This Week in History
1933 Archive
January 1 - May 10
January
Sunday, January 1, 1933
DERBY - The first fire in the Valley in the New Year guts a room at 29 Hawthorne Avenue 10 minutes after midnight.
January 2
DERBY - Mayor William Riordan is sworn into his third term at noon, along with other city officials.
SHELTON - Daniel Shelton is sworn in as Shelton's new mayor.
January 3
ANSONIA - Tremont Street between South Cliff Street and Main Street is closed, as Ansonia Mutual Aid begins constructing a stone retaining wall to support the gravel bank on the south side.
January 4
Temperatures rise to 50 degrees today.
ANSONIA - Ansonia Water Company has issued over 500 permits to cut firewood in its forests so far this winter.
SHELTON - The International Silver Company releases the devastating news that it is shutting down Factory B, the former Derby Silver Company on Bridge Street, by the end of the week. Over 100 will be laid off.
SHELTON - Over 450 unemployed men go to Relief Committee office in the Steinman building on Howe Avenue seeking relief or work.
January 5
All flags are at half mast upon receiving news of the death of former President Calvin Coolidge.
SEYMOUR - Mrs. A. Augusta Smith Swan, the widow of William Swan, who was president of the James Swan Company, dies less than two months after her husband.
Friday, January 6
Today is Orthodox Christmas. Ansonia's Orthodox churches are packed, and special trolleys are sent to Ansonia to bring the sizable Orthodox population there to the masses.
ANSONIA - The will of the late Mrs. Annie Julia Seeley Eno is probated. Her Franklin Street home is to be set up as a home for elderly women. Also $2,000 (over $25,000 today) has been willed to set up a shelter for homeless cats. An additional $1,000 is willed to Immanuel Episcopal Church.
January 7
SHELTON - Shelton Mutual Aid has taken over the vacant store next to the Shelton Trust Company, and is fitting it out to be a reading and recreation room for the unemployed. Unemployment is now over 650. Relief Headquarters has recently issued 281 food cards.
January 9
SHELTON - The Mitchell Dairy Company of Bridgeport has offered the City skim milk for 1 cent per quart, to be delivered in 40 quart cans.
January 10
ANSONIA - Ansonia Mutual Aid employed 128 men a total of 2,147 hours the past week, and paid them $804.
DERBY - A Shelton man steals a Packard at gunpoint from a New Haven garage, and speeds off. He wrecks the car near Otter Rock on River Road, in the early morning hours, and injures himself. He tries to get a get a ride from a passing motorist. The motorist refuses, and instead drives to the police station. Derby police respond to the scene, arrest him, and turn him over to New Haven Police.
DERBY & SHELTON - A Special Meeting of the Board of Trade is held at Hotel Clark regarding the sudden closing of International Silver Company, Factory B, on Bridge Street in Shelton. It is feared that the unemployment situation in the two cities is so acute many will soon lose their homes in the two cities. Many civic, church, industrial, and banking leaders attend the meeting. There are many protests, and a petition is signed asking the International Silver Company (which is headquartered in Meriden) to reconsider the closing by taking into account the "great suffering" it will cause in Derby and Shelton.
OXFORD - A prevalence of mumps in town is blamed on parents who send children to school when other members of their family are infected.
SHELTON - Bruce N. Griffing, of 231 Coram Avenue, dies at Griffin Hospital. He was president of Griffin Button Company and Griffin Hospital is named after his brother. He is buried at Riverside Cemetery. Read his obituary here.
January 11
DERBY - The Derby Relief Fund will appropriate $200 a week for "work relief" (workfare), as well as a flat $500 for clothing for city's poor. The Committee hears an appeal that 500 pairs of shoes are urgently needed immediately. The Osborndale Farm is providing the District Nurses Association 40-80 quarts of free skim milk per day.
January 12
ANSONIA - A general meeting of Valley Jewish residents is held at B'Nai Jacob synagogue on Factory Street, to establish a Jewish Community Center at that location. Over 100 enroll.
DERBY - The Derby Relief Committee hands out a record 668 articles of clothing at its Elizabeth Street quarters today.
DERBY - The First Congregational Church holds their 257th Annual Meeting.
Saturday, January 14
ANSONIA - Filling in of a portion of the Ansonia Canal will start in February. The City will have to find other outlets for its surface water that flows into that section during rainstorms.
DERBY - A 3 car garage is destroyed by fire on Academy Hill, along with 2 cars inside and a third parked alongside.
SHELTON - The Plastico Company, which recently moved here from New Haven only to be burned out of the Huntington Piano Company building and have all of its machinery destroyed two weeks ago, has taken over the former Harris, Seybold and Potter Factory on Canal Street near Center Street.
January 16
DERBY - The Derby Relief Fund begins its winter season today, the workfare program employing 12 at the sandbank at the Durrschmidt property on Housatonic Avenue. They will work today and tomorrow, then another 12 men will take over for another 2 days.
January 17
ANSONIA - Ansonia Mutual Aid employed 109 men in the past week, and paid them $725.22.
ANSONIA - The Rotary and Lions clubs will start a collection of used clothing to be distributed to the needy by the Salvation Army.
January 18
DERBY & SHELTON - The Derby-Shelton YMCA announces unemployed men may use its rooms in the daytime in its Derby headquarters.
SEYMOUR - Local electrician Frank J. Hummel will receive a Purple Heart for his World War I service.
January 19
ANSONIA - A 3-day Cooperative Sale involving 44 Ansonia businesses opens.
DERBY - 2,000 people are now receiving some form of relief. 400 heads of families have applied for workfare. 150 are destitute of any income. The weekly income of the others ranges from $0.44 to $25.
DERBY - The library and recreation hall on the 4th floor of the Derby Gas & Electric building on Elizabeth Street is badly damaged in a $4,000 fire.
Friday, January 20
ANSONIA - Over 600 usable garments are collected in the Salvation Army clothing drive.
DERBY - Over 1,000 articles of clothing are given out to 93 families by the Derby Relief Fund, setting another agency record.
DERBY - The small bronze plaque placed a year ago on a descendant of the Charter Oak Tree, planted on Derby Green has been missing for a week. It was donated by the Derby-Shelton Rotary, and they are upset.
SHELTON - The Aldermanic Relief Fund has spent its entire $50,000 for workfare relief for fixing and improving local roads.
January 21
SHELTON - A 68 year old Cornell Street woman, an Irish immigrant, is found dead in her home of accidental gas poisoning.
January 22
SEYMOUR - Curtis Saulsbury, famed African-American tenor, makes his fourth appearance at a packed Seymour Methodist Church.
