Norwalk After Two Hundred & Fifty Years

Resolved, That a deed be drawn, conveying the property of the Library Corporation to the City, conditioned that the City shall maintain and keep a Free Library and Reading Room for the accommo- dation of its citizens in consideration of said convey- ance, and failing to do so, to return to the Library Corporation the property so conveyed in as good con- dition as now, or its equivalent in money, the property being appraised at the sum of $12,000, less the mortgage encumbrance, $5,000. The gift was accepted by a city meeting on De- cember 9th, 1890, and the property was duly trans- ferred to the City of South Norwalk. A tax of one- quarter of a mill annually, amounting to about $1,300, to $1,800 was laid for its support, which is its only in- come at the present time, aside from about $40 a year from non-resident subscribers, and less than a hundred from fines on books detained over the allowed time. In 1900 a bequest was made to the library of the interest on $1,000 by Robert H. Rowan, a life member of the old corporation. In reviewing the history of the library this is the only large gift of money disclosed, though the frequent contributions of lesser sums in times of need from C. W. Knudsen are not forgotten, nor the gifts of valuable books from several sources overlooked. The gift of one hundred juvenile books as a memorial to Edwin H. Mathewson, Jr., by his sister, Jennette Mathewson, in September, 1901, was the first memorial gift to the library, affording an example which may result in similar gifts from others. The personal labors of the presidents of the corporation, Gen. Taylor, Jr., 316 and A. Blanchard, and of E. Hill, C. W. Knudsen, George S. North, T. I. Raymond, C. Swartz, Edwin Wilcox, R. H. Golden, H. I. 'Smith, John H. Light and others whose names appear frequently on the records of the corporation as officers and members of com- mittees, in the days when its income was uncertain and all labor for it that of disinterested public spirit, can never be too highly valued. When the library was re- organized as a city department, the first Board of Di- rectors was appointed by Mayor Edwin Wilcox, who had been himself an active member of the corporation, serving for a number of years as its secretary. The board consisted of Col. Leslie Smith, A. Blanchard, W. B. Reed, T. I. Raymond, C. F. Hallock, R. H. Golden, Charles Adams, G. S. North, J. J. Cavanagh. C. F. Hallock was elected its first president and Miss Ange- line Scott was appointed librarian, dating from January 3, 1891. The immediate result of the change of organ- ization was an increase of book-borrowers, the members being quadrupled in the first month. The statistics for the last year of the corporation with paid memberships at $1 a year, were 4,988 books loaned and 20,885 visitors. In June, 1892, the number of books in the library was 2,123, while in June, 1901, 4,546 books were reported. In January, 1895, Mr. Hallock resigned from the Board of Directors to take a seat in the Common Council and he was succeeded by A. Blanchard as president. From the beginning the reading room has been made a leading feature of the institution ; and, when the corpora- tion opened its reading room in 1885, three daily, twen- ty-one weekly and twelve monthly periodicals were pro- vided at a cost of $80.90, a large appropriation for the income at that time. At present the reading room is supplied with eight daily, twenty-five weekly, one semi- weekly, one fortnightly, and thirty-one monthly period- icals, at a cost of $170. Another feature emphasized has been reference books, as far as the means of the library permitted. The Encyclopaedia Britannica, Chambers' and Johnson's Encyclopaedias, Larned's History for Ready Reference, the Standard and Century Dictionaries, the Appleton Annual Cyclopaedia, Brad- ley's and Rand and McNally's Atlases, together with useful handbooks, compendiums and almanacs are made accessible on shelves near the reading tables. One of the first gifts to the library after it was made free was the Century Dictionary, purchased with the proceeds of 317 a New Year's tea in 1891, given in the library rooms by the wives of the directors and other interested ladies. The Jeypore Portfolios of Architectural Details, con- taining several hundred carefully reproduced drawings especially valuable to art students and designers, came to the library as a gift from H. R. H. the Maharajah of Jeypore, India. The periodicals are filed for reference, some of them being bound for circulation in volumes. When occa- sion has offered an opportunity for an exhibition of pictures without expense to the library the walls of the reading room have been brightened by artists' draw- ings for illustration, etchings and lithographs, art photographs, travellers' photographs from foreign coun- tries, Japanese prints and amateur photographs. Dur- ing Norwalk's celebration