History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

It is obvious that this mode of travel must have been very inconvenient, and in May, 1791, Robert Walker, of Stratford, and others petitioned the Legis- lature for authority to establish a lottery to raise the funfis necessary to build a bridge across Newfield Harbor. At that time this was a favorite metliod of raising money for ])ublic improvements. Nor wa.s the purcha.se or the sale of lottery tickets even at a later period regarded as disreputable by the best peojile in the commonwealtli. In response to the i)etiti((ii the .\sseinbly apiioiiited Messrs. James Davenport, .lohn (^handler, and .lona- than Ingersoll a committee, with the following in- structions : " To view the [dace w'here the petitioners propose to build a bridge, and make an estimate of the expense, and to determine what kind of bridge it will be i)roper to build, and report to this Assembly." The committee rei>()rted favorably, and in October, 1791, the following resolution was passed. The origi- nal may be found at Hartford in one of the ponderous manuscript vcdumes containing the public acts: ACT ESTABLISniSO LOTTEKY BRIDGE. "Upon petition of Koborl Wallier and otlior itibubitantft of the town Of Stratford, and Jonatlian Stuiges, Tliaddcus Burr, Andrew Rowland, an<l otlier inliabitant^ of liie town of Kairfield, in Fairfield County, show- ing to (his A.'«end)ly tliat the road from the town of Stratford to the town of Fairfield tlil-ough a village called Old Mill is alniut nine miles, and hy reason d tlie rocks, liills, and other l>iul ijuarters of said road, tlie same is extremely ineommmliotis to traveling in general, and particularly to tho public stage, anil that another roiul leading from said Stratfonl to said Fairfield through a place called New Field is three miles shorter and capable of being an cxtreniely good and pleasant road and very coniniu- diouB to tlio public, but that by reason of the intervention of an arm of the sea across said road at Newfield the sjune cannot bo rendered con- venient without a bridge at said New Field across said arm of the sea, and that the sjiid town <»f Stratford, to which said village of Newfield belongs, is unable to oroct said bridge at their own expense ; praying for liberty to raiw; a sum of money to btiild said bridge by Lottery, as per petition on file, etc., — "lte»olved by this Assembly, that liberty be and the same Is hereby granted to the peUtioners for the sotting up a lottery for the purpose of raising a sum of fifteen hundred jionnds lawful money; and that the moneys sii to l>e raised shall be appnipriatetl to the pui^iose of building said bridge ; which sjiid bridge shall contain therein a dniw or dmw- britlge over tlie most convenient place in the channel, of twenty-four feet In width, and shall Im cc»mpleted in every respect and coniinodioua for tliu public; and that John IteiOaniin, .\mos Hilbl.ell, John Thompeon, Josiati Ijicey, David Burr, and Daniel Sfilmon (?), or any of tbeni not less tlian four, lie and they hereby are appointed managers of said lottery, and fully autborixed to establish a scheme or schemes of said lottery, to consist of one or more class or classes, make sale of the tickets and cidlect Ibo money arising therefrom. "Pmvlded they do within three months after tho rising of this Assem- bly lodge with the treasurer of tills SUite a bond |u\yablo to said treas- urer or his successors in said idtice, wiUi one or more surelics, to be ap. proved of by said treasurer in the i>eual sum of three thousand pounds lawful money, ctuidilioneil for the faithful management of said lotterj-, payment itf the prtKeisIs, and that the money so raised be faithfully a|>- plied to the building said bridge, and that the sold Itridge be erected and completed by the 1st day of DuqfUilter, 1793, and that the wile of said tickets shall not commence before the first day of July next" The t astern extremity of Lottery Bridge was that of the |ircsent lower bridge, Init on the west it ex- tended nearly to what is n^w the foot of AVall Street, and some traces of the abutments which supported it could until recently be seen there under the dock at low tide. It had a draw, parting in the middle and raised by jiullcys on either side, but must have been very poorly built, as within three years' time it needed repairing. About the year l.HIM, while undergoing further repairs, the whole structure gtive way, and, tipping over to the southward, fell into the water, where it remained, a melancholy ruin, for a number of years. ' Benjamin Hall, of Stratford, and afterwards Abel ' Hall, Jr., and Elijah Btirritt, were given permis.