SEYMOUR - The fence at Trinity Cemetery is badly damaged by a car, which leaves the scene.
January 24
ANSONIA - Ansonia Mutual Aid employed 102 men on 6 projects and paid them $690.09 in the past week.
SHELTON - Frederick S. Sanford, 72, dies at his 17 Perry Avenue home. He conducted the Sanford Drug Store since 1882 near old covered bridge, and moved it to the corner of Howe Avenue and Bridge Street in 1892. His son will continue the business.
January 25
ANSONIA - Mayor Hart makes an appeal for clothing for the Salvation Army clothing drive. Also, another boxcar load of 2,400 bags of flour is on its way for distribution.
OXFORD - "The quietness of the town during the day is somewhat disturbed since Contractor D. Arrizoni of Middletown and his employees have started the construction of the new $187,000 federal aid road through Oxford".
SEYMOUR - The Seymour 1932 Grand List is $8,865,319. This is about $195,000 less than 1931.
January 26
ANSONIA - The Ansonia Grand List is $23,704,622, down $631,806 from 1931. The list includes 2431 houses, 1395 garages, barns, 2870 lots, 439 business blocks & buildings, 60 shop builders, 2516 cars, 28 horses, and 138 cattle.
ANSONIA - Ansonia Mutual Aid has been named in a $2,000 lawsuit for a young boy allegedly burned by hot water from machinery at the sewer trench job on Colony Street.
SHELTON - The Derby Gas & Electric Company Relief Fund will supply milk to Lafayette School, thus allowing the funds parents already raised for that purpose to be applied to other needs, such as health and eyeglasses.
Friday, January 27
ANSONIA - The L.M. Weidenfeld ladies' silk sportswear factory will locate on the 2nd floor of the Comen block at 360 Main Street, and will employ about 100.
DERBY - The 11th Annual Meeting of Housatonic Council is held at the Second Congregational Church. In the past year membership increased 21.5% despite a budget cut of 36%. The Council had 18 troops, and 2 packs on January 1, 1932. This had fallen to 14 troops by May 1932. However, there are now 20 troops, 2 packs, and 1 Sea Scout ship.
SHELTON - The International Silver Company, Factory B, on Bridge Street closes for the last time, laying off all its workers.
January 28
ANSONIA - Lady MacDonald lodge No. 23, Daughters of Scotia, holds 25th anniversary celebration at the Masonic Temple. 250 members and guests attend.
ANSONIA - A State Police officer pulls over a car over on North Main Street containing 5 gallons of moonshine in cans, and arrest the driver. The officer then goes to where he observed the car leave on North Main, finds 443 more cans of moonshine, and arrests another.
SHELTON - The late Bruce Griffing's will is probated. It includes a Trust Fund for children's programs in Derby and Shelton. The will also calls for the building of a community building for Shelton.
SHELTON - A committee from the Derby-Shelton Board of Trade meets with the International Silver Company president in Meriden. The President says the Bridge Street facility operated at a loss for many years. The plant is ideal for manufacturing small, special articles, and the company will hold onto it for the time being in the hope that demand returns.
January 30
ANSONIA - The State Police pulls over a car and arrests 3 for transporting liquor. Later they and the Ansonia police raid the driver's High Street home, where they find more alcohol.
DERBY - Derby City Officials and employees are signing over 10% of their salaries to contribute to the expenses of running the city.
DERBY - The Derby Relief Fund has given out a total of 3,566 articles of clothing to 156 families last week.
January 31
The General Committee of rehabilitation of Ansonia, Derby, and Shelton industries has to date received $59,844.50 in pledges
ANSONIA - Ansonia Mutual Aid paid $730.82 to 122 men who worked 1826.5 hours on 6 projects last week. The projects are grading Francis Street and Hodge Avenue installing sewers on Colony Street and at Fountain Hose Co. No. 1, installing a retaining wall on Tremont Street wall, and widening Prospect Street.
ANSONIA - The Wiedenfield Dress Company opens up at the Comen Building on 360 Main Street with 35 hands. 200 more apply - a total of 100 female hands is expected to be hired. The firm has 15 similar shops in New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.
DERBY - A fire at the Acme Department Store at 181 Main Street burns for an hour, destroys $5-6,000 in stock, and causes $2,000 in damage to the building.
DERBY - A rumor spreads through Derby that Police Chief Thomas Van Etten had died suddenly. The Chief assures those who call the rumor is not true.
OXFORD - The Town's Grand List is $1,640,531. This includes 428 houses, 135 barns or garages, 719 building lots, 18 business and commercial buildings, 173 horses, 1284 cattle, and 414 automobiles.
February
Wednesday, February 1, 1933
DERBY - The Police Department suggests discontinuing its teletype service to save money. The machine costs $900 a year, and is shared equally with Ansonia and Shelton.
SHELTON - The Board of Education offers to contribute 10% of its teachers' salaries to help the City during the Great Depression.
February 2
DERBY - The Derby Relief Fund may have to lay off the 50 men it employs next week because there is no work for them to do.
Friday, February 3
ANSONIA - The Police Commissioners and Mayor Hart are investigating disappearance of 25 gallons of recently seized alcohol from police station. The investigation is getting nowhere, beyond convincing them that there is a "liar in the ranks".
DERBY - The City is looking into changing its fiscal year to July 1 through June 30.
DERBY - Second Ward Alderman James Ralph resigns during a stormy Board of Aldermen meeting, when he was unable to get passed 2 motions to reduce compensation to the street commissioner and his staff.
SHELTON - The City's 1932 Grand List is $12,434,161. The list is down $372,017 from last year. The biggest drop is in automobiles, the 1931 list had 3,20, whereas the latest only shows 1,745. Other statistics include: Houses 1703; Barns & garages 1111; Lots 2935; Business buildings 118; 104 mills; 173 horses; 1012 cattle.
February 4
DERBY - A 5 ton coal truck crashes into a house on New Haven Avenue.
OXFORD - People are upset in Oxford over the loss of fine old oak, maple, and elm trees to make way for the new state road (Route 67).
February 5
SHELTON - A 12 year old Golec Avenue boy is injured when his sled collides with a car on Division Avenue.
February 6
DERBY - The Automobile Dealers' Association has its annual meeting at the Hotel Clark, where they decide for the first time in years not to hold the organization's annual automobile show at the Ansonia Armory.
February 7
ANSONIA - Mutual Aid of Ansonia paid 102 men a total of $640.10 this week.
