History of Greenwich, Connecticut
On July 18, 1640, Daniel Patrick and Robert Feake, jointly purchased the land between the Asamuck and Tatomuck brooks, in the area now called as Old Greenwich, from Wiechquaesqueek Munsees living there for "twentie-five coates.
One of Dutch Director Peter Stuyvesant's first actions was to strengthen his claim to Greenwich to prevent the Thirteen Colonies from establishing themselves closer to New Netherland on Manhattan.
[8] The town's first economy was livestock and leather based and it supplied secondary products such as shows, gloves and meat throughout the region.
Sarah Knight, 38, journeying by horseback in 1704, remarked on the "mountanos" (sic) incline the road took on the east side of Greenwich, which "broke my heart in ascending."
)[9] A Scottish physician, Alexander Hamilton (no relation to the more famous founding father), journeyed from Maryland to Maine in 1744, arriving in Norwalk on August 29.
That day, the traveler wrote (with his spelling), he "rid 10 miles of stonny road, crossing several brooks and rivulets that run into the Sound, till I came to Stamford.
A littel before I reached this town, from the top of a stonny hill, I had a large open view or prospect of the country westward.
The greatest part of it seemed as if it were covered with a white crust of stone, for the country here is exceeding rocky, and the roads very rough, rather worse than Stonnington.
"[10] On the return trip, Hamilton experienced the relief many travelers wrote about when he got over the New York border onto better roads: "'Farewell, Connecticut,' said I, as I passed along the bridge.
'"[11] In 1750, James Birket, traveling toward New York, wrote that the stretch between Greenwich and Stamford was a "Most Intollerable bad road" (his spelling).
[12] In 1786, another traveler, Englishman Robert Hunter Jr., made note of the "steep precipice that General Putnam galloped down when he was surprised by the enemy.
He also noticed the crops and livestock: plenty of pumpkins and Indian corn visible, droves of beef cattle and a flock of sheep.
[1] Bush-Holley House, a circa 1730 waterfront mansion on the historic Cos Cob Harbor, became a boardinghouse in 1884, primarily serving artists and writers.
In 1920 the property was again sold, and in 1932 the Beechwood School leased the hotel for 10 years, opening Edgewood Park Junior College.
[18] In 1974, Gulliver's Restaurant and Bar which was astride the border of Greenwich and Port Chester, burned one early morning, killing 24 young people who were at a discothèque there.
Peter J. Leonard, a 10th grade drop out from Greenwich was convicted and served about 12 years in New York State for his arson fire that he set trying to cover up a minor burglary at a bowing alley next door.
These town residents were murdered in the massacre that day (except as noted, all were in the World Trade Center): Kevin P. Connors, 55; Ulf Ramm Ericson, 79; Steven Lawrence Glick, 42; Donald F. Greene, 47 (on United Flight 93); James D. Halvorson, 56; Joseph A. Lenihan, 41; Cheryl Ann Monyak, 43; Michel Adrian Pelletier, 36; Michael Craig Rothberg, 39; Frederick T. Varacchi, 35; Martin P. Wohlforth, 47; and Charles A. Zion, 54.
