|
|
Please check your prior notes and any earlier copies of
this page against last update as noted above. Requests for clarification of particular facts can be emailed to
caboose@tylercitystation.info c/o
Bob, WebStationmaster.
Enlarge images by clicking on them. Further
enlargement on PCs is usually possible by hitting CTRL and +, CTRL and - to shrink back down.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Tyler
City Station
Dateline: Orange, Conn.,
Sunday, July 5, 1936
Note:
This long-sought and elusive piece of information has finally been found in a New Haven Sunday Register article [NHSR/07/05/1936/02]
in files at the Orange Historical Society.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
|
| Orange Historical Society |
[1.0] The top view of Tyler City station is a new,
better quality, scan from OHS [click here]. It is probably the only photo in existence that shows life at
the depot, if not actual people. We speculate that the date is early 1888, sometime after January 16, when the new operator,
the Housatonic RR, added a 7:30am train from New Haven that would have passed Tyler City at 7:50 as shown on the 'Dutch
clock.' With the other face unseen here, the 'clock' alerted engineers operating in both directions
to keep their distance behind the preceding train. Also referred to as a "time case," this safety device was
in use all along the the HRR by 1890 [CWN/06/25/1890/03] and seems to date back to 1874 on the NYNH&H [NHDP/07/21/1874/04].
A 13-mile NH&D running six daily trains each way did not really need this but, with the Extension added in 1888 and fifty
trains a day running by 1892, it was indispensable. The clock worked simply by having day-of-the-week, train-type, and
time-number cards changed by the station agent. His presence and use, possibly with family, of the living quarters
upstairs is verified by the laundry hanging out of the east windows. A significant absence in
this photo is the bay window where the agent would observe trains, send telegraph messages, and sell tickets. With
stations at Orange, Derby Jct., and Birmingham [see Track 4A, MP 4.47, 4.67; Track 4B, 4.63] also not showing them, the early
NH&D seems to have done without. The iconic Bell telephone sign at the doorway, the roof discoloration, and
the bay window to come all argue for the later, ca. 1888, date and pending upgrades by the HRR.
|
| Dodd Research Center, UConn |
[1.1]
This picture is perhaps shortly after the June 13, 1925 discontinuance of passenger service.
The bay window is in place as are the mainline, passing siding, and the freight platform with track to it, but the Dutch clock is no longer seen. We assume that the NYNH&H kept it in use after
1892 when it leased the HRR and the NH&D and continued to run a dozen or more passenger trains per day each
way in addition to freight movements. Those days seem to be gone in this eerily quiet scene.
|
| New Haven Register |
[1.2] This shot was presumably taken late in 1929 when it appeared in a Register
feature article [NHER/10/27/1929/03] on Tyler City entitled "'Gateway to the West' is Ghost City
Now." It says that "The depot kept up by the railroad until recently now furnishes a roost for birds." The
Tyler City signboard, the platform with what may be a freight wagon in the far left, and the Bell telephone
sign all give the appearance of some degree of service, as does the car parked in the lower right, but the bay window
is now boarded up. Since this portion of the NH&D was not abandoned until 1938, we have
to assume that the mainline is out of sight here. It is believed to have been removed in the early 1940s for
the steel that was needed in the war effort.
|
| TylerCityStation Collection |
[1.3] This shot was
taken between 1930 and July 4, 1936. It appears on page 109 in the book Connecticut Railroads, which was published
by the Connecticut Historical Society in 1986. The depot may be still be in use as a residence with the assorted implements
seen on the ground, but with windows on the ground level boarded up as seen in the 1929 photo. The Tyler City signboard is
still in place but the Bell telephone sign is gone as is the freight platform and the rails up to it. The small building,
perhaps the outhouse, is seen in the lower left. The last listing for the NYNH&H
station in Tyler City is in the 1931 Price & Lee Milford-Orange city directory.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Tyler City - Connecticut's 1870s Railroad
Boom Town
[1.4] The website name derives from the still-quiet area in the town of Orange where Tyler City came into
being in 1872. The New Haven and Derby RR had
just opened on August 9, 1871 to offer better freight, passenger, and mail connections between the Elm City and the Naugatuck Valley. Hitherto, rather roundabout service was provided by the
Naugatuck and the New York and New Haven RRs via Devon, a circuit that was twice as long as the NH&D's ten miles. The
'Little Derby' was going to save time and lower costs and a boom town was expected to grow up by the
railroad that was touted as the 'Gateway to the West,' a west both near and eventually far, to Danbury,
the Hudson River, and beyond.
