Board Of Reps. To Consider Street Name Change For Dr. Joyce Yerwood

STAMFORD, CT — During its next regularly scheduled meeting on June 6, the Stamford Board of Representatives will take up a resolution for a street name change that would honor Dr. Joyce Yerwood, who was a Stamford resident and the first Black woman doctor in Fairfield County.

According to the resolution which was put forward by Reps. Terry Adams (D-3), Melinda Baxter (D-5), Bonnie Kim Campbell (D-5) and Annie Summerville (D-6), a section of Fairfield Avenue between West Main Street and Richmond Hill Avenue would be given the honorary name of "Dr. Joyce Yerwood Way" in recognition of her contributions to the West Side community and the city of Stamford.

The Yerwood Center is located at 90 Fairfield Ave.

Yerwood was born on Jan. 5, 1909, in Victoria, Texas, and attended Samuel Huston College and graduated from Meharry Medical College in 1933, the resolution explained. Yerwood married Dr. Joseph Carwin and they moved to Stamford in 1936.

Yerwood then moved her medical practice to Stamford in 1943, and helped deliver over 2,000 babies during her career, the resolution said. She devoted herself to providing quality medical care for low- income women, children and families until she retired in in 1981.

"Dr. Joyce Yerwood was incredibly civic-minded and tremendously passionate for the people of her community and [a] much sought-after board member for various organizations in the Stamford area," the resolution said. "Dr. Joyce Yerwood was active in the effort to revitalize the West Side and regularly worked to improve the neighborhood, including founding the Stamford Negro Community Center in 1943 which moved to and became the Yerwood Center in 1975."

Yerwood, who is a member of the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame, died in 1987.

A city ordinance permits the placing of signs on city streets or segments thereof in recognition of individuals "who have contributed commemorative significant accomplishments to the city of Stamford or a community within the city."

The ordinance states that a commemorative sign may only be placed on a city street or segment if a petition has been submitted to the city in favor of the proposed naming, containing the signatures of at least two-thirds of the property owners on the street or segment.

The resolution says the commemorative name shall expire 25 years after the date of the resolution, unless renewed for an additional 25 years by three-quarters of the members of the Board of Reps.

Click here to learn more about Dr. Joyce Yerwood

View the entire resolution