of its 250th anniversary the library had a collection of Norwalk pictures and books on exhibition. One local industry was honored by an exhibition in 1896, consisting of the oyster and its enemies in all stages of growth, loaned to the library by the Connecticut Shell Fish Commission. Lecture courses and literary societies have been promoted by the officers of the library. The Chautau- qua Union had a useful existence for five years after its organization by the librarian, with Rev. D. M. Sew- ard, D. D., as its inspiring president. The South Norwalk Improvement Society received its first impetus at the library. The aims of the South Norwalk Public Library are therefore broad, and its spirit has always been that of a desire to be a source of help and inspiration to all the people in the community. It stands to-day facing larger public demands than ever before from a constituency educated to look to the library for the books it wishes to read, and its needs are multiplied even more than its circulation of books since the early days. The closing paragraph of President Blanchard's report to the City Council fitly expresses the library's present outlook. "The great need of the library at the present time is more money for the purchase of books. A small increase in the fund available for this purpose would make it possible to purchase books urgently called for by the reading public, and greatly enhance the useful- ness of the library. Under these conditions the gen- erous interest of some friends of the library has been much appreciated. The benefactor who will build a 318 lasting monument for himself by an adequate endow- ment of the public library has not yet appeared and that golden opportunity is still open. Meanwhile citi- zens and tax-payers should remember that such bene- factors are most likely to help those who help them- selves and to bestow their gifts on communities likely to appreciate and make good use of them, and that, in any event, the public library is an institution which, like the public school, is worthy of their support." TOWN OF NORWALK —VITAL STATISTICS Year Births Marriages Deaths Population 1840 131 31 69 3,863 1850 106 37 67 1851 147 5i 89 4,651 1852 179 66 87 1S54 192 64 109 1855 224 63 127 1856 217 74 no 1857 221 61 129 1858 188 52 73 1859 264 12 118 i860 29S 66 175 71652 1 861 271 58 146 1862 278 77 183 1863 207 64 149 1864 220 66 150 1865 229 78 153 1866 278 85 155 1867 310 93 197 1868 310 97 219 1869 34i 107 207 1870 357 107 213 1871 329 "5 197 12,110 1872 334 IOI 263 1873 360 81 222 1874 3ZS 97 221 1875 33° 92 238 1876 323 73 251 1877 271 73 251 1878 290 64 217 1879 273 73 230 1880 241 86 226 13,956 1881 282 107 247 1882 3°3 in 248 1883 282 89 225 1884 3°4 107 233 1885 323 no 316 1886 338 124 238 1887 343 143 287 1888 374 149 290 1889 381 129 266 1890 423 146 3i7 17,747 1891 43° 147 308 1892 431 155 336 1893 461 153 326 1894 438 95 364 1895 406 151 362 1896 433 143 327 1897 446 126 306 1898 389 117 243 1899 349 125 290 1900 365 no 331 19,932 ANGELINE SCOTT, Librarian. 319 PART FIVE BENEVOLENT ORDERS — MASONIC By Augustus C. Gblding. T. John's Lodge, No. 6, F. & A. M., Norwalk, was instituted by virtue of a charter granted by R. W. George Harrison, Esq., Provincial Grand Master of the Most Ancient and Hon- orable Society of Free and Accepted Masons in the Province of New York in America. The charter is dated May 23, 1765. It names Bro. Benjamin Isaacs, Mas- ter; Stephen St. John, Senior Warden; and Jehial Ketcham, Junior Warden of said Lodge ; to be held in Norwalk only, and that until such time as a Grand Master shall be appointed for the Colony of Connecticut. This charter is still in the possession oi the Lodge. The oldest record of a meeting is dated Sept. 8, 1779, and was held at the house of Brother John Betts, (now the Congregational parsonage, Norwalk). There were present at this meeting Ebenezer Whitney, Mas- ter. P. T. ; Stephen Thatcher, Senior Warden, P. T. ; Mathew Reed, Junior Warden, P. T. ; Samuel Burrall, Secretary ; Timothy Whitney Tyler, Zabulon Williams, John Ritch, Daniel Jackson, Eleazor Scott and Dunlap Coggeshal. The records previous to the above are supposed to have been lost by the burning of the Town about two months before this meeting. The first election of officers on the records is dated February 17, 1780, when Stephen St. John was elected Master. The fee for initiation was fixed at two hundred Continental dollars, anl ten dollars for the Tyler. June 1, 1780, voted: This Lodge, taking into con- sideration the captivity of Brother Ebenezer Whitney, have thereupon voted out of the funds of this Lodge four hundred dollars for his release, in case it is needed. Previous to the formation of the Grand Lodge of Connecticut, the several Lodges in Fairfield County held quarterly conventions. The Lodge was represented at a meeting held in New Haven, 14th of January, 1784, when the first Grand 380