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CHANGING
LAND USE IN
RIDGEFIELD, CT
By planning consultant John Hayes of Redding, Connecticut
Summarized by HVCEO staff
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Natural Setting
and Town Origins
Commanding position in southwestern Connecticut. From its ridges and hills along the Connecticut-New York border, the Town's terrain descends westerly toward the Hudson Valley, northerly toward the lowland basin of Danbury and the Still River Valley, and easterly and southerly over lower ridges toward Long Island Sound. "Caudatowa", the Algonquian Indian name for Ridgefield, means "high ground".
About a decade and a half after the frontier settlement at Danbury, ten petitioners asked the General Court of the Connecticut Colony to authorize a settlement of land lying at the northerly bounds of the Norwalk grants. In 1708, the General Assembly approved a purchase to be made from the native inhabitants of approximately 20,000 acres, for one hundred pounds sterling. A deed was formally concluded in September of that year with nine sachems of the local Ramapo and Titicus Indian villages, although seven additional purchases were required from local Indians over the following 31 years to complete the Town's area.
Until 1731, Ridgefield's area extended about 1 miles further westward into territory now part of Lewisboro and North Salem, N.Y. The uncertain boundary between the two colonies was resolved that year, however, in an accord which established the present New York-Connecticut border. Ridgefield's loss of territory was partially redressed at the time by action of the General Assembly in granting to Ridgefield an area of hitherto unclaimed territory in the Ridgebury section.
The 22,439 acres of land which now comprise Ridgefield form a diverse terrain of high ridges, small stream valleys, mountains, lakes and broad wetlands. An elongated belt of gentle ridges averaging 700 to 800 feet above sea level extends through the middle of the Town, from south to north, including East Ridge and the ridge on which the town center is situated. West of the central village rises the rugged terrain of West Mountain and Scott's Ridge, with many peaks at 900 to 950 feet above sea level.
East of the center, from Branchville north, lies a rough and ledgy hill country which includes Nod Hill, Florida Hill, Cedar Mountain and Cain's Hill. In the northwest, north of the Titicus Valley, is the gently rolling upland of Ridgebury and in the northeast is the true mountainous terrain which includes Barlow, Ridgebury, Ned and Pine Mountains. A number of peaks between 900 and 1,000 feet in elevation occur throughout the latter area which is heavily forested with many sharp slopes and ledges.
Lowlands, shaped by the great continental glacier as it melted 10,000 to 16,000 years ago, contain many small lakes and wetlands. The largest body of water, nearly a mile in length, is Mamanasco Lake which lies between Scott's Ridge and Ridgebury Mountain. Three other sizeable lakes, Naraneka, Wataba, and Fox Hill Lakes lie in close proximity to each other in north central Ridgefield and there are about two dozen smaller lakes and large ponds throughout the Town.
Large wetlands and extensive swamps occur in many sections, notably the Great Swamp just east of the village, Pumping Station Swamp along the Ridgefield-Lewisboro (N.Y.) border, and extensive wetlands along Silver Spring Brook, the Titicus River and Bennett Ponds Brook.
Upper reaches of the southward flowing Norwalk River lie in a winding, steep-sided valley along the east side of the Town, draining with various tributary brooks much of central and eastern Ridgefield. Southern and southwestern upland areas contain the headwaters of the Silvermine and Rippowam Rivers, both water supply streams which drain southerly to Long Island Sound.
Northwest Ridgefield is the headwaters area of the westward flowing Titicus River, a tributary of the Croton River and water supply reservoirs in New York State. The mountainous northeastern area drains southerly to the Saugatuck River, another water supply stream, and also northerly to the Still River Basin, a major tributary of the Housatonic.
The mountains, lakes, ledges, streams and ridges of Ridgefield blend into an attractive landscape which has made the Town a choice residential area for much of its history.
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Ridgefield
Development:
Beginning to 1950
Settlers flocked to the area almost immediately after the first lots were assigned by lottery in Norwalk in November 1708. By 1710, a trading post had been established and a few years later a meeting house and a number of permanent dwellings had been erected in the little village. Within a decade additional land divisions outside the village had been made, a mill had been erected at the outlet of Lake Mamanasco and a committee was at work laying out roads in several directions from the central village.
By 1723, more than twenty five town highways had been laid out, including a road south to Norwalk via Bald Hill and a road west to Bedford via West Mountain. Some of these roads followed established Indian trails and others crossed virgin land, but all were primitive cart paths or horse trails for many years after.
