Heritage Trail Guide

Stop #10 - The Stepney Green (1817)

The Stepney Green originally a “Place of Parade” for “Publick Use” established in 1817, by the Birdsey Plain Rifle Company.

At the Intersection of the Bridgeport and Newtown Turnpike Monroe and Newtown Turnpike is located the Stepney Green.  The Stepney Green, the heart of historic Stepney, was used for militia drills beginning in the 1700s.  In 1817 it was officially purchased for $140 to serve as a place of parade for the Birdsey’s Plain Rifle Company.

Monroe already had one green at Monroe Center established in 1784 with land donated by Captain Joseph Moss and Nehemiah DeForest that was the “centre” for the New Stratford Society in the eastern part of town.  But as Stepney grew in size and importance during the nineteenth century this parade ground became Monroe’s second town green.

One of the most tumultuous events in Monroe history occurred on the Stepney Green.  Ironically, it started as a peace rally.

A detail of a plaque found on a stone boulder memorial in commemoration of the Monroe townspeople who served in World War I. Twenty-four men and two women, the Misses Eleanor and Katherine Habersham, served in World War I. Two men would not return: George Bachman and Leonard Fuller. The monument was “erected by the people of Monroe” in the 1930’s.

Four months after the Confederate bombing of Fort Sumter in South Carolina, signaling the beginning of hostilities in the Civil War, some Northerners (and Southerners) known as the “Copperheads” still clung to the hope that all-out war could be avoided.  On August 24, 1861, a large crowd gathered on the Stepney Green to rally for peace.  The peace rally attracted like-minded citizens from Easton, Newtown, and Bridgeport to raise a “peace flag.”

The rally had barely begun when a sizable number of ruffians, along with Union soldiers home on furlough, arrived by train from Bridgeport to break up the gathering.  The scene on the green deteriorated into chaos.  Although both sides were reportedly armed, a bloody tragedy was somehow avoided with many protesters fleeing up into Birdsey’s Hill what today is Hubbell drive and Aquarion Water Company property.

The Stepney Green looking north at the intersection of Main Street and Green Street as it appeared in the late 19th century. The Stepney Methodist Church (now Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Chapel) and other homes can be seen that still line Pepper Street. (Photo: Monroe Historical Society.)

The ruffians pulled down the peace flag and hoisted the American flag, then proceeded to hold their own rally on the Stepney Green in support of the Union and the war effort.  Speakers included entertainment impresario P.T.  Barnum and sewing machine inventor Elias Howe, Jr., who both had led the armed contingent from Bridgeport.  They claimed peace meetings were in reality demonstrations in support of the secession of the Southern states.

The kiosk is fifteen feet in diameter and sixteen feet tall and will feature two-sided interpretive panels with photographs, maps and text describing the History of Stepney and the historical sites along the trail. The structure includes a barrel-vaulted ceiling and pavers (cobblestones) covering a 25 ft diameter base. Encircled around the base are 160 cobblestones, most engraved and purchased by residents to preserve their history for the generations to come. The Kiosk Is lighted by LED lights flooding light on each of its eight pillars and interpretive panels. The barrel-vaulted ceiling LEDs create a dazzling star effect. The Kiosk is the center focus of SOS activities such as family picnics, potluck dinners, Ice cream socials and the annual tree lighting.

The interlopers headed back to Bridgeport that same day, where they destroyed the presses and office of the peace supporting Bridgeport Farmer, a popular newspaper.  In the wake of the forceful break-up of the Stepney peace rally; similar events planned in other towns were cancelled.  This peace rally was the single most significant U.S.  Civil war event in Monroe’s history.

The 19th century development of the Stepney and Birdsey’s Plain (Upper Stepney) area of Monroe was largely brought about by two things: the layout of the Bridgeport and New town Turnpike (1801) and the construction of the Housatonic railroad, which open in 1840.  Because of these transportation developments Birdsey’s Plain grew into a bustling commercial and community center.  Here were located two churches, Monroe’s largest general store, cobbler shops, tinsmiths, and a number of large, stylish new homes.  A Methodist Church was built on the Pepper Street side of the Green in 1839, and a Baptist church on the Main Street side in 1848.  Charles B.  Wheeler owned a home at 440 Main Street and was a boot and shoemaker.  The house located at One Pepper Street at the northern tip of the green originally was the Wheeler shoe factory where in 1851 Charles Wheeler began manufacturing boots and shoes for himself and the United States Army during the Civil War.  In 1794 Noah and James Burr, Jr.  donated land for the Birdsey’s Plain Cemetery which is located next to the Methodist Meetinghouse known today as Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Chapel.  Buried here are more than 40 men who helped direct the course of American history through military service in crucial conflicts.  Among their number are five veterans of the Revolutionary War, six veterans of the War of 1812, and 31 veterans of the Civil War.  At the southern end of the green stands the Osborn/Corning House c.  1810, one of two Federal half-houses still standing in Stepney (the other is the Charles B.  Wheeler house at the north end of the green).  The Osborn and Corning families were some of the earliest families to settle Stepney.  No longer standing today across from the green at the corner of Route 25 and Easton Road was Burrit/Burr Hawley’ store.  Built around 1850, it was a hub for milk wagons and for the sale of hardware and household goods.

The Stepney Peace Rally flag of 1861 with holes shot in it by the P.T. Barnum contingent. The porch location is the Osborn/Corning House.

The Stepney Green and the surrounding area experienced its own succession of sometimes confusing name changes.  The origin of the name Stepney is uncertain but appears in land records by the 1730’s.  The area where the Stepney Depot and the Barnum Curtis House and other businesses were located on Maple Drive was originally called Stepney.  The area around the Stepney Green was originally known as Birdsey’s Plain.  Birdsey’s Plain was named after Joseph Birdsey, an early settler, approximately 1780.  For some unknown reason, in the late 1800s Birdsey’s Plain came to be known also as Upper Stepney.  The area to the south of Upper Stepney bordering the Town of Trumbull was renamed Lower Stepney to distinguish itself.  The name Birdsey’s Plain eventually faded from use.  Today the community defined by the intersection of Routes 25 and 59, Hattertown Road, and the green, originally known as Birdsey’s Plain and later Upper Stepney, is simply called Stepney.  The name Lower Stepney for the southern section of Route 25 has fallen out of use.  Thus Stepney today embraces both population centers.

The Stepney Green also serves as the trailhead marker with the construction of an information kiosk.  The kiosk includes interpretive panels with historical text, maps, a timeline and pictures of the individual sites.