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Welcome to Darien
Fairfield County
Connecticut
School Information
Detailed Town Statistics
Summary Town Statistics
Darien, Connecticut
Darien is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States.
As of the 2000 census, the town population was 19,607, but a July 1, 2002 Census estimate put the town's population at 19,887. Like its neighbor to the north, New Canaan, Darien is one of the most affluent small communities in the United States.
Two Metro North railroad stations serve Darien: Noroton Heights and Darien.
The part of Interstate 95 that runs through Darien is considered the most dangerous stretch of that highway in Connecticut.
Both the 1975 and the 2004 film versions of the novel The Stepford Wives were filmed in part in Darien.
The public library in Darien, the Darien Library, has consistently ranked in the top ten of its category in the HAPLR (Hennen's American Public Library Ratings)Index of libraries.
The McDonald's restaurant located at the rest stop on Interstate 95 southbound, between exits 10 and 9, is the busiest McDonald's in the country.
David Johnson was among a number of painters who depicted Darien in the late Nineteenth century.
Local pronuncuation of the town name
Contrary to the "Darien" entries in all dictionaries, the vast majority of town residents pronounce the name of the community “Dairy-Ann” with the stress on the last syllable. Evonne Klein, the first selectwoman, pronounces it that way and says that's the way she hears it pronounced by "99 percent" of residents. The way locals pronounce it, it rhymes with "Mary Ann," not "Marion."
Sections of Town
In addition to some small neighborhoods, the larger divisions of the town (which are not governed separately except for volunteer fire department services) are Noroton (roughly in the southwest corner of town) and Noroton Heights (roughly north of Interstate 95 to Middlesex Avenue with an eastern boundary somewhere east of Noroton Avenue). Tokeneke is in the southeastern end of town.
The Noroton section of Darien is defined by two peninsulas that claw their way into Long Island Sound, their curved appendages protecting enough coves and inlets to make the area a haven for beachgoers and sailors. It is the water, however, that gives Noroton both its name -- an Indian word assigned to the river along Darien's border with Stamford -- and its identity. The shorter of the peninsulas, Noroton Neck, is divided into shore communities like Noroton Bay and Pratt Island.
Long Neck peninsula, which extends farther into Long Island Sound, providing westerly views of Manhattan, is just as exclusive. Accessed by the Ring's End Landing Bridge, a graceful stone structure that marks a major shipping point for early settlers, Long Neck became a summer destination for the wealthy when rail travel made it accessible during the mid-1800's.
Noroton Heights "grew up around the Noroton Heights train station and housed the European immigrants who serviced the old estates," according to an article about the community in The New York Times. The densely populated streets of this part of town are full of "modest Capes and colonials" along with other house styles.
History
Originally part of Stamford, this area became Middlesex Parish in 1737. It was incorporated as the Town of Darien in 1820. Settlement had begun in the 1680s. Tories raided the town several times during the American Revolution, at one point taking 26 men in the parish prisoner for five months, including the Rev. Moses Mather, pastor of the parish. The Tory-Patriot conflict in Darien is the setting for the novel Tory Hole, the first book by children's author Louise Hall Tharp.
According to the Darien Historical Society, the name Darien was decided upon when the residents of the town could not agree on a name to replace Middlesex Parish, many families wanting it to be named after themselves. A sailor who had traveled to Darién, Panama, then part of Colombia, suggested the name Darien, which was eventually adopted by the people of the town.
Until the advent of the railroad in 1848, Darien remained a small, rural community of about 1,000. After the Civil War, the town became a one of the many resorts where prosperous New Yorkers built summer homes. A few daily commuters to New York City then were forerunners of the many who have settled here and changed Darien into a residential suburb of metropolitan New York.
Post 53
Its ambulance service, Darien EMS known as "Post 53" (run by a Boy Scout Explorer post and open to both boys and girls) is the only ambulance service in the nation staffed and run entirely by high school student volunteers.
The service provides emergency care at no cost to the patient, funded entirely by private donations from town residents. Teenagers are allowed to perform patient care due to the fact that Connecticut is one the few states in the nation which allows Emergency medical technicians to be certified at age 16.
Supervised by trained adults, Post 53 lets in 15 teenagers a year to join the crew. "Each student receives at least 150 hours of training for basic certification as emergency medical technicians; by their senior year, some even qualify to drive the ambulance."
Notable people, past and present
Actors and actresses who have lived in town include former resident Christopher Plummer (who now lives in Weston), Kate Bosworth, Topher Grace, Chloë Sevigny. Film director Gus Van Sant went to high school in Darien. Moby partly grew up in town.
People famous in other fields have also called Darien home: Margaret Bourke-White, the late photojournalist, lived in town first with author Erskine Caldwell, then in the same home on Point O'Woods South after their divorce. New York Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman also lives in town.
Charles Lindbergh the late aviator, and his wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh lived on Tokeneke Trail, and Leslie Groves - military head of the Manhattan Project, afterward lived in town. Christopher Shays, the Republican congressman representing Connecticut's Fourth District, was born in Darien (and now lives in Bridgeport). Steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie vacationed for several summers at what became the Convent of the Sacred Heart on Long Neck.
Films shot in town
• In Bloom (2006)
• The Stepford Wives (2004)
• American Dream (2002)
• Cannonball Run II (1984)
• Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
• The Stepford Wives (1975)
Notable (nonretail) businesses
• Ariasys and ARIA Worldwide Inc., (headquarters) 381 Post Road
• Applied Psychological Techniques Inc. (headquarters)
• Cantor Fitzgerald, (not the headquarters) 6 Thorndal Circle
• Euro Pacific Capital, brokerage firm run by Peter Schiff (president and owner), nicknamed "Dr. Doom," and a frequent guest on CNBC, and Bloomberg television and is quoted in major publications.
• Jupiter Media Corporation (headquarters)
• Colangelo Synergy Marketing (headquarters)
Some notable retail businesses
• Barrett Bookstore, Noroton Heights Shopping Center, 314 Heights Road
• Darien News Store
• Darien Sport Shop, originally for sporting, but now all kinds of clothes and gifts
• Giovannis II restaurant, 2748 Post Road
• Ring's End, successful lumber company with several locations, started in Darien
• Palmer's Supermarket (locally owned)
• Sugar Bowl 1033 Boston Post Road, classic luncheonette
• Post Corner Pizza, 847 Boston Post Road, unique Greek-style pizza
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article “Darien, Connecticut”.
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