The land filled up quickly, for families were large and each household depended on a farm for its basic sustenance. By the 1750's all of the common land had been divided and farms were well established in every section with fields cleared of stumps and stones. Substantial dwelling houses had been built both in the village and in outlying sections. The Ridgefield
Historical Society is the guardian of the Town's early resources.
Saw mills and grist mills operated by water power were established on many of the more reliable streams within the first half of the century of settlement, and there were also a tread mill operated by oxen and a wind mill. One of the main stagecoach roads from Boston to New York in the latter eighteenth century followed a course west from Danbury to Ridgebury, then south through the village of Ridgefield and westward via West Lane to Westchester County. Despite gradual improvements to roads, overland travel remained difficult and the community remained rural and self-sufficient throughout the century.
Population continued to increase, nonetheless, as the last vestiges of the original forest were cut down and virtually all of the land, steep mountain and deep swamp areas being the two principal exceptions, was cleared for farmland. The colonial census showed 1,708 inhabitants in 1774, and the first federal census reported a further increase to 1,947 persons in 1790.
The Town's fortunes revived with the growing economy of the new nation in the 1790's and early 1800's. By 1808, almost 92% of the Town's area was in agricultural production; 20,590 acres, of which more than half, 11,575 acres, was good "plough land" or upland mowing and pasture.
The Town's growing prosperity was a direct result of improvements in roads leading to such tidewater ports as Westport and Norwalk during the 1790's and early 1800's. During this period a large number of turnpike companies were being chartered by the General Assembly and several of these companies built turnpike roads through Ridgefield and vicinity.
The turnpikes were very superior to the old cart paths, generally having straighter alignments, lesser grades, bridges instead of fords, and graveled surfaces. At least four stagecoach lines were in operation over these roads in the early nineteenth century, with scheduled stops in Ridgefield: the New York to Boston, the Danbury to New York, the Ridgebury to Norwalk, and the Ridgefield to Stamford lines.
By the mid-nineteenth century, the Town had reached its peak of agricultural and industrial prosperity. The Census of 1840 counted 2,474 inhabitants. Virtually all arable land was in agricultural use and an extensive network of roads reached every section of the community.
Many scions of the early families had become quite affluent and very substantial homes had replaced the simple colonial houses in the village and outlying areas. Small hamlets had also developed around mills and neighborhood churches at Titicus and Ridgebury. The town had 5 or 6 post offices in various localities and 14 neighborhood one-room schools. The landscape was by now refined with clear meadows, drained swamps, miles of stone walls, and well-graded town roads.
But this was also the period of the
nation's rapid westward expansion and the burgeoning growth of cities and towns located along ports and rail lines. Ridgefield began a gradual population decline over several decades as youth found opportunities elsewhere and the Civil War stimulated industrial growth in larger towns. A 22% population decline since 1840 was documented by the 1870 Census.
Even as the number of its inhabitants declined, however, the scenic countryside and healthful atmosphere of Ridgefield was being discovered by city dwellers from New York and other centers. In 1852, the railroad line from Norwalk to Danbury was completed along Ridgefield's eastern border, and from 1853 onward vacationing artists began to graphically portray the Town's bucolic charm. Summer residents started arriving in the 1850's, often times purchasing and remodeling old farmhouses or boarding with local families as "guests".
A stagecoach line from Ridgefield to Branchville operated from 1852 to 1870 to serve visitors and summer residents and in July of 1870, the Ridgefield Branch Railroad was completed to the village from Branchville.
The arrival of the railroad was instrumental over the next several decades in transforming the community into a summer and weekend resort for wealthy and socially prominent families from New York who erected elaborate "cottages" and estates on some of the town's choicest acreage. Palatial homes were built late in the century on High Ridge, Ivy Hill, Peaceable Street, West Lane and in outlying locations through the first decades of the twentieth century.
A water supply for the village was created in 1900 by pipe from springs on West Mountain, but shortly proved inadequate. In 1902, the water company was acquired by a new owner and Round Pond was added to the supply. Sanitation in the village was also a concern; in 1901, following a petition from twelve summer residents, work began on a central sewer system which was completed in 1902. At this period another private company introduced gas lighting to the center, along Bailey Avenue, Main Street and West Lane.