SHELTON - School teachers will be asked to sign over 18% of their salaries to help the city pay its bills.
February 8
ANSONIA - Hundreds attend the opening of a "Prosperity Sale" at the Boston Store. The sale's main aim is a quick turnover of merchandise, to provide work for the manufacturers. Many bargains can be found.
SEYMOUR - The Beecher mill, which is on Beecher Street one of the town's oldest landmarks, has been torn down. It was originally used to manufacture augurs and bits by Frank H. Beecher. The mill was later purchased by the James Swan Company, but has been idle for years. The lumber being sold locally, where it is turning up in many new sheds and other outbuildings.
February 9
ANSONIA - The Purple Heart Association hands out its first chapter outside of the Valley. Chapter 2 will be in Los Angeles, CA. Other charters are pending.
DERBY - The Derby Relief Fund no longer has any work to do, so its workers are idle.
SHELTON - The Charities Commissioner is "swamped" by requests for used clothing, particularly men's trousers and bathrobes, and puts out an appeal for used garments.
Friday, February 10
ANSONIA, DERBY, & SHELTON - The annual District Nurse's Association meeting is held at Derby Public Library. The Association made 583 social service visits. The acute service breakdown was: Ansonia 873, Derby 686, Shelton 435. Also, a total of 231 people made 453 visits to the 36 dental clinics staged in the 3 cities.
February 11
The heaviest snowstorm of the year thus far leaves 7 to 8" of snow.
ANSONIA - The Home Trust Company, is ready to turn the Pine Manual Training School over to the city of Ansonia, in accordance with the wishes of its benefactor, Gen. Charles Pine.
ANSONIA - Over 6,000 attend Vocational Exposition at the Ansonia Armory, hosted by the Housatonic Council. Over 450 Boy Scouts participate.
DERBY - Miss Adelia Stewart Shelton dies at the Greystone mansion, the same home she was born in (where today's Irving School is). The last surviving child of Edward N. Shelton, she started the first playground in Derby, and was a published poet. She was credited with writing the annual letter from Santa Claus which delighted the girls of the St. James Sewing School, where she was active for decades.
DERBY - A car containing 3 Derby girls and a New Haven man skids across Derby Avenue, over the trolley tracks and an embankment, and into the Naugatuck River. Stephen O'Shaughnessey witnesses the accident. He alerts the firemen at nearby Paugassett Hook & Ladder Co. No. 4, the police, and another man, who work as a team to rescue the driver and passengers. All are saved, though they nearly drowned.
February 12
The temperatures fall to 8 below zero this evening.
ANSONIA - A 2-alarm, $10,000 fire at the Glazer building at 240 Main Street, and burns part of the roof off the Walsh building south of it. The closed Ansonia Grille, a law office, barber shop, apartment, and shoe repair store are wrecked. Vonetes' Palace of sweets has water damage.
February 13
ANSONIA - The Board of Aldermen accept the Pine Manual Training School on behalf of the City. They also approve a river wall project for no more than $4,000.
SHELTON - A controversy begins when a Coram Avenue man insults the Street Commissioner at the Aldermanic Relief Headquarters on Howe Avenue. The Commissioner reportedly slapped the man in the face. Both post conflicting stories in the days ahead as to exactly what happened.
SHELTON - A double-ripper sled crashes into a parked truck owned by Beard Construction Company on Wooster Street, injuring 2.
SHELTON - A Walnut Avenue home destroyed after water from a well supplying the Echo Hose pumper gave out. Neighbors manage to save most of the furniture before the fire department arrives.
February 14
ANSONIA - The State General Assembly passes a bill allowing the City to issue $300,000 in relief bonds.
ANSONIA - Ansonia Mutual Aid employed 92 men a total of 1670.5 hours on 4 projects, and paid them $644.29 this week.
February 15
OXFORD - Construction of the new highway is shut down for 2 weeks due to weather.
February 16
ANSONIA - The Vonetes Brothers is repairing the roof of the Walsh building.
DERBY - A rash of thefts, including a complaint from Stratford High School that lockers were broken into during an away basketball game, leads to 20 Derby High School boys disciplined.
DERBY - The Derby Relief Fund will try out a plan of letting men work for shoes. Geared for men in bad, but not desperate circumstances, they will be paid one shoe a day for themselves or their families.
Saturday, February 18
ANSONIA - Ansonia Mutual Aid has completed work on the stone retaining wall on the southern side of Tremont Street. Work now shifted to the storm water sewer between First Street and State Street.
SEYMOUR & OXFORD - The Citizen's Engine Co. No. 2 will likely stop responding to Oxford. Calls there becoming more frequent, and the firemen are not feeling very much appreciated. In years past donations would come from Oxford, but none have come in lately. Also, not long ago a fire broke out in Seymour while the Citizens were tied up in Oxford, resulting in a fireman being injured. The fire company also occasionally responds to Beacon Falls, Woodbridge, and Bethany.
February 20
DERBY - The Housatonic Boy Scout Council opens its campaign for funds to meet its 1933 operating expenses.
February 21
ANSONIA - Ansonia Mutual Aid employed 38 men in the past week and paid them $308.09.
DERBY - Miss Adelia Shelton's will is probated. It includes a $500 trust fund to purchase books for Derby Public Library, adds $1000 to the memorial fund of her father, the late Edward N. Shelton at St. James Episcopal Church. She also left $300 to Long Hill Cemetery in Shelton, where her family is buried. The Greystone mansion is left to 3 nieces.
February 22
OXFORD - Many want the town to organize its own fire department.
February 23
DERBY - Former Bridgeport mayor Fred Atwater dies at Bridgeport Hospital. He was born in Derby on December 28, 1870, and his family moved to Bridgeport when he was 8.
Friday, February 24
DERBY - Frank Vaccaro, former Derby blasting contractor, writes that he got a job with MGM in Hollywood, and just completed his first movie, "Hell Below", and is starting another called "Tugboat". Note: the second film was probably "Tugboat Annie". Since Vaccaro is not mentioned as a cast member or major crew member of both pictures, it is possible he was either an extra or a minor crew member.
DERBY - A new Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (A&P) Grocery Store opens in the former Purdy Drug Company store, in the Hotel Clark at 30 Elizabeth Street.
February 25
ANSONIA - Vontes Brothers Palace of Sweets reopens for first time since the February 12 fire next door forced it to close. Business is very busy.
February 28
ANSONIA - Ansonia Mutual Aid employed 83 men on 6 different projects and paid them $533.06 in the past week.
DERBY - Both houses of the Connecticut General Assembly approve allowing Derby to issue $100,000 in bonds in anticipation of future tax income.
