Post by Okwes on Mar 7, 2008 13:56:44 GMT -5
Proof of purchase: Restored plaque depicts acquisition of Stamford
By Wynne Parry
Staff Writer
Published March 5 2008
STAMFORD - City facilities employee Tony Panaro has an eye for old things.
He recognized an unlikely artifact about 20 years ago among the trash that co-workers piled onto a truck as they cleaned up at the city's Magee Avenue facility. His find: a bronze plaque that stood in St. John's Park in 1916, honoring the area's first residents who sold land to colonists.
"I said, 'No, you can't scrap this,' " Panaro recalled. "To them it was only a piece of metal. So I saved it and saved it."
The now-restored plaque will be placed this spring on a new stone on city property off Harbor Drive in Shippan.
The 4.5-by-2-foot plaque depicts the first deed in Stamford, a July 1, 1640, transaction between colonist Nathaniel Turner and Chiefs Ponus Sagamore of Toquams and Wascussue Sagamore of Shippan. The sale involved all of present-day Stamford and parts of surrounding municipalities. "I thought it could relate somehow to the Shippan area, since the Sagamore of Shippan is mentioned as one of the sellers," said Tim Curtin, an assistant to the mayor who learned of the plaque from Panaro. Curtin approached the Shippan Point Association about mounting the plaque in the neighborhood.
The plaque originally was donated to the city by a fraternal organization, Onax Tribe No. 41 of the Improved Order of Red Men. The tribe's letterhead announced a return address of "Hunting Grounds of Stamford, Reservation of Connecticut." And it sent commemorative postcards for its members to sell to support the new monument.
One of these cards was donated to the Stamford Historical Society. It describes a monument intended "to perpetuate the memory of the Indian chiefs, Ponus and Wascussue."
However strange this group might sound to modern ears, it had good intentions, said Ron Marcus, the historical society's librarian. "At that point, I think they were seriously making an attempt to honor the Indians from the area," he said.
The organization traces its roots to the Boston Tea Party, said Past Great Incohonee Carl Foster, who spoke at the ceremony installing the plaque in June 1916. Those colonists "recognized the virtues and qualities of the Indian, disguised themselves as such. So was established the order of Red Men," a newspaper story quoted him as saying.
In 1640, colonists paid the indigenous people 12 hatchets, 12 glasses, 12 knives and other items for the land, a purchase then-Mayor John Treat referred to as "the best bargain ever made."
To make way for Main Street widening in 1971, the plaque was moved from St. John's Park to the west wall of Old Town Hall, Marcus said. It is unclear when or why the city put the plaque in storage later.
Before its installation in Shippan, the plaque is in East Haven with restorationist Ron Cavalier. When Cavalier received the plaque, much of its patina had faded to a dark brown. But one corner remained a lighter color, close to what he believed the original might have been. He has treated its surface to match this hue.
"It doesn't look brand spanking new," Cavalier said. "I think that is the secret."
The plaque's future Shippan home is a 3-acre plot of landscaped open space the city acquired about two years ago. The parcel's former owner, Cytech, installed a gazebo, pathways and a boardwalk elevated above an intertidal zone as part of the sale agreement, City Director of Legal Affairs Thomas Cassone said. The parcel's history of industrial pollution limits its potential uses.
Deciding where to place the plaque was simple, said James Ryan, president of the Shippan Point Association, pointing to an open space on the path to the boardwalk.
The association is covering costs of the plaque installation and the pediment stone. Cavalier hopes to mount the plaque on a granite boulder. In St. John's Park, a thin slab of stone supported the plaque, which was attached below the profile of an American Indian in feathered headdress. This inaccuracy - woodland tribes did not wear this type of headdress - has long since disappeared.
"I couldn't find that," Panaro said of the profile. "I think it was probably separate. When people start moving memorials, things start going south."
By Wynne Parry
Staff Writer
Published March 5 2008
STAMFORD - City facilities employee Tony Panaro has an eye for old things.
He recognized an unlikely artifact about 20 years ago among the trash that co-workers piled onto a truck as they cleaned up at the city's Magee Avenue facility. His find: a bronze plaque that stood in St. John's Park in 1916, honoring the area's first residents who sold land to colonists.
"I said, 'No, you can't scrap this,' " Panaro recalled. "To them it was only a piece of metal. So I saved it and saved it."
The now-restored plaque will be placed this spring on a new stone on city property off Harbor Drive in Shippan.
The 4.5-by-2-foot plaque depicts the first deed in Stamford, a July 1, 1640, transaction between colonist Nathaniel Turner and Chiefs Ponus Sagamore of Toquams and Wascussue Sagamore of Shippan. The sale involved all of present-day Stamford and parts of surrounding municipalities. "I thought it could relate somehow to the Shippan area, since the Sagamore of Shippan is mentioned as one of the sellers," said Tim Curtin, an assistant to the mayor who learned of the plaque from Panaro. Curtin approached the Shippan Point Association about mounting the plaque in the neighborhood.
The plaque originally was donated to the city by a fraternal organization, Onax Tribe No. 41 of the Improved Order of Red Men. The tribe's letterhead announced a return address of "Hunting Grounds of Stamford, Reservation of Connecticut." And it sent commemorative postcards for its members to sell to support the new monument.
One of these cards was donated to the Stamford Historical Society. It describes a monument intended "to perpetuate the memory of the Indian chiefs, Ponus and Wascussue."
However strange this group might sound to modern ears, it had good intentions, said Ron Marcus, the historical society's librarian. "At that point, I think they were seriously making an attempt to honor the Indians from the area," he said.
The organization traces its roots to the Boston Tea Party, said Past Great Incohonee Carl Foster, who spoke at the ceremony installing the plaque in June 1916. Those colonists "recognized the virtues and qualities of the Indian, disguised themselves as such. So was established the order of Red Men," a newspaper story quoted him as saying.
In 1640, colonists paid the indigenous people 12 hatchets, 12 glasses, 12 knives and other items for the land, a purchase then-Mayor John Treat referred to as "the best bargain ever made."
To make way for Main Street widening in 1971, the plaque was moved from St. John's Park to the west wall of Old Town Hall, Marcus said. It is unclear when or why the city put the plaque in storage later.
Before its installation in Shippan, the plaque is in East Haven with restorationist Ron Cavalier. When Cavalier received the plaque, much of its patina had faded to a dark brown. But one corner remained a lighter color, close to what he believed the original might have been. He has treated its surface to match this hue.
"It doesn't look brand spanking new," Cavalier said. "I think that is the secret."
The plaque's future Shippan home is a 3-acre plot of landscaped open space the city acquired about two years ago. The parcel's former owner, Cytech, installed a gazebo, pathways and a boardwalk elevated above an intertidal zone as part of the sale agreement, City Director of Legal Affairs Thomas Cassone said. The parcel's history of industrial pollution limits its potential uses.
Deciding where to place the plaque was simple, said James Ryan, president of the Shippan Point Association, pointing to an open space on the path to the boardwalk.
The association is covering costs of the plaque installation and the pediment stone. Cavalier hopes to mount the plaque on a granite boulder. In St. John's Park, a thin slab of stone supported the plaque, which was attached below the profile of an American Indian in feathered headdress. This inaccuracy - woodland tribes did not wear this type of headdress - has long since disappeared.
"I couldn't find that," Panaro said of the profile. "I think it was probably separate. When people start moving memorials, things start going south."