Watertown History Page by Charlie Crowell

Watertown History Page by Charlie Crowell History of Watertown CT

For you fans of Watertown’s “Stone House” on the corner of DeForest Street and The Green, here’s a very similar house cu...
08/09/2026

For you fans of Watertown’s “Stone House” on the corner of DeForest Street and The Green, here’s a very similar house currently for sale.

This one however, is located a little way into Woodbury on Route 6.

Asking price? $865,000.

Built in 1854, this Italianate home showcases a highly symmetrical square layout, a low-pitched roof line with deep overhanging eaves, and a distinctive rooftop belvedere (cupola).

Something not mentioned in the real estate listing is that in 1978, there was a grisly double m*rder in the house.

On the afternoon of May 3, 1978, the bodies of Bruce Gilbert and Henry Kulesza were found in their combination home-antique shop in Woodbury (seen here). Gilbert was lying dead on the kitchen floor. His death was attributed to stab wounds of the abdomen. Kulesza's body was discovered at the foot of a set of stairs. His death was caused by multiple fractures of the skull and stab wounds of the chest. Death in both instances had occurred the previous night. The premises were in disarray, and the upstairs rooms, one of which contained a safe, appeared to have been ransacked.

The tragedy was the result of a botched burglary by four men, two from Waterbury and two from Watertown.

The murders sent shockwaves through the normally peaceful town of Woodbury and beyond.

ST. JOHN'S SCHOOI Class of 1916 and 1917 (two classes in one room, taught together. 1916 was first class to complete the...
08/08/2026

ST. JOHN'S SCHOOI Class of 1916 and 1917 (two classes in one room, taught together. 1916 was first class to complete the 8 grades since the school opened in 1908.

Row A. top: Catherine Costenbader, George Sullivan, Julia Habelka, Michael Dunn, (unidentified), Dorothy Rodden, Mary Panilaitis, Francis Keilty.

Row B. middle: Clara Brandmeyer, Iva Bellerieve, Henrietta St. George, Elizabeth O'Neill, John Cadden, Madeline Gamble, Wilfred Farrell, Alice Sullivan.

Row C. bottom: Harriet Slason, Helen Cook, Leo Hanning, Joseph Hanning, Josephine Miller, James O'Donnell, Fames Farrell, Grace O'Connor.

(Photo originally owned by Miss Alice Sullivan, [1902-1994] Cutler St.)

This was the Country Cinema building under construction in 1917. This was built by the Watertown Civic Union. The intent...
08/04/2026

This was the Country Cinema building under construction in 1917.

This was built by the Watertown Civic Union. The intention was for the building to be self-sufficient with stores on the street level and a hall upstairs, all to be rented out.

The basement offered more space and bowling lanes were installed early on.

The theater was operated by the Civic Union itself until 1932 when it too was rented out.

Watertown High School graduation ceremonies were held on the stage at the theater until the new high school on Heminway Park Road opened in 1929.

The Civic Union sold the building in 1950. It has been in private hands since.

During its 102 year lifetime, the theater operated under three different names.

Community Theater (1917-1932)
Cameo (1932-1972)
Country Cinema (1972-2019)

The building changed hands in 2019. The new owners announced intentions of renaming the theater to the Watertown Stage, but nothing ever became of the project and the theater sits unused today.

This photo is credited to Daniel Sullivan. Sullivan was an avid amateur photographer. Many of the early postcard views of Watertown were taken by Mr. Sullivan.

This was the inside of Sullivan’s Drug Store at the corner of Main Street and Heminway Park Road. Behind the soda founta...
08/03/2026

This was the inside of Sullivan’s Drug Store at the corner of Main Street and Heminway Park Road.

Behind the soda fountain counter were Doris O’Dell, Alice Sullivan, and Daniel Sullivan.

There’s no date on this photo but I’d guess the 1940s.

Dan opened his drug store in 1899 in an old house on the corner of Depot Street. Later he moved up Main Street to “the brick store” (later a bank) on the corner of Echo Lake Road.

