Darien, Connecticut

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Darien, Connecticut
Seal
Located in Fairfield County, Connecticut
Coordinates: 41°03′04″N, 73°28′45″W
NECTA	Bridgeport-Stamford
Region	South Western Region
Incorporated	1820
Government
- Type	Representative town meeting
- First selectman	Evonne M. Klein
Area
- City	60.6 km²  (23.4 sq mi)
- Land	33.4 km² (12.9 sq mi)
Population (2005)
- City	20,452
- Density	612/km² (1,585/sq mi)
Time zone	Eastern (UTC-5)
- Summer (DST)	Eastern (UTC-4)
ZIP code	06820
Website: http://www.darien.org/

Darien is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. Like its neighbor to the north, New Canaan, Darien is one of the most affluent small communities in the United States.

Two Metro North railroad stations serve Darien: Noroton Heights and Darien.

Both the 1975 and the 2004 film versions of the novel The Stepford Wives were filmed in part in Darien.

The public library in Darien, the Darien Library, has consistently ranked in the top ten of its category in the HAPLR (Hennen's American Public Library Ratings)Index of libraries.

David Johnson was among a number of painters who depicted Darien in the late Nineteenth century. His Near Noroton, Connecticut (1875) is shown at right.

Contents 1 Local pronunciation of the town name 2 Government and politics 3 Public safety 3.1 Noroton Heights Fire Department 3.2 Noroton Fire Department 3.3 Darien Fire Department 3.4 Post 53 4 Geography 4.1 Sections of the Town 5 History 6 Education 6.1 Darien Public Schools 6.2 Private school 7 Local media 8 Recreation 8.1 Town-owned or unrestricted membership 8.2 Restricted membership clubs 8.3 Boy Scouts 9 Annual events 10 Notable people, past and present 11 Films shot in town 12 Notable (nonretail) businesses 13 Some notable retail businesses 14 Frederick J. Smith House 15 Demographics 16 Other Dariens in the United States 17 References 18 External links

[edit] Local pronunciation of the town name

Contrary to the "Darien" entries in all dictionaries, the vast majority of town residents pronounce the name of the community "Dairy-Ann", with the stress on the last syllable. Evonne Klein, the first selectwoman, pronounces it that way and says that's the way she hears it pronounced by "99 percent" of residents. The way locals pronounce it, it rhymes with "Mary Ann," not "Marion."

"You can always tell when someone is not from here because they do pronounce it the way it’s spelled," Louise Berry, director of the town library, said in a 2006 interview.^[1]

The town name was "frequently pronounced Dairy Ann" at least as far back as 1913, as reported in a travel book published that year.^[2]

[edit] Government and politics

Elected bodies in the town government are a five-member Board of Selectmen, a nine member Board of Education, a seven-member Board of Finance, a six-member Planning and Zoning Commission, three-member Board of Assessment Appeals, and a 100-member, nonpartisan Representative Town Meeting. The town has several elective offices as well: the town clerk, probate judge, registrar of voters, tax collector and treasurer.^[3]

The Board of Finance approves financial measures, including the town budget; the Board of Education controls the town's public schools; the Representative Town Meeting is the main legislative body of the town.

As of December 1, 2005, the town had 12,099 registered voters, with 6,445 Republicans (53.1 percent), 1,940 Democrats (16 percent) and 3,703 unaffiliated voters (30.6 percent).^[4] Darien is primarily a Republican town, voting for George Bush in the last 2 elections, but now has a Democrat in office as First Selectwoman. In 2003, Evonne Klein replaced Robert Harrel as first selecman, becoming the first Democrat to win the post in 14 years. Klein was re-elected in 2005.

[edit] Public safety

In 2005, the town police department responded to 20,030 incidents, including 595 motor vehicle accidents, 1,766 motor vehicle infractions, and issued 254 traffic tickets and 1,150 traffic warnings. Police made 104 arrests for driving under the influence and received reports of 152 larcenies, 27 burglaries, three attempted burglaries, 82 incidents of vandalism, 19 assaults and six motor vehicle thefts. Police made 33 larceny arrests, 10 for burglary, 11 for vandalism, 15 for assault. No robberies, rapes, arsons or murders were reported in 2005.^{[citation needed]}

The town received 1,675 false alarms in 2005, two actual alarms, 304 alarms that were canceled and 17 caused by weather.^[5]

The Town of Darien has three fire departments, all of which are staffed entirely by volunteers. These departments respond to all types of calls, including fire, electrical, CO alarms, motor vehicle accidents, downed power lines, cold water rescues, and any problem in the Long Island Sound.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Noroton Heights Fire Department