The fullest recounting of the "The Tyler City Bubble," as she calls it
[click here], is by Mary Woodruff, a long-time resident. Her book has been digitized by the
Case Memorial Library [click here], appropriately located on Tyler City Rd., popular use of this name undoubtedly
beginning in 1872.1 Additional detail
comes from the 1929 Register article, mentioned above, and a follow-up
piece in the Evening Sentinel,1a as well as many other sources we have
consulted to put together an all-time, definitive history. As much as the talk about the bubble that burst
and Tyler City's seeming lack of importance has gained favor, we have found events of significance that may
put it on the map as it has never been before. More will be found at Track 2, MP 2.2.4 and Track 4A, MP 4.41-4.43.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
|
| TylerCityStation Collection |
[1.5]
This snapshot is from a George F. Cram map dating to between 1902 and 1906. These maps were published and pasted into
the rear cover of the Register and Manual issued annually by the Connecticut secretary of the state's office
and today called the 'Blue Book' for the current color of the cover. Tyler City is located in the lower center
of the map under the N in New Haven. The lines in red are highways. These maps are quite useful for locating geographic
features, place names, trolley lines, stations, sidings on railroads, etc.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
|
| Click to enlarge |
|
| Click to enlarge |
[1.6] Two industrious New Haven 'prospectors,' as Woodruff calls
them, conceived the idea of this new suburban metropolis. Samuel Halliwell was the proprietor of the Elm City
Tea Store, which, according to the article in the Register, carried nearly a dozen varieties of tea, nine coffees,
numerous spices, and wine also. The latter is interesting in terms of the later restriction of the sale of alcohol
at the Tyler City general store. Philander Ferry operated a confectionary shop that made and sold baked goods and ice
cream.1b These purveyors of sweet-scented delicacies apparently got a whiff of opportunity from the new railroad
that ran near their stores. They reportedly took the train several times to search out a suitable site and they settled
on Lewis Bradley's 175-acre farm in Orange late in September of 1871.1c Copies of the deeds are valued
documents in the OHS collection. The Bradley parcel came with all the buildings, plus "six milk cows, four oxen,
and all the farming utensils and all the manure, one ton of straw and five tons of hay" for annual payments starting on
April 1, 1872, when Bradley had to leave the premises, and ending on April 1, 1876, totalling $24,400, plus interest
and taxes. Additional parcels north and east of the Bradley farm came from
members of the Russell family. A map in the Orange town clerk's office credits the surveying
to the eccentric George Beckwith, a colorful character, whose capitalized listing in a New Haven city directory
of the period says he was a "surveyor and almanac maker, teacher of mathematics and phonography." According to Woodruff,
he was always barefoot, wore a long-tailed coat and a white beaver hat. Copies of his almanac [click here] are in the NHMHS collection. The Register article says Sylvanus
Butler was hired first and we do note a Butler St., otherwise unexplained, on the Tyler City map, but if he produced any maps
they have not survived. The Courant gives an accurate
description of the layout as consisting of eight avenues, which we count as seven north-south, plus New Haven Ave. east-west,
serving as 'Main St.' Each was to be 70-ft in width and one mile in length, with equally wide cross streets
and most of the lots a uniform 50x150 feet.1d The avenues were cut through what was then part cultivated
land and part virgin forest. The work reportedly began on March 14, 1872, and was completed in June, laying
out 2,000 lots. Howard Treat Sr., retired Orange town clerk, said in a 1972 article that his grandfather
was asked by Halliwell to hitch up oxen and plow and back-furrow the pathways in the dirt that would be Tyler City's
streets and avenues.1e
|
| TCS Collection / Clickable image |
|
| TCS Collection / Clickable image |
[1.7] The resourceful entrepreneurs were not about to neglect the
railroad in their plans. Rather, they sought to entice it into cooperation by naming streets for NH&D officials Harrison,
Marble, Quintard, Atwater, and Sperry. Roads were also designated to honor locals Russell and Bradley and themselves. The naming of the envisioned metropolis for Morris
Tyler, railroad president [1869-1874] and "energetic lieutenant governor" [1871-1872] was the coupe de grace.1f The well-respected Tyler was in the boot and shoe trade and had also served as mayor of
New Haven from 1863 to 1865. The naming after him and the others and the cooperation elsewhere might indicate some closer
arrangement betweeen the developers and the railroad but, other than Halliwell owning some NH&D stock in the 1880s, we
know of no formal agreements. A well-attended public auction took place on July 2, 1872, complete with the promised
entertainment and "bountiful collation" under tent. The Register said the first
seven-car train leaving New Haven was full and that it returned to pick up a second trainload of "human freight," perhaps
bringing 1,000 potential buyers. Other sources claim that still more people went by horse, cart, and foot. The newspapers
on July 3 carried the names of 40 people who purchased 86 lots at a going rate of $4 per foot, based apparently
on the typical frontage of 50 feet. We have listed their names below.1h The one deed we have seen
appears to indicate a sale price of $250 for the standard size lot, yielding a total of $219,000, a figure which
was probably increased by the sale prices of some of the larger lots. A story that may be apocryphal says
that one individual paid $5,000 before the auction for a corner lot next to the site proposed for the town hall. In any
case, this was a considerable one-day inflow for the entrepreneurs and more sales would come, perhaps eventually totaling
Woodruff's figure of $510,000. The July 2 purchasers bought an average of two lots per person, with
as many as seven for one buyer, and six for the lone out-of-state party from New York. Most were buying adjacent lots
apparently intending to put a larger piece of property together. The 13 buyers of lesser means bought single lots, probably
making large downpayments and financing the rest, as shown with the $40.25 payoff receipt we have posted below.
