Greenwich, Connecticut

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Greenwich is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 61,101. The town is served by the Metro-North Railroad (the four stations, from west to east, are Greenwich, Cos Cob, Riverside and Old Greenwich) and is approximately a 50 minute train ride to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. It is home to many hedge funds and other financial service companies that have left Manhattan. It is also the southernmost town in New England. The town is famous for its wealth.

In July 2005, CNN/Money and Money magazine ranked Greenwich 12th on its list of the 100 Best Places to Live in the United States.

General information

The Town of Greenwich has one political body, but consists of several distinct sections with their own mailing addresses and zip codes, such as Cos Cob, Riverside, Old Greenwich and Greenwich (sometimes referred to as central or downtown Greenwich). Byram, Glenville, Pemberwick and Rock Ridge are other neighborhoods that use the Greenwich name and zip code for their mailing addresses. There are many other neighborhoods within Greenwich such as Belle Haven, Banksville, Chickahominy, Milbank, Milbrook and Mianus to name a few.

The downtown area of Greenwich consists primarily of Greenwich Avenue, a one way street that has many restaurants, boutiques, and antique shops, all located on extraordinarily expensive retail space. The sections of the town each have smaller shopping areas, but these are much smaller than Greenwich Avenue. Greenwich Avenue is directed by 4 policemen, and a stop-light at the end, on Railroad Avenue.

Real estate in Greenwich is extremely expensive when compared to the national average, and is on par if not higher with some nearby communities such as Darien, Westport, and New Canaan.[citation needed] The high property values, however, cause property taxes to be very low, on a percentage basis. Greenwich is considered by some to be the wealthiest town in Connecticut with an average home sales price of $4,470,000 (2005).[citation needed]

Government

The town has three Selectmen and a Representative Town Meeting (RTM). The RTM must approve all budgets, and consists of 230 elected representatives, which is more than the State Senate and State House combined. RTM members are not paid. The three selectmen are elected on a town-wide basis, although each person can only vote for two members. This assures that there will almost always be one Democrat and two Republicans or two Democrats and one Republican. While voter registration is skewed in the Republican's favor, they do not have a lock on the First Selectman's chair, and Democrats have held the seat recently. Many of the other town committees have equal representation between Democrats and Republicans, regardless of the vote breakdown, since each individual can only vote for half as many seats as are available.

History

For more information, see History of Greenwich, Connecticut.

The Town of Greenwich, settled in 1640 and incorporated in 1665.

During the American Revolution, General Israel Putnam made a daring escape from the British on February 26, 1779. Although British forces pillaged the town, Putnam was able to warn Stamford.

In 1983, the Mianus River Bridge, which carries traffic on Interstate 95 over an estuary, collapsed, resulting in the death of three people.

Originally, Greenwich Point (locally termed "Tod's Point"), was open only to town residents and their guests. However, a lawyer sued, saying his rights to freedom of assembly were threatened because he was not allowed to go there. The lower courts disagreed, but the Supreme Court of Connecticut agreed, and Greenwich was forced to amend its beach access policy to all four beaches.

Parks

The town has four beaches on the Long Island Sound which are Greenwich Point, Byram Beach, Island Beach (Little Captain's Island), and Great Captain's Island.

A single-visit beach pass for non-residents to Greenwich Point (locally termed "Tod's Point"), which is on a peninsula and so includes picnic areas, a beach and small marina, is $10 per person and $20 per car. Tickets must be purchased at the town hall or the Eastern Greenwich Civic Center.

There is also a sailing team and rental area located in the park. Bicycling and rollerblading are popular sports on the trails and paths in the summer.

