Jeremy Main wrote a history of the historic Lounsbury House, which was once home to a Connecticut governor and has for decades served as the town’s community center. —Macklin Reid photo
From its creation as an elegant mansion to its present day prominence in our community, the history of the Lounsbury House is a story worth telling — or so Ridgefielder Jeremy Main found while writing his book Lounsbury.
The book spans the entire history of the Lounsbury House, from its creation in 1896 — it was modeled after a house at the famous 1893 Chicago World Fair — to its official start as a community center, to even contemporary functions of the house, like Emmy Award-winning folksinger Kevin Briody’s 15-year usage of a room in the Lounsbury attic for composing. The book also delves into Governor Phineas Lounsbury’s personal history.
“It seemed like an interesting idea,” said Mr. Main, who took on the project after the president of the community center board of directors asked him to. Writing “has been my whole life,” added Mr. Main, who has previously worked for Time, Fortune, and the International News Agency. He has also served three times on the board of the community center.
Even with all his experience, however, he found the writing process to be “pretty difficult.”
“I started research two years ago,” he said. “The records are mixed up, and I couldn’t figure out where to look. You have to plow through it. A lot of documents are missing, and I had to rely on people’s memories. It was hard to reconcile.”
He said, “It was not a neat, clean job.”
However, Mr. Main thought writing the book was a rewarding experience. “I enjoyed a lot of it,” he said. “I enjoyed seeing what Ridgefield was like.”
“If you live here, you should know [the town’s] history,” he said. “It’s a historic city.”
Mr. Main said that much of the information he found surprised him.
“Governor Lounsbury had no children, but 13 nieces and nephews,” he said. “He left everything to one niece. There’s no real explanation for it.”
Also shocking were the different proposals for the house. “There was one offer to turn it into a hotel, but Lounsbury was a very strict prohibitionist,” said Mr. Main. Gov. Lounsbury’s descendants thought a hotel would have to include a bar.
There was also “discussion of demolishing the house,” said Mr. Main. “There was a lot of debate over what to do. Some wanted to turn it into town hall.”
Eventually, there was “a movement in town” to save the building as a memorial for veterans, kickstarted by a group of women who wanted to preserve the beautiful mansion. Many influential Ridgefielders thought the house should function as a community center as well. The idea caught on — and, on Memorial Day, 1954, the Lounsbury House opened to the public.
Mr. Main thought this was a turning point for Ridgefield history.
“In 1954, it was very much needed,” he said. “Ridgefield was a little town then, with very little going on here. There was practically nothing to do.”
He said that during this time, the New York Times referred to Ridgefield as “a summer resort.”
“It’s hard to think of how small a town Ridgefield was,” he said. “The high school class of 1950 had 31 kids. That gives you an idea of what a little town it was.”
“The idea of a community center was for it to be the focus of Ridgefield, and it did that.”
“It was the heartbeat of the community,” he added. “There was a lot going on because of the community center. A lot was started up here.”
If it weren’t for the community center, Mr. Main believes, all “the activities you see going on today” would not be possible.
“Many of the organizations that used the community center got big enough to branch out and have their own centers of activity,” he said. But even so, “there’s a great deal going on here.”
Mr. Main estimates that the Lounsbury House costs over $100,000 each year to maintain. Otherwise, he said, “this beautiful building would disintegrate.”
“It’s the landmark building of Ridgefield,” he said. “We need to keep this building beautiful. But it can be useful and beautiful at the same time.”
The book is being sold at Books on the Common, Squash’s, the Ridgefield Historical Society, the Chamber of Commerce, the Keeler Tavern, and at the community center itself.
His book will help to keep the Lounsbury House beautiful, since all proceeds go to the community center.