What is the meaning of the names of the roadways at Casagmo?
The 320-unit condominium complex, construction of which began in the late 1960s, was named for the 30-acre estate of George Mann Olcott, a wealthy drug company owner, who built a fancy mansion there in 1892. “Casagmo” is the combination of casa, the Italian word for “house” (the architecture was Italianate), and Mr. Olcott’s initials, GMO. In other words, it was the “house of George M. Olcott.”
David L. Paul, a New York attorney and apartment builder, razed the mansion in 1968 after years of neglect and vandalism had taken their toll, and completed the complex by 1972. Paul picked the names, most of which were Olcott ancestors he found in a family genealogy. Mary L. B. Olcott, the last resident of the estate, was an avid genealogist. (There are two non-Olcott names: Stebbins Close and Keeler Close.)
Paul also liked alliteration, as evidenced in Keeler Close, Carpenter Close, Lawson Lane, Cook Close, and even Quincy Close, and probably picked family names that would be alliterative.
To build his mansion, Olcott tore down a 1727 saltbox that had been in the Stebbins family more than 150 years, and had served as a hospital during the Battle of Ridgefield. That’s the source of Stebbins Close. The Keelers, of course, had the tavern at the south end of Main Street.
Lawson Lane refers to the family of John Lawson, who emigrated from Ireland in the mid-1800s. His son, Robert (1828-1904), somehow related to the Olcotts, was a merchant in New York City and operated Lawson Brothers, importers of fine laces and curtains.
Carpenter Close recalls the Carpenters, among the first families in New England. William Carpenter, a friend of Roger Williams, helped found Rhode Island and was a large landowner and an official in the colony government.
An Olcott genealogy says Edmund Quincy (1602-1654) came from England in 1633, settled in Boston, and was distantly related. Paul probably selected the name because he liked the sound of “Quincy Close,” rather than because it had an important Olcott connection. The same is true for Cook Close, named for another Olcott ancestor.
Speaking of which, the opening of Casagmo brought a new kind of road name to town. We had streets, lanes, roads, places, circles, courts, highways, avenues, and a turnpike, but no “close” (pronounced as in “he was close by”). The word is British for a narrow lane or alley — a “close” or “enclosed” place.
Incidentally, Paul went on to buy a failed savings and loan in Miami, Fla., in the early 1980s, turning it into the huge CenTrust bank. More than $1.5 billion was lost when the bank collapsed in the late 1980s, one of the nation’s largest bank failures. He spent 10 years in a federal prison, convicted in connection with the collapse. Paul has always maintained he did nothing wrong and was railroaded by regulators. —J.S.