The Snow Farm House (1908)

Welcome back, Monroe history lovers. Once again, we’re inspired by another newfound Fred Sherman photo postcard, and with it comes another challenging mystery as to its location. If Fred’s photo labeling is consistent, the “Stepney” seen in our first supporting image refers to the Upper Stepney area of town. Here we see the Snow Farm House (c. 1900) with Samuel Snow, his wife Minnie, and their family. I bet you’ve never seen this photo before. Let’s put our historian caps on and see if we can figure out just where this photograph was taken.

Our second supporting image is Samuel Snow and his wife Minnie, who immigrated to America from Austria, Poland in 1888, one of many Orthodox Jewish immigrant families fleeing poverty and persecution in Eastern Europe. There were established incentive programs in America, such as the Baron de Hirsch Fund, to encourage Jewish immigrants to purchase available farms here in Connecticut. By the turn of the century, Monroe had many established Jewish family-owned farms, and we find the Snow family living in Monroe in the 1900 federal census. There was Samuel, his wife Minnie and their six children, ranging in age from 12 years down to 10 months. They were Louis, Martin, Israel, Annie, William, and the baby Victoria.

The Snows took well to farming in America, but with a large and growing family to feed, they turned to additional means of making ends meet. Samuel’s occupation was as a baker, and selling his bread and farm-grown produce locally and in Bridgeport proved to be a stable means of income. The Snows also generated extra income by opening their home to Jewish summer boarders from New York City. The Hattertown Road area had two other established Jewish boarding houses run by the Schwartz and Goldberg families.

Our third supporting image tells of a grand wedding celebrated at the Snow’s Stepney home in 1907. Their eldest son Louis married Lena Stranger from New York City. There were nearly 200 friends and relatives present and the event was the talk of the entire Stepney Village. It was surely a joyous event to remember, but soon after, in 1908, there was a knock on the door from the Bridgeport Hydraulic Company. They were buying up properties along Monroe’s waterways with the intent of creating watershed for the future Easton Reservoir project. A deal was struck between both parties and the Snows would relocate to the Long Hill section of Trumbull where they continued farming.

Once the Snows had relocated to their new farm, an enterprising woman from neighboring Easton named Miss Georgianna Knapp, purchased the Snow’s former house from the Bridgeport Hydraulic Company. They would have only torn it down, after all. Georgianna contracted a crew to dismantle the house and move it to Norwalk where it would be reassembled and repurposed for one of her business interests. This isn’t the first example of our houses being relocated or repurposed, although Norwalk is certainly the furthest distance from Monroe that I’m aware of.

So, where exactly was the Snow’s house and farm located? Well, the truth is, I don’t know for certain, at least not at this time. That said, my sense is that it may well have been located near the intersection of Hattertown Road and Knapp Street. There are many clues that have piqued my interest toward this location. We know there was an established and growing community of Jewish immigrant farmers in this general area and in the Huntingtown area of neighboring Newtown. The census records give indications as well, but it’s the Bridgeport Hydraulic Company reference that provides the biggest clue. On the west side of town, the primary waterway to feed the Easton Reservoir is the Mill River, and in Upper Stepney it flows right near this intersection. These lands are still owned by Aquarion Water Company today as protected watershed.

I hope you enjoy this week’s historic spotlight on this rare Fred Sherman photograph of the Snow Farm House in Stepney. I enjoy the process of fitting the pieces of our Monroe history puzzle together, and I hope you do as well. If you’re aware of any details on the Snow family or their Stepney farm, we’d love to hear them. Please share this post with your family and friends, and thank you for your continued support and interest in Monroe’s rich history. Until next time. To our many Jewish farmers of yesteryear. Shalom.

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Regards,

Kevin Daly
Historian, Monroe Historical Society
www.monroecthistory.org
Our Past is Always Present