Andrew Warde High School Neighborhoods: Stratfield

This the first of a four-part series on Fairfield's neighborhoods in and around Andrew Warde High School. The neighborhoods include Stratfield, Tunxis Hill, Black Rock Turnpike, and Holland Hill. Please share your thoughts in the "comments" link below.

Stratfield Road, which extends from the Bridgeport line, is the main artery in the Stratfield neighborhood. A northerly drive from the Bridgeport line along Stratfield Road offers a panorama of Fairfield development and living. Spotted with historical landmarks such as the First Baptist Church of Fairfield, Stratfield Road is a meandering thread of life drawing the past to the present and into the future.

The Covici family moved from Bridgeport at the beginning of the 20th century. Their farm property originally consisted of 65 acres, but in 1945, most of the property was sold. New houses and the First Presbyterian Church were constructed on the land. The Covici farming business, which began as a dairy farm, evolved into a more selective produce farm.

In recent decades, residents of the area have been wary of the potential for rapid growth. Through the Stratfield Improvement Association, residents have organized to preserve the non-commercial, residential character of the Stratfield section of town, and to improve the area for the best use of the neighborhood.

Stratfield is a community of middle- and upper-middle class people with varying backgrounds and religious beliefs. Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish faiths are well-supported by the First Presbyterian Church, Assumption Parish, the First Baptist Church of Fairfield, said to be the oldest Baptist church in Fairfield County, and Congregation Ahavath Achim.

A feeling of community is also developed through the schools in the Stratfield area, such as the private Unquowa School and the public Stratfield and North Stratfield elementary schools.

The Stratfield section of town includes Sacred Heart University, set on a beautifully-landscaped 65-acre campus on Park Avenue, straddling the Fairfield-Bridgeport line. The university was founded in 1963 by the Most Reverend Walter W. Curtis, bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport, as the nation's first and only lay Catholic university.

The university consists of four colleges, which include the John F. Welch College of Business, named in honor of Jack Welch, the former chairman and CEO of General Electric Corporation. The $17.5 million William H. Pitt Health and Recreation Center is available to students and the Fairfield community at large.

Historical information courtesy of "Remembering Fairfield: Famous People and Historic Places." Next week we'll take a look at Black Rock Turnpike in part II of our series. Please share your thoughts in the "comments" link below.

Paul

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Visit the Andrew Warde High School Gift Shop.

Watch the AWHS 1976 vintage "film."