Founded 1903, the Noroton Heights Fire Department has about 150 members. "NHFD" is located on Noroton Avenue, and covers the northern part of Darien, including part of Interstate 95. Noroton Heights has a fleet of 5 active apparatus, including 2 Mack Engines, (21 and 23) 1 1988 Mack Quint, (20) which serves as their first due unit on most structural calls, a 1975 Mack Tanker, (22) and a 1989 Mack Resuce. Noroton Heights also has a Utility Truck, Truck 24, which is a 1991 Chevy Silverado, and a Chief's Car, Unit 200.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Noroton Fire Department

Founded in 1896, NFD has 140 members, about 35 whom are active. NFD is located on Boston Post Road, and covers the smallest portion of Darien out of the 3 departments. Noroton covers the southern part of the Town of Darien, covering all the way down to the Stamford line. NFD currently has an active fleet of 5 apparatus: Engine 32, a 2002 Marion Pumper, which is first due on all structural calls and motor vehicle accidents. Engine 31, a 1972 open cab Maxim pumper, which is Noroton's second due engine. Ladder 30, a 1994 Sutphen Aerial, nicknamed "The Big Stick," for its 104' aerial. Rescue 33, a 1988 International Marion Medium Duty Rescue. NFD also operates the only firefighting and rescue capable marine unit in the town of Darien. Marine Unit 34 allows Noroton to respond year-round to the various types of emergencies that occur on Long Island Sound, and responds frequently to mutual aid calls from surrounding towns, and is in service year round. Noroton also has a Utility Truck, Truck 35, a 2001 Ford F-350.^{[citation needed]}

In the late 1950s, the fire department was used for a "Lucky Strike" cigarettes advertising campaign. Two firefighters are shown, cigarettes in their mouths, pausing as they wash fire engines in front of the building. A message in small type at the top of the advertisement asks smokers to "take care with cigarettes".^[6]

[edit] Darien Fire Department

Founded in 1895, covers the eastern side of town, encompassing about 45 percent of the land area.^[7] The Noroton Heights and Darien Fire Departments cover a portion of Interstate 95 from exits 9 southbound to exit 13/14 northbound, one of the most disaster-prone stretches of highway in the country.^[8] Darien has a fleet of 5 active apparatus in their "barn." Darien recently purchased two twin Pierce Pumpers to replace their Mack engines. (Engine 41 and 42) Darien also owns a 1971 Mack Tower Ladder with 75' aerialscope, a 2004 Salusbury Rescue, and a 1996 Mack Tanker. Darien also owns a Utilty Truck 46, a 2002 Chevy Silverado, and a Chief's car. Also stored in Darien's firehouse is a 1928 Ahrens Fox Pumper, which is no longer in service, although still very active in parades.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Post 53

An ambulance service, Darien EMS known as "Post 53" (run by a Boy Scout Explorer post and open to both boys and girls) is the only ambulance service in the nation staffed and run entirely by high school student volunteers.^{[citation needed]}

The service provides emergency care at no cost to the patient, funded entirely by private donations from town residents. Teenagers are allowed to perform patient care due to the fact that Connecticut is one the few states in the nation which allows Emergency medical technicians to be certified at age 16.^{[citation needed]}

Supervised by trained adults, Post 53 lets in 15 teenagers a year to join the crew. "Each student receives at least 150 hours of training for basic certification as emergency medical technicians; by their senior year, some even qualify to drive the ambulance."^[9]

[edit] Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 38.4 km² (14.8 mi²). 33.3 km² (12.9 mi²) of it is land and 5.2 km² (2.0 mi²) of it (13.41%) is water. The town has four exits on Interstate 95 and its northern border runs near to the Merritt Parkway. It also has two Metro North railroad stations for commuter trains into New York City, with a 38-39 mile commute of 46-50 minutes from Noroton Heights, 49-53 from Darien. Most trains run non-stop after Stamford into New York City's 125th Street then Grand Central Terminal. The central part of town is on US Route 1, known locally as the Boston Post Road, or Post Road for short. Commercial zoning is extremely limited outside of this town-wide strip.

Darien is bordered on the west by Stamford, on the north by New Canaan, and on the east by Norwalk. On the south it faces Long Island Sound. It is part of the "panhandle" of Connecticut sticking out into New York state. The town has 16.5 miles of coastlline and five harbors.

