Our Town: Working to Restore an Historic Section of Enfield

ENFIELD, CT — The town of Enfield is well-known for its distinctive "small communities within a larger community" makeup, with areas such as Hazardville, Scitico, Southwood Acres and Thompsonville each taking pride in what makes their section of town so unique.

For many years, Thompsonville was considered one of the jewels of the town, with close-knit families and countless small businesses all partaking in community activities, especially around the holidays. The photo accompanying this column was taken of Pearl Street during the Christmas season in 1955.

Over the past four decades or so, however - beginning with the ill-fated urban renewal project of the mid- to late 1970s - the area fell into disrepair, becoming the bane of Enfield's existence. Recently, efforts are being made to shake off that image, and restore this historic neighborhood back to its former prominence. A number of new small businesses have opened in the village, and several long-established shops have either moved into different buildings or relocated to the area from other parts of town.

A partial list of new businesses in Thompsonville includes Mark's Restaurant, Matty's Music, All the Way Clothing, Carmen's Bakery, Cindy's Deli and Growing Potential Services. Enfield Home Appliance Services (formerly Carl's) has moved to High Street from its former location in Hazardville, while Enfield Pizza, Good Times Package Store and Sarapes Restaurant have all opened new locations within the neighborhood.

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Interested in children's swimming lessons, relaxing with yoga, toddler playgroups or participating in open gym basketball, pickleball or volleyball? These programs, plus dozens of others, are available to Enfield residents through the town's Recreation Department. Click here to find a listing of all the current offerings.

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An odd note concerning the latest "homes sold" column on Enfield Patch: a house was sold this week on New Street, which is actually not a new street at all, with several homes dating back to 1900, according to town property records. With that in mind, we would like to know your opinion as to the oddest-named street in Enfield. Please email your response to tim.jensen@patch.com; if we get enough opinions (say, 20 or so), we may turn that into a story next week.

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The weekend of Sept. 29-30 will be a time to celebrate the numerous accomplishments of Enfield athletic greats. The 23rd induction dinner of the Enfield Athletic Hall of Fame is slated for Saturday, Sept. 29 at 5:30 p.m. at the Oak Ridge Country Club in Feeding Hills, Mass. Honorees will be Ryan Aiken, Rob Burns, Raphael Cerrato, Kristin Karat, Mike Linehan, Freddie Medina, the 1987 Enfield High School boys soccer team and the 1970s-era Enfield Eagles girls ice hockey program. The following morning will be the 22nd annual Hall of Fame Celebrity Golf Classic, also at Oak Ridge. Among the notable participants are Slap Shot star Paul D'Amato (Tim "Dr. Hook" McCracken), former Pittsburgh Steeler Barry Pearson, 1992 Olympic wrestling bronze medalist Rodney Smith and former Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Ron Diorio. More information about the weekend is available at www.enfieldathletichof.org.

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Finally, we end this week's column with a trivia question: What major television network was founded by a pair of residents of Armstrong Road in the Sherwood Manor section of Enfield, and was prompted by the fact both men had just been released from their previous jobs and were looking for something to do? Discussion about launching the network came while the duo was stuck in a traffic jam in Waterbury (where else), where they undoubtedly grew tired of looking at the four symbols of the state of Connecticut - the state bird (the orange cone), the state tree (the orange barrel), the state flag (the orange sign) and the state flower (the orange mesh fencing). The answer will be posted late Friday afternoon in the comments section of the Enfield Patch Facebook page.

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Enjoy this final day of summer; autumn officially begins Saturday.

Photo by Edward Malley, published courtesy of James Malley

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