New Canaan There & Then

There & Then: ‘Zion on Clapboard Hill’—The New Canaan Shakers, 1810-1812

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‘New Canaan There & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Bettina Hegel, Joanne Santulli, Dawn Sterner and Pam Stutz. Two-hundred-and-fifteen years ago, a pioneering Shaker community was erected on present-day Clapboard Hill. Two years later, it was gone. What happened? New Canaan was once home to the experimental Fairfield County colony of the communal-living, celibacy-practicing Shakers (United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing), whose namesake derives from their ecstatic forms of worship.

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New Canaan There & Then: The Poor House

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‘New Canaan There & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Bettina Hegel, Joanne Santulli, Dawn Sterner and Pam Stutz. The idea of a poor house preceded the establishment of the town of New Canaan in 1801. A Colonial Connecticut law mandated that “For the poor, it is ordered that they be relieved by the town where they live, every town providing for its own poor and so for important persons.” So when New Canaan was incorporated, it had to enter into agreements with Stamford and Norwalk to assume responsibility for two paupers from each who now lived within the newly-constituted town lines. In 1805, it built a house for Molly Hayes, a childless spinster, on what is now the corner of Locust and Summer Street. Her home had burned to the ground and she had no funds to replace it.

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New Canaan There & Then: Norman Dairy

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‘New Canaan There & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Bettina Hegel, Joanne Santulli, Dawn Sterner and Pam Stutz. Norman Dairy was the largest dairy business in New Canaan. 

In 1914, Meyer Norman, who was born in Vilno, Russia in 1854 and emigrated to Stamford in 1884, founded the business on Old Stamford Road (the site of the current Elise Nursery.) Although it did not have cows, it purchased rich, high-quality milk from farmers in New York, which it then sold to residents in New Canaan, Norwalk, Darien, Stamford, and Greenwich. The business evolved from a distribution network of horses and wagons, to a fleet of trucks delivering milk, cream, cottage cheese, and eggs. And each driver carried a rule book with 32 Rules and Regulations governing his conduct. 

It was also part of one of the biggest labor strikes in New Canaan history. Beginning in January 1946, both Norman Dairy and Miller Dairy (the two largest) were under pressure from Local 338 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, A.F.L., to unionize all workers and increase wages.

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Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Sponsor ‘New Canaan There & Then’ Local History Feature

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May 9, 2025—NewCanaanite.com today announced Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Joanne Santulli, Bettina Hegel, Dawn Sterner and Pam Stutz as sponsors of the local history feature “New Canaan There & Then,” written by the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society. Building and expanding on its predecessor feature called “Now & Then,” which focused on structures and properties around town, “New Canaan There & Then” will also touch on the people, organizations, events and businesses behind defining moments in New Canaan history. “As Realtors and longtime residents of New Canaan, we are so excited to sponsor this beloved and important record of our town’s rich history,” Santulli said. “In examining New Canaan’s past, ‘New Canaan There & Then’ brings our history to life in a way that is both educational and fascinating.”

The local history feature launches with its first installment headlining the Friday, May 16 newsletter. New Canaan Museum & Historical Society Executive Director Nancy Geary said, “I am very pleased that Joanne Santulli, Bettina Hegel, Dawn Sterner and Pam Stutz of Brown Harris Stevens have partnered with the New Canaanite to sponsor the ‘There & Then’ column.