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Altnacraig
a
spectacular High Ridge mansion that burned down..
The
Bailey Inn
well-known tourist stop in first quarter of the 20th
Century.
Branchville
looking
across the Norwalk River.
Cannonball
House
now the Keeler Tavern Museum, in a wonderfully colored
view.
Cass Gilbert
Fountain, designed and donated by a leading American architect who
lived in the Cannonball House (above).
East
Ridge
sweeping view east of Main Street.
The
Elms Inn
then called Elm Shade Cottages.
Firehouse
on
Catoonah Street, shortly after it was built in 1908, with fire bell
tower.
First National
Bank
at Main and Governor Streets, showing a couple of
chauffeurs chatting with a man in a straw hat.
Graeloe
the estate that's today Ballard Park
and was once the home of a Revolutionary hero.
Governor Street
with East Ridge in background,
showing a family about 1908.
Grovelawn
home of Gov. Phineas Lounsbury, is
now the Community Center.
Hermit of Ridgefield
showing George Washington
Gilbert and the saltbox that crumbled around him.
Holy Ghost Novitiate
later acquired by the
town, now housing for elderly.
Lynch Estate
high up on West Mountain, and a
view therefrom.
Main Street
looking south from Ridgefield
Pharmacy around 1910.
Main Street
looking north from south end, with
two side-saddled women ca. 1908 view.
Main Street
looking north from opposite
Rockwell Road, showing homes and lawns and a glimpse of the Corner
Store.
Main Street
including Walker's Happy Shop and
S.S. Denton building, late 1920s.
Methodist
Church
a beautiful building that stood in the heart of the
village and was, alas, razed in the name of "progress." Northern Main Street
showing the large old
maples around 1907.
Outpost Farm
The home of Col. Louis D. Conley
was the center of what's now the 'Bennett's Pond' property.
Outpost Inn
on the site of Fox Hill condos,
was built for a bride, and was torn down by a man who went to
prison.
Port of Missing Men
on Titicus Mountain, once
a resort for wealthy sportsmen and now the Eight Lakes
neighborhood..
Railroad station
on Prospect Street, now part
of Ridgefield Supply.
Ridgefield Inn
in its
heyday around 1910. It
also served as Ridgefield School for Boys (below).
Ridgefield School for Boys (and Ridgefield
Inn)
south end of Main Street
Ridgefield School
on a 115-acre campus off
North Salem Road (1911-38).
St. Mary's Church, Rectory
around 1910.
St. Stephen's complex
showing the old church
later razed, and the rectory, later moved.
Smith Tavern
a 19th Century watering hole on
the site of the present library.
Stebbins House
a hospital during the Battle of
Ridgefield in 1777.
Sunset Hall
the estate once eyed as
headquarters of the United Nations.
Town Hall
around 1905, showing women in
Victorian garb, a horse and carriage, and the old firehouse.
Upagenstit
West Lane estate of Frederic E.
Lewis, later home of an international revolutionary and bridge player,
then a college for women, finally alleged Communist hangout.
West Lane
looking eastward from around Parley
Lane.
West Lane
looking westward from around Parley
Lane.
West Lane Schoolhouse
where Peter Parley got
his early education.
The Wiggins place
home of the man who made
Chase the richest bank in the world.
Windover
West Lane estate of Life Magazine
founder and novelist John Ames Mitchell. |
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Main Street looking south toward town hall (in
distance) about 1915
Early 20th
Century postcard views of Ridgefield, Connecticut, from a collection that
includes more than 600 postcard pictures of the town in the first half of
the century.
Because Ridgefield was considered a "resort town" early in
the 20th Century, many postcards views of Main Street, village homes and
mansions, churches, landmarks, and scenic landscapes were published
between 1900 and 1940.
Before World War I, many of the cards were printed in
Germany on the finest color presses then available. The war forced
American postcard publishers to turn to an old-fashioned method, and many
views from 1916 to 1940 were literally hand-colored.
Most of the cards here were commissioned and sold by
either H.P. Bissell's Drug Store, still in operation today more than a
century after it was founded, or by George A. Mignerey, operator of the
other pharmacy on Main Street, or H.D. Smith, another pharmacist.
Jack Sanders, who compiled these pages, is always
interested in acquiring old Ridgefield postcards. He can also produce
scans, or enlarged, full-color copies, suitable for framing, of more than
550 different cards, only a few of which are shown here. He is also available to do a digital slide
show on big screens, showing more than 100 old postcard views of Ridgefield.
(Digital projector must be provided!) For more information, please e-mail
him at jackfsanders[at]yahoo.com.
More images are posted
periodically.
Last updated Saturday, March 22, 2008.
Many old postcard views
of Ridgefield from this collection are on exhibit through March 2008 in
the lobby of the Ridgefield Parks and Recreation Center.
Entire contents copyright ©
2008 by Jack Sanders. Text may not be reproduced without the permission of
the author.
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