For an overview of the extent of land development in Ridgefield, CT near the end of the nineteenth century, a review of 1892-94
USGS Topographic Maps for Ridgefield will be of interest.
The Town's first major speculative real estate venture was launched early in the twentieth century. Shortly after 1900, an affluent local entrepreneur assembled about 1,750 acres of land on West Mountain along the New York State line, one-third of which lay in Ridgefield. Plans were made to develop the tract into a millionaire's resort similar to New York's Tuxedo Park. Ten miles of private roads and an opulent inn, "The Port of Missing Men", were completed by 1907. During its first several years, the inn which commanded spectacular views from its site on Titicus Mountain, recorded over 20,000 visitors from every state and several foreign countries. Near the entrance to this private part a private preparatory school, the Ridgefield School for Boys, was constructed about 1915 on a tract of 115 acres.
Ridgefield's growing affluence was mirrored in a gradually increasing population as employment in services and trades expanded. From a low point of 1,919 townspeople in 1870, early in the resort era, population grew steadily over the next four decades, reaching 3,118 persons in 1910. In addition to the new mansions at various locations throughout the community, more modest homes and business establishments were built around the village and in Branchville.
The general prosperity of this era somewhat obscured the decline of the "old Ridgefield" of 1850. In the later half of the century many of the early trades and industries disappeared and much farmland was abandoned or absorbed into the new estates. Many sections became wooded and quite a few of the older farm buildings disintegrated or were taken down. Farms remained in every section by the early twentieth century, dispersed among the large estates and country homes, but forest was becoming the dominant feature of the rural landscape.
The decade from 1910 to 1920 signaled the end of the large estate era. Enactment of the federal income tax began an erosion of many of the great fortunes which underlay the wealthy landed domains of Ridgefield. A severe labor shortage during the World War I years caused wages and estate maintenance costs to soar, and many younger inhabitants drifted away to good jobs in the industries prospering from war material orders. With agriculture and local enterprise at a standstill, the town's population declined over the decade from 3,118 to 2,707 persons. The Acorn Press offers an early twentieth century post
card collection from this era.
By 1918, however, the State of Connecticut undertook a major program of construction of improved roads, financed in part by matching funds from the Federal Aid Road Act of 1916. A network of hard-surfaced two-lane highways was planned, designed to reach every town in the state and provide access from farms to markets.
Work began almost immediately on two routes in the Ridgefield area designated Route 3 (now Rt. 35) and Route 7 (a US Highway). As the twenties began, Ridgefield, now listed in guidebooks as "The Gateway to New England", was linked to Danbury, Norwalk and the New York metropolitan area by well constructed paved roads.
As the decade of the twenties progressed, three more State and "State -aid" roads were built in town, Route 143 (now Rte.116 to North Salem), 304 (now Rte 33 to Wilton), and 329 (now Rte 102 to Branchville), and the Town began a program of paving local roads. By decade's end virtually every household in Ridgefield owned an automobile. One of the casualties of the extensive automobile ownership of the twenties was rail service on the Ridgefield Branch; the train made its last run in August 1925 and the tracks were taken up some years later. Electric service and telephone lines also reached every part of the community during this period.
With greatly increased accessibility and the general prosperity of the 1920's, new permanent residents were quickly attracted to Ridgefield's beautiful countryside. Many of the newcomers were artists, executives and professional people from New York who could manage an occasional long trip to the city by shoreline train, or retired couples.
The Town's population rebounded during the decade, registering a 32% gain to 3,580 persons in 1930. A table of census
population by decade for Ridgefield in this period is available. Many of the new homes built during this decade, generally dispersed throughout the community, rivaled the elegance if not the scale of those constructed in earlier periods.
Again the Town faced the problem of a growing population. In 1925-26 a new high school was constructed on the Town's East Ridge property and the nearby elementary school, now serving the entire Town after retirement of the 14 "district schools", was remodeled and enlarged. Growth of another sort was also beginning along Route 7, now named Ethan Allen Highway, as gasoline stations, antique shops and other individual business enterprises sprang up to capitalize on the stream of New England bound and through traffic.
The Great Depression of the 1930's slowed but did not stop Ridgefield's growth. The serene beauty of the Town continued to attract families of above average means and the steady growth enabled many local businesses to survive, and a few new ones such as plant nurseries and country restaurants to become established.
Population increased by 9% to 3,900 persons in 1940. Both commercial and residential growth occurred in the village and around Branchville, but the majority of new homes built continued to be widely dispersed throughout the Town.
