Portland...  On the Move |
Issue 73 ~ News from your Town Hall ~ February 2000
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 Our 6th Year Anniversary! In February of 1994, the Portland Town Hall first published its newsletter, Portland On the Move. It was a two sided version of what you are reading now, with an introduction from the First Selectman, Ed Kalinowski, and contributions from Larry Goldman (then Building Official), Laurel Goodgion (Library Director), Don Mitchel (Sanitarian), and Dean Jacques (Social Services Director). It was distributed in various stores and other sites around town. True to form, we made our first major typo, dating the newsletter 1993, instead of 1994! To our surprise, the second newsletter expanded to four sides of copy! It had doubled in size after the very first month! It was in this second issue that Ron Ingraham submitted his first poem in the column then known as Poet’s Corner. Those who used to read Ron’s poems faithfully were aware of the bantering that went on between him and the editor. Indeed, many looked forward to their ongoing feud. Ron no longer works with us. We wish him the best of luck wherever he is, and sorely miss his sense of humor (speak for yourself – Editor). |
Articles in future issues included short spotlights on various Town employees, a summary of the Town Clerk’s responsibilities, Home Composting, reports on economic development, a special column for the Portland Library, parenting information, and health tips. By issue 6, we were up to 6 pages! Information from the Senior Center soon became a regular item. Youth Services came on board next. The Building Department submitted a series of interesting articles. We highlighted teacher of the year awards, and published a series to encourage recycling. Town Tech soon joined us, letting us know what valuable contributions high school students were making. The Town Sanitarian gave us some informational articles from down under. When the Town’s Safety Committee began running full swing, we started publishing articles dealing with safety. The Drug Prevention Council was a frequent contributor for quite a while. A column called the Business Bulletin, usually written by Linda Manchester, updated us on business issues, and frequently advertised the Downtown Festival to generate interest. The Assessor’s Office explained tax relief for the elderly, and Judy MeGinley told us how to get certified in safe boating. |
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All the while we published dates and information for special events and programs. Issue 27 contained a summary of Portland’s Budgetary Process, and received a certain acclaim, so much so that it was republished a year later. Copies of that article were also handed out separately. The newsletter frequently served as a vehicle for informational fliers, questionnaires, tag sales, and for covering non-profit agencies, like CASSP, the VNA and Salvation Army. Charlie Jarzabek, our canine control officer, started his own column called Recipes from the Dog House. This eventually changed to Tips from the Dog House. We published many articles regarding holidays and their meanings, hoping to encourage a deeper appreciation for what might otherwise be just a day off from work. August 1998, issue 55, started the Ever Healthy, Ever Green series, provided for us by the American Institute for Cancer Prevention Research, emphasizing healthy lifestyles. A month earlier saw Words of Wisdom become a regular piece. Education Update, submitted by school administrators, arrived in October 1998, and is still with us. April 1999 brought us the first Portland History, Carved in Stone article, written by Jack Dillon. It was so well received, we decided to continue with an on-going historical series. This was all pie-in-the-sky, however, until Doris Sherrow came along with a steady wealth of fascinating submissions. Public response continues to be great. It is hoped that this will encourage interest in Portland’s history, especially now when we are reclaiming some of the past with the acquisition of the brownstone quarries. In the past 6 years of printing, we have publish 480 pages! That’s the size of a good book! Portland On the Move is usually 8 to 10 pages now. We publish 900 copies per month. It is presently available on the internet as well (through www.portlandct.org). We hope you enjoy it, and remain open to suggestions. Portland…
On the Move
On TV? You might have seen our familiar logo on the Public Access Channel, or noticed some of our Town officials speaking as you click through the channels. It’s not your imagination. |
