North Stamford is a very affluent, geographically large section of Stamford, Connecticut north of the Merritt Parkway. Often hilly and woodsy, it is less densely developed than the rest of the city.
To the southeast is the Springdale section of Stamford, to the south is the Turn of River section and to the southwest is the West Side of Stamford. to the west is the "back country" of Greenwich and to the north is Pound Ridge, New York. To the east is New Canaan.
North Stamford (ZIP code 06903) has been nationally ranked as one of the wealthiest areas in the United States, and has the highest average household income rate in Fairfield County, surpassing areas of extremely wealthy towns such as New Canaan and Greenwich.
High Ridge Road, in the area just south of the Merrit Parkway, is the largest shopping district near North Stamford. A shopping plaza and some surrounding stores are also nearby on Newfield Avenue, and downtown Springdale also offers nearby stores.
When Stamford's population began to grow during and after World War II, 30,000 new residents arrived from 1940 to 1960. "North Stamford developed with one- and two-acre zoning, looking just like Wilton or New Canaan," Janice Green, manager of the William Pitt Real Estate office, told The New York Times in 1989. "Executives moved up there who had no connection with the factories and ethnic working-class neighborhoods downtown."1
City reservoirs are located in North Stamford, as are the Bartlett Arboretum and the Stamford Historical Society headquarters and museum.
Also in the neighborhood is the Stamford Museum and Nature Center, a 118-acre (0.48 km2) facility on Scofieldtown Road. The museum works with schools in Stamford, Bridgeport, Norwalk, Darien and Greenwich, and more than 10,000 students visit every year. In 2007 the museum and nature center started working with Aquarion, a water utility serving much of Fairfield County, in a program meant to educate children about water ecology and watershed protection.2
Buttonwood Manor, a Colonial-style house on an estate of 8 acres (32,000 m2), is in North Stamford. The original main house was built by Jacob Stevens in 1809, then sold it in 1821 to Gould Raymond. For 77 years the Raymond family farmed the land. By 1926 Mary Stella Tisdale Atwood had bought the house from Otto Sarrach and began restoring it. She sold the estate to William E. Stevenson, a Gold Medal winner in the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris (setting a new world record of 3:16.0 as member of the American 400-meter relay team) and later a president of Oberlin College. While Stevenson and his wife were in England running American Red Cross operations in World War II, they rented the house to Dorothy Fields, a lyricist.3
Cemeteries
North Stamford contains numerous old cemeteries from the nineteenth century and before, some quite small and often with gravestones bearing elaborate engravings and even poetry.4
Jackie Robinson, baseball player, made North Stamford5 his home later in his life. One of the several Stamford Little League Baseball leagues is named after him.
^ Gosier, Chris, "Environmental immersion: Water company and nature center form watershed education alliance", article in The Advocate of Stamford, pp A9, A10, Stamford edition
^ abc Nova, Susan, "Manor is rich with history: Offer has been accepted to buy 5,300-square-foot (490 m2) home", article in the Real Estate section of The Advocate of Stamford, April 20, 2007, pp. R1, R4
^ ab Majdalayny, Jeanne and Mulkerin, Jean, Poems in Stone in Stamford, Connecticut, published by the Stamford Historical Society, 1980
^ abcdefg "If You're Thinking of Living In/North Stamford, Conn.; In a Bustling City, a Rural Haven" an article by Eleanor Charles in New York Times Real Estate section, February 1, 1998, accessed September 10, 2006