«ioii to re|>air it by the Legislature, but failed to improve the grant, and in 1807 Salmon Hubbell and others rebuilt the bridge, or rather built a new one, — the present Bridgeport or lower bridge, — with western terminus farther up stream, at the foot of Fairfiebl Avenue. In .lamiarv, 17S7, Josiali Lacev, of Newfield, Nathan Seelev, of Danbury, and David Burr, of Fair- field, were appointed a committee by the Fairfield County Court to lay out and widen the highways now known as Main Street and State Street. Tlie former is designated in the cimimittee's rejiort, dated .\pril 13, 1787, as "the road at the foot of (Joblc-n Hill," and the latter as "the road from the dwelling-house of the Widow Eunice Hubbell, near the stores at New- field, to the town-line between Stratford and Fair- field." The following persons are stated by the report to have sustained damages by the alterations made : £ s. d. Aaron llawley 20 2 9 The Indians, or natives at Golden Hill 14 0 Rev. It<d>ert Ross I 2 U James II. .yt- G 5 0 I'hilip Nichols 3 10 0 Ebenezer Whitney 15 0 Am.« llulii.ell 19 6 William Peet 10 0 John Hubbell 7 6 0 Widow Eunice Hubbell 12 0 Nathan I lilell IS 15 U William Wonlin 3 14 4 Benjamin llnbbell 9 0 llenjaliiin Wheeler 8 0 Wiliiiun Hubbell 12 0 03 3 T The report in full, with notes explanatory by H. B. Lacey, Estp, may be tbund on jiage 228 of the " Mu- nicipal Register" of l?ridge]Mirt for 1874. Ill October, 179.'), William HiTron and Eli Mygatt were api(oint«Hl by the ( Jeneral .\s,senibly a committee, with instructions " to view the great road leading from Dragon Bridge, between East Haven and New Haven, through New Haven, Milford, Stratford, Fairfield, Norwalk, Stamford, and (ireenwich, to Ryram River, and to make and lay out any neces.sary alterations in said road." Following is an extract from their report, dated Oct. 20, 179(5. on file at the State-house, in Hart- ford. The paragraph relates to the first opening of the street now known as Stratford Avenue, in Eiust Bridgeport. Previous to this time the stage road had BRIDGEPORT. 87 lolliiwrd tlie shore around the extrenie cikI nl' ihe ]Miint. — ;i route sometiiues iiiipMssiilih' at hi^li water: " Tlie alteratiune between ^ewfield Briflge and Benjamin's Bridge al'6 j grounded on the necessity of avoiding or shunning tlie road now trav- eled, under tlie banli wliere tlie tiile flows, which rcmlei-s it at times im- ' passjible, tu the detriment of travelers; being likewise very <;ruoked, wdiich is niiw remedied by a straight line on good ground through Asa Benjamin's rope-walk. Twenty rods of the south part thereof must be taken up and shifted to the north end, together with his wheel-house, which is thirty feet in length, and subjects him to the necessity of pur- chasing a lot of laud of about seven acres at an extravagant price, beside the expense of taking up the rope-walk.' news and editorial columns of the Trh-ijntfihi- rontain very little that is interesting at tlic iirocnl day. Tlie advertisements, on the eontrary, are nltrn very cnter- tainiufT, and I have thoujrht it wovtii while to copy quite a nuinber of tlieiii as illustiatiiiu:, iiuich better than eould be done in any cither way, the customs and the busine.ss of the plaee at tlie lieL:iiiiiiiin- of the present eentury : ADVEKTISEMKXTS FKO.ll TllK " TEDXatAl'llE." and iija- The committee recommended that three huiidr thirty dollars damages should lie paid to Asa mill by the town of Stratford. Their report was accepted by the .Vssenibly, and a resolution passed making the road, as recoinineiided, "an open public highway." Lilierty was also given to Stratford to set U]i ;i toll-gate at Lottery Bridge, in Newfield, for the support of that and of Benjamin's Bridge, which was accordingly done in 17'.i'.', .lolm Thompson, Amos Hnbliell, and Thaddeiis Benedict being the commissioners. In (.)ctober, IT'.l", an act was jiassed by the Legisla- ture authorizing the inliabitants of Newfield to meet annually at the school-house on the first Monday in December to choose for firemen twenty-five men liv- ing within the limits of Xewfield. Power was also given the village to make regulations for better j)ro- tection against fire, and to impose penalties not ex- ceeding ten dollars in case of their violation. A fire- engine and a number of fire-buckets had already liecn purchased by subscription. In the following year another resolution of similar tenor was passed by the Assembly, which is interest- ing because it defines the limits of Xewfield Village. These were briefly as follows: Beginning at Welles Tongue, and foUowing the river to the imrtlieast cor- ner of the Indian Lot, a short ilistanee above the jiresent horse-railroad bridge ; thence crossing to Main Street and following the line of Washington Avenue over ( ioldeii Hill to a stone bridge across Cedar t'reek, not very far from where St. John's church now stands ; thence southeastwardly through the fields to the start- ing-|iiiiiit.