The Portland On the Move… Public Access TV show, created by First Selectman Ed Kalinowski, Dave Kuzminski and the Town Tech Educational Partnership, aired its first show on April 7, 1998. The show airs on the first Tuesday of every month, from 8 to 9 PM, from the Comcast Studios on Tuttle Rd. in Middletown. The show’s technical staff (camera people, sound technician, graphic coordinators and control room personnel) are comprised of students in the Town Tech Educational Partnership program and the student government in Portland High School. Show topics have covered town departments and their functions, various activities at the Portland High School, Y2K issues, Water Conservation, Survivors of the Holocaust, and Civil Preparedness. Guests have included Senator Eileen Daily, 33rd District, and Representative James O’Rourke, 32nd District House of Representatives, John F. Flowers, Head of Water Efficiency for the EPA in Washington D.C., MaryAnn Dickenson, Metropolitan Water District, Los Angeles, CA. Next month’s show will feature Dr. Henry Lee, Connecticut’s Director of Public Safety, and Dr. Carl Salavaka, Director of Forensics, Massachusetts State Police.  Help for People with Cognitive Disabilities by: Elizabeth Warner, President/CEO There are those among us who experience difficulty in handling day-to-day routines. They might have trouble learning, securing employment, finding a place to live, enjoying a normal social life, taking care of themselves in general. They have what we refer to as cognitive disabilities, and need extra help to maintain their independence as valuable members of our community. We all want our loved ones to enjoy a full and satisfying life. And yet, sometimes we try to hide the fact that someone we love suffers from any type of cognitive disorder. We mistakenly believe that we are protecting them. Perhaps we might not be aware of the amount of help that is available (there are even support programs for the families of disabled people). One thing is certain though: ignoring the problem helps nobody. MARC: Community Resources is a non-profit organization that offers special services to these people. It serves as an informational focal point dedicated to enhance their quality of life and self-functioning capabilities. MARC provides recreational programs, vocational services, residential programs and family support. It also advocates for the rights of disabled people. We at MARC invite you to call us with your questions. Our phone number is 342-0700. |
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"Mea Culpa!" What better way to celebrate our 6th Year anniversary than with a well deserved apology! In our January issue, we published an article under Education Update written by John Sieller, Principal at Gildersleeve School. Unfortunately, we accidentally attributed it to Deborah Borton. Excuse? Not a good one, really. December, (when the January newsletter was prepared), is a short, hectic month over here. The article was about Giving Week at Gildersleeve School. Our sincerest apology to Mr. Sieller for the error. We appreciate contributions from the schools, and will certainly take more care with them in the future. Mea culpa! Black History Month  Black History is observed in February with a wide variety of events highlighting the contributions of African-Americans to the nations history. This celebration dates back to 1976, though an earlier version, Negro History Week, was established by Dr. Carter G. Wilson in 1926. Woodson was a scholar with a Harvard Ph.D. whose parents were slaves. His life’s work was the study of the African experience throughout the world. In 1915, Woodson established the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (now the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History), which sponsors Black History Month.
By: Doris Sherrow Was Stanclift really the first? Portland history teaches that James Stanclift, a stonecutter from England, was the first European to settle on Portland’s shores. This past August, I took my summer vacation in the basement vault of Middletown’s land records, where Portland’s records from the 1650s to 1767 reside. I was looking for information on John Gill, whom Portland history tells us was the second resident of Portland, and Richard Goodale, who sold Stanclift the lot on which he built his house in 1689. John Gill first turns up, surprisingly, in the 1676 probate papers of an older Richard Goodale, the father of the one above. The elder Goodale refers to Gill as his "son." This probably meant that Gill’s wife Martha was Goodale’s daughter. Colonial people usually referred to sons- and daughters-in-law as "son" or "daughter," and, in fact, used the word "mother-in-law" to mean "step mother." | The elder Goodale, a mariner from Salisbury, Massachusetts, had acquired land in Portland. In 1673, he received permission from the selectmen of Middletown to build a warehouse "by the river side at or near the point of rocks provided it hinder not the diging [sic] of stones." The "point of rocks" refers to the Portland quarries—brownstone extended high over the Connecticut River on the east side in the 17th century. In 1675, King Philip’s War made living on the east side of the Connecticut River dangerous: the General Assembly commanded towns up and down the east side of the river to fortify one house in their community against Indian attack. None of those houses were in Portland, so apparently no one was living here at that time. Goodale died in 1676, willing 20-acre lots each to his son Richard Jr. and to John Gill. In 1680 they signed a deed clarifying who owned which lot, and describing themselves as "Dwelling