North Stamford

Lake Drive, from a postcard sent in 1910

North Stamford is a very affluent, geographically large section of Stamford, Connecticut north of the Merritt Parkway. Often hilly and woodsy, it is less densely developed than the rest of the city.

To the southeast is the Springdale section of Stamford, to the south is the Turn of River section and to the southwest is the West Side of Stamford. to the west is the "back country" of Greenwich and to the north is Pound Ridge, New York. To the east is New Canaan.

North Stamford (ZIP code 06903) has been nationally ranked as one of the wealthiest areas in the United States, and has the highest average household income rate in Fairfield County, surpassing areas of extremely wealthy towns such as New Canaan and Greenwich.

High Ridge Road, in the area just south of the Merrit Parkway, is the largest shopping district near North Stamford. A shopping plaza and some surrounding stores are also nearby on Newfield Avenue, and downtown Springdale also offers nearby stores.

When Stamford's population began to grow during and after World War II, 30,000 new residents arrived from 1940 to 1960. "North Stamford developed with one- and two-acre zoning, looking just like Wilton or New Canaan," Janice Green, manager of the William Pitt Real Estate office, told The New York Times in 1989. "Executives moved up there who had no connection with the factories and ethnic working-class neighborhoods downtown."

Landmarks and institutions

City reservoirs are located in North Stamford, as are the Bartlett Arboretum and the Stamford Historical Society headquarters and museum.

Also in the neighborhood is the Stamford Museum and Nature Center, a 118-acre (0.48 km²) facility on Scofieldtown Road. The museum works with schools in Stamford, Bridgeport, Norwalk, Darien and Greenwich, and more than 10,000 students visit every year. In 2007 the museum and nature center started working with Aquarion, a water utility serving much of Fairfield County, in a program meant to educate children about water ecology and watershed protection.

Buttonwood Manor, a Colonial-style house on an estate of 8 acres (32,000 m²), is in North Stamford. The original main house was built by Jacob Stevens in 1809, then sold it in 1821 to Gould Raymond. For 77 years the Raymond family farmed the land. By 1926 Mary Stella Tisdale Atwood had bought the house from Otto Sarrach and began restoring it. She sold the estate to William E. Stevenson, a Gold Medal winner in the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris (setting a new world record of 3:16.0 as member of the American 400-meter relay team) and later a president of Oberlin College. While Stevenson and his wife were in England running American Red Cross operations in World War II, they rented the house to Dorothy Fields, a lyricist.

Cemeteries

North Stamford contains numerous old cemeteries from the nineteenth century and before, some quite small and often with gravestones bearing elaborate engravings and even poetry.

These old cemeteries are in North Stamford:

• June (1846-1866) — north side of Constance Road, in the woods

William S. June, 1846, age 25:

Dear young friends, as you pass by

As you are now so once was I

As I am now so you must be

Prepare for death & follow me

• Webbs Hill (1796-1878) — east of Webbs Hill Road, south of Jeffrey Lane
• Dean (1838-1891) — south side of Lolly Lane
• Seth Smith (1831-1846) — southeast corner of Riverbank Road and Riverbank Drive
• Ebenezer Smith (1835-1877) — west side of Riverbank Road
• Isaac Smith (1860) — west side of Riverbank Road
• Scofieldtown (1807-1932) — east side of Scofieldtown Road, north of Woodley Road
• Thaddeus Lockwood (1827-1851) — east side of Riverbank Road
• Hait (1807-1860) — west side of Riverbank Road, south of Farms Road
• Edwin R,. Lockwood (1857-1896) — east side of Hunting Ridge Road
• North Stamford (1776-1932) — east side of Lakeside Drive, north of reservoir
• Poorhouse (no dates) — east side of Scofieldtown Road, southeast of former University of Connecticut campus
• East Hunting Ridge (1830-1856) — northeast corner of East Hunting Ridge and Haviland roads
• Smith-Clason (1826-1849) — south side of Hunting Glen Road
• Brush (1760-1828) — west side of East Middle Patent Road
• Long Ridge Union (1796-"present" [at least 1980]) — south side of Erskine Road near Long Ridge Road
• High Ridge (1796-"present" [at least 1980]) — west side of High Ridge Road, opposite United Methodist Church

Mary E. Dann, 1861, age 26:

Dear husband and children and sisters, farewell

I go to the land of the blest

Where our parents and children dwell

Where soon we all may find rest.

Two bright little cherubs up there

Call out for their mother to come

Our mothers and children are there

Awaiting to welcome me home.

Then grieve not, dear loved ones, that I

Must leave this sad world and its woe

Tis to join with the loved ones on high

That I part with the loved ones below.

Hannah Jones Lockwood, 1842, age 4:

O Father dear, prepare to follow me

In Heaven your wife & sweet babes to see

Affliction sore this infant bare

Physicians aid was in vain

Till God did please to call her home

And freed her from her pain.

Oren S. Palmer, 1865, age 1:

Two more little hands

Close folded on the breast

One more little form

Is gently laid to rest.

Notable residents, past and present

Jackie Robinson in his now-retired number 42 jersey.

• Michael Bolton, singer, lived in North Stamford (as of 1998) before moving to Westport.
• Gutzon Borglum, sculptor of Mount Rushmore, lived in North Stamford from 1910 to 1920.
• Dorothy Fields, lyricist, rented Buttonwood Manor from William E. Stevens during World War II.
• Harry Houdini, magician and escape artist, had a home on Webbs Hill Road.
• Cyndi Lauper, singer, has (or had, as of 1998) a home in North Stamford.
• Josh Logan, a theatrical producer, lives or lived (as of 1998) in North Stamford.
• Daniel Morton, actor, grew up in North Stamford.
• Ezio Pinza, a star of the Metropolitan Opera, is (as of 1998) a resident of North Stamford.
• Alex Raymond, creator of the Flash Gordon comic strip, lived in North Stamford.
• Jackie Robinson, baseball player, made North Stamford his home later in his life. One of the several Stamford Little League Baseball leagues is named after him.
• Chuck Scarborough, news anchor for WNBC-TV Channel 4 in New York City, has a home here.
• Stephen Sondheim lived in North Stamford when he was a boy.
• William E. Stevenson, 1924 Olympic Gold Medal winner in track, president of Oberlin College, bought Buttonwood Manor in 1937.
• Bobby Valentine, former manager of the New York Mets, has a home in North Stamford.
• Gene Wilder, actor, is a resident.
• Travis the Chimp lived in North Stamford before being shot and killed by police after going on a rampage and assaulting a friend of his owner.

External links

• City of Stamford
• Stamford Historical Society