Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-05-24
LOOKING BACKWARD.

Baldwin Street and Vicinity as it
 Looked Thirty Years or More AGo..
 The item in last nights DEMOCRAT in reference to the opening of the new store of Delaney & Condon on Baldwin street set the old settlers talking about the time when there were but two small grocery stores south of Scovilrs bridge. One was Eept by a man named James Reed. in the rear of Fitzgerald's meat market on Bridge street. and another in the little house between Delaney < Condon's new store and the one they have just vacated This was kept by Michael McGuinness and the building was so high above the walk that the customers clsmbersd down to the road by the aid cf four wooden steps Things have changed considerable since that time. The street has been filled in. but the house has not been disturbed. and now instead of using four steps to reach the sidewalk you descend to the house by the aid of that number of steps The roadway at this point must have been raised quite a number of feet in front ot the old McGninuess house within the past thirty dye years.
 There was no meat market in that part of the town until some time in 1870. when Nr McGuinness built a small addition to his grocery store and James Cou2hlin opened market in it with A side of beef The door was not long open when he sold all his stock. Tben he butchered a COW and a couple of hogs and by steady apph. cation to business increased his trade un- til finally he became one of the principal butchers in the city. He IS in the same business still, but not in the same store Some of the old residents remember when there were but few houses in that sec A NhAH was practically no thoroughfare worth mentioning Now the place is network of handsome streets with hundreds of private residences and many of the finest business buildings in the city. where almost every line of business one could mention is conducted on a successful basis.
 The sanitary condition of the place is the best in the whole town for as Inspector Moses once said: "Thess people till their gardens up to the steps of their back doors and on this account it is almost impossible to find an ounce of obiectionable matter about their houses. One of the most cheer full sights see in my rounds is when l call up that way about 5 or o'clock ot a spring morning and find all the men and some of the women, too, hustling about their gardens putting things in shape for the summer months" It is this kind of work that has made it the prosperous sec- ton of the town it is now admitted to be, for until recent years the citys fathers contributed but little to the material wealth of the place.
 That part of the town has room to grow and the number of building lots that have been sold and houses erected there during the past few years furnishes abund- ant proof that it is rapidly increasing in wealth and numbers. Very few of those who blasted the rocks, hewed the timbers and made easy the way there for others are alive to-day to enjoy the fruit of their labors, but those who have come after them can learn an excellent lesson from the re. markatle strides made by those who have preceded them in that particular locality. when the opportunities were not by any ! means as favorable as they are to day.