North Stamford


North Stamford is an affluent section of Stamford, Connecticut, United States, north of the Merritt Parkway. Mostly woody and hilly, it is the least densely populated, and highest income section of the city with a 2018 median household income of $221,654. The two main roadways in North Stamford are High Ridge Road and Long Ridge Road. North Stamford borders Pound Ridge, New York at the New York line to the north, the "back country" section of Greenwich, Connecticut to the west, and the Town of New Canaan, Connecticut to the east. According to the 2010 census, North Stamford has a population of 14,904. The City of Stamford as a whole had a population of 122,643 with most recent estimates showing Stamford's population around 128,000.
High Ridge Road, in the area just south of the Merrit Parkway, is the largest shopping district near North Stamford. A shopping plaza and some surrounding stores are also nearby on Newfield Avenue, and downtown Springdale also offers nearby stores.
When Stamford's population began to grow during and after World War II, 30,000 new residents arrived from 1940 to 1960. "North Stamford developed with one- and two-acre zoning, looking just like Wilton or New Canaan," Janice Green, the manager of the William Pitt Real Estate office, told The New York Times in 1989. "Executives moved up there who had no connection with the factories and ethnic working-class neighborhoods downtown."

Landmarks and institutions

Water reservoirs which provide water service to the City of Stamford are located in North Stamford, as are the Bartlett Arboretum and the Stamford Historical Society headquarters and museum.
Also in the neighborhood is the Stamford Museum and Nature Center, a facility on Scofieldtown Road. The museum works with schools in Stamford, Bridgeport, Norwalk, Darien and Greenwich, and more than 10,000 students visit every year. In 2007 the museum and nature center started working with Aquarion, a water utility serving much of Fairfield County, in a program meant to educate children about water ecology and watershed protection.
Buttonwood Manor, a Colonial-style house on an estate of, is in North Stamford. The original main house was built by Jacob Stevens in 1809, then sold it in 1821 to Gould Raymond. For 77 years the Raymond family farmed the land. By 1926 Mary Stella Tisdale Atwood had bought the house from Otto Sarrach and began restoring it. She sold the estate to William E. Stevenson, a Gold Medal winner in the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris and later a president of Oberlin College. While Stevenson and his wife were in England running American Red Cross operations in World War II, they rented the house to Dorothy Fields, a lyricist.
Tucker Hill, the former Hunting Ridge Methodist Church built in 1850, is on Hunting Ridge Rd, near Old Long Ridge Village. The former church was converted to a residence in 1968 by renowned sculptor Robert Laurent.

Transportation

The Merritt Parkway allows no commercial vehicles, trucks, buses, and vehicles over 8 feet because of the small lanes, and narrow bridges. The Merritt Parkway is parallel to I-95 5 miles north. The Merritt Parkway starts at the Greenwich border and ends at Milford. The Merritt changes its name to the Hutchinson River Parkway entering New York State with the Exit numbers continuing with a few breaks. The Parkway goes through Westchester County NY into New York City, the Bronx and continues to the Whitestone Bridge into Queens.
North Stamford has two routes: Route 104 and Route 137. Route 104 starts in Ridgeway and ends at Bedford, New York. Route 137 starts in the Downtown and ends at Pound Ridge, New York.
North Stamford is served by two Metro-North stations, Talmadge Hill Station and New Cannan Station. New Cannan Station's address is 198 Elm Street, New Cannan and Talmadge Hill Station's address is 1 Talmadge Hill Road, New Cannan. From New Cannan or Talmadge Hill there is a train to New Canaan and Stamford.
There are also CTTransit Buses that run from the downtown to other parts of the city; North Stamford is served by CTTransit. The bus routes serving North Stamford are 336, 324, 331, and 331S.

Parks

  1. Chestnut Hill Park-Chestnut Hill Rd & Webbs Road
  2. Dorothy Heroy Park-Riding Stable Trail
  3. Scofieldtown Park-Scofield Town Road.
  4. Woodley Road Bird Sanctuary-Off Scofield Town Road
  5. Mianus River Park-Merribrook Lane
  6. Newman Mills Park-Riverbank Road

    Emergency Services

Fire service in North Stamford is provided by a combination of volunteer and professional firefighters. Fire stations in the neighborhood are Stamford Fire Department Company #8, 268 Turn of River Road, Turn of River Fire Department #2, 50 Roxbury Road, Long Ridge Fire Co., 366 Old Long Ridge Road, and Long Ridge Fire Co. 2 2619 High Ridge Road.
Police Service in North Stamford is provided by the Stamford Police Department. The police substation serving North Stamford is at 1137 High Ridge Road.
Emergency Medical Service is provided by the Stamford Emergency Medical Services. The nearest EMS garage is at 684 Long Ridge Road. Stamford EMS provides Emergency Medical Services in the City.

Secession Movement of 1990s

The New York Times reported in 1995 that in the 1990s many North Stamford residents were seriously considering a secession movement to form a town separate from the City of Stamford. Many North Stamford residents calculated that creating their own town would significantly reduce property taxes. The Concerned Citizens of North Stamford argued that North Stamford residents pay nearly a third of Stamford's property taxes although they make up less than 15 percent of the city's population and in return receive less city services. North Stamford residents do not receive city garbage collection, must provide their own water and sewerage systems, have less police protection and, largely, have their children bused to schools in other parts of town. The New York Times reported that in 1995, that Stamford's then Mayor Esposito strongly opposed the movement. Mayor Esposito cited a plan by the city to permit the conversion of the vacant Riverbank School into a 53-bed residential hospice along with offices for Hospice Care Inc as a strong reason against the movement. Although the Concerned Citizens of North Stamford received about 600 signatures in a petition for the secession movement, it ultimately failed because many North Stamford residents were opposed to the plan and were discouraged by the complex process of secession in the State of Connecticut. Secession would require a revision of the City charter and the approval of the State Legislature. It is unlikely the City of Stamford would allow the lucrative revenue stream of property taxes from North Stamford to cease and for State legislators to approve a major municipality separation without the City of Stamford's support. There is very little to no legitimate discussions on secession in our current day as North Stamford is seen as an established part of the City of Stamford legally and functionally. Secession movements also took place in 1990s in the Rowayton section of Norwalk, Connecticut and the East Shore section of New Haven, Connecticut with those residents citing similar concerns. All of these movements were unsuccessful and their neighborhoods remain within their larger cities jurisdiction.

Historical Cemeteries

North Stamford contains numerous old cemeteries from the nineteenth century and before, some quite small and often with gravestones bearing elaborate engravings and even poetry.
These old cemeteries are in North Stamford: