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Norwalk, Connecticut

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Norwalk, Connecticut
File:NorwalkSkyline11.jpg
Official seal of Norwalk, Connecticut
Seal
Motto(s): 
The Right Place, The Right Time
Location in Fairfield County, Connecticut
Location in Fairfield County, Connecticut
CountiesFairfield County
Government
 • MayorDick Moccia
Population
 (2005)
 • Total84,437
Time zoneUTC-5 (Eastern)
 • Summer (DST)UTC-4 (Eastern)
Websitewww.norwalkct.org

Norwalk is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 82,951 making it the sixth largest city in Connecticut. The current mayor of Norwalk is Dick Moccia, a Republican.

The name “Norwalk” itself comes from the Algonquin word “noyank” meaning “point of land”, or its Native American name, “Naramauke” (or Norwauke, Norowake, or Norwaake), a Native American chief.

The farming of oysters has long been important to Norwalk, which was once nicknamed "Oyster Town." Norwalk is Connecticut's largest oyster producer and home to the nation's largest oyster company, Tallmadge Brothers. Each September, Norwalk holds its annual Oyster Festival. The festival is similar to many state fairs.

Residents of Norwalk are referred to as "Norwalkers". They are served by Norwalk Hospital.

The influential Financial Accounting Standards Board and related Government Accounting Standards Board are headquartered in Norwalk.

History

See also: History of Norwalk, Connecticut

Norwalk was purchased in 1640 by Roger Ludlow. The original purchase included all land between the Norwalk and Saugatuck rivers and a day’s walk north from the sea. Norwalk was incorporated on September 11, 1651.

The traditional American song "Yankee Doodle" has Norwalk-related origins. During the French and Indian War, a regiment of Norwalkers arrived at Fort Crailo, NY, the British regulars began to mock and ridicule the rag-tag Connecticut troops who only had chicken feathers for uniform. Dr. Richard Shuckburgh, a British army surgeon, added new words to a popular tune of the time, Lucy Locket (e.g., “stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni”, macaroni being the London slang at the time for a foppish dandy).

In 1776, American spy Nathan Hale set out from Norwalk by ship on his ill-fated intelligence-gathering mission.

British forces under General William Tryon arrived on July 10, 1779 and almost completely destroyed Norwalk; only six houses were spared. After the Revolutionary War, many residents were compensated for their losses with free land grants in the Connecticut Western Reserve in what is now Ohio; this later became Norwalk, Ohio.

The first major U.S. railroad disaster occurred in Norwalk in 1853 when a train plunged into the Norwalk River. Forty-six deaths and about 30 injuries resulted.

Oyster farming in Norwalk peaked from the late 1800s to the early part of the 20th century. By 1880, the had the largest fleet of steam-powered oyster boats in the world.

In the mid-1970s, the city government and several local organizations started successful efforts to revitalize the South Norwalk business district ("SoNo"). The Maritime Center at Norwalk was founded as part of that effort.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 94.1 km² (36.3 mi²). 59.1 km² (22.8 mi²) of it is land and 35.0 km² (13.5 mi²) of it (37.24%) is water.

Neighborhoods

Norwalk is composed of several neighborhoods: East Norwalk, West Norwalk, Cranbury, Silvermine, Rowayton, Winnipauk, Wilson Point, Harbor View and South Norwalk, known locally as "SoNo."

Neighboring towns

Norwalk is bound on the east by Westport; on the north by Wilton; on the northwest by New Canaan; on the west by Darien and on the south by Long Island Sound.

Demographics

As of the census² of 2000, there were 82,951 people, 32,711 households, and 20,967 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,404.1/km² (3,637.3/mi²). There were 33,753 housing units at an average density of 571.3/km² (1,480.0/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 73.95% White, 15.27% Black or African American, 0.21% Native American, 3.25% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 4.33% from other races, and 2.95% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 15.63% of the population.

There were 32,711 households out of which 28.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.9% were married couples living together, 12.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.9% were non-families. 28.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 3.10.

In the city the population was spread out with 22.1% under the age of 18, 7.0% from 18 to 24, 35.5% from 25 to 44, 22.6% from 45 to 64, and 12.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 95.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.4 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $59,839, and the median income for a family was $68,219. Males had a median income of $46,988 versus $38,312 for females. The per capita income for the city was $31,781. About 5.0% of families and 7.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.6% of those under age 18 and 6.3% of those age 65 or over.

Education

See: Education in Norwalk, Connecticut

The current Superintendent (education) of Norwalk Public Schools is Dr. Sal Corda.

The public school system has three high schools, each covering Grades 9 through 12: The oldest, Norwalk High School (founded in 1902) is the home of the Norwalk Bears. Brien McMahon High School (founded in 1960) is named for U.S. Senator Brien McMahon. The third is Briggs High School.

The city has four middle schools, for grades 6-8: West Rocks Middle School and Nathan Hale Middle School, which feed into Norwalk High School, and Roton Middle School and Ponus Ridge Middle School, which feed into Brien McMahon High School.

There are twelve elementary schools in Norwalk: Brookside, Columbus, Cranbury, Fox Run, Jefferson, Kendall, Marvin, Naramake, Rowayton, Silbermine, Tracey, and Wolfpit. One charter school, Side by Side Community School, is located in South Norwalk.

In 2006, three of the city's four middle schools and nine of its 12 elementary schools, along with a "community school" were cited as falling behind in standards for the federal "No Child Left Behind" Act. Three elementary schools had not met the standards for two years in a row, so students in those schools are offered the choice to go to a Norwalk public school that hasn't been designated as needing improvement.

Post-secondary education

Annual events

  • Norwalk Harbor Splash!, held in early June and started in 1995, the festival features arts and crafts booths, food vendors, music, a parade, and dragon boat races.
  • St. George Greek Orthodox Festival, held in early June, the festival features Greek delicacies, Pontian Greek dance exhibitions and a large carnival.
  • Round Hill Highland Games, a festival of Scottish culture and athletic events, was started in 1923 in Greenwich, CT but interrupted during World War II, then restarted in 1952, and has been held in Norwalk's Cranbury Park on or around July 4 for a number of years. In 2006, the 83rd annual event attracted 4,000 people to hear bagpipes and watch the caber toss, the hammer throw and other events, with athletes often wearing wool kilts. Games for children are also offered. Food and Scottish items are offered for sale. Organizers say the event is the third-oldest Scottish games festival in the United States.[1]
  • SoNo Arts Celebration, held in mid-summer
  • Kayak for a Cause, a fund-raising event held every summer since 2000 at Calf Pasture Beach
  • The Oyster Festival, held first weekend after Labor Day
  • Norwalk Boat Show, held in late September
  • The Lockwood Mathews Mansion Museum has hosted an annual antique show since 1978. In 2006 the show was held the last weekend in October and attracted dealers from Ohio and Pennsylvania as well as Connecticut.[2]

Large and distinctive companies

  • Arch Chemicals Inc. (ARJ)-- headquarters, 501 Merritt Seven; international manufacturer of specialty chemicals for markets including personal care products, wood preservatives and coatings, water purification and building products. Its hydrazine propellants are used in NASA's space shuttle, government and commercial satellites and launch rockets; 2,725 employees companywide; 210 in Connecticut; $1.3 billion in 2005 revenues; CEO Michael E. Campbell
  • Applera Corp. Applied Biosystems Group (ABI) -- headquarters, 301 Merritt Seven; the successor to Norwalk's old Perkin Elmer Corp. (the actual name of Perkin Elmer went to another company) Appelera Biosystems develops, manufactures, sells and services instrument systems, reagents and software for the life sciences industry. It is a separately traded stock under the holding company Applera Corp., also based in Norwalk. (Applera Corp. also includes Celera Genomics, best known for its work on the human genome project.) Appelera Biosystems has 4,030 employees companywide; $1.8 billion in 2005 revenues; CEO Tony L. White
  • Diageo North America -- U.S. headquarters of the world's largest liquor maker
  • Emcor Group Inc. (EME) -- headquarters, 301 Merritt Seven (not to be confused with "Premcor Inc." of Greenwich); a Fortune 500 company that performs mechanical and electrical construction, energy infrastructure and facilities services for a range of businesses worldwide; 26,000 employees companywide; 506 in Connecticut; $4.7 billion in 2005 revenues; CEO Frank T. MacInnis
  • Kayak.com -- headquarters, Connecticut Avenue; a travel search engine Web site founded in January 2005; Steve Hafner, CEO.
  • Media Storm LLC (privately held) -- headquarters, 32 Haviland St., South Norwalk; helps entertainment marketers identify advertising vehicles, and then helps place the ads. The company helped promote the debut of the FX television program The Shield, which broke the record for the number of viewers for a cable television premier. In 2006 the company made Inc. magazine's "Inc. 500" list of fast-growing companies, coming in at No. 106, with 869.7% growth over three years (2002 to 2005). Media Storm had $72.5 million in annual revenues in 2005 and 22 employees. It was founded in November 2001 by managing partners Tim Williams and Craig Woerz, who formerly worked together at AOL Time Warner.
  • Northrop Grumman Norden Systems (formerly Norden Systems) -- a division.
  • Pepperidge Farm -- a division
  • priceline.com (PCLN) -- headquarters; online service books airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, cruises, vacation packages and mortgages; 532 employees companywide, 280 in Connecticut; $963 million in annual revenues; CEO Jeffrey H. Boyd
  • SoBe -- a division; founded in Norwalk in 1996, it was bought by PepsiCo in 2000.
  • Stew Leonard's -- headquarters and flagship store on Westport Avenue
  • Virgin Atlantic Airways -- U.S. headquarters at 747 Belden Ave.; the company has announced it will be moving to South Norwalk.

Landmarks, sites and attractions

Sites on the National Register of Historic Places

Norwalk sites and districts on the National Register of Historic Places include the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion (added 1970), the former Rock Ledge estate in Rowayton (1977), the Norwalk Museum (1995), and three lighthouses -- the Sheffield Island Lighthouse, Peck Ledge Lighthouse and Greens Ledge Lighthouse, along with these sites:

In South Norwalk:

  • Former Beth Israel Synagogue — 31 Concord St., now the Canaan Institutional Baptist Church. The 1906 structure built in Moorish Revival style, is the only known synagogue building in Connecticut displaying Moorish onion-shaped domes, and the only known example of an urban wood-frame synagogue.[3] (added to the National Register in 1991)
  • Haviland and Elizabeth Streets-Hanford Place Historic District — Roughly bounded by Haviland and Day Streets, Hanford Place, and South Main Street in South Norwalk. The district has examples of Queen Anne style, Italianate, and Second Empire architecture. (added 1988)[4]
  • Former Joseph Loth Company Building — 25 Grand St. The 133,000-square-foot building, since renovated as an apartment building and renamed "Clocktower Close" in the mid-1980s, has an 85-foot-high Romanesque Revival clocktower that is a landmark in South Norwalk [5](added 1984)
  • Norwalk River Railroad Bridge — the Amtrak right-of-way over Norwalk River was built in 1896, when the route was widened to four tracks (the South Norwalk Railroad Bridge over the intersection of Washington Street with North Main and South Main streets was built the same year). The 562-foot span, with a rotating swing span (202 feet long) was provided by the Berlin Iron Bridge Company of East Berlin, Connecticut. "The bridge's swing span, rotating on a rim-bearing system of 96 rollers, allows tall vessels to pass on the Norwalk River," according to a Web page about the bridge. The span is one of only 13 of the company's bridges (and one of only two railroad bridges) that survive in the state (as of August 2001). In 1907 the rail line was electrified with overhead catenary wires, which form a prominent feature of the bridge today.[6](added 1987)
  • South Main and Washington Streets Historic District — 68-139 Washington St. and 2-24 South Main St. The 110-acre district encompasses 35 buildings and two other structures (including the South Norwalk Railroad Bridge). Varied architectural styles from the late 19th and early Twentieth centuries include Romanesque Revival, Second Empire, Italianate. Half (55 acres) of the area first became part of the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 (35 buildings and two structures). The district was increased in 1985 with the addition of nine buildings on 25 acres (11-15 through 54-60 South Main St.) and again in 1999, with another 10 buildings on nine acres, roughly along North Main Street from Washington Street to Ann Street.[4]
  • U.S. Post Office-South Norwalk Main — 16 Washington St. (added 1986)


Elsewhere in the City:

Media

Several publications regularly cover news in Norwalk, including two daily newspapers. The Hour is an independent daily newspaper based in Norwalk and founded in 1871. The Advocate of Stamford), a Tribune Company publication, has a Norwalk edition, and the paper maintains a bureau on West Avenue. The Norwalk Citizen-News, local weekly owned by the Brooks Community Newspapers chain, now a subsidiary of Media News Group, also covers the city, and Rowayton is also served by a sister publication, the The Darien News-Review.

Rowayton is also covered by New Canaan-Darien & Rowayton magazine, a glossy monthly is owned by Moffly Publications. Canaiden LLC, which publishes Stamford Plus magazine in Stamford, has announced it is starting up Norwalk Plus, a magazine for Norwalk.

News 12 Connecticut, a 24-hour regional news channel covering events in southwestern Connecticut is based in Norwalk. News 12 Connecticut is owned and operated by Rainbow Media Holdings, Inc. Other broadcast media include three radio stations based in the city: WNLK-AM 1350 (1,000 watts) is owned by Cox Radio Inc.j and shares all its programming with Stamford-ranged WSTC-AM 1400. WEFX-FM 95.9; 3,000 watts; "The Fox", is a classic rock station. WCTZ-FM 96.7, "The Coast", is formerly the oldies station "Kool 96.7".

Transportation

Public transportation within Norwalk is provided primarily by the Norwalk Transit District's "WHEELS" buses. The WHEELS buses offer extensive service in Norwalk and Westport and the Norwalk Transit District operates services throughout southwestern Connecticut.

The ex-New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad electrified four track mainline runs through South and East Norwalk. The line is the primary passenger rail connection between New York City, NY and Boston, Massachusetts. The Danbury branchline to Danbury begins in South Norwalk next to former New Haven Signal Station 44. The bridge over the Norwalk River is the only four track swing bridge in the nation. Norwalk is served directly by MTA Metro-North Railroad, a join venture between the state of New York and Connecticut. Norwalk has four Metro North railroad stations, Rowayton, South Norwalk, East Norwalk, and Merritt 7. Amtrak, the national passenger railroad, has trackage rights over the line to New Haven. CSX Transportation and the Providence & Worcester also have trackage rights over Metro-North. During the week, over 200 trains a day pass through Norwalk.

Interstate 95 crosses through Norwalk, and there are several exits within the Norwalk city limits. The Merritt Parkway also crosses through Norwalk. Both of these roads are designated to be north/south routes, but through Norwalk, both of them primarily travel east/west. The major north-south artery is Route 7, which begins at Interstate 95. There is an exit to the Merritt Parkway, but only southbound towards New York City, as environmental activists have successfully blocked a full interchange between the two arteries. In northern Norwalk, Route 7 changes from a limited access, divided highway to an ordinary surface road. Originally, the intent was to build the "Super 7" highway (in a different place than the current Route 7), which would link Interstate 95 with Interstate 84 in Danbury, but environmental groups and slow-growth advocates succeeded in preventing this highway from being built (although the state of Connecticut continues to own the land to build the highway).