Thursday, March 1, 1933
ANSONIA - Miss Annie E. Larkin, principal of the Elm Street School, dies at her home on 441 Main Street. She had been the school's principal for 35 years, and would have celebrated her 50th anniversary of teaching in the school system this June. When she was hired in 1883, Ansonia still a part of Derby, and for a short time she taught at the old Academy Hill School in Derby.
DERBY - A Derby Relief Fund meeting reveals the average unemployed family in Derby is earning $2.62 per member per month. Those on the charity list are earning $5.93 per month.
March
Friday, March 2, 1933
SHELTON - The 200 year old George Shelton homestead on Nells Rock Road burns to the ground after the fire department sucks the nearest well dry. The house was in Shelton family for over 100 years, and was sold to the Potiotente family in 1924. This is the second house destroyed by fire in 2 weeks, and the fourth to be destroyed for lack of water in the past few months.
March 3
ANSONIA - 15 Ansonia Mutual Aid men begin work constructing a new river wall along the Naugatuck between the Maple Street and Bridge Streets bridges, behind Broad Street. Fifty more men will start Monday.
ANSONIA - Connecticut National Guard, Co. I, based at the Ansonia Armory, will sponsor a Sea Scout Ship called "Ansonia".
March 4
All Valley banks remain open, despite the fact that a nationwide bank panic causes many others to close nationwide.
ANSONIA - The Second Annual Home Progress Exposition closes at Ansonia Armory. A total of 13,373 visited the five days it was open.
ANSONIA - Special services at the Congregation of the Sons of Jacob, on Factory Street, asking God's blessing for Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was inaugurated as President today.
DERBY & SHELTON - Trolley car service between East Derby and south Shelton is scheduled to be discontinued today, replaced by busses on the same schedule.
SHELTON - A large amount of pork is distributed by Shelton Social Services, after a dog kills a boar in the Isinglass District in Huntington. A neighbor shot the dog, and the boar's owner donated the meat to the needy.
March 6
Every bank in the United States was ordered closed by President Roosevelt yesterday, in order to stem the nationwide bank panic which led to massive withdrawals. All Valley banks comply, though there was no panic here. Later, Roosevelt says that banks can open if needed to meet payrolls and other vital services, which is a relief to the industrial Valley. This would become known as the Emergency Banking Act.
March 7
Many local people support President Roosevelt's drastic moves to stop the bank panic.
ANSONIA - Ansonia Mutual aid employed a total of 134 men on 7 projects and paid them $790.30 in the past week.
DERBY - A warrant is issued for the arrest of the secretary of the Regionale Marchigiana Club on Hawthorne Avenue. He has disappeared, and is said to have embezzled $1,746.26 from the club. His wife is afraid he may have been the victim of foul play.
DERBY - The Derby Elks hold their 1,000th regular meeting.
March 8
Despite all banks ordered closed, most local employees are still getting their paychecks.
Thursday, March 9
DERBY - The Derby Relief Fund has given out 7,455 quarts of milk since December of last year. In that time, the unemployed have participated in workfare programs for a total of 4,353 hours. The Fund has also mended 225 pairs of shoes, and distributed 184 shoe repair slips.
SEYMOUR - Because of a nationwide shortage of cash due to the Emergency Banking Act, local merchants have begun issuing scrip, in 10, 25, and 50 cent notes.
SHELTON - Probate Judge Thomas Ward, of 571 Howe Avenue, dies. Born in Shelton on January 7, 1882. he was the last Warden (chief elected official) of the Borough of Shelton. He served as a Probate Judge from 1927 until he was voted out of office in 1931, but he was reelected to the position last year. He also served as Shelton's Fire Chief from 1909 until his death.
March 10
DERBY - The Derby Gas & Electric Company installs an experimental light on the south side of the Derby-Shelton bridge. It is a 150 watt, cone shaped globe suspended from an arm over the center of bridge. This is different from the usual 4-globe inverted lamps, which have 75 watt lights.
DERBY - Mrs. Francis Kellogg is elected president of the Connecticut Holstein-Fresian association in Hartford.
March 11
SEYMOUR - The State Police raid the Germania House on Second Street, and arrests 1 for keeping moonshine.
March 13
ANSONIA - Mayor Hart reads the first mayor's quarterly message to the Board of Aldermen in a number of years. It once was a city tradition.
ANSONIA - Miss Annie Hine, an Ansonia public school teacher for 50 years, dies at her home on 34 Winter Street. Born in Oxford, she moved to Ansonia as a young girl. She retired in 1927 from the Fourth Street School.
ANSONIA - Thomas Wentworth dies at the age of 75, at his home on 142 Tremont Street. He was a local grocer for 36 years, who retired several months before his death.
ANSONIA - Ansonia Savings Bank is given permission to reopen in accordance with the Emergency Banking Act.
March 14
ANSONIA - Ansonia Mutual Aid employed 141 men on the Naugatuck River Wall project in past week. In all, Mutual Aid employed 253 men, and paid them $1,124.31 for working on 7 projects in the City.
March 15
Valley banks are finally given Federal permission to reopen, in accordance with the Emergency Banking Act. This includes Ansonia National Bank, Birmingham National Bank, Derby Savings Bank, Home Trust Company, Seymour Trust Company, and the Shelton Trust Company. Much gold is being turned in for cash, in accordance with the Federal Act, $34,000 was turned into Ansonia National Bank alone. There is also a $25 withdrawal limit at the Savings Banks right now, unless the customer can prove a hardship. All banks have long lines, and many make a record number of transactions today. Business is also brisk in the Valley downtowns, as people finally have cash again.
ANSONIA - Federal agents go to the police station, and ask for an officer to accompany them to 41 Bridge Street for a liquor raid. The agents were about to batter down the Canal Street entrance, when the city police officer suggests they go to the front entrance on Bridge Street. There, they find a notice of attachment placed by the sheriff. The establishment had been closed for 3 weeks.
SEYMOUR - The Town's merchants announce that the scrip program will be discontinued due to the reopening of local banks.
Thursday, March 16
Today is payday for many of the mills, and the rush continues at Ansonia National Bank, Birmingham National Bank, Seymour Trust Company, and other fiscal institutions in the wake of the Valley banks reopened under the Emergency Banking Act. P5 Seymour Trust Company very busy. Scrip being returned, some kept as souveniers.
DERBY - The Board of Apportionment votes to spend $50 to help defray the expenses of bringing a German field gun to the American Legion grounds. Derby is presently one of only two cities in Connecticut without a World War I trophy, and the Army is running out of captured war prizes.
