There & Then

New Canaan Now & Then: Elm Street Between South and Main

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The New Canaan G. C. Murphy originally opened in 1924 in the Raymond Building on Main Street. Murphy’s was a national chain of five-and-dime stores that opened its first store in Pittsburgh in 1906.  In 1939, Murphy’s owners razed the building that was formerly occupied by Stevens Auto Cab and built the storefront which is now occupied by Ralph Lauren at 51 Elm. The new store, pictured here, opened on March 14, 1940 and remained in operation at this location until 1963. This photograph, taken sometime around 1947, is only one of four color photographs that the Museum has of downtown New Canaan from this era. The white building at the bottom right is Walter Stewart’s at its Main Street location, which is now the extension of the Chase Bank. Just to the left of Stewart’s is the corner of the Raymond Building with its original facade. Also notice that Elm Street was only partially one way at this point. It was only one way from Main Street to South Ave with the rest of the block being open to two way traffic as shown by the cars parked in the opposite direction in the lower right of the photo.

There & Then

New Canaan Now & Then: The ‘Perkins House’ at Park and Seminary Streets

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63 Park St. was built in 1836. It served initially as a boarding house for schoolteachers and shoe manufacturers in what was then a burgeoning shoe industry in New Canaan.  

For five years, it was the site of New Canaan Community School, which later became New Canaan Country School.  

And from 1924-1947, it was the home of Max Perkins, editor to F.Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, and many others.  Although Max moved out, the house stayed in his family until the1960s. The architect Richard Bergmann and his wife, Saundra, purchased it in 1973. They stayed for 45 years, living and working out of the Greek Revival building that is on the National Register of Historic Places.  

When they retired to Florida, the building was sold. It is now home to the Onera Foundation. “New Canaan Now & Then” is presented in partnership with the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society.

There & Then

New Canaan Now & Then: ‘Raymond Building’ on Main Street

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This week, we feature a photo of Country Trader, a toy store in downtown New Canaan from about 1955 to 1974. Launched by Richard Franco—brother of Aunt Lydia “Lee” Franco O’Neil and father of many Francos known to New Canaanites today (including Rick, Carl, Mike, Tom, Kelley and Katie), Country Trader started out a bit further south on Main Street, where Spiga restaurant currently is located, and then moved to the “Raymond Building” at 102 Main, according to Tom Franco. “Around 1960 he moved to Upper Elm where Consider the Cook is,” Tom Franco said. “He stayed at that location until maybe 1970 when he moved to the The Raymond building, where Greenwich Pharmacy was. He sold all the top toys, plastic models, bikes and was big on records. He always had the top 100 billboard 45s and albums.”

Tom Franco snapped the photo shown here while on leave from the U.S. Army around 1972.

Around Town

New Canaan Now & Then: ‘White Oak Shade District’ Antique

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Carey Weed, born in Stamford in 1782, settled on a farm in what was then called the White Oak Shade District.  

He was a soldier in the War of 1812. With his second wife, Hannah Reed, he had a son, Andrew J. Weed, who was born August 19, 1819.  

Like his father, Andrew was both a farmer and a shoemaker.  Andrew married Betsey Banks, from Easton, and they lived and ran his father’s farm on White Oak Shade.  Andrew and Betsey had five children – Clarissa, Mary, Henry, John, and Freddie, whom they raised in their house at #33 (listed today as #51). According to tax records, the four-bedroom house has been owned by just four families since the bicentennial of 1976, when it was sold for $137,000. The town in 2003 issued permits to demolish a garage and reassemble a barn on the 1.07-acre property. “New Canaan Now & Then” is presented in partnership with the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society.

Around Town

New Canaan Now & Then: Main Street, 1987

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Pictured here is Main Street from 1987. The Town Sign, which still hangs in front of Town Hall, is one of 18 forged by Clifton Meek at the Silvermine Forge in 1936. Rosen Bros. was a grocery store located at 80 Main Street that opened in 1930 and closed in 1986. The New Canaan Museum & Historical Society has a pair of art deco light fixtures that once hung in the market, each made from a single piece of glass, along with an early GE Mazda light bulb. These items are three of the thousands of objects and documents kept in the Museum’s climate controlled vault.

[Editor: This is the debut installment of “New Canaan Now & Then,” a new standing feature presented in partnership with the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society.]