Growth ceased during the war years from 1941 through 1945, but resumed with a rush in the early postwar years as a prosperous economy, high family formation rate and low-interest veterans' mortgages combined to create a boom in housing demand. Although Ridgefield was still some distance from major job centers, its attractive living conditions and availability of land brought the residential construction boom to its doorstep.
Anticipating an avalanche of development, the Town established a zoning commission and adopted its first zoning regulations in 1946. Minimum lot sizes for single family homes were designated for all sections of the Town and carefully limited commercial districts were specified in Branchville, in the Village and along Route 35 north of Main Street, and along Route 7 near the Route 35 intersection. As the first half of the twentieth century drew to a close, Ridgefield's population had reached 4,356 persons and was growing rapidly.
Fortunately some of Ridgefield's
scenic road character from this early era has been formally preserved for the future.
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Ridgefield Development: 1950 to Present
At the dawn of the post World War II period, Ridgefield retained much of the rural, estate and small-town quality which had characterized it for more than half a century. Gradual growth had created the Main Street business center, the surrounding village of residential streets, the small center at Branchville and random business enterprises along Ethan Allen Highway and Danbury Road. Maps of the forties show Ridgefield's countryside as rural land with widely spaced homes and still-large estates along the original meandering road network.
There were no outlying subdivisions, except around Wataba Lake. By then the countryside was predominantly forested, although open estate and farm lands still crowned many of the hills. Dirt roads and narrow country lanes still existed in many sections. By mid-century 1950, only 8% of the town's land area, 1,850 acres, had been developed, mostly in residential use.
The postwar exodus of jobs and housing to the suburbs quickly impacted Ridgefield. In 1946, an electronics laboratory, Electro-Mechanical Research Inc., located in Town and was followed two years later by the research center of Schlumberger Well Surveying Corporation. The New England Institute for Medical Research, a non-profit research center founded by university faculty members, located in Ridgefield in 1954.
CGS Laboratories, an electronics and communications research firm, was established in the late 1940's and expanded rapidly at its Ridgefield site through the following decade. The Town's quite surroundings, residential beauty and proximity to New York and various universities created an ideal atmosphere for research and technology industry.
Whereas in pre-war Ridgefield, hardly any residential subdivisions could be found outside the center or Branchville, by 1951 nearly two dozen new residential streets had been built at various locations throughout the Town. Land prices were rising and Ridgefield was becoming a community of choice for hundreds of families attracted to the area by the new corporate offices and research laboratories being built in Westchester and lower Fairfield County.
For an overview of the extent of land development in Ridgefield, CT near 1950, a review of 1946-51
USGS Topographic Maps for Ridgefield will be of interest.
Builders were rushing to fill the housing demand, the Town's population soared upward. Dozens of subdivisions claimed former farmland and estates as over a thousand new homes were constructed during the fifties. A substantial number of the new homes rose in subdivisions around several of the lakes.
By 1960, the Town's population reached 8,165 persons, an 87% increase in only a decade. School enrollment exploded, more than doubling in the decade from 1947 to 1957. Facing over- crowded conditions at the East Ridge School, the Town constructed a new elementary school nearby at Veterans' Park in 1952 and enlarged it with an addition in 1957. Despite the new classroom space and the opening of St. Mary's Parochial Elementary School in 1956, enrollment growth continued to outstrip the growth of facilities and town schools were on double sessions by 1960.
Responding to the unprecedented growth, the Town established a planning commission in the latter fifties. Subdivision
regulations- were adopted in 1959 and work began on a town plan with the aid of a consultant. Completed in 1960, the Town Plan was adopted in 1961.
Simultaneously and over the next several years, zoning was overhauled to create new lower-density residential zones, define business zones, and provide zones for light industry. As recommended in the Plan, a three acre per dwelling (residential RAAA) zone was created to protect the Round Pond watershed, source of the village water supply. Much of the remainder of the Town, outside the environs of the village and the several lake communities, was rezoned for two-acre lots (residential RAA). One-acre residential zoning was retained in developed areas around Fox Hill, Wataba and Mamanasco Lakes, in Branchville and in an area south of the village. Smaller lot zones, and several small apartment zones, were mapped out for the village where water and sewer services were available.
