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MOODUS & EAST HADDAM HOMEPAGE |
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Legacy
of "Progress" Gone Sour
How a 1967 Renewal Project
Ripped the Heart and Soul out of Old
Moodus Center
by KEN SIMON
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the demise of the old shopping area was decreed by a town vote in
1967, East Haddam artist R.T. Sweeney painted several portraits
of the old-fashioned business district (click to enlarge above
thumbnails). |
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 Pt 1. Legacy of
"Progress" Gone Sour
The
first article in the 1982 award-winning newspaper series that detailed
what East Haddam residents were promised when a poorly conceived federal urban renewal
program was sold to them in 1967.
Pt 2. Urban
Renewal Flops in Moodus
What
happened during the "execution phase" of the project when
the federally-funded plan for a "better" Moodus
collided with the realities of the marketplace.
Pt 3. Could Moodus
Have Been Saved?
The
ill-fated redevelopment project was about to destroy old Moodus
Center. It was then that people began to have second thoughts about
the wisdom of the project.
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King Cotton Spurred
Growth of Mills Along the
Moodus River
Moodus Was the 19th-Century Twine
Capital of America
by BRUCE SIEVERS |
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Until it burned to
the ground in 1916, the Triton
mill in Johnsonville was
one of the town's major employers. |
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Cotton was King in 19th-Century Moodus, where
12 mills were built along the banks of the narrow Moodus River
during the first half of the 1800s. An
engrossing story of how water power, mechanical know-how,
and business smarts in 19th-century Moodus generated wealth for
mill owners and full employment for immigrant mill workers.
Click for Mills Along the River |
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A
Teenager's Coming of Age
at Bury's Meat Market
At Bury Brothers' Butcher Shop You Learned
to Make the Most of Meat & Life
by DAVID "BUD" DAVIES
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The
Bury brothers ran a butcher shop in Moodus that was valued
by area residents for its fine cuts and fresh beef. To the teens
who worked for Joe and Julian Bury, the action behind the
counter and in the backroom offered much more.
Former junior
apprentice meat cutter and cleanup guy Bud Davies reveals what
he learned from the Burys in this meaty memoir.
Click
for Coming of Age |
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Local Landmarks Flow through Constant
Waterman's Journal
Explore Local Water from the Puddle to the
Sea in Hadlyme Native Matthew
Goldman's New Book
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A new book written and
illustrated by Hadlyme native Matthew Goldman is a treat for any
East Haddam resident -- or anyone for that matter -- who has
ever stood and listened to the sea, pondered the stillness of a
pond, kayaked a cove or hoped to find a message in a bottle.
Boat lovers will be entranced. Wildlife and wetlands champions will be
delighted. Reading Matthew's maritime musings, full of intimate
details and keen observations, you'll learn of boats and their
builders, ferrymen, fishers and the fish they pursue, and much,
much more.
Click
for Two Sample Chapters from The Journals of
Constant Waterman |
Classic Stories of East Haddam's
Early Settlers As Told in 1871
Excerpts:"The Old Chimney
Stacks of East Haddam"
by HOSFORD B. NILES |
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Now Being Posted!
"East
Haddam may be justly regarded as one of the oldest, as it is one of the
largest towns in the State. Its diversified scenery, its bracing atmosphere,
and its early historic associations have made the town an object of
admiration to travelers, and of love to her sons and daughters.
And she
has reared many worthy sons who have graced the Nigh pursuits of life;
and of the virtue and beauty of her daughters she may well be proud."
The
tract of land of which East Haddam is a part, was purchased from four Indian kings, in 1662, for thirty
coats of a value not exceeding one hundred dollars. The tract thus purchased
was taken up by 28 persons, mostly young men from the
vicinity of Hartford, who settled in the northern part of this land on
the west side of the river. ..."
Click Here for Chapter
One |
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OLD MOODUS CENTER
BACK IN THE DAY |
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From the Early 1900s
to Its Teardown
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HISTORIC
VIEWS OF
MOODUS RESORTS |
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Ads &
Flyers
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Banner Lodge
Camp Wopowog
Cave Hill
Ted Hilton's
Other Resorts
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EARLY VIEWS
OF
EAST HADDAM |
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Goodspeed, Gelston, Vistas, Travel & More
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1913 BRIDGE
OPENING SOUVENIR |
Celebrating a
River Crossing
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