At a special conference of the Jesse Lee Memorial Methodist Church at Wesley Hall, the congregation voted to accept an offer from a group of investors to purchase the land and parsonage at the corner of Main and Catoonah Streets, the June 4, 1964 Press reported. The demolition of the church and the building of a two-story commercial building on that location removed from Ridgefield a landmark of many years. The first Methodist sermon in Ridgefield took place on June 26 or 27, 1789 in a building that was on the site of the present community center and served as a combination town house and school. The first Methodist Church in Ridgefield was built in 1824 in the fork of the roads leading through Titicus to North Salem and North Street. In 1841 a new church was built at the corner of Main and Catoonah Streets. On Easter Sunday 1883 services were held in that old church for the last time. On April 29, 1884 dedication services were held in the new Jesse Lee Memorial Methodist Church, which had been built on the same site and remained in use until 1989.
The Press editorial for the week noted that the then current post office facility [which was located in the northern most section of the CVS building] had become more and more inadequate and inconvenient. Parking for customers consisted of three spaces and there were no sidewalks for pedestrians. “We hope that local and federal officials will continue to keep their eyes on the Methodist Church corner (despite its impending sale), or some equally suitable site for a new federal post office building.”
Memorial Day 1964 was occasioned with the dedication of a new flagpole and flag-raising at exercises in front of the community center. The event was also the start of a $5,000 fund-raising drive to finance the building of a monument to the veterans of World War II and the Korean conflict. Julius Tulipani and Fred P. Montanari were co-chairmen of the monument committee.
The Memorial Day Parade in 1964 began at the staging area in the Bailey Avenue parking lot. The parade marched north on Main Street to the cemetery for brief services and then countermarched to the Cass Gilbert fountain and returned back to the community center.
Parents who objected to having their children exposed to obscene literature were told they could boycott the stores that sell it. Two hundred St. Mary’s Parents’ Guild and Knights of Columbus members attended a meeting at which Dr. Walter Lehmann of Wilton showed a film, Perversion for Profit. Postmaster Richard E. Venus, who moderated the meeting, encouraged recipients of obscene literature to complain to his department so that he could turn the material over to the postal inspectors. In discussing the sale of such literature, Mr. Venus recalled that a magazine he regarded as pornographic, called Escapade, had been sold in Ridgefield until it was banned.
The Ridgefield Playhouse on Prospect Street featured the Academy Award-winning Best Picture, Tom Jones. The Playhouse announced a slight increase in prices for the film and that no children’s tickets would be sold.
More than 75 residents in the vicinity of the town dump petitioned the selectmen to alleviate the noxious conditions created by the disposal operation off Danbury Road. The petition stated that “the stench and smoke from burning garbage and other debris is a health hazard and an unpleasant atmosphere to live in and at times even a traffic hazard on Route 35.”
Rick Karwoski and Gary Beaudine hit back-to-back home runs leading the Ridgefield varsity baseball team to a 6-1 victory over Masuk.
George Leeman of Main Street, a senior with the best academic record at Ridgefield High School (RHS), received the Rotary Club award for his academic achievement. Three other RHS seniors also received Rotary awards for Service Above Self, Donald Chandler, Pleasentine Drake and Krystyn Kaczorowska. Sandra Ridolfi received the new Miss Isabel O’Shea Award for her achievement in business education. Juniors Patricia Finch and Lorraine Gaeta received the Gregg Shorthand awards and Susan Blackford won an academic award for her achievement in German III. Rick Karwoski and Thomas Belote received the Trinity College and Harvard Book prizes, respectively.