SEYMOUR - The scrip handed out by Seymour merchants is being returned now that the Seymour Trust Company has reopened, though some are keeping a few notes a souvenirs.
SHELTON - The City's first Cub Scout Pack, the third in the Housatonic Council, registers. Pack 1 is sponsored by the Shelton Methodist Episcopal Church.
March 18
ANSONIA - The Ansonia National has so far received $99,545 in gold and gold certificates in the past week. The gold is being returned as part of the Emergency Banking Act.
DERBY - Senate Bill 538, introduced by Sen. Henry Bradley Jr. of East Derby, has passed the Committee on Education of the State General Assembly. The bill calls for state and local history to be taught in public schools.
SHELTON - Laurel Heights Hospital is now the second largest tuberculosis sanatorium in Connecticut, with a capacity of 350 patients.
March 19
DERBY - City police officer Stephen Degnan dies at his Caroline Street home after a long illness at age 53. He became a supernumery in 1914, and joined the regular force in 1916. He was shot while searching for chicken thieves at Osbornedale Farm on June 25, 1921, though recovered and returned to duty.
March 20
ANSONIA - The Ansonia Property Owners Protective League votes to incorporate.
DERBY - A new electrically refrigerated drinking fountain is being installed at City Hall, replacing the old spring water cooler. The new fountain will save the city money on paper cups.
DERBY - The Griffin Hospital Aid Society sponsors 3 successful amateur one-act plays at Sterling Opera House.
March 21
ANSONIA - Torrential rain falls, raising fears that preliminary digging done by Ansonia Mutual Aid for the river wall project would be ruined. Although the Naugatuck River did rise, the work was not ruined.
ANSONIA - Ansonia Mutual Aid employed 188 men, and paid them $990.04 in wages on 6 projects last week.
SEYMOUR - At a tumultuous special town meeting, a 23 mill tax rate voted down after a big debate over who would serve as the meeting's moderator. A group of taxpayers then tries to say that the October 24, 1932 meeting that fixed the city's budget was held illegally, and with the exception of the item which called for fixing Hoadley's footbridge, the entire budget should be thrown out. After some debate, this motion is later withdrawn.
March 22
ANSONIA - On this first clear day of spring work resumes on the Ansonia river wall project, though the north end of it is still impeded by high water which completely surrounds a derrick.
ANSONIA & DERBY - Ansonia and Derby Fraternal Order of Eagles welcome Grand President Henry J. Berrodin of Akron, OH. The Eagles paraded through Derby and Ansonia, then held a meeting at the Ansonia lodge. After the lodge meeting was concluded, an open meeting was held at the Ansonia Opera House, attended by 700 people.
DERBY - Southern New England Telephone Company workers remove the teletype machine from the Derby Police Station, which served Derby, Ansonia, and Shelton. Derby and Shelton could no longer afford their share of the yearly rental, and Ansonia could not afford it alone. This was the first police teletype machine in the State.
DERBY - The Purple Heart Association members approve the charter of the organization's third chapter, Alexander Hamilton Chapter No. 3 in the Bronx, New York City.
SHELTON - Miss Helen Upton has opened a drawing school at her Ripton Road home in Huntington.
Thursday, March 23
ANSONIA - Sen. David Goldstein of Bridgeport, President Pro Tem of State Senate, addresses 300 people at the Jewish Community Center on Factory Street. There he calls Adolph Hitler (who has just been granted dictatorial powers in Germany) "the worst demagogue and clown in the history of Germany, a man unfit to be a street cleaner much less a dictator". He also predicts his political life "will not long endure", and says he is not afraid of a similar dictator in the United States.
DERBY - The Board of Education votes to discontinue school buses in Derby Neck as a economy move starting April 1.
DERBY - The Derby Relief Fund has thus far repaired over 375 shoes, and given out 319 shoe repair slips. 443 have registered for the workfare programs. 100 quarts of milk are handed out daily, 9835 to date. Mrs. Frances Kellogg of Osborndale has contributed much of the milk. Soup is given out twice weekly - 402 quarts in all. 2271 articles of clothing have been given to 389 families.
March 24
ANSONIA - A new factory making women's and children's washable dresses opens on third floor of the Tremont Theater Building on Main Street. The factory boasts 120 machines. 150 experienced local garment workers have been or will be hired.
ANSONIA - A new store opens in the Ansonia Opera House block at 102 Main Street. Herman Schwartz will sell. automobile accessories, and radio and electrical supplies.
ANSONIA - Roller skates are popular with children, prompting police chief John Mahoney to warn children to keep off the streets on their way to school. There have been a number of close calls recently.
March 25
DERBY - Derby voters approve a $50,000 bond for public improvements to relieve unemployment by a vote of 493-207. The turnout was light.
March 26
Heavy snow falls yesterday and today, but it melts quickly when it hits the ground. Had the snow not melted, it would have accumulated to 8".
DERBY - A small one story house on 121 Park Avenue is gutted by fire.
March 27
ANSONIA - Over 500 Jews from Ansonia, Derby, Shelton, and Seymour gather at the Sons of Jacob synagogue on Factory Street to protest the "atrocious excesses" of Adolph Hitler and his persecution of the Jews in Germany. There are also calls for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. The group agrees to draw resolutions to send to Connecticut Senators and Congressman.
ANSONIA - Tenants of 2 buildings had to resort to hauling buckets of polluted water from the Naugatuck River, after the water to their buildings was turned off. The landlords say the tenants were not paying their rent, and without it they couldn't pay the water bills. The health officer intervenes, and gets the tenants to pay enough rent to get the water turned back on.
ANSONIA - The stonework of the river wall project has begun today.
DERBY - Derby Neck residents are up in arms over the discontinuance of school busing in their district, and are starting a petition. Some children must now walk 3.5 miles.
March 28
ANSONIA - Ansonia Mutual Aid employed 135 men and paid them about $700 in past week. 59 worked on the river wall job.
DERBY - The New England Brewing Company has been organized, and will operate in the former brewery on Derby Avenue. Prohibition will end, and 3.2% beer will be legal on April 7.
Thursday, March 30
ANSONIA - The first in a series of roundtable discussions is held at Jewish Community Center on Factory Street. The topic is Germany and "Hitlerism". Some recommend that the solution to Jewish persecution in Germany is to resettle in Palestine.
DERBY - Once again, the Derby Relief Fund is facing a shortage of work for its workfare programs.
