1934 NORWICH 275th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
On July 1st-4th, 1934 Norwich celebrated both the 150th anniversary of Incorporation of the City of Norwich and the 275th anniversary of its Founding of the Town of Norwich. The cover of the Official Program is shown on the left.
The celebration was similar to anniversary celebrations the past. There was a parade, exhibitions, a recognition of important sites and homes, a huge pageant, medals and ribbons for attendees and committee members.
The Norwich Sunday Record announced that 10,000 people were expected and that there would be “over 60 floats by business firms, societies, individuals, etc., over 10 bands and a number of drum corps”.
The opening ceremony of the 4-day celebration was held in the Broadway Theater on Sunday evening. Norwich Mayor, Edward G. Moran presided.
The Norwich Bulletin reported that : “Arriving visitors found a welcome extended in banners suspended over the highway on all the roads leading into the city. … Buildings on streets in the business section of the city were in festal array in decorations of bunting in the national colors and sidewalk flags will add to the gala effect. Many homes in residence section have also been attractively decorated for anniversary”.
Ode To Norwich
The “Ode To Norwich” was written in support of the celebration of 1934 Norwich Anniversary. The song was performed by the Norwich Choral Society at the opening ceremony of the 275th anniversary program.
The program was held on July 1, 1934 at the former Broadway Theater. This is the same building that was visited by Frank Sinatra in 1949, when he opened the Loew’s Poli Theater.
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The music for the song was written by H. Louise Fuller. She was the sister of the Norwich Art School Director, Charlotte Fuller Easton.The lyrics were written by W. Tyler Olcott. He had a peculiar fascination for various forms of verse. He composed several many sonnets, however, his first love was astronomy.
He was a renowned astronomer, who lived on Church Street in Norwich for almost his entire life. Olcott wrote five books on the subject and was highly regarded in the field. A crater on the Moon is named after W. Tyler Olcott.
Two other songs, “To The Future Inhabitants of Our Norwich Home” and “Two Hundred Years Ago, A Bi-Centennial Ode” which were composed for and sung at Norwich’s 200th Jubilee in 1859, were sung.
Acknowledgements
The Muse Newsletter, Spring 2008, by Vivian Zoë
Popular Astronomy (October 1936)
“The Norwich Jubilee A Report of the Jubilee at Norwich, Connecticut on the 200th Anniversary of the Settlement of the Town (1859) ” by John W. Stedman
The complete list of sources may be found by clicking the “Bibliography” button, and, then typing “1934 Norwich Anniversary” in the SEARCH box.
1947 Rose Garden Dedicated
Veterans Memorial Rose Garden (also known as Mohegan Memorial Rose Garden) was dedicated in 1948 (and re-dedicated in 2008) to honor veterans of World War II
and has been maintained by the City of Norwich ever since. It is set on a half acre at the southern tip of Mohegan Park, a wooded city park full of trails, a swimming pond, and picnic areas.
A group of citizens led by Roy D. Judd in the 1940s determined that “The Rose City” should have a park befitting its name. They raised funds and hired Thomas H. Desmond, a landscape architect from Simsbury, to design the garden. Delayed by World War II , the rose garden was installed in 1947. Its first rose, “Lady Stanhope,” was planted April 16, 1947.
At the formal dedication ceremony, held on July 11, 1948, the Norwich Rotary Club officially transferred the garden to the City of Norwich. After receiving the garden for the City, Mayor Richard F. Marks was quoted in the Norwich Bulletin as saying : ”This garden is one of the most beautiful and restful spots in New England”.
In 2008, the garden was enclosed by a tall fence to protect it from browsing deer. Today the beds are bursting with 120 rose varieties and 1,250 rose bushes.
Until 2013 the garden was a trial site for “All American Rose Selections”, a California company that provided roses in exchange for feedback about how they performed until the company closed in 2013. Memorial donations made in honor of a loved one are used to purchase new plants, as evidenced by plaques in the rose beds, an indication of the many visitors who have enjoyed the beauty of this rose garden.
Acknowledgements
Connecticut Explored
Bob Dees
The complete list of sources may be found by clicking the “Bibliography” button, and, then typing “rose garden” in the SEARCH box.
1959 NORWICH 300th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
In June 1959 Norwich celebrated the 300th Anniversary of its founding. The two-week event was a joyful affair that included a grand parade. It was so successful that it in 1965, it became a blueprint for Norwich’s Rose Arts Festival.
This Tercentenary Commemorative plate is a part of the Sabina Line collector series. It highlights “The Rose of New England” and several historic sites in Norwich.
Pennants like these shown above were abundant throughout the city.
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This photo is a colorized version of the original black-and-white taken by Bill Stanley in 1959. It shows citizens of Norwich celebrating Norwich’s 300th anniversary, by spreading flakes of imitation gold on the pavement near Chelsea Parade. Many thanks to Bruce Noland for his artistic creativity and sharing his artwork.