Arts and culture

  • Greenwich Symphony Orchestra. Begun in 1958 as the Greenwich Philharmonia, it became fully professional by 1967. The orchestra's 90 members perform at the Dickerman Hollister Auditorium at Greenwich High School. It also performs a pops concert in the summer. Emanuel Ax, Barry Douglas, Pamela Frank, John O’Conor, Peter Serkin, and Dawn Upshaw. David Gilbert has been music director and conductor since 1975 and is also the director of the Bergen (NJ) Philharmonic and the Senior Concert Orchestra of New York. He lives in Nutley, N.J.
  • Greenwich Choral Society, founded in 1925, has performed locally and elsewhere, including in New York City (at St. Patrick's Cathedral, Carnegie Hall, St. Thomas Church, and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine), and Europe. It has also performed several times with the Greenwich Symphony, New Haven Symphony, New Haven Chorale, and Stamford Symphony, as well as at the Ives Festival in Danbury. The chorus previewed Dave Brubeck's La Fiesta de la Posada, and has commissioned works by James Furman, Stephen Paulus, Rob Mathes, and Michael Schelle. In 2000 the chorus premiered a work by Adolphus Hailstork, Songs of Innocence, commissioned especially for the 75th anniversary season. The current music director and conductor is Paul F. Mueller. Notable past conductors include Lowell Beveridge, Jack Ossewaarde, Vernon de Tar, Louie L. White and Richard Vogt.[1]

Education

Public Elementary Schools

  • Cos Cob School
  • Glenville School
  • Hamilton Avenue School
  • International School at Dundee
  • Julian Curtiss School of World Languages
  • New Lebanon School
  • North Mianus School
  • North Street School
  • Old Greenwich School
  • Parkway School
  • Riverside School

Public Middle Schools

  • Central Middle School
  • Eastern Middle School
  • Western Middle School

Public High Schools

Private Schools

  • Brunswick School (K-12)
  • Convent of the Sacred Heart (K-12)
  • Daycroft School (8-12) (Closed) (Former Rosemary Hall campus)
  • Eagle Hill School (K-10)
  • Greenwich Academy (K-12)
  • Greenwich Catholic School (K-8)
  • Greenwich Country Day School (K-9)
  • Greenwich Japanese School (K-8?) (Aquired Daycroft School/Rosemary Hall Campus)
  • Rosemary Hall (moved to Wallingford, Connecticut) (Sold campus to Daycroft School)
  • Stanwich School (K-9, adding one grade each year until twelfth grade.)
  • Whitby School (PS-8)

Higher education

Several colleges and universities are close to Greenwich, and the Purchase College of the State University of New York along with Manhattanville College are particularly close. The University of Connecticut campus in Stamford is also very close.

CONNECTICUT

NEW YORK

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 174.2 km² (67.2 mi²). 123.9 km² (47.8 mi²) of it is land and 50.3 km² (19.4 mi²) of it (28.88%) is water. Greenwich is twice the area of Manhattan. Greenwich is bordered to the west and north by Westchester County, New York, to the east by the City of Stamford, and to the south by Long Island Sound.

Media based in town

Transportation

Interstate 95 goes through the southern end of town, and there are four exits from I-95 in Greenwich, exits 2 through 5. The Boston Post Road (also known as East or West Putnam Avenue or simply Route 1) also goes through town, as does the Merritt Parkway, although the Merritt Parkway is a considerable distance from the downtown area. Greenwich is also accessible by Metro-North Railroad. Amtrak stops in the adjacent town of Stamford.

Demographics

Historical population of
Greenwich[4][5]
1756 2,021
1774 2,776
1782 2,623
1800 3,047
1810 3,533
1820 3,790
1830 3,801
1840 3,921
1850 5,036
1860 6,522
1870 7,644
1880 7,892
1890 10,131
1900 12,172
1910 16,463
1920 22,123
1930 33,112
1940 35,509
1950 40,835
1960 53,793
1970 59,755
1980 59,578
1990 58,441
2000 61,101
2002 61,784 (estimate)

As of the census² of 2000, there were 61,101 people, 23,230 households, and 16,237 families residing in the town. The population density was 493.2/km² (1,277.6/mi²). There were 24,511 housing units at an average density of 197.9/km² (512.5/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 90.02% White, 1.66% African American, 0.09% Native American, 5.18% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 1.46% from other races, and 1.57% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.29% of the population.

There were 23,230 households out of which 33.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.4% were married couples living together, 8.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.1% were non-families. 24.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 3.12.

In the town the population was spread out with 25.4% under the age of 18, 4.1% from 18 to 24, 28.8% from 25 to 44, 25.7% from 45 to 64, and 15.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 90.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.2 males

Both, the Official AENGLC Wealth Value and the CPR AENGLC Wealth Value show Greenwich as having the highest wealth value in Connecticut at over $430,000 per person. About 2.5% of families and 4.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.1% of those under age 18 and 3.2% of those age 65 or over.