DERBY - Stephen O'Shaughnessy, of Hawthorne Avenue, thenational vice president of the Purple Heart Association, is awarded the new Silver Star medal from the War Department for attacking a German 77mm gun with only a 37mm gun while experiencing heavy artillery fire. His attack was successful, though it left him wounded, occurring on October 8, 1918, in the Argonne Forest of France.
SHELTON - The State General Assembly authorizes the City to issue bonds up to $75,000, for direct relief both in 1933 and 1934.
March 31
DERBY - The City will soon have a German field gun, which was captured during World War I. It will be placed at Seymour Avenue and Atwater Avenue at the Veteran's Memorial Home. There are only two captured 155mm German howitzers in acceptable condition left in the US Army inventory, and it will be brought here thanks to the efforts of the John H. Collins Post American Legion.
DERBY - A fire practically destroys a 2 story house on Hawthorne Avenue in Derby Neck, owned by Mrs. Francis Kellogg. The home was the former Murphy residence just above Cedric Avenue, adjoining the property of the late Sidney Hart.
SEYMOUR - Despite the end of Prohibition next month, Federal Agents raid a South Main Street address near the Ansonia line. They arrest one man, and seize get 2 stills, along with 1000 gallons of mash and 38 gallons of finished alcohol. The entire operation was a well arranged illegal moonshine plant, with about $1,000 in equipment being used.
April
Saturday, April 1
ANSONIA - Ansonia Mutual Aid men worked all night last night, and probably will tonight too. They are constructing a manhole on the edge of the Ansonia Canal near the Farrel - Birmingham employment office. The manhole leads to a large pipe which will connect to the storm water sewer under North Main Street, which will carry water runoff after the nearby section of the canal is filled in. Farrel-Birmingham is building their own sewer, which will cross their property from the manhole to the river. The canal was drained yesterday for the construction project, and some blasting was needed.
ANSONIA - In other Ansonia Mutual Aid news, 70' river wall was completed by Ansonia Mutual Aid in 5 days.
DERBY - Six "youthful" bandits with sawed off shotguns and revolvers hold up the Charles Celone poolroom at 133 Main Street at midnight. A dozen men and 3 passerby who were unlucky enough to walk past the lookout on the sidewalk were lined against the wall, and a total of $250 in cash, along with watches, rings, etc stolen. The victims are locked in basement while they make their getaway. The car, which is later discovered to have been rented in New York City, ran out of gas in Lordship, Stratford, and the bandits flee.
April 3
ANSONIA- The City has now gone 4 years now without a diphtheria case.
OXFORD - The first "peepers" of the year are heard, a sign of spring.
April 4
DERBY - Dr. Lillian Gilbreth, director of the national Girl Scouts, is a guest of the Sarah Riggs Humphreys DAR at Derby Gas & Electric Company hall. This is the first meeting in the hall since the January 19 fire. Her speech focuses on the Girl Scouts of America.
DERBY - The investigation into the holdup at the Celone poolroom leads to New York, and that City's police department is now involved.
SEYMOUR - All but $23.10 of the $1500 in scrip issued while the Emergency Banking Act was in effect has been returned.
SEYMOUR - There are several scarlet fever cases in town.
April 5
DERBY - The Derby Relief Fund approves $1,000, or about 2,500 man hours, for work on local cemeteries. These include Mt. St. Peter's, Oak Cliff, Colonial, the Greek and Russian cemeteries, as well as Elm Street and St. Mary's in Ansonia, and the Jewish Cemetery in Orange.
Thursday, April 6
ANSONIA - Ansonia Mutual Aid has employed 180 men in the past week, 100 of whom were on river wall project. They were paid $1,145.
ANSONIA - The Ansonia Water Company is arranging for the unemployed to have use of free garden plots on their land. There will be 40 plots in all, measuring 100' x 50'.
ANSONIA - Purple Heart Association national president Frank Cushner gets a letter from the Los Angeles Chapter No. 2 of Purple Heart. Their members worked 3 days and nights on relief work after the Long Beach Earthquake. They now want to form an auxiliary.
April 7
DERBY - The Board of Aldermen votes to turn off the streetlights on the "white way" on Main Street and Elizabeth Street every night except Saturdays, to save up to $700 per year.
April 9
DERBY -The treasurer of the Adriatico Marchiangiano Club on Hawthorne Avenue, who has been missing since he was accused of embezzling $1,700 on March 1, surrenders to the Derby Police.
April 10
ANSONIA - The Woman's Christian Temperance Union drinking fountain is removed from the front of Ansonia City Hall. The fountain was set up in 1918, but has not been used in recent years. It will be moved to Athletic Field, where it will be hooked up and used by thirsty athletes and fans there. While this may not sound like a big deal, newspapers across the country picked up on the story due to its symbolic value. The drinking fountain was installed by a Prohibition group near the dawn of National Prohibition, and now is being moved just as beer is becoming legal again. One minor detail - while beer is legal in some states, the Connecticut General Assembly still has not come up with guidelines for distribution of 3.2% beer, so for now, beer is still illegal in this state.
April 11
ANSONIA - Ansonia Mutual Aid employed 124 men a total of 2,066 hours on 5 projects this week. 78 worked on the river wall.
DERBY - The charges against the former treasurer of the Adriatico Marchiangiano Club on Hawthorne Avenue are dropped, as he and the club have agreed to a restitution plan.
DERBY - The Ousatonic Water Company has proposed that the City of Derby can save the $600 it pays for renting of Buddies' Field. The OWC is asking for $220 in annual tax abatements, as well as the acceptance and maintenance of 7 streets in the vicinity that the Water Company owns. In return, the OWC will furnish 100 yards of fill for the street maintenance, and material for a fence on E Street. The proposal receives a lukewarm response, though it is under consideration.
April 12
The summer cottages along the Housatonic River are being prepared for the summer season.
A storm which began yesterday continues all day today, turning to sleet and snow in evening, accumulating to 2" on the ground by evening.
Thursday, April 13
ANSONIA - The Elizabeth Clarke Hull DAR Chapter will soon mark the Native American settlement and burying ground off Deerfield Lane with stone markers. Previous wooden signs erected there have disappeared. The settlement is on Ansonia Water Company land.
ANSONIA - The Valley Market opens at the corner of Main Street and Bridge Street, selling groceries, fruits, vegetables, and flowers.
DERBY - With Prohibition expected to end in Connecticut at any time, the Southern New England Ice Company is leasing the former brewery on Derby Avenue to the Old England Brewing Company. They are building a new brick and frame building, 44'x75', on the grounds that will serve as a brew house and bottling plant. The work needs to be done by May 5, 2 daily shifts will work on the construction to meet the deadline. Ice making will also continue at the site, as this is still lucrative with so few people owing electric refrigerators.
