History of Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford was known as Rippowam by the Siwanoy Native American inhabitants to the region,[1][2][3] and the very first European settlers to the area also referred to it that way.
[1] The land was acquired by the New Haven colony for 12 coats, 12 hoes, 12 hatchets, 12 glass mirrors, 12 knives, two kettles, and four fathoms of white wampum.
[7] The deed was modified in 1655, 1662, and 1701, with each modification adding payments to the descendants of Ponus, but did not provide any clarifications as to the land deal itself.
[7] In 1642, Captain John Underhill settled in Stamford and the following year represented the town in the New Haven Colony General Court.
[7] The first public schoolhouse was built in Stamford in 1671, and has been described by a local historian as a "crude, unheated wooden structure only ten or twelve feet square".
[11] It was built when settlers tore down their original meeting house, which they had outgrown after three decades, and used some of the timbers to put up a school near the Old Town Hall on Atlantic Square.
[7] Following Davenport's death, the Congregational Church lost control over local town meetings, and in 1737, the Canaan and Middlesex Parishes split off from Stamford to form new settlements.
[12] The introduction of train service in Stamford improved access to the city, helped develop its industry, and attracted immigrants.
[18] In 1890, a local chapter of the Ancient Order of Hibernians was established in Stamford, named after Irish-American Civil War general Philip Sheridan.
A new building in the Beaux Arts style was constructed from 1905 (when the cornerstone was laid) to 1907 in the triangular block formed by Main, Bank and Atlantic streets.
[25] The Ku Klux Klan, which preached a doctrine of Protestant control of America and suppression of blacks, Jews and Catholics, had a following in Stamford in the 1920s.
[26] By 1926, the Klan leadership in the state was divided, and it lost strength, although it continued to maintain small, local branches for years afterward in Stamford, as well as in Bridgeport, Darien, Greenwich and Norwalk.
[20] During the 1950s, as traffic continued to grow along the Post Road and elsewhere, work began on the Connecticut Turnpike, which was locally part of Interstate 95.
[citation needed] The town leaders at the time sought federal and state funding to launch a revitalization effort that would restore the core of the city to a vital urban center.
[32] Upon its completion, the St. Johns Towers contained 360 apartments and originally served as relocation housing for some of the displaced residents.
Rich opened High Ridge Park, a large suburban office complex near North Stamford, in 1967.
Rich completed construction on the headquarter building for telecom company GTE,[34] and One Landmark Square, both in downtown and also designed by Bisharat.
[32] The completion of the GTE World Headquarters in 1973 became the catalyst for downtown office development, setting an example for other corporations seeking a less expensive labor pool, a more favorable income tax structure and lower operating costs.
[35] The building was designed by Victor H. Bisharat, and has a revolving restaurant overlooking Long Island Sound at the top.
Many of the buildings along Tresser Boulevard, parallel to Interstate 95, had little but street-level lobby spaces, garage entrances and exits accessing the street, although they presented a modern, glittering glass facade to travelers along the highway.
[citation needed] These podiums for the office buildings also provide the opportunity for a view over the adjacent highway embankment to the south.
Rich's leadership has stated that the company intentionally designed much of the area to be actively inaccessible to pedestrians, and continued to defend such practices even decades after the construction of these buildings.
Rich told a New York Times reporter in 1985 in response to criticism over its pedestrian-hostile designs that ''Downtown Stamford isn't going to be another Madison Avenue", "but what we are seeing here is a new kind of environment.
In its place has come an injection of high-rise energy into the midst of Fairfield County's otherwise placid suburban landscape.
[35] In 1994, Stamford's South End was designated as an "enterprise zone", which aimed to draw development by offering tax breaks and credits.
[32] On September 11, 2001, nine city residents lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks, all at the World Trade Center: Alexander Braginsky, 38; Stephen Patrick Cherry, 41; Geoffrey W. Cloud, 36; John Fiorito, 40; Bennett Lawson Fisher, 58; Paul R. Hughes, 38; Sean Rooney, 50 (whose widow, Beverly Eckert, became a leading 9/11 family activist); Randolph Scott, 48; and Thomas F. Theurkauf Jr., 44.
The fire started in a piano store in a building that was part of the former Yale & Towne lock factory complex.
In July 2006, more than 100 antiques dealers filed a class-action lawsuit against the owner, Antares Real Estate Services of Greenwich.
A concert (part of the Alive@Five series) with Hootie & the Blowfish continued at Columbus Park early that evening, but many restaurants had to throw out their food beforehand.
[citation needed] On October 11, 2007, a freak storm dumped 5 inches (130 mm) of rain in about four hours in Stamford and nearby communities of New Canaan, Darien and Norwalk.
