Easton Town Hall: A Symbol of Civic Identity

Easton Town Hall is one of those local landmarks that most of us take for granted. We drive past and only dash in when we need to. Essentially, it’s an office building, but there are occasions when we see it as something more. When we gather at the yearly Memorial Day tribute or when our first selectman presents a public proclamation, the formal nature of these ceremonies calls attention to how our town hall creates a space for our representative government. It is a place where we can freely listen to elected officials and make our voices heard. In this way, our town hall has been the center of Easton civic life since its dedication in May 1938.

Curiously, Easton had existed since 1845 without a municipal building. To better understand why our town went for so long without one, we must look to our earliest history. As with many local communities, Easton began life as part of the original town of Fairfield. Easton and Weston were part of Fairfield and were known respectively as the parishes of North Fairfield and Norfield. They operated within the town of Fairfield until 1787 when they joined forces and petitioned the State of Connecticut to become the independent town of Weston. These two parishes, however, were physically separated by rough terrain and economically separated by different means of making a living. The west, today’s Weston, had a better water flow from the Saugatuck River that could power industry, and the east, today’s Easton, had better land for farming. Notably, the two separate parishes could never agree on which part of town the seat of government should formally reside. And while they voted to locate a site for governance at a mid-point between their two parishes, they never could agree on exactly where that should be. Struggling to work together in harmony, the people of the old Norfield Parish finally petitioned the State to split from North Fairfield in the early 1840s.

Despite protests from the citizens of North Fairfield, this division was approved in 1845, and the successful petitioners of Norfield were allowed to retain the name Weston. The new community to the east was then given the name Easton. Weston would go on to build a town hall in 1884 next to their parish church, but Easton did not. One reason was likely that Weston kept all the town records dating back to 1787. Unburdened by decades of documents, the Easton town clerk worked out of his home, where he compiled and kept all the newly issued records. Officials working from home was not unusual for small rural towns. Other than the schoolteachers employed, the only positions within town government were the town clerk and the treasurer. There was also the tax collector who was busy for only a few weeks twice a year. Selectmen meetings and voting took place at the Old Staples Academy Hall in the 19th century. In the early 20th century, large public gatherings and elections moved from various buildings, including the Grange Hall, the firehouse, and the newly built Samuel Staples Elementary School after 1931.

It seems likely that a series of fires in the 20th century prompted the construction of a town hall. The first occurred on February 20, 1906, when an early morning blaze destroyed the home of Charles F. Silliman, then town clerk and treasurer. Silliman and his neighbors saved much of the town’s records—most importantly, the volumes holding all the property transfers and deeds. Tragically, however, Silliman died from a fatal heart attack as his house burned to the ground.

Another significant fire occurred on December 3, 1931, when the Easton Grange Hall burned down. Originally located next to the Congregational Church, this agricultural social club had become an important meeting place for political functions. Along with the building, the Grange lost all its records dating back to 1892. Dangerous flare-ups also occurred on the Bridgeport Hydraulic Company lands in Easton in the early 1930s, and these were difficult for our town’s volunteer fire department to control. Other blazes destroyed several residences and barns, creating a concerning trend when the population and home construction were increasing in town.

At a meeting held at the Easton Fire House on October 5, 1936, the selectmen appointed a committee of five town residents to consider all aspects of constructing a town office building. These members included Eugene E. Norton, Charles B. Marsh, John D. Kerrins, Captain Francis P. Simpson, and Franklin H. Hubbell. By May 28, 1937, the group presented town officials with a proposed design submitted by Frederick James Dixon of Bridgeport. Dixon is not a well-known architect today, but he was highly regarded in Connecticut at the time.

Born May 6, 1887, at a Welsh workhouse in Newport, Monmouthshire, Dixon emigrated to Connecticut in 1903. His father, Alfred B. Dixon, was a carpenter and began work as a builder in Milford and then Waterbury. The family would later settle in the Woodmont area of New Haven County. While Frederick Dixon’s formative education is unknown, he likely learned the building trade alongside his father as a youth in Wales and continued in the States. It is important to note that there was no board-certified licensing process for architects in Connecticut until 1931. While architecture as a discipline was increasingly a course of study in America, many practicing in our country in the early 20th century were trained builders like Dixon. Their formal education was an apprenticeship.