April 14 - Good Friday
Over 5,000 hot cross buns are made in Derby bakeries. Opotzner's Bakery on Howe Avenue made 1,800.
ANSONIA - High water on the Naugatuck River halts the Ansonia Mutual Aid river wall job. 100' of wall is completed at this time.
OXFORD - Oxford will contract with Seymour's Citizens' Engine Co. No. 2 for fire protection. Citizens' will charge Oxford an initial $25 for each response into town and the first hour. Every hour after that will cost an additional $10. Oxford property owners will be assessed 50% of the bill.
SEYMOUR - Fire destroys a 2 story house near St. Augustine's cemetery, forcing a mother and children to flee. The only water water supply nearby was a stream, which was not enough to quench the flames.
SHELTON - The Aldermanic Relief Fund is taking care of 415 families weekly, in addition to the 215 families given aid by the Charties Department. Of the over 900 applications from people seeking assistance have been rejected.
April 15
DERBY - 20 Derby young men whose families are receiving public welfare will be candidates for the first training contingent of Connecticut's Civilian Conservation Corps.
April 16 - Easter Sunday
The holiday brings cloudy skies, with rain in the afternoon. The churches are filled.
DERBY - Methodists hold a sunrise service on McConney's hill
SEYMOUR -69 Methodists hold a sunrise service on Skokorat hill
SHELTON - Methodists hold a sunrise service at Highland Golf Club.
April 17
ANSONIA - The incessant croaking of frogs from Biddy Lamb and Hotchkiss ponds is driving nearby residents crazy. One resorts to attempting to quiet the the frogs by dynamiting Hotchkiss pond. The frogs are quiet for a minute, then start croaking louder than ever. The mayor and health officer have been called to the scene, and they are reportedly shocked at how loud the frogs are in the ponds. Both ponds had practically dried up, but with protracted rains this season have reformed.
April 18
ANSONIA - 36 Ansonia young men whose families are receiving public welfare will be candidates for the first training contingent of Connecticut's Civilian Conservation Corps.
ANSONIA - Ansonia's Health Officer appeals to the State regarding loud croaking of frogs at Biddy Lamb and Hotchkiss ponds. Draining the ponds is considered too expensive.
DERBY - Derby Relief Fund workers begin taking care of city cemeteries today. Among the first projects is the building jof a retaining wall at Oak Cliff Cemetery, which adjoins city property.
April 19
ANSONIA - The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station sends experts to Biddy Lamb and Hotchkiss ponds, and are shocked at what they hear. They have never heard croaking that loud, in all tones from bass to soprano. Their preliminary findings seem to indicate this may be a new species that can hibernate 10 years. Samples are taken to New Haven for further study.
SHELTON - Federal agents and State troopers raid a Waverly Road barn, and find a 1000 gallon still operating at full steam. A Bridgeport man arrested. This occurs as the State is preparing to make alcohol legal.
SHELTON - Otto Rapp, proprietor of Rapp's Restaurant on Howe Avenue, has leased Otter Rock Park on River Road, one mile below the Stevenson Dam, which he will turn into a beer garden called "Rapp's Old Heidelberg". He will serve dinners and cater parties and clambakes.
Thursday, April 20
ANSONIA - Bishop William Jacob Walls, of Chicago, speaks at the first day of the New England youth conference at AME Zion Church. In a stirring address, he says that the current Scottsboro Boys Trial is a trial of all African Americans.
ANSONIA - Howard Green dies at his home at 74 Elm Street. The 73 year old man came to Ansonia 48 years ago, and was the longtime secretary and treasurer of the Ansonia Flour and Grain Company. A community activist, he was the first to establish a summer playground in the City, behind Mead School which was then located on Factory Street. He was also involved with the Julia Day Nursery School, and served as Ansonia's Fire Chief, joining the Eagle Hose Hook & Ladder Co. No. 6 in 1886.
ANSONIA - The frogs which caused such a ruckus at Biddy Lamb and Hotchkiss ponds have been identified as Spadefoot Toads, Scaphiopus Holbrookii, which are extremely rare in Connecticut. It was believed in 1933 that they appeared once every 20 years, breed, then disappear. They were quiet last night. Renowned scientist Dr. Ball of the Peabody Museum spent much of the day researching the ponds. Also, the New York Times writes a scathing editorial defending the frogs and criticizing Ansonia for trying to eradicate them. More information from the Connecticut DEP website on this species can be found on the above link and here (press "cancel" when the print screen appears).
ANSONIA - The news of the moving of the WCTU fountain from in front of City Hall, and its timing with the end of National Prohibition, has made it as far as France and Romania. The Paris edition of the New York Herald-Tribune contained a poem that was written about the event by a Paris reader.
SEYMOUR - The town now has 200 new street signs, which were made and erected by Seymour Mutual Aid.
April 21
ANSONIA - The President of the Connecticut State Federation of Nature Study Clubs visits Biddy Lamb and Hotchkiss ponds. The frogs are now completely gone, though some dead ones remain. The President disagrees with Dr. Ball, and thinks the rare frogs will be back next year. Yale University wants to buy the ponds to study the toads' habits.
ANSONIA - A Shelton man falls asleep in back of a friend's car at the Charters Hose Co. No. 4 Ball at the Ansonia Armory. After the ball, the car is discovered missing. Both the owner and the Shelton man's wife are frantic, as the man cannot drive. The Shelton man later wakes up in Danbury, alone in the car, with no idea how he got there. "My husband is a sound sleeper", the wife says.
April 22
DERBY - The Yale rowing season begins. Kent School beats the Yale freshmen by a third of a length over a mile and 5/16th course.
April 23
DERBY - Local Italian clubs meet at Sons of Italy Hall on Olivia Street, to organize a Bocce league.
DERBY - Over 600 young people attend a Young People's Rally at the Derby Methodist Episcopal Church.
April 24
DERBY - In an effort to combat sweatshops that drive shirt prices down, the Unity Shirt Company of Seymour Avenue is 1 of 8 Connecticut shirt manufacturers that shuts down to force the prices up and drive the sweatshops out of business.
April 25
Today is the 9th Tuesday in a row where it has rained - a record for consecutive days of the week for those keeping track.
ANSONIA - Ansonia Mutual Aid employed 128 men on 6 projects in the past week, and paid them $697.74. 85 of them worked on the river wall project.
