Warren Connecticut

In Memory of  Arthur Lewis “Bob” Tanner   1909 - 2004

Remembering

The first time I saw Bob Tanner was in 1922.  He and his sister, Marge, were sitting on a high seat of a lumber wagon pulled by a matching pair of Clydesdales.  Bob and Marge’s parents had come to pay their respects to my mother who was terminally ill.  The children were told to stay on the wagon until they came out.
We six children asked them to come down and play with us.  We really wanted them to join us in the fun we were having.  Marge started to step down but  Bob said something to her and she sat back in the wagon.  We practically begged them to come and play but they were adamant.
I remember  that Bob was a slim, very blonde lad and his sister Marge was plump.
Many years later I asked Bob if he remembered the incident.  He said that he did but he wasn’t going to get down from the wagon and play with a bunch of  wild  indians.
——submitted by Connie Verbowens via the Warren Public Library —————

The one room Northeast School House was on what is now known as Hardscrabble Rd., Warren, Conn. It had been closed for a number of years, but was reopened in September, 1911, after the Krasenics moved from the Bronx, NYC to the 360 acre Comstock Farm in July, 1911.

The teacher was Miss Marion Stone, Merryall, New Milford. It was
her first teaching assignment after graduating from Normal School.

She later married Charles Perkins and did not teach the
following year. Miss Evilyn Tanner was the teacher the following two years.

The Northeast School may have closed after the Krasenics moved from the Comstock Farm to the Morgan Farm on what is now known as Brick School House Rd.

A Miss Keogh taught the school on the NW corner on the junction
of Rt. 341 and Brick School Road. The school house is now part of the house on that corner. A nephew of Mr. Florio lived in that house.

A conversation with Beecher Perkins

I had the pleasure to talk with Beecher Perkins this summer about the history of Warren buildings and schools.  I learned that the Perkins family immigrated to this country from England in 1830. They moved to New Haven, then to East Cornwall and then to Warren.   The family bought 3 small farms. The people who sold the farms did so because they said it was too rugged here. They moved to Ohio and named their new town Warren.

At one time there were several one-room schools in Warren. The Center School was located across from the store in or near the routes 45 and 341 intersection.  It was moved north on route 45 and is now the home of Wendell Cote. There was the Brick School, College Farms School (Bob Tanner’s home), Lake School  (corner of North Shore Road and Hopkins road), East (?) School located on Hardscrabble Road with foundation and chimney still there, the Milton School, now the site of the reservoir and

Our property off of Town Hill Road contains an old foundation referred to on the survey map at the “Shove Homestead”.

I’d appreciate any info on this old Warren family and details regarding the family’s home (now just a cellar hole, well, and enclosed “yard” surrounded by stonewalls).

Thanks,

Jed Struckus

Information on a few local genealogical projects and how to contact the people who are running them.

Warren CTGenWeb Project

http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/1926/warren.html

The Academy was a boy’s prep school that went coed in later years.

After the Academy closed it was used by the town as a Town Hall where the tax collector had an office, voting was done and there was space for meetings.

After the current Town Hall was built The Academy was used for the town garage until the current garages were built on Rt. 341.

Then, several people in town had the vision to make it over for social events and as a town museum housing historical artifacts.

– Caroline (Connie) Verbowwens

The Warren Firehouse was originally a Methodist Church which eventually disbanded. The Withita Grange then used the building for meetings and after some rennovation, the upstairs was used for a dance hall on Saturday nights.

When the Town Hall was built the Grange conducted their meetings there.

The building was sold to the Warren Fire Department for $1 in the late 1940s.

– Caroline (Connie) Verbowwens

The Warren one-room schoolhouse was located in the center of town where the roads intersect across from The Warren Spirit Shop.

At one time there were 7 schools in Warren.

The Center School was moved in 1930, made into living quarters and subsequently burned down. A replica/model of this school is in The Academy.

At that time another larger school was built and when it turned into the Warren Public Library a new, modern school was built next door.

To attend high school after finishing 8th grade a child would have to go to New Milford or some larger town and board there.

– Caroline (Connie) Verbowwens

There was a “pest house” in Warren in the 1800’s near Lindstrom Park. It confined anyone who had smallpox, tuberculosis, or any other contagious disease. It was closed by 1900.

– Caroline (Connie) Verbowwens

Many years ago I was walking past the end of Carter Rd. (south of 341).  The last house then was owned by Dean Martin.  On the trail that extended from the paving I came across a bust of a man on a pedestal that I remember as being the president of Antioch College.  Does anyone know anything about this statue and why it was there?  I recently drove down the lane past the old Martin house but couldn’t find any trace of what I remember.

Larry Hendricks