The Town's foresight in adopting a comprehensive plan and stronger land use regulations did little to deter the growth boom in the 1960's. As subdivisions became rampant throughout the Town, thousands of new homes rose in former fields and woodlands. The 1960 Town Plan had projected a ten year population growth to 13,500, but when the decade was concluded, Ridgefield's 1970 population had reached 18,800 persons, an astonishing 123% increase for the decade.
The sudden influx of 10,000 new residents produced a massive strain on Town services and the Town raced to build new schools and expand other facilities. Ridgebury, Farmingville, Scotland, Barlow Mountain and Branchville Elementary Schools and the East Ridge Junior High School were all constructed within about a dozen years after 1960, followed in the 1970's by a new Ridgefield High School on North Salem Road.
The Town Plan was updated in 1969, zoning regulations were refined and inland wetland regulation was delegated to the now consolidated Planning and Zoning Commission by the early seventies.
Growth continued during the 1970's, but slowed to a more moderate pace as skyrocketing land values and a national recession exerted restraining influences. Single family home construction throughout the Town accounted for much of the population growth, but apartments and condominiums were also being built along the northeast fringe of the village. A large shopping center, Copp's Hill Plaza, was completed on Danbury Road, and several small light industries were established on Ethan Allen Highway. There was a considerable growth of new commercial buildings in the several business zones.
Civic organizations also expanded during this period, including churches, clubs and recreation programs. Land acquisition of 389 acres of the Great Swamp was effected by the State, for flood control purposes, and a bequest to the State brought the 304-acre Pierrepont State Park into being. Other large tracts were being reserved for open space, and the Town adopted its first open space plan in 1980.
By 1980, the Town's population had increased to 20,120 persons, a somewhat more modest 11% increase over the preceding decade. In the 30 years since 1950, over 9,000 acres of land had been developed or committed to new uses, and less than half the Town's area remained vacant. The Town was no longer rural but a spacious exurban residential community.
The Town Plan was comprehensively revised and adopted in 1980. In addition to preserving the established centers and the low-density residential character of most of the Town, it advocated the development of campus-type research, office and light industrial uses at three locations. One of these, in north-eastern Ridgebury at the Danbury line, has been developed as the corporate headquarters of Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals on a site of over 100 acres.
Another site, north of Farmingville Road, has become a
residential subdivision and the third area, near the Routes 7 and 35 intersection, remains largely undeveloped.
A key recommendation of the 1980 plan was that at least 25% of the land in Ridgefield should be reserved from development as either public or private open space. An Open Space Inventory, published by the Conservation Commission in 1989 showed over 3,000 acres of land preserved, about 17% of the Town (excluding schools but including private clubs, cemeteries and water supply land as well as parks and dedicated open space land). Historic preservation, community facilities, public utilities, and community appearance were also addressed in the Town Plan.
The 1980's and early 1990's were a period of slow growth for the Town. Much of the land in Ridgefield had been subdivided by this time, and much of the remaining vacant land, which totaled about 7,600 acres, or 33% of the Town's area, was land more difficult to develop because of poor soils, slopes or wetlands.
The population increased by only 4%, to 20,919 persons during the decade from 1980 to 1990. The slow growth also reflected economic and demographic changes: a more slowly growing national economy and shrinking family sizes. Because there were fewer children in the public schools, the Town closed two elementary schools, Barlow Mountain and Branchville, and converted the old high school on East Ridge to Town Offices and rental office space.
As the 1990's progressed, the Town was once again updating its Town Plan to reflect the new realities of a mature residential community. Threatened with a massive development on one of its few remaining large tracts, the Town opted in 1996 to buy a 250 acre parcel in Ridgebury. An old farm on its southern border with Wilton, the Weir Farm was acquired and designated a National Historical Park, the first such park in Connecticut.
In 2000 Ridgefield reached a population of
23,643, reflecting a ten year growth rate of
13% compared to 3.6% for Connecticut as a
whole. Entering the new millennium, Ridgefield
finds itself endowed with a rich past and a promising future.
To better understand land use features in Ridgefield today, of value are inventories of the Town's
retail centers, large buildings housing major employers, corporate office developments, multi-family housing complexes and local places of worship.
To look into Ridgefield's future, view the state population projection for Ridgefield. Also of interest, local transportation improvement needs are defined in the Ridgefield section of the Transportation Planning Resource Center. For a logical path for Ridgefield's future land use to follow, the HVCEO Growth Guide Map presents sound advice.
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