October 2007

Notes from the Old Noank Jail

Jails and Taxes

By Ed Johnson

Recently, several readers have asked me about the history of the Noank Jail and “was it really a jail?” , etc., and the answer is…yes, part of the present residence actually was used as a jail.

Prior to 1900, the original structure merely consisted of a small square building approximately 21 feet by 21 feet, which is now the area occupied by our living room and stairway. Town records indicate this building was initially constructed in 1850. It was located over near the Noank Railway Station off of Front Street next to what are now the AMTRAK high speed rail tracks. At that specific location, it was used by a local Constable named Sawyer who used the building primarily as a temporary lock up for folks who had been drinking too much and/or misbehaving.

Some residents may have objected to the fact that railroad passengers would look out at the jailhouse and perceive Noank as an unsavory, undesirable village. In 1913, Town records indicated that Noank no longer needed a jail so the building was sold and physically moved as a complete building unit over to its present Main Street location onto a small, narrow lot. A previous structure at that site had burned to the ground during a disastrous fire in that area circa 1900, but part of the old foundation remained. Thereafter, the building served as a barber shop, a “speakeasy” and finally a private residence for several owners before we bought it 35 years ago.

The “jail” received a rear addition later on, followed by a small side garage, which we converted to an office, followed by a rear porch that we added more recently. One of our neighbors has described a visit in our jail house to resemble “walking through a railroad car.” When asked why we built the porch in the rear of the house, rather than in front, our usual response is “to avoid zoning issues and summer tourists looking for Abbotts.”

Being somewhat of a prankster, I noted the many historical signs on many of our neighbor’s homes, denoting the various famous local figures who owned those houses back in the 1800’s, and decided that our “jail” might as well be famous, too. With the help of historian Peter Littlefield, we verified the above background of the jail and then had an appropriate Historical Society plaque installed facing the street, thinking it would make for a nice counterpoint joke for our neighbors.

Little did we realize how much attention it would draw from the tourists…thank God for the rear porch. Little did we realize, either, how badly my little joke would backfire. It turned out that the nice little lady manager of the CLT group, hired by the town to reevaluate residential properties for tax purposes, drove by our “jail” house last year. My heart sank when I was advised that she thought our little jail house was “cute.”

Try to imagine how much the nice lady manager decided our new valuation would be, or let’s just say that I considered replacing the “Jail” sign with one which would read “Federal Gold Depository.”

Which, unfortunately, brings me to the serious side of the picture….Property Tax.

Our local geographical area did not fare well during this past CT Legislative session regarding the issue of reducing Town dependence on Property Tax. Despite an effort by Governor Rell herself to address this issue, the subject eroded into yet another conflict between the Republicans and Democrats. For two years in a row, no real progress has been made.

Some of our existing local legislators were voted into office because many of us felt that they would be able to help accomplish the task of getting our local governments away from dependence on the property tax. Running out of time, these legislators are now tasked with finally accomplishing this in the next legislative session. They need to find a way for both political parties to cooperate on solutions, rather than to continually get bogged down criticizing each other in the press, as has happened lately. Otherwise, they should find some other pastime and leave politics. Enough, already.

Because far too many of us are fed up with being taxed on unrealized gains, completely out of proportion to our incomes. For us older folks who have lived in our homes and served our communities for 30 to 50 years, it is now the primary political issue of our lives.

In a way, for some of us, it is almost like living in jail.