Then in 1917 he built the location seen here.

Mr. Sullivan stepped away from the business in 1937 when he was appointed local postmaster. He died in 1955.

His daughter Alice carried on the drug store until 1967 when the property was sold to Bill Quigley for use as a sporting goods store.

This 1913 photo shows students on the front lawn of Baldwin School on North Street. Unfortunately, I don’t have the name...
08/02/2026

This 1913 photo shows students on the front lawn of Baldwin School on North Street.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the names of these kids except in the third row, third from the left (in the darker dress) is Alice Sullivan (1902-1992).

She was the daughter of local pharmacy owner Daniel Sullivan. She would go on to become a pharmacist like her dad, a somewhat unusual feat for a woman back then.

Sullivan’s Drug Store opened in 1899.

Eventually, Dan turned the business over to Alice when he was appointed the Watertown Postmaster position.

Dan died in 1955. Alice continued the drug store until 1967 after which she was a pharmacist at March’s Pharmacy in Oakville.

Baldwin school opened in 1907 and closed in 2000. It was aquired by Taft School in 2014 and is still there today.

Here’s a little Christmas in July post. This is the old Sullivan House on Cutler Street beautifully deck out for the hol...
07/30/2026

Here’s a little Christmas in July post. This is the old Sullivan House on Cutler Street beautifully deck out for the holidays in 2019.

The house was built in 1890 and about a decade later, was purchased by local druggist Daniel Sullivan.

I’ll be posting quite a bit about Dan, his daughter Alice (also a pharmacist) and their popular drug store on Main Street in the coming days. I recently acquired a large collection of old photos related to the business and family.

The pharmacy operated from 1899 until 1967.

The Sullivan House is currently owned by John Sullivan (no relations to Dan & Alice).

I took this photo 50 years ago today, on July 4, 1976. This was immediately after the Watertown Bicentennial Parade as t...
07/04/2026

I took this photo 50 years ago today, on July 4, 1976. This was immediately after the Watertown Bicentennial Parade as the massive crowd dispersed.

This gang was headed up Cherry Avenue.

I remember looking over my shoulder and seeing this scene so I stopped, turned around and took the shot.

Everyone was headed home for cookouts or other such endeavors. Later, thousands converged on DeLand Field for fireworks.

The bicentennial was a whopping half century ago today, and there wasn’t a cell phone in sight. No one has bicentennial selfies.

In the distance was the firehouse and Traver’s Texaco Station and garage. My father worked at the garage as a teenager in the 1940s. It was a Cities Service gas station then.

He was working there on Sunday, December 7, 1941 when a customer pulled in and asked if he had heard that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor.

He replied, “Where’s Pearl Harbor?”

Before the war was over, Dad would go on to fly 25 combat missions over mainland Japan as a B29 pilot. 🇺🇸

VIP's in the Bicentennial Parade, July 4, 1976, passing the reviewing stand in front of the firehouse on Main Street. L ...
07/04/2026

VIP's in the Bicentennial Parade, July 4, 1976, passing the reviewing stand in front of the firehouse on Main Street. L to R Bernie Beauchamp, Col. James Bruno, representing Gov, Ella Grasso, Norman Stephen, Bicentennial Chairman and Bob Pettinichi, Parade Chairman.

The stone retaining wall in the background was built in 1907 when the trolley line was built.

This was an event held at the Old Burial Grounds on Main Street during the bicentennial in 1976 honoring the Revolutiona...
07/04/2026

This was an event held at the Old Burial Grounds on Main Street during the bicentennial in 1976 honoring the Revolutionary War soldiers buried there.

Here's a photo I took 50 years ago today, July 4, 1976, during the bicentennial parade. The building on the right was re...
07/04/2026

Here's a photo I took 50 years ago today, July 4, 1976, during the bicentennial parade. The building on the right was recently demolished, now the site of a municipal parking lot. Other than that, not much has changed in the scene in the last half century.

The enormous crowd of spectators will likely never be matched again.

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