Norwalk Connecticut is located on the Long Island Sound, between two major cities, Stamford and Bridgeport. It is about a one-hour distance from New York City so many people commute by rail into The Big City for work.
Norwalk Connecticut was my home twice in my growing-up years. I have very fond memories of it. It is a typical New England colonial town, complete with a town square, white-steepled churches, and the General Putnam Inn.
The first home that I remember in my life was on Ludlow Manor in the eastern part of Norwalk, Connecticut. It was a quiet street with a line of white Cape Cod houses, and a short distance to the beaches. I guess, I was about four years old when we moved there. I was three years old when the family first moved to a house in Rowayton, CT from Ohio, where I was born.
My brother was born shortly after we moved there (9-8-1939) and I remember that clearly. Then within a year’s time, we moved again to Meriden, CT. Meridian was more woodsy, at least the big old house we rented was surrounded by woods. It was a big house, and the thing I remember most about it was the huge grate furnace area on the floor in the living room. It also had snakes in the grass lawn and I managed to step on one barefoot one day. I still have an aversion to going barefoot in fairly deep grass.
Meridan, CT
I seem to have more memories of Meridan, not a lot, but not all good ones. The memories all seem dark. I don’t think we stayed there very long, but I did start school there. And I had my first ballet lessons there. I remember those pretty clearly as the instructor was a very stern older woman. She would try to bend me in directions my body didn’t want to go in. I also remember being stranded at school after a dance class. I rode the bus and one time there was no bus after dance class. We didn’t stay in Meridan long Maybe a year and then we returned to Norwalk.
Back to Norwalk Connecticut
This time we were on the opposite end of Norwalk Connecticut off East Avenue and beyond the village green. I began second grade. The school was a walking distance from our big white house, which had a huge back garden/play area. In this house, my life became bright and sunny again, although I think I had measles and mumps and who knows what else that year.
My Grandmother, my father’s mother, came to live with us that year. The house as I remember it had a strange upstairs. One side was a huge room that was my Grandmother’s. On the other side was my parents’ room and the “room” where my brother and I had our beds. In my memory, it doesn’t seem as much a “room” as an annex or alcove off my parents’ room.
We only stayed in that house for about a year also, but then my parents bought their first house. It was on Sherry Street just off East Avenue and close to the High School. I had to change schools again, but this time for the 3-7th grades.
The town of Norwalk is laid out in quadrants with the Norwalk River bisecting it. There were two main shopping areas called Norwalk and South Norwalk. Picture a square with a river running thru the middle. Many of the stores in the Norwalk shopping area were built OVER the river. Many years later in 1955, the river flooded and some of these buildings were lost.
Growing Up
There were four main quadrants. East Avenue and West Avenue on either side of the river. Going to South Norwalk required going across a draw bridge. The whole rectangle was not vast and in my youth, I walked from my home to each of the shopping areas. When I was in 6th grade, I even marched in the Memorial Day parade from the Railroad Station in South Norwalk down West Avenue to the Library in the Norwalk section. Through the Norwalk shopping area and up the hill to East Avenue and the Village Green. It was probably five miles.
The Library was always a favorite destination of mine and the soda fountain at the Rexall Drug store in the downtown area. While there were buses, I always walked everywhere. To Fitch School for five years. And on Sundays, I walked to the First Congregational Church on the Green to sing in the junior choir.
During the summers, we belonged to the Shore and Country Club. Our summer days were spent on the beach or playing tennis or shuffleboard there. There was also a lovely clubhouse with a great ballroom, live music, and dining room. Sunday night dinner at the club with my parents for the Tea Dance happened often. I learned to jitterbug with my Dad, but my brother always got the lobster.
Relocate to Ohio
This was my life until two months into my first year (7th grade) of Roger Ludlow Junior High School. I had a second brother that year (1947) and my father had a new job. We were moving back to Akron, Ohio. But the move gave me my first airline trip. A United DC-3 prop plane from NYC to Cleveland, Ohio. I will write about the next few years in Ohio on another page.