Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-11-26
sIMoNsyILLE.
Evolution of a wfidern~.. to Place of
 Happy Homes.

EvoIuffon . wfIdernes. Place
 Happy Homes.
 That Simonville has kept pace with the other sections of the town in it's rapid growth is evidenced by the fact that thirty years ago the place did not contain over a dozen houses. with about sixty or seventy inhabitants and a little schoolhouse on the roadside not much larger than a fair sized cloak room. while to-day it has close onto 200 handsome residences, numbers over l, ,000 inhabitants. with two churches. two school houses. several stores and one of the most prosperous manufacturing con- cerns in the Naugatuck valley.
 The new schoolhouse on Chapel street is practically completed and is one of the handsomest school buildings in the town. It is a two story building with large. we'll ventilated rooms. calculated to seat ab Jut 60 or 70 pupils and it is the intention of the school committee to arrange matters so that pupils will be promoted from the old school to the new building and thence to the High school. Work on the new Bap- tist church on the same street. is being rapidly pushed along and in -a-snort time the members Of that denomination will have a church edifice which will rival some of the houses of worship of the wealthy denominations in the center. The Metho- dist church society has broken ground for q rectory at the north side of their church and new buildings seem to be in course of erection all over the whole territory.
 man who has lived in that section for over a quarter of a century said o-day that he remembered when the only houses in that part of the town were Messrs Davis, Ives. and Garrett Baldwin's. Lounsbury's, | B. Styles William Aliens, Ben and Spen cer Pritchard's. Milo. Eli and Merritt Nichols. Thomas Matthews and four or five others. Of the 200 houses that have | been built there during that time over one-half have been erected by X. B. | Simons and to him can be traced much of ths success which has attended that por- tinn of the city. He built houses and sold | them on reasonable terms and in this way many poor people came into possession of | comfortable homes who never could have | acquired them under ordinary conditions, | and thus the place quickly became trans formed from almost a dense forest into one of the pleasantest locations for private family residences in Waterbury.
 Within the past ten or fifteen years the mechanics in the factories have turned their attention to this place with the re- suit that it now contains several thickly populated streets and in few years hence the whole territory will be dotted with the homes of thrifty factory hands. The in troduction of the street railroad has given an impetus to the building process in this section and has induced many people to seek tenements there on account of the | difference in the price for rent at this place and near the center.
 | Twenty years ago there were few people who cared to live in Simonsville. The road below where Poppy" Church sold his | delicious beverage was in poor condition for pedestrians. especially Tn winter. and | people who h' ed there or worked at Smith & DriGgs' factory had to tramp it all the way. except four of five persons who were carried in the company's four seated wagon. Later some one run bus to the factory and the people then thought that they had | reached the millenium, but when the horse | cars started to run on schedule time pedes. trains wondered what the world was coming to and before they had time to stoI thinking of this the electric cars rushed down the street. and Simonsville and Ilopeville at once became among the mos desirable places for private residences ir the town of Waterbury.
 Connected with South Brooklyn by two substantial bridges and with Mohawk parl by an excellent roadway. the whole terri | tory south of the center Is destined to soor become the most thickly populated section | of suburban Waterbury. few years ag, the last two places were entirely uninhab itattd To-day the man who has not wis tied these parts since 1880 could scarcel. believe that tract of land which prior t that time had no human habItation coulC have made such rapid strides. The las public improvement talked of in Simons vile, and one which Is of vast importanc, to all the residents. is the building Of
 reservoir on the east side of Chapel street which will supply water for the houses ant be Of incalculable benefit in case of fire l With n fire company and q reservoir ''ir theIr midst the people of Simonsvill' will have secured all that the most fastidi ous minds could plan or hope for.