with a 38-39 mile commute of 46-50 minutes from Noroton Heights, 49-53 from Darien. Most trains run non-stop after Stamford into New York City's 125th Street then Grand Central Terminal. The central part of town is on US Route 1, known locally as the Boston Post Road, or Post Road for short. Commercial zoning is extremely limited outside of this town-wide strip.

Darien is bordered on the west by Stamford, on the north by New Canaan, and on the east by Norwalk. On the south it faces Long Island Sound. It is part of the "panhandle" of Connecticut sticking out into New York state. The town has 16.5 miles of coastlline and five harbors.

[edit] Sections of Town

Study on Long Island Sound at Darien, Connecticut, (1872) by John Kensett
Study on Long Island Sound at Darien, Connecticut, (1872) by John Kensett

In addition to some small neighborhoods, the larger divisions of the town (which are not governed separately except for volunteer fire department services) are Noroton (roughly in the southwest corner of town) and Noroton Heights (roughly north of Interstate 95 to Middlesex Avenue with an eastern boundary somewhere east of Noroton Avenue. Tokeneke is in the southeastern end of town.

The Noroton section of Darien is defined by two peninsulas that claw their way into Long Island Sound, their curved appendages protecting enough coves and inlets to make the area a haven for beachgoers and sailors.It is the water, however, that gives Noroton both its name -- an Indian word assigned to the river along Darien's border with Stamford -- and its identity. The shorter of the peninsulas, Noroton Neck, is divided into shore communities like Noroton Bay and Pratt Island.[8]

Long Neck peninsula, which extends farther into Long Island Sound, providing westerly views of Manhattan, is just as exclusive. Accessed by the Ring's End Landing bridge, a graceful stone structure that marks a major shipping point for early settlers, Long Neck became a summer destination for the wealthy when rail travel made it accessible during the mid-1800's.[8]

Noroton Heights "grew up around the Noroton Heights train station and housed the European immigrants who serviced the old estates," according to an article about the community in The New York Times. The densely populated streets of this part of town are full of "modest Capes and colonials" along with other house styles.[8]

[edit] History

For more information, see: History of Darien, Connecticut

Originally part of Stamford, this area became Middlesex Parish in 1737. It was incorporated as the Town of Darien in 1820. Settlement had begun in the 1680s. Tories raided the town several times during the American Revolution, at one point taking 26 men in the parish prisoner for five months, including the Rev. Moses Mather, pastor of the parish. The Tory-Patriot conflict in Darien is the setting for the novel Tory Hole, the first book by children's author Louise Hall Tharp.

According to the Darien Historical Society, the name Darien was decided upon when the residents of the town could not agree on a name to replace Middlesex Parish, many families wanting it to be named after themselves. A sailor who had traveled to Darién, Panama, then part of Colombia, suggested the name Darien, which was eventually adopted by the people of the town.

Until the advent of the railroad in 1848, Darien remained a small, rural community of about 1,000. After the Civil War, the town became a one of the many resorts where prosperous New Yorkers built summer homes. A few daily commuters to New York City then were forerunners of the many who have settled here and changed Darien into a residential suburb of metropolitan New York.

[edit] Reputation for anti-Semitism

Laura Z. Hobson's bestselling 1947 novel Gentleman's Agreement was set in Darien to highlight American anti-Semitism via an unwritten covenant that prohibited real estate sales to Jews in communities nationwide.The film won the Academy Award for best picture. Darien would earn the offensive nickname "Aryan Darien" as mentioned ("an Aryan from Darien") in Auntie Mame the Broadway play and movie. In recent decades the town has become home to various religions..

[edit] Post 53

Its ambulance service, Darien EMS known as "Post 53" (run by a Boy Scout Explorer post and open to both boys and girls) is the only ambulance service in the nation staffed and run entirely by high school student volunteers.

The service provides emergency care at no cost to the patient, funded entirely by private donations from town residents. Teenagers are allowed to perform patient care due to the fact that Connecticut is one the few states in the nation which allows Emergency medical technicians to be certified at age 16.

