Watertown History Page by Charlie Crowell

10/31/2026

Here’s a Halloween-enhanced look at the grave of Titus Foote at the Old Burial Grounds on Main Street.

On May 5, 1861, the Watertown farmer became the town's first ever murder victim. The crime was a chilling one.

Mr. Foote was 79 years old (contrary to what his headstones says) living with a 19 year old Irish housekeeper named Hannah Donavan.

Foote's house stood near the corner of Echo Lake Road and Buckingham Street. It was there that Donavan crushed his skull with an axe as he was lying in bed.

It didn’t take long before neighbors noticed that Mr. Foote had not been out and about and they decided to investigate. Upon entering his bedroom they found, beneath a blood-soaked sheet, the mutilated body of the old man. The Waterbury American ran a full and vivid account of the murder:

"His head bore the marks in three places of blows from some heavy instrument, the skull broken in, one ear partly cut off, and there was a severe contusion on the cheek. An axe with which the deed was committed was afterwards found under a lounge, covered with blood and hairs.”

The housekeeper was located several miles away at a home on Northfield Road. She was arrested, tried and convicted of murder at the county courthouse in Litchfield. She served six years in prison but was then pardoned by the General Assembly. After that, she disappeared. She may have been deported.

The murder of Titus Foote has striking similarities to the infamous Lizzie Borden case in Fall River, MA. in 1892. In both cases there was an elderly man murdered. The victims were killed with an axe and both men were lying down at the time of the attack. Both households employed an Irish housekeeper and even the houses were of similar vintage.

Lizzie Borden denied having committed the crime and was acquitted. Watertown's Hannah Donavan wasn't so lucky.

Titus Foote’s house burned down in 2010.

10/30/2026

https://youtu.be/nCNPPs_Lpho VIDEO

HALLOWEEN - 60 Plus Years Ago

Here's an old home movie showing Judson School's Annual Halloween Parade way back in 1964 or 1965.

Astronauts, devils, cowboys, Indians, the Beatles, Superman, Frankenstein and Zorro were among the popular themes back then. Prizes were given out for the best costumes and the winners are shown including a couple of costumes made from old potato sacks.

The Halloween parade was a much anticipated annual tradition, as was the end of the year watermelon party.

Judson opened in 1956 as a campus style school and for those who attended the school before the big enlargement and remodeling of the early 70s, the view of the buildings and the grounds will bring back memories.

The teacher with the dark suit and gold colored tie was Jerry Canty, a 4th grade teacher at the time.

The gentleman in the center of all the activity with the glasses was my father Livingston Crowell, the school principal from 1956 until 1982. He also makes a one second appearance at the end of the video.

The dorky kid dressed as Superman was me. The costume came from the Sears catalog. My mother shot the film with an 8mm home movie camera.

Here's an old home movie showing Judson School 's Annual Halloween ...

10/26/2026

Happy Halloween! I know i’ve been neglecting my work here quite bit lately but I’ll be returning to it soon. In the meantime, have an epic All Hallows' Eve!

10/07/2026

Here’s a wide view of the old Heminway-Bartlett factory on Echo Lake Road. The silk company was founded in September of 1888 by Buell Heminway and H.H. Bartlett. Heminway was the son of Merrit Heminway who had founded his own silk factory (also on Echo Lake Road) in the 1840's.

Buell Heminway was president of Heminway & Bartlett until his death in 1915 when Mr. Bartlett assumed the presidency.

The factory was located right at the end of the Watertown-Waterbury railroad line. In fact on one occasion in 1902, the train’s brakes failed and it steamed off the end of the tracks and smashed into the Heminway & Bartlett well.

It was the only one of the big seven local factories not located directly on The banks of Steele Brook.

The brick structure was the company’s office building.

(October 2010 Photo)

10/06/2026

These corn stalks escaped the harvester in a field off Gurnseytown Road back in October 2010. In the distance was the red Tara Farm barn which was still partially standing. This farm was known for many years as Cherry Farm.

10/06/2026

Here’s an early photograph looking down DeForest Street.