News of this event, the brain-child of Bill Stanley and his brother Jimmy, spread locally, nationally and internationally after Jimmy convinced the celebration organizing committee to implement their plan for the “Street of Gold.” The “Norwich Street of Gold” article was on the front page of The London Times, The New York Times, and Time magazine. The United States’ most popular commentator, John Cameron Swayze, brought the “Camel Caravan” to Norwich.
1959 Trolley Tour
As a part of the 300th year celebration the town offered a trolley tour of 52 historic Norwich sites. Pages 4 and 5 of the 25¢ brochure shown on the left outlines the route and provides a brief overview of all the sites visited.
The tour began in at the Buckingham Memorial and ended at the Jonathan Avery House, 29 West Town Street.
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Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Jo-Ann Todd for her contributions to this article
“Norwich Celebration Promising”, 06/07/2009, by Bill Stanley
Courtesy of Jo-Ann Todd
WikiMedia
The complete list of sources may be found by clicking the “Bibliography” button, and, then typing “300th” in the SEARCH box.
1963 Spaulding Pond Dam Collapse
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Mohegan Park and Spaulding Pond have been a place of tranquility and pleasure for more than a century. The Spaulding Pond Dam has kept the water in place for more than fifty years. The postcard shown of the left shows how the pond appeared in the fall of 1957.
The winter of 1962-1963 was severe and by early March heavy rains were melting a layer of glacial ice that was two-feet thick in places. On the afternoon of March 5 personnel from the City Public Works Department inspected the dam, looking for leaks. There was a concern for the safety of the dam because seepage had been observed in previous years.
View of dam and arbor (circa 1913)
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Inspectors found that water was seeping through the dam’s earthen core. The director of the Public Works personally inspected the dam at 6:15 pm and confirmed there indeed was leakage. However, he saw no trace of erosion or other conditions symptomatic of imminent danger.
Unfortunately, his assessment was erroneous. Only a few short hours later, at 9:20 pm he contacted the Norwich police and informed them that the dam might collapse. At 9:25 pm a local radio station was contacted and requested to broadcast a city wide alert. At 9:27 pm the dam collapsed and sent a wall of water racing toward downtown Norwich.
The postcard shown on the left was postmarked in 1913.
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On the crest of the wave were huge blocks of ice that worked like battering rams. Many of the blocks were that size of a kitchen table and were two-feet thick.
A local newscaster reported that the water in Franklin Square had been as much as five feet deep. Bill Stanley wrote : “The water on Bath Street and behind the Norwich Bulletin was like a huge lake”. The photo, shown on the left, was taken near Franklin Square in front of the Turner and Stanton Twine Mill.
At 10:14 pm several workers at the mill, unaware of the mortal danger that they were in, rushed upstairs to a window to see what all the commotion was about. A few moments later a 12-foot wall of water and ice washed away the lower floor of the mill.
Madeline Atterbury, Helen Roode, Alexander Pobol, Anna Louise Barrett and Mae Caroline Robidou all lost their lives as the mill collapsed.
Memorial to the Six Who Perished
Dedicated March 4, 2006
Several blocks north of Franklin Square, Ron Moody arrived home from work and warned his wife and family of the immanent danger. After telling them to evacuate his wife, Honey, gathered up their three sons to take them to her mother’s home in the western part of town.
The entire family, and their upstairs neighbor Tony Orsini, got into their car and Ron began driving. Just as they passed the Lake Street playground floodwaters floated their car off the road. Everyone made it safely out of the car but Honey. After she handed her infant son through the window to her husband, the car shifted and Honey was swept away into the freezing water. There was no chance for anyone to save Honey. She was found dead the next day 20 feet from the car.
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The failed dam was originally built in 1853 by two businessmen and was later modified. The dam was used strictly for providing a controlled water supply to downtown Norwich. The water was needed to power waterwheels for local businesses. Virtually no safety factors were built into the design of the dam. Its failure was attributed to bad design, poor maintenance and no consideration of its potential harmful impact to the city.
Following the investigation and a restructuring of the town’s emergency response organization, the Spaulding Pond Dam was rebuilt. The demolition of the old dam’s remains began in August of 1964, and the large modern replacement dam being completed and dedicated in September of 1965.
The new dam was mostly funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Soils and Conservation Service. It was built in accordance with the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act of 1954. Today, it is a safe, well-maintained structure.
Acknowledgements
“A Swift and Deadly Maelstrom ; The Great Flood of 1963”, by Thomas Moody
“6 Died When Dam Bursts, Norwich Flooded”, 02/28/2010, by Bill Stanley
PicClick UK
Public Domain and Bruce Noland
The complete list of sources may be found by clicking the “Bibliography” button, and, then typing “Spaulding Dam” in the SEARCH box.