As a young adult, Dixon worked for a time in Holyoke, Massachusetts, for the Deame Steam Pump Company, and by 1917, he lived in Stratford and worked as a construction engineer. In the 1920s, he partnered with Walter John Skinner and opened an architectural practice in Bridgeport. This short-lived venture dissolved in 1923, and Dixon began an independent practice. Working with senior architect Charles Scranton Palmer of New Haven, Dixon’s plans were selected in 1924 for the new Bridgeport Central Library. Completed in April of 1927, the building was widely praised for its late Georgian style that harkened back to public buildings dating to the 18th century. While the outward design was historically inspired, its interior reflected the city’s modern needs and concerns. Press releases praised the building for its state-of-the-art heating mechanics and “virtually fireproof” construction with steel windows, door casings, and metal shelving.

Dixon would continue to combine Colonial Revival exteriors with modern mechanics and fireproof interiors. And while many of his buildings have survived in remarkably intact condition, one particularly tragic loss was his 1931 Algonquin Club on Golden Hill Street in Bridgeport which was demolished in 1964 to accommodate an interstate connector.

By 1936, Dixon began taking administrative positions locally and on a state level when he was appointed to serve on the Board of Appeals and Zoning in Bridgeport. He also served as the supervising architect for the Connecticut Department of Public Works. During this tenure, he oversaw the completion of the Easton Town Hall, and construction began immediately after its approval in May of 1937. Though it was far smaller in scale than his more extensive projects, he imbued the Easton building with several Georgian design elements and decorative features. The symmetrical façade is articulated with a series of shallow brick relief bays, creating the illusion of an arcade on either side of the limestone door surround. An elegantly carved stone plaque above the main entrance reads “Easton Town Hall” surrounded by rosettes. Inset decorative limestone, high relief cornices and dentils along the roofline reflect a classical heritage and pair well with the town’s newly built Samuel Staples Elementary School.

Additional decorative elements like the bell-shaped cupola links Dixon’s town hall design to Easton’s history, visually referencing the cupola on the 18th-century Staples Academy and the Congregational Church spire just down Center Road.

As with many municipal buildings constructed in the 1930s, Easton’s Town Hall was intended to serve multiple purposes. It included administrative offices, a library, a courtroom, a records archive, and a public health center.

And like many of Dixon’s buildings of the 1930s, Easton Town Hall was built to be fireproof. Nonflammable materials were used wherever possible, including metal interior staircases, metal wall paneling for the main floors, and a fireproof document vault. While the basement was primarily dedicated to the library, the original plans also included a detention center with holding cells.

This entire structure was made possible by the generosity of prominent residents Gustav Pfeiffer and Judge John McClane. Pfeiffer and MacClane donated $32,500 toward the construction cost of approximately $40,700, and the town covered the remaining balance.

At its dedication ceremony on May 21, 1938, so many people attended that the town police officer, Edward S. Knight, had to do something rather unusual-directing traffic. There was so much enthusiasm to see the new building that the intersection of Center and Morehouse Roads was overwhelmed with cars and pedestrians for several hours. Proud residents voted for the first time at their town hall on November 8, 1938.

While our town hall filled many practical needs, its generous benefactors must have also been aware of Easton’s centennial approaching in 1945. They understood that this building would serve as a positive symbol of civic identity and progress after the break from Weston in the previous century. Significantly, their generosity enabled its construction despite the financial hardships of the Great Depression. While other small towns across our State and country were building town halls with the help of federal Public Works Administration grants, Easton residents independently funded their government building. As a result, the WPA funds allocated to Easton were directed towards ground improvements around its school and road enhancements. These infrastructure projects would prove critical for Easton’s growing population with the completion of the Merritt Parkway commuter corridor that connected with neighboring Fairfield in 1939.

Over the decades, our town hall has undergone some critical alterations. In 1960, a monument to Easton’s World War II and Korean veterans was erected to the east of the main entrance on Center Road. In 1969, a new library wing was added south along Morehouse Road, designed by another resident architect, Abraham Lincoln Wilson. Wilson incidentally, also designed Easton’s Notre Dame Roman Catholic Church in 1956. When the town library moved across Morehouse Road to its current site in 1994, our town hall was renovated again to accommodate additional administrative office space and the growing Easton Police Department.

And what of Frederick Dixon? His story in Easton did not end once the town hall was completed. In fact, Dixon moved his family here, and he likely designed his Colonial Revival house at 11 Manor Lane, where he lived until 1968. As a community member, he worked on Easton’s zoning regulations and oversaw Samuel Staples Elementary School additions in 1952. A member of the Easton Exchange Club and a Bridgeport Kiwanis Club president, Dixon was active in fundraising and charitable works. From an impoverished childhood in Wales, his life is an inspiring success story culminating in many honors. Today, several notable buildings in nationally recognized historic districts are attributed to him throughout our State. Our town hall in Easton is a little known example of his creative design and talent. Deservedly, his name appears on its bronze dedication plaque, along with the names of all the donors and leaders who helped make this building possible.