[edit] Sections of the Town

In addition to some small neighborhoods, the larger divisions of the town (which are not governed separately except for volunteer fire department services) are Noroton (roughly in the southwest corner of town) and Noroton Heights (roughly north of Interstate 95 to Middlesex Avenue with an eastern boundary somewhere east of Noroton Avenue. Tokeneke is in the southeastern end of town.

The Noroton section of Darien is defined by two peninsulas that claw their way into Long Island Sound, their curved appendages protecting enough coves and inlets to make the area a haven for beachgoers and sailors. It is the water, however, that gives Noroton both its name -- an Indian word assigned to the river along Darien's border with Stamford -- and its identity. The shorter of the peninsulas, Noroton Neck, is divided into shore communities like Noroton Bay and Pratt Island.^[9]

Long Neck peninsula, which extends farther into Long Island Sound, providing westerly views of Manhattan, is just as exclusive. Accessed by the Ring's End Landing bridge, a graceful stone structure that marks a major shipping point for early settlers, Long Neck became a summer destination for the wealthy when rail travel made it accessible during the mid-1800s.^[9]

Noroton Heights "grew up around the Noroton Heights train station and housed the European immigrants who serviced the old estates," according to an article about the community in The New York Times. The densely populated streets of this part of town are full of "modest Capes and colonials" along with other house styles.^[9]

[edit] History

For more information, see: History of Darien, Connecticut

Originally part of Stamford, this area became Middlesex Parish in 1737. It was incorporated as the Town of Darien in 1820. Settlement had begun in the 1680s. Tories raided the town several times during the American Revolution, at one point taking 26 men in the parish prisoner for five months, including the Rev. Moses Mather, pastor of the parish. The Tory-Patriot conflict in Darien is the setting for the novel Tory Hole, the first book by children's author Louise Hall Tharp.

According to the Darien Historical Society, the name Darien was decided upon when the residents of the town could not agree on a name to replace Middlesex Parish, many families wanting it to be named after themselves. A sailor who had traveled to Darién, Panama, then part of Colombia, suggested the name Darien, which was eventually adopted by the people of the town.

Until the advent of the railroad in 1848, Darien remained a small, rural community of about 1,000. After the Civil War, the town became a one of the many resorts where prosperous New Yorkers built summer homes. A few daily commuters to New York City then were forerunners of the many who have settled here and changed Darien into a residential suburb of metropolitan New York.

[edit] Education

Main article: Education in Darien, Connecticut

[edit] Darien Public Schools

The town has five Elementary Schools, each with a Parent-Teacher Organization: Hindley School, Holmes School, Ox Ridge School, Royle School, and Tokeneke School. A $27 million addition was completed in 2000 to the town's middle school, Middlesex Middle School, and a new $73 million campus for Darien High School was completed in the fall of 2005.^[9]

Donald Fiftal is superintendent of schools.

[edit] Private school

Pear Tree Point School, originally named Plumfield School, serves students in pre-kindergarten through Grade 5.

[edit] Local media

Darien is served by two local weeklies: Darien News-Review and the Darien Times. Other newspapers from towns close to Darien, such as The Advocate, are read and sold in Darien. (The town is covered in the Stamford edition of the paper; there is also a Norwalk edition.) New Canaan Darien Magazine is a monthly published by Moffly Publications. The topix.net website collects stories about Darien from various news organization websites. Educational Access channel 78 also serves the community bringing news about the schools as well as coverage of school sporting events.

[edit] Recreation

[edit] Town-owned or unrestricted membership

• Cherry Lawn Park — 27.5 acres, 120 Brookside Road
• Darien Y — the local Y.M.C.A., offers more than 300 programs.
• Public beaches:
  • Weed Beach 22.12 acres at 155 Nearwater Lane, Noroton
  • Pear Tree Point Beach 7.95 acres at 127 Pear Tree Point Road
• Woodland Park Nature Preserve — 64.717 acres on Middlesex Road
• Baker Park — 11.72 acres at 75 Noroton Ave. (site of the former Baker School)
• Frate Park — 0.83 acres at the corner of Middlesex Road and Leroy Avenue
• McGuane Park — 7.5 acreas, 221 Noroton Ave.
• Selleck's Woods Nature Preserve — 28.093 acres on Little Brook Road
• Stony Brook Park — 11.3 acres on Ledge Road
• Town Hall and Holahan Fields — 10 acres at 2 Renshaw Road
• Tilly Pond Park — 8.651 acres on Lakeside Avenue