With no zoning restrictions, the customers who bought single lots had the right to live on half a lot and sell or
rent the other half. This was then, as advertised, a great opportunity for the common man to buy a plot of land
in the country, live well, and prosper. Fine residences were built for Ferry and Halliwell and, though the latter cost
$50,000, it was reportedly scaled back from the more lavish, original plans. A later Courant article says
that this was merchant-turned-land speculator Halliwell's biggest real estate deal, that he had several partners,
and that 25 houses were built to be marketed to prospective buyers. This is the only mention of these particular
claims that we have seen thus far.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
|
|
| Orange Historical Society |
[1.8] Copy of deed on page
152 of the Orange land records at the town clerk's office. This shows the sale of Lewis Bradley's farm to Samuel
Halliwell and Philander Ferry and is dated September 30, 1871. Note the formalized language of "one dollar and other
valuable considerations" as the terms of the sale. An additional deed on page 153 shows $24,400 owing
to Bradley and spread out over several payments, plus interest and taxes. Much like their customers, Halliwell and Ferry
were financing their purchase over time. The Bradley farm here is said to consist of 150 acres "more or less,"
Perhaps the 33 acres of Russell land was added in to bring the total acreage to 183, which is closer to the 175 acres
usually given as the size of the Bradley farm.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
[1.9]
Tyler City was nevertheless booming at the start, at least on paper, and the promoters would have
a two-story train station built at their own expense and presented to the railroad on condition that trains would always stop
here. The Courant reported that a freight depot was "nearly
completed" late in 1871 and that a station, "will soon be opened."1i A single
building for both freight and passengers is all we are aware of ever being built and it probably was finished by the
time trains began to stop there on June 1, 1872.2 Contrary to what Woodruff, and
others perhaps following her have said, Tyler City was always a regular stop for at least some trains on the NH&D
from 1872 on. A vignette of the Tyler City station is seen at the lower right of this 1872 promotional map. The 'pink' original
is in the collection of the Orange Historical Society and was reproduced on p. 23 of their History
of Orange - Sesquicentennial booklet [also now online, click here] in 1972, coincidentally Tyler City's centennial year. Click on the map below to enlarge it and note the 'June
1872' date and Beckwith's name in the credits. Most all the locations discussed are on this map, as well as vignettes
of the Ferry and Halliwell mansions and their side-by-side location above Crofut St. in a setting that is called 'Home
Park.' The paper reported in 1873 that real estate activity was still "brisk" with many
houses going up.3 Perhaps these were the houses mentioned above and part of an effort
to boost sales. Later it was reported that Mr. Halliday, undoubtedly meaning Halliwell, "offers a site for an
Episcopal church there" and that the first service was on August 7, 1873, probably at his home. It
goes on to say it was "hoped that a parish would be built up."4 The fact that Halliwell was opening his own property for church services is an interesting
comment on the sobriety and moral tone that the proprietors wanted to set for their new community. It would be seen in their
other actions as well.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
|
| New Haven Register |
[1.10]
This is a promissory note for $41.25 issued to Nicholas
O'Hara at the July 2 auction, giving him one year to pay off what must have been the balance due on his purchased
property. The lot number of the parcel he bought is not specified but O'Hara's name does appear as the
purchaser of one lot in the newspaper articles of July 3: see note 1h. The counter-signature says: "Paid in Full,
Ferry & Halliwell," with neither the date of the payoff shown nor the amount of interest charged at the 6% rate
specified. Perhaps those details were on a separate reciept. The scratching out of his name may be an additional
indication that he was paid up in full.
|
| Orange Historical Society |
|
| Leroy Roberts Collection |
[1.11] A copy of the 1872 Tyler City prospectus map. The '263' in
the upper left and lower right corners is perhaps a printing-sequence number. We thought that the '27 6' in
the upper right and lower left corners might show that this map was issued to the purchaser of lot 6 in block
27 but the blocks do not go beyond 25, and lot 27 is not in block 6 either. The
OHS collection includes a large, clean, poster-size copy of this map, with no markings and no vignettes of the buildings,
as well as two cloth-backed copies of similar size, one of which has numerous X and O markings and the names of the lot
purchasers penciled in. Neither of the cloth copies, which are being suitably encased for preservation purposes, have
the identifying numbers seen here but they do have the vignettes. The station image is a copy of the vignette at the lower
right of the prospectus map, which apparently was thought photogenic enough to reproduce as a photograph. We completely agree
with that and note that this idealized view of the planned station was, understandably, not exactly the way it was built.
The look of this station has always struck us as looking more like a Victorian home than a depot per se, probably done
deliberately as part of the residential ambience the promoters were looking to create here.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
|
| TCS Collection |
|
| TCS Collection |
[1.11.1] These two ticket images were found recently. Blank on the reverse side, they probably date to the 1880s. Harrison was secretary from 1867 to 1886. [adds5/20]
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
[1.12]
While we have not yet been able to determine the population in its early days, a check of the 1930 census
records shows 66 residents in Tyler City in its later years. There was a call in 1874 for an earlier train into New Haven for the mechanics and "workmen" who
were living here at the time. In that same year Elm City Postmaster Nehemiah Day Sperry, who was also an NH&D director,
successfully petitioned Washington to establish a Tyler City post office, a move that was tantamount to federal recognition
of the locale. NH&D trains had started carrying the mails by government contract on November 1, 1871, part its mission
of improving communication with the Naugatuck Valley. The entire town of Orange then went to daily "railroad mail"
from the earlier "thrice-weekly butcher's wagon mail service."4a With
easily affordable housing as well as rail and postal service, the newspaper said that Tyler City residents "will
be in a fair way of living, enjoying and advancing equally with their neighbors."4b Victoria
Grove, which we will talk of further on, served as an amenity as well as a marketing tool, with use of the
swings, tables, and the "culinary department" free to all in 1874. It is seen on the map adjacent to the station.
