Putnam patriot., 1930-08-28
NORTH GROSVENORDALE
 IN THE DAYS OF '61


 red brick schoolhouse where the children of the village performed their tasks with the alacrity of the normal pupil Upon reaching the little red schoolhouse one came to an end of civilization for sitting on the stoop and gazing about where the Sv cdish village. the business sec ton and the Three Blocks are today, all was dense wood. The main pike stretched south through the green forest. until one reached the farm of Mrs. Nancy Walker whose husbands father owned the homestead.
 From that point. the narrow road, dry and dusty in the summer and muddy and rutty in the winter. wound through the shadowy woods to m open spot where Asa Upham lived in his large brick house that stands facing St. Joseph's church to- day. Mir. Upham was the son of the Asa Upham, who gave to the town in 1927. the upham schoolhouse. built of hand-hewed stone. Near his home stood small white house on the banks O. the French river, the last house in the Baskerville of 1861
 Exploring still further south with Mrs. LoseIle. on the main pike be- tween the wooded hills and winding river, we reach smaller settlement called Masenville for John Mason. who in lS1i. built stone mill and stone houses which stand today as firmly as when the Masonville sheet ing was first woven.
 Returning home with Mrs Lois elle from Masonville. which was de. risively called Swamp Village, We round the wooded hill on our right which has become the site of the Tourtellotte Memorial High school, one of the most beautiful school buildings in the state. This building is the continuation of the romance of Jacob Francis Tourtellotte and liar rict Arnold. who was born in one of the stone houses, of Masonville and I who later moved to Baskerville. They i lived across the road from each other above the railway depot. This ] building was given to the town as a memorial to their daughters who died when of high school age in the year l 1909.
 A Great Swamp
 At the bridge entering Baskerville, we look north and see the great swamp that spread over the land and covered the land which today has been reclaimed and called the Three Rows and the Athletic Ground.
 All this Mrs. Boiselle remembers as keeniy as when she was six. With startling accuracy she can recall every residents name and the home that he occupied in 1861. She, who moved from Webster by means of oxen over marrow, winding dirt roads. has seen the electric automo- bile O. William Messenger replaced by the modern swift motor vehicle. has watched the airplane hum through the sky and thrilled to the sight of the ish-like Los Angeles, floating over her home.
 Walking home with her today from the bridge that marked the terminus of Fisherville's expansion, we view the tennis and volley courts under ] construction southeast of St. Joseph's rectory and church, which celebrat- ed it's Golden Jubilee in 1922, hav- ing dedicated the beautiful Gothic structure in September %, 1872. Previous to that time, masses were j held in the Baptist Meeting House at l Grosvenordale in Coonan's block and in the Gilman home in the Three i Rows.
 A macadam road with cement walks curves through the town now thickIy settled. which is extending its residences to the west beyond the i highway towards the Quinebaug river Inst east Of Mrs Nancy Walkers home on the opposite side of the road, today stands the Swedish Lutheran Emanuel church handsomely con structed O. brick with stained glass windows It was built after the first little church hidden amongst the pines became too small for the grow ing congregation. The first church of wood was built soon after 1866 when the new mill drew into the Yankee village people from every nation mak- ing 1t a tiny melting pot of the races.
 Looking up the hill at the present post office, where the business sec tion of today is, We see the public schoolhouse which is now scarcely large enough to accommodate the HifANAt AftlA1AAH AAAttAAEH DAF H'p' btt parochial school gives instruction Co many pupils of the two villages, the Baskerville and Masonville of yester- day, east and west of us as We walk north to Mrs. Loiselle's home, we see tenement houses clustered together. The Three Rows. east of the forked river is the home of the many French folk who now live here. Beyond the railroad tracks is a cluster of houses that house the Roumanian, BulRa- rian and Grecian people of the town. Above them is the Lincoln Highway that stretches south past Cottage street; the first Swedish church hid den away among the pines which sha- dow its burying ground and on to the Church Crossing where the main pike of '6l joins the pike of today.
 Looking west of us at the business section, we see the old Protestant cemetery, the woodward below it with the brook running nearby. Walking along past the factory tenements on both sides of the road, we come Co the monument square dedicated to the World War veterans. Gone is the schoolhouse that once stood there. Gone too, is the schoolroom in one of the tenements of the Swedish village where Mrs. LOiselle's oldest son first went to school. The woods that bord cred the road and clustered about the