Stamford Honors Dr. Joyce Yerwood With Street Sign Unveiling

STAMFORD, CT — From now on, the section of roadway on Fairfield Avenue between West Main Street and Richmond Hill Avenue will be known as Dr. Joyce Yerwood Way.

The name change became official on Tuesday, as the Stamford community gathered at the corner of West Main Street and Fairfield Avenue to unveil the new street sign.

Dr. Joyce Yerwood was an influential figure in Stamford for decades. She was born on Jan. 5, 1909, in Victoria, Texas, and attended Samuel Huston College and graduated from Meharry Medical College in 1933.

Yerwood married Dr. Joseph Carwin and they moved to Stamford in 1936. Yerwood decided to open her own medical practice in nearby Port Chester, N.Y., and later moved the practice to Stamford in 1943.

In doing so, she became the first African American woman physician in Fairfield County.

Throughout her career in Stamford, Yerwood helped deliver over 2,000 babies, and devoted herself to providing quality medical care for low- income women, children and families until she retired in 1981.

Yerwood was active in the effort to revitalize the West Side of Stamford and worked to improve the neighborhood. She founded the Stamford Negro Community Center in 1943 which later became the Yerwood Center in 1975. The building now houses the Boys & Girls Club.

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

Joyce Carwin, Yerwood's granddaughter, was at the unveiling ceremony Tuesday with her son and spoke briefly.

"This is a wonderful day for myself, my son, Stamford, Connecticut, Texas, New York, everywhere," Carwin said.

Mayor Caroline Simmons said she was proud and grateful that the city decided to come together and honor Yerwood's legacy.

"What an incredible transformational leader. What a trailblazer, and what an impact she had on our community. She dedicated her life to helping those most in need," Simmons said. "We hope this sign will be a tribute to her legacy and also an inspiration to everyone who passes by, whether they're walking or driving by this sign and look to that name as an inspiration to carry on her legacy."

Earlier this year, Board of Representatives members Terry Adams (D-3), Melinda Baxter (D-5), Bonnie Kim Campbell (D-5) and Annie Summerville (D-6) put forth a resolution requesting the honorary street name change.

Stamford resident Jere Eaton, who grew up on the West Side of Stamford, helped spearhead the movement. She spoke with representatives in March about the idea, which was several years in the making.

The resolution was approved a few months later in June.

"I'm so fortunate to be here to honor one of my childhood heroes," said Eaton, who used to ride her bicycle to the Yerwood Center as a kid in the late 1970s. "Let's make sure we keep her memory alive. A person like Dr. Joyce Yerwood deserves to be honored and known forever."

The Yerwood Center, which sits a stone's throw away from Dr. Joyce Yerwood Way, was the first center for African Americans in Stamford.

Joyce Griffin, former director of the center and the NAACP, spoke Tuesday about the significance of the building.

"The only thing that saddens me is perhaps this should've happened sooner. Also what saddens me is that we really don't feel like the Yerwood Center is the Yerwood Center," Griffin explained. "Dr. Yerwood created Yerwood Center for the purpose of bringing the Black community together. She thought that we, as Blacks, needed to have the same opportunities that were afforded one if they went to the Italian Center, or if they went to the Jewish Center, or if they went to Hibernian Hall. Our history at this particular time is hidden behind another organization."

Griffin said the community needs to work to maintain the history of the center going forward.

Two Board of Reps. members who put forth the renaming resolution spoke on Tuesday as well.

"I'm just so glad this street is going to be named after her," Baxter said. "I hope her legacy lives on in the community, and the center will come back to us, and we can utilize it again for the community and the neighborhood because we need something to call our own. We're going to work diligently to have that done."

Adams said the new street sign will have a lasting impact.

"I think everybody that rides by and sees this sign, they will either know who she is and have some appreciation, or look up who she was," he said.

The resolution that was passed 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.