The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-01-01
Tall Tower
 Topics
Qood Eyenlng.
BY THE MAN m ras TOWER

terbury which started off as Mattatuck when tew nce guys came down, and from Pennington did little business with few Indians, the possibilities of future Center Green Fulton, Hamilton and Chase Park and avenues and streets starting with Aaron ave-
 nue and ending with Zoar avenue. Happy New Year! And just check up little how much water from the old Naugatuck and the whng streams and brooks which have flowed ove under and around has flowed under the bridges since that day. let's look at the record There were quite few families here in 173S and from the rec
 ord and for the record the Indians treated all fairly with practically no injuries reported Among those who lived hereabouts were John Smith family of eight, Thomas Hickox family of five, James Smith family ot two, Thomas Richards family of nine Samuel Hckox family of 12 the Caleb Clarks twelve in number James Browns eight and Jonathan Garnseys 10, These just few we have picked random Over thirty years previous to the date just mentioned Isaac Bronson built the first (known) residence in Middlebury in 1702. And about that period those going about their daily pursuits with no thought of atomic bombs answered the call to war; Queen Annes War So you see, friends there were al- ways wars, our boys went then now and then came home again. of them =. There were fifty taxpayers in Waterbury in 1708. And today Well, look at the record which had its start two hundred years ago.
 Committee ran things in the early days of the life of our settlement. You always have to have commit tee it seems you want things done Organization was and still is the thing One of the first things the boys Of that day did establish common field and common fence and by way of expatang of those fences was NVAAA~A of Grand and Bank The first pound was also estab-
 shed about this e the first pound keeper at the south and hen) extremity of the town John Scov later promoted to the office of constable So much said In the record about the common fence that might we'll
 let you in the secret that it specifically set boundary
 nes dividing the early land aloments There was tres pass then as now much improvement noted in the course of years in that leading minor misdemeanor
 Also that time there town gates and sheep ana swine roamed about at large. The Green, now quite slightly at the Christmas with its decorated clock Nativity scene fine surrounding public buildings and churches and brightly illuminated with Christmas lights was fertile pasture helped along by the amblng brooks that came down from what later Cooke and streets beyond and grazed thereon There were disease epidemcs in the ZOOS which seemed to mark each cen tury 1749 an outstanding year for same. There used to be drug store called the Park Drug which preceded Cone or Dexters and here had been the whipping post a part of the Waterbury, New England and American scene of those days Close by they used to say were the stocks It is safe to say that of the earliest homes were in the vicinity of the Green where the first churches and meeting houses also began to appear We are talking you about the early 1700s but you can bear with us will do fash-back to 1877 which was long time ago. or was it? That was the year the village site was chosen, and highway surveyed between this neck of the woods and Pennington That when East Main street and the old Cheshire road got start that made them what they today. So seemed to have had our beginnings the East the road described as a circuitous in the Wocott, Meriden road East Later roads branched to the norh the south and the west The Plantation history goes back it is safe to say to 674 since that the year the Indians conveyed the parcel of land at Matatuck which our the beginning In preceding years various land transactions and settlements and agreements with the
 Indians the order of the day. concerning boundaries and titles in the development of that land between here and Pennington which to be known Mattatuck, later Waterbury Satisfaction to have ensued in
 Indians saving Waterbury for democracy and the sort of
 life it has enjoyed in close to three hundred years
 Surrounding towns figured in the original boundary deci
 sions. At any rate did branch out, east west north and south into the picturesque country enjoy. Town Plot might have been present center of business with development the high land spreading in that di- rection Instead the Center and iswe the Center you know it today, low in the valley Committees busy those days deciding boundaries charters and taxes Today our boundaries to be pretty well assigned but for charters and taxes the latter anyway
 always and have been in the picture of and development. About the Indian occupancy that pre- cedes the recorded first roads and dwellings don't gean too much, but some of present have Indian derivation such Mount Tobe which was originally "Mountobe," other such NOnnewaug Naugatuck and such-ike still familiar hereabouts Long, long ago in 1881 there less than thirty dwelling houses
 rounding the Green which could well up North Main or where the avenues Central and Holmes now their courses, out the present East Main street. At Christmas time then it must have been pretty thin