Six fire trucks and about 35 members of the Ridgefield Volunteer Fire Department raced to the renowned Fox Hill Inn on Bennett’s Farm Road to put out a fire raging in the kitchen at about 4:45 p.m. on a hot Sunday afternoon, the July 2, 1963 Press reported.
John Yervant, proprietor of the inn, said that his headwaiter called the alarm to Fireman Raymond Fish, who blew the horn. The problem, however, was that most of the volunteers were at the Italian Club clambake on Prospect Street and could not hear the call. Instead, Mr. Fish summoned them by telephone.
Fire Chief Mario Frulla said that grease in the ducts had kept the fire going even after the fire had been extinguished in the stoves. The Fox Hill Inn stood atop of a knoll off Bennett’s Farm Road where the state park now exists. Its driveway and remnants can still be seen by hikers.
One of the casualties of the fire was King Kong, the fire department’s 1938 Seagrave fire truck. King Kong died of internal illness just as it reached the fire at Fox Hill. The prognosis was engine problems.
Shortly after the fire the Board of Selectmen authorized an expenditure of $2,000 to overhaul King Kong’s engine. The selectmen and Chief Frulla agreed that repairing King Kong’s engine (a straight eight with 16 sparkplugs) would be less expensive than replacing it.
More than 3,000 people went to the Great Pond Beach over the weekend. The day before 2,500 attended. Francis D. Martin reported that that was the largest attendance of bathers in the beach’s history. Mr. Martin did, however, ask mothers to cooperate in getting their little ones to the toilets and not use the pond for micturition. He said that soon the Great Pond association would be building an artesian well so that flush toilets would replace the outhouses at the beach.
Architects for the new Christian Science Church on Main Street unveiled the proposed design for its new church.
Sgt. Jack Croce of Mary’s Lane in Ridgefield replaced Lieut. Walter Abel as the commander of the State Police Troop A on East Ridge (Troop A’s building is now the Ridgefield Police Department).
Postmaster Richard E. Venus announced that U.S. Postal Service now had “zip codes” for all locations and that Ridgefield had been designated as 06877. “Everyone in town should use this ZIP Code on all his correspondence to speed mail deliveries and reduce the chance of misspent mail,” he said.
A Babe Ruth League all-star team was selected by the four managers to represent Ridgefield in the 1963 tournament. The Veterans of Foreign Wars selected Walter Valentine, John Stolle, Allan Wallace and Paul Lynch. Hoffman Fuel chose Rudy Marconi, Ken Borer, Neale Turner and Frank Hertzog. St. Mary’s chose Kevin Kerrigan, Billy Rittenhouse, Don Sachetti and Mike Bedini. The all-stars from Pamby Motors included Chip Bliss, Steve Martin, Lee DeForest, Bob Harmer and Tom Santini.
The Ridgefield Playhouse on Prospect Street featured “Hud” with Paul Newman and Patricia Neal followed later in the week by “55 Days at Peking” starring Charleston Heston, Ava Gardner and David Niven.
Tom Santini and Tony Forcelli of the Ridgefield Boys Club were spending four days at Bob Cousy’s basketball camp in Pittsfield, Mass.
Arthur Frank Miller, founder of Miller Electric Inc. graduated in the Ridgefield High School class of 1963. His family business still thrives in town and is operated by his son.