A Small Walk in My Town of New Milford

Saturday was a beautiful warm and sunny day. While I had to do a few errands downtown around the Green, I took the opportunity to take some pictures. Here is a little history that was written in 1935 about our beautiful and historical town. Some things have changed of course with time, like Canterbury School is now coeducational. Click on all the pictures for more detail.

John Noble and his daughter Sarah

New Milford, Connecticut
From The Connecticut Guide, 1935

New Milford, where we cross from Fairfield to Litchfield County, was a swarm sent out by the parent hive of Milford. A land company was organized at Milford, which bought from the Indians and sold rights to take up land. The first white settlement began in 1707, when John Noble arrived from Westfield, Mass., with his 8-year old daughter Sarah. New Milforrd was granted town privileges in 1712. Roger Sherman lived here during his early manhood. The town consists of a beautiful hill country, and on the west the Housatonic has cut a deep valley through the limestone. Lime making is an important industry, and tobacco is grown in the river valley.
Entering the town from the south, U. S. 7, which here follows Still River, makes an attractive drive. The first road to the west after crossing the line is worth taking for the view of Candlewood Lake. The village of New Milford, an industrial and trading center, was built up by the Housatonic R. R. and the cigar making which flourished after the Civil War. Present industries consist of tobacco packing, hatters' fur, and a bleachery and dye works.
The older section of the village is built along a narrow Green. Starting at the lower end, where R. 25 comes in, we pass on the right the Canfield House, built in 1793. A little above this is the Town Hall, with a bronze tablet marking this as the Roger Sherman home site. Sherman, who later was to become famous as co-author of the Declaration of Independence and our other great national documents, came to New Milford in 1743, where he worked as shoemaker, county surveyor, merchant and lawyer, until he removed to New Haven in 1761.

Town Hall of New Milford

The Public Library stands at the end of the next block.



Continuing north, we pass the Congregational Church, built in 1833, with its fine Greek Revival portico and "Christopber Wren" spire.



The W. Taylor House of 1784, at the end of the street, was built on good Colonial lines. Facing the Green at the north end is the Lincoln Bust by Paul Morris, the gift of the late Edward Marsh.




Canterbury School, a Roman Catholic preparatory school for boys, established in 1915, will be found a block above this on Aspetuck Ave. An earlier school of note was the Adelphic Institute. On the west side of the upper Green, the second building as we go south is the New Milford Historical Society, with portraits by Ralph Earle and other interesting exhibits, (open Mon., Tues., Fri., and Sat., 2:30-5:00.) Below this is the Senator Boardman House, another fine Colonial mansion, built about 1793.

Other pictures taken on the Green

Bandstand and Tank on the southend of the Green

Commemoration to Men Serving in the Civil War and WWI

Admiral Harry Shepard Knapp

My days adventure also took to a new State Park here in New Milford, I will tell you more about in my next post.