Supervised by trained adults, Post 53 lets in 15 teenagers a year to join the crew. "Each student receives at least 150 hours of training for basic certification as emergency medical technicians; by their senior year, some even qualify to drive the ambulance."[8]


[edit] Education

[edit] Darien Public Schools

The 2005-2006 town education budget is $56.7 million, representing an estimated $11,928 in spending per pupil. Teacher salaries in the 2005-2006 fiscal year ranged from a low of $37,875 to a high of $90,766. Donald Fiftal, superintendent of schools, received a salary of $185,000 in the 2005-2006 fiscal year.

The town has five Elementary Schools, each with a Parent-Teacher Organization: Hindley School, Holmes School, Ox Ridge School, Royle School, and Tokeneke School. A $27 million addition was completed in 2000 to the town's middle school, Middlesex Middle School, and a new $73 million campus for Darien High School was completed in the fall of 2005.[8]

High school academic statistics
Average SAT scores for the Class of 2005 were 585 verbal and 612 math. For the Class of 2004, 86.6 percent went on to four-year colleges and another 6.7 percent went to two-year colleges.The May 2005 Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT) results (administered to students in the 10th grade): Of the 238 students who took the test, 62.2 percent scored at or above the state goal in all four content areas.[9]
Connecticut Mastery Test scores
Students performing at or above the state performance goal in 2004:[10]
  • Fourth grade: reading, 80.2 percent; writing, 88.9 percent; math, 84.5 percent
  • Sixth grade: reading, 88.7 percent; writing, 86.1 percent; math, 90.1 percent
  • Eighth grade: reading, 84.1 percent; writing, 84.7 percent; math, 87.1 percent
School cancelation or delay reports
The school system tries to decide by 5:30 a.m. if school is canceled or delayed. If school is delayed, start times are postponed 90 minutes. Decisions about early dismissal are made by 9:30 a.m. Information is posted on the school system Web site, and broadcast on these radio stations: WEBE 108 FM, 99.9 FM; WICC, 1600 AM; WLAD 800 AM; WCBS, 880 AM; WDAQ, 98.3 FM; WGCH, 1490, AM; WEFSX, 95.9 FM; WSTC, 1400 AM; WKHL, 96.7 FM; and WTIC, 1080 AM and 96.5 FM; Cablevision 12 and WTNH-TV, Channel 8.[11]

[edit] Private school

Pear Tree Point School, originally named Plumfield School, serves students in pre-kindergarten through Grade 5.


[edit] Local media

Darien is served by two local weeklies: Darien News-Review and the Darien Times. Other newspapers from towns close to Darien, such as The Advocate, are read and sold in Darien. (The town is covered in the Stamford edition of the paper; there is also a Norwalk edition.) New Canaan Darien Magazine is a monthly published by Moffly Publications. The Topix.net Web site collects stories about Darien from various news organization Web sites and can be accessed by clicking here.

