Watertown History Page by Charlie Crowell

10/30/2025

HAUNTED?

In the 1990s, my mother, then Watertown’s first Official Town Historian, stopped by the Belden House on Main Street (seen here) for a chat with the owner.

During their conversation in the livingroom, my mother mentioned that a lot of people in town believed the old house was haunted.

The owner replied that she had lived there for years and never noticed anything supernatural.

At that moment, a door to an ancient built-in cabinet across the room slowly opened with a creak, all by itself.

The two ladies sat there speechless for a moment, then looked at each other in amazement. Slightly nervous laughter followed.

The Belden House is located at 1297 Main Street in Watertown opposite Straits Turnpike. This is considered the oldest house in Watertown. It is belived to date back to the 1734. It is now surrounded by commercial properties and in fact, has become a commercial property itself.

This picture dates back to the late 30s or early 40s. The original photo is part of the Connecticut State Library Archives.

10/30/2025

The Town Times published its final issue today. It was a good long run (1947-2025). The little weekly made an incalculable contribution to the community over the past 78 years. It will be greatly missed. Wishing the Town Times staff great success in all their future endeavors.

10/14/2025

This was Arnold's Restaurant at 1833 Watertown Avenue as depicted on an old matchbook cover.

This was to the right of Phil's Steak and Lobster House, almost into Oakville.

This building was later home to a couple of other restaurants (Alfredo's, The Good Time Grogery), then one fall it was used as a haunted house attraction.

Not long after, it was demolished. The site is now a used car lot.

10/12/2025

The remains of an old barn on Bassett Road, a lost relic from Watertown’s rich agricultural past.

(Charlie Crowell photo, Jan. 2011)

10/12/2025

The Diamond Beverage Corporation got its start in Waterbury in 1865. The company operated a bottling plant in the South End of the city. The name of the business was changed to Diamond Ginger Ale Inc. in the 1940s in honor of their best-selling product.

In 1968, the operation moved to Watertown (Commercial Street, off Straits Turnpike) but the company's time in town was somewhat limited. In 1970, the business was purchased by Silver Bros. Beverage Co. of Manchester, NH.

Then in the summer of 1974, the business was purchased by the Tri-State Canada Dry Co. of Hudson, NY.

Soon after, all the Diamond bottling equipment at the Watertown plant was moved to New York. It appears Canada Dry just bought the firm for the equipment.

In June of 1976, the firm was officially dissolved.

This wooden crate dates back to 1968. These crates are offered on eBay somewhat regularly but most are stamped “Waterbury”.

10/12/2025

A favorite of many and arguably the most impressive historic home in Watertown, this house is located at 5 The Green on the corner of DeForest Street.

It is known as the Truman A. Warren House and was built in 1851grace and beauty of an earlier time.

This is a 1982 real estate ad when the house was offered for 115,000.

The official Watertown Historic District description goes like this: "This is the finest Italianate house in Watertown. The arched form of the wood cupola is a rarity as is the house's stone construction. It has a prominent deep eave with dentil course. The curving porch with foliate decoration and cut work columns is unique in town. It is surrounded by a 19th century iron fence imported from France. The house occupies a key location on the green. The original owner, Truman A. Warren, was a son of Alanson Warren, principal in the Wheeler & Wilson Sewing Machine Co. A later owner, Charles B. Mattoon, a leading citizen, and his wife Alice were owners for almost 50 years (1898-1946)"

10/10/2025

Remember back in the 60s when the First National Store at the Watertown Plaza installed a roller conveyor system like this?

This was supposed to make grocery shopping easier. Your bags of groceries were loaded into totes with numbers on them and you were giving a card with the corresponding numbers.

With a little shove, the totes rolled on the conveyor through an opening and outside to the sidewalk.

You would then drive your car to the curb and the grocery bags would be loaded into your vehicle.

The whole thing sounded good but in practice, it was a slow process. It was easier for people to just use a shopping cart and take the groceries to their cars themselves (or with the help of a clerk).

The whole concept was memorable, but short lived.

10/02/2025

Le Cordon Blue was one of a string of restaurants to occupy the building at 1700 Watertown Avenue. The French restaurant opened sometime before 1965 and closed in 1982.

Going back to the 1930s, it was Bruneau's Tavern after which it was the Royal Windsor, then Angelo's Restaurant which dated back to at least 1948.

After Le Cordon Bleu closed, the building became home to the Sea Loft which operated until 1990.

In the 90s, The Willows Restaurant opened here.
More recently it was Gridley's. Then Vasi's Restaurant and Bar, then the River Hill Restaurant.

Vasi’s gained a great deal of attention when it was the subject of the reality TV show “Gordon Ramsay's 24 Hours to Hell and Back” where the celebrity chef visited struggling restaurants across the country in his state-of-the-art mobile kitchen and command center, Hell On Wheels.

Back when the location was Bruneau's Tavern, a murder took place there.

In the early morning hours of February 28, 1937, Harold "Cider" Maxwell, 37, savagely beat and kicked Harry B. Watts, 27, to death at the tavern.
Both men were from Watertown.

Maxwell had been drinking earlier at Daveluy's Tavern in Watertown before making his way to Bruneau's. He was charged with murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Today, the old restaurant building has a brand new mission, offering job skills and supportive programs to intellectually disabled individuals under Easterseals of Greater Waterbury Inc.

Seen here is a vintage matchbook cover.

"Le cordon bleu" translates from French to English as "the blue ribbon". Historically, this referred to the blue ribbon worn by members of the Order of the Holy Spirit, the highest order of French knighthood. The name has become a symbol of excellence.

10/01/2025

Back in 1970, Carvel gave out these “Halloween costumes”. Basically a plastic bag, if you cut along the dotted line at the top, you could then slip it over a kid’s head and bingo, all set for a night of trick-or-treating.

Gotta love the Carvel bat

The Carvel in Watertown opened in 1959, a whopping 66 years ago.

09/29/2025

From my Waterbury page. The house in the background stands in Watertown today.

Here’s some state-of-the-art Waterbury firefighting equipment as seen in September of 1910. This was eight years after “The Great Waterbury Fire of 1902” when the city was caught woefully unprepared for large scale fires. Staying ahead of the firefighting curve, so to speak, was an ongoing challenge.

Built in 1816, this house in the background is seen facing the Waterbury Green. It was disassembled and transported to Watertown around 1923.

The house had to be moved to make way for the construction of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception Church located at 74 West Main Street facing the Green.

Today, the house stands at a high spot, 173
Middlebury Road in Watertown on the corner of Highland Avenue.

09/29/2025

This is one of those Shepherd's Heart knickknacks.

On the back is printed, "South School was built as four-room school during 1908-1909. Oakville's growth necessitated the addition of eight classrooms in 1917 plus another eight rooms in 1928. The school was renamed in 1981 to honor Principal Frances C. Griffin for fifty years of service."

09/27/2025

Here’s a random Watertown photo I took in 2013. School buses at St. John’s on Woodruff Avenue, the white Pythian Building (1893), the old brick Heminway factory (1912) in the distance along with the towering smokestack built by Princeton Knitting Mills.

The smokestack now serves as a cell tower.

A little slice of small-town Americana.

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BTW, the Pizza Hut post from 3 days ago generated 147K views. What’s up with that?