East Haven's 175th Anniversary Parade and Celebration

Long months of planning and preparation went into the celebration and parade of East Haven's 175th Anniversary. Savino Caponera, plumbing inspector for the town of East Haven, as well as President of the East Haven Chamber of Commerce, President of East Haven Young Democrats club, New Haven Elks an Knights of Columbus member, served as the General Chairman of the 175th Anniversary Committee.

Robert Zampano, Attorney escorting the Queen of the East Haven's 175th Anniversary. Later, Attorney Zampano was the youngest federal  Judge appointed by President Kennedy.

Parade float for the East Haven Women's Club.

Girls with East Haven Women’s Club at the 175th Anniversary Parade. Men all had mustache or beard were “Brothers of the Brush” which was organized to see who had best beard which was part of the celebration 175th anniversary.

This parade float shows signs: "Bill's Belle's" and "Bro's of the Brush.' The woman facing forward is Joan Hurley. 

Open Trolley Car, East Haven Trolley Association

Far right is Lou Criscuolo  incoming  president of the chamber shaking hands with I outgoing president of the Chamber, Sal Capanera middle left next to Mr. Capanera is Robert Williams who owned a business on Main Street th other man is Anthony Panagrossi who owned ACP Electric at 15 Maple Street and 744 Foxon Road.

Annual East Haven Chamber of Commerce Installation Dinner  1961 Held at the Foxon Country House.

The Last Gas Station

Mr. Louis Criscuolo writes concerning "The Last Gas Station in East Haven."

.

 
My father started in the business in 1920 at 42-44 Wooster Street in New Haven, then it was named Socony Gas. The gasoline price then was 18 cents per gallon. No federal tax and no state tax!  As his sons, Louis and Andrew, we continued as gas station owners of our Mobil-Exxon station at 556 Main Street in East Haven.

In 1974 there was a gas shortage in the United States, as gasoline station owners, we had to wait 13 days for our next delivery.  We placed this sign in front of our gas station at 556 Main Street, East Haven and it created a lot of smiles. Patience was the word of the day! The New Haven Register came and took a photo, shown above.

At one time, East Haven had twelve gas stations on Main Street, but due to redevelopment those gas stations closed. The A. Criscuolo and Sons was the last gas station standing on Main Street in East Haven for many years. Now  we are retired. Below are the staff Jim Ward (body shop)  Bill Levine, (mechanic) Andy Criscuolo, (owner) Lou Criscuolo, (owner) Joe Oswald (tow truck operator),  Ed Maturo, (assistant to truck). 

 

Tow Truck for the station

 Lou Criscuolo and his brother, Andy.

Above, left: Lou Criscuolo at the gas station at 556 Main Street, standing under his father's photograph and the Prayer of St. Francis. Right: A close-up of Mr. Criscuolo's father and the Prayer of St. Francis. The prayer was posted on his office wall next to the founder, Andrew Criscuolo. "We attribute to the prayer on the wall that my brother and I were protected by this good prayer and enjoyed the good relations with our customers"

The Prayer of St. Francis

Lord make me an instrument of Your Peace

Where there is hatred

Let me sow

 love

Where there is injury

pardon

Where there is doubt

faith

Where there is despair

hope

Where there is Darkness

light

Where there is sadness

joy.

Library Seeks Vintage Valentines for Display

Library Seeks Vintage Valentines
The Hagaman library would like to display your pre-1950 vintage valentines for the month of February. If you would like to loan the library a vintage valentine for display please call Fawn Gillespie at 203-468-3890. The valentines will be displayed in a locked case.

I posit that the excerpt below is from  CT State Representive's, Francis Foote's diary.
The entry is for Christmas Day, 1865.




It is Christmas day. Took Mary down to Hillmans (?) then went down to Fair Haven. Ruby (?) went with me. When we came back went for (?) dinner. Sarah went up to (?) A very pleasant day overhead, a bit muddy underfoot...

Captain Riley's Narrative

 Zahara. The word sounded familiar. It was contained in a title of a book donated to the library which I saw several months ago: Skeletons on the Zahara. It made me wonder if this was a retelling of a book in the library's vault, the story of which is summarized in its title:

An Authentic Narrative Of The Loss Of The American Brig Commerce, Wrecked On The Western Coast Of Africa, In The Month Of August, 1815. With An Account Of The Sufferings Of Her Surviving Officers And Crew, Who Were Enslaved By The Wandering Arabs On The Great African Desart, or Zahahra; And Observations Historical, Geographical, &c. Made During The Travels Of The Author, While A Slave To The Arabs, And In The Empire Of Morocco.  By James Riley

I placed the newer book in the vault next to the older book. At one point I took a few photographs and finally came to compare the two books. As I had guessed, the newer is an updated presentation of Captain James Riley's account of the 1815 wreck of the brig Commerce, and the remaining crews' subsequent sufferings as slaves of the Arabs.

 The updated version was put together by Dean King who stumbled across Riley's book in the library of the New York Yacht Club in Manhattan. King was intrigued  and re-traveled by camel and land rover Riley’s 800 mile trek.

 

 

Old Money: A Numismatic Mystery

We have here a numismatic (which means of or pertaining to coins) mystery,  a fascinating treasure trove of coins from the vault of the Hagaman Library.

The coins most likely belonged to Isaac Hagaman or his father. Some are so obscured by tarnish or patina, which in coins is called "toning," that the age and origin are a mystery.

Of particular interest are the two shown below:

East Haven Commemorative Tercentenary Coins

These commemorative coins were produced for a number of towns including East Haven, as seen above, for the Connecticut Tercentenary Celebration in 1935. 

Also issued were Tercentenary automobile plates, stamps, postcards of CT houses, and pamphlets on Connecticut history.