Happy Days: Residents Enjoyed a Simpler Life in the '50s (Greenwich Time, Circa 1990)

Source: Greenwich Time, Greenwich, Connecticut. 

Circa 1990. 

How many of you recall driving up Greenwich Avenue without the risk of arrest? When Hula Hoops were hot, when air conditioning was introduced for the first time in Finch's Drug Store and Outdoor Traders? When cars with sleek names like Thunderbird cruised the town's streets, and when teenagers used terms like "dig," "grounded," "hang loose," and "square" for the first time? 

Welcome to Greenwich in the 1950s.

At the end of the decade in 1959, as it turns out, Greenwich experienced an all time high for births (1,178 births). 

Looking back over the 1950s, it seems to me that this decade did a great deal to define contemporary Greenwich as a suburban bedroom town, lying the foundation for what we have and are today.

It was a decade of profound change and stability at the same time. I've met no one who speaks ill of this period. The town seemed whole, and people prospered, as did the nation. 

Back in 1956, you could purchase a one-pound bag of A&P coffee for 85 cents, or 3 pounds for $2.49. A 16 oz. bag of Ritz crackers sold for 31 cents.

Looking for a night out at a local restaurant? Maneros, in institution in Greenwich to this day (and, I hope, for many years to come) advertised spaghetti and clam sauce on Fridays. The Clam House in Cos Cob, now sadly gone, promoted a fish and chips meal for 75 cents. You could swing by Pickwick Theatre and catch 'She Wore a Yellow Ribbon' or 'The Smell of Sweet Success.' 

Perhaps you wanted a place to live and raise a family in Greenwich? The good folks at Cleveland, Duble & Arnold advertised 'America Restored,' a converted barn, three bedrooms, bath, powder room and brick terrace 'peacefully settled' on Greenwich Cove. The price? Only $35,000. Interested? Just call Neptune 7-1781 or Townsend 9-0868.

Want to live on Round Hill Road? For $39,500, a home with four bedrooms, two baths on 2.5 acres of land could be yours. What about property taxes? Just under $325 annually. 

Yes, those were the days...

Not all was tranquil and serene. Around 229 buildings in town were demolished starting in 1952 for construction of Interstate 95, and Greenwich would not be the same again. The Kent House near Belle Haven was demolished as was the Revolutionary War-era John Adams house in Riverside. The Riverside Shopping Center, once a Ferris farm, was built. The old New Lebanon School went down, too.

Polio vaccinations were implemented. Hurricane Carol slammed Fairfield County in 1954. And Civil Defense drills were carried out in response to the Cold War.

Despite the Davy Crockett hats, Dick Clark's American Bandstand, Edward R. Murrow's "See IT Now," sightings of UFOs, teens cramming into phone booths, permits issued for building bomb shelters, Grass Island ceasing to be an island, air raid drills and much more, Greenwich and its people did fine. It was a great time to be in a great town.

Jeffrey Bingham Mead is a free-lance writer and direct descendant of one of the town's founding families. He grew up in backcountry Greenwich.