[edit] Restricted membership clubs

• Country Club of Darien -- The club has the second-largest estimated property value of any entity in town, with $23.2 million in assessed value (equal to 70 percent of estimated actual value) behind only the Wee Burn Country Club.^[10]
• Darien Boat Club--The Boat Club offers a well protected anchorage for the membership's boats in a picturesque residential setting. The Long Island Sound is easily and quickly accessed by the short harbor in which it is situated between the many harbors of Stamford and Norwalk. The Darien Boat Club is idealy located for day trips to the Norwalk Islands, Five Mile River, Norwalk Harbor, Stamford Harbor, and only seven miles away from the north shore of Long Island to the south. Founded in the late 1940s, and open to the residents of Darien, the membership has grown from a few charter members, to 850+ and their families.
• Noroton Yacht Club -- Former members of "the world-renowned" club "have included two America's Cup skippers." The club runs the largest junior sailing program in the county.^[9] The club was founded in 1928 and built its first clubhouse the following year.
• Ox Ridge Hunt Club -- On 37 acres, the club hosts a popular annual horse show held since 1926. The club was founded in 1911
• Piedmont Club -- Not a country club, the "Società Umberto Principe di Piemonte, Inc." was organized July 15, 1916 and "a well-appointed and commodious clubhouse" just off Noroton Avenue was erected in 1923, according to a town history published in 1935.^[11]
• Shippan Racquet Club
• Tokeneke Club When developers of Tokeneke were trying to sell real estate there, they found that ensuring access to a beach removed some hesitation on the part of prospective buyers, so they founded the Tokeneke Beach Club in 1907, acquiring "a small stretch of shore on which stood a dilapidated double-decker bathhouse and a broken pier," soon replaced.^[12] See "The Tokeneke Club a family album 1907-1987," with information compiled by long-time Tokeneke (private roads) resident and Tokeneke Club member Kay Oresman.
• Wee Burn Country Club -- formed in 1895, it is the first organized golf club in the state and "either the second or third in the United States." The name of the club was taken from a small stream, Stony Brook, which ran through the old grounds. Originally a small house on the Post Road in Noroton (across the street from St. Luke's Episcopal Church^[13]) was rented for a clubhouse and nearby land for a seven-hole course was rented. The lease stipulated that the links couldn't prevent the landlord from continuing to use the fields as pasture for his cows. Eventually more land was bought on Hollow Tree Ridge Road^[14] and the course was enlarged to nine holes and then 18 by (at the latest) the 1930s.^[15] The club is the largest taxpayer in Darien, with an assessed property value (equal to 70 percent of estimated value) of $29.8 million.^[10]
• Woodway Country Club, founded in 1916 when some members of the Wee Burn Country Club decided the small Wee Burn links, then near the Post Road in Noroton, were getting too crowded. The club bought 150 acres of land in Darien and another 45 in Stamford, and an 18-hole course was opened July 1, 1918.^[16] The club was the sixth largest taxpayer, according to the October 1, 2004 town Grand List. The assessed value of the property (equal to 70 percent of actual estimated value) was $19.9 million.^[10]

[edit] Boy Scouts

Darien has two Boy Scout troops, a Boy Scout Ship and Explorer Post 53 (see Public safety section, above). Both troops and the Ship are funded by the Andrew Shaw Memorial Trust; other funding comes from the annual May tag sale at the Scout Cabin on West Avenue, which has raised more than $50,000 in some years. These Boy Scout units are in town:

• Troop 35 — founded in 2004 when the town's existing troop (Troop 53) got too big.
• Troop 53 — the town's original Boy Scout troop, founded in 1918.
• Ship 53 — founded in recent years to let kids countunue there scouting experience at * Post 53 — see above

[edit] Annual events

• May — Boy Scout Troop 35 and 53 Tag Sale
• Memorial Day — Post 53 Food Fair at Tilly Pond Park
• Summer — annual Sidewalk Sale (sponsored by the Darien Chamber of Commerce)
• Ox Ridge Horse Show
• Tokeneke Pumpkin Fair (Not held in 2006 due to construction)
• Hindley Happening Fair

[edit] Notable people, past and present

For more information, see List of people from Darien, Connecticut

Actors and actresses who have lived in town include former resident Christopher Plummer (who lived on Long Neck Point, and now lives in Weston), Kate Bosworth, Topher Grace, Chloë Sevigny. Film director Gus Van Sant went to high school in Darien. Moby partly grew up in town. Rudolph Valentino was said to have had a Spanish-style home at the entrance of Salem Straits. Actor Frank Poretta and his wife, soprano and former Miss Ohio, Roberta Palmer-Poretta, have lived on Brushy Hill Road in Darien for many years; their daughter Anna is a television writer, son Frank is an opera singer, and son Matthew is an actor (TV's Robin Hood in the 1990s). Rachel Welch was rumored to have lived in Ridge Acres in the 1970s.

