History of Darien, Connecticut - Late Nineteenth Century

Late Nineteenth Century

In 1864 during the Civil War, the first home for disabled veterans and soldier's orphans in the United States was built on a 19-acre (77,000 m2) tract at Noroton Heights. It was named after its founder, Benjamin Fitch of Darien, who funded almost the entire project. the state provided limited aid until 1883. In 1887 the state took over control and formally named the institution "Fitch's Home for Soldiers." The home, which housed veterans and the children of veterans, was dedicated July 4, 1864. Veterans of the Civil War, then the Spanish American War and finally World War I were cared for at the home. After World War II the institution's services were transferred to the larger Veterans Home and Hospital Rocky Hill, Connecticut.

Pictures of Fitch home from a March 17, 1866, Harper's Weekly:

• Fitch Home

• School room at the Fitch Home

• "The Returned Soldier" at the Fitch Home

• View of Fitch Home

• Dining room, Fitch Home

Until the 1870s, the center of Noroton, around where Noroton Avenue meets the Boston Post Road, was considered the commercial center of Darien and the area north of Interstate 95 that is now considered Noroton Heights was called "Noroton." The current center of town, where the railroad tracks cross the Boston Post Road, was called "Darien Depot." But when the Town Hall was established there, that area became "Darien" and "Noroton" was adopted by the old commercial center. The name "Noroton Heights" was used after a post office with that name was established there.

Following the war, the train connection allowed Darien to became a popular resort for prosperous New Yorkers who built summer homes in Tokeneke, Long Neck Point, and Noroton (this pattern was repeated elsewhere along the Connecticut shore and inland). A few daily commuters to New York City then were forerunners of the many who have settled here and changed Darien into a residential suburb of metropolitan New York.

In 1896, Glenbreekin, a home sitting in a 200-acre (0.81 km2) sheep farm, was built on the banks of the Goodwives River in Darien. By 2000 all the land except for 3.5 acres (14,000 m2) had been sold off. The house itself was expanded in 1921 with a living room designed by the architect who created the Wrigley Building in Chicago and built by the contractor who constructed the pulpit of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. The house was expanded again in 1994.

Theodore Dreiser is said to have written An American Tragedy in a Mediterranean-style estate in Tokeneke.