[edit] Recreation

Town-owned or unrestricted membership:
  • Cherry Lawn Park -- town-owned park
  • Darien Y -- the local Y.M.C.A., offers more than 300 programs.
  • Public beaches -- The town runs Weed Beach in Noroton and Pear Tree Point Beach on Pear Tree Point.
Restricted membership clubs:
Near Noroton, Connecticut (1875) by David Johnson
Near Noroton, Connecticut (1875) by David Johnson
  • Country Club of Darien -- The club has the second-largest estimated property value of any entity in town, with $23.2 million in assessed value (equal to 70 percent of estimated actual value) behind only the Wee Burn Country Club.[12]
  • Darien Boat Club
  • Noroton Yacht Club -- Former members of "the world-renowned" club "have included two America's Cup skippers." The club runs the largest junior sailing program in the county.[8] The club was founded in 1928 and built its first clubhouse the following year.
  • Ox Ridge Hunt Club -- On 37 acres, the club hosts a popular annual horse show held since 1926. The club was founded in 1911
  • Piedmont Club -- Not a country club, the "Società Umberto Principe di Piemonte, Inc." was organized July 15, 1916 and "a well-appointed and commodious clubhouse" just off Noroton Avenue was erected in 1923, according to a town history published in 1935.[13]
  • Shippan Racquet Club
  • Tokeneke Club When developers of Tokeneke were trying to sell real estate there, they found that ensuring access to a beach removed some hesitation on the part of prospective buyers, so they founded the Tokeneke Beach Club in 1909, acquiring "a small stretch of shore on which stood a dilapidated double-decker bathhouse and a broken pier," soon replaced.[14]
  • Wee Burn Country Club -- formed in 1895, it is the first organized golf club in the state and "either the second or third in the United States." The name of the club was taken from a small stream, Stony Brook, which ran through the old grounds. Originally a small house on the Post Road in Noroton (across the street from St. Luke's Episcopal Church[15]) was rented for a clubhouse and nearby land for a seven-hole course was rented. The lease stipulated that the links couldn't prevent the landlord from continuing to use the fields as pasture for his cows. Eventually more land was bought on Hollow Tree Ridge Road[16] and the course was enlarged to nine holes and then 18 by (at the latest) the 1930s.[17] The club is the largest taxpayer in Darien, with an assessed property value (equal to 70 percent of estimated value) of $29.8 million. [12]
  • Woodway Country Club, founded in 1916 when some members of the Wee Burn Country Club decided the small Wee Burn links, then near the Post Road in Noroton, were getting too crowded. The club bought 150 acres of land in Darien and another 45 in Stamford, and an 18-hole course was opened July 1, 1918.[18] The club was the sixth largest taxpayer, according to the October 1, 2004 town Grand List. The assessed value of the property (equal to 70 percent of actual estimated value) was $19.9 million.[12]

[edit] Annual events

  • Annual Sidewalk Sale in the summer (sponsored by the Darien Chamber of Commerce)
  • Ox Ridge Horse Show

[edit] Notable people, past and present

For more information, see List of people from Darien, Connecticut

Long Neck Point from Contentment Island by John Kensett, collection of the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, depicting the area where Andrew Carnegie spent some summers
Long Neck Point from Contentment Island by John Kensett, collection of the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, depicting the area where Andrew Carnegie spent some summers

Actors and actresses who have lived in town include former resident Christopher Plummer (who now lives in Weston), Kate Bosworth, Topher Grace, Chloë Sevigny, Film director Gus Van Sant is also a resident. Moby partly grew up in town.

People famous in other fields have also called Darien home: Margaret Bourke-White, the late photojournalist, lived in town first with author Erskine Caldwell, then in the same home on Point O'Woods South after their divorce. New York Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman also lives in town.

Charles Lindbergh the late aviator, and his wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh lived on Tokeneke Trail, and Leslie Groves - military head of the Manhattan Project, afterward lived in town. Christopher Shays, the Republican congressman representing Connecticut's Fourth District, was born in Darien (and now lives in Bridgeport). Steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie vacationed for several summers at what became the Convent of the Sacred Heart on Long Neck.[19]

[edit] Films shot in town

--Internet Movie DataBase web page on films using Darien as a shooting location

[edit] Notable (nonretail) businesses

[edit] Some notable retail businesses

  • Barrett Bookstore, Noroton Heights Shopping Center, 314 Heights Road
  • Darien News Store
  • Darien Sport Shop, originally for sporting, but now all kinds of clothes and gifts
  • Giovannis II restaurant, 2748 Post Road
  • Ring's End, successful lumber company with several locations, started in Darien
  • Palmer's Supermarket (locally owned)
  • Sugar Bowl 1033 Boston Post Road, classic luncheonette
  • Post Corner Pizza, 847 Boston Post Road, unique Greek-style pizza

[edit] Frederick J. Smith House

A notable work of modern architecture in town is the Frederick J. Smith House, designed by architect Richard Meier. The house was planned starting in 1965 and completed in 1967.

"There is a formal layering, giving a sense of progression, as one moves across the site from the entrance road down to the shore, and the 'line of progression' determines the major site axis. Perpendicular to this axis, the intersecting planes in the house respond to the rhythms of the slope, trees, rock outcroppings, and the shoreline."