People famous in other fields have also called Darien home: Margaret Bourke-White, the late photojournalist, lived in town first with author Erskine Caldwell, then in the same home on Point O'Woods South after their divorce. Artist John Stobart lived in the town for many years when his children were young; prints of his historical painting of Rings End Landing were popular in the 1970s, after the town's 150th anniversary. Producer and NBC executive Grant Tinker reared his family in Darien in the 1960s and 1970s. New York Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman also lives in town.

Charles Lindbergh the late aviator, and his wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh lived on Tokeneke Trail, and Leslie Groves - military head of the Manhattan Project, afterward lived in town. Christopher Shays, the Republican congressman representing Connecticut's Fourth District, was born in Darien (and now lives in Bridgeport). Irish-born opera singer John McCormack was said to have lived in a large waterfront home with a large dock on Pear Tree Point Road^{[citation needed]}, just past the curve near Pear Tree Point Beach. Steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie vacationed for several summers at what became the Convent of the Sacred Heart (divided into many private estates in the 1970s) at Long Neck Point.^[17]

[edit] Films shot in town

• In Bloom (2006)
• The Stepford Wives (2004)
• American Dream (2002)
• Cannonball Run II (1984)
• Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
• The Stepford Wives (1975)

--Internet Movie DataBase web page on films using Darien as a shooting location

[edit] Notable (nonretail) businesses

• Ariasys and ARIA Worldwide Inc., (headquarters) 381 Post Road
• Applied Psychological Techniques Inc. (headquarters)
• Cantor Fitzgerald, (not the headquarters) 6 Thorndal Circle
• Euro Pacific Capital, brokerage firm run by Peter Schiff (president and owner), nicknamed "Dr. Doom," and a frequent guest on CNBC, and Bloomberg television and is quoted in major publications.^[18]
• Jupiter Media Corporation (headquarters)
• Colangelo Synergy Marketing (headquarters)

[edit] Some notable retail businesses

• Barrett Bookstore, Noroton Heights Shopping Center
• Darien News Store
• Darien Sport Shop, originally for sporting, but now all kinds of clothes and gifts
• Giovannis II restaurant
• Ring's End, successful lumber company with several locations, started in Darien
• Palmer's Supermarket (locally owned)
• Sugar Bowl 1033 Boston Post Road, classic luncheonette
• Post Corner Pizza
• Papa Joe's Restaurant, Italian restaurant, family-owned since the late 1970s (and yes, the owner's name is Joe)

[edit] Frederick J. Smith House

A notable work of modern architecture in town is the Frederick J. Smith House, designed by architect Richard Meier. The house was planned starting in 1965 and completed in 1967.

"There is a formal layering, giving a sense of progression, as one moves across the site from the entrance road down to the shore, and the 'line of progression' determines the major site axis. Perpendicular to this axis, the intersecting planes in the house respond to the rhythms of the slope, trees, rock outcroppings, and the shoreline."

— Richard Meier. Richard Meier, Architect. New York: Oxford University Press, 1976. p23.^[19]

The home has been featured in numerous books, including:

• Roger H. Clark and Michael Pause, Precedents in Architecture, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1985, ISBN 0-442-21668-8 (plan and section diagrams, p154)
• Peter Gossel and Gabriele Leuthauser, Architecture in the Twentieth Century, Germany: Benedikt Taschen Verlag, 1991. ISBN 3-8228-0550-5 (large color exterior photo, p280)
• Paul Heyer, American Architecture: Ideas and Ideologies in the Late Twentieth Century, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1993 ISBN 0-442-01328-0 (exterior photo of transparent facade, p167)
• William S. Saunders, Modern Architecture—Photographs by Ezra Stoller, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Publishers, 1990, ISBN 0-8109-3816-2 (exterior photo, p200, 202; interior, p201; many small photos, p212-213)

[edit] Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 19,607 people, 6,592 households, and 5,385 families residing in the town. A July 1, 2002 Census estimate put the town's population at 19,887. The population density was 588.7/km² (1,525.2/mi²). There were 6,792 housing units at an average density of 203.9 persons/km² (528.3 persons/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 95.97% White, 0.45% African American, 0.04% Native American, 2.42% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.30% from other races, and 0.80% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.19% of the population.

