Glenbrook (Stamford)

Night Scene from College Road Trip being filmed in Glenbrook, August 2007

Glenbrook is a section (or neighborhood) of the city of Stamford, Connecticut. It is located on the eastern side of the city, east of Downtown, north of the East Side and the Cove sections and south of the Springdale section. To the west is Downtown Stamford and to the northwest is Belltown. To the east is Darien.

An estimated 15,400 people live in the neighborhood of about 1.7 square miles (4.4 km²). "Many residents see themselves as living not in a bustling city, but in a separate small town," according to a New York Times article about the community.^[1]

Glenbrook is a middle class section of town, with single-family homes making up 65 percent of housing and about 25 percent condominiums or co-ops. Residential architecture ranges from Queen Anne style homes to Colonial style, Cape Cod and ranches. Some public housing developments are in the southern end of the neighborhood, and two large residential developments have been built on East Main Street at the southern edge of Glenbrook: Eastside Commons, with 108 condominiums, and the 141-unit Glenview House, with 141 units.^[1]

In August 2007, scenes for College Road Trip, a Walt Disney film released in 2008, were shot on location in one of the Queen Anne style homes of Glenbrook.

There are several retail sections, including the Glenbrook Center shopping plaza, as well as an industrial park. The neighborhood also has several churches. The Julia A. Stark School and Dolan Middle School, both part of Stamford Public Schools are in Glenbrook.^[1]

Local institutions

Glenbrook Community Center (formerly Glenbrook School, from a pre-1907 postcard)

Same building, 2007

The community has its own volunteer Glenbrook Fire Department, a U.S. Post Office and it is served by the Glenbrook train station. Exit 9 of Interstate 95 is on the southern edge of the neighborhood, and Stamford High School is on the western edge.

Since 2000, the Glenbrook Neighborhood Association has held an annual block party popular in the neighborhood. The free event features food, games, a raffle and music. The association raised money in 2006 for a small park on Hope Street.

St Vladimir's Cathedral on Wenzel Terrace is the headquarters for the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Stamford, a diocese of Ukrainian Rite Roman Catholics that extends across New England and New York state.

AmeriCares, an international charity, has its headquarters in the neighborhood. United House Wrecking is a popular, distinctive store in Glenbrook In 1989 a New York Times article described the store as "a bizarre emporium of kitsch containing acres of architectural remnants, brick, used plumbing fixtures, antiques, garden statuary and some outrageous items of decor".^[2]

History

Another view of the Glenbrook School (1911 postcard)

In 1866, Joseph Whitton purchased a 20-acre (81,000 m²) tract, including the old Dixon Homestead in New Hope, as the area was originally called. The New Canaan railroad was built five years later, passing through the center of Whitton's land. Whitton laid out streets, including Cottage Avenue, Union Street, and Railroad Avenue.^[3]

In the 1870s, New Hope residents decided they wanted a name more pleasing to the ear and came up with "Glen-Brook."^[4]

Former U.S. President and Civil War Gen. Ulysses S. Grant sometimes visited Glenbrook after he left the White House in 1877. He played poker with Ferdinand Ward, who owned a home at Strawberry Hill Avenue near Holbrook Drive and was a partner in a business with Grant. When Grant found out that Ward was cheating clients, he stopped visiting. The firm failed in 1884 and Grant went bankrupt. The gatehouse of Ward's estate remains, but the other buildings are gone.^[1]

Charles Henry Phillips, a British pharmacist who invented and patented hydrate of magnesia ("Phillips Milk of Magnesia") had an estate at 666 Glenbrook Road. His heirs sold the Charles H. Phillips Company to Sterling Drug in 1923, which maintained a plant in Glenbrook until 1976.^[4]

Until the 1960s Stamford's now large neighborhoods, like Glenbrook, were often looked on as individual, unofficial towns, and residents would write their mailing addresses using the name "Glenbrook, Conn." instead of "Stamford, Conn."

In the 1950s, the train station was moved from a spot near the Courtland Avenue overpass (on the New Haven line) to its present location a bit to the northwest on the New Canaan line. As of 2007, city officials were considering the idea of building a second train station in the area, possibly at the original Glenbrook station site.^[1]

Boundaries of the neighborhood

Railroad station, from a 1912 postcard

An article about Glenbrook in The New York Times Real Estate section in 2007 provided a map showing these boundaries of the community: the eastern boundary runs along the Noroton River (the boundary with Darien), south to Interstate 95, then west to East Main Street and continues west on East Main Street to Glenbrook Road; then north on Glenbrook Road, west on Arlington Road, north on Underhill Street, west on Hillside Road, north on Strawberry Hill Avenue, east on Pine Hill Avenue; north on Elmbrook Drive (perhaps on both sides of that street), then north on both sides of Deleo Drive, southeast on Toms Road, north on Hope Street and then on Viaduct Road to the Darien border. The authority for these borders is unknown since Glenbrook is not an official government entity (although a volunteer fire department covers the neighborhood and Glenbrook has a post office); the Times article gave no source, official or unofficial for its rendering; and the map showed but did not name all the streets that it showed making up the boundaries.^[1]

Closer to the highway, some residents consider themselves in the East Side neighborhood.^[1]

Fire Department

The Stamford Fire Rescue Department's Fire Station # 6, as well as the Glenbrook-New Hope Volunteer Fire Department, serve the neighborhood.

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} [1] Hughes, C.J., "LIVING IN/Glenbrook, Conn. / The Little Town in the City", feature article in the Real Estate section of The New York Times, page 9, Real Estate section, July 8, 2007
2. ^ [2] Charles, Eleanor, "If You're Thinking of Living in: Stamford", article in The New York Times, August 20, 1989
3. ^ [3]"About Glenbrook" Web page at the Web site of the Glenbrook Neighborhood Association, accessed April 28, 2007
4. ^ ^{a b} "Glenbrook began and remains a community of hope," article (no by-line) in "Profiles in Stamford: Then ... and Now ..." an advertising supplement to The Advocate of Stamford, August 24, 2006, page 18 of the supplement

External links

AmeriCares headquarters on Hamilton Avenue

In Glenbrook

• AmeriCares, an international relief organization, is located at 88 Hamilton Ave. in Glenbrook.
• Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Stamford
• United House Wrecking

In Stamford

• City of Stamford
• Glenbrook Neighborhood Association
• Stamford Historical Society

Coordinates: 41°03′53″N 73°31′34″W / 41.06472°N 73.52611°W / 41.06472; -73.52611