A larger Lincoln Park, named after the recently slain president, sits to the southeast, with Trout Brook, idyllically
dubbed Sylvan or Silver Brook, running through it. The map below
shows the eastern portion of Tyler City with lots along each side of both New Haven Ave. and Spring St. The latter street
was built at this time and so-named as leading to Spring Grove and to Nectar Spring in the center of the park
oval. Here Nature's simplest and purest refreshment could be had in what was, after all, practically the Garden
of Eden, the "very paradise of Connecticut." The blue arrows mark the two lots, discussed below, that were donated
by Halliwell and Ferry for the Tyler City schoolhouse.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
|
|
| Orange Historical Society |
[1.13] Clickable photo. This map shows the part of Tyler City that is less well-known,
east of the railroad station along New Haven Ave. and Spring St. The blue arrows mark the two lots, discussed below, that
were donated by Halliwell and Ferry for the Tyler City schoolhouse that opened in 1874. The copy of this map that is in the Orange town clerk's office has pencilled-in names corresponding to the purchasers
of lots at the July 2, 1872 auction. While Sylvanus Butler may have done some of the early surveying, none of his Tyler City
work seems to have survived. The two Beckwith maps have become the official record with the property deeds
even today referencing the lot numbers on these maps. The town clerk's offices have the land records, in West Haven for
years prior to 1921 and years thereafter in Orange.
|
| 1934 Connecticut Aerial Photograph Collection, UConn. |
[1.14] Aerial view in 1934
of the Tyler City area. The railroad station would stand for about two more years until the fire of July 4, 1936. Its distinctive
roofline and gables are noticeable even from the air. The general store, today with an address of 80 New Haven Ave.,
is seen to the right and across the street. Sylvan, aka Silver, Brook meanders through the remains of Spring Grove on
the right. Tyler City is unpopulated otherwise, except for one or two homes and the Halliwell mansion, out of sight to
the north. Note how Harrison Ave., just west of the depot, continues south
across the railroad track into what was once Victoria Grove. This road, along with several other erstwhile thoroughfares,
has disappeared. What is still visible here is the is the Tyler City factory building, perhaps only the
foundation. The outline is seen in the aerial shot diagonally northwest of the station. We had noticed this before
but were never sure what to make of the shape until now. See below at MP 1.23.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
[1.15] Tyler City Rd. still leads today from the center of Orange to Racebrook Rd., just
north of Russell Ave., which was the northern border of the envisioned town. This link should take you to the area as it is now. New Haven Ave. was newly laid out in 1872 through
the center of the town and so-named for the city to the east that could now be easily be reached by train. According
to the 1872 map, the railroad station was to stand north of the track, right on New Haven Ave., east of Halliwell Ave.
between Harrison and Sperry Aves. A Price and Lee Co. map in the 1927 Milford-Orange city directory shows no Harrison
or Sperry Ave. and nothing below New Haven Ave. in existence then. Apparently, the only part of Tyler
City that was fully 'laid out' with streets built was enclosed by Racebrook Rd. (Bradley Ave. on
the 1872 map), Russell St., and Halliwell and New Haven Aves. The 1872 map shows that a general store was going to be located northeast
of the station and the aerial shot shows it there. One Charles H. Amesbury
moved from Norwich to take up residence here at this time. It is not known whether he was connected with the proprietors
in some way, or he answered an ad, or just thought that this was a good business opportunity but he signed a purchase agreement
with Halliwell and Ferry on May 28, 1872 for the land on which he was to build and operate the store. He also
agreed therein to the repeated stipulation that he not sell alcoholic beverages. Woodruff says Amesbury was
the postmaster as well, likely Tyler City's first, starting in 1874. The restriction on alcohol sales
is interesting. While not making this community dry per se, it certainly set a conservative, even a religious,
tone that was undoubtedly intended to keep up property sales by barring the wrong sort from 'paradise.'
The white house that stands today on the north side of New Haven Ave., with the antique windows on the uppermost level, has
been certified by the family that once lived there as the former grocery store and post office.
|
| Phebe Ann Coffin Hanaford |
|
| Timothy Thomas Fortune |
[1.16] What is not too well known about this idyllic spot in the woods and Victoria Grove in particular, is that, in addition
to it being a popular excursion destination, it became something of a liberal soapbox and rallying point for 'subversives.'
While mainstream engagements included governors, mayors, and the clergy, the iconoclastic George Beckwith was a
popular speaker here. In 1888 Fred Siebold, an Elm City "anarchist agitator" moved his family to Tyler
City and opened a saloon nearby, probably on Milford Tpke., where his like-minded associates "congregate on Sundays,
and, while destroying many kegs of beer, discuss measures for the equal distribution of wealth." There are
several mentions of Siebold in the Register, which always paints him as a radical supporter of the labor movement,
in company with the likes of John Most, Emma Goldman, and the Haymarket massacre victims [click here].5a Undoubtedly the most historic event that would
take place in Tyler City came in 1890, when the Courant reported that a "colored" church camp meeting,
dubbed the "Ten Days Jubilee in the Wilderness," was to be held here. This would be no ordinary gathering.
The sponsoring group was the Haven Memorial Church, pastor J. Sanford Ray, which was then meeting in Day's Hall at
the corner of Broadway and York St. in the Elm City. This was reportedly "the only colored congregation in the New
York East Methodist Episcopal Conference." While part of the purpose was to raise funds to purchase a site for their
own place of worship, what was really up for consideration was support for a Republican Party effort, spearheaded by Sen.
Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts, for a law to provide federal oversight of Congressional elections in the post-Reconstruction
South. Speakers came from as far away as Ohio, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. Among them was Timothy Thomas Fortune [click here]. Born a slave in Florida, Fortune had been freed
by the Emancipation Proclamation, and is credited with coining the term 'Afro-American.' He founded the New
York Age, "the most brilliant Negro newspaper in the world" and would give his famed
address on liberty here at Tyler City. Reports numbered the attendance that included
many women and children at 1,000 and 1,200 on some days and it was said that the "coloreds" were outnumbered
by whites who were urged to support the cause. The crowds were so enthusiastic that the encampment was extended for three
more days. Other fraternal associations like the Masons and the Odd Fellows were invited to attend the church services and
Biblical expositions that dominated the meeting, which ran from July 28 to August 7 and a figure of 10,000 total
attendees would not be unrealistic.6
[1.17] The following
resolution, introduced by Rev. Albert P. Miller of New York, was passed unanimously on July 31. The newspapers ran it the
next day, reading "We Afro-American citizens of the state of Connecticut, being convinced that the condition of
affairs is such that a uniform election law is necessary to insure a fair and just expression of the public will in federal
elections, do endorse the Lodge federal election bill, passed by the house of representatives, and now pending before
your honorable body, and do earnestly petition hereby that your august body concur in the action of the house of representatives."6a Emotions ran high over the issue but hopes were just as high for a favorable outcome. The culmination
of the Jubilee was to be an address by the Rev. Mrs. Phebe Hanaford6b [click here], who in 1868 had become the first woman minister to be ordained
in New England. She was a popular preacher, a prolific writer, a Universalist pastor, and an outspoken advocate of
abolitionism, temperance, suffragism, and equal rights for blacks, women, and the working man, causes that often coalesced
in the social conscience of the day and here at the Tyler City meeting. Hanaford had held her own on the podium
many times with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony and her death in 1921 at age 92 made headlines across the
country.7 The article that said she would be speaking "on the same spot where
she preached seventeen years ago" to an earlier camp meeting showed that by 1890 Tyler City had a nearly a
20-year tradition of religious, political, and social activism. While not exactly an agent of anarchy, the Derby road
was advertised in newspapers and brochures as providing the frequent service that undoubtedly made this dissident activity
more possible. It likely brought Fortune, Hanaford, the other speakers, and the huge crowds here to make history at
Tyler City. Controversy over the Lodge bill would continue until January of the next year. The Palladium, New Haven's
liberal newspaper, wrote a sober editorial supporting the bill, which it claimed did not threaten states' rights
at all, and said that the Democratic governor of Ohio had spoken "with the loud voice of an ass" when he declared
that any effort to enforce the federal elections law in his state would be resisted by "all the armed powers at
this command." Southern Democrats and conservative newspapers like the Register would defeat this early attempt
at civil rights legislation by a single vote in the Senate [click here].7a Economic reprisals against the North had been
threatened, federal interventionism was decried, and some argued that even many blacks thought the proposal was not a
good idea. This largely unknown, early battle in the national civil rights effort is a notable chapter in
Orange's history and seems worthy of commemoration, celebration, and additional research.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
|
| 1934 Connecticut Aerial Photograph Collection, UConn. |
[1.17.1] The upper arrow shows the Tyler City schoolhouse,
as the Chapel of the Good Shepherd sitting below New Haven Ave. and above Spring St. The bell tower has been moved at
least once and probably is not the original. The schoolhouse building committee was authorized to "expend a sum not to
exceed Forty Dollars to erect a suitable Cupola or Bell Tower" to be placed "at an equal distance from front to
rear end" [p.20]. As seen here, it is on the north end of the structure over the sanctuary addition and, in
the 1945 and present-day photos below, the tower is toward the south end of the building. The
small structure above and to the right of the chapel was probably the horse shed, built in 1911 to accomodate 8 teams,
according to data given on p. 31 of the Orange sesquicentennial history [click here] and brought to our attention recently by Ginny Reinhard at OHS. Directly to the
right of the chapel, we have just noticed that the parish hall building, now being used as the rectory, seems to
be standing in the 1934 shot. The lower arrow points to Allings Crossing on Dogburn La.
|
| TCS Collection |
[1.17.2] This photograph appeared in a 1945 publication
entitled Historical Notes About Christ Church, West Haven, Connecticut, Concerning Its Two Hundred Years of Existence,
1723-1923. In a section [pp. 96-101] about the creation of the Chapel of the Good Shepherd, it says that the school building
was consecrated as the chapel on April 19, 1913 by Episcopal Bishop Chauncey Bunce Brewster [click here]. The donation of land by Ferry and Halliwell was acknowledged, as was the
deeding of the property to the church after the school closed in 1909. According
to the sesquicentennial book, the cross was removed from the steeple of the Episcopal church in Stratford, the oldest in the
diocese of Connecticut, and set on the chapel here.
|
| TylerCityStation Collection |
[1.18] The 1874 Tyler City schoolhouse at 378 Spring St., now the home of Our Lady of Sorrows
Church, where the traditional Latin Mass is still celebrated instead of the newer, mainstream Roman Catholic liturgy. The
structure has had a long ecclesiastical history since it was decommissioned as a school in 1909.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
[1.19] While Halliwell and Ferry were wary of Demon Rum and tried to keep alcohol
out of Tyler City, they were also determined to make sure that education was a part of life here. A school
district was organized on November 3, 1873. Classes were first held in one of the waiting rooms at the railroad
station until a facility was built on land donated by the proprietors. According to district records in the OHS
collection, April 15, 1874 was the expected completion date [p. 16] and building lots 1634 and 1635 were
given as the site [p. 4]. See the blue arrows on the map above at MP 1.13. By
May 23, the school district had moved its meetings from the railroad station to the new schoolhouse [p. 21]. Woodruff says
that classes opened on September 1, 1874 in "the new schoolhouse just completed" [p. 102] and
that, when district schools were eliminated in 1909, the building passed to Christ Church, West Haven [p. 140].
It seems to have already been the site of Sunday school services and prayer meetings then, a religious use that was specifically permitted in the deed to the property and reflected the proprietors'
moralistic tone. Increased participation persuaded Jane Halliwell, Samuel's widow, to pay a sum of money
to the town of Orange to take back the land given for the school and deed it to the church. The two lots behind
the school property were donated by Miss Susan V. Hotchkiss, resulting in a four-parcel tract stretching from New
Haven Ave. to Spring St. The building was remodeled to give it a church-like interior, simple stained-glass windows,
and a sanctuary area on the north end. The altar was donated by St. Paul's Church, New Haven and the bell
tower was the gift of the Sunday school children and Christ Church parishioners. The chapel went thereafter to the
New Haven branch of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on January 20, 1959, which kept
it until ca. 2000. Today the building at 378 Spring St. has been Our Lady of Sorrows Church since about
2004. Harking back to dissident elements in Tyler City's past, the current congregation worships with the
Latin Mass, which has been a counter-culture movement in the Roman Catholic church since the 1960s.
