Looking back…

Many people who lived in Brookfield were from Sweden, and some were members of the Congregational Church.

Lucy Ruggles Holman and her husband, Dr. Thomas Holman, were missionaries to the Hawaiian Islands in 1819. They returned to the United States in 1821 by way of China, making Lucia the first American woman to circumnavigate the globe. Her brother, Samuel Ruggles, and his wife, Nancy, were also missionaries to the Hawaiian Islands in 1819. They stayed for about 15 years.

Emily Hawley was the author of several books about Brookfield. Her book, Annals of Brookfield, contains Brookfield early history as well as genealogies of local families.

The Joyce farm was located on the northwest corner of

Federal Road

and Route 133. Hay and corn are still grown there, and a corn maze is offered in the fall.

Tobacco was grown by many farmers in Brookfield.

In 1837, a male teacher received $14.50 monthly; a female teacher received $5.75. Board and room were provided for both.

On October 2, 1905 an annual town meeting in Brookfield did not approve an authorization to provide free textbooks for the schools. Because the meeting was not legally called, it was rescheduled for October 7. Again, the request for textbooks was defeated. On October 5, 1908 the proposal was voted down again. There is no record of when the motion was eventually passed.

A state law in 1766 legalized “School Societies” to replace the church and selectmen in running the schools of Connecticut towns.

In early Colonial times church and state were not separate. Many schools were run directly by ecclesiastical societies. Even when selectmen of towns took charge, the clergy were often asked to assist with education.

Lake Lillinonah was formed in 1955 by Connecticut Light & Power. It extends from New Milford for 12 miles to the Shepaug Dam and covers 1900 acres, has 45 miles of shoreline and a maximum water depth of 110 feet. It is overseen by the Lake Lillinonah Authority, which is funded by the towns of Bridgewater, Brookfield, New Milford, Southbury, Newtown and Roxbury.

In 1778 Thomas Brooks, Jr. and Caleb Baldwin, Jr. loaned the Continental Army funds for the war.

In 1840, 60 years after the end of the Revolutionary War, there were eight Revolutionary pensioners living in Brookfield. Some were widows of men who had served with the Continental army.

In January 1917, men between the ages of 21 and 31 living in the United States were required by the Emergency Army Bill to register for the draft. About 10 million men registered. Forty-one men residing in Brookfield registered on June 5, 1917.

A Red Cross Society was formed in Brookfield on November 20, 1917. Up to May, 1919, the Brookfield Red Cross provided 1,888 surgical dressings, gauze; 1,873 surgical dressings, muslin; 1,050, hospital supplies; 343 knitted garments; 391 refugee garments’ 1,478 gun wipes; 43 scrapbooks; 2 bed comfortables; 5 comfort kits; and 11 property bags.

In the fall of 1917, Brookfield raised $500 for the Emergency War Relief Fund of the American Red Cross Society. In May 1918, $615.37 was raised.

The earliest cemetery within present Brookfield is on Huckleberry Hill at the intersection of

Old New Milford Road

and

Federal Road

. Stones from this cemetery were moved to Central Cemetery. The second earliest burying ground is Merwin Brook off

Obtuse Hill Road

. The third earliest burying ground, the Northrop cemetery, is located on the west side of the railroad track off

Stony Hill Road

. There is no present access to this cemetery.

The Still River that flows through Brookfield has its source west of Danbury. It is a north flowing stream. From Lanesville in New Milford the river enters the south-flowing Housatonic River.

The Parish of Newbury, later Brookfield, was formed from parts of three towns, Danbury, Newtown, and New Milford. The town of Brookfield was incorporated in 1788.

The first Episcopal Church building was erected in Brookfield on or before 1789. The Rev. Philo Perry, who became the rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Newtown in 1787, agreed to supply the Episcopal Church at Newbury (Brookfield). The society at Brookfield voted to pay the Rev. Perry twenty-five pounds for the year.

The Brookfield Museum and Historical Society was founded in 1968 and is located at the corner of Routes 25 and 133. The building it occupies originally served at the town’s second town hall and the Joyce Memorial Library.

A Grange was organized in Brookfield in 1894, an auxiliary to the Pomona Grange of Fairfield County.

A temperance society, the Washingtonian movement, was formed in Brookfield in 1843. In 1844, the society numbered 600 members who had taken the pledge. Another, the Sons of Temperance, organized a society here about 1852. A local branch of the state women’s Christian Temperance Union was organized here in 1903 and monthly meetings were held until 1917.

In 1920, 155 Brookfield women were made electors of the town following passage of the 19^th Amendment.

The Brookfield Community Development Action Plan, published in 1972, recommended that Brookfield promote the founding of a community college in the region. This plan for a two-year educational institution was never implemented.

The Brookfield Playhouse, home to the Brookfield Theatre for the Arts, formerly the Country Players of Brookfield, was originally a gymnasium for the Curtis School for Boys, which was located on the site of the present Brookfield Library. The Country Players purchased the building in the 1950s.

The dormitory of the Curtis School for boys on Route 25, purchased by George Najjar following the close of the school in 1943, became the Nutmeg Inn and later Najjar’s Inn. The building burned to the ground in 1959.

Sarah Jane Campbell Pishon, the first fat lady of the circum, was born in Brookfield and died here. She was the daughter of Sally and Roderick Campbell. At one time, she weighed over 600 pounds. She died in 1864 at the age of 21. She is buried in Central Cemetery.

Pokono Grange No. 191 was formed on December 30, 1920, with 32 charter members. Meetings were held in Re-Joyce Hall until 1926 when members purchased Hillcrest Hall on

Whisconier Road

. They eventually built a new hall on

Pocono Road

.

Before the town had a high school of its own, Brookfield students had a choice of attending New Milford or Danbury high schools. Their tuition was paid by the town. Some students also attended Newtown High School.

From 1638 until 1776, Connecticut’s only military group was the Train Band, which was similar to the current National Guard.

More than 40 trains a day passed through Brookfield in the early 1900s.

In 1810, Brookfield had a population of 1,037. By 1920, the population dropped to 896.

Ninety-one Brookfield men, between the ages of 18 and 45, registered for the draft on September 12, 1918.