However, the claim of “wealthiest town” is misleading. Three other nearby towns have higher per capita income and four have higher median household incomes than Greenwich. Per capital income is higher in New Canaan ($82,049), Darien ($77, 519) and Weston ( $74,817) than in Greenwich ($74,346), with Westport ($73,664) almost on par according to the 2007 AENGLC. In addition, according to the CERC town profiles at CT.Gov., the median incomes of these towns in 2005 were: $164,076 for Weston, $160,178 for Darien, $158,091 for New Canaan, $135,542 for Westport and $112,041 for Greenwich, respectively. According to CERC Greenwich also has a higher poverty rate and more subsidized housing than these other towns. However it should be noted that Weston, New Canaan, and Darien have significantly smaller populations then Westport and Greenwich. Towns with larger populations have more people in various income brackets that skew the median income. On the above ranking, the town Weston (which has the smallest population) has the highest median income and the town with the lowest, Greenwich, has the highest population.

The AENGLC is misleading basis on which to claim “wealth” as in the personal wealth of town residents. The AENGLC takes into account residential and commercial real estate in comparing each town’s respective total tax base in order to allocate State aide to poor towns. In Connecticut, public education is funded by local property taxes. Therefore, the AENGLC is used to evaluate a town government's ability to fund public education via property taxes, not the actual wealth of town residents. Since the town of Greenwich has much more commercial real estate that the other affluent local towns, this skews the AENGLC of Greenwich away from the value of residential or personal real estate as compared to the nearby towns.

Greenwich was the highest income place with a population of 60,000 or more in 2000. However,using the list of the 100 richest places in the United States with at least 1,000 households yields a different result. This is the most common list used for referring to the richest communities in the country, as it eliminates any places with insignificant populations. On this list Greenwich ranks 56th after New Canann at 32nd, Darien at 44th, and Weston at 55th. See Highest income places in the United States.

Famous Citizens

Wealthiest art collectors in town

These four Greenwich art collectors were listed in the 2006 Art News magazine list of 200 top collectors:[2]

  • Steven A. Cohen, who was also on the magazine's "Top 10" list every year starting in 2002. According to the magazine, he collects "Impressionism; modern and contemporary art."
  • Kathleen and Richard S. Fuld Jr., who were also on the list in 2005 but not in 2004. Richard Fuld is the CEO of Lehman Brothers Inc. The magazine says they like "works on paper, especially postwar art and contemporary."
  • Danielle and David Ganek, who were also on the 2005 and 2004 lists. They are said to like "contemporary art and photography." Ganek is a "protégé" of Cohen and now runs hedge fund Level Global.</ref> and Forbes magazine's "Top Billionaire Art Collectors" list in 2005.[3]
  • Reba and Dave Williams, who joined the list in 2005 and whose primary residence is listed as New York City, like "American prints."

Films shot in Greenwich (reverse chronological order)

  • The Path of Most Resistance (2006)
  • The Good Shepherd (2006)
  • After Roberto (2005)
  • The Family Stone (2005)
  • Domino One (2005)
  • Chubby Kid, A (2002)
  • Fabled (2002)
  • The Ice Storm (1997)
  • Ransom (1996)
  • Deadtime Stories (1986)
  • Danny (1977)
  • Time Piece (1965)
  • Open the Door and See All the People (1964)
  • Via Wireless (1915)
  • Two Little Waifs (1910)
  • The Golden Supper (1910)
  • The Cardinal's Conspiracy (1909)
  • A Change of Heart(1909)
  • The Country Doctor (1909)
  • Sweet and Twenty (1909)
  • Tender Hearts (1909)
  • The Message (1909)
  • The Little Teacher (1909)

References

  1. ^ [1] history Web page from the Greenwich Choral Society Web site, accessed on July 19, 2006
  2. ^ [2] "Top 10" article, Art News magazine, Summer 2006 issue; accessed July 25, 2006
  3. ^ [3]Haden-Guest, Anthony "Top Billionaire Art Collectors," article "slideshow" Web page, Forbes magazine Web site, March 8, 2005accessed July 25, 2006
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