Momauguin and Half Mile Island: An Historical Journey - Part IV
CHAPTER 8: Fires and Floods
Since the beginning of time, fires have played in important role in shaping our communities. Fires have been caused by nature as well as humans. An accelerant and a match can be as damaging as a lightning strike. These phenomena are not foreign to our shoreline. Human-made fires are driven by financial or personal gain, or an adrenaline rush; and we have seen it all.
Early in the twentieth century the Momauguin resort community experienced some dramatic fires. In the summer of 1911, a multi-building conflagration destroyed the Momauguin Hotel, the Hoyton Hotel, and all the other buildings in their complex. As fate would have it, the volunteer fire company’s hose cart was stored in the hotel basement, thwarting their attempts to quell the blaze.
Understanding the need for an improved fire service, the community formed Cosey Beach Fire Department, but before they were ready, an arsonist named Edward Janey Tulley, the hotel’s night watchman, torched the buildings he was responsible for protecting.
Later, the Sea Spray Bath building was built on the spot, now the location of the Town Beach. When the property burned thirty years later, the blaze was visible from Long Island, where residents called the East Haven Police to see if the town was on fire.
The list goes on, including an airliner crash in 1945 in the south end, as heavy fog caused a plane approaching Tweed to undershoot the runway and strike several homes. Despite emergency assistance from area towns, four houses were destroyed and twenty-eight people died. This was one of the few fires causing loss of life.
An evening fire in 1951 destroyed the Silver Sands Hotel, which was replaced by the Wexler Day Camp, subsequently sold to Arnold College, and finally Camp Adventure, a summer camp for children.
Between 1971 and 1973, there were approximately thirty fires, all deemed “suspicious” and involving empty summer cottages. Many of the occupied cottages were rented and those residents showed little concern, while the owners expressed some concern for their properties but less so for human injuries. Subsequently, the state police investigated twenty of those fires, closing fifteen with juvenile arrests.
The same story was playing out in the 1960s and 1970s across neighboring shoreline communities. Milford had an active arsonist for many years as did West Haven. During this time, Bridgeport lost the Pleasure Beach Ballroom to fire.
Everyone has tropical storm stories to tell. This writer recalls one time in the 1950s, recklessly posed standing on a seawall during the height of a major hurricane, solely so his uncle could take pictures of the waves more than ten feet high crashing effortlessly over the seawall.
While completing research for this chapter, this writer noted that one interesting comparison between fires and floods is the sheer power nature holds over us mortals. Most of the fires caused damages in the tens of thousands of dollars, while hurricane and tropical storm damage was estimated in millions of dollars. Look at some examples:
In 2011, Hurricane Irene caused more than 500,000 power outages and $200 million in damage. The East Haven shore was hit especially hard. Click on the photo to the right to see video of Four Beaches during Irene taken and narrated by Four Beaches Resident Tony Monaco.
In 2012, Super Storm Sandy caused more than 630,000 power outages and $360 million in damage.
In 2020, Tropical Storm Isaias did more than $21 million in damage and caused two deaths.
The “granddaddy” of all hurricanes to reach our shores was when “The Great New England Hurricane” (also known as “The Long Island Express”) hit in 1938. The storm formed off the coast of Africa on September 9, becoming a Category 5 before making landfall on Long Island on September 21 as a Category 3 storm (although some sources disputed the rating as underestimated).
Across New England the storm caused more than 682 deaths, damaged or destroyed more than 57,000 homes, caused additional damage to roads, commercial properties, and other infrastructure. Damage estimates ran as much as $410 million, and damaged trees and buildings were still visible in 1951. In all of recorded time, perhaps the only prior storm to eclipse the “hurricane of ‘38” was the “Great Colonial Hurricane” of 1635.
CHAPTER 9: Decay and Renewal
Urban decay doesn’t have a singular cause, nor does it have a specific start or end date. It simply sneaks up on the community. The cumulative harm caused by fires and storms is highly visible and often long-lasting. In many instances, owners choose not to rebuild, hopeful to someday recover their investment through land sales.
As the number of boarded up homes grew, portions of the shore became increasingly marginal. Cosey Beach and surrounding areas succumbed to an exodus of stable families, replaced by less responsible renters. The entire country was troubled and East Haven was no exception: a divisive Vietnam War, gas rationing, civil disobedience (this might be a good time to rent the movie Hair), and questionable political leadership all contributed to decline. Slowly, as the area continued its decline, businesses failed and Cosey Beach and Mansfield Grove were less appealing destinations on a sunny summer day.
Several newspapers’ articles of the times similarly described life at the beach. From reporter Toby Schwartz: “This past Fourth of July weekend was fairly quiet … only two houses were torched, and a couple of new lifeguard stands … were turned into a holiday bonfire.” The July 20 ,1977, New Haven Advocate carried a similarly themed article including quotes from a local businessman who, comparing 1977 to summers six or seven years prior, said “Back then, people were friendly. They’d wave from across the street, come over and chat, everyone knew each other. Now they’re scared. … They don’t come to the beach like they used to.”
Over the past one hundred plus years, there have been multiple ups and downs in housing, economic development, business mix, governmental oversight, population mix, etc.
Our goal is to provide you with some insight into attempts to maintain a vital and vibrant shorefront. Therefore, there has been no attempt to dig into the annual blow-by-blow of development details. We’ll start at the beginning of the Twentieth Century. From Bradford Avenue to Austin Street, and from Coe Avenue to the Bradford Creek was considered Bradford Manor. Sometime around 1910 the Wilkenda Development Company developed this area. Three streets (George, Henry and Steven) were named after three principals in the venture. Some of you may recognize their law firm, Clark, Hall & Peck. Early maps may depict some areas with different names; Coe Avenue used to be Momauguin Avenue, and Cosey Beach from the Town Beach to the creek was called “No Man’s Land.”
In the early 1920s, multiple developers offered shorefront and nearby building lots. Momauguin Heights started at the Sound and encompassed Hibiscus Street and Palmetto Trail. Print advertising offered free transportation from New Haven, beautiful free presents, and promised good value. You could even make partial payment with your Liberty Bonds (as U.S. Savings Bonds were known in those days). Zero interest easy payment terms were available.
Following the Mansfield Heights development, Mansfield Park was offered with lots priced as low as $99.00, and most costing no more than $1,500.00, all free of interest or taxes for one year. Buyer friendly terms included a ten percent down payment and weekly payments between $2.00 and $5.00.
The town planners were periodically drafting redevelopment plans for the shoreline. One such 1952 plan encompassed the area from the Town Beach to Whaler’s Point, and from the water to Bradford Avenue.
Town planners knew they were ill prepared to manage the scope and complexity of renewing 500 plus acres of mixed-use buildings and blighted conditions. Enthusiastic planning soon changed to small scale efforts, such as an expanded Town Beach and formation of a shoreline association to manage change. The Momauguin Redevelopment Agency, formed in 1952, was disbanded in 1955.
According to a 1976 Journal-Courier article, talk in the mid-1960s would “revitalize the Momauguin area with apartments, beach clubs, restaurants and shopping centers.” Developers began to buy up land, and soon detailed plans were considered. One such version, as described in an earlier 1971 New Haven Register article, included “the addition of three 17-story apartment towers at one end and five 10-story apartments at the other end.”
Town planners in the 1960s were meeting with HUD (the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development). One consequential decision was to completely rebuild the center of town and then work on other areas of town. By the time the downtown projects were competed, funding had dried up and the Momauguin plans were abandoned.