— Richard Meier. Richard Meier, Architect. New York: Oxford University Press, 1976. p23.[21]

The home has been featured in numerous books, including:

  • Roger H. Clark and Michael Pause, Precedents in Architecture, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1985, ISBN 0-442-21668-8 (plan and section diagrams, p154)
  • Peter Gossel and Gabriele Leuthauser, Architecture in the Twentieth Century, Germany: Benedikt Taschen Verlag, 1991. ISBN 3-8228-0550-5 (large color exterior photo, p280)
  • Paul Heyer, American Architecture: Ideas and Ideologies in the Late Twentieth Century, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1993 ISBN 0-442-01328-0 (exterior photo of transparant facade, p167)
  • William S. Saunders, Modern Architecture—Photographs by Ezra Stoller, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Publishers, 1990, ISBN 0-8109-3816-2 (exterior photo, p200, 202; interior, p201; many small photos, p212-213)

[edit] Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 19,607 people, 6,592 households, and 5,385 families residing in the town. The population density was 588.7/km² (1,525.2/mi²). There were 6,792 housing units at an average density of 203.9 persons/km² (528.3 persons/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 95.97% White, 0.45% African American, 0.04% Native American, 2.42% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.30% from other races, and 0.80% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.19% of the population.

There were 6,592 households out of which 46.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 74.5% were married couples living together, 5.6% have a woman whose husband does not live with her, and 18.3% were non-families. 15.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.95 and the average family size was 3.31.

In the town the population was spread out with 32.5% under the age of 18, 3.0% from 18 to 24, 28.2% from 25 to 44, 24.0% from 45 to 64, and 12.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 96.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.7 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $146,755, and the median income for a family was $173,777. Males had a median income of $100,000 versus $59,313 for females. The per capita income for the town was $77,519. 2.0% of the population and 0.6% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 1.6% are under the age of 18 and 2.6% are 65 or older.

With a median home price of approximately $1 million, Darien is one of the most expensive places to live in North America, and was rated one of the best places to live in America by CNN in 2005.

[edit] Other Dariens in the United States

The City of Darien, Illinois was named after this Connecticut town when it was incorporated in 1969. When the incorporation committee reached an impasse on an acceptable name for the new city, Acting Mayor Sam Kelly suggested "Darien". Kelly had visited Darien, Connecticut, and found it to be a very pleasant and attractive community.

Other Dariens:

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b [1]Cablevision editorial
  2. ^ [2]
  3. ^ [3] "The town name that sounds like a milk maid," "Grapevine" column, The Fairfield County Business Journal, July 10, 2006
  4. ^ "Darien Government Guide: 2006", a brochure published by the League of Women Voters of Darien
  5. ^ Revitalization: Town of Darien Annual Report, 2004-2005, page24
  6. ^ Darien Answer Book, page 44
  7. ^ Darien Answerbook '06, page 42
  8. ^ a b c d e f [4] Prevost, Lisa, "A Haven for Both Sailors and Commuters," an article (part of the ongoing "If you're thinking of living in" feature) in the Real Estate section of The New York Times, December 14, 2003, accessed online on July 14, 2003
  9. ^ Darien Answerbook 2006, page 28
  10. ^ Darien Answerbook 2006, page 28
  11. ^ Darien Answerbook 2006, page 28
  12. ^ a b c Revitalization: Town of Darien Annual Report, 2004-2005, page 11
  13. ^ Case, Henry J. and Cooper, Simon W. Town of Darien: Founded 1641, Incorporated 1820, Darien Community Association, 1935, p. 86, HEREAFTER Case
  14. ^ Case, p. 20
  15. ^ "Darien: 1641-1820-1970: Historical Skteches," edited by Bertha Mather McPherson, published by the Darien Community Association, 1970; "A Brief History of Darien," by Louise H. McLean, p. 17, hereafter McLean
  16. ^ McLean, p. 17
  17. ^ Case, pp. 26-27
  18. ^ Case, p. 28
  19. ^ Case
  20. ^ "Prophet of Doom? Darien market bear says U.S. investors' ship is sinking," article by Julie Fishman-Lapin in The Advocate of Stamford, Business section, August 6, 2006, pp. F1, F6
  21. ^ [5]As quoted on the "Great Buildings" Web site, accessed July 19, 2006.

[edit] External links

Shore of Darien, Connecticut by John Kensett
Shore of Darien, Connecticut by John Kensett

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