There were 6,592 households out of which 46.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 74.5% were married couples living together, 5.6% have a woman whose husband does not live with her, and 18.3% were non-families. 15.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.95 and the average family size was 3.31.

In the town the population was spread out with 32.5% under the age of 18, 3.0% from 18 to 24, 28.2% from 25 to 44, 24.0% from 45 to 64, and 12.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 96.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.7 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $146,755, and the median income for a family was $173,777. Males had a median income of $100,000 versus $59,313 for females. The per capita income for the town was $77,519. 2.0% of the population and 0.6% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 1.6% are under the age of 18 and 2.6% are 65 or older.

With a median home price of approximately $1 million, Darien is one of the most expensive places to live in North America, and was rated one of the best places to live in America by CNN in 2005.

[edit] Other Dariens in the United States

The City of Darien, Illinois was named after this Connecticut town when it was incorporated in 1969. When the incorporation committee reached an impasse on an acceptable name for the new city, Acting Mayor Sam Kelly suggested "Darien". Kelly had visited Darien, Connecticut, and found it to be a very pleasant and attractive community.

Other Dariens:

• Darien, Georgia
• Darien, New York
• Village of Darien, Wisconsin
• Town of Darien, Wisconsin

[edit] References

1. ^ [1] "The town name that sounds like a milk maid," "Grapevine" column, The Fairfield County Business Journal, July 10, 2006
2. ^ [2] Jenkins, Stephen, The Old Boston Post Road, (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1913), as quoted at a Web page titled "Darien: Stephen Jenkins' Darien, 1913" at the ""USGenWeb Project" Web site, accessed March 28, 2007
3. ^ "Darien Government Guide: 2006", a brochure published by the League of Women Voters of Darien
4. ^ Revitalization: Town of Darien Annual Report, 2004-2005, page24
5. ^ Darien Answer Book, page 44
6. ^ 1959 magazine advertisement for Lucky Strike cigarettes
7. ^ Darien Answerbook '06, page 42
8. ^
9. ^ ^{a b c d e f} [3] Prevost, Lisa, "A Haven for Both Sailors and Commuters," an article (part of the ongoing "If you're thinking of living in" feature) in the Real Estate section of The New York Times, December 14, 2003, accessed online on July 14, 2003
10. ^ ^{a b c} Revitalization: Town of Darien Annual Report, 2004-2005, page 11
11. ^ Case, Henry J. and Cooper, Simon W. Town of Darien: Founded 1641, Incorporated 1820, Darien Community Association, 1935, p. 86, HEREAFTER Case
12. ^ Case, p. 20
13. ^ "Darien: 1641-1820-1970: Historical Skteches," edited by Bertha Mather McPherson, published by the Darien Community Association, 1970; "A Brief History of Darien," by Louise H. McLean, p. 17, hereafter McLean
14. ^ McLean, p. 17
15. ^ Case, pp. 26-27
16. ^ Case, p. 28
17. ^ Case
18. ^ "Prophet of Doom? Darien market bear says U.S. investors' ship is sinking," article by Julie Fishman-Lapin in The Advocate of Stamford, Business section, August 6, 2006, pp. F1, F6
19. ^ [4]As quoted on the "Great Buildings" Web site, accessed July 19, 2006.

[edit] External links

Government:

• Town Website
• The Darien Housing Authority's Official Website

Environmental and Recreational:

• Cherry Lawn Community Gardens
• Darien Audubon Society
• Darien Community YMCA, 2420 Post Road
• Darien Environmental Group
• YMCA of Darien-Norwalk 49 Old Kings Highway North, Darien
• Coastal Fairfield County Convention & Visitor Bureau

Cultural:

• Darien Arts Center, Darien Town Hall 2 Renshaw Road
• Darien Historical Society
• Darien Library, 35 Leroy Avenue
• Darien Nature Center, 120 Brookside Road
• Darien Players theater group
• Darien Community Association, 274 Middlesex Road

Social:

• The Depot, youth center on Heights Road
• Ox Ridge Hunt Club, 512 Middlesex Road

Social Assistance Groups:

• American Red Cross Darien Chapter
• Center for Hope, 590 Post Road
• Children's Council of Darien, 49 Old King's Highway North
• CTE Inc., an anti-poverty agency serving Stamford, Greenwich and Darien
• Darien Book Aid Plan Inc., 1926 Post Road
• Darien United Way, 701 Post Road
• Person to Person 1864 Post Road (St. Luke's Church)

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