DERBY - James J. McGarry of 44 Chapel Street, (Burtville) Derby, is awarded a Purple Hart for being wounded in World War I.
April 26
SHELTON - The Boards of Aldermen, and Apportionment & Taxation vote unanimously to authorize the mayor to issue $75,000 in relief bonds.
Thursday, April 27
DERBY - A delegation from Derby Neck appears at a Board of Education meeting to ask for better school transportation. The school busses to the neighborhood were recently discontinued as an economy move.
DERBY - Lombardi Motor Cars on Minerva Street will now sell International Harvester trucks.
DERBY - Work begins on improving Academy Hill, using 18 unemployed men. This is the first expenditure involving the $50,000 relief bond issue.
April 28
ANSONIA - 45 employees of the Ideal Dress Company in the Tremont Theater Building go on strike for higher wages at 1 PM. They are ordered out of the building by the police. The strikers, who are all female, and mostly quite young, demonstrate loudly in front of the building, during which one of the two managers is arrested for hitting a female striker during a heated exchange. The strikers then parade up Main Street to City Hall and deluge the Chief of Police with complaints. They compare the Ideal Dress Company, which only opened recently, to a sweatshop, saying they are working 55 hours for only $3 a week. The Chief says he'll invite the State Labor Commissioner to Ansonia to investigate. The remaining manager says the reason the wages seem so low is because the jobs earn piece work, and because the factory is new most of the employees are inexperienced and therefore earning less at the present time.
April 29
ANSONIA - The City Courtroom is packed with strikers and their supporters for the trial of the manager accused of hitting a female striker during yesterday's walkout at the Ideal Dress Company. The trial is continued to Monday.
May
Monday, May 1
Temperatures climb to 75 degrees.
ANSONIA - The two managers of the Ideal Dress Company are arrested by the Ansonia Police Department for employing people under 16 years of age without permits from the State Board of Education. This followed an investigation by the State Department of Labor. Meanwhile, the case of the manager arrested for hitting a female striker is nollied.
ANSONIA & DERBY - Today is the 45th anniversary of the first electric street car running between Ansonia and Derby, the first use of an electric streetcar in New England.
SHELTON - The Boards of Aldermen, and Apportionment & Taxation have special meeting, where they ratify action of Mayor Daniel Shelton in selling $75,000 in relief bonds.
May 2
ANSONIA - All but 10 of the 45 strikers at Ideal Dress Company return to work. The management announces they'll now make a higher quality of dress, that will give the employees a chance to earn more through piece work. They admit they were previously making cheap dresses, so was not to waste more valuable material while their inexperienced workers learned how to do the job adequately.
ANSONIA - Ansonia Mutual Aid employed 161 men on 5 projects, and paid them $968.42. 106 of the men worked on the river wall project.
May 3
DERBY - Approximately 425 men have applied for work that the City is doing with the recently obtained $50,000 bond issue.
Thursday, May 4
DERBY - The Derby Relief Fund employed 82 people this week, a record, and paid them $550.40 Most of them are working on cemeteries and Academy Hill Road improvements.
May 5
ANSONIA - The 37th Annual Convention of the Connecticut Christian Endeavor Union opens in Ansonia, with the International President giving an address at Christ Church. The hotels are packed.
SHELTON - Shelton Mutual Aid has spent $1062.35 in the last 4 months on labor.
May 6
ANSONIA - The 37th Annual Convention of the Connecticut Christian Endeavor Union continues with a grand banquet at the Ansonia Armory.
ANSONIA - William P. Crawford, armorer at the Ansonia Armory, dies at Griffin Hospital in the early morning. He had been in charge of armory since it was built, and before that was the coachman for Charles Bliss. The Bliss house stood where the Armory would later be built, and Mr. Crawford simply switched his employers, remaining on the same spot. He lived in the armory, being tied to the neighborhood for 44 years.
DERBY & SHELTON - 40 state police, and the entire regular and supernumerary polices of both cities are on duty for the Yale Regatta. Yale varsity rowing crews win the Blackwell Cup in one of the closest races ever up to that time, beating Penn State by only 1/5th of a second. The Columbia rowing team was a distant third. Yale crews sweep all 4 races. Rain kept crowds small, and there were only 12 cars on the observation train which ran parallel to the race on the Shelton side, the smallest train ever. There wasn't even a grandstand at Riverview Park as had been on past "Derby Days". The Penn State shell capsized in 1 race, dumping 20 into the water. Yale and Columbia crews made sure the rowers made it to a raft before they continued the race. It is felt that the ongoing Great Depression may have lessened crowds.
May 7
ANSONIA - The 37th Annual Convention of the Connecticut Christian Endeavor Union closes at the Ansonia Congregational Church in Ansonia. The convention delegates adopt a resolution opposing the legalization of alcohol by federal and state governments.
DERBY - The Polish Falcons officially open their new clubhouse in the former Derby Savings Bank building at Main Street and Caroline Street. The all day program includes a parade from the clubhouse to St. Michael's Church for mass.
May 8
ANSONIA - The head of the Ideal Dress Company is fined $40 and costs for employing 4 minors without school certificates, and for doing it for more than 8 hours a day.
DERBY - Two men are arrested for cutting trees for firewood on Island Park.
SHELTON - The United Shirt and Blouse Company on 84 Center Street reopens with 125 employees and a 7.5% increase in wages. Employees are now unionized through the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. The firm had closed 2 weeks ago to protest low prices from competing sweatshops.
May 9
It is announced in today's paper 3.2% beer and wine will be legal in Connecticut tomorrow.
ANSONIA - 22 seek liquor permits in Ansonia, 14 for chain stores and rest to individuals.
ANSONIA - Ansonia Mutual Aid employed 168 men and paid them $1084.62 in past week. 83 were put to work on the river wall job.
DERBY - The Unity Shirt Company reopens on 300 Seymour Avenue with a 7.5% increase in wages. The firm employs 250 girls, and is now unionized through the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. The shirt factory has urged other textile manufacturers to unionize and fight sweatshops
May 10 - THE END OF PROHIBITION IN CONNECTICUT - 3.2% beer and wine is now legal in Connecticut, for the first tine since 1919. Despite this, alcohol is in short supply in the Valley. There are 133 alcohol selling permits pending at the Superior Court at New Haven pending, mostly for chain stores in area.
ANSONIA - The St. Sebastian Young Men's Club is organized by Italian youths of Ansonia.
DERBY - The City is as "dry as a bone", no one has permits to sell alcohol yet. Chain stores actually have beer in stock, but cannot sell it.
SEYMOUR - 15 have sought permits to sell alcohol.