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New Canaan There & Then: George Washington, the First Purple Heart and the Sergeant from Town

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‘New Canaan There & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Bettina Hegel, Joanne Santulli and Dawn Sterner. 
It’s the oldest military decoration in American history. It was created and designed by none other than George Washington. One of the first three recipients of the honor was awarded it for gallantry exhibited in the battle that won the Revolutionary War for the nascent United States. And that honoree – who received it in person from General Washington – was from New Canaan. Does local history get any more noteworthy than that?

New Canaan There & Then

New Canaan There & Then: Philip Johnson and Country Living in New Canaan

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‘New Canaan There & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Bettina Hegel, Joanne Santulli and Dawn Sterner. 
Philip Cortelyou Johnson had a mischievous, even wicked sense of humor. He once referred to Frank Lloyd Wright, his sometimes friend and forever rival, as “the greatest architect of the 19th century.”

Ordinary civilians were also fair game for Johnson. On one memorable occasion he encountered a tour group visiting his Glass House (from “who-knows-where”), a member of which told Johnson she was impressed but in no uncertain terms “would she ever want to live there.” Johnson responded by saying, “Madam . . .

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New Canaan There & Then: ‘Live from New Canaan, It’s Paul Simon and Harry Connick Jr.!’

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‘New Canaan There & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Bettina Hegel, Joanne Santulli and Dawn Sterner. 
Let’s be honest. No one would ever mistake the New Canaan High School Auditorium for Carnegie Hall. Yet at 4 pm on Sunday, September 29th, 2013, the venue was transformed for one magical night when music legends Paul Simon and Harry Connick put on a concert, a concert that proved to be a major historic event even for a 282-year-old town. The idea for the performance came from the late Pat Stoddard, a New Canaan citizen-stalwart and one of the founders of Staying Put in New Canaan, a much-admired nonprofit organization that assists local seniors in continuing to live in their own homes in town. Stoddard suggested that while the benefit proceeds would support Staying Put, the concert itself should be dedicated to honor New Canaan’s first responders (Fire, Police, EMT and CERT personnel).

New Canaan There & Then

New Canaan There & Then: Letters from the Civil War Battlefield

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‘New Canaan There & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Bettina Hegel, Joanne Santulli and Dawn Sterner. 
In the third summer of the Civil War, Union Army Private Justus Silliman, a 21-year-old native of New Canaan, wrote home about his role in the greatest battle in American history. Hospital 11th Corps
Public School Gettysburg Pa
Friday, July 3rd 1863
My Dear Mother,
You undoubtedly will have heard of the fight before you will have received this. I am a prisoner, yet the fighting still continues. We marched from Emmitsburg Md. to this place on the morning of July 1st.

New Canaan There & Then

New Canaan There & Then: The World’s Greatest Athlete—Bill Toomey (Part 2 of 2)

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‘New Canaan There & Then’ is sponsored by Brown Harris Stevens Realtors Bettina Hegel, Joanne Santulli and Dawn Sterner. (Part 1 of 2 in this series can be read here.)
What opportunities come your way after you’ve won an Olympic gold medal and been heralded as The World’s Greatest Athlete? How about starring in a movie wearing a loin cloth? In anticipation of the 1972 Olympics in Munich (yes, that tragic fortnight), ABC Sports commissioned “Ancient Games,” a film paying tribute to the decathlon. It was filmed in the ancient Stadium of Delphi, and starred Toomey and Rafer Johnson, a fellow American who won the decathlon gold medal in the 1960 Rome Games.