in midletown [sic]." Since neither owned land on the west side of the Connecticut River, this could be interpreted to mean that they were living in Portland at that early date. However, it is unclear. Goodale and his wife Mary had several children between the 1670s and 1700. The ones born before 1691 were all born in Salisbury. On September 20, 1691, all those children were baptized in Middletown, indicating that the family had moved to the area. Perhaps Richard had maintained a residence in Portland, or stayed with his brother-in-law John Gill, while Mary and the children stayed in Salisbury. His daughter Martha was born in January, 1694, in "Middletown"—Portland. John Gill was a "husbandman," or farmer. Five children were born to him and Martha: Richard, before 1675, Joshua, 1676, Ebenezer, 1680, Judith, 1681, and John, 1685. If he moved to Portland in 1680, he would have come with two or three tiny children, and raised his young family in complete isolation on the east side of the river, a decade or more before people began to move there. The marriage patterns of his children are distinctly odd by colonial standards. Young people in the colonial period usually married in their early 20s, when they were in a position to set up housekeeping on their own (not in their teens, as has been rumored). Of Gill’s five children, the two oldest were in their fifties when they married for the first time! The middle son, Ebenezer, was a mere 38 at his 1718 marriage. The two youngest died before they could marry, but Judith was 34, an age by which she should have been married. John Jr. died at age 27, engaged. He touchingly left one quarter of his estate "to my espoused friend Elizabeth Fox of Glastonbury." (It was she that his eldest brother, Richard, finally married, eleven years later, when he was 50!) |
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The Gill children’s marriage patterns may bespeak the solitude which they would have experienced growing up as the first English settlers on the east side of the River. John Jr., as the youngest, would have been socialized with four other children to relate to, as well as the influx of settlers and their children which occurred after 1690. But the older children would have led very solitary lives, plowing and planting far from any larger settlement. They would have been in their teens before any sort of community began to assemble on the east side of the river. As farmers, they may also have had few opportunities to travel to other towns, like stonecarvers delivering gravestones, or blacksmiths picking up iron to forge. My research so far shows that Richard Goodale’s homelot lay on the west side of Main Street, from Commerce Street south to the vicinity of the Coffee Pot. Thus far, I have been unable to pinpoint Gill’s homelot—after all, the boundaries were marked by hollows that have been filled in, "grindles," whatever they may be, roads that have been moved, and abuttors who have changed hundreds of times over the three intervening centuries. But the information is there, waiting to be pieced together. Stay tuned! Historic Brownstone Quarry Vista Plaque Portland is really On the Move… 
Cara Daniels (a 5th grader) and Rosemarie Jensen (a 6th grader), two students in the Gifted/Enrichment Program at Gildersleeve Elementary School, began an independent project last year under the guidance of their teacher, Martha Swanson, to create a vista plaque for the historical brownstone quarries. Their desire to do this arose due to a lack of visible recognition, or information about, this important historic, geologic and economic part of our town’s history. After working all year on their proposals (doing research, writing the text, selecting photos, working with a graphic designer and advertising firm, presenting their proposal to various organizations in town and local historians), their research and design phase is now complete. Using text and graphics, the vista plaque will serve as the genesis for educating residents of the town, county and state, as well as visitors to our area, about a site of historical, cultural, and geological significance. These young students recently applied for and were awarded a $1,250 grant from the Middlesex County Community Foundation and the Connecticut Humanities Council in the Middlesex Heritage Enhancement Focus Area. This grant will enable the students to produce the graphic panel and install it on Main Street in Portland until it can be moved to a quarry overlook or rim walk at a later date. |
