American Legion, Everett Ray Seymour Post 78
NUGGET #77
American Legion, Everett Ray Seymour Post 78, began Aug. 20, 1920 by World War I veterans. Its name recalls the first Ridgefielder to die in combat in WWI. One of its first projects was to erect the War Memorial on Main Street at the head of Branchville Road in 1925; it lists the names of all service people from Ridgefield in all wars through WWI.
Aside from providing support for local veterans, the legion also organizes the annual Memorial Day Parade, sponsors military band concerts in town, conducts Veterans Day ceremonies each year, sends honor guards to the funerals of area veterans, and sponsors two local baseball teams for older teenagers. Early meetings were on the top floor of the Martin Block, but in 1939, the Legion began leasing the old Titicus Schoolhouse from the town as a legion hall. The organization has had as many as 151 members.
More Historical Nuggets
First Pride Day, 1998
FIRST ‘PRIDE’ DAY: “A Celebration of Community: Straight, Gay and Lesbian“ took place in 1998, on the Community Center lawn. Just a year later, a Rainbow Flag was flown for the first time in the nation over a state capitol, Hartford, on March 21, 1999.
Hezekiah Scott (1789-1879)
Hezekiah Scott was a weaver and operated a distillery on the brook near his home on Barlow Mountain Road — a stream now called Kiah’s Brook.
Paving
The first road paving, part of a state experiment, was done on the eastern end of Branchville Road around 1912. Catoonah Street was paved in 1922.
Lillian Barnard Gilkes and Louise “Lulu” Davidson
Gilkes, Lillian Barnard, (1903-1977), was a nationally recognized scholar, author and critic who lived at 93 Olmstead Lane with stepsister.