[1.20] Education as a hallmark of Tyler City would also see other endeavors. The Ferry mansion
would be left later for a short-lived attempt as a girl's boarding school. A large residence, built by Edwin
Robbins, whose name coincidentally corresponds to the chief clerk for the NH&D from 1884-1887 [see Track 3, MP 3.6.2],
at the corner of Ferry Ave. and Crofut St., would become Altworth Hall, a prep school, around 1878. It failed and
a few years later the house was rented as the first location of the New Haven County Temporary Home for Dependent and
Neglected Children, which opened on January 1, 1884. The first of the 'inmates,' as they were then styled, was
William Mooney, a 7-year-old from Cheshire, who arrived shortly thereafter.8 Almost
immediately controversy arose, precisely over education. The town refused on the grounds there was not enough room for
these children and that they were not residents, disregarding the expressed opinion of Governor Waller.9 According to Woodruff, when the town later refused a request to build sidewalks to the railroad
station, the home moved to New Haven. It was more likely the schooling issue itself, rather than the sidewalks, that
caused the home to depart, but other sources say the reasons were the want for a more permanent location and also possibly
charges of mismanagement and anti-Catholic 'proselytizing' there, the latter charges later examined and dropped.10 The move was certainly not for lack of public generosity. A Register
article entitled "Please Stop It" said that 50 gifts had been collected for the 27 children living there
and no more were needed.10a On July 1, 1886, the home reopened in the Elm City
on property the county purchased at Shelton Ave. and Bassett St.,11 and ultimately in 1909
it moved to its own newly constructed buildings in the Allingtown section of West Haven, then still a part of Orange. Those
structures and that site are today occupied by the University of New Haven. Some of the interesting history of this
facility is addressed on Track 8.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
|
| Orange Historical Society |
|
| New Haven Register |
[1.21] The visual quality of this montage will be improved as soon as we are
able to get better copy. The pictures show Halliwell's grand Victorian mansion at Tyler City, Mr. Samuel Halliwell
seemingly at an early age, and the ruins of the Ferry mansion after the girls' academy failed and by the time the
accompanying article was published in 1929 [NHSR/10/27/1929/03]. The Halliwell structure went on to become the home
of the Orange Hunt Club and later the Orange Riding Stables. As is seen in the upper photo, the mansion is in its last
days ca. 1950 when it was owned by the Tompkins family and still being operated as a riding stable. Property rights to the
old NH&D line from the Tyler City station site, eastward as far as Campbell Ave. in West Haven, have been found in property
deeds as also belonging to the family.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
[1.22] While this would never become the destination
its promoters foresaw, there was economic activity here, though seemingly laced with some Tyler City intrigue. The Courant says that a shop for the manufacture of looms was being talked of in
1877 but we hear nothing more of it.11a The first industry we know of was the Sackett Mfg.
Co. Woodruff says this came in 1871 but we find that it was vacating space in Wallingford in 1887 and planning to move
to Tyler City then,11b apparently through the ever-industrious Halliwell's doing.
Now described as "an old and supposedly wealthy business man" with an office at 80 Church St. in New Haven, he
was said to have built a brick factory here with electric lights and all the modern improvements, worth $25,000, with him
and his wife in control of most of the stock.11c Interestingly,
he was also accused of embezzlement and taking money under false pretenses at this time in matters seemingly unrelated
to Tyler City. It was necessary for long-time associate Philander Ferry to bail him out twice before the charges were
nolled and an out-of-court settlement was made. Sackett Mfg., perhaps needed for its sewing-machine manufacturing machinery,
then appears to have morphed into the Peerless Buttonhole Attachment Co. [click here]. Woodruff says the operating partners
were J. Willis Downes of New Haven and the same William Chauncey Russell [click here] who sold some of the land for Tyler City, now said to be of the Russell Bros. 'firm,'11d
with Downes acting as treasurer for the new company. One device was patented [click here], but to a Louis Bullet. J.W. Downes makes his first appearance in another Register
article with fellow attorney Charles A. Harrison, both of whom were appointed on behalf of the Wallingford stockholders
to investigate the bankruptcy of the Sackett operation.11e The company's directors,
not named in the newspaper, had attempted to ward off the investigation by having a receiver appointed, an action that
was vacated by Judge Andrews at Harrison's request and Sackett's Pres. Terry initially
even refused to have the books examined until he allowed it through his attorney.11f
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
|
| New Haven Journal Courier |
|
| New Haven Register |
[1.23] The top
item was found accompanying a newspaper article [NHR//NHJC/03/14/1964/08; NL18.6.8] and duplicates
the photo posted at MP 1.0, with the important exception that the Tyler City factory building, as noted in the caption, has
not been cropped out here. Its location has been a matter of speculation for more than a half century. Here it is
finally revealed as a two-story structure on the northwest corner of Harrison and New Haven Aves., conveniently adjacent
to the railroad station and freight platform. NH&D Pres. Stevenson mentions
that the factory is being built in 1887 as part of the economic development and opportunities for "working men and women"
that his railroad was bringing to the New Haven area [NHER/08/09/1887/01]. This would become the home of the Sackett