Their independent project is quite timely given the town’s recent acquisition of the quarries and our hope that the quarries will receive National Historic Landmark status. It also dovetails with the visions of several town organizations: PRIDE, the Economic Development Commission, and Long Range and Strategic Planning. The girls consulted with Assistant Town Planner, Nancy Mueller, local historians Alison Guinness and Jack Dillon, the Portland Historical Society, PRIDE and First Selectman Ed Kalinowski, as well as received generously donated services from the Archambault Group and Sweet Waverly Printing. PRIDE thought so well of the design that they purchased one to be matted and framed for donation to the new town hall. As the town plans the quarries’ future, the vista plaque will be in place to note and inform the public of a significant asset to our region that has lain dormant and unrecognized for many years. (Editor’s comment – I have seen what the vista plaque will look like, written and designed by these two girls. It’s quite impressive. A historical narrative comprises the left column, with a collage of photos and quotes filling the rest of the area. Photos include our Civil War monument, two old scenes from the quarry when it was actively mined, a ledger sheet from the Brainerd Quarry Company, an aerial view of the quarries taken in 1964, even a shot of the Soldiers’ and Sailors Arch in Hartford, made from Portland brownstone. The following is a quote from the final paragraph of their narrative: "Historians and townspeople are restoring honor to the site that was once the central focus of our town and a vital resource in our nation’s building industry. A candidate for distinction as a national historic landmark, it is hoped that Portland’s brownstone quarries will become a monument to the industry that once flourished here." Thank you Rosemarie and Cara, for leading the way! Special appreciation to Martha Swanson, their teacher, for her involvement, and all the people and organizations who made this achievement possible.) Susan B. Anthony Day – February 15 She was born on this day in 1820 and spent much of her life championing women’s rights. She was influential in getting Congress to pass the first laws guaranteeing equal rights for women with regard to their children, property, and wages. Although she fought for women’s right to vote, she did not live to see it enacted. The Constitutional amendment granting this right was not enacted until 1920, 14 years after her death.
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The Discovery that Led to the Microwave Oven  Microwaves use electromagnetic energy from a magnetron (an electronic tube) to heat water molecules inside food, thus cooking it. Two British scientists invented the magnetron in 1940 in hopes of improving England’s radar system in World War II; the microwaves were bounced off tanks and other heavy weapons to detect their presence. Microwaves’ ability to cook food was discovered accidentally after the war. Percy Spencer, an engineer with Raytheon Co., was conducting tests with a magnetron when he found that the chocolate bar in his pocket had completely melted even though he hadn’t felt any heat himself. He then tested popcorn kernels and eggs and discovered that the magnetron could cook these without heating the surrounding area or dishes. Spencer designed a microwave oven, calling it the Radar Range, but it didn’t sell well because it was too large for consumer use; it was mainly bought by restaurants. In 1952, Tappan Co. introduced a smaller model, and sales have been strong ever since.  Education Update By: Donald W. Gates Salmon Eggs Anyone? An outgrowth of this year’s school budget allowed Portland High School’s science department to purchase a refrigerated aquarium for the current school year. Students are excited and Mr. Sebastian Agostino, teacher, is ecstatic that students enrolled in his aquatic biology class are participating in a salmon restoration program sponsored by the Connecticut River Salmon Association. In December, Mr. Agostino attended a training session in Farmington, which focused on setting up and monitoring water temperatures to ensure a successful egg hatch. |
On January 5th, 400 salmon eggs were delivered to Portland High School and placed in a refrigerated tank where they will remain in water at four degrees centigrade (equal water temperature to that of the Salmon River) until May 1st. Student members of the aquatic biology class traveled to Salmon River recently to acquire rocks to simulate the Salmon River in their own aquarium. Adam Lefkowitz, a student enrolled in the class, indicated that the eggs should hatch around February 10th when they become "alevin" and that between hatch time and May 1st, they will transform into "fry" and then be stocked into the Salmon River. A computer program assists students with tracking egg growth and development. Kevin Lockrow indicated that students are viewing eggs under the microscope and that this project is one of the better projects undertaken by the fifteen members of the aquatic biology class. The class is also studying salmon migration routes and hope that some of the salmon will return in the Salmon River. Lefkowitz indicated that underwater cameras have been installed and will be in place to videotape salmon as they return. Obviously, the goal of this program is to restore Atlantic salmon to the Connecticut River, and Portland High School students are participating in this valuable scientific and environmental learning project. Antisthenes, a Greek philosopher born in 445 B.C. once said the following: "The most useful piece of learning for the uses of life is to unlearn what is untrue." 
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