The Town Hall (built in 1894) is on the right and a team of horses is coming around the corner from what was known as Town Hall Hill, now Veteran's Hill.

The Civil War monument is present which dates the picture after October 1908.

The short post with the cone shaped top was where public notices were posted. In 2017 there was a messy controversy about an identical post still standing on the Waterbury Green.

The claim was that it was a whipping post used to punish slaves in the old days which was sheer nonsense and a total fabrication.

Regardless, the mayor had the post removed despite absolutely no evidence to support the claim.

09/12/2026

Here's a bunch of kindergarteners from the 1963-64 school year. Most of these kids went on to graduate WHS in 1976.

The teacher was Mrs. Grayson.

The Class of ‘76 is having their 50th year reunion tonight.

08/18/2026

After President Taft’s visit to Watertown in 1909, local druggist Dan Sullivan put this poster together, presumably for display in his store window.

It shows photographs he took that day, two of which I featured in recent posts.

President Taft was in town on December 18th to attend his sister-in-law Winfred’s funeral at Taft school. Winfred (or Winnie as she was known) died of cancer. She was the wife of Horace Taft, founder of Taft School. Horace was the president’s brother.

The pictures seen here are the only known photos from that day aside from two photos taken by reporters.

One of the reporter photos was of the president’s railroad car “The Mayflower”. Another was taken at Taft School of the president and his two brothers together.

Pretty much the whole town turned out at the train depot on Depot Street to see the chief executive.

The president was accompanied by various Secret Service men and his personal military aid Colonel Archibald Butt.

A little over two years later, the Colonel went down with the Titanic. He is considered one of the heroes of the tragedy, having kept order, last seen by the railing with an iron bar in his hand.

An amusing thing happened during the president’s visit to Watertown. After disembarking the train, a carriage was waiting to take him to Taft School.

As the large overweight president stepped on the step to climb into the carriage, it looked like the whole carriage was about to fall over on him.

The crowd gasped.

Perhaps even funnier was that the president became wedged in the doorway of the carriage. Colonel Butt shoved the president through the opening and the carriage headed to the school.

The carriage was provided by the very wealthy Mrs. Buckingham who lived in the large home facing the center of The Green. The carriage was considered the finest in town.

I recently acquired this item along with many more photos related to Sullivan’s Drug Store.

08/17/2026

This stone retaining wall at the corner of Main Street and Woodruff Avenue was built in early 1907 by the Connecticut Railway and Lighting Company.

The company built the trolley line from Waterbury to Watertown that year and needed to widen the roadway.

The town insisted that the trolley tracks run in a third lane along the west side of Main Street so not to hinder other vehicles.

Consequently, a slice of land had to be purchased from all the Main Street property owners after which this retaining wall was constructed.

Many of the property owners took advantage of the situation and profited handsomely.

With a little imagination, you can picture the trolleys passing this scene right up close to the wall.

Other retaining walls built by the trolley company along Main Street included the big one at the bottom of Academy Hill, the one at the bottom of Cherry Avenue, and another that was located where Crestwood Ford was. That one was removed in the early 1960s.

Today, the retaining wall seen here is giving way to progress and new sidewalks.

That’s St. John’s School in the distance.

08/17/2026

This was President William H. Taft arriving at the Watertown depot on December 18, 1909. He came to town for his sister-in-law’s funeral at Taft School.

He is seen on the open rear observation platform of the presidential railroad car called “The Mayflower”.

The young boy behind the president was Charlie Taft, the president’s son. He was a student at Taft School and made his way through the crowd to greet his father although at first, Secret Service men didn’t recognize him causing a bit of a delay.

The Mayflower was a famous custom-made private Pullman railroad car used as a "rolling White House" by early 20th-century U.S. presidents.

The car Included a secure, comfortable sleeping bedroom and personal living space where the president could rest during overnight transit between cities.

The buildings in the distance lined Depot Street going up toward Main Street.

This photo was taken by local druggist Daniel Sullivan. This is the original photo, now in my collection of Watertown by stuff.