Mfg. Co., which relocated here in 1888, around the time of we think this photo was taken and undoubtedly through
the doings of Samuel Halliwell who had built the then-modern, $25,000 structure that was lit by electricity. Four
shares of Sackett stock were purchased by Friend(?) C. Allen on March 7, 1888 and certificate no. 117,
seen here, shows the company still in Wallingford. The certificate is signed by Secretary Halliwell but not
yet endorsed by President Terry. The left margin shows that $50,000 was the amount of capital stock issued. By February
1889, Sackett was in bankruptcy but the factory was used by successor companies until it burned in 1898.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
[1.24] As if there were not already enough millinery
intrigue, Hiram B. Brower of Tyler City and B.O. Pratt of Middletown were co-grantees in 1890 of patents
for embroidery and hemming attachments for sewing machines.11g Perhaps they intended
to associate themselves with Peerless, which appears to have lasted at least until early 1893.11h
The basement of the factory was occupied later by a creamery run by Edward W. Russell, E.C.'s brother, a gentleman farmer
and prize winner at the Orange Agricultural Fair. He made butter that he sold locally, both wholesale and retail,
in an operation that was said to have dated back to 1852. The last venture to use the factory was the New England Tricycle
Co., which set up shop here in 1897, and manufactured baby carriages as well, according to Woodruff. Other
local industrial ventures included window-sash fasteners, patented in 1893 to
Halliwell and an Edwin Ferry, perhaps a relation of Philander, [click here] and the production of plaster-of-Paris ceiling decorations, some of which
were used in the Halliwell and Ferry mansions. Neither of these gambits seemed to amount to anything, though the latter got
as far as the foundation for a building. Tyler City's industrial fame, minimal as it was, ended when the factory
burned on October 28, 1898 and the tricycle company relocated to New Haven.12 The owner
at the time was given as J. Willis Downes, who was also said to be "a member of the firm." The factory then
was said to be worth $5,000, covered by insurance, with damage to the machinery said to be around $6,000.12a
The company took up quarters in the Clarke Bldg. at 120 Commerce St. and was said to employ 50 hands at the time, a fair number of
people presumably to have been working at Tyler City previously.12b The ad, above right, appears
on p. 995 in the Price & Lee New Haven city directory for 1899 [click here]. Downs (sic) and a Mr. Whitmore are listed as the proprietors on p. 478.
[1.25] In spite of the initial interest,
the growth of the new 'city' stalled. Howard Treat, Sr. attributed this to the lack of provision for a public
water supply - residents had to dig their own wells in days before drills - and, conversely, to drainage problems and possibly
to the "isolation" felt here. The Panic of 1873 may have been a bigger factor
with the economic slowdown it brought. In 1877 scheduled stops were reduced to a morning train to New
Haven and an afternoon train to Ansonia, with others flagged down as needed, but an 1881 timetable [see
Track 2, MP 2.4.1] and ones thereafter show most all trains were stopping here again.12a
Defaulting buyers reneged on their lots and by 1882 it was said that most of the houses were "rotting."12b With properties reverting back to the entrepreneurs, Ferry seems to have sold out his interest
completely to Halliwell and quit Tyler City to go back to New Haven. Halliwell died
at his residence on March 13, 1898, survived by his widow Jane, who passed away on November 26, 1922.12c
The bulk of the property below New Haven Ave. later went from Jane Halliwell's estate as a single parcel ultimately
to the current owner, the Orange Hills Country Club. The club's website [click here] has some of the details. The
Register article says in 1929 that the Ferry mansion, left for use as an academy for young girls, had failed and
the "crumbling remains" of the house were "deep in moss and creeping vines." The entire Home Park tract
bounded by Marble, Russell, Hallwell and Crofut Sts., as well as the other forfeited lots, passed to a Margaret
G. Coffey, who leased it all to Irwin P. Wener on October 4, 1929 "for a riding academy." Haviing
survived a fire, the Halliwell mansion became the club house of the newly formed Orange Hunt Club.13
Woodruff corroborates this and says the Orange Riding Stables had it thereafter, as well as use of the NH&D right
of way as its bridle trail. A longing for home brought Lewis Bradley to repurchase some of his property in
his later years. His farmhouse, dating to the late 1700s, was left untouched by the developers and still stands today on Racebrook
Rd. Telephone books for the late 1930s show a total of six residences with service at that time. The
Tyler City post office lasted until 1916. While the exact dates are sometimes difficult to determine, postmasters over the
years were Charles Amesbury, 1874; L.A. Schafuit (Schafrit?), 1887; A.W. Bowman
in 1893; John C. Merwin, 1894; Charles Von Benschotein, 1895; and, Charles B. Wells, 1911, who also served
as the railroad station agent. Again vacant in 1915, the position was apparently filled by a woman who resigned
less than a year later, whereupon it was said that "unless a successor is speedily secured," the location would
close and patrons would get "rural service" from the Orange post office.14 Apparently
no successor was found and this was the end of the line for the Tyler City post office.14a
According to a NYNH&H employee timetable, which we think dates to 1919, Tyler City is still shown as station no. 905,
with C.B. Wells as probably the last agent. The Register article said in 1929 that the depot
had been maintained by the railroad until recently and "now furnishes a roost for birds." The building lasted
until the fire of July 4, 1936.
