Found in her papers after her death

Life in Rowayton, CT. USA 1935 – 1940 with postscript

Olive Holtzman

“It was a small quaint, friendly suburb of South Norwalk.  Having spent one-third of my life in the town of Norwalk, Rowayton was a new experience.

My brother Russell Hartwright and I purchased the Rowayton News Store, on the corner of Rowayton Avenue and McKinley Street in 1935.  We commuted seven days a week (buses ran on Sunday) for a year, then moved into the second floor apartment of the house next door, which is now used for boat storage.  We opened up every morning at 6am and on Sundays at 5am, working shifts with the help of mother.  Fascinating! You bet! Sleepy-heads rushing for the train grabbed their paper, dropped their money and whizzed off.

Compared to today, we knew everyone and everyone was friendly.  Guess the reason for this was because in the winter there were about 800 -1000 (roughly guessing) in town.  By Memorial Day it rose considerably.  When we first opened up we were getting 15 Hours and Sentinels (competition paper) 12 loaves of bread.  We kept a small amount of groceries in hand in case people ran short on Sunday.

Folding Sunday papers was “thumb wearing” until I got the hang of it.  They weren’t as heavy as those today, but I stacked them in rows on the stand outside and stood waiting for customers.  We had a “curb service” both for papers and ice cream sundaes, sodas, and cones with madame’s chauffeur coming in and ordering.  It is hard to remember all the famous names who lived in Wilson Point and Bell Island.  A few I can recall: Nelson Eddy. Jeanette MacDonald, Jerome Cowan, Horace McMahan and Louise Campbell McMahan, Stefan Schnobel and others.

It was hard work, a livelihood, but enjoyable.  I recall the time the Haase boy knocked over the cylinder heater and it flamed.  I grabbed it and carried it outside, should it explode.  The time the tide during the hurricane had 2 inches to rise before it would come into the store.  When the house caught fire and threatened the whole building around us.  The time my husband took the boat and rowed to Rowayton Beach to remove people stranded during the hurricane high tide.  The time of the MacKenzie house fire on Roton Avenue after a severe snow storm.  Firemen had to lift the truck to get into the road as it had not been plowed.  The Murphy fire on Bell Island. When you could walk from shore to the Lighthouse.  Our winters were severe; not 3 – 5 feet of snow.  Shovel your driveway and the plow would come along and push more snow back to shovel.

We kept the store until 1940.  I had married and it was wartime.  Roton Point had closed down, later sold to 6^th Taxing District.  We decided we had been “tied down” long enough.  Sold to Louie and Carol Rovegno.

I have watched Rowayton grow from a quaint village to where it is now a booming suburb.  Crowded roadway in the center of town, trucks parked to unload, double parking.  Progress for businessmen, headaches for pedestrians.  My husband and I moved away in 1973 due to rising taxes on our house.  After his passing I wanted to come back to old friends, my little Methodist Church in which I was very active.  I was fortunate in being accepted as a resident of the Hill Top Homes, and have enjoyed all the good times, friends and now must make a change.  If all works out I shall be leaving for Florida in October 1992.“