A big brewery opened in Danbury in July. It is already very popular. It is the fourth Connecticut location opened by a man named Eli, hence "Elicit" as the business name.
A Keller mural of a pensive David Bowie is the second mural in the room.
Madonna is at the end, making eye contact.
Linked to Monday Murals.
There are three churches within one block, near the intersection of Watertown's Main Street and Connecticut Route 6. This is the Methodist church.
Last weekend, Ridgefield Library hosted RidgeCon, an event encouraging dress-up like comic book and fantasy characters.
Sometimes I walk on Main Street south of the downtown. It is a one to three mile walk, depending on where I start and where I turn back toward town.
Benches are placed along the walk. Sometimes I sit and watch other walkers pass by. These folks were on the other side of the street.
I sometimes see Marty and Pam out walking along Main Street. On this day they beat me to a bench.
I went to Waterbury to see its elegant and restored City Hall.
The marble-faced building and four other municipal buildings in the complex were constructed in the 1910s. All were designed by noted architect (and longtime Ridgefield resident) Cass Gilbert in the Georgian Revival and Second Renaissance Revival architectural styles.
Waterbury's financial fortunes suffered in the late 20th century when brass manufacturing moved to other states and countries. City Hall suffered serious neglect and most civic functions left the building. But, in 2007 a large bond issue was approved to finance renovation of the building. It reopened in 2011.
While I was in Waterbury, I stopped at the box office of the Palace Theater and asked if I could go inside for pictures. After a couple of phone calls, a young woman appeared to escort me inside.
Waterbury was called the Brass City. It is proud of its industrial heritage in days gone by. Most of that work has gone to lower cost states and countries.
The Mattatunk Museum on Waterbury Green has many displays about the manufacturing and the products from Waterbury's industrial past. This is a bust of a founder of a brass manufacturing company.
Scovill was still a big company when I moved to Connecticut in 1980. It built on a history of making buttons, zippers and coin blanks, moving into munitions and household products. After World War 2 Scovill opened facilities in Georgia. In time those became more dominant. It was bought by a Japanese company a decade ago.
A tall case clock at the museum honors two Connecticut industries. The face is made from Waterbury brass, while the clock itself was designed and built in another central Connecticut town like Bristol.
Charles Goodyear was a Connecticut-born chemist who began in the button business in nearby Naugatuck. He developed an interest in trying to work out how to make rubber harder and more durable. Goodyear's efforts were up and down, damaging both his health and his wealth. Goodyear Rubber Company was founded forty years after his death. It bears his name but is wholly independent from him and his family.
Anyone driving through Waterbury, Connecticut, sees the 245 foot clock tower that is part of Union Station and the headquarters of the Waterbury Republican-American newspaper. The structure was erected in 1909. It was designed by the noted architectural firm McKim, Mead and White.
On September 11 every year, my thoughts turn to the shocking 2001 sights of airplanes crashing into the twin towers.
My thoughts also return to the wonderful 18 foot long allegorical painting, Cycle of Terror and Tragedy, by Graydon Parrish at the New Britain Museum of American Art. The anguished twins are perfect images of the terror our nation experienced on September 11, 2001.
The Lockwood-Matthews Mansion Museum shown in yesterday's post is at the front of a Norwalk city park. Behind the mansion is a children's museum. I didn't have any children with me when I was there yesterday, so a visit to Stepping Stones Museum for Children is also for another day.