|
| 1927 Price & Lee Milford-Orange city directory |
[1.26] There
are many additional notes to be made in Tyler City's surprisingly colorful history. In 1883 Thomas Callahan, a prisoner being transported from Waterbury to county jail in New Haven, jumped
off the train here and had to be recaptured; in 1884 Alexander Berry, a boy at the county home with "bow legs" had them successfully broken for straightening
at a New Haven hospital; in 1885 the F.S. Andrew & Co. tallow factory burned, probably by arson, and the cattle were
saved by an NH&D freight train blowing its whistle [see Andrews siding on the Cram map above]; in 1886 NH&D
engineer Tom Quinn made the fastest run on record, 16.5 minutes, with the 7:11pm train from Ansonia to New Haven even
with stops at Derby, Orange, and Tyler City; in 1889 a construction extra from New Haven rammed the rear of a stopped train,
telescoping a passenger car but not injuring anyone seriously; in 1892 a locomotive stole a baseball from a trackside
game and the crew tossed it back on the return trip from Ansonia; in 1895 the body was found of a Mr. Vetterman
of New Haven who had hung himself in the woods about a mile from the depot; in 1895 Alphonso Pepe, an Italian married man,
eloped with a married Italian woman from New Haven with the unlikely name of Marie Antoinette Dotalia; also in 1897,
Mr. John Beck set out for the Klondike gold rush, sailing from Belle Dock on the pilotboat Thomas S. Negus;
in 1898 a gasoline-powered railroad inspection car made a trial trip from New Haven to Tyler City in 20 minutes; in 1903 a horse
named 'Tyler City' crashed through the fence at the Orange Fair races; in 1912 U.S. Army maneuvers saw the Reds
marching through the area in pursuit of the Blues; and in 1919, sadly, Edgar H. Edwards, one of the NYNH&H's
"most trusted" engineers was apparently struck in the head while leaning out of the cab east of Tyler City and died
of his injuries.15
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
[1.27]
Shown
at the right
are two of the
patents listed
in the USPTO's
Official
Gazette
with Tyler City
as the location.
Click to enlarge
each image.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
[1.28] The
railroad did eventually make the western connections it anticipated but in ways that never wound up benefiting Tyler City.
On July 10, 1889 the NH&D was leased by the Housatonic RR system and, as
envisioned, became part of a route to the Hudson River via the New York and New England RR. The Register article says that this success caused a second real
estate boom and the sale of $125,000 worth of land, but that the enthusiasm, once again, was short-lived. The HRR and
NH&D, in turn were leased by the New York, New Haven and Hartford RR on July 1, 1892 and, for a number of years,
some trains to Pittsfield, Mass. used this route. In the early 1900s there was even talk that the NYNH&H was
going to use the Derby road as part of its "through line to the West." An article entitled "Spend $1,000,000
on Derby Road" appeared in the Register late in 1904 quoting Pres. Mellen that the route
was going to be leveled, straightened and double-tracked to save the 10 miles lost going by way of Devon, precisely the reason
for which the NH&D had been built in the first place. These plans supposedly hinged on a 'stock condemnation'
hearing wherein the railroad was trying to get the last two shares of NH&D stock, which were owned
by a Charles K. Offield of Chicago. It may not ever be known how serious these improvement plans were but the argument was
made that the only way to upgrade the NH&D, a "ghost" corporation at this point with over a million dollars
of indebtedness, was to dissolve it into the NYNH&H, the last two shares being needed to do so. Offield
argued that he was being deprived of his property and that the impending improvements to the Derby road would have made
the shares worth the $1,000 each he was asking.16 The case went all the way to the U.S.
Supreme Court, which gave its decision on December 3, 1906.17 It upheld the lower court rulings that
had applied the principle of eminent domain, saying that it was in the public interest to compel the sale at the $400-per-share
price set by court-appointed appraisers [click here]. On March 26, 1907, the NH&D ceased to exist as a corporation when it surrendered
its franchise to the NYNH&H. Needless to say, the upgrading of the NH&D, which would have truly
transformed Tyler City and the entire town of Orange, never took place. Passenger
service ended on June 13, 1925. The portion of the line from New Haven to Orange was abandoned on July 1, 1938 and,
ever steeped in controversy, the NH&D from Orange to Derby Jct. was kept open by a stay order until May
26, 1941, this to serve the seed companies and the numerous farming operations who were still quite active at the time. The
rails were reportedly taken up shortly thereafter in the 1940s when the steel was needed for the war effort. Track 2
has the full history of the NH&D.
Tyler City thus faded further into the history of kindred places that railroads birthed and then
abandoned. Embankments, abutments, and culverts remain along the old NH&D line if one knows where to look and cares
to do so. A New Haven & Derby RR Club [click here] models some of the line. There are those of us who
still get a bit of a shiver as we drive through this 'ghost' city that, for the most part, never existed. The
information and maps provided at this site can be used as guides to historic rail points and to Tyler City, which has
been chosen as this website's symbolic focus and departure point. All Aboard!
[1.28.1] The original of this cute 'penny' postcard
was found recently in the OHS collection and the photocopy that was here previously was removed. The postmark now is actually
quite readable and seems to say August 20, 1915. The card seems to be a novelty item in which the purchaser could have a favorite
place, here Tyler City, stamped in the satchel as a desirable place to visit. The addressee, Antoinette (Nettie) Razee, lived
on Old Tavern Road, where regular postal service was likely available, while the sender probably used the rural free delivery
indicated by the 'RFD' on the card. The letters GFS stand
for Girls Friendly Society, a service organization of the Episcopal church. The meeting place was the home of the Scharff
family, active both in civic and religious affairs. They were among the successful petitioners to the PUC [Docket 1575] for
a warning bell at Alling's crossing that was installed by the NYNH&H on 7/31/1915. The meeting here
probably had more to do with the newly formed Church of the Good Shepherd in the old Tyler City school house. The 'AWCS' may consist of AW as the sender's initials and CS for corresponding secretary, but that is
largely conjecture on our part.
|
|
|