Notable people, past and present

See also People of Norwalk, Connecticut

Notable residents and others connected to Norwalk include Andy Rooney, commentator on 60 Minutes, who lives in Rowayton, as does author Philip Caputo. A. Scott Berg, an award-winning biographer of Katharine Hepburn, and Charles Lindbergh among others, was born in Norwalk, as was Sloan Wilson, author of The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit. Johnny Gruelle, artist and author, creator of Raggedy Ann, lived in town before he moved to Wilton. Historian Stephen W. Sears lives in Norwalk.

Frances Dee (1909-2004), an actress, died in the city, as did actress Eileen Heckart. Big Band composer Arthur (Artie) Shaw lived in Norwalk in the 1950's. Bruce Weitz, an actor best known for playing Sgt. Michael "Mick" Belker on the 1980s television program Hill Street Blues, was born in Norwalk. Actor Treat Williams is from Rowayton. Jazz-piano great Horace Silver was also born in Norwalk.

Randy LaJoie, a NASCAR driver, is from Norwalk, as is Calvin Murphy, a former NBA basketball player, and baseball player Mo Vaughn. The late Bob Miller an NFL player with the Detroit Lions was born in the city. Baltimore Oriole pitcher Erik Bedard attended Norwalk Community College, but was not born in the city. Two Medal of Honor recipients came from Norwalk: John D. Magrath in World War II and Daniel J. Shea in the Vietnam War.

Movies filmed in Norwalk

Full-length features and documentary movies, partially filmed or completely taking place in Norwalk, listed in reverse chronological order:

  • In Bloom (2008), currently in production. Uma Thurman filmed a scene at Norwalk Community College in August, 2006.[8]
  • Wetlands Preserved: The Story of an Activist Nightclub (2006)
  • Freezer Burn (2006)
  • Henry May Long (2006)
  • The Stepford Wives (2004)
  • Satan's Little Helper (2004)
  • The Object of My Affection (1998)
  • The Stepford Wives (1975)
  • House of Dark Shadows (1970)
  • Night of Dark Shadows a/k/a Curse of Dark Shadows (1971)

Source: Internet Movie DataBase Web site's page for Norwalk

Sports

Norwalk is the home of the two-time and current rugby league champions of the United States' AMNRL, the Connecticut Wildcats having won pennants in 2003 and 2006.

Trivia

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Great Scots: Kilts and cabers fly at the 83rd annual Highland Games", no byline, article in The Advocate of Stamford, July 2, 2006, pages A3, A4
  2. ^ "Antiques show will benefit museum" in "Area briefs" feature, The Advocate of Stamford, October 25, 2006, page A18, Stamford edition, "... the 29th annual Lockwood-Mathews Antiques Show ..." Remember, if the 29th was held in 2006, the first would have been held in 1978, counting must be done the way we count centuries such as the "first century" from the years 1-100 AD.
  3. ^ [1]"International Survey of Jewish Monuments" Web site, Web page ("40 of 48" "Norwalk CT ... Beth Israel Synagogue" noted near top), accessed September 9, 2006
  4. ^ a b [2]National Park Service Web site, Section for National Historic Places, Web page titled "Connecticut-Fairfield County-Historic Districts", accessed September 12, 2006
  5. ^ [3]"Postings: Norwalk Conversion" unsigned article in New York Times on February 3, 1985, accessed September 9, 2006
  6. ^ [4]Web page titled "Norwalk River Railroad Bridge" at the "Public Archeology Survey Team" Web site, accessed September 12, 2006
  7. ^ [5]National Parks Service Web site, Web page on Fairfield County, Connecticut places on the National Register of Historic Places, accessed September 12, 2006
  8. ^ "Star-Struck over Uma," article by Alexandra Fenwick in The Advocate of Stamford, August 16, 2006

Government

Community Associations and Institutions

Other

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